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Roadtrekingmike

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  1. Roadtrekingmike
    In this edition of “How We Roll,” Jennifer answers a question about budgeting and how much it costs us to take a typical week to 10-day trip. In these days of $4+ fuel, that’s the killer to any budget that involves mileage. Jennifer shares our actual costs and ways we try to save money.
    Then I tackle a stinky question ... about odor control and how we’re trying something called the “Geo Method” that mixes water softener and household detergent in a gallon of water that is poured down the toilet.
    We heard about it through our Facebook group and decided to try it out. So far, so good, though Jennifer had me cut back on the amount of detergent because we use concentrated soap and she didn’t want a bunch of bubbles coming out of the toilet every time we flushed.
    Got questions? Send them to us openmike@fmca.com. We try to roll out a new How We Roll every week.
    http://youtu.be/ulJ78aTL0kE
    About the Author: Mike Wendland is a veteran journalist who travels the country in a Roadtrek Type B motorhome, accompanied by his wife, Jennifer, and their Norweigian elkhound, Tai. Mike is an FMCA member (F426141) and is FMCA's official on-the-road reporter. He enjoys camping (obviously), hiking, biking, fitness, photography, video editing and all things dealing with technology. His "PC MIke" technology segments are distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations. More from this author. Reach mike at openmike@fmca.com.
  2. 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.
  3. Roadtrekingmike
    RVers love their GPS units. Can you imagine traveling without one?
    But do you know that many of today’s most popular units can be customized to show the special places you are most interested in? Called POIs – short for Points of Interest – there are so many lists of them available now that downloading them to your GPS unit can make travel much more efficient and convenient.

    You need to have a stand alone GPS unit that can connect to your computer to be able to download POIs. Tom Tom, Magellan, Garmin and Rand MacNally all work with external POI files. There may be others. I use the Rand McNally RVND 7720 seven inch unit in my RV. My Roadtrek has a built in unit from Pioneer and it does a great job. But its integrated into my dash entertainment system and I can’t add files to it. The RVND-7720 is aimed strictly at RVers and it comes with guaranteed lifetime updates and the ability to add POI files. I connect it to my computer from time to time and it automatically downloads the latest maps, construction alerts and detours .
    But it also can download files called POIs. Many of you now I am also an NBC-TV technology reporter. I do a weekly segment for all 215 NBC affiliate stations called PC Mike and I recently did one on POIs in which I found several sources for POI files.
    What sort of POI files, you ask? Well, I downloaded a list of every Cracker Barrel restaurant (a great place to overnight, free). We downloaded the locations of all Olive Garden restaurats (Jennifer says the all-you-can-eat soup and salad menu item there is a good and healthy food choice, as long as I eat only one serving. We downloaded a list of health clubs (when we travel my job is to get her to a gym at least four times a week). I have a list of all WalMarts (overnight camping again), unusual highway attractions (I’m a sucker for giant balls of string and places like the Barbed Wire Museum) and a list of 14,357 campgrounds.
    All were free to download and install in my GPS and I can set my unit to alert me when I am approaching one of these POIs or search for them right from the screen.
    There are several places online where you can find POI files.
    We've gotten hooked on the POI Factory, a repository of downloadable GPS files that you can install on many of today's most popular GPS units, like Garmin, Rand Macnally and Tom Tom. Basically, you browse the categories and find Points of Interest you'd like. And then, as you approach them in your travels, you can see them on a map, find and get to them with turn by turn directions.
    Here's another resource -- the POI Plaza. This lists POIs from all over the world. Search by countries. It too works with lots of applications and GPS platforms, listing thousands of places and GPS coordinates. Pick the right format for your device and download it to your computer. Then, just plug your GPS unit into the computer and transfer it over.
    One more. Download POI. If you couldn't find files for your unit on the other sites, try this one. Just choose a country, the brand of GPS you have and download what you want. You're good to go!'
    Here’s my NBC report on POIs:
    http://youtu.be/A9j4sl9Tbvk
    About the Author: Mike Wendland is a veteran journalist who travels the country in a Roadtrek Type B motorhome, accompanied by his wife, Jennifer, and their Norweigian elkhound, Tai. Mike is an FMCA member (F426141) and is FMCA's official on-the-road reporter. He enjoys camping (obviously), hiking, biking, fitness, photography, video editing and all things dealing with technology. His "PC MIke" technology segments are distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations. More from this author. Reach mike at openmike@fmca.com.
  4. Roadtrekingmike
    The Beartooth Highway is one of the more spectacular drives you can take when touring in your RV out West, comparable to the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park. It’s a 1930s WPA project that opened access to the Yellowstone region from the northeast, and an impressive engineering accomplishment.
    Fortunately for us, it’s still in good repair and easily traversable by all but the most anemic RVs – there are probably a few gas Class As that shouldn’t attempt it, but the rest of us can drive it easily.
    The eastern end of the Beartooth Highway is Red Lodge, MT, a 44 mile drive from I-90 coming down US 212 from Laurel, just west of Billings. Red Lodge is a nice little town with all the RV amenities – water and a dump station at the Chamber of Commerce, groceries at the IGA, gas, diesel and propane from multiple stations. Provision yourself well because the next significant amenities are when you come back out on I-90 in Livingston, MT, 175 miles away.
    OK, now that you’re all stocked up, get ready to climb. We’re going up onto the Beartooth Plateau, a 10,000-foot-high tableland overlooking the Yellowstone caldera. Trouble is, you’re at 5500 feet in Red Lodge. After a gently sloping approach up the valley, the switchbacks begin. Most of it is 25 or 30 miles an hour – feel free to take it slower. Turn off your air conditioner, and watch your coolant temperature and transmission temperature gauges. Five miles of switchbacks later, you’re rewarded with a view of the plateau.
    First thing you’ll notice is the snow. There’s snow up here – side-of-the-road snow, not up-on-the-mountains snow. I came up here in late June, and it’s all over the place. Even in August, there’s still snow you can easily walk to from the highway. The snowmelt feeds countless streams; most of the time you stop along the highway you can hear running water. The northern sides of the gentle hills on the plateau have snowbanks, each with a stream emerging from its base.
    The second thing you’ll notice is the thin, cold air. Atmospheric pressure is 70% of sea level, and it’s 20 degrees cooler up here in the summer than it is down in the Yellowstone River valley. Daytime highs are rarely above 70 degrees. Pace yourself if you plan any hikes, and watch out for signs of altitude sickness if you zoomed up here without acclimating.
    The first few miles of the plateau drive leading up to Beartooth Pass are still in Montana; I boondocked in a spur (Forest Service Road 2124) just before the state line, which is designated for dispersed camping. As you cross into Wyoming, you’re climbing – you’ll be rewarded with spectacular views of Gardner Lake and Mirror Lake.
    In addition to the main lakes, the complex landforms up here create smaller lakes seemingly cantilevered out of the steep slopes. Every dip in the terrain up here holds water.
    bearstooth
    The Bear’s Tooth is a spire of granite viewable from the highway just before the pass. Native Americans named this range because of this feature, which does indeed look like an incisor of something you wouldn’t want to meet on the trail. The tooth and many of the other peaks are “horns” – glacially carved spires sharpened to impossibly steep points as glaciers slid around their sides during the numerous ice ages which shaped this region.
    At the top, Beartooth Pass itself has a pullout to stretch your legs and look around in all directions. East you can see the Bighorns, over 80 miles away, and south of you is a plateau covered with lakes. Fiona the Fearless Kitty had less esthetic interests – she wanted to snag a marmot. Marmots are chubby rodents who inhabit alpine regions and, as Fiona was soon to discover, always sit within feet of their burrow. No marmot on the menu for Fiona this time.
    West of the pass, the road descends steadily and you come down off the tundra and back into pine forests. Spectacular waterfalls dot the roadside, many with pullouts and paths leading up to them so you can get a closer look. The state line also marks the boundary between the Custer National Forest and Shoshone National Forest, which you are in now, and there are several well-maintained campgrounds along this stretch of the highway.
    Island Lake, Beartooth Lake, Crazy Creek, and Fox Creek range in elevation from 9,000 to 6,000 feet. Information on these is available on the Shoshone National Forest website. Fox Creek has electricity, for those of you not equipped for dry camping.
    Somewhat averse to organized camping and neighbors ourselves, right now we’re doing dispersed camping maybe eight miles east of the town of Cooke City, on the Clark’s Fork of the Yellowstone River. Just pull off the road, pick a spot, and enjoy the wilderness. The sound of rushing water, the smell of the pine trees, and the song of the mountain bluebirds make this place a memorable stay in our exploration of the Beartooth area.
  5. Roadtrekingmike
    It’s pretty amazing what a few hundred miles can do to the view. That was driven home to us today as we made our way across South Dakota, taking in the vast green prairie and its lush grasslands, the wind-carved canyons, ravines and hoodoos of the Badlands and the rolling thick pine forests of the Black Hills.


