November 8, 2024 • 35 mins
This is Eric Stark with The Smart RVer Podcast, Delivering the Smarts you need to enjoy the freedom of the RV Lifestyle without the fear of breaking down!Your RV can serve as a vital second home in emergencies, providing a safe haven when unexpected situations arise. Eric and Alexis delve into the joys of RV living, discussing practical tips for residing in your RV on your property while maintaining comfort and safety. They also share important money-saving tips, including traveling during the off-season and improving gas mileage, which can significantly reduce your expenses. The episode features a fascinating segment on must-see historical sites in the Western U.S., highlighting landmarks that offer a glimpse into the rich history of the region. Additionally, they discuss simple upgrades to enhance your RV experience, such as modernizing your shower head, proving that small changes can make a big difference in your home away from home.
The podcast offers a rich exploration of the RV lifestyle, particularly its practical applications during emergencies. Eric sets the stage by discussing how RVs can function as a secondary home, providing a necessary refuge during crises such as natural disasters or unexpected home repairs. This segment delves into the importance of preparedness, with Eric stressing the need for RV owners to stock their vehicles with essential supplies like food, water, and medicine. Alexis complements this discussion with insights on creating a comfortable and safe living environment within an RV, especially in regions that experience harsh weather. The hosts share tips on how to enhance the RV living experience, transforming it from a mere vehicle into a cozy home base.
As the conversation progresses, the focus shifts to financial wisdom tailored for RV enthusiasts. The hosts present practical money-saving tips, emphasizing the benefits of off-season travel to take advantage of lower campground rates. Eric elaborates on how planning trips during these times can make RVing more accessible and affordable. Additionally, the discussion includes essential vehicle maintenance advice to improve gas mileage, which is crucial for making the most of travel budgets. By weaving personal stories into these segments, the hosts create a relatable atmosphere that invites listeners to engage with the content on a personal level.
The episode culminates in a travel-oriented segment, showcasing a curated list of historical sites in the Western U.S. that RV travelers should not miss. From the opulence of Hearst Castle to the artistic charm of the Gamble House, the hosts illustrate how these destinations can enrich one’s journey. This travel segment serves as a reminder that the RV lifestyle is not just about the journey but also about discovering the cultural richness of America. The podcast is a comprehensive guide for RV enthusiasts, blending practical advice with inspiring travel stories.
Takeaways:
Always inspect an RV thoroughly before signing a contract to avoid future issues.
Living in an RV on your property can be a great way to save money.
Preparation for emergencies includes having supplies and a plan for unexpected situations.
Shower head upgrades can enhance your RV experience without the cost of a new vehicle.
Traveling during the off-season can help you save significantly on campground fees.
Be aware of local laws before parking an RV on your property for long-term use.
The Smart Rver YouTube Channel - Check Out Our No-Nonsense YouTube Videos
Sunpro Mfg - RV Sunshade, Windshield Covers & Slide Out Awning Fabrics
Hot Boat Ropes -
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Why your RV can become yoursecond home in case of an emergency.
That's what we're going to betalking about in staying on the road
today. And then before we getinto that, we're going to be looking
at enjoying the RV life, howto live in an RV on your property.
And that does tie in very wellwith our staying on the road section.
(00:20):
And then money tip number twoand three, which we missed last episode.
We talked about it, but wenever got into it. And then next
up, we're going to visit the10 most or the 10 must see historical
sites in the Western U.S., wecould call it the west coast, but
they're not all on the coast.Get the picture, though? And then
(00:41):
RV envy. We're going to talkabout shower heads, simple upgrades
that have some pretty coolfeatures. This is Eric Sark with
the Smart RVer podcast,delivering the smarts you need to
enjoy the freedom of the RVlifestyle without the fear of breaking
down. Now let's TalkEverything RV today is episode 163.
(01:03):
That was a mouthful. So let'sdig right into it. So, Alexis, you're
ready to go today?
I am ready as always, as always.
Fired up, ready to go.
You know it.
Talk about RV stuff. Things.
Oh, that's what we're talking about.
Complain and rant about stuff.That's right. So before we get into
(01:23):
any of the negative thing, Imean the wonderful things we're talking
about today on December 20th,that's going to be the last episode
of this year. Not permanently,just of this year. And in that episode,
we are going to record it forvideo. We'll still have the audio,
of course, but the video willprobably be much better. We've got
(01:47):
some plans for that. It'sgoing to be at least an hour long,
so just something to lookforward to. We're going to wrap up
the entire year into oneepisode. So we're going to go back
over some things, thetakeaways from the year, if you will.
So it's really something tolook forward to. Now, before we get
into enjoying the RV life, Igot one more little thing. You know,
(02:07):
I've said it a million times.Well, maybe not a million. I think
it was 999,000 times. Notquite a million yet. I exaggerated
there about buying a new rv.If you buy a new rv, you have to
really make sure that that RVis checked before you ever sign the
contract. It's not checking itwithout you there. It's checking
(02:29):
it with you there. Now, allthe dealerships say they do A pre
delivery inspection. That's funny.
That is funny.
You know. Yeah. There it is.There's the rv. Okay, now you're
gonna take delivery on it.Exactly. Sign here, please. That'll
be $150,000. Now get out. Allright, so here's the reason why I
bring this up. Somebody boughta Tiffin class B motorhome. And I'm
(02:51):
not knocking Tiffin here.These things happen. So the customer
bought it from a dealer inArizona, drives it to Montana. The
dealer in Arizona,everything's good. It was all checked
out, but that wasn't the case.He gets to Montana. And besides some
typical little issues, there'swater leaks. And one of them, when
you turn the pump on or hookedup to city water man, it's like a
(03:13):
water flood. He sent me avideo with just water, poof, pouring
out of this. It was just awater line. It wasn't clamped properly.
That was one of several leaks,but that was the worst one. And it's.
They didn't check this thing.They didn't hook it up to water.
If they did, they cleaned itup and dried it out and said, oh,
here you go, sir. You know, sothe guy now is in this bind, and
(03:37):
Tiffin says, you know, we'llpay for it. Just take it wherever
you want and so forth. So itmakes it easier for the guy. But
it wasn't cool, you know, justa big hassle. He happened to drive
it back, didn't put water init or anything, but he should have
checked it out before he everbought it. But he was assured everything
was good. So that's why, whenyou buy a new rv, please take the
time to check everything outbefore you ever sign the contract.
(04:00):
If the dealer won't do thatfirst, then say goodbye. And keep
this in mind. There willalways be another great deal. No
matter how great of a deal youthink you're getting, there'll be
another one. No matter howwonderful that floor plan is, that
same floor plan is availableat other dealerships. You don't have
to buy that rv. Don't getemotional. Don't fall in love with
(04:22):
it until everything's the wayit should be. When you sign the contract,
everything's good. Then fallin love with it. Don't let your emotions
dictate a purchase. It can bedevastating. We don't want to do
that. No, that's it. I think Iprobably have more, but I'm just
going to stick with that one.
There we go.
Just one solid piece ofadvice. Well, all my advice is solid
(04:45):
so this is par for the course.All right, now that's going to bring
us to enjoying the RV life.And we're going to be talking about
how to live on your RV or howto live in an RV on your property.
Then we're going to follow itup with money saving tip number two
and three. So, Alexis, whatpoints from this article that you
(05:07):
put on ourwebsite@thesmartrver.com under the
heading of and join the RVlife, Did you find it would be very
important for someone to knowif they're going to have someone
live on their property.
Right.
Or they're going to live ontheir property in an rv?
Right. So say you've gottensome land, whatever way you did that,
so it's on your propertywhether you're going to be building
(05:29):
later or you're just going tolive in your RV for long term. You
know, this is kind of cateringto both. Usually. Usually what happens
though, at least around hereis people do live in their RV first
on their property, and thenbuild an actual, you know, brick
and mortar, however thatworks. Stone and whatever.
That's a. Yeah.
Three Little pigs. I don'tknow, you know, maybe you'll make
(05:52):
it out of hand. Yeah. For me,I think the first thing I would think
about, other than legalrequirements, hopefully you don't
have a scary hoa, you know,but you can read more about that.
But I would think, like,safety and comfort first. So in Montana,
it gets cold fast. So we haveto think about, okay, how are we
(06:12):
going to winterize this thing?How are we going to keep everything
from freezing? So that wouldbe on the checklist first for me.
