More about RV showers

Many people tracked down my email address to send me a message that the link to my last post, “RV Showers – Yours of the Campground’s,” would not work. The problem was the apostrophe in it. The link should now be good. I have found another reason to use my own RV shower. A little background. We are at a lovely RV park, Mad River Rapids RV Park, in Arcata, CA. We had an axle break due to a frozen bearing in our NeverLube hub. It blew a tire – fortunately. Because of the tire we pulled over right away. A fire was just starting so I grabbed the extinguisher by the door to the 5th wheel and George successfully put it out. In the meantime, we have been waiting for parts from Mor/ryde and one of their suppliers, Kodiak. As if today, we’ve been here two weeks. The RV park has a nice jacuzzi that we have enjoyed – until Monday. After the weekend they apparently double-dosed it with bromine. It not only smells strong but George now has bumps all over his legs and I have a small patch of bumps on one leg. We are both sensitive to bromine, George extremely so. We showered in the park showers last night to get the smell off. Their whole system must use bromine because we could still smell the odor on our skins. (Their showers are nice, by the way.) After emptying the gray water tank this morning I took a shower in ours. We have a double filter just before the intake to remove chemicals. What a difference. Not all public showers have a strong chlorine... Read more

Six Words About Your RV Life

Hello intrepid travelers, Calling all wordsmiths, writers, witty individuals or families…can you condense your RV and camping experiences and expectations into six words? I double dog dare ya to share Six Words About Your RV Life!! Have you heard of the six word memoirs project from SMITH Magazine? In 2006 the fine minds behind SMITH Magazine offered aspiring writers, poets, those with something to say, and plain ole witty folk an opportunity to tell their story in six words. It’s said that Hemingway did just that when challenged to write a six word story. He came up with this: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”  Thousands of others from the famous to the neighbor-next-door have submitted their six word story in several SMITH Magazine projects including a series on Love & Heartbreak. And this got me thinking about my own six word memoirs…stories about my life on the road, as an RVer. My motto and the RV Cooking Show’s tag line is a mere six words – “Love to travel. Love to eat.” I quickly realized we all have a story to tell, a short ditty to share – especially when it comes to our RV and camping travels. So, with much anticipation and excitement I am delighted to introduce a special six word series – Six Words About Your RV Life. Think about your adventures and see if you can craft a six word memoir about your RV vacation, lifestyle, camping experiences. Leave your six words on my RVCookingShow blog or right here on this RV.net blog posting – Six... Read more

RV showers – yours or the campground’s?

What do you use your shower for? Showering? Or is it a storage area or a place for the ktty litter box or laundry basket? When you are staying in an RV park do you still use your own shower? Or do you use the park’s showers? If so, what does it depend on? Some RVers feel very strongly about this; they only use their own shower. Reasons mentioned are sanitation, why have a nice shower and not use it, and privacy. Others enjoy an RV park shower where you can let the water run continuously instead of taking the usual RV-Navy shower. In the ‘89 Pace Arrow I began traveling with, the shower was the typical square tub – too small to actually bathe in. We ended up putting the laundry basket there and sometimes water jugs that might tip while traveling. It meant taking them out when showering. When we worked at a national park and had to wear uniforms, we put in an adjustable closet pole to hang our uniforms. We had access to nice showers so usually used them. If not, it meant shifting them all to the bed before showering, but it kept our uniforms accessible and from getting wrinkled. When not working, uniforms were stored under the bed. George and I also traveled in a Lance Camper. The shower area was separate, unlike some small RVs where the whole bathroom, toilet and all, becomes the shower area. However, the Lance shower was still too small for a tall person so we used the showers in RV parks. Newer RVs may have a garden shower instead with a door that opens and closes.... Read more

Traveling gluten-free and with other dietary restrictions

Do you have a favorite brand and flavor of yogurt? A certain kind of wine you prefer? Do you prefer fresh and/or organic produce? Perhaps you have some ethnic foods you enjoy. If you do and are like me, sometimes you worry whether you’ll be able to find those items as you travel. If you have food allergies/sensitivities, eat only gluten-free foods or have other dietary restrictions, finding them can be a necessity. George and I found that eating gluten-free is much better for us. We have both lost a lot of weight and want to keep it off. Plus, like many people, we are sensitive to gluten and find it affects our digestive systems. George now bakes gluten-free English muffins for us once a week and other interesting extra-protein, gluten-free bread. He found recipes in Gluten-Free 101: Easy, Basic Dishes Without Wheat by Carol Fenster. She uses a flour mixture that includes sorghum flour, tapioca flour and potato starch that is the basis of most recipes. To that you add other ingredients. Sorghum four and the others are not found in Wal-Mart! We spend most of the time in the West and I can usually find a Whole Foods or other good health food store to keep certain favorites in stock. When we traveled east of Colorado, I worried that I would be out of luck for many of my favorites. While I may not find the exact brand, it has turned out I don’t need to worry. Before leaving for Alaska, we stocked up a bit in our RV, but flour is bulky and we had to go through Canadian customs... Read more

Your RV Oven – What’s it used for?

