Getting and Staying Organized - Part 2 - Bernice’s Tips

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Today I continue with tips to help get and keep you organized while on the road.

• Make the bed every day. An unmade bed is often visible in the rest of the RV and casts a disorganized mood over the whole interior. If the bed is made, the entire RV looks better even if dishes are piled in the sink, magazines and newspapers are strewn on the couch, and the table has things piled on it.

• When you begin a task, try to complete it before moving on to something else.

• When on a trip and you think of ideas for the RV, make a To Do list. Keep a running list of items you need to purchase so that when you have the opportunity, you know what to buy.

• If you’re traveling and you want to remember to do something at the campground, write the task on a sticky note and stick the reminder on the door frame at the entry to your vehicle. You will see it as you go in or out of the vehicle.

• Another way of remembering something is to put an object out of its usual place. For example, placing a nearby box of tissues on the floor can be a reminder to buy some milk when you get to the campground.

• In a single bag or backpack-separate from the other toys and games-keep the items that your children use to entertain themselves while traveling. That way, you can easily move their special travel items from your RV to the tow car and back again.

• Put items away when you are finished using them. It’s a simple rule but one that’s easy to procrastinate about. Things that are not put away keep getting in your way, so  you save time, energy, and frustration by putting items away in the first place.

• Never put something (especially a heavy or bulky item) on top of something else unless you want to move it in order to get to what’s underneath! Whenever I “temporarily” put an object on top of another, I need the object underneath-it never fails.

Stay tuned next week for Part III when I discuss storage of books, dishes, and the organization and security of your personal information.

Enjoy RVing!

Bernice

Getting and Staying Organized - Part 1 - Bernice’s Tips

An RV is like a playhouse. Although getting and staying organized seems like work at home, that’s not so in an RV; however, some discipline is still necessary. Lots of fellow RVers have discovered ways to make it even easier to enjoy your playhouse on the road.

• On your computer, make a checklist of items to always take on trips and print out a new one for each trip. - Pete Jones, Westminster, MD

• When making checklists, be sure to include “one for the road”: windows, vents, refrigerator, water pump-everything that should be closed, stowed, turned off, or locked. Keep it in a handy place or posted by the door. Don’t forget to include the television antenna. - Herb and Mary-Lou Pletcher, Taneytown, MD

• Make “reverse lists” to help with stocking perishable food for consecutive weekend trips. For the first trip of the season, plan your menus, make a shopping list, and stock the kitchen. As items are used up, list them on a shopping list in the RV. When you arrive home after a trip, move perishable items from the RV to the house and list the items as you unpack them. That makes stocking for the subsequent weekend easy: you won’t have to remember what you left in the RV, just replace the used items and restock the items on your “unpacking” list. - Connie Burke Davis, Westminster, MD

• Always have a checklist of procedures to follow when moving or parking your vehicle. Follow the procedures in a systematic way and check off each item as you go. - Anne Carney-Brown, Finskburg, MD

• Use a separate set of towels and sheets of a different color from what you use at home. When you do laundry, you’ll know exactly what goes back to the RV. - Luther and Averta Showalter, Edgewood, MD

• Take along a receptacle for receipts, campground maps, and other printed material that you want to keep after the trip. Keep these items in chronological order.

• When you take photos, take the time at that moment to write down in a small spiral tablet the time, date, place, and any other comment you want to remember about it. You’ll be glad you have this information when you get your film developed and photos printed after the trip is over or when you download your digital camera.

In part two of the series next week, I’ll detail tips to help you streamline chores, remember tasks, keep up with children’s toys, and store items in your RV.

Enjoy RVing!
Bernice

Travel Comfort - Part 2 - Bernice’s Tips

Last week I began a two-part series on travel comfort. This week, I offer the second group of tips to enhance your travel comfort.

