Wet Pets and Dirt-Free RV Roadtripping

Much of RVing and camping are a learned experience. Every outing brings a new event to be cataloged in memory and used in the future – or hopefully, forgotten to the ether. It’s especially true when traveling with pets (dogs, really). We wrote previously about taking dogs on the road and to music festivals. After a year of weekends spent on the road with our dog, Stella, we’ve found a few tools to reduce our shared anxiety, keep the pets safe and rig clean, and help improve our shared adventures.

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The Toolkit Necessities for RVing, Camping & Festival Folk

Time was when “tools” for a vehicle meant jumper cables and maybe a lug wrench tucked beneath the spare tire’s cover in the trunk. Yet, when deciding to put together a tool box for a pickup truck and camper, what additional tools are must-have necessities? On first blush, there’s the cables and lug wrench, and besides zip ties, duct tape, a couple different screwdrivers, a pair of channel locks, an adjustable wrench, and some wire cutters. But what else should be included?

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Soulshine Farm Music Festival: Sweet as Tupelo Honey

By Barry Bluth

Soulshine Farm Music Fest is a three-day, homegrown, mountain top “bluegrass” music festival tucked on the side of Green Mountain, North Carolina. The festival grew out of a birthday celebration with Mac Arnold of Muddy Waters fame being the original band. Today, it’s as fun as modern music festivals can be.

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Soulshine Farm Music Fest: A Mountaintop Camping Feast for the Senses

By Barry Bluth

Soulshine is a song that has always meant something very special to me. I’m not really sure when it began, but it’s been one of those songs with meaning that struck a chord with me. Maybe it came at Lockn Festival, when my wife, Jen, and I stood about 10 feet from Warren Haynes as he serenaded us with Soulshine into Tupelo Honey back into Soulshine. That show was the most expensive ticket I’d ever laid my hands on, but it was her birthday, after all.  It was a memorable moment that could not have been sweeter.

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Major Save: Salvaging Our Music Festival Roadtrip From Near-Total Blowout

The best-laid roadtrips often get blown out. This story begins about a year ago when Barry and Jen had a tire blowout on the road to Hulaween. Once home, Barry replaced Bertha’s crappy “Chinabomb” tires with what we came to realize – yesterday on Florida’s Turnpike – were another set of crappy Chinabombs. A blowout left us stranded on the roadside – with one tire shredded and another punctured, and the brass fittings of the LP gas lines serving the fridge and stove sheared off.

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