June 25, 2025 • 58 mins
I (Patti Hunt) have a straight talk with social media influencers Shane and Patty Gill of Gills on Wheels to share their journey from a traditional home to full-time RV living. With hundreds of thousands of followers across platforms like Instagram and Facebook, Shane and Patty offer insights on downsizing, financing life on the road, navigating all 50 states, and building a social media business from the road. They also discuss community, workamping, and how to make the RV lifestyle affordable and fulfilling. This is a must-listen for anyone considering or living the RV lifestyle.
Mentioned on the Episode:
*Patty and Shane Gill of Gills on Wheels
*Inspired Travels With Patti YouTube Channel
*RVTV RVer’s Top Talent Submit your talent for a chance to win $5000
*RV Medical Emergencies Episode On all Podcast Platforms
*Rivet Supply Company Adventure Boards
* RV LIFE Pro Click the link for 25% off, discount at checkout
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* RV LIFE Pro 25% off at check out
* Thousand Trails Membership Specialist Journey Membership
Call/Text Warren & Sharon Lewis 804-366-0798
* KoolRV
* Harvest Hosts: Code: HUNT20 % Off
* Open Roads Fuel Card save on Diesel Fuel
* Open Roads Innovative Tolling Solutions All 48 states
* Open Road Resorts Mention RV LIFE Podcast
* CLEAR2O Save 10% w/ Code: RVLIFEPODCAST
* National Vehicle Buy or Sell Your RV
* Rivet Supply Co * AirSkirts $200 off kit order Discount Code RVPOD
* Motorhome Tires: $50 discount ...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Curious what it really takes to live the RV life
full-time.
I'm Patty Hunt and you'relistening to the RV Life Podcast
, shane, what is the best partof living the RV life?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Well, for me it's actually.
It's honestly getting to travel.
You know, a lot of times sticksand bricks, you're pretty
stationary, working whatever.
But here we've been fortunateenough to where we get to travel
, pick up and go pretty muchwhere we want to.
And then all the friends on theroad, you know you run into
them.
It's not like you knoweverybody don't live in the same
town.
We run into them out there atdifferent campgrounds, different
(00:43):
RV shows, and it just makes ita lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Thank you and we're going to hear more about that.
I'm so excited to have you,shane, and Patty of Gills on
Wheels on the show.
You have hundreds of thousandsof loyal followers on your
social media and today we'regoing to ask the most, we're
going to answer the most askedquestions and we're going to
(01:10):
cover things like logistics,living, the RV life, hitting all
50 states, work, amping,building, social media and so
much more.
People do not want to miss thisshow.
It's going to be jam-packedwith information.
Now, for anyone who's new to theRV Life podcast, my journey
started four years ago when myhusband decided hey, let's sell
(01:34):
everything and go full-timeRVing.
After I was done laughingbecause I thought he was kidding
I decided to do some research.
Yeah, it was some smallresearch about two or three
months and it was during COVIDand we weren't doing anything
and I decided to jump in withboth feet.
He and I then traveled for overthree years full time.
(01:55):
Unfortunately, a year ago, myhusband became ill and is now in
a nursing home, and I havestarted traveling solo, and I'm
doing that by plane and car.
I want to experience what it'dbe like to travel by train and
boat and then I stay in cabins,retro RVs, yurts whatever I can
(02:17):
get into is great.
And here's something I've addedis video clips from this
episode, as well as otherpodcast episodes that people can
check out on my new YouTubechannel, inspired Travels with
Patty, and that's P-A-T-T-I.
So anybody out there that'sdreaming or already on the road,
(02:40):
like I said, this episode isjam-packed and the RV Life
podcast was created to educate,entertain and explore the RV
lifestyle, and it is my missionto inspire you to live life to
the fullest.
Those of you traveling aroundright now looking for some great
places to stay, Open RoadResort has six incredible parks
(03:02):
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You can go tocampgroundsrvlifecom to see what
(03:26):
the RVers are saying that hasmade these six parks highly
favored.
You could also go toopenroadresortscom to check them
out.
Let's get to it.
Shane is a retired Air Forceveteran.
After serving our country for24 years, he is the captain and
does all the driving.
(03:46):
While pulling their fifth wheelor truck camper, he manages all
of the outside duties, whichincludes the worst part of it
all the poop tank when it's full.
Shane is easygoing, laid back,quiet and keeps Patty calm.
Patty is not retired.
She was a stay-at-home mom formany years and started her
(04:08):
career much later.
She manages their contentcreation business.
She is the navigator, plans allthe trips, sites and
destination.
Patty manages most of theinside duties and she is
outgoing active OCD and stressedout about everything.
Welcome Shane and Patty Gill tothe RV Life podcast.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Thank you, Patty.
Thanks so much for having us.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Thank you guys for being here and I want to start
Shane, by thanking you 24 yearsof military service, Thank you
for your service.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Okay, so you've traveled the world like almost
30 years of traveling the world,you have two boys that are now
grown.
You retired from the military.
We want to go back in time towhat made you make the decision.
First of all, before we get tothat, did you guys have rv
(05:09):
experience before goingfull-time?
Speaker 3 (05:12):
share your experiences, yeah we did uh,
what year?
I forget what year we were innorth dakota.
We were stationed mostlyoverseas, so that's why we've
kind of traveled the whole world, but at one time I can't
remember what year it was 2004.
2004.
We were stationed in NorthDakota for three years.
(05:33):
Lots of our friends had RVs.
We had never owned an RV but wegrew up.
Both of us grew up camping intents and RVs, but we'd never
owned one ourselves.
But all of our friends had them.
And one weekend they invited usout and we like, oh, we'll just
go buy a tent.
So we did the tent.
(05:54):
It was 4th of July weekend.
Even in North Dakota it was toohot.
So we decided then we were like, okay, we can't do the tent
camping.
You know, we had two littleboys at the time.
We were like, let's get acamper.
So we of course we did thewhole let's go look at campers,
let's just look and ended upbringing one home, of course.
(06:15):
So we had a travel trailer.
That was our very first camperin North Dakota and we camped
just about every single weekendonce we got it.
And that's how we that was 20,you know, 20 plus years ago.
So that's how we started outRVing.
We're not one of the ones thatjust dove right in.
I think that's amazing thatpeople do that, but we did have.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
we did have some experience before we dove right
in Right and I'm not sure if itwas amazing or crazy I dove in.
I didn't have kids at the time.
I literally took about twomonths and I said yes, and I had
little.
My only experience with campingwas seven nights in an RV prior
(06:57):
to that.
That was my experience.
So I'm not necessarilysuggesting just taking two or
three months and diving in withboth feet.
For me it worked great and Iloved it.
But so I read about you guysand I read where you said you
know, when the kids are out,when we retire, and you said
when we're in our 60s and 70s,we'll do this full time thing.
(07:20):
And you said why not now?
Can you talk about that storyleading up to going full-time?
Speaker 3 (07:28):
sure?
Do you want to talk about whywe decided?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
well, yeah, I mean, we wanted to wait, for sure,
till the kids got on their own.
And you know, they both endedup well, finishing college, and
they got out on their own and itwas just pat in a in a in a
huge house that we didn't need.
And so we, we were just, youknow, let's just do this now,
because a lot of times I mean,you don't know if you're going
to be 70 or whatever, and whilewe're young enough to still, you
(07:54):
know, go hike or whatever wewant to do, be able to drive and
not have to worry about as muchas you would maybe if you were
a little older, or changing thetire on the side of the road.
We just wanted to do it whilewe were still healthy enough,
and as we get older, if we can'tdo it, then we'll come off the
road.
But we just wanted to go aheadand do it.
We were stable enough where wecould and we took advantage of
(08:17):
it and I guess we just got lucky.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
How long have you been full-time on the road?
Almost five years October.
When is it October, october 7th?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yeah, wow, your anniversary of five years, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
And so I read that you went from a
3,500-square-foot home to, I'mgoing to say, less than 400
square feet in a fifth wheel.
You had the travel trailer andthen you went into a fifth wheel
.
You had the travel trailer andthen you went into a fifth wheel
and and it's very similar to mystory we went into a class a.
So you know, people are alwayscurious how you went from that
(08:57):
big home to that small,relatively small, fifth wheel.
How did that go?
Uh?
Speaker 3 (09:04):
well it was.
I mean, I don't say I won't sayit was ever hard for us.
The hardest part probably wasgetting rid of some things, but
for the most part it we didn'treally have a whole lot of
issues getting rid of stuff.
Just, I think, because I thinkit might've been easier for us
because we were a militaryfamily that had to move every
(09:25):
couple of years.
Sometimes, you know, we couldn'teven live off base, we had to
live on base.
So you had to live in basehousing and you got whatever you
, whatever they gave you, andsometimes it was tiny, sometimes
it was big, sometimes the boyshad to share a room, the boys
(09:46):
had to share rooms.
So you know, like we justalways I guess we were so
resilient and so you know, frommoving and having to change so
often, and also the militaryonly lets you move so much
weight of items, so we wouldhave to always after every, you
know, right before we'd move,we'd I'd have to go through
everything and get rid of stuff.
So I think it was easier for usto just get rid of stuff
because of the, probably becauseof the military, and you'd be
(10:09):
surprised at the stuff youreally don't need Correct, you
just have.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I mean, you don't?
There's a lot of stuff that youjust don't have to have.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Right and anesthetics .
Speaker 1 (10:19):
yeah, Exactly, and it was a.
It was a little bit morechallenging for me, but I'd been
in a house in Pennsylvania.
Dan and I lived in a house inPennsylvania.
We still had stuff from thekids.
Between the two of us we hadfive kids, so we still had stuff
that were just there until,like, they were already moved
out, but it was still sittingthere in boxes and, like you
(10:42):
said, are in boxes and, like yousaid, you just keep stuff.
And so we moved out to LasVegas and we decided to rent the
house.
So we had a downsize.
We had to get rid of stuff.
Then we decided we were sellingthe house.
So again, we got rid of stuff.
Now, here we were, in Las Vegas.
So that transition, I think forus was a little easier.
But for those people listeningthat are starting from scratch
(11:06):
and have not moved and have thehouse full of all kinds of stuff
, it can be a little bitchallenging.
And I found it very freeing toget rid of stuff, to really look
at things and say do I reallyneed these?
When was the last time I usedthis?
When was the last time I worethis?
And be able to get rid ofthings I found very freeing, and
(11:29):
there are a lot of.
I did an episode that I couldput in the show notes about just
that, about downsizing, becauseit can be an emotional thing
for people.
Oh, absolutely, so let's talkabout it.
So you're getting on the roadand you sounded like you were
able to.
It was a good time for you.
I know that my listeners wonder.
(11:53):
There's a lot of questionsaround making money on the road,
affording being on the road.
We hear questions like is itless expensive being on the road
?
I know I throw a lot at you but, however, can you just kind of
what?
What are your thoughts?
What would you say to thelisteners about, you know,
living on the road and havingmoney?
Speaker 3 (12:16):
So it's probably also different for us because Shane,
you know, retired so earlybecause he was in the Air Force,
so we did have and that wasreally a big part of us going
full time.
So, you know, as young as wedid or when we did, because he
did have a retirement coming in,at the time I was working a
(12:38):
government job and I had beenworking from home for, you know,
for a while because of COVIDand everything, and I tried to
continue that with that job,working from the road, and they
were like sorry, we're not, youknow, we don't, we're not going
to allow you to travel, and youknow, and have the job.
So I was like OK, well thenhere's my two weeks because I
(12:59):
want to travel, because I wantto travel.
So we just had to figure it outBecause obviously we can't,
like we could live juststationary off of his military
retirement but we couldn'ttravel and do all the things
that we do.
So I just had to figure out away and I've done several, like
(13:20):
social media, like ran socialmedia for different companies.
