The Recreational Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) forecasts 8.5 million RV owning households in the United States as of 2010, serviced by more than 12,000 RV-related businesses with combined annual revenues of $37.5 billion and a payroll of $4.9 billion.

Phil and Carol White

That’s impressive enough, but look beyond the numbers and dollars and the RV industry holds the key to something far more important – Inspiration. They produce travel junkies willing and able to hit the road at the drop of a hat.

Over 1 million Americans now live a completely nomadic life, and the number of permanent tourists is growing on both ends of the financial and demographic spectrum – rich and retired, or jobless and young.

What inspires these nomads to travel endlessly in the footsteps of Charley and John Steinbeck? Phil and Carol White, authors of Live Your Road Trip Dream, have a few insights to share.

Their RV travel credentials are impeccable – Logged over 50,000 miles, visited all 50 states, and every national park in the continental US. They also happen to be national spokespersons for the RVIA. The new edition of their book includes an updated technology section, additional budgeting information and help for younger road trippers interested in sabbaticals, working on the road and/or “road schooling” children along the way.

Phil White says they felt the need to update the book with more information targeted towards the younger set because “Today’s young people aren’t waiting until retirement to hit the road. They want to do it now – if they can figure out how.”

The Whites say it is not just fear of the unknown, but also inertia that is keeping more people from swapping an office cubicle  and a settled life for an RV. “It takes a fair amount of thinking and planning to take off for an extended period” says Carol, “but the rewards of working through your issues and actually ‘getting out of town’ to see our country will be with you forever.  Don’t wait for ‘the right time’ – it will never come – start planning now.”

Their book and the speeches they give all push the same theme – “If we can do it, so can you.” The best thing the travel industry can do, at a time when consumers are still iffy about spending on long-distance flights and pricey hotels, is to put experienced road-trippers such as the Whites in front of large audiences.

They provide the inspiration, and the travel industry gets new junkies who will never again have to be convinced about the value of travel.

You can listen to and interact with Phil and Carol White at the Livermore Public Library in Livermore, Calif. on Thursday February 18th, as part of a month long ‘Travels With Charley’ series organized by the Livermore Reads Together program. More details here.

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