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

RVers with Special Needs

Many people with special needs find that they can travel in comfort and convenience in an RV. More than a dozen manufacturers offer RVs and conversion vans with features such as wheelchair lifts or ramps, roll-under sinks, and lower kitchen counters and cabinets. Additional information on services for travelers with disabilities is available at the following locations: RV.net forum: RVing with Disabilities and General Health Issues Travelin’ Talk Network Woodalls GoRVing.com Search the Web using “handicapped accessible RV.” Visit www.rv-info.net. Click on the Specialty Vehicles link at the bottom of the home page. Visit www.access-able.com, a Web site dedicated to mature and disabled travelers. Click to the Links page, then click on Transportation for further leads on whom to contact to rent accessible vans and motorhomes. Read more  Read More →

Your Body, Time for Scheduled Maintenance.

This time of year most of us are planning on getting our campers and Tow vehicles or toads in shape for camping.  We are changing oil and putting in new batteries and cleaning awnings and all the other stuff to get ready for the spring, summer camping season.   One of the biggest things that we forget to do is take the time and get ourselves checked out.  Think of it this way, you wouldn’t expect your camper to tow well (or safely) with the wheels damaged or tires bald would you?  Well, how to you think you can safely camp if your own wheels (legs) are having problems? So I would like to encourage all of you to go see your doctor and have a check up.  Think of it as your ten-thousand mile maintenance for your body.  But what most of us don’t know is how to approach a check up.  To be honest, most of us are afraid of our doctors.  Folks, they are just people too…. Heck, some of them even like to camp; ask them you maybe surprised.  But how do you get the most out of your doctors visit? Read more  Read More →

Moving and Preexisting Conditions.

First off, I want to say to my readers (if any of you remember me) that I am sorry I haven’t written anything lately.  Life outside of camping and RV.Net sometimes takes all of your time.  So, let me tell you what has happened to me in real life.  As some of you know, we have been looking for a new house out in the country (we like camping so it should follow we like the country).  We had several near misses and looked at some wonderful and beautiful homes.  It seemed that when we found a nice piece of land, we didn’t like the house and, when we liked the house, the land was less than wonderful.  Still we found several that we liked but could never come to terms.  However late in November that changed, we found a three bedroom farm house on 11 1/2 acres.  We made a very reasonable offer, and, almost to our surprise, it was quickly accepted.  Which was nice because we were having storage and other problems at our old place and wanted to move quickly.  Now I hadn’t purchased property in many years, and found some of the new government rules and regulations to be very, very confusing as well as well as having to play the mortgage percentage game! But to make a long story short, we started MOVING Thanksgiving weekend, for us it was truly Thanksgiving!  So, that is when we lost our internet connection.  But the following Monday my real problems began.   As some of you know, I hunt, and I was out on the first day of buck season with my daughter.  While... Read more

Our Grand Adventure and Parking the Rig

RV Parking “on the Road” Our Grand Adventure is moving along swimmingly. We have traveled from the Pacific Northwest down the magnificent coastline to Southern California. But a common problem with a big RV is parking. In a lot of the National Forest campgrounds, we are too big. In California, a number of the State Park campgrounds have signs, “No Trailers or Motorhomes”. That is, in the ones that are open during the winter. In California, posted rest areas allow overnight “rest”, not camping. Scenic overlooks are posted, “no overnight parking or camping”. However, in the National Forest along CA Pacific Coast Rte 1, a National Forest site host, with only short RV options available and night upon us, suggested to park in an overlook. So the rules appear to be different on federal land. We had an experience the other day while visiting the town of Solvang, CA, that took the fine edge off a visit to their unique town. Solvang is a Danish-themed village founded in the early 1900’s as a base for a Danish school. The town is unique in its architecture, typical of what would be found in Denmark. Delightful shops and restaurants line the streets and invite tourists. Solvang spends a good deal of money on advertising and for the most part the town lives up to its advertising. However, we encountered an attitude among a few of its inhabitants that left a bad taste. I am not sure how you do your snooping and sightseeing when on the... Read more

Are you ready for the unexpected??

