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Roadtrekingmike

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  1. Roadtrekingmike
    All my life as a journalist- for more than three decades – I’ve been on deadline.
    The presses would roll, the red light on the studio camera would blink on and, that was it. I had to be ready. Done. No more time.
    So the clock ruled my days. I was single-mindedly focused on finishing, getting to press time or air time. Then, I could breathe a little… and get ready for the next day.
    It was a wild, crazy, fun, frustrating and high-adrenaline occupation and I wouldn’t have traded it for the world.
    But last year, as I neared retirement age, I couldn’t help but get excited at the prospect of life NOT on deadline.
    That’s how I have been living the past 18 months.
    I have to admit, old habits are hard to put aside.
    “Why are we in such a hurry?” my wife Jennifer asked on our first multistate trip in our new Roadtrek back in the spring of 2012. I was 600 miles in on the first day and getting crabby. I wanted to make 800.
    “Because….,” I started to reply. Then I blanked. I couldn’t come up with a reason. I didn’t have to do 800 miles. In fact, there was no reason to be on the road as long as I had been that day. There was no deadline.
    That was the first lesson I learned on the first day of the first trip.
    It’s one I have to keep re-learning.
    There is no hurry. The journey is just as important as the destination. Getting there is, indeed, half the fun.
    The RV life is about being mobile, on the open road in our Class B motorhome. And it has taught me how to decompress.
    So many times in my journalism career, I’ve flown over the country, chasing some story, heading somewhere, fast, on deadline. I’d look down below from 35,000 feet and see a green and brown blur. Now, behind the wheel and on the ground in our Roadtrek, I’m discovering the beauty beneath the blur. It is a magnificent land and being on it, instead of above it, is both soothing and stimulating.
    I never thought I’d end up in an RV.
    But in so many ways, it’s been the perfect choice for Jennifer and me. Not only are we able to connect with each other, we’re meeting other people and learning things I never did standing in front of a camera using the land as a backdrop for my standup, or pushing a pencil in a reporter’s notebook.
    When you stop living on deadline, your eyes open wider.
    Life becomes an adventure of serendipity.
    Like the bit of history we picked up on a summer trip north to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the southern shore of lake Superior. Standing on a wilderness bluff next to a towering sand dune called the Log Slide, we learned that in the 1880’s lumberjacks slid 100-foot white pine logs down the dunes to the water, where they were gathered into huge booms and floated seven miles east to the town of Grand Marais.
    That sent us to that town and a delightful but seldom-visited little museum tucked away in a building once used as the post office. We spent an afternoon looking at old photographs and learning how Michigan’s lumber era was as lucrative as the California Gold Rush of the same era.
    In Gadsen, Alabama, we found a campground located on Black Creek and right next to the awesome 90-foot Noccalula Falls. There, instead of rushing back to the road the next morning, we lingered again over local history when we discovered the first statue of a person jumping off a cliff. The statue is of the Cherokee princess Noccalula who, according to local legend, plunged to her death after being ordered by her father to marry a man she didn’t love. It is made entirely of pennies collected from local school children in the mid-1960s.
    And on a trip back to our Michigan home from Florida, We decided to pull off the interstate and travel the two-laned US 127, which roughly parallels I-75 north through Tennessee and Kentucky, anywhere from 10 to 50 miles to the west. We leisurely made our way through scores of small, picturesque mountain communities and ended up at the Big Bone Lick State Park in northern Kentucky, about 35 miles south of Cincinnati. There we dug into America’s prehistoric past, learning about the bones of mammoths discovered there submerged in muck. President Thomas Jefferson has fossils found there in his personal collection.
    Those are just three examples about things I’d never have seen if I were still living on deadline. But because we were in our RV, staying right there, far from the look-alike chain hotels that cluster around the freeway interchanges, we were able to experience fascinating places that wouldn’t even have caused a blip on our GPS.
    Then there are the campfires and the people we meet sitting around them, the help and suggestions they give us about living in a motorhome. There are the bicycle rides on trails and roads we’d never ride if we weren’t able to haul our bikes on the back of our Roadtrek. And the special walks we take with our Norwegian Elkhound, Tai, who travels with us but would have to be left at home if we were hoteling it.
    We’ve driven 42,000 miles in our Class B RV since March of 2012 and living out this motorhome adventure.
    I may not be living on deadline anymore. But I’m still a journalist at heart, this time telling the stories I want to tell about people and places I’d never experience if I wasn’t out there in my RV.
    I look forward to meeting you down the road.

    Noccalula Falls near Gadsden, Ala. The statue commemorates a lovesick Indian maiden’s legendary plunge over the falls. The statue was made from pennies collected by schoolchildren.

