August 13, 2023 • 39 mins
RVing from Village of Trees RV Resort in Southeast Idaho, Sherri & Russ explore scheduling RV Travel around full time work on the road: Planning travel days, finding best places to stay for work and fun, and what to look for when choosing your campground and campsites: RV Starlink, anyone?
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- 08-13-2023 - EPISODE 2 - (00:39:25)
- Title: RV Travel Planning For Work
EPISODE SUMMARY:
Ever caught yourself dreaming about a life of adventure… only to be rudely awakened to the mounting responsibilities of “real life” and a full-time job? Your nomadic hosts, Sherri & Russ, have been there too! We share our unique journey as we navigate the challenging, yet rewarding life of RV Nomads, balancing the demands of full time work and the thrill of the open road.
In this episode, we’ll let you in on our secret weapon for scheduling RV Travel while working full time: RV Life Trip Wizard. We’ll open up our calendar and show you how we(Sherri) figure(s) it all out, from coming up with The Master Travel Plan to scheduling, mapping, and finding those quirky campgrounds and cool places we love so much.
Stay with us to the end for an honest conversation about RV Starlink – the benefits and limitations – and the challenge of protecting that Starlink dishy on the ground (you’d be surprised!). Finally, we’ll share a riveting personal story of the ‘pistol-whipping daisy’ and its connection to safeguarding our Starlink from the unpredictable forces of nature…
- - - - - HIGHLIGHTS - - - - -
- (00:00:01) - Scheduling RV Travel While Working Full Time
- (00:15:06) - Finding Quirky Campgrounds w/ RV Life Trip Wizard
- (00:23:30) - Travel Days: 2-2-2 or 3-3-3? Why 6-6-6 is Best!
- (00:32:08) - Secrets For Saving $$ & Choosing Your Perfect Site
- (00:34:14) - RV Starlink and The Pistol-Whipping Daisy…
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Be sure to LIKE - SHARE - Subscribe or Follow - on your favorite podcast platform! 😉
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SPONSORS & AFFILIATES
Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means we will earn a commission on the products or services you purchase using the links. There is no additional cost to you and the earnings help keep this program running. Thank You!!! Read our Affiliate Disclaimer for more information.
>> FEATURED FOR THIS EPISODE:
- BLACKSTONE 28-inch Griddle w/ Hood Grill Station - Russ’s absolute favorite BBQ grill ever for full time RV life. The hood cover and folding outdoor table stand are must-haves. Don’t forget the accessories! ****** PERFECT GIFT IDEA for Dads, Husbands, BBQ Masters! *****
>> RV WORK LIFE BALANCE TRUSTED RV AFFILIATES:
- RV Life Trip Wizard - We rely on RV Life Trip Wizard for RV trip planning, campground info, reviews & RV-friendly GPS!
- FMCA - Family Motor Coach Association - Find your tribe on the road & so much more with the #1 RV Travel Club!
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EPISODE LINKS & RESOURCES:
- More: Harvest Hosts: ‘Free’ Overnight RV Parking For Travel Days
- All About RV Shows & Rally Camping on the NIRVC Blog (by Sherri)
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KEEP IN TOUCH!
- Like, Comment, Subscribe or Follow & Share RV Work Life Balance on your favorite podcast app!
- Visit Sherri & Russ at BooksAndTravelUSA.com - Subscribe to the blog!
- Facebook: facebook.com/BooksAndTravelUSA
- Email: sherri@BooksAndTravelUSA.com
If you’d like to SPONSOR The RV Work-Life Balance Podcast or work with us on a feature or interview, contact: sherri@BooksAndTravelUSA.com
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
<Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, you've reached the Caldwells.
Please leave a message and we will get back with you to Sisu.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to the RV Work Life Balance podcast with your traveling nomadic hosts, Sherri and Russ Caldwell.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hey, that's us.
We're living the dream, working from home.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
baby no matter where home is.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
And you can too.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
All right, thanks for joining us again.
It's great to see you again.
We're here from you again, maybe.
What are we going to say?
Cheers, cheers, everybody, cheers.
Okay, I got to ask because it's my favorite question of the week.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Where are we today?
Because you don't really know right, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I always have to look out the window and you have to tell me when are we at.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Today this week we are in the southeastern Idaho on the Snake River and we are at the Village of Trees RV Resort.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Is it Village of the Trees or Village of Trees?
Village of Trees RV Resort Because I thought it was like Village of the Damned for a while.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
This is actually our second time at this location, which is really weird because the first time we came through here from Walla Walla Washington heading out east and we stayed here.
And when we first drove up because it's like, okay, you take the exit off the highway, the interstate, and then you turn left at the gas station, basically it's a truck stop.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
We're behind the gas station.
When we first came here, this is literally what happened and if the owners of this place hear this we love you, but we pulled up to the gas station and there's nothing anywhere around.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
We couldn't really see down into the campground.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Because of all the trees from the name and we were like, should we just turn around and leave?
We literally said that to each other.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
It was gas station.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
It was a gas station.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah, but we didn't.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
No, and within five minutes.
We were glad we did that.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, actually we do that a lot.
We roll up into a new situation and it's like ugh.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I don't know about this, but then by the end of the week, we're loving it, in fact it seems like the more weirded out or concerned we are, the more we end up loving the place, and we might have mentioned this before.
Another one was when we went into Montana and there were fires everywhere around the mountains.
(02:52):
We were guided through a valley that had been burning recently the valley of death.
It was just looked horrible.
I'm like should we be driving through all this burned stuff?
And when we got there it was in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
And we pulled over at one point on the side of the road, this little, tight little valley, and there were a bunch of cows on this hillside right next to the road and they're all looking at us like turn around, you're going to die, go back now Go turn around.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
And we got there in the big open fields there, between all these mountain ranges that were on fire.
We had a fantastic time there.
It was beautiful, it was beautiful, and so you know what, the more weird we like.
Give it a chance, let's see and look, we're back again.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Yeah, because it is actually beautiful.
It is out in the middle of nowhere, but it's on the Oregon Trail, the old Oregon Trail.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
And literally right on the Snake River, which is super cool.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
We can see and walk down to the docks, the campground, access to the river, just right.
I mean, I don't know, Is it 100 yards from our side?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah about that, and in between us and the river is what.
The horses, horses, which is last time we were here we took tons of photos of these horses that just wander around in the field and it's mothers and their foals kind of thing.
Right, it's just.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Mama, horses and the baby horses.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It's so cool and they come down.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
There's a ranch further down the street, I guess or down the way, down the fields and they just come wandering up to the campground every afternoon.
And it's about my clockwork 20 horses maybe yeah about that.
And they're just adorable.
So we get to see the horses and that makes this campground super special.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
A lot of our Nice, a lot of our photos are these horses.
We're taking a lot of pictures of horses.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Lots of trees, very green green grass that they water every single day Very good, so it's very green, cool campground, beautiful.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
One of my other things is that it is a gas station at the front right.
There are a lot of people getting gas there, but it's also they make all this food and they deliver it to your rig, so we've done that once.
Last time we had breakfast served here, but they sent pizzas and they have ice cream, sandwiches and hamburgers, and they'll bring it to you.
(05:24):
It's just amazing.
So this is high on our list of quirky places that we just love.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, absolutely Love it.
So that kind of brings us to our topic of the day.
Is you know how do you schedule travel while working full time?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, that's.
That's an important topic.
You know, like we're not vacationing, we're not retired, and so scheduling is a very big challenge and that is my wife's responsibility and she has a tough job all the time and so how do we schedule that?
It's like it's one of the most important things when you're balancing this work and life schedule and if you're a retiree or you're on vacation, you look at where you go, it's totally different.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, what could go wrong?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
right, you're just on vacation, but when you have to work Monday through Friday, whether it's online or otherwise, it's a little more challenging.
