In and Out...

Wild Blue is in, the Love Shack is out. And in between, we went to the Rio Grande Valley RV Show. Not as easy as it seems, since Mother Nature decided to blow the wind from the north at about a gazillion miles per hour! Of course, I am kidding - it was only a half a gazillion miles per hour... strong enough that I was talking myself out of getting the 5th wheel out of storage. We decided to take in the RV Show and take a "wait and see" on moving the coach.

It's been quite a while since we've been to an RV show; in fact, the last time we went to this show was before the RV industry imploded. There were plenty of campground and stuff vendors; lots of park homes; and plenty of travel trailers, 5th wheels, and Class C motorhomes... and not a single Class A, gas or diesel, at this show.

I was pleased to see some HitchHikers at the show...


The dealer from Buda, Texas, had 3 of them on display. One thing we noticed when we stepped inside was the difference in noise - the HitchHikers were quieter inside.

With the cold windy weather, we thought the crowds might be light... we were wrong. Plus, they all seemed to know what row we were in and gathered in massive groups, managing to stay one RV ahead of us.

One new thing that I hadn't seen before: slide outs that moved a kitchen counter over another counter...


Nice use of space. And some wide open interiors...


The RVs were all under cover - even though it didn't rain, this would sure make the displays less dependent on nice weather.


Speaking of the weather - yesterday, I posted a photo of the boat that had Joan in the background... in shorts. And today...


Yep, a winter coat. Yesterday was in the upper 70s and light wind; today was in the low 50s, and I already mentioned that biting wind. By the time we had taken in the whole RV show, then a late lunch, the wind had let up to moderately miserable... we decided to go for bring the Love Shack in. At the storage lot, the folks in a slot just a couple up from ours were having a problem getting the landing gear jacks up on their 5th wheel... dead battery. I lent them our jumper pack so they could get hooked up. Our batteries were weak, and I'll probably replace them before we head out, but they made it through our hooking-up... it's been 3 1/2 years.

Even with the ugly cross wind on the last leg today, Big Red did a fine job of handling the 5th wheel... great road manners! We put it on a site and will start the loading process tomorrow.

Oh, we didn't buy an RV today... it was never a consideration; we went to the show for the entertainment factor. We did see a few smaller RVs that were impressive, but nothing in our size that would make us consider a change. We did buy some stuff for cleaning the exterior. We really enjoy RVing, the RV lifestyle, and the folks we meet along the way... BUT... something about an RV show brings out stupid behavior in a lot of folks. Is it really necessary to slam open and closed every damn drawer in an RV that you have no intention of buying?? People eating corn dogs as they walk through brand spankin' new RVs - really??? People looking in a small Class C and saying, "I'd never buy this - there's no room for a washer/dryer." It's a 24 foot mini-motorhome for goodness sake - did you really think... oh, nevermind. Or, people looking in an 18 foot travel trailer and saying, "Look - it has a built-in coffee maker! You could live in this!" And my favorite today: a woman standing in a 5th wheel asked, "Where's the motor in this one?" And I did see a woman pull a small door off a cabinet, after pulling like a mule on it... "Well, I wouldn't buy this piece of crap..."

They need to put a sign in 'em like in an antique store: "You break it, you buy it." Aw, it probably wouldn't help.