From the desk of Firedude My last blog was regarding RV’ing/Full-timing and your health. This one is a spin off from that. In this blog I want to make sure potential full-timers and others are aware of unexpected and possible “hidden’ costs. It even drives home the point of pre-planning your full-timing and when you do your budgeting be sure to have some offset funds to provide for the unexpected. These unexpected things can put a dent in things as I have found out. It really applies to all RV’ers and not just full-timers. Those taking extended trips can be affected as well. I had explained in my book about my medical encounters while Full-timing in regards to the tumor in my neck that had to be removed and my wife’s cancer all of which was overcame successfully thank God. I had a pretty good nest egg before all this and thankfully so as it helped defray the huge medical bills encounter. I can’t emphasize enough about planning and having the ability to adapt and overcome in the full-timing world since it is ever so dynamic and things can change in an instant just as they can living the conventional lifestyle. being on the road makes it even more important! Ca you handle such unexpected things on the road? you betcha you can as I’ve explained in my book. Be prepared for the unexpected financial surprises. Have a plan. I was recently diagnosed with a form of skin cancer which will require surgery in a couple weeks. Just when I thought all... Read more

Full-timing, RV’ing and your health!

From the desk of Firedude In this blog I’ll discuss the issues of health and well being specifically with full-timers, but it really applies to everyone. I can’t stress the importance of regular checkups such as your annual physicals ect. It’s so easy to retire and venture out into the world of full-timing, traveling, seeing the sites and all the lifestyle has to offer and slough off the importance of these checkups just because you happen to feel OK so many feel there’s no need. WRONG! Read more  Read More →

Can you identify a Stroke?

First I want to apologize to my readers, we have been working on finding and buying a house and have had several close calls but came up short on each of them for one reason or another. We do have to be out of our apartment very soon or suffer a major rent increase, so much so that we have stepped up looking to a fevered pitch and even started packing, and this has caused me to miss several weeks of articles. I do want to report that we have found a nice place (old farm house that has been remodeled) out in the country with 10 acres and once again (cross your fingers!), barring any unforeseen problems, we should have our Own place shortly! And it even has a garage big enough to store the camper in it; we just have to put another door in it! Now back to our regularly scheduled articles on health and safety! Today I want to talk about a problem that is becoming more common as we start to have an older population, that is of strokes. In the medical profession, we call them CVA or Cerebral Vascular Accidents. Most of us fear being left with the crippling after-effects, or maybe I am speaking only for myself. But know this, in today’s world, there are more treatments than were possible even just a few years ago. But what is a stroke or CVA? Well, there are two types. First, let us begin with the most dangerous type which is the least treatable; it is called the Hemorrhagic Stroke. This occurs when a blood vessel in the brain breaks and begins bleeding (or hemorrhaging... Read more

Heat Stroke…it isn’t just for the elderly.

Last week we talked about Heat exhaustion, and I recieved some private messages that went something along the lines of well this is an old folks’ problem, so I don’t have to worry about it. Sorry devoted readers, what I was trying to express was that the very young and the older/out of shape people are more at risk, BUT young and health people can easily suffer from it, too. All it takes is to start to deplete the body’s store of fluids and electrolytes and not be able to properly cool the body either because of heat and humidity or physical activity. Today, we are going to go beyond heat exhaustion and talk about Heat Stroke. Remember, with heat exhaustion, the body, if replenished with fluids and electrolytes and cooled, could recover itself. Heat Stroke has gone beyond that. Often the body can not recover on its own and is not able to cool on it’s own either. True Heat stroke victims have lost the ability to sweat; they may still be clammy but are not sweating, and the body’s temperature is climbing rapidly to dangerous levels. But to learn more, let’s follow the continued below link …. Read more  Read More →

Family Fun in South Dakota, part two

(continued from last week) You can’t go to the Black Hills without seeing Mt. Rushmore.  Honestly, it was probably the one place I was the least excited to see.  It was on the list because I felt like I had to see it.  But once we got there and I was walking down the avenue of flags and got my first glimpse of the presidents, I was overwhelmed with pride and emotion.  Quite a moving experience.  There is a very nice museum on-site with some fun interactive activities for the kids.  If possible, I recommend visiting at least twice.  During the day when the sun is high is a great time for taking close up pictures.  You can even hike around a bit.  In the evening there is a nightly lighting ceremony which we all really enjoyed.  In the end, we ended up visiting or driving by Mt. Rushmore 5 different times that week, and I couldn’t look away each time.  We were there during the 4th of July holiday and seeing the fireworks over the mountain was amazing. Crazy Horse Memorial- this is another must see, in my opinion.  Although nowhere near completion, it is a huge project that one family has dedicated their whole lives to.  You can learn more about it during the short film shown on a loop in the main building.  There is a very nice Indian museum and a gift shop where you can buy locally made pottery.  Every night there is a laser light show set to music which the kids loved.  Well worth the admission/donation price.  There is also a snack shop and ice cream... Read more

Next Page »