RV Destinations : The Texas Bluebonnet Wildflower Expo

One of the best times to be in Texas is during the spring when all of the Texas Bluebonnets (the state flower) are in bloom. This year (2010), might be better than usual for the display. If you're going to be in Texas with your RV, then perhaps you can plan your trip around the Bluebonnets and get a little bit of their understated majesty.

The best areas, according an article from the University of Texas is : Wildflower Center conservationists have reported Texas bluebonnets prepping to bloom in granite along roadways between Marble Falls and Llano, Engelmann's daisy along Interstate 10 heading toward El Paso, and Big Bend bluebonnet in and around its namesake parks.


I've also personally witnessed copious amounts of the flowers on Route 290 from Austin to Houston, particularly in and around the Brenham area.

RV Industry Tidbits : How many RV's will ship in 2009/2010?

People often wonder "How big in an industry?" That is a very tricky question. In the RV world, you can look at NEW RV's sold, used RV's sold, aftermarket parts sold, service provided. Then do you count things like the parks? Do you count the economic activity related to an industry? Its a FUN question and there are societal trends that go far beyond 'just business facts' in that data.

You can find many interesting statistics on the RVIA website. I'm spending a little bit of time there and they have a Feb 2010 post that has some industry stats and predictions.

I thought I would pick out the simple one : How many units are expected to be sold in 2009 (results still coming in) and how many do people think will be sold in 2010.

How many do you think are sold in a year? What is the scale? Thousands? Ten Thousands? Millions?

Here you go and this is quoted from RVIA.org :

2009 shipments.  RV shipments in November, 2009 were more than double the total shipped in the same month the previous year.  On a seasonally-adjusted annual rate, November shipments reached 225,000 units, topping 200,000 units for the fourth consecutive month.  Shipments reached their lowest point in the first quarter of 2009, but have improved steadily since then.  Lower shipments in 2009 were caused by the longest and deepest U.S. recession since the 1930s, the tightest credit conditions in several decades, job losses, falling household wealth, slower growth in real incomes, and historically low consumer confidence. Shipments are projected to total 159,500 in 2009.

·         2010 projection.  RV shipments are projected to total 203,500 units in 2010, a 27.6% increase from the projected 2009 total, according to RV industry analyst and director of consumer surveys at the University of Michigan Dr. Richard Curtin. Gains are expected as negative financial factors give way to improved market conditions.

Video Drive By Review : Koyote Ranch RV Resort Medina Texas

Click on the following link to get a better understanding of RV52 RV Park Video Review concept.

RV Park in Medina Texas called Koyote Ranch. Very close to Kerrville. The road from Kerrville down to Koyote Ranch is absolutely beautiful. It has amazing turns which means it is very exciting for the motorcyclists. Be prepared to go slow and have steep hills. When the signs say sharp turn, then mean it. You've been warned. Koyote Ranch looks very nice, very quiet and Sheri and I would love to spend some time there.

In case Medina, which is very close to Kerrville, is not well known to you, I'll mention nearby towns : Austin, San Antonio, Blanco, Bandera, Wimberley, Fredericksburg and the basic region is called the Texas Hill Country.

One of the local events for which Kerrville is famous is the Kerrville Folk Festival.

Video Drive By Review : Guadalupe River RV Resort Kerrville Texas

Click on the following link to get a better understanding of RV52 RV Park Video Review concept.

RV Park in Kerrville Texas called Guadalupe River RV Resort. Very close to downtown Kerrville. Also located on the Guadalupe River which affords some water activities.

In case Kerrville is not well known to you, I'll mention nearby towns : Austin, San Antonio, Blanco, Wimberley, Fredericksburg and the basic region is called the Texas Hill Country.

One of the local events for which Kerrville is famous is the Kerrville Folk Festival.

Video Drive By Review : By the River RV Park Kerrville Texas

Click on the following link to get a better understanding of RV52 RV Park Video Review concept.

RV Park in Kerrville Texas called By the River RV Park. Very close to downtown Kerrville. Also located on the Guadalupe River which affords some water activities.

