Tampa RV Show

We made it over to Tampa for the show which was extremely crowded on Saturday. About a thousand RVs of all sizes on site to walk through. Not too much innovation in the motor homes noted apart from the Monaco Vesta, which was a real design beauty with lots of upscale perks included as standard. Nice mid size, spacious interior with beautiful cabinetry and furniture, diesel fuel for good mileage, good exterior storage, but a tad pricey compared to our 2010 Serrano. We had hoped to see some 2011 Serranos there and were disappointed to find only one. We learned later that there had been eight at show's start, all sold and gone by Saturday save the one we saw. That made me feel good about my purchase.

The real innovation seemed to be in the campers and trailers. We saw one with a full size step up kitchen with wrought iron railings, beautiful white washed wood cabinetry, a fireplace, spacious bedroom and a drop down roofed outside deck with flat screen TV as well as toy hauler space/screened porch out back. Another had a trendy Euro design interior. Several had full outdoor kitchens with flat screen TVs to watch during food prepping. No more seventies design with nubby sofas for the purchasers of these beauties!

I was disappointed in the exhibition hall offerings. Not much innovation there in terms of interior appointments and accessories. Weirdly enough, lots of jewelry. I personally never wear or take my jewelry with me on vacations since our travel style is strictly jeans and shorts and t shirts. I guess some folks do, though.

There were lots of dogs there. We took one of ours, which was a mistake because it was too crowded for her to be comfortable and she got a little grumpy after several hours of evading legs and feet. The food was the usual yucky carnival sort of fried somethings or other so we only sipped lemonade. Promised entertainment of bagpipers and dog acts was absent on Saturday afternoon and we never encountered any of the Bloggers we hoped to see there. Still it was a fun day and we got a custom wooden sign for the RV.

What we also came away with was a sense of being very pleased that we purchased the Serrano. We didn't see anything else with the possible exception of the before mentioned Vesta that would tempt us away from our 'Badger.' If I wanted a bigger gas model, I loved several of the Winnebagos and the Bounders. But as far as mid-sized diesel goes (32 feet) I think the Serrano is a good buy and a good ride. And since we don't want to tow, it works well for us.

All for now. Happy trails to you along the roads less taken.