SC has billion dollar RV industry. Meet Myrtle Beach area pair who live to live on the road
The fantasy for many is to pack up your things, buy an RV and head off in a new direction on a whim.
The reality, according to Joel Allen, who lives full time in a motor home with his wife, is that there is a lot more planning involved.
Allen and his wife, Deanna Cochran, who lived in the Grand Strand for years, bought their first RV in 2009.
It’s a lifestyle that many Americans, especially retirees, dream more and more about, thanks to social media and a growing industry.
South Carolina has a billion-dollar RV industry, according to a June 2022 report put out by the national RV Industry Association. About $313 million was made off the sale of RVs and services, and around 541,795 RVs were produced last year.
But full-time RV living is not all that common. Only about 1.5% of households who owned an RV in 2021 lived full time in one, according to Monica Geraci, a spokesperson for the RV Industry Association. That’s about 400,000 nationwide.
And most full-timers still have a home base.
Couple moves from one campground to the next
But for Allen, a home base quickly moves from one campground to the next.
“If I’m driving for five, six hours, I want to make sure that there’s some place waiting for us when we get there,” he said. “Yeah, so we do book everything ahead of time.”
In January, Allen had everything booked until the end of June. The two are currently staying at the Carolina Pines RV resort in Conway.
Planning ahead is not always the case for all full-timers. But for the semi-retired couple, it fits their lifestyle.
Cochran works remotely as Allen drives, often sitting next to him on Zoom meetings with headphones in her ears. She is the chief financial officer of the Coastal Cancer Center.
The two visit relatives all over the country, from California, to Pennsylvania, to Minnesota and Kentucky.
For them, visiting family is the main reason they live to live on the road.
44 states down, four more to go
The couple decided to downgrade to a motor home after living in a tiny house for about seven years. At the time, the two were living in the Grand Strand.
“Then we decided that we were kind of on the road more than we were out,” Cochran said. “So we said yes, let’s just sell that tiny house and go full time.”
On the way, the two have seen plenty of sites in nearly all 50 states. The goal is 48 states, minus Alaska and Hawaii. They’ve visited 44 states so far.
At Custer State Park in South Dakota, Allen was able to see a sight he’ll likely never forget — buffaloes as far as the eye could see.
“That was one of my greatest memories of travel,” he said.
There are challenges of ‘full-timing’
While the two have gone many places, traveling in their 40-foot motor home that’s 8 1/2 feet wide is not as easy as it seems.
Many campgrounds and state-parks don’t allow an RV of that size, and traveling on narrow roads and up winding mountain paths is a challenge, Allen said.
Allen said the worst condition to drive in is high winds.
But what the two wish they knew the most when they started is just how much time would be consumed by packing, storing and getting rid of belongings.
They currently have a climate-controlled storage unit in the Myrtle Beach area, which is also where they go for doctors appointments.
“Each time we go in there, we think, ‘let’s get rid of one more thing,” Cochran said. They often pick up mementos and gifts from the places they visit. One of their favorites is a photo of the American Gothic House in Iowa, framed on a counter top near their TV.
With all the challenges that come with full-time living in a motor home, the pair have no plans of moving back into a house without wheels, at least for the foreseeable future.
“The motto of full time RV-ers is ‘home is where we park it,’” Allen said.