In case Kerrville is not well known to you, I'll mention nearby towns : Austin, San Antonio, Blanco, Wimberley, Fredericksburg and the basic region is called the Texas Hill Country.

One of the local events for which Kerrville is famous is the Kerrville Folk Festival.

Video Drive By Review : Take it Easy RV Resort Kerrville Texas

Click on the following link to get a better understanding of RV52 RV Park Video Review concept.

RV Park in Kerrville Texas called Take it Easy RV Resort. Very close to downtown Kerrville. Also located on the Guadalupe River which affords some water activities.

In case Kerrville is not well known to you, I'll mention nearby towns : Austin, San Antonio, Blanco, Wimberley, Fredericksburg and the basic region is called the Texas Hill Country.

One of the local events for which Kerrville is famous is the Kerrville Folk Festival.

RV Campgrounds - Site for Sale!

Isn't this just timeshares but without a building (at least to a degree)?

Excerpt from the article :
Many RV enthusiasts also like the upscale nature of RV parks and resorts that sell their sites as well as the convenience of owning their own site. “The advantage of owning our own site is we can come and go as we please,” said Emile LaChance, an Ontario, Canada, resident who recently purchased a site at Silver Palms RV Village in Okeechobee, Fla. “If you’re renting a site,” he added, “you’ve got to be on a schedule.”

RV Parks as an Investment

When I first met Sheri and was introduced to her RV lifestyle, I started running numbers on an RV park as an investment. I didn't have any real knowledge about the subject other than simply making numbers up. I did speak with a couple of park owners and have met more as I think about it, talk about it, and write about it more - as well as staying at RV parks too.

That was several months ago and we decided that owning a park might be a goal in the future, but with lending the way it was, no SANE lender would loan to us unless we had a great deal more immersion in the subject. So off we go RV'ing! Maybe in 2020 we'll revisit the subject seriously.

However, I did find this article on RV Park ownership interesting and at least it keeps the embers burning.

Video Drive By Review : Blanco Settlement Cabins and RV Park Blanco Texas

Click on the following link to get a better understanding of RV52 RV Park Video Review concept.

RV Park in Blanco Texas, or very, very near Blanco Texas called the Blanco Settlement. Its right next to the highway. Its really nice curb appeal is striking. There only seem to be a few RV sites, but that, in my opinion, makes it even better.

In case Blanco is not well known to you, I'll mention nearby towns : Austin, San Antonio, Kerrville, Wimberley, Fredericksburg and the basic region is called the Texas Hill Country.


Sheri and I definitely have this on our list as a place to come and spend a weekend. Watch the video (unfortunately one of my first with the new camera - sorry) and see what you think.


We DO have to mention this little bakery in Blanco. It doesn't look like much, its very tiny, but they have outstanding desserts. We had a little chocolate cake thing that had a marshmallow topping and was drizzled with chocolate. Not only was it simple, it was very, very good and tasted great. You can even order pies from them. Its called the Deutsch Apple. Sheri and I recommend it.

Outdoor House for the RV : Tying it all Together

Earlier, Sheri and I wrote about our outdoor house idea where the RV is a central part of a much greener and much more integrated with the outdoors house.

In the next picture, we envision the house on a property with a loop shaped drive so we could carefully pull the RV into one end of the outdoor house. Probably the HARDEST thing about the outdoor house is orienting it thoughtfully so that the entertainment corner is located smartly to account for morning and evening sun.

In our prior posts, we've shown concepts for the kitchen, living room, bathroom, the kids area, the storage room, and our original post on the idea. You can click on those links to learn more.

When Sheri and I try to explain our RV Outdoor house, many people really have trouble imagining what we are talking about. In the picture below, we try to show, in a simple way, just using power point the idea. We want it to be fancier than what is shown, for example, we'd like to have roll-down doors and many half or 2/3 or 3/4 walls around the outdoor house. We'd also like evaporative coolers in the rafters, ceiling fans and many pleasantries like that.

Finally, to get a sense of what we're thinking for our RV outdoor house you have to think about what it might look like from a layout point of view. We were able to use power point again to help with the general idea and put in little pictures of couches and such found on the internet. We've found the 3D programs very, very hard AND time consuming to use so we will probably find an architect and give them our rough concepts and see if they can fix them up.

