Millennials and RVs

twodownzero wrote:
Born 1983. Watched my generation fight the longest wars in American history. Served myself as well. Not sure if I'm a millennial or not, but it sure is easy to criticize my generation's struggle after the boomers clawed their way to the top with our money ($20 Trillion of it) and then pulled the ladder up on their way to retirement.

That said, I love camping, don't mind dumping my black tank, and I do all of my own car maintenance; been working on cars since I was 12 years old even though I wear a suit to work now.

Dude you weren't around when I earned my money. Despite the fact I don't have kids 50 percent of my KS tax money went towards education of your generation. I put in many 100 hr weeks during my career scrimped and saved for my retirement always living below my means. If you want to see the problem you better look in the mirror on who you elected that added to that dept. So far I've paid taxes for 40 years and not received one penny back. It's up to people like you and future generations to vote for people who do not add to that dept and try to reduce it, choose wisely!

twodownzero wrote:
Born 1983. Watched my generation fight the longest wars in American history. Served myself as well. Not sure if I'm a millennial or not, but it sure is easy to criticize my generation's struggle after the boomers clawed their way to the top with our money ($20 Trillion of it) and then pulled the ladder up on their way to retirement.

That said, I love camping, don't mind dumping my black tank, and I do all of my own car maintenance; been working on cars since I was 12 years old even though I wear a suit to work now.

We are a mixed family...not by race but by background. My parents and grandparents were "regular joes" who worked regular jobs with an old-fashioned pension plan. Between both sets of grandparents, they raised 6 kids, only 3 of which turned out OK. My in-laws are a different story. The grandparents (men) were military men, one of which as highly decorated. Of the 9 or 10 kids they raised, only 2 of them turned out OK. The others are pot-smoking, pill-popping, government subsidized, mostly burned out hippies that you can't stand to be around. They call on millienials (perhaps folks my age) to come do basic things for them, like fix a water leak or cut up a fallen tree.

But now those kids younger than me...they are really clueless ;-)

Born 1983. Watched my generation fight the longest wars in American history. Served myself as well. Not sure if I'm a millennial or not, but it sure is easy to criticize my generation's struggle after the boomers clawed their way to the top with our money ($20 Trillion of it) and then pulled the ladder up on their way to retirement.

That said, I love camping, don't mind dumping my black tank, and I do all of my own car maintenance; been working on cars since I was 12 years old even though I wear a suit to work now.

camperdave wrote:
Who do you think is at that jiffy lube changing your oil? Oh yeah, some kid. Lol. I work in construction, the kids were hiring now are just as tough and willing to fix stuff as we were. But they are, for the most part, way smarter about the world than we were, and definitely more tech savvy.

AMEN! Most of the "kids" I meet give me a good feeling about who will run this world when we're gone. I think we don't see so many of them camping, just because they are working hard to get established. Heck, I didn't really start camping until my 30's....

wilber1 wrote:


I think that most kids who were brought up camping and RVing will likely do it themselves if they can.

I agree! All 7 of my kids camp - some have entry-level campers or hand-me-down TTs; or family-sized tents. They learned from us, to love (and protect) the outdoors; and now they are teaching THEIR children the same things.

The perception of the today's youths "abilities or inabilities" is directly related to where and how they're raised. City raised vs rural raised makes a VAST difference in outcome along with actual parents vs the "being their friend" stance.

And, for the record, I don't know a single person, regardless of age, who "wants" to deal with a black tank LOL! But we do it because it's part of the RVing lifestyle.

Depending on who you ask, my husband and I are millennials (born in 82 and 83). We do not have kids and aren't planning on any. Both of us work in the tech industry, and work very hard, long hours, etc. I look forward to the trips where we lose cell service. It's one of the only times I don't feel bad for sitting down and reading a book all in one day. At home there's always something to do around the house, errands to run, a social event to go to, etc. Camping is the only time where we can truly relax.

We also only use the TV in our rig to watch DVDs if the weather is bad or there are too many bugs to enjoy it outside (that's only happened once, we learned that while the riverside campsites are scenic and relaxing sounding, the bugs make them impossible to enjoy during certain times of year). We've stayed in one campground that had wifi, but we didn't use it except to get a better signal on our phones so we could be in touch with home, my mom was watching our dogs for us during that trip. We've never once used the cable TV (I'm not even sure where the hookup is for it). We've never even turned on the TV in the bedroom area.

The main reason we have a "glamper" toyhauler instead of something smaller is the garage space. We found the shortest 5th wheel we could find that had a 12'6" garage. The main "luxury" feature we wanted was auto-leveling since we boondock a lot.

However, while camping, I see plenty of rigs with their satellite dishes set up outside, and the residents of said rigs barely even come outside. Those people are mostly Boomers.

gbopp wrote:

larry cad wrote:
Kids nowadays want to sit in front of a monitor, or hold their Iphone up next to their eyes and block out any sense of reality around them.

I asked my 13 YO grandson if he wanted to see the Grand Canyon and other sites in the western USA. He said why? I can go on Google Earth and it's just like being there....
I took him anyway and he loved it.

In the words of the famed explorer Jacques Cousteau:"Il faut aller voir." ("We must go and see for ourselves.")

True, there are plenty of educated helpless millennials out there with their heads buried in their smartphones. Heaven help them if they had to change a wheel or diagnose & change a fuse. There must be an app for everything or roadside assistance.

Thankfully there are also plenty who are not afraid to get their hands dirty & think things through for themselves. Resourcefulness is alive & well.

Some of we lot in the Geritol Club should not be so fast to poke fun at the millenials. Look around these forums. How many want to go running to a dealer for every little thing? On the Alaska forum, how many are so concerned about not having cell service for a few days at a time?