And then safety, make sure allyour locks are working properly.
Everything's up to date, youknow, and if you're going to be out
there, depending on where itis, maybe put a camera system up
just so you can watch. Itdoesn't have to be expensive, you
know, to do that. One thing acouple of our friends have done is
(06:36):
they've created outdoor livingspaces, which is pretty cool. They've
actually built a deck and it'senclosed outside of their rv. So
it really extends that livingspace, making it bigger, making it
easier to live in. They dotheir grilling out there. So it basically
serves as like a kitchen, anextension of their kitchen. So that's
(06:57):
pretty cool. And then you'regoing to have to embrace minimalism.
You're. You're going to, youknow, depending on where you came
from, you're going to thisvery small space. So organization
is key. You know, having justwhat you need is key. Maybe you have
other things in a storagespace, but really just have what
you absolutely need in your rv.
(07:18):
Right. That's very good. Andyou know, keep in mind some people
are like Lexus said, buildingand they're living in their rv.
Right.
A year or two. Other peoplejust buy property, want to live in
their rv, that's fine. So ineither case you could build a shed
or if you're building a house,build your garage first. Sure. Actually
move the RV into the garage orsomething, which would be great.
(07:38):
But you know, she brought agood point. Like in Arizona where
it gets hot, you have to thinkabout that. Yeah. Because you're
not going to get by with justfans. In Montana when it gets cold,
it gets cold. So RVs don't dowell in that. So you have to prepare
for that.
That's right.
It's kind of an all in deal onthat. And a lot of people don't even
with, you know, they're warned.
(07:59):
Right. And they don't do it in time.
January is, you know, 8degrees and they're panicking because
they're not prepared.
Yeah. And they're cold.
Right. Water lines are frozenand everything's breaking. And what
do we do? What do we do? You know?
Yeah.
So living in your, living inan RV on your property can be very
cool, you know, especially ifyou're building a house or you just
want to minimize.
(08:20):
Right.
Your expenses. You have apiece of land and maybe it's paid
for. You buy an rv, move it onthere. Life gets pretty inexpensive.
That very. Yeah.
Very simplified. So it's verydefinitely a way to enjoy an rv,
save some money.
Yep.
Change of pace, that's for sure.
Absolutely.
Now along with that, living inan RV on your property can save some
(08:42):
money as well. Oh wait, beforewe go on that, it also might be a
situation where a family orfriends have to live in an rv. Maybe
it's their RV on yourproperty. Property.
Yeah, could be that.
So there's, you know, thesetips. Maybe you think, well, that'll
never happen to me, I'll neverbe there. But maybe someone will
have to live on your propertyin their rv. So these tips might
help in that.
(09:03):
Absolutely.
You know, so don't downloadthem and pray them today, but you
can go to our website anytime.Always there under the enjoying the
RV life. Now, money saving tipnumber two and three. This kind of
ties in with the time of yearit is, that's for sure. So tip number
two is travel during the offseason. So we're in the winter months
(09:26):
or going into whatever. Howyou want to look at this? You know,
camping can get expensive whenyou're paying campgrounds. A lot
of campgrounds reduce theirrates during the wintertime. Kind
of like if you live, let's saySouthern California, you want to
stay at all the nice hotels inPalm Springs. So you don't go in
the wintertime when they'rebusy. Right. You go in the summertime,
(09:49):
get the, you know, five starhotel for the one star price, you
know, so it's the same with RVparks. Less people, it's less expensive.
So you go where the seasonsare, you know, okay to do it. Where
you're not going to bewishing, what am I doing here? So
Montana, yes, cheap in thewintertime here, but you got to be
(10:10):
adjusted for the wintertime.So any money savings would go into
keeping your RV warm. So itwouldn't really do much. So it's
going someplace where it makessense to be, but yet it's going to
be cheaper. So travelingduring the off season too, there's
some benefits to that. Youdon't have to deal with all the crowds.
You can go to places wherenormally it'd be a bunch of people,
not as many people, sometimesnot as much stuff is open, but it
(10:33):
might not matter depending onwhat you're doing. So it's just something
to check into, to think about.You can go to campgrounds or go online,
look at them where you mightwant to go, vest a little time and
see when the rates drop. Andmaybe that's the time you want to
go. And you can even time it.Sometimes they just have a cutoff
date.
Yep.
You like September 30th is theend of summer. Now we're going into
(10:54):
our winter rates. So you goOctober 1st might save you a ton
of money just postponing it bya day, right. Or a week or whatever.
Right.
Now the other thing too isthis is money saving tip number three,
improving your gas mileage.Now, we all know gas no matter what,
even when it's $1.50 a gallon,2 bucks a gallon, $3 a gallon, $9
(11:18):
a gallon, whatever it is, itcosts extra money. It's, we hate
paying for gas, especiallywhen we're traveling. And some people,
like, I have a truck thatdoesn't get good mileage no matter
what. And so it's just, iswhat it is, you know, I don't worry
about it, but if I can savesome money, I certainly will. I'm
not going to be Stupid about it.
(11:38):
Right, right.
You know, so it's. It'schecking out your vehicle. Maybe
you have a motorhome or maybeyou have a truck you're towing a
trailer with, or maybe youhave a car you're towing a trailer
with. Make sure everything'sup to snuff in the vehicle. Your
air filter is clean, yourtires are aired up properly, the
tires on the trailer are airedup properly. You know, you've kept
up on your maintenance,tuneups, those type of things. Anything
(12:01):
that's going to affect yourmileage, you want to fix and make
it better. Because, you know,you might think, well, it's a little
extra money, but every timeyou fill up, you know that maybe
it's $5 or $7 per fill up thatyou're kind of wasting because something's
not running right or not theway it should be. That can add up
(12:21):
over a trip. You know, all ofa sudden it's a hundred bucks. Maybe
I would pay for the groceries.Yeah, pay for the groceries. I didn't
say for a week. A hundredbucks. What? That's two people at
the grocery store today forone meal.
Maybe if you're eating ramen,it would be different.
There you go. So if you're acollege student, then it's cool.
You ramen. So just make sureyour vehicle is in good shape mechanically.
(12:45):
You know, your oil has beenchanged, transmission service, all
those things that are going tohelp the mileage. Don't get carried
away. Spend $1,000 on somespace age trick that's going to give
you, you know, 9 million milesto the gallon. That's probably a
waste of money. Yeah, but justmake sure everything's good and save
some money by saving some gas.Improve your mileage. All right,
(13:09):
Alexis, so now we're into the.Into or at the end of enjoying the
RV life. So there's sometakeaways here. Takeaway number one.
Can we get a drum roll,please? There we go. Make sure it's
legal and can be done. So ifyou're having somebody live on your
property, you're going to liveon your property. Make sure it's
(13:31):
legal. Otherwise you get allset up and they boot you out. Someone
will turn you in. You got aneighbor that hates you.
You know what happens?
You know we all got a neighborthat hates us, right?
That's right.
And then takeaway number two,when planning, think ahead. If you're
going to be building a spaceon property, whether you're living
there, going to be livingthere, or building a house, I Mean,
(13:53):
make sure that RV space, youthink about it, where it's at, how
you're going to run utilitiesto it so down the road, you're not
redoing it or wishing itwasn't there. Maybe you got to start
all over again. And then,number three, look at the pros and
cons to living in an rv. Longterm, that could be a good thing
or a really bad thing. Allright, so now YouTube. I've been
(14:19):
bringing it up, but I have tothank everybody first. You know,
last week we got a hundred newsubscribers, like, overnight.
It's great.
So I don't know what happened.Maybe it's like voting these days.
You get the last hundredthousand in last five minutes of
the elections. I don't know.
Know.
But keep going to our YouTubechannel. Let everybody, you know,
(14:39):
to subscribe to it. We'retrying to get to 10,000 subscribers.
Yeah, we got some ways to gohere, but we're hopeful we're going
to keep plugging away at thisat least till the end of the year.
Then we'll just give up on itand close the doors and move on.
Exactly.
Just kidding. All right, so weappreciate everything you guys do
for us when you subscribe andrecommend us to other people. We
(15:01):
really do. All right, nowwe're going to go to staying on the
road. So now this staying onthe road is a little bit different
than what we've done in thepast. It's not so much as RV maintenance.
