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Roadtrekingmike

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Blog Entries posted by Roadtrekingmike

  1. Roadtrekingmike
    I’m not going to lie to you. We didn’t sleep in the Roadtrek eTrek last night.
    We spent the night in a motel in Escanaba, at the far western end of the Lower Peninsula’s northern Lake Michigan shoreline. I suppose if I looked around long enough I would have found a place to camp. But all the state and federal forests where we normally boondock up here in the UP were all but inaccessible because of unplowed roads.
    Somebody told me there was an Indian casino a dozen miles out of town but they were unsure whether they allowed overnight RV camping. So when we saw a nice looking Budget 8 that was dog-friendly and had reasonable rates, hey, we took it.
    But while we were in our room, we kept the eTrek’s diesel-powered Webasto heater running all night, so our food and water inside it wouldn’t freeze. And when I opened it up this morning to re-load the stuff we took into our motel room, it was a very comfortable 60 degrees in the eTrek.
    That’s pretty good, considering the outside temperature dropped to -12F/-24C overnight. But that’s nothing compared to where we’re going, north of Duluth, MN where, Monday morning from about 3 a.m. until noon, I’ll be volunteering as an amateur radio operator providing communications for the Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon. At the crossing I’ll be stationed at near Finland, MN, the predicted temperature at that time will be -26F/-32C. I will be in the eTrek, as will Jennifer and Tai. So this brief motel lollygagging won’t last once the race starts Sunday afternoon in Duluth.

    Our drive to Escanaba was about 428 miles and took more about nine hours. Roads were slick and messy downstate and the air was so cold the washer solvent kept freezing on the windshield. All the extreme cold has made for lots of potholes in Michigan and one of them dislodged a hubcap from my passenger side dualies. It was lost somewhere back along the snow banks that line the interstate.
    But it was a beautiful day with clear blue skies for almost the entire trip. Crossing the Mackinac Bridge offered spectacular views of the frozen Straits of Mackinac where Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron. Just as darkness set in a couple hours later, snow squalls started up. We found a great restaurant, Buck’s Inn, just on the edge of Escanaba and after a nice dinner, we were ready to call it a night.
    It is frightfully cold. Even Tai didn’t want to linger last night when I took him out to make yellow snow. I saw a grove of pine trees and some woods that I thought would be a good spot for his other functions but, no way, he wasn’t having any part of it. Back to the warmth he tugged me on his leash.
    During the drive up, I used Google Glass as a reporting tool to record my point of view and a windshield-mounted Go Pro Hero 3+ to get Jennifer and I inside the Roadtrek. Hope the audio isn’t too bad. I think I can improve that in future reports.
    But it was fun to shoot the video … taking you along as we rushed north into the embrace of the arctic vortex.

    Along U.S. 2 on the northern shoreline of Lake Michigan in the Upper Peninsula

    I lost a hubcap from one of Michigan’s nefarious potholes.
  2. Roadtrekingmike
    What a winter this has been. The arctic vortex or whatever we call the cold air that has been making repeated appearances throughout the Upper Midwest has kept many an RVer housebound before the fireplace.
    Not us. We’re about to head up to Northern Minnesota along the Lake Superior northern shore where the temperature is expected to be -26F/-32C.
    I wrote about it earlier when the bitter cold forecast was causing our plans to waver. Many of you offered advice. Most said don’t go. Some said head south instead.
    Two or three said, follow the call of the north.
    So, we are. Adventure and the sheer challenge of it all has us packing parkas, boots and long Johns and ready to head out on the morning this post goes live.
    But, with so many suggesting caution, I thought I’d get some expert advice on how our Roadtek eTrek, powered by Mercedes on the Sprinter chassis, would handle the cold and what, if anything, I needed to do differently when operating it under such extreme conditions.
    So I headed to Hoekstra Specialty Vehicles in Troy, MI, one of the Midwest’s biggest Sprinter dealers. On the morning I drove my eTrek to them the temperature in my driveway was -14F/-25C.

    The above video gives you the details. Bottom line, I need to make sure the glow plugs have warmed up. That means turning the key without starting and waiting for the little pigtail-like icon on the dash goes away. As far as special fuel, Sprinter service expert Josh Biscarner tells me I need not do a thing, that the winter diesel blends are fine. Josh gives lots of advice in the video for you Sprinter users.
    So, off we go – Jennifer, me and Tai, our Norwegian Elkhound. Look for videos and posts as we head up I-75 to the Mackinac Bridge, then over to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and west through the Up to Wisconsin and then on to Duluth, our first stop on a trip that will eventually take us to the Canadian border.
    Yes, we do intend to spend a couple of nights in the Roadtrek boondocking in the wilderness.
    This is going to be fun!

    The glowplug icon is the curly little “pigtail.” In extreme cold turn the key to the on position, wait till the glowplug light goes out, then start the engine.
  3. Roadtrekingmike
    I am beginning to have some serious doubts about the wisdom of taking our Roadtrek eTrek to the wilderness of Northern Minnesota next week to report on a dog sled marathon from Duluth to the Canadian border. The long term weather forecast predicts lows of -20F/-28C along the Northern Shore of Lake Superior, where we would be boondocking with no outside power.
    I had really looked forward to this but it seems foolhardy to do camp out under such extreme cold. We handled -5F/-20C last year in February in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula but we had commercial power there and ran a small ceramic heater in addition to our on-board Webasto heater. Since we would be boondocking in Minnesota with no shore power, that ceramic heater would be too much of a battery drain in such cold running all through the night.
    Besides, we had a pipe freeze at our sticks and bricks home home during the last cold spell of a week ago. We were fortunately home and were able to get it thawed out without it bursting by hooking up space heaters but if that happened while we were on a trip, I hate to think of the damage we would have had.
    That predicted -20F/-28C up in Minnesota is the real temp. The wind chill would make it even colder!
    The place where we would be boondocking is several miles from civilization at a road crossing/check point for the mushers. I was going to help with the amateur radio setup I have in my Roadtrek to report on the teams and their times as they passed the checkpoint. The location is so remote there is no mobile phone coverage.
    I just mentioned the possibility of canceling to Jennifer and she is voicing no objections. In fact I think she’s secretly hoping for that decision. Those temps are even too cold for Tai, our Norwegian Elkhound.
    Haven’t made a decision yet… but good grief…that is REALLY cold.
    What do you think? Should I go or cancel this one?
    How cold is too cold?
  4. Roadtrekingmike
    Every place, it seems, has its own ghosts and mysteries. So it is just north of the tiny Upper Peninsula town of Watersmeet where, for generations, people have gathered at the end of a gravel road to watch some mystery lights.
    The lights appear nightly, year round near a crossroads community called Paulding. The first reported sightings were back in the 1960s and various investigations have been inconclusive, though a university team from a Michigan Technological University claimed the lights were from cars on a distant road and that they seemed to grow brighter and closer because of refraction. The Syfy Channel did its own paranormal investigation and said they could not find a scientific explanation.

