RV Navigator

The beginning of the month found us on the high seas in the Caribbean aboard the Silver Spirit for 11 nights. This was our second "covid" cruise, and like the first it went off without a hitch. Testing and vaxing were part of the routine, but these were not oppressive on a daily basis. We of course were nervous about the covid protocols that have been put in place but they were manageable and did not detract from the cruise overall. Our general reaction is that this is the time to cruise, if you can. With reduced passenger loads, welcoming crew, and generally lower tourism traffic, the ports are open to many adventures. Our ship was able to maintain it original schedule, although 2 of our shore excursions were cancelled due to low numbers. With only 50% of the passenger capacity actually onboard, some activities were naturally curtailed. This was our first time on an upscale ship (Silversea) with a large cabin and butler service (this was due to reduced per diem due to covid). After the cruise in Mid-January, we headed to the Tampa RV Super Show. We were not shopping among the 1200 new rigs, but focus on solving a few smaller problems that plagued use recently. Being able to talk with factory representative is very helpful when solving minor problems. We spent 5 days in the Florida Fair Grounds parking lot in good weather enjoying what the show had to offer and seeing a bit of Tampa. Attendance at the show was a record levels, so RVing is still popular. We share what's new and what we saw at the show in this episode.

Our annual New Years podcast finds us feeling lucky to be healthy after another year of Covid. Little did we know at the beginning of the year that we'd still be in the grips of this pandemic. Last January we were so thankful to be vaxed and hoped that we'd get this pandemic under control. However the fates turned our differently and we are still in uncertain times.

Fifteen years ago when we began this podcast, we were just retired and ready to hit the road with the idea to share our adventures with listeners. Of course we had no listeners at the time. After 15 years, the listener base as expanded to over 10,000 downloads/month. We regularly hear from and meet listeners from all over the world as we travel. On 2 occasions in the last months, we have met loyal listeners that have "been in a campground near us" and said hello in person. THANKS to everyone who has reached out over the past 15 years to connect with your hosts. In this episode we try to take our listeners on a guided tour of the best of episodes from each year of our adventures. This has taken us to all parts of the US and the world. Listen as we take you on a ride through the best of the RV Navigator.

This month started with our attending the 49th Annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta for 8 days in early October. We successfully boondocked for our entire stay without needing to take on additional water or empty our holding tanks. We did use about 18 galloons of diesel to keep the generator running and batteries charged. The weather for our stay was perfect for ballooning. Our parking location was perfect for easy entry into the launch field where we were able to watch the launch and recovery of the huge hot air balloons. The launch happens at dawn so we had some early starts, but there is no activity midday so a nap was in order. We spent the rest of the month slowly heading East on our way back to FL for our winter stay. We tried to see some fall colors in the mountains of NM but were not too successful and the weather was turning cool, so we headed further south and east. The end of the month finds us in the panhandle of FL enjoying some very nice state parks. We've been testing our big rig in several states parks with great success. We are not too big and the parks themselves have been very nice. At this time of year advance reservations need only be made a few days in advance of your stay. Winter is around the bend so we'll be in our winter home at the beginning of November.

Our Western National Parks RV caravan concluded after 31 days and 1600 miles. It was an adventure so we spend much of this episode sharing the details of the trip. This journey was title Western Grand Circle because we visited several iconic national parks and scenic attractions during month of travel. Traveling in a caravan means that all of the details are planned by the caravan company. We drive between locations and the camping spot is waiting at a full service campground. This plus many additional side trips, make traveling easy. It followed the typical RV caravan flow so if you are thinking of joining a caravan, then you should take a listen. This includes our unclose encounter with a wolf that decided to disable our car. How you ask - well you'll have to listen. We are about to attend the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta early in October, so we are preparing to do some serious boon docking (living off the grid). Although the Fiesta is well attended, to stay on the grounds means no hookups. They turn normal parking lots and fields into campgrounds for the 9 days of the event. Access to the launch field is key to attended this event, so RVers pay dearly for nearby access. Our boon docking site is costing $150/night but we are 100 yards from the entrance - an easy walk.

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.

