It’s just another afternoon at the campsite for some RV enthusiasts.

With no deadlines to meet or places to be, “You get to rest, relax and listen to silence,” said Claude Grand-Maitre, a retired Canadian who has been on a seven-month-long RV trip with his wife, Lise. “It’s our second time here. We like Mississippi.”

The couple and others are headed back home and stopped last week at Rocky Springs campground off the Natchez Trace.

Their road companions, Jean Paul Tremblay and his wife, Gabby Potvin, from Quebec and also retired, said Mississippi  is “clean, and the people are friendly.”

Both couples have been taking camping trips since 1996.

Claude and Blanch Nadeau, another Canadian couple who stopped in at Rocky Springs, have been on the road for six months. Claude likes to hook up his guitar and keyboard to a generator, creating a makeshift stage beside his RV.

From a concrete dance floor at the same Rocky Springs camp, another Canadian yells out, “It’s beautiful,” as he swings his arms to the beat.

Bob Chevalier and his wife, Colette, have also been on the road for the last six months with their friends Christina Charest and Francois Dore Charest. The snowbirds are returning to Quebec from Acapulco, Mexico.

The Grand-Maitres, the Tremblays, the Chevaliers and Charests are migratory campers who travel North America and live in their RVs. While camped at Rocky Springs, many of them drive to Vicksburg to tour, eat and load up on living essentials.

“We go to the antebellum homes, and we eat (at) a nice restaurant,” Grand-Maitre said. When he and his wife return to their home in Ontario, they will park their RV in their daughter’s driveway.

“We don’t have a house anymore,” he said. “It’s much less expensive to camp — and it’s healthier.”

Tremblay, however, says, “We have a house, but we don’t use our home.”

Another group of campers, the Red Carpet Sams of Vicksburg, an affiliate of the Mississippi Good Sams, are prepping their campers to hit the road April 22-25 for their semi-annual statewide social event.

“We’re getting ready for the Samboree in Starkville,” said wagonmaster Sonny Hickman. “We’ve never been to Starkville, so we’re excited.”

The weekend event for all Good Sams members will be at the Mississippi Agricenter Fairgrounds & Horse Park. It will feature entertainment, games and food.

“The theme is Western,” Hickman said. “You can wear Western attire or whatever.”

About five of the club’s 30 members plan to attend, she said.

The Mississippi Development Authority’s tourism division estimates Canadians make up 35 to 40 percent of international visitors to the state. The MDA also estimates out-of-state visitors spent $4.8 billion in 2008.

According to 2008 statistics, the state had 11,887 RV spaces with electricity and water. Welcome Center registrants totaled 2,337,880, a 6 percent increase over the year previous.

Contact Manivanh Chanprasith at mchan@vicksburgpost.com