March 25, 2020 • 54 mins
As the coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, disrupts life across America, one of the many unexpected consequences of much of public life shutting down is the closure of campgrounds and the displacement of full-time RVers and van-lifers. We heard from many listeners living out on the road that they were scrambling to find new sites to go to and we thought we could help guide listeners toward some of the resources in place, speak with some of those being affected, and with others who are trying to help.
Displaced Nomads and Full-Time RVers Relocation Resource Facebook group
And of course, we're always happy to talk at the Parklandia Rangers Facebook Group
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Part Glandia from my Heart Radio. This is
a podcast about national parks and life on the road
in an r V. I'm Brad Carowac and normally i
co host this show with my husband Matt, but I'll
be taking to lead on today's episode. You may notice
that this week we sound a little different. I'm recording
from our r V and in this episode you'll be
hearing quite a few phone calls. And here is why
(00:25):
that is. As you probably know, coronavirus and the disease
it causes, COVID nineteen are keeping people sheltered in their homes.
It's caused massive disruptions across the country and has made
a lot of people very sick and has even caused
some deaths. Like I said, you probably know all of that.
One thing you may not know is how it impacts
(00:45):
people who are on the road full time, like Matt
and myself and countless others across the country. Over the weekend,
r V parks and campgrounds began shutting down, turning away campers,
and evicting people. When this news first went through the
community of full timers and van life is it created
a lot of uncertainty. We didn't know how we're going
to be displaced or where we were going to be displaced.
(01:05):
So we're going to talk about that with some of
the folks who have been affected and others who are
trying to help. The first person I heard from is
Sean Miller. He's a fellow listener and a new found
friend who've connected with over our Park Lando Arrangers Facebook group.
Sean had been staying at a campground in New Mexico
when the r V park gave him the news he
couldn't extend his day. Before we go into the details
(01:28):
on this call, we want you to know that the
state of Mexico did not shut down all of their
r V parks, But in the moment of this call,
Sean just read the signs that were posted on the
r V park doors from the Health Department, and that
is the message he received. Seeing these official notices on
the doors of this RV park was scary, a very
scary situation to be in. Sean is okay, and you
(01:52):
will hear him say, New Mexico r V parks are
all closed throughout the state. But we found out later
that day through research that that was not the place.
We were simply just getting ready for our listener trivia
game that we're hosting over the weekend, when we found
ourselves on this call with Sean. Hey, this is Brad. Hey,
Brad It Sean Miller. Hey, how you doing? Oh man,
(02:14):
I'm freaking out. I just got kicked out of my
RV park. So that was on the phone with the
people this morning. So what's going on? Um? Well, I
just I just found a place to stay, luckily, but
New Mexico is shutting down all r V park, not
allowing any new residents and not allowing current residents to
extend their current reservations. So you know, my reservation was
(02:41):
through tomorrow. So um yeah, needless to say, I I know,
needless to say. I don't think I'm gonna be able
to make it down to you in Houston unfortunately. No,
of course, of course. I mean right now, you gotta
just see where you're at and where you can go. Um,
so where are you headed? Have you figured that out?
(03:01):
I have my fund me enough. My doctor has been
watching my dogs this week offered to put me on
her land, So, um, I think that's gonna work at
least for a few days. Well that's good. Well, I
mean that's I mean, that's like our worst fear, right.
I mean people are just scrambling right now, trying to
(03:21):
figure out what to do and where to go and
are you still pretty settled with your plan from Houston. Yeah,
so we're actually be extended here um to make sure
that we're not to just see what's going on the
next couple of weeks, because yeah, that's probably smart to
be safe, right, I mean, exactly what you're going through
and night now is something that we I don't want
(03:43):
to go through, um, and so we're trying to make
sure before we go out and start traveling that we
can do it responsibly. I mean, not saying that you weren't.
So uh so you said you have a place to
stay in the next couple of days. I do, Yeah,
so very lucky, but also feeling a little bit more
relaxed than when I woke up this morning, so I'm sure.
(04:06):
I mean I couldn't imagine, like did they just come
and knock on your door and say, hey, it's time
to get out, or like how did they know? They
didn't actually say anything, They just hung a sign on
the office sat Park closed. So I went in there
today to talk with them, and that's when they told
me that they wouldn't be able to extend it. But
they just put that sign up like two days ago.
(04:28):
So if I had gone in three days ago, I
probably could have extended it. That is that's great, is
what it is. And you know that's the problem with
this this lifestyle is there's not always those protections for
us UM. Where people are living in their r V traveling,
(04:49):
you have to go through a lot of loopholes and
you know, we just have to adapt, you know. That's Uh,
that's part of this lifestyle. People don't understand and we
all know it in the back from mind, but we're like,
nothing big is ever gonna happen, UM, and then something
big happens and we just have to figure out what
(05:10):
to do. So that's the um crazy part and somehow
we always do figure it out. I mean, I love
us the r V because of that, right we all
come together. So Sean is lucky that he was able
to make other living arrangements when his campsite shut down.
Not everyone is that lucky. One person who caught wind
(05:30):
of this problem early on was Chris Comber. Chris is
someone who started full timing about a year ago and
now is staying just outside of his business instead of
traveling throughout the country. Chris took to Facebook to try
to help van life and full time campers who are
displaced find homes during this situation. So I hopped on
the phone with him and here is his call. Um,
(05:53):
So I see that you started a Facebook group for
displaced r V and full timers. Um, what what what
made you do that? So? Um? I grew up on
a small lake in Arkansas that's ran about the Corbette
Steers and recently, you know the thing, It was Wednesday
we got notification if they were shutting the camp grounds
(06:14):
down as of tomorrow. I believe that, you know, anybody
that was there had to be had to be out.
There were gonna lock the gates, they were shutting utilities off.
And I posted that in the escape Ers Facebook group. UM,
and the comments and the responses to that were I
(06:36):
realized a lot of places are shutting down, a lot
of the state parks, a lot of the public use
lands that a lot of people depend on the park,
their the RVs, and UH kind of put two and
two together with you know, I have a lot of
friends that that owned restaurants or other businesses that are
being closed to the public. Um and just felt like
(06:57):
there was there was gonna be space of the it's available.
It may not be ideal, but you're you know, we've
we've got a lot, We've got a large full time
RVY community, yeah, you know. And so I was trying
to just be think about creative places that people could
go if the places they typically depend on are no
longer available. Absolutely, and I think that displaced nomads and
(07:21):
full time our vs. Relocation resource is going to be
super important to full timers and van lifers out there. Um.
Now you have this pretty structured and I loved seeing that.
And so basically what I saw was in your about section,
you have strict rules because they need to be followed
(07:41):
because it really helps people understand what is needed. So
I've heard this Facebook group together pretty quick. I was
home for lunch, you know, and just had had an
hour and a half or so to spend on it.
And another gentleman came along with a lot of experience
(08:02):
with Facebook groups, Richard Dean Star. He's and he's been
phenomenal in creating the formats and the subgroups of of
the group and he really helped me see how important
that format was, and so we've had a lot of
people get frustrated over it. But the point of it
(08:22):
is is within a group, Facebook has created a search
engine by going up to the search bar, and so
if we keep post to very concise, pertinent information, it
makes that search feature super super powerful. So basically what
we're trying to do is we're trying to point this out. Though,
(08:45):
So if you go to this Facebook group, it's a
public group, it's so far I've seen people with amazing response, UM,
people that are saying, hey, we have our land open,
give us a call, you know, we this is what
we need, um, can anybody help? And I love that
because right now, during this time, that's what people need.
So I think this is a fantastic resource along with
(09:06):
if you've ever heard of campadm dot com, they have
a blog and their updating daily the closures by states,
by counties, um, by cities, you know, to make sure
that people are getting the best resources out there. UM.
So I think the two of these combined is going
to be a great resource for a lot of people
(09:27):
they're looking for where to go, what to do. UM. Luckily,
Matt and I were in Houston right now and we're
at an r V park and it's completely fine at
the moment. We have a space until the first unless
we need to extend UM. But there's a lot of
our followers that don't have that. So the resource that
you're providing is UM is amazing really, So your current situation,
(09:51):
you're fine. You've got room, you've got space for your self,
and your family is taken care of. I do. We
We bought our first RV UH brought out a year
ago and moved into it shortly there after a full
time I've owned a brick and mortar business for about
sixteen years, and so we were parked at the business.
(10:12):
It's taken a little longer to just to close this
business down and I had to anticipated, so you know
that at the moment, there's been frustrations about that along
the way, but today I feel blessed to not have
to worry about where I gotta go to borrow. You know.
The Facebook group Chris Combers set up once again is
Displaced Nomads and our Viears, and we'll have a link
(10:34):
to that in our show notes. We're fortunate to have
folks like Chris providing a form for people to share
resources for those who aren't living on the road. It
may be hard to imagine the impact that these shutdowns
can have. It's not just simply losing a parking space.
It's so much more complex than that. To give you
an idea of just how disruptive this is, I spoke
with Megan McNichol. She is my cousin and is also
(10:58):
a van liver. She was in San Francisco and all
of this was unfolding, and thankfully she is not there anymore.
And we'll get into that, but let's get into our conversation.
Hey Megan, how you doing good? How are you good? Um?
Thank you so much for joining me on this call. Um.
We are talking about our view and van living and
(11:22):
the current situation of COVID nineteen. And I'm so glad
that you decided to join us today. Yeah, thanks for
asking me to be a part of this. Absolutely so.
When you were living in San Francisco doing the van
life movement, Um, you were telling me that you what's
your normal routine, like, how do you shower, what do
you where do you get your internet from? What are
(11:44):
what are your normal routines throughout your day. Yeah. So UM,
I have a gym membership UM, and that's where I
do my showering. UM. I also UM do not have
a fridge right now. UM in the process of UH
doing my own bill, so I have to go to
the grocery store daily, UM in order to be able
(12:05):
to eat like fresh and also to stack up on
water because my water system right now is is homemade.
