Roadtrekingmike

“Not all those who wander are lost,” so wrote J. R. R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings. It is so true when it comes to RVing. We love to meander, to take roads less traveled, off the Interstate. But even the Interstates are fun, especially out of urban areas. As Jennifer and I made our way west this week to attend the Family Motor Coach rally in Gillette, Wyo., we realized something about our wanderings: We love to drive. That is so weird for me to write because when I commuted to and from my job in Detroit from my suburban home for more than 30 years, I hated driving. But in our Roadtrek eTrek touring coach, I love to drive. So does Jennifer. We’ve tried to explain it to people. Their eyes sort of glaze over. So, we figured, maybe if we took them along, virtually, maybe they’d understand. So we made this little video that shows just why we love to drive our RV. http://youtu.be/k_mk96WXI8U

Gillette, Wyoming, is a certified American boom town. It’s 30,000 residents have grown by a whopping 48% in the past decade as this western city has become the nation’s self-declared “energy capital of America,” thanks to its vast quantities of coal, oil and coal bed methane gas. But today, it just grew by thousands more as 2,500 motorhomes of all shapes and sizes rolled into the sprawling CAM-PLEX exhibition center just east of town. Add another 5,000-plus people to Gillette. Most of those here are in luxury Class A motorhomes, and many of their price tags are in the mid-six figures. My Roadtrek Class B eTrek is wedged between a couple of Class Cs in what is a vast sea of motorhomes parked 6 feet apart and 6 feet front to back in long lines that have instantly transferred the mostly crushed gravel parking lots and fields of the CAM-PLEX into an RV urban center. This is the 88th Family Reunion and Motorhome Showcase of the Family Motor Coach Association and it officially starts Wednesday and runs through the weekend. But with so many coming here from across the country, to simply park them all means people had to arrive early. The event features seminars and entertainment and vendor exhibits. I’m teaching two seminars, on Wednesday and Friday. I’ll use the time to meet folks, and to check out the latest in motorhome offerings and industry products. Events like this aren’t for everyone. They are very crowded. There is no scenery, just the back of your neighbor’s unit and the slideouts of your side neighbors. There are also elements of a political campaign here. The FMCA has lots of officers. I mean lots of them. Signs affixed to some of the coaches urged passersby to vote for their favorite candidate.There are candidates running for national president, treasurer, vice president and even something like first national senior vice president. At least that’s what I think one campaign sign read. We started the day in the Black Hills around the Custer State Park, driving a wildlife loop and marveling at the scenery in the morning. We saw deer, antelope and several of the 1,000 or so bison that roam the park. Gillette was an easy 125-mile ride to the west along a two-lane that paralleled I-90 and cut through wide open grassland. We arrived at the CAM-PLEX about 4 p.m. and soon met several other Roadtrek owners attending the event. Two were parked in dirt with no hookups over by what appeared to be a horse corral. Several others were scattered through the complex. Jennifer and I checked out Gillette, doing laundry and then eating out at a great little Mexican restaurant. But the big find today was the Campbell County Recreation Center, the most deluxe and full-featured health and fitness facility we have ever seen. It is a massive, 190,000-square-foot facility with two water slides, a lazy river, three basketball courts, four racquetball courts, an elevated walking track, a kids zone used for baby-sitting, concessions, a weight room, a cardio area, three exercise rooms, two birthday party rooms, two tanning beds, training and locker rooms. In a partnership with the Campbell County School District, there is also an 81,000-square-foot field house with a six-lane, 200-meter track and five indoor tennis courts. I guess being the energy capital of America has its perks. Jennifer is ecstatic. We’ll spend early morning hours there before things get busy at the FMCA event.

