March 17, 2025 • 32 mins
We're usually tent campers, but we've been looking at other ways to enjoy nature. RV (Recreational Vehicle) camping is one of the options we've been looking into.
Chris drops by to give us the low down on what RV camping and travel is all about.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_03 (00:00):
Hello and good day.
Welcome to the Super GoodCamping Podcast.
My name is Pamela.
SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
I'm Tim.
SPEAKER_03 (00:05):
And we are from supergoodcamping.com.
We're here because we're on amission to inspire other people
to get outside and enjoy campingadventures such as we have as a
family.
Today's guest is a bit differentfor us in a good way.
Have you ever thought, I've gotto pack and lug all this gear to
the site, spend ages setting itup, do it all again on the way
out?
If so, today's guest may justhave a solution for you.
(00:27):
An easier, more convenient, lesslugging way to get outside and
get connected with nature.
Please welcome Chris Mahoney,the president of Go RVing
Canada.
SPEAKER_01 (00:36):
Hey guys.
Thank you.
Thanks for coming by.
I'm so happy to be here.
I'm a big fan.
SPEAKER_03 (00:44):
Excellent.
Thank
SPEAKER_01 (00:44):
you.
SPEAKER_00 (00:45):
Well, I think you've planted a bit of
SPEAKER_01 (00:47):
a seed for us.
I'm not selling any RVs today.
We're just here to have a goodtime and chat.
SPEAKER_03 (00:54):
Yeah, so you're not in the business of selling RVs
either.
No.
SPEAKER_01 (00:58):
No, that's the great thing is GoRVing, it's a really
cool organization.
We're not for profit.
We've been around for over 25years.
We're set up by themanufacturers and the RV dealers
and campgrounds to basicallypromote the RV lifestyle.
So we're completely brandagnostic.
We don't sell units.
(01:20):
We don't sell a particularbrand.
We just sell an idea, which is alot of fun.
I'm not going to lie.
It's a wild ride.
It's a ton of fun.
SPEAKER_03 (01:29):
And you're an RVer yourself, I see.
SPEAKER_01 (01:32):
I am, yeah.
My first RV experience was whenI moved to Canada after
university in my early 20s.
I won't tell you how long agothat was.
But drove across the country inan RV, a 32-foot Class C with
three buddies.
And three weeks later, it was alittle bit of a stinky affair,
(01:53):
but we had a blast.
Lots of great memories.
And that kind of got me hookedin there.
And my wife and I...
own a Airstream right now.
SPEAKER_00 (02:02):
Oh, cool.
SPEAKER_01 (02:03):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (02:03):
That should be a must-do for everybody, shouldn't
it?
What?
SPEAKER_00 (02:06):
Owning an Airstream?
No, no.
SPEAKER_03 (02:08):
Driving across the country.
SPEAKER_01 (02:10):
Yeah, I
SPEAKER_03 (02:11):
think it
SPEAKER_01 (02:12):
feels like a Canadian rite of passage, right?
I mean, it's like, yeah.
The best way to see
SPEAKER_03 (02:17):
it.
SPEAKER_00 (02:19):
Yeah.
Yeah, driving through theRockies is a pretty amazing deal
just on its own.
There's some very flat placesthat not so much fun, but...
SPEAKER_01 (02:28):
It definitely gets a bit gnarly after the prairies.
And if you're driving a 32footer for the first time, you
know, it can be a little nailbiting, but it's, it's
remarkable.
It's actually one of the thingsabout RVing that we're trying
to, one of the myths, and I'msure we'll talk about it today,
but it's like the drivabilityfactor.
They're actually a lot easier todrive than most people realize.
SPEAKER_03 (02:48):
Well, you don't need a special license or anything to
drive an RV, I assume.
SPEAKER_01 (02:52):
No.
So if you have, if you have amillion bucks or half a million
bucks and you've got a class amotor home, like the movie
stars, then for sure you need aZ class license for the airbrake
ones.
But, uh, no, 99% of for us, for,for the rest of us, uh, mere
mortals.
No, it's, uh, it's just aregular license.
SPEAKER_00 (03:11):
Cool.
And they, and I'm sure, I mean,being of a certain age, um, Back
when they were beige with goldstripes on them and stuff like
that, and noisy clunkers.
I see them out there now.
They're so much quieter.
They look so much more efficientthan they used to be.
They have so many more, I don'tknow, amenities on them if you
(03:35):
choose to.
SPEAKER_01 (03:36):
Yeah, I mean, like anything else, it's definitely
evolved.
I've been doing this for over 13years now.
And definitely in that time,I've seen some serious tech leap
forwards.
You know, both in likeefficiency, obviously, you know,
EVs have been huge for cars andRVs are behind that because of,
(04:00):
mostly because of like distanceand, you know, timing like that.
But there are, you know,electronic rvs coming and uh
that's part of it but i thinkmore just like you said the
amenities just the tech that'sgoing on inside and the
efficiencies they find insideplus the manufacturers have just
kind of figured out the floorplans like it's amazing what
(04:20):
they're doing with even even theclass b's which is which you
know we classify as the vansit's it's incredible what they
fit inside these sprinter vans ii'm just like shocked every time
they're just finding new andremarkable ways to build closets
and bathrooms and you know Oh,well, there's a bed you didn't
know that was there, et cetera,et cetera.
So it's kind of cool.
SPEAKER_00 (04:40):
Yeah.
And a slide out, you know,washing basin kitchen thing.
You can work on your barbecueout back.
Like it's just, yeah, it is.
That is mind boggling stuff.
Aren't those decks off the
SPEAKER_01 (04:49):
back crazy?
It's like you put your barbecueoff the back and then, you know,
then your ATVs come out and now,you know, you're, now, you know,
you're in the outdoors.
SPEAKER_00 (04:57):
Exactly.
So yeah.
For my money, at least in part,A, the word lugging plays
largely into it because youdon't.
You've loaded it up and away yougo.
You don't have to do it over andover and over and over.
So it seems to me you've got theopportunity to get into nature,
(05:20):
A, more quickly, B, potentiallymore often just because of the
lack of prep and stuff that youhave to do.
SPEAKER_01 (05:27):
Yeah, I think that's definitely the case.
I mean, you know, look, like,it's interesting.
So just to throw a stat outthere in terms of RVing in
Canada, like 14% of Canadianhouseholds own an RV.
So that's what we're talkingabout, like 2 million units.
It's like, this is a seriouslybig pastime for Canadians.
And it's, I think, especiallygiven recent circumstances, it's
(05:49):
only increasing.
But the reason why I raisedthat, Tim, is because Of those
14%, we're not...
you're not going to get anyoneRVing that doesn't have a
propensity to the outdoors.
That's what I've always said.
So you're going to startsomewhere in it.
And for most people, it is tentcamping.
And, you know, I'm stillsomewhat of a purist.
(06:11):
I still love to go and get in atent, by the way.
There's nothing, absolutely, Ithink that's a perfectly fine
thing to do.
But in terms of going away withthe family, and as we speak
about lugging, yeah, I thinkthat this is the solution.
It's like, you've got all thecreature comforts from home
you've got all the toys for thekids you've got the food you
(06:32):
know that everybody loves andit's all kind of packed up there
and you know what it just makesyour life a little bit easier
and therefore to your pointbeing able to do maybe a little
bit more often because of thatthat ease so yeah i think
there's there's a place for bothbut i i think that's the you for
me that's the use case for mostpeople um that are rving
SPEAKER_03 (06:53):
now yeah so it's not just the retirees that are that
are getting themselves
SPEAKER_01 (06:57):
no it's no it it's not, it's, uh, you know, I was
saying, I've been doing this for13 years.
It's funny.
I've seen the stat change, like,uh, 65% of RVers are now under
the age of 55.
So that, that should tell you.
And I think, you know, we see itthrough our channels on GoRVing
and, uh, through all theInstagram and things like that.
And, you know, the contentcreators that we work with, it's
(07:18):
definitely become cooler andmore youthful.
