Big RV's versus Vintage Shasta

It's springtime here in NC, and there's a huge RV show at the fairgrounds that hubby and I go to every year.  In the past, we've always oooh'ed and ahhhh'ed at the big rigs and the cool features of the new RV's.  We get a lot of good info about campgrounds in the area, things to do and places to try.  We usually have to stand in line to look at some of the fancy Class A's in the $500K range.  We dream about buying a big new RV for our family and think about the features we'd want if we bought one.  It's a lot of fun.

Every year before this one, we've had the popup camper to compare the features to.  We see how much more room is in one of those big RV's and how much easier it would be to set one up compared to the popup.  But, we have a vintage Shasta this year.  Since we are renovating it, we were looking at the new RV's for features that we could incorporate into our camper.  We looked and looked for ideas.  We saw 32' RV's with 3 flat screen TV's, and an outside cooking area with another flatscreen.  We were amazed at the storage capacity of some of these behemoths.  We thought the kids would really like the RV that had a separate "kid's area" with sleeping bunks, a couch and a place to put a TV and gaming system.  We drooled a little bit, then came back to reality.

What would camping in one of those big rigs really look like for our family?  How would camping in one of those big luxurious campers enhance our enjoyment?  Would it improve our experience or detract from it?  What would the differences be between camping in our Shasta, and camping in a 32' RV with 4 TV sets?

My husband and I came to the conclusion that it would be much more convenient to have a place that the kids could hang out sometimes.  It would be nice to have a big bedroom area where we could watch TV and sleep in peace without kids tramping on us to get to the potty.  It would be great to have a camper with a big cooking kitchen and sink right outside, so we could sit around and socialize while preparing dinner.

But - that's just not for us.  We spend our family vacations at campgrounds so that we can spend time together AS A FAMILY.  We do get on each other's nerves when we have to be cooped up in the camper due to rain.  But, we figure it out.  We pull out games or a movie on the 7" video player, make popcorn and sit at the dinette.  We get up in the morning, start a pot of coffee, walk to the bath house wearing our PJ's and holding the kids' hands.  That's what we do.  That's how we are.  And no fancy RV is going to change that.

Yeah, I guess the big rigs will just have to sit this one out.  We'll be the ones with the vintage Shasta, parked next to that $500,000 RV.  Feel free to knock on the door and say "hello" - we'll have a cup of coffee waiting for you.