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Roadtrekingmike

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Blog Entries posted by Roadtrekingmike

  1. Roadtrekingmike
    My Roadtrek has been encased in ice and snow for the better part of a week now with several days of subzero temperatures. Inside, shielded from the wind with the sun helping to mitigate the extreme outdoor temperature, it was about 15 degrees.
    So, I got to wondering, how long will it take to warm it up, if, indeed such a thing was possible?
    Slipping on my boots, a parka and my fuzzy warm hat with ear flaps, I donned my Google Glass and set out to video a first-person experiment.

    Everything on the video above was shot with Google Glass, a wearable computer that does video and still photography from the user’s point-of-view, as well as a gazillion other cool things. If you are on the geek and nerd side and want to know more about Google Glass, here’s a post I did on it on my PC Mike Tech Blog. But my interest in Glass for this blog is to take POV videos like this.
    The Webasto heater that my Roadtrek eTrek uses has impressed me before. But on this day, with an outdoor temperature of -12, it really proves its power.
    So come along with me to snowy Michigan and click on the video to see for yourself just how fast that cold can be chased away.

    It's cold up here!
  2. Roadtrekingmike
    I’ll say one thing about our traveling this past year: No dust is gathering under the RV.
    We received our new 2013 Roadtrek eTrek one year ago, in December 2012.
    When I pulled into the driveway Thursday night after returning from an RV trade show in Louisville, the odometer read 34,156 miles.
    We take off again today for a weekend trip to Western Michigan where we’ll visit Jeff and Aimee in Kalamazoo, our son and daughter-in-law. We’ll probably sleep in the Roadtrek in his driveway. We love our king-size bed in the back of the RV, and the Webosto heater keeps things comfy cozy. And yes, even though it is winterized, we can use the facilities. We use antifreeze to flush it.
    We have traveled out of state every month this year, using our sticks and bricks home as a base. And even when at our Michigan home, I often find myself using the Roadtrek as a second vehicle.
    I am actually more comfortable driving it than our passenger car.
    Our travel calendar for 2014 starts Jan. 1, when we head south to Florida for the first half of January. Then, after a quick stop home, it’s up to the frozen wilds of Northern Minnesota and a dog sled race that runs to the Canadian border in the Great White North.
    Every month of the coming year, we have a trip planned. I met with our friends at the Family Motor Coach Association last week at that RV show in Louisville and we made plans to attend and meet folks at rallies in Georgia, Massachusetts and Oregon next year.
    We have trips planned for several national parks, a tour of the Texas Hill Country, a visit to the Alabama-Mississippi coasts, and, of course, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Jennifer and I are getting requests to make personal appearances and do seminars at RV trade shows across North America and we will try to do as many as we can.
    Unlike a lot of the full-timers we’ve met, who tend to stay in one place for extended periods of time, we seldom stay more than a few days in any one campsite when we travel. As I look back over 2013, the longest we stayed in any one location was five days, at Yellowstone National Park last summer. And since we don’t have a tow a second vehicle to get around, we use the Roadtrek to explore the areas we visit, returning to our spot at night or, as often happens, finding an even cooler place to stay during our excursions. That’s why we prefer boondocking, or staying in free sites in national forests on on BLM land. That way, if we decide the grass is greener somewhere else, we’re not out money if we decide to stay in the new location.
    All this is to say, we are more than casual campers, something less than RV full-timers. What should we call what we do?
    3/4 timers?
    All I know is… we sure are having a ball.
  3. Roadtrekingmike
    No matter what kind of RV we have, one thing that we are all interested in is the weather. Nothing affects traveling more. Across North America, the cold weather is coming fast and that means snow and ice and dicey weather conditions. Thanks to apps, tablets and the Web, you never again need to wonder what its going to be like out there.
    I’m always installing and uninstalling weather apps. I’ve tried dozens of them and I’m sure I’ll try dozens more in the months ahead. But for now, here’s a roundup of my favorite weather apps.
    When bad weather threatens we want to know when and where it will start. And that’s where the new Forecast.io website comes in. It accesses the radar data available from the U.S. government, crunches and analyzes it all and then predicts rainfall and snow for your exact area by the hour and lays it out on a very elegant website. You can get global, regional and local views with just a mouseclick. The tools that the website uses to compile the reports and predictions then are spun off into two apps for smartphones and tablets, one for the Apple platform, the other for Andoid devices. They, too are, pretty slick.
    The iPhone app is called Dark Sky. It costs $3.99.
    The Andoid app is Arcus Weather. Its free right now, though they ask for a donation.
    Here are some other weather apps I use:
    When we’re setting out on an RV trip, I really like the Road Trip Weather App for the iPhone. It costs $1.99 but is very handy. It provides a personalized weather forecast for your drive based on WHERE you will be and WHEN you will be there. Enter your route & departure time and weather data populates on the map, showing potentially hazardous conditions.
    If you want to know everything there is to know about the weather, WeatherBug is the what you want. When you launch the app, it immediately displays current local weather, including temperature, dew point, humidity, sunrise, sunset, wind, pressure and any active weather alerts for the area. This is good as you are traveling as it always updates your current weather. A toolbar along the top lets you switch from the current forecast to a more detailed forecast, hourly forecast, or 7-day forecast. A toolbar along the bottom lets you access weather radar, live webcams in your area, lightning strike information and the pollen count.
    The WeatherBug app has a great radar link but sometimes we want just radar and as much of it as we can get. For Android users, I like RadarNow!. It gives directly to instant radar from your current position.
    For the iPad and iPhone, try the MyRadar app.
    There are no shortage of weather apps. Those are my favorites.
  4. Roadtrekingmike
    One of the things that so distinguishes an RV is its appearance and especially, the beauty of its paint job. All the manufacturers are working very hard to make their units stand out. To see what goes into painting an RV, we visited the Kitchener, Ontario, Canada factory of Roadtrek Motorhomes, the largest and best-sellingType B motothome manufacturer in North America. There, we are able to follow a unit through the painting process and video it all.
    It begins as the van is bought into the sanding booth right after the roof goes on. There, the seams are all bonded and any imperfections in the fiberglass body are sanded and puttied and meticulously corrected. This preparation work takes two workers up to 16 hours -- such is the insistence on quality.
    Next, the van is primed and masked. This is a two hour process, making sure only what should be painted is painted and providing a dust and dirt-free surface to paint.
    Then it’s time for the paint booth- ergonomically designed and employing the latest wet-on-wet painting technology to provide a baked-on finish just like your car. There are no hurried body-shop finishes here. Three different coats are applied: a sealer, the base coat and then the clear coat which makes the Roadtrek so beautiful. The painting stage takes another three hours.
    Finally, paint dried, it's a rubbed down. The van is cleaned and buffed for an automotive factory quality finish.
    All told, nearly 24 hours have gone into just the painting process of this Roadtrek. It's that attention to detail that many say makes the Roadtreks traveling works of art.
    Source
  5. 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.
  6. Roadtrekingmike
    All the winter storm advisories, alerts, watches and warnings that we’ve had lately can be confusing.
    The National Weather Service does a great job of disseminating weather predictions but sometimes it can be hard to know just what is what.
    So, for your future reference, here’s a weather lingo tutorial.
    Weather watches
    A watch means conditions are right for dangerous weather. In other words, a “watch” means watch out for what the weather could do, be ready to act.
    For events that come and go quickly, such as severe thunderstorms, tornadoes or flash floods, a watch means that the odds are good for the dangerous weather, but it’s not yet happening.
    For longer-lived events, such as hurricanes or winter storms, a watch means that the storm isn’t an immediate threat.
    For either kind of event, a watch means you should keep up with the weather and be ready to act.

