RV Navigator: Recent Episodes
Ken & Martha, The RV Navigators
The digital home for RVers. RVing is not camping anymore. It has evolved into a high tech life style that requires maintaining many technology systems. This podcast addresses the myriad issues that arise while traveling in an RV. The podcasters travel extensively in their RV, so they can share their experiences with listeners in a fun and interesting style. Contact us at navigator@rvnavigator.com
The shoulder surgery recovery is going slow, so we were correct in not planning any travels for the summer. Even after 8 weeks of in activity, Martha’s shoulder is only slowly healing. So we focus on RV memories and updates to the many RV topics that we love to cover. What’s new with Starlink (actually alot), making smoothies with a new machine, and some luggage tips from our travels. You’ll want to listen to this episode for the many RV topics on the agenda.
Yup, it is shoulder season for us as Martha recovers from shoulder replacement surgery. The operation was successful, but it limits our travels to staying home for at least 6 weeks including all of July. We expect a 100% recovery within a year. But now, we take the time to reflect on many RV topics that have been percolating in the RV Navigator inbox hopper for some time. The latest from Starlink, new AC units, towing capacities, and selected disasters make up this month itinerary. Join us for a summer RV romp in the digital domain.
Who eats gold? It is a thing, and your RV navigators had the opportunity to give gold a try during their trip to Japan. This plus the return back to Chicago via a repositioning cruise is on this months agenda.
Yes, we’ve learned alot while on tour in Japan. As a tourist, It is unlike any other country we’ve visited. Tokyo, our first stop, is one of the largest cities in the world and you’d think that one city is like another, but Tokyo is very different. Of course the language with over 2500 characters is impossible for us to use thus we have to rely on a few English signs and our phones with navigation. You’ll hear our extended impressions of this world class city as we share the our trials and tribulations while touring the city.
We’re celebrating 50 years of RVing and 20 years of podcasting in the 56 years of marriage in 2026. Yes, we started young and are going tn to old age with just as much gusto for RVing as when we started. We’ve RVed in 49 states (and I don’t mean we just drove through), most of Mexico and Canada. This in addition to extended RVing adventures in South Africa and New Zealand. With this experience, we thought that we’d share 10 essential things that we’ve learned about RVing that we hope will help others with less experience. We are not full timers, but we do travel for several months each year so our tips are focused on longer term travels - but apply to any destination. We hope that this sparks some lively conversation on our FB page. What are your favorite RV tips and tricks for making the journey more enjoyable?
A month in FL at our new seasonal home with an RV garage. However, the RV spent much of the month in the paint shop getting some body work after an incident on the Alaska trip last fall. She has been restored and it ready to travel once again. As heppens when moving into new living quarters, outfitting them is a time consuming task. Home automation is coming of age, so new home gear needs to be automation compatible and Matter makes it happen. What? Well take a listen to get a better understanding of what this is about. TAir travel in the near future? Then you’ll want to hear about our experiences at the airport on oiur return from Mexxico. And yes we had a run-in with Mark Zukerberg. All of this an lots of RV info in this episdoe of the RV Navigator.
A busy month for your RV Navigators as make our FL home ours and take a vacation from our vacation. Yes, we are traveling without the RV this month as we make our way South to Mexico. We are checking off another couple of bucket list items off the list. We travel to Mexico City to start the trip to view the Monarch butterfly migration. Every year millions of butterflies make their way south to the mountains outside of Mexico city for no apparent reason. After six days of this adventure, we headed to the Baja Sur to board an expedition ship to seek the whales. More logical than the butterflies, they migrate to this area to give birth and mate before heading back to Alaska to feed in the summer. With 14 naturalist on board we had daily lectures and presentations about the local wildlife (there was more than whales to see), flora and fauna.We have not forgotten that this is an RV podcast so we have several RV topics on the agenda for this episode. What’s on your bucket list?
A very happy New Year 2026 to all of our loyal listeners. We hope that you have a very prosperous New Year. Our new year begins in at our new house in FL as we traveled (via car) back south at Christmas. This month mostly was spent enjoying family and friends in the holiday season. Our travels consisted of heading North and then back South where we’ll spend most of the winter.
This episode is our annual NYE episode that includes some champaign and noise makers - so beware of unexpected frivolity and loud sounds as we ring in the new year in style.
Your RV Navigators want to wish all of our listeners a very merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. For your favorite RVer, we’ve included some gift suggestions in case your still shopping.
This month has been a busy one for us, as we travel to Churchill, Manitoba to see the polar bears in their nature environment. This was not an RV trip as we traveled by plane 1300 miles North to Hudson Bay, home to the Polar bears. Viewing is done in tundra rovers. These are large bus like vehicle that are designed for rough terrain with huge wheels and special suspension/engine. We were luck to get within feet of the bears for some great photos. This was a 6 day adventure so we were back home in IL before we knew it ready to head back to FL for a couple of weeks. Now after TG we are once again back up north ready too enjoy the holiday season in snow.
We’ve been on the road 85 days for the round trip to Alaska, but finally we returned home without incident. The final leg of the trip allowed us to visit Jasper and Banff for 6 days before making the final push to Chicago.
This month we had a final exit interview with Chris and Jean from an earlier episode as they share their impressions of the trip.
We’ve ended up back in Dawson Creek where we started the RV caravan 63 days ago. After a brief introduction by your RV Navigators, we invite fellow caravaners to join in the debriefing. This is the same group that shared their hopes for the trip 2 months ago. See what they think about this buck list destination in this months episode.
**The episode webpage will be slow in appearing this month due to some technical issues with the web site, sorry.
At this midpoint in our Alaska caravan, we draw on the experiences of our fellow travelers to broaden the Alaska perspective. We are joined in interviews with Chris & Jean and Kevin and Jennifer to gain their insights into Alaska caravanning. As one of our guest commented, we’ve all ODed on beauty. Alaska is lived up to expectations with many stunning experiences for all in our group.
Alaska 25 is this months adventure. We begin our 2 month long caravan to the 50th state. After driving over 2000 miles we are at the beginning of the Alaska highway that is the gateway to Alaska. The podcast will change a bit for the next couple of months as we try to give listeners a picture of the Alaska experience. This is a bucket list trip for many so we are encompassing as many viewpoints as we can to give a accurate picture of the sight and sounds of Alaska. Joins us and our companions as we describe this travel adventure
As we plan for our upcoming 3 month long motorhome trip to Alaska and back, we thought that it might be helpful to share some of our planning ideas. We have done several extended trips over the years, so the planning has become second nature, but many listeners may be contemplating such a trip, so here are some of our tips and tricks for making the trip go smoothly.
We will be taking you with us as we travel the 10,000 miles r/t to Alaska. Martha will be blogging daily as we make the journey. Her blog can be found at mytripjournal.com/wiseman63. You can also look back at all of our recent trips both RV, ocean and lan
Ending our April cruise in Maui (Hawaii), we headed home to Chicago for the duration of the spring. We did take a short flight to Orlando to close on our new (to us) house at the Great Outdoors (TGO) that will be our winter home starting in 2026. This house has a nice RV port which will give our aging MH a covered parking space during the off months. We chat about many RVing topics as our attention turns to RVing in the summer. Cooling your RV and fridge topics as well as the latest tech issues are discussed in this episode.
This month finds us sail the warm waters of the South Pacific around Tahiti. We share our many impressions of this area and compare it to our next destination, Hawaii. Many assume that Tahiti and Hawaii are similar destinations but in fact they are significantly different. Hear our impressions and suggestions for Polynesian travel. Of course RVing is always on our minds, so we share new websites, articles and topic of interest from the RVing world.. Project Kuiper (Amazon) is about to launch a competitor to Starlink thus offering world wide internet via portable satellite receivers. Tune in for our take on these interesting topics.
We never intended to buy a house in FL, but this month we ended up with a new home for the motorhome at our RV resort in Titusville, FL. We explain the decision and details in this month’s episode as move ahead on buying this new abode in FL. The sale is not final until mid-May, so we headed North to Chicago just in time to leave on our next adventure, a cruise in Tahiti and Hawaii. The weather being what it is, the MH needed to be winterized while it sits in the cold in Chicago., We’ll not be taking it to its new home until November (2025) due to our upcoming Alaska adventure which starts in July.
Just another month stuck in FL -LOL. Your RV Navigators have had several interesting RV projects in the works from getting new RV insurance to looking a new hot skin devices for RVs to speculating about the staff cuts at National Parks. What does the new T-Mobile Starlink direct to cell service mean for the average cell user? These an many other topics are covered in this months episode. Join us and then make a comment.
Lots of RV activity for us this month. As with many of you, we had to hunker down early in the month due to extensive cold and snow in many parts of the country - including FL. Titusville was spared frozen precipitation, but it was cold. Our nearly annual trip to the Tampa RV Super show was a management disaster, but a display success. We explain this in full on the podcast. We managed to buy a few things at the vendor area, including a new Starlink Gen3 antenna (is it a dish, antenna or table?). I waited 3 days for it to be delivered from Starlink. Set-up was very easy and I had it working within minutes. We customized the installation as we explain in the episode. Beyond this we headed to Sebring FL for a refurbishment of 2 of our fogged windows. The end of the month brought us to Jetty park to watch others cruise from Port Canaveral. This campground has a great view of the ships entering and leaving on the weekly cruises to all parts of the caribbean.
After a busy fall, we spent the month at our home base near Chicago. As you know we don't enjoy the cold, so after the Christmas holidays we once again headed south for most of the winter. We rang in the New Year in our motorhome in FL with a NYE ball drop party from 7-9 pm - it is after all midnight somewhere!
January will find us at the Tampa RV Supershow. If you have a chance to attend, it is one of the best RV shows in the country. However this year has brought some major changes so well if that is true going forward.
In this episode we share some ideas about cruising (our second love) as well as the latest about the new MH sales ban in CA as well as a Thor large EV motorhome which may answer the question about alternatives. Our experience has taught us some must have items as well as essential techniques for a successful RV trip. We shared these tips and open a bottle of the bubbly during this annual party episode. Have a happy new year as you travel in your RV to all parts of the country.
This month finds us at sea for the entire month. Sail the med and ending in Fort Lauderdale, we skip the long transatlantic flight for 9 days of sailing the open ocean. If have the time, it is very relaxing trip. We want to wish al our listeners a great holiday season as we look forward to the new year. We’ve attached some RV gift lists for your consideration. We wonder if the almost total band on new MH sales in CA will take effect in 2025. CA pllus 5 other states have put strick pollution standards in place that will prohibit most motorized RVs from being sold in those states. Obviously RV dealers will be out of business if they cannot sell their products legally.
We left shortly after the last podcast for a land adventure in Eastern Europe. After 3 weeks of travel, we are ready to share our experiences on the podcast. We’ve been traveling with 13 fellow travelers to the Czech Republic and other close by countries formerly part of the eastern block. The adventure has been eye openning, but we also chat about some interesint RV topics and the latest technology. Have you used whispers(?), do you have plans for snowbirding in the South. These plus many other topics are on our agenda this month.
Finally back on the road in the RV, we travel to FL on a round about itinerary that included stops in Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina and Georgia before our final stop in Titusville, FL. September is a great weather month in these northerly states so we took advantage of fall (before the colors) to slowly drive south. A major stop along the way was in Gaffney. Not a tourist stop but an important MH stop for this is the home of Freightliner - the maker of our chassis. We found the important of letting the pros work on the MH as they performed our annual check-up and found several major problems - and solved them before they became issues. Expensive, yes, but worth it if it keeps from being stranded on the side of the road. We are getting ready for our Alaska adventure next summer so reliability of our Rig is very much on our mind. With a 12 year old MH, we never know what will go wrong, so we try to do as much preventative maintenance as possible. Florida proved to be its usual hot an humid with a hurricane thrown in for good measure. Our area was not impacted by the storm so we are feeling lucky this year.
This months episode features a new cooking segment done by the copilot. She shares some ideas for maximizing the kitchen space in an RV.
“According to Nielsen's recent podcast analysis, the number of Americans listening to podcasts has increased by 45% in the last five years alone - more than doubling in the past decade to reach 183m people.”
https://content.nielsen.com/PodcastingToday
Your RV Navigators are waiting for the money to come knocking, but even though we have been podcasting for 18 continuous years, alas we have not been offered the big bucks mentioned in the article above. We continue because we love our listeners and enjoy the feedback, but we make no money. We remain non-commercial and ad free.
This month's big project was upgrading our battery bank to lithium batteries. We added about 1000 amps of battery power to our rig in the conversion process. After a couple of days for the install, we headed to annual Indiana Dunes mid summer trip. New this month is the Starlink mini as a standalone unit.
As most of our listeners know, we’ve traveled most of the US (and Canada) in our RV. We have been to New England, NE Canada on several RV trips. Always enjoyable. Our current adventure is via cruise ship with an itinerary from NYC north through the St. Lawrence to Quebec. Approaching this itinerary from the water side proved to be a different experience.
After this topic, we discuss several RV issues including new happenings with Starlink, and a follow up on the Tesla pickup for RV towing.
It is officially summer and the camping season has begun - but we'll let the family RVers have first dibs on the campgrounds. We'll be home for most of the summer. On our way home at the beginning of the month, we stopped to get our sofa recovered. The original factory fabric had peeled over the past few months, so we had it replaced - now it looks like new. But of course the real question is why did it peel. Cheap fabric from the factory. We learned that the key word is Ultra Leather when looking for quality long lasting fabric.
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This month we share many RV topics of interest as well as what's new with Starlink and other on the road internet services. How about a softstart that installs externally? What's new at Loves?
On the road this month on a 2400 mile trip north over 2 weeks. We visited some bucket list and out of the way destinations such as Crater of Diamonds State Park and Crystal Bridges Art Museum in Arkansas. These plus a couple of old favorite camping spots kept us busy for the month.
Of course, the month started with a 5 night family cruise (with 22 participants) cruise aboard the Independence of the Seas sailing from Miami. We had a great time even though the ship was at capacity (4500) and packed with under 1440 under 18 year olds. This reminded us that different ships have very different vibes, so cruisers should choose their ship carefully. We drove back to our Florida headquarters (TGO), prepared the MH for the trip home and left on a longer than normal trip north. We spent time at Gulf State park as well as the aforementioned buck list stops.
This month we share ideas about internet on the road as well as a couple of products that you may find useful.
Another month of cruising. This time we are sailing up the coast of Brasil to do a full transit of the Amazon. This river is huge and worth the week we spent traveling to Manaus and back out to the Caribbean. The Amazon is a complete eco system unto itself with Manaus as the hub. A city of 2.5 million at the end of 1500 miles of river made viable by tax incentives for businesses to manufacture in the city. Our 27 day cruise started in Rio and ended in Miami after a few additional stops in the Caribbean.
This cruise was on a small ship with luxury amenities. How does this compare to the many mass market cruises and what are the options if you are not seeking a family cruise. This topic and many more are on our agenda this episode.
We’ve added a transcript feature to the podcast, With this you can search our commentary for topics of interest.
As February ended, we headed to Rio in Brazil to begin a cruise that will take us in and out of the Amazon before ending in Miami. Early in February we headed to one of our favorite boondocking spots, Jetty Park near Cocoa Beach in FL. This park offers a nice Atlantic ocean beach, a prime spot to watch rocket launches and the cruise ships enter the port.
Our new towed was taken on it maiden voyage with great success during the month. We review how it was altered to become a towed vehicle as well as our plans to switch to lithium batteries in the near future. Many other RV and cruising topics are covered this month on a show with 2 parts
Back to RVing! We spent the entire month in our RV doing what the podcast is about - RVing! The highlight was the Tampa RV Super Show held each January at the Florida State Fairgrounds. In our opinion this is the best RV show in the country with hundreds of rigs on display along with hundreds of vendors for specialized RV products. The weather in FL has been variable with lots of cool interspersed with warm. While the rest of the country is berried in snow or rain, we have avoided the storms. This episode brings an interview with a company in Iowa that recovers Flexsteel RV furniture.
The year ends with 123123 and our annual New Years Eve podcast with bubbly. Having just returned home from an extended trip to Southeast Asia, we are still struggling with a 12 hour jet lag. The year in review shows that we did alot of travel outside the US so the RV travel was limited. We will be heading to FL for our annual snowbird experience in a week or so. Join us at the Tampa RV Supershow starting on January 17th.
