Welcome to Dutchies on the Loose

Meet the Dutchies

Our Adventure

Our Adventure

Hey there! We’re Stefan and Kris – a happily married, madly in love, Dutch/American couple!  Stefan and I are two Generation Xer’s (doesn’t that have a better ring to it than middled aged  🙂 ) who are now on the loose more often! You’ll find us road tripping in our motorhome “Dutchie”, traveling abroad and exploring our backyard in Colorado! We’ll be seeking out all the “Dutchiness” we can find in the U.S. (maybe even Canada!). Dutch named towns, Dutch festivals, Dutch bakeries, Dutch art and Dutch cheese makers – we’re coming to you! We’re excited to share our travels and all our Dutch experiences with you through our videos, photographs and personal stories.

Along the way we’ll be sharing some of our other loves… travel, photography, craft beer tasting, tandem biking, hiking, and our furry friend Balto! We hope you join along on our adventure and invite your friends!

Of course we can’t do all this just the two of us – meet our “crew” here (and learn more about us!).

Cheers!

Kris & Stefan

Stefan

Stefan

Hoi! I’m the only authentic Dutchie of the group! I was born in Utrecht but spent the majority of my life in Barneveld before I moved to the States in 2015 (after marrying my Colorado girl in 2013!). After traveling around the world when I was 25, taking numerous trips since then (Antarctica – I’ll get to you!) and spending the last 4 years living in Colorado – I still have the desire for more exploring!

Eleven years ago I became a small business owner of 112.press. My media company is based in The Netherlands and consists of 35 local news websites and glossy magazines.

With my background in IT and photography – I am the techie of the team. I keep our website running – along with shooting and editing our videos. After being a professional Nikon devotee for the past 10 years, I’m now a mirrorless camera convert with my new Fujifilm X-T2! I’m loving the lightweight equipment and rediscovering my love of photography! Besides Dutchies on the Loose, you can also check out my photos on ColoradoDutchie.com.

Kris

Kris

Hello! I’m a Colorado girl for the past 28 years, but proud of being raised in a small Iowa town. After marrying my handsome Dutchman, I’m now a Dutchie by marriage. 🙂 I’ve been lucky to have a life filled with travel! From road trip family vacations, escorting cruise groups for my business, to many other trips around the world – I still have a serious case of wanderlust! I love meeting new people, exploring new places and learning about different cultures!

I’ve worked in the travel industry for the past 23 years (sshh, my husband thinks I’m 28!) and since 2006 I am the owner of Travel by Kris, Inc. Planning my client’s dream trips is the best job in the world! I also blog about “Dutchiness” at Daily Dose of Dutch.

With my daughter now in college, the nest empty – it’s time for more travel adventures! With Dutchies on the Loose I’m the story writer and wannabe photographer! Since Balto declined on being our video personality, I was also nominated for that job. 🙂

Balto

Balto

Woof! I was born on February 7, 2016 when Kris and Stefan adopted (rescued!) me. Okay, technically reborn – that wasn’t a life being chained up and hungry! Enough about that -because now I’m living the life with my pack; that includes food and treats, daily walks and endless love! I’m working on that affection thing – I still save my kisses for extra special moments but I’m starting to really enjoy those hugs. 🙂

My favorite thing to do is hike – all those smells, it’s like doggy heaven! My biggest role in Dutchies on the Loose is keeping my humans active and insulating our home on wheels with all my extra fur! After receiving a DNA test for Christmas – I can now confirm I’m mostly Malamute. You can’t imagine how many times I got asked what kind of dog I was! 🙂 After learning to love life on the road, I’m so excited for another adventure!

Dutchie the Jamboree

Dutchie the Jamboree

Hi there – I’m Dutchie, a Fleetwood Jamboree Sport 25G! Not to brag, but I make this entire adventure possible for my crew. My stats at birth are impressive – I was born in 2012 with a length of 27 feet and weight of 14,500 pounds! Luckily I’m done growing. 🙂

I get my looks from the Ford E450 model and I’m energetic with my V10 6.8L engine. I have many responsibilities but most important are getting Kris and Stefan safely to their project locations and providing them and Balto with a comfy home. In return, they are extra nice to me – they bathe me, feed me (even thought they often tell me what a gas guzzler I am! 😉 ) and empty my tanks. I’m also often rewarded with being in a beautiful spot for a couple weeks to enjoy this great country! How good it feels to at times rest my engine and recharge my batteries!

