RV Shenanigans! Podcast from Millers in Motion

Hershey RV Show 2025: Best New RVs + Biggest Letdowns

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Hershey RV Show Recap: best new rigs, real-world misses, and smart show tips

Ryan survived America’s Largest RV Show (Hershey) so you don’t have to—kidding… kind of. We compare Hershey vs. Tampa, talk parking/entry headaches, where the vendors actually are, and what NEW rigs + systems lived up to the hype. We also announce the podcast’s move to its own YouTube channel.


What you’ll learn


  • The true Hershey vibe (crowds, parking, where the accessory vendors hide)
  • Launches that impressed: Tiffin Allegro Bus 36AP (short luxury), Alliance Paradigm 388SP Side-Patio (Lippert powered), Brinkley Model I X-Series (half-ton friendly)
  • A hyped floor plan that didn’t fit most families (why the Solitude 414 LJMJ’s math doesn’t math)
  • Drivable standouts for part-timers: Dynamax Isata 5/6 and what LiquidSpring “earth-leveling” changes
  • 2026-ish system upgrades to watch: Lippert’s next-gen slide rails, Firefly vs. LCI OneControl, Victron-forward OEM solar packages
  • Buying at shows: realistic discount ranges, when to walk, and how to leverage show pricing with your local dealer
  • Accessory highlight: MORryde’s new true gooseneck rubber pin box alternative (and why we’d have tried it on our 5er)


Chapters

00:00 Cold open & smells of Hershey 🤢🍫

00:32 Welcome + channel split news (podcast now on its own YouTube)

03:03 Hershey vibe vs. Tampa; crowds & compressed footprint

05:00 Parking/entry lines, multiple doors (but really one)

08:12 Where the accessory vendors actually are (concourse + floor)

09:05 Camping/boondocking options & shuttle

10:57 Why go to a giant, crowded show anyway?

13:30 (RIP hard drive) what we filmed and lost

14:00 Tiffin Allegro Bus 36AP (short bus, big luxury)

15:36 Alliance Paradigm 388SP Side-Patio (how it’s different)

18:26 Brinkley Model I X-Series (lighter, half-ton viable)

20:12 Missed the mark: GD Solitude 414 LJMJ + cargo caveats

26:01 Drivables we’d actually use now

28:05 Dynamax Isata 5/6 & LiquidSpring leveling

33:23 Tech/systems trends you’ll start seeing

34:06 Lippert’s new rail slide

35:02 Firefly control systems & Victron-based OEM solar

40:09 Budget/value advice & realistic expectations

43:01 Market notes + negotiating at shows

47:10 Rapid-fire picks (couples, family, boondock-ready, value)

52:44 Accessories that matter (MORryde gooseneck, etc.)

58:49 Food scene (and the Chick-fil-A tragedy)

1:00:41 Tampa vs. Hershey: which we’d attend

1:03:00 How to support the new channel + CTAs


Mentioned


  • Alliance Paradigm 388SP Side-Patio
  • Tiffin Allegro Bus 36AP
  • Brinkley Model I X-Series
  • Grand Design Solitude 414 LJMJ
  • Dynamax Isata 5 / Isata 6 (Explore)
  • Lippert next-gen slide system
  • Firefly / Victron OEM solar packages
  • MORryde true gooseneck rubber pin box
  • Open Roads fuel card


Follow & support


  • Watch the podcast on YouTube (new channel): “RV Shenanigans Podcast”
  • Travel videos: Millers in Motion on YouTube
  • Ask a question / suggest a floor plan: @rvshenanigans on socials
  • If this helped, please follow, rate, and review—means the world!


Disclosure: Some links we share may be affiliate links. It doesn’t cost you anything and helps us make more episodes.

Welcome, New Channel Housekeeping

SPEAKER_05

Today we are gonna dive through all of the fun things that I, unfortunately just me, Lauren didn't go. We saw, did, experienced, smelled, all of the things that go into an RV show. Yes, smelled's a thing. From the Hershey RV show, otherwise known as America's largest RV show. All of that coming up on the RV Shenanigans Podcast. Welcome back to the RV Shenanigans Podcast. If it's your first time here, I'm Ryan.

SPEAKER_01

I'm Lauren.

SPEAKER_05

And we are the shenanigans holders, doers.

SPEAKER_01

That that's the truest statement I think we've ever said on this podcast. We are the shenanigans.

SPEAKER_05

Um and by the way, this is a little bit of a housekeeping thing, just first off. Um, if you are watching this, if you are watching this, that's our dog causing shadows in the background, who is about to get kicked out of the room completely if she keeps doing this. Uh, would you pull her over there, please?

SPEAKER_01

Mishka.

SPEAKER_05

Um, so we have officially split the shenanigans podcast off, and that's her tail in the background now.

SPEAKER_01

We are not.

SPEAKER_05

This is why we're called shenanigans. There's all kinds of it, and I'm gonna leave it all in because it's kind of funny and entertaining. So, for those of you that have said we haven't seen the dogs in a while, there's Mishka's tail. Um, trust me, they're just the mix of everything as normal. Um, we um we we split the podcast off onto its own channel on YouTube. Now, if you're listening to this on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Podcast, whatever your platform you prefer is, we're on a lot of them. Um nothing's changed. It's same old, same old. This part's not really for you. So thanks for listening. Um, but if you're watching it, it is on its own channel now. We appreciate those of you that really want the in-depth dive into um the RV side of things, Miller's in motions. And I'm not gonna say transition because it never really left, but we were making the algorithm mad over on YouTube with putting the podcast there.

SPEAKER_01

More shenanigans.

SPEAKER_05

This time it's YouTube's not us, even though we're the one that kind of caused it. So um, but that that channel is gonna focus on the travel side of not only RV life, but the occasional crews and other things we do. Um, kind of par for the course over there. We're just taking all of the deep dive RV stuff and leaving it here. So, welcome to the new channel if you're watching this. Ish, new ish, ish, new, yeah, about to say it's been around for a while. We just don't use it. So Mishka's just gonna do whatever she wants to do.

SPEAKER_01

Yep, that's about her MO though.

SPEAKER_05

So, with that, for this episode, I'm going to hand the primary host duties off to primary host duties off to Lauren. Because she didn't go, I'm going to let her take y'all's seat a little bit and kind of grill me slash ask me questions about the show. So without further ado, that was my drum roll.

SPEAKER_01

We need practice.

First Impressions of Hershey Show

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, that's I just need to not do it, is what really needs to happen. But yeah, if I had a preset over here, I could do it, but I don't know which one it is.

SPEAKER_01

All right. So to kick things off, I would say that probably the most common question that we got, and that even I had was that like we've been to a lot of RV shows and No, we haven't.

SPEAKER_05

We've been to one, maybe two RV shows a lot of times.

SPEAKER_01

We've been to a couple, and even when we were looking to buy, so like what was the vibe? What was the energy? What was the feel? And was it different than what we've experienced before?

SPEAKER_05

So I I should have said this to begin with. This isn't Hershey, Pennsylvania, if you didn't gather Hershey RV show. So just in case you were curious, um, it it was similar getting well, no, it wasn't even similar getting in. As far as like the people, it was very much so a similar feel in a really we're used to the Tampa RV show or the Florida RV Super Show, if you may. Um it it's a more compressed version. I know they say it's America's largest RV show. I'm not sure what criteria they use to call it that. We've always questioned that. It's definitely not in footprint. Um, like square footage used kind of a thing. It might have the most RVs, maybe that's what they're referring to. I don't know. I'm not gonna pretend to know. But this felt very compressed comparatively to Tampa.

SPEAKER_01

Did that make it feel like more crowded? Yes. Oh, okay. I gotcha.

