February 12, 2010 Post

In This Post:

What's New: Personal Security

Of Interest: Alaska Questions


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Just a reminder: We will be presenting our seminars, "RVing Alaska" and "Personal Security Tips For RVers" at the Western Gypsy Gathering Rally, March 8 - 12, 2010 at the Yuma County Fairgrounds in Yuma, Arizona.





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What’s New: Personal Security Tips

“Personal Security Tips for RVers” is our newest book. It is a collection of what we consider the most informative of the columns and articles we have written about personal security and RVing.

While “Personal Security Tips For RVers” emphasizes preventive security techniques for your personal safety, it also includes a segment on how to respond to a criminal confrontation and another on deciding whether to carry a firearm in your RV. A third section of the book deals with ideas for securing your home while you are on the road.

The last few pages of the book contain suggestions for creating an Emergency Notification Card to carry in your wallet, a list of important legal documents you might want to take in your RV, and advice on how to obtain medical care while traveling.

The purpose of the book is to show you some common-sense measures you can take to safeguard yourself, your home and your RV while you are on the road.

"Personal Security Tips for RVers" can be ordered either as a paperback publication or a downloaded e-book.

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Of Interest: Alaska Questions

Alaska! We are getting a lot of questions about Alaska lately. And there is a definite increase in the number of orders for our Alaska DVDs and RVing Alaska e-book.

Here are our responses to some of the inquiries:

Do we need a car? This depends upon you. We have seen a number of people traveling to Alaska in large motorhomes without a car in tow. Most (but not all) of the attractions along the entire length of the highway are accessible to big motorhomes. Vicki and I made our first trip to Alaska in a 24-foot Class C motorhome and our second trip in a 32-foot Class A motorhome without towing a car. So it is do-able. But, our experience is that it is a lot more convenient to have the availability of a car when you want to do some local sightseeing or just run errands like going to the market or the post office. Of course, you will have two vehicles getting dirty (and they will) and you will have to pay for two vehicles on the ferries.

Towing with a dolly can be inconvenient on this trip. You will run into a fair amount of rain and thus muddy campgrounds and campsites. Strapping and unstrapping a muddy car on a muddy dolly on muddy ground will not be pleasant. Many of the commercial RV parks have pull-thru sites. So you won’t have to detach your car just to spend the night. But, most government campgrounds have back-in sites. You will have to detach your car before backing your motorhome into those sites.

Alaska Ferry. The fare is determined by how many feet of deck space your vehicle covers. A motorhome connected to a towed car takes up more space than if the two vehicles were separated (due to the length of the towbar) . So most motorhome owners usually separate the two vehicles and pay a lesser amount for two separate vehicles. But, according to the Alaska Marine Highway folks, you can tow your car (even on a dolly) on and off the ferry. You might want to verify this before you make reservations (1-800-642-0066).

Here is something to think about. Extreme high or low tides can increase or decrease the angle of the ramp between the ferry and the loading dock to the point where the back end of an RV with a long overhang could drag on the ferry deck, loading ramp or loading dock. We have not experienced this problem with our 37-foot motorhome (it is 12-feet from our rear axle to our rear bumper) but the ferry literature warns about this situation (from experience, no doubt) and states they will not be responsible for any damage.

During our 2007 Alaska journey we enjoyed full hookups most nights; had Wi-Fi service in the majority of commercial RV parks and cellular service in all the populated areas except for the Yukon Territory and some areas of northern British Columbia. The size and weight of our 37-foot diesel pusher motorhome towing a mid-size SUV was never a problem. We could have stayed in less expensive government campgrounds but we wanted to demonstrate on this trip that owners of large RVs could make the journey and and have the comfort and convenience of full-service RV parks just about every night. By the way, of the 30 campgrounds we stayed in during this 44-day trip, we had 20 pull-thru campsites. We identify and describe each of them in our RVing Alaska e-book

If you are even thinking about RVing to Alaska, be sure to read about our Alaska DVDs and RVing Alaska e-book.

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January 8, 2010 Post

What’s New With Us: Tripping through Southern Arizona

Check Out: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

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Tripping Through Southern Arizona

After bringing in the New Year with friends in Yuma we continued on to Tucson. There we met with videographers John Holod and Jodie Ginter. John and Jodie taped and produced our “RVing Alaska: What To Expect, How To Prepare” DVD and its companion, “Alaska, An Adventure of A Lifetime”. These DVDs are our most popular products. After taking delivery of more DVDs from John and Jodie we headed west... destination Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

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Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

The visitor center and campground for Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is located about 75 miles south of Gila Bend, Arizona on Highway 85. Highway 85 is a nicely paved, two-lane road that crosses almost level desert terrain. The town of Ajo, Arizona is at milepost 42 on the highway. Here you will find fuel stations, restaurants, and an IGA store. There are also a few RV parks with full hookups that will accommodate large RVs. We spent a night at the Shadow Ridge RV Resort. It is a nice park with gravel pull-thru sites, cement patios and 50-amp-electric, water, sewer and cable hookups. Free Wi-Fi is also available. We would stay there again.

