December 6, 2024 • 33 mins
This podcast episode emphasizes the importance of making time for downtime while enjoying the RV lifestyle. Hosts Eric Stark and Alexis discuss how RVers often get caught up in the hustle of travel, forgetting to disconnect from work and technology. They highlight the significance of truly relaxing and recharging during trips, encouraging listeners to enjoy their vacations without the distractions of emails and social media. Additionally, Eric shares valuable insights on purchasing RV accessories wisely, advising against unnecessary upgrades and emphasizing the importance of buying local for warranty work. The episode also features a review of Glacier View Campground in Idaho, showcasing its stunning natural beauty and recreational opportunities.
The podcast embarks on an insightful journey into the heart of RV ownership, focusing on the intricacies of purchasing an RV and the importance of making informed decisions. Eric Stark opens the discussion with a critical examination of the risks associated with buying an RV from a distant dealer. He highlights the challenges that arise when warranty work is needed, emphasizing that consumers should carefully consider the geographical implications of their purchase. By sharing personal stories of customers who faced difficulties due to their choice of dealer, Eric paints a vivid picture of the potential pitfalls that savvy buyers must navigate. This discussion serves as an important reminder that the allure of a great deal should not overshadow the necessity of reliable service and support after the sale.
In a poignant segment, Alexis joins Eric to explore the often-overlooked aspect of downtime in the RV lifestyle. Together, they reflect on how the hustle and bustle of modern life can infiltrate our cherished vacations, leaving little room for relaxation. They emphasize the value of stepping away from screens and social obligations to immerse oneself in the natural beauty that RVing offers fully. By fostering a mindset that prioritizes genuine downtime, they encourage listeners to redefine their travel experiences as opportunities for rejuvenation and connection with nature, showcasing the true essence of RVing.
Additionally, the episode provides practical advice on money-saving strategies for RV travelers. Eric introduces listeners to tip number five, which focuses on utilizing apps to locate the best fuel prices on their journeys. His enthusiasm for tools like Mud Flap highlights the importance of being proactive about expenses, especially in an era of rising fuel costs. By combining practical tips with enriching discussions about lifestyle choices, the podcast offers a well-rounded perspective on the RV experience, making it a valuable resource for anyone looking to enhance their travel adventures.
- Takeaways:
- Choosing to buy an RV locally can significantly ease the warranty process later
- Be cautious about unnecessary upgrades; sometimes, existing equipment is sufficient for your needs.
- Disconnecting from technology while RVing allows you to truly enjoy your downtime and nature.
- Using fuel discount apps like Mud Flap can help you save money on gas during trips.
- Consider the actual need for RV accessories before making purchases, as many may be unnecessary.
- The freedom of the RV lifestyle is best enjoyed without the burden of constant connectivity.
Important Links for The Smart RVer
Enjoying the RV Life
Money Saving Tips
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Buy it now and how importantthat buy it now button seems to be.
And enjoying the RV life.We're going to explore the idea of
making time for downtime andhow important it is. And also we're
going to hit money saving tipnumber five. And in the next stop,
we're going to explore GlacierView campground in Idaho. And then
(00:21):
in RV Envy, it's going to tiein with staying on the road. The
must have RV accessories.Which video or list do you trust?
This is Eric Sark with thesmart RV or podcast delivering the
smarts. You need to enjoy thefreedom of the RV lifestyle without
the fear of breaking down.Let's talk everything RV. And today
(00:41):
is episode number 165. Solet's dig right in. I'm here today.
Alexis is here today. Say hito everybody, Alexis.
Hello.
All right, so we're both sick.Everybody here is sick. So we're
here in the early morninghours while it's still 20 degrees
out, trying to do thispodcast. So it might be a little
(01:04):
rough today. Mentally. I'm offbig time. So we're not even gonna
do technical stuff today. Ican't even think, Okay, I don't even
know what 12 volts is anymore.Don't use a volt meter. Use a techno.
I don't know. So anyway, so itmight be a rough episode where we
don't have any banks. So we'redoing this one. It's going live.
Today's Thursday, goingtomorrow, you know, so it's gonna
(01:26):
be out there Friday morning.So we're sick. Everybody here sick.
And. But the show goes on, asthey say.
That's right.
It's speaking about the showgoing on if you buy a new rv. This
was something just. I'vetalked about it before, but it comes
up again and again when youbuy a new RV and you buy it out of
(01:46):
the area where you live, maybethe dealer's there, the price is
too much. You don't want todeal with them. You know, they have
a horrible reputation. That'sprobably everywhere. I love those
little things. But, you know,when it comes time to do warranty
work, sometimes it can be atotal nightmare if you have to drag
your RV or drive it someplacehundreds of miles away to get warranty
(02:09):
work done because no one inthe area will do the warranty work
because you didn't buy it fromthem. And sometimes that boils down
to, like a dematic warranty.Even though it's a new rv, the warranty
is through Dometic, not themanufacturer of the rv. But it's
easier to take it back to thedealership, even if it's a Dometic
or Suburban warranty, becauseit just makes it easier because there
(02:31):
are generally other things youneed done too, that would not be
specific to Dometic orSuburban or Coleman, whoever it might
be. If at all possible, try tobuy your RV someplace where it's
local, where they'll do the.Or, you know, where you can get the
warranty work done. And if youcan't do it, if you can't, I mean,
(02:51):
there are reasons why youshould. There's some dealerships
around us that, you know,heck, I drove hundreds of miles not
to buy one from them, youknow, and I can see that. But remember,
the warranty work might becomea hassle. And so some warranty things
might just be easier to pay tohave it done right, Period. And when
a dealership tells you, like,maybe it's a local one, you know,
(03:12):
buy the RV from them, theysay, no, we don't do warranty work
on that. If it's a Dometicproduct, a Coleman product, a Furrion
product, a Suburban product,whatever it might be, as long as
it's not the rv, the branditself, they do warranty work on
it. They just don't want to doit. Warranty work doesn't pay very
well. I mean, let's just behonest. It doesn't pay. It's a hassle.
(03:33):
Like Dometic, you know, theywant you to check 28 different things
and turn in a report on themost mundane, ridiculous thing. This
is what it needs. Cut and dry.Oh, no. We need to have all these
readings and sensors. It'slike dealing with NASA. You know,
you're putting a part on thespace shuttle or something. So just
keep that in mind. Warrantywork is not, you know, the warranty
(03:53):
is there, but doesn't meaneverybody's going to do it or even
want to do it. You know, to bereally honest with you, most places
don't like doing it. So that'sjust a little tip. Buy local if you
can. But if you know you justcan't do it, then when you buy it
someplace else, remember thewarranty problems might become an
issue. A bigger issue thanwhat they already are. Okay, now
(04:14):
as a reminder, our nextepisode is going to be 166. It's
going to be the year endepisode and that we're going to do
all the highlights from 2024and get into what's new for 2025.
We got some really cool stuffheading our way. Heading your way
about in 2025, we're going tochange the show up some. Going to
add a great feature. At leastwe think is great. We hope you guys
(04:36):
like it, but it's going to be.It's just going to be awesome. Right,
Alexis? In fact, it ties inwith that mug. You can't see it,
but Alexis. Well, unlessyou're watching the video version,
it's about Route 66. That'swhat our mugs about. So. But it's
beyond that. All right, sohere we are. Let's get into the show
and get into enjoying the RVlife section. So, Alexis, what made
(05:00):
you choose make time for Downtime?
Well, I think as RVers, that sounds.
Like a song title. Make timefor Dan Time.
I'm sure it is somewhere. SomeK pop or something. No, not really.
