Roadtrekingmike

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 nearest Roadtrek dealership to your home where you can ask whats locally available. And the Roadtrek International Chapter of the Family Motorcoach Association has a list of used units that are for sale by owners around North America. You can also search RV sales websites and even Craig’s List. Click the above video and you’ll get our answer. And send us your questions by email…we’ll do our best to answer them in future editions of How We Roll.

I think I have become a big fan of winter RVing. And dog sled races. Last year, we reported on the Michigan UP 200 dog sled race. Our friend and fellow Roadtreker Gary Hennes met us up there and told us about the Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon in Duluth, which is the longest such sled dog race in the Lower 48 states. And so we went this year. We boondocked overnight in the middle of the woods in the middle of nowhere and I volunteered and worked on the communications team, using my amateur radio gear in the Roadtrek to help keep track of the mushers and get them any help they needed. The above video tells the story. It was a ball. But I will concede, the return home from the John Beargrease Dog Sled Marathon in northern Minnesota was a long, tough drive. Once we thawed the Roadtrek out from the -55F/-68C wind chill temps after a tow to a service garage in Ironwood yesterday morning, we made our way back through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to our suburban Detroit home – a trip of more than 700 miles. At the Mackinac Bridge, we suddenly found ourselves in marginal weather conditions. Blowing lake effect snow made restricted traffic to 20 miles an hour. We tucked in behind two snow plows and made our way slowly across the five-mile span, buffeted all the time by a howling northwest wind. Once we got in the Lower Peninsula, we thought the lake effect snow would end. It didn’t. It followed us all the way to Bay City, about 250 miles south. Even though we were less than 85 miles from home, I was beat and we pulled into a rest area about half past midnight and we slept till sunup. I should have slept some more when I got home but I was so excited about the video we shot of the Beargrease Dog Sled Marathon that I spend the day editing it. I can’t think of another adventure in our Roadtrek that we enjoyed more. Minnesota is a gorgeous state in the winter, especially the northern shore of Lake Superior that the dog sled race followed. I can only imagine how beautiful it must be in the summer. We will be back. Up above is the video. You can also see how well we fared in our RV. As we’ve been saying all along, winter camping is great! Howling winds buffeted us as we crossed the Mackinac Bridge behind two snowplows. That’s me with one of the musher teams passing my checkpoint. I was on the team using amateur radio to provide communications for the mushers and race officials.

We just hit the road after a long weekend boondocking in our Roadtrek eTrek in the wilderness of northeast Minnesota, spending the weekend in it miles from civilization when the overnight temperature dropped to -21F/-29C. Call us Ice Station eTrek. Those frigid temperatures in the woods were the ambient, real temperature. But we had a very stiff northwestern wind that not only swirled up snow drifts all around s but made for wind chill readings of -50F/-45C. We could not have been more comfortable. Seriously. Inside, the Webasto heater cranked out a constant 60-70 degrees of comfort. We dropped it down at night for sleeping and raised it during the day when we were going in and out of the Roadtrek a lot. We were up in Minnesota as a communications volunteer for the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon, a 400 mile route from Duluth to the Canadian border. I’m an amateur radio operator and I was stationed at a spot where the musher’s trail crosses County Road 8 north east of the tiny, remote hamlet of Finland, about 85 miles into the gruelling race and smack dab in the middle of absolutely nowhere. I’ll have a full report and video on the gorgeous country, the race itself and the sheer adventure of it all later this week. But many have asked how it all went and how the Roadtrek handled it. First, Jennifer and I are agreed that we are hooked on winter camping. The snow was so beautiful, three feet thick off the trail. At night, the stars were so bright and close that they made you gasp. We heard wolf howls as we spent a lonely night out there Sunday and Monday morning, a hundred yards from us, a big black wolf – the Alpha Male of the pack according to one of the other volunteers we met – twice showed himself as curiosity drew him close to us. We were dressed properly for cold weather. That’s the secret of course, and we limited our time outside to no more than half hour stretches when we weren’t helping keep track of the passing mushers. Tai, our double-coated Norwegian Elkhound, thought he had died and gone to heaven, though he was noticeable spooked by the wolf. I took him out early Monday morning and he stopped, sniffed the air and had the hackles on his neck raised. I didn’t know why at the time but Michelle, who later joined us at the crossing, said dogs typically are very spooked by wolves. “Sometimes a sled dog team will stop and lie right down when wolves are around,” she said. She’s a musher herself, from Minneapolis, and said the same black wolf, along with a female, were seen last year, too. As to the Roadtrek eTrek, except for one minor glitch due to the cold, we couldn’t be more pleased. On the advice of locals, I used a blend of the normal #2 diesel fuel with the hotter burning #1 to handle the extreme cold. I used about a 60% #1 blend. Some stations let you mix it yourself from adjacent pumps, others up here sell it blended 50-50. Either way, the #1 helps prevent diesel gelling, which can shut down an engine that starts up after having been sitting all night in the cold. But… all was not without incident. When I went to start it this morning – it got down to -23F here last night with a -55F wind chill – the engine turned over but did not catch. The starter battery seemed low and it cranked very slowly. I called a local garage that works on diesel and Greg, the owner, came to the motel with a huge tow truck. It took him all but five minutes to hitch the Roadtrek up and haul it to his warm garage where he got a rapid charger on the battery and thawed out the engine a bit. “The cold just sapped the battery to where it had trouble cranking and the oil got pretty stiff with that severe cold we had last night, ” said Mike, the mechanic who worked on it. “It just needed to be warmed up a bit.” We were on the road by noon. Other than that, the Roadtrek performed flawlessly. I have become a huge fan of the Sprinter chassis and Mercedes engine. The vehicle handles well on ice and snow. And I’ve already raved about the Webasto heater Roadtrek has. Mine has been running continuously since Friday. It’s now Monday morning and we are in Ironwood, MI, in the Upper Peninsula. We stayed in a hotel last night so we could shower. The heater stayed on all night. The heater runs on diesel from the engine. Based on our use, I would say that four days of running it has not used any more than two gallons of fuel. The only downside I can think of about this is you can’t use running water – the Roadtrek is winterized. You can use the toilet…just flush it with RV antifreeze. Ad finding room for the extra clothing – parkas, boots, hats, gloves, insulated bibs, etc. – can also be challenging. I realize the cold and winter camping is not for everyone. That’s okay. That’s why God made Florida and the southwest. But Jennifer and I are still healthy and we absolutely love the outdoors and the wilderness. And seeing this country in the winter, covered with a pristine blanket of snow, is soul-soothing. In fact, Jennifer thinks it was one of the top most enjoyable boondocking.

