First, we went to the Cottonwood Art Festival. It was overcast and very warm, but not too bad.
Inside the festival, lots of people were looking at art and walking their dogs.
After the art festival, we went to an RV show. This is one we'd like someone to give us as a present...birthday, Christmas, it doesn't really matter. Just give it to us. Seriously, this beast is far too big...and probably a gas guzzler. But the amenities and luxuries! They are really embarrassing. What are people thinking when they buy these monsters?
2 comments:
* Sorry to hijack your comments, but this post struck a real nerve with me!
I can't really imagine what people are thinking when they buy RVs like the one in your photo. Awhile back, I watched a bit of a TV show on those kinds of RVs and the starting price on most of them was around 500K (well, at least it *was* before the economy turned sour). Some of the ones on the show had granite kitchen countertops. Huh? There's something extremely weird about driving around in something the size of a tour bus hauling a few hundred pounds of granite just for show. The other thing I can't help but think about is that there are people out there, booting around in these huge rigs, who have probably never driven anything larger than an SUV previous to buying one. That's a bit scary considering how much damage one of these could do if it went out of control. The place where Don used to work sold a couple of these things that were taken as trade-ins and one of the buyers actually had an accident driving it out of the parking lot -- cut a corner too tight and mashed the side of it on a pick-up truck parked in the lot.
Well, as you know, I did have to replace my "RV" (my Windstar mini-van). I ended up buying a used Dodge Ram conversion van from a place in Florida -- not a camper, but just one of those vans with the larger windows and comfortable seating. It's enroute to me via a vehicle transport company that hauls cars north for snowbirds. It was very inexpensive and not too high a mileage. I don't care that it is older as that just means I don't have as much invested in it to lose if anything happens to it along the road. As a vehicle that one is actually going to be living in for extended periods of time, it's pretty small -- the two dogs and I should be just fine after I remove the rear bench seat and move the small bed out of the Windstar into the Dodge. I have a single burner camp stove and a few other things like that which I'll find places for. That's enough for me. Here's another thought on the large RVs. I'm always amazed by the attitude of some of the people who drive these big monsters. They will come to a nice quiet park -- say, in the redwoods, then stay inside of it watching tv with the generator running for hours until the evening "quiet time" deadline. The racket from just one of these running in a campground can be horrible for people camped in tents or smaller vans. A couple of years ago, a friend and I drove up the McCloud River in the Mt. Shasta region of California. All the campgrounds were closed except the one that is as far up the road as you can go -- several miles of winding road. When we got there, we found almost every site occupied by RVs. We set up our tent and were surrounded by and serenaded by several generators until after dark. It was pretty unpleasant and one of the reasons that we've taken to camping on "dispersed sites" on BLM lands, etc.. as much as possible now.
(okay, now i can come down off my soapbox).
(-:
Perfectly OK to hijack the comments, Bev! I knew how you'd react to that giant boat of a vehicle. I think you hit the nail on the head; taking these things into pristine wilderness and then running the generator while watching HDTV is more than a little absurd. I like my little luxuries, but these things are more than a little obscene. A soft bed is fine for me; I don't need a washer and dryer on wheels!
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