Boomers hit the road in RVs and take the grandchildren with them

Despite gas prices already reaching $4 a gallon in some parts of the country, more than 8,000 people showed up in at the Georgia National Fairgrounds last week in Perry GA for Rally 2008, the world's largest gathering of RV enthusiasts. From reports I've seen, Boomers made up the largest number of attendees.

That's not surprising when you consider that Boomers love to travel and often want to take the grandkids with them. A recreational vehicle often satisfies the need to have the comforts of home with the flexibility of driving to your vacation destination.

There are seven types of "campers" and all were featured at the show, ranging from pop-up tents on wheels, essentially, to very luxurious tricked out 42-foot mobile homes that can set you back $750,000. Last year, Ralph and I toured an RV at the annual boat show (go figure) that listed at ONE MILLION bucks and got six miles to the gallon. Whew!

When I was a kid, my family camped all over the southeast. Mom and Dad piled the five kids into a Chevy station wagon towing a pop up camper my father had made and we visited every state park in Georgia and most in Florida during our summer vacations. We met hundreds of interesting people in the campgrounds and it was during this time we learned to love lake swimming. We cooked outdoors and used public restrooms. And not once did we watch TV while we were camping. (Most of today's TVs have multiple high def televisions!)

My Mom, a school teacher (and by that, I mean 100% of the time... she couldn't even tell you the time; she had to explain the time) insisted we tour the state the summer before we each entered the 8th grade because that's when we'd be studying Georgia history and she wanted to give us a head start. God bless her. Every road trip was the opportunity for learning. Meanwhile, Daddy saw it as a chance to teach outdoor skills that included using the river to chill milk and nailing a fish to a tree to scale it.

I think that's the difference in my parents' generation and Boomers. They were the original do-it-yourself types and Boomers are more the do-it-for-me types. That's why we think camping today takes place in a vehicle that can cost more than the homes we grew up in.

But they have something in common too. When all the kids were grown and gone, my parents bought a nice fifth-wheel RV and starting taking the grandchildren on trips. So our kids got the advantage of learning in the comfort of air conditioning.

Here's the lesson for marketers in all this: you can't assume that even in a soft economy that Boomers will be tighter with our money and forgo non-essential items. We put great value on enjoying our money and sharing it with family.

Frankly, I really like the trend of camping as a way to bond with family and create new memories. That's worth waaaaaayyyy more than $4 a gallon!