The Ohio RV Supershow opens Wednesday at the International Exposition Center, featuring more than 800 motor homes, travel trailers and accessories.

The show also highlights the history of recreational vehicles in America and a couple who live the RV lifestyle year-round.

Gloria and Ed Helmuth have traveled all 50 states and six continents in a recreational vehicle. They will seminars on full-time RVing.

Making his debut at the show is historian Al Hesselbart with seminars on 100 years of RVs in America. Hesselbart will arrive with a 1954 Shasta travel trailer.

Show hours are Wednesday-Friday, 1-10 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Admission is $10.50 with kids 12 and under free. Visit www.ohiorvshow.com.

Back to school:

The Walleye and Steelhead College at the Cleveland Mid-America Boat Show at the I-X Center was such a success last year that the Lake Erie Marine Trades Association will host it again. New will be the Bass College during this year’s show Jan. 13-22.

The Bass College is Jan. 14, followed by the Walleye and Steelhead College on Jan. 22. The $99 fee includes tackle packs and gear worth more than $200, said show official Shawn Fergus. Discount tickets for the Cleveland Boat Show are available at all area Marc’s stores.

For information, visit www.ClevelandBoatShow.com or call 440-899-5009.

Featured at the Bass College are tournament bass veterans Joe Balog, who grew up in Brecksville and now lives in the Detroit area, Bryan Coates of Amherst and Akron’s John Shirhal.

On December 7 the San Diego County Board of Supervisors directed the county’s Chief Administrative Officer to research the feasibility of amending the county’s Code of Regulatory Ordinances, which currently prohibits the parking or standing in residential areas of commercial vehicles having a manufacturer’s gross weight rating of at least 10,000 pounds, to apply that prohibition to any vehicle weighing 10,000 pounds or more. The CAO was also directed to research the process in which state regulations addressing the parking or standing of recreational vehicles on residential streets was implemented.

“We’re just trying to address a problem that’s come up, and nothing’s been decided,” said John Snyder, the director of the county’s Department of Public Works.

The California Highway Patrol and county staff frequently receive citizen complaints about recreational vehicle owners who continually store their vehicles on residential streets.

Although vehicles can be cited for parking on the street for more than 72 hours, some vehicles are continuously being relocated to avoid citations for exceeding the 72-hour maximum. Many of the RVs are parked long-term in front of residences, some of which are not necessarily the RV owner’s residence, and some RV owners have even noted that paying the $50 citation is less expensive than paying a monthly storage fee.

Many of the recreational vehicles have the same wheelbase size as commercial vehicles, cause sight obstructions and force vehicles to cross over center lines. Section 72.126 of the San Diego County Code of Regulatory Ordinances prohibits the parking or standing on residential streets of commercial vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or more while making exceptions for loading or unloading property, being parked in conjunction with performing a service to or on a property or being engaged in work involving utility facilities. An exception is also allowed if the residential area contains property used for commercial or industrial purposes and the vehicle is parked on that property or on the highway contiguous to that property, and case-by-case exceptions can also be approved by the Board of Supervisors.

The matter was brought to the county’s Traffic Advisory Committee, which discussed the issue on October 7. Although the TAC was supportive of residents adversely affected, it noted that the California Vehicle Code does not grant the Board of Supervisors authority to restrict the parking of certain vehicles. It was also noted, however, that several cities have been successful in establishing regulations addressing parked recreational vehicles, although the Vehicle Code grants cities authority over certain matters which are not granted to unincorporated areas. The TAC also noted that the California Highway Patrol is the appropriate agency to take a statewide role in presenting the matter to the state legislature. Department of Public Works staff indicated a desire to research the process by which the state regulations were implemented.

The TAC’s October 7 meeting also recommended that two Fallbrook road segments be re-certified for radar enforcement, and the supervisors ratified those recommendations December 7. The 45 mph speed limit on Winter Haven Road was re-certified for the 0.7-mile portion between Mission Road and Brooke Road, and the 45 mph speed limit on Reche Road was re-certified for the 1.2-mile segment between Stage Coach Lane and Live Oak Park Road.

“The RV experience is so much a part of the NASCAR experience,” said California Speedway President Gillian Zucker. “Our goal was to add parking amenities that compare with facilities like Phoenix International Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway. Since our inaugural event in 1997, we have sold out the infield RV area on NASCAR weekends and every year, during season ticket renewals, hundreds place their name on a waiting list for camping availability that season. Beginning with the 2006 season, our guests who have asked for more camping will have the opportunity to spend the NASCAR weekends at California Speedway at a very affordable price point.”

The new camping section is located on Napa Street just west of Gate 5. More than 500 additional overnight RV camping spaces will be added to the approximately 1,800 infield spaces currently offered at California Speedway during the NASCAR weekends. The new camping section is on a packed and treated gravel lot that will be dust free on race weekend. Portable restrooms and showers will be present on the secure and lit camping area.
Most camping spaces are 20 ft. by 45 ft. A complimentary shuttle service will be available for overnight guests to the entrance gates.