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. We’ll be traveling to Malta (off the coast of Italy, but an independent country) for a round trip sail aboard the Viking Venus doing a Croatian itinerary for 11 days. This is the first sailing of this itinerary so we are a bit apprehensive about all of the arrangements. We are Covid free and ready to travel again, so we’ll head out mid month for 2 weeks. I am please to report that we have recovered some lost episodes from the early days of the podcast. It was fun to listen to many outdated topics and remember what RVing was like in the days of our 5th wheel. 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. I have transitioned to a mirrorless SLR (its predecessor was purchased during the missing episodes above) from my Canon system. This new Olympus micro 4/3rds camera is much more capable and much lighter/smaller than the Canon system. Will campgrounds go to surge pricing for campsite - many think so. How your streaming going - we chat about the latest in streaming services and some you don’t want. These and many more topics are part of the RV Navigator for July.

Our world is opening up after 15 months of living under Covid restrictions, the summer seems to be back to pre-covid levels of activity. This is a very good sign for our future travels both by RV and overseas trips. Along with a birthday this month (turned 75), Ken found that he had to renew/upgrade his driving license and take a driving test. Many states, including IL, have an RV driving test. Links on the website provide info about such states, but after some miscommunications, he passed the driving test in the MH so we're good for four more years of MH travel. Also this month, we purchased new ebikes that more easily fit our traveling lifestyle. These are full folding bikes with 20 inch tires. Although our old bikes folded in half, they were still too big to manage on day trips. The new bikes fit into storage bins which can be lifted into the hatch back of either of our cars. A great option and one that will keep both the car and bike from damage. Are you thinking of becoming a full time RVer. We share the 5 misconceptions of full-timing. Finally, we look at electric RVs and their potential. Are electric tow vehicles a viable option and will they become the norm in the future?

Back to IL and normal travel is our mantra this month. We left FL to head north and a more typical summer experience after 6 months being stationary. The trip home involved our annual stop in Gaffney, SC for a motorhome check up. This year due to the age of the MH, we had all of the fluids replaced - expensive, but necessary. We try to keep our Dutch Star in good condition so that we are not left on the side of the highway while on a trip. We also stopped Brunswick GA for a short side trip to Jekyll Island. The June calendar photo was taken on Driftwood Beach on the island. We’ll be in IL until August when we head West for the fall. We share ideas about RV buying, tank management, campgrounds, boondocking and many other current topics. How about a Rv bidet? I have never thought about such a thing, but they are for sale - the Butt Buddy. Who remembers the Jetsons animated tv series from the 60s? They predicted many of our tech advances that we use today. Fifty or 30 amp that is the question. How much can your relay on 50 to run your coach? Kitchen ideas, water hoses and much more are discussed in this episode.

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. Diamond Shield is one of those options that sound good, but don't work as designed. After 10 years of exposure to the elements, the front of our MH was looking bad due to deterioration of the product that is supposed to protect it. Fortunately, the original paint underweight was in great condition so now we are back to looking smart in the front. We now stayed in many FL state parks with great success. Unlike other states, their policies are MH friendly and the camping spots are very nice. We've now stayed within a short distance of the ocean on both coasts and in the middle with great success. Reservations are necessary, but we've been able to reserve spots about 6 weeks out, in most cases. We also share some ideas about the future of working on the road in an RV plus lots of interesting stories of life on the road. The end of the month finds us in Jupiter FL. From here we head back to our winter headquarters in Titusville. Next month we'll be at home in IL for the summer months.

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.

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.

At our FL home, we spent the month of December in isolation living in our motorhome. The warm weather makes doing outdoor activities fun and safe. We join the many listeners in saying a farewell to 2020, it could not leave fast enough. Join us for our NYE celebration, a little different this year due to our isolation. The year has been one of waiting and watching as news reports detail the dire consequences of this virus. We hope that all of our listeners are safe and ready for a much better 2021.

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. Lots of RV topics to cover in this episode so give it a listen.

