Roadtrekingmike

Two very different questions from readers this week as we continue our “How We Roll in our RV” segment: Jennifer answers a question about cooking while traveling in our eTrek and I assure a reader that the fabled black flies that invade Michigan’s Upper Peninsula every summer should not deter him from traveling to one of the least-visited but most beautiful places in North America. I did a video called “The curse of the U.P: Black flies” last year you may want to check out. Got a question about How We Roll? Just send it to me at openmike@fmca.com. Besides our other reports, we try to roll out a new How We Roll every week. http://youtu.be/yXzjL26D7I4 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.

Roadtrek Motorhomes has released a new all-season, solar-powered 40th Anniversary edition of it’s 190 Popular coach that features a redesigned, higher interior and a stunning Mocha Steel tri-coat paint job that looks like diamonds have been embedded into the finish. Roadtrek President Jim Hammill says the new model, revealed to attendees at the corporate anniversary rally in Branson, MO, continues a trend towards green energy use and extended dry camping through solar power. Pricing information and optional packages will be available at Roadtrek dealers throughout North America in early June. http://youtu.be/zvojBhs_ljI The new model has 10 gallons of extra fresh water capacity and special tanks that do away with the need for winterization if the unit is plugged in or the engine is running. The solar power, with a 3,000 watt inverter, assures that users will be able to stay for extended periods of times in remote places far from commercial campgrounds. The rooftop solar panels generate 210 watts of power to four batteries. Roadtrek also added a new engine generator to the unit for extra power off the grid. The Popular 190 model joins two Sprinter Roadtrek models introduced late last year that use solar – the RS Adventurous eTrek and the RS Adventurous CS (for Camping Series). Earlier this year, the corporation announced that it would be able to retrofit solar on many earlier units already sold. Early reaction to the Popular 190 was favorable. “It’s a beauty,” said Cheryl Gregorie. “I love the fact that it doesn’t need winterizing.” “I love the bling of the color scheme,” said Shari Groendyk, of Portage, MI. “The fact that we don’t have to winterize is huge for those of us in cold climates,” said William Browne, of Spring Lake, Mich. The interior, with a larger bathroom and new bamboo cabinets in the interior, also drew praise from many. It is three inches taller than earlier 190 Populars. “This is how we’ll move into the next 40 years of our history,” said Hammill. “We will lead the Class B industry in technology and innovation.” 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.

We all have places we want to see, to explore and experience. A bucket list. At the 40th Anniversary rally of Roadtrek Motorhomes in Branson, Mo., no matter how experienced a traveler we found, we also found that every traveler still has a bucket list. Just ask the question … what’s on your bucket list? You’ll immediately get an answer. Watch the video below. Is your bucket place dream trip mentioned? http://youtu.be/zGnQS8tUNvg About the Author: Mike Wendland is a veteran journalist who travels the country in a Roadtrek Type B motorhome, accompanied by his wife, Jennifer, and their Norweigian elkhound, Tai. Mike is an FMCA member (F426141) and is FMCA's official on-the-road reporter. He enjoys camping (obviously), hiking, biking, fitness, photography, video editing and all things dealing with technology. His "PC MIke" technology segments are distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations. More from this author. Reach mike at openmike@fmca.com.

At first glance, the 250-plus Roadtrek Class B motorhomes gathered at the 40th anniversary corporate rally in Branson, MO look alike. But when you start walking among them, you soon realize that these touring coaches are not as alike as you may have first thought. Each Roadtrek is tweaked, modified and personalized. To various degrees, of course. But all have been individualized. Sometimes it’s as simple as a vanity license plate. Maybe some bumper stickers. With others, it’s something more elaborate, like interior redesigns. But each motorhome reflects the personalities of the owners. http://youtu.be/VZDKdJgii_I And many of them actually name their coach. Listening to them talk about their RV, you can’t help but notice they often refer to it by its nickname, as if it has a personality, too. In this report from Branson, I walked around and chatted up folks to learn about the way they have made their Roadtrek uniquely their own. What becomes obvious at a gathering like this is how these RVs are so much more than machines to their owners. They represent freedom. Adventure. Friendship. And each motorhome represents miles of memories. Check out the video above.

