Charlotte RV Show

We decided to check out the Charlotte RV show last Saturday. It turned out to be a beautiful day to get out and we really enjoyed the afternoon poking around the various types of RVs, accessories, and other vendor at the show. LOTS of people were there, most with smaller children. Or so it seemed to us.

We arrived about 1:30 PM, and were lucky to find a parking spot close by. Tickets this year were $10. I don't know, maybe its just me, but it seems a little excessive for a show that I'm sure charges a fortune to the RV dealers and vendors, then wants you to buy stuff as soon as you enter the door.

Having been to most of the Charlotte RV shows for the past 10 years or so, it was apparent that there were many less motorhomes on display than in past years. Some of the bigger dealers were there with a few coaches. But the Convention Center was primarily filled with travel trailers, fivers, and pop ups.

It is really amazing what can be done in the confines of a 21 foot travel trailer. It is obvious that they are able to focus on specific customer segments. For example, very small travel trailers that were great for a traveling couple. Or one that had multiple bunk beds for the travelers with smaller children.

Speaking of travelers with small children, the motorhome manufacturers are on the verge of turning their back on their bread and butter business; traveling couples. The floor plans of the few motorhomes we did see seemed to have lost all sensibility in trying to do "new and innovative" things in the small space and loosing sight of common sense.

Most of those we saw with full wall slideout rooms, tend to block off the rear of the coach while underway with the slide in. This means that the designers have to accommodate the owners while underway with a half bath that can be accessed with the slide in. What a waste of space for anyone that would like more kitchen counter or storage.

But it was a lot of fun to watch people, browse through the RVs, and run into a few old friends along the way. Comming home with a renewed appreciation of our 2005 Bounder may have just been worth the $20 price of admission.

Spring (trip) is just around the corner!!??

It was a cold day in Lake Wobegon. Oh, wait. That is from Garrison Keillor.

It's been a cold month in Monroe. This has been one of the colder winters in recent memory anyway. I can't wait for it to warm up some, soon. We were planning a trip to south Florida and the Keys for mid February, but that just didn't work out; too much going on at work and too much going on at home.

The recent passing of a close Aunt of mine after a long illness put another damper on this winter. While she will be missed, we have come to realize what a strange and debilitating disease Alzheimer's is.

On top of that, the Lutherans are having their share of problems as well. And, no that is not a quote from Garrison Keillor. Well, it really is, but I'm saying it too. The recent decisions and actions of the 2009 ELCA Church Wide Assembly has caused our congregation to think twice about remaining a member congregation of the ELCA. The real problem is that there is no other good organization for us to join at this time.

But unlike Garrison Keillor's Minnesota Lutherans in Lake Wobegon, I am really, really ready for a vacation in a more southerly clime. Someplace warm. Someplace quiet. Someplace relatively devoid of Lutherans for a couple of weeks. (Pastor Fink if you happen to read this, please take it as intended.) I think Key West pretty much fits that bill.

We currently have reservations at Blue Water Key RV Resort, MM 14 Highway 1 for the last week of April.

I really do not want to wish time away. Time comes and goes much too fast anyway. It seems not that long ago that a bunch of us boys were playing in our yards. Playing in the woods. Playing. Not playing video games, or personal music devices, or Twittering, or DVRing something to play later, but just playing. We would play in the sandpile and in piles of leaves. It seems like we always had a good time. Parents scheduling "play dates" for kids was not something anyone had even thought of at that time. I don't think we even had much in the way of so called organized athletics. Maybe the boys in Monroe had Little League or something, but not us; that was for city kids. A Pee Wee Football team was eventually organized at our elementary school, but that was after I was already gone from there. Yet, without all that "parenting" (if that is even really a word) we did manage to develop social skills, and friends, and learned how to behave, and got our exercise, and came in for supper, and in the summertime went back out again after supper to play until way past dark.

And last Monday, standing in the sunny chill of a February afternoon, most of those that I had played with were nearby, their sons standing next to me in the pallbearer line at my Aunt's funeral. So I really do not want to wish time away. But I sure wish it was warm and we were with the cat in the RV on the way to Key West.