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Roadtrekingmike

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  1. Roadtrekingmike
    I bet many reading this have not heard of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It’s probably not on many RVer’s bucket list.
    It should be.
    Invariably, it is compared to its more famous Big Brother, the Grand Canyon. But while the Grand Canyon is deeper (6,000 feet at its greatest depth) and longer (277 miles), the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is an amazing tourist attraction for RVers that is often overlooked because it isn’t surrounded by highly commercialized parks and campgrounds that cater to big box Type A RVs.
    While there are a few campsites that have electricity along Loop B – where we stayed – there are no flush toilets and no water hooks and no dump stations in the national park.
    To get to the campground or the best canyon views, you have to drive a very steep mountain road off Highway 50 east of Montrose. There is no cell service, Wi-Fi or Internet – which for me meant that when I updated this blog each day I had to drive down the mountain almost into town to get a decent enough signal to upload my photos.
    But we were thrilled by our stay there.
    Black Canyon is incredibly deep and sheer, with plunging cliffs, soaring buttresses and a thundering river. At Warner Point, it’s deepest, it measures 2,722 feet. It stretches for 48 miles across southern Colorado, 14 miles of which are in the the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and six of which are easily accessible by a paved road along the southern rim. The steep walls shadow sunlight and the canyon walls appear dark, even black, hence the name.
    The National Park Service runs frequent programs during the day for visitors at many of the canyon overlooks, teaching about the geology and history of the place. At night, in a charming little amphitheater between the campground loops, they put on evening shows several times each week during the summer season. All six adults, two kids and three dogs in our group attended the “Predator or Prey” talk one night, learning that you can tell which of the two an animal is by the placement of the eyes.
    “Eyes on the side, they run and hide. Eyes in front, they hunt,” we learned.
    Our row was given a bear skull as an example to hold and pass around. Tai, our Norwegian Elkhoud, was dozing when it went by. He did a quick doubletake and leapt to his feet, his eyes bright with desire. Tai is a predator.
    Later, when all the dogs caught whiff of a mule deer nibbling on the scrub oak on the edge of the amphitheater, their classification as predators was triple confirmed.
    The mule deer were all over the campground, day and night, wandering from site to site, paying little mind to people or dogs. There are also bear in the area and bear proof food storage boxes are located by each site.
    The hiking was spectacular. Located right off the campground was the Rock Rim Trail, which has you walking along the very edge of the canyon. At 8,500 feet, even a couple mile hike can be exhausting, especially after mid morning when the temperatures begin to climb.
    At night, the high desert quickly gives off its heat and we all slept comfortably with just the windows open.
    All of us took turns using the car to drive the six mile access road and get out at the numerous overlooks, located from a few yards to 600 plus yards from the road. Each view was different, yet equally breathtaking, with the swift moving Gunnison River twisting and turning far below.
    The mountain road that takes you to the campground is steep but can handle every type of motorhome, including Class As. I saw several driving the rim road and making leisurely day trips out of the drive. The 88 camping sites on the south rim all have tables and fire circles with grill tops. The rangers do not recommend any RV over 35 feet in length. There are three loops for camping. Only Loop B has electric hookups, at $18 a night. All other spots are $12 a night.
    There are also 13 sites on the North Rim. But the south has the most accessible views of the canyon.
    The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is another reason why we so much appreciate out National Parks. If you plan an RV trip there, budget three days to fully explore it.
    You can actually float down parts of the Gunnison River on a ranger guided pontoon boat tour. To get there from the campground you make 45 minute drive down the East Access Road if you have a car. It’s a very steep drop in elevation so check with the ranger for the latest conditions. They do not recommend vehicles longer than 22 feet try that drive.
    If the boat tour appeals to you, but you want to drive your motorhome to the boarding spot, you need to get back down the mountain to Highway 50 and head about 30 miles east to milepost 130.
    We didn’t have tome for the boat trip this time.
    Notice I said this time.
    Jennifer and I want to return to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Its that cool. And next time, we’ll also see the canyon from below.
  2. Roadtrekingmike
    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.