Greetings from Southeast Asia. After an unusual beginning of our trip, we landed in Singapore after 26 hrs of travel and 12 time zones. We began the land portion of the trip by adding two new countries to our growing list of visited countries. After traveling to Thailand, we made our way to Laos and Cambodia ending in Vietnam after almost 3 weeks. Returning to Singapore we picked up our 4 week cruise to Indonesia and Malaysia. We'll be sailing until December 23 when we return home just in time for the next podcast. We want to wish everyone a happy holiday season as holidays draw near.
Wd did enjoy the good weather of the Southlands as the temps headed down at home. Flying home was a shock to the system as the weather was quite cold for the season.
We do share lots of RV topics this month including the possibility of an EV RV pulled by a Tesla tracker. Also what’s new with Starlink and T-Mobile for RVers, new AI features of Bing, the new iPhone 15 as a camera and much more are on our agenda this month.
On the road once again as we make our way to our winter home in Florida. But why drive directly for 3 days? Rather make it a leisurely trip of 3 weeks, do a bit of family visiting, sight seeing, and enjoy the camping. The eastern US is known for trees, so our campsites didn’t offer much of a view for our satellite TV, so we had to rely on streaming. Hear about our experiences and what option we had as well as many other topics of interest to RVers.
Greetings from the open seas of the North Atlantic as we cruise from Bergen, Norway to NYC over 28 days. Wildlife is always unpredictable, but during the recording of the podcast we spotted a whale outside of our cabin window. It was a WOW moment and indicative of our travels this month. All three countries that we visited had an abundance of fjords with picturesque little towns at the end. Of the three countries, Norway provided the best photo opportunities. And it was the warmest. Otherwise the trip to the north was a cold and rainy experience however interesting it was.
No camping this month, but we’ll be “on the road” for the next 9 months as begin our adventures with a cruise from Bergen, Norway to NYC for 28 days. July was fairly quiet as we celebrated the 4th at home enjoying great summer weather for most of July. The Chicago area has not been plagued with the weather extremes experienced by much of the country. We took the opportunity to get out doors but just not camping or RVing. With the knee given the final OK by the doc, we are set to travel once again as the adventure continue. After the cruise (leaving on August 2) most of September will be spent heading south with the RV
Our brief camping trip to the Indiana Dunes was a big success. Perfect weather, nice campground, RV working perfectly all came together to make a great experience this year. The beach in this park is very nice plus of course the water is fresh - and fairly warm at this time of year. We stayed for 3 nights. Even though I made the reservation on January 3, this was the longest midweek reservation available. What is your experience with campground reservations lately? We are working on reservations for our fall trip south to FL and are finding reservations at public campgrounds to be fairly easy to make.
A major topic this month is photography Ai & its impact on my photos. The new Photoshop Beta includes generative AI as a major upgrade feature. It is amazing as you can see on this episodes webpage. AI has been coming to photography for a while, but this feature of Photoshop takes it to the next level.
In this episode we also share some new websites focused on RVing. How about planning a RV trip that follows the 70 degree temperatures? This plus some new RVing planning sites will give you some ideas for next years trips.
Another episode from the home base in Chicago as the copilot recovers from knee replacement surgery. Todays episode is based around an interview with the founder of CarGenerator.com. This product produces 110 volt power from your car for use in home or RV. It is an easy hookup, light weight, and powerful enough to keep either your house or RV operational in case of power failure or you're boondocking. This could easily replace that bulky generator that you have to lug around.We also have our fact or fiction question, an update on the CatSafe from last month, and what's new with RV fridges. Are propane powered fridges a thing of the past?
We also cover the latest on StarLine internet as well as some steaming ideas with Pluto TV. All in all an interesting series of of topics that you'll want to hear about.
Due to Marthas ongoing knee problems, we scheduled an operation to replace her knee months ago. Finally on April 11 the surgery was completed very successfully. Successful does not mean pain free or nothing to do after the surgery. We have spent time in pain mitigation and PT as she works to make the new knee strong and ready for the many adventures to follow. It will take a couple of months, but after her complete recovery, we can hit the road in the RV to once again due justice to the RV Navigator podcast, but for now we are at home in recovery mode. We do have lots of interesting banter as well as an interview with Betty Chambers who authored a book we mentioned last month, RVing with Bikes. We also talk about the latest developments in AI technology, alligator safety, a computer monitor suggestion and much more. Let us know your thoughts and ideas at rvnavigator@mac.com
Your RV Navigators have just returned from a 63 day travel adventure to Africa and are a bit jet lagged after the long journey home. The trip included a 3 week Safari in South Africa and a 33 day cruise of South Africa ending with a trip up the west coast of the African continent. This portion of the trip gave us the chance to visit several less touristic countries that we had never visited before. This month we share travel insights about this part of the world, new AI technology, and e-bike experiences for RVing.
This month we continued the South African safari. We stayed in several tented camps along our route. Every national park has it animal specialties, so visiting several gives visitors a broad perspective on animal viewing and habitats. We did of course manage to see the big 5 (lion, leopard, rhino, cape buffalo, and elephants) plus hundreds of other type of animals and birds. Tented camps are outposts in remote areas that offer visitors easy access to the game and a secure compound to spend the night. Although they are called tented camps, and do have canvas tents, they are on the boondocking style tents pitched temporarily by visitors. Instead they are permanent tents erected on cement pads with rooms for sleeping, changing and toilet/shower. Most are run by generator so power is limited although some of our camps had A/C. Game drives are a daily event beginning very early (before dawn) when the animals are active. A game drive is just that, driving around in an open 4x4 looking for animals doing their thing be it grazing or killing. No one knows what will be around the next bend, so game drives can be exciting or boring depending on the day and location. The drivers have radios so important animal sightings can be shared.
At the end of the safari we headed back to cape town to begin our cruise which will end up in Lisbon at the end of March.
It has been many years since we last visited South Africa (at the very southern most tip of Africa). In 2006, we drove a rental RV in South Africa for about 6 weeks. We of course cooked our meals and drove the RV to all of the attractions. This time we are on tour with meals, transportation, and sightseeing included. I remember having lunch in Kruger NP while watching elephants eating grass on the shore of a river. Now that's camping. This time our visit to Kruger will be via safari jeep driven by a guide. WE are still enjoying the adventure but just in a different way.
We boarded our flight from Chicago to Cape Town, South Africa on a Monday and arrived on Wednesday morning at 11am local time. This involved a 13hr and 10hr flights and several time zones. We moved from snowy winter to hot summer with long days and the sun in the North. Welcome to the Southern Hemisphere. We RVed here in 2006 but this time we are on a safari and cruise. Lots of travel details plus our take on Chat GPT in this episode. We'll be on the road in South Africa for another 5 weeks so the next episode will be from here also.
The New Year (2023) finds at home in Chicago awaiting our next travel adventure which begins in mid January. After some adventures at home with our furnace and the cold weather, we'll be off to Africa for a 2 month safari & cruise in the warm Southern Hemisphere. The safari will cover
Africas big 5 plus lots of interesting birds. Our accommodations say "tented camp" so we are expecting almost primitive camping experiences. I wish we could take the RV! Our 32 day cruise from Cape Town should be a bit more civilized as we travel from South Africa to Portugal up the Western coast of Africa.
Our main topic is the importance of documenting your travels as they occur. As our old selves taking to our younger selves, we would strongly recommend that you start some sort of record keeping of your travels for later reference. We unfortunately didn't start this project until about 20 years ago, so our early travels are documented only in a few photos and memory. These day with some much digital memory available, it would be a shame NOT to completely document your travels. You'll be grateful for this recommendation when you're in your 70s. Just remember, the RV Navigators told you so!
Winter has greeted us as we return to our suburban Chicago base in time for the holidays. Seasons greetings in this episode extend to our expanded list of gift suggestions for you or your RV friends. We chat about the direction that our podcast has taken over the years. Is it still the RV Navigator or has the focus changed as our lives have changed (mainly due to the pandemic)? Although we share our travels with interested listeners, RVing is always at the heart of the podcast. We always appreciate your input and comments about our topics and focus. This is especially true as we tend to travel overseas without the RV. We'd love to take the RV on our distant travels, but that is not an option, so we do the next best thing, share our travels with interested listeners. As you know, it is important to us NOT to monetize our listeners. So much of the tech world is about money, but the RV Navigators don't expect or ask for your dollars either through advertising or subscription.
So, we'll keep the moniker for the time being, and we hope to be more RV focused in the future. However the next year will be more travel outside our country as we head to Africa in January. I am sure that you'll enjoy our reports from these far off lands. We enjoying sharing and hearing about your reaction to our lifestyle.
Beyond our Xmas gift list, we expand the list to include RV news and topics. Our best wishes the holiday season.
Another month on the road as we travel North in Finland and over Lapland ending our land trip in Bergen, Norway. From there we head to GB to meet our cruise ship in Southampton. This episode was made while on board the Sky Princess as we travel to Fort Lauderdale. Why mix gas and water, you ask. One RVer did make this nube mistake.
Note that in the podcast we make a reference to this is episode 209. It should be 210.Take off on our next trip happened mid month as we flew to Riga, Latvia for the beginning of our tour of the Baltics and Scandinavia over the next couple of weeks. We have been surprised at our lack of knowledge of this area plus the many tourist attractions that make a visit worthwhile. Riga has turn out to be very walkable, scenic with art nouveaux neighborhoods. I of course had no idea what Art Nouveaux was, but after doing some touring, we learned that it is a very ornate style of building. Riga's buildings have been restored to their original beauty making them shine. We open this episode with a music selection recorded on the great pipe organ of the Riga Cathedral (dome). It is one of the largest pipe organs in the world with almost 7000 pipes. Our tour will take us to 5 countries over the next couple of months. Next months podcast will be made from the road again.
We take you on tour with us plus we share several RVing topics from an inflatable cooler to streaming hints. I watched the iPhone introduction this month with interest because I am planning to make an iPhone purchase when we return. I was shocked that Apple has eliminated the sim cards tray, but I found a solution for over seas travel. Please keep in touch via email if you questions or comments.
Just after the last episode, we moved from Italy to France to join our river cruise in Bordeaux. This involved a short flight across the 2 countries landing in Paris and a bus trip south to meet the ship. The weather was very hot as expected in Summer, but the AC was was subpar in most locations. Sailing the rivers of the Bordeaux region of France, means learning about wine. This is the heart of the wine region and the grapes are treated with reverence. We, of course, tried our share of the fine wines of the area, but din't come away overly impressed. Earlier in the trip we enjoyed many varieties of Italian wine, which we felt was equal to the French wines. Traveling does give one the opportunity to make these comparisons first hand.
After our flight home and jet lag recovery period, we pickup the RV for a quick trip north to the Cape Cod of the midwest, Door County Wisconsin. This destination, just north of Green Bay WI, is know in the local area for its harbor towns and picturesque water views, crafts and a cool weather alternative to the summer heat. Located n Lake Michigan, the views are similar to those you'd find in ocean side communities.
Of course we have our usual list of interesting RV topics. New books, an e-bike conversion, RV road services and much more are on our agenda for this episode.
On the road again in Italy and France as we traverse the wine making regions of these countries. Follow our adventures outside of the RV as travel with a small group through the Alps. Weather has been hot but sunny for great photos. RVs in Europe are much different than those in the US but we've seen a lot of family's enjoying the outdoor experience.
With our email back in operation, we have received several questions and comments from listeners. Thanks!! New email is at rvnavigator@mac.com. As you might expect, we headed to the Indiana Dunes for our annual beach RV trip. I feel strongly that the motorhome needs to be exercised regularly to keep it in good working order. Therefore when we are not doing a major trip we do spaced out small trips to keep the gears working smoothly on the MH. Great family time for all of those staying at the Indiana State Park. We enjoyed good weather and the company of lots of families enjoying camping in the old style - beach, campfires, food cooked outdoors, bikes, sand, water and toys to keep everyone busy.
June has been a typical summer month and we have used it to recover from our quarantine experience and get ready for our next overseas travel adventure next month. We head to Italy and France for about 5 weeks starting in July, so the podcast will be done remotely next month.
This month we talk about RV electricity issues, paying tolls when traveling, RV refridgerators, photo tips with the iPhone and much more.
After joking last month about the possibility of having to quarantine, it happened to us. We were escorted off of our cruise and into a hotel for a 10 day quarantine due to positive covid tests. Neither of us were sick, but the policy is that a positive test requires a quarantine period off of the ship. So we spent the first 10 days of May ensconced behind the door of a hotel in Brussels. The hotel delivered 3 meals a day to our door to keep us healthy and well, but otherwise we were confined to our 5th floor room. We had many quarantining neighbors on the 5th floor as 3 Viking ships had their covid positive passengers transferred to this hotel. Not fun, but we have lots of insights to share about traveling abroad at this time. How to return back to the US is challenge for most of those testing positive. We did of course make it back home on May 11th after the full 10 day quarantine period so in the end we are safely back but the adventure was trying even for experienced travelers like ourselves. Undaunted. However, we'll be traveling back to Europe in July. This time we'll be ready to a quarantine should we test positive again.
This months finds your RVNavigators sailing on both the oceans (Atlantic) and Rivers of Europe. We had ventured across the Atlantic in order to attend the famous Tulip festival in Amsterdam. In this episode we compare ocean to river cruising as well as large vs small cruising. Of course there is the usual Ring news and comments on RV topics.
We drove the motorhome north back to IL so that we could leave again but this time on a plane back to FL to meet our trans Atlantic cruise to Copenhagen. We did have a new roof installed and I am lusting after a Starlink internet dish, but for now the MH is safely parked in our new storage lot.
We are wondering why we drove the 1200 miles back to IL just to turn around and head to Ft Lauderdale to board our cruise. It's economics. Florida is an expensive place to leave our motorhome parked unoccupied. At least twice as expensive as leaving storage in IL. We'll not be using the MH for while, so storage at the home base in Chicago is our better option.
Of course we have a follow-up to our Costa Rica report that we started last month. We actually did a multistage zip line as well as several other adventure activities while in CR.
This month we share our ideas about how we plan our trips both RV and out of country as well as share RV stories. Yes, we had a new roof installed as a proactive measure. No leaks, but after 11 years, the old roof was worn. I also installed a new thermostat that is made for the RV market. You'll learn lots more about our adventures by listening to this months podcast.
This episode was recorded on the road, as we traveled south this month on a planned group trip to Costa Rica and its many national parks. Although CR is only the size of West Virgina, it has as many national parks as the US.
The beginning of the month found us on the high seas in the Caribbean aboard the Silver Spirit for 11 nights. This was our second "covid" cruise, and like the first it went off without a hitch. Testing and vaxing were part of the routine, but these were not oppressive on a daily basis. We of course were nervous about the covid protocols that have been put in place but they were manageable and did not detract from the cruise overall. Our general reaction is that this is the time to cruise, if you can. With reduced passenger loads, welcoming crew, and generally lower tourism traffic, the ports are open to many adventures. Our ship was able to maintain it original schedule, although 2 of our shore excursions were cancelled due to low numbers. With only 50% of the passenger capacity actually onboard, some activities were naturally curtailed. This was our first time on an upscale ship (Silversea) with a large cabin and butler service (this was due to reduced per diem due to covid).
After the cruise in Mid-January, we headed to the Tampa RV Super Show. We were not shopping among the 1200 new rigs, but focus on solving a few smaller problems that plagued use recently. Being able to talk with factory representative is very helpful when solving minor problems. We spent 5 days in the Florida Fair Grounds parking lot in good weather enjoying what the show had to offer and seeing a bit of Tampa. Attendance at the show was a record levels, so RVing is still popular. We share what's new and what we saw at the show in this episode.
Our annual New Years podcast finds us feeling lucky to be healthy after another year of Covid. Little did we know at the beginning of the year that we'd still be in the grips of this pandemic. Last January we were so thankful to be vaxed and hoped that we'd get this pandemic under control. However the fates turned our differently and we are still in uncertain times.
