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Saturday, August 5, 2023
Free, abbreviated edition
Page Contents
Featured articles
Full-size pickups most stolen vehicles in U.S. in 2022
According to analysis by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), the insurance industry’s association dedicated to predicting, preventing, and prosecuting insurance crime, vehicles with the highest theft rate last year were full-size pickups. Guess which two trucks topped the list? Find out.
A new class-action lawsuit filed over RV park rent hikes
By Randall Brink
Another West Coast RV park is being sued over the escalating issue of surging rents for RV dwellers and the legal implications of long- versus short-term RV park tenants, this time in Green, Oregon. … The lawsuit mirrors other recent legal disputes that hinge upon the issues of whether or not rent increases exceed legal limits under state and local tenant protection and rent control laws, and whether RV park tenants are even protected by such laws and ordinances. Learn more.
Trip planning? Here are the states with the most distracted drivers!
Dashboard dining. Rear-view mirror makeup time. Cell phone texting and talking. We once were passed by a driver with an open book propped up on her steering wheel. Whatever the siren call, too often the problem of distracted drivers becomes someone else’s problem. On U.S. roads, chalk up 9 fatalities each day due to distracted drivers. That’s 3,200 plus per year! Where are you most likely to have a “run in” with a distracted driver? Find out here.
One town board is fighting to protect small-town free camping, and what RVers can do
By Russ and Tiña De Maris
Pioche, Nevada, population 1,435, is one of those quiet little towns that you might stumble on in your travels. … The town itself has a colorful, albeit bloody history, along with a “Boot Hill” cemetery that received many dead, often shot or otherwise killed in the town’s early history. The fighting today doesn’t involve bullets, but, interestingly, it does affect RVers. Free camping is at stake. Learn more.
Airstream and REI collaborate with special edition Basecamp 20X Travel Trailer
Airstream and REI Co-op have introduced the REI Co-op Special Edition Basecamp 20X, a rugged new travel trailer that expands the collaboration between the two iconic outdoor brands. The new 20-foot model complements the successful 16-foot floor plan, offering two designs to cater to a growing demographic of adventurous travelers who seek to maximize time spent outside. Continue reading.
U.S. Manhattan Project sites to recall, remember Japan atomic bombings
Manhattan Project National Historical Park, in partnership with Pearl Harbor National Memorial, will host “Days of Peace and Remembrance” across its three sites to commemorate and reflect on the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Japan in 1945. Learn more.
Do-it-yourself detectives: Couple finds their stolen RV
By Russ and Tiña De Maris
When Nathan and Katie Dever parked their travel trailer in their business parking lot, they never thought it would go missing. Nor did they probably ever think that they’d turn into do-it-yourself detectives. But both happened, and inside a 24-hour span, they found their stolen RV. Their story may help you develop leads if your own rig is ever purloined. Continue reading.
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Campground Crowding
RVers say finding campsite for same day is easy, and cheap!
RV sales have slowed and fewer people are buying RVs than has been the recent trend. Has that changed campground crowding? This week Nanci Dixon shares your comments, including from Robert J., who has been welcome at a campground for 25 years but new owners told him not to come back. Greg M. shares his “secret” of how he traveled 4,475 miles and had no problems booking a campsite the same day, and with the average price of $25. More readers tell of their success in getting reservations, and one campground owner explains why it’s a catch-22 to enlarge existing campsites in their campground.
RV Tours
Tour the 2023 Airstream Caravel 16RB: The smallest Airstream!
Join Patrick Botticelli, the Airstream brand manager for Colonial Airstream in Millstone Township, NJ, for a tour of the brand’s smallest travel trailer, the 2023 Airstream Caravel. If you are interested in this trailer, be sure to watch the 40-minute video as Patrick does an outstanding job and goes into pretty much every detail of what the Airstream Caravel has to offer.
Read more and watch the video tour
Coming tomorrow…
Full-Time RVers not welcome here: South Dakota’s attempt to prevent RVers from voting and residency sparks outrage and concerns
Imagine the turmoil of receiving a jury duty summons miles away from home, disrupting the lives of one full-time RVer and her husband. Forced to appear in South Dakota during winter, over Christmas, and far from their snowbird retreat, their struggle is just beginning.
That was the RV week that was
July 29 – August 4, 2023
Love’s Travel Centers is set to open in Cañon City, Colorado, later this month. Besides all the regular Love’s stuff, the business along U.S. 50 will include a 100-space RV park. Other Love’s have added RV parks, but most with a dozen sites or fewer. So this is a big deal. Stays will be limited to 28 days in this new park — no seasonal campers or full-time residents.
The National Park Service wants your input (by August 31st) on proposed changes to campground fees and wilderness recreation permits in Zion National Park (Utah). Among the proposed rate hikes: A standard, electric campsite at the popular Watchman Campground would go from the current $30 a night to $45. A standard, non-electric site there would go from $20 to $35.