I just started doing that andbecause of our social media it
just started growing so quickand, you know, kind of blowing
up over the last several yearsand then companies started
reaching out to us and was likehey, we want you to show our
(13:41):
product, we want you to.
You know, come see ourcampground, whatever it might be
.
And that's really how westarted our social media
business.
Last year we even we did openan LLC and so now it's like a,
it's a full-time business for us.
Not saying that it could, youknow, that might not work for
(14:01):
everyone, but there are ways to,you know, to figure it out.
There are work from home jobs.
There are ways to there's workcamping.
We do that as well to helpsupplement our income.
Right now we just come back toTexas and we'll work camp for
several months at the samecampground, kind of sit and
relax for a little bit, recoup,save up a little bit of money.
(14:24):
And then now we're hitting theroad.
For the summer we kind ofstayed here because we were gone
to Alaska all last summer,stayed here all winter and kind
of saved back up, and now we'reready to hit the road again.
So there are ways to do it, forsure.
Also, like you were saying,like, is it more expensive?
Is it less expensive?
(14:44):
It can be both.
It like it just all depends onhow you want to do it.
If you want to travel, uh,often and you know, to all these
different places and you likestaying in a five-star rv resort
with all the amenities, thenyeah, it's probably going to
cost you more than it did tolive in your house, depending on
(15:05):
you know what, what your housewas like before.
For us, we've made it, you know, less, less than what it costs
us to live in our house.
I mean what we most of our feesand everything that we pay
monthly is probably less thanour mortgage was.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Also, you know, I mean.
You mean you can choose to eatat home or go out to eat every
night.
It gets expensive if you dothat.
I mean you just have to do whatfits in your budget or your
well-beings.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Yeah, just like if you were in a house.
You just figure out a budget.
Yeah, figure out a way to beable to do it.
Yeah, there's memberships andwork camping way to you know to
be able to do it.
Yeah, there's memberships andwork camping.
And you know tons of ways toboondock, yeah, boondocking,
moot shopping lot, knocking allthe dockings right, exactly to
save money.
(15:56):
Yeah, right, yeah.
And we do like all of that likewe might stay, you know, we
might like kind of rewardourself or something and stay at
a big nice resort for a littlebit, kind of like our vacation
or whatever.
But for the most part we justtry to stay at, you know, less
expensive state parks, corps ofEngineers, you know type
(16:16):
campgrounds like that, whereit's less expensive.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
So a lot of great information on the.
I agree with you.
It depends on what kind ofhouse you were in, what you were
paying, what kind of RV travelyou're going to do.
There is no set answer.
I know I gave you the question,but there are people ask all
the time what's less expensive?
It's so depends, totallydepends.
Every situation's differentwhen it comes to making money,
(16:43):
again, there are two sides to it.
How am I going to live whileI'm on the road If I'm going out
to eat all the time and I'mgoing to five-star RV resorts?
That's going to get expensiveand it's a balance in budgeting
it.
And I think that differentthings work for different people
.
How's that going to work foryou?
(17:04):
When I, my husband and I firststarted out, it felt like a
vacation.
Quickly, campgrounds became waymore expensive than I expected.
We were like, oh, this isn'tgoing to work and for us.
We actually bought intoThousand Trails the Thousand
Trails membership, where we werecamping and where you know
(17:24):
being on the road full time.
We talked to somebody about itand it totally worked for us
because we had a set price thatwe were paying monthly and then
if we wanted to go to camp to acampground that wasn't a
Thousand Trails property.
We then would budget for that.
Oh, we want to go to this placeand they don't have them.
(17:47):
Or we want to go to somewherethat is a special campground,
disney's campground, you knowthose kinds of things.
So for people who are listening,there are ways, there are
memberships.
I'm going to put out a caution.
Be cautious.
Everything that somethingsomebody else does doesn't
necessarily work for you, andinstead of asking those
(18:08):
questions on Facebook, get tothe source.
So for me, when people areasking questions, particularly
about Thousand Trails, there'stwo sides of it.
People love it or they hate it,and there's not an in-between,
and I always recommend.
I do have an incredible couplethat gives people all the
information, not a sales pitch.
They have all new membershipsnow.
(18:30):
All of their memberships arebrand new, and so I encourage
people to get their owninformation.
I'm going to put that in theshow notes because I know that
was a big one for Dan and I,trying to figure out how we were
going to afford.
Even if you could find acampground of $40 a night, which
is unheard of, this is going toget really expensive and we're
(18:50):
not going to be able to.
I know for Dan and I we weren'tgoing to be able to make it.
So there are programs out thereand again, I'm going to
recommend that people check intowhat's going to work for them,
their situation, where they wantto travel, how they want to
travel.
So let's talk a little bitabout ways to make money.
You talked about work camping.
That's what it's called, rightWork camping?
(19:11):
Okay, yeah, and there's a sitefor that that people can check
out.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
It's a way to and I'm going to let you guys talk on
it.
Why don't we talk about thatwork camping and what exactly
that is for people who aren'tfamiliar?
So work camping is where youwork at a position.
It could be a campground.
It's not necessarily acampground that you know we have
found out.
Originally we thought it wasjust at campgrounds.
We had seen like camp hosts atstate parks, things like that.
But you can.
There's lots of places that youcan do work camping.
But you're essentially you'reworking for your campsite or
(19:49):
you're working while you'reliving in your camper.
So what we have done so far iswe've we've only worked at
campgrounds, so we will go tothe campground.
We find them online.
There's lots of websites thatoffer and show these.
There's also Facebook groupsthat you can find work camp
positions.
Also, the campgrounds put themout there on their social media
(20:11):
where you can find work camppositions.
But you're working at thecampground and doing.
You know you could be a camphost, you could be.
I've worked in the office, I'vedone websites, I've done social
media, I've done events.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Mainly mine is like doing like the small maintenance
I take care of swimming pools.
Um, just depends on where we'reat what what there is to do, I
mean use, and usually it's for acouple.
It's around 28 hours a week atthe most of them.
So I mean it's not, it's notlike you're working all week
long or what have you eighthours a day.
(20:50):
It's not like a regularcivilian job or whatever it's
it's.
It's not hard and you can.
Either.
They, either some of them evenwill give you your site and they
will pay you, but it justdepends on which one you get,
and and there's a lot of themout there yeah, most of them,
you can get your site and thenyour utilities.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
If you're a couple, um, and then if you're single,
they also have, like for single,uh, people as well, work camp
positions.
You might either only get thesite or maybe you have to work,
you know, a little bit morehours or something than we would
as a couple.
But, yeah, it covers yourcampsite, it covers your
utilities.
We've had we get free ice, wehad one that we got free meals,
(21:36):
so, and then there's, like Shanewas saying, some of them will
also pay you as well somecampgrounds.
And then there's like fireworkstands, christmas tree farms,
the beet harvest, and some ofthose will.
So they're just paying for yourcampsite, for you to stay near
where you're working, and thenthey also pay you a salary as
(21:58):
well.
So there's just, I mean, somany ways that you can work camp
, but for us we just want towork camp at a campground.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
So far that's what we've done, but also when, if
you want to, if it's somethingthat you're thinking about
getting into.
You got to remember most ofthem are at least like three
month commitment or six monthcommitment or something like
that.
Yeah, depending on what they're.
What about the campground?
It's not like you go into workcamp for the weekend and then
take off.
You got to be there for alittle bit, you got to commit to
(22:26):
it yeah, right, right.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
And then that leads into and again, the whole point
here is to say to the listenersthat, yes, there are ways to
make money on the road.
I know traveling.
There are some people on theroad that have a pension or
retirement or savings andthey're just, you know, sitting
back and living the life andthat's fine.
I think I personally would getbored with that.
(22:48):
That's just me.
So there's different ways.
When you're looking at somebodyand you're thinking, oh wow,
how are they doing this?
The point here is there are alot of different ways and again,
one of the things I'm going tosay is do what works for you.
I always say I only do what Ilove doing, and I know a lot of
people think that's kind ofcrazy at my age and what I've
(23:12):
gone through.
Life's too short.
We talked about it in thebeginning.
I'm not waiting, as peopleheard in the beginning.
Dan is now not able to travel.
He's in a nursing home and Ihave been given the message even
more clearly that life is shortand so I don't want to be.
For me.
A beet harvest is not what Iwant to be doing, but some
(23:35):
people love getting out there.
Do what you enjoy as best youcan, and you know I think your
guys' point is that there areendless opportunities we can
have a whole conversation on.
You know how to build a socialmedia following and make money
that way, and affiliate programs, and I know you guys have done
an amazing job with that.
(23:57):
You've got, as I said, startingthe show.
Hundreds of thousands offollowers Do what works for you
and I want to kind of move on.
But I want my listeners to knowthat if they're interested in
that part of it, my partnerpodcast, rv Entrepreneur, talks
all about building social mediaaffiliate programs.
(24:19):
It's just that being anentrepreneur on the road and
anybody who's a content creator,influencer, doing these things
is an entrepreneur.
So that's a great place to geta lot of that information.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
But I want to add one more thing.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Sure thing, you sure can.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Is also people that are trying to save money or
don't know if they can do this.
You don't have to go out thereand buy the biggest, shiniest rv
that they have on the lot.
Find something that fits whatyou need and then start from
there.
You don't have to go out there,buy the, the biggest thing.
That's going to cost you amortgage, just to pay the
monthly payments on and that's agreat point.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
and again about budgeting, and I, while you said
that, I'm going to segue intoone of my sponsors is,000 new
and used.
So, like you said, shane, maybeit's a used RV and it's not the
(25:23):
biggest shiniest.
They also have over a thousandservice bays and we all know
those service bays are only goodif you have the RV technicians,
and they have more certified RVtechnician than any other
dealer.
Blue Compass RV is who RV Liferecommends.
It's the place to go.
People can visit their localdealership or go to
(25:45):
bluecompassrvcom.
So I wanted to plug that inbecause, shane, it's the same
thing with the house.
You see the person in the greatbig house and they're working
nonstop.
We could go down a deep divethere and a rabbit hole there.
Great point, and thank you forbringing that up.
Let's talk about the fun stuffNow.
(26:05):
You guys decided that you wantedto cover all 50 states.
Now my list is now 48 statesthat we could go to in our RV.
We could go to.
Okay, I'll let you guys take itfrom there.
Why was that a goal?
And were there other big goalswhile traveling?
Speaker 3 (26:25):
uh, yeah.
So originally we didn't set outto hit all 50 states, like that
was not even on our radar.
We just were like, originally Ijust wanted, because I'm from
Georgia and we retired in Texasand I hadn't lived near my
family and you know 20 somethingyears.
So originally I just was like,okay, first thing, I really just
(26:47):
want to go camp near Georgia,florida somewhere so I could be
close to my family.
And so the first like two years, that's what we did.
We just would go.
We did six months in Texas, sixmonths in North Florida so I
could be near my family, andthat was like that's.
All I wanted was just to beable to be near both families.
And then we started after wewould leave, we would go up and
(27:10):
see some states on our way backto Texas or on our way to
Georgia or whatever.
And then last year, before last, we just we started planning
our trip to Alaska.
We went out and bought a uh, asmaller, we bought a truck
camper just for Alaska.
So last summer we drove fromFlorida to Alaska and back to
(27:34):
Texas.
Um, and so that was, then weget back.
And Shane was like, hey, youknow, next year is going to be
our fifth year that we've beenfull time and he's like what if
we do 50 and five, like he cameup with?
He came up with the name let'shit the rest of the 50 states
within our five year, before wehit five years, which will be in
(27:57):
November or October.
So that started out, the uh 50and 5.
It was all Jane's idea.
And so then we started uh, Iwas like, okay, well, you know,
next year this was last year Isaid, you know, next year is our
30th anniversary.