  3. Roadtrekingmike
    Time to re-winterize
    It got down to 21 degrees as we spent the night in Kentucky on the way back to Michigan from a brief January visit to Florida and some southern states.
    Guess it’s time to find some pink stuff and re-winterize. Sigh.
    That warmer weather down south sure was nice.
    Tai loved being out in the cold night air with the gusto that only a double coated Norwegian Elkhound can exhibit. I had trouble getting him to come inside for the night.
    We slept comfortably in our Roadtrek eTrek, with the amazingly efficient and quiet  Webasto diesel heater keeping the chill away. Since I have most of the water drained, I used the forced air setting instead of hot eater heat.
    We overnighted in the Kentucky Horse Park, where we stayed on the way down.
    We drove a total of 568 miles yesterday. I did 290 of them and I am so excited to report than Jen drove 278 miles.
    She loves driving the eTrek… she even drove through the mountains along the Northern Tennessee, southern Kentucky border… at night.
    Im thinking of stopping at the big Arbogast RV center north of Dayton to get my antifreeze.
    My next trip will be in a couple of weeks to even colder weather – the Michigan UP200 dogsled race in Marquette, MI. So last night was a good shakedown test of how warm we will be.
     
    Roadtreking - A Journalist takes up the RV lifestyle - People and Places Encountered on the Open Road


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  4. Roadtrekingmike
    The one thing we have learned on this Verizon Great Lakes Shoreline Roadtreking Tour is that very often, a surprise is literally around the next corner.
    So it was when we got off the car ferry in Manitowoc, WI, directly across Lake Michigan from Ludington, MI
    As we made a right turn out of the parking lot, we spotted a submarine. What on earth is a submarine doing in Manitowoc, WS? We had to find out. The sub is docked out front of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, a fascinating place dedicated to the maritime history of Wisconsin and the Great Lakes region.
    It turns out that the city of Manitowoc, WI built 28 sumarines for service in World War II. In all, more than 7,000 men and women worked around the clock, 365 days a year to build some of the best submarines in the Navy. Of the 28 submarines, 25 were built in time to see action during the war. Together they sank 132 Japanese ships.
    Just up the shoreline in Two Rivers, WI, we found another place of great historical significance about something very near and dear to us. Twi Rivers is recognized by the Wisconsin State Historical Society as the REAL birthplace of the ice cream sundae.
    I stress REAL because lots of other communities around the country have tried to claim that title. But well-known American language authority, columnist and author H.L. Mencken identified Two Rivers as the birthplace of the sundae. The claim is also supported by a 1929 newspaper interview in which the inventor recalls how the sundae came about.
    For me, it was a chance to visit the Ice Cream Sundae Museum there and order one. It was a piece of art. Two scoops of vanilla ice cream with caramel and chocolate sauce, whipped cream and a maraschino cherry.
    I love my job.
    Heading south, we came to Wisconsin Cheese country. Called America’s dairy state, Wisconsin has a rich tradition of cheese making. In the crossroads town of Gibbsville, the VanTatenhove family has owned place and been making cheese for generations. I sampled the extra sharp cheddar.
    Have I told you I love my job?
    Here’s the video we put together for this:
    A lot of folks have emailed me asking how we find all the interesting spots we’ve been visiting. Many times, it’s just a roadside sign or an email suggestion from a reader or our curiosity. But I have some apps on my smartphone that we use. Thanks to the solid Verizon 4g LTE signal we’ve had for most of the tour, those apps have really helped.
    Here are the three apps I’ve used the most:
    Roadtrippers- Search along a route or plan a road trip with their online trip planner for free, then sync it with your smartphone for turn-by-turn navigation. Roadtrippers is a powerful route planner, perfect as a RV trip planner or family trip planner, listing all the cool, offbeat and major tourist events for you to visit on your roadtrip.
    Field Trip – This is a very handy and totally free app from Google for the iPhone and Android devices. The app bills itself as a tool to find cool, hidden, and unique things in the world around you. And that it does, Field Trip give you inside info on everything from local history to the latest and best places to shop, eat, and have fun. You select the local feeds you like and the information pops up on your phone automatically, as you walk or drive. When you get close to something interesting, it will notify you and if you have a headset or bluetooth connected, it can even read the info to you.
    Around Me App. It is all about providing local info. Whatever you’re looking for -grocery stores, banks, hospitals, gas stations, movie theatres. This is really handy when you travel, but surprisingly useful locally, where I always seem to find cool things nearby that I didn’t know about. It’s free for Apple, Android and Windows devices and smartphones.

    The city of Manitowoc, Wisc., built 28 submarines during World War II and has a great maritime museum.

