That’s my old iPhone 5 on the left. The new gigantic iPhone 6 Plus on the right.
For as 10 million other people have done over the past two weeks, I’ve upgraded to the new and very large iPhone 6 Plus.
It’s massive 5.5-inch size was a big reason.
I spend a lot of time online. Too much, in fact. And my eyes and my thumbs appreciate the extra real estate the new iPhone provides.
The first thing I did after transferring all my apps and settings over to the new phone from iCloud (a process that
It sounds like it’s raining. But it’s not. It’s the sound of acorns dropping from the oak trees all around us as we boondock in the middle of the woods overlooking the Rifle River in northern Michigan’s Ogemaw County.
This is not a particularly pretty time of the year. The beautiful fall leaves have turned brown and now cover the ground. Only the oaks, with their shriveled up leaves and their dropping acorns, still have a covering.
Squirrels are running all over gathering the bounty. Deer, too
The Florida Caverns State Park is one of those perfect half-a-day side trips, offering a guided tour of a fascinating geologic wonder, some nice hikes and an opportunity to kayak and explore a wilderness river that offers up a blue hole as a bonus.
And at the end of the exploring, there’s a nice campground available, too, if you’re in need of a place to overnight.
Located near the town of Marianna in Florida’s panhandle just off I-10, the underground tour offers inspiring vews of limestone sta
Just north of the Missouri “boot heel” is the small community of Sikeston, right off Interstate 57. It’s a great place to overnight. If you stay at the Hinton RV Park, they’ll arrange for a van to take you to dinner at a place you will not soon forget.
On our visit, we were with a group of 12 RVers, on the way to a Branson, MO rally. Our group came from Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Ontario and we were crowded driving in that stretch van the mile or so to Lambert’s Cafe, “Home of the Throwed Ro
This year, I’m planning on winter camping
We’re in early November now and while the ground is still bare, nighttime temps are regularly dropping to the upper 20′s in my part of Michigan. The leaves are all off the trees and snow can happen any day now.
Out on the interstates, I see a steady stream of motorhomes, travel trailers and fifth wheels making their way south, to warmer climes.
I hope to join them in Florida and the gulf states in January. For a few weeks.
But I also hope to do some
The Original RV – The Covered Wagon
We RVers have our heritage and it really starts on Interstate 80 in Nebraska, America's heartland.
That’s where the Great Platte River Trail became the Oregon Trail.
This was the pioneer route that linked east to west.
And today, spanning the interstate near the mid-Nebraska town of Kearney, is a must stop for tourists and especially RVers…the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument
Of all the places we’ve been to, this is one of the most amazing and
If Fuel gets too costly there’s always the Camper Bike
Gas and diesel prices are a drag allright and RV trips cost more and more. But if you don’t mind downsizing, there’s always the Camper Bike.
Designed and built by artist Kevin Cyr , the camper bike was made from scrap metal, painted and inspired from a series of his paintings and drawings.
Cyr got the idea for the Camper Bike while on a trip to Beijing. He calls it “an amalgamation of a Chinese 3-wheeled flatbed bike with an American cab
There's nothing like the sight of one of Yellowstone National Park's magnificent bison to slow traffic.
These shaggy giants seem oblivious to the traffic. They cross the road where they want. They go where they want. The National Park Service says humans need to stay far away from bison. But they don't. People, in quest of a photo, get very stupid.
As you can see on
, people are stupid. Every year, someone gets hurt. Sometimes very badly. Bison can kill.For these animals will charge. They u
When we share our love of RVing in our 22-foot Type B Roadtrek with friends and relatives, probably the most common question we get is why a Type B? Why not one of those giant Type A motorhomes?
Well, no offense to Type A or Type C owners but we're really hooked on Type B RVing for one basic reason: Convenience. We can go anywhere in our Type B and when we do, everything we have is with us.
That’s why I put together this little video, which was shot across the country during our travels this
Roadtrek Motorhome’s new e-Trek is now showing up in dealer showrooms across North America and I just may be the very first consumer to take possession.
Or so Chad Neff of American RV in Grand Rapids told me as he handed over the keys to Jennifer and I. Tai, our Norwegian Elkhound, had already ensconced himself inside.
My trek for the eTrek began in September when I went to the Roadtrek factory in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada to do a video news story on the new model, built on the Mercedes Spr
Roadtrek Motorhome’s hot new N-6 Active made its network television debut this week in a starring role on NBC-TV’s ”Take it All” game show.
The N-6 was a top prize for a contestant in the show, which stars Howie Mandel and is based on one of the most popular holiday party games in America, often called "White Elephant" or "Yankee Swap."
In the show, a contestant selects and opens a prize worth thousands of dollars: dream prizes such as luxury cars, exotic trips, jewelry and VIP experiences.
One of the biggest surprises we had last year in our travels was with KOA – Kampgrounds of America. On our trip west and then on other meanderings over the season, we had the opportunity of staying at about a dozen KOA campgrounds across the U.S.
They were all good experiences, to be sure, but we couldn’t help but notice some big differences between the properties.
And so today, when we see that KOA has re-branded itself by deciding to classify each of their more than 400 properties according
On this Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for many things that have come our way since we embraced the world of RVing.