I think that manufacturers haveresponded with, you know, like
we had tent trailers, which wassort of your entry level um
coming in from as we weretalking about tent camping and
then i think now you haveteardrops and all these sort of
like off-road kind of littletrailers that people are taking
(07:38):
with them and that's a whole newmarket that has come out for the
30 something year olds um thatcan kind of just sort of entry
level in there
SPEAKER_00 (07:48):
yeah well i mean obviously we have a lot of
friends in the in the campingcommunity and that's certainly a
trend i've noticed amongst thefolks that I know is that, that
more and more of them aregetting into what they call
overlanding, which is sort offour by four drag the super cool
camper into, you know, that hasthe, you can put out some giant
(08:10):
awning on it and all the thingsthat pull out, do the barbecue
in the back, all that sort ofjazz.
It's a, But you can still do itaway from everybody.
Like you're not even in a frontcountry situation, you know, at
Algonquin or wherever.
Not that it doesn't work there.
It's just you can lug it down alogging road or whatever and
veer off to the left somewhereby a nice little small little
(08:31):
lake and do some fishing for aweekend or whatever.
SPEAKER_01 (08:33):
Yeah, I think there's definitely that call to
try and for some people, youknow, it is that as we talked
about the ease of use, it'slike, OK, you know, we got the
weekend with the kids.
We need to get out into nature.
Let's make this as easy aspossible.
Pack everything up and we go to,you know, X, Y campsite that
we've been to before.
And we know we can get in and,you know, we like site number
(08:54):
nine and it's by the water,blah, blah, blah.
But then there's the sort ofoutdoor adventurer.
which is the more youthful thathas a bit more time and maybe
they are looking to more forthose unique experiences and
that unique content or whateverit might be to fulfill.
And I think that's somethingthat we've seen grow
(09:15):
significantly and has helpedgrow this market and what has
frankly made a lot of thecontent look cooler in that
regard.
So yeah, it's really neat.
SPEAKER_03 (09:25):
Yeah, so of the places like where you're
dragging your...
RV too.
It would might be a provincialpark.
It might be like a campground ofsome sort.
But where else where otherplaces where you might take your
RV or park your RV?
SPEAKER_01 (09:40):
Yeah, I mean, so in Canada, we are a little bit more
regulated, let's say than theUS.
So in the US, actually, theanswer would be anywhere.
because they're allowed toboondock, which means literally,
for those of you who don't know,pull over on the side of the
road and camp wherever you want,I'm sure, other than maybe like
a highway or something likethat.
But...
(10:01):
you know, in Canada, we are abit more regulated.
It does have to be sort of likea provincial park or a
campground or, you know,national park, et cetera.
Uh, but it can be on privateland.
Uh, and some people are doingthat.
You've seen things like, uh,harvest hosts, for example, that
do things and, you know,wineries and so on and so forth.
(10:22):
Um, and then there are parkinglots available.
Like if you're in, if you'regoing through a city and you're
like, oh man, we're not going tomake the campground tonight, or
we need to pause, you know,there are there are areas where
you are allowed to park invarious parking lots, like in
shopping malls and Walmarts andthings like that.
Obviously not ideal, but ifyou're in transit, then why not?
(10:42):
I mean, some people like to gofurther afield.
Like we said, Canada is a, youknow, a giant mosaic and it's
sometimes it doesn't, you know,you can't get there in just the
one push.
So you got to take a couple, butlook, I mean, with over 4,000
campgrounds in Canada, I likewe're spoiled for choice.
SPEAKER_00 (11:00):
Yes, we are.
Another, Oh, totally.
Right?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:20):
Yeah, I think that community is probably like for
me, that was the thing that whenI first started RVing, it was
kind of like, you know, I sortof pulled into my site.
And I think the people next doorcould tell I had no freaking
clue what I was doing, because,you know, they were instantly
coming out with all the gear andhelping me out with like
leveling my unit and everythinglike that.
(11:41):
But no, I think community orclose family and to be able to
travel together and, you Yeah,totally.
Like, you know, it's really hardto do that at a cottage, by the
way, you can only fit so manypeople in and so many people,
you know, beds and bunks andwhatever.
Whereas when you're camping, youhave all the outdoors and, you
(12:03):
know, all the natural space.
So I think we see that a lot.
I think it's definitely a greatthing to encourage and see.
SPEAKER_00 (12:10):
Well, yeah.
And I think, I mean, for me,it's, it's the comfort level
suits everybody.
I'm happy in a tent in the backcountry smelling like nobody's
been near me for seven days,which is fine.
I don't think my parents wouldbe so cool about doing the same
thing.
So if I can get them out, right.
Or my, or my sisters or whateverthat I think that that would be
(12:32):
a, then everybody's like, yeah,no nice soft bed.
I'm all good.
I can get up, you know, takethree steps, start frying bacon,
whatever.
Totally.
SPEAKER_01 (12:42):
I mean, it's like we're talking about here.
There's a use case foreverything.
I think, again, it has to startwith that propensity to
outdoors.
If you hate the outdoors, you'renot going to love camping or
RVing or whatever.
I mean, you could sit inside theRV and watch movies all day, I
guess.
But, you know, some people like,yeah, if it's raining, for some
people, it sucks.
Some people don't mind at all.
(13:03):
So, you know, RVing does providethe creature comforts of home
for sure.
Um, and also I would say thefreedom and flexibility to kind
of go at your own schedule,right?
Like, yes, you can do that, uh,back country camping, but you
know, obviously you have morerange in terms of what you can
do with, with that.
So I would say those are the,the, the two other benefits, but
(13:24):
you know, it really has to startall for all of us with that love
of nature.
SPEAKER_00 (13:28):
Yeah.
Agreed.
Some of the misconceptions thatyou run into, uh, well, okay, so
the first one that immediatelypops to mind for me is RVs are
expensive.
SPEAKER_01 (13:38):
Yeah, and the reality is that RVs can be
expensive.
Let's be honest.
This is discretionary income.
Some of these RVs go up to, as Isaid at the beginning here, like
half a million.
That's very rare that people aregoing to be in that segment.
I know.
Pocket change, yeah.
Yeah, totally, right?
Yeah, anytime.
Let's buy two.
(13:58):
Look, I mean, the way I wouldphrase it is that We see
entry-level RVs starting at$10,000.
Those are like tent trailers.
I think that that is, if you area tent camper and this is
something you did as a couplefor ages, but now you have two
kids and it's just getting alittle too difficult, that's
maybe your next stage.
(14:19):
But you can still live insuburbia and park it in your
driveway, et cetera, et cetera.
It ranges from there.
But the average RV is amortized.
So a lot of them are amortizedover 20 years, which means like
a$40,000 unit is like 300 bucksa month or under that.
So, you know, it is...
(14:41):
It's affordable relative toeverything else.
So I don't know if you guys havelooked at airline prices lately
or hotels.
SPEAKER_00 (14:50):
Not for a long time, but yeah, man.
SPEAKER_01 (14:53):
Yeah, it's crazy.
And then I've had someanecdotally, some people talk to
me about going to Disneylandwith the family and how much
that costs and so on and soforth.
And we've done some studiesthrough GoRVing and I won't
quote a whole bunch of stats ofit's 70% cheaper and this and
that.
I mean, again, everything isrelative.
I think...
The reality with RVing is thereis an RV for everyone and every
(15:14):
budget.
You just have to look carefullyat what you need out of a floor
plan.
But certainly that can be amisconception.
I would definitely agree withthat.
What's your other one?
What else comes to top of mindfor you
SPEAKER_00 (15:26):
guys?
Well, the next one is almost ajoke.
Everybody's heard that.
So I heard a bunch of swearingat the campsite last night.
I'm sure it was somebody parkingan RV.
We've
SPEAKER_03 (15:36):
experienced that personally.
Not us, but next to us.
SPEAKER_00 (15:41):
Next to Yes, yes.
And it was hilarious at the sametime.
It was terrifying.
He's going to knock the treedown now.
But I make the assumption that,again, technology being what it
is, it's come miles with camerasand being able to see in the
dark and all that sort of jazz.