Kay Peterson, co-founder of the Escapees RV Club, used to say in her “Living in a Sardine Can” talk that her RV oven was strictly for storage. She wasn’t even sure how it worked. They ate out a lot. In our case, our oven stores extra pans and it gets used frequently. We much prefer to eat our own cooking. I am lucky – George loves to cook and cooks almost all our dinners plus bakes gluten-free English muffins weekly. Frankly, his cooking tastes better than 99 percent of the meals we do eat out. Using your own facilities – stove and oven – has other benefits: control over the quantity of food you are served and eat limit portion size for weight control keep food expenditures down. Some newer RVs don’t even have a regular oven. That should tell you about how much they are used! Instead, they have a combination convection/microwave oven. Some RVers love them, others have never figured out how to cook using their convection oven. How about you? Does your RV have an oven? What’s it used for? If you have a convection oven, are you able to bake with it or would you prefer the old fashioned kind? Let’s hear from you!  And, if you’d like to participate in a poll on what your oven is used for, click here. We’ll share the results in a future blog. Jaimie Hall Bruzenak  Read More →

Are you a planner or do you wing it?

As an RV traveler do you plan your travels out in detail including making advance reservations? Or do you show up at an RV park and hope something is available? Or perhaps call on the way? Do you know where you’ll be next week- exactly? Or will it depend on how much you are enjoying this area, or the weather? Read more  Read More →

How do you stay in touch?

For some of us, becoming full-time RVers means being away from children and grandkids. For others, it means we can see them more often than we would have had we stayed put. Whichever the case, staying in touch helps keep the relationship vital between visits. How do you stay in touch and keep a meaningful relationship going? Here are some ideas. Please feel free to add yours in the comment section. Cell phones: It’s pretty hard to remember (or imagine) the ‘90s when we had to find pay phones to make phone calls and check messages. Though there are areas where you have no signal, friends and family plans and free weekend minutes make it pretty easy to stay in touch by phone. Some couples have cells with two different companies to increase the chances of at least one having a good signal. E-mail: Aircards, satellite Internet and WiFi make it more easy to maintain regular e-mail contact. A Web-based e-mail like Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail means you can also check e-mail if you have to use a computer in a library or Internet café. It’s also easy to send digital photos as a way to let family and friends keep up with your travels. Skype and a Web cam: A Web camera allows you to record a message or to be visible while talking. With Skype, if you both have accounts, the “call” is free and they’ll be able to see you on the screen during the call. If you both have Web cams, you can each see each other while you talk. Web cams are relatively inexpensive now. Also, with a Web... Read more

Eleven tips for planning for a road trip

Not all RVers travel full time. If you are not a full-time RVer and plan to be gone for a significant amount of time, how do you make sure you bring everything you need? Here are eleven tips: 1. Create a list. As the trip approaches, anytime you think of something you want to take, write it down. You could have either different lists or have separate categories for personal items for each of you and one for the RV. Also have a things to do list. When it is time to start packing, transfer your list to a computer and print it out to make a checklist. Take the list along on your trip and add to it if you find you have forgotten anything so you can improve your checklist for the next trip. Read more  Read More →

Do you budget?

Do you track your spending and use a budget? Whether preparing to RV or already traveling on the road, a budget is a useful tool. Before RVing Can you afford to full-time RV or even snowbird? Completing an RVing budget, while not exact, will help you make realistic choices. If you do not have an RV yet, you can get a rough estimate of fuel by using 6 mpg for motorhomes; up to 10 for a diesel motor. The main insurance companies that provide insurance for full-time RVers will give you instant quotes or an overnight quote at their Web site to use as a ballpark figure. And you can use camping directories to get a rough idea of campground costs. It seems like campgrounds are charging an average of $25-30 a night, though you can certainly pay more. You can also use discount and membership camping to decrease your costs. (Click here for links to the insurance companies and a budget worksheet.) The domicile you choose will also impact your budget. Your domicile is your tax home. If you travel full-time, you can choose a domicile more to your advantage. Taxes, insurance and vehicle registration can vary immensely from state to state so this is an important decision. Read more  Read More →

Young Fulltime RVers – Too much “together” time?

Hello campers, Fulltime RVers live in small spaces and are together a lot. How best to cope? Video host Evanne Schmarder shares a few of her tips and tricks on this topic in this episode of Young Full-time RVers. Read more  Read More →

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