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Roadtrekingmike

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Blog Entries posted by Roadtrekingmike

  1. Roadtrekingmike
    We love to take our Norwegian Elkhound, Tai, with us when we go Roadtreking.
    Except for one thing.
    His breath.
    It stinks. Literally.
    In the confined space of an RV, dog breath can get pretty disgusting. We’ve tried chicken-flavored dog toothpaste and brushing his teeth. It works a little. But chicken flavored dog breath is almost as bad as regular dog breath.
    So it was with great interest that we just discovered something called Orapup – a dog breath brush.

    It comes with a couple bottles of Lickies, a liquid that you squeeze onto the soft bristles of the brush. Then you take the brush to your pup and, they love it, liking it all off. It has some natural enzyme that gets rid of bad dog breath and is also supposed to help prevent plaque.
    My granddauhters Hua Hua and Rachel were over when we put it to the test.
    Tai loved the stuff.
    After he licked the brush clean, the girls did a doggie breath test. Their verdict: It works.
    Jennifer checked, too. She says life with Tai in the RV will be better after he licks that brush. We’ll be taking it with us on future trips with the dog.
    Rachel, meanwhile, pointed out to me that the company also has a tongue brush meant for humans.
    She suggested I might want to try it to help with my “Grandpa breath.”
    Hmmm.
  2. Roadtrekingmike
    I came across this interesting You Tube video from a guy who calls himself “Master Luke.” It shows a 24-foot cargo trailer that he made into a totally solar-powered RV.
    The entire roof of the trailer is covered with solar panels - 3,130 watts worth of them.
    The Roadtrek eTrek we drive has a 5,000-watt inverter, a diesel generator and about 250 watts of solar power. But I reckon that we can get more practical RVing use out of our rig than he can with his. That diesel generator charges those batteries very fast and the 250-watt solar panels really help keep the batteries topped off. I suppose if stuck in the woods and the diesel tank runs dry, we’d be pretty limited after a few days but don’t see that as a very likely situation we would be encountering anytime soon.

    But, the installation in this video is very impressive and I think it shows how solar is getting more and more viable for many. I think of applying what he has done in this video to a cabin out in the middle of the Michigan Upper Peninsula woods.
    And being off-grid is, well, just very cool.
    What are your thoughts on this setup?
    Here’s a second more in depth video he did on micro inverters, which he briefly shows in the above video.

  3. Roadtrekingmike

    Do RVs Dream?

    By Roadtrekingmike,

    It sits out there in the driveway with the season’s first snow flurries dusting its windshield as the last of the leaves fall from the trees.
    Inside the RV, there’s the faint but sweet smell of the antifreeze I ran through the plumbing last week. The doors to the refrigerator and the freezer are open to air out. The food and coffee in the storage cupboards are emptied. Only a Roadtreking sweatshirt and a Family Motorcoach Association nylon jacket hang in the once crowded wardrobe.
    My wide brimmed hat with the pins and buttons collected from national parks and scenic attractions hangs by its neckstring behind the driver’s seat, waiting, seemingly, to be put on and to begin another trip.
    You can see your breath when you step inside.
    Tai, our 10-year-old Norwegian Elkhound who has had the best year of his life seeing the country in the Roadtrek, guards and patrols it like a treasure. Sometimes he lies down on the driveway, right outside the sliding door. If it’s going anyplace, he seems to be saying, it’s taking him.
    The Roadtrek eTrek that has carried us across 33,000 miles of North America over the last 12 months is ready for the cold Michigan winter.
    It would shiver if it could.
    Inside our sticks and bricks house is a calendar now filled with planned trips for the coming year. But first comes the slowest travel time of the year, the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and then Christmas.
    So right now, it sits parked and – am I imagining this?- looking lonesome and forlorn.
    Do RVs dream?
    Silly question, I know. But we do imbue them with personalities, naming them, referring to them by gender specific pronouns. We look at them and think of the places we’ve been, the places we will visit. They represent freedom, adventure, the excitement of pulling out and the call of the open road.
    They sure make us dream, don’t they?
    Soon, loyal eTrek ... soon.
  4. Roadtrekingmike
    I know we’ve talked a lot about winterizing over the past few weeks. But here’s one more report, this one documenting my do-it-yourself winterizing of my Roadtrek eTrek.
    For the past two years, I’ve paid over $100 to have it winterized by RV service dealers.
    From the blog and our Facebook page, readers have told me that it’s no big deal and it it is something that even an unhandy handyman like me can do.
    So this year, I decided to see take their advice and do my own winterizing.

    I’ve read all the various suggestions and methods of winterizing an RV and, especially, winterizing a Roadtrek motorhome. I’ve talked to three big service centers at Roadtrek dealerships and I’ve studied the “official” suggestions of Roadtrek.
    Based on those discussions and the suggestions I received, this is my DIY approach:
    It started with a firm decision NOT to put antifreeze in the fresh water tank. Some people do. The dealerships I consulted urged me not to do that for the simple reason that getting rid of that sickly sweet antifreeze taste come time to unwinterize in the spring is very difficult to do.
    Needless to say, I throughly drained my fresh water tank, even driving around with the drain valve opened on the trip home from my last outing. That, all three service shops insisted, was all I needed to do for the fresh water tank.
    My winterizing approach involved two special tools:
    1) The Camco 36153 RV Brass Blow Out Plug, available for just over $5 from Amazon or a bit more at my local RV dealer. This little plug screws into the city water hookup. I need to point out although all three Roadtrek dealers I consulted DO use compressed air, under 40 psi, to blow out the line, Roadtrek itself does NOT recommend forcing compressed air back through the lines. But I do see the wisdom of pushing what water may be in the lines back to through the faucets so I attached a bicycle pump. It did indeed push some water out the faucets and down the drain so I feel good about that, knowing I did not run air at high pressure and, as Roadtrek warns with compressed air, run the risk of damaging the plumbing.
    2) The Camco 36543 RV Pump Converter Winterizing Kit. This is a little valve that attaches at the water pump and allows you to siphon water directly from a bottle of antifreeze into the RV pipes and out the faucets, thereby protecting pipes and connections. This is very clean and neat and makes winterizing so easy, especially if, as I plan, I will probably have to winterize several times this season as I drive to warm climates and then return to the cold north. Cost is $12.65 through Amazon.
    I did the above video to show how it all works. Total time was bout 20 minutes, and that was with me doing the video as I went through each stage. I used just under three gallons of antifreeze, making sure it ran through all the faucets, flushed through the toilet and also flowed through the cold and hot water filters and my outdoor shower. I also removed the water filter, which will be replaced by a fresh one in the spring.
    After that, I put about a cup down each trap. I once again dumped the black and grey water tanks, running the macerator and making sure pink stuff came out. Finished with that, I dumped a half gallon of antifreeze down the black and grey tanks.
    These general steps will work with just about any RV.
    My eTrek has a special Webosto water heater and I followed Roadtrek’s suggestion to drain the tank of water. That’s pretty much all it needs. Your heater is probably much different and you should consult your instruction manual for specifics.
    Now I’m ready for cold weather. Jennifer and I will still use the eTrek during the cold months. We just won’t run water through the pipes in cold weather. We will use antifreeze to flush the toilet.
    But as the temperature drops, the eTrek is now ready for Old Man Winter. Bring it on.

