North to Alaska…Time out for a family reunion

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Just about the last thing we “had” to do in the contiguous 48 states before heading into Canada en route to Alaska was attend the annual reunion of my wife’s family at a state campground in Washington. Jennifer’s is a large family; her Dad is one of eight children, seven of whom are still alive. Every year they stage a three-day camping trip with a Saturday picnic about half way between Seattle, Wash., and Portland, Oregon, the two cities where the greatest number of relatives live. This year the venue was Lewis and Clark State Park.

The setting was wonderful, the food was great, especially considering that I cooked a lot of it in terms of the annual sourdough pancake feed and the grill work for the Saturday picnic. Jennifer will claim that the S’mores around the campfire were best, but being someone who dislikes marshmallows intensely, I’m not prepared to comment about that part of the reunion.

At any rate, this picture shows what is best about reunions…family members catching up on all the news. Many of the people pictured here will not communmicate again until next year’s reunion. In one way that’s kind of sad, but in another way it makes for a great couple of days in a campground in the middle of Washington.

Too Old for School? Maybe not for RV School…

Howdy !

Remember sitting in the classroom as a kid and thinking, “Wish I was outta here!”? I do for sure and even after years of schools, training and degrees I love the learning and hate the sitting in some stuffy classroom.

Now for something completely different - I’m at the Lewis-Clark College in Lewiston, Idaho having the time of my life with fellow RV’ers, sitting in clean, cool and well equipped classrooms. I’m supposed to be here teaching several RVing subjects but what I’m really doing is learning and, well, just having a ball !

At times on this BLOG Bob, his wife Lynn Difely and I have talked about the Life on Wheels program that we teach all over the country but let me give you just a little taste of today’s classes from my view.

6:00 AM Lynn Difely gathered her students for the morning exercise walk and stretch. Playing her Kazoo - ya, a LOUD Kazoo - off they went. I had coffee and a nice sweet pastry while watching them. Ya, I know, I shudda been ashamed and joined in but, nah, needed the coffee more.

7:00 AM joined several other students at the college cafeteria for more coffee and visiting. We have folks here from all walks of life, parts of the country and experience levels. One fellow here has been full-time RVing for more then 10 years now and is so full of excitement over what he’s learning that he was almost bouncing in his chair. Another lady and her hubby don’t have an RV yet and were so turned on by the view they are getting of the RV lifestyle that they were making plans of where they want to visit first.

8:00 AM First class of the day I went to a RV insurance class. Now this may not seem to be the most exciting thing to do but to have a real insurance pro tell us the in’s and out’s of the business and what to look for and how to buy is important. The instructors here also come from all parts of the RV industry or other areas of expertise that impact on the RV lifestyle. Nobody is “pushing” products, parts or plans - just good information and a common love of RV’ing.

9:30 AM During the break between classes I stopped in to talk with Greg and Debra Holder of AM Solar. Greg is likely the foremost expert in solar power for the RV industry and is easy to chat with as any of his students can tell you. We’ve known each other for several years and are very good friends.

10:00 AM Neil Tucker and I went to the computer lab here at the school and that’s where I’m at now doing this bit of scribbling. Neil and I co-teach several computer classes together for Life on Wheels and enjoy our time together. One of life’s little interesting notes is that he and I were both in Manhattan, Kansas at the same time back in the 1960’s but didn’t know it until a few years ago while were were talking about our backgrounds.

12:00 - plan on having a quick lunch and then get ready to teach one of my classes, this one on Electronic Communications for RV’ers. When you RV you have a few basic things that are in the minds of most RV’ers.

1) How do I pay my bills

2) How do I stay in contact with others

3) How do I take care of my health issues

We have several classes here that address these issues and the electronic commo class is just one part of it.

3:00 PM I plan to attend a class given by Tom Owns on an important subject titled “After death, the first 48 hours”. Again this may seem like a downer class but it happens to us all folks and it makes no difference iffen were at the house or on the road so it’s important. Tom is a fun guy to listen to and teaches a wonderful series of classes.

5:00 PM and later. The Lewiston Chamber of Commerce is hosting a FREE BBQ for us tonight - ah, should I tell you that last night it was a wonderful wine tasting? I expect the evening will be full of talk, making friends and fun.

Well, it’s noon time so It’s off to lunch. Wishing ya was all here !!

The Old Ranger

On the Road Again

Hi Everyone,

I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July holiday weekend. Summer is in full swing, and that means lots of road trips for us. This week, I’m at Life on Wheels in Lewiston, Idaho at the state college, and the following week I’ll be at the FMCA international convention in St. Paul, MN. from July 14-1. I’ll be with the folks from King Shocks, Koni Shocks and Roadmaster doing a seminar on coach ride and handling. If you’re in the area, please stop by and visit.

My schedule is hectic right now, so I’m planning to write my next post later this week so it can post on Monday like normal. I’ve learned a lot of interesting things while on the road that I would like to share with you. Take care and I’ll see you here next week!

RV’ing to Parks and Wineries in Italy

Faye and I recently returned from Italy, a wonderful country that we last visited in 1985. The cuisine and the wine were even better than we remembered from our last trip.

One of the things that has changed is the emergence of RV’s across “the boot”. According to IdeaMerge, there are over 2000 campgrounds frequented by RV’ers in Italy. Their prevalence surprised us for a couple of reasons: there’s a lot less space in Italy than in North America - 58 million people in an area just larger than Arizona; and gas prices there are about twice what they are in the US. On the other hand, rigs were smaller than at home, and since stuff is closer together there are fewer miles to pump up for!

