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Roadtrekingmike

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Blog Entries posted by Roadtrekingmike

  1. 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.
  2. Roadtrekingmike
    Please do not call it a rally. There was no itinerary. No organized programs. And no nametags.
    We all made our own reservations and the only coordinated planning was letting the word out on our Roadtreking Facebook Group that a bunch of us were going to meet on a particular weekend at a particular campground in Michigan.
    It was more fun than any of us expected and a great example that great RVing times can be spontaneous and as easy as just showing up and getting together.
    In all 10 coaches pulled into the Addison Oaks Campground in Oakland County, Michigan. We had 20 people show up, from Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, New York and Ontario, Canada.
    Many of us knew each other from either Facebook or the Roadtrek rally in May in Branson, MO.
    So in that sense, this gathering was more of a reunion than a rally. Maybe a better word is rendezvous. Whatever it was, it was very good.
    We mostly just chilled, forming a huge circle of chairs in the shade of a willow tree. On Saturday afternoon, a half dozen or so headed into nearby Rochester, MI to take advantage of a Farmer’s Market and a gourmet food shop. We all brought our own food, but shared a dish at dinnertime.
    At a time when there is so much polarization in our culture, our group was warm, welcoming and harmonious, despite the fact that we are all over the place politically. Some were conservative, others liberal. Some were religious or spiritual, others agnostic. Those differences were not important. What bound us together was our love for travel, particularly travel in small motorhomes.
    One couple was on their very first camping trip in their new motorhome. Another couple had covered over 20,000 miles in their Roadtrek Class B coach just since January.
    We laughed a lot and shared stories of our adventures and just hung out together. One of our friends, Lisa Gruner from Huntsville, AL, was recovering from a knee replacement surgery. So since she couldn’t be physically in our circle, we Skyped her from our circle of chairs.
    But what amazed me the most was what we learned about each other when we visited around the campfire. In our midst were nature photographers, boaters, a model train hobbyist, a couple of golfers, a knitter, a basket weaver, a fitness fanatic, Scuba divers, cyclists, fishing lure makers, a family liaison volunteer for a U.S. Marine battalion in Afghanistan, a master gardener, a beekeeper and a very busy community volunteer.
    And that’s what hit me about this group: Though we ranged in age from the mid-50s to near 70, some were retired, others still working, everyone was extremely active and connected. And that’s why we all chose our Class B small motorhomes. Because we like to be on the move and on the go once we get wherever we’re going, hiking, kayaking, exploring.
    Except for this weekend. This weekend was a time to enjoy each other’s company.
    I came away with three takeaways from this weekend.
    1 – RV gatherings need not be complicated. Just announce a time and place and people will come. You can send emails, post to Facebook or pick up the phone and call people but that’s about as organized as you have to be. I’d say 20 people is about as big as you want. Any larger and it will be hard to get to know everyone.
    2 – Social media is great. But nothing is as fulfilling as connecting with people as real face time. There is something very satisfying about getting to know someone shoulder to shoulder.
    3 – We are all much too busy. Even when we RV, we spend a lot of time rushing from place to place, sight to sight, campsite to campsite. Sometimes, it’s very good to just stop, sit and chat for a spell.
    That’s what 20 of us did this weekend. I didn’t know everyone when we first met Friday night. But when we all returned to our homes Sunday, we left as very special friends.
    I’m betting there will be a reunion of our reunion.
  3. Roadtrekingmike
    Staying in touch while RVing is a challenge we all face. And a key tool many of us end up acquiring is a data card that lets us set up our own Wi-Fi networks to connect our various tablets and computers to the Internet.
    True, many of today’s tablets and smartphones have a feature that will let you do that without the need for special card. But a special data card adds, in my view, more convenience. It can be plugged in and kept somewhere in the RV and be always charged, always ready and not pull down the battery on the other devices.
    All of the various wireless providers have them and they are branded under various names. I happen to use the MiFi card on the Verizon Wireless Network, also referred to as a Jetpack. I’ve tried other providers but it has been my experience that Verizon has the most reliable connections nationwide.
    The MIFi is one of several gadgets they sell that creates your own wireless network. It is essentially a wireless router that acts as mobile Wi-Fi hotspots. MiFi stands for “My Wi-Fi” and it can provide Internet access for up to ten devices at a distance up to 30 feet. I’ve shared before how it is the primary way I update this blog and our Facebook pages and the RV newsletter while we are traveling across North America.
    But since so many of you have written to ask about the monthly price, I thought I’d do this brief little post that explains data usage and the costs associated with the card.
    With Verizon – and this is pretty much true of the other providers – you first need to get the device. Verizon has a couple MiFi/Jetpack models that are free with a two-year contract, and some newer ones with longer battery life that cost up to $49. That’s a one time fee, should you choose to purchase one of the newer models.
    So that’s step one, get a contact for it and get the device.
    Now come the fees. It all starts with $20 a month fee to add the MiFi/Jetpack to what they call a Share Everything account.
    This is on top of whatever you are paying for cellular service each month.
    Then you add the cost of your sharable data, or the data the card or router will be pumping to your devices on your hot spot network.
    4GB is $30 a month
    6GB is $40 a month
    8 GB is $50 a month
    10 GB is $60 a month
    12 GB is $70 a month
    Plans go all the way up to 30 GB for $185
    But how do you know how much data you need? There is a special tool that you can access to help you estimate the tier of data you should purchase. Click HERE to get the online data calculator. You enter in some information on how you’ll be using the Internet and it helps you come up with the best plan. Once you select a plan, you can adjust it up or down anytime, but it’s best to use it for a month use to see the patterns.
    I asked Michelle Gilbert, Verizon’s Public Relations Manager for Michigan/Indiana/Kentucky Region, to help come up with some examples. Here’s what she reports:
    5 GB of usage is equivalent to:
    25 emails per day
    Viewing 5 web pages per day
    Streaming 60 minutes of music per day
    Streaming 10 minutes of lower quality videos per day.
    Uploading and/or downloading 2 photos per day
    12 GB of usage is equivalent to:
    50 emails per day
    Viewing 25 web pages per day
    Streaming 60 minutes of music per day
    Streaming 30 minutes of lower quality videos per day.
    Uploading and/or downloading 2 photos per day
    Clearly, streaming video and music takes up the most bandwidth.
    These data plans are relatively new. There used to be a flat fee unlimited plan you could get. Those were the good old days, before so many discovered their usefulness.. This summer, when I was at a huge RV rally in Gillette, WY, my computer showed I was in the range of 14 other Verizon data cards.
    You can experiment with the online calculator and come up with your own usage but generally, I would suggest RVers start with a 4GB or 6GB plan. That means $50 or $60 a month will be added to your cell phone bill. But that’s the cost of being connected and not having to put up with the always-bad free WiFi we encounter at most campgrounds.
    Is it worth it? That’s for you to determine. For me… that’s a big 10-4!
  4. Roadtrekingmike
    We were on I-69 a few miles north of I-94 in Michigan, headed off for a 10 day swing through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia. We came close to ending it on our first day.
    Bang!
    Like a small explosion, a tire on a huge semi-tractor rig blew, just as we were about to pass it. Instinctively, I braked and swerved left onto the shoulder, just as a huge chunk of tire came careening into my lane, right about where the windshield would have been if I hadn’t hit the brakes.
    In my rear view mirror I saw other tire parts behind me.
    It was a narrow miss.
    Jennifer and I breathed deeply, thanked God for sparing us and realized how bad it could have been.
    All the rest of the drive down south, we both started paying attention to the huge chunks of hard rubber that are strewn all over our highways.
    As I type this, I’m at a picnic table at our campsite for the night along I65 north of Nashville. I just finished Googling the problem and found that debris littering the highways and interstates of North America causes over 25,000 accidents and at least 100 deaths each year in the United States and Canada. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reports that blown tire pieces are the number one road debris.
    The tire safety experts say this is the worst time of year, when high temperatures cause the most stress on tires. As we’ve been driving the past two days, the temps have been in the upper eighties and low nineties and seemingly every mile of toad has shredded remnants of 18 wheeler truck tires on the highway — called “gators” in the trucking industry.
    The origin of gators is in dispute, especially the idea that most gators come from capped or retreaded tires. Retreading is a process that saves money by shaving down old tires to their casing and attaching and bonding a new exterior.
    “On these extremely hot days, the adhesive that holds these treads together gets hot enough that they lose adhesiveness,” said David Decker, director of operators at Western Truck School in West Sacramento, CA, in an article I found in the Merced Sun Star newspaper.
    It’s easy to see why retreads are in use. New truck tires cost $600 or so. Retreads $200.
    Despite the critics, a 2008 study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that showed retreaded tires were no more likely to blow out than new tires.
    But with such much debris on our roads, somebody needs to be working hard to curtail the problem. If that’s happening, it isn’t evident on the roadways.
    I have a great deal of respect for professional truck drivers. I know the vast majority of them take good care of their rigs and would never cut corners by using inferior or dangerous tires.
    Accidents do happen. Truck tires do blow. But they blow a lot. Just look at the debris.
    I think we need to make reducing those blowouts a top highway safety priority. The problem is serious and it is costing lives.
    Meantime, be careful out there and stay alert.
  5. Roadtrekingmike
