Jump to content

  • Please note, Blogs are intended for stories about your RV travels.  Please post technical questions/comments in the forums located at:

    https://community.fmca.com/

Blogs

Roadtreking Blog
 

How to Sanitize Your RV Fresh Water Tanks

Yuck. Nothing tastes worse that the first sip of water through a just de-winterized RV’s plumbing system on the first trip of the year. That’s why it is important to sanitize that fresh water tank. And for that, there are lots of different approaches. Everybody seems to have their favorite way of sanitizing the fresh water system. Roadtrek Motorhomes has a suggested way, though. Here it is, lifted from the instruction manual for the eTrek we use. There are similar instructions for all Roadtrek
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

0
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

We Climb Bald Rock

Leaving camp at Mother of Ducks Wildlife Preserve in Guyra early in the morning, we drove to Glen Innes for breakfast at McDonalds. I know, not your idea of luxury dining but they do have internet. We parked behind the building and could access the internet from the campervan. I spent 30 or 40 minutes on line after eating breakfast. Right next door was the i. This one was a jewelry shop and information center. Louise enjoyed chatting with the jeweler. I was able to find several brochures
tbutler

tbutler

1
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

New England Highway, Tamworth to Guyra

We started our first day on the New England Highway with a visit to the yellow i. That is what I call the visitor’s center here which are identified on the blue signs with a simple i for information. Many of these are commercial operations, others are operated by the community. I suspect that if you pay the state or national government your money, you too can be an i. They all have a variety of brochures on the local activities and some regional activities. They tend to be pretty parochial,
tbutler

tbutler

0
Roadtreking Blog
 

Five Tips to Find a Good RV Mechanic

I’m lucky. To tend to the mechanical work on my Roadtrek eTrek on the Sprinter chassis, I have two great technicians: Daryl and Josh. Plus Eric, a great service manager who always manages to squeeze me in. I was just in the other day after a check engine light came on. Wouldn’t you know, it was one of those erratic issues. When I drove it into Hoekstra Transportation in Troy, MI, I felt somewhat sheepish. The warning light had something to do with a sensor that we had replaced about 20,000 mile
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

0
Roadtreking Blog
 

Amateur Radio and the RVer

Thanks to the Internet and email, text messaging and Facebook updates, it’s easy to stay in touch with friends and family while traveling. But a very active group of RVers takes such connectivity to a whole new level, out-Interneting even the Internet when it comes to being able to communicate with the world. They take their own radio stations with them. They are members of the Amateur Radio Chapter of the Family Motorcoach Association and their radio stations are ham radio transceivers that
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

1
The (mis)ADVENTURES of PopNDelly
 

In search of warmer weather

Delly had a heart attack in January. Add 68 inches of snow this winter and it was time to find warm weather and start recovering! Pop was granted a one month sabbatical - a nice perk to his work - so we unhooked the Coach and headed South. Of course that was the day after another snow storm..... First stop was WalMart somewhere in Virginia. Our first time to boondock at WM. 'Twas an interesting experience, but afforded us a good nights sleep and a place to buy supplies. On to Baileyton RV P
popndelly

popndelly

0
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

The New England Highway

No, this wasn’t named for New England in the US. Both the US and Australia have a common connection to England so both have named a part of their country New England. Australia assigns names to their highways and designated the highway that runs through the area the New England Highway. It took the better part of a day to drive from Lightning Ridge to Tamworth which was our starting point for touring the New England Highway. It was a distance of 400 km but the road was rough and we had to d
tbutler

tbutler

0
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Lightning Ridge

Lightning Ridge is an opal mining area. Opals were first discovered in the early 1900’s and mining has been going on ever since. The opals are different from those found in many other areas. These opals are known as black opals. They are dark with the colors familiar in other opals. They are beautiful and quite expensive. Just as in a gold rush, the discovery of opals in the area caused a boom in population. Mining camps sprung up near the hot spots for opals and towns developed near the
tbutler

tbutler

0
SloMotion Adventures
 

On the Road Again

Picked up the coach today. Brand new, warranted, Cummins 6BT 5.9 diesel. Not a long block as we expected. Rocky Mountain Cummins Coach Care really took good care of me in this deal!! I came out smelling like a rose! Spending the night at Mountain View RV Park in that Infamous RV city of Van Horn, TX. Appears to be a very nice park.
C-677946

C-677946

0
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Into the Outback - Lightning Ridge

The next morning we departed Katoomba just after the office opened and we had paid our bill. We planned to drive to Lightning Ridge which was over 600 kilometers away. The Western Expressway gave way to two lane highway and this then entered the Blue Mountains. Travel became slower, the road was rougher and traffic was slower. We were among the slowest traffic most of time. We stopped occasionally to let traffic pass and pulled off at scenic overlooks. The weather was cloudy, hazy and we w
tbutler

tbutler

0
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

A Short Stop in Sydney

We left the Australian capital, Canberra early in the morning in order to get into Sydney to visit the Britz office. On the way in we added one more item to our to-do list. An indicator on the instrument panel indicated a light was out. The roads from Canberra to Sydney are excellent roads. It is four lane interstate quality highway all the way. As we approached Sydney, we encountered the toll roads. These toll roads automatically bill each vehicle that doesn’t have an electronic pass. T
tbutler

tbutler

0
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Canberra

Canberra is the national capital of Australia. It is located between Melbourne and Sydney which have a population of about 4 million people in each city. That is 8 million people in a nation of about 14 million. So most of the population of Australia is in these two cities and in the surrounding communities. Once we leave this area we’ll see very few large towns and as we head west, we’ll see fewer people. Canberra itself is not a huge city. The population of Canberra is just over 400,000.
tbutler

tbutler

0
Roadtreking Blog
 

Critter Signs Along the Way While RVing

Over the last week, I’ve been organizing the thousands of photos I’ve taken over the past few years and noticed that I have a pretty good collection of animal crossing signs. Like a lot of people, I love seeing wildlife while Roadtreking. Somehow, I started taking photos of them as we traveled. From there, well, it sort of evolved into all sorts of signs about critters … of all sorts. Since I had them all organized, I thought I’d put them together in this little slide show. I know. taking ph
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