Parking Maze and Entry Chaos

SPEAKER_05

So the RV displays themselves were very much so like if you've ever been to like a convention center and it's just rows and rows of RVs, it's that a hundred percent. And each display has like a bigger display would have maybe uh like Alliance is a mid-sized display, and they had three rows of RVs that went probably two or three RVs deep. They had one in the back, and then they kind of was like look shaped like a big W if you looked at it from the top or an M, depending on which side you're looking at it from, um, of aisles, and then there were RVs all around it. The really big displays, like the Jacos of the world, Forest River, those they were so big they had brands separated, and then they had small displays made up inside the big display, kind of thing. So but yeah, um it it it there was a lot going on. I will say too, and I don't know if you're gonna ask this question a lot, but um that's getting in was a task. Really? It was not easy, and I say that in terms of the parking, once you understood what they were trying to do, trying to get you into parking, it it made sense. But there was not a clear, like they say come here and do this, but it's like, hey, go over here to 45th Avenue, hang a left, and then on 6th Street, take a right, and then go down to Pennsylvania Way and you're right there. Well, but if you don't, there's no map. So I don't under like I I'm a map person. I want to know where the map is, and so you pull in and it's really confusing because it says Hershey Park, because it's right there next to Hershey Park, which is the amusement park, parking this way, park all other parking this way. Well, I don't know which one I'm supposed to park at because the website didn't tell me. It just said go park. And then you get into it and you think you've made a mistake because you go in through the booth, there's booths on both sides. So which booth? Again, be more clear. And then you literally wrap all the way around the facility to get back to the parking lot you just passed on your left. So you went, took a right, took about a three-quarters to a mile detour to get back on your left. And so it just math didn't math in my head on that one. And so that was confusing. It took me a few rounds to try and figure out to get in. And then there are multiple entrances, that's a lie. I mean, there are, but like unless you're parking in handicap ADA parking or you're a vendor, there's one entrance.

unknown

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_05

So if the attendance was 25,000 people in one day, I'm gonna say most of that came in through a singular entrance. That line was insane.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_05

God bless America that I had a creator badge or a media badge because I picked it up the day before on industry day. And so when I walked up, I stood in that line for about 20 minutes, and then somebody I knew walked by and go, Why are you standing in that line? You already have a badge. I was like, because I don't know what it is. Like I just thought this was the entry line. He goes, You got a badge, go in this way. And then I bypassed it. It was long, very long. So, like to give you an example, from when I got out of line and I wasn't even to the back, I was probably about a third of the way through it or a quarter of the way through it at that point. It took us another 15 minutes to walk to the front of that line.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_05

There's some stairs. So a little slower than normal. But yeah, that was crazy. And then again, I'm not even sure if you've got this on here. Um, but it's some of it's inside the Giant Center, which is the like arena. It's where they're um it's not amateur hockey. Uh, what's the professional league below the NHL? Whatever that is.

SPEAKER_02

Minors?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, it's like minor league baseball, but it's hockey. It's where that team plays for that that area or Hershey or Harrisburg or whatever the name of the team is. And they had like accessory vendors everywhere. Like, well, like around the concourse. I didn't know it went all the way around the concourse. But then they also had them on the floor. So, like to get down on the floor, you had to walk down the stairs. So you had to walk half of a stadium down, more importantly, half a stadium back up to get out of it, just to see I'd say half, maybe a little less than half of the vendors.

SPEAKER_01

All the photos I've seen were just the middle part. I didn't know they were in the concourse as well.

SPEAKER_05

Either to die and they didn't do a good job of explaining that because there were natural gaps where like restrooms and concession stands sat on the concourse because it's a stadium, not a vendor hall. And so you didn't realize there were more vendors around the corner.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, wow.

Arena Vendors and Hidden Concourse

SPEAKER_05

And so I didn't notice that until I went to go meet the people at open roads to pick up our new fuel card. I may have had an accident. Um, and they were very nice to send a fuel card from where they were with the people going to the show and give it to me there. Um and I couldn't find him, and I finally called one of them, like, hey, I have I can't find you guys.

SPEAKER_01

I'm lost. Where's the one on the concourse?

SPEAKER_05

I'm like, no, you're not. And like, keep going. Like, what? And that's when I realized that it was five times the size I thought it was.

SPEAKER_01

So well, and also I know that like in Tampa, you used to be able to, I don't know about the future, but be able to stay on the grounds. And there's no You kind of can now. There's no camping at the Hershey show, is there?

SPEAKER_05

So there's dry they have a dry camping lot, but you still have to drive over.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_05

So even though it's part of the show, nice. It is. The show facilitates it. Okay. But it's dry camping only. There is no hookups of any kind, so you're boondocking. Um sorry, there's sorry, it's not just dry camping, it's full boondocking.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

So it's it's a it's a field that they put lines down on and you've got spots. Um, there were some alliance owners over there that I saw. So I talked to on the way in because they have a very blue rig and it stood out like a sore thumb.

SPEAKER_02

Um in a good way.

SPEAKER_05

In a good way. It was actually a pretty blue. I wouldn't pick it, but it didn't look bad by any means. Um, but yeah, that you could you could camp there if you had the ability to boondock, which if we had the solar system, I would have done it in a heartbeat.

SPEAKER_01

Even though you still had to drive?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, because you're not driving far, and they had a shuttle if you wanted to take that over.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05

I had to drive in 30 minutes every day from our campground. Gotcha. The shuttle makes a big difference. And so but you still had to, it's not like you could we're on the grounds like at Tampa, and I say for Tampa, now this is not necessarily for the general public, but they used to have the rally that you could camp at, then they did electrical. They messed it up so many years in a row, they'd stopped doing it last year. Um, you could walk back and forth to your rig. So if you want to go back to your rig and have lunch, you could do that.

SPEAKER_04

Right.

SPEAKER_05

Um, and then for us, we were lucky enough to work with some of our vendors and sponsors of the channel and and the and the podcast would kind of connect us and get us what's called a vendor site. Right. Well, that drastically changed last year at Tampa. So that's I'm not gonna say not an option, but it's a very unlikely option for those of us there. And the rally's gone. So now everybody has to almost everybody has to stay off site. So it's a very small proportion that can stay on site.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, that's well, now that you've sold it as being crowded and kind of a a pain to get to, why would somebody want to go to a giant crowded show? I don't know.

SPEAKER_05

No, I'm just kidding. Um, honestly, to see the RVs first, like this is where a lot of the main brands unveil and launch all their 2026 products next year. So in this case, 2026. So if you're listening to this next year, 2027 or 2028, hopefully this goes on and on and on forever. But yeah, so for that scenario, it's a lot of the manufacturers do unveilings, that kind of stuff. Um, it's kind of the kickoff to show season.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

Dry Camping, Shuttles, and Logistics

SPEAKER_05

So I always say it's at least in what we do for the podcast, specifically there's show season and camping season.

unknown

True.

SPEAKER_05

We're on the backside of camping season um and the front side of show season. So it's just if you're not in one, you're in the other.

SPEAKER_01

Well, and from our perspective, I think that you you miss a lot when you just look online. So this is nice to be able to put your hands on some of these.

SPEAKER_05

That's what I was gonna say. Like, I know at one point we talked about like what's the big difference in the first few minutes when you walk in. It's like, well, tangibly being able to touch it. Like when we were buying our first RV, we were very clear, like, I'm not buying it online. We've bought every other rig that way. But now we have a realistic expectation of what things really kind of feel like in an RV. The first time, no, I I I'm tactile. I want to touch and feel it and see what I'm getting myself into space-wise. See how big the TV is.

SPEAKER_01

Even though you'll replace it anyways.

SPEAKER_05

I just want to know what size I'm replacing it with. That's all.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, good to know. All right. So now that you are into the RV show, and we you said that this is where people launch a lot of things.

SPEAKER_05

I'm assuming I've come out of the fetal position in the corner at this point.

SPEAKER_01

I'm assuming that you made it finally into the show, you know, after that line you talked about. So uh tell me about some of the launches you got to see and like what lived up to the hype.

SPEAKER_05

So as far as like launches, I mean, there were there's a lot. And I will tell you, we I unfortunately got to only spend two days there. Um and full disclaimer, there was a video. There was actually very many videos. Our hard drive, rest in peace.

SPEAKER_01

Q sad, sad music.

SPEAKER_05

Our hard drive got corrupted somehow, and I spent what three days? Um, three days constantly trying to recover them, work with you know, ridiculous companies to try and help recover them. And I thought I did, then I didn't. It was a very much so highs and lows.

SPEAKER_01

But so I still have not seen the Hershey RV show because the footage you have, I haven't seen.

SPEAKER_05

No, because I didn't send you any pictures. I took I did everything on my camera. And that camera, yeah. The camera's great. It's the one you're watching us on. The SD card, great. The hard drive, put everything on, bad.

SPEAKER_04

Poo-poo.

