The overall size was kind of weak compared to many RV Shows in the past. When you consider the economy however, I thought it was nice. All kinds were well represented. From super sized Class A models that are more expensive than many houses to small bare bones pop up campers. I saw a couple of interesting new models that I hadn’t seen before in person.

One interesting thing that stood out after a little while was the behavior of the sales people. I was ignored the whole time. I don’t necessarily want to be bugged and followed around. Yet I do expect someone to approach me over the course of an hour or two of looking at RVs. There were a few times when I salesman caught my eye but then immediately approached an older couple that was nearby. They were targeting what they apparently believe to be the most likely buyers. Older couples. I was alone and I’m far from retiring.

In this economy, it was noteworthy that some sales people either went after a profile market or just stood alone waiting for what they thought looked like a customer. Big mistake because you never know who your customer might be. I wasn’t there with a specific plan to buy on the spot but someone could have tried showing me something. We expect it a little bit more don’t we?

And with some RVs, I wanted to look in compartments and see more of the details that are never shown on websites or in brochures. The difference is in the details to me. I can see the same counters, dinettes and couches over and over again anywhere. I want to see the guts, evaluate the quality and get into the bones of an RV. But most all were closed and locked. You had to find a sales person and hope they could find a key to open some little compartment. My biggest challenge was to find someone who could provide me with information about a couple truck campers that I was interested in hearing more about for some off road camping. I would like to find something for a Tacoma 4×4, which is small but ideal for my solo explorations. My shorter motor home doesn’t quite go everywhere I would like it to go. The one dealer that had truck campers at the show told me in answer to my question, “that’s such a narrow market. The sales aren’t there in numbers.” As they have Eagle products on the lot, I follow up with, “I thought I read that Eagle makes the product” that I wanted. He responds with “Go see that dealer over there. They have some info and another company that makes something like that.” So he sends a potential customer away to see another dealer that doesn’t have any truck campers on-site, has no information and salespeople that only go after the older couples. I followed one salesman up and down three rows trying to catch up with him but never could. He was busy walking for something. So I left and will have to continue my research on the internet.

Now is the time that innovation wins. Great customer service wins. Listening to customers wins. There are more niches and options that can be filled for customers out there if someone will listen. It easy to aim for the mass market and just blend in with everything else. What stood out at the show? The row of three Gulfstream trailers. Also the Winnebago Via. And I had to wait to look inside every one of those.

This show reinforced my previous experiences at recent shows. The RV business is still in trouble and needs to change it’s mindset. What do you think?

By Adam Longfellow

Date codes

Every tire has this code on the sidewall. It gives the date that the tire was manufactured but it doesn’t just spell it out right. You have to know what to look for and how to read it. It’ll be something like this: DOT PDML AZOF 0508. It’s on one side of the tire, so you may have to crawl underneath to look at the inside of your tires. The date code always starts with the letters DOT and ends with a 3 or 4 digit number. The first two numbers indicate the week of the year. 52 weeks in a year so that is the max. The last one or two digits tell you the year. In this example, 0508 means the 5th week of 2008, or the first week of February 2008. With the year 2000, the date codes have two numbers for the year. Only one for years before. A date code of 157 would indicate the 15th week of 1997 or you are lucky to be alive if this tire is still in use.

Ask to see this number when buying new tires. You really don’t want to pay full price for a tire that has already sat somewhere and deteriorated for a year. You probably won’t get one that was made last week, but you should expect it to be within the last several months. The tire dealer may look at you as an oddball or pretend to not know what you talking about. That’s when you check the number or get ready to find another dealer.

Tire Size

If you’ve bought new tires or looked at your own, you’ll see the mess of letters and number on the sidewall. It could be like this one my smaller RV.

LT225/75R16
Type-Width/Ratio of width to sect height-Radial-inside diameter

The first letters indicate the type of tire: P for passenger car, LT for light truck, and ST for special trailer. You won’t find anything special for bus and medium-duty truck tires. The number 225 in this case, is the width of the tire, given in millimeters, followed by a slash. The number after the slash is the ratio of width to section height. Then you have a letter. R for radial ply or D for diagonal (or bias) ply. That is followed by a number which gives the inside diameter of the tire in inches.