    The blow out plug for the city water connection

    The winterizing kit for the water pump

    The winterizing kit siphons antifreeze directly into the RV plumbing system.
  5. Roadtrekingmike
    It can heat up very fast inside an RV and in this edition of How We Roll in our RV, Jennifer and I answer a question from a reader named Danielle who asks:
    “I’m thinking about taking my freelance writing business on the road in a small motorhome, and I have a question. I’ll be bringing my dog with me and I’m concerned about leaving her in the RV while running errands. Can a dog overheat in a motorhome as they can in a car? Can the A/C run off the battery while sitting in a parking lot, or would I have to run the generator and risk the wrath of quiet townsfolk?
    Any advice from you (or Tai!) would be much appreciated. Thanks, and safe travels!”

    Jennifer and I take our Norwegian Elkhound, Tai, with us and since he has a double coat and doesn’t tolerate heat well, we worry about leaving him unattended for long periods of time, even with the AC on and even in our Roadtrek eTrek, which can run the AC on battery power for long periods of time.
    We don’t leave him unattended even when we are plugged into shore power at a campground. Indeed, many campgrounds have rules about that. How many times have you walked by someone’s RV, only to hear some yipper inside loudly sounding his concern about being abandoned. It is rude to other campers and not very nice to your pet to leave a barking dog alone. Our Tai is not a barker, he’s a sleeper. But what if the AC in the park went out? Like a car, an RV can heat up very fast. So we pretty much always take him with us, except for short periods of times like when we are eating in a restaurant. And then only if we run the AC in warm weather and check on him frequently.
    You can click the video to hear our response to Daniele’s question. And use comments to offer your suggestions.
    Meantime, if you have a question about How We Roll in our RV, send it to us at openmike@fmca.com
  6. Roadtrekingmike
    One of the biggest challenges for couples and families these days is staying connected…and keeping busy and often confusing schedules coordinated. When you throw in an RV and lots of traveling, life can really get complicated.
    That’s where smartphone technology can really help. I have some great apps I juts shared with my NBC-TV audience this week that will help you stay in touch with your spouse and other family members and bring some organization to those busy schedules.
    One of the handiest apps I’ve found for couples is Twyxt. This app started out as a lovey-dovey, touchy-feely app to send sweet nothings to each other during the day. But it now has so many added features that it is downright useable. It shares calendars and to-do lists and photos, memos and notes and even a private messaging system as well. If one person updates, the other person’s Twyzt screen is also updated. It’s free, for the iPhone and Android devices.
    Android and iPhone users looking to stay connected to family members will want to try the Life 360 app. It bills itself as a Family Locator App… and more. It shows on a map where other family members are at any given time. This is great for RVers. You can connect with each other by private text messaging and keep other family members up to date on your plans or share your schedule.
    iPhone, iPad and Android users will appreciate the Cozi Family Organizer. It sets up and shares a family calendar, sends out reminders, has a family shopping list, a to-do list and even a family journal. It’s very easy to work…and it’s free.
    So there you go.

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

    On the shore of Rush Lake

    Lots of ducks were flying.

    I have the place to myself.

    Jay at the motor as we head to the blind

    In the duck blind

    Sunset in the marsh
  8. Roadtrekingmike
    One of the most asked questions Jennifer and I receive from readers deals with how we sleep in our Roadtrek eTrek Class B motorthome. Our answer is … great!
    Seriously, we both agree we sleep better in the Roadtrek than we do in our king-sized Sleep Number bed at home.
    And that has to do with that we sleep on and in while camping out in the Roadtrek.
    In this edition of How We Roll in our RV, we answer two reader questions about where we store our bedding.

