The Ultimate RV Trip Planning Guide: Avoid Mistakes & Travel Smarter

Planning an RV trip can make or break your adventure. In this episode of I (Patti Hunt) is joined by Mike and Susan Scarpignato of *RV Blogger* to discuss the best strategies for stress-free RV trip planning. They share insights on choosing the perfect campground, budgeting, avoiding common mistakes, and staying safe on the road. Whether you're a full-time RVer, a weekend warrior, or just getting started, this episode is packed with expert advice to help you maximize your RV experience.                  

Episodes spoke about:

How to Keep Your RV Cool in Summer 

How to Choose the Best RV Campground 

RV Entrepreneur Episode - Building a Runway for Success in RV Content Creation 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Planning an RV trip.
Today's guest will help youmake it stress-free and
unforgettable.
I'm Patti Hunt and you'relistening to the RV Life Podcast
.
Whether you're a beginner or aseasoned RVer, trip planning
could certainly make or breakthe experience.

(00:22):
Today's guest, mike and Susanfrom RV Blogger, is here to help
us make the most of tripplanning.
They're going to covereverything from, say, the
perfect campground to the safestroute, budgeting, avoiding
common mistakes and so much more.
Mike, susan, why is tripplanning so important?

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Well, for us, trip planning is so important because
, for a number of reasons, itreally helps us to make sure we
have a smooth trip when we'reout and about.
We're gone for months at a time,and so it just adds a lot of
form and function to what we'redoing and where we're doing it.
You know, not only are wetraveling around enjoying the
sights and, you know, seeingthis beautiful country, but we

(01:09):
have work, commitments andthings like that that we need to
keep up with, and so it helpsus to stay organized and on
track.
But overall, I really believeit helps to make sure you have a
very enjoyable experience.
All that being said, we knowother full-time RVers that just
totally wing it and they dotheir own thing and they're very

(01:30):
comfortable doing that.
But for us, we really feel morecomfortable knowing where we're
going and when we're supposedto be there, and that way we
feel like we can just squeezethe juice out of every day of
our RV adventures, because wehave it planned out so well, and
so we just make the most of ourtime that way.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
And to your point, I think that trip planning
sometimes does mean winging it,and we're going to talk about
that.
I traveled full time for overthree years back and forth
across the country three and ahalf times and we my husband and
I when we started out, had sucha tight plan, everything that

(02:13):
was planned out.
We were in a campground for amonth and then we're ready to
take off across the country andthat first day out plan totally
changed so you could have yourplan and be flexible.
So I want people to know theplanning doesn't mean every
minute of every day is plannedand again, we're going to get
into that.

(02:33):
The RV Life podcast was createdto educate, entertain and
explore the RV lifestyle and itis my mission to inspire you to
live life to the fullest.
Now, while planning, you mightwant to consider these
incredible destinations by OpenRoad Resorts.
They have locations in Idaho,nebraska, new Mexico and Texas

(02:57):
and these are amazing locationsand that is Open Road Resorts
and you can find theircampgrounds at
openroadresortscom or you couldgo to campgroundsrvlifecom and
see all of the reviews, all ofthe amenities, everything you
need to know about theircampgrounds.

(03:18):
Well, let's get into today'sguest.
It is Mike and Susan.
I'm going to have you say thelast name.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
It is pronounced Scar-pin.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
I'm going to have you say the last name?
It is pronounced Scar Pignato.
Wow, scar Pignato.
I didn't want to mess it up andthey are from I said it very
good RV bloggers.
They have been RVing togetherfor the past six years.
They are three-quarter timers,which means they are out on the
road for nine months at a timeand in a house for the other

(03:47):
three.
They travel either in theirClass A motorhome or their Class
C, and I would imagine that isgoing to change plans for the
types of trips and the placesthey could go.
They have three differentwebsites, including the RV
Blogger website, and it has justabout everything you need to

(04:10):
know.
They also have an incrediblysuccessful YouTube channel with
over 190,000 subscribers, aprivate Facebook group and so
much more, and we're going toget to some of that as we
introduce them and I think, rvlife.
So this is what they said RVlife is much more than just how

(04:33):
to live in an RV.
It's also about the freedom tolive life that you want to live.
They wanted to help people tolive life on their own terms and
they came up with the taglineShift, control, escape and that
you will see under their logo aspart of their logo.
So I want to welcome Mike andSusan to the RV Life podcast.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Thanks a lot, Patty.
It's great to see you again.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
Thanks for having us.
Yes, and we met in Tampa or didwe meet in Hershey?
I think we had dinner together.
I think we met in Tampa or didwe meet in Hershey.
I think we had dinner together.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
I think we met in Hershey first, and then we met
again in Tampa, and then we metagain in Hershey, where we ended
up having dinner together.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Yes, we did so.
In addition to all of that that, I edified incredible people.
It was wonderful having dinnerwith you guys and getting to
know you guys.
Your bio is incredible.
We're going to dig into that alittle more, but let's go back
and share with the listeners.
How did the RV life start foryou two six years ago?

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Well, we both had our corporate jobs back then and we
would.
We would go on vacationtogether and we would typically
just go to an all inclusiveresort somewhere and enjoy a
week on the beach, you know,relaxing.
And one year Susan said youknow why don't, why don't we

(05:57):
rent a camper van?
And like cruise the PCH inCalifornia.
And I was blown away.
But I was like you got to bekidding, that sounds awesome.
So we began, you know, lookinginto camper vans and I was like
you know these camper and I wasnot an RVer at the time, by the
way, I mean, I was a tent camper, tent camped my whole life.

(06:18):
I swore I'd never buy an RVbecause that's not really
camping, that's living in acondo in the woods.
And so we're looking into thesecamper vans.
I'm like you know they don'thave bathrooms in them.
And we had a 10-day vacationplanned and Susan was like well,
you know, you can rent an RV.
And I had no idea.
So we ended up renting a classa, 19-foot class C RV from

(06:43):
Cruise America.
It was so small, there was nobed in the back.
The only bed was in the overcab.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
When we pulled up and saw it we were like, oh, I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
We made a big mistake .

Speaker 3 (06:54):
That's a little small .

Speaker 1 (06:56):
But we spent 10 days Just to give.
I want to give people whoaren't necessarily familiar.
So a Class C over the frontseats has a space, that's
usually what two or three footdeep Right At the most right,
and there's a bed up there.
That's where you're talkingabout.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
And then underneath that it looks like a truck.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, that's like the bed.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
A truck and a camper put together.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Right.
So we hit the road, we flew to.
We live in Maryland, so we flewto Vegas, rented our RV there
and then we drove 2000 miles in10 days, all through California.
We hit Death Valley, we hit SanFrancisco, we cruised the PCH
all the way down to HuntingtonBeach, drove through the desert,
past Joshua Tree and back toVegas to fly home.

(07:46):
And it was the best 10 days ofour lives.
It was a life changing vacationand when we got back home I had
a fantastic job.
I loved my job and but I waslike you know, I can't do this
anymore.
I need to figure out a way thatwe can travel on the road and

(08:07):
see this beautiful country andmake a living while we're doing
that.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
We got addicted.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
We really did, and so we investigated a lot of ways
to create a business on the roadand landed finally on blogging
and a YouTube channel.
And we were incredibly luckybecause, you know, we started it
and it just our intention wasjust to share what we were
learning about RVing, because wewere really into it.

