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With so many newcomers embracing the RV Lifestyle, this is a good time to go over 10 Unwritten Rules for Campers For the fact is, there are too many inconsiderate campers these days, people who think it is all about them and that because they rented a space in a campground, they can do as they please with no regard to those who also rented their spaces and are camped nearby. They also need some etiquette suggestions about driving their campers and parking it in parking lots. I know this post will stir up some angry reactions. Whenever you suggest that people adjust their behavior in consideration of others, there are a few who will loudly push back. But in the interest of making it better for everyone, I'm going to share them anyway. We talked about this a lot in Episode 343 of our RV Podcast You can listen to the podcast in the player below. And scroll down this page for shownotes and a transcript of the interview, plus links and resources about all the things we talk about. We did a video version of the rules for our RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube. Click below to see: Our 10 Unwritten Rules for Campers The reason these rules are unwritten is that there once was a time when people were polite and considerate. Some things didn't need to be said. Unfortunately, those days are gone and the same rudeness and incivility that we see in social media becomes evident in all aspects of life, including camping. Jennifer and I have been RVing for almost 10 years, We've covered at least 250,000 and crisscrossed the country numerous times staying in all sorts of campgrounds. And we know, there already are lots of rules you'll see posted along the way. Rules like: Don't burn trash in your fire pit. Clean up after your dog Make sure your TV antenna is down and the steps are in before you take off Don't drive fast in campgrounds Don't overload your RV You know all about those kinds of rules, or if you are a newbie, you'll soon find about them. But, there are also some unwritten rules we want to pass on, some things that we've learned probably through trial and error. A lot of error. On our part and the part of others.  Ready? Take 'em or leave 'em, here they are: #1 - Try not to park right next to another camper Now, there are times you're going to have to break the first of our unwritten rules for camping if there is just no other room except next to somebody.  People will understand that. But if you're in a campground and there are two empty spots on both sides of somebody who is already there, and there are other empty spots down the way, take one of those other empty spots. Let them enjoy that space, and you'll get some extra space too. Just because they have a good spot, don't think have to get right next to them. It's kind of like when somebody is in a fishing hole and you've come into your boat right next to them, it's just not good manners.  That especially is true for when you're boondocking. I remember we were boondocking somewhere in Arizona, and we're in the middle of nowhere and when we woke up in the morning, we had somebody right next to us.  It was crazy. There was room. It was a huge national forest, and they set up right next to us. #2 - Don't leave your porch and outside awning lights on all night long This makes our unwritten rules for campers list because, well, shining your lights all night long is just plain rude.  People want to be in the dark and quiet and see the stars. They don't want to see your porch light. No matter how cute the little flamingos or lanterns or whatever may be, all that illumination ruins the camping experience. If you want to leave them on right after dark for a little bit when everybody's still up, that's great. But at 2 AM it just causes light pollution  BONUS: Lots of RVers have Pet Peeves and suggest different Rules for Campers. CLICK HERE to read a similar post from one of our friends on the bl...

In our interview of the week for this episode of the RV Podcast, we continue our profile of various YouTube influencers by introducing you to Christine and Aaron, of IreneIronFitness.com, who do online fitness, health, and nutritional coaching as they travel North America in their Class B RV.   We’ll learn some tricks about how to get more food in those small RV refrigerators, what foods to eat while on the road and some easy ways to get and stay fit. Also this week, we have lots of RV news updates, your questions, and a great off the beaten path report from the Burketts. Show Notes for Episode #290 of The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK We remain in Florida, with travel suspended as we wait for the crisis to ease and the all-clear is signaled for our RV adventuring to resume. SUPER B SHOW TO GO ONLINE This is the week we were scheduled to be on the road, headed to Phoenix and the annual Super B show of small motorhomes, a premier event where the latest Class B, B+, and C motorhomes are on display. Like all other such shows and events, this year's physical show was canceled but LaMesa RV, the show's sponsor, is taking the Super B show online, with a virtual show scheduled to start this Thursday, April 16. The online version of the show will feature detailed video tours of a different motorhome every day through the end of the month, with live questions answered about the featured vehicle. Brands being shown include small motorhomes from Tiffin, Leisure Travel Vans, Pleasure-Way, Story Overland, Winnebago, and Thor.  To "attend" the online version of the Super B Show CLICK HERE. Before we came off the road, we had been shooting video on a number of great Florida RV destinations. We have four different stories we will be releasing over the next several weeks, with the first this coming Saturday, April 18. We will let you decide which one you want to see first. You can vote for the one you most want to see on the Community tab of our RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/roadtrekingmike/community WE'RE HAVING LOTS OF FUN ON INSTAGRAM Last week we announced that Bo has an Instagram Page at https://instagram.com/bothervelkhound. This week, Jennifer launched her own page at https://instagram.com/rvlifestylejen And Mike's is at https://instagram.com/rvlifestylemike We invite you to follow all three as we are sharing our adventures there on a daily basis and love interacting with you! Also, we just did a guest blog post for Leisure Travel Vans about working remotely, something a lot of people are doing as we’re locked down during this coronavirus pandemic.  We have been working remotely since 2012 and, as RVers who are on the road and work from our LTV Unity FX almost three-quarters of the time, we have some easy suggestions that will help you navigate all the ins and outs of not being able to physically go into the office while working from your sticks-and-bricks home. . Read the post right here: https://leisurevans.com/blog/remote-working-tips/ This part of the podcast is brought to you by THE RV LIFESTYLE 7 DAY ADVENTURE GUIDE TRAVEL BOOKS…at https://rvlifestyle.com/books RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK Van lifers rent homes, move back to their parent's house, or hunker down under quarantine What to do when you are living the van life and under quarantine? This story focuses on a few people living full-time in their van, and details how they adjusted. For some, it meant renting a home for a bit and moving out of the van. Others moved to relative's driveways. And others? They are trying to hunker down, and live 24/7 in a VERY small space.  Wisconsin now needs to close 40 state parks after record numbers of visitors flock to the outdoors States are starting to run into a new problem. Many closed their campgrounds long ago when COVID-19 first surfaced, but kept the park and trails open so those who live nearby could visit and practic...

Travel plans for RVers are being disrupted by fear of the coronavirus and state campground closures, interstate rest area closures and growing travel restrictions. But lost in the deluge of news is the fact that the vast majority of private campgrounds in North America are still open and still welcoming RVers. Many are seeing increased bookings from RVers who want to hunker down there during the crisis To get an idea of where RVers can still camp during this crisis, our guest is Mark Koep, of the website campgroundviews.com, which works very closely with more than 1,700 privately owned campgrounds in North America. Show Notes for Episode #286 March 18, 2020 of The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK   What a week it has been: Many State Parks – New Mexico, North Carolina, Illinois, all 175 Florida State Parks and state and local parks in many other parts of the country  - have been closed to camping. Schools, Bars, restaurants, movie theaters and businesses are shut down or have limited services pretty much nationwide. People are urged to stay home, indoors and practice social distancing. Some places have total lockdowns. Further restrictions are threatened and leaders are urging people to postpone all discretionary travel… which would obviously include RVing. There are hundreds of thousands of RVers already on the road. Where can they stay until the immediate crisis has passed? In our interview of the week, we’ll talk about that  but even though the information we are giving you is current as we record this podcast, everything is changing… daily…sometimes hourly. So… our best advice to you right now is… stay where you are. Or, if you must, try a private campground and then stay there. We are in our condo on Okaloosa Island along the Florida panhandle’s Emerald Coast. Like many of you, we had travel plans. This week, we were supposed to be speaking at the RV Entrepreneur Summit in Lake Gunterson, AL. Like all RV rallies, RV shows and other events, it has been cancelled but moved to online. You can attend virtually by going to https://therventrepreneur.com/. After that, we were planning to head to Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. But all those plans, as with millions of others, have been put on hold. So we are hunkering down on the beach… not a bad place to be at all. So we don’t know where you are but we want you to know we are all in this together. We’ll try and stay in touch on social media as much as possible and we will use our RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube to do live reports and updates about the coronavirus and its effect on RVing from time to time. But we will all get through this and it’s our hope that as we follow our government’s recommendation to lay low and practice social distancing this will all pass and life will quickly get back to normal. So hang in there everyone! Here is a link from our friends on Campendium that tacks the latest closings and openings of RV-related businesses, events, campgrounds and the like  This part of the podcast is brought to you by the Nimble Pet Monitor 4G, the surest way we know of to have peace of mind that the temperature for your pets back in the RV is not too high. More information and a discount for listeners ot the RV Podcast is available at https://rvlifestyle.com/nimble RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK Some states close state run campgrounds because of coronavirus If you are planning to move into a new campground anytime soon, be sure to call ahead to make sure it is not closed because of coronavirus. State run campgrounds in New Mexico , Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania all have closed because of coronavirus concerns. Many tourist destinations are also closing. The changes are numerous. Hotel reservations may be down, but campground reservations are up in some places as people seek to escape the coronavirus Last week we told you how the coronavirus was the reason Japan was experiencing a s...