Not somebody back therescreaming, no, left.
You're either left, you idiot.
SPEAKER_01 (16:02):
Well, you know, it's funny that still does exist.
Cause I'm thinking of myself andmy wife, but, uh, yeah, no,
it's, it's funny.
Even with all this tech, it's,uh, we, uh, we offer free, uh,
marriage counseling at go.
But, uh, no, I mean, look,everyone's seen it, um, pulling
into a campground at nighttimeafter a long day drive and like
(16:25):
being hungry and whatever isstressful.
No matter, you can throw all thesort of kit that you want in the
world.
world and all the cameras, it'sstill going to create some
issues potentially.
I will say it's gotten a loteasier for sure, obviously, with
the advent of calendars.
And it really comes down toplanning in that regard.
I think the biggest...
(16:48):
thing that you can have as anRVer in your plus column is a
plan.
Then if you have a backup planfor that plan, then that's a
good plan to have.
It's when you're rushed and it'swhen you're scrambling to do
stuff that mistakes are made andsomebody takes out a tree
inadvertently in a, in acampground or something like
(17:09):
that.
So yeah, it's a, you just got todo it carefully.
You just got to have that plan.
SPEAKER_03 (17:14):
Oh yeah.
And just back to the cost for asecond.
So you mentioned the amortizedthe cost over 20 years, you
said?
SPEAKER_01 (17:20):
Yeah, like up to 20 years.
And I, you know, I don't knowwhat all the financial guys are
doing now, but I know it'saround 20 years is our up to 20
years.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (17:28):
And is that because you anticipate that the RV will
last for
SPEAKER_01 (17:32):
20
SPEAKER_03 (17:32):
years?
SPEAKER_01 (17:33):
No, it's just the way financing works.
It's the same as a house.
It's like, you know, it'samortized over that period of
time.
And some people do keep them forthat period of time.
Obviously, warranties, youknow...
go and you can extend them andwhatever else.
And I think a lot of people dopass them on.
There's a big secondhand market.
That's why there's over 2million in Canada right now.
(17:55):
But yeah, you know, it's lifeuse depends on what your use for
it is or its lifespan depends onwhat your use is, I should say.
If you take park models, whichis like a segment that, you
know, we would consider RVingand is very much so, is the
seasonal segment and park modelsare there's definitely people
(18:17):
that own those for 15 or 20years and then fix them up as
they kind of go along.
Some of the travel trailers thatyou were talking about at the
beginning, I think, yeah, thosemaybe could be put out to
pasture.
But yeah, that's the way itworks.
And ultimately, you know, thebanks are pretty competitive
(18:37):
with their rates right now.
And yeah, I mean, you know, youhave to factor in the other
costs.
So that's what we want people todo.
When we have like anaffordability calculator on our
site where you can kind of go inand punch in your budget but
what we want to remind people ofis um you know maintenance costs
storage and then you know you'rerunning and running costs and
(18:59):
things like that so you have tomake sure that that's all kind
of put into the budget overallbecause that is part of what we
talk about with affordabilityand value
SPEAKER_03 (19:08):
Well, and there is the option just to rent one,
right?
So it's not, you don't have toown your own.
SPEAKER_01 (19:12):
No, and it's an option that I completely
encourage.
Like, you know, we're here toeducate and inform, inspire, I
guess, as well.
Well, very much so.
But I, you know, when I'm askedthe question, like, well, how do
I decide?
Like, you know, there arecertain things like you got to
look at, you know, do you wantto tow it?
Do you want to drive it?
(19:32):
How big does it need to be?
What's your budget?
You know, what can you fit inyour driveway?
Where will you store it?
You know, there's all thesecritical questions And the
number one thing people shouldactually do is go rent one.
You're totally right, Pam.
Like, I mean, just go rent oneand make sure that it's right
for you and your family.
We know that the majority ofpeople that are purchasing now
are trying before they buy.
And that could be rentingthrough, you know, one of the
(19:53):
peer-to-peer companies orthrough an RV dealer, which we
always recommend.
But yeah, going through a dealerand renting first, great way to
go.
SPEAKER_03 (20:03):
So they're a peer-to-peer, almost
SPEAKER_01 (20:06):
like an Airbnb.
Like an Airbnb
SPEAKER_03 (20:07):
kind
SPEAKER_01 (20:08):
of.
Yeah, so there's like, you know,the sort of Airbnb world has
come into RVing.
It's definitely something that'san option.
We do encourage people to take aclose look, like if they're
doing this, to make sure thatthe insurance is good and that
it's covered by the financialcompany and whatever else.
And I'm not saying that's notthe case.
(20:29):
Often it is.
It's all good, but definitelysomething to look out for.
That said...
could be a great option ifeverything's in order why not um
you know this is a great wayalso for owners to offset the
cost of rving when they're notactually using their units i
mean what's better than actuallywhen you're actually have
downtime you're kind of you knowrecouping some of the cost of
(20:51):
what it would be to sit in yourdriveway or wherever but again
you just got to check all thatout with an rv dealer or you
know the insurance
SPEAKER_00 (20:58):
um so i i was looking at things like
SPEAKER_01 (21:02):
uh
SPEAKER_00 (21:03):
I did a chat GPS or GPT thing.
And, and one of the things thatthey came up with, uh, as a
complaint, which I thought was,uh, yes and no, uh, that they're
like hotels on wheels.
Okay.
You can have that.
You can have all those amenitiesor not.
Like it's kind of you, there areall, all those options.
And it's the thing I keep goingback to is it's, it's about,
(21:29):
it's about the experience.
It's about getting out innature, man.
Like I don't, I don't even care.
If it means it's all glampy,okay.
You know, I mean, I do like tobe that stinky guy seven days
in.
That's totally my jam.
Listen, man, I
SPEAKER_01 (21:44):
told you I drove across the country in an RV with
three other dudes.
So I can tell you by the time Igot out of there, it was not
pretty.
SPEAKER_00 (21:50):
Unpleasant.
I'm with you.
I'm just going to solder mynostrils closed.
Yeah.
UNKNOWN (21:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (21:59):
Yeah, I mean, I see where you're going, Tim.
Look, I agree.
It's like anything in life.
It's like if you want to take avacation and go five-star and,
you know, like have the gourmet,whatever, the same food you have
at home, then fair enough.
But if you want to eat the localfood and go to a local
restaurant and, you know, gowander around the streets and,
you know, good on you.
(22:20):
It depends on– I'm not going tojudge.
You know, I happen to be thelatter.
But, you know, that's me and Ithink I'm the same– the sounds
of it with you.
It's like, I just want to kindof get out in nature.
I don't, you know, the creaturecomforts are great in terms of
having a nice bed to sleep on orwhatever, you know, the shower.
I mean, campgrounds have all gotshowers and, you know, an
(22:42):
outdoor shower is good enoughfor me personally.
It's all about that.
freedom and flexibility.
That's what I love is like, youknow what?
We don't love this situation.
Let's move this situation and goto another situation.
Let's go check that out.
Or let's go do that activityover there.
Let's call an audible.
And I think that that's what itaffords you the ability to do,
especially with some of thesesmaller, less glampy units that
(23:06):
you can really do overland likeyou were saying.
SPEAKER_00 (23:08):
Cool.
But another thing that hadoccurred to me was sort of the
environmental cost of RVs.
Because again, old guy, olddays.
Yeah.
that big old rickety thingspewing smoke out the back, uh,
which isn't the case anymore.
How have they, have theyimproved substantially with
their.
SPEAKER_01 (23:26):
Yeah.
With their emissions and thingslike that.
Yeah.
I mean, uh, well, I mean, I, Imentioned at the beginning kind
of the advent, well, our, ouradvent and the RV industry of
batteries.
And obviously there's a rangeissue there, but batteries are
coming in to support engines andhybrids and things like that.
Um, A couple of things I wouldsay, and I'm not going to roll a
(23:46):
banner here because I think thatfor me, the environment is
hugely important.
It's something from GoRV inCanada that's personal to me
that I want to encourage as muchenvironmental sustainability as
possible.
