Good news for wannabes July 07, 2009, 05:58:54 pm Yahoo Message Number: 103739...and the rest of us as well: the invaluable Life On Wheels RVing seminars, which taught so much to so many people (including me), but closed down after the death of founder Gaylord Nelson last year, have a worthy successor. The RV Safety and Education Foundation (RVSEF) is launching an RVing school that will work very much like LOW:http://blog.rv.net/2009/07/rvsef-set-to-launch-rv-school/>http://www.rvsafety.com/LESClinic.html> The first RVSEF "Lifestyle, Education & Safety Clinic" will be held at Harrisburg Community College, Pennsylvania, from September 13th through 16th. The cost is $249 per registrant plus $199 per guest. That may sound like a lot of money for four days of courses (with dry camping), but believe me, you'll get your money's worth! Many of the former LOW instructors will be there, so the quality of education will be very high. (And they throw in a 3-day pass to the PRVCA RV show in Hershey, PA, which starts on the 16th.) Anybody who's new at RVing, or is thinking of taking extended trips, can benefit tremendously from these seminars. They'll get you off to a great start. Even old-timers can learn a few new tricks. ;-) I hope the new RVSEF "clinics" will be a resounding success, and that they'll eventually be offered nationwide, as was done with Life On Wheels. If you're going to be in the east this September, I encourage you to consider attending.Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Good news for wannabes Reply #1 – July 07, 2009, 08:13:24 pm Yahoo Message Number: 103741Correction: I meant to write "Gaylord Maxwell," not "Gaylord Nelson." I don't know what I was thinking of. ;-)Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Good news for wannabes Reply #2 – July 07, 2009, 10:38:51 pm Yahoo Message Number: 103744Quote ...and the rest of us as well: the invaluable Life On Wheels RVing seminars, which taught so much to so many people (including me)... Hello Andy, Can you share a few important things you have learned from LOW seminars? I have been using my LD for 8 months now, traveling 10K miles in that time. I wonder if I have missed something significant?Thanks,Sam
Re: What I learned in summer school (long post) Reply #3 – July 08, 2009, 02:16:52 pm Yahoo Message Number: 103754"Can you share a few important things you have learned from LOW seminars?" I took copious notes... let me see whether I can give you a feeling for what it was like with a few excerpts. Most of my Life on Wheels classes were taught by Steve Savage. I remember going down the list of classes a month ago, checking off the ones I wanted to take--LP gas systems, AC electrical systems, DC electrical systems, water heater & furnace maintenance/repair, air conditioner maintenance/repair, and so on--and then noting that the same man taught every course. "This Steve Savage must have god-like powers and knowledge," I said to myself. "I just hope he's a good teacher." Well, he does and he is. The guy grew up in an RVing family (his father invented the popup camper and then converted a Flxible bus into a motorhome), and has worked as an RV technician ever since, so his experience is unbelievable. And he's an excellent teacher, with good pacing and the ability to put across technical concepts to a lay audience. Much of what Steve taught on Monday--120VAC systems, 12VDC systems, propane systems--I already knew bits and pieces of, but I still learned a lot.***** After Steve's 1:00 p.m. class on 12VDC systems, I sat in on part II of Greg Holder's solar systems class. I liked Greg immediately; he's an easygoing guy who laughs readily and isn't afraid to "talk tech." His background is in electrical engineering, which makes me feel at home with him since I worked with EEs at Princeton's Plasma Physics Lab for ten years. The fact that he was presenting from a Mac was further evidence of his technical savvy. ;-) Seriously--it was a topnotch presentation. Greg's afternoon class was on solar charge controllers, and I learned a LOT! Turns out that the one I have in Gertie is the weak link in an otherwise strong system--it's old and technically fairly crude. A new technology called maximum power point tracking (MPPT), when combined with pulse-width modulation, yields substantially more power from a given set of panels. I'll spare you the technical details, but the guy convinced me that this will do exactly what is claimed. (Not that he was promoting his product, mind you--that's not allowed at these seminars.) I want to talk with him a little more about it, but I'm pretty sure I'll be buying one of these new controllers. [And I did, and it lived up to its billing.] Incidentally, Greg's company, AMSolar (http://www.amsolar.com) produces the Heliotrope solar panel charging controller design, which was the hands-down winner in a government-sponsored test of all controllers on the market conducted by Sandia Labs a few years back, and is the one LD uses. After Heliotrope's owner retired, Greg bought the design and has made improvements since then. His latest and most advanced model is the HPV-22B, and that's the one I want to buy for Gertie.***** Tuesday was a great day as far as classes were concerned. Monday's classes were mostly about electrical matters, which I know pretty well (not that I didn't learn a few things!)