RV Navigator

After cruising last month, we are back on the RV trail. We embark on our trip west to meet the planned RV Caravan leaving from St. George UT. We left a few days early because the trip is almost 1700 miles from our home base in IL. Lucky we did because we had a couple of extra stops along the way to get tires fixed. As hard as we try to keep the rig in good operating condition, things still happen. We first had a flat tire on the Jeep (towed car) and then a more serious flat on the motorhome. The later breakdown took about 36 hours (and a bundle of cash) to get fixed, but we arrived in St. George in time for the caravan to begin. Our itinerary for the next month will include many iconic national parks in the Southwest including both North and South Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde, plus other scenic attractions like Moab and Monument Valley. All of this and we are only driving about 1600 miles in 31 day so these parks are all in the same general area. We share our caravan experience and tips on general RVing in this months episode. Please join us and share your experience with us on Facebook.

RV Navigator Episode 196 - Sailing the Adratic

Your RV Navigators have successfully made their way to Malta and back without incident. We enjoyed 10 days on the beautiful Viking Venus as it made it way to several ports in Croatia and then back to Malta. There were many covid protocols that were observed, but over all the experience was worth the hassle of completing the paperwork. We had to provide proof of covid testing throughout the trip both at the airports, boarders, and on the ship. Once completed, the cruise was almost normal. However with only 1/5 the ships normal passenger load, we experience great service and a sense of being on a unique cruise.

After over a year of being stationary, we finally are ready to cruise again in July. Plus we found the lost episodes from 2008 on Martha’s laptop. What’s new in streaming services, surge pricing at campgrounds, new websites and much more in this episode.

Fifteen months of restrictions and our travel world is opening once again. We traveled north back to IL for our summer stay. In addition to Ken having to upgrade his driving license (due to age) and us getting new bikes, it has been an eventful month.

Traveling North we find that the trip is fairly normal for spring season. This month we share experience of buying RVs and electricity.

We traveled from East to West to East across Florida this month. Although, traveling coast to coast is only a 3 hr drive in this part of the country, it still is a different world from our home base. This month we had the Diamond Shield removed from the MH and it looks great.

Although we are still in FL, we have gotten the second Covid vaccine shot so we should be good to go for travel when the industry opening up later in the year. Diamond Shield removal, cellular data, trip planning, Lithium batteries for the RV plus the usual nonsense are on our agenda for this months episode.

As the pandemic roars on, we look down the road to when it is history - exactly when we don't know but we can see the end (we think). We've gotten our first shot so we hope to be able to travel this year but have no solid plans until 2022. We are focused on our RV and living our stationary life in FL. There is lots of news in the RV world to share like the new adventure RVs that are popping up everywhere. What happened at the Tampa RV SuperShow? What is Diamond Shield? What is your states license plate motto? What's new with Swamp buggy tours? All of these important questions are discussed in this episode of the RV Navigator. Be sure to visit our episode website at RVNavigator.com.

RV Navigator Episode 189- Christmas under Covid 19

As the pandemic rages, we headed to FL just after the election. Our usual TG & Xmas family celebrations have been canceled, so we may as well be at least warm for the holidays. Our FL bubble is safe even though the rest of the state (both IL and FL) are having major out breaks. We intend to stay safe and not do the traditional family celebrations, so we celebrate with our listeners. Welcome to the new Thanksgiving! Our trip south slower than normal-good weather and plenty of time had us camping in southern IL - of all places. We never camp in IL, but were attracted to a COE near Rend Lake. We found this to be a very pleasurable experience for traditional camping. Fires, s’omores, hiking, all with the fall foliage backdrop - very nice. Light traffic - even in Atlanta - got to to FL without any problems. We have not found campgrounds crowded or roads full of RVs, so our travel experiences have been good. To make it through Atlanta going the speed limit is always a good experience. Once in FL, we have been doing some outdoor activities but nothing in groups or indoors. We hope this will change when a vaccine becomes available. RV wise, we have a list of gifts for your RVing companion or friend, plus lots of good info about information sources. Now that Trailer LIfe and Motorhome magazine will not be published, what alternatives do you have? Hot water heaters are a common source of misinformation so we spend some time discussing the options for hot water while traveling. All in all lots of rv news to share.

RV Navigator Episode 187- Keeping Busy in Covid Times

The north woods of Wisconsin is our destination this month as we travel the back roads in search of fall colors and cranberry harvesting. We spent time boondocking for several nights using various tools. Boondocking is camping without services, something our motorhome is well adapted to do. We can live comfortably for several days without outside connections. This has become very popular in this time of the pandemic. Social distancing is easy when boondocking. Many RVers think boondocking and Walmart camping are synonomous, but there are a wide variety of resources for those interested in boondocking. For the first time we used Boondockers Welcome website to fine and contact a private party who was willing to let us stay on their property as boondocks. We talk about this and other similar services. Photography was also on our minds as we drove the back roads looking for fall foliage. Software tips and trick are on the agenda this month. Listen for the details as well as photo tips. Alaska in 2021? Listen for our ideas on travel to Alaska. We've been twice in the RV and serval times on cruises. How should you tour our 49th state? These plus several technology related topics are on this month agenda, so take 54 minutes for a listen and let us know what you think. We appreciate iTunes reviews if you get a chance.

You’re part of the podcast revolution that is taking place in the media world. You listen to the RV Navigator! We are navigating the world of RVs with your help. We give our best travel tips for the RV life as well as suggest new lifestyle technologies. During this travel down time, I have been tracking podcasting news. Podcasts are becoming a major player in the media world earning thousands via ads. We of course have buck this trend, no sponsorship or interruptions during our show. This is unusual as most podcasters are expecting to become rich via this new medium. We’ll continue as we are until the audience is gone. We appreciate your feedback and suggestions, so keep them coming. We do recommend several apps for this episode. Martha has been recovering from shoulder surgery which has interrupted her sleep pattern. We share our impressions of AutoSleep as a tool for tracking sleep issues. It works. Does the RV size have a major impact on the places you can camp? Always the question from new RVers. Listen for our answer in this episode along with our best tips for long term RV travel. During a short camping trip to an Indiana State Park, we had to rely on video streaming rather than our usual satellite for entertainment. Find out how it worked and our suggestions on the technology. We suggest several new apps for TV watching. These plus many other topics are discussed in this episode. Be sure to visit the episode web page on the RVNavigator.com. Thanks for listening.

RV Navigator Episode 184 - A Solitary Fourth of July