2007 RV Rally in Redmond, Oregon
Redmond, Oregon: We had a lovely night,
able to sleep well with the cool night air. The gigantic generator did not
bother us at all. So, we were up early and out again over to The Rally to
see the Oregon Tails Dog Show. The dog show was quite amusing, with funny
contests (dog-owner look-alike, best kisser, best trick, etc.). Competition
wasn't exactly fierce - everyone received a ribbon just for participating -
and most of the dogs refused to "perform" as they were too confused with all
the activity, all the dogs, and the hundreds of people in the audience.
However, the owners were quite entertaining! The dogs were gorgeous and it
made me miss our Old Snickers (our sweet beagle passed away last year).
Pick me, pick me! Owner-dog look-alikes wait for judging
Behind the scenes... so to speak
I loved this "Parrothead" dog in a lei, grass skirt and bikini
This guy claims to never feed (or clean up after) his dog - and a glamorous
couple
After the dog show, we toured through a few of the
motorhomes we had yet to inspect. We were really interested in the
DyanMax motorhomes
- built on Freightliner truck chassis with a Mercedes engine. Sweet - a
half-million dollars sweet. They look very masculine on the outside, but are
very nice inside - if you need a fake fireplace in your RV.
DynaMax Motorcoach
DynaMax interior
Below are photos of other pretty things we saw today:
Alpine Coach has fabulous huge sliding storage bays - on both sides of
the coach
American Coach
offers 1 1/2 bath floorplans with king beds
American Coach
interior - full driver-side slide is so roomy
Of course, at every RV show you will find huge pavilions
filled with vendors of every sort. The Rally offers an overwhelming
selection of RV merchandise and after-market add-on for every RV. Camping
clubs, travel destinations, RV insurers, RV loans, satellite TV and
internet, jewelry, cookware, tires, engines, transmissions, tires - you need
it, the product is here. There are also many seminars, speakers (and a few
sales pitches disguised as seminars) where you can learn more about driving,
servicing, living-in, storing, protecting, insuring, buying or selling your
home on wheels.
One of the exhibition halls: RVers need lotsa stuff
Then it was time for the Oreo Stacking Competition at the
youth/teen activity center. The "Mission Possible" boy below spent serious
time organizing his cookies, then laughed and held his ears as the volunteer
sang an (purposely) awful rendition of Happy Birthday to the birthday boy.
Happy Birthday to You
The competition heats up
This little guy (left) was very serious - never smiled. He
sorted through each cookie, carefully inspecting for any defect or crack.
Any imperfect sandwich was set aside and promptly removed and discarded by
the attentive volunteer. This kid was here to win!
Early afternoon, we headed back to our RV.
Bill Adams of
Internet Anywhere (and another of the gurus at the web forum for
data stormers) was
stopping by to upgrade us to the new, faster modem. Bill and his wonderful
wife, Janet, spend most of their time installing internet satellite dishes
to the roofs of RVs all over the west. Bill wasn't at our motorhome for
twenty minutes - he set us up, made two sales on his cell phone and was
gone.
Bill tows this van behind his motorcoach - and here is a photo of Bill in my
bedroom!
Back to the fairgrounds to tour through even more RVs -
trailers, toy-haulers, 5th wheels and motorhomes. We needed sweaters this
afternoon - it was a little windy and the sun never did shine today.
Shiny Country Coach motor homes to tempt you
We toured through the 2008
Country Coach
selection. Country Coach has two new models this season - one on either end
of their line. A very fancy
Rhapsody
is above their Affinity (yet a serious step down from their
Prevost conversion) and they have also added the
Tribute, a new entry-level luxury motorcoach.
Cool new cafe-style dinette and King beds in many models.
1 1/2 baths are very common in 42 to 45-foot floor plans.
With apologies to my Great Friend, sports writer Clay
Travis, there are a few new trends in motorhomes this season:
1.Full-tile RVs - no more awful carpet. (If
you are lucky, your tile is heated.) Often, the tile includes the entry
steps too. Very nice touch. This is even true if the RV has slide rooms.
Engineering is our friend. Bedrooms are still carpeted - especially with
diesel pushers... too many layers/steps back there and I suppose the carpet
keeps the noise level down while driving?
