It’s the week before Christmas, a time when most RVers are staying put, hunkered down to be with family and friends for the holiday. We thought this would be the perfect week to settle some nagging RV questions that have been surfacing all year around.

Chief among them has to do with biodiesel fuel, and in particular, the Sprinter RV. What happens when an RVer is in a state that only sells high percentage bio diesel fuel, like B20 or more?

Is it OK to use occasionally? Or are you putting your Sprinter engine in jeopardy by using high percentage biodiesel fuel? We’ll try to sort that out in this week’s podcast and answer your questions. Plus we have lots of RV news and tips and a great off the beaten path report.

Click the player below to Listen Now or scroll down through the shownote details. When you see a time code hyperlink, you can click it to jump directly to that segment of the podcast.

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Show Notes for Episode #171 Dec. 20, 2017 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast:

WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK [spp-timestamp time="2:58"]

Christmas Week… we’re at our Michigan home, celebrating with family

We just released a really fun video on dog parks, offering tips and lots of photos from our dog park visits around the country. Our dog Bo travels with us in our RV and dog parks give him and us the exercise we so badly need after a long day’s drive. You can see it on our RV Lifestyle Channel on You Tube at http://rvlifestylechannel.com

Just a warning. Out in Oregon, an RV caught fire after the family dog oknocked over a portable propane-fueled heater that was being used inside the RV. No one was hurt and the local fire department kept it from spreading to nearly vehicles. Fire experts say you should only use electric heaters inside confined spaces..

This portion of the Podcast is brought to you by Campers Inn, the RVer’s trusted resource for over 50 years, the nation’s largest family-operated RV dealership with 19 locations and growing

JENNIFER'S TIP OF THE WEEK [spp-timestamp time="13:38"]

We get lots of ideas and tips sent in by our audience. Some are too short for a full-length report, but still useful. We’ve saved all the tips you have sent us this year and by combining a bunch of them together, we’ve got a great report. So listen up… here are 8 RV tips that will make your life on the road and at camp a little easier.

1) Wrap a wet paper towel around a bottle and out it into the freezer. In 15 minutes, it will be almost completely ice cold.

2) Use Doritos as a fire starter. Really. They burn better than crumbled up newspaper.

3) Freeze green grapes to chill a class of white wine down without watering it down.

4) Put a small glass of water in the microwave when you warm up pizza to keep it from getting chewy

5) Save your empty Chapstick containers for an emergency cash stash.  Take our the little plunger push up thing and you can store some rolled up bills in it for an emergency  stash you leave in the RV.

6) If your RV has a slide out, use cut a length-long slice of a swimming pool noodle and put that over the sharp edges so you won’t hurt yourself if you accidentally bump into it at camp.

7) Get a small dry erase board and use it to write down the name of the campground, the phone number of the campground, the address and your campsite spot number. In case you need t call emergency help, this will save you lots of time in talking with police of emergency dispatchers.

8) Rub an onion on your barbeque grill to keep things from sticking on it.

So there you go. Hope those tips come in handy!

Meanwhile, be sure to send me your tips and suggestions for the RV lifestyle. You can use the “Leave Voicemail” link at Roadtreking.com. Just click it and then use the built-in microphone on your computer or mobile device to record a message to me. You can do it over as many times as you want, until you are satisfied. And then you just click a button and it comes right to my email inbox.