Exploring the great outdoors with your kids. By Eric Goodman When our daughter Seneca was in preschool, her favorite weekend activities were camping and hiking. By the time she was in kindergarten, she could hike 4 miles. I can still see her joy as she discovered a bluejay feather or roasted a marshmallow over an open fire. Now Seneca is nine years old. Her love of nature has had a tremendous influence on her life. Besides being the most accomplished frog catcher among her friends, she has learned a sense of unlimited freedom and self-confidence. “Nature has so much to teach kids,” says Cindy Ross, a coauthor of Kids in the Wild: A Family Guide to Outdoor Recreation (Mountaineers), “and children’s minds are so ready and willing to absorb.” Here’s how to have a great experience on your next family trip to the great outdoors. What’s in It for the Kids? Hiking with kids enables them to get up-close-and-personal with fascinating natural wonders: A child can stop to touch a smooth patch of moss or to examine an interesting rock. Parents should encourage such discovery as a way for kids to learn about the environment. Of course, be sure to teach kids to respect and keep their distance from all wild animals. How can you make the most of your child’s hike? For your first trek, plan to walk about a half mile, and be prepared to carry her part of the way, advises Ross. Next time, make the outing longer. Don’t set a prescribed route; instead, leave time for spontaneous adventures. To help motivate your child to complete his journey, plan hikes that have a specific point of interest a waterfall, say at the end of the trail. Don’t forget to bring along healthy treats, such as trail mix, fresh fruit, and carrots. Also keep plenty of water on hand. What about camping with preschoolers? If you’re going to camp out for a weekend or longer, call state and national parks for information about child-oriented facilities and activities. Some parks feature guided nature-trail walks and arts-and-crafts programs. Keep in mind, too, that some national parks are less crowded than others but just as beautiful, such as Great Basin in Nevada (702-234-7331), the North Cascades Complex in Washington State (360-856-5700), and Cumberland Gap in Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee (606-248- 2817). “While a cabin offers creature comforts, like indoor bathrooms, camping has more kid-pleasing advantages, such as campfires, star gazing, and sleeping outdoors,” says Steve Gilbert, recreation programs supervisor of Cumberland Falls State Resort Park near Corbin, Kentucky. Preschoolers can help collect wood for a camp-fire, but should not be allowed to actually help build the fire. If you want to camp out in a tent with your preschooler, don’t be overly ambitious the first time out. A child might get homesick or frightened sleeping outdoors, so conduct a trial run at home. Pitch a tent in the backyard, and see how your child adjusts to the novelty. The Pitfalls Wherever you hike or camp, consult the forest rangers about dangers, places to avoid, and the location of a nearby hospital, advises Cindy Ross. Bring along a complete first-aid kit. Always hike on marked trails, and don’t allow kids to run too far ahead. Be able to identify poison ivy and poison oak. And of course, activities like kayaking, white-water rafting, and rock climbing are not appropriate for preschoolers. So, are you ready to go out and have a wild time? Just plan, prepare, and have fun.Don’t Forget to Bring…”If you’re planning on pitching a tent, bring one that’s designed for the number in your family plus an extra person,” says Cindy Ross, a coauthor of Kids in the Wild: A Family Guide to Outdoor Recreation. “Children and their gear take up lots of space.” Other essential items are sleeping bags, warm clothing, hats, rainwear, sturdy shoes, a flashlight, matches, and some books and games. Remember to bring along a child’s favorite toy or cuddly. Eric Goodman writes frequently for Sesame Street Parents.

RV Travel: Why high fuel prices could make RVing cheaper

Practical Uses for RSS in Business
View some reasons one would want to dispaly RSS in there business model.. Practical Uses for RSS in BusinessUse Your Own ContentAlmost ANY web based content can be transformed into an RSS feed. The only real requirement is that the information changes regularly.News HeadlinesTypically, the main use of RSS is to present headlines and a short introduction to “newsy” stories. Create an RSS feed on your site featuring your company press releases, site updates, etc.Are you wondering what you can use RSS for right now? Here are some practical examples of RSS at work.Upcoming EventsRSS is a great way to let people know of events and activities that may be happening soon. It’s easy to turn an “events” page into an RSS feed.Thoughts/CommentaryYou’ve probably heard of the term “blog” or “weblog”. It’s a page that displays (in chronological order) a series of writings on whatever the author wants to write about. While a normal blog also allows others to add their comments to yours, you don’t have to offer that functionality.Set up a page where you regularly add your thoughts on all sorts of issues – or just one issue – with the most recent post at the top of the page. Include these items in an RSS feed, and you’ve got a whole new audience for your pearls of wisdom.ArticlesShare your knowledge. This is a more “formal” type of writing, where you write a series of articles on a specific topic. Add a new article on that topic every week or so. Set up several topics and you’ve got several new RSS feeds to attract even more interest in what you know.Don’t forget to include a resource box in the article which allows others to reproduce your article on their site, with an obvious link back to you.New ProductsGot an online store with new inventory added regularly? Add details about your newly added items to an RSS feed to let people know what’s just come in.Weekly/Monthly SpecialsDo you regularly make special offers on different products in your inventory? Again, RSS is a great way to tell people what’s on special this week… or this month.NewslettersIf you regularly produce an email newsletter, then consider converting it to RSS format as well as continuing to email it. After all, your newsletters ARE also shown on your web site… aren’t they?New LinksIf you have a links directory, considering creating an RSS feed of the new links added to your directory in the last week or so. If you have a category structure within that directory, with links added often, you can create a feed for each category.New MembersDo you run a public membership site? Recently joined members could be listed in an RSS feed with links direct to their profiles. What a great way to welcome new members!Note: Aim to have up to 15-20 items in each feed if possible. You can have more items if you want. Just remember that most feed reading software will NOT display all the items. Many may only show the first 5 or 10.Once you’ve got your feed going… remember to submit your feed URLs to the various RSS Feed Directories.