So I get UM like to gallon and five gallon
jugs or UM water we fill from grocery stores as well. UM.
And so one of the first things that happened for
(12:27):
me is, UM, all the water was gone, so along
with all the hand sanitizers and toilet deeper UM, my
ability to get water was gone. And then UM, I
go to coffee shops UH daily for my internet service,
(12:47):
so that when they started clothing the gyms and UM
stores and restaurants and things like that, my ability to
UM stay connect did and to shower daily. UM. Those
scenes went away. And so what the major impact for
me to decide to leave UM San Francisco was when
(13:14):
the cruise ship decided to dock there and they were
predicting that the cases were really gonna surge, and I
just didn't want to be in a place that was,
you know, high risk, and I had the ability to
leave h So I figured that that was just kind
of the smartest decision for for my well being, considering
(13:36):
I didn't have any access to any public places anymore. Wow,
that's just that's a lot to go through in a
matter of days, because I mean it's like not even days,
probably felt like hours because of how fast everything was developing.
And it's just been hectic for everybody right now. And
(13:57):
I'm really glad that you were back safe with family.
I know from talking to other family members they're happy
that you're back and that you're safe. UM, But just
to hear about those daily routines and how they're impacted
by such a thing. You know, as our years and
full van lifers, we we kind of prepare for these
(14:17):
situations UM in the back of our head because you
have to. You're forced to, because the way that we
move throughout the United States, UM changes on a daily
to weekly basis, and she always have to be ready
to adapt. UM. Luckily, from Matt Night, we do have
a full fridge, UM, and we were able to go
to the growth store and stock up, and we have
(14:38):
water from tap um that's filtered through our filter process,
and we have a enclosed shower and those kind of
amenities that a lot of people have, but in the
full time van life movement, a lot of people don't
have because they are currently working on building them out
like you are. So you're going through that transition of
building those out. How long going to take you to
(15:00):
get to San Francisco to where you are now? UH?
So I actually moved to San Francisco in February UM,
and UH I was looking for I work in the
restaurant industry, so I was looking for UM that type
of employment. UM and I have been following the news
(15:21):
pretty closely because I was watching like election stuff and
how that was all unfolding, which is when the coronavirus
UM news started coming out. So I had been paying
attention to it UM pretty consistently and UM I had
been weighing my options pretty early on. So UM I
(15:42):
decided to leave UM. How uh San Francisco area before
they went into the same place in the lockdown and
all of those things. And fortunately I do have UM
family support, so I'm able to do things like stay
with my sister where I've been for a week, and
then I'm also considering going back to the Midwest where uh,
(16:06):
where my mom lives, so that I can you know,
be able to have the support of family too, to
stay with what until you know, I have access to
the gym and you know, uh, these resources in the
grocery store. Yeah, exactly, no, absolutely, And you know, even
with that, you have to plan on how to get
(16:28):
there and when it's the right time to do that.
So just because you're in a safe location now doesn't
mean that you're planning stops. And that's what a lot
of people I don't think understand within the full time
and fan life movement is that you're consistently planning and
organizing your trips, your routes, your activities, um, fuel stops
(16:49):
to water stops, restroom breaks, um. And there's so much
involved within that and right or like gas stations like
are they going to be open? Am I going to
be able to hit enough of them to travel across
the country like that's or you know, our state's going
to go into lockdown where maybe it's not okay for
me to be traveling, you know, through them, And I
(17:13):
want to be mindful of you know, everyone's fears. And
you know, I've been rather self quarantined UM, and I
don't have the virus as far as I know, UM,
but I just you know, I want to reduce any
fears by um, not coming into contact with other people
and you know, just having them have that fear of
(17:35):
does she have it? Or also to get it from
someone else. Absolutely, especially because like there's a lot of
small talents right now that are stopping public and private camping.
And that's just because their hospitals don't have the resources
like the bigger cities do. UM. And the thing with
these shelter influence is good, but when you shut down
(17:57):
things like public and private camping, it displaces a lot
of people and they have to then travel through these
small towns to get back to a safe space much
like your house. UM. We've been talking to people about UM.
They're opening up to their friends. UM. There are lots
of land UM and things like that. So it's just
(18:19):
one of those things that we're all trying to figure
out how to do this with social responsibility. UM. And
that's including today take away that fuel, that bread from
a small town, that toilet paper from a small town.
So for those people that don't have family to go
to right now, UM, try to relay on some friends. UM.
(18:41):
If you're having troubles, there's resources out there. We're gonna
be posting them on our park Landia Facebook UM and
our park Landia Rangers Facebook group. UM, so that way
you have those resources. And Megan, I really appreciate you
coming on and telling your story today because it's going
to help people make these decisions and help them move
(19:03):
um where they need to to protect themselves and others
while they find themselves in these similar situations. Yeah, definitely,
and thank you Bradley. I love seeing this like this
is what we need right now in our society is
to see that there's carrying compassionate people who who do
(19:23):
want to help others, and there are ways for us
to reach out and to and to be connected in
these uncertain times and see that there is love and
there is compassion and that's how we get through things
like this. So thank you Bradley for everything that you're
doing for this community. That was Megan McNichol. You're listening
(19:44):
to park Landia. We'll be back in just a moment.
I'm Brad Kerouac and this is park landing. In today's episode,
(20:04):
we're talking to folks living in the full time and
van life communities and about how they're being affected by
the coronavirus outbreak and the resources that are in place
for them. My next call is with Jason Epperson. When
I caught up with him, he was at a private
campcown just outside of Sedona. And here is our call.
I'm Jason Epperson. I am the one of the editors
(20:24):
at r V miles dot com UH, and with my
wife and I we UH. We're full time travelers and
we host the RV Miles podcast where we talk about
our travels and what's going on in the r V industry.
And we host the American's National Parks podcast, which is
sort of a storytelling history UH type show, and the
(20:48):
The America Podcast, which is UH which is similar in
in and Scalpe to the American's National Parks podcast, but
it's about sort of American road trip destinations like car
Hinge at are you guys in a good places? Are?
We're in Arizona. We were at a private campground just
(21:10):
for the week. UM when all this started to happen
and UH, we decided to add UH just go to
a monthly rate. So we're just kind of pulled up
here near near Sedona. Have you have you found any
like resources yet for um like news relating to RB
closures and campgrounds And yeah, yeah, I've got several uh
(21:35):
several good options, um, a lot of them. Uh as
far as closures go, there's there's a couple of websites
that have been tracking very closely, UM Campendium and uh
and uh A Rootless Living is doing an excellent job
of it. Um Rootless as well. Yes, they're a new
(21:58):
uh there are a new magazine. It's an actual print
magazine forum for anybody that's not just our views, but
anybody who's sort of you know, digital nomad type person. Um.
But they so they have been tracking closures, but they've
also created a resource that just uh they just launched it,
(22:20):
but and it's just starting to populate. But it's a
um basically a listing page where campgrounds can put uh
you know that that that they have availability and that
they do long term stays for anybody that's displaced right
now that's uh have openings and such. Um. So that's
(22:44):
really good. UM. I'm also I've just for our episode
of r V miles that released today. I interviewed UM
woman named G. G. Stettler who is who runs this
nonprofit called the RV Advisors to run an RV dealership. Yeah. Yeah,
(23:04):
so they're in Florida. UM, but she so she she
owns a dealership, but she also has this nonprofit and
what they're doing is basically she's taking all the used
inventory on her lot and offering it up for UM
for first responders, for uh, for healthcare workers, anybody that
(23:30):
might need it, but also uh also anybody that's you know,
homeless or uh or can't get back to their r
V and stuff. And so they're doing that in Florida.
But then she's also creating a network across the country
of getting other dealers in on it um to to help.
And she's also uh if people are are at home
(23:53):
and have their RV and are willing to loan it out. UM,
she's also creating a resource where you can loan doubt
for not only for workers, but people that need to
be quarantined. And then uh they'll pay uh the average
daily rental rate to you. So if you're somebody's lost
your job and you still have this RV and you,
(24:14):
you know, you need to pay your loan on it
and stuff you can. You can loan it out and
they'll pay you for it, and then they have a
two week process where they clean it and sanitize it
and everything. So there's a few different things going on
out there, of course. I mean Camp Indium. I was
talking to them a little bit about what they're trying
to do escape these r V club they're trying to do,
(24:37):
UM lobbying UM truck campers, Yeah, dot com or Truck
Camper magazine. Dot com has created a petition. UM. I
see National Park Traveler. They're talking about the National Park
closures and it's just amazing all these resources that are
out there and right now I'm trying to consolidate them
all into an area so people can get there that
(25:00):
they met exactly. Yeah, I've been talking with UM a
couple of the uh, the RV park associations in different states,
and they're they're lobbying real hard to stay open UM.
I know UM that UH, they've they've sort of been
(25:20):
working together in the states that they already have shelter
in place going on or some version of it to
to stay open because there there have been areas where
private parks are closed, like I know, the Florida Keys
is completely shut down and they have asked all um
travelers and transient people to to leave. A county at
(25:43):
Presidio County, Texas has done the same moab utah so UM.
And a lot of these parts are housing traveling nurses
and doctors and UH and oil field workers, you know,
people that that are doing their jobs or you know
they're they're like a million full timers on the road too,
(26:04):
But that pales in comparison to the number of snowbirds
that are down in warmer climates that are you know,
looking forward to heading home somewhere and uh and that
route home is a little scary to a lot of
them right now. Oh yeah, yeah, you have full time workers,
you have UM like you said, you have the snowbirds,
(26:25):
you have you just have resvers. There's a lot of
dangerous things going on and you know, you gotta be careful.
But by uplifting all these people, it actually creates more panic,
especially within our community exactly, and it creates more travelers,
it makes it it's forcing people a lot of these
(26:46):
snowbirds that would be happy to stay where they are. UM,
to to make that journey back to Minnesota, Wisconsin or
whatever from Florida and New Mexico and California. And it's
not that they're betting thee to see if they're sick.
So when they go to that gas station, you know.
