RV Navigator Episode 49

Mon, 1 Mar 2010 10:16:26 -0600

Waiting, waiting, waiting in the RGV for the weather to finally warm enough to hit the road. We have many plans for travel in Texas, but this winter has been cold even here, so we are waiting until El NIno gets through with winter.

Mid month we headed off to west Texas and Big Bend National Park. We wanted to give this area enough time - no rushing the itinerary so we scheduled 2 weeks for the NP and associated state parks. In retrospect, this was plenty of time for us. If you were a avid hiker, birder or similar sport enthusiast, then more time might be necessary. Our plans were two camping sites in the park and then on to the Davis mountains to the north. We managed to drive most of the improved roads and some 4 wheelin' roads as well as see all of the major sights in a week. The second week was spent a bit north visiting Marfa, Alpine, McDonald Observatory, and Fort Davis.

Our overwhelming feeling was one of isolation and desolation of this area. Small towns (usually less than 1000 population) and scattered ranches make up most of this area. Whole counties with less than 5000 population are the norm in the west Texas region. For us urbanites, this feels like nowhere. Cell phones are useless, stores as we know them are hundreds of miles away, fuel and life's essentials are very expensive. Our satellite internet and TV kept us connected everywhere - no trees on this landscape, so we did feel connected. However, there was no local TV or even radio. We are now back in the Dallas area, restocked and replenished.

This episode has many interesting topics - many that our listeners have brought up. We try to discuss some interesting articles that we have found in addition to interviewing one of our listeners in the Chicago area via Skype.
We appreciate your comments and suggestions both by email (navigator@rvnavigator.com) and on our listener comment phone line, 815/230-0772. Also send us your rig photos for inclusion on the "rig photos" page. There are many new rigs represented so send yours in now.

RV Navigator Episode 48

Mon, 1 Feb 2010 13:52:13 -0600

After a wintery drive down to the southern tip of Texas along the Rio Grande, we have parked for the entire month of January. We have learned that January is just not a month for travel. It is a month for sitting in someplace that should be warm and waiting until winter begins to clear out. The weather during the past month has born this out. Storms have rolled across the US causing major travel problems (as you probably know). The weather here in the RGV (Rio Grande Valley) has been less than perfect, but nothing like the rest of the country. Just a few hundred miles north the ice and snow made travel a problem. So, we are glad to be south but staying put for the month was a good strategy.
The south Texas RV show was small but showed us a few new idea in the RVing landscape. Predictions are that RV sales will be up 20% this year. Hopefully this will boost confidence in the RV world and lead to new product and increased orders. Based on our observations here in Texas, campgrounds are not full and prices are up. Texas is still a bargain, but we see plenty of empty campsites in all types of campgrounds.

In this podcast we spend some time thinking about the meaning of retirement and how to remain active. This was prompted by Bernie and Red, two performers in the RGV, (http://bernieandred.com) who have a song titled “Enjoy Yourself”. To paraphrase, it is later than you think so get busy and live your life. Does this hit home to you?

We were lucky enough to get an interview with Donna and Grant, a couple who have been full timing since 1993. They talk about 15 years of life on the road as well as their decision to buy a RV lot here in RGV. They just finished building the casita which will expand the floor space while using the new campsite.

Also included in this episode are a variety of stories and news items that we found interesting. We appreciate your comments and suggestions both by email (navigator@rvnavigator.com) and on our listener comment phone line, 815/230-0772. Also send us your rig photos for inclusion on the "rig photos" page. There are many new rigs represented so send yours in now.

RV Navigator Episode 47

Fri, 1 Jan 2010 16:04:04 -0600

Our desire to head south for the winter months always seems to be in peril as we try to anticipate the cold weather. We are once again on the road to Texas for the next couple of months, if we can get started. The RVs batteries were dead - yes both sets. Why, we don’t know, but this required a bit of creative charging (there is no electricity where it is parked) to get it running. This was just the first step in a 1500 mile trip. The actual drive south was another adventure which we describe in the podcast.

Of course by the time we reached the south we had bugs on the windshield. Just something else that needed to clean off. Sometimes its snow, other times its bugs.

