Podcast appearances and mentions of ram promaster

Shoot us a Text.Today is our fearless leader Paul J Daly's birthday! So we gave him the morning off and tapped in producer Nathan Southwick. We're talking all about the new Canada and Mexico tariffs that put pressure on the automotive supply chains, plus the top depreciating cars and how Google is pushing to achieve artificial general intelligence.Show Notes with links:The U.S. has enacted 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, throwing the highly integrated North American production network into turmoil.The tariffs, effective today, March 4, apply to all imports except Canadian energy products, which face a lower 10% duty. Canada and Mexico both responded with their own tariffs.Industry experts predict vehicle prices could rise between $4,000 and $10,000, with Ford CEO Jim Farley cautioning that prolonged tariffs could "blow a hole in the U.S. industry that we have never seen."Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association said that there is potential for U.S. and Canadian auto production to revert to "2020 pandemic-level idling and temporary layoffs within the week.”Key auto models at risk include the Toyota RAV4, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Chevrolet Equinox and Blazer, and the Honda Civic and CR-V, while European automakers with manufacturing in Mexico, including Volkswagen, Stellantis, and BMW, saw their stocks drop sharplyThe STOXX Europe 600 Automobiles and Parts index fell 3.8% and Continental AG, a major supplier, saw an 8.4% drop in shares.Used Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles saw the steepest depreciation of any cars in 2024, according to Fast Company's analysis of CarGurus data.Model Y prices dropped 25.5%, while Model 3 prices fell 25% from January 2024 to January 2025.Comparatively, the Nissan Maxima only dropped 5.2%, and the Ford Mustang declined 5%.Full Top 10: Tesla Model Y, Tesla Model 3, Land Rover Range Rover, Jeep Wrangler 4xe, Chevrolet Express Cargo, Ford Transit Connect, RAM ProMaster, Land Rover Range Rover Sport, Chevrolet Bolt EV, and Ford Expedition, all with over 19% depreciationGoogle co-founder Sergey Brin is back and pushing Google DeepMind (GDM) teams to accelerate their progress toward Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). In a newly released memo, Brin outlines the urgency and expectations for Google's AI teams.Brin emphasizes the need for 60-hour work weeks, daily office attendance, and faster execution by prioritizing simple solutions, code efficiency, and small-scale experiments for faster iteration.He calls for a shift away from “nanny products” and urges teams to “trust our users” more.Brin, who has no formal role at Google beyond a board seat, stepped in over the head of Google DeepMind, Demis Hassabis, signaling the urgency of the AGI race."I think we have all the ingredients to wHosts: Paul J Daly and Kyle MountsierGet the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/ JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/ Read our most recent email at: https://www.asotu.com/media/push-back-email

On the version of Hot off the Wire posted April June 18 at 7:30 a.m. CT: PHOENIX (AP) — Extreme heat alerts remain in effect for tens of millions of people in the United States as cities including Chicago break heat records. States in the Midwest started to bake Monday in the dangerous heat wave that was expected to stretch from Iowa to Maine into at least Friday. The mid-Atlantic and New England are likely to see highs in the 90s as the week progresses. Excessive humidity will make it feel even more oppressive. The U.S. last year saw the most heat waves since 1936. Officials are warning people to take precautions, such as drinking plenty of water and staying indoors. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is planning to announce a sweeping new policy that would lift the threat of deportation for tens of thousands of people married to U.S. citizens. It's an aggressive election-year action on immigration that had been sought by many Democrats.  DETROIT (AP) — Stellantis is recalling nearly 1.2 million vehicles in the U.S. and Canada to fix a software glitch that can disable the rearview cameras. The recall covers Jeep Compass, Grand Cherokee, Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer SUVs from 2022 and 2023. Also included are Ram ProMaster vans from 2022 and 2023, as well as the Ram 3500 chassis cabs and Ram 1500 and 2500 pickups from 2022. Also covered are 2021 through 2023 Chrysler Pacifica minivans and Jeep Grand Cherokee L SUVs, and 2021 and 2022 Dodge Durango SUVs. MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The United States has renewed a warning that it’s obligated to defend its close treaty ally a day after Filipino navy personnel were injured and their supply boats damaged in one of the most serious confrontations between the Philippines and China in a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. China and the Philippines blamed each other for instigating Monday’s hostilities in the Second Thomas Shoal. BERLIN (AP) — Eight people accused of involvement in a suspected far-right plot to topple the German government have gone on trial in Munich, in the last of three trials in the sprawling case.  In other news:  A record number of NATO allies are hitting their defense spending target during war in Ukraine. Surgeon general calls on Congress to require social media warning labels, like those on cigarettes. Biden's Title IX rule blocked by judge in 6 additional states. Biden's reelection team launches $50 million ad campaign targeting Trump before the first debate. Authorities across US grapple with rash of violence in final days of spring. Judge orders railway to pay Washington tribe nearly $400 million for trespassing with oil trains. Secret Service agent robbed at gunpoint during Biden's Los Angeles trip, police say. Maryland's Governor will issue more than 175,000 pardons for marijuana convictions. New Jersey power broker is charged with racketeering in waterfront redevelopment case. The Celtics win the NBA championship, Jaylen Brown is the Finals MVP, the Panthers can win the Stanley Cup Tuesday, and Paul Skenes continues to dominate hitters in his rookie season. South Korean soldiers fire warning shots after North Korean troops intrude for a 2nd time this month. —The Associated Press About this program Host Terry Lipshetz is managing editor of the national newsroom for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, Terry conducts periodic interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, co-hosts the Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the former producer of Across the Sky, a podcast dedicated to weather and climate.

