October 17, 2023 • 38 mins
RVing from the FMCA International Convention & RV Expo in Gillette, Wyoming: Sherri & Russ invite you along on the adventure of their 4th FMCA Rally! Join us as we reveal all the secrets and fun of attending a huge event in the RV Community, while, of course, still balancing the full time jobs.
(Enjoy more episodes of RV Work Life Balance –> here! <– or on your favorite podcast app!)
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- 10-16-2023 - EPISODE 7 - (00:38:45)
- Title: FMCA - Gillette, Wyoming
-- What does FMCA stand for?
-- What are the benefits of FMCA?
-- Is it worth it to join FMCA?
In Episode 7, we've got all the answers to those Frequently Asked Questions, while sharing our experiences and adventures as RV Beginners on the road full time: FMCA is one of the first RV Membership Programs any new owner should consider joining immediately!
We share with you how this incredible community unites RVers of all types, brands, locations, and interests. You won't believe the myriad of benefits on offer, from massive discounts on RV essentials to the unity fostered among RVers through various FMCA chapters and events, including the twice-yearly International Convention & RV Expos. (Also known as FMCA Rallies!)
It's like coming in from the wild and spending time with your tribe--
Consider yourself an invited guest and insider as we bring you along to caravan and camp with AIM: The All Inclusive Motorhome Club, sponsored by National Indoor RV Centers (NIRVC) and Freightliner. Every day is busy and full of opportunities to shop, learn, participate, and make new best friends for life. Every night is a party with AIM: free dinner, drinks, entertainment, and camaraderie for all!
And, somehow, we manage to find the balance: getting the work done and finding the fun when it seems like everyone else is playing all day long!
Join us on our FMCA Adventures in this episode!
Our mission is to share what we learn about RV Work Life Balance and introduce you to new opportunities, people, places, and ideas to spark your interest and imagination…
Let’s hit the road together for this unique journey!
- - - - - HIGHLIGHTS - - - - -
- (00:02:13) - FMCA Rally - Gillette, Wyoming
- (00:04:58) - RV Community - Finding Your Tribe
- (00:08:53) - RV Repair & Services at FMCA Rallies
- (00:10:04) - AIM: FREE Dinner, Drinks & Entertainment For All!
- (00:11:43) - FMCA Rally Adventures
- (00:18:37) - RV Problems: Weight, Tires & Safety
- (00:27:31) - RV Work Life Balance
- (00:36:27) - RV Lifestyle - P.S. SUBSCRIBE! 😘
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→ Be sure to LIKE - SHARE - Follow & Subscribe - on your favorite podcast platform! Thank you! 😉
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FEATURED LINKS & RESOURCES:- Upcoming RV Rallies: What You Need To Know for National Indoor RV Centers (NIRVC)
- RV Weight & Safety Part 2: RV Tire Four Corner Weighing for NIRVC
- RV Shows & The Slippery Slope to Suddenly Owning a 40-foot Motorhome on BooksAndTravelUSA.com
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SPONSORS & AFFILIATESSome 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 Disc
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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 (00:31):
Hey, thanks for joining us again.
You know, it seems like we just finished recording one of these, but I don't know.
I know right, it's just like every day.
It seems like but it's not, it just feels like that.
So we'll start with our happiness of cheers.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Everybody cheers.
I don't give it to everybody, I'm sorry.
I just give it to you.
Cheers everybody.
Yeah, you cheers everybody else.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
So normally I'd ask you like where are we today?
But a lot has happened over the last few days, so like, where have we been?
I guess it'll be the question.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Okay, so tonight we're in the middle of South Dakota somewhere, but only for one night, because we've just come from Gillette Wyoming.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
What was going on in Gillette?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
The FMCA Rally.
Oh, I get to say that.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Awesome.
So yeah, FMCA Rally We've done a few of these.
It's been pretty fun.
It's pretty exciting there.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
It was, and that is the FMCA International Convention and RV Expo at the Camp Plex Event Facility in Gillette, wyoming.
That's where we were.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, gillette, we didn't get to spend too much time in that town.
Some of the other times we've been to FMCA we've toured the town.
We only got to stay at the rally this time, so I was a little disappointed we didn't get to tour around.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
It was a busy three days.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
And usually there Four days.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I mean it could be four, depending on how you can leave when your time is up, but we left today.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
We leave a little early on Saturdays because of course we need to get where we're going right.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Right, right.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
So maybe we should talk a little bit about FMCA Sure.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Tell the fans what it's all about.
It is.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Well, this is something you really need to know about as RV enthusiast the Family Motor Coach Association, fmca.
It is an excellent membership program.
There are, you know, several membership programs that you might be interested in when you start RVing, and this is one of the first ones you might consider joining.
(02:48):
But the cost is about it's $60 for your first year and then it goes down a little bit.
It is totally worth it and yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
And we'll put all the information about this in the show notes.
So if you're trying to take notes and you're driving or you're working out or whatever, take a look at the show notes.
We'll have those discounts and how to get to that.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, we got a special discount for you, so that'll be in the show notes.
And there's just so many benefits with FMCA.
There are numerous programs and discounts, including a tire savings program when you need to buy RV tires, which are expensive.
(03:32):
Roadside assistance.
They have internet services.
They have insurance, including RV insurance.
They can help you find your RV insurance, which is super important whether you're part-time and especially when you're full-time.
(03:53):
It's a different insurance program for each of those scenarios and you've got to be covered.
And who better to go to than RV a specialist?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
who can guide you?
Speaker 1 (04:06):
in the right direction for what you need.
So we do use the FM and FMCA insurance program for our full-time RV insurance.
Let's see they also have campground discounts and partnerships with all kinds of organizations for additional discounts on camping and purchases and fantasy RV tours so cool.
(04:39):
And then also in terms of these big events that they have, they have incredible educational programs for new and more experienced RVers.
They have programs online, but they also have in-person events all over the country.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, one of my favorite things about it is like there's a sense of community at FMCA, and that's true of a lot of rallies, I know that.
But FMCA has been around a long time and it's even broken into these kind of chapters all over the place.
So FMCA has major events.
But then even within there you'll notice there's these groups of RVers that are connected because of their brand or because of their location or all sorts of different interests that they have.
(05:25):
And that's really cool, because when you walk around and everyone's so pleasant and always excited to know where you're from and what kind of rig you have.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Make you friends.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And they'll invite you into their crowd of people and they'll share all the stuff that that group is interested in.
We meet people that are into hot rods and people that are into classic RVs.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Off-roading.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Jeep enthusiasts yes, lots of that.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
There's several military groups and organizations that travel together or get together at different parts of the country.
Just so many things.
And we're not so involved in the smaller events and activities all across the country because our limited time right.
(06:11):
But there are two of these Big events.
Big events, uh, twice a year, in the spring and then in the summer, late summer, and these are the FMCA international conventions and RV expos.
(06:32):
So those are the big ones and they're so much fun, uh, because it's the whole group, no matter whether you're new Mar or grand design or Integra, like us, or in the jeeping or military or Elks or whatever organization within FMCA that you're involved in, they're close to.
(06:55):
We all get together twice a year and all of the RV manufacturers come the dealerships.
They're showing and selling the newest models, they have exhibits and seminars and shopping for just about everything you can imagine related to RVs.
(07:16):
So it's just an opportunity I call it coming in from the wild to spend time with your tribe.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, I mean it's.
