RV Navigator

Ending our April cruise in Maui (Hawaii), we headed home to Chicago for the duration of the spring. We did take a short flight to Orlando to close on our new (to us) house at the Great Outdoors (TGO) that will be our winter home starting in 2026. This house has a nice RV port which will give our aging MH a covered parking space during the off months. We chat about many RVing topics as our attention turns to RVing in the summer. Cooling your RV and fridge topics as well as the latest tech issues are discussed in this episode.

This month finds us sail the warm waters of the South Pacific around Tahiti. We share our many impressions of this area and compare it to our next destination, Hawaii. Many assume that Tahiti and Hawaii are similar destinations but in fact they are significantly different. Hear our impressions and suggestions for Polynesian travel. Of course RVing is always on our minds, so we share new websites, articles and topic of interest from the RVing world.. Project Kuiper (Amazon) is about to launch a competitor to Starlink thus offering world wide internet via portable satellite receivers. Tune in for our take on these interesting topics.

We never intended to buy a house in FL, but this month we ended up with a new home for the motorhome at our RV resort in Titusville, FL. We explain the decision and details in this month's episode as move ahead on buying this new abode in FL. The sale is not final until mid-May, so we headed North to Chicago just in time to leave on our next adventure, a cruise in Tahiti and Hawaii. The weather being what it is, the MH needed to be winterized while it sits in the cold in Chicago., We'll not be taking it to its new home until November (2025) due to our upcoming Alaska adventure which starts in July.

Just another month stuck in FL -LOL. Your RV Navigators have had several interesting RV projects in the works from getting new RV insurance to looking a new hot skin devices for RVs to speculating about the staff cuts at National Parks. What does the new T-Mobile Starlink direct to cell service mean for the average cell user? These an many other topics are covered in this months episode. Join us and then make a comment.

Lots of RV activity for us this month. As with many of you, we had to hunker down early in the month due to extensive cold and snow in many parts of the country - including FL. Titusville was spared frozen precipitation, but it was cold. Our nearly annual trip to the Tampa RV Super show was a management disaster, but a display success. We explain this in full on the podcast. We managed to buy a few things at the vendor area, including a new Starlink Gen3 antenna (is it a dish, antenna or table?). I waited 3 days for it to be delivered from Starlink. Set-up was very easy and I had it working within minutes. We customized the installation as we explain in the episode. Beyond this we headed to Sebring FL for a refurbishment of 2 of our fogged windows. The end of the month brought us to Jetty park to watch others cruise from Port Canaveral. This campground has a great view of the ships entering and leaving on the weekly cruises to all parts of the caribbean.

After a busy fall, we spent the month at our home base near Chicago. As you know we don't enjoy the cold, so after the Christmas holidays we once again headed south for most of the winter. We rang in the New Year in our motorhome in FL with a NYE ball drop party from 7-9 pm - it is after all midnight somewhere! January will find us at the Tampa RV Supershow. If you have a chance to attend, it is one of the best RV shows in the country. However this year has brought some major changes so well if that is true going forward. In this episode we share some ideas about cruising (our second love) as well as the latest about the new MH sales ban in CA as well as a Thor large EV motorhome which may answer the question about alternatives. Our experience has taught us some must have items as well as essential techniques for a successful RV trip. We shared these tips and open a bottle of the bubbly during this annual party episode. Have a happy new year as you travel in your RV to all parts of the country.

This month finds us at sea for the entire month. Sail the med and ending in Fort Lauderdale, we skip the long transatlantic flight for 9 days of sailing the open ocean. If have the time, it is very relaxing trip. We want to wish al our listeners a great holiday season as we look forward to the new year. We've attached some RV gift lists for your consideration. We wonder if the almost total band on new MH sales in CA will take effect in 2025. CA pllus 5 other states have put strick pollution standards in place that will prohibit most motorized RVs from being sold in those states. Obviously RV dealers will be out of business if they cannot sell their products legally.