Well, that's kind of thepoint. I think as RVers, we get really
busy. We want to travel asmuch as we can, you know, especially
(05:20):
in Montana. We have to fit itin where we can. So we're just go,
go going. And I think partlywe lose a little bit of what arving
is about, which is aboutgetting away from society, getting
away from your phone, gettingaway from social media and having
that actual downtime that letsyou recharge. And so that's what
(05:41):
we're kind of talking abouttoday is, is getting back to that
just disconnect from whatyou're always on at work and just
at home. We do it toourselves. We get into this habit
of being so attached andconnected to everyone and everything,
and sometimes you just have toget away from that. And that's what
our being is about. If we canreally train ourselves to do that
(06:04):
and to just relax and not haveto go, you know, somewhere crazy,
we can. We can pick a placethat's close, go and just get away
from everything and it be thenicest trip you've ever been on.
So that's kind of what we'retalking about today.
Well, that's very true. Andyou know, these. You make a trip
and sometimes all you're doingis checking your emails, texting
(06:26):
with your friends, family,social media. Oh, look, an alert.
So and so is online. Oh, mygosh. We got to drop what we're doing
and see what they're doing.Who cares, man? You're on your trip,
you know, everybody, mosteverybody knows you're gone. Or probably,
you know, most everybody justignore it. Everything will hold till
Monday.
(06:46):
Yep.
Or Sunday or whatever, youknow, And I go on trips. I always
check my email Once a day. Ifit's a weekend, once a day. If it's
during the week, twice a day.Just because I get so many emails,
it doesn't mean I follow up onit. It was just getting my inbox
clear.
I gotcha.
If I go for three days withoutchecking my email, man, what a nightmare
(07:09):
it is.
People think you're dead, buton trips.
Man, I have email on my phone.I don't pay attention to it.
Good for you.
And that's it. I just let itall go.
Good. That's the point.
Disconnect.
That's what follows, right?
For some people listening to apodcast, maybe they, maybe they don't
really understand what thatis. But there was a time when you
left town, you didn't haveemail or anything. You had nothing,
(07:32):
Nothing. It would be a payphone at the campground if you wanted
to call somebody. And that wasit, you know, and then cell phones
came on the scene, but youstill have email, mobile, email and
stuff like that, you know, soit's something that has never been
a necessity. All of a suddenis becoming runs our life.
Yeah.
(07:53):
So disconnect. But for therest of the article, which is a great
article, it's on our website,the Smart RV or dot com and join
the RV Life. There's a link toit in the description, like always
links to everything. Which,speaking of links to everything,
there's always going to be alink from here on out about how to
contact us using our contactpage on the Smart rver and our phone
(08:17):
number. So you can call uswith questions or whatever. You know,
we're here to help. If youguys got questions or you have an
experience you want to share,share with. We want to hear about
it. There's no bad experiencethat we don't want to know. You know,
like, you know, they saythere's no dumb question. Well, there's
no dumb experience. We want tohear it all. We want questions from
you. If you guys are havingissues with products. You know, I
(08:38):
put a call out a while backfor mini Split AC systems and we
want to hear from you guys.That's what we're here for. Until
we get so many phone calls andmessages we can't handle with it.
Handle it, then we'll justkeep asking for it. So let us have
it all right now. Also, we'regoing to talk about money saving
tip number five, which says,you know, saving money on gasoline,
(09:02):
not necessarily mileage, whichwe talked about in the last episode,
but just buying fuel, youknow, using a card, a discount Card
or something makes absolutesense. And there are some apps out
there and one of them thatwe've recommended in the past and
we still recommend it today isMud Flap. It's an app you can put
on your phone and it helps youfind lower priced fuel prices. It
(09:24):
might not work for everybodyin every area. It's still a growing
app, but they seem to dopretty well. So you might check it
out. There's gonna be a linkto it in the description of this
podcast. Like I said, I'msick. Hard to think here, you know,
I don't even know what I'mdoing right now. But you know, with
prices changing so much, wherethey go down or up, it doesn't matter.
(09:47):
Even if it keeps going down,you still want to save money. It
all adds up. At the end of thetrip, if you save 50 bucks, 100 bucks,
150, you know, 200, whatever,that's money that goes towards the
trip or a repair or some sortof maintenance, you know, just saves
you money overall. I mean,ideally it's just to save money anymore.
There's so many problems or somany things happening right now with
(10:10):
inflation and prices going upand yeah, the list goes on and on.
So when you think about thisepisode or this section here, it's,
you know, take when you go ona trip, make it downtime. Don't make
it work time or anything else,just make it downtime. Enjoy your
vacation, your one day, twoday, three days, weeks, whatever
it is, just flat out and enjoyit. All right, so you can go to the
(10:33):
smart rv.com and read moreabout this under RV Envy, the whole
full articles there. Make timefor downtime. Now moving on to staying
on the road. So this is alittle bit different today because
I'm not feeling so well and Ican't think in technical terms. We're
going to talk about somethingelse that ties in with RV Envy. RV
(10:53):
Envy is about buying thingsthat you don't have to have. And
that came to me a couple weeksago and I thought, well, that'd be
a good one because I waswatching some YouTube videos and
then earlier this week,because I was at home sick, I was
watching this show ondocumentary on Netflix about Buy
(11:17):
It Now. Is Buy it Now theconspiracy behind, let me find it
here, about the big brands,how big brands are trashing the planet.
And you know, it's so true.But I'm not going to get into the
pollution side of it. I mean,that is an issue. You know, the planet
is just getting destroyed withall the stuff that consumers buy,
(11:39):
which is all of us, we all buystuff. So we're all guilty as charged.
Right. But it's makingsensible purchases. And, you know,
going back in time, you know,thinking about when I was a kid,
it was real simple. You know,you needed a new pair of shoes. You
go to the shoe store and, youknow, there were shoe stores that
(12:02):
weren't in malls. They werejust on streets. You know, there'd
be a shoe store and next to itwould be a house, you know, depending
where you lived. Or maybethere's a downtown area where it
had maybe two shoe stores, asporting goods store. But, you know,
you didn't have a thousand orno, a thousand choices. It's probably
a million. Yeah, a millionchoices today. You know, you type
(12:25):
in athletic footwear onlineand, you know, make your choice now
what kind of shoe you're goingto buy. Holy smokes. And every shoe
is better than the other one.So, you know, shopping as a child
for my parents is much easier.Here's where you're going, you know,
and if you wanted cats, you'dgo to the store that sold cads.
Yep.
If you wanted, whatever, Vans,you know, they were popular when
(12:48):
I was a kid, you'd go to thestore that sold vans, you know, and
gosh, getting vans was like abig deal, man, I was like a treat.
Well, man, my parents arespringing for vans this time, you
know, so, you know, that's howlife was. It was different. You know,
it wasn't like Mayberry withAndy and Opie, but it was, you know,
not far from that. Go to thegrocery store. There was just like
(13:12):
one type of yogurt. You know,my mom would say, go get some yogurt.
And, you know, I think therewas like maybe two flavors or three
or something, but it wasstill. It was real yogurt, too. It
had all the. This horriblesounding stuff in the bacteria. Streptococcal
is and whatever, but it wasthe real deal. And all you had to
(13:32):
ask was what size. Basically,you know, oh, mom, can I get a tangerine
flavored one? Maybe that wasthe only flavor they had, you know,
or yellow or lemon yellow.Yellow flavor. Eat the yellow yogurt.
But, you know, it was sosimple. And, you know, cereal, there
was a lot of cereal, but notlike today.
Yeah, that's.
(13:52):
And everything was easier.There were so many less items, There
were so many less stores, andthere are so many less advertisements
pushing all the garbage thateverybody says we need, you know,
so parents weren't Blowingtheir money on all this junk. They
weren't regurgitating TVsevery three years. They weren't buying
(14:15):
their kids new iPhones everythree years. They were putting that
money into putting those kidsthrough college or keeping food on
the table, depending on theirfinancial circumstances. It was a
different world. Now today,when a baby comes out of the womb,
the first thing it says isiPhone. And the second thing is,
where's mine? That's true, you know.
(14:37):
Yeah.
