Episode 175: Straight Talk for RV Wives

Among a host of topics, today’s episode features a “For Women Only” advice section from Jennifer for RV wives. Now I think husbands will also benefit to this but what she’s done is address a bunch of concerns that RV women have raised with her as she has met them in our travels across North America. She alleviates most of these concerns with some very practical advice. That’s coming up in our interview of the week time. But also this week. Your RV questions and comments, RV tips, a great off the beaten path destination to put on your bucket list, and more RV shows this coming weekend than you can shake a stick at. This is the heart of the RV show season and do we have a long list for you to consider! Click the player below to Listen Now or scroll down through the show note details. When you see a time code hyperlink, you can click it to jump directly to that segment of the podcast. [spp-player] Show Notes for Episode #175 Jan. 17, 2017 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK [spp-timestamp time="2:24"] We’re getting ready to head to the Great White North of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and, specifically Tahquamenon Falls State Park where there is nearly three feet of snow on the ground. We’ll be joined by dozens of their RVers, who’ve made their way to our annual Winter Campout. We’ll have a Facebook Live report sometime mid-Friday afternoon on our Facebook Page at http://facebook.com/roadtreking. If you click like on the page you should get a notice when the report will go live but I’m shooting for about 3PM eastern January 19. After that, we’ll be heading south, to much warmer climates. We’ll be at the Jacksonville Florida RV Show the afternoon of Fed. 11… and then Feb 12-16 we’ll be at another Roadtreking Gathering, this one at the Manatee Springs State Park in Florida. For a full list of all the gatherings we have on tap for this year, go to https://rvlifestyle.com/2018-calendar/ This portion of the Podcast is brought to you by Campers Inn, the RVer’s trusted resource for over 50 years, the nation’s largest family-operated RV dealership with 19 locations and growing JENNIFER'S TIP OF THE WEEK [spp-timestamp time="8:54] One topic RVers love to talk and learn about is cooking and eating. Finding good and easy to prepare meals on the road can be quite challenging. Episode 175: Straight Talk for RV Wives Only One method that has been getting a lot of attention on our Roadtreking Facebook Group lately is called Sous-Vide … for “under vacuum.” Essentially it means cooking food in sealed plastic bags immersed in hot water for long periods of time. Depending on the cut, type, and thickness of the meat or the type of food in question, cooking Sous-Vide for several hours is not out of the ordinary. The key is managing the temperature of the water so it stays hot enough to cook the food thoroughly and evenly, and long enough to kill any food-borne pathogens that may be in the bag along with the food. Cooking in sealed bags (usually vacuum sealed) at lower temperatures also results in juicier food, since there's no significant transfer of moisture from the food in the way there is with others cooking method like grilling or broiling, and the cooking temperatures don't get so high that the food starts to dry out. Now there are devices and kits you can get to make this process easy. We’ll do a tip on that sometime soon. But in today’s tip, a husband and wife team of listeners to this podcast sent us this tip on how the Sous-Vide cooking method made a winter camping trip very tasty… and easy. Like I said, we’ll talk more about Sous-Vide cooking in a future episode. Meantime, be sure to send me YOUR tips and suggestions for the RV lifestyle. You can use the “Leave Voicemail” link at Roadtreking.com. Just click it and then use the built-in microphone on your computer or mobile devise to record a message to me. You can do it over as many times as you want, until you are satisfied. And then you just click a button and it I love hearing from you! Jennifer's tip of the week is brought to you by RadPower Bikes ,an electric bike manufacturer offering direct to consumer pricing on powerful premium electric bikes. Now with free shipping LISTENER QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK [spp-timestamp time="15:16"] A caller asks about what app to use to clear up and manage memory on her smartphone. Everyone knows that the more we use our smartphones, the higher the chance that we’ll run out of storage space on them at the worst possible moment. I recently did one of my NBC-TV PC Mike reports on just that, showing three apps proven useful in managing smartphone space. Files Go is the new Google-made app that checks storage and frees up more space by identifying and deleting old files, Best of all it it takes up a relatively small amount of space on your device with no extras that can affect a phone’s performance. The app is free for Android. AMC Cleaner