RV Navigator

RV Navigator Episode 227 - Cruising while Boondocking

As February ended, we headed to Rio in Brazil to begin a cruise that will take us in and out of the Amazon before ending in Miami. Early in February we headed to one of our favorite boondocking spots, Jetty Park near Cocoa Beach in FL. This park offers a nice Atlantic ocean beach, a prime spot to watch rocket launches and the cruise ships enter the port. Our new towed was taken on it maiden voyage with great success during the month. We review how it was altered to become a towed vehicl...

RV Navigator Episode 226 - Supershow 24

Back to RVing! We spent the entire month in our RV doing what the podcast is about - RVing! The highlight was the Tampa RV Super Show held each January at the Florida State Fairgrounds. In our opinion this is the best RV show in the country with hundreds of rigs on display along with hundreds of vendors for specialized RV products. The weather in FL has been variable with lots of cool interspersed with warm. While the rest of the country is berried in snow or rain, we have avoided the storm...

RV Navigator Episode 225 - Goodbye to 123123

The year ends with 123123 and our annual New Years Eve podcast with bubbly. Having just returned home from an extended trip to Southeast Asia, we are still struggling with a 12 hour jet lag. The year in review shows that we did alot of travel outside the US so the RV travel was limited. We will be heading to FL for our annual snowbird experience in a week or so. Join us at the Tampa RV Supershow starting on January 17th.

RV Navigator Episode 224 - From Land to Sea

Greetings from Southeast Asia. After an unusual beginning of our trip, we landed in Singapore after 26 hrs of travel and 12 time zones. We began the land portion of the trip by adding two new countries to our growing list of visited countries. After traveling to Thailand, we made our way to Laos and Cambodia ending in Vietnam after almost 3 weeks. Returning to Singapore we picked up our 4 week cruise to Indonesia and Malaysia. We'll be sailing until December 23 when we return home just in...

RV Navigator Episode 223 - Cleaning up Florida

Wd did enjoy the good weather of the Southlands as the temps headed down at home. Flying home was a shock to the system as the weather was quite cold for the season. We do share lots of RV topics this month including the possibility of an EV RV pulled by a Tesla tracker. Also what’s new with Starlink and T-Mobile for RVers, new AI features of Bing, the new iPhone 15 as a camera and much more are on our agenda this month.

RV Navigator Episode 222 - Three Weeks to Florida

On the road once again as we make our way to our winter home in Florida. But why drive directly for 3 days? Rather make it a leisurely trip of 3 weeks, do a bit of family visiting, sight seeing, and enjoy the camping. The eastern US is known for trees, so our campsites didn’t offer much of a view for our satellite TV, so we had to rely on streaming. Hear about our experiences and what option we had as well as many other topics of interest to RVers.

RV Navigator Episode 221 - Fjord-Whale-Fjord(Wow)

Greetings from the open seas of the North Atlantic as we cruise from Bergen, Norway to NYC over 28 days. Wildlife is always unpredictable, but during the recording of the podcast we spotted a whale outside of our cabin window. It was a WOW moment and indicative of our travels this month. All three countries that we visited had an abundance of fjords with picturesque little towns at the end. Of the three countries, Norway provided the best photo opportunities. And it was the warmest. Other...

RV Navigator Episode 220 - How far will batteries take you?

No camping this month, but we’ll be “on the road” for the next 9 months as begin our adventures with a cruise from Bergen, Norway to NYC for 28 days. July was fairly quiet as we celebrated the 4th at home enjoying great summer weather for most of July. The Chicago area has not been plagued with the weather extremes experienced by much of the country. We took the opportunity to get out doors but just not camping or RVing. With the knee given the final OK by the doc, we are set to travel on...

RV Navigator Episode 219 - Indana Dunes SP or NP

Our brief camping trip to the Indiana Dunes was a big success. Perfect weather, nice campground, RV working perfectly all came together to make a great experience this year. The beach in this park is very nice plus of course the water is fresh - and fairly warm at this time of year. We stayed for 3 nights. Even though I made the reservation on January 3, this was the longest midweek reservation available. What is your experience with campground reservations lately? We are working on reser...