The 40th anniversary Roadtrek corporate rally is going on this week in Branson, MO, with more than 500 Roadtrek owners and 250 coaches gathered for a week’s worth of fun celebrating the four decades the very popular Class B motorhomes have been sold. Attenders from across the US and Canada were greeted with cloudy skies and heavy rain warnings on arrival Monday, but that didn’t deter many from taking advantage of a free Roadtrek wash organized by the company. Check the vanity license plate message – says it all, doesn’t it? Roadtrek President Jim Hammill, Sales Director Paul Cassidy and Chief Engineer Jeff Stride were all on hand, making the long trip to Branson from company headquarters in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Chris Deakens, Roadtrek’s tech support guru, answered questions and scheduled on-site technician visits for those who want some tweaking and easy repairs while in Branson. Every Roadrek model is parked here, with the oldest (a 1985) to the newest (a new CS Adventurous that just rolled off the assembly line late last week). There is food, with big communal breakfasts and dinners. There’s nightly entertainment at the campground, as well as a trip to one of the big shows this resort community n the Ozarks is famous for. For most though, visiting and hanging out seems to top the agenda. The ABC campground we’re staying at is very hilly. Most of us are doubled up with two to a site but since the sites are all pull-through, no one is complaining. The oldest Roadtrek we’ve seen so far … a 1985 model! Jennifer and I have been meeting people and giving tours of the eTrek. It’s been fun to put real in-person faces with the names we’ve been visiting with for months on our Facebook group. It’s hard to overstate how tight the Facebook Roadtreking friends have become. People keep using the word family to describe it and, indeed, watching us all hug and greet each other, you’d see why we feel that way. We also got a chance to visit with many members of the FMCA’s Roadtrek International Chapter, which wrapped up its 40th anniversary rally just as the corporate rally bagan. Many of the chapter members stayed over for the corporate gathering. Frances Griffin, the chapter president, told me about a song called “Three Little Windows” that was written by Roadtrek owner Mark Sickman. Mark took photos from his travels across the country and accompanied it with an original song named after the three up-top windows that are distinctive to each Roadtrek. You can see and hear his slideshow and music at http://threelittlewindows.com There was lots of excitement Monday night when a severe thunderstorm swept through the park. Thunder boomed and lighting crackled all around as wind flung driving rain that was horizontal at times. Several roadtrekers retreated to the basement of the campground office until it passed. But pass it did and the worst was but a memory by bedtime.

Just north of the Missouri “boot heel” is the small community of Sikeston, right off Interstate 57. It’s a great place to overnight. If you stay at the Hinton RV Park, they’ll arrange for a van to take you to dinner at a place you will not soon forget. On our visit, we were with a group of 12 RVers, on the way to a Branson, MO rally. Our group came from Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Ontario and we were crowded driving in that stretch van the mile or so to Lambert’s Cafe, “Home of the Throwed Rolls.” Lambert’s is a unique Amerian culinary icon, founded in 1942 and known far and wide for it hot “Throwed Rolls.” http://youtu.be/jz-6DZ8tJHQ Yup. You heard right. Throwed rolls. Like you see in the video. Gloved servers toss em at you. Raise your hand and there will be a “throwded roll” in it. Gigantic, baked-from-scratch, five inches in diameter, fluffy, hot and ready for drizzled honey, butter, molasses or sorgum. Last year, Lambert’s baked and “throwed” 2,246,400 rolls to its customers. There’s more than the rolls of course. We’re talking massive quanttites of Southern Food. Fried catfish.Pulled pork.Fried ham. Fried chicken. Chicken and dumplings. Ribs. You don’t count calories here. If you do, you may get bopped with a throwed roll. Servers come by offering side dishes like black eyed peas, tomatoes and macaroni, fried potatoes and fried okra. Nobody leaves Lambert’s hungry. I swear the van taking us back to the campground was even more of a tight fit as we waddled out after dinner. There are two other Lambert’s Cafes. But Sikeston is the original. Well worth a visit.

Apps for on the road RV travel The RV season is in full swing now with folks traveling to rallies, vacations and long weekend getaways. To help make those trips more fun and travel more convenient, I thought I’d share three more fun apps and web tools that I’ve been having fun with lately. This report was put together for my other [...] Roadtreking | A journalist's RV travels across North America - Traveling North America in search of interesting people and places <a href="http://Roadtreking.com/apps-for-on-the-road-rv-travel/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=apps-for-on-the-road-rv-travel">Source</a>

In this edition of How We Roll, Jennifer and I tackle questions from readers asking about how we dry bath towels while we’re on the road. Jennifer shows some hooks I attached with stick-on tape and a very simple but effective bungee cord clothesline we have in the bathroom. She also recommends fast-drying micro fiber towels. Besides the bungee-clotheline (which hangs and dries two full-sized bath towels very effectively and out of sight behind the bathroom door), I have strategically stuck on plastic hooks (found at WalMart) on several vertical walls to hang sweatshirts, towels, items like that. We also answer a question about the folding chairs we use while traveling. We use the telescoping PICO ARM CHAIR Telescoping Director’s Chair and I show how compactly it packs. They’re expensive, about $100 each. But they are very rugged. Best pricing comes when you buy two of them. They fit in a case that can be carried over the shoulder like a large laptop bag. We roll out a new edition of How We Roll each week. If you have a question, just send it in to me by clicking here. http://youtu.be/wvxR9wo9s1A

