"I came away from other seminars with a renewed sense of excitement for of what we can achieve with our RV travels. I can not wait to get on a cruise with like minded people!!!"
Events/Seminars
We are sad to say the the 2010 sailing of RV@ Sea
has been canceled.
Daily Schedule (tentative)
Sea Day 1
| 9:00 – 10:15 | Welcome, Receive Materials, Introductions, & General Session “All About RVing” |
| 10:30 – 12:00 | Driving in an RV |
| 12:00 – 1:00 | Lunch |
| 1:00 – 2:15 | An RV Primer |
| 2:30 – 4:00 | Costs of RVing |
| 4:00 – 5:00 | Free for All (Questions and Wrap up) |
Sea Day 2
| 9:00 – 10:15 | RV Weights and Tires |
| 10:30 – 12:00 | So, You Want to Fulltime? |
| 12:00 – 1:00 | Lunch |
| 1:00 – 2:15 | To Be Announced |
| 2:30 – 4:00 | Let’s Talk RV Maintenance |
| 4:00 – 5:00 | Free for All (Questions and Wrap up) |
Sea Day 3
| 9:00 – 10:15 | What’s Touching the Highway – Tire safety and related issues |
| 10:30 – 12:00 | RVing to Alaska – How to Make this a Greast Trip |
| 12:00 – 1:00 | Lunch |
| 1:00 – 2:15 | Q & A – Full Panel (all instructors), Final Session (Evaluation & Wrap up) |
| 4:00 – 5:30 | Thank you Party and Charity Auction |
Seminar Descriptions
All About RVing… “You don’t know what you don’t know.” So this seminar introduces experienced and new RVers to clever ideas, techniques, and tips to make your RVing easier, safer, and cost-effective with no gadgets to purchase. You will learn to save money, be safe, and have fun! [Ron Jones]
Driving an RV… RVers driving or towing big rigs are concerned with safety but are rarely shown how. Learn how to maneuver any size rig, find its limitations, and safety. If you drive an RV, don’t miss this one. If you don’t drive, come and find out why you should. [Sandy Jones]
An RV Primer… If you are new to RVing or just want to ask a few questions about systems on your RV, this interactive presentation seminar is for you! Whether it is how some component operates, a maintenance question, or just curiosity, bring your questions and Rob will try to answer them in this ”give and take” session. [Rob Lowe]
Cost of RVing… We all know the cost of living in our home, but where do you go to find out what it costs to live on the road? What and how much should you include in your budget? Learn what you need to evaluate your expected expenses and set up a budget whether you plan to RV part time or fulltime. [David Greer]
RV Weights and Tires… Learn the importance of weighing your RV by independent wheel position and overall vehicle-weight balancing. All RVs should have four-corner weighing every two years due to changing the internal load so your tire’s air pressure requirements will not be a guess—sometimes an unsafe guess. Tire age, safety, brands, load ranges, and size will also be discussed. [Dick Lorntson]
So, You Want to Fulltime?… Whether you finally sold the house and really fulltime or are planning that long trip, if you are thinking about fulltiming or extended travel, this is for you. A comprehensive overview of fulltiming including costs, handling finances, security and protection, staying in touch, what to take, how to get rid of the rest, weapons, how to get along, and where to go. [Ron Jones]
Let’s Talk RV Maintenance… From the chassis and engine to the roof, there is much to maintain, and much has changed. Keeping an RV longer means more attention to routine maintenance. Learn about some helpful products and techniques that will increase your RV enjoyment and help it hold its value. When it comes to the book, Rob actually did write it. [Rob Lowe]
What’s Touching the Highway—Tire Safety and Related Issues… Learn to enhance the overall safety and longevity of your RV through a better understanding of those systems located below the frame. From wheel-alignment to proper chassis greasing to brake maintenance to everything tire-related—rotation, balancing, wear, selection, care, storage, and aging—will be discussed. [Dick Lorntson]
RVing to Alaska – How to Make this Great Trip… RVing to Alaska is different from any other trip. Learn “how to” information about planning and actually making the trip to Alaska by RV. Unless you have taken an RV up there, this information will be new and different. Learn about the differences, traditions, laws, and uniqueness in RVing in the “Lower 48” and northern Canada/Alaska including driving over frost heaves, road conditions, routes, emergency road service, where to go, visitor centers, pets, wildfires, border crossings, packing extra stuff, about campgrounds, loonies and toonies, boondocking sites, wildlife, credit cards, historic mile markers, and moose droppings. [Ron Jones]
Your RV@Sea Hosts
David Bott – Your Co-Host & Group Leader – Founder of RV@Sea
Hi, I am David Bott and I am happy to be one of your cruise co-hosts for this event. My wife and I are somewhat new to RVing with the purchase of our first coach in March 2008. From that time we have traveled quite a bit across the US and have met a lot of great people. (Feel free to follow along with our travels at http://www.OutsideOurBubble.com)
In thinking along the lines of wanting to do more within this great industry and lifestyle, I decided to take my love of theme-based cruises to the RV industry. You see, I founded another theme-based cruise back in 2002—Home Theater Cruise, LLC—and we are still sailing each year.
My wife and I are also seasoned cruisers with 29 sailings to various ports of call. I hope to help make your cruise something to remember and am happy to answer any questions you may have about this adventure.