0
Roadtreking Blog
 

RVing's Dirty Little Secret: Filthy Campgrounds

People wonder why we prefer boondocking over campgrounds. Here’s why: Too many campgrounds are dirty. Not all. But way too many. In the bathrooms, there are almost always spiders, bugs, things in the toilets and stalls that disgust you, broken windows, mold, rusty pipes, grimy sinks. In Mississippi earlier this year, one of the showers I used this year had a cracked floor. When you stepped on it, blank gunk seeped out around your feet. In Missouri, a long broken and unrepaired window had the
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

1
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

And Then the Rains Came

We’ve had a very dry trip, only a couple of days of rain in New Zealand and nothing to speak of in Australia. That all changed on Tuesday, March 25. As I was doing the final outdoor tasks getting ready to leave our campground in Eden in New South Wales (NSW) I noticed a little mist in the air. The clouds were dark and heavy and the forecast for several days had called for rain. We planned to drive along the Sapphire Coast as it is known. There are designated tourist routes which have histor
tbutler

tbutler

0
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Descending to Eden

At the town of Adaminaby we stopped at the visitor’s center and talked with several natives. They had a statue of the Man From Snowy River, the supposed subject of the poem of the same name. Louise bought a copy of the poem for $1 and read the poem to me as we traveled on through the mountains. As we drove on, the road once again descended a steep slope and large vehicles were advised to use lower gears. I down shifted and we started our descent. Just a kilometer or so down the road we cam
tbutler

tbutler

2
"Gramps" Blog
 

When Things Are Still

This lesson is a continuation of using your eyes and your imagination. One of the volumes in my Time Life library of photography is called The Great Themes. These photography themes include The Human Condition (life as the camera sees it) War, Nature, Portraits, The Nude, and finally Still Life. I have captured a lot of nature shots. I have taken pictures of many humans including ones in love, sad, happy and just arrived in the world. I have not dedicated much time or effort to becoming a
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

4
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Over the River and Through the Mountains

For a week we’ve been following the Murray River east from Adelaide toward the Great Dividing Range, the mountains which feed the headwaters of the Murray. The Murray also is the boundary between the state of Victoria and the state of New South Wales. Thus we’ve been exploring both the northern part of Victoria and seeing the territory of New South Wales across the river. As we leave Wodonga we are headed east into the Snowy Mountains, part of the Great Dividing Range. Historically, this rang
tbutler

tbutler

0
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Britz Comes Through

Without any definite word on the outcome of the refrigerator problem we decided to stay one more night at the Big 4 Campervan Park in Ecucha. Louise had our refrigerated items stored in the refrigerator in the park kitchen facilities. We moved to the new site and then decided to explore the town. As we walked, we got a call from the road service company. The agent informed us he was trying to put together a solution. He thought we would be exchanging our campervan for a different one and jus
tbutler

tbutler

1
Roadtreking Blog
 

If Headed to Florida, Better Learn Pickleball

Actually, amend that headline. Pickleball is everywhere. In fact, its leading proponents claim it is the fastest-growing sport in North America,.though verifying that is not easy to do. But there is no doubt that the sport, invented in 1965, is now hugely popular, particularly among retirees and in campgrounds, RV resorts, retirement communities and the like across Florida and the Sunbelt. Further, many snowbrird return to their northern homes each spring and bring their love of the game back w
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

1
Roadtreking Blog
 

Protecting Your Sticks-and-Brick House While You’re RVing

We’ve been traveling about two weeks out of every month and a nagging worry that doesn’t go away is the safety and protection of our sticks-and-bricks house. So this past week, I just installed an alarm system on every door, every window, as well as motion detectors, water detectors, freeze monitors and carbon monoxide and fire alarms on both levels of our two-story home. All of the alarms are monitored 24 x 7 and I have a remote app for my smartphone and computer that lets me check in on what’
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

2
Roadtreking Blog
 

Carbon Monoxide and Propane Issues Spike in Spring for RVers

As spring and warm weather approaches, this is again the time for a semiannual spike in carbon monoxide deaths and propane issues for RVers. This week at a KOA in Nashville, a couple was found dead in their RV by relatives who drove to the campground after not being able to reach them for several days. Carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause, said authorities, caused by a their propane burner. In Washington State the week before, a propane tank explosion inside an RV east of Lacey sent a coupl
Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

0
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Leaving Adelaide Going East

A good drive from Adelaide takes us to Renmark on the Murray River. The Murray is the largest river in Australia. North of Adelaide it has high cliffs which overlook its large valley. Our park on Monday night was right on the river. In fact they had canoes which we rented to do some paddling on the Murray. There are larger boats on the Murray, the river has many houseboats plying the waters. One passed while we were launching our canoe. Meanwhile, in the campground, children were playing
tbutler

tbutler

0
×
×
  • Create New...