    When a severe thunderstorm, tornado or flash flood watch is in effect, it means you should watch the sky for signs of dangerous weather. Sometimes a severe thunderstorm, a tornado or a flash flood happens so quickly that warnings can’t be issued in time. Many areas don’t have civil-defense sirens or other warning methods. People who live near streams that quickly reach flood levels should be ready to flee at the first signs of a flash flood.
    Hurricane or winter storm watches mean it’s time to prepare by stocking up on emergency supplies and making sure you know what to do if a warning is issued. For those who live near the ocean, a hurricane watch may mean it’s time to prepare for evacuation.
    Weather warnings
    A warning means that the dangerous weather is threatening the area.
    For severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and flash floods, a warning means the event is occurring. Since tornadoes are small – a half-mile wide tornado is considered huge – a tornado will miss many more buildings that it hits in the area warned.
    Still, a tornado warning means be ready to take shelter immediately if there are any indications a tornado is approaching. Severe thunderstorms are larger, maybe 10 or 15 miles across.
    A hurricane warning means either evacuate or move to safe shelter.
    A winter storm warning means it’s not safe to venture out. If traveling, head for the nearest shelter.
    How weather alerts are issued
    Before watches and warnings are issued, the National Weather Service, private forecasters, newspapers, radio and television normally try to alert the public to potential weather dangers.
    Often, forecasters begin issuing bulletins on hurricanes and winter storms three or four days before the storm hits.
    But forecasters can’t issue alerts for the danger of severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and flash floods that far ahead. Usually, the Storm Prediction Center sends out alerts the day before dangerous weather is likely. Most television weathercasters highlight these alerts on the evening news the day before threatening weather.
    Weather radio
    A weather radio is one of the best ways to stay tuned-in to dangerous weather. These radios receive broadcasts from the National Weather Service. The broadcasts are from weather service offices.
    Broadcasts include ordinary forecasts of several kinds, including for boating, farming, traveling and outdoor recreation as well as general forecasts for the area.
    The stations immediately broadcast all watches and warnings. Some weather radios have a feature that turn on the radio automatically when a watch or warning is broadcast. Such “tone alert” weather radios are highly recommended for places where large numbers of people could be endangered by tornadoes or flash floods. These include schools, nursing homes, shopping center security offices, hospitals, and recreation areas such as swimming pools.
  7. Roadtrekingmike
    Is there anything more exciting about leaving on an RV Trip? Anticipation fuels each mile. Excitement about what lies ahead runs high. The sights are new, the day’s drive full of expectation.
    Conversely, is there anything more mind-numbing than the drive back home? Been there, done that syndrome kicks in. The vacation is over. There are so many miles to go on a road we’ve traveled before.
    On return from many a previous trip, Jennifer and I would resolve ourself just to drive. To get home as fast as possible. We drove 728 miles home from Branson in one day after attending the Roadtrek rally this past May. We’ve driven 20 hours straight home from Georgia. Twenty-four from Florida.
    But as we finished the Great Roadtreking Family Vacation of 2013 – our two and a half week trip to Colorado – we determined to do things differently.
    I was towing a travel trailer that my daughter, Wendy, husband Dan and granddaughters Hua Hua and Rachel (and Charlie their Goldendoodle) used. They were following behind our Roadtrek eTrek in our Honda Pilot. Son Jeff had left a few days earlier because he and wife, Aimee, needed to be back at their jobs on Monday.
    Our trip from Colorado was a giant circle tour of the state, starting at Colorado Springs, working southwest to Mesa Verde, up through Telluride, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, on to the Colorado Monument and finishing in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Except for a small slice of Wyoming, our return route was pretty much the same as our going out route – I-80 straight across the corn belt of Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana to our Michigan home.
    I had planned to take three days to return, using the time to catch a couple of attractions on the way back. But those darn Rocky Mountains had a hold on us and we stayed an extra day.
    It was so hard to start back. Our exit from the state took us out US34, Big Thompson Road east from Estes Park. This little stretch of highway was like a final message from Colorado, asking “are you sure you really want to leave?” presenting us with some of the most beautiful scenery we’d seen anywhere. Bordered by the Big Thompson River and walled in by massive canyon walls, it was the perfect mountain drive. You don’t make good time on Big Thompson Road, especially towing a trailer around those steep curves. But you do enjoy every minute of it.
    We had a pair of walkie talkies that we used to communicate between vehicles. That helped with the boredom of the return drive. We delighted in the bison we saw after entering Wyoming from Colorado and the stark but equally beautiful contrast of the range land to the mountains we had just left. Then came the lush green and endless cornfields of Nebraska and Iowa, the tassled tops waving like an undulating sea in the wind. Beautiful.
    I found AM radio stations and listened to small town announcers fret about dropping corn and wheat prices in the increasingly dry weather as they speculated on the chances for rain and the quality of this year’s crops. You can tell so much about an area by listening to AM radio. Even the local advertisements are entertaining.
    We stopped at rest areas to walk the dogs and to have lunch together. Along I-80, Nebraska and Iowa have great rest areas, spaced about 25 miles or so apart. Except for the rattlesnake warning signs in western Nebraska, there were pleasant spots for the dogs. We kicked on the rear air conditioning in the Roadtrek and all of us – four adults, two kids and two dogs – squeezed into the back of the Roadtrek for communal meals.