    Whatever, the Paulding Light is fraught with many different legends, the most popular appears to be the death of a railroad brakeman. The legend states that the valley once contained railroad tracks and the light is the lantern of the brakeman who was killed while attempting to stop an oncoming train from colliding with railway cars stopped on the tracks. Another story claims the light is the ghost of a slain mail courier, while another says that it is the ghost of an Indian dancing on the power lines that run through the valley.
    There’s even an official US Forest Service marker at the site marking the spot. The light typically becomes visible an hour or so after sunset.
    I spent an entire night there a few years back on assignment for the Detroit Free Press, meeting people who had come from a wide region of Northwestern Michigan and Eastern Wisconsin and interviewing local people.
    Check out the video and you can see the lights yourself…. and what I think they are.
    There’s lots of RV camping nearby in state and federal forests.

  5. Roadtrekingmike
    Anticipation, they say, is half the fun.
    I think there’s a point there. Thinking, planning, dreaming and looking forward to the next trip is indeed pretty exciting.
    And as Jennifer and I look at the calendar, we have a lot of miles we’ll be traveling in some pretty diverse places.
    Here’s what’s on our Roadtreking road map for the next month:
    Northern Minnesota – A Jan. 23-29th winter camping trip to Duluth, MN via Michigan’s UP from, and then north to the Canadian border as we do reporting for the annual 400-mile Beargrease Dog Sled Marathon. It’s going to be cold and snowy. Already they have three-foot-plus on the ground up there. But who says you can’t camp in the winter?

    Punxsutawney, Pa. – From Jan.28-Feb 2, our Roadtrek eTrek will take us to Gobbler’s Nob in the tiny town of Punxsutawney,PA to witness if Phil the Groundhog sees his shadow on Feb. 2 and whether we will have six more weeks of winter. This is an elaborate event and I’ve always wanted to see this, ever since I saw the Bill Murray movie. So this year, we’ll be there.

    West Virgiania and Ohio – From Feb 3-5, we have stories to do about technology and the Internet in West Virginia and southwest Ohio. I’ll let you know the specifics later but we’re taking the Roadtrek. Then it’s back home for a few days

    Mississippi – We’ll be in Gautier, MS Feb. 21-24 enjoying SMOKIN’ ON THE BAYOU, a special pre-Mardi Gras Roadtreking event organized by Paul Konowalchuk Pogorzelski, who promises some great Bar-B-Que with a group of other Roadtrekers, They tell me the whole region down there in bayou country celebrates Mardi Gras from late Feb through the official March 4 big day in New Orleans and Pogo has a bunch of activities planned. You can find him on our Facebook group if you want details.

    Florida or Texas – As Bob Seger sings in Roll Me Away, after Pogo’s gathering , Jennifer and I could go east (to the Florida sun) or west (towards the Texas Hill Country). It’s all up to us to decide. We haven’t figured out which way or for how long we’ll go…. only that we’ll go.

  6. Roadtrekingmike
    If you’re like me and the pounds have been hard to get off lately, maybe you have sitting disease.
    Yes, there really is such an disease. And it’s reached epidemic proportions, linked to all sorts of other ailments, the first and foremost of which is obesity.
    Blame it on our sedentary lifestyle. Our desk-bound working days. Our computer and Internet use. TV watching But the fact is, the average American these days sits — at a desk, in the car or RV, on a couch – eight to 10 hours every day. Sitting. Planted. Not moving. A thick and growing-thicker-by-the-day body of medical research is documenting terrible health effects from all this.
    I am always at the computer, blogging, updating social media. But added to that is all the time I have spend driving by RV over the past couple of years. Last year, I drove 35,000 miles across North America, doing stories about the interesting people and places encountered.
    Many days, I was behind the wheel 12 hours, only to stop for the night and sit right back down to edit video and write a story for the blog.
    You still may be laughing at the term “sitting disease.” Don’t. No less an authority than the Mayo Clinic talks about it.
    The experts are seriously concerned about the problem. That’s because when you sit for an long periods of time – over four hours – your body literally starts to shut down at the metabolic level, according to Marc Hamilton, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Missouri. It gets worse. When muscles — especially the big ones meant for movement, like those in your legs — are immobile, your circulation slows and you burn fewer calories.
    That would be cause enough to gain weight.
    But as it turns out, sitting so long and so much does even more to those trying to lose weight and get in shape. Key fat-burning enzymes responsible for breaking down triglycerides (a type of fat) simply start switching off. Sit for a full day and those fat burners plummet by 50 percent, says says James Levine,M.D., Ph.D., of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and author of Move a Little, Lose a Lot.
    It gets even worse. The more you sit, the less blood sugar your body uses, meaning those sugars store as fat. Medical research research shows that for every two hours spent sitting per day per day, your chance of getting diabetes goes up by 7 percent. Your risk for heart disease goes up, too, because enzymes that keep blood fats in check are inactive. You’re also more prone to depression because with less blood flow, mood-enhacing hormones are getting to your brain.
    “For people who sit most of the day, their risk of heart attack is about the same as smoking,” says Martha Grogan, cardiologist, Mayo Clinic. Sitting for four or more hours a day has about the same adverse effect on your health as smoking a pack and a half of cigarettes every day.
    Yuck.
    Sitting disease even blunts the good effects of exercise. “We’ve become so sedentary that 30 minutes a day at the gym may not counteract the detrimental effects of 8, 9 or 10 hours of sitting,” says another researcher, Genevieve Healy, PhD.
    So, what to do about it?
    Standing every hour, moving around a bit, stretching, working standing up, walking around. Those same studies show that just short little two-minute standing breaks can counteract the effects of sitting in dramatic ways. Some people use stand-up desks.
    So, as far as sitting disease goes, I’m going to stand for it. Throughout the day. When I’m driving, we’ll stop every hour and a half or two at the most and get up and get out of the RV and move around.
    I’ll let you know how it goes. And for the record, I’m standing now as I type this.
  7. Roadtrekingmike
    My Roadtrek has been encased in ice and snow for the better part of a week now with several days of subzero temperatures. Inside, shielded from the wind with the sun helping to mitigate the extreme outdoor temperature, it was about 15 degrees.
    So, I got to wondering, how long will it take to warm it up, if, indeed such a thing was possible?
    Slipping on my boots, a parka and my fuzzy warm hat with ear flaps, I donned my Google Glass and set out to video a first-person experiment.

    Everything on the video above was shot with Google Glass, a wearable computer that does video and still photography from the user’s point-of-view, as well as a gazillion other cool things. If you are on the geek and nerd side and want to know more about Google Glass, here’s a post I did on it on my PC Mike Tech Blog. But my interest in Glass for this blog is to take POV videos like this.
    The Webasto heater that my Roadtrek eTrek uses has impressed me before. But on this day, with an outdoor temperature of -12, it really proves its power.
    So come along with me to snowy Michigan and click on the video to see for yourself just how fast that cold can be chased away.