RV Navigator Episode 218 - Power from Your Car

Another episode from the home base in Chicago as the copilot recovers from knee replacement surgery. Todays episode is based around an interview with the founder of CarGenerator.com. This product produces 110 volt power from your car for use in home or RV. It is an easy hookup, light weight, and powerful enough to keep either your house or RV operational in case of power failure or you're boondocking. This could easily replace that bulky generator that you have to lug around.We also have...

RV Navigator Episode 217 - Adding a New Knee

Due to Marthas ongoing knee problems, we scheduled an operation to replace her knee months ago. Finally on April 11 the surgery was completed very successfully. Successful does not mean pain free or nothing to do after the surgery. We have spent time in pain mitigation and PT as she works to make the new knee strong and ready for the many adventures to follow. It will take a couple of months, but after her complete recovery, we can hit the road in the RV to once again due justice to the RV ...

RV Navigator Episode 216 - Adding Five Countries

Your RV Navigators have just returned from a 63 day travel adventure to Africa and are a bit jet lagged after the long journey home. The trip included a 3 week Safari in South Africa and a 33 day cruise of South Africa ending with a trip up the west coast of the African continent. This portion of the trip gave us the chance to visit several less touristic countries that we had never visited before. This month we share travel insights about this part of the world, new AI technology, and e-bi...

RV Navigator Episode 215 - Seeing the big 5

This month we continued the South African safari. We stayed in several tented camps along our route. Every national park has it animal specialties, so visiting several gives visitors a broad perspective on animal viewing and habitats. We did of course manage to see the big 5 (lion, leopard, rhino, cape buffalo, and elephants) plus hundreds of other type of animals and birds. Tented camps are outposts in remote areas that offer visitors easy access to the game and a secure compound to sp...

RV Navigator Episode 214 - 30 hours to summer

It has been many years since we last visited South Africa (at the very southern most tip of Africa). In 2006, we drove a rental RV in South Africa for about 6 weeks. We of course cooked our meals and drove the RV to all of the attractions. This time we are on tour with meals, transportation, and sightseeing included. I remember having lunch in Kruger NP while watching elephants eating grass on the shore of a river. Now that's camping. This time our visit to Kruger will be via safari je...

RV Navigator Episode 213 - A Cold New Year

The New Year (2023) finds at home in Chicago awaiting our next travel adventure which begins in mid January. After some adventures at home with our furnace and the cold weather, we'll be off to Africa for a 2 month safari & cruise in the warm Southern Hemisphere. The safari will cover Africas big 5 plus lots of interesting birds. Our accommodations say "tented camp" so we are expecting almost primitive camping experiences. I wish we could take the RV! Our 32 day cruise from Cape Town s...

RV Navigator Episode 212 - Holiday wishes

Winter has greeted us as we return to our suburban Chicago base in time for the holidays. Seasons greetings in this episode extend to our expanded list of gift suggestions for you or your RV friends. We chat about the direction that our podcast has taken over the years. Is it still the RV Navigator or has the focus changed as our lives have changed (mainly due to the pandemic)? Although we share our travels with interested listeners, RVing is always at the heart of the podcast. We always ...

RV Navigator Episode 211- Gas & Water Don't Mix

Another month on the road as we travel North in Finland and over Lapland ending our land trip in Bergen, Norway. From there we head to GB to meet our cruise ship in Southampton. This episode was made while on board the Sky Princess as we travel to Fort Lauderdale. Why mix gas and water, you ask. One RVer did make this nube mistake.

RV Navigator Episode 210- Remembering Kvass

Note that in the podcast we make a reference to this is episode 209. It should be 210.Take off on our next trip happened mid month as we flew to Riga, Latvia for the beginning of our tour of the Baltics and Scandinavia over the next couple of weeks. We have been surprised at our lack of knowledge of this area plus the many tourist attractions that make a visit worthwhile. Riga has turn out to be very walkable, scenic with art nouveaux neighborhoods. I of course had no idea what Art Nouvea...

