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Monte Vista Ukulele Club Monte Vista Ukulele SongBook Level 1 2023-2024 Monte Vista Ukulele Play Along Links Level 1 2024-2025 Monte Vista Ukulele SongBook Level 2 2024-2025 Monte Vista Ukulele Play Along Links Level 2 2024-2025 Friday Jam Nov 15th Friday Nov 15th Playlist with Links Friday Nov 15th Playlist Compiled Songs All work on this page was originally compiled by Judy Howard - Monte Vista Ukulele Club

Traveling Light Reflections Our Story We are Jack and Patty! We have camped for most of our lives with our children and by ourselves, as they grew older. Our experiences include everything from tent camping, car camping, risking a 28-year-old Class C, a variety of travel trailers and our most recent, a small fifth wheel. We have made 4 cross-country RV trips. We are currently loving our 2023 Grand Design 150 Series 226RK 5th Wheel. Our passions include, Patty-pickleball, Jack-photography and writing. We both love playing our ukuleles. Over the years I have learned many things about modifying, repairing and maintaining RVs. I have written some articles to share some of what I have learned. The link to the articles I have currently finished is at the top left of this page. RV Help Support and Advice RV Support Articles Ukulele Articles and Reviews While on the road we have discovered the Ukulele. This is a wonderful, joyful instrument. It is perfect for RVers because of its size. It does not come without challenges though. An RV is a harsh environment for wooden instruments because its inside temperatures and humidity can change drastically in a short period of time. ​ We have all types of ukuleles from solid wood to durable, synthetic, outdoor ukes. ​ Here you will find info on the best ukuleles for RVers, the advantages and disadvantages to different build materials and how to maintain your ukuleles in an RV. The TrekPod Camera Tripod The TrekPod was born from need. As someone who loves hiking and photography, Jack was always searching for a way to lighten his load. Jack always hiked with hiking poles and knew there had to be a way to use the hiking poles for a tripod and eliminate the extra weight. He developed the TrekPod which is light-weight and works with the hiking poles you and your hiking partner are already carrying.

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Caramel CC207 Ukulele finish on retail model

How to Maintain a Wood Ukulele in Your RV

10 Reasons Why You Need a Ukulele for Your RV Passengers can play while traveling Can take it on walks, hikes and some, even kayaking Can store it in the RV easily while at camp and on the bed when traveling They are small enough that a group can play inside the RV Easier to learn than most other musical instruments. Can be an inexpensive instrument to begin playing. All styles of musics can be played on a ukulele 100s of songs can be played with just 4 easy chords. Campfire sing-alongs and camping are meant to go together. Multiple sizes for different sounds and different people. Some Concerns and Issues You May Need to Contend With: Heat and humidity Choosing the right one Addiction! I will help with the first 2 concerns but for the 3rd, you are on your own. Medically this is called Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome (UAS) and there is no cure! When heading onto the road for our 9 month RV trip, in fall of 2022, we decided not to bring any musical instruments with us. They would take up too much room and be a hassle to care for. However, when we left in fall of 2023 we decided to deal with the extra work in exchange for the joy of playing there large musical instruments. We took a guitar, a banjo and a tenor ukulele. The banjo and guitar took up floor space but the ukulele was so small that we hung it on a wall. We soon discovered that we could easily keep it in the truck on drive days. Whoever was in the passenger seat could easily reach back, grab the ukulele and jam for a while! This great little instrument fit very well into the truck. It was also small enough not to interfere with the driver. The Inspiration for this Article A tenor, a concert and a soprano ukulele for size reference There are 3 main sizes of ukuleles. From small to larger, soprano, concert and tenor. The small soprano is about 21 inches long, The concert is around 23 inches and the larger tenor is usually 26 inches. There are other sizes, smaller and larger, but these three sizes are the most popular. The soprano has the highest pitch sound and the tenor the lowest of these three. These four stringed instruments are usually tuned GCEA. Personally, I think the concert size is a perfect size. However I do love my sopranos. It is