Wrapping things up this week, I figured this would be a great time to post this how to video we recently did on geocaching. I love it because it combines geeky technology (gps) with treasure hunting.

Dorrie’s been posting about geocaching a bunch recently so you can get caught up on just what the heck geocaching is on her “what is geocaching” post and “my first geocache” post.

In the video I cover how to get coordinates for geocaches near you, how to get them into your GPS unit, and then how to follow your GPS to get you close to the cache.

One thing to keep in mind is that a GPS unit is really only accurate to about 30 or 40 feet so once you get really close to where the cache is supposed to be hidden, it’s time to start thinking about where you’d hide the hidden “treasure” if you were doing it.

Hope you enjoyed cool non essential technology week. Dorrie’s back next week and who knows what rockin’ cool stuff she’s got in store for you.

Let me know what you think of the video. If you like it, we just might do more. (hint, use the comments button below)

Go on, admit it.

You’ve been out hiking and wanted to know what the phase of the moon was going to be that night.

Okay, maybe that’s just me, but that’s important stuff to know. I mean, hellooo, full moons, werewolves…

Now that I’ve got your attention let’s talk about a watch even James Bond would love.

It’s the Casio Men’s Pathfinder Wavecepter Multi Band Atomic Solar Ultimate Watch.

You know this thing is cool. First of all, them name is 10 freakin’ words long! It also includes words like Wavecepter, Atomic, and Ultimate. Seriously, any red blooded American male is gonna be getting a little bit hot and bothered right now. (Ladies, it’s okay, it’s part of our genetic makeup, we can’t help it, just go with it.)

Let’s talk about all the nifty things this watch does. (besides tell you the phase of the moon, which no foolin’, it does.)

It’s got a built in digital compass which is darn helpful when you’re walking around in circles in the woods. Just think if those kids in Blair Witch Project would have had one of these watches. They’d still be alive and we’d never have been subjected to their nauseating camera work.

If one alarm just isn’t enough to trip your trigger, then this watch is just the thing because it has 5.

Who hasn’t been sitting around a campfire just wishing they had a Yacht Timer? Now you’ll have one.

You get an altitude barometer so that when you finally reach that peak of that mountain you can brag to all your friends how you were at exactly 13,321ft and no one will argue with you cuz you’re wearing the Swiss Army Knifes of watches… and they know you don’t mess with the Swiss.

Yeah, it tells time too and is synched to atomic clocks around the world, but that’s so 16th century watchmakeresque… geez… watches that tell time… it’s like inventing a telephone that makes phone calls…

You can check it out at Amazon.

Stop me if you’re heard this one before:

You’re driving to a somewhat remote campsite appreciating the great scenery but the only tunes you can rock out to are some dude playing his accordion on public access radio?

Yeah, if it hasn’t happened to you yet, be warned, it can be rather traumatic.

You can either chalk it up to the price you pay to go camping in cool places and put up with not having any music to listen to or get yourself satellite radio.

When satellite radio first came out I thought it was a dumb idea – who the heck would pay to listen to the radio.

Then something happened… I moved to Nebraska.

Don’t get me wrong. Nebraska is great state with friendly people. The only problem is that once you get outside Lincoln and Omaha your radio listening choices tend to be a bit… how should I say this… limited. And by limited I’m talking oldies country radio… there’s only so much of that one person can take before they start looking for a tall cliff to drive off of (fortunately, none such cliffs exists else we’d likely have an epidemic on our hands of people offing themselves in western Nebraska).

So I decided to take the smart route, I just got myself satellite radio.

Now when I’m cruisin’ down the interstate I can rock out to any kind of music that strikes my fancy. Sure, they’ve got all the typical stations you’d expect to hear like pop, rock, talk, and country too. But if your tastes are a little more specialized and you can’t get enough of progressive trance (that’s techno for us non ravers) you can get it. Are Bach and Beethoven your homeboys? Turn on the symphony channel. Need to chill to the smooth sounds of Mr John Coltrane, there’s a station for you too. Heck, there’s even an all Elvis all the time station for those of you who feel like dusting off your blue suede shoes.

And I’m sure I offended someone when I dissed oldies country, but you’ll be happy to know that you can tune to not just oldies country radio, but bluegrass too on your satellite receiver.

Sirius or XM?