    We make the eTrek sofa up into a king sized bed at night and use a four inch Wamsutta Fresh and Cool mattress topper that we picked up last year at a Bed Bath & Beyond store while traveling through South Dakota. Jennifer shows how we store in in the overhead cabinet at the rear of the bed. It takes up every inch of space up there but it fits in just fine.
    On top of the topper, we use an RV Superbag. It’s a king sized bag with a summer and winter side and very comfortable sheets Velcroed inside. I show how we roll it up and put in in the armoire that we have installed in place of the seat that normally is behind the driver. Here’s a link to the RV Superbag video review Jennifer did last year.
    Yes, I know those bags are expensive. But we really like it, so much that we also invested in two individual RV Superbags.
    I use a single when I travel alone or bring a grandkid or buddy with me on a hunting or fishing trip.
    Got a questions you’d like us to answer? Send an e-mail to openmike@fmca.com.
  9. Roadtrekingmike
    No matter what kind of RV we have, one thing that we are all interested in is the weather. Nothing affects traveling more. Across North America, the cold weather is coming fast and that means snow and ice and dicey weather conditions. Thanks to apps, tablets and the Web, you never again need to wonder what its going to be like out there.
    I’m always installing and uninstalling weather apps. I’ve tried dozens of them and I’m sure I’ll try dozens more in the months ahead. But for now, here’s a roundup of my favorite weather apps.
    When bad weather threatens we want to know when and where it will start. And that’s where the new Forecast.io website comes in. It accesses the radar data available from the U.S. government, crunches and analyzes it all and then predicts rainfall and snow for your exact area by the hour and lays it out on a very elegant website. You can get global, regional and local views with just a mouseclick. The tools that the website uses to compile the reports and predictions then are spun off into two apps for smartphones and tablets, one for the Apple platform, the other for Andoid devices. They, too are, pretty slick.
    The iPhone app is called Dark Sky. It costs $3.99.
    The Andoid app is Arcus Weather. Its free right now, though they ask for a donation.
    Here are some other weather apps I use:
    When we’re setting out on an RV trip, I really like the Road Trip Weather App for the iPhone. It costs $1.99 but is very handy. It provides a personalized weather forecast for your drive based on WHERE you will be and WHEN you will be there. Enter your route & departure time and weather data populates on the map, showing potentially hazardous conditions.
    If you want to know everything there is to know about the weather, WeatherBug is the what you want. When you launch the app, it immediately displays current local weather, including temperature, dew point, humidity, sunrise, sunset, wind, pressure and any active weather alerts for the area. This is good as you are traveling as it always updates your current weather. A toolbar along the top lets you switch from the current forecast to a more detailed forecast, hourly forecast, or 7-day forecast. A toolbar along the bottom lets you access weather radar, live webcams in your area, lightning strike information and the pollen count.
    The WeatherBug app has a great radar link but sometimes we want just radar and as much of it as we can get. For Android users, I like RadarNow!. It gives directly to instant radar from your current position.
    For the iPad and iPhone, try the MyRadar app.
    There are no shortage of weather apps. Those are my favorites.
  10. 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
    One of the most confusing aspects of buying an RV is the vast differences paid in sales tax and various licensing fees.
    And many states do what is called “double dipping,” charging full sales tax when you buy the vehicle, and then again charging you tax on the full purchase price of a new one when you you trade it in, ignoring the trade-in price.
    It doesn’t take a genius to know that it is patently unfair.
    In Michigan at least, that double dip tax is about to go away. State lawmakers are getting ready to send a big change in vehicle taxes to Governor Rick Snyder’s desk. The bills would cut the amount of sales tax people pay on cars, boats and recreational vehicles when they trade in another.
    Right now, the full purchase price is taxed. The legislation would gradually change that to eliminate the value of the trade-in from the full purchase price for taxes.
    But the taxing differences and inequities still abound, state-to-state.
    Montana, for example, is a state with no sales tax. And Montana law allows for a Montana corporation to register vehicles in the state. Thus, a whole cottage industry has built up that allows RV owners to avoid sales and use tax and often stiff registration fees in the owner’s home state. Thousands of RV owners around the country do this and dozens of Montana legal firms specialize in making it happen.
    Some states have sales taxes, others don’t. So what if you live in a state that does have an RV sales tax, but buy in one that doesn’t? That’s called a cross-state sale. And each state has different rules about cross-state sales. Sales on the trade-in differences also vary from place to place. Some states charge on the difference between the trade-in value and the original purchase price. Some on the full trade-in.
    But what if you full-time? At least a million RVers do full-time. But for taxation purposes, everyone has to have a legal domicile. But where? Many RVers choose a state with no income taxes and low taxes and fees on licensing and registration like South Dakota. Alas, that state has recently stated scrutinizing those who are RV full-timers – they call them “nomads” – but the process is still available. Here’s a site with some detailed info.
    All this is to say that given the cost of today’s RVs and the wide discrepancies on taxation and licensing fees, there’s a lot to consider when investing in an RV and the RV lifestyle.
    I’d love to hear how you have handled the domicile, tax and fee issues in your RVing life. Use comments below.

  12. 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.
  13. Roadtrekingmike
    It has happened again. This time in Alabama at a campground near the Talladega Speedway. Craig Franklin Morgan, 46, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Morgan and his wife, Jami Allison Morgan, 38, were discovered unresponsive by friends who went into their RV at the South Campground outside the track.
    Jami Morgan was unconscious and was airlifted to a nearby Hospital, where she remained in critical condition and unconscious Monday morning.
    Police said the carbon monoxide apparently leaked from the exhaust system of the family’s RV.
    Talladega County Sheriff Jimmy Kilgore told myfoxal.com that the couple’s RV had a broken exhaust pipe on its generator, which ran all night Friday. When the Morgans didn’t come out Saturday morning, friends went looking for them.
    Carbon Monoxide is an invisible, odorless, and deadly gas, produced by the partial combustion of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels. Carbon monoxide is the number one cause of poisoning deaths each year.
    Almost all of today’s RVs come with carbon monoxide monitors. But they can, and do malfunction. Thus, as a matter of routine, you should test the carbon monoxide detector every time you use the RV If they have batteries, replace them at least once a year, twice if the unit is exposed to extreme cold. A good tip is to change the batteries when when you change clocks for daylight savings time.
    The sad thing is that many deaths occur when the victim is asleep. If their detection monitor is not working, or if they don’t have one, they just stop breathing.
    There are symptoms that are noticeable when awake. They are similar to the flu, but without a fever. They also may include.
    Dizziness
    Vomiting
    Nausea
    Muscular twitching
    Intense headache
    Throbbing in the temples
    Weakness and sleepiness
    Inability to think coherently

    Here is some more advice specific to RVs, as suggested by the website Carbon Monoxide Kills:
    Inspect your RV’s chassis and generator exhaust system regularly, at least before each outing and after bottoming out or any other incident that could cause damage.

    Inspect the RV for openings in the floor or sidewalls. If you locate a hole, seal it with a silicone adhesive or have it repaired before using your generator again.

    Inspect windows, door seals, and weather strips to ensure that they are sealing properly.

    Yellow flames in propane-burning appliances such as coach heaters, stoves, ovens, and water heaters usually indicate a lack of oxygen. Determine the cause of this condition and correct it immediately.

    If applicable, have your built-in vacuum cleaner checked to make sure it does not exhaust under the underside of your RV. Have the system changed if it does.

    Do not operate your generator if the exhaust system is damaged in any way or if an unusual noise is present.

    Park your RV so that the exhaust may easily dissipate away from the vehicle. Do not park next to high grass or weeds, snowbanks, buildings, or other obstructions that might prevent exhaust gases from dissipating as they should.

    Keep in mind that shifting winds may cause exhaust to blow away from the coach one moment and under the coach the next.

    When stopping for long periods of time, be aware of other vehicles around you, such as tractor-trailers at rest stops, that may have their engines and refrigerators running.

    Do not sleep with the generator operating.

    Leave a roof vent open anytime the generator is running, even during the winter.

    If you do not feel well, do not be fooled into thinking that it is because you have been driving too long, you ate too much, or you are suffering from motion sickness. Shut off the generator and step outside for some fresh air just to be sure.


