One of the oddities of RV culture is its schizophrenia: it bandies romantic cliches about adventures, dreams, and the freedom of the open road, while it harps on practical matters. Why so?
RV wannabees and newbies are so insecure that they can never get enough 'how-to' tips. Commercial blogs target these naifs because they have the greatest number of purchase decisions still to be made. And they believe ads. The same is true of individual RVer's blogs that make the reader's eyes run a gauntlet of google ads.
RV wannabees and newbies are so insecure that they can never get enough 'how-to' tips. Commercial blogs target these naifs because they have the greatest number of purchase decisions still to be made. And they believe ads. The same is true of individual RVer's blogs that make the reader's eyes run a gauntlet of google ads.
RV clubs think of themselves as being on the side of the rank and file RVer instead of the side of RV manufacturers. This is largely true. Still, RV clubs are in the business of selling memberships and dues. And they too aim their practical tips at wannabees and newbies because it's what makes them cough up the dues. All of this is as it should be. People need to make a living and newbies need advice.
But after a couple years in RV organizations you might as well drop out and save yourself the dues. They will keep catering to insecure newbies, while you have moved on to a type of orphanhood. An experienced RVer must find his own way.
Consider non-commercial (ad free) RV travel blogs run by individuals. Maybe you too are in the habit of running across RV travel blogs with high hopes, and then becoming disappointed. For instance, the blogger starts off promising to talk about personal transformations that can occur in an alternative lifestyle. But then he expostulates on how two blocks of wood can be screwed together, in such and such a way, to make custom leveling blocks.
They lure the reader's eyeballs with buzzwords like 'adventure' and 'dreams,' and then you learn that the adventures are motor vehicle-based sightseeing trips, not all that different from what any July tourist would do. Their dreams are just escapism. Why do RV bloggers tell you whether they did laundry today and what they had for breakfast? Sigh. Truly, RVing on the Net is a vast wasteland of thinly disguised infomercials, or the dreariest prose, replete with turgid descriptions of picayune details.
Perhaps the non-commercial blogs by individual RVers are just imitating the rest of the industry. That's a shame; it's such a missed opportunity.
Comments
I joined Escapees while waiting in line for "our turn" to " RV Adventure" so I could participate in the forums and get the newsletter (which was a piece of crap unfit for even emergency toilet paper). I read the Forum, gleaning newbie info, and for a while it fueled my RV Dreams. I learned a few things about solar stuff but after a while it was just the same old blabbers dishing up the same old conversations... like the old men's breakfast club or locker room drivel. When we finally stayed at one of their highly acclaimed RV parks in Yuma I was so disappointed at being cast as an "outsider" and their Nazi mentality on "rules," I let our membership expire for good.
But if I am honest... I too would blog about how to make RV leveling blocks if it brought me a "Google AD paycheck" out on the road. I can't stomach such blogs very often, but apparently most readers are different than me... cause some of the pontificators of drivel are bringing in over a thousand dollars a month. Am I jealous? A little bit, maybe.
mark
I guess I disagree about writing for a Google ad paycheck. It might be more fun to supplement my retirement finances by mowing or cleaning at a campground. I'm serious.