I believe that that's down tothe individual camper and RVer
and the footprint that we leavebehind.
To me, that's the more importantfactor or the impacting area.
(24:11):
But I will say in terms ofemissions and things like that
to answer...
the vehicles, most 80% of RVsare towed and the tow vehicles
are now more efficient.
So the engines have gottenbetter on emissions and they've
gotten more efficient in termsof their sort of ability.
And then for things like thebigger motor homes, obviously
those engines have altered, butthey're always going to have
(24:34):
somewhat of an impact.
But then if you compare thatimpact to taking a flight from
Toronto to Vancouver, how muchenvironmental impact is that?
I mean, I think everything'skind of relative.
And again, I'm not trying tosell that.
I just, I think that we have tolike keep that in mind.
SPEAKER_00 (24:51):
Yeah.
No, that's valid.
Something you mentioned earlierabout your website.
I spent a ton of time on it justgoing, Holy crap.
Look at all this stuff.
Give me, give me a brief causeit's huge.
Give me a brief idea of all theresources that you have on the
website.
SPEAKER_01 (25:08):
Yeah, totally.
And thanks.
We just launched our new site.
We're really happy.
Our main stay here isgoarving.ca.
That's why we're here to informand help inspire.
So there are inspirationalfactors.
There's a lot of video contenton there that's like, where can
I go?
Here are some trip guides forme.
(25:30):
I mean, I think for me as afirst time RVer, it was kind of
like, okay, so where do I go forseven days?
Give me some inspiration.
And so we've done a lot of that.
We've done a lot of trip guidesand a lot of sort of content
about here's how you go about itbut then there's the educational
component um which is reallylike so if i want to get into
this like pamela to your pointlike the the try before you buy
(25:51):
uh the questions you should askyour dealer the questions the
types of dealers that you knowyou should be approaching where
you can approach them etcdirectories for all that and
then going further down the sortof rabbit hole is like what we
would call like the avid rv orthe expert section which is more
like you know people swappingnotes on how they rv and how to
(26:13):
you know tips and tricks andhacks for rving and you know the
best most efficient way possibleum and our community is uh is
definitely a vocal one we'revery fortunate like both through
both social and on the site umrvers are avid about it and uh i
think it's it's neat to see theexchange of information but
(26:35):
again just like that kind ofexchange to help people out so
yeah and In a nutshell, GoRivineCanada is kind of set up in
those sort of three tiers, oneto inspire, one for like the
first timer, and then one morefor the expert on getting on the
road.
SPEAKER_00 (26:48):
Cool.
Well, and talking about yoursocials, we follow you on
Instagram, and I was quitesurprised at– And often
following off, you know, likesomebody who made a comment on
one of your, one of your postsor whatever, follow off on them.
And I was, I know you said, Ithink 55 is the average age now.
I was surprised at how muchyounger a lot of those
(27:09):
commenters were.
It was like, holy crap.
I had no idea.
SPEAKER_01 (27:12):
Yeah, I think it's crazy.
It seems like it's gettingyounger and younger.
And I'm trying to keep up withit, honestly.
I mean, it's kind of crazy forme to say.
But yeah, we sort of do thesecheck-ins and find out who is
our audience now and what arethey saying and what are they
about.
And typically, it's our audiencethat tells us what they want.
So as I said, they're prettyvocal about it.
(27:34):
But I think for me, the largestthing I'm seeing is kind of that
inspo, what I would call theinspo gap, which is really like
inspo.
Inspire me, like kind of tell mesomething that's off the beaten
path where I can go see this ordo that and give me, encourage
me into an activity that maybe Ihaven't thought about before or
something along those lines.
And I think that, you know,people want that inspiration of,
(27:58):
of like where to go, what to do,et cetera.
Maybe that's just the norm nowin social media is kind of
people, you know, like drivethere.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's it.
SPEAKER_00 (28:08):
Yeah.
Well, yes.
I mean, definitely in, in, in mystinky seven days in the back
country community, that's,that's exactly what the sort of
thing is.
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (28:18):
Yeah,
SPEAKER_00 (28:19):
it's
SPEAKER_01 (28:21):
not just food pictures anymore.
It's not just food picturesanymore.
(28:48):
We're not just going toencourage anyone just to do
that.
We think there's benefits ofgetting outdoors for mental
health, for family connection.
All of this is proven stuff.
It comes through a lot of ouradvertising, like with Wildhood,
where we're encouraging thefreedom to discover, to kind
of...
Break the rules that we were putinto this mold as right and sort
(29:11):
of be free be out in nature.
And that seems to resonatereally well with the audience
that we want to be working with.
We're trying to.
you know, have those moments ofconnections with Canadians.
And I think we're not to talkanything about what's going on
right now, but it feels kind ofCOVID-esque to me in a little,
(29:33):
in a, in a bit of a way.
We saw a big uptick, obviouslyduring COVID is the camping
industry as a whole did.
Everybody was like, Oh my God,what am I going to do?
I see that now.
It's like 75% of Canadians lastyear decided they were going to
stay in country for theirvacation, for their summer
holidays.
What are they going to do thisyear?
I think it's going to be, what,85% I'm guessing based on what's
(29:55):
happening.
The camping industry, thecampgrounds and RVing industry
better be ready because I thinkCanadians are going to want to
get outdoors.
They're certainly not going tobe happy just to stay in the
city or whatever.
It's good.
I think let's explore what wehave in our own backyard as we
keep saying and And we fullystand by it.
(30:15):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (30:16):
Our backyard is just awesome.
We're so lucky.
SPEAKER_00 (30:21):
We are very much lucky.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, and I agree, you know,it's, it's kind of poopy that
people can't necessarily do thethings that they want to do or
they choose not to be for otherreasons.
It means they get out in nature.
Okay.
I'm down with that.
Right.
Totally.
Yeah.
UNKNOWN (30:39):
Cool.
SPEAKER_03 (30:39):
All right, so if you're feeling super pumped now
about going RVing, what might besome of the best tips that you
have for somebody that's justbrand new?
SPEAKER_01 (30:49):
Yeah, it's the season, right?
Like we're all looking outdoorsand can't wait for this to
break.
But as I said earlier, likeplan.
The first thing is to plan.
So, you know, use GoRVing.ca asyour resource.
There's a directory there forrental or own, whatever you
prefer.
But all the dealers there havebeen, you know, kind of
(31:09):
sanctioned.
They're RVDA approved dealers inCanada.
Start there and look at booking,you know, your trip, the kind of
unit you need for the size offamily you have and then figure
out you know get someinspiration from us or talk to
you know fellow RVers or intoour community and find out kind
of like the campgrounds you wantto go to and you know like
(31:30):
anything else we've been talkingabout how it's going to get
super busy so I would just getahead of it now and start to
plan it out but definitely havethat plan put together pick out
your dates get to that dealerand then you know the rest will
kind of come together about whatto pack and you know what to
bring etc there's lots of stufflike that that we have available
for people but the first thingis get that plan in order yeah
(31:51):
just get out there and have agreat time i mean come on this
is it like uh get out intonature and feel the peace with
your with your friends andfamily that's that's all i can
say
SPEAKER_00 (32:01):
that works that's that pretty much covers it so
SPEAKER_01 (32:04):
yeah all right awesome guys thanks so much for
having me
SPEAKER_03 (32:08):
Oh, thanks for coming, Chris.
I really appreciate it.
I'll just kind of do our outroand then that's it for us today.
Thank you so much to Chris fromGoRVing for joining us and
sharing all that informationabout RVing.
And please do reach out to them.
What's the best way to reachyou, Chris?
Or just go to the website?
SPEAKER_01 (32:27):
Yeah, go to the website, GoRVing.ca or through
our social channels, GoRVingCanada.
SPEAKER_03 (32:33):
Awesome.
And then feel free to reach outto us anytime.
We're on Instagram, Facebook,YouTube, Twitter, X, and Blue
Sky.
And reach out to us anytime byemail if you'd like.
Our email is hi atsupergoodcampaign.com.
That's hi atsupergoodcampaign.com.