• Don’t let fatigue creep up on you. If you find yourself feeling run down, a good nap may be just what you need to restore your body and spirit.
• If you depend on having your hair or nails done regularly on the road, you’ll probably get good results at well-known beauty salon chains in shopping malls. Or ask for recommendations at campground offices. Have your stylist at home write out any special instructions.
• When you stay at a campground for several days running, you can stay hooked up to the sewer site and let the gray water run into it instead of into the RV’s holding tank. The result? A nice long shower without worrying that the tank will fill up and let gray water back up into the shower.
• If you find the curtains in the bedroom don’t make the room dark enough, try hanging heavy towels over them until you get home and can fix the problem with heavier lining material or new curtains.
• If you’re concerned that the dash air conditioner takes too much power away from the motor, use the auxiliary generator to run the overhead air conditioner instead.
• Who knows what weather you’ll be traveling through today? Dress in layers so you can adjust to changing conditions.
• If the RV’s propane furnace doesn’t keep your rig toasty warm enough when you’re parked at a site, try a small electric heater with a thermostat.
• One of the great features about RV travel is that you can visit friends or relatives along the way and still sleep in your own bed-because it’s parked in the driveway.

I hope these tips on comfort when traveling by RV are helpful to you. Next week, we’ll look at getting and staying organized.

Enjoy RVing!
Bernice

Travel Comfort - Part 1 - Bernice’s Tips

Last week I offered some tips related to travel courtesy. This week I give you the first of a two-part series of my tips for assuring your travel comfort.

Travel Comfort

• Most RV mattresses aren’t as comfortable as your bed at home. Adding an eggshell foam mattress, placed with the smooth side up, makes sleeping more comfortable. - Louis and Ann Beeler, Salome, AZ
• To decrease the heat/cold transmitted through the bath skylight, solar windshield covers for cars can be trimmed and attached with Velcro. Clean the area for the Velcro with rubbing alcohol to increase the adhesiveness. - Karl M. Green, M.D., Westminster, MD
  
• If your bed mattress shifts on its wood platform while you’re traveling over bumpy roads and during sudden stops, place a piece of rubberized matting between the platform and the mattress. This will eliminate your having to push the mattress back into position after a day’s travel. You can buy the matting at carpet stores and RV dealers.
• When riding through monotonous rocky formations that go on for miles, challenge your and your children’s imaginations to identify images such as cathedrals, whales or pyramids. Or if a highway runs on for miles lined with trees, look for hues of green and other colors, textures, shadows, and lines as if you wanted to paint the details of what you see. It will bring interest and excitement to even a “dull” scene. Look for wildlife, too.
• Take breaks—whether that means stopping at a rest area, taking a walk along the beach, or having lunch.
• Be sure to include some no-travel days. Don’t try to crowd too many miles or activities into the time available. You need time to rest and catch up with chores (and yourself).
• A shopping center or Wal-Mart parking lot is a good place for a rest stop on a secondary road that does not have designated rest or picnic areas.
• Passengers can do many things to keep from getting bored during a long day of travel: do handiwork such as knitting or crocheting or cross-stitching, listen to the radio, play games that don’t distract the driver, write in a journal, browse tour books and maps, or listen to audiobooks from the library (with a headset, if desired). You may even voluntarily give the driver a neckrub or backrub. Sitting still and putting off doing activity creates fatigue and boredom.

Stay tuned for more tips on travel comfort in this series next week.

Happy travels and I’ll be back with more.
Bernice

Travel Courtesy & Comfort – Part 1 – Bernice’s Tips

You may be on vacation, but don’t leave your manners at home. When you extend these simple courtesies to other travelers, they’ll respond in kind. In addition, you’ll find life on the road and in campgrounds is more comfortable and enjoyable when you use these tips.

