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Roadtrekingmike

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  1. Roadtrekingmike
    I’m lucky. To tend to the mechanical work on my Roadtrek eTrek on the Sprinter chassis, I have two great technicians: Daryl and Josh. Plus Eric, a great service manager who always manages to squeeze me in.
    I was just in the other day after a check engine light came on. Wouldn’t you know, it was one of those erratic issues. When I drove it into Hoekstra Transportation in Troy, MI, I felt somewhat sheepish. The warning light had something to do with a sensor that we had replaced about 20,000 miles ago. “That shouldn’t be causing you issues again,” said Daryl. Eric agreed. I’m driving it back in next week and they will replace a whole rail on which it is mounted.
    What I really appreciate about Daryl and Josh – they are both Sprinter mechanics – is that they always take the time to bring me back in the shop and show me what’s going on under the hood.
    I have had very limited issues with my Sprinter. I do regular maintenance and oil changes and I only wish that these guys could take care of my car, too.
    My experience with having my Roadtrek engine and mechanical serviced so well got me thinking about how lucky I am.
    The sad fact is, not all service places are as skilled, honest and ethical as the one I am blessed to use.
    Here are my five suggestions on how to make sure your RV has a good mechanic.
    Search for shops that are certified to do repairs on your engine and/or chassis. Check the manufacturer’s website, look for local dealers and ask the service manager what certifications and specialties their techs have. Check review websites.
    Ask your RV dealer for recommendations on where to have the vehicle’s engine serviced. They should be able to steer you to the place they use. Try to meet the tech who will be working on your vehicle personally. Ask questions. Most like sharing knowledge and since you are going to be building a long term relationship, familiarty brings respect.
    Make sure you have your vehicle maintained and serviced as per the manufacturer’s instructions. Tell them where your next trip will be, what the terrain and dust conditions will be like. They’ll know what to inspect for and may have some great suggestions on how to operate your RV in those areas.
    Call for an appointment instead of just showing up and demanding service. In an emergency, of course, a reputable place will gladly check things out. But even then, try to call ahead of time and give them as much advance notice so they know what’s coming in.
    Keep all your documents and service records. A good shop, of course, will have them on their computer. But if you find you need service on the road, being able to show vehicle records will help avoid unnecessary repairs and save time with a new mechanic or service center.

    What would you add to this list?

    Daryl Brown of Hoekstra Specialty Vehicles in Troy, Mich., running the Mercedes diagnostic check on my Roadtrek.
  2. Roadtrekingmike
    RVers heading to Canada via Port Huron, MI and the Blue Water Bridge may want to budget a few hours so pull off the freeway and take in the sights of this very busy port city.
    On a nice sunny day, the drive and park along the busy St. Clair River offers parking nose first, right smack dab on the riverbank. A Type B RV fits perfectly and the view of the fast-moving river is mesmerizing.
    The river is one of the busiest water routes in the Great Lakes, connecting Lake Huron just north of the Blue Water Bridge to Lake St. Clair, a couple dozen miles downstream. Port Huron’s Riverfront is a mecca for big boat watchers. From Lake St. Clair, the big freighters and ocean going vessels make their way into the Detroit River, which in turn connects to Lake Erie. Ship traffic is constant and you will not have to wait long to see one, upbound or downbound.
    But it is also a great fishing river. The fish of choice is walleye and the river serves as a travel corridor for walleye moving between Lake Erie and their spawning grounds in Saginaw Bay, 100 miles up Lake Huron. Fish biologists believe that walleye treat the whole Lake Huron/Erie waters as one system. Walleye can cruise from one body of water to another in days. The St. Clair river is deep and cold which also helps in holding walleye. When outside temps are in the 90′s the St. Clair river will be in the 60′s.
    So if there’s a lull in the freighter traffic, watch the local fishermen.
    In all, Port Huron has 17 waterfront areas containing 102 acres and 3 1/2 miles of water frontage. This includes two public beaches and six parks with picnic facilities. Our favorite is right beneath and just south of the Bluewater Bridge. The city has nine scenic turnout sites containing over 250 parking spaces. They are well-used throughout the year and often illed to capacity most afternoons and evenings during the warmer months, so you may have to do a bit of cruising until one opens up.
    If you can’t get in, make your way north following the signs to Lighthouse Park, right at the mouth of the river. AGain, the parking is fine for a Tye B RV but anything bigger will be hard put to find an adequate space. This park has 900 feet of waterfront and beach and the water is clean for good swimming. But be warned, if you venture out very far, the current is swift as the river starts flowing right from there.
    While at Lighthouse Park, walk a few hundred yards south and tour the historic Fort Gratiot Lighthouse. In 1814, military Fort Gratiot was established to guard the juncture of Lake Huron and the St. Clair River. With a surge of vessel traffic on Lake Huron in the early 1800s, the need for a Light Station to guide vessels into the river became very important. Originally seventy-five feet high, the white painted brick tower was extended to its present height of eighty-two feet in the early 1860s. It’s maintained today by the U.S. Coast Guard and open to climbing (for $7 a person). If you do, no sandals are allowed. So put on some closed toes shoes.
    For food, Freighter’s Restaurant is a great place with great river views. It’s part of the Doubletree Inn hotel complex and is right in the heart of the riverfront action, a few hundred yards south of the bridge.
    One more attraction: The Thomas Edison Depot Museum is right down there, too, pretty much smack dab under the bridge. The famed inventor lived in Pot Huron and worked on a railroad car for his first job form 1859-1863. The museum includes a restored baggage car resting on a short spur of railroad track and has some exhibits about Edison and his early beginnings.
    You can easily spend three our hour hours in Port Huron, stretching your legs, freighter watching, even taking a quick dip in the water up by the lighthouse.
    Heading to the bridge and then over to Canada is a breeze. The route is well marked.
    It costs $3 U.S. to cross. Make sure if they try to charge you more you explain to them that you are in an RV. Commercial vans cost $6 one way.
    You do need a passport to cross into Canada.
    On the way back to the U.S., the bridge fee is $3.50.

    Jennifer watches one of the big lake freighters headed out into Lake Huron.