And we'll talk to you againsoon.
Bye.
SPEAKER_01 (32:52):
Bye.
Bye.
Thanks, guys.
Hello and good day.
Welcome to the Super GoodCamping Podcast.
My name is Pamela.
SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
I'm Tim.
SPEAKER_03 (00:05):
And we are from supergoodcamping.com.
We're here because we're on amission to inspire other people
to get outside and enjoy campingadventures such as we have as a
family.
Today's guest is a bit differentfor us in a good way.
Have you ever thought, I've gotto pack and lug all this gear to
the site, spend ages setting itup, do it all again on the way
out?
If so, today's guest may justhave a solution for you.
(00:27):
An easier, more convenient, lesslugging way to get outside and
get connected with nature.
Please welcome Chris Mahoney,the president of Go RVing
Canada.
SPEAKER_01 (00:36):
Hey guys.
Thank you.
Thanks for coming by.
I'm so happy to be here.
I'm a big fan.
SPEAKER_03 (00:44):
Excellent.
Thank
SPEAKER_01 (00:44):
you.
SPEAKER_00 (00:45):
Well, I think you've planted a bit of
SPEAKER_01 (00:47):
a seed for us.
I'm not selling any RVs today.
We're just here to have a goodtime and chat.
SPEAKER_03 (00:54):
Yeah, so you're not in the business of selling RVs
either.
No.
SPEAKER_01 (00:58):
No, that's the great thing is GoRVing, it's a really
cool organization.
We're not for profit.
We've been around for over 25years.
We're set up by themanufacturers and the RV dealers
and campgrounds to basicallypromote the RV lifestyle.
So we're completely brandagnostic.
We don't sell units.
(01:20):
We don't sell a particularbrand.
We just sell an idea, which is alot of fun.
I'm not going to lie.
It's a wild ride.
It's a ton of fun.
SPEAKER_03 (01:29):
And you're an RVer yourself, I see.
SPEAKER_01 (01:32):
I am, yeah.
My first RV experience was whenI moved to Canada after
university in my early 20s.
I won't tell you how long agothat was.
But drove across the country inan RV, a 32-foot Class C with
three buddies.
And three weeks later, it was alittle bit of a stinky affair,
(01:53):
but we had a blast.
Lots of great memories.
And that kind of got me hookedin there.
And my wife and I...
own a Airstream right now.
SPEAKER_00 (02:02):
Oh, cool.
SPEAKER_01 (02:03):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (02:03):
That should be a must-do for everybody, shouldn't
it?
What?
SPEAKER_00 (02:06):
Owning an Airstream?
No, no.
SPEAKER_03 (02:08):
Driving across the country.
SPEAKER_01 (02:10):
Yeah, I
SPEAKER_03 (02:11):
think it
SPEAKER_01 (02:12):
feels like a Canadian rite of passage, right?
I mean, it's like, yeah.
The best way to see
SPEAKER_03 (02:17):
it.
SPEAKER_00 (02:19):
Yeah.
Yeah, driving through theRockies is a pretty amazing deal
just on its own.
There's some very flat placesthat not so much fun, but...
SPEAKER_01 (02:28):
It definitely gets a bit gnarly after the prairies.
And if you're driving a 32footer for the first time, you
know, it can be a little nailbiting, but it's, it's
remarkable.
It's actually one of the thingsabout RVing that we're trying
to, one of the myths, and I'msure we'll talk about it today,
but it's like the drivabilityfactor.
They're actually a lot easier todrive than most people realize.
SPEAKER_03 (02:48):
Well, you don't need a special license or anything to
drive an RV, I assume.
SPEAKER_01 (02:52):
No.
So if you have, if you have amillion bucks or half a million
bucks and you've got a class amotor home, like the movie
stars, then for sure you need aZ class license for the airbrake
ones.
But, uh, no, 99% of for us, for,for the rest of us, uh, mere
mortals.
No, it's, uh, it's just aregular license.
SPEAKER_00 (03:11):
Cool.
And they, and I'm sure, I mean,being of a certain age, um, Back
when they were beige with goldstripes on them and stuff like
that, and noisy clunkers.
I see them out there now.
They're so much quieter.
They look so much more efficientthan they used to be.
They have so many more, I don'tknow, amenities on them if you
(03:35):
choose to.
SPEAKER_01 (03:36):
Yeah, I mean, like anything else, it's definitely
evolved.
I've been doing this for over 13years now.
And definitely in that time,I've seen some serious tech leap
forwards.
You know, both in likeefficiency, obviously, you know,
EVs have been huge for cars andRVs are behind that because of,
(04:00):
mostly because of like distanceand, you know, timing like that.
But there are, you know,electronic rvs coming and uh
that's part of it but i thinkmore just like you said the
amenities just the tech that'sgoing on inside and the
efficiencies they find insideplus the manufacturers have just
kind of figured out the floorplans like it's amazing what
(04:20):
they're doing with even even theclass b's which is which you
know we classify as the vansit's it's incredible what they
fit inside these sprinter vans ii'm just like shocked every time
they're just finding new andremarkable ways to build closets
and bathrooms and you know Oh,well, there's a bed you didn't
know that was there, et cetera,et cetera.
So it's kind of cool.
SPEAKER_00 (04:40):
Yeah.
And a slide out, you know,washing basin kitchen thing.
You can work on your barbecueout back.
Like it's just, yeah, it is.
That is mind boggling stuff.
Aren't those decks off the
SPEAKER_01 (04:49):
back crazy?
It's like you put your barbecueoff the back and then, you know,
then your ATVs come out and now,you know, you're, now, you know,
you're in the outdoors.
SPEAKER_00 (04:57):
Exactly.
So yeah.
For my money, at least in part,A, the word lugging plays
largely into it because youdon't.
You've loaded it up and away yougo.
You don't have to do it over andover and over and over.
So it seems to me you've got theopportunity to get into nature,
(05:20):
A, more quickly, B, potentiallymore often just because of the
lack of prep and stuff that youhave to do.
SPEAKER_01 (05:27):
Yeah, I think that's definitely the case.
I mean, you know, look, like,it's interesting.
So just to throw a stat outthere in terms of RVing in
Canada, like 14% of Canadianhouseholds own an RV.
So that's what we're talkingabout, like 2 million units.
It's like, this is a seriouslybig pastime for Canadians.
And it's, I think, especiallygiven recent circumstances, it's
(05:49):
only increasing.
But the reason why I raisedthat, Tim, is because Of those
14%, we're not...
you're not going to get anyoneRVing that doesn't have a
propensity to the outdoors.
That's what I've always said.
So you're going to startsomewhere in it.
And for most people, it is tentcamping.
And, you know, I'm stillsomewhat of a purist.
(06:11):
I still love to go and get in atent, by the way.
There's nothing, absolutely, Ithink that's a perfectly fine
thing to do.
But in terms of going away withthe family, and as we speak
about lugging, yeah, I thinkthat this is the solution.
It's like, you've got all thecreature comforts from home
you've got all the toys for thekids you've got the food you
(06:32):
know that everybody loves andit's all kind of packed up there
and you know what it just makesyour life a little bit easier
and therefore to your pointbeing able to do maybe a little
bit more often because of thatthat ease so yeah i think
there's there's a place for bothbut i i think that's the you for
me that's the use case for mostpeople um that are rving
SPEAKER_03 (06:53):
now yeah so it's not just the retirees that are that
are getting themselves
SPEAKER_01 (06:57):
no it's no it it's not, it's, uh, you know, I was
saying, I've been doing this for13 years.
It's funny.
I've seen the stat change, like,uh, 65% of RVers are now under
the age of 55.
So that, that should tell you.
And I think, you know, we see itthrough our channels on GoRVing
and, uh, through all theInstagram and things like that.
And, you know, the contentcreators that we work with, it's
(07:18):
definitely become cooler andmore youthful.
