RV Podcast Episode 202: Is your RV water safe to drink?

In this episode of the RV Podcast we look at the hidden dangers of campground water supplies and the water in your RV’s fresh water tank. There are concerns that bacteria and E.coli contamination are much more prevalent in RV water systems and that without proper filtration you and your family could be at risk when drinking water out of RV faucets. Coming up in our interview of the week segment, we’ll talk to the former CEO of a large RV manufacturer about what you need to do to have safe drinking water. Plus, a serious warning about an outbreak of canine influenza, Jennifer’s RV Tip of the week, your RV questions, lots of important RV News, traveling technology ideas and an off the beaten path report from the Burketts. 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 #202 July 25, 2018 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast [spp-timestamp time="2:10"] WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK Mike and Jennifer are in Southaven, MS this week watching their grandson, Jacob, 12, play in the Dizzy Dean League World Series on a team coached by their son, Scott. MIKE Greetings from Southaven, MS, just outside Memphis, TN, where we have been all week watching our 12-year-olld grandson, Jacob, play in the Dizzy Dean League World Series on a team coached by our son, Scott. It’s been great family time for us and we’ve been using our Roadtrek RV as a “boy cave,” an air-conditioned respite for Jacob and his teammates from the 100 degree heat they’ve been having down here, a place to chill out with the AC between games. Those solar panels on our roof have soaked up the southern sun and kept our lithium batteries charged up and we’ve had plenty of power out there in the parking lot. JENNIFER This heat we have experienced this week is happening in many parts of the country. Temperatures approached 120 degrees in parts of the U.S. Southwest on Monday, and forecasters said this week could bring the region's hottest weather of the year. Forecasters issued excessive heat warnings to much of Arizona, including parts of Grand Canyon National Park, and extended into areas of Southern California and Nevada. A heat advisory was in effect for west Texas and southeast New Mexico with high temperatures well into the triple digits. In Waco it was 114 degrees. Parts of Utah were also issued an excessive heat warning with temperatures this week expected to approach 109 degrees. Phoenix reached a sweltering 115 degrees, which broke the previous daily record, according to the National Weather Service. MIKE We are excited this week to announce that our online store is now up and running. If you’ve been watching our RV Lifestyle You Tube Channel you’ve seen us both wearing our hats and shirts complete with our logo. Lots of you have asked how you can get them and we promised we’d find a way. Well we finally have it all set up. Just go to shop.rvlifestyle.com. That’s shop.rvlifestyle.com. And let us know what you think about it. We’ll be adding lots of cool things in the weeks ahead, but right now it has the T-shirts, in men and women sizes, our, hats and a very nice sweatshirt for the colder months that are just around the corner. JENNIFER We’ll be leaving Memphis by the weekend and headed back north again to Michigan where we’ll pick up Bo. He’s been at our daughter’s house there. It has just been too hot for him down here in Memphis. We did take him with us last week to the Owner’s Academy in Cambridge Ontario. We were there in April and they invited us back to the Roadtrek and Erwin Hymer of North America factory there last week. We presented a seminar on our Serendipity Travel style and told some stories from the road as we got to hang out with another cool group of fellow RVers. Bo was really well behaved. The Roadtrek folks are very dog friendly and he was right in the seminar room with us. MIKE We’ve been on the road a lot this year and we wanted to share a concern we have about something that we are seeing more and more. Distracted drivers. On the way down here to Memphis this past week, we were almost hit twice by distracted drivers. In both cases it looked like the drivers were texting as they drove the interstate at speeds over 70 miles an hour. It drives me nuts that I can’t get their attention. I honk the horn in our RV but sfor some reason, Mercedes has built in this wimpy little “meep Meep” horn that nobody can hear and if they do hear it, it gets no respect. JENNIFER Seriously, tough, distracted driving is a huge problem out there. Most states have put distracted driving laws on the books over the past few years. Getting caught calling or texting behind the wheel can cost drivers from $1000 in Oregon for a first offense to a whopping $10,000 in Alaska. But if you look around in traffic on any given day, you know that fines are not enough to stop some people from checking incoming text