    A Type B RV can easily park right on the riverbank.

    The walk along the St. Clair River beneath the Blue Water Bridge is a great place to stretch your legs before heading into Canada.
  3. Roadtrekingmike
    RV rallys can be small or spectacularly huge. FMA's 88th Family Reunion and Motorhome Showcase in Gillette Wyoming, in June 2013 was one of the big ones. There were more than 2,300 coaches, 5,000-plus RVers and several hundred other vendors, dealers and exhibitors. Gillette’s massive 1,100-acre CAM-PLEX exhibition center was jammed with motorhomes literally as far as you could see in any direction.
    Big rallies like this are not for everyone. Camping spaces are cramped, with rigs parked just a few feet apart. Smaller RVs like Class B coaches are dwarfed by behemoth-size Class A machines. I found a group of six Roadtreks parked in the dirt off by some rodeo corrals. A handful of others were scattered through the vast complex.
    But most folks come to a big RV rally like this for other reasons besides camping. They come because this is where the action is. They come to learn, attend seminars, take organized tours of nearby attractions, enjoy musical shows and entertainment at night and to reconnect with old friends. Many used this western town as a starting spot for trips to nearby National Parks like the Tetons, Yellowstone or Glacier.
    The event celebrated the 50th anniversary of the FMCA. Older, beautifully restored motorhomes from the early days of RVing were on display.
    The CAM-PLEX complex offered pretty much all the amenities you’d want, full hookups, trash pickup and clean bathrooms and showers.
    Wi-Fi was widely available, though understandably slow at peak times because so many were using it. Same with BYO Wi-Fi offered through those hot spot cards like Verizon’s Mi-FI (which I use). With so many people now using them and in such a concentrated area as the CAM-PLEX, the cell towers were maxing out in bandwidth during prime time.
    This part of Wyoming doesn’t have a lot of trees and when a fierce windstorm whipped up Tuesday evening,dust and dirt blew everywhere. Fortunately, a strong downpour soon followed and the dust was washed off. But winds blew strong most every afternoon. Wednesday was particularly breezy, with some gusts over 40 miles an hour. Flags snapped in the breeze and antennas rattled on roofs. But the rally rallied on. At least there were no bugs. Not in these winds.
    Jennifer and I attended several seminars, I taught two of them, we checked out the exhibitors and visited with folks. But we also took day trips every afternoon, unhooking and driving to area attractions.
    Thursday night’s entertainment was by the Buckinghams, a popular pop group from the Sixties, who performed their hits and other oldies to the delight of many in the crowd who, 40 years ago, were the one buying their records. The crowd seemed delighted to reconnect with the music from their youth in Gillette.
    I could go on and write a lot more words, but pictures tell the story much better. Scroll down to see some photos that hopefully give you an idea of what a big RV event like this is like… click on any one to see it bigger, right click to save to your hard drive:
  4. Roadtrekingmike
    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
  5. Roadtrekingmike
    Lots of you have written asking for a show and tell and some details about the travel trailer we just just purchased to take on our “Great Roadtreking Family Vacation of 2013,” which starts Saturday.
    The video gives you a quick peek at what it looks like.
    http://youtu.be/kR7LVaLLR94
    Jennifer and I love the 2012 Roadtrek eTrek. We’ve put well over 20,000 miles on it since we got it around the first of the year. But Class B motorhomes in and of themselves are not a family RV. While we could take on a grandkid for a couple of nights by turning the passenger chairs around and putting a special bed pad across them, it would get pretty crowded for an extended period.
    There’s plenty of room for the two of us and Tai, our Roadtrek-loving Norwegian Elkhound. But as we’ve been on the road for the past year-and-a-half in the eTrek as well as the 2006 RS Adventurous we previously owned, we’ve wished that we could bring along more of the family.

    Towing a trailer is the perfect solution. We could have gotten a pop up, I suppose. But we prefer hard sides, especially as we go deep into the Rockies on this trip in grizzly bear territory.
    Before picking the trailer up, I had to get a brake controller installed on the Roadtrek, a $260 expense. Essentially the controller syncs up the brakes of the Roadtrek with the trailer. If you simply hitch your trailer up and head out on the road, slowing down becomes more difficult because of the extra weight behind your vehicle. Fortunately, most states require drivers to equip their vehicles with brake controllers. When a driver presses on the brake pedal in his RV, the brake controller lets the trailer’s brake system know how much braking power is needed to stop the trailer.
    The Roadtrek comes with a strong hitch. It needed a ball adapter to connect to the trailer. I also borrowed some load levelers, a weight distribution system that prevents swaying that is part of the hitch equipment.
    The unit we got is from a relatively new travel trailer category called ultralites. There are a bunch of them available now for the booming travel trailer market. Our Roadtrek eTrek with the Mercedes diesel engine on the Sprinter chassis, can easily all 5,000 pounds.
    The 2014 Gulf Stream Amerlite Super Lite 19BHC model we bought new from American RV in Grand Raids, MI weighs 2,789 pounds. It is 21 feet long. Inside is a queen bed with a regular bed mattress, two twin bunk beds, a bathroom with a shower and a small tub, an air conditioner, microwave, two burner propane stove, small refrigerator, lots of storage cabinets, granite countertops and a two-person dinette than can also make into a bed. Outside are rear stabilizer jacks and an awning.
    I have only towed it about 50 miles so far and hardly knew it was there. The Roadtrek’s side mirrors let me clearly see both sides of the trailer and the road. Since the trailer is a little shorter than my eTrek so there was no extra wind drag or buffeting. I drove it from Grand Rapids to a son’s house in Kalamazoo, from where the vacation will start off from this weekend.
    The drive was on an interstate, US131, and I averaged between 65 and 70 mph. I discerned no additional sway with the trailer.
    That was not long enough to be able to see if there was a significant effect on fuel consumption. Normally, I’ve been getting from 16-18 mpg with the eTrek. I keep track of every fill-up so after a couple of days heading west towing the trailer, I’ll have an accurate idea.
    But you know, my advice is someone shouldn’t get into RVing if counting every penny is their thing. This is a unique lifestyle we’ve chosen and while I believe small motorhomes offer the most economical and rewarding RV experience, it’s not cheap. Our coaches are major investments, probably the biggest we’ll make after our brick and mortar homes. But they are freedom machines.
    And I’m looking forward to being able to share that freedom with my family in the new travel trailer.