It is weird because it is a massive number of RVs and it looks like chaos until you start walking around and then you start seeing patterns of similar rigs.
Or they'll put groups of people and they'll all be wearing shirts of some sort of interest, or they'll all be from certain location.
We end up hanging out either with our brand or, more than likely, we end up hanging out with the AIM crew, the all-inclusive motorhome crew, which is a mixture of brands and stuff.
(07:55):
But it is really neat of the kinds of people you meet and everybody wants to talk to you Like that's what's so cool.
So the twice a year is like the circus comes to town.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Or goes to a different town.
Is the case, maybe right?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
And there's events and there's activities where you're learning things.
There's people to help work on your rig.
There's just so much stuff in one place for this a little less than a week activity.
It's great.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
You wake up every morning and spend the day touring brand new RVs or participating in cool activities and events, or little visits, tours of the local area, seminars, like I said, arts and crafts, shopping, entertainment, contest, games, concerts.
(08:43):
Oh my, so yeah, there's just so much going on.
And what's the coolest one of the other very cool things about these types of events?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yeah, one of the things I like is, if you're into RVing, one of the things you learn real quick is that sometimes always going to break.
That's the common thing everyone will agree with is like hey, you know, every week you get a new thing to work on, and so what's cool, though, is, when you go to one of these big events, it is an opportunity not just for people to get together, but also services to come together and actually service this.
(09:16):
So there'll be people that are working on awnings, which is a common.
We have never had that problem, but boy.
Thank goodness, yeah, so you'll see trucks going around with the awning service and they'll work on your stuff.
There are people work on your windows and glass.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Solar installations.
That's a big one.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, there's the washers that are washing and wax your rig.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Oh, that's Russ's favorite service.
Charlie gets a bath every time we come into the conventions.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yeah, and so getting all the services done is kind of cool because you don't have to spend a lot of time finding these people.
They've been vetted by FMCA.
You get multiple choices to choose from.
You don't have to use them.
But what's great is there's an advantage to using them because they've been vetted and you can actually see their work as they're going from rig to rig.
(10:02):
You can see the quality of the work they're doing.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
It's great, yeah.
So at these big events we camp with AIM.
Our little FMCA chapter neighborhood group is AIM, the all-inclusive Motorhome Club.
I know we've talked about them before Just a few times.
(10:24):
The AIM Club is sponsored by NIRVC and Freightliner and many other services and providers.
So the AIM group arrives and we all camp in a big group parked next to each other.
And then the coolest thing is that every night of the convention AIM sponsors free dinner, drinks and entertainment at the AIM tent which is always set up at the edge of the campground.
(10:59):
And the coolest thing is it's not just the AIM group.
Aim invites all of the FMCA attendees out for dinner and dining and dancing every night.
It's open to everyone at the convention.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, they'll have DJs or live bands and great food and it's great.
You bring your chairs and you get entertained and you get fed and they have an open bar with beer and wine.
It's a lot of fun and we meet tons of great people there and they are from all over FMCA, so you meet different rigs and different parts of the country.
It's really fun and everybody's having a great time and it's free food and entertainment.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
It's a mixer Every night, every night, yeah, and so, with AIM and working with NIRVC, we've actually been to four of these international conventions in the last two years.
We have.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
You know, we didn't know anything about it when it first came up, and now we're like we didn't know anything about anything when it first started.
No, no, but you know, the idea of like going to some big rally was never on my list either, and camping at an RV show.
Basically right, yeah, we were like oh, we're just going to go in the woods and see the mountains and stuff.
But no, it was really fun and so one of our first ones I don't know if we've, I think we've mentioned it already we went to Tucson, arizona, and it was actually right after we had been to our very first AIM event a week before, but Tucson we were already planning to go.
(12:32):
We had not been to Tucson for any kind of events like this and we met so many cool new people there because, again, that was our very first one.
So we didn't know what.
We didn't know how did it?
Well, there's like 1,200 rigs there, I believe.
If I have the numbers right from that first one and it was I'd never seen so many RVs in one place and how they stage you to get into this place.
(12:54):
It was like it's clockwork of how you show up and you get in lines and they take you to your place.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
It's an RV rodeo.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, it's impressive, Like they really know what they're doing and that sets you up for meeting all sorts of people.
So we met lots of cool new people.
At that point we met our good friends Kim and Pete.
Hey guys how you doing?
Jason and Dylan actually were there.
Jason and Dylan have a great YouTube channel called Our Not so Perfect Life.
They were there because they were actually part of sponsors that were there.
(13:23):
They were actually.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Oh, they were working at the show.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
And they didn't know about the aim tent, so we had them come over.
We invited them for dinner and dance yeah, for the free food dancing.
We had a great time with the live band there, so that was really fun.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Yeah, and actually that first event we parked with the Integra Coach Owners Association, which was right next to the AIM group.
They're very close as an Integra dealer and everybody attended the AIM dinners in entertainment.
So, it was just a great time.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Yeah, and then the other cool thing is NRVC and a lot of other suppliers and vendors show up there to also show off their wares and their new technology and stuff.
And we actually got something installed for fire suppression, called PROTENG, there, which was neat because it's a non-mechanical system that basically has tubes of chemicals that get put into areas where there's potential risk of fire, and we were excited to put that in there, because that's one of the things we do fear.
(14:25):
All about safety, baby Safety, yeah, I have tons of fire extinguishers in the rig.
I have even more fire alarm systems and just always worried about that.
But yeah, that was a cool thing to get installable over here.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
And they came out to us in the campground and installed this while we were, while Russ was working in the rig.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Yeah, super convenient.
It's neat, it's really neat.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
So then, our second FMCA convention or rally.
Well, let's call them RV rallies, ok.
So the second one was in Lincoln, nebraska, which we'd never been to Nebraska, never had it on the bucket list, didn't know, but hey, here's a great reason to go to Nebraska.
(15:08):
Ok, it turned out to be a much, not a much, but a smaller event than the big one in Tucson.
It was about half the number of rigs, maybe 750, 800.
Still thousands of people, because you've got the people that are camping there, but also people that come in day visitors, maybe people who are just looking or dreaming right.
(15:33):
We did that, so it ended up being a lot of fun and it was our first time in Nebraska, visiting Lincoln.
Nebraska was very cool.
They had a big opening night party downtown in this old train station.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
It was a train station, that's right.
That was really cool.
Yeah, yeah, they had live music again, free food and drinks, but it was at the train station and, again, we'd never been to Lincoln.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
And this was the FMCA, the big organization.
Everybody got to know.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Everybody got to know they were not just one of the chapters and we're big fans just on the side note here we're big fans of murals and art around cities, and so whenever we get a chance to go see and take pictures, Well, street art, we like the graffiti.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Basically, that's true.
Yeah, mona.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Lisa maybe not so much, but loves street art, so we took lots of photos and we got to tour around the downtown there and that's really cool too, because they got us out of the event to go see the city and that was really neat because we had never been there and it was neat.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
That is one of the coolest things about these types of activities, these rallies, because you go places where you didn't expect to be New adventures and discoveries.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
It was a lot of fun.
A lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
So it was.
And what did you have done?
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Yeah, we had everywhere we have to get something fixed.
We had a couple of windows that they kind of foggy, where the glass gets permanently tinted and cloudy and kind of thing.
So we had some windows replaced and they did again.