    Wendy researched and found two great overnight spots for us for the return trip.
    In Nebraska at Exit 312, we stopped at the Mormon Island State Recreation Area, a quiet, very clean and spacious little campground right on the northeastern side of I-80. Named for the winter stopover used by Mormon emigrants heading westward, the state turned the ”borrow pit” used to provide fill for the interstate into a swimming lake, complete with sandy beach.
    We had a campfire and made S’Mores. I like my marshmallows on fire, burnt to a crisp, which the girls delighted in providing so they could “watch Grandpa eat fire.” I delight in making them laugh so I devoured way to many flaming torches of gooey sugar puffs until it was time for them to go to sleep.
    n the morning, we liked the place so much we lingered over another picnic table breakfast of bacon and pancakes. There were only one or two other RVs in the whole park. Most of the grounds were empty. But the park maintenance guy decided that he needed to start cutting the grass right where we were, instead of at the other, vacant end. His unmuffled mower shattered the calm of the place and stopped our conversation, kicking up a cloud of dirt and grass clippings that started to drift onto our food.
    Jennifer waved her arms and chased him away and we all laughed at the riled Mama Bear as the lawn cutting guy retreated to where he should have started anyway.
    Further west at Exit 284 in Walcott, Iowa, we stopped for an obligatory visit at the massive Iowa 80 Truck Stop, which proudly proclaims itself to be the world’s biggest. There is a full blown food court there with a slew of fast food restaurants and one sit-down restaurant that boasts a 50-foot salad bar and room to seat 300, as well as truck displays, a sprawling truckers warehouse store with everything from clothing to CB radios and the cleanest restrooms you will find anywhere along the Interstate.
    Our last night was spent just over the Illinois border, where, four miles from Exit 19, we found the delightful Geneseo Community Campground where owners Craig and Shari Weber runs one of the cleanest, neatest little campgrounds we’ve ever seen. The restrooms and showers look like they are part of a home and the wide grassy and shaded spots are just a stone’s throw off a bike path that follows the Hennepin Canal connecting the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. Hua Hua and I walked the dogs along the path in the morning and marveled at the huge lily pads in the canal, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
    Then, six hours later, we were back in Michigan.
    Jennifer and I stopped at Jeff’s house and Kalamazoo for dinner and drove the last two and a half hours under a huge full moon. She popped us a bag of popcorn in the Roadtrek microwave and Tai , our Norwegian Elkhound, scootched forward, between the driver and passenger seats, perfectly positioned to catch the popcorn that dropped as we passed the bag between us.
    About 10 p.m., we pulled into our driveway.
    It was a surprisingly relaxed and peaceful drive home from Colorado. Partly because we shared it with family. But mostly because we decided to savor each mile, looking around, stopping when we felt like it and marveling at the countryside.
    So this RV trip – The Great Roadtreking Family Vacation of 2013 – has come to an end.
    The Roadtrek is unpacked. Laundry is now done The lawn has been cut and on Monday we set out on our next trip, visiting a few Southern states.
    Thanks for virtually riding along with us on this adventure.
    See you out there ....
  8. Roadtrekingmike
    I am beginning to have some serious doubts about the wisdom of taking our Roadtrek eTrek to the wilderness of Northern Minnesota next week to report on a dog sled marathon from Duluth to the Canadian border. The long term weather forecast predicts lows of -20F/-28C along the Northern Shore of Lake Superior, where we would be boondocking with no outside power.
    I had really looked forward to this but it seems foolhardy to do camp out under such extreme cold. We handled -5F/-20C last year in February in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula but we had commercial power there and ran a small ceramic heater in addition to our on-board Webasto heater. Since we would be boondocking in Minnesota with no shore power, that ceramic heater would be too much of a battery drain in such cold running all through the night.
    Besides, we had a pipe freeze at our sticks and bricks home home during the last cold spell of a week ago. We were fortunately home and were able to get it thawed out without it bursting by hooking up space heaters but if that happened while we were on a trip, I hate to think of the damage we would have had.
    That predicted -20F/-28C up in Minnesota is the real temp. The wind chill would make it even colder!
    The place where we would be boondocking is several miles from civilization at a road crossing/check point for the mushers. I was going to help with the amateur radio setup I have in my Roadtrek to report on the teams and their times as they passed the checkpoint. The location is so remote there is no mobile phone coverage.
    I just mentioned the possibility of canceling to Jennifer and she is voicing no objections. In fact I think she’s secretly hoping for that decision. Those temps are even too cold for Tai, our Norwegian Elkhound.
    Haven’t made a decision yet… but good grief…that is REALLY cold.
    What do you think? Should I go or cancel this one?
    How cold is too cold?
  9. Roadtrekingmike
    There's nothing like the sight of one of Yellowstone National Park's magnificent bison to slow traffic.
    These shaggy giants seem oblivious to the traffic. They cross the road where they want. They go where they want. The National Park Service says humans need to stay far away from bison. But they don't. People, in quest of a photo, get very stupid.
    As you can see on
    , people are stupid. Every year, someone gets hurt. Sometimes very badly. Bison can kill.For these animals will charge. They usually warn you that they’re perturbed by stomping their feet or nodding their heads. But stupid people dont seem to care.
    That doesn't mean you can't get good photos. Just keep your distance.
    Yellowstone's bison are awesome creatures. But remember, they outweigh you 10 to one. If you get too close to them, they don't take kindly to it.