    When we first started out 18 months ago, I have to admit, I had my doubts about a life of RVing in a Class B motorhome, sometimes referred to as Type B to do away with all the negative stereotypes that come with the word “Class.”
    Anyway, I was sure it would be fine for weekend getaways but as the this blog took off and it became apparent that we were going to be traveling a lot more than I first planned, we secretly wondered whether the 23-foot Roadtrek we travel in would be big enough.
    Now, with more than 42,000 miles under our tires and extended trips for weeks at a time over the past year and a half, we know the answer: It is!
    But more than that, we’ve realized we are living out a major trend in RVing, a boom in class B RV sales that seems to be turning around an industry hard hit by the economic doldrums that had put many a dealer on the edge of bankruptcy.
    The RV business is once again healthy, and leading the resurgence are Class B RVs.
    Monthly sales figures for Class B’s confirm what we’ve concluded from our own experience, interviews with dealers we have met at various RV shows around the country and the many other Class B owners we’ve met in our travels this past year.
    The Recreational Vehicle Industry Association deftly tiptoes around the size distinctions of motorhomes, simply noting that “Class A motorhomes are generally the largest; Class B motorhomes or van campers are the smallest and Class C motorhomes generally fall in between.”
    Search around a little more, though, and you’ll find more info that indicate Class As usually range in weight from 15,000 to 30,000 pounds and stretch from 30 to 40 feet in length. Class Bs are often referred to as van conversions, weigh 6,000 to 11,000 pounds and are 17 to 24 feet in length. Class Cs are scaled down versions of an A, weigh 11,000 to 15,000 pounds and go 22 or so feet to 31 feet in length.
    Class Bs are typically on a Chevrolet, Ford or the Sprinter van body, modified and converted into a motorhome.
    When it comes to Class B motorhome manufacturers, there’s the Big Six. And it’s dominated by Canadian companies.
    Four are in Canada -Roadtrek, in Kitchener, ON; Pleasure Way, in Saskatchtoon, SK; Leisure Travel Vans in Winkler, Manitoba; and Great West Vans in Saint Andrews, Manitoba.
    Two are in the U.S. – Winnebago, marketing its Class B under the Era brand in Forest City, IA, and Thor Industries’ Avenue and Interstate models, in Jackson Center, OH which the company says are inspired by its Airstream brand.
    A new Class B manufacturer – Advanced RV - located near Cleveland – opened shop earlier this year, building luxury motorhomes on the Sprinter platform by direct factory order, with no dealer network.
    The boom in Class B sales can be attributed to two trends.
    Baby Boomer Retirees – Each day in America, 10,000 Baby Boomers reach Social Security age. Sociologists tell us this generation of retirees is the most healthy, active, affluent and adventurous of any other group that came before. Many, retiring early because of buy-outs or being forced out during the economic downturn, have made calculated decisions to seize the opportunity to see the country. Others have planned for this moment for years. But new retirees are choosing Class B’s because of their easy mobility and the convenience of also being able to use them as second vehicles.
    Downsizers – There is also a sizeable contingent of new Class B owners who are downsizing from a Class A or C. These are typically veteran RVers who have been on the road for several years. Some are fulltimers who have found an area of the country to purchase a home and settle, but still want to be able to travel in comfort. Others want to be more flexible in the places they go and are downsizing as part of a transition to simplify their lives or are tired of towing a second vehicle or being relegated to pull through spots and full service campgrounds.
    Jennifer and I are in the first category. Granted, we don’t know anything different. We’ve never tried a Class A. And sometimes it does feel cramped in our Roadtrek, especially when our 70-pound Norwegian Elkhound, Tai, is traveling with us. But we’ve adjusted to the tight spaces we absolutely love the mobility our Class B provides, from pulling into regular parking spaces to being able to boondock and stay deep in state and national forests, totally self contained in true wilderness.
    Darlene, a reader of this blog, has owned a Class B 2004 Roadtrek 190 Popular since 2010 and has taken trips as long as five weeks in it.
    “We have purposely bought small RV’s to force ourselves to be outdoors,” she says. “You can never feel closed in being outdoors. The whole idea of taking a trip is to be enjoying and appreciating the great outdoors.”
    John and Sally Hearne from Pittsboro, NC are typical of many downsizers. I met them at the FMCA’s 87th annual reunion in Indianapolis last year and shared a seminar stage with them about downsizing from an A to a B.
    They started RVing in 2005 with a 32-ft., gas-powered Class A motor home and traveled across country. They did all the bucket list spots – the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park and fell in love with the RV lifestyle. In 2010, they traded in their 32-ft. gas model for a 40-ft., four-slide diesel pusher, complete with a washer and dryer, residential refrigerator, and central vacuum system.
    For five months, they traveled the country with gusto in their big rig, towing a car behind them. But then, some discontent entered the picture.
    “We found that traveling in a large coach requires that you do most of your traveling on major highways and Interstates,” said Sally. “Therefore, we didn’t get to travel on the back country roads that we love to tour.”
    The more they traveled, the more the allure of that 40-foot motorhome began to wear off.
    “We could only use fueling stations that could accommodate our size and length. There was no impromptu stopping along the way. I would see a roadside stand with fresh produce that I would love to buy. But, there was nowhere to put our big rig. We couldn’t just pull off the road anywhere. I saw shops in small towns that begged to be explored. Nope, we couldn’t do that. There was nowhere nearby to park. By the time we could find a campground that could accommodate our coach, unhook the tow car, and drive back to the produce stand or small town shop, we would be miles away from the place of interest. So, I just had to forget about it. “
    In July 2011, they sold the 40-foot Class A and bought a Roadtrek 210 Popular.
    “The space is a miniature of the Class A, but it has all we need,” Salley explains. “There is inside storage for clothes, food, etc., and outside storage for some essentials. Since it is so easy to stop anywhere we want, we do not have to stock a large amount of food. We love being able to drive anywhere we want to go in town or out of town.”
    The Hearnes experience has been echoed by many.
    Ron Woodward, a retired engineer from Minnesota, told me about the same thing. He previously owned a Class A. Last year he downsized to a Class B from Pleasure-Way. “We didn’t like the big campgrounds and our dependency on hookups,” he said. “Now, we can go anywhere. We love boondocking in the state forests. Just us and nature.”
    With fall rapidly approaching and colder temperatures on the way, the great Snow Bird migration to warmer regions will soon begin.
    We’re hoping to become a part of it this year, taking long trips to Florida, the Gulf States, the Texas Hill Country, Arizona and the Southwest.
    We won’t be gone the entire season but rather will return to our Michigan home for grandkid fixes, planning three and four week forays on each leg.
    But we’ll do so confident of our Class B RV and excited about the adventure that awaits as we go Roadtreking across North America.
    Hope to see you out there…on the open road.
  6. Roadtrekingmike
    Ah ... the Sound of Silence.
    There really is a sound to it, you know. On a boondocking trip deep in the Michigan woods in Ogemaw County, we heard it good.
    There was the crackle of our campfire. A hoot of a distant owl. The yips of a pack of coyotes somewhere far to the west. The gurgle of the Rifle River moving over a stretch of rocks just downstream from where we were camped. The whooshing sound of wind whipping through a stand of pine.
    And on that clear night, the sound of boondocking silence comes with a view.
    Up above, as soon as you walked away from the fire and got your night eyes focused, a gazillion stars speckled the ink black sky.
    That’s the first big perk of boondocking, or being totally self-contained with no commercial power or water or sewer or any other service. Some people prefer to call it “dry camping” or “independent camping.” Other terms are “primitive camping” or “dispersed camping.”
    Whatever, we were loving it.
    No one else was around. Probably for miles.
    Tai, our Norwegian Elkhoud, ran free, though not very far from our motorhome. I swear he smiled the whole weekend, blissfully exhausted from leash-free hikes and the new scents of deer trails and the deep woods.
    We slept with the blinds up and the windows open with complete privacy.
    In our all electric Roadtrek eTrek, with solar power and a diesel heater connected to the engine, we can go that way for days. In fact, the limiting factor for us out there is how much food we can bring. More often than not, we need to resupply about every three days. Because we have eight house batteries, 250 watts of solar power, a diesel generator that charges the batteries on a half hour or so by just running the engine, a refrigerator, heater, microwave/convection oven, air conditioner and inductive stove that are powered by a 5,000-watt inverter, our eTrek is made for boondocking like that.
    But most all Class B motorhomes can boondock, some for a night or so, others a couple days.
    But where?
    I use the Internet and apps to help me find new places to boondock.
    For starters, check out the app for iPhone, iPad and Android devices by AllStays (www.allstays.com). They list more than 22,000 commercial campgrounds, state and national parks and boondocking spots, everything from KOAs and Walmarts to state and federal forests, military and BLM land. This is my favorite app and website, offering the most detailed information of any app I’ve yet found on places to stay.
    There are other resources.
    Free Campgrounds for RVs (http://www.freecampgrounds.com) has a big database, sorted by state, of state, federal and county land open to camping, most without hookups or services.
    For boondocking and camping information about National Forests, check out the very useful U.S. National Forest Campground Guide (http://www.forestcamping.com). Much of the research was done by Fred and Suzi Dow, a couple of avid RVers who have spent the last 17 years visiting 155 national forests, 20 national grasslands, 1 national tallgrass prairie and 2,383 developed campgrounds.
    I also like the Free Campsites website (http://freecampsites.net). There’s an interactive map as well as comments and reviews of boondocking spots.
    You can also check the site http://boondocking.org. It’s a database of free boondocking spots based on GPS coordinates. Enter in your location’s latitude and longitude and it will tell you whether the closest boondocking spot may be.
    Those are some of my favorite boondocking resources. How about you? Share your suggestions under comments.

