End of Western Civilization

I'm struggling with my own culture war. I have seen the end of western civilization as we know it. It's not a pretty sight.

Jo and I drove north to Tampa, Florida, for the annual RV show. Not that we are interested in buying a new motor home. But - just like with sailboats - it never hurts to look. You always find interesting ideas.

After spending some times in the vendor booths - hundreds of them - which try to sell you everything you don't need, we stumbled into a pet store. Yes, there are specialists who do nothing else in this world but pander to the nuttiness of the American dog lover. They were selling pooch carts, with screened-in beds on wheels so you can take your dog for a "walk". Isn't this why dogs have four legs? Anyway, there are dozens of dog carriages to meet every size of pooch. And They don't leave it at that. There is a variety of dog clothing, with rhinestones and bling that a blind man could see.

Having seen this, my spirits were already on the downslope. Now we entered the aisles of motor homes. This is a big show - very big. There are maybe thousands of motor homes, trailers, fifth wheels, pop-up. These range from tiny i-trailers, as they are called. These are 12-feet long and have a pop-up tent over the kitchen which is at the end of the trailer.

We visited with a whole host of the iconic Airstream trailers. These are aluminum tubes and have a cool efficiency about them. They are highly priced but tend of be superior in terms of utilization of space. We have a couple of friends who are minimalists. They've been scouting Airstreams for that moment that is not too distant when they can slip the bonds of working life.

We came up upon a two-story 52-foot-long motor home that was hanging off the end of a mammoth Freightliner truck. It's second floor pops up when you reach your destination so the motor home is 19 feet high.
A bit excessive, I thought. But pretty incredible.

We made our way down the line of mobile homes and came to one with a $850,000 price tag on it. It had a porch that could actually be wound down from what was the side of the motor home. The porch was about eight feet deep by 12 feet long. A 32-inch LCD television popped out of a slot in the wall so you could have your TV out on the porch. I wondered why it isn't good enough to step outside your motor home and sit on a chair on the ground. Does life indeed get better when your porch is four feet off the ground.

We visited the top of the line Prevost line of motor homes. These are in the $2-million-plus range. You are asked to remove your shoes as you enter. What you discover, however, is the granite floor (can you imagine the weight of this 45-foot-long tile floor?) is heated so your feet are kept cozy on a cool day. Outside the motor home a 52-inch TV pivoted from the wall of the coach so you can watch your shows while sitting outside.

Perhaps all this hoopla demonstrates the eternal optimism of the American consumer - or manufacturer of consumer goods. But, to me, it all seemed just another example of American excess.