RV Podcast 215 Getting your RV ready for winter

RV Podcast 215 Is your Rv ready for winter? It’s that time of year again. Cold weather and temperatures near freezing remind us that winter is fast approaching and those in northern climates soon need to winterize their RVs. So we tell you in this episode everything you need to do to protect your RV’s plumbing.  And Jennifer has a great tip about mouse-proofing your RV, too, to keep rodents out while it sits in storage. Plus lots of listener questions, traveling technology tips and an great off the beaten path report. Show Notes for Episode #215 Oct. 24, 2018 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK MIKE Here we are just a week before Halloween and if the calendar isn’t enough of a reminder, the cool outdoor temperatures are making it obvious that change is in the air. At the dogpark with Bo every morning, we’re wearing our winter jackets, hats and even gloves. So, as we said in the intro, it’s time to winterize if our RV is exposed to the elements in cold climates. Though I must say the best winterizing tip I have heard was from a snowbird buddy from Minnesota telling me the way he winterizes is he takes his RV to Florida every year about this time and doesn’t return until April! JENNIFER Speaking of snowbirds, this is the time of the first wave in the annual snowbird migration from the north to Florida and the Southwest. I’ve seen figures estimating the number of snowbird RVers as high as three million! Their migration really has two stages. The first always begins around Halloween. The second big one comes right after Christmas, because a lot of RVers like to stay home with family before heading south for warm weather.  Snowbirders leaving in the next week or so can probably avoid winterizing. Those waiting until Christmas should not leave their RVs unprotected without antifreeze until then or they risk damaging their plumbing system. That shouldn’t need to be stated but there are always some who like to take than chance. MIKE As we said, we are a week before Halloween. And in the camping world, Halloween is a he event. Most big RV parks and even many state parks are booked solid every weekend all during October. The parks have weekend trick or treat nights and costume parades and RVers are encouraged to decorate their rigs. We always like visiting RV parks this time of the year. We will be doing so this week and we’ll share some photos of what we see this coming Sunday night on the RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube. That will be on our Ask Us Anything live broadcast at 7PM Eastern. We do a live show every week at that time and we thought it would be fun this coming week to share our photos of what we see. And if you are out there at an RV park and have decorated for Halloween. Send us a photo and we’ll include it in our live broadcast. You can reach us at mikeandjen@rvlifestyle.com JENNIFER We really enjoy doing that live show on the RV Lifestyle Channel each week. It’s the next best thing to being around a campground with good friends. I am really amazed at what an online community we have developed around those Ask Us Anything broadcasts. People can make comments and type in questions in real time and we can then display the questions on screen and answer them. It’s a highlight of our week. This part of the program is brought to you by AllStays Pro, the best tool for RVers looking for places to camp. RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK MIKE Marijuana use will be permitted at campsites under Canada's new law Canada became the second country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana use last week and according to a Parks Canada spokesperson, it is ok to use the drug at campsites. (Uruguay is the only other country where it is legal.) Marijuana will be permitted at campsites because the campsites will be considered temporary private homes. Cannabis will not be permitted in public areas, like playgrounds, washrooms, parking lots, historic sites, etc.