Last night in Iowa, I was complaining abut the gnats. Tonight in South Dakota, it’s the Frankenbugs. The bugs have only gotten bigger as we’ve moved west Honestly, I dont know what they are. Way bigger than a gnat. Some are beetles, or what we used to call June bugs. But there are so many and they are so big that as we drove down I-90 in South Dakota, they hit the windshield with an intensity that sometimes sounded like hail. Jennifer said it was a bugout. You can see from this photo and the video below what it was like: Today was one of those awesome driving days. We took our time, stopping in Des Moines to workout at a health club and then heading on through Iowa, Nebraska and into South Dakota. We dodged storms in the morning but otherwise had near perfect weather, bright blue skies with puffy cotton candy clouds and lush green prairieland. At sunset, we were treated to a jaw dropping South Dakota sunset of fiery oranges and reds and pink pastels. Then it got dark. And the attack of the Frankenbugs began. We pulled off at Mitchell a little before 11 p.m. and washed off the windshield. There were several truckers and a guy in a fifth wheel doing the same thing.S “Something hatched,” said the trucker next to me. “Ive never see them so intense.” Inside the station, the clerk was chuckling “Worse than a snowstorm,” he allowed. Exactly. A bugout. We’re spending the night in a packed Cabela’s parking lt. There are 14 other RVs here, Class As and Cs and a couple of fifth wheels. Inside my eTrek, I’m running the air and we’re snug as…. dare I say?… a bug. http://youtu.be/gDzQTjuQKpQ

It’s pretty amazing what a few hundred miles can do to the view. That was driven home to us today as we made our way across South Dakota, taking in the vast green prairie and its lush grasslands, the wind-carved canyons, ravines and hoodoos of the Badlands and the rolling thick pine forests of the Black Hills. Our Roadtrek heads across South Dakota, en route to FMCA'S Family Reunion and Motorhome Showcase in Gillette, Wyo.I’d send along a video but I’m barely able to get a cell signal from our camping spot in the Custer State Park. It was like a movie playing on the other side of the Roadtrek’s windshield as we headed out I-90 from Mitchell, taking the bypass through the Badlands National Park and a great two-lane to Rapid City and then south to Custer. Stockade Lake in the Custer State ForestStorms swept across the prairie mid-afternoon and I pulled into a rest area to watch the lightning and rainclouds under the big sky. The drumming rain on the RV roof was so soothing Jennifer and I stretched out on the rear bed and slept for an hour. When we woke, the sun was out again. The Custer State Park consistently ranks as one of America’s best state parks and we were impressed by the roomy, secluded spot we got, just a couple hundred yards from Stockade Lake. Our campsite at Custer State ParkTomorrow, we’ll do the wildlife loop drive to check out the Bison, Bighorn Sheep, Pronghorn Antelope and Elk that inhabit this vast 71,000-acre park. Jennifer is a little miffed at me tonight. We hiked up and down several hills to get to the lake and grabbed armfuls of fallen pine branches for our campfire. When we returned to camp she started browsing through the park brochure, only to find out that the park has lots of ticks and plenty of timber rattlesnakes. My traipsing in the thick woods with shorts instead of long pants probably wasn’t one of my brighter ideas. Jennifer had the good sense to put on a pair of jeans. But the clean smell of the forest, the sound of the wind rustling through the pines and the bright stars overhead tonight will hopefully make her forget my foolhardy exuberance. Unless I start itching from a tick bite. About the Author: Mike Wendland is a veteran journalist who travels the country in a Roadtrek Type B motorhome, accompanied by his wife, Jennifer, and their Norweigian elkhound, Tai. Mike is an FMCA member (F426141) and is FMCA's official on-the-road reporter. He enjoys camping (obviously), hiking, biking, fitness, photography, video editing and all things dealing with technology. His "PC MIke" technology segments are distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations. More from this author. Reach mike at openmike@fmca.com.