(08:33):
We bought our first RV and wewere learning a ton, and Susan
and I both like to researchthings and and I had been a
coach and a mentor and a trainerin my previous job, and so I
feel like I was good atconveying information and
teaching people things, and soit all really worked out

(08:55):
incredibly well.
Of course, covid hit right afterthat, and so for a lot of folks
, covid was a horribleexperience.
It really hurt their businessand their ability to make a
living.
But for the RV industry it wasa real boom time for all of us,
and so we kind of got lucky withour timing.
But, man, everything took offand blew up and within a year or

(09:18):
two I was able to replace myincome, and another year I was
able to replace Susan's incomeso she could leave her job, and
that sort of was the springboardwe built to be able to take off
into RV life, and so it allworked out incredibly well.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
And that's an incredible story and I know
people are thinking from thebusiness side of it.
There's a lot of people thatare probably very curious about
that side and I just want to letpeople know that you two were
on the RV Entrepreneur, which isRV Life's partner podcast, and
you talked about theentrepreneur side of business,

(09:56):
which I think is great andanyone that wants to listen to
that.
It was called it's the RVEntrepreneur Podcast and it was
building a runway for success inRV content creation, and that
is episode 376 over on the RVEntrepreneur, and I'll post that
because I'm sure people arethinking about that.

(10:16):
How do I do it?
Let's jump in now and talkabout the importance of trip
planning.
You told us how important youfeel like it is.
We talked about the fact thattrip planning isn't necessarily
planning out every minute of theday.
So for people who are saying,well, I like to wing it, which I
learned, that I just wanted towing it, but there are still

(10:38):
certain things you need to planand one of those things,
obviously, is safety.
So whether you're in your classA or your class C, the roads
that you're able to travel onare going to be very different.
So why is it important not touse things like and I just want
to get into the safety part ofit first, but like I hear people

(10:59):
that use Google Maps or AppleMaps or Waze to navigate their
40-foot RV, why is this not agood idea?

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Well, we can tell you firsthand.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
We have experience from that as well.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
We were driving through New England in our Class
C RV and we were kind of new atthis, and so we were using Waze
.
Huge traffic jam on Route 90 onthe way to Boston, of course.
Every day that happens, and soWaze took us off the road to

(11:35):
take some back roads to beat thetraffic jam.
Well, we're driving down theroad and all of a sudden we come
to a bridge that we have to gounder.
One little problem we couldn'tfit under the bridge, and this
was during rush hour traffic,and so I had to stop.
I couldn't back up.
I had two miles of trafficbehind me and luckily another

(11:59):
guy was coming towards us.
He stopped his car and blockedtraffic from that direction.
He was a fellow RVer and gotout and was like I can see,
you're in big trouble.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
He's like you used ways, didn't you?

Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, he blasted us and he stopped the traffic from
his end and it allowed us to beable to kind of turn around and
get out of that situation andthen and then the traffic could
go again.
But boy, what a, what a bigmistake that was.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
If I could add one other our trip in California.
When we were doing the trip,planning for that as well, there
was a bridge that had beenwiped out due to mudslides, and
so the route we were takingwould take us to that point,
which we obviously couldn't go.

(12:45):
But there was another road thatwe could take that had
switchbacks the whole way aroundthat mountain to get to the
other side, and the only way youcould travel that road was to
have a vehicle that was under 20feet, correct, and so that was
why we rented the 19 foot motorhome.
So that was, you know, we wouldhave rented a larger motor home

(13:09):
, but we knew we had to staywithin that limit in order for
us to be able to travel thatroute.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
And we also wanted to go to Sequoia and you couldn't
have an RV more than 20 feetlong to get into Sequoia
National Forest and to thecampground where we wanted to
stay.
And we learned all that fromour trip planning.

Speaker 1 (13:29):
So that's where it's good for people to say, hey, I
want to wing it, totally fineWing it, but this is a good
reason.
Like I drove in a Class A, youknow, 40 foot, with the car
attached, there were places Ijust couldn't go.
So when there were other placesI wanted to go, I thought you
know what it'd be cool to get ina van and be able to go to some

(13:49):
of these places, like out on abeach somewhere.
So that is part of what we talkabout when we're talking about
trip planning.
I just had somebody on the show.
Their episode went out onFebruary 26.
Went out on February 26th, theguy, wonderful people, don and

(14:10):
Deanna from Cool RV and whathappened was same thing.
They were using Google Maps,they were using Apple Maps.
They both had separate maps,but they were both Google and
Apple.
They come to a bridge and theirGoogle Maps said they are fine,
and they went under it and hittheir AC unit and broke it.
Now, from that, they createdCoolRV, which is a way to cool

(14:31):
your RV off.
So something great came of it.
But that's not usually the case, not the recommended way, right
, thanks?
So let's just talk.
I mean, this is the RV Lifepodcast.
We both use RV Life suite ofproducts.
What is the best?
Rv safe GPS?
What do you recommend to people?

Speaker 2 (14:52):
Well, we highly recommend RV Trip Wizard.
We use it ourselves, I mean,every day we're on the road.
We use RV Trip Wizard.
It is hands down the best RVtrip planning tool in the
marketplace and I've tried themall and it just has so many
awesome features built into it,the biggest of which, the

(15:16):
easiest of which, I should say,is taking your trips and getting
them into your GPS system.
You know, it couldn't be easierwith RV Trip Wizard.
So we use it for both our tripplanning and I use it for my GPS
while we're driving.
It's really seamless.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Right, and we did the same thing, and so when we
started out, it was during COVID.
So my story during COVID, wewere in Las Vegas, everything
was locked down.
Dan was producing and directinga magic show on the strip and
they said look, we don't knowwhen this is going to open back

(15:56):
up.
And he called me to his officeand said let's sell everything,
go in an RV and travel thecountry.
I had been in an RV total ofseven nights prior to that.
So I was like, what are youtalking about?
And what he did was he checkedout all these planning tools and
he took RV Trip Wizard.

(16:17):
He liked that one the best andhe planned out all these things
we could do.
That's how he convinced me,like, look at the things we
could do.
So that was a tactic, but wealso have been using RV Trip
Wizard from the beginning.
The difference let's talk aboutthe difference between somebody
using Google, apple Maps orWaze and the RV Trip Wizard.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
Okay, Well, if you use Google Maps or Waze or Apple
Maps or any of those otherproducts, they don't take into
account the size of your vehicle, and so it would have no idea
if you could fit under a bridgeand how tall you are, or if you
can drive over a bridge that hasa certain weight limit, because

(17:00):
you know our rig weighs 22,000pounds, so our Class A does
anyway.
So with RV Trip Wizard, you canenter in all of your RV's
information so you can put inthe height of your RV, the
weight of your RV, and even ifyour RV has propane on board,
because there are certaintunnels you can't go through if

(17:22):
you have propane.
It really makes not only a tripplanning part but the routing
part very, very easy and safe,and so you don't end up stuck
somewhere and have to turnaround and lose two or three
hours of your day.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
Right, and so you're in Maryland.
I live in Pennsylvania.
For those people don't know theEast Coast, one of those times
I was in the RV before westarted full-time.
We went from Pennsylvania downto Virginia, so we went through
the Baltimore Tunnel with agreat big propane tank.

