This week on the Rv podcast? This is
our 5 hundredth podcast, close to 10 years
now that we've been to win the show.
And this week, we're gonna tell you how
it all began and where we're headed.
And we had some
clarification on those
controversial news. Cdc rules
are bringing your dog back from Canada and
in Mexico.
But that
clarification doesn't mean it still isn't confusing.
In our social media buzz segment, we have
some tips on keeping cool while camping this
summer.
All this. Plus the Rv news of the
week and your questions coming up. An episode
500
of the Rv pass podcasts.
Hello, everybody. I'm Mike E and this is
my lifelong traveling companion and, my bride,
Jennifer.
500.
Mister mike. Think at the 5 500 times.
500 plus. Yes. 500
plus episodes. This is
really kind of a milestone for us, and
we looking forward to sharing some of the
things that have happened, how this all came
about
but, kind of a celebration.
I guess I should confess. We're not sure
whether it's 500 or, like, 540
because remember back when we first started, we
did
special additions all the time, but we didn't
count them as episode numbers. We didn't start
episode numbering them until
I don't know, a couple 3 months into
it.
So we who knew and that it would
be this many. So we're gonna talk about
that and a bunch more.
Just a quick reminder that there is a
video version of this podcast for those you
listening on your favorite podcast app. And you
can find this on our Youtube channel at
Youtube dot com slash r v
lifestyle.
Well,
we're to do some travel this week.
We have,
some more reviews we're gonna. And Not gotta
tell you. Whole lot about it, but if
you follow us on social media, we'll be
posting pictures during the week of all the
different Rv. That we will be reviewing, and
we're looking forward to to seeing what we
can find there.
Also,
that Our book came out this week.
And we're pretty excited about that. And we
hope you are too. Was guide to the
Bourbon trail,
and we really
are pretty excited to see what you think
about. It's a perfect summer trip. So
there's a link in the description below, if
you wanna check out our latest d book.
It's our 20 second book.
So we're celebrating
20 second book in our 500 podcast. That's
pretty good. Should I just say to people
that on the Bourbon trail, there's more to
do than just drink bourbon. Yeah, yeah. A
whole lot more. And it's really a beautiful
area of the country. And believe it or
not, other than the bourbon part, it's very
kid kid friendly. There's so many need interesting
things. To see and, great places to camp,
and we included a bunch of restaurants and
all that. So you can you can find
that. And then we are real excited because
when we get done with all these reviews
that we gotta do this week,
we are off to beautiful ship Shaq,
Indiana, the heart of Amish country, be and
are gathering our groove and gather next week.
Yes. And Bo is particularly excited to be
able to bark at horses. Yes. Boat loves
the horses,
And it it's a really fun trip that
we've got planned. This is a gathering. We
do a couple 3 of these a year.
This is our summer 1. It's been sold
out since the second day. We we listed
it available for tickets. So
we'll have a lot to show you next
week on social media, and I'm sure we'll
be talking with more about it on the
podcast as well. And if you're on your
way to ship Shaw on this week, We
look forward to seeing you. We hope to
arrive a little bit early, I think.
So that should be should be a good
trip.
Alright. Some
some additions to the news that we've been
talking about. The latest from the Cdc on
there are new rules for bringing your dog
back from Canada and Mexico. Now we've been
reporting on this for a couple 3 weeks
now, but starting
August first, some very detailed and complicated new
rules are gonna go into effect for anybody,
who enters the United States with a dog.
Even if it's your dog, your pet and
you're coming back to the United States to
go home,
And while these new rules
are aimed at keeping so called rescue dogs
of being imported into the Us from countries
that have very high rates. Of ra.
They also affect tourists and rv viewers who
take their dogs with them on vacations to
Canada and Mexico
and then come back home. Now you heard
that right. The rules about bringing animals in
from nations that have problems with ra.
Also apply to family pets owned either by
Canadians coming to vacation in the Us or
Us citizens
who have traveled to Canada,
and our returning team are returning home. Now
after almost 2 weeks of trying,
we finally got a written response to our
questions from the Cdc.
Now the Cdc are the ones who were
ins integrating these rules, and they refused to
be interviewed. On camera,
they would only respond to written questions,
and they did provide us the following
information.
To come back into the Us. Your dog
must be at least 6 months old.
So if you have a young dog or
puppy, even if you left the Us with
it for your vacation, you cannot return to
the Us with a pop until is 6
months old.
All dogs returning to the Us must be...
Microchip.
And that's not all. You must have the
dog vaccinated for ra and have written proof
of that.
