by Bob Carson

Editor’s Note: The USTA website is pleased to present freelance writer Bob Carson and his popular “Outside the Box” features. This monthly series is a menu of outlandish proposals presented with a wink — but the purpose behind them is serious. The views contained in this column are that of the author alone, and do not necessarily represent the opinions or views of the United States Trotting Association.

Bob Carson

Once upon a time, I received an odd request. A magazine editor asked me to write a story about recreational vehicle travel. What made this request unusual was that I had never been in an RV. To be truthful, the only thing I had ever published that faintly related to RV travel was a satirical piece mocking people who spent breathtaking amounts of money to live in a box.

The editor called because he read some articles of mine centered on the wonderful world of minor league baseball. RV travel and low-level baseball make an excellent match. The ball games offer RV travelers hundreds of interesting destinations and have large parking lots; large parking lots are very important to people driving a vehicle the size of a sperm whale.

Wandering through the RV world to research the article was fascinating. Under the guise of research, I attended a function in the city of Brooksville, Fla., referred to as an “RV Jamboree.” Basically, a jamboree is when a huge flock of RV owners land in a vacant field or empty parking lot and instantly turn the place into a temporary city.

RV people are terrific — and there are unbelievable hordes of them roaming America’s highways (the magazine that ran the article has over a quarter of a million paid subscribers). Chatting with these friendly folks was enlightening. The conversations invariably turned to where they have been, where they would like to go, gasoline prices, their rigs, turning ratios and a rather alarming amount of time on something called “black water.” The RV folks also introduced a subject — caravanning.

Autumn Ryan graphic

An RV caravan is a group of travelers moving together from one destination to the next. These tours can be professional or merely a group of friends traveling together from place to place. Caravans can be long or short (in time, distance covered and number of participants). The leader of the group is referred to as the wagon master, while the last RV in line is called the tail gunner.

The wagon master and tail gunner can be informal names for the first and last RV in a casual caravan among friends, but these roles have specific responsibilities on a professionally scheduled tour. The wagon master will have mapped out specific routes to take and where fuel and rest stops are along the way. Arrangements for reservations for the group will be scheduled in advance at grounds with appropriate accommodations, as well as planned attractions. Caravans offer safety and socialization.

Caravanning and jamborees are where harness racing might enter the story. The suggestion for this month is that these wagon masters string together a series of racetracks for destinations. If not as specific destinations, racetracks could be stops on caravan trails. Many of our racetrack parking lots are huge, and usually empty.

Overnight boon-doggling (camping without sewer and electrical hook ups) means the parking lots would not require retrofitting. For the RV folks, horses training in the morning would be fun and a great time to socialize. Harness horse folks love to explain our game to interested audiences. Live race dates would offer RV’ers an opportunity to amble to dinner in the clubhouse and an evening at the track.

It is possible some of you believe the suggestion that cross pollination between harness racing and the RV world is ridiculous and not worth investigating. As a racetrack owner, you might say, “Sure the RV’ers might like this because it saves them money and gives them something new to do — but what’s in this for me? Do I need the hassle? Is there any possibility they would make a difference?”

Who knows? Your expenses would be minimal and the demographics in the RV nation are superb. The average RV owner is married, owns a home, and has an annual household income of $56,000. RV owners have a median age of 49, and nearly 10 percent of all Americans 55 and older own RVs. RV owners tend to spend their free time and disposable income traveling — an average of 4,500 miles and 28-35 days annually. With the limited physical footprint of harness racing, the ability for visitors who travel long distances is helpful. If a miniscule fraction of RV travelers found their way to harness training centers and racetracks their presence could put a dent in our large mountain of needed re-invention.

Wal-Mart is pretty good at marketing and making money. They have a national policy that allows RV’ers to overnight in (many of) their parking lots. Evidently they believe this is good PR and it is good for the bottom line. The theory seems to be that the far end of a parking lot is an under-used asset, so encouraging RV’ers to park, and shop, makes good sales sense.

Having several hundred customers, disposable income in hand, walking a few hundred feet to the front door of a racetrack would be a welcome site. These visitors would be in a good mood. They saved money last night by not needing to pay a campground. They would be surrounded by their friends. They have a brand new area of conversation regarding the horses. Without a doubt, when some of these RV folks ramble over to the apron during morning training sessions and talk to horse people training beautiful animals, a few would be inspired to look deeper. Harness racing would be a great host for the RV crowd.

This racetrack/RV connection could work at many levels. The caravan could be as simple as a few Individuals dropping by the racetrack or a massive well organized tour by professionals. I can think of several racetracks that are possibilities as good locations for a jamboree; imagine an instant city net to a rural racetrack. This could be a boost for the track and the local economy.

This winter I spent a few days at a couple of southern training centers. A place like Spring Garden Ranch would make a great stop for the big rig crowd, or a jamboree. The unusual marriage could be an opportunity for publicity via articles and news reports. In fact, I just might contact the RV magazine editor and reprint this column to his massive audience.

If I were an RVer, (who knows — anything can happen), it would seem that waking up and and enjoying my morning coffee while watching horses train would be fun. Certainly more fun than walking into Wal-Mart to watch dishwashing detergent and paper towels stacked in aisle nine.

Wagons ho — let’s go to a jamboree.