    Lake Michigan shoreline
  5. Roadtrekingmike
    One of the things about traveling by RV that makes it so much fun is the serendipity, the unscheduled things that you just happen upon and, in the moment, take advantage of because, with an RV, you can.
    Such was the town of Glenwood Springs along I-70 180 miles west of Denver, home of the world’s largest hot springs pool.
    The hot mineral water has been drawing visitors from all over the world since 1888, when a resort and original spa officially opened for business. But even before that, the Ute Indians made yearly pilgrimages to the springs which they considered to be sacred.
    lenwood Springs was originally known as “Defiance”. Defiance was established in 1883, a camp of tents, saloons, and brothels with an increasing amount of cabins and lodging establishments. It was populated with the expected crowd of gamblers, gunslingers and prostitutes. Wild West legend Doc Holliday of the Gunfight at the OK Coral fame spent the final months of his life in Glenwood Springs and is buried in the town’s original Pioneer Cemetery. Suffering from tuberculosis, he hoped the healing waters would extend his life. President Teddy Roosevelt spent an entire summer vacation living out of the historic Hotel Colorado near the springs.
    Today, the hot springs have been turned into a community swimming pool. For$18, you can spend the day in it. The big pool is the size of a football field and is 90 – 93 degrees Fahrenheit, all year long. A
    smaller therapy pool is between 102 and 104 degrees Fahrenheit and has bubble chairs and submerged marble benches. There are two water slides and a kiddie pool.
    As the kids, in laws and grandkids swam in the hot springs pool, Jennifer and I dog sat Tai, Sequoia and Charlie in our Roadtrek eTrek, running the air conditioner full blast in the parking lot. It was a tight squeeze. The outside temperature was in the low nineties.
    It was in Glenwood Springs after the hot springs swim that we said goodbye to Jeff and Aimee, who had to return to Michigan for their jobs a little earlier than the rest of us. Daughter Wendy and Dan Bowyer and granddaughters Hua Hua and Rachel remained with us, staying in the 21 foot travel trailer we are hauling with our Roadtrek.
    We overnighted at the Glenwood Canyon Resort RV Park, located right off the next exit east from the spa on I-70.
    A spot with full hookup cost us some big bucks. There is a $54 campsite fee that covers two people, and then they charge $5 for every other person over five years of age and $5 per dog. Our total bill was $84, plus tax. Yikes. This is a pretty ritzy area and the even the camping fees reflect it.
    But it is also a resort with deluxe cabins, white water rafting, zip lines and a nice restaurant/bar.
    Best of all, the resort and it’s RV park is right on the Colorado River, surrounded by towering canyon walls. Tenters, Class B and C RV owners will want to take spots on the lower level, along the river, which flows white water fast ten feet away from your spot.
    When we checked in at the front desk, I noticed a bunch of earplugs, free for campers.
    “For the river noise?” I asked, amazed that someone wouldn’t like the sound of rushing water.
    “No, the trains,” answered the clerk.
    Right on the opposite side of the river is a railroad track that, during our stay, carried three high speed trains in the middle of the night. Mercifully, they don’t sound their horns. But the noise would definitely wake all but a very sound sleeper.
    The river is a great place to fish. A young boy from Texas had a stringer full of large rainbow trout.
    We walked down to it at night and sat on a picnic table, mesmerized by the swift water flowing past, sparking like diamonds in fading rays of the setting sun.
    Jen and I had planned on unhitching the trailer and going back to the hot springs to swim, leaving Tai with the with rest of the family. But the canyon RV campsite was so alluring and the river so strong a draw that we just stayed and stared at the beauty of the place.
    We spent just one night in the area. Though unplanned for us, it was a great decision.
    If you’re coming this way, plan it. You may even want to spend two nights.
  6. Roadtrekingmike
    It’s pretty amazing what a few hundred miles can do to the view. That was driven home to us today as we made our way across South Dakota, taking in the vast green prairie and its lush grasslands, the wind-carved canyons, ravines and hoodoos of the Badlands and the rolling thick pine forests of the Black Hills.


    Our Roadtrek heads across South Dakota, en route to FMCA'S Family Reunion and Motorhome Showcase in Gillette, Wyo.I’d send along a video but I’m barely able to get a cell signal from our camping spot in the Custer State Park.
    It was like a movie playing on the other side of the Roadtrek’s windshield as we headed out I-90 from Mitchell, taking the bypass through the Badlands National Park and a great two-lane to Rapid City and then south to Custer.