Fifteen years ago when we began this podcast, we were just retired and ready to hit the road with the idea to share our adventures with listeners. Of course we had no listeners at the time. After 15 years, the listener base as expanded to over 10,000 downloads/month. We regularly hear from and meet listeners from all over the world as we travel. On 2 occasions in the last months, we have met loyal listeners that have "been in a campground near us" and said hello in person. THANKS to everyone who has reached out over the past 15 years to connect with your hosts.
In this episode we try to take our listeners on a guided tour of the best of episodes from each year of our adventures. This has taken us to all parts of the US and the world.
Listen as we take you on a ride through the best of the RV Navigator.
This month started with our attending the 49th Annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta for 8 days in early October. We successfully boondocked for our entire stay without needing to take on additional water or empty our holding tanks. We did use about 18 galloons of diesel to keep the generator running and batteries charged. The weather for our stay was perfect for ballooning. Our parking location was perfect for easy entry into the launch field where we were able to watch the launch and recovery of the huge hot air balloons. The launch happens at dawn so we had some early starts, but there is no activity midday so a nap was in order.
We spent the rest of the month slowly heading East on our way back to FL for our winter stay. We tried to see some fall colors in the mountains of NM but were not too successful and the weather was turning cool, so we headed further south and east. The end of the month finds us in the panhandle of FL enjoying some very nice state parks. We've been testing our big rig in several states parks with great success. We are not too big and the parks themselves have been very nice. At this time of year advance reservations need only be made a few days in advance of your stay. Winter is around the bend so we'll be in our winter home at the beginning of November.
Our Western National Parks RV caravan concluded after 31 days and 1600 miles. It was an adventure so we spend much of this episode sharing the details of the trip. This journey was title Western Grand Circle because we visited several iconic national parks and scenic attractions during month of travel. Traveling in a caravan means that all of the details are planned by the caravan company. We drive between locations and the camping spot is waiting at a full service campground. This plus many additional side trips, make traveling easy. It followed the typical RV caravan flow so if you are thinking of joining a caravan, then you should take a listen. This includes our unclose encounter with a wolf that decided to disable our car. How you ask - well you'll have to listen.
We are about to attend the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta early in October, so we are preparing to do some serious boon docking (living off the grid). Although the Fiesta is well attended, to stay on the grounds means no hookups. They turn normal parking lots and fields into campgrounds for the 9 days of the event. Access to the launch field is key to attended this event, so RVers pay dearly for nearby access. Our boon docking site is costing $150/night but we are 100 yards from the entrance - an easy walk.
After cruising last month, we are back on the RV trail. We embark on our trip west to meet the planned RV Caravan leaving from St. George UT. We left a few days early because the trip is almost 1700 miles from our home base in IL. Lucky we did because we had a couple of extra stops along the way to get tires fixed.
After over a year of being stationary, we finally are ready to cruise again in July. We’ll be traveling to Malta (off the coast of Italy, but an independent country) for a round trip sail aboard the Viking Venus doing a Croatian itinerary for 11 days. This is the first sailing of this itinerary so we are a bit apprehensive about all of the arrangements. We are Covid free and ready to travel again, so we’ll head out mid month for 2 weeks.
I am please to report that we have recovered some lost episodes from the early days of the podcast. It was fun to listen to many outdated topics and remember what RVing was like in the days of our 5th wheel.
Plus we found the lost episodes from 2008 on Martha's laptop. What's new in streaming services, surge pricing at campgrounds, new websites and much more in this episode.
I have transitioned to a mirrorless SLR (its predecessor was purchased during the missing episodes above) from my Canon system. This new Olympus micro 4/3rds camera is much more capable and much lighter/smaller than the Canon system.
Will campgrounds go to surge pricing for campsite - many think so. How your streaming going - we chat about the latest in streaming services and some you don’t want. These and many more topics are part of the RV Navigator for July.
Our world is opening up after 15 months of living under Covid restrictions, the summer seems to be back to pre-covid levels of activity. This is a very good sign for our future travels both by RV and overseas trips.
Along with a birthday this month (turned 75), Ken found that he had to renew/upgrade his driving license and take a driving test. Many states, including IL, have an RV driving test. Links on the website provide info about such states, but after some miscommunications, he passed the driving test in the MH so we're good for four more years of MH travel.
Also this month, we purchased new ebikes that more easily fit our traveling lifestyle. These are full folding bikes with 20 inch tires. Although our old bikes folded in half, they were still too big to manage on day trips. The new bikes fit into storage bins which can be lifted into the hatch back of either of our cars. A great option and one that will keep both the car and bike from damage.
Are you thinking of becoming a full time RVer. We share the 5 misconceptions of full-timing. Finally, we look at electric RVs and their potential. Are electric tow vehicles a viable option and will they become the norm in the future?
Back to IL and normal travel is our mantra this month. We left FL to head north and a more typical summer experience after 6 months being stationary. The trip home involved our annual stop in Gaffney, SC for a motorhome check up. This year due to the age of the MH, we had all of the fluids replaced - expensive, but necessary. We try to keep our Dutch Star in good condition so that we are not left on the side of the highway while on a trip. We also stopped Brunswick GA for a short side trip to Jekyll Island. The June calendar photo was taken on Driftwood Beach on the island. We’ll be in IL until August when we head West for the fall.
We share ideas about RV buying, tank management, campgrounds, boondocking and many other current topics. How about a Rv bidet? I have never thought about such a thing, but they are for sale - the Butt Buddy. Who remembers the Jetsons animated tv series from the 60s? They predicted many of our tech advances that we use today. Fifty or 30 amp that is the question. How much can your relay on 50 to run your coach? Kitchen ideas, water hoses and much more are discussed in this episode.
We traveled from East to West to East across Florida this month. Although, traveling coast to coast is only a 3 hr drive in this part of the country, it still is a different world from our home base. This month we had the Diamond Shield removed from the MH and it looks great. Diamond Shield is one of those options that sound good, but don't work as designed. After 10 years of exposure to the elements, the front of our MH was looking bad due to deterioration of the product that is supposed to protect it. Fortunately, the original paint underweight was in great condition so now we are back to looking smart in the front.
We now stayed in many FL state parks with great success. Unlike other states, their policies are MH friendly and the camping spots are very nice. We've now stayed within a short distance of the ocean on both coasts and in the middle with great success. Reservations are necessary, but we've been able to reserve spots about 6 weeks out, in most cases.
We also share some ideas about the future of working on the road in an RV plus lots of interesting stories of life on the road. The end of the month finds us in Jupiter FL. From here we head back to our winter headquarters in Titusville. Next month we'll be at home in IL for the summer months.
Although we are still in FL, we have gotten the second Covid vaccine shot so we should be good to go for travel when the industry opening up later in the year.
As the pandemic roars on, we look down the road to when it is history - exactly when we don't know but we can see the end (we think). We've gotten our first shot so we hope to be able to travel this year but have no solid plans until 2022. We are focused on our RV and living our stationary life in FL.
There is lots of news in the RV world to share like the new adventure RVs that are popping up everywhere. What happened at the Tampa RV SuperShow? What is Diamond Shield? What is your states license plate motto? What's new with Swamp buggy tours?
All of these important questions are discussed in this episode of the RV Navigator. Be sure to visit our episode website at RVNavigator.com.
At our FL home, we spent the month of December in isolation living in our motorhome. The warm weather makes doing outdoor activities fun and safe. We join the many listeners in saying a farewell to 2020, it could not leave fast enough. Join us for our NYE celebration, a little different this year due to our isolation. The year has been one of waiting and watching as news reports detail the dire consequences of this virus. We hope that all of our listeners are safe and ready for a much better 2021.
As the pandemic rages, we headed to FL just after the election. Our usual TG & Xmas family celebrations have been canceled, so we may as well be at least warm for the holidays. Lots of RV topics to cover in this episode so give it a listen.
We’ve been home since April but we still manage to keep busy with “important” projects. With the expectation that the winter will see an increase in Covid cases, we plan to head south to our usual winter home during November. At least it will be warm so we can be outside during the dark months. This is the earliest that we have headed south and skipped the usual family gatherings at TG and Xmas. Covid it impacting our lives in a big way. However, we hope to remain safe and wait out the pandemic regardless of how it progresses.
This month we share our top 5 places to visit with your RV when we can again travel. We did these lists independently so they are slightly different, but we both chose Alaska as the number 1 destination. We have RVed to Alaska twice (1988 and 2012) to enjoy its many scenic wonders. We share some ideas about our virtual travel experiences as a means of getting your travel fix.
We share several helpful hints on RV shows and buying tips especially for new comers. Virtual RV shows - YES, but the Tampa Super show is still scheduled to be live in January. We are going to pass on this annual event, but if your thinking of buying this is a good show to attend.
We have had many technology adventures to share this month. For the first time I am attempting to record the podcast on my iPad with wireless mics. As it turned out, this first attempt was unsuccessful due to iPad software issues, but we hope to overcome this for future episodes. Most episodes are recoded on a desktop computer using Garageband and a studio single mic. It would be nice to have a more portable option.
I have a report on my new iPhone 12 and its many new features as well as several other technology tips (new cables with magnetic connectors?). How about the possibility of high speed satellite internet? We abandoned satellite internet a few years ago due to high cost and slow speeds when compared to current cell data plans.
Thanks for listening and visiting the RV Navigator website, no sponsors and everything is feee. We love to hear from you ESPECIALLY this month. We transitioned to a new web server which has caused some problems. Please let us know if you encounter download or web issues.
The north woods of Wisconsin is our destination this month as we travel the back roads in search of fall colors and cranberry harvesting. We spent time boondocking for several nights using various tools. Boondocking is camping without services, something our motorhome is well adapted to do. We can live comfortably for several days without outside connections. This has become very popular in this time of the pandemic. Social distancing is easy when boondocking. Many RVers think boondocking and Walmart camping are synonomous, but there are a wide variety of resources for those interested in boondocking. For the first time we used Boondockers Welcome website to fine and contact a private party who was willing to let us stay on their property as boondocks. We talk about this and other similar services.
Photography was also on our minds as we drove the back roads looking for fall foliage. Software tips and trick are on the agenda this month. Listen for the details as well as photo tips.
Alaska in 2021? Listen for our ideas on travel to Alaska. We've been twice in the RV and serval times on cruises. How should you tour our 49th state?
These plus several technology related topics are on this month agenda, so take 54 minutes for a listen and let us know what you think. We appreciate iTunes reviews if you get a chance.
You’re part of the podcast revolution that is taking place in the media world. You listen to the RV Navigator! We are navigating the world of RVs with your help. We give our best travel tips for the RV life as well as suggest new lifestyle technologies. During this travel down time, I have been tracking podcasting news. Podcasts are becoming a major player in the media world earning thousands via ads. We of course have buck this trend, no sponsorship or interruptions during our show. This is unusual as most podcasters are expecting to become rich via this new medium. We’ll continue as we are until the audience is gone. We appreciate your feedback and suggestions, so keep them coming.
We do recommend several apps for this episode. Martha has been recovering from shoulder surgery which has interrupted her sleep pattern. We share our impressions of AutoSleep as a tool for tracking sleep issues. It works.
Does the RV size have a major impact on the places you can camp? Always the question from new RVers. Listen for our answer in this episode along with our best tips for long term RV travel.
During a short camping trip to an Indiana State Park, we had to rely on video streaming rather than our usual satellite for entertainment. Find out how it worked and our suggestions on the technology. We suggest several new apps for TV watching.
These plus many other topics are discussed in this episode. Be sure to visit the episode web page on the RVNavigator.com. Thanks for listening.
With the covid virus still with us, we have remained at home, with no firm travel plans. Martha is still recovering from shoulder surgery (9 weeks out now), so we are using the time to bring her back up to normal. Should the pandemic subside, we’ll be ready to travel.
Ken is still the main cook and has found an app to help manage his many recipes which you’ll want to hear about.
Should you want to listen to previous episodes of the RV Navigator, more are now available for downloading. I have spent several hours reconnecting broken links to old episodes. It is amazing that we have been doing this podcast for over 15 years so there are alot of episodes to engage your ear.
We do feel that RVing is one of the safest travel options. There are still those RVing and enjoying the outdoors in one of the few travel modes still available. From our reading, we find that camp grounds are for the most part open and accepting guests. The summer season has not gone to waste for many of our listeners.
We share apps for documenting travel, something we have done for many years. There are a number of useful apps and websites that make journaling easy and fun. As seasoned travelers ourselves, we are advocates of journaling in some form. We OFTEN refer to Martha’s online journal to jog our memories. If you are just starting out, take our advice and start journaling. You’ll appreciate it in later years.
We also delve into several other topics including the ongoing Gas vs Diesel discussion. I try to make it easy to understand for the non technical RVer. We also share many ideas and suggestions from listeners. We appreciate their contributions and encourage sending us suggestions.
The Covid-19 induced vacation form travel continues as the summer progresses. There is no let up in sight so no travel plans for us. As we record the podcast, our original schedule called for us to be on the road with a 2 month long RV caravan to Canada on the west coast. This was shutdown and cancelled - the Canadians shut our boarder until at least the end of July and the Eastern entrance to Glacier NP (where we were had reservation to spend the 4th of July) has been closed. Even the famous Going to the Sun roaThe Covid-19 induced vacation form travel continues as the summer progresses. There is no let up in sight so no travel plans for us. As we record the podcast, our original schedule called for us to be on the road with a 2 month long RV caravan to Canada on the west coast. This was shutdown and cancelled - the Canadians shut our boarder until at least the end of July and the Eastern entrance to Glacier NP (where we were had reservation to spend the 4th of July) has been closed. Even the famous Going to the Sun road in Glacier is closed. We also learned that the Albuquerque Balloon Festival scheduled for October has also been canceled, so now we no reason to head west this year. 2020 was going to be a year spent in the RV with over 8 months of travel scheduled but this has been reduced to our 4 months spent in isolation in FL with the balance of the year in our home in IL. We are hopeful that we can get out before the year ends but we have no plans at this time.
We did take the time to have Martha's ailing shoulder repaired. The surgery took place in early June (after finding out the all of our plans were canceled) and will entail her recuperating for about 12-16 weeks. This involves lots of PT and husbandly care as she recovers. Ken now is the primary chief, bottle washer and house cleaner.
Rv topics include answering listener questions about where to winter and why we chose FL. We did buy a bargain portable freezer/fridge for RV use. We have wanted an RV refrigerator extension but they have always been too expensive. Costco had a major sale so we've taken the plunge. This fridge fits in the bay and runs off of the batteries so we should be able to keep things cool full time. We also share some tips on RV refrigerators and their care. Add to these topics some new apps we've found, suggestions for LED light replacements, and other cool stuff that we found and you have a complete episode of the RV Navigator.d in Glacier is closed. We also learned that the Albuquerque Balloon Festival scheduled for October has also been canceled, so now we no reason to head west this year. 2020 was going to be a year spent in the RV with over 8 months of travel scheduled but this has been reduced to our 4 months spent in isolation in FL with the balance of the year in our home in IL. We are hopeful that we can get out before the year ends but we have no plans at this time.
We did take the time to have Martha's ailing shoulder repaired. The surgery took place in early June (after finding out the all of our plans were canceled) and will entail her recuperating for about 12-16 weeks. This involves lots of PT and husbandly care as she recovers. Ken now is the primary chief, bottle washer and house cleaner.
Rv topics include answering listener questions about where to winter and why we chose FL. We did buy a bargain portable freezer/fridge for RV use. We have wanted an RV refrigerator extension but they have always been too expensive. Costco had a major sale so we've taken the plunge. This fridge fits in the bay and runs off of the batteries so we should be able to keep things cool full time. We also share some tips on RV refrigerators and their care. Add to these topics some new apps we've found, suggestions for LED light replacements, and other cool stuff that we found and you have a complete episode of the RV Navigator.
Another month of quarantine, what will our world look like once this is over? After 3 months of Quarantine, all of the days at home seem to be the same. The Ground Hog day movie takes this idea to the extreme. Bill Murray relives "grand hog day" for weeks before he is brought back to reality. What will our RVing future be. According to reports, RVing may be very popular and on the cutting edge of the new travel.
Here at the beginning of June, 2020 it is hard to see our way to the future however We are thinking about the future as we see RVing as the ideal way to travel. We share a bunch of ideas about now and the future as well as our usual problem solving tips and tricks. Interesting new Apps, a few jokes, and thoughts about the sun wrap up this months episode.
