RV Shows and Rallies

RV Shows and Rallies…

Tampa SuperShow
We were invited in to present our Alaska seminar at this show mid-January. We did and chose not to have a vendor booth. So we gave our seminar each day, sold books at the end of the seminar, and otherwise, took it easy.

Atlanta RV Show
We have done this show for several years and it is really a good crowd for a smaller show. We present "mini" seminars (they last about 15–20 minutes) every hour on the hour. There are different topics all day. This apparently pleases the attendees and the dealers, too.

SEA Brooksville FMCA Rally

We have also done this Rally several years and this year, had six seminars to present. Good turnout overall but sales were down about 30% from last year (and from the Atlanta Show, too).

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Read this First—Then Everything Else Will Make Sense...

Greetings!
This is my most recent attempt at a blog. It's not a personal journal where I share my feelings or a daily thing—there are lots of days I don't do anything plus I may not have enough feelings that day to share. Go get your own.

I will add some things here when something is worth saying. I won't promise daily but do promise often. I trade e-mails with several RVers that want to know what I am doing and what's going on so I will try to address that and more.

Mixing in some serious and useful RV information, at the conclusion of each blog, I will add a brief section entitled, "Thinking About RVing…" where I will also suggest RV tips, tricks, and suggestions to make your RVing life easier, cleaner, more efficient, safer, and more fun without spending extra money. I don't do gadgets so don't depend on me to promote what I consider to be useless trinkets and a waste of money. If my tips help you, great. If not, check back for the next one.

I'd appreciate it if you would tell your friends about the blog.

Send me a comment. Let me know I'm getting through to someone.

A Quickie Blog History...

I've been screwing around with this blog, off and on, since 2005. I used to use this blog as a test for articles and a travelogue back when I was writing for the magazines. I would rough out an article and photos on the blog before I polished it. I also used it to rough out sections of my books.

I have written for all the major RV magazines including Motorhome, Highways, FMCA, Escapees, and was a columnist for Coast to Coast RV magazine for a few years. The Good Sam website used my Tips on their website plus articles in their RV Community and CyberSam newsletter. The magazines lost a lot of ad revenue during the recession and had to cut back, so an article might sit in their files for several months. So, I quit submitting stuff to them a couple of years ago. We all parted on good terms.

I enjoy the writing. It's fun. I don't do this for a living.

Enjoy the trip. Be safe.

Ron Jones
ron@aboutrving.com
aboutrving.com

Click here to view our books.

Back in Texas

We are back in Texas (near Denton) to take care of several things. We need some maintenance on the coach. We need to get some medical and dental stuff done. We need to visit the daughter, three grown grandkids (and respective spouses), and three little great-grandkids (at 5 years, almost 3 years, and 4 months old). This is really early for us to arrive here. We usually get here around Thanksgiving and stay through Christmas.

Thinking About RVing…

Maintenance #1
Our first maintenance was handled by MCD in McKinney. We use their indoor sunshades on side windows and have a single, powered, privacy shade on the inside of our windshield. The powered shade totally stopped working when we were in Ruidoso, NM and we literally had to manually roll it up and Velcro it in the stored position in order to see to drive. This worked just fine but then we didn't have any front privacy screen. I called their tech support and was guided to check for a fuse but could not find one. So, we had to get to McKinney—luckily, close to Denton.

That is their production facility so they have everything there. We had made an appointment. They determined that there was an electrical short resulting from two bare wires occasionally touching (nothing dangerous here but just a functioning problem).

What made it almost funny was that when we pulled in and the tech finally came out. The first thing he did was to try the switch. It worked just fine! We had tried it many times over many days with no luck. Oh, well, they checked it thoroughly, fixed the wiring, tested it, reinstalled, and off we went to our campground in Lincoln Park.

Maintenance #2
I found a new RV service facility (new to me) in Lewisville, TX. Called the National Indoor RV Center it is a combination storage, detailing (wash/wax), and service facility. The place was spotless, people seemed really on the ball, we stayed one night (plugged into 50 amp only), and they tackled our coach in the morning. We had a problem with our air levelers (we don't have jacks). Something seemed to be leaking. Luckily, they did not find a leak and a total reset of the system (an easy fix) did the job. I was told by their general manager that they had the "best of the best" of the techs from the closing of the Buddy Gregg Dealership (also here in Lewisville last year). Everything was great except their labor rate. It was $120.00 per hour. That's on the high side of what I have been paying nationwide.