We left shortly after the last podcast for a land adventure in Eastern Europe. After 3 weeks of travel, we are ready to share our experiences on the podcast. We've been traveling with 13 fellow travelers to the Czech Republic and other close by countries formerly part of the eastern block. The adventure has been eye openning, but we also chat about some interesint RV topics and the latest technology. Have you used whispers(?), do you have plans for snowbirding in the South. These plus many other topics are on our agenda this month.

Finally back on the road in the RV, we travel to FL on a round about itinerary that included stops in Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina and Georgia before our final stop in Titusville, FL. September is a great weather month in these northerly states so we took advantage of fall (before the colors) to slowly drive south. A major stop along the way was in Gaffney. Not a tourist stop but an important MH stop for this is the home of Freightliner - the maker of our chassis. We found the important of letting the pros work on the MH as they performed our annual check-up and found several major problems - and solved them before they became issues. Expensive, yes, but worth it if it keeps from being stranded on the side of the road. We are getting ready for our Alaska adventure next summer so reliability of our Rig is very much on our mind. With a 12 year old MH, we never know what will go wrong, so we try to do as much preventative maintenance as possible. Florida proved to be its usual hot an humid with a hurricane thrown in for good measure. Our area was not impacted by the storm so we are feeling lucky this year. This months episode features a new cooking segment done by the copilot. She shares some ideas for maximizing the kitchen space in an RV.

“According to Nielsen's recent podcast analysis, the number of Americans listening to podcasts has increased by 45% in the last five years alone - more than doubling in the past decade to reach 183m people.” https://content.nielsen.com/PodcastingToday Your RV Navigators are waiting for the money to come knocking, but even though we have been podcasting for 18 continuous years, alas we have not been offered the big bucks mentioned in the article above. We continue because we love our listeners and enjoy the feedback, but we make no money. We remain non-commercial and ad free.

This month's big project was upgrading our battery bank to lithium batteries. We added about 1000 amps of battery power to our rig in the conversion process. After a couple of days for the install, we headed to annual Indiana Dunes mid summer trip. New this month is the Starlink mini as a standalone unit.

As most of our listeners know, we've traveled most of the US (and Canada) in our RV. We have been to New England, NE Canada on several RV trips. Always enjoyable. Our current adventure is via cruise ship with an itinerary from NYC north through the St. Lawrence to Quebec. Approaching this itinerary from the water side proved to be a different experience. After this topic, we discuss several RV issues including new happenings with Starlink, and a follow up on the Tesla pickup for RV towing.

It is officially summer and the camping season has begun - but we'll let the family RVers have first dibs on the campgrounds. We'll be home for most of the summer. On our way home at the beginning of the month, we stopped to get our sofa recovered. The original factory fabric had peeled over the past few months, so we had it replaced - now it looks like new. But of course the real question is why did it peel. Cheap fabric from the factory. We learned that the key word is Ultra Leather when looking for quality long lasting fabric. The dri e This month we share many RV topics of interest as well as what's new with Starlink and other on the road internet services. How about a softstart that installs externally? What's new at Loves?

On the road this month on a 2400 mile trip north over 2 weeks. We visited some bucket list and out of the way destinations such as Crater of Diamonds State Park and Crystal Bridges Art Museum in Arkansas. These plus a couple of old favorite camping spots kept us busy for the month. Of course, the month started with a 5 night family cruise (with 22 participants) cruise aboard the Independence of the Seas sailing from Miami. We had a great time even though the ship was at capacity (4500) and packed with under 1440 under 18 year olds. This reminded us that different ships have very different vibes, so cruisers should choose their ship carefully. We drove back to our Florida headquarters (TGO), prepared the MH for the trip home and left on a longer than normal trip north. We spent time at Gulf State park as well as the aforementioned buck list stops. This month we share ideas about internet on the road as well as a couple of products that you may find useful.

Another month of cruising. This time we are sailing up the coast of Brasil to do a full transit of the Amazon. This river is huge and worth the week we spent traveling to Manaus and back out to the Caribbean. The Amazon is a complete eco system unto itself with Manaus as the hub. A city of 2.5 million at the end of 1500 miles of river made viable by tax incentives for businesses to manufacture in the city. Our 27 day cruise started in Rio and ended in Miami after a few additional stops in the Caribbean. This cruise was on a small ship with luxury amenities. How does this compare to the many mass market cruises and what are the options if you are not seeking a family cruise. This topic and many more are on our agenda this episode. We've added a transcript feature to the podcast, With this you can search our commentary for topics of interest.

