The earliest origins of motorhomes were generally believed to lie in the nomadic lifestyle of the Gypsies, followed by the covered wagons of the American Westward expansion. But the prototype of the modern motorhome was generally considered to be trailer conversions based on the Ford Model T in the 1910s. From the 1930s onward, as automobiles gradually became widespread, more people began loading daily necessities into their cars or towing them behind, giving the vehicles basic living functions.
By the 1970s, anti-war sentiment was surging, and the hippie movement was in full swing. Americans became even more enthusiastic about leisure activities.
The first half of the 1970s could especially be considered the last revelry of capitalism's golden age. With money to spare, ordinary Americans turned motorhomes from necessities of life into a leisure-focused pastime, and they began to grow popular.
State governments also fully supported this emerging travel trend, setting up dedicated motorhome campsites and encouraging private investment in related industries and facilities. It could be said that this whole way of doing things had become quite mature in twenty-first-century America.
Even some old, nonfunctional large motorhomes might be left somewhere in the wilderness, forming camps for drifters and becoming the last refuge for certain disadvantaged groups.
Besides official motorhome campsites, some parking lots capable of accommodating large vehicles also allowed motorhomes to stay overnight.
The difference was that such parking lots might not have facilities for disposing of motorhome black water—waste from toilets—or gray water—used household water. Nor would they provide basic infrastructure like water and electricity, so people had to live off the limited resources in their vehicles.
Since this form of travel had been developing for decades, anyone wanting to go out and have fun did not need to buy a motorhome and modify it themselves. They