The week that was: Update Feb. 26, 2016

It was another busy week fine tuning and streamlining the business side of RVtravel.com, adapting to the new, much more challenging world of publishing on the Internet. I'll have more to say in two or three weeks.

The redesign of the RVtravel.com website continues. We created it in its present form about 10 years ago and it's out of date. If it were a six cylinder car, it would be operating on the equivalent of four cylinders: it gets you where you need to go, but not very fast and not very efficiently. Once we are done it will be much easier to find information, and the site will look ten times better (maybe 100 times!).

The Tricaster

I  spent five or six hours this week polishing my skills on our Tricaster, a specialized computer used in live (and taped) video production. It enables us to use up to four cameras at once in our small studio, switching from one camera to another at the push of a button. It's an amazing machine, an entry-level device that is used by video production companies and even some small TV stations for their newscasts.

Me, rehearsing our mini game show.

Our first regular production will be an online game show which I will host. Gail will be the co-star — kinda the "Vanna" of the operation! We'll start off weekly and see how it goes. I am very excited about it. Many RV-related companies have donated products, some worth more than $200. We should have the first show up and running within a few weeks.

Our YouTube channel has reached 11 million views, which makes it one of the largest on YouTube about RVing. Only a few other channels have more views, and I figure with all our new "mini" shows we may take the lead we once held. But I don't care: I just want to have fun with the studio and produce a lot of really helpful content for RVers.

By May, I should have a good handle on the business side of RVtravel.com in its new, improved and streamlined format. Gail and I plan another cross-country RV trip this summer to the giant Hershey (Pennsylvania) RV Show in mid-September and two or three camping weekends in the Northwest. It will be great to get away without having to worry too much about business stuff back home.

On a personal level, the cherry trees in my neighborhood are flowering and spring is in the air. But here in the Northwest we're still a few months away from consistent summer type weather. For awhile, more rain. . . Still, when it the sky is clear here now, it's spectacular. From Edmonds, we look over Puget Sound to the majestic and now snow-capped Olympic mountains.

Also, I bought a parakeet recently. His (or her) name is Shakey (too early to tell its sex yet), which is what I name all my parakeets. I've had four or five through the years. He's a friendly little fellow who just wants to sit on my shoulder all day long. Parakeets are wonderful, very social pets and if you are lucky they will talk. Did you know that parakeets are the most talkative birds of the parrot family? My sister, who lives nearby, is a bird nut so when I go away she is happy to babysit. She also names all her parakeets Shakey. I'll tell you the story some day.

That's all for now. See you next week.

A message to the readers of RVtravel.com

I'm writing here because I don't think it's right of me to take a third week in a row to explain in the RV Travel newsletter why I previously announced I would quit writing the opening essay on a weekly basis.

Last week I asked readers to take a survey of how important they felt it was for me to write the essay rather than those of guest contributors.

I really didn't know what to expect. But as you can see to the right, of the 1,772 readers who had responded by Thursday morning, about two-thirds said it was somewhat important or very important that I continue writing the essay.

So I'll try my best to write regularly. Knowing so many readers enjoy what I write makes me feel good, and honored.

I had hoped to put some extra time into tending to business matters, because, frankly, it's a lot more challenging to publish online today than it was even five years ago. There's also much more competition.

As I said before, half of you are reading on a tablet or smart phone now, and that has had a big impact in our revenue. I won't go into details, because it would take too much space and would probably be boring.

I also want to devote more time to our video projects in the small TV-like studio we've built. We are working on about four different shows, all short and on different subjects related to RVing. I'm very excited about a new game show, which will be sort of like a TV game show except only a couple of minutes long. There will be great prizes that RVers will find fun or useful.

Instead of writing more here I decided to sit down in front of a video camera and explain to you a little more about what is going on with me and RVtravel.com. You can just click the video below to play. There is nothing fancy about this, just me talking to a camera, rambling a lot. So if you have a little time on your hands and would like to learn a bit more about RVtravel.com and what goes on behind the scenes, then please click the video. I try to explain some things that I've had trouble expressing in the 500 words available in the opening essay of the Saturday newsletter.



P.S. If you would like to become a voluntary subscriber to RVtravel.com you can do by clicking here. I mentioned this in the video.

Mice in your RV? Lion poop to the rescue!

Through the years, we've written about a dozen ways to keep mice, squirrels and other rodents out of your RV. Some probably work, some probably don't. Nobody seems to agree on the absolutely best way.

Well, maybe this is IT! There's one way to keep these pests (and even bigger ones like possums and bears) away from your RV according to an RVer named Jeff Schwartz, who outlined his method in a comment to our YouTube video "How to keep mice out of your RV." We doubt you have heard of this technique before. Here, shortened for brevity, is what Schwartz wrote:

"There is one known fool proof, usually free, way to keep all animals (mice, cats, dogs, possums, bears, etc.) away from your home or RV! Go to your local zoo and ask for some lion or tiger poop and line your property with it. Zoos will usually give you all you want. It works every time. Carry it home in garbage bags.

Just spread it lightly where you do not want animals to go and they will all stay away forever. I have seen neighborhood dogs (several times) walk around my property. They will no longer cross a line of lion poop that I laid out about a month ago. Best of all there is absolutely no smell for humans!

I didn't believe it until I saw it work — 100 percent of the time. Try it — you will be amazed. I even tested it with cockroaches and they turned around when they came to the line of poop. Nothing alive will cross that line!

But be careful if you have pets. My dog will no longer get into my Blazer because I spilled the lion poop in the very back about six months ago (I have since had the interior cleaned). My dog still will not come close to my car."