Paw Friendly & Off-Leash Beaches – San Diego, CA

Polly makes a new friend at Del Mar Dog beach

Having bombarded you with a couple of pretty geek-intensive posts I figured I would get back to something cute and fluffy. In my mind, nothing is cuter than our furry family (that would be the pets, not Paul), and nothing is more fluffy than a wind-dried beach dog, and these past few weeks we’ve been doing our best to show off both at all the paw-friendly spots around town. The perfect lead-in to a blog post!

The brand new San Diego doggie beach map!! Blue icons are off-leash spots. Pink are on-leash spots. CLICK IT!

Now, the locals here loooove their dogs and this city is one of the dog-friendlier in the state, in my opinion, with lots of spots to take pooch on the beach both on and off-leash.  They’re so beach-dog crazy here they even hold annual dog surfing competitions (check out the 2011 winners) and you can take honest-to-goodness doggie surf lessons. How cool is that?

Given we used to live in the area I’ve got a pretty good idea of where to go w/ pooch, but when I looked around on the net I realized it can be tough for new-comers to figure it all out. Lots and lots of info out there, but nothing in terms of actual maps so you can see where everything is. So, I decided to change all that with both a map AND a summary of my favorite spots…with a few local secrets thrown in.

Off-Leash Beach Havens

For leash-free lovers from North to South, here’s our favorite spots:

Your truly poses w/ Polly by the gorgeous Solana cliffs

1/ Del Mar/Solana Dog Beach – A wonderful and spacious dog-friendly beach right on the border between Del Mar & Solana that allows off-leash access from Sept thro’ June. Lovely back-drop of cliffs here too. MAP IT!
Secret Tips: If you park right by the northern end (Solana side) you’ll have to pay for parking, but there’s free parking right across the bridge (Del Mar side) just 100 yards south. You can also hike for miles along the southern end of Del Mar with pooch on leash, both up on the cliffs and on the beach below. For a lovely pet store, stop by Dexter’s Deli in Del Mar too.

Polly leads a friends' puppy on a hike on Fiesta Island. San Diego in the background and beach on the right.

2/ Fiesta Island – This island sheltered in Mission Bay is doggie HEAVEN! The entire Island is off-leash friendly, plus there is a huge (enormous, gigantic, humungous) fenced-in dog area where you can hike/run w/ pooch both on land and by the water. MAP IT!
Secret Tips: If you’ve got a smaller rig (class C), you can park all day right on the sand at Fiesta Island. Park closes at 10PM.

Going for a splash at Ocean Beach Dog Beach

3/ Ocean Beach – This is the original off-leash doggie beach in San Diego. It’s a nice stretch of beach silhouetted by the pier and popular with surfers too. MAP IT!
Secret Tips: OB has a very cool, relaxed late-hippy vibe and several of the restaurants around town ( for example O’Bistro and OB Noodle House) are pooch-friendly too.

4/ Coronado Beach - The very northern end of Coronado beach (near Sunset Park, by the naval station) is off-leash dog friendly. To avoid (big) fines keep doggie on leash until you’re right AT the beach. MAP IT!
Secret Tips: You can see the majestic and historic Hotel Del Coronado in the distance from here. Hop along w/ pooch to the Wine Styles Bar or McP’s Irish Pub after your romp for a dog-friendly glass.

On-Leash Beach Playgrounds

Outside of the “big 4″ there are a bunch of other beaches that allow on-leash access on the coast. Most of them specify an 8-foot leash and a few have specific hours. Once again our top pics North to South:

Polly digs for treasure in the sand

1/ Cardiff State Beach - The only state beach that allows dogs in San Diego. This is a lovely stretch of sand that runs south from Cardiff (just south of the watchtower at San Elijo State Park) to Solana. Dogs are allowed on-leash all along this area. Since it’s right next to San Elijo State Park this is also the only spot I know in San Diego where you can camp, surf (sweeeet long-boarding break) and enjoy the beach w/pooch right next door. We haven’t stayed at San Elijo (it’s $35/night for dry-camping and it’s rated for 35′-max) but we could probably squeeze into a few spots. MAP IT!

2/ La Jolla Shores – A cute little stretch of beach right in upscale La Jolla. Doggies allowed on-leash on the beach (and next-door Kellogg Park) before 9AM and after 6PM (in summer Apr-Oct) or after 4PM (in winter Nov-Mar). MAP IT!