https://atravelpath.com/   Hey Pathfinders! Today's episode felt like a 2-for-1since we got a dose of both Travel Nursing AND Van Conversions. Dakota and Courtney are a young couple who “chase big dreams trying to make it happen.” In this inspiring episode you'll hear all about: Travel Nursing How to get started, how long the process takes, how long you can work an assignment for, and so on. Courtney shares how travel nursing can be quite nerve-wracking at first, but as you become familiar with the process, things get easier. Where to Stay With travel nursing, there are several options available for places to stay. Dakota and Courtney share their experiences at many of them and tell us what they prefer. We also get into detail about why you need to have a paper trail and pay some sort of rent wherever you end up. Van Conversions Along with travel nursing, Dakota and Courtney have (nearly) completed two van builds. The beauty of this episode is that we got to ask them why they sold their first one, and what they are doing differently with this next built. Plus, hear about how it took them over 9 MONTHS to receive the first van they ordered. Costs Dakota and Courtney give us very detailed numbers on how much BOTH of their van builds cost as well as sharing tips on how you can start saving money. They also share their thoughts on how much someone might want to have saved up before traveling.   Chapters ·        00:00 Intro ·        02:30 What is the process of getting into Travel Nursing? ·        07:15 Travel Nure pay and stipends ·        12:30 How are you finding places to stay? ·        15:30 Working with Aya Healthcare ·        16:15 Can you negotiate your terms? ·        20:30 What was the process of acquiring your van? ·        28:30 How did you know what material to buy for your van? ·        29:30 Why did you sell your first van? ·        32:00 What are you doing differently with your current van build?         ·        34:45 What mistakes did you make with your van build? ·        38:15 How long did each van build take? ·        40:15 What has been your coolest travel experience? ·        43:00 How much money should you have saved up before traveling? ·        45:15 How much did your van builds cost? ·        46:45 How can someone get started? ·        49:45 What YouTube channels helped with your van build?   Dakota and Courtney on Social ·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kodaandcourt/ ·        YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kodaandcourt   Nursing: ·        Aya Healthcare: https://www.ayahealthcare.com/ ·        GSA.gov: https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates ·        Regarding if your RV loan counts as a payment, I couldn't find much information besides this forum, so take it for what it is worth and do your own research: https://www.reddit.com/r/TravelNursing/comments/13rjt3n/rv_travel_nursing/   Stays ·        The hospital Courtney started at: https://www.evanhospital.com/ ·        Furnished Finders: https://www.furnishedfinder.com/ ·        Where they Stayed: https://www.facebook.com/TheDeLongVillage/   Van Build Resources ·        Explorist.life: https://explorist.life/ ·        Far Out Ride: https://faroutride.com/   Their Two Vans: ·        Ram ProMaster 136 ·        Ram ProMaster 159   Channels ·        Jimmy and Natalie: https://www.youtube.com/@JimmyandNatalie ·        Wild by the Mile: https://www.youtube.com/@WildbytheMile   Past Episodes Mentioned: Episode 1 with Dylan: https://atravelpath.com/how-to-be-a-digital-nomad/ Episode 13 with Jason and Laura: https://atravelpath.com/road-trip-with-kids/   Most Popular Blogs: ·        Most Popular Travel Hacks: https://atravelpath.com/money-saving-travel-tips/ ·        Travel Gear: https://atravelpath.com/travel-gear/ ·        How to Budget For Gas on a Road Trip: https://atravelpath.com/how-to-budget-for-gas-for-a-road-trip/ ·        Our Favorite RV Upgrades: https://atravelpath.com/rv-upgrades/ ·        How Much We Made Renting Our RV: https://atravelpath.com/renting-camper-van/ ·        Never Run Out of Gas on a Road Trip: https://atravelpath.com/road-trip-tip/   Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/abbynoise/rocky-mountains   *All content from atravelpath.com, including but not limited to The Travel Path Podcast and social media platforms, is designed to share general information. We are not experts and the information is not designed to serve as legal, financial, or tax advice. Always do your own research and due diligence before making a decision.   Transcript Host: Dakota and Courtney, welcome to the Travel Path Podcast!   Guest: Hey.   Host: So you're on Instagram as @KotaandCourt, documenting your travels across 25 states so far, and we're really excited to finally have a travel nurse on the show. You've completed one and are on your second van build, so I can already tell there's going to be a lot of information to uncover with this podcast. But why don't we first start by having you share a little about yourselves?   Guest: Well, we're just two kids from small towns in Missouri. I'm from a little town called Nevada, Missouri, and she's from Shell City, Missouri. She graduated with, like, 13 kids, so very small. Yeah, so not too much. I mean, had 35 cars and I'm 25 years old, so do a lot of that kind of stuff and just, you know, chase big dreams and try to make them happen. Yeah, that's it.   Host: And travel while you can. So I'm sure those 25 you've had are going to help or have helped out with your van conversion.  Um, so we'll definitely get into the van conversion later on in the show. I do want to get into travel nursing. If you've been paying attention to the podcast recently, we've had a few people mention travel nursing. So we're finally able to talk about it and bring it up here. So tell us about that. So obviously with travel nursing, you get your degree in nursing, you find a job with nursing somewhere, and then at some point, the idea of travel nursing comes to your mind. So what's that process of actually getting into nursing?   Guest: Oh gosh, um, it's honestly kind of difficult. It's not difficult, but it's a big process. You have to find, um, sometimes it's, for me especially, it was hard trying to find, like, the right company. Um, you hear good things and bad things, um, obviously with everybody. So I kind of just picked a popular one. I'm with a healthcare. You basically, like, sign yourself up, so it's kind of like a job, um, application. You sign yourself up, you get a recruiter, and then they kind of just, like, help guide you through the process. Um, you have to fill out a bunch of tax forms, go get, like, physicals and labs drawn, um, basically do a bunch of requirements, like a huge checklist they have. And then, you know, obviously, there's a shortage of nurses everywhere, so you can really pick wherever you want to go, which is really cool. You can go to, um, you know, Alaska, Florida. Um, there are even some nursing companies that will allow you to go to, like, Mexico and Canada, like over, like, international travel nursing. So the process is difficult, but once you actually, um, you know, talk to a recruiter and talk to your people, um, it's a fairly simple process. So, um, you know, definitely, if you're trying to be a travel nurse, you know, I'd suggest to anybody. It's really nerve-wracking though, but they need travel nurses pretty, I mean, they want to do anything they can to get you in there, so they work with you pretty well.   Host: Yeah, yeah, so difficult but simple is what it sounded like. In terms of the time frame, how long are we talking between actually getting approved for travel nursing?   Guest: Oh gosh, you have to have your experience first, yeah. You have to, so, technically, for travel nursing, they really recommend you to have one to two years of experience just because when you get assigned to a job, you really only have like one day of training. So, like, you're just expected to know, like, all of these things, and, you know, if you don't, if you just go kind of blind, you know, it can be a disaster. Um, sometimes still is, you know, just 'cause every hospital is different. But I would say probably, I don't know, I started looking, I'd say around April or May, so I'd say maybe two to three months. It kind of just depends on how, you know, it's kind of like a you-driven thing too, you know, and how bad you want it. We kind of were just like, I don't really know if we want to do this, but I'll just go ahead and, you know, sign up and get all my ducks in a row, and then if we become more interested, we can go from there. So I'd say probably two to three months. I had to put in my two weeks, um, my two weeks at my previous job, and then, you know, find a job there. Um, in Pennsylvania was my first assignment, but it's pretty easy afterwards, though, yeah. Super easy, you have connections, you have about four different people who help you get like an experience specialist, you get your recruiter who really just helps you with, um, finding a job. You just have all different kinds of help with, but afterwards, after you get like your first job, then it's a lot easier. So it's like you can pretty much line up a job right after the next one if you want, as long as you have time to get there. So like she quit her last job, we had a week off, and I think it was like two weeks until she started her next contract, so she already signed one while she was working. Yeah, so you can sign with, you know, whatever company or whoever after you kind of get in it, just basically getting, getting your foot in the door, getting a reputation, and then you're able to kind of move wherever you want to go.   Host: You mentioned one day of training. That sounds crazy to me because I've been in hospitals where it seems like it would take a week just to figure out where to go, and you can get lost in some of these places. So that means you're showing up at this job for the first time, you're like maybe like a mini orientation training, getting to know everybody, and then you're kind of fed to the wolves and you're travel nursing and you're doing nursing.   Guest: Yeah, yeah, it's, yeah, it's crazy. The knowledge has to be, um, you know, you just, you kind of just have to go in headfirst. Um, even now, I will say that I still, you know, sometimes don't know where everything's at or even like hospital policies, everything's different. So, you know, just don't be afraid to ask questions, definitely. Um, is my thing, but yeah, just one day of training and you are on your own.   Host: Wow. I would imagine that one day of training, obviously, it's a little bit more difficult to maneuver, and that comes with what we've heard is with travel nursing, there's higher pay rates, and there's the travel sties. Is that still the case today?   Guest: Yes, right, or they're not as high as they used to be. No, definitely not. During COVID, nurses were making a lot of money. Stipends are... I would say that, I mean, even for me, just going from just a low-paying nursing job in drop-in Missouri to now, I say that stipends are really good for me, but if you talk to the next person, they're like, "Oh, this sucks." You know, it's a pretty controversial space because some people will say it's good money, and other people say, "Oh, well, you shouldn't accept a job for lower than this rate," and people get kind of agitated. But the stipends are really what make it worth doing the travel nursing. Yeah, so I mean, the hourly rate has an effect, but the stipends really make it worth it. Yeah, so basically, like, travel nurses get paid, like, a really low hourly rate. Like, if you would know, you would just have to be mind blown. But they get paid a super low hourly rate so that way they can max out your stipends, which are tax-free. So in the end, like, you end up making more money. Sometimes you have to negotiate for those. You have to kind of watch out. And I mean, if you get a good recruiter, they'd be pretty good with you. But you can get on a website like gsa.gov, I think, and it'll tell you kind of what the stipends are in the area that you're at and stuff. We kind of dove into it head first, kind of like buying a car. It's kind of confusing when you first get into it. We didn't really know what we were doing. We dove head first and we didn't realize, you know, you have to do certain things to get, you know, the tax-free stipends. So it's for housing and what stipends are for. And you're supposed to duplicate expenses to get those stipends. So essentially, you're supposed to pay rent back where you are from, like your permanent tax home, right? So you have to have, like, a tax home. And you can look up the requirements for a tax home. And then you also are supposed to be paying rent somewhere else. So like where you're traveling to as a nurse. And those can be, like, shared housing. But you have to be paying, like, both at the same time. So like for us, now that we're getting ready to be in a van, whenever we're traveling somewhere, we have to stay at a campground because that'll be our rent.   Host: Okay, so there's no way around just boondocking the whole entire time. They want to see some sort of rent payment at the campsite.   Guest: Yeah, you have to have a paper trail to show. I mean, now there are people that don't do it, you know, and they say, "Oh, I've never been caught." But I mean, if you get audited by the IRS, you're gonna owe some big money back.   Host: Well, that's a really good tip you bring up, and I'm glad you bring that up about how you have to actually hunker down in a campsite and have proof of spending money on rent somewhere. 'Cause I have two sisters, one of them actually travel nurses. Both of them are nurses. We talked about before the podcast, one of them did travel nurse and the other one was, has been thinking about it. But I kind of told her, "Yeah, just get a van, get a dog, and just, you know, drive and boondock." But so they do want to see some source of income. So if you're listening to this, Jess or Chloe, make sure you're doing that.   Guest: Yeah, and we didn't have any idea. They just asked her where she worked at and where she was from, where we lived at, and they said, "Oh, well, you qualify for the stipends." And they kind of had a sign the paperwork and we had no idea. I think I found like a video, like on Facebook Reels or TikTok or something. I was like, "Hey, do you know about this?" And he's like, "What?" Yeah, so we had, so I had to do a lot of research on it and try to figure it out and, you know, it all worked and had to talk to an accountant, really confused. And this was the first time really we had even done anything like that. So we were like, "We don't even know what to do."   Host: Yeah, no, it's smart to do that. And I'm sure that might vary a little bit depending on your contracts. Do you know if, so I know you built out your van, so I don't think you owe anything on your van?   Guest: Yeah, we do. We financed the van. So we, for the, we, we financed the van.   Host: So I guess my next question was going to be if, if, like, you had a payment on your van or a camper, if that would count as rent. I'm not sure. Do you know if they would consider that?   Guest: I don't think so because, um, one of the people that we were, I mean, it is a good question. I'm not, I'm not for sure, so don't quote me. But, um, the person that we were kind of following off of, um, I believe they had theirs, uh, they had an RV, like a fifth wheel, and I believe, leased or not leased, but they had a lien on it or a loan, whatever you want to call it. I believe they still had to stay at a campground. Now, I mean, that is a good question. I'd have to look into that because I wonder about that.   Host: For sure. And if we can dig that up, I'll put a link in the show notes. So you talked about, I know your long-term play, you have your second van almost built and that's where you're going to be living in while you're travel nursing in the future moving forward. But right now you're signing these three to four-month kind of midterm leases, so they can be tricky to find, at least that's fully furnished. So how are you finding places to stay?   Guest: We go off, there's a lot of different places. But for my first one, we went off of Furnish Finders. So it's just like an Airbnb or like a Verbo for nurses or just any traveling professional. So it doesn't have to be a nurse, but they're marketed towards, you know, people that have, you know, like, I guess, could be like a welder or a nurse or, you know, anybody that works odd hours.   Guest: Yeah, we actually were on the other side of that coin. We have a couple rental properties, and we've rented two with Furnish Finders, travel nurses. We, we had like poets and authors who just come for like those shorter periods, yeah. But it is marketed towards travel nurses.   Host: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what that's what we use. Um, we looked at all avenues. We found Furnish Finders was cheaper than like Verbo, Airbnb, or even like we looked at hotels too, and it was just like thrown out of the picture because that's ridiculous. Um, from the time she decided she was going to do travel nursing, I think it was like two weeks before she signed her first contract, then we were like moving, yeah. And so we packed all our stuff in the back of a Jeep, and we hours away headed out to Pennsylvania. So it was a, was quite a ways. It seems like a lot of the travel nurses that she works with are just from around the area. So like right now, she's in, seems like a lot of people from Kansas. When she was in Pennsylvania, seemed like a lot, yeah. And they were like, "Oh my gosh, you're all the way from Missouri." And, you know, like I have an accent, and they're like, "Where are you from? We know you're from somewhere not around here."   Host: How far in advance have you found, so I would imagine you secure the contract many months in advance. But in terms of actually booking a place to stay, how far in advance are you planning that?   Guest: I mean, from your first one, it was like two weeks. We started looking, and it was like within two weeks, we were up there at a place.   Host: I would imagine does your travel agent help out with that at all in terms of finding places to go?   Guest: Yes, they offer, but I was already like halfway to finding a house before they were like, "Hey, you know, we'll help you if you need it." And I'm like, "That's great," but yeah, a lot of people do use, you know, their people assigned to help to do that. But I, I was so excited about my first assignment. I was just like, I had a house found, like, all these things before somebody even messaged me, and they were like, "Hey, do you need help finding a home?" I was like, "I already have one. I've already, you know, put a deposit down." They're like, "Oh, okay, well, never mind then." That first one we went, what was the population of that town? Like 80 people, something like that, in a very tiny Amish town.   Host: Get to see all sorts of places. And if you end up at a place you don't like that much, you're only there for like three, four months, so you can find another place. You mentioned you're working with Aya, and does that in terms of finding other places to go, are you limited to like hospitals that they own, or how does that work?   Guest: Nope, so every travel company is different. I just, A, is, I don't know, they're really popular, I guess you could say, like among travel nurses. So like, certain hospitals will have contracts with these travel companies, so A has a lot. But for say like, if you go to a different travel company, you know, they may be hiring at like these certain hospitals that don't have contracts with A. So it's different, but A holds a lot of contracts with a lot of hospitals. So I just went with them.   Host: And then how flexible in terms of how long do you want to stay somewhere for? If you want to stay there for like two months, four months, six months, are you able to kind of negotiate that? And then also like your actual hours, if you're working nights, days, how many hours a week, is that all negotiable?   Guest: Yep, so whenever you go to sign up for a job, it will tell you like whether it's a day shift or a night shift job. So I'm a day shift, so I work 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., usually 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. So I really am like a 13, 14-hour shifter. And then as far as like staying at that job for however long, you can actually stay up to a travel assignment for 364 days. You just can't work a full year because if you do, say like, I'm working in Topeka right now, I can stay there for 364 days. But if I stay there that 365th day, it's considered my tax home now, so it just kind of messes up a whole bunch of things. So you can extend at a job, you just let your recruiter know. Usually, they'll message you first and be like, "Hey, are you liking your assignment? Do you want to extend?" And I actually have accepted an extension in Topeka. So I'm there until April 27th. And then from there, if you decide to work the whole 364, all you have to do by law is take 30 days off, and then you can go right back to that same job for another year or 36. I think they cap it. Like, I think you can only do that for two years. There's, there's, I don't know exactly what it is. It's complicated, but there are a lot of like, logistical or maybe it's not logistical, but it's requirements. So you can only do things, I think, in certain states for so long, and every state is different, every state has different, yeah. I think that there's like, make it confusing. Yeah, yeah. But it seems to be that the most common are like 13-week contracts, and then there are some that are what, what's the other one, like eight? Yeah, they do, you can do four weeks if they're like a crisis job, which means that they just need you right away. You can go and sign for a four-week contract. And where you can go, usually the average is 13 to 26 weeks, so that's what I did on my first assignment. And now I'm at six weeks now on my second assignment.   Host: Yeah, I can definitely agree with that. A lot of options to extend. On the landlord side, we made it a point to ask our when we're hosting travel nurses if they're going to extend because we've had several times now where, like, we've gotten a booking after that lease is up but then they'll tell us, "Hey, can I extend?" And, like, oh, sorry, we just booked somebody else. So now we're actually actively asking like, hey, are you looking to extend? And then we'll do that because that does happen more often than not, when travel nurses in particular, they'll extend their stay.   Guest: Yeah, that, that's what our um, our landlord in Pennsylvania did. She like, about halfway through, she said, "Hey, you know, just going to post this up, you know, on Furnish Finders. So just wondering, you know, can I, can I show it to people and post it? Or are you guys planning to extend?" So yeah, that's, it is good that she asked.   Host: Yeah, for sure.   Guest: And your first assignment was a really good one for like, anybody that would want to try to get into it. I mean, if they were looking into like trying to just get their foot in the door and try it out and see if they liked it, I mean, she worked in a hospital in, um, what was it, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania? It's called Evangelical Community Hospital, a small little Community Hospital like 220 beds, pretty easy, tiny. And we stayed at a place called The Dong Village, and the landlords there were wonderful. I mean, and so like if you are looking into it and you're trying to just kind of find something that, you know, is good, know that, it's going to, not it's not going to be hard right off the bat, you're not going to be thrown to the wolves, like some of the other stuff. That's a good, you know, um, that's how we started or how she started, not me.   Host: Well, awesome guys. I think this was a really informative segment on getting into travel nursing. And I think it would be really cool to have you guys back on once you have your van up and mobile and you're actually travel nursing with your van to talk about how you guys are finding places to stay, how you've been acclimating to that lifestyle. But speaking of that, like I mentioned before, you guys have done not one but you're working on your second van conversion. So we can dig into that a little bit now. Before we talk about the actual build, I know you ran into a little bit of trouble actually acquiring the van. So what was that process like just getting your hands on the van?   Guest: Yeah, so I mean, we started the idea I think like four or five years ago that we wanted to do van life. And we were just, I mean, we're really, really young. I remember telling all my family at Christmas time that we wanted to live in a van. They all thought we were crazy. And so, so it took us a while after that to kind of, she had to graduate nursing school to be able to do that. We actually moved out, got an apartment because we lived with my parents until she was done with nursing school. We got an apartment, and we lived in an apartment for six months, and we decided we just were looking at the cost of what it was, you know, adding up to be. We didn't own the place, we kind of wanted to do something else. And I made a joke one night that we could move back in with my parents, and that we could save a ton of money and potentially do van life. And so, you know, it led into more serious conversation. We talked to my parents again, and of course, my parents, they're, you know, really chill, and they agreed, and they said, "Yeah, come on back." And so we moved back in with them, and we started working towards saving up to buy a van, which was kind of tough because she was a, she was a new nurse. I mean, anybody that works at a school tell you that the pay there is pretty low. So we moved back in with them, we started saving up, and we decided we were going to put a deposit down on one. It was, it was hard finding, oh my gosh, try to find, we, we decided we were going to try to get one, and we called, I don't know, probably 50 dealerships across the nation. We didn't really care where it was, we thought, well, we were going to drive anywhere, yeah, we would fly in or drive or do whatever it took. We called like 50 dealerships, you couldn't find them.   Host: Did you have like a specific van you wanted, or were you open to any type of?   