In this edition of “How We Roll,” Jennifer answers a question about budgeting and how much it costs us to take a typical week to 10-day trip. In these days of $4+ fuel, that’s the killer to any budget that involves mileage. Jennifer shares our actual costs and ways we try to save money. Then I tackle a stinky question ... about odor control and how we’re trying something called the “Geo Method” that mixes water softener and household detergent in a gallon of water that is poured down the toilet. We heard about it through our Facebook group and decided to try it out. So far, so good, though Jennifer had me cut back on the amount of detergent because we use concentrated soap and she didn’t want a bunch of bubbles coming out of the toilet every time we flushed. Got questions? Send them to us openmike@fmca.com. We try to roll out a new How We Roll every week. http://youtu.be/ulJ78aTL0kE About the Author: Mike Wendland is a veteran journalist who travels the country in a Roadtrek Type B motorhome, accompanied by his wife, Jennifer, and their Norweigian elkhound, Tai. Mike is an FMCA member (F426141) and is FMCA's official on-the-road reporter. He enjoys camping (obviously), hiking, biking, fitness, photography, video editing and all things dealing with technology. His "PC MIke" technology segments are distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations. More from this author. Reach mike at openmike@fmca.com.

RVers love their GPS units. Can you imagine traveling without one? But do you know that many of today’s most popular units can be customized to show the special places you are most interested in? Called POIs – short for Points of Interest – there are so many lists of them available now that downloading them to your GPS unit can make travel much more efficient and convenient. You need to have a stand alone GPS unit that can connect to your computer to be able to download POIs. Tom Tom, Magellan, Garmin and Rand MacNally all work with external POI files. There may be others. I use the Rand McNally RVND 7720 seven inch unit in my RV. My Roadtrek has a built in unit from Pioneer and it does a great job. But its integrated into my dash entertainment system and I can’t add files to it. The RVND-7720 is aimed strictly at RVers and it comes with guaranteed lifetime updates and the ability to add POI files. I connect it to my computer from time to time and it automatically downloads the latest maps, construction alerts and detours . But it also can download files called POIs. Many of you now I am also an NBC-TV technology reporter. I do a weekly segment for all 215 NBC affiliate stations called PC Mike and I recently did one on POIs in which I found several sources for POI files. What sort of POI files, you ask? Well, I downloaded a list of every Cracker Barrel restaurant (a great place to overnight, free). We downloaded the locations of all Olive Garden restaurats (Jennifer says the all-you-can-eat soup and salad menu item there is a good and healthy food choice, as long as I eat only one serving. We downloaded a list of health clubs (when we travel my job is to get her to a gym at least four times a week). I have a list of all WalMarts (overnight camping again), unusual highway attractions (I’m a sucker for giant balls of string and places like the Barbed Wire Museum) and a list of 14,357 campgrounds. All were free to download and install in my GPS and I can set my unit to alert me when I am approaching one of these POIs or search for them right from the screen. There are several places online where you can find POI files. We've gotten hooked on the POI Factory, a repository of downloadable GPS files that you can install on many of today's most popular GPS units, like Garmin, Rand Macnally and Tom Tom. Basically, you browse the categories and find Points of Interest you'd like. And then, as you approach them in your travels, you can see them on a map, find and get to them with turn by turn directions. Here's another resource -- the POI Plaza. This lists POIs from all over the world. Search by countries. It too works with lots of applications and GPS platforms, listing thousands of places and GPS coordinates. Pick the right format for your device and download it to your computer. Then, just plug your GPS unit into the computer and transfer it over. One more. Download POI. If you couldn't find files for your unit on the other sites, try this one. Just choose a country, the brand of GPS you have and download what you want. You're good to go!' Here’s my NBC report on POIs: http://youtu.be/A9j4sl9Tbvk About the Author: Mike Wendland is a veteran journalist who travels the country in a Roadtrek Type B motorhome, accompanied by his wife, Jennifer, and their Norweigian elkhound, Tai. Mike is an FMCA member (F426141) and is FMCA's official on-the-road reporter. He enjoys camping (obviously), hiking, biking, fitness, photography, video editing and all things dealing with technology. His "PC MIke" technology segments are distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations. More from this author. Reach mike at openmike@fmca.com.