    It's cold up here!
  8. Roadtrekingmike
    All the winter storm advisories, alerts, watches and warnings that we’ve had lately can be confusing.
    The National Weather Service does a great job of disseminating weather predictions but sometimes it can be hard to know just what is what.
    So, for your future reference, here’s a weather lingo tutorial.
    Weather watches
    A watch means conditions are right for dangerous weather. In other words, a “watch” means watch out for what the weather could do, be ready to act.
    For events that come and go quickly, such as severe thunderstorms, tornadoes or flash floods, a watch means that the odds are good for the dangerous weather, but it’s not yet happening.
    For longer-lived events, such as hurricanes or winter storms, a watch means that the storm isn’t an immediate threat.
    For either kind of event, a watch means you should keep up with the weather and be ready to act.

    When a severe thunderstorm, tornado or flash flood watch is in effect, it means you should watch the sky for signs of dangerous weather. Sometimes a severe thunderstorm, a tornado or a flash flood happens so quickly that warnings can’t be issued in time. Many areas don’t have civil-defense sirens or other warning methods. People who live near streams that quickly reach flood levels should be ready to flee at the first signs of a flash flood.
    Hurricane or winter storm watches mean it’s time to prepare by stocking up on emergency supplies and making sure you know what to do if a warning is issued. For those who live near the ocean, a hurricane watch may mean it’s time to prepare for evacuation.
    Weather warnings
    A warning means that the dangerous weather is threatening the area.
    For severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and flash floods, a warning means the event is occurring. Since tornadoes are small – a half-mile wide tornado is considered huge – a tornado will miss many more buildings that it hits in the area warned.
    Still, a tornado warning means be ready to take shelter immediately if there are any indications a tornado is approaching. Severe thunderstorms are larger, maybe 10 or 15 miles across.
    A hurricane warning means either evacuate or move to safe shelter.
    A winter storm warning means it’s not safe to venture out. If traveling, head for the nearest shelter.
    How weather alerts are issued
    Before watches and warnings are issued, the National Weather Service, private forecasters, newspapers, radio and television normally try to alert the public to potential weather dangers.
    Often, forecasters begin issuing bulletins on hurricanes and winter storms three or four days before the storm hits.
    But forecasters can’t issue alerts for the danger of severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and flash floods that far ahead. Usually, the Storm Prediction Center sends out alerts the day before dangerous weather is likely. Most television weathercasters highlight these alerts on the evening news the day before threatening weather.
    Weather radio
    A weather radio is one of the best ways to stay tuned-in to dangerous weather. These radios receive broadcasts from the National Weather Service. The broadcasts are from weather service offices.
    Broadcasts include ordinary forecasts of several kinds, including for boating, farming, traveling and outdoor recreation as well as general forecasts for the area.
    The stations immediately broadcast all watches and warnings. Some weather radios have a feature that turn on the radio automatically when a watch or warning is broadcast. Such “tone alert” weather radios are highly recommended for places where large numbers of people could be endangered by tornadoes or flash floods. These include schools, nursing homes, shopping center security offices, hospitals, and recreation areas such as swimming pools.
  9. Roadtrekingmike
    We’ve been riding hard up I75 today, trying to get to our southeastern Michigan home before yet another big winter snowstorm dumps another predicted foot.
    All the way north, traffic has been unusually heavy in both directions. Lots of other northbounders are returning from long holiday breaks. The southbounders seem downright frantic, fleeing the cold. I’m fighting a strong urge not to turn around.
    Early afternoon, I did an mobile phone interview from the road with the Internet adviser show on WJR Radio in Detroit. The guys asked me abuit my roadreking life and how I use technology to blog and stay connected as I post stories via the Internet.
    In northern Kentucky at Exit 154 we met up with Mike and Marsha Neundorfer of Advanced RV, a Type B motorhome manufacturer that builds luxury custom-designed coaches on the Mercedes Sprinter chassis. We ate at a Mexican restaurant and spent two-and-a-half hours talking RVs. The Neuendorfers are on their way to Florida and the big RV Supershow in Tampa next week.
    They were driving a 2014 Ocean One coach, equipped with a state-of-the-art suspension system built by a Dutch company called VB-Airsuspension. It supposedly provides a smoother, more stable ride and increased safety compared with the Sprinter stock suspension and is already installed on 10,000 Sprinters in Europe.
    Mike and Marsha said this was their first road test of the system and they said, based on therir drive so far down from the company headquarters near Cleveland, they were very impressed with how easy it made the ride, particularly for anyone who would choose to stretch out in the back for a nap while someone else drives.
    We toured their unit and they toured our 2013 Roadtrek eTrek and we had a throughly delightful visit, reminding Jennifer and I again how the Class B motorhome community shares a special camaraderie made possible by the versatility and mobility our our touring coaches.
    Eventually the Neuendorfers headed off towards the Florida sun and we resumed our journey north into gathering dark clouds.
    This latest storm is expected to hit tonight. We’re hoping we are safe in the driveway before conditions get dicey. Guess that means no leisurely stop for dinner. We’ll make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as we keep pushing north.
    Glad we had that Mexican lunch.
  10. Roadtrekingmike
    We visit Southwest Georgia about every two months, and have been for about ten years now. The big attraction for us is that thus is where our son and his family live but besides that, we have found lots to recommend here to RVers looking for a great place to get away from the RV travel routine and connect with the true deep south.
    In the winter, the sun shines most of the time and daytime temps in the 60s are pretty normal. Sometimes even in the 70s. They have to start cutting the grass in March. In the summer, well, it’s a different story, with high heat, humidity and gnats. My suggestion is to avoid the summer. Fall, winter and spring are your best times t visit.
    Down here, it’s y’all and sure nuff and the kids say yes sir and yes m’aam and Southern hospitality is a character trait so regularly practiced that it becomes contagious to outsiders. People are polite, friendly and aren’t afraid to smile at strangers. Every time we leave here we find ourselves wondering why people are so much ruder and cruder up north. The south has a way of mellowing us out. And we now need regular fixes.
    There are two big attractions down here that also make this part of the country a great RV destination. Nature and history.
    Southwest Georgia is heavily agricultural, with peanuts and cotton the top crops. But it also has some great fishing and hunting and is home to one of the nation’s most impressive historical sites.
    As the Family Motorcoach Association plans its 89th annual Family Reunion and Motorcoach Showcase for March 17-20th in nearby Perry, Ga (about an hour to the northeast), the area we visit near the towns of Albany and Leesburg would make great day trips or, better yet, a trip lasting a couple of days.
    Albany is known as the Quail Capital of America and it is home to a wide variety of sprawling plantations specializing in quail hunts. I’ve been on a couple of them now, the most recent just this week when we hunted the 2,000 acre Wynfield Plantation. If you are a wingshooter, the scrub pines and fields around Albany offer pristine quail country and there is probably nowhere else in North America that offers better hunts in better conditions. The dogs and the guides and the gear these plantations offer are superb. Alas, this year’s season ends Feb. 28th so those RVers coming to Perry won’t be able to hunt.
    But they will be able to take advantage of the history.
    For that, a must visit is to Andersonville, and the National Historic Site that is made up by the Camp Sumter military prison. Andersonville was one of the largest Confederate military prisons during the Civil War. During the 14 months the prison existed, more than 45,000 Union soldiers were confined here. Of these, almost 13,000 die. Today, Andersonville National Historic Site is a memorial to all American prisoners of war throughout the nation’s history.
    Andersonville National Historic Site began as a stockade built about 18 months before the end of the U.S. Civil War to hold Union Army prisoners captured by Confederate soldiers. Located deep behind Confederate lines, the 26.5-acre Camp Sumter (named for the south Georgia county it occupied) was designed for a maximum of 10,000 prisoners. At its most crowded, it held more than 32,000 men, many of them wounded and starving, in horrific conditions with rampant disease, contaminated water, and only minimal shelter from the blazing sun and the chilling winter rain. Those who died in the prison were buried in a cemetery created just outside the prison walls.
    Andersonville National Historic Site comprises three distinct components: the former site of Camp Sumter military prison, theAndersonville National Cemetery, and the National Prisoner of War Museum, which opened in 1998 to honor all U.S. prisoners of war in all wars.
    Andersonville is one of the most impressive places I have visited. The history is deep and rich and I would recommend a stop here to anyone. The park grounds are open daily from 8:00 am until 5:00 p.m. EST. There are numerous special events held throughout the year at the park and in the nearby town of Andersonville, which has a Civil War Village.
    Andersonville is about a 30 minute drive northeast of Albany.
    Southwest Georgia also has another history connection. The quint little town of Plains, just west of Andrsonville, is the home of former President Jimmy Carter. There’s an historic site there honoring him. He still lives in the area and is often seen on the streets, and he still teaches Sunday School several times a year at the Maranatha Baptist Church, which welcomes visitors.
    If fishing is your thing, try the 20-mile long Lake Blackshear, a man made lake on the Flint River, north of Leesburg. It’s a great place for Large Mouth Bass.
    As to where to stay in Southwest, GA, there are several RV parks listed but the only one I can recommend is the campground at Chehaw Park, a 700 acre wild animal zoo and conservation area in Albany. Chehaw has 44 RV sites with 30 and 50 amp hookups, 14 pull-through sites, a comfort station with laundry, dump station and a group shelter. There are 18 tent sites with 15-amp electric hookups and water. Camper cabins are also available.
    Southwest Georgia offers a lot to the RVer. It’s only an 90 mile drive to the Florida panhandle and the beaches of the Emerald Coast. I’d suggest a long weekend to take in all that is offered.

