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Roadtrekingmike

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Blog Entries posted by Roadtrekingmike

  1. Roadtrekingmike
    RVers think of the Mercedes Sprinter van as a great motorhome. Indeed, the resurgence of the RV industry and the boom in Class B sales can largely be traced to the popularity of Sprinter-based RVs, like those sold by Roadtrek and other RV makers.
    But for the past several months in in the service bays of American RV in Grand Rapids, MI, a stripped down Sprinter van has been converted into something much more: A mobile medical suite to be sent to Haiti as part of a church mission project.
    jonandhank“This is one of the most rewarding projects I’ve ever undertaken,” says Jon Sikkes, one of several American RV technicians who have spent over 200 hours on the project.
    His partner, Hank Nuiver, says the van has had two examination rooms built for doctors, as well as sinks, and fresh and waste water tanks. A diesel generator will provide power in remote locations and help the rooftop air conditioner make it comfortable and cool to work in.
    The project is spearheaded by Calvary Christian Reformed Church in Holland, which has been sending mission teams to Haiti since the great earthquake of 2010. The medical needs there are huge. In Haiti, there is one doctor for every 10,000 people and most people have no transportation. So, the church raised over $150,000 to purchase the van and American RV did the build-out.
    “This was something we were delighted to do, using our talents to help people who desperately need medial care,” says Chad Neff, general manager of American RV. “To be a part of such a great undertaking is very humbling. We’re honored to be a part of this project.”
    Calvary is partnering with STEP Seminary, located in Fort Mercredi, Haiti.Fort Mercredi has approximately 23,000 people and is a slum in the southwest area of Port-Au-Prince. The community is extremely poor and in desperate need of health care. There are two Haitian Doctors and two Haitian Nurses that will staff the clinic. The medical team is part of the Seminary’s Community Development that is done in this community. Besides the medical clinic there are literacy classes and micro loans that are given.
    The work is now complete and the van will be shipped to Haiti by the end of April. The church is seeking support in equipping the van and providing all supplies and fuel for two years. Details can be found at http://calvarycrc.org/medical-van-haiti.
    http://youtu.be/KQ5ec1xUyu4
  2. Roadtrekingmike
    Here’s another edition of “How We Roll,” answering RV questions from readers about our travels in our Class B motorhome.
    In this episode, we talk about how to do online bill paying and mail forwarding.
    I mention in particular the mail forwarding service of the Family Motor Coach Association. You can get details here.
    We also answer a question about sharing the driving responsibilities, something we strongly suggest so one person doesn’t have to do all the mileage alone.
    We post a new “How We Roll” every Friday. If you have a question for us, just email us.
    http://youtu.be/yylRrHVSja8
  3. Roadtrekingmike
    Florida’s panhandle is a special place. And the area from Panama on the East on to the Alabama border on the west may be the most special. It’s called the Emerald Coast, named after the stunning color of the Gulf of Mexico. Check out our video to see why we were so taken with this area.
    Our base for this trip was the new Destin West RV Resort, located on Okaloosa Island in Fort Walton Beach.
    http://youtu.be/2jQ_OR-tPxI
    We lucked out with an awesome spot, yards away from the 27-mile long Choctawhatchee Bay.
    The Bay is great for boasting and fishing. We met Bill Lovejoy from Memphis, who fishes just about every day right out in front of his campsite. Bill shared a way to get live bait by using a two liter soft drink bottle.
    Bill, who has spent the winter at Destin West, cuts the top third of the bottle off, inverts it and puts in back inside, neck down. You can see on the video how it works. Bottom line for Bill is he never had to buy live bait.
    The spots at Destin West are well spaced, with picnic tables and patios and the resort has its own heated pool and more amenities than you can count. It’s been open just over a year and already has quite a following.
    Stay there and you have access to everything at the Ramada Inn across US 28, including its waterfall pool, health club and beach.
    destin3But since Jennifer and I love to explore, we don’t sit still in one spot very long. Further west from Fort Walton Beach is the Gulf Islands National Seashore. It stretches across Florida and Alabama and even into Mississippi. But the emerald coast section of barrier islands has the most spectacular beaches we have ever seen.
    The sparkling white quartz sand beaches run along miles of undeveloped land. There are nature trails and convenience parking spots. With our Roadtrek, we staked out a spot with a million dollar view.
    We met another Roadtreking couple doing the same thing, Kathy and Les Shanteau, who own a condo in the area but use the Roadtrek for day trips, just as we do.
    The weather in mid March was chilly, with highs in the upper 60′s. Still, the sun was shining every day and we were surprisingly comfortable.
  4. Roadtrekingmike
    It was 3 AM and we were deep in the woods, camped on a friend’s 200 acres of fenced and posted private property off an obscure fire trail more than two miles from the nearest paved road.
    I jolted awake. I heard a vehicle with a slightly knocking engine. bumping and scraping on the underbrush of the trail. Then I saw its headlights, slowly making its way down the trail towards us.
    Jennifer was still asleep. So was my Norweigian Elkhound, Tai. Fine watchdog he was.
    There was no reason for the other vehicle to be out there. In fact, whoever was in that vehicle was breaking the law as the property was clearly marked with “No trespassing” signs.
    What do I do? We were extremely vulnerable out there. My cell phone coverage was iffy, at best.
    I wished I had a gun.
    Think I’m paranoid? Maybe. That’s what decades of being an investigative reporter does for you. For many years, I carried a handgun pretty much everywhere I went. I worked the drug beat in the city of Detroit for many years. Twice, having a gun kept bad guys from getting to me.
    But whwn I switched to the technology beat years ago, I let my concealed carry permit expired.
    But that tense early morning in the Michigan woods this past summer got me thinking about weapons and RVing. As that incident turned out, the vehicle never made it to our spot. It eventually turned around and left. But burglars who break into summer cottages, meth addicts, marijuana growers and all sorts of other unsavory characters are just as prevalent in rural areas of the U.S. as are the bad guys who endanger urban areas.
    The whole subject of carrying a gun in an RV is a hot topic among RVers. Some of the experts I talked to say think that well over half of them do. In Canada, it’s different. Canada has very strict gun laws and few people even own, let alone carry, handguns.
    On my http://facebook.com/roadtreking page, I posed the issue to the 1,800 folks who “like” our page there and got some opinions on both sides.