SPEAKER_05

Screw you, sand disc. Um, anyway, so as far as like big things, I saw, and again, I'm probably gonna miss a few things here and there just because I it's impossible to see everything in two days. I'd argue it's impossible to see everything the entire show.

SPEAKER_02

I agree.

SPEAKER_05

Um, it's a lot, but the things that stand out for me as my notes close, um, so Tiffin had a new Allegro Bus or Allegro bus floor plan.

SPEAKER_01

There goes our Tiffin sponsorship.

unknown

Just kidding.

SPEAKER_05

Um Allegro bus floor plan, the 36 AP.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

It's under 38 feet total.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

It's by far the shortest bus. That this other short, the next shortest bus was 42 feet in change.

SPEAKER_02

Oh wow, okay.

Why Go: Launches and Touch-and-Feel Value

SPEAKER_05

And so now they're under there was, I think it was 37 feet eight inches or nine inches or something like that. So, I mean, obviously without a tote or anything else, but I've always said there's a market for smaller, nice things.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05

Uh we fall into that category. We do. Now, especially now that we're not full timers, we don't need a like if we were gonna go to the motorhome side, yeah, we don't necessarily have to have a 45-foot tag axle bus. Right. I said have to have, not that we don't want. Um, but you know, to have something that's a nice higher quality, but also shorter, so you can start to fit into um some national and state park, still long, don't get me wrong. I mean, like I think I feel like to have a really fighting chance at any of that stuff, you really need to bring it much closer to 30 feet. Um, and and Tiffin is very much so. They also have um the open trail, I think was the name of it. It's their new Class B kind of like off-road y thing. Um, I didn't list it as one of the things for me because um no thanks on the van. I love you.

SPEAKER_01

Um We we actually did kind of try that, and so we're not just speaking from lack of the stuff. I thought about trying that. We wouldn't try that. We sat in it and we said, Oh, never mind.

SPEAKER_05

Sitting in it was enough. I did I didn't need to experience a week camping in it to know that that was a mistake.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Um, and so there's that. Um I I would be remiss if I didn't bring up Alliance. So they have, I think, the coolest new fifth-wheel floor plan out there, non-toy hauler. Okay, and so that was the paradigm 388 SP. What does SP stand for, Ryan? Side patio. Um, and I it took me a long time to remember the 388 portion of that. But the SP, the side patio, it's not just your typical drop-down side patio. I'm actually, I love the idea of it, but I hate the execution. Every rig, no matter what, the Valor Toy Hauler line has a side patio, they leak.

SPEAKER_01

Well, and there's so there are multiple manufacturers that have side patios. Aren't they all toy haulers so far?

SPEAKER_05

No, there's a few others that so Grand Design also has one now that's a solitude line. Um, it's new this year, but what I'm talking about is the traditional toy hauler back end style patio that comes down. Uh, I gotcha. Alliance one-uped it.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

So they have a new mechanical, power-driven side wall side patio that comes down from Lippert that's really cool. Not as big, which I'm actually okay with.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Because sometimes those Toy Hauler-esque ones get so big you can't put them down. Um that's something that Harold and Cindy Strain, One Strange Adventure, they run into that occasionally because they have a side patio momentum from Grand Design. And there's occasionally where it's like if it's a tighter rally situation, no go. Or there's a pedestal or whatever, whatever blocks, slides coming out, that kind of stuff. Um, they said that they can put it down probably about 60 to 70 percent of the time. The rest of the time, it doesn't matter if they want to or not, it's not gonna happen, kind of a thing. So um, but this one being a little bit smaller, I feel like it the footprint of it intentionally doesn't go further out than the slides.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05

So there's a slide on that side um for the main living, which is in the rear of the coach, and it goes out right at maybe if it goes out further, it's we're talking an inch or two, not a lot.

SPEAKER_01

Look at that logic coming into play.

New Launches: Tiffin, Alliance, Brinkley

SPEAKER_05

And it's got a drop-down TV from the inside, and it's got pass-through for the kitchen, so you can lower windows. It's a really cool design. Okay, and then on top of that, most of those side patios, what's the one thing you lose with them if the slide if it's up?

SPEAKER_01

The window, the light.

SPEAKER_05

The windows, the lights, you don't on this one. So if the patio's in the up position, you just have a window.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

And so you still get like if you don't want to put it down, or maybe you're just overnight somewhere real fast, where it's like, we're not gonna put this down, obviously. Um, you can then from there utilize it as just natural light, an open window. So it doesn't feel like a cave if you happen to have that down. So it's it's a really cool now. It's a new product from Lippert, so grain of salt.

SPEAKER_00

That's right.

SPEAKER_05

Um, I will say though, this one, spoiler for something we're gonna talk about later, if we were looking at RVs, if we were looking at fifth wheels, I'd this would be at the top of the list for me.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

If I if I was going tall. So um, last but not least, as far as things that kind of stood out as I lost my notes, um, if we were gonna go with something that we're kind of currently in, um then Brinkley, yeah, their model I, which is their lightweight um travel trailer, came out with the model I X line. Okay, not confusing at all.

SPEAKER_01

Not at all.

SPEAKER_05

Um, if you look at the branding, it says model I, and then beneath it it says X series or X line or whatever it is. So it's their extreme lightweight. So it is a true three-quarter ton towable.

SPEAKER_00

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_05

But how they achieve things, you obviously lose things in translation.

SPEAKER_01

Three quarter ton or half ton?

SPEAKER_05

Half ton, sorry, half ton. Okay. Glad you got that. And so you lose things in translation going down to that size and weight class and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

But they didn't, they did Brinkley's Brinkley. They they didn't, I don't feel like they skimped on anything. Awesome. You lose things like you're gonna have the curtain for a door in the bedroom instead of the wall because the wall weighs something. Sure. Um, but the how they did it, and I would argue that our floor plan of our so we have a 252 RL Delta from Alliance was the best of that smaller RV. I it's not quite half-ton towable, it's maybe on the far upper side of that, but it's really three quarter ton or up kind of a thing. You this was probably as good of a floor plan if you were gonna go very different than what we had. And it still had all of the sizing and everything that I would ask for as far as like shower size, ability to sit down on the toilet, um, that kind of thing. So it was it was cool, and it was done in Brinkley's typical Brinkley fashion where everything's pretty and fancy and shiny.

SPEAKER_01

So then what missed the mark? There's always a lot of hype, there's always a lot of new. What missed?

SPEAKER_05

I I feel bad talking ill.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, then we can move on.

SPEAKER_05

And and I don't know, I don't I I say this, there's there's one very hyped up, and there's it's getting a lot of praise, and I have praise for it as well, but to me it was a miss. And I say that in terms of this, and this has nothing to reflect on the channel that put it together, but the Grand Design Solitude 414 LJMJ, and I'm I'm gonna couple this with they decided to do a toy hauler version as well, not less junk grand design. It's it's great, they didn't make the RV, they just came up with some design features for them that they really liked and then helped execute that. Um, and maybe their personal rig has some changes that alleviate some of the things I'm gonna talk about, but it so if you don't have kids, it makes zero sense.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05

And I I've always felt like if you have kids, like grandkids, we'll use the grandkid analogy. Like, I want a rig that's functional for two people or four if I brought the grandkids along, but mostly us.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

This is not that rig.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05

Because you lose so much space that's dedicated to their space, to their area. So on the toy hauler version, this is where the toy hauler space would be, which is a very standard toy hauler space. On the solitude version, it's where the bunkhouse would be.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

But it's 10 feet of space.

SPEAKER_00

Good.

SPEAKER_05

11 feet, something like that of space. And so, and it's an elevated, kind of like our 390 was. I hesitate on just because of our experience. Um maybe it's gotten better. Um, but you go up and it it's a cool area if you have if you're full-timing and have kids, but is that a big enough demographic? And and uh full-timing with kids. Full timing is keep in mind, I did a poll in the community tab on YouTube, which we will do them here on this channel as well. We do them on that Miller's Motion. I was just curious if the people that follow us, how many were full-time versus part-time? Um, so we had 18% say full-time. Okay, and then the rest obviously part-time.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

There were 490 votes.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, wow.

The Overhyped Miss: GD 414 LJMJ

SPEAKER_05

It's not like it was 12 people. And so I thought that was kind of crazy. Like, even though on YouTube it seems like everybody's a full-timer, it that's not a reflection of the industry.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. That's right.