    Our Roadtrek heads across South Dakota, en route to FMCA'S Family Reunion and Motorhome Showcase in Gillette, Wyo.I’d send along a video but I’m barely able to get a cell signal from our camping spot in the Custer State Park.
    It was like a movie playing on the other side of the Roadtrek’s windshield as we headed out I-90 from Mitchell, taking the bypass through the Badlands National Park and a great two-lane to Rapid City and then south to Custer.


    Stockade Lake in the Custer State ForestStorms swept across the prairie mid-afternoon and I pulled into a rest area to watch the lightning and rainclouds under the big sky. The drumming rain on the RV roof was so soothing Jennifer and I stretched out on the rear bed and slept for an hour. When we woke, the sun was out again.
    The Custer State Park consistently ranks as one of America’s best state parks and we were impressed by the roomy, secluded spot we got, just a couple hundred yards from Stockade Lake.


    Our campsite at Custer State ParkTomorrow, we’ll do the wildlife loop drive to check out the Bison, Bighorn Sheep, Pronghorn Antelope and Elk that inhabit this vast 71,000-acre park.
    Jennifer is a little miffed at me tonight. We hiked up and down several hills to get to the lake and grabbed armfuls of fallen pine branches for our campfire. When we returned to camp she started browsing through the park brochure, only to find out that the park has lots of ticks and plenty of timber rattlesnakes.
    My traipsing in the thick woods with shorts instead of long pants probably wasn’t one of my brighter ideas. Jennifer had the good sense to put on a pair of jeans.
    But the clean smell of the forest, the sound of the wind rustling through the pines and the bright stars overhead tonight will hopefully make her forget my foolhardy exuberance.
    Unless I start itching from a tick bite.
    About the Author: Mike Wendland is a veteran journalist who travels the country in a Roadtrek Type B motorhome, accompanied by his wife, Jennifer, and their Norweigian elkhound, Tai. Mike is an FMCA member (F426141) and is FMCA's official on-the-road reporter. He enjoys camping (obviously), hiking, biking, fitness, photography, video editing and all things dealing with technology. His "PC MIke" technology segments are distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations. More from this author. Reach mike at openmike@fmca.com.
  6. Roadtrekingmike
    Last night in Iowa, I was complaining abut the gnats.
    Tonight in South Dakota, it’s the Frankenbugs.
    The bugs have only gotten bigger as we’ve moved west
    Honestly, I dont know what they are. Way bigger than a gnat. Some are beetles, or what we used to call June bugs. But there are so many and they are so big that as we drove down I-90 in South Dakota, they hit the windshield with an intensity that sometimes sounded like hail.
    Jennifer said it was a bugout.
    You can see from this photo and the video below what it was like:
    Today was one of those awesome driving days. We took our time, stopping in Des Moines to workout at a health club and then heading on through Iowa, Nebraska and into South Dakota. We dodged storms in the morning but otherwise had near perfect weather, bright blue skies with puffy cotton candy clouds and lush green prairieland.
    At sunset, we were treated to a jaw dropping South Dakota sunset of fiery oranges and reds and pink pastels.


    Then it got dark. And the attack of the Frankenbugs began.
    We pulled off at Mitchell a little before 11 p.m. and washed off the windshield.
    There were several truckers and a guy in a fifth wheel doing the same thing.S
    “Something hatched,” said the trucker next to me. “Ive never see them so intense.”
    Inside the station, the clerk was chuckling “Worse than a snowstorm,” he allowed.
    Exactly. A bugout.
    We’re spending the night in a packed Cabela’s parking lt. There are 14 other RVs here, Class As and Cs and a couple of fifth wheels.
    Inside my eTrek, I’m running the air and we’re snug as…. dare I say?… a bug.
    http://youtu.be/gDzQTjuQKpQ
  7. 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.
  8. Roadtrekingmike
    “Not all those who wander are lost,” so wrote J. R. R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings.
    It is so true when it comes to RVing. We love to meander, to take roads less traveled, off the Interstate. But even the Interstates are fun, especially out of urban areas.
    As Jennifer and I made our way west this week to attend the Family Motor Coach rally in Gillette, Wyo., we realized something about our wanderings:
    We love to drive.
    That is so weird for me to write because when I commuted to and from my job in Detroit from my suburban home for more than 30 years, I hated driving.
    But in our Roadtrek eTrek touring coach, I love to drive.
    So does Jennifer.
    We’ve tried to explain it to people. Their eyes sort of glaze over.
    So, we figured, maybe if we took them along, virtually, maybe they’d understand.
    So we made this little video that shows just why we love to drive our RV.
    http://youtu.be/k_mk96WXI8U
  9. Roadtrekingmike
    Yellowstone National Park is one of our most favorite places to RV in all of North America. It draws us back and its sheer size and beauty is breathtaking.
    We couldn’t resist sharing the wildflowers with you. I don’t know the names of them. But I do know they are stunningly beautiful. I think you’ll agree.
    As macro as the place is, it is also meant to be seen on the micro level, close up.
    So it was on our most recent trip, which just happened to correspond to the height of the spring wildflower season. Every color of the palette was visible, in forests, meadows and sagebrush-steppe.
    http://youtu.be/_-IFQxwJmpQ
    The place was literally ablaze with wildflowers. We saw dozens of different varieties and colors. The National Park Service tells us that Yellowstone is home to more than 1,350 species. There is white mule’s-ears and phlox, yellow arrowleaf balsamroot, blue penstemon and lupine, and Indian paintbrush’s glorious reds and oranges. Magenta shooting stars, purple sugarbowls, delicate white woodland stars and leopard lilies So we missed a lot,
    We photographed as many as we saw, as you can see in the video.
  10. Roadtrekingmike
    On June 22, 2013 – at sunset local time from coast to coast, across the U.S., into Canada, as far north as Alaska – 19 different Roadtrek owners took a photo of their Roadtrek.
    Some were parked at campgrounds. Others in their driveway. Some drove to a special setting near their hometowns. I was at a rodeo in Cody, WY with mine.
    The point was to get a photo of our Roadtrek motorhomes at sunset, wherever we were.
    We’re thinking about doing this sort of thing a couple of times a year. Maybe for special occasions like the 4th of July (for Americans).
    What do you think?
    This little slide show shows what came of our first effort.
    Should we do this again? When? Shall we theme the photos?

