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Episode 108: On Your Fall Camping Trips, Look Up at the Night Sky!

| Updated Oct 5, 2016

In this episode of the podcast Jennifer offers some resources to help you appreciate those dark October skies. There are meteor showers you should be able to see on several days this month. Also this week, we field a bunch of listener questions on everything from battery-eating RV refrigerators to how to cook your meal as you travel in a crock pot.

In RV News this week, you'll hear of the harrowing tale of a Montana man who survived a horrible attack from a grizzly bear and took a selfie video before somehow driving himself to the hospital.

Click the player to Listen Now or scroll down through the show note details and resources and click the player below to start listening. When you see a time code hyperlink, you can click it to jump directly to that segment of the podcast.

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Show Notes for Episode #108 October 5, 2016 of Roadtreking – The RV Lifestyle Podcast:

Mike and Jennifer begin by updating everyone on where they are and whats been happening, including:

  • Their upcoming trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula [spp-timestamp time=”2:11″]
  • Planning our travels and preparing meals ahead of time [spp-timestamp time=”3:38″]
  • How Anytime Fitness has cancelled a great benefit they use to extend through a program called Silver Sneakers [spp-timestamp time=”6:29″]
  • Jennifer’s new iPhone 7 and update on the Samsung Note 7, which Mike had no idea would be as “hot” as he predicted. [spp-timestamp time=”8:25″]
  • They shared a note from a couple who has found the RV lifestyle to provide much needed relaxation and relief from a chronic pain condition [spp-timestamp time=”10:17″]

This part of the podcast brought to you by RadPower Bikes (www.RadPowerBikes.com_… an electric bike manufacturer offering direct to consumer pricing on powerful premium electric bikes.

JENNIFER'S TIP OF THE WEEK – Look at the Night Sky in October

One of my favorite things about fall camping is viewing the night sky. When you get away from all that light pollution and look up, it is just amazing. [spp-timestamp time=”14:17″]

If you feel the same way, then be sure and get out there to do some camping this month. October is a month with several special events for amateur star gazers.

Oct. 8 is International Observe the Moon and Astronomy Day. Amateur astronomy clubs throughout the country have special events. We’ll out up a link to all the different events around the country on the shownotes for this episode.

Or, if you are near a city with a science center or planetarium, give them a call because chances are a special event is scheduled for that night – many for free. It is worth checking out.

Also three different meteor showers will be visible this month – on Oct. 8, Oct. 10 and Oct. 21. There’s a special NASA site that we’ll link to that has descriptions of the showers, and the moon phases.

One thing I'm hoping to see when we head up to the Porcupine Mountains gathering in Michigan’s remote Upper Peninsula next week is the Zodiacal Lights. This special, pyramid-like bright phenomena is visible October 1-15. The National Geographic website has some helpful information on the Zodiacal Lights.

And, while Mike is not a professional photographer, here's a list of tips he recently shared on photographing the night sky,

You can find all the resources I just mentioned at roadtreking-dot-com-slash-108

Happy star gazing!

And be sure to send me your tips and suggestions for the RV lifestyle. You can use the “Leave Voicemail” link at Roadtreking.com. Just click it and then use the built-in microphone on your computer or mobile devise to record a message to me. You can do it over as many times as you want, until you are satisfied. And then you just click a button and it comes right to my email inbox.

If I use your tip in the podcast, we’ll send you a free Roadtreking hat!

I love hearing from you!

Jennifer's tip of the week is brought to you by Good Sam, the world's most popular RV organization, now celebrating its 50th year.

LISTENER QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK:

Ted from Washington called in from Canyonlands National Park in Utah. He has all the gadgets Mike has talked about and wants to know how to conserve his data. He suspects that the automatic computer updates he gets on his Dell laptop is the culprit. [spp-timestamp time=”18:17″]

Listener Mike’s electric refrigerator often drains his batteries. [spp-timestamp time=”22:05″]

Adam wants to know why Mike and Jennifer switched from an eTrek to a Roadtrek CS Adventurous XL [spp-timestamp time=”24:18″]

Shelly wants to find a roadmap that shows the states and Canadian provinces for RVers..[spp-timestamp time=”29:04″]     If she is looking for a sticker map that she can put on the side of her RV, we suggest the RV and Travel USA Sticker Map. It’s $32 form Amazon – amzn.to/1R1QDe0  We don’t know of one that does both the US and Canada. If she is looking for a paper Road Atlas Map, we recommend the Rand McNally Road Atlas for The US, Canada and Mexico- http://amzn.to/2cIvvvX  It contains maps of every U.S. state and Canadian province, an overview map of Mexico, and detailed inset maps of over 350 cities and 20 U.S. national parks. Road construction and conditions contact information for every state conveniently located above the maps. Contains mileage chart showing distances between 90 North American cities and national parks along with a driving times

And listener Marilyn was intrigued by our way of using a crock pot to cook our dinner while we’re driving but she wonders how we power it. [spp-timestamp time=”32:52″]

Sponsoring this part of the podcast is Van City RV in St. Louis, and their Partner Dealerships Creston RV in Kalispell, Montana, and Wagon Trail RV in Las Vegas. Bringing You the largest Inventory of class B’s from three locations.