It's a little out of theordinary for us now. Two days ago,
there was an election in theUnited States. The world's still
(15:21):
here. The United States isstill here, still living. It's not
on fire. People aren't gettingkilled in the streets. It's just
amazing. None of that stuffhappened that everybody was predicting.
Now it might come in the nextfew weeks, I don't know. But right
now, things are good. So thatreally got me thinking about, you
(15:43):
know, there's so much doom andgloom in the world today. You know,
there's so many people arelooking at the bad of everything
that can happen, and that'sokay because that's what they do.
And there's people, you know,that prep. And now. I'm not a prepper.
Alexis, are you a prepper?
Not really.
Closet. Prepper. Closet maybe.Need to tell everybody now. I ain't
(16:05):
telling.
I ain't telling.
So we're not preppers. Andthere's nothing wrong with prepping.
If somebody wants to prep andget, you know, do all that, that's
absolutely fine. But I dothink somewhat you. Most people.
Well, you and not most people.Everybody should be prepared. You
know, situations can change ina heartbeat. You know, it can be
normal one day and the nextday it's not. Something went wrong.
(16:27):
And we have some things thathave kind of shown that to us lately.
Power going out, Internetoutages, banks not be able to give
you your money, you know,things like that. So what do you
do? You know, are you preparedfor that? Do you have something to
get you through for a few daysat least? You know, we're not talking
about hunkering down in theforest for six months or something.
(16:49):
Unless you want to do that.That's cool. That'll work too.
Whatever you like.
Exactly. You know, we're easygoing. You know, fema, well, they
have recommendations for beingprepared and three to five days has
kind of been the norm. It'sprobably changing now. I don't know
if they're going to recommendit because they'd probably admit
defeat on their part. But youknow, having some essential items,
(17:13):
you know, like water, food,medicines, you know, many rvers are
taking meds of some kind. Youknow, they got al mens, let's face
it, a good chunk of RV yearsor older. Do you have a medication
that you have to take everyday and do you have a supply of those
(17:35):
that would get you through asituation maybe where you couldn't
get any new prescriptions? Soyou're going to be on that one prescription
for several days or a coupleweeks, something like that? Would
you be able to do that withoutit becoming a disaster, a life and
death situation? And I knowsometimes it's hard to get prescriptions
in advance, but that's wherelike Jace medical comes in. I think
(17:57):
they can help with that.
Yes, they can.
So that's an option. But beingplanning ahead on that. Oh, and also,
that reminds me, Alexis talkedabout cameras and enjoying the RV
life on your property. Yes,Eufy, Eufy, they have some great
cameras. Reasonable pricesright back when they have sales.
(18:17):
The cameras are really cheap,nice. And they're. You can get them
solar powered so they don'thave to be wired in. So as long as
they're in the sun, they'llcharge up. So you can literally just
set it someplace perfect andthen you can watch it on your phone.
Yeah, I like new hobby. Yougot something to do while you're
living on your property now,but they work anywhere. You don't
have to just put your RV onyour property now. Okay, now back
(18:37):
to this back to what we weretalking about. So there's things
that can happen. You know, youcould have a hurricane, you can have
a natural disaster, you canhave a light go out like we just
had in our studio. It happens,okay? So things are going to happen
in an instant. We just lost alight. Our life is changing dramatically.
(19:01):
All right, so we don't have athree to five day supply of lights,
so we got a problem. But noone will die, that's for sure.
No, no one.
All right, so anyway, youknow, being prepared, there's nothing
wrong with it. And recentlythere was an Internet outage, or
actually there's been quite afew and some have been very major.
And you think about that. Ifthe Internet is down, how are you
(19:23):
going to get money out of thebank if you don't have any cash on
you?
Yep.
You know, for a day it's onething, but if it's going to go on
like after a hurricane, likeHelene or what was the other one,
Morton or Billy Bob that wentthrough and wiped everybody out as
well, Followed right up.
Was it, I think it. I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Morton Salt.
(19:43):
That's what I was thinking.
So anyways, those people arestuck without power for weeks. You
know, no Internet. No power.And they might be able to get someplace
to get some Internet. But willthat give them money? You have to
go to the bank and get thecash. And they all run on the Internet.
They don't run on phone lines?No, the old days. So do you have
(20:05):
some cash on hand? If you havemore than $5,000, send us your address.
Just kidding. But have somemoney on hand. Cash, Real American
green cash. And don't havejust like 50s and hundreds. Have
ones, fives, tens andtwenties. You know, if you need a
quart of milk and all you gotis a $50bill, do you really think
(20:27):
you're going to get change forthat? That quarter milk shouldn't
cost you 50 bucks. So yougotta be smart about that. You know,
when times like that happen,sometimes people aren't always that
fair and honest either. So,you know, be smart with your cash
as well. You know, don't flipit all out at one place.
No kidding.
(20:48):
So supply chains can fail. Youknow, there's that dock workers strike
on the east coast, whichdidn't last very long, but that would
have shut down the supplychain. So supply chain problems can.
Or issues can create seriousproblems for us. So now that really
takes us to the rv. We'vecovered how Bad things can get. And,
you know, some of the thingsyou have to do to be prepared, right?
(21:11):
So that's where your RV comesin. And that's what can be important
now, an rv, you think, well,it's in storage. Or, how would I
live in it when it's 120degrees outside? Or how would I live
when it was 20 degreesoutside? You know, that might be
the only option you have. Youknow, let's say there's a massive
(21:31):
windstorm, which we had somehere recently. Trees fell on homes.
Maybe you're gonna be out ofyour house for two or three days
until your insurance gets ittogether. Maybe your. Your bank went
down, your credit card's notworking, so you can't go get a motel,
so you're. You gotta livesomeplace. And, you know, maybe you've
made all your neighbors mad atyou and they don't like you anymore,
(21:52):
oopsies. And they said, no,you're not staying here. And they
remind you have an rv. So yourRV might be your option, you know,
or maybe your neighbors areall stinky and smelly, you don't
want to stay with them, so youjust stay in your rv, whatever it
might be. But that RV mightnot seem like much or might not seem
like the most practical thingto live in. But if it's all you have,
(22:15):
and if you think about an rv,you know, generally you can get water
at some level, but maybe youcan't. Maybe you're just using bottled
water. So you can still livein your rv. Be no different in your
house. An RV might be easierto heat or cool. And in some cases,
if you have a generator,that's all you need to do either
or usually. And it might notbe the best thing. I mean, it might
(22:38):
be pretty rough still. Butwhat we've seen when the. When there's,
let's say, a hurricane or abig disaster, the government can
take weeks to get in there andactually start doing anything, right?
And generally it's days. Imean, they've got to get there, they've
got to get set up. You know,it's like moving a big old gigantic
(22:59):
cumbersome machine. Andeverything's got to be done such
a way and this and that, youknow, by the time you get set up,
you know, most people havealready built a new house and moved
on. And they're 40 years old,so you have to. Or 40 years older,
I should say. So beingprepared can kind of help you, um,
in a lot of ways. And like Isaid, you don't have to be a prepper.
(23:22):
Basic things will get youthrough this time. If you go to FEMA's
website, um, there's a millionwebsites about, you know, basic preparations,
a three to five day supply offood or a five to ten day whatever
you feel you need in case ofemergency. So your rv, now let's
say it's wintertime and it'scold out at night. You know, maybe
during the day it's okay, butat night it gets chilly. You can
(23:46):
run your furnace. Now, it'snot going to last indefinitely because
you need propane. But if youdo have some power, you could run
electric heater. So you mighthave to kind of work that out in
a, oh, I don't know, a way,you know, time it, plan it, are you,
can you get propane? How manydays will this last me for? So you
might not be able to keep thattrailer at 70 degrees. It might actually
(24:08):
have to be like 58 orsomething, or 62. So you might have
to suffer a little bit, butit's still better than being outside.
And at night when you'resleeping, you have blankets on and
that warmth still makes adifference, but it doesn't have to
be as warm. So you know, it'snot going to be ideal. It's really
what I'm getting at. But it'sstill better than nothing. It could
(24:30):
be a place to cook meals andmaybe that's all you need, is a place
to cook meals. Maybe the youcan live in your house, but there's
no power and you have allelectric appliances, no generator.