  6. Roadtrekingmike
    http://youtu.be/Q3mx8b5NsV4
    We get lots of questions about the places we go, the things we see and how we roll in our RV. Thus, this new reccurring video feature, in which we’ll try to do every week, answering reader questions (e-mail me here or via our Facebook Roadtreking page).
    In this first episode, Jennifer and I talk about how we pack and store items in our Class B motorhome and how we stay connected to the Internet while on the road.
    Jennifer swears by eBags, a handy way to neatly pack a lot of clothes in a very nifty little zip-up bag that takes up little space. And I share how Verizon Wireless’ 4G network keeps me connected by a MiFi wireless hotspot card.
    Let us know how you like this and what questions yo may have.
  7. Roadtrekingmike
    Roadtrek Motorhome’s hot new N-6 Active made its network television debut this week in a starring role on NBC-TV’s ”Take it All” game show.

    The N-6 was a top prize for a contestant in the show, which stars Howie Mandel and is based on one of the most popular holiday party games in America, often called "White Elephant" or "Yankee Swap."
    In the show, a contestant selects and opens a prize worth thousands of dollars: dream prizes such as luxury cars, exotic trips, jewelry and VIP experiences. Then, the next player is faced with a dilemma: do they steal a prize that has already been revealed, or do they take a chance with another unopened prize, hoping what’s inside is worth more?
    Jim Hammill, Roadtrek’s president, said the company was honored to have the new six-seat Nav-6 be so prominently featured.
    You can watch the entire episode above or directly access it at http://www.nbc.com/take-it-all/video/night-4/n30380/
    “The N-6 is a very unique vehicle that is like nothing else on the market,” says Hammill. “It serves as a luxury SUV that is perfect for shopping, tailgate parties, trips to the beach and carting the kids to soccer practice. But is can also be used as a camper that can sleep six, equipped with hot and cold running water, sink, microwave and everything an on-the-go family needs.”
    The N-6 Active, also known as the Nav 6 when sold through Nissan dealers, is built on the Nissan 2500 frame. We had the chance to test out one not long ago. Here’s our video review.
    Source
  8. Roadtrekingmike
    The Oregon Trail, and the ancillary trails that led from it, constituted the single greatest migration in America – as many as a half a million men, women and children who traveled by wagon and by foot west for two decades in the mid-19th Century.
    There are lots of books on the trail and lots of academic experts. But when it really comes to knowing the trail and experiencing it, there are few who can match Morris Carter.
    Morris Carter has not only built wagons that replicate those used by the pioneers, he’s actually made the 2,600-mile wagon train trip himself, from its start in Independence, Mo., to the final destination in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. That 1993 trip was followed by a similar trip in 1999 along the 2,500 miles of the California Trail.
    Others may have read the books and journals of those original pioneers, but Carter – who has also read them all – has done it. Really done it, in a wagon pulled by horse along the same routes used by those who settled the west.
    And today, from his home in Casper, Wyo., he leads modern-day wagon trail excursions whose route literally parallels the still-visible ruts left by those who traveled the Oregon Trail 150 years ago.
    His trips range from four hours to overnights and week long trips, with those who travel with him staying overnight in Tee Pees, fed Wyoming steak dinners around a campfire and regaled with Carter’s encyclopedic knowledge of what it was really like to make the trip, which typically took six more months.
    Here’ a video I did of the covered wagon trip.

    Jennifer and I tagged along on a tour. I hopped in and out of the wagon, taking photos and shooting video. Carter’s daughter, Oneida, who accompanied her father on the full-length Oregon Trail trip in 1999, expertly handled the two draft horses. The trip was booked by a family of four from Oklahoma, Mark and Nikki, their 16-year-old daughter Rebekah and seven year old son, Blaney.
    “There are a lot of misconceptions about the Oregon Trail,” Carter told me. “It wasn’t just one wagon most families took. It was two or three. They took everything they had to set up and furnish their new homes in the west. And the trail was usually crowded. The string of wagons often stretched out as far in front and in back as you could see. The wagons would be sometimes 10 across. They’d average two miles an hour when pulled by oxen, maybe four if by horses.”
    As I walked along taking photos, he repeatedly warned me to watch for rattlesnakes. I didn’t see any. Thankfully. “They’re all over out here,” he said. “Fortunately, they’re watching for you, too.”
    No wonder Jennifer decided to stay in the wagon.
    In the original migration, most people walked, Carter said, making it easier on the animals. “Some walked the entire way,” he said. “many were barefoot.”
    The biggest danger was accidents. Falls off wagons, under wagons, being tramped or kicked by a horse, snakebite. Disease was widespread, especially cholera. There was a saying the pioneers had about the thousands who died from the virulent intestinal disease: “Healthy at breakfast, in the grave by noon.” Indeed, as Jennifer and I have visited various spots along the Oregon Trail from Missouri westward, we have seen several grave sites of pioneers who died along the trail of the disease.
    There were also Indian attacks. One wagon train was wiped out just a couple of miles from the route we traveled. That same band of Indians also killed an entire cavalry platoon sent out to protect the ill fated wagon train.
    What amazed us as we rode the wagon across the countryside was how hilly it was. The tall prairie grass makes it look flat and smooth from a distance. Up close, it is a bone-jarring bumpy ride that constantly seems to be rising and falling.
    At camp, we joined the family for dinner, steaks grilled over a campfire, baked potatoes, rolls, green beans and bacon, and cherry cobber baked in a Dutch Oven. As they retreated to their Tee Pees after dark, we went to our Roadtrek Etrek, which we had driven out to the prairie campsite.
    In the morning, I took photos of the replica of the original two-horsepower covered wagon next to my modern covered wagon with diesel power.
    Over coffee that morning, before the guests left their sleeping bags in their Tee Pees, Carter told me he was looking for help in running his expeditions and though a workcamping RV couple would be perfect to help drive the wagons, care for the horses and prepare the meals. He has full hookups on his property. I promised to put the word out….. which I just did.
    The trip was one of the most interesting and enjoyable things we’ve ever done. The prairie is beautiful, even when dark clouds bearing lightning and a sudden downpour swept down over the mountains. It has a vastness about it, like the ocean, spreading out wide and full beneath a big sky that bottoms out against a range of low lying mountains. Antelope bound over the little grass hills, eagles float overhead.
    I’d highly recommend the experience though you need to be in half way decent shape without back or neck problems. Those wagons are pretty bouncy and riding a horse for extended periods of time does require a basic level of physical health.

