Finding a Community with RV Groups

Lippert Scouts Bob and Grace Bouchard, also known as 2Veterans.OnTheMove, began their full-time RV life after retirement from the military. They were fueled by their passion for adventure but felt that they were missing a sense of community while living on the road. Over the years, they’ve come to understand the importance of fostering friendships while RVing full-time.

By Grace & Bob Bouchard of 2Veterans.OnTheMove

Life on the road can get lonely if you haven’t found community — we know because we’ve been there. When we started this RV journey in 2019, our goal was to explore new places and, of course, we knew we would also get the chance to meet new people along the way. What we didn’t realize was that as first-time RVers traveling full-time, most of our energy was going to be spent focused on adventuring and trying to find our travel rhythm. This meant we moved around quite a bit and we never really settled into finding a community. 

After our first two years on the road, we knew we were missing some things from the RV lifestyle. We loved traveling and experiencing new areas of the country, and while we had created a few amazing relationships, we were still missing that overall sense of community.   

In the fall of 2021, we met some incredible RV families at the first-ever Lippert Getaway and we had the opportunity to hear stories of them going through the same things we were going through on the road. Hearing that we weren’t alone in our RV journey was such a weight off our shoulders because when you go through issues in this travel life (mechanical, mental, physical, financial) you can tend to feel like you're on an island. 

Being able to talk to others face-to-face, that were dealing with similar struggles, really put things into perspective for us. That very weekend changed the course of our travel journey. Finding community provided us that sense of belonging and the realization that we weren’t alone on this journey. We realized that there were communities of RVers out there, we just needed to make the effort to find them. 

When we think of community, we typically relate it back to our careers in the military. Having to spend most of our time being away from home and our families, we learned it was important to find and build a supportive community wherever we were. Understanding this was a big reason why, when we finally found community on the road, it truly meant so much to us and it is something we work at to continue to build.  

When we talk about the RV community, what are some of the first things that come to mind? Most times the community is portrayed by highlighting adventures together, potlucks, games and sharing stories around the campfire. Initially, that is what we envisioned when we thought about the RV community, and because we weren’t experiencing that on a daily basis, we thought we were missing out. Sure, it may be different for how each person travels, but for us as RV full-timers, we began to see that we weren’t always going to be physically around our community. The reality of the travel lifestyle means you may need to find different ways to build community and stay connected through the separation of miles.

When we began to realize that, our perspective on the 'RV community' adapted.

Something we realized back in the fall of 2021 was that the families we met were sharing their stories through social media (i.e., Instagram, Facebook) to inspire others as they traveled, and they also used it as a way to stay connected with their community when they weren’t physically located near each other. We realized social media could be used to share positivity, experiences, provide support and help build community while on the road. Using apps like Instagram, Facebook, Marco Polo and Lippert Communities, or even reaching out with a simple text or quick call just to let friends know we’re thinking of them in order to stay connected while apart, can go a long way in building lasting relationships. 

As easy as it is to communicate through technology these days, our favorite way to connect has been when we can spend time face-to-face with the RV community. And what better way to get those opportunities than attending a rally or RV show? We have been able to meet and reconnect with so many amazing families through our time at the Lippert Getaway, RV rallies and the Florida RV SuperShow in Tampa. Talking to people in person and learning from each other to help grow together through all situations and sharing our experiences together has been one of the best ways we’ve found to connect.

We have also realized that even though we can easily relate to other full-time RVers, our RV community isn’t limited to full-time RV travelers. We’ve built a community with people that are stationary RVers, weekend warriors and even families that are not RV owners but simply interested in the RV lifestyle!

All of these relationships require effort. So, whether that means going out of your way to attend a rally, making plans to stay at the same campground or RV park as friends or simply going out to an RV camping event to meet new people, it takes being intentional about building your community. It’s because of those campfire talks, potlucks and just sharing life together that you start to truly get to know the community around you. It's in those moments that lasting relationships are built.

Because of that, we’ve learned to take advantage of those in-person moments spent sitting down around a dinner table and investing time simply sharing life together. You begin to realize that each of us brings a unique gift — some may be mechanically inclined, and others may provide emotional support. By getting to know those around you, you find a community that truly shines as we work to help lift each other up.  

Then, once you get back on the road, it’s about reaching out to stay connected and remembering to take a moment to invest in those relationships and continuing to build on the foundation that you’ve built during those times together. 

Our RV community has been such a blessing in our travel journey. So, even though we may be physically traveling on our own, we always know that we have a community of support and we’re reminded that maintaining those communities takes effort on both ends. For us, the community we’ve found as we travel is so much more than RVers — it is simply a community of amazing families.

Thanks for reading! We hope you find the time to invest in relationships new and old while you’re out on the road. If you want to keep up with our full-time RV adventures, you can follow us on Instagram and Facebook.