Disgruntled Millennials on the Road

LittleRed586 wrote:
I realize that this might seem like an odd post, but how many millennials are into the full time RV lifestyle?
My husband is in the process of being medically retired from the Air Force for a variety of health reasons and we are going to start RVing full time the day after he is formally retired. He is 36 and I am 31.
After a two year stint in South Korea we were sent to a base on the east coast. We bought a suburban house as an investment within a month of being stationed here. Yes, our house is nice but living in the suburbs just isn't for us. We don't know our neighbors, traffic is a mess, people are rude, our utility company is always losing our payment, my husband's PTSD goes crazy here and on and on. Basically, the whole lifestyle sucks!
We figured that the best option for us would be full time RVing. We have always wanted to see the country at our own pace. We were actually drooling over an MWR campground in Arkansas with cheap monthly rates. My mother-in-law keeps reminding us that we are only going to see older people in most campgrounds.
I figure that there has to be at least a few disgruntled millennials on the road. The whole living with less philosophy of my generation actually fits the full time RV lifestyle.
How many of my mid 20's to mid 30's peeps are at least looking to go on the road or are even on the road as I write this?

I've been expecting someone to post something like yours that provides introspection into this RV lifestyle.

When I decided to hop onto the bandwagon more than twenty years ago, I was mesmerized like a kid in a toy store. I even subscribed to Camping World monthly publication with pretty interesting articles about members' sojourn and interesting places they've visited.

The magazine was called Trailer Life. They did evolve into web content access with some funky web pages. I guess they couldn't hire web designers then because they were expensive. They charged by the page they create along with monthly maintenance fees. I thought this was just a part of a nascent business that will eventually improve, so it didn't bother me.

There was a guy in the editorial staff who answers questions regarding issues that members encounter especially technical stuff.

The answers were pretty well tailored to the questions being asked. He was knowledgeable and well respected. Being an engineer myself, I found his opinions were well within accepted engineering practices. Members were well behaved then and nobody seems to contradict one's opinion. It was like one big family.

All of these changed when new entrants got into the scene. It got so convoluted, it literally give a new meaning to the word “recreational”. It's no longer recreational, to me it is survival.

At first, when someone refers to “full timing” I say “wow, this guy must be having the best things in life”. As it turns out this wasn't the case. Some of these guys are living in their RVs because they either have no other option or other circumstances . . . and that is where the word “recreation” went to pot.

I'm not looking down on people who made this choice, believe me, I enjoy the camaraderie with these guys who sometimes offer me firewood for my fire ring.

Unless you enjoy dealing with their clothes line and old lawn chairs strewn next to your RV, not to mention dogs barking in the middle of the night then disregard this missive.

Not all Rvers fall under the description I described above. Some are simply just looking for ways to spend their money.

I bought my RV even before I retired. I have a fairly wide spread to accommodate a good size RV or an over sized trailer, so I didn't have to worry about storage.

As for millennials getting into the stage, I don't see much of them in places I've alluded to. Most I've seen are driving a 300,000 rig with small children on board and they usually stay only a few days.

Your M-I-L is absolutely right. You will see older people in RV Parks on fixed income unlike millennials who are on the move and making more money than those who belong to the baby boomer crowd.

Reality sometimes is hard to accept, and you are entitled to all info that might affect your supposedly chosen lifestyle. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy RVing and will continue to do so as long as my wife and I stay healthy enough.

Last but not least, I appreciate your husband's service to keep this country great.

PM if you need to talk more about it

All the best.