The RV lifestyle (RV stands for recreational vehicle) is made up of those interested in traveling and camping rather than living in one location, as well as by vacationers. Some of these people are called snowbirds. They travel south during the winter months in their RV and return in spring. This is also known as snowbirding. There is also a large segment of younger people who participate in the RV lifestyle. Those who live in an RV are known as fulltimers and live H.O.W. (Houses On Wheels) in comparison to those who live primarily in a house and are known as slabbers or part-timers. There is another subculture of the RV lifestyle known as workampers, these are people that work at the campgrounds/rv parks they stay at for site and perks. [1]. You can learn more about this kind of life style by reading journals of those who travel in RVs. One such journal shows what it is like to travel then boondock each night. Another journal tells what it's like to combine working full time while living nearby in an RV resort. “RV” redirects here. ... Car camping is camping in a tent, but nearby the car for easier access and for supply storage. ... The term Snowbird is used to describe Canadians and people from the Pacific Northwest, Northeast or Midwestern United States who spend a large portion of winter in warmer locales such as Arizona, Florida, or elsewhere along the Sunbelt region of the southern United States, areas of the Caribbean, and even...

In Australia these retired travellers are called "grey nomads". They usually travel north in winter in their RVs to catch the warmer weather and return south for spring and summer. Some "grey nomads" have sold their homes choosing to travel on a continuous basis.

Grey Nomads (GNs) are commonly defined as elderly travellers who spend extended holidays, or part of their retirement, travelling an area by motor vehicle (Carter, 2002; Golik, 1999). Carter (2002, p33) reported that GNs are identified because they exhibit common traits that are observable in both a physical and behavioural sense. These include being independent; undertaking self-learning and exploration; and seeking adventure and new experiences in natural settings. Westh (2001, p77) defines GNs in the Australian context as “retirees who travel around the country each year in caravans and motor homes”.

Grey Nomads should be more accurately defined as resulting from an innovative and uniuqe consumer behaviour research contribution that was undertaken in Australia by Mandy Pickering (2004) as:

Long-term travellers, who by travelling around Australia, look to realise their identity that is driven by a focused desire to attain freedom that is defined in both a physical and psychological sense that occurs over time and is considered an ongoing and continual dynamic process that is hinged upon the integration of their values, behaviours and culture being embedded in the social processes they engage in.

Walker (2002, p.1) suggested that travel undertaken by GNs is used as a “means to extends one’s identity” by “travelling slowly in mobile homes and caravans around Australia”. Contrarily Pickering’s study (2004, p89) reported “Travel consolidated rather than extended the informants identity”. McClelland (2000, p.26) reported there is a growing ‘cultural phenomenon’ and that GNs “who go off the beaten track” (Lawson, 2002) are being targeted by tourist commissions all over Australia.

• • • Pickering, M.K. (2004). Towards and understanding of the Grey Nomad consumer. Honours Thesis. Edith Cowan University, Western Australia. Contact author at m.pickering.ecu.edu.au for a copy if desired)***

Media campaigns have focused on travel being undertaken by caravan and campervan within Australia to encourage domestic tourists to explore the interior and remote regions of Australia, particularly activities simular to those that GNs like to undertake, in recognition of the size of the market (McClelland, 2000) .

The nearest American counterpart to the GN was classified by Jobes (1984) as the ‘seasonal traveller’ looking to travel full-time, or who may have rejected, full-time travel after trying it. Counterparts in North America have been reported by Sullivan and Stevens (1982) and Krout (1983). Mainly studies (e.g. Born, 1976; Mings & McHugh, 1995; McHugh & Mings, 1992; Mings, 1997) have concentrated on the North American and Canadian ‘snowbird’ phenomenon which offers a different category to the GN (McClelland, 2000) and therefore these studies offer little insight.

Pearce (1999) studied the senior self drive tourist market and Chalmers (2000) advised that ‘full-timers’ stated they were not on holidays, nor tourists. Australian studies are limited that document the seasonal traveller, with the exception of Jobes (1984), McClelland (2000) and Pickering (2004). Mobility of seniors to warmer areas of Australia has been reported by McPherson (1991), again with a large void existing in the Australian academic and antedoltal literature.

A number of existing studies have findings that are similar about GNs. These include: McClelland (2000), Chalmers (2000), McPherson (1991), Sullivan and Stevens (1982), Krout (1983), Muller and O’Çass (2002), Counts and Counts (1997), Bricker and Kerstetter (2001), Jenkins and McIntyre (2001), Sinha and Blaydon (2001), Jobes (1984) and Pickering (2004). Anecdotal literature also provides content that is similar. These include: Lawson (2002), The Age (2004), New Dimensions (2003) Grey Nomads (1997), Campervan and Motorhome Club of Australia (2003) and The Bulletin (2004).