    Boondocking in our eTrek the middle of the Michigan woods in Ogemaw County.
  7. 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.
  8. Roadtrekingmike
    The temperature outside my Roadtrek in the driveway of our Michigan home was 34 degrees this morning.
    That’s the coldest yet this season and a reminder that soon, there will be no putting off the fact that it needs to be winterized.
    We still have a couple of long weekend trips planned and I am hoping that I can do them without pushing antifreeze down all the pipes. It’s funny, really, because even when the RV is winterized, there’s no reason I can’t use it. You just carry drinking water and use antifreeze to flush the toilet. No big deal.
    But still, winterizing means winter and winter means cold and, well, the fact of the matter is this has been such a great season for our RV that I hate to see it end. November and December are the times we use it the least.
    It won’t be long till the first of the snowbirds head south. These are usually Class A owners and they tend to sit in one spot all season long. We’re not like that with our Class B. And since we tend to move around a lot, it’s hard to get reservations n Florida. Impossible, really. So I don’t think we’ll even try Florida this year.
    Instead, we’re looking at a trip after the New Year, over towards the Texas Hill Country and the southwest.
    But this relatively inactive time after the first hard freeze settles in until the holidays are over always leaves me a little sad. I hate to see a good thing end… even if it’s temporary.
    Guess the best cure for the off season blues is to plan the next season.
    How about you? What are your plans for the next couple of months?
  9. Roadtrekingmike
    It has happened again. This time in Alabama at a campground near the Talladega Speedway. Craig Franklin Morgan, 46, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Morgan and his wife, Jami Allison Morgan, 38, were discovered unresponsive by friends who went into their RV at the South Campground outside the track.
    Jami Morgan was unconscious and was airlifted to a nearby Hospital, where she remained in critical condition and unconscious Monday morning.
    Police said the carbon monoxide apparently leaked from the exhaust system of the family’s RV.
    Talladega County Sheriff Jimmy Kilgore told myfoxal.com that the couple’s RV had a broken exhaust pipe on its generator, which ran all night Friday. When the Morgans didn’t come out Saturday morning, friends went looking for them.
    Carbon Monoxide is an invisible, odorless, and deadly gas, produced by the partial combustion of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels. Carbon monoxide is the number one cause of poisoning deaths each year.
    Almost all of today’s RVs come with carbon monoxide monitors. But they can, and do malfunction. Thus, as a matter of routine, you should test the carbon monoxide detector every time you use the RV If they have batteries, replace them at least once a year, twice if the unit is exposed to extreme cold. A good tip is to change the batteries when when you change clocks for daylight savings time.
    The sad thing is that many deaths occur when the victim is asleep. If their detection monitor is not working, or if they don’t have one, they just stop breathing.
    There are symptoms that are noticeable when awake. They are similar to the flu, but without a fever. They also may include.
    Dizziness
    Vomiting
    Nausea
    Muscular twitching
    Intense headache
    Throbbing in the temples
    Weakness and sleepiness
    Inability to think coherently

    Here is some more advice specific to RVs, as suggested by the website Carbon Monoxide Kills:
    Inspect your RV’s chassis and generator exhaust system regularly, at least before each outing and after bottoming out or any other incident that could cause damage.

    Inspect the RV for openings in the floor or sidewalls. If you locate a hole, seal it with a silicone adhesive or have it repaired before using your generator again.

    Inspect windows, door seals, and weather strips to ensure that they are sealing properly.

    Yellow flames in propane-burning appliances such as coach heaters, stoves, ovens, and water heaters usually indicate a lack of oxygen. Determine the cause of this condition and correct it immediately.

    If applicable, have your built-in vacuum cleaner checked to make sure it does not exhaust under the underside of your RV. Have the system changed if it does.

    Do not operate your generator if the exhaust system is damaged in any way or if an unusual noise is present.

    Park your RV so that the exhaust may easily dissipate away from the vehicle. Do not park next to high grass or weeds, snowbanks, buildings, or other obstructions that might prevent exhaust gases from dissipating as they should.

    Keep in mind that shifting winds may cause exhaust to blow away from the coach one moment and under the coach the next.

    When stopping for long periods of time, be aware of other vehicles around you, such as tractor-trailers at rest stops, that may have their engines and refrigerators running.

    Do not sleep with the generator operating.

    Leave a roof vent open anytime the generator is running, even during the winter.

    If you do not feel well, do not be fooled into thinking that it is because you have been driving too long, you ate too much, or you are suffering from motion sickness. Shut off the generator and step outside for some fresh air just to be sure.


