Day 34 – Pismo Beach, CA. 92 km
Pismo Beach is where monster RVs go when they’re not prowling the highways menacing cyclists. The presence of so many RVs in this town is the result of a natural evolution of the place. In 1910 the railroad created a tent city for vacationers from San Francisco. The RR offered customers a tent and site for purchase. Kind of a forerunner of today’s mobile home park.
A curious thing about RVs is the variety of names they proudly display, presumably designed to appeal to every conceivable fancy of prospective RV owners. There are outdoorsy/sporty names like Big Horn, Montana and Big Sky. There are insipid happy holiday names like Leisure Time, Sunny Brook and Bounder. And then there are the strangely sinister ones, like Intruder, Predator and Vengeance. What, I wonder, might you find that’s different in an Intruder versus a Sunny Brook? Bolt cutters? And what type of buyer chooses a Predator over a Bounder?
Unrelated note: The most popular car on California Highway #1 through Big Sur and south along the coast? Ford Mustang – especially red and convertible.
So enjoying your ‘slice of life’ posts, Kevin. Not sure of the mindset of an RV owner who names their vehicle “Intruder”…
We noticed that too, about the Mustangs. We figured it was the rental car industry’s answer to market demand.
Kevin, I didn’t know you were doing this wacky ride. Good on you! I too have marvelled at the fanciful names of RV’s: you leave out Flying Dutchman. Intruder??
It would be a monumental task to list all of the names of trailers/RVs on the road. I think the marketing strategy for these vehicles was taken from the strategy for personal hygiene products like toothpaste. There is a flavour/specific benefit/aesthetic appeal for every conceiveable need – real or imagined.