    With daughter, Oneda, driving the wagon, Morris Carter (right) rides alongside. The wagon is on the original Oregon Trail, the ruts of which can still be seen on the Wyoming prairie.

    The Wyoming prairie is stunningly beautiful.

    Rain sweeps towards us from distant mountains as the sun still shines in the foreground.

    Morris Carter

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


  10. Roadtrekingmike
    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.
  11. Roadtrekingmike
    If you thought you saw Devils Tower in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, you haven’t seen Devils Tower.
    It’s much more impressive, even without the Hollywood special effects aliens.
    We made our way to the Devils Tower National Monument from Gillette, WY, about 55 miles away. It’s a great drive through lush and wide open Wyoming rangeland and prairie. There are two RV parks there, one from the National Parks Service, one from KOA. Both offer spectacular views of Devils Tower.
    But we drove up to the visitor’s center, parked our Roadtrek in a regular spot and spent a great afternoon. There is parking for larger RVs but it can be very tight and the area for big rigs often fills up.
    Devils Tower is a monolith of rock that protrudes 1,200 feet above the the Belle Fourche River, standing all by itself, like a lone sentinel over the surrounding grassland. You start to see it from about 10 miles away and, at first, it doesn’t look that impressive.
    Until you get up close to it.
    There is something mystical about it, spiritual even. Indeed, the site is considered sacred to the Lakota and other tribes that have a connection to the area. Prayer cloths, prayer bundles and ribbons are found throughout the area, attached to ponderosa pines
    by native Americans.
    So many people just look at this monument from a distance, driving by. If you come here, don’t do that. Hike the tower. There are several trails you can take but we opted for the 1.3 mile route that circles the tower. It goes up and down a lot and can be quite strenuous for those not used to exercise but there are lots of benches and places to sit and if you want to really experience the tower, you need to do this.
    Take your time. Listen to the silence on the north side, away from the visitors center and the lone road leading to the tower. Smell the pines. See the wild flowers. Look carefully at the tower. If you look close enough, you’ll see moving specks on the tower. Those are rock climbers. Bring along a pair of binoculars. They will fascinate you. Hundreds of parallel cracks make the tower one of the finest traditional crack climbing areas in North America.
    The tower was America’s first national monument, designated by President Theodore Roosevelt under the 1906 Antiquities Act. Allow at least three hours to experience it.
    No one knows for sure why its called Devils Tower. Some Indians called it Mato Tipila, meaning Bear Lodge. Other American Indian names include Bear’s Tipi, Home of the Bear, Tree Rock and Great Gray Horn. In 1875, on an expedition led by Col. Dodge, it is believed his interpreter misinterpreted the name to mean Bad God’s Tower, later shortened to Devils Tower.
    The Lakota have a legend on how it came to be:


    “One day, an Indian tribe was camped beside the river and seven small girls were playing at a distance. The region had a large bear population and a bear began to chase the girls. They ran back toward their village, but the bear was about to catch them. The girls jumped upon a rock about three feet high and began to pray to the rock, “Rock, take pity on us; Rock, save us.” The rock heard the pleas of the young girls and began to elongate itself upwards, pushing them higher and higher out of reach of the bear. The bear clawed and jumped at the sides of the rock, and broke its claws and fell to the ground. The bear continued to jump at the rock until the girls were pushed up into the sky, where they are to this day in a group of seven little stars (the Pleiades). The marks of the bear claws are there yet. As one looks upon the tower and contemplates its uniqueness, it isn’t hard to imagine this legend as fact.” – from the Crook County, WY Pomotion board On the way out, check out the prairie dogs. Black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus), to be precise. They once ranged the Great Plains from southern Saskatchewan to northern Mexico. Now, only in a few concntrated areas.
    Originally named “petits chiens,” or “little dogs,” by early French explorers, these highly social animals are not really dogs, but rodents. They are members of the Sciuridae or squirrel family, closely related to ground squirrels, chipmunks, woodchucks and marmots. There are five different species of prairie dogs, but only the black-tailed prairie dog inhabits Devils Tower National Monument. They’re curious and will chatter warnings to you if you get to close. But they are fun to watch and are natural posers for your photos.
  12. Roadtrekingmike
    Oh, boy. There goes the schedule.
    With 10 segments due on our Verizon Wireless Tour of the Great Lakes shoreline across eight states, I have a pretty ambitious travel schedule.
    We were doing all right until we crossed over the Big Mac Bridge into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula following the Lake Huron shoreline. But then we were seduced by the wide open spaces, the sparkling blue water, the big freighters and clean, fresh lake air.
    Instead of sticking to the schedule, we tossed the planning aside and ended up staying over for a few extra and unscheduled days.
    Oh. One other thing. My estimate that the tour would cover about 3,500 miles when it was all done is way short of what it will actually be.
    It looks like our meanderings and following sometimes obscure shoreline roads will make this trip closer to 4,500 miles when we finish.
    But right now, who cares? This is one of the best trips we’ve ever taken in our Roadtrek Etrek and following a timetable with so many delightful surprises around every shoreline bend seems, well, almost sacrilegious.
    There’s a different feel to the Lake Huron shoreline as soon as you cross over the UP. It is quieter, more protected and it calls the visitor to sit and stay a little longer, just gazing out at its island-studded waters.
    Just check out this video above you’ll see what I mean.

