We went to the recent Southwest RV Super Show at Dallas Market Hall with big ideas about the posts we could write, and the things we could share. I wanted to spot the new trends and come away with some great advice for anyone looking to buy an RV this year. That didn’t happen. Maybe it was because I was expecting the wrong thing. I think, if it had been an RV industry show, that information might have been there. But this was an RV show full of dealers trying to move some RVS. I can tell you this much – there are some definite deals to be had. We saw one dealer that still had a brand new 2008 model with a very deeply discounted price. We looked mainly at trailers, since that is what we prefer. Luxury class A motorhomes and class c motorhomes may have had some discounting going on, but those are generally much more expensive than trailers anyway. So, on to what we did see.
Apparently, the RV industry believes we have the need to cook outside. I’m good with that, as we have a whole outdoor kitchen we can set up leftover from our tent camping days. We still use it on occasion. But here’s the thing, while this seems like a great idea, this cute little stove that slides out of a compartment in the RV – is it really the most practical? The little propane stove is certainly no raging campfire, but, if you slide it out at the same time you have the awning out on the RV, you will have an open flame under your awning. I am sure the RV manufacturers have tested this and I am sure that it was deemed safe or it would not be included. But still. It makes me uncomfortable.
We cook outside pretty much every time we go camping. Cooking inside heats up the RV, and frankly, the picnic table has more prep space than any RV kitchen we’ve seen. But, we use our Coleman campstove, our Dutch ovens or our Coleman griddle – all three of which could possibly fit into the space that fancy roll out campstove is using. If you don’t have any outdoor cooking tools, this might be a good option. But, if you are moving up from tent camping to an RV, this will most likely just be a redundant piece of equipment.
Here is an even more elaborate outdoor kitchen. This features the “RVQ” grill which attaches to the side of the camper (again, open flame, under the awning and attached to the camper), an extendable work area, a sink, cabinet space, a flat screen TV, a microwave and off to the left, a small fridge. This would be a great set up for tailgating or NASCAR, which is the intended market I presume. For general camping, it seems like a bit of overkill. I mean, a microwave outside in addition to the one inside? And one fridge inside and one outside? What happened to just having a cooler for the beer? It gets colder when it’s all snuggled into ice anyway.
I think that these are nice ideas for some people but to Robert and I, they seemed to take too much away from what we enjoy the most about camping – getting away from our daily life. We, so far, do not camp with a television (though we do have our laptops along). We are considering installing one in the camper, mainly for something to do if we get a really rainy weekend or we’re just really in the mood to watch a movie one evening. But, to have one outside as well? Overkill for us definitely. We don’t go camping to watch TV. Now, as I said, for NASCAR or tailgating, sure, it makes sense.
I think the best plan before going to an RV show, or even to look at RVs being sold by individuals is to think about what it is you want to be doing when you go camping. For us, time to relax without the distractions of home (like the TV) is very important. And we want to cook simple, homemade food. We need a comfortable place to sleep, room for our dog, maybe a spot for some friends to sleep and a place to put a laptop and type up a blog post if we’re in the mood. We like trailers so we can set up camp and go explore nearby areas in our truck if we want to. We knew these things before going in and looking at all of the RV options. This made it easier to skip past things like elaborate outdoor kitchens (that cost extra in the option packages) and instead focus on things that would fit our idea of camping – and not that of an RV manufacturer.
