Is it realistic to think that renewable energy will become common in RVs in our lifetime?

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our E-mail Digest or RSS Feed. We will then send you the stories that are posted each day in an e-mail digest. We use a service called Feedburner for delivery of these emails. You will receive an e-mail from Feedburner after you subscribe and you must click on that email to activate your subscription. Thanks for visiting and enjoy all the information! RV.Net Blog AdminBy Bob Difley Inventors and inventions are a dime a dozen, as the saying goes. Proof is the number of patents filed in the US Patent Office every year (over 500,000 in 2010). Few ever make it to the marketplace, and even fewer become profitable. But that is where creativity takes root, and if the venture capital flows and the public accepts the product–take the iPhone or iPad for example–sales can go viral. What does that have to do with RVing. I’m sure the inventor of the first commercially viable cell phone was not thinking of how useful a mobile, untethered, phone could be to the RV traveler making his nightly campground reservation on the fly, checking ahead to restaurant seating availability, taking calls from excited grandchildren while cruising down the highway, or calling in emergency services when away from nearby help. It took some RVers to actually look at the new invention and ask, “How can I use this to make my life better?” The same holds true with inventions and progressive ideas today. The shortsighted seldom see the... Read more

Does the future of RVing include smart highways?

By Bob Difley There are a lot of smart scientists working on a lot of futuristic projects, many of which will impact RVers and the way we enjoy our lifestyle. Take electric (EV) and hybrid electric (HEV) vehicles that are getting all the media play and new EVs are popping up like spring wildflowers–not only in the US but also in India, China, Japan, Korea and just about every country that makes automobiles. So far, it’s been a hard row to hoe getting people to accept a different concept in their vehicles than what they are accustomed to, such as THE MILEAGE range between fossil fuel vehicles and EVs, time to fill up with gas or diesel fuel compared to chargging a battery, ability of electricity powered vehicles to carry or pull the loads that would be required for RVs, and cost differentials–EVs and HEVs are much higher compared to internal combustion engines (ICE). But these smart and innovative scientists and entrepreneurs are working on this stuff. They’d rather that we changed our perspective on how we look at vehicles but also realize that until electrics are offered that have the same or better range, charge (fill up) time, and cost as an ICE operated vehicle, the populace is unlikely to adopt the new concept. So they are going about their business by inventing better batterties, ones that will weigh less, are smaller, offer more usable power, and charge quicker. And a Dutch firm has re-invented highways with solar powered glow-in-the-dark surfaces... Read more

What does it cost to RV? Answer: Whatever budget you have to work with

By Bob Difley A lot of new and wannabee RVers ask “What does RVing cost?” Of course, that is a question that–depending on how you look at it–either has no answer or has infinitive answers.  My approach to that in my classes and writing has always been to define what the individual asking the question means by RVing. There is a whole lot of cost difference between the young family that invested in a second-hand pop-up tent trailer and the retired couple that sold their mega-mansion and invested in a rig designed for fulltiming. And fulltiming here is their definition–something as close to their standard of living as they can get in an RV. That might be a 45 foot luxury motorhome built on a Peterbilt truck chassis and memberships in the fanciest (and pricest) RV golf resorts. If that defines you, congratulations. Money and income is probably not a consideration for you since you likely have enough to support such an RV lifestyle. But for the rest of us, the answer to how-much-does-RVing-cost lies within the definition of your version of RVing. If you enjoy–and plan on continuing–eating out in the country’s restaurants, your food cost will be substantially higher than if you shopped for local fresh foods in farmers’ markets, roadside produce and fruit stands, and U-pick orchards and prepared your own meals in your RV kitchen. The same comparison would be those for whom reading is an important complement to their RV lifestyle,... Read more