    Said a Kiki: “I carry a firearm in my camper, since I am a woman who camps in remote areas alone. I have a license to carry, but only 29 states reciprocate my license. I try to avoid driving through states where legal issues could occur, but if I can’t, then I ship my gun ahead to a UPS office.”
    A reader named David wrote:
    “Used to have a Class A and missed a turn in Greensboro, NC and had to turn around in a gasoline/fast shop station. Before I could get out of there I was stopped twice by people wanting money. Because it was a Class A they thought I had money. Too bad, because of the Class A I didn’t have any money!! I will not let my wife be harmed because of a bunch of bleeding hearts!! And that’s all I have to say!!!!!”
    Jude, a Canadian, offered:
    “I’ve never been pro firearm and 40 years of living in Canada has reinforced that. However, I lived alone very far out in the country at one point where cougars and bears roam and I must admit I really understood why country folk at least want a shotgun handy. My RV is currently parked for the winter but if I do extensive traveling alone I will probably get a big dog. Legal in all states and Canada and keeps your feet warm at night to boot."
    But the fact is, in the U.S. bringing a handgun in an RV for protection is a lot more common than most people think. Most RVers don’t talk about it because the legality of doing so is dependent on where you are. Some states allow it, some recognize another state’s carry permit, some don’t. As armed RVers travel from state to state, you can be sure, though, that at some point in their journeys they are violating some state’s gun laws.
    Shotguns and rifles are a different matter in most states and usually acceptable. For Big Type A motorhomes and fifth wheels, a shotgun may be the best choice. For Type Bs, there’s often not enough storage room for a long gun.
    Is bringing a gun along a good idea? A lot of RVers believe it is better to have a firearm and not need it than to need a firearm and not have one. A lot of others think it’s not necessary or too dangerous.
    The website handgunlaw.us offers an excellent guide to the various laws. Same with the usacarry.com site. Perhaps the best resourse is put out by the National Rifle Association, the Traveler’s Guide to the Firearm Laws of the Fifty States.
    If guns are not your thing, there are other ways to protect yourself.
    Many RVers say a big, or at least a mean-sounding dog is a good deterrent. My Tai obviously isn’t the watchdog type, but others have had more success. One woman RVer I know has a tape recorder she brings along that has a recording of a mean dog barking. If she hears someone outside her RV at night, she hits play and turns up the volume. Others say the only self defense item they have is a can of bear spray or wasp spray.
    Carrying guns in RVs is a very controversial subject. But my research has convinced me it is done a lot, especially by fulltimers and those who like to boondock.
  5. Roadtrekingmike
    http://youtu.be/Q3mx8b5NsV4
    We get lots of questions about the places we go, the things we see and how we roll in our RV. Thus, this new reccurring video feature, in which we’ll try to do every week, answering reader questions (e-mail me here or via our Facebook Roadtreking page).
    In this first episode, Jennifer and I talk about how we pack and store items in our Class B motorhome and how we stay connected to the Internet while on the road.
    Jennifer swears by eBags, a handy way to neatly pack a lot of clothes in a very nifty little zip-up bag that takes up little space. And I share how Verizon Wireless’ 4G network keeps me connected by a MiFi wireless hotspot card.
    Let us know how you like this and what questions yo may have.
  6. Roadtrekingmike
    We spent much of the weekend in Georgia at a soccer tournament one of my grandsons was playing in and found yet another use for our Roadtrek eTrek – as a place for the younger brothers and their friends to hang out in.
    It wasn’t planned. They just sort of took it over once they discovered how much fun it was. And between games, I became babysitter-in-chief.
    We went through four bags of popcorn. Pretty much a case of bottled water.
    We charged iPods and iPads and watched TV and the DVD. Oh yeah, the onboard bathroom came in pretty handy, too.
    My dog Tai loved the attention, getting pretty much non stop pets from kids – his favorite type of human.
    Several Moms and Dads from the team also poked their heads inside and were duly impressed. But I think what they liked most about it was they knew where their kids were.
    Me? Hey, kids are my favorite type of humans, too.
    http://vimeo.com/61458975
  7. 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.
  8. Roadtrekingmike
    A horrific, fiery crash along I-65 in Kentucky that claimed six lives has focused new attention on the need to be able to break through automotive safety glass to rescue people trapped in smashed cars.
    The six people who died were in an SUV from Marion, Wis., traveling north near Glendale. The vehicle caught fire after it was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer.
    Lynn and Roger Brucker, from Dayton, Ohio, were driving home in their Roadtrek van when the crash occurred behind them. They had slowed because of an accident ahead of them.
    You can see a photo of the crash scene and the Brucker’s Roadtrek in this USA Today story, which quoted Lynn. Lynn said her husband looked back and saw a fireball and parts from the crash flying in the air. They grabbed the Roadtrek fire extinguisher and went to the SUV to help those trapped inside. They used up the fire extinguisher and helped others rescue a 12-year-old boy, whom they took back to the Roadtrek for first-aid until he could be transported to a hospital.
    A 12-year-old girl was also rescued, puled out a partially broken window. But an intense blaze prevented the rest of the family from being rescued.
    “My question is this – if we had just had something to get the doors open and break windows if is possible no one would have died,” Lynn wrote on the Yahoo Roadtrek group hours after after the March 2 crash. “We had enough time to have pulled people out if we could have gotten the doors or more windows open.”
    Her posting prompted many to go online and but special tools that will shatter safety glass on trucks, autos and RVs. I’m one of them. I ordered a dozen of them, to give to my kids, their spouses and our grandsons who drive.
    Said one poster replying to Lynn: ”… tempered glass and can be very strong against a broadly dispersed impact … However, a very slight pinpoint strike will cause the entire window to disintegrate into small ‘cubes’ of glass that can be scooped up like the salt that is spread on sidewalks. The easiest tool to buy that will do that is an “automatic center punch” that costs less than $10 at Harbor Freight stores. There are also various “escape tools” that have a slot with a sharp blade to cut safety belts, and a sharp pointed hammer tip to accomplish the glass breakage ..”
    I went to Amazon and bought the ResQMe Car Escape Tool. They cost $9.95, attach to a keyring and offer a spring-loaded head that effortlessly smashes the vehicle’s side windows and a razor sharp blade that can slice through jammed seat belts. These devices used to be offered exclusively to fire, paramedic and police organizations, but are now available to the public.
    Lynn’s harrowing story has convinced me this is one tool I need to carry in all my vehicles.