They did that while we were here, while we were working.
It was great.
They just come over do it right while you're here.
So that was neat.
So yeah, we always kind of schedule.
(17:11):
Okay, when we go to this one, what are we gonna get?
Speaker 1 (17:12):
fixed Exactly.
What are we gonna find?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
So the third one we went to was actually kind of back in our quote, hometown kind of thing.
This was in Perry, georgia.
We were actually spent many, many years in Atlanta, georgia.
Been to the state fairgrounds down there before, but never for an RV rally, and it's one of the big ones again, right.
So this is a very large one for the East Coast and we went to that one.
(17:38):
It was 1500.
It was like one of the.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
I think that was the biggest one we've ever been to.
It was big.
Yeah, it was really big.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
So lots of people there, tons of daily visitors too, not just people that had rigs there.
And we knew that area.
We'd been there before, so it was a little different than, say, tucson or Nebraska, where we had never been to.
But we did get some unusual weather while we were there it crazy rained and flooded out the whole area.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
We still had a great time, though, right, we still partied until the dry spots underneath the tent were disappearing.
We had a swim up bar.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Right, they had a live band with wired equipment.
They had a drum set and guitar and a singer and they were fantastic.
But the water was rising around the band and they were at a high point and they eventually had to visually stop because the water was about to cover up.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Everybody was dancing on these little islands, but that's how fun it was.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
People were finding just dry areas to dance and talk.
It was a lot of fun, so we liked that place.
What else?
We did some stuff there too, though, right Services.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
okay, so this is a big thing that I ended up writing about for NIRVC, and we'll link those articles in the show notes for your entertainment.
But, basically, for the first time, we got our rig for Corner Wade, which, not to get into the technicals, you need to know how much your rig weighs and the distribution of weight is important for your tires and safety, and all this and that.
(19:13):
So we finally had the chance to get our rig for Corner Wade and we failed.
We were overweight and it was a mess and there were a couple of issues and yeah so, perry, georgia was all about learning about RV weight, tires and safety and resolving these issues that we had for.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Charlie.
The weird thing is we were pretty good about weighing Charlie, our rig but, we would go to the Catscales, as they're called.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
So if you've been, which is great for a quick and easy preliminary weight overall weight Truckers take their trucks up on the Catscales.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
You'll see these at truck stops where they pull the whole rig up there and it weighs all the axles and the reason is if you ever seen where the truckers have to pull off for weighing is to make sure they're not overloaded and damaging the roads and stuff like that For safety.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Safety.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
So what's cool is you can take your RV on those things too, and it's important to have the right weights on the right axles, but what Sherry's talking about is four Corner Wates is different than just the two axles, and we had never done that before.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Right, and we weren't overweight so much as we had some issues going on with the tires and with our air suspension system.
Yeah Right, that's the easiest way to explain this.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
The distribution was out of whack because of that, so we were putting too much weight on one set of tires.
But even worse than that, you found out we had the wrong tires.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
We had the wrong tires yeah, that's a long story and we didn't order the wrong tires.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
We ordered the exact right ones, but the long story is we had been given the wrong ones and we had not noticed that.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Because we didn't know enough at the time to check that.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
But that test at that rally.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
It was a free Gaxxon Found it.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Those people said you have the wrong tires.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Yeah, they said the passenger side front where I sit, was 1,100 pounds overweight.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
She immediately went on a diet.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
I know I'm like what?
And it was the air suspension and the tires.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
That's what I told her.
We did get it.
It's all good, baby, no worries, ok, move on, it's just the rig.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
I don't want to talk about this anymore.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
So we did that, but that was really helpful, and ever since then we've walked away from these rallies.
We've learned something new.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
We take it to the next one.
Yeah, so much.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
And in fact we'll connect with this next one, what we just told you and when we went to the last one, which was Gillette, that we just left, it was a smaller event again, kind of like Nebraska, and the number of rigs were about the same, and this was the first time.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
This was different this was different.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
We had full hookups.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Oh my god, Now why this?
Speaker 2 (21:59):
is a big deal is we hadn't actually told you this.
Normally, we always love full hookups when we go to the camp ground, but when you go to a rally and full hookups means you get power, water and sewer.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
That's what that means.
Yeah, 50 amp power, it's nice.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Totally bougie.
Totally.
It means you can run everything in the rig.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
No big deal.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
You did my sure, and why we point that out is the other three rallies we went to.
We did not have full hookups.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
We called it roughing it.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Yet we always had power.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
They always give you power.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
30 amp power, usually 30 amp power.
You can run one AC and stuff like that.
So we had full hookups, which was crazy and we were like, wow, this is going to be great.
But it was a smaller event.
But it had the advantage of the full hookups kind of thing, and then what other kind of stuff happened there.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Yeah, well, and it was smaller, I think, because Wyoming and Nebraska they're not big central locations Like in Georgia.
You have a lot of RVers going up and down the coast and in the area in Atlanta, and the same with Tucson.
(23:05):
So those are bigger events and these are smaller events and they alternate the locations year by year.
Yeah, so what else happened?
Well, aim Club rocked the event every night with all kinds of things happening with FMCA as well concerts and just all kinds of cool stuff to do.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
The action we did for the rig this time was to get her cleaned up, so it wasn't windows or anything like that, or tires or anything this time.
We just hadn't gotten our rig washed in a long time.
So we had a professional crew come over and they washed and waxed and did a great job on the rig.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Spa day for Charlie.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Yeah, she loved it.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
It was beautiful.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
I loved it more because she looked beautiful then.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
And it was a little dusty, but she took that off on our way here.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, it wasn't all easy stuff, though we had some problems.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Well, it never is, because when we left we were at Devil's Tower before Gillette.
So when we got all ready to go that it was Tuesday morning to go over to Gillette, all of a sudden the RV stairs which are automatic when you turn the engine on and shut the door, the RV steps go whoop and retract.
(24:25):
Well, they did not retract.
They did not retract at all or feel like it or whatever.
You know, the first thing is well, just turn it off and turn it back on again.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
It'll be fine 95% of the time that fixes it.
Yeah, it does.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
But it did not work, nope.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
She just wouldn't pull those stairs in.
Nope, didn't make a noise, didn't do anything, she just sat there.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
So we thought that was going to be the thing that we fixed at the show have somebody come and fix our stupid RV stairs.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
But we didn't Didn't get that one done, so we had to jump in and out of the rig every single time.
So still haven't figured that one out.
We're working on that one.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, that's for next week.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
But it was some good news too, when we left.
What was the good news?
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Yes, this morning when we left we had the RV wade again with the same people that do the four corner, weighing on your way in or out of the rally, and guess what?
Speaker 2 (25:23):
What.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
We passed.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
We passed and I even asked the guy would I say, did I get an A or an A plus or an A plus?
Speaker 1 (25:31):
plus, so he gave us an A plus.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Yeah, which is why that's a big deal is we had failed, kind of the last two, to be honest, right Like it was misdistribution, but I don't think we explained.
Did we explain?
We got new airbags in the back and that had to be part of it right, right, right, and that was recently.
(25:54):
We hadn't explained that yet.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Yeah, and how the air suspension affects how the weight rides on the four different wheel positions.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Exactly, it gets complicated.
It does and we're only pointing that out because you go there to get things fixed and I'll be honest, I didn't think we were going to get a good score.
I thought we were on a similar problem in a different side, right?