(17:56):
You're not allowed to do that.
That is a no-no.
So the fact that it also asksabout propane, as well as the
length of the RV, including thecar on it, it's just huge.
And again, for safety reasons,having a RV safe GPS system, we
all recommend that, first andforemost, that should be part of

(18:17):
your planning.
What are we going to do tonavigate?
And there are lots of storiesout there.
We could all tell about peoplegetting stuck.
There are lots of stories outthere.
We could all tell about peoplegetting stuck, you know,
knocking something off their RV,going on a bridge that they
shouldn't be on, all of thosethings.
Let's talk a little bit nowabout you know, when we're
talking about trip planning.
So we talk about where do wewant to stay, what kinds of

(18:39):
things do we want to see?
I did a podcast episode on the12th that talked about different
types of camps, campgrounds,different ways to camp.
So there's boondocking,moochdocking.
You know your RV resorts.
So just for people who may notbe familiar, because some of my
listeners some are full time,some are part time, but some are

(19:01):
looking to go RVing, so let'sgive them a little bit of
background on different types ofways to camp, like different
places.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
Yeah, well, the most traditional way to do it is to
go, you know, to a privatecampground, that's, you know, in
the local area, and you payanywhere from 50 to, I don't
know, these days up to 200 bucksa night or more to stay there.
But that's a traditionalcampground that a lot of folks
go to, and the privatecampgrounds usually have
amenities like a camp store.

(19:32):
They might have a swimming pool, they might have all kinds of
activities that you can do there.
And then, of course, you haveyour state parks and your
national parks as well.
And then, for us, we do a lot ofboondocking, and boondocking
means a lot of different thingsto different people, right?
So there's your very basicboondocking, which is I've got

(19:54):
to drive from point A to point B.
I can't do it all in one day.
I don't want to spend $80 at acampground just to spend the
night, wake up in the morningand leave and continue my
journey.
So we'll boondock one night ata Walmart, a Cracker Barrel, a
Cabela's, a Bass Pro Shop, arest area, you name it.

(20:17):
And then there's your realboondocking, where you really
try to get off grid and go outinto nature and enjoy that
experience, and we do that aswell, and we even can use RV
Trip Wizard for thoseexperiences as well, and a lot
of people don't know thatbecause there's no address for

(20:38):
these places.
But we may find justcoordinates, gps coordinates.
We'll find them on, for example, ioverlander, and iOverlander
will give you the GPS coordinateto where the spot is.
You can enter that into thesearch bar on RV Trip Wizard and
it'll put that spot on your mapand now it becomes a part of
your trip.
So it's just been fantastic.

(20:59):
It's so versatile and it reallyhelps us out.
But those, I guess, are themain ways that you would go
camping.

Speaker 3 (21:08):
And it also RV Trip Wizard also shows Walmarts,
cabela's and some of those stopsthat you can use for your
overnights.
So whether you just need to hita Walmart and get some supplies
, or whether you want a place tostay overnight, those are also

(21:28):
listed.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
And now RV Trip Wizard has a great new feature,
which I'm totally happy about.
We've been asking for this foryears and years and years.
The Harvest Host locations,boondockers, welcome locations
and all the Harvest Host upgradegolf course locations are now
included, and that has made ourtrip planning even better.

(21:49):
It's been great because we stayat a lot of those locations too
.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
Absolutely.
And a couple of things I wantto add on.
First of all, what I learned.
I've stayed at the Walmarts,the Cracker Barrels, those types
of things.
I see a lot of people go onFacebook and say, hey, I'm going
to stay at this Walmart, is itokay?
I I see a lot of people go onFacebook and say, hey, I'm going
to stay at this Walmart, is itOK?
I highly recommend calling thelocation.
So no matter what somebody sayson Facebook, because sometimes

(22:13):
that changes.
There was a Walmart inJacksonville and it was
supposedly one that RVers hadstayed at.
When I called the manager ofthe Walmart, he said we no
longer allow it because somebodyelse is taking care of the
parking space.
So you're not allowed, you'llget ticketed.
So, just as a caution, callthose locations and double check

(22:35):
.
Things change with them all thetime.
And then you were talking aboutthe Harvest Hosts and the
Boondockers.
Welcome, let's explain topeople what that is.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
For those that don't know, Well, harvest Hosts is a
membership that you join.
I think it's $99 a year.
A lot of us offer discountcodes because we work with them
very closely.
But you can stay at breweries,farms, museums, there's even

(23:06):
restaurants that you can stay atall kinds of stuff and these
are local places all around thecountry that allow RVers to stay
overnight for free.
The Boondockers Welcome part ofit is you're going to stay at
someone's home.
You may park in their drivewayovernight, or they may own a
large piece of property and youcan park somewhere on their

(23:26):
property overnight.
The great thing aboutBoondockers Welcome and a lot of
people don't know this is thatover three quarters of their
locations offer some sort ofhookup, because you're parked
next to someone's home, so veryoften they'll let you plug in to
their electricity so you canrun your air conditioner.
Many of them will let you usetheir water hose so you can fill

(23:46):
your water tank.
Very few of them have dumpstations, but at least you have
something.
We have stayed at one that hada dump station and it's
fantastic.
And then the golf courselocations for all you golfers
out there, you can't beat it.
You get to stay there for free.
You're right there.
You get up in the morning, goplay a round of golf, and there
you go.
You know it couldn't be better.

Speaker 1 (24:08):
Right, and to add to that, I've had on the CEO of the
company, joel Holland, as wellas I had an episode a couple
months ago where they talkedabout upgrades to Harvest Host.
They are now allowing, at somelocations, three additional
nights, so Harvest Host used tobe just one night.
They also have some places nowthat do have different types of

(24:32):
hookups.
Now I do want to be clear Ifyou go to your Trip Wizard, you
won't see Harvest Host unlessyou have a Harvest Host
membership and you're signed in.
So that's important for peopleto know.
You have to be a member to signin to see those locations.
Okay, we talked about, you know, safety, which is big.

(24:53):
We've talked about findingcampgrounds as people travel
around the country, whether it'sshort trips or across the
country, like we've done severaltimes across the country.
Right, I love Open Roots Fuelcard, and this is a diesel fuel
card that you sign up for.
It's free to sign up for it.
You get the card, you have anapp that will show you truck

(25:16):
stops across the country and youcould save anywhere from 40 to
60 cents, sometimes less,sometimes more.
I did an episode and I'll putthat in the show notes in
January where I interviewedpeople that were in Tampa that
had used the fuel card in 2024and exactly how much money they

(25:37):
saved.
It was pretty incredible,because I asked them to guess
and they were nowhere near whatthey actually saved.
So it's an incredible card touse.
So let's go on and talk alittle bit more.
You know, when we're talkingabout planning, what would be

(25:58):
something else?
I also want to talk about somemistakes to avoid.
We've talked about some ofthose, but what else would you
recommend to people when itcomes to planning?

