What got you started into RVing and kept you here.

[van-gogh]

The question, which has been on my mind for years having started our RVing in 2002. For years my wife and I would never want to leave our pet as she was truly very much a part of our family. Year after year we would stay home, until one day we were out with friends who were into the 5th wheeler side of RVing. We looked into renting, but that did not workout and then we found our first RV a Forest River, Reflection model. After a few RV shows and learning from ours what was good, we fell in love with our 2006 Winnebago Tour 36'. Looking back I recall the fun sides of motor homing with a smile not knowing where to stop other than a Wal-Mart parking lot and finding some parks which kept us up most of the night. Rving was not at all like a car on the open road, finding a hotel and hitting the bed was about it for traveling. No RVing is another world completly, you truly get into it. After morning coffee we hit the road and drive until about two hours before dark finding a campsite along our way. I recall once that we had only been RVing for about a year when a older man watching me set-up camp was seating looking everything over as I went through each step. At the end he walked up to me and asked how long I had been RVing? A year now with a ring of pride in my voice replied, He then very nicely informed me of somethings I may want to change by saying son..."You should let the air out of your shocks before you lower your jacks. Looking at my RV I saw that my bottom step was almost a foot off the ground. Thanks I replied and a few other things were not completely seen. Using a faster disconnect on the water holes was even a bigger help. You may want to make one turn on the pull down window covers, which helped to cut down on passing wind noise. Now we truly love our Motor home, meeting new friends, fishing, cooking on the grill, and find wonderful fun camping Parks. So our pet has passed on but we do enjoy our Winnebago, Tour which has kept us into the world of RVing. So what got you started into RVing and what has kept you here. I do want to know

[diandtom]

A friend came by to see us with their TT. We also had some bad experiences with motel rooms. So between the two we bought a TT off of Ebay in 2002. We did have a cabover on a pickup when the kids were younger that we used for a few years. We have not been sorry we got into RVing
Tom

[tmar10]

I would assume my first introduction into RVing was because Mom and Dad were afraid to leave my brothers and me alone at home. Our family transitioned from tents, to pop-up, TT, Class B, Class C and then a class A after all the kids were gone. Betty and I picked up the slack in 2005 with a 40' toy hauler to haul the bikes before moving up to the Bounder.

[TTT1953]

As our two boys were growing up, I went tenting with them and friends several times a year. My bride would on very rare occassion go along. As the boys outgrew camping with Dad, I talked about missing camping. In Feb. of 1993 I dragged her to a camping show. She pointed at a Coleman pop up and told me if we had something like that she would love to go with me. One hour later we owned it. One year later we owned our first 5th wheel, 19 foot ultralite. Six months later we had a 23 foot Salem 5th wheel. Five years later a 29 foot Salem 5th wheel. Six years later we had a 33 foot Everest 5th wheel and last year we made the move into our motorhome. Some people may think we wasted a lot of money by changing rv's so often, but we don't regret a single move. After all, a pop up is all you ever need, but it was nowhere near all we ever wanted. We've traveled through a great deal of this fantastic nation and made a lot of friends. We have grown even closer as friends than we ever were and we can't imagine the day when we can no longer go on the road.

Every day is a good day! Some are better than others.

[GaryKD]

Our kids were the reason we got into RVing. I traveled a lot and knew, first hand, what a great country this is to see with one's own eyes. We purchased a new 1978 Winnebago Brave. Took the kids to all the lower 48 states, southern Canada and northern Mexico.

We are now doing the same thing with our grand kids (no Mexico). This time we hope to include Alaska.

It takes about 10 years to do all this so each summer is pretty much planed out for an entire decade!

[LVJ58]

Before retiring in 1993, DW and I talked about what we would do after retirement. We decided our retirement years would offer a great opportunity for us to travel and explore different places in the US and Canada.

We thought the best way to do so would be in an RV and began soliciting opinions from friends who already owned RV's of various types. We finally concluded regardless of the type, we would ultimately need to tow something, so we decided a class "A" would best suit our RV'ing life style.

Our friends suggested we rent before buying to see if we would like a particular type of RV. As usual I ignored the suggestions and in 1995 bought our first coach, a 1984 34.5 ft class "A" Airstream.

We weren't disappointed with our decision and quickly discovered how much we enjoyed the RV lifestyle.

October of 1999 we traded our first coach in on the one we presently have and although not full-timers we still enjoy our travels and the wonderful folks we meet along the way.

Wishing all many fun, safe and trouble free journeys,

[Meandering Retiree]

We started with a pickup camper in 1971. It was cheap traveling, $2.75 to $3.25 a night for camping and gas at $0.189 to $0.329 a gallon and 9 mpg. We traveled all around the country and enjoyed it. We used pop ups when the children were young and drug them everywhere. When they left we started using Travel Trailers until we changed to a motor home. We try to travel 5 to 7 months a year, going back to those states that we really enjoyed. We did motel it for awhile with the children and they suggested that we buy another pop up as they said that campgrounds were friendlier than people in the motel. This enabled us to take longer trips and see more as it cost less. RVing is the only way to go!

[Jim Stewart]

When I was 7 years old, my Dad rented a pop-up Nimrod trailer and our family spent a week in Northern Michigan camping. I was hooked! I tent camped a lot as a teenager and even used to stay in a park and travel back and forth to work during my high school summers.