I think that manufacturers haveresponded with, you know, like
we had tent trailers, which wassort of your entry level um
coming in from as we weretalking about tent camping and
then i think now you haveteardrops and all these sort of
like off-road kind of littletrailers that people are taking
(07:38):
with them and that's a whole newmarket that has come out for the
30 something year olds um thatcan kind of just sort of entry
level in there
SPEAKER_00 (07:48):
yeah well i mean obviously we have a lot of
friends in the in the campingcommunity and that's certainly a
trend i've noticed amongst thefolks that I know is that, that
more and more of them aregetting into what they call
overlanding, which is sort offour by four drag the super cool
camper into, you know, that hasthe, you can put out some giant
(08:10):
awning on it and all the thingsthat pull out, do the barbecue
in the back, all that sort ofjazz.
It's a, But you can still do itaway from everybody.
Like you're not even in a frontcountry situation, you know, at
Algonquin or wherever.
Not that it doesn't work there.
It's just you can lug it down alogging road or whatever and
veer off to the left somewhereby a nice little small little
(08:31):
lake and do some fishing for aweekend or whatever.
SPEAKER_01 (08:33):
Yeah, I think there's definitely that call to
try and for some people, youknow, it is that as we talked
about the ease of use, it'slike, OK, you know, we got the
weekend with the kids.
We need to get out into nature.
Let's make this as easy aspossible.
Pack everything up and we go to,you know, X, Y campsite that
we've been to before.
And we know we can get in and,you know, we like site number
(08:54):
nine and it's by the water,blah, blah, blah.
But then there's the sort ofoutdoor adventurer.
which is the more youthful thathas a bit more time and maybe
they are looking to more forthose unique experiences and
that unique content or whateverit might be to fulfill.
And I think that's somethingthat we've seen grow
(09:15):
significantly and has helpedgrow this market and what has
frankly made a lot of thecontent look cooler in that
regard.
So yeah, it's really neat.
SPEAKER_03 (09:25):
Yeah, so of the places like where you're
dragging your...
RV too.
It would might be a provincialpark.
It might be like a campground ofsome sort.
But where else where otherplaces where you might take your
RV or park your RV?
SPEAKER_01 (09:40):
Yeah, I mean, so in Canada, we are a little bit more
regulated, let's say than theUS.
So in the US, actually, theanswer would be anywhere.
because they're allowed toboondock, which means literally,
for those of you who don't know,pull over on the side of the
road and camp wherever you want,I'm sure, other than maybe like
a highway or something likethat.
But...
(10:01):
you know, in Canada, we are abit more regulated.
It does have to be sort of likea provincial park or a
campground or, you know,national park, et cetera.
Uh, but it can be on privateland.
Uh, and some people are doingthat.
You've seen things like, uh,harvest hosts, for example, that
do things and, you know,wineries and so on and so forth.
(10:22):
Um, and then there are parkinglots available.
Like if you're in, if you'regoing through a city and you're
like, oh man, we're not going tomake the campground tonight, or
we need to pause, you know,there are there are areas where
you are allowed to park invarious parking lots, like in
shopping malls and Walmarts andthings like that.
Obviously not ideal, but ifyou're in transit, then why not?
(10:42):
I mean, some people like to gofurther afield.
Like we said, Canada is a, youknow, a giant mosaic and it's
sometimes it doesn't, you know,you can't get there in just the
one push.
So you got to take a couple, butlook, I mean, with over 4,000
campgrounds in Canada, I likewe're spoiled for choice.
SPEAKER_00 (11:00):
Yes, we are.
Another, Oh, totally.
Right?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:20):
Yeah, I think that community is probably like for
me, that was the thing that whenI first started RVing, it was
kind of like, you know, I sortof pulled into my site.
And I think the people next doorcould tell I had no freaking
clue what I was doing, because,you know, they were instantly
coming out with all the gear andhelping me out with like
leveling my unit and everythinglike that.
(11:41):
But no, I think community orclose family and to be able to
travel together and, you Yeah,totally.
Like, you know, it's really hardto do that at a cottage, by the
way, you can only fit so manypeople in and so many people,
you know, beds and bunks andwhatever.
Whereas when you're camping, youhave all the outdoors and, you
(12:03):
know, all the natural space.
So I think we see that a lot.
I think it's definitely a greatthing to encourage and see.
SPEAKER_00 (12:10):
Well, yeah.
And I think, I mean, for me,it's, it's the comfort level
suits everybody.
I'm happy in a tent in the backcountry smelling like nobody's
been near me for seven days,which is fine.
I don't think my parents wouldbe so cool about doing the same
thing.
So if I can get them out, right.
Or my, or my sisters or whateverthat I think that that would be
(12:32):
a, then everybody's like, yeah,no nice soft bed.
I'm all good.
I can get up, you know, takethree steps, start frying bacon,
whatever.
Totally.
SPEAKER_01 (12:42):
I mean, it's like we're talking about here.
There's a use case foreverything.
I think, again, it has to startwith that propensity to
outdoors.
If you hate the outdoors, you'renot going to love camping or
RVing or whatever.
I mean, you could sit inside theRV and watch movies all day, I
guess.
But, you know, some people like,yeah, if it's raining, for some
people, it sucks.
Some people don't mind at all.
(13:03):
So, you know, RVing does providethe creature comforts of home
for sure.
Um, and also I would say thefreedom and flexibility to kind
of go at your own schedule,right?
Like, yes, you can do that, uh,back country camping, but you
know, obviously you have morerange in terms of what you can
do with, with that.
So I would say those are the,the, the two other benefits, but
(13:24):
you know, it really has to startall for all of us with that love
of nature.
SPEAKER_00 (13:28):
Yeah.
Agreed.
Some of the misconceptions thatyou run into, uh, well, okay, so
the first one that immediatelypops to mind for me is RVs are
expensive.
SPEAKER_01 (13:38):
Yeah, and the reality is that RVs can be
expensive.
Let's be honest.
This is discretionary income.
Some of these RVs go up to, as Isaid at the beginning here, like
half a million.
That's very rare that people aregoing to be in that segment.
I know.
Pocket change, yeah.
Yeah, totally, right?
Yeah, anytime.
Let's buy two.
(13:58):
Look, I mean, the way I wouldphrase it is that We see
entry-level RVs starting at$10,000.
Those are like tent trailers.
I think that that is, if you area tent camper and this is
something you did as a couplefor ages, but now you have two
kids and it's just getting alittle too difficult, that's
maybe your next stage.
(14:19):
But you can still live insuburbia and park it in your
driveway, et cetera, et cetera.
It ranges from there.
But the average RV is amortized.
So a lot of them are amortizedover 20 years, which means like
a$40,000 unit is like 300 bucksa month or under that.
So, you know, it is...
(14:41):
It's affordable relative toeverything else.
So I don't know if you guys havelooked at airline prices lately
or hotels.
SPEAKER_00 (14:50):
Not for a long time, but yeah, man.
SPEAKER_01 (14:53):
Yeah, it's crazy.
And then I've had someanecdotally, some people talk to
me about going to Disneylandwith the family and how much
that costs and so on and soforth.
And we've done some studiesthrough GoRVing and I won't
quote a whole bunch of stats ofit's 70% cheaper and this and
that.
I mean, again, everything isrelative.
I think...
The reality with RVing is thereis an RV for everyone and every
(15:14):
budget.
You just have to look carefullyat what you need out of a floor
plan.
But certainly that can be amisconception.
I would definitely agree withthat.
What's your other one?
What else comes to top of mindfor you
SPEAKER_00 (15:26):
guys?
Well, the next one is almost ajoke.
Everybody's heard that.
So I heard a bunch of swearingat the campsite last night.
I'm sure it was somebody parkingan RV.
We've
SPEAKER_03 (15:36):
experienced that personally.
Not us, but next to us.
SPEAKER_00 (15:41):
Next to Yes, yes.
And it was hilarious at the sametime.
It was terrifying.
He's going to knock the treedown now.
But I make the assumption that,again, technology being what it
is, it's come miles with camerasand being able to see in the
dark and all that sort of jazz.
Not somebody back therescreaming, no, left.
You're either left, you idiot.
SPEAKER_01 (16:02):
Well, you know, it's funny that still does exist.
