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Linda May is played by cast member Linda May

Linda May and Fern’s ongoing friendship helps bring levity to Fern’s stoicism. Though the two are close in age, an outgoing and fiercely inclusive Linda May behaves as a sort of older sister type to Fern. It’s Linda May who introduces Fern to Bob Wells and the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous boot camp in Arizona and encourages her to join the group. Even when Fern initially declines her invitation, Linda May insists on drawing up a map for her anyway. When Fern wanders through the RTR campground one morning, Linda May calls out for her to join them by the fire. Later, it’s Linda May who trains Fern to work at a campground in the Badlands and the two have a playful moment where they pretend to be at a spa on the campground.  

Linda May is a sounding board for Fern, and she has a self-awareness and emotional vulnerability unlike few other characters in the film. In one early scene, she confesses her suicidal thoughts to Fern when she was struggling financially in 2008 with little to show for her years of work. In this way, Linda May represents the group of retirement age Americans who worked their whole lives (she started at age 12) only to be told they had a meager social security benefit when it came time to retire. Her mental health struggle embodies the struggles of so many retirement age seniors brutally affected by the recession.  

Eventually, Linda May decides to leave the nomad life to construct what she calls her “earthship”: a fully sustainable, self-sufficient home in Arizona that she can pass down to her kids. As she gives Fern a heartfelt embrace goodbye, she thanks her, saying “you have given me so much.” Yet, in Linda May, Fern finds a sister and close companion who enriches her life on the road.  

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