Does the Man with the Mullet Come With It?

Life has been crazy lately. Isn't it always though? But I do need to get better at keeping up on posting. It's always in the back of my mind, nagging at me to sit down and just type, but it's so difficulty to find the time. I will get caught up... but where to start? So many stories, so little time.

To start things off, lets go back a couple of weeks. I heard an advertisement on the radio for an RV show at the South Towne Expo Center. I have always wanted to go to one of those just for kicks and giggles, so I thought, why not? Ryan was all for it too, but I bought the tickets and off we went.

It was a total blast! When we first walked in the door, I was almost overwhelmed. I have never seen so many RVs in my life! They were wall to wall squeezed in as tight as possible, sometimes only a few inches between them. We began wandering aimlessly at first, in and out of various RVs that caught our attention. Before long we ended up in the "Presidential Suite" on wheels area. Seriously, those things are insanely nice. Way too nice if you ask me. I guess it all comes down to why you are getting one. Someday Ryan and I would love to have one to make camping easier with kids and family. We are both big campers, and though we have nothing against a tent and sleeping bag, there is no denying that a nice warm bed and place to get cleaned up has its perks. So for us, we would probably want something that has a little bed or two, a small fridge, and maybe a tiny little bathroom. And even all that isn't really necessary. After all, it's camping! But if your purpose in getting one is to cruise the USA with all the comforts of life including granite counter tops, full size refrigerators, tile floors, huge flat screen TVs, and a fire place... and if you have a couple hundred thousand to spare - well, they have got something for you too.

(Yes, that's the inside of one of those super nice ones.)

It was actually kind of fun to start at the "posh" end and work our way down to the little pop out trailers and campers. It was amazing to sit in the lap of luxury for a while, but then work our way down to the basics. There were moments when I found myself thinking, "But it doesn't have an extra sofa," or "It doesn't have much counter space," and then I think, "What on earth do you need that for?! It's a trailer!" I am not knocking people that do get this super big nice ones. They are, after all, quite amazing. But for us - it's nothing that we want or are interested in. It's just fun to see what they offer.

The show brings out as much a variety of people as it does types of trailers. We saw young couples like us, some with kids, some without. We saw lots of older couples looking for their retirement adventures. We saw lots of high maintenance women - fake nails, hair, skin, and chests. But we also saw plenty of the complete opposite: men with long braided hair, mullets, cut off jean vests, and their women looking eerily similar - all carrying around Budweiser cups of foaming beer. Yes, you could purchase beer from the tap at the concession stand. As we passed our first group of men dressed and groomed this way, I smiled to myself, and then started giggling as I realized some extremely twangy country music was playing overhead. The picture was perfect. I actually don't mind country music - but in that particular moment, all I could do was laugh. Judgemental, yes. I'm sorry.

In one particular trailer we stepped into, we met two young kids - a boy probably about 6 years old, and a girl who was probably 8. No sooner had we stepped inside when the boy looked up at us and started up a conversation.

"We're not gonna buy this one," he began.

"Oh yeah? Why not?" we both replied.

"It doesn't have enough beds. And we have lots of kids, so we need more beds," he stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh I see," I said sympathetically.

His sister turned on him, clearly miffed. "Don't talk to strangers!" she reprimanded.

"They aren't strangers!" he argued. "They have kids!"

I bit my lip and tried not to laugh as Ryan and I made eye contact. First of all, the logic was... a little unusual. And although it's fairly sound, it's not necessarily the best advice. And second of all, what kids?! I am sure he assumed we had kids or we wouldn't have been talking to him.

His sister quickly ushered him out the door where they found their mother just outside.

"Mom," she whined, "he was talking to strangers and he said they weren't strangers cause they had kids." Tattle tale.

"If you don't know their names or where they live, they are still strangers even if they have kids. Okay?" the mom instructed.

"Okay," came the defeated reply.

Ryan and I sat on one of the couches inside and laughed and laughed.

We wandered the showroom for several hours, most of the time unsure of where we actually were, and I think we probably only saw about a 1/3 of what was there. We meandered through the outer hallways to check out all the other fun outdoor stuff and buy some food. We finally headed home exhausted, but happy. It was a really fun - just for kicks and giggles - type of date. The number one thing I learned is that most of those trailers aren't nearly as expensive as I thought they would be. Sure there are still the ones that cost $200,000, but the majority of them cost less than our car. It was interesting to see how some that barely had any amenities were often priced much higher than the nicer ones. You just never know. There is so much to learn! And I don't know how anyone ever decides on which one to get. But thankfully, we won't have to make that decision for a very long time.