Kampgrounds Of America’s rebranding of its campgrounds based on their features and amenities has kicked off with the Billings, Montana KOA Campground, which officially becomes the Billings KOA Holiday Campground. The change is the beginning of a new brand structure for the 51-year-old iconic North American camping company. Three new brand segments will better identify the specific offerings of KOA’s 485 campgrounds for the millions of North American camping families that use KOA each year. Over the next few years, KOA campgrounds across North America will be re-branded as either a KOA Journey, a KOA Holiday or a KOA Resort campground. "Segmenting our famous KOA brand in this way will help our campers select just the KOA they need for their next trip," said Vice President of Marketing Toby Hedges. "Each KOA is unique, but each Journey, Holiday and Resort KOA will have amenities and services in common that will make it easier for campers to find just the right campground. KOA began 51 years ago right here in Billings, so it's only right that we should begin this new chapter for KOA at the Billings KOA Holiday." KOA Journey Campgrounds are identified as convenient to major highways, include long pull-through sites and provide a relaxing overnight oasis for travelers. KOA Holiday Campgrounds, such as the Billings KOA Holiday, are great base camps to explore the area, and include family activities and additional amenities to make these KOAs great getaways for short vacations. They will also all feature KOA Deluxe Cabins, which include full bathrooms and kitchens. KOA Resorts will offer campers a true resort-style vacation with luxurious pools, patio RV sites, Deluxe Cabin linen service and a specially trained activities and recreation staff. Kampgrounds of America is celebrating its 51st Anniversary in 2013. KOA, the world's largest network of family-friendly campgrounds, was born on the banks of the Yellowstone River in Billings, Montana in 1962. For more information, go to www.KOA.com. About the Author: Mike Wendland is a veteran journalist who travels the country in a Roadtrek Type B motorhome, accompanied by his wife, Jennifer, and their Norweigian elkhound, Tai. Mike is an FMCA member (F426141) and is FMCA's official on-the-road reporter. He enjoys camping (obviously), hiking, biking, fitness, photography, video editing and all things dealing with technology. His "PC MIke" technology segments are distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations. More from this author. Reach mike at openmike@fmca.com.

With more and more RVers heading to the great outdoors this time of year, it’s time to sound two warnings. Depending on where you are, it’s now either snake season or tick season. For some parts of the U.S., it’s both. Both creatures post particular problems with pets. And humans, too, if they get bit. And both are very active right now. And RVers, who are out there camping in the woods and wilds and deserts and fields, could very easily come into contact with them. RVers with pets need to be particularly vigilant. My son, who lives in West Michigan, took his dog for their usual walk the other night, when they returned home, he found two ticks on him and seven ticks on the dog. In March, on an RV trip to Florida, we stopped on a nice spring day at the I-75 rest area near Jellico, TN. I took Tai out of the RV for a short walk on the dog run. He came back with two ticks. Ticks survive by eating blood from their hosts. They burrow deep under the skin and gorge themselves. At the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, ecological researchers are engaged in a four-year, National Science Foundation-funded study of ticks, and the risks they pose for transmitting several diseases. While investigating disease risks, their work is also yielding practical tips regarding ticks and tick bites. These tips include the following. Machine washing and drying of your clothes after being in the woods is a good idea, because tiny immature ticks can be almost impossible to spot. UT undergraduate John Norris found that ticks can survive the water and detergent in a washing machine, but are often killed by being pounded against jeans and other bulky clothes. Putting the wet clothes through the dryer is even more deadly and will quickly kill all the ticks. If you discover a tick attached to your body, don't trust the folk remedies of matches, lighters or petroleum jelly. Instead use tweezers. Grasp the tick as close to its mouthparts as you can and remove it by pulling straight out. Be sure to remove the mouthparts, if you don't get them on the first pull. This is one of the worst tick seasons on record. Ticks spread Lyme Disease, a very nasty disease that can cause short term discomfort and long term problems if left untreated. New cases of Lyme disease are cropping up all