Blogs are just like buses….none for ages then 3 come along all at once!
We all know that Mericans like to be biggest and best, though often they focus rather too much on the BIGGEST part. This is understandable in a world where big and good are effectively the same word. However, there is one nitch (oops….niche) where the Yanks have really got it sorted. The motor home. Actually they call them RVs and this helpfully puts some distance between them and the pathetic converted Transits that we know as motor home’s.
Here is a reasonably typical example of the breed:
If you were taking 40 cubs to the zoo you would hire something MUCH smaller! These things are chuffing huge and with more technology than Wallace’s trousers. Not only do the sides slide out (cue Thunderbirds music) but there are powered trays underneath that deploy all sorts of recreational accessories. I saw one that produced a 40 inch plasma TV so you could watch it al fresco under the awning.
Obviously the mega rich can afford fancy toys and if we saw one or two of these a day it would make sense, but most of the campgrounds we have stayed in will have many dozens, even hundreds on the really big sites. My assumption is that there must be hundreds of thousands across the US in total and it is mind boggling to think that this many people have somewhere in the order of $0.25m to waste on a caravan. HOWEVER, speaking as someone who has lived for almost 4 weeks in a tent only marginally larger than a coffin (and a good deal smellier than an OCCUPIED coffin!) I will admit to a degree of envy. Not only would one make this road trip the height of luxury, I could burn fossil fuels at a rate that would make Jeremy Clarkson proud of me.
Oh yes, the trip. We left Copenhagen and spent the morning climbing the best part of 2000 feet over the hills and back to the ocean at Santa Barbara. We are now in Ventura Beach which is a so-so sort of place and staying in an RV park right next to Highway 101. Up in Washington state this road was our friend and companion but now it is a roaring 3-lane motorway which serves us no purpose other than to ensure we don’t get any sleep. Wish we had a nice sound-proofed RV!
Steve
