As we've said before, RVParking.com is still a pup. While we have over 18,000 RV parks, we realize that not all of the map data is accurate and are working on fixing it. That's why we have a team of fact checkers who are currently working on correcting RV park data, as we've previously mentioned on this blog. But what you may not know is that you can fix map data yourself. Here's how you do it:
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Step 1: Click on the submit Changes link.
Once you are at an RVParking.com page, click on the link that says "Submit changes for this park." Once you click the link, you will see a page that will let you change park data.
2. Decide how you want to change the map: by changing the latitude and longitude or moving the pin on the map.
3. Change the map:
Latitude/Longitude Method
If you already know the latitude and longitude for the park:
1. Enter it into latitude and longitude boxes, as shown on the left. The map on the “Edit” page will update as soon as your cursor leaves the input field.
If You Don't Know the Latitude/Longitude: Google maps has a handy tool which will let you find the Lat/Long information from their maps, but you need to turn it on:
1. Click on the green maps icon at the top of maps.google.com.
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Once you've done that, enable "LatLng Marker".
3. Right click to drop the marker and get the latitude and longitude. Copy and paste it into the edit screen on RVParking.com.
Map Marker Method
The second way to update a map is to edit the map on the edit page. The map on that page is interactive -- if you double-click on the map, it will move the marker to the point where you double click.
So there you have it, now you know how to change the map yourself. If you have any problems, please leave a comment below. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post about San Antonio by Betty Barnes.
Be Thankful for the Great Outdoors this Holiday
With the Thanksgiving holiday quickly approaching, many families can now spend quality time together in the comfort of the great outdoors with ease. An outdoor adventure this Thanksgiving can be a great way to create long lasting memories and new traditions with friends and family. Kampgrounds of America (KOA), America’s largest system of family oriented campgrounds, suggests the following tips when preparing for a Happy Thanksgiving outdoors this fall:
Be thankful for Mother Nature: Take time to appreciate the great outdoors with a family nature walk or hike.
Get creative with decorations: No sense hauling decorations to your vacation destination. Instead make wall hangings and pop-up centerpieces with recycled paper.
Have KOA do the cooking for you: If you’d rather sit back and relax then worry about cooking a dry turkey or cleaning your house, visit one of the following KOA campgrounds where they cook the turkeys for you. All you need to do is bring your favorite side dish to share.
- Santa Cruz KOA
- San Francisco North/Petaluma KOA
- Manchester Beach KOA
- Silver City KOA
For a Thanksgiving dinner that your family is sure to gobble up, try this delicious and easy recipe from Christine Ritch Neal, a KOA camper from Granite Falls, NC.
Thanksgiving in a Dutch Oven
Ingredients
- 3 pound(s) sliced turkey, shredded
- 2 cans cut green beans, drained
- 1 can whole baby carrots
- 3 large jars turkey gravy
- 3 boxes cornbread stuffing
- 1/4 c butter
Preparation
Butter the bottom and sides of the dutch oven. Pour green beans in first. Add carrots on top. Layer the shredded turkey on top of carrots and green beans. Pour gravy over the two layers. Mix cornbread stuffing according to package directions and add on top of the ingredients and press down to cover the layers in dutch oven. Cut any remaining butter into pats and place on top of stuffing mix. Place over hot coals and shovel some coals on top of the dutch oven. Cook for 20 - 30 minutes until hot and bubbly and the stuffing has browned on top. Serve with rolls and pumpkin pie for a tasty meal.
Visit the new and improved KOAKompass.com for additional recipes, tips and activities to enjoy this Thanksgiving.
About Kampgrounds of America
KOA, a 48-year-old full service camping business founded and based in Billings, Montana is North America’s largest system of family-oriented campgrounds, with locations in 46 states and eight Canadian provinces. KOA prides itself on bringing back the American Vacation with 450 beautiful and convenient Kampgrounds coast to coast that range from convenient full-service overnight facilities to larger resort-type campgrounds. For more information on KOA, Kampgrounds of America Inc., log on to www.koa.com or call (406) 248-7444 P.O Box 30558 Billings, MT 59114-0558.
