Tampa RV Supershow - what have we seen?

Wow - there is a LOT to see at the Tampa RV Supershow. Some highlights:

There are two large buildings with exhibitor areas full of various accessories and gizmos and gadgets and services that RVers might need!

We saw a plug-in hybrid Jeep Wrangler - flat towable ... for only $69K or so... we'll take two!

We know that we will eventually need to replace the Jeep and will want something flat towable; Carl is interested in a plugged-in hybrid... but that price is a bit much! We asked if they would be doing a 50% off show special... even that would be a lot, but no, so guess we'll pass!

We are enjoying looking inside rigs that we've seen at campgrounds -- I blogged a couple of weeks ago about 5th wheels that had large underbay storage (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2022/12/some-views-around-campground.html) -- one of them was an Alliance...

We liked this floorplan - it has a large front living area, the front living and back bedroom are up a couple of steps from the kitchen (entry) level.

That enables a huge underbay area under the bedroom in the back -- probably an 8' slideout tray - wow!

Friends Melanie and Jim used to have a Trailmanor...

... these are unique rigs that fold in and down so they are compact during travel and large when parked! There is an interesting video on their website: https://trailmanor.com/

Then we headed over to the "pricey" side of the supershow... there was one Newell on display -- there was a line to go in, so we did not go inside...

There was a picture of the inside on the display with pricing information - just $2.4 million! We'll just take one of those to go with our plugged-in hybrid Jeep, thanks!

I overheard the lady who was controlling access to enter the Newell saying that they used to have space inside the building, but, I guess sometime in the past 3 years during Covid, they elected not to come to the Tampa RV Supershow. So they lost their location, and it is highly competitive to get it back.

Inside the building we saw Airstreams and Foretravels and Prevosts. Neither Carl nor I get the fascination with Airstream trailers.

Open engine compartment on one of the Prevosts.

Quite an impressive rig!

Another of the Prevosts had the underbay storage areas open -- wow --

They are really huge!

This model did not have a slideout on the passenger front, so the doors lift up - much easier to get into the bays!

Do you think we're overly concerned with storage space?

I recall when Dwayne and I were looking for the replacement rig for Miss Daisy, our 2004 32' Safari Trek. One rig we looked at was a 1999 45' Prevost. We measured the cubic inch storage areas in the 32' Trek and the space in the 45' Prevost and were surprised to find that the Trek had more storage! The older Prevosts had the generator in a side bay and "cruise airs" -- the air conditioning units in the underbay area.

While we were walking around in the Prevost area, we got a call that the Newmar service techs were on their way to our coach, so we quickly left the show and walked back to the Newmar camping area.

Newmar service tech at our coach. Newmar brought technicians from the "mothership" in Nappanee down to perform service on coaches -- I think they said that there were 10 pairs of technicians providing service to the 212 coaches that are here for this rally.

When the technicians got to Gracie, they already knew that there were 4 recalls that had not been performed - they were able to address three of those, and they inspected our two large slides. The passenger side slide has a "clonk" that it makes when it comes in - they examined it but indicated that it will need to be addressed when we go to the mothership in August.

So... that's some of the highlights from the Supershow!

Tampa RV Supershow - Wednesday around the Newmar Kountry Klub camping area

Wednesday was the day that the Tampa RV Supershow opened.

Tuesday evening, we finally got power to our camping area late in the evening. You might wonder how power is supplied to all these RVs on a temporary basis...

... well, there are big generators...

... Carl took a picture of the control panel for the generator that is near us.

This is a distribution box that is right behind Gracie (Gracie is the RV just beyond the box). Notice all the power lines running from the generator to this box -- there are a number of power lines also running beside Gracie to the RVs on the other side of the driveway in the camping area. We are surprised that they are not under any protection from being walked on or driven over...

As we were walking up to the NKK tent to get some information, we saw someone getting their rig washed here on the fairgrounds. The wash crew brings their own water (this is usually done anywhere that you get the RV washed by a service as they bring filtered water).

Washing the RV.

This is another generator -- it is really huge and *very* loud. We are very glad that we are not parked near it!

Evidently the power provision has been difficult to get set up this year -- we were told that for many years the same fellow provided the power hookups each year for the Newmar group at Tampa, but he passed away in 2021. The vendor in 2022 was also good, but he went into a different job. So 2023 has a new service provider, who did not seem to grasp the magnitude of the task. But... eventually it appears he has everyone hooked up.

The Newmar Kountry Klub (NKK) supplies a tram to take participants of the rally from the camping area to the event space at the supershow.

One of the Newmars has a handicapped lift  that was opening as we walked by...

... another view of the handicapped lift. We've been inside a show rig that is handicapped equipped -- in general, space inside an RV would not accommodate a wheelchair, but these rigs are designed with that in mind.

A Newmar Super C

NewPro is here doing some training for Newmar owners ... this is a group that does training for new RV technicians around the country.

Their 5th wheel allows them to bring technical training to the technicians at service centers.

We had sent in paperwork to get service done while here. Their priority is to take care of emergency issues on coaches first, then warranty customers serviced in order of date of purchase, starting with most recent. Then they will try to do out-of-warranty customers. They provide service at a lower labor rate than would normally be charged and if the work can be done in less than an hour, there is no charge. I stopped by their table in the NKK tent to get on the list in case they get to the out-of-warranty customers (which is what we are). Hopefully, they may be able to at least inspect our slides and give us input on what we need to get done when we go to the factory (aka "mothership") to get service in August.

We also made it to the Supershow later in the morning, but pictures from that in another post!

