What you need to know for desert boondocking

By Bob Difley If you follow the rest of the snowbirds to the southwestern deserts in winter, you will find that most of them stay in he same RV resort or campground for the entire season. A small number of RVers decide to so some boondocking in the open desert to really experience the desert in its wildness and beauty. As you roam around and talk to other boondockers you will find more desert boondocking locations than you ever imagined. Many are just places where an RVer has pulled off onto an unnamed, unpaved desert track and found a nice spot behind a hill, overlooking a wash, or hidden in a grove of desert willow or mesquite trees. Others become popular simply because one boondocker spots another and decides to join and soon there are half a dozen RVers, though they space themselves apart from each other, but still enjoying the proximity of other boondockers. Iff you would like to try this open desert camping, here are some of the basic rules and tips you need to know. The BLM allows free camping for up to 14 consecutive days out of every 28 days on open land. After 14 days, you must move at least 25 miles away from your current location and cannot return for another 14 days. Camping is legal except where specifically prohibited by signs or fences. No camping within 300 feet of a man-made watering hole or tank to allow wildlife access. Use existing routes and trails. Camp at previously used sites. When there is no danger of rain or flash flooding, camp in washes where... Read more

The RV Trivia Challenge 9. Are You Up To It?

Welcome to the first Lug_Nut RV Trivia Challenge of 2010. The Lug_Nut RV Trivia Challenge No. 9 series will test your skills on a variety of RV related topics.  As usual whenever a broad base of topics are presented, it becomes difficult to know the answers for all the questions.  Please remember, this is trivia, requiring some guess work on occasion.   Get a pen and paper so that you can record your answers.  Upon completion, you can check your answers with those shown at the bottom.  Good luck. So, Let’s go! Read more  Read More →

A Proposal part 2. A Monkey Wrench in the works…

Ok last week I wrote of my plans for traveling down to Okefenokee Swamp to propose to my “Co-planner” of trips, Pamela.  Several of you have responded with some wonderful ideas for my proposal. So far my favorite bit of advice has been “Good luck, and remember: going down on 1 knee is proposing, going down on 2 knees is begging.” Thank you GK for that bit of advice. Right now I am leaning towards the sunset proposal at the observation tower / nature trail. But either way I want to thank all the wonderful blog readers for reading and giving me some wonderful advice and encouragement. Read more  Read More →

Cost Effective Weekend RV Fun

Sometimes spending your weekend at home is just plain boring. There really isn’t much to do, but on the other hand you don’t have much of time before the weekend is over and it’s back to work again. How about a weekend RV getaway close to home? Not only can a quick RV trip alleviate the boredom, but it is cost effective too. A 200 mile, or less, round trip from home won’t cost much in fuel, food or campground fees and it might be just what the doctor ordered for some well deserved relaxation and time to recharge. Read more  Read More →

The Mystery Camper Challenge Is Back. Can You Solve It?

Where is the Mystery Camper today?  We haven’t heard from him for some time and this one will not be easy.  In the past the Mystery Camper has sent us photos of his surrounding.  These have been solved quite quickly by our smart members and readers.  Well, he has not forwarded any photo clues this time, only some words and images.  Your challenge is to name the location and campground.   So here’s all we have right now.  Clues will be added if needed every few days.  Who will have the bragging rights to solving this one?       “Something about the park’s name reminds me of Hawaii.  What would that be? The Mystery Camper                                                          Well, that’s it.  That’s all we have currently to work with.  Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom.  If you think you have solved it, let’s hear the location, campground name and how you figured it out.   With The Challenging Question    -     Lug_Nut    -     Peter Mercer  Read More →

Who is that driving the motorhome?

Over the weekend we started planning for an RV trip we are taking later this summer. It’s about 6,000 miles roundtrip. We are on somewhat of a timeline and I wanted an idea on average of how many miles we would travel each day, based on our schedule. It seems like more often than not we are on a tight schedule, forcing us to put in more miles per day than I would like. I want this trip to be more leisurely when it comes to how many hours you are behind the wheel each day. Admittedly I am one of those people who likes to do all of the driving myself. I just feel better if I know I am behind the wheel. I know my wife, Dawn, is a competent driver (she even has her CDL) but I still prefer to do the driving. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is extremely important that both individuals are capable of driving or towing the RV. You never know when your wife or husband will need to drive the RV and they should feel comfortable and confident in doing so. As we were planning the trip it brought back a memory of a past trip we took in the RV. We were stopped in traffic because of an accident, and had sat in the same spot without moving for at least 30 minutes. I told Dawn that I was going to run back and use the bathroom and if traffic started moving to just get behind the wheel and drive. The boys were in the back bedroom playing X Box. The motorhome started moving about the same time that I came out of the bathroom. Both boys looked up at me with their eyes wide open and... Read more