    Peanuts are a big crop down here.

    Cotton is king in SW Georgia.

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

    The Anderson National Cemetery
  11. 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.
  12. Roadtrekingmike
    Happy New Year!
    Like many we’ve been reflecting a lot on the places we’ve been and the people we met in 2013. We’ve even drawn up a tentative travel schedule of our planned travel destinations for the new year.
    But I’ve also come up with some new goals, above and beyond the specifics of where and when we’ll go. I call it my Roadtreking self improvement list.
    Here are the things I want to learn or do better with in 2014:
    1) Stop, look and listen more – Last year was a crazy year, travel wise. We covered over 35,000 miles in our Roadtrek eTrek, criss-crossing North America. While we loved every mile, I have to conceded that we missed a lot. Sometimes I was so focused on where I was headed that I missed things I should have noticed where I was at. I want to slow down, stay longer and more throughly investigate the places we visit. There is no hurry.
    2) Take more and better photos – I think I’ll take a photo class this new year. I want to learn more about light and composition and wildlife photography. Same with video and video editing. Most of my skills I picked up as a television and newspaper reporter., on deadline, covering time sensitive news stories. I want to follow along and learn from some of the amazing photographers I’ve met this year. And I want to tell more stories with stills.
    3) Read and learn more about the history of the places we visit – Every town has a local history book at the library, a local historian who we can contact to understand what makes the locale unique. The places we visit all have a story to tell and coming to understand that story and use it in enriching the stories I’m telling will be part of my journalistic due diligence this year.
    4) Eat better and exercise more – Travel can wreak havoc on our health. We will prepare more of our meals from fresh, healthy whole foods and local veggies and produce in our RV kitchenthis year, instead if eating out. We will avoid at all costs fast food from the chains. I will bring bicycles with us on our trips and we will cycle, hike, kayak and workout in some way every day, no matter where we are, doing something to be physically active to work up a fat-burning sweat.
    5) Do more RV mods and maintenance – Inspired by Roadtreking friends like Campskunk and Roger and Lynn Brucker, I will learn more about simple mechanical and fix-it ways I can keep our RV running great. I will also look at ways to maximize interior space through DIY projects. Along with these, I will learn more about how the various components work and what I can do to make them keep working.
    How about you? What are your RV goals for 2014?
  13. Roadtrekingmike
    I’ve messed around with some low end flying helicopters before and found them to be lots of fun. But I’ve just, gulp, added a big ticket item to my photographic and video arsenal of tools to be used while Roadtreking: A Phantom 2 drone.
    I’ll be using it for AVC, or aerial video cinematography. It’s really a flying machine, a quadricopter, with four opposing blades sending it up and our as far as a kilometer (3,240 feet) from where I’m standing with the controller.