Please feel free to comment and critique, discuss, and help us make this even better.

Austin RV Expo is Next Week / Last Week in February 2010

Next weekend Sheri and I plan on taking a Sunday afternoon and visiting the Austin RV Expo in Downtown Austin Texas. It will be at the Austin Convention Center. The entry tickets are $8 for each of us, but you can print a coupon for $2 and get in for $6 each.

We'll be taking our video camera and still camera and really just enjoying ourselves.

Sheri thinks we ought to get some RV52.com T-Shirts. I'm thinking thats not a bad idea. One of my friends (Ken) says our motto ought to be "We work 52 weeks a year and slough off the extra day". That's a pretty good slogan if you ask me.

We'll be focusing on fifth wheels since that is what we are thinking about living in full time. Right now, little ole Puma is just a weekend or month-long rig.

Video Drive By Review : River Oaks Riverfront RV Resort Blanco Texas

Click on the following link to get a better understanding of RV52 RV Park Video Review concept.

RV Park in Blanco Texas, or very, very near Blanco Texas called River Oaks Riverfront RV Resort. Its a little bit off of the main highway so just don't expect to see it from the highway. It looked peaceful and spread out which is nice. Since it is off of the main road AND even has a driveway to get to the park from the road off of the main road, I imagine it is very, very quiet.

In case Blanco is not well known to you, I'll mention nearby towns : Austin, San Antonio, Kerrville, Wimberley, Fredericksburg and the basic region is called the Texas Hill Country.

Video Drive By Review : What is DIFFERENT About rv52.com RV Video

Sheri and I are going to be posting many more video's of RV Parks in the upcoming weeks.

If you look at our videos, we admit that they are shaky. We admit that the editing, well was done, by us. But what we are videoing is TRUTH, pure and simple.

Here is what is NOT truth. I see the RV Park websites, some which don't even have pictures of the their park because either they don't know how to put pictures on the web OR because the pictures simply won't sell their park, which is usually the case.

Then I see all sorts of 'so called' videos of park which aren't even video's at all. They are video slide shows of still camera pictures which have the Ken Burns effect turned on. But that is not the truth, that is a few select pictures, usually way BETTER than the reality, set to music and it looks great, sounds great, but after watching, you still don't have ANY idea of how everything fits together.

Some of the parks are HUGE parks with 300-400 spaces that are located really close together. Those parks don't even bother showing you that part. They just show the green grass parts, the river, the trees, the inside of their rec center and their pool house. But you know, if you knew there were 350 RV's and each one was only 3-4 feet from the next one, you might make a different choice.

RV Video by RV52 :

Here is our goal. We are going to drive through the park and capture the video. We will DO OUR BEST to hold the camera still, despite the bumps, speed bumps and occasional potholes. We will edit out the REALLY bad video-ography. We will take out the sound and put in some nice music. We'll try to remember to put a nice opening statement, a map, and a picture of their entrance so you can find it if you want to stay there. We're going to try to keep this under 5 minutes - most of ours so far have been two minutes or so. But our sincere hope is that after viewing it, you REALLY have a flavor of the park so that you REALLY can make an informed decision.

Improvements we'll make as we progress : We're thinking about a JIG to mount the camera to the car that is gyroscopically dampened so that the video is much more level. We're also thinking about how to add some short clips where we stop and simply pan in a circle which we can do with less bounce. We're also thinking about adding some additional text to point out things we like.

But I just feel strongly that by 'giving a little' around bumpy videos, getting a quick drive through of a park will really give YOU all the extra info you need so that you know exactly what you can expect.

Anyway, hope this explains what we're thinking. Cheers.

RV Basics : Types of RV

I originally found the RV classifications a bit confusing so I thought I would write a small article to help my non-RV friends understand the differences.


Recreational Vehicles are divided between ones with a motor and ones without - called towable.