Load Range

The load range of a tire is a letter, A through E, and is on the sidewall of the tire. You will want to make sure you get the right range rating for your type of trailer or RV.

How Do I Decide?

The easiest way is to start with what is already on your axles, assuming these were the new tires from the factory. If you were not the original owner, then you should double check the vehicle plates and documentation for what should be on the vehicle. Someone may have put the wrong tires on there before you. If specs and everything checks out and they have done well for you, get another set of the same. You can probably find the same tire or a newer equivalent. Or you may want to ask what is the next best step up for the same tire. Or get the same specs on a tire of another brand. Don’t jump wildly based just on price or brand. Start with the current specs and see what is available.

There are many different tires out there because there are many types of vehicles and uses. Passenger car tires are more for a soft ride on your daily drive. They grip the road well and are for your average weather situations. Light truck tires are built with stiffer sidewalls to carry heavier loads. They are also for daily use so they have decent handling and are fine in average weather and storms. When you get into trailer tires, you can expect them to be designed for a soft ride and some give to slide sideways. You should stick with trailer tires on trailers. Don’t truck tires or off road tires on a trailer just because they are better or more expensive. They are not designed for the unique needs of trailer loads and handling.

Rhyolite, Nevada - Image by AllStays.com

RVs are very complicated with many different working parts and products coming from many different vendors and manufacturers. Things eventually go wrong or not work together as they should.

Is it a poor product to begin with? Is it poor quality control at the factory? Is it poor installation? Is it improper operation or maintenance?

Repetition, denial and the importance of the internet

How many times has the same part failed on you? I have learned that if it fails once, it’ll probably fail again. This is a big issue with RVs. The same part is replaced over and over again and the owner is usually charged for it. Even if it is covered under a warranty, it costs you time and transportation. Thanks to the internet, we can find many cases where owners of a particular model will have that same failed part. We can determine that it’s not the owner’s fault and it should be a recalled part or replaced under warranty. But the manufacturer denies the problem. The chassis maker blames the RV company and vice versa. I’ve seen this happen for years and sometimes it is a very dangerous failure that could cause an accident. Admitting fault can cost a company more than replacing thousands of parts, so they don’t do it. They deny it because in the old days, no one would figure it out. We know better today.

Sometimes you can even find a third party that decided to manufacture the part in a better way. You may wind up buying a replacement part from a small machine shop that does it right because the RV manufacturer won’t admit fault or make a reliable part. I have.

Good dealers who can provide reliable service

This is my biggest problem. Finding dealers that I can trust. I have found the lists of authorized service centers to be inaccurate. You call and they won’t work on your RV even though they are supposed to under a contract. Some dealers won’t work on your RV unless you bought it form them. Duh. People travel in RVs. You are not always at home when a problem occurs. That is one of the dumbest business practices I have ever heard.

Even if you have a good dealer in your home town, chances are good that someday somewhere you’ll need to find one on the road. Where do you go? The closest one. And they may be incompetent, careless or just in the practice of price gouging travelers. Try to make a comment in their presence that subtly lets them know you use the internet and are savvy with recommendations and word of mouth. Mention a name club, bureaus, forums, or something like Angie’s List.

There are good dealers out there for sure. And it’s hard to keep up with all the different models, manufacturers and yearly changes in our rigs. But there are also many bad ones out there that are just ripping people off. It was easy for someone to once think that RVers are a bunch of elderly retired people and easy to take advantage of with their rigs. Well, that’s just not the case.

You can help yourself if you carry a few common parts with you. It could save you days of waiting for a part while traveling. I always carry a spare oil filter, fuel filter, air filter, timing belt and an engine part that I found was prone to failure on my RV.  (Although mine never failed like on thousands of others and I bought the spare part right after buying the RV. Murphy’s Law perhaps?) What else do you carry?

