Refreshment

I know it has been weeks since my last post. We have been preparing for the Fleetwood Motorhome Rally in Gillette, WY that will start on June 27. My days have been filled with tasks, opportunities, challenges and solutions. My next post will either be after the mini-vacation I will take after the show or during the show, it will depend on the timeline. We are looking forward to being at the show.

Today I picked up my wife's and my mountain bike from Ted's Bicycles. My wife was having an annual service done to hers while mine was getting the annual overhaul (my bike is 17 years old). Why am I bringing this up? I have been doing business with Ted's Bicycles since 1992 and have purchased 3 bicycles from them. My parents have purchased 2 bicycles from them. My road bike will be purchased from Ted's as well. So why am I bringing this up? I enjoy doing business with Ted's because they are honest, straight-forward, and provide great service - consistently. I love consistency. I have an expectation and they meet it. If something doesn't go as planned, they contact me right away and give me an update. Are they the cheapest? Who knows. I don't really care. They take care of me and that is worth it.

The consistency I am referring to is not unchanging in the way they do business, but keeping up with modern expectations and catering to those passionate about cycling. With RVs, that is something we strive to do - be consistent with the expectations of our customers and understand who our customer is at all times. I call this Dynamic Consistency. Perhaps it may be an oxy-moron but I made it up myself and I am sticking with it.

If you are in the market for a bicycle, see the folks at Ted's Bicycles. I will talk to them about the website!

blog.pikespeakrv.com

Perseverance

It has been 18 days since my last post. My personal goal was to post once a week. I often put a blog update on my Thursday schedule. We have been selected by Fleetwood to be the exclusive RV dealer to be part of the Fleetwood motorhome rally in Gillette, WY from June 26- June 30. We have enough time to make it happen but we also don't have any time to spare. My focus has been preparing for this event. The logistics is very challenging and the time spent at the event will be exciting. Our audio webcast will commence on May 30 at 9am MDT and we will have a show while we are in Gillette, WY. If you are interested in listening to the show, click here for more information. I also sent out our first email promotion last night. This is exciting considering I am graphically challenged. I love the statistical part of marketing but the graphics and layout is absolute death for me! I figure I can only improve from here. Enough of my rambling. Here is the point to my entry...

I hear many stories from people in various sorts of industries talk about the economy. Whether good, bad, or indifferent, I often listen and learn about what they are doing to overcome. I am a big fan of not sit and wait but overcome and move forward. If your business or personal finances are struggling because of economic issues, I would imagine you are looking at how you spend differently. The things you don't need are on the back burner. The money you plan on spending, you want to make sure you get the best bang for the buck. To earn the extra buck, you are probably looking for something that no one else is doing to acheive greater market share or going the extra mile to establish the relationship. How about doing something more exotic and revolutionary? Perhaps money is no longer your drive. Perhaps serving is your drive and money is secondary. We often look at the negatives of a rough economy but I have seen the lives a bad economy has changed for the ultimate good for most. When there is money to go around, we have no concerns but when the money becomes more difficult to obtain, we realize that our foundations cannot be on sand and liquid but more concrete. It takes a challenge to realize that. This is what happens when we persevere. A good friend of mine posted the definition of perseverance on his facebook "wall" this morning and I wanted to share it with all of you because it gave me inspiration to expand on it.

Persevere: To persist steadfastly in pursuit of an undertaking, task, journey or mission in spite of distraction, difficulty, obstacles or discouragement.

The word steadfast spoke to me. To move forward without hesitation and let nothing interfere with your path.

We cannot look at every challenge to be something to bring us down but to build us up and make us stronger as a result. It all depends on the choice we make as to how we handle the challenge. If you want to turn the economy around, don't wait for someone to do it for you, live the American dream. Figure out what you need to do and make it happen!

Being in the RV industry, we face challenges daily and I admit I have days where I ask myself what the point of all this is. Sometimes I can answer the question right away and sometimes it takes several days. What it boils down to me is this...
I have a God who loves me and provides. I have a family to feed and goals to fullfill. I have friends who inspire me and I am greatful for knowing them. I have employees who also have families to feed. So the path I choose to take is one of service. Even though I often don't think I am at times, my position at the dealership demands service for the ultimate success of the dealership. The uiltimate success of the dealership is defined by helping our employees and customers acheive their definition of success. Remember to never give up!

