What I Learned at the RV Show

For the second year, I was lucky enough to be allowed out of my normal confines at the parts and service department to spend a few days at the Philadelphia RV Show in Oaks.  I really enjoyed it.  Everyone likes a change of pace of course, and for me, it is a chance to see campers on their turf so to speak, and I get to watch our sales team in action.  Even in my short time of experience, I have made some observations I would like to share.  So with my tongue, firmly planted in my cheek, here goes!

• Parents are liars!  You know who you are!  Over and over I heard parents tell the whiny short campers, "We'll buy the toy on the way out, we don't want to carry it with us all day!"  Did they come back?!  You know the answer... Well okay, in all fairness, I do have a lousy memory and a few could have slipped back that I didn't notice, but only one that I saw for sure came back and followed through on her promise to her child.  Bad example for the kids and how are we to stay in business if you don't buy them toys?!
• I learned that if you eat funnel cake while using your inkjet printer as a table, the paper feeding will deteriorate in direct proportion to the amount of greasy powdered sugar that falls on the paper stack!
• Speaking of funnel cake... combined with the fresh lemonade at the same stand, words fail me, but maybe the best thing I can say about it is that after I ate it, I didn't regret the NINE DOLLARS  I spent for it!! Totally awesome and you health conscious people really have NO idea what you are missing!
• My "store" was right between a huge fifth wheel, one of the most expensive RVs we had there, and a pop up camper, one of our least expensive RVs.   Yet both of them had almost equal amounts of traffic in and out of them.  At the pop up I heard over and over, "Look at that! That's just like the one we used to have!  Ohh... This one even has a toilet and a shower!"  And coming out of the fifth wheel, "I think we'll need to buy a bigger truck!"  No I'm kidding, it was like, "Hey, Aunt Suzy, You gotta look in here.  It's got a walk-in closet!"  Hope my wife didn't hear them. ;-)
• Campers love to share knowledge and experiences.  More than once while I was doing a sales pitch for an item, a total stranger would start telling the customer about their own experience with the product!  It was great.  Like having extra sales people that you didn't have to give commission to!
• There is still a lot of confusion out there about digital TV!  Some people even think our roof top antennas will bring in Satellite stations.  Only if you wear a tin foil hat I tell them!  But seriously, people are confused.  Let me make it simple.  If your camper has TVs that were manufactured before 2007, if you want to use your antenna, you will need to add a digital converter box or buy a newer TV.  That's pretty much it.  If you only hook up to the Campground's cable, your older TV should continue to serve you well.  If you do buy a converter box or a new flat screen, you do not necessarily need to run out and buy a new "digital" antenna.  (Although I don't mind if you do, and if you are thinking of buying from us, then by all means, I highly recommend it!)  In fact, when I set up our TV antenna display area, I had the TV mounted and ready to go before our display antenna came in so being an impatient boy at heart, and not willing to wait a couple of days to try it out, I fashioned a very "non digital" wire clothes hanger antenna, hooked it up, ran the TV scan and picked up 20 channels!  Now of course, with the display Jack brand antenna hooked up, with an amplifier built in, it picked up some 40 channels, so I'm not saying that a wire clothes hanger is the way to go, just saying that digital signal will travel through the most rudimentary antenna and if most your traveling is to shore points and near metropolitan areas, you will do fine with the antenna on your camper if it is hooked up properly and the amplifier is working.  Whew!  That got long!  I'm getting hungry for some funnel cake after all that writing!
• Parents! Ok, I know you shied like a mustang thinking I'm going to say something mean about you again, Au contraire!  I am so impressed by your resolve to do something "big" for your family with the intention to spend time together.  Very admirable and it will pay big dividends in your family relationships.  Also, you would not believe how often we see people who used to be campers, but sold their rigs when the kids grew up, coming back and buying an RV again when the Grandchildren are big enough to take camping!  Too cool!  I love to see something positive like that happening across the generations.

Okay all, thanks for reading.  I hope to see you this season, especially at our Open House coming up on April 4th -April 6th, but if not, look for me next year at the RV Show.  I'll be the one with powdered sugar on my shirt!