Oh, Pioneers!

[Colliemom]

As I browse the RV lots, watch ads. talk to people, read posts etc., I am seeing what seems to be a movement of folks wanting to or already have hit the road in their RV's. Whether it is just weekend or vacation camping trips, or full timing it, it seems that everybod's saying the same thing. They want to sell homes and hit the road. So they are shopping and buying, both used and new, especially used. We have that urge to move on, to explore over the next hill or mountain, to maybe settle down someplace for awhile. I guess it all goes back to our ancestors, the pioneers, who travelled across the country in their constoga wagons, the early form of today's RV's. I am humbled by what those folks did, the hardships they endured, their steadfastness in the face of many tragedies. But they like us, searched for a better place, they wanted to see what was over that hill and that mountain. Their mode of travel was much SLOWER than ours of today and much more uncertain. At least we have road maps, GPS, all kinds of info available to plan where and when we want to go. We are the pioneers of today. The unfortunate thing about us is that the rigs we drive or pull are the cause of all that oil leaking in the Gulf. It's a price we have to pay if we want to play. Their "RV's" were pulled by horses and oxen who ate grass and fertilized the land at the same time.

[Bethers]

You might have trouble believing this - but I'm using LESS gas than I did when I commuted to work. And I used to fly places several times a year - haven't been in a plane since I went full-time. So - nope, I'm not the cause of that oil spill. My rig may use less gas, but the way I travel, even with the miles I travel (going to both Alaska and Mexico last year) I actually put LESS miles on. So, no, it doesn't have to be what people think it is.

But yeah, we are pioneers of a sort. More of us women traveling alone than ever before - our #'s are the ones growing in the rv industry. Actually a few more men traveling alone, also. Overall, less people rving, tho. Some parks are hurting, some states even closing parks. I'm not sure just how true those figures are - as I think there aren't less rving, just maybe less buying new - and some holding on to rigs longer. And some traveling shorter distances. Just my thoughts on what some of the statistics today are saying.

[Colliemom]

You are probably right about the less use of parks Beth. It's hard to pin that down. Even last year where I work, it was a down year for us. But the economy and the weather played a big factor in that. This year I have heard from people I know who RV about the many reservations they have lined up all over the state to camp and from what I have seen at the RV dealers, there are a lot of people out looking. Used rigs are going fast. So maybe the economy has a lot to do with it. Guess time will tell. And I too have noticed and talked to a lot of women at the RV dealers looking for rigs for themselves, so yes, women are coming into it more and more. And I see women by themselves at the park too. We are a different breed of cat than our parents and our grandparents before them.

[BirdbyBird]

Meow!

[SeeyaGal]

I think people are not buying as many new RV's as they were and hanging onto the ones they have...I know we are! Alot have gone out of business too Alfa, National and a few others. Both the motorhomes we have had had gone out of business. I also think people are staying closer to home and not traveling as far.
We spend 6 months on the road now instead of 12 months.
As we were going through Nevada we saw alot of people staying long periods of time at the casinos parking lots and these people did not look like RVer's they looked homeless!!! I was glad to say I CHOSE this lifestyle and not forced into it by the economy.

Boy my great grandma would just drool over my conveniences in the Motorhome, I enjoy being a modern day Pioneer