I don't know if it says it inthe Bible that it's a God given right,
but it certainly seems thatway, you know, that at birth you
need an iPhone.
Yeah. Not even I had one.
Yeah. Alexis is not as old asme, so she's born in this millennial,
(14:58):
that generation he's lookingreally. But she's not like a lot
of the younger people out there.
Try not to be.
Alexis is an older soul, assome might say for better or worse.
But so, you know, it's insociety changes. It changes all the
time. And, you know, it's likemy parents told me things that, you
(15:21):
know, I would never see in mylifetime. Like I'd never be able
to buy a house. And, you know,I bought my first house when I was
like 21 years old. It justworked out. I had a good job, making
good money. I was driven, youknow. But their parents told them
things that they would neverbe able to do in their lifetime.
And some of those things cametrue, some of them didn't. And that's
the way it is. But today, youknow, parents talk about things that
(15:43):
were simpler. And youngerpeople think, oh, gosh, this guy's
on heroin, man. What's hethinking, Right? But, you know, it
wasn't that long ago. Youknow, I remember in my 20s, I was
remodeling a house, you know,I needed a nail gun and an air compressor.
And, you know, it was reallyeasy. I just went to M and W Electric.
They're the only place inTorrance that sold that type of stuff.
(16:05):
Go in and they had like twobrands, Senco and Bostitch and the
air compressor, I forget whatbrand it is, are still in business
today. In fact, my brother's arepresentative for their company,
mglo. That's it. And you buythem and that's it. You go out the
door and you're done. Itdidn't matter what it costs, you
(16:26):
know, that was it.
Yep.
And you got an okay deal. Youknow, it felt good anyways. And,
you know, I looked at one,remodeling my house. Myself, I'm
saving a ton of money.
Yeah.
And, you know, I saw that nailgun today, and I saw that air compressor
today, and they work fine. Andit's different. You go buy a new
compressor today, it's goingto last you for a few years. You'll
(16:48):
be throwing it away. A nailgun, throw away. You know, so things
have changed. And, you know,we're not going to change the world.
That's for darn sure. Thisworld is going the way it's going,
and there's no stopping it.But the point I'm getting to, which
is taken the long way aroundhere, but you got a little backstory.
Right. Make it fun,interesting. See, what this knucklehead's
(17:08):
talking about today is, youknow, how many things do you buy
that in a month or two monthsare outdated according to the companies?
Yep.
You know, like, I'm looking atsome of our equipment in our studio
now. We have some Panasoniccameras, which is amazing that they're
(17:29):
still making the same modelafter at least eight, nine, ten years.
Yeah.
Maybe even longer. The sameexact model. We have multiple, and
they're the same exact model,but yet I have some road equipment
that you buy it, you use it,and now you get an email saying,
(17:50):
oh, you got to get our newversion of this. It's so much better.
Well, what's so much betterabout it? The form factor, the shape
of it. Yeah, it costs more.There you go. So you know what? It
not only costs more, itactually costs twice as much. And
you know why I say that?Because you already have one that
works. So you buy the secondone that's supposedly better that
(18:10):
just. You just doubled yourinvestment in that piece of equipment.
And then you'll think, well,I'll sell the old one. Who wants
to buy the old one? Man,everybody knows it's old now. God.
Thing's been out for a yearand a half now. Who was that? You
know, it's like an iPhone, youknow, you can't have an iPhone9,
man. Especially like a kid.But so it just never ends, and we
(18:31):
all fall victim to it. And sowhen you're buying RV parts, in fact,
we might not even be able todo RVing, because I'm just going
to go right into it, you know,but when you're buying RV parts,
and this is really what I'mgetting at, the rest of the stuff
in your life, you know,whatever this applies to it, but
it's on you, what you do, youknow, because I know you're probably
(18:52):
not Buying RV parts like youare other stuff. I mean some people
really invest in their rv.They have, you know, great products,
they have a great rv. Otherpeople buy it, they treat it for
what it is, something they useand they have all the right equipment,
but they don't go beyond that.There's like, maybe not a physical
budget, but there's a mentalbudget. Like, hey, you know what?
(19:13):
We're only going to stick withthe basics, the things we really
need and once we buy them,we're just going to let them wear
out and that's it. And that'sa lifestyle, you know, that's decisions
you make. But I saw thesevideos. So now we're just throwing
RV into the end of this. Therewas these videos, this was a woman.
I'm a full timer, I don'tremember the name of the channel.
(19:34):
It doesn't matter because I dothese types of videos too, but I
do them differently. I mean, Iwant you to buy products. We have
an RV store. I want everybodyto buy new products, you know, throw
your old stuff, buy new stuff,you know, but that's not really it.
We try to help people savemoney. That's probably one of the
things that works against usfinancially is we try to help people
save money.
We really do.
So they don't spend as muchmoney. They come in, hey, I need
(19:56):
to replace this. Oh no youdon't. You've got plenty of life
left in that. But they'reready to buy a new one. But we tell
them, no, you can wait, yougot another year at least another
year, two years, you know,just ride it out if you can. And
sometimes now I just want toget, now I'm here and that's fine.
Yeah, I get that. But like inthis video now this woman was a full
time RVer, probably her andher husband and they were talking
(20:20):
primarily about Camcoproducts, which that's fine. I push
Camco. I like the brand. Theyhave a lot of different products
and their products seem to bepretty darn good. They last. I mean,
I don't know they're going tolast a lifetime, but they last as
long as I think most stuff inthe RV market is going to last. Well,
not most. I mean they lastlonger than a lot of the absolute
(20:40):
junk out there, especially thestuff you buy on the Jungle website,
Amazon. I'm going to say it byname because they helped to create
this disaster of people buyingstuff with the buy it now button.
You know, one step shoppingand all that garbage. You know, she
has a water Pressureregulator. Now, I don't know if this
person ever listens to thispodcast or someone knows who I'm
(21:03):
talking about, but I'm notknocking her. I get it. You know,
it's just selling a product.She's a full time RVer, selling what
she believes you need to have.But you know, with that being said,
all of us have different needsand we have different financial backgrounds,
different circumstances. We'refull timers, we're part timers. You
(21:24):
know, maybe we use our RV oncea year, maybe we use it once a month.
Whatever it is, we buy what weneed. I mean, there is no point in
taking a $20 water pressureregulator. And like she says, just
get rid of it. And you gottabuy this other one, this Camco adjustable
water pressure regulator,which is, you know, let's say 80
(21:46):
bucks. So you throw away 20,you spend 80. Now you're into a water
pressure regulator for 100. Doyou really need it? And she explained
the benefits of having anadjustable water pressure regulator
on it. And I see that. But youknow what it really boils down to
is washing your hair. No, no,it's not even your hair. It's your
(22:07):
wife's hair. I gotta becareful how I say this. I don't want
to piss everybody off, but.But here's what we hear in the store.
A guy comes in, he's lookingfor a shower head. Okay, they're
right over here, sir, blah,blah, blah. And it always comes out.
My wife can't wash her hair.She wants a different shower head.
Never. Is it water pressure?It's a shower head. So it made me
(22:31):
think, are water pressureregulators really the issue that
women can't wash their hair inan rv? It's probably just the shower
heads not letting enough waterout. Now, it could be water pressure,
but an adjustable water waterpressure regulator is not going to
change the pressure at thepark. If the pressure at the park
sucks, it's going to suck inyour RV no matter what.
Yeah.
(22:52):
You know, and 50 psi or 55 psigenerally is plenty for anybody to
wash their hair. Unless yourhair goes down to your ankles, that
might be an issue. And then inthat case, you bring along one of
those big steel troughs thatlike, you feed an animal with and
just fill it with water anddunk your head in it.
(23:13):
Right, There you go.
All right, now everybody'smad. But then again, you see, now
you're blowing my steeltrough. Forget it. Get a plastic
one. They're lighter andcheaper. Okay, so that's an example.
