Caledonia RV Center holds spring open house

by Jim Bessey

Press release from Caledonia RV Center, south of Rochester NY

Caledonia RV

Attention all RV owners!  This Friday and Saturday (4/9 & 4/10) is Caledonia RV Center's Annual Spring Open House!  Get 20% off in-store merchandise and 10% off special orders--plus FREE information seminars to help you get your RV ready for Spring....all for FREE!!!  If you need customized work done on your RV, Brandon and the "RV Pros" can give you an on-the-spot FREE estimate!  Caledonia RV Service, Parts, and Accessories Center--Giving you the freedom to just go!  

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Caledonia RV, about 35 miles south of Rochester, is worth the drive. It's a big-town RV center with a small-town feel. They offer complete service for everything from pop-up campers to Class A motorhomes. In addition, you'll find a complete selection of parts, supplies and accessories. Of course, if you're looking for a new or used RV of any sort, they can help you with that, too.  ****Recommended

Our camper isn't going anywhere, anytime soon!

Friday's snowstorm hits upstate NY, and by Saturday our camper is snowbound!

The snowstorms that struck Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC missed us here. In fact, we were down to about one inch of snow. It all came back with a vengeance beginning on Thursday. The real snow arrived during the wee hours of Friday morning. Despite assurances to the contrary, the snowfall continued throughout the day Friday and on into Saturday morning.

We've used the snow-blower to clear the driveway at least four times, with clean-up by shovel needed each time to remove the heavy oatmeal-colored slush heaped by the road. Meanwhile, our camper sits quietly by my parking spot, next to the garage. We've had very little wind, so the accumulated snow sits nearly undisturbed on the camper's roof.

Undrifted snow all around the camper is now almost two feet deep. I'd have to shovel my way to the door to check for snow damage. Everything appears to be safe and snug, anyway.

I'm sure the local ski areas are running at capacity this weekend. Over the hill at the high school, there are probably no less than two dozen kids racing down the big hill. The snow continues to fall today, but the temperature hovers above freezing and the sun peeks out now and then.

Behind the house, our back deck (my summer "office") lies still under perfectly defined mounds of snow. It's beautiful, but none too hospitable.

There's no hint of spring in the air today; but it's not all that far off. Soon enough, our camper will shed it's insular blanket of heavy, wet snow. We'll open the windows and refill the water system, ready for another summer of camping. Not today, though, nor this week.

Photo reprints available on request.
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How about you? Do you any winter camping pictures you'd like to share?

"Camping" season opens today with the Camping World 300, Nationwide Series auto race

[Written just prior to the race, fingers flying over the keyboard. Sat, Feb 13 2010]

Daytona Beach FLA : While 49 of the 50 states have snow on the ground, the Camping Season begins for all of us who follow professional auto racing. Minutes from now, the Camping World 300 Nationwide Series race sends us the sure roar of spring.

The infield defined by Daytona International Speedway's two and a half-mile track overflows with RVs from all around the country. The stands are packed with NASCAR fanatics. The smell of high-octane racing fuel and hot dogs fills the air. This race runs 300 miles in 120 laps, bringing us the incomparable thunder of 43 stock cars at full throttle. The sounds and smells of Spring!

Temps are lower than normal for this famed Florida venue, and the wind may even be a factor. With a cooler track, cars should handle better. We'll see plenty of daring side-by-side racing. Six former Camping World 300 winners join the pack, along with eight previous Nationwide Series champions. Rising star newcomer, GoDaddy's darling Danica Patrick hopes to give 'em a run for their money.

From the warm comfort of an upstate NY living room, we'll be watching AFLAC's Carl Edwards (my wife's employer is AFLAC). Edwards finished a video-replay second last year in this race. Also in the spotlight: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (of course!), Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, and a slew of Wallaces.

The pre-race interviews are done, the anthem sung, the flyover a sleek and stunning symbol of freedom and speed.We humbly thank Camping World for bringing us this splendid harbinger of better weather and camping adventures.

"Ladies and gentlemen: Start your ENGINES!" makes it official. Let's go Racing -- and Camping, too! May the best man -- or woman -- win.

Reprints available on request.
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Did you attend the race? Love to hear from you if you did!

240-plus days, and still no snow in Rochester

Where's our snow, anyway?

Summer's long since over, and winter is nearly here, yet we still have no snow in Western New York. In fact, we've had no measurable accumulation since last April, over 240 days ago. That has to be some kind of record for this area.

It's been an exceptional year for camping, with nearly EIGHTY Perfect Camping Nights recorded from April to September. September was spectacular, if a bit chilly at times, with very little rain. All the area campgrounds shut down in mid-October, as the nights stayed cool and the leaves finally fell. With a bit of cold-weather gear and judicious use of our Coleman furnace, we could have done weekend overnights right up through this weekend. The sun's shining today, with temp's in the low 40's.

Our typical upstate NY November brings freezing rain, biting breezes, bitter late night temperatures, and snow before Thanksgiving. Not this year. Maybe it's Global Warming. Or maybe winter is lurking nearby, rubbing it's frosted hands together in malicious glee and planning a devastating surprise attack. The local ski areas aren't pleased with the current climate, I'm sure. White Christmas? Hope so.

At any rate, for we Northerners the regular camping season is done. Did you properly winterize your camper? Or did you make sure your tent is nice and dry, and stored in a protected spot? I have a couple of good articles saved around here somewhere, from the RV.net Blog. One has tips for winterizing and the other offers some advice for maintaining your camper's awning(s). I'll see if I can't dig those up and get them posted for you. That site is an amazing resource for RV-ers, especially.

Had a thought about winterizing for you, too. Do you cover your camper for the winter? Store it somewhere else for the season? Garage it? Mine sits stoic in the side yard, with the windows cranked tight, tires on planks, battery stowed indoors and the water system completely drained. Seems to weather the worst of winter fairly well. Just wondering what other campers do in preparation for the long winter's night. I'll see if I can find those other articles.

Photo: Erie Canal widewaters area near Newark, NY, earlier this fall (JCB)

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How do you winterize? Leave your comments here.

It's a bird, it's a plane -- it's the Microsoft Sky!

This is an un-retouched photograph of the sky over Fairport, NY on a spectacular fall day.

One of my guilty pleasures while camping is sky-watching. This surreal skyscape turned up far too late in the fall for camping, though the weather was unexpectedly mild that day. I had to look twice -- it looked exactly as if one of those speed-painters had dabbed in the clouds in a frantic burst of brushwork.

Seems like Microsoft has moved away from using that trademark sky as their symbol lately, but this one certainly would do the trick. A week or so ago I published an article on Helium about curing writers block, and one of the tips I mentioned was to do some sky-gazing. It worked for me: I wrote this post!
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If you have an unusual skyscape you'd like to share here, please contact me or leave a comment.

Read 6 tips to cure writer's block from Jim, on Helium.com