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Your side this time.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yeah, my side, sure, but no, we like nailed it yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Totally nailed it.
Everything's balanced, everything's under the proper thing, under the proper weights.
We have the right tires.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
I was going to say we have the right tires.
I was waiting to say that, because we got those replaced yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
When all that was happening.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
I should say the company that installed the tires.
This was almost a year and a half after we had had those tires put on installed.
That company replaced all four rear tires free of charge, because it was the installation error where they just weren't rated properly for the rate of our, the weight of our rig these tires.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
these are Top of the line Michelin RV tires.
These are expensive tires, so if you have to replace them and you're paying for it, it's a lot.
So we were a little worried when they said these four on the back.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
They're the wrong ones.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Wrong ones and we looked and luckily we had ordered the right ones.
They had.
Just unfortunately they put the wrong ones on the truck and put them on.
But we passed the test.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Passed.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Flying colors.
So there's all this stuff about FMCA.
We were kind of catching up on what we've been doing, but it all kind of relates back to the work-life balance, the whole reason we like to have this podcast.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Well, right, and even at the FMCA convention, with all of this stuff going on, we were both working those four days that we were there.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Russ was working from home on Zoom all day, as usual.
Scheduling and the internet is always important for him because work is first.
And then I was working with NIRVC and the AIM Club, attending the show, the seminars and events to learn all the things so I can write the guest blog for NIRVC.
(28:21):
So we were both working in it, but we had a lot of fun too.
But the question is always well okay, how do you balance work when it seems like everyone else is just playing?
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Yeah, I can't speak for anyone else but myself.
But when I put on my headphones I'm in the zone anyways because I'm really focused on the work.
But from my point of view, as long as you're on a schedule, you're there to kind of work things through.
That you got to get done.
(28:56):
If you don't have a schedule, it's got to be hard.
You're lucky, right, you look at the window.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
You're definitely on your schedule with your calls and things that are due and people that need to have the information.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
It's really weird that I am super tied to my calendar.
I'm really good about tracking my calendar, which is usually packed, and I'm also big on lists, but when it comes to my normal life, neither one of those am I really good at it.
It's really kind of funny, but so getting that schedule right is important because that way my computer, my phone, are constantly saying you got to get this done, and now you got to make this call and you got to do this.
(29:32):
So I'm just making sure, as long as I get things done, I know I can end the day feeling good.
Another thing I do is like you got to take a break, and so what's cool is sometimes you have a gap after a meeting and I have time to actually go out and do something If we're at an event like this.
I can sync up with you and go see a seminar or something as opposed to just sit and have a cup of coffee and then wait for my next call.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Right, or we usually have lunch together during the day and we were at the FMCA convention.
We got to go tour brand new RVs and go buy stuff we probably didn't need.
We buy too much stuff.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Yeah, and then there's the exhibits and stuff.
So it's really cool to see the different vendors and the products, because you can't buy too much.
It's impossible because you have to fit it into the rig, but you see new stuff that you might replace there.
So it's kind of cool to see stuff that cleans the rig, stuff for safety, stuff which I'm a big fan of like all sorts of neat stuff that you'll find there.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
I got a new FMCA Atlas maps.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
We have a collection of maps.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Second, only to the maps of the campgrounds that you collect.
Oh, yeah, yeah, the campground guides.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Yeah, so those are kind of things I worry about, but I'm not the only one there, right?
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Well, the interesting thing is, at the FMCA conventions there's actually a lot of people working.
They're not necessarily doing the type of thing Russ is doing working from home for a company and doing his daily job but there are hundreds of people involved and working every day the vendors that are in the exhibit halls that are selling products, the service people that are doing all these jobs and maintenance and service things in the campgrounds, the seminars, the people that are teaching us about various new safety equipment and all of these things that I'm learning for the first time to our AEM group coordinators.
(31:48):
The people that run the show from event to event, whether it's FMCA or AEM or whatever they're doing.
These people are all working on the road every day too.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Yeah, they would have normally been in a cubicle or back at the office scheduling stuff.
But now they're being thrown into Nebraska and Georgia and like they have to do this on the road kind of thing.
It's crazy yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
So we can't sit around and say oh poor us we're working all of these people, even the retirees, the older people who have earned their time off.
Yes, but even the retirees come to these FMCA conventions and they volunteer they're driving golf carts of driving people to and from the different exhibit areas and the campground into the show and all of that they're the ones that park us.
(32:39):
They figure out where you're going.
They're very organized and I think these people love this because they've taken the skills they had when they were working and now that they're retired they can still do this, but they're having a great time, because it's not the same yeah, security, running the seminars, services, activities everybody is busy and it's also a chance for them to be with their tribe, to come together at these big events and see old friends and hang out in their groups of Monaco RVs or Integra Coach or whatever, and it's just, it's really cool.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
So there's a lot of people working these shows and we hear a lot of the details, because Sherry's just talking about the people that are just driving people from here to there.
That's a big deal, and when you have a thousand to 2,000 rigs, this is a huge facility.
And so, going from one side to the other, you're gonna be riding in some vehicle, somebody's gonna take you and you're gonna talk to people, whether they're the driver or somebody with you, and we hear so many cool stories about where they live and when they started full-time.
(33:45):
Maybe they're just part-timing or some-timing kind of thing, some-time RVers, yeah so you get to learn all this stuff, and we learn a lot when they talk about the things that work for them, and there's always something that broke on their rig too.
It's fun, it's really really fun.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, okay, we've talked about a lot here, right, we've talked about the different places we've gone for FMCA.
(34:07):
But if we had to kind of wrap this up into the top three things, if I could pick three that are related to work-life balance around these challenges, these are the ones I think I'd pick.
So you tell me how close you think this is.
One is I kind of mentioned.
The second goes like if you're gonna be able to do this work-life balance and go into these cool events like FMCA, you gotta focus on getting the work done All right.
(34:30):
For me, it's all about a schedule, it's all about the calendar, it's all about the lists, and as long as I have a schedule and it's tied to my time zone because I'm key to be different time zones it works.
The second one is you know you don't go there just to work, right, it is that balance right.
And so you're really good about going out and finding the cool things for us to do and so participating as much as possible so I can sit in the rig and work.
(34:55):
But, man, it's fun to get out and meet the people and go see the seminars.
Yeah, you took me to one.
You made sure I went to one, while you went to a different one which was on the safety plus.
Right it was a right Suspension.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yeah, it's really cool.
I really loved it.
Super nerdy.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
but I really loved it which is what we need to know to balance our suspension and make sure that we're over weight so I don't get to go to all of them, but she made sure I found ones that she knew I'd like and I got to do those when I'd step out after on a break, especially in the after hours.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Evening stuff there's a lot of fun stuff, participating in the dinner and the entertainment, yeah, and in fact, we talk about aim, but there are multiple events.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
They bring in different artists and stuff in different areas.
We have not been able to see the entire show.
It's so big.
So that's a big one.
And then one of my favorite things about FMCA is to be a part of the community is there, and so FMCA for us gives us an opportunity to, while we're still traveling together just the two of us we get to see and be a part of a greater community.
(35:55):
We see old friends that go to these same events.
Sometimes it's not friends, they're, they're an or a group of people that have a common interest or they have the same rig as you kind of thing, and so it's really really cool to get back together and have those bonds, even though we're coast to coast, you know.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
On the fly.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
You know.