RV Navigator Episode 209- Camping in Door

Just after the last episode, we moved from Italy to France to join our river cruise in Bordeaux. This involved a short flight across the 2 countries landing in Paris and a bus trip south to meet the ship. The weather was very hot as expected in Summer, but the AC was was subpar in most locations. Sailing the rivers of the Bordeaux region of France, means learning about wine. This is the heart of the wine region and the grapes are treated with reverence. We, of course, tried our share of t...

RV Navigator Episode 208- The Ice Man Cometh

On the road again in Italy and France as we traverse the wine making regions of these countries. Follow our adventures outside of the RV as travel with a small group through the Alps. Weather has been hot but sunny for great photos. RVs in Europe are much different than those in the US but we've seen a lot of family's enjoying the outdoor experience.

RV Navigator Episode 207- Fresh Water Beaching

With our email back in operation, we have received several questions and comments from listeners. Thanks!! New email is at [email protected]. As you might expect, we headed to the Indiana Dunes for our annual beach RV trip. I feel strongly that the motorhome needs to be exercised regularly to keep it in good working order. Therefore when we are not doing a major trip we do spaced out small trips to keep the gears working smoothly on the MH. Great family time for all of those staying at...

RV Navigator Episode 206 - Tens Days in Quarantine

After joking last month about the possibility of having to quarantine, it happened to us. We were escorted off of our cruise and into a hotel for a 10 day quarantine due to positive covid tests. Neither of us were sick, but the policy is that a positive test requires a quarantine period off of the ship. So we spent the first 10 days of May ensconced behind the door of a hotel in Brussels. The hotel delivered 3 meals a day to our door to keep us healthy and well, but otherwise we were conf...

RV Navigator Episode 205- Cruising the Oceans and Rivers

This months finds your RVNavigators sailing on both the oceans (Atlantic) and Rivers of Europe. We had ventured across the Atlantic in order to attend the famous Tulip festival in Amsterdam. In this episode we compare ocean to river cruising as well as large vs small cruising. Of course there is the usual Ring news and comments on RV topics.

RV Navigator Episode 204 - No Place to Park

We drove the motorhome north back to IL so that we could leave again but this time on a plane back to FL to meet our trans Atlantic cruise to Copenhagen. We did have a new roof installed and I am lusting after a Starlink internet dish, but for now the MH is safely parked in our new storage lot. We are wondering why we drove the 1200 miles back to IL just to turn around and head to Ft Lauderdale to board our cruise. It's economics. Florida is an expensive place to leave our motorhome par...

RV Navigator Episode 203 - Monkeys and Birds

This episode was recorded on the road, as we traveled south this month on a planned group trip to Costa Rica and its many national parks. Although CR is only the size of West Virgina, it has as many national parks as the US.

RV Navigator Episode 202 - RV+Cruise

The beginning of the month found us on the high seas in the Caribbean aboard the Silver Spirit for 11 nights. This was our second "covid" cruise, and like the first it went off without a hitch. Testing and vaxing were part of the routine, but these were not oppressive on a daily basis. We of course were nervous about the covid protocols that have been put in place but they were manageable and did not detract from the cruise overall. Our general reaction is that this is the time to cruise, ...

RV Navigator Episode 201 - Looking ahead to 2022

Our annual New Years podcast finds us feeling lucky to be healthy after another year of Covid. Little did we know at the beginning of the year that we'd still be in the grips of this pandemic. Last January we were so thankful to be vaxed and hoped that we'd get this pandemic under control. However the fates turned our differently and we are still in uncertain times.

RV Navigator Episode 200 - 200 Episodes = 15 Years of Podcasting

Fifteen years ago when we began this podcast, we were just retired and ready to hit the road with the idea to share our adventures with listeners. Of course we had no listeners at the time. After 15 years, the listener base as expanded to over 10,000 downloads/month. We regularly hear from and meet listeners from all over the world as we travel. On 2 occasions in the last months, we have met loyal listeners that have "been in a campground near us" and said hello in person. THANKS to everyo...

RV Navigator Episode 199 - 580 Hot Air Balloons

This month started with our attending the 49th Annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta for 8 days in early October. We successfully boondocked for our entire stay without needing to take on additional water or empty our holding tanks. We did use about 18 galloons of diesel to keep the generator running and batteries charged. The weather for our stay was perfect for ballooning. Our parking location was perfect for easy entry into the launch field where we were able to watch the launch and rec...

