With summer looming on the horizon, we start to hear from more and more of our customers who are preparing to travel. We get to speak with quite a diverse group – from folks who travel seasonally throughout the year and stay in one location for several months or weeks; those who only travel during the summer; others who travel every weekend; or some who now only travel only through books and radio listening.
Whether your travel involves RVs and campgrounds; airplanes, hotels and exotic locations; or books and radio, we have heard some great tips from your fellow travelers on what you need for the best experience.
First, having a radio that also includes the weather band and alert is a priority. As the weather has continued to show this year, it can be completely unpredictable, and sometimes dangerous. If you are traveling somewhere new there is nothing better than a radio that can alert you to weather related incidents that might impact your travel plans (or your life). The local radio is often the best place to learn about where to go and what to do in the event you are caught in a weather related emergency like a fire or tornado.
Second a flashlight or our spotlight can come in really handy. If your vehicle has broken down, or you have a flat tire, or you’re at a campground with less than fantastic lighting and paths, then you will be so thankful you bought that flashlight and stashed in your glove box or emergency bag next to the jumper cables.
And last but not least – this is more for the RVers, campers and long haul truckers than anyone else. If you are at parks or gas stations where the WiFi is weak or spotty, we do have a couple of options that can help you improve the signal reception.
Enter to win:
Are you a traveler? Where are you heading and how do you prefer to travel? Tell us your best vacation story in the comments and be entered to win the CC LED Spot XB. Drawing will take place Friday June 3rd. Limit one entry per person.
Congratulations So Cal Pal, winner of the CC LED Spot XB!
My family camps in a pop-up camper, and I’ll take of motorcycle camping trips each year too.
An AM/FM weather band radio always goes with me. I really enjoy listening to the local stations during the day and DX AM stations at night. The weather band allows me to check the weather for rain or low temperatures since we’re basically in tents wile camping.
Another thing that always goes is a good quality small LED flashlight.
Best camping story – we were in the mountains camping with a church group in our old small pop-up. People were wondering why we brought the camper when a tent would do. Well, that night it rained really hard. The next morning we heard a lot of stories about leaking and flooding tents. We were high and dry. After that, my wife said that her days of sleeping on the ground in a tent were over!
My family had our vacations in central NY an area prone to strong thunder storms . we always had flashlights and radios . and as the weather radios got better we got a battery operated one . our flashlights change over to led lights . Now we are prepared for bad weather and black outs at our camp and at home over the long winters .
Village of Salvo,Hatteras island NC,by car,with my wife son and daughter-in-law . We have been going there since 1987. We like the car traveling. The road trip leads us to roadside farm market,NPR on the radio-Click &Clack…reruns now 🙁 . All the same stops of favorite EATS places, lazy days on the beach,reading and walking…snoozing. Good books.more good EATS.
My travels take me abroad. Next up is St. Petersburg, the one in Russia – not Florida, and later this year is Capetown. I take my travel radio, the C Crane Skywave, with an wire antenna, because it is portable and powerful. I spend time my radio at night when I have time alone and I need to wind down. I like to work around on the bands, AM, FM and SW, just to learn what I can get. In Russia I likely won’t get much that I can understand, but I will be interested to learn what I can get in English there. In Capetown, I will get a good feel for local culture and politics. I’ll try to get broadcasts from the US and the UK, BBC for example, again just to see what reaches the countries. I don’t spend much time on any one station. It’s like a sampler box for me. I could do all this on the internet, even from my home in the USA. But it’s not the same. I want to know what I can get that doesn’t come over a wire, that people in parts of the world without broadband can get. I want to hear it the way people heard it in times past and to feel the excitement that they must have felt, to be able to get news and information from nearby and from just by having a little box a few batteries.
do not do too much traveling these days but a favorite of mine from years past was traveling out west from Pa. by car to the Grand Canyon…Radio playing of course!
I’m a full time RVer I have my C Crane EP & super USB Wi-Fi repeater kit,. But really should look into getting another radio from you guys with weather band,. I mostly travel with the weather usually had traveling to the high eastern Sierras or over to the coast during the summer and then Inland and lower elevations for the winter,,,,, a couple years ago I got caught by surprise buy a huge thunderstorm in a place with no cell signal which is what I usually rely for my weather alerts,,. One of my dog’s freaked out took off luckily she did come back later but if I had known the thunderstorm was we’re going to roll in as quick as they would I would have just stayed back at the RV for the day
My story is from July 20, 1969
History was being made and I was at Chinango Falls State Park near Syracuse NY. I and about 20+ campers were sitting next to a fire watching a 12″ TV plug into a Honda generator, don’t ask me why I remembers that, but it was late at night and we watch the first moon landing by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldren, I was 14 yrs old at the time and my mother was going to summer school at Syracuse U. My younger sister and a baby sitter came with us so mom would have no worries. We used a homemade 15 ft trailer to camp for 6 weeks a summer for 8 summers. Those summers were the best time of my life as I think back now.
When I was sixteen years old,I went camping with my parents in Virginia. With my new drivers license,my dad,let me drive the truck pulling the camper. We camped at the beach and fishing was the main attraction. I didn’t go fishing one day and stayed at the campsite. When everyone returned from fishing,nobody had caught any fish. I picked up oysters on the beach and we made the biggest pot of oyster stew you ever saw.
My best vacation was the road trip I took in my 2000 Mustang.
Vacationing Motor home while traveling west in southern New Mexico after miles and miles of desert we came up into a beautiful green valley with a small river running along side of road. Valley was very narrow with small farms here and there. It was like Shangri-La. We came out in White Sands New Mexico.
San Diego County is a camper’s paradise. Within an hour or so drive you can either be at a World Class Beach with swaying palm trees or hiking a cool, conifer forest at 6000 ft. elevation. Been there, done that? Then opt for the Anza Borrego desert and enjoy a cactus studded wild land at or below sea level. Get out and make some memories!