Wonderful Mission Bay. Fiesta Island is in the middle.

3/ Mission Bay Park - Mission Bay Park has ~27 miles of shoreline all secluded inside this lovely bay. In addition to fully-off-leash Fiesta Island, the park allows leashed dogs pretty much everywhere else as long as it’s before 9AM and after 6PM (in summer Apr-Oct) or after 4PM (in winter Nov-Mar). There are tons of spots to take pooch here incl. De Anza Cove, Ventura Cove, Mission Point….you name it. If you want to camp in the area Mission Bay RV Resort (accepts Passport America mid-week) is a private park right on the bay beachline. MAP IT!

4/ Imperial Beach – A lovely beach with a superb pier right at the southern end of San Diego, you can take pooch on leash anywhere outside of the swimming area (north of Palm Blvd or south of Imperial Beach Blvd). MAP IT!

Some good links:
Dog-friendly restaurants in San Diego – from BringFido.com
Dog-friendly parks & beaches in San Diego  – From San Diego Travels
San Diego dog beaches and parks – From Sandiego.com

And with that I think doggie and us will go get wet and sandy (with a little post-fluffing-up) before the sun sets.

Paw Friendly on the Panhandle Coast?

Beach, blue, the pooch and us on St. Joseph beach -> exactly the way we like it!

I’d been duly warned by those in the know that the Panhandle Coast is one of the least dog-friendly spots in the country. For a couple like us, where camping is ALL about the paws, this was a rather depressing piece of info, and unfortunately my preliminary investigations showed it to be true. There are 5 or 6 fairly “well-known” Florida State Parks nestled along the Pandhandle coast (Top Sail, Henderson Beach, Grayton Beach etc.) each of which promise pristine white-sand beach, play in the sand and absolutely no dogs. Don’t get me wrong now…you can take pooch in the campground and around the trails (if there are any), but absolutely not and under no circumstances on the beach, and that goes for most of the surrounding area too.

Where paw prints and footsteps align

 Now, this just doesn’t do it for us. No matter how nice the place is, if we can’t take doggie for a romp in the sand, then it just ain’t the spot for us. Walking with pooch is a core part of our daily enjoyment and feeling the sand between our toes is something we all relish. At this point I almost gave up and decided to re-route us through the “inner” Panhandle and leave the popular spots to the crowds. After all, even without the dog restriction, we didn’t want to squeeze in with all those people herding to the same busy spots.

 But then we discovered the Forgotten Coast, and we uncovered an extra little secret that made it just right for both us and the paws.

A play and a run on the Bayside of St. Joseph Peninsula

You see, the State Parks here are not really any different. The 2 “big” ones, St. George and St. Joseph are lovely, isolated spots but still have the annoying “no dogs on the beach” restriction. However, what makes these places unique are the beautiful and accessible public beaches just a short drive away. It’s the same coastline and the same pristine snow-white sand on the same peninsula, but here paws are welcomed and doggie-heaven is absolute. On St. Joseph the access is one of the closest. The public beach is only ~1 mile from the entrance to the state park, many miles long, wide, gorgeous, almost entirely deserted and totally paw-friendly. On St. George public beach they actively advertize themselves as a “dog-friendly” spot, and just between the two, on Carabelle public beach, dogs are allowed off-leash right on the sand. It’s yet another reason this place gets our vote with all 4 thumbs and 12 paws up.

Finding Pet-Friendly Spots On the Road

Dog-beach at Fort de Soto, FL...wet and wonderful!

In our house you could say camping has gone to the dogs…or the cats. Either way, camping is ALL about the pets for us. After all, what’s the point of being somewhere if you can’t share it with your furry friends, both the human and the animal version? So, when we’re on the road we do our prep work to make sure the places we go are pet-friendly, and our pets nod their approval with kitty-purrs and sloppy kisses. Here’s our favourite resources:

1. General Dog-Friendly Spots - http://dogfriendly.com/ and http://www.bringfido.com/ are our two of our all-time favorite online doggie sites.  A newer website which is growing and looks very promising is http://gopetfriendly.com/. These 3 sites list almost everything that’s dog-friendly everywhere, including city guides, parks, hiking, beaches etc. When we’re in a spot and looking for a place to take pooch, we go here.

