Ep 08 Rob Rizzo of The History Digger

In this episode, Hank Strange welcomes guest Rob Rizzo, who shares his journey into the RV lifestyle and buying process. They compare different RV manufacturers and travel styles, discuss the use of social media for RV tips, and delve into the importance of maintenance. After a word from Sunshine State RVs, Rob introduces the concept of metal detecting. Hank and Rob then discuss the Ford Transit Beyond and its configurations, share RV lifestyle hacks, and talk about adapting to its conveniences. After another sponsor message from Coachmen Class B, Rob discusses his RV modifications and space optimization. The episode wraps up with their plans for a trip to Nova Scotia, thoughts on towing small trailers, and anticipation for the next episode.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Alright, guys.

(00:00):
Welcome back to the Vanasore podcast.
That's right.
We do this every Thursday at 2 PM eastern hereon Strange Palooza.
We're all about exploring class B, RVs,Overlanding, and van life Ultra.
Welcome back to the show.
My guest today is Rob Rizzo, who is a coachman,Beyond owner, YouTuber, metal detectorist?

(00:27):
You know, a lot of things.
A lot of cool things.
Hank, I I am so press because people call usmetal detectors.
Oh, okay.
You you somehow know the proper name a metalact to risk.
Thank you.
I've watched because I have watched that, BBCTV show.

(00:47):
Awesome show.
I love it.
I'm such a fan.
I don't know if they're still doing it.
I think they had a couple seasons, but it wasgreat.
You know, I they did 3 seasons.
We're talking about this British about thesetwo guys that are buddies that are
detectorists, metal detectors.
And they did a they did a Christmas specialthis last year.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
You know what?
I need to go look that up.

(01:09):
I can't remember if whether or not I saw that.
Yeah.
It's one of those things I'm not sure I thinkit's only available pay per view right now, but
the guy who directed this series we're talkingabout his name is Mackenzie crook, and he's one
of the 2 guys Mhmm.
In the show.
The skinny guy.
Oh, okay.
He's some pirates of the Caribbean.

(01:29):
You got it.
He was the guy whose eyeball was always
falling out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The guy said, pump it.
Oh, my pump.
Very talented.
Yeah.
We're getting way way, way, way deep into theweeds here.
So let's, let's start out this way.
So why don't you explain the folks out theretell them, you know, a little bit about
yourself, who you are, how you came to be aclass b guy, and specifically, owning a culture

(01:54):
and beyond?
Well, okay.
Let me tell you.
It all started with that guy.
I guess I gotta point way.
So,
me?
Oh, really?
Okay.
So, I was I actually retired last April.
And, oh gosh, about 6 months prior to that,don't ask me how or why the wife and I started

(02:16):
to think, you know, we might, as part ofretirement, want to buy an RV.
Mhmm.
And it it didn't take us long.
We we kind of wanted something on the smallersides.
So they probably like many people, you know,watching this thing.
We hopped on the internet, and I startedwatching YouTube video and yours truly over
here was one of the

(02:37):
Oh, boy.
Yeah.
This is so embarrassing.
Oh my gosh.
And and, you know, hey, I don't know if youremember this or not.
Okay?
But there was a there was a video you and NickSchmidt made.
Okay?
Currently after you bought yours.
And Nick said, by the way, if anybody watchingthis Hank Strange video decides to buy a let me

(02:58):
know, and I will buy you tickets to Walt DisneyWorld.
Yes.
Do you remember that?
Yes.
I do.
Did you ever get did you get Disney tickets?
Well, they've been promised, but I haven't.
I do
not have them yet.
Oh, okay.
Eventually, Eventually.
Watching Nick.
Yeah.
We gotta catch up to Nick at the next, owner'smeeting.
Exactly.
But, no, so we, you know, we looked around and,you know, started at the top of the funnel and

(03:24):
looked at a variety of manufacturers, makes.
And for, for several reasons, we quicklysettled on Coachmen.
Okay.
And, and the beyond.
And then, and then it was a matter of, youknow, which configuration and so on.
So so we've been in the hashtag van life nowfor over a year.

(03:44):
We've got about 25,000 miles.
Wow.
On, on our, coachman beyond.
And That's pretty good.
We benefited so much from some of those videosto us, you know, this, as strange as it sounds,
we tell people sometimes.
They say, well, you know, did you test drivethe Beyond and other vehicles.

(04:05):
And remember, this was, for us, this was duringCOVID.
Right.
So there were no vehicles available to testdrive.
So we actually did all our research up front,and we bought this thing sight unseen.
Oh, wow.
Where are you guys based?
So we live in Wisconsin.
And we're between the cities of Milwaukee andMadison.

(04:28):
And we did purchase from Sunshine State RV fora variety of reasons and couldn't be happier,
couldn't be happier.
So, as we speak, we're getting ready to justhead out for a another 30 day trip.
Okay.
Cool.
So you know what?
I mean, I'd like to talk about where you guysare going, but, maybe for the folks out there
until we get some questions.
And I encourage you guys to ask us questions.

(04:51):
You know, we're we're happy to your questionshere.
If you're considering owning a class b, doesn'thave to be from coachmen, doesn't have to be
the Beyond.
We'll be happy to answer in any way that wecan.
Doctor Dude says, laugh out loud.
It's funny seeing Hank surprise.
He's the reason that Bob got into it.
That is that's funny to me.
You know, I mean, I guess I it's weird.

(05:13):
Right?
You know, doing like, doing what I do.
I've done this for a long time.
I've done the van thing for a couple of years.
And I do meet people who tell me that, but I'malways it's it's always embarrassing thing to
me, to be honest with you.
It makes me, makes me a little uncomfortable.
And, also, because I feel so muchresponsibility And that's why I try to run the
the channel the way that I do because I knowthat it's so much money.

(05:37):
It's like a, you know, a big part of of folksout there that life savings to do this and get
into it.
So
Oh my gosh.
Isn't that the truth?
And, you know, in some ways, I think that insome ways, it's like buying a car But in many
ways, it's very different because, you know,you think about it.
There there are some established dealers.
A lot more information.
There, there are a lot more varieties of vansthan there are autos you could buy.

(06:01):
And so it can be daunting.
And so I, I think what helped Amy and I, mywife, Amy and I, is
Shout out to Amy.
She's awesome.
She is awesome.
Thank you.
Oh, you're welcome.
But we we kind of learn from others.
We learn from Hank.
We learn from other people watching videos,commenting that, you know, you have to a lot of

(06:24):
things go into the purchase decision, one ofwhich was what kind RV lifestyle do we want?
You know, what kind of traveling style are wegoing to kind of drive to some place and park
it for a couple of months?
Are we gonna zip around?
And, but all of that information on YouTubehelped us figure out first, you know, what kind

(06:45):
of, lifestyle and vehicle best suit our needs.
And then, yeah, we looked at we we shortened itdown to a list of about 2 or 3 you know, right
away, but, we would have been happy with someothers, but we were real happy with the coach
from Beyond.
What else was on your list?
I'm just here.
Looked at, Pleasure Way
Okay.
Up in Canada, you know, pretty pretty goodmarks on quality.

(07:10):
We looked at, American Patriot.
Okay.
But, you know, I started out looking atmanufacturers.
And what I realized, I Hank, again, from one ofyour videos, or maybe maybe, Live small, go
large, no.
Yes.
I'm getting there
early on.
Yeah.
You got it.
Scott's video.
Yeah.
You know, was almost better for us to decidewhat chassis we wanted first.

(07:34):
Right.
Mhmm.
You know, and and because at the time, I mean,there were even they're even they've kind of
closed the gaps a little bit since then, butthere were some huge differences.
And, so once we decided and I actually thoughtI wanted a Mercedes.
Okay.
And then realized for us, the Ford Transit wasa better fit.
And then that led me to certain manufacturersand certain configurations.

(07:56):
But I like the fact that the class B is, morenimble.
It's more agile.
You can almost, travel in stealth mode a littlebit.
Mhmm.
You know?
Mhmm.
And, we're, of course, we have, we have a adultchildren and grandchildren, but, they don't
come with us necessarily

(08:16):
on these drugs.
Okay.
Alright.
Cool.
Let me get to is a question here from DonArcher.
So let's get to that.
Dan, excuse me, Dan Archer.
He says, when are you going to do a comparisonbetween a coachman beyond, RB, rear bath, and a
Truvado K, which is the better value andquality.

(08:37):
Okay.
I think that's a good that's a good idea.
We should probably do something like that.
I've gotta figure out exactly, you know, thelogistics of making that happen So I do I do a
lot of stuff with Sunshine State RV, and theyhave to have both of those Hank there at the
same time.
So I will definitely, put that into the ideabook.

(08:58):
Do you have any thoughts on that, Rob?
Yeah.
It was interesting.
We did.
It's it's funny at first.
We thought we wanted a Truvado.
And, you know, I mean, I'm open minded.
We had a very good friend who bought 1 about amonth before us.
And again, it depends on who, who you'retraveling how you're traveling with.
He was a solo traveler.
And for him, it worked better where the bathand so, so on was, but that travado was on a

(09:23):
Ram chassis.
And, and at the time, the Rams did not offerall the same safety features that the transit
did.
And it was a little some people would sayunderpowered.
Okay.
But again, I think, you know, they change everyyear.
I know, I know, Dodge up updated their chassis,but it that would doesn't surprise me he's

(09:44):
looking at those 2, Hank.
Yeah.
I think they are they are good choices.
Yeah, I, you know, I would say that the Ram isa little, you know, less horsepower and stuff
like that than the beyond, but the Ram is stillmore horsepower than the spreader van.
There's, you know, now the Rams, front wheeldrive and Sprinters used to be rear wheel drive

(10:09):
unless you got by 4.
Now, you can get either rear wheel drive or allwheel drive, which is good.
Sure.
So, you know, and And then the other thing Ithink with the Ram is it is a little bit
smaller than the Beyond.
It's also, I think, the widest one out of the 3chassis.
So for me, it came down to my legs are a littlebit longer, and I've thought about actually,

(10:32):
you know, getting, a Trivado.
I've, like, considered that even just as aYouTuber, I really love the the Beyond.
I really, you know, I'm into the transitchassis, but I thought what?
I need to go live with, a Ram chassis, let'ssay.
Right?
And I considered maybe I'll go get a you know,Trivado and see how that is.

(10:53):
But the leg room, I think, would just bother mebecause I like, driving long distance, and
it's, actually, you know, relativelycomfortable and easy to drive until you're
going long distance and you're trying to figureout where to put your legs.
Yeah.
So He's
and he he brings up the other good too about,like, now, which configuration inside.
Mhmm.
And, and this is there's no right or wrong, asyou said.

(11:15):
It's a matter of preference, but Yeah.
Big difference between, you know, the rear bathMhmm.
Versus the other configurations.
You have multiple tanks.
You have to
Yeah.
And be, of course, different locations I'lltell you one thing I was surprised at, Hank,
that I didn't think about when I made mypurchase, okay, is just like service ability.

(11:36):
And, you know, I thought, well, you know, ofcourse, there are gonna be more Ford
dealerships than, for example, Mercedes.
Mhmm.
But, you know, I quickly realized, you know,not every Ford dealership.
And by the way, not every not every Mercedesdealership Mhmm.
Has the the equipment, the lifts available toservice these heavy vehicles.

(11:58):
So I mean, I don't know if I would base mypurchase decision solely on that, but, you
know, you certainly want to understand.
I mean, I have to drive a bit of a distancefind a place for commercial Ford dealership
Mhmm.
That can raise my van to to rotate tires and soon.
Okay.
So, you know, this is a really this is a reallygood comment.

(12:19):
I knew we would not have any kind of issuescoming up with stuff, and I do wanna answer is
because I hear what you're saying from a lot ofpeople.
So here's a big thing about the service thatI've to to realize.
If you are a Ford dealership, if you're, aMercedes dealership and you're and you've got
sprinters, even if you don't, if you're, ifyou're a Ram dealership, you're, you know, all

(12:44):
of those dealerships are supposed to have thelifts to lift those vans.
Here Now the reason why they say they don'thave the lifts is because they don't want to do
it.
So I've been through I've been through thatsame thing with my van with Ford.
Let's say hearing, I live just outside ofGainesville, but, I've called up the Ford

(13:06):
dealership, and either they'll want you to waita long time.
You have to actually leave the van there, or,some dealerships will say, oh, you know, we
don't have the lift.
And then there's a there's a dealership in atown, not far from me as well, called Chiefland
kind of country type of area, very nice place.
And those guys, you call them up.
You could go in there the next day.

(13:27):
They have the lift.
And when I talk to them, they say that's justsomething that these dealerships say because
they don't want to deal with these vans.
And I found that to be true in a lot of ways.
It might, you know, I I I don't know.
You know, you might be right from a dealershipperspective, but I had, gosh, I was alarmed.
You know, I'm in, I'm in a group, a Facebookgroup of similar coachman owners.

(13:51):
Now, these could be Sprinters, fans on the rampcapacities in the or the transit.
And somebody went into a shop was not a Fordshop.
Mhmm.
And, their van was up on a lift.
And They fell off.
They came it kept off.
Now, thank god, no one was hurt.
And, again, that was not a dealership.
That was probably a mom and pops thing.

(14:12):
Yeah.
But I
don't, I don't know.
But I can just tell you whether they're givingme a line or not.
Mhmm.
The, you know, just knowing, hey.
Do I have some place in my vicinity be, okay,where I can get the service.
I didn't really think about that when I made mypurchase.
Yeah.
It is a good it's it's a good point, and peoplecan, remedy that before they buy by calling up
the dealership and seeing what they say.

(14:34):
Now what I'm I'm not telling folks this to tellthe dealership.
No.
You could do this.
If they don't wanna do it, don't take yourdon't take your van to them.
That's my that's my personal opinion.
If for whatever reason, don't want to deal withyou.
There was an issue I had, and I had to go tothe Gainesville dealership, and they're nice
enough folks, but they there was all there wassomething that only they could fix.

(14:56):
It was a real simple part of my, the bigsliding door.
And they made me wait there like, 3 or 4 hoursover the time I really should Hank, because the
guy working on it didn't like the fact that itwas an RV.
And he was like, oh, well, to go in there andchange that part on the door, I've gotta go
through stuff that the builder made.

(15:17):
And the service guy was telling me, I was like,okay.
You guys want, I'll go back there and open thatthing up myself just to make this go fast.
Of course, they won't let you do that.
But a lot of times, it just comes down topeople's desire.
And here's my thing.
If you don't wanna work on something, I don'twant you to do it either.
So
point.
And I I mean, most of the people watching thisnow or or later.

(15:38):
I mean, they're on social media.
So, I mean, my my my suggestion is takeadvantage of crowdsourcing your friends,
regional people.
Hey, where, where do you get your vehicleserviced, both in terms of the, the, the coach
side?
Yeah.
But also the chassis side.
I I'll just one other little interesting thing.
We've been very pleased with this dealershipI'm talking about, but I just took it in to

(16:00):
have the oil changed.
And, Ford has this package called the Workspackage, where they do a general inspection,
they also rotate your tires.
And some of you may know the Strange has, thethe Ford Transit Coachmen Transit has dually
wheels on the back.
Yep.
Okay.
You have four wheels on the back.
And I left the dealership, got home, and justdon't ask me why I happen to be looking at

(16:25):
something on my rim.
And the two step from the inside and theoutside tire, they did not align.
You know, they, they should line up.
So if you needed to inflate a tire orsomething.
You, you can have access to it.
When they rotated the tires, they did notrotate them back to the point where the the

(16:45):
stems.
Oh.
Right?
Interesting.
Okay.
So and, I mean Did
you do a video did you do a video of this onyour YouTube channel?
I you did because
I I
would really actually like to see this now.
Yes.
I I have 2 videos coming.
Okay.
That's one.
Uh-huh.
And I was gonna deal with this really high-techtopic of replacing your cabin air filter.

