On Clearance: The Mother of all Gas Guzzlers

You can call it a home-on-wheels, or a vacation-on-wheels, but soon I think it will become a relic-on-wheels. With the advent of the environmental movement, a deep recession, and the volatility of gas prices, the RV is in trouble. Big time.

RV shipments in the first quarter fell 63 percent since the same time last year, according to the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association. Elkhart, Ind., which is the RV manufacturing capital, is dying because of the fall-off in business. Jobs hemorrhaged from this city earlier this year, with the unemployment rate spiking to nearly 11 percent. All because consumers are not purchasing RVs anymore.

But if you want to be like Warren Schmidt (one of my favorite film characters of all-time) and take your retirement on the road then now couldn’t be a better time to cash in on some big wheels, according to this article. And with gas prices being low for now, a family can still have a fun, low-cost vacation in one of these bad boys. A “staycation” can be appealing for so long.

I wrote last week about hitting the road and seeing the country. Pulling up to an RV camp, seeing the beauty of a national park, meeting some interesting characters, it all sounds like a good time to me. But filling up the gas tank would not be. But maybe there will be an RHV (Recreational Hybrid Vehicle) one day.