So how do we go about doing that?
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah, well, my, my big secret is I do use RV Life Trip Wizard, which is an incredible planning tool that I'm sure we've talked about and we'll talk about again, but specifically for planning our travels for work.
(06:40):
Overall, we base it on our family calendar and work events.
For example, we are currently headed toward Wyoming for a big FMCA rally.
Yay, it's gonna be fun when we'll be parking with our AIM Club group.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, if we haven't mentioned, for AIM is all-inclusive motor homes.
It's a really cool group, but if you go to FMCA, aim puts on a great free show Free food, free entertainment, lots of great people.
So check it out if you go to FMCA.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
So much fun, everybody's welcome and, yeah, it's a fantastic group.
So when you go into these rallies you actually can camp.
You go in in caravans, which is groups of people who are in the same club.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Yeah, it could be by the brand of their rig.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
They all, some of them are group Integra Coach has their own neighborhood At the rallies.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
And then you can choose.
There's very different groups and we go in typically with AIM.
We've done it with Integra once but a lot of times we'll go with AIM because they put on a great show and just everybody's just so interesting, because they travel a lot and we love that.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Yeah, and everybody is invited.
So we can talk about more about that later.
So pretty much there's two big international conventions and RV rallies put on by FMCA, which is the Family Motor Coach Association, and those are typically in March and August.
(08:20):
So we are on our way to the August rally in Gillette, wyoming this year.
So I guess the rest of our schedule throughout the year may.
We typically are in Las Vegas for a big tech convention.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah, for work, for res, vegas is really fun certain times of the year.
One.
You got to go there because we have to go there because of work.
But if you go to Vegas obviously it's sometimes hot there.
We were recently.
There was very hot.
So picking your times.
In fact, if you've heard some of the previous podcasts, we talked about getting locked in at a Red Rocks.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah, yeah so lots of fun stuff there, but that's typically one of the places we're in in May is Vegas.
Yeah, for that conference, and then July, june, july, august, some four to six weeks, and there we are usually up in Washington State, which is our home base, so that we can see our kids up there and family and take care of our annual maintenance things.
(09:30):
Yeah, and then by Labor Day, after the FMCA rally in Wyoming this year, we typically spend Labor Day with family in St Louis.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Silver Lobster Farm.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah, which are aunt and uncle.
Although they're closer, they're more an age like cousins but anyway they put in a 50 amp pedestal just for us so that we could be there.
And the reason that's our Labor Day destination is because there is a huge Labor Day celebration and festival at the at the church local church there.
(10:14):
Yeah, outside it's big time.
Great music and food, and a lot of fun and blow up things for the kids to jump in and all that.
So we try to be in St.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Louis for Labor Day.
That's right.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
At our special spot there.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Save that spot.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
It's like our own personal Harvest Host location.
But anyway, this year which, by the way, it's really.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
It's referred to as mooch docking.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Oh right.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So if you're boondocking, you're out in the middle of nowhere.
You have no hookups.
If you got full hookups somewhere to campground, like where we are now.
But mooch docking is when you're usually at a friends or families and you have partial hookups.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
And we are getting 50 sweet, sweet amps off of because I specifically put that in for Monica.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Thank you for the sweet, sweet.
We love you so yeah, so it's awesome in a couple weeks Now we still have to be very careful how much water and sewer in great great things, but it's awesome.
Yeah, yeah.
So Labor Day in St Louis, and then this year we are heading down to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival in October.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
So awesome.
We didn't get in at first, right we?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
were denied.
Right.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
So we're like, oh well, maybe next year.
And then what happened?
Speaker 1 (11:34):
We're going in with the Integra Coach Owners Association, which is another group.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
We got in more than once, though.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yes, because then the big festival sent us an email saying hey, we've got room for you now.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
And we were like yeah we're double invited and we had to change which way to go, which is great, so we're very excited.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
That'll be our first time at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival, which is a huge thing, a huge RV encampment.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, we didn't know much about it, of course, until we hit the road and learn in, met a lot of RVers, and what's cool about our Albuquerque excuse me is apparently they call it the Albuquerque Box, I believe, where the wind blows one direction low.
So the balloons can go up to a low level.
It goes one direction, then they rise up and the wind direction goes the opposite way, so they can come all the way back and come down where they started.
(12:24):
Now it doesn't happen 100%, but generally it means you have a very predictable ride on these balloons, which is really, really cool.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Talking about Albuquerque and the balloon festival in October.
We are so excited this year because on October 14, 2023, there's this natural event happening.
It's called the Great Western Annular Eclipse.
(12:53):
It's a partial eclipse visible from the entire United States and in New Mexico.
Apparently, we're going to see the Ring of Fire which is visible to parks within the path and it's and apparently at our campground, where we'll be in Albuquerque on October 14, we're going to see this spectacular Okay cool Once in a lifetime.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So there you go.
Yeah, as the driver, I learned this as we get there, so that's cool, yeah, so then.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
October, we're looking at November, December, January, finding somewhere warm for the winter, and that's been in Florida for the last two years.
This year we're actually going back to Washington State, which is not warm.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
It's one of the worst times to be there, I'll be honest, but we've got stuff we got to take care of up there.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, so we'll be home for the holidays home for the holidays.
The summary of all of this is that we are always looking for I am, when I'm planning these things, looking for quirky campgrounds and cool places to go to, especially if there's a national park nearby that we can explore.
(14:12):
I mentioned we're heading to Gillette Wyoming for the FMCA rally in August, and what's the big thing that we plan?
Speaker 2 (14:22):
The big thing is like our first season we went out I was like, okay, here's all the things I want to go see, and one of the top ones was what everybody wants to see is Devil's Tower, right, Devil's.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Tower and we didn't get to go.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
And this season we get to go, so almost two weeks at Devil's Tower.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Baby.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Close encounters of the third kind and they play it every night at the campground which is awesome.
So that's the base of Devil's Tower, I know.
Rest is super exciting about that Excited yeah, and we're going to be there long enough that even if the weather, you know, goes sideways a couple of days, we'll be there long enough to have a good day, so very excited.
(15:05):
So how do we go about choosing the campgrounds that we're gonna go to and these?
Speaker 1 (15:09):
specific quirky little campgrounds.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
And we didn't tell you we rolled into this one.
Not only is it like got a gas station out front, which kind of scared us off, there's a big dragon metal dragon at the front too, which is why we're like what is this place, village of the damn gas station, and now it's one of our favorites it is.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
It is so how do you pick these?
Quirky campgrounds.
Well, again using RV life trip wizard, I Start with very basic requirements based on where we're gonna be and how far it is within range of our travel schedule to get there.
(15:50):
The first things I look at in trip wizard is Is one is it a campground that has big rig Access, which means you can drive your big 40 plus foot RV In the roads and maneuver and spaces are getting your space.
Yeah, so that's the first requirement.
(16:12):
Then I look for FHU, which is you're just making up acronyms, oh.
Hookups there should be like a beat the full hookups baby we look, we really like our full hookups, which by that I mean 50 amp power, water and sewer connection.
(16:32):
Yep, for working full-time like we do, it's it's really important.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah, you don't have to stop, move the rig, go dump the tanks, come back.
You eat when you're working.
That's a.
That's a pain, right right, right, right.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
You stay in place for the week or however long you're gonna be there.
So big rig access, full hookups and connectivity connectivity super important.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
That's the one that she's always looking at is like we have three different ways to get to the internet, so she's always check, counting how many of those three and one of them is never the campground Wi-Fi.
Oh yeah, that's a fourth, that is a hail Mary.
