Camping Trailers: The Solution to America’s Lack of Quality Family Time

Camping Trailers: The Solution to America’s Lack of Quality Family Time

You can trace many - maybe most - of America’s social ills to the lack of quality time spent together by families. We’re overloaded with the pursuit of money, status, education, and technology - and our relationships with our kids suffer the most.

What if something as simple as a family getaway in a modest folding camping trailer was the answer? Take your kids to the lake for a weekend. Enjoy the peace and quite. Talk with each other. A few of those experiences per year could make all the difference in your family relationships staying strong during these tumultuous times.

5 Tips for a Healthy Lifestyle

The busier and more stressed we all get, the more likely we are to become overweight and underexercised. Okay maybe underexercised isn’t even a word, but you get the idea.

Isn’t it ironic that we all spend most of our waking hours chasing after money, because we think it’s going to lead to happiness and contentment, when the reality is we give up most of our happiness for the sake of a buck?

Parts of our stressful lifestyles are unavoidable. We have to work, we have to keep up with our daily commitments, and in adddition to all that - we have to figure out a way to take care of our bodies. Here are five tips that will really help you feel better as you scramble through your day to day routines:

1. Make Your Sleeping Time Count

What do I mean by that? Well, what percentage of the time do you find yourself laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep because you can’t shut your brain off? Over and over your commitments and deadlines run through your head, keeping you awake. You probably dream about them too. You know what? You can avoid that. All you have to do is give your brain a chance to relax before you go to bed. Here are a couple good strategies for doing that:

a. At night, after you’ve brushed your teeth and gotten completely ready for bed, sit in a comfortable chair, close your eyes, and just breathe. Sounds weird right? Well, it works. Focus on your breathing. Let your stomach rise as you breathe in and fall as you breathe out. Really concentrate on the movement of your stomach as you breathe, and let your mind go blank. Soon, you’ll feel relaxed and sleepy, and when you crawl into bed you’ll drift away much more quickly.

b. In addition to, or instead of, the breathing exercises, do some light stretching before you go to bed at night. Have you heard of “Restless Leg Syndrome”? People with RLS aren’t suffering from anything except stress and tension, and they could solve it by doing some good breathing and stretching before they crawled in at night. After you stretch you’ll feel much more relaxed and you’ll sleep more easily and more deeply. End result? A more-rested feeling when you wake up in the morning.

2. Eat Smaller Portions

This may seem strange, something better suited for an article about weight loss. Smaller portion sizes have more benefits than a shrinking waste line. Haven’t you ever come back to the office after a huge meal feeling completely lethargic and sleepy? If you can discipline yourself to only eat about half the food they bring you at a restaurant, you’re going to feel much more energized for your afternoon of work. Soon you’ll probably need a smaller pants size as well!

3. Avoid Caffeine

I don’t think most people understand the powerful negative consequences of caffeine consumption. It accelerates your heart rate, which is unhealthy when experienced over long periods of time. It’s also a diarrhetic, which means it makes you spend much more time in the bathroom than necessary. It will also keep you awake at night; the idea that “your body adjusts, and the caffeine doesn’t affect you” is just a myth. Of course it affects you. When you cut the caffeine out of your life you’ll feel an immediate energy boost and a decrease in anxiety. Not to mention the improved quality of your sleep.

These are only three tips; I’m sure there are many more. If you can implement just these three things, you’ll feel better, be more productive, and enjoy life more!

The Broad Family Appeal of Travel Trailers

Quality family time is a hard thing to come by these days, and yet it’s one of the things people cherish most. The reality of our modern life is between the parents’ careers and the kids’ activities, finding time to spend together is practically impossible.

Sometimes the only way to spend some quality uninterrupted time together is to take a road trip or a family camping trip. A travel trailer is one of the best ways to take those trips. A travel trailer trip often means hours and hours of uninterrupted driving time where the family can sit together and talk without phones, video games, or homework.

Of course, part of safe towing is using the right trailer hitches on your truck or suv.

Weight Distributing Trailer Hitches

The other day I was on the highway headed to town, when I saw, for the first time ever, a trailer situation that scared me! There was a big white SUV towing an even bigger travel trailer, and the trailer was so heavy that the front end of the SUV was visibly lifted higher than normal, and the hitch and trailer tongue were much too close to the ground.

Clearly, this guy needed a weight distributing hitch.

What exactly is a weight distributing hitch, you ask? Well, in very simple terms, it’s extra equipment, including spring bars, that you use when hitching your really heavy trailer. What it does is distribute the tongue weight of your trailer to the axles of the trailer and the front axle of the tow vehicle to level things out when your tongue weight is too high for your hitch.