When I got married, my DW and I started with a tent, graduated to a pop-up, then on to a travel trailer, finally buying a weekend cabin. It just wasn't the same.

My career started and I became a slave to better and bigger jobs, until I finally owned my own company. When I grew tired and burnt out on the 12 hour / 7 day weeks and decided to sell my business, my wife said what would you do when you retire, I said buy a motorhome and travel fulltime. The next week, I ordered a Newmar Mountainaire. We traveled and lived in the MH for the next 4 years.

Again, I became tired of the quiet and we went to Florida, sold the MH and started a new business. Now it's time to hang up my suits for the last time. Can you guess what we are going to do! Maybe not fulltime, but many months a year.

Ah I long for those early summer mornings with the smell of fresh mowed grass, getting your feet wet in the dew, the smell of bacon cooking on someone's camp stove and the taste of coffee from a percolater on the coleman stove. They say you can't go back, WATCH ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BZam]

We are probably representative of large part of the RV community.

My wife became rather disabled and by 1990 we bought an RV so she could travel across country and visit family and attend reunions. From there we quickly progressed into RV rallies and clubs.

This gave her a new life and while she had a 5 year period where she did not RV, she is back now!

Not only can a disabled person be able to travel, they also find others in same boat who they can socialize and relate with.

We now have many close friends from our RV life.

Bob

[beaverjim]

after selling our business in michigan in 97 and moving to punta gorda fl. we continued doing the boat thing. we've always enjoyed offshore go fast type boats so florida fit the bill. on an average week we would spend about 4 days on the water. then some friends came down from mi for a visit and purchase a new motorhome, well dw and i had never set foot in a mh, wow! were we suprised. we went down to the motorhome store within the month and purchased a new 2001 discovery, well the 38 ft scarab sat in the lift for the next 6 months, decided we didn't need it anymore! traded the the discovery in one yr. later on our present beaver and never boated again. next we decided we didn't need a house anymore since we never wanted to go home. i'll try to cut this short, so after wandering around in the motorhome for a little over 4 yrs we decided to get back to work and bought a business in northern mi. brrrrr! which entailed another stick house. so i figure about 2 to 3 more yrs and that should do it and hopefully god willing we will hit the road fulltime for as many yrs as were comfotable with! happy rv'ing to all jim & sue

[RV Wizard]

It was getting very difficult to continue to go camping when in the morning I woke up barley able to move; a combination of the hard ground and my arthritis. Thought that a pop up camper with a bed would make it possible to get away and enjoy nature. I found out that the pop up was not for me and so after a year sold it and bought our first class A. Now we are on our third class A and have lived in it for over 6 years as we traveled around and worked as we went. We just recently moved out and bought a house in the area we are now working and plan to for quite a while. We have kept the motor home; it has been very dependable and good to us. We do not regret selling out and doing what we have done. We hope to do it again one day in the future. The wife and I are both kept in this lifestyle not only because of the fun, meeting new people and seeing new things but are also working in the industry.

[Bert_64]

Started camping when I was 8 Months old. The folks had a VW with a Sears pop-up they got new for $399. As time went by they upgraded to a Class A. After we got married we started all over as they did, from tent to pop-up, then Class C then Class A. Over the years I have had so much fun, I had to make sure that our kids did to. They love it. Fun is it, that is what got us into it. Comfort allows us to stay

[smlranger]

I was a Boy Scout and got into camping through that activity. When I got married, I talked the wife into camping. We tent camped for a couple of years, then started sleeping in the back of the pick up with a shell. Stopped camping for a few years then decided to start up again with a Palomino pop up. Then two travel trailers until we put our last TT on a permanent site at Smith Mountain Lake. We sold the TT when we bought home at the lake. Did not 'camp' for about 10 years. Got a gas motorhome then traded that for our current DP.

Like many, we have always had a dog so the RV makes traveling with the fur kid much more easy. We love the lifestyle and have seen many beautiful places and met many nice people.

[Chickadee]

Morning ALL:

What got us started?? Well we could say it was due to friends of ours who had already retired, sold their home and had hit the road in their 5er. But, the real decision maker had to do with the joyous feeling we both experienced when heading out on those 2 or 3 week vacation trips from our jobs. We still fondly recall those motivating moments when, after jumping in our pre packed conversion van around 5 or 6 pm on the last work day before vacation, we'd drive in the direction we'd elected to tour, grinning broadly at each other and excitedly looking forward to exploring where we were heading. Personally, I think the clinching moment actually occurred about 8 or 9 a.m., somewhere West of Fargo, N.D., heading out on a 3 week trip toward Glacier, Banff, etc. We'd left work the evening before and drove from Duluth, MN to Fargo area. Stayed in a little campground near Fargo, and headed West just as the morning sun was coming up behind us. It was one of those magical, sparkling, June mornings!! Somewhere West of Fargo, we stopped on a side road next to a vast field of sunflowers we'd been seeing, and, just HAD to get a picture of. THAT moment, with the morning sun just up, the beautiful blue sky, and that endless field of sunflowers all around was THE EVENT that guided up toward eventually selling all the "stuff", the house, buying our rig and hitting the road full time when we retired in 05.. AND..
it's been better than anticipated ever since.

Steve & Lynette