Your RV is your passport to a campsite free of the political cacophony

By Bob Difley Turn on your radio or TV anytime between now and November and you will likely get an earful of politics. I’ve already had enough of presidential year politics as I’m sure many of you non-political junkies have also. But I have a solution, an antidote to the flow of political tirade. Go boondocking. I’m not just talking hyperbole here either. Back in 1996 when Bob Dole ran against Bill Clinton My wife and I decided we had had enough and decided to leave the civilized and noisy world behind until after the election. So we did what many RVers do, we headed for the back country, far enough away from TV and radio reception to be tempted to tune in, and  we were pretty much alone in our Shangri-La until we emerged following the election. Boondocking is now difficult, and is an effective way to get out of range of the frantic media barrage of the outer world. The difficulty in boondocking is extending the length of time you can stay away from your support systems–electricity, water, waste disposal–before you are forced to re-enter the civilized world. But it can–and is–being done by lots of RVers who have discovered how to live off the grid and enjoy the world of nature away from the world of humans. Most of what it takes is already a part of your RV. Electricity is solved by batteries, water by a large on-board fresh water tank, and waste disposal with two holding tanks. But to stay out as long as we do requires some additions.... Read more

How to live the RV Lifestyle in turbulent and unsettled times

By Bob Difley Two Fridays ago the stock market fell to its lowest point this year, then rallied the following Monday to regain the losses, resembling a yo-yo more than a retirement investment stategy. Bank failures and massive debt from Spain, Greece, Portugal, and Italy threaten to send the EU into another recession, endangering the Euro as the common European currency. American partisan political bickering and head-in-the-sand politicians prevent even the most benign of bills from making their way through Congress, and jobs are hard to come by, wages are down, and the economic growth forecast for the next few years is modest at best. Add to that the newest finding by an international panel of 22 scientists and researchers from five countries that population growth, carbon dioxide from fossil fuels, decreasing sea life populations, rising shorelines foretelling the engulfment of coastal populations, and a seemingly endless list of the earth’s problems (tornadoes, hurricanes, drought, wildfires) attributable to climate change will require huge expenditures from already cash-strapped and struggling governments to invest in infrastructure,  energy creation, and myriad other measures to solve earth’s crises. Does it leave you wondering what will come along next to threaten our very existence on this fragile planet? Fortunately, when times are tough–as they are now and will likely continue–we RVers (humbly admitting to be some of the wisest, most innovative,... Read more

Keep your fresh food stores safe from microscopic creepy crawlies

By Bob Difley Developed nations such as the USA and Canada have strict laws governing the handling of food from the pickers in the fields through the processors to the canners or baggers. Handling of livestock is also controlled and inspected from the time it leaves the ranch or feeding pens until it ends up in the meat counter or in plastic wrap in the supermarket. But as you all too often read in the news, food bugs (not the kind you can see) still get by the most stringent inspections and into our foods. While most of us are familiar with and have confidence in our local food suppliers, we unfortunately can’t tell when foods contain something that will make us sick. Whether you purchase food from a major supermarket supplied by big agribusiness producers or from the back of a farmer’s truck at a local farmers’ market you can’t tell what pathogens might sneak through. Boondockers must be especially careful in the handling and storing of fresh foods when stocking up before a trip,  some of it hidden from view until discovered when the storage area empties out, often having been subjected to a wide fluctuation between heat and cold. We also often keep foods beyond the safe date since if we’re camped out in the boonies we can’t just pop down to the market to replace questionable items—and we are often a distance from medical care as well if we do get food poisoning. We also might be a bit stingy in using wash and rinse water on dinnerware and cooking utensils... Read more

Let’s Talk NOOK !

Let’s Talk NOOK ! Recently I wrote an article about the Amazon Kindle (one appropriately if unimaginatively titled Let’s Talk KINDLE !). The crux of my essay was that e-readers are the best thing to hit RV’s since flush toilets. There are many e-readers available for your purchasing pleasure. One of the most popular rhymes with “book.” Why did I choose to focus on Kindle? Conspiracy theories abound. Am I biased? Have I loaded up our investment portfolio on AMZN? Or am I merely an Amazon fanboy who wears Jeff Bezos pajamas? Nah. While I may be a bit of an Amazon fanboy, I wrote about Kindle because Amazon is currently KING KONG of the e-reader world. Yes, if recent sales figures are to be believed, Amazon is now perched on a skyscraper high above E-Reader Metropolis with Fay Wray sitting on its lap. Or is that Jeff Bezos in a dress? Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in a dress? This is wrong on many levels. Anyway, with Kindles selling faster than mouse ears at Disney World, it’s good to be King Kong. But if there’s a pesky swarm of biplanes on the horizon, it’s the Barnes & Noble NOOK. The author's book on his wife's NOOK. The Nook is a series of e-reader devices sold by everyone’s favorite brick-and-mortar bookstore behemoth. These range from inexpensive e-ink readers (Nook Simple Touch) to more robust tablets (Nook Color & Nook Tablet). You can buy Nooks online, in 90,000-square-foot bookstores, in shady back alleys,... Read more