noteworthy that the fret spacing changes relative to the size of the ukulele. The fret spacing on the soprano will be closer together than on the tenor. Each size will also have a different number of frets too. The larger the ukulele, the more frets it will have. This will not matter to most of us because we will never use most of the frets higher down the neck anyway. Just how small are ukuleles? Martin Jr size guitar with an Ohana concert and Amahi soprano size ukulele One of the great things about a ukulele is that you can play all types of music on it. Another great thing is that it is easier to play than most other stringed instruments. There are a lot of chords that use just 1 or 2 fingers!!!! YouTube is filled with simple tutorials by a list of great teachers who are eager to get you started. See link recommendations below. Another excellent attribute of the ukulele is how easy it is to store. We have wall hangers all over our RV with ukuleles hanging on them. While remaining seated on our couch, I always have at least 2 within reach, without even getting up. I keep my favorites close. One last great allure to the ukulele is the cost. You do not need to spend a lot, to get a decent sounding, quality ukulele. In fact, in the next part, I am going to recommend that you do not spend an extravagant amount on your traveling ukuleles. Keeping a ukulele in an RV or vehicle is not always an easy task. RVs and vehicles can cause harsh environments. The temperatures and humidities can change quickly. These drastic changes, especially when they happen quickly, can cause an expensive solid wood ukulele to break or crack. Luckily we have some options! Ukuleles are made form some many different materials these days. You can buy solid wood (no laminate), laminate, solid wood tops with laminate sides or back, synthetics/composites or combinations of synthetics and wood. So many choices, but what's the difference? Generally, a solid wood ukulele will have the best tone. This is not always true though. The way it is built has the greatest effect on its tone. Some poorly built Amazon solid wood ukuleles sound dead. Some inexpensive laminate ukuleles sound incredible, some do not. Some of the newer synthetic ukuleles sound incredibly good. I have these in my recommendation list. A major factor in the durability of a ukulele is the material it is built with, especially when using a ukulele to travel. Submitting a solid wood ukulele to the rigors of travels takes a lot of extra effort. Traveling with a laminated wood ukulele is much easier. Traveling with a synthetic or composite ukulele is very easy. I want to make an important note here. Just because your ukulele is made of a laminate or a synthetic material does not mean it will not sound great. You just need the right ukulele. I am going to make some recommendations to help you make the best choice while choosing the best ukuleles to fit your needs. I have personally played almost every ukulele on the lists. I will note the ones I do not have personal experience with. M y personal choice of ukuleles based on the following 5 criteria . Best all around for lowest price: Kmise Mahogany Soprano Ukulele Best all around HPL! but discontinued, limited stock. Enya Concert Ukulele EUC-X1M Nicest Looking: Journey J-uke Travel Ukulele Best sounding laminate: Amahi UK660S Laminated Koa Soprano Best sound for least cost durability not a factor: Enya Mahogany EUC 25D Ukulele Best for all weather: Kala Waterman Or Enya Nova U What other critria should I add? Best Traveling Ukuleles Link to data table for easy to read info and links for each ukulele discussed below Table Link See my growing list of ukulele reviews on YouTube Best Synthetic, Carbon Fiber and Polymer Traveling Ukuleles Kala Waterman Sea Glass Kala Waterman Beach Outdoor Ukulele. Not Played yet Enya Nova U Concert Enya Nova U Mini ​ See my YouTube reviews for Enya Nova U Concert Enya Nova U Mini ​ There are written reviews for Enya Nova U Concert Enya Nova U Mini ​ Best Wood Laminate Traveling Ukuleles Kala Premier Exotic Ebony Concert Ukulele Kala Premier Exotic Ziricote Ukulele Kala Premier Exotic Macawood Ukulele Kmise Mahogany SopranoUkulele Donner Mahogany Concert Ukulele Amahi UK660S Laminated Koa Soprano ​ See my YouTube reviews for Kmise Mahogany Soprano ​ ​ Best Wood and Composite Traveling Ukuleles Enya EUC X1-M Enya EUC X1 Enya EUP X1 Flight TUS or TUC series Best Wood Traveling Ukuleles See my YouTube review for Enya EUC X1-M Flight TUS- EE ​ ​ Journey J-uke Travel Ukulele Enya Mahogany EUC 25D Ukulele Cordoba 20TM-CE Mahogany Tenor Cutaway ​ See my YouTube review for Enya EUC 25D ​ ​ Other Related Articles Choosing Your Ukulele for RV Traveling