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RV SHOW 2000
Hi, all:
We're a step closer to camping this year now that we've visited the Springfield RV and Camping Show. Even though we've only had our TT for one year (and love it greatly), we've already started the time-honored RV tradition of looking foward to the next one. Ten years from now, when our son is too cool to camp with us anymore, what will we be camping in? Steph sees us in a fifth-wheel but I want to be behind the wheel of a motorhome. So, just for fun, we window-shopped through all the RV Show had to offer.
Now, despite my motorhome tendencies, the one RV that really impressed us was a fiver. Even more surprising, it wasn't one of the high-end ones. In fact, it didn't even have any slide-outs (egads!). This fiver was the Shasta 300FL. The thing that impressed us about this unit was the floorplan. Unlike virtually all the other fivers there, this one had the living room in the front, over the kingpin, separated from the rest of the unit by a low shelving unit (containing the stereo and VCR) and a couple of steps up. This provides an unobstructed view into the kitchen/dining area:
The rear of the unit housed the queen bed master bedroom with the kitchen and bath mid-ships. This floorplan also featured 2 entrance doors - one in front at the bottom of the LR steps, the other in the rear bedroom. Thanks to this open floorplan and the unusual (for a 5er) front window, this small slider-less 5er had the appearance of being much larger inside than it actually was. Sitting in the elevated living room gave us a commanding view of the "scenery" in three directions outside while giving us privacy from prying eyes. We were so impressed that we took a brochure to remind us of this floorplan when we start looking for a new rig years from now. Sleeping 6 and with a "dry weight" of only 7,060 lbs. (GVW 11,330) this might be an good starter unit for lots of families. We hope this floorplan catches on with other manufacturers and is still available when we go looking in the next decade.
Of course, we bought a few odds and ends at the show including some patio
lights (we claim temporary insanity), and had fun eating over-priced popcorn
and jerky. As usual there was one unusual RV on display. This
year it was a "Baja" Chinook complete with 4WD, knobby tires, rally lights,
and winch
.
It was another fun RV-related day - even without our RV.