In the heart of central Kentucky – not far from it’s famed bluegrass country – is an area known as the Bourbon Trail, a confluence of seven distilleries that produce the bulk of the world’s Bourbon. Formally designated by Congress as “America’s Official Native Spirit.” The distilleries offer tours and tastings and offer a perfect RV getaway. http://youtu.be/W_wm129Uk30 Bourbon has a rich history and proud tradition that dates back to the late 1700s. For more than two centuries, no family has influenced bourbon-making more deeply than the Beam family, maker of the world’s best selling bourbon. The tour of the Jim Beam distillery near Clermont, KY offers an up-close look at how they make the world’s best-selling bourbon–from grain to barrel to bottle and beyond. Here, you learn that bourbon is unique among whiskeys because, by law, it must be at least 51% corn. Why is it called Bourbon? Well, one of Kentucky’s original counties was Bourbon County, established in 1785 when Kentucky was still part of Virginia. Farmers shipped their whiskey in oak barrels — stamped from Bourbon County — down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans. The long trip aged the whiskey, with the oak wood giving it the distinct mellow flavor and amber color. Pretty soon, whiskey from Bourbon County grew in popularity and became known as Bourbon whiskey.bt1 Allow at least three hours for the Beam tour, which always ends in the tasting room, Where visitors can sample some of the 12 different brands the company makes. But remember, the Beam operation is just one of seven distilleries on the Bourbon Trail. A great place to use as your RVing base while touring the Bourbon Trail is Bardstown, KY, recently designated by USA Today as America’s most beautiful small town. It’s a delightful town, steeped in history. Abraham Lincoln walked its streets. So did Daniel Boone. Upstairs at the Old Talbott Inn, built in 1779, are bullet holes reportedly fired by Jesse James. Bardstown has museums and quaint shops. What the Napa Valley is to California wine, Bardstown is to the Bourbon Trail. Just outside of town, we used the My Old Kentucky Home State Park as our camping base, named after the famous Steven Foster song celebrating the mansion the state park is home to. Just down the road from the state Park is the Heaven Hill distillery. It, too, offers great tours and lots of history. Oh yeah, they have tastings, too. It was founded by the Heavenhill family. One word. Heavenhill. But rumor has it that when a teetotaler daughter saw a typo referring to the place as Heaven Hill - two words – she let the mistake stay so as to distance the family name from the whiskey business. About a half hour drive from Bardstown is the Makers Mark distillery. Situated on gorgeous grounds with Whiskey Creek running right through it and providing the pure water used in making of its bourbon, I was offered a tin cup sip straight out of a distilling tank, before the product had aged. My tongue burned. Jennifer got no further than a sniff. At Maker’s Mark, visitors have the opportunity to hand dip a bottle themselves… sealing it with the brands distinctive melted red wax. Each distillery is unique. Each distillery has a story. Take Red Roses bourbon, for example. Seems its founder was smitten by a beautiful young lady. He asked her to marry him. She refused to answer immediately but said, if the next time he saw her she was wearing a corsage, the answer was yes. The next time he saw her she was wearing a corsage of four red roses. Thus a bourbon brand was born. Even if you don’t drink alcohol, or bourbon is not your thing, the bourbon trail is a fascinating look at history in some of the most beautiful country you can find. If you decide to visit the Bourbon Trail, allow at least three days to take it all in. There are lots of campgrounds servicing the area.