    Jennifer and our dog, Tai, walk in a UP Michigan sunset along Lake Superior.
  2. Roadtrekingmike
    Not all is always good about RVing.
    Here are our top five RV frustrations:
    1) Deplorable campground conditions – This, we believe, is one of the biggest scandals of the RV world. There are many campgrounds that could more accurately be described as overcrowded slums. What amazes me is that they have good reviews in the big publications, which tells me that either the reviews are phony, the publication doesn’t physically inspect the campgrounds or they are so out of date they are worthless. Just this year we’ve stayed in campgrounds where the sewers are clogged, the bathroom toilets are clogged, the sites are dirty, the restrooms have bugs and broken windows, the water hookups leak, electric pedestals are dangerously loose and shorting out and the help is surly and indifferent. We need to put pressure on campground associations, reviewing sources and sometimes local health departments. Filthy, ill kept campgrounds really do damage to the entire RV industry and need to be exposed, run out of business or forced to clean up.
    2) Unscrupulous RV dealers – Yes, there are some of them, too. I hear a lot from readers about RV dealers who do shoddy service, bill for work or parts they didn’t install, price gouge and promise a certain delivery to get a sale but then keep backing off the date after purchase. Another complaint I’ve heard more than once is about salesmen who badmouth certain models (which they sell) only so they can move out inventory on models they haven’t been able to sell. I recommend that new buyers get at least two quotes from competing dealers and get eveything in very detailed writing before buying.
    3) RV Class Discrimination – There are too many RV parks and resorts that refuse to allow Class B or C motorhomes to stay there. This often comes from communities that want upscale RVers but don’t want pop ups and tents and so they make zoning laws or regulations prohibiting overnight camping by units under a certain length. So even though a Class B or Class C motorhome may have cost as much as the Class A behemoths, they are not allowed entry. Personally, these resorts are not where I want to stay. If we wanted a subdivision, we’d have bought a vacation home instead of an RV. But a lot of folks have written me over the past two years who resent being excluded from RV resorts and I see their point: Such RV class discrimination is just wrong.
    4) People who burn trash in their campfire rings – Burning your RV garbage in he campsite firepit is hazardous to your health and the health of those who are nearby and have to breath it. The typical household trash generated by RVers contains a lot of plastics and paper treated with chemicals, coatings, and inks. Besides the smoke, the ashes that remain contain concentrated amounts of these toxic materials that can blow away or seep into the soil and groundwater. Please, stop burning garbage!
    5) Inconsiderate neighbors – This a broad class and includes people who don’t pick up after their pets, cigar smokers who stink up entire campgrounds, campers who insist on watching TV outside with the volume turned loud, those who arrive late at night after most people are asleep and proceed to shout directions and back up instructions as they set up camp, dogs left alone to bark and bark and bark, neighboring campers who use profanity in every other sentence and people who leave campground restrooms and showers filthy.
    The simple way for us to avoid most of these frustrations has been to spend more and more time boondockiing or alone by ourselves or with a few friends in state and national forests. That has been when we’ve most enjoyed RVing.
    The more we RV, the more we are finding that big campgrounds are just not our thing.
    How about you? What are your biggest RV frustrations and how do you get around them?
  3. Roadtrekingmike
    http://youtu.be/ikwYoAmuQQk
    I love kayaking. But with a Class B campervan-style RV, there just isn’t enough storage room to take one along. At least that’s what I thought until I discovered the Sea Eagle inflatable Kayak.
    Facebook friends on our Roadtreking page alerted me to it and I’m planning to order one before spring. The one I’m looking at is the SeaEagle 330. It weighs just 26 lbs. and packs down small enough to fit in the “basement” of my Roadtrek Sprinter van, the storage space under the bed behind the rear doors. Others claim it can be stored inside, in one of the cabinets. As the video shows, it’s a rugged kayak able to hold two people or 500 lbs and yet easy enough to be carried and paddled by one.
    Teri and Ken Jones of California demo it in the above video. A foot pump inflates it.
    The 330 comes with two seats that others have suggested I upgrade for greater comfort.
    Since so many places we go to have nice kayak-friendly waterways nearby, I’m thinking that $319 for the deluxe package with the upgraded seats is not a bad investment.
    I”ll read you comments here before ordering so if anyone has some suggestions or has had experience with them, I’d love to get them!
  4. Roadtrekingmike
    With more and more RVers heading to the great outdoors this time of year, it’s time to sound two warnings. Depending on where you are, it’s now either snake season or tick season.
    For some parts of the U.S., it’s both.
    Both creatures post particular problems with pets. And humans, too, if they get bit. And both are very active right now.
    And RVers, who are out there camping in the woods and wilds and deserts and fields, could very easily come into contact with them. RVers with pets need to be particularly vigilant.
    My son, who lives in West Michigan, took his dog for their usual walk the other night, when they returned home, he found two ticks on him and seven ticks on the dog. In March, on an RV trip to Florida, we stopped on a nice spring day at the I-75 rest area near Jellico, TN. I took Tai out of the RV for a short walk on the dog run. He came back with two ticks.

    Ticks survive by eating blood from their hosts. They burrow deep under the skin and gorge themselves.
    At the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, ecological researchers are engaged in a four-year, National Science Foundation-funded study of ticks, and the risks they pose for transmitting several diseases. While investigating disease risks, their work is also yielding practical tips regarding ticks and tick bites.
    These tips include the following.
    Machine washing and drying of your clothes after being in the woods is a good idea, because tiny immature ticks can be almost impossible to spot. UT undergraduate John Norris found that ticks can survive the water and detergent in a washing machine, but are often killed by being pounded against jeans and other bulky clothes. Putting the wet clothes through the dryer is even more deadly and will quickly kill all the ticks.
    If you discover a tick attached to your body, don't trust the folk remedies of matches, lighters or petroleum jelly. Instead use tweezers. Grasp the tick as close to its mouthparts as you can and remove it by pulling straight out. Be sure to remove the mouthparts, if you don't get them on the first pull.