RV BASIC TRAINING

One tool every RVer should have is a tire inflator. Recently on the blog, Roadtreking Reporters Roger and Lynn Brucker shared their favorite, the VIAir 300P from Amazon.  It costs around $150 r so, but the Bruckers say it works perfectly and has proven durable. [spp-timestamp time=”37:10″]

You can read their full report at https://rvlifestyle.com/rv-tire-inflation-go-portable-air-compressor

This part of the podcast is brought to you by Campers Inn, the nation’s largest family-operated RV dealership with 15 locations on the East Coast 

RV NEWS OF THE WEEK:

Three stories this week… [spp-timestamp time=”41:32″]

Man videos himself after being attacked by Grizzly Bear

Campers fined for being messy in Banff National park wolf country

U.S. National Park Service Not Very Popular with Congress

This portion of the podcast is brought to you by Alde  the only name in heat that you need to know for your RV

TRAVELING TECH TIP:

Verizon's Steve Van Dinter reports: [spp-timestamp time=”49:21″]

This week we’re calling all creative types!

If you know a middle or high school student with a knack for solving problems, you’re definitely going to want them to look into the Verizon Innovative Learning App Challenge.

Students just need to identify a problem in their lives or community and then come up with an idea for app that could solve that problem.

And the best part – there’s no coding required.

All they have to do is form a team of 5-7 with an adult supervisor, then create a video talking about what the problem is and how their app would solve it, and write an essay.

One middle school and one high school team from each state will be chosen as statewide winners, their school gets $5,000 and each member of the team gets a new tablet.

In addition, they are entered to become one of eight national award winners who get an additional $15,000 for their school, a trip to a conference in Florida and work with MIT’s App Inventor Group to make their app a reality!

For more information on the app challenge or to apply, visit www.verizon.com/appchallenge

Where was this when I was in school?!

This part of the podcast is brought to you by Verizon, which operates America’s most reliable wireless network, with more than 112 million retail connections nationwide.

OFF THE BEATEN PATH REPORT

Matt Fitzwater shares a great campground he and his wife discovered in Plum Tree, North Carolina. [spp-timestamp time=”53:32″]

It’s owned by a local microbrewry. It’s in a small town and near the Blue Ridge Parkway. Matt tells us about all the activities available,

Here’s a link to the property – http://www.blindsquirrelbrewery.com/

RV Calendar

RV shows that are coming up around the country this weekend… [spp-timestamp time=”56:45″]

MARVAC Fall Detroit Camper and RV Show

Oct. 5-9, 2016

Suburban Collection

Novi, MI

 

St. Johns Fall RV Show

October 6-October 9, 2016

St. Johns County Fairgrounds

Elkton, FL (USA

 

Tacoma Fall RV Show

October 6-October 9, 2016

Tacoma Dome

Tacoma, WA

 

RVIA California RV Show

October 7-October 16, 2016

Pomona Fairplex- Gate 9

Pomona, CA

For a complete list of RV shows this weekend and for the rest of the year, click here.

Please Subscribe and Give Us a Rating and Review!

Many listeners are asking how they can subscribe, review and rate the Roadtreking Podcast on iTunes. With a new podcast like this, those reviews and ratings are really important to be able to show well in the iTunes listings. So if you can, I’d sure appreciate it if you’d subscribe and leave me your review.

Here’s how:

How to subscribe, rate and review a podcast

First, open up the iTunes app on your computer or mobile device. Click on Podcasts up on the top
> From the iTunes Podcasts page, use the “Search Store” field up at the top right corner of the page. Type in Mike Wendland or Roadtreking RV Podcast.
> Click on the logo image of the Roadtreking RV Podcast on the search return page
> From there (see photo above), you can…

1) Subscribe

2) Choose and Click on a star (1-5) that reflects your rating. Five stars means you really like it, one star not so much.

3) Leave a written review.

Thanks to all for the kind reviews we’ve received so far. That got us noticed by Apple/iTunes as “New and Noteworthy.” I appreciate every review!

And remember, you can appear in future episodes. Ask a question or voice your comments about RV topics by clicking the Leave Voicemail tab on the right side of this page here at Roadtreking.com. You can then use the microphone on your computer to record your words.

Mike Wendland

Published on 2016-10-05

Mike Wendland is a multiple Emmy-award-winning Journalist, Podcaster, YouTuber, and Blogger, who has traveled with his wife, Jennifer, all over North America in an RV, sharing adventures and reviewing RV, Camping, Outdoor, Travel and Tech Gear for the past 12 years. They are leading industry experts in RV living and have written 18 travel books.

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