Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 6, 1993 TAG: 9309100408
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Not, mind you, your run-of-mill, sleeps-two-camper-on-top RV. But comfortable, well-appointed, even luxurious homes on wheels.
Yachts for landlubbers.
Despite the reservations of some Blacksburg residents, there is every indication that the Family Motor Coach Association convention in a success, and the town of Blacksburg deserves credit for doing a super job in organizing it.
Feared traffic gridlock, as some 4,500 motor coaches rolled into town, hasn't happened so far. A spin around the Tech campus, where a motor coach is parked in every nook and cranny, is like visiting a neat, self-contained town where the 11,000 residents are mostly friendly and pleasant retirees.
Mostly affluent retirees, incidentally - who've decided to buy motor coaches (the price tags range from $250,000 to $800,000) rather than condos or houses at the beach.
Because the convention is so self-contained, it may not produce the $10 million windfall for the local economy that was estimated when Blacksburg successfully wooed the motor-coach association. Even so, the town and Tech are buzzing with people and activity. And where there are people and activity, cash registers usually hum in restaurants, shops - and, yes, even hotels and motels. (Many vendors and visitors here for the convention didn't bring their own bed.)
Members of the motor-coach association live to travel. They've got the time and the money, and if they they like ``the roads to the Blue Ridge'' (the convention theme) they're discovering this week, they may return to this area, and to see other parts of Virginia, again and again.
Southwest Virginia rightfully should welcome these folks.
As one Blacksburg official put it, it's like getting a visit from several thousand nice grandparents all at once. Grandparents who just happen to have gypsy in their souls.
by CNB