So that's where it's scary. Yeah. And and a lot
(27:08):
of the parks are are filling up because the private
park because the public parks are closing, everybody is more.
Can you know, there's more people combined to a smaller
space at a lot of a lot of private parks.
But it's it's not terrible. It's just that I think
these organizations like the campground associations, if they can continue
(27:32):
to do some lobbing to let the government know that hey,
we're not just like a place where people come hang
out and party. We're an essential service and and call
for a nuanced approach to closures. You know. I think
if a state can say, instead of saying we're closing
(27:52):
all of our campgrounds today, why not say, you know,
if you're self contained and you're already here, you can
stay in the park as long as you need to,
and we're not going to bring in any new travelers,
you know, or local people could come camp or whatever
it might be. So there everyone's in such unique situations
(28:13):
that like they're trying to do it one size f
at all and it actually just makes it worse for
everybody else. Yeah, a lot of a lot of r vs.
We forget a lot of the smaller r vs, a
little peer drop trailers and stuff. A lot of them
don't have a lot of vans, a lot of custom
build vans stuff. A lot of them don't have bathroom
facilities at all. And even if you're in a private park,
(28:34):
the one we're staying in, they've closed the bathrooms. Um. Now,
if if they're they're they're doing an excellent job here,
Like if you had a special need like that, they'd
open one up for you or whatever. But um, and
I think private park is weird because we're we're generally uh,
(28:56):
state federal park type of people and we probably spend
ten percent of our time and in private parks, and
you know, I think private parks are are sort of
the ones we're looking to now, and they're actually doing
an excellent job of sort of figuring without and closing
their facilities but keeping the place open for campers and
(29:21):
cleaning like, at least this place is constantly cleaning everything.
They've kept the laundromat open but closed every every third
machine to help keep people separated. And they've installed handwashing
facilities and the hand sanitizer there. Yeah, so a party
is doing a fantabitous job as well. You know, there's
(29:42):
there's a lot of credit that needs to go out
to them. I also know that KOA is keeping a
you know, they've got five campgrounds, so they're that they're
they're keeping a special web page for Coronavirus Open where
they list the ones that are closed, and there are
only six that are closed right now, at least as
the last time I checked yesterday, and uh, and they're
(30:04):
really trying to keep up to date on resources for
for people. They're allowing people to cancel without any fees
and stuff like that too. Absolutely, and I think that
that's a great approach. And I was looking at that
because Matt writes for Kowas blog. Um oh yeah, and
(30:26):
you know, I thought that that was excellent that they
are telling people how they're handling the situation, which will
only help other r V parks. So even if you're
an r V park owner, you can watch what the
KOWA is doing, and that will help you protect your
UM travelers. Um, yeah, exactly, sheltering in place right now.
(30:48):
And they're they're and they the parks are they really
are all talking to each other, especially through their state
associations and stuff, and and looking to their state association
to get of them advice and and and those people
are the ones that are sort of directly talking to
the government and getting you know, information about whether pools
(31:10):
should be closed, you know, about where the restrooms should
be closed, that sort of stuff. They're there, at least
if they're members of the state association and from a
few associations I've talked to. They're trying to be essential
resource and create a sort of network and filter that
information down to all their member campgrounds. Yeah. That's absolutely amazing, um.
(31:33):
And just to keep on hearing that that good news
of like how people are trying to come together. Another
one that I found was Displaced Nomads in Full Time
Our Years Relocation Resource. It's a Facebook group that just
started a couple of days ago. Yeah, I saw that good, um.
But yeah, so I talked to him, uh, one of
the people who started it a little bit earlier, just
(31:56):
to to see what he was and you know, it's
all just came from a genuine place of trying to
help others. And I think that that's fantastic that there's
that resource as well. UM and you know, resources are
popping in up daily and by the minute, the new
things are coming up, and so I think it's a
it's safe to say that there's an amazing response to
(32:17):
what's going on, so well, we can all be scared.
There's a lot of great out there. Well. One of
the interesting things too, though, is that I think this
points to what the issues we're having right now, points
to what some of the major problems in the in
the campground industry, Like we don't we don't have a
hotel dot com. We don't have an Expedia where you know,
(32:40):
you can go and book any hotel and compare rates
and see what's available and that sort of stuff. And UH,
I think that the campgrounds would be wise to get
on board with something like that in the future. So
I was also one of the things I was talking
to one of the heads of UH, the head of
(33:01):
a h Florida Campground Association, was talking to me about how,
you know, we're the r V parks are a place
where people shelter, where people get away from natural disasters,
and we could still have you know, tornadoes and hurricanes
and and all that sort of stuff during this pandemic,
(33:24):
you know. So it's yeah, it's real critical that we
keep those lines of support available for when something doubles
down on top of it. Absolutely. Yeah, you have to
think about that. And you know, I'm hoping that people
within our states and federal governments are starting to think
(33:46):
about this because there they need to get that correct
messaging out there and reassure the people of what what
their decisions are and what. Yeah, and you know, the
important r V parks open. Yeah, And I know Pennsylvania
(34:11):
had sort of retracted their order. They to Pennsylvania's shelter
in Place order restricted all hotels and campgrounds except for
residential RV parks, but it didn't it didn't clearly say
what residential uh meant. But the Hotel Association got them
(34:34):
to back off of that, um a bit. So I
think I think they're going to be open. And I
know the RV Industry Association has been working on this
as well. Um, but I think that got reverted. So
we'll see what happens as more and more states do this,
because the more and more states certainly will be, you know,
(34:56):
going forward with shelter and place restrictions. And it's unfortunately
it's different in every statement, and you have to know
what it means wherever you are. But I think that's
just going to be the reality of it. You're listening
to park Landia. We'll be back in just a moment.
(35:26):
I'm Brad Kerouac, and this is park Landia. Of the
many resources Jason discussed, I wanted to focus on compendium
dot com, a dependable resource for full timers. I spoke
with Leah who is the owner and founder along with
her husband Brian, and here is our call. So what
about what do you what are you guys doing today?
Just working on campground closures. Yeah, it's it's truly, uh
(35:49):
constant dream of closures or a percentage of camp front closed.
So in the United States we're nine. Okay, well that's all.
That's quite a bit. I mean, I'm sure like California
and Utah are big hits on that. Yeah, all the
state parks in California closed, you know the states, you know,
the launder list of state parks, um that are closed
(36:11):
and all Army Corps engineer um. And then it gets
a little more granular um after that. Oh yeah, I
was looking on your resources, the COVID nineteen resources on
your website, and what I love about it is that
you have direct links to like the official websites of
these analogias. Yeah, you don't feel like we could maintain
(36:34):
the We're trying to maintain the information throughout the day,
but you know, things are changing so fast. And then
we'll also were will you be asking the community just
as as things as they're telling us that places are closed,
we hope that the community would also advise the less
places are open. So, you know, it's been it's been
a great effort that um, you know, many people involved
(36:57):
in providing the information. Absolutely, that's awesome. I'm really glad that,
you know, It's it's crazy how the community is coming
together and just really working to give the best advice
and resources available. People are really using their brains and
resources to like find different ways to help, right. Yeah,
(37:18):
Well it's I think we all feel so help us.
So whatever whatever we can do at this point into
we can't control the situation at all. Yeah, no, exactly,
We realize it's a lot of our hands and all
we could do is just being a good resource for
each other. And I think that that's what's important in
the end of all this. But I did also want
(37:40):
to ask you, like, what what made you UM start compendium?
Okay question um? Um, Yeah, So we actually my husband
and I started to site so and UM and myself
(38:01):
started UM campendium in UM, I guess two thousand twelve.
We started the database, but that was that came after
we had a different website and earlier UM website that
we started in our first air stream that UM was
her finding brick and mortar poker, uh, because we actually
(38:21):
our relationships started over a poker game and home and yeah.
So yeah, so UM when we hit the road for
the first time in two thousand and five, we um,
you know, wanted to continue playing poker. But back in
those like Stone ages, UM, you couldn't just google, you know,
(38:43):
whatever town you were in and then the word poker
and expect to find all the results in the surrounding areas.
You could only find the results in the town you
were in. And um yeah, and so we would be
camping in a location, UM, you know for a week
and then move on. And then but because you know,
we're like, wow, I could have been playing poker. So
I'm planning how we started poker at lists instead of Campendium.
(39:05):
But um, anyways, once we actually told that website, UM,
we literally Brian worked on it for a year, um
in the transition. But then the day he um stopped
working on it, he started working on the database for Campendium.
And basically the reason was, UM, we had taken four
years off between trailers, and when we got back on
(39:28):
the road in two thousand eleven, we expected that, um,
you know, things would have improved as far as finding
places to camp and they hadn't. Yeah, we you know,
because I always wanted photos and we needed to know
sell service because of our work. UM, you know, needed
to be connected, and there was nothing, you know, there
(39:48):
was nothing. And Brian was like, well we should do that,
you know, we could do it right and then no way.
I was like, you know much to work that is, um.
And so basically, UM, I would like find you know,
we'll set up the database for you and if you
fill this database with information, then we'll build a front
(40:10):
end for it. And that's what he does. That is amazing.
I love that. How it also got off with rolling
the dice too. Yeah, campground closures to make sure people
get this resource. I mean like it's just that you're
really working on You're you're working on something that I use.
I use campendium for the last year and a half
(40:36):
to kind of like get those exactly what you're talking about,
and I love that. Yeah, and the closures, um as
far as uh the virus related closures, um that well,
we're adding um filtering for that on the website on Monday,
and then the app should be a few days later.
