Casino Parking the Wrong Way

When Jim O’Briant started blogging here I knew readers would get a good dose of overnight parking etiquette, so I had decided not to post again on the topic this year.  Then I received several emails from readers of my website concerning the situation at Casino Del Sol, a very nice casino in Tucson, AZ.  So I hope you’ll forgive me for seeming to flog a deceased equine – but there are new RVers joining us on the road every year, and sometimes experienced RVers venture into situations they haven’t experienced before.  Here’s one of the emails I received: “We stayed at Casino Del Sol in Tucson AZ in March 2008.  There are 4 issues I would like to address.  Some of us are not good guests in regards to being careful with the hosts property.  1: Dog owners don’t clean up after their pets.  Some even stay inside the rig and let their pets run free until business is done.  2: Security is paying attention to the big rigs who damage the pavement with their jacks.  Every day they drive around and require that the jacks are set up on wood, as there are already big holes everywhere in the pavement.   3: Another issue is the trash.  Some of us are confusing the little trash bins with dumpsters!  4: The last issue is glass and empty soda cans.  They are just being thrown away where ever some people please.  I had to sweep our area first before we placed the rig.  A little more courtesy and we will find parking spaces for years... Read more

Voltage regulating systems. Part 13

Electrical generators must have some form of voltage regulation. Without it, the generator will either run as a motor or overload itself and burn up. There are as many systems available as there are regulator designers and the schemes they can think up. That being said, there are a few basic systems that are in use today that would bear scrutiny. Read more  Read More →

Tax Preparation on the Road

This is the 6th year in a row that I’ve used TurboTax for the web to prepare my personal tax return. You gotta understand me and paperwork … we just don’t get along. I can ignore it for months, even years. Add to that the fact that we live in a motorhome where there’s no place to spread papers out, and you get the picture. I avoid filling out forms until I have no other choice. Web-based systems are *made* for me. Read more  Read More →

“Alaska: RV Adventure of a Lifetime!” Inside Passage – 1

Each year tens of thousands of people take a cruise ship up Alaska’s Inside Passage to enjoy the magnificent scenery and wildlife. Maybe you have taken one yourself. Next time, how about bringing your house with you and making your own schedule. You can do that by using the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS). The ferry system serves as the bus linking all the port towns along the coast. It travels about 1000 nautical miles north from Bellingham Washington to Skagway Alaska, covering the entire Inside Passage, then continues west all the way out to the Aleutian Islands. Not only does it stop in the major cruise ship ports like Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka, and Skagway, it also stops at small port towns like Wrangell, Petersburg, and Haines. These are working towns that do not rely on tourism. Visit them and you get to see the real Alaska. Read more  Read More →

RV Cooking Show – Pork Arista & Desert Hot Springs, CA

A perfect occasion dish, this pork arista recipe is prepared the day before. This allows you to simply pop it in the oven and enjoy both the day and the meal! Just click on the play button below to watch as I prepare this pork dish and explore Desert Hot Springs, CA. C’mon along – it’s all delicious!! Visit my site at www.RVCookingShow.com for the printer-friendly recipe. Happy Camping, Evanne Schmarder  Read More →

5 Ways to Assist the RV Service Facility – Part 1

Things you can do to make your visit to the service shop less stressful and enable your down-time to be as brief as possible. Has this ever happened to you? Maybe not this specific problem, but this scenario in general. You’re on the third day of that much anticipated and much needed vacation trip when, out of the blue, while stopped for breakfast, you realize your generator will not start. No problem, you say, there’s an RV repair shop just two miles back.In Part I of this three part series, let’s extrapolate and explore the above scenario a little deeper: So you decide to return to that service center. As you pull into the service drive, another coach pulls in behind you. You explain your problem to the service writer, sign the repair order, proceed to the customer waiting area, (aptly named), grab a cup of coffee and wait. And wait, and wait and wait. Then after that, you wait still longer. As you audibly, (it seems), hear your vacation clock ticking away, you finally come to realize the coach that had pulled in behind you is long gone as are all the rigs that pulled in behind him. You catch a quick reflection of yourself as you pass by the glass-walled service office and wonder when you grew that beard. And just who is that older woman with you anyway? You glance out and see your generator in, what appears to be, hundreds of pieces scattered around the service bay. You swallow hard and shudder. Finally, at about closing time, the service manager informs you... Read more