Speaker 2 (26:03):
Well, I think a couple things.
You know, for us we always have.
We always have to think aboutwhat we want to do when we get
to the location that we're goingto, and then you know where do
you want to stay in conjunctionto that, and, of course, what's
the best way to get there.
Another thing with tripplanning is how long do you want

(26:25):
to drive every day?
You know we've we've traveledall around the country and so
sometimes, um, for me to driveseven or eight hours in a day is
just, it just wears me out andum, so we'll set a radius on our
, on our map when we're doingour trip planning of like four

(26:45):
hours.
You know on our map when we'redoing our trip planning of like
four hours.
You know that's four to fivehours is about the max that I
want to drive, because a four orfive hour driving trip really
takes about five or six hours.
Because you got to stop forlunch, you need to stop and use
the restroom, you need to.
You know you might want tostretch your legs, you need to
get gas, there's a traffic jamsomewhere, and so it just takes

(27:10):
longer than the actual drivetime, and so we try to set
limits so we don't wearourselves out while we're
traveling.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
Right, one of the things I suggest to people.
So I traveled with my husbandthe two of you are traveling
together to people.
So I traveled with my husband,the two of you are traveling
together.
And then there are people thatI talk to all the time that are
traveling with kids, or the mom,the dad, you know, like
different people.
It's really the communicationbetween people.
So people are on the same page.

(27:39):
How long are they comfortabledriving?
You guys have come up with fouror five hour trips, which are
right, can take five to six plushours.
What kinds of things you want tosee, what kinds of things you
want to do?
I know when I first started out, I had this attitude like I'm
never going to be back in thisarea, so I have to see

(27:59):
everything there is to see.
And I was in such a hurry tosee it all, to do it all.
Let's cover all 50 states, youknow, including the.
You know I do want to get toHawaii and Alaska, not in the RV
, but you know it's like these,these goals we set.
That may not be realistic.

(28:19):
One person may be like hey, Ijust want to take my time, I
just want to stay somewhere fortwo weeks.
Somebody else might be, hey, Iwant to move every three days.
So I have you know this likeget everybody on the same page.
At least get everybody's idea,including kids.
What do they want to see?
What are they comfortable with?

(28:39):
How long do they want to be inan RV or a car, do you guys?
How did you guys work it out?

Speaker 2 (28:49):
the you know between the two of you.
Well, it's funny.
You know, we find that if wesit down to do trip planning
without a cocktail, argue a lotabout what we're doing and all
you know, it just becomes veryuncomfortable.
Learn like, have a cocktail andthen begin our trip planning
together and it just relaxes usand we find that we're able to

(29:11):
talk about this is a reallygreat point.
I'm glad you brought it up.
So we just talk about thingsand it does help us to be on the
same page.
And also for people with petsit's a big deal too, because you
have to plan many more stops, Iwould assume.

Speaker 3 (29:25):
If you have a limited amount of time you're going to
be in a location, then it's bestto know upfront what it is you
want to see and what yourexpectations are.
If you live like a vacationer,like you said, where you're
trying to squeeze everything youpossibly can, you will
absolutely exhaust yourself.
And now you're in the RV andyou're driving again and then

(29:47):
you get to your location andit's run, run, run, run run and
it will deplete you.
So you do have to have arealistic approach to what all
is it that we really want to seeand and adventure to um,
because if not, you can exhaustyourself.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
And one of the things .
So I'm not.
I.
I like to have my cocktail oncein a while, but it's not a big
thing.
So when Dan and I would sitdown to do trip planning, I had
to have chocolate, a snack, andusually, whatever your resources
are, whatever the resources are, I'd have my laptop and my
thoughts and ideas and he wouldhave his.

(30:26):
And there would be times whereit was like, okay, we have to
table this, let's breathe.
But our goal became enjoying thejourney and while that seems
simple and silly, it was huge.
Are we going place to place?
I'm in this place now thinkingabout the next place, because

(30:47):
we've got to get there quicklyand we've got to move quickly.
So it took about three or fourmonths of craziness before we
said, look, we're going to takeour time.
We didn't know how long we'd beon the road, but we're going to
take our time.
We're going to not only enjoythe place we're at, but the time
it takes to get there.
Like I heard, people before westarted out that just dreaded

(31:11):
travel days Like, oh, mygoodness, we're talking for Dan
and I.
We were talking about movingevery one week, two weeks,
sometimes three weeks, and Ithought to myself, if I'm going
to dread that plant, that, thattrip, that you know the, the,
the trip from point A to point B, I'm going to make myself crazy

(31:31):
.
I may as well, you know, justgo fly to a, a resort.
So we just got to the pointwhere it was like you've got to
enjoy the journey, even thattrip.
There's so much to see alongthe way, just being just sitting
in the driver's seat or thepassenger seat I like to be the
passenger princess there's somuch to see.

(31:54):
How do you guys feel about that?
You drive four or five hours,which sometimes takes six plus
hours.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah, we go so far as to plan what we're going to
talk about while we're driving,like, hey, let's, let's talk
about these things tomorrow.
But you know, we'll also, as wesee things, susan will look
things up on her phone becauseyou'll pass interesting things
on the way and it's like, oh, Iwonder what that's all about.
And then so she'll look at,because I'm driving.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
I'm on Google Earth and I'm going oh, that's blah,
blah, blah, that's over here.

Speaker 2 (32:24):
Yeah, so we try to squeeze as much fun out of every
single minute that we can whilewe're on the road and being
able to enjoy those things alongthe way.
I mean, the reason we bought abig class ARV one of the biggest
reasons is for that big, giantwindshield in the front.
We wanted to see everything, sowe really try to enjoy all of

(32:45):
that as best we can.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
And, like Mike said, a five hour trip could be six or
more, or a four hour trip couldbe six or more, because we will
stop along the way, you know,if there is.
Well, luckily, when we were inCalifornia, our drives were like
maybe even an hour or two,because we would see an overlook

(33:07):
and we'd be like, oh my gosh,pull over.
And so we'd pull over, takesome pictures, and this is a
great place to have lunch, andthat's where we would stop and
have lunch.
And so, you know, we wanted totake in the location with us the
journey along with us.
Like, if I'm going to say I'vedriven from one end of Texas to
the other, I want to be able tosay that I stopped here and saw

(33:28):
all of this along the way aswell.
It wasn't just, you know,through my windshield, it was an
experience and I'd like thatsuggestion, like hey, tomorrow
let's talk about this.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
Whether that's your next trip, you guys have events
that you go to.
I'm sure you could do some ofthe planning.
I used to do that too on theGoogle Earth, like, hey, that's
whatever, and just these reallycool things that were around.
So these are great suggestions.
I also had a playlist, like amusic that we enjoyed, and

(34:02):
because Dan did all of thedriving, he got to choose what
we listened to.
You know, because you get tothat third, fourth hour,
sometimes you need that upbeat,sometimes you need a little more
soothing.
So a mix of music.
But we also listened to books,audio books, which was great to
do, and then we talk about those.
So those for people, whetheryou're two people together,

(34:27):
whether you're by yourself oryou have kids, planning some of
those things will make thatjourney a lot more enjoyable.
Great suggestions you broughtup some things that could come
up.
Certainly, we talked about afour or five hour trip could
take six or seven hour trips.
Sometimes they're way longer.