I would love to provide a service that listed good dealers and bad ones but it is nearly impossible to do it right. First, you need people to submit accurate stories and not just ones that are slanted to their own side of an arguement. Then it can always be gamed either way by the dealer or a competitor. If you have any ideas or tips on doing this, please send them along. We can do it together.

I love my current motor home, which is a Winnebago, but it had it’s faults too. I have noticed a mismatch of screws all over. Like it was built with whatever spare ones were laying on the floor nearby. I found a tool behind a cabinet. I found a razor blade under a piece of carpeting. I found that some things were not perfectly aligned to operate in an ideal fashion. I made the changes myself and now they work as they should. It wasn’t worth the time, cost and hassle to go have warranty work done on something I could do in a few minutes.

The following isn’t for everyone but I have reached a point where I prefer to do whatever work I can do myself. I added solar power and upgraded many things like batteries, lighting and insulation. I just made a new table for my RV that fit my needs better than the stock one. I don’t really think I’m that handy. I just do a lot of research, find other people that have done the same thing and follow their instructions. I take my time and do what I know I can do and make sure it is done right. I know that method isn’t for everyone but I bet you can do more than you realize.

Take oil changes. If too much oil goes in my RV, (or most cars for that matter) it’ll create a mess of other problems that could crop up for years down the line. Mine takes 9.5 quarts of a particular synthetic oil. Not 10 or even 9.7 quarts. Peoples in shops love to round up or come “close” but that’s not good enough. And because it’s unlikely you’ll get every drop of the old oil out when you are draining it, you can’t just keep blindly adding 9.5 time after time either. It’s better to go slightly under and see where you are than to overfill.

Tip: Install a ScanguageII. When you consider the price of a vehicle and repairs these days, it’s a small investment. It plugs into your vehicles computer (1996 and newer) and monitors all kinds of things. It can help you in so many ways, from fuel savings to knowing what the error code is on your motor home. It can alert you to problems before they would otherwise show themselves, which may save you from a larger repair bill or being stranded on the side of the road.

Extra tip: Did you know you can get what is called a Fumoto valve for most vehicles? This takes the mess out of oil changes. No more taking the drain bolt on and off. You can just attach hose, put the other end in a container and open and close your draining as needed. This allows you to use multiple containers if desired. Not a drop is spilled.

What do you think about quality these days? Have you found both good and bad dealers and manufacturers? Do you carry some spare parts?

To get started, you need to know what you can comfortably afford on an RV rental. Be sure to include all costs that you are going to incur. There is nothing worse than forgetting about additional charges, and eventually learning that you are going to be stuck spending more money than you want to.

One of the main factors that determine the cost of renting an RV is the model that you decide on. Generally speaking, the more people an RV can accommodate the bigger it is. And the bigger the vehicle the more money it is going to cost. The best thing you can do is determine how many people you will be traveling with and then find the cheapest RV that will comfortable accommodate everybody. If you really want to look into the details, consider the RV. For example, if you rent a smaller Sprinter based model like the View, pictured above, your fuel mileage could be 50% better. So even if the rental price is higher, you may save money on your entire trip!

Most RV rental companies will only allow you to travel a certain number of miles. For instance, you may pay $200 for 600 miles worth of travel. For every additional mile you will be charged a set fee, such as $.30 to $.40. While booking your RV you should have an idea of how many miles you will travel. This will give you an accurate idea of how much you will spend on mileage fees.

Finally, not every RV rental company offers the same prices. Where can you find the best deal?

Now that you know more about the cost of renting an RV, you can begin to budget for and plan your trip.

Where to go?

You can go to one of the big ones like Cruise America or El Monte RV or a few others out there. But you may also want to look at local newspapers, Craigs list and other little papers. Some smaller RV dealers rent them out instead of letting them rot on their lots. Recently, I’ve seen more private owners offering to rent out their RVs so you may want to look into that. Just make sure everything is spelled out as to what you paying for and what happens in case of an accident or breakdown. Get out there on the road!