    Stockade Lake in the Custer State ForestStorms swept across the prairie mid-afternoon and I pulled into a rest area to watch the lightning and rainclouds under the big sky. The drumming rain on the RV roof was so soothing Jennifer and I stretched out on the rear bed and slept for an hour. When we woke, the sun was out again.
    The Custer State Park consistently ranks as one of America’s best state parks and we were impressed by the roomy, secluded spot we got, just a couple hundred yards from Stockade Lake.


    Our campsite at Custer State ParkTomorrow, we’ll do the wildlife loop drive to check out the Bison, Bighorn Sheep, Pronghorn Antelope and Elk that inhabit this vast 71,000-acre park.
    Jennifer is a little miffed at me tonight. We hiked up and down several hills to get to the lake and grabbed armfuls of fallen pine branches for our campfire. When we returned to camp she started browsing through the park brochure, only to find out that the park has lots of ticks and plenty of timber rattlesnakes.
    My traipsing in the thick woods with shorts instead of long pants probably wasn’t one of my brighter ideas. Jennifer had the good sense to put on a pair of jeans.
    But the clean smell of the forest, the sound of the wind rustling through the pines and the bright stars overhead tonight will hopefully make her forget my foolhardy exuberance.
    Unless I start itching from a tick bite.
    About the Author: Mike Wendland is a veteran journalist who travels the country in a Roadtrek Type B motorhome, accompanied by his wife, Jennifer, and their Norweigian elkhound, Tai. Mike is an FMCA member (F426141) and is FMCA's official on-the-road reporter. He enjoys camping (obviously), hiking, biking, fitness, photography, video editing and all things dealing with technology. His "PC MIke" technology segments are distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations. More from this author. Reach mike at openmike@fmca.com.
  7. Roadtrekingmike
    Yellowstone National Park is one of our most favorite places to RV in all of North America. It draws us back and its sheer size and beauty is breathtaking.
    We couldn’t resist sharing the wildflowers with you. I don’t know the names of them. But I do know they are stunningly beautiful. I think you’ll agree.
    As macro as the place is, it is also meant to be seen on the micro level, close up.
    So it was on our most recent trip, which just happened to correspond to the height of the spring wildflower season. Every color of the palette was visible, in forests, meadows and sagebrush-steppe.
    http://youtu.be/_-IFQxwJmpQ
    The place was literally ablaze with wildflowers. We saw dozens of different varieties and colors. The National Park Service tells us that Yellowstone is home to more than 1,350 species. There is white mule’s-ears and phlox, yellow arrowleaf balsamroot, blue penstemon and lupine, and Indian paintbrush’s glorious reds and oranges. Magenta shooting stars, purple sugarbowls, delicate white woodland stars and leopard lilies So we missed a lot,
    We photographed as many as we saw, as you can see in the video.
  8. Roadtrekingmike
    http://youtu.be/tTDWY2plCBs
    It's a long way to Michigan's UP -- 450 miles from my house north of Detroit to Marquette, our destination for the big UP200 dog sled race this weekend. For me, besides the fun of this big event – a qualifier race for Alaska’s famed Idiatrod – it was also a chance to test out the new Roadtrek eTrek in the winter.
    One thing we learned. Plan on extra time at rest stops. Once people see the eTrek, they ask questions. And want a tour. At the Linwood Rest Stop, two brothers, Dave and Jerry Banks, walked all around the eTrek, looking it over. Finally, they knocked on the door and asked for a tour. Jennifer delights in showing it off and was only too happy to oblige.
    As we got back on the road and continued north on I-75, driving conditions began to deteriorate fast. North of Gaylord, a stiff crosswind started buffeting us. But the Mercedes Sprinter-based Roadtrek clung to the road better than my car would have.
    By the time we crossed the Mackinac Bridge, snow fog had set in. The bridge, one of the longest suspension bridges in the world, is over five miles long, separating Michigan's Lower Peninsula from the Upper Peninsula (the UP).
    Road conditions went from bad to worse. It's a good thing the speed limit in the UP is 55. In the winter, especially as lake effect snow blows in off Lake Superior, whiteouts can happen fast.
    There was some pretty dicey weather on state Highway 28 and as we rolled into Marquette about 8:30PM, I was glad to call it quits. We headed straight for the headquarters for the race, at the local Holiday Inn.
    We are not spending the night in the RV. Because it is winterized, there's no on board water. That means no showers. And since we have our travel writer hats on this weekend covering the race, we opted to get a room as we need to look sharp.
    Besides, no campgrounds are open up here this time of year and tonight's windchill is minus 8 degrees Fahrenheit.
    Before heading inside to edit ths piece, we took a stroll through the parking lot.
    Mushers had their sled dogs out for dinner and a little exercise. The dogs are all excited and anxious to pull.
    Mushers have come from all over North America to compete under some pretty grueling wilderness conditions. They’ll go 234 miles from Marquette east to Grand Marais and then back. They are pretty much all on their own out there. A couple years back, a musher and his team were lost after plunging through a partially fronzen lake.
    Ten to 14 inches of lake effect snow is predicted for parts of the course this weekend.
    We’ll use the eTrek to follow the course. It will be a warming house for us and a mobile production van as we shoot and edit our stories.
    For tonight, we parked the Roadtrek behind a snowbank , surrounded by sled dogs and snowmobiles. The race starts tomorrow night.
  9. Roadtrekingmike
    We all have places we want to see, to explore and experience. A bucket list. At the 40th Anniversary rally of Roadtrek Motorhomes in Branson, Mo., no matter how
    experienced a traveler we found, we also found that every traveler still has a bucket list.
    Just ask the question … what’s on your bucket list? You’ll immediately get an answer.
    Watch the video below. Is your bucket place dream trip mentioned?
    http://youtu.be/zGnQS8tUNvg
    About the Author: Mike Wendland is a veteran journalist who travels the country in a Roadtrek Type B motorhome, accompanied by his wife, Jennifer, and their Norweigian elkhound, Tai. Mike is an FMCA member (F426141) and is FMCA's official on-the-road reporter. He enjoys camping (obviously), hiking, biking, fitness, photography, video editing and all things dealing with technology. His "PC MIke" technology segments are distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations. More from this author. Reach mike at openmike@fmca.com.
  11. Roadtrekingmike

