Living the RV life: Whether you stay the season or just one week, it's 'worth it'

WELLS, Maine — Hal Enus likes to rise long after the sun does on most summer mornings.

Often, he and his wife, Linda, like to sit on their covered deck and enjoy breakfast. Afterwards, she tends to head inside their home to “watch her programs,” as Hal puts it. A couple days a week, he goes to his job as a tractor-trailer driver. In the evening, he and Linda like to sit around the fire pit on their just-right plot of land. Sometimes, Hal will bring their TV out onto the porch, and they’ll watch their shows in the fresh air.

Hal said he likes to take daily walks to the beach, which is less than a mile away. Sometimes he’ll go in the evening. Other times he’ll go in the mornings.

“Seven thousand steps a day,” he says.

Breakfasts on the porch. Daily walks to the beach. Fires at night. Is there anything else that adds to the idyllic pleasures of Hal’s summer days?

There is. He’s surrounded by neighbors he likes. In fact, they’re his favorite part about where he lives in the summertime.

“Everybody’s friendly,” Hal says. “Everybody helps each other. There’s never a problem. The people at this campground are great.”

And there’s the big reveal: the campground. Hal and Linda Enus enjoy their summer days at Duval’s RV Park at 22 Elmere Road in Wells.

Welcome to RV life.

The Enuses live in Florida but choose to spend their summers at Duval’s in Maine to be close to family members. They’re what the park’s owners, Doug and Paula Duval, call “seasonals,” folks who show up and settle in at their RVs on Mother’s Day weekend and stay until October.

On one bright and warm morning last week, Hal stood on his RV’s deck, surrounded by colorful flowers, inviting chairs, and a small American flag, put in place for the coming Fourth of July holiday. If his surroundings were not evidence enough that Hal calls Vacationland his home in the summertime, then the tank top he wore that morning seals the deal. Printed on the front is one word, spelled in large letters: Maine.

“I have a few of these,” he says and smiles.

The owners: 'A great business to be in'

When Hal spoke highly of his neighbors, he was including the Duvals. Doug and Paula live at the park, in a small home near its entrance. They’re there to greet you when you arrive. If, by chance, they’re out and about somewhere else on the property, there’s a bell you can ring to get their attention.

“We’re a mom-and-pop,” Doug said, describing their business. “We live here. This is our retirement.”

The Duvalls have an RV too. In fact, the Massachusetts couple used to visit Wells in the summertime and stay at another campground in town. They actually tried to buy the place when it went on the market, but someone outbid them.

“That put the bug in our head: maybe we could own our own park,” Paula said.

The Duvals were in the right place to pursue that dream. The coast of Wells is filled with RV parks, as a simple online search shows. Of course, the whole coast of Maine is too.

Last week, the Duvalls sat in the shade near their home, in view of the two long rows of RVs that stretch from the front of the park to the back, and shared their story.

In 2010, they bought the park, which was then called Elmere Tenting. Paula worked for the school and police department in their hometown and would head to the park for the summer, full time, once classes ended for the students in June. Doug, who owned a welding business, would stay behind in Massachusetts but would report to the park for weekends to take care of the maintenance.

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Paula retired eight years ago. Doug wrapped up his welding career two years ago. Now they’re “seasonal” themselves, living at their home at the park from May through October.

Doug still takes care of the maintenance and prefers the campers to the customers at his old business back in Massachusetts. Often, when people went to his welding business, they were unhappy because something of theirs was broken and needed fixing.

RV campers, though?

“When people come here, they’re on vacation,” Doug said. “They are so happy and so nice and so friendly ... Every day is a pleasure.”

The park is 675 feet long and 400 feet wide and enclosed by fences. A straight dirt road runs up the middle of the place and has 1,000-square-foot RV lots lined up on each side. Each lot is equipped for water, cable, electricity and Wi-Fi, according to Doug.

There are 27 of these lots, and last week, practically all of them were filled. At Duval’s RV Park, “seasonals” can have a lot from May to October for roughly $4,000, once the state’s lodging tax is figured in, according to Doug. “Transients,” or campers who come and go, can stay for $65 a night, he added.

“Transients” comprised most of the park’s business in the earlier years. Parks in Wells are a good stop for travelers who arrive in Maine and need a quick place to stay as they make their way to Acadia or other scenic points deeper into the state, according to Doug.

Nowadays, it’s the “seasonals” who take up most of the lots. Some of them even keep their RVs on their lot all year round, according to the Duvals.

Some of the campers like to keep to themselves, according to the Duvals, while others like to gather together at each other’s fire pits to enjoy “cocktail nights” or an annual ice cream social.

