| VOICES |
| A Threat to Our Most Sacred Freedoms and Civil
Liberties Full-time RVing - A Privilege or a Right? by Cathie Carr, CEO About the Author
At the age of 16, Cathie began traveling with her parents, Kay and Joe Peterson, founders of the Escapees RV Club. In the early 1980s, the Petersons recruited Cathie to handle the administrative work for their fast- growing Escapees organization. Cathie's first major task was to develop a mail-forwarding service that would meet the needs of the full-time RVer. Since its formation in 1985, the Escapees Mail Service has grown to be a world leader. It now assists some 22,000 members, and processes nearly 10 million pieces of mail each year. Today as CEO, Cathie is in charge of approximately 100 employees and is responsible for a complete support network of services, which include a bimonthly magazine, educational Escapades, RV parks, 50 chapters, and many discount programs that benefit the RVer. In addition to this multifaceted network, Cathie is reputed to be the voice of the Escapees RV Club, speaking on behalf of the 63,000-member organization on issues that deeply affect their lifestyle. Although Escapees claims no political alliances, they are known to be among the strongest consumer advocates in the industry. Spring wild flowers form an 800-mile welcome mat across Texas, leading right to the doorstep of Rainbow's End RV Park, which serves as national headquarters to some 65,000 RVers and "home" to just over *5,000 residents. How can 5,000 residents live on 130 acres of land? That is the simple question posed by a group who are challenging the legal residency and voting rights of this RVing community. That question implies that a U.S. citizen must own, lease, or rent property in order to be qualified to vote. We argue that the freedom to travel is a fundamental personal right and must be upheld. We believe that no one should be forced to choose between the right to vote and the right to travel, and we commend the State of Texas for not hindering full-time RVers with duration requirements. The current 8.9 million RV owners in the United States is growing annually. While the statistics are hard to validate (even the U.S. census can't seem to accurately count them), some claim there are over a million full-time RVers. Escapees RV Club is known to be the largest organization geared to assisting RVers who travel for extended periods of time. Interestingly enough, some of our members don't even own an RV yet! Still, about 55% of them are full-timers. This month, Escapees magazine featured a solo lady who boasts of having 35 years of full-timing under her seatbelt! This lifestyle is not new, just growing in popularity. In fact, the Escapees Club was founded by Joe and Kay Peterson in 1978 as a small support group with less than 100 charter members. Today, it has grown into a full-fledged support network that gains approximately 6,000 new RVer families each year. One of the services in our network is a mail service. In fact, Escapees operates the largest mail forwarding service (under one roof) for RVers in the world. With 22,000 box holders, this service takes up about 8,000 square feet of the headquarters' 13,000-square foot building. The mail service and corporate offices are stationed at the center of Rainbow's End, which also encompasses over 200 deeded lots, 100-plus RV sites (planned to double in size soon!), some lease lots, dry-camping acreage, and the Escapees Adult Day CARE Center. The unique setup of Rainbow's End offers Escapees members a home base, if they need one, or simply a home (filled with their RVing friends, some call them their extended family) to come back to during their travels if they are full-timers. To further address the question from challengers about how 5,000-plus residents (which equals 2,500 RVs) can stay at Rainbow's End, we respond by explaining that there is no need to accommodate those residents all at one time. Due to their traveling patterns, their presence at Rainbow's End varies during any given year. Obviously, the whole purpose of selling their houses in the first place was to allow them the freedom to travel across the country, coming and going as they please without the burdens of physical property. And so the arguments continue. To some it is just an interesting saga; to some it is a devious political plot, but universally it is a threat to our most sacred freedoms and civil liberties. It is a potential violation of a fast-growing minority group called full-time RVers. Who would have guessed that the wheels of our RVs could someday become clogged with political red tape so sticky it threatens to cement our tires to the ground? Who would believe that a state legislature could impose restrictions that could endanger our ability to vote? Who would have imagined that a small town in Polk County, Texas, would be the nucleus of such an emotionally-charged issue, with such impact that it could potentially affect thousands of people? As odd as it seems, and as wrong as it feels, we will go before a Texas district court who will determine whether Escapees members who have set up residency in Polk County and voted in the November general election are legal residents or not. If not, full-time RVers everywhere may find their residency status in jeopardy, as this could very well set a precedent that other states will follow. We may then be faced with the most disturbing question of all. If full-time RVers are not considered legal residents, what must they do to become legal? Buy land? If they refuse, will they be stripped of their constitutional voting rights? Testimony will begin on June 4, 2001. In the meantime, we have been carefully monitoring legislation in both the Texas House and Senate and are prepared to testify in Austin as bills are heard that will either help or hinder us. We will continue to do everything within our means to protect the rights of full-time RVers. We have asked for financial support from our members and from the RV industry as a whole. Contributions total $6,967, including a $500 contribution by the RV America Coalition, a $1,500 pledge from RV Alliance America Insurance, $ 1,000 from SkyMed Insurance, and the much appreciated kickoff challenge of $500 from Texas Association of Campground Owners. If you would like to help by contributing to the Escapees
legal defense, please send your donations to: If you have any questions, call 888-757-2582. All funds will be used for the sole purpose of protecting RVers' rights. Even though Escapees RV Club represents just a small fraction of the RV owners, we believe full-time RVers are truly the heart and soul of the RVing public. Check our Escapees Web site at www.escapees.com (Footnote *Although the original estimated registered Escapees voters was 9,000, records indicate the actual figure is closer to 5,300.)
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