  10. Roadtrekingmike
    Jennifer and I went to the local office supply store over the weekend and picked up a new planning calendar for 2014. It’s one of those big, poster-sized ones with the entire year laid out in neat little blocks for each day of each month. It’s erasable – a good thing with our propensity for last minute trips and change of plans – and right now, it’s blank.
    But we’re about to start filling it in. We’ve gone through and listed all the places we want to go, the things we want to see, the people we want to meet and if we to start entering them all on our new calendar, there would be no space left.
    We need to do some culling.
    But, so far, here’s what we’re pretty agreed upon for our RV travel goals over the next year:
    Next trip is Tuesday when I’ll head up to the top of the Michigan Thumb and spend a couple night parked in the middle of a marsh doing somd duck hunting with a friend.
    Then, Dec.3-5, we’ll head to the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association annual trade show in Louisville. This is an industry only show, not open to the public. We had planned to attend it last year but it just didn’t work out. I was recuperating from a knee replacement and all that walking would have been tough. But this year, with my bionic knee, I’m more than ready.
    Come the new year, we’re planning a winter camping trip. Maybe Tahquamenon Falls in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where the state DNR plows and keeps open about a dozen spots. We stayed there last year with 28 inches of snow on the ground and had a ball.
    Come the 25fth of January, we’re tentatively penciling in a trip to northern Minnesota to follow the mushers on the historic and legendary 400-mile long John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon. Our Roadtrek is equipped with amateur radio two-way communications and we’ve been asked to volunteer our Roadtrek and radio gear to help with communications in the northwoods wilderness out where the cell phone signals disappear.
    In February, we’re looking to hit the Gulf Coast, follow it to Gautier, MS and something called “Smokin’ on the Bayou,” being organized by our Facebook Roadtreking Group buddy Paul “Pogo” Konowalchuk. After that event ends, we’ll keep moving west to the Texas Hill Country and then Arizona to chase down several stories sent in by readers.
    March 17-20, it will be the Family Motor Coach Association’s Family Reunion and Motorhome Showcase in Perry, Ga.
    Those are the trips planned over the next four months.
    Then comes spring and summer where we want to visit Yellowstone, as we do every year, and then Glacier National Park. That far west, it would be nice to go all the way to the Oregon coast to see what our pal Campsjunk has been raving about.
    Either late June or early September, we also want to do a big trip north and east to the Canadian maritimes.
    The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in New Mexico also has us intrigued for early October 5-13.
    So many places.
    We have several different colors of erasable ink to use on that big new wall planner. We’ll list RV shows, unique festivals and special events that sound interesting in orange. Our must-attends will be in black. The potential trips not yet cemented down will be entered in red. And short weekend getaways that we can plan out will be in blue. Added to that will be special family events and holidays will be green.
    And we’ll keep the eraser handy.
    This past year, we have put 33,000 miles on the Roadtrek eTrek.
    Next year looks like it may even be more.
  11. Roadtrekingmike
    This is only temporary. That’s what I keep telling myself when I look out in in my snowy Michigan driveway and instead of seeing our Roadtrek eTrek out there, we only see an igloo.
    Look for yourself at the accompanying photos, below.
    We got our first big snow over the weekend and while it indeed is looking a lot like Christmas, it just seems, well, wrong, to see the RV covered under all that white stuff.
    I snowblowed the driveway and then took some photos before I removed as much of the snow as I could. The top solar panels are covered in snow, so I doubt they are trickle charging. I will get up there with a ladder today and get them cleared off.
    I also went through the Radtrek and brought anything with a battery – like my clock and my outdoor/indoor thermometer and my walkie talkies – inside, where the cold won’t drain the batteries.
    Somehow, even with all that snow, I found beauty in the Roadtrek’s lines.
    I started the engine and the heater, warmed it up good and hung out in it for a few minutes.
    Soon, loyal eTrek, as soon as Christmas is over, we will hit the road to warmer climes.
    I promise.

  12. 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.
  13. Roadtrekingmike
    If you’re like me and the pounds have been hard to get off lately, maybe you have sitting disease.
    Yes, there really is such an disease. And it’s reached epidemic proportions, linked to all sorts of other ailments, the first and foremost of which is obesity.
    Blame it on our sedentary lifestyle. Our desk-bound working days. Our computer and Internet use. TV watching But the fact is, the average American these days sits — at a desk, in the car or RV, on a couch – eight to 10 hours every day. Sitting. Planted. Not moving. A thick and growing-thicker-by-the-day body of medical research is documenting terrible health effects from all this.
    I am always at the computer, blogging, updating social media. But added to that is all the time I have spend driving by RV over the past couple of years. Last year, I drove 35,000 miles across North America, doing stories about the interesting people and places encountered.
    Many days, I was behind the wheel 12 hours, only to stop for the night and sit right back down to edit video and write a story for the blog.
    You still may be laughing at the term “sitting disease.” Don’t. No less an authority than the Mayo Clinic talks about it.
    The experts are seriously concerned about the problem. That’s because when you sit for an long periods of time – over four hours – your body literally starts to shut down at the metabolic level, according to Marc Hamilton, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Missouri. It gets worse. When muscles — especially the big ones meant for movement, like those in your legs — are immobile, your circulation slows and you burn fewer calories.
    That would be cause enough to gain weight.
    But as it turns out, sitting so long and so much does even more to those trying to lose weight and get in shape. Key fat-burning enzymes responsible for breaking down triglycerides (a type of fat) simply start switching off. Sit for a full day and those fat burners plummet by 50 percent, says says James Levine,M.D., Ph.D., of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and author of Move a Little, Lose a Lot.
    It gets even worse. The more you sit, the less blood sugar your body uses, meaning those sugars store as fat. Medical research research shows that for every two hours spent sitting per day per day, your chance of getting diabetes goes up by 7 percent. Your risk for heart disease goes up, too, because enzymes that keep blood fats in check are inactive. You’re also more prone to depression because with less blood flow, mood-enhacing hormones are getting to your brain.
    “For people who sit most of the day, their risk of heart attack is about the same as smoking,” says Martha Grogan, cardiologist, Mayo Clinic. Sitting for four or more hours a day has about the same adverse effect on your health as smoking a pack and a half of cigarettes every day.
    Yuck.
    Sitting disease even blunts the good effects of exercise. “We’ve become so sedentary that 30 minutes a day at the gym may not counteract the detrimental effects of 8, 9 or 10 hours of sitting,” says another researcher, Genevieve Healy, PhD.
    So, what to do about it?
    Standing every hour, moving around a bit, stretching, working standing up, walking around. Those same studies show that just short little two-minute standing breaks can counteract the effects of sitting in dramatic ways. Some people use stand-up desks.
