Episode 204: Dealing with Mosquitos while camping

Show Notes for Episode #204 Aug. 6, 2018 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast: It’s summertime, a great time to be outdoors. Except for one thing: Mosquitos. They can really ruin a day outside. In this week’s episode, we talk to the Centers for Disease Control’s top expert on mosquitos, Dr. Janet McAllister, on just what we can do to keep them from ruining a camping trip. We also ask her about ticks and an alarming new trend the CDC is noticing about these disease-carrying bugs. So stay tuned for our interview of the week. Also, this week, lots of your questions, our answers, RV news, RV tips and much, much more. [spp-player] WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK MIKE Well, here we go. We are back on the road after a week’s respite at our sticks and bricks home in Michigan. JENNIFER And I can’t wait! This is going to be a camping trip with two of our kids son, Jeff, and daughter Wendy, their spouses and four of our eight grandkids. We’re headed up to the sand dunes along the Lake Michigan shoreline for several days of family camping. MIKE Then, we leave Lake Michigan and start heading south, through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and eventually Florida. We hope to take in a couple of football games played by grandsons Matthew and Jacob and then grad some downtime along the Emerald Coast down around Destin Florida. JENNIFER Speaking of downtime, just when are you planning to do that? Between the blog, the podcast, the newsletter, YouTube and social media, you’ve been working seven days a week now for years. You have never missed a podcast in 204 weeks! I know you love it and don’t consider it a job but that’s a lot of stress! MIKE Good stress, but stress nonetheless. As all if our platforms have grown so has the workload. But, yes, I have a plan. I plan to take two whole weeks off… the last two weeks of December. That’s the plan. JENNIFER But can you keep it? I think you can. I will help. MIKE Hey, have you see our new T-Shirt designs on our RV Lifestyle Merch Store? We have a bunch of new designs for the T-shirts. I especially like the new Small House, Big Yard shirt. We have new ones coming for Serendipity Travel and lots of other concepts we talk about here. I love the new designs and we have lots of ideas of fun things we can add to the collection. JENNIFER I can’t believe that summer is almost over. School has already started in some of the southern states, with more resuming classes each week. And Labor Day is just around the corner, signaling the unofficial end of summer. High School football – which we’ll be watching – starts the 17th. Those Friday Night Lights are about to shine again. Time just passes so fast, doesn’t it? On the positive side, with the kids back in school, that means it will be easier to find open campsites again. MIKE Meanwhile, here’s the RV News of the week: JENNIFER Man caught on video harassing Yellowstone bison alleged involved in slew of issues at several national parks Did you see the video of the guy caught harassing a bison at Yellowstone National Park last week? The video has gone viral, and as more information is known about this guy, it appears he was causing disturbances at a number of national parks. At Grand Teton he was arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct. At Yellowstone he was involved in a traffic incident before he harassed the bison. Then at Glacier's Many Glacier Hotel he was apparently creating a disturbance when rangers caught and arrested him over the incident with the Yellowstone bison. He spent the weekend in jail. To read more click here or to watch click here. MIKE Yosemite National Park may reopen today but fires continue to burn throughout California, elsewhere Yosemite National Park is expected to reopen this week - if the smoke from nearby wildfires clears a bit so it is not dangerous to breathe. Some 17 large wildfires were burning throughout California last weekend causing President Trump to declare a state of emergency. Yosemite closed July 25 because of smoke and so firefighters could more easily battle a blaze on the park's edge near a grove of ancient sequoia trees. California's wildfires are blamed for seven deaths and are being fought by some 14,000 people coming from states throughout the country. (click here). Wildfires are also burning in Oregon where the National Guard was called in (click here) and in several other western states including Montana (click here). JENNIFER Parasite linked to Minnesota campground, state's health department seeking help The Minnesota Department of Health is asking anyone who visited the Shades of Sherwood Campground in Zumbrota last month to call them. An outbreak of a waterborne disease called cryptosporidiosis has been connected to people who visited the park in July. Cryptosporidiosis is a disease caused by a microscopic parasite, with symptoms that could include diarrhea, stomach cramps, vomiting, weight loss and low grade fever. Some affected will require hos