Well, we've had an eventful day. First things first we get to the convention center which has a parking garage. Randy went in first in his 3500. No problems. She tells me my F250 is too big and I gotta park outside.
Now inside, they lead you through some vendors (food, mops, campground salesmen, etc). One of them showing an inflatable hot tub. This very nearly ended the evening early. Patrick was trying to climb in, Randy was looking for diving board, I was inquiring about removing the governor from the engine. We were all envisioning this thing on one of the campsites at GSP...the possibilities were endless! Luckily for the vendor the DWs and DDs came to his rescue.
On to the floor. We decided we could do more damage by splitting up. Spent few hours roaming around. Looked in some TTs, a few Class As and Cs, and some 5ers. Went in really looking at some Toy Haulers, but most of them were the larger 5ers that exceeded my comfortable towing limit. There was a TT with a front Toy Hauler garage that loaded from the side. I have seen them on the internet, but this was the first in person. Essentially it had the garage, had the bigger bathroom with glass in shower the girls wanted and had the main bedroom in the rear with plenty of clothes storage. It was lacking however in frontal storage for the setup stuff like chairs, rugs, lights, plumbing hookups, wheel chocks, leveling blocks, etc. That would all have to go in back of truck. It was also minus the pantry, this is how they achieved the larger bathroom.
Keystone Outback 324CG. Outside of it, I really didn't see any other toy haulers that were options.
Now, what we did run across was probably the best bunkhouse design that I think I've ever seen. Now, some of you have the mid-bunks which are really cool, but they are also really heavy and exceed what I would prefer to tow. Also, the rooms in the mid part are kinda small in most of them, but typically give a HUGE area at the rear for kitchen and living combined. What I ran across was a
Mesa Ridge 374BHS.
https://www.highlandridgerv.com/products/2017/mesa-ridge/fifth-wheels/MF374BHS
Now, I can't haul my golfcart in it, but it really impressed me with its options. I would keep the outdoor kitchen that I love so much, but also upgrade it from what I had to larger cabinets, sink, stove, and an outdoor TV. The bunkhouse was huge and had a dinette. But not the usual undersized dinette that you see in some of the bunkhouses, this was a FULL SIZED dinette in the bunkhouse area, and the bunk above the dinette was large. (Option for jacknife couch in place of dinette)It also had ton of clothes storage, pantry was biggest I've ever seen (wide and deep. This area was also the potential area for optional washer and dryer on the bottom so this tells you how big it was) and had option of larger 18cf refrigerator. Front bedroom and bathroom were pretty big with plenty of storage. Also comes standard with the PVC roof. Makes me rethink the toy hauler a little. The toy hauler I'm looking at is a
Dutchman Endurance 3556.
After much walking and exploring, popcorn eating, and pretend camping we decided to head out for some food. Randy took us to R&R Seafood on the causeway close to I10 and across bay from Battleship Alabama. Folks, it was great. If you're in the area I highly recommend it. ALL the girls got bibs, even the DWs. This is how good the servers are, they know who the real messy eaters are.