The post South Africa caravan report plus information on buying a GPS Navigation system for your RV.
We’ve moved - but safely from FL to IL (both bubbles of safety in gated communities) via our mobile bubble (the MH). Owning a lot in FL allows us to be flexible about moving. Even through our park was closed to outsiders renting, we could stay or leave as we chose. We understand that many full timers didn't have this option as states closed RV parks. We definitely feel their pain. Although we were supposed to be traveling overseas at this month, We had no definite departure plans but as the weather gets hot in FL, we knew that it was time to head north. How long will the economic shutdown last, we don’t know, but we're ready for and extended stay in place.
Our 1200 mile trip home was uneventful - little traffic, low fuel prices, and open camp grounds made the trip one of the smoothest ever.
This month we make some suggestions for activities like geocaching as well as streaming lots of video. On more serious topics, we learned about toilet paper and masks. Two months ago we would not have even mentioned either of these but they have taken on new meaning in this time of C-19.
We’ve got suggestions, activities and humor to share in this episode along with some repair pain. How are YOU surviving?
It was just a month ago we were joking that the virus would never impact our lives here in the US. Naive as that sounds today, we didn't see this coming so quickly. As of this date (4/1/20) our lives are in disarray - not sick (yet) but everything on hold. Plans cancelled or significantly change, family out of touch, local business interrupted and travel out of the picture. Although our lives and schedules are up in the air, we are still optimistic and secure. Our lifestyle while on the road, is hermit like. Staying away from people is easy and familiar to RVers. For the time being, we have decided to stay at our property in FL. Our community is isolated and the weather has been good. We stay away from people, but we can still enjoy nature and warm weather. However, we don't know what our government will do to curtail our travel further. Now we can do grocery shopping but that's about it.
This month we share a few little known coronavirus facts as well as an interview with Patrick from RV Life.
We are always interested to hear how the new way of life is effecting you and your family, so please share.
Stationary in FL for another month. We are all about sharing our RVing experiences with our listeners. In January we attended the Tampa RV Supershow with the idea of learning what's new in the industry. We toured the lots and talked with vendors. This month and next we'll have some interviews vendors that have new products that we feel are of general interest to our listeners. Today, we welcome Keith with a new water filtering product as well as David sharing his fleet tire program we described briefly last month. We look at new water filtration products, replacing our 4 yr old batteries & a tire buying service you should know about. Our 8 new T105 67lbs each batteries were purchased on a discount offered at the show. Is the Tampa Supershow worth attending? Based on this months topics, absolutely yes - or listen to our podcast to learn what you should know.
We leave FL later this month to head north - a bit early this year as i will have to winterize again (April is just too early in IL) but we are cruising in mid-April headed to Europe.
Winter is time for RV Shows & we attended the Tampa SuperShow. We had several questions to get answered by the factory reps at this show. We also visited hundreds of vendors selling all types of RV products. We hope to have some follow-up with selected venders in the coming months. We mention fleet in the title because we have joined two fleet services as a way to save a few $$s on RV products. We are now getting discounts on diesel purchases at truck stops and a fleet discount on tires for our motorhome.
Lots to look & buy at such a big event. We talk about some trends that we noticed as well as some of the RVs we toured. We are not selling anything, so these are just casual observations from the field.
We had fun buying new tires and plan to buy a new set of batteries, but what type is still up in the air. Many tips and tricks in this months episode as we spend the winter in FL.
The annual end of the year celebration with our listeners takes place on 12/31/2019. We open the bubbly and talk about the year in review. What will the next decade bring - we hope lots of RVing and travel. RVing and many other topics are on our agenda
Your RV Navigators are on tour in the Middle East for about a month. Leaving in the middle of the month, we are on target to visit Palestine, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt on this month long adventure. So far we have learn much about this volatile part of the world. We have specifically taken a none domonational tour of the holy land. We have seen many religious sights, but looked at them from their historical perspective. But of course this area is more than just religious sites so this podcast was made from the Dead Sea which is 1400 feet below sea level. The lowest land on earth. Swimming is not really possible in the Dead Sea - ones body floats on the surface and putting ones face in the water is a bad idea. The extreme amount of salt (6 times that of the ocean) makes the water unpleasant should it get in your eyes or mouth. So floating is the only option.
We have also visit the famous Petra in Jordan. This is both a world class historic and scenic site. We were able to spend the entire day hiking over 7.5 miles and changing elevation of 600ft.
We share some listener Christmas present ideas and which everyone a great TG.
A month of highs & lows. We attended the Newmar Rally in Syracuse NY along with 450 other Newmar motorhomes. This 8 day event provided us with a chance to see the latest product and get some repairs-updates done to our coach. Newmar brought 55 techs to the event to provide service and repairs for coach owners. We took advantage of this service.
Also this month we spent a week using our Harvest Host membership at a variety of different types of HH boondocking experiences. Overall it was a great experience and we’ll continue to use them when available. The month ended in Niagara Falls for a couple of days at this iconic tourist attraction.
The final leg of the trip - back to Chicago - turnout to be an adventure of the negative sort. Our almost new alternator (new in January) failed again in Ohio causing a 2 day delay, purchasing 2 new batteries and plenty of waisted time. We share it all and explain it all, and answer questions in this episode.
Twenty-seven days in Ecuador gave us a chance to explore diverse areas of this small country. These 3+ weeks in Ecuador allowed us to visit the Amazon rain forest, Galapagos islands, and Andes mountains all within a country that is the size of Nevada. Small but diverse with rural-urban, hot-cold, and wet,-dry regions all on the Equator. For a small country in South American, Ecuador has a lot to offer. Our first stop was Quito, the capital. At 9000 ft and surrounded by volcanoes (some active) it is a scenically beautiful city. The hot jungle of the Amazon is what you would expect. Hot, humid and full of animals, bug and other critters. We toured on foot and canoe to see both land and water life. We then boarded a plane to fly 2 hrs off the coast to the chain of islands know as the Galapagos. They are part of Ecuador's national park system. As such they are protected and have strict rules for visitors. This control does maintain a good visitor experience (as long as the rules are followed). Getting close to nature is the rule and the preserving the animal life is the at the foundation of the visitor experience. Few places in the world have a an indigenous population of animals that do not fear man. This is one of them. Birds don't fly away and other creators don't disappear when they see your face. Long lenses are not necessary for animal close-ups. It an animal is curious, they approach without fear - and they did. This is a novel experience for most visitors.
From there we headed to the mountains that flow south out of the country. We drove parts of the Pan-American highway up to 13,000 ft before depending back to the ocean. Spectacular peaks some snow covered (even at the Equator) greeted our lenses as we took great photos of the landscape. We traveled on the "Devils Nose" train which is one of the few that handles mountain switch-backs in a novel way in order to manage the very steep mountain grades without causing engine damage.
Bottom line is that if you're looking to visit a country only 4 hrs by plane from the US that has wide range of climates and environments PLUS uses US currency and is quite stable, then Ecuador should be on your list of must visit places.
Every RV needs to be repaired from time to time. Newmar has opened a very modern service center with campground for its owners. How you'll get your RV fixed might be a factor when you come to buy an RV either new or old. Newmar pride itself on fixing any RV that it has manufactured regardless of age. Not every manufacturer will stand behind its entire line of products this way. We were in the service center campground to have our captains chair ((driver and passenger) recovered with new fabric. Not something we anticipated deteriorating, but we are able to get it fixed.
Although we have not done any camping this month, we still have lots of RV topics to share- many of them the result of emails or facebook comments. Four season RVing, taking care of older RVers, and many other topics are covered in this episode. Be sure to visit our episode website for lots more info.
With Memorial Day behind us, we are ready for summer and the warm weather to begin. But, spring is still bringing rain and cold. We were worried about frost and the motorhome so we had to leave the heat on for a couple of nights this month. With June’s arrival, we are looking for long days and warm nights but of course we’ll be a home. We let our camping families have the campgrounds in the summer. Their season is short and we can visit any part of the year, so we’ll head out again in the fall. However, we will taking a short trip to Wisconsin just to exercise the MH systems during the summer down time.
Of interest this month is the new VR system from Oculus, the Quest. This system is the first to be stand alone - no extra wires or hardware needed. This is a major step forward for VR systems. I have enjoyed the games and 360 videos. It takes us to places we’d never get to via conventional travel.
This month we share ideas about RV generators, Harvest Hosts (which we just jointed, but have not used), inexpensive tablet computers, and much more.
A quiet month for us. In summer we fall in to routine activities centered around home in Chicago. We did do our yearly “exercise the motorhome” trip to Lake Geneva, Wis. (about 2 hrs from home) for 3 nights at a state park. We focus on photography topics this month - our camera choices, new photo options, and thoughtful ideas about photography and RVing are our main focus this month. On our short trip, we were attacked by birds - literally. Why would a cardinal keep flying into the motorhome for days? We don't know, but it happened on our short trip.
April 1st we fired up the RV for the trip back to Chicago. This was to be a meandering journey that would up the month. We planned to visit Savannah, Washington DC, Charlotte SC, and the Laurel Highlands of SE PA. All went well on this journey as we explain in this months podcast. We had several new systems to test out on this 1200 mile trip.
Although we had not been to these destinations in quite a few years, it was nice to relive earlier experiences. We enjoyed Washington DC because of the welcome it provides to tourists. Many attractions are free and the transportation is easy and inexpensive.
Of course we always have to consider weather on our travels. Spring storms can cause major damage, but we were not effect until we arrive home. Then the snow arrived. Up until the trips end, the weather had been good - mostly warm and just a little rain. Then the cold and snow arrived in Chicago.
In this episode we share experiences about using a towed, the new engine monitor called Bluefire, as well as new cell data plans as well as our experiences with campground reservations and camping in the nations capital.
this episode we are focused on our recent trip to Antartica. At the end of February, we headed South - way sou In th. In the land of ice, snow and rock that makes up the 7th continent. This land mass has no native animals, insects or plants (aside from a few liken). So why visit such a desolate place? The landscapes are bleak but beautiful with black rocky peaks and crisp white snow. The marine life is abundant with penguins, seals, whales, birds and many smaller lifeforms. Cruising is the only way to visit, as there are no public airstrips or outposts for visitors. Even the cruises only have landings at remote beaches or rock outcrops where the penguins or seals congregate. Cruise ships must bring everything their passengers will need for their stay. So we were provided with jackets and knee length insulated boots to put over our layers of cold weather clothing. Daily we suited up for our zodiac trip to the landing area for the day. Once there we “toured” on foot to see the penguin colony or snowy peak that offered views. We encountered both clear sunny skies and complete overcast with snow (and/or rain) with temps in the lower 30s. Not your usual cruise. This one was like a 3 week focused college course on the land south of South America. To make this a reality, the ships company included 21 scientist/lecturers that were specialists in some aspect of Antartica including marine biology, geology, history and ecology. We learned, saw and experience a different world which is very unique and remote in this modern world.
In this episode we are focused on our recent trip to Antartica. At the end of February, we headed South - way south. In the land of ice, snow and rock that makes up the 7th continent. This land mass has no native animals, insects or plants (aside from a few liken). So why visit such a desolate place? The landscapes are bleak but beautiful with black rocky peaks and crisp white snow. The marine life is abundant with penguins, seals, whales, birds and many smaller lifeforms. Cruising is the only way to visit, as there are no public airstrips or outposts for visitors. Even the cruises only have landings at remote beaches or rock outcrops where the penguins or seals congregate. Cruise ships must bring everything their passengers will need for their stay. So we were provided with jackets and knee length insulated boots to put over our layers of cold weather clothing. Daily we suited up for our zodiac trip to the landing area for the day. Once there we “toured” on foot to see the penguin colony or snowy peak that offered views. We encountered both clear sunny skies and complete overcast with snow (and/or rain) with temps in the lower 30s. Not your usual cruise. This one was like a 3 week focused college course on the land south of South America. To make this a reality, the ships company included 21 scientist/lecturers that were specialists in some aspect of Antartica including marine biology, geology, history and ecology. We learned, saw and experience a different world which is very unique and remote in this modern world.
February is always short, but because we are leaving for Antartica in late February, we are getting ready early. This maybe a time when we’ll be totally out of touch at the beginning of the month and thus not able to do the podcast, so we did it early. Our 17 day sailing will take us further south than we've ever been at the end of their summer. However we are expecting cold - in the 20s. This is a big change from February in FL. This month has been very warm while the rest of the country is mired in cold winter weather. After getting our alternator fixed for the second time, we headed off to do a bit of boondocking. For those who are new to RVing, boondocking is camping without hookups. In this case we were at the mouth of Port Canaveral with a great view of the ships (many cruise ships) sailing in and out of the second busiest port in FL. Our motorhome is nicely set up for boondocking - and we discuss this issue on this episode.
CBS News came a calling to check out our podcast this month. This took the form of a 4 man crew coming to our RV site in FL to set-up and record your RV Navigator being interviewed by CBS Correspondent David Pogue. This took place on January 4th with the final product airing on January 20th CBS Sunday Morning program. Our segment (1 minute & 11 seconds) was part of a longer segment (5 minutes) called “The Golden Age of Podcasting” with more info on podcasting in general. This was all quite exciting for us and totally out of the blue. It was a result of a cold call from the producer to us asking for an interview.
We were also pleased that David sat down for a brief interview that will be part of this months RV Navigator episode. He turned out to be congenial interviewer and a good interviewee although he has no RVing experience.
Since the Sunday airing, our podcast downloads have gone through the roof (at our expense). A usual months worth of downloads happened on that single Sunday after the broadcast. Consistently, we have about 15,000 download per episode over a few months. This Sunday (1/20/19) we had 16833 download in a single day! Obviously a new record for our podcast. The level of downloads increase for all episodes as new listeners worked their way through some of the most recent editions.
This was not the only news this month, as we visited the Tampa RV Super Show in mid month. As usual this huge RV show was displaying all of the new RV hardware. We took the opportunity to replace our Blue Ox tow bar and upgrade our interior LED lights. We also looked at lots of other stuff but didn’t buy anything else.
We touch on a few other topics, but this is the main trust of this months edition.
We begin our 13th year of the RV Navigator in the warmth of Florida. This episode is our annual NYE edition which features champaign and fun as the new year begins. Lots of RV tech topics to cover as your hosts share their adventures of the past year.
Once again we are on the road away from our motorhome so we don't have alot of RVing news. Back from our 3 cruise itinerary to Spain with a sail back to Miami. We sailed on a small 100 passenger ship within Spain and Portugal, then a super cruiser with 5500 passengers for 12 days to Miami and finally a 3100 passenger ship to Bahamas. We share our impressions of these very different cruising experiences in this episode. We’ve now driven to Chicago to be at home for family time during holidays. Oh, yes, the cold has hit us hard with snow and cold in our northern home. We have cruising/travel ideas to share plus our annual holiday RV gift guide. What new gizmos should you buy your RVer? Ken knows!
We’re off on a 39 day trip to Portugal, Spain and a transAtlantic sailing to Miami. Leaving from our winter home in Florida, first flying to Lisbon for an 11 day small ship cruise to Barcelona. This itinerary would have easily been done via a bus tour - so why would you do it by cruise ship? The world of cruising is quickly changing and we note many of those as we explain how a small ship experience is different from a large ship cruise. We had a chance to try out various ebikes on this trip - have you given them a try? We also tried cell phone service in Europe, and it worked for phone and data. The world is shrinking with digital media keeping everyone connected.
We have lots of comments about this experience and even some RVing ideas and tips.
Rvers need to be flexible and mobile. We planned to be in SC this month, but the hurricane had other plans so we headed to FL early. After stopping in Gaffney SC for a quick check up of the MH, we were planning to visit relatives near the coast of SC. However, this was just as the hurricane was scheduled to make landfall, so we packed and spent most of the month on our new lot at The Great Outdoors in Titusville. Unfortunately, once again mother nature surprised us. The weather in FL was very hot and humid. September in FL is warm, but this was record breaking heat. Combined with high humidity, it was very uncomfortable. So much for seeking the 70s (our usual mantra). We are here early so that we can leave in October and head to Europe on a 3 cruise package ending back in Miami in November.
Topics include fall itineraries, looking beyond the floor plan, basics of E,W, & S, when buying an RV. What’s happening with RV buyers this year. We find that they are younger and buying smaller.