RV Cooking Show – Grilled Cuban Sandwiches, Cuban Cowboy Caviar & Cortez, FL

If you ask me, there’s nothing better than a warm weather getaway by the beach. Bonus points if it’s a stay in a thriving town with a terrific RV resort, lively dining and entertainment in walking distance, and fresh fish right off the boat. Well, that’s just what I stumbled upon when I pulled into Cortez, Florida. This little town is tucked away on the land side of Anna Maria Island and is often eclipsed by its big neighbor to the south – Sarasota. But don’t be fooled, you could easily while away many memorable days and nights in this West Coast of Florida paradise. In our latest RV Cooking Show –Grilled Cuban Pressed Sandwiches, Cuban Cowboy Caviar & Quirky Cortez Florida – we’ll show you around town and, with a special guest, make a mighty tasty meal. I’m especially excited to bring you Paulette’s Cuban version of an old RV-standby – Cowboy Caviar. Take a look – you’re gonna love it. Don’t miss the “From my RV kitchen” section on my website’s show page – I share many of my favorite Cortez “locals’ haunts” with you. I hope you enjoy watching this episode of the RV Cooking Show as much as I enjoyed making it! Evanne RVCookingShow.com   Read More →

Electric vehicle technology experiencing growth spurt

Ideas are sprouting like weeds in the cabbage patch in the Electric Vehicle world’s  designs, batteries, and the rush to replace fossil fuels for powering the cars, trucks, and RVs of the future. Here are a few and how they might affect the RVs of the future. A company called Trexa is offering a new electric drive system which can be customized by “specialty vehicle developers” (does that mean RV manufacturers also?) for their own varied needs. Trexa says its platform has a scalable wheelbase which could work for “compact, microcar and ATV-size” applications. No RV sizes yet, but this could represent a step toward a new model for RV makers, similar to the chassis provided by Workhorse and Spartan to the RV industry. Trexa says this platform “offers an unprecedented level of versatility because it contains an entire vehicle’s drivetrain within one low-profile enclosed structure.” A number of standards are built into this platform, including four-wheel drive and four-wheel independent suspension which is “adjustable for ride height and terrain type.” The lithium-ion battery system is scalable, depending upon the application, making itavailable for ranges from 25 to 125 driving miles. A company called Balqon has developed a new lithium-ion battery powered heavy duty electric vehicle that could be possibly be astep toward an electric RV. The Nautilus XE20 electric yard tractor can tow loads of up to 40 tons at a top speed of 25 miles per hour, according to... Read more

Some Interesting RV Poll Results

The outcome of any poll depends on several factors like; what type of poll it is, how the questions are worded, who is asking the questions and of course who does and does not participate in the poll. Each week we conduct an RV poll in our e-newsletter. The RV poll is not a scientific poll, a political poll or a marketing poll. It is basically used to give me some idea of what our newsletter readers are interested in, how they use their RVs  and just for the fun of it. I  thought it would be interesting to look back at some of our past RV polls and see how the participants responded. Here’s what I found out. 85% travel with the refrigerator on and 15% travel with it off 53% prefer diesel and 47% prefer gas 79% eat more meals in the RV and 21% eat more meals out 89% conduct a spring check-up on their RV before using it and 11% don’t 67% said the recession won’t change plans to use the RV and 33% said it will 72% said their average RV trips are one week or less and 28% said their average RV trips are two weeks or longer 54% own motorized RV’s and 46% own towable RV’s 91% plan two or more summer RV trips and 9% plan only one 63% store the RV on their own property and 37% make other storage arrangements 82% check the tire pressure before each trip and 18% don’t 24% said a hybrid RV chassis would affect their buying decision and 76% said it wouldn’t have any affect 90% said they use environmentally friendly holding tank chemicals... Read more

Turn your Computer into a TV

by Chris Guld, www.geeksontour.com When we first bought our motorhome, it had 2 TVs.  One in the front, living/dining area, and one in the back – the bedroom.  We got rid of both of them and set up a TV tuner with a projector and a window-shade screen.  It’s great!  We have a big screen with surround sound – a pretty good home theatre for any house, let alone a 30 foot class C motorhome!  When I recently purchased a new Windows 7 laptop, we wondered what to do with my old laptop.  It was still working fine, ( see rule #1 for buying a new computer) so I wasn’t going to send it off to recycling.  How about a TV for the bedroom!  Jim found a stud in the wall and installed a TV shelf bracket that fits my old laptop just perfect.  The antenna connection was already there, all we needed was the TV tuner.  The one Jim got is the ATI  TV Wonder (he got a great deal – $25 – by buying it on the daily special at Woot.com), but he’s also used the Hauppage.  Just google for USB TV Tuner to see lots of other choices.  Basically this tiny box is the guts of a television!  Just plug one end into the USB port of your computer, and the other end into an antenna.  Of course, there is software as well, and you need to be sure whatever you get works with your computer’s operating system.  Once you have it all set up, you have TV!  Ours even came with a remote control.  And, since it is still a computer – it is even better than a TV – you can get the... Read more

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