We’ve been home since April but we still manage to keep busy with “important” projects. With the expectation that the winter will see an increase in Covid cases, we plan to head south to our usual winter home during November. At least it will be warm so we can be outside during the dark months. This is the earliest that we have headed south and skipped the usual family gatherings at TG and Xmas. Covid it impacting our lives in a big way. However, we hope to remain safe and wait out the pandemic regardless of how it progresses. This month we share our top 5 places to visit with your RV when we can again travel. We did these lists independently so they are slightly different, but we both chose Alaska as the number 1 destination. We have RVed to Alaska twice (1988 and 2012) to enjoy its many scenic wonders. We share some ideas about our virtual travel experiences as a means of getting your travel fix. We share several helpful hints on RV shows and buying tips especially for new comers. Virtual RV shows - YES, but the Tampa Super show is still scheduled to be live in January. We are going to pass on this annual event, but if your thinking of buying this is a good show to attend. We have had many technology adventures to share this month. For the first time I am attempting to record the podcast on my iPad with wireless mics. As it turned out, this first attempt was unsuccessful due to iPad software issues, but we hope to overcome this for future episodes. Most episodes are recoded on a desktop computer using Garageband and a studio single mic. It would be nice to have a more portable option. I have a report on my new iPhone 12 and its many new features as well as several other technology tips (new cables with magnetic connectors?). How about the possibility of high speed satellite internet? We abandoned satellite internet a few years ago due to high cost and slow speeds when compared to current cell data plans. Thanks for listening and visiting the RV Navigator website, no sponsors and everything is feee. We love to hear from you ESPECIALLY this month. We transitioned to a new web server which has caused some problems. Please let us know if you encounter download or web issues.

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.

With the covid virus still with us, we have remained at home, with no firm travel plans. Martha is still recovering from shoulder surgery (9 weeks out now), so we are using the time to bring her back up to normal. Should the pandemic subside, we’ll be ready to travel. Ken is still the main cook and has found an app to help manage his many recipes which you’ll want to hear about. Should you want to listen to previous episodes of the RV Navigator, more are now available for downloading. I have spent several hours reconnecting broken links to old episodes. It is amazing that we have been doing this podcast for over 15 years so there are alot of episodes to engage your ear. We do feel that RVing is one of the safest travel options. There are still those RVing and enjoying the outdoors in one of the few travel modes still available. From our reading, we find that camp grounds are for the most part open and accepting guests. The summer season has not gone to waste for many of our listeners. We share apps for documenting travel, something we have done for many years. There are a number of useful apps and websites that make journaling easy and fun. As seasoned travelers ourselves, we are advocates of journaling in some form. We OFTEN refer to Martha’s online journal to jog our memories. If you are just starting out, take our advice and start journaling. You’ll appreciate it in later years. We also delve into several other topics including the ongoing Gas vs Diesel discussion. I try to make it easy to understand for the non technical RVer. We also share many ideas and suggestions from listeners. We appreciate their contributions and encourage sending us suggestions.

The Covid-19 induced vacation form travel continues as the summer progresses. There is no let up in sight so no travel plans for us. As we record the podcast, our original schedule called for us to be on the road with a 2 month long RV caravan to Canada on the west coast. This was shutdown and cancelled - the Canadians shut our boarder until at least the end of July and the Eastern entrance to Glacier NP (where we were had reservation to spend the 4th of July) has been closed. Even the famous Going to the Sun roaThe Covid-19 induced vacation form travel continues as the summer progresses. There is no let up in sight so no travel plans for us. As we record the podcast, our original schedule called for us to be on the road with a 2 month long RV caravan to Canada on the west coast. This was shutdown and cancelled - the Canadians shut our boarder until at least the end of July and the Eastern entrance to Glacier NP (where we were had reservation to spend the 4th of July) has been closed. Even the famous Going to the Sun road in Glacier is closed. We also learned that the Albuquerque Balloon Festival scheduled for October has also been canceled, so now we no reason to head west this year. 2020 was going to be a year spent in the RV with over 8 months of travel scheduled but this has been reduced to our 4 months spent in isolation in FL with the balance of the year in our home in IL. We are hopeful that we can get out before the year ends but we have no plans at this time. We did take the time to have Martha's ailing shoulder repaired. The surgery took place in early June (after finding out the all of our plans were canceled) and will entail her recuperating for about 12-16 weeks. This involves lots of PT and husbandly care as she recovers. Ken now is the primary chief, bottle washer and house cleaner. Rv topics include answering listener questions about where to winter and why we chose FL. We did buy a bargain portable freezer/fridge for RV use. We have wanted an RV refrigerator extension but they have always been too expensive. Costco had a major sale so we've taken the plunge. This fridge fits in the bay and runs off of the batteries so we should be able to keep things cool full time. We also share some tips on RV refrigerators and their care. Add to these topics some new apps we've found, suggestions for LED light replacements, and other cool stuff that we found and you have a complete episode of the RV Navigator.d in Glacier is closed. We also learned that the Albuquerque Balloon Festival scheduled for October has also been canceled, so now we no reason to head west this year. 2020 was going to be a year spent in the RV with over 8 months of travel scheduled but this has been reduced to our 4 months spent in isolation in FL with the balance of the year in our home in IL. We are hopeful that we can get out before the year ends but we have no plans at this time. We did take the time to have Martha's ailing shoulder repaired. The surgery took place in early June (after finding out the all of our plans were canceled) and will entail her recuperating for about 12-16 weeks. This involves lots of PT and husbandly care as she recovers. Ken now is the primary chief, bottle washer and house cleaner. Rv topics include answering listener questions about where to winter and why we chose FL. We did buy a bargain portable freezer/fridge for RV use. We have wanted an RV refrigerator extension but they have always been too expensive. Costco had a major sale so we've taken the plunge. This fridge fits in the bay and runs off of the batteries so we should be able to keep things cool full time. We also share some tips on RV refrigerators and their care. Add to these topics some new apps we've found, suggestions for LED light replacements, and other cool stuff that we found and you have a complete episode of the RV Navigator.