Motorized RV's are categorized as Class A Motorhome, Class B Motorhome or Class C Motorhomes. If you think good, better, best, that little mnemonic won't work. Most people 'think' of Class A Motorhomes when they think of the word RV, but something like 85% of all RV's sold are Towables. People like these because you don't have to fool with hooking up to a tow vehicle but they seem to have less living space than the fifth wheels (in my opinion) and if you want to have a car you still have to tow a car.


Towables are classified as either fifth ( 5th ) wheel or travel trailers. Our RV, which we call Puma, is a travel trailer. 


There are other classes like pop-up campers or tent campers, but I'll just stick with these main types.


Motorized RV 


Class A - This is the classic RV. It is specially constructed to be a true RV from the ground up. Sometimes you'll hear them called Diesel pushers or Gas Pushers based on the type of engine they use. These are the big daddy machines. 


Class B - This is a VAN, like a GMC or Ford, that is converted to an RV. I think of a student criss crossing the country and having a little pad like this as the mini-home. This is the smallest type of motorized RV or motorhome.


Class C - This is a cross between a Class A motorhome and a Class B motorhome. It has a the cab, cabin, or drivers area usually in a separate area, making this look like a pickup with a topper or drop in the bed camper, but these are designed to be TRUE RV's.


Towable RV 


Fifth Wheel - This RV is named after the hitch (which looks similar to the hitch on a tractor trailer), but it is more easily identified by its distinctive shape which is meant to allow the hitch to connect to a receptacle IN THE BED of a pickup truck (or larger). You might use terms like gooseneck trailer to describe the shape. Believe it or not, the newer RV's (since approximately 2005 or so) allow you to completely STAND up in the section that goes over the truck bed. To me, this looks like the most livable and PRACTICAL RV for full time living or even traveling across the country. The NEAT thing is you can just disconnect your tow vehicle and use it to get around town. Being a fifth wheel in shape makes it easier to handle than a travel trailer, both while towing in regards to safety, and while backing too.


Travel Trailer - I actually don't known the numbers, but this RV ought to be the most plentiful. They range from small car towable designs to very large models that rival, well almost rival, fifth wheels. Puma is a travel trailer. These have a straight design - they look like a loaf of bread with a hitch that comes out directly to connect to a hitch on the bumper ( or thereabouts ) on a pickup.


I've attached pictures of the different types of RV's here.

Class B Motorhome RV 

Fifth Wheel RV (pictured : Toy Hauler, a cool fifth wheel)

Class A Motorhome RV

Travel Trailer RV 

Class C Motorohome RV 

RV Summer Trip : Starting to Plan

When speaking with people about rv52.com and our interest in a simple lifestyle, personified by the RV, Sheri and I invariably hear the phrase" :

"Of all the family vacations I remember with my parents the most, I remember the time when we took our [ camper, trailer, RV, pop camper ] as a family and visited [ Texas, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, Colorado, etc ]."

When I heard this, it wasn't until it was repeated to me about the third time until the gravity of these statements became clear to me.

There is something about sharing an adventure together, where long periods of time together, solving problems (maps, hookups, cooking, setting up, etc.) create lasting memories that are remembered and cherished well into adulthood.

My children as of this writing (Feb 2010) are 12 yrs and 8 yrs old. I realize that I have just 6 or 7 more bites at that apple with my oldest.

Sheri and I are thinking that a trip that goes in a big CLOCKWISE loop from Texas to New Mexico, to Colorado, to Nebraska (visit my Mom), to near Kansas City, to the Ozarks, to the Texas Piney Woods and finally home would be a whole lot of fun for all of us. We think we can do this in about a month which is the amount of time that I would have for paid vacation. I guess we would just circle Oklahoma. No reason to avoid it, but...

This isn't exactly throwing caution to the wind as we would plan it out to about a 70% level, but we do have to be back in a month. We're thinking the month of July.

Comments? Opinions? Gotchas?

Video Drive By Review : Bastrop River RV Park Bastrop Texas

RV (recreational vehicle) Park or Campground near Bastrop Texas, about 30 miles southeast of Austin. Located right on the Bastrop River. It is gated, so the video from rv52.com was shot from a nice vantage point. 

