iRV2 History

[Route 66]

How many remember the original iRV2 sticker?

[DriVer]

I do!

Now about the new logo (sticker); Colleen came up with the concept and I took her idea through the final design stages we see today. We developed a half-dozen prototypes before we settled on the current design.

The compass points were retained becuase we didn't want to get away from the original concept. It was also originally intended that the logo was going to be presented as a "Flash" piece.

The piece would excecute from a conventional "iRV2.com" appearance and the "dot" expands to the current view with the river, road, mountains and clouds. You can click on the "Welcome To iRV2" in my signature to see the flash piece execute.

Tony Boccanfuso was the final developer and assembler of the device and it was complilled at my former IT company, Stratech Group in Norwalk, CT

The original design was penned by Bill Rowell (Warpath) and he said it was done fairly quickly because he just wanted to get something up on the website that people could associate with. The legacy logo was in commission for about a year before we changed over to the current device.

Our logo preceeded the design we see from RV.NET which resembles the current iRV2 design. Compare the road in their design to ours.

[Route 66]

I didn't know the origins of either sticker.

Anyone have some more history/trivia about iRV2?

In 2003, iRV2 had a booth at the Tampa Supershow to get the word out about the web site, and to sign up new members.

[Doc Mark]

I see Route 66 & DriVer are showing off again.

Don't you just envy those 5 campfire guys! LOL

[Disney Campers - Scott]

Bill Rowell: History of iRV2.com

January 16, 2000 – iRV2.com goes live.

In 1998 when the web craze was just beginning to boil, I began looking at possible ideas for a website. Each idea seemed to turn up literally hundreds of sites already established. I decided to table the idea after realizing I really had no idea on how to construct, upload, host, or operate a website, let alone a good idea. In the spring of 1999 I went on a 4 day camping trip in a friends Fleetwood Class C RV, and I was immediately hooked on camping. Since, I did not have a lot of money I set out to find a a inexpensive camper which would accommodate my young family. After a week I came across a 1996 Jayco popup, which was in pristine condition, for $1900, and my love for camping began. We made 4 camping trips and all 4 times we where caught in the ran during the tear down of camper. I immediately began the search for a used motorhome over a trailer for a few reason. First my wife and kids need a bathroom break every 10 minutes (or so it seemed), a small TV would keep the kids happy on the road, and I wanted to bring along a small boat at the time. I found 1989 Winnebago Chieftain 23' motorhome which required some work, but it had potential. When I brought the RV home I immediately had questions, so I began to search the internet for answers. I came across a ton of RV websites, but very few offered the answers I required and the sites that did, came with flames from more experienced RV'ers.

So a RV site was born, my problem was I had no knowledge of how to build a website or any of the types of computer code used on the internet. By the time the first generation of the website was completed I had logged over 400 hours of my time learning, cursing, and putting a few more gray hairs on my head. The site was up for about 2 weeks before the first members began to join. I have to thank ford-diesel.com which gave me the idea for the forum software, and all the initial members which came over to join us here at iRV2.com.

January 31, 2000 – 158 members in just 15 days!

I was blown away that the site had taken off so well so soon. I seriously imagined that if I had 50 members by the end of the summer that the site would be a success. With the membership building at this rate I knew I had to keep the site evolving into a place where members would want to come back. It was at this point that I decided that the members of iRV2 would dictate what information would be contained at the website. All of the future additions to the site would need to be features, which members could enter information and have it directly added to the site. The forum area was the main feature, but the Links, FAQ, Photo Gallery, Campground Review, Classifieds and Calendar areas all have this capability.

February 2000 – 435 members & the first monthly update was sent out.

The first generation of the Calendar and Link section where added to the site, the first Photo of the Day was added to the front page and the iRV2 logo was updated. (Pretty ugly !)



March & April 2000

The first iRV2 regional rally (Florida Boomers) took place, the logo was improved, iRV2.com stickers became available, and we reached 800 members.



Unfortunately I did not keep very good records of events during this period.

May 30, 2000 – 1000 members reached, iRV2.com National Rally was formed.

Thanks to our ambitious moderators & members a National Rally has become a reality for 2001. When mention of a rally of this magnitude was first brought up I was really surprised, to think a site so young could make this happen seemed impossible, but with the excellent guidance of the rally committee this looks to be a first class event.

June 2000

irv2.com reached 1000 members.

The site had to be moved to a new server which caused a forum shutdown for 2 days.