Travel Courtesy

• Don’t run your generator (or vehicle engine itself) and appliances all night long or early in the morning. Consider that in “mixed-use” campgrounds, you are sharing the area with tent campers. Most people who use campgrounds are there to enjoy some peace and quiet and to commune with nature. Noisy generators and loud televisions ruin the experience.  - David Iier, Cyberwest, Denver, CO
• Slow down when driving on dirt campground roads so you don’t raise too much dust for campers or for any vehicles following you. Also, although the children in your group may love shuffling in the dirt, stirring up big clouds of dust, remind them to do that far away from where people are camping. - Louie & Kiyo Shiroma, Culver City, IA
  
• Have a friendly attitude toward other drivers, whatever their vehicles. Give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their motives. Road rage/revenge leads to tragedy.
• Mind your manners wherever you roam. People everywhere appreciate a “please” and “thank you.”
• Be sure to ask if guest would like to see the inside of your vehicle. We all like to see how other people camp. It gives us new ideas for our own RVs.
• Never dump except at a dump station or a sewer connection at a campsite.
• Honor the campground’s checkout time. Someone may be waiting for your campsite.
• Be aware that using the auxiliary generator at rest stops stirs up dust outside the RV. Other travelers who are trying to eat their lunches may not appreciate it.
• When you’re traveling in a caravan, stay at least a quarter of a mile behind the RV in front of you. It gives the leader room to maneuver in case of stopped traffic or unexpected road conditions, and it gives people passing you a chance to get in and out of your lane. More space between the RVs also gives you a broader view of the countryside.
• Try to go with the flow of traffic, unless it’s over the speed limit.
• When three or more vehicles are backed up behind you and road conditions permit, pull onto the shoulder to let traffic pass.
• Blink your headlights when a trucker passes you to let the driver know that it’s safe to pull back into the lane. At night, flash your high beams for the same purpose. When the driver gives you a double wink with the lights, it means “thank you.”
• When you park on the street, make sure you aren’t blocking anyone’s way.
• When you’re staying with friends, use your calling card when you make calls on their phone.

Next week in Part 2, I’ll list some tips to help you to increase your comfort level while traveling in your RV.

Getting Along - Part 3 - Tips from Bernice

Today I am completing my top tips for making RV travel more enjoyable when traveling in groups. My hope is that by following the tips listed here, as well as those in Part 1 and 2, you’ll be able to confidently RV for extended trips with your loved ones.

• It seems obvious, but tell your traveling companions about your telephone conversations that involve them. For example, when you call a friend that you all will visit, tell your traveling companions and give them any details they need to know. This way, everyone will be on the same wavelength.
• Try to stick to your budget, but don’t get upset if your companion spends money on something you think is frivolous—the item could have a lot of meaning to the spender, now or later, or it could just be a “mad money” expenditure. You are already saving money by RV travel, so relax about what is spent on the trip.
• Go where you and your companions want to go. The trip is an adventure, so if you think rock hunting is boring, but someone else wants to do it, try it.
• Offer options instead of making demands. Instead of saying to your travel partner, “We have to go to the grocery store after breakfast,” say something such as, “Can we discuss when we can go to the grocery store next?” That way, you both have a voice in the decision.
• I discovered that friendships flourished on the road when we (1) talked freely with one another about plans, routes and wishes; (2) were ready to depart on time; (3) looked on the positive side of what could be taken as negative words or incidents; (4) thanked one another for courtesies or work; (5) were willing to sightsee or follow a route that others chose; (6) helped to research places to see and things to do; (7) shared expenses willingly; (8) laughed or saw the funny side of words or happenings; (9) were willing to jump in and help with knowledge or labor as needed; and (10) accepted the other persons as they were, not as we thought they should be. The idea is for all to share in the jobs and joys of the trip together.
• Remember that in the RV lifestyle, domestic duties know no gender. Everybody pitches in wherever necessary.

It’s the differences between all of us that make life interesting. Hopefully, if you follow these tips, you’ll be able to celebrate the diversity that exists between you and your traveling companions and thereby create a more joyous journey!

Happy travels!

Getting Along - Part 2 - Tips from Bernice

Today I am listing a few more tips to make RV travel more enjoyable, particularly when traveling in groups. RVers are frequently gregarious, like to meet people and sometimes travel with friends. In these cases a positive attitude can go a long way toward having a great time.