  10. Roadtrekingmike
    It ain’t pretty.
    But it isn’t as bad as I though it would be, either.
    I knew something was wrong as soon as I got up that morning. I was queezy feeling and very chilled. Yet the sun was shining and it was already in the 70′s outside. We had arrived in Naples, FL the afternoon before. We ate dinner at a local restaurant and, 12 hours later, I could feel that dinner still sitting in my belly like a brick.
    I’m not sure whether it was food poisoning or the stomach flu or if there is really a difference between the two. But for all of that day, I was ill.
    You know that saying we have on the Roadtreking shirts – Small House, Bg Yard? Let’s just say that Jennifer spent as much of her time that day in the big yard.
    I stayed curled up, covered up, shivering in the Roadtrek, grateful that the bathroom was two steps away in our small house.
    It’s not fun being sick. Ever. But this only lasted about 18 hours or so. I even drove Jennifer to a local shopping center and she did some shopping while I slept in the back of the Roadrek. When your home is your RV, your home is wherever you are…in a campground, a boondocking spot or a shopping center
    It was cozy and comforting and despite feeling miserable, the day passed surprisingly fast, By the next day, I was back to normal.
    If you travel enough in your RV, it’s inevitable. You will get sick on the road. According to a recent survey commissioned by World Access, a travel-insurance and assistance company, more than 35% of business travelers said they or a colleague have become seriously sick or injured while away from home.
    We carry a small first aid kit. Included in it is a thermometer. I had no fever, despite the chills. But if I had a fever, we would have gone to a local doctor or clinic. Usually, RV campgrounds have a list of local doctors and emergency clinics that they can provide ill guests.
    And because many illnesses are contagious, there is always the danger of your traveling companion coming down with whatever it is you have. So keep your distance as best as possible and – everybody – wash your hands a lot when someone nearby is ill.
    Fortunately, Jennifer never did get sick.
    The biggest mistake we could have made was to carry on that day as if I was well. We took the setback in stride. We just put off our plans for a day. Jennifer relaxed outside, spent some time in a nearby gym and attended a water exercise class.
    I cocooned and … got better.
    How about you? Have you ever gotten sick in an RV trip? How did you cope? Any advice? Use comments below to share.
  11. Roadtrekingmike
    The snow is gone and the 5-foot-high banks that formed a wall along the driver’s side of our Roadtrek eTrek has melted away.
    As I look at it sitting there on it’s special little apron in the driveway, I can almost hear it calling: “Take me someplace fun. Now.”
    When I snapped this photo yesterday, it got me wondering how and where most of you keep your RVs when at home. Most of the bigger Type C and Type A’s, of course, need to have lots of room, and that usually entails a storage facility.
    But Type B’s can often be kept at home in the driveway, unless there are special zoning or neighborhood association rules prohibiting it.
    Because I drive the Roadtrek as a second vehicle when we’re at home, ours gets almost daily use. That keeps critters like mice and squirrels from claiming it as theirs during long periods of inactivity.
    Lately, I’ve used it as a wildlife blind, sitting inside and taking photos of the deer and turkeys that seem to think our landscaping is the animal world’s equivalent of a Golden Corral.
    A year or so ago, I hired an asphalt crew to add on a parking area for it. This year. I’m thinking of having an electrician put in a 30-amp box next to it. That would be for Roadtreking friends who visit.
    So, where do you keep your RV?