(By the way, the lowest I have paid is $68.00 per hour at All 4 One Service in Elkhart, IN. This business is owned by two former Monaco techs and they do excellent work. I've been there every year.)

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A Visit to OKC

We have been hanging around the north Dallas area as I said in my last post, getting our annual medical and dental stuff done and visiting with family. We are the type of fulltimer that needs to meander. It is difficult for us to set in one place for very long. For us, a week is "very long!"

So we decided to visit Oklahoma City and be our normal "touristy" self, play a bit, see the city, eat some good food, and have a good time. Hey, it's what we do. We left Texas and came up to OKC planning to spend 4-5-6 days but with no agenda—we are not big on agendas.

I am retired military and, therefore, have the ID card privileges. One of those privileges is the use of the military FamCamps. These military-run RV parks, while not on every base, are scattered around nationwide. Like the private campgrounds, some are wonderful, pristine, and resort-like and others are the pits. For the most part, they are cheap. And, just like the base exchange and commissary, there are profit centers and do not use tax dollars.

We found a FamCamp on Tinker AFB in the edge of OKC and luckily, this is one that falls in the category of "wonderful, pristine, and resort-like." Plus, they have killer-speed WiFi here. Out our front window is a small lake and the sunrises are spectacular (as told to me by Sandy). Located 9 miles from the middle of OKC, we have access to everything.

It had been years since I had visited Bricktown, an entertainment district just east of downtown. Bricktown is full of shops, restaurants, pubs, and clubs, plus a baseball stadium. You can go to dinner here from cheap to expensive. We ate at the Bricktown Brewery (a local microbrewery) and another night had dinner at "Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill" (yes, that is the name of the place). One night we went to the Cattleman's Restaurant (not in Bricktown but next door in Stockyards City). This restaurant is one of the oldest around, has been featured on "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" and serves a great steak for not much money. I recommend it. I recommend all of them.

The first thing we toured was the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and it was very well done, quite large, and enjoyable. From the cowboys in the movies to western art (including numerous works by Remington and Russell) to rodeo fame, you can meander the halls, rooms, and galleries for several hours. We did.

In the edge of Bricktown, we visited the American Banjo Museum. The museum contains more than 300 instruments including replicas of early banjos developed by African slaves in the Old South, Minstrel Age instruments, post WWII instruments used in bluegrass, folk, and world music, and an array of ornately decorated banjos made in America during the Jazz Age of the 1920’s and 30's. On Saturday afternoons, they offer free entertainment on the 2nd floor and you can come and go as you want. The banjo player was excellent. I don't play an instrument but have always been fascinated by the banjo. This was fun.

The 45th Infantry Division Museum was also well done. The Division was formed in 1920 and disbanded in 1969. The 45th Infantry Division served with General George S. Patton’s U.S. 7th Army during the WWII Sicilian campaign, and when the fighting was done, the commander had this to say about the division, “Your division is one of the best, if not the best division in the history of American arms.” 

 
The 45th Infantry Division was primarily in Italy, parts of France, and into Germany nearing the conclusion of the war. The 45th  was also the Division that was first into Dachau—one of the more "famous" concentration camps. 


The Museum houses a large collection of cartoons produced by Bill Mauldin, famous for his depiction of the lowly GI slogging his way through the war. His two most famous characters, Willy and Joe, were outspoken on any subject related to the war. Mauldinwas a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist from the United States.


This museum also displays one of the largest collections of memorabilia owned an used by Adolf Hitler. It was a fascinating display. The museum has a few acres of larger military equipment displayed outside ranging from helicopters to tanks to various vehicles. This was thoroughly enjoyable and free. 

The Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum was definitely on my list as I had never seen this. Like most of us, I remember that morning's news very well. On April 19, 1995, this country changed. At 9:02 AM, Oklahoma City's Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was destroyed with an explosion of an estimated 4,200 lbs. of homemade explosive. Ultimately, 168 men, women, and children were killed.