List of RV Unfriendly Towns

I would think that RV vacationer's ( or visitors under any pretense ) would be welcome in any town. I realize that the vehicles are large, fairly slow, and could cause some traffic issues, but wouldn't it be nice if everyone just slowed down a little bit anyway.

I like the idea that this fellow ( gypsyjournal.net ) keeps a list of RV unfriendly towns. Sheri and I will make sure we review the list when we take a big RV trip this summer (more later) with Puma, our travel trailer. We will probably retire Mr. Big. He is OK for bumping around Texas, but we really think we need a diesel.

Video Drive By Review : Hwy 71 RV Park Austin Texas

Video drive by review of the Hwy 71 RV ( recreational vehicle )  Park near Austin, Texas. 


 It is located 30 minutes southwest of Austin on Hwy 71. Nearby towns are Bastrop, Del Valle, San Marcos, Austin. This RV campground is located close to McKinney Roughs State Park and the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort. Park your recreational vehicle close to all the action near Austin without going broke!


Click here for a another nearby RV Park with a drive through review...

RV Lifestyle Article : Seattle Area Family RV's the USA!

I really liked this article. Yes, I know it is a press release and they probably paid for it but I think it is cool. They took off a year and travelled the USA as a family. Truthfully, most families get a one shot deal at this and then the kids will be too old and/or grown up. Then it is gone. You might get to meet somewhere when they are older on your journeys, but I would be afraid that the time comes and goes. Our little girl is 12 and our boy is 8, and if we don't do something like this soon, it will slip past us! We can shoot for a whole summer. That would work for me.

Anyway, check it out. They are selling their big rig. I also thought it was interesting that they saved up for six years for the journey.

Read the article here.

Outdoor House : More on Outdoor bathroom

For our outdoor house that the RV will be an integral part, we keep coming back to the bathroom as one of the important pieces.

Here is a picture of a bathroom that really captures what we want. It is OPEN. We're completely sure you can do this in Texas and only a FEW days of the year the temperature is a problem.

RV Marlan meets Roadbandit

As our RV blog percolates along, we are starting to get comments from people, some friends, some new friends, some from folks working on their inlinks, and so forth. But almost everyone is related to RV'ing in some way.

This fellow in the video below runs a site called roadbandit. I checked it out and he has a good deal of funny videos. He is dynamite with video editing and seems to have a pretty good sense of humor. Here is a short video that I've linked from his site. Enjoy.

Useful RV kitchen Ideas

Today I would just like to share some of my novel kitchen ideas and give you some ideas that might work for you. I purchased a toaster oven and I love it. toaster ovens have come along way and I must say, they work as well as a traditional oven in most cases and you don't heat up the RV.

Another great investment was the electric skillet, non stick is a great invention. I use mine at least once a day for various meals and this saves on gas and clean up. Both the oven and skillet store nicely in the cabinet under the fridge.
I also have found that the collapsible bowls make for easy storage as well and the clean up in a snap.

Under my sink I have found that using the plastic baskets for my utensils and dish towels work well for organizing and keeping things under the sink neat and tidy. Plastic baskets are a great invention, for under the bathroom sink as well. Well I hope that this gives you some ideas for your next RV trip.

Destinations : Wimberley Texas : Market Days

Last fall, when Sheri and I had the RV ( recreational vehicle ) in Wimberley, we attended Market Days. In our earlier post, we discussed Market Days a bit, but a picture is worth a 1000 words. Attached are scenes from a typical Texas fall day in a fantastic little artistic town in the Texas Hill country. We set the scenes to a little music and attached some notes to each slide.

Destinations : Wimberley Texas : Pioneer Town

One of the neat things we did last fall when we stayed in Wimberley Texas with our RV was to visit Pioneer Town. We were the only people there and it looked closed so we just walked through, but I believe that several times a year they have a nice crowd and very interesting live exhibits.

So you can get a sense of it, we stood on the middle intersection and took a 360 degree view :

Fun Video : The RV Aircraft Carrier

This is to give all of you class A motorhome RV folks some ideas for helping out the military with your big rigs!

Enjoy...