It's like if you live in a neighborhood and you've been there 20 years and you know everybody.
We kind of have that and we've only been doing this a few years and it's because of events like FMCA and always making new friends, meeting new people.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
It's very cool.
The only thing I would add to that in terms of RV work life balance is just the awareness that there are so many opportunities and different ways to earn an income on the road.
If you want to get out there on the road, you know this.
Events like this it's just one example of people making a living and the RV in the RV world lifestyle.
(36:58):
So, yeah, our goal with the RV work life balance podcast is to share what we're learning about RV work life balance.
How many times can I say that and, you know, maybe spark the idea, the dream, the interest in you if that's something that you're interested in and you don't know how well we're going to present different ways to do this.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Well, to tie this all together, I really want to thank everyone for listening to this podcast.
If there's anything of interest that we've said about products or places, we will try to make sure all of those in the show notes.
Please go take a look.
We'll try to put the appropriate links.
We'll put any kind of discounts we think we can share with you.
We'll put all that in there.
If you're new here, please subscribe.
(37:49):
We want to make sure we have an opportunity to share even more.
So, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
And to our existing subscribers.
We love you.
Thank you so much for being on this adventure with us and supporting us all this time, and please be in touch, whether it's through email or on Facebook.
Love the Facebook and we try to post there more often pictures and things that we're doing.
(38:17):
So the most important thing is make your escape and get out here.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
So, are you ready?
I'm ready, let's go.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
All right, let's get out there.
Bye, stay tuned for the next video.
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 (00:31):
Hey, thanks for joining us again.
You know, it seems like we just finished recording one of these, but I don't know.
I know right, it's just like every day.
It seems like but it's not, it just feels like that.
So we'll start with our happiness of cheers.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Everybody cheers.
I don't give it to everybody, I'm sorry.
I just give it to you.
Cheers everybody.
Yeah, you cheers everybody else.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
So normally I'd ask you like where are we today?
But a lot has happened over the last few days, so like, where have we been?
I guess it'll be the question.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Okay, so tonight we're in the middle of South Dakota somewhere, but only for one night, because we've just come from Gillette Wyoming.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
What was going on in Gillette?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
The FMCA Rally.
Oh, I get to say that.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Awesome.
So yeah, FMCA Rally We've done a few of these.
It's been pretty fun.
It's pretty exciting there.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
It was, and that is the FMCA International Convention and RV Expo at the Camp Plex Event Facility in Gillette, wyoming.
That's where we were.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, gillette, we didn't get to spend too much time in that town.
Some of the other times we've been to FMCA we've toured the town.
We only got to stay at the rally this time, so I was a little disappointed we didn't get to tour around.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
It was a busy three days.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
And usually there Four days.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I mean it could be four, depending on how you can leave when your time is up, but we left today.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
We leave a little early on Saturdays because of course we need to get where we're going right.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Right, right.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
So maybe we should talk a little bit about FMCA Sure.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Tell the fans what it's all about.
It is.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Well, this is something you really need to know about as RV enthusiast the Family Motor Coach Association, fmca.
It is an excellent membership program.
There are, you know, several membership programs that you might be interested in when you start RVing, and this is one of the first ones you might consider joining.
(02:48):
But the cost is about it's $60 for your first year and then it goes down a little bit.
It is totally worth it and yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
And we'll put all the information about this in the show notes.
So if you're trying to take notes and you're driving or you're working out or whatever, take a look at the show notes.
We'll have those discounts and how to get to that.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, we got a special discount for you, so that'll be in the show notes.
And there's just so many benefits with FMCA.
There are numerous programs and discounts, including a tire savings program when you need to buy RV tires, which are expensive.
(03:32):
Roadside assistance.
They have internet services.
They have insurance, including RV insurance.
They can help you find your RV insurance, which is super important whether you're part-time and especially when you're full-time.
(03:53):
It's a different insurance program for each of those scenarios and you've got to be covered.
And who better to go to than RV a specialist?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
who can guide you?
Speaker 1 (04:06):
in the right direction for what you need.
So we do use the FM and FMCA insurance program for our full-time RV insurance.
Let's see they also have campground discounts and partnerships with all kinds of organizations for additional discounts on camping and purchases and fantasy RV tours so cool.
(04:39):
And then also in terms of these big events that they have, they have incredible educational programs for new and more experienced RVers.
They have programs online, but they also have in-person events all over the country.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, one of my favorite things about it is like there's a sense of community at FMCA, and that's true of a lot of rallies, I know that.
But FMCA has been around a long time and it's even broken into these kind of chapters all over the place.
So FMCA has major events.
But then even within there you'll notice there's these groups of RVers that are connected because of their brand or because of their location or all sorts of different interests that they have.
(05:25):
And that's really cool, because when you walk around and everyone's so pleasant and always excited to know where you're from and what kind of rig you have.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Make you friends.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
And they'll invite you into their crowd of people and they'll share all the stuff that that group is interested in.
We meet people that are into hot rods and people that are into classic RVs.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Off-roading.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Jeep enthusiasts yes, lots of that.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
There's several military groups and organizations that travel together or get together at different parts of the country.
Just so many things.
And we're not so involved in the smaller events and activities all across the country because our limited time right.
(06:11):
But there are two of these Big events.
Big events, uh, twice a year, in the spring and then in the summer, late summer, and these are the FMCA international conventions and RV expos.
(06:32):
So those are the big ones and they're so much fun, uh, because it's the whole group, no matter whether you're new Mar or grand design or Integra, like us, or in the jeeping or military or Elks or whatever organization within FMCA that you're involved in, they're close to.
(06:55):
We all get together twice a year and all of the RV manufacturers come the dealerships.
They're showing and selling the newest models, they have exhibits and seminars and shopping for just about everything you can imagine related to RVs.
(07:16):
So it's just an opportunity I call it coming in from the wild to spend time with your tribe.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, I mean it's.
It is weird because it is a massive number of RVs and it looks like chaos until you start walking around and then you start seeing patterns of similar rigs.
Or they'll put groups of people and they'll all be wearing shirts of some sort of interest, or they'll all be from certain location.
We end up hanging out either with our brand or, more than likely, we end up hanging out with the AIM crew, the all-inclusive motorhome crew, which is a mixture of brands and stuff.
(07:55):
But it is really neat of the kinds of people you meet and everybody wants to talk to you Like that's what's so cool.
So the twice a year is like the circus comes to town.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Or goes to a different town.
Is the case, maybe right?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
And there's events and there's activities where you're learning things.
There's people to help work on your rig.
There's just so much stuff in one place for this a little less than a week activity.
It's great.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
You wake up every morning and spend the day touring brand new RVs or participating in cool activities and events, or little visits, tours of the local area, seminars, like I said, arts and crafts, shopping, entertainment, contest, games, concerts.
(08:43):
Oh my, so yeah, there's just so much going on.
And what's the coolest one of the other very cool things about these types of events?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yeah, one of the things I like is, if you're into RVing, one of the things you learn real quick is that sometimes always going to break.
That's the common thing everyone will agree with is like hey, you know, every week you get a new thing to work on, and so what's cool, though, is, when you go to one of these big events, it is an opportunity not just for people to get together, but also services to come together and actually service this.
(09:16):
So there'll be people that are working on awnings, which is a common.
We have never had that problem, but boy.