SPEAKER_05

That's just a reflection of YouTube in the creator side. So the only other thing that I would say, and this is a common theme for Grand Design across the board, is the cargo carrying capacity of that RV. I did not look at it for the toy hauler, so I'm only speaking to the solitude right now. Um, the way that it was stocked there, because I went and found the sticker, was, and I'm going to be generous and say just under 2,000 pounds.

SPEAKER_01

This was the thorn in our side for our solitude as well.

SPEAKER_05

I'm I'm pretty sure I didn't remember it off the top of my head, but I'm pretty sure it was 1,800 and change. Okay. So water by itself, what is it, 3.2 gallons or 3.2 pounds a gallon, something like that. And it's got a 55 gallon freshwater tank. So if you put water in there, you're done. You're not done. But you're really close to done.

SPEAKER_01

Well, and ultimately, like you said, if you are full-time with kids, so you're talking at least four people in this rig with their full-time accoutrement. So like that's a lot.

SPEAKER_05

You you and me have a term that we use very spillingly across multiple forms, and then that math doesn't math.

SPEAKER_01

That's true.

SPEAKER_05

And we say that in terms of like sometimes it's actually math. Sometimes it's like a financial decision, and it's just that's our term for something doesn't make sense here. Like it's not adding up. Yeah, and and for me, the cargo versus the intent and all that stuff, that math doesn't math. Now, I'll also say too, it has it has a side patio, which is great and cool, but it's the toy hauler side.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, gotcha.

SPEAKER_05

So as soon as you put it up, you lose the light. Now, and this was, I know in watching some of their videos, Marissa said that and they added a window above it. So you still do get light.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, that was good.

SPEAKER_05

Um, but again, the floor plan, the feel, it felt very modular. And I think when you compare it to like the paradigm side patio that I liked, that felt open. And so I think utilization of space cross board, but there was no bunks in the side patio for the alliance. And so I just feel like the demographic as the from the RV industry as a whole is such a small window. And and maybe they'll sell a ton of them. And everybody that's got, you know, the other thing, too, is you got one kid, it's massive overkill for that one kid. You got three, makes complete sense. Two, 50-50 on where you value space.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

So that that would I say my miss of the things I found. There was more, don't get me wrong. There's always the chintzy stuff, there's always the stuff where you go, how was that cost that much? Right. Everybody's got a miss. Alliance has a miss.

SPEAKER_01

That's true.

SPEAKER_05

Um, that was just the biggest one I saw. The most evident, like this seems off. Now, that being said, does IS fix that problem with the cargo carrying capacity? Your frame doesn't change, full FYI. An IS weighs like 800 pounds more than a traditional suspension system. So hypothetically, you actually go down in your cargo, but you're not going to bend your axles. That's the disconnect there. And so, you know, but are there modifications that can be done from factory that up that number? Are there things? Should it be a triple axle coach and not a double axle coach?

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_05

Probably. But again, that still doesn't change the frame. And then we get into the whole grand design frame conversation. We all know how I feel. We're not going down that road.

SPEAKER_01

We are not going down that road.

SPEAKER_05

And it it just, it just the red flags are concerning. That's all.

SPEAKER_01

Let's go down a happier road. How about that? Okay.

SPEAKER_05

We're gonna talk about food.

SPEAKER_01

Uh well, that's coming.

SPEAKER_05

But oh, is it really?

SPEAKER_01

I know my husband, and I know that while we look at the towables, that is not where your heart lies. Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05

I I love Alliance, I promise I do. Because I have to. So tell me what you because I that can't be wrong. But I love them because I want to, but let's be honest, who doesn't want a big shiny tag axle motorhome?

SPEAKER_01

So tell me what you found in drivable land.

SPEAKER_05

So, okay, hang on. You're gonna have to define that a little bit better for me because I found a lot.

SPEAKER_01

You're gonna have to whittle that down a little bit as far as like actual travel like life, you know what I mean? No. No, okay for us? Yeah. Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_05

So like something that if we were looking for a motorhome today that fits our criteria?

SPEAKER_01

Maybe something that yes, and maybe something that surprised you or not just new and shiny, but functional. You're like, hmm, actually, I really kind of like this.

SPEAKER_05

For life now, not in 20 years, kind of a thing. Not don't go for the what is it, the Tiffin Zephyr? Yeah, 1.2 million kind of a deal. Pretty. Um, I'm pretty sure things break on it just the same though. So I there's there's two, and and as much as I dislike kind of the the route grand design's gone over the past couple of years and frustrations with them.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

Motorhomes We’d Actually Use Now

SPEAKER_05

And this does not mean I would buy it, but they have that. Uh I don't even remember the name of it because I didn't write it down. Um, but they have the the they call it a super C. It's really just a classy on a Ford chassis.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Um, it was done really well.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, the layout's amazing, everything's very functional. It made sense. I didn't like the dark walls inside of it. It felt a little small.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Um, that was really good. Does grand design scare me? Absolutely. But it's not a towable either, so I don't know. But that's one of those they're gonna have to prove otherwise. For me, and again, we're in that land of we're not in it for very long, right? Week to 10 days max. We're gonna test that in Florida because I'm gonna be in it for like three weeks. And you're gonna come down for a week of it. But that's also just me, no dogs, so I'm sure it's be fine. Um that would most support what we're actively doing now and probably for the next five to ten years. The Dynamax I saw the five, and I'm gonna put a caveat maybe six.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

So the difference it's it's gonna be their class C line, but the five is a more off-road capable, little smaller class C. The the six is the bigger on the Ford chassis. Um it's typically the larger of the two, the box is bigger, the the stance is wider, all those things. If you're looking to get the comparison, um, our friends Chris and Aaron over at Irene Iron Travels just did the Isada six.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Um, and so far, at least the last time I talked to them, they love it. That was a few months ago, that could have changed. Um, I don't know. Um, but the reason why the Isada 5 stood out to me, the only thing I disliked it was on the Ram chassis and not the Ford chassis.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

And I say that it's gonna be like the F6500, it's the 6600 in the Ram chassis, and that's tomatoes, tomatoes. It it it I prefer it, but it doesn't bother me if that makes sense. Um, but it's the right, like the size, it was like 33 feet or something like that, at least the one I was looking at. And just the shape of it, if we decided to take it out somewhere, we could almost use it as a daily driver. And in my head, not like every day, all the time, but like we wouldn't need a toad.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

I feel like as long as we're not going like downtown somewhere, and even then, Uber, um I would be perfectly fine taking it to Walmart, perfectly fine taking it into national parks and parking them. And as long as there's RV parking or oversized parking of any kind, okay, I wouldn't think twice about it. Um, some of the things that I liked on now I will say there's two versions there's the explore and non explore. They almost do the explore exclusive now. That's the one that's going to have the larger mud tires on it, the the higher end, it does use liquid spring for the shocks.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

So very top end on that side of things. But it doesn't have as top end of a price.

unknown

Oh.

SPEAKER_05

Like a lot of those. Style of RVs, you're thinking Earth Roamer.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Um, the the the the hilt from Storyteller. Okay. The cheap ones are six, seven hundred thousand, and this one falls in the high ones, low twos somewhere in that ballpark.

SPEAKER_01

Big difference.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, I'm saying that sale price. MSRP is probably like 250, 275 somewhere in there. Um and I am guessing a little bit, verify information before you go running around looking for stuff.

SPEAKER_01

Um Ryan said it was only$100,000.

SPEAKER_05

Right. But I think the thing I liked about it is like it really like Liquid Springs has this, they call it earth leveling.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

There's no leveling jacks on this thing.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, really? Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Because there's such an extension, you can lower the entire coach, raise the entire coach using, I think they said seven or eight inches. Again, off-road capability. If you're on the highway, lower that thing down, you get better fuel economy. If you're trying to clear something, nope, raise her up. It's gonna stiffen your suspension, so you have to be aware of that. But they use that seven or eight inches of play to raise and lower the coach on all four corners.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05

And so your leveling system isn't a jack system that you're used to. Your tires are never gonna come off the ground because they're never gonna change their angle.

SPEAKER_01

I gotcha.

SPEAKER_05

And so it uses the coach itself to level it to the ground right there.

SPEAKER_01

And that is one of your pet peeves, so that fixes that.