    Those islands you see as soon as you start to round the shoreline in the Eastern Upper Peninsula on state highway 134 past St. Ignace are known as Les Cheneaux Islands.
    They consist of three dozen small islands located just offshore, islands perfect for fishing, and exploring, especially by kayak, where quiet coves and sheltered bays beckon the adventurer.
    They stretch through the waterfront communities of Hessel and Cedarville, almost to the far eastern end of the lake where it is fed by the St. Mary’s River in Detour Village.
    Jesse Hadley runs a small shop in Hessel that specializes in eco-tours of Les Cheneaux Islands. She’s passionate about sharing it…but also protecting it.
    “A lot of people don’t know about these islands,” she said. “Most of the people who live around here have families who have been here for generations. We’re all a little protective of them. They are so unique and beautiful and the water and sky are unlike no place else in the Great Lakes region.”
    In Detour Village, we stopped by the small museum in Detour, dedicated to the area’s rich history as the northern starting point of the big lake.
    And then we followed the river northwest to Saulte Ste. Marie, We camped right on the broad river bank, at the Soo Locks Campground. We planned on just a night. But we became so mesmerized at watching the huge lake freighters go by that we spent three nights.
    “It’s so relaxing up here,” said Linda Grant, of Lexington, KY, who with husband, Bill, has been coming to the Soo Locks Campground each summer for more than three decades. “Down in Kentucky it’s 92. Up here it’s very nice with the cool breeze off the water.”
    The Locks are where Lake Superior meets Lake Huron.
    It was there we said goodbye to Huron, whose Michigan shoreline had us travel more than 500 miles from Port Huron and get ready for our next Lake – Superior.
    Look for the first part of that trip in our next report from the Great Lakes Shoreline Tour.
    Meantime, if you’d like to follow the tour and keep up with our route, check out the embedded map on the right hand column of this page. If you click on the map it will open full screen. Then you can click the waypoints and see a photo and where we are and what we’re seeing.

    Jennifer and me and Tai watching freighters from our spot at the Soo Locks Campground in Saulte Ste Marie, Mich.

    Les Cheneaux Islands along Lake Huron’s northern shore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

    Those big freighters go by day and night.
  13. Roadtrekingmike
    I didn’t think I’d make it down the narrow, twisting and very bumpy forest two-track that led to my current camping spot in the middle of a marsh on the edge of Rush Lake, a compact little frown-shaped lake a mile or so south of Lake Huron at the tip of the Michigan thumb.
    I’m surrounded by state land and cattails, a half dozen yards from where my buddy Jay launched our duck boat.
    Jay and I have been coming up here to hunt ducks and geese for years. Usually, we stay in a motel in Caseville, the nearest town to the west. Jay, in fact, in in a room there now as I write this. I offered him a bunk with me in the Roadtrek but he declined. He likes the marsh, just not sleeping in it. Go figure.
    But I’m in the marsh, and I like sleeping in it just fine in my Roadtrek eTrek. All the comforts of home in the middle of nowhere. It’s the first time I’ve camped here and, for a while, I didn’t think the Roadtrek would be able to get to this spot because of the so called road that dead ends here. I had to drive very slow and hug the edges of the road. No Class C could do it. And certainly no Class A RV.
    But the eTrek did and as I write this post, I’m surrounded by a darkness that, unless you’ve spent time in a big marsh after sundown, you won’t fully be able to appreciate. Trust me when I say it is really, really dark out there.
    Rain is coming. Perhaps overnight but predicted for sure by mid-morning. By then, we’ll have motored across the lake to our duck blind, where we’ll be trying to stay dry.
    But during our afternoon hunt yesterday, it was just overcast. We saw hundreds of ducks and lots of geese. We didn’t fire a shot. And that’s okay. I now shoot more photos than ducks. Jay cleans, cooks and eats what we shoot. I don’t like to eat wild duck, ever since I nearly cracked a tooth on a shotgun pellet a few years back.
    I come duck hunting because, well, I like watching the sun rise in a marsh. And set, too. And in between, I love to watch the cattails blow in the breeze, the muskrat ripple the water in long slow wakes, the waterfowl whirl and twirl as they set their wings to land in our decoys. One year, we watched a deer swim across the lake, emerging just a few dozen yards from our blind.
    And when it rains and the wind blows, the ducks fly. So the predicted downpour may be uncomfortable for us. But its just ducky for the ducks.
    When we return home from our duck hunting trips, Jennifer always asks”what did you and Jay talk about?”
    I always answer the same. “Nothing.”
    She always shakes her head. “How can two people sit shoulder to shoulder in a duck blind all day long and not talk about anything?”
    I don’t know. One time, Jay and I did talk about that. He told me his wife, Julie, asks him the same question. We were both puzzled by what they wanted to know.
    We don’t “talk.” We hunt together. I watch one way, he watches the other. “Two o’clock,” I’ll say. “A small flock of mallards headed our way.”
    Jay will offer a left-handed version of that when appropriate. “Teal. Three o’clock,” he’ll say.
    If we do shoot, we might say “nice shot,”when a duck falls, or “missed that one” when I fire but the duck doesn’t fall. I confess: That kind of talk of gets on my nerves. I mean, I know I missed.
    But the point is, we just enjoy the outdoors and each others company.
    Last night, after we went into town for dinner, Jay dropped me back at the Roadtrek in the marsh. As I write, I have the Webosto heater cranked on. I have a strong 4G Verizon signal and am running my own Wi-Fi network as I updating this blog and answer questions on the forum. I was going to watch a movie on the DVD. But I decided instead to go to bed early as we’re planning to be back in the blind by first light.
    I love being totally self-contained like this, with plenty of power, plenty of heat and… in the middle of a very dark marsh where the only home is my motorhome.
    Boondocking here in my Roadtrek has made this year’s duck hunting trip even more fun.
    Hey, maybe I’ll talk about that with Jay in the duck blind.
    Here are some more photos:

    On the shore of Rush Lake

    Lots of ducks were flying.

    I have the place to myself.

    Jay at the motor as we head to the blind

    In the duck blind

    Sunset in the marsh
  14. Roadtrekingmike
    We were deep in the piney woods of Southwest Georgia, a half mile off a red dirt road, parked in a small clearing not far from our deer blind.
    It was the last weekend of Georgia’s months-long deer season and Matthew, who just took up hunting as any good Southern boy does, had invited me down.

