Summer RV Travel Could Hit Record Levels

Summer travel via recreational vehicle, or RV, could hit record levels this year. Hitting the road in a self-contained cocoon, which travelers can sanitize to their liking, is on a roll as gasoline prices tumble and Americans seek ways to express their pent-up demand to get out of the house.

“RVs provide a great way for consumers to enjoy vacations with their families, while still adhering to social-distancing policies that are likely to remain in place in some fashion moving forward,” said RV Industry Association President Craig Kirby.

San Francisco-based Outdoorsy.com, a company that connects renters with RV owners, has seen visits to its website hit 2.5 million this month, up 93 percent compared to the same time last year, according to a spokesperson. Its gross bookings are up 84 percent year-over-year.  "We had our best bookings day on record this week — with 300 percent year-over-year growth that day," she said.

(Photo credit: Go RVing)

RV vacations produced some of the fondest summer vacation memories from my childhood, such as the time we booked an "Islander" motor home in Atlanta and rumbled up to Ontario to visit family for summer vacation. Best memory? We stopped in Pennsylvania's Amish country during peak fruit and vegetable season, bought berries and my mother made a pie in the RV's tiny oven while we watched locals clop around in their horses and buggies from our parking spot.

A few years later, we rented a 36-foot whopper of a Winnebago to drive to the Rockies for the grand tour from Denver, up through the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone parks and into Montana, then back across the high plains with a stop at Mount Rushmore. Most thrilling for me was that I was 15-years-old at the time and in possession of my learner's permit, and my father let me drive that big rig on those long flat freeways listening to Boz Scaggs and ELO 8-track tapes!

Care to create your own memories? Here's what you need to know to start planning your own RV experience for your family or circle of friends.

Check out the full article from SFGate here.