This episode comes to you from Elkhart, Indiana, the RV Capital of the world. We talk about what we’re seeing here this week at RV Open House, recorded on location at the RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart and featuring a comnveration with Darryl Searer, the president of this awesome museum and exhibit center.

Also, in our interview of the week, we talk about some innovative new technology being shown by Roadtrek and the Erwin Hymer Group of North America. Jim Hammill comes by to tell us what the new WATT Fuel Cell technology will mean to RVers.

Plus your questions, comments and much more.

RV NEWS OF THE WEEK

JENNIFER

California woman falls to death taking selfie at Michigan's Pictured Rocks

Another sad story of someone dying at a national landmark while taking a selfie made the news last week. This time the location was Michigan's Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The victim? A California woman who paused to take a selfie on a 200 foot cliff overlooking Lake Superior. The woman apparently slipped, fell into the lake, and died. So sad.   

MIKE

Vail, Colorado, setting aside local tax dollars to pay for federal workers to monitor U.S. campgrounds, trails

We have been writing for some time about the maintenance backlog in our national parks because of shortages in the federal budget. But a story I saw last week was the first I've read of towns near popular tourist destinations taking local tax dollars that would normally fund roads, police or fire, and instead giving it to the federal government to pay for federal land expenses. The story focused on Vail, Colorado, setting aside $120,000 to pay U.S. Forest Service employees to monitor federal trails and campgrounds, and discussed several other cities throughout the country also taking their local taxpayer money to pay for federal land care.

JENNIFER

Airstream Hotel is coming to Yosemite

A California start-up called AutoCamp has teamed up with Airstream to create a “glamping” experience for visitors to   Yosemite National Park who can book accommodations in 80 Airstream trailers. The company promises luxury camping with the same amenities found in many boutique hotels. Besides all those Airstream trailers, the development features a

4,000-square-foot clubhouse with meeting space, fire pits, and a marketplace for food options. Other amenities will include a rooftop deck and an outdoor swimming pool. The Airstream hotel is just outside of the park and will have shuttles running back and forth all day. I warn you, when it opens next ear it won’t be cheap: Nightly rates start at $225

MIKE

This camper trailer folds into a box that fits inside a sprinter van - and comes out when it is time to camp

A story about a new kind of camper that fits into the back of a van caught our eye last week. The camper is a modular box, with extensions, that fits in the back of a sprinter van. Only unlike a Class B, the van is still a van - the camper fits inside of it, and comes out at a campground, with several slides until it has the shape of the letter "L". It is then a normal camper trailer, complete with beds, a kitchen, TV, storage and more. To read more about the unusual European made ioCamper, click here.

JENNIFER