Pages

Friday, January 16, 2009

23rd Annual Washington DC Camping RV Show

We love to go to RV shows. This year's local one began on Friday afternoon and we attended the Washington DC area RV show that is actually a couple miles from where we live.

Some have asked, "How is the RV industry in your area?
  • Seems affected by the economic downturn.
  • There were about 20% - 25% (our guess) fewer vendors and dealers.
  • The crowds were much bigger with more congestion in previous years.
  • The cold (single digit) weather probably had an impact.
  • There seemed to be some bargains available (just not on our choice of rig)
We go to these events see what we can learn and specifically went to see if dealerships in this area could compete with dealers near the Tiffin factory in Alabama.
We sat down with Mike from Brooks Ramsey RVs which is just northeast of Baltimore.
We were also on a quest to get actual specs to find out how much storage space we can plan on. We have been downsizing and accumulating some plastic bins to fit into different spots on the coach. Tiffin motorhomes may have the best use of space in the coaches we have seen.
Another fun aspect of going to these events is seeing RVers that we have met in the past. We ran into Karen and Steve who drove in from Warrenton VA. I met Steve online in a forum and got to see them the first time in September at the Life on Wheels (LOW) Conference in Harrisburg PA.
Pam and I also saw Charles who is a salesman at McGeorge's RV near Richmond. We have visited their dealership a couple of times.
So it was a good day at the show. We wandered down aisles of RVs, checked out storage,
looked at $500,000 coaches, talked with some good sales folks and tried out some very comfortable easy chairs.Looking forward to the next one!

3 comments:

  1. Good luck on your quest for the perfect RV. We are into the 4th month with our new Discovery and although we have had a few minor issues for the most part it is all we wanted and more.

    JB

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi again. It was nice speaking with the two of you again at the Chantilly RV Show. I'm glad to see that we're not the only ones who haven't "taken the plunge" yet. I was also reading your blog about the "40' vs. 42'" choice. That exact issue arose in our search after sitting in a few 42' models at the Harrisburg, PA show. Best of luck with your search and maybe someday we'll both be on the road.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That Mike from Brooks Ramsey's sure is a hamdsome guy. LOL You guys have done a beautiful job on your blog. I promised you I would visit. I hope you got my email over the weekent about the 40QTH that just came in. Hope to talk to you soon.

    Michael Copenhaver

    ReplyDelete