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About this blog

Journalist Mike Wendland Travels North America in a Class B Motorhome

Entries in this blog

 

How We Roll in our RV: Finding Rental and Used Roadtreks

You can tell winter is wearing thin and folks are starting to think about spring and warm weather because we’re getting lots of questions about people wanting to rent a Roadtrek or find a used one to purchase. So in this edition of How We Roll in our RV, we try and answer both. Bottom line is – you will have to work at it. Roadtreks are in high demand, both for rental units and for used ones to purchase. The main Roadtrek website has a dealer locator feature that you can use to find the neare

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

How We Roll in Our RV: e-Books and frozen meals

In this week’s edition of "How We Roll in Our RV," readers want to know how we fight boredom while doing all that driving, and what kind of meals we eat in our RV while traveling. I offer my suggestions on finding eBooks, something we both really enjoy listening to while making long drives. Jennifer shares some of her favorite meals for traveling. Keep those questions coming in. We’ll do our best to answer them. We try to do a new edition of How We Roll each week. http://youtu.be/VKhQzs1acJ

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

How We Roll in our RV: Cooking on the road and fighting black flies

Two very different questions from readers this week as we continue our “How We Roll in our RV” segment: Jennifer answers a question about cooking while traveling in our eTrek and I assure a reader that the fabled black flies that invade Michigan’s Upper Peninsula every summer should not deter him from traveling to one of the least-visited but most beautiful places in North America. I did a video called “The curse of the U.P: Black flies” last year you may want to check out. Got a question ab

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

How We Roll in our RV: Choosing an RV, finding the perfect spot to camp

This is the time of year folks are shopping for an RV and planning their first trips of the season. We have questions about both in this week’s edition of “How We Roll” in which Jennifer and I answer reader questions. We travel in a Class B motorhome. I’ve written lots on why we chose a B. But if you have a large family, you may want something larger. As for where we stay, we always opt for beauty and remoteness over crowded campgrounds. We share more about both questions in the video. Send

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

How We Roll in our RV: Bath towels and outdoor chairs

In this edition of How We Roll, Jennifer and I tackle questions from readers asking about how we dry bath towels while we’re on the road. Jennifer shows some hooks I attached with stick-on tape and a very simple but effective bungee cord clothesline we have in the bathroom. She also recommends fast-drying micro fiber towels. Besides the bungee-clotheline (which hangs and dries two full-sized bath towels very effectively and out of sight behind the bathroom door), I have strategically stuck on p

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

How We Roll in Our RV: Air Conditioning and Unattended Pets

It can heat up very fast inside an RV and in this edition of How We Roll in our RV, Jennifer and I answer a question from a reader named Danielle who asks: “I’m thinking about taking my freelance writing business on the road in a small motorhome, and I have a question. I’ll be bringing my dog with me and I’m concerned about leaving her in the RV while running errands. Can a dog overheat in a motorhome as they can in a car? Can the A/C run off the battery while sitting in a parking lot, or would

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

How We Roll in our RV – Putting on Make-up and Finding a Rental Roadtrek

In this edition of How We Roll in our RV, we tackle two completely different questions: Jennifer answers a reader named Karen, who wants to know how the Roadtrek eTrek we have works out for her putting on make-up. Jen shows the mirrors she uses along with a handy sticky pad called the Dash Stick that holds a magnifying mirror in place. My question came from a reader named Maggie, who asks about how to find a rental Roadtrek to try out, something Jen and I wish we could have done before we boug

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

How we Roll in our RV – Budgeting for a long trip and odor control

In this edition of “How We Roll,” Jennifer answers a question about budgeting and how much it costs us to take a typical week to 10-day trip. In these days of $4+ fuel, that’s the killer to any budget that involves mileage. Jennifer shares our actual costs and ways we try to save money. Then I tackle a stinky question ... about odor control and how we’re trying something called the “Geo Method” that mixes water softener and household detergent in a gallon of water that is poured down the toilet

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

How We Roll in Our RV – Bedding Storage

One of the most asked questions Jennifer and I receive from readers deals with how we sleep in our Roadtrek eTrek Class B motorthome. Our answer is … great! Seriously, we both agree we sleep better in the Roadtrek than we do in our king-sized Sleep Number bed at home. And that has to do with that we sleep on and in while camping out in the Roadtrek. In this edition of How We Roll in our RV, we answer two reader questions about where we store our bedding. We make the eTrek sofa up into a

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

How We Roll in Our RV -- Episode #1

http://youtu.be/Q3mx8b5NsV4 We get lots of questions about the places we go, the things we see and how we roll in our RV. Thus, this new reccurring video feature, in which we’ll try to do every week, answering reader questions (e-mail me here or via our Facebook Roadtreking page). In this first episode, Jennifer and I talk about how we pack and store items in our Class B motorhome and how we stay connected to the Internet while on the road. Jennifer swears by eBags, a handy way to neatly pack

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

How We Roll – Where We Store Stuff

There’s never enough room. That’s the first thing about RVing we all think when we start RVing, isn’t it? But there really is. No matter what size RV we have, we all want to bring too much stuff. Once we discover that, it’s a little easier to pack the essentials. Still, some times, you need a little more storage space. That’s why we recently replaced one of the two back seats with a custom sized armoire. It is a perfect match with the rest of the wooden cabinets inside our Roadtrek eTrek. And

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

How to winterize your RV: VIDEO

How to winterize your RV: VIDEO There’s no stopping it. Winter is here and for RVers in northern climates, it’s time to winterize. Making sure your the plumbing system in your RV is protected against the cold is essential and if it’s not done right, serious damage can occur. There are lots of ways to winterize. Some RV owners do the bare minimum. Others don’t miss any preventative protection steps. The first step is to check the manufacturer’s instruction book. If ever in doubt, follow it.