  11. Roadtrekingmike
    It was a day of superlatives as our Roadtrek eTrek literally took us to the heights of RVing – climbing Pikes Peak.
    Making it even better because it was our wedding anniversary and we were spending it with family in one of the continent’s most beautiful regions.
    Pikes Peak surely is the most accessible big mountain on the continent, with a first rate road all the way up, despite some hairpin curves with little or no shoulder or guardrails. The only issue we had was on the descent, where at the mandatory brake check around 11,000 feet ours measured 600 degrees.
    We used low gears to help in slowing the vehicle on the drive down but the eTrek is a heavy vehicle and we needed to pull off and let it rest for a half hour. So did lots of others in cars.
    I used the downtime to take Tai for a walk and he chased up a couple of mule deer. He thought it great fun and had a sparkle in his big brown Elkhound eyes that lasted the rest of the day.
    The top of Pikes Peak offers dramatic, craggy windswept views, though we all felt a tinge of dizziness and queasiness, a touch of altitude sickness. Tai loved it at the summit, as did son Jeff’s dog, Sequoia. The temperature up top was 48 degrees. Down below, it was in the nineties.
    Pikes Peak is rich in history and was the symbol of the 1859 Gold Rush to Colorado with the slogan, “Pikes Peak or Bust.” Today, where pioneers and native Americans used to walk, a 19-mile long highway makes its way to the top, carrying half a million visitors each year. It’s a beautiful drive through alpine forests, mountain reservoirs, and rugged rockface beyond the timberline.
    Wendy, Dan and the girls didn’t make it to the summit. Wendy felt ill about the 8,000 foot level and they instead hung around at lower altitudes, hiking and taking photos.
    Off the mountain, we all rendezvoused and visited the spectacular 300-foot tall red rock formations at Garden of the Gods. Several large male mule deer posed for my new telephoto lens. We never would have spotted them had not Tai, his nose already tuned into deer scent from our adventure on the mountain, caught a whiff of them atop a hill at the base of one of the large red formations. We couldn’t figure out why he was so tugging at his leash until someone looked up and shouted “deer.”
    Our base camp for this part of the trip was the pristine Cheyenne Mountain State Park, located just south of Colorado Springs on the eastern slope of Cheyenne Mountain. The park is clean and new, opened in October 2006 and comprising 1,680 acres. Out our west window is the mountain itself. Out our east windows is a stunning overlook of the plains of Colorado and, at night, the sparkling lights of Colorado Springs.
    Literally under us is an amazing military complex, a fortress designed during the height of the cold war to withstand a 30 megaton nuclear hit and allow heads of government from the President on down to live in comfort and run the affairs of the country during an emergency. Today, it remains a very active worksite and houses elements of the U.S. Strategic Command, Air Force Space Command, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Missile Defense Agency and the Federal Aviation Authority, among others.
    That’s hard to tell in our camping spots here. But we know we are near a military installation. At 10 PM the last two nights, we heard a bugler sound taps, its clear, plaintive sound echoing up from the green-roofed military buildings down in the foothills. This morning, we heard reverie as the sky turned pink. And we’ve seen helicopters doing flight training several times, as well.
    The park is one of the nicest we’ve stayed in anywhere. There are 20 miles of hiking trails, though dogs are not permitted because of wildlife. There are black bears, cougars, coyotes and other critters. The prairie rattlesnake frequents the rocky areas. And a tent full of four young girls near us who are here for a weekend marathon had a scorpion crawl in.
    We’re about 6,500 feet high at our campsites. Days have been in the nineties, with low humidity. Nights delightfully cool to the low sixties.
    Wednesday morning we pack up once again as the Great Roadtreking Family Vacation of 2014 continues and we head off to the Four Corners region and Mesa Verde.
    As I type this lateTuesday night, Jen and I are tucked into the eTrek and the rest of their family aleep in their RVs – Jeff and Aimee and Sequoia in a borrowed Roadtrek SS generously provided by some Roadtrek friends; Wendy, Dan, our granddaughters and their dog, Charley, in the Amerilite travel trailer we just bought from American RV in Grand Rapids and are towing with our Roadtrek eTrek. We wish we had another day or so here. There’s lots more to see in this area.
    I better be careful what I wish for.
    Wendy and Dan, following our RVs in our car, report that it’s been making a funny but intermittent squealing noise. I took it for a short test drive but didn’t hear a thing out of the ordinary. I pronounced it just fine. But Jennifer says my hearing isn’t as keen as it should be. So we’re debating whether we should have the car looked at before we continue on.
  12. Roadtrekingmike
    Now I know how Class A motorhome drivers live. They spend lots of time checking their mirrors, looking for places to park that are big enough to handle their length and…. visiting gas stations.
    As we are towing a 21-foot travel trailer behind our Roadtrek on a family caravan vacation trip to the Rockies, I’ve found towing very easy and parking not so bad as long as I don’t try pulling in to fast-food places with my 30-foot-plus length.
    Truthfully, I’ve quickly gotten used to towing and with 1,000-pus miles under my belt as we pulled into Gothenberg, Nebraska, last night, the only complaint I have is what towing a trailer has done to my fuel consumption.
    Where before my 2012 Roadtrek eTrek averaged 17-18 mpg, towing the 2,780 extra pounds in the trailer has dropped it to 11-12 mpg.
    Still, it’s well worth it to be all together as a family.
    This is now my third trip west along I-80 and I have forgotten how much corn they grow our here in the prairie. And how tall it is, easily eight feet in most fields.
    The biggest challenge we’ve had so far is group sightseeing with three big dogs. Someone always has to stay outside or behind to tend to the dogs.
    The biggest excitement yesterday was having lunch with a bunch of Hells Angels motorcycle club members. About a dozen of them from the California chapter pulled into the same Kum & Go gas station and Subway restaurant we chose west of Des Moines. A guy named Demento told me they were headed to Sturgis in San Diego, and the big motorcycle week doings up there.
    They seemed like nice enough guys. In the Subway, one of them groused that there was a steakhouse up the road and he couldn’t figure out why they were eating at a Subway rather than a steakhouse. One of the other members said they could eat steak tonight and that about ended the discussion.
    Steak sounded pretty good to me, too, but with all the extra fuel expenses, I’m lucky I can afford Subway.
    As we pulled out of the station, we saw an Iowa State Police cruiser backed into the Kum & Go keeping an eye on the Hells Angels.
    We drove 480 miles yesterday from Amana, Iowa to get to this little community, which bills itself as “the the Pony Express Capital of Nebraska” because of a restored station in town that is a great tourist stop. Gothensberg is near the original route of the Oregon Trail and right on the Pony Express route west.
    The Pony Express was in existence a very short time – from April 3, 1860 to late October 1861 and provided the fastest mail delivery between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. As explained by the Nebraska Tourism folks, the whole reason it existed was promotional – to draw public attention to the central route in hope of gaining the million dollar government mail contract for the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak express Company.
    In total there were 183 men that were riders for the Pony Express during this period of just over 18 months. They had to be young, skinny men, not over 18 and must have been expert riders. It was said they had to be willing to risk death daily and that orphans were preferred. Most of the riders were around 20 with the youngest of them 11 and the oldest was in his mid-40s. The average weight was 120 pounds.
    These men worked for $100 a month. The riders traveled for between 75 and 100 miles with fresh horses being provided every 10 to 15 miles. The speed of the horses averaged 10 miles an hour. The mix of breeds included thoroughbreds, mustangs, pintos, and Morgans. There were approximately 165 stations along the route of almost 2,000 miles.
    The cost of a 1/2 ounce letter was $5 when the rides began but by the end of the Pony Express the price had dropped to $1 per 1/2 ounce.
    The end of the Pony Express happened on October 24, 1861. With the outbreak of the Civil War and the lack of getting the government contract and the debt incurred by the owners the route could not be continued. The Pony Express station in Gothensberg is open from 8am – 8 pm during the summer and 9 – 6 in May and September.
    Also in Gothensberg and right off I-80 at the town exit 211 is a sod house.
    Sod houses or “soddies,” as they were also known, were built on the prairies from the sod of thickly rooted prairie grass by the settlers and were forerunners to the log cabins in North America. The sod was used primarily as there weren’t standard building materials such as wood or stone on the prairies. The houses were naturally very cheap to build and surprisingly well insulated but were susceptible to damp and even rain damage.
    The Sod House Museum is a red barn shaped authentic replica of the sod houses built by early settlers in this region and was established in 1988. The lives and working practices of the settlers is honored here with memorabilia and photographs taken during the pioneer era. The inside of the sod houses were pretty sparse reflecting the hard times experienced by the settlers who lived there. The women who work at the musem tell fascinating tales of life on the prairie and its many hardships. Many of the women settlers here, isolated in such big country, committed suicide.
    One story they told us involved a variation of the sod house, lean-to houses carved into the sides of hills. Seemed that sometimes,snakes would some down through the earthen roofs of some of these dugout homes, dropping right on the floor.
    We’ll stick with our RVs, thank you very much.
    We spent the night at the Gothenberg KOA, a pleasant shaded little campground just a half mile from the Interstate.
    Off we go again today, 360 miles to Colorado Springs, CO and the Cheyenne Mountain State Park.
    But first, I better fill up.
  13. Roadtrekingmike
    One of the challenges of being on the road so much and doing a blog like this is being reliably connected to the Internet in a whole bunch of different places.
    I’ve been a huge fan of the Verizon Mi-Fi card and the network’s strong nationwide footprint of 4G connectivity. It very reliably gives me near broadband speed as I travel. Sending video gobbles up a lot of bandwidth and almost all the videos I do for this blog were sent via the Verizon network.
    But lately, I’ve been going to some really remote locations.