    This is one of the worst tick seasons on record. Ticks spread Lyme Disease, a very nasty disease that can cause short term discomfort and long term problems if left untreated. New cases of Lyme disease are cropping up all across the country. Same with Ricky Mountain Fever, another potentially dangerous disease. In Tennessee last year, there were almost 700 cases of Rocky Mountain Fever, most believed to have been caught from ticks.
    Some of the areas where ticks like to congregate are fields with tall grass, wooded areas and the sand dunes.
    The Center for Disease Control says pets and humans need to be checked very closely for ticks after every excursion into tick territory. Here’s a list of what to do.
    Then there’s snakes. Late May and early June is when most snakes are on the move. In the deep south, where they’ve been out for some time, it’s about time for them to hatch young. Most snakes, of course, are harmless. Most snakes do good, as a matter of fact, eating insects and vermin.
    But in the U.S., there are several very dangerous snakes with deadly venom, particularly for dogs and cats.
    The three most commonly encountered venomous snakes in the U.S. are rattlesnakes, copperheads and cottonmouths, sometimes referred to as the water moccasin.
    Poisonous snakes often have a heavy triangular head tapering toward the mouth, with elliptical cat's-eye pupils. An exception is the small but very poisonous coral snake. Mostnonpoisonous species have smoothly curved, U-shaped heads.
    Here’s a quick guide with photos to help you spot the most dangerous ones in North America.

    The snake picture here was taken a couple days ago by my friend William Browne, who was camped in his RV in California and was surprised to see this Mohave rattlesnake slithering through his camp space.
    Snakes are particularly dangerous to pets, At a dog park not far from my Michigan house, several dogs are bitten each year by the diminutive Massasauga rattlesnake. A woman I know who has a large, 65 pound Weimerheimer said she was walking her dog on a leash when it stopped, stuck it’s nose in the grass and was bitten on the muzzle. By the time she returned to her car, her dog was stumbling. She rushed him to a 24 hour pet emergency hospital. Three days later and after $2,000 in vet bills, the dog was released.
    At the same park not long before, a man and his beagle were bitten. A local sheriff’s deputy told me that the snake attacked the dog, a beagle, while walking near the woods. The man tried to stop the reptile from inflicting any further harm and was then attacked by the snake. He was released from the hospital the next day, the dog a couple days later.
    The smaller the dog, the greater the danger but even a small rattlesnake like the Massasauga can kill if the pet is not quickly treated. Like humans, pets are given antivenom. It is extremely expensive, with treatment ranging between $900 and $1,200 for just the shots.
    In Georgia earlier this year, I saw a sign outside a veterinarian’s office saying “Snakes are everywhere: Vaccinate your pets!” That’s good advice. In the south and southwest, most vets do offer snake vaccine. Regular shots help build up an animal’s immunity to the poison.
    So be careful out there. Especially with your pets,
    About the Author: Mike Wendland is a veteran journalist who travels the country in a Roadtrek Type B motorhome, accompanied by his wife, Jennifer, and their Norweigian elkhound, Tai. Mike is an FMCA member (F426141) and is FMCA's official on-the-road reporter. He enjoys camping (obviously), hiking, biking, fitness, photography, video editing and all things dealing with technology. His "PC MIke" technology segments are distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations. More from this author. Reach mike at openmike@fmca.com.
  5. 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.
  6. Roadtrekingmike
    RV rallys can be small or spectacularly huge. FMA's 88th Family Reunion and Motorhome Showcase in Gillette Wyoming, in June 2013 was one of the big ones. There were more than 2,300 coaches, 5,000-plus RVers and several hundred other vendors, dealers and exhibitors. Gillette’s massive 1,100-acre CAM-PLEX exhibition center was jammed with motorhomes literally as far as you could see in any direction.
    Big rallies like this are not for everyone. Camping spaces are cramped, with rigs parked just a few feet apart. Smaller RVs like Class B coaches are dwarfed by behemoth-size Class A machines. I found a group of six Roadtreks parked in the dirt off by some rodeo corrals. A handful of others were scattered through the vast complex.
    But most folks come to a big RV rally like this for other reasons besides camping. They come because this is where the action is. They come to learn, attend seminars, take organized tours of nearby attractions, enjoy musical shows and entertainment at night and to reconnect with old friends. Many used this western town as a starting spot for trips to nearby National Parks like the Tetons, Yellowstone or Glacier.
    The event celebrated the 50th anniversary of the FMCA. Older, beautifully restored motorhomes from the early days of RVing were on display.
    The CAM-PLEX complex offered pretty much all the amenities you’d want, full hookups, trash pickup and clean bathrooms and showers.
    Wi-Fi was widely available, though understandably slow at peak times because so many were using it. Same with BYO Wi-Fi offered through those hot spot cards like Verizon’s Mi-FI (which I use). With so many people now using them and in such a concentrated area as the CAM-PLEX, the cell towers were maxing out in bandwidth during prime time.
    This part of Wyoming doesn’t have a lot of trees and when a fierce windstorm whipped up Tuesday evening,dust and dirt blew everywhere. Fortunately, a strong downpour soon followed and the dust was washed off. But winds blew strong most every afternoon. Wednesday was particularly breezy, with some gusts over 40 miles an hour. Flags snapped in the breeze and antennas rattled on roofs. But the rally rallied on. At least there were no bugs. Not in these winds.
    Jennifer and I attended several seminars, I taught two of them, we checked out the exhibitors and visited with folks. But we also took day trips every afternoon, unhooking and driving to area attractions.
    Thursday night’s entertainment was by the Buckinghams, a popular pop group from the Sixties, who performed their hits and other oldies to the delight of many in the crowd who, 40 years ago, were the one buying their records. The crowd seemed delighted to reconnect with the music from their youth in Gillette.
    I could go on and write a lot more words, but pictures tell the story much better. Scroll down to see some photos that hopefully give you an idea of what a big RV event like this is like… click on any one to see it bigger, right click to save to your hard drive:
  7. 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.
  8. Roadtrekingmike
    Places the guidebooks ignore
    I’m one of those eclectic travelers. It’s not that I disdain tour guides and “must see” sights. It’s more that I am amused by, and interested in, the funky, the...
    Roadtreking : The RV Lifestyle Blog - Traveling North America in a small motorhome