SPEAKER_05

It does fix that. Um, I think the other thing, too, that was kind of interesting about the whole thing was like I I've in my head, if I could go on like a week-long call to walkabout. We're gonna go with our Australian side of here.

SPEAKER_00

Excellent.

SPEAKER_05

No, but like I if I was gonna do the show my way, I would have driven something like this to the show. No tow car, no anything. I would have rationed for everything, maybe only eaten out once or twice. I would not have stopped at Love's on the way up. I would have just found somewhere like I probably cracker barrel, let's be honest. I would have pulled in, I would have slept, I would have eaten, I would have gotten back on the road.

SPEAKER_00

Gotcha.

LiquidSpring Leveling and Travel Style

SPEAKER_05

Even for the show, I would have driven it to the show. I'd have gone into the show. For lunch, I probably would have gone back and had lunch at the rig, sit down for a second, go back into the show, and then just move on. I'd either dry camp with it, um, maybe expand the batteries, but it's already got inverters on it, it's already got all those things. Again, not like amazingly powered stuff. It's not like what we had on our Valor as far as like extensive, but it is the interesting thing about it though, is that it is still got a generator, quiet diesel generator, it's an all-electric coach. I just kicked the camera. Um wasn't just an earthquake. Yeah. We're in Texas, what's happening? Fracking. Um and so it it's it's just intriguing. Like, I was I think I brought this up when we were in the smokies. I was like, what would be fun is to come up here or like a national park in general, and just boondock on the way up because you can. Um just stay at a cracker barrel, go into the park, do your things, drive it over here, and then just find somewhere else to park for the night that's safe and obviously relevant. I mean, every once in a while you're gonna obviously have to do an RV park, but minimize it. Like that's I would love to be able to do that more.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Um, the thing about our travel trailer now is we are very much so tied to a pedestal.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we are.

SPEAKER_05

And I don't love it. Yeah, it's annoying me more and more.

SPEAKER_01

So all right. So moving away from the rigs, the RVs themselves.

SPEAKER_05

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_01

Tell me about some of like the the tech, the systems. Have things come a long way? Have they changed things? What'd you notice?

SPEAKER_05

Um, as I readjust here, real quick.

SPEAKER_01

It's your show, do whatever you want.

SPEAKER_05

I'm slang, it's yours too, Missy. It's sliding in my chair. Um so I will say, like, I think motorhomes have been pretty advanced in that department. So, no, not really. I mean, it's getting better. Like, there's new slide mechanisms coming out, which is really cool. I'm gonna throw this in there because we all know. Well, I say we all know, you and I are very aware of how much we don't really love TwinTechs. And cables are like, I like them better, but it's like picking which side of your face you want to be whacked in. It's not like there's I don't feel like there's a great option. There's just one that's a little like which headache do you want?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Kind of a thing.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Shark pain or dull pain. And so um lippert, I know, lippert. Um, so they are the ones that did the Schwintech, but they came out with a new slide system. If you've ever seen, they didn't make Vroom, but it's like Vroom. So it's actually a rail that sticks out, and then there's cogs on both sides of it versus just one. You can stop and start it along the track. You don't, it's just it's synchronized much better. Okay. It's a much more sturdy, it's only been out for six months. You're seeing some late, late, late 25s have it, and quite a few 26s have it.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Um, I don't believe Alliance is utilizing it now, but I know that they're looking at it. Um, Alliance has a little bit of a different, this is a great idea. Let's do it. They don't, they actually like will put it on a few test coaches and actually put it through its rigors before they agree to put it on production-lined coaches. Okay. So I that think I don't know if they've actually put one on yet or not, but I know they're talking about it. So that was interesting. Um, there are a few of the higher-end um RV manufacturers, brinkley, um, and the towable side that are utilizing more forward-facing um motorhome features now. So Brinkley is moving away from LCI one controls, okay, which has then been the bread and butter in the industry for a long time.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Either did manual or LCI. So, like Alliance does manual. Um, they are using the Firefly system now.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, really?

Tech Trends: Slides, Control Systems, Solar

SPEAKER_05

Which is a very motorhome thing. Yeah. That's if you ever see the screen with all the information on it in a motorhome, that's what that is. Um, there's a couple versions of it out there. Not they're not all Firefly, that's just happens to be what Brinkley's using. Um, and then Brinkley, even from that standpoint, their standard now comes with a multi-plus inverter on it.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

And I say a multiplus, a Victron component. Like solar systems, I that's not even the correct term. Solar upgrades from the manufacturer were like, if you got a lithium battery, it was a big day.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And like a 200-watt um uh panel up on the roof. The charge controllers were, let's be honest, it's what was cheapest.

SPEAKER_00

Sure.

SPEAKER_05

And I think that they're realizing now that they're breaking a lot because they're just not built the right way. Victron is, in my opinion, the leader in that industry. I think there's a lot that are catching up fast. But Victron's still out in front. That's all the blue solar equipment you see floating around there. It's we've had both their systems exclusively.

SPEAKER_01

And we had really good, I would say, experiences.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, you do have to know it a little bit because you still have to know your limits and all that. But other than that, like they make it's as user-friendly and easy as you're gonna make something like that, at least to this point.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Um, they are putting what they call their standard solar system, which is one multi-plus, which is a 3,000 watt inverter, um, and 400 amp hours of no, I was wrong. Sorry. Whatever two of the game changers are from Battleborne. I think they're around three, like 280 amp.

SPEAKER_01

I think they're almost 300 each.

SPEAKER_05

I'm gonna say it's somewhere around 600 amp hours.

SPEAKER_01

Right, just on standard.

SPEAKER_05

And then they have their upgraded version, which they put two multi-pluses in. So you both lines get a 3,000 watt. Um, and you can actually run the ACs. So, like the way they have it now, you still can't run the ACs on it.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05

But you can all your other plugs, literally everything else in the coach works. They dummy-proofed it. So, like if you could potentially blow the inverter, they don't or the fuse or the breaker for the inverter, they don't want you to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01

So you couldn't run one AC.

SPEAKER_05

No, well, so if you do a system yourself, you can do that, but they wired it so that you can't overload the line.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Whereas like with our systems, because we installed them, we ran that risk, especially on the solitude. And we had our smaller inverters, we could overload the system, which we did occasionally.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, we did.

SPEAKER_05

We didn't mean to, yeah. But you have to be very aware of your power management. So that's that's a big, big one, I would say. I would say so too, yeah. Um, doing that. And and I will say Brinkley always seems to be kind of the leader on that front. I think Alliance, Alliance does it in a good way, but they're also very price conscious. They're not like brinkleys are expensive. They are in fact, the the model, I think it's Model M, the toy hauler, um, that was in it. The MSRP of that thing was 200.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, it's over 200 now.

SPEAKER_05

And$30,000.

SPEAKER_01

Yikes.

SPEAKER_05

But it was a cool floor plan. It was that front office one that I don't I had and now I don't have video on. Yeah.

unknown

Awesome.

SPEAKER_05

Um, it was actually my favorite new floor plan for that kind of a like a toy hauler. But um, but yeah, it's it comes with a price tag. And then and I will say we're obviously omitting a brand right now, and that is a brand new brand. They're called Axiom RV. Yeah. I feel like they are also pushing that line pretty hard, but they are, when I say brand new, they are brand spanking new. They were not at Hershey.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05

Or if they were, they hid somewhere and I did not see them.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

So they are doing some pretty cool stuff. We're hoping to have something over them soon for you.

SPEAKER_01

All right. So then, as far as designs go, like you always get like a feel for what they're changing, colors they're using, kind of aesthetics they're going for. So, what's the design trend you saw?

SPEAKER_05

I mean, I think it's just a continuation of what we've seen in 2025. Is a lot of manufacturers moving towards lighter residential style colors, which I like and dislike. I mean, I think that's you have to when you start getting into some of these new design trends, you have to be a little careful because they are a more opinion-based thing.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Like I like the warm feeling of our delta.

SPEAKER_01

I do too.