And the microchip number from your vet.
Your vet must file out a form and
send it to the Usda.
This the Us Department of Agriculture. So that's
2 government agencies involved in this.
And then 2 to 10 days
before, you return to the United States,
you have to take face and body photos
of your dog,
And then you have to complete a Cdc
dog
import form. You have to note the the
microchip number on it, You have to identify
which port of entry that you're going to
use to return to the Us, and then
you have to upload that to the Cdc.
They should send you a receipt back and
you have to keep a copy of that
on your phone, and then you would show
that at the border when you come back
to the Us.
Man. So I hope you got all that.
And
we ask god vet. And after checking his
response was good God. What a mess.
All the forms. Yeah. All the forms, all
the paperwork seemed overwhelming.
Now, the Cdc
recommends that you began getting document
nation done,
60 to 90 days
before you leave the country with your pet.
Now all of those rules must go into
effect... August first.
So if you've have not followed them, your
dog will not be allowed to return to
the Us.
Now here's the rub to Some of the
required forms won't be available until after July
fifteenth, and the rules take effect 2 weeks
later.
Now the Cdc
is putting as much of this as they
can online, and we have a couple of
resources that they shared that they urge just
to pass along to you. And we will
put those in the description below the first
of is a checklist
for, what you have to do and when
to see your vet and what forms to
get where to send them, we'll put that
up and then the second 1 is a
documentation that's needed after August first to bring
your pet into the United States.
Trust me. This is nothing but confusing. I
have read these now over and over for
3 weeks, and I still have a lot
of questions.
There's just a tremendous amount of confusion about
these new rules, not just by tourists and
travelers,
but also by veterinarians.
So our best advice to you
is to call your vet as soon as
possible,
if you're planning to visit either Canada or
Mexico this summer.
And if you think those rules are confusing,
well,
will you go to those links that we
put up and you start to read them.
There are a lot of people who are
gonna be kinda caught with this... This weird
deadline, For example, us, we're going to Canada
on a trip to the maritime
that leaves
July 20 second and returns August seventeenth.
So
we're leaving the 20 second that form isn't
even available for my vet until the fifteenth,
and then he's gotta fill it out. He's
gotta figure it all out and send it
in,
and then I'm gone. So
there's gonna be a lot of people. In,
on that trip and a bunch of others
that are caught right in between that.
And if you're... In Canada and you haven't
done any of these forms or you're in
Mexico and you're coming back,
this is gonna be a big surprise for
you on August first. So
let's hope that there is maybe some pushing
back of these dates or some easing of
the rules. But for now,
That's the official word from the Cdc, and
we have links on our website for you
to check out. You know, I kinda think
it would be kinda a nice day have
it go into effect like January first. Or
or a few months in advance. For this
to be suddenly really announced, they're not even
finished with this because they don't have the
forms out
but we're dealing with the government. Right?
So what do you expect that is gonna
make sense or be easy.
It's crazy, and there's a lot of confusion,
and we'll keep on top of this story.
Alright. When we come back, we are gonna
talk about something lot more
enjoyable ace to us, the social media buzz,
what everybody's talking about on the Internet when
we come back. The 1 thing they can
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Welcome back to everybody. Time now for the
social media buzz.
Get your pen on ready and paper and
Get ready to write down some tips here
you're gonna learn. Mh. Wendy Boy here is
our chief
cat Herd.
On our social media platforms and she reports
on the hot issues.
Most talked about this past week on social
media.
Hi, everybody.
Over in the Rv lifestyle community's electrical space,
we had a recent post from Sherry, and
she asked, Do you keep your motor home
plugged in when you're home in between camping
trips? Well, this sparked of big
conversation, We had some like Andrew who said
he has a lot of solar panels, so
he just relies on those to keep his
batteries topped off. And then made others like,
Douglas who lives in Florida who said he
installed a 30 Amp Rv outlet at home,
and he does plug it in In fact,
I think most people did plug it in,
some like Robert, they said they keep the
Ac running at about 78
degrees. It helps control the temperature in the
rig, doesn't get too hot and helps control
the humidity as well.
Plus, Robert pointed out that the shore power
is not very expensive when compared to some
high quality batteries. So I gotta agree with
you on that 1, Robert.
And others said that they keep a plugged
in because they don't wanna bother having to
turn off their refrigerator and empty out all
the food back and forth all the time.
And we had 1 couple from California who
said they relied on their Rv to keep
it all ready to go, so they plugged
it in so it'd be ready to go
in case of an emergency like a wildfire.
