Issue # 440 of RV Travel newsletter is out and ready for your relaxed reading.

This week’s edition includes numerous RV tidbits including the first installment of Mike Sokol’s series on RV electric safety.

Editor Chuck Woodbury writes: “I highly recommend you read these finely written articles, appearing once a week for the next 12 weeks (in the RV Travel newsletter). What you learn could prevent you from being shocked by your RV — and worse case — dying from the shock. Read the first article in the series, Understanding and Preventing RV Electric Shocks.”

Image: RVtravel.com

Sallie Craner has been living fulltime in her 28-foot Traveleze travel trailer since March 2010.

That’s when the former-St. Maries, Idaho, resident moved to Riggins, Idaho.

“In St. Maries, where I lived for 17 years, all my girlfriends were married or in a relationship and they are settled. That’s fine, but it’s not for me. I’m more of an adventurer,” she says.

“This past February I made a road trip down here and I was wearing flip-flops. St. Maries has hard winters, so I went back and told my friends I was moving.” One friend said, “You don’t know anybody, what are you going to do?”

“I said: Number one, I’m going to get a job; and two, I will meet people in a short period of time.” And that’s exactly what she did. Within a few weeks she was working as bartender for the Seven Devils Saloon and Rodeo Club in Riggins.

“The people here are very unique, welcoming and easy to get to know. I’ve had a wonderful experience since I’m been here,” she says. “My bosses, Mike and Melissa Blimka, are great.”

Craner feels at home in the Salmon River Canyon area where she spends time on the river and 4-wheeling.

“I love the look of it,” she says. “When I first drove over the White Bird summit, it reminded me of Montana with its big mountains. Then there are places in the mountains near Riggins that remind me a lot of the area around St. Maries. So, I’m really in my element here.”

Photo: Sallie Craner, bartender at Seven Devils Tavern, Riggins, ID. Photo: Julianne Crane.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in California are two of the more than 100 national parks and monuments where entrance fees will be waived – Aug. 14-15, Sept. 25 (Public Lands Day) and Nov. 11, 2010 (Veterans Day).

Fee waivers include: entrance fees, commercial tour fees and transportation entrance fees. Read details here.

However, other fees (reservation, camping, tours, concession and fees collected by third parties) are not included unless stated otherwise. BTW, many of the USA’s 392 national parks NEVER charge an entrance fee.

A land of giants

The Sequoia and Kings Canyon parks “lie side by side in the southern Sierra Nevada, east of the San Joaquin Valley. Activity varies by season and elevation, which ranges from 1300′ to 14,494′.”

“This landscape testifies to nature’s size, beauty, and diversity – huge mountains, rugged foothills, deep canyons, vast caverns, and the world’s largest trees.”

Photo: Sunset over the Central Valley below the parks. Source: National Park Service.

EverGreen RV is touting its green effort and the fact that former NFL quarterback and current football commentator Terry Bradshaw, was asked by EverGreen owner, Kelly Rose, to “come on board as an endorser/part owner of the business,” writes Jim Meenan in the South Bend, Ind., Tribune.

“Featuring the Ever-Lite brand, the company touts its products as eco-friendly, 20 percent lighter than much of the competition, helping customers save fuel. The company also uses Composi-Tek construction resulting in what the company says is a more durable and recyclable material.

“Perhaps most importantly in Rose’s eyes, the RVs are 90 percent formaldehyde free. The company estimates the rest of the industry is 45 percent.

“Rose said company growth will remain ’strategic,’ adding that he is ‘cautious’ amid what many experts believe is a slowing economy.”

Read more of Meehan’s article here.

According to the EverGreen Web site “Terry Bradshaw, four-time Super Bowl champion, Hall of Fame quarterback and legendary sports broadcaster,  will be endorsing products made by EverGreen Recreation Vehicles LLC and will (have) his first Ever-Lite fifth-wheel.”

Photo: Wikipedia.org

Yesterday afternoon, five TransAmerica bicyclists were taking a dip in the Little Salmon River, just a few yards north of our summer lodging. Jimmy, having biked across the USA from Lincoln City, Oregon, to Camden, Maine, about 30 years ago, immediately started a conversation about their three-month, 4,200-mile (to date) tour. Soon followed an invitation to dinner and a place to camp for the night.