Thank goodness, yeah, so you'll see trucks going around with the awning service and they'll work on your stuff.
There are people work on your windows and glass.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Solar installations.
That's a big one.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, there's the washers that are washing and wax your rig.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Oh, that's Russ's favorite service.
Charlie gets a bath every time we come into the conventions.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yeah, and so getting all the services done is kind of cool because you don't have to spend a lot of time finding these people.
They've been vetted by FMCA.
You get multiple choices to choose from.
You don't have to use them.
But what's great is there's an advantage to using them because they've been vetted and you can actually see their work as they're going from rig to rig.
(10:02):
You can see the quality of the work they're doing.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
It's great, yeah.
So at these big events we camp with AIM.
Our little FMCA chapter neighborhood group is AIM, the all-inclusive Motorhome Club.
I know we've talked about them before Just a few times.
(10:24):
The AIM Club is sponsored by NIRVC and Freightliner and many other services and providers.
So the AIM group arrives and we all camp in a big group parked next to each other.
And then the coolest thing is that every night of the convention AIM sponsors free dinner, drinks and entertainment at the AIM tent which is always set up at the edge of the campground.
(10:59):
And the coolest thing is it's not just the AIM group.
Aim invites all of the FMCA attendees out for dinner and dining and dancing every night.
It's open to everyone at the convention.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, they'll have DJs or live bands and great food and it's great.
You bring your chairs and you get entertained and you get fed and they have an open bar with beer and wine.
It's a lot of fun and we meet tons of great people there and they are from all over FMCA, so you meet different rigs and different parts of the country.
It's really fun and everybody's having a great time and it's free food and entertainment.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
It's a mixer Every night, every night, yeah, and so, with AIM and working with NIRVC, we've actually been to four of these international conventions in the last two years.
We have.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
You know, we didn't know anything about it when it first came up, and now we're like we didn't know anything about anything when it first started.
No, no, but you know, the idea of like going to some big rally was never on my list either, and camping at an RV show.
Basically right, yeah, we were like oh, we're just going to go in the woods and see the mountains and stuff.
But no, it was really fun and so one of our first ones I don't know if we've, I think we've mentioned it already we went to Tucson, arizona, and it was actually right after we had been to our very first AIM event a week before, but Tucson we were already planning to go.
(12:32):
We had not been to Tucson for any kind of events like this and we met so many cool new people there because, again, that was our very first one.
So we didn't know what.
We didn't know how did it?
Well, there's like 1,200 rigs there, I believe.
If I have the numbers right from that first one and it was I'd never seen so many RVs in one place and how they stage you to get into this place.
(12:54):
It was like it's clockwork of how you show up and you get in lines and they take you to your place.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
It's an RV rodeo.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, it's impressive, Like they really know what they're doing and that sets you up for meeting all sorts of people.
So we met lots of cool new people.
At that point we met our good friends Kim and Pete.
Hey guys how you doing?
Jason and Dylan actually were there.
Jason and Dylan have a great YouTube channel called Our Not so Perfect Life.
They were there because they were actually part of sponsors that were there.
(13:23):
They were actually.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Oh, they were working at the show.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
And they didn't know about the aim tent, so we had them come over.
We invited them for dinner and dance yeah, for the free food dancing.
We had a great time with the live band there, so that was really fun.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Yeah, and actually that first event we parked with the Integra Coach Owners Association, which was right next to the AIM group.
They're very close as an Integra dealer and everybody attended the AIM dinners in entertainment.
So, it was just a great time.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Yeah, and then the other cool thing is NRVC and a lot of other suppliers and vendors show up there to also show off their wares and their new technology and stuff.
And we actually got something installed for fire suppression, called PROTENG, there, which was neat because it's a non-mechanical system that basically has tubes of chemicals that get put into areas where there's potential risk of fire, and we were excited to put that in there, because that's one of the things we do fear.
(14:25):
All about safety, baby Safety, yeah, I have tons of fire extinguishers in the rig.
I have even more fire alarm systems and just always worried about that.
But yeah, that was a cool thing to get installable over here.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
And they came out to us in the campground and installed this while we were, while Russ was working in the rig.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Yeah, super convenient.
It's neat, it's really neat.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
So then, our second FMCA convention or rally.
Well, let's call them RV rallies, ok.
So the second one was in Lincoln, nebraska, which we'd never been to Nebraska, never had it on the bucket list, didn't know, but hey, here's a great reason to go to Nebraska.
(15:08):
Ok, it turned out to be a much, not a much, but a smaller event than the big one in Tucson.
It was about half the number of rigs, maybe 750, 800.
Still thousands of people, because you've got the people that are camping there, but also people that come in day visitors, maybe people who are just looking or dreaming right.
(15:33):
We did that, so it ended up being a lot of fun and it was our first time in Nebraska, visiting Lincoln.
Nebraska was very cool.
They had a big opening night party downtown in this old train station.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
It was a train station, that's right.
That was really cool.
Yeah, yeah, they had live music again, free food and drinks, but it was at the train station and, again, we'd never been to Lincoln.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
And this was the FMCA, the big organization.
Everybody got to know.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Everybody got to know they were not just one of the chapters and we're big fans just on the side note here we're big fans of murals and art around cities, and so whenever we get a chance to go see and take pictures, Well, street art, we like the graffiti.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Basically, that's true.
Yeah, mona.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Lisa maybe not so much, but loves street art, so we took lots of photos and we got to tour around the downtown there and that's really cool too, because they got us out of the event to go see the city and that was really neat because we had never been there and it was neat.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
That is one of the coolest things about these types of activities, these rallies, because you go places where you didn't expect to be New adventures and discoveries.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
It was a lot of fun.
A lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
So it was.
And what did you have done?
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Yeah, we had everywhere we have to get something fixed.
We had a couple of windows that they kind of foggy, where the glass gets permanently tinted and cloudy and kind of thing.
So we had some windows replaced and they did again.
They did that while we were here, while we were working.
It was great.
They just come over do it right while you're here.
So that was neat.
So yeah, we always kind of schedule.
(17:11):
Okay, when we go to this one, what are we gonna get?
Speaker 1 (17:12):
fixed Exactly.
What are we gonna find?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
So the third one we went to was actually kind of back in our quote, hometown kind of thing.
This was in Perry, georgia.
We were actually spent many, many years in Atlanta, georgia.
Been to the state fairgrounds down there before, but never for an RV rally, and it's one of the big ones again, right.
So this is a very large one for the East Coast and we went to that one.
(17:38):
It was 1500.
It was like one of the.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
I think that was the biggest one we've ever been to.
It was big.
Yeah, it was really big.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
So lots of people there, tons of daily visitors too, not just people that had rigs there.
And we knew that area.
We'd been there before, so it was a little different than, say, tucson or Nebraska, where we had never been to.
But we did get some unusual weather while we were there it crazy rained and flooded out the whole area.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
We still had a great time, though, right, we still partied until the dry spots underneath the tent were disappearing.
We had a swim up bar.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Right, they had a live band with wired equipment.
They had a drum set and guitar and a singer and they were fantastic.
But the water was rising around the band and they were at a high point and they eventually had to visually stop because the water was about to cover up.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Everybody was dancing on these little islands, but that's how fun it was.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
People were finding just dry areas to dance and talk.
It was a lot of fun, so we liked that place.
What else?