    Since we were heading to the big Florida RV SuperShow in Tampa Jan.16-21, the hunting trip made for a perfect stopover. We were seriously boondocking. There was no power or sewer hookups, no cable TV, no “tinominium” campground that surrounded us with huge Type A motorhomes walling us in from the campsites next door.
    Just us. Me and my 10-year-old grandson, Matthew. in out new eTrek, the all-electric and solar powered new Sprinter campervan from Roadtrek Motorhomes. It was my first real test of the lasting power of the eight AGM batteries and the diesel alternator-generator that is supplemented by a 250 watt solar panel on the rooftop.
    We left Michigan three days before, overnighting in a commercial campground. But I was really anxious to see how the new eTrek performed on its own power system.
    Jennifer stayed back at my son’s house. So did Tai, our Norwegian Elkhound, who, we discovered earlier that day, had a tick affix its hungry little self near his ear. Tai wasn’t happy with the extraction process so we let hm stay with Jennifer. We think he met the tick at a rest area in Jellico, TN, where he visited some woods off a little dog walk to do his business.
    So there we were, Mathew and me in the woods, all camoed up and far from civilization. Coyotes howled at night, close by, too. So cool.
    I thought we’d be using the heater at night. Normally, it dips near freezing at night this time of year down here. Instead, thanks to an unseasonal heat wave that had the daytime temperatures near 80, we fired up the air conditioner.
    The mosquitoes were out already. The snakes were out of their dens, too, making us glad we had knee high boots.
    We didn’t even see a deer, but who cares?
    The eTrek was a luxurious deer camp for us. We had TV, DVD and a refrigerator filled with cold drinks. I was able to fill the water tanks, now that the risk of freezing is over. The eTrek has instant hot water and filtered cold. I was amazed how much I appreciated that, especially since the coffee maker I bought back in Michigan for the eTrek didn’t work. The instant hot made instant coffee. Not my favorite brew, but caffeine nevertheless.
    We had two minor glitches. The center faucet in the kitchen only trickles. I suspect there’s a valve somewhere I need to open. And the inductive stovetop doesn’t heat up. It turns on but when I put a pan on it, no heat develops and it soon turns itself off. I’ll ask the Roadtrek people I meet in Tampa if they have any ideas.
    Everything else worked better that I could ask.

    We ran off batteries for well over 30 hours. Lights, TV, the fridge, the AC during the day. Before we knocked the red dirt off our boots and headed home, the inverter showed I still had 12.7 volts of power.
    The eTrek was parked in my son’s driveway before and after the trip to the woods, I kept the battery on. The fridge ran continuously. There was no discernible battery drain. I think the solar charger really keeps those batteries topped off.
    Besides the impressive power system, I liked the ride in this Roadtrek. Although I had no problems with the ’06 RS-Adventurous I owned, this was the first Sprinter I have driven with dual wheels and I think it adds stability, particularly in crosswinds or when buffeted in the slipstream of a passing eighteen-wheeler. Jennifer drove two stints on the way down and said she, too, found it very easy to handle
    In terms of mileage as compared to my ’06 RS, the eTrek understandably fares not so well. The new eTrek is a six cylinder on a 3500 series frame. The ’06 is five cylinders on a 2500 frame.
    In the ’06, I routinely got between 20 and 21 miles per gallon.
    On the eTrek, my average so far is 17.65 mpg.

    There’s some signage promoting the blog on the back of the Roadtrek. I was surprised to have received two emails from folks who saw it on the drive down. One was interested in getting a Sprinter, the other was from a former Roadtrek owner who thought he’d like to get a new one.
    Monday, we head to Florida and Tampa. We’ll be at the Tampa Fairgrounds for several days, site of the RV SuperShow. Then I’ll be looking for a beach before heading back north to the cold…. although… there’s an invasion of giant Burmese python snakes near the Everglades. There are so many of the huge snakes that the state has declared a special python hunting season with a $1,500 prize for whoever gets the most pythons.
    Some estimate that nearly 150,000 pythons are living in the Florida Everglades. Officials say the Burmese pythons are eating wildlife and with no natural predator, the population is overwhelming. The Everglades have become crowded with the snakes and the pythons have started to move into nearby neighborhoods and campgrounds.
    Doesn’t that sound like a great story?
    I need to figure out how to convince Jennifer of that,
    Meanwhile, when I was at the Roadtrek factory a week ago, we had the eTrek up on a hoist and, in answer to several questions from readers, I shot this very sort video showing where those batteries are stored.
    Source
  15. Roadtrekingmike
    Now this is boondocking. We drove 11 miles off the Interstate, down a forest road lined by brilliant yellows and red birches and oaks. Then we turned off that and went a mile and a half off down a washboard two-track, pulling into a state forest campground on a little circular lake aptly named Round Lake.
    We haven’t seen another car in miles. Its pouring rain. The heater is keeping out the 44-degree weather and we are toasty comfy in our Roadtrek eTrek, watching Game 4 of the American League Playoffs, rooting for our Tigers in the middle of nowhere.
    I had no bars on my MiFi data card or my Samsung Note 3 smartphone. But when I put the data card in my Wilson Seek cell phone booster with its external antenna magnetically attached to the top of the Roadtrek, I suddenly have four bars of pure Verizon 4G connectivity.
    In the middle of nowhere.
    TV. The Internet. Lights and heat. Water. Food, Ciffeee. Our own shower and bathroom. The comforting sound of rain drumming on the roof.
    This is why we Roadtrek. This is why we boondock. This is heaven, albeit a little wet.
    The Pigeon River Country State Forest and surrounding land where we are camped is home to the largest free-roaming elk herd east of the Mississippi River. The nearly 100,000-acre state forest contains native hardwoods and pines that are interspersed with fields and forest openings. It looks like the color up here peaked last week. But its still jaw-dropping gorgeous. The nice thing about boondocking is you can sleep with the blinds up. The morning came with the rain gone, the sun spotlighting the color across the fog shrouded lake. What a way to wake up.
    I suspect there’s another week or so of color left before they leaves start dropping fast.
    Elk inhabit this forest year-round, but certain times are better for viewing than others. Probably the best month is September, when the males (bulls) are trying to establish dominance for mating rights with the females (cows). They are very active during this time, making loud vocalizations (bugling), and breaking brush with their antlers to impress cows and intimidate their rivals.
    But even now, a month past the rut, they’re still pretty perky. I awoke Friday morning to the sound of them bugling, their high pitched, nasally noises echoing through the piney woods around our campsite from somewhere towards the east ...
    The elk or wapiti is a large member of the deer family. Adult males may weigh up to 1/2 ton.
    Want to visit this place? Come up I-75 to Exit 290 at Vanderbilt, then drive east on Sturgeon Valley Road about 11 miles to the forest trail leading to Round Lake. There are a couple of pit toilets and an old fashioned hand water pump. But no amenities. We’ve been here before. In the summer, you might find one or two other campers here. But during the week and off season, chances are you’ll be have the whole place to yourself.
    If you want to visit one of the several designated elk viewing sites, continue east about three miles to Hardwood Lake Road. Turn left (north) and continue about one mile to the Forestry Field Office. This office has maps and information about elk viewing, but hours are variable depending on the season.