Cause I'm thinking of myself andmy wife, but, uh, yeah, no,
it's, it's funny.
Even with all this tech, it's,uh, we, uh, we offer free, uh,
marriage counseling at go.
But, uh, no, I mean, look,everyone's seen it, um, pulling
into a campground at nighttimeafter a long day drive and like
(16:25):
being hungry and whatever isstressful.
No matter, you can throw all thesort of kit that you want in the
world.
world and all the cameras, it'sstill going to create some
issues potentially.
I will say it's gotten a loteasier for sure, obviously, with
the advent of calendars.
And it really comes down toplanning in that regard.
I think the biggest...
(16:48):
thing that you can have as anRVer in your plus column is a
plan.
Then if you have a backup planfor that plan, then that's a
good plan to have.
It's when you're rushed and it'swhen you're scrambling to do
stuff that mistakes are made andsomebody takes out a tree
inadvertently in a, in acampground or something like
(17:09):
that.
So yeah, it's a, you just got todo it carefully.
You just got to have that plan.
SPEAKER_03 (17:14):
Oh yeah.
And just back to the cost for asecond.
So you mentioned the amortizedthe cost over 20 years, you
said?
SPEAKER_01 (17:20):
Yeah, like up to 20 years.
And I, you know, I don't knowwhat all the financial guys are
doing now, but I know it'saround 20 years is our up to 20
years.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (17:28):
And is that because you anticipate that the RV will
last for
SPEAKER_01 (17:32):
20
SPEAKER_03 (17:32):
years?
SPEAKER_01 (17:33):
No, it's just the way financing works.
It's the same as a house.
It's like, you know, it'samortized over that period of
time.
And some people do keep them forthat period of time.
Obviously, warranties, youknow...
go and you can extend them andwhatever else.
And I think a lot of people dopass them on.
There's a big secondhand market.
That's why there's over 2million in Canada right now.
(17:55):
But yeah, you know, it's lifeuse depends on what your use for
it is or its lifespan depends onwhat your use is, I should say.
If you take park models, whichis like a segment that, you
know, we would consider RVingand is very much so, is the
seasonal segment and park modelsare there's definitely people
(18:17):
that own those for 15 or 20years and then fix them up as
they kind of go along.
Some of the travel trailers thatyou were talking about at the
beginning, I think, yeah, thosemaybe could be put out to
pasture.
But yeah, that's the way itworks.
And ultimately, you know, thebanks are pretty competitive
(18:37):
with their rates right now.
And yeah, I mean, you know, youhave to factor in the other
costs.
So that's what we want people todo.
When we have like anaffordability calculator on our
site where you can kind of go inand punch in your budget but
what we want to remind people ofis um you know maintenance costs
storage and then you know you'rerunning and running costs and
(18:59):
things like that so you have tomake sure that that's all kind
of put into the budget overallbecause that is part of what we
talk about with affordabilityand value
SPEAKER_03 (19:08):
Well, and there is the option just to rent one,
right?
So it's not, you don't have toown your own.
SPEAKER_01 (19:12):
No, and it's an option that I completely
encourage.
Like, you know, we're here toeducate and inform, inspire, I
guess, as well.
Well, very much so.
But I, you know, when I'm askedthe question, like, well, how do
I decide?
Like, you know, there arecertain things like you got to
look at, you know, do you wantto tow it?
Do you want to drive it?
(19:32):
How big does it need to be?
What's your budget?
You know, what can you fit inyour driveway?
Where will you store it?
You know, there's all thesecritical questions And the
number one thing people shouldactually do is go rent one.
You're totally right, Pam.
Like, I mean, just go rent oneand make sure that it's right
for you and your family.
We know that the majority ofpeople that are purchasing now
are trying before they buy.
And that could be rentingthrough, you know, one of the
(19:53):
peer-to-peer companies orthrough an RV dealer, which we
always recommend.
But yeah, going through a dealerand renting first, great way to
go.
SPEAKER_03 (20:03):
So they're a peer-to-peer, almost
SPEAKER_01 (20:06):
like an Airbnb.
Like an Airbnb
SPEAKER_03 (20:07):
kind
SPEAKER_01 (20:08):
of.
Yeah, so there's like, you know,the sort of Airbnb world has
come into RVing.
It's definitely something that'san option.
We do encourage people to take aclose look, like if they're
doing this, to make sure thatthe insurance is good and that
it's covered by the financialcompany and whatever else.
And I'm not saying that's notthe case.
(20:29):
Often it is.
It's all good, but definitelysomething to look out for.
That said...
could be a great option ifeverything's in order why not um
you know this is a great wayalso for owners to offset the
cost of rving when they're notactually using their units i
mean what's better than actuallywhen you're actually have
downtime you're kind of you knowrecouping some of the cost of
(20:51):
what it would be to sit in yourdriveway or wherever but again
you just got to check all thatout with an rv dealer or you
know the insurance
SPEAKER_00 (20:58):
um so i i was looking at things like
SPEAKER_01 (21:02):
uh
SPEAKER_00 (21:03):
I did a chat GPS or GPT thing.
And, and one of the things thatthey came up with, uh, as a
complaint, which I thought was,uh, yes and no, uh, that they're
like hotels on wheels.
Okay.
You can have that.
You can have all those amenitiesor not.
Like it's kind of you, there areall, all those options.
And it's the thing I keep goingback to is it's, it's about,
(21:29):
it's about the experience.
It's about getting out innature, man.
Like I don't, I don't even care.
If it means it's all glampy,okay.
You know, I mean, I do like tobe that stinky guy seven days
in.
That's totally my jam.
Listen, man, I
SPEAKER_01 (21:44):
told you I drove across the country in an RV with
three other dudes.
So I can tell you by the time Igot out of there, it was not
pretty.
SPEAKER_00 (21:50):
Unpleasant.
I'm with you.
I'm just going to solder mynostrils closed.
Yeah.
UNKNOWN (21:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (21:59):
Yeah, I mean, I see where you're going, Tim.
Look, I agree.
It's like anything in life.
It's like if you want to take avacation and go five-star and,
you know, like have the gourmet,whatever, the same food you have
at home, then fair enough.
But if you want to eat the localfood and go to a local
restaurant and, you know, gowander around the streets and,
you know, good on you.
(22:20):
It depends on– I'm not going tojudge.
You know, I happen to be thelatter.
But, you know, that's me and Ithink I'm the same– the sounds
of it with you.
It's like, I just want to kindof get out in nature.
I don't, you know, the creaturecomforts are great in terms of
having a nice bed to sleep on orwhatever, you know, the shower.
I mean, campgrounds have all gotshowers and, you know, an
(22:42):
outdoor shower is good enoughfor me personally.
It's all about that.
freedom and flexibility.
That's what I love is like, youknow what?
We don't love this situation.
Let's move this situation and goto another situation.
Let's go check that out.
Or let's go do that activityover there.
Let's call an audible.
And I think that that's what itaffords you the ability to do,
especially with some of thesesmaller, less glampy units that
(23:06):
you can really do overland likeyou were saying.
SPEAKER_00 (23:08):
Cool.
But another thing that hadoccurred to me was sort of the
environmental cost of RVs.
Because again, old guy, olddays.
Yeah.
that big old rickety thingspewing smoke out the back, uh,
which isn't the case anymore.
How have they, have theyimproved substantially with
their.
SPEAKER_01 (23:26):
Yeah.
With their emissions and thingslike that.
Yeah.
I mean, uh, well, I mean, I, Imentioned at the beginning kind
of the advent, well, our, ouradvent and the RV industry of
batteries.
And obviously there's a rangeissue there, but batteries are
coming in to support engines andhybrids and things like that.
Um, A couple of things I wouldsay, and I'm not going to roll a
(23:46):
banner here because I think thatfor me, the environment is
hugely important.
It's something from GoRV inCanada that's personal to me
that I want to encourage as muchenvironmental sustainability as
possible.
I believe that that's down tothe individual camper and RVer
and the footprint that we leavebehind.
To me, that's the more importantfactor or the impacting area.