is another free and easy-to-use Android tool that does deep scans that reveal the big files that occupy the most phone space, such as old undeleted messages in social apps, unknown files, photos, music, videos and more. IPhone users have the Magic Phone Cleaner app. It features a simple interface to free up space. It evaluates available storage and identifies large photos and video files before giving users the option to decide if they want to keep or delete them. The app is free for iOS. To see the apps in operation and for more info go to: http://pcmike.com/smartphone-memory-management-apps/ Greg remembers Mike talking about a great new handheld vacuum he got for his RV and wants more info. The one we have we bought from a local store. They make it themselves. But the one its patterned after and the closest one we can find to it is the BISSELL Lightweight Cordless Hand Vacuum and Car Vacuum, model 1985. Equipped with high-performance, cordless technology, it's engineered for versatile cleaning in even the hardest-to-reach spots. Powered by a removable, professional-grade, 22V lithium-ion battery, this lightweight, ergonomically designed hand vacuum delivers total cleaning comfort with up to 15 minutes of fade-free suction. And once you've tackled that mess, its removable dirt bin with Easy Empty lid makes for a quick, mess-free empty. For a complete list of all the products, gear and apps mentioned by Mike and Jennifer on their podcast, YouTube RV Lifestyle Channel and here on the blog, go to https://rvlifestyle.com/gear Sponsoring this part of the podcast is Van City RV Bringing You the largest Inventory of class B’ RVs with locations St. Louis, Missouri; Las Vegas, Nevada; Kalispell, Montana and now… Colorado Springs, Colorado.. INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK [spp-timestamp time="23:17"] Let’s face it, sometimes it’s men who – at least initially – are the most excited about embarking on the RV Lifestyle. This is not always the case to be sure, but as Jennifer and I travel around North America and meet people, very often the women will gravitate to her and take her aside to express some private concerns about RVing. So in this special report, Jennifer talks to RV Wives, addressing a bunch of concerns that RV women have raised with her. She alleviates most of these concerns with some very practical advice. And although she’s talking to the women…. Men, I think you’ll benefit, too, by listening in.  I’ll follow this with my own advice for RV husbands in a future episode. The interview of the week is brought to you by SunshinestateRVs.com, where every new or used Roadtrek motorhome is delivered to the customer free, anywhere in the country TRAVELING TECH TIP [spp-timestamp time="41:44"] Steve Van Dinter By Steve Van Dinter Verizon Wireless It’s NFL playoff season and no matter if your team is still in the running or preparing for next year, everyone’s a winner when it comes to tech. If you’re lucky enough to have tickets to a playoff game, you can take your tailgate to the next level with bluetooth speakers like the UE Wonderboom 2. They’re portable, loud and waterproof - making them the perfect choice for any outdoor conditions. When it comes to taking pictures you’ll want to cherish, I can’t think of a better pocket partner than the Google Pixel 2. It’s best in class camera and portrait mode will produce touchdown worthy celebrations and it’s fast charge and Google Assistant will keep you going for hours and hours. Sometimes game day turns into game night and when it does, make sure you’re packing the Mophie Powerstation mini 3000. It quickly charges most smartphones or USB devices and fits in your pocket so you don’t run out of juice when posting your selfie. When you’re on the go and still want to watch the games, you’ve got many options. Starting this month you can catch all NFL playoff games live-streamed for free on Yahoo and Yahoo Sports in addition to go90 and the NFL Mobile app. Lastly when it comes to making your home or RV more festive, you can easily show your spirit with Phillips Hue lights. Each bulb lets you choose from up to 16 million colors...and you can set team color presets so you’re always game day ready. This part of the podcast is brought to you by Verizon, which operates America’s most reliable wireless network, with more than 112 million retail connections nationwide. OFF THE BEATEN PATH REPORT - Northern Wisconsin [spp-timestamp time="45:18"] Patti and Tom Burkett By Tom and Patti Burkett Say “Wisconsin” to almost anyone, and they’re likely to think of cheese. There is cheese in this story, but you’ll have to wait for it. This is a trip along US 8, which runs through pinewoods, across rivers, and along lakes in the north woods. As we approached the highway strange creatures appeared out of the fog. Along one side of the Saint Croix Trail was the Franconia Sculpture Park. As we strolled the grounds, creations of all sorts emerged from the mist, some quite realistic,