    The unit I bought carries with it a GoPro Hero 3 camera to record high definition video and stills. It transmits those images back to a monitor attached to the controller on the ground so I can see what the GoPro sees from way up there. It also has a gimbal, which holds the camera level in flight, allowing those spectacular images to be steady and clear.
    I posted a short blurb on Facebook the other day that I got one and I received all sorts of unexpected interest from readers. So I put together the accompanying video. If you’re not interested in the technical stuff, just fast forward to the last couple of minutes to see the aerial video. It was a very gray and cold day in Michigan and those specs of white you see when it was way up there are snow flurries. It wasn’t snowing at ground level. But it was up there.
    I plan to use my Phantom 2 to supplement the regular videos and photos I do for this blog as we travel around the country reporting about the interesting people and places we find on the road as part of the small motorhome RV lifestyle. Can’t wait until I get somewhere with blue skies and sunshine.
    There are lots of these kind of quadricopters out there and I looked at several, finally deciding on the Phantom because it seems to be the most popular and affordable among professional photographers and filmmakers. There are several different Phantom models, all made in China by an outfit known as DJI. They are available through a worldwide network of dealers and hobby shops and also on Amazon.
    The entry-level model is the Phantom 1, which comes with a holder for the camera and the controller. Amazon sells it for $479. You need your own GoPro.
    There is also the Phantom 2 Vision, which sells for $1,208 on Amazon. It comes with it’s own camera.
    The unit I bought is the brand new Phantom 2, which, at $869 is said to be ready to fly. You provide the Go Pro Hero 3 camera, but it has the customized DJI Zenmuse H3-2D gimbal to hold it steady. The Phantom 2 only works with the Go Pro Hero 3. Previous versions don’t connect to it or fit the Zenmuse.
    Besides the GoPro and the Zenmuse gimbal. I added an FPV (First Person Video) system that lets me see what the camera sees via a special seven-inch color monitor that attaches to the controller. When the drone is out there past 1,000 feet or so, it’s often pretty hard to see it with the naked eye. That’s where FPV comes in handy.
    I have to warn you, despite the manufacturer’s claim that the Phantom 2 is ready to fly out of the box, it really isn’t. Assembling all this and getting it synchronized and tuned is not for the faint hearted. I hired a guy named Zac Davis, who just opened a business called drone-works.com in New York, to assemble and build up my system. Zac builds drone systems for police and fire agencies and really knows his stuff. He put everything together for me, making sure it worked just right. Then he talked me through on the phone on how to assemble it, update the software and firmware and set up and follow the proper pre-flight check list The extra setup and assembly fee he charged to get everything right was well worth it to me. If Zac’s website is not up and running when you check (he was just setting it up when I bought from him), you can reach him through Facebook or the DJI Owners group on Facebook, which is a great resource for more information about drones and the Phantom system.
    This is going to be a lot of fun. Thought Jennifer just shook her head and said something like “Boys and their toys,” when I came gushing in from my first flight to tell her about it, I must stress that this is not a toy. It takes lots of practice to fly it well and with confidence and because it has such a long range, you need to be very aware of your surroundings and what may be in its flight path or what is on the ground below. Thus, it should not be flown over crowds.
    Flying time is advertised at about 20 minutes. In the cold, and with the FPV system and the Zenmuse gimbal adding extra weight and battery drain, I got a little over 15 minutes of flight time. I have an extra battery so it’s pretty easy to bring it down, change out the batteries and send it up again.
    Some very cool safety features are built in. For example, I prefer flying mine in GPS mode. That means it locks in to as many as eight different satellites orbiting the earth. The Phantom “talks” to those satellites and thus knows its exact GPS position at all time. If the battery fails or the connection between the controller and the drone is interrupted, it is programmed to automatically fly right back to my location and safely land. There are advanced modes it can fly in as well, that offer more precise control to those who are experienced in its operation. My skill set isn’t there yet. I’m sticking with GPS mode.
    Practice makes perfect will be my motto for a few weeks.
    Everything stows away snug and secure and fits in the ToughCase XR2 padded case I bought from a company named Tradecraft. The case was made for the Phantom 1 system but a sharp knife let me adjust the case openings to fit the Phantom 2 gear.
    I’ll be taking it everywhere, so look for some fun video as we head out Roadtreking in 2014.

    My DJI Phanom 2 drone

    The first flight…the view over my house
  14. Roadtrekingmike
    I’ve messed around with some low end flying helicopters before and found them to be lots of fun. But I’ve just, gulp, added a big ticket item to my photographic and video arsenal of tools to be used while Roadtreking: A Phantom 2 drone.
    I’ll be using it for AVC, or aerial video cinematography. It’s really a flying machine, a quadricopter, with four opposing blades sending it up and our as far as a kilometer (3,240 feet) from where I’m standing with the controller.

    The unit I bought carries with it a GoPro Hero 3 camera to record high definition video and stills. It transmits those images back to a monitor attached to the controller on the ground so I can see what the GoPro sees from way up there. It also has a gimbal, which holds the camera level in flight, allowing those spectacular images to be steady and clear.
    I posted a short blurb on Facebook the other day that I got one and I received all sorts of unexpected interest from readers. So I put together the accompanying video. If you’re not interested in the technical stuff, just fast forward to the last couple of minutes to see the aerial video. It was a very gray and cold day in Michigan and those specs of white you see when it was way up there are snow flurries. It wasn’t snowing at ground level. But it was up there.
    I plan to use my Phantom 2 to supplement the regular videos and photos I do for this blog as we travel around the country reporting about the interesting people and places we find on the road as part of the small motorhome RV lifestyle. Can’t wait until I get somewhere with blue skies and sunshine.
    There are lots of these kind of quadricopters out there and I looked at several, finally deciding on the Phantom because it seems to be the most popular and affordable among professional photographers and filmmakers. There are several different Phantom models, all made in China by an outfit known as DJI. They are available through a worldwide network of dealers and hobby shops and also on Amazon.
    The entry level model is the Phantom 1, which comes with a holder for the camera and the controller. Amazon sells it for $479. You need your own GoPro.
    There is also the Phantom 2 Vision, which sells for $1,208 on Amazon. It comes with it’s own camera.
    The unit I bought is the brand new Phantom 2, which, at $869 is said to be ready to fly. You provide the Go Pro Hero 3 camera, but it has the customized DJI Zenmuse H3-2D gimbal to hold it steady. The Phantom 2 only works with the Go Pro Hero 3. Previous versions don’t connect to it or fit the Zenmuse.
    Besides the GoPro and the Zenmuse gimbal. I added an FPV (First Person Video) system that lets me see what the camera sees via a special seven-inch color monitor that attaches to the controller. When the drone is out there past 1,000 feet or so, it’s often pretty hard to see it with the naked eye. That’s where FPV comes in handy.
    I have to warn you, despite the manufacturer’s claim that the Phantom 2 is ready to fly out of the box, it really isn’t. Assembling all this and getting it synchronized and tuned is not for the faint hearted. I hired a guy named Zac Davis, who just opened a business called drone-works.com in New York, to assemble and build up my system. Zac builds drone systems for police and fire agencies and really knows his stuff. He put everything together for me, making sure it worked just right. Then he talked me through on the phone on how to assemble it, update the software and firmware and set up and follow the proper pre-flight check list The extra setup and assembly fee he charged to get everything right was well worth it to me. If Zac’s website is not up and running when you check (he was just setting it up when I bought from him), you can reach him through Facebook or the DJI Owners group on Facebook, which is a great resource for more information about drones and the Phantom system.
    This is going to be a lot of fun. Thought Jennifer just shook her head and said something like “Boys and their toys,” when I came gushing in from my first flight to tell her about it, I must stress that this is not a toy. It takes lots of practice to fly it well and with confidence and because it has such a long range, you need to be very aware of your surroundings and what may be in its flight path or what is on the ground below. Thus, it should not be flown over crowds.
    Flying time is advertised at about 20 minutes. In the cold, and with the FPV system and the Zenmuse gimbal adding extra weight and battery drain, I got a little over 15 minutes of flight time. I have an extra battery so it’s pretty easy to bring it down, change out the batteries and send it up again.
    Some very cool safety features are built in. For example, I prefer flying mine in GPS mode. That means it locks in to as many as eight different satellites orbiting the earth. The Phantom “talks” to those satellites and thus knows its exact GPS position at all time. If the battery fails or the connection between the controller and the drone is interrupted, it is programmed to automatically fly right back to my location and safely land. There are advanced modes it can fly in as well, that offer more precise control to those who are experienced in its operation. My skill set isn’t there yet. I’m sticking with GPS mode.
    Practice makes perfect will be my motto for a few weeks.
    Everything stows away snug and secure and fits in the ToughCase XR2 padded case I bought from a company named Tradecraft. The case was made for the Phantom 1 system but a sharp knife let me adjust the case openings to fit the Phantom 2 gear.
    I’ll be taking it everywhere, so look for some fun video as we head out Roadtreking in 2014.

