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!