If you have to use it and we had to use it once and Surprisingly it was magic that time but usually it's garbage, yeah so yeah, it's those three, and she's always like accounting how many of the three that we have looking for the cellular networks for T-Mobile, at&t and Also Starlink right.
(17:24):
If there's too many trees, for example, starlink is really a challenge.
So that's Starlink's kind of our backup right now, yeah, in fact, speaking of that, when we came here the first time, you walked in and said, hey, we need a place where we can get the satellite.
And they said do you?
What kind of satellite you haven't?
You said Starlink.
And they go what's that?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
I'm like I don't know the weird thing is like.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
That was like season one, where a lot of people didn't last year, one year ago.
Yeah, a year ago and then this season we pulled into a place in Washington and everybody there had Starlink.
So what we thought was unique, now everybody's got it.
So, but the row they put us on here is is really for anyone using any kind of satellite, not even Starlink, if you're using the dish and and direct TV, and it's because they've basically taken the trees out of this row, right?
(18:10):
So if you use satellite, they've got you figured out here which yeah, yeah, they know what Starlink is now.
That's right.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Speaking of that, the last one of the Other things that I check after those basic requirements are ratings and reviews.
Trip Wizard has ratings and reviews on on their app, and, and also then I double check on Google, because sometimes Google has the most recent and honest campground ratings.
(18:43):
So, and the two main things that I look at when I'm looking at the reviews are Plenty of space between the sites and Also avoiding longer-term campgrounds.
Even this, this campground here, has several rows of Longer-term tenants, longer-term campers, and those are people that are working in the area, whether they're traveling nurses, whether they're working at the campground, whether they're working on infrastructure, the power lines, the linemen and all that.
(19:23):
So you have to be careful sometimes, though, because sometimes, if it's all long-term residents, it's not really conducive to transients which is what we are transients.
This one has it really figured out, in that they have a section that is more Longer-term campers and then they have a row or two that is more transient, of people coming in and out Even more so than we do, because we're here for the week right.
(19:57):
And we've had people coming in and out every day.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Yeah, our neighbors on both sides.
Every day we have a brand-new neighbor in this right here.
Which is fine with us, because it's somebody a new rig to look at and we need to watch they pull in and set up their stuff.
It's kind of fun.
But you're right.
The rows over next to us you can tell people are long-term.
They'll have large LP tanks or propane tanks set so that they don't have to use their small ones.
(20:21):
They'll have a Skirting around the bottom of their their ready for winter, winter yeah so there's kind of real obvious things.
And you're right, those are people that are working hard, usually in that area, and that's how they're.
They're living in that area.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
So yeah, and well, typically I look for that in the reviews because sometimes it's not a good situation for Transients.
You know people to roll in and roll out.
Yeah, it's just a different vibe.
That's a different vibe.
So, yeah, when it's a mix.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
It's good because in your meeting people there, some people are on the road and some people live there.
If it's everybody living there, you kind of get out of place.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Yeah, you're not treated great.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Nobody's mean yeah, no, it's just you're out of place because it's a community, it's more of a neighborhood, and we've done both where we didn't know this early on, and so we're like, okay, pick places where it's a mix or it's all people that are moving on.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Yeah, and really friendly people.
And, yes, we do like these quirky campgrounds because they tend to have more room between RVs, whereas the chains, the KOA's, they tend to be.
They can be really close together.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Okay, with that said, what is the worst place?
Well, we were jammed in side by side and it was the most expensive place we ever stayed at that was not a KOA.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
It was not.
That was Doesn't matter.
The brand.
Yeah, oh, it wasn't a brand, it was an ocean side California, that's right.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
We're.
Our slides that come out almost touched everyone on both sides.
It was so packed in there, but it was the most expensive campground I think we've ever been to because we were supposedly on the beach, supposedly on the beach and it was a supposedly a resort.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
It was neither.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
There was a road between us and houses, between us, between the water and us, and it was not a resort.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
So but we were there for a reason, yeah, so check the reviews the reviews there's these little indicators of lots of long-term residents and.
Oh, my god, you can't even put your slides out.
Okay, those are not the places you want to go.
Those are not quirky, those are not you, those are different.
(22:37):
So so, anyway, now that we've talked about the basic requirements of the campgrounds, russ, let's talk about how we schedule our travel.
What kind of travel schedule are we on?
Speaker 2 (22:53):
So, yeah, when you're work, work, life balance is all about making sure you're able to do the work, to pay the bills.
To do this, this lifestyle and for us, because it's a, we have a we have a traditional Monday through Friday job.
I mean there's we work late and we work weekend sometimes, but working for the man, work yeah so we travel on weekends.
(23:14):
So sometimes that includes we leave on a Friday night.
So most of the time it means we leave Saturday morning and we'll travel, ideally, one day be, there by Saturday night or Saturday afternoon, but sometimes, depending on where we need to get to, we'll travel both day, saturday and Sunday.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
But that's a challenge sometimes which sometimes you'll hear of these travel schedules on the RV groups of 3, 3, 3 or 2, 2, 2.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
And why doesn't that work for people who are trying to work full time on the road?
Yeah, I think that's more of a retiree schedule.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah, the 3, 3, 3.
So we learned this early on.
We were trying to learn all these little clever words and things like that that people are doing.
And the 3, 3, 3 was like three hours of driving, arrived by 3 and stay at least three days.
Now, be honest, if you think about that, the idea of only staying three days, that doesn't make sense for most people that work and traveling only three hours.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
If you're trying to get anywhere now we're not saying we'd like to just travel like crazy yeah but it didn't really work.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
And there's also a 2, 2, 2.
You know, there's all these like made up ones that work, but the funny thing is they all get back to people that are vacationing or, more importantly, they're retired, and then you can do whatever you want right, right.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Three hours of driving and then kicking back for three days, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
But three days you're going to be in, like Wednesday, like I'm still working till Friday.
What are you talking about?
So we learned that early on and we're like oh, we're going to do this.
3, 3, 3.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
And I was like yeah, this doesn't work at all.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
It's just crazy talk.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
So we're more on the 6, 6, 6 rule.
The devil's travel.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Our ideal schedule is more like driving six hours, arriving by 6 pm and staying at least six days.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
It's perfect, we're joking.
We don't really do a 6, 6, 6.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Like it is, truly like she thinks out whatever it needs to be, and we do what we need to do.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Sometimes it's less, it's great.
Occasionally it is three or four hours, and then sometimes it's like we're going to have to do a long drive.
It's eight hours.
You okay with that?
And I'm like, yeah, if I get to, essentially you know sleep in, right?
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
We used to split up long drives over the weekend and try to stick to four to six hours a day.
Uh, and we were using the harvest host program overnight on the Saturday night, which would be really fun.
But then we, this season, we decided that we tend to go the distance on Saturday.
(25:48):
If it's in well, this weekend was like an eight hour drive on the Saturday, because we knew where we were heading.
We were coming to village of the trees and we wanted to get here and then, uh, yeah, that sleep in day on Sunday, then we weren't traveling.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yeah, we didn't actually think about it too much because we were learning.
Every single day we were learning something new.
But the one thing we we did figure out relatively quickly was when you are working full time, that sleep in day is a big deal.
You know whether it's like you you have a good Friday night, you sleep in Saturday and Sunday and we travel almost every Saturday.
Sometimes we get two weeks off, but almost every Saturday, which means a Sunday minimum is nice, and so we get to sleep in.
(26:31):
I make a big brunch or breakfast kind of thing.
We get to do whatever we want on Sundays and that really helps before you start on a Monday morning.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
And we've discovered that we really enjoy the long drives, those six, even eight hour drive.
It's, it's.