    Our eTrek sits in the driveway, waiting to head out.
  12. Roadtrekingmike
    Who says there aren’t deals out there?
    I don’t usually write about the good deals I come across out there but a new listing on the American RV site caught my eye. It’s for a brand new 2012 Roadtrek 190 Popular.
    New, it has a MSRP of $95,725.
    Used, it has a NADA price of $87,680.
    American RV in Grand Rapids, MI is selling this brand new model at $76,990.
    That’s more than a pretty good deal: A brand new 190 that is more that $10,000 below the NADA used price!
    The bargain pricing confirms something that is trending at many other RV dealerships right now.
    This time of year – as the camping season winds down but still before the snow and ice flies – is one of the best times to buy in northern climates. Dealers don’t like having to go through the winterizing process and keeping a lot of inventory out there on snow-covered lots.
    So if you’re looking, now may be the time to get the best pricing…as the above deal reflects.
    Again, I don’t normally write about deals offered by various dealerships, even f they are sponsors of this blog, like American RV. But this one is so far out of the ordinary that it warrants a news brief.
    Roadtreking - A Journalist takes up the RV lifestyle - People and Places Encountered on the Open Road
    Source
  13. Roadtrekingmike
    If you like driving your RV, drive it in Colorado.
    Look at the photos.
    Around every corner is another great, sweeping vista.
    Today, we drove about 80 miles from Mesa Verde National park in the far southwest corner up Highway 145 to the Matterhorn Campground in the San Juan Mountains a dozen or so miles south of Telluride.
    From the semi-arid canyon country to alpine forests, the drive couldn’t be prettier. Even towing that new AmerLite Travel Trailer I bought from American RV in Grand Rapids, MI before setting out on this family vacation, my Roadtrek eTrek barely strained at it pulled us up to about 9,500 feet.
    Before leaving Mesa Verde, son Jeff and I hiked the Prater Ridge Trail that climbs high above our Morefield Campground campsite following the the rim of Prater Ridge, which separates Morefield Canyon and Prater Canyon and offers commanding views of the Montezuma Valley. We got high up on the trail when a fast moving mountain thunderstorm with lightning sent us scrambling back down.
    The storm stayed up top of the ridge and last night, a spectacular quarter moon peeked down at us. Our granddaughters gathered up every kid in the campground and we had the S’More party of all S’More parties last night. It’s amazing how fast kids become friends on a camping strip and how a campground becomes a neighborhood each night, with folks strolling around, looking at the other rigs, talking about the day and the next adventures, sharing tips and enjoying each other’s company as if we were lifelong friends.
    Then morning comes and the neighborhood vanishes as the RVs pull off to all points on the compass.
    Today, we made the drive to Telluride, where we’ll spend one night before heading up to Gunnison and the Black Canyon on Monday.
    The Matterhorn campground we chose for the night is on a small loop off Highway 145. There are 28 campsites with four of them offering RV hookups of water, electricity and septic. We let Jeff and Aimee in the trailer and Wendy and Dan in a borrowed Roadtrek SS Ideal use the full hookups. Jen and I are dry camping in a great spot nestled into the woods on the slope of a mountain just across from them. Our eTrek with its solar power and diesel generator lets use every appliance just like we were plugged in.
    There is no Internet in the Matterhorn Campground so I’m now parked in the Roadtrek with two of the dogs while everyone else in the family took a gondola from the Mountain Village resort development to check out Telluride. There’s a great 4G signal here so I wrote this week’s newsletter, uploaded some photos and fired off this quick post.
    I’m thinking I really need to bite the bullet and invest in a satellite Internet system. I’m missing some big time family fun because of spotty cell phone Internet.
  14. Roadtrekingmike
    I hate flying. In my past life as a journalist, I was frequently in the air, flying here or there for this story or that. I grew to dread air travel.
    But now that I travel in an RV, I hate flying even more.
    I write this from Albany, GA, where we are visiting family. It’s a quick visit, to watch the grandsons play football and to attend grandparent’s day at the youngest one’s school. We’re flying on gift tickets, down here just for the weekend and then back to Michigan.
    This is the first airplane trip we’ve taken since we bought got a Roadtrek some 19 months ago.
    Roadtreking has spoiled us.
    We’ve made the trip many times in our Roadtrek. It’s about 950 miles, an 18 hour drive. With food and fuel stops, you can do it in one very long day’s drive. We prefer spending the night in the Roadtrek.
    In the Roadtrek, we have everything we need. We can bring all the clothing we think we may need, all the supplies and food and we can stop where we want, eat where and when we want.
    It is like traveling with our home. We like the drive, get to take our dog and can take turns driving.
    We are the masters of our journey.
    No so flying.
    The actual flight from Detroit to Atlanta is a about two and a half hours. Then it’s another hour and 20 minutes on a small commuter airplane down to Albany. So, all told, flight time is just shy of four hours.
    But that is not representative of real travel time. And it comes with a huge cost: Aggravation, a loss of control and germ exposure.
    Let me explain.
    The first frustration came when we packed our bags. We take carry-ons. I’ve lost too many bags at too many airports over the years to let the airline handle them. Alas, you can’t bring what you want in a carry-on. Shampoos , conditioners, hair products, shaving cream, etc (unless they are in miniature containers) are all forbidden. Carry-on space constraints mean other things that we’d normally have in our Roadtrek – like a hairdryer jackets or sweatshirts – have to be get left behind
    We departed our house at 9 AM, drove to my daughter’s home in another. Tai, our loyal RV traveling companion, was something else we had to leave behind. He gave us that forlorn “what, you’re abandoning me?” look and we felt terribly coldhearted as we rushed out.
    It took close to an hour to get to our daughter’s house in another Detroit suburb. Then we drove north to Flint, MI and the Bishop International Airport. Add 45 minutes.
    Then there was the hassle of finding a parking spot at $15 a day. Standing in line, going through airport security – taking off shoes, belts, removing laptops, getting the carry-ons inspected. And another hour.
    The government shut down also resulted in laying off most TSA gate inspectors and agents. Yet there was a full contingent at the airports. I talked to one of them and he told me they were all working without pay, hoping that whenever the government gets its act together and “reopens,” they’ll get back pay. “If this shutdown continues, I don’t know what I’ll do next week,” he said. “I’m running out of gas money,”
    We go to the waiting aress. The Delta attendant at the gate used the public address system to asked passengers to put their carry-ons at their feet because the carry-on bins would be full. Ug.
    By the time we’re actually on the plane – jam-packed, everyone breathing everyone else’s air, Jennifer and I are cramped, uncomfortable and annoyed to no end by a noisy couple in the row behind us who seem to be incapable of speaking a sentence that does not contain the F-word.
    We get into Atlanta’s gigantic Hartsfield International Airport a little after 2 PM. It takes 15 minutes to get off the plane from our Row 30 seats. Our arrival gate is in Terminal B.
    The hallways are jammed. People push and nudge to get close enough to read the departure sign for connecting flights.
    Our Albany departure is in Terminal D.
    We walk for close to ten minutes, jostled and dodging other harried passengers who are dragging all sorts of wheeled suitcases behind them. Then it’s a short line to board a long escalator down to the train that takes us to Terminal D.
    The train is elbow-to-elbow crowded. We all hang on to whatever pole or strap we can find as the train accelerates. Even so, a man in front of me looses his balance and lurches backward, roughly bumping into an elderly lady. Both would have gone down if it weren’t so crowded. Instead, wedged in like that, all they could do was ricochet off other passengers. The woman glared at the man, who apologized profusely.
    As the train rapidly decelerates at Terminal D, he’s holding on good. He tried one more “I’m sorry” but she is having none of it.
    We all try to exit the train at once, before the doors close, an irritating beeping noise indicating it would be happening soon.
    There’s an even longer line for the up escalator. More bumping and jostling ensues. A guy cutting in front of me from the side sneezes inches from my face. Terrific.
    Up into Terminal D, it is again so crowded you need to merge into the traffic flow like you do in a car on the freeway of a big city at rush hour.
    It’s always rush hour at the Atlanta airport.
    We try to find food. There are long lines at each place. It’s also always lunch hour at the Atlanta airport.
    I’m getting cranky by now and go to find our gate while Jennifer searches for nourishment.
    There are no seats at our gate. I find two unoccupied spots a few gates down. I put my laptop on the seat next to me to save it for my wife, drawing angry glances from others looking to take a load off their feet Eventually, Jennifer shows up. She managed to scrounge up a blueberry muffin from down the way, a muffin made surely within the past month. Or maybe a little longer. Hard to say.
    Someone a few seats away is coughing up a lung. Not good.
    Finally, we catch the connecting plane to Albany.
    It’s a small 50-seat plane, two rows of two seats on each side. Roller bags have to be checked. There’s no room for them. Nor is there any room in the seats. I’m glad it’s Jennifer’s thigh I’m making contact with instead of a stranger.
    I hear someone behind me sniffing and coughing. At least he’s not sneezing.
    We land in Albany a little after 5 PM. Then we retrieve our bags, make our way out of the airport and drive to our son’s place.
    We arrive about 6 PM – nine hours after leaving home, but way more tired than if we had driven in the Roadtrek.
    Sometimes, time dictates the need to fly.
    But if given the choice, I’ll take the Roadtrek any day.