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 are taller than automobiles. I mean, they actually enjoy it! That’s because they know how to dress for it. Jennifer and I are here to take in one of the toughest dog sled marathons in North America after Alaska’s famed Iditarod – the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon that kicks off today in Duluth and runs for almost 400 miles all the way to the Canadian border and back across some of the most frigid and rugged terrain you’ll find in the lower 48. I’ve volunteered to help at a road crossing way up north near Finland, MN starting about 1 AM Monday and use my amateur radio capabilities aboard the Roadtrek eTrek to provide communications and keep track of the mushers as they pass by. The temperature is expected to be -26 F/-32C during our stint up there. Factor in wind chill and we’re talking -50F/-45C. So I better figure out how the locals dress to handle that kind of cold. And to do so I went to Northwest Outlet in Superior, WI, right on the Minnesota border and one of the Lake Superior north shore’s biggest outdoor and sporting goods outfitters. It just happens to be owned by Dave Miller, a regular reader of this blog, an avid truck camper and a fellow amateur radio operator. Dave read of my plans to be up here and invited me to stop by. And when he saw yesterday’s photo of how dirty and grimy our Roadtrek was after driving 700 miles to get here, he insisted that I pull into a heated garage next to his store that they use to install caps on trucks. Then Dave proceeded to hand wash the Roadtrek, even climbing a ladder and helping push off the snow and ice that had accumulated on top of our solar panels. Then, with a clean and shining Roadtrek hand dried and air blown so the locks wouldn’t freeze, he escorted me to a place where we could get some #1 diesel to mix with the #2 for the predicted super cold temperatures over the next couple of nights that I’ll encounter as I follow the sled dog race up in Minnesota. Jennifer and I never before met Dave or his wife, Mary. Yet them embraced us like family, even treating us to a terrific Italian dinner at a great restaurant called Valentini’s on the shore of Lake Superior. But before we ate, I got out the video camera and went into the store had Dave and Mary help dress Jennifer and I like locals, so we’ll be ready for the cold. You can see that in the video above. And you can find out how we’re doing by following my live Tweets on Twitter at http://twitter.com/roadtreking and here on the blog, though I’m not sure how good cell phone coverage will be where we’re headed and those detailed reports may be delayed a bit until I get into cellular range. But, with all the super warm winter clothes Dave hooked me up with, I’m ready to face the arctic vortex.

It took two days and 700 miles – all of it in the face of bitter cold and most of it on snow covered and slippery roads – but we finally made it to Minnesota and saw not a single other RV on the road. “They don’t know what they are missing.” I said to Jen as we dodged logging trucks, snowplows and snowmobilers in the Great White North. Truly, now we know how that saying came about. I have never seen so much white. Not the slushy, dirty snow of the city and suburbs but sparkling clean, pure, deep and bright white. “Maybe they do,” she responded. “Maybe that’s why we’re the only RV out here.” She may have a point. Hours after we crossed the Mackinac Bridge linking Michigan’s two peninsulas, it was shut down to traffic. Same with US 2 west of the bridge, which we drove last night as the snow began. Multiple accidents and white-out conditions were the cause. Today we left Escanaba and headed northwest, crossing from the Upper Peninsula into Wisconsin and then on to Duluth, MN, where we will report on winter life up here as well as a sled dog marathon. It snowed most of the way. The Roadtrek eTrek on the Mercedes Sprinter chassis handled the roads with ease. I missed one great photo. An RV dealership we spotted in the Michigan UP somewhere near Iron Mountain has a sign out front of its lot, a lot in which all the RVs were covered with about a foot of snow. “It’s not to late to become a snowbird,” it read. It was on the wrong side of the highway and there was no quick and easy turnaround to get the picture. But I admit, that snowbird idea sounded pretty good at the time. After two days of hard winter driving, the Roadtrek is a mess, covered with snow, ice, salt and road grime. I’d wash it down, but it’s so cold up here none of the car washes are open. Like we did the day before, I used Google Glass for a driver’s perspective, and a windshield mounted Go Pro Hero 3+ camera to get the inside the van view. Google Glass didn’t do justice, though, to what happened when I stepped off a plowed road into the woods…. only to discover the snow was three feet deep. Suffice it to say, I won’t make that mistake again. We got into Duluth an hour before dark. Tomorrow, the preliminaries for the dog sled race will take up our day. On Sunday it starts and we’ll follow the mushers north along the Lake Superior shoreline in our Roadtrek eTrek to see how folks up here cope with winter.

I’m not going to lie to you. We didn’t sleep in the Roadtrek eTrek last night. We spent the night in a motel in Escanaba, at the far western end of the Lower Peninsula’s northern Lake Michigan shoreline. I suppose if I looked around long enough I would have found a place to camp. But all the state and federal forests where we normally boondock up here in the UP were all but inaccessible because of unplowed roads. Somebody told me there was an Indian casino a dozen miles out of town but they were unsure whether they allowed overnight RV camping. So when we saw a nice looking Budget 8 that was dog-friendly and had reasonable rates, hey, we took it. But while we were in our room, we kept the eTrek’s diesel-powered Webasto heater running all night, so our food and water inside it wouldn’t freeze. And when I opened it up this morning to re-load the stuff we took into our motel room, it was a very comfortable 60 degrees in the eTrek. That’s pretty good, considering the outside temperature dropped to -12F/-24C overnight. But that’s nothing compared to where we’re going, north of Duluth, MN where, Monday morning from about 3 a.m. until noon, I’ll be volunteering as an amateur radio operator providing communications for the Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon. At the crossing I’ll be stationed at near Finland, MN, the predicted temperature at that time will be -26F/-32C. I will be in the eTrek, as will Jennifer and Tai. So this brief motel lollygagging won’t last once the race starts Sunday afternoon in Duluth. Our drive to Escanaba was about 428 miles and took more about nine hours. Roads were slick and messy downstate and the air was so cold the washer solvent kept freezing on the windshield. All the extreme cold has made for lots of potholes in Michigan and one of them dislodged a hubcap from my passenger side dualies. It was lost somewhere back along the snow banks that line the interstate. But it was a beautiful day with clear blue skies for almost the entire trip. Crossing the Mackinac Bridge offered spectacular views of the frozen Straits of Mackinac where Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron. Just as darkness set in a couple hours later, snow squalls started up. We found a great restaurant, Buck’s Inn, just on the edge of Escanaba and after a nice dinner, we were ready to call it a night. It is frightfully cold. Even Tai didn’t want to linger last night when I took him out to make yellow snow. I saw a grove of pine trees and some woods that I thought would be a good spot for his other functions but, no way, he wasn’t having any part of it. Back to the warmth he tugged me on his leash. During the drive up, I used Google Glass as a reporting tool to record my point of view and a windshield-mounted Go Pro Hero 3+ to get Jennifer and I inside the Roadtrek. Hope the audio isn’t too bad. I think I can improve that in future reports. But it was fun to shoot the video … taking you along as we rushed north into the embrace of the arctic vortex. Along U.S. 2 on the northern shoreline of Lake Michigan in the Upper Peninsula I lost a hubcap from one of Michigan’s nefarious potholes.