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  9. Roadtrekingmike
    Jennifer and I went to the local office supply store over the weekend and picked up a new planning calendar for 2014. It’s one of those big, poster-sized ones with the entire year laid out in neat little blocks for each day of each month. It’s erasable – a good thing with our propensity for last minute trips and change of plans – and right now, it’s blank.
    But we’re about to start filling it in. We’ve gone through and listed all the places we want to go, the things we want to see, the people we want to meet and if we to start entering them all on our new calendar, there would be no space left.
    We need to do some culling.
    But, so far, here’s what we’re pretty agreed upon for our RV travel goals over the next year:
    Next trip is Tuesday when I’ll head up to the top of the Michigan Thumb and spend a couple night parked in the middle of a marsh doing somd duck hunting with a friend.
    Then, Dec.3-5, we’ll head to the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association annual trade show in Louisville. This is an industry only show, not open to the public. We had planned to attend it last year but it just didn’t work out. I was recuperating from a knee replacement and all that walking would have been tough. But this year, with my bionic knee, I’m more than ready.
    Come the new year, we’re planning a winter camping trip. Maybe Tahquamenon Falls in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where the state DNR plows and keeps open about a dozen spots. We stayed there last year with 28 inches of snow on the ground and had a ball.
    Come the 25fth of January, we’re tentatively penciling in a trip to northern Minnesota to follow the mushers on the historic and legendary 400-mile long John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon. Our Roadtrek is equipped with amateur radio two-way communications and we’ve been asked to volunteer our Roadtrek and radio gear to help with communications in the northwoods wilderness out where the cell phone signals disappear.
    In February, we’re looking to hit the Gulf Coast, follow it to Gautier, MS and something called “Smokin’ on the Bayou,” being organized by our Facebook Roadtreking Group buddy Paul “Pogo” Konowalchuk. After that event ends, we’ll keep moving west to the Texas Hill Country and then Arizona to chase down several stories sent in by readers.
    March 17-20, it will be the Family Motor Coach Association’s Family Reunion and Motorhome Showcase in Perry, Ga.
    Those are the trips planned over the next four months.
    Then comes spring and summer where we want to visit Yellowstone, as we do every year, and then Glacier National Park. That far west, it would be nice to go all the way to the Oregon coast to see what our pal Campsjunk has been raving about.
    Either late June or early September, we also want to do a big trip north and east to the Canadian maritimes.
    The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in New Mexico also has us intrigued for early October 5-13.
    So many places.
    We have several different colors of erasable ink to use on that big new wall planner. We’ll list RV shows, unique festivals and special events that sound interesting in orange. Our must-attends will be in black. The potential trips not yet cemented down will be entered in red. And short weekend getaways that we can plan out will be in blue. Added to that will be special family events and holidays will be green.
    And we’ll keep the eraser handy.
    This past year, we have put 33,000 miles on the Roadtrek eTrek.
    Next year looks like it may even be more.
  11. Roadtrekingmike

    Pomona RV Show

    By Roadtrekingmike,

    Pomona RV Show
    I’ve been hanging out at the Pomona RV show here in sunny California.  As with most trade shows, it’s stocked with the really cool, the really impressive, and the really...
    Roadtreking : The RV Lifestyle Blog - Traveling North America in a small motorhome


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  12. Roadtrekingmike
    It’s not just the snow and ice that have been setting records in northern states and provinces this winter: So have potholes.
    Before setting off on a long trip south yesterday, I stopped by my local tire shop to check the air in my Roadtrek eTrek’s tires. While doing so, I noted how busy the place was. The guy behind the counter beckoned me to take a peek in the garage, where a huge pile of rims were taking up a corner of the workspace. “Potholes,” he said. “We’ve never seen so much damage,” he said.
    What may be good business for tire repair places is bad news for motorists.
    As we made our way out of southeast Michigan down I-75, I lost track of how many vehicles I saw pulled over on a shoulder, fixing a flat. Michigan, which generally has the worst roads I’ve seen in the entire country, is out doing itself this year. Expansion joints are buckled, there are crater-sized potholes on the sides, shoulders and middle of literally every paved road you travel.
    As soon as we hit Ohio, the road conditions markedly improved. But then we hit a massive traffic jam. For two-and-a-half hours we sat on I-75 in Toledo. Both sides of interstate were jammed. It wasn’t for an accident. They were fixing the roads. Three lanes funneled down to two on the southbound side. I’m not sure what the construction project was for, but it was a real mess.
    The roads were better, though, in Ohio and Kentucky, where we ended up spending the night. Way more potholes than I’ve seen in normal years but still better than Michigan.
    We made about 400 miles. Best news, though, is for the first time since November, the temperatures didn’t get below freezing. I’m hoping to de-winterize wherever we stop tonight.
    Mississippi ... here we come.
  13. Roadtrekingmike
    We're in the midst of prime time for RV shows.
    Starting in January and running until early March, dozens of RV shows are staged in cities across the country. Jennifer and I have attended a slew of them this year as we, along with tens of thousands of other RVers, await warmer weather.
    One thing you can expect to find at just about any RV show – besides motorhomes, travel-trailers, fifth-wheels and lots of salespeople to haggle with -- are exhibitors like campground operators, RV accessory makers and all sorts of other big and little things that enhance the RV experience.
    We put together this little video on some of the fun things we've stumbled across. Most of these clips are from two shows at the big RV Supershow in Tampa, Florida, in January and the Michigan Association from in early February.
    When you can't be out there RVing, attending an RV show just may be the next best thing.
    http://youtu.be/DapwHtEpiBM
  14. Roadtrekingmike
    Protecting your digital assets
    In this information age, gathering up and securing the most important information – the critical passwords, user names, insurance, savings and important documents we have – is a vital task...
    Roadtreking : The RV Lifestyle Blog - Traveling North America in a small motorhome