As February ended, we headed to Rio in Brazil to begin a cruise that will take us in and out of the Amazon before ending in Miami. Early in February we headed to one of our favorite boondocking spots, Jetty Park near Cocoa Beach in FL. This park offers a nice Atlantic ocean beach, a prime spot to watch rocket launches and the cruise ships enter the port. Our new towed was taken on it maiden voyage with great success during the month. We review how it was altered to become a towed vehicle as well as our plans to switch to lithium batteries in the near future. Many other RV and cruising topics are covered this month on a show with 2 parts

Back to RVing! We spent the entire month in our RV doing what the podcast is about - RVing! The highlight was the Tampa RV Super Show held each January at the Florida State Fairgrounds. In our opinion this is the best RV show in the country with hundreds of rigs on display along with hundreds of vendors for specialized RV products. The weather in FL has been variable with lots of cool interspersed with warm. While the rest of the country is berried in snow or rain, we have avoided the storms. This episode brings an interview with a company in Iowa that recovers Flexsteel RV furniture.

The year ends with 123123 and our annual New Years Eve podcast with bubbly. Having just returned home from an extended trip to Southeast Asia, we are still struggling with a 12 hour jet lag. The year in review shows that we did alot of travel outside the US so the RV travel was limited. We will be heading to FL for our annual snowbird experience in a week or so. Join us at the Tampa RV Supershow starting on January 17th.

Greetings from Southeast Asia. After an unusual beginning of our trip, we landed in Singapore after 26 hrs of travel and 12 time zones. We began the land portion of the trip by adding two new countries to our growing list of visited countries. After traveling to Thailand, we made our way to Laos and Cambodia ending in Vietnam after almost 3 weeks. Returning to Singapore we picked up our 4 week cruise to Indonesia and Malaysia. We'll be sailing until December 23 when we return home just in time for the next podcast. We want to wish everyone a happy holiday season as holidays draw near.

Wd did enjoy the good weather of the Southlands as the temps headed down at home. Flying home was a shock to the system as the weather was quite cold for the season. We do share lots of RV topics this month including the possibility of an EV RV pulled by a Tesla tracker. Also what's new with Starlink and T-Mobile for RVers, new AI features of Bing, the new iPhone 15 as a camera and much more are on our agenda this month.

On the road once again as we make our way to our winter home in Florida. But why drive directly for 3 days? Rather make it a leisurely trip of 3 weeks, do a bit of family visiting, sight seeing, and enjoy the camping. The eastern US is known for trees, so our campsites didn't offer much of a view for our satellite TV, so we had to rely on streaming. Hear about our experiences and what option we had as well as many other topics of interest to RVers.

Greetings from the open seas of the North Atlantic as we cruise from Bergen, Norway to NYC over 28 days. Wildlife is always unpredictable, but during the recording of the podcast we spotted a whale outside of our cabin window. It was a WOW moment and indicative of our travels this month. All three countries that we visited had an abundance of fjords with picturesque little towns at the end. Of the three countries, Norway provided the best photo opportunities. And it was the warmest. Otherwise the trip to the north was a cold and rainy experience however interesting it was.

No camping this month, but we'll be “on the road” for the next 9 months as begin our adventures with a cruise from Bergen, Norway to NYC for 28 days. July was fairly quiet as we celebrated the 4th at home enjoying great summer weather for most of July. The Chicago area has not been plagued with the weather extremes experienced by much of the country. We took the opportunity to get out doors but just not camping or RVing. With the knee given the final OK by the doc, we are set to travel once again as the adventure continue. After the cruise (leaving on August 2) most of September will be spent heading south with the RV

Our brief camping trip to the Indiana Dunes was a big success. Perfect weather, nice campground, RV working perfectly all came together to make a great experience this year. The beach in this park is very nice plus of course the water is fresh - and fairly warm at this time of year. We stayed for 3 nights. Even though I made the reservation on January 3, this was the longest midweek reservation available. What is your experience with campground reservations lately? We are working on reservations for our fall trip south to FL and are finding reservations at public campgrounds to be fairly easy to make. A major topic this month is photography Ai & its impact on my photos. The new Photoshop Beta includes generative AI as a major upgrade feature. It is amazing as you can see on this episodes webpage. AI has been coming to photography for a while, but this feature of Photoshop takes it to the next level. In this episode we also share some new websites focused on RVing. How about planning a RV trip that follows the 70 degree temperatures? This plus some new RVing planning sites will give you some ideas for next years trips.