What a winter this has been. The arctic vortex or whatever we call the cold air that has been making repeated appearances throughout the Upper Midwest has kept many an RVer housebound before the fireplace. Not us. We’re about to head up to Northern Minnesota along the Lake Superior northern shore where the temperature is expected to be -26F/-32C. I wrote about it earlier when the bitter cold forecast was causing our plans to waver. Many of you offered advice. Most said don’t go. Some said head south instead. Two or three said, follow the call of the north. So, we are. Adventure and the sheer challenge of it all has us packing parkas, boots and long Johns and ready to head out on the morning this post goes live. But, with so many suggesting caution, I thought I’d get some expert advice on how our Roadtek eTrek, powered by Mercedes on the Sprinter chassis, would handle the cold and what, if anything, I needed to do differently when operating it under such extreme conditions. So I headed to Hoekstra Specialty Vehicles in Troy, MI, one of the Midwest’s biggest Sprinter dealers. On the morning I drove my eTrek to them the temperature in my driveway was -14F/-25C. The above video gives you the details. Bottom line, I need to make sure the glow plugs have warmed up. That means turning the key without starting and waiting for the little pigtail-like icon on the dash goes away. As far as special fuel, Sprinter service expert Josh Biscarner tells me I need not do a thing, that the winter diesel blends are fine. Josh gives lots of advice in the video for you Sprinter users. So, off we go – Jennifer, me and Tai, our Norwegian Elkhound. Look for videos and posts as we head up I-75 to the Mackinac Bridge, then over to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and west through the Up to Wisconsin and then on to Duluth, our first stop on a trip that will eventually take us to the Canadian border. Yes, we do intend to spend a couple of nights in the Roadtrek boondocking in the wilderness. This is going to be fun! The glowplug icon is the curly little “pigtail.” In extreme cold turn the key to the on position, wait till the glowplug light goes out, then start the engine.

Every place, it seems, has its own ghosts and mysteries. So it is just north of the tiny Upper Peninsula town of Watersmeet where, for generations, people have gathered at the end of a gravel road to watch some mystery lights. The lights appear nightly, year round near a crossroads community called Paulding. The first reported sightings were back in the 1960s and various investigations have been inconclusive, though a university team from a Michigan Technological University claimed the lights were from cars on a distant road and that they seemed to grow brighter and closer because of refraction. The Syfy Channel did its own paranormal investigation and said they could not find a scientific explanation. Whatever, the Paulding Light is fraught with many different legends, the most popular appears to be the death of a railroad brakeman. The legend states that the valley once contained railroad tracks and the light is the lantern of the brakeman who was killed while attempting to stop an oncoming train from colliding with railway cars stopped on the tracks. Another story claims the light is the ghost of a slain mail courier, while another says that it is the ghost of an Indian dancing on the power lines that run through the valley. There’s even an official US Forest Service marker at the site marking the spot. The light typically becomes visible an hour or so after sunset. I spent an entire night there a few years back on assignment for the Detroit Free Press, meeting people who had come from a wide region of Northwestern Michigan and Eastern Wisconsin and interviewing local people. Check out the video and you can see the lights yourself…. and what I think they are. There’s lots of RV camping nearby in state and federal forests.

I am beginning to have some serious doubts about the wisdom of taking our Roadtrek eTrek to the wilderness of Northern Minnesota next week to report on a dog sled marathon from Duluth to the Canadian border. The long term weather forecast predicts lows of -20F/-28C along the Northern Shore of Lake Superior, where we would be boondocking with no outside power. I had really looked forward to this but it seems foolhardy to do camp out under such extreme cold. We handled -5F/-20C last year in February in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula but we had commercial power there and ran a small ceramic heater in addition to our on-board Webasto heater. Since we would be boondocking in Minnesota with no shore power, that ceramic heater would be too much of a battery drain in such cold running all through the night. Besides, we had a pipe freeze at our sticks and bricks home home during the last cold spell of a week ago. We were fortunately home and were able to get it thawed out without it bursting by hooking up space heaters but if that happened while we were on a trip, I hate to think of the damage we would have had. That predicted -20F/-28C up in Minnesota is the real temp. The wind chill would make it even colder! The place where we would be boondocking is several miles from civilization at a road crossing/check point for the mushers. I was going to help with the amateur radio setup I have in my Roadtrek to report on the teams and their times as they passed the checkpoint. The location is so remote there is no mobile phone coverage. I just mentioned the possibility of canceling to Jennifer and she is voicing no objections. In fact I think she’s secretly hoping for that decision. Those temps are even too cold for Tai, our Norwegian Elkhound. Haven’t made a decision yet… but good grief…that is REALLY cold. What do you think? Should I go or cancel this one? How cold is too cold?

Anticipation, they say, is half the fun. I think there’s a point there. Thinking, planning, dreaming and looking forward to the next trip is indeed pretty exciting. And as Jennifer and I look at the calendar, we have a lot of miles we’ll be traveling in some pretty diverse places. Here’s what’s on our Roadtreking road map for the next month: Northern Minnesota – A Jan. 23-29th winter camping trip to Duluth, MN via Michigan’s UP from, and then north to the Canadian border as we do reporting for the annual 400-mile Beargrease Dog Sled Marathon. It’s going to be cold and snowy. Already they have three-foot-plus on the ground up there. But who says you can’t camp in the winter? Punxsutawney, Pa. – From Jan.28-Feb 2, our Roadtrek eTrek will take us to Gobbler’s Nob in the tiny town of Punxsutawney,PA to witness if Phil the Groundhog sees his shadow on Feb. 2 and whether we will have six more weeks of winter. This is an elaborate event and I’ve always wanted to see this, ever since I saw the Bill Murray movie. So this year, we’ll be there. West Virgiania and Ohio – From Feb 3-5, we have stories to do about technology and the Internet in West Virginia and southwest Ohio. I’ll let you know the specifics later but we’re taking the Roadtrek. Then it’s back home for a few days Mississippi – We’ll be in Gautier, MS Feb. 21-24 enjoying SMOKIN’ ON THE BAYOU, a special pre-Mardi Gras Roadtreking event organized by Paul Konowalchuk Pogorzelski, who promises some great Bar-B-Que with a group of other Roadtrekers, They tell me the whole region down there in bayou country celebrates Mardi Gras from late Feb through the official March 4 big day in New Orleans and Pogo has a bunch of activities planned. You can find him on our Facebook group if you want details. Florida or Texas – As Bob Seger sings in Roll Me Away, after Pogo’s gathering , Jennifer and I could go east (to the Florida sun) or west (towards the Texas Hill Country). It’s all up to us to decide. We haven’t figured out which way or for how long we’ll go…. only that we’ll go.