How may we help you?

Blessings,

Tim

Pikes Peak Traveland RV Travel and Adventure Show

For some of you who have been around our dealership for many years, may remember a radio show we used to do. The show was performed by Randy Biles and Chuck Baker. We broadcasted the show from Pikes Peak Traveland with the use of some fancy equipment and a phone line. The show was called the Pikes Peak Traveland RV Travel and Adventure Show. The show covered all kinds of topics and was broadcasted from many different locations (not just the dealerhsip). We covered RV usage, tips, camping spots, destinations, what is good and what is not, and RV industry news. People would call in and they could ask questions live.
One Saturday, we decided to bring the radio show back to life...except it won't be on the radio, it will be an internet audio cast. We already have the software and bandwidth to host the show. The information is posted on our website (click on the "On Air" blinking picture). All that is left will be microphones. Everything else has been tested on worked. The audio cast will be a live stream and I know it works with Windows Media Player 11 (I haven't tried any of the players yet). If you want to be added to our email list, click here and I will send out an email regarding the radio show. You will also be on the email blast we will begin to deliver in the next few weeks. We will keep you posted as we approach our launch date.

It's spring time! Let's get your RVs ready!

I love Colorado because it has 2.5 seasons. It is either cold or hot. Being a crazy techy type of guy, I like extremes. I am not much on taking my time getting to the extreme. Let's get there and move on! If it is 70 degrees one day and 30 degrees and snowing the next, it is one less day I have to worry about watering the yard...same goes for rain. The .5 season is the few days a year where the days are actually typical fall/spring type weather. Today is one of those .5 seasonal days. I will take it though I am ready for the t-shirt, shorts, and sandals look. A typical look for me on my evenings and days off. What all this nonsense means is it is time to dewinterize your RV and head to the mountains for some great fishing, hiking, cycling, photo shoots, family time, devotional time or just whatever you need to do to get away from the city for a couple of days.

Since your RV probably has anti-freeze in the lines (propylene glycol, not the toxic ethylene glycol used in automobiles), it would be good to flush it all out. There is a product I personally like to use from time to time. CamcoRV makes a product called TastePURE drinking water freshener. TastePURE is a Sodium Hypochlorite compound (NaOCl) like what is added to residential water supplies. I personally am not a huge fan of chlorinated water for long term health reasons so I will explain what I do.

I connect the city water connection with a water hose that is connected to the city water source from your home. Leaving the water heater in by pass mode, I turn on all faucets for about 2-3 minutes a piece. I then turn them off and then turn the water heater bypass valves to the use position (this may be different on your model as there are various bypass kits used). Leave the water heater off, we are not heating the water at this point. I go outside and open the pressure relief valve located at the top of the water heater next to the exhaust vent and wait for water to begin streaming out of the valve. Once that happens, I shut it and then turn off the city water. I then drain the water and fill it again. I generally do this 2 - 3 times and leave it drained (but go ahead and replace the drain plug). Once I finish the water heater, I make my way to the water tank. I fill it about half way then drain it again to make sure no debris has entered into the tank while the RV was in storage. I drain the tank and then fill it half way again. I add the drinking water freshner to the water (1 oz per 20 gallons of water). If you have a 100 gallon tank, use 5 oz. Fill the tank the rest of the way. At this point turn on your water pump and fill your water heater as well as your remaining water lines. Open each faucet one at a time until all the air pockets are gone. If you aren't concerned about the chlorinated type solution added, then you are done. If you are, drain it again and fill everything back up with regular tap water. If you don't have one, I highly recommend you having a water filter installed on your RV. I use a filtered faucet with the Flow-Pur FP10GKJ Filter that filters pretty much everything. It costs a little more but I think it is worth it. I get about a season out of the filter and since I use it for drinking water only (not the whole water system), I don't have a problem with the filter wearing out. I throw it away when I winterize my RV and a install a new one when I am ready to use it again in the Spring. If I use my RV in the winter time, I use bottled water.

In the next couple of weeks, we will begin a web audio cast that you will be able to sign up for on our website.

It is officially time to head to the high country...unless you are like me and have all that yard work to start on!