And it's exaggerated, but it'sthe reality. Is the water pressure
at the park the problem? Or inyour rv, if it's in your rv. Is it.
(23:35):
Is it actually the waterpressure regulator? Because you buy
one and you use it, it'syours. You can't return it.
Exactly.
Unless you bought it on thejungle and you go through their little
hoops to return it and blameit on the seller or something. Because
it's never your fault. It'salways their fault.
Right.
And then it goes on to thenext thing. It's a water hose. She
(23:56):
picks up a water hose, andit's this big old coiled mess, which
was a total exaggeration ofthe water hose. I mean, I get it.
Especially if you don't reallyroll them up. Right. You just kind
of throw them in a compartmentor whatever. It's like a snake. But
you know what? We sell thesethings. I have. I have tried every
(24:17):
water hose on the market.
Yeah.
And there are some I like morethan others. But RV hoses have a
tendency of just kind ofsucking no matter what. You know,
you buy a hose for your house,you don't buy one of those plasticky
hoses you know is going tokink. That's throwing your money
away. But for an rv, if youbuy a white water hose and it's working,
(24:40):
all it does is provide waterfrom the hose bib to the rv. That's
it.
Yeah.
Nothing more, nothing less. Ifyou have a blue water hose that supposedly
doesn't kink, the water is thesame. The pressure doesn't change.
The flavor doesn't evenchange. It doesn't come out any different.
When it comes out, it doesn'tlike sparkle and glow or anything
(25:02):
like that. It's a water hose.And granted, some water hoses can
be a pain, especially whenit's a cooler climate. You know,
they are going to kink easier.I completely understand that. But
if your water hose kind of ishard to unravel, you're good. Every
hose you buy is going to besimilar to that. And now I use the
(25:23):
Camco Evo hoses, and I likethem because they roll up real nice,
but you still have to do alittle untangling. When you lay it
out, you got to make surethere's no kinks in before you turn
the water on. Even the hosesthat are supposed to be kink proof
will sometimes kink. But thereare better quality hoses. Some of
the cheaper hoses don't lastas long. Where the more expensive
(25:47):
ones, like the Evo Flax andthe. Well, heck, any blue water hose
Camco makes is going to lastlonger than any white hose on the
market.
Yeah.
Period.
True.
You know, Technor, Apex are agood company. Their hoses are good,
but they're not, I don'tthink, as good as Camco. And I'm
not trying to push you onCamco. So if you don't have a Camco
(26:08):
hose, you don't have to go outand buy one. Because Eric said looking
at what you buy and how itworks, don't fall into this trap
that you have to replace itbecause someone tells you there's
something better. There mightbe something better, but you really
need it. You know, how manytimes do we buy something and just
throw it away? And RV stuff ischanging. You know what else got
(26:31):
me kind of on this thing isrecently Lippert just came out with
a new air conditioner designedfor people that live in hotter climates
like Arizona. And it'ssupposed to work 30% better, and
it's, you know, 99% quieter.And it does this, it does that, it
does all these things. I'mthinking, okay, so now you're under
(26:51):
the pressure. Oh, my gosh.Gosh, we're going to Arizona this
summer. Oh, man. Do I. Do Iget this air conditioner? Do I not
get it? You know, and it's anair conditioner. It's the ceiling
assembly on the inside. It'sprobably a new thermostat or a kit
to make it work with yourthermostat. And at the end of the
day, the gain will probably benegligible. Now, I haven't tried
(27:14):
this air conditioner, so Ican't speak from 100% authoritative
standing on that. But thereality is these air conditioners
sometimes are boasted asmaking all these changes, and they're
not that much difference. Ifyou talk to the manufacturers, you
talk to the right personthere, they're going to be honest
with you. You get them thatperson who's just going to lay it
(27:37):
out online. Yeah, you knowwhat? This one's not really any better
than that one. And we got anew one coming out, but it's pretty
much the same as this one,except, you know, when it starts
up, it's a little bit quieteror something. I mean, we're in the
business. We know how thisworks. You know, all these air conditioners
are pretty much the same.They're all loud and annoying and
consume power. That's it. Wedon't want to get caught up in all
(27:57):
the frenzy of buying New stuffall the time. Really? That's the
point I'm making. Boy, I was along road to get there. It's trying
to help you save money forenjoying your rv where the RV is
not this big old burden like,oh, boy, we got to get, like, lithium
batteries. Oh, my God. We gotto get lithium batteries. You know,
how come they look so good inthere? Look how nice they are. Do
(28:20):
you need lithium batteries?That's the question you should ask
yourself, not where can I getthem and how much is. Do I need these
things? So focus on that. Putyour money towards something else.
Whatever. Putting your kidsthrough school, put it towards something
else. I mean, I'm not sayingdon't buy RV stuff when you need
it, but buy what you need. Andif you need the better quality, if
(28:41):
that suits your bill, then buyit. I'm not saying that either. I
mean, I try. Me and my wifeboth, and Alexis just brought this
up, that her and her husbandtry to buy the better quality things
all the time. And I feel thatI've been that way forever because
you buy the better stuff, itlasts longer. And we're especially
in a time now where things arecycling through every, you know,
(29:03):
30 days, you know, so you wantto buy better stuff. Warrant, you
know, refrigerators only lastfive years now. I know. So if you
buy a really good one, youmight get six out of it. No, they
last longer than that. But we,you know, I think you get what I'm
saying. Buy the better qualitystuff rather than buying it two or
three times. And don't getduped into videos, even if it's minds
(29:25):
buying products you don'tneed. So I'm going to take a sip
of water and catch my breath,and I'm just going to turn it over
to Alexis now as she coversthe next stop, Glacier View Campground
in Idaho.
Got it. In Idaho, we want tomake that point because it is not
close to Glacier park, ifthat's what you were thinking. So.
(29:46):
Yeah. But no, this place isreally beautiful. I did a little
research because I actuallywanted to go to it myself. It's positioned
on the north shore of RedfishLake. So if you all know where that
is. It's a beautiful,beautiful lake. Lots of views. There's
across the lake, there's thisbig mountain range. It's just incredible.
Incredible. Like you justcan't get a better place. It is hard,
(30:09):
however, to get a spot there,I found. So if you really want to,
you should probably try to geta reservation long ahead of time.
Before you actually go.There's. However, there's a lot of
campgrounds nearby. So if youwant to go visit it during the day,
you can do a lot on the lake.You don't have to be staying there
(30:29):
to enjoy it. So that is a goodthing to know. There's a lot of campgrounds
nearby. A lot of hiking,kayaking, fishing, swimming. Yeah,
much to do.
So yesterday, when I waslooking through this stuff, I looked
up this Glacier Viewcampground in Idaho because I was
kind of curious. That soundedfamiliar. And I'm thinking Glacier.
(30:50):
Glacier national park inMontana, but it's not. And then it
hit me that I'd been there.
That's so cool.
That's on the 75, I believe,in Montana. So from Stanley down
south to Ketchum, Idaho. Iremember when I was a kid, my brother
had a shirt from Ketchum. Itsaid ketchum. Hell, I can't even
find them.
(31:11):
That's a good one.
But anyway. But that wholeroad is, like, going through a whole
different. I don't know how todescribe it. It is totally different.
It's not like the part ofIdaho we were seeing prior to that.
It's not like anything we'veseen in Montana. Wow. The campground
is unbelievable. That wholeroad is stunning. If you were to.
(31:32):
You could spend a week or twotalking, driving down that road.
So cool. And I think I'vementioned that in the past, but,
yeah, it's one of those placesyou gotta go to. The campground is
unbelievable. That area isunbelievable. And there's a lot of
camping in the area. Drycamping, you know, whatever you want
to do, but you got to checkthat one out.
Yes.
All right, so that will be onthe website as well. The smart rver.com
(31:55):
under the next stop. And youwant to look at that Glacier View
campground in Idaho. Fromthat, we get the idea that, you know,
there's all these places togo. So, you know, Idaho is one place.