A major reconstruction of the front page was completed, which improved navigation to other areas of the website.

Improved logo even further.



July 2000

Interactive FAQ was added.

iRV2.com news was added to the front page

RVrs R US gave us our great mission statement :"Efficiently support the thoughtful exchange of knowledge, values and experiences among RV enthusiasts"

August 2000
Regional rally's get in to high gear with Oh/Pa, Northeast(Ct, Vt, NH, ..), Florida, California and Texas all having rally's scheduled.

First generation Campground Reviews section was added to the site.

September 2000
First generation of the member photos brings the site to a grinding halt. I ended up added a second server to hold member photos and changed the program.

A Chat Room was added with a improved format.

October 2000
The Prodigy RV group moves over to irv2.com. We have Rick "RKamperRV" to thank for this.

D-DAY! The move to infopop dedicated forum solution was not a smooth one. I learned you do not go on vacation the week after a major upgrade. After some additional work on the program things returned to normal.

November 2000
DDD-DAY! The website gets shutdown for 2 hours due to my spamming of other RV enthusiasts. I wanted to increase membership so I thought a nice invitation to come over and check out irv2.com would be harmless. BOY WAS I WRONG! I never did that again.

A Classified section added.

December 2000
RV news section added to front page

January 17, 2001
iRV2 reaches 2000 members!

February 2001
A Photo Gallery was added which offered categories and search features.

September 2001

The First Annual iRV2.com National Rally took place at Ocean Lakes Family CG in Myrtle Beach. Approximately 30 RV's where present and it was a great time. Mike (Driver) Pelchat was our wagon master and he did a great job in organizing this first ever event.

During the next few months we worked very hard to just improve all areas of the site. Mike (Driver) assumed responsibility for day to day operating functions. We needed to begin to organize our efforts and with Mike working with our great crew of volunteers, I was able to work on improving the website. A improved link section was added, and a improved logo was talked about.

2002

iRV2 incorporates and we hits 5000 members in January. 2002 for the most part was a year of major growth and many updates. We found ourselves experimenting with many new types of programs to increase the efficiency of the website. We have always appreciated and encouraged feedback from the members of iRV2 and many times found that we needed to reverse course from the intend direction we had in mind. We started development on a new logo in July and it wasn't until late in the year did we finally settle on the present logo. Regional camping groups began to form with the Florida group being the first. With our groups we stressed fun! So many times we see these groups get bogged down in to much structure. It's just camping.

Added by Route 66;

3-16-2006; Bob Gregory (Rebelsbeach) becomes co-owner of iRV2 with founder Bill Rowell (Warpath).

9-11-2008; Bill and Bob announce the sale of iRV2 to Andy/Social Knowledge.

9-30-2008; iRV2 moved to Social Knowledge's server.

3-6-2009; Forum software changed from infopop to vBulletin.

.....

[Route 66]

Doc posted

Don't you just envy those 5 campfire guys! LOL

You're well on your way to 5 "faars".

What happened to you rig picture?

[Frank P. Martin]

I think anyone who holds an original, green (or is it greenish/grey? Well, let's say the one that has the iRV2.com on a blue background) iRV2.com sticker should be classified as a CHARTER MEMBER

[Route 66]

What does that get me?

Some of you have been here longer than me.

[R.G.Wise]

I have both on my fiver.

[Frank P. Martin]

Absolutely nothing, Dirk, except for the distinction of being one of the first to have the courage to register yourself on this wonderful website that Bill (alias Warpath) took the time, money and energy to create over seven years ago.

Actually, my registration date should have been about a week earlier, but I hesitated to register because the site was so new that I wanted to be sure that it just wasn't a front to collect email addresses for spamming.

[TXiceman]

Awhhh, I took the old one off and put the new one on once I got it. Exactly when did the site go public. I registered the second time in August 2000. I had registered before this, but something was messed up and I had to redo mu registration.

Ken

[Route 66]

Makes me an old timer?

That was the time frame when I was researching fulltime RVs and the fulltiming life style.

Now I got one and I am one.

[Route 66]

Exactly when did the site go public.

According to the history Scott posted, it was Jan. 16th 2000.

[Izzyblueye]

I am proud to say I have one of the original blue gray stickers. Sent to me by Warpath himself, if I re-call correctly. I was one of the first members of the Winnebago list on Yahoo.com with "Ghost", then he merged with IRV2.com. My date on this forum was Oct 2000