RV podcast #209: America’s National Parks in Crisis

America’s National Parks are in crisis. A growing near $12 billion backlog of desperately needed repairs and maintenance is seriously affecting America's National Parks. Inadequate federal campgrounds and deteriorating or closed roads, bridges and facilities negatively impact visitor experiences and RVers in particular. In our interview of the week, we talk to Chris Bornemann, Senior Manager of Government Affairs for the RV Industry Association, who will tell us what we can do to help persuade Congress to restore our parks. Plus, your questions, comments, lots of RV news and Tips and a great off-the-beaten-path report from the Burketts. [spp-player] Show Notes for Episode #209 Sept. 12.2018 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK [spp-timestamp time="2:14"] JENNIFER As this episode comes your way, we’re way up north at Algonquin Provincial Park in Canada, attending one of our Roadtreking boondocking gatherings with a couple dozen fellow RVers. We’re enjoying the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, hiking, taking a lot of pictures and enjoying some early fall weather. Though it’s supposed to warm up later in the week up here, the nighttime temperatures have been in the mid 40’s. MIKE And Bo, our Norwegian Elkhound, loves it. He’s grown weary of the heat and humidity of the past few months as we’ve traveled through the southern US and the Gulf Coast. This Ontario weather is much more to his liking. JENNIFER This is a very busy week for us. We have to leave here and on Thursday start traveling to Hershey, PA and America’s Largest RV show there. We always have a ball at this show. More than 45 RV manufacturers will be displaying over 1,300 RVs here and there are over 100 other companies that make RV accessories and provide RV related services. We will be shooting videos and we have two live broadcasts we plan to do on our Facebook Roadtreking Page. MIKE We will be doing two Facebook Live broadcasts from the Hershey show next weekend. The frst will be on Friday at 3:30 PM from the Rad Power Bikes display. The second will be Saturday at 3 PM from the Roadtrek. Hymer display. Both will be on our Roadtreking Facebook Page Also, we’ll be doing meet at greet appearances at the Roadtrek and Hymer display Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 1 PM. We love meeting you and invite you to come by if you are attending the show. If not, then tune in to our Live reports on the Facebook Page for a look at what we’re discovering. Again, that first live report is Saturday at 3 PM. The second will be on Sunday at 3PM, when we’ll go live from the show from the Rad Power Bikes display. JENNIFER This has also been an exciting week for us as Mike is now well underway on his new healthy living program. If you heard Episode 208 last week, you learned why the RV Lifestyle and all the sitting while driving and eating at those great RV gathering pot lucks can really put on the pounds. Anyway, Mike entered the program that is run by the weight loss expert he interviewed last week and we’ve been following it faithfully. So far so good, right? MIKE Oh yeah… very right. We update my progress on this plan every Sunday night on our YouTube Live broadcast on our RV Lifestyle Channel there. So if you want the details, make sure you tune in Sunday night. But so far, in the first week, I’ve lost several pounds and because this is a simple plan that basically cuts out sugars and starches – carbohydrates – we’re eating healthy, organic, whole foods as much as possible, something we can easily prepare on the road. Anyway, go to our YouTube Channel at RVLifestyleChannel.com and you can see the most recent update. But I can report there’s definitely less of me this week than there was last week! JENNIFER So, that’s what we’ve been up to. We’re having a ball meeting others, traveling in our RV and seeing North America. This part of the program is brought to you Overnight RV Parking, a subscription service that provides details for over 12,000 free or nearly free RV overnight parking locations. And by AllStays Pro, the best tool for RVers who prefer computers or tablets and their bigger screens. AllStays Pro is is updated daily. If you join through the links here, both programs will offer you significant discounts. RV NEWS OF THE WEEK [spp-timestamp time="10:55"] MIKE Mercedes Opens New Factory in U.S. to Build Sprinter Vans Mercedes-Benz opened a new factory in North Charleston, S.C., where it will build the latest generation Sprinter van. Sprinter vans have become the most popular chassis for Class B RVs built by the RV manufacturers and, over the past year or so, the demand has been so great that Mercedes was not able to keep up. This new plant will help with that. And it will help Mercedes,too. Building cargo vans in the U.S. allows Mercedes to avoid a 25 percent tariff on imported commercial vehicles and trucks. At the