    Last month at Yellowstone National Park, way back in the Lamar Valley boondocks, I saw a couple of wolf researchers from the University of Washington using their Verizon cellphone. The secret, they showed me, was an inexpensive cell phone booster that gave them several bars of connectivity when, without it, they had none.
    So with a trip to Michigan’s remote Upper Peninsula in the works right after my return from out west, I ordered one, too.
    There are lots of different cell signal boosters available but I picked up the same one the wolf researchers were using – the Wilson Sleek 4G, available online starting at around $75. It’s also stocked by many Walmart and Best Buy stores. It comes with a cell phone holder, cigarette plug power connector and a small magnetic antenna to attach to the roof of your vehicle.
    I hooked up mine on my Roadtrek eTrek, attaching the holder to the dash by an adhesive on the back. I attached the magnetic mount above the driver’s side roof and ran its connecting wire in through the side of the door.
    On my first trip to the wilderness at the Porcupine State Wilderness area in the far northern part of the UP, I put it to the test.
    You can see in the accompanying ideo that I had no connection at all. Not even a single bar.
    I was just too far from the nearest cell tower.
    So came the moment of truth. When I put my iPhone in the cradle, which contains the power booster, I now had coverage…. Three bars. Not bad. From zero to three bars.
    I could put the phone in the cradle or put the Mi-Fi card in and make my own hotspot.
    Over the past week, I have now traveled all over the UP and have been in some really desolate country. I have been surprised how many places had very good cell coverage without the booster. Verizon has really expanded its network. In the middle of the Ottawa National Forest, a vast expanse of one million acres, I actually had 4G coverage about 10 miles outside of the village of Watersmeet.
    But in several places just too distant from a tower, when my Mi-Fi or iPhone showed no or marginal coverage, the booster helped every time.
  14. Roadtrekingmike
    Remember that new Samsung Galaxy 4S that I wrote about two weeks ago -- RVing and My New Smartphone -- Well, that smartphone did a dumb thing: It up and died on me.
    It won’t charge, won’t power up and is totally dead. And I’m in the middle of a two-week RV trip in the Rockies.
    I tried all the reset tricks, like removing the battery. Its certifiably dead.
    Yesterday was the first time in two decades that I was without a cell phone and … I survived.
    I had my calls forwarded to Jennifer Wendland’s iPhone but if you message me, know I won’t get it. And if you’ve been following our travels on that little intetactive map over on the right sidebar, it is no longer functioning.
    It looks like I can’t get a replacement until I get back home to Michigan and my Verizon dealer.
    My iPhone never failed ... ever…the Samsung died in two weeks. Maybe I need to go back to Apple.
  15. Roadtrekingmike
    The Morefield Campground at Mesa Verde National Park is nestled into a scenic canyon some four and a half miles off US 160 from the park entrance. With 267 sites, it seldom fills up. That’s because all but 15 are for dry camping only and of the 15 with full hookups, none accomodate RVs over 45 feet in length. The Class A congestion that turns so many other campgrounds into “tinominium “complexes is refreshingly absent here.
    Each site has lots of space between its neighbors and native Gambel oaks, tall prairie grasses and wild flowers and make for a spectacular wooded canyon that abounds with wildlife.
    At least two young black bears, two year olds recently kicked out on their own by their mother, are frequently seen. One, cinnamon colored, is called Brown Sugar by park rangers. The other is dubbed Mohalk for the band of light fur along his back.
    Campers are told at check in to be sure and put everything away at night, especially and including the white water hoses those in the full hookup sites use. “Their mother taught them if they bite into one of those little hoses, they get a nice drink of water,” said Janet, one of several women who staff the registration desk. “We had one camper who didn’t follow our suggestion and awoke the next morning to find that his water hookup was now a sprinkler hose.”
    There’s also lots of deer in the park who wander freely amidst the campsites.
    I set up the travel trailer for my daughter and my son’s borrowed Roadtrek SS in full hookup sites. In our eTrek, Jennifer and I set up across the street, dry camping.
    The key attraction here at Mesa Verde are the amazing archeological cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Pueblo people who lived here between 600 to 1300 in structures built within caves and under outcroppings in cliffs. The ruins are the largest archaeological preserve in the United States, scattered across 81.4 square miles. The park was created in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt and there are lots of spots to see them and even crawl through them.
    No one knows why the ancestral pueblo people settled here, in an arid and hot high desert. More mysteriously, no one knows why, after centuries of living here, they suddenly moved. But the sandstone dwellings are amazingly well preserved and the U.S. Forest Service does a great job explaining everything.
    We did the tours in shifts because of the dogs. I dozed with them in a shaded picnic area while the others toured. Then it was our turn and they watched the dogs.
    This is a huge park. To get to the cliff dwellings, you drive 23 miles up a winding mountain road, climbing to about 8.500 feet from the 6500 at the campground level. There are several great hiking trails, too, for all levels.
    Sunsets are spectacular. And sunrises are peaceful in the clear, clean mountain air. With a cup of coffee and your dog by your side, as seen in the photo of my son, Jeff, it does’t get much better…anywhere.
    Wear lots of sun screen up here. The air is thin and the UV rays really strong.
    We’re due to stay here through the weekend, heading to Telluride Sunday.
  16. Roadtrekingmike
    One of the reasons so many RVers love Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is because of all the wildlife. And in recent years, the chance, albeit slim, of seeing a wolf has been at least a possibility that has made the place pretty exciting. For the introduction of the grey wolf into Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is one of the greatest wildlife management success stories in generations. Where there were none just a couple of decades ago, there are now around 700.
    On calm, clear nights, hearing the howls of a wolf pack is a thrill beyond description.