...but Tuesday I took classes in water heaters, furnaces, ranges, ovens, refrigerators and air conditioners. While I understand the basic principles, the details of these systems aren't familiar to me, so I really paid close attention and learned a lot. Again, all my classes were taught by Steve Savage, and I've already commented on what an excellent teacher he is. One thing I like is the way he clearly draws a line between fact and opinion. Most of the time he's teaching generally agreed facts--how often and how long to exercise your genset, for example. But if you ask Steve a question like "Should I leave my fridge on when I'm driving down the road?" he'll preface his remarks by saying "Now, this is *opinion*..." and then tell you what he thinks. (His answer is 'yes.') This lets you know there is room for legitimate differences of opinion on the subject, and leaves you free to agree or disagree. I really respect him for being candid about the difference between fact and opinion. Among other things, I learned that the reason the hot water in Gertie is always scalding is that my water heater's thermostat contacts are probably welded shut, and the only thing keeping my hot water heater from running away is the "backup" thermostat--the ECO switch that cuts out at 160° F. I need to replace that thermostat, both for safety and my own comfort. Fortunately, it's a cheap part and easy to get at. I also learned that an RV furnace's sequence of operation is exactly backward from that of a home heating system. In a home heating system, the thermostat turns on the burner or heating element, and then after a minute the blower comes on. On RVs it's exactly the opposite: the thermostat turns on the blower, which activates the air-operated "sail switch" once air is moving, and *that* opens the gas valve and start the igniter. Crucial consequence: if your batteries are low, the blower may not produce enough air volume to lift the sail switch and light the burner, so all you get is cold air. I now suspect that this was what actually happened on my winter camping attempt last year, when I *thought* I had run out of propane.***** Steve Savage's water systems class on Wednesday was enlightening as expected. That was followed by Dave and Sandy Baleria's pepper spray certification class. After half an hour of lecture time, we were taken outdoors, given canisters of wintergreen-scented inert spray that works exactly like pepper spray (same spray pattern) and put through trial exercises. Dick and Sandy put on protective goggles (even wintergreen can be pretty painful if sprayed in the eye) and thuggish face masks, and accosted each student. "Hey, baby - do you like to dance? Aw, don't be shy, honey. Come on, let's go in the woods and do the nasty. Come on... LET'S GO!" Students were supposed to judge the threat level, and if it was high enough adopt a "blade" stance (one foot forward, one arm horizontal in front of the body and the other braced against it with spray canister poised) and shout "NO!" or "STOP!" If the attacker persisted, we were to spray them in the eyes, duck to one side as they fell to their knees due to the (simulated) effects of the spray, and then run away shouting "FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!" (You don't shout "POLICE" because bystanders will avoid involvement--they don't want to have to testify. A cry of "FIRE" will bring them running, which is what you want.) Some students did better than others. I sprayed Dave even though he had broken off the attack and was turning away after I shouted "STOP! BACK OFF!" Many students, including me, forgot to yell "FIRE!" One woman actually let Dave back her up almost to the edge of the woods--she kept yelling "STOP," but he kept on coming--and then let him close with her, so that he was able to wrestle the canister away from her. Even as a simulation it was rather horrifying to watch--I hope she thought hard about it afterward! After the class was over and we had received our certificates I introduced myself to Dave and Sandy (my name tag just says (Andy - NJ") and bought a kit of three pepper spray canisters and two holsters. They're very pleasant people to chat with; they travel full-time with their cat Bucky in a 29' fifth-wheel trailer, teaching self-defense seminars to RVers and law enforcement people nationwide. "Mac" McCoy also presented his famous, entertaining and highly educational fire safety seminar at this LOW session. I didn't attend because of schedule conflicts, and because I had already taken his course at an Escapade. You can read all about it here:And in addition, there were a lot of "lifestyle" classes, such as Sandy Baleria's presentation on traveling with pets and the irrepressible Sharlene Minshall's talks about traveling solo to Alaska, among others. I missed those, because I focused on the nuts-and-bolts presentations for most of the four days. But there was at least one other class for every one I attended. I figured I could go back another year and catch up on what I'd missed, but unfortunately it never happened... and then Gaylord died and his wife Margie decided to end LOW. Now, let me say that since this upcoming RVSEF "clinic" is the first of its kind, and so there's no way we can be certain beforehand that it will be as good as Life On Wheels was. I know I probably gave that impression in my previous post, because I was so enthusiastic that this badly-needed concept is being revived. But there's good reason to hope so. With the long list of courses covering everything from generator maintenance to towing systems to boondocking tips to starting a blog to managing photos with Picasa--and yes, Mac McCoy will be there too, setting fires and putting them out!--it's hard to imagine that anybody, wannabe, newbie or long-time RVer, can't learn a lot in the course of four days. Here's the course list--decide for yourself:"I have been using my LD for 8 months now, traveling 10K miles in that time. I wonder if I have missed something significant?" Sam, I've been RVing for 8 years now, and I've lost count of the miles, but I learn significant new things almost every day. :-)Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: What I learned in summer school (long post) Reply #4 – July 08, 2009, 03:17:27 pm Yahoo Message Number: 103756Quote I took copious notes... let me see whether I can give you a feeling for what it was like with a few excerpts. Thanks Andy for the detailed reply.Sam
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