    The view outside our window of Round Lake in the Pigeon River State Forest

    unrise with the last of the fog being burned away from Round Lake in the Pigeon River State Forest

    A bull elk can weigh half a ton

    The girls… a herd of cow elk in the Pigeon River State Forest
  16. Roadtrekingmike
    I’m at the Roadtrek factory in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada for the next two weeks shooting and producing a film to be called The Making of a Roadtrek.
    This is a project I’ve wanted to do for two years and, with the company’s blessings, I am now be documenting the creation of a Roadtrek.
    We began filming Tuesday morning as a brand-new but stripped-down Mercedes Sprinter was driven into the factory for what will be about a 10-day build. The model I am following through the assembly process will become a brand new Roadtrek CS Adventurous.
    Here is what it looked like this morning:

    First it was stripped. Then it was cut.
    Stripping involves removing many of the stock Mercedes trim items that will soon be replaced by Roadtrek’s custom trim, finishes and coverings. The cutting involves just what the name implies ... cutting out the holes and vents in the chassis that will allow for for the conversion of a Sprinter van into an Roadtrek motorhome with its own kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, air conditioning unit and all the appliances and entertainment features that make a van a home.
    The precision and skill of Roadtrek’s technicians are pretty amazing. The two guys who handled the initial stripping and cutting processes have been with the company for 25 years and 19 years respectively. They are truly craftsmen and as I watched them begin turning a stark, empty van into someone’s dream luxury RV, I appreciated anew the quality and experience that goes into each motorhome made in the very busy Kitchener factory.
    Out front of the factory is a “Help Wanted” sign. The RV boom is in full swing and Roadtreks are the top sellers in the Type B motorhome market in North America. Every day, anywhere from seven to nine new motorhomes roll off the assembly line and head out the factory for delivery to customers all across North America. The company refuses to skimp on quality and despite growing demand, each unit is built with precision and care. That attention to detail can’t be rushed.
    I’m using four cameras for this project. In fact, even my drone with a GoPro camera attached was put up in the air for some outdoor video on Day One. I’d really like to fly the drone up inside the factory. That would be some pretty cool video. Not sure, though, whether we can get clearance for that, at least not while everyone’s working. But that would be a great shot.
    I don’t want to scoop myself and give away the contents of the completed film in bits and pieces so I don’t know whether Ill do many more blog posts until the entire film is finished and ready for you to see. Once the CS Adventurous we’re documenting is built, it will take me some time to edit the entire project but I’m hoping it will be ready to see sometime mid-summer.
    Meantime, I will occasionally post various still images on our Facebook Group as the assembly process continues.

    Seven nearly-completed Roadtreks lined up for various quality control and finishing work checks. How many different Roadtrek models can you identify?
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. Roadtrekingmike
    Sometimes, as we Roadtrek across North America in our RV, we run into stories that are so amazing that you don’t know how to categorize them. So it was with us in downtown Kansas City when we toured one of the most fascinating museums we have ever seen.
    It’s a museum devoted to the Steamboat Arabia, which sunk after running into a tree snag in the muddy Missouri River on September 5, 1856 as it was carrying 200 tons of supplies destined for a string of frontier towns to the west.
    But like the fabled King Tut’s Tomb, the recovery of the Arabia and the cargo it was carrying almost defies belief. The Arabia’s wreckage contained the largest single collection of pre-Civil War U.S. artifacts ever discovered – remarkably preserved clothing, tools, guns, dishware, window glass, candles, jewelry, wine and other everyday items that serve as a time capsule of life on the American frontier. There are even bottles of still pleasantry fragrant 19th century perfumes.
    But I don’t know if it’s the amazing items found in the wreckage or the actual discovery and retrieval of those artifacts that is the most interesting.
    Because the Arabia was discovered not at the bottom of the Missouri, where she sank, but 45 feet down in the idle of a Kansas cornfield a half mile from the current banks of the river.
    Over 400 steamboats have sunk in the Missouri over its 2,500 mile course. Most are undiscovered.
    The Arabia was a side-wheel steamer, carrying passengers and cargo on a regular route and schedule. At 171 feet long and capable of carrying 222 tons, she was a medium-sized boat. Her trade route took her well into present-day South Dakota. On September 5th, 1856, six days after departing St. Louis heavily loaded with freight and passengers, the Arabia reached Kansas City, Mo.
    Following a short stopover the side-wheeler was again underway to her intended destinations. A short distance upstream was the town of Parkville, Mo. But the Arabia would never arrive. During the night, the steamer struck a sunken snag, below the surface of the river. Within minutes much of the boat and virtually all 222 tons of precious frontier cargo lay at the bottom of the Missouri River.
    Although the Arabia went down in 15 feet of water, all of its 130 passengers reached shore on the ship’s skiff—the only fatality was a mule tied to the deck. The skeleton of that mule is on display in the museum.
    The river bottom was soft, and the boat and cargo sank quickly into the mud and silt. The boat held merchandise bound for frontier stores, and personal belongings of the passengers. Eventually, all evidence of the Arabia was erased from view. Seasonal flooding covered the site, and in its wake was deposited layer upon layer of rich, black topsoil.
    Bob Hawley is a local amateur treasure hunter who, with sons David and Greg, became obsessed with the story of the Arabia and its mystery cargo. It was rumored to have a huge cargo of Kentucky Bourbon and gold. Hawley knew that the Missouri had a shifting channel and that it had moved considerably east over the years and using a metal detector, weathered maps and old newspaper clippings, he persuaded a Kansas farmer to let them search the field. In 1987, his metal detector pinged off the big boilers of the Arabia and, in four months time, Hawley and the group of family members and several friends, excavated it.
    The mud remarkably preserved the wreck. There was, it turned out, no gold. And the bourbon was never found. Hawley suspects opportunists grabbed it from the decks the day after the Arabia sunk. But what was aboard has fascinated visitors and students of the American west for more than two decades now.
    I met Hawley the day I visited. He still hangs out at the museum. He said there have been many offers to sell the artifacts from private collectors over the years he believes they should be shared with the public.
    Jennifer and I spent half a day at the museum, marveling at the displays. Only about half of what was discovered is shown.
    The museum is still cleaning, cataloging and preserving the rest of the items. Visitors can actually observe the process, as its all done in the open.
    The museum is open seven days a week, Admission is $14.50 for adults and worth every sent. Seniors get a buck discount.
    There’s parking in the area in front of the museum suitable for a Class B RV. Anything bigger will have to park somewhere else in the congested downtown area. The address is 400 Grand Boulevard, Kansas City, MO 64106.
    Here are some photos of the artifacts:
  20. Roadtrekingmike
    Yesterday it was bad pet breath, today, readers want to know how we remove pet hair from our RV.
    Jennifer and I share how we clean p after our Norwegian Elkhound, Tai. It's not rocket science. The Halo Leather seats of our eTrek help. We throw a cover over them, then shake the hair out each day.
    As for the throw runs and the rest of the interior of the Roadtrek eTrek we travel in, Jen uses a collapsible broom, an old fashioned whisk brook and sometimes, good old duct tape.