The Museum is excellent and presents this gut-wrenching story in a professional manner. One important note here… their website says that the "average visit lasts an hour and a half." That may be true but I would allow about 2.5 hours. We did not make it completely through in our two-hour effort. Do this. Take an extra handkerchief.

Thinking About RVing…
Canadians commonly use two coins that have replaced certain denominations of their paper money. The two coins are commonly called the “loonie.” and “toonie.” There is no paper money equivalent.

The $1.00 coin has a picture of a loon on it and became known as the “loonie.” The loonie is one color— brass/copper colored—sort of like our penny. The $2.00 coin was nicknamed “toonie”—short for “two loonies.” The toonie has a silver outer ring and a penny-sized brass insert in the center (the coin is two colors).

Keep the “T’s” together—Toonie and Two colors = TWO dollars—and you will keep them straight. 

If you use a laundromat in Canada, it will typically take loonies.  

Every time you hand someone a bill ($5.00 is the smallest denomination of paper money) and get change back, these coins will accumulate and they can weigh quite a bit—enough to start to pull your pants down or to make a purse very heavy. Spend them.

 Visit our website at...  aboutrving.com

Billy the Kid Museum, Fort Sumner, NM

We are headed back to Texas to take care of some dental stuff and since we were coming out of Albuquerque, decided to take a somewhat direct route east. We are not in a big hurry but this route is one of the shorter ones so it cuts down on mileage. As usual, we will boondock for 3-4 nights to get to Lincoln Park (north of Dallas).

We planned to stay the first night out in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. This was about a 150-mile drive and Fort Sumner is the home of the Billy the Kid Museum—my kind of place. I called a friend who had recently visited here and he told me that the Museum apparently owned a tiny RV park located a few blocks from the Museum. This park had no on-site management but you picked your spot, put your money in one of their envelopes with your information, and tucked it in one of those "Iron Rangers." It was $20.00/night for full (3-way) hookups (50 amp, water, and sewer). The sites were flat, gravel, large, easy in and out, and no problem at all.

Okay, one problem, lots of trains not too far away. We have come to believe that an RV park is not authentic unless you can hear a train.

The Billy the Kid Museum is a pleasant surprise. First, it is large with lots of stuff to see. It is at least four times larger than I had guessed. It took us nearly four hours to meander through it.

It is not all "Billy the Kid" stuff. The portion focusing on him was well done and displays ranged from the newspaper accounts to his actual Winchester rifle. There was plenty of reading as well as items to look at.

The other portion was western artifacts ranging from mining to household goods to handguns to bear traps to buggies to a dozen or so antique cars. All well done, displayed well, and explained.

Thinking About RVing…
Here was a small town (or Museum) that operated a tiny (about 6 sites) RV park where you could stay pretty cheap and have all the utilities. That's a good thing. There are a few places that do this but they seem to be pretty hard to locate (look up). After all, what do you search for to find these?

Here's another good one… Brownfield, Texas (next to the New Mexico border on US 380) operates a town-owned RV park with about 8 sites. It's called Coleman Park and has 30 amp and water (and a dump station) but it was free! Free is pretty good these days. You just pull in, find your spot (first come, first served), and hook up. There is no registration. You can stay for four days. Thank them at the Chamber of Commerce (806-637-2564) before you leave.

If you know of free or really low-cost places, drop me an e-mail at ron@aboutrving.com and I will pass them along. They will be appreciated. No, I'm not trying to compile some nationwide list here. Sorry.

Enjoy.

Ron

Chuckwagon Cooking Competition

We left the Albuquerque Balloon Festival half way through it to go to Ruidoso, NM for the "22nd Annual Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium." The Symposium is held the last weekend of the Balloon Festival. We had an old friend who is a competitor in the Chuckwagon Cooking Competition and we had never seen him in action. Three other couples (two were RVers and all were friends) met us for this unusual weekend.

The Symposium was held at Ruidoso Downs (racetrack) and there were a number of vendors there offering various western art, books, clothing, food, and even a shoeshine. It was a kid-friendly environment with plenty to do and see.

For the cook-off, you must purchase a ticket. This allows you to eat. About twenty chuckwagons were set up and food preparation took place on Friday. Our friend, Wayne Calk, had about eight helpers and everyone was working on some aspect of preparing the food. Note that no cooking took place on Friday.