On the Trail…in Hells Canyon

Of all the excursion boats you can take, a day-long tour of Hells Canyon on the Oregon-Idaho border is the one you are least likely to forget. These are twin-engined, 800-hp jet boats that literally beat class V whitewater into submission. A Hells Canyon Tour is a thrilling ride through some of the most spectacular scenery in North America. My wife Jennifer, my 82-year-old mother Betty and I chose to ride with Snake Dancer Charters out of Clarkston, Washington, on the north side of the canyon. Part of the reason was the great RV park co-located with the marina. All we had to do was walk a hundred yards or so from our rig to the boat to get started. Throughout the day we saw bighorn sheep, deer, raptors and other wildlife, literally hundreds of animals. We never did see the critter for which the Snake River is name, though. Between the scenery and the wildlife, you just gotta’ ride this boat if you find yourself out West.  Read More →

LP Appliances- Furnaces

The RV LP Furnace is an amazing thing, producing a large amount of heat from a rather small appliance. To put it in to perspective- a 30,000 btu/hr furnace produces as much heat as 5 standard plug in electric heaters (even allowing for the heat lost out the vent). It does this safely, in a unit that takes up only a couple of cubic feet. RV Furnaces have come a long way in the past 40 years, from the basic metal box with a burner, a pilot and a thermostat valve, to forced air pilot type models, to the modern electronically controlled models- even a 2 speed, 2 stage model, offering a high and low fan and variable flame. While the basics of the flame safety systems are the same as in the water heaters, the furnace contains more safety devices, which can affect operation. Let’s look at them now… Read more  Read More →

Family Fun in South Dakota, part two

(continued from last week) You can’t go to the Black Hills without seeing Mt. Rushmore.  Honestly, it was probably the one place I was the least excited to see.  It was on the list because I felt like I had to see it.  But once we got there and I was walking down the avenue of flags and got my first glimpse of the presidents, I was overwhelmed with pride and emotion.  Quite a moving experience.  There is a very nice museum on-site with some fun interactive activities for the kids.  If possible, I recommend visiting at least twice.  During the day when the sun is high is a great time for taking close up pictures.  You can even hike around a bit.  In the evening there is a nightly lighting ceremony which we all really enjoyed.  In the end, we ended up visiting or driving by Mt. Rushmore 5 different times that week, and I couldn’t look away each time.  We were there during the 4th of July holiday and seeing the fireworks over the mountain was amazing. Crazy Horse Memorial- this is another must see, in my opinion.  Although nowhere near completion, it is a huge project that one family has dedicated their whole lives to.  You can learn more about it during the short film shown on a loop in the main building.  There is a very nice Indian museum and a gift shop where you can buy locally made pottery.  Every night there is a laser light show set to music which the kids loved.  Well worth the admission/donation price.  There is also a snack shop and ice cream... Read more

A Garage (Storage Unit) in Your RV

I am really dangerous in home improvement stores. Sure, I go in with good intentions, but I invariably end up wandering around looking for things that might be useful in the RV. Home improvement does not end at the driveway – at least not in the Scribner household! This weekend I was picking up some fertilizer for the yard, when I stumbled upon one of those garage storage units that are so popular, lately. These things are supposed to be attached to the ceiling in your garage, in order to get all of your stuff up off the floor (to make room for more stuff). This particular unit measured 45-inches square – a size that I thought might fit the rear storage compartment of our RV! Sure enough, after some quick measurements in the RV, the unit looked to be a pretty good fit. Obviously, this isn’t a modification that will suite everyone – our RV has a huge storage area – but we had the same problem with the pass-through storage on our previous trailer; lots of flat stuff, like chairs, tables and patio rugs, that end up being stacked in the storage area making it difficult to get things out (or put them back in). I wanted to make better-use of the vertical space available in the storage area, and this looked like an easy way to do it. Read more  Read More →

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