Moving Forward

Every week is a new opportunity. There are things constantly happening all around us. We have the opportunity to receive it and react to what we feel best fits the picture. For me, I had the opportunity to see a friend I have known for about 20 years. He lived up the street from me when I was still in high school. His name is Ken. Why is this important? Ken is a photographer, editor, writer, fisherman (this should be the top of the list), all around outdoors kind of guy. He loves camping and captures the RV lifestyle. So why is Ken important? Well he's not (I am going to get it now)! Ok just kidding. Ken will be helping Pikes Peak Traveland with some new look and concepts for our website. In fact, we have decided to create a new program. We have a proposed live date of May 11. We will have tips, ideas, various information, more videos and eventually a weekly live audio feed where we will talk about various RV related topics (like our old radio show). If you are wondering why there is an old Atari 800 picture on the left, I will tell ya! It was my first computer we got when I was about 9 years old and I have many hours of entertainment on one of these. We even had the optional disk drive that had to be turned on BEFORE you turn on the computer. Don't ever write a book report without a disk.

So as I am sitting in my office, watching it snow, rain, clear up, cloud up, rain, and back to snow, I am in awe that we live in a place where 4 seasons can exist in a 24 hour period.

I really wanted to write about de-winterizing your RV but I think I will save that until next week to prevent further assessments of my sanity. Yes it is snowing so why would I want to dewinterize one might ask? Well because it is lots of fun and our people enjoy doing it.

Keep in touch.


From blog.pikespeakrv.com

Vacation Part 4 - The Data

So now that I have finally settled back into working again and the RV show is over, I have a few minutes to display the data from our trip to Florida. If you are wondering why there is a picture of a TI-89 calculator on this blog, it is because it is geeky and kewl! I used it a lot during college and it helped me through 3 calculus classes (I still had to show the work).

Here we go...
Equipment:
2006 Fleetwood Jamboree 31M
Chassis: Ford E-450
Engine: 6.8L Triton V-10 305HP/420 lb-ft @ 3250 RPM
Transmission: 5 Speed Automatic w/Overdrive 5R110W
Axle: Dana Full Float 5.38:1
Weight: Approx 11,500 pounds (including kids)
Speed: We ran between 60-65 mph. We would drop occasionally based on winds and road conditions.

Fuel Table:

Miles 312.9	Gallons 45.9	MPG 6.8
284.1	40.2	7.1
294.7	38.2	7.7
197.9	26.4	7.5
158.6	20.0	7.9
665.1	83.1	8.0
203.4	23.1	8.8
227.3	30.2	7.5
327.6	43.9	7.5
320.7	44.0	7.3
TOTAL: 1902.7	244.3	AVG: 7.6

The link below are pictures of the trip.
http://picasaweb.google.com/pikespeakrv/Florida2009

Vacation Part 3

In life, we often rush from one day to the next and we miss what life holds for every one of us. We miss the basic question of what are our dreams and how do we get there. I see so many people operate without a plan or a mission and miss the essence of existence. I know this because I have been there. Even a few weeks ago, I was there. I was taking on too much only to forget what my original goal was. What did I do? I took a time out. I work in a field where people do what I just did all the time. I took a motorhome, packed it and my family, and went to Destin, Florida. What did I do? I sat on a beach for several days. I made sand castles with my kids. I swam in the ocean with my wife. We watched storms move in. We searched for clams buried in the sand. I reflected on the creation God gave us. I had no worries and disconnected myself from the daily routines. What did this leave me? A drive. A desire. A goal. Very soon, I will have broken everything down into steps. I attribute this to the RV lifestyle. Anyone can sit on a beach but it is the journey that made it happen. I spent 9 days with my family and 4 of those days were on the road. We witnessed sunrises, sunsets, 2 Lamborghinis, a Ferrari (don't know if it was a 460 Modena or 550 Maranello), a Maserati MC12, a little girl from Tennessee telling me that God made all the jellyfish green and blue (I agree).

What I learned from this trip is what I want to do and go for future trips.
1 - Cedar Point - Sandusky, OH (High rated amusement park)
2 - A trip to the California coast. Journey highway 101 and see the cliff sides.
3 - Stop more often and take more pictures. I saw too many great, interesting, and crazy things I would have liked to capture an image of but didn't. ***Sigh***

My next post will be some statistical data regarding the motorhome, diving habits, mpg, etc...

I will also have the pictures posted by then,

Cheers!