(17:05):
Oh, okay.
Okay.
Which sounds simple, but is it?
Yeah.
No.
My one of my highest it's one of the funniestthings is, you know, the one of the it's always
amazing what kind of videos get more thanothers, you know.
Mhmm.
And we did one video just on, the Ford the FordTransit has this safety feature.

(17:26):
Mhmm.
Where if you rotate either one of the frontspeeds and start your vehicle.
You could you're in park, of course, right?
Yep.
This annoying chime goes off.
Yeah.
Mhmm.
Because they think you're gonna drive thevehicle.
Like that.
Yeah.
There are people who would do it.
Yes.
Not Saint Abrahamy watching this.

(17:46):
Right.
But, we we Hank some folks, hey.
How did you turn this off?
Did a little video on
right, on YouTube, beyond the adventure.
So I'll I'll try to, show that here.

(18:07):
We've got a couple of minutes.
If I can hit some comments and questions realquick.
Carla Daniels says, Lola, I received my shirt.
Thank you.
I will be wearing it at the Hershey Park RVshow September 6 Hank you for me as well.
Look, I'm wearing a Van Sore shirt.
You can get that right here.
Support us on the chat.
All I know, selfish plug.
And let's see if we can actually get to thisone on the go with Greg Savage, gives us a a

(18:33):
bunch of thumbs ups.
Thank you.
Everyone out there, smash those thumbs ups.
He says metal detectors used to be a bunch ofold guys on the beach, but it has progressed
into amazing genre, which I will learn as afuture class b, class beer, I will be in to the
adventure.

(18:58):
G in that field has changed as well.
But what I find it's for me, it's just awonderful hobby that goes along, actually with
the RV life because, you know, the RV takes youto a variety of places.
And what we really like to do often visithistoric location, locations, beaches, and the

(19:19):
metal detector I happen to use is, like, theone of the lightest, most portable on the
market.
And, you know, some may wonder, well, what doyou, what do you do with this stuff you find?
You know, we there's actually a service wherepeople can cause I've lost my necklace, my
ring.
So oftentimes we return things,
you
know, to people that lost them, or we give thethings we find back to homeowners, or, we

(19:44):
donated.
I, I, got permission to metal detect at if anyof you remember the little house on the prairie
TVs series.
Mhmm.
This was the Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead upin have been Wisconsin, and Mike myself and my
friends that detected the property, werecovered a bunch of really cold stuff that is
from the Ingalls family that's now the museumup there.

(20:06):
So it's a it's a fun hobby.
It fits, you know, it fits the RV life as well.
Yeah.
Very cool.
Alright.
We're gonna be right back.
We're gonna take a you guys might have alreadyheard Lola and myself are brand ambassadors for
Sunshine State RV.
And as Vanosaurus, I wanna take this moment toencourage anyone who is in the market for a
class b van to start their journey with SSRV.

(20:29):
Sunshine State RVs specializes in selling classB vans and B plus RVs.
That is the reason why they are the number onedealer in all of the state of Florida.
Number 3 in the whole United States.
SSRV will fly you right to their location inGainesville, Florida.
They'll give you a very detailed and thoroughwalk through of your van, and they'll give you

(20:50):
a 2 night stay at a local campground so you canget used to your van.
If you don't like that, you can actually havehands free delivery anywhere in the United
States of your RV.
We bought our coachman biar from Sunshine StateRV 2 years ago.
And over the past 2 years, we've seen how theytreat customers when it comes to warranty side.
Their service team is great.

(21:10):
Whether you bought it from them or not, everyperson that comes in there gets the same
service and care when it comes to warrantyrepairs.
The same service, attention, and care.
And their team does a great job getting youback on the road safely.
So if you guys are in the market for a B or Bplus van, consider Sunshine State RV, we've got
a link in the description that you guys can useto see their current inventory and have someone

(21:32):
get in touch with you.
Alright.
We are back.
Let me get to you you got that right at the endthere, Rob, right at the end.
On the counter.
I was like, oh.
So, yeah, we're definitely gonna talk about,being a metal detectorist or, I know this is
gonna be wrong.
Is it therefore called metal detectoring?

(21:53):
Metal detecting.
Metal detecting.
Yeah.
There you go.
Yeah.
That would be the of the of the hobby.
And, you know, like, like, anything, it couldbe it could be biking or whatever.
There's a very active immunity many places havelocal clubs you can join.
It can be a solitary thing you do, or you cando it with others.

(22:13):
There are are even metal detecting holidays.
People organize trips to historic locationswhere you can go and have both a, you know, a
normal vacation but also do some detecting ofsome pretty old historical properties as well.
Yeah.
It's a very cool hobby, and it's interesting tosee all the different things that, you know,

(22:33):
people do with their I think you don't only dothis with your van because you travel all over
the world and do this, but, you know, I'm youalso go out there with your van when you're
just out.
You know, anything that you guys are getting upto, I'm sure you're out there swinging a wand.
Looking for stuff.
I've seen you do it?
Yeah.
In fact, you and I were at a rally this pastyear where aft after a re this rally in

(22:57):
Florida, Amy and I left, and we drove up NorthCarolina, and we attended a 4 day event.
Mhmm.
You know, where we were metal detecting oldcotton plantations, historic Mhmm.
Farms, and, of course, we stayed in the Beyond,which, which we love.
But, but I've also traveled overseas.
I've been to England a few times.
I'm heading back there again this fall.

(23:19):
But, you know, you don't have to do that kindof stuff.
You can go to your local Park.
The the laws vary all over the place in terms
of I'm popping in I'm popping in some picturesof, things you found out there, by the way,
since we're talking about it and we're it now.
Right?
So what what you're looking at here is acollection of fines from a 10 day trip I made

(23:40):
to the town of Cool Chester, England.
This happens to the oldest city in Britain.
So this is, you know, the area where theVikings end ordered, Celtic tribes lived, the
Romans traveled that area.
This point in the middle with the cross is a12127 9, silver hammered coin.

(24:02):
Wow.
And if and if any of you guys ever watched themovie brave heart.
Mhmm.
The English king who, fought William Wallssince Scotland.
He's on the other side of this.
His name was Edward Longshanks, but You youfind a variety of things, many of which like
these things are old, but you also can, youknow, go to a park and find you know, just a

(24:22):
ring to somebody dropped last week.
This is actually really interesting right here.
Perhaps as, you know, as as children, you mighthave heard pirates talk about in the movies,
pieces of 8.
Yes.
Or, you know, we heard those songs 2 bit 4 bit,6 bits a dollar.
What they're talking about is, is what you seehere.

(24:43):
Before we were even a and we minted our owncoins, people would bring their coins from
their native, homeland might be Spain, France,England, and they would score those coins, they
would cut them and break them into bits Mhmm.
Into pieces.
And this is a 1721.
It's 1 eighth, 1 one bit of a 17 21 Spanishreal that I actually found on a cotton field in

(25:10):
North Carolina.
Yeah.
That's really cool.
Ed, you found old.
Oh my gosh.
And and this folks is not, normal.
People have been doing this for 30 years.
I've never found a gold coin.
This a gold hammered coin from 1604.
It's the the it's a James the first coin.
So the individual who finance the the peoplethat landed in Jamestown, Virginia, that was

(25:35):
James the first, and this was a coin that heminted.
Okay.
Yeah.
That, I mean, that's really cool.
And it's true you know, a long time beforebecause we didn't have folding money.
Right?
We didn't have, bills and stuff like that inthe beginning.
So you had to if you had to make Strange, Youhad to literally make Strange.
Just break it off.
Yeah.
And and and tell you, not far from where youare on, like, down near Vero Beach.

(25:58):
Mhmm.
In that area, they, you know, they they oftenrefer to that as the treasure coast.
Mhmm.
There are, oh gosh, several sunken Spanishalliance that to this day, you know, after the
hurricanes come in and stuff like that, peoplelike me are out there on the beaches, and they
still find Spanish coins from these chips weresunken in the 161700.

(26:19):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it's real it's a really cool hobby, andI know you have a YouTube channel where you
talk about this as well.
Do you wanna, let the guys there know aboutthat before we go on further stuff.
Mhmm.
Sure.
So if you can remember the history channel, thename of my channel is the history digger.
Mhmm.
And, oh, gosh, is probably channel's probablyabout three, four years old and, very similar

(26:41):
to what you do, Hank.
I mean, I have some instructional videos, butsome are little snippets of my metal detecting
adventures, and I donate all the profits fromthat channel to the wounded warriors project.
Awesome.
Awesome.
Thanks for that.
So, let's see.
Dan Archer had asked, is not the Beyond, rearbath of Ford Strange?
Yes.
It is, Ford Transit.

(27:03):
The best one.
It's the one I own.
So and especially if you're a big dude like meand you want to move around in your bathroom.
But but Hank is couldn't buy the rear bath.
Uh-huh.
It's
not a wheel.
Okay.
Mhmm.
What would have been your second configuration,at least within the on.
And I don't know if that's familiar about theother one.

(27:24):
Yeah.
I mean, there's a there's a there's somedifferent ones.
Okay.
You've got the c and the the dual beds, theYeah.
D, I Hank.
I think is it the d that's the dual beds?
Because that's similar to what I Hank, exceptthere's a side bath.
And then the c is a the sea, I think, is a sidebath, but a bed in the back.

(27:44):
Right.
Yeah.
With with a with a bed that goes up and downand, Yeah.
What would have been your second choice?
Oh, and so if we're in Strange, oh my gosh.
I think I would have probably gone for the seathen, you know, just that big bed back there,
left it permanent, and then maybe just cutsbecause I think a lot of people do storage
underneath that.

(28:05):
I would have already done that if if I was juststicking to, transits.
What's your what's yours?
Yeah.
Cause it because I think the Strange, theamount of storage Mhmm.
Across those different configurations that youeventually get, it's different.
And of course, I didn't know that at the time,but I probably would have gone with the d Okay.

(28:26):
Where you have the two beds, you know, going,going this way.
But, you know, of course, the other thing, youknow, you the storage is always what we were
after.
You know, how can we eke out some extrastorage?
We put Yeah.
We put some boxes on the back the van and stufflike that.
But, I would have kind of looked at all threeof those a little differently.

(28:47):
I would have looked get them through the lensof which one gives you just a few more cubic
feet of space Yeah.
Within the gutters.
I don't know.
Yeah.
It's it's interesting.
So if I this doesn't exist, but I'm what Iwould love to see, and I so let me explain it
this way.
On the, the Galleria line, which is theStrange, right?
My favorite is the 24a.

(29:10):
I think it's called.
And that's the one that has the permanent bedin the back, and it has, like, that storage,
built in in the back.
Right?
I think since the 24 a.
I might be mixing those up.
If you could get that in a beyond, that wouldbe amazing to me.
Like, permanent bed, storage they're there, Ithink.
Side the side bath is so tough.

(29:31):
I don't think I would, like, a side bath wouldbe useful to me.
And that's I I got lucky.
I found the rare I I wanted a Strange, and Ifound it in a rare bath, and I think that's my
favorite, unless we somehow figure out how toput something else.
I don't know.
Slide out bathroom, maybe.
Yeah.
I was talking to another class b person, and wewe were talking about and stuff.

(29:53):
And, of course, for for us, a lot of our firstvideos were which van should we buy, you know,
and then we we we bought 1.
And how do how do I do this on that van?
Mhmm.
And and then there's a variety of videos of,you know, how do I modify my van and stuff?
But also enjoy the videos that are more aboutRV life.
Yeah.
And you do you do these as well.

(30:14):
I like these, but, like, Here are some hackswe've developed while we're traveling.
Here's an example, and we we've picked this upfrom somebody else, but we have an anytime
fitness membership, you know, a gym membership,which, is wonderful.
And and occasionally, we actually use it to goand work out, but we really use it for the
showers.

(30:34):
Mhmm.
I've heard this.
I've heard a lot of people do, is it any timefitness?
Anytime fitness and you know, you get a littlefob that, you know, gives you entry to these
facilities.
They're open 20 fourseven, and they have verynice clean commerce in there.
So, you know, regardless of whether your bathis in the back, the side, you know, whatever,

(30:55):
you have limited water in those things.
And occasionally, you know, it's nice to takethat long shower, right?
Mhmm.
It is.
Oh.
I like those videos as well where people arejust sharing, you know, it's less about the
vehicle.
Mhmm.
And, and more about the lifestyle too, whichyou so, you know, if you once you know, if I
know people watching this.

(31:16):
Some bought vehicles, some haven't.
But pay attention to those other videos beyondjust vehicle choices as well.
Yeah.
You have to think about how you're gonna livewith the van.
Like, you I Hank you said that earlier.
And for me, one of the things I have I've hadCrohn's disease since I was about 24, 25 years
old.
So what that's done is that, you know, when Ineed to use that bathroom, need to use the

(31:39):
bathroom.
So, and I found myself, you know, really,appreciating the fact that I have a rare bath
when I've been on a lone road somewhere wherethere's nothing but roll road for miles in
front of me miles ahead of me, and I could useit.
But I do understand on the flip side of that,there's folks who don't even use that bathroom.
They have they use hacks like you're sayingwith a gym, you know, there's truck stops.

(32:03):
There's all kinds of things, that you can do.
Lola and I recently got the Geyser.
You know what that is?
I do not.
So it's this device that, boils water, or,well, you could put your you could there's 2 of
them.
You can heat up your own water and put it init, or it boils the water for you and gets it
to the right temperature, and then you can useit to take a sponge bath.

(32:25):
So you save water by using that, but you canstill get, a nice sponge bath soap up and wash
yourself off and all that washer here andeverything.
You can even use it to wash your dishes, and ithelps you conserve water.
As you mentioned, water is a big deal, whenyou're traveling in these things because you're
limited in that.
Right?

(32:45):
So Yeah.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
And I and that's where I really value socialmedia we, before we, you think of all the
things you need to equip your RV.
And all the choices in terms of chairs andcough pots and filtration systems and so on.
And it's there is no there's no one right thingof anything before talking to folks online

(33:07):
really helped us find what was right for usthat much faster.
Yeah.
Actually have the Geyser right here.
That's why I was making noise.
Check this out.
Oh my gosh.
I haven't I haven't even opened it yet, but werecently bought it.
So here's the sponge right here.
This is the Strange, and so this will actuallypump it out.
This particular one heats the water and allthat kind of stuff.

(33:31):
It's not that big.
So, I mean, you know, it's got a good size onit, but you can store it away.
It's, so it's called Geyser, hot portableshower.
Haven't used it yet.
We don't have any kind of, like, relationshipwith them or anything, but I wanted to check
that out based on what you were talking about
And and it it it it has a power source thatheats up electrically?

(33:52):
Yeah.
Yeah.
You can you can plug it into a battery pack or,whatever it is that you have.
Yeah.
Or if you have a if you have a different way,you can actually I mean, you you you'd have to
power this anyway to pump the water out, butyou know, everyone's got some different thing
for power.
I love it.
I'm looking forward to watching the video onthat.
We will Yeah.
Sometimes depending on the type of trip, lengthtrip, we'll travel with a, it is a solar

(34:17):
shower.
Okay.
So it's it's a it's in it's basically like avinyl bag that rolls up.
Okay.
It's about about this thick and it, and itunfolds, but fill it up, I think it holds, oh
my gosh, 4 or 5 gallons of water, you hang itup during the day.
And when you come back in the evening, you'regoing to hang it on a tree at your amps.

(34:39):
I maybe even on the outside of the van, butit's quite warm.
And it's all gravity fed, but, you know, ifanybody camps, they'll know what I'm talking
about.
You could find these in any camping store, butit's it's something if you're doing some remote
camping wall occasionally take with us.
Yeah.
So something like this, right, one of
these.
Exactly.

(34:59):
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's a good idea.
You know, there's so many different things thatyou can do to make this happen.
So, yeah, I agree with you on that checkout.
Look at not just my stuff, but, you know,please do look at my stuff.
But there's lots of folks out there doingthings, including, you know, Rob himself is,
doing videos.
So, you know, that's the thing to do before youget into this.

(35:21):
Look at what everyone else is doing and thenask yourself, okay.
Am I good with that or do I wanna do?
You know, do I wanna do something else?
And sometimes you'll surprise yourself.
You'll think you'll never do that thing, butwhen you come to realize the convenience of a
van, but, hey, I might have to make thiscompromise over here.
You actually get used to it, and you're fine.

(35:43):
Yeah.
So, yeah.
Yeah.
And we're we're still learning.
We're picking up tips and tricks.
We travel with a little portable gazebo that westore in in the, entry the side entry door of
the transit has 2 handles.
Mhmm.
And we strap this it's one of these pop up, youknow, little gazebos that you can get some

(36:06):
refuge in if there's too much sun, it'sraining, whatever.
But we store one of these things.
We wrap it to the side of the van.
It works fine.
However, occasionally, there's some wind, andthis thing comes with, you know, the typical
stakes that you pound into the ground and weHank particularly windy storm one time where
this thing went properly.
And our good friends, Gary and Renee Dunn,turned us on to the there are these very small

(36:29):
you can buy.
They're very thick, durable.
They almost look like the solar showers, quitefrankly.
Okay.
But you fill you fill them up with water andessentially they're Hank checks.
Oh, okay.
Makes sense.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you fell crow these to the the pools ofwhatever, the gazebo you're on in whatever
you're doing.
But but they're very you know, you have to dothe water out.

(36:51):
Yeah.
Easy to store.
Yeah.
Just basically water weights.
That's a good idea.
Yeah.
Let's get on to some comments here.
Let's see, on the go with with Greg Savagesays, indeed, if it wasn't for Hank, and Nick,
and their eloquent and professionalism.
There'll be a lot of unanswered questions.

(37:12):
They have helped my choice to sell everythingabout from Nick, my next home.
Okay.
Cool.
Congratulations.
He goes on to say, yes, I retired from 30 yearsin motorsports business, and I can't wait to
get started.
Oh, the soft suit.
That sounds like fun.
Maybe I'll meet you down there at SunshineState RV sometime.

(37:32):
And until you do, you can pull it forward bywatching all these fun videos and so on.
And, and, I'll tell you, Nick and his crew areas they're exactly the way team on these
videos.
They're genuine authentic people.
We had a wonderful experience there.
Yeah.
So, you know, that leads me to a good questionbecause, when Nick is on, ask about service.

(37:53):
Right?
And I agree with you.
I think Sunshine State RV, good place to go getservice.
Now you've been out there on the road.
You've put twenty five thousand miles on yourHank, have you ever run into a situation when
you're out on the road?
Let's say you can't get to Sunshine State RV,and you need it to get service from somewhere
else?
You know, actually, I'm pleased to say we'venot I've had a minor issue with the Ford.

(38:16):
Mhmm.
Okay.
Which which Sunshine State really doesn't dosports stuff.
Mhmm.
But we've not had anything like urgent.
Oh my gosh.
I need to find a place.
The only thing we have done other than SunshineState, which, you know, we go to Florida every
Strange, and, and I had him do a checkup andstuff like that.

(38:36):
We we did visit the Coachmen facility, and youyou do have to schedule appointments there,
you
know, well on advance.
They have they have phenomenal service butlimited.
And, we had a very minor issue with a solarpanel wire that was faulty.
But, knock on wood Hank, we've not had to, butI'm worried about it because I've heard, you

(38:59):
know, horror story galore.
People won't serve as fans.
If you didn't buy there, that kind of a thing.
We haven't had to deal with anything yet.
Yeah.
You know, I haven't had anything happen so badthat I couldn't, you know, that I immediately
had to do it myself either.
So, yeah, knock on wood, knock on the, thereyou go.

(39:20):
Well, and and and I'll say one of the thingsthat to people.
Mhmm.
It sure can.
And, I mean, as good as sunshine state is, whatI also didn't appreciate, but I would consider
now, if I were buying, okay, is the crowds orsupport.
What what I'm talking about, whether it's,Truvado, a a nish dealer, whatever, as to these

(39:42):
people, you know, kind of support group do youhave?
If I have an issue, can I find someone like methat has my van?
Because I'm going to tell you I've done this.
I see people just post and Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
You
know, this light's blinking on my firefly.
I don't know what it means.
And within minutes, there are answers on, youknow, so Coachmen, and the Beyond has a very

(40:08):
active positive, friendly community of userswho help one another.
I don't know if that's the same with otherfolks because I didn't about that at the time I
was buying, definitely something I would thinkabout.
No.
Yeah.
Search out those Facebook groups or groups any,you know, whatever social media you use.
I think the better ones are probably onFacebook at this point.

(40:28):
There is one for the coachmen beyond, butthere's, you know, I think there's one for
Galleria for
Big Trevato.
Yeah.
For Trevato, or any class b van that you havethat folks have should be, you you know, you
should be able to find a user's group for that.
Let's see.
We got may less than a minute here.
Shout out to Russ.

(40:48):
Russ Johnson's out there, our buddy.
He
says Fellow was down tonight.
Yes.
There you go.
He's awesome.
Russ says Rob really liked the video on yourinstallation of a rearview mirror camera.
30 seconds, Rob, and then we'll we'll take abreak.
Okay.
You know, the stock cameras that come with thetransits and other vehicles, they're they're

(41:10):
very poor long distance.
I installed 1.
It's essentially an LED screen, dynamicallytowards 3 hours of video from the front and the
back.
My, my favorite modification I've ever done, Ilove it.
There you go.
I agree with that.
It's, cameras are very necessary.
It'd be great to see more of this stuff comewith the vans.

(41:30):
Hopefully, that happens.
We're taking a break.
Lola and I are now a official brand ambassadorsfor Coachmen class b.
So I wanted to take a moment to tell you guyswhy we, as Vanosaurus, like it says on our t
shirt, a very excited about our partnershipwith Coachmen Class B.
First off, Coachmen RVs has been a leader tothe great outdoors since 1964.

(41:52):
So next is the fact that Coachmen really caresabout you as an owner, whether you bought new
or used after you buy your van, they reallytake care of you.
With Coachmen Klosbee, you have all theoptions.
Coachmen bills on all three van platforms.
On the Mercedes Strange, it's a coachmanGalleria.
The Ford Transit is a coachman Beyond, and RamPro Master is a coachman Nova.

(42:16):
Lastly, best value for money.
We've had our van for 2 years and coachmanbills to the highest standards of quality and
craftsman You can't go wrong with a coachmanclass b.
So if you're interested, check out the link inour description and find the coachman van
that's best for you.

(42:41):
There you go.
We are back.
And, I think I'm gonna skip ahead.
Lola, okay.
Lola says Ross Johnson.
Hi, Ross.
Give Gina a hug for me.
So there you go.
And, I think Lola says she asked a questionhere.
Oh, here we go.
Lola says, has Rob done any mods on his beyond?
I know Amy and him have those big ebike youjust spoke about the rearview mirror mod.

(43:06):
So, any other mods that you've done you youwanna discuss?
Yes.
So, okay.
So a couple other ones we've we've added inoutlets.
I've added a ladder prime design ladder on myback and attached to that is a plastic, happens
to be a Plano gun case that we use to store ourelectrical cable, our water hoses, freeze up a

(43:29):
couple cubic feet of space underneath the van.
And also, you know, when we do pull into asite, it, it, you know, it allows us to, to not
open our our back doors to get the bugs in andso on.
We love believe it or not.
So I mean, I travel with a metal detector.
Amy is a quilter and seamstress.
She travels with a sewing machine.

(43:51):
Okay.
Nice.
Where does that go?
Well, So speaking of that mod, so we add, youknow, I think one of the most, modified things,
but but people find them in different ways onthe coachman's, is this space behind the
driver's seat?
Oh, yeah.
Some people some people put I think Russ mighthave put it, a water, an extra water tank

(44:15):
there, a third piece.
No.
He put that on the other side, but I think alot He did.
I think he you're talking about between the andthe bathroom.
People won't close it.
This is near Yeah.
His is near the side door, but I Hank a behindthe driver's seat, and we've seen little loggy
beds put there.
But I have built some shelving back there Mhmm.
Within which Amy slides her sewing machine.

(44:35):
And on top of that is where I store all mymetal detecting.
Equipment.
We have a shelf in the back of the van thatallows us to store things.
This is behind the bed area.
That.
Did you feature did you feature your van inthat video we did?
I know you were in that video, and I'm tryingto because we showed of vans.

(44:55):
And I don't know if we showed this or not forthe folks who are out there.
I we may have.
I think it was in an older one, and, you know,some of these things are really simple like
seat covers for a cushion behind your neck.
Yeah.
I think you were talking about the bicycleracks in the video we did.
Yeah.
The bicycle so we have 2 Radrunner ebikes.
And if you're, you know, ebikes are evolving,significantly.

(45:19):
But some of the early ones, and even stilltoday, they can be quite heavy.
So a normal bike rack may not be able tosupport the load of 2 ebikes.
So we searched all over.
We found a wonderful product, company, calledRack Attach by OneUp that offers a swing away

(45:42):
bracket both swings away from the back of thevan and tilts down and can easily support the
weight of our 2 bike in a very secure way.
So I I would say that was an accessory, less,more of an accessory than a modification,
you
know, that we've done.
But it's it's been fun.
I mean, and then a whole host of other littlethings, you know, little things, baskets.

(46:05):
And I had one family members say, Well, wereyou a little disappointed that, you know, you
had to do all this work and as, at thesemodifications?
And I I said, well, actually, no, I kind ofappreciate the opportunity to make it my own
and customize this stuff.
Other people might feel differently, but I'veactually enjoyed the ability to tweak this a

(46:26):
little bit, and I appreciate Coachmen leavingsome of that for me do.
I, you know, I actually enjoy that.
Yeah.
I would agree with you.
You know, it would be great if someone couldcustom build exactly what you want, which they
can.
It just might cost you about a 100,000 bucksmore to get that.
Correct.
And it's, you know, in ways, think of it likea, a, I don't know if any, you know, people

(46:48):
here have built homes, but, you know,oftentimes, there's, there's a plan.
And then you get to kind of finish it the wayyou want.
Yeah.
But, but yeah, those are those have been someof the minor things, and we've Oh gosh.
We've changed out shower nozzle.
We've added a different shower curtain.
Minor stuff like that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We've done we've done a lot of, ofmodifications.

(47:10):
And I and I agree with you.
I think that, you know, like I was saying, thebig thing for me here is the rare bath.
So, yes, there's other things that I wish weresomehow better, but I adapt to that and and,
you know, in the beyonds, there's 3 models.
So they there's no way they're gonna make itperfect for everyone, but if you find the
basic, the homes of that works for you, thenyou could figure out ways to add all the

(47:33):
different things that you want to.
What I'm searching for here that I'm trying topull up is, some pictures, just just recently
of stuff that we've outside the van.
I think I've talked about this before, but I'llshare this with you guys.
So, for example, if you wanna change the waythat you van looks even.
This is something that I've done lately.

(47:58):
You know, we we, vinyl wrapped our van.
So this is our van here.
It's vinyl wrapped.
And then recently, I even put the, the Raptorgrill on it.
You know, and that's not something that youwant every single van to come that way because
you want to dualize and personalize that thatadvance your taste so that, you know, you're

(48:20):
you're you're different from what everyone elseis out there.
Right?
There's one little minor thing we did that Iabsolutely loved, and it's a, it's a small,
aluminum piece put on your door trap thatallows you.
You know what I'm talking about here, Hank.
So instead of Mhmm.
Yeah.
You don't, you know, instead of only openingthe door all all the way you can stop halfway.

(48:42):
And it's just a little, little thing that, you,you put on with some adhesive and stuff like
that, that, I absolutely love, but I will saythis, let me just say full disclosure.
I have no release relationship whatsoever withCoachmen.
Mhmm.
But, as after we did all our research, I wouldsay the other thing that I saw, the general
manager of Coachmen, if you're not familiarwith them, Nick Rekio, this guy is fanatical

(49:08):
about understanding his consumer, aboutunderstanding the people that buy his vehicle
and he constantly, on these videos, waslistening and looking for modifications to add
in that next thing.
So on one hand, while I appreciate having theall your tweak and customize some things.
Every year, they have made changes.

(49:29):
And, I I come from the consumer productsindustry.
So I really appreciated somebody who reallylistened and cared about the customers.
And, my only regret is every time he, you know,launches his new vehicle, I I wanna trade in my
old 1 and buy it.
Yes.

(49:50):
Except in interest rates are high now.
So I
and I don't need any more tickets to DisneyWorld.
Yeah.
You gotta get your first tickets for 1st.
And and if I remember correctly, Rob, I wasalso supposed to get tickets and go to Disney
World with you.
Whits.
Yeah.
Yes.
We're gonna have to make that happen.

(50:10):
Well, listen.
I'll tell you one thing about Nick Schmidt.
He does stick to, you know, to to promises thathe makes, but it gets so crazy see.
He gets into so much stuff, but we we'llprobably make that, thing happen.
I'll, I'll, yeah, I'll nudge him.
I'll remind him.
Here's a here's a comment from Kip get this inhere, a question.
We are strongly considering ordering a 2024coach from Beyond with the upgraded 1200 amp

(50:34):
hour lithium with over 25 1000 miles, you havedriven.
Have you had any issues with your batteries?
Well, you I know you have a different batterysolution than me.
Do you wanna go first?
Or
Oh, you can go for you're li you're li you'reli3.
Right?
Yeah.
So I'm gonna tell you.
I respect there are some people that are happywith the AGM and the generator everything.

(50:56):
But I love the lithium batteries because firstof all, we can get a whole night's air
conditioning, you know, out of ourconfiguration.
And, if, you know, that next day, our batteryis running low, you know, I either I just Hank
to, you know, turn on that vehicle and, youknow, let it idle for a while, and it will

(51:17):
recharge.
Or chances are we're moving anyways.
And with, you know, with just a little bit oftime on the road, that thing is recharged.
Okay?
So I, I love all that, plus I love the factthat, in Wisconsin, okay, during the winter
months, if if the band is here, I can put thisinto a store mode, let it sit for 90 days.

(51:41):
I've had no issues.
I've had no issues with it.
It has a really cool battery management system.
Mhmm.
But also, if it hits a certain temperature,sure it knows to shut itself off and talking
about when you're charging it.
Mhmm.
So I I just have to say on and, and, and I'lljust say one other thing, out of all the things
I see and read, you know, that maybe peoplehave had issues with.

(52:02):
You know, a fire issue or an air conditioningissue.
I don't know if I've ever even seen on thesocial media group.
I mean, anybody have an issue with the lithiumbattery that comes with the Beyond van I'm sure
there have been somebody, but I don'tAbsolutely.
Yeah.
I think there have been, you know, in all thevans that are going out there, I think with the
Onyx is pretty robust.
Cost.
We did a, a tour with Lithionics there at thefactory, and, I think it's a it's a really good

(52:28):
set up.
In in my van, I bought it.
It had AGMs.
It had a generator.
I kind of like that.
However, what I would say and and, you know, Idid change them out.
So I don't have those AGMs.
I actually have Battle Born batteries in there.
We've had Battle Born here in the show as well.
I think those are great batteries.
When you're doing upgrades, I think actuallycome standard with the American Coach fans that

(52:51):
are out there, the Battle of Orange system.
And I find that easy use.
Same thing with Lithonics.
I think when I look at, like, someone wasasking about, Trevado, some of us the other
battery system are I'm not saying they're anyless good.
It's just they work in a different way, and Ilike the way that Battleborn lives theonix,

(53:12):
those things work.
If if I was to buy another van right now, Iwould not go AGM with generator.
I'll tell you the tell you guys that right now.
I would just go li3, have my batteries be inthere with the second alternator.
Like you said, it charges up faster, and it's alot easier to deal with.
The generator is cool right now.

(53:33):
I'm in my van.
I'm actually running the generator, but, youknow, there's more issues with a generator if
you get I Hank, and you have to make sureyou've got the maintenance going on and all
that kind of stuff.
So I would just go li3 like you have.
You you don't have to maintain it.
It's it's and, again, lack of noise.
I do have extra space I've contemplated addingthe extra panel, but quite frankly, I haven't

(53:54):
needed You know?
I'll also say kind of, you know, the other sideof this is weird.
We're pleasantly surprised.
The propane tank that, you know, also comeswith our configuration.
We use that.
It's more efficient to use propane for heat.
Yep.
Mhmm.
Heating the water tank and stuff like that.
And, man, I'll tell you what, that lasted farlonger than I expected.

(54:17):
So I have no regrets.
I'm sure for some people, the generator I mean,listen, there's a cost difference.
Right?
Mhmm.
You know?
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Maybe it gets I think it's maybe, what, $20 orsomething like that.
Yeah.
Alright.
Yeah.
Hopefully, that's gonna close down, but we'vebeen very pleased with it.
And, even, even the electronics that come withthe, the lithiumics, there is a, an app, you

(54:40):
know, that also you can see from your phone,the history, and runs, and things are fun.
So, and again, I'm sure others have had someissues, but we have not.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
I'm the brown.
Shout out to him.
He says, looks like Hank has worn that headsetcable out.
Yes.
Man, you guys you guys could see details.
Yes.
I do need to buy another headset cable.

(55:01):
You are right, sir.
Carla Daniels says, can you put a child bunkbed in RV B Plus Four Transit with the wet,
bath in the back.
Put a Shaw bug bed, and the bait's
left foot.
I'll tell you what we did.
Mhmm.
We do not have the your bath, okay?
But we did take our seven year old grandson onone trip.

(55:24):
And with any of the Ford vehicles, both ofthose front seats turn.
You can turn them and have them face oneanother.
Mhmm.
And we just traveled with a a a board, that wason the shelf behind our bed and a cushion, like
a cushion off of a lawn furniture thing.
And that front cabin was our grand son's bed.

(55:46):
Okay?
Okay.
Yeah.
And it worked worked wonders for us to be ableto have a third person bed.
I don't know if you could do something else,Hank.
So did was that Loom, or was that justsomething that you guys made up that bed?
Do you?
Yeah.
So the chairs, of course, turn.
Right?
They turn swive all the way, or you can havethem face one another.
But
all that we did on our back shelf behind our,our seabed, right?

(56:14):
We just had a board that we used as almost likea mattress spring.
And an extra, like, a, a long cushion that youcould pick up at a home and garden store.
Mhmm.
And we place those on the two front
seat Okay.
Okay.
Understood.
Yeah.
Okay.
I so I I'm aware of of, people doing mods likethat.

(56:34):
There's also a company, I think, called Loomthat that we've seen at the Overlanding shows
that has a similar fix to that.
That's kind of like a blow up kind of that sitthat you blow it up, and it fits fits between
those 2.
Yeah.
That's that's right.
We we and we looked at that.
Of course, it was several $100.
Yeah.
Mhmm.
And it it fits in the middle, and it's acushion.
It's almost like a tee.

(56:55):
It fits in there.
But anyway, what we did, and then, you know, itwasn't permanent.
And, we don't take that with us on every trip,of course, but for that trip, it worked.
Yeah.
And I'm not exactly sure because I think inthat comment, you said b plus, so I'm not
exactly sure which you're talking about.
So, like, our vans that we have to be on isjust a bee.
It doesn't, rise to the B plus Acacia quite.

(57:20):
So I think it would be different, but if you ifyou wanna hit hit us up, like do a DM or
something that.
I could maybe take a closer look and help youout with that.
On the Brown also said he's a comedian.
He says, I'm not sure I wanna see a video Hanktaking bunchback.
Yeah, I don't wanna see I don't wanna see it.

(57:41):
And look, says, don't worry.
What is the what did she say?
Don't worry.
The sponge bath video will be tasteful.
Okay.
And maybe the reason I sell it.
I don't know.
Oh, good one.
Good one.
Alright.
Let's see.
Here.
Okay.
Alright.
Let's see what, okay.

(58:01):
Carlos Daniel says, hey, guys.
I need to know when your next is my son willattend.
So I believe that question's pointed atSunshine State RV.
Typically, they're at the Tampa show, and thenthey do Ocala, but they are going to the
there's a whole bunch of different shows theyhave on right now.
So I would suggest checking out Sunshine StateRVs, website.

(58:27):
So I do Lola and I do stuff with them, but, youknow, if you check out their website, you'll
see what the schedule is.
I know they're going to Overland East inVirginia, and that's coming up, I think, in
October.
So, either the end of I think it's maybe end ofSeptember, you know, early October, some thing
like that that they'll be there, but there's aboat show going on that they're going to.

(58:50):
Another show that's coming up in Texas, andthose I don't have, you know, precise stuff on.
Russ says, Hank, you did a great job showingthe difference between the Beyond Nova and the
Galleria.
Thank you.
I think that's been a couple of years now.
We probably need to redo that video becausewe've got, you know, we've got, like, a new

(59:11):
Sprinter is out there and a new, a new,ProMaster is out there as well.
So I'm sure people would be interested in that.
I don't know if you're interested.
Are you still looking, or, you know, are youjust happy with your van, and you've got other
interests, or you always looking to see what'scoming up next kind of a thing?
No.
Less less than I did before, for sure.

(59:34):
But you it's it's it's almost like, I don'tknow.
It's, again, I'll equate it to cars.
I mean, you kind of like to know the newestthing that's out there.
I, I find it entertaining.
It's certainly informing.
But, you know, I so I'll still watch many ofthose videos, but now what I've found is I'm
I'm looking more for, hey, where are placesthat people have gone, what are some of those

(59:56):
camping RV lifestyle hacks and and stuff likethat, or, you know, getting my vehicle serviced
it, it just depends where you are on thecontinuum.
But I think once you kind of get hooked and,and look at those things, at least me, I'm I'll
always be looking at what's the next feature,the next bell and whistle that kind of thing.
Yeah.
I think something I'd like to ask you beforethere's two questions.

(01:00:19):
One Lola wants to ask you before we wrap up,but for me, in this vein, you know, when you're
looking at this stuff, what would you like tosee in the future, Rob, as an owner?
I'm I'm very curious is to know.
Like, I know what I wanna see, but I'm curiousto know what the other folks like yourself out
there want to see in the future with thesevans.
Oh, boy.
That's an interesting question.

(01:00:41):
You know, probably some additionalmodifications that give space.
I actually intrigued by some of the smallerbuilders that come up with just these
incredible minds.
Okay.
So, you know, I'd like to continue to see thesefolks.
Maybe, like, so for example, today, people likeCoachmen and Winnebago, they might have 3 or 4

(01:01:05):
standard designs.
I'd like to see them offer for masscustomization, you know, we can tweak these
things.
Certainly interested in the hybrid, theelectric stuff.
I, I don't know.
I, I have yet to watch you one of your thisvideo, but I still have a feeling that's a ways
out.