    Being jammed together in an airplane and having to abide by flight schedules is no fun after controlling our own space in an RV.
  15. Roadtrekingmike
    Type Bs and Cs, the smaller versions of the rapidly growing motorhome market, are leading the way in the dramatic turnaround in the RV industry thanks to the ever growing number of Baby Boomer retirees used to active, mobile lifestyles.
    I’ve spent much of the past week here at the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association’s annual trade show in Louisville, Ky., talking to leading recreational vehicle industry experts, trade association officials, manufacturers and dealers and all agreed that sales for 2014 were going to continue spiking up. Jim Hammill, president of Roadtrek Motorhomes, North America’s best-selling Type B maker, said he is projecting 20% growth next year.
    Dean Corrigal, from Type B and B-plus maker Leisure Travel Vans, showed me their latest models and said his company was also seeing a huge growth in sales as well, also attributing it to the growing number of Baby Boomer retirees and the better fuel economy and the ease in driving offered by small motorhomes.
    Even Airstream, which targets only the high income luxury Type B market, said demand for B’s had never been higher.

    The above video showcases why Type B and C RVs are so hot and gives you a look at some of the latest features.
    The RVIA trade show in Louisville ends Thursday.

    Leisure Travel Van’s Type B-Plus Unity 2B
  16. Roadtrekingmike

    Why We Boondock

    By Roadtrekingmike,

    It sounds like it’s raining. But it’s not. It’s the sound of acorns dropping from the oak trees all around us as we boondock in the middle of the woods overlooking the Rifle River in northern Michigan’s Ogemaw County.
    This is not a particularly pretty time of the year. The beautiful fall leaves have turned brown and now cover the ground. Only the oaks, with their shriveled up leaves and their dropping acorns, still have a covering.
    Squirrels are running all over gathering the bounty. Deer, too. The animals seem to know winter is coming and the heavy acorn crop and their early drop across the upper Midwest appears to verify the Farmer’s Almanac prediction of another really rough winter.
    Jennifer and I came up Thursday night. We’ll stay through Sunday. This is one of our favorite boondocking spots. It’s on a 200-acre hunk of privately owned land surrounded by thousands of acres of state forest. The property is owned by my brother-in-law and is totally undeveloped.If we were in anything larger than a Class B motorhome, there’s no way we’d get to our boondocking spot, accessible only by dirt two-track located a mile off a paved country road.
    We need no electrical or water hookups. Our Roadtrek carries its own fresh water supply. The eight house batteries, always supplemented by 250-watt by solar panels, gives us enough power to last four or five days out here before we have to tun the engine and have those eight batteries recharged in about 20 minutes to a half hour.
    Our Webasto heater – and we needed it last night as the temperature dropped to the lower thirties Fahrenheit – runs on diesel, off the vehicle’s fuel tank. It uses so little that I can’t even see a drop in the fuel gauge after a weekend’s heater use.
    We’ve been coming here for two decades, long before we got an RV. Now, with our Roadtrek Etrek, we use this land as a place to retreat from the world. Friends have asked if they can join us on one of our boondocking weekends. We politely say no. This is our special hideaway, a place not to be shared.
    We truly can get away from it all up here.
    I’m sitting in a chair on what the locals call the “High Banks,” a spot abut 150 feet above where the Rifle makes one of ts snake-turning bends. I frequently see white tail deer just upstream coming down to drink. I hear no traffic. No noise at all but the dropping acorns.
    Jennifer and I and Tai took an hour long hike last night and another one just a few minutes ago.
    We’ll spend the day reading. I’ll build a campfire late afternoon and we’ll sit around it tonight, shoulder to shoulder, watching the flames, saying not very much, but very much enjoying each other's company. At some point before we turn in, we’ll walk away from the fire and look up at the night sky. If there’s no cloud cover, the whole Milky Way can be seen like a dust across the black sky.
    During the day, we usually take an afternoon nap. I like to sit in my chair overlooking the river and write.
    Not very exciting, is it? Not for Jen and I, anyway. Tai finds it very exciting. He’s chasing squirrels right now. He’s learned not to bark. To hunt like a coyote. Sneaky and quiet. And, yes, he occasionally does get one.
    No. It’s not exciting at all for Jennifer and me.
    What it is, though, is a total change of pace. It’s decompressing. Restoring. Refreshing. Total escape from the stress and demands of everyday life.
    That’s why we boondock.
    Because we can get away. Completely.

    There’s a bumper crop of acorns this fall.

    Our spot deep in the woods

    My view atop the High Banks
  17. Roadtrekingmike

    Why we boondock

    By Roadtrekingmike,

    Why we boondock
    It sounds like it’s raining. But it’s not. It’s the sound of acorns dropping from the oak trees all around us as we boondock in the middle of the woods...
    Roadtreking : The RV Lifestyle Blog - Traveling North America in a small motorhome


    Source
  18. Roadtrekingmike
    When we share our love of RVing in our 22-foot Type B Roadtrek with friends and relatives, probably the most common question we get is why a Type B? Why not one of those giant Type A motorhomes?
    Well, no offense to Type A or Type C owners but we're really hooked on Type B RVing for one basic reason: Convenience. We can go anywhere in our Type B and when we do, everything we have is with us.
    That’s why I put together this little video, which was shot across the country during our travels this year.
    Our Roadtrek RS-Adventurous can be used as a second vehicle. It parks in regular parking spots, which is a great convenience when hitting fast-food restaurants or visiting national parks or places with limited parking for big rigs.
    Something else our Type B RV lets us do: Boondock. We can travel far off the beaten path, down backwoods roads and forest trails, and to true wilderness spots that bigger RVs couldn’t even get close to.
    This is our favorite type of camping. Just us and our dog, surrounded by nature Our on board batteries and generator give us power when we need it and cooking is as convenient as home.
    For us, our Type B is a perfect fit. It gets us where we want to go and it carries everything we need. Check out the video and you’ll see.