    ResQMe Car Escape Tool
  9. Roadtrekingmike
    http://youtu.be/5A4VtXUCStA
    The hardest thing about finding a spot to camp in the wintertime in the north is finding an open campground. As we toured Michigan's beautiful snow covered Upper Peninsula in mid-February looking for a place to spend the night, all we found were Wal-Mart and Indian casino parking lots.
    Sorry, but those kind of environments are not our idea of camping. All the regular campgrounds we passed were closed and unplowed. The unplowed part is a big deal. Because on the level ground, snow measured 28 inches.
    So it was with great delight that we discovered that one of Michigan's premiere state parks, the 50,000-acre Tahquamenon Falls State Park between the towns of Paradise and Newberry, was not only open but had a dozen campsites plowed and available. First though, we had to see the falls.
    The Upper Falls, one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi, has a drop of nearly 50 feet, more than 200 feet across and a water flow of more than 50,000 gallons per second. It was spectacular in the winter.
    The slower moving part nearest the bank was frozen. But three-quarters seemed oblivious to the cold -- a few degrees above zero the afternoon we visited. The amber color of the water is caused by tannins leached from the Cedar, Spruce and Hemlock in the swamps drained by the river. Mist coats trees and rocks on the shore. The entire scene is breathtakingly beautiful.
    After a dinner at the excellent restaurant and microbrew at the Upper Falls -- also open all winter and doing a brisk business from snowmobilers -- we made our way to the Lower Falls campground, about four miles to the north.
    While we slept that night the temperature outside dropped to minus four. We were amazed at how warm we were in our Roadtrek eTrek, warmed by a Webasto Dual Top diesel heater. We also plugged in a small ceramic heater to keep the floor warm when we made our way out of bed to use the bathroom. Speaking of which, instead of water, you flush the toilet with antifreeze. The water you need, you just take in plastic bottles.
    The next morning, as a gentle snow fell outside, we felt pretty rugged, spending the night in such cold. Then we looked around. There were other campers in the park. Two of them were in tents. You can meet them in the video above. The park was beautiful. The State DNR keeps about a dozen spots open and plowed.
    While water is turned off at the sites, electricity is available. And a couple of clean pit toilets are also available. Winter camping may not be for everyone. But why not try it? I bet you'll be surprised by how great it is.
    source: www.roadtreking.com
  10. Roadtrekingmike
    We’re just back from a 1,100 mile RV trip that took us across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula – in the wintertime.
    We headquartered our trip in Marquette, where we got a chance to take in all the excitement around the annual UP200 dog sled race, one of the nation’s premier such events, a qualifying race for Alaska’s famed Iditarod. I wrote about that the other day.

