With Christmas less than a month away, I thought I’d make a few gift suggestions for the RVers on your shopping list, or even as a treat for yourself. I use, or have used, all of the products myself.

1. Dyson DC31 Vacuum – When Dyson contacted us asking if we would be willing to give their new rechargeable handheld vacuum a test, Miss Terry jumped at the chance. She loves this new vacuum, which is powered by a digital motor spinning up to104,000 RPM, which is five times faster than a Formula 1 race car engine. For little cleanup jobs around our motorhome, she no longer uses our built-in vacuum, because the Dyson immediately became her tool of choice. It’s lightweight, sturdy, powerful, and versatile. When she’s finished, it’s easy to empty, all she has to do is open the clear cup on the bottom of the vacuum.

2. LED Flashlight – These little powerhouses are small and incredibly bright, and you can never have too many of them. I keep one in my desk, another on the nightstand, one in the van, and a couple in various bays of our motorhome.

3. Hose Buddy – We’ve all had it happen to us, we’ve stuck our sewer hose into the dump station, pulled the black water handle, and had the sudden rush through the hose pop it out and make a mess. Enter the Hose Buddy, a nifty plastic device that fits over your sewer hose’s 90 degree fitting to hold it securely in place. In the past, I had to look for a rock or something to hold my sewer hose in place, but when the folks who make the Hose Buddy sent me a demo, I knew it was a winner the minute I took it out of the box. Made of high grade plastic, the Hose Buddy is so simple it’s ingenious. I filled the reservoir with water (though sand or pebbles would work fine too), put it over the end of my sewer hose, and it works great, even on those irritating campground sewer fittings that extend several inches above the ground!

4. Acer Aspire Netbook Computer – Packing a lot of power into a small, lightweight, and inexpensive computer, the Acer Aspire is great for checking e-mail, cruising the internet, and makes a great companion to computer mapping software. I use mine with my Silverleaf engine monitor. It sits on the dash without moving and doesn’t take up much space.

5. Silverleaf VMSpc – Silverleaf loaned me a data cable to use with my netbook computer so I could review their free VMSpc engine monitoring software, but I am sending them a check because I like it so much I don’t want to give it up! The program monitors every function of my RV’s diesel engine, is more accurate than the factory gauges on my motorhome, and provides a wealth of information.

6. PressurePro Tire Monitoring System - No more crawling around in the mud and wet grass getting dirty as I check my RV’s tire pressures before a trip. With the PressurePro, all I have to do is look at the digital readout on its monitor, right from the driver’s seat! I wouldn’t leave my campsite without it!

7. Restaurant Gift Cards – Most fulltime or snowbird RVers are very conscious of adding any weight to their load, so a lot of times typical gifts are a hassle. We don’t need doodads and geegaws, but we all love to eat. A gift card from any chain restaurant (Texas Roadhouse, Applebees, TGI Fridays, etc) is always welcomed.

8. Mountain Directory Guides – Every RV should have a copy of both the Eastern and Western editions of these books on board. They provide locations and descriptions of over 550 mountain passes and steep grades nationwide, with mile by mile descriptions of what to expect climbing or descending, runaway truck ramps, and other information that prevents surprises that can get you into trouble.      

9. E-book Reader – A year ago the Amazon Kindle was about the only game in town, but now Sony’s two e-book readers are becoming big sellers. Now the Borders bookstore chain is supposed to introduce its own e-book reader, called the Elonex. Whichever model you choose, any RVing bookworm will love it. They’re lightweight and can carry hundreds of digital books.

10. Electrical Management System - We installed a Progressive Industries Electrical Management System (EMS)  in our MCI bus conversion, and over the years it saved our rig several times from high and low voltage conditions. So another EMS was one of the first things we had installed when we bought our Winnebago Ultimate Advantage. It’s worth its  weight in gold!

11. Rand McNally Motor Carriers’ Road Atlas – While it is made for truckers, this is a handy atlas for RVers too. Along with  detailed, full-color maps of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, the atlas includes valuable information for anyone driving a big rig, including restricted route information, low clearances, 40,000+ updated city-to-city mileages, a telephone area code map, and more.

12. Gypsy Journal RV Travel Newspaper – Hey, it’s great reading for all your RVing friends, and I need to make a buck now and then too, so I can do my Christmas shopping!

So what do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?

 Thought For The Day – I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to take a nap when I was younger.

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Terry and I have spent most of our time inside the last few days, catching up on paperwork and working on the new issue of the Gypsy Journal. It’s just as well, because it’s been too darned cold to do much outside. And looking at the weather forecast for the Elkhart area, it’s only going to get worse as time goes on. The highs for the next four days are only in the 40s, with overnight lows at or near freezing. Believe me, I’m working hard to get the paper finished and printed so we can hit the road!

I did take a break yesterday to go check on our bus conversion. Since it’s not plugged into power, which means the block heater isn’t on, I was worried that it might not want to start with this cold weather. But that faithful old Detroit diesel fired right up, blowing out a cloud of smoke that killed any mosquito larvae that might be hanging out waiting for next summer. In a modern coach, that much smoke on startup is a reason to worry, but not in the old diesels. It’s just how they are in cold weather, and once they warm up the smoke goes away. Bad Nick thinks it’s a great way to get even with rude campground neighbors with yappy little dogs.

The other day Al Hesselbart got the battery charged up on his vintage Newell and got it started, and as he drove past us, Terry and I grinned at each other and said “We know that brand of perfume!”

Greg and Jan White, readers from Texas who were at our rally in Ohio, are parked behind us at Elkhart Campground, and yesterday Greg invited us over for a demonstration of the Silverleaf VMSpc program for monitoring diesel engines. I was very impressed with the many options the program offers, and I’ll be adding one very soon. Fulltimer Norm Payne has a very good report on the Silverleaf that does an excellent job of explaining what it can do on his excellent  See Ya’ Down The Road website. Click the link for Silverleaf VMSpc Monitor link.

We have not had mail in a couple of weeks, and yesterday the postman brought us a big Priority Mail box from our mail service. It was late in the day by the time the mail arrived, and by the time Miss Terry got everything opened and made up a bank deposit, we knew we’d have to get every light green in time to make it to the bank before it closed. Which meant, of course, that instead, we got every red light! We made it to the bank a minute after they locked the doors! Grrrr!

Our friends Ron and Brenda Speidel have been in town getting some upgrades done to their Winnebago Journey DL motorhome, and hopefully everything will be wrapped up this morning and they’ll be on the road by noon. We wanted to get together one last time before that happened, so yesterday afternoon we had dinner at one of our favorite places, Texas Roadhouse. We’ve been together since just before we bought our Ultimate Advantage, and we are sorry to have to part company, but we know that we’ll cross paths again somewhere down the road. Hopefully someplace where it’s warmer!

Thought For The Day – To handle yourself, use your head. To handle others use your heart.

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