Another episode from the home base in Chicago as the copilot recovers from knee replacement surgery. Todays episode is based around an interview with the founder of CarGenerator.com. This product produces 110 volt power from your car for use in home or RV. It is an easy hookup, light weight, and powerful enough to keep either your house or RV operational in case of power failure or you're boondocking. This could easily replace that bulky generator that you have to lug around.We also have our fact or fiction question, an update on the CatSafe from last month, and what's new with RV fridges. Are propane powered fridges a thing of the past? We also cover the latest on StarLine internet as well as some steaming ideas with Pluto TV. All in all an interesting series of of topics that you'll want to hear about.

Due to Marthas ongoing knee problems, we scheduled an operation to replace her knee months ago. Finally on April 11 the surgery was completed very successfully. Successful does not mean pain free or nothing to do after the surgery. We have spent time in pain mitigation and PT as she works to make the new knee strong and ready for the many adventures to follow. It will take a couple of months, but after her complete recovery, we can hit the road in the RV to once again due justice to the RV Navigator podcast, but for now we are at home in recovery mode. We do have lots of interesting banter as well as an interview with Betty Chambers who authored a book we mentioned last month, RVing with Bikes. We also talk about the latest developments in AI technology, alligator safety, a computer monitor suggestion and much more. Let us know your thoughts and ideas at rvnavigator@mac.com

Your RV Navigators have just returned from a 63 day travel adventure to Africa and are a bit jet lagged after the long journey home. The trip included a 3 week Safari in South Africa and a 33 day cruise of South Africa ending with a trip up the west coast of the African continent. This portion of the trip gave us the chance to visit several less touristic countries that we had never visited before. This month we share travel insights about this part of the world, new AI technology, and e-bike experiences for RVing.

This month we continued the South African safari. We stayed in several tented camps along our route. Every national park has it animal specialties, so visiting several gives visitors a broad perspective on animal viewing and habitats. We did of course manage to see the big 5 (lion, leopard, rhino, cape buffalo, and elephants) plus hundreds of other type of animals and birds. Tented camps are outposts in remote areas that offer visitors easy access to the game and a secure compound to spend the night. Although they are called tented camps, and do have canvas tents, they are on the boondocking style tents pitched temporarily by visitors. Instead they are permanent tents erected on cement pads with rooms for sleeping, changing and toilet/shower. Most are run by generator so power is limited although some of our camps had A/C. Game drives are a daily event beginning very early (before dawn) when the animals are active. A game drive is just that, driving around in an open 4x4 looking for animals doing their thing be it grazing or killing. No one knows what will be around the next bend, so game drives can be exciting or boring depending on the day and location. The drivers have radios so important animal sightings can be shared. At the end of the safari we headed back to cape town to begin our cruise which will end up in Lisbon at the end of March.

It has been many years since we last visited South Africa (at the very southern most tip of Africa). In 2006, we drove a rental RV in South Africa for about 6 weeks. We of course cooked our meals and drove the RV to all of the attractions. This time we are on tour with meals, transportation, and sightseeing included. I remember having lunch in Kruger NP while watching elephants eating grass on the shore of a river. Now that's camping. This time our visit to Kruger will be via safari jeep driven by a guide. WE are still enjoying the adventure but just in a different way. We boarded our flight from Chicago to Cape Town, South Africa on a Monday and arrived on Wednesday morning at 11am local time. This involved a 13hr and 10hr flights and several time zones. We moved from snowy winter to hot summer with long days and the sun in the North. Welcome to the Southern Hemisphere. We RVed here in 2006 but this time we are on a safari and cruise. Lots of travel details plus our take on Chat GPT in this episode. We'll be on the road in South Africa for another 5 weeks so the next episode will be from here also.