The hardy travelers (with hot links to their blogs) are: Dennis Howe, Portland, OR; Nick Stravous, Exton, PA; Zachary Hinkley, Richmond, VA; Robin Cudworth, Lancaster, PA; and, Tony Wittinger, Portland, OR.

Individually, they all started off from Yorktown, VA, in early May following the TransAmerica Trail routed by the Adventure Cycling Association.

They found one another at different points along the journey. Together they plan to bike to Astoria, OR., arriving sometime in the next two weeks. From there Dennis and Tony will cycle two days home to Portland … Zach and Nick laughing say they will go home with Dennis and Tony … however, Robin plans to continue his epic ride south to California.

“I’ve never been to Yosemite and I want to see it,” he says. That seems to be a good enough reason to pedal another 1,000 miles.

Photo: (From left) Dennis Howe, Portland, OR; Nick Stravous, Exton, PA; Zachary Hinkley, Richmond, VA; Robin Cudworth, Lancaster, PA; and, Tony Wittinger, Portland, OR. 7/19/2010 by Julianne Crane on the Little Salmon River.

There is something about a vacation road trip in a recreational vehicle that has won the heart of travel columnist Jill Schensul as she heads for Louisville, Ky., home to The Rally, the “biggest RV event” in the country (Thursday, July 22- Sunday, July 25, 2010).

“Perhaps it’s the idea of having everything you need (and it’s really not that much) coming right along with you. Or the coziness of the small space, especially at night when darkness erases the outside world and it’s just you, your bed, and, in the small rigs I rent, the steering wheel not that far away from your mattress. Or the people you cross paths with at campgrounds, all of them sharing that love of the open road. Whatever the reason, the memories of RV trips keep surfacing, and making me want to get back behind the wheel of a house on wheels,” writes Schensul.

She is traveling in a Cruise America “‘compact’ rig, a 19-footer” (see image above).

Read her full article, “RV will be home away from home,” (including lots of informative resources) on North Jersey.com, by clicking here.

If you plan to be in Pennsylvania this September, be sure to check out “America’s Largest RV Show” Hershey, PA., Sept. 15-19, 2010.

Time to pour a cup of coffee, relax a little and read this week’s e-edition of RV Travel.com newsletter.

Editor Chuck Woodbury gets ready for an extended RV trip across the USA; there’s information on keeping your RV cool in hot weather; introduction of a new blog: ‘The RV Shrink‘ and much more.

Image: RVtravel.com

Idaho Power Company operates and maintains four overnight camping facilities: Woodhead, McCormick, Copperfield and Hells Canyon Parks.

According to the Idaho Power’s Web’s recreation pages on camping fees:
“All facilities are open to the public and are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Reservations are not accepted.  14-day stay limit. For information on park availability call 541-785-7209.

“Water to the camping spaces is shut-off when winter rates are in effect, however electricity is available at recreational vehicle (RV) sites all year. Comfort stations have water year-round.

“There are no sewer hookups at individual camping spaces, but each of the developed parks have dump stations available.

The information below provides details about fees and rules for the Hells Canyon Recreation facilities.”
Summer Rates (April - October): All parks: RVs $16; Tent spaces: $10. Overflow at all parks is $6 for both RVs and tents.

Tent campers occupying a designated RV space will be charged the normal $16 nightly fee for an RV space. A maximum number of three tents may be set up in an RV space at one time, if there is enough room.

Winter Rates (November - March): All parks: RVs $8; Tent spaces: $5. Overflow at all parks is $3 for both RVs and tents.

Photo: Woodhead Park is located on 65 acres on the Idaho side of Brownlee Reservoir. Woodhead has 124 RV sites, electricity, showers, water, picnic tables, fire rings, RV dump station. Walk-in tent sites, water and picnic tables. Four-lane boat ramp, docks and access to reservoir at low water. Photo by Julianne Crane 7/13/2010.

We are planning a trip through the Eastern part of our incredible country this autumn and each day I put just a little time into researching our potential route.

What caught my eye this morning on the Internet is the beautifully designed and easy-to-navigate “North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains” Web site.

One page under “Where to Stay & Eat” lists Campgrounds and, while I am sure it is not complete, it gives insight into what is available along the way.

Another feature is the one where readers are able to download a free guide to the Blue Ridge Mountains” to their own computer desktop or request a printer hardcopy. Click here.