across the country. Same with Ricky Mountain Fever, another potentially dangerous disease. In Tennessee last year, there were almost 700 cases of Rocky Mountain Fever, most believed to have been caught from ticks. Some of the areas where ticks like to congregate are fields with tall grass, wooded areas and the sand dunes. The Center for Disease Control says pets and humans need to be checked very closely for ticks after every excursion into tick territory. Here’s a list of what to do. Then there’s snakes. Late May and early June is when most snakes are on the move. In the deep south, where they’ve been out for some time, it’s about time for them to hatch young. Most snakes, of course, are harmless. Most snakes do good, as a matter of fact, eating insects and vermin. But in the U.S., there are several very dangerous snakes with deadly venom, particularly for dogs and cats. The three most commonly encountered venomous snakes in the U.S. are rattlesnakes, copperheads and cottonmouths, sometimes referred to as the water moccasin. Poisonous snakes often have a heavy triangular head tapering toward the mouth, with elliptical cat's-eye pupils. An exception is the small but very poisonous coral snake. Mostnonpoisonous species have smoothly curved, U-shaped heads. Here’s a quick guide with photos to help you spot the most dangerous ones in North America. The snake picture here was taken a couple days ago by my friend William Browne, who was camped in his RV in California and was surprised to see this Mohave rattlesnake slithering through his camp space. Snakes are particularly dangerous to pets, At a dog park not far from my Michigan house, several dogs are bitten each year by the diminutive Massasauga rattlesnake. A woman I know who has a large, 65 pound Weimerheimer said she was walking her dog on a leash when it stopped, stuck it’s nose in the grass and was bitten on the muzzle. By the time she returned to her car, her dog was stumbling. She rushed him to a 24 hour pet emergency hospital. Three days later and after $2,000 in vet bills, the dog was released. At the same park not long before, a man and his beagle were bitten. A local sheriff’s deputy told me that the snake attacked the dog, a beagle, while walking near the woods. The man tried to stop the reptile from inflicting any further harm and was then attacked by the snake. He was released from the hospital the next day, the dog a couple days later. The smaller the dog, the greater the danger but even a small rattlesnake like the Massasauga can kill if the pet is not quickly treated. Like humans, pets are given antivenom. It is extremely expensive, with treatment ranging between $900 and $1,200 for just the shots. In Georgia earlier this year, I saw a sign outside a veterinarian’s office saying “Snakes are everywhere: Vaccinate your pets!” That’s good advice. In the south and southwest, most vets do offer snake vaccine. Regular shots help build up an animal’s immunity to the poison. So be careful out there. Especially with your pets, About the Author: Mike Wendland is a veteran journalist who travels the country in a Roadtrek Type B motorhome, accompanied by his wife, Jennifer, and their Norweigian elkhound, Tai. Mike is an FMCA member (F426141) and is FMCA's official on-the-road reporter. He enjoys camping (obviously), hiking, biking, fitness, photography, video editing and all things dealing with technology. His "PC MIke" technology segments are distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations. More from this author. Reach mike at openmike@fmca.com.

Hi everyone... I'm the FMCA's on-the-road reporter and it’s time to head west to Wyoming and, eventually, Yellowstone National Park. And this year, instead of repeating past routes, I thought it would be fun to get your suggestions, to crowd source our trip by drawing on the collected wisdom of our readers and then passing what we find on to our readers. In other words, tell me where to go. Here’s the particulars: I’ll be leaving Kalamazoo, MI about 9 AM Friday June 14. I need to be in Gillette, WY by mid afternoon Monday June 18 for the annual Family Motor Coach Association Reunion and motorhome showcase. That’s about 1,230 miles. I don’t want to drive more than 400 miles a day so there’s time to discover cool places, see great things, meet interesting people on the way that we can photograph, video and report about to you on this blog. I’m on the lookout for truly unique places and people. I’ve already written about the touristy things along the way on previous trips. The Corn Palace. Wall Drugs. We reported on the Badlands and Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore last year. So I’m looking to forgo those spots and travel off the beaten path this time. What are the stories along the way unique to the land? More info can be found on my blog here.