And sometimes making that tripmore than just one spot, making it
two or three spots. You know,setting up and tearing down could
(32:15):
be a hassle, but, heck, whynot? So we've already gone through
RV Envy, which is basicallypretty much everything I talked about.
And, yeah, I went on. On that.Now I know why my wife and kids always
dread when they say, hey,guys, come here. I gotta talk to
you. You know. Oh, boy, heregoes. So, hey, we've been making
(32:36):
some great progress with oursubscribers on YouTube. So we want
to ask everybody to keepsubscribing to the channel recommending
the Smart RVer on YouTube ourchannel there to others recommending
the show, the podcast, thesmart rver.com to others. Let people
know about us. If there'sother podcasts you enjoy, let us
(32:58):
know about those podcasts andmaybe we can get together with those
people and get them on ourshow. We can get on their show. We
don't have a lot of guests.That's not really our format but
heck, we're open to anythinganymore, right? Why not? All right,
so that's going to bring us tothe end of the show today. I want
to thank everybody forlistening and putting up with us
coughing, hacking and soundinghorrible. But you know the show most
(33:21):
must go on, right? So it was agood show regardless of our health.
So this is Eric Stark with theSmart RVer podcast. It's been great
hanging out with everybodytoday. So if we don't see you on
the road, let's connect at theSmart rver Combat.
Buy it now and how importantthat buy it now button seems to be.
And enjoying the RV life.We're going to explore the idea of
making time for downtime andhow important it is. And also we're
going to hit money saving tipnumber five. And in the next stop,
we're going to explore GlacierView campground in Idaho. And then
(00:21):
in RV Envy, it's going to tiein with staying on the road. The
must have RV accessories.Which video or list do you trust?
This is Eric Sark with thesmart RV or podcast delivering the
smarts. You need to enjoy thefreedom of the RV lifestyle without
the fear of breaking down.Let's talk everything RV. And today
(00:41):
is episode number 165. Solet's dig right in. I'm here today.
Alexis is here today. Say hito everybody, Alexis.
Hello.
All right, so we're both sick.Everybody here is sick. So we're
here in the early morninghours while it's still 20 degrees
out, trying to do thispodcast. So it might be a little
(01:04):
rough today. Mentally. I'm offbig time. So we're not even gonna
do technical stuff today. Ican't even think, Okay, I don't even
know what 12 volts is anymore.Don't use a volt meter. Use a techno.
I don't know. So anyway, so itmight be a rough episode where we
don't have any banks. So we'redoing this one. It's going live.
Today's Thursday, goingtomorrow, you know, so it's gonna
(01:26):
be out there Friday morning.So we're sick. Everybody here sick.
And. But the show goes on, asthey say.
That's right.
It's speaking about the showgoing on if you buy a new rv. This
was something just. I'vetalked about it before, but it comes
up again and again when youbuy a new RV and you buy it out of
(01:46):
the area where you live, maybethe dealer's there, the price is
too much. You don't want todeal with them. You know, they have
a horrible reputation. That'sprobably everywhere. I love those
little things. But, you know,when it comes time to do warranty
work, sometimes it can be atotal nightmare if you have to drag
your RV or drive it someplacehundreds of miles away to get warranty
(02:09):
work done because no one inthe area will do the warranty work
because you didn't buy it fromthem. And sometimes that boils down
to, like a dematic warranty.Even though it's a new rv, the warranty
is through Dometic, not themanufacturer of the rv. But it's
easier to take it back to thedealership, even if it's a Dometic
or Suburban warranty, becauseit just makes it easier because there
(02:31):
are generally other things youneed done too, that would not be
specific to Dometic orSuburban or Coleman, whoever it might
be. If at all possible, try tobuy your RV someplace where it's
local, where they'll do the.Or, you know, where you can get the
warranty work done. And if youcan't do it, if you can't, I mean,
(02:51):
there are reasons why youshould. There's some dealerships
around us that, you know,heck, I drove hundreds of miles not
to buy one from them, youknow, and I can see that. But remember,
the warranty work might becomea hassle. And so some warranty things
might just be easier to pay tohave it done right, Period. And when
a dealership tells you, like,maybe it's a local one, you know,
(03:12):
buy the RV from them, theysay, no, we don't do warranty work
on that. If it's a Dometicproduct, a Coleman product, a Furrion
product, a Suburban product,whatever it might be, as long as
it's not the rv, the branditself, they do warranty work on
it. They just don't want to doit. Warranty work doesn't pay very
well. I mean, let's just behonest. It doesn't pay. It's a hassle.
(03:33):
Like Dometic, you know, theywant you to check 28 different things
and turn in a report on themost mundane, ridiculous thing. This
is what it needs. Cut and dry.Oh, no. We need to have all these
readings and sensors. It'slike dealing with NASA. You know,
you're putting a part on thespace shuttle or something. So just
keep that in mind. Warrantywork is not, you know, the warranty
(03:53):
is there, but doesn't meaneverybody's going to do it or even
want to do it. You know, to bereally honest with you, most places
don't like doing it. So that'sjust a little tip. Buy local if you
can. But if you know you justcan't do it, then when you buy it
someplace else, remember thewarranty problems might become an
issue. A bigger issue thanwhat they already are. Okay, now
(04:14):
as a reminder, our nextepisode is going to be 166. It's
going to be the year endepisode and that we're going to do
all the highlights from 2024and get into what's new for 2025.
We got some really cool stuffheading our way. Heading your way
about in 2025, we're going tochange the show up some. Going to
add a great feature. At leastwe think is great. We hope you guys
(04:36):
like it, but it's going to be.It's just going to be awesome. Right,
Alexis? In fact, it ties inwith that mug. You can't see it,
but Alexis. Well, unlessyou're watching the video version,
it's about Route 66. That'swhat our mugs about. So. But it's
beyond that. All right, sohere we are. Let's get into the show
and get into enjoying the RVlife section. So, Alexis, what made
(05:00):
you choose make time for Downtime?
Well, I think as RVers, that sounds.
Like a song title. Make timefor Dan Time.
I'm sure it is somewhere. SomeK pop or something. No, not really.
Well, that's kind of thepoint. I think as RVers, we get really
busy. We want to travel asmuch as we can, you know, especially
(05:20):
in Montana. We have to fit itin where we can. So we're just go,
go going. And I think partlywe lose a little bit of what arving
is about, which is aboutgetting away from society, getting
away from your phone, gettingaway from social media and having
that actual downtime that letsyou recharge. And so that's what
(05:41):
we're kind of talking abouttoday is, is getting back to that
just disconnect from whatyou're always on at work and just
at home. We do it toourselves. We get into this habit
of being so attached andconnected to everyone and everything,
and sometimes you just have toget away from that. And that's what
our being is about. If we canreally train ourselves to do that
(06:04):
and to just relax and not haveto go, you know, somewhere crazy,
we can. We can pick a placethat's close, go and just get away
from everything and it be thenicest trip you've ever been on.
So that's kind of what we'retalking about today.
Well, that's very true. Andyou know, these. You make a trip
and sometimes all you're doingis checking your emails, texting
(06:26):
with your friends, family,social media. Oh, look, an alert.
So and so is online. Oh, mygosh. We got to drop what we're doing
and see what they're doing.Who cares, man? You're on your trip,
you know, everybody, mosteverybody knows you're gone. Or probably,
you know, most everybody justignore it. Everything will hold till
Monday.
(06:46):
Yep.
Or Sunday or whatever, youknow, And I go on trips. I always
check my email Once a day. Ifit's a weekend, once a day. If it's
during the week, twice a day.Just because I get so many emails,
it doesn't mean I follow up onit. It was just getting my inbox
clear.
I gotcha.
If I go for three days withoutchecking my email, man, what a nightmare
(07:09):
it is.