(01:01:26):
You know, I'm not looking for that so much.
And then, the only other thing is, moreredundancy out there.
Russ Johnson's one of them who, these aretinkerers, can fix any Russ can fix anything.
I think some of the future models, they'regonna have to reconsider you know, the people

(01:01:48):
that are buying the next generation and stuff,they're they're looking for you in simpler
solutions than maybe what's out there today andmaybe some more redundancy.
Yeah.
I agree with And I think you are gonna find,you know, that the builders out there also
simplifying.
Because I think they see a lot of thecomplaints that people have about those things

(01:02:08):
and making it tougher.
You know, you want it to work.
I think they're very what we have now is veryclose to perfection.
You were talking about electric.
I think it's cool, but I think electric's justsomething we're getting forced into because the
manufacturers have a mandate to make electricthings.
So that's really not that far away, believe itor not, but it's kind of a thing that we're
getting forced into, and I don't think they canwith those laws, folks like us who are

(01:02:32):
traveling around.
So in terms of range and stuff like that, it'snot there.
So, a lot of the other things are, but that'sthat's, I think that's good, you know,
interesting to think about space.
How can you maximize on space in something likethis.
Joy B says I'll get this comment in, we needthe price to go down.

(01:02:53):
We need to not cause a, a house or 2 houses, 2small houses.
So the price needs to come down yeah, you know,I think that is the tough part about a class b.
Right?
Very expensive.
We're looking at house money.
You can literally get a really big RV for thesame thing, there's the trade off on the

(01:03:14):
convenience that you have over the big R RV.
But prices, what do you think about those?
Do you think coming down?
Yeah.
I I hope they do.
I think they need to.
I will say the flip of that is they've they dotend to hold their value, you know, and that's
the only that's the only thing to kind ofsoftens the blow a little bit.
But, you know, I think, you know, it's on onehand, I'm saying, Hey, I'd like have more model

(01:03:38):
choices and stuff.
I know what a lot of these folks are sufferingright now.
They're still feeling the effects of supplychain hiccups and Yep.
You know, before they add a new modifications,they, they're gonna make sure that these things
are available.
And as many advances they build, they pale incomparison to some of the other suppliers that
make automobiles and stuff like that.
But, I, yeah, I would like to see some moreprice elasticity, some more sensitivity, maybe

(01:04:03):
maybe something for more of an entry levelusers.
And I I won't give a shout out to Winnebago,because I think some of their vans like the
Solis That's what I think they're intending totry to do with the solace of maybe your young
family, you have 2, 3 small children.
When you put them up top, they can camp up top.
Yeah.
In a talk to.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
I'd like to see more consideration given topeople who are not, you know, old folks like

(01:04:26):
us.
There are different life stage and, you know,that, that could maybe get into this, at an
earlier lower price point.
Yeah.
I agree with that.
And I you know, even there's there's peoplecoming in younger and and and people, you know,
I'm I'm like 51.
So you know, there's there's folks getting moreactive in this or even older folks that are

(01:04:48):
more active, and I think there needs to bebetter choices.
Because on the overlanding side, it's even moreexpensive, believe it or not.
If you're getting a overlanding van, becauseyou wanna go off road a a bit and do that kind
of stuff.
In a lot of cases, you're looking at, like, youknow, very close to 300,000, if not over that.
Yeah.
And and, of course, they're going after youngerdemographics.
So maybe they need to offer, like, a, like, youknow, what Home Depot does, the workshop, where

(01:05:12):
you kinda come and build your own and swim thehammer.
Right.
I don't know.
Thank you.
You listen, you know, on on unfortunately,we're, we're gonna go into we're gonna kinda,
like, go into this downturn in the economy.
And and, listen, I don't think anyone's gonnabe happy about that, but wanna things, I Hank,
that will come out of that.

(01:05:32):
We'll see the high demand come down and maybethe prices come down and more options, out
there.
Seen kits as well if you want to, you know,just buy and these vans are expensive before
they're built into class bs.
So you're looking at, 60 70,000 bucks for thesevans, in a lot of cases, just as raw vans, but

(01:05:54):
you can get kits and then build build somethingmaybe not as complicated as what you and I
Hank.
You can build that.
And then if you ever wanted to sell it, youcould take those kits out.
That kind of thing.
Yeah.
And and, you
know, I tell people, don't be worried or afraidof a used one.
I mean, these are commercial vehicles.
So they're built to last a little longer bemore durable than the cars we drive.

(01:06:15):
And in if you have a good dealer, like aSunshine Strange nearby, have them check it
out.
But because there's a lot of people that willdo this for a few years, and they're done for a
variety of reasons.
So don't be afraid to maybe consider somethingthat has a few miles on it.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
And the last question here, I know we're pastour time here, so thanks to everyone.
Just hanging out with us.
Smash those up.
So I'm gonna wrap it up after this.

(01:06:36):
Lola says what prep considerations has Robdone, to head out to Nova Scotia?
You guys are gonna on a great adventure.
So and and people could follow you on yourYouTube channel and see all of this.
What kind of preps have you made?
Yes.
Oh my gosh.
So Amy is my navigate she's done all the routeplanning.
I will just say this if you've been followinganything about Nova Scotia lately.

(01:06:57):
These poor folks have been burdened by firstthe fires and then record flooding.
They had 3 months' worth of rain in 1 night.
We've had to completely replan our route, youknow, to to almost the reverse because we had a
few fixed dates where we were taking a ferry orwe committed to, a boondocker's welcome place,

(01:07:18):
something like that, or a camp site, I mean.
But at any rate, we've had to do that.
We are traveling with another couple, anotherBeyond family.
So we have, we have 2 of us.
We just so happen have 2 different cell phoneproviders.
And we've talked about like, okay, you know,what kind of tool kit do you bring?
What do we bring?
We're making sure our maps are up today all thenormal stuff that you would do.

(01:07:41):
But, you know, we normally put a lot of timeand effort upfront so we can really rely ax and
free wheel it while we're on our trip.
So fingers crossed.
You can, follow us on our channel and, youknow, hopefully we'll avoid the 5 and the
floods.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
I hope you do.
I I'm sure you guys will have a great adventureout there.

(01:08:01):
One quick question I'm sneaking in for him toBrown, because this is actually a question.
He says, do either you see people towing smalltravel trailers to add more space or Strange.
What do you think about that, Rob?
I Hank, it it's been, only on occasion.
And, I mean, in the end of the the Beyondabsolutely can.
Okay.
And it's e it's equipped to to do it.

(01:08:24):
You know, if I, if I, if I, you know, say theweight ratings and stuff like that, I'm sure
I'll get it wrong.
Yeah.
I think it's about 5000, but they'll take myword on that either.
I think so.
Yeah.
And, but, you know, I've also seen peoplerather than tow something, what they'll do is
hit they'll have a stowaway box or somethinglike that on the back.
Mhmm.
There's a a lot of creative solutions.
But, you know, you know, it's harder to park,of course, like that, but it's absolutely

(01:08:47):
something we've seen.
We we've actually seen somebody tow a bladderplane.
Wow.
Yes.
A flatter plane.
Yeah.
At some point, you guys will see a picture ofme towing, my tractor.
I had to get a tractor.
We we, you know, we've got about 6 acres here,and I've gotta take care of it myself.
And we got we got a tractor, and I'm gonna haveto tow that So the van is gonna be put to that

(01:09:12):
purpose.
But my my advice on that one is I would say,let's carry less stuff if you can.
If you could do it, take less stuff.
The, you know, the adventure is not all thestuff that you could bring with you
necessarily, even though you wanna bring thingsthat you need.
So, you know, that's, like, Wayne C says, ifyou could tow small trailers or for more space,

(01:09:34):
you might as well buy a bigger motor home.
So there you go.
Listen.
Rob, I hope you're gonna come back because thiswas a fun conversation.
It went very quickly.
Please do come back, and I would encourageeveryone out there to subscribe to Beyond the
Adventure.
Lola and I subscribe to it.
There's some very good content on here.

(01:09:55):
But I'll give you a chance to plug that and theother things you have before we get out, Rob.
Oh, that's enough of a plug.
I just wanna say, hey, you know, thanks to youand Lola for everything that you guys do.
To do it, and we really appreciate it.
And for everybody watching, thanks for tuningin, and happy, happy travels to you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for the support, Rob.
We can do it without folks like yourself andAmy.

(01:10:16):
Alright, guys.
We are out of here.
We love and appreciate you guys.
We'll see on the next one.
Thanks so much for joining us.
We're out of here.
Robbie stay right there.
See you guys.
Peace.