    We really fell in love with Marquette, a city of about 21,000 in the north central UP, right on the shores of Lake Superior. The town is the home of Northern Michigan University, has a first rate medical center and lots of great restaurants. Marquette also has the most accessible lakefront I’ve sever seen. And all around it are vast stretches of gorgeous wilderness. Everyone in Marquette seemingly loves the winter. They embrace it. Grown men and women wear snow pants and don’t feel the least self conscious. Nor does anyone worry about having hat hair.
    Marquette is an outdoor lover’s paradise.
    And from there, we set off to visit many of the places we reported on last summer. We were really curious about how the summertime beauty would look under a blanket of ice and snow.
    I wanted to see how feasible it was to RV in the wintertime. Turns out, as you can see in the video, it is very feasible. I even ran into another Roadtreking RVer, Gary Hennes, from suburban Minneapolis. He drove up to see the dog sled race in his 2006 Roadtrek RS Adventurous, accompanied by his 14-year-old grandson. Hennes routinely camps in the winter. He says it’s just as much fun as it is during the summertime.
    And we were also very curious to see what it would be like to spend the night in our new Roadtrek eTrek when it was so cold it. We did so, staying at the Tahquamenon Falls State Park, which keeps a handful of camping spots open all year. I’ll share that experience in a a story and video later this week.
  11. Roadtrekingmike
    MARQUETTE, MI – Winter in Michigan's Upper Peninsula is not for warm weather sissies. In the town of Marquette, hard on the shore of Lake Superior, nearly 149 inches of snow falls each winter. That works out to nearly 12 and-a-half feet of snow.

    Up here, from late October to mid April, snowmobiles are seemingly as common as trucks. But all that snow also enables another form of transportation: Dog sleds.
    Each February, Marquette hosts one of the nation's premier dog sled races, the UP200, a challenging 240-mile course that winds its way through cedar and hardwood forests, across half frozen streams, ice covered lakes and rugged wilderness to the tiny town of Grand Marais far to the east, before returning by the same route.
    Thousands come to watch. And the event has become so popular that it has spawned two shorter races at the same time, the Midnight Run, a 15 mile route to a nearby town, and the Jackpine 30, which covers 30 miles.
    This year, the 24th running, drew teams from Maine, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Alaska. The UP200 is a qualifying race for the famed Iditarod in Alaska, the Ironman equivalent of the dog sled racing world.


    But besides the professional mushers, this region of the Upper Peninsula also has plenty of home grown teams. Up here, many year-round folks mush for the sheer love of the sport, and their dogs, which are typically Alaskan or Siberian Huskies or mixes of the two breeds.
    Just outside of Marquette in the town of Qwinn is Snowy Plains Kennel, run by veteran mushers Jim and Jackie Winkowski. The couple owns, trains and runs 28 dogs. Jackie has written a series of children's books on their pack and the sled dog racing culture. They also offer dog sled rides to tourists.
    We met Jackie as she was autographing her books at the Holiday Inn headquarters of the UP200 and she invited us out to her kennel, which mushers call a raœdog yard.
    “They’re like our kids,” she says of her pack. “There’s a bond
    there that’s hard to explain.
    But it’s all built on love. They love us. We love them. And they love to run.”
    Just tending to the pack of sled dogs takes about four hours each day, says Jim. Training, which begins in earnest in the early fall, easily takes another three or four hours on the days they hit the trails. “We love them,” he says. “They are made to run. It’s in their genes. It’s beautiful to see.”
    I told him I’d like to get some video of them in action. He hooked up a team… just like that. I sat in the sled as Jim mushed. It was exhilarating and exciting. I was amazed at how fast the dogs moved. Jim guessed we were doing about 15 miles an hour. The ride was jarring at times. I bounced high enough a couple of times that I thought I’d lose the camera. After our run, I wanted to do it all over again.
    I now understand why people mush.
    Our visit to Snowy Plains Kennel helped us appreciate the UP200 and understand how much the mushers and their dogs are bonded by their love of each other and the trail.
    Earlier that day, I got to meet most of the dogs close up during the vet check, as a team of local veterinarians checked each dog and certified that they were healthy enough to compete.
    Twelve dogs pull each sled during the UP200. The two shorter races have teams of six or eight dogs.
    None of the mushers do it for the money. This year's purse for the UP200 is $28,500, with $7,200 going to the first place team and the rest divided among the field.
    That's not a lot of money when you consider that dog food alone for a competitive team costs about $600 a month. Typically, the teams train four days a week, running 25 to 30 miles each time.
    It takes a special person to race dog sleds. Frank Moe, a former state legislator and well known Minnesota politician and outdoor advocate, was one of this year’s competitors. So was Zoya DeNure, a former international fashion model who now owns Crazy Dog Kennels in Alaska.
    The race is a great one for spectators. There are lots of spots to get close to the dogs. Towns along the route build big bonfires. Local churches bake pies and civic groups and mom and pop restaurants sell hot soup and sandwiches. Downtown Marquette had 8,000 lining the streets for the start of the race. Other towns on the route like Munising, Harvey, Chatham and Grand Marais also draw spectators.
    And it all happens outdoors. This year snow fell pretty much all along the route from the start Friday to the Sunday finish. It was also very cold. Temps dropped to minus five a few hours after the Friday night start.
    But the folks who come up here to watch and participate in dog sled racing aren't wusses.
    Jennifer and I? Well… let’s just say we found the cold and snow to be, ah… very refreshing. We drove our Roadtrek E-Trek and were delighted to be able to retreat to it and its warmth several times during the day as we watched the teams at various locations.
    We’re off over the weekend to follow the teams on the trail and to get more of a feeling for the UP wintertime lifestyle and how RVers can enjoy it.
  12. 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.
  13. Roadtrekingmike
    Tarry gunk still evident on Gulf beaches
    More than two and a half years after the disastrous Deepwater oil spill by BP, tarry, gunky deposits of what appears to be dried oil are still all too evident on stretches of Northwest Florida gulfshore beaches.
    “This is atrocious,” reports RT Campskunk, a fulltiming RVer in a Roadtrek 190 from St. George Island, Florida. “It’s just a shame. These were the best beaches in the country. I was used to tar on the beaches out in Texas and Louisiana where all the wells are, but this is the first time I have seen it in Florida.”
    Campskunk walked long stretches of the beach around the Dr. Julian G. Bruce St. George Island State Park and found numerous clumps of the stuff. He took lots of photos like this one. That’s a quarter on top of the tarry deposit, to give us an idea of its size.
    You can see lots more of his photos on his Flickr photostream.
    Hurricane Isaac last fall was blamed for fresh oil deposits showing up in Louisiana  But that doesn’t explain the ones Campskunk spotted this week. Some are four inches thick.
    A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of the Interior said in September 2012 that an estimated 1 million gallons of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill were hiding in the underwater sediment off the coast of Louisiana.
    St. George Island is a 22-mile, thin barrier island in Northwest Florida,  just southeast of Panama City near the Panhandle.
    Roadtreking - A Journalist takes up the RV lifestyle - People and Places Encountered on the Open Road


