• Red Cottage VIP Printable Library
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Red Cottage Chronicles

All Things Home

  • Home
  • About
    • Work With Me
    • Contact
    • Legal Stuff
  • Recipes
    • All Things Sweet
    • Appetizers and Dips
    • Mains and Sides
    • soups & salads
    • vegan/vegetarian
  • Around the Home
    • Housekeeping/Homemaking
    • Home Decor
    • Tablescapes
    • flowers and wreaths
    • gardens
    • Seasonal, Holidays & Special Occasions
  • DIY
    • One Room Challenge
    • Thrift Store Upcycle Projects
    • Seasonal, Holidays & Special Occasions
    • DIY Renovation Projects
  • Lifestyle
    • Explore Niagara
    • Family
    • health and well being

Family frugal living

PEI Road Trip

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser.  All opinions are mine alone. #FRAMFresh #CollectiveBias

Road Trip

I have a love/hate relationship with road trips.  While I love arriving at our destination, I absolutely loath the actual drive.  

Our latest road trip found us in Prince Edward Island to attend my nephews wedding!  I can’t wait to go through the 400 some-odd photo’s I took and share some with you later this week!  The bride and groom planned every detail of this rustic island wedding and it truly was outstanding.

We have been to PEI many times before, and while we didn’t have any real plans to see the sites, we didn’t have to go far to experience all the island has to offer.

Road Trip

We took a walk on the beach and discovered all kinds of fun things.  Like a washed up, broken old lobster trap and pretty shells of all shapes and sizes.

Road Trip

The weather was outstanding for October on the island!  The sun was shining and temperatures reached 24 during the daytime.  Little daisies could be found growing all over the place.

Road Trip

The view from our cottage deck was amazing.  We watched the sun set as the fishing boats made the most of every last minute of daylight.  It was hard to pull ourselves away from all this when it was time to head for home.

I am a bit of a very anxious traveler, and taking a road trip for any reason is a huge deal for me.

As soon as we decide on a destination I go into planning mode.  I search Mapquest for the best possible route. I check out all the hotels in the locations we will be stopping over, and compare prices on all the internet travel sites.  If we are travelling to a place we have never visited I have been known to use Google earth to actually see the sites before I even get there!  

road trip

The four of us, plus my mom, my nephew Josh and all our luggage packed into our Ford Flex for the 18 hour drive! 

Yes. Six people. Eighteen hours. In the car!

While I am busy making sure all the details are planned, the packing done, and reservations made, I make sure Tim has given the car a once over and done any required maintenance before we head out.  

Some jobs he leaves to the professionals, such as changing the brakes or any major fixes, but most of the routine maintenance he looks after himself.  Things like oil changes and filter changes.  Since he knows how nervous I am about the trip he takes care to make sure everything is looked after before we leave.

Off we went to Canadian Tire to pick up an engine air filter, which is one of those easy things he takes care of.  Right there in the automotive department Aisle 9, beside the orange FRAM engine air filters he spotted a bright green FRAM Fresh Breeze Cabin Air Filter box.  

What the heck is a cabin air filter? And what does it do?

road trip

Please tell me I am not the only one who didn’t know that most cars have a cabin air filter?  

We couldn’t even find mention of it in our vehicle’s maintenance manual, yet up to 80 percent of vehicles built since 2000 have one.

Turns out the cabin air filter does a lot of things and is an important part of keeping your vehicle (and your passengers) safe and comfortable.  It does things like…

  • cleaning the air that enters the vehicle of dust, dirt and allergens
  • keeps the flow of fresh air coming through the system, which if it gets clogged can block the output of the air flow into the cabin
  • a clean filter helps to ensure your air conditioning and defrost systems are working efficiently

Did you know the air inside your vehicle can be up to 6 times dirtier than the air we breath outside, but replacing your cabin air filter using a FRAM Fresh Breeze cabin air filter can remove up to 98% of the dirt, dust and allergens from passing through your car’s ventilation system.  It is the only one that uses Arm & Hammer baking soda and activated carbon to absorb and eliminate orders.  