Entrance fee to the monument is $8.00 per vehicle for a seven day period. Our Golden Age Pass (now called the Senior Pass) gave us free admittance. The Interagency Pass and Access Pass also provide free admittance to the monument.

The campground at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument has paved roads and 200-plus paved, pull-thru campsites with paved patios. The campground will accommodate vehicles up to 40 feet in length. There are no hookups but restrooms (without showers), water and a dump station are available. Generators are permitted to operate for a couple hours in the morning and again in the afternoon. The nicely-spaced campsites are separated by stands of cactus and other desert vegetation. We thought it was a super campground. (click on photo for enlarged view)

Here is the best part… camping is only $12 per night; half price ($6.00) if you have the Senior or Access Pass.

Desert vegetation and scenery are the main attraction at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. There are two scenic drives, The most popular is the 21-mile Ajo Mountain Drive.It is a one-way gravel loop. In addition to heavy stands of Organ Pipe, Saguaro and Cholla cactus there is a view of an arch at the Arch Canyon view stop. For those who prefer to spend less time on gravel roads there is the other scenic drive, the 5-mile Puerto Blanco Drive. There are also a number of scenic hiking trails.

Late October to early April would be the optimum time to visit the monument. Temperatures are typically below 95 degrees during this time (lower in December, January and February; higher in October, late March and April ). It is not unusual for summer temps to exceed 100 degrees.

For more information go to www.nps.gov/orpi/index.htm

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January 3, 2010 Post

In This Post:

What’s New With Us: Happy New Year -- Seminars

Article: Losing a Wallet

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Happy New Year!

Vicki and I celebrated New Year’s eve and day with RVing friends in Yuma, Arizona. On New Year’s Eve 18 of us shared a traditional dinner of steak and lobster at the house of Joe and Joanne Annuzzio, one of the RVing couples. We swapped exaggerated tales of adventures and medical woes and struggled to stay awake until 10:00 PM (Yuma time) so we could watch the ball drop in Times Square (at midnite, New York Time). At that point we wished each other Happy New Year, and then, exhausted from our late night of revelry, went home to our beds.

Just to show you how easy we were to entertain, take a look at the photo.

Part of the evening amusement was seeing how many brooms we could get to stand on their own. The photo shows the results. The only thing keeping those brooms standing is the skill and patience of the people who put them there. No strings, no tricks, no photoshop. Click on the photo for a closer look (notice the assortment of fine box wines in the background) Try it sometime when you are up to an excitement filled evening.

New Year’s Day we came together for a late breakfast and spent the remainder of the day grazing on pulled pork sandwiches and assorted goodies while talking about the diets we would start on “tomorrow”.

When it was time for the Rose Bowl game to start, the women gathered in the dining room to play a card game called Anaconda while the men congregated around the big screen television in the family room to watch the football game.

There was a great deal of cheering, booing, laughing, moaning, yelling, name calling and throwing of money. The rivalry and bedlam got so loud for so long that we finally had to ask the women to tone it down so we could hear the football game.

Everyone agreed that the only thing that could have made the weekend better would have been the presence of Jerry and Arlyne Ray. Jerry is recovering at home from lung surgery. Jerry and Arlyne are good friends and we really missed them.

Good food, good times, good friends. It was a great start to the new year.

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If you are thinking about buying an RV, becoming a fulltime RVer or RVing to Alaska, check out our e-books on those subjects.

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Seminars!

We will be presenting two seminars at the Western Gypsy Gathering Rally. The rally is being held at the Yuma County Fairgrounds March 8 - 12, 2010. The topics: "Alaska, The Ultimate RV Adventure" and "Personal Security Tips for RVers" are our most popular seminars. Check out the Gypsy Journal website for rally details.

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What’s In Your Wallet?

Dear Joe and Vicki: While traveling out of state, my wallet and credit cards ended up in the hands of a thief. Fortunately, I was not held responsible for the unauthorized credit card charges. Canceling and replacing the contents of my wallet, however, turned out to be a real headache. Tell your readers to make a list of the phone numbers they should call to replace their credit cards. We carry a copy of our list in our RV.