Canada is a very popular destination for American RVers. And it’s home to several of the world’s best-selling Class B motorhome makers. So a lot is us travel there. Canada feels very much at home. It’s people are open and welcoming. In the last year, I’ve made over a dozen visits to the Kitchener, Ontario, headquarters of Roadtrek Motorhomes. And while I am very comfortable in Canada, there are some cultural differences. I’ve been taking notes. Here are 15 things to know about Canada: It’s smaller in population. Canada has only 33 million people. Once you get past the cities, there is a lot of open space. They count and measure things differently. Your GPS may tell you Kitchener is 60 miles away, but a roadside sign on the 402 says it’s 100. Huh? They use the metric system. Don’t even try to figure out fuel prices, which they measure in liters.Their money is different. Thankfully, they count it in dollars. But it’s worth more than ours. Twenty bucks U.S. is worth $20.10 Canadian. They have weird names for it, too. Canadians call their $1 a loonie and $2 a toonie. They don’t have as many freeway rest areas. Instead, at least in Ontario, they have Onroutes – widespread concentrations of fast-food restaurants, fuel pumps and rest rooms under one roof. Canadians don’t clutter up the landscape with billboards like we do in the U.S. And except in urban areas, there usually are not clusters of gas stations and fast-food places around each freeway exit. Yes, they do have Starbucks. And the good news is you won’t have to stand in line to get yours. That’s because, hands down, Canadians prefer Tim Hortons to Starbucks. Timmy’s, they call it. And I have to say ... it IS better that Starbucks. In Ontario, the only place you can buy beer is at the Beer Store. Seriously. That’s what they call the government stores that sell beer. Beer isn’t available at convenience stores, supermarkets and gas stations. It varies, I’m told, province by province. You know they spell differently, eh? In all candour, it sort of colours their written communications. Centre – center. Check – cheque. Favour - favor. They pronounce things differently, too. Not everything. Just a few things. Ask a Canadian to say out and about. Don’t laugh. They think YOU talk even funnier. Hockey is not a game in Canada. It is a religion. On their $5 bill is a scene of children playing pond hockey. Saturday night hockey on the radio was a tradition for generations. Now it’s on HDTV. Do not make fun of hockey. Ever. Canadians also like the sport of curling. Do not make fun of this, either. And yes, curling is a sport and it’s much more involved than it appears to most Americans. Trust me on this, do not ridicule Canadian sports. Especially in a bar. Canadians are very patriotic. More so than in the U.S. They are generally liked by other countries, terrorists are not trying to destroy it, and violence – except on the hockey rink, is very rare. There’s nowhere near the polarization there is in the U.S. Unless they hunt, no one owns a gun in Canada. Canadians like it that way. They think people in the U.S. who are so adamant about owning guns are extreme. Canadians have two languages. English and French. In Quebec, of course, almost everyone is bilingual. But even in the other provinces, you will hear a French accent fairly often. You will find iPhones there, of course. But many Canadians prefer Blackberries. They’re made in Ontario. Canadian restaurants, particularly those in Ontario, are generally more high-tech than many of their U.S. counterparts. The waitstaff have their own tablets and hand-held computers that process your credit cards right at the table. And many credit cards issued by Canadian banks have chips built in which constitute an electronic signature, meaning you don’t have to physically sign the bill. In the U.S., we drink soda. In Canada, it’s pop. Canadians are healthier than us. Average life expectancy there is 81.2 years. In America, it’s 78.1, and the American life expectancy is dropping while the Canadian is rising. Americans are the most obese country in the world, with approximately 34% of their citizens obese (over 60% are overweight). Canada is the 11th most obese country with about 24% of their people obese and 55% overweight. I like Canada, a lot. After so many visits over the past year, I’m starting to feel patriotic about the place, myself. The Canadians I’ve met are typically not full of themselves, as so many Americans are. They seem to be content and very sure of who they are, but without guile. They laugh a lot. Sometimes at us. Especially our politics. And they’re very accepting of people from other places, who look different and talk different. Just as long as they don’t make fun of hockey. 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 week’s edition of "How We Roll in Our RV," readers want to know how we fight boredom while doing all that driving, and what kind of meals we eat in our RV while traveling. I offer my suggestions on finding eBooks, something we both really enjoy listening to while making long drives. Jennifer shares some of her favorite meals for traveling. Keep those questions coming in. We’ll do our best to answer them. We try to do a new edition of How We Roll each week. http://youtu.be/VKhQzs1acJk

