RV Podcast #304: Rising COVID fears and RV Travel

Rising COVID fears and RV Travel uncertainty are causing RVers to stay closer to home and be much more cautious in their plans for the rest of the summer and into fall. As the nation once again finds COVID rates dramatically rising, RVers are wondering what to do with summer travel plans. "Should we stay or should we go?"  is a question we've been asked a lot this past week. So in this 304th episode of the RV Podcast, we're going to talk about that. We’ll share our feelings and hear from a bunch of you who responded to our request to call and share your opinion. Plus, we have lots of RV questions this week, plenty of RV News, and a great off the beaten path RV report from the Burketts. RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK Officials say no reported COVID-19 cases at Yosemite, but then they discover it in human sewage In this time of pandemic camping, there was an intriguing story this week out of California that caught our attention. Yosemite National Park is open to visitors, regular testing of employees and residents shows no one has tested positive for COVID-19, and no visitors have reported back as positive. Seems a safe place to go, right? Well, apparently a company that is checking human raw sewage for the virus found COVID-19 in the waste. The company estimated between June 30 and July 6, about 170 infected people were at the El Portal stop, while just a few were at Wawona. The science is still developing, and being outside and away from crowds is still considered a relatively safe activity, but this adds to our belief that using the facilities in your RV is still the safest thing to do. Black bear bites woman, child, in Yellowstone backcountry then eats their food A black bear bit a woman and a child at Yellowstone National Park last week after entering a campsite shared by five backpackers in search of food. The woman and child were outside their tents and the bear walked right up to them, bit them, then went to their food which was under a storage pole but not yet hung up. When rangers arrived, the bear was still eating the campers' food, so the bear was killed. The bear bit the woman in her arm and head and bit the child's hand. Both received bruises and minor cuts. Rangers, again, urged visitors to carry bear spray. Here is an article we did on how to camp safely in bear country - we've shared it before, but believe it is worth sharing again. Woman chased by a bison at Yellowstone trips, falls, plays dead and survives encounter without injury Speaking of Yellowstone, did you see the video of the woman who was being charged by a bison, tripped and fell, played dead, and survived the encounter without a scratch? Apparently, the woman and another person got too close to the wild creature so it charged. The woman tripped and fell when running and once down, she played dead. The charging bison came to an abrupt stop spent a few seconds sniffing the woman – who lay there motionless -  and then ambled away. The woman then got up, apparently unharmed. It was all caught on cellphone video and as is clear, too many people were too close to the bison.  Click here to see. Man transforms jet engine into camping trailer We've all seen pictures, and may even have, a do-it-yourself van transformed into a camper. But have you ever heard of anyone transforming a jet engine into a camping traile? A British man did just that. He bought a decommissioned VC10 jet engine from a scrap yard and started tinkering. The engine is 13 feet long. He flattened the bottom so it could attach to a chassis, then meticulously went about taking things apart and building them back up while installing a sink, twin burners, cabinets, and a lounge-dining area that coverts to beds. The story and pictures can be seen here. Because of corona virus, the man and his family have not gone camping in it yet but hope to soon.   In this summer of pandemic camping, remember to check ahead New Mexico state parks campgrounds are the only ones nationwide to remain closed to campers from other states, according to Campendium.  But, when looking throughout the U.S., about 9.1 percent of the campgrounds Campendium surveys are closed because of COVID-19. What remains closed are a number of national park campgrounds - like Acadia in Maine, the Badlands in South Dakota, Big Cypress in Florida, and quite a few others. Also, with COVID-19 numbers rising significantly out West, officials there are starting to question whether campgrounds should again be closed. And out East, some state parks now open were closed over the weekend because they reached capacity. As always, things are fluid. We recommend checking before heading out by clicking here. This part of the podcast is brought to you by RadPower Bikes, America's #1 e-bike brand, offering direct to consumer pricing on powerful premium electric bikes. Now with free shipping   RV QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK                                                        