I have been thinking about visiting Maine for some time. I have been close but have never made it all the way up there while in the northeast. There is a law (HP 98, LD 114) under consideration there that could make it much more difficult for RVers to visit and spend money in the state. The proposed legislation would make it illegal for RVs to park overnight in “any public parking structure”  anyplace in the state of Maine. This means you can’t park anywhere but a RV park, campground or mobile home park. No more parking in store lots, any public lot or any business lot even if they give you permission to do so. Violation of the law would be a $100 fine for the RVer and not the business allowing it.

So you may ask what’s the big deal as you stay in campgrounds any way? Well a short black and white law like this doesn’t take some things into consideration:

• Do they really want to deter people from coming to their state and spending money in times like this?
• Some businesses like to have guests be able to stay and spend money. Casinos, truck stops, a garage where you are having work done first thing in the morning. Maybe you can’t even safely drive anywhere else.
• Many of us are self-contained and don’t always need amenities. Sometimes it’s just sleep and move on.
• Tourist season doesn’t always go with our plans. This law basically says that the state is only open during tourist season and wants no visitors at any other time of the year. I personally like to travel just outside of peak seasons. So what does an RVer do in the fall or spring when most places to stay are closed? I often encounter closed campgrounds in other states. The weather is beautiful and they are closed because it’s not Memorial Day yet. If I sit there near the entrance for a short break, someone else inevitably comes along and is turned away as well. Lost business.

This law is not active at the moment and has not passed. Now would be a good time to contact some officials in Maine to let them know what you think. Remind them of how much business some small towns will lose. Remind them that Maine is not exactly a state that you pass through on the way to someplace else. It’s location means you probably want to go there and visit. With the way the world works, much of time you can dig deep enough to find that someone has a relative who owns an RV park and is upset about lost business somewhere. Or they live near a place that allows the overnight parking and it interferes with their view. Something like that is what starts these kinds of things. What they don’t realize is that news like this spreads, RVers pass on by to spend money somewhere else and the whole area suffers. Look up past stories about Billings, Montana or Laughlin, Nevada. Reno recently had to reverse course on a stupid legal move.

Here is a link to the bill. It is a pdf file and it opens in a new window:

The sponsor of the bill is Rep. Anne C. Perry from Calais, ME.
Click here for her contact information on the Maine Legislature Website.
Mail: 474 South Street, Calais, ME 04619. Call her at (207) 454-7338.
State House E-Mail is RepAnne.Perry@legislature.maine.gov

The House Majority Leader in the Maine Legislature is John F.
Piotti from Unity, ME.
Click here for contact information on the Maine Legislature Website.
Mail: 1075 Albion Road, Unity, ME 04988. Call at (207) 437-2493.
State House E-Mail is RepJohn.Piotti@legislature.maine.gov

The Main Chamber of Commerce is here and at 125 Community Drive, Suite 101, Augusta, Maine 04330-8010. The president is Mr. Dana Connors and can be emailed at  dana.f.connors@mainechamber.org. If he represents all businesses, he may be interested in hearing how you spend money as you travel and put it into the local economy, even when you are not staying in RV parks every night. Or maybe you don’t travel strictly in tourist season and you boost the slow off season economy. Let him know.

Contact the Maine Governor here or mail him at this address

Office of the Governor
#1 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0001
Ph 207-287-3531
TTY 207-287-6548
Fax 207-287-1034

What is your view on laws like this? Share them here and with the people in Maine.

Here are three RV travel tips to keep in mind:

1. It all starts with the right rental. When renting an RV, make sure you consider size, cost, and mileage. There is nothing worse than renting an RV that cannot comfortably accommodate your entire group, or one that will break the bank. There are some major campgrounds out there, especially National Parks that do not easily accommodate big RVs.

2. Take it slow. Driving an RV is not the same as a car due to the larger size. It can seem intimidating at first but you will get used to it. There is no reason to take any risks. Instead, start slow and as you get a better feel for driving the RV you can begin to settle into a routine. I was a bit scared the first time I drove my RV but then I wound up being surprised at how fast I was completely comfortable behind the wheel.