So you go out to the RVbecause more likely it has a gas
range in it. I mean, you coulduse a barbecue just the same if you
have one. But an RV might beeasier. You know, you could have
(24:51):
your stuff set up in there.You got a regular kitchen. You're
not like setting up, tearingdown. So think about your RV in different
ways that it can be used in asituation like that where you need
some help, but help might notbe on his way. And you can't rely
on other people. You have torely on yourself. It really might
(25:12):
make the difference. Andagain, it might be someone else who
needs to live on your propertyor maybe in your RV because they've
lost their house or somethinghappened to them. They're in the
same storm, same whatever, buttheir situation became worse. So
they might need to use yourrv. So having some preparations in
advance doesn't mean you stockit full of food and water and stuff.
(25:35):
More like have some extraclothes in there. Shoes, some bedding,
extra bedding. If you're in acold area, you know, kind of think
about where you're at, theclimate, and how you would adjust,
but have some basic things inthere because when things really
go wrong, sometimes it's hardto think of what you need.
Yeah.
Making plans when things arebad. I mean, it could be a blowout
(25:58):
on the side of the road andall of a sudden it's much harder
to change the. You. You'reworried about everything else. So
just planning ahead a littlebit. You know, we can't go into every
great detail of this, but it'scertainly something you can do some
research on and think aboutyour rv, your situation. Will it
work for you? Maybe it won't.Maybe it's in storage 25 miles away.
(26:21):
It'd be a total last. What atlast resort to use that. But a last
resort might come in handy. Sogive us some thought. You know, we're
not trying to tell you what todo or prep or anything like that.
Just it can make life a muchbetter in a bad situation.
Exactly.
All right, so there's onetakeaway from this. Do it, do it.
(26:46):
Start thinking about it today.Put some things in action today.
If you don't, then somethingwill happen and you'll be going,
gosh, I should have done that.Yeah, because that's what we always
do as humans. We always waituntil. Until it's too late.
Usually.
Yeah. So anyways, you can goonline, do a little research on,
you know, five day, three tofive day preparations. And you don't
(27:10):
have to spend a bundle on thateither. All right, now that's going
to bring us to the next stop.All right, and now we're going to
be talking about big old fancyhomes on the western side of the
U.S. now these are allhistorical homes, historic, very
cool. And so they're actually,some of them aren't even that big,
but they're historical.
Right, right.
(27:31):
So Alexis dug this up. Youknow how the archive, though. So,
Alexis, out of these homes, Ithink you had 10 here on the list.
I do.
Which ones do you think wouldbe really the highlights? If someone's
going to plan a trip? Whichones would you recommend?
Well, a lot of these are inCalifornia, which makes it a little
(27:52):
easier, even though Californiais pretty big. But I think for me
at least, the Hearst Castle isalways one I've wanted to see. Just
because it's so grand, it's soamazing and just things aren't built
like this anymore because it'sgot these gardens that extend out
too. And just this really mixof architectural styles, because
(28:13):
I think they had severalpeople come in and do things on this
castle. So it's kind ofamazing. And then the pools outside
are like, fashioned after onesthat were in Rome. They've got the
Neptune pool and the Romanpool. So it's kind of cool. There's
a lot of stories, a lot ofparties, great Gatsby style. So it'd
(28:35):
be interesting to check outjust for historical sake, I think,
too. The Gamble House inPasadena is pretty cool. It's supposed
to be like a masterpiece ofAmerican Arts and crafts architecture,
which I think is interesting.So that might be a fun one to see.
There's a. It's nestled inlike a really cool garden as well.
(28:56):
So it's not just the house,it's. It's what's outside the house,
I think is pretty neat. Theseamazing gardens that these people
had. And then the Rossen HouseMuseum is in Phoenix, Arizona, so
not really on the coast, butthat one was built in 1895. Very
historical. Has a lot, a lotof history there, a lot of stories
(29:17):
there. Really provides aninsight to what the lifestyle was
like, the challenges of thepeople that live there. So it's very
interesting.
Those Alexis three. So she'sgoing to be doing some traveling.
That's right.
So you can see they're not allon the coast like Phoenix. But now
if there is a great bigearthquake in California, like they
keep saying is going to happenin California, falls off into the
(29:38):
ocean, Phoenix might.
Be on the coast, you'll be at.
Least closer to the coast. Youend up on the coast, you'll be closer,
you know, so your propertyvalues will go up. So that'd be a
good thing.
That'd be cool.
Yeah. Yeah. So if you're outon the border, you got it made. So
that probably isn't going tohappen, though. Oh, well. So, you
know, the other thing aboutthese houses, real really is the
(29:59):
takeaways from this. One ofthem would be that when you're in
this, if you go to visit oneof these homes, you have that area
as well. Because it's not justthe house. Generally these places
are in an area where there'smore to see than just the house.
Exactly.
That's just one of the drawsto the place.
Right.
So you have that to look at.And like these will be on our website
(30:20):
on the Smart RV or underneaththe link, next stop. And so you can
look at them. Okay. And decideif you want to go there because the
area has More to offer. TheLewis and Clark one. Where is that
one at? Where'd that go?
It is. That's in Astoria, Oregon.
(30:42):
Yeah. So that's in Oregon. Andthen you have like the Rancho's Day
Taos Plaza.
Yeah. Two very cool ones.
Right. So those would be liketwo very well rounded vacation destinations
because of where they're at.
Exactly.
Goes into the surroundingareas. But those two would be very
good.
Yes.
You know, turn in a week ortwo week vacation type thing.
(31:05):
Yeah.
And yeah, of course, thatdepends on how your, your work is,
how you travel. You go fordays at a time, weeks at a time.
Where you're at, if you're inthe western part of the US Certainly
makes it easier to do thesethings. If you're in the eastern
part, maybe not so desirable.But there's probably some good homes
on the east coast too.
Exactly. Oh, yeah, probably.
I don't know.
You know, it.
You know, there are, I'm surethere's probably a lot more historical
(31:27):
ones, that's for sure.
Yes.
More aged. So that gives yousome, you know, ideas of more travel
tips. You know, what that nextstop is going to be. We're always
there to help you plan thatone. So go to our website, thesmartrver.com
and look at the Next stoplink. And they're all there. And
all these next stops are thereon the website. And they're generally
(31:47):
there long before we talkabout them. We just keep adding them.
Sometimes we're months aheadof the podcast episode, just so you're
aware of that. So it's alwayschanging. Now we're going to get
to RV envy. And again, this isone of these RV envies that I know
everybody's just dying to hearbecause we're going to talk about
shower heads. Yeah, we talkabout some of the most bland things
(32:09):
sometimes, but shower headsactually can kind of make a shower
look nicer. If you have ashower that's been kind of bland,
you're kind of looking at yourRV like, I'm thinking of getting
a new one. Because look, allthe new ones have these oil rub bronze
faucets in them. I've got allchrome, kind of boring curls out,
(32:32):
you know, Right. Bronzes in.Well, you don't have to spend 30,0001-000002-00000
on a new RV. Just redo yourbathroom. An RV bathroom. How hard
is that? You replace theshower head. So you replace the shower
head, the hose, the faucet, ifyou want to. And shower heads today,
(32:56):
they're much better than someof the older ones. Now, they're still
cheap shower heads, butthere's like the oxygenic ones that
are very nice. There's showerheads that are. Yeah. That have more
water coming out of them.They're more residential style. Yeah,
if that's what you want. Now,some people just don't even care.
Let's just keep it simple. Andthat makes sense too. But if you're
(33:17):
looking to change things up,you know, a shower head, I bring
that up. The shower head, thehose. Because they're simple changes.
But, you know, upgrading thefaucet at the same time, they're
not too hard. The bath or thesink, faucet in the bathroom, easy
to change. You can change thehardware on the walls. If you have
towel hangers and stuff, putin new ones. And that's a simple
(33:40):
little upgrade that doesn'tcost a lot of money. Very easy to
do. You could have it done ina day. You know, just buy your stuff
and put it in and wow, itlooks new. And if, you know, throw
a new rug down, new showercurtain. But, you know, a lot of
times you have to replaceshower heads. It seems like a little
more regularly. We sell a lotof them. So maybe that's what you
(34:00):
start your upgrade with. Startat the shower head and work your
way around.
It's a good idea.