If you don't have tools like MiFi or satellite Internet, you may often have to go to other businesses to get your WiFi. Although this may sound like a daunting task, it is possible to do work from the road using only WiFi provided by local businesses as proven by todays guest bloggers, Sue and Joel from Canfield of Dreams.
Like most people, our primary experience with Internet access has been our own DSL/Cable/whatever at home and office, peppered with the occasional trip to Starbucks. When we chose to become a nomadic family, finding Internet access on the road hit our radar. We're both virtual workers conducting virtually all our business over the Internet and telephone. Our plan as nomads is three weeks house sitting here, four weeks with friends over there, with short trips in between. Most of our Internet needs would be met wherever we're staying. Since we're hopeless email addicts and occasionally have client deadlines that won't wait, we realized we would have to find Internet access while we were on the road.
I'm sure you would love a link to a website where you could enter your zip code and find all the free wi-fi in that area. I don't have it. I suspect no one does. The Internet is in its infancy and free wi-fi is embryonic.
At this early stage in its development, the best tool for finding free wi-fi as you travel is your own resourcefulness. If you're used to the stability of your own Internet connection at home or in the office, it might not occur to you to simply drive through residential areas with a laptop looking for a connection. And yet, that is an extremely effective method of finding Internet access.
We're certainly not advocating trespassing or any kind of sneaky, unethical behavior. In the past most wireless networks were secured. This was partly to prevent the bad guys from getting in; but mostly because in those days Internet access was metered. Yes, folks, there was a time when you could not buy unlimited Internet access. What that meant was a single neighbor casually watching a movie over your Internet connection could use up your month's allocation of bandwidth in 90 minutes. It just made sense to limit access to a limited resource. Metered Internet access is almost impossible to find in the U.S. these days. Unlimited access is becoming the norm most places, thus removing the primary reason to secure a wireless connection.
A note about security. As a 20-year veteran of computer networking and security, I would suggest that you have someone that knows what they're doing check the security configuration of your personal computer. It's just good sense. There is a difference between securing your computer and locking down the inherent sharing capabilities of your wireless equipment. It's also my personal belief that if the bad guys want into your machine or network, they'll get in. Ease of use versus security is always a trade off. When it comes to sharing wireless networks, I lean strongly toward openness. I depend on the configuration of my individual computers to protect me from casual unfriendlies.
Most of my acquaintances leave their wireless networks open and unsecured. They're not afraid of hackers and actively encourage others to share their unlimited Internet usage. If you're driving through a small business area or residential neighborhood and notice an open, unsecured network, chances are very good that its owner has left it open with the intent of sharing it. We are bombarded with information about security almost daily. I personally find it hard to believe the average person could accidentally leave their wireless network unsecured. However, if for any reason the idea of what was once known as 'war driving', cruising a neighborhood looking for an open network, bothers you, there are alternatives.
If your travels take you through a large city, you will find a Starbucks, a Perkins Family restaurant, a Radio Shack or some other small business offering free wi-fi. If you Google the words 'free wi-fi' and the name of the place you're in, I'll be astonished if you get less than a dozen possible options. Again, for those of you who might, like me, be a little hesitant to 'take advantage', I have been delighted by the welcoming attitude of the folks who've given us free wi-fi along the way. The Wired Monk in Surrey, BC, Canada, the Starbucks in
Rapid City, South Dakota, the Northern Exposure Computer Center in
Torrington, Wyoming--all thanked us for visiting them and encouraged us to use their free wi-fi even if we didn't buy a thing. In today's economy, generosity is rapidly becoming an important marketing tool. If you're passing a Starbucks, need Internet and don't need coffee, they'll welcome you with open arms. You're not taking advantage; you're simply accepting the generosity they offer.
We found Internet connections in unlikely places. Driving across the wide open spaces of South Dakota we stopped in a small town, parked outside a classic car museum and connected to the Internet while Sue checked on a client project. Before shutting down she realized the wireless connection was from an RV Park we couldn't even see, not the building we were parked in front of.