People think you're dead, buton trips.
Man, I have email on my phone.I don't pay attention to it.
Good for you.
And that's it. I just let itall go.
Good. That's the point.
Disconnect.
That's what follows, right?
For some people listening to apodcast, maybe they, maybe they don't
really understand what thatis. But there was a time when you
left town, you didn't haveemail or anything. You had nothing,
(07:32):
Nothing. It would be a payphone at the campground if you wanted
to call somebody. And that wasit, you know, and then cell phones
came on the scene, but youstill have email, mobile, email and
stuff like that, you know, soit's something that has never been
a necessity. All of a suddenis becoming runs our life.
Yeah.
(07:53):
So disconnect. But for therest of the article, which is a great
article, it's on our website,the Smart RV or dot com and join
the RV Life. There's a link toit in the description, like always
links to everything. Which,speaking of links to everything,
there's always going to be alink from here on out about how to
contact us using our contactpage on the Smart rver and our phone
(08:17):
number. So you can call uswith questions or whatever. You know,
we're here to help. If youguys got questions or you have an
experience you want to share,share with. We want to hear about
it. There's no bad experiencethat we don't want to know. You know,
like, you know, they saythere's no dumb question. Well, there's
no dumb experience. We want tohear it all. We want questions from
you. If you guys are havingissues with products. You know, I
(08:38):
put a call out a while backfor mini Split AC systems and we
want to hear from you guys.That's what we're here for. Until
we get so many phone calls andmessages we can't handle with it.
Handle it, then we'll justkeep asking for it. So let us have
it all right now. Also, we'regoing to talk about money saving
tip number five, which says,you know, saving money on gasoline,
(09:02):
not necessarily mileage, whichwe talked about in the last episode,
but just buying fuel, youknow, using a card, a discount Card
or something makes absolutesense. And there are some apps out
there and one of them thatwe've recommended in the past and
we still recommend it today isMud Flap. It's an app you can put
on your phone and it helps youfind lower priced fuel prices. It
(09:24):
might not work for everybodyin every area. It's still a growing
app, but they seem to dopretty well. So you might check it
out. There's gonna be a linkto it in the description of this
podcast. Like I said, I'msick. Hard to think here, you know,
I don't even know what I'mdoing right now. But you know, with
prices changing so much, wherethey go down or up, it doesn't matter.
(09:47):
Even if it keeps going down,you still want to save money. It
all adds up. At the end of thetrip, if you save 50 bucks, 100 bucks,
150, you know, 200, whatever,that's money that goes towards the
trip or a repair or some sortof maintenance, you know, just saves
you money overall. I mean,ideally it's just to save money anymore.
There's so many problems or somany things happening right now with
(10:10):
inflation and prices going upand yeah, the list goes on and on.
So when you think about thisepisode or this section here, it's,
you know, take when you go ona trip, make it downtime. Don't make
it work time or anything else,just make it downtime. Enjoy your
vacation, your one day, twoday, three days, weeks, whatever
it is, just flat out and enjoyit. All right, so you can go to the
(10:33):
smart rv.com and read moreabout this under RV Envy, the whole
full articles there. Make timefor downtime. Now moving on to staying
on the road. So this is alittle bit different today because
I'm not feeling so well and Ican't think in technical terms. We're
going to talk about somethingelse that ties in with RV Envy. RV
(10:53):
Envy is about buying thingsthat you don't have to have. And
that came to me a couple weeksago and I thought, well, that'd be
a good one because I waswatching some YouTube videos and
then earlier this week,because I was at home sick, I was
watching this show ondocumentary on Netflix about Buy
(11:17):
It Now. Is Buy it Now theconspiracy behind, let me find it
here, about the big brands,how big brands are trashing the planet.
And you know, it's so true.But I'm not going to get into the
pollution side of it. I mean,that is an issue. You know, the planet
is just getting destroyed withall the stuff that consumers buy,
(11:39):
which is all of us, we all buystuff. So we're all guilty as charged.
Right. But it's makingsensible purchases. And, you know,
going back in time, you know,thinking about when I was a kid,
it was real simple. You know,you needed a new pair of shoes. You
go to the shoe store and, youknow, there were shoe stores that
(12:02):
weren't in malls. They werejust on streets. You know, there'd
be a shoe store and next to itwould be a house, you know, depending
where you lived. Or maybethere's a downtown area where it
had maybe two shoe stores, asporting goods store. But, you know,
you didn't have a thousand orno, a thousand choices. It's probably
a million. Yeah, a millionchoices today. You know, you type
(12:25):
in athletic footwear onlineand, you know, make your choice now
what kind of shoe you're goingto buy. Holy smokes. And every shoe
is better than the other one.So, you know, shopping as a child
for my parents is much easier.Here's where you're going, you know,
and if you wanted cats, you'dgo to the store that sold cads.
Yep.
If you wanted, whatever, Vans,you know, they were popular when
(12:48):
I was a kid, you'd go to thestore that sold vans, you know, and
gosh, getting vans was like abig deal, man, I was like a treat.
Well, man, my parents arespringing for vans this time, you
know, so, you know, that's howlife was. It was different. You know,
it wasn't like Mayberry withAndy and Opie, but it was, you know,
not far from that. Go to thegrocery store. There was just like
(13:12):
one type of yogurt. You know,my mom would say, go get some yogurt.
And, you know, I think therewas like maybe two flavors or three
or something, but it wasstill. It was real yogurt, too. It
had all the. This horriblesounding stuff in the bacteria. Streptococcal
is and whatever, but it wasthe real deal. And all you had to
(13:32):
ask was what size. Basically,you know, oh, mom, can I get a tangerine
flavored one? Maybe that wasthe only flavor they had, you know,
or yellow or lemon yellow.Yellow flavor. Eat the yellow yogurt.
But, you know, it was sosimple. And, you know, cereal, there
was a lot of cereal, but notlike today.
Yeah, that's.
(13:52):
And everything was easier.There were so many less items, There
were so many less stores, andthere are so many less advertisements
pushing all the garbage thateverybody says we need, you know,
so parents weren't Blowingtheir money on all this junk. They
weren't regurgitating TVsevery three years. They weren't buying
(14:15):
their kids new iPhones everythree years. They were putting that
money into putting those kidsthrough college or keeping food on
the table, depending on theirfinancial circumstances. It was a
different world. Now today,when a baby comes out of the womb,
the first thing it says isiPhone. And the second thing is,
where's mine? That's true, you know.
(14:37):
Yeah.
I don't know if it says it inthe Bible that it's a God given right,
but it certainly seems thatway, you know, that at birth you
need an iPhone.
Yeah. Not even I had one.
Yeah. Alexis is not as old asme, so she's born in this millennial,
(14:58):
that generation he's lookingreally. But she's not like a lot
of the younger people out there.
Try not to be.
Alexis is an older soul, assome might say for better or worse.
But so, you know, it's insociety changes. It changes all the
time. And, you know, it's likemy parents told me things that, you
(15:21):
know, I would never see in mylifetime. Like I'd never be able
to buy a house. And, you know,I bought my first house when I was
like 21 years old. It justworked out. I had a good job, making
good money. I was driven, youknow. But their parents told them
things that they would neverbe able to do in their lifetime.
And some of those things cametrue, some of them didn't. And that's
the way it is. But today, youknow, parents talk about things that
(15:43):
were simpler. And youngerpeople think, oh, gosh, this guy's
on heroin, man. What's hethinking, Right? But, you know, it
wasn't that long ago. Youknow, I remember in my 20s, I was
remodeling a house, you know,I needed a nail gun and an air compressor.
And, you know, it was reallyeasy. I just went to M and W Electric.
They're the only place inTorrance that sold that type of stuff.
(16:05):
Go in and they had like twobrands, Senco and Bostitch and the
air compressor, I forget whatbrand it is, are still in business
today. In fact, my brother's arepresentative for their company,
mglo. That's it. And you buythem and that's it. You go out the
door and you're done. Itdidn't matter what it costs, you
(16:26):
know, that was it.