(34:47):
So, even within planning, as wesaid, before stuff happens, we
decide we want to pull off andthis looks like a great place to
stay, so we're going to stayhere for the night.
Let's talk about some of thosethings, like you know, like
underestimating drive times oryou know, what suggestions can
you give in those kinds ofsituations?

Speaker 3 (35:10):
Well, I always say we have a plan A, but then we
always have a B and a C and a D.
Usually, whatever our originalplan is, we never really follow
it.
Nope.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
It just doesn't work out.

Speaker 3 (35:24):
Guideline.
It's an approximation.
Now, usually, once we hit theroad though, we're pretty much
more set, but we're veryflexible and we allow that
flexibility.
It could be weather.
Weather might be like uh-oh.
When we were in Arizona and wehad to make it back to Maryland,
we were going to take anorthern route.

(35:45):
Well, everybody was getting hitwith snow, and so we decided
that wasn't the route to take.
So at that moment werecalculated our route and took
a different route.
So even though we start outwith Plan A, we don't always
follow it as a good guideline.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
And if it works, great, but if it doesn't, we
have options, and so we're goingto talk a little bit about what
happens when your plans changewith, you know, booking
campgrounds.
We hear all the timecampgrounds are overbooked.
You're not going to get inunless you plan, so I'm going to
ask you about that.
We talked about weather.
We're going to talk about, youknow, some other issues that

(36:25):
you've had happen, things toavoid, as well as let's talk a
little bit about what to bringwith us on those trips.
But before we get to that, Iwant to mention, for people who
are looking for a new RV or thatfirst RV, the ultimate VIP
event for RVers is Music CityMotorhome Expo and it is May

(36:46):
31st to June 4th and you can bethe first to see the 2026 model
year coaches, and this is fromall the major manufacturers.
There's a limited attendance,so you get to test drive as many
as you want and you'll get tochat with the manufacturers, the
product developers, engineers.
I was at this event last year.

(37:07):
It was amazing.
They have seminars, theyprovide three meals a day and
high-end entertainment.
If you're interested, go toMusic City Motorhome Expo.
It will sell out.
I know it's only February andwe're talking about the end of
May.
It will sell out.
You want to check that out.
That's something interesting.
But now let's get back to otherkind of issues.

(37:31):
Look, rv life is living the RVlife.
You've got to be a flexible,you've got to be able to pivot.
That's a word, big word that'sbeen used.
But change your plans, changeyour thought, change what you're
going to do.
So what are some of those otherthings You're talking about?

(37:53):
Plan A, b, c, d and I want tobe clear you said that most of
the time the plan A doesn'thappen.
It doesn't work out.
So people could cut themselvesa break.
Plan A doesn't always work out.
You could either fight it andbe like so miserable, like this
is where we said we were goingto be on Thursday, or you could

(38:13):
go with the flow.
I highly recommend the go withthe flow attitude.
But then what happens withcampgrounds?
What are you guys finding whentrying to stay at a campground
last minute?

Speaker 2 (38:24):
It depends on where the campground is right.
If it's near an area that'svery, very popular uh, like
florida, in the winter time,forget about trying to book
things last minute down youcan't get into any state parks.
You can't.
You can barely get into thethousand trails we're thousand
trails members.
Even they get all booked up.

(38:45):
So it's very, very difficult inthat area where we went to a to
Arizona this past winter and itwas a completely different
experience.
Right, that's the.
You know, arizona is kind ofthe Florida of the West, but out
there we had no problemsbooking campgrounds at the last
minute ever.
It was really a very differentexperience.

(39:06):
And so same thing is also truein the.
You know, if you're at beachareas or amusement parks just
super popular areas where a lotof people are all on vacation at
the same time National parks isvery true for those as well you
really need to plan like a yearin advance and otherwise you

(39:28):
may not get a campground.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
If you're in those highly populated, sought-after
locations, amusement parks,things of that nature.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
Yeah, so if we're planning to be in a big vacation
or a very popular area or asuper popular national park, we
will have all of our tripplanning done before the next
year even turns over.
So it just kind of depends whereyou are.
Other places we go, it's reallynot a problem at all.

(39:59):
And then, luckily for us, we doenjoy boondocking and our rig
is set up for that, so we canharvest, host it and stay at a
Love loves gas station and hit aWalmart and stay at a crack.
I mean we could go for 10 dayswithout having to have hookups.
But so for us, you know it wecan plan things without having

(40:24):
to plan a campground, especiallyif we know the schedule might
change.
If we know the schedule mightchange and there and it takes a
lot of stress off of us becauseif you have a campground booked,
it's kind of hard to change thereservations, sometimes to call
them and say you might be a daylate or two and can you add a
day or two at the end they maynot be able to do that.
So you know, it just depends onwhere you are and how popular

(40:49):
that area is.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
And I now work with RV.
Life works with campgroundowners and I'm working with them
now.
So I'm talking a lot tocampground owners and I know
when we first started out fouryears ago now, that was the case
you really had to get thingsbooked if they were the big

(41:16):
popular places.
Over this last I want to sayyear maybe in talking to
campground owners, a lot oftimes they have those spaces
because.
So I see what I see happeningmore recently is people feel
like I've got to book a yearahead, I've got to book six
months ahead.
So they book everything out,especially in the thousand

(41:36):
trails and we'll talk a littlebit about thousand trails.
They book everything out andthen they're like well, I had a
book, you know they're 180 days,whatever their time frame is.
And then they're like well, Ihave that booking, but I really
want to here, so as soon as Iget that other place, I'm going
to cancel.
That's kind of been the.
What I'm seeing is what'shappening and what I want to say

(41:59):
to the listeners, if you'reflexible so I was never flexible
, I was always a planner Likethere's a trip we are going on,
this is the day we're leaving.
I know what time I have to wakeup to get to the airport.
Like, planning was a big thingand you know, being in an RV,
I've really learned to beflexible, like, okay, I was in

(42:19):
Florida this past winter.
The winter before we were inFlorida, dan got ill.
Everything changed.
I had a week booked and thenhad nowhere to stay and I'm like
you know what, we're going tofigure it out, something will
come up.
So, whether it was staying in aCracker Barrel or a Harvest
Toast and last minute I wouldcall places and we were always

(42:44):
able.
I always say to people therewas that one night we just
stayed on the side of the road,like literally.
But really have to be able tobe flexible.
You have to be able to just belike, hey, it's all going to
work out.
If you don't have thatpersonality, then booking
further out would be way moreimportant.
So to your point, I do seethings in the campground world

(43:05):
changing.
You're right, florida in thecampground world changing.
You're right, florida in thewinter is going to be the most
popular.
So if you're planning on goingto Florida, especially the Keys,
you want to plan day SAP.
But let's talk a little bitabout campgrounds because I
think as part of planning, Ididn't realize how expensive

(43:27):
campgrounds were going to be.
So when we started out, all ofa sudden, it was like this is
going to cost a fortune.
We had heard honestly we hadheard about Thousand Trails it
was from a YouTuber, theytotally bashed it.
We had heard some othernegative things and I'm just
being totally transparent, I'vetold this story before and

(43:48):
that's what I'd listened to,that's what I believed and I was
like there's no way we're doingthis Thousand Trails thing.
And we were in Oregon August ofthe first year.
We went out and there werefires from California and there
was smoke so bad in the area.
We were with our kids and ourgrandkids and we decided we were
going to go to the beach andthat beach was it was Whaler's

(44:11):
Rest and it's a Thousand Trails.
So we called this ThousandTrails member specialist and I
was like this isn't going towork out, we're going to be out
this money.
We bought a camping pass.
We were able to go Sunday thiswas on a Saturday.
We signed up Sunday, we wereable to go for five days and
then we said we wanted to extend.