You know, if you're on abudget, just do a couple things at
a time. Spread it out. There'smoney tip saving money saving tip
number four today. Wow, youguys are saving so much money. Yeah,
man, it's like the stockmarket here a little bit. Yeah, Maybe
(34:21):
not that well. Good. Bad.Yeah, good. I guess it's up right
now, so it's good. All right,so we've come into the end of the
show here, so one finalreminder. Check out our YouTube channel.
Go to the Smart RVer onYouTube. Subscribe. Watch the videos,
like share with everybody. Youknow, we have videos coming out every
(34:43):
two weeks and sometimes inbetween, but every two weeks, every
week, opposite of the show, wehave a new video coming out for the
fast dip Friday. And we dropother videos from time to time as
well, like the podcast oneswhich I've talked about. We're just
behind on those things.Alexis, she likes to go home and
that's ridiculous. Sorry.Yeah, pathetic, right? All right,
(35:05):
so next week is going to beshow number164. So we're getting
closer to the end of the yearwhere we're going to have that one
hour long episode that's goingto be recorded on YouTube. Not record
live on YouTube, but uploadYouTube. We're going to do the audio
as well. So hopefully you're,you're around until the end of the
year. Hopefully we are alittle longer.
(35:28):
Yeah.
All right, so we had a greatshow today, covered a lot of ground,
a lot of good information tohelp everybody become the Smart rver
or the Smarter rver. So thisis Eric Stark with the Smart rver
podcast. It's just been greathanging out with you today. So if
I don't see on the road, let'sconnect@the smartrver.com.
Why your RV can become yoursecond home in case of an emergency.
That's what we're going to betalking about in staying on the road
today. And then before we getinto that, we're going to be looking
at enjoying the RV life, howto live in an RV on your property.
And that does tie in very wellwith our staying on the road section.
(00:20):
And then money tip number twoand three, which we missed last episode.
We talked about it, but wenever got into it. And then next
up, we're going to visit the10 most or the 10 must see historical
sites in the Western U.S., wecould call it the west coast, but
they're not all on the coast.Get the picture, though? And then
(00:41):
RV envy. We're going to talkabout shower heads, simple upgrades
that have some pretty coolfeatures. This is Eric Sark with
the Smart RVer podcast,delivering the smarts you need to
enjoy the freedom of the RVlifestyle without the fear of breaking
down. Now let's TalkEverything RV today is episode 163.
(01:03):
That was a mouthful. So let'sdig right into it. So, Alexis, you're
ready to go today?
I am ready as always, as always.
Fired up, ready to go.
You know it.
Talk about RV stuff. Things.
Oh, that's what we're talking about.
Complain and rant about stuff.That's right. So before we get into
(01:23):
any of the negative thing, Imean the wonderful things we're talking
about today on December 20th,that's going to be the last episode
of this year. Not permanently,just of this year. And in that episode,
we are going to record it forvideo. We'll still have the audio,
of course, but the video willprobably be much better. We've got
(01:47):
some plans for that. It'sgoing to be at least an hour long,
so just something to lookforward to. We're going to wrap up
the entire year into oneepisode. So we're going to go back
over some things, thetakeaways from the year, if you will.
So it's really something tolook forward to. Now, before we get
into enjoying the RV life, Igot one more little thing. You know,
(02:07):
I've said it a million times.Well, maybe not a million. I think
it was 999,000 times. Notquite a million yet. I exaggerated
there about buying a new rv.If you buy a new rv, you have to
really make sure that that RVis checked before you ever sign the
contract. It's not checking itwithout you there. It's checking
(02:29):
it with you there. Now, allthe dealerships say they do A pre
delivery inspection. That's funny.
That is funny.
You know. Yeah. There it is.There's the rv. Okay, now you're
gonna take delivery on it.Exactly. Sign here, please. That'll
be $150,000. Now get out. Allright, so here's the reason why I
bring this up. Somebody boughta Tiffin class B motorhome. And I'm
(02:51):
not knocking Tiffin here.These things happen. So the customer
bought it from a dealer inArizona, drives it to Montana. The
dealer in Arizona,everything's good. It was all checked
out, but that wasn't the case.He gets to Montana. And besides some
typical little issues, there'swater leaks. And one of them, when
you turn the pump on or hookedup to city water man, it's like a
(03:13):
water flood. He sent me avideo with just water, poof, pouring
out of this. It was just awater line. It wasn't clamped properly.
That was one of several leaks,but that was the worst one. And it's.
They didn't check this thing.They didn't hook it up to water.
If they did, they cleaned itup and dried it out and said, oh,
here you go, sir. You know, sothe guy now is in this bind, and
(03:37):
Tiffin says, you know, we'llpay for it. Just take it wherever
you want and so forth. So itmakes it easier for the guy. But
it wasn't cool, you know, justa big hassle. He happened to drive
it back, didn't put water init or anything, but he should have
checked it out before he everbought it. But he was assured everything
was good. So that's why, whenyou buy a new rv, please take the
time to check everything outbefore you ever sign the contract.
(04:00):
If the dealer won't do thatfirst, then say goodbye. And keep
this in mind. There willalways be another great deal. No
matter how great of a deal youthink you're getting, there'll be
another one. No matter howwonderful that floor plan is, that
same floor plan is availableat other dealerships. You don't have
to buy that rv. Don't getemotional. Don't fall in love with
(04:22):
it until everything's the wayit should be. When you sign the contract,
everything's good. Then fallin love with it. Don't let your emotions
dictate a purchase. It can bedevastating. We don't want to do
that. No, that's it. I think Iprobably have more, but I'm just
going to stick with that one.
There we go.
Just one solid piece ofadvice. Well, all my advice is solid
(04:45):
so this is par for the course.All right, now that's going to bring
us to enjoying the RV life.And we're going to be talking about
how to live on your RV or howto live in an RV on your property.
Then we're going to follow itup with money saving tip number two
and three. So, Alexis, whatpoints from this article that you
(05:07):
put on ourwebsite@thesmartrver.com under the
heading of and join the RVlife, Did you find it would be very
important for someone to knowif they're going to have someone
live on their property.
Right.
Or they're going to live ontheir property in an rv?
Right. So say you've gottensome land, whatever way you did that,
so it's on your propertywhether you're going to be building
(05:29):
later or you're just going tolive in your RV for long term. You
know, this is kind of cateringto both. Usually. Usually what happens
though, at least around hereis people do live in their RV first
on their property, and thenbuild an actual, you know, brick
and mortar, however thatworks. Stone and whatever.
That's a. Yeah.
Three Little pigs. I don'tknow, you know, maybe you'll make
(05:52):
it out of hand. Yeah. For me,I think the first thing I would think
about, other than legalrequirements, hopefully you don't
have a scary hoa, you know,but you can read more about that.
But I would think, like,safety and comfort first. So in Montana,
it gets cold fast. So we haveto think about, okay, how are we
(06:12):
going to winterize this thing?How are we going to keep everything
from freezing? So that wouldbe on the checklist first for me.
And then safety, make sure allyour locks are working properly.
Everything's up to date, youknow, and if you're going to be out
there, depending on where itis, maybe put a camera system up
just so you can watch. Itdoesn't have to be expensive, you
know, to do that. One thing acouple of our friends have done is
(06:36):
they've created outdoor livingspaces, which is pretty cool. They've
actually built a deck and it'senclosed outside of their rv. So
it really extends that livingspace, making it bigger, making it
easier to live in. They dotheir grilling out there. So it basically
serves as like a kitchen, anextension of their kitchen. So that's
(06:57):
pretty cool. And then you'regoing to have to embrace minimalism.
You're. You're going to, youknow, depending on where you came
from, you're going to thisvery small space. So organization
is key. You know, having justwhat you need is key. Maybe you have
other things in a storagespace, but really just have what
you absolutely need in your rv.
(07:18):
Right. That's very good. Andyou know, keep in mind some people
are like Lexus said, buildingand they're living in their rv.
Right.
A year or two. Other peoplejust buy property, want to live in
their rv, that's fine. So ineither case you could build a shed
or if you're building a house,build your garage first. Sure. Actually
move the RV into the garage orsomething, which would be great.
(07:38):
But you know, she brought agood point. Like in Arizona where
it gets hot, you have to thinkabout that. Yeah. Because you're
not going to get by with justfans. In Montana when it gets cold,
it gets cold. So RVs don't dowell in that. So you have to prepare
for that.