It’s time for a reality check about fulltime RV Living. This week you’ll meet Kevin and Laura of Chapter3Travels.com, who have been fulltime RVers for nearly five years now and are known for telling it as it is. We’ll have a great discussion and talk candidly about why so many fulltimers come off the road, not lasting nearly as long as they had hoped. Plus, we have lots of RV News, your questions and a great off the beaten path report from the Burketts. Here are the shownotes: But first, my lifelong traveling companion and my bride, Jennifer… who just happens to be celebrating her birthday today! Happy birthday, my dear! WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK This photo of Jen posing on top of the RV is meant as a spoof... as explained in the elsewhere in the podcast. It was shot las week in Arizona We are still celebrating a major event! We reached 100,000 subscribers for our our RV Lifestyle Channel! As that grows, our next goal is to reach 10,000 Subscribers to our Instagram page - @rvlifestylemike We’re home in Michigan after a great trip to Arizona.  Next week, we take off for Florida where we are finalizing research and photography for our next two 7 Day Adventure Guides, one to Florida’s East Coast, anther devoted just to the Keys. Those two will join our already published Florida 7 Day Adventure Guide to Florida’s Gulf Coast. Florida is such a popular RV destination that we feel we need three guides to cover it all and we hit the road next week to finish up the next two books, which should come out the first of the next month. That’s one reason we love doing these 7 Day Adventure Guides as eBooks. They can be published so much faster than traditional books and they can easily be updated without long printing delays. We have six of them now available covering various regions of the county. You can find them at rvlifestyle.com/books. This part of the podcast is brought to you by Dish Outdoors, which lets RVers pay as they go and watch HD satellite television from wherever they are camped with easy to set up gear made with the RVer in mind. Just go to https://rvlifestyle.com/dish for details on the service and special deal just for listeners of this podcast. RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK Katmai National Park considering permit system to protect visitors- and bears Alaska's Katmai National Park is taking comments on a proposed rule to require permits for those seeking to wander about the Brooks River Corridor, a popular place for watching the famous brown bears. The permits are in response to a growing concern about the numbers of visitors getting too close to the bears. The park is worried the bears will lose their fear of people, and wants to avoid having to put a bear down. The park is also considering expanding its camping to up to 14 days and permitting e-bikes. To learn more about Katmai's bears, check out interview we did with a ranger here. Oregon set new record in number of campers staying at state parks in 2019 Oregon state parks set record in number of campers last year. The state has experienced incredible growth in camping for about a decade, but last year it reported 2.93 million camper nights at its 56 state campgrounds setting a new record. The trend of more campers is also showing up on federally managed lands in Oregon. Smoking near playgrounds at Pennsylvania's state parks now illegal If you are planning to camp at any of Pennsylvania's state parks this year, and you smoke or vape, better listen up. The state has a new law that prohibits smoking within 30 feet of a playground and that includes 135 locations in the state's 121 parks. Signs will go up, detailing the new rule, by Memorial Day. Campers rescued from North Carolina campground after heavy rains trapped them on site   Eight people and three dogs were rescued from their campground at Dan River Campground in North Carolina after rushing waters swept through their site.

Welcome to the Thanksgiving 2019 episode of the RV Podcast, released on Thanksgiving Eve, one of the busiest travel days for ALL Americans - not just RVers - and a time to be with friends and family. Us, too! We just drove back to Michigan to be with family for Thanksgiving like so many this time of the year, there are more to-dos than there are hours in the day. And for that reason, this will be an abbreviated version of the podcast because we know many of you have other things to do this week than tune into our typical hour long podcast. Because after Thanksgiving is Black Friday weekend, the busiest shopping days of the year. So, this week, we’re going to respect your schedule and ours and make this a brief one. Speaking of Black Friday, just a quick mention here that we’re having a 40% off sale of our various RV Lifestyle digital guides. It is only good to Dec. 1, but if you’re listening to this episode close to its release date of Nov. 27, 2019,  go to: https://shop.rvlifestyle.com/collections/digital-guides and from now until Sunday, Dec 1st, you can get 40% off any of our premium guides using the discount code: BFTAKE40. Our first stop this week when we got back to Michigan was the town of Holland, on the west side of the state where we had our RV winterized. We shot a visit of the process and we’ll release that this weekend on our RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube. We’ve done a lot of different winterization videos over the years on the different ways various RVs we have owned are winterized but this was the first time we winterized our Leisure Travel Vans Unity FX model so we thought we’d add it to the channel as well. While the general process is pretty much the same for all RVs there are always some differences. Things are located in different parts. Plumbing knobs have to be turned just so. Filters removed. Things like that. So while I think the video will be helpful to all RV owners, we though we’d show what’s involved in winterizing our Leisure Travel Vans unit. I used to always feel bad when it was time to winterize because for so many, it means the end of camping until spring. But not us. We camp year-round on our RV, even in the snow. Besides, we’ll be back to warm temperatures down south again right after the New Year winter campout up at Tahquamenon Falls in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. So then it will be time to do another video ion how to de-winterize our RV. This part of the podcast is brought to you by Dish Outdoors, which lets RVers pay as they go and watch HD satellite television from wherever they are camped with easy to set up gear made with the RVer in mind. Just go to https://rvlifestyle.com/dish for details on the service and special deal just for listeners of this podcast. RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK President Trump to send national park rangers to patrol Mexico-U.S. border after Democrats refuse to provide funding for more border agents  National Park rangers will be patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border to fight illegal immigration and drug traffickers under a new order by President Donald Trump. Trump made the order after the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives refused to fund his border security plan. Trump says the extra manpower is needed to respond to a record number of illegal migrants. But Democrats criticized Trump for taking national park rangers away from national parks, which are already underfunded. New York state campgrounds set new record in visitors for 2019   A new record for campground attendance was set for New York state campgrounds in 2019. The announcement was made by Governor Andrew Cuomo last weekend, citing 680,533 campground visitors in 2019 compared to 663,953 in 2018. Jen and I were among those campground visitors New York's upstate area and found it absolutely beautiful. To see a recap of our travels, click here. Skip Black Friday shopping and have an outdoor adventure on #OptOutside Friday  Have you seen the hashtag #OptOutside yet?

