RV Education 101 March 08 Newsletter

EDITORIAL BY MARK

Hi Everybody,

It seems like every time I turn around I am reading, or people make mention, of problems with our current economy. Housing prices have dropped to levels where the average homeowner has no equity in their property, fuel prices continue to rise with oil prices hovering above $100 a barrel, and there is more and more talk of a recession.

A recession is basically negative growth in the economy over a six month time period. The Commerce Department reported our gross domestic product increased at a low 0.6 percent for the last quarter of 2007. 0.6 percent is very close to a negative growth figure when compared to a 4.9 percent increase earlier in 2007.

A recession is probably in our near future, but I think the question is how will it impact you or me. I personally think it will be short lived and we will bounce back quickly. Most people respond to higher gas prices by cutting back on unnecessary trips in their vehicles, which is the logical thing to do. It's also logical to decrease our spending habits when there is a slowdown in the economy. And people are a little leery because it is an election year too.

From the viewpoint of RV's I haven't really seen a significant decrease in RVers plans for using their RV's. Sure we take shorter trips, staying closer to home to save on fuel costs, and again this is the logical thing to do. Some of my favorite camping destinations are less than 100 miles from where we live. On a recent poll we conducted at our rvuniversity.com site we asked people "what the average length of your RV trips are." 56% responded one weekend, with 4% saying more than a month, so shorter more economical trips seem to be the current trend.

Here's one thought. Take $20 a week out of your paycheck and put it in a fuel savings account for next years RV trips. If you make $500 a week this is only 4% of your weekly paycheck. $20 X 52 weeks is $1,040. If we figure gas at $3.25 a gallon you could purchase 320 gallons of gas and if you have an RV that gets 7.5 miles to a gallon you could travel 2,400 miles in you RV next year without being concerned about fuel.

Just a thought!

On another note we recently revamped our RVUniversity.com site to make it a bit more interactive and fun to stop by and visit every now and then. We archived our "Play & Learn" crossword puzzles, and added a monthly "RV Educated Quiz" and a monthly "Poll" on RV related topics. Each month we will feature the quiz and poll question of the month in our newsletter. And of course you can still participate in our "Just for Fun" U of RV degree program.

Vicki Kieva's brand new cookbook titled, My RV Kitchen & Favorite Recipes is now avaiable on our site. It's not your average cookbook, Vicki's book is loaded with expert advice on everything from how to equip your RV kitchen to great recipes and tips.

I hope you enjoy the newsletter
Until next month Happy Camping!
Mark

RVING WITH MARK POLK ~ Feature Article: De-Winterize and Sanitize your RV Water System

At the end of your camping season you drained the water system, winterized the RV and put it in storage. One problem with this is that on most RV’s when you drain the fresh water holding tank there is still some water left in the tank. Let’s say you do manage to drain all of the water out of the tank. There is still moisture in the water system. Just imagine what can grow in that moist tank while it sits for three or four months. I’d rather not think about it. ....

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