  14. Roadtrekingmike
    RVers aren’t the only ones winding down the season this time of year. So is Mackinac Island, the summer resort island located in the Straits of Mackinac at the tip of the Michigan mitt, right where Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron.
    Next weekend, the place shuts down until spring, with only a single hotel, restaurant and bar left open to serve the several hundred full-time residents and the workmen who come in during the winter to renovate, repair and restore the hotels and shops. Many shops were shutting down this weekend.
    Jennifer and I have made it a tradition to visit this special island every year at this time. Gone are the thousands of summertime tourists who jam the streets and make it difficult to navigate on foot. The stores all have deep discounts and there’s a sort of back-to-nature feel for the place as winter approaches. In fact, snow is in the forecast here for mid next week.
    There are no motorized vehicles on the island. You walk, ride a bike or get carted around by a horse. So our Roadtrek was left back across the straits on the mainland, in the parking lot of the ferry boat company that makes the 20-minute crossing a dozen plus times a day. The boats will start cutting back trips next week and, usually by the end of December or early January, have to suspend all service because of ice.
    Most winters, the only way to the island in the winter is by air or, for the adventurous, by snowmobiles over the ice bridge that forms between the island and St. Ignace, the closest city in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Locals mark the path by sticking Christmas trees along the route and entrepreneurial St. Ignace business owners have been known to set up portable bars and hot dog stand on the ice half way between.
    So this week is the last active week here before most everything closes down until late April. At the massive Grand Hotel, where we are staying, the largely Jamaican staff, many of whom have served here season after season, will be leaving a week from Monday. Frederick, one of our waiters at breakfast, is in his 26th year at the Grand.
    This weekend, the hotel is featuring a ballroom dancing extravaganza that has brought people in from across the country. Decades ago, we spent a couple of years taking ballroom dance lessons. We like to joke that disco dancing saved our marriage. This weekend saw me not being able to remember a single step.
    There were beginning and intermediate classes during the day. Friday and Saturday nights, everyone dressed up and danced to a full orchestra, complete with a vocalist. Some of the men wore tuxedos. One guy wore a Scottish kilt. Several wore spats. The women wore fancy shoes and elaborate dresses that ranged from formal to Dancing With the Stars-like costumes, complete with hats and long gloves.
    The Grand bills itself as “America’s Summer Place” and has been welcoming guests since 1867. Today, like back then, you still must dress for dinner. No jeans, shorts or casual clothing is allowed after 6 p.m.
    Whenever we come here, we bring our bikes across on the ferry and try to ride around once or twice each day. It’s 8.4 miles around, all on a paved road along the shoreline that offers great views of the water. We also enjoy riding the interior roads, past natural attractions and the marvelously restored fort on a high bluff above town that was built buy the British during the American Revolution and later became the scene of two strategic battles in the War of 1812.
    At night, we walk. Friday night, the temperature was a crisp 38 degrees and there was a beautiful full moon peeking out between the clouds. We strolled the west bluff overlooking the twinkling lights of the Mackinac Bridge that connects Michigan’s two peninsulas. On our right were gigantic Victorian mansions that are summer homes built by turn-of-the-last-century business tycoons. Then we made our way back to the Grand to watch the dancers twirl around the dance floor.
    Saturday, it was dancing all day and night. Our first class, the Tango, began at 9 a.m.. Then came the Rumba. Then East Coast Swing.
    At night, everyone danced. Non-stop. The Fox Trot, the Waltz, the Quick Step, Cha-Cha, Rumba, Jitterbug, Swing and variations of them all.
    The dancing crowd had a surprising number of young couples, despite the Big Band music from the 1940s.
    Jennifer is immensely enjoying the island, the dancing, the old world charm of the Grand. I love having a happy wife.
    But two nights of wearing a suit and tie are enough to last me a long time. I’m greatly anticipating being reunited with the Roadtrek tomorrow and finding a place in the woods to boondock before heading home Monday.
    Finally…for those of you who asked … here’s video of us dancing during our swing class. No snickers, please:

  15. Roadtrekingmike
    Now this is boondocking. We drove 11 miles off the Interstate, down a forest road lined by brilliant yellows and red birches and oaks. Then we turned off that and went a mile and a half off down a washboard two-track, pulling into a state forest campground on a little circular lake aptly named Round Lake.
    We haven’t seen another car in miles. Its pouring rain. The heater is keeping out the 44-degree weather and we are toasty comfy in our Roadtrek eTrek, watching Game 4 of the American League Playoffs, rooting for our Tigers in the middle of nowhere.
    I had no bars on my MiFi data card or my Samsung Note 3 smartphone. But when I put the data card in my Wilson Seek cell phone booster with its external antenna magnetically attached to the top of the Roadtrek, I suddenly have four bars of pure Verizon 4G connectivity.
    In the middle of nowhere.
    TV. The Internet. Lights and heat. Water. Food, Ciffeee. Our own shower and bathroom. The comforting sound of rain drumming on the roof.
    This is why we Roadtrek. This is why we boondock. This is heaven, albeit a little wet.
    The Pigeon River Country State Forest and surrounding land where we are camped is home to the largest free-roaming elk herd east of the Mississippi River. The nearly 100,000-acre state forest contains native hardwoods and pines that are interspersed with fields and forest openings. It looks like the color up here peaked last week. But its still jaw-dropping gorgeous. The nice thing about boondocking is you can sleep with the blinds up. The morning came with the rain gone, the sun spotlighting the color across the fog shrouded lake. What a way to wake up.
    I suspect there’s another week or so of color left before they leaves start dropping fast.
    Elk inhabit this forest year-round, but certain times are better for viewing than others. Probably the best month is September, when the males (bulls) are trying to establish dominance for mating rights with the females (cows). They are very active during this time, making loud vocalizations (bugling), and breaking brush with their antlers to impress cows and intimidate their rivals.
    But even now, a month past the rut, they’re still pretty perky. I awoke Friday morning to the sound of them bugling, their high pitched, nasally noises echoing through the piney woods around our campsite from somewhere towards the east ...
    The elk or wapiti is a large member of the deer family. Adult males may weigh up to 1/2 ton.
    Want to visit this place? Come up I-75 to Exit 290 at Vanderbilt, then drive east on Sturgeon Valley Road about 11 miles to the forest trail leading to Round Lake. There are a couple of pit toilets and an old fashioned hand water pump. But no amenities. We’ve been here before. In the summer, you might find one or two other campers here. But during the week and off season, chances are you’ll be have the whole place to yourself.
    If you want to visit one of the several designated elk viewing sites, continue east about three miles to Hardwood Lake Road. Turn left (north) and continue about one mile to the Forestry Field Office. This office has maps and information about elk viewing, but hours are variable depending on the season.