messages or Facebook status updates while driving. Some states are now adding jailtime as an even stronger deterrent. But in our travels, we’re seeing more distracted driving, not less. And it’s not just cell phones. GPS units and in dash vehicle entertainment systems all too easily lure driver’s attention off the road and onto electronic screens. MIKE Over the past two years there's been a 14 percent rise in roadway fatalities in the US, and the largest back-to-back increase in motor vehicle–related death rates per mile driven in more than 50 years. In some parts of the country, distracted driving causes more vehicle crashes than drunk driving. So we point this all out to say that it is dangerous out there. Be alert as you drive this summer and don’t be one of those distracted by all the gadgetry on your dashboard.. Meanwhile, here’s the RV News of the week you need to know about: JENNIFER New fissure at Grand Teton National Park does NOT equal imminent volcanic eruption Did you see the stories out of the UK last week about a giant fissure appearing on a volcano at Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park? They stated the giant crack so close to Yellowstone National Park was causing concern a massive volcano was about to blow (see here ). We want to put your mind at ease. The 100 foot crack is NOT a sign of imminent disaster. Rather this part of the country is simply geologically active, and activity does not equal a massive volcanic eruption is coming soon. To read a through story debunking the hype on the Snopes website, click here. MIKE Study finds air pollution in U.S. national parks similar to American cities A study released last week found that air pollution at U.S. national parks is just as bad as many U.S. cities. It also found that many national parks experienced ozone action days, when the public is urged to avoid being outside or doing vigorous outdoor activities, during the same summer months visitation is expected to be highest, among other things. Several media outlets featured the findings. To learn more click here or here. JENNIFER Wildfires burning, triggering campfire bans, evacuations Oregon, Colorado, California, elsewhere Planning to do any camping in Oregon this week? If so, listen up. Due to extremely dry conditions all campfires and open flames in campgrounds are banned, likely for the entire week, in response to the Governor's declaration of a wildfire emergency. Two people died in wildfires as of the weekend, and many had been evacuated from their homes. Wildfires are also burning in northern California - with one near Yosemite National Park and throughout Colorado, so be sure to double check conditions before heading to campsites in any of those areas. To read more about the Oregon fires, click here. MIKE Walmart in Canada's Yukon Territory to end overnight stays this summer A story out of the Yukon Territory in Canada last week focused on the decision of a Walmart there to end overnight stays for campers in their parking lot. It appears the ban will only happen in the summer. The Yukon News quoted Walmart officials as saying customers had complained about the large amount of debris campers left in the camping lot, and an area campground owner said the Walmart was hurting business, while Walmart campers were quoted saying there was no where to stay. To read the story, click here. JENNIFER California's Highway 1 near Big Sur opens for first time since 2017 mudslide Good news for all of you California west coast lovers - Highway 1 near Big Sur opened last week for the first time in about 14 months. The road was closed for nearly a year and a half when the worse mudslide in Big Sur's history swept a section of the road into the ocean, making it very difficult for campers or other tourists to reach the popular area. To see before and after pictures, and learn more, click here. This part of the program is brought to you by AllStays Pro, the best tool for RVers looking for places to camp, boondock or stay free overnight. Go to https://rvlifestyle.com/allstays for more info. JENNIFER'S RV TIP OF THE WEEK [spp-timestamp time="19:20"] Our tip of the week for this episode is really a warning for dog owners. We want to pass along an alert we received from Lea DiBella, the excellent dog trainer we used for Bo last year. She sent out an alert to her clients warning about a rash of confirmed cases of canine influenza in Southeastern Michigan, particularly in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties. Several boarding kennels in those counties have been forced to cancel reservations for upcoming stays in order to thoroughly disinfect their facilities. Canine Influenza can seem similar to Canine Cough except it is significantly more contagious (nearly every dog will contract it when exposed) and has a shorter incubation period. And Michigan is not the only area experiencing an outbreak of this. It is throughout the Midwest.