  19. Roadtrekingmike
    One question we get a lot when we talk about our love of being off the beaten path and away from everyone is, “Why? What do you do there.”
    This is as good a time as ever to try and answer that because, as I type, we are very deep in the woods, in the middle of the Pigeon River Country State Forest Area at the very top of the Michigan Lower Peninsula mitt, a 105,049-acre area so vast it rambles across Otsego, Cheboygan, and Montmorency Counties.
    This is one of our top five favorite places to get away from it all and while I can’t technically say we are boondocking – we are in the tiny 10-site Round Lake Campground – it’s pretty much the same thing as there are no hookups here. There is no one else here. Just us, in our Roadtrek Etrek.
    So what do we do here? Sit outside and listen to the sound of silence – Yes, silence has a sound. No motors, no highway noise. It’s the sound of wind sighing through 100 foot white pines. A string of 50 or so Canadian geese, far overhead, honking their way south as the great fall migration begins.
    Go hiking with a camera – There’s a great fern-lined hiking trail that makes its way around the tiny little lake, The only other tracks I see are from an elk that took the same route, not long ago judging by their impressions in the sand. I tread as quietly as I can, stopping often, hoping to see the elk. I never catch up with him. But around me, the oaks and birch leaves are just starting to turn red and yellow. The blue sky and big fluffy clouds reflect off the water. The air has a slight chill to it, and it deliciously smells of pine.
    We prepare dinner in the Roadtrek - There may be no electricity here but we have our own in the Etrek. Jennifer made a fresh salad and warmed up her world-famous crock pot turkey stew on the inductive stovetop. We butter some fresh bread we picked up at a bakery on the way up. For dessert, we had home grown Michigan watermelon. Then, as darkness came, she sits up front to read and I do some computer work in the back.
    There is no cell coverage here. But as I’m writing this post, my computer trills with a FaceTime call. The Wilson cell booster and the external antenna I have mounted on the roof has given me a great Internet connection. On the other end of the FaceTime call is my friend Chis Guld, of the Geeks on Tour team. With husband, Jim, she’s at the Roadtrek Rally in Pismo Beach California, teaching the 120 or so Roadtrekers at the rally their most excellent tech classes.
    Out in California where Chris is, it’s that golden time of day. As she walks around the campground with her smartphone, it’s clearly Happy Hour out there. Somebody puts a bottle of red California wine in front of the camera and offers me a virtual glass. I exchange greetings with many. John from Canada is there. Pat and Pat, a couple I met last summer in Nebraska, come over to say Hi. Roadtrek International President Sherry Targum tells me I’m missing a great rally.
    They see me, seated in the back of the Etrek, with pitch black outside my windows. I see them, with Palm trees and parked Roadtreks in the California sunset.
    Technology connects us. Them, at a close-together, very social and fun gathering, Jennifer and me boondocking alone in the peace and quiet of the Michigan woods. The best of both RV world camping styles, brought together. How cool is that?
    We will make the bed and turn in early. It’s hard to describe how restful it is sleeping when all about you is nothing but wilderness. Sometimes, late at night, we have awakened to hear deer moving past. At least I think it is deer. Besides elk, there are coyotes, black bear and, some say, wolves in this vast wilderness tract.
    Jen and I are missing Tai, our Norwegian Elkhound. He’s back home with a dogsitter. Tomorrow we head to Mackinac Island for a couple of days and, alas, dogs are not allowed at the place we are staying.
    We would have stayed with my daughter and her family. But our granddaughters recently got Guinea Pigs as pets and as far as Tai is concerned, they’re nothing but rodents. And he’s the exterminator. Last time we were there, we caught him standing on a sofa, wagging his tail in anticipation as he stared down into their cage. So this trip, he’s at the dogsitter.
    Tai loves the Roadtrek and eagerly jumped in this morning as I drove him to the dogsitter. I’m sure he thought it was another adventure, after traveling coast to coast with us this year for weeks on end. Words can’t describe the look of betrayal on his face as I dropped him off. I felt so guilty leaving him behind for this trip.
    He’ll be glad to see us when we pick us up Sunday night. Then, he’ll sulk for a couple of days.
    We’ll promise to take him on the next trip. Maybe back here in a couple of weeks, when the color peaks.
    So that’s why we like off-the-grid RVing. As I re-read this, I worry that it will sound boring to some. It doesn’t sound very exciting. Yet to us, it is. And it has become so much a part of our lifestyle now that we need regular doses of this special away-from-it-all time or we start to go a little stir-crazy.
    It’s not for everyone. But it sure is for us.

    Round Lake in northern Michigan’s Pigeon River Country Stare Forest.

    An elk went down this trail not long before I did.

    The leaves are just starting to turn their fall colors.

    The wind signs through these pines producing a delightfully soothing sound.

    Chris Guld at the Roadtrek rally in California FaceTime called me in the Michigan woods.
  21. 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.
  22. 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
  23. Roadtrekingmike
    I know we’ve talked a lot about winterizing over the past few weeks. But here’s one more report, this one documenting my do-it-yourself winterizing of my Roadtrek eTrek.
    For the past two years, I’ve paid over $100 to have it winterized by RV service dealers.
    From the blog and our Facebook page, readers have told me that it’s no big deal and it it is something that even an unhandy handyman like me can do.
    So this year, I decided to see take their advice and do my own winterizing.

    I’ve read all the various suggestions and methods of winterizing an RV and, especially, winterizing a Roadtrek motorhome. I’ve talked to three big service centers at Roadtrek dealerships and I’ve studied the “official” suggestions of Roadtrek.
    Based on those discussions and the suggestions I received, this is my DIY approach:
    It started with a firm decision NOT to put antifreeze in the fresh water tank. Some people do. The dealerships I consulted urged me not to do that for the simple reason that getting rid of that sickly sweet antifreeze taste come time to unwinterize in the spring is very difficult to do.
    Needless to say, I throughly drained my fresh water tank, even driving around with the drain valve opened on the trip home from my last outing. That, all three service shops insisted, was all I needed to do for the fresh water tank.
    My winterizing approach involved two special tools:
    1) The Camco 36153 RV Brass Blow Out Plug, available for just over $5 from Amazon or a bit more at my local RV dealer. This little plug screws into the city water hookup. I need to point out although all three Roadtrek dealers I consulted DO use compressed air, under 40 psi, to blow out the line, Roadtrek itself does NOT recommend forcing compressed air back through the lines. But I do see the wisdom of pushing what water may be in the lines back to through the faucets so I attached a bicycle pump. It did indeed push some water out the faucets and down the drain so I feel good about that, knowing I did not run air at high pressure and, as Roadtrek warns with compressed air, run the risk of damaging the plumbing.
    2) The Camco 36543 RV Pump Converter Winterizing Kit. This is a little valve that attaches at the water pump and allows you to siphon water directly from a bottle of antifreeze into the RV pipes and out the faucets, thereby protecting pipes and connections. This is very clean and neat and makes winterizing so easy, especially if, as I plan, I will probably have to winterize several times this season as I drive to warm climates and then return to the cold north. Cost is $12.65 through Amazon.
    I did the above video to show how it all works. Total time was bout 20 minutes, and that was with me doing the video as I went through each stage. I used just under three gallons of antifreeze, making sure it ran through all the faucets, flushed through the toilet and also flowed through the cold and hot water filters and my outdoor shower. I also removed the water filter, which will be replaced by a fresh one in the spring.
    After that, I put about a cup down each trap. I once again dumped the black and grey water tanks, running the macerator and making sure pink stuff came out. Finished with that, I dumped a half gallon of antifreeze down the black and grey tanks.
    These general steps will work with just about any RV.
    My eTrek has a special Webosto water heater and I followed Roadtrek’s suggestion to drain the tank of water. That’s pretty much all it needs. Your heater is probably much different and you should consult your instruction manual for specifics.
    Now I’m ready for cold weather. Jennifer and I will still use the eTrek during the cold months. We just won’t run water through the pipes in cold weather. We will use antifreeze to flush the toilet.
    But as the temperature drops, the eTrek is now ready for Old Man Winter. Bring it on.