Another month of quarantine, what will our world look like once this is over? After 3 months of Quarantine, all of the days at home seem to be the same. The Ground Hog day movie takes this idea to the extreme. Bill Murray relives "grand hog day" for weeks before he is brought back to reality. What will our RVing future be. According to reports, RVing may be very popular and on the cutting edge of the new travel. Here at the beginning of June, 2020 it is hard to see our way to the future however We are thinking about the future as we see RVing as the ideal way to travel. We share a bunch of ideas about now and the future as well as our usual problem solving tips and tricks. Interesting new Apps, a few jokes, and thoughts about the sun wrap up this months episode.

The post South Africa caravan report plus information on buying a GPS Navigation system for your RV.

We’ve moved - but safely from FL to IL (both bubbles of safety in gated communities) via our mobile bubble (the MH). Owning a lot in FL allows us to be flexible about moving. Even through our park was closed to outsiders renting, we could stay or leave as we chose. We understand that many full timers didn't have this option as states closed RV parks. We definitely feel their pain. Although we were supposed to be traveling overseas at this month, We had no definite departure plans but as the weather gets hot in FL, we knew that it was time to head north. How long will the economic shutdown last, we don’t know, but we're ready for and extended stay in place. Our 1200 mile trip home was uneventful - little traffic, low fuel prices, and open camp grounds made the trip one of the smoothest ever. This month we make some suggestions for activities like geocaching as well as streaming lots of video. On more serious topics, we learned about toilet paper and masks. Two months ago we would not have even mentioned either of these but they have taken on new meaning in this time of C-19. We’ve got suggestions, activities and humor to share in this episode along with some repair pain. How are YOU surviving?

It was just a month ago we were joking that the virus would never impact our lives here in the US. Naive as that sounds today, we didn't see this coming so quickly. As of this date (4/1/20) our lives are in disarray - not sick (yet) but everything on hold. Plans cancelled or significantly change, family out of touch, local business interrupted and travel out of the picture. Although our lives and schedules are up in the air, we are still optimistic and secure. Our lifestyle while on the road, is hermit like. Staying away from people is easy and familiar to RVers. For the time being, we have decided to stay at our property in FL. Our community is isolated and the weather has been good. We stay away from people, but we can still enjoy nature and warm weather. However, we don't know what our government will do to curtail our travel further. Now we can do grocery shopping but that's about it. This month we share a few little known coronavirus facts as well as an interview with Patrick from RV Life. We are always interested to hear how the new way of life is effecting you and your family, so please share.

Stationary in FL for another month. We are all about sharing our RVing experiences with our listeners. In January we attended the Tampa RV Supershow with the idea of learning what's new in the industry. We toured the lots and talked with vendors. This month and next we'll have some interviews vendors that have new products that we feel are of general interest to our listeners. Today, we welcome Keith with a new water filtering product as well as David sharing his fleet tire program we described briefly last month. We look at new water filtration products, replacing our 4 yr old batteries & a tire buying service you should know about. Our 8 new T105 67lbs each batteries were purchased on a discount offered at the show. Is the Tampa Supershow worth attending? Based on this months topics, absolutely yes - or listen to our podcast to learn what you should know. We leave FL later this month to head north - a bit early this year as i will have to winterize again (April is just too early in IL) but we are cruising in mid-April headed to Europe.