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

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

    A bull elk can weigh half a ton

    The girls… a herd of cow elk in the Pigeon River State Forest
  16. Roadtrekingmike
    The temperature outside my Roadtrek in the driveway of our Michigan home was 34 degrees this morning.
    That’s the coldest yet this season and a reminder that soon, there will be no putting off the fact that it needs to be winterized.
    We still have a couple of long weekend trips planned and I am hoping that I can do them without pushing antifreeze down all the pipes. It’s funny, really, because even when the RV is winterized, there’s no reason I can’t use it. You just carry drinking water and use antifreeze to flush the toilet. No big deal.
    But still, winterizing means winter and winter means cold and, well, the fact of the matter is this has been such a great season for our RV that I hate to see it end. November and December are the times we use it the least.
    It won’t be long till the first of the snowbirds head south. These are usually Class A owners and they tend to sit in one spot all season long. We’re not like that with our Class B. And since we tend to move around a lot, it’s hard to get reservations n Florida. Impossible, really. So I don’t think we’ll even try Florida this year.
    Instead, we’re looking at a trip after the New Year, over towards the Texas Hill Country and the southwest.
    But this relatively inactive time after the first hard freeze settles in until the holidays are over always leaves me a little sad. I hate to see a good thing end… even if it’s temporary.
    Guess the best cure for the off season blues is to plan the next season.
    How about you? What are your plans for the next couple of months?
  17. Roadtrekingmike
    Spanning the two Michigan peninsulas is the Mackinac Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere. It is always a highlight of our trips to the Upper Peninsula. When you say “Big Mac” to a Michigander, the bridge is what they think of, not the hamburger. Counting the approaches, the bridge is five miles long.
    What makes it so interesting is the very nature of its construction. A suspension bridge is designed to move to accommodate wind.

    And high above the Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Michigan merges with Lake Huron at the very tip of the Michigan mitt, there is always wind.
    In fact, according to the Mackinac Bridge Authority, the state agency that runs the bridge, it is possible that the deck at center span could move as much as 35 feet (east or west) due to high winds.
    Seriously.
    This would only happen under severe wind conditions, mind you. And the deck would not swing or “sway” but rather move slowly in one direction based on the force and direction of the wind. After the wind subsides, the weight of the vehicles crossing would slowly move it back into center position.
    Sometimes, the bridge is shut down. Electronic signs along I-75 so alert drivers and a low power radio station continuously broadcasts bridge conditions. Large trucks usually require an escort.
    But RVs usually have no problems.
    I say usually. I’ve crossed the bridge in our Roadtrek a dozen times. On a couple of occasions, I was aware of some pretty stiff cross winds. Nothing that caused any serious apprehension, but enough to keep my speed down.
    Occasionally, there have been vehicles rolled over on the bridge because of high winds.
    In 1989 a woman driving a two-year-old Yugo inexplicably stopped her super light weight vehicle on the bridge over the open steel grating on the bridge’s span. A gust of wind through the grating blew her vehicle off the bridge.
    That’s the only death not attributed to accidents or suicides. The most recent suicide was late last year, by someone who jumped over the rail. In 1997 a man in a Ford Bronco intentionally drove off.
    But such incidents are very rare.
    Yet, because of the nature of suspension bridges, there’s always an element of adventure in crossing the Big Mac.
    The view is always spectacular.
    I put together this little video during our most recent crossing. It was late on a cloudy day on mid-September.
    Some 200 feet below it, ferry boats could be seen making their way back and forth to nearby Mackinac Island from Mackinaw City, the last town in the Lower Peninsula and St. Ignace, the first town in the UP.
    Before the bridge was opened in 1957, automobile ferries made the crossing.
    Every Labor Day, people can walk across the bridge. I’ve participated in a couple of bicycle rides that also cross the bridge as well. But the bridge is only open for vehicular traffic except on a very few special occasions during the year.
    So driving is how most of us cross. If you haven’t driven across the Big Mac bridge, put it on your bucket list.
    If you want to spend the night and check out the bridge, the best place to do so is on the UP side, at Straits State Park in St. Ignace. There are spots right along the lake shore with magnificent views.
    If you just want to get close and take some photos or maybe have a picnic, the Fort Michilimackinac State Park on the Mackinaw City side has lots of RV parking with great bridge views.
  18. Roadtrekingmike
    I hate flying. In my past life as a journalist, I was frequently in the air, flying here or there for this story or that. I grew to dread air travel.
    But now that I travel in an RV, I hate flying even more.
    I write this from Albany, GA, where we are visiting family. It’s a quick visit, to watch the grandsons play football and to attend grandparent’s day at the youngest one’s school. We’re flying on gift tickets, down here just for the weekend and then back to Michigan.
    This is the first airplane trip we’ve taken since we bought got a Roadtrek some 19 months ago.
    Roadtreking has spoiled us.
    We’ve made the trip many times in our Roadtrek. It’s about 950 miles, an 18 hour drive. With food and fuel stops, you can do it in one very long day’s drive. We prefer spending the night in the Roadtrek.
    In the Roadtrek, we have everything we need. We can bring all the clothing we think we may need, all the supplies and food and we can stop where we want, eat where and when we want.
    It is like traveling with our home. We like the drive, get to take our dog and can take turns driving.
    We are the masters of our journey.
    No so flying.
    The actual flight from Detroit to Atlanta is a about two and a half hours. Then it’s another hour and 20 minutes on a small commuter airplane down to Albany. So, all told, flight time is just shy of four hours.
    But that is not representative of real travel time. And it comes with a huge cost: Aggravation, a loss of control and germ exposure.
    Let me explain.
    The first frustration came when we packed our bags. We take carry-ons. I’ve lost too many bags at too many airports over the years to let the airline handle them. Alas, you can’t bring what you want in a carry-on. Shampoos , conditioners, hair products, shaving cream, etc (unless they are in miniature containers) are all forbidden. Carry-on space constraints mean other things that we’d normally have in our Roadtrek – like a hairdryer jackets or sweatshirts – have to be get left behind
    We departed our house at 9 AM, drove to my daughter’s home in another. Tai, our loyal RV traveling companion, was something else we had to leave behind. He gave us that forlorn “what, you’re abandoning me?” look and we felt terribly coldhearted as we rushed out.
    It took close to an hour to get to our daughter’s house in another Detroit suburb. Then we drove north to Flint, MI and the Bishop International Airport. Add 45 minutes.
    Then there was the hassle of finding a parking spot at $15 a day. Standing in line, going through airport security – taking off shoes, belts, removing laptops, getting the carry-ons inspected. And another hour.
    The government shut down also resulted in laying off most TSA gate inspectors and agents. Yet there was a full contingent at the airports. I talked to one of them and he told me they were all working without pay, hoping that whenever the government gets its act together and “reopens,” they’ll get back pay. “If this shutdown continues, I don’t know what I’ll do next week,” he said. “I’m running out of gas money,”
    We go to the waiting aress. The Delta attendant at the gate used the public address system to asked passengers to put their carry-ons at their feet because the carry-on bins would be full. Ug.
    By the time we’re actually on the plane – jam-packed, everyone breathing everyone else’s air, Jennifer and I are cramped, uncomfortable and annoyed to no end by a noisy couple in the row behind us who seem to be incapable of speaking a sentence that does not contain the F-word.
    We get into Atlanta’s gigantic Hartsfield International Airport a little after 2 PM. It takes 15 minutes to get off the plane from our Row 30 seats. Our arrival gate is in Terminal B.
    The hallways are jammed. People push and nudge to get close enough to read the departure sign for connecting flights.
    Our Albany departure is in Terminal D.
    We walk for close to ten minutes, jostled and dodging other harried passengers who are dragging all sorts of wheeled suitcases behind them. Then it’s a short line to board a long escalator down to the train that takes us to Terminal D.
    The train is elbow-to-elbow crowded. We all hang on to whatever pole or strap we can find as the train accelerates. Even so, a man in front of me looses his balance and lurches backward, roughly bumping into an elderly lady. Both would have gone down if it weren’t so crowded. Instead, wedged in like that, all they could do was ricochet off other passengers. The woman glared at the man, who apologized profusely.
    As the train rapidly decelerates at Terminal D, he’s holding on good. He tried one more “I’m sorry” but she is having none of it.
    We all try to exit the train at once, before the doors close, an irritating beeping noise indicating it would be happening soon.
    There’s an even longer line for the up escalator. More bumping and jostling ensues. A guy cutting in front of me from the side sneezes inches from my face. Terrific.
    Up into Terminal D, it is again so crowded you need to merge into the traffic flow like you do in a car on the freeway of a big city at rush hour.
    It’s always rush hour at the Atlanta airport.
    We try to find food. There are long lines at each place. It’s also always lunch hour at the Atlanta airport.
    I’m getting cranky by now and go to find our gate while Jennifer searches for nourishment.
    There are no seats at our gate. I find two unoccupied spots a few gates down. I put my laptop on the seat next to me to save it for my wife, drawing angry glances from others looking to take a load off their feet Eventually, Jennifer shows up. She managed to scrounge up a blueberry muffin from down the way, a muffin made surely within the past month. Or maybe a little longer. Hard to say.
    Someone a few seats away is coughing up a lung. Not good.
    Finally, we catch the connecting plane to Albany.
    It’s a small 50-seat plane, two rows of two seats on each side. Roller bags have to be checked. There’s no room for them. Nor is there any room in the seats. I’m glad it’s Jennifer’s thigh I’m making contact with instead of a stranger.
    I hear someone behind me sniffing and coughing. At least he’s not sneezing.
    We land in Albany a little after 5 PM. Then we retrieve our bags, make our way out of the airport and drive to our son’s place.
    We arrive about 6 PM – nine hours after leaving home, but way more tired than if we had driven in the Roadtrek.
    Sometimes, time dictates the need to fly.
    But if given the choice, I’ll take the Roadtrek any day.

