Date Night at the RV Show

 

Last year, on our February monthiversary, we made our way to Fort Wayne to the RV show at the Coliseum to look at RVs and dream for the future. It was a last-minute plan that year. We saw an ad on TV right before it took place and decided on a whim to go. We had so much fun that we planned ahead to go again this year.

                The night we went was rainy and cold, so an indoor date night was a perfect solution. Apparently, many people felt this way, because it was fuller this year than last – and therefore harder to truly tour and enjoy. Nevertheless, we did have a good time and even learned a few things, so that made it absolutely worth it.

                The first thing we saw when we walked in the door wasn’t even a camper. It was this souped-up golf cart. Have you ever seen anything like this? I had to look it up later and found this info on it – including the starting price of 25 grand. Pretty sure that’s more than I ever paid for any actual car I’ve ever purchased – ha! Definitely not practical or possible in our budget, but it sure was fun to see and sit in. (Look at the window roof!) We thought we could become the official lake tour guides with this little thing. Serve snacks and drive around the lake. 😊

                I have to show you this camper with its hidden slide room. I also had never seen anything like this! Here is the main part of the camper (hi, Ryan!) and that wall on the right, above the fireplace, is where a TV would hang. Just beyond the fireplace, you can see a closet door on that same panel. There was an identical one right next to me on this side of the fireplace, and when I opened the door…

                …there was a whole hidden room back there! Bunks, workspace, and so many windows!

                Another feature we’d never seen on a camper before came in this toy hauler. The kitchen itself was impressive, but see that window over the sink? That opens completely and goes out to a side porch.

                Indoor/outdoor kitchen seating!

                Ryan loved this 5^th Wheel that had a living room in the elevated portion, where you usually find the bedroom in this type of camper.

                I loved the bathroom with a huge, pretty shower and a washer/dryer.

                They didn’t have too many motor homes this year, but we had to tour the ones we saw. I’m not sure why Ryan is so serious here, but he had fun pretending to drive! (More than his face shows...)

                And I had fun testing the comfort-level of the beds. (Wide range there. Same for the couches.)

                Years ago, when we did our year of alphabetical dates, we went to a tiny home show and had fun looking at them. Park model homes always remind me of tiny homes, and they had a few at the RV show this year. We went through all of them, and this one was our favorite by a long shot. This one had about double the window space of the others, and it went a long way in making it feel bigger and brighter.

                For the most part, honestly, the campers were disappointing this year. So many of them feel cheaply made anymore. (When we had Abby the camper, someone told us that the quality of campers changed during the pandemic, when they were in such high demand and manufacturers had to generate them so quickly. They began cutting corners, using cheaper materials, and the overall quality went down – at least in this guy’s opinion.)

                It’s discouraging when we think about someday getting another one, because we know our next buy will be several years down the road, and we can only imagine what the quality might be like by then.

                But right at the very end, we did find one that appeared to have better bones than most of the rest that we saw. One of the representatives came in to talk to us for a while and gave us some background on the construction of these models. We liked what we heard!

                My views on camper vs. motor home change often, and this one had the potential to convince me that towing a camper is a good idea.

                We found that last camper right before we left, and we were so glad we did. It redeemed the rest of the disappointing options. (To be clear, the HUGE rigs were amazing. But they’re never going to be our story, so we were hoping for some wins in the smaller options.)

                Even if we didn’t find a clear dream-come-true, we did have a fun night exploring!