This summer, some families are trying to have it both ways. They’re on their way … en stay at home, explore public spaces while avoiding public bathrooms.
“Well, you take your house with you!” said RV enthusiast Chris Chambers.
One way to handle COVID-19 is to buy a recreational vehicle – an RV.
“It’s nice to know we can control the environment in which we live and not have to worry about whether something is sanitized or not,” said Mike Marlowe.
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With COVID, Shawn Taylor noted, “It brings a lot of people out.”
Outside, but not completely. “We are not really camping; we are not campers,” Bill Morace said outside his RV.
Sales of midrange motorhomes rose 90% in June, compared to last year, reports Kelefa Sanneh of The New Yorker magazine.
Gary Threlfall has owned Garick RV, New Jersey, for 36 years. Lately he’s seeing more first-time buyers, he says, because of the pandemic: “Just the fact that so many people come, call, email. It’s kind of their only choice, because an RV is a socially distant car is, a socially-distant vacation, and a way to bring or keep your family together. “
That kind of sales pitch has been around for over a hundred years. Historian Marguerite Shaffer notes that a wealthy couple from New York City, the Conklins, bought a bus. “They redesigned it into this kind of double-decker mobile home, and they rode across the land from New York to San Francisco,” she said.
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And sales really declined after World War II. “The middle class is expanding, and so, all of a sudden, you know, everyone’s on their way,” Shaffer said.
Everyone, including Lucille Ball. In the 1954 movie “The Long, Long Trailer”, she breaks a cardinal RV rule: If she drags a trailer, always drive forward.
“That’s really, I think, the exact moment where the RV becomes the perfect site for movie comedy,” Shaffer said, “where you are, as in this kind of confined space, and you work out your domestic problems.”
On the fate of Gary Threlfall, trailers start at around $ 15,000, but those are sold out early.
Of those still left, Sanneh observed, “Many of these do not look like what you might have imagined when you pictured a ’70s camper trailer.”
“They are not! They are, you know, 21st century,” Threlfall said.
It is not all 21st century. Yes, you get your own bed, but empty your own waste as well. How unpleasant in task is that? “You can empty your tanks without getting your hands dirty,” Threlfall said.
RV owner Maureen Morace said, “Our camper has amenities I did not have in my house!” Like, 45 feet of heated floors in the winter.
Threlfall showed Sanneh one model that offered such comforts as a tumble dryer, range, a hidden flat-screen TV, and a fireplace, along with reclining chairs.
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But it comes with a price tag: $ 162,000. Milen per gallon? Seven.
And someone has to do the driving. Steering a motorhome that is 36 feet long and eight feet wide (about the size of a city bus) does not require a special license, although first-timers need a little practice. And no rearview mirror!
“Something about this car encourages caution,” Sanneh said as he got behind the wheel – and cut a corner while making a turn. “That was my back, right? Aaarrghh !!”
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It’s not exactly an impulse purchase. Bill Morace said, “We are going to buy a second home in the country, in the mountains, and we decided instead to buy a motorhome, where our view can be what we want it to be.”
This year, many people have gathered at home, and some are ready to relocate.
“They could work and travel and see different things,” said Morace, “and there are no restrictions where you can go!”
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Story produced by Mary Raffalli. Editor: Emanuele Secci.
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