In this week's RV Podcast, we meet a couple who recently built a very unique tiny home and plan to visit all 48 states with it, using it as an RV.  They plan to stay in each state for a month. You'll meet them in the podcast interview of the week, and see their amazing tiny house in an accompanying video on our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel. Plus, also this week in episode 268, we have RV News of The Week, tips, audience questions and a great off the beaten path report from the Burketts. Show Notes for Episode #268 Nov 13, 2019 of The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK MIKE This week finds us on the road, traveling up and down the Gulf Coast of Florida working on one of the two 7-Day Adventuring Guides we are planning on the Sunshine State. JENNIFER We're moving from Pensacola down to Naples and the Everglades for the first book on Florida's west coast and then, in a week or so, will do our research on the east coast guide  that runs along the Atlantic shore from Jacksonville down to the keys. MIKE Our hope is to get these new titles out before the holidays for you snowbirders out there who'll be spending part of the winter of 2020 in Florida. JENNIFER We’re recording this podcast at one of our favorite RV Parks, the Ho Him RV Park located on a part of Florida called the Forgotten Coast. MIKE The Forgotten Coast is located on what’s known as the Big Bend part of the western Florida peninsula and it is a unique place in the Sunshine State, reminiscent of “Old Florida,” without lots of the commercialization and development that characterizes much of the rest of Florida. JENNIFER This area was absolutely devastated by Hurricane Michael a little over a year ago. The beachside town of Mexico Beach was almost wiped off the map. Literally. We spent some time there this week and we will show you what is happening there today in our Thursday YouTube video. MIKE We’re calling that video “A Road Trip to the Forgotten Coast” and we think you’ll find it very interesting and informative, not just the part about Mexico Beach but our whole trip down here. JENNIFER The best way to know about our videos is to subscribe to them on our RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube. We will put a link to just how to subscribe in the shownotes for this episode. But we release new videos all the time and we’re always hearing from people who say they didn’t know about them. MIKE If you click the little bell icon when you subscribe to our YouTube Channel, you’ll be notified just as soon as a new video is published. So please subscribe. As we keep working hard producing videos on the RV Lifestyle, we want you to know we treasure each and every subscriber. So thanks in advance! JENNIFER To subscribe, just go HERE  This part of the podcast is brought to you by Dish Outdoors, which lets RVers pay as they go and watch HD satellite television from wherever they are camped with easy to set up gear made with the RVer in mind. Just go to https://rvlifestyle.com/dish for details on the service and special deal just for listeners of this podcast. RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK JENNIFER Camping in South Dakota state parks will cost more starting Jan. 1 Before it was under consideration - now it is official. Camping in South Dakota state parks will cost more next year. Prime campsites will cost $26, preferred campsites will cost $23, modern campsites will cost $20 and tent only sites will cost $15. The new fees are expected to closer resemble how much it costs to run the campgrounds, and it is expected to bring in $3 million. The South Dakota park system is largely funded by user fees, and the state had not had a fee increase in five years. MIKE Man and woman arrested in Mexico for driving truck and camper belonging to couple murdered when camping A man and a woman were arrested in Mexico last week driving the pick up truck and camping trailer belonging to a murdered New Hampshire couple. The New Hampshire couple,

This week in Episode 266 of the RV Podcast, we’ll meet Len and Sherrie Johnson, a remarkable California couple with quite a story to tell us, a story of a devastating injury from an airplane crash and a determination to embrace the RV Lifestyle afterwards despite the obstacles. You’ll be inspired by this couple! But also this week, lots of RV news, RV Tips and an off the beaten path report from the Burketts. WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK MIKE This episode is being released on just before Halloween 2019 and it’s a time that many, or most of the campgrounds in the northern states and provinces have now pretty much shut down for the season. This is also the time for the first wave of the annual snowbird migration, when the frost and early snow flurries up north are sending tens of thousands of RVers flocking to southern states like Florida and Arizona. JENNIFER The second wave always happens right after Christmas as snowbird RVers who stayed home with family for the holidays head south to take advantage of those snowbird campground special seasonal rates, typically from Jan 1 through March 31. MIKE For those whose remain in the colder states, now is the time to make sure they winterize their RVs, draining out water and running antifreeze through the plumbing system. There are about as many ways to winterize an RV as their RVs but if you’re new to this, or maybe looking for some new ideas, head over to our RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube, where we have put together a whole playlist of videos related to winterizing. CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE RV LIFESTYLE WINTERIZING PLAYLIST ON YOUTUBE While we’re talking about the YouTube Channel, lets remind everyone that the best way to stay up to date on our videos and special YouTube reports is to subscribe. And when you do subscribe, be sure to click the little bell icon you’ll see there on YouTube to be notified as soon as we post new material, which we do all throughout the week. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE RV LIFESTYLE CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE JENNIFER We are coming to you this week from Florida, where we’ll be until about Thanksgving time. Among other things, we’re using this time to travel Florida’s Gulf Coast, from pretty much Naples up through Tallahassee, doing research for one of our 7 Day Adventure Guides. We’re actually planning two of them on Florida – one on the gulf, or west coast; the other on the Atlantic, or east coast. We hope to have those guides ready right after the holidays and they’ll be joining our growing library of RV travel guides. MIKE We have five of those 7-Day Adventure Guides already available… for the Michigan Upper Peninsula, for Utah, Colorado, Yellowstone National Park and the Adirondacks. Plus we have a guide on boondocking and how to buy an RV. We hope to get the new Florida guides out right around the first of the new year. CLICK HERE FOR INFO ON OUR LIBRARY OF RV LIFESTYLE GUIDES JENNIFER Besides the research for our Florida RV travel guides, we’ve been traveling around in our RV, visiting small southern towns and digging into the history of how they got their names. We’ll have a video on it in a couple weeks but it was another reminder to me about how much better it is traveling off the interstate on two lane roads. We’ve also forced ourselves to slow down and take our time as we travel through those small towns. They all have a story to tell and there are always fascinating things to see and do. This part of the podcast is brought to you by Dish Outdoors, which lets RVers pay as they go and watch HD satellite television from wherever they are camped with easy to set up gear made with the RVer in mind. Just go to https://rvlifestyle.com/dish for details on the service and special deal just for listeners of this podcast. RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK MIKE Fears rise over fate of Missing RVers near Padre Island, TX As this episode was being reported the RV community was intensely following the disappearance of a New Hampshire cou...

