Tips for Great RV Tailgate Parties

The first NFL pre-season game heralded the start of football season, and the first college games are just a week away. Droves of sports fans will be traveling by RV to watch their favorite teams in action. Even if they can’t get tickets, diehard alumni like to gather close to the action. Most college towns welcome alumni with designated RV parking that often allows overnight stays. RV owners like to roll into town the night before a game so they can avoid game day traffic and set up early for their tailgate party. 

Traveling by RV is the easiest, most convenient way to join in the fun of college football. RVs offer plenty of space to bring along a few fellow fans. RVers have onsite access to their own kitchen, handy for preparing sumptuous tailgate spreads. And if you’re serving beer, carrying your own private bathroom comes in handy. RVs also provide plenty of space to bring along all the accouterments for your tailgate party: lawn chairs, tables, TVs and a few games. After all, what’s a tailgate party without cornhole?

Here are a few tips for planning the perfect RV tailgate party:

Plan ahead. Know where RV parking is located and reserve a space if necessary. Know the venue rules.

Plan menu. Search out great tailgate recipes online at Foodnetwork, Southern Living, Paula Dean, GoRVing.

Be findable. Email GPS directions to your site so friends can find you.

Clean up. Pick up and stash your trash.

New RV Campground Caters to Dogs and Their Owners

Americans love their pets. We treat our pets like part of the family, kind of a fuzzier (and often more obedient) child. We have doggy day care centers, doggy play groups, doggy fashions and doggy bakeries. There are even a few restaurants that cater to our K-9 pals. Dog parks can be found in most American towns, and seaside communities usually set aside a stretch of beach where dogs can romp. But this summer has seen a new wrinkle in Americans’ love affair with our furry friends — pet-centered vacations.

Bringing Fido or Fluffy along on the family vacation isn’t a new concept for RV owners. RVers often travel with their family pets. The ability to bring your pet along for companionship is one of the true joys of traveling in an RV. But the new trend in pet vacations goes beyond taking Rover along on hikes and letting him snuffle around the RV campsite. New pet camps offer pet obstacle courses and  agility activities that give both pets and their owners a good workout. The focus is on activities people can enjoy with their pets.

Four Paws Kingdom in Rutherfordton, North Carolina near the Chimney Rock and Lake Lure recreation areas has jumped on the bandwagon, opening the first dog-dedicated campground. Premium RV campsites are surrounded by 8  dog parks, a lake and creek (fenced for off-leash play and exploration), two agility courses and bathhouses for both dogs and their owners with plenty of scheduled activities to keep everyone happy.

Window Farms Let RVers Exercise Green Thumb

Summer veggies picked fresh from the garden are one of the true joys of summer. Nothing tastes better than a juicy tomato or crisp green pepper just plucked from the garden. That little backyard plot of summer tastiness is one of the things RV full-timers miss most when they take to the open roads.

Until now, the mobile RV lifestyle hasn’t lent itself to gardening. Many RVers do keep a potted plant or two in their RVs, but gardening can be a messy challenge when your home is constantly on the move. Loose dirt and sloshing water create a muddy mess every time you hit a bump in the road, and the limited sunlight pulled through smaller RV windows doesn’t encourage sun-loving plants to thrive. RVers who are dedicated gardeners solve the problem by moving pots outdoors when they hook-up for the night, but all that heavy lifting can lead to chronic back pain and exposing plants to temperature extremes can injure them.

RV gardeners have found a perfect solution to all their gardening problems in Windowfarms. Unique hydroponic grow stations originally developed for cramped city dwellers with no access to garden space, Windowfarms are lightweight, no-mess, space-efficient, attractive and cheap (about $30). A 4×3 window can accommodate more than a dozen vegetable plants, herbs and edible flowers. Made from recycled materials, Windowfarms provide an eco-friendly way for RVers to exercise their green thumbs.

RVT.com Keeps RV Buyers and Sellers Connected

More than half a million motivated RV buyers visited RVT.com last month, generating 1.5 million ad views and 472 RV sales. Historically, online RV ad sites like RVT.com boast their highest buyer traffic in July and August. After a summer spent lusting after their dream RV, buyers are ready to plunk down their money and buy! The end of summer is the perfect time to sell your RV, buy an RV for the first time or trade in your RV for a bigger, newer, greener model.

For helpful tips on how to tell if it’s time to trade in your RV, check  the newly released August edition of our free newsletter, RVT Insight. If you’re not already a subscriber, visit our website today to sign up. You’ll find our monthly e-newsletter packed with information and tips about buying and selling RVs online. And don’t forget to join us on Facebook and sign up to receive our RV Live Twitter feed to keep abreast of the latest RV news and be the first to see new RV online ad posts.

North America’s leader in online RV sales, RVT.com is constantly striving to make it easier and faster for RV buyers and sellers to connect with each other. The free RVT.com iPhone app is the latest addition to our stable of handy communication products. Download it now for an easy way to track and access your online RV ads.

Oh Canada! Foreign but Familiar RV Terrain

Just the other side of the Great Lakes lays a land both foreign and familiar. Canada, our friendly neighbor to the north, offers easy RV access to a world of unusual delights that while foreign are hauntingly familiar and, because of our shared language, very accessible to American RV travelers.  Motoring into Canada is easy with numerous access points along our shared border. RVing may be the second most popular Canadian sport after hockey. American RVers will find their Canadian counterparts welcoming and enthusiastic RV campers.

A few tips for RVers visiting Canada:

Have your passport handy. New Homeland Security rules do require that Americans have a passport to move between the two countries.

Kilometer conversion. It’s easy for Americans to forget that traffic speed signs refer to kilometers not miles per hour. Forget that key fact and you could come home with a speeding ticket. Create a miles-to-kilometers conversion cheat sheet and post it on your dash. You can find easy-to-use metric conversion sites on the Internet. Many GPS units also come with conversion apps.

Currency exchange. You can use American money in Canada but currency exchange rates may not be quite dollar for dollar. Today, $1 U.S. equals $1.03 Canadian. Many cell phones come with currency exchange conversion apps or use credit cards which make the conversion automatically when computing your bill.

Customs. Before you leave, check Canadian and U.S. customs regulations so you’re aware of items that can and can’t be moved across borders.