In my opinion there is no better feeling than cruising down the highway with the sun shining and the windows down listening to some of the classic road trip songs! I have compiled a list of my favorite list (this playlist would make a great gift for any RVer or someone getting ready to take a road trip). Let me know some of your favorite so I can add them as well!
Queen of the Highway: The Doors
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: Elton John
Thunder Road: Bruce Springsteen
Everyday is a Winding Road: Sheryl Crow
The Long and Winding Road: The Beatles
On the Road Again: Willie Nelson
Take Me Home, Country Roads: John Denver
Hit the Road, Jack: Ray Charles
Blue Highway: Billy Idol
Life is a Highway: Rascal Flatts
Highway 61: Bob Dylan
Dixie Highway: Journey
Take it Easy: Eagles
Ramblin’ Man: Allman Brothers
(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66: Nat King Cole
No Particular Place to Go: Chuck Berry
I Can’t Drive 55: Sammy Hagar
I’ve Been Everywhere: Johnny Cash
I Get Around: Beach Boys
The whole idea of vacation is so much fun, hitting the open road for miles and miles in the pursuit of a great campsite, a sight seeing destination, to visit family, or to marvel at a landmark. Whatever your reason may be the entire idea is enticing, that is until the dreaded, “are we there yet’s?” start. If you have kids you know exactly what I’m talking about. It could start as early 20 minutes into your 6 hour trip and continue on until you have turned the radio up to drown out the sound. Well I have found that playing fun car games makes our trips much smoother and more enjoyable for everyone. Not only that but the time seems to fly by and we are there before we know it. Here are some of our favorites.
Before we leave I take a paper plate and cut slits all around until I have 26 tabs all around the plate. I write a letter of the alphabet on each of these tabs. The goal is to find something out the window that starts with each of these letters and then fold back that coinciding letter. Sometimes we will make multiple ones and everyone gets their own plate and the first to find something that starts with all 26 letters wins!
Another fun game that all members of my family seem to enjoy is guessing the song. There are a few ways to do this. You can either have one person hum, whistle, or sing a song while the others try to guess. Whoever guesses it correctly is now the singer. But since my family (myself included) cannot carry a tune if our lives depended on it we have revised this a bit. Our radio displays the singer and the song on the screen so we put a book in front of that and hit seek. The first person to guess the song correctly gets a point and then we hit seek again. This a great way for the vocally challenged.
A tried and true game that we still enjoy playing on the road or even a rainy day in the RV is 20 Questions. There are so many ways to play but our favorite is to pick a category. It could be restaurants, famous people, movies, even people we know. Then the other people in the car get a total of 20 questions to guess who or what the other person is thinking of. The one who guesses correctly is now the person that comes up with the next topic.
And last but not least there is now a free app for your iPhone from go rving called GetAWAY. On this app there are a number of fun car games for people of all ages.
While I think this is certainly a great way to keep the family busy on long road trips I believe it serves another purpose as well. Instead of just wishing the time away, trying to sleep, or burying your head in a book this gives the family uninterrupted time together to play games and have fun. I say instead of dreading the drive think of it as some quality bonding time!
Before buying an RV or a vehicle to tow the RV it is important to know some of the terms and restrictions associated with the weight of the unit. When you purchase a pick-up truck or SUV you will need to find out it’s towing capacity, meaning how much weight that the automobile can safely and securely tow. Once you have determined how much your vehicle can tow you then need to determine the weight of the trailer you are wanting to purchase. Here’s where it can get tricky. All too often people make the mistake of looking at the UVW or Unloaded Vehicle Weight. This is the weight of an RV before anything is placed in the unit. Sometimes people will refer to this as the shipping weight or the dry weight. The CCC or Cargo Carrying Capacity is the total weight of material that can be placed in an RV. This usually falls between 800 and 1200 lbs depending on the type of RV.
But the weight that I feel is the most important when it comes to staying safe and within your towing guidelines is the GVWR or Gross Vehicle Weight Rating. This is the total weight of the vehicle and all materials placed in the vehicle. This includes everything from all of your clothing, your groceries, and toiletries. But what people often overlook is that this also includes your freshwater, LP gas, black water, and gray water weight. So when determining how much your vehicle can tow you need to take into consideration everything that adds weight to your RV in order to stay safe and steady on the road.
Going on a vacation or a long road trip is one of the best experiences in life but it could become one of the worst if you don’t protect your home without wheels. All too often people leave tell tale signs that they are away, practically inviting a potential robber to help themselves. But there are some things you can do to ensure that your home stays safe and sound and you can rest easy knowing that you have taken all of the necessary precautions.