Winter is time for RV Shows & we attended the Tampa SuperShow. We had several questions to get answered by the factory reps at this show. We also visited hundreds of vendors selling all types of RV products. We hope to have some follow-up with selected venders in the coming months. We mention fleet in the title because we have joined two fleet services as a way to save a few $$s on RV products. We are now getting discounts on diesel purchases at truck stops and a fleet discount on tires for our motorhome. Lots to look & buy at such a big event. We talk about some trends that we noticed as well as some of the RVs we toured. We are not selling anything, so these are just casual observations from the field. We had fun buying new tires and plan to buy a new set of batteries, but what type is still up in the air. Many tips and tricks in this months episode as we spend the winter in FL.

The annual end of the year celebration with our listeners takes place on 12/31/2019. We open the bubbly and talk about the year in review. What will the next decade bring - we hope lots of RVing and travel. RVing and many other topics are on our agenda

Your RV Navigators are on tour in the Middle East for about a month. Leaving in the middle of the month, we are on target to visit Palestine, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt on this month long adventure. So far we have learn much about this volatile part of the world. We have specifically taken a none domonational tour of the holy land. We have seen many religious sights, but looked at them from their historical perspective. But of course this area is more than just religious sites so this podcast was made from the Dead Sea which is 1400 feet below sea level. The lowest land on earth. Swimming is not really possible in the Dead Sea - ones body floats on the surface and putting ones face in the water is a bad idea. The extreme amount of salt (6 times that of the ocean) makes the water unpleasant should it get in your eyes or mouth. So floating is the only option. We have also visit the famous Petra in Jordan. This is both a world class historic and scenic site. We were able to spend the entire day hiking over 7.5 miles and changing elevation of 600ft. We share some listener Christmas present ideas and which everyone a great TG.

A month of highs & lows. We attended the Newmar Rally in Syracuse NY along with 450 other Newmar motorhomes. This 8 day event provided us with a chance to see the latest product and get some repairs-updates done to our coach. Newmar brought 55 techs to the event to provide service and repairs for coach owners. We took advantage of this service. Also this month we spent a week using our Harvest Host membership at a variety of different types of HH boondocking experiences. Overall it was a great experience and we’ll continue to use them when available. The month ended in Niagara Falls for a couple of days at this iconic tourist attraction. The final leg of the trip - back to Chicago - turnout to be an adventure of the negative sort. Our almost new alternator (new in January) failed again in Ohio causing a 2 day delay, purchasing 2 new batteries and plenty of waisted time. We share it all and explain it all, and answer questions in this episode.

After a couple of months off, we are again on the road to Upstate NY & the Newmar Rally in Syracuse. We have enjoyed a night at a vineyard near Erie, PA courtesy of Harvest Hosts. Topics discussed range from poop to power so take a listen.

Twenty-seven days in Ecuador gave us a chance to explore diverse areas of this small country. These 3+ weeks in Ecuador allowed us to visit the Amazon rain forest, Galapagos islands, and Andes mountains all within a country that is the size of Nevada. Small but diverse with rural-urban, hot-cold, and wet,-dry regions all on the Equator. For a small country in South American, Ecuador has a lot to offer. Our first stop was Quito, the capital. At 9000 ft and surrounded by volcanoes (some active) it is a scenically beautiful city. The hot jungle of the Amazon is what you would expect. Hot, humid and full of animals, bug and other critters. We toured on foot and canoe to see both land and water life. We then boarded a plane to fly 2 hrs off the coast to the chain of islands know as the Galapagos. They are part of Ecuador's national park system. As such they are protected and have strict rules for visitors. This control does maintain a good visitor experience (as long as the rules are followed). Getting close to nature is the rule and the preserving the animal life is the at the foundation of the visitor experience. Few places in the world have a an indigenous population of animals that do not fear man. This is one of them. Birds don't fly away and other creators don't disappear when they see your face. Long lenses are not necessary for animal close-ups. It an animal is curious, they approach without fear - and they did. This is a novel experience for most visitors. From there we headed to the mountains that flow south out of the country. We drove parts of the Pan-American highway up to 13,000 ft before depending back to the ocean. Spectacular peaks some snow covered (even at the Equator) greeted our lenses as we took great photos of the landscape. We traveled on the "Devils Nose" train which is one of the few that handles mountain switch-backs in a novel way in order to manage the very steep mountain grades without causing engine damage. Bottom line is that if you're looking to visit a country only 4 hrs by plane from the US that has wide range of climates and environments PLUS uses US currency and is quite stable, then Ecuador should be on your list of must visit places.