McClelland’s (2000) and Pickering’s (2004) studies determined that GNs psychological needs fitted into the framework of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and that their travel needs met those put forward by Fernandez (1983). The GNs of McClelland’s study reported observing GNs undertaking camping on public land campsites. In Born’s US study (1976) he concluded that those using public land campsites did so due to the lack of the means to pay and that free-camping or boon docking, was used as a means to save money (Counts & Counts; 1997). McClelland (2000) identified the need to undertake study to investigate and identify why this there-to-unidentified group of GNs undertook this activity, and more importantly their motives. McClelland (2000) reported a lack of understanding of the core values of GNs in his, and other studies, and noted this was an area of research requiring to be undertaken as little was known about the ‘what’ they are (McClelland, 2000).

In resolution of McClelland’s challenge, Pickering (2004) undertook to study the ‘other’ GNs that McClelland’s study (2000) had reported and identified a culture of values for this study’s group of GNs and found them to be: i. “Ethos of sharing ii. Privacy and independence; and iii. Observation of nature’s clock (Pickering, 2004, p76)”

Contrasting findings to McClelland’s (2000) existing research were identified. These included that:

i. Caravan parks were mainly considered unattractive and over regulated unless informants were able to duplicate their eco-camping behaviours. The informants’ preferences were for unstructured campsites

ii. Issues of fear and security were not raised in relation to free camping in roadsides, rest stops or undertaking bush camping

iii. Free camping was not undertaken solely due to a lack of economic means, but rather, was the preference of informants

iv. Travel was undertaken both interstate and intrastate; and

v. Travel consolidated rather than extended the informants identity (Pickering, 2004, p89).

In addition to this, Pickering’s study (2004, p90) identified several important points that had hereto been negated from the literature, but it is not know if these can be generalised to the GN population. These included that:

i. GNs could be considered a separate....group whose attitudes, self-concepts and philosophy were expressed in the....GNs behaviours and values

ii. GNs used a two-layered consideration when talking about their travel behaviours. These were physical behaviours undertaken that were directed by psychological cognition as to the meaning of these behaviours. The satisfaction of travel was derived from the intangibility of the experience itself and was expressed in terms of both the goal of travel and benefits gained from travel. The expectations of travel were high, as travel was considered to be of a continual and on-going form which was considered as an expression of the GN lifestyle

iii. GNs consider themselves to be united as a group in terms of culture

iv. Lifestyle explained and determined the GN sense of self. The GNs identified that their behaviours and the outcomes of these behaviours allowed them to achieve their desired lifestyle

v. The GN culture was one that was a highly cohesive collective society that promoted low individualism where the participants collected experiences by undertaking their travels and behaviours. Self-image was based on in-group activities, in-group opinions and in-group interests.

vi. Reported traits expressed normative behaviours and collective identity and values of the group. The culture of the GN being based on the assumption of undertaking distributive justice that was both inter-actinal and procedural in nature; and

vii. The GNs were looking to consolidate their identity by identity congruence. This congruence defined the group in terms of a sociological system where mobility was the central concern that linked GNs over geographical distances. Consolidation of identity was a continually dynamic rather than static process which directed GN behaviours. GNs behaviours being embedded in the social relationships they engaged in

While academic literature aggregates GNs, Pickering’s study (2004) firmly established that the GNs of her study had originally migrated from those GN who solely remained in caravan parks and strongly recommended that “this required investigation as to whether GNs belong to a larger as yet unidentified group (Pickering, 2004, p92).”

While many RVers may be retirees, other individuals and families are choosing RV travel as a way to see parts of the world while maintaining their incomes via technology available from the RV (such as internet, phone, fax, etc.).

Some choose to stay in Wal-Mart parking lots to save money. These are otherwise known as RV friendly Wal-Marts (but ask the store manager before you do this). Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ...

There is a growing community of Burners (Burning Man participants) who have taken recreational vehicles and modified them so as to fit their beliefs. The conversion of old schoolbuses to this end is popular. A subculture are taking old diesel vehicles and using biodiesel or waste vegetable oil in them, in order to be more environmentally friendly. The event is named after its Saturday night ritual, the burning of a wooden effigy. ... This article is about transesterified plant and animal oils. ... Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) is vegetable oil that has become unfit for food preparation. ...

See also

• Recreational vehicle
• RV park