In this week’s news recap, we’re looking at the most dangerous places to hike, propane safety, a new RV company, a tire pressure monitoring system that doesn’t need yet another screen, and doing a bit of Breaking Bad.
Most dangerous places to hike
While some of us, such as myself, keep ourselves out of danger by just not going hiking, a lot of us do go hiking. I got a press release from shoe company KURU Footwear about the most dangerous places to hike.
According to KURU, there are an estimated 4,000-5,000 hiking-related injuries annually. Those injuries range from scrapes and bumps to getting on the evening news because they sent a helicopter your way. Surprisingly, 13.4% of hiking injuries are head injuries, and I can relate—I saw on the Three Stooges how Curly let that branch whip Moe in the face on several occasions.
But, actually, the ankle is the most common place for injuries at 42%, with female hikers reporting 72% of the ankle-related injuries. KURU Footwear’s report is pretty interesting. You can see the full details here.
Apparently the number of folks hiking has doubled since 2001 (lots of people have told me to take a hike), with national parks being hotspots for injuries due to challenging terrain and a high number of visitors. Of course, places like Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, and Zion see a lot of reports of injury because there are a lot of people there.
The good news in all of this is that you only have a 0.0064% chance of dying while hiking, so there’s that.
Propane explosions and you
While finding propane explosions in the news isn’t terribly uncommon, I just thought it was worth it to remind folks to check the age of your propane detectors in your RVs. In fact, Cheri Sicard shared a great video about testing your propane system recently.
The reason I write this is from personal experience. We were camping in Quartzsite this past year, and a camper had a propane leak they were unaware of because their propane detector wasn’t working properly. They were also a smoker, so you can see where this is going.
Their dog, miraculously, did survive the explosion, but they did not.
Here’s just one of the stories that I come across in a week about RV explosions.
TireMinder® Smart TPMS
If you’re like me and have way, way, way too many screens to deal with in your vehicle, something that came across my desk piqued my interest: a tire pressure monitoring system that uses the phone’s screen instead of yet another dedicated one.
My truck has a screen for our trailer’s TPMS and for our backup cameras. And then we have our phones, which we use for mapping and for listening to podcasts. Oh, and there’s the screen that came with the truck, too.
But we bury the TPMS and backup camera screens in the glove box, figuring the TPMS makes a horrible racket if it senses a problem.
TireMinder® has come out with a TPMS that just uses a screen we already have—the phone’s screen. It also can take advantage of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so, if you already have that in your truck, then that’s one fewer screen for you, too.
Other than the press release, I know nothing further about this and, since my trailer has a banded tire pressure monitoring system, I am not likely to switch. But this could be a cool gadget for those who don’t already have something and don’t want yet another screen in your truck.
A new line of trailers: Teleos
I have seen a number of new brands of RV coming on the market lately from both independent companies, such as Boundless Recreation I shared last week. But this is something different—Forest River announced the new Teleos brand at last week’s dealer open house.
Teleos is meant to sit at the top of the Forest River range and is quite different. From a build perspective, these are very different.
An article in RVBusiness noted that the Teleos employs the Truma Saphir under-bunk air conditioner/heating system to limit the roof cutouts to only the holding tank vents. Truma’s on-demand tankless Combi Plus water heater is another Teleos component worth mentioning, as are the suite of GE Profile appliances, contemporary five-ply cabinetry from Genesis Products featuring “twist-and-lock” construction, Triple M porcelain countertops with a hidden InvisaCook induction cooktop, and BAL® RV Products for the chassis, independent suspension and leveling system.
Another big difference is in the plumbing, where the Teleos will use woven lines capable of freezing and expanding without failing. The company also said each component will be listed under its own part number, thereby making servicing easier.
EcoFlow power in the Teleos
I’m also truly intrigued by the use of an EcoFlow Generation 2 system for power. According to Teleos, running just on DC power, the Teleos has more than two days of reserves. It can also operate the A/C for 12 hours straight.
EcoFlow is a company that makes portable power stations, so I’m really curious to learn more. I’m seeing more and more very capable portable power station solutions for RVers, and the one here has a stated 800 amp-hours of reserves. Nice.
The Teleos MSRP is expected to range between $75,000-$90,000, depending on options.
Quite frankly, if this thing is as good as it looks on paper, I may be shopping next year. The wall build on this is also different— more like a Casita or Bigfoot—and there are no slide-outs. If you don’t know, I don’t like slide rooms. I appreciate the space, for sure, but there’s just something about that much complexity built by the low bidder that makes me nervous, though I’ve never had an issue with a slide room.
The Teleos will fall under the Coachmen brand for fulfillment and manufacturing.
That’s not news
It’s funny how many news releases I’ve been getting since I fired up this series here on RVTravel.com. You can tell if something’s working by the responses, especially the negative ones. But you can also tell when others take notice of your merry-go-round and want a ride.
For example, I got several notices that Winnebago® and Progressive Insurance® have formed a partnership. “Through coordinated marketing efforts and shared customer-focused initiatives, the companies will deliver added value, helpful resources and greater confidence for RV owners.”
In other words, they’re just co-branding. Nothing to see here.
I only include this because of the number of places I have seen sharing this and, truthfully, I’m not even sure what this is other than they’re leveraging each other’s customer list.
And I want Progressive to advertise on my podcast! But that’s a whole different enchilada.
Source: Yahoo Finance (and a bunch of other places)
Walter White would be so proud
Sometimes the real world is a funny place, although I guess it’s not that funny that police in Gatesville, Texas, were chasing a guy in an RV around. The stolen rig was driven at high speeds, sometimes going opposite to traffic, and ultimately crashed into a tree.
Allegedly, more than 20 grams of meth was found once police searched the crashed RV. No word on whether that was the blue kind.
You can see more on Fox44 News’ website.
I might have been influenced to share this story as I’m rewatching Breaking Bad and now recognize some of the places used in the show. I also just went on the Breaking Bad RV Tour here in Albuquerque—that was fun! Here are some of the filming locations, if you’re in the area.
MORE BEYOND THE HEADLINES FROM TONY
- A new RV company, Go RVing teams up with creators, the World’s largest RV show, and, yep, Lance is back
- What’s hurting the RV industry, why RV fires start, the Overland Expo, and RV park evictions
- Lippert-Patrick merger moves forward, Coachmen has new floors, and Forest River wants to hear from you
- How tariffs have affected Elkhart, van rental demand, and future RVers
Catch up on all the latest news for RVers here.
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