Guest: So we wanted a ProMaster because of the cost. I mean, it's cheap. I think that there are better options if you have the budget for them, you know, that's just my personal opinion. A lot of people like, you know, there's Mercedes, there's Ford Transit, but we decided on ProMaster. And so anything that we found during that time, it was, you know, in the height of the pandemic, they had a called a market adjustment where they marked them up about 15 to 20,000. So it was crazy because you could order one, and we found a dealership in Arizona and they were going to order us one for MSRP. And we were initially told that it would take three or four months and we would have the van. And so we thought, well, that work. Ecstatic, we're like, oh yeah, that's great. And so I had just paid off my car the day before, and we didn't have any money. And the lady at the dealership said, "Orders will be closing any time now because they're going to start retooling for the next year." Luckily, I went to my mom for the second time in my life to borrow some money, and she loaned us a little bit of money to put a down payment on it. And that was stressful, and luckily, I got her paid back within two weeks. And so we put the down payment on, and we started buying stuff, trying to, yeah, accumulate all we would need for the van build. I sold the car that I had, that I paid off, and that kind of gave us the money to put towards the van. So we were going to finance the van and just use the money that I had from the car to buy all the stuff for it. We bought a lot of stuff. I think we bought like $10,000 worth of stuff before we even had the, yeah, and so we were waiting and waiting and waiting, and they were like, oh well, it's gonna come next month, oh, it's gonna come next month, it's gonna come next month. And it just started to get to the point where we were nine months in, and they kept saying it, and we didn't know, you know, we didn't know how long it was going to be um so we got really discouraged and I mean I'm really bad about it I I buy and sell vehicles all the time when I get bored and I think it's hard for me to kind of like stay on one thing so my mind was kind of racing on what else we could do and we just decided that we would sell all the stuff and any of the money that we made back from that we put towards you know another vehicle and we were just going to make it really fast so we bought another Mustang we canceled our order and um we had that Mustang for two months and we rolled across the dealership in town and they had a we had ordered a 159 ProMaster and um there was a 136 sitting on the lot of a local dealership and you couldn't hardly find them at the time so um we went and looked in the windows and I said we could really do this uh you know we can we can figure it out we could make this happen and so we looked in it the next day I went and test drove it and the next day after that I had a check in hand from the bank we purchased it the day after that I had contacted a dealership in Oklahoma that bought one of my friends cars and they said yeah we'll buy it so I took it down there and they bought it off of me and we started building our um our first van we had to buy it all over again so we bought all the stuff. Host: That's incredible. So sold your car, ordered a van, ordered all the parts and material for the van, waited 9 months, didn't come in, sold the material, bought another car, and then you found that exact van you wanted for sale two months later and picked and then swapped them out. That's crazy. And I'm glad you bring that up because that's something a lot of people probably won't even consider when they're going to do a van build is actually it might take upwards of a year to actually get the van itself. And you, I know you mentioned you're constantly doing different things but also another thing you guys were excited, you had all this stuff, these parts lying around, you probably had coming up with designs and things you wanted to do and that probably made it more painful having to continue to wait and get the update, another month, another month. So, wow, I can say it's definitely dedication, the fact that you guys stuck it out and ended up finally getting your van. But that's crazy. Is that something you've seen? I know that was during COVID, right? So that's when materials and supplies were crazy. Has that tamed and kind of slowed down? Can it be easier to get one of those vans now, I would imagine?   Guest: Yeah, we just drove by one on the way here, like, to this podcast. We were at a sister's house and just right down the road there's just, we're like, "Hey, look, there's one just sitting out front." And they actually had one in the back, too. So much easier. Yeah, I think the biggest struggle, though, with the whole thing was also watching, like, you know, I think that it's, you know, a lot of the people that do van life don't do it forever. I think that's like an important thing to know when you're getting into it, is that like most people don't do it forever and a lot of people get burnt out with it. There are some people that don't. Kind of got to know what you're wanting out of it. But like when we had all our stuff, I mean, we started buying stuff and looking into doing things, it was a little over a year before that. And so some of the people that we had met and made friends with and we were excited to do it, we watched them build their vans, they had already sold their stuff, too. But as far as like getting ahold of vans, uh, yeah, it's a lot easier now. I think that, I think that the wait times can still be somewhat long depending on where you order it from. On the second van, we just rolled into town, there was one on the lot. And it's kind of crazy because the car market has dropped tremendously. I mean, it fell on spas really. So we looked at our van, it was, uh, 30, 39,000. And when we came back just a few weeks later after she finished her assignment, it dropped all the way down to like 33. So I, it was, it was within a matter of like four to six weeks, the market's definitely changing.   Host: Those inflated prices are finally coming down. I was curious, you bought, so you bought parts and material for the van, how did you know what to buy? Are there like websites or kits you can buy that are custom for like specific van frames? Or how'd you go about doing that?   Guest: Yeah, so a lot of the stuff we bought, um, at the beginning was like electrical stuff, we knew we were going to need that. Um, there are websites. We follow a lot of um, schematics from uh, Far Out Ride is one of the websites. There's another one that does sell more of like kits, um, Explorist.life. I think is what it's called, his Nate Yarbrough. Um, and I mean, he's got a ton of information. You can buy schematics on there. Um, and I've referenced those. I haven't bought any from it. Um, but yeah, we just kind of started sizing up our electrical system, and we went with some of the more expensive components. On our first one, we bought a bunch of Victron stuff, and you know, the wiring, the wire itself can be expensive as well. And then just little stuff that we wanted in it. So we didn't buy any like wood, most of it was just, you know, things you would need to get started. Um, and I don't, I don't even know what all we spent. I mean, we spent a bunch of money on a lot of stuff. I think mostly it was electrical though.   Host: So obviously, so you ended up selling that first van that you converted. Why did you end up selling it?   Guest: Well, it was just really, we found out really fast that when we started it, it was just the two of us and we didn't really, I didn't want a dog, but we ended up with one. And so, and I love him to death. I was never an animal person. We went into a place, my sister was looking at a dog, and my parents wanted to go look at the dogs, and we went in there, and there was this little dog in there, and we just fell in love with him. And now I'm an animal person. So, but found out it was just, it got really tight, really fast with two people and a dog. And then the other thing was, is that we didn't put an air conditioner in it. And so, really hot, a lot of people say, you know, I've heard a lot of people say that they can get by with just two fans, you know, you don't need to spend the money on the air conditioner, and that's great if you can chase the weather and stuff. But we live in the Midwest, and it gets really hot, really hot. And so, by the time we had finished that van, I think we kind of knew we were in trouble because it was just really hot. I mean, we couldn't even barely finish it because we were so hot. It was, you know, it'd be like 80 degrees, 85 degrees outside, and it'd be over 100 degrees in the van. And, you know, you could have the fans on and it'd still be like 96. We just got to thinking, she wanted to do travel nursing and if she needed to take a job in like Arizona or something in the heat of the summer, we needed to be able to, you know, go there and live comfortably. We also needed something that would keep our dog safe as well. And so, we ultimately decided to sell it because we would have needed to upgrade our electrical system, we would have needed, you know, tear out a lot of the ceiling, and at that point, we were just kind of over it. We were just done with building, it took a long time and all of our friends that we had met were like done, so we were just like, we don't, you know, we just, we're done with it too, we were discouraged. So, we just decided to sell it, um we posted up because she wanted to do travel nursing um she had already signed a contract by the time that we posted it for sale and a couple uh flew in from South Carolina and bought it for what we had in it so we didn't make any money off of it it was almost I mean it was like 95% finished and um so they got a good deal on it but uh we just knew we needed something different than that.   Host: Well, at least despite the prices coming down, you didn't take a bath on it, so with the next van, you put the air conditioning in. Were there any other modifications you're doing with this one that you didn't do the first time?   Guest: Yeah, I mean, we're not going to put a shower in this one. Sounds gross, yeah, but we're counting on is we'll try to stay at RV parks that have showers while she's on her contract. We tried to put one like a hidden shower, like a shower and a bench in our last van, and by the time you got the shower pan and then you set the toilet on top of the shower pan, it was like an awkward height, so the bench in there was really uncomfortable to sit on. Really wasn't needed. I mean, you've got Planet Fitness, you've got truck stops, and my buddy is a trucker and he just, we pretty much have unlimited showers at truck stops when we need them, so that's nice. But we weighed out a lot of different options too on like whether we should go with a van. Crazy enough before we even bought this second van we thought we were gonna buy, we were gonna buy an Airstream. I bought a truck actually and I sold it within two days, it's crazy, but I bought a truck and sold it two days later because we decided we were gonna go do a van. So we weighed out the options and really for us a van was the most economical option. By the time you factor in like fuel mileage, so like, you know, there's the three big ones for us was like a class a camper, or RV I guess you call it, or like a pool behind. We looked into even doing like an ambulance, but we even looked at an ambulance New York or Pennsylvania somewhere, yeah, yeah. But by the time you spend fuel on those, it gets to be really expensive. I mean, a half-ton truck, it's like, you know, the older trucks like the one I had was gonna get like nine miles per gallon. A lot of the diesel stuff, it's just high maintenance costs, higher fuel costs, and I didn't know how to work on a diesel. That was a big one for us and so we didn't wanna terrify because if we break down on the road, you know, I'm at the mercy of a mechanic and diesel mechanics are very expensive. So the van just made sense for us, you know, you don't have to have insurance on two vehicles, you just have insurance on the van itself, you can drive wherever you need, now that, that can be a downfall, but we plan to get, like, it's like a dirt bike, a street legal dirt bike later on that we'll use, put a carrier on the back of the van as our secondary Transportation so we don't always have to take it.   Host: Were there any mistakes you made with the first or the second build that you want to share that could potentially save a future listener some trouble?   Guest: Oh gosh, don't overcomplicate it. Yeah, I mean, I was going to say, he knows more about that stuff, I'm kind of just, if you had anything to add, go ahead, but I mean, I think in our first one, we just tried to really pack everything in. We wanted a shower, we wanted, you know, a toilet, we wanted, you know, a kitchen area and stuff. I think that you really find out a lot of stuff when you take your first trip in it. I mean, if you have the money, I know that some people don't have a huge budget to do a van, somebody I'd mentioned this before and somebody said, well, I'd rather take the money that I would use to rent a van, van, and just put it towards my build. But if you have the money to rent a van, I would definitely recommend renting one out and kind of seeing what you use and what you don't, how you like the layout and how you don't, because I think from the first trip that we took, and ours was put together, we realized a lot of things, like our cabinets were really close to our bench and so it made it difficult underneath the sink because we had two cabinets that opened out where you have to be in between them because there wasn't enough room to get past so you were leaning over the cabinet or you had to, you know, wed yourself in there open them up. So there's just a lot of things that you don't think about. Another one was like the shower situation. We thought we were going to put a shower in this one too, our second conversion and we just ultimately decided that we wanted to open feel, we didn't want to feel like we were closed in like our first one, our first van was pretty small was a 136, we've got a 159 now and we just wanted to keep the open feel. Like I said, a lot of the campgrounds have showers, there's a lot of other options, I mean, it just depends on what's important to you. So you know, really think it out, look at other people, ask questions if you can, the best thing you can do is, you know, rent an in or even if you buy one, uh, just try to take a trip in it, you need a lot less than you really think you do.   Host: I think you're totally right about the fact that it's, it's your lifestyle, it's going to revolve around what you're doing, like for example, if you're working at your van, you're boondocking all over the place, you're going to want probably a shower and have those facilities, but if you're travel nursing and you're kind of forced to stay at campgrounds, you're going to be using those facilities anyways so you don't necessarily need those in your van so there's a lot to consider before actually getting started there.     Guest: Yeah, there's a lot of new tech too that is appealing to a lot of people. They're like, "Oh, I want to put this and this and this." So, like, I know, like, a hydronic floor is, like, I think it's hydronic heated floor is what they call it. A lot of people like to put those and they're... they're, to me, they're really complex and stuff. So, like, I don't... I don't need it, you know? It may be something for somebody else. But, you know, the simpler, in my opinion, the better, the less to go wrong, kind of figure it all out too. So, I feel like the heated floor is just one shake in the van away from that wire to come loose and then for it to just not work right.   Host: Well, great, guys. This was a really deep dive into, I guess, not just one but two van builds. I think this is definitely helpful for a lot of people, not just with the build process but also expectations in terms of ordering and the timeline, the overall timeline. So, once you had it, I just want to ask one last question before we wrap up and transition. But how long did that first and second van build take once you actually had the van?   Guest: So, our first one took us eight months. Um, we thought it would take us a lot less. We had originally planned on, like, three to four. Took us eight months. We did it in the middle of the winter too, so there were times we both had full-time jobs. Um, so, a lot of... I mean, we didn't work on it but a couple days on the weekends when I had off. It was kind of hard to get our schedules in line because there were sometimes where she would work on weekends and there's a lot of tasks that just require two people, you know, some of those long boards, trying to put them up on the ceiling or cut them. You know, I didn't have an outfeed table for a saw so I needed somebody to help me hold the boards up while I cut them. So, it was really kind of tough and we didn't work on it for like a month or two on our first one in the middle of winter just because it was so cold and the motivation was very low. Yeah, and you start... the end of it, I mean, towards the end of your first build can kind of be... I don't know, hard. I mean, you can kind of struggle just knowing how long it's taking you.   Host: I definitely don't think people can underestimate the... I guess determination. I can't think of the word but resilience, I guess, in terms of, you know, the mindset of building it, kind of getting demotivated, realizing it's not necessarily the van for you but then, you know, continuing and being resilient and getting another one and doing it the way you want it.   Guest: Yeah, it's... it was tough. Our second one's gone faster. We bought it in October. I don't... I didn't do the math off the top of my head but we're planning to have it done within the next, uh, nine weeks is the plan. Um, we're almost done. I mean, we're... we're on track to finish it. We got, you know, just a little bit stuff we got to make cabinets and, um, just, you know, little stuff add trim and and that kind of stuff.   Host: But like I said you've already taken a few trips in it so it's drivable it's livable just kind of the finishing touches. We'll jump ahead a little bit. Um, what has been the coolest travel experience you guys have had so far? It could be with your van or not with your van.   Guest: So, one of the coolest places we've taken our van, I think the one we enjoyed most was going to South Dakota, which... or, I... we took a couple, so that... I think that was like the first trip that we took when our van was almost completely finished and we met up actually with some friends through Instagram, which kind of sounds a little creepy but they ended up being really good friends. And we actually got to stay, like, on our first, I guess, like, BLM land I guess you say. Actually, we were in a forest. We stayed on BLM land though, so we got to, you know, like, actually, yeah, we did. We got to actually experience that versus, you know, just staying, you know, in a campground or like on the side of a street or something. It was like the full like van life experience. We stayed right on the edge of the badlands, so they have Wall Wall, South Dakota, I think is what it's called where Wall Drug is. A lot of people know what that is. It's like a big General Store. It's really popular, really cool. I mean, there's not, to me, there's not a bunch in South Dakota but the Badlands is kind of the biggest, you know, and that and Mount Rushmore. So, we went up there and that was... that was about the coolest that we got the experience in that and we stayed right on the edge. They had some BLM land. We woke up to cows scratching our head on the back of the van, go... I was breaking in our van, it was rocking back and forth, we weren't sure what was going on but it was awesome. Yeah, it was... it was a neat experience. I mean, we just got to hang out and it just makes you feel like you're living life really freely, like.   Host: That's something I wanted to wake up to, like, just seeing bison or cows or something like brushing up against the van. I would open up and look out and like they're not there yet but that's really cool. So, your van was like shaking cuz there was a cow brushing up against it?   Guest: Yeah, the door hinges on the back, they kind of stick out on and it, they were doing it to like all like we were with, I don't know how many people were there but they were just going down the line like everybody there, I guess it was like a natural alarm, guess? Yeah, which it was wild. We were there for a couple nights and then we didn't see cows, we didn't even know there were cows there and all of a sudden, hundreds, and they were all around, we were surrounded by them. So, that's funny.   Host: That's cool, that's a good experience, yeah. Alright guys, if you could have listened to this podcast when you were first starting out on your van life, your travel nurse journey, and there was a question that you wish I would have asked tonight that I didn't, what would that question be and how would you answer that now?   Guest: Oh, that's a good one, the question. I don't know the answer to that one. Um, I think it... I think I would just be more interested in like, um, like budget, really. I mean, it's so... it's so hard because how much money do you need to have saved up for this? And, yeah, so like, really what people spend on gas, um, you know, that's a big one for me because it's so hard to know kind of what that is. Um, you know, how much you spend. And I know that's different for everyone but um, it's really tough to get like an understanding of what the budget will be like. Even now, we're not really sure what we're going to spend. We're planning to take four months off but we have really no idea what it's going to cost. We try to do some calculations on like how much we're going to drive and the gas prices in those areas and what it's going to be but really like, I think the budget is just the hardest part to know what it's like for somebody that's going to actually travel, not just sit in one place but like, really travels.   Host: In terms of the budget, that's something that completely like blew our socks off was going cross country. We spent way more on fuel than we expected to. And one tip we learned, talking with Dylan in episode one, we actually have a blog post about this I'll link in the show notes, but you take your mileage and you add like a 50% buffer. So, you do your entire trip and add 50% to that because you'll be shocked at how much time and miles you spend driving back and forth, whether National Park Loops or, you know, back and forth of destinations. It was almost like for both of us 50% more than what that Google Maps itinerary told us. That was one good way and then of course, the price of gas varies. I think either way it's going to be more than you expect but if you can, you know, put as much of a buffer on that as you can. We actually had, uh, on episode 13 with, um, Lur and Jason, they were the only guest so far that paid that had money left over after the trip because they... they just anticipated out west to be super expensive, California and just really, really saved up for it and it ended up not being as much as they expected. But there are a few ways you can prepare but it is tough to nail down a price point in terms of budgeting for the van build. Did you have like a number, rough number on how much that cost to build out that you wanted to share?   Guest: Yeah, so our first one, we bought our first van, um, it was a 136 ProMaster. It had about 60,000 miles on it and we bought that for $38,000 and we spent around $17,000 on the conversion. And I think that was more on the high side. We didn't really skimp on anything. I wanted, you know, nice materials. I wanted the cabinets to be made out of like, um, birch. Um, and so we probably spent more than I guess the average person. And then I think on the second one, we bought our van for $34,500. There was some kind of weird markups on there. I know that I said that it was marked down to like $33,000 but it was, it's kind of confusing, I guess you have to have like a trade-in and finance through them. It's, to me, it's like a dealership scam but we end up paying $34,500 for our van and I think we're going to have right around 20 grand in it and that's with an air conditioner, inverter, and two extra batteries. Yeah, we beefed up our electrical system a lot on this one so, you know, you may give or take a little bit. I would probably say anywhere from like 20 to 22. We haven't added it up yet but I think we're right in that range.   Host: Nice, well thank you for sharing that. And then for someone who's listening to this podcast who wants to get into this kind of travel nursing, van life lifestyle but aren't quite there yet, what is one thing they can do today to get started?   Guest: I mean really just cut out all the unnecessary stuff. Like that's the biggest way that we started saving for it was, you know, you can look at your expenses and cut out a lot. I mean, you... you list it all out, um, get rid of unnecessary subscriptions. I mean, heck, even like, um, your vehicle insurance, I mean a lot of people overpay for vehicle insurance and so, you know, you can go through many agencies and get free quotes. I mean, it doesn't do anything, you know, it's just literally a free quote, um, to see if you can save money on that and just really kind of skimping on everything. So, we cut down like our phone bills, we went to straight talk. I mean, it was far less. We just paid for our phones out of pocket. Um, we have less expenses there and just cut out everything we didn't need. What were you saying about the travel nursing part, just how to get into it?   Host: I guess just a lifestyle and obviously with that you would need to, um, have the degree and everything else but I guess the first step probably be just pursuing it.   Guest: Getting in touch with the travel agency or going through the application process. Otherwise, I would say, you know, just do it. I just don't even really think about it, don't overthink about it, just put in your application and get connected with somebody. Just do it. Yeah, it's... it's not a bad... I mean, Courtney was really nervous about getting into it, she wasn't really sure what to think, of course you like we mentioned earlier there's only one day of orientation, you know, she... whether she didn't know enough but and I'm really, I get really nervous, um, like with change so I was, "Oh my gosh, I don't know how I'm going to function like talking to people, like, questions," like, "I'm just going to have to get over that fear," you know, and just... and just do it. So, it's got much better. I still get a little nervous um, before my assignments start but um, it's even compared to the first one, it's gotten much better but it seems like with nursing a lot of it is like that, everybody's still learning all the time. I mean, like, yeah, there's... there's always going to be something that you can learn better with so it, for the most part, iht's from her experience and maybe I'm wrong here, you'll have to correct me, but it seems like they're all willing to help out and you know, help you with things that you might not know if it's something that you've never done before. There's usually somebody there that has, and just don't be scared, you know? Try it. If it's not for you, you know it's not permanent.   Host: Yeah, at least you tried, and you got out of your comfort zone, which a lot of people don't do, so yeah, and you're enjoying it so far. And then yeah, like cutting expenses is never a bad place to start like you said there Dakota. Well, great. Have there been any YouTube channels, books, or other influences that inspired you guys to get on the road and travel?   Guest: Yeah, um, you want me to talk about it or you want to? Okay, you can. Okay, so the second van build we were really inspired by Jimmy and Natalie. Um, I don't know if you know who they are. They have a YouTube channel, I think they have like 45,000 subscribers. Actually, copying their layout exactly because it just seems like it's simple enough, it's not overcomplicated. Yeah, yeah. So, we just thought the functionality worked for us. It had everything we needed. But as far as like first getting started with Van life, there was a lady named Liz Bryant. She has a YouTube, I don't think she really uploads to it anymore, called "Wild by the Mile". She was a solo, like the OG solo female vanlifer, and um, that was the first time I'd ever really seen anybody do van life and that was what really inspired me because it just seemed so awesome, you know? It's wake up by the beach every day and just kind of live life on your own terms and have your own freedom. So seeing that, seeing what she did, it was really inspiring to us. I mean, I think there's good and bad that come with it, but I think the good far outweighs any of the complications that, you know, you have in Van life.   Host: Otherwise, you wouldn't be doing a second van build, right? Thank you guys. I'll put a link in the show notes for those two channels you mentioned there and while our audience is checking out those channels, one more time, where can they find out more about you?   Guest: We have an Instagram, it's @kodaandcourt. And that's really all we have right at the moment. I mean, we have a YouTube channel, but we're a little camera shy, so just getting over the fear of hearing your own voice and you know, that. So, we might, you know, eventually do something with that, but right now we're just kind of not. We're not, we're not like keeping up with Instagram. We post stories and stuff, but I think we're going to post more when, you know, she's not working. So we're trying to work on being better about it. But yeah, any questions, you know, anybody can reach out. I'd love to help people whether it's, you know, car-related stuff, if somebody's having trouble with their vehicle or, you know, travel nursing, or build, you know, van build questions, you know, we're just, we love to answer questions and help people out.   Host: Great, yeah, we'll put a link in the description for your channel as well and camera shy but we could definitely not tell and you guys rock this interview. There's a ton of valuable information here. We're excited to get out and share. Um, last question so our audience doesn't stay in suspense. What are we talking about for part two in travel tips?   Guest: We're going to talk about Juniper Springs, I guess it's in the Okala National Forest, so in Florida.   Host: Alright everybody, keep an eye out for that episode airing in 2 days. Dakota and Courtney, thanks again.   Guest: Thank you.    