What if we fly to Hawaii andrent a van there and then we
(28:20):
have RV'd also in Hawaii?
So that was what we did.
We started planning it out,started working with some
companies, worked with Outdoorsyand did a sponsored van rental
and, yeah, we were able to RVMaui and Hawaii.
And yeah, we were able to RVMaui and Hawaii.
So now we just have this year,this summer, from July to
(28:42):
October, we have 19 states leftto hit so that we can have 50
states in five years.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Wow, mine was a little different.
I mean the same but different.
We, like she said, we spent somany years overseas.
The same but different.
Uh, we, like she said, we spentso many years overseas.
And then, when we retired andgot back to the United States, I
kind of got tired of peopletelling me oh, you've never been
to New York or you've neverbeen here.
I'm like no, have you ever beento the Eiffel Tower, the
pyramids in Egypt or, you know,australia or whatever?
(29:12):
And they're like no.
I said we'll see the same thing, but now I've been over there
and now I can see all 50 statesdown here.
So that was part of my thing.
I want to go to all of them,just so I don't have to listen
to people about not in new yorkpeer pressure, peer pressure,
okay.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
So here's a big question that that even my
husband and I disputed.
What constitutes saying it wasa state that you stayed in?
What constitutes checking thatstate off your list?
Speaker 2 (29:45):
That's your own personal thing.
We've ran into people that theyhad to do some kind of
volunteering in that state.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
That's nice.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Our thing is we have to at least stay a night.
The landing gear has to be down, the truck has to be taken off,
the camper has to be taken offthe truck, and we have to at
least stay one night.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I like to do something as well.
I like to at least go on a hikeor go visit a historic area or
a national park or state park orsomething like that.
I like to say that we and sofar we've done something in
every state as well.
But Shane's is just like if Iput the landing gear down and I
(30:26):
sleep there, that counts.
And so, yeah, oh, sorry, no, goahead.
I was going to say, and some,you know, this summer we might
not be staying, you know,several like a week or something
, to really explore the areas.
So we will, a few of them weare just staying overnight and
doing like one thing, maybe evenjust going out to dinner, I
(30:47):
don't know.
But you know, later on we wantto go back and explore the
states more, especially the onesthat we really like.
You know, some of those stateswere like, okay, I really want
to go back and see more, morethings in that state.
And that's what we'll do,because some, as a matter of
fact, somebody asked me thismorning they were like once you
see the 50 states, are you justgoing to sit?
(31:09):
And I'm like, no, no, that'snot fun, that's not the point.
Yeah, we, we just wanted to hitall 50 this year, so we could
say we did 50 in five years.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
And then we want to go back and explore.
You know most of them morelater.
And so, again, I want to let mylisteners know it is a huge
debate and debate is probablythe accurate word of what is the
quote unquote right way.
When can I put the sticker onthe map?
When can I say I stayed in thatstate?
And I think we're we're allsaying do what works for you,
(31:47):
whatever you feel like Sometimes.
I think it was my husband thatsaid look, if we go through that
state, we're there for acertain amount of time and do
something that counts, you know.
And again, and do somethingthat counts, you know.
And again, do what works foryou.
I have to talk about some reallycool she's not a sponsor, but
talking about the map stickers.
I debated about the stickers onthe map.
(32:10):
I didn't want to put it on ourRV and I, you know, wanted to be
able to have something that Icould show the different states
I had been to, and I still wantto do that.
And I collect, could show thedifferent states I had been to,
and I still want to do that, andI collect things from the
different states.
And I met a woman I don't knowif you've met her.
It's called Ribbit SupplyCompany.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
I love.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Melissa.
Okay, melissa, yeah, they havethese incredible boards, so they
I'll put the link in the shownotes.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Um, I have to mention that we've got to meet her at
the Tampa show this year.
She's awesome.
I love what they did.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yes so for my listeners, these are incredible
boards that you have to go justcheck out online where you could
put the stickers.
Like you and I both havestickers.
You exchange stickers.
I'd love.
I used to collect magnets whenI was traveling around the world
and they're just too heavy foran RV, so I started grabbing
stickers of the areas that I'vebeen in, and Melissa has these
(33:06):
incredible boards that you couldput those stickers on or, like
you know, content creatorstickers, event stickers, but
she has maps of the and youcould put this state sticker on,
so I'd love those.
Yes, people have to check thatout.
Let's go on and talk about alot of great information.
(33:26):
Again, people don't need todebate.
Do what works for you, andwe've said that about a number
of things.
Now that we've talked about,let's talk a little bit about
the challenges of full-time rvlife.
Let's let's talk about some ofthe challenges, sure?
Speaker 3 (33:44):
I would say, oh, probably the only.
I mean, for me, the mainchallenge is being away from our
family when we do travel.
That's probably one of thebiggest challenges for me.
Luckily or I don't know if yousay luckily or unluckily we
don't have grandkids yet, soit's probably easier for us.
(34:04):
I know a lot of people are likeonce you have grandkids, you're
never going to want to leave,and I'm like well, I don't have
any yet, so I'm taking fulladvantage and traveling as much
as possible.
What about you?
What do you think is challenges?
Speaker 2 (34:18):
I don't know.
Challenges for me because Iwork on the ice is just keeping
up with the maintenance.
I mean they're trailer houseson wheels almost, and they
bounce and they do a lot ofdifferent things, so there's
always something to be, seems tobe fixed.
I mean not necessarily majorstuff, but just little
(34:41):
preventative maintenance stufflike that on the road, uh,
making sure you're having yourright tools or whatever.
But uh, other than that there'sreally to me there's nothing
hard about it, or yeah yeah,it's just I was saying, if you
don't like the house.
I mean you got to keep up withyeah, if you're not handy.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
That could be a challenge, because things do
break a lot.
Luckily, shing was a mechanicin the military, so it's not as
hard for him.
But I mean, there's still timestoo, where he goes on youtube.
He calls it youtube university.
He gets on youtube and he'slike, okay, how do I fix this,
or how do I install this, how doI fix this, or how do I install
this, or how do I prevent thisfrom happening, or whatever it
(35:21):
might be, and things happen.
You know, as you're going downthe road, people, you get up,
you might get a blowout, youmight, you know, have a
something break as you're goingdown the road.
We had, on our way up toColorado a few weeks ago, our
door wouldn't stay shut For somereason our door, we were having
issues with our door, so we hadto Shane had to like zip tie it
(35:45):
on the outside to get it to,but he finally figured it out
and fixed it.
But yeah, I mean, things likethat happen.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
So more challenges is like you gotta be real.
I don't know what.
You call it versatile orsomething yes, that's a great
word where you're, where yourdestination is, don't mean you
might get there.
There could be weather orsomething you gotta divert to
stay somewhere else.
(36:12):
You gotta always be planningyeah, uh, just I mean it's.
It's not just get in, go, getthere and have fun.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
A lot of times there's there's some work to it
yeah, definitely, we had thatissue also and what I'd love
about not only what you'resaying, but how you're saying it
with anything, there arechallenges.
It sounds like you just takethe very light-hearted.
I'm sure there are the momentsof total stress and anger and
(36:40):
whatever, but it's, but it's howyou handle it, acknowledging
that, yes, there are challengeswith this.
It's not getting in the RV,like you said, getting to your
destination and everything ispretty.
There's storms, you knowweather and and issues and
mechanical issues and all thosekinds of things that come up,
knowing that you have ways toget through those challenges and
(37:02):
just embracing the fact thatthere's going to be being
flexible and that all is veryhelpful.
I want to do something differentthat I've never done on the
show and I kind of want to dorapid fire questions, if we
could.
We're going gonna try this, sothey're like we could literally
(37:23):
talk for hours.
You have your social media, socorrect me if I'm wrong, it's
gills and wheels, instagram,facebook.
You do have a youtube channel,um, and there is a website and
I'll put that in the show notes,leading everybody to you.
I'm going to recommend peoplereach out to you with questions,
thoughts, whatever they have,and I want to do this quick
(37:47):
questions and let's get somequick answers, but the truth is
we're never going to covereverything that you know.
Rvers ask.
One of the best things to do isstay connected to people like
you guys.
You guys have such a wealth ofinformation.
Stay connected with YouTubechannels that you like social
(38:09):
media people you like.
You said you go on YouTube tofind ways to fix things.
A suggestion I met a company.
It's called Bish Fix.
Bish is.
It's actually now called RV Fix.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
RV Fix, yep yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
So they've changed the name.
I'll put the information in theshow notes.
They have a monthly membership.
I know they were changing howthat was going to work and I
know somebody reached out to meand asked about a discount code
at the time and I believethey're still doing it.
I will check on it.
You just go through the processand it gives you the discount.
(38:45):
There was no code.
So, if that person's stilllistening, what they do is
amazing, because you could call,do a video with a highly
qualified technician and theywill lead you through how to fix
the RV and if it's somethingthat's major mechanical issue,
they will help you through theprocess.
(39:07):
So when you take it into adealership any dealership when
you take it in for that service,you now have everything written
up that they believe needs tobe done.
Again, I'm not even touching onthe surface of what they do.
I just think it's a great ideaso people could check out.
Obviously, you guys arefamiliar with our VFX.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Yeah, yeah, when we were at the Tampa show, they let
us do like a phone call wherethey, it was like a video call,
right.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
Demonstration they were doing.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
Yeah, and so it showed Shaneane was they were
able to tell like walk shanethrough how to fix this like
wiring issue that was being.
You know it was a fake one, ofcourse, but yeah, it was showing
how they were able to do it onthe video college.
Yeah, it's awesome.
We love the.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Uh, all the people over at rv figs I do too, and I
did an episode with thepresident, um todd, oh nice
nuttle, and that is on theYouTube channel Inspired Travels
with Patty.
He just is all of the peoplethere are just wonderful, great
people.
Okay, so quick questions, let'ssee if we can answer them
(40:12):
quickly.
If you're like, hey, that's nota quick question, just let me
know and we'll move on.
People ask all the time aboutmail service.
What do you do when you're onthe road full-time about your
mail?
Speaker 3 (40:28):
all right, we have a, we have a po box that our son
checks here at our home base andthen amazon packages we have
sent to a campground.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Okay, good Quick answer.
Thank you, patty.
For me I used Escapees mailservice we also used Amazon for
quick getting packagesNavigation tools.
What do?
Speaker 2 (40:53):
you use to navigate?
I use a Garmin 895.
It's the newest Garmin out forheavy or big trucks and RVs.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Okay, and for me it's RV Life, the app that does
planning, and then the RV SafeGPS.
Okay, and again people checkingwhat works best for them.
We've always used the, the rvlife app.
We also had a garment that wedid as a backup.
Okay, what about your favoritegadget?
(41:24):
This might be a shame questionwhat's your favorite?
Gadget.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
I don't even know my tools there you go just like
having a tool.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
Yeah, okay, toolbox, that's great, I don't I.
I'm asking the question, but Idon't know that I had a favorite
there's so many, it's hard tochoose, that's for sure
absolutely.
I was just listening to a, apodcast episode.
Oh, I interviewed the ceo ofbattleboard batteries and they
(41:56):
were talking about having amultimeter I think that's what
we were talking about and I waslike I don't do anything
electrical but I was like, okay,I at least know what one is.
I know what it looks like.
Not sure I know how to use it,but okay.
So favorite gadgets vary.
What about medical insurance onthe road?
Can you give a quick answer onhow you yeah, absolutely we have
(42:19):
.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
because of Shane being retired military, we have
TRICARE and we can go to anyhospital, any doctor, any
emergency room all over the USwith no issues whatsoever.
And then, when we're backstationary in San Antonio, Shane
goes to the VA for all of hisdoctor's appointments.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
Great answer, and anybody who's military should
really check that out.
Make sure they know all thedetails.