Sheri's Story

I went through a divorce in 2003 and in the process of that, I lost everything I owned. I then began a journey that would lead me to complete fulfilment and happiness beyond your wildest imaginations. The journey was filled with trials, tears and some extreme growing pains. In the end God brought me through with such strength, perseverance, and humility. I developed a sense of faith,optimism, and determination.

I graduated nursing school in 2006, a brand new career after 18yrs of being a wife and mom, with a career in retail. After graduating nursing school and having so many options at my finger tips, I decided that it was time to start living. I decided that I wanted to do something untraditional and completely against the grain of society and bought a travel trailer to live in full time. I gave away everything in my apt that I had since replaced from my divorce and helped others that needed it worse than me, because my new RV had everything built in. That my friend was the beginning of my life journey of living in my RV full time.

Living in an RV gives you such a sense of freedom that is hard to wrap your hands around. Its less expensive than a house or even an apt. The RV parks have all the amenities and its usually all bills paid, cable and wi-fi included!!!!How cool is that and one more benefit that I must add is hey if you don't like your neighbors you can move!

I learned that I could live with so much less, I decided that my life is so much easier without stuff. Stuff was just weighing me down and causing undo stress in my life. Over the course of my two year RV experience I have been able to really find out who I really am and what is really important to me, and friends I can tell you first hand I am happier without material things, than I ever was with everything. Don't get me wrong I still have things, but living in such a small space I learned to be very selective. I have also learned to be a neat freak and put things up when I am done.

Life in an RV is quiet and relaxing, if you stop to think about where your living and really be honest with yourself, there is a lot of unused space in your home and its just filled with thing that really serve no purpose. But take an RV, I have a kitchen for eating, living area to relax, bedroom for sleeping, and of course the most important room is my bathroom. I have to say I enjoyed going to my son's house and relaxing in the garden tub. My RV has a stand up shower.

I will continue to share insight as it occurs to me, hope this gives you some needed inspirations, as its been a true joy sharing.

RV Video Walkthrough : Jayco Eagle Super Lite 318RLS

A new thing we're trying is video walkthroughs of different RV's. We're finding video is a great deal of fun and hopefully helpful for people. Most people just show pictures of RV's, but we thought video would be nice. Another thing is that when people do try video that they have to speak. Right now we're just putting music with the video. Look for us to 'up' the video quality in the future.

This RV is a Jayco Eagle Super Lite 318 RLS and we taped it at Crestview RV in Buda Texas.

Here is the video walk through - please feel free to leave comments.

RV Video Walkthrough : Jayco Jayflight 26BH

A new thing we're trying is video walkthroughs of different RV's. We're finding video is a great deal of fun and hopefully helpful for people. Most people just show pictures of RV's, but we thought video would be nice. Another thing is that when people do try video that they have to speak. Right now we're just putting music with the video. Look for us to 'up' the video quality in the future.

This RV is a Jayco Jayflight 26BH Travel Trailer and we taped it at Crestview RV in Buda Texas.

Here is the video walk through - please feel free to leave comments.

RV Video Walkthrough : Open Range 345RLS Fifth Wheel

A new thing we're trying is video walkthroughs of different RV's. We're finding video is a great deal of fun and hopefully helpful for people. Most people just show pictures of RV's, but we thought video would be nice. Another thing is that when people do try video that they have to speak. Right now we're just putting music with the video. Look for us to 'up' the video quality in the future.

This RV is an Open Range 345 RLS Fifth Wheel and we taped it at Crestview RV in Buda Texas.

Here is the video walk through - please feel free to leave comments.

Destinations : The Teague Texas Library

This might not seem like a destination, but I thought this was very, very cool. The public library, which is small, in Teague Texas was built in an old bank.

I thought it was funny that the romance novels were in the vault! Anyway, I captured a few pictures and post them here. I'm guessing that unless I write about this little fascinating oddity, no one might even hear about it.

Enjoy.

Video Drive By Review : Sunset RV Park Austin Texas

Drive by Review of Sunset RV Park in Austin Texas. This is on Hamilton Pool Road almost all the way to Dripping Springs. Its a great location near Austin and looks to be very quiet. We did not stay there but did capture the video for you.