Every RV needs to be repaired from time to time. Newmar has opened a very modern service center with campground for its owners. How you'll get your RV fixed might be a factor when you come to buy an RV either new or old. Newmar pride itself on fixing any RV that it has manufactured regardless of age. Not every manufacturer will stand behind its entire line of products this way. We were in the service center campground to have our captains chair ((driver and passenger) recovered with new fabric. Not something we anticipated deteriorating, but we are able to get it fixed. Although we have not done any camping this month, we still have lots of RV topics to share- many of them the result of emails or facebook comments. Four season RVing, taking care of older RVers, and many other topics are covered in this episode. Be sure to visit our episode website for lots more info.

With Memorial Day behind us, we are ready for summer and the warm weather to begin. But, spring is still bringing rain and cold. We were worried about frost and the motorhome so we had to leave the heat on for a couple of nights this month. With June’s arrival, we are looking for long days and warm nights but of course we’ll be a home. We let our camping families have the campgrounds in the summer. Their season is short and we can visit any part of the year, so we’ll head out again in the fall. However, we will taking a short trip to Wisconsin just to exercise the MH systems during the summer down time. Of interest this month is the new VR system from Oculus, the Quest. This system is the first to be stand alone - no extra wires or hardware needed. This is a major step forward for VR systems. I have enjoyed the games and 360 videos. It takes us to places we’d never get to via conventional travel. This month we share ideas about RV generators, Harvest Hosts (which we just jointed, but have not used), inexpensive tablet computers, and much more.

A quiet month for us. In summer we fall in to routine activities centered around home in Chicago. We did do our yearly “exercise the motorhome” trip to Lake Geneva, Wis. (about 2 hrs from home) for 3 nights at a state park. We focus on photography topics this month - our camera choices, new photo options, and thoughtful ideas about photography and RVing are our main focus this month. On our short trip, we were attacked by birds - literally. Why would a cardinal keep flying into the motorhome for days? We don't know, but it happened on our short trip.

April 1st we fired up the RV for the trip back to Chicago. This was to be a meandering journey that would up the month. We planned to visit Savannah, Washington DC, Charlotte SC, and the Laurel Highlands of SE PA. All went well on this journey as we explain in this months podcast. We had several new systems to test out on this 1200 mile trip. Although we had not been to these destinations in quite a few years, it was nice to relive earlier experiences. We enjoyed Washington DC because of the welcome it provides to tourists. Many attractions are free and the transportation is easy and inexpensive. Of course we always have to consider weather on our travels. Spring storms can cause major damage, but we were not effect until we arrive home. Then the snow arrived. Up until the trips end, the weather had been good - mostly warm and just a little rain. Then the cold and snow arrived in Chicago. In this episode we share experiences about using a towed, the new engine monitor called Bluefire, as well as new cell data plans as well as our experiences with campground reservations and camping in the nations capital.

this episode we are focused on our recent trip to Antartica. At the end of February, we headed South - way sou In th. In the land of ice, snow and rock that makes up the 7th continent. This land mass has no native animals, insects or plants (aside from a few liken). So why visit such a desolate place? The landscapes are bleak but beautiful with black rocky peaks and crisp white snow. The marine life is abundant with penguins, seals, whales, birds and many smaller lifeforms. Cruising is the only way to visit, as there are no public airstrips or outposts for visitors. Even the cruises only have landings at remote beaches or rock outcrops where the penguins or seals congregate. Cruise ships must bring everything their passengers will need for their stay. So we were provided with jackets and knee length insulated boots to put over our layers of cold weather clothing. Daily we suited up for our zodiac trip to the landing area for the day. Once there we “toured” on foot to see the penguin colony or snowy peak that offered views. We encountered both clear sunny skies and complete overcast with snow (and/or rain) with temps in the lower 30s. Not your usual cruise. This one was like a 3 week focused college course on the land south of South America. To make this a reality, the ships company included 21 scientist/lecturers that were specialists in some aspect of Antartica including marine biology, geology, history and ecology. We learned, saw and experience a different world which is very unique and remote in this modern world.