Gas prices don’t deter RVers
Biggest-ever show caters to freewheelers…By Laura Ruane Fuel prices are “frustrating,” said Jim Williams, who recalled paying about $285 the last time he filled the 100-gallon diesel tank of his 38-foot Dutch Star motor home in December.Still, they’d have to get a lot worse before the 66-year-old Michigan man and his wife would stop coming to Southwest Florida for the winter, and taking other trips to such far-flung places as New England, Texas and Seattle.”If it got to be $4 a gallon, that might make me reconsider my plans,” said Williams, who spends six months or less in their home in Jackson, Mich. “I like going to different locations, as opposed to having a permanent second residence,” Williams said.Financially comfortable retirees like the Williamses are a big reason why dealer expectations are high for the 21st annual Fort Myers RV show, which begins Thursday. “The people who buy the big rigs are people who’ve earned the money. Now they want to live that lifestyle,” said Jerry Byers, sales manager for North Trail RV Center in east Fort Myers. He represents one of about 20 dealerships planning to participate in the local RV show at Lee Civic Center in North Fort Myers.Organizers say it will be the biggest ever with more than 1,000 RVs on display and more than 90 camping supply vendors. The RVs will range from $3,000 “pop-up” tent campers to motor coaches with price tags of $500,000 or more.In Lee County, the average price of a gallon of regular grade gasoline hit an all-time high of $3.033 on Sept. 6. The average price fell below $2.20 in late 2005, but has been climbing again in 2006. On Monday, the average price was $2.446, according to AAA. A year ago, that same gallon cost $1.94. The price of a gallon of diesel in Lee County reached a record of $3.362 on Oct. 10. On Monday, the average cost was $2.631.The pain at the pump appeared to be taking a toll in the first quarter of 2005, when deliveries of new motor homes to dealers fell 13.6 percent nationally compared with the same quarter in 2004.Closer to year-end, however, the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association predicted RV shipments would reach 376,700, which would be a 1.8 percent increase over 2004, and the highest level since 1978. The RVIA tends to dismiss fuel prices as a sales deterrent in any year, but RVIA spokesman Ken Sommer noted that, “in 2005 the lightweight trailers were really popular.”At North Trail RV Center, Byers said ” ’05 was a terrific year the best we’ve had even with (higher) gas prices.” With a big crop of affluent early retirees here for at least part of the year, local RV dealers are sitting pretty, according to Byers: “If the economy slows across the nation, we slow last and we gear up first.”And, when fuel prices rise, RV owners often find ways to economize without giving up their homes on wheels.”A lot of the older folks who have Class A (motor homes) are trading down to get better mileage,” said Danny Wise, whose family owns American Van & Camper Center in south Fort Myers. Class A refers to the roomiest of the motorized RVs. The Wise family specializes in smaller motor homes and vans.Former Cape Coral residents and full-time RVers Marty and Terry Doede said they don’t move their motor home as often as they did when gas was cheaper: “You really think about where you travel and you make it worthwhile when you get there,” said Marty Doede, 69. On Friday, Claude Chausse gassed up his pickup at the Pilot truck stop in east Fort Myers. His new travel trailer was hitched behind.”I was camping with a tent two years ago, then I got too old,” joked Chausse, a 56-year-old dentist from Canada. He spent the last month in south Florida with his parents and his wife and loves the comfort and economy of the trailer.”For a month, it will cost $5,000 for all of us including gas for the truck,” Chausse said. “Some friends of ours just two of them, came by plane, and stayed four weeks in motels. It’s costing $5,000 for each of them.” Chausse said gas prices aren’t changing his travel habits, although eventually they will prod him into buying a new truck. The V-6 engine on his four-door Nissan Frontier “is too small to haul,” Chausse said.He averages just 9 miles per gallon when towing the trailer; without it, the truck gets about 20 mpg. “The next one will be a diesel, which is more efficient.”

RV Travel: RV attraction ordered to shut down

Winnebago debuts 2009 motorhomes

New feature page added
Learn about the meanings of words and terms that show up in the context of media coverage. RV News Daily introduces a new page today!Answers.com: Learn about the meanings of words and terms that show up in the context of media coverage.Click here to view our Say What? – Page.

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