Adria, Winnebago, Polar...

Garrison Kiellor, the host of the famous radio show The Prarie Home Companion, has written an eulogy for the winnebago/RV/caravan/husvagn. With gasoline prices rising fast all over the world few people want to pull a giant box around on the road. An excerpt:

"Nonetheless it's sad to see the motor home fade into the sunset. I used to despise them when I was a canoeist, of course. You paddle up to a campground at the end of a hard day and see a few RVs parked there, the air conditioners rumbling, the flickering blue light of the TVs in the windows, and as you set up your tent as far from them as possible, you feel a moral grandeur purer than you will ever feel again. A holy Christian pilgrim among the piggish heathen."

This reminds me of growing up. Our caravan was always the tiniest of them all, except for some childless hippie-like couples that had the little egg-like ones. We had no TV, no AC, no bathroom, no shower, and with all beds down the remaining floor space was less than 0.7 square meter (=7 square feet). We spent a lot of time outside.

Kiellor goes on talking about how America is not made for non-gasoline life, and wonders what will happen:

"So we will need to amuse ourselves in new ways. I predict that banjo sales will pick up. The screened porch will come back in style. And the art of storytelling will burgeon along with it. Stories are common currency in life but only to people on foot."