Once someone is convinced that satellite radio is a pretty sweet deal, they inevitably ask, should I get Sirius or XM? I got Sirius simply because they broadcast the college football games I want to listen to and XM doesn’t. Sirius also has all NFL games and Howard Stern if you’re into that. XM broadcasts all MLB games.

But since Sirius and XM are merging, it’ll be a moot point very soon as new receivers will be on the market shortly that are capable of tuning into both Sirius and XM stations.

And most of the satellite receivers are portable so you can also listen to your tunes while you’re hanging out at your campsite too without worrying about what stations will actually come in.

It’s the stuff horror movies are made of.

Someone gets lost out in the woods, they run into zombies, werewolves, witches, Hillary Clinton, or some other scary thing that goes bump in the night and then their flashlight batteries die.

And we all know that once your batteries die, it’s hasta la vista baby. Stick a fork in you, you’re done.

However, these are scenes that can be entirely avoided.

Next time you plan on doing battle with the undead in the middle of the night, it pays to be prepared.

And the Silva SC44 Battery Charger will help you do just that.

I know what you’re thinking. No electricity out in the woods, am I right? Ahh, but here’s the cool thing about the Silva SC44… it’s solar powered.

So in the middle of the day while you’re sharpening your sword, loading your muskets, and eating a burrito you can also be charging the batteries for your flashlight so that they don’t die just as you’re about to lay waste to an undead army later on in the evening.

And it’s made of the same solar cells used on Eureka U.S. military tents. And you know the army doesn’t screw around when it comes to solar cells.

You can check it out at Amazon.

When you go camping, a lot of times you’re going to find that if you want to communicate over distances, your cell phone typically isn’t a very good choice. Many campgrounds are in areas where cell phone coverage just isn’t very good, and then you add in the fact that they’re in heavily wooded areas or in mountainous areas and you’ve got a recipe for zero bars.

And sometimes when you go out hiking you just don’t want to take a cell phone with you for concern you’ll get it dirty or you’ll get it wet and it just won’t work.

So how do you communicate with other people you’re camping with without cell phones?

Well, if you’ve got a healthy set of pipes, feel free to start yelling, otherwise you may want to look into other options.

One of my absolute favorite pieces of camping gear is my Garmin Rino. If you’re familiar with the Garmin brand, then you’re probably wondering how the heck a Garmin GPS is going to help you communicate with the other folks you’re camping with.

Well, here’s the cool thing - Garmin has built in a a FRS/GMRS radio into their GPS. And while it’s bigger than you’re cell phone, it’s also waterproof and a heck of a lot more durable. And with the GMRS radio you’ll get up to 14 miles of coverage although it’ll be less if you’re in heavily wooded or uneven terrain.

And there’s one more feature that is my absolute favorite - the Position Reporting Feature. If you’re with a group of people, and each of them has a Rino with them, you can report your location on a map so that everybody else can see where you are. And you can do the same to them - you can see exactly where they are so if you’ve wandered off and want to know where everyone else is, you can just push a button and you’ll be able to see where they are on your screen. I’ve used this a few times when I was snowboarding in Colorado when I’ve gotten separated from everyone else just to see where they heck my friends were at.

And should you find yourself hopelessly lost out in the woods and you can’t seem to reach anyone, there’s no need to worry - you’ve got a GPS in your hands, just use it to help you navigate back to your campsite.

The one downside, all this technology doesn’t come cheaply. The top of the line Rino 530HCx will run you $386.96 (if you get it through this link, you’ll even get a $50 mail in rebate), but if you watch eBay and don’t need some of the extra bells and whistles, you can get a cheaper model on eBay or Amazon for about $150.

Picture this.

You’re out in the woods.

Camping.

Just taking in mother nature.

Then suddenly you have an urge for a blended beverage (a daiquiri or margarita perhaps). But what do you do? You’re out in the woods without a blender.

Well, fear not fellow camper. Coleman has got you covered with their rechargeable portable blender.

This sucker can whip up a pitcher of tasty frozen tricks on 30 seconds flat, and even comes in a devilishly good looking red but you can also get it in black or painted silver if that suits you better.

Now one of these blenders probably won’t be making an appearance in a “will it blend” video anytime soon, but unless you plan on blending up an axe handle, you’re not gonna need anything so fancy. And this blender is also a very economical $60 so it’s a purchase that isn’t going to break that bank.

