Taking Stock of RV Living

EXIT OF THE DAY:
EXIT 13a I-95n to Lumberton / I-95 KOA Journey, 465 Kenric Dr, Lumberton, NC

Hear this here…
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OK Road Trippers listen up! And I mean you in the driver’s seat. Listen good because if you have a few bucks you may want to make an investment. On your right you will see a large KOA Campground full of RV’s.   

​In the age of COVID, how are travel-hungry Americans hoping to travel?   If you get the answer right, you can make a few judicious decisions like, buy a stock in that particular travel vertical. That’s right. Buy Thor Industries stock which is a conglomerate that owns Jayco, and Airstream Campers among others.

Or better yet, you can buy a COVID camper itself and just profit by the ride.  That’s because demand for RV’s is skyrocketing as road trips will be the preferred form of travel in the foreseeable future. ​

Don’t take our word for it. Listen to pros like no less than Mad Money stock picker, Jim Cramer. Booyeah!

According to an article in Benzinga’s website written by Jayson Derrick, the Recreational vehicle maker Thor Industries, Inc. is taking advantage of the "no more planes, no more hotels" trend playing out among those who would have otherwise never considered RV ownership. In a Jim Cramer interview with Thor Industries CEO Robert Martin, the Recreational Vehicle is quickly earning a reputation of being the safest way to get from point A to point B. ​

That’s because Recreational Vehicles contain their own beds, bathrooms, and kitchen. In fact, if you had the RoadSpoke spoken road app for touring,  the only real reason to stop is to get gas.
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Thor Industries has been marketing this sort of lifestyle for some time and is now gaining traction from people who don't want to go on a cruise or fly.
Says CEO Bob Martin:  ”It's a way for us to really just enjoy the United States and in Europe, it's the same thing. They are enjoying more of their homeland and we seem to fit the need right now."
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The number of folks planning Road Trips is reflected in the number of folks making purchases. ​

As written in STARS and STRIPES magazine:
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"Floor traffic at Mike Regan's two RV dealerships is up 30% compared with last May. And the reason is fear.  Cooped up Americans desperate to get out after months of lockdowns are dreaming of doing something — anything — that resembles a vacation. But a majority of them worry a second wave of the coronavirus is coming, and think politicians have pushed too fast to reopen.

That's where the "COVID camper" comes in.

For decades, sales of RVs were a reliable indicator of the beginning-and end-of a recession. Sales would dip as a downturn approached, and rise right before a recovery. But this time, it's different: sales are rising as America enters its worst contraction since the Great Depression. While more than one in five workers has filed for unemployment, some people are shelling out upwards of $100,000 so they can hit the road while staying away from everyone else. "

Of course many other wannabe Road Trippers are not buying but are renting RV’s in order to occupy some of the COVID down time. They seek to see America and also to test drive the RV lifestyle. RV America and others fill this demand precisely.

​The customers rushing into RV dealerships fall into three groups, Regan said: Those who wanted to come during the shutdown and couldn't; the annual spring customer enticed by the promise of summer; and finally, a new group: people considering an RV for the first time because of the pandemic.
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Those customers are probably most responsible for the jump in business, he said.
Mike Rhoades is one of them. The 73-year-old resident of Kyle, Texas, said he and his wife Carol cancelled scheduled trips to Germany, South America, New Zealand and Australia. Instead, the former transportation industry executive bought a 30-foot travel trailer-and a used Toyota pickup to pull it.

Now, with a gleaming new camper, they're staying on the ground.  This past weekend, they took off on a two week trip along the Texas Gulf coast. Rhoades said it's the first of many trips this summer.
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The U.S. has about 13,000 private RV parks and an estimated 1.23 million individual trailer campsites, according to estimates from the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (and that doesn't even count campsites in state and national parks). ​

Prior to the pandemic, it was estimated that 60,000 new trailer camping spots would become available.
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It's not just purchases that are climbing, said Jen Young, co-founder of Outdoorsy, which matches 40,000 RV owners with people who want to rent one-kind of an "RV Airbnb." Though bookings fell during the early stages of the pandemic, they have since skyrocketed, she said. Customers are booking trips just days ahead of time instead of months before, Young said. Outdoorsy rival RVshare also reported a surge in reservations.

For those of a certain age, it won't be surprising that RVs peaked back when Richard Nixon was president. Until 2020, the best year for sales was 1972.
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Camping World Holdings Inc., a retailer of outdoor equipment and RVs, reported that 2020 first-quarter sales beat analyst projections. The company said it shifted to online sales to meet high demand during lockdowns. Camping World stock rose to a two-year high on the outlook. Shares of Thor Industries Inc. and Winnebago Industries, the two largest publicly trader RV makers, have also been improving off March 2020 lows.

In his Interview with Mad Money’s Jim Cramer, according to Thor Industries Bob Martin, all RV manufacturers said dealers are reporting that customers are back in showrooms, many of them first-time buyers-particularly those browsing entry-level vehicles,.

Says Bob Martin, ”Every dealer that I talk to is just blown away by the reaction of people that have never even thought about an RV.  A lot of people are really going to look more at this lifestyle.”

And yet, what exactly is missing in this lifestyle?  The Ultimate Exploration of America is supported with many assets. They have campgrounds, equipment, maps, and hookups.   All good stuff for when you are parked.
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But what about informing the RV community about what they are seeing WHEN they see it?  What about uncovering the stories along the Spoken Road?

What about an app that turns drives into discovery?  An app that turns the Open Road into the Spoken Road?

That’s were RoadSpoke comes in.

​While Waze tells you what to avoid, and Google Maps tells you where to go, RoadSpoke tells you about the road you are on… and no one else does that! 

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