    <a href="http://Roadtreking.com/tarry-gunk-still-evident-on-gulf-beaches/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tarry-gunk-still-evident-on-gulf-beaches">Source</a>
  14. Roadtrekingmike
    We're in the midst of prime time for RV shows.
    Starting in January and running until early March, dozens of RV shows are staged in cities across the country. Jennifer and I have attended a slew of them this year as we, along with tens of thousands of other RVers, await warmer weather.
    One thing you can expect to find at just about any RV show – besides motorhomes, travel-trailers, fifth-wheels and lots of salespeople to haggle with -- are exhibitors like campground operators, RV accessory makers and all sorts of other big and little things that enhance the RV experience.
    We put together this little video on some of the fun things we've stumbled across. Most of these clips are from two shows at the big RV Supershow in Tampa, Florida, in January and the Michigan Association from in early February.
    When you can't be out there RVing, attending an RV show just may be the next best thing.
    http://youtu.be/DapwHtEpiBM
  15. Roadtrekingmike
    http://youtu.be/ikwYoAmuQQk
    I love kayaking. But with a Class B campervan-style RV, there just isn’t enough storage room to take one along. At least that’s what I thought until I discovered the Sea Eagle inflatable Kayak.
    Facebook friends on our Roadtreking page alerted me to it and I’m planning to order one before spring. The one I’m looking at is the SeaEagle 330. It weighs just 26 lbs. and packs down small enough to fit in the “basement” of my Roadtrek Sprinter van, the storage space under the bed behind the rear doors. Others claim it can be stored inside, in one of the cabinets. As the video shows, it’s a rugged kayak able to hold two people or 500 lbs and yet easy enough to be carried and paddled by one.
    Teri and Ken Jones of California demo it in the above video. A foot pump inflates it.
    The 330 comes with two seats that others have suggested I upgrade for greater comfort.
    Since so many places we go to have nice kayak-friendly waterways nearby, I’m thinking that $319 for the deluxe package with the upgraded seats is not a bad investment.
    I”ll read you comments here before ordering so if anyone has some suggestions or has had experience with them, I’d love to get them!
  16. Roadtrekingmike
    This could be the first Type B motorhome ever Henry Fords 1937 House Car.

    They supposedly only build a handful of these each year. This one is on a 1937 Ford Pickup frame and was found in a private garage in Minnesota in the summer of 2001 with only 19,000 miles on it.
    A collector named Graham Thickins restored it to original and drivable condition.
    Check out this story by Thickins to see lots of photos and get the details but it had an all wood lined interior with a metal skin wrapped around it. The roof is wood framed with heavy, waterproofed canvas, Door frames are solid oak, as are the window frames.
    Heres a pdf of an 1993 story on it.
    Thickins took the photos and has since sold it to another collector.
    It looks really nice, doesnt it?
    Source
  17. Roadtrekingmike
    RV Repair and Maintenance Manual 4th Edition
    The book that has been an RV industry standard for over 15 years. Find out what you need to know about the maintenance of appliances, accessories and procedures in easy-to-understand-and-apply layman’s terms. Whether you’re a seasoned or shade-tree mechanic or you rely on a professional RV service center, knowing how your rig works and how to keep it in tip-top shape gives you the upper hand and many miles of trouble free RV travel. Get yours for $22.72 That’s a 40% savings! Order Today at TrailerLifeDirectory.com!
    Best Price: 22.72 USD at Good Sam Club – Discounts, Products & Services For RVers

    Roadtreking - A Journalist takes up the RV lifestyle - People and Places Encountered on the Open Road