It’s time to head west to Wyoming and, eventually, Yellowstone National Park. And this year, instead of repeating past routes, I thought it would be fun to get your suggestions, to crowd source our trip by drawing on the collected wisdom of our readers. In other words, tell me where to go. Here are the particulars: ’ll be leaving Kalamazoo, Mich., about 9 AM Friday, June 14. I need to be in Gillette, Wyo., by mid afternoon Monday, June 18, for the annual Family Motor Coach Association Reunion and Motorhome Showcase. That’s about 1,230 miles. I don’t want to drive more than 400 miles a day, so there’s time to discover cool places, see great things, meet interesting people on the way that we can photograph, video and report about to you on this blog. I’m on the lookout for truly unique places and people. I’ve already written about the touristy things along the way on previous trips. The Corn Palace. Wall Drugs. We reported on the Badlands and Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore last year. So I’m looking to forgo those spots and travel off the beaten path this time. What are the stories along the way unique to the land? They can be a cool photo. A fun restaurant. A unique campground. A local character. An historic spot. I had an old editor once tell me decades ago that everyone has a story. My long journalism experience has told me that is indeed true. That’s also true of places. All you need to do is meet them. So make some introductions to me. Plot out the route and e-mail it to me (openmike@fmca.com) under the subject line “To Gillette.” You can use comments under this post to ask questions or share observations. As to where to spend the night on route, scenery trumps everything for us. We can boondock or hookup. I’d love your recommendations. We’ll leave Gillette late Friday, June 21, after I finish leading a seminar at the FMCA reunion. I’m planning on heading to Yellowstone again for a few days and then taking our time heading back so that we’re back in Michigan by the 30th. So if this group planning thing works on the way out, maybe we’ll crowd source the return trip, too. But for now, let’s collectively plan the route to Gillette. Tell me where to go, what to see, who to meet, where to overnight. For my part, I’ll try to take in as many of your tips as we can and then share what we find in daily reports here, as well as tweets and Facebook posts. To whoever comes up with the most detailed route and suggestions that we follow, I’ll let them pick out the item of their choice from The Roadtreking RV Store and then send it to them for free. I can’t wait to get your ideas. Send them to me at openmike@fmca.com and place "To Gillette" in the subject line. About the Author: Mike Wendland is a veteran journalist who travels the country in a Roadtrek Type B motorhome, accompanied by his wife, Jennifer, and their Norweigian elkhound, Tai. Mike is an FMCA member (F426141) and is FMCA's official on-the-road reporter. He enjoys camping (obviously), hiking, biking, fitness, photography, video editing and all things dealing with technology. His "PC MIke" technology segments are distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations. More from this author. Reach mike at openmike@fmca.com.

“How’d you end up doing this?” If I could have had a quarter for every time we’ve been asked that about our roadtreking.com RV blog we could buy another motorhome. But since enough people seem to be interested….Here’s how: This Roadtreking RV blog is a dream come true for me. Decades in the making, but now being lived out like one giant movie, seen through the wide expanse of my motorhome’s windshield as North America rolls on by. We can stop anytime, explore anywhere. And we do, sharing it with you. It’s all very much serendipity. Serendipity means a “happy accident” or “pleasant surprise,” something fun and useful and enjoyable that was discovered by happenstance along the way. That’s a perfect description of what we find every day in this new wandering life in a motorhome. This blog is entirely the work of me, Mike Wendland, who, with wife, Jennifer, bought a Roadtrek Class B motor home in early 2012 after years of dreaming. This blog is about seeing North America, enjoying our compact little motor home and then reporting the interesting stories about the people and places we come across. The goal is to share our Roadtreking life. I have to admit right at the start, I am not very mechanical. It took me an orientation session with my RV dealer to find out where the gas, ah, make that, diesel fueling point was on the vehicle. So this is not a blog aimed at tinkerers and mechanics. It’s about the RV lifestyle our motorhome allows and the great things to see and do out there on the open road. By background, I’m a journalist. I have to tell stories. I love meeting people, learning and seeing