Oh, yes, the podcast, made on New Years Eve was kind of a private celebration at the end of a successful journey. December 31 found us just pulling in to our destination campground where we would be for over a month. We broke out the bubbly and did the podcast and shared our New Years Eve with you. We hope that by the end we were still coherent and talking about RV topics.

Of course in addition to talking about our own exploits, we shared many thoughts about the changes in RVing and our views of the next RVing decade. Below is a list of links to the topics on this months podcast.

We appreciate your comments and suggestions both by email (navigator@rvnavigator.com) and on our listener comment phone line, 815/230-0772. Also send us your rig photos for inclusion on the "rig photos" page. There are many new rigs represented so send yours in now.

RV Navigator Episode 46

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Merry Christmas and Happy Thanksgiving from your RV Navigators.

Oh, yes we are on the road again but not in the RV. After a cold couple of weeks in Northern Europe to begin the trip, we have made our way to Rome and points south as we head eventually for Ft Lauderdale and home in mid-December. We landed in Munich just after the last podcast to visit our friend Hartmut and his family. This was a return visit after many years away and a heart-felt reunion. Then via the very fast autobahn, we drove to Vienna (about 5 hrs) for a few day. Then on to Rome where we were to pick up the first leg of our cruise.
Rome in November?? It's on the same latitude as Chicago. However the weather was very cooperative with temps in the mid 60s and sunny everyday. This weather has held for the entire month of November so we have been very pleased with our decision to travel at this time of year.

This months podcast was made while on our cabin balcony during a sea day. It was an ideal day at sea, smooth seas and warm temps.
We have lots of RVing new as this topic is never far from our minds. We actually found another RVing couple from AZ with which to share experiences. They had just downsized from a 38ft Class A to a new B+ motorhome. Would you make this switch?

The saga of the new tires for the motorhome has finally ended with a new set of 6 MIchelins. How are the tires on your RV? How old are they? Ours only had 40,000 miles but needed to be replaced. Too much sun and time had caused deterioration

Christmas is on our minds so we have some suggestions for RV oriented gifts. Can you add to our list? Send us an email for some belated suggestions.
We have the usually funny RV segments as well as other RV industry news so give this episode a listen and then send us some feed back.

We appreciate your comments and suggestions both by email (navigator@rvnavigator.com) and on our listener comment phone line, 815/230-0772. Also send us your rig photos for inclusion on the "rig photos" page. There are many new rigs represented so send yours in now.

RV Navigator Episode 45

Sun, 1 Nov 2009 11:08:41 -0600

Despite the very cold and rainy October in the midwest, we did get away for a short weekend of RVing with some new friends who have just purchased a new 2009 motorhome. You'll hear about the purchase and their impressions in an interview we conducted while on the road in Indiana.

I have had requests for the webpages that we used most often when RVing. I have created a new page on this website that will get you started with some of my favorite links. I am focused on quality rather than quantity, so this list is not comprehensive. However, I think you'll each of sites is best in class for their category.
Have you "moded" your RV? We are always looking for step by step mods for customizing our motorhome, so we have revisited the RV Mods website for some ideas.
We have also made some hardware updates this month with the purchase of a Kindle from Amizon. The co-pilot is tired of carrying arm loads of books to keep her busy during our travels, so she invested in a Kindle. This is version 2 so has several improvements over the original. This along with the iPhones will keep our lengthy travels more interesting.
Speaking of the iPhone and satellites (yes, I was), the newest app for me is the satellite finder. This app super imposes satellite positions over a live picture of your campsite. Where to park to get connected will be much easier with this app for the iPhone.
We alson take the RV Trivia Challenge -live - during the podcast. Ten easy questions about RVing for those who have been RVing for 30 years. Well, they turn out to be not so easy - we missed 3. How will you do?

This episode is nearly an hour long - sorry but the interview and our usual comments just could not be editied further. You'll be glad to know that I did edit over 10 minutes out of the originals.
Next months episode may be either early or late due to travel schedules. We are headed overseas where we cannot always depend on good connections for uploading our content. Rest assured we will make every effort to be timely with the next episode.

We appreciate your comments and suggestions both by email (navigator@rvnavigator.com) and on our listener comment phone line, 815/230-0772. Also send us your rig photos for inclusion on the "rig photos" page. There are many new rigs represented so send yours in now.

Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com or use the comment hot line 815/230-0772.