Joe Erqiat, a student at the Colorado School of Mines, talks about the Battery Workforce Challenge that is tasking 12 North American universities and partner vocational schools with designing, building, testing, and integrating an advanced battery into a Ram ProMaster electric van. Get more information here.

Joe Erqiat, a student at the Colorado School of Mines, talks about the Battery Workforce Challenge that is tasking 12 North American universities and partner vocational schools with designing, building, testing, and integrating an advanced battery into a Ram ProMaster electric van. Get more information here.

Tune in at 9:30 AM Eastern to catch the show live!

Welcome back! Join Francie on today's episode to get acquainted with Ram's first EV offering - the Ram Promaster EV! This electrified delivery & cargo option is ready to rip on the roads, but let's see how it compares to the other electric delivery van choices out there (Ford & Rivian). Francie goes over the specs, talks about the parent company Stellantis, compares to the E-transit and EDV, and more!Shoutout to our sponsors for more information find their links below:- Star Charge: https://www.starcharge.com/charging?id=20 - Kempower: https://kempower.com/america/charging-solutions/Thumbnail credit: Ram!- Stellantis press release: https://media.stellantisnorthamerica.com/newsrelease.do?id=25280&mid=432Stellantis brand family: https://www.stellantis.com/en/brands/our-brandsRivian EDV page: https://stories.rivian.com/rivian-commercial-van-fleet2022 Ford E-transit page: https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/multimedia/album/2022/e-transit.htmlFind us on all of these places:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/outofspecpodcastApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/out-of-spec-podcast/id1576636119Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0tKIQfKL9oaHc1DLOTWvbdAmazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/473692b9-05b9-41f9-9b38-9f86fbdabee7/OUT-OF-SPEC-PODCASTFor further inquiries please email podcast@outofspecstudios.com#rampromaster #electricvehicle #rivian Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from Electrek. Quick Charge is available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded Monday through Thursday and again on Saturday. Subscribe to our podcast in Apple Podcast or your favorite podcast player to guarantee new episodes are delivered as soon as they're available. Stories we discuss in this episode (with links): Dead Tesla cars pile up at Chicago Superchargers in extreme cold SIXT drops Tesla, buys 250,000 rental cars from Stellantis Mazda announces NACS adoption – its many EVs are going to flood Tesla Superchargers A cheap Toyota EV? Not right now, the company says Ford expects to begin building the electric Explorer in June, second EV by the end of 2024 Ram's first EV, the Ram ProMaster electric van, hits the US to rival Ford and Rivian Lightyear shelves solar EV plans, hires executives to spearhead solar systems for other OEMs https://youtu.be/_cCqG6gnl1U Subscribe to the Electrek Daily Channel on Youtube so you never miss a day of news Follow Mikey: Twitter @Mikey_Electric Listen & Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Spotify TuneIn Share your thoughts! Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us in Apple Podcasts or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show!

Thursday is upon us as company Christmas parties seem to be in full swing across the country! Today we look into a surprising new development in the profitability of Stellantis' EV unit, GM bringing employees back to the office, and Tesla calling their shots with a little letter to other OEMs.Show Notes with links:Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares announced the company's EVs were profitable in the U.S. and Europe, having closed the gap with internal combustion engines. Tavares emphasized the necessity of sharp cost management to maintain profitable and affordable pricing for middle-class consumers.Tavares also noted the gap in profit between EV and ICE is closing more quickly in Europe because they started there sooner. The company will be expanding its EV lineup, planning over 75 models globally by 2030, with a focus on models like the Ram ProMaster van and Jeep Recon in the U.S.A recent partnership with Chinese EV maker Leapmotor aimed to bring cost-competitive electric models to European markets.Tavares also noted that  Stellantis is "fighting head-on" with Tesla in Europe while CFO Natalie Knight said Stellantis is now Europe's No. 2 EV seller, beating out TeslaGeneral Motors (GM) has ended its flexible "Work Appropriately" policy, mandating office presence for three days weekly. This shift marks a significant change from the pandemic-era approach.GM CEO Mary Barra announced the end of the flexible remote work policy, requiring staff within 50 miles of a GM office to attend in person Tuesday to Thursday.The policy, effective January 8, 2024, aims to meet critical business needs and maintain company culture.GM initially allowed department-specific policies due to staff pushback but has now joined other firms in tightening remote work options.Tesla is distributing a free guide on 48-volt architecture to other car company CEOs, challenging them to enhance their electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing processes.This guide details the implementation of 48-volt systems, key for advanced features like "steer-by-wire" 4-wheel steering, marking a significant leap from traditional 12-volt systems.Tesla's move democratizes knowledge in the EV industry, typically characterized by closely-guarded technological secrets, fostering a more collaborative environment.Jim Farley tweeted in reply to the news: “They weren't joking. We received the document today, dated Dec.5th. Thanks Elon Musk. Great for the industry!”Hosts: Paul J Daly and Kyle MountsierGet the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/ JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/ Read our most recent email at: https://www.asotu.com/media/push-back-email ASOTU Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/automotivestateoftheunion

We are Nita Hughes, Glenn Hughes, and Charlie! With this channel, we aim to share the great places we've visited and stayed in our 2019 RAM Promaster van, along with the great local foods, cocktails, and adult beverages we've enjoyed on the road while traveling around the United States (not while driving of course!). We've been full-time "road people" off and on for more than 16 years and our current adventure began back in June of 2021. We bought our van with just one mile on it (our first ever new vehicle) back in June of 2020 and spent the year of COVID building it out. We hit the road exactly one year to the day from when we picked it up from the dealer in upstate New York. We've learned a lot along the way and hope to share what we've learned with other vanlifers and wannabe vanlifers. #cubbyvanlife #vanlife ⁠Harvest Host Blog --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jeremy-storton7/message