    Being jammed together in an airplane and having to abide by flight schedules is no fun after controlling our own space in an RV.
  19. Roadtrekingmike
    When blog reader Harry Salt sent me these spectacular photos (see below), I just knew I had to share them.
    They are from the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, now under way in New Mexico.
    Harry was part of two RV groups that attended – a Class B group and a Roadtrek group.
    “The festival goes thru Oct 13,” writes Salt. “After Oct 7 some of the group went on a ’walkabout’ for about 30 days. Supposed to have been at National Parks and Monuments but now they are improvising. It will end Early November at the 49er Death Valley Encampment.”
    Attendees were from Massachusetts to Alaska and Harry says there were 58 Roadtreks, one Krystal, one Chateau. Eleven were Sprinter brands. He tried to get them all in the photos but would have needed a much wider lens.
    What makes the skies so blue and Salt’s photos so spectacular is why the event is held this time of the year. This is the 42nd time that the Balloon Fiesta has filled Albuquerque’s crystal blue skies. The Balloon Fiesta is still the premier international ballooning event, powered by the perfect October climate and a phenomenon called the “Albuquerque Box,” (a combination of weather patterns and geographic landscape, the box allows balloonists to control and even retrace their adventure).
    It’s held at Balloon Fiesta Park. The 200 acres of grass and booths are filled with balloons and vendors selling everything from traditional New Mexican food to balloon memorabilia. Each year balloon teams from around the world participate in the event and news coverage originates from more than 50 countries. It has become the most photographed event in the world.
    You may have missed the first weekend but this event really goes on every day. The breathtaking mass ascensions featuring waves of hot air balloons will fill Albuquerque’s morning skies this coming weekend, too.
    I gotts do this smoeday. You, too? Thanks Harry, for sending the photos.
  20. Roadtrekingmike
    The active RV season in the north is on limited time as the cold weather approaches, but before many of the RVs are put to bed or in storage, many RV parks around the country are hosting special Halloween get-togethers and site decorating contests.
    And the parks are filling up.
    At the Addison Oaks County park near our Michigan home, where we walk our dog several times a week, the Halloween weekend turns into quite a spectacle, with contests, trick-or-treating and prizes for the best-decorated RV. They call it the Boo bash and once it ends, the park shuts down for the season.
    RV Halloween weekends are being held all over this year as the concept has spread across the county.
    I know of no park, though, that is into the spirit of it all like the Lake Rudolph Campground & RV Resort in Santa Claus, Ind., which is planning seven – count them, seven – consecutive Halloween-themed activities this fall. “It’s the most popular thing we do,” said Dave Lovell, the resort’s director of marketing. The park hires professional story tellers for Friday night bonfires. There are haunted hayrides, costume contests, scary movies and a dance-until-you-drop sound and light show.
    As an indicator of how popular it is, reservations start rolling in a year in advance. The last event this year is Oct. 25-26. The 2014 Halloween weekend schedule is already up on their website.
    The Lake Rudolph folks are not alone. Most Jellystone Parks around the country now offer Halloween themed activities, while more than a third of KOA’s nearly 500 campgrounds offer Halloween themed activities and so do many privately owned campgrounds.
    If groups and lots of fun and activities are your thing and especially if you have young kids or grandkids, you might one to try one of these Halloween gatherings.