We'll have that updated as well to show closure. So
(40:59):
that way, um, you would be able to select. I
only want to see camp grants that are open right now,
because really, who wants to click through and find a
bunch of close camp grounds? Nobody. So hopefully we've been
able to give you enough resources here to keep your
float wherever you are and wherever you are headed. So
now you've made it your destination. What now for some
(41:20):
advice on how to maintain your peace of mind during
these difficult times. I called up Kata Fanning, a business
culture consultant and founder of well Vocation, and she had
some advice on how to not get too distant. Wow,
we socially distanced. So I just put out just a
quick little list of tips that people can start with. Um,
(41:42):
I think I put that out on yesterday. Actually, my
brain is so muddled with what day day it is,
but yes, that was yesterday. And you know, it's like
we've kind of all been convinced right now that we've
got to be refreshing the news every five minutes, we've
got to check our email for the latest articles. We're
all getting inundated with all that stuff. And so one
(42:05):
of my first recommendations for people is take a media break. Um, yes,
news is breaking all the time, but we really don't
need to be stayed glued to it. And one of
the things that happens when we do stay glued to
it is it can send us into sort of a
fight or flight state of mind. And I mean that
(42:27):
can what we're our immune systems, that can make us
feel more stressed. It can affect our our sleep, our
overall well being. And so that was just one of
my first hips was take a media break. Take at
least three or four hours each day where you're not
looking at your phone, turn the news off as long
as we're checking in you know, at least a couple
(42:50):
of times a day, and also checking in with the
hard loved ones and safe timing and you know, doing
as much connectivity via video DIFFERNT thing as we can.
We're doing fine. I don't think that we need to
be colluded. So that was my one tip. And then
I have a lot of people because I've always worked remotely,
(43:11):
and you know, I know that y'all do as well
in many ways, so a lot of people are just
trying to figure out how do I work remotely? And
so I'm kind of helping clients navigate. Okay, well, if
you know, if you're not set up for this, how
can you just create little lap top desk space that
(43:32):
is just yours and it feels right and it feels
comfortable Because a lot of us are spending our days,
you know, in our pjs, with our laptops, you know,
on the sofa, and that might work for some of us,
but it's not really the best workstation long term, I
mean even for a week really, you know, And so
I'm just encouraging people to really, um spend some time
(43:53):
making a workspace that works for them and that doesn't
need to even require spending much money or going out,
but just making something that is quiet and peaceful and organized. Um.
So just those two things. I think if people can
focus on just creating a safe, good environment where they're
not constantly eating up the media um, and then breathing exercises,
(44:18):
I help. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I just read that. Um,
like organic produce is down and pantry and sugary and
flower based products are up. And hello people like if
we're gone to quarantine and trying to keep ourselves well,
(44:40):
this is not the time. Um. By all means like
you know, get your comfort food. I'm not saying that
we just need to be eating kale, but I literally
just read that thirty minutes ago, and I've had to
hot pockets. Those are like my emergencies things. And I've
had two hot pockets just because I've been stressed. Oh
I get it, I get it. It's all about the balance.
(45:01):
I totally get it. I had macaroni and cheese this weekend,
I will admit. So yeah, by all means, like you know,
et a comfort food, make the fun pizzas with your
with your kiddos, but um, find find the balance. And
my dad just sent me a video of him working
out with paint cans because he didn't even get to
go to Academy before it closed down to get a kettlebell.
(45:23):
So I was like cheering him on, like that's awesome
because there's so many people that love going to the
gym and now they're trying to figure out, Okay, how
can I do this at home? And now is not
the time for all of us to spend ten hours
a day on the sofa. That's not going to do
any of us any favors. So just you know, create
a create Like someone said today, Oh, I really don't
(45:45):
miss my alarm. I love not having one. And I
was like, well, hold on, you know, and we don't
have to wake up. Yeah, like re intrigue. Re entrigue
is going to happen, and so it's gonna be a
lot smoother and easier for physically, emotionally and mentally if
we stick to some sort of routine right now for sure.
Oh yeah, of course, That's what I've been talking to
(46:06):
people about. As we we're playing trivia with um some
listeners and UM we're interacting in different ways just to
try to give them, uh some kind of something to
look forward to that's an activity, um, something to keep
them busy, to keep their kids busy, so you can
have ten minutes in the bathroom to cry, you know whatever.
It is that union through this and UM and so yeah, exactly.
(46:32):
You know, when I was talking about this, it's you know,
it's a lot about displaced people within the RV communities
for those people that are, and it's people that are,
it's actually not r V as much. It's more of
the van lifers UM because their gems where they take
their showers have been taken away, their coffee shops where
they work have been taken away, and the grocery stores
(46:54):
where they get their water refills or you know, their
their foods have been taken away as all. And so
it's about like trying to make sure that they have
the resources to really work within that and once they
get somewhere, they need to create a new routine because
they're routinely completely out the window. And that's part of
the risk of this lifestyle. Even with full time our years,
(47:16):
but not as much because we can contain and we
can I'll say horrid in a way, but not horrid.
We can fill up our reserve water tank and you know,
we can dump at different stations, you know, so it's
a very different style. But I think, um, what's really
important right now is that people have that holistic approach. Yeah,
and it's you know, studies show that when we are
(47:40):
stressed out, are wellness and fitness plans are usually the
first thing that we throw out the window. You know
how many of us have said, oh, I can't work
out today, I just don't have time, and you know,
here and there that's okay. But I'm just trying to
emphasize to my clients right now that we practice our
holistic well being all the time so that in times
(48:02):
like this, it's just a muscle that reflect It's just
a muscle that we go back to. It's like muscle memory,
like riding a bike. And um, so yeah, we're gonna
have days where the routine is going to feel different.
We're going to have to figure it out. It's okay
if it doesn't look like it did before, because life
isn't looking like it did before. Um, but now it's
not the time to you know, wallow in despair and
(48:24):
throw all of that out the window because we really
we really need it absolutely absolutely. And then with you
know that's actually really good points. Like our viers, we
do this on a constant basis, like this the cipher
a self isolation and um, when we travel, it's not
like we're we're around people all the time, and so
our minds have already adapted to the situation where it's
(48:45):
not as stressful, um, right, but it's still stressful to
be uprooted. Um. You know, yeah, we kind of always
planned for that because of boon docking in that culture,
Like even in the in between, I have always ready
when I'm in a Walmart parking lot, Hey, you're not
allowed to be here exactly exactly on the side of
the road somewhere. Um, so you kind of almost are
(49:08):
plan for these extremes. So totally, it really home is
where you park it. It's such a cliche now, right,
but I just it's like, you we embrace this temporary
way of living and home really is where we parked,
And so we just had to really kind of remind
ourselves of that this week. I just in trying to
(49:31):
stick to facts as much as I can and not
let the emotional side of this takeover. And so I
do see people saying things like how did you check
in at that campground. I thought all campgrounds are closed,
and I understand why people are saying that, but I'm
I'm trying to be quick to say please check camp
endium or you know, please please talk with your camp host,
(49:52):
because the fact of the matter is that these campgrounds
are companies, um, and I think a lot of them
realize that they can't displace people, and a lot of
people like month to month they've they've signed something with
the campgrounds, and so it's just simply not true that
there's not campgrounds available. But it does take a little
bit more digging right now and talking. I mean, we
checked this morning before we drove two and a half
(50:14):
hours over here, and they said we're ready to welcome you.
We have a sanitary check in process. Um, so that
was just a good extra peace of mind. But for sure,
you know, what Campaig, Indiana is doing is such a
lifeline for us. I mean, refreshing it every every few hours,
and they really are updating and very grateful for that resource. Yeah, no,
they're they're doing an amazing, amazing job. And um, you know,
(50:36):
there's there's people out there that are, you know, creating
petitions to keep our v campgrounds open like at Trunk
Camper Magazine dot com. UM. I think it's I think
it's a r VC UM, and that's the basically National
r V Park Association, UM. You know, if they're okaying
(50:58):
with lobbying in Congress and making sure that people are
educated on the right. Each state has their own association
who are working on that. So I think that that
message is getting across. Our plan at least for the
next two weeks, is just avoiding large cities and staying put.
And so we are staying put here. We're not traveling anymore.
We made sure that we had enough gas like a
(51:19):
week ago so that we didn't even have to touch
a gas station today. Like, there really are ways that
you can hit the road if you absolutely have to,
UM and not interact with a lot of people. You know,
we used to we were joking earlier that we would
go to the grocery store when we were out of
our favorite things. And now we're going to go to
the grocery store when we're out of everything, Like we
(51:41):
are literally going to go through everything before we do that,
And so there are ways that we can be even
more you know, minimalist minded. I guess right now and
not be so quick to to jump in the car
and and expose the know how big of a minimalist
you are, and and we all because of this lifestyle,
(52:02):
So from minimalists, we're going even farther into it. That's crazy.
But yeah, like Matt and I we went for a
strapping yesterday, Um, but we've literally had like two slices
of bread, no eggs. It was time. Yeah, absolutely, And
I just think that there are people that are doing
the right things, and um, you know, it's all about
trying to find our balance again. Yeah, we really are
(52:24):
all in this together, and I think what we all
do might look a little different, you know, like our
years versus someone that has kiddos at home and is
figuring out how to home school for the first time. Um,
and some people can't work from home and so they're
just at home with kids trying to figure that out.
So I just think there's there's a great importance of
(52:47):
just taking care of our well being and tapping into
taking sort of a temperature of where our stresses and
just taking it day by day and being kind to
ourselves and kind to each other and reaching out. There's
still so many ways to connect the welldest company that
I get all my education and resources from. Declared is
(53:09):
the year of social connectivity, and so the last couple
of weeks they've kind of had to sort of walk
that back. But what's amazing coming out of that is
really there's so many ways to connect. We don't have
to you know, gathering groups right now. Just reach out
to loved ones and face time and share your stories
and ask for help, and I think we'll all get
(53:31):
through this together that way. You've been listening to park Landia,
a show about national parks. Parklandia is a production by
Heart Radio, created by Matt Carouac, Brad Carouac and Christopher
hasiotis produced and edited by Mike Johns. Our executive producer
is Christopher hasiotis our researcher. It's jeff Lyn shield. A
Special things goes out to Gabrielle Collins, Crystal Waters and
(53:52):
the rest of the park Landia crew and Hey listeners,
if you're enjoying the show, leave us a review on
Apple Podcasts. It helps other people like you find our show.
You can keep up with us on social media as well.