The Radio Shack in Torrington, Wyoming was a surprise. We drove through this small town looking for our usual suspects, major chain coffee shop or restaurant, Internet cafe advertised as such, and saw nothing. Sue walked into the Radio Shack and asked where we might find a wi-fi connection, assuming that the local geeks would have it wired. And we were invited to use theirs--absolutely free. They even gave our little girl two scoops of ice cream for the price of one. So there's another angle. If you can't find an Internet connection on your own, stop anywhere that people are used to being asked for directions or where they may know the local computer landscape and ask. We've had excellent results every time.
Sometimes it's just a matter of trying. My mother has never owned a computer and may never own a computer. We expected during our three-day stop with her to find Internet access elsewhere. But when we opened our laptops we found an excellent connection while sitting comfortably in her living room. It was stable and powerful for our entire visit. I hadn't even planned on checking.
There are websites which are trying to aggregate real life information about open wi-fi hot spots. If you like, contribute the hot spots you found to one of these, or use them to find wi-fi near you. But your most powerful tools for finding wi-fi on the road are a little bit of resourcefulness and the willingness to try.
Bio:
Joel D and Sue L Canfield and their little one, Fiona, are conducting a nomadic experiment. September 30th of 2010 they gave up their fixed place of residence to travel the U.S. and Canada and they hope eventually the world. You can read about their adventures as they happen at
http://CanfieldofDreams.com where you can also pre-order the book they're writing and the movie they're making and even make arrangements for them to come visit you.
Today's guest blog post comes from our contest winners, Rene Agredano and Jim Nelson. In this post, the first in our series on green RVing, they share some unique ideas about how to save water while on the road. Did you know that eating more barbecue can help save water? Read on for that and more eco friendly RVing tips.
When we first entertained the thought of purchasing an RV to travel around the country, I was mortified by the thought of us moving around some of North America's most beautiful places in a gas-guzzling house on wheels. Until we actually started fulltime RVing, we were avid backpackers who assumed that RVs were terrible for the planet, and that the people who drove them were selfish souls who cared little about the environment.
How wrong I was!
While they're typically not the most fuel efficient vehicles, RVs are actually one of the most environmentally friendly ways to travel and live. Even if you're just on a weekend getaway, when you travel by RV, you can practice environmentally-friendly ways that can help put less stress on the planet than flying from one destination to another. And if you're lucky enough to live in one fulltime, your tiny house can be more eco-friendly than a standard sticks-and-bricks home in suburbia. RVs use less water and energy, and we can go where the resources are, instead of trying to bring them to us.
Conserving water is one of the greatest things you can do to ease your carbon footprint while RVing. Some tips and tricks we've discovered during our time on the road include:
Water Catchment
When you're dry camping without hookups, saving water is critical. But for those times you're hooked up to utilities in an RV park, it's still not very eco-friendly to let clean water go to waste. For example, when you run water to take a shower, instead of letting fresh water go down the drain while you get the temperature just right, grab a large container to catch that burst of cool water. Keep it in the sink for washing dishes, or put it in your dog's water bowl.
Use Skoy Cloths
Paper towels kill trees, plain and simple. And while sometimes you can't avoid using them, Skoy Cloths (http://skoycloth.com/) are one way you can reduce your dependency on paper products for simple clean up jobs. These mighty little towels act a cross between a paper towel and a rag. Using a SKOY cloth is equivalent to using 15 rolls of paper towels in an average home. They have an absorption factor of 15 times their own weight, and can be used many times before getting so skanky the need to be tossed. Even after going into the trash, Skoy Cloths will completely biodegrade within five weeks of being tossed.
Sure, they're not as eco-groovy as a rag that can be re-used hundreds of times, but unlike a rag, Skoy Cloths dry within minutes after use, and they don't get stinky or mildewy, which tends to happen when you attempt to dry rags in a small space like an RV.
Waterless Cleaning
Just as you take a quickie “shower” with pre-moistened body wipes, you can clean your rig inside and out with waterless cleaners. My favorite is Dri-Wash (http://www.dri-wash.com/), a waterless, biodegradeable cleaner that can be used for everything from washing a rig, to cleaning your greasy stovetop, to removing tough laundry stains. I wouldn't have believed that a waterless cleaner could work so well on so many surfaces, until we parked our rig in a place that didn't allow vehicle washing. The Dri-Wash not only cleaned the rig better than any RV cleaner, it took out the black streaks and stubborn marks that had been on our rig for three years, which I assumed we'd just have to live with.