3. Safety first. No matter what, make sure you are always thinking about safety. You are in a big vehicle, and there are many other people around you. If you are always thinking about the safety of you and everybody else on the road, you should not have any problems in this department.

These three RV travel tips are good for beginners. But even if you have experience traveling in an RV they can still help to make your trip an enjoyable one.

I have been reading lately about how many RV manufacturers have had trouble in the economy. Here is a sample of recent headlines from 2008 and 2009.

• Fleetwood struggles, closes plants, is delisted from stock market.
• Winnebago forces workers to take unpaid vacation.
• Country Coach slims down and scales back.
• Bigfoot Industries shuts down after 31 years.
• Monaco lays off hundreds and is bankrupt.
• National RV files for bankruptcy.
• Thor California shuts down facility to save on production.
• Jayco Corp closes Topeka plant.
• Weekend Warrior cuts 100 workers. Three executives resign. Goes out of business
• Alfa Leisure closes
• Ameri- Camp closes
• Chinook closes
• Dolphin shuts down
• Extreme RV closes
• King of the Road shuts down
• Sun Valley shuts down
• Sunline Coach is gone
• Teton Homes closes
• Trail Wagons closes down
• TravelSupreme closes doors

I could go on but it’s too depressing for those of us that love RVs. It’s hard to tell if this is going to nearly kill of the new RV market entirely or not. The RV shows certainly won’t be as lively. Aftermarket products and service will likely benefit some.

One of the downsides of this is the ripple effect that hits in places that we don’t immediately think about. Your local RV dealers are stuck with an inventory of brand new RVs that no longer have a warranty with them. They have money in the inventory and now the product isn’t as attractive at retail prices. What does the dealer do? The RVs get older and no one is even coming onto the lots to look let alone buy. Sure, there are aftermarket plans that can be purchased at a cost. Buyers are used to some things being covered for a while though.

I wondered just how big of an impact this is on the looking buyer. What do you think?  Would you buy an RV from a manufacturer who can no longer provide a warranty?

Some states, however, have made it much easier to travel by land or sea. A few states and provinces have created an enhanced drivers license (EDL) or ID card that will work in the same way. The optional card will cost a little more, $15 in Washington for example, and have the electronic chip that transmit the necessary information to border control. So if you stay in North America (and don’t ever fly even in emergency) and live in Washington State, this is the easiest and cheapest way to go. For some reason the EDL is okay for the borders on land and sea but not the air but that’s government for you. The passport business would probably see their numbers go down substantially.

You need to apply for these licenses in person and have the usual documents, proof of birth, residency and so on. You also need a biometric scan which is where they take a good photo of your face and do all these computerized measurements with it. How far apart are your eyes, nose, lips, etc. This prevents anyone but your doppelganger from getting through.

Some border agents stuck out there may not be aware of this new option so I recommend that you print out this white sheet PDF and take it with you to present to them. Then they can either believe it or at least find someone else who has training or can look it up.

NEW RULES MADE EASY

Travel by air

Passport. You need a full passport. It’s $100 and good for 10 years. I recommend this so you have it. What if you have to fly home in an emergency? What if you have to travel to a loved one in an emergency? What if you are a banker and need to flea the country on short notice? For what amounts to $10 a year or two overpriced coffees, you can have it and be ready. Otherwise, you may wind up spending $145 instead of $100 now. Get one

Travel by land or sea

Passport card. It’s an id card that works partially like a passport for land and sea travel between US, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean or Bermuda. But it’s not good for air travel. $45 for 10 years. Get one

Enhanced Drivers License. These are a great option if you are in one of the few states with them.

The official Washington FAQ

The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative

What states and provinces are doing this?

Getting a Passport

Please feel free to ask any clarification questions here and I’ll help you. I’ve gone through enough red tape already that I may be of assistance or can give you tips.

I see digital compasses and I can feel a tremor in my bones when I think about your life depending on it in a snowstorm or in hundred degree desert heat when it fails on you. Sure, they look cool and you can easily spend nearly a hundred dollars on the latest ones. But I think I’d rather have one from an antique sale for my own survival.