Yep.
And you got an okay deal. Youknow, it felt good anyways. And,
you know, I looked at one,remodeling my house. Myself, I'm
saving a ton of money.
Yeah.
And, you know, I saw that nailgun today, and I saw that air compressor
today, and they work fine. Andit's different. You go buy a new
compressor today, it's goingto last you for a few years. You'll
(16:48):
be throwing it away. A nailgun, throw away. You know, so things
have changed. And, you know,we're not going to change the world.
That's for darn sure. Thisworld is going the way it's going,
and there's no stopping it.But the point I'm getting to, which
is taken the long way aroundhere, but you got a little backstory.
Right. Make it fun,interesting. See, what this knucklehead's
(17:08):
talking about today is, youknow, how many things do you buy
that in a month or two monthsare outdated according to the companies?
Yep.
You know, like, I'm looking atsome of our equipment in our studio
now. We have some Panasoniccameras, which is amazing that they're
(17:29):
still making the same modelafter at least eight, nine, ten years.
Yeah.
Maybe even longer. The sameexact model. We have multiple, and
they're the same exact model,but yet I have some road equipment
that you buy it, you use it,and now you get an email saying,
(17:50):
oh, you got to get our newversion of this. It's so much better.
Well, what's so much betterabout it? The form factor, the shape
of it. Yeah, it costs more.There you go. So you know what? It
not only costs more, itactually costs twice as much. And
you know why I say that?Because you already have one that
works. So you buy the secondone that's supposedly better that
(18:10):
just. You just doubled yourinvestment in that piece of equipment.
And then you'll think, well,I'll sell the old one. Who wants
to buy the old one? Man,everybody knows it's old now. God.
Thing's been out for a yearand a half now. Who was that? You
know, it's like an iPhone, youknow, you can't have an iPhone9,
man. Especially like a kid.But so it just never ends, and we
(18:31):
all fall victim to it. And sowhen you're buying RV parts, in fact,
we might not even be able todo RVing, because I'm just going
to go right into it, you know,but when you're buying RV parts,
and this is really what I'mgetting at, the rest of the stuff
in your life, you know,whatever this applies to it, but
it's on you, what you do, youknow, because I know you're probably
(18:52):
not Buying RV parts like youare other stuff. I mean some people
really invest in their rv.They have, you know, great products,
they have a great rv. Otherpeople buy it, they treat it for
what it is, something they useand they have all the right equipment,
but they don't go beyond that.There's like, maybe not a physical
budget, but there's a mentalbudget. Like, hey, you know what?
(19:13):
We're only going to stick withthe basics, the things we really
need and once we buy them,we're just going to let them wear
out and that's it. And that'sa lifestyle, you know, that's decisions
you make. But I saw thesevideos. So now we're just throwing
RV into the end of this. Therewas these videos, this was a woman.
I'm a full timer, I don'tremember the name of the channel.
(19:34):
It doesn't matter because I dothese types of videos too, but I
do them differently. I mean, Iwant you to buy products. We have
an RV store. I want everybodyto buy new products, you know, throw
your old stuff, buy new stuff,you know, but that's not really it.
We try to help people savemoney. That's probably one of the
things that works against usfinancially is we try to help people
save money.
We really do.
So they don't spend as muchmoney. They come in, hey, I need
(19:56):
to replace this. Oh no youdon't. You've got plenty of life
left in that. But they'reready to buy a new one. But we tell
them, no, you can wait, yougot another year at least another
year, two years, you know,just ride it out if you can. And
sometimes now I just want toget, now I'm here and that's fine.
Yeah, I get that. But like inthis video now this woman was a full
time RVer, probably her andher husband and they were talking
(20:20):
primarily about Camcoproducts, which that's fine. I push
Camco. I like the brand. Theyhave a lot of different products
and their products seem to bepretty darn good. They last. I mean,
I don't know they're going tolast a lifetime, but they last as
long as I think most stuff inthe RV market is going to last. Well,
not most. I mean they lastlonger than a lot of the absolute
(20:40):
junk out there, especially thestuff you buy on the Jungle website,
Amazon. I'm going to say it byname because they helped to create
this disaster of people buyingstuff with the buy it now button.
You know, one step shoppingand all that garbage. You know, she
has a water Pressureregulator. Now, I don't know if this
person ever listens to thispodcast or someone knows who I'm
(21:03):
talking about, but I'm notknocking her. I get it. You know,
it's just selling a product.She's a full time RVer, selling what
she believes you need to have.But you know, with that being said,
all of us have different needsand we have different financial backgrounds,
different circumstances. We'refull timers, we're part timers. You
(21:24):
know, maybe we use our RV oncea year, maybe we use it once a month.
Whatever it is, we buy what weneed. I mean, there is no point in
taking a $20 water pressureregulator. And like she says, just
get rid of it. And you gottabuy this other one, this Camco adjustable
water pressure regulator,which is, you know, let's say 80
(21:46):
bucks. So you throw away 20,you spend 80. Now you're into a water
pressure regulator for 100. Doyou really need it? And she explained
the benefits of having anadjustable water pressure regulator
on it. And I see that. But youknow what it really boils down to
is washing your hair. No, no,it's not even your hair. It's your
(22:07):
wife's hair. I gotta becareful how I say this. I don't want
to piss everybody off, but.But here's what we hear in the store.
A guy comes in, he's lookingfor a shower head. Okay, they're
right over here, sir, blah,blah, blah. And it always comes out.
My wife can't wash her hair.She wants a different shower head.
Never. Is it water pressure?It's a shower head. So it made me
(22:31):
think, are water pressureregulators really the issue that
women can't wash their hair inan rv? It's probably just the shower
heads not letting enough waterout. Now, it could be water pressure,
but an adjustable water waterpressure regulator is not going to
change the pressure at thepark. If the pressure at the park
sucks, it's going to suck inyour RV no matter what.
Yeah.
(22:52):
You know, and 50 psi or 55 psigenerally is plenty for anybody to
wash their hair. Unless yourhair goes down to your ankles, that
might be an issue. And then inthat case, you bring along one of
those big steel troughs thatlike, you feed an animal with and
just fill it with water anddunk your head in it.
(23:13):
Right, There you go.
All right, now everybody'smad. But then again, you see, now
you're blowing my steeltrough. Forget it. Get a plastic
one. They're lighter andcheaper. Okay, so that's an example.
And it's exaggerated, but it'sthe reality. Is the water pressure
at the park the problem? Or inyour rv, if it's in your rv. Is it.
(23:35):
Is it actually the waterpressure regulator? Because you buy
one and you use it, it'syours. You can't return it.
Exactly.
Unless you bought it on thejungle and you go through their little
hoops to return it and blameit on the seller or something. Because
it's never your fault. It'salways their fault.
Right.
And then it goes on to thenext thing. It's a water hose. She
(23:56):
picks up a water hose, andit's this big old coiled mess, which
was a total exaggeration ofthe water hose. I mean, I get it.
Especially if you don't reallyroll them up. Right. You just kind
of throw them in a compartmentor whatever. It's like a snake. But
you know what? We sell thesethings. I have. I have tried every
(24:17):
water hose on the market.
Yeah.
And there are some I like morethan others. But RV hoses have a
tendency of just kind ofsucking no matter what. You know,
you buy a hose for your house,you don't buy one of those plasticky
hoses you know is going tokink. That's throwing your money
away. But for an rv, if youbuy a white water hose and it's working,
(24:40):
all it does is provide waterfrom the hose bib to the rv. That's
it.
Yeah.
Nothing more, nothing less. Ifyou have a blue water hose that supposedly
doesn't kink, the water is thesame. The pressure doesn't change.
The flavor doesn't evenchange. It doesn't come out any different.