It’s no secret that many of us RVers are, ah, shall I say, horizontally challenged?” With obesity already at epidemic levels and good, nutritious food hard enough to find, our laid back on-the-go nomadic travels can sure pack on the pounds. Sometimes, it’s time to get reprogrammed, to find a way to jump start a new and healthy living style. That’s what Jennifer and I found deep in the rolling hills of south central Tennessee, two hours south of Nashville at a place called the Tennessee Fitness Spa. For a week or as long as you want, you will be totally immersed in a health and fitness regimen than can produce some very dramatic results. You can watch the video to see what just six days did for Jennifer and me. http://youtu.be/KmtnC7qFkWs There is room for 60 guests in lodges and motel-style rooms n the 100 acre campus, plus two RV parks with full hookups. We chose to stay in the lower campground that is closest to the gym and central complex. We were neighbored by two Class C motorhomes. The RV spots there are right on the bans of the sparkling clear 48 Creek. The upper campground had a couple of Class A rigs and is located in a very quiet spot up a hill and surrounded by greenery. The spa provides three meals a day. They are gourmet quality but the total caloric intake they provide is no more than 1,200 calories. You can add another 200 calories or so from the fresh salad bar or from special snacks like hard boiled eggs and sweet potato wedges. The food is low salt, low sugar, all natural, never processed, always fresh and prepared in ways that will amaze you. I was not hungry once, despite my spoofng in the video. A fully equipped gymnasium and very large swimming pool is available 24 hours a day and fitness classes run every hour during the daytime hours. For the healthier guests, mornings start with a brisk walk. It’s three miles the first day, then it builds until at the end of the week, you cover eight miles. This is up and down hills and it is a challenging aerobic workout. The spa breaks it down into different groups of walkers based on their fitness levels, with the fastest being those of are able to walk a 12 minute miles. The slowest group is for tose who are just starting out. They expect that for maximum results, guests participate in two aerobic workous each day, as well as a stretching class, weight workouts and pool session. There are multiple water aerobics classes. Jennifer was a guest instructor of the week we were there. Jennifer has taught water aerobics for more than 20 years and says the quality of the water aerobics instruction at the spa is the best she’s ever seen. “Water exercise is great for everybody,” says Jennifer. “You lose the impact of your weight on your knees, hips and joints. Water offers resistance that lets you work out very hard without the stress. It really burns calories and helps in weight loss and body toning.” You will see in the video the inches Jennifer lost which she attributes to the healthy food she ate that week and the water aerobic classes than did. “Believe me, water exercise works,” she says. “Besides teaching classes, I was able to participate in classes here like the other students Normally when I teach, I have to do it from the deck. I loved being able to get in the water and workout in the water with my students.” The fun thing is getting to know the other participants. You can meet several in the video, including one guy who has been there two months and is down 60 pounds. Many of the guests were repeat visitors. who come year after year. Belinda Jones is the spa’s fitness and nutrition director and personally selects the menu. “The difference that most people notice immediately is that they are not hungry,” she says. “Their cravings disappear. That’s because they are eating balanced, healthy food with the right amounts of protein, complex carbohydrates and fats.” Health experts tell us that 20% of weight loss comes from exercise. But 80% is from making healthy food choices. Belinda holds a class on how the balanced meals served at the spa can be brought back home, or to the RV. The grounds of the spa are stunningly beautiful. An ancient cave called the Natural Bridge is on the grounds. Dean Ware, who holds classes on the history of the area, says the Natural Bridge was the home of notorious outlaw gangs who preyed on travelers of the Natchez Trail, which is not far from the spa. In later years, locals would hold church services there and it’s said that Davy Crockett delivered a speech from a protruding ledge of the bridge called the pulpit rock. Ware also teaches a class on the benefits of herbal teas and class participants actually mix up a batch they drink themselves. Nancy Shaw, with her late husband, Joe, founded the spa in 1991. “This is a very rejuvenating place,” she said. “It relaxes and refreshes and restores our guests,” she says. “The pace of life in today’s society is very stressful. Eating and exercising right and decompressing here is what brings so many back so often.” She said RVers love the fact that they can bring their pets with them as they vist the spa. “We were surprised by how many people travel in RVs,” she said. “So we built the parks for them. They like it because not only can they sleep in their own RV and bring their pets but they save money from the lodging costs our regular guests pay when staying in a room.” There are free laundry facilities available. Cellular phone service in the area is limited. When I had to make a phone call, I’d walk to the top of one of the nearby hills. But the spa has added high speed satellite Internet wi-fi that is available in the lounges and restaurant area. I picked it up right in the RV and was never out of touch. Our week ended much too soon. We could not believe how good we felt as we sat in our Roadtrek. We vowed to bring the healthy eating plan we learned to our everyday life. That’s when we encountered the reality of such a choice. On the road, it’s very hard to make healthy choices when eating out. A traffic accident and hour long delay on I-65 north of Nashville sent us off the interstate. We pulled off at an exit and decided to eat dinner as the traffic cleared. There was a Mexican restaurant (who could resist the chips and salsa?) a fast food place (there is nothing fresh and healthy about fast food) and a national pizza chain. We figured the pizza place would give us the healthiest choice because we knew it had a salad bar. But the salad came in plastic bags. That’s surely not fresh. There was only high fat, high calorie salad dressings. And the pizza we ordered – a thin crust with a pineapple topping – was so salty and sugary that our newly sensitized taste buds immediately noticed it. We both felt yucky and vowed that from now on, we are going to carry our own salad dressings and protein sources and learn to make better choices. As to exercise, that, too, is more challenging in an RV. Walking, of course, is always a choice. We can also carry along bicycles. And we can seek our towns with gyms and YMCAs. We absolutely loved the Tennessee Fitness Spa. Now, the challenge is to build on what we’ve learned. After all, there are a lot of places out there we want to see as we Roadrek around North America. We want to be sure we are fit and healthy enough to take everything in for as long as possible.

