Drive, she said. In an RV.
Posted May 3rd, 2007 by SheilaI’m going through a major RV lust phase right now. Really. And I’m not even an old geezer.
The freedom of driving everywhere with a mini version of my house right with me is quite appealing. I love road trips, but it does get old shelling out the dinero for hotel and meal expenses every day. Maybe I’ve also been influenced by the awesome motorhomes that I see when I cover drag racing and NASCAR events; now there’s some mobile real estate bling. I don’t want a huge beast or giant trailer; just something comfy enough for Sainted Husband and I.
Whoops, I have two kids and four cats.
Dang. Guess I can keep reading the Texas RV Travel blog for in-state inspiration, or see how Brits with kids managed RV travel in the U.S. The Dutch (and not just the older ones) are well known in Europe as “caravan” enthusiasts when they go on holiday.
Meantime, we have RV expertise right here in the Perceptive Travel universe….Phil and Carol White, authors of “Live Your Road Trip Dream,” were chosen as National Spokespeople for 2007 for the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA.) You may remember Carol as the author of “The Qi of China” in the March/April 2007 issue of Perceptive Travel magazine.
In their new capacity, Carol and Phil will speak to the media on RVing related topics as well as representing RVIA at the National AARP Convention in Boston in September. The Whites were chosen to represent the baby boomer demographic, which now owns more RVs than any other group.
Oh, stop sniggering, you young ones. You’ll be there yourself soon enough. I’m amazed to find that some of the articles in the AARP Magazine are actually pretty interesting — who better than country music icon George Jones, for example, to show us a bit of Nashville? Well, maybe our own PT editor Tim Leffel, a Nashville native who’s written about searching for secrets on the country music highway.
Congrats to Carol (and Phil) from the PT crew.
Update 10 May 2007: Here’s a quick post on small trailers from the Texas RV Travel blog. I’d say the little Airstream is the Mini-Cooper of RVs.
Technorati tags: travel, RV, mobile home, caravan
May 3rd, 2007 at 12:38 pm
I’m trying not to snigger ;-)
But, but, but, … what about the gas mileage? What about the obnoxiousness of a trundling caravan beastie going 55 on a 65 highway and no room to pass? What about, just, how crazy those bus-sized beasties are?
But then, they look awfully comfy. All that air conditioning, the sofa when your driving turn is over and you want a nap. Entertainment for the kids. Never having to find a hotel at some ungodly hour of the night, hoping it has clean sheets and a non-smoking room.
Did you read Erma Bombeck’s essay (from ages ago) about buying an RV for her family? All I’ll say is … keeping it picked up was a nightmare. And the smell got a wee bit ripe after a week!
May 4th, 2007 at 5:40 am
Yes, there’s some tipping point when the cool hippie campervan becomes the appalling behemoth RV. I’m just trying to get somewhere in the middle.
May 5th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Thanks Tim for the nice commentary.
RVIA also chose us because we like the smaller RVs — no big behemoth for us! We think there are many boomers out there who are uncomfortable driving the “big rigs”, but sure would like the convenience of your own bathroom on board, cold water in the frig and the ability to crash just about whenever, wherever you want. We also liked our Class B motorhome (http://roadtripdream.com/trip_photos.html) because we could drive it and park it anywhere a car could go (well, not totally true, some parking garages couldn’t accommodate our heighth — but it allowed my 6′2″ husband to stand tall in it!)
Our rig got 14 MPG over our year long odyssey - not bad for something heavier than a Suburban! But gas mileage, even at $3 a gallon is only part of the story. It is not only the freedom to wander where you want, when you want - off the beaten path or a great resort; but also the freedom from airport lines, luggage restrictions, liquid restrictions, delayed flights — need I continue?
If you’ve ever thought of just hitting the open road for some extended period of time, but couldn’t figure out how to make it all happen - then visit our site and cruise around. Thousands of people who have purchased our book are doing just that!