R’n’R - you know rants and raves. A wide range of topics in this month, from digital cameras to diesel vs gas to credit cards. Yes we have some strong views & as always we share. Feel free to share, we want to hear from you via email or Google plus.
We pick up on several trending topics including hot skin, water heaters, new apps, and long term RVing with an interview. Loads of great news from the world of RVing in Gillette WY for the FMCA Rally. Tune in for a full report.
After 23 days at sea from Australia (and the outback), we arrived home in IL for the summer. We spend summers at home so that families can have the campgrounds during their summer holidays. However, with more and more RVs being sold and on the road, campsites are sometimes at a premium. We share our views on the camping crunch that the industry is experiencing during this boom time. We look at camping strategies to use during the busy summer months and beyond to make sure that your camping experience is a good one. We do of course have the usual array of interesting articles and topics from the last month in RVing.
On the road in Sydney Australis this month. We are currently about 1 day ahead of our usual world - confusing to say the least. We left mid month for a 53 day journey that ends with us sailing back to Seattle from Sydney, Australia. It started with a long flight to Fiji where we spent a few days recovering from jet lag. This was a total day for night swap so it takes a while to make the adjustment. Another 5 hours landed us in Sydney for the start of our land tour of the interior of Australia. We did most of the coastal cities a few years ago on a cruise. The end of March finds us on our way to Hobart, Tasmania, the island off the southern coast of Australia.
RV wise, we bander about several hot topics including renting your RV, solar panel issues, and what it is like to full time.
Multiple problems compounded the creation of this months podcast. Sorry for the poor audio quality. My usual travel studio set up just would not work so this podcast has a buzz in the background. I have used filters to make is less annoying but it is still there, sorry. With our travel schedule, we just didn't have time to record this episode before the first. Here in Australia, daylight savings time starts on Sunday (4/1) so we lost another hour without even moving. Please forgive this unplanned problem. I hope to get it fixed by the next episode. We'll be on our cruise ship with a few days at sea to solve the problems.
When in your travels do you shed the tourism mode and become more local? I think it has happened for us in Tucson with this visit. So this month we’ve just enjoyed the winter warmth (with a bit of cold) to do home like activities. Join us for the details
Winter in the North means we are in the warm - this year in Tucson, AZ. After a brief encounter with winter in IL, we flew back to LV for a week before heading down to Tucson via Quartzsite and Pheonix. Then on to Tucson for a couple of months in the sun. Tucson is always sunny but often cool in January. This year turned out to be the warmest January in their history with 14 days above 75 degrees (very pleasant) and only a couple of freezing mornings. We enjoy the outdoor activities provided by this area of country. This campground offers alot of actives for us seniors all under the warm sun. Plus Tucson offers great bike trails and hiking in the mountains. We are content to be stationary for 2 months when winter travel is just not reliable in other parts of the country.
We took the time to upgrade several kitchen components while here in Tucson. We've wanted replace or electric cooktop with an induction model. Induction are more boondocking friendly and are excellent heat source. We've also started air trying and using the instant for many meals in the RV. Both of these make for easier and quicker meals on the road. This month we also share several articles about various aspects of RVing that you'll want to read.
Rt 50 is considered to be the loneliest highway and we traveled much of it this month as we traversed several deserts and vast planes of CA and NV. We also visited several NPs including Crater Lake, Lassen, Great Basin, & Yosemite. Spending just a few few nights in each, we have had a block buster month of RVing ending in Cedar City UT (Cedar Breaks NM). We have driven across hundreds of miles of desolate landscape on RT 50. One sign indicated that the next service (fuel) was 167 miles ahead. In that time we saw one car going in our direction and 3 in the opposite direction. This is impossible to happen in our part of the country - as probably yours but here in the western high plains. This meant that driving the large RV on a 2 lane black top was no challenge. The scenery was interesting despite the isolation. We crossed several 7500+foot passes which did challenge the RVs 450 hp diesel but we did fine in the end.
Summer is nearly over but our travel are just beginning. We’re on our way west to Rocky Mt, NP earlier than expected after Martha’s surgery so we’re starting new. We had carved out until the first of the year for her recovery, but it is a bonus to be able to leave in September. Our plan is to pick up some of the NPs that we missed on our last trip west. We'll be headed South to Tucson for a couple of the winter months after the first of the year.
Last months eclipse was an event to be remembered. A 5 hour drive home turned in to 13 hrs due to heavy traffic as everyone headed north after the total eclipse.
For the last few years I have enjoyed flying my DJI drone, but its large size made it difficult to transport. I was able to buy a DJI Spark drone was put to good use. Ir is very small (7x7 inches) so is easily transportable in one hand. It is about the size of the old drones controller. The new one is controlled by the iPhone so no controller needed.
These topics plus lots of good RV stuff about boondocking and buying an RV are included in this episode - 54 minutes of entertaining banter about our favorite activity.
After a month of PT and careful walking, Martha is recovering from her foot surgery. She no longer has a cast or needs walking aids (we've had a knee scooter, walker, and cane this month) so we see major improvement from the original days after surgery in May. With Martha on the road to recovery, we are again making travel plans but we are still at home in IL. This month we feature a return interview with Marc & Sara from a year ago. When we saw them last, they were driving their new motorhome from the factory in Indiana to Washington state. They were embarking on a totally new full timing lifestyle as RVers.
After removing our roof mounted internet satellite dish, we have been looking for an alternative solution for internet on the road for several months. I have been trying to get an ATT Mobley for some time. Finally I found it on Amazon and made the purchase. The local ATT store set up my account without a hassle and it has worked well since. The $20 a month charge for unlimited internet is a very good deal at this time. We were going to get the FMCA Verizon offer as a backup but Verizon pulled out of the deal at the last minute so our phones will be the backup until something better comes along.
At home again for several months as Martha recovers from foot surgery. Her inability to climb stairs & walk freely will keep us at home. We have lots of interesting RV topics to share. Many new RVers are getting on the road so we’re answering questions
The beginning of April finds us traveling again. We are currently sailing the high seas on our way from Singapore to Rome for a total of 30 days. However we began March in Cuba so we spend some time debriefing our Cuba adventure. It was not your usual Caribbean island adventure. Our tour involved several intense cultural experiences - as required by our visa. We traveled about t1500 miles from rural Cuba to Havana. Most roads (even the 6 lane expressway) have almost no traffic. Private cars and even motorcycles are not in common use so the roads are empty most of the time. The flights to and from Cuba are short so we were able to drive to and from Miami without any extra nights stay. TGO is only 3 hrs from Miami. After a short stay at TGO during which we had our washing machine replaced, we headed the motorhome to Chicago. We arrived after a couple of nights, to find cold weather. Enough so that I decided to winterize it even though the calendar said spring.
We are also looking at the many new "unlimited" cellular data plans. A new one using the ATT Mobly we'll be trying our first unlimited data plan in the near future.
March 28th takes us on a 16 hour flight half way around the world. More details next month.
A quick flight from Miami brought us to Cuba for a long planned 12 day tour of this forbidden island. We started in the East with our trip heading to Havana in the next week. I have been worried about the viability of the internet (Wifi) in Cuba, but have been pleasantly surprised. Not free, but fairly fast so it was worth the cost. As I write this, the actually podcast has been successfully uploaded, so only this linking file (XML) is necessary to make it active. This should not be a problem. We'll be sharing details of the trip over the next two episodes. It is different than we expected - and how? Well listen to this episode! and we'll tell you all about it.
We have had fun with our resident owl and the excellent photo opts provided. When we left you last, our owl was just hatching into a chick. Now after hundreds of photos, our owl is all most ready to fly. Cuba may have caused us to miss this big event. I have learned alot about wild bird photography in the last few weeks. One of the new essential tools is a flash extender. An inexpensive tool to give your flash more range.
Another happening this month was the first RV Navigator Potluck at TGO. Not only did we have TGO residence but listeners from other campgrounds joined in the fun. An evening of good fun and food. Thanks to everyone who planned and attended the event. We did have a RV Navigator Trivia contest with big prizes and 3 winners who know much more about our lives than we do! If you'd like to try your hand at the trivia questions, follow the link in the show notes.
On top of these topics we share some RV news stories and other topics of interest.
Next month we'll be on the road once again this time in Singapore. I assume that the internet will not be a problem, so the upload should be on time.
Our annual NYE live recording of the podcast is on location at TGO in Florida. Warm weather allowed us to record outdoors and with a glass or two of champaigne. We even had an audience some podcast listeners joined us to welcome the new year.
July was a month at home, but we are thinking of RV topics. We do an extended interview with our single RVer friend Mike about his adventures since our last interview. Now that his rig is more that a year old, he is considering an extended warranty. Does an extended warranty give you peace of mind? It should, but do the contracts really deliver what most RVers expect in terms of service. Hear our take on this topics (with RNR) plus bad weather horror stories, getting into VR and drones.
Major travels this month to the bottom of the world in South America. We spent 22 days away from the RV in Chile & Argentina traveling to the remote Patagonia region. Follow our adventures on the sea and land as we tour the bottom of the world.
We are traveling in the desert west this month with stops in Las Vegas, Palm Springs, and Lake Havasu. Lots of photo ops as we attended the fireworks extravaganza & modernity week on our travels. We also visited Death Valley NP. Good weather made these adventures lots of fun. Death Valley which boosts the hottest temperatures in the world, was a pleasant 70 degrees at this time of year. This park is very large with several camping opportunities. The newest option are the FHU sites at Furnace Creek which we were lucky enough to find an open spot. Otherwise it is boondocking only. The month ended in Pahrump, NV just prior to our travels to South America.
This month is our full report on our African Safari this month. We returned from 28 days on the Dark Continent with a 1000s of great animal photos and wonderful memories of a great trip. Our adventure ended mid month with a very long flight home and days of jet lag. We did manage to get some RV questions answered and interesting topics discussed on this edition of the RV Navigator.
Even a fairly new RV needs repairs so this month we visited Newmar in Indiana. Thus just before heading for Dubai, UAE & Nairobi, Kenya for our African Safari. These plus lots of good RVing and travel info make up this episode.
After several weeks at home, we began our 2 month adventure that will go as far north as Labrador. The trip out involves 1200 miles to get to the caravan starting point. Lots of topics invade this podcast so give it a listen.
June fines us home with plans to leave at the end of the month for the Canadian Maritimes for the rest of the summer. Lots of tech talk today as Ken has been using his Apple Watch for most of the month, plus serval other tech topics make up this episode.
After a quick 2 weeks in the USVI (St Thomas and St John), we made it home for TG & Xmas. This month we focus on gifts for RVers. See the episode web page for all of the links and pictures. Many listeners contributed to the list via the Google Plus page. Thanks & happy holidays to all of our listeners.
This is the story of transition from the old RV to the 2012 Dutch Star motorhome. Will our stuff fit? How will it drive? Will be like all electric? What modifications will we make? All questions on the agenda.
We return home to winter after months of sun in AZ. I re-winterized the RV & prepared for some summer weather, only to be disappointed. New ideas & new topics are on our agenda this month as we dissect the winter travels. Next month we’ll be in Japan.
Our long awaited trip to Alaska begins this month with the long drive across the US to the Canadian Rockies. Follows us for the next few months as we explore our 49th state. Of course, we have lots more topics in the show, so take a listen.
Another podcast from the high seas without an RV. This months episode features an interview with some fellow RVers (Caravaners in their eyes) from Great Britain. They travel in their rig for months at a time by heading south to Spain.
Home once again for a month while we get ready for the next adventure. Your navigators share some tech tips,updates, and gadgets as well as full timing surprises. These along with the usual banter make this an interesting episode.
A flood caused detour found us at the end of the road - How to proceed was our dilemma. This plus many other observations and adventures are shared by your Hosts in this episode from upstate NY Wine country. News, also, for work campers, blogers, & apps.
We ended the episode with the wind howling outside our RV's window. We are glad to report that all is well in Irene's aftermath although it was a close call for us in Vermont. We are reporting from coastal Maine this month and many adventures to share.
A final thanks for those who voted for us. We have been cruising this month on the Carnival Glory out of NYC. Despite this time away, we have many RV topics on the agenda for this month. Emails have prompted some interesting discussion about RVing.
Big Thanks to all who voted for us in the recent Best Cruiser award - we won. We have been busy updating the RV in Elkhart for the past couple of weeks. New floor, fridge update and engine repair. These interesting topics plus our usual banter & topics.
After a fire safety demonstration we realized how much we didn't know about RV fires & emergency procedures, so we share with you what we learned. We answer listener emails, new web sites, and great products for RVers as part of this episode.
This month we have camping ideas from around the globe as we talk with a listener in the MIddle East about camping. This plus the usual Rving new and events will round out an exciting show. We appreciate those who have voted for us at budgettravel.com.
After more than 4 months on the road, we arrived back in our stationary house late in April. We took a couple of extra days driving from SC to skirt the constant heavy storms that have plagued the southeast this spring. Without a fixed schedule we were able to avoid the storms with a few extra days in the warm. The Chicago area has been very rainy and cold both before and since our arrival. You ask why did we come home so early - that’s my question, too. We can now enjoy the hight gas prices of the Chicago area with all of our neighbors. Lots of interesting technology in this episode. How about rooting a B&N NOOK? Easily done. How did our Sensar work out? How about an extra lens for your phone camera? These plus lots of RV tips and ideas are in this episode. When you are finished, send us a comment, or write podcast review in iTunes about your friendly RV Navigators. navigator@rvnavigator.com is our email.
We do see signs of Spring, but it is still too cold to be at home so we continue to travel the mid south. Lots of new RV topics are discussed in this episode including the most popular RVs, Trucker GPSs, digital TV meter, and new websites.
A few miles from New Orleans is the Cajun country noted for seafood & music. We spent a nice couple of weeks enjoying both before heading to Natchez to travel the Trace north. We share tips and some new gadgets during this episode for our listeners.
Twelve days in New Orleans gave us a chance to really have the full Mardi Gras experience. Ending on Fat Tuesday, it was an extravaganza unlike anything we have experienced before. We bring you all of the details and our impressions of this event.
Leaving warm Sarasota we headed north to what turned out to be more great weather in the Florida panhandle. This area combines the best of old & new Florida with great camping and reasonable prices. We also share several email comments from listeners.
After a month in place, we start the engine to head northwest on the trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. This episode features an interview with Bob & Linda full timers who are making some big changes after several years on the road.
Our report on the differences between winter RVing in Florida compared with wintering in Texas. We have been in the RV bubble in Florida for over 2 weeks, so we have some interesting comparisons to make. This plus the latest RVing news.
After spending a week on the Atlantic coast we head to the Tampa Super show. Listeners, show highlights, and repairs have dominated our time at the show. What's happening and what are the trends in RVing is our main topic.
We begin our usual trip south for the winter as we celebrate episode 60, our 5th year of doing the podcast. This year takes us to Florida and several adventures in the southland this winter. Class A or 5th Wheel? What's with megapixels? Topics for #60.
We have yielded to listener request by adding a mid month version of the RV Navigator. We never thought this podcast would generate such interest, but if you want to hear our rantings, you'll now get them more often. The RVers Xmas list is our topic.
We always find it hard to believe that we have so many loyal listeners, but we hear from them regularly each month so it must be true. Based on the number of downloads the RV Navigator is reaching quite a large number of interested RVers and others hungry for information. With this in mind, we are going to succumb to listener suggestions that we take the podcast to a new level of frequency - bi monthly. Is this vanity or are we really filling a niche? The iTunes comments are great and your email feedback has been very positive so I can only assume that our RV experiences are valuable beyond our lives. We are glad to share and are rewarded by your listenership. However, a second month episode comes with the caveat that listeners help provide content and feedback for the mid-month edition. Our trial mid-month episode will feature Christmas presents appropriate for RVers (or Techies) so send us your suggestions and comments. This episode starts with our getting the RV Fridge repaired under the Norcold recall. Norcold has recalled several models of RV fridges, but ours has always been outside the range of models recalled. This month they issued a recall for nearly all of their fridges between 1999-2010. Ours of course fell in this range. We recommend that you get yours updated, it is free and takes only 1/2 hour for a technician to complete. You’ll find links to several interesting stories that we talk about in the links section of this web page. Today’s feature is my take on cutting the cable. Is the internet ready to handle all of your programming needs. What does it take to get cable like programming via the internet and is it viable for RVers. Should you buy an Apple TV, Google TV, Roku, por Boxee Box? These are all questions that, if you have not considered the internet option for TV by now, you will in the near future.