2. Private Campgrounds – Although we tend to avoid them these days, most private campgrounds do accept pets, but some will have either size, breed or number restrictions. If you do your research you can find exceptional dog-loving spots, for example Four Paws Kingdom in NC and Winding River RV Park in CO (a Polly-approved spot), but unfortunately we haven’t found a good guide that sorts through all the choices. The sites from #1 have listings, plus there’s a couple of other websites out there (e.g. petswelcome.com and petfriendlytravel.com), but they’re generally spotty/incomplete. Of the big three GoPetFriendly.com seems to have the most promising listing directory. Given the trouble and our need for more open space and hiking we’ve ditched this option for #3, 4 and 5 below.

Taggart takes time to sniff the flowers at Curt Gowdy State Park, WY

3. National Forest & State Parks – If you asked Polly she’d likely wonder why we EVER stay in a private park, and I have to admit we’ve come around to her point of view. As opposed to private campgrounds, National Forest and State Parks rarely have any pet restrictions. In addition they tend to have plenty of space, dog-friendly hiking trails and (often) open spots/fields where one can go a little dog-nutty (as one does, on occasion). In fact we consider these areas 12 paws better than the real thing and haven’t stayed elsewhere in months. For National Forest check out http://www.forestcamping.com/, and http://www.recreation.gov/. For State Parks, go to the State webpage for your area.

4. Army Corps of Engineers - The Army Corps of Engineers is another pet-friendly group that manages over 2,500 recreation areas. We’ve tried quite a few of their campgrounds and find them right up our alley. They’re often centered around lake areas that’ll have an “unofficial” spot where you and doggie can enjoy the water together. The Corps publishes a book and also runs a website with their locations: http://corpslakes.usace.army.mil/visitors/

5. Bureau of Land Management - In addition to the official camping spots, our government manages a ton of other public land which is open to everyone, including our furry friends. Your home-grown RVer can easily find a nice, primitive campground here, while the more adventurous boondocker can search for completely-off-the-beaten-track camping spots. http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en.html

6. Hiking Trails – We are big paw-fans of the trails on National Forest and  State Parks, but if you’re looking for something more specific “Best Hikes with Dogs“ has created a website and guide books dedicated to the art of getting out in the wild with doggie. Check them out: http://www.besthikeswithdogs.com/

Hiking into the sunset at Cumberland Mountain State Park, TN

And that, as they say, is how you do it. You’ll notice National Parks are not on this list and for good reason. Despite the nature and open space, National Parks are rather dog-unfriendly and most won’t allow pooch on any of the trails (with very, very few exceptions). We’re quite happy with our somewhat off-the-track spots and are likely to go even more off-beat as time goes on.

So, on that note, may the rivers be plentiful, the squirrels abound and the paws be with you on all your travels….

Pet Emergency On The Road

Polly being goofy at Lake Powell, AZ

 In our household our pets are our kids, and like all youngsters they get into trouble every now and then. It could be a goofball jump, a bite from an unsuspecting critter or just plain silliness but when our pets hurt themselves it’s a heart-rending moment.  

We had our own little scare ~2 weeks ago when Polly sliced her paw on some glass. We initially thought she’d gone limp, maybe from Lyme Disease (which we’d just been treated for…more on that later), but a trip to the vet 30 miles away tested nothing amiss and the cut was well enough hidden that the clinic didn’t catch it. Later that day after more limping, we did a full prodding and finally found the source of the problem. With our own little home-emergency kit we treated her for the cut. Wash, disinfect, wrap (a sock did the job for walks) and restricted activity until it healed. She’s now back to her old goofy self and will undoubtedly get into more trouble, but the incident just reminded me how important it was to have a home-kit ready. 

So, how do you prepare? When you’re out in the wild and free you can’t be ready for every moment, but there’s lots you can do on the road if something goes wrong. Here’s our list: 

1/ Know Where the Vets Are: Whenever we get into a new campground we usually try to ask where the nearest vet is. It’s rare we’ve had to use this info, but the few times we did it was invaluable. 