It's such a great time together where we can talk about projects and planning and long conversations about all kinds of things.
That's our side hustle time.
(27:02):
So, yeah, we've changed our traveling a bit that way to to go the longer distance for the sleeping days and the long drive together.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yeah, so we ideally, when we can get it done, we like to stay two weeks and the main reason is like there's that weekend in between where sleeping day baby.
You're not packing the rig up on Friday and Saturday.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
You wake up on Saturday like wow and that's also when we get some really cool adventures, right.
So when we were in your Zion, yeah, there for at least two weeks.
Yeah.
And that was amazing, so a two week schedule gives me a chance to get out and check out the area, scout things out, and then we have the whole weekend.
(27:45):
So instead of just going out on sunset adventures and an evening, we can plan the weekend, and that's what we did at Grand Canyon and Yellowstone and Zion.
We had the whole weekend, so we got to go out and be real tourists, which was really fun, yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, All right.
So really, I think it's really gets down to.
The ideal amount of time for me is definitely two weeks and I'm sure some people might want to do more, but at least two weeks, maybe three or four we have done.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Have we ever done three or four?
Our schedule just hasn't really worked out that way for the most part, but there's been a couple of places we went to and we were like, oh, we don't want to leave now, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
And so at least two weeks.
And the reason the two weeks is cool?
Because there's that weekend in the middle and we get to sleep in and I'll get up and make a big breakfast and we'll just do all the things we want to do, as opposed to getting in the rig, closing it up, driving, kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
It is lovely to stay a while in the same place.
Russ in under.
When we stay a longer term in one location, then we have the weekends for the exploring and also grilling, which is so exciting when Russ can get the black stone out.
(29:12):
Love that we have a big grill and that we, we, we grill up steak, chicken, tons of veggies, and then we have All of that for the entire week for tacos, salads, pasta.
It's awesome when we have a chance to grill.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Yeah, and we sneak it in occasionally while we're doing it.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
one week I'll do it like a Wednesday night or something.
We're on a Sunday, yeah, yeah, and that's good.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
But yeah, it is one of our funnest things.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Although a month or two sometimes, like when we're at home base, we always find we are ready to go.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Yeah, that's true.
It is amazing how we're ready to go so quickly.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
So maybe two, maybe three weeks, I don't know how we well anyway, we're still figuring out.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
We're on season three.
We're still figuring out.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Where we are.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
All right.
So okay, we've figured out the schedule, we've figured out kinda how you pick the actual campgrounds.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
I would also make a note that staying longer weekly or monthly, you tend it's less expensive because there are discounts for monthly and weekly stays versus the nightly rate.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
That's another good benefit of staying up a little longer.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Good point.
Yeah, that's true, like when you know.
In fact, sometimes you say, buddy, we're only gonna be there six days, but you still booked the seven because it's cheaper, right.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Yeah.
No, I mean it's like we're paying them the money, so it's not like we're cheating anybody.
And then we either come in a day late or we leave a day early, which is nice, we end up saving money and we're a lot more flexible there, yeah, so it depends on how we're doing it.
It can make a big difference, yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
So but within a campground, like picking a spot like we were talking about here, that we're on a road that doesn't have trees but that's good for like satellite and stuff so how do you in general pick where Sometimes they don't let you pick, right they?
Speaker 1 (31:04):
pick it for you, but when you get to choose, how do you choose?
When we have a choice, we tend to avoid the pool, the playground and the dog park.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Not that we don't love those things, nope.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
It's just a matter of peace and quiet for working so you don't have all that background noise and interruption and really you can walk up to the pool when you're ready for fun and noise.
But we like to be on the outskirts to have a little more quiet for working.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Yeah, I've mentioned it before.
I'm on Zoom all day long, and so the outside noises of mowers and kids and stuff like it's all fine normally if you're on vacation.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
I can't get you away from the mowers and the landscapers, though.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
They are amazingly out, they chase us.
So yeah, so that's our strategy.
At least it's not required, and if you're, for example, not on Zoom and stuff like that, then it's less important to you, but for us that becomes really important.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
We want a quiet spot in the campground.
We also look for clearing so that we can set up the starlink if we need it as a backup, and that's led to a whole new challenge of protecting your starlink on the ground.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Yeah, which is funny, because we don't use the starlink.
It's now our third backup.
It's number one.
Number two is number three because we can actually disable it.
So it's great because in an emergency I can just turn it on and only pay when I'm using it, kind of thing, but when it's out there because it's wired and it's a wire lay on the ground, it's got a cable.
(32:44):
Boy, those mowers love to come on over.
I'm like don't mow over the cable.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
We try to protect it.
We have several solar lights and this little Tiki.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
God statue, who also lights up.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
So we kind of ring, put them in a ring around the starlink.
It's like don't drive over our starlink, Don't mow.
But yeah, that's just too funny.
The landscape has always come during the work day.
They're mowing and blowing.
And then in Arkansas we were kind of remote, we were using and relying on the starlink and that was the place where we had that tornado warning, which is when they wake you up at 5.30 in the morning with an air horn and you have to go to the tornado shelter for the 6 AM tornado party.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
We had to do that.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
And it was so well.
It was funny because at the time we had the starlink set up and the cable was running right out in front of the RV.
We were parked on the lake and so he had the starlink out there.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
It was the only way for us to get reasonable internet there.
That's one of the few places I really had to have it.
Because it was kind of remote Table Rock Lake and we were in kind of a valley, so the cell towers and stuff weren't reaching us well.
So if it wasn't for starlink we probably wouldn't have good internet at all.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
So it was raining, it was early, it was crazy, but we still had the starlink sitting out there on its cable attached to the RV and I don't know if you know what a pistol-whipping daisy sprinkler is.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
It's a story about our youngest son.
Our oldest son when he was a year old, playing in our front yard with one of those water sprinklers that just kind of flops left and right when the water's on, and he was so young he would walk up and it was just beating the crap out of him as it hit him.
It was the funniest thing because he was getting injured by this water toy.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
It was like a wacky noodle, so we've called it the pistol-whipping daisy ever since.
It was foam, it wasn't hard plastic or anything.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
There were no major injuries.
There might have been knives taped to it or something.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
I don't remember it was just foam, but it was so funny, so we've always remembered the pistol-whipping daisy.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Anything that swings around and can injure you is the pistol-whipping daisy.
And we refer to that because I had put sandbags on that thing, because it was the tornado on the.
Starlink Because I was like OK, I don't want the wind to blow away, but when it's a tornado there's no sandbag that's going to hold that baby down.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
I was worried, even if the tornado, but we had to go.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Even if it didn't directly hit, the winds were crazy and I was like that baby's going to grab that little Starlink and just whip it around and beat the crap out of our baby.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
So yeah, we came back and it was still there.
It was OK.
But yeah, wow, you've got to protect your equipment, man.
That's right, I'm not ready, prepared for anything.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
So we've talked a lot about how you schedule and plan travel when you're doing work life and you're trying to balance all that and a lot of it has come down to.
We were talking about when we go and how we find those places and the kind of nuances of what, the kind of rig places you should find and where you should be in there.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
That's all extremely important because travel planning for work is very different, that's right.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
That's right, and so if you are traveling for vacation, enjoy.
That's not what we're here.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
I can't.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
We're jealous, we get to vacation a few times a year, but we believe we're almost always on vacation when we step out at the end of every day.
So, and then we always try to incorporate a lot of fun in the travel plans that we do.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
With sunset adventures and staying places where there's something to do and explore, and all the time for the last three, two years that we've been on the road full-time, I'm always worried about rest because he works really hard all day long on the zoom with your clients and Team members all over the world in different time zones, so I'm always like are you having fun?