We did some stuff there too, though, right Services.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
okay, so this is a big thing that I ended up writing about for NIRVC, and we'll link those articles in the show notes for your entertainment.
But, basically, for the first time, we got our rig for Corner Wade, which, not to get into the technicals, you need to know how much your rig weighs and the distribution of weight is important for your tires and safety, and all this and that.
(19:13):
So we finally had the chance to get our rig for Corner Wade and we failed.
We were overweight and it was a mess and there were a couple of issues and yeah so, perry, georgia was all about learning about RV weight, tires and safety and resolving these issues that we had for.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Charlie.
The weird thing is we were pretty good about weighing Charlie, our rig but, we would go to the Catscales, as they're called.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
So if you've been, which is great for a quick and easy preliminary weight overall weight Truckers take their trucks up on the Catscales.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
You'll see these at truck stops where they pull the whole rig up there and it weighs all the axles and the reason is if you ever seen where the truckers have to pull off for weighing is to make sure they're not overloaded and damaging the roads and stuff like that For safety.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Safety.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
So what's cool is you can take your RV on those things too, and it's important to have the right weights on the right axles, but what Sherry's talking about is four Corner Wates is different than just the two axles, and we had never done that before.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Right, and we weren't overweight so much as we had some issues going on with the tires and with our air suspension system.
Yeah Right, that's the easiest way to explain this.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
The distribution was out of whack because of that, so we were putting too much weight on one set of tires.
But even worse than that, you found out we had the wrong tires.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
We had the wrong tires yeah, that's a long story and we didn't order the wrong tires.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
We ordered the exact right ones, but the long story is we had been given the wrong ones and we had not noticed that.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Because we didn't know enough at the time to check that.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
But that test at that rally.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
It was a free Gaxxon Found it.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Those people said you have the wrong tires.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Yeah, they said the passenger side front where I sit, was 1,100 pounds overweight.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
She immediately went on a diet.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
I know I'm like what?
And it was the air suspension and the tires.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
That's what I told her.
We did get it.
It's all good, baby, no worries, ok, move on, it's just the rig.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
I don't want to talk about this anymore.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
So we did that, but that was really helpful, and ever since then we've walked away from these rallies.
We've learned something new.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
We take it to the next one.
Yeah, so much.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
And in fact we'll connect with this next one, what we just told you and when we went to the last one, which was Gillette, that we just left, it was a smaller event again, kind of like Nebraska, and the number of rigs were about the same, and this was the first time.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
This was different this was different.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
We had full hookups.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Oh my god, Now why this?
Speaker 2 (21:59):
is a big deal is we hadn't actually told you this.
Normally, we always love full hookups when we go to the camp ground, but when you go to a rally and full hookups means you get power, water and sewer.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
That's what that means.
Yeah, 50 amp power, it's nice.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Totally bougie.
Totally.
It means you can run everything in the rig.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
No big deal.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
You did my sure, and why we point that out is the other three rallies we went to.
We did not have full hookups.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
We called it roughing it.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Yet we always had power.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
They always give you power.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
30 amp power, usually 30 amp power.
You can run one AC and stuff like that.
So we had full hookups, which was crazy and we were like, wow, this is going to be great.
But it was a smaller event.
But it had the advantage of the full hookups kind of thing, and then what other kind of stuff happened there.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Yeah, well, and it was smaller, I think, because Wyoming and Nebraska they're not big central locations Like in Georgia.
You have a lot of RVers going up and down the coast and in the area in Atlanta, and the same with Tucson.
(23:05):
So those are bigger events and these are smaller events and they alternate the locations year by year.
Yeah, so what else happened?
Well, aim Club rocked the event every night with all kinds of things happening with FMCA as well concerts and just all kinds of cool stuff to do.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
The action we did for the rig this time was to get her cleaned up, so it wasn't windows or anything like that, or tires or anything this time.
We just hadn't gotten our rig washed in a long time.
So we had a professional crew come over and they washed and waxed and did a great job on the rig.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Spa day for Charlie.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Yeah, she loved it.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
It was beautiful.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
I loved it more because she looked beautiful then.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
And it was a little dusty, but she took that off on our way here.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, it wasn't all easy stuff, though we had some problems.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Well, it never is, because when we left we were at Devil's Tower before Gillette.
So when we got all ready to go that it was Tuesday morning to go over to Gillette, all of a sudden the RV stairs which are automatic when you turn the engine on and shut the door, the RV steps go whoop and retract.
(24:25):
Well, they did not retract.
They did not retract at all or feel like it or whatever.
You know, the first thing is well, just turn it off and turn it back on again.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
It'll be fine 95% of the time that fixes it.
Yeah, it does.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
But it did not work, nope.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
She just wouldn't pull those stairs in.
Nope, didn't make a noise, didn't do anything, she just sat there.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
So we thought that was going to be the thing that we fixed at the show have somebody come and fix our stupid RV stairs.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
But we didn't Didn't get that one done, so we had to jump in and out of the rig every single time.
So still haven't figured that one out.
We're working on that one.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, that's for next week.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
But it was some good news too, when we left.
What was the good news?
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Yes, this morning when we left we had the RV wade again with the same people that do the four corner, weighing on your way in or out of the rally, and guess what?
Speaker 2 (25:23):
What.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
We passed.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
We passed and I even asked the guy would I say, did I get an A or an A plus or an A plus?
Speaker 1 (25:31):
plus, so he gave us an A plus.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Yeah, which is why that's a big deal is we had failed, kind of the last two, to be honest, right Like it was misdistribution, but I don't think we explained.
Did we explain?
We got new airbags in the back and that had to be part of it right, right, right, and that was recently.
(25:54):
We hadn't explained that yet.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Yeah, and how the air suspension affects how the weight rides on the four different wheel positions.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Exactly, it gets complicated.
It does and we're only pointing that out because you go there to get things fixed and I'll be honest, I didn't think we were going to get a good score.
I thought we were on a similar problem in a different side, right?
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Your side this time.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yeah, my side, sure, but no, we like nailed it yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Totally nailed it.
Everything's balanced, everything's under the proper thing, under the proper weights.
We have the right tires.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
I was going to say we have the right tires.
I was waiting to say that, because we got those replaced yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
When all that was happening.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
I should say the company that installed the tires.
This was almost a year and a half after we had had those tires put on installed.
That company replaced all four rear tires free of charge, because it was the installation error where they just weren't rated properly for the rate of our, the weight of our rig these tires.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
these are Top of the line Michelin RV tires.
These are expensive tires, so if you have to replace them and you're paying for it, it's a lot.
So we were a little worried when they said these four on the back.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
They're the wrong ones.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Wrong ones and we looked and luckily we had ordered the right ones.
They had.
Just unfortunately they put the wrong ones on the truck and put them on.
But we passed the test.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Passed.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Flying colors.
So there's all this stuff about FMCA.
We were kind of catching up on what we've been doing, but it all kind of relates back to the work-life balance, the whole reason we like to have this podcast.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Well, right, and even at the FMCA convention, with all of this stuff going on, we were both working those four days that we were there.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Russ was working from home on Zoom all day, as usual.
Scheduling and the internet is always important for him because work is first.
And then I was working with NIRVC and the AIM Club, attending the show, the seminars and events to learn all the things so I can write the guest blog for NIRVC.
(28:21):
So we were both working in it, but we had a lot of fun too.
But the question is always well okay, how do you balance work when it seems like everyone else is just playing?