How to Maintain Your Wood Traveling RV Ukuleles Thank you for your support! A small selection of the ukuleles discussed and shown in this article were donated to me to help support and sponsor our 2024 RV Rally in Texarkana, Texas. These ukuleles will be raffled off during the event to help support the costs of this RV Rally. ​ I want thank our sponsors for this article and for our RV Rally Thank you Kala Brand for sending us 5 Waterman Ukuleles. I would also like to thank Journey Instruments for sending us a Solid Sitka/Ebony Super Soprano Uke US490CTE . Thank you also to Andrew from Four Chord Simple for sending us free ukulele courses for the winners of these ukuleles. He is also on YouTube Additionally I would like to thank Outdoor Ukulele for their support! Reviews will be coming for all of these soon!!!!!!! ​ ​ ​

Recommended YouTube Ukulele Teachers This is a short list. There are many great teachers that I have not included to keep the list small. These are my personal favorites. Cory Teaches Music Ukulele Wine Time Bernadette Teaches Music Ricky Somborn Elise Ecklund Cynthia Lin Music Four Chord Simple

Best Synthetic Traveling RV Ukuleles

Evaluating How Long Your RV Battery Will Last Off Grid I spent some time analyzing data from the history of my solar panels, looking at their performance during different types of weather. I only looked at how much sun the panels were getting. I did not look at the temperature. I have 3 arrays with 965W on my roof but for analysis I decided to focus on just the stock 165W Furrion solar panel. I took the data I collected and used it to show a relationship among different types of Sun conditions and different types of loads on the battery. I used this to show how long the battery will last. I post a lot about RV power systems and I have received many questions about this. I recently wrote an article that goes along with this one as the content is a continuation of what I wrote about there. I will include a link to that article at the bottom. So basically I again used a standard, dealer supplied, 100Ah lead acid battery that has a usable capacity of 50Ah. An explanation of Amp Hours (Ah) is also linked below. I looked at the average gain in Ah supplied by the Furrion 165W panel during the most sunny days and fully overcast rainy days. I also looked at the average fair weather day. I broke this down into 4 categories. An ideal sunny day with a gain of 55Ah. This is about as good as it gets with the panel performing an average of 85% for a full 5 hours. A mostly sunny day with some passing clouds. The daily gain is 49Ah. A sunny day with some clouds but still a good day. The daily gain is 34.3Ah Finally, a rainy, highly overcast day with a very poor daily gain of only 9.1Ah. This is all based on real data collected from my Victron system. I would have included a general overcast day but the data is so variable on those days that I decided not to include it. I also looked at the energy needed to run the most basic things in our RV. This includes the 12V refrigerator and lights in the evening. In addition I also added using the ceiling Vent Fan because it is commonly used. Data tables do not include all the extra stuff that could be draining energy from the battery. There really is no way of quantifying this in a useful, general manner. I chose the things we all use and excluded the things I can not validly determine. Please keep this in mind when looking at the data tables. Table 1. Shows that if only the refrigerator and lights are used and the days stay sunny, the RV battery will run continuously. Of course there will be other drains but, if kept at a minimum, it can be done. Click Here Table 2. Shows that if it rains for more than 2 days, the battery will not make it to the 3rd day. Table 3. Shows that on a same type of day as Table1., if you use your fan you will not make it into day 3. Table 4. Shows that if that day is mostly sunny you may make it through your 3rd day if you use your fan less than shown in Table 3. Table 5. Shows that in ideal conditions, you will make it through day 3 but the 4th day may be pushing it. This data was not meant to disappoint you. The purpose of this analysis and write-up is to inform and help support those of you who have a stock RV battery and solar panel setup. If you are planning on long drives and then connecting to power at a campsite, you are all set. You will have enough power to keep your food and beer cold on the drive and in most cases with an over-night or two off the grid. The battery from your truck will aid in the battery charging. However, if you plan to be off-grid for longer than 2-3 days you need to either be super energy conscious or find an