Always love how this topic is guaranteed to bring out the judgmental and elitists who have issues with the whole idea. I've had many RVs, been all over North America with them, and laugh at the comments about how only idiots would own houses on wheels. Our kids are in, and/or have just graduated from various universities. When they were younger, we would load up a travel trailer and hit the road for the summer. Frequently from the east coast to Alaska and back. Nothing to spend 10-12 weeks on the road for an amazingly low cost. A tiny fraction of what it would of run in hotels, or even taking a two week cruise for the whole family. That said, by that time, as a young family, we had our act together enough that the RV was paid for before it left the dealer, and we had orchestrated our professional careers to allow for hitting the road for months at a time.
Unfortunately, the OP's family represents the more common element of the RV buying world, those that can't afford it, and really end up with their sack in a vice after they take a TEN to TWENTY year mortgage on these poorly built, horrifically depreciating, shit boxes. Now those folks amaze me. It's pretty typical for an RV to be worth 1/3 of it's MSRP after 4-6 years, and it's pretty typical for an idiotic owner to still owe way more than that and have another 5-15 years of payments on the thing.
That said, enjoying the lifestyle is great, I'm currently in a remote fishing village on the Gulf of Mexico and it's a stunningly beautiful, cheap, stress free place to escape the brutal north east winter. Rving is not for everybody, and it's a bad road to head down if your not financially wary, but I can't complain. I don't attack all the horse owners. boat owners, golfers or others here who find silly, and potentially expensive ways to entertain themselves, and I smile at those that describe me as an idiot for doing so.
BTW, a modest ranch home in this village goes for a minimum of $400K. I'm staying in a high end resort with a heated pool and all the bells and whistles for $475/month. Idiot indeed.