This week on episode 249 the RV Podcast, we meet a couple who quit their nine to five jobs for a life on the road…chasing the stars in their RV WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK MIKE Happy Fourth of July to all our U.S. listeners. This is a huge camping weekend – the biggest of the year – and we know many of you will be on the roads filling up campsites and boondocking way off the beaten path. Have a great time, drive carefully and be safe. JENNIFER And a belated Canada Day to our friends north of the border, who just celebrated their long weekend last weekend. MIKE  We’re staying home this weekend. Since we travel up to ¾ of the year, we’ll stay off the roads and free up some camping space for those who can’t get away so much. JENNIFER Besides, we’re gone so often that being at our sticks and bricks Michigan home is like a vacation for us, so we don’t mind at all. We’re expecting to be back in our RV on the road again next week making our way down to Nashville, Tennessee and the area for a week of activities. MIKE Jennifer is spending a lot of time working outdoor on the landscaping and garden. I’m holed up in the studio furiously editing as much video as I can so when we’re on the road… I have time to shoot more! JENNIFER Our next video will be released Thursday July 4 on the RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube. It’s Part 2 of our trip to the Adirondack mountains and it also takes us to the Finger Lakes Region of New York and the beautiful Letchworth State Park south of Buffalo. MIKE  Hey everyone, I want to point out that we're having an awesome sale on our ebook RV guides. If you buy either our Beginners Guide to Boondocking or our RV Buyer's Guide, we'll throw in whichever one of our various Seven Day Adventure guides you'd like.... plus a fun pack of our RV LifestyleRule 330 stickers. Head over to https://rvlifestyle.com/books  and check them out and please share the link on social media with your friends. The special offer is only good through the 4th. We also want to give a shoutout to our reviewer of the week…Downriver Brian who left us this wonderful five-star review on iTunes: “This is the only travel related show I listen to regularly. I have never gone RVing...but would like to one day. Regardless of that fact, this show has all kinds of general camping-type of information that really gets you ready for spring during the winter months. Tip on campgrounds, and all the other stuff is great. Just love it.” Thank you, Brian. We sp appreciated those kind words and your review. And we invite you dear listener, to do the same. Please leave us a review and a rating on iTunes or Sticker or whatever app you listen to us on. We so appreciate the feedback and we read every one! RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK JENNIFER Newspaper report shows number of national park rangers down 20 percent since 2005 as visitors set records  We all know national parks are busier than ever, but an interesting story out last weekend also tracked how funding shortages have caused the number of park rangers to decline at the same time visitor numbers are setting records. Park superintendents are having to choose between hiring maintenance workers or park rangers often. The report in USA Today showed a 20 percent decline in rangers since 2005 as Congress cut funding while visitor numbers rose. MIKE About $10 million in goods up for auction this month at former Erwin Hymer North America Group site  About $10 million worth of goods once belonging to the Erwin Hymer Norlth America Group (the maker of Roadtrek) will be sold to the highest bidders at a massive auction July 16-19. Everything from office furnishings and equipment to tools to new Hymer tow behind trailers will be sold in what liquidation firm Infinity Asset Solutions Inc. says is a rare sale because of its massive size. The maker of Roadtrek went into receivership in February owing more than 900 creditors nearly $275 million.

If you are a regular listener, you know Jennifer and I love to boondock. We love to get away from the crowds and enjoy the peace and quiet. So do many RVers, of course, but this week we want to talk to the substantial segment of the boondocking community who are solo travelers. Being alone in the middle of nowhere is equally enjoyable as it is for couples or those who travel with a friend. But what happens if you are alone and an accident or emergency happens? If you’re traveling solo, you need to take some extra precautions. We’ll talk about that and get some advice in this week’s RV Lifestyle interview segment. Our friends at the Camp Addict website, Marshall Wendler and Kelly Beasley, will share their expertise and a harrowing story that illustrates just how bad things can go and how much worse they could be…if you are all alone. Plus, RV news, tips, your questions and an off the beaten path report from the Burketts. But first, my lifelong traveling companion and my bride…Jennifer. Show Notes for Episode #245 June 5, 2019 of The RV Podcast:  WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK MIKE Can you believe it's June? Camping season is in full swing, The roads are filled with RVs crisscrossing the country and summer fun is on everyone's schedule. JENNIFER We are heading north into Canada, camping our way through parts of Ontario, and then on to Montreal, Quebec, where we'll spend the weekend before turning south and visiting parts of New England and then New York for some exploration of the  Adirondacks.  MIKE We usually start the summer by heading to the Rockies and the west. This year, its the east and the Adirondacks for a few weeks. Then we'll see. We're trying to pick regions of the country that we haven't extensively toured yet JENNIFER We plan to resume our "Ask Us Anything" live stream on the RV Lifestyle Channel next Sunday at 7PM eastern time, from wherever we happen to be. MIKE We've taken the past couple of weeks off to catch up on some projects but we've missed our weekly visits and the excitement of a live audience so we're planning to be back this coming Sunday night.  RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK JENNIFER New York State Health Department warns all heading outside to protect themselves from ticks  The New York State Department of Health warned residents and visitors to protect themselves and their pets from ticks and the diseases they carry as the number of tick caused illnesses has been steadily rising. New York is averaging about 5,500 new cases of Lyme Disease each year. Mike and I are noticing more and more ticks as we travel the country making it more important than ever to wear protection and educate yourself on safety tips. To see a report we did on this subject not too long ago click here. MIKE Four-year-old boy attacked by mountain lion expected to recover   A mountain lion that attacked a 4-year-old boy walking with his family in California's Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve was shot and killed. DNA samples confirmed that last weekend. The boy was with about a dozen people in the area called Carson's Crossing on Memorial Day when the mountain lion attacked him. His father kicked and threw rocks at the animal to free his son who was flown to a nearby hospital for treatment and is expected to recover. Mountain lion attacks are rare, but it is important to watch young children when walking trails in mountain lion country. JENNIFER Millennial writer urges manufacturers to make smaller, more interesting RVs  A writer published an interesting read last week urging RV manufacturers to listen to what millennials want in an RV, as that age demographic becomes a bigger and bigger share of the RV market. Many of her suggestions Mike and I agree with, even though we are not in the millennial generation. Making smaller RVs, focus on quality and technology and improving designs are things we have been talking about for a long time. MIKE

Our guests this week are Chris Dunphy and Cherie ve Ard from the Mobile Internet Resource Center, which is the best source I know of  unbiased mobile internet information for US based RVers and digital nomads who must have reliable Internet connections while on the road, whether for business, to keep in touch with friends and family or to stream they favorite movies. Chris and Cherie will join us in our interview of the week segment coming up in just a few minutes. Show Notes for Episode #244 May 29.1019 of The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK MIKE We hope you all have recovered from Memorial Day, which always marks the unofficial start of summer. The reports we have seen indicated lots of people were out there in their RVs. Most of the popular camping locations, state parks and commercial campgrounds were filled. I know the weather was iffy across much of North America during the weekend but, hey even a bad day camping is better than most good days anywhere else. JENNIFER At least that’s what we tell ourselves. We’ve spent the past week working feverishly on a bunch of videos, the first of which will be coming out tomorrow, Thursday May 30, on our RV Lifestyle Channel on You Tube. It’s about the redundant Internet systems we have installed in our RV.  You’ll get a bit of an idea what we have when you listen to our experts on the interview of the week coming up but Mike will be detailing the installation and configuration of the systems we will be using in our RV this summer as well as before and after tests on how they improve connectivity. MIKE We set off on the first leg of our extended travel for the season next week that will have us traveling through Ontario, Quebec and down into New York State and the Adirondack Mountains for the next several weeks and I’m excited to see how our upgraded electrical system modifications will perform as we do a lot of boondocking. We replaced the lead acid batteries on our RV with two Battleborn lithium batteries, an upgraded 2,000 watt inverter, a new solar controller and a bluetooth system that gives me total control over everything from a tablet or my smartphone. I know many of you have been asking about that and we should have a video ready to go on that next week so stay tuned. RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK JENNIFER Social media making some secret spots major tourist sites, providing new challenges for the parks service  Boise State Public Radio had an interesting piece last week on the "Instagram Effect" on national and public owned land. As certain spots, such as Utah's Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park or Arizona's Horseshoe Bend have gone viral on social media, suddenly places just a few locals knew about are transformed into places where literally thousands arrive each day. These throngs are completely changing the feel of a location, and the article was an interesting look at how the parks service is trying to respond. MIKE Report shows national parks visitors contributed $40.1 billion to economy  Speaking of national parks, the 2018 National Park Visitor Spending Effects study was recently released, showing the national sparks contributed $40.1 billion to the economy last year, supporting 329,000 jobs. The report analyzes spending on such things as lodging, restaurants, grocery store sales in towns near the national parks. It looks to me like a good report to use to get Congress to continue to invest in maintaining the country's national treasures. JENNIFER Many Oklahoma campgrounds closed because of flooding  If you're planning to head to Oklahoma any time soon to camp, be sure to check whether your campground is open. Heavy rains in the area and bad storms has caused several popular stops to close. This is a trend we've seen in other states, ranging from Kansas to Minnesota this spring. Bottom line: Besure to check ahead. MIKE Heading to an Arizona state park? Pick up a free can of water 

Across the country, there’s a growing movement for something known as R2R, or Right to Repair. It’s being fought by the RV industry, which often limits just who can repair their products, usually through a tightly controlled dealership network. For RV owners, this often means that necessary repairs can take days, even weeks because many of those dealership service shops are booked solid. But what if those repairs could be done by other repair facilities, not financially tied at the hip to the manufacturer? When manufacturers own the only repair shop around, prices go up and quality goes down. Competition is better for customers, but mom and pop repair shops are struggling with unfair practices by multinational corporations. Consumers and repair pros are starting to fight back. Today, in our interview of the week segment, we’re going to talk about the R2R movement, why the industry is so against it and what this means to you, the RV owner. Plus, your comments, questions and tips, plus the RV news of the week and a great off the beaten path report.   Show Notes for Episode #232 March 6, 2018 of The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK JENNIFER This week finds us on the road again. We’re on a week-long roadtrip that will eventually take us to Salt Lake City Utah for a big trade show next week. But we’re taking our time getting there, trying to keep to our “330 Rule” of not traveling more than 330 miles in a single day or stopping by 3:30PM so we can enjoy the area. MIKE We can’t gIve you an itinerary because, well, we seldom have one, other than a direction. We’ll be staying at Harvest Host wineries, farms and attractions as well as any interesting state or local campgrounds or boondocking spots that catch our eye. And yes, Bo is with us on this trip, though we will be using Rover.com to find a local family that he can stay with in Salt Lake City since we’ll be working during the RV show hours. JENNIFER We can’t say enough good things about Rover. It is a free app that connects you to a nationwide network of dog sitters, doggie day care centers and boarding facilities. We often use it when we travel to different areas. The sitters are well screened and Bo seems to really enjoy his visits. MIKE Many of you have been following our travels over the past month in a 2019 Leisure Travel Van Wonder, RTB, for Rear Twin Bed. We have been interested in test driving it for two purposes: One, to see what it’s like driving an RV on the Ford Transit chassis. We just posted a video on that experience on our RV Lifestyle Channel. Overall, we have been very pleased with it, except for a few things. But we think the Transit is going to give the Mercedes Benz Sprinter a real run for the money as the most popular chassis these days for small motorhomes. JENNIFER The second part of the Wonder we wanted to experience was our comfort level with a slightly larger van than we’re used to. Leisure Travel Vans are what is known as B+ vans, a sort of cross between a Class B campervan and a larger Class C Van. Technically, a B+ is listed for insurance purposes as a Class C motorhome but they call it a B+ because it does not have the typical cab overhang you see on most Class Cs and it’s a little less boxy looking. We will have a full video review of the Wonder and our experience with it coming it this Thursday. You can see all our videos at YouTube-dot-com-slash-rvlifestyle. MIKE The show we are attending next week is called RVx and is organized by RV Industry Association and will be attended by TV dealers, RV manufacturers, industry leaders, suppliers and the media. Jennifer and I will be hanging out at the show doing meet and greets for the attendees all three days. Tuesday from 3-5PM, Wednesday from 4-5 PM and Thursday from 11AM-1PM. If you are one of those who, will be at the show, look for us at the Leisure Travel Vans Display. We’d love to say hi.

We’ve been traveling North America for the past month. Checking out small motorhomes and visiting various RV manufacturing facilities and this week, we want to share the visit we just made to Manitoba, Canada and the factory where Leisure Travel Vans makes its excellent line of Class B-Plus motorhomes. In our interview of the week, you’ll meet the two brothers who run the operation,Ryan and Mike Elias, and they’ll tell you about their quest to make beautiful, reliable and functional motorhomes that are also foolproof. Plus, we’ll discuss our just-announced partnership with Leisure Travel Vans, offer up the RV News of the week, share some tips and suggestions and hear a great off the beaten path Valentine’s Day report from the Burketts. Show Notes for Episode #229 Feb. 13, 2019 of The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK MIKE Hello my dear and Happy Birthday and Happy Valentine’s Day. JENNIFER Thank you. This episode is being recorded Feb. 12, my birthday, for release in Feb. 13th, the day before Valentine’s Day. And it looks like we’ll be spending this Valentine’s Day on the road… headed off to Florida in a brand-new Leisure Travel Vans Wonder RTB…. RTB standing for Rear Bed Model. And I suppose now is a great time for us to officially announce that we have become the brand ambassadors for Leisure Travel Van and as part of that sponsorship, they provide us the use of one of their beautiful motorhomes. MIKE Yup. And we’re excited. The unit we drove home from the factory up there in Winkler, Manitoba last week is on the Ford Transit Chassis and that is the chassis more and more RV manufacturers are adding to their model lineup. It’s the HD 350 Transit, a diesel unit, and driving it about 1,200 miles to our Michigan home – in subzero temperatures and a blizzard no less – I find it to be very stable and very easy to drive. After we finish recording this podcast we will finish packing it up and skedaddle down south in search of Spring…to Florida and eventually to Salt Lake City, Utah in mid-March, where we will attend a big RV industry trade show and swap out the Wonder for a new Unity model, built on the 2019 Sprinter chassis. So, we’ll be using the Wonder for about a month or so and will be doing a full review of how it works with a motorhome. JENNIFER Not only are we testing out the Ford Transit as a motorhome chassis, we are also trying out a B+ van, something we have been curious about for years. Mike and I have been big fans of Leisure Travel Vans for years now and as we started looking around for our next RV and the model that would best fit our needs, we found their coaches checked every box. We had some very specific things we were looking for – more storage room, for our photo and video gear and our camping accessories; comfortable, permanent beds with a mattress so we didn’t have to sleep on a pads atop a bunch of sofa cushions; a designated work space for Mike to edit videos and work on the blog and our ebooks; and we also wanted a stand up dry shower, a bigger bathroom and , as we were looking for a new sponsor, a certain type of company we could confidently attach ourselves to. MIKE And that was a big item on our list: We wanted a family owned company with a solid reputation for quality, integrity and customer care. And Leisure Travel Vans is all that and more. You’ll be able to understand why we are so delighted to be their ambassadors and drive their products in a few minutes, when you meet Ryan and Mike Elias. And Tomorrow, Thursday February 14 at 7PM Eastern, we will have a premiere showing of our visit to the Leisure Travel Vans factory on our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel. Those of you listening to the podcast after Feb. 14 can find it available to watch on demand on our RV Lifestyle Channel at youtube.com/rvlifestyle. But a You Tube Premiere is a big deal. We’ll all be able to watch it for the first time together as it rolls at 7PM,

Lots of interesting RV information is in this episode of the RV Podcast, including a fun – but instructional – account of a newbie RVer. And in our interview of the week, we’ll meet a man who is following his life’s passion of engineering and building luxury Class B motorhomes, gorgeous custom-made campervans that start in price at a quarter million dollars a year!. Plus the RV news of the week, your questions, comments and a great off the beaten path RV report. Show Notes for Episode #227 Jan 30, 2019 of The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK MIKE What a week this has been! JENNIFER It sure has. We talk about change the RV Lifestyle blog  and our decision to end our role as brand ambassadors for Roadtrek and to return the RV the company provided as we rebrand ourselves under the RV Lifestyle banner (see https://rvlifestyle.com/announcement-why-we-have-changed-from-roadtreking-to-rv-lifestyle/ ) JENNIFER So we have ended one chapter that we have enjoyed very much as we are looking forward to this new chapter that will expand our horizons. Bottom line, though, is nothing in our reporting will change except maybe that we will reaching a lot more people who previously thought we were only about one brand of RV… Really, we’re not about any brand at all…we’re about the lifestyle. In fact, I call an RV an “Adventuremobile.” That’s what they all do… take us to great adventures. MIKE Thanks to the many who sent us encouragement and well wishes and support as we continue what we have been doing in reporting the RV Lifestyle and traveling North America. In fact, we’ve been doing that. We’re in the midst of visiting various RF manufacturers around North America, learning about new technologies and RV features and seeing their different build processes. It’s been really fascinating. There is so much innovation out there. JENNIFER We’ll have a video released tomorrow on our RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube about one such company Advanced RV near Cleveland. We spent some time at their factory last week and I think you’ll enjoy seeing the beautiful custom Class B coaches they make. The CEO of ARV, Mike Neundorfer, will be our special guest in this podcast episode’s interview of the week, coming up in just a few minutes. MIKE And tomorrow, we’re off to Elkhart, Indiana for another factory tour of another manufacturer, Elkhart of course being the RV Capital of the world where so many great RV manufacturers and accessory companies are headquartered. JENNIFER As we explained on the RV Lifestyle blog in announcing our rebranding here under the RV Lifestyle label, we are shopping for our next RV and taking our time. Maybe we’ll buy a used one. Or a new one. Or get one from a rental fleet. Or maybe we’ll become brand ambassadors for another company. We really don’t know yet. It’s pretty exciting, really. There are so many wonderful machines out there. MIKE But we will have to do something soon because a lot of RV events and stories are on our schedule over the next few months and we are going to need an RV to do them. But we doi want to get away, preferably to a warmer climate. Right now, our home state of Michigan is gripped by the arctic vortex. Today’s high… the high… is supposed to be no more than minus 4 degrees F. That’s the air temperature…four below. With the stiff winds blowing out there, the wind chill is supposed to be 50 below. JENNIFER Hmmm. Florida does seem to be beckoning quite assertively doesn’t it? RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK JENNIFER Couple and two dogs rescued by helicopter after becoming stranded by a snowstorm that hit when winter camping A couple and their two dogs were airlifted out of a remote, snow-covered road north of Los Angles last week some two weeks after they became stranded. The man and woman were pick-up truck camping on a mountain when a severe snowstorm hit. They stayed warm by turning the truck on occasionally but after running out of food and fuel they knew t...

It’s a New Year filled with opportunities and adventures just waiting around the next bend in the road. This week, we hear from RVers all across North America about their Bucket List Trips planned for 2019. Show Notes for Episode #223 Jan 2, 2019 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK We’re back from vacation and looking forward to a 2019 travel season New videos resume Thursday on the RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube with a look at two electronic gadgets I wouldn’t travel without, a high quality dashcam system and a cellular booster. I’ll reveal what brands I chose and just how we installed them Thursday Jan. 3. You can find our channel at https://www.youtube.com/rvlifestyle Our Ask Us Anything Live Stream on YouTube resumes Sunday night January 6 at &PM Eastern Time. And our RV Lifestyle Newsletter will begin its 2019 publication season Monday, January 7. Changes? We’re considering several that we’ll be sharing down the line here about our content production every week on the many different platforms – the Roadtreking RV Travel Blog, the RV Newsletter, the RV Podcast and our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel. What would you like us to change about the podcast in 2019? Add new segments? Too many commercials? More Q&A? Longer episodes? Shorter episodes? Let us know. I want to work smarter, giving you what you want. We share our upcoming travel plans: Our annual winter campout at Tahquamenon Falls State Park in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula next week. And our trip to the RVSupershow at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Florida. We’ll be there most of the week of January 16-20 and doing a special Meet and Greet with our RV Lifestyle Community at the Roadtrek Motorhomes display area on Saturday Jan. 19 from 11AM-2PM. We have a new way to leave us voice questions, tips and comments that we can use in the podcast. We now have a special voice mail number set up. You can find a link to it on our Roadtreking.com RV Travel blog. Or if you want to jot it down now, it’s (586) 372-6990. In fact, in 2019 we want to feature your voices more on the podcast. Here’s one topic for you to consider and leave us a message about: My Most Embarrassing Newbie Mistakes. Maybe leaving tht antenna up… pulling away from a campsite with the sewer hose still in the drain… trying to back into a campsite. We’ve all been there, done that. So lets share some laughs about the subject…and maybe help a newbie today avoid the same mistakes. Use that number – (586)-372-6990. Call on your phone and tell us all the embarrassing details and we will share it on an upcoming episode. Also, of course, you can use that number to ask your RV questions, make comments and share your favorite trips. The number is on the Roadtreking RV Travel Blog on the right hand side but, again, if you want to jot it down, its (586)-372-6990. We really want to hear from you! RV NEWS OF THE WEEK Government shutdown makes a mess in National Parks As you know, the government has been partially shutdown for the past two weeks in a huge political fight. As a result, we’re seeing human feces, overflowing garbage, illegal off-roading and other damaging behavior in fragile areas beginning to overwhelm some of the West’s iconic national parks, as the partial government shutdown left the areas open to visitors but with little staff on duty. This has left many parks without most of the rangers and others who staff campgrounds and otherwise keep parks running. Under the park service’s shutdown plan, authorities have to close any area where garbage or other problems become threats to health and safety or to wildlife. In the southern Sierra Nevada in Central California, some areas of the Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks were closed Monday evening. In Sequoia, home to immense and ancient giant sequoias, General Highway was closed because overflowing trash bins were spreading litter and posed a threat to wildlife and the icy,

RV Podcast 215 Is your Rv ready for winter? It’s that time of year again. Cold weather and temperatures near freezing remind us that winter is fast approaching and those in northern climates soon need to winterize their RVs. So we tell you in this episode everything you need to do to protect your RV’s plumbing.  And Jennifer has a great tip about mouse-proofing your RV, too, to keep rodents out while it sits in storage. Plus lots of listener questions, traveling technology tips and an great off the beaten path report. Show Notes for Episode #215 Oct. 24, 2018 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK MIKE Here we are just a week before Halloween and if the calendar isn’t enough of a reminder, the cool outdoor temperatures are making it obvious that change is in the air. At the dogpark with Bo every morning, we’re wearing our winter jackets, hats and even gloves. So, as we said in the intro, it’s time to winterize if our RV is exposed to the elements in cold climates. Though I must say the best winterizing tip I have heard was from a snowbird buddy from Minnesota telling me the way he winterizes is he takes his RV to Florida every year about this time and doesn’t return until April! JENNIFER Speaking of snowbirds, this is the time of the first wave in the annual snowbird migration from the north to Florida and the Southwest. I’ve seen figures estimating the number of snowbird RVers as high as three million! Their migration really has two stages. The first always begins around Halloween. The second big one comes right after Christmas, because a lot of RVers like to stay home with family before heading south for warm weather.  Snowbirders leaving in the next week or so can probably avoid winterizing. Those waiting until Christmas should not leave their RVs unprotected without antifreeze until then or they risk damaging their plumbing system. That shouldn’t need to be stated but there are always some who like to take than chance. MIKE As we said, we are a week before Halloween. And in the camping world, Halloween is a he event. Most big RV parks and even many state parks are booked solid every weekend all during October. The parks have weekend trick or treat nights and costume parades and RVers are encouraged to decorate their rigs. We always like visiting RV parks this time of the year. We will be doing so this week and we’ll share some photos of what we see this coming Sunday night on the RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube. That will be on our Ask Us Anything live broadcast at 7PM Eastern. We do a live show every week at that time and we thought it would be fun this coming week to share our photos of what we see. And if you are out there at an RV park and have decorated for Halloween. Send us a photo and we’ll include it in our live broadcast. You can reach us at mikeandjen@rvlifestyle.com JENNIFER We really enjoy doing that live show on the RV Lifestyle Channel each week. It’s the next best thing to being around a campground with good friends. I am really amazed at what an online community we have developed around those Ask Us Anything broadcasts. People can make comments and type in questions in real time and we can then display the questions on screen and answer them. It’s a highlight of our week. This part of the program is brought to you by AllStays Pro, the best tool for RVers looking for places to camp. RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK MIKE Marijuana use will be permitted at campsites under Canada's new law Canada became the second country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana use last week and according to a Parks Canada spokesperson, it is ok to use the drug at campsites. (Uruguay is the only other country where it is legal.) Marijuana will be permitted at campsites because the campsites will be considered temporary private homes. Cannabis will not be permitted in public areas, like playgrounds, washrooms, parking lots, historic sites,