SPEAKER_05

And I'll be sorry, anybody alliance that's listening to, especially Joe or Jeremiah, but I don't care for the new Delta interior as much. It's not bad by any means. I'd be perfectly happy with it, but it felt, and and I will say I've only seen one in person and it was one of the protos. So this may have changed a little bit, but it did feel a little sterile almost.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

And I get it that a lot of people want that lighter color. It definitely felt bigger, even though we're in the exact same floor plan, but it it did feel a little too light.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

In my opinion. It's kind of like the all-white kitchen when you also have the white countertops, the white backsplash. It just feels like you're in a surgical room versus anything. It feels clean as all get out. Don't get me wrong, but it's an RV, that's not gonna last. That's true.

SPEAKER_01

So okay. So then moving on. If somebody goes to the show and they don't have$230,000 to spend on a toy hauler, they're a little bit more value conscious or budget conscious. Tell them some things you found.

SPEAKER_05

So, I mean, I I would say most of the entry-level manufacturers, whether you go with what I call a specialty manufacturer or a broad manufacturer. So a broad manufacturer would be like Forest River, Thor, Winnebago. They got a little bit of everything for everybody. Um, a little bit more specialty would be like Alliance, Brinkley, um uh Storyteller, Overlander, those kind of things where it's more they kind of focus on a particular thing and stay in that lane.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

And then there's super specialty, which is like Earth Roamer or even Axiom to this point. And so I I from the kind of entry level, everybody's got something. And I'm gonna steal a line from Josh the RV nerd. Okay, 1000% because it's right. Um, at the end of the day, you have to find what you like.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05

And just just the one thing I would say as far as like looking more budget conscious things is have a budget in your head and stick to it. Don't because you get there and you're gonna go, oh, but this one doesn't have floor vents. Floor vents are cheaper.

SPEAKER_03

That's true.

Design Aesthetics Shifting Lighter

SPEAKER_05

They are. Um, there's design flaws with them. They do have to put holes in your floor, which I'm not a huge fan of. I I we don't like them because of the pet hair thing. Sure. But there are other reasons why. And there are other things you're gonna skimp, like talking about firefly systems and all that stuff. You ain't getting any of that. You're gonna get manual switches. We've only had manual switches for two coaches now. I don't have a problem with them.

SPEAKER_01

I don't have a problem with them at all.

SPEAKER_05

And so I do think looking budget conscious, I still think Alliance rules that area from the tollable side. Okay. I think you get the most bang for your buck.

SPEAKER_01

I think you get more quality for the buck in some corners of that too.

SPEAKER_05

The bonus stuff you get is the community, the customer service, the they really do try to do the right thing, barring you breaking the rig. Um, not intentionally necessarily, but believe it or not, your car, like if you want to, if you have a warranty claim, it doesn't matter to the manufacturer, and it's a potential weight issue, you better have cat scale. I I've been asked for them.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And so we like we weigh our rig about, well, now that we're part-time about every six months, um, we used to weigh it every quarter no matter what. Yeah. And that way, if anybody came back and said, Oh, this is an evidence of over of being overweight, no, it's not. Because I'm not. Here's my stuff. So anyway, that's that's my two cents on that.

SPEAKER_01

If somebody at the show was actually looking to buy, do you have any suggestions, recommendations on like pricing, negotiation, that sort of thing?

SPEAKER_05

No, I think I think now is actually, and I say now, like over the last five years looking at industry trends, okay, slash listening to Josh's little industry thing he does once a quarter. Um, you know, the the market right now is being carried by travel trailers and a little bit of fifth wheels.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

So if you are looking for motorhomes, go get you something. Assuming you can afford it. Right. Because, you know, I I do say there's a little bit of a disconnect. Maybe it might be next year where the optimal time for that kind of stuff is. But like the sales numbers for 2025 on motorhomes is just in the tanker.

SPEAKER_01

Uh, still okay.

SPEAKER_05

Well, it's it's it's the most expensive thing. Rigs have gotten more and more expensive. They have. I would argue, especially on the motorhome side, they've kind of reached that line that they've outrun the market now.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

And so, like, like the Tiffin Zephyr is a great example. I pray that they only made five of those this year. I because I don't know. I mean, the person looking at the Tiffin Zephyr wants, doesn't want a previous for some reason. But it's the same or a new, because it's in it's in that category. Wow.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

And so it's and so, but why would you take a more mass-produced coach, even if that one's not and it's not mass-produced, they build them one off. But why would you go down that road knowing they're going to use mass-produced parts versus like a new? You may spend a hundred grand more, which at that point, let's be honest. That's like building a house and then going, well, if you upgrade to this cabinetry, it's a lot better and it's only a few thousand bucks. Do it at this point. It doesn't matter.

Budget Tips and Entry-Level Value

SPEAKER_01

Pennies in that budget. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And so, you know, looking side to side, like, why would you not do the new over that unless you just really don't like anything they have to offer design-wise? Again, these are all one-off builds. We're not talking about producing production line anything. And so, you know, from that standpoint, yeah, you can get some deals. Unfortunately, travel trailers and I'm gonna say lightweight fifth wheels are carrying the market, so they are you're they are what they are. Okay. Um, as far as like pricing strategies and all that stuff, I've always gone with the mentality of expect to get between 18 and 22% off. I feel like the theory behind shows hasn't changed. So if you're going into I get asked this question a lot, should I buy it a show or should I just go buy from a local dealer? Well, at the end of the day, get the best price you can get, buy it there. Now, you sometimes you have to be at shows, but I will tell you, you can leverage shows to get a better deal. Absolutely. And you should. And that's exactly what we did. We went to the Tampa show looking for our first coach. We bought it from a dealer here in Texas and leveraged the show price to do that.

SPEAKER_01

And we were literally sitting in the Tampa show talking to the dealer in Texas.

SPEAKER_05

You know, um uh uh Jesse from Finding Our Someday still says that that's one of the more interesting stories she's ever heard. Um I ran into him up there for a brief second, and she's like, You guys were sitting on the curb because they just this them and finding our not finding our someday and um less junk were doing a meetup and it was right where we were having a conversation. It kind of just appeared around us, and we were literally sitting on the curb negotiating our coach back in Texas with it, and I'm literally giving my credit card, and then there's the lines of people start showing up, and so we met them and sure told them the story, and they're like, that's that's how they remember us. So um, yeah. But I I would say at the show you can expect to kind of not have to haggle as bad. Haggle, don't, don't not haggle, still, still, still, you know, put put them to the grind.

SPEAKER_01

The answer's no if you never ask.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, it's always no if you never ask. Uh, I can tell you, push the line with Jeremiah. He and he's no, I'm just kidding, don't do that.

SPEAKER_01

Don't do that.

SPEAKER_05

Don't honestly, you're not gonna negotiate with Jeremiah, he's there for dealer support. Um, and if he hears that, I'm sorry, buddy.

SPEAKER_01

Um, but trying to stick up for you.

SPEAKER_05

I will say that you're probably gonna get at the minimum the 18% when you're and this is all off MSRP, um, 18% off. So when you see a show price, it's pretty discounted compared to what they would list it on the lot for.

SPEAKER_03

True.

SPEAKER_05

Remember, everything is based off of MSRP. So when you do that, when you go into a dealership, and if you don't like if your final deal lands at like say 8%, maybe you step back and look at it again. Or go talk to a different dealership, shop around, that kind of a thing. If you land at 25%, write the check and run.

SPEAKER_01

All right. I'm gonna put a little caveat there. I don't like to be rushed. And so if anybody ever says, if you get up, you know, we're done, it's no deal, then then that's fine. That's kind of my sign.

SPEAKER_05

That actually for us is a this is a one-time offer right now. Like, I'm out.

SPEAKER_01

Then I'm out. Unless I can go think about it, maybe even sleep on it.

SPEAKER_05

I I want you to work for my affection. He's a little high maintenance like that. Very high maintenance.

Show Pricing, Haggling, and Timing

SPEAKER_01

Moving on. All right, let's go quick picks. All right. I know it's gonna take a lot for you to keep it kind of short, but can you rapid fire like best couples trailer?

SPEAKER_05

The Alliance 388 SP.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. Do you have a reason particularly?

SPEAKER_05

It's just a cool floor plan. I think, I mean, it if you have extra people sleeping, it's gonna be an absolute pain.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

It's two people sleeping, but you could do 12 for dinner.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

And even more for cocktails if they don't mind standing outside.

SPEAKER_01

This is not foreshadowing, just so you all know. I don't think we're actually getting an SP. So we're not. But anyways, all right. I'm working on that. I saw it. Yeah, yeah. Uh family trailers. Uh okay.