When it comes out, it doesn'tlike sparkle and glow or anything
(25:02):
like that. It's a water hose.And granted, some water hoses can
be a pain, especially whenit's a cooler climate. You know,
they are going to kink easier.I completely understand that. But
if your water hose kind of ishard to unravel, you're good. Every
hose you buy is going to besimilar to that. And now I use the
(25:23):
Camco Evo hoses, and I likethem because they roll up real nice,
but you still have to do alittle untangling. When you lay it
out, you got to make surethere's no kinks in before you turn
the water on. Even the hosesthat are supposed to be kink proof
will sometimes kink. But thereare better quality hoses. Some of
the cheaper hoses don't lastas long. Where the more expensive
(25:47):
ones, like the Evo Flax andthe. Well, heck, any blue water hose
Camco makes is going to lastlonger than any white hose on the
market.
Yeah.
Period.
True.
You know, Technor, Apex are agood company. Their hoses are good,
but they're not, I don'tthink, as good as Camco. And I'm
not trying to push you onCamco. So if you don't have a Camco
(26:08):
hose, you don't have to go outand buy one. Because Eric said looking
at what you buy and how itworks, don't fall into this trap
that you have to replace itbecause someone tells you there's
something better. There mightbe something better, but you really
need it. You know, how manytimes do we buy something and just
throw it away? And RV stuff ischanging. You know what else got
(26:31):
me kind of on this thing isrecently Lippert just came out with
a new air conditioner designedfor people that live in hotter climates
like Arizona. And it'ssupposed to work 30% better, and
it's, you know, 99% quieter.And it does this, it does that, it
does all these things. I'mthinking, okay, so now you're under
(26:51):
the pressure. Oh, my gosh.Gosh, we're going to Arizona this
summer. Oh, man. Do I. Do Iget this air conditioner? Do I not
get it? You know, and it's anair conditioner. It's the ceiling
assembly on the inside. It'sprobably a new thermostat or a kit
to make it work with yourthermostat. And at the end of the
day, the gain will probably benegligible. Now, I haven't tried
(27:14):
this air conditioner, so Ican't speak from 100% authoritative
standing on that. But thereality is these air conditioners
sometimes are boasted asmaking all these changes, and they're
not that much difference. Ifyou talk to the manufacturers, you
talk to the right personthere, they're going to be honest
with you. You get them thatperson who's just going to lay it
(27:37):
out online. Yeah, you knowwhat? This one's not really any better
than that one. And we got anew one coming out, but it's pretty
much the same as this one,except, you know, when it starts
up, it's a little bit quieteror something. I mean, we're in the
business. We know how thisworks. You know, all these air conditioners
are pretty much the same.They're all loud and annoying and
consume power. That's it. Wedon't want to get caught up in all
(27:57):
the frenzy of buying New stuffall the time. Really? That's the
point I'm making. Boy, I was along road to get there. It's trying
to help you save money forenjoying your rv where the RV is
not this big old burden like,oh, boy, we got to get, like, lithium
batteries. Oh, my God. We gotto get lithium batteries. You know,
how come they look so good inthere? Look how nice they are. Do
(28:20):
you need lithium batteries?That's the question you should ask
yourself, not where can I getthem and how much is. Do I need these
things? So focus on that. Putyour money towards something else.
Whatever. Putting your kidsthrough school, put it towards something
else. I mean, I'm not sayingdon't buy RV stuff when you need
it, but buy what you need. Andif you need the better quality, if
(28:41):
that suits your bill, then buyit. I'm not saying that either. I
mean, I try. Me and my wifeboth, and Alexis just brought this
up, that her and her husbandtry to buy the better quality things
all the time. And I feel thatI've been that way forever because
you buy the better stuff, itlasts longer. And we're especially
in a time now where things arecycling through every, you know,
(29:03):
30 days, you know, so you wantto buy better stuff. Warrant, you
know, refrigerators only lastfive years now. I know. So if you
buy a really good one, youmight get six out of it. No, they
last longer than that. But we,you know, I think you get what I'm
saying. Buy the better qualitystuff rather than buying it two or
three times. And don't getduped into videos, even if it's minds
(29:25):
buying products you don'tneed. So I'm going to take a sip
of water and catch my breath,and I'm just going to turn it over
to Alexis now as she coversthe next stop, Glacier View Campground
in Idaho.
Got it. In Idaho, we want tomake that point because it is not
close to Glacier park, ifthat's what you were thinking. So.
(29:46):
Yeah. But no, this place isreally beautiful. I did a little
research because I actuallywanted to go to it myself. It's positioned
on the north shore of RedfishLake. So if you all know where that
is. It's a beautiful,beautiful lake. Lots of views. There's
across the lake, there's thisbig mountain range. It's just incredible.
Incredible. Like you justcan't get a better place. It is hard,
(30:09):
however, to get a spot there,I found. So if you really want to,
you should probably try to geta reservation long ahead of time.
Before you actually go.There's. However, there's a lot of
campgrounds nearby. So if youwant to go visit it during the day,
you can do a lot on the lake.You don't have to be staying there
(30:29):
to enjoy it. So that is a goodthing to know. There's a lot of campgrounds
nearby. A lot of hiking,kayaking, fishing, swimming. Yeah,
much to do.
So yesterday, when I waslooking through this stuff, I looked
up this Glacier Viewcampground in Idaho because I was
kind of curious. That soundedfamiliar. And I'm thinking Glacier.
(30:50):
Glacier national park inMontana, but it's not. And then it
hit me that I'd been there.
That's so cool.
That's on the 75, I believe,in Montana. So from Stanley down
south to Ketchum, Idaho. Iremember when I was a kid, my brother
had a shirt from Ketchum. Itsaid ketchum. Hell, I can't even
find them.
(31:11):
That's a good one.
But anyway. But that wholeroad is, like, going through a whole
different. I don't know how todescribe it. It is totally different.
It's not like the part ofIdaho we were seeing prior to that.
It's not like anything we'veseen in Montana. Wow. The campground
is unbelievable. That wholeroad is stunning. If you were to.
(31:32):
You could spend a week or twotalking, driving down that road.
So cool. And I think I'vementioned that in the past, but,
yeah, it's one of those placesyou gotta go to. The campground is
unbelievable. That area isunbelievable. And there's a lot of
camping in the area. Drycamping, you know, whatever you want
to do, but you got to checkthat one out.
Yes.
All right, so that will be onthe website as well. The smart rver.com
(31:55):
under the next stop. And youwant to look at that Glacier View
campground in Idaho. Fromthat, we get the idea that, you know,
there's all these places togo. So, you know, Idaho is one place.
And sometimes making that tripmore than just one spot, making it
two or three spots. You know,setting up and tearing down could
(32:15):
be a hassle, but, heck, whynot? So we've already gone through
RV Envy, which is basicallypretty much everything I talked about.
And, yeah, I went on. On that.Now I know why my wife and kids always
dread when they say, hey,guys, come here. I gotta talk to
you. You know. Oh, boy, heregoes. So, hey, we've been making
(32:36):
some great progress with oursubscribers on YouTube. So we want
to ask everybody to keepsubscribing to the channel recommending
the Smart RVer on YouTube ourchannel there to others recommending
the show, the podcast, thesmart rver.com to others. Let people
know about us. If there'sother podcasts you enjoy, let us
(32:58):
know about those podcasts andmaybe we can get together with those
people and get them on ourshow. We can get on their show. We
don't have a lot of guests.That's not really our format but
heck, we're open to anythinganymore, right? Why not? All right,
so that's going to bring us tothe end of the show today. I want
to thank everybody forlistening and putting up with us
coughing, hacking and soundinghorrible. But you know the show most
(33:21):
must go on, right? So it was agood show regardless of our health.
So this is Eric Stark with theSmart RVer podcast. It's been great
hanging out with everybodytoday. So if we don't see you on
the road, let's connect at theSmart rver Combat.
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