If you put together all the RV owners in America, they would comprise the fourth largest city in the nation. So said former Colorado Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell when he recently urged his fellow American Indians to open RV parks on their reservations. According to a recent study, more baby boomers now own RVs than any other age group. Today’s typical RV owner is 49 years old, married, and owns a home without wheels as well. Ten percent of people age 55 and older own an RV. Many military retirees who are opting to hit the road have discovered there are many benefits and perks to the wheeled life.

“My wife and I thought long and hard about this lifestyle,” says CWO3 Stewart J. Moyer, USA-Ret., about his decision to live full-time in an RV. The couple found their experience in the military — with 13 moves during 17 years of active duty — prepared them for the nomadic lifestyle. “As a retired Army [family], we were used to keeping our stuff to a minimum,” says Moyer. “Add to that the military parks throughout the country, [and that] makes this a great life.”

CWO3 Dave Langlois, USN-Ret., and his wife began RVing with a small trailer in 1991 after he retired. The couple now live with one child in a 37-foot fifth-wheel trailer with 300 square feet of living space. They’ve logged about 12,000 miles, having visited 30 states on their trek to see all the lower 48.

“Having a new view out the back window every week and meeting new folks every week has been great,” says Langlois. “We’re also trying to figure out where we might want to drop the anchor some day!”

David Woodworth is a Coast Guard veteran who loves the RV life and has studied its history. He traces RV use back to such luminaries as Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone. Like Langlois, he likes to mention the view from an RV. After all, there’s nothing like “watching the sun come up on the lake in the Adirondacks.” Woodworth also notes the practicality of RV ownership. “A lot of people, instead of buying a cabin at the lake, buy an RV and take it to the lake.”

RVs come in many forms but fall into two main categories: towable and motorized. Towables include camping trailers, truck campers, and travel trailers. Prices for new units run between $4,000 and $65,000. Motorized units can range in size from the upgraded cargo van to the luxury “bus” type. They start at about $50,000 new, and they can even go as high as nearly half a million dollars. Annual RV sales overall average nearly $14 billion.

Military perks

A recent study by PFK Consulting found that a family vacation in an RV is “on average 26 percent to 74 percent less expensive than other types of vacations.” For military RVers, there are even more perks.

“One of the benefits we have as retired military is the ability to take our benefit packages with us,” says CWO5 James Whitney, ANG-Ret. “With a little patience it isn’t hard to transfer TRICARE. With today’s automatic deposit of funds, ATMs, debit cards, and online bill paying and bank statements, finances are a piece of cake.”

Another bonus for military RVers is the more than 225 military RV and camping locations. A good example of such a facility is Kirtland AFB’s FamCamp in Albuquerque, N.M. Operational clerk Janet Marchi says about 80 percent of the people who stay at her facility are retirees. Many of FamCamp’s guests are just traveling through or visiting the area and are delighted with the $15-a-night full-hookup fee (local fees can run as much as $75 off base for a large family with a big rig). Other guests stay on a more long-term basis, such as an Air Force major who is attending helicopter school.

Maj. Amos D. Giron, USA-Ret., is a regular at FamCamp. Though he lives in Taos, N.M., he travels about once a month to the nearby VA hospital in Albuquerque. He calls his 30-foot RV his “mini home away from home” that saves him money while he’s in Albuquerque receiving medical treatments. He doesn’t pull his trailer back home each time he returns, though; he stores it at one of Kirtland AFB’s three storage areas for RVs.

The RV lifestyle clearly offers a unique set of cost-saving benefits. But with fuel costs so high these days, those considering the lifestyle might wonder if increasing prices are dimming the future of RVing. Not according to a recent survey by the Recreation Vehicle Industry of America (RVIA). The survey, taken just after Hurricane Katrina, when gasoline prices were hovering around $3 a gallon, showed that seven out of 10 respondents still planned to travel in the coming season in their RVs, though they were planning to take shorter trips and stay longer at their destinations.

When Giron considers the cost-savings of his frequent stays at Kirtland’s FamCamp, he weighs them against the high cost of fuel. “You start saving the minute you turn off the ignition,” he says.

Earning on the road

For some, the RV lifestyle can go hand in hand with earning an income. When Maj. Tom Skinner, USA-Ret., sold his home and went on the road in 2000, he and his wife, JoAnn, supported themselves with jobs obtained through an organization called Workampers, which offers RVers seasonal, part-time, or full-time job opportunties.

“We love the people [we meet] and our chosen lifestyle,” says Skinner. “We have done such jobs as hosting, security, housekeeping, landscaping, gardening, and gate tending, just to mention a few.” Working at a park in Branson, Mo., according to Skinner, also provided perks like discount or free tickets to shows. Another Workamper, Capt. Paul LaBarge, USMC-Ret., says he’s worked alongside many other retired military officers. “Being a retired military officer provides one big advantage,” says LaBarge. “It allows us to be very selective in the jobs we apply for, mainly because of our retirement pay and other perks of military retirement [like] health insurance.”

Opportunities for volunteering also are available for RVers. Many who volunteered to help in Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath, for instance, were retirees with RVs. Other groups, such as the faith-based “Sojourners,” travel in caravans to provide assistance to youth camps and financially strapped churches.

Like the networks for finding jobs and volunteer opportunities, there are many more resource organizations for all aspects of the RV life. Many RVers belong to support organizations such as RVIA, which provides general information about RVing. Another, called Escapees, provides guidance, support, mail forwarding, and even medical assistance. Special Military Active Retired Travel (S*M*A*R*T) Club has 3,000 members and caters specifically to retired servicemembers, offering regional rallies, caravans, a magazine, and information about campgrounds at military installations.

There is a great big community of RVers out there. The lifestyle may not be for everybody, especially retirees who want a community where they can put down roots. But a growing number of older Americans are just as happy with their wheels.