Are you taking requests?

Richard Charpentier Airstream Blogs, Podcast, RLC Design, RV Park Web Design, Travel Leave a Comment

This morning while getting the Airstream ready to roll out one of my camping neighbors that I met yesterday walked up to say hi.  He saw me out yesterday running the ASD (Airstream Drone….engineer=acronyms) and asked that I send him a link to the final video.

Last night I sent him the link, and he shared it with his friends and family.  They really enjoyed seeing nearly real time where he and his wife were currently camped.  And this morning he asked me something tongue and cheek, but it registered.

So if I give you our itinerary for our next trip, could you scout ahead for the good parks and put videos of them up?  We’d really appreciate that.

Ah ha!  Alan, the neighbor who I met yesterday, is traveling around with his wife in a Eurovan Camper (I miss my Zero Van).  Talk about a tight space, I remember trips with my ex and 2 Labradors.  And in that small amount of space with all their camping gear they’re traveling around with a laptop.  Interesting, no?

Actually, every RV’er that I’ve met traveling over the past few weeks has either a tablet, smartphone, laptop, or a combination of the items.  And every one of them uses the net looking ahead in their trip planning.  Sure, I knew it already, but I’ve been surveying and the trend is crystal clear……the mobile devices are coming along, and the printed guides are not.

Following the same line of thinking….  Today while at a dump station we struck up a conversation with a couple from Michigan.  Normally the travel the country on motorcycles, but they purchased a pretty cool travel trailer 5 months ago after their friends bought and Airstream and invited them to travel.  So they are pretty new to full timing and life on the road.  And I decided to ask them the big question.

“Do you travel with a laptop or other device?”

Yes!  Oh yes.  She broke out her Android phone, he has an Android table, and they have a portable “Hot Shot.”  I asked him, “Do you mean hotspot?”  Oh, yes, that’s what he meant.  They use RV Park Reviews between destinations, and all of their camp planning is done with at least one of their devices.

Trend?

And on another request

This morning I received an e-mail from a reader who watched yesterday’s video from Buckskin Mountain State Park.  Part of the e-mail reads:

Do you have any individual shots of the park sites?   I am particularly interested in the motor home on the left at 3:10 in your video.  It is a small class A, much lower than the typical Class A.  I saw one in Sedona 15 years ago, and it reminded me of the old Clark Cortez.   I can’t remember the name, but I think it was something like “Ameri-cruiser,” and was made in Sacramento, CA.

I will be checking through my Lightroom Library to see what I have.  Honestly took hundreds of frames with my regular camera while there, so you never know.  Who knew a particular RV would catch someone’s attention while watching the video?

Do RV’ers use the Internet?

It’s all Al Gore’s fault you know.  If he hadn’t invented the Internet all those years ago then things could have stayed the same.  Websites wouldn’t be used to find parks, apps like AllStays wouldn’t be on mobile devices everywhere, and we could all be running around with our rigs full of guide books.  But as I said, this one is on Al Gore.

Bottom line?  The modern RV’er, no matter their age bracket, is really connected.  Parks have to catch up with their changing client market.

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