DU QUOIN - Exact numbers aren't readily available, but thousands have abandoned one American dream to pursue another.

For any number of reasons, thousands of Americans have sold their traditional homes, opting to spend their lives in a recreational vehicle. Full-timers, as they are known, are not hobbyists. They are engaging in a lifestyle that is as big as life itself.

"When I was working in news, I was basically traveling all over the world," said Linda Scott, a former public radio employee who used to call Milwaukee home. "I didn't get to see much of the United States while I was working. So, I thought, I'd do this in my retirement."

A single woman traveling alone in an RV may seem to be an anomaly, but that's not the case.

Scott, who has been a full-timer for five years, is a member of the Escapees, a club geared to RV enthusiasts. About 1,000 members of the organization gathered at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds in late September for its Fall Escapade.

She is also a member of SOLOs, a BOF (Birds of a Feather) group for singles, within the Escapees. Sometimes she travels with fellow SOLO members, sometimes she strikes out on her own.

"It is a lifestyle," Scott said. "It's totally different. It's like a mobile community. Wherever I go, I can always meet people I feel like I've known all my life.

"I think it's the atmosphere, at least in my mind, of people on a permanent vacation."

Sometimes that permanent vacation leads to pleasant surprises.

"What is so nice, I've gone to places I wouldn't be interested in or wouldn't have even known about," she said. "Now, I'm process oriented. The journey is the thing."

And, Scott sees nothing daunting about the process of heading across country by herself. In fact, she has considered turning south through Mexico and Central America to Machu Picchu in Peru.

"People ask me constantly, 'Do you pull that all by yourself,'" she said. "I say, 'It beats sitting at home knitting.'"

Scott, like many full-timers, finds the freedom something to relish.

"If the weather turns bad, you can always leave or avoid the bad weather," she said. "If you don't like who you parked next to, I can just get up and leave."

On the other hand, life on the road isn't always a utopia. Real life has the knack of finding you, mobile or not.

"I tend to worry more than I really need to," Scott said. "A couple things have broken down on the road. I don't consider them problems, I consider them challenges. Life would be pretty boring without any challenges."

les.winkeler@thesouthern.com

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