Tampa RV Supershow

Gracie (our motorhome) is a Newmar Dutch Star. As a result, we belong to the Newmar Kountry Klub, a group for Newmar owners that puts on rallies and events across the country.

So, on Tuesday morning, we packed up and moved from our site at Orlando Thousand Trails...

...and drove a little over an hour to...

Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, Florida, location of the second largest RV show in the US, the Tampa RV Supershow!

The Newmar Kountry Klub (NKK) had sent us information letting us know which fairground entrance we should use. On our way, we saw a lot of RVs going to different places on the fairgrounds, but only Newmars coming in via our gate.

Staging area where we unhooked towed vehicles and waited to be escorted to our site.

Escort to our site -- Carl is in Gracie ahead of me, following the golf cart, and I'm behind driving the Jeep.

After our experience in March 2022 volunteering with the parking team for the FMCA Tucson Convention(https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2022/03/first-day-of-parking-duties-at-fmca.html, https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2022/03/second-day-of-parking-team-duties-fmca.html, https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2022/03/third-day-of-parking-duties.html, https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-big-day-for-parking.html, and https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2022/03/so-monday-was-big-day-what-about-tuesday.html), we have a great appreciation for the folks helping with parking!

Parked in our site (you can see the red Jeep in front of Gracie). We are used to fairgrounds that are just big open fields, but there are beautiful trees (live oaks, I think) with Spanish Moss hanging down.

Another area of parking for the RVs.

NKK tent near where RVs are parked.

Opening session for the rally - introduction of leaders of NKK in attendance and overview of events.

Participants at opening session.

There are 200+ coaches here with the Newmar group.

More later from the Tampa RV Supershow!

Final chapter (hopefully) in tooth saga

On Monday, Carl returned to the dentist in Oxford, FL, near The Villages, to get the permanent crown installed on his tooth that had a root canal right after Christmas (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2022/12/doctors-appointments.html).

Completed picture after root canal and crown installation.

We were glad that he could get this completed and is no longer having tooth pain. We are glad that he found a dentist in whom he had confidence and with whom he felt comfortable. It was difficult going through it, but hopefully all resolved now!

Viewing a launch, for real, but from a distance!

The launch that we tried to see on Saturday (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2023/01/viewing-launch-well-not-really.html) was scheduled to go on Sunday and did not get delayed again. We had decided not to drive across to the coast again, but rather to watch from down by the lake in the campground.

It was a beautiful evening -- this is looking east across the lake - so this is the reverse side of the sky from the sunset!

We saw a bright spot appear to be rising from the trees...

... it kept on going higher in the sky.

We started to be able to see the glow of the trail lit by the sun.

I am impressed how steady Carl was able to hold his phone while taking this video... in case it doesn't work embedded, I've put it on Youtube here.

As it reached another point in the atmosphere, the trail showed again...

... until the separation of the two boosters...

... can you see the core continuing on (looks like it is heading downwards, but actually is heading east across the Atlantic) while the two boosters are heading upwards before they start returning. My friend, Mike, called this a "jellyfish" formed.

Or maybe 3 jellyfish!

Really hard to see two bright objects in the middle of the picture below the white cloud and above the pink one...

... zoomed in on them - these are the two boosters coming down. We couldn't see the final burn as they reached the ground but both landed successfully and will be able to be reused.

The Falcon "Heavy" is, as named, heavier than the Falcon 9, and thus has two boosters. Both had been used previously and will be used again. An article about the launch can be found here: https://www.yahoo.com/now/spacex-falcon-heavy-puts-spectacular-005403438.html

Viewing a launch, well, not really!

On Friday, the SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy was scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center, but the weather was not good, so early on Friday, the launch delayed to Saturday. We had thought about going to visit the Space Center and view the launch on Friday, so our plans changed to Saturday. We looked at information online about visiting Kennedy Space Center - we have both visited before, many years ago. We didn't remember it being expensive, but now the senior rate for entering the Space Center is $70 for a one day pass (I think you can get a two-day pass for $90). 

I had contacted a Facebook friend and former IBM co-worker, Mike, who has posted wonderful photos he has taken of launches in the past, to find out if he has any favored spots for viewing the launches. He gave me really good guidance the his favorite spot. We decided that we'd try to just go to view the launch from his preferred location outside the Space Center. It was to be about an hour and half drive.

We checked the schedule in the morning on Saturday, and before we left Gracie at about 2pm -- the launch was scheduled at 5:55pm and it appeared to still be on the schedule. We made the drive and found the location that Mike had recommended and got parked.

With our binoculars, we could see that the rocket was on the launchpad in the distance...

... it was a little over 14 miles away - this is with the picture zoomed in - you can see the support structure and rocket between the red and green buoy markers.

Another view

We were also very near Port Canaveral, and saw a number of cruise ships preparing to leave.

A view across the water to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on Kennedy Space Center.

Another view of the rocket (this picture with Carl's phone).

Carl noted that we weren't seeing any signs that they were loading fuel (there would have been white clouds produced from the liquid oxygen and liquid methane), so we did additional searches on our phones, and now the launch schedule showed that it was scheduled for Sunday... bummer!!! It turns out that if we had searched for "launch schedule delay" rather than "launch schedule", we may have seen the delay before we left Gracie, as it appeared in some media outlets by 1:55pm -- double bummer!

Oh well, we had a nice drive over to the "space coast" of Florida, and we got to see some of the Kennedy Space Center, albeit from a distance. We got to see Mike's viewing location and evaluate if we thought Gracie could come there (we think it would not work for a big class A motorhome). We got to see some cruise ships heading out to sea. It was a pretty day, although chilly. And we got to spend it together, which is always special!