RV Navigator Episode 198 - The wolf attack

Our Western National Parks RV caravan concluded after 31 days and 1600 miles. It was an adventure so we spend much of this episode sharing the details of the trip. This journey was title Western Grand Circle because we visited several iconic national parks and scenic attractions during month of travel. Traveling in a caravan means that all of the details are planned by the caravan company. We drive between locations and the camping spot is waiting at a full service campground. This plus...

RV Navigator Episode 197 - A "Tire-ing" Experience

After cruising last month, we are back on the RV trail. We embark on our trip west to meet the planned RV Caravan leaving from St. George UT. We left a few days early because the trip is almost 1700 miles from our home base in IL. Lucky we did because we had a couple of extra stops along the way to get tires fixed.

RV Navigator Episode 196 - Sailing the Adratic

Your RV Navigators have successfully made their way to Malta and back without incident. We enjoyed 10 days on the beautiful Viking Venus as it made it way to several ports in Croatia and then back to Malta. There were many covid protocols that were observed, but over all the experience was worth the hassle of completing the paperwork. We had to provide proof of covid testing throughout the trip both at the airports, boarders, and on the ship. Once completed, the cruise was almost normal. ...

RV Navigator Episode 196 - Sailing the Adriatic

RV Navigator Episode 195 - Unexpected Post-Covid Cruise

After over a year of being stationary, we finally are ready to cruise again in July. We’ll be traveling to Malta (off the coast of Italy, but an independent country) for a round trip sail aboard the Viking Venus doing a Croatian itinerary for 11 days. This is the first sailing of this itinerary so we are a bit apprehensive about all of the arrangements. We are Covid free and ready to travel again, so we’ll head out mid month for 2 weeks. I am please to report that we have recovered some l...

RV Navigator Episode 194 - Time for a New License?

Our world is opening up after 15 months of living under Covid restrictions, the summer seems to be back to pre-covid levels of activity. This is a very good sign for our future travels both by RV and overseas trips. Along with a birthday this month (turned 75), Ken found that he had to renew/upgrade his driving license and take a driving test. Many states, including IL, have an RV driving test. Links on the website provide info about such states, but after some miscommunications, he pass...

RV Navigator Episode 193 - Nearly Normal Travel

Back to IL and normal travel is our mantra this month. We left FL to head north and a more typical summer experience after 6 months being stationary. The trip home involved our annual stop in Gaffney, SC for a motorhome check up. This year due to the age of the MH, we had all of the fluids replaced - expensive, but necessary. We try to keep our Dutch Star in good condition so that we are not left on the side of the highway while on a trip. We also stopped Brunswick GA for a short side ...

RV Navigator Episode 192- A Bi-Coastal month

We traveled from East to West to East across Florida this month. Although, traveling coast to coast is only a 3 hr drive in this part of the country, it still is a different world from our home base. This month we had the Diamond Shield removed from the MH and it looks great. Diamond Shield is one of those options that sound good, but don't work as designed. After 10 years of exposure to the elements, the front of our MH was looking bad due to deterioration of the product that is supposed t...

RV Navigator Episode 191- The life changing shot

Although we are still in FL, we have gotten the second Covid vaccine shot so we should be good to go for travel when the industry opening up later in the year.

RV Navigator Episode 190- Looking down the Road

As the pandemic roars on, we look down the road to when it is history - exactly when we don't know but we can see the end (we think). We've gotten our first shot so we hope to be able to travel this year but have no solid plans until 2022. We are focused on our RV and living our stationary life in FL. There is lots of news in the RV world to share like the new adventure RVs that are popping up everywhere. What happened at the Tampa RV SuperShow? What is Diamond Shield? What is your st...

RV Navigator Episode 189- Christmas under Covid 19

At our FL home, we spent the month of December in isolation living in our motorhome. The warm weather makes doing outdoor activities fun and safe. We join the many listeners in saying a farewell to 2020, it could not leave fast enough. Join us for our NYE celebration, a little different this year due to our isolation. The year has been one of waiting and watching as news reports detail the dire consequences of this virus. We hope that all of our listeners are safe and ready for a much bet...