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More options for RV.net Blog readers

RV.Net Blog is happy to announce more features will be added to the site, both to accommodate for diverse preferences and to bring new elements of interest to RVers. The first addition, rolling out today, is a page that will have the articles listed as they appear, very similar to the previous format. You can find the tab to Most Recent Posts on the top horizontal bar, above the categories. If you prefer this format, you can go to the blog home page and click on this tab or bookmark it to go directly every time.

RV.net Blog gets a facelift - Update

By popular demand: if you are reading an article on RV.net blog, you can now click on the author’s name right under the title to see at once all articles published by that author.

RV.Net Blog has been redesigned to better fit the more widely used screen resolutions and to highlight the most popular sections and posts. The new design includes a three column format on the home page which allows for a more efficient use of the space. You can click on your favorite post, section, or link to read more.

The categories are now listed horizontally across the top, with each listing additional subcategories vertically upon rollover. To view all posts within a particular category or subcategory, simply click its name. You might notice we have consolidated some categories to make navigation easier. There is also a drop down menu in the right hand column if that suits you best.

On the home page, the column at the left features articles that have been highly rated, popular, have generated many comments, or have the potential of generating great interest.

We have included at the center column two frequently visited sections: Destinations and “How To”. These will show the two most recent posts in each of these categories. If you scroll down in the same center column, you will find the daily articles appear as they are posted, with the most recent post at the top.

The right column now includes our subscription services, a featured video, and a tag cloud which calls out the most popular terms. Each term may be clicked upon in order to see the related posts.

Take a few minutes to play around the new sections and let us know what you think. We thank those of you that have provided feedback already. It has helped us identify how to make your visit to RV.net more productive. We are in the process of tweaking some aspects of the blog, so your comments are most welcome!

Picasa Slideshow for your Blog

Are you one of the hundreds of RVers who keep a blog? I am. I love that I can post photos and stories for all my friends and family to know where we are and what we’re doing. I post both pictures and stories of our travels. Sometimes, there’s just too many pictures! That’s where a slideshow comes in handy. Instead of posting 25 pictures and making my reader scroll down and down and down, Picasa Web Albums lets me insert a slide show like the one above.

If you have Picasa Web Albums, you can copy a few lines of code for a slideshow of any one album. Those lines of code can then be pasted into most any blog or other website. If you don’t have Picasa Web Albums, there are ’show me how’ tutorial videos on my website at www.GeeksOnTour.com. To see exactly how I made the slideshow above, play the video below. Or, here is a higher-quality version of the video.

Chris Guld
www.GeeksOnTour.com

Reflection, And Chassis Too

I know that I am supposed to write about the greasy side of the RV, down under. But I am going to ask that you bear with an old guy this week with my ramblin’s. I am retiring this week, at age 75. I have been in the automobile business in one form or another since 1946. Yep, age 12 washing cars, sweeping floors, cleaning tools, tending the gas pumps (17.9 cents a gallon) at the family garage. By 1957 I was teaching auto stuff, first for a major auto maker and then by 1962 in High School auto shop. In the following decades I moved to the university level teaching the technical side, then back to the corporate world teaching and back to high schools auto shop. However I have never worked a day in my life. Someone told me when I was a very young man do what you love and you will never work a day in your life, and it is true.

As this for me has turned into a time of reflection, I think that statement was driven home watching the entire news world comment on the life of Tim Russert, who died this week. He is a man who radiated to those around him that he loved his profession.

I am retiring from being 60 years associated with cars trucks and buses, and oh yes RV’s as well. That is over half the total existence of the automobile industry. And what a ride it has been. When I first started in the shop we had several customers still driving crank start cars. The second world war had just ended and the automotive fleet in the US was the biggest pile of over ready for the scrap yard junk ever seen. New cars were delivered to a hungry market that had a few bucks of war time overtime from working in the ship yards and home coming GI’s with money saved that they did not spend while fighting.

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Best Alaska Trip Journals

I love living travel vicariously through others’ footsteps. Definitely the next best thing to being there.

Alaska rivals any place on earth for its sheer beauty. Here are my favourites of the best Alaska Trip Journals over the past 12 months. A huge thank-you to these incredible authors/photographers:

Most beautiful sunset, from ‘Wiseman9′:

Most territory covered, from ‘AlaskaExpedition2007′:

Cutest bird, from ‘Tschumper’s Alaskan Journey 2007′:

Most colourful photo, from ‘Holladays in Alaska’:

Trip farthest afield, from ‘BinkleyAlaska2007′:

Best glacier shot, from ‘Holladays in Alaska’:

Dan Parlow

Personal Travel Websites by RV.Net ; Online Travel Journals by MyTripJournal.com ; Explore Good Sam Club Trip Journals ; Woodalls Trip Journals ; Travel Journals by Trailer Life Directory ; Traveling USA Travel Blogs

Fuel Prices and Alternatives

Wow! I can’t believe how busy I have been lately! My day job is always as exciting as usual. I am a professional ‘Computer Geek’ and so things are always moving and shaking there! At home, I am trying to finish a bathroom remodel. We are also in the middle of a major Spring cleaning of our entire house. Next weekend my son will be graduating from high school. Also, next week, we will be attending a High School awards night and visiting his college of choice to get him signed up for the fall. I also run a DJ Service on the side and will be doing a couple gigs. During the Memorial Day weekend, it looks like I might be working security at a local hotel where they will be having bands Friday through Monday. (I am a second degree Black Belt and was asked if I might be available). Oh and I need to open the pool soon.

Of course, we are also planning our vacation. We will be going to Door County Wisconsin and stay at the Door County Camping Retreat campground in Egg Harbor in June with some friends. In addition to the camping trip, my wife and I are planning on going to Mackinac Island in Michigan two days after we get back from camping to celebrate our 25th anniversary.

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