2/ Make a Home Emergency Kit: There’s several key things we always have on-hand both for ourselves and our pets (more detailed list here): 

• Epsom Salts and antibacterial soap (for soaking & cleaning)
• Disinfectant (e.g. Betadine) & antibiotic ointment (e.g. Neosporin)
• Gauze, pads & tape (to wrap any injuries)
• Cotton balls
• Tweezers
• Benadryl (for allergic reactions or stings)
• Hydrogen peroxide (to induce vomiting)
• Rehydrating salts
• Sterile saline (for eyes)

Get doggie used to being touched everywhere incl. between her paws

 3/ Get Doggie Used to Touching: We do a lot of training w/ Polly and one of our games is to reward (treat) her for being touched. So, we’ll prod, massage, feel every part of her body including her paws, teeth, ears etc. This is an important part of pet emergency which many don’t think of before it’s too late. If you make it a fun game you can get your pet very relaxed about touching and that can be invaluable when it comes to an accident.

Well, we’re off to the boonies to make more trouble, so here’s a big sloppy dog-lick to keep you company until our next enthralling post.

Flea-Busting The RV – The Non-Toxic Way

It is a sad day indeed
When you see a flea in the RV
(Nina Fussing, 2010) 

Flea's in the RV? Don't blame the dog. It's the environment.

 In retrospect almost anything can be poetic, and the day certainly started that way. A gentle breeze, soft sunshine on the verdant grass. I was playing a leisurely game of fetch with the dog, reading Oscar Wilde and picturing a 1920′s beach party. The usual stuff. When we’d quite satiated our senses, we drifted into the RV for a well-deserved afternoon nap. 

And that’s when I saw them… 

There were 20…no, actually make that 40….no, no…in fact, you can easily raise that to 100 little black bastards crawling on the floor. “Aaaaahh, fleas, fleas!” I screamed, hyperventilating and going into a minor panic. After all, we’d been at this campsite 3 days and as everyone knows fleas make their bed in the environment. The dog (or cat, or even you for that matter) are just mere snacks. The fleas hop on for a quick bite and then hop off to spend the rest of their life making merriment in your home. Also, only 5% are adults. So, those mere 100 bugs on the dog were the least of my worries. I was panicking about the thousands of potential eggs and larvae around the RV. 

Now, there’s many ways to kill a flea, but we chose the least toxic, most environmental methods both for our own sake and the health of our pets. So, here’s what you can do: 

1/ Vacuum, Wash and Flea-Comb: This is the safest way to deal with fleas anywhere. Lots of vacuuming, wash everything you have  (soap and heat will kill fleas and their eggs), and flea-comb your pet several times/day (dunk any fleas in some soapy water to drown them). Then, do it all again, and again, and again for the next few weeks. Fleas have a several week life-cycle, so it takes persistence to get rid of them. 

2/ Bathing Your Pet: If you need to bathe your pet to get rid of the 1st infestation, any regular bath that lathers will kill the adult fleas. Only do this once and then use the flea-comb so you don’t dry out pooch’s skin. 

Cheap & Effective Borax

3/ Extra Help w/ Borates: If you need a little extra help in the environment, borates are a good, relatively safe choice. There’s boric acid options (Fleabusters or Fleago), or sodium tetraborate (20 Mule Team Borax - you can get this at Walmart). Sprinkle it on all your carpet (all corners) and then work it completely in with a brush until all the white powder is gone. Leave for 24-hours and then vacuum. Borates will eliminate immature fleas only, so you still need to work on the adults with #1. 

4/ Extra Help For the Vacuum:  I don’t use flea collars on pets due to their toxicity, but I’ve found they’re perfect for the vacuum bag. Cut off a piece and vacuum it up. It’ll kill any fleas you vacuum and save you having to change and throw away the bag every time (which can be pricy w/ central RV vacuums) 

That’s pretty much it. There’s plenty of other methods, but these are the ones we chose to do. 7 days, 25 vacuums, 30 flea-combs, a pass with borates, and 3 hot clothes wash’s later and I’m happy to report there’s not a single flea left. I’ve got to keep at it for a few weeks due to the eggs, but I’m pretty confident I have this bug conquered.

National Forest – 12 paws better than the real thing

Most people in life want the original masterpiece, the real McCoy so to speak. I have to admit I’ve never been one of those people. Put it down to my naturally frugal nature, or just the fact that I’m a bit of an odd-ball, but I’ve always been more attracted to going off the beaten track and finding the hidden gem. As we’ve been travelling round in the RV this tendency has only grown stronger and it’s supported, in large part, by our doggie Polly.