    One thing we purchased that we are not happy with is the portable “Dustbuster” vacuum. We’ve tried a couple models and found they don’t hold a charge and really don’t do a very good job.
    We’ve found the best tool is prevention. We brush Tai during walks. Daily brushing outside makes for much less inside shedding.
    How about you? Use comments below to share how you clean up after your pet.
  21. Roadtrekingmike
    In the latest edition of How We Roll in our RV, Jennifer and I answer a question from Sarah in Omaha, NE about how we clean it, inside and outside.
    Jennifer says she uses Clorox Wips inside, along with wood and leather cleaner. But has us both excited is this mazing KAYWOS (Klean Anything Without Streaking) cloth …
    It is great at removing bugs, road gunk, bird droppings, dirt and grime from the exterir of our RV. In fact, without soap or water, we in essence cleaned the whole RV with the cloth, which is reusable. You wet it, wring it dry and start cleaning We both demonstrate in the video.

    The cloths can be washed but let them air dry.
    They also clean mirrors and glass and I use one for my computer screens as well.
    They are available really cheap at http://www.roadtrekingstore.com/kaywoscloth.html.
    Do you have a question about How We Roll in our RV. Just send me an email at openmike@fmca.com.
  22. Roadtrekingmike
    Here’s another edition of “How We Roll,” answering RV questions from readers about our travels in our Class B motorhome.
    In this episode, we talk about how to do online bill paying and mail forwarding.
    I mention in particular the mail forwarding service of the Family Motor Coach Association. You can get details here.
    We also answer a question about sharing the driving responsibilities, something we strongly suggest so one person doesn’t have to do all the mileage alone.
    We post a new “How We Roll” every Friday. If you have a question for us, just email us.
    http://youtu.be/yylRrHVSja8
  23. 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.
  24. Roadtrekingmike
    RVers think of the Mercedes Sprinter van as a great motorhome. Indeed, the resurgence of the RV industry and the boom in Class B sales can largely be traced to the popularity of Sprinter-based RVs, like those sold by Roadtrek and other RV makers.
    But for the past several months in in the service bays of American RV in Grand Rapids, MI, a stripped down Sprinter van has been converted into something much more: A mobile medical suite to be sent to Haiti as part of a church mission project.
    jonandhank“This is one of the most rewarding projects I’ve ever undertaken,” says Jon Sikkes, one of several American RV technicians who have spent over 200 hours on the project.
    His partner, Hank Nuiver, says the van has had two examination rooms built for doctors, as well as sinks, and fresh and waste water tanks. A diesel generator will provide power in remote locations and help the rooftop air conditioner make it comfortable and cool to work in.
    The project is spearheaded by Calvary Christian Reformed Church in Holland, which has been sending mission teams to Haiti since the great earthquake of 2010. The medical needs there are huge. In Haiti, there is one doctor for every 10,000 people and most people have no transportation. So, the church raised over $150,000 to purchase the van and American RV did the build-out.
    “This was something we were delighted to do, using our talents to help people who desperately need medial care,” says Chad Neff, general manager of American RV. “To be a part of such a great undertaking is very humbling. We’re honored to be a part of this project.”
    Calvary is partnering with STEP Seminary, located in Fort Mercredi, Haiti.Fort Mercredi has approximately 23,000 people and is a slum in the southwest area of Port-Au-Prince. The community is extremely poor and in desperate need of health care. There are two Haitian Doctors and two Haitian Nurses that will staff the clinic. The medical team is part of the Seminary’s Community Development that is done in this community. Besides the medical clinic there are literacy classes and micro loans that are given.
    The work is now complete and the van will be shipped to Haiti by the end of April. The church is seeking support in equipping the van and providing all supplies and fuel for two years. Details can be found at http://calvarycrc.org/medical-van-haiti.
    http://youtu.be/KQ5ec1xUyu4
  25. Roadtrekingmike
    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.
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