How do you know when you need a weight distributing hitch? Without hitching up your trailer and checking your vehicle for level, you can look at the numbers and figure it out. You need to know your tongue weight (TW). Compare the TW of your trailer with your hitch’s TW capacity, and if you are over that number, you need a weight distributing system.

Your receiver hitch (class IV and class V) comes with two weight limits for both TW and GTW (gross towing weight). The lower numbers is are the weight carrying limits (without weight distributing hitch) and the higher numbers are the capacity with weight distribution. Use those numbers to find the weight distributing system that has the capacities you need.

For example, a vehicle that can tow a trailer with up to 750 lbs. TW and up to 7,500 lbs. GTW with a standard Class IV weigh carrying hitch could possibly tow up to 1,200 lbs. TW and up to 12,000 lbs. GTW with a weight distributing hitch. However, please remember that these weights are hipothetical, and your towing capacity depends on your specific vehicle. Consult your owner’s manual for towing capacities of your vehicle.

With a weight distributing hitch, not only will you look a whole lot smarter than the guy with his front end up in the air, but you’ll find your ride is smoother and your braking and steering control better as you get down the road.

Towing Safely and Securely

Several trailer incidents have been in the news this week, reminding us all of the need to tow our trailers safely and store them securely.

In one incident in Washington state, four would-be thieves were attempting to break the lock on a trailer holding two personal watercraft when the noise they were creating woke a neighbor who called police. After a chase into the woods, all four were captured and charged with a list of crimes. That’s the happy story and kudos to the trailer owners who had the sense to use a hitch pin lock and the alert neighbor who took the time to call police.

Less happy news includes a story out of Brunswick, GA where a five car accident started when a camping trailer came unhitched from it’s tow vehicle and crossed the center line into oncoming traffic. The trailer hit a semi which sent it back across the center line where it caused damage to three more cars. Fortunately, no one was injured. In an accident earlier this year, the driver of an SUV who was hit by a utility trailer that came unhitched was not so lucky, she died as a result of the accident and the driver of the vehicle towing the trailer was charged with second degree vehicular homicide.

In Colorado Springs last week, a woman was killed when the trailer of a cement mixer came unhitched and sheared off the left side of her vehicle.

As trailer owners, we all need to make safety a habit. Get a hitch lock and use it; it’s a simple way to secure your trailer and protect your family. And when you are towing, remember to go through your checklist to ensure your trailer is securely hitched. Keep your hitch and coupler equipment in top working order, make sure your lights are functioning, and use those safety chains!

10% Off All Hitch Mounted Cargo Carriers and Bike Racks!

Here at TrailerHitchUniverse.com, we are always striving to make our store a better place for you to shop. We are pleased to announce our new expanded line of hitch mounted cargo carriers as well as hitch bike racks. All bike carriers and cargo carriers are marked down at least 10% in celebration of our expansion!

Check out one of my personal favorites, the Everthere Cargo Carrier in black or silver which folds up and can be carried and stored in it’s own little storage case in the back of your car, van or SUV. If you don’t need something that folds up, try the Hitch Haul Sport which has a Z shaped mount to raise the carrier for added clearance.

If you’re in the market for a bike rack, be sure to look at our new bike carriers. We have several models that carry two bikes securely on a platform attached to your vehicle. Our bike racks can be mounted to your hitch, your bumper, your RV ladder, or on your tow bar as you haul a trailer.

Whatever accessory you need for your hitch, we hope we can help you find it here at www.TrailerHitchUniverse.com

Tow Bar Mounted Bike Carrier

RV Ladder Mounted Bike Carrier

Tow a travel trailer with a Class 1 Trailer Hitch??

If you’re looking for a travel trailer you can tow with your class 1 trailer hitch, look no farther than the T@B at www.tab-rv.com. This micro travel trailer weighs in at under 2000 lbs with a tongue weight of 110 to 154 lbs. This means it can be towed by most SUVs and light trucks, even some larger cars and vans!

The T@B is a micro travel trailer with exterior measurements of 15′ 6″ long, 6′ 7″ wide, and 7′ 9″ high. The only travel trailers smaller than that have to fold up before hitting the road. My only complaint is that at 5′ 9″, the interior height is awfully low. Beyond that, the T@B is packed with all the features you really need in a travel trailer including sink, 2 burner stove, a mini fridge, lots of storage space, up to a queen size bed, a five-person dinette, and fantastic windows with black out shades. And it’s all done with so much style! You can choose from four different floor plans, many exterior colors and designs and very 5 very hip fabric choices. Optional equipment includes air conditioning, a port-a-potty, an awning, screen room, bike rack, screen door, and a DVD/TV unit.

