My First Experience with RV Park Age Discrimination!

Welcome to California .. Oh by the way, you aren't 55 so you are not allowed to be here, make sure you give security your pass on the way out!   And so it went as I tried to take care of my paperwork to move into the Rancho Casa Blanca RV Park in Indio, California, where I had hoped to spend the winter.  My mother was welcome and I would be welcome as long as she would be there everyday that I was there.. which wouldn't be the case, as I am the full-time RVer who wants to stay put and she comes and goes as she pleases.

So what happens at 55?  Am I  going to be more 'grown up' than I am at 46???  Less active? More active?  Does my money become greener?  Do I enter a special club??   I have stayed in many "55 and over" parks without a problem.  I never tried beat the older folks at shuffle board or anything like that.  I did play in the '55 and over' Softball league, (on the Rec team) and that did end up to be a problem.  I blew out my knee and had to have the over 55 guys carry me off the field and then had to go to India to get it fixed, but that's another story.

I have been full-time Rving since I was 40 years old.  In some areas the majority of the parks have been "55 and over" or Adult Communities but thankfully I have always been welcomed with open arms.  Most say they have to allow a percentage of people in who are not 55.   Apparently, Rancho Casa Blanca in Indio does not.  I am not questioning the legality of their decision.  Their rules are their rules.  I do question the wisdom of their decision.

Most parks just want to keep it quiet and not have kids bouncing their baseballs off the sides of folks rigs.  I get that.  I am old too and don't want a ball through my windshield or a kid playing hide and seek under my rig.  I get the point of Adult Communities.  I don't get not allowing a single 46 year old and her sometimes resident 68 year old mother a spot for the winter.  More and more people are retiring younger and traveling.  More too, with the advent of the internet, are just taking their jobs with them as they travel.  The result is that there are more and more 40 somethings, with money to spend, that are heading to places like Yuma, the Rio Grande Valley and Palm Springs, the places that have traditionally catered to the over 55 crowd during the winter months.  I have a couple full-time RV friends younger than me and many more that are between 50 and 55.  We need places to stay too.  We might prefer 50's music over the 40's Country and Line Dancing to Square Dancing, but I have met a whole lot of over 55's that do to!

The bottom line is that at 46, it doesn't feel really good to be denied a site because you are too young.  An adult is an adult.  I had spent couple weeks pouring through sites at Rancho Casa Blanca park, contacting owners with lots for rent, working deals for a seasonal rentals and so on.  I was quite disappointed to be turned away but as so many things go, I think that it has all worked out for the best.  I found a welcoming 55 and over park.  The people have been very friendly.  I had a concierge come check on me the first two days to make sure I was comfortable and finding my way around.  I have found several other 40 somethings here as well.  The first dance here had a guy playing 50's, 60's and 70's music. I knew all the words!  I don't know if I will still be RVing when I am 55 or not, but I do know that I won't be staying at parks that turned me away at 40 something.