    The Lake Rudolph RV Resort in Santa Claus, Ind., hires professional storytellers to tell ghost stories around a bonfire.
    These sites might be of interest to you:
    Yogi Bear's Jellystone Parks - Halloween weekends
    Go Camping America - fall and pre-Halloween activities
    Kentucky State Parks - Halloween events
  21. Roadtrekingmike
    Ah ... the Sound of Silence.
    There really is a sound to it, you know. On a boondocking trip deep in the Michigan woods in Ogemaw County, we heard it good.
    There was the crackle of our campfire. A hoot of a distant owl. The yips of a pack of coyotes somewhere far to the west. The gurgle of the Rifle River moving over a stretch of rocks just downstream from where we were camped. The whooshing sound of wind whipping through a stand of pine.
    And on that clear night, the sound of boondocking silence comes with a view.
    Up above, as soon as you walked away from the fire and got your night eyes focused, a gazillion stars speckled the ink black sky.
    That’s the first big perk of boondocking, or being totally self-contained with no commercial power or water or sewer or any other service. Some people prefer to call it “dry camping” or “independent camping.” Other terms are “primitive camping” or “dispersed camping.”
    Whatever, we were loving it.
    No one else was around. Probably for miles.
    Tai, our Norwegian Elkhoud, ran free, though not very far from our motorhome. I swear he smiled the whole weekend, blissfully exhausted from leash-free hikes and the new scents of deer trails and the deep woods.
    We slept with the blinds up and the windows open with complete privacy.
    In our all electric Roadtrek eTrek, with solar power and a diesel heater connected to the engine, we can go that way for days. In fact, the limiting factor for us out there is how much food we can bring. More often than not, we need to resupply about every three days. Because we have eight house batteries, 250 watts of solar power, a diesel generator that charges the batteries on a half hour or so by just running the engine, a refrigerator, heater, microwave/convection oven, air conditioner and inductive stove that are powered by a 5,000-watt inverter, our eTrek is made for boondocking like that.
    But most all Class B motorhomes can boondock, some for a night or so, others a couple days.
    But where?
    I use the Internet and apps to help me find new places to boondock.
    For starters, check out the app for iPhone, iPad and Android devices by AllStays (www.allstays.com). They list more than 22,000 commercial campgrounds, state and national parks and boondocking spots, everything from KOAs and Walmarts to state and federal forests, military and BLM land. This is my favorite app and website, offering the most detailed information of any app I’ve yet found on places to stay.
    There are other resources.
    Free Campgrounds for RVs (http://www.freecampgrounds.com) has a big database, sorted by state, of state, federal and county land open to camping, most without hookups or services.
    For boondocking and camping information about National Forests, check out the very useful U.S. National Forest Campground Guide (http://www.forestcamping.com). Much of the research was done by Fred and Suzi Dow, a couple of avid RVers who have spent the last 17 years visiting 155 national forests, 20 national grasslands, 1 national tallgrass prairie and 2,383 developed campgrounds.
    I also like the Free Campsites website (http://freecampsites.net). There’s an interactive map as well as comments and reviews of boondocking spots.
    You can also check the site http://boondocking.org. It’s a database of free boondocking spots based on GPS coordinates. Enter in your location’s latitude and longitude and it will tell you whether the closest boondocking spot may be.
    Those are some of my favorite boondocking resources. How about you? Share your suggestions under comments.

    Boondocking in our eTrek the middle of the Michigan woods in Ogemaw County.
  22. Roadtrekingmike
    I use a lot of cameras while we travel North America in our Roadtrek RV. One of my favorites is the GoPro Hero, a very tiny high def camera that I can mount to the side of my vehicle, wear on a bike hemet or attach to just about anything.
    The folks who make the camera just released some free editing software called GoPro Studio. I couldn’t resist downloading it last night and throwing in a few of our driving shots from this summer. The music comes with the template you download, so no complaints, please.