Meet the GO! by SylvanSport

At SylvanSport, a Brevard, North Carolina-based startup company, Tom Dempsey and his team of designers set out to put the cool back into pop-up campers. Tom Dempsey sits inside a GO camper with a customer's two dogs, Diggidy and Gertie. The GO pop up camper, built by Sylvan Sport, is a highly engineered 800-pound camper that can carry extra outdoor equipment such as canoes and bicycles and be towed by a small car. (Credit: citizen-times.com) As an entrepreneur, Dempsey saw an opportunity to make camping, already a relatively affordable vacation option, more comfortable for a new generation, reported the Asheville Citizen-Times. They came up with the Go, an 800-pound lightweight but solidly constructed platform that turns into a spacious living quarters that you can tow behind a Prius, instead of a huge pickup. The Go is billed as “Mobile Adventure Gear” rather than a trailer, which brings to mind the old-fashioned aluminum box on wheels. “Pop-up campers are part of the entry-level RV world, which hasn’t really changed in the last 40 years,” Demspey said. “We wanted to take the pop-up camper out of the RV world into the REI world.” The Go has proved a hit with enthusiasts eager to drive cross-country to Brevard to pick up their $8,000 campers, ordered online. Dempsey sees “a massive paradigm shift away from SUVs and big trucks to more compact cars, but people still want to play even if they own a Prius, so we hitched our wagon to a trend to more efficient vehicles.” Dempsey... Read more

Another Step Closer to a Flying Motorhome?

A flying motorhome may be part of our new reality sooner than you think—or at least we can all dream. It’s another day, and another flying car. Hopes of the Age of the Flying Car were recently renewed with news that the Terrafugia Transition® Roadable Aircraft was deemed roadworthy by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Artists's conception of myCopter Flying Car. (Crecit: mycopter.eu) Now, another flying car is in the limelight, bringing the possibility of Personal Aerial Vehicles (PAVs) even closer to reality. So are we really approaching an era of flying cars? A new vehicle with the creative name of myCopter is being touted as a solution to the ever present problem of road congestion. The European Union is investing €4.2 million (US$6.2 million) to investigate the possibility of introducing PAVs into the skies of Europe’s most congested cities. The idea is for myCopter to attempt to solve the numerous problems that could potentially arise from futuristic flying cars. This coming age of the “flying car” where vehicles leave the roads and launch into the skies promises to solve problems like dramatically rising urban traffic congestion, but it also throws up some formidable challenges that the myCopter project attempts to address. According to Prof Heinrich Bülthoff of the Max Plank Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tubingen, Germany, the project aims “to develop technologies that could be used to form a new transportation system... Read more

Boondocking 101: How to find those boondocking campsites you keep hearing about

By Bob Difley Camping comfortably without hookups was the subject of last week’s post, so today let’s look at ways to find the boondocking campsites you keep hearing about but whose actual locations remain vague and illusive. It’s not that boondockers are obsessively secretive about their favorite places and dueling with broadswords to secure possession, they mostly just don’t want to publicize them to the whole world. The point to keep in mind is that where there is a boondocking campsite  there will be others nearby–and there is always room for one more rig. That said, there are logical steps to follow to find boondocking areas (called “dispersed camping” areas by federal agencies) and campsites. Stop at visitor centers and chambers of commerce for area or state maps that show recreational lands, such as maps with colored shading to designate where the various public lands are located or check online at the forest service’s website (more on that below). Then visit the BLM, Forest Service, or other federal office or ranger station for more specific maps of dispersed camping areas. Ask for a list of the campgrounds in the area also, most of which will be dry-camping and can be quite nice, though not as private as boondocking on open land, and they will likely charge a fee, though modest compared to RV resorts. The office personnel or rangers (better) can give you more detail on the access road, terrain, size and number of sites,... Read more

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