(44:32):
So we extended and from therewe upgraded our membership and
it has been the biggest savings,because, when it comes to
people planning trips, budget isone of the parts of that.
So talk a little bit about yourexperience with Thousand Trails
, because it's saved us a lotwith Thousand Trails because

(44:53):
it's saved us a lot.

Speaker 2 (44:54):
Well, thousand Trails , certainly if you're going to
be in your RV more than sixmonths a year.
For us, you know, being on theroad eight or nine months a year
, thousand Trails saves us a tonof money.
I mean we would spend $30,000to $40,000 a year on campgrounds
if we didn't have thousandtrails, and so you know, it
really made a lot of sense forus.
Now, thousand trails itselfit's a mixed bag.

(45:18):
Some of the campgrounds areawesome and some of them are
like man if this wasn't free Iwould not be here tonight.
And their computer system isvery antiquated, so it's
frustrating to make reservationssometimes.
But we've kind of learned thatif you get on the chat or you

(45:38):
call the campground directly,that's the easiest way to book
your reservations.
If you just rely on thecomputer to make your
reservations, you'll be veryfrustrated, but the value they
offer is really tremendous.

Speaker 3 (45:51):
We have definitely saved.
I mean we paid up front, ofcourse, because a lot of people
are like well, you're notstaying for free.
No, today we're staying forfree because yesterday we paid
up front.
But Mike has calculated everytime we've stayed at a
campground, at a Thousand SharesCampground, what it would have

(46:11):
cost out of pocket had we notbeen a member.
And at the end of the year hewas able to do the math.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (46:18):
And you know it's paid for itself over and over
and over again.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
Yeah, so we're literally staying for free now
because the membership has paidfor itself.
So it's fantastic.
The membership has paid foritself, so it's fantastic.
And the other nice thing withit is you can plan in advance
with it, and so that helps aswell.
And once you're in a campgroundand you want to extend, the

(46:44):
folks there are very, very nice,and most of the time it's
worked out for us extremely well.
We've had a couple of timeswhere we couldn't extend, but
for the most time they really dotry to figure it out and help
you make it work.

Speaker 1 (46:57):
And that's been my experience, even in Florida.
So for me I was like, okay,it's costing, it cost.
Over the first six months or ayear it was like, okay, this is
going to cost $10 a night forcamping is what it was down to.
And then over the second yearit was like, okay, this is going
to cost $10 a night for campingis what it was down to.
And then over the second year Istopped calculating but it was
really affordable, manageable.

(47:18):
What was funny is if we were inthe Florida area, let's say, and
there was a thousand trails,and then we heard about a
campground and somebody said,well, it only costs $60 a night,
I was like, well, I don't wantto go there.
But girls, right, there aredifferent types of campgrounds.
You have to keep yourexpectations.
So I spent a lot of time at theThousand Trails Campground in
Las Vegas.

(47:39):
It is a place to park your RV,but that allowed me to go to the
Strip.
It allowed me to go see, youknow, the Hoover Dam.
It allowed me to explore thearea of Mount Charleston.
There was so much to do.
My goal in that trip was thisis where we park the RV, this is
where we're going to sleep Fullhookups, and just about all of

(47:59):
them have full hookups.
This is where we're going tosleep and then we are, you know,
exploring the area.
So that's another benefit andthat's something that people in
planning need to consider.
You know cost of RV parks wherethey're going to stay.
You know just overall budget isgoing to be a big deal for
people.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
Right, because when you're traveling, you have to
ask yourself am I going herebecause I want to enjoy the
campground or I'm going herebecause I want to enjoy the
amenities outside the campground?
For us, in many cases, we'renot going because I want to
enjoy the amenities outside thecampground.
For us, in many cases, we'renot going because we want to
enjoy the campground.
It's just a place for us tosleep so that we can see all
what we want to see.
So, even though it might be aless than desirable location of

(48:43):
a campground, that's not reallyour purpose.
It's safe.
We're in a safe campgroundpurpose.
It's safe, we're in a safecampground.
But our main point is to beable to explore.
And the other nice thing aboutThousand Trails is, if you're

(49:03):
not a full-timer, if you're aweekender, you can just buy a
camping pass to wherever yourzone is, and so now you could
just hit however manycampgrounds are in that zone
pass and still benefitfinancially from that, and you
don't have to be a full timer.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
Absolutely, and I've seen it.
I mean, I've seen the numbersand the other thing with
Thousand Trails.
You know it's like you said.
There are times for me.
We both work, we were bothworking while we're on the road.
There are times I want to go toa campground, sit at the
campground.
In Pennsylvania there's a placecalled Circle M.

(49:39):
I park by the river and justwant to sit out there with my
cappuccino and that's great.
And then there are times I dowant to be part of the
activities within the campgroundor, like you said, just be
somewhere where you couldexplore.
And they have a lot ofdifferent things.
Thousand Trails also, I believelast year in the summer, had a
new membership.

(49:59):
So it's different.
You don't have to buy, likethis, lifetime membership.
So anybody who looked at theThousand Trails membership
before they have changed some ofthat.
I think it's a great deal whatthey this new membership they
came up with.

Speaker 3 (50:15):
One other quick thing I wanted to just add.
If you didn't mind and this iskind of tying in a little bit of
RV life with Thousand Trailsyou can see the campground
reviews.
So if you are in doubt inquestion, you know, if you've
heard reputation about ThousandTrails, campgrounds or whatever
you can easily go on and checkthe reviews on RV Life to

(50:37):
determine whether or not you buypictures or buy what people say
, and that's atcampgroundsrvlifecom or through
the RV Life app, the RV Lifesuite of products, and that's a
great point.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
And I'll say, take what you see with Life suite of
products, and that's a greatpoint.
And I'll say, take what you seewith a grain of salt.
All of the reviews are by RVers, Like a campground cannot
change them, they can't editthem, they can only respond to
them.
But take it with a grain ofsalt.
It's like people would complainabout Las Vegas, the campground
in Las Vegas.
But what are you going for Ifyou're going to sit outside and
enjoy your outside space?

(51:11):
That's not the campground inLas Vegas.
But what are you going for Ifyou're going to sit outside and
enjoy your outside space?
That's not the campground.
And that's how you could kindof judge what type of campground
you're looking for, which isimportant while people are
planning.
So let's touch a little bit on.
We've covered a lot of stuff.
Let's touch a little bit on andmaybe there's a whole different
show.
But you know, talking aboutessentials that you pack.

