The RV industry marks 100 year Anniversary

NEWS RELEASE
1910-2010: The RV Industry Celebrates 100 Years of Exploration and Innovation
A century ago, the popularization of the automobile, improving roads, and America's passion for exploration gave rise to mass-produced, manufactured recreation vehicles, and the RV industry was born. In 2010, Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA) and the RV industry will mark this centennial with an array of special activities celebrating the 100-year journey of a uniquely American product.

In 1910, there was no TV, no air conditioning and no phone, but there were RVs. Through war and peace, booms and busts, fuel lines, fads and the cyber revolution, the RV lifestyle has endured and is still going strong, even in today's challenging economic times.

"Think about how far we've come in the past 100 years in terms in technology, yet the reasons to RV remain the same," says RVIA President Richard Coon. "RVing has been able to thrive and grow because people still enjoy the freedom that it provides."

The industry will celebrate its centennial in 2010 with a series of events that showcase today's innovations and new products while emphasizing America's century-long love affair with RVs.

"Recognizing and celebrating the 100th anniversary of the RV industry is a unique opportunity to tell our story to the media and public," says Coon.

The roots of RVing are as old as pioneers and covered wagons. But 1910 is the year that America's leading RV historians — David Woodworth, Al Hesselbart and Roger White — cite as the beginning of what has become the modern RV industry.

"The first motorized campers were built in 1910," says Woodworth, a preeminent collector of early RVs and RV camping memorabilia. "Before then, people camped in private rail cars that were pulled to sidings along train routes. The year 1910 brought a new freedom to people who didn't want to be limited by the rail system. RVs allowed them to go where they wanted, when they wanted."

Hesselbart, archivist for the RV/MH Heritage Museum in Elkhart, Ind., also pinpoints 1910 as the birth of the RV industry. "Camping has been around for centuries, but 1910 is when the first auto-related camping vehicles were built for commercial sale."

Known as "auto campers" or "camping trailers" a century ago, these vehicles were a forerunner of today's modern RVs.

"There were one-offs [individual units] built prior to 1910," says White, an associate curator for the Smithsonian Institution. "But 1910 is a good benchmark for the industry."

"The 1910 RVs offered minimal comforts compared to today's homes-on-wheels," says Woodworth. "But they did provide the freedom to travel anywhere, to be able to get a good night's sleep and enjoy home cooking. One notable exception to today's RV was the bathroom. In 1910, it was usually either yonder tree or yonder bush."

Hesselbart points out that one brand of auto camper in those days was equipped with a bathroom onboard. "Pierce-Arrow's 'Touring Landau' had a potted toilet," he says.

A version of today's Type B van camper, the Pierce-Arrow "Touring Landau," was unveiled at Madison Square Garden in 1910.

In addition to Pierce-Arrow, there were several other companies or auto-body builders producing motorized RVs. These companies and innovative products were featured in a Popular Mechanics issue in 1911, but Woodworth says the motorhomes highlighted in the article were actually built in 1910.

Camping trailers made by Los Angeles Trailer Works and Auto-Kamp Trailers also rolled off the assembly line beginning in 1910. Hesselbart says the earliest RV on display at the RV/MH museum is a 1913 trailer, ancestor of the contemporary travel trailer.

Photos of 1910 RV models appear in White's book on the history of RVing and exist in both Woodworth's and Hesselbart's libraries.

To mark the centennial, RVIA is creating a special 100th anniversary logo and commemorative decal that everyone in the industry will be invited to use in their own promotions and marketing. RVIA is planning an industry party on June 7 during the 2010 Committee Week in South Bend, Indiana, to which media and political guests would be invited.

RVIA will soon announce details of an RV caravan led by Woodworth with one of his early RVs, as well as a menu of celebration and promotion ideas for dealers, campgrounds, clubs and shows to use on their own.

"Celebrating our centennial will create excitement and pride throughout our made-in-America industry and provide an opportunity for manufacturers, dealers, suppliers and campground owners to unite under one banner," says Coon. "For 100 years, we've been helping Americans explore their scenic treasures and heritage more comfortably, affordably and enjoyably. That's something to celebrate."

