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Hot tubs, AC, cherry paneling and 6 mpg

By Dan DeWitt, Times Staff Writer
Published February 10, 2008

I didn't want this to be a rant.

I spent an entire morning last week at the Hernando County Airport, trying to find something nice to say about the Family Motor Coach Association.

I spent an afternoon trying to write a column praising its members as decent, friendly folks who might have strayed somewhat from the adventurous spirit of their organization's roots.

Then I gave up.

Because the truth is, I don't like what they stand for. I don't like that what the members seem to care most about is stuff -- ogling it, competing to have the most, talking with amazement and approval about the sky-high costs of cherry paneling, hot tubs and granite countertops.

I don't like their apparent blindness to global warming. And, though this is their business, I don't like that they seem bent on draining all the fun out of travel.

As their annual rally breaks up this weekend, I am happy to see them go.

Why pick on these folks? They come here every year and patronize local stores and restaurants. Most are retirees who have worked hard all their lives and have the right to spend their money as they like.

True, except that they take this privilege to an extreme that is too common in our culture. To me, it seems like selfishness.

Every year, this paper sends a reporter out to cover the rally. Every year, the buzz is about the ultimate in luxury and its steadily rising price, from about $500,000 for the highest-end motor coach a decade ago to more than $1-million now.

A few association members regret this. Most revel in it, with several telling me proudly that they had lost $100,000 in the value of new motor homes the moment they drove off the lot.

"If we want something, we get it," said Betty Wolff of Pinellas County, standing outside the main vendors tent with her husband, Jerry. "From motor homes to the motorcycles to the kitchen cleanup supplies. Everything."

Chris Baskin of Hilton Head, S.C., said that, like most members, she attends rallies to catch up with friends. They talk about equipment, their recent trips and their grandchildren.

Sustainability, I bet, doesn't come up much.

Her mobile home gets 6 miles to the gallon. On a 2-1/2-week tour of the Great Lakes last year, she said, she spent between $10,000 and $15,000 on fuel.

Does she worry about carbon dioxide emissions?

"No, I do not," she said. "I just don't."

Motor home owners are sometimes criticized for needing two vehicles for their trips -- a motor home and a tag-along car. Baskin and her husband, Walt, sometimes add a third, having recently taken a cargo ship that carried them and their little caravan to Newfoundland.

"The great thing is, when you roll off the ship, you're in your house," she said.

Is it really great? While the usual goal of a vacation is to get away from it all, motor coachers try to take it all with them. That means comfortable beds and showers. It also means balky air conditioners and hydraulic leveling systems, and finding repair shops to fix them.

"It's a house on wheels," said Jerry Wolff. "Let's face it -- if you drive it 60 or 70 miles per hour down the road, something is going to shake loose."

Sounds like a blast.

[Last modified February 9, 2008, 22:53:02]