Fresh and efficient air flow!

Since there were six of us on this road trip I suggested maybe now that we know we have a cabin air filter that we really need to change it! 

I should mention that as per usual, Tim left his only task of making sure the car was in tip-top shape to the last minute!  Thankfully changing the cabin air filter takes less than 15 minutes.  

Here is our easy step by step tutorial as to just how easy it was: 

Step 1 – Empty your glove compartment (the cabin air filter is located behind it), open it up, press the little tab (in our case this is on the left side) to release the glove compartment

road trip

Step 2 –  Allow the glove box to just hang down (in some vehicles it will be completely removed, but in the case of our Ford Flex it just hung down out of the way to expose the filter housing)

Road Trip

 

road trip

Step 3 – Release the little tabs on the bottom of the cabin air filter housing to remove the cover and expose the filter
Road Trip

road trip

Just by looking at the edge of the filter, I knew it was long over due for a change! 

Road Trip

Step 4  –  Pull the filter straight out and be prepared to be disgusted if you haven’t changed the filter ever, like ours!

road trip

How disgusting is that!?  Who knew this could be lurking behind your glove compartment?

Step 5 – Remove the  new FRAM Fresh Breeze cabin air filter from the plastic outer wrapping and slide it straight into the cabin filter compartment.  Reattach the cabin filter housing cover by aligning the tabs on the bottom and snapping back into place

road trip

Step 6 – Lift up the glove compartment and snap it back into place.

road trip

Step 7 – Take a deep breath knowing that the air in your vehicle will now flow efficiently, warm or cold, and be extra fresh thanks to the carbon and Arm & Hammer baking soda contained in the FRAM Fresh Breeze cabin air filter!

Road Trip

(Can you tell this was Samantha’s first vacation in about two years!!)

FRAM recommends that you change your cabin air filter annually or every 24,000 kilometers.  Which ever comes first. (Follow recommended change intervals as noted in your vehicle owner’s manual.) Don’t wait until you have gone 100,000 km like we did or you will end up with inefficient air flow that has blown through a filter that looks like this…straight into the cabin air you breath.

road trip

For optimal vehicle engine efficiency and horsepower you need to regularly change your engine air filter. The engine air filter is your engines first line of defense and prevents dirt and dust from entering the engine and hence preventing damage.  It is one of the easiest auto maintenance tasks you can do yourself and takes less than 5 minutes!

road trip

Simply locate the engine air filter housing, release the two clips as shown in the photo below, lift cover off and remove old filter before setting the new one in place!

road trip

In less than 20 minutes 2 easy, yet major car maintenance tasks were complete and I could cross that off my road trip to-do list!

road Trip

Knowing there is one less thing to worry about, and this view awaiting our arrival in Prince Edward Island made this road trip a little bit easier!

Don’t wait for a road trip to make sure your vehicle is operating as efficiently as possible! FRAM suggests changing your engine air filter and cabin air filter at the same time as chances are if one needs changing, the other one could use to be changed as well.

Click here or here to for more information about FRAM Fresh Breeze cabin air filters, handy videos and how-to’s for your vehicle!  You can even enter your vehicle information and find out exactly what filter number fits your car.

We had a fantastic time spending a week with filled with celebration of love.  Turns out we left for home just in time to avoid power outages, high winds and rain that moved into PEI later in the day.  Another successful road trip under our belt.  

Until next time….

Red Cottage Chronicles

 

 

(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)


8 Comments

Subscribe

Get all the latest news from our little red cottage straight to your inbox!

« Top 5 Taste of Home Recipe Reviews
A Rustic Island Wedding »

Comments

  1. Jeanie says

    October 13, 2016 at 7:23 am

    Wow, six people for 18 hours! Well at least you were headed to a beautiful place for a lovely wedding. And in a well-maintained vehicle! I can’t wait to see more pictures!