I have gone through a couple of digital thermometers for my current RV,  which is only two years old, where the displays stops working or doesn’t work in extreme temperatures. And that is when you need it the most. It looks like I need an old fashioned one again.

My parents have had the same old weigh scale since before I was born. It works. So when I went to buy a scale recently, I had to look long and hard to find one that didn’t have an LCD readout. There were usually a half dozen electronic versions and an empty space for the one analog one that they carried. But I found one. I figured I may as well just buy one for the life of my family instead of replacing it every coupe of years.

I have an old air gauge for my tires that goes back at least twenty years now. Last year I got a neat little digital one. It’s compact and it let me read my air pressure in several different measures. When it worked. When the temperature dropped to around freezing or below, it didn’t work. And now at about one year of use it doesn’t work at all.

I have a wind up stop watch I’ve had since I was kid. It’s probably around forty years old. My cool digital one that I got last year? The display fades and I can’t use it now.

I had an alarm clock radio when I was a kid. It had a manual radio dial with a bright read clock display. It lasted me through the late 1970s and 1980s until only certain numbers showed. I got tired of guessing what time it was so I had to dump it. It had a good run. My last two digital clocks have lasted about two years each.

I have seen a couple stories lately where people went hiking use their cell phones for light instead of carrying a flashlight. In my experience with cell phone battery time, this is not the best tactic. Get an led flashlight that lasts practically forever on a battery.

If I could find the bicycle I had when I was a kid, I bet the old speedometer and mileage gauge is still winding up. It still has all those miles on it that I rode when I was a kid. Locked in that little time capsule. Today? I’ve gone through a couple of bicycle computers in recent years. History lost. Easily reset, erased and replaced.

To be fair, I looked around and I do have some things with LCD displays that have lasted a number of years now. They are not a complete loss. But now I think twice about everything I do buy. I’m now trying to find a dishwasher without LCD controls even though my own survival doesn’t depend on it.

Digital devices are cool but don’t use them when your life depends on it. Do you want a thermometer that only works when it’s 30 to 80 degrees? Do you want a compass that only reads out one direction?

How about you? What are your experiences with LCD based equipment compared to the old? Do you have any survival gear that relies on newer technology?

Even though most of us are consuming large amounts of them, as much as twelve layers of them on our food every day, I don’t believe that pesticides are good for us. I generally think that anything that kills something else can’t be good for us either. If there is an alternative method out there that is not a pesticide, I’ll try it. Some methods work better than others.

The first rule is cleanliness. Try to keep clutter and debris under control. Ants don’t usually bother going into a place unless they can find food crumbs or scraps or if you’re in the desert, a easy water source. Tree branches are a preferred method of travel so if you keep them away from your house or rv, both from above and from touching the side of it, it will help. When I was battling the severe ant problem at the San Diego KOA, I finally had it so they weren’t entering from any place on the ground. They no longer went over my tires or up my electric and water hoses. But they were still getting in. Then I realized that they were forming a line up a nearby tree and then plunging off it onto my roof. At my house, mice were using the trees to run from one section of the house to another. So I stopped all that by trimming my trees. If possible, move the RV slightly so it isn’t under the tree any longer.

Caulk and seal openings. Once you find where the pests are getting in, make sure you close up those gaps. It’s good to seal any openings that you can as it helps with controlling your energy costs as well. In my RV, I found some large gaps in the outside electrical compartment that allowed rodents to get up into and scurry around the rest of the hidden parts of my RV. Behind cabinets and through all the pipe spaces, they could get into just about everything. I used caulk and insulating foam to close those gaps. The rodents haven’t gotten in since.

I like to keep my cables off the ground when possible. Another plus with solar (here he goes again!) is that I don’t even hookup very often. If you can run from a hook up point to the RV connections without touching the ground it just reduces the easy roads that pests have into your RV. Or at least pay close attention to where your hoses and cords lay on the ground. No since in putting out the red carpet and laying one right over an any mound if you don’t have to.