As you travel around, I wasusing our VEERS insurance, which
again I'm putting the shownotes.
It is just that for our VEERS,they were leading us through as
we travel around the country.
What would be better for me orDan and anybody that already has
(43:01):
health insurance?
I recommend that you check thatout.
Okay, this is a big question.
Medical emergencies, and theseare things we didn't talk about
before the show.
Do you guys sort of have a planfor how you, you know, like a
go bag or something, in case ofa medical emergency while you're
(43:21):
traveling?
Speaker 3 (43:23):
We don't have a go bag for a medical emergency.
We do for like weatheremergencies.
We have like a tornado bag, Icall it, or bad weather bag, but
we do have, like, if there wasan emergency I mean I can drive
the dually If, if Shane were tobe driving the camper and
something were to happen, Icould drive it enough to get us,
you know, off the road orwhatever.
(43:45):
Um, so I highly suggest thatyou know, if you're not normally
the driver to at least know howto pull it, drive it if you can
hook it up, even if possible.
Um, but if you know, ifanything, if he had to be, you
know, in a hospital or whatever,we have lots of friends, that
and family that would probablyfly in to, like, you know, pull
(44:05):
us back to our home base if weneeded to.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
There's something of a plan and I think that planning
for emergencies and I want topoint out, because this is so
important, having been through acouple of emergencies some
people aren't aware of thenumber of emergencies that I've
had while on the road betweenDan with with Dan, a couple
weeks ago, so May 21st 2025, Idid an episode on just that
(44:33):
emergency medical how to beprepared.
So, like your go folder of theinformation you need that some
people don't necessarily thinkof that episode is a highly
qualified emergency and traumanurse, and so there's a lot of
great information that I'll postin the show notes because, as
(44:56):
people are thinking about beingon the road, unfortunately we
have to talk about the possibledownsides of it.
Okay, yeah, absolutely, let'scontinue this.
On an up note, I know for allof us, for the three of us, when
we spoke, one of our favoriteparts of RVing is community.
So let's talk about community.
(45:17):
I know, for me, I didn't realizejust how amazing and what the
connections were going to belike.
You know people say, oh, you'retraveling around, you don't
have friends, you're not goingto have a social life, you're
going to be alone on New Year'sEve, whatever.
We get those questions all thetime.
So can you talk about that?
Can you talk about community?
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Sure, we thought the same, you know as well.
I was like, oh gosh, we'regoing to be, you know, so lonely
out there.
I mean, obviously we have eachother, you know we're each
other's best friends, but it isnice to have other people around
sometimes, especially if you'reaway for a holiday, christmas,
new Year's, whatever it might be.
And we've just been reallyshocked and amazed at the RV
(46:04):
community.
Like so many people, we meetpeople at rallies and get
togethers and the RV shows, youknow, and just out camping, just
the people that we meet.
You know that we would havenever met if we hadn't been full
time.
We have some of probably theclosest friendships we've ever
(46:24):
had, I would say, through the RVcommunity, like some of our
best friends, even ones that arenot full time, like we always
want to be here at thiscampground that we're at now
just because we have so manygreat friends here that you know
they come out every summer.
And also like just ourfull-time friends that we've met
(46:45):
through social media, throughthe rallies and all of that
We've.
Even last year, when we went toAlaska, we went with two people
that we met through socialmedia.
You know, we didn't really knowthem before until we became
full-time.
And, yeah, like some of thebest people that we've ever met,
I have, like, like I said, someof our what, some of my best
(47:08):
friends, for sure, we've metthrough the RV community.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
some I talk to almost every single day everywhere we
travel seems like somebody thatwe have camped with before or we
know is in that state, and wealways seem to run into people
everywhere we go and it's justlike it's like he never left, we
just picked right up where weleft off.
And because we're all doing thesame thing, have all the same
common likes or whatever goals,and it's just, it's a lot of fun
(47:35):
, just out there, all of asudden you're, you run into one
of your old buddies you ain'tseen in a year.
It's just cool yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:41):
I agree wholeheartedly, and it's not
just the people in thecampground but the.
I mean.
You know, because I interviewpeople, presidents of companies
and CEOs, and it's the same withthem.
You know a number of differentindustries and the connections
I've made to everybody, like Isaid, from people who are
(48:03):
presidents all the way over toyou know.
The person you camp next tothere is a true connection and
you see them, like you said, inan event and you pick up where
you started and I feel like Ikeep those connections.
I haven't been specific likefull time on the, the person
(48:27):
that would go, I know, right,it's hard to believe.
So when I'm done with thepodcast I've got to take a break
from you know peopling and I'vecome out of my shell a lot.
(48:49):
I get that.
Yeah, the RV community is sowarm and welcoming, it's easy to
come out of your shell.
You know people are justsitting around having a good
time.
Speaker 3 (49:04):
Yeah, we all have, like she said, all the same.
Yeah, all the same likes, andit's easy to have a conversation
because you can talk about ohyou're, you know, pulling your
RV, or the sewage issues.
Everybody's had the same issues, so it's yeah, you just have so
much in common.
You never lose things to talkabout.
That's for sure everybody's hadthe same issues.
Speaker 1 (49:23):
So it's yeah, you just have so much in common.
You never lose things to talkabout, that's for sure,
absolutely.
And it's like you said a lot oftimes where do you meet people?
It's in the campground.
I want to talk a little bitabout Hershey.
I know you guys will be thereand I'll be there.
Rv Life will have a booth there.
It's actually called America'sLargest RV Show.
It gets confusing for people.
It's in Hershey September 10thto the 14th.
(49:43):
I will be there all week.
So I'm really excited and Iknow you guys are going to be
there.
We're going to make sure if youguys are doing a meet and greet
or if there's something you arespecifically going to do, I'm
going to lead people to yoursocial media and that's where
they can find where you're goingto be.
I'm going to lead people toyour social media and that's
where they can find where you'regoing to be.
And I say this all the time.
(50:03):
I've had people that have saidoh, I saw you were here and I
was going to come say hi, but Ididn't want to bother you and I
always say, if I'm out of my RV,if I'm out and about, come say
hi, because part of why I dothis is because and I think for
you guys too we want to meetpeople.
We want to meet you, we want tohear from you, we want to hear
(50:26):
what your questions are.
Absolutely yeah.
So we will both be in Hershey.
The Hershey RV Life After Partyis September 11th and I hope
you guys will be attending that.
Speaker 3 (50:40):
Oh, that'd be awesome .
Speaker 1 (50:41):
Yeah, yeah, it'll be from 6 to 10.
We have some great sponsorsgiveaways and we're just doing
it as a way great food, wine andbeer included.
We're doing it as a way to getthe RV community to be able to
come together, get to know eachother, chat with each other,
(51:07):
catch up with each other.
So this is the fourth annualevent.
It always sells out and I justthink the event gets better and
better every year.
I have to say, and I want totalk about we already have some
sponsors.
Renogy, the trusted off-gridSolutions, is one of our big
sponsors and you could checkthem out at Renogycom, as well
as RV TV.
Have you heard of RVers TopTalent?
(51:29):
Do you guys have a talent?
No we have no talent, no talentat all.
But you might want to rethinkthis, because it is the first
nationwide talent contestalready talent contest you have
a chance to win $5,000.
So you might want to come upwith the talent.
So think about it.
It could be anything singing,comedy, storytelling, juggling
(51:54):
something unexpected.
Speaker 3 (51:55):
It has to be comedy, because we can't sing or dance.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
I can't either, I'll admit it.
So comedy, and yeah, there's a$5,000 grand prize.
So I think more and more peopleare going to try and figure out
that talent, and I will putthat information in the show
notes.
Rvtv is one of our mainsponsors as well, so I'm really
excited about that.
I'm so excited about the event.
(52:20):
Hershey, I know people can againreach out to you on your social
media platforms Instagram,facebook, youtube.
Gills on wheels.
We are not done.
I have a question, because I'mgoing to put the two of you on
the spot, as if I haven'talready.
Shane's getting a littleconcerned, I see it.
So, yeah, like we really wantpeople to let us know other
(52:47):
questions they have, you know,let us know if you're going to
be in Hershey.
Reach out to me on Instagramand Facebook RV Life Podcast,
because I want to know who'sgoing to be there and meet up
with people.
Ok, it is now time for thequestion of the week podcast,
because I want to know who'sgoing to be there and meet up
with people.
Okay, it is now time for thequestion of the week.
(53:07):
It is brought to you by Cool RVand I'm going to ask the
question and I am going to giveyou a minute to think about it,
so don't panic.
I want to know what is now onyour bucket list, and that could
be a person you want to visit,a place or an experience you
want to have, and it could beanything in the RV, outside the
RV, in the country, outside thecountry.
(53:29):
And while you're thinking aboutthat, it's getting hot, so I'm
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(53:53):
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Okay, do you guys have ananswer, either together or
separate?
Speaker 2 (54:07):
separate I don't know .
My immediate bucket list wouldbe to finish all 50 states, uh,
without issues, hopefully.
Uh, and my long-term one wouldbe just to keep doing this as
long as I can.
I mean, I already been toAlaska.
That was the bucket list, okay.
Speaker 3 (54:29):
For me it is to, once we complete the 50, to start
RVing in other countries.
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (54:39):
That's an interesting one.
Okay, so all 50 states arebeing in other countries.
I like that idea.
Yeah, sounds great.
Sounds like a great bucket list.
Okay, it's now time for thefeature campground of the week,
and this campground is ThousandTrails, medina Lakes, and it is
a Thousand Trails.
You guys know where that is.
Speaker 3 (55:00):
It's right down the road from us.
Speaker 1 (55:01):
Okay, so I did write where it is.
Where is it exactly?
Speaker 3 (55:06):
It's outside of San Antonio, west of San Antonio.
Speaker 1 (55:09):
Okay, well, thank you .
How great.
I try and pick a spot where Iknow the people might be.
So have you ever been to thiscampground?
Speaker 3 (55:18):
We've driven through it, but we're not Thousand
Trails members, so we've never,we've never stayed there.
Speaker 1 (55:22):
OK, so what?
And it is a Thousand Trailscampground but you don't need to
be a member.
It is beautiful lakeside views.
I looked at the pictures ofthis place and it is amazing and
, like you said, it's out of andCould be why I picked it.
I went to San Antonio last yearfor a conference and I never
(55:44):
got a chance to explore the areaand that is one of the areas I
definitely want to go back to,like sometimes I'll go to an
area and be like, okay, checkedit off my list, definitely want
to go back to San Antonio andagain, this campground lakefront
views.
It just looks beautiful.
(56:06):
They have full hookups and forme, they have cabin and cottage
rentals so I could go fly outthere and stay in a cabin or
cottage, whatever it is theyhave there.
They have 387 sites, a solid7.2 on the RV Life campground
reviews, with 204 reviews, andby going to campgroundsrvlifecom
you could see all of thepictures, all of the amenities,
(56:27):
everything this property has tooffer, and what I like best is
you can see what other RVers aresaying about this campgrounds.
That is, the Campground Reviewsite.
Is just RVers giving theirhonest opinions?
If you are not already an RVLife Pro member.
There is a 25% discount in theshow notes which gives you trip
(56:50):
planning and RV safe GPS and theCampground Reviews, as well as
their new maintenance, theirupdated maintenance part of the
app, and it's all included inthe one price.
I love that they never chargeyou for something they add.
With a discount it's literallyless than $65, less than $50
(57:10):
with a 25% discount for the year, not for the month.
People usually say for themonth, no for the year.
Okay.
So again, thank youty and shaneof gills on wheels.
People can get you on instagramand facebook and youtube.
Did I miss any?
Where else they can?
Uh, tiktok and pinterest.
(57:31):
We also have oh wow, sorry, Imissed that tiktok and that's
okay.