Saturday (early), the cooking started. From open flame, to charcoal with the Dutch Ovens, to a small portable stove used to cook the meat, each cooksite was busy, busy, busy! The menu was the same for all the chuckwagons since this is a competition. It included chicken-fried steak, beans, a potato dish, biscuits, and apricot cobbler for dessert. Water, tea, and soft drinks were available but not part of the competition.

About 1130 hrs Saturday, the cooks were selecting the best looking portions of everything, these went into styrofoam containers, and were delivered to the judges—out of sight from us normal humans. Then, the cooking pots were lifted onto tables and a serving line was set up. Everything was furnished.

At 1200 hrs—high noon—the Chuckwagon "Dinner Bell" was rung. All ticket holders lined up and the cooks became servers. Before the serving started, the head cook (ours was Wayne) offered an explanation of each dish, the ingredients, how it was cooked, and the level of spiceyness. There was plenty of food, the line moved quickly, and our friend's chuckwagon served about 30-40 people. Everything went very smooth, the food was served hot, and everything got quiet when everyone was eating.

After everyone was served, there was plenty of food left so you could go back for seconds or, many people wandered to another chuckwagon just to sample their food. It worked.

We had an excellent meal, cooked in a unique method, and served hot. The weather was perfect, too. The only thing lacking was a good glass of Merlot.



Thinking About RVing…
Driving around New Mexico like we have been doing for a few weeks can be a real treat. Wind—lots of wind. It may attempt to blow you off the highway. Yes, you occasionally will see a real tumbleweed blow across the road and no, it's not a leftover Hollywood movie prop from some Western!

One of the tricks when driving a motorhome in a heavy cross wind is to drive with one hand. This will generally keep you from oversteering when hit from the side with a wind gust. Keep the other hand very close to or resting slightly on the steering wheel but loose. You may want to change hands pretty often as fighting crosswinds will be tiring on the driver. Plus, don't forget to trade drivers, too. Be safe.

Balloon Fiesta (Festival)

For years, we have been trying to attend the Albuquerque Balloon Festival but it just never "fit" our travels. If you plan to go with the RV caravans, you have to sign up many months in advance—it's a popular trip. My experience was that by mid-February, most of the groups were filled! So, our trying to plan for this trip was a hassle and always inconvenient to our lifestyle.

Last year, we visited an old friend as we passed through El Paso, Texas. He is a competitive "Chuckwagon Cook" and has been on Food TV. We learned that he would be cooking in a national competition held in Ruidoso, NM the same weekend that the Balloon Festival ends (it's a 10-day show). So, we signed up for a caravan to attend the first half (5 days) of the Festival and then headed to Ruidoso.

[Author's Note… More on the cooking competition next on the blog.]

Trying to get a reservation meant contacting several caravan companies. I'm a believer that some venues are better to visit with a caravan and some are better on your own. Those big gatherings where you need some "local" information or where there are a gazillion RVs are easier when you go with a group that has been there before and knows the ins and outs. Not to belabor this but the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena is the perfect venue for an RV caravan. The Balloon Festival is doable on your own as we learned but the first time was a bit easier using a caravan.

We went with Yankee RV Tours. I had met the owner of Yankee a few months earlier and he allowed me to customized the trip to fit my needs. I wanted the first five days. None of the other caravan companies could offer me that option. They did offer the last five days but that wouldn't work for me as we planned to visit the cooking competition.

We Arrive in Albuquerque
This was one of those caravans were we did not drive together but simply met in a designated location. That location was the official  RV parking for the Balloon Festival. We pulled in on Friday (the designated day we were supposed to arrive) one day before the official start of the Festival.

We got in a double line that moved pretty fast. At registration, we simple tell them we are with Yankee RV Tours (we have no paperwork) and they tell us to follow this golf cart. We do. He takes us to the Yankee sites where we are met by the Wagonmaster and he shows us our site. It is an easy back-in like you find in a larger campground. We meet and greet those that are here and everything is good.

This huge field is/will be filled with RVs of every description. There are lots of sites with water and electric (30 amp) and lots of boondocking sites. We are on mostly sand, there's very little dust, the water trucks are spraying the driving lanes, it is crowded, and more RVs (large and small) are arriving constantly.

