Day 4 - Saturday - Jan 8 - RV Show

 The overnight low was 37 degrees. At 6PM it is still 61. There are only 2 nights in the 10 day forecast with lows below 40 degrees. It was sunny this morning but clouded up in the afternoon.

We went to the "big" RV show in Mobile today. It was disappointing for people who were interested in looking at Class A motorhomes, there were less than 10 of them on display. Even with so few one lady heard a salesman say they had already taken orders for 10 units by 11AM. The prices for the ones on the floor ranged from $350-475k. There were a lot of Class B's, Class C's, 5th wheels and travel trailers to look at. We wore our masks to make the fearful more comfortable. Probably less than a third of the crowd were wearing masks. We were a little surprised. We had the TV running yesterday evening, local channels, and it seemed like all we heard was a constant barrage about how bad COVID is in the area, etc.

Thought this Class C unit was interesting, for those who don't want to feel cooped up while on the toilet.

If the door swung wide open it would be a big reach to get to the toilet paper holder.

I understand that we are red necky, conservative, fuddy duddy cheapskaets but we can't help but be amazed at the number of RV's that have "fireplaces" and multiple TV's. Kathy looked at an online ad for a 2016 Newmar Ventana. The ad included a photo of the original sticker. There were $2,662 in audio/video OPTIONS, and that didn't include the cost of the dealer installed mobile satellite TV system, probably another $3,000. The $581 fireplace wastes a fair amount of storage space. The "sticker" price was $247,393, before adding the dealer installed satellite system, the stackable washer dryer unit and a few other miscellaneous options. Total sticker was probably close to $255k. The 2004 Dutch Star that we had had a total sticker price of around $240. A new one like the one we had would sticker for $500k today.

The Convention Center is right on the water. We noticed these "ships" across the waterway. I wonder if they were yachts for preppers. A couple of 50 cals & a rocket launcher and you could do a great job of repelling boarders.

After seeing the RV's it was off to Big Daddy's Grill for a late lunch. We enjoy Big Daddy's and try not to miss it when down here. It is less than a 10 minute drive from the campground. It we don't have lunch there at least 3 more times while we are hear I will be surprised.

It was warm enough to sit at the outside tables while we ate our lunch. It was a little windy but there were clear plastic drapes to block the wind where we sat. Some folks did eat while sitting at the bar show in the photo below. It was a little to cool/windy for that without a coat.

Then it was back to the campground for coffee, a cookie, a nap & later a 1.4 mile walk around the campground. 

I don't know if I mentioned it yesterday but my GPS said it was 804 miles from our driveway to the campground. Truck odometer said it was 786 miles. We averaged a little over 10 mpg pulling the camper; actual calculated mpg.

We used a little space heater to do a lot of our heating last night. For the day we used 16 kwh of electricity, about $1.80 for the day; electricity is metered and you pay for it on top of the $395 monthly rate.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours.