October 23, 2023 • 30 mins
RVing from The Silver Lobster Farm near St. Louis, Missouri: Sherri & Russ explain Moochdocking = mooching + boondocking (RV camping with limited or no services). Also known as driveway camping or driveway surfing! Join us on our annual moochdocking adventure, visiting family over Labor Day Weekend at The Silver Lobster Farm near St. Louis, Missouri…
MOOCHDOCKING EPISODE SUMMARY:"I can’t believe we get to do this. It’s just shockingly cool. This country is amazing! So we get to do amazing travel, and then we get to go see family and friends…"
--> Remember Cousin Eddie showing up in his old RV at the Griswold’s for Christmas Vacation… Sh*tter’s FULL!?
Kind of like that -- but NOT! -- we invite you on our RV Moochdocking Adventure to The Silver Lobster Farm, outside of St. Louis, Missouri, for family fun and Labor Day Weekend shenanigans... including an unsettling encounter with some very creepy babies.
Buckle up for Episode 8: Just getting there was half the adventure! After spending part of our holiday travel weekend hanging out on the parking lot of an adult superstore in Iowa (tire trouble! 😱) and then stopping late for our very first overnight at a Love's Truck Stop, you'll understand the feeling of relief, when we finally made it to our destination!
Learn all about Moochdocking and the extraordinary benefits of enjoying time with family & friends, all over the country, in your own home on wheels. We tackle Frequently Asked Questions about our full time RV Lifestyle, touching on the realities of life on the road, addressing the challenges of receiving mail and packages, and revealing hard-won secrets about DIY RV Repair.
Finally, Moochdocking & RV Work Life Balance-- How does that work? Click on the episode link above to find out!
Join us on our RV Moochdocking Adventure in this episode!Come travel with us! Feel the freedom, enjoy the ongoing adventure and perhaps ignite a spark for your own journey on the open road…
- - - - - HIGHLIGHTS - - - - -
- (00:01:07) - Moochdocking @ Silver Lobster Farm in Missouri
- (00:11:08) - Labor Day w/ Family & Creepy Babies…
- (00:13:08) - FAQ: How long are you going to RV full time?
- (00:15:37) - RV Moochdocking 101
- (00:18:10) - Getting Mail On The Road (Address Surfing)
- (00:22:45) - RV Problems, Romantix, Love’s & DIY RV Repair
- (00:25:50) - Moochdocking & RV Work Life Balance
- (00:27:46) - Join the Adventure! - 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:Drone video mentioned in the podcast: Moochdocking at the Silver Lobster Farm - our own private Harvest Host!*
- RV Harvest Hosts: Sleepover at Bo Duke’s ❤️ – Holden, Louisiana - Speaking of Harvest Hosts: Enjoy one of our more traditional -- yet still quirky! -- Harvest Hosts visits! 🤩
- RV Goodbyes & A Cross Country Road Trip Adventure - RVing full time isn't always easy, especially when it comes to missing family, exactly why our annual moochdocking adventure in Missouri is so important.
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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. Tha
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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 suit.
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):
All right, welcome back again to the podcast of the RV Work Life Balance podcast.
Let's just start with cheers.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Cheers everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Cheers, Cheers, All right.
So in this week's episode I decided it would be best to really listen to the market and the customers and you know the listeners and stuff.
So I did this big survey of 100 different people.
Sure, how should I start this episode?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
And they said let's check.
Let me pull the notes up, all right.
So what they said was I'm supposed to ask where are we today?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Oh, good question, I know it was an awesome survey.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I was so pleased that that was their answer.
So where are?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
we Wow.
This week we have been at the Silver Lobster Farm near St Louis Missouri.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
It's a special place for us.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Undisclosed location.
That's right.
That's a secret, it's very exclusive.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
This is our third visit in three years around Labor Day Always on Labor Day.
Yeah, it's awesome and we did mention this once before in episode two.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I think we did.
Yeah, we'll probably mention a lot because it's one of our favorite places.
The secret of the Silver Lobster Farm.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, be careful, google will not tell you anything, it's so exclusive.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
That's right, we are with Uncle Pat and Aunt Monica, and I'm saying that with air quotes.
Yeah.
Nobody can see your air quotes, because these are.
This is Russ's family, russ's uncle and aunt, but because of the size of the family above him, they're really close in age of four years.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, there's nine kids in my grandfather and grandmother's family there.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
With your dad.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, dad was the oldest of nine and Pat was the youngest of nine.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
So they're actually only like four years apart.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
So Uncle.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Pat and Aunt Monica are kind of funny.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
We never call them that unless we're being funny.
Anyway, the first trip, our first trip in the RV to the Silver Lobster Farm in Missouri was our first year and it happened to be on Labor Day and we had such a great time because at their church, just up the street from their house, they have a Labor Day, an annual Labor Day church picnic and festival.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
It's big Just so much fun.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
So now that is our annual Labor Day destination.
Yeah, it's an excuse.
We love going to see family there.
I'll be honest right, it didn't have to be Labor Day.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
That's a bonus to go to the picnic because it's great to see all the family there and it works out with our schedule and the weather and everything.
Yeah, People availability of everyone around.
That is awesome and yeah, and it's like you said, in the first year was kind of an accident.
We didn't like totally plan it, but it worked out beautiful.
By the second year we came back because we loved it so much they had really embraced the idea put in a pedestal for 50 amps power.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
And sweet, sweet amps is awesome.
Yeah, how cool is that?
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
And in fact, while we're there in the second season, I think I did a little video.
We'll link the video.
Youtube video of this exclusive resort.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Our own personal harvest house location.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
So this year's picnic was just as much fun as the last three years have been.
There's always live country music, a fantastic band, there's good down home cooking with barbecue and mashed potatoes and all the fixings, and, oh, my personal favorite is the sangria slushies.
(04:13):
It's not that no alcohol kind of church.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
They get a lot of our money around that, so that's good.
The other part that they get money for is they do a good job of running raffles and lotteries and stuff to generate money to find a lot of the church activities, and one of which is these pull tab lottery tickets.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
We've never heard of them before.
Never heard of them.
Yeah, it's the first place.
What is a pull tab?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, we got a lot of them.
You buy from the state, you scratch them off with a quarter and stuff and you lose every time.
At least I lose every time.
But they have these pull tabs where people listen to you, like, of course, Sharon Ross.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Well, maybe, yeah, we're the only two that had not seen them.
It's Midwesting, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Maybe we're just not big lottery people, but anyways they do that and they're really fun and when you bring all the family and the kids it's just kind of fun to.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
And you buy a whole pack.
You buy them in packs of $5, $10 a pack.
For $20 or something.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah and so, yeah, we never win, but it's always fun to you might win, you know, but this time I actually Well, OK, I'm going to put our air quotes around this I won, but I didn't win, Like, I bought a group of them and I handed them out to the family members and Kelsey.
Thank you, Kelsey.
Kelsey actually got a $50 winner for us.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Because Kelsey way to go, she was amazing.
He always hands them out to the kids and we have the younger cousins are ages this year 12, 10, 1, and then we'll have another new one next year.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
So yeah, Kelsey, who is not one of the young ones she's one of our similar.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
First level.
Yeah, yeah, first level.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
So she drew the winner and that was great.
So we cashed in some of it and bought some more tickets $50?
Yeah, I was like rolling in cash.
That was awesome, so which?
Speaker 1 (05:59):
you didn't, which I didn't Bought more tickets, bought lottery tickets and we lost it all.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah, For a moment there we were, you know, winning so.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
That's big deal yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
And this was cool.
You know, this year it was nice.
The weather was perfect, near-perfect.
It was a little warm, but I'll take that over what happened Last year.
Last year we had rain, we still went, because the rain didn't start till just at the end when we were having to run back to the car Total rain out.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
yeah, yeah, yeah, but it was nice this year we did that.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
It was hot, which actually played into leveraging one of the favorite features of the Silver Lobster Farm, which is the pool.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
We went back to the resort pool.
Yeah, it was fabulous.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Drinks were served by the pool and it was fun.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
The Silver Lobster Farm is amazing and it's just.
It's not a working farm.
The only animals are the three dogs, right yeah, and the bunnies and the this and the that all.
Oh, there was bunnies, that's right the wild creatures and bugs, but it's a lot of fun.
They've got just an amazing acreage.
(07:00):
Yeah, it's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
And then the other part.
That's fun.
There is my uncle, Pat put quotes around that again because we're so close in age has a fantastic outdoor garage that they've turned into this amazing outdoor place where they spent a lot of time and it's beautiful to hang out there.
And he's also this year put in a new fire ring, which actually they had the fire ring before.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
You'll see that if you, but they put the fancy deck around.
Exactly, it's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So if you go, check out the video, you'll see the farm there, but you'll see the fire pit in one of it.
But they've really expanded that area and that was really cool to sit around that and look at the stars and chat around the fire.
It was great.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, yeah.
Other annual adventures we look forward to when we're visiting is going to the local flea market, which is a thing they do every week because they're kind of collectors, and oh yeah, what was our big purchase this year?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Am I taking blame for that?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I just said.
They called out to me I didn't want to buy them.
We stood at a booth.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Don't say what it is yet.
So we walked around this flea market and we love walking around the flea.
We can't really buy anything in the rig.
Right but we go every time we're there because they love to, because they do that.
And it's fun, it's really fun to see the cool stuff there.
Most of the stuff is too big to fit in the rig so we can't take it.
But we got to the very end, almost to the very end of the place and there was this one table of stuff on it and there were these dolls of different kinds inboxes, Like they were antique kind of looking dolls, and I've never seen Sherry get so attached to dolls before.
(08:36):
She's like oh, they're calling to me.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
I don't want them.
They were in the packaging, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
She said I don't want them, but they're calling to me and I'm like staring, I'm like what does that mean?
No, that's weird, but she really wants.
She didn't make me feel like entering the room.
She didn't say you wanted them.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
No, I didn't want them.
No, but they called you and I just wanted you to go back and take a picture of them.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah, so we didn't buy anything.
But we walked back to the car after we've all finished up and at that point you said, oh, I wish you would have taken a picture.
And so she sent me back to take pictures.
And then so I went hustling back to the table.
I took a picture.
It didn't come out great while I was taking it because of the lighting and I was like you know she did say so I negotiated a really good price, cut off almost a third of the price.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And I bought them.
Yeah, now we have these authentic creepy baby dolls.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
And worse than that, they're not just regular baby dolls, they're Campbell's soup dolls, which is like super weird.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
And it's the same damn doll with different clothes.
As a wedding couple.
So one has a bride outfit and one has a little tuxedo groom outfit.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yeah, and they're just so creepy, and the lady was like you know, they've been in the box, so they're worth more that way, and you looked them up and we actually made money on this deal according to the internet right?
Yes, according to my other, but we're not those kind of people that buy and collect in store.
Or sell or whatever these dolls are going to go a different direction and we're going to think where are we going to use them?
(10:03):
We've decided.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
There are creepy baby dolls for Halloween, halloween, so we'll put pictures.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
We'll put photos of what these dolls turn into before and after.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
And then after that we went to the antique market, which is again something they love to do stalls and stalls of old stuff and interesting things.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
It was kind of like the flea market, right.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
And yeah, we bought more unnecessary things, but that'll be for another time.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
And then the next stop.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
We went to a place that's hard for me to say Rural King R-U-R-A-L.
I have to say Rural King.
That's a tough word.
We should reboot that word and find a new way to say Rural, rural, king, which is like a, a farm store.
Yeah, it's like a farm feed kind of store.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
In fact they have baby chickens.
They sell animals and stuff, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So yeah, it's like, but they sell clothes and camping and like all sorts of stuff, but it's all related to like farm life.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, rural King.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Rural King, it's hard to say that word.
So we went there.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
We didn't buy anything there, did we?
Last time I did, I bought toe straps for towing stuff out of the Jeep.
Yeah, with the Jeep.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
But then the other cool thing we got to do is, again, a big part of this for us was family.
Right, the church thing was great, but seeing all the families great.
And so we got to go over and visit Kyle and Kelsey at their house.
So not only did she win me money, she had to show off their amazing house.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
And this is Pat and Monica's son and his wife Kelsey.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Exactly so.
I love their house.
That was really fun.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah, we got to see.
Well, aside from the fact that he has a man cave whole thing set up, like his dad, in the garage back at Silver Lobster Farm, His is actually really organized, beautiful, very organized.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Yes, loved it.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And we got to visit Garage Dog Brewing.
He makes his own beer.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
It's real good.
Yeah, it's real good.
We got stickers too.
Very good.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
And not only the beer.
He's making spicy jalapeno pickles.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Two years in a row we've got those pickles.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
He made the mistake of giving me a jar of pickles last year and they were so fantastic that we spent the rest of the year going around country trying to find jalapeno pickles.
Who knew Couldn't find them?
So I started bothering Monica, mentioning it to Monica how much we loved Kyle's pickles, and I have two jars, Three jars.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah, that's not going to last till next Labor Day, but, and salsa, we got to get him to go into business and sell them through the grocery store, so be on the lookout for Garage Dog Brewing out of St Louis, Missouri.
The great thing though is, this was a long weekend.
It's Memorial Day and Labor Day are great weekends to see family and grill outside and stuff, and it was nice, but at the same time that meant by the end of it we had to go back to work, which that's the whole point of this RV.
(12:55):
Work-life balance is we can go do this and work just means we wake up and I sit 10 feet further away and I sit on a desk here and I'm like Rigg.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Rigg.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
It's great.
So yeah, but we did have to all go back to work.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yeah, yeah.
And so, relating it to work-life balance, monica asked me how long are you going to do this?
How long are you going to roll around and live on the road?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
We always say as long as we can right, absolutely, in fact.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
rest on our travel days.
Every time we set out, what do you say?
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Stunning how many times I say it.
I don't ever plan it, but I love travel day.
My favorite part is I get I say I can't believe we get to do this.
Like it's just shockingly cool.
This country is amazing, so we get to do amazing travel and then we get to go see family and friends.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
At this time in our life when normally we'd be doing what we were doing five years ago Working and commuting and all the things.
But this is amazing that we can work on the road and visit extended family and friends all over the country.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yeah, more than we ever would.
Normally, we'd have to block certain times of vacation and at that point you're trying to go to the beach or go to Disney or whatever.
And you want to see family but you only have X amount of time.
We get to make sure we get to see them, no matter how much time we have.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Yeah more than we ever would and we've seen our daughter, our friends in Atlanta, our friends that moved, just everybody all over the country with our house.
So we're not putting anyone out by saying, hey, we're going to come stay with you.
No, you don't have to clean, you don't have to entertain us.
We share the cooking and meal planning and it's just wonderful.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Yeah, and what's really kind of cool is like if we had in the past gone and visited family before and it's a big deal to schedule it the time for ours.
We take out the vacation time, we're asking them to come, block some of their time to come see us and stuff.
No-transcript.
We can even work days, we can step out of the rig and we go have drinks with them in their house or they come in ours.
(15:13):
It's just like we don't have to like.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
it's not a big deal, right nobody's using up valuable vacation time, the expense you have been talking about with airline tickets and hotel reservations, or you're imposing.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
We've seen them three years in a row and do all this fun stuff and it's not, hopefully we see it as hopefully not a huge expense because we're just mooch-talking there, but it's amazing because we get to see, like you said, all these family and friends, even extended friends, that we just normally would talk on phone calls or Zoom or email.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
We get to go see them.
It's really great.
So then, the benefits of this style of travel which, with Pat and Monica and the Silver Lobster Farm, is actually mooch-talking.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yeah, we've talked about mooch-talking right.
There's like boondocking, which means you're completely disconnected from the world.
You're out in the middle of nowhere, You're running off your own services.
Mooch-talking is similar, except you typically plug into friends or families home with power, but most of the time you don't have water or sewer at that point.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Well, and they put in the 50-amp power.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
They did, they did.
That was amazing.
I'm still just stunned because it was great, because it was kind of warm, so we got to run both ACs and it was wonderful.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Right, yeah, right.
And yeah, we don't have in this situation, and sometimes with friends, they don't have the land or the property or the ability to do this, so we stay at a campground nearby, and that is absolutely great too.
But Silver Lobster Farm, pat and Monica, y'all are just having put in the power and having the space available.
(16:51):
We don't have water and sewer, so we have to be really careful with our tanks and our usage of fresh water, because even though we could get more fresh water, we wouldn't have anywhere for it to go in the RV.
So we just kind of balance it out.
(17:11):
We cook communally inside the house and wash dishes over there, we use paper plates while we're outside and showers they let us use their showers.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah, it turns out and they don't drain while we're there.
I was panicked this whole time because we have another planned boondocking event, or maybe it's mooch hunting.
That's going to be a boondocking, isn't it Totally dry.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
We have one coming up in October.
You're talking about Las Vegas, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
And we know that's coming and so for me this was a practice run of how long can our water last and the gray tanks and stuff.
So every day I push the buttons and check this stuff.
We actually did really good.
We were by the last day.
We actually were way ahead and I was so concerned at the beginning.
So I think we'll be good in October.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
It might be a little dirty.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Because we won't have the indoor bathroom shower.
But I'm saying we could probably get away with a navy shower kind of thing, right, so yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think we'll be OK.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
So that's just fun and just the biggest advantage is being able to spend that time with family and friends.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, and we're like we talked about we're out of the campground.
We love campgrounds but sometimes it changes pace and being at someone's house, where you get to, you know it's very quiet and it was great.
So being out of the campground is nice.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Out of the campground and, oh my gosh, having an address for that week.
We got to catch up with our Amazon orders of all the different things.
Yeah, you know what?
We don't couch surf anymore, staying with people as we go, as we travel, but we definitely address surf and when we're going to be someplace you come bet and I always ask ahead.
(18:55):
I'm like, hey, is OK if I send a box, a couple of boxes Maybe?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
it doesn't.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Well, we're at your address.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Yeah, and you'll know when we're coming, because she's ordered stuff.
It's like the boxes are just arriving every day.
You're like oh, I guess that's right, russ and Sherry are coming.
Yeah, you got a few.
It's kind of like the boxes from Amazon represent the Marines.
They're the first that land and take the field there.
So the boxes represent we're coming, we prepared, we're coming.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Because there's always what we call do-it-yourself RV repair.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Yeah, yeah, some of those boxes are just stuff we need to fix the rigs, so parts and things like that.
So getting those parts sometimes it's a little more than a week and we typically move week to week, which means there's a chance we order it at a campground, and most mini campgrounds don't even let you do that.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Don't let you get mail, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
But even if you could, there's a chance that it gets delayed and you end up leaving and the part arrives later, and that's always a risk.
So this is a good chance over a holiday to say hey, we got some stuff coming early.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Hopefully that's OK.
So what did we get this time?
What's broken now.
What's broken now.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
We had four big things to fix.
The number one was the steps, our automatic steps to come out.
When you open the door stopped coming out, or go in.
That's right.
They got stuck going out.
They wouldn't come in.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
We were at Devil's Tower and they would not go back in.
I'm all ready to go, I'm doing the walk around.
I'm like, uh, russ, the steps are still out, so we had to kind of disconnect them and push them in.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
So they've been broken.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
So we had to Disabled Disabled yes.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
So we had to order a new controller for that.
We had the bathroom door part of the top slide broke and so I had to fix that.
That actually was surprisingly difficult.
It turned out to be easy once I've like followed directions on the internet.
And then we had an issue with a screw in the fridge kind of thing.
(20:56):
Had to put some screws popping out.
Had to deal with that.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Well, they're lucky, they just got the step controller.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Because earlier this year we sent an entire macerator oh, that's right which is a poop blender.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Basically right, it's a garbage disposal for your sewage to keep it really clean here.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
We sent that to our daughter in Springfield, missouri, and before that we were in Atlanta and had a whole set of new Tail lights, tail lights, yeah, new fancy, new tail lights.
So thanks, guys yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yeah, paul and David, thank you for letting us drop packages at your place.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Cause it's complicated, it is.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
In fact, yeah, when we were there, I did that repair.
Well, we were there.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Thank you for having those delivered there.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
But yeah, cause, and like you pointed out, some campgrounds, don't let us do that.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Don't let you mail Mail packages, but some do.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
And if you can plan ahead, that's another way to deal with it, cause when we order from Amazon, they have the lockers as a way to deliver stuff and then campgrounds.
Some will let you do that, but some don't.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
And so these family trips become super helpful.
Well, and some campgrounds don't allow you to do work on the rig.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
That's right, so you can wash your rig, or?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
anything like that at some places, so it's very restrictive.
So that's another big advantage.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
The other part, though, is like you know, we actually have had some help there.
You know we have family and friends around, like sometimes they'll actually be able to help you out with an extra set of hands.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Well, like Pat has an entire garage of tools.
An amazing garage and equipment and ideas and experience with mechanical things.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
That's right.
Yeah, he's skilled.
I am not.
I watch YouTube.
That's how I fix it, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
So yeah, invariably we're showing up with something gone wrong.
It's just part of the game when you're we're driving a traveling earthquake down the road right.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Yeah, so everything's shaking and, in fact, on the way to their place.
This year we had that problem with the tire.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
We were late, that's right and we ended up spending the night at the Love's RV.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Oh, that's right.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
So it turns out, there's truck stops, there's a brand, one of them's called Love's, and we fuel up there quite often, but we've never stayed there.
And it turns out Love's now has these little campground spots, which are full hookups.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Our RV parks?
Yeah, I mean it's Separate from the where the truckers park, because that's a little rough.
Not by much, no.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Because we're still by the gas pumps.
But yeah, so you're right, I forgot we stayed there and then, after leaving there, we had a challenge with our tire.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yeah, that was before.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Oh, was it yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
That's why we ended up stopping early and staying at the Love's, instead of going where we were going.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
So what was the problem?
And where did we end up spending a couple of hours Besides the Love's In Iowa?
Yeah, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
We had to stay at Love's because we got delayed because of the first problem with the tire and the first problem we just started showing in our TPMS system that we had a loss of air happening and I was like panic.
Because, you don't want the rapid loss of air, so we had to scramble and get off the road and figure out what's going on.
I thought I solved it, as it turns out.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Because we ended up making it to a very nice Walmart in Council Bluffs, iowa, to fix it, to address it.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah, as we pulled off for less than an hour, but we made the repair and then got back on the freeway and five miles later it got worse.
So that tire showed again a rapid loss and there was nowhere to pull off, yeah.
It turned out.
The first time was the actual sensor had broken and so it was letting the air out.
It was the problem that it was measuring, it was its own problem.
(24:42):
The second time it got worse.
It actually broke the actual valve stem itself, and then I really had bigger problems.
We had to pull off and I think what you're trying to get me to talk about here is the exit had one thing at that exit, and it was a romantic adult.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Adult super store.
Yeah, yeah, so it had a big parking lot though right Lots of cars.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
I could turn our rig around in circles in that big parking lot.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Yup, big building, no windows.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Everybody that drove into the parking lot saw us and just in fact they all looked at us funny, like why we were camping at this place.
But we couldn't go, so we had to get a remote tech to come out and help us repair a broken off valve stem there.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
And then we were on a Friday of a holiday.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
God bless them yeah.
But we made it.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
We did make it and we were just a little late, later than we expected, so we stayed at the Love's RV campground which you got to have these adventures and experiences, yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
And that turned out to be OK.
We learned something.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
And then we showed up with the tire problem and yeah, yeah, so but fixed.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
If we have to wrap this up, this has been a good episode.
If we had to wrap this up, I was trying to think about it while we're talking, like what are the top three things that kind of pull this together with work-life balance, and so these are mine.
You tell me if I'm wrong.
Number one I always do say that and in fact, when I say these words it catches me.
It's like I cannot believe we get to do this, like we're working to make this life possible.
(26:14):
We're not waiting until we're retired to do this.
This is amazing and this country is beautiful to see.
When you get on these road trips and I'm like wow, we come over hills and like look at this, wow.
And then we end up at great places like family and friends or great campgrounds.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
It's really cool, so fun.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
So that's like one of the first things I'd say.
And the second one is like the travel and time with family and friends, that's a super big deal to be able to make happen and we, prior to living this, having this happen, where we get a chance to do this would not have got a chance to spend as much time with family and friends.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
It's on the road, it's not a super big deal.
Just OK, we're going to go to Missouri for Labor Day.
That easy, they're in on it.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
In the past it would be a wedding or a big family event that would cause that we get to do this all the time now, which is so cool to watch new babies born and people go through different phases of their life.
We get to be there for that, which is really cool.
And the last thing I guess would be the cool thing I always remember is we get to still get all our work done so that we can make this happen, and we get to do it wherever we are.
(27:24):
And like you said we went and did all these fun things with the Campbell's babies and the pull tabs, but then the next day we got to just sit down and do work.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Everybody went back to work.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yeah, and then at the end of the day we got to spend more time with them, right?
Speaker 1 (27:39):
We planned meals out for the week and other activities and visits, and it was just great.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
It was wonderful.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Well, our goal with the RV Work Life Balance Podcast is to share what we're learning to help anyone interested or thinking about this kind of crazy life, crazy adventure.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
And we have our own experience, with our own jobs, of what we're doing making this happen, but we know of so many other jobs that are out here and available.
We meet a lot of those people were in these circles and these groups, so we're familiar with not just what we're doing to make this happen but other ways you can make this happen, and we're always exploring so we can share these ideas and possibilities with you.
(28:25):
We are really planning some cool stuff coming up in an upcoming episode so we can further expand and show the different remote jobs and work you can do to make it possible.
If you're interested in doing this, if you wanted to spend this kind of time with family we talked about it with this Labor Day event, but can't do it because you can't get away there are those kind of jobs.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
That's what we've got so many possibilities yeah, it's just amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
So yeah, so I guess I don't want to keep talking too much, but I guess I want to.
I'm trying to wrap it up and here I am just talk talking, but I want to thank the listeners and thank you for listening to this podcast.
There's been a few things we mentioned here.
We'll go ahead and put those links in the show notes.
Please check that out.
If you are new, please take the time to subscribe.
(29:13):
We're excited that you're here and we're really interested in actually joining us on this journey and we really want to thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
And to our existing subscribers we love you guys.
Thank you so much for being on this adventure with us.
Please be in touch, let us know what's going on out there and what you're thinking and your questions.
You can always email or hit us on the Facebook and we'll have those links in the show notes as well.
(29:41):
Ok, so the most important thing everybody is make your escape and get out here.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Please come join us, are you ready?
Speaker 1 (29:51):
I am ready, let's go.
All right, bye MUSIC.
Hi, you've reached the Caldwells.
Please leave a message and we will get back with you to suit.
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):
All right, welcome back again to the podcast of the RV Work Life Balance podcast.
Let's just start with cheers.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Cheers everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Cheers, Cheers, All right.
So in this week's episode I decided it would be best to really listen to the market and the customers and you know the listeners and stuff.
So I did this big survey of 100 different people.
Sure, how should I start this episode?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
And they said let's check.
Let me pull the notes up, all right.
So what they said was I'm supposed to ask where are we today?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Oh, good question, I know it was an awesome survey.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
I was so pleased that that was their answer.
So where are?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
we Wow.
This week we have been at the Silver Lobster Farm near St Louis Missouri.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
It's a special place for us.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Undisclosed location.
That's right.
That's a secret, it's very exclusive.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
This is our third visit in three years around Labor Day Always on Labor Day.
Yeah, it's awesome and we did mention this once before in episode two.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I think we did.
Yeah, we'll probably mention a lot because it's one of our favorite places.
The secret of the Silver Lobster Farm.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, be careful, google will not tell you anything, it's so exclusive.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
That's right, we are with Uncle Pat and Aunt Monica, and I'm saying that with air quotes.
Yeah.
Nobody can see your air quotes, because these are.
This is Russ's family, russ's uncle and aunt, but because of the size of the family above him, they're really close in age of four years.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, there's nine kids in my grandfather and grandmother's family there.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
With your dad.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, dad was the oldest of nine and Pat was the youngest of nine.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
So they're actually only like four years apart.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
So Uncle.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Pat and Aunt Monica are kind of funny.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
We never call them that unless we're being funny.
Anyway, the first trip, our first trip in the RV to the Silver Lobster Farm in Missouri was our first year and it happened to be on Labor Day and we had such a great time because at their church, just up the street from their house, they have a Labor Day, an annual Labor Day church picnic and festival.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
It's big Just so much fun.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
So now that is our annual Labor Day destination.
Yeah, it's an excuse.
We love going to see family there.
I'll be honest right, it didn't have to be Labor Day.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
That's a bonus to go to the picnic because it's great to see all the family there and it works out with our schedule and the weather and everything.
Yeah, People availability of everyone around.
That is awesome and yeah, and it's like you said, in the first year was kind of an accident.
We didn't like totally plan it, but it worked out beautiful.
By the second year we came back because we loved it so much they had really embraced the idea put in a pedestal for 50 amps power.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
And sweet, sweet amps is awesome.
Yeah, how cool is that?
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
And in fact, while we're there in the second season, I think I did a little video.
We'll link the video.
Youtube video of this exclusive resort.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Our own personal harvest house location.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
So this year's picnic was just as much fun as the last three years have been.
There's always live country music, a fantastic band, there's good down home cooking with barbecue and mashed potatoes and all the fixings, and, oh, my personal favorite is the sangria slushies.
(04:13):
It's not that no alcohol kind of church.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
They get a lot of our money around that, so that's good.
The other part that they get money for is they do a good job of running raffles and lotteries and stuff to generate money to find a lot of the church activities, and one of which is these pull tab lottery tickets.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
We've never heard of them before.
Never heard of them.
Yeah, it's the first place.
What is a pull tab?
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, we got a lot of them.
You buy from the state, you scratch them off with a quarter and stuff and you lose every time.
At least I lose every time.
But they have these pull tabs where people listen to you, like, of course, Sharon Ross.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Well, maybe, yeah, we're the only two that had not seen them.
It's Midwesting, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Maybe we're just not big lottery people, but anyways they do that and they're really fun and when you bring all the family and the kids it's just kind of fun to.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
And you buy a whole pack.
You buy them in packs of $5, $10 a pack.
For $20 or something.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah and so, yeah, we never win, but it's always fun to you might win, you know, but this time I actually Well, OK, I'm going to put our air quotes around this I won, but I didn't win, Like, I bought a group of them and I handed them out to the family members and Kelsey.
Thank you, Kelsey.
Kelsey actually got a $50 winner for us.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Because Kelsey way to go, she was amazing.
He always hands them out to the kids and we have the younger cousins are ages this year 12, 10, 1, and then we'll have another new one next year.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
So yeah, Kelsey, who is not one of the young ones she's one of our similar.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
First level.
Yeah, yeah, first level.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
So she drew the winner and that was great.
So we cashed in some of it and bought some more tickets $50?
Yeah, I was like rolling in cash.
That was awesome, so which?
Speaker 1 (05:59):
you didn't, which I didn't Bought more tickets, bought lottery tickets and we lost it all.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah, For a moment there we were, you know, winning so.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
That's big deal yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
And this was cool.
You know, this year it was nice.
The weather was perfect, near-perfect.
It was a little warm, but I'll take that over what happened Last year.
Last year we had rain, we still went, because the rain didn't start till just at the end when we were having to run back to the car Total rain out.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
yeah, yeah, yeah, but it was nice this year we did that.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
It was hot, which actually played into leveraging one of the favorite features of the Silver Lobster Farm, which is the pool.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
We went back to the resort pool.
Yeah, it was fabulous.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Drinks were served by the pool and it was fun.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
The Silver Lobster Farm is amazing and it's just.
It's not a working farm.
The only animals are the three dogs, right yeah, and the bunnies and the this and the that all.
Oh, there was bunnies, that's right the wild creatures and bugs, but it's a lot of fun.
They've got just an amazing acreage.
(07:00):
Yeah, it's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
And then the other part.
That's fun.
There is my uncle, Pat put quotes around that again because we're so close in age has a fantastic outdoor garage that they've turned into this amazing outdoor place where they spent a lot of time and it's beautiful to hang out there.
And he's also this year put in a new fire ring, which actually they had the fire ring before.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
You'll see that if you, but they put the fancy deck around.
Exactly, it's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So if you go, check out the video, you'll see the farm there, but you'll see the fire pit in one of it.
But they've really expanded that area and that was really cool to sit around that and look at the stars and chat around the fire.
It was great.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, yeah.
Other annual adventures we look forward to when we're visiting is going to the local flea market, which is a thing they do every week because they're kind of collectors, and oh yeah, what was our big purchase this year?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Am I taking blame for that?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I just said.
They called out to me I didn't want to buy them.
We stood at a booth.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Don't say what it is yet.
So we walked around this flea market and we love walking around the flea.
We can't really buy anything in the rig.
Right but we go every time we're there because they love to, because they do that.
And it's fun, it's really fun to see the cool stuff there.
Most of the stuff is too big to fit in the rig so we can't take it.
But we got to the very end, almost to the very end of the place and there was this one table of stuff on it and there were these dolls of different kinds inboxes, Like they were antique kind of looking dolls, and I've never seen Sherry get so attached to dolls before.
(08:36):
She's like oh, they're calling to me.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
I don't want them.
They were in the packaging, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
She said I don't want them, but they're calling to me and I'm like staring, I'm like what does that mean?
No, that's weird, but she really wants.
She didn't make me feel like entering the room.
She didn't say you wanted them.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
No, I didn't want them.
No, but they called you and I just wanted you to go back and take a picture of them.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah, so we didn't buy anything.
But we walked back to the car after we've all finished up and at that point you said, oh, I wish you would have taken a picture.
And so she sent me back to take pictures.
And then so I went hustling back to the table.
I took a picture.
It didn't come out great while I was taking it because of the lighting and I was like you know she did say so I negotiated a really good price, cut off almost a third of the price.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And I bought them.
Yeah, now we have these authentic creepy baby dolls.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
And worse than that, they're not just regular baby dolls, they're Campbell's soup dolls, which is like super weird.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
And it's the same damn doll with different clothes.
As a wedding couple.
So one has a bride outfit and one has a little tuxedo groom outfit.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yeah, and they're just so creepy, and the lady was like you know, they've been in the box, so they're worth more that way, and you looked them up and we actually made money on this deal according to the internet right?
Yes, according to my other, but we're not those kind of people that buy and collect in store.
Or sell or whatever these dolls are going to go a different direction and we're going to think where are we going to use them?
(10:03):
We've decided.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
There are creepy baby dolls for Halloween, halloween, so we'll put pictures.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
We'll put photos of what these dolls turn into before and after.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
And then after that we went to the antique market, which is again something they love to do stalls and stalls of old stuff and interesting things.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
It was kind of like the flea market, right.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
And yeah, we bought more unnecessary things, but that'll be for another time.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
And then the next stop.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
We went to a place that's hard for me to say Rural King R-U-R-A-L.
I have to say Rural King.
That's a tough word.
We should reboot that word and find a new way to say Rural, rural, king, which is like a, a farm store.
Yeah, it's like a farm feed kind of store.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
In fact they have baby chickens.
They sell animals and stuff, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So yeah, it's like, but they sell clothes and camping and like all sorts of stuff, but it's all related to like farm life.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, rural King.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Rural King, it's hard to say that word.
So we went there.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
We didn't buy anything there, did we?
Last time I did, I bought toe straps for towing stuff out of the Jeep.
Yeah, with the Jeep.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
But then the other cool thing we got to do is, again, a big part of this for us was family.
Right, the church thing was great, but seeing all the families great.
And so we got to go over and visit Kyle and Kelsey at their house.
So not only did she win me money, she had to show off their amazing house.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
And this is Pat and Monica's son and his wife Kelsey.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Exactly so.
I love their house.
That was really fun.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah, we got to see.
Well, aside from the fact that he has a man cave whole thing set up, like his dad, in the garage back at Silver Lobster Farm, His is actually really organized, beautiful, very organized.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Yes, loved it.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And we got to visit Garage Dog Brewing.
He makes his own beer.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
It's real good.
Yeah, it's real good.
We got stickers too.
Very good.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
And not only the beer.
He's making spicy jalapeno pickles.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Two years in a row we've got those pickles.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
He made the mistake of giving me a jar of pickles last year and they were so fantastic that we spent the rest of the year going around country trying to find jalapeno pickles.
Who knew Couldn't find them?
So I started bothering Monica, mentioning it to Monica how much we loved Kyle's pickles, and I have two jars, Three jars.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Yeah, that's not going to last till next Labor Day, but, and salsa, we got to get him to go into business and sell them through the grocery store, so be on the lookout for Garage Dog Brewing out of St Louis, Missouri.
The great thing though is, this was a long weekend.
It's Memorial Day and Labor Day are great weekends to see family and grill outside and stuff, and it was nice, but at the same time that meant by the end of it we had to go back to work, which that's the whole point of this RV.
(12:55):
Work-life balance is we can go do this and work just means we wake up and I sit 10 feet further away and I sit on a desk here and I'm like Rigg.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Rigg.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
It's great.
So yeah, but we did have to all go back to work.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yeah, yeah.
And so, relating it to work-life balance, monica asked me how long are you going to do this?
How long are you going to roll around and live on the road?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
We always say as long as we can right, absolutely, in fact.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
rest on our travel days.
Every time we set out, what do you say?
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Stunning how many times I say it.
I don't ever plan it, but I love travel day.
My favorite part is I get I say I can't believe we get to do this.
Like it's just shockingly cool.
This country is amazing, so we get to do amazing travel and then we get to go see family and friends.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
At this time in our life when normally we'd be doing what we were doing five years ago Working and commuting and all the things.
But this is amazing that we can work on the road and visit extended family and friends all over the country.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Yeah, more than we ever would.
Normally, we'd have to block certain times of vacation and at that point you're trying to go to the beach or go to Disney or whatever.
And you want to see family but you only have X amount of time.
We get to make sure we get to see them, no matter how much time we have.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Yeah more than we ever would and we've seen our daughter, our friends in Atlanta, our friends that moved, just everybody all over the country with our house.
So we're not putting anyone out by saying, hey, we're going to come stay with you.
No, you don't have to clean, you don't have to entertain us.
We share the cooking and meal planning and it's just wonderful.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Yeah, and what's really kind of cool is like if we had in the past gone and visited family before and it's a big deal to schedule it the time for ours.
We take out the vacation time, we're asking them to come, block some of their time to come see us and stuff.
No-transcript.
We can even work days, we can step out of the rig and we go have drinks with them in their house or they come in ours.
(15:13):
It's just like we don't have to like.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
it's not a big deal, right nobody's using up valuable vacation time, the expense you have been talking about with airline tickets and hotel reservations, or you're imposing.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
We've seen them three years in a row and do all this fun stuff and it's not, hopefully we see it as hopefully not a huge expense because we're just mooch-talking there, but it's amazing because we get to see, like you said, all these family and friends, even extended friends, that we just normally would talk on phone calls or Zoom or email.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
We get to go see them.
It's really great.
So then, the benefits of this style of travel which, with Pat and Monica and the Silver Lobster Farm, is actually mooch-talking.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yeah, we've talked about mooch-talking right.
There's like boondocking, which means you're completely disconnected from the world.
You're out in the middle of nowhere, You're running off your own services.
Mooch-talking is similar, except you typically plug into friends or families home with power, but most of the time you don't have water or sewer at that point.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Well, and they put in the 50-amp power.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
They did, they did.
That was amazing.
I'm still just stunned because it was great, because it was kind of warm, so we got to run both ACs and it was wonderful.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Right, yeah, right.
And yeah, we don't have in this situation, and sometimes with friends, they don't have the land or the property or the ability to do this, so we stay at a campground nearby, and that is absolutely great too.
But Silver Lobster Farm, pat and Monica, y'all are just having put in the power and having the space available.
(16:51):
We don't have water and sewer, so we have to be really careful with our tanks and our usage of fresh water, because even though we could get more fresh water, we wouldn't have anywhere for it to go in the RV.
So we just kind of balance it out.
(17:11):
We cook communally inside the house and wash dishes over there, we use paper plates while we're outside and showers they let us use their showers.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah, it turns out and they don't drain while we're there.
I was panicked this whole time because we have another planned boondocking event, or maybe it's mooch hunting.
That's going to be a boondocking, isn't it Totally dry.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
We have one coming up in October.
You're talking about Las Vegas, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
And we know that's coming and so for me this was a practice run of how long can our water last and the gray tanks and stuff.
So every day I push the buttons and check this stuff.
We actually did really good.
We were by the last day.
We actually were way ahead and I was so concerned at the beginning.
So I think we'll be good in October.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
It might be a little dirty.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Because we won't have the indoor bathroom shower.
But I'm saying we could probably get away with a navy shower kind of thing, right, so yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think we'll be OK.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
So that's just fun and just the biggest advantage is being able to spend that time with family and friends.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, and we're like we talked about we're out of the campground.
We love campgrounds but sometimes it changes pace and being at someone's house, where you get to, you know it's very quiet and it was great.
So being out of the campground is nice.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Out of the campground and, oh my gosh, having an address for that week.
We got to catch up with our Amazon orders of all the different things.
Yeah, you know what?
We don't couch surf anymore, staying with people as we go, as we travel, but we definitely address surf and when we're going to be someplace you come bet and I always ask ahead.
(18:55):
I'm like, hey, is OK if I send a box, a couple of boxes Maybe?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
it doesn't.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Well, we're at your address.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Yeah, and you'll know when we're coming, because she's ordered stuff.
It's like the boxes are just arriving every day.
You're like oh, I guess that's right, russ and Sherry are coming.
Yeah, you got a few.
It's kind of like the boxes from Amazon represent the Marines.
They're the first that land and take the field there.
So the boxes represent we're coming, we prepared, we're coming.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Because there's always what we call do-it-yourself RV repair.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Yeah, yeah, some of those boxes are just stuff we need to fix the rigs, so parts and things like that.
So getting those parts sometimes it's a little more than a week and we typically move week to week, which means there's a chance we order it at a campground, and most mini campgrounds don't even let you do that.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Don't let you get mail, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
But even if you could, there's a chance that it gets delayed and you end up leaving and the part arrives later, and that's always a risk.
So this is a good chance over a holiday to say hey, we got some stuff coming early.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Hopefully that's OK.
So what did we get this time?
What's broken now.
What's broken now.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
We had four big things to fix.
The number one was the steps, our automatic steps to come out.
When you open the door stopped coming out, or go in.
That's right.
They got stuck going out.
They wouldn't come in.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
We were at Devil's Tower and they would not go back in.
I'm all ready to go, I'm doing the walk around.
I'm like, uh, russ, the steps are still out, so we had to kind of disconnect them and push them in.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
So they've been broken.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
So we had to Disabled Disabled yes.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
So we had to order a new controller for that.
We had the bathroom door part of the top slide broke and so I had to fix that.
That actually was surprisingly difficult.
It turned out to be easy once I've like followed directions on the internet.
And then we had an issue with a screw in the fridge kind of thing.
(20:56):
Had to put some screws popping out.
Had to deal with that.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Well, they're lucky, they just got the step controller.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Because earlier this year we sent an entire macerator oh, that's right which is a poop blender.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Basically right, it's a garbage disposal for your sewage to keep it really clean here.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
We sent that to our daughter in Springfield, missouri, and before that we were in Atlanta and had a whole set of new Tail lights, tail lights, yeah, new fancy, new tail lights.
So thanks, guys yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yeah, paul and David, thank you for letting us drop packages at your place.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Cause it's complicated, it is.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
In fact, yeah, when we were there, I did that repair.
Well, we were there.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Thank you for having those delivered there.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
But yeah, cause, and like you pointed out, some campgrounds, don't let us do that.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Don't let you mail Mail packages, but some do.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
And if you can plan ahead, that's another way to deal with it, cause when we order from Amazon, they have the lockers as a way to deliver stuff and then campgrounds.
Some will let you do that, but some don't.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
And so these family trips become super helpful.
Well, and some campgrounds don't allow you to do work on the rig.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
That's right, so you can wash your rig, or?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
anything like that at some places, so it's very restrictive.
So that's another big advantage.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
The other part, though, is like you know, we actually have had some help there.
You know we have family and friends around, like sometimes they'll actually be able to help you out with an extra set of hands.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Well, like Pat has an entire garage of tools.
An amazing garage and equipment and ideas and experience with mechanical things.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
That's right.
Yeah, he's skilled.
I am not.
I watch YouTube.
That's how I fix it, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
So yeah, invariably we're showing up with something gone wrong.
It's just part of the game when you're we're driving a traveling earthquake down the road right.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Yeah, so everything's shaking and, in fact, on the way to their place.
This year we had that problem with the tire.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
We were late, that's right and we ended up spending the night at the Love's RV.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Oh, that's right.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
So it turns out, there's truck stops, there's a brand, one of them's called Love's, and we fuel up there quite often, but we've never stayed there.
And it turns out Love's now has these little campground spots, which are full hookups.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Our RV parks?
Yeah, I mean it's Separate from the where the truckers park, because that's a little rough.
Not by much, no.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Because we're still by the gas pumps.
But yeah, so you're right, I forgot we stayed there and then, after leaving there, we had a challenge with our tire.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yeah, that was before.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Oh, was it yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
That's why we ended up stopping early and staying at the Love's, instead of going where we were going.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
So what was the problem?
And where did we end up spending a couple of hours Besides the Love's In Iowa?
Yeah, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
We had to stay at Love's because we got delayed because of the first problem with the tire and the first problem we just started showing in our TPMS system that we had a loss of air happening and I was like panic.
Because, you don't want the rapid loss of air, so we had to scramble and get off the road and figure out what's going on.
I thought I solved it, as it turns out.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Because we ended up making it to a very nice Walmart in Council Bluffs, iowa, to fix it, to address it.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah, as we pulled off for less than an hour, but we made the repair and then got back on the freeway and five miles later it got worse.
So that tire showed again a rapid loss and there was nowhere to pull off, yeah.
It turned out.
The first time was the actual sensor had broken and so it was letting the air out.
It was the problem that it was measuring, it was its own problem.
(24:42):
The second time it got worse.
It actually broke the actual valve stem itself, and then I really had bigger problems.
We had to pull off and I think what you're trying to get me to talk about here is the exit had one thing at that exit, and it was a romantic adult.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Adult super store.
Yeah, yeah, so it had a big parking lot though right Lots of cars.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
I could turn our rig around in circles in that big parking lot.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Yup, big building, no windows.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Everybody that drove into the parking lot saw us and just in fact they all looked at us funny, like why we were camping at this place.
But we couldn't go, so we had to get a remote tech to come out and help us repair a broken off valve stem there.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
And then we were on a Friday of a holiday.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
God bless them yeah.
But we made it.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
We did make it and we were just a little late, later than we expected, so we stayed at the Love's RV campground which you got to have these adventures and experiences, yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
And that turned out to be OK.
We learned something.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
And then we showed up with the tire problem and yeah, yeah, so but fixed.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
If we have to wrap this up, this has been a good episode.
If we had to wrap this up, I was trying to think about it while we're talking, like what are the top three things that kind of pull this together with work-life balance, and so these are mine.
You tell me if I'm wrong.
Number one I always do say that and in fact, when I say these words it catches me.
It's like I cannot believe we get to do this, like we're working to make this life possible.
(26:14):
We're not waiting until we're retired to do this.
This is amazing and this country is beautiful to see.
When you get on these road trips and I'm like wow, we come over hills and like look at this, wow.
And then we end up at great places like family and friends or great campgrounds.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
It's really cool, so fun.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
So that's like one of the first things I'd say.
And the second one is like the travel and time with family and friends, that's a super big deal to be able to make happen and we, prior to living this, having this happen, where we get a chance to do this would not have got a chance to spend as much time with family and friends.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
It's on the road, it's not a super big deal.
Just OK, we're going to go to Missouri for Labor Day.
That easy, they're in on it.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
In the past it would be a wedding or a big family event that would cause that we get to do this all the time now, which is so cool to watch new babies born and people go through different phases of their life.
We get to be there for that, which is really cool.
And the last thing I guess would be the cool thing I always remember is we get to still get all our work done so that we can make this happen, and we get to do it wherever we are.
(27:24):
And like you said we went and did all these fun things with the Campbell's babies and the pull tabs, but then the next day we got to just sit down and do work.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Everybody went back to work.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yeah, and then at the end of the day we got to spend more time with them, right?
Speaker 1 (27:39):
We planned meals out for the week and other activities and visits, and it was just great.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
It was wonderful.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Well, our goal with the RV Work Life Balance Podcast is to share what we're learning to help anyone interested or thinking about this kind of crazy life, crazy adventure.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
And we have our own experience, with our own jobs, of what we're doing making this happen, but we know of so many other jobs that are out here and available.
We meet a lot of those people were in these circles and these groups, so we're familiar with not just what we're doing to make this happen but other ways you can make this happen, and we're always exploring so we can share these ideas and possibilities with you.
(28:25):
We are really planning some cool stuff coming up in an upcoming episode so we can further expand and show the different remote jobs and work you can do to make it possible.
If you're interested in doing this, if you wanted to spend this kind of time with family we talked about it with this Labor Day event, but can't do it because you can't get away there are those kind of jobs.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
That's what we've got so many possibilities yeah, it's just amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
So yeah, so I guess I don't want to keep talking too much, but I guess I want to.
I'm trying to wrap it up and here I am just talk talking, but I want to thank the listeners and thank you for listening to this podcast.
There's been a few things we mentioned here.
We'll go ahead and put those links in the show notes.
Please check that out.
If you are new, please take the time to subscribe.
(29:13):
We're excited that you're here and we're really interested in actually joining us on this journey and we really want to thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
And to our existing subscribers we love you guys.
Thank you so much for being on this adventure with us.
Please be in touch, let us know what's going on out there and what you're thinking and your questions.
You can always email or hit us on the Facebook and we'll have those links in the show notes as well.
(29:41):
Ok, so the most important thing everybody is make your escape and get out here.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Please come join us, are you ready?
Speaker 1 (29:51):
I am ready, let's go.
All right, bye MUSIC.
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