    The video includes shots from Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Missouri and South Dakota.
    I’ll play with more of my GoPro video later but here’s the first effort with their new video editing software… without going through the tutorial.
    By the way, the software also imports video from your smartphone or other cameras so you can edit it into slick looking videos, too.
  23. 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?
  24. Roadtrekingmike
    The budgeting mess and political wrangling in Congress over Obamacare has ruined the vacation plans of tens of thousands of RVers who had planned to camp in a national park this week.
    The closure of the national parks is also hitting hard the bordering communities whose economic livelihood is closely tied to a steady stream of national park visitors.
    At midnight, all activities at the parks, except for necessary emergency services, were immediately suspended and the parks closed indefinitely. In addition camping on all Bureau of Land Management land has been halted and the National Parks Service had furloughed 21,000 employees of its nearly 24,675-strong workforce.
    Essential services such as law enforcement will continue, but all public recreational use has been shut down.
    Visitors currently camping or staying in a national park have been ordered to leave by Friday and all roads leading to the parks are being closed to public access. New visitors showing up will be turned away.
    On Monday, the Department of Interior, which runs the parks service, released details on the closures, which effects all 401 national park areas including such popular destinations as Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Yosemite, Glacier, Acadia, the Great Smoky Mountains and the Rocky Mountain National Park.
    RVers, who tend to be older without young children, find the parks particularly attractive to visit at this time of year because, with school in session across the country, the summer crowds are diminished and its easier to move about the parks.
    This isn’t the first time there have been shutdowns because of Congressional funding disputes. In the Clinton administration, the parks shut down for 28 days in late 1995 According to the Congressional Research Service, the the shutdowns cost the country $1.4 billion.
    And there was massive public outrage.
    “Once the shutdowns began, the reaction from people who wanted access to the parks was absolutely incredible,” Bruce Babbitt, who was U.S. Interior Secretary at the time, said in an interview Monday with environmental reporter Paul Rogers of the San Jose Mercury News.
    Here are some excerpts from Rogers’s story:
    “The first call I got was from the governor of Wyoming, who was having a fit. He was saying ‘You have to open Yellowstone. This is an outrage. Do something!’”
    The then-governor of Arizona, Fife Symington, sent National Guard troops to the Grand Canyon in an attempt to keep the park open, rather than risk losing tourism. Eventually, Arizona officials paid the National Park Service through state funds and donations to keep famous sites along the South Rim open.
    “It’s especially hard to turn away families who have planned vacations, and people have nonrefundable plane tickets,” said B.J. Griffin, who was Yosemite National Park superintendent in 1995. “For some people, this is their once-in-a-lifetime visit. Back in 1995, the anger and the anxiety was properly placed. Visitors knew it was Congress and not our rangers.”
    How long this shutdown will last is unsure. Hopefully, this one will be shorter than the one n 1995.
    Here is the official statement from the Department of the Interior:
    “Effective immediately upon a lapse in appropriations, the National Park Service will take all necessary steps to close and secure national park facilities and grounds in order to suspend all activities except for those that are essential to respond to emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property. Day use visitors will be instructed to leave the park immediately as part of Phase 1 closures. Visitors utilizing overnight concession accommodations and campgrounds will be notified to make alternate arrangements and depart the park as part of Phase 2. Wherever possible, park roads will be closed and access will be denied. National and regional offices and support centers will be closed and secured, except where they are needed to support excepted personnel. These steps will be enacted as quickly as possible while still ensuring visitor and employee safety as well as the integrity of park resources.”
    So that’s the latest.
    Again, let’s hope this doesn’t last long and those who were planing national park vacations can find suitable alternative places to camp.
    I don’t want to get political here on Roadtreking. The country is already polarized beyond anything I have ever seen in my 30 plus years as a journalist. Ad we have Roadtreking.com readers who hold very different views on the issues surrounding the shutdown.
    So if you comment below, please don’t bash anyone or engage in political wrangling. Let’s stick to what we all agree on: It’s a shame our national parks are closed.
    And if you have suggestions for those out there looking for places to stay, by all means share it here.
  25. Roadtrekingmike
    Everyone knows we Michganders love to represent our state by showing our hand. Here, try it.
    Take your left hand and extend it, palm facing out. That’s the Lower Peninsula, the familiar Michigan mitt.
    Okay, now turn your extended left hand to the left, and bring your handdown to the right so the fingers are pointing horizontally to the right. That’s the Upper Peninsula.
    Now bring up your right hand, palm facing you, thumb to the right. Put the left hand at the top of the right and…voila… a map of Michigan.
    Now look at the tip of your thumb on the hand representing the Upper Peninsula. That is Copper Harbor, the end of the road, some 600 miles northwest of my southeastern Michigan home, at the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula.
    You can’t go any further north without falling in Lake Superior. In fact, Lake Superior borders the little town of Copper Harbor on three sides. A mountain, Brockway Mountain, hems it in from the South. It is so remote that you can’t even get cell phone coverage in town. There’s one way in, US 41, which dead ends about two miles out of town.
    It is one of the best spots we’ve found to take our RV anywhere in North America.
    Copper Harbor, with a year-round population of 90, prides itself on being far away, But what it lacks in big city amenities, it more than makes up for in outdoors fun.
    Start out at the Historic Fort Wilkins State Park, tucked along the shoreline of Lake Fannie Hooe, a long inland lake loaded with trout that is just across US 41 from the pounding surf of Lake Superior. There are two loops to the park, the west unit with paved pads for big rigs, and the east unit with flat but grassy spots a half mile away. Separating the two campgrounds is Fort Wilkins, a wonderfully restored 1844 military outpost.
    We spent a night in each loop. Even though the west campground was more modern with the cement pads, we preferred the east, which when we visited in mid-September was less crowded. To compensate for the lack of cell phone coverage the state park, and most places in town, offered free and surprisingly robust WiFi connectivity.
    The Fort is well worth half a day’s visit. It was opened in 1844 in the midst of the copper mining boom which had made the whole Keweenaw Peninsula as wild and wooly a place as Alaska’s Skagway during the Gold Rush. Thousands of miners from all over the world were pouring into the region and the local Ojibway and Chippewa Indians were understandably resentful of the Treaty of La Pointe that had taken the land from them and ceded the area to the United States two years before.
    The Fort was established to keep what was thought to be a delicate peace. But it was all for naught. The fort proved to be unnecessary. The native Americans largely accepted the influx, and the miners were too cold in the unforgiving climate to be anything but law-abiding. In all, the Army built 27 structures,including a guardhouse, powder magazine, 7 officer’s quarters, two barracks, two mess halls, hospital, storehouse, sutler’s store, quartermaster’s store, bakery, blacksmith’s shop, carpenter’s shop, icehouse, four quarters for married enlisted men, stables, and a slaughter house, to house the operations of two full-strength infantry companies. Several of these original structures still survive. Most of the others have been rebuilt following archaeological excavations.
    The Fort was garrisoned for just two years, with nearly 120 soldiers stationed there. In 1846 , when the Mexican War broke out, the fort was abandoned, leaving behind a single caretaker. Some troops came back during the Civil War, and it was again reoccupied , but for just three years in 1867-1870.
    The archeological excavations and restoration of the buildings by the State of Michigan is spectacular and you can walk in and out of the buildings, seeing artifacts from the time and reading letters from the men who spent a miserable existence in a place so remote to be militarily irrelevant.
    We absolutely delighted in strolling around the fort, just a short walk from our campsite.
    There is, across from the Fort a quarter mile out into the Big Lake, a lighthouse, first constructed in 1846. It, too has been restored and tours are available all day. You need to board a boat in Copper Harbor for a short ride to the lighthouse.
    Then we headed into Copper Harbor. The town has become a mountain biking mecca, with world class trails abounding in the hilly forests that surround the town. We found mountain bikers gathered from across the country. Many are very hardcore and the trails are technical. But there are also easy rides and a great place to rent bikes right downtown. At the end of the day, the bikers all congregate at the Brickside Brewery, a very friendly microbrewry that hand crafts artisan brews.
    Copper Harbor is also a center for kite surfing. We watched a half dozen wetsuit clad kite surfers scoot across the frigid waters and always roiling waves of the lake.
    Also in town and well worth a hike is the Estivant Pines, a 500 acre stand of virgin white pines. Michigan, in the mid to late 1800′s was the land of white pines and the entire state was practically clear cut by thousands of rough and tumble lumberjacks. The white pine, which grows 150 feet tall, were used for sailing masts and its lumber built many a frontier town as the nation expanded west.
    Today, the state has been reforested but the magnificent stands of white pine are almost all gone, expect for places like the Estivant plantation up in Copper Harbor and a stretch called the Hartwick Pines near the Lower Peninsula town of Grayling.
    About the time the white pine forests were being played out, copper became the next big thing for Michigan, headquartered on the Keweenaw . There are tours of two copper mines within a short drive of Copper Harbor. The Delaware Mine just south of Copper Harbor, and the Quincy Mine near the town of Hancock, offer guided tours deep underground. Copper turned this part of the state so rich at the Keweenaw town of Calumet missed becoming the capital of Michigan by two votes.
    The copper boom was fueled by huge demands for copper wiring, as the nation began lighting city streets and homes with electricity. The copper, too, too played and after a devastating mining strike in 1913, industry slowly vanished from the Keweenaw .
    Today, it’s the end of the road. And beautiful. The air is clean, so is the water. Fish and wildlife abound and those who live here pretty much choose to live here.
    I got to be a judge in the town’s annual Chili cookoff and in the process met lots of locals, young and old. They are proud of their heritage, deeply respectful of the land and lake, and very welcoming to visitors, especially RVers.
    If history is your thing and you like to learn about it surrounded by beauty, Copper Harbor is deserving of a visit. Give yourself a week up here.
    What to do? Fishing, hunting, biking, exploring during the summer, snowmobiling, sled dog races and ice fishing in the winter. There is a gourmet coffee shop, several excellent restaurants and, of course, the Brickside Brewery. And yes, US41 is plowed and maintained all year round. The folks of Copper Harbor know how to handle the annual snowfall of over 300 inches. Alas, the state park shuts down in October, though there is also an excellent private campground in town that may be able to handle late season RVers.
    It may be the end of the road, but there’s a lot to see and do.
    We’ll be back ....
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