(24:11):
But I will say in terms ofemissions and things like that
to answer...
the vehicles, most 80% of RVsare towed and the tow vehicles
are now more efficient.
So the engines have gottenbetter on emissions and they've
gotten more efficient in termsof their sort of ability.
And then for things like thebigger motor homes, obviously
those engines have altered, butthey're always going to have
(24:34):
somewhat of an impact.
But then if you compare thatimpact to taking a flight from
Toronto to Vancouver, how muchenvironmental impact is that?
I mean, I think everything'skind of relative.
And again, I'm not trying tosell that.
I just, I think that we have tolike keep that in mind.
SPEAKER_00 (24:51):
Yeah.
No, that's valid.
Something you mentioned earlierabout your website.
I spent a ton of time on it justgoing, Holy crap.
Look at all this stuff.
Give me, give me a brief causeit's huge.
Give me a brief idea of all theresources that you have on the
website.
SPEAKER_01 (25:08):
Yeah, totally.
And thanks.
We just launched our new site.
We're really happy.
Our main stay here isgoarving.ca.
That's why we're here to informand help inspire.
So there are inspirationalfactors.
There's a lot of video contenton there that's like, where can
I go?
Here are some trip guides forme.
(25:30):
I mean, I think for me as afirst time RVer, it was kind of
like, okay, so where do I go forseven days?
Give me some inspiration.
And so we've done a lot of that.
We've done a lot of trip guidesand a lot of sort of content
about here's how you go about itbut then there's the educational
component um which is reallylike so if i want to get into
this like pamela to your pointlike the the try before you buy
(25:51):
uh the questions you should askyour dealer the questions the
types of dealers that you knowyou should be approaching where
you can approach them etcdirectories for all that and
then going further down the sortof rabbit hole is like what we
would call like the avid rv orthe expert section which is more
like you know people swappingnotes on how they rv and how to
(26:13):
you know tips and tricks andhacks for rving and you know the
best most efficient way possibleum and our community is uh is
definitely a vocal one we'revery fortunate like both through
both social and on the site umrvers are avid about it and uh i
think it's it's neat to see theexchange of information but
(26:35):
again just like that kind ofexchange to help people out so
yeah and In a nutshell, GoRivineCanada is kind of set up in
those sort of three tiers, oneto inspire, one for like the
first timer, and then one morefor the expert on getting on the
road.
SPEAKER_00 (26:48):
Cool.
Well, and talking about yoursocials, we follow you on
Instagram, and I was quitesurprised at– And often
following off, you know, likesomebody who made a comment on
one of your, one of your postsor whatever, follow off on them.
And I was, I know you said, Ithink 55 is the average age now.
I was surprised at how muchyounger a lot of those
(27:09):
commenters were.
It was like, holy crap.
I had no idea.
SPEAKER_01 (27:12):
Yeah, I think it's crazy.
It seems like it's gettingyounger and younger.
And I'm trying to keep up withit, honestly.
I mean, it's kind of crazy forme to say.
But yeah, we sort of do thesecheck-ins and find out who is
our audience now and what arethey saying and what are they
about.
And typically, it's our audiencethat tells us what they want.
So as I said, they're prettyvocal about it.
(27:34):
But I think for me, the largestthing I'm seeing is kind of that
inspo, what I would call theinspo gap, which is really like
inspo.
Inspire me, like kind of tell mesomething that's off the beaten
path where I can go see this ordo that and give me, encourage
me into an activity that maybe Ihaven't thought about before or
something along those lines.
And I think that, you know,people want that inspiration of,
(27:58):
of like where to go, what to do,et cetera.
Maybe that's just the norm nowin social media is kind of
people, you know, like drivethere.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's it.
SPEAKER_00 (28:08):
Yeah.
Well, yes.
I mean, definitely in, in, in mystinky seven days in the back
country community, that's,that's exactly what the sort of
thing is.
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (28:18):
Yeah,
SPEAKER_00 (28:19):
it's
SPEAKER_01 (28:21):
not just food pictures anymore.
It's not just food picturesanymore.
(28:48):
We're not just going toencourage anyone just to do
that.
We think there's benefits ofgetting outdoors for mental
health, for family connection.
All of this is proven stuff.
It comes through a lot of ouradvertising, like with Wildhood,
where we're encouraging thefreedom to discover, to kind
of...
Break the rules that we were putinto this mold as right and sort
(29:11):
of be free be out in nature.
And that seems to resonatereally well with the audience
that we want to be working with.
We're trying to.
you know, have those moments ofconnections with Canadians.
And I think we're not to talkanything about what's going on
right now, but it feels kind ofCOVID-esque to me in a little,
(29:33):
in a, in a bit of a way.
We saw a big uptick, obviouslyduring COVID is the camping
industry as a whole did.
Everybody was like, Oh my God,what am I going to do?
I see that now.
It's like 75% of Canadians lastyear decided they were going to
stay in country for theirvacation, for their summer
holidays.
What are they going to do thisyear?
I think it's going to be, what,85% I'm guessing based on what's
(29:55):
happening.
The camping industry, thecampgrounds and RVing industry
better be ready because I thinkCanadians are going to want to
get outdoors.
They're certainly not going tobe happy just to stay in the
city or whatever.
It's good.
I think let's explore what wehave in our own backyard as we
keep saying and And we fullystand by it.
(30:15):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (30:16):
Our backyard is just awesome.
We're so lucky.
SPEAKER_00 (30:21):
We are very much lucky.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, and I agree, you know,it's, it's kind of poopy that
people can't necessarily do thethings that they want to do or
they choose not to be for otherreasons.
It means they get out in nature.
Okay.
I'm down with that.
Right.
Totally.
Yeah.
UNKNOWN (30:39):
Cool.
SPEAKER_03 (30:39):
All right, so if you're feeling super pumped now
about going RVing, what might besome of the best tips that you
have for somebody that's justbrand new?
SPEAKER_01 (30:49):
Yeah, it's the season, right?
Like we're all looking outdoorsand can't wait for this to
break.
But as I said earlier, likeplan.
The first thing is to plan.
So, you know, use GoRVing.ca asyour resource.
There's a directory there forrental or own, whatever you
prefer.
But all the dealers there havebeen, you know, kind of
(31:09):
sanctioned.
They're RVDA approved dealers inCanada.
Start there and look at booking,you know, your trip, the kind of
unit you need for the size offamily you have and then figure
out you know get someinspiration from us or talk to
you know fellow RVers or intoour community and find out kind
of like the campgrounds you wantto go to and you know like
(31:30):
anything else we've been talkingabout how it's going to get
super busy so I would just getahead of it now and start to
plan it out but definitely havethat plan put together pick out
your dates get to that dealerand then you know the rest will
kind of come together about whatto pack and you know what to
bring etc there's lots of stufflike that that we have available
for people but the first thingis get that plan in order yeah
(31:51):
just get out there and have agreat time i mean come on this
is it like uh get out intonature and feel the peace with
your with your friends andfamily that's that's all i can
say
SPEAKER_00 (32:01):
that works that's that pretty much covers it so
SPEAKER_01 (32:04):
yeah all right awesome guys thanks so much for
having me
SPEAKER_03 (32:08):
Oh, thanks for coming, Chris.
I really appreciate it.
I'll just kind of do our outroand then that's it for us today.
Thank you so much to Chris fromGoRVing for joining us and
sharing all that informationabout RVing.
And please do reach out to them.
What's the best way to reachyou, Chris?
Or just go to the website?
SPEAKER_01 (32:27):
Yeah, go to the website, GoRVing.ca or through
our social channels, GoRVingCanada.
SPEAKER_03 (32:33):
Awesome.
And then feel free to reach outto us anytime.
We're on Instagram, Facebook,YouTube, Twitter, X, and Blue
Sky.
And reach out to us anytime byemail if you'd like.
Our email is hi atsupergoodcampaign.com.
That's hi atsupergoodcampaign.com.
And we'll talk to you againsoon.
Bye.
SPEAKER_01 (32:52):
Bye.
Bye.
Thanks, guys.
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