I’ve never been one to worry much about the weather. If I have something planned and the blow-dryed weather guys on TV are breathlessly warning us that a snow storm or some weather situation is about to cause the sky to fall, I usually scoff and just go on with my plans. Weather forecasters like to scare us and keep us tuned in for ratings. I know this from firsthand experience back in my local TV reporting days when they’d scramble “storm teams” and bombard the public with 24 by 7 weather alerts and constant promos about the big storm coming. Usually, it was much less than what was predicted. So when we set off on this latest RV trip with weather forecasters talking about a wind advisory and breezy conditions coming in hard with a cold front, I barely paid attention. The Roadtrek eTrek was packed, we had places to go, and so ... we did, heading straight down I-75 from our Michigan home. I could tell is was windy as soon as I pulled out of my subdivision. But as we negotiated the heavy traffic through Detroit, the “concrete canyons” nulled the effect and it wasn’t until, just north of the Ohio border near Monroe, MI, that it became apparent that the weather guys had this one right. This was more than breezy. This was howling. They said on the radio that the west wind was gusting to 50 miles an hour. I can’t confirm that, except to say that the trip through Ohio, with all that empty farmland bordering the interstate, was a virtual tug of war. And hopes of being spelled from my driving duties by Jennifer went by the wayside as soon as the first gust slammed into the Roadtrek. The wind blew and buffeted and the drive was two-handed all the way, made worse by wind shear from the occasional semi–tractor trailers that passed me. Most of the truckers, though, seemed to have even more trouble than we did and it was me that did most of the truck passing. Truth told, it may have been the worst wind conditions I have ever driven in. Weather reports said the winds were responsible for lots of power outages. My Roadtrek, ten feet high on the Mercedes Sprinter chassis, was like a sail. But I also found myself – I know, this sounds weird – actually enjoying the challenge. It wasn’t that bad, once I adapted my driving to the conditions. The dual rear wheels on the Roadtrek eTrek also helped provide a stability that never caused me any serious worries.. Here’s five tips I learned about driving an RV in heavy winds that you may want to keep in mind if you find yourself in similar conditions: Keep both hands on the wheel. The wind really does want to push you to the next lane. A firm, not too tight grip, lets you easily overcome that. Keep the speed low. I usually tool down the interstate a little over 70. Much of the way yesterday, I kept it between 55 and 60. That seemed to be the sweet spot of speed for keeping it under maximum control. Reduce your speed and correct your steering, especially when moving from a protected area to an unprotected area, like overpasses, or when treelines along the wide of the road vanish, or when meeting large vehicles. Be very aware of traffic and the vehicles around you. Sudden gusts can blow any vehicle off course. Keep your distance from all other vehicles. Take breaks sooner than normal. We stopped about every other rest area. There’s a lot of stress in driving while fighting the wheel. Spelling yourself for 10 to 15 minutes every hour or so really helps. By the time we crossed into Kentucky and began heading directly west along US-71, the winds began to diminish. When we hit Louisville, they were no longer a factor. I think we just drove out of the weather pattern that hit the upper Midwest. We spent the night in a neat and clean place called Grandmas RV Resort, right along i-65 in Shepardsville, KY,. The spaces are all pull-throughs, 50 feet wide and 70 feet long, with full hookups except for cable. To the east is a pasture where curious alpacas chew the lush green Kentucky grass and hang out by the fence to watch all the people in their tin can homes. There’s a huge flea market right next door that draws thousands of people on the weekends and many of the spots seemed to be taken up by vendors for that. There was one other Roadtrek here, an older 210 Popular. It was all bundled up last night when I saw it and they left early this morning before I ventured out, so I didn’t get a chance to meet its owners. The campground was recommended by Stu Kratz, an RVing friend who lives nearby. Stu and wife, Winona, came by after we set up last night and we visited for a couple of hours. I gave them Roadtrek hats and they shared a few local places of interest we should check out. While here, we plan to take in the Bourbon Trail, a meandering route that takes in a collection of Kentucky distilleries that celebrate the rich tradition and proud history of “America’s Official Native Spirit.” We’ll start with the Kim Beam Distillery near here. I could have used that place last night after the wind advisory.

There’s never enough room. That’s the first thing about RVing we all think when we start RVing, isn’t it? But there really is. No matter what size RV we have, we all want to bring too much stuff.armoire Once we discover that, it’s a little easier to pack the essentials. Still, some times, you need a little more storage space. That’s why we recently replaced one of the two back seats with a custom sized armoire. It is a perfect match with the rest of the wooden cabinets inside our Roadtrek eTrek. And it even comes with a pull out table that lets us replace the front table that attaches to a pole that fits into a hole in the floor. Jennifer shows it off in this week’s edition of “How We Roll” as I show how I pack the “basement.” Keep those questions coming. We try to answer a new one each week. http://youtu.be/0slyhwcBVzo