If you’re like me and the pounds have been hard to get off lately, maybe you have sitting disease. Yes, there really is such an disease. And it’s reached epidemic proportions, linked to all sorts of other ailments, the first and foremost of which is obesity. Blame it on our sedentary lifestyle. Our desk-bound working days. Our computer and Internet use. TV watching But the fact is, the average American these days sits — at a desk, in the car or RV, on a couch – eight to 10 hours every day. Sitting. Planted. Not moving. A thick and growing-thicker-by-the-day body of medical research is documenting terrible health effects from all this. I am always at the computer, blogging, updating social media. But added to that is all the time I have spend driving by RV over the past couple of years. Last year, I drove 35,000 miles across North America, doing stories about the interesting people and places encountered. Many days, I was behind the wheel 12 hours, only to stop for the night and sit right back down to edit video and write a story for the blog. You still may be laughing at the term “sitting disease.” Don’t. No less an authority than the Mayo Clinic talks about it. The experts are seriously concerned about the problem. That’s because when you sit for an long periods of time – over four hours – your body literally starts to shut down at the metabolic level, according to Marc Hamilton, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Missouri. It gets worse. When muscles — especially the big ones meant for movement, like those in your legs — are immobile, your circulation slows and you burn fewer calories. That would be cause enough to gain weight. But as it turns out, sitting so long and so much does even more to those trying to lose weight and get in shape. Key fat-burning enzymes responsible for breaking down triglycerides (a type of fat) simply start switching off. Sit for a full day and those fat burners plummet by 50 percent, says says James Levine,M.D., Ph.D., of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and author of Move a Little, Lose a Lot. It gets even worse. The more you sit, the less blood sugar your body uses, meaning those sugars store as fat. Medical research research shows that for every two hours spent sitting per day per day, your chance of getting diabetes goes up by 7 percent. Your risk for heart disease goes up, too, because enzymes that keep blood fats in check are inactive. You’re also more prone to depression because with less blood flow, mood-enhacing hormones are getting to your brain. “For people who sit most of the day, their risk of heart attack is about the same as smoking,” says Martha Grogan, cardiologist, Mayo Clinic. Sitting for four or more hours a day has about the same adverse effect on your health as smoking a pack and a half of cigarettes every day. Yuck. Sitting disease even blunts the good effects of exercise. “We’ve become so sedentary that 30 minutes a day at the gym may not counteract the detrimental effects of 8, 9 or 10 hours of sitting,” says another researcher, Genevieve Healy, PhD. So, what to do about it? Standing every hour, moving around a bit, stretching, working standing up, walking around. Those same studies show that just short little two-minute standing breaks can counteract the effects of sitting in dramatic ways. Some people use stand-up desks. So, as far as sitting disease goes, I’m going to stand for it. Throughout the day. When I’m driving, we’ll stop every hour and a half or two at the most and get up and get out of the RV and move around. I’ll let you know how it goes. And for the record, I’m standing now as I type this.

My Roadtrek has been encased in ice and snow for the better part of a week now with several days of subzero temperatures. Inside, shielded from the wind with the sun helping to mitigate the extreme outdoor temperature, it was about 15 degrees. So, I got to wondering, how long will it take to warm it up, if, indeed such a thing was possible? Slipping on my boots, a parka and my fuzzy warm hat with ear flaps, I donned my Google Glass and set out to video a first-person experiment. Everything on the video above was shot with Google Glass, a wearable computer that does video and still photography from the user’s point-of-view, as well as a gazillion other cool things. If you are on the geek and nerd side and want to know more about Google Glass, here’s a post I did on it on my PC Mike Tech Blog. But my interest in Glass for this blog is to take POV videos like this. The Webasto heater that my Roadtrek eTrek uses has impressed me before. But on this day, with an outdoor temperature of -12, it really proves its power. So come along with me to snowy Michigan and click on the video to see for yourself just how fast that cold can be chased away. It's cold up here!

All the winter storm advisories, alerts, watches and warnings that we’ve had lately can be confusing. The National Weather Service does a great job of disseminating weather predictions but sometimes it can be hard to know just what is what. So, for your future reference, here’s a weather lingo tutorial. Weather watches A watch means conditions are right for dangerous weather. In other words, a “watch” means watch out for what the weather could do, be ready to act. For events that come and go quickly, such as severe thunderstorms, tornadoes or flash floods, a watch means that the odds are good for the dangerous weather, but it’s not yet happening. For longer-lived events, such as hurricanes or winter storms, a watch means that the storm isn’t an immediate threat. For either kind of event, a watch means you should keep up with the weather and be ready to act. When a severe thunderstorm, tornado or flash flood watch is in effect, it means you should watch the sky for signs of dangerous weather. Sometimes a severe thunderstorm, a tornado or a flash flood happens so quickly that warnings can’t be issued in time. Many areas don’t have civil-defense sirens or other warning methods. People who live near streams that quickly reach flood levels should be ready to flee at the first signs of a flash flood. Hurricane or winter storm watches mean it’s time to prepare by stocking up on emergency supplies and making sure you know what to do if a warning is issued. For those who live near the ocean, a hurricane watch may mean it’s time to prepare for evacuation. Weather warnings A warning means that the dangerous weather is threatening the area. For severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and flash floods, a warning means the event is occurring. Since tornadoes are small – a half-mile wide tornado is considered huge – a tornado will miss many more buildings that it hits in the area warned. Still, a tornado warning means be ready to take shelter immediately if there are any indications a tornado is approaching. Severe thunderstorms are larger, maybe 10 or 15 miles across. A hurricane warning means either evacuate or move to safe shelter. A winter storm warning means it’s not safe to venture out. If traveling, head for the nearest shelter. How weather alerts are issued Before watches and warnings are issued, the National Weather Service, private forecasters, newspapers, radio and television normally try to alert the public to potential weather dangers. Often, forecasters begin issuing bulletins on hurricanes and winter storms three or four days before the storm hits. But forecasters can’t issue alerts for the danger of severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and flash floods that far ahead. Usually, the Storm Prediction Center sends out alerts the day before dangerous weather is likely. Most television weathercasters highlight these alerts on the evening news the day before threatening weather. Weather radio A weather radio is one of the best ways to stay tuned-in to dangerous weather. These radios receive broadcasts from the National Weather Service. The broadcasts are from weather service offices. Broadcasts include ordinary forecasts of several kinds, including for boating, farming, traveling and outdoor recreation as well as general forecasts for the area. The stations immediately broadcast all watches and warnings. Some weather radios have a feature that turn on the radio automatically when a watch or warning is broadcast. Such “tone alert” weather radios are highly recommended for places where large numbers of people could be endangered by tornadoes or flash floods. These include schools, nursing homes, shopping center security offices, hospitals, and recreation areas such as swimming pools.