Many of the campers become like family to the Duvals, keeping in touch with them even when they’re not staying at the camp. One couple, now too old to drive an RV, still come to Wells for the summer and let the Duvals know when they’re back in town. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian campers would call the Duvals and tell them they missed them and were looking forward to returning to the park once travel restrictions were lifted.

“It’s a great business to be in,” Paula said.

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The transients: Stopping along the way

One morning last week, Adam Regan, of Idaho, was spotted raising the American flag behind his RV on his lot. He and his wife, Kathleen, arrived at Duval’s RV Park for a ten-day stay on June 27. Their next destination would be Schenectady, New York, they said.

The Regans are not just on a mere summer trip, by the way. They’ve been on the road since New Year’s Day, crisscrossing the country, occasionally dipping into Canada, and staying at RV parks as they search for a new place to call home. So far, South Carolina and Pennsylvania are the top contenders, according to Adam.

“We like Maine, but we can’t afford Maine,” he said.

When the Regans return to Idaho in October, ending ten months on the road, they will have camped in 44 states, stayed in Canada three times, and covered 30,000 miles overall, Adam said. It was an adventure for which they first had to save up roughly $70,000, according to Adam.

Which begs this question: what is the impact of current gas prices on their travels? Gas prices were between $3 and $4 per gallon when they left on New Year’s Day, as Adam recalled, and now they’re about $5 or higher. The miles per gallon vary, Adam said, but pretty much remain in the single-digit range, he added.

“You just put your head down and pull the trigger on the pump,” Adam said. “When I’m empty, it could be $700.”

And there’s another expense too: maintenance. On the whole, RVs are built quickly and inexpensively, according to Adam, and those who own them would be wise to have a basic knowledge of how to care for them.

“There’s never-ending maintenance on these trailers,” said Adam, who’s an excavation contractor. “If anybody’s going to try this and doesn’t have a clue about how to at least do some maintenance, it’s going to be exponentially expensive ... You have to be able to tinker.”

YouTube can help with that, Adam added. The online streaming site is filled with how-to videos about RV maintenance.

“YouTube is a great source,” he said. “I would suggest that anybody who tries to do this, before they call a service guy, look at YouTube. It can be really simple.”

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RVs themselves range in price. According to the website Camper Report, RVs can cost anywhere between $10,000 and $300,000 – it all depends on the style and features. As the Duvals pointed out, some RVs are small and no-frills and vintage, while others are large and long and equipped with many of the same luxuries that you can find in a house: a fireplace, a flatscreen TV, a space for a clothes washer and dryer, you name it.

“A moderately-appointed camper trailer pulled behind a truck might cost $20,000,” Camper Report says. “The average RV cost of a fifth wheel may cost $40,000. Most motor home prices usually start around $100,000.”

High gas prices. Constant maintenance. The cost of an RV itself. But don’t be daunted, Adam suggested.

“It’s worth it,” he said.

Kathleen said she likes every aspect of the RV life. She traveled the world as a Marine before she and Adam got married. After living in one place for 25 years – California – she is happy to be on the road again.

“It’s interesting to see your own culture,” she said.

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The seasonals: 'This my happy place'

As stated, the Duvals have owned and operated their RV park for 13 summer seasons. Donna and Bob Gooch, of Massachusetts, have lived there for 12 of them.

Bob said he and Donna arrived for their summer stay in May and will remain on site until October.

“Until they throw us out,” he said.

Bob and Doug knew each other before their days as RV park neighbors. They both live in the same hometown back in Massachusetts, and Doug once did some welding for Bob. Knowing Bob loved camping, Doug mentioned that he and Paula owned an RV park up in Wells, Maine. Bob knew the town, as Donna had been visiting it all her life.

The Gooches showed up at Duval’s RV Park in 2011. They’ve been there – in the same lot – ever since. They’ve enclosed a portion of their lot with a small, quaint fence, and have livened up their yard with flowers, decorations, and a picnic table.

Bob, an automobile mechanic back home, is quick to answer when asked what he enjoys most about RV life.

“That I’m not at work,” he said. “This is relaxing ... Normally, I’m a weekend warrior up here – I come up Friday night, leave Sunday night.”

He had all of last week off, though, and you could see he was in his glory. So too were Donna and Lilly, their Yorkshire Terrier. Lilly was dressed in red, white and blue for the coming holiday. Inside the RV, the Gooches’ other two dogs, Lucas and Logan, slept.

Like Hal and Linda, Bob and Donna have their treasured routines. He likes to take drives. She likes to put together jigsaw puzzles. Both enjoy sitting on their porch when it rains. She likes not having anything to do when she wakes up.

“This is my happy place,” Donna said.

Let there be no doubt about that: a small sign, placed at the front of the lot the Gooches have called home for a dozen summers, says, “This is my happy place.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: RV life: Whether you stay the season or just one week, it's 'worth it'