American Nomads Page #2

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desert where the more intrepid

'can camp for free. '

OK, we're looking for the desert

encampment of RV clubs.

They tend to all camp together

and live quite a regimented life

while they're out here

in the desert.

In particular, we're looking

for those club members

that do this full-time.

People who've sold their houses,

said goodbye to their children

and grandchildren and are now living

this nomadic retirement.

It is an odd thing,

if you think about it.

I'm getting a bit of a glint

on the roofs here.

I think they should be down here

to the left somewhere.

There's a lot of desert here and

they spread themselves far and wide.

Scapee's RV Club Boondockers. That

sounds like a good place to start.

Boondocking is the RV-ing term

for camping without being hooked up

to electricity,

water and sewage lines.

The guys who are full-timers

tend to do more boondocking

than the part-timers.

Hi there. Hi. Are you

all the boondockers?

Are you the boondockers?

Yeah, this is the fire circle.

We're just over here

visiting for the night.

OK, this is their fire circle. Yeah.

'It's cocktail hour

and it has the feel

'of a suburban garden party

transplanted into the desert.

'These people come squarely out of

the mainstream of American society.

'They worked hard, paid their taxes

and raised their families.

'Then they reached retirement

and they did something radical

'and unprecedented -

they sold their houses,

'sunk the money into the most

luxurious RVs they could afford,

'said goodbye to their families

and hit the road.

'Doug and Sharon Henry are intending

to spend everything

'they have on a wonderful,

freewheeling retirement

'and they joke about leaving zero

to their children.

'Their RV cost

a quarter of a million dollars. '

Wow. Recessed lighting.

What is this?

That's like a granite counter-top.

It's a faux-granite counter-top.

And it extends out

so you can seat four people.

Got your comfortable chairs. Very

comfortable. This makes into a bed.

Four slides, two in the front

and two in the bedroom.

It slides out into about

400 square feet in here.

You've got the refrigerator with the

freezer below with icemaker. Oh, wow.

All runs off of battery

if you want it to.

Got an 8000W generator in it

to keep the batteries up,

so it's just like home.

It certainly is. Very nice.

Four televisions in it -

three inside and one outside.

Got a nice queen-sized bed

and I have an option for a king

if you want to.

Big wardrobe, closet, washer-dryer.

Wow. Closets. The bed lifts up.

For storage,

a huge storage area down here.

That was to be the wine cellar

at the moment but...

Got central air conditioning,

two zones - one for the bedroom,

one for the living area.

It's got hydronic heating

so it's continuous hot water.

It's roughing it.

Roughing it out here in the desert.

Quartzsite style.

'Nomads are always hard to count

'but the best estimate is that

3 million Americans are now

'roaming around permanently in RVs

'and that 90% of them

are over the age of 55.

'These RVs are parked in a big circle

around the campfire in the same way

'that the pioneers crossing the plains

would circle their wagons at night.'

We just wanted to go adventuring.

We can't explain it.

What happened to the house

you lived in? We sold it.

We wanted to start RV-ing and

we kept our house for about a year

and a half just to make sure

we liked the lifestyle.

After about a year and a half,

we decided we would like

to continue doing this.

It was convenient to sell

the house at that time.

So that freed us of that connection.

It's been really good for us.

It's made us a lot closer.

We spend 24 hours a day together

and we still like each other.

'The RV-ers are also

known as snowbirds.

'They're white-haired and

they migrate south in winter

'to these warm, dry deserts and they

make their way slowly north again

'when the deserts get too hot.

'They drop in on their grandchildren

once or twice a year.

'They've really untethered

themselves

'from family, responsibility,

any obligations at all. '

I feel a bit envious

of these snowbirds.

It seems so damn pleasant,

sitting on your lawn chair.

In that winter sun,

nothing much to do all day.

See your friends,

look forward to cocktail hour.

They seem extraordinarily content.

'I've heard that a travelling

preacher has just arrived.

'I've never met one before, but I've read

about them in novels and history books

'and they always sounded like

strange and intriguing characters.

'He's pitched his tent on the edge

of town and agreed to meet me

'in his motorhome.

His name is Joe Ferguson. '

Hello, inside. Come in. All right.

Come right on in. All right.

I'm 71 years old. I got saved at 37.

God taught me for eight years

before I done anything.

Praise the Lord. And at 44 years old,

I started in the tent ministry.

Praise the Lord.

My wife went home to be with

the Lord in January of 2010.

The 13th of January.

So I've been alone just over a year,

but I've never backed off.

I just keep on trucking.

This right here is a mansion,

compared to what we started out in.

When my wife and I went on the road,

we had a 21-foot trailer.

We lived in that trailer...

..with a wife and a young boy,

home-schooling him

and we lived in that

for seven and a half years.

What you see is what I am.

The most gorgeous

white and purple tent,

and it's beautiful, it's gorgeous.

But everything you see

has been given to us.

It's by the hand of God.

We do probably 250-300 meetings

a year for the past 20 years

and I am still as on fire,

even maybe more so,

than I was in the beginning.

Because the Lord said,

the latter house will be

greater than the former.

You know what's good?

For brethren to dwell together.

And I am so glad that the Lord

drew you here tonight.

Reach over and tell somebody,

you're not here by chance.

You're here by opportunity.

Praise the Lord. Glory be to Him.

'The travelling tent ministry

is an American institution that

'arose in the 19th century in

response to a transient population

'on the frontiers.

'It made no sense for a preacher

to build himself a church

'when the souls he wanted

to save were on the move.

'When the next boomtown

might spring up anywhere

'and go bust just as quickly.

'So preachers started

travelling with tents.

'Some of them were hucksters,

dispensing snake oils

'and using shills in the audience

'to demonstrate their

miraculous healing powers.

'Others were staunchly devout

men of God, like Joe Ferguson here. '

I always say it like this.

If you don't have Jesus

in your life, try Him.

We're going to open up. You come

up here and line up across here.

Those of you that have a need.

Those of you that need healing,

restoration.

If you need a jumpstart

in your life, come up.

Come up and receive prayer.

You'll be amazed at the change

that the laying-on of hands

will do in your life.

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