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The decorations have been taken down and put away with care, the company’s gone and you’re back to your regularly scheduled programming. Like many folks perhaps you made New Year’s resolutions…and if you’re anything like us, front and center is to go camping and RVing in 2011. And why not? Where else can you experience the beauty and abundance of nature, enjoy healthy outdoor activities, cook up a feast over the campfire and make family memories that will last forever…all on a budget any family can afford? Whether you are looking for an epic adventure across the continent or a close-by weekend retreat, you’ll find the perfect RV park or campground on the find a park page at GoCampingAmerica.com . Book your camping adventure online or play it by ear. Stay in a tent, a motorhome or travel trailer, a yurt or a cabin. Visit a full-fledged resort offering planned activities and events or go back to nature in a quiet, reflective campground. Get away to the mountains, a lake, the desert, ocea...

If you're anything like me, you want to hold on to summertime as long as you can. It's this time of year that gardens are lush with the last of the year's fresh produce and basil plants everywhere are working overtime. To help you take advantage of the summer's bounty and offer you a quick and delicious dish to bring to any gathering, I'm tickled to share this episode of the RV Cooking Show - White Bean Pesto Dip and Pine Acres Family Camping, MA. We stop and visit with Jeff Howard of Linabella's Gourmet Garlic Farm (an awesome pesto master) then spend some quality time with Denise Packard making this party pleaser for their park's 50th Anniversary celebration - Pine Acres Family Campground in Oakham, MA . Lookin' good? Learn more about the Oakham-area and print this recipe (plus a good RV recipe for pesto) at the RV Cooking Show website . Summer’s fleeting…take advantage of every opportunity to Go Camping America , meet ...

For some families the kids are already back in school; for others the start of the school year is just around the corner. Either way, all across the country the upcoming Labor Day weekend is a big summer weekend to go camping America. Plan to enjoy quality together time hiking and exploring , geocaching if that’s your thing, grilling some mighty tasty chops , and capping the perfect day around a roaring campfire (find campfire tips here ). Top it off by trying a delish fireside treat that’s sure to be a hit... doughboys . These little toasted tubes can be filled with your choice of fillings - chocolate syrup, jelly, pie filling, whipped cream - you get the picture - and enjoyed on the spot. Here’s how to make your own doughboys: You’ll need a “stick” about 1 ½ inches in diameter and about 2 feet long (pick up an untreated wooden dowel at your local home improvement store and cut to length). Decorate the holding end with permanent markers (this makes a great campsite craft). At the cam...

Greetings campers, It’s official…summer is here…and you know what that means…grilling season is upon us! Many of us can’t wait to pack the camper, set up in our favorite RV park or campground (found at Go Camping  America , perhaps?), break out the grill and kick back. Several of you have written asking me about what I pack in the RV Cooking Show kitchen. We’ve already seen what pots and pans I like have on hand, now we’ll talk about the eats. In this episode I’ll give you a sneak peek inside my RV kitchen pantry and spend some quality time talking about what I find essential to carry with me in my RV kitchen cupboard. I’ve even developed a checklist that you can print out and make your own. You can find it here.   Once we get everything put away we’ll go outside and grill. On the menu today is a terrific grilled portabella mushroom "burger", amazing "stewed" grilled blue cheese tomatoes, and a potato chip salad. Watch this episode of my RVTV below and go ahead, ...

One hundred…what a birthday! Three prominent RV-historians - renowned RV collector David Woodworth, RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum archivist Al Hesselbart, and Smithsonian Institution curator Roger White - have cited 1910 as the start of the RV industry. The mass-produced, manufactured auto campers and camping trailers first built that year were the forerunners of today’s RVs and we imagine that RVing’s early pioneers were just as excited to go RVing as we are today. The RV Centennial has swept the nation with the national media tour, RV mascot Centennial Charlie’s cross-country trip (and stint as an RV Undercover Boss), and the upcoming RV Industry's Centennial Celebration being held at the RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum in Elkhart, Indiana. In fact, both the US House of Representatives and the Senate have passed resolutions declaring June 2010 RV Centennial Celebration Month: The United States House of Representatives adopted a resolution May 26, “recognizing and honoring the 100 y...

Picture yourself lounging by the pool or relaxing at your campsite, lazily enjoying a really good book. It’s so good you finally finish it with a smile but that smile soon turns to dismay…you’re only into the 3rd day of your camping vacation and you've already used up your reading material. Enter the RV park / campground book exchange. Yep, most parks offer a “library” worthy of your attention. Locate the library (sometimes in the laundry room) and you may find magazines, books, videos, games, puzzles, newspapers and more. It works like this – take one, leave one or borrow and return one. At the very least, book and magazine exchanges can be found at many, many RV parks and campgrounds. The titles you’ll find in the camp’s library may be as diverse as a big city library – magazines from National Geographic to Cooking Light to Smithsonian to Highways, both fiction and non-fiction books - medical, travel, suspense, romance, etc. and often puzzles of every challenge level. In some par...

Have you ever fancied yourself a treasure hunter - studying an aged treasure map and searching for that mysterious place where X marks the spot? Well, we can’t promise gold and gemstones but a high-tech treasure hunt is sweeping the nation - geocaching. With over a million caches stashed around the world - in cities, forests, on mountainsides, and even underwater - chances are there’s an adventure just around the corner. Geocaching has grown in popularity among RVers all age groups - families, boomers, retirees - anyone that relishes an exciting outdoor adventure. The first step in geocaching is visiting http://www.geocaching.com/ to locate cache coordinates via zip code, state name or latitude/longitude. Then, using a handheld GPS unit or a GPS enabled iPhone, the hunters set out to locate the cache. And what exactly is a cache? Caches typically consist of a waterproof container hidden inconspicuously at the coordinates. Inside the container you’ll find a logbook and a variety of goo...