Blog

Stefan had his GoPro set up as our Dutchie Dashcam and put together this awesome video. Hope you enjoy following along with the highlights of our trip like that day the The Sulross football team from Alpine Texas that gave Dutchie a thorough cleaning!
Read More
On our first big road trip in Dutchie we boondocked for a few days along Highway 1 in California. All the power we used was our (LED) lights at night, our WeBoost, Wifiranger and the water pump. We still ended up with an almost empty battery! We learned it took two hours ...
Read More
If you scroll through our instagram time line during our first trip in Dutchie, you see mostly pretty sunsets, selfies, nice camp sites, pics of our cute dog Balto and the “occasional” beer. 😉 You don’t see much of what didn’t go perfectly on our f...
Read More
8894
Miles

1045
Gallons of Gas

65
Craft beers

Our Sponsors

We both run successful online businesses, so internet connection for us is extremely important. After extended online research we have come to the conclusion WiFiRanger EliteAC Pack will be a must for keeping our businesses running on the road.

WIFIRanger

WIFIRanger

Go Power!’s 120-watt Portable Solar Kit (PSK) folding solar modules offer some of the most versatile and convenient battery charging options for those who don’t want to permanently mount solar to a rooftop.

Go Power!

Go Power!

Gear and gadgets

Listed below is our favorite gear we have purchased or are sponsored with for our road trips in Dutchie! We’ve been busy trying out these products and personally recommend them.

Portable Solar Kit

Portable Solar Kit

On our first big road trip in Dutchie we discovered it took two hours a day of running the generator to keep our batteries charged. That’s when we knew solar panels were needed to charge instead of a noisy generator!

Go Power!’s 120-watt Portable Solar Kit (PSK) folding solar modules offer some of the most versatile and convenient battery charging options. For those of us who don’t want to permanently mount panels to our rooftop, it’s the ideal choice in solar. It has adjustable folding legs to maximize solar exposure and it’s compact for easy storage (all fits in the included case!).

Go Power!

 

La Crosse Weather Station

La Crosse Weather Station

Kris and I love our La Crosse Atomic Forecast Station with pressure history, temperature, humidity, and moon phase! It has a detachable stand for wall hanging (ours is hanging next to our front door) or for on your tabletop/shelf. The best feature is it’s wireless – less cords in the RV is always a good thing! 🙂 The remote sensor has a range of 330 feet (unobstructed). The receiver measures 4-3/4″ wide by 1-1/4″ deep by 6-9/10″ high.

weBoost

weBoost

Kris and I drive through many areas where our cell signal is weak. The weBoost was one of our best purchases before road tripping! With both of us running online businesses and internet connection a priority – we use weBoost on a daily basis when traveling in Dutchie. The weBoost frequently upgrades us from one bar, enhancing our cell service.

Signal boosters increase cell signal by collecting signals with a powerful antenna, delivering those signals to the booster, amplifying the cell signals so your devices receive them, and delivering your device’s boosted signals back to the cell tower.

The Drive 4G-X RV is a powerful in-vehicle cell phone signal booster kit certified for use anywhere in the US. It boosts voice and data with max FCC-allowed 50 dB system gain, enhancing 4G LTE, as well as 3G network signals, up to 32x. You’ll get fewer lost connections and dead zones, better call quality as well as faster data uploads/downloads. The weBoost can be used while parked or in motion in your RV (and works in all classes of RV’s and towables).

Buy from Weboost

 

WifiRanger EliteAC

WifiRanger EliteAC

Kris and I both own business and can’t go a day without internet. The WiFiRanger is one of our go-to devices on the road and we use it on a daily basis! During our travels in Dutchie the first thing I do on each of our stops is pop up the antenna, get out my computer and do a WiFi search with the WiFiRanger. This device also allows us to cut down on our data usage. We have chosen the EliteAC Pack (you can watch our unpacking video here).

