What A Difference A Day Makes

Glen Rose, Texas

Weather: low 30 degrees, high 36 degrees, cloudy, winds to 20 mph

Years ago, there was a hit song by Esther Philips titled "What A Difference A Day Makes". That describes the difference in the weather between yesterday and today. Yesterday, the low temperature was 64 degrees, with a high of 84 degrees. Last night about 2100 hours, we had what is called a blue norther blow through this area, and the temperatures took a nosedive. The temperature dropped to 30 degrees overnight, and only got up to 36 degrees, with a 15-20 mph wind. With those conditions, I wimped out on my morning walk, reasoning that I could make up for it another time. I also reasoned that we were going to the RV show in Fort Worth, and the walking I would do there would help make up for not walking earlier, to an extent. Let's face it, when it's this cold and windy, it's easy to come up with a rationale for not walking. Also, I'm probably getting a little soft. Nah, that's not it. I just don't like cold weather.

We made it to the RV show just as they were opening the doors. Thank God we didn't have to stand out in the cold wind. We've been to enough of these shows that we know what we want to look at, and don't waste time and energy on units that we don't have any interest in. Like motor homes for half a million dollars, pop up campers, tag alongs, etc. Our primary interest, or I should my primary interest, is in the fifth wheels. Carolyn's primary interest is in the motor homes and fifth wheels. We looked at a few motor homes, but mostly at the fifth wheels by Mobile Suite, Montana, Jayco, Excel, and Open Range. Limiting the selection of brands tended to focus us better, and we didn't spend much time aimlessly walking. We talked to some factory representatives and salesmen, picked up a few brochures, and did a lot of comparisons. In the end, we were most impressed by the Mobile Suites and Montana.

The Montana brand surprised us because when we were buying our current fifth wheel in 2002, our impression of the Montana models we looked at was that the quality was less than adequate. The units we saw today seemed to have very good quality, good layouts, and overall, were very livable. The posted prices seemed to be competitive, and we feel that if we were to make an offer on anything, we could drive a pretty good deal. Depending on what we were to buy, we might even be able to use our current truck for towing. We still have a lot to decide, but it's good to know we found something that we think we could use.

As we were making our way out of the show area, an elderly man stopped us and said if we were looking for a motor home, he had one that he was selling because his wife was ill and they could not travel anymore. He said he would make us a great deal if we were interested, even to the point of taking our fifth wheel and giving us retail on it against the motor home. We asked him for a sheet listing everything on the motor home, and told him we would contact him if we were interested. Something else to think about.

We thought the show was not as well attended as it has been in previous years. That may be due to the economy or the weather, or both. In addition, there seemed to be some dealers missing that had been there before.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Fort Worth, Texas: Where The West Begins

Not all who wander are lost.