Use Descriptive Trip Journal Titles to entice the World

So you are really into the trip journaling thing…all your friends and family are on your update list, but you are hungry for more…a larger audience to share your adventures with. If you are in fact trying to drive traffic to your Trip Journal, keywords in titles are actually very important. It helps the search engine spiders index your site and lets the Google-searching world find you more easily. Alaska-Yukon travel journal Phoenix, Arizona. An accurate description of where you have been? Yes. A catchy title? Not really. I must admit I have fallen into this myself. Too lazy or not feeling imaginative enough to wow my readers with an eye-catching title. However, it can make a huge difference to bringing people to your site and making people actually want to read your content. How about “Taking in the Arts in Phoenix”? Now with search engines, this tiny step will transform your article from one of thousands about Phoenix to one of perhaps a few dozen about the arts in Phoenix. Not only will adding descriptive titles help folks find you, but it will entice them to look further and click to read your stories. Ask yourself if you were searching, which of these two articles would you be most likely to click on? June 2/07 Spying the Florida Panther or June 2/07 The Everglades Likely the first one: the first is evocative and enticing; the second you could have seen a million times. Dan Parlow Personal Travel Websites by RV.Net ; Online Travel Journals... Read more

To Burn or not to Burn? First Degree Burns

What a difference a few weeks makes in the weather; less than a month ago we had several inches of snow.  The past 2 or 3 days we have had 80 degree plus days.  As someone said about western Pennsylvania weather, you have to love it or move.   With days like this you suddenly have a rash of reports of the new seasonal problem, especially with younger people — Sun Burns or to be more honest First degree Burns.  Yes, this is the first of three articles on Burns. I want to cover first, second and third degree burns, treatment and prevention.  So, let’s get started with First Degree burns. First degree burns are the mildest of Burns.  You usually get them from, of course, the sun and very mild thermal burns.  Now to define terms, thermal burns are from heat as in touching something hot, like a curling iron or stove burner; they also cause “Scalds “ which are from Hot liquids and from contact with open flames.  Sunburns are burns from an object radiating energy. This does not mean you have been exposed to radiation as in nuclear power; you can get them from the sun, welding or even strong lights (can you say falling asleep in a tanning bed?). Other burn types are Electrical and Chemical.  We are going to leave Electrical and Chemical burns for another time.  Be advised a sunburn and a thermal burn and a scald are all still burns.  A First degree burn shows redness and minor swelling to the area burned.  They are not generally life threatening, but they can... Read more

Axle Flips for your Trailer – Flip This !

Howdy !! Ok you boondocking, wrought traveling, dune busting freaks – you’ve decided to buy the 5th wheel trailer of your dreams, the one that you can pull with your new 4X4 pickup truck. Thoughts of going up into the hills away from the crowds in the campgrounds flow through your mind until your brain hears the sales person saying something about having to flip your axles on the trailer before you can pull it with your truck. “What’s an Axle Flip?” you ask. The sales man explains that your truck is 51 inches high at the top of the bed side rails. The trailer neck is only 52 inches high to the bottom of the neck, which means that the trailer has to be raised by about 4 inches to keep the neck of the trailer from resting on the bed of the truck – an unhappy experience ! Axle flips are becoming more and more common as 4-wheel drive trucks are used to pull fifth wheel trailers. Read more  Read More →

On the Trail…the Alaska Highway

It’s always a thrill when your new book comes out, but this one is doubly exciting for me. The fourth edition of my Alaska Highway book is in full color this time; no more dull black-and-white photos of some of the most spectacular scenes on the continent. Guide to the Alaska Highway is being released this week by Menasha Ridge Press and will be in bookstores shortly or you can contact me directly, rdcomm@gci.net, for an inscribed copy. This book is based on 35 trips up and down the Alaska Highway and offers plenty of information about what to see, where to catch a fish, and, even more important, what to avoid in terms of businesses gouging for gas and the like. Read more  Read More →

Rear Bath And A Half Floor Plans

Changes and new innovative ideas are showing up in floor plans each year in all types and sizes of recreational vehicles.   One of these newer floor plans, that started showing up, in the larger class “A” coaches several years ago, was the bath and a half.  This design incorporates a mid ship two piece and a full rear three piece.  This particular set up has become increasingly popular within the last couple of model years and is now offered on many models and makes of 40′ and up coaches.  The increase in headroom on many coaches helped make this possible as the engine is beneath the rear bathroom floor and required a higher floor in a large portion of the room.  Most, if not all, are found in vehicles equipped with a tag axle.  This is due to the additional rear overhung weight.    The surprising thing you first notice when entering a bath and a half is that this extra full width dedicated bathroom does not seem to infringe on the size of any other room or area.  That’s because the bedroom and living area depth may in fact only be several inches shorter.  But how is that possible?   There must be something missing, a trade off of sorts.  But, as you walk through it at an RV show, there seems to be no question, there is nothing missing.  A quick walk through a non-bath and a half of the same make and model confirms the same thing.   The bedroom and living/kitchen area appear only marginally deeper, perhaps less than a foot or so at most. ... Read more

