Seasons Greetings! 

May all of your roads be clear and your 

destinations bright and cheery this holiday season.

Judging by the interest they received in Louisville, some of our most exciting new models are being built on the Ram ProMaster chassis. To find out why, we spoke with Russ Garfin, a 25-year veteran of Winnebago Industries.  Russ is Product Manager for Class B and Class C motorhomes.

TT: What were your goals in developing the Winnebago Trend / Itasca Viva! and the Travato by Winnebago Touring Coach?

RG: These new coaches are built on the Ram ProMaster chassis, which gives us a chance to come in with different chassis attributes than the Sprinter - lower, wider, and gas-engined - at a lower price point to boot.

Although we're introducing it to American RVers, the ProMaster chassis isn't new: the Fiat Ducato chassis, as it's known in Europe, is the best-selling motorhome chassis in the world, with nearly 50,000 coaches built on it each year.

TT: What makes the ProMaster so special?

RG: This chassis was "born to be a motorhome" with features developed specifically for RVers:

• Its front-wheel drive and independent MacPherson strut suspension delivers industry-leading handling and road manners.
• The wider, lower chassis with a rigid, welded ladder frame creates outstanding stability and resistance to crosswinds.
• The lower windshield and door windows augment the cab-forward design to provide phenomenal visibility.
• The flat cab floor and exclusive swivel-in-place seats with adjustable armrests provide seamless integration of the cab and motorhome body, making them a comfortable part of the floorplan.
• A focus on safety, thanks to more than 35 safety and security features, including six airbags and ProMaster's advanced electronic stability control.

TT: Who do you see as potential owners for these motorhomes?

RG: All three models will appeal to a broad audience, and an active audience. They may be downsizers, or they may be first-timers.  We could even see scenarios where they could replace one of the family cars.

That's because once they drive one and realize how "car-like" it handles, they start to see all sorts of possibilities. The bed gets up and out of the way, providing more storage space and livability, and the fuel economy and drivability make it easy to say "Let's go!"

Perhaps best known as "that thing that might make California fall into the ocean," the San Andreas Fault is actually a 810-mile long collision between two tectonic plates.

It's also a 30 million-year-old landmark, and the best place to see it might just be California's Carrizo Plain National Monument.

Just 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, the Carrizo Plain is the largest remaining expanse of native grasslands in California, and a must-see for those who enjoy tranquil environments with a little out-of-the-ordinary thrown in.

In addition to the San Andreas Fault, the Carrizo Plain is home to a wide variety of animals, including pronghorn antelope, numerous raptors and a number of endangered species.  Soda Lake and the Painted Rock, a sandstone formation with pictograph art, are also highlights.

Guided tours, biking, hiking and, of course, camping are popular, and even if your visit is just for a day or two, it could just be one of those "been there, saw that, loved it" experiences that make RVing so special.

Primitive camping is available in the monument itself; you can learn more here.  For RV campgrounds, we recommend starting here and searching for campgrounds within 50 miles of Carrizo Plain National Monument.