That's right.
It's kind of an all in deal onthat. And a lot of people don't even
with, you know, they're warned.
(07:59):
Right. And they don't do it in time.
January is, you know, 8degrees and they're panicking because
they're not prepared.
Yeah. And they're cold.
Right. Water lines are frozenand everything's breaking. And what
do we do? What do we do? You know?
Yeah.
So living in your, living inan RV on your property can be very
cool, you know, especially ifyou're building a house or you just
want to minimize.
(08:20):
Right.
Your expenses. You have apiece of land and maybe it's paid
for. You buy an rv, move it onthere. Life gets pretty inexpensive.
That very. Yeah.
Very simplified. So it's verydefinitely a way to enjoy an rv,
save some money.
Yep.
Change of pace, that's for sure.
Absolutely.
Now along with that, living inan RV on your property can save some
(08:42):
money as well. Oh wait, beforewe go on that, it also might be a
situation where a family orfriends have to live in an rv. Maybe
it's their RV on yourproperty. Property.
Yeah, could be that.
So there's, you know, thesetips. Maybe you think, well, that'll
never happen to me, I'll neverbe there. But maybe someone will
have to live on your propertyin their rv. So these tips might
help in that.
(09:03):
Absolutely.
You know, so don't downloadthem and pray them today, but you
can go to our website anytime.Always there under the enjoying the
RV life. Now, money saving tipnumber two and three. This kind of
ties in with the time of yearit is, that's for sure. So tip number
two is travel during the offseason. So we're in the winter months
(09:26):
or going into whatever. Howyou want to look at this? You know,
camping can get expensive whenyou're paying campgrounds. A lot
of campgrounds reduce theirrates during the wintertime. Kind
of like if you live, let's saySouthern California, you want to
stay at all the nice hotels inPalm Springs. So you don't go in
the wintertime when they'rebusy. Right. You go in the summertime,
(09:49):
get the, you know, five starhotel for the one star price, you
know, so it's the same with RVparks. Less people, it's less expensive.
So you go where the seasonsare, you know, okay to do it. Where
you're not going to bewishing, what am I doing here? So
Montana, yes, cheap in thewintertime here, but you got to be
(10:10):
adjusted for the wintertime.So any money savings would go into
keeping your RV warm. So itwouldn't really do much. So it's
going someplace where it makessense to be, but yet it's going to
be cheaper. So travelingduring the off season too, there's
some benefits to that. Youdon't have to deal with all the crowds.
You can go to places wherenormally it'd be a bunch of people,
not as many people, sometimesnot as much stuff is open, but it
(10:33):
might not matter depending onwhat you're doing. So it's just something
to check into, to think about.You can go to campgrounds or go online,
look at them where you mightwant to go, vest a little time and
see when the rates drop. Andmaybe that's the time you want to
go. And you can even time it.Sometimes they just have a cutoff
date.
Yep.
You like September 30th is theend of summer. Now we're going into
(10:54):
our winter rates. So you goOctober 1st might save you a ton
of money just postponing it bya day, right. Or a week or whatever.
Right.
Now the other thing too isthis is money saving tip number three,
improving your gas mileage.Now, we all know gas no matter what,
even when it's $1.50 a gallon,2 bucks a gallon, $3 a gallon, $9
(11:18):
a gallon, whatever it is, itcosts extra money. It's, we hate
paying for gas, especiallywhen we're traveling. And some people,
like, I have a truck thatdoesn't get good mileage no matter
what. And so it's just, iswhat it is, you know, I don't worry
about it, but if I can savesome money, I certainly will. I'm
not going to be Stupid about it.
(11:38):
Right, right.
You know, so it's. It'schecking out your vehicle. Maybe
you have a motorhome or maybeyou have a truck you're towing a
trailer with, or maybe youhave a car you're towing a trailer
with. Make sure everything'sup to snuff in the vehicle. Your
air filter is clean, yourtires are aired up properly, the
tires on the trailer are airedup properly. You know, you've kept
up on your maintenance,tuneups, those type of things. Anything
(12:01):
that's going to affect yourmileage, you want to fix and make
it better. Because, you know,you might think, well, it's a little
extra money, but every timeyou fill up, you know that maybe
it's $5 or $7 per fill up thatyou're kind of wasting because something's
not running right or not theway it should be. That can add up
(12:21):
over a trip. You know, all ofa sudden it's a hundred bucks. Maybe
I would pay for the groceries.Yeah, pay for the groceries. I didn't
say for a week. A hundredbucks. What? That's two people at
the grocery store today forone meal.
Maybe if you're eating ramen,it would be different.
There you go. So if you're acollege student, then it's cool.
You ramen. So just make sureyour vehicle is in good shape mechanically.
(12:45):
You know, your oil has beenchanged, transmission service, all
those things that are going tohelp the mileage. Don't get carried
away. Spend $1,000 on somespace age trick that's going to give
you, you know, 9 million milesto the gallon. That's probably a
waste of money. Yeah, but justmake sure everything's good and save
some money by saving some gas.Improve your mileage. All right,
(13:09):
Alexis, so now we're into the.Into or at the end of enjoying the
RV life. So there's sometakeaways here. Takeaway number one.
Can we get a drum roll,please? There we go. Make sure it's
legal and can be done. So ifyou're having somebody live on your
property, you're going to liveon your property. Make sure it's
(13:31):
legal. Otherwise you get allset up and they boot you out. Someone
will turn you in. You got aneighbor that hates you.
You know what happens?
You know we all got a neighborthat hates us, right?
That's right.
And then takeaway number two,when planning, think ahead. If you're
going to be building a spaceon property, whether you're living
there, going to be livingthere, or building a house, I Mean,
(13:53):
make sure that RV space, youthink about it, where it's at, how
you're going to run utilitiesto it so down the road, you're not
redoing it or wishing itwasn't there. Maybe you got to start
all over again. And then,number three, look at the pros and
cons to living in an rv. Longterm, that could be a good thing
or a really bad thing. Allright, so now YouTube. I've been
(14:19):
bringing it up, but I have tothank everybody first. You know,
last week we got a hundred newsubscribers, like, overnight.
It's great.
So I don't know what happened.Maybe it's like voting these days.
You get the last hundredthousand in last five minutes of
the elections. I don't know.
Know.
But keep going to our YouTubechannel. Let everybody, you know,
(14:39):
to subscribe to it. We'retrying to get to 10,000 subscribers.
Yeah, we got some ways to gohere, but we're hopeful we're going
to keep plugging away at thisat least till the end of the year.
Then we'll just give up on itand close the doors and move on.
Exactly.
Just kidding. All right, so weappreciate everything you guys do
for us when you subscribe andrecommend us to other people. We
(15:01):
really do. All right, nowwe're going to go to staying on the
road. So now this staying onthe road is a little bit different
than what we've done in thepast. It's not so much as RV maintenance.
It's a little out of theordinary for us now. Two days ago,
there was an election in theUnited States. The world's still
(15:21):
here. The United States isstill here, still living. It's not
on fire. People aren't gettingkilled in the streets. It's just
amazing. None of that stuffhappened that everybody was predicting.
Now it might come in the nextfew weeks, I don't know. But right
now, things are good. So thatreally got me thinking about, you
(15:43):
know, there's so much doom andgloom in the world today. You know,
there's so many people arelooking at the bad of everything
that can happen, and that'sokay because that's what they do.
And there's people, you know,that prep. And now. I'm not a prepper.
Alexis, are you a prepper?
Not really.
Closet. Prepper. Closet maybe.Need to tell everybody now. I ain't
(16:05):
telling.
I ain't telling.
So we're not preppers. Andthere's nothing wrong with prepping.
If somebody wants to prep andget, you know, do all that, that's
absolutely fine. But I dothink somewhat you. Most people.
Well, you and not most people.Everybody should be prepared. You
know, situations can change ina heartbeat. You know, it can be
normal one day and the nextday it's not. Something went wrong.
(16:27):
And we have some things thathave kind of shown that to us lately.
Power going out, Internetoutages, banks not be able to give
you your money, you know,things like that. So what do you
do? You know, are you preparedfor that? Do you have something to
get you through for a few daysat least? You know, we're not talking
about hunkering down in theforest for six months or something.
(16:49):
Unless you want to do that.That's cool. That'll work too.