Is your RV overweight? Are you overweight? In this week’s podcast we talk to our friends James and Stef from The Fit RV about the importance of weighing your RV to make sure it is not overweight, and thus unsafe for the road. Too many RV manufacturers send their RVs out dangerously close to the weight limits, something many RVers are unaware of when they start loading their gear and themselves into it. And it’s too easy for life on the road to cause us to become overweight, too. You’ll find much of interest with his great RVing couple in our interview of the week. Plus, RV Tips from Jennifer, your RV questions, traveling technology tools for the RVer and a great ff the beaten path report from the Burketts… all this coming up in Episode 214 of the RV Podcast. Show Notes for Episode #214 Oct. 17, 2018 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK MIKE We’re back in our sticks and bricks house in Michigan to catch our breath between trips. It’s been pretty much non-stop travel, from California to Pennsylvania with many stops between since early summer and we have had a ball. But it’s nice to have a little break JENNIFER We just returned from an absolutely fabulous trip to Kansas, specifically the Flying W Ranch, located on 7,000 acres of tallgrass prairie. It was another one of our Roadtreking gatherings – the eighth of the year – and this one was on a working cattle ranch. We had Roadtrekers from all across the country show up. We camped boondock-style right next to a horse corral and we were so busy. We hiked, took a lot of awesome photos, star gazed under that big prairie sky, learned all about the cowboy culture and actually joined in on some of the ranch activities. MIKE The absolute highlight of those activities was the cattledrive. We mounted up on horses and accompanied the real cowboys out onto the pasture for a longhorn cattle drive. It was an unforgettable experience and so much fun. We were right in the middle of the herd and I can’t wait to put together the video of the experience. JENNIFER The other highlight was the tallgrass prairie itself. You know Kansas is a place that most people go through. On their way to or from some other place. But believe us, it very much belongs on your bucket list. When Mike gets the video uploaded to our RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube you can see for yourself but the prairie is so stunningly beautiful that even my husband’s excellent video skills can’t capture it all. It needs to be seen firsthand. The tall grass prairie used to cover a huge section of North America,170 million acres from Ohio to the Rockies and Mexico to Canada. Today only 4% remains and that’s mostly in the Flinthills region of Kansas where we were. The U.S. Park Service has established the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve there and it’s well worth a visit. MIKE As our gathering broke up Monday, there was a light covering of snow on the ground. The first hard freezes and heavy frosts of the year hit many of the northern and midwestern states this week. Out in Kansas, the cowboys at the ranch told us that they are expecting a much harder than normal winter this year. They said extra thick coats on the horses and cattle are already showing up, which is much earlier than normal. And the Woolly Bear Caterpillars they are seeing are showing much longer black bands than the rust colored bands. The more black showing on the caterpillar, supposedly the more severe the winter will be. The cowboys believe it and say the winter will be tough. JENNIFER Speaking of winter and cold weather, it’s time to make sure your RV is winterized. That means draining your plumbing system and running RV antifreeze through it. We’ll talk more about this in a few minutes in the listener questions segment of the podcast but it’s that time of year again and cold weather is pretty much with us from now on. This part of the program is brought to you by AllStays Pro,...

America’s National Parks are in crisis. A growing near $12 billion backlog of desperately needed repairs and maintenance is seriously affecting America's National Parks. Inadequate federal campgrounds and deteriorating or closed roads, bridges and facilities negatively impact visitor experiences and RVers in particular. In our interview of the week, we talk to Chris Bornemann, Senior Manager of Government Affairs for the RV Industry Association, who will tell us what we can do to help persuade Congress to restore our parks. Plus, your questions, comments, lots of RV news and Tips and a great off-the-beaten-path report from the Burketts. [spp-player] Show Notes for Episode #209 Sept. 12.2018 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK [spp-timestamp time="2:14"] JENNIFER As this episode comes your way, we’re way up north at Algonquin Provincial Park in Canada, attending one of our Roadtreking boondocking gatherings with a couple dozen fellow RVers. We’re enjoying the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, hiking, taking a lot of pictures and enjoying some early fall weather. Though it’s supposed to warm up later in the week up here, the nighttime temperatures have been in the mid 40’s. MIKE And Bo, our Norwegian Elkhound, loves it. He’s grown weary of the heat and humidity of the past few months as we’ve traveled through the southern US and the Gulf Coast. This Ontario weather is much more to his liking. JENNIFER This is a very busy week for us. We have to leave here and on Thursday start traveling to Hershey, PA and America’s Largest RV show there. We always have a ball at this show. More than 45 RV manufacturers will be displaying over 1,300 RVs here and there are over 100 other companies that make RV accessories and provide RV related services. We will be shooting videos and we have two live broadcasts we plan to do on our Facebook Roadtreking Page. MIKE We will be doing two Facebook Live broadcasts from the Hershey show next weekend. The frst will be on Friday at 3:30 PM from the Rad Power Bikes display.  The second will be Saturday at 3 PM from the Roadtrek. Hymer display.  Both will be on our Roadtreking Facebook Page  Also, we’ll be doing meet at greet appearances at the Roadtrek and Hymer display Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 1 PM. We love meeting you and invite you to come by if you are attending the show. If not, then tune in to our Live reports on the Facebook Page for a look at what we’re discovering. Again, that first live report is Saturday at 3 PM. The second will be on Sunday at 3PM, when we’ll go live from the show from the Rad Power Bikes display. JENNIFER This has also been an exciting week for us as Mike is now well underway on his new healthy living program. If you heard Episode 208 last week, you learned why the RV Lifestyle and all the sitting while driving and eating at those great RV gathering pot lucks can really put on the pounds. Anyway, Mike entered the program that is run by the weight loss expert he interviewed last week and we’ve been following it faithfully. So far so good, right? MIKE Oh yeah… very right. We update my progress on this plan every Sunday night on our YouTube Live broadcast on our RV Lifestyle Channel there. So if you want the details, make sure you tune in Sunday night. But so far, in the first week, I’ve lost several pounds and because this is a simple plan that basically cuts out sugars and starches – carbohydrates – we’re eating healthy, organic, whole foods as much as possible, something we can easily prepare on the road.  Anyway, go to our YouTube Channel at RVLifestyleChannel.com and you can see the most recent update. But I can report there’s definitely less of me this week than there was last week! JENNIFER So, that’s what we’ve been up to. We’re having a ball meeting others, traveling in our RV and seeing North America. This part of the program is brought to you Overnight RV Parking...

