Rent is high. So are taxes. Solution? More Texans are choosing life on the road in RVs

Joy Anderson drove around for days — there was nowhere to go.

Dating an oil rigger came with a life on the road, and the pair had decided that their life together would be spent in an RV because of its ease with work and travel.

But in Tarrant County nine years ago, there were few parks and hardly any availability. As the couple searched for a spot, they kept hitting walls.

Some RV parks had wait lists. Some didn’t have any room at all.

Hope was almost lost as their final day in the area closed out and the couple began to head back to West Texas. Then Anderson saw a sign advertising Gallagher Acres RV Park.

Back then, the park off FM 1187 wedged between Benbrook and Fort Worth had only 12 spots. But a woman at the office told Anderson she had one for her and her now-fiance.

Anderson remembers replying: “We’ll be there tomorrow.”

Flash forward to today, and Gallagher Acres has more than 100 spots for RVs. And Anderson, now the park’s manager, still calls it home.

More than 11.2 million people across the country own an RV, and 400,000 choose to live in them full time, according to the RV Industry Association.

Those like Anderson have made an executive decision. They think establishing residence, and transience, for the long haul in an RV is the best way to go.

Each person living long term at Gallagher Acres has a story and a reason for coming to stay.

“I don’t have property taxes,” said Kelly Stewart, who “snowbirds” at the park with her husband and travels around to national parks in the other months. “I don’t have to worry about if I don’t like my neighbors, I can up and move. If I don’t like the weather, I can up and move. If I want to go somewhere because I have family that’s sick, I don’t have to worry about anybody taking care of my pets, because they’re coming with me.”

Anderson says most of the RVers at the park are there for the long term. The youngest resident is 21. The oldest is a 95-year-old World War II veteran.

There are members of the military waiting for their next assignment. There are firemen and policemen.

Then there are people like Anderson, who just love being there.

“I’ve had friends like, ‘How can you live in this little bitty house?’” Anderson said. “You don’t think about it. It’s home.”

Who’s RVing?

In Fort Worth, people making a transition to full time RVing is on the rise.

At least according to Kevin White, who’s worked at United RV off Airport Freeway for 30 years.

That’s thanks to the pandemic. When it hit, people realized they could take their work on the road and see the country. The demand soared as the RV industry struggled to keep up with supply chain issues, White said.

The people who choose RVs as long-term residences generally want to travel, said Monika Geraci, spokesperson of the RV Industry Association. There are retirees who wanted to see the country, or families who decided to take advantage of a transition to virtual learning during the pandemic and take their kids on the road to explore parks and monuments.

As soon as the supply chain caught back up from that pandemic boom, though, the demand for RVs went down.

Nationwide, wholesale RV shipments are on the decline. The RV Industry Association attributes that to fewer people deciding to make large purchases.

“Historically this is a luxury item that people just use every other weekend or whenever,” White said.

White has worked with people who plan to RV for a year or two and move back into a permanent spot. He’s also worked with people who travel for work and need an RV to make their lives easier.

Over the past six months, though, White says more people have come in to purchase RVs, citing the rising cost of living as the reason.

“You see the people that have apartments and the apartment rents are now sky high,” White said. “Instead of paying $1,500 for an apartment rent month after month, they can put their money in an RV with a $500 payment or less and save money — you know, they’ll have to rent a spot — but they’re coming out better and they’re putting money into an RV.”

And of the people purchasing RVs, Geraci has also seen a new trend — buyers are getting younger, and they’re becoming more diverse.

The median age to buy an RV used to be 53. It dropped to 41 in 2021, and to 32 in 2022, Geraci said.

Anderson thinks the reason more people are moving into RVs comes down to cost of living and flexibility. She finds more people are coming to Gallagher Acres and asking just how long they can stay.

“Long as you wish, as long as you behave yourself,” Anderson jokes.

Why Gallagher Acres?

To find Gallagher Acres, you have to do a bit of searching.

Wind down FM 1187 past the fireworks stands and take a left on Ben Day Murrin Road in unincorporated Tarrant County, and you’ll find the RV park tucked among single family homes. The park used to be home to clusters of mobile homes before it converted into what it is today.

As Anderson whizzes past each home in a golf cart one hot morning, each RV comes to life.

Some have custom porches attached to the side by the door. Others have plants and fenced areas for their pets to run. One man staying at Gallagher Acres keeps a translucent tent outside his RV to watch the TV he has hooked to its side.

There’s even a house sitting in the middle of the park. The people living inside stay there with no issue, and even participate in the Yard of the Month competition where residents can win $100 off their monthly stay.

Gallagher Acres runs its shop like a hotel. For long-term stayers, a month at an uncovered spot runs about $600. A covered spot costs a little more at $900.

The park has a gym and clubhouse where residents sometimes pop in to use the full-sized kitchen, do laundry, take a shower or participate in Bible study on Tuesdays.

Those who come to stay aren’t “tenants.” They’re guests.

And Anderson welcomes them in with open arms. Alongside her dog Rocco, a Chihuahua Yorkie mix with a chestnut mustache that stretches past his tiny face, she runs the job like a friend.

Stewart and her husband, originally from the Greenville area, sold their ranch, cattle and horses to move into their 38-foot 2019 Durango with their two dogs and two cats as soon as their kids finished school in May 2019.

They’ll travel around to state parks mostly. But they needed a home base.

The couple originally intended to stay at Gallagher Acres for a weekend. The community kept them coming back for the past four years.

Their latest stint at the park has lasted four months.

“They make you feel like you’re at home and family, you’re not just another person, another payment,” Stewart said. “That’s what sets the bar and that’s what keeps people when they decide they want to short term turn in the long term, from what we found out.”

John Head used to live in a Fort Worth duplex before he hit the road three years ago in his 28-foot Rockwood Ultralight. He grew up in the East Texas countryside. The quiet lifestyle, he said, pulled him back in.

Head has stayed at Gallagher Acres for a year and a half.

“It’s cheaper than an apartment and, you know, it offers a lot of privacy, which I enjoy,” Head said. “But it also gives you a lot of camaraderie because of all the people. RV people tend to visit each other because your family’s not around so you create a mobile family.”

And throughout his experience, Head said he’s learned a thing or two about himself. He’s learned to be more efficient, for one, and how to manage money better.

Living in an RV comes with some pitfalls. Most of those pitfalls, though, are just about learning how to be in an RV.

Stewart says you have to stay on top of your usage of things like propane and making sure your RV is road-ready and that the frame is OK.

Other than that, she says, there is no negative.

Moving back in

Those living at Gallagher Acres may have committed to a life on the road for now, but would they ever move back into a place that’s more permanent?

Head sees his time in an RV coming to a close sometime this spring. He wants to move up toward Indianapolis and into an apartment, and eventually build a house.

Stewart, on the other hand, wants to stick with this for the long run unless there are circumstances like family needs.

“We’re able to work remotely,” Stewart said. “You get to meet people in different locations from different avenues.”

To RV full-time means finding community. Stewart says people will often meet on their separate voyages and reconnect for planned trips.

“You broaden your horizons,” she said.

Stewart and her husband will probably venture out to go see their kids sometime soon. But once it gets cold, they’re coming back to spend the winter at Gallagher Acres.

Anderson and her fiance talk about moving into a home or apartment sometimes. It’s hard to not have space to do her crafts — she’s an avid quilter and runs a 32,000-member Facebook group for quilters on the road.

Maybe someday when they “win the lottery,” she says, Anderson and her fiance will leave Gallagher Acres to build their dream house and get some land.

But for now, the couple has other plans.

They want to buy another RV — the new one, though, strictly for traveling.