    My DJI Phanom 2 drone

    The first flight…the view over my house
  15. Roadtrekingmike
    This is only temporary. That’s what I keep telling myself when I look out in in my snowy Michigan driveway and instead of seeing our Roadtrek eTrek out there, we only see an igloo.
    Look for yourself at the accompanying photos, below.
    We got our first big snow over the weekend and while it indeed is looking a lot like Christmas, it just seems, well, wrong, to see the RV covered under all that white stuff.
    I snowblowed the driveway and then took some photos before I removed as much of the snow as I could. The top solar panels are covered in snow, so I doubt they are trickle charging. I will get up there with a ladder today and get them cleared off.
    I also went through the Radtrek and brought anything with a battery – like my clock and my outdoor/indoor thermometer and my walkie talkies – inside, where the cold won’t drain the batteries.
    Somehow, even with all that snow, I found beauty in the Roadtrek’s lines.
    I started the engine and the heater, warmed it up good and hung out in it for a few minutes.
    Soon, loyal eTrek, as soon as Christmas is over, we will hit the road to warmer climes.
    I promise.

  16. Roadtrekingmike
    Taking “selfies” and sharing photos and videos with our smartphones is worldwide phenomenon these days and there are lots of apps available to help you take them and share them. But one in particular stands out to me for RV use.
    It’s called Voyzee and as you can see in the accompanying video, it lets you select your photos and videos, edit them together, add music as a soundtrack and titles to your images. You can even do your own voiceovers. Then, you share it on social media. You can do all this through your smartphone – be it an iPhone or and Android.

    Voyzee is free and very simple to work with.
    RVers could use it to document a trip, or to share the fun they had at a rally.
    I did a version of this story for my NBC-TV “PC Mike” segment that featured several apps. But since Voyzee is so applicable for RVers, I thought I’d do a roadtreking.com post on just it.
    I do weekly reports on cool apps for NBC stations across the country. And as I find apps that would also be good for RV travelers, I’ll offer them here, as well.
    Hope you enjoy this.

    Voyzee is very easy to use. Just select your photos and videos, write captions, record a soundtrack and you are ready to share.
  17. Roadtrekingmike
    I’ll say one thing about our traveling this past year: No dust is gathering under the RV.
    We received our new 2013 Roadtrek eTrek one year ago, in December 2012.
    When I pulled into the driveway Thursday night after returning from an RV trade show in Louisville, the odometer read 34,156 miles.
    We take off again today for a weekend trip to Western Michigan where we’ll visit Jeff and Aimee in Kalamazoo, our son and daughter-in-law. We’ll probably sleep in the Roadtrek in his driveway. We love our king-size bed in the back of the RV, and the Webosto heater keeps things comfy cozy. And yes, even though it is winterized, we can use the facilities. We use antifreeze to flush it.
    We have traveled out of state every month this year, using our sticks and bricks home as a base. And even when at our Michigan home, I often find myself using the Roadtrek as a second vehicle.
    I am actually more comfortable driving it than our passenger car.
    Our travel calendar for 2014 starts Jan. 1, when we head south to Florida for the first half of January. Then, after a quick stop home, it’s up to the frozen wilds of Northern Minnesota and a dog sled race that runs to the Canadian border in the Great White North.
    Every month of the coming year, we have a trip planned. I met with our friends at the Family Motor Coach Association last week at that RV show in Louisville and we made plans to attend and meet folks at rallies in Georgia, Massachusetts and Oregon next year.
    We have trips planned for several national parks, a tour of the Texas Hill Country, a visit to the Alabama-Mississippi coasts, and, of course, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Jennifer and I are getting requests to make personal appearances and do seminars at RV trade shows across North America and we will try to do as many as we can.
    Unlike a lot of the full-timers we’ve met, who tend to stay in one place for extended periods of time, we seldom stay more than a few days in any one campsite when we travel. As I look back over 2013, the longest we stayed in any one location was five days, at Yellowstone National Park last summer. And since we don’t have a tow a second vehicle to get around, we use the Roadtrek to explore the areas we visit, returning to our spot at night or, as often happens, finding an even cooler place to stay during our excursions. That’s why we prefer boondocking, or staying in free sites in national forests on on BLM land. That way, if we decide the grass is greener somewhere else, we’re not out money if we decide to stay in the new location.
    All this is to say, we are more than casual campers, something less than RV full-timers. What should we call what we do?
    3/4 timers?
    All I know is… we sure are having a ball.
  18. Roadtrekingmike
    Type Bs and Cs, the smaller versions of the rapidly growing motorhome market, are leading the way in the dramatic turnaround in the RV industry thanks to the ever growing number of Baby Boomer retirees used to active, mobile lifestyles.
    I’ve spent much of the past week here at the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association’s annual trade show in Louisville, Ky., talking to leading recreational vehicle industry experts, trade association officials, manufacturers and dealers and all agreed that sales for 2014 were going to continue spiking up. Jim Hammill, president of Roadtrek Motorhomes, North America’s best-selling Type B maker, said he is projecting 20% growth next year.
    Dean Corrigal, from Type B and B-plus maker Leisure Travel Vans, showed me their latest models and said his company was also seeing a huge growth in sales as well, also attributing it to the growing number of Baby Boomer retirees and the better fuel economy and the ease in driving offered by small motorhomes.
    Even Airstream, which targets only the high income luxury Type B market, said demand for B’s had never been higher.

    The above video showcases why Type B and C RVs are so hot and gives you a look at some of the latest features.
    The RVIA trade show in Louisville ends Thursday.

    Leisure Travel Van’s Type B-Plus Unity 2B
  19. Roadtrekingmike
    The annual Recreation Vehicle Industry Association trade show in Louisville is the big one for the RV industry, providing a sneak peek at what’s new aimed at dealers and industry insiders to help them get ready for the next year. Held at the Massive Kentucky Exposition Center, this year’s 51st edition of the show opens Tuesday. But Jennifer and I got in early for a sneak peek of our own.
    The RVIA expects more than 8,000 attendees this week. Over 300 acres of display space will be filled by 61 manufacturers and 225 suppliers. On Monday, many of the displays were still being readied.
    Naturally, we made our way straight to the Roadtrek area where we found six of Roadtrek’s nine different models all polished up and surrounded by rows of bright red holiday poinsettias.