This months RVing adventure was a short 4 days in Parke County Indiana home of 32 covered bridges. Covered bridge may conjure up images of New England but Indiana's Parke County has more in a compact space than anywhere else. They have 5 driving routes of about 35 miles each that take visitors to all of the bridges. Some are still in use while others are just along the road side as tourist stops. Many are from the 1800s with other from the early 1900s and all are in fairly good shape. Visitors can at least walk over them all as well as photograph them in the rural settings. Each fall they have a huge outdoor festival that draws thousands of tourists. Our visit was a week after the festival so things were quite. It is worth a visit if you are in the vicinity with your RV. Turkey Run SP offers great camping for all types of RVs. Other topics this month include numerous topics presented by listeners via email including reports from Australia. This months feature is about the changing landscape of wireless internet. Data access is important to most RVers these days for at least email and usually much more. With the vast increase in the demand for data (anything beside voice communication) by cell phone users (all of those Apps), cell companies are struggling to keep up. How does this effect you, what types of service is and will be available, which carriers are best, and alternative to cell phone are all discussed in this feature. Finally, we would like to invite listeners to follow us on Digg.com. Digg is news source with a difference. I regularly find interesting articles about RVing that I would like to share with listeners. The once per month format is not conducive to sharing breaking news so I have been looking at Digg as our option. I am sure that you don't want to get Tweets or Facebook updates from us, but by using Digg, listeners can get the latest RVing info in a very non-intrusive way. I regularly "Digg" stories that I find interesting. You visit the Digg website and become a "rvnavigator" follower. From then on, the stories that I find interesting will be on your opening screen (along with any others that have been dug by people you follow). This is a very nice way to see what someone else is reading without being obtrusive. No emails or other notifications, just links to interesting web based content that you can choose to read/view/listen. There is no personal information shared. You’ll never have to read that I am at a Starbucks for breakfast or how I dressed for Halloween.
Our cruise continued into September as we enjoyed the Crown Princess for almost a month of cruising on our way to New York City. After some difficulty uploading last months changes, we are back with good internet and easily able to make this months deadline. Sorry to those who were looking for the Rv Navigator on September 1, but although finished, it was just not possible to get it uploaded. This month we are back home ready to focus on the RVing lifesyle that we love so much. As regular listeners know, we purchased an iPad at its introduction on April 3, 2010. At this point, it has been part of our family for a little over 6 months. It has become a useful tool which we use almost daily. It has now traveled the world by RV and ship, so we have some interesting comments to make on its use. We also explore the competition as well as update its use for RVers. Finally, this episode is capped with a interesting interview with RV author, Ron Jones from the AboutRving.com website and several RVing books that he has published. He has presented at many RV rallies and shares his take on full time RVing with us.
We come to your this month from the oceans around the British Isles several thousand miles from home. Once again we are doing "RVing on Steroids" on a cruise ship - no navigating, no cooking, no cleaning. Join us for some RV news at sea.
We headed south in July knowing that the temperatures would be on the rise as we hit Louisville, KY. This was the site of the largest RV show in the country this year so we felt compelled to see the show regardless of the summer heat. We did spend a couple of extra days on each end checking out Indiana State parks, but the main event was in Louisville, just across the Ohio River in Kentucky. Almost 2900 RVs parked in the lots of the Kentucky Expo Center made the place seemed jammed. Some paid extra for electric hookup, but this was very expensive due to the portable generators that were used to supply the power. We just fired up the genset and boondocked. It was Louisville's hottest days of the year, in the high 90s, so we had to use the generator all of the time we were in the motorhome including over night. Fortunately, the entire event was held under one air-conditioned roof within a couple of minutes walk of our parking spot. Seminars, vendors, dealers and RVs all housed inside for the show. This made the entire event pleasurable and kept us going for the 4 days. It featured 175 seminars, 300 vendors, and 42 dealers as well as evening entertainment. If you want to know what's going on in the world of RVing, come to "The Rally" some year. The next one will be held in Redmond, WA. Among the trends that we spotted were lots of green products, smaller motorized RVs, more talk of used RVs, and close to home destinations. We also found that the RV industry is on the rebound and coming back strong. We consider RVing to be a very economical means of travel and can be cost effective for both families and full-timers. All of this is fodder for our Rally round-up podcast. As always we appreciate your listening. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com.
RV manufactures generally do not build the entire RV because they buy the chassis with engine from chassis builder. Once the chassis leaves their factory, the RV manufacturer adds the body and interior. Responsibility for warranty and repair of the chassis and engine is Spartans (in our case). At a chassis rally we learned about how to maintain and use our motorhome under pinnings. Obviously it is important to keep all of these systems in good working order and maintained so that you will arrive at your destination. We had the 44 point check-up and most of the fluids and filters replaced. Many had not been touched since the vehicle was new so it was time. The Spartan factory has a complete repair facility near by the Rally headquarters. With over 50 coaches from many brands in attendance, we had lots of company and stories to hear. New in 2010 is the latest round of emission controls for diesel engines in the US. Cummins as well as many engine manufacturers has started using a DEF fluid sprayed into the exhust. This in addition to the earlier exhaust particulate filter add substantially to the cost of new diesel engines regardless of end use - RV, over the road, auto, or truck. This will make new diesel pushers, sprinters, and class C diesels much more expensive for the end user. This is a major focus of this episode, but we do have a review of news and interesting tidbits from the RVing world. We will be attending the "The Rally" on July 22,2010 so if plan to attend let us know. We always hope that you enjoy our musings about the state of RVing and our world. We appreciate your comments and suggestions by email (navigator@rvnavigator.com).
After 4+ months of travel on the road, we headed back North to the Chicago area to visit our stick home. Having traveled about 7 months out of the last year, we wonder if having a home is really worth it. It is, however, nice to be "home" again. The Chicago summers are pleasant and the list of activities is extensive. So we'll be on the home front until mid-August when the wanderlust will catch up with us again. After detouring around Nashville and other flooded point of Tennessee, we made our way north in a leisurely fashion arriving early in May. Topic in this months podcast include an interview with friends who spend extended RVing time in Mexico. Mexico camping is of interest to many full timers and part timers alike so this topic is very relevant. They share first hand experience (having just returned from several months in Mexico) about the dos and don'ts of Mexico camping. Their experienced mirrored our experiences (more limited travel in Mexico) - once you get away from the boarder towns it is a rewarding experience and not that different than camping in the US. It does take some preparation and planning so give this interview a listen if Mexico is on your itinerary anytime soon. We discuss some unusual family issues with retiring parents and the always present list of tech topics that face every RVer. Join us for 45 minute tour of the RV landscape for the month of June. We always hope that you enjoy our musings about the state of RVing and our world. We appreciate your comments and suggestions by email (navigator@rvnavigator.com).
We have been on the road most of the month, although for us that means staying for a week or so at a time in each campground. After the Texas coastal experience, we headed in land to check out the Texas Hill country near Austin. Spring in this area brings the Bluebonnets to life creating a blue tapestry on the side of the road. This is all courtsey of Lady Bird Johnson. She was a wild flower lover and had the seeds spread along the highways of the the area. The LBJ ranch is in the region so she spend alot of time in the area. It does give a splash of color to the landscape and give towns the excuse to have a festival. We attended the Burnet Bluebonnet festival and enjoyed its small town atmosphere. Even better for me was the discovery of real Texas BBQ for which this area is famous. It was a whole new experience in dining. From Texas we headed to rural Lousiana, 2 hours outside New Orlaens to sample the Cajun specialtiies. Once again we found much to love about the cuisine of the area, but not the hot sauces. Featured were crawfish in season. Tasty to say the least and a special treat for those brought up on beef and mash potatoes. We ended the month at the Biloxi Crawfish festival on the Mississippi coast. This mont was the month of the iPad introduction and I was at an Apple store on April 3rd to get mine. Check out our impression in the podcast. That is not the only technology improvement in our RVing life as we also purchased the SilverLeaf engine monitor system. They sell a small box which interfaces the computer to the diagnostic port found on most modern engines. Once connect all of the engines operating perameters can be displayed on the computer screen while the engine is operating. Our netbook has been pressed into service as the display for the SilverLeaf and it works well. We also talk about many other topics as we get off topic to discuss things not in notes. We always hope that you enjoy our musings about the state of RVing and our world. We appreciate your comments and suggestions both by email (navigator@rvnavigator.com) and on our listener comment phone line, 815/230-0772. Also send us your rig photos for inclusion on the "rig photos" page. There are many new rigs represented so send yours in now.
I toyed with making some lame Aprils fools joke this month, but we did not want to mislead our listeners. We make enough honest mistakes so that intentional ones would not be appreciated. The RVIA reports that February RV shipments to dealers is up 95% over last year, so maybe we can be optimistic about RVing next year. Plus have lots more company in the campgrounds. Our travels have taken us to the Gulf beaches of Texas near Houston. As many of your will remember, just 18 months ago they were hit by a major storm, IKE. We found that the area has recovered remarkably well. Yes, there are signs of storm damage, but most tourist sites are fully operational and welcoming tourists. Aside from the Texas state wide spring break, we found most campgrounds and venues uncrowded. Although we did just see a TV report on South Padre (near our January headquarters in McAllen), which looked like a human zoo during spring break time. It is extended here due to its national popularity. We have been spending a week here, a few days there and generally moseying around the Houston area for most of the month. An interview with MCD products CEO, Dave, gave us a chance to introduce our new cockpit shades. We had a complete set installed at their factory in McKinney TX during the first week of March. Clean water is important to RVers. We are always on the lookout for useful products for clean water. Reverse osmosis is considered to be the best method of purifying water but it is hard to set up in an RV. Not only does it produce lots of waste water, but it needs its own faucet. We found and purchased an interesting product which offer a temporary reverse osmosis system when ever you have campsite water and sewer. Also this month, I polished the headlight lenses on the RV. After years of exposure to the elements, they had become dull. Using my trusty drill and a special kit, I gave them a polish - it was easy. We also talk about many other topics as we get off topic to discuss things not in notes. We always hope that you enjoy our musings about the state of RVing and our world. We appreciate your comments and suggestions both by email (navigator@rvnavigator.com) and on our listener comment phone line, 815/230-0772. Also send us your rig photos for inclusion on the "rig photos" page. There are many new rigs represented so send yours in now.
Waiting, waiting, waiting in the RGV for the weather to finally warm enough to hit the road. We have many plans for travel in Texas, but this winter has been cold even here, so we are waiting until El NIno gets through with winter. Mid month we headed off to west Texas and Big Bend National Park. We wanted to give this area enough time - no rushing the itinerary so we scheduled 2 weeks for the NP and associated state parks. In retrospect, this was plenty of time for us. If you were a avid hiker, birder or similar sport enthusiast, then more time might be necessary. Our plans were two camping sites in the park and then on to the Davis mountains to the north. We managed to drive most of the improved roads and some 4 wheelin' roads as well as see all of the major sights in a week. The second week was spent a bit north visiting Marfa, Alpine, McDonald Observatory, and Fort Davis. Our overwhelming feeling was one of isolation and desolation of this area. Small towns (usually less than 1000 population) and scattered ranches make up most of this area. Whole counties with less than 5000 population are the norm in the west Texas region. For us urbanites, this feels like nowhere. Cell phones are useless, stores as we know them are hundreds of miles away, fuel and life's essentials are very expensive. Our satellite internet and TV kept us connected everywhere - no trees on this landscape, so we did feel connected. However, there was no local TV or even radio. We are now back in the Dallas area, restocked and replenished. This episode has many interesting topics - many that our listeners have brought up. We try to discuss some interesting articles that we have found in addition to interviewing one of our listeners in the Chicago area via Skype. We appreciate your comments and suggestions both by email (navigator@rvnavigator.com) and on our listener comment phone line, 815/230-0772. Also send us your rig photos for inclusion on the "rig photos" page. There are many new rigs represented so send yours in now.
After arriving in South Texas in late December, we have spent a stationary month in the Rio Grande Valley. This month, we interviewed some long time fulltimers, attended the local RV show, & did some comparisons of the RGV & other warm weather spots.
Leaving home in the winter is always a challenge and this year was no exception. However, 4 days later in Texas, our windshield was loaded with warm weather bugs. This episode made on the last day of the decade, includes some old and some new topics.
Merry Christmas and Happy Thanksgiving from your RV Navigators. Oh, yes we are on the road again but not in the RV. After a cold couple of weeks in Northern Europe to begin the trip, we have made our way to Rome and points south as we head eventually for Ft Lauderdale and home in mid-December. We landed in Munich just after the last podcast to visit our friend Hartmut and his family. This was a return visit after many years away and a heart-felt reunion. Then via the very fast autobahn, we drove to Vienna (about 5 hrs) for a few day. Then on to Rome where we were to pick up the first leg of our cruise. Rome in November?? It's on the same latitude as Chicago. However the weather was very cooperative with temps in the mid 60s and sunny everyday. This weather has held for the entire month of November so we have been very pleased with our decision to travel at this time of year. This months podcast was made while on our cabin balcony during a sea day. It was an ideal day at sea, smooth seas and warm temps. We have lots of RVing new as this topic is never far from our minds. We actually found another RVing couple from AZ with which to share experiences. They had just downsized from a 38ft Class A to a new B+ motorhome. Would you make this switch? The saga of the new tires for the motorhome has finally ended with a new set of 6 MIchelins. How are the tires on your RV? How old are they? Ours only had 40,000 miles but needed to be replaced. Too much sun and time had caused deterioration Christmas is on our minds so we have some suggestions for RV oriented gifts. Can you add to our list? Send us an email for some belated suggestions. We have the usually funny RV segments as well as other RV industry news so give this episode a listen and then send us some feed back. We appreciate your comments and suggestions both by email (navigator@rvnavigator.com) and on our listener comment phone line, 815/230-0772. Also send us your rig photos for inclusion on the "rig photos" page. There are many new rigs represented so send yours in now.
Despite the very cold and rainy October in the midwest, we did get away for a short weekend of RVing with some new friends who have just purchased a new 2009 motorhome. You'll hear about the purchase and their impressions in an interview we conducted while on the road in Indiana. I have had requests for the webpages that we used most often when RVing. I have created a new page on this website that will get you started with some of my favorite links. I am focused on quality rather than quantity, so this list is not comprehensive. However, I think you'll each of sites is best in class for their category. Have you "moded" your RV? We are always looking for step by step mods for customizing our motorhome, so we have revisited the RV Mods website for some ideas. We have also made some hardware updates this month with the purchase of a Kindle from Amizon. The co-pilot is tired of carrying arm loads of books to keep her busy during our travels, so she invested in a Kindle. This is version 2 so has several improvements over the original. This along with the iPhones will keep our lengthy travels more interesting. Speaking of the iPhone and satellites (yes, I was), the newest app for me is the satellite finder. This app super imposes satellite positions over a live picture of your campsite. Where to park to get connected will be much easier with this app for the iPhone. We alson take the RV Trivia Challenge -live - during the podcast. Ten easy questions about RVing for those who have been RVing for 30 years. Well, they turn out to be not so easy - we missed 3. How will you do? This episode is nearly an hour long - sorry but the interview and our usual comments just could not be editied further. You'll be glad to know that I did edit over 10 minutes out of the originals. Next months episode may be either early or late due to travel schedules. We are headed overseas where we cannot always depend on good connections for uploading our content. Rest assured we will make every effort to be timely with the next episode. We appreciate your comments and suggestions both by email (navigator@rvnavigator.com) and on our listener comment phone line, 815/230-0772. Also send us your rig photos for inclusion on the "rig photos" page. There are many new rigs represented so send yours in now.