The Assurance IQ Team recently conducted a survey to find out where distracted driving is occurring the most. The worst offenders were in Mississippi and New Hampshire, where half of the respondents indicated they had texted while driving in the last month, the most in the nation. Missouri came in third at 49%. New York had the fewest respondents with texting while driving at 14.8%, followed by Pennsylvania (20%) and Oregon (22.5%). If you missed it above, read the report here.
Camping World has announced it has closed on the asset and real estate purchases of Crain RV in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Springdale, Arkansas. Upon the completion of certain facility renovations, CW intends to open these locations as Forest River RV Little Rock and Alliance RV Northwest Arkansas.
A massive fire burning through the desert in California and southern Nevada has scorched 93,000 acres in a biodiverse national preserve and torched its iconic Joshua trees, which can live 150 years. By yesterday morning, the York Fire was 85% contained and no longer spreading. Some of the preserve’s plants can take centuries to recover from destruction. The pinyon-juniper woodlands alone could take roughly 200 to 300 years to return, while the blackbrush scrub and Joshua trees — which grow only in the Mojave Desert — are unlikely to regrow after the catastrophic blaze, according to Ileene Anderson, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity who was quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal.
On July 31, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced in a news release that trucking company Yellow will cease operations and file for bankruptcy. About 30,000 employees will lose their jobs, including 22,000 Teamster members. The union and the company could not reach an agreement on a new contract. The company began 99 years ago in Oklahoma City. Long ago, the company switched its colors from yellow to orange for better visibility. Yellow was known for its cheap rates.
Seen any elephants in the Arizona desert? Not likely. But if you were driving around Tucson early last week and saw a kangaroo, your eyes were not playing tricks on you. Guroo the kangaroo had escaped from Ghost Ranch Exotics Petting Zoo on July 28 and was hopping around the desert, evading capture attempts. Finally, on Thursday, Guroo was found and returned to his zoo-home, where he has lived his entire life.
The National Park Service is advising visitors to not swim, submerge their heads or drink any water inside Utah’s Zion National Park after a type of cyanotoxin produced by a blue-green algae was detected in three bodies of water. Exposure to the toxin can cause sickness and even, in rare cases, death.
The Motorcoach Store recently paid $18.3 million for 139,904 square feet of industrial property in southern Manatee County, Florida. The company plans to build its national headquarters there plus a full-service luxury RV dealership with 16 service bays and in-house cabinet, upholstery and glass shops. Also in the plan: The Motorcoach Club, a full-service storage and concierge service for 88 luxury, Class-A diesel motor coaches.
Game wardens do a lot more than check hunting and fishing licenses. An example: A Karnes County (Texas) game warden received a call from a witness who discovered a man lying on the ground next to a dead deer. The complainant found the man after hearing a shot from a nearby county road and yelled at the man to ask what he was doing. The man stood up and ran into the brush. Wardens coordinated with sheriff’s deputies and witnesses to identify the subject. When interviewed, he indicated that, after partaking in a couple of beers, he shot the deer illegally for food. The warden issued a citation and restitution fee. The deer was given to the witnesses for food.
The long-awaited summer bridge is now up at Jedediah Smith State Park in northern California’s Redwood Country. Park visitors walk across the wild, un-damned Smith River connecting the campground to Stout Grove, Mill Creek and the Hiouchi Trail. (CDPR photo.)
Last Saturday, an 8-year-old child was attacked by a cougar while camping at Lake Angeles in Washington’s Olympic National Park. The child survived the attack with minor injuries and was taken to the local hospital for further evaluation. The cougar casually abandoned its attack after being yelled and screamed at by the child’s mother. All remaining campers in the Lake Angeles area have been evacuated and access to the Lake Angeles and Heather Park areas are closed to the public until further notice.
The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has announced the release of the redesigned New York Jets and New York Giants custom license plates ahead of the start of the 2023 football season. Gang Green and Big Blue fans can visit the DMV website today to order National Football League (NFL) plates for passenger and commercial vehicles. The DMV also recently unveiled a redesigned Buffalo Bills custom license plate. Order plates here.
Two people got lost driving in Death Valley National Park on July 4, 2023, resulting in one of them being transported to a hospital for heat illness. The two men got their vehicle stuck in the salt flat after driving illegally almost a mile off-road. Two Star Towing removed their vehicle from the salt flat last week, carefully using a skid steer to minimize additional off-road damage.
Chinook Motor Coach, LLC (Chinook) is recalling certain 2020-2024 Bayside motorhomes, equipped with certain Cummins Onan QG 2800i, and Onan QG 2800i EVAP generator sets. The fuel hose between the inline fuel filter and the Injection Pump Module (IPM) may have inadequate clamp force, possibly resulting in a gasoline leak. Owners may contact Chinook customer service at 1-574-584-3756 to learn more.
A reminder: America’s largest RV show is coming to Hershey, Pennsylvania, next month, September 13-17. Tickets are only available online and in advance. If you’re shopping for an RV this is well worth attending. If you plan to camp in the area, make your campground reservations immediately (although it might be difficult now so close to the show). Boondocking spots are available walking distance from the show, but you’ll need to call ahead to 800-437-7439 to make arrangements.
