RV Navigator

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RV Navigator Episode 37 - When left is right Mar 01, 2009

Show notes

Have you thought of an RV vacation in New Zealand? Hundreds of RVers are traveling to New Zealand to see the sights and enjoy the wilderness. We don't know how many are Americans, but there are "camper-vans" on every road at every major tourist attraction. Renting an RV is a very popular way to see the country, so we decided to give it a try. Over all our experiences were very positive. Although it may seem daunting to plan an itinerary for a trip in such a distant location, it really is as easy as traveling at home. The campgrounds (Holiday Parks) are good, the roads are well marked and easy to navigate and the attractions world class. Of course there are differences, but that the fun of travel outside the US. Yes, we were driving on the left, yes there are more roundabouts than anyone would believe, yes there are many one lane bridges, yes the mountain roads are narrow, but the experience makes learning these difference worthwhile. Your 4 (for this trip) RV Navigators have driven 3231 miles in their rental RVs to bring you real story. We could have done an RV Caravan where someone else does the planning, but we wanted a more customized and longer trip so we did it all ourselves. It was a smart decision and we had a great time. No tickets, accidents or mishaps marred our trip. Even the white knuckle driving was worth the scenic beauty that was at the end of the road. We chose January-February for the best weather and we were reward with some spectacular blue sky days. Although the weather is never perfect for long, on the days we needed clear skies the weather cooperated. The temperatures were mostly warm but we did need a heater on some nights even in the mid summer. The south island of New Zealand, has the mountains and water that combines to make for scenic beauty. The North island is more developed and has thermal features and beaches. Because it is in the North, it is warmer and more suited to beach vacations. Although we didn't do much swimming, the seascapes should put it on anyone must see list. This episode is rather long but we have lots to share and we hope that you'll want to travel to New Zealand after hearing it. It has been an experience getting this podcast ready for uploading, so we hope that you enjoy it. As always we appreciate your listening. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com.

RV Navigator Episode 36 - RVing Way Downunder Feb 01, 2009

Show notes

This winter we decided to head really far south, crossing the equator, dateline, hemisheres abd multiple time zones, to find a real summer experience. We landed in Auckland NZ for a month of travel via rental RV. In our case we are renting a 21ft Jayco class C, with a left hand drive diesel and manual transmission. The biggest problem with this set up is that the copilot is always getting in on the drivers side. Artie our Garmin GPS has been updated with NZ maps so is doing his usual great job of getting us around in unfamiliar territory. He has not learn how to shout "STAY LEFT" but the co-pilot is handling this job with ease. Over all we have enjoyed some great natural sites and good roads as we travel around the country. More details next month- there are alot interesting RVing details that we'll share later. We thought that many of our listeners might be planning a trip overseas - now that the dollar has finally start to increase in value, travel is more affordable. Traveling outside the US has its quirks, so you need to know a few facts and tips before venturing abroad. We share our packing, money, jet-lag stratgies with out listeners. Internet abroad is getting better but we want you to be aware of some issues in the internet landscape with effect you both at home and abroad. We share an article from "Geeks on Tour" and give our perspective on this important topic. It has been an experience getting this podcast ready for uploading so we hope that you enjoy it. As always we appreciate your listening. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com or use the comment hot line 815/230-0772.

RV Navigator Episode 35 - 2008 Wrap-up Jan 01, 2009

Show notes

The end of our 3 season of doing the podcast and it has been rewarding. We now have over 1600 downloads per month plus we hear from many listeners. It is time to say thanks for listening. Year end bring lots of interesting topics for this month episode. After unsuccessfully searching for RV themed carols for last months episode, listener Don from Texas suggested "Livin' in a Mobile Home" by "Riders in the Sky" as a theme song with no holiday significance. An a joy it was to listen too after spending quite alot of effort to obtain the out of print CD from 1990. Then it is on to Homer Simpson and his trails with buying the "Ultra Land Behemoth" ultimate motorhome, from Bob's RV. We spend some time talking about new products introduced at the national RV show in Louisville in early December. Besides the interesting new RV configuration including a slide within a slide, there was a fuel cell electric generator. These and many more topics are on our agenda for this podcast so give it a listen and keep in touch via the listener comment line, 815/230-0772.