First, a question that came in on our RV Lifestyle Voicemail (586-372-6990) number this week: QUESTION: This is John from Marietta, Georgia. Thank you for the great review on your new Leisure Travel van Wonder I was wondering if you thought about a Rad Power Bike mini fold up bikes would fit in the garage. Let me know what you think. We love to bike and it would be super nice if both of them would fold up and fit into the Wonder garage Thank you again. Happy RV Trails! ANSWER: Absolutely they would. In the video review John references from our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel, we showed the giant pass through storage space at the back of our RV that we call the “garage.” We said it would take two regular bikes but we though our large ebikes might not fit. Since then we have heard from another ebike owner who has a Wonder RV model like ours and he said he is able to get two eBikes in the back. We’ll have to try. But certainty, two of those foldup Rad mini’s that John writes about would definitely fit! Next, we have some questions that were posted this week on our RV Lifestyle Facebook Group: This question on our RV Lifestyle Facebook Group comes from Savina: QUESTION: Is it normal for the AC to drip water over the side of the RV? ANSWER: Absolutely. In fact, if your conditioner control is on and there’s no water runoff outside, then the air conditioner is not working! In fact, during the summer, when it's humid, it's normal for your AC to drain anywhere from 5-20 gallons of water per day. Other members of our RV Lifestyle Facebook Group weighed in on Savina’s question with their own answers: Ronnie - I put a bucket under mine and use the water to water my plants. Elizabeth -Yes we have the plastic “gutter router” so it doesn’t leave a streak. Pretty impressive that they are so easy to install and just stay in place down the road! Tina - That water has to go somewhere. Better than inside the trailer. You could possibly add a plastic drain tube to direct it better. Next question comes from Michael, who asks: QUESTION: “On a 40 foot class A, should we level first and then put out the slides or put the slides out and then level? ANSWER: For us, when we owned a Leisure Travel Vans Unity model with a slide, we were told to always level first, and then put out the slide. The rationale being that if the RV is uneven, putting the slide out that way could cause unnecessary wear and tear on the slide mechanism. But that was the advice of our manufacturer. But there are some manufacturers who recommend the opposite and this question on our Facebook Group as brought over 42 comments. The vast majority said to level first and then put out the slide but not all. Here are some of the replies: Rick says “Depends on the manufacturer. Newmar says slides out, then level” Chad notes that "Different manufacturers have different procedures: It depends on what the manual says...certainly don't listen to everyone who thinks it's all the same across the board--- my Winnebago said to level 1st, but now my Beaver says to run slides before jacks (even says so next to the switches for the jacks)” Kimberly Ann says “Our manual says to slide then level. First year, we did that. We were constantly in the shop with “slide” issues. Finally we decided to level first. No issues since then. It’s been 7 years! I say level first. We have 37ft class A.” So…summing up: Check your manual but in doubt or you can’t find specific instructions in the manual, level your rig first. We’ve been sharing some of the questions and answers posted on these topics on our RV Lifestyle Facebook Group. We We're closing in now on 40,000 members and whenever you have an RV Lifestyle question, it is the place to go for quick and immediate response from your Fellow Travelers. To join, just go the https://rvlifestyle.com/facebook. Do you have a question you’d like us to answer or a comment on the things we’re discussing. If so, we invite you to leave us that question or comment on the special voicemail number we have for the podcast – it’s 586-372-6990.  If you are driving and can’t write it down right now, just go to the RV Lifestyle travel blog at rvlifestyle.com and scroll down the page. You’ll see that number prominently posted on the blog. This part of the RV Podcast is brought to you by Battle Born Batteries, maker of quality, safe and reliable lithium batteries that can be installed in just about every RV. Get in touch with Battle Born to find out what lithium batteries and an upgraded energy management system can add to your RV Lifestyle. Check them out at https://rvlifestyle.com/lithium THE RV PODCAST INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK As we said earlier, the theme for this week’s episode is “Should we stay or should we go? As the nation shuts down again because of spiraling COVID-19 infections, many RVers are wondering what to do with their travel plans for the rest of the summer. Just when it appeared that RV road trips would once again be okay,