And sounds like they keep that
going, which makes sense, especially somewhere where you're
prone to wildfires. So good tips there.
And then also in our community,
in the e bikes space. We had a
tip from Andrew that he just wanted to
share with everybody. He and his wife if
you have eb bikes. They love going out
riding, but 1 of their
frustrations was communicating with each other when they're
on them. So he solved this by getting
2 Cena helmets. I hope I'm pronouncing that
correctly.
But he said they were game changers. They
cost a little bit, but but they are
now able to talk to each other. Sometimes
half a mile in distance. So... These helmets,
they're... What motorcycle sometimes use. They have a
bluetooth
connection. So there's this headset in there where
you can talk. To somebody else. Some of
them have cameras, they come with a lot
of different options.
But it helps you communicate with whoever you're
riding with and just sounded like a great
tip. So thank you for sharing ring that
Andrew.
And then meanwhile over in our Rv lifestyle
Facebook group. Of course, lots of good discussions
going there and 1 of them from the
Nasa ring was very timely. She asked, how
do you keep it cool inside your rig
on those super hot days? And it sounds
like she's camping somewhere where there's no shade.
The temperatures are really hot in her Ac
while it's running 24 7 it's the rig
is still, like, more than 90 degrees inside.
So she needed some help, and she got
a lot of good suggestions.
Many recommended putting something on those windows. Bring
the temperature down be a cardboard, tint black
out shades,
reflects it. Of course, came up a lap
and that silver bubble wrap type material that
people use to keep the old out in
the winter and the heat out in the
summer,
that came up a lot. And others got
very creative.
They suggested 1 person suggested getting, like a
old canopy or a tent, some sort of
material that you can put over your rig
and kinda create your own shade to help
bring that temperature down,
Others said airflow is key, you need to
get a bunch of fans and keep the
air moving in a certain direction, so it's
not stagnant.
Others point out the air conditioning generally only
cools the inside temperatures is about 20 degrees
less than the outside temperatures. So if you
are somewhere really hot.
That might be playing into it.
Maybe vanessa smes to get some said, another
air conditioning unit, maybe be a portable 1.
And many suggest that she have her current
air conditioning unit, Somebody come out and look
at it, do some maintenance, make sure everything's
working great,
because maybe that's the issue. But again, There
were there were something like 450 comments on
this 1 so many
suggestions. But with it getting hot out if
you're planning on camping anytime soon,
you might wanna check this 1 out for
some some tips. And that's it for me
this week. I'm Wendy Boy, and I'll see
you over in the Rv lifestyle community or
Facebook group.
Alright, Wendy. Thank you very much. Staying cool
during the summer. Those are some great tips.
Yeah. And I like the idea of the
helmet. So you can communicate with each other.
Yeah. On your bike? Yes. When you're riding
your bike out there, half a mile distance
apart and, you know, so Yeah. This that's
pretty handy.
They're out there on a busy road or
you have a little problem hearing. I'm pretty
excited. I got a new e bike in
the last couple weeks. I got the new
version 3 from electric
bikes, and I'm hoping to take it to
our gathering in Ship next week. Well, I
think you could use it. So yeah if
you do take it. Yeah. It's fun. There's
a bike trailer that we can take, and
I'm looking for... I got a couple of
friends who are good e bike riders there,
and we're gonna have some fun. So Alright.
When we come back, we're gonna talk about,
on our Rv conversation in the week? How
all this started? Our 500
episode. Could you believe that 500 episode? I
can't. Believe this. So we're gonna talk about
how it started and where we're going. So
stay with this. Jennifer and I took a
trip to Las Vegas and Arizona. To look
at wind mail acres
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They're selling off 1 and 2 acre parcels.
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Next to Lake Mead national recreation area,
We had a blast. There are so many
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Boulder city was a fun little town.
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And of course, we had to enjoy some
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It's a lifetime supply of fun things to
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The properties are now available.
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For more information. Visit
Arizona ranch sales dot com, or call 822232
land
Alright. Welcome back. Time now for our Rv
conversation of the week. And
was sometime back in
20
13.
9.58
years ago to be precise.
That we released episode 1 of this podcast.
And we've been doing the Rv lifestyle since
March of 20 12. And that's how we
started with a blog,
and then we follow that with a quick
quickly by our Youtube channel,
and then the podcast podcasts.
