Before you start making your RV travel plans for the next camping season, you’ll want to listen to this week’s interview about a great resource for finding the perfect spot in public campgrounds. From state parks and out of the way municipal spots to outstanding boondocking campsites in state and national forests or other wilderness areas, our guest Ted Houghton of ultimatecampgrounds.com has a resource that will truly help you find the ultimate camping spot in 2018. That’s coming up in our interview of the week in this episode.
Also this week, great RV tips, travel ideas, news affecting RVs and, of course, your comments and questions.
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Show Notes for Episode #167 Nov. 22, 2017 of Roadtreking – The RV Podcast:
WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK [spp-timestamp time=”2:10″]
We share our Thanksgiving plans and talk about what parts of the RV Lifestyle we live that we are most thankful for over the past year. There are free entry days on Black Friday in state parks in several states. Indiana, Minnesota, Oregon, New York, Arizona, Washington, California, Missouri, Michigan… here’s a link to the ones we’ve heard about https://gearjunkie.com/get-outside-black-friday-freebies-state-parks
We update Bo’s progress after six weeks of obedience training. So far…so good!
We talk about the big Recreation Vehicle Industry Association Trade Show coming up next week in Louisville and our plans to ask the questions and find the info our readers, listeners and YouTube viewers want us to dig out for them from the show.
This portion of the Podcast is brought to you by Campers Inn, the RVer’s trusted resource for over 50 years, the nation’s largest family-operated RV dealership with 19 locations and growing
JENNIFER'S TIP OF THE WEEK [spp-timestamp time=”13:22″]
We received a great tip from a listener named Anne who emailed us two tips this week.
The first tip has to do with wet towels and where to hang them.
What Anne did was to purchase one of those tension bars that people use for closet organizers or even sometimes bathroom shower curtains. Ann set hers up across the back of the bathroom in the RV.
She says she set it about an inch from the wall and that it is perfect for hanging those wet towels. They dry perfectly, she says…and out of the way.
A second tip involves something available in various places like Bed, Bath and Beyond, Walmart and even some of those dollar stores. What she did was buy sock dividers. They’re normally used to keep socks neat in a drawer. But Ann uses them in her RV kitchen cabinet to keep drinking and wine glasses from falling over. Now, she says, everything arrives intact.
Thanks Anne for sharing those great tips
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.
I love hearing from you!
Jennifer's tip of the week is brought to you by RadPower Bikes ,an electric bike manufacturer offering direct to consumer pricing on powerful premium electric bikes. Now with free shipping
LISTENER QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK [spp-timestamp time=”17:33″]
Sue has a comment on how hard to is to find a service tech for an RV and wants to know what can be done about it. We comment.
Sandra wants to know about where to find resources about boondocking in Canada. We refer her to boondockerswelcome.com, which has nearly 300 spots listed on their handy membership site. Also ultimatecampgrounds.com. We interview the man behind that site in a few minutes but he lists more than 4,000 great spots to camp in Canada, many of them perfect for boondockers. He even has an app devoted just to Canadian public campgrounds. We also like and are a member ourselves of HarvestHosts.com. They have more than 570 farms and wineries where you can camp for free in the U,S. and Canada. Also in Ontario, there’s mostly free camping on Crown land and conservation reserves, free to Canadian citizens for up to21 days – see https://www.ontario.ca/page/camping-crown-land
First of all, let me tell you how much I enjoy your Roadtreking Newsletter. I have learned a lot of tips from the two of you. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
My wife, Eileen, and I are the proud owners of a new RoadTrek Agile. We took delivery of her in early October. Although I have driven her around town and on two overnight outings, our first real road trip will be in mid-January when we will take off to Florida for several weeks or more. Lake Superior and beyond.
We live in the Twin City area of Minnesota. I anticipate it will take us three days to drive out of the freeze belt when we leave on our trip in January (we tend to only want to drive for about 6 hours/day). When I purchased the Agile, I had the dealer install heat pads on the bottom of the potable water tank, the grey water tank, and the black water tank. I can turn those on until we get out of the cold weather to keep the contents of the tanks from freezing. However, the water lines themselves are not insulated. Is there a way to insulate them? Do I need to worry about the pipes freezing during the day as we drive down the road and at night when we are stopped? The unit is currently winterized. Would I be wise to wait until we are out of the freeze belt before I de-winterize it and fill the water tanks? Likewise, do I want to winterize it again before I re-enter the freeze belt on our return trip? – Dave Baker
We answer… recommending he stay winterized until it gets warm and then re-winterize when its time to return home
Sponsoring this part of the podcast is Van City RV Bringing You the largest Inventory of class B’ RVs with locations St. Louis, Missouri; Las Vegas, Nevada; Kalispell, Montana and now… Colorado Springs, Colorado..
INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK [spp-timestamp time=”31:57″]
Our guest today is Ted Houghton, who has created a website that we believe is the most comprehensive and accurate resource you will find that lists public campgrounds of all types, in Canada and the US.
Ted has a great resource for finding the perfect spot in public campgrounds.
From state parks and out of the way municipal spots to outstanding boondocking campsites in state and national forests or other wilderness areas, Ted can truly help you find the ultimate camping spot in 2018.
His website is ultimatecampgrounds.com
Apps are available for all major platforms.
The interview of the week is brought to you by SunshinestateRVs.com, where every new or used Roadtrek motorhome is delivered to the customer free, anywhere in the country
At Sunshine State RV’s you’ll find the largest selection of some of the rarest Class B RVs in the United States of America. If you are looking for a Class B RV, you need to make a trip to Sunny Florida. Our RVs range from 1990 to our current year and everything in between. They also carry the most popular brands like Roadtrek, Pleasure Way, Winnebago, Leisure Travel, and more. You will not find a wider selection anywhere else.
Every RV they sell has been through a very thorough 172-point inspection in which the ensure that all the mechanical and manual systems are in top condition. Every RV is road tested to make sure it runs and drives the way that it should. They go over the interior components just as entirely as the outside, and every component is turned on and tested to make sure it works. All of their used RVs are thoroughly cleaned and detailed inside and out, and they even check the roof for cracks and replace any silicone caulking.
TRAVELING TECH TIP [spp-timestamp time=”49:02″]
By Steve Van Dinter
Verizon Wireless
This year I want you and your listeners to own the holiday season. And with a little planning along with the following apps, you’ll be well on your way to doing just that!
First up…gift giving. It can be a pain to think up gift ideas or to remember what you got your special someone especially if you’ve been buying over the course of the year. That’s why I love the Gift Planner app for iOS and Christmas Gift List app for Android. Both of these free apps let you set a budget and stick to it. As you buy gifts just note who they’re for and the price in the app and you’ll see how much is left to spend. Easy as that!
Next up…my favorite part…saving money!
I’ve got a couple of great websites that also have free Android and iOS apps.
On the top of that list for me is DealNews.com. This site is great for gift ideation as you see what’s currently on sale in all sorts of categories from electronics to health and beauty. It’s a great way to get some ideas especially for the person that has everything. Be careful though as the deals are so tempting you may walk away with something for yourself as well!
And when you know what you want or where you plan to shop, I’ve got one more site for you to check out – RetailMeNot.com. Let’s say you want to pick something up at the Gap, for instance. Just go to the site and type in Gap – you just might be surprised to find coupon codes that will save you 10% or more on your purchase. It’s not going to have something for you every time but definitely worth checking out before you press the buy button.
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 – Bronner’s in Frankenmuth [spp-timestamp time=”54:38″]
Bronner’s is America’s Christmas store. You’ve probably seen the billboards urging you to visit them all across the country. They are located in Frankenmuth Michigan, about an hour and a half north of Detroit.
The store is called America’s Christmas Wonderland and as soon as you walk inside, the sights and sounds and spirit of Christmas will surround and overwhelm you.
The store is huge – the size of one and a half football fields. They have over 50,000 gift items, trims and decorations.
It is the largest Christmas store in America, first opened in 1945.
And it's crowded, especially at this time of the year. Over the three-day Black Friday weekend, 50,000 people will have shopped at Bronner's.
Bronner's and Frankenmuth make for a great RV trip. There are two fully equipped campgrounds within spitting distance of the store. They are, alas, closed this time of the year. But there are lots of RV spaces in the Bronner’s parking lot, although no overnight stays are allowed. The store is open every day of the year except Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day and Easter Sunday.
A few years ago, we drove our RV up to Bronners and had it decorated in what turned out to be a really fun story. Here’s a link to it on our RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube – https://youtu.be/6-O_EOb8XAY
This part of the podcast is sponsored by Steinbring Motorcoach, Roadtrek’s newest dealer and a third generation family business in Minnesota’s beautiful Chain of Lakes region built on quality motorhomes and excellent pricing and service.
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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:
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
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