As much as we all like to be out and about, there are times when you have to store the rig when it’s not in use.
One of the best ways of protecting your RV is to use a well made, fitted cover. Even if your RV is under a roof, wind and debris can wear the finish and infiltrate the interior.
ADCO makes some of the best covers that can protect your rig. You can check out what they have available at ADCO.
There are an endless number of flashlights available in all types of stores, so why a flashlight product review?
Well, quite simply, the Techlite Lumen Master 200 is an inexpensive, very well made LED flashlight that puts out 200 lumens:
Tactical Flashlight
It’s very small (fits easily in your hand or in a pocket), is weather resistant, has multiple settings and uses standard batteries. We use it as a backup flashlight when walking the dogs and in our range bags.
The flashlight itself is very well finished and is aluminum with the controls in the rear (push button). When pushing the button the first setting is low power (120 lumens), then next is full power (200 lumens) and the third is a strobe setting. If you unscrew the base you can remove the battery pack which consists of 3 AAA batteries. Runtime is approximately 1 hour on high power and 3 on low power.
The flashlight comes in a pack of 3 including Duracell batteries for all three of the flashlights that are included. If you can find it at Costco, they have been selling it for $19.99 with an instant $4.00 rebate. It is also available at Amazon for $35.00. At a recent gun show, someone was selling them individually for $12.00/each.
The only downside to this flashlight is that like most it isn’t made in the USA.
Keep the spiders and other insects out of your outdoor access areas.
I buy some cheap pet flea & tick collars, cut them in half and place them into the following compartments:
I attach them using some nylon tie straps and cable tie adhesive mounts like these:
Nylon Tie Downs
While you can get the tie downs and straps in multiple colors and in plastic, I prefer the black nylon that is UV resistant.
You can get these at most major hardware stores.
Don’t forget to replace the collars every few months and always check to make sure that they are secure and not in the path of any direct flames or hot exhaust.
I’ve started a dedicated page (see menu bar) for my favorite traffic and road conditions by region.
Hopefully this will be of help to others that travel.
If you have any sites that you’d like to suggest, either leave a comment or e-mail me.
Now that spring is slowly approaching, many of us are starting to prepare for our first early road trips.
Don’t forget to take your hot-water heater out of by-pass mode after you’ve flushed the water lines from any anti-freeze. This is an easy item to overlook when you’re trying to get ready to hit the road and could be very frustrating — as well as cause problems for your water heater if fresh water doesn’t make it to the heater before you fire it up for the first time.
I also take the opportunity to flush the tank from any sediments before I take it out of by-pass.
Thanks for visiting our new blog.
We migrated from a BlogEngine.Net based blog to WordPress recently during a change in web-hosting providers.
While we were very happy with BlogEngine.Net, our new provider didn’t offer it and so we decided to switch to WordPress and in the process make our blog available on smart phones as well. Our decision to switch providers was driven by costs as we wanted to reduce our monthly expenditures as much as possible.
You may also note that we have expanded our coverage from just RV related topics as we are no longer full-timing 
. We are still enjoying RVing but now have a stick-n-brick as well.
Over the next few weeks I hope to expand our content and would welcome you to visit (often 
) and leave comments as well. Any and all suggestions are welcome.
View from Grilling Area
Some of the amenities include:
Gazebo.
Our lot is at one of the premiere locations – across from the pool entrance and near the laundry facilities. It has mature landscaping and is large enough to accommodate a 45’ rig as well as a parking spot for another vehicle.
If you want to trade your existing lot for ours we are looking for something in the Northwest, preferably along the Washington or Oregon coast.
The lot originally sold for over $150,000; but due to our change in lifestyles and the current economy we are willing to let it go for $39,900.
The monthly fee is $220 which includes the gym, pool, trash pickup, water, sewer and security.
The owners of the resort are currently not selling any lots so this is a rare opportunity to buy a luxury lot at a 5 star RV resort. You could even rent your lot out when not in use. The resort currently rents the pool side lots for $220/week or $455/month. They also have a rental program if you want them to manage it for you.