Now I love our National Parks, don’t get me wrong. Many of them are stunning treasures and deserve all the preservation they get. But, and here’s the big black pen coming out, they’re all very unfriendly to man’s best friend. You can ride a horse into Bryce, take a donkey into the Grand Canyon, ATV in Capitol Reef or bike all around Moab, but for some asinine reason you can’t take your dog on a single trail (with very, very few exceptions). For those of us who are responsible dog owners and travel the road with our pooch’s this is a real negative. So, what’s a dog-gone-lover to do?

As it turns out there’s an excellent alternative that speaks directly to my inner nature. Bordering almost every one of the grand National Parks are areas of National Forest. They tend to be just as pretty, are practically unvisited with pristine trails and, here’s the kicker, they’re all completely dog-friendly. So, you can stay ~15 miles from the rim of the Grand Canyon in dog-friendly  Kaibab National Forest or ~10 miles from Bryce in pooch-happy Red Canyon. Then, while all the tourists sheep-herd to the popular trails you can go for a quiet 3-hour hike in your own little paradise, the whole family in tow. On top of this most of the campsites are awesome. For a mere $10-$15/night you’ll get plenty of space, a grill, fire pit, toilets and maybe even a shower. There won’t be any electrical hook-ups, but there’s plenty of space between sites and most places offer water and a dump area. Who needs the TV in a place like this anyway?

National forests are fast becoming a favorite of ours and I can see us frequenting them even more as we travel. So, if you fancy a trip off the beaten track, and you love your pets as much as we do, skip the real thing and stay in the forest.

View from one of the isolated trails in Red Canyon National Forest

Paul relaxes at our gorgeous $15/night campground in Red Canyon

And Along Came Polly

I’d always joked with my friends that I’d more than likely end up with a mangy Mutt. Life has a curious way of reflecting the mind and, as it turned out, that’s almost exactly what happened although not at all in the way I expected. And so we introduce the last character in our little RV family…our dog, Polly.

You’re see I’m very much a dog person, grew up with dogs, volunteered in dog rescue for years (Hong Kong Dog Rescue), but never found “the one”. We came close several times…a couple of gorgeous mutts in HK and 3 foster puppies (who all died of Parvo, sadly), but never quite closed the deal.

When we moved to San Diego I naturally joined another rescue (Rancho Coastal Humane Society), took up some dog training classes and re-immersed myself into the glory of fur-balls and doggie licks. One fine morning an e-mail came out saying that two 4-week old puppies had been dumped in front of the rescue and would anyone like to foster? Almost instantaneously all rational thought went out of my head. I asked Paul (in passing since he was on a conference call for work) what he thought about fostering some puppies. He may have answered something along the lines of “sure, sounds great” because within 30 seconds I was out the door, driving in a happy puppy daze to pick up the little terrors.  Paul, having not even noticed I left, called ~20 minutes later to find out where I was…”bringing back the puppies, dear”…and so it started.

Well, mangy pups they were. In fact, they had worms, mange and just about every other ailment the first month of so. We were completely enthralled and totally overwhelmed. Our life went from one of relative leisure to constant puppy-pee watch, socialization, sulphur baths (for the mange) and basically all things dog-related. But we were, truly and completely, in love.

Things we learnt in our puppy time:

1. Puppies are cute, lovable peeing & pooping machines. When not peeing, they are likely pooing, or looking to pee…or thinking about pooping. That is, of course, if they are not gnawing or otherwise making trouble. Potty train early and give your pup plenty of praise for going outside
2. Whatever you teach your puppy will carry-on into adulthood. It’s a good lesson this one and worth remembering. If your little fur-ball is encouraged to gnaw your antique wood table at 5 weeks and 5 lbs, she’ll be doing it at 40 or 50 lbs too. Likewise little puppy licks become massive, wet doggie face-washings in time.
3. Training will save you years of aging. You can start clicker-training at 4 weeks and look to join a puppy class as soon as you can. Training is fun for both of you, will give you a gorgeous, balanced dog and strenthen that owner-doggie bond. We went with a fabulous class from Whole Dog Training in San Diego (the owner of which, Nan adopted our other pup, so what a great match!)
4. Socialization will provide balance . When puppies are young they need socialization to new environments, people and things so they recognize these things when older. So, get your puppy out there, join a class and always, always keep it short and keep it fun.

