Introduction to the RV Community
One of the big perks of RV living is – let’s say it together – the friends you make along the way. Not to be cheesy, but finding a community of people who love the outdoors and watch out for each other can’t be overstated. And RVers are overwhelmingly friendly people! From advice on how to fix a problem with your rig to advice on the best place to eat nearby, RVers are almost always willing to help out fellow campers. I know someone who even had a camping neighbor hop in her motorhome and back it into her campsite when she was nervous to do so!
What is the RV Community?
The RV community can encompass people from all walks of life! You’ll find families camping for a weekend or on a summer vacation. There are people who live on the road full-time. You’ll find people who work from the road and people who are retired. There are also people who are excited to be out exploring for the very first time.
Keep in mind that joining an RV community also doesn’t mean you have to see them face-to-face very often…or ever. Facebook groups, Instagram hashtags, and online forums all have people who form online communities. You may befriend people online, get advice, and talk all things RVing without meeting them in person. Or you may even decide to travel to meet up in person after forging an online friendship with other RVers. After all, traveling whenever and wherever you want is one of the perks of having an RV in the first place!
Why Join the RV Community?
Joining an RV community has a lot of benefits. For one thing, research shows making and maintaining friendships as an adult can have a positive impact on your health. As we mentioned above, it can also be helpful to build a community of people around you who have experience in RV living. They can help with questions about your rig or places to go.
If you’re already an RVer, finding an RV community can help prevent loneliness while you’re on the road. You may spend solitary hours driving (or hours with just one other person). But in an RV community, you’ll find lots of different people to talk to, both about RV camping and about life in general!
If you’re not yet an RVer, you’ll find that an RV community is full of people who enjoy travel, nature, history, and a variety of other interests that they can indulge on their road trips! You’ll meet people of all ages and stages of life.
The RV Lifestyle
Of course, RV living is a different one than most lifestyles of people in sticks-and-bricks homes. An RV community is a collection of people who understand the unique challenges and blessings of life on the road. They may actually understand you better than some of your closest loved ones, simply because they have a similar lifestyle to yours.
Understanding the RV Lifestyle
There are several big differences between the RV lifestyle and the lifestyles of people who live in stationary homes. One of the biggest is that many RVers choose to travel and move around. It takes considerably more planning to know where you’re going to sleep in a home on wheels than in a home that stays in the same spot! You’ll need to research and book campgrounds and plan out the drive time to get to those campgrounds. While many people find the idea of trying new places exciting, it can be stressful to think about where you’re going to stay every night of your life.
Another big difference when you embrace full-time RV living is that you’ll likely have to downsize your possessions! Even the largest RVs aren’t generally the same size as a three-bedroom house. You’ll need to cut back on stuff if you’re going to make everything fit into a motorhome or trailer. It’s also harder to leave projects out while you work on them. You might have a table in a brick-and-mortar home where you can work on puzzles…but when you’re RV camping, that table’s going to need to hold dinner in a few hours! If you enjoy sewing, crafting, or other projects, you won’t have the luxury of leaving your in-progress work lying around in spaces that do double- or often triple-duty (which is just about everywhere in a motorhome!)
Since you have less space in a motorhome than in a standard home, you may also need to plan more frequent trips to the store. Shopping trips, laundry days, and motorhome maintenance all need to be part of your schedule as you plan your adventures.
Benefits of the RV Lifestyle
Of course, while there are things to consider when you embrace the RV lifestyle, there are a lot of benefits to living life on the road! One of the biggest, of course, is that you get an opportunity to explore a lot more than people who live in stationary homes. If you want to avoid cold winter weather, plan a trip south! If you’re interested in national parks, or museums, or a particular area of the country, you can pack up and make your way there.
You can meet people from across the country. You’ll talk to people with many different points of view and see how people live in different areas.
You’ll also pare down your life in some ways. Instead of an overcrowded schedule, rushing from one activity to another, you’ll be free to focus on your family and the people you meet on the road. You’ll have fewer possessions, and you’ll likely live more cheaply (although there are some luxury RVs that rival home costs if that’s more your style!)
Even joining the RV lifestyle temporarily for a weeklong trip or other RV camping trip has benefits! You’ll have more room than if you were to stay at a hotel for a week. Also, if you want to visit several places on your trip, you won’t have to pack and unpack all of your belongings in each place. With an RV, you’ll need to pack up whatever you’ve left outdoors, bring in your slideouts if you have ’em, and you can be on your way with everything you need already onboard.
Finally, but certainly no less important – you can be much closer to nature when you live an RV lifestyle! Instead of opening your door onto a city street, you could open it onto a desert landscape, a forest glen, or a serene beach. You can choose to camp near hiking trails or rivers…and even if you do need to work remotely, you’ll have outdoor adventures close at hand when you’re done working for the day.
Exploring RV Parks and Camping
If you’re going to live the RV lifestyle, you’ll likely want to get familiar with RV parks and the different ways of RV camping. There are a variety of camping options for RVers, and you can look into privately-run RV parks, public campgrounds, boondocking, long-term RV campground communities, camping for a short time (usually just overnight) in some business parking lots, or camping for a short time in a friend or family member’s driveway. There are lots of possibilities!
What are RV Parks?