We’ve been riding hard up I75 today, trying to get to our southeastern Michigan home before yet another big winter snowstorm dumps another predicted foot. All the way north, traffic has been unusually heavy in both directions. Lots of other northbounders are returning from long holiday breaks. The southbounders seem downright frantic, fleeing the cold. I’m fighting a strong urge not to turn around. Early afternoon, I did an mobile phone interview from the road with the Internet adviser show on WJR Radio in Detroit. The guys asked me abuit my roadreking life and how I use technology to blog and stay connected as I post stories via the Internet. In northern Kentucky at Exit 154 we met up with Mike and Marsha Neundorfer of Advanced RV, a Type B motorhome manufacturer that builds luxury custom-designed coaches on the Mercedes Sprinter chassis. We ate at a Mexican restaurant and spent two-and-a-half hours talking RVs. The Neuendorfers are on their way to Florida and the big RV Supershow in Tampa next week. They were driving a 2014 Ocean One coach, equipped with a state-of-the-art suspension system built by a Dutch company called VB-Airsuspension. It supposedly provides a smoother, more stable ride and increased safety compared with the Sprinter stock suspension and is already installed on 10,000 Sprinters in Europe. Mike and Marsha said this was their first road test of the system and they said, based on therir drive so far down from the company headquarters near Cleveland, they were very impressed with how easy it made the ride, particularly for anyone who would choose to stretch out in the back for a nap while someone else drives. We toured their unit and they toured our 2013 Roadtrek eTrek and we had a throughly delightful visit, reminding Jennifer and I again how the Class B motorhome community shares a special camaraderie made possible by the versatility and mobility our our touring coaches. Eventually the Neuendorfers headed off towards the Florida sun and we resumed our journey north into gathering dark clouds. This latest storm is expected to hit tonight. We’re hoping we are safe in the driveway before conditions get dicey. Guess that means no leisurely stop for dinner. We’ll make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as we keep pushing north. Glad we had that Mexican lunch.

We visit Southwest Georgia about every two months, and have been for about ten years now. The big attraction for us is that thus is where our son and his family live but besides that, we have found lots to recommend here to RVers looking for a great place to get away from the RV travel routine and connect with the true deep south. In the winter, the sun shines most of the time and daytime temps in the 60s are pretty normal. Sometimes even in the 70s. They have to start cutting the grass in March. In the summer, well, it’s a different story, with high heat, humidity and gnats. My suggestion is to avoid the summer. Fall, winter and spring are your best times t visit. Down here, it’s y’all and sure nuff and the kids say yes sir and yes m’aam and Southern hospitality is a character trait so regularly practiced that it becomes contagious to outsiders. People are polite, friendly and aren’t afraid to smile at strangers. Every time we leave here we find ourselves wondering why people are so much ruder and cruder up north. The south has a way of mellowing us out. And we now need regular fixes. There are two big attractions down here that also make this part of the country a great RV destination. Nature and history. Southwest Georgia is heavily agricultural, with peanuts and cotton the top crops. But it also has some great fishing and hunting and is home to one of the nation’s most impressive historical sites. As the Family Motorcoach Association plans its 89th annual Family Reunion and Motorcoach Showcase for March 17-20th in nearby Perry, Ga (about an hour to the northeast), the area we visit near the towns of Albany and Leesburg would make great day trips or, better yet, a trip lasting a couple of days. Albany is known as the Quail Capital of America and it is home to a wide variety of sprawling plantations specializing in quail hunts. I’ve been on a couple of them now, the most recent just this week when we hunted the 2,000 acre Wynfield Plantation. If you are a wingshooter, the scrub pines and fields around Albany offer pristine quail country and there is probably nowhere else in North America that offers better hunts in better conditions. The dogs and the guides and the gear these plantations offer are superb. Alas, this year’s season ends Feb. 28th so those RVers coming to Perry won’t be able to hunt. But they will be able to take advantage of the history. For that, a must visit is to Andersonville, and the National Historic Site that is made up by the Camp Sumter military prison. Andersonville was one of the largest Confederate military prisons during the Civil War. During the 14 months the prison existed, more than 45,000 Union soldiers were confined here. Of these, almost 13,000 die. Today, Andersonville National Historic Site is a memorial to all American prisoners of war throughout the nation’s history. Andersonville National Historic Site began as a stockade built about 18 months before the end of the U.S. Civil War to hold Union Army prisoners captured by Confederate soldiers. Located deep behind Confederate lines, the 26.5-acre Camp Sumter (named for the south Georgia county it occupied) was designed for a maximum of 10,000 prisoners. At its most crowded, it held more than 32,000 men, many of them wounded and starving, in horrific conditions with rampant disease, contaminated water, and only minimal shelter from the blazing sun and the chilling winter rain. Those who died in the prison were buried in a cemetery created just outside the prison walls. Andersonville National Historic Site comprises three distinct components: the former site of Camp Sumter military prison, theAndersonville National Cemetery, and the National Prisoner of War Museum, which opened in 1998 to honor all U.S. prisoners of war in all wars. Andersonville is one of the most impressive places I have visited. The history is deep and rich and I would recommend a stop here to anyone. The park grounds are open daily from 8:00 am until 5:00 p.m. EST. There are numerous special events held throughout the year at the park and in the nearby town of Andersonville, which has a Civil War Village. Andersonville is about a 30 minute drive northeast of Albany. Southwest Georgia also has another history connection. The quint little town of Plains, just west of Andrsonville, is the home of former President Jimmy Carter. There’s an historic site there honoring him. He still lives in the area and is often seen on the streets, and he still teaches Sunday School several times a year at the Maranatha Baptist Church, which welcomes visitors. If fishing is your thing, try the 20-mile long Lake Blackshear, a man made lake on the Flint River, north of Leesburg. It’s a great place for Large Mouth Bass. As to where to stay in Southwest, GA, there are several RV parks listed but the only one I can recommend is the campground at Chehaw Park, a 700 acre wild animal zoo and conservation area in Albany. Chehaw has 44 RV sites with 30 and 50 amp hookups, 14 pull-through sites, a comfort station with laundry, dump station and a group shelter. There are 18 tent sites with 15-amp electric hookups and water. Camper cabins are also available. Southwest Georgia offers a lot to the RVer. It’s only an 90 mile drive to the Florida panhandle and the beaches of the Emerald Coast. I’d suggest a long weekend to take in all that is offered. Peanuts are a big crop down here. Cotton is king in SW Georgia. Me and my grandson, with a guide in between, quail huting at the Wynfield Plantation. The Anderson National Cemetery