(37:01):
Are you having fun because you spend so much time on that computer?
Speaker 2 (37:05):
What do I say every time?
Speaker 1 (37:07):
The answer is well, you should say yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
I always say yes because when I finish my day here, I get to step out into some amazing place that we've gone to, where she's taken us to.
When I was back in the sticks and bricks, I would walk out either in the condo or the house, wherever we were, and it was always the same thing, and it was something new amount of work.
So, yes, we're getting to go amazing.
We just talked about this great place we're at and so at the end of every day is like, wow, where are we at this week?
Speaker 1 (37:34):
You close up the computer and the laptops and everything.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Yeah, and here we are and we sometimes do a sunset adventure and go do something.
We did that the other night.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
We just went to where we go massacre rocks, massacre rocks.
That's a real place, people and it's amazing, it's part of the settlers crossing the organ trail and last time we were here at village of trees, we went out on a weekend and found yeah, craters of the moon national monument and it was amazing, highly recommend that.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
So there's actually a campground there.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
So if you're not staying here, stay there.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
It's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
There's a campground at massacre rocks too.
That's right and it was pretty cool too.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
We went and visited and we learned a lot there and that's on the Oregon Trail.
That's right.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
So it had to do with Indian ambushes at the certain point.
That's now the interstate, but anyway, all right.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Well, if you have enjoyed this, check out the show notes.
We've talked about it quite a few things.
We've talked about the tools we use and how we do.
We've tried to put all those products and links in the in the show notes there and we really appreciate you taking the time to listen today.
If you're new, we really appreciate you taking the time to listen.
Please subscribe.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
And if you're not new, you subscribers out there.
We love you.
Thank you so much for your support and hanging with us over these adventures and travels over the last couple years.
Thanks, guys.
Most important thing, make the escape and get out there.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
All right, let's go.
Hi, you've reached the Caldwells.
Please leave a message and we will get back with you to Sisu.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to the RV Work Life Balance podcast with your traveling nomadic hosts, Sherri and Russ Caldwell.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hey, that's us.
We're living the dream, working from home.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
baby no matter where home is.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
And you can too.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
All right, thanks for joining us again.
It's great to see you again.
We're here from you again, maybe.
What are we going to say?
Cheers, cheers, everybody, cheers.
Okay, I got to ask because it's my favorite question of the week.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Where are we today?
Because you don't really know right, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
I always have to look out the window and you have to tell me when are we at.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Today this week we are in the southeastern Idaho on the Snake River and we are at the Village of Trees RV Resort.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Is it Village of the Trees or Village of Trees?
Village of Trees RV Resort Because I thought it was like Village of the Damned for a while.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
This is actually our second time at this location, which is really weird because the first time we came through here from Walla Walla Washington heading out east and we stayed here.
And when we first drove up because it's like, okay, you take the exit off the highway, the interstate, and then you turn left at the gas station, basically it's a truck stop.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
We're behind the gas station.
When we first came here, this is literally what happened and if the owners of this place hear this we love you, but we pulled up to the gas station and there's nothing anywhere around.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
We couldn't really see down into the campground.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Because of all the trees from the name and we were like, should we just turn around and leave?
We literally said that to each other.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
It was gas station.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
It was a gas station.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah, but we didn't.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
No, and within five minutes.
We were glad we did that.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, actually we do that a lot.
We roll up into a new situation and it's like ugh.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I don't know about this, but then by the end of the week, we're loving it, in fact it seems like the more weirded out or concerned we are, the more we end up loving the place, and we might have mentioned this before.
Another one was when we went into Montana and there were fires everywhere around the mountains.
(02:52):
We were guided through a valley that had been burning recently the valley of death.
It was just looked horrible.
I'm like should we be driving through all this burned stuff?
And when we got there it was in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
And we pulled over at one point on the side of the road, this little, tight little valley, and there were a bunch of cows on this hillside right next to the road and they're all looking at us like turn around, you're going to die, go back now Go turn around.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
And we got there in the big open fields there, between all these mountain ranges that were on fire.
We had a fantastic time there.
It was beautiful, it was beautiful, and so you know what, the more weird we like.
Give it a chance, let's see and look, we're back again.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Yeah, because it is actually beautiful.
It is out in the middle of nowhere, but it's on the Oregon Trail, the old Oregon Trail.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
And literally right on the Snake River, which is super cool.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
We can see and walk down to the docks, the campground, access to the river, just right.
I mean, I don't know, Is it 100 yards from our side?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah about that, and in between us and the river is what.
The horses, horses, which is last time we were here we took tons of photos of these horses that just wander around in the field and it's mothers and their foals kind of thing.
Right, it's just.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Mama, horses and the baby horses.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
It's so cool and they come down.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
There's a ranch further down the street, I guess or down the way, down the fields and they just come wandering up to the campground every afternoon.
And it's about my clockwork 20 horses maybe yeah about that.
And they're just adorable.
So we get to see the horses and that makes this campground super special.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
A lot of our Nice, a lot of our photos are these horses.
We're taking a lot of pictures of horses.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Lots of trees, very green green grass that they water every single day Very good, so it's very green, cool campground, beautiful.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
One of my other things is that it is a gas station at the front right.
There are a lot of people getting gas there, but it's also they make all this food and they deliver it to your rig, so we've done that once.
Last time we had breakfast served here, but they sent pizzas and they have ice cream, sandwiches and hamburgers, and they'll bring it to you.
(05:24):
It's just amazing.
So this is high on our list of quirky places that we just love.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Yeah, absolutely Love it.
So that kind of brings us to our topic of the day.
Is you know how do you schedule travel while working full time?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, that's.
That's an important topic.
You know, like we're not vacationing, we're not retired, and so scheduling is a very big challenge and that is my wife's responsibility and she has a tough job all the time and so how do we schedule that?
It's like it's one of the most important things when you're balancing this work and life schedule and if you're a retiree or you're on vacation, you look at where you go, it's totally different.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, what could go wrong?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
right, you're just on vacation, but when you have to work Monday through Friday, whether it's online or otherwise, it's a little more challenging.
So how do we go about doing that?
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah, well, my, my big secret is I do use RV Life Trip Wizard, which is an incredible planning tool that I'm sure we've talked about and we'll talk about again, but specifically for planning our travels for work.
(06:40):
Overall, we base it on our family calendar and work events.
For example, we are currently headed toward Wyoming for a big FMCA rally.
Yay, it's gonna be fun when we'll be parking with our AIM Club group.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, if we haven't mentioned, for AIM is all-inclusive motor homes.
It's a really cool group, but if you go to FMCA, aim puts on a great free show Free food, free entertainment, lots of great people.
So check it out if you go to FMCA.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
So much fun, everybody's welcome and, yeah, it's a fantastic group.
So when you go into these rallies you actually can camp.
You go in in caravans, which is groups of people who are in the same club.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Yeah, it could be by the brand of their rig.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
They all, some of them are group Integra Coach has their own neighborhood At the rallies.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
And then you can choose.
There's very different groups and we go in typically with AIM.
We've done it with Integra once but a lot of times we'll go with AIM because they put on a great show and just everybody's just so interesting, because they travel a lot and we love that.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Yeah, and everybody is invited.
So we can talk about more about that later.
So pretty much there's two big international conventions and RV rallies put on by FMCA, which is the Family Motor Coach Association, and those are typically in March and August.
(08:20):
So we are on our way to the August rally in Gillette, wyoming this year.
So I guess the rest of our schedule throughout the year may.
We typically are in Las Vegas for a big tech convention.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah, for work, for res, vegas is really fun certain times of the year.
One.
You got to go there because we have to go there because of work.
But if you go to Vegas obviously it's sometimes hot there.