Joe: Take a look at the contents of your wallet. Cash, credit cards, driver’s license, identification, membership cards, discount cards, library card, telephone calling card, emergency notification, health insurance card, important phone numbers ... these are the tools you use to accomplish everyday tasks.

Do you know what to do if you lose that wallet and its important contents? Who would you notify, and how? How would you get along until these cards and documents were replaced?

It is a good idea to periodically inventory, weed out and update the contents of your wallet. There is no point in carrying all those expired cards, old receipts and out-of-date discount coupons.

Once the contents of your wallet are up to date, place all of them on a copying machine and make two copies of each side. The back of your credit cards provide an 800 number to call if the cards are lost or stolen. The phone numbers may not be legible on the photocopy, so make a notation of them on the copies with a pen. While you are at it, make a note on the photocopy of the phone numbers you should call to replace each of the other documents as well.

Put one of the copies in a secure place at home and the other in a safe place in your RV. Now, if you do lose your wallet, you can quickly cancel its contents and arrange replacements by referring to the photocopy. You will also have a duplicate of any important papers or lists you carry in your wallet.

Vicki: Has it occurred to you that when you cancel the credit cards in your wallet you are also canceling those same credit cards in your spouse’s wallet? Chances are your credit card company will quickly send new credit cards to your home address. That’s fine if you are at home. But, what if you are miles from home on an RVing vacation trip? Will you be able to continue, even temporarily, without your credit cards and telephone calling card?

You will if you and your spouse do not carry the same credit cards. Most couples have both a MasterCard and a Visa card. Have one spouse carry the MasterCard but not the Visa card, and the other spouse carry the Visa card but not the MasterCard. If you have to cancel the credit cards in one wallet, you can continue to use the still-valid cards in the other wallet. This same system could also apply to telephone calling cards. If this is not convenient, or you do not have a travel companion, perhaps you can stash a backup credit card (that neither spouse carries) in your RV.

Joe: Do you have an “Emergency Notification Card” in your wallet? It probably provides the name, home address and home phone number of your spouse. But, what if both of you are injured together? Is there an alternative person to notify? What if you are on an RV trip and one of you is injured while away from the RV while the other is waiting in the campground? How does the non-injured party get notified?

Create your own “Emergency Notification Card”. One that provides:
Spouse’s name,
Spouse’s home, work and cell-phone numbers.
Names and phone numbers of one or two adult children or relatives.
Name and phone number of your primary physician.
A brief description of any serious medical conditions you may have.
A list of the medications you are taking.
A list of any medications to which you are allergic.
Location of your Living Will.

This Emergency Notification Card will provide emergency-response and medical personnel with the information they need to give you emergency aid without doing further harm. They will also be able to notify your loved ones of your situation.

Vicki: The stress of a crisis may prevent you from remembering the license plate number(s) of your vehicles and the phone numbers of close friends, family members and even your work phone number. You might want to list them on a separate card for your own reference. You could also note your telephone calling card’s numbers (but not the PIN number) on this card rather than carrying the calling card in your wallet.

Some RVers like to carry an additional card or paper with the name and location of the campground where they are staying, the description and license number of their RV, and information about pets that may be inside the RV.

Carrying this additional information makes sense if you are staying in the same campground for a period of time. Keeping it updated on a daily basis while traveling, however, could get real tedious. In this case, it might be easier to just pick up a campground brochure or campsite map and place it on the center console of your transportation vehicle when you temporarily leave the campground. Hopefully, the police investigating any accident will put your out-of-state license plate together with the campground map and come to the conclusion that you are camping there.
You should carry your medical insurance card in your wallet. Be sure to ask your insurer if you are covered and what procedures you should follow if you need medical care while traveling.

A Living Will tells medical personnel and others your wishes regarding the use of life-prolonging procedures. Be sure to inform the individuals listed on your Emergency Notification Card of the existence and location of your Living Will. You could also note its location on your Emergency Notification Card.

Joe: Think about putting a spare set of your RV keys in your transportation vehicle. And it’s not a bad idea to carry a spare ignition key for your transportation vehicle in your RV.

A pre-paid phone card can be useful in an emergency if you do not have a telephone calling card.

You might need cash in an emergency. Your ATM or credit card should take care of most financial needs. It might be handy, however, to also stash a couple of quarters and one or two twenty-dollar bills in your wallet.

Inventory your wallet. Be sure your emergency notification information is up to date. Make a photocopy of important cards and papers. Know what is in your wallet ... just in case.

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