With the sun shining bright against the blue skies, it’s the perfect weather to take your RV on an adventure this summer. Road trips to national parks, beaches, and the mountains make for a promising fun time camping. Traveling with an RV allows you to bring all the comforts of home while sightseeing. An RV is the best methods of traveling across the United States to see the various national monuments and historical sites. Most national parks and campsites allow for RV parking so get your RV out of storage this summer and travel!
Preparing Your RV for Summer Fun
It is important to inspect your RV carefully before heading out on your summer road trip. Generally, the first order of business is to do a walk through on the outside and inside of your RV to check for structural damages. Structural damages occur due to weather elements causing unexpected damage.
Check the Water System
One of the next things you can do is to prepare the RV watering system for travel, especially if antifreeze was applied to the water supply prior to placement the RV in storage. To clear out the antifreeze from the entire water system, you need to run the water until all traces of it have been removed. Antifreeze is generally a bright neon color to help distinguish it from water, such as neon blue or neon green. Run the water in the shower and sink and flush the toilet until all of the antifreeze disappears from the water. In general you should always drain and refill the fresh water tanks before any travel, even if you didn’t place antifreeze in the water supply. Take note that if you placed the water heater in bypass mode to put it back into play for traveling use. Don’t forget to check your water filters and replace as needed!
Check the Battery
Check your battery for your RV and make sure it’s in tip top shape before heading off on the road. If you don’t feel comfortable with working on the battery, you can have an on-call automotive technician visit your RV to help perform battery maintenance. Keep in mind that batteries that are in storage without use will discharge between 10-15% of energy each month. Many choose to remove the battery from the engine and keep the RV battery stored in the garage during the winter. Either way, certain precautions need to be taken to ensure the RV battery is fully charged before driving off. The first thing is to fully charge the battery and the only reliable way to do this is to use a multi-stage battery charger, such as a Battery Tender. Once your battery is fully charged, make sure your water levels in the battery are full and equal. You must use distilled water to refill the battery’s cells. If your battery is weak and the water is below the plates then do not fill the water to the top in the cells because the electrolyte level will rise and there needs to be space for this during charging of the battery.
Check the Appliances and Generator
You need to check the LP gas cylinders to make sure they are running smoothly. You can test the water heater tank to see if the LP gas appliance is working efficiently—if the water gets hot, it is working. If the water does not get hot after several moments, something is wrong with the LP gas appliance. You can have it inspected at an RV and automotive service facility because if it is leaking gas, that is very dangerous. If the LP gas appliance seems to be working fine, then also check the various appliances around the RV including the microwave, the refrigerator, and the roof air conditioner. You can do electrical testing to make sure these appliances are receiving the proper electrical input or you can take it to an automotive shop and they will test the electrical output for you to make sure your RV appliances are in tip top shape for the road. Also make sure the oil levels in your generator are fine, as well as ensure the generator’s exhaust system is running in tip top shape. One way to preserve the generator is by using it while your RV is storage to keep it performing well. You can always take your generator to an automotive service facility to have it double checked, as the generator is essential for any RV trip.
Having Fun On The Road With Kids
Once you have prepared your RV structurally for the road, you need to them stock up the RV with toiletries, food, clothes, sleeping necessities, electronics and toys. If you are traveling with kids, you will definitely need to keep in mind activities for the kids to do while on the road.
Keep Them Reading!
Whether your kid is reading comic books or novels, it is important for kids to keep their minds sharp and their imaginations strong. This is why you should pack their favorite books or a handful of comics for them to read while your family is on the road. Harry Potter is still a favorite go-to book for a lot of kids as kids love to escape into the magical world of Hogwarts, and there are seven books to the series so this will keep them occupied on longer trips. Comics are another great avenue to keep kids reading, especially since the Marvel and DC films are so popular with the kids. There are plenty Marvel and DC kid-friendly comics on their favorite superheroes to keep their imaginations running during long-hour drives in the RV.
Coloring & Activity Books
Keeping your child’s mind active for cognitive development is important and coloring & activity books help to do just this. Activity books with mathematical practices and English-based activities will help your child focus on their learning while the adults can focus on driving the RV. Coloring and Activity books can be done in the RV during the drive or can be done at the camping destination while the adults are cooking or doing other chores. You can offer rewards for the children to complete a certain amount of activity pages while the adults finish their work, especially rewards centered on the trip such as a souvenir from a gift shop. There are many activity books that feature coloring activities centering on math, which helps them enjoy the process of learning.
Electronics & Learning Apps
There are so many electronic devices out there with learning apps that allow your children to learn while being entertained. There are learning-tablets for kids that feature science, math, and grammar lessons. These are definitely a must while on the road or camping. If you do not own the tablet, that is okay because there are many apps that you can download on your smart phone for learning.