    Reply
  2. Michelle from Weekend Craft says

    October 14, 2016 at 8:34 am

    Who knew there was an air filter behind there?! Not me wonder what mine looks like? 3 years after getting the car it’s probably gross. Glad you had a great time in PEI!

    Reply
  3. Leilani says

    October 14, 2016 at 10:59 am

    I’m with you. Loathe long drives!! 18 hours??? I’m gonna have to look at my map again because I assumed you were much closer. Will need to check out my cabin air filter, too, with all the road trips coming up.

    Reply
  4. Cyn Gagen says

    October 18, 2016 at 8:45 pm

    I love how quick and easy it is to install those filters. I have got to do this with my own car. #client

    Reply
    • Maureen says

      October 21, 2016 at 1:02 pm

      I am still amazed we didn’t even know there was one in there! It was so easy to change!

      Reply
  5. Barbara Chapman ~ French Ethereal says

    April 13, 2017 at 12:04 am

    Hello Maureen,

    Such a beautiful wedding table! Posted over to my Wedding Ideas page on Pinterest for you. 🙂 I love your story about the cabin air filter. I know ours has officially been changed once in my Sequoia, and I don’t remember when… in 12 years. I’m going to go get a new one tomorrow!

    Thanks for the info, the beautiful photos of your trip, and for the grossing out and the laughter at the same time,
    Barb 🙂

    Reply
    • Maureen says

      April 13, 2017 at 7:35 am

      Awww! Thanks Barbara! I can’t wait to get back to PEI again. It really is the perfect place for a rustic wedding 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. A rustic wedding on Prince Edward Island with vintage touches says:
    October 15, 2016 at 7:07 pm

    […] case you missed my last post, we spent last week in Prince Edward Island to attend the wedding of my nephew Zachary to his […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Red Cottage Chronicles

Oh, hi there!

Well, hello! I am Maureen, and welcome to our little Red Cottage. Married to my high school sweetheart, I am a passionate baker, accidental DIY'er and love all things home! Read More…

Follow Us!

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Stay updated!

Get all the latest news from our little red cottage straight to your inbox!

