Wallup: campsite privacy in a bag

You try to find RV parks and campgrounds with plenty of space between sites but sometimes you get jammed into a dry camp where you could literally rub elbows with your neighbor while sitting outside with your family. Or, maybe you've got an outdoor shower that requires some privacy or a dog that yaps at everything that moves. Maybe the neighbors have three or four nosy kids.

Heck, maybe you're just not in the mood to be sociable!

With a Wallup you can screen off areas around your campsite using a stakes and poles that come in a carrying case and seems, by this video, to be a lot sturdier than it appears.

It's available at Camping World and, as they say, at fine stores everywhere.

Road trip family fun with the Road Trip game

What's a road trip with the family without board games? You know, those old-fashioned cardboard fields you open on a table forcing everybody to pull up a chair and enjoy each other's company. Now you can give your laptops, iPads, iPods and smart phones a rest with family fun products from a fun company called Daddy-O.

Can you rattle off three towns that start with the letter "P"? What about three fast foods that contain the letter "B"? Can you finish the "Tale of the Trip" by filling in the blanks with words beginning with "A"? If you can, you're playing Road Trip©!

The object is to complete each word challenge and motor across the USA! "Rest Stop" cards add to the fun along the way, with lucky breaks and the occasional pothole.

Road Trip game contains 120 Challenge Cards, 40 "Rest Stop" cards, 7.5" x 20" Vintage Road Map Board, 30-sided Alphabet die, and 4 retro Station Wagon movers.

Daddy-O products would make great gifts for the avid RVers in your life, including yourself. For a look at their full line of retro games and puzzles go to: www.daddyogames.com

RV roof repairs at a great price

We've mentioned our love for EternaBond repair tape for years. Leaks in your RV's roof are a major headache, and RVers have tried (and continue to try) just about anything to stop leaks. Pour on some sealant, stick on some duct tape; we've seen folks who've even tried using old tire intertubes. Forget all that!

As we've often written, EternaBond can help you make a repair on just about any kind of RV roof material in a hurry. EternaBond is a micro sealant tape that installs simply: Clean up the area to be repaired, cut off the correct length of the tape, peel off the backing, press the tape down on the repair area, and rub the dickens out of it. It works--and it lasts.

The problem that many RVers have found is the expense. One mail-order RV supplier will sell you a roll of EternaBond, 4" x 50' for a stiff $70 bill, plus shipping. It tends to make one shy away from this fine product, and then leaves the same person grumbling after tearing a hole in their rubber roof with a low-hanging branch.

Now Walmart has stepped into the breach, offering a "repair kit" containing a 3" x 24" chunk of EternaBond along with the company recommended scrubbing pad, used to prep the surface to be repaired. Total cost? $9.97 plus applicable sales tax. That price should allow every RVer to carry a bit of this "RV first aid kit" in their tool box. We found it hanging out in the RV supplies section in a smaller "Wally" in Arizona.

Protect your electronic gear from rain, sea spray and blowing sand or dust

If you're an active RVer who spends afternoons hiking, backpacking, boating or maybe jumping sand dunes in your ATV, you should get to know a company called Aquapac®. Makers of 100 percent waterproof protective cases, they've rolled out a new product line called Stormproof™, a colorful 14-item collection of affordable waterproof packs and pouches designed for outdoor use.

Need to take your smart phone on the trail but it looks like it might rain? No problem. Aquapac has cases designed for iPhones and others which will allow you to keep your phone tightly sealed still use it. Your touchscreen and camera are fully functional through the windows provided and you'll be able to hear your calls just fine.

With cases specially designed for phones, cameras, iPods, iPads, Kindles and other electronic gear Aquapac promises protection from such force of water that even a fire hose can't penetrate. Pack it all up in an Aquapac backpack and you're good to go, rain, dust or snow.

You'll find them online at Amazon.com.