New RV Consumer e-Magazine

There is a brand new digital magazine available for the RV consumer. RV Education 101 owner, Mark Polk explained, “I have been entertaining the thought of a consumer driven RV e-magazine for some time now. We published a trial issue last December to test the waters, and it was well received. At the time my thoughts were to publish the e-magazine quarterly, but with the level of interest the first issue received we made the decision to distribute the magazine monthly.” The new publication is titled RV Consumer e-Magazine. It is a digital magazine in a flip-book style format that is delivered online by subscription. It is free of charge and your e-mail address will never be sold or used for anything other than delivering our RV e-newsletter and RV Consumer e-Magazine. For up to the minute RV news and information take a minute to subscribe and start receiving these information packed e-publications. Both “RV University this Week” e-newsletter and “RV Consumer e-Magazine” are loaded with useful RV information and knowledge on RV products, RV how-to topics, RV Reviews, RV destinations, RV videos and other general RV information. Our goal is to be your premier provider for RV information and assistance through various educational outlets. If you are having trouble with the CAPCHA code (prevents SPAM) while signing up for the newsletter, send an e-mail to Dawn with Newsletter sign-up as the subject, and we will get you signed up: dawn@rveducation101.com... Read more

A Map of Visited States

Would you like to have your very own map of visited states to put on your blog, facebook profile, or email signature?  It’s easy and free by going to http://epgsoft.com/.  Just choose ‘Create Map’ and ‘Visited States Map.’  You should now see a listing of all the states.  Check off the ones you have visited, then Create Map. Make sure to select the Map Size and the File Format.  Then, when you click Create Map you will see: If you find that you’ve missed some states, or selected some by mistake, you can click the Back button on your browser to fix it, then click on Create Map once again to see the corrected version.  Once the map looks how you want it, you right-click on it and choose Save Picture As (or Save Image As – depending on your browser.)  Navigate to the folder where you want to store it and click ok.  Now the map is a picture on your computer that you can use like any other picture.  How about the World? If you travel the world and want to have a map of visited countries, check out http://douweosinga.com/projects/visited.  It works similarly to the visited states above except at the very end.  Instead of saving an image file, you get html code to put on a blog or website.  It also only uses one color.  I find for a world map that one color is better anyway.   visited 83 states (36.8%) Create your own visited map of The World or Like this? try: Eddie the DJ This... Read more

Let’s Talk IPAD !

Here’s the third entry in our series about e-readers for RV’ers. It’s time to address the Godzilla of the e-reader world. Yes, we’re talking about Apple and its iPad tablet. If Amazon is King Kong, Apple is Godzilla. (In this analogy, Nook is Rodan; never underestimate Rodan.) While iPad isn’t a dedicated e-reader, many people use it as such. NOTE: Images are not to scale (we all know that Godzilla is much larger than King Kong). It wasn’t so long ago that ol’ Mister Black Turtleneck himself was standing on stage like some sort of Silicon Valley prophet, proudly holding his gleaming metal tablet aloft. The initial response was a collective, “Huh?” On that day Apple CEO Steve Jobs suffered a few snickers at the device’s name, which reminded some of a feminine hygiene product. A lot has happened since that fateful day in 2010 when Jobs unfurled the iPad to skepticism and derision. It turned out that Jobs was once again right. The iPad became the most popular consumer product since running water. People around the planet bought RVs just so they could more comfortably camp outside Apple stores while waiting to buy the latest model. Apple became more valuable than the Earth itself. You never know when NOOK might fly into the scene and crash Godzilla's party. As for Steve Jobs, in 2011 he moved on to that great product launch in the sky. I read the authorized Steve Jobs biography (on my Kindle – sorry, Steve), and learned... Read more

Blogger Tip for Prolific Travel Bloggers

Display Excerpts rather than full Posts by Chris Guld, GeeksOnTour.com Although we still see a lot of beginners in our seminar ‘Every RVer Needs a Blog’ many of you have been blogging regularly for a long time – like those listed on HitchItch.com.  If you’re one of those, and have a lot of posts on your Blogger blog, you may want to allow readers to see more of the headlines, rather than the full text of each post.  When using full posts, they go to your blog and have to read thru the entirety of the most current blog post before they see that there are other posts beneath it.  If you use Post Excerpts, your readers will see several posts titles and excerpts in one screenful.  Then they need to click the link to ‘Read More …’ if they want to see the rest of the post.  There are pros and cons to each type of display.  If you don’t think your readers will click the ‘Read more …’ link, then you should probably leave the full post displayed.  But, if you think your readers might read more posts if they see several ‘teasers’ at a glance, then Excerpts are for you. If you want your blog to look similar to the image at left, here’s what you do: The ‘Jump Break’ Tool Blogger’s Updated Post Editor includes a button to add the break in your post.  Everything above the break will show up on the main blogger page, to see content below the break, the reader needs to click the ‘Read more …’ link. When creating, or editing, your post – click... Read more

THE E-POSTCARD TEXT RECIPE

 By Monique & Barry Zander, the Never-Bored RVers  Among the numerous requests for the reverse side of our e-Postcard were a few requests for information, primarily about how to enter text in the writing section on “the back.”  I’ll get to it in a moment …  … but first, to those asking where the photo was taken of Monique and me that appeared in yesterday’s blog.  It was taken by our daughter-in-law, Debbie, an excellent photographer, at Avalanche Lake in Glacier National Park, Montana.  It was shortly before granddaughter Amy slipped off a rock into the glacial water.  Monique has her cap and hiking stick in her hand; I have my “Gilligan” hat.  The number of responses in the Comments Section in the original article and in e-mails taking us up on the offer to send the format of the e-Postcard reverse side has been overwhelming.  We certainly appreciate your interest.   And now, as promised, instructions on putting text on the e-Postcard: I use Photoshop to create the e-Postcards.  If you use a different program (like iPhoto or Corel) and know how to accomplish the same task, I’m sure readers would appreciate your instructions in the Comments Section below. I write out wording for the e-Postcard in Word, spell-check it, and save it with an appropriate title (i.e., Avalanche Lake).  Then I Select All (either Control A or under “Edit”) and copy. (Right-Click Copy or Control C or under edit, “Copy”). In our original article about the e-Postcards,... Read more

BORING? NO WAY!