If interested, please PM or e-mail me (admin@rvschooner.com).
View from Lot of Mountains
Gazebo
Lot with 34' Airstream
Mountain View
Upper_Pool_+ Jacuzzi
Upper &_Lower_Pool
Jaccuzi
Pool
Koi
Gym
Indoor_Jacuzzi
While I was in the process of deciding upon my gun, I took the time to research the state laws regarding the transportation and carrying of a gun.
Boy what a quagmire! I would never have expected there to be so many disparate laws and weird rules.
Aside from some states which have their own “issues” (like California, New York & Illinois), the biggest surprise to me was that if you purchased a long gun (rifle, shotgun, etc.) you could so in any state regardless of your domicile. But if you wanted to buy a handgun it either had to be in your state or had to be shipped to a federally licensed firearms dealer in your state. In addition, for a long gun you could get approval while you waited whereas – unless you had a concealed weapon/pistol permit – there was a mandatory minimum waiting period. With the permit you could get approval while you waited.
Since I hadn’t purchased my gun yet, I decided to look into what was involved in getting a concealed permit. Aside from the purchasing aspect of having a permit, in many states (where the permit was honored) it made it easier to transport the gun as it could be kept in the passenger compartment, with or without ammo, etc.
Now as I researched getting a permit it got even weirder. Some states make it virtually impossible to get one, others require a minimal amount of certification (online courses sometimes will do), most do not require any test to show that you know how to handle a gun and then others where they are “shall issue”; meaning that unless you have a criminal record they have to issue you a permit.
Now if your head weren’t ready to explode already, each state not only has different laws regarding the carry/transport of a handgun (even with a permit), not all states honor other states permits. So unlike a driver’s license that is unique to a state but is honored by all of the others, this is definitely not the case with a concealed carry permit. So, you really need to check on the rules on every state that you will be travelling through and may want/need to get a non-resident permit for additional states.
I’m not going to try to cover all of the details but here are some good links to sites with a lot of information on the subject: USA Carry, OpenCarry & Handgunlaw.us.
After shooting a number of different handguns – including Glocks and Berretas – in a variety of calibers, I decided to get a Glock 17 Gen 4 for my personal gun.
Glock 17 Gen 4
This is a 9mm handgun which is a lot of fun to shoot and has minimal recoil. Prior to making this decision, I researched a number of guns and decided that I wanted to go with a dual action only (DAO) vs. a single action only (SAO) or a combined (where the first shot is dual action and subsequent shots were single action). In addition, I didn’t want additional safeties or de-clocking levers to deal with but wanted a semi-auto (more fun for me) rather than a revolver. Since I wasn’t planning on concealed carry, a full-size gun fit my needs nicely and was also more comfortable in my hand.
Essentially I wanted a simple gun that was reliable, would only go *bang* when I pulled the trigger and would never go *bang* if I didn’t pull the trigger. I won’t get into the details of each gun but suffice it to say that the Glock 17 fit the bill. I also selected a Gen 4 model after trying both Gen 3 & Gen 4 at a range as I was more accurate (a little less recoil) with it. Since getting the Glock I have put over 300 rounds through it and am still grinning from ear-to-ear 
.
Up until now I have never had the need or desire for a gun of any type. I have lived in rural as well as urban areas, travelled extensively by RV in the USA and also having travelled across much of the world the thought just never came up.
So what changed? With our new home base in the Northwest I needed some activity that would be interesting and get me out of the house and away from the computer (go figure!).I decided to see if shooting (for sport only – although I am a devotee of eating meat) would catch my interest.
After doing some research I found an indoor shooting range that offered classes. As soon as I took the basic handgun class I was hooked! Great fun, stress release, ability to shoot by myself or others and – within reason – not too expensive…certainly not compared to RVing.
After my initial class I started going to the range weekly renting different handguns to see what I liked best. In a future post I’ll discuss further my adventures and eventual gun purchase, philosophy of gun ownership, etc.