So if somebody goes to yourwebsite, they can see all of the
places.
So I'm going to send people tothe website.
A lot of my listeners aredriving or exercising, so I want
to make sure they can get toyou.
We highly recommend reachingout with questions, thoughts.
You know, stay in touch withPatty and Shane so you can find
(57:55):
out where they're going to beand definitely go say hi when
you see them.
Thank you guys so much forbeing on for so much incredible
information.
Speaker 3 (58:05):
Thank you so much for having us, Patty.
We appreciate it.
It's been great.
Speaker 1 (58:09):
You're welcome and I want to thank you, my listeners,
and remember life's a journey.
Live each day to the fullest,without regrets.
I'm Patty Hunt and you havebeen listening to the RV Life
Podcast.
Curious what it really takes to live the RV life
full-time.
I'm Patty Hunt and you'relistening to the RV Life Podcast
, shane, what is the best partof living the RV life?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Well, for me it's actually.
It's honestly getting to travel.
You know, a lot of times sticksand bricks, you're pretty
stationary, working whatever.
But here we've been fortunateenough to where we get to travel
, pick up and go pretty muchwhere we want to.
And then all the friends on theroad, you know you run into
them.
It's not like you knoweverybody don't live in the same
town.
We run into them out there atdifferent campgrounds, different
(00:43):
RV shows, and it just makes ita lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Thank you and we're going to hear more about that.
I'm so excited to have you,shane, and Patty of Gills on
Wheels on the show.
You have hundreds of thousandsof loyal followers on your
social media and today we'regoing to ask the most, we're
going to answer the most askedquestions and we're going to
(01:10):
cover things like logistics,living, the RV life, hitting all
50 states, work, amping,building, social media and so
much more.
People do not want to miss thisshow.
It's going to be jam-packedwith information.
Now, for anyone who's new to theRV Life podcast, my journey
started four years ago when myhusband decided hey, let's sell
(01:34):
everything and go full-timeRVing.
After I was done laughingbecause I thought he was kidding
I decided to do some research.
Yeah, it was some smallresearch about two or three
months and it was during COVIDand we weren't doing anything
and I decided to jump in withboth feet.
He and I then traveled for overthree years full time.
(01:55):
Unfortunately, a year ago, myhusband became ill and is now in
a nursing home, and I havestarted traveling solo, and I'm
doing that by plane and car.
I want to experience what it'dbe like to travel by train and
boat and then I stay in cabins,retro RVs, yurts whatever I can
(02:17):
get into is great.
And here's something I've addedis video clips from this
episode, as well as otherpodcast episodes that people can
check out on my new YouTubechannel, inspired Travels with
Patty, and that's P-A-T-T-I.
So anybody out there that'sdreaming or already on the road,
(02:40):
like I said, this episode isjam-packed and the RV Life
podcast was created to educate,entertain and explore the RV
lifestyle, and it is my missionto inspire you to live life to
the fullest.
Those of you traveling aroundright now looking for some great
places to stay, Open RoadResort has six incredible parks
(03:02):
in Idaho, nebraska, new Mexico,two in Texas and their newest
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All six of these parks arehighly favored by you, the RVer,
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You can go tocampgroundsrvlifecom to see what
(03:26):
the RVers are saying that hasmade these six parks highly
favored.
You could also go toopenroadresortscom to check them
out.
Let's get to it.
Shane is a retired Air Forceveteran.
After serving our country for24 years, he is the captain and
does all the driving.
(03:46):
While pulling their fifth wheelor truck camper, he manages all
of the outside duties, whichincludes the worst part of it
all the poop tank when it's full.
Shane is easygoing, laid back,quiet and keeps Patty calm.
Patty is not retired.
She was a stay-at-home mom formany years and started her
(04:08):
career much later.
She manages their contentcreation business.
She is the navigator, plans allthe trips, sites and
destination.
Patty manages most of theinside duties and she is
outgoing active OCD and stressedout about everything.
Welcome Shane and Patty Gill tothe RV Life podcast.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Thank you, Patty.
Thanks so much for having us.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Thank you guys for being here and I want to start
Shane, by thanking you 24 yearsof military service, Thank you
for your service.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Okay, so you've traveled the world like almost
30 years of traveling the world,you have two boys that are now
grown.
You retired from the military.
We want to go back in time towhat made you make the decision.
First of all, before we get tothat, did you guys have rv
(05:09):
experience before goingfull-time?
Speaker 3 (05:12):
share your experiences, yeah we did uh,
what year?
I forget what year we were innorth dakota.
We were stationed mostlyoverseas, so that's why we've
kind of traveled the whole world, but at one time I can't
remember what year it was 2004.
2004.
We were stationed in NorthDakota for three years.
(05:33):
Lots of our friends had RVs.
We had never owned an RV but wegrew up.
Both of us grew up camping intents and RVs, but we'd never
owned one ourselves.
But all of our friends had them.
And one weekend they invited usout and we like, oh, we'll just
go buy a tent.
So we did the tent.
(05:54):
It was 4th of July weekend.
Even in North Dakota it was toohot.
So we decided then we were like, okay, we can't do the tent
camping.
You know, we had two littleboys at the time.
We were like, let's get acamper.
So we of course we did thewhole let's go look at campers,
let's just look and ended upbringing one home, of course.
(06:15):
So we had a travel trailer.
That was our very first camperin North Dakota and we camped
just about every single weekendonce we got it.
And that's how we that was 20,you know, 20 plus years ago.
So that's how we started outRVing.
We're not one of the ones thatjust dove right in.
I think that's amazing thatpeople do that, but we did have.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
we did have some experience before we dove right
in Right and I'm not sure if itwas amazing or crazy I dove in.
I didn't have kids at the time.
I literally took about twomonths and I said yes, and I had
little.
My only experience with campingwas seven nights in an RV prior
(06:57):
to that.
That was my experience.
So I'm not necessarilysuggesting just taking two or
three months and diving in withboth feet.
For me it worked great and Iloved it.
But so I read about you guysand I read where you said you
know, when the kids are out,when we retire, and you said
when we're in our 60s and 70s,we'll do this full time thing.
(07:20):
And you said why not now?
Can you talk about that storyleading up to going full-time?
Speaker 3 (07:28):
sure?
Do you want to talk about whywe decided?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
well, yeah, I mean, we wanted to wait, for sure,
till the kids got on their own.
And you know, they both endedup well, finishing college, and
they got out on their own and itwas just pat in a in a in a
huge house that we didn't need.
And so we, we were just, youknow, let's just do this now,
because a lot of times I mean,you don't know if you're going
to be 70 or whatever, and whilewe're young enough to still, you
(07:54):
know, go hike or whatever wewant to do, be able to drive and
not have to worry about as muchas you would maybe if you were
a little older, or changing thetire on the side of the road.
We just wanted to do it whilewe were still healthy enough,
and as we get older, if we can'tdo it, then we'll come off the
road.
But we just wanted to go aheadand do it.
We were stable enough where wecould and we took advantage of
(08:17):
it and I guess we just got lucky.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
How long have you been full-time on the road?
Almost five years October.
When is it October, october 7th?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yeah, wow, your anniversary of five years, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
And so I read that you went from a
3,500-square-foot home to, I'mgoing to say, less than 400
square feet in a fifth wheel.
You had the travel trailer andthen you went into a fifth wheel
.
You had the travel trailer andthen you went into a fifth wheel
and and it's very similar to mystory we went into a class a.
So you know, people are alwayscurious how you went from that
(08:57):
big home to that small,relatively small, fifth wheel.
How did that go?
Uh?
Speaker 3 (09:04):
well it was.
I mean, I don't say I won't sayit was ever hard for us.
The hardest part probably wasgetting rid of some things, but
for the most part it we didn'treally have a whole lot of
issues getting rid of stuff.
Just, I think, because I thinkit might've been easier for us
because we were a militaryfamily that had to move every
(09:25):
couple of years.
Sometimes, you know, we couldn'teven live off base, we had to
live on base.
So you had to live in basehousing and you got whatever you
, whatever they gave you, andsometimes it was tiny, sometimes
it was big, sometimes the boyshad to share a room, the boys
(09:46):
had to share rooms.
So you know, like we justalways I guess we were so
resilient and so you know, frommoving and having to change so
often, and also the militaryonly lets you move so much
weight of items, so we wouldhave to always after every, you
know, right before we'd move,we'd I'd have to go through
everything and get rid of stuff.
So I think it was easier for usto just get rid of stuff
because of the, probably becauseof the military, and you'd be
(10:09):
surprised at the stuff youreally don't need Correct, you
just have.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I mean, you don't?
There's a lot of stuff that youjust don't have to have.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Right and anesthetics .
Speaker 1 (10:19):
yeah, Exactly, and it was a.
It was a little bit morechallenging for me, but I'd been
in a house in Pennsylvania.
Dan and I lived in a house inPennsylvania.
We still had stuff from thekids.
Between the two of us we hadfive kids, so we still had stuff
that were just there until,like, they were already moved
out, but it was still sittingthere in boxes and, like you
(10:42):
said, are in boxes and, like yousaid, you just keep stuff.
And so we moved out to LasVegas and we decided to rent the
house.
So we had a downsize.
We had to get rid of stuff.
Then we decided we were sellingthe house.
So again, we got rid of stuff.
Now, here we were, in Las Vegas.
So that transition, I think forus was a little easier.
But for those people listeningthat are starting from scratch
(11:06):
and have not moved and have thehouse full of all kinds of stuff
, it can be a little bitchallenging.
And I found it very freeing toget rid of stuff, to really look
at things and say do I reallyneed these?
When was the last time I usedthis?
When was the last time I worethis?
And be able to get rid ofthings I found very freeing, and
(11:29):
there are a lot of.
I did an episode that I couldput in the show notes about just
that, about downsizing, becauseit can be an emotional thing
for people.
Oh, absolutely, so let's talkabout it.
So you're getting on the roadand you sounded like you were
able to.
It was a good time for you.
I know that my listeners wonder.
(11:53):
There's a lot of questionsaround making money on the road,
affording being on the road.
We hear questions like is itless expensive being on the road
?
I know I throw a lot at you but, however, can you just kind of
what?
What are your thoughts?
What would you say to thelisteners about, you know,
living on the road and havingmoney?
Speaker 3 (12:16):
So it's probably also different for us because Shane,
you know, retired so earlybecause he was in the Air Force,
so we did have and that wasreally a big part of us going
full time.
So, you know, as young as wedid or when we did, because he
did have a retirement coming in,at the time I was working a
(12:38):
government job and I had beenworking from home for, you know,
for a while because of COVIDand everything, and I tried to
continue that with that job,working from the road, and they
were like sorry, we're not, youknow, we don't, we're not going
to allow you to travel, and youknow, and have the job.
So I was like OK, well thenhere's my two weeks because I
(12:59):
want to travel, because I wantto travel.
So we just had to figure it outBecause obviously we can't,
like we could live juststationary off of his military
retirement but we couldn'ttravel and do all the things
that we do.
So I just had to figure out away and I've done several, like
(13:20):
social media, like ran socialmedia for different companies.
I just started doing that andbecause of our social media it
just started growing so quickand, you know, kind of blowing
up over the last several yearsand then companies started
reaching out to us and was likehey, we want you to show our
(13:41):
product, we want you to.
You know, come see ourcampground, whatever it might be
.
And that's really how westarted our social media
business.
Last year we even we did openan LLC and so now it's like a,
it's a full-time business for us.
Not saying that it could, youknow, that might not work for
(14:01):
everyone, but there are ways to,you know, to figure it out.
There are work from home jobs.
There are ways to there's workcamping.
We do that as well to helpsupplement our income.
Right now we just come back toTexas and we'll work camp for
several months at the samecampground, kind of sit and
relax for a little bit, recoup,save up a little bit of money.