RV Navigator Episode 34-Gifts for RVers Dec 01, 2008

Show notes

A warm holiday greeting from your RV Navigators is the first order of business. We have heard from so many listeners about their RVing hopes and dreams this past year. It has been very rewarding for us. We are homebodies for the holidays. Since retiring we don't travel over the holidays, so we spend the time getting caught up on projects and seeing friends. Out of this busy schedule (oh, ya, very busy :-) we take time out to make the monthly podcast. Our thoughts are about the holidays, so we are doing our annual RVers gift guide in addition to a few other topics. How about a 32 foot diesel class A motor home that gets nearly 15 miles per gal? Damon has introduced the Avanti which is just that. We offer some great gift ideas - and we look to you for more. So send us your greatest hits for RVers list. One of our projects has been the creation of a photo book of our New England Fall Colors trip. There are many choices, but we have settled on Blurb as our printer. For a few dollars they will print a high quality photobook which has been custom designed by you. These can also be view on their website. Do a search on "Peeparazzi" on the Blurb.com website to see our work. With the cold weather taking hold, RVers are faced with keeping their RV warm and toasty. As we all know even the warm climes frequented by Snowbirds can still get cold. Should you use electric or propane heat? How to keep your expensive RV batteries in good share are both topics covered in this podcast. Time to be merry, our gift list includes some big, some small, some funny, and some serious gift suggestions. We even end with a Christmas carol, so take a listen to this months RV navigator and send us email or a comment on the listener comment line, 815/230-0772.

RV Navigator Episode 33 - Fall foliage in review Oct 31, 2008

Show notes

It has been quite a month on the road for us. With falling prices of diesel, we feel more like hitting the road and that is exactly what we did. We left you on the coast of Maine eating Lobster. We headed inland to take in the fall colors of New England. After a rainy and cold beginning, the weather turned perfect for leaf peeping and we got to working taking what turned out to be 24 gigs of digital photos. The crystal blue skys combined with the rich color of the foliage really made our photos pop. The website contains a link to some of the best examples. We also spent 5 days at a digital photo workshop sponsored by Elder Hostel. We took several field trips - some in the early morning - to get the perfect shots. On the RVing side, although gas prices are down, sales of RV are not up, Why? We have an explanation. We also stayed a a couple of interesting campgrounds which will be interest to many listeners. Our trip to Speedco for an oil change proved enlightening and we share some of our digital photo experiences. All in all a good month in the RV and we are anxious to share it with you.

RV Navigator Episode 32 - The POI Story Oct 01, 2008

Show notes

This month has been full of great experiences from interviewing two of our listeners to eating many lobster dinners in the RV. A week on Cape Cod in the off season was a great way to introduce us to the best of New England via some great beaches, scenic campgrounds, bike paths, good eateries, and new friends. This is RVing at it best. Leaving was hard, but we headed up the Maine coast to see some of the picturesque fishing harbors for which this state is famous. Boothbay was one of the most interesting but we found many smaller towns full of fishing boats just waiting to be photographed. With the trees beginning to change, we headed off to NH and Lake George (NY). Unfortunately the weather has not held out so our enjoyment has been diminished as the rain falls. The POI (point of interest) file that I purchased for my GPS last month did not pan out. This file for a cost of $49, was supposed to give our GPS new power by installing a huge number of new searchable points of reference like campgrounds, state parks, and similar RV related destinations. The company could not deliver the product to me without a great deal of aggravation (who ever heard of a 24 hour download window that expired two hours after notification?) so I use an alternative source for this info, POI-factory. com. This website posts POI files (usable in most GPSs with a USB port or connection) created by fellow GPS users. These files are a free download and can be combined into a very useful set of additional POIs for your GPS. As an example, I downloaded Superwalmarts, Flying Js, State Parks, NH covered bridges and many others. Downloads are quick and transfer to the GPS is even faster. Once in the GPS, using the search function makes them accessible. We also tried casino camping this month. Free is always a nice way to camp as long as you are self contained. The casino camper website provides lots of info and useful tips and a database of casino that welcome RVers. Our casino camping proved to be not only economical but scenic to boot. We always wondered how it is to start off on an RV lifestyle without any experience. Our interview with listeners Geoff and Ellyn give us some insight into their decision to sell the house and belongings, buy an RV and head out on the road. I am sure that you'll be interested in their decision making process and can do spirit as they move into their RV. UPDATE: It looks like their house has sold so they plan to be full timers by October 1st. Great news and good luck. As full timers you'd probably don't have to winterize the RV, but the rest of us in colder climates have to shut down the RV during cold weather (at least for a few months). We share our winterizing procedures and techniques with you during this October episode. Last major topic this month is my purchase of a new hand held GPS. Geoff showed me a cool feature of his hand held GPS, its ability to create tracks. Tracks map your movements on a map for later download. Put the GPS in your pocket and it follows you on your sight seeing for the day. Not only didn't my old GPS not do tracks, but it needed a full view of the sky to read the satellites. My new Garmin Oregon 300 tracks us almost everywhere - even indoors. Amazing. Once you have the tracks, your digital photos can be tied to a specific location using the GPS info. Digital photos have a data record called metadata where all sorts of info about the photo is kept - and a blank space for GPS coordinates. Unfortunately, most cameras do not have a built in GPS so this data is missing - until now. Once the track is downloaded, it can be easily synced with your photos AND plotted on a Google map.