We were recently.
There was very hot.
So picking your times.
In fact, if you've heard some of the previous podcasts, we talked about getting locked in at a Red Rocks.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah, yeah so lots of fun stuff there, but that's typically one of the places we're in in May is Vegas.
Yeah, for that conference, and then July, june, july, august, some four to six weeks, and there we are usually up in Washington State, which is our home base, so that we can see our kids up there and family and take care of our annual maintenance things.
(09:30):
Yeah, and then by Labor Day, after the FMCA rally in Wyoming this year, we typically spend Labor Day with family in St Louis.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Silver Lobster Farm.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah, which are aunt and uncle.
Although they're closer, they're more an age like cousins but anyway they put in a 50 amp pedestal just for us so that we could be there.
And the reason that's our Labor Day destination is because there is a huge Labor Day celebration and festival at the at the church local church there.
(10:14):
Yeah, outside it's big time.
Great music and food, and a lot of fun and blow up things for the kids to jump in and all that.
So we try to be in St.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Louis for Labor Day.
That's right.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
At our special spot there.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Save that spot.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
It's like our own personal Harvest Host location.
But anyway, this year which, by the way, it's really.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
It's referred to as mooch docking.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Oh right.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So if you're boondocking, you're out in the middle of nowhere.
You have no hookups.
If you got full hookups somewhere to campground, like where we are now.
But mooch docking is when you're usually at a friends or families and you have partial hookups.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
And we are getting 50 sweet, sweet amps off of because I specifically put that in for Monica.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Thank you for the sweet, sweet.
We love you so yeah, so it's awesome in a couple weeks Now we still have to be very careful how much water and sewer in great great things, but it's awesome.
Yeah, yeah.
So Labor Day in St Louis, and then this year we are heading down to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival in October.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
So awesome.
We didn't get in at first, right we?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
were denied.
Right.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
So we're like, oh well, maybe next year.
And then what happened?
Speaker 1 (11:34):
We're going in with the Integra Coach Owners Association, which is another group.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
We got in more than once, though.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yes, because then the big festival sent us an email saying hey, we've got room for you now.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
And we were like yeah we're double invited and we had to change which way to go, which is great, so we're very excited.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
That'll be our first time at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival, which is a huge thing, a huge RV encampment.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, we didn't know much about it, of course, until we hit the road and learn in, met a lot of RVers, and what's cool about our Albuquerque excuse me is apparently they call it the Albuquerque Box, I believe, where the wind blows one direction low.
So the balloons can go up to a low level.
It goes one direction, then they rise up and the wind direction goes the opposite way, so they can come all the way back and come down where they started.
(12:24):
Now it doesn't happen 100%, but generally it means you have a very predictable ride on these balloons, which is really, really cool.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Talking about Albuquerque and the balloon festival in October.
We are so excited this year because on October 14, 2023, there's this natural event happening.
It's called the Great Western Annular Eclipse.
(12:53):
It's a partial eclipse visible from the entire United States and in New Mexico.
Apparently, we're going to see the Ring of Fire which is visible to parks within the path and it's and apparently at our campground, where we'll be in Albuquerque on October 14, we're going to see this spectacular Okay cool Once in a lifetime.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So there you go.
Yeah, as the driver, I learned this as we get there, so that's cool, yeah, so then.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
October, we're looking at November, December, January, finding somewhere warm for the winter, and that's been in Florida for the last two years.
This year we're actually going back to Washington State, which is not warm.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
It's one of the worst times to be there, I'll be honest, but we've got stuff we got to take care of up there.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yeah, so we'll be home for the holidays home for the holidays.
The summary of all of this is that we are always looking for I am, when I'm planning these things, looking for quirky campgrounds and cool places to go to, especially if there's a national park nearby that we can explore.
(14:12):
I mentioned we're heading to Gillette Wyoming for the FMCA rally in August, and what's the big thing that we plan?
Speaker 2 (14:22):
The big thing is like our first season we went out I was like, okay, here's all the things I want to go see, and one of the top ones was what everybody wants to see is Devil's Tower, right, Devil's.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Tower and we didn't get to go.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
And this season we get to go, so almost two weeks at Devil's Tower.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Baby.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Close encounters of the third kind and they play it every night at the campground which is awesome.
So that's the base of Devil's Tower, I know.
Rest is super exciting about that Excited yeah, and we're going to be there long enough that even if the weather, you know, goes sideways a couple of days, we'll be there long enough to have a good day, so very excited.
(15:05):
So how do we go about choosing the campgrounds that we're gonna go to and these?
Speaker 1 (15:09):
specific quirky little campgrounds.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
And we didn't tell you we rolled into this one.
Not only is it like got a gas station out front, which kind of scared us off, there's a big dragon metal dragon at the front too, which is why we're like what is this place, village of the damn gas station, and now it's one of our favorites it is.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
It is so how do you pick these?
Quirky campgrounds.
Well, again using RV life trip wizard, I Start with very basic requirements based on where we're gonna be and how far it is within range of our travel schedule to get there.
(15:50):
The first things I look at in trip wizard is Is one is it a campground that has big rig Access, which means you can drive your big 40 plus foot RV In the roads and maneuver and spaces are getting your space.
Yeah, so that's the first requirement.
(16:12):
Then I look for FHU, which is you're just making up acronyms, oh.
Hookups there should be like a beat the full hookups baby we look, we really like our full hookups, which by that I mean 50 amp power, water and sewer connection.
(16:32):
Yep, for working full-time like we do, it's it's really important.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah, you don't have to stop, move the rig, go dump the tanks, come back.
You eat when you're working.
That's a.
That's a pain, right right, right, right.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
You stay in place for the week or however long you're gonna be there.
So big rig access, full hookups and connectivity connectivity super important.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
That's the one that she's always looking at is like we have three different ways to get to the internet, so she's always check, counting how many of those three and one of them is never the campground Wi-Fi.
Oh yeah, that's a fourth, that is a hail Mary.
If you have to use it and we had to use it once and Surprisingly it was magic that time but usually it's garbage, yeah so yeah, it's those three, and she's always like accounting how many of the three that we have looking for the cellular networks for T-Mobile, at&t and Also Starlink right.
(17:24):
If there's too many trees, for example, starlink is really a challenge.
So that's Starlink's kind of our backup right now, yeah, in fact, speaking of that, when we came here the first time, you walked in and said, hey, we need a place where we can get the satellite.
And they said do you?
What kind of satellite you haven't?
You said Starlink.
And they go what's that?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
I'm like I don't know the weird thing is like.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
That was like season one, where a lot of people didn't last year, one year ago.
Yeah, a year ago and then this season we pulled into a place in Washington and everybody there had Starlink.
So what we thought was unique, now everybody's got it.
So, but the row they put us on here is is really for anyone using any kind of satellite, not even Starlink, if you're using the dish and and direct TV, and it's because they've basically taken the trees out of this row, right?
(18:10):
So if you use satellite, they've got you figured out here which yeah, yeah, they know what Starlink is now.
That's right.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Speaking of that, the last one of the Other things that I check after those basic requirements are ratings and reviews.
Trip Wizard has ratings and reviews on on their app, and, and also then I double check on Google, because sometimes Google has the most recent and honest campground ratings.
(18:43):
So, and the two main things that I look at when I'm looking at the reviews are Plenty of space between the sites and Also avoiding longer-term campgrounds.
Even this, this campground here, has several rows of Longer-term tenants, longer-term campers, and those are people that are working in the area, whether they're traveling nurses, whether they're working at the campground, whether they're working on infrastructure, the power lines, the linemen and all that.
(19:23):
So you have to be careful sometimes, though, because sometimes, if it's all long-term residents, it's not really conducive to transients which is what we are transients.