 Our little, mangy peeing machine has grown up into a gorgeous 40-lb beauty and is truly a part of the family now. She loves RV’ing, mostly because we’re all together, has become firm friends with the cat (indeed it’s hard to find one without the other), and has a ball exploring new environments. So, if you’re looking for your own mangy mutt, I definitely recommend a trip to the rescue. Who knows, with a little luck maybe your rational mind will take leave of you and deliver the dog of your dreams.

Polly at ~10 weeks

Polly on her dog bed in the RV

Playing tug-of-war in Desert Hot Springs

A Tale of 2 Kitties…or how to travel the road with cats

They were the best of cats, they were the worst of cats….

It all started around 8 years ago when Paul’s mom took in a stray cat in Miami who turned out, as it were, to be pregnant. A few weeks later, out came 8 bouncing fur-balls of joy ready to climb the drapes, experiment with claws and generally get into trouble. We were visiting, and completely suckered-in decided to take 2 of the little ruffians back home to San Francisco. I asked all the kitties who wanted to come on our world travels and Taggart, in a true reflection of her personality came trotting out first. Rand, quite typically even at 6 weeks old, hid in the background, but since we were running late and out of time she got nabbed and added to the bag. So, there we were, 2 kitties in hand, ready to serve a lifetime of slavery to the cats…because as everyone knows…you don’t own a cat, they own you.

As they grew from fluff to medium-fluff and then pint-sized their personalities developed right in-line with their initial types. Taggart was outgoing, social, loved to party and always the center of attention. Rand was sweet, retiring and hated visitors. Together they cuddled and matched each other perfectly.

Eight years later they’re still a big part of our lives and as tight as ever. They’ve commuted between San Jose and San Francisco (for several years), travelled to Hong Kong and back to the US, lived in smog and sunlight, and are now in the RV.

So, how do cats travel? Although creatures of habit, with a little bit of love and aloooot (did you notice the emphasis?) of patience, cats can really adapt to anything. The key is to take it slow and give them lots of familiar comforts.

The Move Itself:

1. Prepare the RV – create “nooks and crannies” for hiding spots and beds. Cats love height and there’s plenty of cupboard space which is just perfect for this in the RV. We put a cat-bed in the clothes cupboard, and another “den” above our bed. We also have a basic cardboard box (with an entry cut-out) that we put under the covers of the bed during the day. Bring a scratch-pole too and find a good place for the litter (most people use the bath-tub and that’s exactly what we’ve done)
2. Prepare the cats – lots of stress-relieving stuff before the move. Feliway (sprayed around the cat-bags and RV) and Bach’s Rescue Remedy (rubbed on the ears) work great. A few days of L-theanine before the move can also help. The key to moving with cats is move all your stuff first, and the cats last. So, prepare the place beforehand and then move ‘em in when everything is set-up and ready to receive them.
3. Keep a routine – once you move in keep the regular feeding, petting etc. routine. Keep-up the Feliway and work in some cat-nip too. Give the cats time to adapt.

While You’re Driving:

1. Secure the cats – BEFORE moving-in the slides secure the cats. Always, always know where your babies are when you move the slides.
2. Give them a comfort place – while driving either a cat-bag or a hiding place works best. Our cats have decided under the bed-covers is where they want to be. A little Feliway before driving sprayed on the bed helps to keep things relaxed.

At the Parks

1. Keep the routine – cats being creatures of habit, keeping the feeding, petting, sleeping routine keeps your furry friends happy
2. Provide some entertainment – Cats need mental stimulation just like we do, so play-time and walk-time can be great tools. And yes, I did say walk-time. We leash-trained our cats several years back and it turns out they love it. So, everyday crazy cat lady takes them for a walk. Taggart prefers the day-time walks while Rand stalks the night. If you decide to do this buy a proper harness (HDW walking jackets are great), and take your time introducing kitty to the experience.

So, if you’re looking to travel with a little love, a few cat-licks and some purring, bring your furball along for the ride…

Taggart (orange tabby) and Rand (brown tabby) cuddling

Taggart walks the riverbank in Santee, CA

"Dens" for the cats...under the bed (cardboard box), in the cupboard (on the left) and up above the bed

Taggart enjoying an afternoon catnap in the RV