Batteries and generators and Coleman--oh my!

This weekend, all Camping World stores will be having special events. On Thursday, the first 50 people who go through the checkstand will receive a free gift. On Friday, there will be door prizes. Saturday has hot dogs with the works. And on Sunday at noon, 1 and 2, there will be seminars with time for questions and answers. Yours truly will be talking about the three topics in the headline at the Fairfield, CA store. We went through a series of storms at the beginning of the month and many were without power for several days.

If you're near a Camping World in your area, you might want to drop in to see what's happening. It should be a lot of fun.

Getting ready for LOW

Yes, I know the Life on Wheels conference doesn't begin until March 18 in Tucson, but yours truly wants to be prepared. I found a couple of items at Camping World that will help with the "Saving Space and Weight in Your RV" class.
These collapsible bowls and colander are at Camping World. They take up much less space than the usual bowls and stack under my sink in the same amount of space that one of them uses.
I also found these and used them this afternoon. I filled the smaller container with rainbow spiral pasta, added boiling water to within an inch of the top, screwed on the lid and topped it with a snap-on cover. 10 minutes later, I used the handy sleeve to protect me from scalding, removed the cap, poured out the water, unscrewed the lid and added the pasta to the bowl. It was cooked perfectly. This is part of an experiment in RVing frugally: no wasting propane heating a large pot of boiling water, cooking the pasta, pouring it through a colander, draining it and then adding the pasta to a bowl

Then I experimented with a product everyone on the Camping World website was raving about. They were right. This is a low-flow handheld shower that feels like the one you have in your sticks and bricks. It's another way to conserve water without depriving yourself of a hot (non-Navy) shower.

So I saved space, ate well and had a refreshing shower. Not bad for my day off!

Show of hands

OK, I have to admit I'm a little scared. During the last week while working at the parts and service counter, I fielded two calls from RVers asking about chains.

The first storm in a series of three over the next few days just arrived here with high wind warnings (100 mph wind gusts already over the passes at Lake Tahoe), forecasts of 20-60 mph along the coast, flooding in low-lying areas (with the offer of free sandbags), and 5-10 feet of snow at the upper elevations (over 5000 feet).

Early this morning, I had my propane filled, used the dump station, filled the water tank, drove to the laundromat and did my laundry. I returned, made a pot of coffee and prepared to hunker down for the remainder of my two days off. The first of the storms was supposed to arrive this afternoon and at 11:59, the first raindrops fell.

Um--why would you want to put chains on your RV and travel in a high profile vehicle through gusting winds in bad weather when the highway patrol is warning that I-80 will probably be closed to everyone?

Am I alone in seeing this as foolish?