    So, as far as sitting disease goes, I’m going to stand for it. Throughout the day. When I’m driving, we’ll stop every hour and a half or two at the most and get up and get out of the RV and move around.
    I’ll let you know how it goes. And for the record, I’m standing now as I type this.
  14. Roadtrekingmike
    Happy New Year!
    Like many we’ve been reflecting a lot on the places we’ve been and the people we met in 2013. We’ve even drawn up a tentative travel schedule of our planned travel destinations for the new year.
    But I’ve also come up with some new goals, above and beyond the specifics of where and when we’ll go. I call it my Roadtreking self improvement list.
    Here are the things I want to learn or do better with in 2014:
    1) Stop, look and listen more – Last year was a crazy year, travel wise. We covered over 35,000 miles in our Roadtrek eTrek, criss-crossing North America. While we loved every mile, I have to conceded that we missed a lot. Sometimes I was so focused on where I was headed that I missed things I should have noticed where I was at. I want to slow down, stay longer and more throughly investigate the places we visit. There is no hurry.
    2) Take more and better photos – I think I’ll take a photo class this new year. I want to learn more about light and composition and wildlife photography. Same with video and video editing. Most of my skills I picked up as a television and newspaper reporter., on deadline, covering time sensitive news stories. I want to follow along and learn from some of the amazing photographers I’ve met this year. And I want to tell more stories with stills.
    3) Read and learn more about the history of the places we visit – Every town has a local history book at the library, a local historian who we can contact to understand what makes the locale unique. The places we visit all have a story to tell and coming to understand that story and use it in enriching the stories I’m telling will be part of my journalistic due diligence this year.
    4) Eat better and exercise more – Travel can wreak havoc on our health. We will prepare more of our meals from fresh, healthy whole foods and local veggies and produce in our RV kitchenthis year, instead if eating out. We will avoid at all costs fast food from the chains. I will bring bicycles with us on our trips and we will cycle, hike, kayak and workout in some way every day, no matter where we are, doing something to be physically active to work up a fat-burning sweat.
    5) Do more RV mods and maintenance – Inspired by Roadtreking friends like Campskunk and Roger and Lynn Brucker, I will learn more about simple mechanical and fix-it ways I can keep our RV running great. I will also look at ways to maximize interior space through DIY projects. Along with these, I will learn more about how the various components work and what I can do to make them keep working.
    How about you? What are your RV goals for 2014?
  15. Roadtrekingmike
    We visit Southwest Georgia about every two months, and have been for about ten years now. The big attraction for us is that thus is where our son and his family live but besides that, we have found lots to recommend here to RVers looking for a great place to get away from the RV travel routine and connect with the true deep south.
    In the winter, the sun shines most of the time and daytime temps in the 60s are pretty normal. Sometimes even in the 70s. They have to start cutting the grass in March. In the summer, well, it’s a different story, with high heat, humidity and gnats. My suggestion is to avoid the summer. Fall, winter and spring are your best times t visit.
    Down here, it’s y’all and sure nuff and the kids say yes sir and yes m’aam and Southern hospitality is a character trait so regularly practiced that it becomes contagious to outsiders. People are polite, friendly and aren’t afraid to smile at strangers. Every time we leave here we find ourselves wondering why people are so much ruder and cruder up north. The south has a way of mellowing us out. And we now need regular fixes.
    There are two big attractions down here that also make this part of the country a great RV destination. Nature and history.
    Southwest Georgia is heavily agricultural, with peanuts and cotton the top crops. But it also has some great fishing and hunting and is home to one of the nation’s most impressive historical sites.
    As the Family Motorcoach Association plans its 89th annual Family Reunion and Motorcoach Showcase for March 17-20th in nearby Perry, Ga (about an hour to the northeast), the area we visit near the towns of Albany and Leesburg would make great day trips or, better yet, a trip lasting a couple of days.
    Albany is known as the Quail Capital of America and it is home to a wide variety of sprawling plantations specializing in quail hunts. I’ve been on a couple of them now, the most recent just this week when we hunted the 2,000 acre Wynfield Plantation. If you are a wingshooter, the scrub pines and fields around Albany offer pristine quail country and there is probably nowhere else in North America that offers better hunts in better conditions. The dogs and the guides and the gear these plantations offer are superb. Alas, this year’s season ends Feb. 28th so those RVers coming to Perry won’t be able to hunt.
    But they will be able to take advantage of the history.
    For that, a must visit is to Andersonville, and the National Historic Site that is made up by the Camp Sumter military prison. Andersonville was one of the largest Confederate military prisons during the Civil War. During the 14 months the prison existed, more than 45,000 Union soldiers were confined here. Of these, almost 13,000 die. Today, Andersonville National Historic Site is a memorial to all American prisoners of war throughout the nation’s history.
    Andersonville National Historic Site began as a stockade built about 18 months before the end of the U.S. Civil War to hold Union Army prisoners captured by Confederate soldiers. Located deep behind Confederate lines, the 26.5-acre Camp Sumter (named for the south Georgia county it occupied) was designed for a maximum of 10,000 prisoners. At its most crowded, it held more than 32,000 men, many of them wounded and starving, in horrific conditions with rampant disease, contaminated water, and only minimal shelter from the blazing sun and the chilling winter rain. Those who died in the prison were buried in a cemetery created just outside the prison walls.
    Andersonville National Historic Site comprises three distinct components: the former site of Camp Sumter military prison, theAndersonville National Cemetery, and the National Prisoner of War Museum, which opened in 1998 to honor all U.S. prisoners of war in all wars.
    Andersonville is one of the most impressive places I have visited. The history is deep and rich and I would recommend a stop here to anyone. The park grounds are open daily from 8:00 am until 5:00 p.m. EST. There are numerous special events held throughout the year at the park and in the nearby town of Andersonville, which has a Civil War Village.
    Andersonville is about a 30 minute drive northeast of Albany.
    Southwest Georgia also has another history connection. The quint little town of Plains, just west of Andrsonville, is the home of former President Jimmy Carter. There’s an historic site there honoring him. He still lives in the area and is often seen on the streets, and he still teaches Sunday School several times a year at the Maranatha Baptist Church, which welcomes visitors.
    If fishing is your thing, try the 20-mile long Lake Blackshear, a man made lake on the Flint River, north of Leesburg. It’s a great place for Large Mouth Bass.
    As to where to stay in Southwest, GA, there are several RV parks listed but the only one I can recommend is the campground at Chehaw Park, a 700 acre wild animal zoo and conservation area in Albany. Chehaw has 44 RV sites with 30 and 50 amp hookups, 14 pull-through sites, a comfort station with laundry, dump station and a group shelter. There are 18 tent sites with 15-amp electric hookups and water. Camper cabins are also available.
    Southwest Georgia offers a lot to the RVer. It’s only an 90 mile drive to the Florida panhandle and the beaches of the Emerald Coast. I’d suggest a long weekend to take in all that is offered.