Sometimes your compartment doors don’t close completely and leave an entrance gap. This may be due to age or a part of the design. If it’s a compartment where a mouse could get in or cause damage to the contents of that compartment, you may want to eliminate that gap. I have lined a compartment door with reflectix to make the door close up tight. This is insulating and light weight. You could cut to fit a dense foam pad. These are sold for gardening on your knees, garage floors and play areas.

Cover vents with hardware cloth or gutter screen material. This is not regular screen. You don’t want a weak material or one that restricts air flow in any way. This a metal material with larger square openings that are maybe a quarter inch to half inch in size. It keeps out mice, birds, snakes, etc. I cut the pieces to fit under all vent caps and covers and then they are held in place by the covers themselves.

Ant invasion

Find out where they are coming in if you can. If you find the spot you can use non-pesticide products like food grade diatomaceous earth (DE), moist coffee grounds, baking soda, talcum powder, cayenne, salt, garlic powder, Tide laundry soap or Comet cleaner. Use these products in the corners, cracks and places where you see the ant trail coming in. These are not really for outside use since they just disappear in the rain and wind.

On the outside, you can squeeze lemon juice into the opening and leave the peel. You can then block the entrance point with toothpaste, duct tape or a petroleum jelly.

If there is a nice long line of ants already there waiting to get in, you can first remember your trip to Disney World and then snap out of it and spray them with a 40/40/20 mix (in this order) of water, alcohol and dish soap. Other households items work too like WD40, Fantastic and other cleaners. The first one is a bit better since you don’t have as many chemicals as in the later ones. Then spray around the foundation or your tires and cables that touch the ground with a mix of 2 oz. table salt and 1 oz. white pepper in one pint of water.

If you find the mound either in your yard or near your parking spot, you can flood it with club soda, diluted orange juice, Lemon joy and peppermint, or food grade diatomacious earth (DE) or white vinegar. Dilute the orange juice as one part juice and two parts water with a dash of soap. Instant grits can be put on the mound as well. Ants will eat it and not be able to digest it. It works but seems kind like a long nasty way to die if you think about it.

If it is your home or stationary RV, you can set up baits. You want the ants to live and take it back to their nest to kill the queen. It doesn’t do any good to kill them at the bait location. A bait could be:

• mix of apple sauce, Crisco, sugar water, fishy canned cat food, peanut butter, honey or jelly along with about 2 percent boric acid or borax. You could also use 5 percent diatomacious earth (DE) or a packet of Equal (aspartame).
• half baking soad and half powdered sugar
• half instant grits and half a packet of Equal
• one third baking soda, one third powdered sugar, one third powder Vitamin C.

Birds

Birds may try to build nests in air conditioners or under protective covers. I haven’t had any problems myself with birds but they do like to hang out on the underneath side of the RV and behind the tire covers.

Mice

Poisons aren’t the best method for a few reasons. One is that they could be found by children, pets, animals tor birds that you don’t really want to kill. A second reason is that the mice may die in a place that you can’t easily get to. Then you have the dead smell for a while or the possibility that it has hantavirus and it could develop into a health hazard. The virus comes out in the urine and waste of a dead mouse.

You could get a mouse hunting cat. Or maybe not shoo away the neighbor cat as much. Let them wander around and get the mice for you.

The best way is the old fashioned snap trap. You can buy them with a plastic scented bait already built into the tab. I’ve used these and caught many mice with them. You could also use an old trap with many other things like Slim Jim, a Tootsie roll or whatever works for you. Make sure to put the trap close to a wall.

I don’t really have anything specific that I do to protect the engine compartment other than checking it often myself. The longer anything sits quietly and by itself, the more likely it will be have unwanted inhabitants. I have used fabric softener sheets in the past tucked here and there but those sheets are not exactly eco-friendly. The same goes with mothballs. Keeping them under control around the area will usually keep them from causing damage or at least reduce the chance of damage to your engine wires.

When you dispose of the mouse, spray it with something like Lysol, put it in a plastic bag and put it in a closed trashcan so other animals can’t get to it.

What methods have you used effectively to keep pests under control? How do you protect the engine compartment? Have you had wires eaten in your RV?