    And seeing them, as I did when three of them crossed in front of me while visiting Baraga County on a previous UP trip, is even more thrilling. They are truly magnificent animals.
    But the future is uncertain for Michigan’s wolves. Under a controversial policy that has sharply polarized many in the UP, the state’s Department of Natural Resources is moving ahead with a plan to allow the sport hunting of wolves in several areas across the UP, staring this fall. At the same time, citizen groups and wolf protection activists have countered with petition drives that would put the issue before Michigan voters this November, not once, but twice..
    The issue is highly politicalized. A state representative from the far Western UP town of Ironwood claims that there are so many wolves making their way into town that local residents are afraid to send their children outdoors and are forced to stay inside because of the danger. While wolves, like deer, have been spotted in town, we found no evidence of widespread fear, or of rampaging wolves for that matter. There are lots of reports floating around about pets and farm animals being taken by wolves, too, though, on examination, I found many to be wild exaggerations or outright fabrications.
    In one of the more sensational stories, a local man who claimed to have had livestock killed by wolves was actually found by investigators to have allowed dead carcasses of animals who died of apparently natural causes to lie around his land. Such a practice would lead to odors which would naturally attract predators. That man had previously been given three donkeys by state officials. Since donkeys are known to keep wolves away, they would have protected his herds. But when officials went to check on the donkeys, they found the animals were neglected, with untrimmed hooves that prevented them from moving. Two of them subsequently died and a third was found “in very poor body condition,” said a state report obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request by wolf supporters. ”This animal is very weak and likely dehydrated since there is no water provided to the livestock,” said the report. Officials removed the surviving donkey, which is alive and “in a very good new home.”
    The report noted that the farmer had also been provided over $1,300 in fencing material to prevent wolves from entering his property. “The fence is now gone and its whereabouts are unknown,” concluded the report.
    I mention all this because this same farmer was all over the news earlier this year showing off dead cows he claimed were killed by wolves and talking about how dangerous they were.
    I visited with lots of folks who live in areas populated by wolf packs who reported no issues.
    “I believe if this hunt goes through we will once again see the wolf all but extinct in the UP,” said Sandy Lahtinen of Ironwood. “When hunters take out an animal here and there, they will take out the alpha males and females. That leaves the packs leaderless and creates lone wolves and that’s when you see problems.” Lahtinen has wolves on her property. She is not worried about them. Snow, her 30 year old pony, and a tiny little puppy roam about in her front yard all day.
    In Marquette County, Jim and Jackie Winkowski raise and race dog sled teams. They know wolves are in their area. They’ve seen and heard them. “They are not interested in our dogs,” said Jackie. “They are not interested in being around people at all.”
    In the deep and very buggy woods of the Ottawa National Forest near Ewen, we went out looking for wolf signs with Nancy Warren, the Great Lakes regional director for Wolfwatcher, a nonprofit organization dedicated to wolf conservation.
    You’ve heard of the Horse Whisperer. Nancy is the Wolf Howler.
    She talks to the wolves by howling in their territory. “Wolves are very territorial,” she says. “Howling is how a wolf checks to see if he is in another pack’s territory. The local wolves will howl back, to tell him to move on.” Although we spotted wolf scat, we didn’t get any answering howls that day.
    How do we know it was wolf poop, you ask? The size (an inch in diameter) and the presence of fur and bones in the fecal matter, explained Nancy. Aren’t you glad you asked that now?
    Warren is opposing the coming wolf hunt. “Wolves that cause problems already can be taken out by landowners if they endanger livestock or people,” she said. “A hunting season serves no purpose at all. There are only 658 wolves up here. To kill wolves for sport is just not right.”
    Nevertheless, the Michigan Natural Resources Commission on Thursday again approved hunting of once-federally protected wolves in the Upper Peninsula under a new state law passed to circumvent a referendum on an earlier hunting law, as called for by an earlier petition drive run by wolf supporters.
    State officials dismiss the concerns of the pro-wolf groups. “We anticipate that this limited public harvest could both change wolf behavior over time — making them more wary of people, residential areas and farms — and reduce the abundance of wolves in these management areas that have experienced chronic problems,” DNR Wildlife Division Chief Russ Mason said in a statement. “We’re aiming to decrease the number of conflicts and complaints while maintaining the long-term viability of the wolf population.”
    The group Keep Michigan Wolves Protected said it was “deeply disappointed” by the commission’s decision. The group earlier submitted petitions for a November 2014 referendum on the earlier wolf hunt law. That’s what promoted the Natural Resource Commission to push through the hunting season, before voters could decide.
    “The voters of Michigan — not politicians and bureaucrats — should have their voices heard on whether our state’s fragile wolf population is needlessly hunted for trophies,” group Director Jill Fritz said in a statement. “The NRC should have delayed a decision until the November 2014 election and let the democratic process play out as intended. Instead they have thumbed their noses at Michigan voters and told them their opinions don’t matter.”
    Fritz’s group submitted ballot said it plans to launch yet another petition drive to collect at least 225,000 signatures needed to place the new law under which the commission approved the hunt Thursday on the November 2014 ballot as well. That means there will be two anti-wolf hunting proposals on the ballot.
    But no matter how the issue is decided, it will be too late to stop this year’s hunt.
    And that should stir up howls of protests from all those who don’t think wolves should be considered fair game.
  17. Roadtrekingmike
    If you like driving your RV, drive it in Colorado.
    Look at the photos.
    Around every corner is another great, sweeping vista.
    Today, we drove about 80 miles from Mesa Verde National park in the far southwest corner up Highway 145 to the Matterhorn Campground in the San Juan Mountains a dozen or so miles south of Telluride.
    From the semi-arid canyon country to alpine forests, the drive couldn’t be prettier. Even towing that new AmerLite Travel Trailer I bought from American RV in Grand Rapids, MI before setting out on this family vacation, my Roadtrek eTrek barely strained at it pulled us up to about 9,500 feet.
    Before leaving Mesa Verde, son Jeff and I hiked the Prater Ridge Trail that climbs high above our Morefield Campground campsite following the the rim of Prater Ridge, which separates Morefield Canyon and Prater Canyon and offers commanding views of the Montezuma Valley. We got high up on the trail when a fast moving mountain thunderstorm with lightning sent us scrambling back down.
    The storm stayed up top of the ridge and last night, a spectacular quarter moon peeked down at us. Our granddaughters gathered up every kid in the campground and we had the S’More party of all S’More parties last night. It’s amazing how fast kids become friends on a camping strip and how a campground becomes a neighborhood each night, with folks strolling around, looking at the other rigs, talking about the day and the next adventures, sharing tips and enjoying each other’s company as if we were lifelong friends.
    Then morning comes and the neighborhood vanishes as the RVs pull off to all points on the compass.
    Today, we made the drive to Telluride, where we’ll spend one night before heading up to Gunnison and the Black Canyon on Monday.
    The Matterhorn campground we chose for the night is on a small loop off Highway 145. There are 28 campsites with four of them offering RV hookups of water, electricity and septic. We let Jeff and Aimee in the trailer and Wendy and Dan in a borrowed Roadtrek SS Ideal use the full hookups. Jen and I are dry camping in a great spot nestled into the woods on the slope of a mountain just across from them. Our eTrek with its solar power and diesel generator lets use every appliance just like we were plugged in.
    There is no Internet in the Matterhorn Campground so I’m now parked in the Roadtrek with two of the dogs while everyone else in the family took a gondola from the Mountain Village resort development to check out Telluride. There’s a great 4G signal here so I wrote this week’s newsletter, uploaded some photos and fired off this quick post.
    I’m thinking I really need to bite the bullet and invest in a satellite Internet system. I’m missing some big time family fun because of spotty cell phone Internet.
  18. Roadtrekingmike
    The people who live in southwest Colorado have big smiles on their faces these days.
    Us, camped for our last day in the knock-your-socks-off beautiful Mesa Verde National Forest before moving on to Telluride and a few more spots, not so much. t
    The locals are grinning because the risk of wildfires - which devastated the region last year – is way down now. We’re not quite as appreciative because our plans were altered by a day of mountain monsoons.
    We had planned to do some video and still beauty photos of our Roadtrek eTrek navigating the winding mountain roads overlooking spectacular valley and canyon vistas.
    Before setting out, I had to move the travel trailer my daughter and her family is using from their full hookup site to a dry camping spot across the road. That went fairly easy as I hooked it up to the Roadtrek and then backed it into a new spot. Im getting used to backing the trailer now. Not good, but used to it. Close enough to at least get the job done.
    Then my son moved his borrowed Roadtrek SS Ideal across the street, too. A balky sofa bed motor that has given us trouble since we left Michigan a week ago completely stopped working and we spent two hours playing RV mechanic until we got the bed to once again go down.
    Then, the bright blue skies suddenly rolled up and the dark grey cloud rolled in… and emptied.
    First the rain came from the west. Then it circled round and came from the east. It slammed into us in wind-driven sheets. The temperature dropped from the mid seventies to 49 degrees. This at 4PM, and in a matter of 30 minutes or so.
    So we have spent the last few hours watching the storms move over the mountains. Pretty awesome, really. The lightning strikes are longer and brighter the thunder more booming as it reverberated through the canyon.
    So we have made the best of it. A delight of this place are the deer which are everywhere and pretty much oblivious of people. They don’t even seem very concerned about our dogs, who are now so used to seeing them they don’t even bark. Hua Hua and Rachel drew pictures of them and we have them taped to a cabinet in the Roadtrek until we get home and transfer them to the refrigerator.
    Last night, my daughter-in-law Amy spotted Brown Sugar, a little two-year-old black bear cub abandoned with her brother, Mohawk, by their mother. By the time the rest of us got to the spot, the bear had moved on.
    For awhile this afternoon during the rains, I hung with my two grandaughters in the back of the Roadtrek. I wanted to teach them “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” but Jennifer insisted we change it to “99 Bottles of Pop on the Wall.” It isn’t the same thing. They got bored with that by the time we were in the sixties. So we surfed the net for a while on the park’s excellent WiFi system. Then they went back to their trailer.
    For me, it was a great excuse for a nap.
    The monsoons seem to be lifting and the temperature is starting to rise again.
    One thing about the mountains. The weather changes like a snap of a finger.
    And frowns can turn to smiles just as fast.
    That’s the great thing about RV vacations.
    It’s all good, isn’t it? Check out the rainbow.
  19. Roadtrekingmike
    We RVers love to share modifications we’ve done to our vehicles to make they fit our personal style. So it is with delight that a share a series of photos that show some very unique customizations done by blog reader Alan Shafer from Rockford, Mich., to his Roadtrek 2006 RS Adventurous.
    His photos are included. Here is his account:
    As you can see by the pics, it had four captain’s chairs. I removed the rear chairs and started from there. I have detailed pics of the whole process. The good thing is that I did not drill any new holes in the existing cabinets, etc. when doing the cabinets. I used all existing holes. The cabinets are made of 1×2 and 1×3 solid maple for the rails and stiles. The sides and doors are recessed panels made with maple veneer 1/4″ plywood. There was no stain used. They were finished with satin finish polyurathane. (Minwax)
    I was able to get a towel bar and electrical outlet on the side of the cabinet on the driver’s side. (Again, no new holes made in the existing cabinetry.) I also still have access to the storage area under where the seat on the driver’s side was located. The reason for not wanting to not make any new holes was that if we should decide to sell this Roadtrek down the line, I wanted to be able to put everything back to original in case the new buyer would want the van the original way it was. This can be accomplished in less that two hours. . . . maybe less.
    As for the screens, I made a frame for the screen which is mounted above the cabinet on the passenger side to cover that part of the door area. The rest is a magnetic closing screen (Magna Screen) that was purchased at Menards. The sides are held in place with self-adhesive and sew on velcro. The top is held in place by a dowel rod used as a curtain rod. To add some weight to the bottom of the panels, I did use lead weighted rope purchased at local fabric stores. (Field’s Fabrics) (Joann’s Fabrics)
    For the rear doors, I purchased two additional Magna Screens. This gave me four panels. I removed the magnets and sewed the panels together where the magnets were originally located. This gave me two panels. Then with self-adhesive and sew on velcro, I finished the project. I did loosen (or remove) some of the interior trim panels so the velcro along the sides would be hidden and also have the panels over the velcro to hold better.
    For all of the screens, I did have to sew a pocket at the top to go over the “curtain rods”. I also did have to shorten all of the panels and sew on a hem made from bias tape from the local fabric store.
  20. Roadtrekingmike
    I’m a sucker for hats. Ball caps, cowboy hats, straw hats, watch caps and lately, Stormy Kromer hats.
    We picked up our first Stormy Kromer hats while doing some winter camping last February in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Seemed like every Yooper we saw was wearing one. So Jennifer and I both got one, me a rakish black, Jennifer’s a demure grey with pink trim.