And then we ended up with books,
newsletters, social media,
all sorts of other things. But at the
time we started,
with this podcast,
there was 1 other couple doing this. John
and Kathy Hug,
who,
I think we're the very first with an
Rv themed podcast. Podcast were very new back
then, and they called it live in the
Rv dream, and they did a wonderful job.
They started that out as a radio show
for
a local station in Florida.
And
before Kathy health... Started to fail and they
ended up, stopping the podcast. They did something
over 400
episodes. So, they were the the pioneers in
it.
I remember they were 1 of our first
interviews when we started, and, John really helped
me out with a lot of the equipment
and
it was it was really fun. And I
remember when we started,
you were not a believer.
Well.
You're the radio guy. You used to work
in radio,
and
I was just like, yeah, whatever. But everybody
that... I knew said, oh, you're gonna spread
yourself too thin. Nobody knows what a podcast
is, and and I just thought it was
really exciting. All the technology.
And, frankly,
it was kind of a fun thing to
do. And if I remember, I did a
couple, I did a tech 1 and a
couple of other podcasts until this 1 really
started with traction, but
when we started,
you know, there were very few even youtubers
out there or so called Rv influence. Oh,
absolutely incredible whole things have changed. The only
other couple that I knew of them we
started was Jason Nikki Win from gone with
the winds,
but they ended up...
Selling their Rv and and move down to
sailboat, and they're still doing videos on their
sailboat.
They were probably a few others. Yeah. But
nothing like now. And I think the last
time we tried to get in a feel
for how many couples are out there doing
what we do. Like, 350, and I bet
it's more than that. I bet it is
more than that too.
And some, you know, just do it
occasionally and and as others trying to make
a goal of it and And the the
fact of the that is most end up
quitting after a year 2 years, sometimes not
even that
because as much fun as all this is,
it can also be really challenging.
You know? Yeah. So the... We've been able
to stick this out for... 500
podcasts. That's that's pretty incredible. Yeah celebrating. We
should have had some noise maker. We should.
Yeah. 500 podcast episodes is we're celebrating. 5
and, as I said, this is probably episode
05:25,
05:45
because
we did all those early edition podcast. Every
time there was an Rv show would do
a special 1. We did a bunch of...
Some to some weeks, we did 2 or
3 podcast a week when we first were
starting off. Joe and we started off, It
was called road trek.
Remember? Oh, well, how can I forget that?
And we had all these
intros and... It was like a little radio.
I think I still have some of my
jingle on here.
I should play 1. I'm gonna play 1.
Here we go. Okay. This is our intro
to the first 1 we did ready. Listen
up.
Welcome fellow travelers. It's time for another episode
of the Rv podcast.
Answering your questions,
sharing tips.
Suggesting great trips and off the Beaten path
adventures and always staying on top of the
Rv lifestyle news you need to know about
with great interviews and insight industry information. Here's
your hosts, award winning journalist, Mike and Jennifer
Wind.
It was
it was a lot of fun. So
it's our 500 episode at least that, and
we have a post up on our blog.
That we'll link to in the show notes
about how this all started, but here are
the highlights of it. Well, it started as
a hobby back in 20 12 when Mike
left a long career in journalism.
Now this podcast and our many different platforms
have become what we,
really believe is a calling. We feel this
is exactly what we were meant to do.
It started when we bought a used road
track. Class B camper van type motor home
in the early in early 20 12.
And the 2006.
And remember remember when we bought that, it
was used,
we thought we could just go take a
look at it. Own old.
They... The dealership call us and said that
they had it coming in,
and they were taking a list.
And I said a list, and we were
the first of 6 on the list, but
we had it... I... How much do we
have to give dollars. We had to give
them a thousand dollars just to be on
the list, to be number 1 on the
list. And they said they would refunded it
if we didn't want it. So
we were number 1. We went, and we
liked it and we bought it. But that
was our first introduction of the Rv
industry and the demand for Rv back in
20 12, a thousand bucks just to get
the go look at it, as a deposit.
And we sell along with it. It was
really, oh, I we fell in love. I
said to you. I will do this for
1 year. 1 year. That was you said.
Yep. Yep. And here we are. Here we
are. There... Yeah. I'm glad you can't count.
But we started a plug and...
I'm a reporter. I'm a writer, you know,
and
that's what I do.
And Jen was a producer.
We work... We travel all over the country
all over the world before that doing videos
and stuff from in doing a lot of
freelance stuff.
But I just wanted to tell the stories
about the things we were seeing in North
America and how we were enjoying Rv. And
so we started a blog, and then some
of our friends in the media picked it
up,
and it just took off.