Welcome to the best month on the calendar as we give a spirited UAW strike update, peruse the list of new vehicles over the next 18 months, and review the very first show at the site of the NADA Show opening party at the Las Vegas Sphere.Weekend tensions were rising between the UAW and the Detroit 3 as 7000 additional workers went on strike. Ford CEO Jim Farley alleges the union is holding automakers "hostage" with unreasonable demands, stating, "A bad deal would threaten midsize or expensive larger vehicles." and that if the goal was a historic contract, that was already on the table. UAW President Shawn Fain countered by accusing Farley of "lying about the state of negotiations." Fain emphasized, "Bargaining's always a two-way street," and criticized the companies for frequently shifting their stance. The dispute has now engaged approximately 25,000 workers. Nyle Maxwell, owner of four Stellantis stores and chairman of the Stellantis National Dealer Council, voiced concerns about the ongoing strike's impact on inventory and the supply chain. He's been stockpiling fast moving parts and highlighted the potential crunch on Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator inventory. Maxwell emphasized, "any additional strike targets are just going to cripple the entire supply chain." He urges "more strategic thinking and less bluster."Flashback to 2017: Automotive News released its first annual Future Product Pipeline listing all plug-in vehicles headed to market. The Chevrolet Bolt was a fresh face and Elon Musk was touted as a champion of a progressive audience as he announced his ambitious promise of a $35,000 Tesla Model 3 made headlines. Today the Model 3 is the number one selling EV on the market even though it never met that price point, and the Gen 1 Bolt is about to be history. Since then, the automotive landscape has evolved dramatically, and the list of EVs coming to market is longer than the list of ICE vehiclesAcura ZDX, Audi A6 E-tron, Audi Q6 E-tron, BMW i5, BMW i7, BrightDrop Zevo 400, Buick electric crossover, Cadillac Escalade IQ, Cadillac Celestiq, Chevrolet Blazer EV, Chevrolet Bolt EUV/EV, Chevrolet Equinox EV, Chevrolet Silverado EV, Cruise Origin, Dodge Challenger EV, Dodge Charger EV, Fiat 500e, Porsche Taycan, Ram 1500 REV, Ram ProMaster, Rivian R1S, Rivian R1T, Rolls-Royce Spectre, Tesla Cybertruck, Tesla Model 3, Tesla Roadster, VinFast VF 6, VinFast VF 7, VinFast VF 9, Volkswagen ID Buzz, Volkswagen ID4, Volkswagen ID7, Volvo EX30, Volvo EX90.Last Friday night, U2 kicked off a new era of live performances at Las Vegas's groundbreaking Sphere venue…which will also be the location of the NADA Show Welcome Reception this year.The $2B Sphere made full use of the 16K, wrap around screen as 18,600 fans lost their minds across social mediaGA, standing room admission was over $200 face value with parking costing $100U2 will play 25 shows at the sphereHosts: Paul J Daly and Kyle MountsierGet the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/ JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/ Read our most recent email at: https://www.asotu.com/media/push-back-email ASOTU Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/automotivestateoftheunion

In this episode, Morley and Eden talk about how Eden convinced Morley to do van life, searching for a van, how much we spent on our 2019 Ram ProMaster 3500, planning the build, installing the roof fan, adding sound deadening, and plans for the future. Watch episode 1 of our van build here Theme music by Patrick Gordon Swanson Watch this podcast on YouTube

Le prospettive per l'economia italiana dovrebbero essere meno fosche. E le riserve di famiglie e imprese sono adeguate per fronteggiare l'attuale rallentamento dell'economia e sostenere il loro livello di indebitamento. È questa l'opinione del Gruppo BCC Iccrea è il maggiore gruppo bancario cooperativo italiano, secondo il quale l'aumento dei tassi di interesse pesa sugli investimenti delle imprese e la domanda ma "come gruppo Iccrea continuiamo ad aumentare i prestiti e pensiamo di continuare a farli crescere anche nel prossimo triennio". Ne parliamo conMauro Pastore, Direttore Generale Gruppo BCC Iccrea. Stellantis corre in borsa dopo i conti "da record" Stellantis guadagna terreno in controtendenza a Piazza Affari. Prima dell'apertura del mercato la società ha reso noto di aver chiuso il 2022 con risultati «da record»: l'utile netto è salito del 26% a 16,8 miliardi e i ricavi netti sono aumentati del 18% a 179,6 miliardi. L'utile operativo adjusted è salito del 29% a 23,3 miliardi, con un margine del 13%, "grazie al contributo di tutte le aree geografiche di presenza del gruppo, che hanno registrato un margine in crescita". Sempre oggi Stellantis ha annunciato che distribuirà un ammontare record di 2 miliardi di euro ai dipendenti di tutto il mondo (in Italia premio medio 1.879 euro): "come riconoscimento del loro contributo ai risultati finanziari del 2022 e ai traguardi raggiunti dall'azienda sia a livello globale che locale". Nel commentare i dati Carlos Tavares, amministratore delegato di Stellantis ha dichiarato: "Siamo soddisfatti delle nostre vendite di auto Bev (Battery Electric Vehicle) e non abbiamo ancora iniziato l'offensiva negli Usa, che partira' quest'anno con la Ram ProMaster', tuttavia, la crescita delle vendite di auto elettriche 'dipende dagli incentivi: senza incentivi le Bev sono troppo costose per la classe media'. Nel 2022 il gruppo ha registrato un +41% delle vendite di auto Bev. Approfondiamo il tema con Alberto Annichiarico, de il Sole 24 Ore. Energia, l'Europa ha sostituito quasi del tutto la Russia Riceviamo ancora gas russo, ma a forza di tagli (in parte voluti e in parte subiti) Gazprom è ormai un fornitore residuale, di cui puntiamo a liberarci del tutto: dominava il mercato Ue con una quota che era arrivata a superare il 40%, mentre oggi copre appena il 7,5% delle importazioni, scalzata dai concorrenti norvegesi, nordafricani e soprattutto dal Gnl, che per la maggior parte arriva dagli Stati Uniti. Il divieto di importare carbone russo è in vigore fin dall'agosto 2022, lo stop al greggio cui era più difficile rinunciare è intervenuto il 5 dicembre: oggi da Mosca arrivano non più di 600mila barili al giorno, un quarto di quanto eravamo soliti acquistare in precedenza, ed è previsto che i volumi si azzerino entro il prossimo anno. Per Mosca le cose non si stanno mettendo bene: costruire nuovi ponti energetici che non facciano rimpiangere quello che la univa all'Europa richiede molto tempo e denaro, ammesso che sia possibile. Cina e India possono comprare più petrolio russo, ma lo faranno solo finché hanno convenienza. Quanto al gas l'Asia non potrà mai compensare la perdita dell'Europa senza infrastrutture adeguate: ai russi servono nuovi gasdotti puntati verso est e nuovi impianti per produrre Gnl. Inoltre la Cina paga poco: per il gas inviato con il Power of Siberia (l'unica pipeline già costruita) si stima che Gazprom abbia ricevuto 250-264 $ per mille metri cubi l'anno scorso, ossia poco più di 20 euro/MWh. Ne parliamo conSissi Bellomo, de Il Sole 24 Ore.

In episode 3 of Van Life Lab, we dig into the three most common chassises people choose from vanlife.   We talk about their similarities, their differences, their pros, and their cons.  And, we provide you with a framework of questions you can ask yourself so that you can choose what is best for you! Resources Mentioned: How to Install Flares to Make Your Rig Wider Step by Step: How to Build a Camper Van Timestamps: 03:00: First questions to ask yourself Will you be full time or part time van life? How many people will be in your rig? How many pets will you travel with (and how big are they)? 04:56: New vs. Used Considerations 07:00: How much did we spend on our three conversions + rigs? 10:20: Drive Train + Roof Height Considerations 17:22 - end: Mercedes Sprinter vs. Ram Promaster vs. Ford Transit Wheelbases (WB)  Extended Wheelbases (EXT) Departure Angles Drive Train (2WD, AWD, 4WD) Gas vs. Diesel  Roof Heights (low, medium, high) Chassis Widths Costs (upfront + continual) Curvatures and ease of van building  Serviceability and cost of maintenance 

When I first started mobile detailing, it was out of a 2003 Toyota Matrix XRS.I'd have to stuff as much as I could in the back of the car, take everything out once you get to the job site, stuff everything back in when you leave, and then clean and reorganize all of it once you got back home. In this episode, Lex and I talk about how we started off as mobile detailers, what vehicle we worked in, the pros and cons along the way, and how we've upgraded to a 2015 Ram ProMaster. 

When I started RV van life I had no idea the new “road hazards” I would face driving a converted 21-foot 3500 Ram Promaster van, but they are real for sure. Join me on this edition of the Rolling Home Podcast as I discuss real and perceived RV van life road hazards! Show notes --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

This week on the show I walk you through diagnosing Chrysler 62TE transmission circuit fault codes. This covers the Dodge Avenger, Grand Caravan, Journey, Chrysler Pacifica, 200, Sebring, Town & Country, Ram Promaster, & VW Routan. The PCM's in these vehicles have a default strategy that makes the circuit difficult to assess, but with some understanding of how it reacts to faults we can come to a conclusion quickly. Make sure to check out the video in the FB group on Chrysler flash file look up. Chrysler flash file look up- https://kb.fcawitech.com/secure/chrysler-scan-tool-flash-availability-document-775.htmlWebsite- https://autodiagpodcast.comFacebook Group- https://www.facebook.com/groups/223994012068320Email- https://www.facebook.com/groups/223994012068320

On this episode of The Nomadic Outdoorsman Dan recaps the first half of his ongoing Utah mule deer hunt. Dan is currently tagging along/helping mentor his good friend Linnea on her first archery hunt. Dan and Linnea have been dreaming about this hunt since last year when they competed on a van/bus/rv renovation tv show together. Linnea and her dog Akela travel full time in their converted Ram ProMaster. Linnea has been die hard about fly fishing but is just now exploring the world of archery hunting. Dan recaps the grueling first 5 days of their hunt together while Linnea is still on the mountain trying to connect with one of these Utah giants.   Connect with Dan Mathews and The Nomadic Outdoorsman  On GoWild, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook Shop Dan's Podcast Gear and Hunting Gear   Connect with Linnea On Instagram, TikTok and Youtube   Sign up for GoWild HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of The Nomadic Outdoorsman Dan recaps the first half of his ongoing Utah mule deer hunt.Dan is currently tagging along/helping mentor his good friend Linnea on her first archery hunt. Dan and Linnea have been dreaming about this hunt since last year when they competed on a van/bus/rv renovation tv show together. Linnea and her dog Akela travel full time in their converted Ram ProMaster. Linnea has been die hard about fly fishing but is just now exploring the world of archery hunting. Dan recaps the grueling first 5 days of their hunt together while Linnea is still on the mountain trying to connect with one of these Utah giants. Connect with Dan Mathews and The Nomadic Outdoorsman On GoWild, TikTok, Instagram, and FacebookShop Dan's Podcast Gear and Hunting Gear Connect with LinneaOn Instagram, TikTok and Youtube Sign up for GoWildHERE

On this episode of The Nomadic Outdoorsman Dan recaps the first half of his ongoing Utah mule deer hunt.Dan is currently tagging along/helping mentor his good friend Linnea on her first archery hunt. Dan and Linnea have been dreaming about this hunt since last year when they competed on a van/bus/rv renovation tv show together. Linnea and her dog Akela travel full time in their converted Ram ProMaster. Linnea has been die hard about fly fishing but is just now exploring the world of archery hunting. Dan recaps the grueling first 5 days of their hunt together while Linnea is still on the mountain trying to connect with one of these Utah giants. Connect with Dan Mathews and The Nomadic Outdoorsman On GoWild, TikTok, Instagram, and FacebookShop Dan's Podcast Gear and Hunting Gear Connect with LinneaOn Instagram, TikTok and Youtube Sign up for GoWildHERE

In this episode:We officially learn the fate of the Ram ProMaster City VanNissan Rogue Sport joins the scrap heapBuick Offers Dealers Cash Not to Go EV 

En esta emisión de Autos y más platicamos de Ram Promaster Rapid 2022. En cabina nos acompañó nuestro experto en seguros Don Beto Sacal, habla de la importancia de tener un seguro de auto, puedes cotizar al 55 4593 1788 y obtener un 50% de descuento.

RAM PROMASTER RAPID

En esta emisión de Autos y más platicamos de la razón por la cual se celebra el "Día más feliz del año". Dimos un el resumen de Fórmula 1 GP de Canadá, con la victoria de Verstappen. RAM ProMaster Rapid 2022, ya se encuentra disponible en el país.