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  18. Roadtrekingmike
    There are fulltime RVers and then there is Campskunk.
    Most fulltimers travel in Type A motorhomes or Fifth Wheels. They also tow a car. And though their RVs are as long as many a subdivision house, they are still a rare breed, disposing of only what they can put in storage or pack in their 36, 40 or 43 foot long RV. They’re generally celebrated by the RV community, looked up to and envied for their independence and vagabond freedom.
    But imagine doing it in a 22-foot long Class B campervan. That’s what Campskunk has been doing for the past three years. With wife, Sharon and their Ragdoll cat, “Fiona the Fearless,” they live 24-x-7, 365 days a year in their 2003 Roadtrek Type B motorhome.
    Campskunk, of course, is not his real name. But he’s known to thousands in the RV community by that moniker, which comes from part of the couple’s joint email address that blends the first part of Sharon’s maiden name with his old nickname from the days he held a high profile state government job that had him doing a lot of quality control work that made him more than his share of enemies.
    That was before he retired in 2010, let his hair grow down to his waist, mothballed his sportcoats and literally burned his ties to set off on the road, living life a day at a time in the most beautiful places he could find.
    “I wore a coat and tie everyday,” he says of his former working life. “I was burning yard trash getting ready to leave the house and begin fulltiming in late July 2010, so I just took my ties and draped them over the burning pile, one by one. It was intensely satisfying to leave that part of my life behind.”
    He does keep one tie, one sportcoat and one pair of dress slacks in his RV for funerals, weddings and special occasions. But his typical wear is a T-shirt, jeans or shorts. That’s because he is always somewhere warm. Always. It’s his hard and fast traveling rule.”I consider it operator error if we end up in a place colder than 70 degrees,” he says.

    Full time living in such a small motorhome is not nearly as difficult as it sounds, he says. “It a matter of priorities and planning, Most of us just don’t need all the stuff we have. The more stuff, the less free we are to live the way we want to.”
    Campskunk is a regular on RV forums on Facebook and Yahoo!. He’s well respected as an expert tinkerer, someone who can fix anything, build anything and modify an RV for years of use. His Chevy-based Roadtrek has 120,000 miles. He thinks he can get another ten years of use out of it and hopes to take it to Europe after several more years of traveling across the U.S.
    Money is admittedly tight. He and Sharon meticulously budget.
    “Leaving aside all the regular non-fulltiming-related expenditures like car insurance and health insurance, etc, we originally budgeted $50 a day, or $1500 a month: $500 for fuel, $500 for groceries and spending money, and $500 for lodging/campground fees,” he says. ”Since we started fulltiming, fuel costs have averaged $346 per month and our campground costs have gone down to $1,776 for the last year, or $148 a month.”
    That’s because whenever possible, he chooses to boondock, staying in free or reduced rate non-commercial campgrounds, typically in state and national forests, coastal areas or pubic land.
    “In one memorable month the summer before last, we only spent $600 – camping was free and town was only 5 miles away, so no fuel costs. And there was nothing else to spend money on. We were up at 9,800 feet near Silverton, CO,” he says.

    Campskunk has become amazingly adept at finding spectacular boondocking spots.
    “I Google around,” he says, “The national forest service’s website is very hard to find stuff on, But there’s a book of all the national forest campsites in a book put out by Coleman. Find the ranger station, stop in and talk to them about dispersed camping – that’s the best. I also keep my eyes open when driving, and have literally stumbled into many great places. Know the state laws where you travel – you can park along the pacific coastal highway anywhere There are no local ordinances or signs prohibiting it for 8 hours in California and 12 hours in Oregon. I think you can stay for longer in Washington state – nobody’s ever up there. The best way to find overnight spots when you’re just traveling through and want to overnight near the highway is http://www.overnightrvparking.com/ It costs $25 a year for a subscription but you make your money back the first campground you avoid. It has up-to-date information on 10,000 free or very cheap overnight parking spots nationwide.”
    He’s totally wired with satellite Internet and commercial TV. “Sharon insisted that if we were going to really do this, she’d have her TV,” he says. “I needed the Internet. So we have two dishes.”