The first thing to do is to have the post office hold your mail and the newspaper delivery do the same. It is a big red flag if your mail and paper box are bursting at the seems. Also have a neighbor or friend come by as often as possible to make sure there are no take out menu’s or coupons left on or around the door. Thieves will often leave these and come back around to see which ones are still there.
Also you will want to set your lights onto timer switches. These are a very inexpensive investment that makes your home appear to have people residing in it even when you are away.
This next step might sound obvious but it is incredibly important and that is to make sure that all of your doors and windows are locked. This includes the basement windows, windows on the second floor, and even screen doors. Burglars aren’t wanting to do break into somewhere difficult, the easier the better so don’t make it easier for them.
And last but not least don’t broadcast your departure. What I mean by this is in today’s ever connected society it is tempting to blast your vacation plans on twitter, write up an itinerary on Facebook, and post pictures of you and your family at each new campground on instagram but try to hold off bragging about your vacation until you are home. It’s like a personal invite to potential burglars to come raid your house.
So follow these easy precautions and hopefully you will secure your home and protect your valuables.
Let’s face it we all feel a bit invincible when it comes to our RV getaways. We just know we won’t get stuck in that upcoming hail storm, or get a flat tire, or run out of gas. But the truth is that there will come a time when we have to deal with one of all of these (hopefully not all at the same time) so it seems like a good idea to be prepared for whatever the road can throw at you.
The last place you want to be during treacherous weather is racing down the interstate. But if you are unaware of the potential storm then that’s where you very well might be. The best way to keep yourself informed and out of harms way is to invest in a Pocket Portable Weather Radio. This will let you know way in advance of any rain, snow, tornado warnings, etc that might be in your upcoming path.
A flat tire can also really derail your trip if you are not prepared. So often people think that just because they have their spare tire on the back that they are totally prepared for changing a tire. What some people fail to remember is to buy and pack a jack for their RV. Without that there is no way to get the flat tire off of your trailer. In addition many people go years and years without a flat tire and therefore never check their spare. It is important before you head off on any trip to check the air pressure in your spare tire as well. It won’t do you any good to have a flat spare tire.
I have also found it handy more than once to keep a few gallons of gas safely stored in our undercarriage of our RV. This is especially true when we get out into the middle of nowhere out west and end up further away from civilization than we had intended. Having that extra gas is what we needed to make it to the next gas station and boy were we happy we had it.
Being prepared really is the key to success whether it’s in life or enjoying that successful get-away. Like John F. Kennedy once said, “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”
In my opinion Rving and camping should be just the right balance of work and fun with fun and relaxing being the biggest portion! I don’t mind setting up the campfire, prepping dinner, even hooking up the water and electric but leveling our fifth wheel was starting to become a task I dreaded. Trying to make sure that the trailer was on level ground (which I’m convinced does not exist in most campsites) and then cranking the jacks to help stabilize our unit as much as possible was not my idea of fun. In fact when it was raining I would have to say it was quite the opposite of fun. On top of that I never felt like we had it 100% steady or level. I would try to ignore my kids toys rolling to one side of the RV or pretend I didn’t feel every step my husband took from one side to the other.
So imagine my excitement when I heard about 6 point self leveling jacks. These come on all new Traditions and are optional for Montana’s. These jacks are controlled from a centrally located key pad and with 6 leveling jacks the amount of stability you get far exceeds anything we had experienced before. Not only is this a wonderful amenity for myself and my family but a perfect addition for our older travelers who want the stability of a motor home but the cost and comfort of a travel trailer. This touch of luxury makes the entire camping process, set up and tear down, much easier and more enjoyable.
With gas prices staying sky high this precious little commodity is like liquid gold now-a-days. This especially effects us rvers out there that still want to hit the open road and explore new areas. Luckily there are ways to use less gas and therefore spend less money. The most effective way to do this is by sensible driving. If you are an aggressive driver who speeds up and slows down attempting to pass anyone in your sight then you are quite possibly lowering your gas mileage by 33% at highway speeds. That is equivalent to $1.02 per gallon. Those $1.00 certainly add up on road trips. Also following the speed limit also increases your gas mileage. For every 5MPH that you go over 60 MPH you are paying an additional $.20 per gallon.
The next one is especially noteworthy for RVers and that is removing excess weight. It is tempting to pack every nook and cranny full of things that you “might” need on your trip but try to resist. It just makes sense, the heavier the load the more gas it needs to pull it. And last but not least check your air filter. If you air filter hasn’t been replaced in a long time chances are you have a clogged filter that can hurt your gas mileage by 10%.
Not only will these simple guidelines save you gas and therefore money and time at the pump but they will make your trip safer for you and everyone else on the road!
Call or Text
Get Directions
Queen of the Highway: The Doors
