Wecome To RVs and OHVs

This blog is all about RVs (recreational vehicles) and OHVs (Off Highway Vehicles), camping, sailing, and survival
and how they work together to provide wholesome family fun and great learning opportunities.
Many posts are intended to familiarize novice campers and RVers with RV systems and basic camping and survival
skills. But even experienced RVers and campers will enjoy the anecdotes and may even benefit from a new
perspective. Comments, questions, and suggestions are encouraged. The organization is pretty much by date of publication because of how blogspot works. Please use the SEARCH option below to find what you are looking for.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Read and Re-read.

Why would you want to re-read any of the posts on this blog? Or anything else for that matter?  Well, for one thing, each time you read it what you get out of it will be affected by the sum of all your experience, and your experience changes constantly. On top of that, I frequently re-read all my posts and often edit them to clarify some points or provide additional information as my experience changes and I acquire new material or I come across relevant items from other sources. There are always new products or procedures coming along to improve our camping and RV options. And, NO, I don't get paid when people read my blog!

Read and re-read any RV and camping magazines you may receive. Read and re-read first aid manuals and survival guides. Read and re-read the owners manuals and maintenance schedules for your RVs, OHVs, and camping equipment. Sound boring? Maybe, but it is important to keep up to date and you're sure to find valuable new insight with each reading. And it will be a lot less boring and whole lot less stressful than sitting around waiting for repairs or assistance when something breaks down cause you didn't know how to take care of your equipment or what to do when something unpleasant happens.   Unfortunately, we don't get to use our camping equipment and recreational vehicles as often as we would like so it is all too easy to forget things we once knew about them.  Reviewing the relevant documentation periodically is one way of keeping it fresh.  There was an old saying when I was in school: "The more you learn, the more you know, the more you know, the more you forget, the more you forget, the less you know, so why study?" Nice try -- when want to avoid doing homework, but it never flew well with parents or teachers who insisted repetition improved learning.  Care to guess who was right?  Well, the more you read and re-read relevant materials, the more familiar they will be and the more you will retain. You can figure it will take at least 3-5 readings before you really understand any given article, let alone will remember it. Repetition does improve memory.  You don't have to remember all the answers but just knowing where to find relevant information about your equipment can save tons of maintenance and repair time.

What catches your attention will change from time to time, depending on your needs and point of view at any given time. You may gloss over survival and emergency preparedness topics until you or someone close to you is affected by a disaster situation. You may not find hints for hot or cold weather camping particularly useful until you find yourself out in hotter or colder weather than usual. I am hoping that by posting my experience and research on this blog I can help you prepare for situations ahead of time and, with any luck, avoid some of the pitfalls I and other campers I know have encountered. Unfortunately, a lot of us are a like a kid, who told not to touch a hot stove, doesn't really believe it until he experiences it for himself and gets burned.  Don't get burned!

Read and re-read is something I frequently practice, not only on my blog but with many of my research materials. Much to my wife's frustration, I hang onto a couple of years or more of back-issues of Motorhome, RV View, Highways, Sail, and Dirt Rider magazines, and frequently go back and re-read them. They are a gold mine of tech and travel tips. The reviews of new vehicles and products helps me keep up with new innovations and evolving trends, to say nothing of piquing my interest in possible upgrades. New product reviews are interesting and helpful. There are always new gadgets to look over and covet. The maintenance tips provide a continuing source of valuable insight into solutions for mechanical issues, fixing problems, and tips for acquiring and installing new equipment. Travel stories are always fun to read and may give you ideas for new adventures of  your own.  One of my favorite Motorhome Magazine features is called "Quick Tips", a series of simple user-supplied ideas that solve common problems and are easy and inexpensive to implement.  And even though I have read them all from cover to cover more than once, I often find new tidbits that surface as my experience or focus has changed since the last time I read them.

I urge you to especially consider articles that provide instruction for emergency preparedness. It isn't as much fun as riding our OHVs or personal watercraft so we tend not to pay as much attention. Hopefully disasters are rare, and because they usually are, we are often unprepared when they happen. You might get pretty good at changing and patching OHV tires if you ride rocky trails where you get frequent flats. Hopefully you won't have as many chances to practice your first aid or CPR skills! Some people shy away from preparations because they don't understand the potential risk or are scared or they don't know where to start. Some folks are superstitious, fearing that preparing for a disaster will in some way make it happen. As for me, I'd a whole lot rather prepare and prepare and never need it than not prepare and find myself in trouble. Fear and panic are the greatest threats in almost any disaster or survival situation. The best way to avoid fear and panic is preparation. It doesn't matter if you are preparing for a major natural disaster such as earthquakes, tornadoes, or floods or for the minor problems of a mechanical breakdown or being caught in bad weather on a camping trip, the key to enduring the difficulties and making the most of the situation is preparation. Preparing for emergencies may not be as much fun as preparing for a water-skiing or OHV trip, but it may be more important. I felt pretty much in control following the 1994 Northridge earthquake in California which knocked over block walls in my neighborhood and took out power for a few days and killed several people in the next valley.  My youngest son was about 10 at the time. Partly because his mother and I didn't panic, he felt secure. When an aftershock hit while he was playing street hockey with his friends he paused to ride it out, grinned and said "Cool!", and went back to his game. A fellow worker of mine had recently moved from New York and was totally unprepared and panicked by the 'quake. His 12 year old daughter spent the next two weeks hiding under the dining room table and reverted to wetting her pants. I'm certain her parents fear played a big part in her reaction. You may have to force yourself to make emergency preparations a priority, but one day it will pay off and you never know when that day might come. After the Northridge quake I donned my C.E.R.T. gear and went to check on friends and neighbors after having confirmed the status of my own family. Everywhere I went people came out desperately seeking information and help. Frankly I was surprised how ill prepared so many people were to deal with a quake and how hungry they were for information and assistance in earthquake prone southern California.

Never stop learning!

No comments:

Post a Comment