Poisonous Plants to Avoid on Your Camping Trip

The three most notable toxic plants that you are likely to encounter on a camping trip are poison oak, poison ivy, and poison sumac. All of these have the potential to cause an itchy and painful rash. Being able to identify poisonous plants could be a useful skill.

Poison ivy is perhaps the most widespread of the three, as it has become well established all over Northern America. Poison ivy can be a low-growing shrub or vine that grows along the ground or as a high climbing woody vine. The leaves are typically a dull, dark green colour, but can become vivid red during the fall. It seldom appears above 5,000 feet, but the majority of campgrounds are below this altitude.

Poison oak also has multi lobed leaves, with white or tan berries on the branches. Often the leaves have toothed or scalloped edges and appear to be creased rather than flat as noticed on the poison ivy leaves. The leaves are divided into three leaflets, but five lobed leaves are present as well.

Poison oak is found in the sandy soils in the regions of southern New Jersey to Florida and common in western areas of the U.S. as well, such as Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Some species are also noted in Washington, Oregon, in the Columbia River gorge, and Nevada.
Poison ivy is most notable in the east, whereas poison oak is typically more common in the south and west.

Of the three mentioned toxic plants, poison sumac is the least established. As it favours especially wet soils such as peat bogs and swamps. The leaves have a bluish green tint, often with red tones. The fruits on the bush are small white or grey coloured berries. Although, the least common, it has the most toxic poison of the three.

All three of the plants produce a toxic resin called urushiol, which is the cause for the unpleasant irritation to humans. In view of the fact that urushiol is oily it can quickly become spread across other parts of the body, such as the hands, and face just from casual brushing. The oil tends to bond to the skin cells it comes into contact with, and then stays there.

The irritation can vary from mild to severe and a cream like corisol is often used to treat the symptoms. If you suspect that you become into contact with Poison ivy, the first step is to avoid spreading it. Don't make contact with your face or other body parts.

Thoroughly washing the exposed skin with soap and water is the primary treatment, but once contact has been established some degree of effect is inevitable. Within fifteen minutes of the initial contact, the urushiol has become chemically bonded to the skin.

Applying a pharmaceutical product, such as a cream or spray will help to treat the effects, and avoid the temptation to start scratching. This can lead to a secondary infection. The rash will need up to two weeks to run its course, but it treated effectively the irritation will settle within a week.

If you're interested in getting a more detailed look at Camping Tents, Recipes, Cots, Hammocks and other Camping Accessories, take a look at http://www.AndallAbout.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Darren_Lintern

Caravans and Motorhomes

Being a webmaster of a very popular camping and caravanning website I will get asked many questions on a daily basis and there does always tend to be a recurring theme amongst most of them, namely what is the difference between X type of caravan and Y type of caravan. Well here I hope to explain all of this in some detail so that it will hopefully clear up some of the confusion.
There are only really a few different types of caravans that are worthy of mention, mainly because the other type only generally make up no more than 0.1% of caravans, these being static caravans, touring caravans, motorhomes and park homes.

Static Caravans are generally between 20x8feet (length x width) and 38x14feet and on the whole are placed on a plot of a caravan park for the majority of their lives. Static caravans are not towable on public roads unless a support vehicle is behind the caravan and the roads are rated at over the weight of the caravan, as such they are generally transported on the back of lorries to and from locations. Static caravans are likely to have a lot of modern conveniences that you would expect from a modern home including double glazing, central heating and winter insulation.

Touring caravans are towable by average cars with a tow ball and can be towed to a caravan park where they will generally pay a nightly fee to hire a plot for the duration of their holiday. Touring caravans range from around 9x6feet (length x width) to 16x9feet, as they are towable they have much smaller footprints than static caravans and are made to be much lighter and compact. Due to the size and weight constraints tourers will have less conveniences than a static caravan but newer touring caravans are more and more commonly being manufactured with showers, fridge /freezers, central heating and air conditioning.

Motorhomes are normally roughly the same size of a touring caravan but with an engine, gearbox and all the things needed to drive itself from location to location. A motorhome is essentially a tourer and a car mixed into one neat little package, note that a motorhome in europe is vastly different to a motorhome in America (also know as an R.V or recreational vehicle) as they tend to be huge in comparison. A motorhome will range vastly in size depending on its application, some will be no larger than a regular touring caravan whereas others will be the size of a large bus.

Park Homes and Lodges are more similar to a static caravan than any other type mentioned before as they are comparable in size and the features that are available to them as standard though they will be moved around a lot less than a static caravan and generally will be of a higher spec, and also price. Things such as double glazing, air conditioning, central heating and other luxury features will be a lot more common as a standard feature in park homes and lodges. Park homes also have an advantage over static caravans in that they can increase their value over time making them more akin to a house than a caravan, despite the construction of them being more caravan like.

I am an avid caravanner and love nothing more than getting away for the weekend with my wife and kids. It is this love for caravanning and camping that drove me to create my free to use website http://www.icaravans.com where anyone can advertise their caravan park or caravans and motorhome for hire or sale. I hope you enjoy my article as I spent a lot of time writing it. My family business is also in caravan sales so if you are looking to buy a static caravan please visit http://www.skegness-caravansales.co.uk thank you for taking the time to read my first article, I hope you will enjoy the ones I plan to publish in the future.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Epton

Cheap Vacations May Be Disastrous Family Vacations

Going down the budget vacation path might not be the way to go in having an enjoyable vacation. Whether the travel space or rooms are smaller. Maybe there are less rooms to make it a more confined vacation. In confined spaces anger tends to erupt easily. This could begin a disastrous trip.

As a parent planning a Family vacation you must always plan the unexpected. Make sure your kids have something to do to occupy their time. Since the goal of a Family Vacation is for everyone to have fun and not just one person doing what they want.

Car rides and plane rides can turn disastrous also between Jet Lag and other delays. Long car or bus rides can be dreadful for children. Always consider the alternative of flying. It will save you hours of headache. Family flights can be affordable if you look around for the best deals. It's the form of travel with the least amount of stress overall.

Affordable rooms are easy to find anywhere as long as your willing to look around for the best deal again. A Family Vacation with at least 2 rooms (a living room and bedroom). Sometimes parents will sleep in one room and the children in another. This way the children will have their space and not be smothered. Also the parent will have their own privacy working out great on both ends.

By spending a little bit more money you can give your family that little extra freedom in travel and room to make it an enjoyable Family Vacation for all.

Find Great Vacation Packages and Free Information at http://memory-vacations.com/home
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=R_Miller