(14:24):
And then now we're hitting theroad.
For the summer we kind ofstayed here because we were gone
to Alaska all last summer,stayed here all winter and kind
of saved back up, and now we'reready to hit the road again.
So there are ways to do it, forsure.
Also, like you were saying,like, is it more expensive?
Is it less expensive?
(14:44):
It can be both.
It like it just all depends onhow you want to do it.
If you want to travel, uh,often and you know, to all these
different places and you likestaying in a five-star rv resort
with all the amenities, thenyeah, it's probably going to
cost you more than it did tolive in your house, depending on
(15:05):
you know what, what your housewas like before.
For us, we've made it, you know, less, less than what it costs
us to live in our house.
I mean what we most of our feesand everything that we pay
monthly is probably less thanour mortgage was.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Also, you know, I mean.
You mean you can choose to eatat home or go out to eat every
night.
It gets expensive if you dothat.
I mean you just have to do whatfits in your budget or your
well-beings.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Yeah, just like if you were in a house.
You just figure out a budget.
Yeah, figure out a way to beable to do it.
Yeah, there's memberships andwork camping way to you know to
be able to do it.
Yeah, there's memberships andwork camping.
And you know tons of ways toboondock, yeah, boondocking,
moot shopping lot, knocking allthe dockings right, exactly to
save money.
(15:56):
Yeah, right, yeah.
And we do like all of that likewe might stay, you know, we
might like kind of rewardourself or something and stay at
a big nice resort for a littlebit, kind of like our vacation
or whatever.
But for the most part we justtry to stay at, you know, less
expensive state parks, corps ofEngineers, you know type
(16:16):
campgrounds like that, whereit's less expensive.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
So a lot of great information on the.
I agree with you.
It depends on what kind ofhouse you were in, what you were
paying, what kind of RV travelyou're going to do.
There is no set answer.
I know I gave you the question,but there are people ask all
the time what's less expensive?
It's so depends, totallydepends.
Every situation's differentwhen it comes to making money,
(16:43):
again, there are two sides to it.
How am I going to live whileI'm on the road If I'm going out
to eat all the time and I'mgoing to five-star RV resorts?
That's going to get expensiveand it's a balance in budgeting
it.
And I think that differentthings work for different people
.
How's that going to work foryou?
(17:04):
When I, my husband and I firststarted out, it felt like a
vacation.
Quickly, campgrounds became waymore expensive than I expected.
We were like, oh, this isn'tgoing to work and for us.
We actually bought intoThousand Trails the Thousand
Trails membership, where we werecamping and where you know
(17:24):
being on the road full time.
We talked to somebody about itand it totally worked for us
because we had a set price thatwe were paying monthly and then
if we wanted to go to camp to acampground that wasn't a
Thousand Trails property.
We then would budget for that.
Oh, we want to go to this placeand they don't have them.
(17:47):
Or we want to go to somewherethat is a special campground,
disney's campground, you knowthose kinds of things.
So for people who are listening,there are ways, there are
memberships.
I'm going to put out a caution.
Be cautious.
Everything that somethingsomebody else does doesn't
necessarily work for you, andinstead of asking those
(18:08):
questions on Facebook, get tothe source.
So for me, when people areasking questions, particularly
about Thousand Trails, there'stwo sides of it.
People love it or they hate it,and there's not an in-between,
and I always recommend.
I do have an incredible couplethat gives people all the
information, not a sales pitch.
They have all new membershipsnow.
(18:30):
All of their memberships arebrand new, and so I encourage
people to get their owninformation.
I'm going to put that in theshow notes because I know that
was a big one for Dan and I,trying to figure out how we were
going to afford.
Even if you could find acampground of $40 a night, which
is unheard of, this is going toget really expensive and we're
(18:50):
not going to be able to.
I know for Dan and I we weren'tgoing to be able to make it.
So there are programs out thereand again, I'm going to
recommend that people check intowhat's going to work for them,
their situation, where they wantto travel, how they want to
travel.
So let's talk a little bitabout ways to make money.
You talked about work camping.
That's what it's called, rightWork camping?
(19:11):
Okay, yeah, and there's a sitefor that that people can check
out.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
It's a way to and I'm going to let you guys talk on
it.
Why don't we talk about thatwork camping and what exactly
that is for people who aren'tfamiliar?
So work camping is where youwork at a position.
It could be a campground.
It's not necessarily acampground that you know we have
found out.
Originally we thought it wasjust at campgrounds.
We had seen like camp hosts atstate parks, things like that.
But you can.
There's lots of places that youcan do work camping.
But you're essentially you'reworking for your campsite or
(19:49):
you're working while you'reliving in your camper.
So what we have done so far iswe've we've only worked at
campgrounds, so we will go tothe campground.
We find them online.
There's lots of websites thatoffer and show these.
There's also Facebook groupsthat you can find work camp
positions.
Also, the campgrounds put themout there on their social media
(20:11):
where you can find work camppositions.
But you're working at thecampground and doing.
You know you could be a camphost, you could be.
I've worked in the office, I'vedone websites, I've done social
media, I've done events.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Mainly mine is like doing like the small maintenance
I take care of swimming pools.
Um, just depends on where we'reat what what there is to do, I
mean use, and usually it's for acouple.
It's around 28 hours a week atthe most of them.
So I mean it's not, it's notlike you're working all week
long or what have you eighthours a day.
(20:50):
It's not like a regularcivilian job or whatever it's
it's.
It's not hard and you can.
Either.
They, either some of them evenwill give you your site and they
will pay you, but it justdepends on which one you get,
and and there's a lot of themout there yeah, most of them,
you can get your site and thenyour utilities.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
If you're a couple, um, and then if you're single,
they also have, like for single,uh, people as well, work camp
positions.
You might either only get thesite or maybe you have to work,
you know, a little bit morehours or something than we would
as a couple.
But, yeah, it covers yourcampsite, it covers your
utilities.
We've had we get free ice, wehad one that we got free meals,
(21:36):
so, and then there's, like Shanewas saying, some of them will
also pay you as well somecampgrounds.
And then there's like fireworkstands, christmas tree farms,
the beet harvest, and some ofthose will.
So they're just paying for yourcampsite, for you to stay near
where you're working, and thenthey also pay you a salary as
(21:58):
well.
So there's just, I mean, somany ways that you can work camp
, but for us we just want towork camp at a campground.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
So far that's what we've done, but also when, if
you want to, if it's somethingthat you're thinking about
getting into.
You got to remember most ofthem are at least like three
month commitment or six monthcommitment or something like
that.
Yeah, depending on what they're.
What about the campground?
It's not like you go into workcamp for the weekend and then
take off.
You got to be there for alittle bit, you got to commit to
(22:26):
it yeah, right, right.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
And then that leads into and again, the whole point
here is to say to the listenersthat, yes, there are ways to
make money on the road.
I know traveling.
There are some people on theroad that have a pension or
retirement or savings andthey're just, you know, sitting
back and living the life andthat's fine.
I think I personally would getbored with that.
(22:48):
That's just me.
So there's different ways.
When you're looking at somebodyand you're thinking, oh wow,
how are they doing this?
The point here is there are alot of different ways and again,
one of the things I'm going tosay is do what works for you.
I always say I only do what Ilove doing, and I know a lot of
people think that's kind ofcrazy at my age and what I've
(23:12):
gone through.
Life's too short.
We talked about it in thebeginning.
I'm not waiting, as peopleheard in the beginning.
Dan is now not able to travel.
He's in a nursing home and Ihave been given the message even
more clearly that life is shortand so I don't want to be.
For me.
A beet harvest is not what Iwant to be doing, but some
(23:35):
people love getting out there.
Do what you enjoy as best youcan, and you know I think your
guys' point is that there areendless opportunities we can
have a whole conversation on.
You know how to build a socialmedia following and make money
that way, and affiliate programs, and I know you guys have done
an amazing job with that.
(23:57):
You've got, as I said, startingthe show.
Hundreds of thousands offollowers Do what works for you
and I want to kind of move on.
But I want my listeners to knowthat if they're interested in
that part of it, my partnerpodcast, rv Entrepreneur, talks
all about building social mediaaffiliate programs.
(24:19):
It's just that being anentrepreneur on the road and
anybody who's a content creator,influencer, doing these things
is an entrepreneur.
So that's a great place to geta lot of that information.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
But I want to add one more thing.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Sure thing, you sure can.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Is also people that are trying to save money or
don't know if they can do this.
You don't have to go out thereand buy the biggest, shiniest rv
that they have on the lot.
Find something that fits whatyou need and then start from
there.
You don't have to go out there,buy the, the biggest thing.
That's going to cost you amortgage, just to pay the
monthly payments on and that's agreat point.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
and again about budgeting, and I, while you said
that, I'm going to segue intoone of my sponsors is,000 new
and used.
So, like you said, shane, maybeit's a used RV and it's not the
(25:23):
biggest shiniest.
They also have over a thousandservice bays and we all know
those service bays are only goodif you have the RV technicians,
and they have more certified RVtechnician than any other
dealer.
Blue Compass RV is who RV Liferecommends.
It's the place to go.
People can visit their localdealership or go to
(25:45):
bluecompassrvcom.
So I wanted to plug that inbecause, shane, it's the same
thing with the house.
You see the person in the greatbig house and they're working
nonstop.
We could go down a deep divethere and a rabbit hole there.
Great point, and thank you forbringing that up.
Let's talk about the fun stuffNow.
(26:05):
You guys decided that you wantedto cover all 50 states.
Now my list is now 48 statesthat we could go to in our RV.
We could go to.
Okay, I'll let you guys take itfrom there.
Why was that a goal?
And were there other big goalswhile traveling?
Speaker 3 (26:25):
uh, yeah.
So originally we didn't set outto hit all 50 states, like that
was not even on our radar.
We just were like, originally Ijust wanted, because I'm from
Georgia and we retired in Texasand I hadn't lived near my
family and you know 20 somethingyears.
So originally I just was like,okay, first thing, I really just
(26:47):
want to go camp near Georgia,florida somewhere so I could be
close to my family.
And so the first like two years, that's what we did.
We just would go.
We did six months in Texas, sixmonths in North Florida so I
could be near my family, andthat was like that's.
All I wanted was just to beable to be near both families.
And then we started after wewould leave, we would go up and
(27:10):
see some states on our way backto Texas or on our way to
Georgia or whatever.
And then last year, before last, we just we started planning
our trip to Alaska.
We went out and bought a uh, asmaller, we bought a truck
camper just for Alaska.
So last summer we drove fromFlorida to Alaska and back to
(27:34):
Texas.
Um, and so that was, then weget back.
And Shane was like, hey, youknow, next year is going to be
our fifth year that we've beenfull time and he's like what if
we do 50 and five, like he cameup with?
He came up with the name let'shit the rest of the 50 states
within our five year, before wehit five years, which will be in
(27:57):
November or October.
So that started out, the uh 50and 5.
It was all Jane's idea.
And so then we started uh, Iwas like, okay, well, you know,
next year this was last year Isaid, you know, next year is our
30th anniversary.
What if we fly to Hawaii andrent a van there and then we
(28:20):
have RV'd also in Hawaii?
So that was what we did.
We started planning it out,started working with some
companies, worked with Outdoorsyand did a sponsored van rental
and, yeah, we were able to RVMaui and Hawaii.
And yeah, we were able to RVMaui and Hawaii.
So now we just have this year,this summer, from July to
(28:42):
October, we have 19 states leftto hit so that we can have 50
states in five years.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Wow, mine was a little different.
I mean the same but different.
We, like she said, we spent somany years overseas.
The same but different.
Uh, we, like she said, we spentso many years overseas.
And then, when we retired andgot back to the United States, I
kind of got tired of peopletelling me oh, you've never been
to New York or you've neverbeen here.