SPEAKER_05

So this counterdicts what I said earlier, but I would actually say if it's a true family, the Solitude 414 L J MJ.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Uh I you just have to be okay with the caveats.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. And that's mainly directed at full timers, you said.

SPEAKER_05

I think it is, but at the same time, too, if you have a large family and you're not full-timing, the cargo carrying capacity might not be as big of a deal.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

So it may be a better fit for that, just from the what the rig can do, like realistically without breaking, kind of a thing. So and I know it's contradictory, but it's a good rig. I just I had to pick a bad I had to pick my least favorite and kind of annoying. And it has some quirks. That's why I ended up in that category. Doesn't mean I don't like it.

SPEAKER_01

No, and we'll see. It's not for us, but we'll see once it hits the road and gets used, you know, kind of how that shakes out, just like our 390 did.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, all right. Boondock ready, like out of the gates.

SPEAKER_05

So I don't I'm gonna take motorhomes out of this just because I talked the Isada 5. We should go get one. Um, I'm not hi, Isada.

SPEAKER_01

Can we have a spot?

SPEAKER_05

I'm actually gonna say the um Forest River, we love you. Um, just kidding, Alliance. Um so you're here for the information, stuck with the jokes. Um, I would say the Keystone walkabout.

SPEAKER_02

It's a walkabout.

SPEAKER_05

It's a travel trailer. Now I will say it's got some caveats.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Um, I do think from a trailer perspective, you don't see as many travel trailer boondock ready.

SPEAKER_00

True.

SPEAKER_05

You see vans, you see adventure trucks, you see that kind of stuff. You see Ryan whacking his mic for the fourth time. Um, you see a lot of that kind of stuff, but trailer-wise, you don't see very much. And so that's why I picked this. It's it's it's it's interesting. Um, I don't know if I like it or dislike it. There's definitely some things I didn't like about it that just somehow magically went away.

SPEAKER_04

Oh.

SPEAKER_05

Um it's so one of the biggest things I would say to be a little careful of is it actually has a skylight in the slide.

SPEAKER_01

In the slide. In the slide. I was trying to see what slide was saloon. Um in the slide. That's goofy.

SPEAKER_05

So it's a window. It's it's just it's a window up there. It doesn't open. Um but the first thing I thought of, well, there's two things that popped in my head because I was sitting there looking at this, and the the reps were all around me. I was trying to be quiet. I was not filming because I didn't know what I was looking at still. And I was like, okay, summer in Texas.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

It's like slide walls are already very hot because they're not as insulated as the regular walls. So heat comes in through those a lot more. Yep. It's like, so now you just added a magnifying glass on top. It's like, I'm pretty sure when I was like eight, I used to take a magnifying glass and chase down ants. Like, I don't want to be the ant. And then two, what if you're in a hailstorm?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, that's a good point, too.

SPEAKER_05

Still an RV, man.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_05

Like, I don't I think RVs are better built today. But like, remember when Elon Musk came out the Cybertruck, it's bulletproof, and then he threw a baseball at it and it broke the dang window. That's what I'm imagining. Like, it won't break, and then like a bird's gonna land on it, it's gonna splinter or something stupid or random. So there's there's I think it's the most capable of the off production line stuff. It's brand new, by the way. Um, but there are like that's weird.

SPEAKER_01

That is goofy. All right. And if you had all the money in the world to spend on a luxury coach, where would you go?

SPEAKER_05

Production or one-off?

SPEAKER_01

It's up to you.

SPEAKER_05

It's gonna be a motorhome. That's just because money. So I would say dual. If I was gonna do a one-off, I'd do a new. Oh, okay. But I also don't have 1.5 expendable dollars uh million expendable dollars.

SPEAKER_01

Million, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Uh yeah, I have one dollar, maybe.

SPEAKER_01

Maybe.

SPEAKER_05

Um realistically, probably a tiff and allegro bus or comparable um in other manufacturers. So like Integra Cornerstone, um Newell, not Newell, um uh Numar King Air? I think the King Air is a comparable. Whichever the comparable newer uh one over there is. So but I I I lean towards I just like the aesthetic better, but uh, I'd probably say a bus of some kind too.

SPEAKER_01

I gotcha.

SPEAKER_05

Not sure which floor band, but a bus.

SPEAKER_01

And I realized um we talked about like systems and rigs and all kinds of things. I didn't ask you about accessories. So back to the I guess the concourse.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, let's finish this section, then we'll go back to that.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05

You got one more. Unless you're gonna skip it.

SPEAKER_01

I was gonna skip it, but oh okay.

Rapid-Fire Best Picks by Use Case

SPEAKER_05

Best value, Alliance Delta. I I honestly think it's the best bang for the buck you get out there. It's not the cheapest, but it is nowhere near the most expensive. It falls in the middle of that category. For an MSRP trailer that's between$50,000 and$63,000, you're gonna get it 18 to 22%, 20% off somewhere in that ballpark for what you get for that dollar amount is insane. I'm talking regular Delta.

SPEAKER_04

Right, right.

SPEAKER_05

If you are okay going down to the lightweight version, you're gonna get an even better deal because it's not that different. The interior, all that stuff, the structure, it's not that different. You just have a regular cap instead of a molded front cap. It's all a weight thing, it has nothing to do with value. And so I I honestly think it's the best value for what you get for the money. So, okay, anyway, what would you what we what did you want to go to? Accessories. It's allergy season in Texas. Um, accessories are weird because they don't really, there's not a lot of innovation on that front ever. It's kind of the same old, same old, you know. Um, I think the most intriguing accessory right now to me, and I may have actually looked at doing this if this existed when we had our fifth wheel. Um, Mooride finally came out with a version of their uh of a gooseneck alternative. So think Gen Y. Yeah, uh think uh Reese uh goosebox, I think is what it's called. But the rationale behind it is genius.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

So if you know Moraide's pin box line, it's it's the rubber pin box. There's only one. Um and then they have depending on the weight of your coach, so like our Valor had the HD version and then the solitude had the standard. It's just how which which rubber disc they use on the inside, that's what moves 360 degrees to allow for um movement and chucking and to kind of deaden all that stuff. They always treated us well. It is, yeah, and it worked great. Um, I liked it better than most other things. Um, I can tell you we tested a Gen Y and I hated it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

But I also feel like we had the wrong one. So caveat there. Sure. Um, granted, they told me to get that one and I kind of said, Are you sure? And I was like, I feel like I'm on the line, I should go to the bigger one. They said no, do this one, and I hated it. Um, but so Gen Y has a torsion flex system, so it's rubber bands, not like what you buy at the store. Um, but it's the idea. They're bands of rubber um that are stretched, and that's what's moving around. And they they I think they said they have a five-year warranty. That's it. You're supposed to replace those at some point. Oh, really? Yeah, they're designed to be, they will wear out and replace. Well, that's kind of important to know, don't you think? Well, because like they even tell you like it'll take a thousand miles, whatever it is, to break them in. Yeah. So they're really tight at first. As soon as they start moving, they release, and then from then on out, they're only deteriorating. And so they get uh over time, it'll get bouncier and bouncier until they're just they either are so bouncy you can't take anymore, or they're just completely broken and your rig won't sit up anymore on like how it does.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Then you have the Reese Goose box. There's an airbag in there. Well, it's notorious that you have to continuously refill the airbag.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Airbags just they just leak. They all do. And so it's and this one has plagued the Reese, it's the one downside of the goosebox. Um, and the design of it, it's I've heard it's pretty difficult to connect and unconnect from a truck. The Gen Y is significantly easier. So you take something like the Mooride rubber pinbox kingpin version that has a 15-year warranty on the rubber. So essentially it will outlive the rig. And even if it doesn't, you can remove everything and just get the piece. You don't have to like Gen Y. I don't know that they have a replacement for that. I think you have to buy a new one.

SPEAKER_01

I don't even know how you would put the replacement on there.

SPEAKER_05

You'd have to disassemble it, which is heavy. So for this, you just remove a couple of bolts. I've taken our assembly apart to for inspections. Sure. And on that one, you just take it, you take the rubber out, you put the new one in, done.

SPEAKER_04

Ta-da.