    As we returned from that trip but kept wearing our hats, we met lots of other people who either had one, knew someone who had one or wanted one.
    Lots of people call them an Elmer Fudd hat. Don’t do that.
    This is a Stormy Kromer hat, steeped in UP tradition. Here’s the official story, from the Stormy Kromer website:
    George “Stormy” Kromer was a real guy – a semi-pro baseball player and railroad engineer. Not the kind of guy you’d expect to start a clothing company, in other words, but one who happened to create a cap that became known for long-comfort and the ability to stay snug, even in the fiercest winds.
    This final feature, in fact, is the reason he made his famous headgear in the first place, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
    Mr. Kromer, known as “Stormy” to the folks who knew his temper, was born in 1876 in Kaukauna, Wisconsin. He grew up with baseball and would eventually play on nearly 30 semi-pro teams throughout the Midwest. He might have continued to play that field, too, but he met Ida, and before Ida’s father would allow her hand in marriage, our ballplayer needed to find real work.
    That meant the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad and long, cold trips across the plains. Stormy was an engineer, and to see where he was headed, he had to stick his head out the window – into the wind. Mother Nature stole his cap more than once, and as the story goes, he set out to get her back.
    In 1903, he asked Ida (now his wife and an excellent seamstress) to modify an old baseball cap to help keep it on in windy weather. The all-cloth cap with the soft, canvas visor was a departure from the traditional fedoras of the day, but it was more comfortable and because of its six-panel fit, it stayed put.
    Soon other railroad workers wanted one of Stormy Kromer’s caps for themselves, and when Ida could no longer keep up with demand, they hired a few employees and the business was born.
    A lot of things have changed since those first few caps – new colors, new fabrics, new styles – but we haven’t changed the way we make ‘em. They’re hand-stitched right here in the good old U-S-of-A, and they’re still made to fit better than anything you’ve had next to your noggin. Stormy Kromer caps are true to the original, and that means you get all the comfort and function that made them famous.
    Wear one, and you’ll know what we mean.
    I was going to do a Stormy Kromer story in February, when we got our hats. But I decided to hold off until I could visit the actual factory where they were made, in Ironwood, at the far western end of the UP, right on the Wisconsin border. So when we were there on our annual RV tour of the UP, I made an appointment with Bob Jacquart, the CEO, and arranged for a factory tour.
    Again, from the website:
    In 2001, Bob Jacquart (CEO of Jacquart Fabric Products, in Ironwood, Michigan) got wind that the Kromer Cap Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was about to discontinue production of its legendary Blizzard Cap.
    Bob had a mind to make a call to Milwaukee and see if he couldn’t make those quirky wool caps a part of his sewing factory. A month later, Bob was the proud new owner of the Kromer Blizzard Cap, and Ironwood officially became home to the legend it had always struck a certain sentimental claim to. You see, folks in Ironwood (and the rest of the U.P.) have been wearing Kromer caps for generations, and it seems this has always been their true home, where the North Wind blows cold and the snow falls harder than almost anywhere else.
    When the cap came to Ironwood, Bob made a few subtle changes to the iconic headgear, changing the name from the Kromer Blizzard Cap to the Stormy Kromer Cap, and adding Stormy’s signature and the founding date to the back of every cap.
    Over the next 10 years, Bob invested in Stormy Kromer – particularly through branding and marketing – and today, annual production of the caps is 20 times what it was in 2001.
    Bob and his crew have also expanded the product line significantly – adding outerwear, apparel, and a full women’s line in honor of the debt we all owe Ida for creating this winter masterpiece.Today, Stormy Kromer products are still hand-stitched in the U.S. of A. It might be cheaper to sew things overseas, but it just wouldn’t feel right. That’s why every piece of Stormy Kromer gear is hand-crafted in America from the finest fabrics on earth. That not only makes for a legendary cap or article of clothing, it means the hundreds of hard-working folks we employ in the heartland get to keep working hard. And if that’s the style of authenticity you’re looking for, well, you just found the perfect fit.
    The hats have really become cult items. Hollywood and rock stars wear them. They're showing up in trendy magazines, and a new marketing campaign is about to make them even better known.
    The Stormy Kromer factory in Ironwood welcomes tours. Just stop in next time you are through the area. A wall of photos tells the history and story of this cool hat. You can watch the Yooper ladies in the sewing room assembling the hats. And afterwards, shop a retail area of the factory to get your own.
    And yes, I got a new Stormy Kromer, a light weight summer tan. You can see it at the end of my video.
    Stormy Kromer rocks!
  21. Roadtrekingmike
    One of the great things about having a Class B RV like our Roadtrek eTrek is that it also can function as a second vehicle.
    I’ve used it to run errands, drive to and from meetings and work-related activities, church and – while Jennifer is shopping – a comfortable place to chill out while in the parking lot of the mall.
    I’ve also used it for what I call mini-vacations, short day trip respites of a few hours to parks, lakeshores and the like. Sometimes, I’ve put the bike rack on, drove to a big metropark near my house, done a long bike ride and then just chilled out for a few hours.
    Traveling around with a refrigerator stocked with cold refreshments, some snacks and food in the pantry, a TV and DVD and , of course, a full bathroom, is sure something we can’t do in the family SUV.
    Best yet, my Roadtrek eTrek gives me better fuel mileage than the SUV does.
    If you’ve been thinking about using your RV as a second vehicle, here are my top seven tips to make it easy.
    1- Be aware of your surroundings. Your RV is not only longer than most other vehicles, it’s taller, too. Look for low hanging limbs, utility wires, signs and the like. Don’t even think about parking garages. Yes, it can go just about anywhere. But it is not a car. I was using an alley that paralleled the main street of a downtown near my home the other day and would have taken out a whole string of overhead wires that were sagging low in the summer heat. Cars easily passed beneath them. My 10-foot high coach would have not been able to Limbo underneath them.
    2- In parking lots, choose the spaces that are at the ends of the lot, with nothing behind them except maybe a curb or six inch parking barrier. I always prefer to back in. Because the rear wheels of my Sprinter chassis are set back from the actual end of the coach I can back in a long way, until the wheels hit the barrier, I only stick out a little longer than the other vehicles next to me.
    3- Watch out for very steep driveways. Most Class Bs have a lot of stuff hanging off the rear. They are also longer. And thus steep driveways pose the risk of bumping or scraping your generator or hot water heater or, in the case of the eTrek, the battery holders.
    4- Be considerate. I seldom park horizontally on city streets. Yes, maybe, in some spots, I really can squeeze between the lines. But for those in front or behind me, it will be very challenging for them to get out. Or me, too, for that matter, should you be hemmed in at both ends. Similarly, don’t run your generator in crowded areas where the noise can really irritate folks.
    5- Watch out for potholes and broken pavement. City streets can be pretty messed up. And those streets can mess up your RV. A car can rattle over them pretty fast. A Class B RV sways and porpoises. Cabinets can pop open (don’t ask Jennifer about the stack of plates I broke on one such urban adventure). Bad roads are particularly bad for RVs when making sharp turns. Always take turns slowly at corners.
    6- Lock you RV. That seems pretty obvious, I know. But thieves know motorhomes are very expensive and thus, chances are they have expensive things inside them, too. Just as you probably have a security system for your family car, get one for your RV. Don’t leave your GPS suction cupped to your windshield. If you’re charging computers, cameras or cell phones inside the RV, hide them so no one can see be peering into a window. Think the inside is invisible because of window tinting? Think again. Put your face up to the glass and put a hand over your eyebrows to block reflection. You’ll learn that you can see pretty good.
    7- Be polite. You are an ambassador for roadtreking…for Class B RVing. The public is very curious about small motorhomes. It’s a very rare day that I am not asked about mine when I am in the city or a big parking lot. We gladly give tours. You don’t have to do that. But don’t be a snob, either. If you don’t want to talk about it, don’t drive it where people will naturally be attracted to it.
    There you go. What would you add to the above list?
  22. Roadtrekingmike
    We have discovered he one all important guiding principle that more than anything determines the success or failure of an RV trip: There needs to be a place for everything and everything should be in its place.
    When we first began our RV travels, we took everything. Sometimes two of everything. Both Jennifer and I were so paranoid that we left something behind that we overcompensated. Our little 24 foot Class B RV looked like a scene out of that Hoarders reality TV show, you know, the one where people life in houses so cluttered that they had to make tunnels to move between the piles of junk.
    We took too much food, too many clothes, too many folding chairs, too many pots, pans and utensils. I had tools of every size and shape, fishing stuff, two bicycles, snorkeling gear, beach towels, workout bags, a pile of books and all my computer, video and camera gear.
    We were bloated.
    It didn’t take long to realize that we were overcompensating for our lack of RV experience by overpacking.
    It took forever to load the RV for a trip and even longer to haul everything out when we returned home.
    Here’s how we uncluttered.
    The kitchen – We now take two plates, two cups, two glasses (plastic) and, on the rare occasions when you may have a guest, some paper plates. Same with utensils, which are supplemented by some plastic spoons, forks and knives. You don’t need place settings for six. As far as pots and pans, we bring one of each. We bring a small electric frying pan for cooking bacon and pancakes and a George Forman grill. We have a very small charcoal grill we sometimes pack in the storage area at the back. I have a small K-cup coffee maker.
    Food – The staples are pretty basic. Some olive oil, a jar of peanut butter, jam, bread, granola, yogurt, butter, crackers, cheese, meat, some fruit and some snacks. We eat a lot of salads. Jennifer will prepack the fixings in a zip lock bag at home and bring them. We take no more than a three day supply of food. Its easy and fun to shop locally on the road, getting fresh fruits and veggies. And we do eat out at local restaurants a lot. There is no better way to know an area than to eat where the locals do. We take along a case of bottled water, too, keeping it on one side of the bottom of an armoire we had installed.
    Clothing – We permanently keep jackets, sweats and one good outfit in the wardrobe closet. We bring sandals, hiking boots and a presentable pair of slip ons. Jennifer also brings house slippers. We keep them on the other side of the armoire bottom. We have both come to really appreciate the small little packing cubes called eBags. Click that link to see Jennifer demo them. We each bring two, mine is blue, Jen’s is red. We easily can get a five day supply of all the clothes we need in them. They fit in a rear overhead cabinet on the driver’s side of the coach.
    Hygiene and shower items – We permanently leave soap, bathroom supplies, hair brushes, toothbrushes and the like in the bathroom. A surprising amount fits in that pull out drawer. I found a little plastic dish and holder set that attaches to the wall above the sink by a suction cup to store bath items. I also have a small knapsack that has extra soap and shampoo and a pair of flip flops that I carry when using a shower at a campground bathhouse. It goes in with the shoes in the armoire for storage. Jennifer has a large tote bag with her stuff that also fits in the armoire.
    Bedding – We make our coach bed up into a king bed each night and put a four inch mattress topper on it that we picked up at Bed, Bath & Beyond a year or so ago. It is more comfortable than our Sleep Number bed at home. On top of that we put on the RV Superbag. Click that link and you’ll see Jennifer demonstrate it. It has a summer side, a winer side and luxuriously comfortable sheets that attach inside by Velcro. It’s expensive. But we have found it incredible comfortable. We keep the topper in the top storage cabinet across the back of our Roadtrek eTrek. It’s a tight squeeze but it fits. The RV Superbag is rolled up and goes in the armoire. We make up the bed each night and then put it away after we wake up. We like having the back area as a sofa/lounging area during the day.
    Tools – In the rear storage area beneath the bed, I carry one small toolbox. In it are screwdrivers, pliers, a small hatchet that can double as a hammer, duct take, a tube of sealant, a small bottle of Gorilla glue, scissors, a good pocketknife and probably some other little odds and ends. I keep the water hoses (two rolls of 25-foot white hose), electric hook up cables (two 25-foot lengths), a 50 to 30 amp adapter, a 25 foot 15-amp extension cord , a pair of gloves and my water filter in a large plastic storage bin I got at Lowes. Also in the back are some of those Lego-like leveling blocks, a fishing pole and small plastic tackle box, a ground cover for the patio area outside the sliding door, a small fold-up table and two Pico telescoping outdoor chairs.
    Computer and Photo gear – Basically, my still and video cameras, wireless microphones and their respective chargers and accessories all go in one large bag. It fits in the armoire. I have a backpack for my computer gear that fits atop the bag in the same place. I bring several very small, collapsible tripods.
    Storage drawer – In the armoire s a small storage drawer. In it I have flashlights, extra fuses, a small screwdriver with the square head used for most of the screws in my Roadtrek, a small pair of walkie-talkie two-way radios, pens, maps and little things.
    So that’s what we take with us. We leave as much as possible inside the coach when we’re home so we don’t have to keep loading and reloading the same things. Instead of a pile of books, we read them from Kindle on the iPad. We only take the bicycles when we know we’ll be doing a lot of cycling. Snorkel gear stays home, unless we absolutely know we will be snorkeling. Just because we could use it doesn’t meet the test we have set up for what to bring and what to leave: Take only what you are sure you will need. If in doubt, leave it home.
    Something else that is important that, if not adhered to, can really clutter up your RV: Don’t buy a lot of souvenirs while on the road. If you must, consider shipping such purchases to your home. If that’s not possible, make sure you have room for them to be stored away out of sight.
    When we are traveling, we have a rule that we both stick to religiously. When we are finished using it, we put it away. We always put it in the same place. I can’t over-emphasize the importance of that. I bought a bunch of stick-on hooks that I have affixed to various walls around the coach. We use them for sweatshirts, hats and the like. At night, we each have one hook that we use to hang the clothing we’ll put on the next morning.
    Everything has a place, and everything goes in that place and that place only.
    Organizational experts say that you should go through your home closet every year. Anything you haven’t used in the last six months should be discarded. When it comes to an RV, anything you didn’t use on your past trip should probably not be brought along on the next one.
    That’s our system, what works for us. I suppose it’s a reflection of our personality. Neither one of us can stand clutter. And with each trip, things seem to get more streamlined.
    I’d love to hear how you have uncluttered your RV. Use comments below to share.
  23. Roadtrekingmike
    Inevitably, if you do a lot of wilderness camping in your RV, you’re going to find yourself in bear country. It’s a sad fact of life that there are camping fatalities and injuries every year because of bear attacks and, during peak season, it's rare that at least one bear every week is not put down by game officials somewhere in North America because it strayed into a campground, usually because of irresponsible humans who left food out.
    When we were in Yellowstone National Park this summer, that’s what happened to a black bear drawn to a campsite by watermelon.
    If you travel with dogs, there can be other problems. Dogs antagonize bears, especially mother bears with cubs. You need to have your dog on a leash all the time its outside while you are in bear country.
    But despite the headlines and all the warning signs, bear incidents are really rare and hundreds of thousands of campers and RVers enjoy wilderness camping deep in bear country without even seeing a bear. But that doesn’t mean precautions should not be taken.
    Essentially, the bears most RVers will be near while wilderness camping are black bears and grizzlies. In Alaska and parts of far northern Canada, there are brown bears and, way north, polar bears. All bears must be considered dangerous. They are very powerful animals.
    Black bears are most common. Grizzlies will be found in the west and northwest. Many of our western national parks have both. We’ve encountered black bears in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Tennessee, Montana and Wyoming. We’ve seen grizzlies in Wyoming and Montana.
    We have never had an incident. But we take the rules very seriously.
    When you camp in bear country, you will almost always see campground signs advising you that bears are in the area. Most national and state forest campgrounds also provide bear proof steel boxes for food storage. Same with garbage disposal – there’s usually bear proof containers. If your are boondocking in true wilderness or backcountry, you need to be extra careful in storing food and trash.
    On our recent trip to Yellowstone, we had a black bear roaming about a meadow a hundred feet from where we were camped, Park workers were quick to arrive and began their normal hazing techniques, hollering and shouting and making a lot of noise to get the bear to move off. Wildlife managers told me they were worried the bear, who had been around for a couple of weeks, was becoming “habituated,” a term used used for a bear that had gotten used to being around people and does not respond to the presence of humans—they essentially ignore people but come closer and closer.
    This, the hazing, called “aversive conditioning,” is aimed at making it uncomfortable for the bear to get too close to people. Habituated bears are more likely to learn that human structures, automobiles, campsites, and populated areas are possible sources of food, thereby becoming “food conditioned.” Getting into improperly stored human “food” (trash, etc) even just once can start a bear down this path.
    Hazing makes a lot of noise. Sometimes, rangers will fire “poppers,” essentially loud firecrackers. They also can shoot the bear with “thumpers,” little beanbags that do no harm to an animal except startle them. Here’s a video shot at Yellowstone when a grizzly got too close to a group of people. You’ll hear the rangers tell everyone to get in their cars. Then they start yelling and firing poppers. The ‘griz ignored all of that. But the beanbag thumpers sent bim running.
    http://youtu.be/FYHwtcjHeUc
    As explained by the Sierra Club, a bear that has grown accustomed to human food may become aggressive toward people. If aversive conditioning techniques don’t work to break this cycle, and a bear continues to demonstrate aggressive behavior, resource managers are left no choice but to euthanize the bear. This cycle invariably begins with the unfortunate bear getting food from a careless or unknowing person.
    We don’t want to see bears get put down. And we don’t want bears to put people in danger. From the National Parks Service and the Colorado Parks and Wildlife department, I’ve compiled the following rules and suggestions for RVing in bear country.
    So here are the rules for camping in bear country:
    Never store food in or near your RV. After cooking and eating put all food inside.
    Keep the area clean. Be sure to wash dishes, dispose of garbage, and wipe down tables.
    Keep all items with strong odors (ie, toothpaste, bug repellent, soap, etc.) inside the RV and out of reach of bears or the bear-proof containers avialble at most campsites in bear country.
    Keep your dog on a leash or rope at all times. Never leave your dog outside at night while you sleep in the RV
    Close windows and lock your vehicle and RV when you leave your camp site and at night before you go to sleep.
    If a bear does come near your campsite and no rangers are around, get in your RV or vehicle, Yell at the bear. Honk the horn. Play loud music, bang pots and pans. Do not try to approach it.
    If you will be spending time in bear country, get a can of bear spray. Bear spray is a super-concentrated, highly irritating pepper spray proven to be more effective than firearms at deterring bears.