Happy New Year! Like many we’ve been reflecting a lot on the places we’ve been and the people we met in 2013. We’ve even drawn up a tentative travel schedule of our planned travel destinations for the new year. But I’ve also come up with some new goals, above and beyond the specifics of where and when we’ll go. I call it my Roadtreking self improvement list. Here are the things I want to learn or do better with in 2014: 1) Stop, look and listen more – Last year was a crazy year, travel wise. We covered over 35,000 miles in our Roadtrek eTrek, criss-crossing North America. While we loved every mile, I have to conceded that we missed a lot. Sometimes I was so focused on where I was headed that I missed things I should have noticed where I was at. I want to slow down, stay longer and more throughly investigate the places we visit. There is no hurry. 2) Take more and better photos – I think I’ll take a photo class this new year. I want to learn more about light and composition and wildlife photography. Same with video and video editing. Most of my skills I picked up as a television and newspaper reporter., on deadline, covering time sensitive news stories. I want to follow along and learn from some of the amazing photographers I’ve met this year. And I want to tell more stories with stills. 3) Read and learn more about the history of the places we visit – Every town has a local history book at the library, a local historian who we can contact to understand what makes the locale unique. The places we visit all have a story to tell and coming to understand that story and use it in enriching the stories I’m telling will be part of my journalistic due diligence this year. 4) Eat better and exercise more – Travel can wreak havoc on our health. We will prepare more of our meals from fresh, healthy whole foods and local veggies and produce in our RV kitchenthis year, instead if eating out. We will avoid at all costs fast food from the chains. I will bring bicycles with us on our trips and we will cycle, hike, kayak and workout in some way every day, no matter where we are, doing something to be physically active to work up a fat-burning sweat. 5) Do more RV mods and maintenance – Inspired by Roadtreking friends like Campskunk and Roger and Lynn Brucker, I will learn more about simple mechanical and fix-it ways I can keep our RV running great. I will also look at ways to maximize interior space through DIY projects. Along with these, I will learn more about how the various components work and what I can do to make them keep working. How about you? What are your RV goals for 2014?

I’ve messed around with some low end flying helicopters before and found them to be lots of fun. But I’ve just, gulp, added a big ticket item to my photographic and video arsenal of tools to be used while Roadtreking: A Phantom 2 drone. I’ll be using it for AVC, or aerial video cinematography. It’s really a flying machine, a quadricopter, with four opposing blades sending it up and our as far as a kilometer (3,240 feet) from where I’m standing with the controller. The unit I bought carries with it a GoPro Hero 3 camera to record high definition video and stills. It transmits those images back to a monitor attached to the controller on the ground so I can see what the GoPro sees from way up there. It also has a gimbal, which holds the camera level in flight, allowing those spectacular images to be steady and clear. I posted a short blurb on Facebook the other day that I got one and I received all sorts of unexpected interest from readers. So I put together the accompanying video. If you’re not interested in the technical stuff, just fast forward to the last couple of minutes to see the aerial video. It was a very gray and cold day in Michigan and those specs of white you see when it was way up there are snow flurries. It wasn’t snowing at ground level. But it was up there. I plan to use my Phantom 2 to supplement the regular videos and photos I do for this blog as we travel around the country reporting about the interesting people and places we find on the road as part of the small motorhome RV lifestyle. Can’t wait until I get somewhere with blue skies and sunshine. There are lots of these kind of quadricopters out there and I looked at several, finally deciding on the Phantom because it seems to be the most popular and affordable among professional photographers and filmmakers. There are several different Phantom models, all made in China by an outfit known as DJI. They are available through a worldwide network of dealers and hobby shops and also on Amazon. The entry-level model is the Phantom 1, which comes with a holder for the camera and the controller. Amazon sells it for $479. You need your own GoPro. There is also the Phantom 2 Vision, which sells for $1,208 on Amazon. It comes with it’s own camera. The unit I bought is the brand new Phantom 2, which, at $869 is said to be ready to fly. You provide the Go Pro Hero 3 camera, but it has the customized DJI Zenmuse H3-2D gimbal to hold it steady. The Phantom 2 only works with the Go Pro Hero 3. Previous versions don’t connect to it or fit the Zenmuse. Besides the GoPro and the Zenmuse gimbal. I added an FPV (First Person Video) system that lets me see what the camera sees via a special seven-inch color monitor that attaches to the controller. When the drone is out there past 1,000 feet or so, it’s often pretty hard to see it with the naked eye. That’s where FPV comes in handy. I have to warn you, despite the manufacturer’s claim that the Phantom 2 is ready to fly out of the box, it really isn’t. Assembling all this and getting it synchronized and tuned is not for the faint hearted. I hired a guy named Zac Davis, who just opened a business called drone-works.com in New York, to assemble and build up my system. Zac builds drone systems for police and fire agencies and really knows his stuff. He put everything together for me, making sure it worked just right. Then he talked me through on the phone on how to assemble it, update the software and firmware and set up and follow the proper pre-flight check list The extra setup and assembly fee he charged to get everything right was well worth it to me. If Zac’s website is not up and running when you check (he was just setting it up when I bought from him), you can reach him through Facebook or the DJI Owners group on Facebook, which is a great resource for more information about drones and the Phantom system. This is going to be a lot of fun. Thought Jennifer just shook her head and said something like “Boys and their toys,” when I came gushing in from my first flight to tell her about it, I must stress that this is not a toy. It takes lots of practice to fly it well and with confidence and because it has such a long range, you need to be very aware of your surroundings and what may be in its flight path or what is on the ground below. Thus, it should not be flown over crowds. Flying time is advertised at about 20 minutes. In the cold, and with the FPV system and the Zenmuse gimbal adding extra weight and battery drain, I got a little over 15 minutes of flight time. I have an extra battery so it’s pretty easy to bring it down, change out the batteries and send it up again. Some very cool safety features are built in. For example, I prefer flying mine in GPS mode. That means it locks in to as many as eight different satellites orbiting the earth. The Phantom “talks” to those satellites and thus knows its exact GPS position at all time. If the battery fails or the connection between the controller and the drone is interrupted, it is programmed to automatically fly right back to my location and safely land. There are advanced modes it can fly in as well, that offer more precise control to those who are experienced in its operation. My skill set isn’t there yet. I’m sticking with GPS mode. Practice makes perfect will be my motto for a few weeks. Everything stows away snug and secure and fits in the ToughCase XR2 padded case I bought from a company named Tradecraft. The case was made for the Phantom 1 system but a sharp knife let me adjust the case openings to fit the Phantom 2 gear. I’ll be taking it everywhere, so look for some fun video as we head out Roadtreking in 2014. My DJI Phanom 2 drone The first flight…the view over my house