I'm like no, have you ever beento the Eiffel Tower, the
pyramids in Egypt or, you know,australia or whatever?
(29:12):
And they're like no.
I said we'll see the same thing, but now I've been over there
and now I can see all 50 statesdown here.
So that was part of my thing.
I want to go to all of them,just so I don't have to listen
to people about not in new yorkpeer pressure, peer pressure,
okay.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
So here's a big question that that even my
husband and I disputed.
What constitutes saying it wasa state that you stayed in?
What constitutes checking thatstate off your list?
Speaker 2 (29:45):
That's your own personal thing.
We've ran into people that theyhad to do some kind of
volunteering in that state.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
That's nice.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Our thing is we have to at least stay a night.
The landing gear has to be down, the truck has to be taken off,
the camper has to be taken offthe truck, and we have to at
least stay one night.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I like to do something as well.
I like to at least go on a hikeor go visit a historic area or
a national park or state park orsomething like that.
I like to say that we and sofar we've done something in
every state as well.
But Shane's is just like if Iput the landing gear down and I
(30:26):
sleep there, that counts.
And so, yeah, oh, sorry, no, goahead.
I was going to say, and some,you know, this summer we might
not be staying, you know,several like a week or something
, to really explore the areas.
So we will, a few of them weare just staying overnight and
doing like one thing, maybe evenjust going out to dinner, I
(30:47):
don't know.
But you know, later on we wantto go back and explore the
states more, especially the onesthat we really like.
You know, some of those stateswere like, okay, I really want
to go back and see more, morethings in that state.
And that's what we'll do,because some, as a matter of
fact, somebody asked me thismorning they were like once you
see the 50 states, are you justgoing to sit?
(31:09):
And I'm like, no, no, that'snot fun, that's not the point.
Yeah, we, we just wanted to hitall 50 this year, so we could
say we did 50 in five years.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
And then we want to go back and explore.
You know most of them morelater.
And so, again, I want to let mylisteners know it is a huge
debate and debate is probablythe accurate word of what is the
quote unquote right way.
When can I put the sticker onthe map?
When can I say I stayed in thatstate?
And I think we're we're allsaying do what works for you,
(31:47):
whatever you feel like Sometimes.
I think it was my husband thatsaid look, if we go through that
state, we're there for acertain amount of time and do
something that counts, you know.
And again, and do somethingthat counts, you know.
And again, do what works foryou.
I have to talk about some reallycool she's not a sponsor, but
talking about the map stickers.
I debated about the stickers onthe map.
(32:10):
I didn't want to put it on ourRV and I, you know, wanted to be
able to have something that Icould show the different states
I had been to, and I still wantto do that.
And I collect, could show thedifferent states I had been to,
and I still want to do that, andI collect things from the
different states.
And I met a woman I don't knowif you've met her.
It's called Ribbit SupplyCompany.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
I love.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
Melissa.
Okay, melissa, yeah, they havethese incredible boards, so they
I'll put the link in the shownotes.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Um, I have to mention that we've got to meet her at
the Tampa show this year.
She's awesome.
I love what they did.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yes so for my listeners, these are incredible
boards that you have to go justcheck out online where you could
put the stickers.
Like you and I both havestickers.
You exchange stickers.
I'd love.
I used to collect magnets whenI was traveling around the world
and they're just too heavy foran RV, so I started grabbing
stickers of the areas that I'vebeen in, and Melissa has these
(33:06):
incredible boards that you couldput those stickers on or, like
you know, content creatorstickers, event stickers, but
she has maps of the and youcould put this state sticker on,
so I'd love those.
Yes, people have to check thatout.
Let's go on and talk about alot of great information.
(33:26):
Again, people don't need todebate.
Do what works for you, andwe've said that about a number
of things.
Now that we've talked about,let's talk a little bit about
the challenges of full-time rvlife.
Let's let's talk about some ofthe challenges, sure?
Speaker 3 (33:44):
I would say, oh, probably the only.
I mean, for me, the mainchallenge is being away from our
family when we do travel.
That's probably one of thebiggest challenges for me.
Luckily or I don't know if yousay luckily or unluckily we
don't have grandkids yet, soit's probably easier for us.
(34:04):
I know a lot of people are likeonce you have grandkids, you're
never going to want to leave,and I'm like well, I don't have
any yet, so I'm taking fulladvantage and traveling as much
as possible.
What about you?
What do you think is challenges?
Speaker 2 (34:18):
I don't know.
Challenges for me because Iwork on the ice is just keeping
up with the maintenance.
I mean they're trailer houseson wheels almost, and they
bounce and they do a lot ofdifferent things, so there's
always something to be, seems tobe fixed.
I mean not necessarily majorstuff, but just little
(34:41):
preventative maintenance stufflike that on the road, uh,
making sure you're having yourright tools or whatever.
But uh, other than that there'sreally to me there's nothing
hard about it, or yeah yeah,it's just I was saying, if you
don't like the house.
I mean you got to keep up withyeah, if you're not handy.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
That could be a challenge, because things do
break a lot.
Luckily, shing was a mechanicin the military, so it's not as
hard for him.
But I mean, there's still timestoo, where he goes on youtube.
He calls it youtube university.
He gets on youtube and he'slike, okay, how do I fix this,
or how do I install this, how doI fix this, or how do I install
this, or how do I prevent thisfrom happening, or whatever it
(35:21):
might be, and things happen.
You know, as you're going downthe road, people, you get up,
you might get a blowout, youmight, you know, have a
something break as you're goingdown the road.
We had, on our way up toColorado a few weeks ago, our
door wouldn't stay shut For somereason our door, we were having
issues with our door, so we hadto Shane had to like zip tie it
(35:45):
on the outside to get it to,but he finally figured it out
and fixed it.
But yeah, I mean, things likethat happen.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
So more challenges is like you gotta be real.
I don't know what.
You call it versatile orsomething yes, that's a great
word where you're, where yourdestination is, don't mean you
might get there.
There could be weather orsomething you gotta divert to
stay somewhere else.
(36:12):
You gotta always be planningyeah, uh, just I mean it's.
It's not just get in, go, getthere and have fun.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
A lot of times there's there's some work to it
yeah, definitely, we had thatissue also and what I'd love
about not only what you'resaying, but how you're saying it
with anything, there arechallenges.
It sounds like you just takethe very light-hearted.
I'm sure there are the momentsof total stress and anger and
(36:40):
whatever, but it's, but it's howyou handle it, acknowledging
that, yes, there are challengeswith this.
It's not getting in the RV,like you said, getting to your
destination and everything ispretty.
There's storms, you knowweather and and issues and
mechanical issues and all thosekinds of things that come up,
knowing that you have ways toget through those challenges and
(37:02):
just embracing the fact thatthere's going to be being
flexible and that all is veryhelpful.
I want to do something differentthat I've never done on the
show and I kind of want to dorapid fire questions, if we
could.
We're going gonna try this, sothey're like we could literally
(37:23):
talk for hours.
You have your social media, socorrect me if I'm wrong, it's
gills and wheels, instagram,facebook.
You do have a youtube channel,um, and there is a website and
I'll put that in the show notes,leading everybody to you.
I'm going to recommend peoplereach out to you with questions,
thoughts, whatever they have,and I want to do this quick
(37:47):
questions and let's get somequick answers, but the truth is
we're never going to covereverything that you know.
Rvers ask.
One of the best things to do isstay connected to people like
you guys.
You guys have such a wealth ofinformation.
Stay connected with YouTubechannels that you like social
(38:09):
media people you like.
You said you go on YouTube tofind ways to fix things.
A suggestion I met a company.
It's called Bish Fix.
Bish is.
It's actually now called RV Fix.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
RV Fix, yep yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
So they've changed the name.
I'll put the information in theshow notes.
They have a monthly membership.
I know they were changing howthat was going to work and I
know somebody reached out to meand asked about a discount code
at the time and I believethey're still doing it.
I will check on it.
You just go through the processand it gives you the discount.
(38:45):
There was no code.
So, if that person's stilllistening, what they do is
amazing, because you could call,do a video with a highly
qualified technician and theywill lead you through how to fix
the RV and if it's somethingthat's major mechanical issue,
they will help you through theprocess.
(39:07):
So when you take it into adealership any dealership when
you take it in for that service,you now have everything written
up that they believe needs tobe done.
Again, I'm not even touching onthe surface of what they do.
I just think it's a great ideaso people could check out.
Obviously, you guys arefamiliar with our VFX.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Yeah, yeah, when we were at the Tampa show, they let
us do like a phone call wherethey, it was like a video call,
right.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
Demonstration they were doing.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
Yeah, and so it showed Shaneane was they were
able to tell like walk shanethrough how to fix this like
wiring issue that was being.
You know it was a fake one, ofcourse, but yeah, it was showing
how they were able to do it onthe video college.
Yeah, it's awesome.
We love the.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Uh, all the people over at rv figs I do too, and I
did an episode with thepresident, um todd, oh nice
nuttle, and that is on theYouTube channel Inspired Travels
with Patty.
He just is all of the peoplethere are just wonderful, great
people.
Okay, so quick questions, let'ssee if we can answer them
(40:12):
quickly.
If you're like, hey, that's nota quick question, just let me
know and we'll move on.
People ask all the time aboutmail service.
What do you do when you're onthe road full-time about your
mail?
Speaker 3 (40:28):
all right, we have a, we have a po box that our son
checks here at our home base andthen amazon packages we have
sent to a campground.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Okay, good Quick answer.
Thank you, patty.
For me I used Escapees mailservice we also used Amazon for
quick getting packagesNavigation tools.
What do?
Speaker 2 (40:53):
you use to navigate?
I use a Garmin 895.
It's the newest Garmin out forheavy or big trucks and RVs.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Okay, and for me it's RV Life, the app that does
planning, and then the RV SafeGPS.
Okay, and again people checkingwhat works best for them.
We've always used the, the rvlife app.
We also had a garment that wedid as a backup.
Okay, what about your favoritegadget?
(41:24):
This might be a shame questionwhat's your favorite?
Gadget.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
I don't even know my tools there you go just like
having a tool.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
Yeah, okay, toolbox, that's great, I don't I.
I'm asking the question, but Idon't know that I had a favorite
there's so many, it's hard tochoose, that's for sure
absolutely.
I was just listening to a, apodcast episode.
Oh, I interviewed the ceo ofbattleboard batteries and they
(41:56):
were talking about having amultimeter I think that's what
we were talking about and I waslike I don't do anything
electrical but I was like, okay,I at least know what one is.
I know what it looks like.
Not sure I know how to use it,but okay.
So favorite gadgets vary.
What about medical insurance onthe road?
Can you give a quick answer onhow you yeah, absolutely we have
(42:19):
.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
because of Shane being retired military, we have
TRICARE and we can go to anyhospital, any doctor, any
emergency room all over the USwith no issues whatsoever.
And then, when we're backstationary in San Antonio, Shane
goes to the VA for all of hisdoctor's appointments.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
Great answer, and anybody who's military should
really check that out.
Make sure they know all thedetails.
As you travel around, I wasusing our VEERS insurance, which
again I'm putting the shownotes.
It is just that for our VEERS,they were leading us through as
we travel around the country.
What would be better for me orDan and anybody that already has
(43:01):
health insurance?
I recommend that you check thatout.
Okay, this is a big question.
Medical emergencies, and theseare things we didn't talk about
before the show.
Do you guys sort of have a planfor how you, you know, like a
go bag or something, in case ofa medical emergency while you're
(43:21):
traveling?
Speaker 3 (43:23):
We don't have a go bag for a medical emergency.
We do for like weatheremergencies.