Check out our photos from our travels on Instagram at
parkl India Pod and join in on the conversation and
our Facebook group Parklandia Rangers. From our podcast My Heart Radio,
visit the heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you
(54:15):
listen to your favorite shows and as always, thank you
for listening.
Welcome to Part Glandia from my Heart Radio. This is
a podcast about national parks and life on the road
in an r V. I'm Brad Carowac and normally i
co host this show with my husband Matt, but I'll
be taking to lead on today's episode. You may notice
that this week we sound a little different. I'm recording
from our r V and in this episode you'll be
hearing quite a few phone calls. And here is why
(00:25):
that is. As you probably know, coronavirus and the disease
it causes, COVID nineteen are keeping people sheltered in their homes.
It's caused massive disruptions across the country and has made
a lot of people very sick and has even caused
some deaths. Like I said, you probably know all of that.
One thing you may not know is how it impacts
(00:45):
people who are on the road full time, like Matt
and myself and countless others across the country. Over the weekend,
r V parks and campgrounds began shutting down, turning away campers,
and evicting people. When this news first went through the
community of full timers and van life is it created
a lot of uncertainty. We didn't know how we're going
to be displaced or where we were going to be displaced.
(01:05):
So we're going to talk about that with some of
the folks who have been affected and others who are
trying to help. The first person I heard from is
Sean Miller. He's a fellow listener and a new found
friend who've connected with over our Park Lando Arrangers Facebook group.
Sean had been staying at a campground in New Mexico
when the r V park gave him the news he
couldn't extend his day. Before we go into the details
(01:28):
on this call, we want you to know that the
state of Mexico did not shut down all of their
r V parks, But in the moment of this call,
Sean just read the signs that were posted on the
r V park doors from the Health Department, and that
is the message he received. Seeing these official notices on
the doors of this RV park was scary, a very
scary situation to be in. Sean is okay, and you
(01:52):
will hear him say, New Mexico r V parks are
all closed throughout the state. But we found out later
that day through research that that was not the place.
We were simply just getting ready for our listener trivia
game that we're hosting over the weekend, when we found
ourselves on this call with Sean. Hey, this is Brad. Hey,
Brad It Sean Miller. Hey, how you doing? Oh man,
(02:14):
I'm freaking out. I just got kicked out of my
RV park. So that was on the phone with the
people this morning. So what's going on? Um? Well, I
just I just found a place to stay, luckily, but
New Mexico is shutting down all r V park, not
allowing any new residents and not allowing current residents to
extend their current reservations. So you know, my reservation was
(02:41):
through tomorrow. So um yeah, needless to say, I I know,
needless to say. I don't think I'm gonna be able
to make it down to you in Houston unfortunately. No,
of course, of course. I mean right now, you gotta
just see where you're at and where you can go. Um,
so where are you headed? Have you figured that out?
(03:01):
I have my fund me enough. My doctor has been
watching my dogs this week offered to put me on
her land, So, um, I think that's gonna work at
least for a few days. Well that's good. Well, I
mean that's I mean, that's like our worst fear, right.
I mean people are just scrambling right now, trying to
(03:21):
figure out what to do and where to go and
are you still pretty settled with your plan from Houston. Yeah,
so we're actually be extended here um to make sure
that we're not to just see what's going on the
next couple of weeks, because yeah, that's probably smart to
be safe, right, I mean, exactly what you're going through
and night now is something that we I don't want
(03:43):
to go through, um, and so we're trying to make
sure before we go out and start traveling that we
can do it responsibly. I mean, not saying that you weren't.
So uh so you said you have a place to
stay in the next couple of days. I do, Yeah,
so very lucky, but also feeling a little bit more
relaxed than when I woke up this morning, so I'm sure.
(04:06):
I mean I couldn't imagine, like did they just come
and knock on your door and say, hey, it's time
to get out, or like how did they know? They
didn't actually say anything, They just hung a sign on
the office sat Park closed. So I went in there
today to talk with them, and that's when they told
me that they wouldn't be able to extend it. But
they just put that sign up like two days ago.
(04:28):
So if I had gone in three days ago, I
probably could have extended it. That is that's great, is
what it is. And you know that's the problem with
this this lifestyle is there's not always those protections for
us UM. Where people are living in their r V traveling,
(04:49):
you have to go through a lot of loopholes and
you know, we just have to adapt, you know. That's Uh,
that's part of this lifestyle. People don't understand and we
all know it in the back from mind, but we're like,
nothing big is ever gonna happen, UM, and then something
big happens and we just have to figure out what
(05:10):
to do. So that's the um crazy part and somehow
we always do figure it out. I mean, I love
us the r V because of that, right we all
come together. So Sean is lucky that he was able
to make other living arrangements when his campsite shut down.
Not everyone is that lucky. One person who caught wind
(05:30):
of this problem early on was Chris Comber. Chris is
someone who started full timing about a year ago and
now is staying just outside of his business instead of
traveling throughout the country. Chris took to Facebook to try
to help van life and full time campers who are
displaced find homes during this situation. So I hopped on
the phone with him and here is his call. Um,
(05:53):
So I see that you started a Facebook group for
displaced r V and full timers. Um, what what what
made you do that? So? Um? I grew up on
a small lake in Arkansas that's ran about the Corbette
Steers and recently, you know the thing, It was Wednesday
we got notification if they were shutting the camp grounds
(06:14):
down as of tomorrow. I believe that, you know, anybody
that was there had to be had to be out.
There were gonna lock the gates, they were shutting utilities off.
And I posted that in the escape Ers Facebook group. UM,
and the comments and the responses to that were I
(06:36):
realized a lot of places are shutting down, a lot
of the state parks, a lot of the public use
lands that a lot of people depend on the park,
their the RVs, and UH kind of put two and
two together with you know, I have a lot of
friends that that owned restaurants or other businesses that are
being closed to the public. Um and just felt like
(06:57):
there was there was gonna be space of the it's available.
It may not be ideal, but you're you know, we've
we've got a lot, We've got a large full time
RVY community, yeah, you know. And so I was trying
to just be think about creative places that people could
go if the places they typically depend on are no
longer available. Absolutely, and I think that displaced nomads and
(07:21):
full time our vs. Relocation resource is going to be
super important to full timers and van lifers out there. Um.
Now you have this pretty structured and I loved seeing that.
And so basically what I saw was in your about section,
you have strict rules because they need to be followed
(07:41):
because it really helps people understand what is needed. So
I've heard this Facebook group together pretty quick. I was
home for lunch, you know, and just had had an
hour and a half or so to spend on it.
And another gentleman came along with a lot of experience
(08:02):
with Facebook groups, Richard Dean Star. He's and he's been
phenomenal in creating the formats and the subgroups of of
the group and he really helped me see how important
that format was, and so we've had a lot of
people get frustrated over it. But the point of it
(08:22):
is is within a group, Facebook has created a search
engine by going up to the search bar, and so
if we keep post to very concise, pertinent information, it
makes that search feature super super powerful. So basically what
we're trying to do is we're trying to point this out. Though,
(08:45):
So if you go to this Facebook group, it's a
public group, it's so far I've seen people with amazing response, UM,
people that are saying, hey, we have our land open,
give us a call, you know, we this is what
we need, um, can anybody help? And I love that
because right now, during this time, that's what people need.
So I think this is a fantastic resource along with
(09:06):
if you've ever heard of campadm dot com, they have
a blog and their updating daily the closures by states,
by counties, um, by cities, you know, to make sure
that people are getting the best resources out there. UM.
So I think the two of these combined is going
to be a great resource for a lot of people
(09:27):
they're looking for where to go, what to do. UM. Luckily,
Matt and I were in Houston right now and we're
at an r V park and it's completely fine at
the moment. We have a space until the first unless
we need to extend UM. But there's a lot of
our followers that don't have that. So the resource that
you're providing is UM is amazing really, So your current situation,
(09:51):
you're fine. You've got room, you've got space for your self,
and your family is taken care of. I do. We
We bought our first RV UH brought out a year
ago and moved into it shortly there after a full
time I've owned a brick and mortar business for about
sixteen years, and so we were parked at the business.
(10:12):
It's taken a little longer to just to close this
business down and I had to anticipated, so you know
that at the moment, there's been frustrations about that along
the way, but today I feel blessed to not have
to worry about where I gotta go to borrow. You know.
The Facebook group Chris Combers set up once again is
Displaced Nomads and our Viears, and we'll have a link
(10:34):
to that in our show notes. We're fortunate to have
folks like Chris providing a form for people to share
resources for those who aren't living on the road. It
may be hard to imagine the impact that these shutdowns
can have. It's not just simply losing a parking space.
It's so much more complex than that. To give you
an idea of just how disruptive this is, I spoke
with Megan McNichol. She is my cousin and is also
(10:58):
a van liver. She was in San Francisco and all
of this was unfolding, and thankfully she is not there anymore.
And we'll get into that, but let's get into our conversation.
Hey Megan, how you doing good? How are you good? Um?
Thank you so much for joining me on this call. Um.
We are talking about our view and van living and
(11:22):
the current situation of COVID nineteen. And I'm so glad
that you decided to join us today. Yeah, thanks for
asking me to be a part of this. Absolutely so.
When you were living in San Francisco doing the van
life movement, Um, you were telling me that you what's
your normal routine, like, how do you shower, what do
you where do you get your internet from? What are
(11:44):
what are your normal routines throughout your day. Yeah. So UM,
I have a gym membership UM, and that's where I
do my showering. UM. I also UM do not have
a fridge right now. UM in the process of UH
doing my own bill, so I have to go to
the grocery store daily, UM in order to be able
(12:05):
to eat like fresh and also to stack up on
water because my water system right now is is homemade.
So I get UM like to gallon and five gallon
jugs or UM water we fill from grocery stores as well. UM.