 By Monique Zander, the Never-Bored RVer  It’s Monique’s turn to comment on yesterday’s rv.net blog.  “Since there have been so many responses stating that the blog is not boring, I must clarify the statement in the previous blog. “Barry’s blogs are not boring.  On the contrary, I find them well written, entertaining and educational.  I appreciate his talent as so many readers do.  I am a creative person, but I’m not at all into computers.  Technology is not my thing.  I don’t even know how to type! “So proofreading Barry’s writing (I proofread every posting) about the process of formatting the e-Postcard, I found the technical how-to boring –  for me.  “Barry knew I would. “Barry writes in his wonderful intimate way, and I am his Number 1 fan.  We are a team when it comes to ideas.  “When I came up with the concept of the e-Postcard and how the finished product should look, Barry embraced it wholeheartedly.  I had no doubt that he could figure out how to do it, and, of course, he did. “Barry always welcomes my suggestions, additions or subtractions.  He asks me to proofread every article (he jokingly calls me ‘his cruel editor’).  By my own choosing, I don’t want to be involved with computers, and it’s okay with Barry.  He’d rather I spend my time cooking gourmet meals anyway. “Just as Barry and I are never bored, I do not find Barry’s blogs boring.” Monique In our next posting, we will address a few questions... Read more

ANSWERS TO YOUR QUARTZSITE QUESTIONS

 By Barry & Monique Zander, the Never-Bored RVers  We’re packing up this morning, but before we head out of Quartzsite to get on the road again, there are some questions posed in last night’s  comments section that I’ll try to answer: “To be happy you must be free; to be free you must be brave.”  This seems like an appropriate occasion to repeat that Norse adage. Some of you are taking this place too seriously.  You can make reservations and you can research everything there is to know about the area and local events, or you can do it like we did.  You drive anywhere within five miles of town, look around, find a place near other RVs parked in the desert and turn off the engine. Your neighbors, who were once as timid as you about the RV experience, will tell you more than you need to know.  It’s that simple. Now, in answer to Chestnuts, the best way to find information about the place, other than putting in “Quartzsite” in your Internet browser, is to call or visit the Chamber of Commerce.  And don’t worry about our landlords, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).  They aren’t going to tell you anything that your neighbors can’t. To Drew, who is apprehensive, I refer you to Paragraph 2 above (the one with the italics).  As commenter Thomas said, “It’s truly an experience that should not be missed.”  As for the honey wagon, the service that visits campgrounds to drain the tanks, we’ve heard that it has been available in past years but... Read more

Listen to RV Radio Shows via Podcasts

If you haven’t discovered podcasts about RVing, you’re in for a treat!  Think of them like Blogs that you can listen to, rather than read.  I know of two personally, and I’m sure there are more.  RV Navigator is a show by Ken and Martha Wiseman.  They have been extended RV travelers since 2005.  Their home is in Chicago.  They also travel by cruise ship.  Ken is a gadget king and you will hear a lot about Macintosh computers, iPhones, iPads and all things Apple from Ken in addition to RV and Travel topics.  RV Navigator podcasts are produced once or twice each month when they are traveling. Each podcast is about an hour long. Living the RV Dream is a show by John and Kathy Huggins.  They have been fulltime RVers since 2005.  Their goal is to visit all the US National Parks.  They also do a lot of volunteer work since hitting the road including working at the Escapees CARE center in Livingston, Texas. Living the RV Dream podcasts are produced weekly.  Make sure to check out the Jan 19, 2011 episode where they interview Geeks on Tour – the author of this article! What is a Podcast? The term ‘Podcast’ originated with the popular iPod device from Apple.  The iPod is a dedicated device for playing audio files.  However, you do not need an iPod to play podcasts.  Any computer will do, and most smart phones, as well as dozens of makes and models of ‘.mp3’ players. A podcast is a computer file, usually in the .mp3 format.  What I’m talking about in this... Read more

RVIA Expo. Monday Nov. 29

Greetings to all from Louisville, Kentucky!  Linda and I are parked at the Expo center campground.  (Under the topic of “name dropping”, we are next door to Bob Tiffin’s son’s motorhome)  It is nice to see that at least some of the manufacturers actually “go rv’ing”! Since  the actual show doesn’t start until tomorrow, we went over to the center, registered, and then went on a tour of Louisville, and our main objective was to visit the Louisville Slugger factory and take the factory tour.  If you are in the Louisville Ky area, and if you have ANY interest in baseball (and what good American doesn’t?), this is the place to go.  The factory, museum, and gift store are all located together, downtown, near the Ohio river.  The downtown area is very clean, and parking in this area is plentiful.  We parked right across the street from the museum, and of course took the requisite photo of the world’s largest baseball bat. Read more  Read More →

RV Rallies can be Enhanced by Facebook

We presented our computer seminars at 8 different rallies this summer, and at each one, we asked for a show of hands of how many people were using Facebook.  We were astonished to see a consistent majority of hands go up. At the last rally, The Escapade, we noticed a lot of Facebook activity amongst our own friends who were there.  They arranged happy hours and meetings during the rally, and even some get-togethers after the rally was over.  They were able to do this because a large group of them were all friends on Facebook. Read more  Read More →

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