On this episode of The Western Rookie Dan talks with his good friend Linnea about their upcoming archer mule deer hunt. Linnea grew up in smalltown Wisconsin where her love for the outdoors and adventure began. Linnea currently travels the country with her dog Akela in their converted Ram ProMaster van. Linnea has been living a nomadic lifestyle for over a year and a half which has only increased her love for wild places and becoming more involved in the outdoors. She picked up fly fishing which sparked a new curiosity for being connected to the land through the pursuit of wild game as a food source. Linnea recently bought a Mathews VXR and plans to hunt her first deer with it this fall. She successfully drew a buck mule deer archery tag for Utah. Dan and Linnea dream about what's to come in the few short months leading up to both of their first western archery hunts. Connect with Linnea  On Youtube, Instagram, and TikTok Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of The Western Rookie Dan talks with his good friend Linnea about their upcoming archer mule deer hunt.Linnea grew up in smalltown Wisconsin where her love for the outdoors and adventure began. Linnea currently travels the country with her dog Akela in their converted Ram ProMaster van. Linnea has been living a nomadic lifestyle for over a year and a half which has only increased her love for wild places and becoming more involved in the outdoors. She picked up fly fishing which sparked a new curiosity for being connected to the land through the pursuit of wild game as a food source. Linnea recently bought a Mathews VXR and plans to hunt her first deer with it this fall. She successfully drew a buck mule deer archery tag for Utah. Dan and Linnea dream about what's to come in the few short months leading up to both of their first western archery hunts.Connect with Linnea On Youtube, Instagram, and TikTok

On this episode of The Western Rookie Dan talks with his good friend Linnea about their upcoming archer mule deer hunt.Linnea grew up in smalltown Wisconsin where her love for the outdoors and adventure began. Linnea currently travels the country with her dog Akela in their converted Ram ProMaster van. Linnea has been living a nomadic lifestyle for over a year and a half which has only increased her love for wild places and becoming more involved in the outdoors. She picked up fly fishing which sparked a new curiosity for being connected to the land through the pursuit of wild game as a food source. Linnea recently bought a Mathews VXR and plans to hunt her first deer with it this fall. She successfully drew a buck mule deer archery tag for Utah. Dan and Linnea dream about what's to come in the few short months leading up to both of their first western archery hunts.Connect with Linnea On Youtube, Instagram, and TikTok

BMW M4 CSL https://www.motor1.com/news/571671/bmw-m4-csl-may-launch/ Ram Promaster https://www.motor1.com/news/572240/2023-ram-promaster-refresh-super-high-roof-option/ $400M GM battery plant https://insideevs.com/news/571967/gm-announces-400million-battery-materials-plant-canada/ US Gas Prices https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a39338671/us-gas-prices-skyrocketing-future/ Italy has longest “Smart Road” https://www.rideapart.com/news/572791/salerno-reggio-calabria-longest-smart-road-europe/ Lada has stopped https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a39414674/lada-stops-building-cars-russia/ Z4 production halted https://www.motor1.com/news/573048/bmw-z4-production-pause/ Lambo V12? https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a39398555/lamborghini-aventador-successor-spied/ NHTSA changes requirements for autonomous vehicles https://www.motor1.com/news/573194/nhtsa-ditches-manual-control-autonomous/ Limo Offroad https://www.motortrend.com/news/1999-lincoln-town-car-limo-4wd-off-road-race-2022-mint-400/ Toyota Supra manual? https://www.motor1.com/news/571954/toyota-supra-manual-gearbox-leak/ Acura Integra trim levels revealed https://www.motor1.com/news/571668/2023-acura-integra-trims-cvt/ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Episode #114 - An unquenchable thirst for adventure clearly runs through the veins of so many of us. Emily and Danny are no exception! After 3 ½ years of Full-Time Overland Living and 11 Countries, there's a lot to learn from Emily and Danny, popularly known as The Vandersons.After building out their 2015 Promaster 2500 they took a similar approach to launching their overland travel adventures as we plan on. Getting warmed up and working out the bugs in the comforts of your home country. Then embarking into the Alaskan wild frontier driving the Dalton highway to the Arctic Circle.Following a chilly dip in the Arctic Ocean it's a bone chilling u-turn, heaters on high and locked in on a somewhat permanent southernish bearing. After many challenges doused with countless epic views and adventures, we finally caught up with these two as they crossed the border from Colombia to Ecuador.In this episode Emily and Danny openly share their experiences through stories chock-full of overland travel knowledge gained from thousands of miles traveled as overland explorers, van life enthusiasts and as we say; salt of the earth good people.Website: https://vandersons.comInstagram: @the.vandersonsYouTube at: The VandersonsVehicle: 2015 RAM Promaster 2500 / High Roof / 159”Van Name: AppaFuel Capacity: 22 Gallons at 14 mpsRange: Roughly 300 MilesWater & Filtration: 21 Gallons / no onboard filtrationSolar: 200 WattsBatteries: Sealed Lead Acid with 310 AhFridge: 50 Liter DometicA/C: 2 Rooftop Fans with 7 additional axillary fansHeater: Webasto Gas HeaterFavorite Meal: Tortilla PocketsCell & Internet: SIM Card per Country / Google Voice parked number / WhatsApp + Google FiNavigation: iOverlander / Waze / Maps.meShower Situation: Gyms in the USA / Rivers, Waterfalls, Hostels…Toilet Situation: Gas Stations, Hostels and Campgrounds with an emergency bucket and a shovel…www.GHTOVERLAND.com

Pete Bigelow, Senior Reporter, covering self-driving tech and the future of mobility, Automotive News joined Grayson Brulte on The Road To Autonomy Podcast to discuss Ford and the electrification of an iconic brand.The conversation begins with Grayson and Pete discussing the incredible performance of Ford under CEO Jim Farley in the public markets. As Ford electrifies their brand, the company has implemented a savvy strategy built around iconic Ford brands: F-150 and Mustang.As car companies such as Ford begin to electrify their lineup of vehicles, it's important not to lose sight of the circular economy. Ford clearly understands the positive impact that the circular economy will have on the EV supply chain and the environment as Ford is an investor in Redwood Materials (a battery recycling startup).Everybody suddenly sees the writing on the wall that the chip shortage of 2020 to 2023 is going to quickly turn into the battery supply shortage of 2024 to 2028. – Pete BigelowWhile the supply chain will pose long-term challenges for automakers, the model of selling vehicles to consumers is changing. Consumers are demanding a direct-to-consumer model and shying away from dealers due to the overall buying experience.The dealership networks of today are not well set up to sell electric vehicles. They are an obstacle in a lot of ways. They are not incentivized to sell electric vehicles. It's a whole different thing where you are selling an ecosystem and you need to answer questions about utility bills and getting a charger installed in your home. – Pete BigelowAs certain car dealers look to charge more for a vehicle due to demand, it ends up having a negative long-term effect on the automaker's brand, not the dealer. It's important for car companies to take a stand and protect their brands. Ford is doing this by not allowing dealers to mark up the vehicle due to demand.Startups such as Rivian (which Ford owns 12%) do not have dealer networks. Does this create an inherent competitive advantage? Grayson and Pete discuss the pros and cons of the Rivian brand and the appeal of outdoor (Patagonia, The North Face) brands. Grayson raises the question: Does Rivian's van business devalue the brand's overall value?Competition in the electric van market is heating up with GM's Brightdrop, Stellantis' Ram ProMaster, and Ford's E-Transit vans coming online in the near future. Could these vans become autonomous in the future?Wrapping up the conversation, Grayson and Pete discuss the airport opportunity for autonomous vehicles and why the future of autonomy might not be shared.Recorded on Monday, January 17, 2021.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Amazon is partnering with Stellantis NV to develop software with the carmaker and agreed to buy a new electric delivery van. Stellantis will work on digital technology with the e-commerce giant and use its cloud services, according to a joint statement. Amazon also will be the first commercial customer for the new Ram ProMaster electric delivery vehicle due in 2023. The announcement at the CES consumer tech show in Las Vegas comes after Stellantis last month outlined plans to generate about $23 billion in extra revenue from software-driven features in its vehicles by the end of the decade.

Ram Commercial trucks continue to brink new and improved vehicles to the market with a network of 1200 dedicated Ram Commercial Dealers.  Led by long time friend of the show, Dave Sowers, the Ram Promaster receives several upgrades, including a 9-speed tranny.  Be sure to join us as Dave shares more...In the feature gegment, Jeff Dziekan takes a look at the Ford Pinto that developed a nasty reputation for some ugly issues when it was involved in a wreck.  Can you say 'thermal event'?---Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast provider for the next episode of In Wheel Time Car Talk six days a week, and check out our live broadcast every Saturday, 8a-11aCT simulcasting on YouTube, Facebook, Twitch and InWheelTime.com.In Wheel Time Car Talk can be heard on you mobile device from providers such as:Apple Podcasts, Pandora Podcast, Amazon Music Podcast, Spotify,   Google Podcasts,    Stitcher, iHeart Radio podcast, TuneIn + Alexa, Podcast Addict, Castro, Castbox and more on your mobile device.-----  ------  ------Want more In Wheel Time in real time? Follow InWheelTime.com for the latest updates!Twitter: https://twitter.com/InWheelTimeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/inwheeltime/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InWheelTime/ YouTube:  https://www.YouTube.com/InWheelTimeTags: In Wheel Time, automotive car talk show, car talk, Live car talk show

I met Erin & Joe at Tiny Fest this spring, and I'd been trying to get them on the podcast for a month. We finally connected right next to the Half Moon Bay Yacht Club and hung out for a day and a half. It was a rad place to rendezvous and spend an afternoon. Erin made us all some of her signature van life pizzas, and the next morning we finally sat down to record a podcast. It was a great time chatting with them. I was particularly interested in the van they built out on the same length Ram Promaster that I have. There are definitely some elements in their build that would have changed some of the elements of my build had I seen them first.

Four Ways To Deal With Material Shortages And Price Increases In the third month of building out our Ram Promaster van as an off-the-grid getaway camper, I walked into our local home improvement store and gasped out loud. A ¾” sheet of Oak plywood was $65 (USD).  An 8' section of poplar wood was $40 per board. Ouch.   For an amateur just learning how to do basic woodworking and sure to miss-cut, these would mean some expensive experiments.  No longer was it measure-twice-cut-once... but instead, measure for an hour and cut (hopefully) just once, and sometimes twice. We spend much of our day with business owners and key leaders in the contracting, services, and supply industries and it did not take long to start reviewing their bids to customers and realize that $250 per square foot pricing was rapidly increasing to $300 and $400 per square foot in our area. A perfect storm of production cuts in anticipation of COVID increased demand of services during COVID, and the intracontinental migration of people from more-restrictive to less-restrictive geographies has led to a class increase of demand and a decrease of supply. Restaurants are running slower with longer wait times due to a shortage of staff.  Architects are running slower with longer start times due to a glut of new projects.  Builders are running slower with longer supply delays due to material shortages.  Landscape construction providers are running slower with challenges finding both labor and material. In a study in classic macroeconomics, supply and demand are dancing reluctantly like two kids at an awkward seventh-grade winter dance.   When demand is the lead with supply weakened, business owners have the uncertainty of getting the time and materials to complete the work. When supply is the lead with demand weakened, business owners have the uncertainty of finding work.   In this time of massive demand with struggling supply, how do we deal with unpredictable material shortages and price increases? Here are four tools in the toolbelt of a purpose-centered owner...  First, communicate with your team and your customer.   How many times have you sat in an uncomfortable airplane seat while the aircraft rests still on the tarmac with no rationale as to why it is not moving?  Although we are grateful to have the benefit of air travel, it is made less frustrating with information.  Pilots have access to an amazing amount of information and yet consistently (not always... but often) withhold the information from the tens or hundreds of people sitting blindly in the back of the aircraft.   Sometimes a simple, “We're still gathering information and I will be back with you in 10 minutes for an update whether we know anything new or not.” Communication is a powerful tool even when the communication is “I don't know.” Be thoughtful in your communication, don't be hasty.  Your team members and your customers are your partners, without them, you do not have a business.  Without you, they do not have the valuable service you offer. Second, grow your cash. Recently, Rick Steves was interviewed by Guy Raz on the powerful How I Built This podcast.  Raz acknowledged to Steves that his multi-million dollar travel business had to have been decimated by COVID.  Steves agreed, and was then asked by Raz how he maintained his staff? Steves responded by saying that he kept his entire staff of 100 people with virtually zero revenue for the entire year of 2020. Raz pressed and asked how, Steves said simply, “We had a good 30 year run as a privately held company and I saved up cash.” Steves' cash reserves have provided options.   Business owners are susceptible to obsessive tax advice that encourages minimizing how much taxes are paid by purchasing unnecessary assets. If legitimately needed, then these can be beneficial purchases.  Just remember, when you spend that cash you a) likely pay a premium for whatever it is you purchased, b) you must now pay to maintain that purchase, c) and you no longer have access to the cash used to make the purchase and used to maintain the purchase. Access to your own cash, even though you have to pay taxes on it, can be a powerful hedge against the uncertainty of material shortages and price increases.  Review your cash position with a qualified CPA who is not obsessed with buying a bunch of year-end distractions. Third, ensure your contract language clearly spells out what happens in the wake of material shortages and price increases. For many industries, there is a gap between the time a contract is signed and when work is performed.  Markets and materials fluctuate daily.  Some vendors have price locks and some don't.  It obviously helps to communicate the consequences of such changes up front.    We know of one builder who had recently removed the price fluctuation clause from their contract months prior to COVID because they felt it was a barrier to clients feeling comfortable. And then the prices started to increase and a $1mm home was now $1.4mm.  You can imagine the shock to the clients.  They immediately called all of their active clients under contract and explained the situation, the removal of the clause, the reality of materials and labor.  Fortunately for them, each of their clients agreed to move forward. They caught a huge break... but I would not press my luck.  Review your contract language with a qualified attorney. Finally, be a student of your industry (aka - don't be so head down in your business that you miss the macro-view that will affect your business). Building a business on purpose means building a business that you work on and not a business you work in.  Working on the business means that you study trends, talk to industry peers, know the flow of supply and support.   Where in your weekly schedule do you have time blocked to study the industry?  To attend events?  To network with other owners and key influencers? Supply and demand are constantly slow dancing in a burning room (thank you John Mayer).  Let's not be surprised when one of them trips and falls.  Instead, let's prepare now.

