I found this interesting

[Used 2B PopUPTimes]

It's a Chinook Concourse MH it's a very sweet unit and for the DW and I it would be just fine and after all I could always tow the PU with it for the grandchildren . As for second class citizens when I purchased the PU I could of purchased a TT or even a MH but our PU fit the bill and I wouldn't change it for anything, we love our PU but most of all we love camping.

Chinook  had several extreme MHs in Louisville, including one built on a Hummer chasis. Very cool. :cool:

[mikewilley]

Sounds like the KOA guy is just a jerk.  Unfortunately, in my experience there are a surprising number of marketing guys with this kind of attitude.  (That any survive to become executives is disappointing).

As far as the RV market catering to us I understand the attitude, we are after all the folks buying the low end, low margin products.  It's often much easier to clear a decent margin on a high ticket item.

On the other hand, they might be able to take a lesson from my industry (embedded electronics).  In the late 70s and early 80s Motorola gave away embedded microprocessor development boards to every university electrical engineering department in the country.  As a result the EEs getting degrees at that time knew how to use Motorola micros and during the 80s and 90s Motorola dominated the new design wins in the market place.

Motorola discontinued this practice in the mid 80s to save money, this happened to coincide with the emergence of a new company, Microchip, who made a microcontroller that any EE student could buy a complete development system for with three days wages working at Burger King.  As a result, Microchip now has more design wins every year than any other manufacturer.  Their product is by no means the best on any level, but lots of young EEs know how to use it.

I guess it is just hard to have vision when the payoff is years down the road, and the stockholders want results today.

[B-flat]

Someone should start a Pop Ups-tenting only campground and then when the big rigs try to come in:  "Sorry, but we can't let you in, this is for pop ups and tents only."  I think our voices will be heard loud and clear through continued education of the dealers about our market segment.   We are going to camp and we spend a lot of money camping and on gear and gadgets.  I have a Pop Up Camper, not  Kamper. I am not going to Kamp at KOA.

[CampNfan]

Yea....Dave the heck with all them there KOA and TT....folks who needs em?  :J
I am excited about the changes to come!
PUT LIVES!!!! :U  :C

[Gone-Camping]

Chinook had several extreme MHs in Louisville, including one built on a Hummer chasis.

Dave,
Bob Zagami emailed me and mentioned this unit also. He said "Chinook showed a high-end RV with a Hummer H2 front end ... it got a lot of attention but they are not sure if they will actually being making the unit. They always have a display that gets your attention when you walk by."
 
 He also told me he met up with you while there checking out the QuickSilver unit. He says he's going to mention them in his write up for RV-News Magazine....
 
As for the original thread here, he said "Obviously, I wasn't invited to the Affinity Group party ... and wouldn't go if they did invite me."

[OnTheGround]

I just went to KOA's website to look around and saw no pop up pcitures. I did see tts and mhs and their cabins on almost every page.

I have stayed at several nice KOAs but  they weren't very accomodating to us when we checked in for a tent site. KOA has never been my idea of camping.
Dan

[byrdr1]

Dont trash all the KOA's. KOA is just a franchised CG.
The KOA at Shallotte, NC is run by a very nice family and we were well pleased how we were treated both times this past summer we camped there. We had the popup both times and were treated just like anyone else who paid to camp. I agree that some of the time folks who have larger, bigger, nicer campers sometimes treat you down or look down on you, but most of the time they always stopped and talked to me. Several talked about how much better my PU was than the one they started camping in years ago.. Most of them talked about the COX brand with only the canvas and bows in them. I told them what ours had and they were like WOW...PU camping has come a long away from where they started.
Don't trash all TT owners either.. I have moved to the darkside and I am happy about it. I will always remember the good times we shared camping in the PU, And I remember the good times in Townsend, TN at the rally.
But.... I will close my mouth now!!!!!
randy

[Used 2B PopUPTimes]

Dont trash all the KOA's. KOA is just a franchised CG.

Dno't trash all TT owners either.. I have moved to the darkside and I am happy about it. I will always remember the good times we shared camping in the PU, And I remember the good times in Townsend, TN at the rally.
But.... I will close my mouth now!!!!!
randy

I agree, the KOA campground owners are like most other CG owners and just want to run a successful businesses. I'm not mad at KOA but I do feel let down by their marketing manager's obvious decision to snub me while the others in the group were very friendly, and then expect us to publicize his company at my expense.


As far as TT owners go... well ....  

[mikewilley]

I have to agree with Randy.  There are some very nice KOAs out there and some that aren't so nice.  When we take a long trip and just need somewhere to popup and sleep before getting back on the road KOAs are great!  They are always easy to find, usually within a few minutes of the main highway, always have easy sites to back into or pull through (there is another thread going on that subject elsewhere) and I have found the staff at every KOA I have camped at (or should I say Kamped?) to be helpful and courteous and I can't say the same for every private campground we have gone to.

On the down side, they are often too close to the main drag and subject to highway noise and are sometimes just big RV parking lots rather than what I consider true camping.

I kinda look on KOA like the Best Western chain of hotels.  All of them conform to some minimum standards but some just barely at those standards and some far exceed the standard.

BTW the Chattanooga North (Tennessee) and Fredricksburg (Virginia) KOAs are worthy as destinations and not just a place to camp for the night.