• If you’re normally the leader, be open to letting someone else try planning and navigating. You may learn something yourself.
• Before a trip with friends, discuss what each of you wants to include in your trip. It’s good to actually write down an itinerary, even if it is tentative and you change destinations as you travel. Read more
  Filed Under: Beginning RVing, Featured 3, General RVing
  Tagged: caravans, getting along, traveling in groups, traveling with friends
  
  
  

  Getting Along in RV Travels -Part 1- Tips from Bernice

  July 9, 2008 by Bernice Beard · 1 Comment 

  No two people look alike, think alike, or travel alike-at least most of the time. It’s a wonder that we get along at all! Yet when traveling in an RV, we must try to maintain smooth relationships with all of our fellow travelers because we’re “stuck” together for the duration of the trip. The tips in this article will hopefully help you to avoid turning little annoyances into big problems.

  Read more

  Filed Under: Beginning RVing, Featured 3, Nature Travel, RV Lifestyle, Video/Photography
  Tagged: getting along, RV travel
  
  
  

  Campground Advice - Part 3 - Tips from Bernice

  July 2, 2008 by Bernice Beard · 2 Comments 

  This is the third and last set of campground related tips I have to offer. Besides the advice listed below, as well as that in Part 1 and Part 2, if you have any other piece of information you’d like to share with beginners (or veterans), please do so by posting a comment. RVers are known to be very helpful to one another and sharing information often makes a huge difference. When we are at the campground, we want to minimize the hassle and leave the most time for enjoyment, so I hope some of these tips can help you do just that and avoid, to the extent possible, those occasions in which a small detail can turn an otherwise perfect stay into a problematic one.

  • Before you level your RV, make sure the cord and hoses can reach the electricity, water and sewer hookups.
  • On a cold night, if the hose to the RV from the campground spigot freezes, detach it and put it into the shower to thaw. Read more
    Filed Under: Beginning RVing, Campgrounds & Resorts
    Tagged: campground advice, Campground tips, RVing beginner tips
    
    
    

    Campground Advice - Part 2 - Tips from Bernice

    June 25, 2008 by Bernice Beard · Leave a Comment 

    As a continuation from Part 1, you will find here a few more tips on how to select and take full advantage of the campground, as well as little tricks for special circumstances. If you have any comments, please post them, they are very welcome.

    • Use a directory, such as the Trailer Life Directory for Campgrounds, RV Parks & Services to locate campgrounds. Directories let you know campsite sizes as well as activities and facilities. They also give clear directions to campgrounds.
    • With over 16,000 public and private campgrounds in the United States, RVers have lots of choices. Once you choose a campground, you still have some decisions to make. Some campgrounds allow campers to choose their own campsites. In addition, you’ll probably be asked whether you want full hookups or just water and electricity. Some campgrounds offer cable television hookup. Keep in mind that all these amenities will affect the price you pay.
    • Many campgrounds near highways offer recreation rooms, swimming, hiking, perhaps a lake, and sometimes planned weekend activities. Resorts that cater to long-term residents, on the other hand, offer guests a busy calendar of daily programs-exercise, painting, music, and other activities. Often a full-time leader plans social events.
    • Keep all your campground membership cards together in the glove compartment so they’re handy when you register at a campground. Also, you won’t have to carry them in your billfold or purse.
    • If your travel schedule is such that you arrive early at a campground, let the office staff know that you will not stay longer than 24 hours overall.
    • Most campgrounds have a night registration procedure so that if you arrive after the office is closed, you can choose a site and pay in the morning.
    • If a campground is full and you cannot camp in an overflow area, ask the office staff to refer you to another campground that has space.
    • Expect to find places without full hookups. Know how to boondock, or dry camp (camp without any hookups). Always keep a sufficient supply of fresh water and leave empty space in the gray and black water tanks.

    This is what I have for today, Happy Camping, and I’ll be back with more…

    Filed Under: Beginning RVing, Campgrounds & Resorts
    Tagged: campground advice, Campground tips
    
    
    

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