Pomona RV Show

Another weekend rolled around. We'd been wanting to go to an RV show, and the California show, reputedly one of the largest, was beginning in Pomona, not even 400 miles away. So we took off Friday afternoon, drove to Pomona, spent the night with Tom Bodett, took in the show on Saturday, and drove back Saturday evening. Alas, the show was not what we'd hoped for, only about half the size of the Tampa show we saw a few years back, but we picked up quite a few new ideas and leads, and driving through LA afforded me the opportunity to recite some lines from my favorite movie.*

Not "the best RV show," actually, but good enough

You knew things were not going to be quite right when the entrance was covered in
a dozen or so plastic "outdoors" displays, with the San Gabriel Mountains in the
background, barely visible through the smog of 10 million people

We saw all the Bs and B+s, and Cs, and truck campers and 5th wheels and toy-
haulers of interest, but didn't really focus, since our travel plans presently are a
bit unclear and we already have the Grey Wanderer parked near Toulouse; it's
not even clear we'll need a rig beyond November, 2013; nonetheless, a few
items got our attention, and others', including this Mitsubishi-based Fuso 4x4
expedition camper, a prototype from SportsMobile, a firm we have long watched
with interest; perhaps we should be a bit younger to explore in an "expedition"
camper, but we figure nobody would mess with a monster like this and you could
stealth-camp anywhere you liked...

There are some great YouTube pieces on these vehicles, Fusos, Mans, others,
many of which we saw in Europe, climbing every mountain, fording every
stream, following every rainbow...sounds like SportsMobile will build these
for about the same price or a little more than our (admittedly top of the line)
Roadtrek 

Speaking of which, the most interesting thing we saw at the show was this Roadtrek,
more or less identical to ours except on a Sprinter 3500 chassis, a prototype "e-trek,"
that is, a completely electric (except for the M-B power-plant), fully-featured class B
RV; no propane, no ugly vents, no noisy generator; they accomplish this, including
powering the AC and microwave, with a super-sized alternator, solar panels, six
house batteries, and a 5000w inverter; we were taking lots of notes...

Tow-car of dreams...

We got back to Menlo Park in time to pick up my sister Carole, who was fresh
off the San Francisco Nike Women's Half Marathon; she's one of the "over 1
billion served" (as am I and pretty much everyone I know) so we had to take
her by the new store in town; and then later let her have some time with
Penelope and dinner with P's parents; it was another pretty good weekend!

*"But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, like-wise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'. They call Los Angeles the City of Angels. I didn't find it to be that exactly, but I'll allow as there are some nice folks there. 'Course, I can't say I seen London, and I never been to France, and I ain't never seen no queen in her damn undies as the fella says. But I'll tell you what, after seeing Los Angeles and thisahere story I'm about to unfold--wal, I guess I seen somethin' ever' bit as stupefyin' as ya'd see in any a those other places, and in English too, so I can die with a smile on my face without feelin' like the good Lord gypped me."