In this episode we are focused on our recent trip to Antartica. At the end of February, we headed South - way south. In the land of ice, snow and rock that makes up the 7th continent. This land mass has no native animals, insects or plants (aside from a few liken). So why visit such a desolate place? The landscapes are bleak but beautiful with black rocky peaks and crisp white snow. The marine life is abundant with penguins, seals, whales, birds and many smaller lifeforms. Cruising is the only way to visit, as there are no public airstrips or outposts for visitors. Even the cruises only have landings at remote beaches or rock outcrops where the penguins or seals congregate. Cruise ships must bring everything their passengers will need for their stay. So we were provided with jackets and knee length insulated boots to put over our layers of cold weather clothing. Daily we suited up for our zodiac trip to the landing area for the day. Once there we “toured” on foot to see the penguin colony or snowy peak that offered views. We encountered both clear sunny skies and complete overcast with snow (and/or rain) with temps in the lower 30s. Not your usual cruise. This one was like a 3 week focused college course on the land south of South America. To make this a reality, the ships company included 21 scientist/lecturers that were specialists in some aspect of Antartica including marine biology, geology, history and ecology. We learned, saw and experience a different world which is very unique and remote in this modern world.

February is always short, but because we are leaving for Antartica in late February, we are getting ready early. This maybe a time when we’ll be totally out of touch at the beginning of the month and thus not able to do the podcast, so we did it early. Our 17 day sailing will take us further south than we've ever been at the end of their summer. However we are expecting cold - in the 20s. This is a big change from February in FL. This month has been very warm while the rest of the country is mired in cold winter weather. After getting our alternator fixed for the second time, we headed off to do a bit of boondocking. For those who are new to RVing, boondocking is camping without hookups. In this case we were at the mouth of Port Canaveral with a great view of the ships (many cruise ships) sailing in and out of the second busiest port in FL. Our motorhome is nicely set up for boondocking - and we discuss this issue on this episode.

CBS News came a calling to check out our podcast this month. This took the form of a 4 man crew coming to our RV site in FL to set-up and record your RV Navigator being interviewed by CBS Correspondent David Pogue. This took place on January 4th with the final product airing on January 20th CBS Sunday Morning program. Our segment (1 minute & 11 seconds) was part of a longer segment (5 minutes) called “The Golden Age of Podcasting” with more info on podcasting in general. This was all quite exciting for us and totally out of the blue. It was a result of a cold call from the producer to us asking for an interview. We were also pleased that David sat down for a brief interview that will be part of this months RV Navigator episode. He turned out to be congenial interviewer and a good interviewee although he has no RVing experience. Since the Sunday airing, our podcast downloads have gone through the roof (at our expense). A usual months worth of downloads happened on that single Sunday after the broadcast. Consistently, we have about 15,000 download per episode over a few months. This Sunday (1/20/19) we had 16833 download in a single day! Obviously a new record for our podcast. The level of downloads increase for all episodes as new listeners worked their way through some of the most recent editions. This was not the only news this month, as we visited the Tampa RV Super Show in mid month. As usual this huge RV show was displaying all of the new RV hardware. We took the opportunity to replace our Blue Ox tow bar and upgrade our interior LED lights. We also looked at lots of other stuff but didn’t buy anything else. We touch on a few other topics, but this is the main trust of this months edition.

We begin our 13th year of the RV Navigator in the warmth of Florida. This episode is our annual NYE edition which features champaign and fun as the new year begins. Lots of RV tech topics to cover as your hosts share their adventures of the past year.

Once again we are on the road away from our motorhome so we don't have alot of RVing news. Back from our 3 cruise itinerary to Spain with a sail back to Miami. We sailed on a small 100 passenger ship within Spain and Portugal, then a super cruiser with 5500 passengers for 12 days to Miami and finally a 3100 passenger ship to Bahamas. We share our impressions of these very different cruising experiences in this episode. We’ve now driven to Chicago to be at home for family time during holidays. Oh, yes, the cold has hit us hard with snow and cold in our northern home. We have cruising/travel ideas to share plus our annual holiday RV gift guide. What new gizmos should you buy your RVer? Ken knows!