Whatever you like.
Exactly. You know, we're easygoing. You know, fema, well, they
have recommendations for beingprepared and three to five days has
kind of been the norm. It'sprobably changing now. I don't know
if they're going to recommendit because they'd probably admit
defeat on their part. But youknow, having some essential items,
(17:13):
you know, like water, food,medicines, you know, many rvers are
taking meds of some kind. Youknow, they got al mens, let's face
it, a good chunk of RV yearsor older. Do you have a medication
that you have to take everyday and do you have a supply of those
(17:35):
that would get you through asituation maybe where you couldn't
get any new prescriptions? Soyou're going to be on that one prescription
for several days or a coupleweeks, something like that? Would
you be able to do that withoutit becoming a disaster, a life and
death situation? And I knowsometimes it's hard to get prescriptions
in advance, but that's wherelike Jace medical comes in. I think
(17:57):
they can help with that.
Yes, they can.
So that's an option. But beingplanning ahead on that. Oh, and also,
that reminds me, Alexis talkedabout cameras and enjoying the RV
life on your property. Yes,Eufy, Eufy, they have some great
cameras. Reasonable pricesright back when they have sales.
(18:17):
The cameras are really cheap,nice. And they're. You can get them
solar powered so they don'thave to be wired in. So as long as
they're in the sun, they'llcharge up. So you can literally just
set it someplace perfect andthen you can watch it on your phone.
Yeah, I like new hobby. Yougot something to do while you're
living on your property now,but they work anywhere. You don't
have to just put your RV onyour property now. Okay, now back
(18:37):
to this back to what we weretalking about. So there's things
that can happen. You know, youcould have a hurricane, you can have
a natural disaster, you canhave a light go out like we just
had in our studio. It happens,okay? So things are going to happen
in an instant. We just lost alight. Our life is changing dramatically.
(19:01):
All right, so we don't have athree to five day supply of lights,
so we got a problem. But noone will die, that's for sure.
No, no one.
All right, so anyway, youknow, being prepared, there's nothing
wrong with it. And recentlythere was an Internet outage, or
actually there's been quite afew and some have been very major.
And you think about that. Ifthe Internet is down, how are you
(19:23):
going to get money out of thebank if you don't have any cash on
you?
Yep.
You know, for a day it's onething, but if it's going to go on
like after a hurricane, likeHelene or what was the other one,
Morton or Billy Bob that wentthrough and wiped everybody out as
well, Followed right up.
Was it, I think it. I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Morton Salt.
(19:43):
That's what I was thinking.
So anyways, those people arestuck without power for weeks. You
know, no Internet. No power.And they might be able to get someplace
to get some Internet. But willthat give them money? You have to
go to the bank and get thecash. And they all run on the Internet.
They don't run on phone lines?No, the old days. So do you have
(20:05):
some cash on hand? If you havemore than $5,000, send us your address.
Just kidding. But have somemoney on hand. Cash, Real American
green cash. And don't havejust like 50s and hundreds. Have
ones, fives, tens andtwenties. You know, if you need a
quart of milk and all you gotis a $50bill, do you really think
(20:27):
you're going to get change forthat? That quarter milk shouldn't
cost you 50 bucks. So yougotta be smart about that. You know,
when times like that happen,sometimes people aren't always that
fair and honest either. So,you know, be smart with your cash
as well. You know, don't flipit all out at one place.
No kidding.
(20:48):
So supply chains can fail. Youknow, there's that dock workers strike
on the east coast, whichdidn't last very long, but that would
have shut down the supplychain. So supply chain problems can.
Or issues can create seriousproblems for us. So now that really
takes us to the rv. We'vecovered how Bad things can get. And,
you know, some of the thingsyou have to do to be prepared, right?
(21:11):
So that's where your RV comesin. And that's what can be important
now, an rv, you think, well,it's in storage. Or, how would I
live in it when it's 120degrees outside? Or how would I live
when it was 20 degreesoutside? You know, that might be
the only option you have. Youknow, let's say there's a massive
(21:31):
windstorm, which we had somehere recently. Trees fell on homes.
Maybe you're gonna be out ofyour house for two or three days
until your insurance gets ittogether. Maybe your. Your bank went
down, your credit card's notworking, so you can't go get a motel,
so you're. You gotta livesomeplace. And, you know, maybe you've
made all your neighbors mad atyou and they don't like you anymore,
(21:52):
oopsies. And they said, no,you're not staying here. And they
remind you have an rv. So yourRV might be your option, you know,
or maybe your neighbors areall stinky and smelly, you don't
want to stay with them, so youjust stay in your rv, whatever it
might be. But that RV mightnot seem like much or might not seem
like the most practical thingto live in. But if it's all you have,
(22:15):
and if you think about an rv,you know, generally you can get water
at some level, but maybe youcan't. Maybe you're just using bottled
water. So you can still livein your rv. Be no different in your
house. An RV might be easierto heat or cool. And in some cases,
if you have a generator,that's all you need to do either
or usually. And it might notbe the best thing. I mean, it might
(22:38):
be pretty rough still. Butwhat we've seen when the. When there's,
let's say, a hurricane or abig disaster, the government can
take weeks to get in there andactually start doing anything, right?
And generally it's days. Imean, they've got to get there, they've
got to get set up. You know,it's like moving a big old gigantic
(22:59):
cumbersome machine. Andeverything's got to be done such
a way and this and that, youknow, by the time you get set up,
you know, most people havealready built a new house and moved
on. And they're 40 years old,so you have to. Or 40 years older,
I should say. So beingprepared can kind of help you, um,
in a lot of ways. And like Isaid, you don't have to be a prepper.
(23:22):
Basic things will get youthrough this time. If you go to FEMA's
website, um, there's a millionwebsites about, you know, basic preparations,
a three to five day supply offood or a five to ten day whatever
you feel you need in case ofemergency. So your rv, now let's
say it's wintertime and it'scold out at night. You know, maybe
during the day it's okay, butat night it gets chilly. You can
(23:46):
run your furnace. Now, it'snot going to last indefinitely because
you need propane. But if youdo have some power, you could run
electric heater. So you mighthave to kind of work that out in
a, oh, I don't know, a way,you know, time it, plan it, are you,
can you get propane? How manydays will this last me for? So you
might not be able to keep thattrailer at 70 degrees. It might actually
(24:08):
have to be like 58 orsomething, or 62. So you might have
to suffer a little bit, butit's still better than being outside.
And at night when you'resleeping, you have blankets on and
that warmth still makes adifference, but it doesn't have to
be as warm. So you know, it'snot going to be ideal. It's really
what I'm getting at. But it'sstill better than nothing. It could
(24:30):
be a place to cook meals andmaybe that's all you need, is a place
to cook meals. Maybe the youcan live in your house, but there's
no power and you have allelectric appliances, no generator.
So you go out to the RVbecause more likely it has a gas
range in it. I mean, you coulduse a barbecue just the same if you
have one. But an RV might beeasier. You know, you could have
(24:51):
your stuff set up in there.You got a regular kitchen. You're
not like setting up, tearingdown. So think about your RV in different
ways that it can be used in asituation like that where you need
some help, but help might notbe on his way. And you can't rely
on other people. You have torely on yourself. It really might
(25:12):
make the difference. Andagain, it might be someone else who
needs to live on your propertyor maybe in your RV because they've
lost their house or somethinghappened to them. They're in the
same storm, same whatever, buttheir situation became worse. So
they might need to use yourrv. So having some preparations in
advance doesn't mean you stockit full of food and water and stuff.
(25:35):
More like have some extraclothes in there. Shoes, some bedding,
extra bedding. If you're in acold area, you know, kind of think
about where you're at, theclimate, and how you would adjust,
but have some basic things inthere because when things really
go wrong, sometimes it's hardto think of what you need.
Yeah.
Making plans when things arebad. I mean, it could be a blowout
(25:58):
on the side of the road andall of a sudden it's much harder
to change the. You. You'reworried about everything else. So
just planning ahead a littlebit. You know, we can't go into every
great detail of this, but it'scertainly something you can do some
research on and think aboutyour rv, your situation. Will it
work for you? Maybe it won't.Maybe it's in storage 25 miles away.
(26:21):
It'd be a total last. What atlast resort to use that. But a last
resort might come in handy. Sogive us some thought. You know, we're
not trying to tell you what todo or prep or anything like that.