    What Offseason?

    By Roadtrekingmike,

    We just came back from our latest trip, a 1,000 mile journey that took us to northeastern Pennsylvania and back.
    We had spent exactly one day at our Michigan home before leaving for that trip, returning from a 2,000 mile journey up to the north shore of Lake Superior the week before.
    We leave in about 10 days for Mississippi, the Gulf Coast and Florida.
    In fact, since the so-called RV season ended in October, we’re averaging two long trips a month.
    That’s about what we do during the summer.
    I’m thinking that at least for Jennifer and I, there has is no off season.
    We are about to turn 40,000 miles on the Roadtrek eTrek we took possession of in December 2012.
    We’ve averaged over 3,300 miles each month. Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall.
    The only real changes over warm weather RVing for us is that we have no water in the tanks – it would freeze; We use antifreeze to flush the toilet and, instead of the air conditioner, we are running the heater. Oh yeah, on many mornings we’ve had to brush snow off the windshield and the solar panels up off the roof.
    I wonder how many are like us, RVing all year round. No matter the weather.
    Have you been traveling this winter? If so, share below in comments.
  12. Roadtrekingmike
    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/VKhQzs1acJk
  13. Roadtrekingmike
    Our latest interview is with …ta da … my wife, Jennifer, as suggested by various readers when I asked for ideas on who they’d next like me to interview.
    And in this one, Jennifer opens up and tells it like it is when she is asked not what her greatest joys are while traveling, but what bugs her the most.
    I asked the questions you sent me.