(51:31):
Now you guys have the house andthe RV.
Some people are in it full time.
Weigh your RV when you load itup, Cause a lot of times.
It's way.
I found that out myself.
We started loading it up,sometimes way heavier than it's
supposed to be, but you know,can you just give a quick what
some essentials are?
Again, this is part of theplanning process.

(51:53):
What do you need to take withyou?

Speaker 2 (51:56):
That's kind of a hard question for us because we
leave our RV packed all the time.
In fact, we have clothes thatwe keep in the RV and then we
have clothes that we keep athome, clothes that we keep in
the RV and then we have clothesthat we keep at home.
So we don't have to constantlypack and unpack because we don't
.
We don't come home for threemonths all at one time.

(52:16):
We travel, we might travel fortwo and a half months and it's
like, well, we missed the kidsand the grandkids and we might
be in Texas.
So we'll, we'll park the RV inthe storage lot at the
campground, usually for 25 bucksa week it's pretty cheap and
we'll fly home and then we'llwe'll fly home to Maryland for

(52:38):
three weeks and visit everyoneand then fly back to Texas and
just continue our journey fromthere.
So we we have every.
We have to kind of two ofeverything, because we would
always forget stuff we know we'dhave to.
We learn pretty quickly if wehave to pack every time.
We come home and then leaveagain and we're home four times

(53:00):
a year, five times a year, forshort, two, three weeks stints.
It, it was very inconvenient.
It it was very inconvenient.
So, like my computer charger,every time I'd come home I'd
leave the computer charger inthe rv and I can't charge my
computer at home and that.
So.
So now I have two I wanted homeand one in the rv.
Sunglasses same thing, pair forhome, pair for the rv.

(53:24):
Um, so that's how we've kind ofgrown to do it over time.
Um.
So it's tough for us to saylike you know, how would you do
that?

Speaker 3 (53:34):
Weight-wise though, I would say it's kind of like the
closet.
I don't know her name, but shegave a great tip one time where,
hanging up your clothes in yourcloset, you put your hanger one
way and if you get to the endof the year and all those
hangers are still in that samedirection, then you're not
wearing it.
Get rid of it.
And you can do the same thing inyour RV.

(53:55):
You may overpack it with allkinds of cool gadgets and gizmos
and things to make your campingexperience more fun, but then
you may, at the end of theseason, have to take a look at
that and say did I ever use it?
Is it taking up space?
Because if it is just taking upspace, then you know you got to
get rid of it, lighten the load, and so there's.

(54:18):
There is a constant rotationwith us, like with chairs.
Yep, you know we were guilty ofhaving way too many chairs.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
We were.
We were at RV Unplugged when wewere on the show the first
season, and it's funny because Iwas on a quest to find the most
comfortable camping chair.
And so it turned out we had sixdifferent sets of chairs in our
RV all at one time.
They actually made a video.
We put out all of our sets ofchairs.

(54:46):
We had a set for the beach, wehad the zero gravity ones, we
had our heated chairs, we hadthe regular camping chairs that
fold up and you carry them.

Speaker 3 (54:56):
Then we had these really tiny light ones.

Speaker 2 (54:57):
Then we had the little tiny light ones so you
could carry them.
I mean it was crazy what wewere doing, but we like to try a
lot of different things outbecause you know, we don't
recommend products to ouraudience that we don't actually
use ourselves.
So we're kind of we always havea lot of gear on board and a
couple of times a year we kindof have to go through and pull
stuff out.

Speaker 3 (55:18):
And some things can be seasonal, like if you are
winter camping, you might needextra heaters or chairs.
If it's summertime, then youmight need your fishing gear and
your beach gear, so you mayhave to adjust Yep and.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
I think that.
So you guys do the, you knowthe two of everything.
I was full time, so you'reright, you know putting so much
stuff in the RV, then decidingbecause sometimes it's just
personal preference, like whatyou need, but thinking about the
kinds of things you want to doand planning.
Now that I'm in a house I'mtraveling by plane, mostly car I

(55:56):
have two of everything.
So I've done that too becauseI'm just tired of leaving stuff
and it's not like it's costingnecessarily more money, you know
, it's like two of all my hairand makeup and supplies and all
of that.
I haven't got the secondcomputer cord.
I might know that.
But again, in planning, whatkinds of things do you need?

(56:18):
I think that's a learningprocess for everybody.
There's not one set list togood suggestions.
I make a list.
I have a packing list that Ihave on my phone.
It's in the note section.
I can check it off and then Ican uncheck it for the next trip
.
Some people do a laminated typething where they check it off
and wipe it off.

(56:38):
I recommend that becausethere's some things you forget
that are important and you can'tjust easily get.
Again.
We're talking about planning,but you can't plan everything
you got to be flexible.
Stuff's going to get leftbehind.
But just to mention, you guyswere on the first episode of RV
Unplugged, the first season ofRV Unplugged.

(56:59):
I saw the show and that is nowbeing shown on RV TV, correct?

Speaker 2 (57:04):
It is.
It is, our videos are on RV TVas well.
Right, right it is.
Our videos are on RVTV as well.
Right, right.

Speaker 1 (57:10):
So RVTV is somebody else that we're both very well
connected to, and they can checkout your season on RV Unplugged
, as well as your videos onthere.
Yep, big content there.
So just a shout out to them.
We could probably spend anotherhour on these topics, but I do

(57:30):
have to start wrapping up.
We are not done yet.
I'm going to ask you a question.
I'm going to have the two ofyou think about it while I talk
about an incredible product thateverybody needs to think about,
and then I'll come back andhave you answer.
So the question I'm going toask that I want you to take a
minute to think about, is whatis a bucket list item to

(57:51):
recommend to my listeners?
Either something you've donethat is a must do or something
you guys are still thinking of,and if you both have two
different answers, that's finetoo.
So take a minute on that whileI talk about innovative toll
solutions and this is a tollpass that covers all 48 states.

(58:11):
It costs $24 a year and thebest part is, if you should have
a problem with tolls, they willtake care of it for you.
I know so many people that havegotten those fines.
I paid $250 in fines before Ihad this toll pass and they
would have taken care of it.
That is Innovative TollSolutions.

(58:32):
There is a link in the shownotes.
There's a link in the shownotes for everything we've
talked about, and this is agreat thing to have.
It doesn't matter how far youare traveling.
You can get rid of all yourother toll transponders.
So, okay, what'd you come upwith?
I saw a lot of like I likegestures.

Speaker 2 (58:52):
Well, a big bucket list item for us is going to
Alaska.
Um, we haven't been there yetand um, but we don't want to
drive to Alaska.
I mean, driving to Alaska islike driving from Florida to
Washington State, except youleave from Washington State and

(59:14):
you drive to Alaska.
It's a far, far drive.
So for us, the way we would doit is we would probably fly to
Alaska and then just rent an RVwhile we're out there and enjoy
it.
Now, for other folks, part ofthe adventure is the journey,
but it's just such a long driveand the roads aren't.

(59:35):
The roads are bumpy and all.
We would have to go very slowin our Class A.
I would not enjoy it if my rigis bouncing up and down and
getting all shaken up becausethings break when that happens.
So we would fly out there andthen rent an.