    He is solar powered and has a wind turbine that also helped top off the coach batteries in his RV. He did it all himself thanks to skills he honed in the 70′s when he worked as an automotive mechanic befofe heading back to school for the specialized education that got him his government job.
    There are unique challenges to fulltime RV living, he admits.
    “Challenges are anything that you can’t do electronically – get a prescription filled, get your new credit cards when the old ones expire, getting your new insurance cards, etc. We now have east and west coast dentists. The other doctor stuff is harder- we had to go to Mexico once to get one prescription filled when the logistics of getting it filled by regular means failed. There’s no ‘see you in three months’ when you’re a fulltimer. One really annoying thing is going into a different grocery store every week – you never learn where they put things, and the next place is always different.”
    Campskunk turned 60 last fall. He travels about 15,000 miles each year, making non-rushed loops around the country.
    Fulltime RVing is not for everyone, he is quick to point out. But it is doable. His best advice?
    “Just get out there and do it. You’ll get better at it after a year or two. We are still learning as we go. We’re poor but happy.”
    Source
  19. Roadtrekingmike
    John and Terry O’Brien love old travel trailers.
    From their Silver Springs, FL home, the New York transplants did one up in the style of the Fifties a couple of years ago. It was so unique that the Travel Channel saw it at an RV show they were covering, did a feature on it and as a result, John received an offer he couldn’t refuse.
    So when they saw an old beat up old 1987 16-foot Casita travel trailer in a junkyard not long afterwards, they knew it was time for another restoration project.
    The old trailer they sold was was themed for the fifties. It just made sense – since they were married in 1961 – to make this one Sixties-styled.
    The result of their spectacular “Lost in the 60s” restoration.
    I caught up with them at the Florida RV Supershow, where they were showing off their creation as part of a group of restoration and old-RV enthusiasts called the “Tin Can Tourists.”
    They gave me a nifty little tour of their old trailer. I think you’ll agree when you see the video, this one was over the top.
    What’s next? They want to do an old trailer up in a Parrothead/Margarita theme honoring Jimmy Buffett’s contribution to the culture.
    How come they are so good at this? John’s hobby is restoring antique cars. Terry loves decorating.
    If you attend the big RV shows, look for them and the Tin Can Tourist group. You’ll enjoy the visit.
    Source
  20. Roadtrekingmike
    The bitter cold of the north keeps many RVers from using their motorhomes all year round. For many, their coaches sit in driveways, winterized and waiting for the thaw.
    I plan on taking my Class B to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in mid-February. I’ll probably go alone as my wife doesn’t like the idea of having to forgo showers while using it in the winter. While you can use it in the winter, you have to carry bottled water. And if you use the toilet, you have to”chase” it with antifreeze.
    No doubt about it. Winter RVing in the frozen north can be quite a hassle.
    I suspect lots of RVers are like me. They’d like to use their motorhomes if their units weren’t in danger of freezing up one they put water into it.
    Leisure Travel Vans and Triple E of Canada has an answer for those who want to RV year round. They’ve just introduced the 2013 Regency GT24MB that solves the problem of winter RVing.
    Fully insulated with thermal break walls, enclosed, insulated and heated tanks and dual thermopane windows the unit has a slide, a queen-sized Murphy bed, a 35K propane furnace and a stand up enclosed shower. It is a gas powered Type C built on a F450 Ford chassis and 24 feet long.
    Price for the base Regency GT in the U.S. ranges from $119,763 – $130,193.
    Dean Corrigal, LTV’s spokesman, does a detailed walk around in the video above. If I heard him right, there’s even a solar option.
    Source
  21. Roadtrekingmike
    I am a huge fan of the Webasto Dual Top RHA 100 diesel-powered combined air and water heater for the Roadtrek eTrek and, as an option, on other Roadtrek models.
    In terms of heat, it both heats up the inside of the coach and provides hot domestic water. The entire unit fits under the vehicle chassis, saving precious space inside. A small fuel line runs under the coach from the Mercedes engine up front to the Dual Top, mounted under the rear of the vehicle. Heat is pushed out through two air outlets. In my unit, they are directly beneath the rear sofa. When we make it into a bed, it’s like having heated sheets. The domestic water boiler on the Dual Top is connected directly to the fresh water tank and the hot water faucets. And it is whisper quiet. Though mounted underneath the sleeping area on the underside of the coach, a muffler connects to an outside exhaust pipe and, really, we don’t even hear it.
    Here’s a detailed description from Webasto on how the Dual Top works:
    When the unit is switched on the dosing pump feeds fuel from the vehicle’s fuel tank to the heater. Here the fuel is automatically ignited by means of a glow plug. If combustion does not occur immediately the unit automatically repeats the start-up procedure. In the combustion chamber a flame is lit which heats up the heat exchanger. The unit takes air in from outside of the vehicle for combustion purposes and the combusted exhaust air is discharged back outside. During heating, the integrated fan sucks in the air to be heated through the inlet and feeds it through the unit. As the air flows through the heat exchanger it is heated up and is then distributed through the outlet.
    The connected hot air ducting spreads the air evenly throughout the vehicle interior. Due to the unit’s separation of the combustion cycle from the heating cycle there is no quality impairment of the hot air. A temperature sensor constantly measures the interior temperature and adapts the heating level by automatically adjusting the amount of air passing through the unit. In this way, the temperature selected by the user is rapidly reached and maintained at a constant level. After the unit has been switched off, the combustion process is terminated in a controlled manner. For this purpose the unit briefly goes into re-run mode to cool itself down. It is then immediately ready for restarting.

