Posted 11-23-2009 on RV Business.com

EverGreen Recreational Vehicles LLC continues to revolutionize the RV industry as the first all-composite, eco-friendly, manufacturer to achieve the TRA Green Certified Emerald Rating for its Ever-Lite travel trailers and fifth-wheels.

The company achieved the rating on Nov. 19 and will be only RV company to introduce its 2011 line of eco-friendly trailers at the 47th Annual National RV Trade Show in Louisville, Ky., Dec. 1-3, according to a news release.

“We formulated the parameters based on the National Green Building Standard and tailored that standard to the recreational vehicle industry,” said, Mandy Leazenby, green program manager for Elkhart, Ind.-based TRA Certification Inc. ”We must extend solid congratulations to the EverGreen team, as we were positive an RV company would never achieve our Emerald Certified Green Rating. They proved us wrong. No other Emerald Certified Green companies will be at the upcoming RVIA Show. EverGreen is the only RV company to achieve this status.”

The certification was based on the eco-friendly, all composite, wood free outside wall construction with which EverGreen trailers are built, and the fact that all these materials are completely recyclable. The Certified Green Emerald Status was also based on EverGreen’s lean and green manufacturing processes that recycle all waste and even reuse window and wall cutouts as baggage doors on its products.

“Our team was extremely proud to receive this distinction upon the review of our last audit by TRA,” said EverGreen President, Doug Lantz. “It’s the honored verification of a journey we have all traveled together since we all founded EverGreen. Our vision was always towards the future, to become the RV industry’s first truly green company. We are all very proud to achieve this honor.”

» View Sutton RV EverGreen Inventory

Posted 11/13/09 on RV Business

Editor’s Note: This report by KMTR-TV, Springfield, Ore., describes the demise of what used to be the epicenter of the Northwest’s motorhome business, the retail front, more or less, for area manufacturers Monaco Coach Corp., now Monaco RV LLC, and Country Coach Inc., which is still in business as a factory-direct operation.

The end of an era has come for a stretch along Interstate 5 in Coburg, Ore.

For years it was home to hundreds of RVs for sale, now it’s empty land. It was as familiar a landmark as any in Lane County during its heyday with hundreds of RVs on sale from several retailers like Ingram RV, Paradise RV, RV Coral, Destinations and La Mesa.

One by one they all moved on, bit by the economy. The last one standing was Guaranty RV and now it too has moved leaving the RV mecca along the freeway into a group of vacant lots.

Guaranty is still selling RVs but now it’s doing it from it’s lot in Junction City. Shannon Nill the General Manager for Guaranty RV says it’s about consolidating and becoming more efficient.

Regarding the RV industry in Lane County, Nill says, “It’s still here, Country Coach is still open, Monaco is still open, however we’ve all had to adjust, that’s the main thing the adjustment.”

Nill says people are still interested in buying RVs but it’s harder to get financing for the high-end models. He’s optimistic as the economy improves and expects 2010 to be a better year for sales.

During the consolidation from Coburg to Junction City Nill says he was able to keep all of his employees.

Concerning the economic effect on Coburg, the city says that even though the retailers are gone, it still expects to collect property taxes from the lots, lessening any financial problems for the city.

Cruising the west’s best coast in a shiny Airstream

By JOSEPH GALLIVAN
Last Updated: 2:44 PM, October 6, 2009

YES, they still make Airstream trailers — I know this because I recently bought one. Not that I could afford new. New starts at $35,000 and goes up to $90,000. Popping up every so often along America’s scenic highways like so many silver loaves of bread, the travel trailers that your grandparents probably thought were a bit passé are once again cool.

Mine is decidedly vintage, as in, not ready for prime time. This was a problem, considering I’d planned to take it on a trial spin down Oregon’s coast this past summer. Not possessing the patience to get repairs done, I located a loaner at an RV dealer in Eugene, which happens to be the second biggest Airstream dealer in the US.

Taking my loaned 23-foot Airstream International out on the road for the first time, I had visions of crushing pedestrians against light poles, backing over campers, or worse, scratching up the pristine aluminum of a design icon. I needn’t have worried.

One of Sutton’s technicians walked me through the whole process in half an hour.

I backed up my Ford F150 to the hitch and thanks to the truck’s rear video camera, made a hole in one.

Indicating I was taking some twisty roads though the Coast Range to the Pacific Ocean, I asked him how fast I could drive.

“You can go as fast as you like!” he said. (He once did 95 mph towing a 30-foot trailer “no problem,” he said.)

I drove about the parking lot, grandma-style, until I got the feel for the caravan. It turns out that Airstreams tow nicely (no thrashing around) because they have a low center of gravity and their aerodynamics minimize crosswinds.

After 10 minutes it was like driving a normal car. Occasional glances at the rear-view mirror afforded the image of a menacing, black-glassed behemoth right on my tail, like the truck in the movie “Duel.”

“Oh yeah,” I thought. “The Airstream.”

Any hassles involved in towing the trailer were worth it once we began to grow comfortable living in the trailer. The Airstream interior has improved greatly in the last decade. Airstreams now have power-showers and heat pumps, as well as furnaces, flat-screens and sound systems.

The bench seats and tables still fold down into charming queen-size beds, and the bathrooms with their tiny cubbyholes owe as much to airplane design as the riveted aluminum exteriors do.

Like Harley-Davidsons, they start conversations.

At our campsite, Scotty Roller, a graphic designer from Reno, Nev., whose own 2008 Airstream had reignited his love of camping (and hunting), was eager to take a tour of ours.

To read the rest of the article, visit NYPost.com.

Video for RVBusiness.com, courtesy Jeff Johnston.

Check out this special camper that Eagle Cap just completed for a customer in California. They built this custom camper with a lift system at the door. It also can slide on and off the big truck the guy owns.

