Around the USA in 150 days (Or how we toured the USA on a budget) Looking for a vehicle

April 29 - Day 4 (Saturday)

The first few days we were here we have been checking the adverts in the L.A. Times for R.V.'s (Recreational Vehicles - pronounced 'vee-hic-uls', so we discovered).

R.V.'s cover all types of holiday vehicles, from VW combi campers (the ones with a pop-up roof) to 45 foot long monsters with more modern conveniences than the average Australian home.

Today being Saturday, the classified advertisements section of the L.A. Times contains large numbers of private sale ads for R.V.s, as well as lots of ads for used vehicle sales yards. So we decided it was time to find our vehicle.

However the first thing that confronted us was that we knew nothing of the terminology used in the ads. Terms such as Class 'A', Class 'C', cab-over, 5th wheel and travel trailer meant nothing to us. We noticed an advertisment for an R.V show at Long Beach that weekend, so decided that this would be the ideal venue to look at what types of vehicles were available, and what the new prices were, as a guide to what we might be able to buy on the used market.

A typical new class 'A' RV

With the help of a very basic street map (from the motel lobby - it only showed main streets) we found our way down to Long Beach. The RV exhibit was easy to find, being in a major exhibition centre (sorry, center) right on the beach. The building was large, with a big carpark. Traffic / parking authorities don't mess around here - the entry and exit gateways to the carpark are protected by huge steel teeth sticking up, right across the driveway - if you pass through the correct way, they fold down into the ground and allow you to pass - but if you try to go the wrong way - well, the sign says you will suffer "massive tyre damage". And I don't doubt it!

The RV show naturally only had new vehicles, and at least we got an idea of what we couldn't afford! Some of the R.V.s there were huge, almost as big as our home back in Oz! At one exhibit, we made an enquiry and were answered by a man with a distinctive English accent, which stood out sharply against the American drawl we had been becoming used to hearing. Roger picked up on our accents and immediately latched on to his latest sale opportunity. We took his card and promised to call, then made our way back to Anaheim (being sure to exit the carpark by the appropriate gate).

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