    Showing off this week in Louisville are the 170 Versatile, the eTrek, the CS Adventurous, the 210 Popular, the 40th Anniversary Special Edition of the 190 Popular and the newest Roadtrek model which goes on sale next year – the TS Adventurous, for Touring Series. We’ll show you more on each of them later this week.
    All the major Type B small motorhomes are also here, as well as the Tupe A and C coaches, travel-trailers and other RVs. We got a look at one of the more anticipated new models – the just released Winnebago Travato (photo above), a 20-foot long Type B motorhome built on the Dodge Ram Promaster chassis. This one has a rear bed that folds tight along the side, leaving room to load bicycles or golf clubs or other storage items through the rear doors onto the back area of the coach.
    Once you reach your destination, you haul the storage items outside and fold down the bed for sleeping.
    There is no sofa area on the Travato and it seems that, while driving, the entire rear section of the motorhome would be pretty useless. Still, it’s interesting to see what the different manufacturers can do with the various chassis.
    We’ll be here all three days of the show. So stay tuned.
  20. Roadtrekingmike
    Every year since we were married more than 40 years ago, Jennifer and I have made our way to the little town of Frankenmuth, Mich., at the base of the Michigan Mitt’s Thumb region where we pay a visit to Bronner’s – the world’s largest Christmas store.
    Doubtless you’ve seen the signs along the interstates, more than 60 of them all over the country, inviting tourists to make the drive.
    It’s a huge store, over seven acres in size. And it’s crowded, especially at this time of the year. Over the three-day Black Friday weekend, 50,000 people shopped at Bronner’s.
    Two of them were Jennifer and me, as we do year after year. The very first Christmas tree ornament Jennifer and I bought as we started our married life came from Bronner’s. There have been many since. She often buys one for our kids and grandkids. Themed, of course, based on their interest or hobbies – like a golf ornament for a grandson, a ballerina ornament for our granddaughter, a stethoscope ornament or our doctor-son or a clarinet ornament for our music teacher son-in-law.
    You get the idea.
    It’s a Jennifer thing.
    Me? I like to get a goofy Christmas hat. It’s a Mike thing.
    Anyway, this year, like every year, she had all sorts of ideas for things to get for our house. But then I pointed out that we had two houses: Our sticks and bricks home downstate and, out in the parking lot, our RV motorhome, our Roadtrek eTrek.
    I brought it up to the designer folks at Bronner’s. Could they come up with a way to decorate the Roadtrek?
    They did… as you can see in the accompanying video.

    When the Roadtrek is in motion, some of the decorations need to be stowed. But most of them, thanks to suction cups and those little plastic tie downs, can be solidly affixed.
    The only problem I saw is that the Roadtrek decorations inspired Jennifer to add more still more bulbs and ornaments to the boxes of Christmas do-dads we already have at home and which she will soon have me hauling up to also get the house ready for the holiday.
    No problem.
    Happy wife. Happy life. And my wife loves Christmas decorating.
    Meantime, summer or winter, Bronner’s and Frankenmuth make for a great RV trip. There are two fully equipped campgrounds within spitting distance of the store. They are, alas, closed this time of the year. But there are lots of RV spaces in the Bronner’s parking lot, although no overnight stays are allowed.
    The store is open every day of the year except Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day and Easter Sunday.
    Merry Christmas, everyone.

    No, the star isn’t part of our RV! We parked underneath it for the decorating. But it does look cool.
  21. Roadtrekingmike
    In this edition of How We Roll in our RV, we tackle two completely different questions:
    Jennifer answers a reader named Karen, who wants to know how the Roadtrek eTrek we have works out for her putting on make-up. Jen shows the mirrors she uses along with a handy sticky pad called the Dash Stick that holds a magnifying mirror in place.
    My question came from a reader named Maggie, who asks about how to find a rental Roadtrek to try out, something Jen and I wish we could have done before we bought. If so, we would have purchased a Roadtrek a full year before we did. The best way to find rentals is through the Roadtrek dealer network. You can find the closest one to you here.

    Meantime, if you have a question for us to answer in a future episode of How We Roll in our RV, just send it to openmike@fmca.com.
    And for a complete archive of all our How We Roll in our RV segments, click here.
  22. Roadtrekingmike
    It’s Thanksgiving in the U.S., a few weeks after our Canadian friends celebrated their nation’s holiday of the same name.
    A tradition at our family is that as we gather round the Thanksgiving dinner table – and yes, we always do turkey and all the trimmings – each one of us says what we are most thankful for this past year.
    Remember that old Irving Berlin song, “Count Your Blessings?” If we’re breathing and relatively upright – though football and ODing on turkey will probably render many of us horizontal on the sofa after dinner – we all surely have much to be thankful for.
    Besides faith and family, Jennifer and I look back over the past year and think of how many wonderful people we have met in so many wonderful places thanks to Roadtreking. We’ve traveled nearly 35,000 miles since last year at this time, cross crossing North America. Here’s our short list of the Roadtreking blessings we are thankful for this year.
    Yellowstone National Park
    The Badlands
    The Black Hills
    The Emerald Coast
    All our National Parks and National Seashores
    Our many friends at the Family Motorcoach Association – Jerry Yeatts, Pamela Kay, Robbin Gould, Guy Kasselman and all those many readers who have written such kinds words in response to our column in Family Motor Coach Magazine.
    The Roadtreking International Chapter of the FMCA
    The Amateur Radio Chapter of the FMCA
    Our amazing contributing Roadtreking Reporters here on the blog – Campskunk, Laura Robinson, Janet Arnold, Jim Hammill and Lynn and Roger Brucker. What a team! The blog and its readers so blessed that they share their experiences and wisdom and humor.
    The volunteer moderators on the roadtreking.com/forum – Alan MacRae and Robert Ambrose.
    Our friends from our Facebook page and group who have truly become family. I am so blessed by their friendship. We may be scattered across two continents and yet are as close knit as if we were all in the same community…. which, I guess, is exactly what our Roadtreking group has become: A Community. Many of these fun, caring, compassionate, hospitable, sharing and helpful folks we have also met on the road. - Cheryl Gregory, Shari Groendek, Kristi Klomp, Ginny Dugan Evans, Laura Lochsky Robinson, Alice Stern, Stu and Winona Kratz, Tim and Carole Mallon, Deby Dixon, Jim and Carole Diepenbruck, Bill and Karen Brown, Jim and Sharon Angel, Lisa and Bill Gruner, Laura and Ken Postema, Paul Pogorselski, Tom Hopkins, Trudy Meyers, RT Campskunk, Yan Seiner, W. Dan Hulchanski, Sue Baker, Brian Barker, Nancy Tudor Richardson, Dennis Crabtree and… so many others who share so much of their knowledge and humor on Facebook. Our Facebook Page went from about 500 people who “Liked” it a year ago this time to more than 73,000 today! More than 2,000 new people “Like” the page every week! Our Group has more than 1,100. Amazing.
    The men and women of Roadtrek Motorhomes in Kitchener, Ontario Canada who truly think of all of us owners as family and lovingly build the wonderful machines that open up the world to these of us who drive them – Jim Hammill, Howard Stratton, Jeff Stride, Paul Cassidy, Joe and Tami Morales, Karyn Torcoletti, Tess Talty, Chris Deakins, Steve MacDonald, Pamela de Beus, Joe Murray, Andy Weller.
    Chad Neff and his crew at American RV in Grand Rapids, MI, who take such good care of my service needs, as do Eric, Josh and Daryl from Hoekstra Specialty Vehicles in Troy, MI, who do the Sprinter engine maintenance work on our eTrek.
    My son, Jeff Wendland, who handles the digital management of this blog and processes the orders for the Roadtrekingstore. I’d like to say I taught him everything he knows. But he has truly become a genius at all things World Wide Web. One of the greatest joys a dad can have is being able to work with his son.
    And finally, but certainly not least, my wife Jennifer. The fact that we are able to do this together and have traveled 35,000 miles, living for weeks on end in a 23 foot motorhome and not once arguing shows how well we get along. She is the love of my life and makes every mile of Roadtreking a taste of heaven. And I’m not even jealous that she now gets more fan mail than I do. Come to think of it, Tai, our Norwegian Elkhound, also gets more fan mail and I do.