Categories

Instagram

redcottagechronicles

redcottagechronicles
Introducing our new little bean!! Falcon Lake’s Introducing our new little bean!! Falcon Lake’s Jingle Bell Rock!! Otherwise known as Dasher!!! Can you tell we love Christmas!! He will join the family in about 3 weeks!! So excited!! #goldenpuppys #goldenretrieverpuppy #puppylove
A very Merry Christmas to all! When the snow start A very Merry Christmas to all! When the snow started to fall last night this girl was a very happy camper!! #whitechristmas #letitsnowletitsnowletitsnow #snowmakesmehappy #perfectday
My sweet boy is out like a light after spending a My sweet boy is out like a light after spending a spa day @fetchme.later  He always comes home looking fabulous and happy to be all fluffed and buffed!! #adogslife🐾❤️ #sleepinglikeadog #goldenretrieversofinstagram #goldenlove #lovemygoldenretriever #letsleepongdogslie #christmasready🎄
A sparkly Christmas tree makes me happy!! And, fro A sparkly Christmas tree makes me happy!! And, from what I am seeing not only on social media but also right here in our neighborhood #, folks are decking their halls early this year! Twenty-twenty has been quite a year, and anyway I think people are looking for a way to add a little joy into their lives! Today on the blog I am sharing this, my Victorian inspired Christmas tree, plus links to 27 other inspirational trees!! Link in my bio! And, if decorating for the holidays is too soon for you or you don’t decorate at all, that’s okay, but I encourage you to find a little thing to light up your day!! #christmasdecor #victorianchristmastree #holidaydecor #sparklythings #christmastreedecorating #victorianmagazine #hgtvcanada #dowhatmakesyouhappy #christmasinniagara #styleathomemagazine #canadianlivingmagazine #englishcountrystyle
The living room Christmas mantel is almost finishe The living room Christmas mantel is almost finished!! Instead of buying new garland I used inexpensive garland I have had for several years and embellished it with faux green stems bought during a 2 for 1 sale, and beautiful silk garden roses I already had!  Best part, I can reuse all the elements and create something new next year!  #christmasmantle #fauxgarland #victorianmagazine #repurposedchristmas #handmadechristmasdecorations #christmasdecor #countrylivinguk #nutcracker #pinkchristmasdecor
Our Thanksgiving may be behind us here in Canada, Our Thanksgiving may be behind us here in Canada, I am joining my American friends in sharing some inspiration for Thanksgiving table decor! I am leaning towards the simple things these days and this table reflects that! See the entire post through the link in my profile! #thanksgiving #tabledecorideas #autumntable #easycenterpiece #inspiredbynature #simplelife #homedecor #styledtablesaturday #styledtable #thanksgiving2020
Love autumn in Niagara! #autumncolours #notl #chan Love autumn in Niagara! #autumncolours #notl #changingleaves #niagaraescarpment #niagaraparkway #secretpaths #walkinginthewoods #leafcoveredpathways #redcottagechronicles
Having an outdoor socially distanced birthday cele Having an outdoor socially distanced birthday celebration with my “bubble”! @samantha__38 used my Cricut Explore 2 to make me a fan to “blow out” my candles!! #happybirthdaytome #fabulousat55 #birthdayfun #cricutmade #cricutexploreair2 #cricutcreated #genius #covidbirthday2020 #daughters #cricutcrafts
Decisions. Decisions!! #oneroomchallenge #bedroomr Decisions. Decisions!! #oneroomchallenge #bedroomrefresh #warmgray #benjaminmoore #graypaintcolor #upholsteredbed
Long Sunday morning strolls are so relaxing! Doesn Long Sunday morning strolls are so relaxing! Doesn’t get much better than autumn in #niagara
With 2020 being the most ridiculous year ever it i With 2020 being the most ridiculous year ever it is easy to feel defeated, sad, fed-up, and overwhelmed. I try to find a way to elevate the every day, and y’all know how much I love my fresh flowers!  These gorgeous hydrangeas cut from my garden this morning will bring a smile to face for days to come. And, remind me how blessed I am to have a safe spot to land when the world outside seems too much to handle. #hydrangeasmakemehappy #home #cozy #autumndiningroom grooom #freshflowers #flowermagazine #frommygarden #elevatetheeverday #bigflowerarrangement #simplebouquets #falltabledecor #falltabledecor
Went on our annual trek to go apple picking at @wi Went on our annual trek to go apple picking at @windwoodfarms  It has been a tradition for the last 8 years! That means apple recipes in the blog this week! #applecake #applepickingseason #autumntraditions #applerecipes #niagaraapples #appledesserts #freshpickedapples #bakingfromscratch #autumndesserts #beamsvillebench #passionatebaker #oldfashionedrecipe
Load More... Follow on Instagram

tablescapes

tablescapes

One Room Challenge Kitchen Edition

Budget Kitchen Renovation

STAY UP TO DATE

Get all the latest recipes straight to your inbox

Disclosure & Privacy Policy

Disclosure & Privacy Policy

More From Red Cottage Chronicles

25 tried and true brunch recipes

Let’s Do Brunch – 25 Delicious Brunch Recipes

Impossible Pumpkin Pie

Impossible Pumpkin Pie #PumpkinWeek

alfresco tablescape

A Simple Summer Luxury – Dining Alfresco

Easy Birthday Cake Recipe

Easy Birthday Cake Recipe

Puff Pastry Fruit Tarts

Copyright © 2021 · Site by Pretty Pink Studio

This site uses cookies : to enhance your user experience Find out more.