Guests interested in being part of the new camping section at California Speedway must purchase a package that includes two “Fan Pack” renewable season tickets (includes two Saturday and Sunday upper grandstand reserved
seats) and one reserved RV camping site. The total weekend package is $410 with additional “Fan Pack” season tickets available upon request. Load in to all California Speedway camping sections will begin the Thursday of NASCAR race weekend. A complete list of rules and information is available in the 2006 Guest Guide.

For more information about camping at California Speedway, or to reserve your space, call 909-429-5000. To purchase tickets to the Auto Club 500, call 800-944-RACE or visit www.californiaspeedway.com.

Atlanta: Does the world’s largest aquarium hold up to the hype?
Photo Gallery: Titanic Aquarium

London: A park of peace and its walls of everyday heroes.

Daily Airfares Update: Enjoy the cheapest flights from Washington’s “big three” airports.

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That’s what we want to do, yes, I say.

“My God!” She can hardly speak. “But who is going to drive you?”

“Wolfgang.”

“Wolfgang? That is sooo wonderful,” she replies, her expression betraying her true feelings.

Yes, this trip is my husband Wolfgang’s idea. He is the German ambassador to the United States, and we’ve been living in Washington for four years. It’s not that we haven’t traveled around the country: Our official trips have taken us from airplanes and limousines to hotel rooms, dinner tables and ever more conference centers. But the real America, we felt, was happening somewhere else. Clearly without us.

That’s how the RV idea was born. We decided to drive up to Haliburton Forest in Ontario with our 11-month-old daughter and the family dog, exploring Upstate New York and New England along the way — a 2,800-mile round trip from Washington.

Wolfgang has done this before, renting an RV 30 years ago and touring the East Coast. He just loved the freedom, he said, even though the car roof was shaved off in an unfortunate encounter with an underpass. It’s not something I’m particularly keen on experiencing myself.

This time Wolfgang is not leaving anything to chance. He has established a promising correspondence with AAA, which has sent us road planners and lists of campgrounds almost every day for the past two months.

Having successfully avoided camping all my life, I watch the preparations with some skepticism. “Stop worrying, campgrounds in America are not as cramped as they are in Europe,” my husband says. “You don’t even see your neighbor!”

To the RV industry, there aren’t enough buyers like the Greens, who are black. Minorities represent a huge untapped market, industry officials said.

Minorities “have never really been marketed to,” said Tom Stinnett, owner of Tom Stinnett RV Freedom Center in Clarksville, Ind., and co-chairman of the RV industry’s marketing arm, the Go RVing Coalition. “We think there’s a vast opportunity for the RV industry to invite them in.”

Next year, the coalition plans to launch a three-year, $66 million campaign highlighting blacks and other minorities. The marketing push will include television spots during the Winter Olympics in February and ads in magazines, such as Field & Stream and Gourmet Magazine.

Don Walter, co-chairman of the coalition with Stinnett, said while the new commercials feature minority actors and models, the message the group is sending has not changed — RVs let families take good vacations and spend time together.

Lucious Green said it’s about time the industry put more focus on minorities. “If they don’t do it, they’re going to lose out on a lot of sales.”

Justin Steijn of Blue Lake suffered a broken pelvis when he was partially ejected out of the windshield of the motorhome.

Martinus Steijn, 61, of Blue Lake suffered minor injuries in the accident.

According to the California Highway Patrol, Martinus Steijn was driving the 1973 Conti Motorhome on State Route 299 and lost control of it. The motorhome’s right side struck a rocky hillside.

Justin Steijn was not wearing a seat belt, according to the CHP

Named Draco “after the star constellation and the mythical last dragon”, the Oshkosh-based luxury bohemoth is for sale due to “a down turn in Ross’ health and her inability to travel.”

Since Draco was completed in July 2002 it has travelled 80,000 kilometres of varying terrain, and became one of the many celebrity visitors at innovation and experimental technology get-togethers such as “the EAA ( Experimental Air Association) show in Wisconsin, the Oshkosh Truck Corporation facility, mud drag competitions, the DARPA Grand Challenge, wild cat and bird sanctuaries and desert, mountain and snow country.”

“An example is the tiling in the bathroom and shower. We used a special technique for the installation that took ten days to complete.

The leather upholsery is intricate - obviously a work of love, every aspect of the vehicle shows immense craftsmanship, and no scrimping on the outcomes. For example the soundproof underlay beneath the flooring cost more than the finished flooring.

“Further the chassis is a diesel pusher Caterpillar 3406A turbo with an engine producing 335 horses and 1000lbft torque at 1400rpm. The transmission is a four speed Allison 740HT automatic and there’s full time four wheel drive with air locking differentials and one-to-one transfer case. ”

Draco has “air brakes and power steering, automatic air shutters and fan on the radiator and PTO off the transmission for the hydraulic outriggers and the 20,000lb winch with 300 feet of cable. ”