RVs: All The Comfort On The Road

It's hard to believe but there are more than eight million RVs traveling the nation's highways and byways these days. And that number has been soaring.

The Early Show Correspondent Melinda Murphy caught up with the Flory family sitting by the campfire. "Hello Muddah. Hello Faddah. Here I am at Camp Granada," as the song goes. They were roasting marshmallows and hearing little Justin tell his ghost story.

"And one day their big brother went out the door…" Justin says. Aw, the joys of camping. But this is definitely not Camp Granada. Nope, this is RV-ing.

As she shows Murphy her kitchen, Justin's mom says, "This is kind of a step up."

No kidding, the Flory family has all the creature comforts of home - even a TV.

"Pokeman!" screams little Jenny; Dad asks, "You want to watch Picachu too?" And the little girl answers, "Yea."

And when it was time to eat, Murphy says she never ate so well in Girl Scouts.

RVs sure have come a long way. More than 10,000 RV owners showed up in Louisville, Ky., recently to check out what's new.

Sitting outside their RV, a man with his wife says, "That's the whole idea of it. You see new products. Maybe some of them will make it easier on yourself."

Well, if he wants easy, he should take a look at the spiffy model Murphy visited. It has a convection oven, washing machine, and fancy tiled shower – the walls even move to make it bigger. You name it, this thing's got it.

B.J. Thompson of the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association says, "You even have automatic motion control so you can go down the road and the satellite dish will automatically come in on the signal." This RV comes with a Plasma TV - all that for a mere 730,000 bucks.

Or maybe he should consider something like a pop-up; the Coleman Monterrey will automatically fold completely out in about five minutes.

You can get just about anything you want in an RV these days at a wide range of prices. And the stuff to go with them is pretty amazing, too, like a garage and boathouse.

Holding his little pooch, one man says, "The whole reason I bought the first one was because of her," pointing at his dog. And while it's true, many times RV owners no longer camp in the wild, the tradeoff is well worth it for some.

With her friends, one woman explains, "Somebody is sitting outside, you stop and introduce yourself and just stop and say, 'hi' and they say, 'why don't you join us.'"

But relaxing together is only half the fun. Like the song goes you can be "King of the Road."

There's no special license required to drive one of these and as Murphy found out herself, they're not that tough to handle.

But then again, handling the road is the easy part. The Florys keep the kids entertained by playing the license plate game and the "I Spy" game, says mom. "I spy with my little eye," says Justin. His dad, Peter adds, "Sometimes on long trips we watch movies."

Peter Flory is used to long road trips. Heck, his folks have been camping for almost 50 years. And he is one of 10 children. His father says he used to take them all camping.

"There are a lot of things you can't see from 30,000 feet or the freeway that you can see when you get in something and do it," he says.

Like squirrels or fishing ponds.

And believe it or not, the Kampground of America in Shepherdsville, Ky., even has a pool and a playground, to boot. The slide was something little Jenny particularly enjoyed.

And after a full day, Jenny can brush her teeth and Justin can climb into his bunk. And the next morning, there is no waiting for the campfire to be lit.

And to strike down, RVs are definitely simpler than old-fashioned camping. No wonder these little ones don't want to leave.

But don't worry; they'll be onto their next adventure in no time.