Just it can make life a muchbetter in a bad situation.
Exactly.
All right, so there's onetakeaway from this. Do it, do it.
(26:46):
Start thinking about it today.Put some things in action today.
If you don't, then somethingwill happen and you'll be going,
gosh, I should have done that.Yeah, because that's what we always
do as humans. We always waituntil. Until it's too late.
Usually.
Yeah. So anyways, you can goonline, do a little research on,
you know, five day, three tofive day preparations. And you don't
(27:10):
have to spend a bundle on thateither. All right, now that's going
to bring us to the next stop.All right, and now we're going to
be talking about big old fancyhomes on the western side of the
U.S. now these are allhistorical homes, historic, very
cool. And so they're actually,some of them aren't even that big,
but they're historical.
Right, right.
(27:31):
So Alexis dug this up. Youknow how the archive, though. So,
Alexis, out of these homes, Ithink you had 10 here on the list.
I do.
Which ones do you think wouldbe really the highlights? If someone's
going to plan a trip? Whichones would you recommend?
Well, a lot of these are inCalifornia, which makes it a little
(27:52):
easier, even though Californiais pretty big. But I think for me
at least, the Hearst Castle isalways one I've wanted to see. Just
because it's so grand, it's soamazing and just things aren't built
like this anymore because it'sgot these gardens that extend out
too. And just this really mixof architectural styles, because
(28:13):
I think they had severalpeople come in and do things on this
castle. So it's kind ofamazing. And then the pools outside
are like, fashioned after onesthat were in Rome. They've got the
Neptune pool and the Romanpool. So it's kind of cool. There's
a lot of stories, a lot ofparties, great Gatsby style. So it'd
(28:35):
be interesting to check outjust for historical sake, I think,
too. The Gamble House inPasadena is pretty cool. It's supposed
to be like a masterpiece ofAmerican Arts and crafts architecture,
which I think is interesting.So that might be a fun one to see.
There's a. It's nestled inlike a really cool garden as well.
(28:56):
So it's not just the house,it's. It's what's outside the house,
I think is pretty neat. Theseamazing gardens that these people
had. And then the Rossen HouseMuseum is in Phoenix, Arizona, so
not really on the coast, butthat one was built in 1895. Very
historical. Has a lot, a lotof history there, a lot of stories
(29:17):
there. Really provides aninsight to what the lifestyle was
like, the challenges of thepeople that live there. So it's very
interesting.
Those Alexis three. So she'sgoing to be doing some traveling.
That's right.
So you can see they're not allon the coast like Phoenix. But now
if there is a great bigearthquake in California, like they
keep saying is going to happenin California, falls off into the
(29:38):
ocean, Phoenix might.
Be on the coast, you'll be at.
Least closer to the coast. Youend up on the coast, you'll be closer,
you know, so your propertyvalues will go up. So that'd be a
good thing.
That'd be cool.
Yeah. Yeah. So if you're outon the border, you got it made. So
that probably isn't going tohappen, though. Oh, well. So, you
know, the other thing aboutthese houses, real really is the
(29:59):
takeaways from this. One ofthem would be that when you're in
this, if you go to visit oneof these homes, you have that area
as well. Because it's not justthe house. Generally these places
are in an area where there'smore to see than just the house.
Exactly.
That's just one of the drawsto the place.
Right.
So you have that to look at.And like these will be on our website
(30:20):
on the Smart RV or underneaththe link, next stop. And so you can
look at them. Okay. And decideif you want to go there because the
area has More to offer. TheLewis and Clark one. Where is that
one at? Where'd that go?
It is. That's in Astoria, Oregon.
(30:42):
Yeah. So that's in Oregon. Andthen you have like the Rancho's Day
Taos Plaza.
Yeah. Two very cool ones.
Right. So those would be liketwo very well rounded vacation destinations
because of where they're at.
Exactly.
Goes into the surroundingareas. But those two would be very
good.
Yes.
You know, turn in a week ortwo week vacation type thing.
(31:05):
Yeah.
And yeah, of course, thatdepends on how your, your work is,
how you travel. You go fordays at a time, weeks at a time.
Where you're at, if you're inthe western part of the US Certainly
makes it easier to do thesethings. If you're in the eastern
part, maybe not so desirable.But there's probably some good homes
on the east coast too.
Exactly. Oh, yeah, probably.
I don't know.
You know, it.
You know, there are, I'm surethere's probably a lot more historical
(31:27):
ones, that's for sure.
Yes.
More aged. So that gives yousome, you know, ideas of more travel
tips. You know, what that nextstop is going to be. We're always
there to help you plan thatone. So go to our website, thesmartrver.com
and look at the Next stoplink. And they're all there. And
all these next stops are thereon the website. And they're generally
(31:47):
there long before we talkabout them. We just keep adding them.
Sometimes we're months aheadof the podcast episode, just so you're
aware of that. So it's alwayschanging. Now we're going to get
to RV envy. And again, this isone of these RV envies that I know
everybody's just dying to hearbecause we're going to talk about
shower heads. Yeah, we talkabout some of the most bland things
(32:09):
sometimes, but shower headsactually can kind of make a shower
look nicer. If you have ashower that's been kind of bland,
you're kind of looking at yourRV like, I'm thinking of getting
a new one. Because look, allthe new ones have these oil rub bronze
faucets in them. I've got allchrome, kind of boring curls out,
(32:32):
you know, Right. Bronzes in.Well, you don't have to spend 30,0001-000002-00000
on a new RV. Just redo yourbathroom. An RV bathroom. How hard
is that? You replace theshower head. So you replace the shower
head, the hose, the faucet, ifyou want to. And shower heads today,
(32:56):
they're much better than someof the older ones. Now, they're still
cheap shower heads, butthere's like the oxygenic ones that
are very nice. There's showerheads that are. Yeah. That have more
water coming out of them.They're more residential style. Yeah,
if that's what you want. Now,some people just don't even care.
Let's just keep it simple. Andthat makes sense too. But if you're
(33:17):
looking to change things up,you know, a shower head, I bring
that up. The shower head, thehose. Because they're simple changes.
But, you know, upgrading thefaucet at the same time, they're
not too hard. The bath or thesink, faucet in the bathroom, easy
to change. You can change thehardware on the walls. If you have
towel hangers and stuff, putin new ones. And that's a simple
(33:40):
little upgrade that doesn'tcost a lot of money. Very easy to
do. You could have it done ina day. You know, just buy your stuff
and put it in and wow, itlooks new. And if, you know, throw
a new rug down, new showercurtain. But, you know, a lot of
times you have to replaceshower heads. It seems like a little
more regularly. We sell a lotof them. So maybe that's what you
(34:00):
start your upgrade with. Startat the shower head and work your
way around.
It's a good idea.
You know, if you're on abudget, just do a couple things at
a time. Spread it out. There'smoney tip saving money saving tip
number four today. Wow, youguys are saving so much money. Yeah,
man, it's like the stockmarket here a little bit. Yeah, Maybe
(34:21):
not that well. Good. Bad.Yeah, good. I guess it's up right
now, so it's good. All right,so we've come into the end of the
show here, so one finalreminder. Check out our YouTube channel.
Go to the Smart RVer onYouTube. Subscribe. Watch the videos,
like share with everybody. Youknow, we have videos coming out every
(34:43):
two weeks and sometimes inbetween, but every two weeks, every
week, opposite of the show, wehave a new video coming out for the
fast dip Friday. And we dropother videos from time to time as
well, like the podcast oneswhich I've talked about. We're just
behind on those things.Alexis, she likes to go home and
that's ridiculous. Sorry.Yeah, pathetic, right? All right,
(35:05):
so next week is going to beshow number164. So we're getting
closer to the end of the yearwhere we're going to have that one
hour long episode that's goingto be recorded on YouTube. Not record
live on YouTube, but uploadYouTube. We're going to do the audio
as well. So hopefully you're,you're around until the end of the
year. Hopefully we are alittle longer.
(35:28):
Yeah.
All right, so we had a greatshow today, covered a lot of ground,
a lot of good information tohelp everybody become the Smart rver
or the Smarter rver. So thisis Eric Stark with the Smart rver
podcast. It's just been greathanging out with you today. So if
I don't see on the road, let'sconnect@the smartrver.com.
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