Day One
Let me preface this section by saying that I hate to get up in the morning—HATE it. I've been this way forever, I don't apologize for it, it's me, it's the way I am. I am definitely a night person.

When do they launch the first balloons? Pre-dawn! I always thought that was normally called "night." Okay, I have to get up—at least once.

What happens is this... They first launch the "Dawn Patrol." That is about six balloons that will check on everything from up in the sky—wind conditions, etc. They make sure everything is safe for the major launch.

With the "thumbs-up" from the Dawn Patrol that everything is safe, the "Pre-Dawn Launch" is a number (my guess is about 25 balloons) that do what they called a "Morning Glow." This is where the pilots fire up the balloons but hold them on the ground. The balloons are being lit from the inside with the flame. When this group launches (note that it is still dark but bordering on daybreak as shown in the photo), as they fire the balloons to gain altitude, the sky is filled with balloons giving off this intermittent "glow"—an amazing sight like no other.

Sidebar... Here's how it works! This valley and surrounding mountains just happen to be situated so that they create a "box"—made up of wind currents. The "box" (prevailing winds) allows the balloons to take off, flying low in one direction for some distance, they fire the balloons to gain altitude, then travel back the opposite direction! It is odd to stand here and watch balloons passing each other going in opposite directions. Most of them head out of town to land.

Then, daybreak. At 0700 hrs, they release the first of the balloons for what they call the "Mass Ascension" and will continue to do this constantly for two hours. There were 550 balloons waiting to launch one day. The first day they set a record launching 350 balloons in one hour. The result... the sky is filled with balloons—a magnificent site. You will be impressed. The top photo shows a tiny portion of the "Mass Ascension."

Day Two
I'm up again thanks to Sandy (wife) who rolls me out of bed. Like yesterday, we grab a cup of coffee and step outside. Twenty feet in front of our coach we can see the tops of the balloons as they get ready to lift off. When they do, this morning they head directly for us. These things are huge. Hundreds pass overhead. Wow!

There is a fenced-off area (about an acre) just a short distance from our coach (about 20 coaches away). Some balloons are landing there. When they do, some deflate and pack up while others take off again. We assume this landing is part of a competition (balloon race?). From our perspective, we can see every detail of how they operate.

Days Three and Four
I'm up again and outside. This is fascinating. The difference from day to day is that their direction changes slightly but always in our general direction.

The fourth day there are some wind gusts and a storm is moving in. The 0700 hrs launch is delayed. Finally, about 0830 hrs the wind gusts decrease and about 250 balloons go up. Due to the winds, some are having a hard time gaining altitude and pass overhead (what seems to me to be) really low—only about 20 feet up. We can easily carry on a conversation with the balloonists. Many of them land and deflate in the fenced-off area close by. It is an interesting sight.

Although we will be gone, Day 6 they are scheduled to launch the "specialty" balloons. We really wanted to see that but just couldn't work it out. However, a number of specialty balloons launch every day so we got to see a variety of them. They are fun and interesting.

Wrap Up
This was a great trip. It is certainly best in an RV. The sights were wonderful, fascinating, and unique. While you can purchase a balloon ride, we did not for medical reasons (me). It looks like fun.

It has to be pretty special for me to roll out of bed. I'm glad I did for this event.

 





Thinking About RVing…
 You will occasionally end up in venues like the Balloon Festival where you have to do what I call "forced boondocking." We had 30 amp but no water or sewer. The classic "honey wagon" (sewage pumper) and water truck are nearly always available but they are expensive and often in the $30–$40 range for each.

If you have 40+ gallon tanks on your RV, you can survive 5-6 days easily without this expense. If you are simply running water down the drain, you will run out of fresh water and your grey tank will definitely fill.

Click here to read/review my articles on boondocking and how to live normally. We don't deprive ourselves of anything (we are definitely NOT roughing it with our RVing lifestyle) but can easily survive for 9–10 days when boondocking. This, of course, comes with practice. With the larger tank capacity of a motorhome or 5th wheel, you can do this, too. Read, learn how, practice before you need to do it, have some fun, and save some money. That sounds like a plan.