A few technical issues are still outstanding from our comments last month. iTunes downloading seems to be going smoothly since I updated some software. I explain how to actually download our podcast (for listening later) instead of listening live. We also will be posting our podcast on Podomatic.com as a back up to iTunes. We always like to travel in September. If you travel in this month, you know that the weather is usually good, crowds have eased, and the roads are open. We took the month to improve our golf skills at an Elder Hostel in Wisconsin and then see a bit of the midwest. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois were on our itinerary which focused on the Mississippi River towns. We always bring our bikes so finding some nice riding trails was high on the agenda. Sparta, Wisconsin is the hub for several bike trails that were former RR beds. Winding through the picturesque countryside with rolling hills, green farms and few old tunnels makes these bike trails very appealing. Along with the biking we played more golf at some of the local municipal courses which at this time of year didn't require tee times. Barge transportation is a major means of getting bulk goods through the central part of the US. The COE has made "improvements" in the rivers to make barging a major activity. Locks, dams, levees, and dredging are all part of the plan to keep the rivers open to commercial traffic. It is interesting to see the infrastructure and manpower necessary to keep barge traffic running smoothly along the Mississippi and its tributaries. Of course they have built some nice public campgrounds along the way to make trips like ours scenic and thrifty. On RV tech front, we were forced to buy a new set of house batteries this month. Online research lead me buy the least expensive 6 volt golf cart batteries at Sams Club. At $72 each, this was still a big unexpected expense. It was necessitated by my lack of care for the old ones (3 years old) and was an expense that we should not have had to make at this time. How are your batteries? Do you have a 3 state charger? Do you watch the water level? Lots of other interesting tech topics are on our agenda - digital TV reception with the newly installed Wingman, changes in campground cable TV, RV uses for the iPhone beyond listening to our podcast, Garmin GPS updates and much more are topics of our banter. We share our websites of the month and a few humorous RV stories. We end with some article which give a hopeful picture to the economic prospects of the RV industry. We may have passed the low point and sales are looking up for some manufacturers. Join us on our adventure and thanks for listening. Our numbers are over 2000 downloads per month and growing rapidly. We appreciate your comments and suggestions both by email (navigator@rvnavigator.com) and on our listener comment phone line, 815/230-0772.
Several readers have emailed with problems with downloading via iTunes. I have tried to fine a solution to the perplexing problem and I must apologize for the inconvenience for those who are experiencing download issues. The problem seems to be the connection from the RV Navigator website and the iTunes software on SOME computers. I really have no connection to iTunes other than the notification of new episodes when they are posted. This happens automatically via their servers talking to the RV Navigator website servers. Some how this process is breaking down with our listeners computers. I don't know how to fix the problem but I have stumbled on a workaround which seems to work for most listeners. If the latest episodes of the RV Navigator DO NOT appear in iTunes, quit iTunes. Open the RV Navigator website (http://rvnavigator.com) and then relaunch iTunes, refresh your podcast list and the new episode will appear and download. How about that - I don't know why, but it works. Listener Debbie poses a question for the group, "What are the top ten most favorite services/amenities/surprises you found at the RV parks in your travels?". We share some of ours - but what are yours? In our 6500 miles of travel this summer, we pickup a stone to the windshield leaving a small crack. How to get it fixed was our dilemma. Listen in for what turned out to be a great and inexpensive solution. On the tech side we share an easy way to improve HD reception and the RV Pillow. We have posted new photos in the listener rigs section of the website so send yours in and take a look at those of your fellow listeners. Ideas and suggestions are always appreciated via email or our listener comment line, 815/230-0772.
Ride em cowboy was our mantra this month as we made our way North to attend the Calgary Stampede. This is a traditional rodeo with major side shows to visitor entertained. We attended with the help of Fantasy RV tours who made all of the arrangements. They did a superior job of organizing our activities. Although you probably could have made all of the arrangements ourselves, we chose to participate in the Fantasy tour Rally. They provided good tickets of all of the major events and gave us advice on other interesting activities surrounding the Stampede. We did several bus tours to see the sights of Calgary and used the metro to visit the stampede itself. Camping, such as it was, was in the parking lot of a sport stadium. We were a bit skeptical at first, but this proved to be an ideal central location for our visit. A metro stop was within easy walking distance and they provided metro tickets in our Rally package. The parking lot had temporary water and electric for the RV and nice bath rooms for us. They even provided waste water pump-out mid Rally. Traveling the 1500 miles home was took us a full week as we meandered our way home. We made stops at Blue-Ox (free full hookup camping) and again at HWH (leveling jacks) for some repairs. We also had a chance to once again stay in a COE campground along the Mississippi. These campground are very nice with ample space for large rigs. Most of the developed sites have 50 amp, a cement pad and senior citizen rates of less than $10. We'll be back to visit the many water oriented COE campgrounds again. This episode also features our take on the new iPhone 3Gs. This device is turning into a full fledged computer with the many aps that are available. It does email, web browsing, GPS, compass, calendar, contacts, phone, out of the box. For just a few extra dollars you can add many other functions that are customized to your needs. I used the Auto info ap to keep track of fuel usage, repairs, oil changes and the like - for both vehicles. So it is one device that replaces several paper notebooks and other electronic devices. Sweet! We also purchased a Windows Netbook this month. This is a very small Windows portable computer. 10" screen, 3 pounds, 6 hr battery and full connectivity for internet use. Aong with the iPhones, we are expecting it to get a major workout on our next trip. There is industry news this month and it is not all bad. So take a listen to this months episode (42) and let us know what you think. Ideas and suggestions are always appreciated via email or our listener comment line, 815/230-0772.
After a long drive from our home in the burbs of Chicago, we spent a week in Flagstaff catching up with a town which hosted us for some university classes in 1978. That was the last time we were in this area, so we were anxious to retrace some of our earlier adventures. At that time we were in our green camper van (see our 35 years of camping) and did the national parks on the weekends during the summer session. With the arrival of our friend, Hartmut, from Munich on the last day of May, we headed to the Grand Canyon South Rim. The RV trailer park there is the perfect place to see this spectacular scenic attraction. From there we headed to west Grand Canyon, a fairly new scenic attraction featuring the Grand Canyon. A brief stop in Vegas added to our trip North as we headed to Zion and Bryce for a couple of days each. Hartmut found Bryce to be his favorite National Park, but he found them all to be unique. A long drive to Yellowstone and the Tetons ended our national park adventure. We dropped him off in Salt Lake, were we spent a week doing the sights in a city that we'd only passed through earlier. The end of the month brings us to Calgary for the Stamped which is held over the July 4th weekend. This episode features an interview and our usual collection of stories and adventure from the road. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com or use the comment hot line 815/230-0772.
After only 6 weeks at home the travel bug hit us again so we cranked up the motorhome to head to Arizona and points North. That's the grand plan, but leaving on May 15th with those many days and miles of road between us and Arizona, left us rather road weary. Arriving in Flagstaff, AZ some 1500 miles from home, we took some time for sight seeing and relaxing in the Arizona sun. That just didn't work out as the weather was not even up to Illinois Memorial Day standards. We tried many free campgrounds on this trip west. This has become a standard operating procedure for us both as a money saving opportunity. We include a list of free camping resources. We do of course keep you up to day with the latest in the RVing world. I am always looking for the latest and greatest RVing toys and have some to share this month. Also covered in this episode is water purification and some questions about campground rules. Join us for 35 minutes of RVing banter. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com or use the comment hot line 815/230-0772.
After several long flights, the RV Navigator arrived home from 83 days in New Zealand & Australia in early April. This month we are glad to share a new RV song and an interesting interview with another Australian RVing couple, Andrew and Catherine. This interview was conducted in our hotel room on one of the final days in Sydney. They we kind enough to drive several hours to spend some time with us. The efforts of our listeners to spend some time with us is truly gratifying and we appreciate the efforts. As usual we also have been doing some upgrades to our RVing experiences at home in preparation for our upcoming trip to some of our biggest national parks later in May. We upgraded our cell phone data service with a new data card, purchased new folding bikes, and bought new batteries for the motorhome. These and several other new topics are the focus of our discussion in this episode. So what about daisywheeling - our guests purchased their motorhome (a class C by US standards) because they did NOT want to do daisywheel camping. We on the other hand nearly always to daisywheel camping. Where do you stand? Take a listen for more details.
If you tried to download last months episode (March, 2009) and found 20 minutes of silence about a minute into the show, please download it again. This mistake was online for about 12 hrs. Sorry for the mistake, I have no explanation for this gap - but that's technology. As for this month, we have taken a different approach to seeing Australia. After 35 days in New Zealand driving on narrow roads on the wrong side of the road, we are letting some one else do the driving. We joined the Sun Princess in Sydney for a 28 day cruise around Australia. Looking at an Australia map and knowing the capabilities of our traveling in an RV, we decided that it would be impossible to really see Australia in a few weeks in an RV. A comparible 35 days spent RVing Australia would only get us to the East coast of this vast land. The cruise ship however seemed like a logical alternative. It visits the most important ports on the many coastal areas of Australia from Sydney around to Perth and Tasmania. Driving would have been taxing involving thousands of miles and many days of driving just to get to the major cities. So now that this trip is about done, we are happy with the experience and feel that we have truly tasted the best of Australia. Yes, we could spend much more time in many of the ports, but we now have a much better feel for the soul of the country and it people. The ships passengers were 80 percent Australian, so we were able to meet and talk with many "locals" for every corner of the country. This has been a real pleasure and learning experience. In this podcast we feature and interview with Al and Sue, loyal RV Navigator Podcast listeners from Australia. Listening to them will give all of our listeners a chance to hear about Aussie Caravanning first hand. We enjoy meeting listeners and are sure that you will enjoy this interview. Also, we have our usual features with news from the world of RVing back home, a bit of R'n'R (ranting and raving) by Ken, some new technology to keep you eye on and emails from listeners. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com or use the comment hot line 815/230-0772.
Have you thought of an RV vacation in New Zealand? Hundreds of RVers are traveling to New Zealand to see the sights and enjoy the wilderness. We don't know how many are Americans, but there are "camper-vans" on every road at every major tourist attraction. Renting an RV is a very popular way to see the country, so we decided to give it a try. Over all our experiences were very positive. Although it may seem daunting to plan an itinerary for a trip in such a distant location, it really is as easy as traveling at home. The campgrounds (Holiday Parks) are good, the roads are well marked and easy to navigate and the attractions world class. Of course there are differences, but that the fun of travel outside the US. Yes, we were driving on the left, yes there are more roundabouts than anyone would believe, yes there are many one lane bridges, yes the mountain roads are narrow, but the experience makes learning these difference worthwhile. Your 4 (for this trip) RV Navigators have driven 3231 miles in their rental RVs to bring you real story. We could have done an RV Caravan where someone else does the planning, but we wanted a more customized and longer trip so we did it all ourselves. It was a smart decision and we had a great time. No tickets, accidents or mishaps marred our trip. Even the white knuckle driving was worth the scenic beauty that was at the end of the road. We chose January-February for the best weather and we were reward with some spectacular blue sky days. Although the weather is never perfect for long, on the days we needed clear skies the weather cooperated. The temperatures were mostly warm but we did need a heater on some nights even in the mid summer. The south island of New Zealand, has the mountains and water that combines to make for scenic beauty. The North island is more developed and has thermal features and beaches. Because it is in the North, it is warmer and more suited to beach vacations. Although we didn't do much swimming, the seascapes should put it on anyone must see list. This episode is rather long but we have lots to share and we hope that you'll want to travel to New Zealand after hearing it. It has been an experience getting this podcast ready for uploading, so we hope that you enjoy it. As always we appreciate your listening. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com.
This winter we decided to head really far south, crossing the equator, dateline, hemisheres abd multiple time zones, to find a real summer experience. We landed in Auckland NZ for a month of travel via rental RV. In our case we are renting a 21ft Jayco class C, with a left hand drive diesel and manual transmission. The biggest problem with this set up is that the copilot is always getting in on the drivers side. Artie our Garmin GPS has been updated with NZ maps so is doing his usual great job of getting us around in unfamiliar territory. He has not learn how to shout "STAY LEFT" but the co-pilot is handling this job with ease. Over all we have enjoyed some great natural sites and good roads as we travel around the country. More details next month- there are alot interesting RVing details that we'll share later. We thought that many of our listeners might be planning a trip overseas - now that the dollar has finally start to increase in value, travel is more affordable. Traveling outside the US has its quirks, so you need to know a few facts and tips before venturing abroad. We share our packing, money, jet-lag stratgies with out listeners. Internet abroad is getting better but we want you to be aware of some issues in the internet landscape with effect you both at home and abroad. We share an article from "Geeks on Tour" and give our perspective on this important topic. It has been an experience getting this podcast ready for uploading so we hope that you enjoy it. As always we appreciate your listening. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com or use the comment hot line 815/230-0772.
The end of our 3 season of doing the podcast and it has been rewarding. We now have over 1600 downloads per month plus we hear from many listeners. It is time to say thanks for listening. Year end bring lots of interesting topics for this month episode. After unsuccessfully searching for RV themed carols for last months episode, listener Don from Texas suggested "Livin' in a Mobile Home" by "Riders in the Sky" as a theme song with no holiday significance. An a joy it was to listen too after spending quite alot of effort to obtain the out of print CD from 1990. Then it is on to Homer Simpson and his trails with buying the "Ultra Land Behemoth" ultimate motorhome, from Bob's RV. We spend some time talking about new products introduced at the national RV show in Louisville in early December. Besides the interesting new RV configuration including a slide within a slide, there was a fuel cell electric generator. These and many more topics are on our agenda for this podcast so give it a listen and keep in touch via the listener comment line, 815/230-0772.
A warm holiday greeting from your RV Navigators is the first order of business. We have heard from so many listeners about their RVing hopes and dreams this past year. It has been very rewarding for us. We are homebodies for the holidays. Since retiring we don't travel over the holidays, so we spend the time getting caught up on projects and seeing friends. Out of this busy schedule (oh, ya, very busy :-) we take time out to make the monthly podcast. Our thoughts are about the holidays, so we are doing our annual RVers gift guide in addition to a few other topics. How about a 32 foot diesel class A motor home that gets nearly 15 miles per gal? Damon has introduced the Avanti which is just that. We offer some great gift ideas - and we look to you for more. So send us your greatest hits for RVers list. One of our projects has been the creation of a photo book of our New England Fall Colors trip. There are many choices, but we have settled on Blurb as our printer. For a few dollars they will print a high quality photobook which has been custom designed by you. These can also be view on their website. Do a search on "Peeparazzi" on the Blurb.com website to see our work. With the cold weather taking hold, RVers are faced with keeping their RV warm and toasty. As we all know even the warm climes frequented by Snowbirds can still get cold. Should you use electric or propane heat? How to keep your expensive RV batteries in good share are both topics covered in this podcast. Time to be merry, our gift list includes some big, some small, some funny, and some serious gift suggestions. We even end with a Christmas carol, so take a listen to this months RV navigator and send us email or a comment on the listener comment line, 815/230-0772.
It has been quite a month on the road for us. With falling prices of diesel, we feel more like hitting the road and that is exactly what we did. We left you on the coast of Maine eating Lobster. We headed inland to take in the fall colors of New England. After a rainy and cold beginning, the weather turned perfect for leaf peeping and we got to working taking what turned out to be 24 gigs of digital photos. The crystal blue skys combined with the rich color of the foliage really made our photos pop. The website contains a link to some of the best examples. We also spent 5 days at a digital photo workshop sponsored by Elder Hostel. We took several field trips - some in the early morning - to get the perfect shots. On the RVing side, although gas prices are down, sales of RV are not up, Why? We have an explanation. We also stayed a a couple of interesting campgrounds which will be interest to many listeners. Our trip to Speedco for an oil change proved enlightening and we share some of our digital photo experiences. All in all a good month in the RV and we are anxious to share it with you.