And so one of the first things that happened for
(12:27):
me is, UM, all the water was gone, so along
with all the hand sanitizers and toilet deeper UM, my
ability to get water was gone. And then UM, I
go to coffee shops UH daily for my internet service,
(12:47):
so that when they started clothing the gyms and UM
stores and restaurants and things like that, my ability to
UM stay connect did and to shower daily. UM. Those
scenes went away. And so what the major impact for
me to decide to leave UM San Francisco was when
(13:14):
the cruise ship decided to dock there and they were
predicting that the cases were really gonna surge, and I
just didn't want to be in a place that was,
you know, high risk, and I had the ability to
leave h So I figured that that was just kind
of the smartest decision for for my well being, considering
(13:36):
I didn't have any access to any public places anymore. Wow,
that's just that's a lot to go through in a
matter of days, because I mean it's like not even days,
probably felt like hours because of how fast everything was developing.
And it's just been hectic for everybody right now. And
(13:57):
I'm really glad that you were back safe with family.
I know from talking to other family members they're happy
that you're back and that you're safe. UM, But just
to hear about those daily routines and how they're impacted
by such a thing. You know, as our years and
full van lifers, we we kind of prepare for these
(14:17):
situations UM in the back of our head because you
have to. You're forced to, because the way that we
move throughout the United States, UM changes on a daily
to weekly basis, and she always have to be ready
to adapt. UM. Luckily, from Matt Night, we do have
a full fridge, UM, and we were able to go
to the growth store and stock up, and we have
(14:38):
water from tap um that's filtered through our filter process,
and we have a enclosed shower and those kind of
amenities that a lot of people have, but in the
full time van life movement, a lot of people don't
have because they are currently working on building them out
like you are. So you're going through that transition of
building those out. How long going to take you to
(15:00):
get to San Francisco to where you are now? UH?
So I actually moved to San Francisco in February UM,
and UH I was looking for I work in the
restaurant industry, so I was looking for UM that type
of employment. UM and I have been following the news
(15:21):
pretty closely because I was watching like election stuff and
how that was all unfolding, which is when the coronavirus
UM news started coming out. So I had been paying
attention to it UM pretty consistently and UM I had
been weighing my options pretty early on. So UM I
(15:42):
decided to leave UM. How uh San Francisco area before
they went into the same place in the lockdown and
all of those things. And fortunately I do have UM
family support, so I'm able to do things like stay
with my sister where I've been for a week, and
then I'm also considering going back to the Midwest where uh,
(16:06):
where my mom lives, so that I can you know,
be able to have the support of family too, to
stay with what until you know, I have access to
the gym and you know, uh, these resources in the
grocery store. Yeah, exactly, no, absolutely, And you know, even
with that, you have to plan on how to get
(16:28):
there and when it's the right time to do that.
So just because you're in a safe location now doesn't
mean that you're planning stops. And that's what a lot
of people I don't think understand within the full time
and fan life movement is that you're consistently planning and
organizing your trips, your routes, your activities, um, fuel stops
(16:49):
to water stops, restroom breaks, um. And there's so much
involved within that and right or like gas stations like
are they going to be open? Am I going to
be able to hit enough of them to travel across
the country like that's or you know, our state's going
to go into lockdown where maybe it's not okay for
me to be traveling, you know, through them, And I
(17:13):
want to be mindful of you know, everyone's fears. And
you know, I've been rather self quarantined UM, and I
don't have the virus as far as I know, UM,
but I just you know, I want to reduce any
fears by um, not coming into contact with other people
and you know, just having them have that fear of
(17:35):
does she have it? Or also to get it from
someone else. Absolutely, especially because like there's a lot of
small talents right now that are stopping public and private camping.
And that's just because their hospitals don't have the resources
like the bigger cities do. UM. And the thing with
these shelter influence is good, but when you shut down
(17:57):
things like public and private camping, it displaces a lot
of people and they have to then travel through these
small towns to get back to a safe space much
like your house. UM. We've been talking to people about UM.
They're opening up to their friends. UM. There are lots
of land UM and things like that. So it's just
(18:19):
one of those things that we're all trying to figure
out how to do this with social responsibility. UM. And
that's including today take away that fuel, that bread from
a small town, that toilet paper from a small town.
So for those people that don't have family to go
to right now, UM, try to relay on some friends. UM.
(18:41):
If you're having troubles, there's resources out there. We're gonna
be posting them on our park Landia Facebook UM and
our park Landia Rangers Facebook group. UM, so that way
you have those resources. And Megan, I really appreciate you
coming on and telling your story today because it's going
to help people make these decisions and help them move
(19:03):
um where they need to to protect themselves and others
while they find themselves in these similar situations. Yeah, definitely,
and thank you Bradley. I love seeing this like this
is what we need right now in our society is
to see that there's carrying compassionate people who who do
(19:23):
want to help others, and there are ways for us
to reach out and to and to be connected in
these uncertain times and see that there is love and
there is compassion and that's how we get through things
like this. So thank you Bradley for everything that you're
doing for this community. That was Megan McNichol. You're listening
(19:44):
to park Landia. We'll be back in just a moment.
I'm Brad Kerouac and this is park landing. In today's episode,
(20:04):
we're talking to folks living in the full time and
van life communities and about how they're being affected by
the coronavirus outbreak and the resources that are in place
for them. My next call is with Jason Epperson. When
I caught up with him, he was at a private
campcown just outside of Sedona. And here is our call.
I'm Jason Epperson. I am the one of the editors
(20:24):
at r V miles dot com UH, and with my
wife and I we UH. We're full time travelers and
we host the RV Miles podcast where we talk about
our travels and what's going on in the r V industry.
And we host the American's National Parks podcast, which is
sort of a storytelling history UH type show, and the
(20:48):
The America Podcast, which is UH which is similar in
in and Scalpe to the American's National Parks podcast, but
it's about sort of American road trip destinations like car
Hinge at are you guys in a good places? Are?
We're in Arizona. We were at a private campground just
(21:10):
for the week. UM when all this started to happen
and UH, we decided to add UH just go to
a monthly rate. So we're just kind of pulled up
here near near Sedona. Have you have you found any
like resources yet for um like news relating to RB
closures and campgrounds And yeah, yeah, I've got several uh
(21:35):
several good options, um, a lot of them. Uh as
far as closures go, there's there's a couple of websites
that have been tracking very closely, UM Campendium and uh
and uh A Rootless Living is doing an excellent job
of it. Um Rootless as well. Yes, they're a new
(21:58):
uh there are a new magazine. It's an actual print
magazine forum for anybody that's not just our views, but
anybody who's sort of you know, digital nomad type person. Um.
But they so they have been tracking closures, but they've
also created a resource that just uh they just launched it,
(22:20):
but and it's just starting to populate. But it's a
um basically a listing page where campgrounds can put uh
you know that that that they have availability and that
they do long term stays for anybody that's displaced right
now that's uh have openings and such. Um. So that's
(22:44):
really good. UM. I'm also I've just for our episode
of r V miles that released today. I interviewed UM
woman named G. G. Stettler who is who runs this
nonprofit called the RV Advisors to run an RV dealership. Yeah. Yeah,
(23:04):
so they're in Florida. UM, but she so she she
owns a dealership, but she also has this nonprofit and
what they're doing is basically she's taking all the used
inventory on her lot and offering it up for UM
for first responders, for uh, for healthcare workers, anybody that
(23:30):
might need it, but also uh also anybody that's you know,
homeless or uh or can't get back to their r
V and stuff. And so they're doing that in Florida.
But then she's also creating a network across the country
of getting other dealers in on it um to to help.
And she's also uh if people are are at home
(23:53):
and have their RV and are willing to loan it out. UM,
she's also creating a resource where you can loan doubt
for not only for workers, but people that need to
be quarantined. And then uh they'll pay uh the average
daily rental rate to you. So if you're somebody's lost
your job and you still have this RV and you,
(24:14):
you know, you need to pay your loan on it
and stuff you can. You can loan it out and
they'll pay you for it, and then they have a
two week process where they clean it and sanitize it
and everything. So there's a few different things going on
out there, of course. I mean Camp Indium. I was
talking to them a little bit about what they're trying
to do escape these r V club they're trying to do,
(24:37):
UM lobbying UM truck campers, Yeah, dot com or Truck
Camper magazine. Dot com has created a petition. UM. I
see National Park Traveler. They're talking about the National Park
closures and it's just amazing all these resources that are
out there and right now I'm trying to consolidate them
all into an area so people can get there that
(25:00):
they met exactly. Yeah, I've been talking with UM a
couple of the uh, the RV park associations in different states,
and they're they're lobbying real hard to stay open UM.
I know UM that UH, they've they've sort of been
(25:20):
working together in the states that they already have shelter
in place going on or some version of it to
to stay open because there there have been areas where
private parks are closed, like I know, the Florida Keys
is completely shut down and they have asked all um
travelers and transient people to to leave. A county at
(25:43):
Presidio County, Texas has done the same moab utah so UM.
And a lot of these parts are housing traveling nurses
and doctors and UH and oil field workers, you know,
people that that are doing their jobs or you know
they're they're like a million full timers on the road too,
(26:04):
But that pales in comparison to the number of snowbirds
that are down in warmer climates that are you know,
looking forward to heading home somewhere and uh and that
route home is a little scary to a lot of
them right now. Oh yeah, yeah, you have full time workers,
you have UM like you said, you have the snowbirds,
(26:25):
you have you just have resvers. There's a lot of
dangerous things going on and you know, you gotta be careful.
But by uplifting all these people, it actually creates more panic,
especially within our community exactly, and it creates more travelers,
it makes it it's forcing people a lot of these
(26:46):
snowbirds that would be happy to stay where they are. UM,
to to make that journey back to Minnesota, Wisconsin or
whatever from Florida and New Mexico and California. And it's
not that they're betting thee to see if they're sick.
So when they go to that gas station, you know.
So that's where it's scary. Yeah. And and a lot
(27:08):
of the parks are are filling up because the private
park because the public parks are closing, everybody is more.
Can you know, there's more people combined to a smaller
space at a lot of a lot of private parks.