2. All electric RVs. No propane at all. The fridge is
electric and the burners (usually only two) are the flat ceramic electric
style. The water heater is by Aqua-Hot. The all-electric RVs have a regular
house-style fridge (20 cubic feet or larger!), usually two-door with outside
ice/water dispenser. This requires another bank of batteries and two
inverters (not a typo, folks!). One inverter is for the refrigerator and the
other is for the rest of the RV.
3. Bath and a half. It only takes a moment to figure this
out. Salespeople will say it is for tailgating or those who don't to share
their potty with others... but any simple person can figure if the loo is
along the back five feet of the coach and there are two slides in the
bedroom... you are not going to be able to access the toilet when the slide
rooms are in. Meaning... Gladys is going to have to climb across the bed to
use the toilet when you stop for fuel in Toledo. Not a good idea. I vote no
on the bath and a half.
4. Front kitchen. This is pretty nice! The
Discovery 40X has the kitchen directly behind the driver/passenger
seats, then the spacious living area, followed by the bath and bedroom in
the rear. The representatives tell us this trend will be huge next year in
many brands, models and price ranges. This layout would be especially great
for those who "live" outside or tailgate with their rigs - you wouldn't have
to walk through the entire coach to get a cold beer out of the fridge. Plus,
your front view isn't obstructed by a TV hanging from the ceiling.
5. Dishwashers. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Just a
little dishwasher, but a great dishwasher - the wonderful
Fisher & Paykel dish drawer out of New Zealand. From years of experience
(in my house, and sadly NOT in my RV) I can attest this is the best
dishwasher EVER. They are so quiet and only use about a Tablespoon of water
to wash a load of dishes (okay that is a serious exaggeration, but they are
remarkably earth-friendly). They are not wallet-friendly, but you get what
you pay for in this case.
6. Two burner cook tops. I guess no one uses four, or even
three burners. Two burner - gas or ceramic electric - cook tops are showing
up more and more this year. After speaking with countless RVers this week, I
have decided no one actually cooks in their campers anymore - people go out
so much - I was so surprised!
7. One piece windshields. No more seam and no more window
wipers blocking your view of the scenery. Wipers are hidden at the bottom of
the huge glass expanse. Just makes us wonder about repair/replacement after
the inevitable rock chip - but we love the look.
8. Side-view cameras. The back-up/rear view camera is
pretty standard now in a motorhome. How about if you flip the turn signal
your camera screen would automatically switch to a view of your chosen lane?
Pretty cool. Pretty safe. Pretty-much really needed. Why didn't we think of
this?
9. Huge flat-screen LCD TVs. The Plasma seems to have
died-out and LCD is the thing now. Much cheaper, lighter and longer-lasting.
We noticed so many 2008 RVs come equipped with High Definition Satellite
receivers and DVD players in the living AND bedroom areas.
10. Our motorhome is four years old and has nearly 50,000
miles. Should we go shopping?
The masses lining up in front of the Event Center to see Gary Puckett and BJ
Thomas -
and to break the Guinness World Record for the largest whoopee cushion "sit"
(over 6000 people, each sitting down onto a whoopee cushion at the same
time).
Me and My Dad - my parents live in Bend, Oregon
and Dad is volunteering this week in the FMCA booth
This evening we were invited to an event for the media,
hosted by Livingston Cellars (EJ Gallo).
Livingston
Cellars has an ideal location for a "wine garden" at The Rally -
complete with an adorable vintage Airstream trailer surrounded by a white
picket fence. Even though we were admitted with our media badges and were
obviously well-over 21 years of age (several times!), we were asked our age
and had our hands stamped to assure the servers we were of legal age to
enter the garden. We had a fun time meeting The Rally organizers and
sponsors and learned quite a bit about the magnitude of hosting an event for
thousands of participants. Very impressive - thank you so much for making
The Camping Journal feel so welcome!
Much too late, we finally returned to our motorhome for another late night
meal. Tonight DT grilled the
Perfect Steak and I tossed together fresh field greens with avocado,
tomato and Rogue
Creamery Smoked Blue in a little white wine, olive oil, white wine
vinegar, salt and pepper. It was another great meal and another great day
spent in our RV.
The Perfect Steak
I did not exercise (walk) today - yet my pedometer reads
5.67 miles. These RV rallies are good for you! Until tomorrow, when we will
explore more, I remain, your Rally correspondent.