It just took off, and it was so
much fun. It really was fun because we
would just travel and wherever we were, I'd
be reading pamphlet some brochures and whatever I
could find and looking for something interesting,
like, the history of jello.
Yeah. I mean all kinds of goofy things.
Yeah. I remember that. That was a trip
that we did along the
Lake Erie Shoreline,
and we just driving down...
Our style is serendipity,
which is means happy accident, stuff we find
along the way.
And
I remember we had a couple
that wanted to join us on this tour
because we were... No, hey, we're here. We're
doing this. And said, we're gonna meet at
your campground and we'll follow you along
And we said, well, I don't know what
we're gonna be doing, but, okay. Well, we
just... We're driving to the next 1 and
we saw a sign that said J museum,
up in
upstate in New York. I think it was
yes. And so we,
we went, and,
no. It was Lake Ontario. Yeah, it was
lake Ontario, Shoreline.
And we went, and it was fascinating, and
we did a little story on that, and
then this couple said, you didn't show up
where you said you'd be yes. And that
was where we learned,
never offered to travel in a group with
other people. Because
we used to share every place we were
when we were there,
a couple of things having. 1 people knocked
on your door at like an 11 and
said, hi.
And that, you know,
I mean, we love meeting people, but come
on, and And then others would would get
frustrated if they were gonna follow us because
we just driving down the road and Jennifer
says, look, there's this and we turned the
car and we go. So
We stopped telling people where we were until
we were already there or were leaving,
and it was fun.
And for those early years, we did the
podcast from the road as we do still
now,
but I was still working... I was doing
weekly technology reports for Nbc News. Mh.
So that kept you out of trouble. Yeah.
And
we just had a great great time. We
just traveled all over the place. And enjoyed
it.
And, you know, what... We'd been... I'd been
to so many places as a journalist
that
I remember where I would be someplace And
I'd only be there for 15 minutes. We
called it parachute journalism, you'd go in and
you'd use a skyline or a mountain range
as a backdrop. For a stand up. And,
Mike Well, wherever we're am by and get
down the plane and you go someplace else.
So
we had missed so much. And I wanted
to show Jennifer for some of those places,
and so that's how we we thought it
was gonna be our retirement.
Well, it's been a fun retirement. We've seen
so much. So many places in this country
that, I wanted to see. I'd love to
travel. III
had a great big long bucket list of
places and parks and things I wanted to
see so. I've been very fortunate. I've been
able to see most of them. We've traveled
we figure about 300000
miles or a little longer, maybe over those
12 years, 12 plus years.
And, typically, we mark out a route. We
identify a few spots that we wanna be
sure to visit and then
off we go. And we stop whenever we
want, whenever Jennifer finds something that's interesting.
I remember
I old editor to of mine back in
my newspaper days, Once told me... In fact,
his first assignment to me. Is your first
buy, and I wanted to squat on a
corner and he gave me the name of
the corner and says back in Bay City,
Michigan.
He said,
go find the first person stand in the
corner and find their story. I said find
their story. And he said every person. Has
a story to tell. That was A Pell,
still the best editor I ever had.
And he's right. It's not every person that
has a story
it's also
every place.
You know? Yes.
So, we wanted to go to those places
and share the stories? That we discovered and
found with you. Yep. And we would do
the same thing. We just wander around, chat
up the people we meet.
Take a bunch of photos and videos and
and almost every time,
we'd return with more stories than we can
we can do.
So
where is this headed? And what's next for
us? Well, what's around the next bend in
the road?
That's where we're headed... And we seldom them
plan more than 2 or 3 months out.
We're very much serendipity traveler.
Yeah. Like I said, a serendipity deputy means
a happy accident or a
pleasant surprise and something fun and useful and
enjoyable. You discover and by happens stance.
And I think that's a a perfect description
for what we find every day.
In all this wandering in an Rv. So
we plan to keep on doing this. Yep.
Until we don't wanna do it. Or,
declining health or circumstances
make it clear to us that it's time
to slow down or come off the road,
and we can honestly say we enjoy it.
Ever bit as much now as we did
when we first began. You know, maybe we
appreciate it more,
and we have no plans to quit anytime
soon and look forward to each trip like
newbies.
So that's our story, and it's still unfolding.
And we'll answer a couple more... This this
is kind of where we been where we're
going,
we've got a lot of other you are
always send us a bunch of questions.
We try to keep Rv
travel related, but we'll answer some personal questions
that
have coming in as well. We'll do that
in the
questions of the week segment that's coming up
in a little bit. But next stop after
this break, The Rv news of the week.