The New Year (2023) finds at home in Chicago awaiting our next travel adventure which begins in mid January. After some adventures at home with our furnace and the cold weather, we'll be off to Africa for a 2 month safari & cruise in the warm Southern Hemisphere. The safari will cover Africas big 5 plus lots of interesting birds. Our accommodations say "tented camp" so we are expecting almost primitive camping experiences. I wish we could take the RV! Our 32 day cruise from Cape Town should be a bit more civilized as we travel from South Africa to Portugal up the Western coast of Africa. Our main topic is the importance of documenting your travels as they occur. As our old selves taking to our younger selves, we would strongly recommend that you start some sort of record keeping of your travels for later reference. We unfortunately didn't start this project until about 20 years ago, so our early travels are documented only in a few photos and memory. These day with some much digital memory available, it would be a shame NOT to completely document your travels. You'll be grateful for this recommendation when you're in your 70s. Just remember, the RV Navigators told you so!

Winter has greeted us as we return to our suburban Chicago base in time for the holidays. Seasons greetings in this episode extend to our expanded list of gift suggestions for you or your RV friends. We chat about the direction that our podcast has taken over the years. Is it still the RV Navigator or has the focus changed as our lives have changed (mainly due to the pandemic)? Although we share our travels with interested listeners, RVing is always at the heart of the podcast. We always appreciate your input and comments about our topics and focus. This is especially true as we tend to travel overseas without the RV. We'd love to take the RV on our distant travels, but that is not an option, so we do the next best thing, share our travels with interested listeners. As you know, it is important to us NOT to monetize our listeners. So much of the tech world is about money, but the RV Navigators don't expect or ask for your dollars either through advertising or subscription. So, we'll keep the moniker for the time being, and we hope to be more RV focused in the future. However the next year will be more travel outside our country as we head to Africa in January. I am sure that you'll enjoy our reports from these far off lands. We enjoying sharing and hearing about your reaction to our lifestyle. Beyond our Xmas gift list, we expand the list to include RV news and topics. Our best wishes the holiday season.

Another month on the road as we travel North in Finland and over Lapland ending our land trip in Bergen, Norway. From there we head to GB to meet our cruise ship in Southampton. This episode was made while on board the Sky Princess as we travel to Fort Lauderdale. Why mix gas and water, you ask. One RVer did make this nube mistake.

Note that in the podcast we make a reference to this is episode 209. It should be 210.Take off on our next trip happened mid month as we flew to Riga, Latvia for the beginning of our tour of the Baltics and Scandinavia over the next couple of weeks. We have been surprised at our lack of knowledge of this area plus the many tourist attractions that make a visit worthwhile. Riga has turn out to be very walkable, scenic with art nouveaux neighborhoods. I of course had no idea what Art Nouveaux was, but after doing some touring, we learned that it is a very ornate style of building. Riga's buildings have been restored to their original beauty making them shine. We open this episode with a music selection recorded on the great pipe organ of the Riga Cathedral (dome). It is one of the largest pipe organs in the world with almost 7000 pipes. Our tour will take us to 5 countries over the next couple of months. Next months podcast will be made from the road again. We take you on tour with us plus we share several RVing topics from an inflatable cooler to streaming hints. I watched the iPhone introduction this month with interest because I am planning to make an iPhone purchase when we return. I was shocked that Apple has eliminated the sim cards tray, but I found a solution for over seas travel. Please keep in touch via email if you questions or comments.