RV Navigator Episode 31-September, 2008-The perils of travel Sep 01, 2008

Show notes

Labor day finds us in Boston, MA at a very nice campground. You'll remember that the weather in the Northeast was perfect this year and we made the most of it. We don't travel much on Labor day, but this year we wanted to be ready to see the fall colors a bit later in the month so we left a bit early. After a 1200 mile trip where we saw the price of diesel drop significantly (only about $4.10/gal), we'll be in this area for a couple of months. In the podcast we describe our 2 week trip to this area with a few nice stops in PA. Our listeners have contributed to the podcast with both audio comments and a nice description of a TV install. This is an update to my efforts at swapping out our TVs earlier this summer. Over all our transition to all digital tvs has been very successful. Nearly every location has several digital channels now (several months before the mandatory change over) that are easy to received and excellent quality. This even when the old signal is questionable. At one campground in PA, we were able to receive 2 old channels and 4 digital channels. Of course the digital channels had a great picture. Our monthly features include discussion of tire pressure monitor systems, solar panels, and new cabinets.

RV Navigator Episode 30-August 2008 - We Listen to our LIsteners Aug 01, 2008

Show notes

Once again we are podcasting from the home front but we have lots of good RV stuff to share. Really our listeners have been sharing with us this month by sending comments via email and voicemail. In these days of bad news in the RV industry, we try to take a lighter approach to our usual RV news with several rather funny stories form the world of RVing. We are about to finish the TV swap project started last month now that we finally have a solution to the last problem. Included is a great book review from listener Suzi and a an extended question about full-timing from listener Ellyn. This last voice mail gets us started on an extended answer that takes through the entire RVing lifestyle - at least the way we live it. We end up with our usual recommendation of great web sites - but with a twist. This month we recommend free cell phone services that will make the life of an RVer easier. As always we appreciate your comments and suggestions both via email and listener comment line. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com or use the comment hot line 815/230-0772.

RV Navigator Episode 29 July08 - The tale of 2 TVs! Jul 03, 2008

Show notes

With lots of days of perfect weather, Chicago is a delight in the summer - this is our camping off season! The big city offers a plethora of interesting activities for all tastes - including the taste of Chicago food festival. We bike the lake front, go to the theater, golf and generally enjoy the summer ambiance surrounding the big city. Rving is never far from our minds as we planned to replace the factory installed TVs in the rig. This is a challenge because we didn't want just big holes where the old ones once sat. There had to be new LCD models that would fit into the hole without alot of specialized carpentry. After some planning and measuring we found models that would fit the holes but how would they be mounted? It actually turned out to be easier than we thought and only minimal cost beyond the cost of the TVs themselves. Based on our experience, most of our listeners should be able to make the transition. As always we talk about trends in the RVing world which is dominated by rising gas prices. It only cost us $250 to put in 52 gallons of diesel last week on our short trip to Elkhart, IN. Will be get used to spending 55 cents a mile? Ask us next year. This is the first anniversary of our purchase of the motorhome and we ask ourselves would we do it again? As always we appreciate your comments and suggestions both via email and listener comment line. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com or use the comment hot line 815/230-0772.

RV Navigator Episode 28 6-08 Is there a future to RVing? Jun 01, 2008

Show notes

We, like all RVers are faced, with dramatically rising costs for our favorite means of travel (not that other modes are not also facing increases). How will be cope? After discussing the latest RV trends many of which involve fuel saving technology, we give you our perspective on the high prices. For instance, soft demand for RVs many mean lower purchase prices which if leveraged can be put into fuel to power the new rig. A $10,000 savings on a new RV can buy alot of fuel. Beyond this type of "saving" strategy, are thee prices so shocking? We have seen the costs of RVing rise dramatically in the last 10 years, but until recently demand has been strong. We get used to the prices and adjust our travels and budget accordingly. It is really not the price of fuel that is the shock, it is how fast it is going up that kills demand. Along with this topic we address which states are kind to full timers, safety issues and much more. As always we appreciate your comments and suggestions both via email and listener comment line. Send comments, suggestions and ideas to navigator@rvnavigator.com or use the comment hot line 815/230-0772.

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