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

How to Unclutter your RV

We have discovered he one all important guiding principle that more than anything determines the success or failure of an RV trip: There needs to be a place for everything and everything should be in its place. When we first began our RV travels, we took everything. Sometimes two of everything. Both Jennifer and I were so paranoid that we left something behind that we overcompensated. Our little 24 foot Class B RV looked like a scene out of that Hoarders reality TV show, you know, the one where

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

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

 

How to Help Build Your Own RV

How to Help Build Your Own RV I was given a unique opportunity over the past few months. I had been hanging out at the Roadtrek factory last fall and this spring, and Jim Hammill the president... Roadtreking : The RV Lifestyle Blog - Traveling North America in a small motorhome Source

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

How to Dress for Warmth on Winter RV Trips

We’re in northeastern Wisconsin and Minnesota in the midst of what the news media says is the coldest stretch of prolonged frigid temperatures to hit the continental U.S. in a century and yet, everywhere I go around here, the locals seem to shrug it all off and continue with their winter activities of snow shoeing, cross country skiing, hockey playing, hiking, ice fishing and dog sled racing. They seem to actually embrace the cold in an area where the snow is three feet deep and the snow drifts

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

Hot Topic: Carrying firearms in an RV

Hot Topic: Carrying firearms in an RV It’s certainly one of the most controversial topics there is among RVers. I’m talking about guns and carrying them in your RV. I get reader questions on this all the... Roadtreking : The RV Lifestyle Blog - Traveling North America in a small motorhome Source

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

Here’s your chance to try out winter camping

Here’s your chance to try out winter camping Announcing, the first annual Winter Wonderland Roadtreking No Rules Rally,  to be held Jan 23-25 at the very snowy Tahquamenon Falls State Park. Last time I camped there that time... Roadtreking : The RV Lifestyle Blog - Traveling North America in a small motorhome Source

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

Here Comes Cold Weather: I Don’t Want to Stop Roadtreking for the Season!

I love fall. The blue skies are more blue, the air smells clean and crisp and has no more of the sweltering heaviness of summer. But it also makes me a little sad because, living in a northern climate like Ido, the approaching cold weather means it’s time to curtail my travel. It means long stretches of RVing inactivity. Of watching snow accumulate on top of the Roadtrek. Of having to winterize it. Of sneaking out there, turning on the heat, and sitting in it, remembering the places we’ve v

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

Henry Ford's 1937 House Car

This could be the first Type B motorhome ever Henry Fords 1937 House Car. They supposedly only build a handful of these each year. This one is on a 1937 Ford Pickup frame and was found in a private garage in Minnesota in the summer of 2001 with only 19,000 miles on it. A collector named Graham Thickins restored it to original and drivable condition. Check out this story by Thickins to see lots of photos and get the details but it had an all wood lined interior with a metal skin wrapped aro

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

Heading to Canada? Spend Time in Port Huron, Mich.

RVers heading to Canada via Port Huron, MI and the Blue Water Bridge may want to budget a few hours so pull off the freeway and take in the sights of this very busy port city. On a nice sunny day, the drive and park along the busy St. Clair River offers parking nose first, right smack dab on the riverbank. A Type B RV fits perfectly and the view of the fast-moving river is mesmerizing. The river is one of the busiest water routes in the Great Lakes, connecting Lake Huron just north of the Blue

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

Have you seen the new TS Adventurous?

Have you seen the new TS Adventurous? It was last December at the big RVIA industry show in Louisville, KY that Jim Hammill and his Roadtrek team showed off a prototype vehicle called the TS Adventurous, a... Roadtreking : The RV Lifestyle Blog - Traveling North America in a small motorhome Source

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

Hard driving, Hells Angels and lots of pit stops

Now I know how Class A motorhome drivers live. They spend lots of time checking their mirrors, looking for places to park that are big enough to handle their length and…. visiting gas stations. As we are towing a 21-foot travel trailer behind our Roadtrek on a family caravan vacation trip to the Rockies, I’ve found towing very easy and parking not so bad as long as I don’t try pulling in to fast-food places with my 30-foot-plus length. Truthfully, I’ve quickly gotten used to towing and with 1,

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

 

Happy Holidays Any Time!

Happy Holidays Any Time! Earlier this summer, Olga, my RT Adventurous, went to the RV spa for some revitalizing treatments and beautifying. She got 2 new uber batteries. The retractable step was repaired... Roadtreking : The RV Lifestyle Blog - Traveling North America in a small motorhome Source

Roadtrekingmike

Roadtrekingmike

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