This one has it really figured out, in that they have a section that is more Longer-term campers and then they have a row or two that is more transient, of people coming in and out Even more so than we do, because we're here for the week right.
(19:57):
And we've had people coming in and out every day.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Yeah, our neighbors on both sides.
Every day we have a brand-new neighbor in this right here.
Which is fine with us, because it's somebody a new rig to look at and we need to watch they pull in and set up their stuff.
It's kind of fun.
But you're right.
The rows over next to us you can tell people are long-term.
They'll have large LP tanks or propane tanks set so that they don't have to use their small ones.
(20:21):
They'll have a Skirting around the bottom of their their ready for winter, winter yeah so there's kind of real obvious things.
And you're right, those are people that are working hard, usually in that area, and that's how they're.
They're living in that area.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
So yeah, and well, typically I look for that in the reviews because sometimes it's not a good situation for Transients.
You know people to roll in and roll out.
Yeah, it's just a different vibe.
That's a different vibe.
So, yeah, when it's a mix.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
It's good because in your meeting people there, some people are on the road and some people live there.
If it's everybody living there, you kind of get out of place.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Yeah, you're not treated great.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Nobody's mean yeah, no, it's just you're out of place because it's a community, it's more of a neighborhood, and we've done both where we didn't know this early on, and so we're like, okay, pick places where it's a mix or it's all people that are moving on.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Yeah, and really friendly people.
And, yes, we do like these quirky campgrounds because they tend to have more room between RVs, whereas the chains, the KOA's, they tend to be.
They can be really close together.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Okay, with that said, what is the worst place?
Well, we were jammed in side by side and it was the most expensive place we ever stayed at that was not a KOA.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
It was not.
That was Doesn't matter.
The brand.
Yeah, oh, it wasn't a brand, it was an ocean side California, that's right.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
We're.
Our slides that come out almost touched everyone on both sides.
It was so packed in there, but it was the most expensive campground I think we've ever been to because we were supposedly on the beach, supposedly on the beach and it was a supposedly a resort.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
It was neither.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
There was a road between us and houses, between us, between the water and us, and it was not a resort.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
So but we were there for a reason, yeah, so check the reviews the reviews there's these little indicators of lots of long-term residents and.
Oh, my god, you can't even put your slides out.
Okay, those are not the places you want to go.
Those are not quirky, those are not you, those are different.
(22:37):
So so, anyway, now that we've talked about the basic requirements of the campgrounds, russ, let's talk about how we schedule our travel.
What kind of travel schedule are we on?
Speaker 2 (22:53):
So, yeah, when you're work, work, life balance is all about making sure you're able to do the work, to pay the bills.
To do this, this lifestyle and for us, because it's a, we have a we have a traditional Monday through Friday job.
I mean there's we work late and we work weekend sometimes, but working for the man, work yeah so we travel on weekends.
(23:14):
So sometimes that includes we leave on a Friday night.
So most of the time it means we leave Saturday morning and we'll travel, ideally, one day be, there by Saturday night or Saturday afternoon, but sometimes, depending on where we need to get to, we'll travel both day, saturday and Sunday.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
But that's a challenge sometimes which sometimes you'll hear of these travel schedules on the RV groups of 3, 3, 3 or 2, 2, 2.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
And why doesn't that work for people who are trying to work full time on the road?
Yeah, I think that's more of a retiree schedule.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah, the 3, 3, 3.
So we learned this early on.
We were trying to learn all these little clever words and things like that that people are doing.
And the 3, 3, 3 was like three hours of driving, arrived by 3 and stay at least three days.
Now, be honest, if you think about that, the idea of only staying three days, that doesn't make sense for most people that work and traveling only three hours.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
If you're trying to get anywhere now we're not saying we'd like to just travel like crazy yeah but it didn't really work.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
And there's also a 2, 2, 2.
You know, there's all these like made up ones that work, but the funny thing is they all get back to people that are vacationing or, more importantly, they're retired, and then you can do whatever you want right, right.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Three hours of driving and then kicking back for three days, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
But three days you're going to be in, like Wednesday, like I'm still working till Friday.
What are you talking about?
So we learned that early on and we're like oh, we're going to do this.
3, 3, 3.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
And I was like yeah, this doesn't work at all.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
It's just crazy talk.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
So we're more on the 6, 6, 6 rule.
The devil's travel.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Our ideal schedule is more like driving six hours, arriving by 6 pm and staying at least six days.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
It's perfect, we're joking.
We don't really do a 6, 6, 6.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Like it is, truly like she thinks out whatever it needs to be, and we do what we need to do.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Sometimes it's less, it's great.
Occasionally it is three or four hours, and then sometimes it's like we're going to have to do a long drive.
It's eight hours.
You okay with that?
And I'm like, yeah, if I get to, essentially you know sleep in, right?
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
We used to split up long drives over the weekend and try to stick to four to six hours a day.
Uh, and we were using the harvest host program overnight on the Saturday night, which would be really fun.
But then we, this season, we decided that we tend to go the distance on Saturday.
(25:48):
If it's in well, this weekend was like an eight hour drive on the Saturday, because we knew where we were heading.
We were coming to village of the trees and we wanted to get here and then, uh, yeah, that sleep in day on Sunday, then we weren't traveling.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yeah, we didn't actually think about it too much because we were learning.
Every single day we were learning something new.
But the one thing we we did figure out relatively quickly was when you are working full time, that sleep in day is a big deal.
You know whether it's like you you have a good Friday night, you sleep in Saturday and Sunday and we travel almost every Saturday.
Sometimes we get two weeks off, but almost every Saturday, which means a Sunday minimum is nice, and so we get to sleep in.
(26:31):
I make a big brunch or breakfast kind of thing.
We get to do whatever we want on Sundays and that really helps before you start on a Monday morning.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
And we've discovered that we really enjoy the long drives, those six, even eight hour drive.
It's, it's.
It's such a great time together where we can talk about projects and planning and long conversations about all kinds of things.
That's our side hustle time.
(27:02):
So, yeah, we've changed our traveling a bit that way to to go the longer distance for the sleeping days and the long drive together.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yeah, so we ideally, when we can get it done, we like to stay two weeks and the main reason is like there's that weekend in between where sleeping day baby.
You're not packing the rig up on Friday and Saturday.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
You wake up on Saturday like wow and that's also when we get some really cool adventures, right.
So when we were in your Zion, yeah, there for at least two weeks.
Yeah.
And that was amazing, so a two week schedule gives me a chance to get out and check out the area, scout things out, and then we have the whole weekend.
(27:45):
So instead of just going out on sunset adventures and an evening, we can plan the weekend, and that's what we did at Grand Canyon and Yellowstone and Zion.
We had the whole weekend, so we got to go out and be real tourists, which was really fun, yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, All right.
So really, I think it's really gets down to.
The ideal amount of time for me is definitely two weeks and I'm sure some people might want to do more, but at least two weeks, maybe three or four we have done.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Have we ever done three or four?
Our schedule just hasn't really worked out that way for the most part, but there's been a couple of places we went to and we were like, oh, we don't want to leave now, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
And so at least two weeks.
And the reason the two weeks is cool?
Because there's that weekend in the middle and we get to sleep in and I'll get up and make a big breakfast and we'll just do all the things we want to do, as opposed to getting in the rig, closing it up, driving, kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
It is lovely to stay a while in the same place.
Russ in under.
When we stay a longer term in one location, then we have the weekends for the exploring and also grilling, which is so exciting when Russ can get the black stone out.
(29:12):
Love that we have a big grill and that we, we, we grill up steak, chicken, tons of veggies, and then we have All of that for the entire week for tacos, salads, pasta.