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  15. Roadtrekingmike
    We’ve been traveling about two weeks out of every month and a nagging worry that doesn’t go away is the safety and protection of our sticks-and-bricks house.
    So this past week, I just installed an alarm system on every door, every window, as well as motion detectors, water detectors, freeze monitors and carbon monoxide and fire alarms on both levels of our two-story home. All of the alarms are monitored 24 x 7 and I have a remote app for my smartphone and computer that lets me check in on what’s happening back home.
    The system I got is from a relatively new company called SimpliSafe. They have been doing a lot of advertising and promotion and they won me over with the ease by which I could install everything and, should we move from our sticks and bricks home, I can easily take it with me.
    By the way, I have no connection with SimpliSafe. I purchased they system at full retail I paid around $800 for everything. Your cost may be less, depending on how many doors and windows you have. They just happen to be the company I choose. You can look around and pick the best company for you. I’m just sharing my solution here.
    My whole system is wireless. Batteries in the various sensors last for years. And the master control system uses cellular technology to stay connected to the monitoring company, meaning a burglar can’t just cut a wire and disable a system, as thieves often do with conventional alarm systems.
    I get an email and text alert if any alarm trips or should one of my sensors fail.
    Here’s a video from the company that shows how easy it is to set up.
    While the alarm system really adds to our peace of mind while traveling, it’s just one part of our home protection plan.
    When we travel, I let my neighbors know where we are going and how long we expect to be away. They also have our cell number incase they notice anything that is not quite right. We have a friend who does a walk around every few days. We also notify our local police that we are out of town.
    Something else: We stop all mail delivery. Years ago, on a long trip, we didn’t. A thief saw the bulging mailbox and took the mail. Among other things, he got ahold of those blank checks credit card companies often send out and promptly write several thousand dollars worth. The thief was caught by federal postal inspectors but it taught s a valuable lesson about letting mail accumulate. We also notified all our credit card companies not to send us those checks.
    We pay most of our bills online and have opted for billing by email to avoid snail mail piles even when we are home.
    Those are just a few of the things we do to watch over our house while we’re out Roadtreking.
    How about you?
    Entry sensor

  16. Roadtrekingmike
    We’ve been talking all week about winterizing our RVs.
    Yes, the time has come .... Those living in the northern states and those who live where the temperatures drop below freezing, can’t put it off much longer.
    But people still have a lot of questions and as we wrap up our winterizing series, Jennifer and I answer some reader questions about topics that haven’t yet been addressed.
    In this edition of How We Roll in our RV, we talk about the need to re-winterize when folks head south and then back north. And we answer a reader question about whether the flat-screen TV needs to be removed when the unit is exposed to the cold for prolonged periods of time.
    Oh yeah, we also sound a very important warning for those of you who put your RV in storage for the winter.

    Check out the above video and send your questions in to us at openmike@fmca.com.
    Your’s just might be the next one we answer in our next How We Roll episode.
  17. Roadtrekingmike
    Question: What’s the difference between a flashlight and an illumination tool?
    Answer: About $70. Or more.
    And some pretty powerful lights.
    One piece of gear all RVers have is a flashlight. Usually several. I most often relay on a small headlamp that I picked up at REI. It lets me have hands-free use when I arrive at a campsite after dark and need some illumination to set up.
    But we also have a couple of regular flashlights in our motorhome.
    They are nothing like the “illumination tools” made by a company called XtremeBeam, which offers a series of very high-tech, ah, flashlights, typically used by police department and military SWAT and tactical teams. In fact, most of the lights can be mounted to firearms.
    The company sent me three of their illumination tools to test out, ranging in price from $70 to $150 or so.
    I’m impressed. You can see in the video how well they do lighting up a forest and creek in the middle of the night.

    All three have LED lights and use very long-lasting lithium batteries.
    Here’s the three I tested in the video:
    The ExtremeBeam XT8 Proranger flashlight. The company claims it has an 850 foot range. Maybe, but my test seemed to show it fading out a bit less than that. It’s hard to gauge from the video but this little light was just okay, in my view, surely not something I’d spend $70 on.
    The TAC-24 – The claim for this one is a 1,200 foot range and I have no problem believing that. The price is about $100 and this has several different modes, including strobe and an setting that will automatically send an SOS. Seriously. Push the mode button til it cycles through the other options and it starts sending out three shorts, three longs and three more shorts. Over and over again. Automatically, while you’re doing other things like trying to survive or fighting off angry bears or whatever.
    The M1000 Fusion – Whoa, baby! This big light takes four lithium batteries and can illuminate an entire block! It weighs a pound or so. It has a claimed 2,000 foot range and, again, my test seemed to validate that. I could have used it as a searchlight outside a movie premiere. It looks like those lights in the old prison escape movies. Or maybe a lighthouse. Whatever. Trust me, it is very, very dark-piercingly bright. Price is $149.

    My take?
    Police and SWAT teams may love these lights but I think they are a bit of overkill – pun intended – for the average RVer.
    The TAC-24 was my favorite. It’s small enough to put in a photo bag or day pack and is perfect if darkness falls while hiking or doing photo work far from camp. If something happened out there in the wilds, those strobe and SOS features would be very handy, especially with those long lasting batteries. I’d buy this one.
    And the M1000 blew me away. It is big and very expensive. Because of that, it probably wouldn’t be in my tool kit. But back in the boondocks, all that illumination would sure show what those weird noises are that we hear around the campfire.
    My best and most used flashlight remains my old faithful REI headlamp.
    But next to it, the TAC-24 is now going to be standard gear aboard the Roadtrek.