Now, the T@B is not, by any RV standards, a luxury travel trailer (remember, the port-a-potty’s an extra and the roof vent is manual), but it does cover all the necessities for a two people to camp for any amount of time. What I love is the fact that it can be towed by almost any vehicle with a trailer hitch and, as I read on the website, if you can’t get your T@B backed in just right, it’s light enough that you can unhitch it and move it where you want it by hand.

Trailer Hitch Safety Chains

What Are These Safety Chains For on My Trailer?

I hate the sound of chains dragging on the road behind a truck! And I just have to wonder, what is that guy thinking?

The safety chains on your trailer near the coupler are there to “catch” your trailer tongue and keep it attached to your vehicle should the hitch ball somehow fail. To use your chains properly, be sure to cross the them below the trailer tongue and attach each to the corresponding opening on either side of your hitch. The S-hooks need to be attached from under the hitch so that the “S” is actually backwards as you look at the hitch from the side. The chains should be short enough to keep the trailer tongue off the ground, but have enough slack to allow the whole rig to turn well. The chains should never drag! Not only is this annoying to other drivers, but it will weaken your chains and make them less likely to do their job should the need arise.

Safety chains are rated according to their strength; make sure yours are rated for more weight that the gross weight of your fully loaded trailer.

Roadside Emergency Kits

As we traveled home in the dark last weekend after a short road trip to my brother in law’s graduation, I noticed an SUV on the side of the road with a flat tire. I also noticed a good, strong flashlight beam lighting the tire as the driver was starting to change it. I thought to myself, “I don’t think we have a flashlight in our car right now, and I think we should.” So, I did a little checking around and found that besides a flashlight and extra batteries, a good roadside emergency kit also includes the following:

-jumper cables
-roadside flares or an emergency reflective triangle
-basic tools, including philips and flathead screwdrivers, pliers, vice grips, and an -adjustable wrench
-a tire inflator, such as fix-a-flat
-tire pressure guage
-hand wipes, or at least a roll of paper towels
-pen and paper

Other things you might want to include in your kit:
-gloves
-a rain poncho
-a pocket or utility knife
-an ice scraper
-a bungee cord
-duct tape
-a multipurpose tool, such as a Leatherman

And to be really prepared, add:
-two quarts of oil
-antifreeze
-wiper fluid in a spray bottle
-extra fuses
-an emergency car care guide

Stick all of this in a tool box or a duffle bag, and keep it in your vehicle or your camping trailers, just in case. Hopefully, you’ll never have to use this kit, but should you or someone on the side of the road need it, you’ll be glad you were prepared.

By the way, there are several companies out there that are happy to send you the Emergency Roadside kit they’ve assembled for you! Check out http://www.batterysavers.com/Emergency-Road-side-kit.html

And be careful out there! The last thing you want is to be stuck in bad weather with no emergency gear and no way to contact the people who can help you.

Fuel Efficient Towing?

With average gas prices across the US reaching well over $3, fuel efficiency is on almost everyone’s mind. Add that to the fact that boating and camping season officially opened last weekend, and you might think it’s time to do some research about the most fuel efficient towing vehicles.

According to www.edmunds.com, the top three most fuel efficient suv and truck models of 2007 are:

1. Ford Escape Hybrid mpg: 36 city / 31 highway

2. Mercury Mariner Hybrid mpg: 32 city / 29 highway

3. Lexus RX 400h mpg: 32 city / 27 highway
Toyota Highlander Hybrid mpg: 32 city / 27 highway

It would seem what you gain in fuel efficiency however, you lose in towing capacity, even if your pulling a light tent trailer Case in point, the conventional V6 Ford Escape (24 mpg city / 29 mpg highway) with towing package and the Premier Mercury Mariner (19 city / 23 highway), each tow 3500 lbs, while their sister hybrids have only a 1000 lb towing capability.

There is some good news though, in the Lexus RX 400h, a hybrid, you will find 3500 lbs towing capacity. And, even better is that next year’s (2008) Toyota Highlander Hybrid with tow package can tow up to 5000 lbs! Three cheers for Toyota’s engineers whose work increased the highlander’s safety ratings, brought the horsepower up to 270 hp and maintained excellent SUV mpg at 31 city and 27 highway.