    Most bear encounters do not happen in campgrounds. They happen in the backcountry while people are hiking.
    You should never hike alone. Two or three people are best.
    Bears will usually move out of the way if they hear people approaching, so make noise. Most bells are not enough. Calling out and clapping hands loudly at regular intervals are better ways to make your presence known. Hiking quietly endangers you, the bear, and other hikers. A bear constantly surprised by quiet hikers may become habituated to close human contact and less likely to avoid people. This sets up a dangerous situation for both visitors and bears.
    General hiking precautions in bear country:
    Tracks, bear scat, and shredded logs are all signs you’re in bear country.
    Be alert at all times, and leave your headphones at home. Be extra cautious at dawn and dusk, when the wind is in your face, visibility is limited or you’re walking by a noisy stream. A firm clap or quick shout warns bears that humans are in the area.
    In late summer and fall, bears need to forage up to 20 hours a day, so avoid trails that go through berry patches, oak brush and other natural food sources.
    Keep dogs leashed; explor­ing canines can surprise a bear. Your dog could be injured, or come run­ning back to you with an irritated bear on its heels. Many National and State Parls prohibit dogs i=on hiking trails.
    Keep chil­dren between adults, and teach them what to do if they see a bear. Don’t let them run ahead or fall behind.
    Double bag food, and never leave any trash or leftovers behind. Finding treats teaches bears to as­sociate trails with food.
    Never approach bears or offer food. If you’re lucky enough to see a bear, watch from a safe distance and enjoy this very special experience. If your presence causes the bear to look up or change its behavior in any way, you’re too close.