  18. Roadtrekingmike
    We’ve shared this on our Facebook group but thanks to a reader’s suggestion, I thought I’d better post it here on the Roadtreking blog as well: Roadtrek has made it easy for owners of its various models to keep up with the best operating practices and learn exactly how their motorhomes work by putting new revised editions of its owners manual online.
    They can be accessed directly from the company website at http://www.roadtrek.com/manuals.aspx.
    The manuals, in convenient .pdf form for easy printing and reading, go all the way back to 1987.
    I’ve been sending lots of readers to the download site in recent days, many of them folks who are shopping for their first Roadtrek. Others who have owned a Roadtrek for years, have misplaced their original printed manual or worn it out.
    To download them directly to your computer, just right click on the file name for your model.
    You will especially appreciate all the new photos, which offer great how-to information on how the features on various models work.
    There are detailed notes on winterizing, de-winterizing, how to use the macerator, how the batteries and inverter work and what are the best operating positions for the various functions.
    Check it out.
  19. Roadtrekingmike
    Roadtrek Motorhome’s hot new N-6 Active made its network television debut this week in a starring role on NBC-TV’s ”Take it All” game show.

    The N-6 was a top prize for a contestant in the show, which stars Howie Mandel and is based on one of the most popular holiday party games in America, often called "White Elephant" or "Yankee Swap."
    In the show, a contestant selects and opens a prize worth thousands of dollars: dream prizes such as luxury cars, exotic trips, jewelry and VIP experiences. Then, the next player is faced with a dilemma: do they steal a prize that has already been revealed, or do they take a chance with another unopened prize, hoping what’s inside is worth more?
    Jim Hammill, Roadtrek’s president, said the company was honored to have the new six-seat Nav-6 be so prominently featured.
    You can watch the entire episode above or directly access it at http://www.nbc.com/take-it-all/video/night-4/n30380/
    “The N-6 is a very unique vehicle that is like nothing else on the market,” says Hammill. “It serves as a luxury SUV that is perfect for shopping, tailgate parties, trips to the beach and carting the kids to soccer practice. But is can also be used as a camper that can sleep six, equipped with hot and cold running water, sink, microwave and everything an on-the-go family needs.”
    The N-6 Active, also known as the Nav 6 when sold through Nissan dealers, is built on the Nissan 2500 frame. We had the chance to test out one not long ago. Here’s our video review.
    Source
  20. Roadtrekingmike
    The RV life is so much fun because you don’t know what adventure is around the next bend. But the people you meet along the way are equally enjoyable.
    I don’t think Jennifer and I have yet to return from a Roadtreking trip without making some new friends. On our most recent trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, we met interesting people at each stop.
    Up at the Historic Fort Wilkins State Park in Copper Harbor Michigan, we found ourselves sharing a campground with husband and wife Roadtrekers Dave DeKeyser and Rebecca Cleveland, two new Roadtrek RT Ranger owners. The couple travel with their two dogs Cisco and Archie and carry two bicycles on the back.
    That’s to be expected because the two own The Bike Hub, a bicycle retail and service shop in the Northwestern Wisconsin town of DePere. From late April through August, they can hardly find time to ride themselves because summer is prime time in the bike business.
    But from now through late spring, they getaway every chance they can, the past week or so riding the awesome mountain bike trails near Copper Harbor, and after the holidays, off to Arizona and Colorado and the cycling scenes there.
    The couple loves their RT Ranger, which was upgraded out with a heavier chassis, a propane heater and a generator. The two dogs sleep up front and the couple has no problem with room.
    “This s perfect for us and our lifestyle,” said Dave, between walks and hikes with the dogs and mountain bike rides with his wife. Rebecca, a former professional racer.
    At the same campground, we reconnected with Dennis and Joyce Crabtree, who have been on an extended multi-state tour in their Roadtrek RS Adventurous from their Commerce City, CO home. We had earlier met the couple at the Roadtrek rally in Branson, Mo., this spring.
    The Crabtrees are veteran Roadtrekers. Joyce needs help breathing from a special machine but doesn’t let that keep her from seeing the country. The electrical system on their Adventurous delivers solid, reliable power all day long.
    Dennis is a kayaker and when we pulled alongside, he had just put his kayak on the roof of the Honda CRV he tows. He had been out earlier in Lake Fannie Hooe and had caught a walleye.
    “Towing our car lets us easily stow the kayak,” he says. “And we can hook up camp and Joyce’s satellite TV dish and not have to move. The Roadtreks can pull up to 5,000 pounds.”
    From Copper Harbor, we made our way down to St. Ignace, just across the Big Mac Bridge that connects Michigan’s two peninsulas.
    At the Straits State Park there, we came upon a 2006 Roadtrek 190 with a vanity front license plate that identified it as “The Condo.”
    I had to get a picture so knocked on the door and thereupon met Nick and Jan Nopper, from Grand Rapids, MI. They bought the Roadtrek this past summer, downsizing from a 40 foot Monaco Class A motorhome.
    “This is the fifth motorhome we have owned,” said Nick. “The four other ones were Class A’s. We had that same license plate on all of them.”
    The choice to downsize was an easy one for the couple. “This is just much easier to drive,” he said, pointing at his new Roadtrek. “We also just bought a home in Florida and we can use this to go back and forth and even take some side trips with.”
    The couple was on their way over to Mackinac Island for a three day getaway at the Grand Hotel with the Roadtrek providing transportation and a place to stay on the road. “We just love seeing the country,” said Nick. “Gives us something to do besides just sit around in our old age.”
    If there is any common denominator between these three very diverse couples it has to be the spirit of adventure.
    Such is the Roadtreking life. Our RVs – be they Roadtreks or small motorhomes from other Class B manufacturers – offer mobility and ease of operation, with room to take everything we need to be comfortable.
    There are new places to visit and new friends to make. It’s a big country out there. And our small motorhomes can get us there.
    Like the T-shirts on the Roadtrekingstore.com say, we may have a small house. But we have a big yard.
    See you out there ...