new things, enjoying God’s awesome creation. Taking pictures. Making videos. I’ve been doing this for more than three decades, for major newspapers, TV networks, radio stations and magazines. I’ve written six books. I’ve won 18 EMMY awards, honors from the Associated Press, Ohio State University and Wayne State University. I’ve reported from all over Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Central America. I used to travel so much as a journalist that one of my employers, the Detroit News, once took an ad out in a journalism trade magazine referring to me as “one of America’s most well-traveled reporters.” Much of that traveling was what we call “parachute journalism.” I’d fly in, cover the story and fly out, sometimes the same day, often using scenery and skylines as backdrops for my stand-up TV bits. I remembered so many times looking out at a mountain range or across some valley or in some small town or metropolis and longing to spend time, walk the streets, hike the trails, climb the hills, experience the sights and sounds and smells of a place. And, of course, meet the people. It seldom happened. There was always another story in another place on another deadline. Don’t get me wrong. I loved those journalism days. I had a front row, window seat to history. I covered Presidents and movie stars, CEOs and government leaders and even the Queen of England and a Pope. Those were heady days. But as I approached retirement age, I knew I missed a lot of stories out there over the years, stories about people, places and the things that make the U.S. and Canada such wonderful countries. The kind of good news and general interest stories hard-nosed editors and news directors tend to skip over in favor of the sensational and controversial. The world of big media today concentrates on strife and tragedy and bad news. It has little time for good news. In retirement, as my own boss, I decided I wanted to go back and actually see and experience the country and tell those good news stories that I am convinced people are really hungry for. A motorhome was my solution. So I got one and, with wife, and dog, we set out to meet people, discover places and take to the the road in a world of $4 plus a gallon and climbing fuel costs.PicsV The one work obligation I still have every week is with NBC-TV, where, since 1994, I report on personal technology. I’m known there as “PC Mike” and my reports are sent weekly to the NBC Newschannel service which distributes my “PC Mike” report to all 215 stations each week. That’s all possible because of a 4g mobile connection from Verizon Wireless. I use that connection to report, write and file my Roadtreking stories, post my videos and photos, update this blog and even send my edited “PC Mike” story to NBC each week, all from my motorhome as I travel North America discovering all the interesting people and places I didn’t have time to meet when I was a news reporter working for newspapers or TV stations. But technology, like the motorhome, is a big part of my life and being able to try out new tech toys and stay connected while on the road makes every day an adventure. You can read about my tech gear here. Right now, we’re traveling in a 2013 Roadtrek eTrek, an eco-friendly, solar-powered Class B motorhome built on the Mercedes Sprinter chassis. We chose the eTrek because we love to “boondock,” to stay in remote places, off the commercial power grid, typically in natonal or state forests, National Parks or wilderness areas. The eTrek allows us to be self contained for long periods of time. rtetThere is no propane system or conventional generator. Heat comes from an industry-leading Webasto diesel powered combination water heater and furnace. Electrical power generation is provided by a 3,500-watt generator mounted to the van’s diesel engine that can charge eight dead auxiliary batteries in only 40 minutes. Supplemental power comes from a 240 watt solar charging system. All this reserve power is stored in eight 6 volt AGM batteries (1600 amp. hours) and distributed directly to 12 volt lights and appliances and through a 5,000-watt inverter to 110-volt appliances like the air conditioner, inductive stove, instant drinking water heater and convection/microwave oven. The system features surge protection, power monitoring, battery minder/balancer, and solar charge controller. We began this blog in March 2012. Our first year we covered 11,000 miles. Typically, we mark out a route, identify a few spots we want to be sure to visit and then take off, stopping when we want or find something that interests us. An old editor of mine once told me that “every person has a story to tell.” My journalism career has shown me that to be very true. It’s the same with most places. Places have stories, too. So we like to wander, chat up the people we meet, and start taking photos and