SPEAKER_05

It's put back together. And the fact that it's a goose, and it is a straight, it's not a conversion, so you don't put it on your kingpin. You remove your entire assembly. Okay. You're down to just the framed portion with the holes in it. You slide. I'm saying this like you can do it one-handed. These things are heavy. Don't ever like you need help, I would argue, take it there. But you install this, it's now a gooseneck. The rubber pin box portion of it is down by the goose.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Um, and so it goes all the way down. Now it's it's a cumbersome boy. Um, it but that to me, more metal equals more stability. It also means more pin weight. Um, but they said it, they said it does overall from the rubber, it's a standard rubber pin box to the gooseneck conversion, they said it's about 70 pounds heavier.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05

So, but well, it's steel.

SPEAKER_01

It is.

SPEAKER_05

I will say it's not aluminum, it's not anything else. Those things are maybe no, 70 pounds total. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, okay. That makes more sense.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, I think it's like a 30 or 40 pound. I mean, it it's it's heavier because it's just that much more metal.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Um, but yeah, sorry, I think it's like 70 pounds total. So, like I put on our Gen Y by myself.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you tell me.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, I got smart and used our lift in my truck and didn't break anything. Um, but this I'm not sure I'd be able to.

SPEAKER_01

So Okay. All right.

Accessories That Actually Matter

SPEAKER_05

Well other than that, I mean, patio X is cool if you're looking for that. Um accessories are accessories, there's just not a lot of new stuff. I mean, get the things that I this is that one we talked about in another episode of like just if you're buying an RV, like go in lightly at first. Like there's things that I feel like you know you're gonna need sewer hoses, sure, water hoses, connectors, that kind of stuff. But take it easy on everything else. Okay, and then as you need it, buy it. Now, there's some things you can also do at these shows. Um, open roads, you can actually sign up and get a card right there now because they change some of that up. Also on open roads. If you're a new user at the moment, you can actually use your credit card. Old users still can't.

SPEAKER_01

About that, Tara.

SPEAKER_05

They're they're working on it. Um, I would have waited personally. I'm sure they're getting bombarded. Um, but you also told us to talk about it, so sorry. Um uh other than that, there's a ton of cramp grounds. I never know why. Come stay with us in three months. I don't know where I'm gonna be next week.

SPEAKER_01

Right. That's kind of goofy.

SPEAKER_05

And I get if you if it if you're there for like a name recognition branding thing, makes complete sense. Right. But there were so many of them trying to get people to like like now thousand trails make sense because there's a membership portion of that, but most of them don't have they're just like, come stay with us. I'm like, I don't know where I'm gonna be, no. Right.

SPEAKER_01

Or the dates or well, you're not an RV show. I don't have my calendar with me.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, I do, but I always do. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01

It almost seems better to have like an incentive or a discount if you're able to somehow do something.

SPEAKER_05

You'd think maybe they did and they just didn't say it, which doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_01

All right. Was there anything that I missed as far as what you wanted to tell them or to tell me about?

SPEAKER_05

Um, I think the only thing from the show perspective would be uh lunch was miserable. And I say that in terms of it's like five or six food trucks and it's a shotgun style, like galley style line of them.

SPEAKER_01

I'm sorry, we didn't touch on food, your favorite.

SPEAKER_05

That was it. There's not much to it. Um it was so chaotic, I missed the Chick-fil-A truck that was there.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, no.

SPEAKER_05

Ended up with crappy chicken tenders.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, that's terrible.

SPEAKER_05

And I could have gotten for less money a chicken sandwich. And so, yeah, I didn't realize that. I was I was eating my chicken tenders and Daryl Tolson rolled up and stole one of my French fries. I wasn't eating them. Um and was like, I'm gonna get Chick-fil-a. I don't know why you got that chicken. And that's when I about threw my chicken at him. Well, love you, Daryl, but not at that moment. And I walked with them and talked. So yeah, it's it's chaos. Um, nothing's it's or it's as organized as you can make it. There's just the because the physical footprint's so much smaller, I would say if you just want to be around the brand, brand new stuff quickly, go to Hershey. Sure. The area is gorgeous, and there's Hershey Park. I I understand why people would want to go.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

If I'm going just for the RV show, I would skip it.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

I'd actually go to Tampa. It's Tampa was more fun as a whole, it's more spread out. You don't feel like you can smell as many people. Um well, you know, it's like someone's like a little sweaty and boy, and they're right next to you, like, mm-hmm You did promise smells at the beginning of this.

SPEAKER_01

I did. You sure did.

SPEAKER_05

Chick fil A wasn't one of them, otherwise I would have been there. Um So from that standpoint, I I I would do Tampa. I prefer Tampa.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_05

I don't know that we will, unless invited by Alliance or somebody to do something specifically for it.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I don't know that I'm ever going to go back to Hershey. Unless you just really wanted to go to Hershey Park. I'll be honest, I didn't get to do any of that because I was only there for two days.

SPEAKER_01

Or the chocolate. You didn't get to do the chocolate.

SPEAKER_05

That's what I mean.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05

Which allegedly they piped the smell of chocolate into the town, which is insane, and I want it so bad.

SPEAKER_04

Oh.

SPEAKER_05

Um I just I was down there once for a dinner for a sponsor dinner and I didn't smell it. Um also my allergies are really bad. So from that standpoint, do Tampa. Um Yeah, that's about it, I think. If you have questions, I'd be happy to answer them either in the comments down below or you can reach out to us through our normal socials. If you just go to RV Shenanigans or RV Shenanigans Podcast.com, it magically gets to us.

SPEAKER_01

Well, and you can tell us if there's a floor plan you want us to kind of do a deeper dive into, uh an accessory, uh something that you really want us to give our two cents on and whatnot.

SPEAKER_05

Well, and I think too, what's important to note about how this podcast is going to go forward. I know we talked to be the show about how there's some transition and that's kind of coming into its own. Well, obviously we've been talking for a hot minute. Um but the vet hasn't called, I don't think, or did they?

SPEAKER_01

No, they didn't.

Food Fails, Crowds, and Tampa vs Hershey

SPEAKER_05

Um we're waiting for the vet to call on Bailey. She's got a cough. Um we are going, we've got new segment ideas. This is gonna be all RV all the time. Now we do have like RV travel to destinations. Sure. Like we've got a show coming up. We're finally, finally doing a podcast recapping um our time at the Wisconsin Dells.

SPEAKER_01

It's only been a day or two.

SPEAKER_05

Three by day or two, she means like four months. Yeah, it's true. There's been some stuff going on.

SPEAKER_01

A few things.

SPEAKER_05

Um, like our time, like state parks, that kind of stuff. We're going to deep dive into the travel as well in podcast form. But we have new segments like Faces Behind the Industry, and we're gonna deep dive with some channels and like what really got him into it.

SPEAKER_01

Or what makes them tick, if that makes sense. Oh, should we share those secrets? I don't know. We're not, they are.

SPEAKER_05

That's that's the beauty of it. It's not us. Um, those kind of things. But yeah, if you if you really want to watch the travel stuff, make sure you're on Miller's in Motion. If you're all about the RV stuff, you're in the right place. Congratulations, you did it.

SPEAKER_01

And so did you.

SPEAKER_05

Kinda. We're not done done.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, goodness.

SPEAKER_05

Um taking back over, is it still you?

SPEAKER_01

This is all yours. I've asked all the questions I need to ask.

SPEAKER_05

So I've got one question for you before we signed off. Oh boy. How did it feel driving the podcast?

SPEAKER_01

Um, not too different, I would say.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, we we're very we are easy to we talk to each other pretty easily. That's why we get along most of the time. Exactly. Well, let me phrase that. You're willing to put up with me while we talk. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_04

So okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Thank you so much for listening/slash watching. Again, if you have any questions, uh, if you just head over to millersinmotion.com, rvshenanigans.com, rvshenanigans podcast.com, any of the socials, you'll find everything there, by the way. Um, reach out to us, ask the question. If you're watching on YouTube, feel free to leave a comment down below. Um, big favor if you could rate and review the show on your favorite podcast platform or share it with a friend if you're on YouTube. Any of the things. We are having to grow this on the YouTube side from the ground up.

SPEAKER_01

Woohoo.

SPEAKER_05

Which means chaos. Um, it just means we have a work cutout for. So any help we can get would be much, much appreciated. Yeah. All right. See you next week. Or talk to you next week. One of the two. I'm not sure which.

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Millers In Motion

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