alternative. There are 3 ways to increase your energy availability. (See my article on RV Power Systems for more information about this.) The first is with a generator. In my opinion a generator is a must-have as a backup but for durational off-grid use it is not a sustainable option. The next options are to increase your battery size or to increase your solar panel size. Again, I have written about this in detail in the above mentioned article. However, this article is about helping with decision making about how to increase your time off-grid in the most efficient manner, based on your needs. The considerations of increasing battery capacity and/or solar power really is based on your personal needs. I used Google Sheets to create a page that you can use to help determine the effect of changing Battery size, Power consumption, and Solar panel wattage. Basically what I did was take one of the above tables and make it interactive. You write in your Battery size, Estimated energy use and Solar panel size. It will return, like the above tables, the remaining battery capacity and the number of days you will continue to sustain power. This goes up to 7 days. I also included a tool that you can use to enter your solar panel wattage to and see the approximate amount of energy in Ah you may get under each weather condition. Use this to get the value to enter in the “Addition from Solar” box. Please realize that this is just a helpful tool that is designed to give good estimates. There are way too many variables to guarantee its perfect accuracy. However you can look at what effect doubling your battery or solar or both. For example you can plug in a 200Ah battery and a 100W solar panel to see how long it will sustain you off-grid. Link to Interactive Data Table ​ Link to my setup data at Victron VRM Portal ​ Link to my Article about RV Power Systems Link to the article I wrote that inspired me to write this one Stock Solar with 12V RV Refrigerator Not Charging Battery Link to What is an Amp Hour Ah? A beginners guide

YouTube RV Power System Videos and Reviews

Stock Solar with 12V RV Refrigerator Not Charging Battery Why Doesn't Your Solar Panel Not Always Recharge Your Stock RV Battery when You are Of f Grid? Why does the stock battery that came with my RV fail to keep its charge even though you have solar panels? There are a number of reasons that this happens. 1. Small lead acid battery supply by dealer, 2. The new style 12V compressors use a LOT more energy than the older evaporation refrigerators and lastly, 3. The stock solar panel is barely enough to keep your battery charged on the sunniest days. Any cloudy days or shade and it will never have a chance of keeping up. I am putting the data table in the beginning here, and I will explain how and where I got each value in the article. ​ Stock Dealer Supplied RV Battery First we will start with the basic battery that most dealers supply you when you buy an RV. This is a standard Group 24, 27 or 31 lead-acid battery. These batteries typically have around 100 amp-hours of energy or even less if it is a group 24. Here is the catch, a lead acid battery can only be discharged down to 50% of its capacity. This means that the 100 Amp-hour battery, really only has 50 Amp-hours to give. As a side note, the dealer supplies the battery, not the RV manufacturer. ​ RV 12V Compressor Refrigerator The largest energy consumer in a stock RV is a 12V compressor refrigerator. An example is the Furrion 10-cubic foot model that comes with my 2023 Grand Design 226RK. According to Furrion’s specifications, using a 100 Amp-hour lead acid battery, the refrigerator will run at 4.08 amps for 49 hours when the temperature is 77 degrees. However, at 90 degrees it will consume 6.45 amps and only run for 31 hours before depleting the battery. I confirmed this by testing the current of our refrigerator on a 76 degree day. It used about 4 amps while running. This told me Furrion’s specs were based on a 50 Amp-hour battery running an average of ¼ of the time. On for ¼ of the time and off for ¾ of the time. Based on this data, the refrigerator will use about 25 amp-hours per day . The refrigerator alone will use ½ the battery in one day. In 2 days, the refrigerator will completely deplete the battery. If you are running the refrigerator in higher temperatures the battery will be depleted even sooner. ​ Stock Solar Panel We just discussed the battery and the refrigerator. Next we will discuss the solar panel. Our RV came with a Furrion 165 Watt solar panel. Under the most ideal conditions this could put 13 Ah per hour back into the battery. However I have never seen ideal conditions nor if they existed, they would not exist for long