The Squeeze on the Food Dollar

As if $4 gas and diesel didn’t dig deep enough into your RVing budget’s pockets, now it appears that we are in the spiral of a major upward shift in food prices. Much of the upward price pressures come from the increase in the cost of fuel, running tractors and other farm machinery, as well as transporting food to markets. But that’s not all. With the government subsidies on corn, wheat, and soybeans, farmers have been switching over from radishes, scallions, and tomatoes that have no subsidies. Fruit and nut growers also receive no subsidies, and in growth areas where suburban development is crowding fields and orchards, farmers are throwing in the towel and selling out to developers and retiring, rather than take the financial risk of planting and harvesting just to barely squeak by. So with farmers producing less non-subsidized crops, lower supply translates to higher prices. The farmers that persist say they have to make greater profits to survive, that we Americans not only have the cheapest fuel among the non-oil rich nations, but we also have the cheapest food. They’re right, of course. The Texas Farm Bureau says that 81 cents of every food dollar goes off the farm–only 19 cents goes to the farmer. But the disparity lies rather with the government’s agricultural policies, that enrich the wealthy farmers (most of the subsidies go to corporate mega-farms) instead of to organic and small family farmers. We RVers have three major expense... Read more

Sharing A BroadBand Cellular Connection

As discussed in prior blogposts, broadband cellular service is typically received through a modem that attaches to one computer through a card slot or a USB port, and provides that single computer with access to the internet for a monthly fee. Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T are the most popular carriers that RVers use for their broadband cellular access. As you might imagine, the cellular carriers really want to collect a monthly service fee for each computer connected to their network, and if you ask them how you can use one card or USB modem to provide access to more than one computer, they are likely to tell you it cannot be done and that you need to get another card or USB modem and pay another monthly fee for each computer that needs internet access. Some people have actually been told that if they try to “cheat the system in any way”, they are breaking the law and will go to jail. Probably not true, but the carrier could certainly cancel your account. (I am not a lawyer and you should ask your lawyer for advice if you want to know more about that.) In this article, I will discuss two popular ways to share one broadband cellular connection: the hard way — using your computers built-in “internet sharing” software, or the easy way — using a cellular router actually designed for the task. Read more  Read More →

Comps for the Casino Camper

Some of the most frequently asked questions that I get are about comps.  ”Comp” is short for “complementary” and it’s anything the casino gives you for free or reduced price.  If you’re parking overnight at a casino you’ve already received one comp — the privilege of that overnight stay.     A few weeks ago in this post I gave you an introduction to comps.  Now I’ll give you more details about specific types of comps, starting with one that seems tailor made for a traveling lifestyle.  When this comp is offered, it’s likely the easiest comp you’ll ever get, and the highest in expected value or “EV”.  The only bad thing is, you can only obtain this comp once in your lifetime, so I’ll give you a tip on how to maximize this benefit.  Want to learn more? Read more  Read More →

What Is My Photo Doing On That Web Site?

For most of us, the ownership of an image is something we don’t think about. As cameras get better, and as amateurs post their images to blogs, web pages & the like, this may become something to consider. The number of images taken by amateurs that have been purchased by end users increases every year. In the United States, unless your are employed as a photographer and meet the terms for “Work for Hire” or sign a contract that gives the rights to your images to your employer, a photograph is copyrighted in your name when you push the shutter button. Back when the image was placed in a photo album or only shown in a family slide show there was no need to defend that copyright – today thousands of people may see your images on the internet either through your blog or web page or on one of the photo sharing sites such as Flickr or Photobucket. Unfortunately, there are some individuals & organizations that will take advantage by copying your image & using it on their own site. I guess some considerations are: Do you care? Can they do that? If you don’t like it, what can you do about it? Read more  Read More →

RV Generator Charging Systems – Part 17

Most built-in RV generators don’t have much of a battery charging system. They normally output only enough DC to run their own subsystems with an amp or two left over. In the 1980’s, most built-in generators had a 5 amp nominal charging system. With coaches having converters and “Smart Chargers’ in them, the generator manufacturers have dropped the genset internal charging systems. ONAN’s Quiet Diesel series has an option of the installation of a 10 amp charging system but it must be ordered with the generator set or it costs $$$ to get it installed later. The larger motor coaches with constant speed diesel generators usually have an automotive type alternator as part of the genset. This alternator will charge any battery/s connected to the genset. The inverter generators normally have charging systems built into them but, if connected to an RV, the ‘Smart’ converter/charger in the coach will charge batteries at a much faster and safer rate. I would only use the inverter chargers for an emergency charging of the truck, car or lawn mower batteries. The contractor type gensets have the capability of running a household or light commercial level battery charger. They don’t normally have separate charging regulators and DC power windings. For those of you with dual battery systems. If you’re driving down the road and the main engine alternator goes out. Start the generator (on its batteries) and then turn on the ‘emergency start switch’ (or whatever your... Read more

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