RV Parks Near Agua Dulce, CA
With the RV packed up and the kids ready to go on an adventure, it’s time to hit the road! There are many beautiful places to take your RV out for camping near Agua Dulce, California.
Castaic Lake RV Park
Castaic lake is a beautiful region to visit and camp with your family. There are so many activities to do with the family including hiking and fishing. For camping with your RV, you can stay at Castaic Lake RV Park where they offer many needed amenities including electrical hook-ups for your RV, as well as water refilling stations and sewer dumping sites. You can park at Castaic Lake RV Park for $50 a night on weekdays and weekends and if you are a AAA member, you can receive 10% off.
Ocean Mesa RV and Campground
Santa Barbara is a great place to go camping, with beautiful green hills and the Oceanside for plenty of watering and hiking activities. There are so many activities to do in Santa Barbara for the family, including going to the beach at Shoreline Park, or visiting the Santa Barbara Zoo. With your RV, you can park at Ocean Mesa RV and Campground where they offer many amenities including a heated pool and spa, Wi-Fi, a convenient store and snack bar, among others. They also offer 15 miles worth of hiking trails and horseback riding. Rates in the summer go for $125 a night for an RV and for tent-camping is $70 a night.
Store Your RV at Agua Dulce Storage
After your adventure and road trip with the family, you need to place your RV into storage and Agua Dulce Storage can help! We offer many parking storage spaces for all your RV storage needs. For the average RV model (average RV is 8½’x25’) the 11’x30’ parking space is perfect and goes for $109 a month. For the larger RV models (average larger RV is 8½’x35’), such as the 2017 Thor Motor Coach Palazzo 33.2, then the 11’x40’ parking space is the one you need and goes for $159 a month. Reserve online at our website, or call our friendly staff at (661) 268-0407 to rent your space and park, today!
Imagine coming to your storage unit ready to move out and finding mildew in your refrigerator! Gross! A simple (and inexpensive) trick is to wipe down the insides of ovens, mini fridges, washers and dryers with baking soda. This wonder powder helps keep them dry and smelling fresh. (Extra tip: use it for rarely used tubs and pool items at your new home to keep them clean).
When fatigue hits, it’s quicker to stuff everything in your storage unit and lock it up. But, when the time comes when you need to access a particular box, you will regret not organizing! If you’re storing your business files, making an aisle will make it easier to locate specific documents when needed. Organize it like an office space (
These are clouds that are extremely high in elevation, reaching up to 42,000 feet. Cirrus Clouds are thin and whispy and appear abnormally far away when viewed from below. Cirrus Clouds may appear harmless in their appearance but be careful of these high clouds, sometimes they appear just before snowfall and rainfall. Their appearance looks thin because they are made of ice crystals rather than water drops in cold temperatures. If they appear against blue skies and the weather reports do not predict any coming storms then you can rest assured that it will be a nice day.
These are clouds are low clouds that are thick, grey, puffy masses that will rain upon you at any moment if they aren’t doing so now. These clouds are composed of water droplets and appear around 5,000 feet above. Nimbostratus Clouds are the rain clouds we so often see on our rainy days. Use great caution when boating on days where Nimbostratus clouds are in the skies because those clouds are indicators of prolonged rain and storms.
Stratus Clouds are your light-drizzle clouds. They are low clouds that indicate rain is coming if it is warmer weather and snow is coming if it is cold weather. Its appearance is often described as a dark blanket across the sky. Light rain will precede heavier rainfall so if you are boating and see these clouds forming, be cautious and make your way back to shore, especially if weather reports have issues warnings of rain.
Cumulus Clouds are your white, fluffy, friendly clouds that you find against the blue skies on a perfectly sunny day. When you see the Cumulus Clouds out and about, you know your boating experience will be just as relaxing as if it were a clear blue-skies day!
The behaviors of the birds will tell boaters a great deal on the weather. If you are out boating and see a great number of seagulls, or any other birds that hunt on the waters, this is good indication that the weather will be nice for the day. Birds will seek shelter in wake of bad weather. If you are boating and you see birds flying towards land, you may want to follow their lead and head back. Birds want feed unless there is danger so if many fish-hunting birds are flying towards shelter then this is an indication that rain is coming your way.
Fishing in the rain can lead to high payoffs. On days where the clouds are giving light drizzle or moderate rain, the fish tend to be out and about, or at least that is the appearance. Less boating activity means more fish to catch but be careful if you choose to go boating when it is raining. Safety should always come first and use the precautions listed above to keep watch of growing storms. Always be close enough to shore that you can quickly make your way to safety. Wear a lifejacket on rainy days when fishing and wear adhesive shoes on the boat to make sure you don’t slip as you make your way around it. Otherwise, enjoy the catches as you fish on a rainy day.
