Escape route: Palm Coast family turns to RV to beat the COVID blues

Ormond Beach Observer
Neighbors

Joy Mahon is a scheduler. Between herself, her two daughters and her husband, the family has always had a packed schedule — until social distancing and isolation became the new way of life.

“It was a lot for me, emotionally, to shut down,” she said.

The family got creative around house: They bought lawn darts, then bows and arrows for the back yard. They planted flowers around their pool. They have lived at the water's edge for three years and only since the pandemic did they finally buy fishing poles.

They also had to find a new vacation.

“We were supposed to go to Ireland, and that got blown out of the water,” Mahon said.

RV trends

Although sales have mostly remained steady at Robbins Camper Sales Inc., at 1112 N. U.S. 1, in Ormond Beach, salesman Buddy Reaves said there are more people asking about smaller RVs since the pandemic.

"People have smaller vehicles, and they want to pull small trailers, or they’re up for a small camper van," he said. "People are wanting their own hotel room, basically, that they can take with them, with clean sheets, their own bathroom, own food, own linens. It's an attempt to keep it sterile."

Some customers are leery of cruises or hotels, and they also don't want to be stranded if a park or other attraction closes. "They're creating their own," Reaves said.

Robbins Camper Sales has been in business for 46 years, selling mostly "really nice used," he said. Call 386-677-5588.

In the past, they had rented a recreational vehicle to visit Mount Rushmore and loved it. The girls learned how to shuffle cards and play dice games. So, they used their Ireland money to put a down payment on a used RV, which sat in their driveway on July 24 as they prepared for the next trip.

“It’s good for the family,” said Joy’s husband, Ryan. “It gets us out of the house and doing activities together. We used to go to the store; now we got to Florida parks.”

“Anything we can do to be together and have fun,” Joy Mahon said. “I don’t want the kids to feel crowded, contained. I want them to understand enough about what’s going on to have a healthy appreciation, but I don’t want there to be fear.”

Avery, 7, climbed up for a giraffe's eye view. Photos by Brian McMillan

The younger daughter, 7-year-old Avery, apparently has no fear. During the interview, she climbed up the ladder on the back of the RV for a giraffe’s-eye view. (For her birthday, she also got rock-climbing pegs that have been screwed into a tree trunk in the backyard.)

Sydney, 10, said she has had mixed reactions to the forced isolation.

“Depends on my mood,” she said. “Sometimes when I want to go out and socialize, I get moody. But sometimes I like being trapped in my room.”

“It was a lot for me, emotionally, to shut down."

JOY MAHON

Ryan Mahon, according to Joy, is more introverted and hasn't been bothered as much by the isolation.

Ryan Mahon works a team leader for systems engineering at Baptist Health in Jacksonville; Joy Mahon is the senior director of benefits for NASCAR, in Daytona Beach. They both have transitioned fine in working from home — mostly.

“Ryan may not like having me as an office mate,” she said with a laugh.

“She’s loud,” Ryan Mahon said.