I’m thankful in a new way for the awesomeness of God’s creation, for the many places we visited that I had never seen before. For the majesty of Yellowstone National Park, the beautiful sunrises and sunsets we witnessed in the Bighorn Mountains, the Pictured Rocks National Seashore in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the Emerald Coast of Florida’s panhandle, the sandhill country of Nebras
The one thing that I most dislike about this time of year is holiday shopping.
Usually, I’ll do anything to avoid a shopping mall. If God intended us to go traipsing through crowded shopping centers he wouldn’t have had Al Gore invent the Internet and online shopping.
So you can imagine Jennifer’s surprise this afternoon when I actually volunteered to drive her to the mall to look up some Christmas gifts.
I took my Roadtrek Class B RV motorhome.
Heh heh heh.
It’s a diesel, so it needs to
There’s a dusting of snow on my RV
The first accumulating snow of the season fell last night near my Michigan home and as I look out at my motorhome sitting on the driveway, I swear I hear it calling me to get out of town and get warm.
Alas, as I look out, that’s all I can do. Look. I’m standing with the support of a walker. Five days ago, I had a total knee replacement.
I picked this time for the surgery specifically because it is the least busy time for RVing. Although the first wave of sno
Who says there aren’t deals out there?
I don’t usually write about the good deals I come across out there but a new listing on the American RV site caught my eye. It’s for a brand new 2012 Roadtrek 190 Popular.
New, it has a MSRP of $95,725.
Used, it has a NADA price of $87,680.
American RV in Grand Rapids, MI is selling this brand new model at $76,990.
That’s more than a pretty good deal: A brand new 190 that is more that $10,000 below the NADA used price!
The bargain pricing confirms som
The Nav-6: SUV/Minivan/RV and more
Of all the different Roadtrek models out there, one of the most distinctive is the new NAV-6, an SUV that can be used as an RV.
It’s really category-defying. A luxury SUV on the Nissan 2500 frame, it is expertly tricked out by Roadtrek with a built in kitchenette, complete with microwave, refrigerator, TV and sink with hot and cold running water. The NAV-6 has a roof that rises to make it big enough to walk around in without bumping your head. It’s also able
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.
I now have my own drone
One of the benefits of being a tech reporter is getting cool new tech toys to test out.
To that end, check out the video above. It’s the first test video I shot with something called the AR.Drone 2, a personal quadricopter drone that sells for ls than $300 and is controlled by your iPad or iPhone or Droid device.
Coolest thing I’ve played with in a long time.
It can go over 100 feet up and a couple hundred feet in a circle – Wi-Fi range from where you are standing. Th
Every RVers worst nightmare: When your dog gets skunked
We’re not going camping this weekend.
Blame it on a skunk.
That’s because the night before we were to leave, Tai, our Norwegian Elkhound, was tagged at close range by a strolling skunk that has declared our front lawn his territory, despite the grey and black furball that patrols it with vigor.
It was a busy night for Tai. First, he nailed an Opossum. Actually, he just thought he took out the Opossum. The ‘possum was playing, all curled
I counted eight of them yesterday, four Class A motorhomes, 2 Fifth Wheels and two Travel Trailers, pushing the snow flurries around in their slipstream as they moved down the interstates near my Michigan home. Ands that was what I spotted while I was running a few weekend errands. Truth is, there’s a steady stream of recreational vehicles out there and they will continue to be on the move for the next couple weeks.
Migrating Snowbirds. RVers fleeing the winter weather of the north for warmer t
Sprinter RV lineup joined by new Roadtrek CS Adventurous
A major reason for the huge spike in Class B motorhome sales over the past year or so is the Mercedes Sprinter, a rugged and flexible van that offers RV makers all sorts of customization opportunities. Roadtrek Motorhomes is about to introduce a new full sized Sprinter model, joining its popular RS Adventurous and the new all-electric, solar powered eTrek.
For 2013, there’s a third model – the CS Adventurous… CS for Camping Series.
I’ve been an amateur (ham) radio operator for decades, My call is K8ZRH and there was a time when I was obsessed with the hobby, so caught up in making contacts with every state in the nation, every country in the world, that I stayed up all hours of the night tracking DX (distant) stations, Eventually, to keep peace in my marriage, I backed off and, for the past ten years or so, have been pretty much inactive.
Today, there’s an amateur radio transceiver installed in my RV. Not a CB radio, thou
EDITOR’s NOTE: I don’t normally accept guest posts. But I have made an exception for Graham Gibbs. Graham is from Ottawa and the following post is excerpted from a 5,800-word article he sent me. I think you will enjoy it. It is still very long but I think he captures wonderfully the fun of Roadtreking and the joy of packing and planning. I think you will enjoy this!
By GRAHAM GIBBS
Special to Roadtreking.com
I have been inspired to spend time at my keyboard documenting our Roadtrek experien
That’s because the brand-new miniature K-cup coffee maker I bought for our motorhome didn’t work this morning and I was all set to celebrate our first night in our new Roadtrek eTrek with a hot cup of coffee.
Fortunately, the Kentucky Horse Park campground where we’re staying just off I-75 near Lexington, has a store and it was open, and they had plenty of coffee.
Crisis averted.
I had wanted to boondock on our first night to put the batteries and solar power features of this new motorhome