    If you do encounter a bear:
    Stand still, stay calm and quietly back away leave. Do not make aggressive eye contact. Talk in a normal tone of voice. Be sure the bear has an escape route.
    Never run or climb a tree.
    If you see cubs, their mother is usually close by. Leave the area immediately.
    If a bear stands up, it is just trying to identify what you are by getting a better look and smell.
    Wave your arms slowly overhead and talk calmly. If the bear huffs, pops it jaws or stomps a paw, it wants you to give it space.
    Step off the trail to the downhill side, keep looking at the bear and slowly back away until the bear is out of sight.

    If the bear approaches:
    A bear knowingly approaching a person could be a food-conditioned bear looking for a handout or, very rarely, an aggressive bear. Stand your ground. Yell or throw small rocks in the direction of the bear.
    Get out your bear spray and use it when the bear is about 40 feet away.
    If you’re attacked, don’t play dead. Fight back with anything available. People have successfully defended them­selves with pen knives, trekking poles, and even bare hands.

  24. Roadtrekingmike
    Who says small motorhomes are only made for small vacations?
    In an effort to prove that the small motorhome lifestyle is very conductive to large family vacations, I’ll be turning a summer road trip into an RV caravan that my family and I are calling the “Great Roadtreking Family Vacation of 2013”
    It’s set to kick off Saturday, August 3, 2013. The road trip will consist of six adults, two kids and three dogs and we will travel through Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona.
    What will be a first on this RV trip for me and Jennifer, is that they we will use our 2012 Roadtrek eTrek to tow a 21-foot long 2014 Gulf Stream AmeriLite Super Lite travel trailer we just purchased from American RV in Grand Rapids, MI. A real advantage to the Roadtrek is that it is small enough to travel to remote destinations, but it is also powerful enough to pull behind a trailer for a larger family vacation.
    Our daughter, Wendy Bowyer, son-in-law Dan Bowyer and two granddaughters, Hua Hua, 10, and Rachel, 7 will be calling the Gulf Stream trailer home for the nest three weeks
    Following behind in a 2010 Roadtrek we borrowed from Roadtrek friends will be our son, Jeff and his wife Aimee. Jeff is a website developer and helps to manage this Roadtreking blog. He’ll be assisting in posting videos, photos and daily accounts of the trip for blog readers and social media sites.
    “There are a lot of people who travel in Roadtreks who wish they could take their whole family,” says American RV General Manager Chad Neff, of Grand Raids, MI, who sold us the travel trailer. “But they forget that a Roadtrek , can tow a full-fledged travel trailer. They can easily pull 5,000 pounds. That means Roadtrek owners can take another family with them.”
    The idea of pulling a travel trailer came about when Jim Hammill, Roadtrek’s president, told me that if I wanted to show the country to family, I should tow a travel trailer.
    I never thought I’d be buying a travel trailer. Originally, I planned to rent one. But when I called American RV, they offered me such a good deal on a brand new one that I couldn’t resist. Besides my two granddaughters, I have four grandsons down in Georgia. I can take them along on other trips. As I checked around, I was amazed how today’s travel trailers are so amazingly lightweight. The unit we bought weighs just 2,800 pounds and will sleep up to five people.
    I just hook up and go. Our Roadtrek is perfect for my wife and I and the dog but we always wished we could take the family. Now we can.
    Some of the specific destinations the Roadtreking vacation tour will include are Colorado Springs, Mesa Verde National Park, Telluride, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Colorado River State park and the Rocky Mountain National Park. We’re also keeping a few days open for any sites that they learn about on the way or from recommendations from the readers of the this blog.
    Our travel trailer purchase coincides with a huge boom in RV sales across North America as retiring baby boomers and young families discover the freedom of recreational vehicle travel. Through the midway point of 2013, RV wholesale shipments tracked by the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association climbed to 174,871 units – a 12.8 percent increase from the same point in 2012.
    Shipments in motorhomes jumped from 14,576 units in June 2012 to 19,425 units in June 2013. Even towable trailers grew from 140,412 units to 155,446 units, a 10.7 percent bump.
    I’ll have a video later this week that shows off the travel trailer. And daily reports from The Great Roadtreking Family Vacation of 2013 will start Friday.
  25. Roadtrekingmike
    Every week we get at least one question about how we use technology while traveling. In this edition of How We Roll in our RV, you get to see the way I stay connected all the time. Updating this blog, our Facebook Page and Facebook Group, plus the newsletter, means I need a reliable connection to the Internet.
    I’ve written before about my tech gear and the the MiFi card I use from Verizon Wireless to create a 4G network in my Roadtrek Class B motorhome. And a few weeks ago, I added a cell phone booster. This report shows you the extended length magnetic antenna I recently upgraded to, how I stuck it up on the roof and how I handle all the gizmos that need charging.
    Jennifer talks about her main tech activity, too.
    We’d love to hear how you use tech.
    I’ll do a future episode on the new apps I’m using with my new cell phone.

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