    Her chief frustrations: Finding good food on the road. A refrigerator that is too small and what to do with dirty laundry.
    We’re using Google Hangouts On Air to do these interviews. Let me know who you’d like me to interview next and Ill see if they’ll agree.
    You can be alerted when our next Hangout will be and even join in live by through my Google + page at plus.google.com/+MikeWendlandontheroad Add me to your circles.
    Meantime, how about you? What are your greatest RV frustrations?
  14. Roadtrekingmike
    The people who live in southwest Colorado have big smiles on their faces these days.
    Us, camped for our last day in the knock-your-socks-off beautiful Mesa Verde National Forest before moving on to Telluride and a few more spots, not so much. t
    The locals are grinning because the risk of wildfires - which devastated the region last year – is way down now. We’re not quite as appreciative because our plans were altered by a day of mountain monsoons.
    We had planned to do some video and still beauty photos of our Roadtrek eTrek navigating the winding mountain roads overlooking spectacular valley and canyon vistas.
    Before setting out, I had to move the travel trailer my daughter and her family is using from their full hookup site to a dry camping spot across the road. That went fairly easy as I hooked it up to the Roadtrek and then backed it into a new spot. Im getting used to backing the trailer now. Not good, but used to it. Close enough to at least get the job done.
    Then my son moved his borrowed Roadtrek SS Ideal across the street, too. A balky sofa bed motor that has given us trouble since we left Michigan a week ago completely stopped working and we spent two hours playing RV mechanic until we got the bed to once again go down.
    Then, the bright blue skies suddenly rolled up and the dark grey cloud rolled in… and emptied.
    First the rain came from the west. Then it circled round and came from the east. It slammed into us in wind-driven sheets. The temperature dropped from the mid seventies to 49 degrees. This at 4PM, and in a matter of 30 minutes or so.
    So we have spent the last few hours watching the storms move over the mountains. Pretty awesome, really. The lightning strikes are longer and brighter the thunder more booming as it reverberated through the canyon.
    So we have made the best of it. A delight of this place are the deer which are everywhere and pretty much oblivious of people. They don’t even seem very concerned about our dogs, who are now so used to seeing them they don’t even bark. Hua Hua and Rachel drew pictures of them and we have them taped to a cabinet in the Roadtrek until we get home and transfer them to the refrigerator.
    Last night, my daughter-in-law Amy spotted Brown Sugar, a little two-year-old black bear cub abandoned with her brother, Mohawk, by their mother. By the time the rest of us got to the spot, the bear had moved on.
    For awhile this afternoon during the rains, I hung with my two grandaughters in the back of the Roadtrek. I wanted to teach them “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” but Jennifer insisted we change it to “99 Bottles of Pop on the Wall.” It isn’t the same thing. They got bored with that by the time we were in the sixties. So we surfed the net for a while on the park’s excellent WiFi system. Then they went back to their trailer.
    For me, it was a great excuse for a nap.
    The monsoons seem to be lifting and the temperature is starting to rise again.
    One thing about the mountains. The weather changes like a snap of a finger.
    And frowns can turn to smiles just as fast.
    That’s the great thing about RV vacations.
    It’s all good, isn’t it? Check out the rainbow.
  15. Roadtrekingmike
    Halloween RV Campouts
    The month of October has surprisingly become huge for RV campgrounds, resorts and parks around the U.S. thanks to Halloween. Maybe because for many in the northern states, its a...
    Roadtreking : The RV Lifestyle Blog - Traveling North America in a small motorhome


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  16. Roadtrekingmike
    Apps for on the road RV travel
    The RV season is in full swing now with folks traveling to rallies, vacations and long weekend getaways. To help make those trips more fun and travel more convenient, I thought I’d share three more fun apps and web tools that I’ve been having fun with lately. This report was put together for my other [...]
    Roadtreking | A journalist's RV travels across North America - Traveling North America in search of interesting people and places


    <a href="http://Roadtreking.com/apps-for-on-the-road-rv-travel/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=apps-for-on-the-road-rv-travel">Source</a>
  17. Roadtrekingmike
    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 temperatures down south. Most, probably, to Florida and the gulf states, some to the Southwest or Texas hill country.
    They’re really the second wave of snowbirds. The first departed in late October or early November. This current migration waited till Christmas so they could spend time with kids and grandkids. Happens every year about this time.
    Heck, I’ll be joining them in a week on our first trip of 2013, heading to cover some RV stories along the Great Snowbird Route that will end us in Tampa, FL on Jan 15 for the start of the huge Florida RV Supershow at the Florida State Fairgrounds. This is one of the nation’s biggest, big for the industry and big for consumers. I’ll do several video reports from there, as well as things we run across in Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia.