Dri-Wash comes in a concentrated form that you just add water to, and although it's not cheap, it also lasts forever. So far we've washed our rig once, our truck twice, and cleaned the interiors of both, all on one bottle of concentrate, with more to spare.
Eat More Barbecue
Some may find it hard to believe that eating barbecued food can reduce your water consumption, but it's true. Think about it; unless you're one of those obsessive compulsive types, you don't clean your grill every time you use it, right? Well, barbecues can make an entire meal without a pot, and all you're left with is cleaning up the dining ware. Supplement your carnivore appetite with a side of grilled veggies, and you've done the planet a favor!
Re-use Your Gray Water
Doesn't it seem like a huge waste when you flush your toilet with drinking water? Don't let that resource go to waste; re-use it first! Many RVers have designed grey water systems with an inexpensive simple pump and filer that cycle grey water from the tank and back up through the toilet, so that none of that precious clean water gets wasted. Just Google a phrase like “RV recycle gray water systems” to see what these inventive RVers have done.
Drink More Beer and Take Fewer Showers
Be a water-conservation warrior; drink more beer, take fewer showers and save the planet! Ok, I'm kidding . . . sort of.
These are just a few of the real-life RVing conservation tips we've discovered during our years of living on the road. Share your own experiences, and follow along with us as we embark on more adventures across North America, by visiting us at LiveWorkDream.com.
With our fall review contest going on, I've seen some new reviewers here on RVParking. If you've joined the site recently, welcome.
In talking about the contest with others, I realized that some might want to contribute but need to know more about how to add reviews here. That's why we'll be doing a series of posts designed to help people share reviews and pictures, including what makes a good review, what makes a good photo and how to do certain things on the site. So, that's what you'll have to look forward to in the coming weeks as well as upcoming guest posts on Satellite Internet and volunteering from the road.
Some of you may want to a review a park that isn't listed on RVParking.com. While we have over 18,000 parks listed, there are still some that we don't have. That's why we allow you to add parks yourself. After you add the park, you'll be given an opportunity to review it.
1. Go to the front page and click on the "write a review button".
Write a Review Button when not logged in
2. You will be taken to a search page. After you get there, type in the name of the park or the city it's located in. Tip: It's good to double check that RVParking.com doesn't have the park, since a park may not show in the search results for the name but will in the search results for the city.
Search box
3. You will be taken to a results page and at the bottom there will be a link to add a park.
The add-a-park button (circled in red)
4. Add the park. After you submit the data, you will be asked to add a review.
The beginning of the park creation page.
And that's how you add a park. For larger views of the screenshots, click on the pictures in the gallery located at the end of this post.
If you have any problems, please contact me. I can either help you add the park or add it for you. Happy reviewing!
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Write a Review Button when not logged in
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Search box
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The add-a-park button (circled in red)
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The beginning of the park creation page.
Calling all Park/Campground Owners! This post was written especially for you. We now give you the option to claim your park listing on our site. There's no cost involved (it's Free) and the whole process will only take a few moments of your time. After you claim your listing with us you'll be able to update your park details, respond to reviews of your listing, add photos, and most importantly stay in touch with what visitors are saying about your site.
Questions? Just comment below for answers stat.
Step 1 - Go to our site and search for the name of your park (recommended) or the city that your park is in.
Step 2 - Click on the name of your park (blue font) in the search results.
Step 3 - On your park listing page, under the "Park Info" portion there is a "Claim it" link next to the words "Do you own this park?". Click on the "Claim it" link.
Step 4 - Link your user account with your park listing. There are 2 ways to do this.
Option 1 - Create an owner account with us (stay on the 1st tab). Do this if you don't have a user profile with us or you want to use a certain email address for managing your listing.
Option 2 - Sign into your already existing user account with us (stay on the 2nd "log-in" tab).
Step 5 - Voila! You're done. Here's a little preview of what your new owner account will look like. Pretty nice, right?