    Dave and Rebecca DeKeyser from Wisconsin with Cisco and Archie and their new Roadtrek RT Ranger

    Dennis Crabtree from Colorado outside his RS Adventurous. He tows the Honda CR-V with the kayak on top.

    The Grand Rapids, Mich., couple who just bought this Roadtrek 190 downsized from a 40-foot Class A motorhome. They call their Roadtrek “The Condo.”
  22. Roadtrekingmike
    Roadtrekers love to take photos. And while our styles, skills and the things we like to photograph may vary, one thing I bet all of us like to get are images of a sunset.
    I’ve used these awkward days of spring before the warm weather travel season really gets under way to organize the thousands of photos I’ve taken over the past two years and 50,000 miles of roadtteking across North America.
    The photos could be better. But even my ineptitude is smoothed over by the awesome beauty of a sunset, whether on a beach in the mountains or a forest.
    Seeing them all together like this reminds me of the sound of waves on a rocky beach, the smell of cedar and pine in the northwoods, the chirping of birds and the sound of cicadas as dusk falls. I can almost breathe in the fresh air. I feel my neck muscles relax and all the tension of another busy day let go.
    I look forward to campfires and starry skies, early morning coffee outside the Roadtrek on a dew-covered picnic table, long walks amidst wildflowers and aspen, gazing at the majesty of the snow capped mountains and watching my dog, Tai, straining to hear sounds deep in the woods, his nose sampling scents I can’t begin to comprehend.
    It’s time to hit the road.
    Ahhhhh.
    Here’s a brief slideshow that hopefully will get you as excited as I am to once again get out there.

  23. Roadtrekingmike
    The just-concluded Memorial Day weekend in the U.S., a week after Canada’ Victoria Day, means that summer has begun – even though the official start is still a couple of weeks later. And Roadtrekers were out and about over the last weekend so we did another one of our “One Day in the Life of a Roadtrek” photo shoots.
    The rules were simple: Take a picture of your Roadtrek wherever you happened to be at sunset local time. Then email it to me.
    We got a great assortment this year from all over North America.
    Some were on beaches. Some in the mountains. One was in a body shop getting work done. A few were in owner driveways and one was at a special ceremony that launched sky lanterns to honor the 41 Marines of 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, who gave the ultimate sacrifice during the War on Terrorism.
    Enjoy the video slide show.
    See you out there.

