Over 2 years ago, my wife and I began planning a radically new chapter in our life together; we decided to leave our traditional life and hit the road in an RV and travel, live, and do some good full-time.
It wasn’t something that we flung together at the last minute, just because 100’s of thousands of others were choosing to do the same, as we rounded the corner with the COVID pandemic. It wasn’t because of any singular reason, in fact. It was the result of a number of factors that were well thought out, researched, and discussed, and while the plan was delayed a few months due to COVID, we ultimately executed this plan right on track.
Both of us wanted to travel the nation. Both of us love road travel; driving and sightseeing. Both of us knew we enjoyed this mode of travel. And ultimately, as we loaded in our charity work in the final year of our planning process; both of us discovered that we are passionate about giving back and representing a vital cause in our nation – food insecurity and support of food banks in small towns across the nation!
However, when we drove off the dealer lot in April of this year, to set out on our adventure, we had no idea that the RV world was in the process of exploding beyond anything it has ever seen for decades – if not ever!
At this point, we have been on the road for two and a half months. We have driven over 7,400 miles, stayed in over 25 campgrounds, driven through 18 states, supported over 15 food banks, created 30 YouTube videos, written blog posts, and literally 100’s of social media posts.
So, all would seem on track.
However, the infrastructure of the RV world, in my opinion, is on the verge of imploding, and every day, crises occur due to completely overloaded campgrounds, service availability; not to mention prices for everything from parts, fuel, camping, and certainly RV’s, to be at highs.
What this means, is that while we planned this out for several years, a perfect storm of RV demand, a retiring workforce in tech support and mechanics, combined with rising prices in our economy for materials and good ole greed within the industry as I suppose who can blame them, as business-minded folks – “when the going is good, grab everything you can…” adage applies. All of these factors have landed squarely in our path.
According to RVIA, in the month of May, 49,241 units were delivered. This blows the doors off previous records and represents a 75.9% increase year over year. May is a valid month to compare as RVIA states that the industry was back to work at that point, in May 2020. After the COVID shutdown in manufacturing.
It would be literally impossible for the auto industry to sustain a 75% year-over-year increase, assuming the prior year wasn’t in the middle of a depression. And we certainly know that wasn’t the case. The point is, sales are through the roof but what about the support infrastructure?
I have been told by industry insiders that recruiting and hiring service techs is extremely difficult and I have also been told by insiders as well, that some are leaving the industry either because they are burnt out or to retire as there is a significant portion of tech workers and providers who are baby-boomers.
What this means is that obtaining service is incredibly challenging. We are currently staying in a hotel as our dealer, Lazy Days, accommodated our remaining warranty repairs after some begging and pleading – not to mention a little guilt given we are full-time in support of a charity.
However, they have made it clear that all future repairs will have to go through corporate scheduling and that the first available appointments are now in mid-September!
Mid-September for service is obviously a show stopper if you’re full-time and have an issue that restricts your ability to either roll down the highway or live in your rig. This doesn’t have to be only a catastrophic failure – it could be a suspension issue, an A/C failure – very common – or a water system problem.
Then we have the issue of camping.
In our case, we purchased a toy hauler that was represented to us to have an inverter. In fact, the salesperson directed us to purchase several additional 12V batteries at a cost of over $300, so we would have maximum “boondocking” capability. However, only after we closed, we discovered it did not have an inverter. My bad. 100% my fault for trusting way too much in the word of our salesperson. Whether he simply spoke “out of school,” or whether he lied, we will never know. However, this is now very relevant as we are forced to use full hook-up camping spots as we just aren’t rugged enough to go without 110 and use of air conditioning, washer and dryer, our wifi system and oh yeah, tv!
So, we can only tell you what is happening in the “pay to play” campgrounds and furthermore, we haven’t tried many state or national parks. This is due to the fact we have a huge rig that we almost require the use of our rear deck. When we are fully expanded, we are over 45 feet and not many parks can accommodate us. We use everything from KOA’s to Thousand Trails, to RV Resorts. Our cost range runs anywhere to zero for Thousand Trails to $100 plus per night for Jackson Hole RV Park. The average is around $50 per night.
Right now, with the research we’ve completed over the last few days, the summer season is basically shot. Despite the fact that it’s only late June, obtaining a reservation through early September is nearly impossible, except for the “pit-stop” campgrounds; those campgrounds that are typically along an interstate that accommodate layovers and certainly don’t have the ambience of a proper campground that you would want to stay more than a day or two. Click HERE for the YouTube video we have up on this type of campground.
We are booked out through late August and are scrambling to put our September itinerary together. In fact we just booked a site in Colorado for mid-October and couldn’t get the desirable locations at the campground. Not the end of the world, but we were amazed that 4 months out, at a park that is a mile from the interstate, we don’t have a choice.
So what is being done to deal with this surge in RV ownership and the corresponding increase in demand for campgrounds and RV accommodation? Developers and entrepreneurs are busy trying to fill this void. However, you can’t just throw down a decent campground overnight and for the time being, adding additional capacity will be painfully slow.
I saw a YouTube title that was obviously a bit of a trojan horse, but from a popular RV channel creator, that implied this is the worst time in the history of the universe to buy an RV and jump into the lifestyle. This couple, by the way, still own their bricks-and-mortar home.
But for those of us who don’t, and are dependent on service and camping and subject to increasing fuel prices, overnight camping costs, etc. I suppose they just might be right! However, most of us who live full-time in a 400 square foot aluminum box on six wheels, towed by a truck and plug into plumbing with plastic hoses and so on – we’re past the point of no return and must figure it out!
I can only see things getting better. I see trends pointing toward improvement going into the fall of this year and perhaps next season, we will have seen the maximum number of weekend warriors and there will probably be a glut of used RVs on the market.
We’ll be looking to upgrade from a toy hauler to a 45 foot Class A, so maybe this next pase will see our timing as spot on! And as I began, we love to plan…except we’ve learned that RV life is a business of exceptions, and the best-laid plans must-have contingencies for the contingencies.
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