But it's it's not terrible. It's just that I think
these organizations like the campground associations, if they can continue
(27:32):
to do some lobbing to let the government know that hey,
we're not just like a place where people come hang
out and party. We're an essential service and and call
for a nuanced approach to closures. You know. I think
if a state can say, instead of saying we're closing
(27:52):
all of our campgrounds today, why not say, you know,
if you're self contained and you're already here, you can
stay in the park as long as you need to,
and we're not going to bring in any new travelers,
you know, or local people could come camp or whatever
it might be. So there everyone's in such unique situations
(28:13):
that like they're trying to do it one size f
at all and it actually just makes it worse for
everybody else. Yeah, a lot of a lot of r vs.
We forget a lot of the smaller r vs, a
little peer drop trailers and stuff. A lot of them
don't have a lot of vans, a lot of custom
build vans stuff. A lot of them don't have bathroom
facilities at all. And even if you're in a private park,
(28:34):
the one we're staying in, they've closed the bathrooms. Um. Now,
if if they're they're they're doing an excellent job here,
Like if you had a special need like that, they'd
open one up for you or whatever. But um, and
I think private park is weird because we're we're generally uh,
(28:56):
state federal park type of people and we probably spend
ten percent of our time and in private parks, and
you know, I think private parks are are sort of
the ones we're looking to now, and they're actually doing
an excellent job of sort of figuring without and closing
their facilities but keeping the place open for campers and
(29:21):
cleaning like, at least this place is constantly cleaning everything.
They've kept the laundromat open but closed every every third
machine to help keep people separated. And they've installed handwashing
facilities and the hand sanitizer there. Yeah, so a party
is doing a fantabitous job as well. You know, there's
(29:42):
there's a lot of credit that needs to go out
to them. I also know that KOA is keeping a
you know, they've got five campgrounds, so they're that they're
they're keeping a special web page for Coronavirus Open where
they list the ones that are closed, and there are
only six that are closed right now, at least as
the last time I checked yesterday, and uh, and they're
(30:04):
really trying to keep up to date on resources for
for people. They're allowing people to cancel without any fees
and stuff like that too. Absolutely, and I think that
that's a great approach. And I was looking at that
because Matt writes for Kowas blog. Um oh yeah, and
(30:26):
you know, I thought that that was excellent that they
are telling people how they're handling the situation, which will
only help other r V parks. So even if you're
an r V park owner, you can watch what the
KOWA is doing, and that will help you protect your
UM travelers. Um, yeah, exactly, sheltering in place right now.
(30:48):
And they're they're and they the parks are they really
are all talking to each other, especially through their state
associations and stuff, and and looking to their state association
to get of them advice and and and those people
are the ones that are sort of directly talking to
the government and getting you know, information about whether pools
(31:10):
should be closed, you know, about where the restrooms should
be closed, that sort of stuff. They're there, at least
if they're members of the state association and from a
few associations I've talked to. They're trying to be essential
resource and create a sort of network and filter that
information down to all their member campgrounds. Yeah. That's absolutely amazing, um.
(31:33):
And just to keep on hearing that that good news
of like how people are trying to come together. Another
one that I found was Displaced Nomads in Full Time
Our Years Relocation Resource. It's a Facebook group that just
started a couple of days ago. Yeah, I saw that good, um.
But yeah, so I talked to him, uh, one of
the people who started it a little bit earlier, just
(31:56):
to to see what he was and you know, it's
all just came from a genuine place of trying to
help others. And I think that that's fantastic that there's
that resource as well. UM and you know, resources are
popping in up daily and by the minute, the new
things are coming up, and so I think it's a
it's safe to say that there's an amazing response to
(32:17):
what's going on, so well, we can all be scared.
There's a lot of great out there. Well. One of
the interesting things too, though, is that I think this
points to what the issues we're having right now, points
to what some of the major problems in the in
the campground industry, Like we don't we don't have a
hotel dot com. We don't have an Expedia where you know,
(32:40):
you can go and book any hotel and compare rates
and see what's available and that sort of stuff. And UH,
I think that the campgrounds would be wise to get
on board with something like that in the future. So
I was also one of the things I was talking
to one of the heads of UH, the head of
(33:01):
a h Florida Campground Association, was talking to me about how,
you know, we're the r V parks are a place
where people shelter, where people get away from natural disasters,
and we could still have you know, tornadoes and hurricanes
and and all that sort of stuff during this pandemic,
(33:24):
you know. So it's yeah, it's real critical that we
keep those lines of support available for when something doubles
down on top of it. Absolutely. Yeah, you have to
think about that. And you know, I'm hoping that people
within our states and federal governments are starting to think
(33:46):
about this because there they need to get that correct
messaging out there and reassure the people of what what
their decisions are and what. Yeah, and you know, the
important r V parks open. Yeah, And I know Pennsylvania
(34:11):
had sort of retracted their order. They to Pennsylvania's shelter
in Place order restricted all hotels and campgrounds except for
residential RV parks, but it didn't it didn't clearly say
what residential uh meant. But the Hotel Association got them
(34:34):
to back off of that, um a bit. So I
think I think they're going to be open. And I
know the RV Industry Association has been working on this
as well. Um, but I think that got reverted. So
we'll see what happens as more and more states do this,
because the more and more states certainly will be, you know,
(34:56):
going forward with shelter and place restrictions. And it's unfortunately
it's different in every statement, and you have to know
what it means wherever you are. But I think that's
just going to be the reality of it. You're listening
to park Landia. We'll be back in just a moment.
(35:26):
I'm Brad Kerouac, and this is park Landia. Of the
many resources Jason discussed, I wanted to focus on compendium
dot com, a dependable resource for full timers. I spoke
with Leah who is the owner and founder along with
her husband Brian, and here is our call. So what
about what do you what are you guys doing today?
Just working on campground closures. Yeah, it's it's truly, uh
(35:49):
constant dream of closures or a percentage of camp front closed.
So in the United States we're nine. Okay, well that's all.
That's quite a bit. I mean, I'm sure like California
and Utah are big hits on that. Yeah, all the
state parks in California closed, you know the states, you know,
the launder list of state parks, um that are closed
(36:11):
and all Army Corps engineer um. And then it gets
a little more granular um after that. Oh yeah, I
was looking on your resources, the COVID nineteen resources on
your website, and what I love about it is that
you have direct links to like the official websites of
these analogias. Yeah, you don't feel like we could maintain
(36:34):
the We're trying to maintain the information throughout the day,
but you know, things are changing so fast. And then
we'll also were will you be asking the community just
as as things as they're telling us that places are closed,
we hope that the community would also advise the less
places are open. So, you know, it's been it's been
a great effort that um, you know, many people involved
(36:57):
in providing the information. Absolutely, that's awesome. I'm really glad that,
you know, It's it's crazy how the community is coming
together and just really working to give the best advice
and resources available. People are really using their brains and
resources to like find different ways to help, right. Yeah,
(37:18):
Well it's I think we all feel so help us.
So whatever whatever we can do at this point into
we can't control the situation at all. Yeah, no, exactly,
We realize it's a lot of our hands and all
we could do is just being a good resource for
each other. And I think that that's what's important in
the end of all this. But I did also want
(37:40):
to ask you, like, what what made you UM start compendium?
Okay question um? Um, Yeah, So we actually my husband
and I started to site so and UM and myself
(38:01):
started UM campendium in UM, I guess two thousand twelve.
We started the database, but that was that came after
we had a different website and earlier UM website that
we started in our first air stream that UM was
her finding brick and mortar poker, uh, because we actually
(38:21):
our relationships started over a poker game and home and yeah.
So yeah, so UM when we hit the road for
the first time in two thousand and five, we um,
you know, wanted to continue playing poker. But back in
those like Stone ages, UM, you couldn't just google, you know,
(38:43):
whatever town you were in and then the word poker
and expect to find all the results in the surrounding areas.
You could only find the results in the town you
were in. And um yeah, and so we would be
camping in a location, UM, you know for a week
and then move on. And then but because you know,
we're like, wow, I could have been playing poker. So
I'm planning how we started poker at lists instead of Campendium.
(39:05):
But um, anyways, once we actually told that website, UM,
we literally Brian worked on it for a year, um
in the transition. But then the day he um stopped
working on it, he started working on the database for Campendium.
And basically the reason was, UM, we had taken four
years off between trailers, and when we got back on
(39:28):
the road in two thousand eleven, we expected that, um,
you know, things would have improved as far as finding
places to camp and they hadn't. Yeah, we you know,
because I always wanted photos and we needed to know
sell service because of our work. UM, you know, needed
to be connected, and there was nothing, you know, there
(39:48):
was nothing. And Brian was like, well we should do that,
you know, we could do it right and then no way.
I was like, you know much to work that is, um.
And so basically, UM, I would like find you know,
we'll set up the database for you and if you
fill this database with information, then we'll build a front
(40:10):
end for it. And that's what he does. That is amazing.
I love that. How it also got off with rolling
the dice too. Yeah, campground closures to make sure people
get this resource. I mean like it's just that you're
really working on You're you're working on something that I use.
I use campendium for the last year and a half
(40:36):
to kind of like get those exactly what you're talking about,
and I love that. Yeah, and the closures, um as
far as uh the virus related closures, um that well,
we're adding um filtering for that on the website on Monday,
and then the app should be a few days later.
We'll have that updated as well to show closure. So
(40:59):
that way, um, you would be able to select. I
only want to see camp grants that are open right now,
because really, who wants to click through and find a
bunch of close camp grounds? Nobody. So hopefully we've been
able to give you enough resources here to keep your
float wherever you are and wherever you are headed. So
now you've made it your destination. What now for some
(41:20):
advice on how to maintain your peace of mind during
these difficult times. I called up Kata Fanning, a business
culture consultant and founder of well Vocation, and she had
some advice on how to not get too distant. Wow,
we socially distanced. So I just put out just a
quick little list of tips that people can start with. Um,
(41:42):
I think I put that out on yesterday. Actually, my
brain is so muddled with what day day it is,
but yes, that was yesterday. And you know, it's like
we've kind of all been convinced right now that we've
got to be refreshing the news every five minutes, we've
got to check our email for the latest articles. We're
all getting inundated with all that stuff. And so one
(42:05):
of my first recommendations for people is take a media break. Um, yes,
news is breaking all the time, but we really don't
need to be stayed glued to it. And one of
the things that happens when we do stay glued to
it is it can send us into sort of a
fight or flight state of mind. And I mean that
(42:27):
can what we're our immune systems, that can make us
feel more stressed. It can affect our our sleep, our
overall well being. And so that was just one of
my first hips was take a media break. Take at
least three or four hours each day where you're not
looking at your phone, turn the news off as long
as we're checking in you know, at least a couple
(42:50):
of times a day, and also checking in with the
hard loved ones and safe timing and you know, doing
as much connectivity via video DIFFERNT thing as we can.