    But I’m making plans for lots more. From February 13-18, I want to try out cold – really cold – camping by heading to the wilds of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to do a video report about the UP200, one of America’s premier 12-dog, mid-distance sled dog races thatdraws mushers from around the United States and Canada because it is a qualifying race for Alaska’s famed Iditarod.
    Then there are the rallies and special gatherings. I have two must-attends. The first is the anniversary rally in Branson, MO May 20-24 that celebrates the 40th anniversary of the founding of Roadtrek Motorhomes. The second is the Family Motor Coach Association’s Family Reunion and Motorhome Showcase June 19 to 22, 2013, at CAM-PLEX in Gillette, Wyoming. And, heck, while I’m out there that far west, might as well swing around and visit Yellowstone National park, the Tetons and maybe a couple of other national parks.
    I want to find time to get to New England, too. That was on my 2012 bucket list but, well, you know, so many places, so little time. It’s a must visit this year.
    I devoted my January Open Mike column in Family Motor Coaching magazine writing about my top 10 RV resolutions for the year. They include things like the trips above, eating right and exercising on the road, seeing more of Canada and volunteering more.

    In regards to the later, I have already joined the Emergency Communications team my community’s local Homeland Security Department by installing an amateur radio station (I’m K8ZRH) in my Roadtrek e-Trek to assist in local emergencies and disasters. The e-Trek is perfect for such a role because it can totally power itself with a bank of eight AGM batteries, a rooftop solar array capable of putting out 240 watts, a 5000 watt inverter for 110 appliances and a diesel system that works as a generator to very quickly charge the system, it means that we can run everything we need â€" all the radio gear, plus heat, air conditioning, TV, DVD, the water pump, even the mircowave â€" for up to nine hours without having to start the engine to charge those batteries. That’s running everything, all at once.
    I also hope to meet many of my readers over the next year. Between this blog, our very active Facebook Page and the Roadtreking RV Newsletter, I have come to know many of you as friends and I hope that we can share a campfire this new year. Jennifer and I had no idea how this new RV lifestyle would influence our life. I’m a journalist at heart, I love telling stories and our RV takes us to people and places we never would encounter otherwise. But this blog and my other RV writing and video reporting have taken off so fast that we’re still a little breathless, happy and feeling very blessed.
    I can’t wait to see what 2013 brings.
    To all of you… Happy New Year! See you out there.
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  18. Roadtrekingmike
    Remember that new Samsung Galaxy 4S that I wrote about two weeks ago -- RVing and My New Smartphone -- Well, that smartphone did a dumb thing: It up and died on me.
    It won’t charge, won’t power up and is totally dead. And I’m in the middle of a two-week RV trip in the Rockies.
    I tried all the reset tricks, like removing the battery. Its certifiably dead.
    Yesterday was the first time in two decades that I was without a cell phone and … I survived.
    I had my calls forwarded to Jennifer Wendland’s iPhone but if you message me, know I won’t get it. And if you’ve been following our travels on that little intetactive map over on the right sidebar, it is no longer functioning.
    It looks like I can’t get a replacement until I get back home to Michigan and my Verizon dealer.
    My iPhone never failed ... ever…the Samsung died in two weeks. Maybe I need to go back to Apple.
  19. Roadtrekingmike
    Lots of people have asked how I’m filing my Great Lakes Shoreline Tour reports and what tech gear I have on our Roadtrek Etrek.
    It was raining yesterday and we were stuck in cam so I did a short little video to show some of the gear I'm using.

    I’ll do more and show the drone and some other gadgets and gizmos in future reports, but right now, here’s what was handy as I was shooting the report.
    The Wilson Sleek cell phone booster I use comes with a small magnetic mount antenna, a couple of inches long. I replaced it with a longer one I found on Amazon that I have up on the roof of our Roadtrek Etrek. See the picture below.
    By the way, all the gear you see here – with the exception of the MiFi card – is my own, purchased by me at full retail. Verizon, which is sponsoring the Great Lakes Shoreline tour and compensates me for reports that appear on their corporate blog, provided the Mifi card and covers my data fees.
    Good thing, too, because last month in Canada, I forgot to turn roaming data off and racked up $3,000 in wireless fees during a two-week stay. But that’s another story and a mistake I won’t make again.