It's awesome when we have a chance to grill.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Yeah, and we sneak it in occasionally while we're doing it.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
one week I'll do it like a Wednesday night or something.
We're on a Sunday, yeah, yeah, and that's good.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
But yeah, it is one of our funnest things.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Although a month or two sometimes, like when we're at home base, we always find we are ready to go.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Yeah, that's true.
It is amazing how we're ready to go so quickly.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
So maybe two, maybe three weeks, I don't know how we well anyway, we're still figuring out.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
We're on season three.
We're still figuring out.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Where we are.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
All right.
So okay, we've figured out the schedule, we've figured out kinda how you pick the actual campgrounds.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
I would also make a note that staying longer weekly or monthly, you tend it's less expensive because there are discounts for monthly and weekly stays versus the nightly rate.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
That's another good benefit of staying up a little longer.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Good point.
Yeah, that's true, like when you know.
In fact, sometimes you say, buddy, we're only gonna be there six days, but you still booked the seven because it's cheaper, right.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Yeah.
No, I mean it's like we're paying them the money, so it's not like we're cheating anybody.
And then we either come in a day late or we leave a day early, which is nice, we end up saving money and we're a lot more flexible there, yeah, so it depends on how we're doing it.
It can make a big difference, yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
So but within a campground, like picking a spot like we were talking about here, that we're on a road that doesn't have trees but that's good for like satellite and stuff so how do you in general pick where Sometimes they don't let you pick, right they?
Speaker 1 (31:04):
pick it for you, but when you get to choose, how do you choose?
When we have a choice, we tend to avoid the pool, the playground and the dog park.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Not that we don't love those things, nope.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
It's just a matter of peace and quiet for working so you don't have all that background noise and interruption and really you can walk up to the pool when you're ready for fun and noise.
But we like to be on the outskirts to have a little more quiet for working.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Yeah, I've mentioned it before.
I'm on Zoom all day long, and so the outside noises of mowers and kids and stuff like it's all fine normally if you're on vacation.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
I can't get you away from the mowers and the landscapers, though.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
They are amazingly out, they chase us.
So yeah, so that's our strategy.
At least it's not required, and if you're, for example, not on Zoom and stuff like that, then it's less important to you, but for us that becomes really important.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
We want a quiet spot in the campground.
We also look for clearing so that we can set up the starlink if we need it as a backup, and that's led to a whole new challenge of protecting your starlink on the ground.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Yeah, which is funny, because we don't use the starlink.
It's now our third backup.
It's number one.
Number two is number three because we can actually disable it.
So it's great because in an emergency I can just turn it on and only pay when I'm using it, kind of thing, but when it's out there because it's wired and it's a wire lay on the ground, it's got a cable.
(32:44):
Boy, those mowers love to come on over.
I'm like don't mow over the cable.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
We try to protect it.
We have several solar lights and this little Tiki.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
God statue, who also lights up.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
So we kind of ring, put them in a ring around the starlink.
It's like don't drive over our starlink, Don't mow.
But yeah, that's just too funny.
The landscape has always come during the work day.
They're mowing and blowing.
And then in Arkansas we were kind of remote, we were using and relying on the starlink and that was the place where we had that tornado warning, which is when they wake you up at 5.30 in the morning with an air horn and you have to go to the tornado shelter for the 6 AM tornado party.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
We had to do that.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
And it was so well.
It was funny because at the time we had the starlink set up and the cable was running right out in front of the RV.
We were parked on the lake and so he had the starlink out there.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
It was the only way for us to get reasonable internet there.
That's one of the few places I really had to have it.
Because it was kind of remote Table Rock Lake and we were in kind of a valley, so the cell towers and stuff weren't reaching us well.
So if it wasn't for starlink we probably wouldn't have good internet at all.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
So it was raining, it was early, it was crazy, but we still had the starlink sitting out there on its cable attached to the RV and I don't know if you know what a pistol-whipping daisy sprinkler is.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
It's a story about our youngest son.
Our oldest son when he was a year old, playing in our front yard with one of those water sprinklers that just kind of flops left and right when the water's on, and he was so young he would walk up and it was just beating the crap out of him as it hit him.
It was the funniest thing because he was getting injured by this water toy.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
It was like a wacky noodle, so we've called it the pistol-whipping daisy ever since.
It was foam, it wasn't hard plastic or anything.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
There were no major injuries.
There might have been knives taped to it or something.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
I don't remember it was just foam, but it was so funny, so we've always remembered the pistol-whipping daisy.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Anything that swings around and can injure you is the pistol-whipping daisy.
And we refer to that because I had put sandbags on that thing, because it was the tornado on the.
Starlink Because I was like OK, I don't want the wind to blow away, but when it's a tornado there's no sandbag that's going to hold that baby down.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
I was worried, even if the tornado, but we had to go.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Even if it didn't directly hit, the winds were crazy and I was like that baby's going to grab that little Starlink and just whip it around and beat the crap out of our baby.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
So yeah, we came back and it was still there.
It was OK.
But yeah, wow, you've got to protect your equipment, man.
That's right, I'm not ready, prepared for anything.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
So we've talked a lot about how you schedule and plan travel when you're doing work life and you're trying to balance all that and a lot of it has come down to.
We were talking about when we go and how we find those places and the kind of nuances of what, the kind of rig places you should find and where you should be in there.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
That's all extremely important because travel planning for work is very different, that's right.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
That's right, and so if you are traveling for vacation, enjoy.
That's not what we're here.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
I can't.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
We're jealous, we get to vacation a few times a year, but we believe we're almost always on vacation when we step out at the end of every day.
So, and then we always try to incorporate a lot of fun in the travel plans that we do.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
With sunset adventures and staying places where there's something to do and explore, and all the time for the last three, two years that we've been on the road full-time, I'm always worried about rest because he works really hard all day long on the zoom with your clients and Team members all over the world in different time zones, so I'm always like are you having fun?
(37:01):
Are you having fun because you spend so much time on that computer?
Speaker 2 (37:05):
What do I say every time?
Speaker 1 (37:07):
The answer is well, you should say yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
I always say yes because when I finish my day here, I get to step out into some amazing place that we've gone to, where she's taken us to.
When I was back in the sticks and bricks, I would walk out either in the condo or the house, wherever we were, and it was always the same thing, and it was something new amount of work.
So, yes, we're getting to go amazing.
We just talked about this great place we're at and so at the end of every day is like, wow, where are we at this week?
Speaker 1 (37:34):
You close up the computer and the laptops and everything.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Yeah, and here we are and we sometimes do a sunset adventure and go do something.
We did that the other night.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
We just went to where we go massacre rocks, massacre rocks.
That's a real place, people and it's amazing, it's part of the settlers crossing the organ trail and last time we were here at village of trees, we went out on a weekend and found yeah, craters of the moon national monument and it was amazing, highly recommend that.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
So there's actually a campground there.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
So if you're not staying here, stay there.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
It's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
There's a campground at massacre rocks too.
That's right and it was pretty cool too.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
We went and visited and we learned a lot there and that's on the Oregon Trail.
That's right.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
So it had to do with Indian ambushes at the certain point.
That's now the interstate, but anyway, all right.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Well, if you have enjoyed this, check out the show notes.
We've talked about it quite a few things.
We've talked about the tools we use and how we do.
We've tried to put all those products and links in the in the show notes there and we really appreciate you taking the time to listen today.
If you're new, we really appreciate you taking the time to listen.
Please subscribe.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
And if you're not new, you subscribers out there.
We love you.
Thank you so much for your support and hanging with us over these adventures and travels over the last couple years.
Thanks, guys.
Most important thing, make the escape and get out there.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
All right, let's go.
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