on a given day.. However, if they did you would be able to put 65 amp-hours into the battery. This will NEVER happen. For one thing, I have only seen around 75% of the 165 watts come from my 165 watt solar. This was only for short periods on the best of days. On an average day you will get maybe 40 Amp-hours from the panel, if it is a mostly cloudless day. On a cloudy or rainy day you may see 10Ah or less per day. ​ Other Loads on the Battery Other loads on the battery may also be draining it. This includes your lights at about .25 amps each, your vent fans at about 3 amps on max, opening and closing your awning, other parasitic loads like all of those little lights and sensors that are still on when everything else is off. So, 6 lights on for 5 hours uses 7.5 Ah. A fan on high for 6 hours will use 18Ah, for 12 hours it will use 36 Ah. Other parasitic loads I am estimating at 3Ah/day. ​ Summary So in summary, Here is a look at the starting battery energy, the added energy from the solar panel and average daily loads. Even with that additional energy gained from the solar, the battery will only last for 4-days. Please note, these calculations are based on realistic but assumed, rough and variable estimates. This is why at the end of an off the grid adventure you may need to run a generator to close your slide and raise your electric jacks. Hopefully soon, all dealers and/or manufacturers will start supplying all new RV with at least 200 Ah lithium batteries. Links and references: What is an Amp Hour - Beginners Guide https://www.travelinglightreflections.com/what-is-an-amp-hour-beginners-guide Furrion 10 Cu Ft Refrigerator Specs https://cdn.accentuate.io/6037138899127/5237057388633/MS-FCR10DCGTA-V1.2-v1606962744880.pdf User Manual https://cdn.accentuate.io/6037138899127/5237057552473/IM-FHA00097_V3.0_EN-(1)-v1606962786356.PDF Furrion 165W Solar Panel https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Furrion/FR73SR.html?feed=npn&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Google%20%7C%20Shop%20-%20Accessories%20and%20Parts&adgroupid=86797745660&campaignid=1672411894&creative=404001588947&device=c&devicemodel=&feeditemid=&keyword=&loc_interest_ms=&loc_physical_ms=9003403&matchtype=&network=g&placement=&position=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0IGnBhDUARIsAMwFDLnWwm7Txmd6DHxXVbrxQGFHfSH7qKy5DkVxqrYj4p-lggi6wVweYhUaAuTAEALw_wcB About Lead Acid Batteries https://louwrentius.com/a-practical-understanding-of-lead-acid-batteries.html

Our Journey We are John and Patty Tracey RV Enthusiasts Additional LiTime Blog About Us When our 3 kids were between ages 9 -16 we took our first ever cross country trip. We spent 30 days on the road. Our goal was to see the country, be together and have fun. We set 3 rules to guide us on that first trip. No hotels, No fast-food and No driving at night. We spent those 30 days visiting a myriad of National Parks as well so many as other magical places in this great country. We did it all tent-camping out of our car. It was a revolutionary trip for all of us in many ways. Most importantly, it bred in us, a thirst to travel more and see more. Our dream to RV came true with our first 1986 Yellowstone Class C. This thing was run down a heap of junk and was scary to drive. It cost us a mere $3000. It was a loud, heavy, gas-guzzler with no fuel gauge and dangerously poor mirrors. However, it showed us that we really loved to travel in an RV. Many years, countless trips and 4 travel trailers later, our kids were grown and we looked forward to retirement and living full-time in our RV. We had done so much, but there was still so much to do and see. We loved the RV life. As school teachers, we would spend every summer traveling the country in an RV. Life in an RV is spectacular. It is this phenomenal place where the front yard changes with the days and weeks, but home is always where we are. The Good Things in Life As we grew older we began to enjoy the creature comforts of home. You know, the simple stuff like electricity, a coffee maker, the internet, and of course, Netflix. In my younger years one of my hobbies was building and flying radio controlled model airplanes. This was back before lithium batteries were introduced and even before they became safe. However, my interests with the hobby focused on converting and building electric powered radio-controlled model airplanes. The industry did not have the technology it does today so I would build my own batteries from cells in the configurations I needed. It did not take long for the world to catch up. Today we can buy an electric radio controlled, well almost anything, that is ready to fly as soon as you open the box. Well, needless to