videos. Usually, we return with more stories than we can do. We try to travel year round. This past winter, we drove the eTrek in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where we found a winter winter wonderland that most people never see. There was 28 inches of snow on the level ground and onc night, deep in the wilderness, it got down to four degrees below zero. It was an awesome experience. We slept snug and warm inside our eTrek and realized winter is no excuse to put the RV in storage. In the first six months of 2013, we racked up more than 16,000 miles of travel. Typically, we’re on the road two to three weeks every month. We’re not fulltimers. We need grandkid fixes. So we return to our Michigan home for at least a week or so every month. We also like to visit RV rallies and events. A highlight for us is the Family Motor Home Association reunion. In 2013, it will be in Gillette, WY. I am the official on-the-road reporter for the FMCA and author the Open Mike column each month in Family Motor Coach Magazine. Some people have looked at our schedule and the amount of material we produce and laugh. “I thought you retired,” they’ll say. As a matter of fact, I’m probably writing and reporting more now than I did when I was a fulltime employee of the various news outfits I’ve worked for over the years. But the difference is I’m my own boss and telling the stories I want to tell. That makes it not like a job at all. Truth is, though, that if I’m not careful, Roadtreking.com could become all-consuming. The blog has been growing so fast that we also started a weekly RV newsletter. We opened an online store for RV related clothing and accessories. Our Facebook Page is approaching 20,000 “Likes.” Slowly, we have picked up RV industry-related sponsors for all this and my son, Jeff, has pitched in to help run the “enterprise” so I can concentrate on traveling, content and reporting. I should point out that while Roadtrek Motorhomes is an advertiser on this blog and my newsletter and we have a warm and close relationship that has given me frequent access to company executives and the Roadtrek factory in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, I am not an employee of Roadtrek. I am an independent journalist that happens to love the Class B motorhome lifestyle. The blog is a labor of love. It is all my own work, and even if I didn’t have any advertisers, I’d still be publishing it. Like I said, I have to tell stories. It’s in my DNA, I guess. For the record, Jennifer and I have been married for more than 40 years. Our brick and mortar home is in Oakland, MI. We have three grown children and six grandchildren. Our son, Scott, lives in southwest Georgia with his wife, Lauri, and four sons. Our daughter, Wendy, lives in suburban Detroit with husband, Dan, and two daughters; and son Jeff lives with wife, Aimee, in Kalamazoo, MI. Jennifer is a certified fitness instructor by occupation, specializing is water exercise. Besides journalism, we’ve both been very active at our church and have led in-depth Bible studies for many years. In addition to RVing, I enjoy bicycling, SCUBA diving, kayaking and fishing. One of the joys of doing all this is working with my wife, who now appears regularly with me in reporting our Roadtreking stories in the “How We Roll in our RV” series of reports that anser reader questions.. That’s not to say that there sometimes isn’t conflict. Jennifer insists on working out and exercising while on the road. We’re not talking campground strolls, bike rides and hikes – all of which we do. We’re talking hard core workouts. In a gym. A constant challenge for me in our travels is finding a health club or workout facility for Jennifer. I’ve learned that unless she gets in a workout three or four times a week, things in the confined space of our motorhome can get a bit strained. For her part, Jennifer has had to adjust to the unpredictability of my serendipity style. “Where are we going to spend the night,” she’ll ask? I seldom know. I am not one for making reservations. There are too many variables out there, places and people that make me spontaneously pull off the road and strike up conversations that could lead us to a totally unexpected delight of a story just around the bend. You can read and watch many of them here on the blog. About the Author: Mike Wendland is a veteran journalist who travels the country in a Roadtrek Type B motorhome, accompanied by his wife, Jennifer, and their Norweigian elkhound, Tai. Mike is an FMCA member (F426141) and is FMCA's official on-the-road reporter. He enjoys camping (obviously), hiking, biking, fitness, photography, video editing and all things dealing with technology. His "PC MIke" technology segments are distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations. More from this author. Reach mike at openmike@fmca.com.