    I replaced the Wilson Sleek cell phone antenna with a longer one, on the roof of the motorhome.
  20. Roadtrekingmike
    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 fascinating historic displays we’ve seen anywhere. Admission is $12 and a bargain at that price. The monument is built literally across the interstate, spanning north the west and east bound lanes. Visitors walk above and across the interstate inside a covered archway, watching an interactive multimedia display that documents the first RV â€" the covered wagon which opened up the country.
    It’s hard to believe how difficult this migration must have been, or how big it was.
    But From 1843 to 1869, the archway folks tell us, nearly half a million men, women and children rode and walked the trails to the West Coast. The distance was vast, the prairie endless, the sky overwhelming and the mountains and wildlife were unlike anything they had ever seen.
    As the early settlers established their homesteads, following roughly their same route came the railroads, and then automobiles on the Lincoln Highway, America’s first transcontinental road; I-80, the nation’s first interstate.
    Mark down the archway as a must visit as you visit in a different sort of covered wagon… the RV.
    Roadtreking - A Journalist takes up the RV lifestyle - People and Places Encountered on the Open Road
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  21. Roadtrekingmike
    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.
    But you may also want to take it to a dealer.
    That’s what I did, taking my Roadtrek RS-Adventurous to American RV in Grand Rapids, MI, where I met up with Service Tech Hank Nuiver, who gave my RV the deluxe winterizing package.
    We videotaped every step of the process.
    Once caution: Hank uses an air compressor to blow out the water from the lines. But he does so at low pressure – 40 to 50 pounds, instead by a pressure regulator. Any pressure more than than, he warns, has the potential to damage parts and fittings.
    Something else I appreciate: I can use my RV in the winter. Take fresh water in bottles and when use use the toilet, chase it down with some anti freeze. There’s no problem, says Hank, in camping all winter long.
    This video is long, over 16 minutes. But hopefully, it will help you know what to do.
     
    Roadtreking - A Journalist takes up the RV lifestyle - People and Places Encountered on the Open Road


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  23. Roadtrekingmike
    We’re on a we’re-so-tired-of-winter search for spring.
    It has not been easy. It took almost 800 miles, heading straight down I-75 from our Michigan home.
    At the Wal-Mart parking lot where we spent the first night in Findlay, Ohio, we parked next to a pile of snow. The overnight temps were in the upper 20s. This was our first time at a Wal-Mart. Except for a couple of big trucks, we were pretty much alone. It was not particularly scenic and there was lots of traffic noise. “You don’t need an alarm clock to get up when you camp at Wal-Mart,” noted Jennifer as we rolled up the blinds and got ready to take off at daybreak the next morning. Still when you are just stopping to sleep and hitting the road early the next day, it sure beats a $30 campground fee.
    As we set off, I noted there was still some rooftop ice and snow on top of our RV. Winter was still clinging to us. It finally melted shortly after we crossed over into Kentucky.Wal-Mart
    But as we moved south through Tennessee, the mountains were still snow coated. A late winter storm earlier in the week had hit the area with a half-foot of snow. Miniature waterfalls were frozen into long icicles along the sheer rock face where it had been carved off for the road.
    Finally, south of Knoxville, the snow was gone from the ground. But the temperatures were barely above 40.
    In Georgia, by late afternoon, they warmed to the low 50′s.
    And this morning, on a walk around the Red Top Mountain State Park about 45 miles north of Atlanta, we found the first official sign of spring.
    A lone daffodil, poking up between some pine seedlings, a few hundred feet from our camp spot.
    This is a beautiful state park, 12,000 acres that wrap around Lake Allatoona. The camping spots are spacious, shaded by tall pines. The rocky lakeshore is inviting. We’d stay longer is we didn’t have some things scheduled for the next couple of days.
    The Roadtrek eTrek has been plenty warm at night. We can’t believe how well we sleep in it.
    We are now heading to a couple other spots in Georgia, to visit with family and celebrate a son’s birthday. Then, next week, Florida.
    But we are de-winterizing the RV, confident now, we’re headed in the right direction.
    South.
  24. Roadtrekingmike
    Cool things seen at the Pomona RV show
    The 2014 Pomona RV show in California has lots to see. Here – in reverse order – are five things I thought were really cool when I visited last weekend. ...
    Roadtreking : The RV Lifestyle Blog - Traveling North America in a small motorhome


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  25. Roadtrekingmike
    Episode 3 of Roadtreking the RV Podcast
    It’s time for a new edition of Roadtreking- The RV Podcast. I continue to be overwhelmed by the positive response we’ve had to the first two episodes. I hope you...
    Roadtreking : The RV Lifestyle Blog - Traveling North America in a small motorhome


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