RVing in Hawaii RVing is a huge pastime across the U.S. in 49 of the 50 states. The one exception is perhaps the most beautiful state: Hawaii. There just is not a big RV presence there. One exception is Al Waterson, a popular entertainer, singer and actor who tools around the island of Oahu in a 1995 Roadtrek 190 Versatile Class B [...] Roadtreking - A Journalist takes up the RV lifestyle - People and Places Encountered on the Open Road <a href="http://Roadtreking.com/rving-in-hawaii/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rving-in-hawaii">Source</a>

This is the time of year folks are shopping for an RV and planning their first trips of the season. We have questions about both in this week’s edition of “How We Roll” in which Jennifer and I answer reader questions. We travel in a Class B motorhome. I’ve written lots on why we chose a B. But if you have a large family, you may want something larger. As for where we stay, we always opt for beauty and remoteness over crowded campgrounds. We share more about both questions in the video. Send in your questions to openmike@fmca.com and we’ll do our best to answer. We try to do a new edition of How We Roll each week. http://youtu.be/evCUGwN1sy0

Upgrading your RV to solar power Advances in power management and solar power have made big news in the RV world of late, especially with the new eTrek and CS-Adventurous models built on the Mercedes Sprinter chasis by Roadtrek Motorhomes. New and efficient power control and management systems have put these advanced new Class B motorhomes on many a wish list [...] Roadtreking - A Journalist takes up the RV lifestyle - People and Places Encountered on the Open Road <a href="http://Roadtreking.com/upgrading-your-rv-to-solar-power/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=upgrading-your-rv-to-solar-power">Source</a>

RVers think of the Mercedes Sprinter van as a great motorhome. Indeed, the resurgence of the RV industry and the boom in Class B sales can largely be traced to the popularity of Sprinter-based RVs, like those sold by Roadtrek and other RV makers. But for the past several months in in the service bays of American RV in Grand Rapids, MI, a stripped down Sprinter van has been converted into something much more: A mobile medical suite to be sent to Haiti as part of a church mission project. jonandhank“This is one of the most rewarding projects I’ve ever undertaken,” says Jon Sikkes, one of several American RV technicians who have spent over 200 hours on the project. His partner, Hank Nuiver, says the van has had two examination rooms built for doctors, as well as sinks, and fresh and waste water tanks. A diesel generator will provide power in remote locations and help the rooftop air conditioner make it comfortable and cool to work in. The project is spearheaded by Calvary Christian Reformed Church in Holland, which has been sending mission teams to Haiti since the great earthquake of 2010. The medical needs there are huge. In Haiti, there is one doctor for every 10,000 people and most people have no transportation. So, the church raised over $150,000 to purchase the van and American RV did the build-out. “This was something we were delighted to do, using our talents to help people who desperately need medial care,” says Chad Neff, general manager of American RV. “To be a part of such a great undertaking is very humbling. We’re honored to be a part of this project.” Calvary is partnering with STEP Seminary, located in Fort Mercredi, Haiti.Fort Mercredi has approximately 23,000 people and is a slum in the southwest area of Port-Au-Prince. The community is extremely poor and in desperate need of health care. There are two Haitian Doctors and two Haitian Nurses that will staff the clinic. The medical team is part of the Seminary’s Community Development that is done in this community. Besides the medical clinic there are literacy classes and micro loans that are given. The work is now complete and the van will be shipped to Haiti by the end of April. The church is seeking support in equipping the van and providing all supplies and fuel for two years. Details can be found at http://calvarycrc.org/medical-van-haiti. http://youtu.be/KQ5ec1xUyu4

Here’s another edition of “How We Roll,” answering RV questions from readers about our travels in our Class B motorhome. In this episode, we talk about how to do online bill paying and mail forwarding. I mention in particular the mail forwarding service of the Family Motor Coach Association. You can get details here. We also answer a question about sharing the driving responsibilities, something we strongly suggest so one person doesn’t have to do all the mileage alone. We post a new “How We Roll” every Friday. If you have a question for us, just email us. http://youtu.be/yylRrHVSja8