We're doing fine. I don't think that we need to
be colluded. So that was my one tip. And then
I have a lot of people because I've always worked remotely,
(43:11):
and you know, I know that y'all do as well
in many ways, so a lot of people are just
trying to figure out how do I work remotely? And
so I'm kind of helping clients navigate. Okay, well, if
you know, if you're not set up for this, how
can you just create little lap top desk space that
(43:32):
is just yours and it feels right and it feels
comfortable Because a lot of us are spending our days,
you know, in our pjs, with our laptops, you know,
on the sofa, and that might work for some of us,
but it's not really the best workstation long term, I
mean even for a week really, you know, And so
I'm just encouraging people to really, um spend some time
(43:53):
making a workspace that works for them and that doesn't
need to even require spending much money or going out,
but just making something that is quiet and peaceful and organized. Um.
So just those two things. I think if people can
focus on just creating a safe, good environment where they're
not constantly eating up the media um, and then breathing exercises,
(44:18):
I help. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I just read that. Um,
like organic produce is down and pantry and sugary and
flower based products are up. And hello people like if
we're gone to quarantine and trying to keep ourselves well,
(44:40):
this is not the time. Um. By all means like
you know, get your comfort food. I'm not saying that
we just need to be eating kale, but I literally
just read that thirty minutes ago, and I've had to
hot pockets. Those are like my emergencies things. And I've
had two hot pockets just because I've been stressed. Oh
I get it, I get it. It's all about the balance.
(45:01):
I totally get it. I had macaroni and cheese this weekend,
I will admit. So yeah, by all means, like you know,
et a comfort food, make the fun pizzas with your
with your kiddos, but um, find find the balance. And
my dad just sent me a video of him working
out with paint cans because he didn't even get to
go to Academy before it closed down to get a kettlebell.
(45:23):
So I was like cheering him on, like that's awesome
because there's so many people that love going to the
gym and now they're trying to figure out, Okay, how
can I do this at home? And now is not
the time for all of us to spend ten hours
a day on the sofa. That's not going to do
any of us any favors. So just you know, create
a create Like someone said today, Oh, I really don't
(45:45):
miss my alarm. I love not having one. And I
was like, well, hold on, you know, and we don't
have to wake up. Yeah, like re intrigue. Re entrigue
is going to happen, and so it's gonna be a
lot smoother and easier for physically, emotionally and mentally if
we stick to some sort of routine right now for sure.
Oh yeah, of course, That's what I've been talking to
(46:06):
people about. As we we're playing trivia with um some
listeners and UM we're interacting in different ways just to
try to give them, uh some kind of something to
look forward to that's an activity, um, something to keep
them busy, to keep their kids busy, so you can
have ten minutes in the bathroom to cry, you know whatever.
It is that union through this and UM and so yeah, exactly.
(46:32):
You know, when I was talking about this, it's you know,
it's a lot about displaced people within the RV communities
for those people that are, and it's people that are,
it's actually not r V as much. It's more of
the van lifers UM because their gems where they take
their showers have been taken away, their coffee shops where
they work have been taken away, and the grocery stores
(46:54):
where they get their water refills or you know, their
their foods have been taken away as all. And so
it's about like trying to make sure that they have
the resources to really work within that and once they
get somewhere, they need to create a new routine because
they're routinely completely out the window. And that's part of
the risk of this lifestyle. Even with full time our years,
(47:16):
but not as much because we can contain and we
can I'll say horrid in a way, but not horrid.
We can fill up our reserve water tank and you know,
we can dump at different stations, you know, so it's
a very different style. But I think, um, what's really
important right now is that people have that holistic approach. Yeah,
and it's you know, studies show that when we are
(47:40):
stressed out, are wellness and fitness plans are usually the
first thing that we throw out the window. You know
how many of us have said, oh, I can't work
out today, I just don't have time, and you know,
here and there that's okay. But I'm just trying to
emphasize to my clients right now that we practice our
holistic well being all the time so that in times
(48:02):
like this, it's just a muscle that reflect It's just
a muscle that we go back to. It's like muscle memory,
like riding a bike. And um, so yeah, we're gonna
have days where the routine is going to feel different.
We're going to have to figure it out. It's okay
if it doesn't look like it did before, because life
isn't looking like it did before. Um, but now it's
not the time to you know, wallow in despair and
(48:24):
throw all of that out the window because we really
we really need it absolutely absolutely. And then with you
know that's actually really good points. Like our viers, we
do this on a constant basis, like this the cipher
a self isolation and um, when we travel, it's not
like we're we're around people all the time, and so
our minds have already adapted to the situation where it's
(48:45):
not as stressful, um, right, but it's still stressful to
be uprooted. Um. You know, yeah, we kind of always
planned for that because of boon docking in that culture,
Like even in the in between, I have always ready
when I'm in a Walmart parking lot, Hey, you're not
allowed to be here exactly exactly on the side of
the road somewhere. Um, so you kind of almost are
(49:08):
plan for these extremes. So totally, it really home is
where you park it. It's such a cliche now, right,
but I just it's like, you we embrace this temporary
way of living and home really is where we parked,
And so we just had to really kind of remind
ourselves of that this week. I just in trying to
(49:31):
stick to facts as much as I can and not
let the emotional side of this takeover. And so I
do see people saying things like how did you check
in at that campground. I thought all campgrounds are closed,
and I understand why people are saying that, but I'm
I'm trying to be quick to say please check camp
endium or you know, please please talk with your camp host,
(49:52):
because the fact of the matter is that these campgrounds
are companies, um, and I think a lot of them
realize that they can't displace people, and a lot of
people like month to month they've they've signed something with
the campgrounds, and so it's just simply not true that
there's not campgrounds available. But it does take a little
bit more digging right now and talking. I mean, we
checked this morning before we drove two and a half
(50:14):
hours over here, and they said we're ready to welcome you.
We have a sanitary check in process. Um, so that
was just a good extra peace of mind. But for sure,
you know, what Campaig, Indiana is doing is such a
lifeline for us. I mean, refreshing it every every few hours,
and they really are updating and very grateful for that resource. Yeah, no,
they're they're doing an amazing, amazing job. And um, you know,
(50:36):
there's there's people out there that are, you know, creating
petitions to keep our v campgrounds open like at Trunk
Camper Magazine dot com. UM. I think it's I think
it's a r VC UM, and that's the basically National
r V Park Association, UM. You know, if they're okaying
(50:58):
with lobbying in Congress and making sure that people are
educated on the right. Each state has their own association
who are working on that. So I think that that
message is getting across. Our plan at least for the
next two weeks, is just avoiding large cities and staying put.
And so we are staying put here. We're not traveling anymore.
We made sure that we had enough gas like a
(51:19):
week ago so that we didn't even have to touch
a gas station today. Like, there really are ways that
you can hit the road if you absolutely have to,
UM and not interact with a lot of people. You know,
we used to we were joking earlier that we would
go to the grocery store when we were out of
our favorite things. And now we're going to go to
the grocery store when we're out of everything, Like we
(51:41):
are literally going to go through everything before we do that,
And so there are ways that we can be even
more you know, minimalist minded. I guess right now and
not be so quick to to jump in the car
and and expose the know how big of a minimalist
you are, and and we all because of this lifestyle,
(52:02):
So from minimalists, we're going even farther into it. That's crazy.
But yeah, like Matt and I we went for a
strapping yesterday, Um, but we've literally had like two slices
of bread, no eggs. It was time. Yeah, absolutely, And
I just think that there are people that are doing
the right things, and um, you know, it's all about
trying to find our balance again. Yeah, we really are
(52:24):
all in this together, and I think what we all
do might look a little different, you know, like our
years versus someone that has kiddos at home and is
figuring out how to home school for the first time. Um,
and some people can't work from home and so they're
just at home with kids trying to figure that out.
So I just think there's there's a great importance of
(52:47):
just taking care of our well being and tapping into
taking sort of a temperature of where our stresses and
just taking it day by day and being kind to
ourselves and kind to each other and reaching out. There's
still so many ways to connect the welldest company that
I get all my education and resources from. Declared is
(53:09):
the year of social connectivity, and so the last couple
of weeks they've kind of had to sort of walk
that back. But what's amazing coming out of that is
really there's so many ways to connect. We don't have
to you know, gathering groups right now. Just reach out
to loved ones and face time and share your stories
and ask for help, and I think we'll all get
(53:31):
through this together that way. You've been listening to park Landia,
a show about national parks. Parklandia is a production by
Heart Radio, created by Matt Carouac, Brad Carouac and Christopher
hasiotis produced and edited by Mike Johns. Our executive producer
is Christopher hasiotis our researcher. It's jeff Lyn shield. A
Special things goes out to Gabrielle Collins, Crystal Waters and
(53:52):
the rest of the park Landia crew and Hey listeners,
if you're enjoying the show, leave us a review on
Apple Podcasts. It helps other people like you find our show.
You can keep up with us on social media as well.
Check out our photos from our travels on Instagram at
parkl India Pod and join in on the conversation and
our Facebook group Parklandia Rangers. From our podcast My Heart Radio,
visit the heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you
(54:15):
listen to your favorite shows and as always, thank you
for listening.
Parklandia News
Hosts And Creators
Brad Kirouac
Matt Kirouac
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