    I really came to appreciate the Dual Top on my return from sunny Florida to frigid Michigan. On the way back north, we overnighted near Lexington, KY in mid-January. The heater is quiet and kept us toasty warm at 70 degrees despite a plunging temperature outside.
    I got worried the next morning when I saw ice caked on the underside of the heater. Oh oh, I thought.
    Instead of a problem, it was a very cool feature (pun intended) of the heater. It was protecting itself against the cold. The Dual Top is automatically programmed to empty its water supply if the temperature drops lower than 43 degrees Fahrenheit. It does that, by the way, even if it is off. That night in Lexington, it got down to 26.
    I had emptied the water from the fresh water tank and ran the inside faucets dry back in Georgia. But I still needed to get antifreeze into the eTrek. I stopped at one big RV dealer in Ohio and they weren’t very interested in helping as they were unfamiliar with the eTrek.
    So I drove home, where the thermometer dropped to three below zero overnight. I kept the Webasto heater running with forced air all night. The next day, I got it to my local Roadtrek dealer.
    There, sure enough, we found the water pipes frozen. In a heated garage, we waited for them to defrost. I cranked the Webasto up to help further warm the interior and, after a couple hours, we were able to get antifreeze through the system. Fortunately, there were no leaks. If the heater hadn’t kept the inside warm all night long, I’m sure those pipes would have burst.
    As it was, it is a reminder not to take anything for granted with the weather. I should have winterized in Georgia.
    But the incident has made me very appreciative of an excellent heater.
    All said, though, I’d rather be in Florida.
    Source
  22. 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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  23. Roadtrekingmike
    Our favorite features on 2013 model Type B motorhomes
    We spent most of the past week touring the 2013 edition of the Florida RV Supershow, arguably the nation’s biggest and best RV shows.
    Some 1,100 RVs spread out over 16 acres were on display this year from just about every RV manufacturer in North America.
    Since we concentrate our coverage on small motorhomes and Type B coaches in particular, we had lots of time to inspect the 2013 models from the leading Type B manufacturers.
    Jennifer and I saw the lineup from Pleasure-Way, Leisure Travel Vans, Great West Vans, Airstream and Roadtrek Motorhomes, as well as the new Ocean One model from Type B start-up manufacturer Advanced RV.
    The vans are beautiful, the interiors varied and the colors and  options many.
    Here are a few of the top Type B  trends we identified at the show, as well as some of the things we liked the most:
    Solar – Everyone s jumping on the solar option, as led by Roadtrek and its new eTrek Bigger Refrigerators – The fridges are getting bigger, 7 and 7.5 cubic feet will be common in 2013 Stainless appliances – The galleys are sparkling this year thanks to an abundance if stainless Heated floors – Hydronic heating is offered by several Type B manufacturers, heating the coach interiors, water tans, bathrooms and floors. Keurig coffee makers – This seems to be the choice for Type B coffee-making, typically on a slide out shelf Touch screen control centers – Advanced RV has the Silverlight flat panel touch screen. It’s expensve. But sales and RV industry folks we talked to said other manufacturers will be implementing other versionsof this technology, utilizing iPad and Droid tablets. The video above shows some of our favorites.
     
    Roadtreking - A Journalist takes up the RV lifestyle - People and Places Encountered on the Open Road


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  24. Roadtrekingmike
    Great West Vans Revamps 2013 Legend Lineup under New Ownership
    Canadian Type B RV maker Great West Vans was bought out last year by one of their suppliers and the new owner, Dave DeBraga, has big plans for the company’s Legend brand of Mercedes Sprinter models.
    DeBraga, the owner and new President of Great West Vans, was all over the Florida RV Supershow in Tampa in January, meeting customers and sharing his excitement for the luxury Legend series of Sprinters sold by the company, now based in Winnipeg, where DeBraga’s other company, the Sterling Group, is headquartered. That company builds doors, fiberglass components and running boards.
    DeBraga did an extended interview with us, outlining the revamped line of the Legend, Legend SE and Legend EX models, which includ redesigned interiors, new running boards and a streamlined appearance.
    The distinctive sliding slide screen door on GWVans, introduced by the previous owner, Martin H. Guertz, continues to be a hallmark of the line. Guertz sold the company to DeBraga when he retired last spring. DeBraga’s Sterling Group company used to supply Guertz.
    “I’m told some people buy these vans just because of that screen door,” smiled DeBraga. “Out whole emphasis is on technology and quality and those screens definitely qualify for that.” Also new for 2013 is a newly designed rear screen that is more integrated into the back doors.
    DeBraga also showed up a handicap ramp that will easily load wheelchairs into the vans. “There’s a big need for this,” he said. “We’re very proud to be offering this.”
    Great West Vans sell from around $115,000 to $133,000.”We think we’re right there in the sweet spot for Class B Sprinter motorhomes,” he said.
     
    Roadtreking - A Journalist takes up the RV lifestyle - People and Places Encountered on the Open Road


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  25. Roadtrekingmike
    Stroller Dogs: RVers love their dogs
    Find a group of RVers and you’ll find dogs.
    And you won’t have to look too hard to find some very pampered pooches.
    Long after many RVers have raised their own families, many are back pushing strollers. This time, instead of their own babies or grandkids, they’re pushing strollers with their new babies – dogs.
    RV shows draw huge crowds. From the inside exhibition space to the outdoor displays, it can get very congested at times and if you are accompanied by a creature with little legs…you need some help.
    Many of the folks I talked to had two dogs. Some three. Several said the main reason they travel in an RV is so they can bring their dogs with them. “Go to an RV show or rally and if there are 100 coaches there, 90 of them have dogs,” said one man I videoed. His wife had a harness around her shoulders and neck that held a dangling dog in a sling like contraption at her waist.
    For their part, the pups sure looked happy. Some had bows on their heads. A miniature poodle wore a Harley Davidson puppy-size T-shirt. Several had fancy collars with lots of doggie bling.
    I started taking stills and video after seeing dozens of stroller-pushing RVers at the Florida RV Supershow in Tampa. The video is above…photos below.
    We RVers sure love our dogs. At the very end of the still photos below is my 70-pound Norwegian Elkhound Tai. We brought him down with us but left him with the grandkids in Georgia while we were visiting the show.
    No way I’m pushing him in a stroller.
    He could pull me. Not a bad idea, come to think of it. He is a sort of sled dog, after all.
    Cats? Didn’t see a one.










    Roadtreking - A Journalist takes up the RV lifestyle - People and Places Encountered on the Open Road


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