I’ve messed around with some low end flying helicopters before and found them to be lots of fun. But I’ve just, gulp, added a big ticket item to my photographic and video arsenal of tools to be used while Roadtreking: A Phantom 2 drone. I’ll be using it for AVC, or aerial video cinematography. It’s really a flying machine, a quadricopter, with four opposing blades sending it up and our as far as a kilometer (3,240 feet) from where I’m standing with the controller. The unit I bought carries with it a GoPro Hero 3 camera to record high definition video and stills. It transmits those images back to a monitor attached to the controller on the ground so I can see what the GoPro sees from way up there. It also has a gimbal, which holds the camera level in flight, allowing those spectacular images to be steady and clear. I posted a short blurb on Facebook the other day that I got one and I received all sorts of unexpected interest from readers. So I put together the accompanying video. If you’re not interested in the technical stuff, just fast forward to the last couple of minutes to see the aerial video. It was a very gray and cold day in Michigan and those specs of white you see when it was way up there are snow flurries. It wasn’t snowing at ground level. But it was up there. I plan to use my Phantom 2 to supplement the regular videos and photos I do for this blog as we travel around the country reporting about the interesting people and places we find on the road as part of the small motorhome RV lifestyle. Can’t wait until I get somewhere with blue skies and sunshine. There are lots of these kind of quadricopters out there and I looked at several, finally deciding on the Phantom because it seems to be the most popular and affordable among professional photographers and filmmakers. There are several different Phantom models, all made in China by an outfit known as DJI. They are available through a worldwide network of dealers and hobby shops and also on Amazon. The entry level model is the Phantom 1, which comes with a holder for the camera and the controller. Amazon sells it for $479. You need your own GoPro. There is also the Phantom 2 Vision, which sells for $1,208 on Amazon. It comes with it’s own camera. The unit I bought is the brand new Phantom 2, which, at $869 is said to be ready to fly. You provide the Go Pro Hero 3 camera, but it has the customized DJI Zenmuse H3-2D gimbal to hold it steady. The Phantom 2 only works with the Go Pro Hero 3. Previous versions don’t connect to it or fit the Zenmuse. Besides the GoPro and the Zenmuse gimbal. I added an FPV (First Person Video) system that lets me see what the camera sees via a special seven-inch color monitor that attaches to the controller. When the drone is out there past 1,000 feet or so, it’s often pretty hard to see it with the naked eye. That’s where FPV comes in handy. I have to warn you, despite the manufacturer’s claim that the Phantom 2 is ready to fly out of the box, it really isn’t. Assembling all this and getting it synchronized and tuned is not for the faint hearted. I hired a guy named Zac Davis, who just opened a business called drone-works.com in New York, to assemble and build up my system. Zac builds drone systems for police and fire agencies and really knows his stuff. He put everything together for me, making sure it worked just right. Then he talked me through on the phone on how to assemble it, update the software and firmware and set up and follow the proper pre-flight check list The extra setup and assembly fee he charged to get everything right was well worth it to me. If Zac’s website is not up and running when you check (he was just setting it up when I bought from him), you can reach him through Facebook or the DJI Owners group on Facebook, which is a great resource for more information about drones and the Phantom system. This is going to be a lot of fun. Thought Jennifer just shook her head and said something like “Boys and their toys,” when I came gushing in from my first flight to tell her about it, I must stress that this is not a toy. It takes lots of practice to fly it well and with confidence and because it has such a long range, you need to be very aware of your surroundings and what may be in its flight path or what is on the ground below. Thus, it should not be flown over crowds. Flying time is advertised at about 20 minutes. In the cold, and with the FPV system and the Zenmuse gimbal adding extra weight and battery drain, I got a little over 15 minutes of flight time. I have an extra battery so it’s pretty easy to bring it down, change out the batteries and send it up again. Some very cool safety features are built in. For example, I prefer flying mine in GPS mode. That means it locks in to as many as eight different satellites orbiting the earth. The Phantom “talks” to those satellites and thus knows its exact GPS position at all time. If the battery fails or the connection between the controller and the drone is interrupted, it is programmed to automatically fly right back to my location and safely land. There are advanced modes it can fly in as well, that offer more precise control to those who are experienced in its operation. My skill set isn’t there yet. I’m sticking with GPS mode. Practice makes perfect will be my motto for a few weeks. Everything stows away snug and secure and fits in the ToughCase XR2 padded case I bought from a company named Tradecraft. The case was made for the Phantom 1 system but a sharp knife let me adjust the case openings to fit the Phantom 2 gear. I’ll be taking it everywhere, so look for some fun video as we head out Roadtreking in 2014. My DJI Phanom 2 drone The first flight…the view over my house

This is only temporary. That’s what I keep telling myself when I look out in in my snowy Michigan driveway and instead of seeing our Roadtrek eTrek out there, we only see an igloo. Look for yourself at the accompanying photos, below. We got our first big snow over the weekend and while it indeed is looking a lot like Christmas, it just seems, well, wrong, to see the RV covered under all that white stuff. I snowblowed the driveway and then took some photos before I removed as much of the snow as I could. The top solar panels are covered in snow, so I doubt they are trickle charging. I will get up there with a ladder today and get them cleared off. I also went through the Radtrek and brought anything with a battery – like my clock and my outdoor/indoor thermometer and my walkie talkies – inside, where the cold won’t drain the batteries. Somehow, even with all that snow, I found beauty in the Roadtrek’s lines. I started the engine and the heater, warmed it up good and hung out in it for a few minutes. Soon, loyal eTrek, as soon as Christmas is over, we will hit the road to warmer climes. I promise.

Taking “selfies” and sharing photos and videos with our smartphones is worldwide phenomenon these days and there are lots of apps available to help you take them and share them. But one in particular stands out to me for RV use. It’s called Voyzee and as you can see in the accompanying video, it lets you select your photos and videos, edit them together, add music as a soundtrack and titles to your images. You can even do your own voiceovers. Then, you share it on social media. You can do all this through your smartphone – be it an iPhone or and Android. Voyzee is free and very simple to work with. RVers could use it to document a trip, or to share the fun they had at a rally. I did a version of this story for my NBC-TV “PC Mike” segment that featured several apps. But since Voyzee is so applicable for RVers, I thought I’d do a roadtreking.com post on just it. I do weekly reports on cool apps for NBC stations across the country. And as I find apps that would also be good for RV travelers, I’ll offer them here, as well. Hope you enjoy this. Voyzee is very easy to use. Just select your photos and videos, write captions, record a soundtrack and you are ready to share.