This month has been full of great experiences from interviewing two of our listeners to eating many lobster dinners in the RV. A week on Cape Cod in the off season was a great way to introduce us to the best of New England via some great beaches, scenic campgrounds, bike paths, good eateries, and new friends. This is RVing at it best. Leaving was hard, but we headed up the Maine coast to see some of the picturesque fishing harbors for which this state is famous. Boothbay was one of the most interesting but we found many smaller towns full of fishing boats just waiting to be photographed. With the trees beginning to change, we headed off to NH and Lake George (NY). Unfortunately the weather has not held out so our enjoyment has been diminished as the rain falls. The POI (point of interest) file that I purchased for my GPS last month did not pan out. This file for a cost of $49, was supposed to give our GPS new power by installing a huge number of new searchable points of reference like campgrounds, state parks, and similar RV related destinations. The company could not deliver the product to me without a great deal of aggravation (who ever heard of a 24 hour download window that expired two hours after notification?) so I use an alternative source for this info, POI-factory. com. This website posts POI files (usable in most GPSs with a USB port or connection) created by fellow GPS users. These files are a free download and can be combined into a very useful set of additional POIs for your GPS. As an example, I downloaded Superwalmarts, Flying Js, State Parks, NH covered bridges and many others. Downloads are quick and transfer to the GPS is even faster. Once in the GPS, using the search function makes them accessible. We also tried casino camping this month. Free is always a nice way to camp as long as you are self contained. The casino camper website provides lots of info and useful tips and a database of casino that welcome RVers. Our casino camping proved to be not only economical but scenic to boot. We always wondered how it is to start off on an RV lifestyle without any experience. Our interview with listeners Geoff and Ellyn give us some insight into their decision to sell the house and belongings, buy an RV and head out on the road. I am sure that you'll be interested in their decision making process and can do spirit as they move into their RV. UPDATE: It looks like their house has sold so they plan to be full timers by October 1st. Great news and good luck. As full timers you'd probably don't have to winterize the RV, but the rest of us in colder climates have to shut down the RV during cold weather (at least for a few months). We share our winterizing procedures and techniques with you during this October episode. Last major topic this month is my purchase of a new hand held GPS. Geoff showed me a cool feature of his hand held GPS, its ability to create tracks. Tracks map your movements on a map for later download. Put the GPS in your pocket and it follows you on your sight seeing for the day. Not only didn't my old GPS not do tracks, but it needed a full view of the sky to read the satellites. My new Garmin Oregon 300 tracks us almost everywhere - even indoors. Amazing. Once you have the tracks, your digital photos can be tied to a specific location using the GPS info. Digital photos have a data record called metadata where all sorts of info about the photo is kept - and a blank space for GPS coordinates. Unfortunately, most cameras do not have a built in GPS so this data is missing - until now. Once the track is downloaded, it can be easily synced with your photos AND plotted on a Google map.
Labor day finds us in Boston, MA at a very nice campground. You'll remember that the weather in the Northeast was perfect this year and we made the most of it. We don't travel much on Labor day, but this year we wanted to be ready to see the fall colors a bit later in the month so we left a bit early. After a 1200 mile trip where we saw the price of diesel drop significantly (only about $4.10/gal), we'll be in this area for a couple of months. In the podcast we describe our 2 week trip to this area with a few nice stops in PA. Our listeners have contributed to the podcast with both audio comments and a nice description of a TV install. This is an update to my efforts at swapping out our TVs earlier this summer. Over all our transition to all digital tvs has been very successful. Nearly every location has several digital channels now (several months before the mandatory change over) that are easy to received and excellent quality. This even when the old signal is questionable. At one campground in PA, we were able to receive 2 old channels and 4 digital channels. Of course the digital channels had a great picture. Our monthly features include discussion of tire pressure monitor systems, solar panels, and new cabinets.
Once again we are podcasting from the home front but we have lots of good RV stuff to share. Really our listeners have been sharing with us this month by sending comments via email and voicemail. In these days of bad news in the RV industry, we try to take a lighter approach to our usual RV news with several rather funny stories form the world of RVing. We are about to finish the TV swap project started last month now that we finally have a solution to the last problem. Included is a great book review from listener Suzi and a an extended question about full-timing from listener Ellyn. This last voice mail gets us started on an extended answer that takes through the entire RVing lifestyle - at least the way we live it. We end up with our usual recommendation of great web sites - but with a twist. This month we recommend free cell phone services that will make the life of an RVer easier. As always we appreciate your comments and suggestions both via email and listener comment line. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com or use the comment hot line 815/230-0772.
With lots of days of perfect weather, Chicago is a delight in the summer - this is our camping off season! The big city offers a plethora of interesting activities for all tastes - including the taste of Chicago food festival. We bike the lake front, go to the theater, golf and generally enjoy the summer ambiance surrounding the big city. Rving is never far from our minds as we planned to replace the factory installed TVs in the rig. This is a challenge because we didn't want just big holes where the old ones once sat. There had to be new LCD models that would fit into the hole without alot of specialized carpentry. After some planning and measuring we found models that would fit the holes but how would they be mounted? It actually turned out to be easier than we thought and only minimal cost beyond the cost of the TVs themselves. Based on our experience, most of our listeners should be able to make the transition. As always we talk about trends in the RVing world which is dominated by rising gas prices. It only cost us $250 to put in 52 gallons of diesel last week on our short trip to Elkhart, IN. Will be get used to spending 55 cents a mile? Ask us next year. This is the first anniversary of our purchase of the motorhome and we ask ourselves would we do it again? As always we appreciate your comments and suggestions both via email and listener comment line. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com or use the comment hot line 815/230-0772.
We, like all RVers are faced, with dramatically rising costs for our favorite means of travel (not that other modes are not also facing increases). How will be cope? After discussing the latest RV trends many of which involve fuel saving technology, we give you our perspective on the high prices. For instance, soft demand for RVs many mean lower purchase prices which if leveraged can be put into fuel to power the new rig. A $10,000 savings on a new RV can buy alot of fuel. Beyond this type of "saving" strategy, are thee prices so shocking? We have seen the costs of RVing rise dramatically in the last 10 years, but until recently demand has been strong. We get used to the prices and adjust our travels and budget accordingly. It is really not the price of fuel that is the shock, it is how fast it is going up that kills demand. Along with this topic we address which states are kind to full timers, safety issues and much more. As always we appreciate your comments and suggestions both via email and listener comment line. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com or use the comment hot line 815/230-0772.
It has always been one our dreams to sail the ocean blue on a small boat. The opportunity to act on this dream presented itself when we met a real sailor who was looking for a crew. This started our La Paz sailing adventure aboard the "Gato de Cortez" catamaran rented from "The Moorings" in La Paz Mexico. In late April we embarked on a 10 sail along the rugged coast line of the Baja. Ten days of complete wilderness on the water. Anchoring nightly in small protected coves, hiking the hill, walking the beaches where all part of the sailing experience. Although we never lost sight of land, the land was uninhabitable due to rough terrain and desert conditions. Thus there were no towns and only a few hearty fishermen scattered along the coast. Other than buying some fresh fish from them, we encountered no signs of human habitation during our sail. We share with our listeners how we provisioned and lived on the boat during the sail. Was it a hardship for your RV Navigator, who are so used to modern technology? Yes, but we did survive with many great stories. How is land RVing different from sea RVing? Put up your feet and listen to this unusual experience. You RV Navigators tell all and sare their hard earned insights. As always we appreciate your comments and suggestions both via email and listener comment line. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com or use the comment hot line 815/230-0772.
Life after "The Rally" in Perry, GA. We basically headed for home and cold weather. Yes, the motorhome had to be winterized for the second time this season. Temps in Chicago are not reliably above freezing until mid-May. In the podcast, we share the latest news, rv web sites and our impressions of the Rally's display of rigs. I share some thoughts about the transition to digital TV as it relates to RVers and some WiFi hints to keep the signal coming. We use Wifi to distribute the satellite/cell internet connection to our 3 computers in the rig. Some things can upset the signal or shorten the range. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com or use the comment hot line 815/230-0772.
Follow our adventures in the Peach state as we travel the roads of Georgia on our way to attending the national RV Rally in Perry, GA. This rally attended by thousands of RVers with their rigs showcases all of the latest RV technology and updates. With over 500 vendors and 30 informational sessions, we have lots to share in this episode. So much in fact that we cut the report in to two sections with the second to follow in April. The RV Navigator feedback line has been busy as we share two calls with our listeners as well as a first hand interview with with a listener and vendor at the show. Debbie owner and operator of TrueSoaps was kind enough to talk with us about the podcast and her products. There is too much to write in a short summary so please take a listen to this episode. We share our experiences with electrical problems, ULSD, camping in Canada, convection ovens, and much more. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com or use the comment hot line 815/230-0772. We look forward to hearing from you.
Our goal for this winter's warm weather traveling was to circumnavigate Florida without a schedule. We started on the West coast near Tampa and spent the month traveling south to the Keys and then back North as we gradually head toward home. We had some surprises and many interesting experiences in this the Sunshine state. Join us for our reactions to the major camping centers of Florida both positive and negative. The trip South started at the nations largest RV dealer, Lazy Days RV near Tampa. Many of your have probably already visited this RV destination, but this was our first visit. We had heard of LD many times so we were glad to finally have a chance to actually visit in person. It is quite a place - worth a detour. The podcast agenda moves on to the latest in RV news (how about a 6 slide out RV?), gadgets that we purchased at the Tampa RV supershow and ends with our take on 21st Century RV parks. What do you expect from an RV park? Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com or use the comment hot line 815/230-0772.
After some delay in starting our trip South due to poor weather/road conditions, we got under way in -3 degree weather at home. Just a few days later we had made the journey south where the weather turned out to be very nice thus making the trip worth the effort. Our first stop was in Fort Desoto county park near St. Pete. A wonderful campground offering sites on the ocean and one of the great beaches of Florida. We headed off to Fort Wilderness at Disney World. Quite a different experience but quite nice also. As you would expect this campground is well organized with uniform sites and amenities. It has all of the services of a Disney property including site cleaning prior to guests arrival. After a few days in the park, we headed to the Tampa RV Super Show to see the latest in RVs and related stuff. In this episode we talk about the new RVs on display (1300 of em). In the next episode we'll talk about the new stuff. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com or use the comment hot line 815/230-0772.
As we begin the new year our thoughts turn to hitting the RV road and how to handle the cold that we experience while RVing in the winter. We begin with some interesting news from the RV industry- trends and developments as well as some takes on new products. We also follow up on some comments about RVing in Europe with a very interesting RV blog. We move on to some ideas about winter RVing - we are not experts so we ask for your suggestions via our new listener comment line 815/230-0772. Thanks for making the RV Navigator podcast a success with over 11,500 downloads to date.
After spending a couple of months on the road -not RVing - we are once again at home planning our next RV trip. We'll be heading off to Florida for the winter season. Nothing stationary for us this years as we'll moving around the entire state following the weather. This episode finds us at home reflecting on our most recent trip and making some comparisons to camping in the US and the UK. With the Christmas season upon us, we also got to thinking about some appropriate gifts for the RVer in your family. We suggestions for all budgets from the $5 to the $500+. The show notes will have all of the links for the items mentioned. We are also starting a new feature that will bring you current news from the world of RVing. New products, floorplans, trends and anything else we find interesting. Be sure to send us your comments and show suggestions.
RVing is never very far from our thoughts and is one of favorite means of travel. In order to see much of the world however, we have to leave the RV. This month we are on a suitcase trip that will take us to Ireland. It might be possible to RV in Ireland, we are renting a car while doing the B&B stays for the nights. More on this later. This episode's first topic came via a listener who asked about sway bars for their TT. Although we've had some experience in this area, we did a bit of research and shared our ideas. The episodes ends with our take on digital photography - which camera for you and what specs are most important. This is a hot topic for all types of travelers including RVers.
We have been cruising since 1973 - almost as long as we have been RVing so we have had many exciting trips on various cruise ships over the years. When we thing of cruising is it in many ways like RVing. Compact living away from home. AHHH, but cruising has a major difference - 2600 passengers move from port to port with only one driver. We don't have to navigate, drive, cook, clean or worry about where to park. RVing is great but cruising puts it on steroids. We talk about the similarities and difference and add a few RV specific topics in the mix. How did you finance your last RV? Our recent purchase made us do the research to consider the pros and cons of each option. We candidly share our financing decisions with listeners and ask for feedback and comments.
We take the opportunity to wrap up a couple of issues from previous months and to share our experience with custom cabinetry for our rig. Wether it's a motorhome, 5th wheel, or TT , it probably is not exactly as you'd wanted from the factory. The Elkhart IN vicinity offers many opportunities for customizing your rig. We share our experiences and offer ideas. We are always anxious to hear from you about this topic, so share when you can.
Dog days of August but we are still at working customizing our motorhome. Lots has happened this past month, but we are focusing on our internet connection options this month. You can rely on campgrounds for internet connectivity or you can bring it with you. We have started a 2nd service via cell phone which offers several advantage over the long time satellite connection that we have used. Both deliver the internet over wifi but each has its pros and cons. Listen to our first hand experiences and decide for your self.
Several emails have prompted us to describe the process that we went though in making the switch between a 5th wheel trailer and a Diesel pusher motorhome. Our rational make sense to us but it may not be for everyone. Join in the discussion via email at navigator@rvnavigator.com. The switch will be fodder for several more podcasts as customize this coach for our specific uses. This should provide listeners with many interesting ideas for their own rigs.
Join us as we go through the process of buying a new (to use) rig for future adventures. How to buy and sell on the web as well as our use of the web for other RV issues and questions.
Join us for a discussion of the pros and cons of membership campinng - is it for you? Topic two is an interview with two new owners of a Sportsmobile class B RV. Why did they choose this type of RV? Is Sportsmobile for you?
The RV caravan is a great way to get introduced to RVing in Mexico. Our experiences were very positive, but there are some special techniques that are required to camp in this interesting country. Over all they are not set up with full service campgrounds so how do you cope? Last month we discussed water issues and we expand on that with electricity this month. What are the concerns with electricity both at home and in another country.
The RV Navigators are on a 44 day caravan RV tour of Eastern Mexico including the Yucatan. The trip has many interesting aspects and challenges. One problem while in a developing country is clean water. Your Navigator spend some time explaining the ins and outs of finding and purifying water for their RV. The website has several handouts and links to relevant information.
Have you considered full time Rving - selling your house and your possessions in order to hit the road full time? Is this a dream or reality for those of any age? Today we interview a couple in their 40s who have done just that. How do they manage to survive both financially and emotionally while in their RV 365 days a year? Howard and Linda have set up a website that details their experiences and decision making processes as they have followed this path since 2005. This interview will give you a tantalizing glimpse into their exciting experiment and adventure. If you need more info, they provide a vast array of content regarding the RV lifestyle on their website, RV Dreams. They look forward to your visiting the website and hearing from you as you conte
The weather in southern Texas turned down right cold in January, 2007 so your hosts had to hunker down in their rig until the warm returned. The RV resort life style can be enjoyed in many parts of the country. Get your hosts impressions of several popular RV hotspots from across the US. They also talk about several breaking RV news stories and their trip to an RV Showcase in this episode
With Christmas 2006 fast approaching, the RV Navigators explore some gifts for the Technology oriented RVer in your family. The list is use during the entire years as it has many interesting suggestions, tips and hints.
With the official switch to digital TV scheduled for 2009, it is critical that RVers buy with the future in mind. What are the choices and how do they fit into the RV mobile lifestyle are the topics of discussion today.
This espisode takes you into the reality of mobile internet - how to connect, speeds, options while you’re on the road. While talking about connectivity, we explain the idea of having a travel blog.
Join us in the second of our reports on our RV Caravan adventure in South Africa. What are the campgrounds, roads and scenery experiences in this country so far away from home.
We have been on a 5 week adventure of RVing in South Africa. With the senic beauty and natural wild life to match any country in the world, this trip was an RVing highlight to date. We’ll be describing our adventure and sharing our experiences with you over the next few weeks as the Podcast continues. The first segment gives you some of our impressions as we start the driving adventure. Lots of changes from RVing in the US. Driving on the left, stick shift, change of seasons (fall not spring), and the sun crosses the northern sky. Lots of other interesting facts and opinions about this RV Caravan are shared in this episode.
Driving the Florida panhandle with a visit to the Johnson Space Center. We like to ride our bikes so we share our bike rack experiences plus talk about blogs and recommend ours.
Your RV Navigators head north for a senior learning experience at an Elder Hostel. Topics include learning while RVing, choosing a long term destingation, and an introduction to Geocaching.
Boondocking with your RV - what's involved. The RV Navigators are camping on the beach, but still living the high tech lifestyle. What are the issues and experience that need to be shared.
This short segment will introduce you to the RV Navigator Podcast - our hopes and dreams for this endeavor. The audio is a bit rough but we are still learning. It is a big step betweening RVing and podcasting but we are anxious to share our experiences a