No-Frills to Fancy, For Many It’s the Only Way to Go

John Swanson, a 38-year-old mailman from Glendale, Ariz., summed it up as well as anyone.

“With the prices of hotels these days, middle-class people are looking for someplace cheaper to stay,” he said.

“I mean, look at this,” he added, turning to gesture at Mission Bay. “We’re right here on the water and it only costs us 30-odd bucks a night.”

Swanson’s home for the week was a 21-foot trailer that he was sharing with his wife and two teen-age kids. Along with nearly 2,500 other people, the Swansons were vacationing at Campland on the Bay, a 700-site recreational-vehicle park on the northern shores of Mission Bay.

The popularity of recreational vehicles--which range from pop-up tent trailers to apartment-sized motor homes--slipped briefly in the late 1970s as gas prices soared. But in recent years they have made a triumphant comeback as a convenient means of organizing and enjoying that hallowed institution, the summer vacation.

“It’s a life style. It’s the only way to travel,” said John Gerhardt, 43, standing next to his 20-foot recreational vehicle at Campland.

“You never forget anything, because everything you need is already inside. You can throw soup in the microwave or make a cup of coffee while you’re going down the road. If you get tired you can sleep in a parking lot. Nobody else can do that.”

Chris Morrison, a spokeswoman for the Recreational Vehicle Industry Assn. in Reston, Va., said many indicators show that the popularity of recreational vehicles is steadily increasing. For one thing, Kampgrounds of America, one of the largest operators of RV parks in the nation, reports that occupancy rates at its parks this summer are up 6% over last summer.

Eight Million RVs

“Our own studies show that 10% of all vehicle-owning families in the United States now own an RV,” continued Morrison. “And that means there are a total of eight million of them out on the road.”

In San Diego, the popularity of recreational vehicles is nowhere more evident than at the 43-acre Campland, the largest RV park in the county. According to general manager Peter Underhill, the place is sold out every weekend through July and August and is booked a year in advance for holiday weekends such as Labor Day and President’s Day.

“If you want to camp here at Campland,” said Underhill, 32, “you’ve got to plan in advance.”

Make that well in advance. Rita and Alfred Saucier reserved a space at Campland two weeks before they arrived, only to find that their assigned camping site was in the “overflow lot”--a barren dirt lot behind the park’s offices. It was a far cry from Campland’s premier sites, which feature shade trees and a view of Mission Bay.

But the Sauciers weren’t complaining. “The day we left our home in Yuma it was 110 with 50% humidity,” said Rita Saucier, 43. “We’re out here to escape the heat.”

Saucier said that she and her husband have visited San Diego before, and stayed in motels. But this time they loaded their small van with coolers, sleeping bags, folding chairs, a couple of tents and a barbecue, and headed for Campland.

Lines for Showers

“It’s a lot less costly to stay here, and you can still be on the bay,” she said. “And it’s nice to sit around outdoors instead of in a motel room.”

“If you stay in a motel you’ve got to eat out all the time,” added Alfred Saucier, 45, a Border Patrol agent in Yuma. “Here you can cook out and save a few bucks.”

Rita Saucier noted that the park’s drawbacks include traffic noise and lines of people waiting to use the showers in the mornings. “It’s hard to sleep late because of the activity. And you hear people stub their toes and swear at night,” she said with a laugh.

“But it’s nice not to (feel as if you have to) primp and fuss” over your appearance all the time, Saucier went on. “And you can hear the birds--when there aren’t planes going by overhead.”

Underhill conceded that Campland is “louder, noisier and more active,” than a hotel. “But we’re also much more affordable,” he pointed out. Rates run from $17.50 to $37.50 a night.

Like a hotel, Campland has a check-out time of noon and a check-in time of 2 p.m. And the park features a host of amenities, including showers, restrooms, two swimming pools, a Jacuzzi, a restaurant, a marina, a Laundromat, a game room and a market that sells everything from canned chilies to Pepto-Bismol.

‘Like Wally World’

“It’s like Wally World,” said Underhill, referring to the mythical all-purpose resort in the recent movie “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” “It’s a complete outlet for you to spend your money.”

Another vacationer at Campland, Huntington Beach resident Paula Lidyoff, 42, noted that the activities and amenities at RV parks such as Campland make them good places to bring children. “The kids would be bored stiff in a hotel, but here they’re not,” she said.

“I’ve been coming to Campland for years. It was one of the only ways I could afford a vacation with my kids, and I felt I had a responsibility to take them on vacation somewhere .”

Keeping the family vacation affordable is a big reason for the rising popularity of RVs, according to Morrison of the Recreation Vehicle Industry Assn. “More and more people are having kids, and they’re finding that this is a good way to travel with them,” she said. And people traveling in RVs report that they save 50% over staying in hotels, she pointed out.

Of course, the relatively low nightly fees you pay at RV parks are at least partially offset by your RV payment; figure on shelling out around $10,000 for a small truck-style camper and at least $20,000-50,000 for a motor home.

Lidyoff’s kids are in college now, but she still comes to Campland for a few weeks every year. She has one of the more elaborate RVs in the park--a 36-foot air-conditioned trailer with tinted windows, television, stereo, VCR, a full kitchen and bathroom and even a washer and dryer.

“It’s like an apartment away from home,” she said. “I was raised with camping (in the wild), so I’ve done that and I don’t want to do it any more.”

Her husband, who owns a hauling business in Huntington Beach, comes down on the weekends. “We go to Tijuana, and we’ve been to the zoo,” said Lidyoff. “Sometimes we just stay here. My husband reads, and I keep my sewing machine out on the dinette table. I don’t get to sew much at home, so I’m happy as a clam.”

Some Noise at Night

There is some noise at the park, Lidyoff said, but nothing she can’t put up with. “You get people (maneuvering) their vehicle into the space next to you at 3 a.m., with their back-up alarm going Ding! Ding! Ding! But that’s just part of this place,” she explained.

Gerhardt, who builds custom furniture in Las Vegas, said he brought his wife, Jean, and mother, Elizabeth, to Campland to escape Nevada’s summer heat. “It was 108 in Vegas yesterday. But you can just jump in the rig and come down here--it’s only four or five hours away,” he noted.

“We’ll spend less for the space here than you would on tips in a hotel. Plus, the people here are more friendly (than they are in a hotel). It’s like a big club.”

Gerhardt said that he planned to just “lay back” at Campland. “We don’t care much for the tourist stuff--the park itself is enough for us.

“We’re totally self-sufficient here. I’ve got everything in my RV that you’ve probably got in your house--microwave, TV, stereo, full bath, a VCR and a refrigerator. Last night we got back to the park late and made a drink and didn’t need to call room service.”

That’s the kind of thing that has endeared Gerhardt to camping in RV parks for the last 20 years. “The word ‘freedom’ just about sums it up,” he said. “That’s what you’ve got with an RV--freedom.”