I’ll say one thing about our traveling this past year: No dust is gathering under the RV. We received our new 2013 Roadtrek eTrek one year ago, in December 2012. When I pulled into the driveway Thursday night after returning from an RV trade show in Louisville, the odometer read 34,156 miles. We take off again today for a weekend trip to Western Michigan where we’ll visit Jeff and Aimee in Kalamazoo, our son and daughter-in-law. We’ll probably sleep in the Roadtrek in his driveway. We love our king-size bed in the back of the RV, and the Webosto heater keeps things comfy cozy. And yes, even though it is winterized, we can use the facilities. We use antifreeze to flush it. We have traveled out of state every month this year, using our sticks and bricks home as a base. And even when at our Michigan home, I often find myself using the Roadtrek as a second vehicle. I am actually more comfortable driving it than our passenger car. Our travel calendar for 2014 starts Jan. 1, when we head south to Florida for the first half of January. Then, after a quick stop home, it’s up to the frozen wilds of Northern Minnesota and a dog sled race that runs to the Canadian border in the Great White North. Every month of the coming year, we have a trip planned. I met with our friends at the Family Motor Coach Association last week at that RV show in Louisville and we made plans to attend and meet folks at rallies in Georgia, Massachusetts and Oregon next year. We have trips planned for several national parks, a tour of the Texas Hill Country, a visit to the Alabama-Mississippi coasts, and, of course, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Jennifer and I are getting requests to make personal appearances and do seminars at RV trade shows across North America and we will try to do as many as we can. Unlike a lot of the full-timers we’ve met, who tend to stay in one place for extended periods of time, we seldom stay more than a few days in any one campsite when we travel. As I look back over 2013, the longest we stayed in any one location was five days, at Yellowstone National Park last summer. And since we don’t have a tow a second vehicle to get around, we use the Roadtrek to explore the areas we visit, returning to our spot at night or, as often happens, finding an even cooler place to stay during our excursions. That’s why we prefer boondocking, or staying in free sites in national forests on on BLM land. That way, if we decide the grass is greener somewhere else, we’re not out money if we decide to stay in the new location. All this is to say, we are more than casual campers, something less than RV full-timers. What should we call what we do? 3/4 timers? All I know is… we sure are having a ball.

Type Bs and Cs, the smaller versions of the rapidly growing motorhome market, are leading the way in the dramatic turnaround in the RV industry thanks to the ever growing number of Baby Boomer retirees used to active, mobile lifestyles. I’ve spent much of the past week here at the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association’s annual trade show in Louisville, Ky., talking to leading recreational vehicle industry experts, trade association officials, manufacturers and dealers and all agreed that sales for 2014 were going to continue spiking up. Jim Hammill, president of Roadtrek Motorhomes, North America’s best-selling Type B maker, said he is projecting 20% growth next year. Dean Corrigal, from Type B and B-plus maker Leisure Travel Vans, showed me their latest models and said his company was also seeing a huge growth in sales as well, also attributing it to the growing number of Baby Boomer retirees and the better fuel economy and the ease in driving offered by small motorhomes. Even Airstream, which targets only the high income luxury Type B market, said demand for B’s had never been higher. The above video showcases why Type B and C RVs are so hot and gives you a look at some of the latest features. The RVIA trade show in Louisville ends Thursday. Leisure Travel Van’s Type B-Plus Unity 2B

The annual Recreation Vehicle Industry Association trade show in Louisville is the big one for the RV industry, providing a sneak peek at what’s new aimed at dealers and industry insiders to help them get ready for the next year. Held at the Massive Kentucky Exposition Center, this year’s 51st edition of the show opens Tuesday. But Jennifer and I got in early for a sneak peek of our own. The RVIA expects more than 8,000 attendees this week. Over 300 acres of display space will be filled by 61 manufacturers and 225 suppliers. On Monday, many of the displays were still being readied. Naturally, we made our way straight to the Roadtrek area where we found six of Roadtrek’s nine different models all polished up and surrounded by rows of bright red holiday poinsettias. Showing off this week in Louisville are the 170 Versatile, the eTrek, the CS Adventurous, the 210 Popular, the 40th Anniversary Special Edition of the 190 Popular and the newest Roadtrek model which goes on sale next year – the TS Adventurous, for Touring Series. We’ll show you more on each of them later this week. All the major Type B small motorhomes are also here, as well as the Tupe A and C coaches, travel-trailers and other RVs. We got a look at one of the more anticipated new models – the just released Winnebago Travato (photo above), a 20-foot long Type B motorhome built on the Dodge Ram Promaster chassis. This one has a rear bed that folds tight along the side, leaving room to load bicycles or golf clubs or other storage items through the rear doors onto the back area of the coach. Once you reach your destination, you haul the storage items outside and fold down the bed for sleeping. There is no sofa area on the Travato and it seems that, while driving, the entire rear section of the motorhome would be pretty useless. Still, it’s interesting to see what the different manufacturers can do with the various chassis. We’ll be here all three days of the show. So stay tuned.

Every year since we were married more than 40 years ago, Jennifer and I have made our way to the little town of Frankenmuth, Mich., at the base of the Michigan Mitt’s Thumb region where we pay a visit to Bronner’s – the world’s largest Christmas store. Doubtless you’ve seen the signs along the interstates, more than 60 of them all over the country, inviting tourists to make the drive. It’s a huge store, over seven acres in size. And it’s crowded, especially at this time of the year. Over the three-day Black Friday weekend, 50,000 people shopped at Bronner’s. Two of them were Jennifer and me, as we do year after year. The very first Christmas tree ornament Jennifer and I bought as we started our married life came from Bronner’s. There have been many since. She often buys one for our kids and grandkids. Themed, of course, based on their interest or hobbies – like a golf ornament for a grandson, a ballerina ornament for our granddaughter, a stethoscope ornament or our doctor-son or a clarinet ornament for our music teacher son-in-law. You get the idea. It’s a Jennifer thing. Me? I like to get a goofy Christmas hat. It’s a Mike thing. Anyway, this year, like every year, she had all sorts of ideas for things to get for our house. But then I pointed out that we had two houses: Our sticks and bricks home downstate and, out in the parking lot, our RV motorhome, our Roadtrek eTrek. I brought it up to the designer folks at Bronner’s. Could they come up with a way to decorate the Roadtrek? They did… as you can see in the accompanying video. When the Roadtrek is in motion, some of the decorations need to be stowed. But most of them, thanks to suction cups and those little plastic tie downs, can be solidly affixed. The only problem I saw is that the Roadtrek decorations inspired Jennifer to add more still more bulbs and ornaments to the boxes of Christmas do-dads we already have at home and which she will soon have me hauling up to also get the house ready for the holiday. No problem. Happy wife. Happy life. And my wife loves Christmas decorating. Meantime, summer or winter, Bronner’s and Frankenmuth make for a great RV trip. There are two fully equipped campgrounds within spitting distance of the store. They are, alas, closed this time of the year. But there are lots of RV spaces in the Bronner’s parking lot, although no overnight stays are allowed. The store is open every day of the year except Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day and Easter Sunday. Merry Christmas, everyone. No, the star isn’t part of our RV! We parked underneath it for the decorating. But it does look cool.

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 bought. If so, we would have purchased a Roadtrek a full year before we did. The best way to find rentals is through the Roadtrek dealer network. You can find the closest one to you here. Meantime, if you have a question for us to answer in a future episode of How We Roll in our RV, just send it to openmike@fmca.com. And for a complete archive of all our How We Roll in our RV segments, click here.