Now I realize that some people will feel this a completely unnecessary item to bring with you while camping, but c’mon, sometimes you just gotta have a little fun while camping.

I’m always looking for products that make Rv’ing and camping easier and more fun and I’m kind-of a YouTube junkie. Today, while looking around YouTube I found this video from Living in Style. It showcases two of Coil ‘n Wrap’s products: Xtreme Vents and a one-piece hose and faucet connector.

While I don’t own an RV (I have a popup camper and sometimes tent camp), the Xtreme vents look like they could solve a “stinky” problem. If you’ve tried them, please post in the comments section and let us know what you think of them and whether or not you recommend them.

The other product in the video, the one piece hose and faucet connector, does look handy for camping but I’m thinking about purchasing it for use at my house. Now, if my plants would only water themselves……..

One of my favorite food smells is that of chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven (Yum!!!). Fresh baked cookies and other baked items are one of the things I miss when I go camping since my camper doesn’t have an oven in it.

Coleman has solved that problem with its Instastart Camp Oven. Things like fresh baked cookies, cakes, pies, and breads that are difficult to make with a traditional camp stove, grill or open fire are now possible with the Instastart oven.

It’s large enough to hold a 9″x13″ baking pan and runs on propane so there’s no worry if you don’t have electricity at your campsite. Plus there’s a viewing window so the progress of the items inside can be monitored.

The one negative thing people have said about the oven is that it can be tricky to regulate the temperature because although there is a thermometer on the top of the stove to let you know what the temperature is inside, it doesn’t have a thermostat. This means the user has to fiddle with the temperature knob until the correct temperature is reached which takes a few minutes. But, once the oven gets to the desired temperature it maintains it pretty well.

The price is pretty reasonable too. At the time I’m writing this it’s available on the Coleman website for a little under $100 and available at Amazon for $72.99 with free super saver shipping . That’s a less than I paid for my Weber portable grill earlier this year.

Coachlift offers RV person lifts to help people with limited mobility get in and out of their RV’s. I think it’s a great product. My Mom has suffered from diminishing mobility the last several years which has made it difficult for her to go places. Until I saw her unable to walk up steps I didn’t realize how difficult getting around can be for people with mobility problems. Even one short step can be a big issue for someone with knee or hip problems. Last year my Mom couldn’t go to a family wedding reception because the restaurant didn’t have handicap access and there was no way she could get up the 5 steps into the restaurant, even with help. And, if it wasn’t for the chair lift we had installed at her house last year, she wouldn’t be able to continue living there. So I was really happy when I saw these RV lifts while browsing through a camping magazine today.

RV lifts allow couples to enjoy the RV lifestyle even if one, or both, of them has problems navigating steps. My back, hips, and knees are all in good shape and I think the steps in and out of RV’s are pretty treacherous at times.

One great thing about the RV lift I have pictured here is that widening the door of the RV isn’t required. According to the company’s web site, “It [the lift] is installed on the exterior of the RV next to the entrance door. The user sits on the lift chair, pushes the hand-held control button, rises gently on the vertical lift tube, and swings the chair through the door opening into the interior of the RV. The double-hinged design of the swing arm allows the durable aluminum chair to turn to any angle for easy loading.

The lift is used the RV’s accessorty battery for its power. When it’s time to hit the road, the chair and swing arm of the lift are easily removed for stowing inside the RV.

For more information, check out CoachLift’s website.

Until I saw these mats/rugs I thought the $15 piece of indoor/outdoor carpeting I bought on clearance at my local home improvement store a few years ago was a great way to keep the mud and dirt at campsites from all tracked inside my camper.

But now……..I found these really cool mats/rugs at the RV Awning Mat Company. Plus, they have carrying bags available which will keep any dirt and dust from getting all over your storage area.

These sure make my green carpeting look sad. When I first saw these I thought they would be really expensive, but they’re not. For instance, the 9×12 red doggy mat is currently on sale for $59.99. A combo that includes the mat and a carrying bag is $67.99.

One of these mats is going on my “to buy” list for camping next year. Now all I have to do is find a way to wreck that indestuctible piece of indoor/outdoor carpeting on our next camping which is our last for the year. If I wreck it (or maybe I could find a way to lose it), then I could justify the purchase of a new one.