Florida’s panhandle is a special place. And the area from Panama on the East on to the Alabama border on the west may be the most special. It’s called the Emerald Coast, named after the stunning color of the Gulf of Mexico. Check out our video to see why we were so taken with this area. Our base for this trip was the new Destin West RV Resort, located on Okaloosa Island in Fort Walton Beach. http://youtu.be/2jQ_OR-tPxI We lucked out with an awesome spot, yards away from the 27-mile long Choctawhatchee Bay. The Bay is great for boasting and fishing. We met Bill Lovejoy from Memphis, who fishes just about every day right out in front of his campsite. Bill shared a way to get live bait by using a two liter soft drink bottle. Bill, who has spent the winter at Destin West, cuts the top third of the bottle off, inverts it and puts in back inside, neck down. You can see on the video how it works. Bottom line for Bill is he never had to buy live bait. The spots at Destin West are well spaced, with picnic tables and patios and the resort has its own heated pool and more amenities than you can count. It’s been open just over a year and already has quite a following. Stay there and you have access to everything at the Ramada Inn across US 28, including its waterfall pool, health club and beach. destin3But since Jennifer and I love to explore, we don’t sit still in one spot very long. Further west from Fort Walton Beach is the Gulf Islands National Seashore. It stretches across Florida and Alabama and even into Mississippi. But the emerald coast section of barrier islands has the most spectacular beaches we have ever seen. The sparkling white quartz sand beaches run along miles of undeveloped land. There are nature trails and convenience parking spots. With our Roadtrek, we staked out a spot with a million dollar view. We met another Roadtreking couple doing the same thing, Kathy and Les Shanteau, who own a condo in the area but use the Roadtrek for day trips, just as we do. The weather in mid March was chilly, with highs in the upper 60′s. Still, the sun was shining every day and we were surprisingly comfortable.

http://youtu.be/Q3mx8b5NsV4 We get lots of questions about the places we go, the things we see and how we roll in our RV. Thus, this new reccurring video feature, in which we’ll try to do every week, answering reader questions (e-mail me here or via our Facebook Roadtreking page). In this first episode, Jennifer and I talk about how we pack and store items in our Class B motorhome and how we stay connected to the Internet while on the road. Jennifer swears by eBags, a handy way to neatly pack a lot of clothes in a very nifty little zip-up bag that takes up little space. And I share how Verizon Wireless’ 4G network keeps me connected by a MiFi wireless hotspot card. Let us know how you like this and what questions yo may have.

We spent much of the weekend in Georgia at a soccer tournament one of my grandsons was playing in and found yet another use for our Roadtrek eTrek – as a place for the younger brothers and their friends to hang out in. It wasn’t planned. They just sort of took it over once they discovered how much fun it was. And between games, I became babysitter-in-chief. We went through four bags of popcorn. Pretty much a case of bottled water. We charged iPods and iPads and watched TV and the DVD. Oh yeah, the onboard bathroom came in pretty handy, too. My dog Tai loved the attention, getting pretty much non stop pets from kids – his favorite type of human. Several Moms and Dads from the team also poked their heads inside and were duly impressed. But I think what they liked most about it was they knew where their kids were. Me? Hey, kids are my favorite type of humans, too. http://vimeo.com/61458975

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

A horrific, fiery crash along I-65 in Kentucky that claimed six lives has focused new attention on the need to be able to break through automotive safety glass to rescue people trapped in smashed cars. The six people who died were in an SUV from Marion, Wis., traveling north near Glendale. The vehicle caught fire after it was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer. Lynn and Roger Brucker, from Dayton, Ohio, were driving home in their Roadtrek van when the crash occurred behind them. They had slowed because of an accident ahead of them. You can see a photo of the crash scene and the Brucker’s Roadtrek in this USA Today story, which quoted Lynn. Lynn said her husband looked back and saw a fireball and parts from the crash flying in the air. They grabbed the Roadtrek fire extinguisher and went to the SUV to help those trapped inside. They used up the fire extinguisher and helped others rescue a 12-year-old boy, whom they took back to the Roadtrek for first-aid until he could be transported to a hospital. A 12-year-old girl was also rescued, puled out a partially broken window. But an intense blaze prevented the rest of the family from being rescued. “My question is this – if we had just had something to get the doors open and break windows if is possible no one would have died,” Lynn wrote on the Yahoo Roadtrek group hours after after the March 2 crash. “We had enough time to have pulled people out if we could have gotten the doors or more windows open.” Her posting prompted many to go online and but special tools that will shatter safety glass on trucks, autos and RVs. I’m one of them. I ordered a dozen of them, to give to my kids, their spouses and our grandsons who drive. Said one poster replying to Lynn: ”… tempered glass and can be very strong against a broadly dispersed impact … However, a very slight pinpoint strike will cause the entire window to disintegrate into small ‘cubes’ of glass that can be scooped up like the salt that is spread on sidewalks. The easiest tool to buy that will do that is an “automatic center punch” that costs less than $10 at Harbor Freight stores. There are also various “escape tools” that have a slot with a sharp blade to cut safety belts, and a sharp pointed hammer tip to accomplish the glass breakage ..” I went to Amazon and bought the ResQMe Car Escape Tool. They cost $9.95, attach to a keyring and offer a spring-loaded head that effortlessly smashes the vehicle’s side windows and a razor sharp blade that can slice through jammed seat belts. These devices used to be offered exclusively to fire, paramedic and police organizations, but are now available to the public. Lynn’s harrowing story has convinced me this is one tool I need to carry in all my vehicles. ResQMe Car Escape Tool

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