Ready to Retire? What now/

The “grind”; the “treadmill”; your “career” – has STOPPED. You are RETIRED. What now?

For the first time since you were a kid, you get to choose what to do every day, who to do it with, how to do it, and when to do it. Ahhhh. BUT WAIT: Your new life is beginning to descend upon you – new demands on your time, new things to do, new places to go, new experiences to explore. Yes, it is of your own choosing, but a new lifestyle pattern so soon begins to emerge.

Stop the train before it leaves the station. Travel is no doubt in your plans, but now getting away to see everything on your ‘bucket list” is becoming just as mired in minutia as when you were working. Why not step back, do some planning, and run away from home for some really long time before you settle into retirement. Get healthy, be free-as-a-bird, and have the time of your life.

Boomers by the thousands are beginning to do exactly that, guided by the best-selling, award-winning book, “Live Your Road Trip Dream.” Whether your dream vision is a trip around the US, a year on a sailboat, backpacking through Asia, or a year in Tuscany, this handy guide, chock-full of tips for healthy living that are applicable to every income level, and every type of dreamer, will have you moving from the dreaming to the doing in no time at all.

Seattle Day Trips

I've been doing some writing for RoadTripAmerica.com about road trips. Here is my latest one on day trips from Seattle.



Enjoy.

Boomers Getting More and More Sites

Part of the fun of being involved in the boomer marketplace is learning about new sites that are offering good content and ideas to help this generation make decisions on all types of issues from lifestyle to finance to retirement.

In the last couple of weeks, I have been working with two newer sites by providing some articles to them. They are good sites and I know you will enjoy poking around for new information. Here are the links to what I wrote as a jumping off point for you.

Boom Voyage

Top Retirements

I hope you enjoy these sites and maybe even the articles.

Carol

Dreaming - January, 2009 Newsletter

Chuc Mung Nam Moi! Or, Happy New Year in Vietnamese. We have just returned from a wonderful trip to Vietnam and Thailand and were lucky enough to be there during their lunar New Year celebration welcoming the "Year of the Ox". It was a road trip of sorts in that we took almost every conveyance you can think of including rickshaws, bamboo boats, bamboo rafts, elephants, ferries, Junks, and good old buses. There were a small group of us and we had the time of our lives. We highly recommend Overseas Adventure Travel for their spirit of adventure in taking us places that large groups can't go and for planning activities so varied that we were always trying to guess what might come next. So now it is back to work. Phil and Carol

After nearly four years of publishing this newsletter, I've decided to take it to a blog format instead of this periodic epistle. I'm hoping that it will give you more timely information in shorter, more digestible bites and make it easier for all of you to leave comments and ask questions. I do need your help though to make this transition. You can subscribe by going here and telling me in the upper left hand side just how and where you would like it delivered or you can "follow me" and get notifications when I post something new. This is so much more flexible than just having me send it to your inbox. I hope this will make our communication even more effective by taking advantage of new technologies. Try it - I think you'll like it.

Here is a new website that tells all kinds of interesting stories of retirement, reinvention and travel - among other things. www.topretirements.com

Last month I promised a copy of "Essential USA" for your best tips. And the winners are: Steve Albrecht We struggled with the question, “What do we collect as souvenirs?” for a long time before we left on our 6 month trip. On the 2nd day of our adventure, at the Grand Canyon, my wife had an epiphany. “We should get a Christmas ornament everywhere we go,” she said. “They’re small, inexpensive, and every year when we decorate our tree, we can relive our adventure.” We’d keep a small box on hand, and add ornaments until the box was full, then send it to my parents for safe keeping. We plan to put up our “Adventure Tree” this evening (we now do 2 trees), and I am so looking forward to reliving our great adventure. Sharry Buckner Measure the height and width of your rig, in BOTH feet and meters, then write it down and tape it to the dashboard of your rig or tow vehicle.You don't have time to think when you're headed for an underpass in Canada. Here's a link to convert: http://www.metric-conversions.org/length/feet-to-meters.htm Congratulations! Your books will be on their way to you this week. Thanks to everyone who entered an idea.

We are eager to hear from you... share your feedback... Till next time.. Keep Dreaming...