Just after the last episode, we moved from Italy to France to join our river cruise in Bordeaux. This involved a short flight across the 2 countries landing in Paris and a bus trip south to meet the ship. The weather was very hot as expected in Summer, but the AC was was subpar in most locations. Sailing the rivers of the Bordeaux region of France, means learning about wine. This is the heart of the wine region and the grapes are treated with reverence. We, of course, tried our share of the fine wines of the area, but din't come away overly impressed. Earlier in the trip we enjoyed many varieties of Italian wine, which we felt was equal to the French wines. Traveling does give one the opportunity to make these comparisons first hand. After our flight home and jet lag recovery period, we pickup the RV for a quick trip north to the Cape Cod of the midwest, Door County Wisconsin. This destination, just north of Green Bay WI, is know in the local area for its harbor towns and picturesque water views, crafts and a cool weather alternative to the summer heat. Located n Lake Michigan, the views are similar to those you'd find in ocean side communities. Of course we have our usual list of interesting RV topics. New books, an e-bike conversion, RV road services and much more are on our agenda for this episode.

On the road again in Italy and France as we traverse the wine making regions of these countries. Follow our adventures outside of the RV as travel with a small group through the Alps. Weather has been hot but sunny for great photos. RVs in Europe are much different than those in the US but we've seen a lot of family's enjoying the outdoor experience.

With our email back in operation, we have received several questions and comments from listeners. Thanks!! New email is at rvnavigator@mac.com. As you might expect, we headed to the Indiana Dunes for our annual beach RV trip. I feel strongly that the motorhome needs to be exercised regularly to keep it in good working order. Therefore when we are not doing a major trip we do spaced out small trips to keep the gears working smoothly on the MH. Great family time for all of those staying at the Indiana State Park. We enjoyed good weather and the company of lots of families enjoying camping in the old style - beach, campfires, food cooked outdoors, bikes, sand, water and toys to keep everyone busy. June has been a typical summer month and we have used it to recover from our quarantine experience and get ready for our next overseas travel adventure next month. We head to Italy and France for about 5 weeks starting in July, so the podcast will be done remotely next month. This month we talk about RV electricity issues, paying tolls when traveling, RV refridgerators, photo tips with the iPhone and much more.

After joking last month about the possibility of having to quarantine, it happened to us. We were escorted off of our cruise and into a hotel for a 10 day quarantine due to positive covid tests. Neither of us were sick, but the policy is that a positive test requires a quarantine period off of the ship. So we spent the first 10 days of May ensconced behind the door of a hotel in Brussels. The hotel delivered 3 meals a day to our door to keep us healthy and well, but otherwise we were confined to our 5th floor room. We had many quarantining neighbors on the 5th floor as 3 Viking ships had their covid positive passengers transferred to this hotel. Not fun, but we have lots of insights to share about traveling abroad at this time. How to return back to the US is challenge for most of those testing positive. We did of course make it back home on May 11th after the full 10 day quarantine period so in the end we are safely back but the adventure was trying even for experienced travelers like ourselves. Undaunted. However, we'll be traveling back to Europe in July. This time we'll be ready to a quarantine should we test positive again.

This months finds your RVNavigators sailing on both the oceans (Atlantic) and Rivers of Europe. We had ventured across the Atlantic in order to attend the famous Tulip festival in Amsterdam. In this episode we compare ocean to river cruising as well as large vs small cruising. Of course there is the usual Ring news and comments on RV topics.

We drove the motorhome north back to IL so that we could leave again but this time on a plane back to FL to meet our trans Atlantic cruise to Copenhagen. We did have a new roof installed and I am lusting after a Starlink internet dish, but for now the MH is safely parked in our new storage lot. We are wondering why we drove the 1200 miles back to IL just to turn around and head to Ft Lauderdale to board our cruise. It's economics. Florida is an expensive place to leave our motorhome parked unoccupied. At least twice as expensive as leaving storage in IL. We'll not be using the MH for while, so storage at the home base in Chicago is our better option. Of course we have a follow-up to our Costa Rica report that we started last month. We actually did a multistage zip line as well as several other adventure activities while in CR. This month we share our ideas about how we plan our trips both RV and out of country as well as share RV stories. Yes, we had a new roof installed as a proactive measure. No leaks, but after 11 years, the old roof was worn. I also installed a new thermostat that is made for the RV market. You'll learn lots more about our adventures by listening to this months podcast.

This episode was recorded on the road, as we traveled south this month on a planned group trip to Costa Rica and its many national parks. Although CR is only the size of West Virgina, it has as many national parks as the US.

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.