plant opening, the German automaker said that one of its first big orders was a deal to make 20,000 Amazon-branded Sprinter vans for the online retailer’s new Delivery Service Partner program. The agreement calls for Mercedes to deliver the vans by the end of next year. The new plant is an expansion of a previous facility that assembled van kits imported from Germany. It includes two new buildings, a 450,000-square-foot paint shop and a body shop of more than 500,000 square feet. A 1.2-mile conveyor connects the two facilities. Mercedes-Benz spent $500 million on the factory expansion.The plant will have the capacity to employ 1,300 workers to build an estimated 40,000 vans annually. The human workers are supported by 182 robots. About half the vans sold in the U.S. have commercial uses. Another 30 percent are built for the recreational vehicle trade and about 20 percent are sold as passenger shuttles and for other use. A key change for the North American market is the introduction of a gasoline engine option that will be available next year. JENNIFER RV becomes wedged under drive in restaurant roof Here’s a story that is a warning to all of us in RVs to check for overhead obstructions when making turns. A recreational vehicle attempted to go through the opposite end of a Boston Market’s drive-through in Santa Clarita Valley, CA and damaged not only the RV but the building when it became wedged under the roof overhang. Sheriff’s deputies said the driver was apparently trying to turn around and went through the drive-in lane without noticing that overhang. Ouch! The story doesn’t say what sized RV it was. MIKE Teen falls to death at Yosemite when trying to take a selfie Here’s another warning story, very sad. An 18-year-old hiker died last Wednesday after losing his balance and slipping off a cliff at Yosemite National Park while trying to take a selfie. It happened at the edge of Nevada Fall at the park. It was over 800 feet to the bottom. We’ve seen hikers try to take selfies like that in dangerous places many times. No photo is worth taking such a chance. JENNIFER HBO to air new comedy show called Camping OK, rounding out our news of the week… something a little lighter. HBO has a new original series that will start next month called Camping. It stars Jennifer Garner as an uptight, Instagram-obsessed mom who plans a camping trip for her husband to celebrate his 45th birthday with a group of friends. Things start to go sideways almost immediately and from looking at the trailer, it appears there are many funny things that any camper can relate to. The show premieres Sunday October 14 This part of the podcast 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 To see our Rad Power Bikes in action, just click here. Visit WWW.RADPOWERBIKES.COM RV QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK [spp-timestamp time="18:33"] Questions this week are about: The advantages of nitrogen vs air in RV tires Proponents of nitrogen-filled tires say that inconsistent and under-inflation is minimized by filling tires with nitrogen because air leaks from tires three to four times faster than nitrogen does. Regular RV tires can be filled with nitrogen, so there are no 'special' tires to purchase. The best place to find nitrogen is at large retailers with tire departments or at tire stores. You can locate places in the United States and Canada that fill tires with nitrogen with a locater tool at GetNitrogen.org (http://www.getnitrogen.org/). If your tire pressure is low and you can't find a place to get nitrogen near you, it's safe and non-problematic to top off the tire pressure with air. When you get to the next available nitrogen or get home, you can have the tires purged of air and refilled with nitrogen. Crosswinds in September across South Dakota for someone towing a long travel trailer We have made this trip lots of times in our Class B Roadtrek campervan, traveling I 90 east to west and west to east. And South Dakota is a long stretch of that Interstate, measuring 410 miles from Minnesota to Montana and almost all of it across wide open prairie. Crosswinds are certainly a factor there because there no trees or structures to break the wind. The interstate is closed several times a year because of serious crosswinds. Semitrucks get blown over from time to time. The winds are strongest in the winter and spring but can be present anytime. You should also know that the speed limit on I90 there is 80 miles an hour. So if you’re pulling a trailer you will surely be traveling less than that so be siue and stay in the right lane and know that, besides battling those crosswinds, there may be some buffeting going on as you are passed by cars. By the way, I should note that 80 miles an hour as the limit means 80 miles an hour. The State Troopers there give no wiggle room. They will stop and ticket you for exceeding that by even a couple of miles an hour. That said, we love South Dakota and I-90.