Hi: Just reading TIME ( Canadian Edition) Nov. 19th. On the road again... Americans are taking up full-time residences in luxury RVs. I know that there are RVs and then there are Luxo RVs but "GLASSERS" must be in there somewhere!!! According to K.O.A. 400,000 people are full timers. Country Coach posted a 22% increase in sales of units $550,000 or more. $9 million was spent on a RV Museum in Elkhart IND. Even fuel prices do little to dampen the enthusiasum of full-timers. "This is the ideal American subculture; it's the way everyone would like it to be," says Howard Payne. He traded a 5 bedroom house in Louisville, KY. for a 400sq. ft. motorhome in 2005.
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

Some thoughts:

First, trading from a five bedroom house down to a 400 sq foot anything would be worth it just for the reduction in house cleaning.

Second, "Sorry kids, we don't have a spare bedroom anymore."

Third, "Hey, kids, why don't you get some private time while we take the grands for a week while we're in San Diego."

There are advantages . . .

--P

I read that also Alf. Another article i read today is that the firm that makes Airstreams has said that sales are down and they suggest a possible recession ahead

Hi: Someone once said... a recession is when your neighbour loses his job...a depression is when you lose your job!!! Airstream on the other hand could be in trouble due to the aluminium problems they seem to be having!!! Fiberglass seems to stand the test of TIME
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

I sometimes have to laugh at the assumption that FullTimers are always traveling and using large amounts of fuel. Many just move a few times a year, preferring to live in a small home that they can move occasionally. During some of my FullTiming years I put about the same mileage on the truck as before I hit the road. Instead of driving to the grocery store, I would stop in one on my way to the next campground.

Check out the aerial photos of Quartzsite AZ in and out of the high season for RVs.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0101/feature6/

I had a chance to talk to a full timer in Oregon. He spent a year restoring a 60 something diesel bus. (he did a fabulous job.)

I asked him how many miles he put on the bus in a year. He astonded me with his answer. He put on his bus each year half as much as I put on my car each year when I was an outside salesman for a large print shop; he traveled 20,000 miles.

He and his wife’s theme was to travel from Basque restaurant to Basque restaurant, trying to eat at every one in North America. He had some very interesting stories.