Speaker 3 (59:49):
RV Plus, we would probably want to stay places
that A would not fit.

Speaker 2 (59:54):
Right.

Speaker 3 (59:54):
So we would probably rent something, like you know.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
A camper van.
Yeah, a truck camper, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
I'm with you guys.
I want to go to Alaska.
I don't want to drive, I wantto fly in, get the RV, do the
and, like you said, a van soundsgreat to me Be able to go to
all the places that the big rigcan't go to.
I don't want to necessarilystay in a hotel.
My bucket list is to see theNorthern Lights and that's a

(01:00:23):
great place to do it.
And again, I've talked to a lotof people who've done the
Alaska trip.
They've driven there.
I've talked to people who'vedone it solo and in groups.
It is highly recommended youfollow a group, somebody who's
done it and can navigate thewhole process.
Just a caution when you'replanning, make sure you have

(01:00:44):
somebody that can help youthrough that journey, because
it's a big deal.
So thank you for thatsuggestion.
Alaska is one of those places Iwant to go to in the summer.

Speaker 2 (01:00:56):
Absolutely in the summer.
It's still cold in the summertoo, by the way.

Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
I know.
I know somebody who spent well.
The host, jim Nelson of RVEntrepreneurs spent an entire
winter in a cabin in Alaska andyou can check his website out to
find out all about that.
He and his wife spent the wholewinter and when he told me that
that's the we're making facesfor, those people can't see us

(01:01:24):
in Philadelphia right now.
I'm looking to go South.
It's cold here.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
Same, it's cold enough.

Speaker 1 (01:01:32):
Yes, we're not that far from each other, but it's
now time for the featurecampground and it's brought to
you by RV Life.
The RV Life suite of productshas.
We were talking about TripWizard, we were talking about RV
Safe GPS and we were talkingabout campground reviews as well
as maintenance and they havemasterclasses.

(01:01:53):
This week's feature campgroundis Pine Mountain RV Resort and
that is in Pine Mountain,georgia.
I've never been there and Idon't think I've ever even been
to that area, supposedly Fromwhat I saw in the pictures that
look amazing.
It is a hidden gem nestled inthe Georgia pines and it

(01:02:14):
features upscale amenities.
They have full hookups, theyhave pull-in sites and, if you
don't have an RV, they havecabin rentals and cottages that
you could rent.
They do have an 8.5 rating onthe RV Life campground site and
they have 216 reviews, so peopleobviously are loving this area.

(01:02:35):
It's really easy to bookcampgrounds.
So, as we were talking aboutpeople planning going to
campgroundsrvlife orjustyourrvlifecom, you can find
out all about just about everycampground out there and you'll
be able to see, for thiscampground, the additional
photos, the tips, there's a listof amenities, everything you

(01:02:57):
need to know about thiscampground.
Plus, you can book right fromthe campground site, which is so
nice.
You don't have to go fiddlearound.
Rv Life Campgrounds is part ofthe RV Life Pro Suite of
products.
This is the most comprehensivesource of all things campgrounds

(01:03:18):
.
So, whether it's an RV park,campground resorts, city, state,
national parks you guys talkedabout those boondocking sites
Thousand Trails, boondockersWelcome.
They have so much on this site.
If you need to know more aboutthat, there is a link in the
show notes to get informationabout RV life.
Well, susan, mike, thank you somuch for being on.

(01:03:42):
Please tell people how to reachout to you.
I usually like to say thatsooner it will be in the show
notes.
We got so gross.
What's a website people can goto and find out all about you?

Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
The best way to connect with us is just to go
right to rvbloggercom and righton the home page you can scroll
down and you can sign up to be amember of the RV Blogger
community and from there we'llsend you out some newsletters
and connect you with our otherwebsites so you can use them as
resources.

(01:04:14):
One is called motorhomefactscom, so for your motor homers all
kinds of articles there and theother one's called
traveltrailerprocom, so for allyour folks with travel trailers,
fifth wheels, pop-ups lots ofresources there.
And you can also join ourprivate Facebook group called RV
Camping for Newbies, and wehave an amazing group of people

(01:04:36):
there where there's, I think,over 155,000 people on that
group, so you can learn allabout great camping destinations
and how to fix things or justgood ideas about camping recipes
you name it.
People share all kinds ofthings.
It's phenomenal.
And also, when you sign up,you'll be getting our weekly

(01:04:58):
newsletters, which are justchock full of articles that
we've written.
Plus, we send out our videos inthose newsletters and we have
lots of companies that work withus where we obtain discounts
from them for our viewers.
So if you're interested in,like a Harvest Host membership
or even RV Life, if you want topurchase their suite of tools

(01:05:21):
that are available.
We have tremendous discountsthat we offer to our viewers
there.
So we just try to be a greatsource for everyone and share
what we're learning and, youknow, help everybody to save a
few bucks along the way as well.

Speaker 1 (01:05:36):
And you guys are an amazing source of so many things
, including.
I know you love to go in and dotours in RVs, like at the Tampa
show you did a lot of the toursof the new RVs.
That has been a big thing forpeople.
So you guys are an amazingsource and, as you said, anybody
who's listening, that's new orhas been on the road, you know,

(01:05:58):
using content creators,influencers, whatever you want
to call us, there are ways toget discounts on a lot of the
services and products that wetalk about.
So I want to thank you guys somuch for being on.
I greatly appreciate it.
I encourage people to reach outto you.
Of course you're on the socialmedia platforms, which they can
see on the website.
Thank you both so much.

Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
Well, thank you for having us.
We really appreciate it.
It's been a pleasure chattingwith you and seeing you again.

Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
Yes, it has.
It's been great, and will I seeyou guys in Hershey at the
Hershey show.

Speaker 2 (01:06:32):
Oh yeah, we go to Hershey every year, so we'll be
there for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:06:35):
Let's talk about it, and we're so close to it I'm in
Pennsylvania so I'm really close.
So, for those who don't know,september is the Hershey RV show
.
That's one of the largest RVshows.
It's called America's LargestRV Show, and RV Life will be
doing their after party againthis year.
So stay tuned for all that.
I look forward to seeing youthere and if people see you,

(01:07:00):
they should come up and say hi,right, I always get people.

Speaker 3 (01:07:02):
Yes please.

Speaker 2 (01:07:03):
Absolutely.
We tell people all the time.
If you ever see us out andabout at an RV show shooting
video or at a campgroundsomewhere, come on over and say
hi, we would love to meet youand get to know you a little bit
.
We'd love to hear from ourviewers and other RVers, because
that's how we learn aboutwhat's going on in the RV
industry too.

Speaker 1 (01:07:21):
Same thing.
I've had people say oh, I sawyou at blah blah blah, a
campground.
I didn't want to bother you.
No, come up say hi.
And if not, I have my socialmedia Instagram, Facebook and
that is RV Life Podcast.
Would love to hear comments,suggestions, what you think
about the show, all of that weboth would.

(01:07:42):
All three of us would love tohear that.
Well, thank you for listening.
Remember life's a journey.
Live each day to the fullest,without regrets.
I'm Patti Hunt and you've beenlistening to the RV Life Podcast
.
You