    The trouble with a list like this is it’s impossible to name everyone and everything we are thankful for. It goes without saying that we have inadvertently left some names off the list. For that, I am sorry. It’s probably because as I write this, it is very, very early Thanksgiving morning and we have a turkey to get in the oven. I will probably go back as more names come to me and add them.
    To all of you who we have not met yet but who read our blog and newsletter, please know how grateful we are for your support, encouragement, suggestions and, when needed, constructive criticism. I know I rush too much sometimes, forgetting to spellcheck or proof as carefully as I should. I just get so excited about getting the next post up, I hope you forgive the occasional sloppiness. I will try to do better.
    This growth and the popularity of this blog and the adventures we’ve had traveling North America the past two years has absolutely blown me away. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine this would change our lifestyle in such wonderful ways. This is a labor of love. We’re far from raking in a profit here. But we are having the time of our lives.
    We can’t want to see what the next year has in store.
    Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
    We’ll see you out there …
  23. Roadtrekingmike
    It’s hard to believe how much a $16 purchase at Walmart can brighten your day. Such it was the other day when we spotted a pile of Crock-Pots on sale.
    It was exactly what we needed. Small, round and just the right size to fit in the sink of our Roadtrek eTrek RV.
    The sink? Exactly. That way, as we travel across the country during the day, the slow cooking crock pot can prepare our evening meals. By the time we reach our destination, a hot, sumptuous dinner is ready. Let’s face it, one of the bothers of traveling in an RV can be meal preparation. After a long day on the road, it’s just too easy to stop for fast food or hit a restaurant. With our new Crock-Pot, we can have a nutritious, home-cooked meal without the hassle.
    We’ve searched far and wide for the round four-quart sized model for months. We even brought home a bunch of other models that we found. None fit that sink.
    We had all but given up the hunt until, walking down an aisle at our local Walmart this past weekend, there it was. Boxes of them. exactly what we were looking for. Exactly what we had given up finding. The four quart size is perfect for two people. We can easily get two meals out of each dinner. One to eat that night, one for the refrigerator or freezer.
    The model we have – for those of you who want one – is officially known as the Crock-Pot SCR4oo-B 4 Quart manual slow cooker. We also found it on Amazon for $15.92 in black. The one we got at WalMart was red. It has a removable stoneware insert for cooking and it also doubles as a serving dish.
    Ah … but what do we eat, other than beef stew?
    That’s the reason for this post … we want your recipes.
    Many of you have been using Crock-Pots for years as you’ve traveled. We’ve read your posts here and on our Facebook Group. So, using comments below, please tell us what you cook in your Crock-Pots and share the recipe.
    Jennifer and I look forward to trying out your suggestions!
  24. Roadtrekingmike
    It’s been a long and busy week with two big road trips this past week – one in the Roadtrek eTrek to Kitchener, Ontario, and a visit to the Roadtrek factory for some video work, the other to Pittsburgh, Pa., on another video project. While the Kitchener trip was blessed with great weather, the Pittsburgh trip led to some very white knuckle driving on the way back home when we unexpectedly encountered near white-out conditions from Lake Erie effect snow squalls just est of Cleveland.
    It was a great reminder of how fast conditions can change when driving an interstate in the winter.
    We were on the Ohio Turnpike (Interstate-80), an hour from Pittsburgh headed back to Michigan. When we left it was sunny and 39 degrees, according to my in-dash thermometer. An hour later, like someone turned a switch, the temperature had dropped to 27 degrees and we noticed snow flurries. Within a mile, those snow flurries had turned into a fierce squall and in a couple more miles, the road was snow covered and slippery and visibility had dropped to a couple hundred yards.
    Yikes. The photo doesn’t do justice to how lousy visibility was.
    Twenty miles further down the Ohio Turnpike, the snow was gone and the road was clear.
    As we listened to radio reports, we heard of car crashes all over. Such are the dangers of those sudden snow squalls.
    Last year, coming back from a winter RV trip to Florida, we encountered a similar white-out north of Cincinnati on I-75. Traffic suddenly ground to a stop. I looked over on the southbound lanes and saw cars smashed and twisted everywhere. Over 100 vehicles had been involved. There were lots of injuries and a fatality.
    My top three rules for winter driving:
    1) Never drive faster than you can see. By that I mean that if you can only see a hundred yards up the road, you better not be going so fast that you can’t stop in 100 yards.
    2) Be aware of the road surface. If the snow is sticking, the pavement is slippery. There may be black ice covering the parts of the road where the surface shows through.
    3) In a whiteout, do NOT pull over to the shoulder of the road and wait it out there. Carefully move over in the slow lane and take the next exit to get off the interstate as soon as you can if you are the least bit apprehensive about your ability to control the vehicle.
    As our travels this week reminded us, like it or not, winter is here.
    Be careful out there!
  25. Roadtrekingmike
    One of the most discussed how-to threads on the blog and our Facebook Group has to do with the latches and hinges used on the cabinets on new Roadtrek Sprinter models like the RS Adventurous, the eTrek and the CS Adventurous. The same push button latches are on some of the recent Chevy-based models like the 40th Anniversary Special. They are sold by a Montreal-based speciality hardware import firm called Richelieu.
    The issue is, depending on a lot of load and environmental factors, the latches and the cabinets can get stuck and, too often, as owners try to get them open, they pull too hard the wrong way and break the mechanism.
    Been there done that.
    Several times.

    While I was recently visiting the Roadtrek factory in Kitchener, I ran into my friend and Roadtreking Reporter Campskunk, who also happened to be at the factory that day. We got to talking, the subject of hinges came out and so we marched out to the parking lot and my eTrek to do the above video.
    If you have a different hinge and locking mechanism, the same general principles should apply, though, obviously, what you adjust and where it is may be different than it was on my eTrek.
    But the thing to remember is the locking mechanisms and hinges do need to be adjusted from time to time because of the load you put on the cabinet, humidity and the way the vehicle is parked, such as on an angle.
    Adjusting them is a pretty simple procedure, as you can see, easily done with a small Phillips head screwdriver. The adjust point if on the door to cabinet attachment hinge. The screw you turn is the one closest to the door. You can see the door rise or lower depending on the direction you turn.
    Also, to keep those latches from breaking, don’t just yank or force those stuck cabinets open. As you see in the video, we just did some gentle pushing from the bottom to get one of my stuck cabinets open.
    Hope this little video helps.
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