Episode 96: Santa’s Got a Brand New RV Ride

We meet a lot of interesting people out on the road. Not long ago, we met Santa, in the form of a super nice guy named Steve Dodd. Santa drives (besides the sleigh, of course) a Roadtrek. Listen to Steve’s interview in this episode of the podcast, along with lots of listener questions, RV Basic Training, Traveling Tech Tips, RV News of the Week and a great Off-The-Beaten-Path report. Scroll down for show note details and resources and click the player below to start listening. 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 #96 July 13, 2016 of Roadtreking - The RV Lifestyle Podcast: JENNIFER'S TIP OF THE WEEK [spp-timestamp time="6:06"] This week’s tip would come from our Norwegian Elkhound puppy, Bo… if he could give it. As many of you know, Bo has been traveling with us this summer and having a great time. He loves everything about RVing… except for one thing: The heat. Bo on his cooling pad Right now, we’re in the deep south, near the Florida/Alabama border and the daytime temperatures have been over 100 degrees a couple of days over the past week. We spend as much time on the Gulf shore, where there’s always a nice cooling breeze off the water. But dogs are not allowed n the beach and Bo needs a little help. So we got him a cooling pad. It’s a matt made out of cold gel. We bought it at a pet store and Amazon has a whole bunch of them in different sizes. [spp-timestamp time="6:05"] The pad is soft and the gel inside is noticeably cool to the touch. Bo loves it. He finds it very comfy and in this hot weather, prefers it to the thick cloth bed he usually sleeps in. We put it on the floor of our Roadtrek for him at night and while we’re driving and, when we are at a campsite, we put it down on top of the ground pad under the awning. The pads are around $30 or so and they are very easy to clean. My only suggestion is to get one big enough for your pet to fully stretch out on. Bo loves his. I bet your pet would as well. That’s my tip this week. If you have a traveling tip to share, either e-mail me at Jennifer At Roadtreking Dot Com or use the “Leave Voicemail” link on the Roatreking Dot Com blog to record one and send it to me by using the built in microphone on your computer, tablet or smartphone. I love getting your tips… so let me hear from you! The tip of the week is brought to you by Good Sam, the world's most popular RV organization, now celebrating its 50th year. LISTENER QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK:[spp-timestamp time="9:52"] Listener Lee is shopping for an RV. But with six kids who he plans to “roadschool,” he’s wondering what size RV he needs. [spp-timestamp time="9:51"] Rob from Fairbanks, Alaska, is also shopping for an RV. He has it narrowed down between a Class B campervan and a travel trailer and wants to know how challenging it is to “decamp” with an RV and whether a travel trailer is easier. [spp-timestamp time="13:36"] e-mail questions: Just wondering if you or Jennifer could give us more information on the bed pads that you're using now and where you purchased them. Thanks. - Gary and Carol [spp-timestamp time="17:09"] Thanks for this website and your experiences How do you Wifi from an RV? I am about to retire and am thinking of buying a New Road Trek and traveling the USA on and off the grid. 1) Can you tell me the downside of Living for months at a time in a Road Trek class B RV? 2) What do RV parks typically cost when traveling? Any tips on negotiating the price of a new RV? Thank you. I Hope to meet you on the road someday. -Al [spp-timestamp time="20:30"] Sponsoring this part of the podcast is Van City RV in St. Louis, and their Partner Dealerships Creston RV in Kalispell, Montana, and Wagon Trail RV in Las Vegas. Bringing You the largest Inventory of class B’s from three locations. RV BASIC TRAINING - [spp-timestamp time="25:57"] How to sanitize your RV’s fresh water tank. I sanitize our fresh water tanks at least twice every year. The steps are pretty simple. [spp-timestamp time="29:00"] Fill and empty the fresh water tank After the initial drain, I fill up the fresh water tank with clean water. Going inside, I run the galley and bathroom faucets for a couple of minutes. You may want to also do this with the shower. Outside again, I once again drain and then refill the fresh water tanks, this time adding about two ounces of bleach. I let it sit like that overnight if parked at home and I’m not on the road. The next morning, I go back inside the coach and again ran the faucets and flush the toilet with lots of water, getting some of that sanitizied water into all the pipes. Again, you may want to also run it through the shower for a bit. After doing all of that, I dump both the black and grey water so I could start out with clean, empty storage tanks. Back in the driveway, I fill the fresh water tanks one more time, but about half way so I’ll have enough on hand