Editorial

Well folks, it's nearing the end of June and summer is here in full swing. We're seeing a season that seems much like any other before. We thought, that with the fuel prices at record highs, we would have full time RVing to ourselves. We thought that people would stay home this summer and make do, blaming the wicked oil monsters for ruining their children's vacations, but that's not the case.

The RV park we're calling home this summer is near Capitol Reef National Park. It's an older facility, but one of the nicer parks in the area. On the weekends, it's full. People come and spend the weekend enjoying their rigs and the outdoors. By Monday, it's cleared out with folks going home to work, but by Monday night, a different group – the traveling crowd – once again fill the park. That activity continues for the rest of the week until the next weekend when it starts all over again.

So what have fuel price increases done to this industry? As far as we can tell, people are still traveling. They may not be moving as much from day-to-day, preferring instead to stay in one place a bit longer, but they're out here, still enjoying all that RVing has to offer.

When you think about it, even with high fuel prices, RVing is still one of the best values for an inexpensive, high quality vacation. You can produce statistics that tell pretty much any story you want, and you can always find someone down on their luck to interview on the evening news, but in the end we're seeing people out enjoying life and traveling the country. It's unscientific, but it's our observation.

What about all the rigs for sale at rock bottom prices? People selling their rigs in almost panic fashion? Well folks, its the beginning of summer. That's the time to sell your rig. Look back at last year's want ads, and you'll find nearly the same spike in RV sales. Some of those people are trying to sell their rigs because they bought new ones. Others truly are panicked because they haven't done the math, haven't found that RVing is still a great way to vacation, and have bought into the panic.

One indicator that we are experiencing a bit of an economic slowdown is that the Europeans - who seem to flock to the Utah red rock country – are here for the summer in very strong numbers. Our experience is that they are usually here in large numbers, but they seem to be higher this year. A sure sign that the dollar has slipped a bit in the world market, and folks in other countries are taking advantage of cheap exchange rates for their money and making a trip to America. This is not new. It happens from time to time. When our dollar is strong, we do the same by going to their countries for our vacations.

So where's the industry headed? With a definite rise in fuel prices world wide, and all these big rigs sucking down the fuel, won't the industry be totally devastated? We're not analysts, and we're not economists. We're full time Rvers. Our only measure is what we observe, and what we hear when we walk about the park talking with the people who are out here RVing.

It's clear that higher fuel prices will weigh in at some point with the overall buying power of just about everyone. With higher fuel comes higher prices in just about every other part of your life, and because of that, nearly everyone's buying power will be diminished. It doesn't take a great deal of science to figure that out. But will it bring the RV industry to a halt? While it certainly will slow things down simply because it is sure to slow everything down, it doesn't seem to be dampening the spirit of the RV enthusiasts. They're still traveling, still enjoying the outdoors, and still sitting by their campfires at night, telling stories about the wicked oil monsters lurking in the woods.

Don Fink, Editor
RV Adventure Magazine