RV parks are privately owned campgrounds set up especially for RV travelers. Since they’re geared towards RVers, you have a good chance of finding RV-specific amenities like full hookups and dump stations at these RV parks. Many of them also have conveniences like showers and laundry facilities. More upscale RV parks and RV resorts have even more amenities, like pools, restaurants, lakes, or bicycle or boat rentals. Prices at RV parks will depend on several things including where the park is located and what amenities it offers. Some RV parks operate more like RV clubs as well, with memberships that allow you to stay at their parks. Examples of these clubs include Good Sam and Thousand Trails.
The Joy of RV Camping
Perhaps the best way to understand the joy of RV camping is to experience it yourself (don’t have an RV? RVshare is a great way to try out the experience without committing to buying one!) You’ll feel freedom and flexibility, and you’ll know the joy of ending evenings around a campfire with stars twinkling overhead. Of course, there will be challenges just like there are with anything worth doing in this life! But you’ll have an unforgettable adventure that many people in the country are never lucky enough to experience.
The Freedom of RV Travel
RV travel also gives you a freedom you don’t necessarily have in a standard home, or by traveling in other ways. If you wake up one morning and decide you like where you are, you can likely extend your stay there. Really dislike it? You can move on early! If you’re traveling with kids, you can even tailor your movements to things they’re interested in. Studying history? Take a trip to a National Park Service battlefield, or a national park like Gateway Arch or Mesa Verde. Interested in space? Head to Space Center Houston or the Kennedy Space Center. You can chase art museums, concerts, or a variety of interests all across the country in an RV.
Planning Your RV Travel
Of course, wandering wherever the wind takes you is appealing, but we do have to be practical. You have the freedom to go anywhere you want, but you do still need to eat and sleep and take care of mundane things. You may not want an exact, down-to-the-minute itinerary for your RV travels, but you do need an outline. How long will it take you to get to your next destination?
Keep in mind that driving an RV or hauling a trailer means you’re driving slower than most people on the road. You’ll also need time to pack up one campsite, and to set up camp when you get there. The number of miles you cover in a day is going to be different than other people. It will be based on how early you want to leave in the morning, your driving stamina, the roads you’re driving on (mountains will slow you down, for example!), whether you’re comfortable driving at night, and a variety of other factors. Along with your mileage being different from everyone else, it might be different for you on different days, too! You may be up for a long day after a few days of rest, or you may prefer several shorter days in a row.
As you plan your RV travel, you’ll also want to plan where and when you’ll stock up on supplies. Plan where you’ll get gas, when you need oil changes, and all of those tasks that keep things running smoothly.
Experiencing the Open Road with RV Travel
There’s a reason so many of us love getting out on the open road in our vehicles, headed for parts unknown (I even have a road trip playlist for just those occasions!). The fact that RVers often can’t speed by at the same rate as car drivers is an advantage, too. There’s time to stop in out-of-the-way places. There’s time to notice small turnoffs or local diners or a picnic area most people don’t know is there.
Embracing the RV Community
There are lots of ways to find and embrace the RV community! You will likely find an RV community at the RV parks and campgrounds where you stay. It’s not awkward or unusual to strike up a conversation with a camping neighbor while you’re setting up camp, or even to invite them for a glass of wine while you’re relaxing in front of your rig. You can also find an RV community online while you’re planning and researching your trips. People will have advice and helpful tips on just about everywhere you’re interested in going. Reaching out to them can give you a valuable resource! You can also attend meetups, RV shows, and other camping shows or events. Not only will you meet people who are as enthusiastic about RV travel as you are, you’ll learn about the latest innovations in RV travel. You can also go to seminars and demonstrations teaching you a number of different skills that are useful for RVing, and you can find possible places to travel as well.
FAQs About the RV Community
Hopefully, we’ve shared some helpful information on the importance of the RV community and how to get plugged in. But here are a few additional answers to common questions.
What are the advantages of RV life?
The advantages of RV life are many! You have the freedom to travel the country as you wish. You’ll have fewer possessions to worry about or maintain. You can meet new people from all different walks of life and have exciting adventures that people in brick-and-mortar homes just can’t experience.
Are RVs good for traveling?
RVs are good for traveling. RVs allow you to keep all of your things close at hand, and you won’t need to pack and unpack them at each new destination. They also allow you to have your own, comfortable bed, pillows, and bedding instead of taking your chances at various hotels. RVs also tend to be owned by people who love community and who are helpful, friendly, and ready to make new friends at each campsite.
Why do people go to RV parks?
People go to RV parks because they know they’ll get amenities like electric and sewer hookups. RV parks may also have hosts who are more familiar with the challenges of RVing. They might be able to recommend a mechanic if you need one. They may have service people who can detail or fix RVs and who just visit on a certain day each week. Finally, RV park hosts may also have events at the park to entertain and bring people together. You might try out a potluck at the clubhouse, or s’mores night at the main firepit, or you might find events planned for Halloween or the holiday season.
Why is RV life so popular?
RV life is popular because it gives people a freedom they may not feel in a stationary home. RV living is often less expensive than paying for a mortgage or rent and utilities and all the other costs of home. People can also move around a lot and explore many different areas. The increase in remote work is also responsible for RV life becoming more popular. As more and more people can work from the road, they’re able to keep a steady job and also explore the country.
Ready to join the RV community? Give it a try with an RV rental from RVshare!