We have like a tornado bag, Icall it, or bad weather bag, but
we do have, like, if there wasan emergency I mean I can drive
the dually If, if Shane were tobe driving the camper and
something were to happen, Icould drive it enough to get us,
you know, off the road orwhatever.
(43:45):
Um, so I highly suggest thatyou know, if you're not normally
the driver to at least know howto pull it, drive it if you can
hook it up, even if possible.
Um, but if you know, ifanything, if he had to be, you
know, in a hospital or whatever,we have lots of friends, that
and family that would probablyfly in to, like, you know, pull
(44:05):
us back to our home base if weneeded to.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
There's something of a plan and I think that planning
for emergencies and I want topoint out, because this is so
important, having been through acouple of emergencies some
people aren't aware of thenumber of emergencies that I've
had while on the road betweenDan with with Dan, a couple
weeks ago, so May 21st 2025, Idid an episode on just that
(44:33):
emergency medical how to beprepared.
So, like your go folder of theinformation you need that some
people don't necessarily thinkof that episode is a highly
qualified emergency and traumanurse, and so there's a lot of
great information that I'll postin the show notes because, as
(44:56):
people are thinking about beingon the road, unfortunately we
have to talk about the possibledownsides of it.
Okay, yeah, absolutely, let'scontinue this.
On an up note, I know for allof us, for the three of us, when
we spoke, one of our favoriteparts of RVing is community.
So let's talk about community.
(45:17):
I know, for me, I didn't realizejust how amazing and what the
connections were going to belike.
You know people say, oh, you'retraveling around, you don't
have friends, you're not goingto have a social life, you're
going to be alone on New Year'sEve, whatever.
We get those questions all thetime.
So can you talk about that?
Can you talk about community?
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Sure, we thought the same, you know as well.
I was like, oh gosh, we'regoing to be, you know, so lonely
out there.
I mean, obviously we have eachother, you know we're each
other's best friends, but it isnice to have other people around
sometimes, especially if you'reaway for a holiday, christmas,
new Year's, whatever it might be.
And we've just been reallyshocked and amazed at the RV
(46:04):
community.
Like so many people, we meetpeople at rallies and get
togethers and the RV shows, youknow, and just out camping, just
the people that we meet.
You know that we would havenever met if we hadn't been full
time.
We have some of probably theclosest friendships we've ever
(46:24):
had, I would say, through the RVcommunity, like some of our
best friends, even ones that arenot full time, like we always
want to be here at thiscampground that we're at now
just because we have so manygreat friends here that you know
they come out every summer.
And also like just ourfull-time friends that we've met
(46:45):
through social media, throughthe rallies and all of that
We've.
Even last year, when we went toAlaska, we went with two people
that we met through socialmedia.
You know, we didn't really knowthem before until we became
full-time.
And, yeah, like some of thebest people that we've ever met,
I have, like, like I said, someof our what, some of my best
(47:08):
friends, for sure, we've metthrough the RV community.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
some I talk to almost every single day everywhere we
travel seems like somebody thatwe have camped with before or we
know is in that state, and wealways seem to run into people
everywhere we go and it's justlike it's like he never left, we
just picked right up where weleft off.
And because we're all doing thesame thing, have all the same
common likes or whatever goals,and it's just, it's a lot of fun
(47:35):
, just out there, all of asudden you're, you run into one
of your old buddies you ain'tseen in a year.
It's just cool yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:41):
I agree wholeheartedly, and it's not
just the people in thecampground but the.
I mean.
You know, because I interviewpeople, presidents of companies
and CEOs, and it's the same withthem.
You know a number of differentindustries and the connections
I've made to everybody, like Isaid, from people who are
(48:03):
presidents all the way over toyou know.
The person you camp next tothere is a true connection and
you see them, like you said, inan event and you pick up where
you started and I feel like Ikeep those connections.
I haven't been specific likefull time on the, the person
(48:27):
that would go, I know, right,it's hard to believe.
So when I'm done with thepodcast I've got to take a break
from you know peopling and I'vecome out of my shell a lot.
(48:49):
I get that.
Yeah, the RV community is sowarm and welcoming, it's easy to
come out of your shell.
You know people are justsitting around having a good
time.
Speaker 3 (49:04):
Yeah, we all have, like she said, all the same.
Yeah, all the same likes, andit's easy to have a conversation
because you can talk about ohyou're, you know, pulling your
RV, or the sewage issues.
Everybody's had the same issues, so it's yeah, you just have so
much in common.
You never lose things to talkabout.
That's for sure everybody's hadthe same issues.
Speaker 1 (49:23):
So it's yeah, you just have so much in common.
You never lose things to talkabout, that's for sure,
absolutely.
And it's like you said a lot oftimes where do you meet people?
It's in the campground.
I want to talk a little bitabout Hershey.
I know you guys will be thereand I'll be there.
Rv Life will have a booth there.
It's actually called America'sLargest RV Show.
It gets confusing for people.
It's in Hershey September 10thto the 14th.
(49:43):
I will be there all week.
So I'm really excited and Iknow you guys are going to be
there.
We're going to make sure if youguys are doing a meet and greet
or if there's something you arespecifically going to do, I'm
going to lead people to yoursocial media and that's where
they can find where you're goingto be.
I'm going to lead people toyour social media and that's
where they can find where you'regoing to be.
And I say this all the time.
(50:03):
I've had people that have saidoh, I saw you were here and I
was going to come say hi, but Ididn't want to bother you and I
always say, if I'm out of my RV,if I'm out and about, come say
hi, because part of why I dothis is because and I think for
you guys too we want to meetpeople.
We want to meet you, we want tohear from you, we want to hear
(50:26):
what your questions are.
Absolutely yeah.
So we will both be in Hershey.
The Hershey RV Life After Partyis September 11th and I hope
you guys will be attending that.
Speaker 3 (50:40):
Oh, that'd be awesome .
Speaker 1 (50:41):
Yeah, yeah, it'll be from 6 to 10.
We have some great sponsorsgiveaways and we're just doing
it as a way great food, wine andbeer included.
We're doing it as a way to getthe RV community to be able to
come together, get to know eachother, chat with each other,
(51:07):
catch up with each other.
So this is the fourth annualevent.
It always sells out and I justthink the event gets better and
better every year.
I have to say, and I want totalk about we already have some
sponsors.
Renogy, the trusted off-gridSolutions, is one of our big
sponsors and you could checkthem out at Renogycom, as well
as RV TV.
Have you heard of RVers TopTalent?
(51:29):
Do you guys have a talent?
No we have no talent, no talentat all.
But you might want to rethinkthis, because it is the first
nationwide talent contestalready talent contest you have
a chance to win $5,000.
So you might want to come upwith the talent.
So think about it.
It could be anything singing,comedy, storytelling, juggling
(51:54):
something unexpected.
Speaker 3 (51:55):
It has to be comedy, because we can't sing or dance.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
I can't either, I'll admit it.
So comedy, and yeah, there's a$5,000 grand prize.
So I think more and more peopleare going to try and figure out
that talent, and I will putthat information in the show
notes.
Rvtv is one of our mainsponsors as well, so I'm really
excited about that.
I'm so excited about the event.
(52:20):
Hershey, I know people can againreach out to you on your social
media platforms Instagram,facebook, youtube.
Gills on wheels.
We are not done.
I have a question, because I'mgoing to put the two of you on
the spot, as if I haven'talready.
Shane's getting a littleconcerned, I see it.
So, yeah, like we really wantpeople to let us know other
(52:47):
questions they have, you know,let us know if you're going to
be in Hershey.
Reach out to me on Instagramand Facebook RV Life Podcast,
because I want to know who'sgoing to be there and meet up
with people.
Ok, it is now time for thequestion of the week podcast,
because I want to know who'sgoing to be there and meet up
with people.
Okay, it is now time for thequestion of the week.
(53:07):
It is brought to you by Cool RVand I'm going to ask the
question and I am going to giveyou a minute to think about it,
so don't panic.
I want to know what is now onyour bucket list, and that could
be a person you want to visit,a place or an experience you
want to have, and it could beanything in the RV, outside the
RV, in the country, outside thecountry.
(53:29):
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(53:53):
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Okay, do you guys have ananswer, either together or
separate?
Speaker 2 (54:07):
separate I don't know .
My immediate bucket list wouldbe to finish all 50 states, uh,
without issues, hopefully.
Uh, and my long-term one wouldbe just to keep doing this as
long as I can.
I mean, I already been toAlaska.
That was the bucket list, okay.
Speaker 3 (54:29):
For me it is to, once we complete the 50, to start
RVing in other countries.
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (54:39):
That's an interesting one.
Okay, so all 50 states arebeing in other countries.
I like that idea.
Yeah, sounds great.
Sounds like a great bucket list.
Okay, it's now time for thefeature campground of the week,
and this campground is ThousandTrails, medina Lakes, and it is
a Thousand Trails.
You guys know where that is.
Speaker 3 (55:00):
It's right down the road from us.
Speaker 1 (55:01):
Okay, so I did write where it is.
Where is it exactly?
Speaker 3 (55:06):
It's outside of San Antonio, west of San Antonio.
Speaker 1 (55:09):
Okay, well, thank you .
How great.
I try and pick a spot where Iknow the people might be.
So have you ever been to thiscampground?
Speaker 3 (55:18):
We've driven through it, but we're not Thousand
Trails members, so we've never,we've never stayed there.
Speaker 1 (55:22):
OK, so what?
And it is a Thousand Trailscampground but you don't need to
be a member.
It is beautiful lakeside views.
I looked at the pictures ofthis place and it is amazing and
, like you said, it's out of andCould be why I picked it.
I went to San Antonio last yearfor a conference and I never
(55:44):
got a chance to explore the areaand that is one of the areas I
definitely want to go back to,like sometimes I'll go to an
area and be like, okay, checkedit off my list, definitely want
to go back to San Antonio andagain, this campground lakefront
views.
It just looks beautiful.
(56:06):
They have full hookups and forme, they have cabin and cottage
rentals so I could go fly outthere and stay in a cabin or
cottage, whatever it is theyhave there.
They have 387 sites, a solid7.2 on the RV Life campground
reviews, with 204 reviews, andby going to campgroundsrvlifecom
you could see all of thepictures, all of the amenities,
(56:27):
everything this property has tooffer, and what I like best is
you can see what other RVers aresaying about this campgrounds.
That is, the Campground Reviewsite.
Is just RVers giving theirhonest opinions?
If you are not already an RVLife Pro member.
There is a 25% discount in theshow notes which gives you trip
(56:50):
planning and RV safe GPS and theCampground Reviews, as well as
their new maintenance, theirupdated maintenance part of the
app, and it's all included inthe one price.
I love that they never chargeyou for something they add.
With a discount it's literallyless than $65, less than $50
(57:10):
with a 25% discount for the year, not for the month.
People usually say for themonth, no for the year.
Okay.
So again, thank youty and shaneof gills on wheels.
People can get you on instagramand facebook and youtube.
Did I miss any?
Where else they can?
Uh, tiktok and pinterest.
(57:31):
We also have oh wow, sorry, Imissed that tiktok and that's
okay.
So if somebody goes to yourwebsite, they can see all of the
places.
So I'm going to send people tothe website.
A lot of my listeners aredriving or exercising, so I want
to make sure they can get toyou.
We highly recommend reachingout with questions, thoughts.
You know, stay in touch withPatty and Shane so you can find
(57:55):
out where they're going to beand definitely go say hi when
you see them.
Thank you guys so much forbeing on for so much incredible
information.
Speaker 3 (58:05):
Thank you so much for having us, Patty.
We appreciate it.
It's been great.
Speaker 1 (58:09):
You're welcome and I want to thank you, my listeners,
and remember life's a journey.
Live each day to the fullest,without regrets.
I'm Patty Hunt and you havebeen listening to the RV Life
Podcast.
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