Our friend Bob Zagami, who has been battling cancer, announced on his weekly Camper Report video show last Wednesday that now, after treatments, he is cancer-free.
“SPEEDING KILLS BEARS” signs in Yosemite National Park remind visitors to observe speed limits. The signs are located where bears have been struck or killed by vehicles this year or where frequent collisions with animals have occurred. Vehicle collisions are one of the leading causes of death for Yosemite black bears. Driving the speed limit also saves the lives of deer, great grey owls, coyotes and many other animals in the popular California park.
Snowbirds: Prepare to Hit the Road!
As you plan your fall and winter routes, remember that Tifton Overnight RV is the place to stay while you’re on the way! Located just off of I-75 at Exit 62 in South Georgia, this RV stop offers full hook ups, pull-through sites, a fenced dog park, and fast WIFI – and is within walking distance of restaurants including Starbucks, Waffle House, and Chick-fil-A. Learn more and book your stay today!
Saturday Giveaway!
How would you like to win this Camco canvas tote bag?
How to win
We’ll select a winner at random out of all entries we receive today (August 5, 2023) by 7 p.m. Pacific time. Remember, you can only enter once and after we notify you by email via RVcontests@gmail.com that you won, you have 24 hours to respond or we’ll give the prize to someone else.
Click here to enter or see last week’s winner!
Reader poll
How does Macaroni & Cheese rate on your list of comfort foods?
Are you hungry just thinking of this? Answer our poll and see how others feel about this popular food dish.
?? MYSTERY PRODUCT OF THE DAY ??
We’re giving you the chance to own the world’s tiniest trailer! Trust us, you’re going to want it! It’s sooooo tiny!
Latest fuel prices
Here are the latest U.S. average prices per gallon of gasoline and diesel fuel as of July 31, 2023:
Regular unleaded gasoline: $3.76
Change from week before: Up 16 cents; Change from year before: Down 44 cents.
Diesel: $4.13
Change from week before: Up 22 cents; Change from year before: Down $1.01.
For fuel prices for specific regions, states, and cities go to U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Upcoming RV shows
Click here for a directory of upcoming shows.
Recipe of the Day
Dog Days Watermelon Salad
by Connie Tucker from Madawaska Lake, ME
A cool and refreshing salad with a Mediterranean flair for summer. The dressing is very tangy, which is a wonderful contrast to the sweet watermelon. We loved the addition of diced cucumber too. But our favorite part was the broken-up pieces of Feta cheese throughout. All the flavors meld together to create a refreshing summer salad.
Trivia
Thursday was National Watermelon Day! Did you know watermelon is 92 percent water? They take about 90 days to grow, from seed to finish, and the world’s largest watermelon was grown by Chris Kent of Sevierville, Tennessee, in 2013, and weighed 350.5 lbs.
Laugh of the Week
Today in History
RVtravel.com All Star Team
Publisher: Chuck Woodbury. Editor: Emily Woodbury. Associate editor: Diane McGovern. Senior editors: Russ and Tiña De Maris. Senior writers: Nanci Dixon, Gail Marsh, Dave Solberg and Cheri Sicard. Contributors: Roger Marble, Dave Helgeson, Janet Groene, J.R. Montigel, Randall Brink, Dustin Simpson, Dale Wade and Tony Barthel. Moderator: Gary Gilmore. Financial affairs director: Gail Meyring. IT wrangler: Kim Christiansen. Artificial Intelligence (AI) contributors: Johnny Robot and Milly MacWilly. Canine Mascots: Archie and Astor “the Disaster”
Everything in this newsletter is true to the best of our knowledge. But we occasionally get something wrong. We’re just human! So don’t go spending $10,000 on something we said was good simply because we said so, or fixing something according to what we suggested (check with your own technician first). Maybe we made a mistake. Tips and/or comments in this newsletter are those of the authors and may not reflect the views of RVtravel.com or this newsletter.
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As for macaroni and cheese? I got a recipe here for french onion mac and cheese and it is now the only mac and cheese I eat. Although there is the stand by boxed stuffed if pressed for time and money spent on this recipe. I wonder if that is Toto from Wizard of Oz. It looks like him or her.
why would you want them on a local jury, they are not real residents, or peers
Hershey RV show? They want me to pay money to be sold to… they should pay ME to attend. What a bunch of sheep. @@
“Imagine the turmoil of receiving a jury duty summons miles away from home, disrupting the lives of one full-time RVer and her husband.”
Will wait to read the article tomorrow, but from this it sounds like people wanting something for nothing. Cheap and easy residency with tax benefits, but none of the responsibilities of citizenship. We’ll see…….
Just a heads up. No newsletter today in either my inbox or spam folder. Came to your website to read it. Have a great day.
Just wanted to say thank you for getting me in touch with Dr. Karel about our pup. I really appreciate it
Blessings, Donna
We have been to Knoxville TN many time and visited the Oak Ridge complex. One thing We found interesting is that the workers did not know that they were involved in developing the atomic bomb. One of the first nuclear reactors is still there but no longer operational.