Is this a trend in the rv lifestyle?

[pbitschura]

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/many-older-americans-are-living-a-desperate-nomadic-life-2017-11-06

[pnichols]

Not everyone out there RV'ing in junky ways is down because of their luck ... some are down because of their choices ... and some aren't "down" at all even though their ways may look like it.

i.e. Not a full-timing example, but we recently had a "junky looking pickup" pulling an "old trailer full of what looked to us like junk" park within about 5 feet of our RV to overnight (he sleeping in the PU) right beside us in a huge gravel drycamping area in which he could have easily parked hundreds of feet away. We even broke camp and moved our rig away a bit. But before moving I talked to him briefly, and low and behold he was a person completely "on top of it" and was moving some stuff to his home in Montana and had pulled up right next to us because he was concerned about security of the items in his trailer!

One cannot be too quick to judge. But - like my dad used to say years ago: "It's getting anymore so you can't tell the Good Guys from the Bad Guys".

[Cloud_Dancer]

There's no respect for the cheapskate. I resent it. Perhaps what we need is better definitions.
BTW my wife and I fulltimed for about 3-1/2 years. It was more expensive and confining than we first thought. RVing with longer stays works better for us. But, it too is expensive. We're still trying to figure it out.

[colliehauler]

campigloo wrote:
I used the “nomadic” life style as a goal. It’s going to be getting hot here in a couple of months. It’s just about time to find cooler parts. Happy camper!

Your not alone, going to the same office for 30 years only to have a short vacation. Nomadic lifestyle is a goal!

[campigloo]

I used the “nomadic” life style as a goal. It’s going to be getting hot here in a couple of months. It’s just about time to find cooler parts. Happy camper!

[monkey44]

Hey Centerline - pretty typical Oregon attitude = Awesome post !!! 🙂

[seagrace]

centerline wrote:
this reads more like a rant, and maybe it is... a little.
there is always someone who thinks because someone chooses NOT to live "tied down" or lavishly, and doling out their savings/retirement dollars on a scheduled basis to the utility companies every month, that they are "down on their luck" and should be thought of as homeless people... there are some very ignorant people out there who show they dont have a clue, writing or talking trash about others lifestyle choices, while trying to figure out how to make their own life better.... (Hint; stop being judgmental)

as a person who has lived full time in an RV while working full time in a very well paying job, for a traveling employer, Ive experienced first hand the biases that a lot of people have... yes, they want your money, and as soon as they get it, they want you to move on down the line....
it makes little difference if you are a full time RV'ers, or livaboard boaters/cruisers, which Ive also had the pleasure of being able to do, unless you act and look like you have a large bank account, some people feel you are a bit lower class than they are... maybe its partly due to some sort of envy or jealousy that they cant cut loose and be as free to go where and when they want to without time restraints.

we all have to admit there are some who ARE down on their luck and forced to live a nomadic lifestyle on a tight budget, while others are flush, without a worry or care about money, but either way its wrong for others to judge and act as they sometimes do towards people who dont live the same "restricted" lifestyle that they are stuck in.... and its none of their business how big my bank account may be, how much property I may own, or what my income per month is, so I ignore the narrow minded, ignorant individuals, knowing no matter what they might think of me because I like to live free, Im so much better off than they are....

Well stated. I've never much cared for people that suffer from classism. I'm not wealthy by any stretch, nor am I destitute by any stretch. I live within my means, do what I want and care little about whether or not someone may think I am "up to standards".

[Chris_Bryant]

I had several customers who were work campers, not because they needed the money, but because they enjoyed it. None of them were full timers, rather there are reverse snowbirds, with stick and brick homes, but not fans of Florida summers.

[centerline]

this reads more like a rant, and maybe it is... a little.
there is always someone who thinks because someone chooses NOT to live "tied down" or lavishly, and doling out their savings/retirement dollars on a scheduled basis to the utility companies every month, that they are "down on their luck" and should be thought of as homeless people... there are some very ignorant people out there who show they dont have a clue, writing or talking trash about others lifestyle choices, while trying to figure out how to make their own life better.... (Hint; stop being judgmental)

as a person who has lived full time in an RV while working full time in a very well paying job, for a traveling employer, Ive experienced first hand the biases that a lot of people have... yes, they want your money, and as soon as they get it, they want you to move on down the line....
it makes little difference if you are a full time RV'ers, or livaboard boaters/cruisers, which Ive also had the pleasure of being able to do, unless you act and look like you have a large bank account, some people feel you are a bit lower class than they are... maybe its partly due to some sort of envy or jealousy that they cant cut loose and be as free to go where and when they want to without time restraints.

we all have to admit there are some who ARE down on their luck and forced to live a nomadic lifestyle on a tight budget, while others are flush, without a worry or care about money, but either way its wrong for others to judge and act as they sometimes do towards people who dont live the same "restricted" lifestyle that they are stuck in.... and its none of their business how big my bank account may be, how much property I may own, or what my income per month is, so I ignore the narrow minded, ignorant individuals, knowing no matter what they might think of me because I like to live free, Im so much better off than they are....

[pbitschura]

Your take away from the article reflects my opinion as well. While living in an rv may be the best of several bad options for some, it is also the best of many good options for others.

[DutchmenSport]

If this was posted earlier, I missed it. I read the article now and think the author is approaching this subject from a very one-sided outlook. I find it humourous that she tried RVing / workcamping? for only 1 week and couldn't take it any more. I think that says it all about this article. Everything else is just biased.

I think there are many more folks full timing and work camping and are very happy with their situation. Back in the late 1990's and early 2000's ... shoot! We ALL got hit with the economic down-turn. None of us were left unaffected, regardless if we were bank CEO's or migrant workers picking tomatoes!

Personally, I think the trend for the "nomadic lifestyle" has always existed. It's just, with today's technology and easy access to electronic media, we're just hearing about it more.

This is nothing new, in my opinion.

Edit:

I remember the year was around 1967. My parents had a travel trailer. They went to a Square Dance Convention near Louisville, Kentucky and we stayed at a campground. I remember it was pretty basic, just somewhere to park the camper and had a bathhouse. Water from a single spigot for the entire campground.

After a couple days, the little campground was over run with a group of gypsies. Yes, "gypsies" and I'm not being bigoted here! They were a group of the old style gypsies, with the colorful clothes and played music all night long with their instruments and danced like there was no tomorrow. I was fascinated, having never seen anything like this before.

They were a nomadic group, traveling all across the country, looking for work wherever they could find it. It took me years and years later to understand, even a glimpse, of the "gypsy" lifestyle. But the fact is, this "nomadic" lifestyle goes all the way back to Adam in the Bible. It's nothing new or anything to be startled about.