We’re off on a 39 day trip to Portugal, Spain and a transAtlantic sailing to Miami. Leaving from our winter home in Florida, first flying to Lisbon for an 11 day small ship cruise to Barcelona. This itinerary would have easily been done via a bus tour - so why would you do it by cruise ship? The world of cruising is quickly changing and we note many of those as we explain how a small ship experience is different from a large ship cruise. We had a chance to try out various ebikes on this trip - have you given them a try? We also tried cell phone service in Europe, and it worked for phone and data. The world is shrinking with digital media keeping everyone connected. We have lots of comments about this experience and even some RVing ideas and tips.

Rvers need to be flexible and mobile. We planned to be in SC this month, but the hurricane had other plans so we headed to FL early. After stopping in Gaffney SC for a quick check up of the MH, we were planning to visit relatives near the coast of SC. However, this was just as the hurricane was scheduled to make landfall, so we packed and spent most of the month on our new lot at The Great Outdoors in Titusville. Unfortunately, once again mother nature surprised us. The weather in FL was very hot and humid. September in FL is warm, but this was record breaking heat. Combined with high humidity, it was very uncomfortable. So much for seeking the 70s (our usual mantra). We are here early so that we can leave in October and head to Europe on a 3 cruise package ending back in Miami in November. Topics include fall itineraries, looking beyond the floor plan, basics of E,W, & S, when buying an RV. What’s happening with RV buyers this year. We find that they are younger and buying smaller.

R’n’R - you know rants and raves. A wide range of topics in this month, from digital cameras to diesel vs gas to credit cards. Yes we have some strong views & as always we share. Feel free to share, we want to hear from you via email or Google plus.

We pick up on several trending topics including hot skin, water heaters, new apps, and long term RVing with an interview. Loads of great news from the world of RVing in Gillette WY for the FMCA Rally. Tune in for a full report.

Summer at home or at our Summer home as we have come to call it is enjoying the warm months in Chicago with the RV securely parked until fall. By design, we stay home in summer. Although we did make a short camping outing to the lake shore at the Indiana Dunes SP to keep the RV tuned up and ready to roll, most of the summer will be at home. Are we too long to visit the nations crown jewels, our National Parks? Big RVs can camp in our parks and we can prove it. We read the fears of new RVers that buying a big rig will keep them out of the scenic wonders of our country. We would reply, that it is easier to stay at or near NPs with a big rig. Who wants to drive a 30 class C across the Going to Sun Highway? Instead, we take our toad. One of the many reasons to stick with a big rig for see our great country. We also made a quick car trip to Florida and back to purchase a second RVing lot at TGO (one of our all time favorite long term RV resorts). We do rent this space out year round so let us know if you’ll be in the neighborhood. You can be in a campsite owned by the RV Navigators! This plus many other interesting topics are on our agenda in this months podcast. Join us for the fun.

After 23 days at sea from Australia (and the outback), we arrived home in IL for the summer. We spend summers at home so that families can have the campgrounds during their summer holidays. However, with more and more RVs being sold and on the road, campsites are sometimes at a premium. We share our views on the camping crunch that the industry is experiencing during this boom time. We look at camping strategies to use during the busy summer months and beyond to make sure that your camping experience is a good one. We do of course have the usual array of interesting articles and topics from the last month in RVing.

On the road in Sydney Australis this month. We are currently about 1 day ahead of our usual world - confusing to say the least. We left mid month for a 53 day journey that ends with us sailing back to Seattle from Sydney, Australia. It started with a long flight to Fiji where we spent a few days recovering from jet lag. This was a total day for night swap so it takes a while to make the adjustment. Another 5 hours landed us in Sydney for the start of our land tour of the interior of Australia. We did most of the coastal cities a few years ago on a cruise. The end of March finds us on our way to Hobart, Tasmania, the island off the southern coast of Australia. RV wise, we bander about several hot topics including renting your RV, solar panel issues, and what it is like to full time. Multiple problems compounded the creation of this months podcast. Sorry for the poor audio quality. My usual travel studio set up just would not work so this podcast has a buzz in the background. I have used filters to make is less annoying but it is still there, sorry. With our travel schedule, we just didn't have time to record this episode before the first. Here in Australia, daylight savings time starts on Sunday (4/1) so we lost another hour without even moving. Please forgive this unplanned problem. I hope to get it fixed by the next episode. We'll be on our cruise ship with a few days at sea to solve the problems.

When in your travels do you shed the tourism mode and become more local? I think it has happened for us in Tucson with this visit. So this month we’ve just enjoyed the winter warmth (with a bit of cold) to do home like activities. Join us for the details