Avoiding food-borne pathogens: Keeping our fresh foods safe

By Bob Difley As recent events show, even though our food sources are likely among the most inspected and safest to eat on earth, pathogens do make it into foods available to us. While most of us are familiar with and have confidence in our local food suppliers, how and from whom do we pick our foods when on the road? Unfortunately, we can’t always tell when foods contain something that will make us sick. Whether purchasing food from a major supermarket supplied by super-sized agribusiness producers or from the back of a farmer’s truck at a local farmers’ market doesn’t protect us from the pathogens that sneak through. Boondockers must be especially careful in the handling and storing of fresh foods when stocking up before a trip, storing food in every available space—often hidden from view until discovered as the storage area empties out, often having been subjected to a wide fluctuation between heat and cold, and keeping foods beyond the safe date since we can’t just pop down to the market to replace questionable  items—and we are often a distance from medical care if we do get sick. We also might be a bit sparse in using wash and rinse water on dinnerware and cooking utensils because of our limited fresh water supply and waste tank capacity. So RVers, especially boondockers, should take extra precaution in food storage, food preparation, and clean up. Here are a few tips from food safety experts. • USE PASTEURIZED EGGS If you are not willing to give up soft-boiled... Read more

RV Cooking Show – White Bean Pesto Dip and Central Massachusetts

  We’ve been dedicated tenters, pop-up lovers, travel trailer testers, and 5th wheel dwellers…and made lots of terrific friends along the way. One set of friends recently hit a milestone in their business – Pine Acres Family Camping Resort in Oakham, MA celebrated their 50th year as a family owned/operated park – three generations strong! Randy and Denise invited us out to celebrate (and helped us add “cabin campers” to the list) and graciously agreed to film this episode of the RV Cooking Show.  Read more  Read More →

A One-Of-A-Kind RV

Lug_Nut caught up with this gem at the annual Railroad Country & Bluegrass Festival at the Toronto North/Cookstown K.O.A.  This two day event featured several hot bluegrass and country western bands.  Among others, this attracts scores of model railroad buffs to view the vendor displays.                   This one-of-a-kind RV is on the track to being a real attention getter.  Both the locomotive look alike and the accompanying passenger car were built on school bus chassis.  They belong to the Shriners in the Newmarket, Ontario area.  The designer, Michael O’Rourke, paid attention to every detail.  Even the hitch and the many umbilical cords are styled just like the real thing. The engine is powered by an International diesel and both are equipped with full air suspension and brakes.  While it is primarily used for parades, it does run about the country to attend various events.  It has even been as far as Florida once for a special function. The passenger car offers all the amenities found in a class A coach and even has an exterior swing out super sized bar-b-q.  The engine unit is equipped with bench seating, two seats in the operator cab and a washroom down the hall. Up to twenty people travel onboard to each event.  It certainly catches your eye when this near eighty foot RV barrels by with whistles blowing.  What a family camper that would make.   The Shriners Flyer will be departing platform #3 at the K.O.A.,  All aboard! Choo-Choo To You  ... Read more

Beginning the top 5 DP motorhomes

Number 5 Damon Tuscany 4051       The Damon motorhome is a late addition to this list.  I did this for a couple of reasons.  Damon has been around for a number of years and they produce a very nice coach.  In addition, we actually have two ties in our arbitrary, subjective ratings and I thought it would add some variety to our list.  Finally, with the recent announcement that the American Coach Allegiance is being dropped from the line, some may think that we need a replacement.  Anyway, we are going to look at the Damon Tuscany, a 40 ft. diesel pusher built on a Freightliner XC chassis.  Plusses that we found on the Damon are the TPO roof, low mount wipers and mirrors, a 100 gallon fresh water tank, a standard basement entertainment center, and a single piece windshield.  We also like the general floorplan of the 4051 which includes a side aisle, and a passenger side dinette.    Several minuses were that the coach has four slides which I consider to be a disadvantage compared to three slides, and a standard, automatic awning.  In addition, the 4051 comes standard with a king bed which we don’t like, but to add insult to injury, there is no option for a queen bed in this floorplan.  To get the queen, we have to go to the 4078 which is a side aisle floorplan, but moves the dinette to the driver side.  Some of these are compromises which make this less than the perfect DP.  We have been in several Damon motorhomes and they are very nicely built, with solid cabinets,... Read more

New Travel Diary Software

OK – you are almost ready to hit the road. You have been planning your trip of a lifetime for months (or even years) now. For some you have a planned route with day by day stops pinpointed and booked, for others you just have a general direction of travel planned. You have purchased or built the motorhome, caravan or trailer of your dreams. You have retired, taken long service leave or just given up the job to fulfill your dreams. When you get home again you will have some great memories and lot of photos. But what about the rest of the memories – where was that great campsite I found, how much did I really pay for fuel, what is the phone number or email address of those great friends we met along the way, or how much did the trip cost me. There is a great new tool for recording all the details of your trip. Nomads Notes allows the traveler to record all aspects of a trip. Features include a day-by-day journal for chronicling daily activities; track multiple vehicle mileage, fuel consumption and fuel cost, nightly campsite details, locations and costs etc, as well as a photo album to record pictures taken, and a contacts list to record details of the friends you meet along the way. Other features include all expenses that you can categorize yourself, vehicle maintenance and radio and TV stations. Here is a sample screen shot of Campsites (center). A trip log is on the left and a current trip mileage, fuel and expenses dashboard on the right. There’s no need to worry... Read more

« Previous Page