Four Ways To Deal With Material Shortages And Price Increases In the third month of building out our Ram Promaster van as an off-the-grid getaway camper, I walked into our local home improvement store and gasped out loud. A ¾” sheet of Oak plywood was $65 (USD).  An 8’ section of poplar wood was $40 per board. Ouch.   For an amateur just learning how to do basic woodworking and sure to miss-cut, these would mean some expensive experiments.  No longer was it measure-twice-cut-once... but instead, measure for an hour and cut (hopefully) just once, and sometimes twice. We spend much of our day with business owners and key leaders in the contracting, services, and supply industries and it did not take long to start reviewing their bids to customers and realize that $250 per square foot pricing was rapidly increasing to $300 and $400 per square foot in our area. A perfect storm of production cuts in anticipation of COVID increased demand of services during COVID, and the intracontinental migration of people from more-restrictive to less-restrictive geographies has led to a class increase of demand and a decrease of supply. Restaurants are running slower with longer wait times due to a shortage of staff.  Architects are running slower with longer start times due to a glut of new projects.  Builders are running slower with longer supply delays due to material shortages.  Landscape construction providers are running slower with challenges finding both labor and material. In a study in classic macroeconomics, supply and demand are dancing reluctantly like two kids at an awkward seventh-grade winter dance.   When demand is the lead with supply weakened, business owners have the uncertainty of getting the time and materials to complete the work. When supply is the lead with demand weakened, business owners have the uncertainty of finding work.   In this time of massive demand with struggling supply, how do we deal with unpredictable material shortages and price increases? Here are four tools in the toolbelt of a purpose-centered owner...  First, communicate with your team and your customer.   How many times have you sat in an uncomfortable airplane seat while the aircraft rests still on the tarmac with no rationale as to why it is not moving?  Although we are grateful to have the benefit of air travel, it is made less frustrating with information.  Pilots have access to an amazing amount of information and yet consistently (not always... but often) withhold the information from the tens or hundreds of people sitting blindly in the back of the aircraft.   Sometimes a simple, “We’re still gathering information and I will be back with you in 10 minutes for an update whether we know anything new or not.” Communication is a powerful tool even when the communication is “I don’t know.” Be thoughtful in your communication, don’t be hasty.  Your team members and your customers are your partners, without them, you do not have a business.  Without you, they do not have the valuable service you offer. Second, grow your cash. Recently, Rick Steves was interviewed by Guy Raz on the powerful How I Built This podcast.  Raz acknowledged to Steves that his multi-million dollar travel business had to have been decimated by COVID.  Steves agreed, and was then asked by Raz how he maintained his staff? Steves responded by saying that he kept his entire staff of 100 people with virtually zero revenue for the entire year of 2020. Raz pressed and asked how, Steves said simply, “We had a good 30 year run as a privately held company and I saved up cash.” Steves’ cash reserves have provided options.   Business owners are susceptible to obsessive tax advice that encourages minimizing how much taxes are paid by purchasing unnecessary assets. If legitimately needed, then these can be beneficial purchases.  Just remember, when you spend that cash you a) likely pay a premium for whatever it is you purchased, b) you must now pay to maintain that purchase, c) and you no longer have access to the cash used to make the purchase and used to maintain the purchase. Access to your own cash, even though you have to pay taxes on it, can be a powerful hedge against the uncertainty of material shortages and price increases.  Review your cash position with a qualified CPA who is not obsessed with buying a bunch of year-end distractions. Third, ensure your contract language clearly spells out what happens in the wake of material shortages and price increases. For many industries, there is a gap between the time a contract is signed and when work is performed.  Markets and materials fluctuate daily.  Some vendors have price locks and some don’t.  It obviously helps to communicate the consequences of such changes up front.    We know of one builder who had recently removed the price fluctuation clause from their contract months prior to COVID because they felt it was a barrier to clients feeling comfortable. And then the prices started to increase and a $1mm home was now $1.4mm.  You can imagine the shock to the clients.  They immediately called all of their active clients under contract and explained the situation, the removal of the clause, the reality of materials and labor.  Fortunately for them, each of their clients agreed to move forward. They caught a huge break... but I would not press my luck.  Review your contract language with a qualified attorney. Finally, be a student of your industry (aka - don’t be so head down in your business that you miss the macro-view that will affect your business). Building a business on purpose means building a business that you work on and not a business you work in.  Working on the business means that you study trends, talk to industry peers, know the flow of supply and support.   Where in your weekly schedule do you have time blocked to study the industry?  To attend events?  To network with other owners and key influencers? Supply and demand are constantly slow dancing in a burning room (thank you John Mayer).  Let’s not be surprised when one of them trips and falls.  Instead, let's prepare now.

In today's episode, I sat down with with Australian climber and newly solo female van lifer, Georgia Broderick. Just over a year and a half ago, Georgia moved into her 2016 Ram Promaster with her boyfriend on a unique adventure. Though she has dreams of traveling to far away climbing destinations, for now she is stationed in Squamish while working as a climbing guide and music teacher. We discussed her journey to van life, unique aspects of her build (no solar panels or fridge?!), and her and her partners plans for the future. It was incredible to hear how different her experience has been from some of the mainstream posts that often grace social media, and her take on what you truly "need" to live in a van was nothing short of refreshing.As always, if you're enjoying the show, make sure to subscribe and tune in every Tuesday for new episodes.Looking for resources mentioned in the show?Guest Links - Georgia BroderickIG @georgiabroderickTikTok @georgiacbroderickMentioned on the ShowChinese Diesel HeaterRenogy Lithium Ion  170aH BatteryBattle Born LiPO4 100aH BatteryDometic Dual Zone CoolerWant to check out my van for yourself? Visit the links down below to get an inside look at my build progress!Questions? Interested in being a featured guest? Come say hello!hello@alexliveswell.comYoutubeTikTokInstagram

Tyler & Garret talk about their interest in vanlife and talk with special guest Hannah who goes into detail about her own experience living on the road in her RAM ProMaster!

Let's face it, building a van is stressful, to begin with, but the added effort to track, organize, and categorize expenses related to your van shouldn't be one of them. In today's episode, I share 3 financial organization hacks that while not groundbreaking they are game-changing. These three simple hacks will make categorizing and tracking, in real-time, possible with little to no effort on your part. Let me know what you think and if this worked for you too! If you aren't already, be sure to join the journey on the below mediums for more Van Build/Life hacks, tips and to follow along with the journey of the unbound soul and I travel the US with my doggo, Charles, in a self-built 2018 RAM Promaster! Website | This CAVU Life YouTube Instagram | @thiscavulife --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thiscavulife/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thiscavulife/support

I have purchased a van that is being camper converted right now. It is equipped with high tech battery and solar power which will allow me to go off the grid and live and exist in wilderness with full power indefinitely. I will be using this electrical capability to run my Podcast and Webovision Studio. I will be posting frequent video and audio updates. I am leaving on this journey, with Charley my new potcake dog rescue, and no other humans. I am documenting this for social media with cinematic cameras and drones and will be editing and posting from the wilderness. I will not be interacting with any humans in person. I will be preparing all of my own food outdoors. I am bringing all my supplies in order to avoid infection from the coronavirus. This is a bug-out off-the-grid pandemic vehicle. I will be spending my time in very remote locations and documenting the beauty of America. Expect updates from all over. I will not be eating in restaurants, or drive thrus. I will not be going to grocery stores. I will not be entering indoor places. I will not be stopping in cities or towns. The only interaction I will have with civilization will be when I stop at the gas pump to fill my vehicle. Follow along on YouTube.com/Tomgreen as I prepare for this adventure. My home studio will be manned by director @tcorellawho will be holding down the fort at webovision studios. Tony will be living and working in my house in Los Angeles and acting as master control for this web broadcast operation. I will be calling in to the studio and interacting with Tony on live video stream from the road using the latest tech. The van that I have acquired is a 2020 Ram Promaster and will be a state of the art camper conversion. (Details soon on that) It will be ready in early September and I will be embarking shortly after that. Stay tuned. - Tom #Vanlife

MariePier Bastien et Dominic Faucher (@vanlifesagas) sont un couple originaire de Gatineau qui ont tout prévu pour partir à l'aventure pour 6 mois à travers l'Amérique du Nord dans le but de filmer un documentaire qui s'intitulera Out of Office. Malheureusement, à cause de la pandémie, ils ont dû revenir à la maison après seulement quelques semaines.... Dans notre portrait de nomade, on discute avec eux de la construction de Vanessa, le Ram Promaster qu'ils ont convertis en Van aménagé avec l'aide de leur papas.nbsp; On parle également de Vanlife Sagas , leur chaîne sur laquelle ils partagent leurs aventures en Van à travers le monde. Pour suivre MariePier et Dominic :nbsp;https://vanlifesagas.com/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXgZyyqFpxgil9bBjyUXIJQhttps://www.facebook.com/vanlife.sagas/https://www.instagram.com/vanlife.sagas/

Brooke Masek is a nature lover and arts enthusiast who spent most of last year year traveling the US, working and living in her lovingly converted 2016 Ram Promaster van. A former park ranger at Arches National Park, she also enjoys sauntering - in the style of John Muir - on a mountain top, in the forest, or through an urban jungle whenever she can. In this show she shares the possibilities and practicalities of her van lifestyle and some of the prosaic and profound experiences along the way, including managing difficult times in her relationships with family, friends and career.

This is The Do It For Yourself Podcast.  Each week I sit down with someone who is doing it for themselves and chasing a dream they just couldn’t suppress.  This is often speakers, entrepreneurs, or athletes.  They all share one thing in common, they are overcoming challenges and never giving up.  Someone who is Doing It For Themselves is not selfish in their pursuit, they are simply chasing a dream or working towards a goal because it is something THEY want to do.  They are not forging down a path because society or someone is telling them it’s what they should be doing. My guests this week are Trent and Allie.  Trent and Allie decided to take their lives on the road and live full time out of their converted Ram Promaster van.  After lots of long hours converting the van on their own, they were ready to take to living full time out of it.  There was one little hiccup though....Trent thought his company would be totally cool with him working remotely and Allie figured her company would not allow it.  When the time came though, Allie's company said it was no problem to work remotely and Trent's company said no chance.  After coming up with a sort of plan, they began their journies.   Since going full-time Trent and Allie have grown their social media and YouTube following enabling them to work on YouTube and make videos about their travels full-time.  You can follow along as they continue their journey through South America on their YouTube channel below.   Please enjoy the story of Trent and Allie!   Trent and Allie YouTube Trent and Allie Instagram Trent and Allie Website   Do It For Yourself Instagram

In this episode we talk with Kyle Suba the east coast public relations manager for Chevrolet. Then with talk with Josh Theberge minimalist living in his Ram ProMaster. Plenty of conversation with our listener family and a few minutes with the host of the Irish Hit Parade Paul Sullivan

In this episode we talk with Kyle Suba the east coast public relations manager for Chevrolet. Then with talk with Josh Theberge minimalist living in his Ram ProMaster. Plenty of conversation with our listener family and a few minutes with the host of the Irish Hit Parade Paul Sullivan

When Brian and I first discussed what this podcast would be, Christo Johnson was on my mind. The vision was to interview different adventure nomads we knew and share tricks of the trade. I hadn’t seen Christo for more than 20 years but had caught wind of his paragliding life through Facebook. So here we are a year later and I finally got the interview done. My instincts to get him on the podcast were right.Christo’s nomad resume is off-the-hook. He’s spent the last 21 years as a river guide, launching from Honduras, Alaska, Grand Canyon, Salmon, Idaho. California, Colorado, and West Virginia. His love affair for the past eight years is paragliding, an activity which rises far above sport for him, but he does compete internationally. Some of the highlights include: In the Rat Race, in Applegate Valley, OR, he was the Sprint class winner in 2016, the Sport class winner in 2017, and the overall Sport 2017 US National Champion. In 2017 in Pemberton, British Columbia, he placed 6th in the Canadian Nationals. He’s paraglided in Nepal two different years, Thailand, Columbia, Canada, and Mexico. His 2019 Fall plans take him to India, where he intends to Vol Biv Fly his way over the mountain range where the Dalai Lama lives. Vol Biv is the current frontier of paragliding, where pilots work their way cross-country, flying from peak to peak, camping along the way.I hooked up with Christo in Glenwood Springs, CO, where he’s working as a raft guide and commercial paragliding tandem pilot. We kicked it for a few days, VanLife Style, in the Roaring Fork Valley - he in his built out Ram Promaster 3500, me in my Tacoma. He took me flying one morning and rafting that afternoon - he had me at hello. In return, I cooked him my famous Italian beef in a pressure cooker.We sat down for the interview in Christo’s van at Sopris Park in Carbondale, CO. I’m not gonna lie, I’m jealous of his home. We talked about his nomad journey over the past 20+ years, touching on his time at Avon Old Farms Prep School, Western Colorado State University, and recounting his memories of Russell Kelly - a Darien, CT native, and Telluride adventure legend. The latter half of the conversation focuses on his religion - paragliding.Despite not being close buds growing up, the camaraderie between us was instant. There was no facade to our conversation, no mock-up to describing how life’s been going. But I think that’s what nomads are - if nothing else, authentic.Follow and connect with Christo Johnson: Facebook | Instagram (@whitewaterchristo) | YouTubeChristo welcomes sponsorship and partnership inquiries. Paragliding wings have quite the real estate for brand recognition.Get to know your podcast hosts:Craig Coleman - Website | YouTube | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedInBrian Galyon - Website | YouTube | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

This week I talk to my friend Travis about his life as a videographer and photographer. He talks about how he started, why he started and what keeps him doing what he loves.   Travis is a full-time traveling filmmaker living in a self-converted Ram Promaster with his pup, Sam. You can find him on instagram @Trav_Travels_ or his website is travtravels.co Here's the music licensing company he mentions in this episode: musicbed.com

Callee Ackland grew up on the west coast in Salem, Oregon, where she learned the importance of sustainability.  After serving in the Navy, Callee chose van life as a sustainable travel option and started calling herself 'A Hippie in a Van.' Since then, Callee has seen most of the United States, and plans to continue her travels in her 2014 Ram Promaster campervan.  She's now also an eco-entrepreneur + zero waste activist. She's the owner of a Zero Waste Store Bestowed Essentials, a line of sustainable home goods with an online shop + a retail storefront in Rapid City, South Dakota. We talked all about having more travel in life through sustainable lifestyle choices with a smaller carbon footprint and how to implement eco-friendly practices. If you want to make better and smarter choices, this is a fantastic conversation with Callee!