The goal of WiFiRanger products is to enhance existing internet sources and make them more usable, while also combining these as desired for the most speed, reliability, and automatic backup. WiFiRanger products can reach weak WiFi at extreme distances (up to 2 miles) and also tether to your USB MiFi, Aircard, or Smartphone. WiFiRanger can also simultaneously utilize these multiple internet sources by load balancing data for maximum speed and reliability. The WifiRanger GoAC router offers a secure wifi network inside your RV.

Buy from WifiRanger

 

Fan-Tastic Vent

Fan-Tastic Vent

We’ve purchased The Fan-Tastic Vent for some extra cooling for us and Balto (it can also be attached to pet cages). It’s a portable 12V fan that moves a large volume of air, but with a low amp draw. During our first trip in Dutchie we used this fan many times! It came in handy cooling Balto, drying out an area due to a small leak, and helping our laundry dry quicker! With it’s narrow design we were able to easily store it with the laundry hamper in our shower.

Nespresso Essenza Mini

Nespresso Essenza Mini

I can’t start the day without strong, black coffee! At home I have an espresso machine with a grinder – but it’s just too big to take on the road. Luckily during some Black Friday shopping we came the Nespresso Essenza Mini. After trying it out I’m enjoying the flavor and my coffee ready in less than a minute! I prefer espresso but it also can make coffee with it’s adjustable cup servings. Since Kris isn’t a coffee drinker, she’s happy with the minimal counter and cabinet space it’s taking up in Dutchie!

The Nespresso Essenza uses coffee capsules that are Nespresso® OriginalLine compatible. I recommend the 120 Americano Nespresso Compatible Capsules for only $19.95

Tire Pressure Monitoring System

Tire Pressure Monitoring System

We hope to prevent tire blowouts while driving Dutchie – so we chose the EEZ RV Tire Pressure Monitoring System. It’s designed as a safety feature to allow drivers to monitor both the tire pressure and temperature of the tires on their RV, trailers or tow vehicle. During our first road trip in Dutchie we liked the added sense of safety the tire system provided (we also physically inspected our tires on a daily basis).

There are several benefits to using EEZ RV PRODUCTS TPMS systems; when a tire failure occurs on a trailer, significant damage can occur to the trailer before the driver has any knowledge of the blowout. In addition, tires running at optimal tire pressure and temperature (the two main causes of tire failure in the trailer application) will improve fuel economy and extend the life of your tires.

Buy from EEZ RV Products

 

Dehumidifier

Dehumidifier

When you live in Colorado – the thought of purchasing a dehumidifier never crosses your mind! We are constantly trying to add more moisture to our dry air here! 🙂 We’ve bought the Ivation IVADM10 Powerful Small-Size Thermo-Electric Dehumidifier to try out in Dutchie. Measuring just 6.1″ x 5.1″ x 8.7″, we think it’ll be the perfect size for our 26′ Class C (we’ll keep you posted how often we’re emptying from more humid areas!). The washable air filter, tank full light and auto shut off are handy features.

Surge Protector

Surge Protector

Seeing so many stories from other RV’ers about damaged appliances because of electrical issues from the campsite pedestal – we decided we needed something to protect us from that! Each time we are hooked up to electricity we use our surge protector, lock it up and for the rest of our stay don’t worry about the electrical connection.

The Progressive Industries EMS-PT30X Portable Surge Protector is designed to protect your 30 Amp RV from 3 modes of electrical issues. The smart technology utilized by the PT30X provides high & low voltage protection, whenever source power falls below 104 Volts, or rises above 132 volts and will automatically shut down power to the RV. Also, the weather protection shield keeps your RV’s power cord out of the rain.

NOTE: Any surge protector can be used with any amperage, with the use of an adapter.

Go to Progressive Industries

 

Contact the Dutchies

    This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.