View the rest of the album in the SuttonRV Photo Gallery!

(CNN.com) — Susan Lanier has always enjoyed getting out of her urban home in Chicago, Illinois. But her travel plan for this spring — which includes riding on a Greyhound bus and camping in a national park — is a new, more frugal version of how the 22-year-old would normally spend a vacation.

“I’m in school and usually I’ll do some sort of trip, but usually I’ll go to a beach or something or I’ll fly to New York,” she said by phone while hitching a ride on a band’s tour bus, headed toward the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. “But [finances have] just been tight, and this is a cheap way to get out of the city and do something fun.”

With the economy in a slump, camping seems to be grabbing a new foothold in the travel industry. Once considered by many to be an activity for nerdy families, nature geeks and Boy Scouts, sleeping outside in a tent has become chic — likely because it is so much cheaper than paying for a hotel room.

The activity also strikes a new chord with Americans who want to get back to basics after an era of excess and overspending.

Outdoor camping’s popularity jumped 7.4 percent between 2007 and 2008, according to a report from the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. Overnight backpacking is up 18.5 percent, the report said.

“That’s a significant change,” said Mike May, the association’s spokesman. “One thing about camping is once you buy a tent, you don’t need to buy another one for a long time. It can be an inexpensive way to spend some recreational time.”

The group estimated there are 33.7 million campers in the country. May said he expects that number to continue to increase this year.

REI, the outdoor equipment company, said tent and sleeping bag sales are up this season, particularly when it comes to larger tents designed for three- and four-person families.

So far this spring, family tent sales are up 14 percent over last year, said Rick Meade, REI’s product manager for sleeping bags and tents. For March, sales are up 28 percent over the same month in 2008.

“We have a great sense that there is a resurgent interest in [camping], especially on the family camping side,” Meade said.

State parks are among the cheapest places to sleep under the stars.

Many of the parks, which either are free or charge entry fees of about $10 per day, are seeing increased interest from tourists and campers, according to Phil McKnelly, executive director of the National Association of State Park Directors.

“Whether you’re talking about wanting to go to the ocean or the mountains, those are kinds of activities that can be done in a state park at a relatively low cost,” he said. “For the cost of one of two nights in a hotel, you can spend a week in a state park.”

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department began offering classes for first-time campers last year. Interest in the program, which teaches basic skills like how to pitch a tent and dispose of trash in an eco-friendly way, has been high, said Tom Harvey, spokesman for the department.

So far the state has offered the program to more than 1,200 people, according to the department.

“We’ll hold them by the hand and we’ll show ‘em how to pitch a tent,” he said. “It’s been very popular.”

Harvey said the camping movement is geared at more than recreation. People who live in cities often don’t understand natural systems, which he said can lead to detached and unhappy lives.

“We are now, most of us, creatures of the urban jungle and we’re losing our connection with the natural world, with reality,” he said, adding that camping helps fix that.

In California, many state parks are booked well into the spring, said Sheryl Watson, spokeswoman for California State Parks.

On the first day reservations became available, 20,407 people reserved a July trip to a California state park, she said. That’s up nearly 13 percent over last year’s reservation numbers. By comparison, reservations were up 4 percent from 2007 to 2008.

Watson said parks near the state’s urban centers are especially popular, because camping can be an inexpensive way for someone to visit a city like San Francisco, where hotels can cost 10 or 20 times the price of a camping spot.

That idea also applies to international level, where hotel costs can add up over a long stay.
The economy has given people like Lanier, the student in Chicago, an excuse to spend more time outdoors. The last time she went camping was six years ago, in high school.

Lanier said she bikes around Chicago often, but the city’s best outdoor offering is Lake Michigan, and that still feels pretty urban, she said.

Lanier is studying fiction writing in a masters’ program, and said she plans to record her campfire conversations with her traveling buddy, who plays in a band called I Need Sleep and will also offer some free musical entertainment.

She hitched a ride on the band’s tour bus to Tennessee. The only part of the trip she dreads is the $50, 18-hour return trip by Greyhound bus.

While she felt pressured into the trip by the economy, she said that may be a good thing in the end. “It just seems like an adventure — something different,” she said.

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View the Article on CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/03/26/camping.economy/

From the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association
rvia.org

RV owners love the RV lifestyle, but just like everyone else, they’re concerned about today’s sagging economy and looking for ways to save money and cut costs. According to the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association’s fall/winter survey, RVers are adjusting to the economy by traveling closer to home and staying longer in one place. By having their “homes on wheels” with them, RV owners say they can stretch their dollars by saving on costly airfares, hotels and restaurant meals.

The latest Campfire Canvass fall/winter survey of RV owners by the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association, reveals that 29 percent plan to travel more this fall and winter than last year; 56 percent plan to travel the same amount as last year; and 15 percent plan to travel less than last year.
One of the biggest reasons why RV travel appeals to families is because of the value that RV vacations offer. Eighty percent of the RV owners surveyed say RV vacations cost less than other types of vacations.

“I’m the bargain queen,” says Donna Grant, 50, of Woodbridge, Va. “It’s economical to go RVing. I love my portable house on wheels. I don’t like hotels and I don’t like sleeping in strange beds.”

The survey shows that 60 percent of RVers plan to take more mini-vacations (1-4 days) this fall/winter compared to last year. Because RVs have full kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms, RV owners can get away at a moment’s notice. And they don’t have to worry about hotel reservations or the hassles of flying such as long security lines and costly baggage fees. With an RV, everything is onboard and ready to go.

According to a new study comparing vacation costs by PKF, an international consulting firm with expertise in travel and tourism, family RV trips are, on average, 27 to 61 percent less expensive than other types of vacations.