  24. Roadtrekingmike
    I now understand what John Denver meant by his song: I’ve now been Rocky Mountain High.
    And like Denver, who penned the song shortly after moving to Aspen to celebrate his love for his new state and the awe-inspiring mountains, Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park made me want to sing, too. If I could only have caught my breath. For there, somewhere well above 12,000 feet, a quarter mile up a tundra bordered trail from an overlook off Trail Ridge Road , were three Bighorn Sheep, standing like sentinels and looking out at the same snow covered peaks that I was.
    I zoomed in for a closeup with my new telephoto and felt so at one with them, the mountains and the whole Colorado experience we had been living the past two weeks that, had Jennifer asked, I would have gladly sold my Michigan home and moved there. Immediately.
    Fortunately, she didn’t ask. At that altitude, she, too was having trouble catching her breath.
    But trust me, if you’ve never stood on top of a mountaintop in Colorado, you have no idea what you were missing. Go listen to Denver’s Rocky Mountain High, which, is, by the way, one of Colorado’s two official state songs. The other one, to save you asking, is Where the Columbines Grow. And they also grow in those Rocky Mountains.
    But Denver’s line in the song about “coming home to a place he’d never been before” is exactly what the Rocky Mountains made me feel.
    You just want to stare and stare at them. Breathing the clean, cool air and watching the sun and shadows move up and down the mountains. We came into the park from Estes Park., on the east end, and like lots of other people, took Trail Ridge Road up and through the 415 square mile park. That was our only complaint. There were way too many people. And half or more of those we sw were from somewhere other than the United States. Our favorite was a group of some 30 motorcyclists from the Netherlands, riding rented Harleys.
    Trail Ridge Road has been dubbed the “highway to the sky” and it is, in just about every book of best drives you’ll find, in the Top 10. It winds 48 miles between Estes Park on the park’s east side and Grand Lake on the west. Eleven miles of the highway travel above treeline, the elevation near 11,500 feet where the park’s evergreen forests come to a halt. As it winds across the tundra’s vastness to its high point at 12,183 feet elevation (where we saw the Bighorn Sheep) , Trail Ridge Road (U.S. 34) offers visitors thrilling views, wildlife sightings and spectacular alpine wildflower exhibitions, all from the comfort of their car.
    I loaded up everyone in our Roadtrek – four adults, two kids and two dogs – and we had no problems on the road.
    But almost every overlook has a path or hiking trail running up or down or out into the wilderness. Besides the sheep, we also saw several herds of elk.
    There were traffic jams around every overlook. But as we lingered and the day wore on, the crowds seemed to thin. By the time we stopped to picnic at Lily Lake, it was much less congested.
    We would have loved to camp at one of the four campgrounds in the park but even six weeks out, we were unable to get a reservation.
    The only place around where we could get space was at the KOA in Estes Park. What a disaster that was. At $56 a night, our “campsite” was on the side of a gravel road, hard up against a berm and maybe 10 feet from those Kamping Kabins that KOA also rents out. It was one of the worst campsites we have ever experienced. Dusty, crowded and more like a parking lot than a campground, we were miserable.
    ven the spots not on the road/parking lot were very close together. We witnessed a near fistfight when the smoke from one camper’s cigar riled up his neighbor.
    I complained to the owner and he acknowledged that I wasn’t the first who got stuck with one of those side of the gravel road spots. But he candidly explained that if he were to do away with those roadside spots his profit would drop by $20,000 a year and, for that price, he could live with the complaints.
    Eating out on the picnic table was like eating in a dust bowl. The kids had no place to play outside the RVs except the street, or way down and around in the small playground. The dogs had to lie in the dirt. You couldn’t open the RV windows without dust coming in.
    We had no other choices. Every other campground in the area was booked up.
    We arrived on a Friday night and gathered everyone up in the Roadtrek and headed to a nearby city park, where we found picnic tables and set up a grill. On Saturday, after touring the park, we walked around Estes Park until dark. Anything to avoid spending time at the KOA.
    Wendy, Dan and the girls went horseback riding into the foothills of the Rockies.
    I did enjoy an impromptu visit from two readers of this blog, Sarah and Tim, who live in Estes park and saw that we were in their area. They drove up and down the KOA streets until they found where we were parked. We talked about Colorado and, specifically, winter in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Tim, who is a curator at the museum there, told me that in the spring, when Trail Ridge Road is plowed out, it is not unusual to have them bordered by 35 foot tall snowdrifts.
    It snows every month in the park. Even August.
    Back to the Rocky Mountain High theme. If you are planning to visit the Rocky Mountain National Park and you are a flatlander, not used to altitude, give yourself some time to get acclimated. Start at lower altitudes and slowly work up. Elevation is an integral part of the park experience. The park is all above 7,500 feet, so don’t do strenuous activities until your system has adjusted. Even driving at high elevation can affect sensitive individuals. Just ask my daughter, Wendy.
    Altitude sickness symptoms include shortness of breath, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, rapid heartbeat and insomnia. All of us in our family group felt at least one of those symptoms. Drink lots of water and if the symptoms are severe, persist, depart for lower elevation.
    But most of the symptoms ease after a couple of days of acclimation.
    But if they don’t, you will be so awestruck by the beautiful scenery, that you forget about them.
  25. Roadtrekingmike
    Now this is boondocking. We drove 11 miles off the Interstate, down a forest road lined by brilliant yellows and red birches and oaks. Then we turned off that and went a mile and a half off down a washboard two-track, pulling into a state forest campground on a little circular lake aptly named Round Lake.
    We haven’t seen another car in miles. Its pouring rain. The heater is keeping out the 44-degree weather and we are toasty comfy in our Roadtrek eTrek, watching Game 4 of the American League Playoffs, rooting for our Tigers in the middle of nowhere.
    I had no bars on my MiFi data card or my Samsung Note 3 smartphone. But when I put the data card in my Wilson Seek cell phone booster with its external antenna magnetically attached to the top of the Roadtrek, I suddenly have four bars of pure Verizon 4G connectivity.
    In the middle of nowhere.
    TV. The Internet. Lights and heat. Water. Food, Ciffeee. Our own shower and bathroom. The comforting sound of rain drumming on the roof.
    This is why we Roadtrek. This is why we boondock. This is heaven, albeit a little wet.
    The Pigeon River Country State Forest and surrounding land where we are camped is home to the largest free-roaming elk herd east of the Mississippi River. The nearly 100,000-acre state forest contains native hardwoods and pines that are interspersed with fields and forest openings. It looks like the color up here peaked last week. But its still jaw-dropping gorgeous. The nice thing about boondocking is you can sleep with the blinds up. The morning came with the rain gone, the sun spotlighting the color across the fog shrouded lake. What a way to wake up.
    I suspect there’s another week or so of color left before they leaves start dropping fast.
    Elk inhabit this forest year-round, but certain times are better for viewing than others. Probably the best month is September, when the males (bulls) are trying to establish dominance for mating rights with the females (cows). They are very active during this time, making loud vocalizations (bugling), and breaking brush with their antlers to impress cows and intimidate their rivals.
    But even now, a month past the rut, they’re still pretty perky. I awoke Friday morning to the sound of them bugling, their high pitched, nasally noises echoing through the piney woods around our campsite from somewhere towards the east ...
    The elk or wapiti is a large member of the deer family. Adult males may weigh up to 1/2 ton.
    Want to visit this place? Come up I-75 to Exit 290 at Vanderbilt, then drive east on Sturgeon Valley Road about 11 miles to the forest trail leading to Round Lake. There are a couple of pit toilets and an old fashioned hand water pump. But no amenities. We’ve been here before. In the summer, you might find one or two other campers here. But during the week and off season, chances are you’ll be have the whole place to yourself.
    If you want to visit one of the several designated elk viewing sites, continue east about three miles to Hardwood Lake Road. Turn left (north) and continue about one mile to the Forestry Field Office. This office has maps and information about elk viewing, but hours are variable depending on the season.

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

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

    A bull elk can weigh half a ton

    The girls… a herd of cow elk in the Pigeon River State Forest
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