Stay with us.
Jennifer and I bought some land near Nashville,
Tennessee a while back. We got tired. Crowded
expensive campground and worrying about reservations.
Tennessee is a gorgeous state with friendly people.
And it has been such a pleasure. The
same developer has some new property near us
close to the Natchez trace and Buffalo River,
called the reserve at High forest.
Big properties, 5 to 41 acres, you can
build a house, a cabin or Rv year
out.
Price started only 89900
dollars. Your property, your way, 100 percent ownership.
The scenery in this part of Tennessee is
breathtaking,
and the property is gorgeous,
garden, landscape,
bring your pets, build what you want. There's
high speed fiber optic internet, and it is
so private. A great place to make your
home base, ready whenever you wanted.
5 to 41 acre properties from 89900
dollars.
There's even great financing,
check out the site and a video tour
at rv lands dot net. That's rv lands
dot net.
Time now for the Rv news of the
week. Well, the aca are here.
Have you met me yet?
So honestly, have you running the yet why
you've been camping?
We haven't so far? No. Not yet. But
we're thinking this week we'll be camping in
Southeast michigan again and next... Then following week
we'll be in Northern Indiana, and, kinda hoping
we do. You're hoping to see some bugs.
Yeah.
Yeah. This is gonna be the year of
the Sake aca apocalypse
as many as 1500000.0
per acre.
Emerging from underground in places in the southeast
and the Midwest,
and the reason is there's 2 different brood
appearing at the same time.
And,
this only happens,
you know,
very rarely, all the bug experts in the
world are really excited.
I don't know when the last time this
thing happened. I don't know if whatever eats
case has gotta be pretty happy too. Yeah.
I think it was it's over 2 centuries,
I think. Really You better get out there
and enjoy these little critters. Well, 17 states
in the southeast and Midwest have, been reporting
these Sa aca sighting.
Scientists say the brood emerge once the soil
8 inches underground reaches 64 degrees.
So,
And now, these wing bugs spend most of
their lives underground and they come up to
mate lay eggs and then they die.
And while they they don't bite, they do
make a lot of noise, and especially at
Dawn and dust.
And
when they have died off. It can't be
well
disgusting. You need shovel to split it that
way.
So a while ago, couple months ago, we
interviewed a Sa
expert on the podcast, and he gave us
lots of interesting facts and we'll put a
link to that
in the show notes. And you can find
the show notes at rv lifestyle dot com
slash podcast.
Alright.
More Rv recalls announced last week, about a
national highway traffic safety administration. They list these
recalls pretty much monthly.
24 Tiff
24 through 25 by way motor homes
are being recalled...
Because the secondary emergency exit in the bedroom
wasn't installed.
They're gonna send out
notification letters to owners
on July twelfth.
And Forest River
is calling 2204
of their 20 20 to 20 23 coach
independence trail,
the,
viking
and clipper travel trailers. And their issue would
get this, the water tank.
May detach from the vehicle when it's full
or over filled. Can you imagine that? They're
gonna send out notification letters to owners on
June 20 fourth.
Forest River is also recalling 318 and the
20 20 fourth Sol.
And 20 24 25,
Forester
and suns motor homes. And their issue was
the Lp p gas line may not be
properly secured, which can cause the line to
become damaged in leak, yikes.
Owner
notification letters will be mailed out June 26,
an aluminum trailer company is recalling 3 98
of its 21 through 24 toy haul or
fifth wheel trailers
the Led back light circuit board in the
top range may fail, and that could cause
that board to overheat. Owners will get their
letters mailed out June fourteenth.
And finally, prime time specialty vehicles is calling
handful of its 23 24 ford transit vehicles.
That are equipped with a certain
go Es,
space saver fold away seats, And in this
case, the recliner mechanism may not engage putting
it out of compliance with
seat belt regulations. Well, you know it sounds
to me, like most of these things that
are wrong.
They're easy fixes. Yeah. They easy fix it.
It's no big deal. They'll be able to
fix them easily.
And they're up on this. They know what's
going on. You're gonna get your letter.
Except for that 1 that involved 22000
plus units,
most of them are just a handful of
yes. And, you know, we it's like cars.
You know, they do the same list every
month for cars. It's just that it doesn't
look good when you see it all reported
at once like that. But then again, if
you have 1 of these units, you wanna
know about those recalls. That's right. Alright. 1
last story. Okay.
If you're piloting an early summer trip to
Glacier National Park, you may need to wait
to drive the
going to the Sun road because No date
has been set yet for its opening.