say, I have always had a high interest in electronics and power systems. So each RV I owned always had a modified power system. Each increasingly more advanced. The Real Price of a cup Coffee I wrote an article outlining our evolution through many RV and power systems . There is a link to it above. I joke that the journey through learning about and building multiple solar-powered RVs was really just a very expensive way to make a cup of coffee. The short version is that, during a visit to the Smoky Mountains National Park, we would wake up before generator hours. So, we would drive down the road, start the generator and make coffee. We needed a better solution. I know, I know…pour over. But that makes for a boring story! Well, 3 RVs later, each with progressively better power systems, we don’t ever need to worry about waking up anyone with a generator anymore. Today we have 965W of solar panels, 900Ah of LiTime lithium batteries and a full Victron setup, complete with a Multiplus 3000 inverter/charger and a Cerbo networking hub. With this setup we can completely sustain our power needs as long as the sun cooperates. Even when it does not, we have enough reserve energy stored in our batteries to get us through those dark days! Time to Hit the Road As plans generally go, our plans changed. After multiple diagnoses, 4 surgeries and unfathomable other treatments over a period of 5 years, my life was changed. This led to me no longer being able to work or do many of my past passions due to my disabilities. It was at this point that my wife and I could really see that life was too short. We needed to start it right now. She retired and we hit the road. For the last 1.5 years we have been happily staying home and watching our front yard change. We have been traveling and spending the cold months camping in the warmer south west states. We have 2 kids and grandchildren in Connecticut. We get to moochdock there during the summer. Though with our solar power system we do not even need to plug in. Giving Back My strong desire to learn has always been accompanied by an aspiration to help others. I created this website where I post the many articles I have written to help other RVers better understand their RV’s power systems as well as how to improve them. The evolution of the use of lithium batteries in RVs has developed so quickly in such a short time. Only a few years ago an upgrade to a 100Ah lithium battery would break the bank. Today we have companies like LiTime that are making lithium batteries that are not just affordable but also of a high quality. This has opened the door for so many RVers to upgrade their power systems incorporating these lithium batteries as the core of their power needs. The use of an inverter in an RV, only 2 years ago was limited to making a pot of coffee. Today, it is both possible and affordable to live off the grid like you would in a regular sticks and bricks home. My passion to share what I know and learn has driven me to write more and more articles to help other RVers realize and build power systems of their own. I have even created a spreadsheet where someone can enter their prospective solar panel wattage, their battery size, and power needs and even the weather. They will get a readout of how their system will perform over a week's time. Playing with lithium batteries and solar power is just one passion I still get to enjoy. Other Interests Along with being a techy, I love taking photographs. I use 2 Nikon Z6s with an assortment of lenses. I am not able to go as far off the beaten path these days but I still try to capture as creative shots as I can. Along with writing and photography, the ukulele has a piece of my heart. This small, gentle, melodic musical instrument absorbs and occupies both my time and my mind. I enjoy the peace it brings me and how well it fits into the traveling RVer life that I have begun to write about it as well. I recently completed a persuasive article about 10 reasons you need a ukulele in your RV . I have other articles about the joys of a ukulele in your RV too. Patty is an extremely active and outgoing individual. She makes long lasting friendships everywhere we go. Her list of hobbies while on the road, include Pickleball, any chance she gets. She also loves fitness and working out. She always fits yoga and working out into she busy schedule. She is also a flat water kayak enthusiast as I am too. We carry Oru foldable kayaks in the back seat of our truck. RV life is not all fun and it is not just a vacation. It is life with all of its obstacles and joys and revelations. It is a journey, as is life in itself. We are glad to be here and to be able to take the ride. YouTube Photo Gallery