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Yeah, I can't speak for anyone else but myself.
But when I put on my headphones I'm in the zone anyways because I'm really focused on the work.
But from my point of view, as long as you're on a schedule, you're there to kind of work things through.
That you got to get done.
(28:56):
If you don't have a schedule, it's got to be hard.
You're lucky, right, you look at the window.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
You're definitely on your schedule with your calls and things that are due and people that need to have the information.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
It's really weird that I am super tied to my calendar.
I'm really good about tracking my calendar, which is usually packed, and I'm also big on lists, but when it comes to my normal life, neither one of those am I really good at it.
It's really kind of funny, but so getting that schedule right is important because that way my computer, my phone, are constantly saying you got to get this done, and now you got to make this call and you got to do this.
(29:32):
So I'm just making sure, as long as I get things done, I know I can end the day feeling good.
Another thing I do is like you got to take a break, and so what's cool is sometimes you have a gap after a meeting and I have time to actually go out and do something If we're at an event like this.
I can sync up with you and go see a seminar or something as opposed to just sit and have a cup of coffee and then wait for my next call.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Right, or we usually have lunch together during the day and we were at the FMCA convention.
We got to go tour brand new RVs and go buy stuff we probably didn't need.
We buy too much stuff.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Yeah, and then there's the exhibits and stuff.
So it's really cool to see the different vendors and the products, because you can't buy too much.
It's impossible because you have to fit it into the rig, but you see new stuff that you might replace there.
So it's kind of cool to see stuff that cleans the rig, stuff for safety, stuff which I'm a big fan of like all sorts of neat stuff that you'll find there.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
I got a new FMCA Atlas maps.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
We have a collection of maps.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Second, only to the maps of the campgrounds that you collect.
Oh, yeah, yeah, the campground guides.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Yeah, so those are kind of things I worry about, but I'm not the only one there, right?
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Well, the interesting thing is, at the FMCA conventions there's actually a lot of people working.
They're not necessarily doing the type of thing Russ is doing working from home for a company and doing his daily job but there are hundreds of people involved and working every day the vendors that are in the exhibit halls that are selling products, the service people that are doing all these jobs and maintenance and service things in the campgrounds, the seminars, the people that are teaching us about various new safety equipment and all of these things that I'm learning for the first time to our AEM group coordinators.
(31:48):
The people that run the show from event to event, whether it's FMCA or AEM or whatever they're doing.
These people are all working on the road every day too.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Yeah, they would have normally been in a cubicle or back at the office scheduling stuff.
But now they're being thrown into Nebraska and Georgia and like they have to do this on the road kind of thing.
It's crazy yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
So we can't sit around and say oh poor us we're working all of these people, even the retirees, the older people who have earned their time off.
Yes, but even the retirees come to these FMCA conventions and they volunteer they're driving golf carts of driving people to and from the different exhibit areas and the campground into the show and all of that they're the ones that park us.
(32:39):
They figure out where you're going.
They're very organized and I think these people love this because they've taken the skills they had when they were working and now that they're retired they can still do this, but they're having a great time, because it's not the same yeah, security, running the seminars, services, activities everybody is busy and it's also a chance for them to be with their tribe, to come together at these big events and see old friends and hang out in their groups of Monaco RVs or Integra Coach or whatever, and it's just, it's really cool.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
So there's a lot of people working these shows and we hear a lot of the details, because Sherry's just talking about the people that are just driving people from here to there.
That's a big deal, and when you have a thousand to 2,000 rigs, this is a huge facility.
And so, going from one side to the other, you're gonna be riding in some vehicle, somebody's gonna take you and you're gonna talk to people, whether they're the driver or somebody with you, and we hear so many cool stories about where they live and when they started full-time.
(33:45):
Maybe they're just part-timing or some-timing kind of thing, some-time RVers, yeah so you get to learn all this stuff, and we learn a lot when they talk about the things that work for them, and there's always something that broke on their rig too.
It's fun, it's really really fun.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, okay, we've talked about a lot here, right, we've talked about the different places we've gone for FMCA.
(34:07):
But if we had to kind of wrap this up into the top three things, if I could pick three that are related to work-life balance around these challenges, these are the ones I think I'd pick.
So you tell me how close you think this is.
One is I kind of mentioned.
The second goes like if you're gonna be able to do this work-life balance and go into these cool events like FMCA, you gotta focus on getting the work done All right.
(34:30):
For me, it's all about a schedule, it's all about the calendar, it's all about the lists, and as long as I have a schedule and it's tied to my time zone because I'm key to be different time zones it works.
The second one is you know you don't go there just to work, right, it is that balance right.
And so you're really good about going out and finding the cool things for us to do and so participating as much as possible so I can sit in the rig and work.
(34:55):
But, man, it's fun to get out and meet the people and go see the seminars.
Yeah, you took me to one.
You made sure I went to one, while you went to a different one which was on the safety plus.
Right it was a right Suspension.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yeah, it's really cool.
I really loved it.
Super nerdy.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
but I really loved it which is what we need to know to balance our suspension and make sure that we're over weight so I don't get to go to all of them, but she made sure I found ones that she knew I'd like and I got to do those when I'd step out after on a break, especially in the after hours.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Evening stuff there's a lot of fun stuff, participating in the dinner and the entertainment, yeah, and in fact, we talk about aim, but there are multiple events.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
They bring in different artists and stuff in different areas.
We have not been able to see the entire show.
It's so big.
So that's a big one.
And then one of my favorite things about FMCA is to be a part of the community is there, and so FMCA for us gives us an opportunity to, while we're still traveling together just the two of us we get to see and be a part of a greater community.
(35:55):
We see old friends that go to these same events.
Sometimes it's not friends, they're, they're an or a group of people that have a common interest or they have the same rig as you kind of thing, and so it's really really cool to get back together and have those bonds, even though we're coast to coast, you know.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
On the fly.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
You know.
It's like if you live in a neighborhood and you've been there 20 years and you know everybody.
We kind of have that and we've only been doing this a few years and it's because of events like FMCA and always making new friends, meeting new people.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
It's very cool.
The only thing I would add to that in terms of RV work life balance is just the awareness that there are so many opportunities and different ways to earn an income on the road.
If you want to get out there on the road, you know this.
Events like this it's just one example of people making a living and the RV in the RV world lifestyle.
(36:58):
So, yeah, our goal with the RV work life balance podcast is to share what we're learning about RV work life balance.
How many times can I say that and, you know, maybe spark the idea, the dream, the interest in you if that's something that you're interested in and you don't know how well we're going to present different ways to do this.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Well, to tie this all together, I really want to thank everyone for listening to this podcast.
If there's anything of interest that we've said about products or places, we will try to make sure all of those in the show notes.
Please go take a look.
We'll try to put the appropriate links.
We'll put any kind of discounts we think we can share with you.
We'll put all that in there.
If you're new here, please subscribe.
(37:49):
We want to make sure we have an opportunity to share even more.
So, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
And to our existing subscribers.
We love you.
Thank you so much for being on this adventure with us and supporting us all this time, and please be in touch, whether it's through email or on Facebook.
Love the Facebook and we try to post there more often pictures and things that we're doing.
(38:17):
So the most important thing is make your escape and get out here.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
So, are you ready?
I'm ready, let's go.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
All right, let's get out there.
Bye, stay tuned for the next video.
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