And the reason is snow.
Lots and lots of snow and late season
avalanche, Just no. That sounds scary.
Road cruise say they've
they've... There's been 74 avalanche.
Many late in the season.
Including 34 that happened after the road was
cleared, meaning snow trucks then had to do
the work to clear the road all over
again, And last weekend, it was still snowing
up there.
So remember if Glacier National Park is on
your bucket list.
Reservations are now needed to enter during the
summer season,
and
we'll put a late Yeah. To get some
help people understand what they have to... And
and you can just go to the show
notes for this episode rv lifestyle dot com
slash podcast.
We love nick glacier national park. And usually,
that road opens like the first week of
July. But this week, they're saying
this year this year, they're saying maybe a
little later, but
I remember
we were told that it snows at the
top of the mountain there,
at glacier,
every month of the year.
So
check out the links on the in the
podcast on this. It's always fun to watch
these things when when they clear off those
roads.
Alright. That's podcast the news of the week.
When we come back, we've gonna do kind
of an extended question and answer time that
combines
your personal questions with our Mike and jen
story time, and all that's coming up right
after this.
And we're asked what's the most important
modification we made to our Rv. It's an
easy answer. Battle borne battle.
Battle batteries are quality safe, reliable lithium batteries
that allow us to stay out their off
the grid longer.
Let the batteries charge faster. They charge fuller
they're longer lasting their maintenance free and battle
borne batteries are protected by a 10 year
guarantee.
Now in our case, they just drop into
the existing Ag g batteries that we have,
and they'll probably be the same on your
rig too. Ba battery experts can get those
in your rigged just like they dead with
ours. They can also match you up with
the right cabling, the inverter, the charger, the
solar controller everything.
Jennifer
swear by our battle borne batteries. They allow
us to boo dock off the grid, check
them out. Go to rv lifestyle dot com
slash lithium. Rb lifestyle dot com slash lithium.
Welcome back. Time now for the Rv questions
of the week, and as always, we welcome
your questions or your comments anything you hear
today, our personal email. It is Mike and
jen at rv lifestyle dot com.
Okay. And honor of our
number of 500 podcast episode, we thought we'd
combine our story time of the week feature
with some extra questions
that are more personal in nature. Alright. And
a lot of you have love these story
times that we're doing and we will try
and keep doing those at the end of
every podcast.
But since we've talked so much about ourselves
in this episode, we didn't I just add
more stories. So we'll maybe do a few
more of these questions. What's our first 1?
Our first 1 is, do you ever get
tired of all the travels, the Malaysia? And
the answer is?
Yes.
There are times we get tired to all
the traveling,
but those times don't last long. How about,
like, as soon as the next day comes
and you look at the Rv sitting in...
It's it's parking spot in our yard, you're
ready to go again? I think what really
happens is I bring everything... And I wash
the sheets, get everything ready, taken them back
out and then when I make of the
bed again, and looking putting away the towels
and everything I.
Now where can we go. But we do
get tired. Oh, yeah. Come home, recharge. Yeah.
Then take off again. You know, and we've
kinda learned to recognize the signs of travel
fatigue and
take time to rest, and sometimes,
we have found that that means maybe cancel
a couple of quick trips we planned and
staying in 1 place longer,
And, of course,
we have to recharge with your family,
refuel our emotional tanks so to speak.
And
we just got... That's what we do to
recharge. Yeah. Yeah
but it's never long before the travel bug
starts to bite it again.
Here's a question. You too seem to really
like each other and genuinely get along,
but you have... To get on each other's
nurse and time to time being coop up
in an Rv so much. How do you
handle that and that was asked by missy
to Well,
I don't think we could do this if
we really weren't best friends,
but I think it mainly comes down to
mutual respect. Patience and understanding that the other
person isn't perfect.
And
neither
am I, you're not perfect. I'm not perfect.
And when traveling together, it's also important not
to lose sight of your individuality, and there
are still things you like to do that
you're, partnered doesn't like to do in vice
versa. Like, working out every day at the
gym. Yes. That's very important to me. I
I would love you to do that. With
me every day to workout at the gym.
And
okay. This is... So I'd rather take an
e bike ride or
maybe,
with maybe a nap in a hammock
or a little hike by a river,
but,
I probably should do what Jennifer does because
I would look
a lot more sm unless she guys. And
what something with me too is what I
eat. I'm fuss europe. Thought I want.