Ronald Jones – Your Co-Host & Seminar Planner & Presenter – Co-Founder of RV@Sea
Hi! I’m Ron Jones and I’ve been camping on wheels since 1962. Sandy and I have been fulltime RVers for seven years and meander just about everywhere in our motorhome.
I have retired several times… US Army (medical, 1970), as Senior Professor of Engineering Technology at the University of North Texas (1998), and publisher (RonJon Publishing, Inc.) in 2002. I enjoy traveling, cooking, good wine, photography, writing, eating out, and a good, local, microbrewed beer.
I write and present seminars for RVers. I was a columnist for Coast to Coast RV magazine, published feature articles in every major RV magazine including Motorhome, Highways, Family Motor Coaching, and Escapees magazines, am a regular contributor to the Good Sam Website for both Weekly RV Tips and articles for CyberSam. I have written eight books including textbooks for public schools and colleges, and how-to books. I co-authored the best-seller RV book entitled “All the Stuff You Need to Know About RVing,” wrote “Fulltiming for New and Used RVers,” the recently released, “RVing Alaska,” and was a collaborator with Sandy on “Wrinkle-Free RV Laundry.”
Ron and Sandy are confirmed cruisers having completed 25 sailings.
Your Presenters
David Greer… (a retired school administrator and adjunct professor) and wife Lana (a retired RN) have been fulltime RVers since 2004. During this time they crisscrossed North America visiting all the lower 48 states and five Canadian Provinces.
David and Lana literally jumped into RVing with no experience. This fact gives them a unique perspective for helping people who are considering the RVing lifestyle. Their only previous camping experience was in tents, with their parents, and cooking on open fires.
Carefully tracking costs, collecting reams of data, and keeping accurate records of all RV-related expenses provides them with a wealth of information upon which to develop enlightening seminars. David is known for his insightful and humorous presentations at rallies and RV shows and has been enthusiastically received from coast to coast. He has collaborated on numerous RV books and articles that have become the standard for information in RVing circles.
Their hobbies include sightseeing, hiking, cooking, and photography. They also own a wild game ranch and a cattle ranch in Texas run by their family and friends while they are on the road.
Sandy Jones… is a retired physics/chemistry/math teacher with 31 years in the public school system. A longtime RVer and fulltimer since 2003, Sandy is well-known for developing a process of obtaining wrinkle-free results with significantly large, family-sized loads in the RV washer/dryer. She has presented this information to thousands of RVers nationwide and wrote the popular book, “Wrinkle-Free RV Laundry.”
She and Ron travel all over North America in their RV and frequently present a variety of seminars on RV topics including driving a big rig. She and Ron regularly trade drivers and promote the need for all RVers to share the driving responsibility if physically possible. <http://rvstuff.org>
Dick Lorntson and wife Nancy own Precision Frame & Alignment, Inc. an independent frame, alignment, suspension, and tire shop located in Elk River, MN about 31 miles northwest of downtown Minneapolis. They sell and service all brands of tires. Dick has 33 years of hands-on experience and is ASE certified in auto, light truck, medium truck/RV, and heavy-duty truck suspension, wheel alignment and brakes.
In 2009, Precision serviced over 250 Class A, B, and C (drivable) coaches—weighing, alignment, full suspension overhauls, full frame repair and straightening from collision accidents, and complete tire replacements. Plus, over 70 towables units were serviced including fifth-wheels up to 40-feet with tri-axle setups and dual-tire tandems—tires, alignments, spring replacements, suspension, replacement bushing, and axle replacements were done.
Precision Frame is one of the leading sellers and installers of Koni shocks in North America and also one of the leading SuperSteer dealers as well. They have an on-line store to assist do-it-yourselfers in a quest to make their own RVs drive and ride better.
Dick and Nancy are RVers and own a 40′ Damon UltraSport on a Freightliner Chassis. They know how to make the driving experience one that is safe and comfortable for both the pilot and co-pilot. Dick tests new products on their RV that may be beneficial in the RV community. Dick is the chassis specialist on www.rversonline.com and answers questions from RVers across the world on a regular basis. Last year, they put 13,000 miles on their motorhome traveling to rallies in Ohio, Michigan, Florida, and Virginia. <http://www.precisionframe.com>
Rob Lowe… began camping with his parents in a small travel trailer in the early 1960s. He ventured out alone with a tent strapped to his motorcycle in 1966. The lure of the outdoors continued. When GMC introduced their revolutionary RV in the mid 1970s, he dreamed of traveling by motorhome.
After camping with his family in two pop‐up trailers throughout Southern Ontario, Canada, he and his wife Jane began planning two cross‐country trips and bought their first motorhome, a Type C, in 1989. They have progressed through two Type A’s and currently own a 39‐foot diesel pusher. They have logged over 225,000 kilometres (140,000 miles) traveling throughout North America, while still actively employed.
Motorhome owners often seek Rob’s expertise and he frequently provides technical advice on Internet e‐mail groups. He served for three years as Editor of the Bounder Beacon, a bimonthly, 32‐page newsletter read by approximately 3,000 Bounder motorhome owners and as their Technical Editor for eleven years. He operates an online RV parts business and is a sought-after seminar leader and speaker.
Rob is a successful Investment Real Estate Broker operating his own firm near Toronto, Canada. His hobbies include photography, 12‐volt electronics, and RV travel. <http://www.rv‐partsplus.com>