    Peanuts are a big crop down here.

    Cotton is king in SW Georgia.

    Me and my grandson, with a guide in between, quail huting at the Wynfield Plantation.

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

  17. Roadtrekingmike
    Okay. Do not panic. So the groundhog saw his shadow here atop Gobblers Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa. The rodent, if you check the history books, has been right just 39 percent of the time since this little community in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains .
    But that didn’t stop tens of thousands of people from all across the U.S. from traveling here, many in RVs, like us. While the campgrounds are closed, the local Walmart welcomed them. For us in our Roadtrek eTrek Class B, wherever we stopped was home and we used it here all weekend.
    But the night before Groundhog Day, using our media parking pass, we drove it atop Gobbler’s Knob, turned on the heater and caught a few hours of sleep. That is until about 3 AM when the public started making their way here, bussed up from Walmart and other parking areas in town. A band kept playing “Ring of Fire” in front of a huge bonfire as a cold rain turned the entire nob into a muddy mess. No one seemed to mind.
    Jennifer was able to sleep through the noise. Me, sensing there was a party going on, couldn’t resist getting up and venturing out.
    Before you get the wrong idea, this party is pretty tame. There is no alcohol allowed. Folks can’t bring in backpacks or chairs. But this has become such a huge spectacle of an event that it just seems to have a bizarre energy of its own. That’s the only way I can describe a gathering outdoors at 3 AM in the middle of a February rainstorm. Very bizarre. But strangely fun.
    The star, of course, is the groundhog, officially known as “Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators and Weather Prophet Extraordinary,” according to the Inner Circle, the board of directors of the Groundhog Club, the local group that manages all things related to Feb. 2 and the care and handling of the 20-pound groundhog. Bill Cooper, a former president of the club, said Phil is normally good-natured and glad to see his handlers, though he “has bad hair days from time to time.”
    The Inner Circle guys, in their dark coats and top hats, are the town’s ambassadors and walked up and down downtown streets all weekend, greeting the tourists.
    And tourists there were,
    We were surprised how many people came here because it was on their bucket list.
    A young married couple from Fort Myers, Fla., came the farthest of those we met. There was a guy from Atlanta wearing a muskrat coat and a top hat who came because Feb. 2 is his birthday and he always wanted to spend it in the place where Feb. 2 is the most important day of the year. A school teacher from New Jersey left her husband home to watch the Super Bowl. She came with some girlfriends because, like apparently so many, coming here for the events of Groundhog Day was always on her bucket list, too.
    Those events include craft shows, chain saw carving demonstrations and live broadcasts all weekend from the Weather Channel, which endorses the town’s official motto as “the weather capital of the nation.”
    There were hayrides downtown. Hat decorating contests. And at midnight, in front of the community center, a countdown in which people cheered in Groundhog Day at midnight. At 6:30 AM, there was a pre-sunrise fireworks display on Gobbler’s Nob. In the rain.
    Oh, yeah. At the community center in town, there were repeated showings of the Bill Murray movie, Groundhog Day. Indeed, that 1993 movie, more than anything else, went to transform Feb. 2 of each year from a quaint event to a mega happening. Before the movie, maybe 3,000 people came here for the annual prognostication. Since the movie, the number of tourists who come here for the big day swell the normal 6,000 population to as many as 30,000. Because of the rain, the 2014 event drew an estimated 25,000 to the nob.
    I find that very ironic because the movie wasn’t even shot here. It was shot in Illinois, which the producers somehow felt was more photogenic.
    No problem. Punxsutawney loved the movie, even though it was Woodstock, Illinois, that is shown on the screen. Go figure.
    Punxsutawney is a town built around a rodent. Souvenirs like Groundhog day hats, mugs, T-shirts, mittens, trinkets and chain saw carvings seem to be the leading industry. The Chamber of Commerce here says $1 million is pumped into the local economy from Groundhog Day alone.
    The actual prognostication event happens at sunrise every Feb. 2. There’s a little wooden podium built in the shape of a stump on a stage and Phil is brought from his downtown burrow to a box built into the podium. One of the members of the Inner Circle brings him out, “consults” with Phil and determines whether or not he saw his shadow.
    This whole tradition stared around 1860 as a result of a superstition from the German immigrants who settled this area that says if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on Feb. 2, the holiday of Candlemas, winter will last six more weeks.
    Well, this year, Phil saw his shadow. It’s been a long winter. Phil says it’s going to get even longer.
    I think I’ll trudge back to the Roadtrek in the parking lot and make some coffee and breakfast and dry out. Then we’ll head back into town for some more of the festivities.
    Punxsutawney really is a charming place. Locals tell me that people come year around. Phil, when not on the Nob for Groundhog Day, is in a see-through burrow in a downtown square and can be seen anytime. During the summer, RVers come to two nearby commercial parks and several state parks in the area.
    But, as we found during our visit, folks are delighted to see visitors and we were welcome to park our RV anywhere.
  18. Roadtrekingmike
    It’s not just the snow and ice that have been setting records in northern states and provinces this winter: So have potholes.
    Before setting off on a long trip south yesterday, I stopped by my local tire shop to check the air in my Roadtrek eTrek’s tires. While doing so, I noted how busy the place was. The guy behind the counter beckoned me to take a peek in the garage, where a huge pile of rims were taking up a corner of the workspace. “Potholes,” he said. “We’ve never seen so much damage,” he said.
    What may be good business for tire repair places is bad news for motorists.
    As we made our way out of southeast Michigan down I-75, I lost track of how many vehicles I saw pulled over on a shoulder, fixing a flat. Michigan, which generally has the worst roads I’ve seen in the entire country, is out doing itself this year. Expansion joints are buckled, there are crater-sized potholes on the sides, shoulders and middle of literally every paved road you travel.
    As soon as we hit Ohio, the road conditions markedly improved. But then we hit a massive traffic jam. For two-and-a-half hours we sat on I-75 in Toledo. Both sides of interstate were jammed. It wasn’t for an accident. They were fixing the roads. Three lanes funneled down to two on the southbound side. I’m not sure what the construction project was for, but it was a real mess.
    The roads were better, though, in Ohio and Kentucky, where we ended up spending the night. Way more potholes than I’ve seen in normal years but still better than Michigan.
    We made about 400 miles. Best news, though, is for the first time since November, the temperatures didn’t get below freezing. I’m hoping to de-winterize wherever we stop tonight.
    Mississippi ... here we come.
  19. Roadtrekingmike
    People wonder why we prefer boondocking over campgrounds. Here’s why: Too many campgrounds are dirty.
    Not all. But way too many.
    In the bathrooms, there are almost always spiders, bugs, things in the toilets and stalls that disgust you, broken windows, mold, rusty pipes, grimy sinks. In Mississippi earlier this year, one of the showers I used this year had a cracked floor. When you stepped on it, blank gunk seeped out around your feet.
    In Missouri, a long broken and unrepaired window had the restroom filled with moths, beetles, flies and mosquitos.
    In Nebraska, a campground where we stayed last summer had clogged toilets. The dump station black water tank was overflowing.
    Then there are the lots. Too often they are worn and trampled dirt that turns to mud every time it rains, with no grass or concrete. In Estes Park, CO, last year, a supposedly top-rated campground put us in a gravel parking lot. Five minutes after we arrived, our coach was covered in dust and we had to shut all the windows. I complained and the owner told me he makes an extra $20K a year putting people on the gravel when his other spots are filled and it’s worth the complaints to get the extra cash. AT least he was honest.
    The utility hookups at many parks need to be checked as way too many deliver erratic power. Water faucets drip. Dog droppings are uncollected and litter the edges of the camping spaces.
    It’s our experience that private campgrounds are generally the worse, though we’ve noticed that budget cutbacks in state and county parks have fewer people doing maintenance and clean up in government-run parks, too.
    So we boondock. While on the way to a destination, a Walmart or Cracker Barrel parking lot is usually preferable to a campground, we have found. Our Roadtrek eTrek has its own shower, its own bathroom and provides its own electricity.
    The campground guide books and apps are not much help. We’ve found campgrounds rated by the guide books at four stars to be pig styes. I have long suspected that the higher the rating, the more the campground spends on advertising. Maybe not. But the discrepancies of what we’ve experienced and what the guidebooks say are too often too far apart.
    Reviews from other campers help.
    But generally, we avoid most campgrounds.

    This Colorado campground puts you in a dusty parking lot.

    Nice shower, huh? The water that came out was rust covered.

    A broken window in a campground restroom in Missouri.
  20. Roadtrekingmike
    Actually, amend that headline. Pickleball is everywhere. In fact, its leading proponents claim it is the fastest-growing sport in North America,.though verifying that is not easy to do.
    But there is no doubt that the sport, invented in 1965, is now hugely popular, particularly among retirees and in campgrounds, RV resorts, retirement communities and the like across Florida and the Sunbelt. Further, many snowbrird return to their northern homes each spring and bring their love of the game back with them.
    There are no numerous places to play in all 50 states and there are regular tournaments sponsored by its own official organization, the USA Pickleball Association.
    Here’s one of their promotional videos showing how the game is played:

    Pickleball leagues are everywhere.
    On our RV trip to Florida and the Gulf Coast earlier this year, I was stunned to see it played – enthusiastically – at just abut every place we visited.
    In case you have never heard of it, pickleball is a racket sport in which two to four players use solid paddles made of wood or composite materials to hit a polymer perforated ball over a net.
    A pickleball court is the same size as a doubles badminton court and measures 20×44 feet. In pickleball, the same court is used for both singles and doubles play. The net height is 36 inches at the sidelines and 34 inches in the middle. The court is striped similar to a tennis court with right and left service courts and a 7-foot non-volley zone in front of the net (referred to as the “kitchen”). Courts can be constructed specifically for pickleball or they can be converted using existing tennis or badminton courts.
    It was invented on Bainbridge Island, a short ferry ride from Seattle, WA. U.S. Congressman Joel Pritchard and two pals, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum, are credited for creating the game after their kids at the time became bored with their usual summertime activities .
    Their kids apparently grew tired of the game. But the adults loved it, taught it to their friends and, as everybody aged, it kept growing and growing.
    There are two stories about how the sport got its name. The most popular story has it that the Pritchard’s dog, named Pickles, was always chasing after the wiffle ball when someone hit it out of bounds and then hiding with it in the bushes. Thus, for the game resumed, someone had to retrieve “Pickle’s ball.”
    But Joel Pritchard’s wife, Joan, told one interviewer that the game reminded her of the pickle boat (in crew), where oarsmen are picked from the leftovers of the other boats. The game was subsequently named pickleball. The Pritchard’s dog was actually named after the game, she said.
    Whatever, pickleball is a way of life for many.
    At an RV resort in Okeechobee, FL, where I took the above photo in this post, they had two courts that had people standing in line waiting to play from just after sunup till noon, and again just before sunup when the day’s heat eased until it was too dark to play. The resort said pickleball was so popular that they were rushing to build more courts.
    So there you go sports fans. Give it a try. I only had a chance to play a few minutes but from that brief experience, I can say it’s pretty darn fun.
  21. Roadtrekingmike
    Thanks to the Internet and email, text messaging and Facebook updates, it’s easy to stay in touch with friends and family while traveling.
    But a very active group of RVers takes such connectivity to a whole new level, out-Interneting even the Internet when it comes to being able to communicate with the world.
    They take their own radio stations with them.
    They are members of the Amateur Radio Chapter of the Family Motorcoach Association and their radio stations are ham radio transceivers that let them communicate with other ham operators from their motorhomes and, during the off season, from their sticks and bricks homes.
    Amateur radio is not the same thing as CB, or Citizen’s Band radio. CB radio is short-range, low-powered communications and mostly used by truckers and highway drivers these days. It’s noisy, undisciplined and often plagued by interference and rude or profane language.
    Amateur radio is just the opposite, a popular hobby and service in which licensed “ham operators” operate communications equipment using a variety of forms, from voice to Morse Code to digital. To become a radio amateur, operators must demonstrate basic knowledge of radio technology and operating principles and pass an examination to get a Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) license to operate on radio frequencies known as the “Amateur Bands.” These bands are radio frequencies reserved by the FCC for use by ham radio operators.
    Ham frequencies can connect amateurs from across the street to across the world.
    Besides just talking and visiting with their on-the-air friends, many radio amateurs donate their time and equipment for public service work during times of emergency or disaster.
    I’ve been a ham operator since 1962 when, as a teenager, I became K8ZRH, my ham radio call. Over the years, I’ve been in and out of the hobby. For a while, I was obsessed with “chasing DX,” or making contact with different ham operators all over the world. I earned certificates for working amateurs in all 50 states, then from over 100 counties.
    I learned and mastered Morse Code, the language of transmitted dots and dashes. I built all sorts of different antennas, bouncing signals of satellites, even the moon.
    I embraced computer technology, joining my ham radio transceiver to my computer and using digital communications.
    I got involved in contesting, or radio sport as its sometimes known. There are ham radio contests almost every weekend in which hams try to make contact with operators under all sorts of conditions, such as using emergency battery or solar power and trying to accumulate as many contacts as possible in a specific period of time.
    The contests are training exercises, really. First and foremost, amateur radio is a service. If normal communications should ever fail, ham radio operators are practiced and ready to donate their time and expertise to keep the nation in touch.
    That’s the great thing about ham radio, there are so many fascinating activities and services you can tap into.
    Lately, it’s that public service aspect that has taken up most of my ham radio time. The first accessory I added to my motorhome when I started my RVing adventures was a ham radio transceiver. I’m part of my local community’s Amateur Radio Public Service Corps, which works with the Department of Homeland Security, to provide emergency communications when needed.
    I’ve taken special classes from meteorologists to be a severe weather spotter, something hams do when bad weather threatens to provide trained observers during weather warnings.
    And I’ve embraced ham “Nets,” short for Networks, or groups of stations that gather on a specific frequency at a set time to exchange communications. That’s how I discovered the FMCA Amateur Radio Chapter.
    The group runs communications Nets Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, gathering at 1 PM Eastern Time from all across the country. A Net Control volunteer coordinates check-ins and directs one station to talk at a time. Conversation typically revolves around the main interests of the members, motorhome travel and amateur radio. It’s like an RV rally on-the-air.
    Members chat about modifications they’ve done to their motorhomes, their radios, antenna systems and, of course, the weather.
    The chapter also has a website at http://fmcaarc.com that pinpoints the mobile or fixed locations of many of its 86 members on a map.
    And just like other FMCA chapters, they attend FMCA rallies and campouts throughout the year.
    Les Wright, is the chapter president, known to his fellow hams by his call sign AA7YC. He and wife, Carole, have been fulltimers since 2002, traveling the country in a 36-foot 2009 Alpine Coach. They are Nevada residents with longtime friends and family in the Reno area and usually spend a few weeks there each year. But with kids and grandkids in New York, North Carolina, Nevada, and California, they are on the road more often than not.
    Les has been a huge evangelist for both motorhoming and amateur radio.
    “The two go together hand in hand,” he said. “We get to stay in touch all the time and stay connected with what people are seeing, where they are going, instead of once or twice a year when we meet at rallies.”
    Les and Carole are both licensed and both participate in the radio contacts throughout the week. Their “radio shack,” as hams call their equipment room, connects through a computer in his motorhome with a transmitter stowed in the storage “basement.” He travels with several antennas, including one that mounts atop a telescoping flagpole attached to the back of the coach.
    “For us, being fulltimers, amateur radio has been a great way to have community wherever we go,” says Carole.
    For Karla and Larry Dayhuff (FMCA #) from Lecanto, FL , meeting the Wrights was infectious. Larry, had been a ham radio operator years before but was inactive. After being exposed to the FMCA Amateur Radio Chapter, he once again plunged into the hobby full tilt, even going so far as to study and pass the stringent exam for the most advanced ham license there is, Amateur Extra Class, N7LWD. Larry is now chapter Vice President.
    Wife Karla studied and obtained the General Class license, K4KLD, which allows her to operate on all ham bands. She’s the chapter Secretary and Membership Chair.
    They travel extensively in a 2006 Monaco Windsor and use amateur radio on the road from their motorhome and their Florida home.
    “We love the community we’ve met through RVing and ham radio,” she says. “We have met so many new friends.”
    Community. That’s a word you hear a lot from ham operators.
    Amateur radio is a very social pastime. While many are attracted by an initial interest in the technology and electronics that make two-way radio communication possible, most amateurs just enjoy “ragchewing,” or casual conversation with friends – friends who may just happen to on the other side of the continent, or world.
    And when you add in RVing and motorhome travel, there’s no shortage of fun things to talk about.
    Till next time, as the ham operators say ...73.
    (73 is the ham radio term for “Best Regards.”)

    FMCA membes Les and Carol Wright at the controls of their ham radio station in their 2009 Alpine Coach motorhome.

    This is my VHF/UHF ham rig mounted in my Roadtrek eTrek.
  22. Roadtrekingmike
    Jennifer and I love watching things grow, planting them, tending to them and then – with our vegetable garden – picking them when they are fresh and ripe and enjoying them.
    We’ve planted a garden for many ears but the last two years, because of our travel schedule, we’ve returned home from RV trips to find it mostly shriveled up from lack of water or, unpicked, gone to seed.
    Nevertheless, there we were this week, getting the vegetable beds ready again, hoeing, weeding, improving the soil and planning it out.
    The peas and the new strawberries will be in by the weekend. The rest, a couple of weeks yet when the threat of frost at night has gone away.
    We’ll do it again this year, despite a travel schedule that will have us gone all but a few scattered days pretty much from June through September.
    There is something that is just plain right about planting and tending a garden. It is deeply satisfying, relaxing, good for the soul.
    But this year, we will enlist some friends and neighbors to water and tend to our garden while we’re gone.
    Starting in a few weeks, we have trips planned that will take us to the east coast, all all around the Great Lakes in the Midwest and then a big trip to the mountains and national parks of the west and the Northwest. The veggies I plant over the next couple weeks will be ready for harvesting while we’re still out on the road.
    But this year, we’ll ask friends and neighbors to harvest it as it ripens. Hopefully , we’ll find some ready for picking on our visits home between trips.
    I’ve seen RVers who travel with small pots of staked tomatoes.
    With the limited space in a Type B, I’m not sure how feasible that is.
    How abut you? Have you traveled with fresh and container-growing veggies? f so, how?

    This is my garden. We grow in raised beds behind a fence that keeps the deer out. I’ve been getting the dirt ready for planting this week.

    This is last year’s garden, just before we took off on a long trip to Colorado. Most of it was lost because of neglect.
  23. Roadtrekingmike
    One of the nicest state parks we’ve found anywhere in the country is the 14,000 acre Letchworth State Park, 35 miles southwest of Rochester and about 60 miles south of Buffalo. Often dubbed as “the Grand Canyon of the East,” Letchworth offers easily accessible and spectacular views of a deep, 600-foot gorge carved out of the limestone and sandstone shale by the Genesee River.
    Suggested to us as we were making our way from Michigan to Cape Cod by Roadtreking regular W. Dan Hulchanski, Jennifer and I overnighted there and spent the evening and the morning of the next day hiking and photographing the amazing scenery during a picture postcard perfect June weekend.
    Besides the gorge, the park boasts a series of spectacular waterfalls, the three major ones called the Upper, Middle, and Lower Falls, located in Portage Canyon, the southern section of the park, about 10 miles from the 350-site campground.
    Millions of years of geological history can be observed in the rock formations exposed by erosion.
    The region’s rich heritage of the Seneca Indians is well-documented in the park with displays, a restored Seneca Council House and the grave of Mary Jemison, an American frontierswoman who was captured by the Seneca Indians while a teenager but later chose to remain a Seneca.
    Swimming pools, fishing areas, hiking trails, hot air ballooning, whitewater rafting and canoeing by permit are just some of the additional attractions at Letchworth. The trails are well maintained and parallel the gorge and take you right up close enough to the waterfalls that you are cooled by the fine mist.
    The biggest is the Middle Falls, which is 250 feet across and drops 107 feet.
    A full schedule of events is offered each year within the park. They range from festivals to lectures and guided walks, to the noted Fall Arts and Crafts Sale.
    Pets are welcome at the park, but are restricted to three loops of the campground. If you do bring a pet, make sure you have a copy of their rabies inoculation, as you won’t be allowed to register without. All sites have 30 amp hookups. Some have 50 amp for bigger RVs. The overnight rate for non-New York residents is $32.50, including park admission.

