How to live the RV Lifestyle in turbulent and unsettled times

By Bob Difley

Two Fridays ago the stock market fell to its lowest point this year, then rallied the following Monday to regain the losses, resembling a yo-yo more than a retirement investment stategy. Bank failures and massive debt from Spain, Greece, Portugal, and Italy threaten to send the EU into another recession, endangering the Euro as the common European currency.

American partisan political bickering and head-in-the-sand politicians prevent even the most benign of bills from making their way through Congress, and jobs are hard to come by, wages are down, and the economic growth forecast for the next few years is modest at best.

Add to that the newest finding by an international panel of 22 scientists and researchers from five countries that population growth, carbon dioxide from fossil fuels, decreasing sea life populations, rising shorelines foretelling the engulfment of coastal populations, and a seemingly endless list of the earth’s problems (tornadoes, hurricanes, drought, wildfires) attributable to climate change will require huge expenditures from already cash-strapped and struggling governments to invest in infrastructure,  energy creation, and myriad other measures to solve earth’s crises. Does it leave you wondering what will come along next to threaten our very existence on this fragile planet?

Fortunately, when times are tough–as they are now and will likely continue–we RVers (humbly admitting to be some of the wisest, most innovative, and adaptive of the human species) rank near the top of the list for survival options, at the same time learning how not to diminish the enjoyment of our RV Lifestyle. With our instant ease of mobility and plentiful choice of living options RVers have several ways to beat off the intimidating dragons that raise their fire-breathing heads obstructing our road forward.

Consider a financial crisis, causing a loss of wealth (market crash) or income (job loss, pension cuts). Much of what we think of as essential for the enjoyment of life is actually an embedded habit. If you come from a life where a servant served you eggs Benedict in bed every morning,  you might think that  scrambling up your own couple of eggs with onions, red peppers, and mushrooms a severe setback to your creature comforts.

And if you have always stayed in 4-star RV resorts with wifi, putting green, and cable TV, your idea of a setback might be staying in a boondocking, no hookup campsite, in a national forest where the entertainment consisted of the scenic setting, visiting birds and wildlife, hiking trails, and near silence–except for the afternoon wind rustling the needles of surrounding pine trees.

Switching from eggs Benedict to cooking your own eggs and from RV resorts to boondocking in the forest, in reality, is not so much a downgrade in your lifestyle as a redefining and re-matching of real world situations with optional living possibilities and opportunities–and developing some new habits and acquiring a few new tastes.

In the following weeks of Saturday posts I will look at many of these options and what we RVers can do to ease our way into a turbulent and changing world while still enjoying–and possibly improving on–our wonderful RV Lifestyle.

For more RVing tips take a look at my Healthy RV Lifestyle website, where you will also find my ebooks: BOONDOCKING: Finding the Perfect Campsite on America’s Public Lands (PDF or Kindle), 111 Ways to Get the Biggest Bang for your RV Lifestyle Buck (PDF or Kindle), and Snowbird Guide to Boondocking in the Southwestern Deserts (PDF or Kindle).