Rv

Riverside motor home maker MVP RV Inc. is planning to build and export 30,000 vehicles to China under an agreement with a Chinese entrepreneur that is expected to add 1,200 new jobs to the Inland Empire, an area hit hard by the recession. Under the deal with the businessman, Winston Chung, who last year became the RV firm's majority owner, the company will build $5 billion worth of the diesel-powered vehicles. The agreement was highlighted at the White House as part of Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit this week.

Carefree RV Resorts has a Veterans Day special that lasts far longer than the holiday. Active, retired and veteran military servicemen and women will receive 50% off the cost of renting recreational vehicle sites year-round at the company's chain of parks. The deal : The offer from Carefree RV Resorts is for military members, past and present, and their immediate family members (children, parents and siblings) who are traveling with them. The discount applies to 35 parks in California , Florida, North Carolina, New Jersey and Texas.

RV manufacturers can make beds fold out of walls, TVs swivel and couches collapse into kitchens all with the push of a button. One thing they can't do with a button: make people buy. Salespeople were trying their best Sunday at the 58th annual California RV Show, which runs through next Sunday at the Fairplex in Pomona. Salesmen rubbed their hands in the cold as families strolled, sipped beer and stopped to watch the football games on the flat-screen televisions that seem built into every recreational vehicle.

When a Fresno RV dealer wanted a new sales permit recently, the state initially said no, citing "past business practices. " The man's firm had bounced $15,000 in fee checks to California's government, failed to follow a host of business regulations and misled consumers in an advertising campaign, officials said. The dealer also had lost a couple of lawsuits accusing his firm of selling defective motor homes, and he has been convicted of bribing a lender. Although field staffers at the Department of Motor Vehicles refused to approve a temporary permit, the businessman was allowed by their superiors to resume selling motor homes after Assemblyman Mike Villines (R-Clovis)

Robert and Barbara Nicolson, retired supermarket employees from Sedona, Ariz., recently traded in their 2006 motor home for a new Tiffin Allegro Bus that lists for $355,000. Amenities include a dishwasher, washer and dryer, full-size refrigerator and 11/2 bathrooms. "How nice is it? Well, I'm having a hard time convincing my wife that it's time to go home," quipped Robert Nicolson from a Petaluma, Calif., campground. The couple — he's 72, she's 68 — "were very happy with the deal" of unspecified proportions that they negotiated, in which they unloaded their old 40-footer, Robert said.

Responding to community outrage over the dumping of raw sewage onto the streets of Venice, Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich said Wednesday that he intended to file criminal charges against a motor home dweller who was arrested but released after serving two days in jail. "When it hits the fan, it hits my office too," Trutanich said of the dumping, which a longtime Neighborhood Watch captain witnessed last week and reported to police. City crews finally cleaned up the mess Tuesday, but only after residents had complained for several days to various city and county agencies.

An Orange County man was convicted Thursday of torturing and murdering his adult daughter and keeping her body in a freezer in his recreational vehicle. Clarence Eugene Butterfield, 57, formerly of San Clemente, was found guilty by a Santa Ana jury of one felony count of special-circumstances murder during the commission of torture and mayhem, and one felony count of assault with a firearm, according to the Orange County district attorney's office. On Oct. 8, he faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Rent an RV, hit the road and save gobs of money on your next vacation. Really? Maybe not, even some advocates concede. "You could probably pack four people in a car, eat at restaurants, stay in hotels, and I imagine it's about the same cost," said Chuck Woodbury, editor of RVTravel.com, a consumer website offering tips and tricks for RVers. But consider the intangibles. "The real advantage of the RV is that the family's together, and you can cook and eat healthy meals," Woodbury said.

Yvonne B. Burke, who left office as a Los Angeles County supervisor in 2008, has returned to the Hall of Administration as a registered lobbyist. Burke recently filed paperwork showing that she accepted $10,000 in January to represent East Shore RV Park, a company that leases county land to operate a campground on the banks of Puddingstone Lake near San Dimas. The company is seeking to expand the camping area into an area with a sensitive wildlife habitat, as well as extend the timeframe of its lease.

Like a lot of Angelenos, I like to ditch the city every once in a while and experience nature. Briefly. My last escape involved 1,000 or so Cub Scouts, a battered, borrowed tent and two days of port-a-potties and pump-station water. This time around I was looking to rough it, but rough it "lite," during a weekend getaway with my best friend and our two young children. Enter the 2010 Airstream International, whose manufacturer, like many RV companies this year, is experiencing a post-recession sales resurgence.