    The blow out plug for the city water connection

    The winterizing kit for the water pump

    The winterizing kit siphons antifreeze directly into the RV plumbing system.
  24. Roadtrekingmike
    I have a whole new appreciation for my Roadtrek eTrek. It not only allows us to boondock, or dry camp, for days on end, it can haul us up some of the steepest mountains in Southwest Colorado… while hauling a travel trailer.
    Our little family caravan made our way south from Colorado Springs in some pretty dicey driving conditions. Heavy downpours, fog, slippery roads and high altitude. But it wasn’t until we hit US 160 near Wolf Creek Pass when I put the eTrek to the hauling test.
    Some 37 Miles of steep incline and a 8% winding decline made the ascent of Pikes Peak the day before seem like a Sunday drive. It was pouring rain the whole way. The eTrek drove firm and steady, though its’ a good thing the speed limit was 45 mph because that is about all I could get out of the Mercedes 3500 engine hauling our 21-foot AmerLite travel trailer.
    That’s when I remembered why Wolf Creek Pass was so familiar. It was a song made famous by Country music artist C. W. McCall’s humorous spoken-word song of the same name, in which the pass is fondly described as “37 miles o’ **** — which is up on the Great Divide.” In the song, two truckers drive an out-of-control Peterbilt down U.S. Highway 160 over the pass.
    I looked at Earl and his eyes was wide
    His lip was curled, and his leg was fried.
    And his hand was froze to the wheel like a tongue to a sled in the middle of a blizzard.
    I says, “Earl, I’m not the type to complain
    But the time has come for me to explain
    That if you don’t apply some brake real soon, they’re gonna have to pick us up with a stick and a spoon…”
    (“Wolf Creek Pass” written by Bill Fries and Chip Davis, sung by C.W. McCall)
    Here is is if you want to sing along:
    http://youtu.be/xC_onLPc-0E
    It was a real test. The highway climbs to 10,857 feet, smack dab on the Continental Divide.
    I used the Mercedes engine to downshift on the decline. The trailer brakes stunk mightily as they heated up and we had to take a 45-minute break to let them cool down once we reached the bottom.
    My son, Jeff, following in a borrowed Roadtrek SS, had no problems. My daughter Wendy, following in our Honda Pilot SUV, suffered from altitude sickness.
    The rain continued all the way to Mesa Verde National Park. We didn’t get in until very late and got very wet setting up. It was my first test of backing up the trailer. After Wolf Creek Pass, it was a piece of cake.
  25. Roadtrekingmike
    Well, at least it’s not going to erupt anytime soon.
    Probably.
    This has been a strange year at Yellowstone National Park, which indeed sits atop a supervolcano. Two months ago, extreme heat from the thermal features below caused oil to bubble on a road surface and damage a 3.3-mile loop road that takes visitors past White Dome Geyser, Great Fountain Geyser and Firehole Lake.
    A couple months before that, some yahoo posted a video on YouTube purportedly showing bison in the park supposedly evacuating themselves in anticipation of an eruption at the park. Park officials patiently explained that it was not unusual to see bison running – indeed, everytime we go we see lots of running bison – and that the bison in the video were actually heading deeper into the park, not away.
    But that video went viral. Over 1.5 million people have watched it and there are dozens of copycat re-posted clips. It really appealed to the conspiracy nut jobs.
    Add to that the fact that the park experiences frequent earthquakes including one that measured 4.8 in March – the biggest in more than 20 years – and you can see why its been a very busy year for park officials who have finally posted a whole web page debunking the hoaxes and foolishness.
    Here’s the official statement:
    “There is no evidence that a catastrophic eruption at Yellowstone National Park is imminent. Current geologic activity at Yellowstone has remained relatively constant since earth scientists first started monitoring some 30 years ago. Though another caldera-forming eruption is theoretically possible, it is very unlikely to occur in the next thousand or even 10,000 years.”
    So there you go.
    For Jennifer and me, the thermal activity at Yellowstone is as big of a draw as the wildlife. We keep going back year after year and visiting thermal features.
    “Yellowstone holds the planet’s most diverse and intact collection of geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles,” according to the National Park Service. “Its more than 300 geysers make up two-thirds of all those found on earth. Combine this with more than 10,000 thermal features comprised of brilliantly colored hot springs, bubbling mud pots and steaming fumaroles, and you have a place like no other…Yellowstone’s vast collection of thermal features provides a constant reminder of the park’s recent volcanic past. Indeed, the caldera provides the setting that allows such features as Old Faithful to exist and to exist in such great concentrations.”
    If you go, be sure to pick up the newspaper that the park service gives you. Or download the free Yellowstone trip planner.
    Pets are not allowed anywhere near the thermal activity. There have been incidents where they have broken away and plunged into what they thought was just a pretty pool of water. The outcome is too gory to print.
    And I shouldn’t have to say this but do resist the urge to touch the water. You will be scalded.
    I say all this because the park service makes it very easy to get very close to the geysers and boiling pools. And it should go without saying that you should not go over one of the barricades. The signs about unstable ground are accurate.
    Fortunately, most of the spectators are respectful and cautious. And come away absolutely delighted by this awesome park.
    We always do the lower loop first, past Old Faithful and Biscuit Basin. We budget a full a day for visiting the thermal features, camping overnight in one of the park campgrounds. Then we head out the second day for the northern and eastern loops, saving at least half a day to see the travertine terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs.
    Here are some of our favorite pictures of Yellostone’s thermal features. Maybe I’ll do a post in the future about our favorite hikes and our favorite places to see animals at Yellowstone.
    But after our third visit in three years, we continue to love the place. I really want to visit the park in the winter.
    Hope you enjoy these photos.

    Look at the boiling mud. It looks like an artist’s paint pot.

    This beautiful sapphire pool is about 200 degrees F.

    Small geysers like this one erupt by the hundreds every day.

    The color at Biscuit Basin in Yellowstone’s far northwestern Upper Geyser Basin is a photographer’s delight.

    There are numerous geysers that have dramatic daily, even hourly eruptions, besides Old Faithful.

    The landscape is like nowhere else on earth.

    Boiling. bubbling mud that emits a strong sulfur smell.
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