In this episode we talk with traveler Josh Theberge a minimalist who converted a RAM Promaster into his traveling home

In this episode we talk with traveler Josh Theberge a minimalist who converted a RAM Promaster into his traveling home

This week we talk with Callee Ackland, US Navy veteran turned eco-entrepreneur and founder of Bestowed Essentials, podcaster, zero waste activist and van dweller. Callee shares how and why she started Bestowed Essentials and bringing the business on the road with her. She also talks about life traveling the country in a van. Callee talks zero waste activism and how listeners can reduce their impact. Episode Highlights: About Bestowed Essentials ethical, eco-friendly and zero waste Soaps, shampoo bars, candles All natural No fragrances Vegan and cruelty free Plastic free packaging Zero waste activism A Plastic Ocean - documentary inspired this lifestyle change for Callee Zero Waste - idea of trying to reduce your personal footprint you leave on the planet. Individuals and individual actions make a difference. It plants seeds. One by one we all change. Mission is to encourage and enable people to reduce waste and live their best life Simply ways to reduce waste Try to reduce or cut out single use plastic (water bottles, paper towels, premade meals, etc) Requires a bit of planning ahead Do a trash audit (many of recyclables don’t make it to the recycling plant) Trying meatless Monday - plant based diet is the biggest way one individual can reduce impact on the planet Animal agriculture is number one carbon producer About Van Life Pros and cons to van life Living in a van full-time can be a challenge Love the freedom of waking up in a different place everyday and meeting new people It’s nice to have a home that travels with you Temperature changes can be a pain Finding a place to park can be challenging Biggest con is occasional loneliness. Hard to establish meaningful connections. Callee converted a 2014 cargo van It takes some Tetris skills to fit everything in the van Biggest lessons You have to wear so many different hats. Both overwhelming and empowering. Hire help! Wish she’d hired sooner. Once you find the right people, together you can grow so much more. Employees need to be invested in your business Do your research. But don’t let perfectionism hold you back. You have to be okay with 90% perfect. Otherwise you won’t learn. Callee Ackland Callee Ackland is a US Navy veteran turned eco-entrepreneur, podcaster, zero waste activist and van dweller. At age 23, while still on active-duty in the military, she started Bestowed Essentials, a line of ethical + eco-friendly home goods, and now is about to open her first store in Rapid City, SD. Callee hosts the Hippie Haven Podcast, where she interviews experts + everyday people on sustainable living. She travels the United States in her self-converted 2014 Ram Promaster van, while doing zero waste workshops + activism events around the country. Learn more about her at www.ahippieinavan.com Follow Callee online at: www.ahippieinavan.com www.ahippieinavan.com/podcast www.bestowedessentials.com www.instagram.com/bestowedessentials  Download the FREE Lean the F*ck Out Launch Kit If you are thinking about starting a business or side hustle, check out our Lean the F*ck Out Launch Kit. The kit gives you tools and inspiration to start thinking like a fempreneur and start designing the life you want! You’ll receive a guided meditation to help you figure out your vision, a budget worksheet to see what you need financially to make a go of it, daily practices including printable worksheets and daily affirmations to help you keep your head up when your confidence is waning. Again, it’s free and it’s available at leanthef-ckout.com/launchkit. Music: Sunshine by The Icicles

Last summer, Alex Honnold became the first free solo climber to ascend El Capitan in Yosemite. The accomplishment resulted in international acclaim. Honnold appeared on magazine covers, as a guest on late night talk shows, and he continues to be a speaker in demand at trade shows and corporate meetings. Despite his celebrity, Honnold prefers a simple life. He owns and shares a home in Las Vegas with his girlfriend. It's a short distance from casino mecca and home of the Voetbalwedden headquarters. Another view from his front door highlights a favorite location, the varied, step climbing available at Red Rocks Canyon.   Climber Alex Honnold enjoys life on the road and the simplicity of traveling to train with the conveniences of portability  in his RAM ProMaster cargo van. All images © Bruce Aldrich/2018 #mgl-gallery-64f26109d1b7d { display: none; margin: -2.5px; } #mgl-gallery-64f26109d1b7d .mgl-item { margin: 2.5px; } Alex Honnold relaxing in the entrance to his home on the road. Alex Honnold and the conveniences of his van's kitchen. Alex Honnold has a "spacious" living room in his van. Alex Honnold has everything he needs in the van. But for six months a year, Honnold spends his life on the road in a RAM ProMaster cargo van. It's equipped with a three-burner stove, and a horizontally positioned mattress across the back of the van. It has all the equipment necessary for the athlete often described as the world's best mountain climber. The RAM van is Honnold's third mobile home. He “destroyed” his family's van during his early nomadic lifestyle. He lived in a Ford Econoline van for years while honing his climbing skills. His current road companion on wheels is parked in the driveway at the end of a street in suburban Las Vegas. Like his climbing proficiency, Honnold is expertly skilled in space management. He describes the middle of the van as a “living room.” The cabinets and draws are packed with essentials. There's a fingerboard across the inside top of the side door. It's where Honnold stretches and strengthens his fingers. The van and its simplicity are just as Honnold likes it. In episode 22 of The Weekly Driver Podcast, hosts Bruce Aldrich and James Raia visit Alex Honnold at his home in Las Vegas. We revisit his climbing history, his life in Las Vegas and Honnold's favorite lifestyle — life on the road in a van.

Stories: In addition to the USPS ACR, they also filed their Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations: • USPS.COM generated just over $1B in revenue and saw 11% increase in traffic with 4M visits on a daily basis. o 1.7B visits to the site from 425M Unique Users • USPS Online Postal Store saw 4% growth, with $280M in revenue o Noted adding PayPal which generated $7.55M and saved the USPS $450K in merchant credit card fees. • USPS enhanced their Mobile Point of Sales devices. There are now 2,900 across the US generating 26M transactions o Generated $92M in revenue which is a 427% increase in sales and 284% increase in transactions • USPS Processed 37M change of address requests • Full Service adoption is at 90.43%, up from 88% the previous year. o Biggest increase was First Class flats, increased 5% to 77% o First Class letters/cards have the highest adoption rate of 93% • 65% of all drop ship containers were using eInduction (automated invoicing starts in March) • 18% of all commercial mail volume is being entered through Seamless Acceptances • The 4 USPS Customer Care Centers received 49M calls with 16M requesting additional assistance from an agent (52K per day) • To handle package growth, the USPS installed 25 new Small Parcel Sortation Systems • USPS deployed 276K Mobile Delivery Devices to 24,666 delivery units • Total number of USPS routes increased by 2,327 to 229,104 and added 1,142,352 delivery points • USPS invested $221.7M in it’s delivery fleet: o 3,339 RAM Promaster extended capacity vehicles, 2,446 Service Vehicles, and 1,688 Administrative vehicles • Highway transportation expenses increased 5% to $3.8B, noted in large part due to package growth. • Sunday delivery ZIP Codes increased 1,082 to 9,369, delivering 111M packages (compared to 77M) • 30.6M pieces of undeliverable mail and secure destruction mail was captured, destroyed and recycled (781 Metric Tons) • USPS has 206,686 customers participating in the Real Mail Notification Pilot (schedule to go nationwide in Spring of 2017) USPS Reported November Numbers: • USPS Overall plan was to lose $365M • USPS overall results was a positive $951M (as a result of a large positive workers comp adjustment • Controllable Net Income was a positive $266M • Total Mail Volume was up 2.5% SPLY and revenue was up 4.3% SPLY • Package Volume was up 15% SPLY and revenue was up 19% SPLY • USPS Work Hours were 3.1% above plan and 6.9% above SPLY • So 2 months in, the USPS is at $1.455B compared to a plan of negative $368M

In this episode of Roadtreking the RV Podcast, we report on tumbling gas prices across North America, what it means to travelers, and predictions that fuel prices across North America will keep falling well into 2015. Plus, we received some great listener questions and feedback, including a highly unusual use for an RV. There is news of the week on the first front wheel drive RV, plus a cool technology profile, and an RV destination that belongs on everyone's bucket list. [spp-player] Complete show notes for Episode 14 are below: Gas Prices are Under $2 a Gallon in 13 States! We start out with an encouraging report on how fuel prices are rapidly falling across the country. [spp-tweet "Gas for less than $2 can be found in 13 states across the country."] Data from price tracker GasBuddy.com shows that three states – Oklahoma, Louisiana and Ohio – have at least one station each selling regular gas for less than $1.90 a gallon. Experts forecast that oil could fall to near $40 a barrel at some point in 2015. That would drive gas prices down even more and make gas for under $2 a gallon common at stations across the country. QUESTION OF THE WEEK - Cleaning RV Windows A listener asked us about cleaning windows in an RV. Jennifer uses a very efficient foam cleaner called Sprayway. It comes in a 19-ounce can. You can get four of them for $15 from Amazon. And we swear by the Kaywos Cloth.   You can get two for $10. The Kaywos cloth is made of a special yarn that is 0.1denier, an ultra fine Micro fiber. This filament is very fine, strong and is virtually lint-free. The wedge-shaped polyester, together with the core nylon, fits the surface of any object and gathers dust efficiently. It's the best cleaning cloth we've ever used, perfect for RVs, trucks cars, bicycles, windows, and just about everything else. The "KAYWOS" Cloth stands for - "Kleans Anything WithOut Streaks" You Wet it, Wring it, Wipe any Surface. It's Streak Free, Spot Free and Lint Free It never  streaks glass, mirrors or windows! Use only water. I like it because it also removes bugs, tar, grease, fingerprints brake dust, soap scum, dirt, and dust from our RV. RV NEWS OF THE WEEK: Chrysler, Roadtrek Celebrate Rollout of the New Zion We cover the debut of the new Zion motorhome from the Kitchener, Ontario headquarters of Roadtrek motorhomes.  Built on the Ram ProMaster chassis and the only front-wheel drive RV on the market. Here's a story we did on the Zion rollout and here's a link to our podcast from the National RV Trade Show in December that publicly showed off the Zion for the first time. RV BUCKET LIST DESTINATION: The Badlands of South Dakota The Badlands National Park protects 242,756 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles, and spires blended with the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. There is a rugged beauty about the place like none other we have seen anywhere in North America. Jennifer and I love this place. If you want to see lots of photos and directions on how to get there and where to stay, please check out our review of the Badlands National Park. TECH FEATURE OF THE WEEK: The ArcHause RV Shelter Sara Williams from LetsGoAero tells us about this very cool shelter, which affixes to either the rear or side door of an RV. The  ArcHaus tent system is 10 feet long, 6 feet wide and 6.5 feet high – ideal for serving as an outdoor living shelter, gear storage, sun shade, and as a bridge canopy for vehicles, trailers, and more. Folded up for storage Here are the specs: •    Aerodynamic arc design provides protection from the elements and inherent privacy •    Solid door panels (2) with screens zip on and off on both ends •    Construction Fabric: 190 polyester ripstop, 2000mm polyurethane coating (premium quality ripstop and highly water-resistant) •    Steel and fiberglass poles; 360 degree tension system •    Weighs 23 pounds •    Color is green •    Carry bag included It can attach to the RV's side door  

Here it is, Episode 008 of the Podcast. We cover a lot of ground this week, including a couple of reports from Kitchener, ON Canada, and the headquarters of Roadtrek Motorhomes, But along with reader feedback, a review of a great tech gizmo for RVers, some Q&A about batteries and our bucket list destination of the week, we also take an in-depth look at the growing phenomenon of workamping. [spp-player] Here are the show Notes for Episode #008 of Roadtreking - The RV Lifestyle Podcast: This week we look at.... A new RV about to be debuted on the Ram ProMaster chassis This unit will be officially released at the Recreational Vehicles Industry Association annual trade show the week after Thanksgiving. But you can hear a description of the one I found under construction at the factory last week. To see it, here's my video of the new Roadtrek to be built on the Ram ProMaster chassis. Cool flashlight technology perfect for campers on dark and stormy nights The Nightstick is one uber cool flashlight. And this coming from me, a bit of a flashlight junkie. I love flashlights, especially the new high tech ones using LED bulbs. This one s perfect for boondocking. The Nightstick is a dual-light flahlight. It has a CREE LED rated at 130 lumens along with with a high-efficiency deep parabolic reflector. This creates a flashlight beam with an effective range of almost 600 feet, or 181 meters  Additionally, built into the handle is a 110 lumen floodlight. Unlike the flashlight beam, the light coming out of the floodlight does not have a reflector so the light spreads out in a wide, even, unfocused pattern of light...perfect for lighting up things that are close. Additionally, both the flashlight and the floodlight can be turned on at the same time for even more versatile lighting options. The waterproof design, in combination with an impact and chemical resistant engineered polymer housing, make these tough little lights, one of the best values around. Additionally, the integrated magnets located in the base of the handle and the pocket clip, provide for almost limitless hands-free usage. Like I say, it's perfect for a dark and scary night out boondocking somewhere. The company that makes them has given me five that I in turn can giveaway. They'll go to the first five people who email me. If you're not one of the five, you can get it through my affiliate link with Amazon for $32. Workamping: Working while your camping. Is it for you? In our Roadtreking interview feature this week, we talk to Steve Anderson, who runs Workamper.com, which is dedicated to matching employers with RV workampers. As Jim explains, Workampers are adventurous individuals, couples and families who have chosen a wonderful lifestyle that combines ANY kind of part-time or full-time work with RV camping. If you work as an employee, operate a business, or donate your time as a volunteer, AND you sleep in an RV (or on-site housing), you are a Workamper. As many as half a million RVers fit that definition. What do you need to do to get such a job? How much does it pay? What sort of work is involved? We answer all these questions and more. Bucket List Destination of the Week This week, Jennifer and I profile the Colorado National Monument, It is nothing short of stupendously beautiful, a long stretch of spectacular rock monoliths cut deep into the sandstone and even granite rock formations that make for sheer-walled, red rock canyons following the undulating twists and turns of the Rim Rock Drive that traverses up and down and through the preserve for 24 miles. We tell you what to know about this awesome place, including where to stay and what you'll see. But Wait, there's more Among other topics we cover in this episode... Some pesky bears at Yosemite National Park that are being affixed with GPS collars A plan by Glacier National Park officials to raise their admission and camping rates for 201 What to do when your coach batteries won't hold a char...

- The i3 is Definitely a BMW - Honda Unveils MC-β in Tokyo - Yamaha MOTIV.e - PSA Out Head Hunting - Nissan Shuffles Its Execs - Ron Burgundy Disses the Durango - VW Puts Money Where Its Mouth Is - First Look – Ram ProMaster

Electric vehicle and plug-in sales take a surprising tumble in September. Audi moves forward with plans for another crossover. Winnebago upfits the new Ram ProMaster into two different RV models. All that and more, plus Jim Hall is back with an all-new lesson in design terminology: Bone Line.