RV Navigator Episode 188- A Thanksgiving to Rmember

As the pandemic rages, we headed to FL just after the election. Our usual TG & Xmas family celebrations have been canceled, so we may as well be at least warm for the holidays. Lots of RV topics to cover in this episode so give it a listen.

RV Navigator Episode 187- Keeping Busy in Covid Times

We’ve been home since April but we still manage to keep busy with “important” projects. With the expectation that the winter will see an increase in Covid cases, we plan to head south to our usual winter home during November. At least it will be warm so we can be outside during the dark months. This is the earliest that we have headed south and skipped the usual family gatherings at TG and Xmas. Covid it impacting our lives in a big way. However, we hope to remain safe and wait out the pa...

RV Navigator Episode 186- Cranberry Boondocking

The north woods of Wisconsin is our destination this month as we travel the back roads in search of fall colors and cranberry harvesting. We spent time boondocking for several nights using various tools. Boondocking is camping without services, something our motorhome is well adapted to do. We can live comfortably for several days without outside connections. This has become very popular in this time of the pandemic. Social distancing is easy when boondocking. Many RVers think boondockin...

RV Navigator Episode 185 - Are You Streaming?

You’re part of the podcast revolution that is taking place in the media world. You listen to the RV Navigator! We are navigating the world of RVs with your help. We give our best travel tips for the RV life as well as suggest new lifestyle technologies. During this travel down time, I have been tracking podcasting news. Podcasts are becoming a major player in the media world earning thousands via ads. We of course have buck this trend, no sponsorship or interruptions during our show. This ...

RV Navigator Episode 184 - A Solitary Fourth of July

With the covid virus still with us, we have remained at home, with no firm travel plans. Martha is still recovering from shoulder surgery (9 weeks out now), so we are using the time to bring her back up to normal. Should the pandemic subside, we’ll be ready to travel. Ken is still the main cook and has found an app to help manage his many recipes which you’ll want to hear about. Should you want to listen to previous episodes of the RV Navigator, more are now available for downloading. I ...

RV Navigator Episode 183 - Summer Covid Vacation

The Covid-19 induced vacation form travel continues as the summer progresses. There is no let up in sight so no travel plans for us. As we record the podcast, our original schedule called for us to be on the road with a 2 month long RV caravan to Canada on the west coast. This was shutdown and cancelled - the Canadians shut our boarder until at least the end of July and the Eastern entrance to Glacier NP (where we were had reservation to spend the 4th of July) has been closed. Even the fa...

RV Navigator Episode 182 - Ground Hog Month

Another month of quarantine, what will our world look like once this is over? After 3 months of Quarantine, all of the days at home seem to be the same. The Ground Hog day movie takes this idea to the extreme. Bill Murray relives "grand hog day" for weeks before he is brought back to reality. What will our RVing future be. According to reports, RVing may be very popular and on the cutting edge of the new travel. Here at the beginning of June, 2020 it is hard to see our way to the futur...

RV Navigator Episode 6

The post South Africa caravan report plus information on buying a GPS Navigation system for your RV.

RV Navigator Episode 181 - Bubble to Bubble to Bubble

We’ve moved - but safely from FL to IL (both bubbles of safety in gated communities) via our mobile bubble (the MH). Owning a lot in FL allows us to be flexible about moving. Even through our park was closed to outsiders renting, we could stay or leave as we chose. We understand that many full timers didn't have this option as states closed RV parks. We definitely feel their pain. Although we were supposed to be traveling overseas at this month, We had no definite departure plans but as the ...

RV Navigator Episode 180 - Cancel, cancel, cancel

It was just a month ago we were joking that the virus would never impact our lives here in the US. Naive as that sounds today, we didn't see this coming so quickly. As of this date (4/1/20) our lives are in disarray - not sick (yet) but everything on hold. Plans cancelled or significantly change, family out of touch, local business interrupted and travel out of the picture. Although our lives and schedules are up in the air, we are still optimistic and secure. Our lifestyle while on the r...