    Roads are canopied and take you right next to the gorge. That’s our Roadtrek Etrek going over a stone bridge.

    This is Inspiration Point, which offers a great view of the Upper Falls (at top of photo) and the Middle Falls.

    Well-maintained paths and trails get you right up close to the falls.

    Tai enjoying the clean night air outside our Etrek at Letchworth State Park’s campground.
  24. Roadtrekingmike
    When we talk about boondocking in an RV, we usually mean dry camping, off the grid camping in out of the way, wilderness areas, far from civilization and deep in the boonies.
    Indeed, for Jennifer and I, that is our favorite place to be.
    But that’s not the only place to be.
    As I write this, we just spend a night boondocking in the parking lot of a hotel near Memphis, Tenn.
    It was a quiet, peaceful night. We parked in an out-of -the-way spot in our Roadtrek Etrek. It was typically hot, as it always is in late July in the south. The outside temperature barely dipped below 80. We fired up the Etrek air conditioner and let it run a couple of hours. It got so cold we turned it off a little after midnight. Then we opened the widows, opened the roof vent and turned on the Fantastic Fan. We also used a small oscillating fan we plugged into an AC outlet.
    We slept like babies all night.
    Let me say right now that such boondocking is controversial.S ome RVers do this regularly, albeit clandestinely. They just pull in, and go to sleep. That’s the beauty of a Class B. It is not like those Class A skyscraper-on-wheels accompanied by a towed vehicle. Or even those boxy, bloated Class Cs and B-plusses. A Class B like our Roadtrek is basically a very stylish van. It doesn’t draw attention to itself and it fits right in with the mother vehicles in a parking lot.
    Jennifer and I always get permission first.
    In this case, we are down in Memphs with our son and his family to watch the Dizzy Dean Little League team he coaches play in the World Series. Our eight-year-old grandson, Jacob, is on the team and we will be cheering him on. The whole team is staying at a hotel in Germantown outside of Memphis and we, too, have a room booked for most of the week.
    We boondocked in the parking lot because we arrived a day early and our room was not ready. The hotel manager gave us permission.
    Could we have done so without permission? Probably. I doubt whether anyone would have noticed. But I just think it’s better to ask.
    We have stayed before in parking lots like this. A couple of weeks ago in Ludington, MI, we slept in the parking lot of a car ferry that we had booked passage on the next day to cross Lake Michigan. A week or so before that, we overnighted in a parking lot of a ski resort in Minnesota. We asked and received permission for both. In a small town in central Nebraska, we asked the local police where we could overnight. They directed us to the parking lot of the town park and baseball diamond.
    Others have shared with us how hospitals are also good places to boondock. In the morning, there is the cafeteria to stay in. And, of course, there are places like Cabellas, Cracker Barrel, Wal-Mart and other businesses that welcome boondockers like casinos and truck stops.
    We’ve written before about the Free Overnight Parking wesbite.
    But here, I think, is an even cooler resourse - a network of RV owners who welcome boondockers to spend the night on their property.
    The very excellent Boondockers Welcome website is devoted to just that. Through the website, you can connect with other RVers who have a location for you to dry camp for the night; it might be in their driveway or a field on their farm. The view may be of amber waves of grain or of the McDonald’s parking lot… but it will be a free place to park where you don’t have to worry about idling truck engines, security, or that dreaded knock on the window at 2 AM. For full access to that site, they charge $20 a year if you will offer free boondocking on your property, $25 a year if you don’t.
    “Many of our members have reported that the social element of meeting fellow members is as important as the free parking,” says three time Roadtrek-owner Marianne Edwards, who co-founded the site with her husband. “Many of our hosts offer electric, water, and occasionally even an RV dump as well. They can provide advice about their area, lend a tool if you need one, suggest the best local places to shop, eat, buy fuel, and offer sage advice to new RVers. Single women have told us they feel much more secure parked with our hosts than they do in a retail parking lot.”
    You can check out a lot before signing up for a membership
    “Anyone can go onto the website and see all the details of every listing before joining – so you know exactly what you`re going to get,” she says. “Only thing you can`t do without a membership is contact fellow members, write recommendations for each other, or participate in the forums.”
    It’s a great site, run by folks who understand RVers and boondockers.
    When Marianne and her husband are not on the road themselves, they personally offer overnight parking for RVers (members as well as non-members) passing through their hometown of Elora, Ontario, Canada.
    Now before I end this post let me say that I am not against campgrounds. There are some who get furious every time I write about this. Some Campground owners and others who think everyone should do exactly as they do and they get get all bent out of shape by the idea of boondocking. They like camping in narrowly spaced little organized lots surrounded by thick smokes from three dozen campfires. If that’s you, enjoy.
    We use campgrounds all the time. Most we like.
    But there are times – when campgrounds are crowded, when you are just in need of a fast overnight stop while traveling, when there are no campgrounds nearby – when overnight dry camping is what you want and need.
  25. Roadtrekingmike
    Lavender. Just the word brings olfactory recall, doesn’t it? Such a pleasant smell, such a pleasant flower. While we were RVing in the Pacific Northwest, I saw a notice in a local publication about a lavender farm that invited visitors. Before Mike could say “where are we headed today?”, I had the GPS programmed.
    The Tumalo Lavender Farm is located just outside of Bend, Ore., and is a 10-acre garden filled with the sweet fragrance of 10,000 mature plants, all grown organically, pollinated by some very busy bees. It is a labor of love for Gordon and Judy Knight, who – a decade ago – left professional careers in the travel industry to follow their heart’s desire to be surrounded by beautiful and practical lavender.
    Here’s a video of our tour:

    Gordon, accompanied by Jazzmine, their Golden Retreiver and the official greeter at the farm, took time from his cuttings and planting and gave us a tour of the farm. Before deciding to become Lavender farmers, they spent three years researching, investigating, and reading extensively about lavender. Their quest took them to Lavender farms throughout the Northwest. They became knowledgeable in growing, processing and working with lavender. They found the right varieties that would adapt and survive in the climate of Central Oregon.

    Tumelo Lavender now ships its plants and the many products made from them across the nation through direct order from nurseries and over the Internet through its website. I was amazed at the many ways Lavender can be used. Lavender is not only beautiful and sensory, but a practical choice for a garden.I bought two potted plants to take home.
    Lavender is easy to grow and has a reputation for being notoriously non-palatable to deer. It is also considered a drought-tolerant plant and Gordon assured me it will thrive in our Michigan climate.
    Pleasant scents can put you in a peaceful state of mind. Lavender has been associated with cleanliness since Romans first added it to their bathwater. In fact, the name comes from the Latin lavandus, meaning to wash. Essential oil of lavender is now known to have many application in aromatherapy. Lavender was traditionally inhaled to ease exhaustion, insomnia, irritability, and depression. In ancient times, it was used as a medicine. Gordon told us that a local hospital in Bend buys his plants and uses them to cam surgery patients before they are administered anesthetic.
    Lavender is a favorite for scenting clothing and closets, soaps, and even furniture polish.

    The calming, fresh, unique fragrance of lavender is available in potpourris, buds, oils, handmade soap, lotions, lip balm, and hydro-mists and wreaths.
    While Mike was shooting video, I did some shopping. The smell of lavender will be a welcome addition to our RV. I bought a lot of lavender, for gifts and for our motorhome. We’ve been on the road a long time this season and the lavender will do wonders.
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