Yeah. Different food than what you want. Probably
that's the main conflict that we have because
it is hard to eat well on the
road. Without doing a lot of preparation. It
really is. I mean, everybody's said, oh, it's
so easy. It's not easy.
Because most of the food that you eat
on the road at restaurants with it's junk.
It's just not good food. It's loaded and
salt and sugar and butter, and
you got food poisoning. 1 Mexican join. I
took you into in, in Missouri. So. I
you can eat 10 cans and it doesn't
bother me way to go. I'm more of
the little sensitive of 1. Yeah. But it's
important, you know, not to give up the
things that you like, and be open to
enjoying the things
on your own or with other friends or
take turns enjoying each other's hobbies. You? Mh.
And I think the real reason that we
get along so well is our shared face.
We believe in a loving patient and giving
God, and we try to emulate that in
our relationships.
Alright. Another question, this is from Ken is
Rv lifestyle, a hobby
or a business. And the answer is it's...
Well, both. Yeah.
You know, there's no way we could have
kept the Rv
lifestyle up this long, and gone as many
places as we've gone and for as long
as we're out there on the road,
if we didn't love doing it. So
as I said earlier, we started this as
we thought it was gonna be our retirement,
mainly as a hobby, and
it grew into a money making business for
us,
we do make income from writing books, from
running ads and affiliates on our videos,
in our podcast,
and of course, this is at no extra
cost any of our followers.
So, yeah, We... They don't... It's become a
business. We have some people that we pay
as on our staff that that helps, and
we're always, you know, trying to... You know,
edit videos,
write books, do blog posts, write newsletters,
manage social media that takes a whole team
of people that we have.
And that, you know, cost money, we have
in all
about a million followers when you add them
all up from social media and our blog
and our podcast and our Youtube video so...
So it's a fantastic way to fund our
travels while sharing all of our lessons and
experiences along the way. It's a win win
for us.
As we get to do what we love
even more because of the extra income.
Alright. 1 last personal question here.
Do you get a lot of free this
from Randy?
Sometimes,
Randy, I should... I've often thought I would
do either a blog post or or just
share it on the podcast.
The typical... How many emails we get every
day.
Offering us,
they call them
collaborations, where
the weak companies market stuff now,
is through
people like Gen and other... And those 3
and 50 other Rv influencers out there
they're they're offering all sorts of stuff. I
mean, and some of it isn't even Rv
related. I was offering perfume.
I should've have say this. They wrote this
thing and said, you know, as we love
your... The content that you produce, and we
know rate up your alley as
your audience would love to learn about our
perfume.
Oh, what.
Well, maybe it would help after grown 1
of those long hikes some places
With other shower,
but,
not a day goes, by that somebody does
isn't offering to send us their products,
and they all expect to review
and the vast majority of the time we
turn that down.
But If we do accept the product, it's
usually because it's something new that we're not
familiar with
that we've had people ask us about or
that we think would enhance our Rv lifestyle
so that we can tell you about it.
And we always make sure we tell you
that somebody sent it to us or provided
it to us.
We make it clear,
and,
that when we try it out, we'll tell
you also the good and the bad. And
what we really think of it.
When we're done with it, we usually give
it away as and 1 of our Rv
gatherings like, that we're gonna have next week.
We've got a whole box of stuff on
packing up.
That we will, you know, give to those
who are attending our gatherings.
But most of the products that you see
us review or use are things that
we either purchase ourselves or that
we think,
you know, have some news merit in terms
of review for you.
We bought our own fifth wheel. Nobody gave
us that. We bought our own property in
Tennessee and in and in Michigan.
And when we recommend a product or services
because
we use it ourselves,
or it comes highly recommended by
people who experienced Our ears and in our
audience. So...
Alright.
500
episodes under our
collective belts. You think we got 500 more?
No
Maybe, maybe a couple hundred. We'll see. You
know, that's the thing. You realized after doing
all of this, And as you get older,
which, you know, unfortunately is happening to us,
you realize there will come a time when
you'll have to come off the road, but
so far,
It's all been good.
And we have a lot of plans to
keep coming, so look for more... Buy more
bandages, I guess, I... More band you've bought
Yeah. Yeah. Because if you take away my
the other... You take away my e bike
from me, I'm gonna have a fit though,
because that's still a lot of fun.
It's all a lot of fun really.
And we take travel with our dog bow.
I think we told everybody that and the
regulars all know that.
Alright. Thank you guys for listening to our
stories, and hopefully being interested, please send us
your comments to your questions. Mike and Jen
at rv lifestyle dot com. Happy trails.