On this 200th episode of the podcast we talk about a very serious issue – lightning and the particular dangers it poses to campers and RVers this time of the year. Lightning is nothing to take for granted as is all too evident by simply following the news. Campers are injured or killed by lighting much more frequently that the general population and this week in our interview of the week, we talk with a top expert Plus your RV questions, comments, Tips and an off the beaten path report. Click the player below to Listen Now or scroll down through the show note details. When you see a time code hyperlink, you can click it to jump directly to that segment of the podcast. [spp-player] Show Notes for Episode #200 July 11, 2018 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK [spp-timestamp time="2:03"] MIKE This episode of the podcast comes to you from the heart of the Smoky Mountains in Bryson City, NC. We are recording this very special episode - number 200 – from the picnic table outside our RV at our Roadtreking Whitewater River Gathering near the banks of the beautiful Nantahala River. JENNIFER And what a special gathering it is. We were surprised by a beautiful 200th episode cake, complete with our logo, by our fellow Roadtrekers at our social hour get together last night. What a great way to celebrate. Thanks to everyone for making us feel so special. Tom McAllister, who says he has listened to every episode, orchestrated it all and it was as delicious as it looked. The gathering surprised us with this awesome cake   MIKE We have people here from across the country and again, as always, our gatherings are for people in every sort of RV. Roadtreking is built around a lifestyle, a state of mind, not a particular brand. We have people in Airstreams and other travel trailer brands, an Itasca Navion  Class C, a Coachmen on the Ford Transit chassis and of course lots of Roadtreks. JENNIFER That's Rick, the videographer from the Erwin Hymer Grouo of North America, shooting us cutting the cake. Rick is here making a documentary on the gathering. Our people will be spending the week whitewater rafting down the Nantahala and a couple of other rivers nearby, doing a mountaintop to mountaintop mega zip line ride and sightseeing on a train that takes us into the Natahala National Forest gorge. The weather has been great and the scenery is terrific, unbeatable. MIKE We have had a great time and we had a great time getting here. Our GPS directed us on US Highway 129 after we left I75 near Knoxville, TN. And the two lane road took us into North Carolina. It started out like any other two lane road but after a couple miles as it climbed from the foothills into the Smoky Mountains, we noticed it seemed to have a lot of curves. Then we noticed how many motorcycles there were on the road with us. JENNIFER Turned out the road is one of the most famous in the world for motocyclists. It’s called the Dragon and one particular stretch if it – 11 miles in length - is known as the Tail of the Dragon. It has 318 curves in those 11 miles. And we did it in our RV! We were so impressed by it we shot a video on it that you’ll be able to see in a couple of weeks. MIKE Speaking of videos, we have posted a special video about our 200th episode. We’ll embed it with the shownotes for this episode at Roadtreking-dot-com-slash-200. JENNIFER And tomorrow on our RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube, we will post our video of the week, which takes you on a boat ride in Lake Superior to visit the spectacularly beautiful Apostle Islands. Please check it out and be sure to subscribe to our videos there on YouTube. A new video is released every Thursday morning. Of course, Sunday night at 7PM eastern is our Ask Us Anything Live You Tube broadcast and on Wednesdays with the podcast, we try to do a video version of our interview of the week. MIKE

In this episode, an interview with a best-selling author on something that a lot of RVers are interested in: Writing from the road. We’ll help you scratch that creativity itch that traveling unleashes in all of us. Who know, you may have a best seller just waiting to come out in you RV, just like Kevin Tumlinson, an avid RVer himself, keeps turning out. Plus lots of news, RV tips, off the beaten path destination suggestions and much more. But first my lifelong traveling companion and my bride, Jennifer Click the player below to Listen Now or scroll down through the show note details. When you see a time code hyperlink, you can click it to jump directly to that segment of the podcast. [spp-player] Shownotes for Episode 199 of the RV Podcast WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK [spp-timestamp time="2:49"] JENNIFER Happy 4th of July to all our American listeners. And we hope or Canadian listeners enjoyed their Canada Day on July 1. We are in the heart of the summer travel season! MIKE The Auto Club says fuel prices are the highest they have been in at least four years for this holiday. Gas nationwide averages $2.86 for regular, diesel is $3.16. Highest prices are in the west  and New England where regular is over $3 a gallon. Cheapest is Texas, the Dakotas and the deep south, where it’s under $2.70 JENNIFER We’re home but packing… heading out for North Carolina and the eastern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. We’ll be there starting this weekend and most of next week, attending another one of our Roadtreking RV Gatherings. This one is themed around river rafting and white water adventure along the Natahala River. We’ll be doing next week’s podcast from there and we will also be broadcasting our weekly Live You Tube “Ask Us Anything” video show on Sunday night. MIKE Speaking of which we are moving the Sunday night Live Broadcast up a couple of hours. We will be going on our RV Lifestyle Channel live at 7PM Eastern Time on Sunday nights, instead of 9M as we had been doing. JENNIFER Here’s a quick programming note: Tomorrow, Thursday July 5, on our RV Lifestyle Channel on You Tube, we'll release our newest video,  a recap of our just finished  fabulous gathering at Glacier National Park. We even got most of our encounter with a hungry bear and a very frightened Mama Moose and her calf on video. It was an exciting time with a happy ending. Here’s the RV News of the week: JENNIFER Summer is lightning season, make sure you stay safe Did you know there are places in the country that have a lightning season? A report released last week by the National Lightning Safety Council analyzed U.S. lightning deaths between 2008-2017 and ranked states. What caught my eye from the numerous stories around the country it triggered was some national parks have a lightning season. For instance at Zion National Park, 20,000 incidences of lightning traveling from a cloud to the ground were reported during a nine year period with 82 percent of the lightning happening between July to September, usually between noon and 8 pm. Here is a link to the Utah story, or click here for the report, and here for safety tips. MIKE Story gives helpful tips to avoid crowds at national parks Last year roughly 331 million people visited the nation's national parks - that is roughly the exact population of the United States. No wonder it is so crowded out there! A story out of the Los Angeles Times over the weekend provides helpful tips on where to go and where to stay if a crowded national park is in your plans this summer. The story focuses on Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, and other iconic parks out west. To read more click here. JENNIFER Oklahoma RV campground adds drive-in movie theater Increasingly we are hearing about campgrounds offering new experiences to campers who want to have wifi, screened in picnic tables and more. Well,

Mike is a veteran journalist who, with his wife, Jennifer, travels North America in a Type B motorhome, blogging about the people, places, joys and adventure of RV life on the road. He enjoys camping (obviously), hiking, biking, fitness, photography, kayaking, video editing and all things dealing with technology. See and subscribe to his RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube, where he has hundreds of RV and travel related videos. His PC Mike TV reports, on personal technology are distributed weekly to all 215 NBC-TV stations.MENTIONS:Rent a writer's retreat that can take you places! Check out my RV, now for rent via Outdoorsy, at bit.ly/rvwriter!Cover your nakedness and your shame with a Written World Tee, now with 100% more Kevin words! http://bit.ly/writtenworld-teesNew to Wordslinger Press, pick up Writing a Better Book DescriptionPick up a copy of Kevin Tumlinson's newest Dan Kotler archaeological thriller The Girl in the Mayan Tomb - https://books2read.com/mayan-tombCONNECT ONLINE:Website(s): roadtreking.comYouTube: rvlifestylechannel.comTwitter handle(s): @roadtrekingFacebook: facebook.com/roadtrekingAmazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B001KIDWWYTHIS WEEK’S INDIE PUBLISHING NEWSBrought to you byDraft2DigitalUS Supreme Court Tax Ruling Means Authors Have to Collect Sales Tax on Direct Sales - http://bit.ly/153-taxesiBooks gets a redesign and new Apple Books branding in iOS 12 - http://bit.ly/153-appleHarlan Ellison, one of science fiction’s most controversial authors, has died - http://bit.ly/153-harlan--LOOKING FOR SOME COOL T-SHIRTS WITH WHICH TO HIDE YOUR NAKED SHAME? Now you can get T-shirts with stuff I wrote on ‘em. Just hit http://bit.ly/writtenworld-tees to browse and buy!--THIS EPISODE OF THE WORDSLINGER PODCAST IS SPONSORED BY:Written World Writer’s Retreat - Rent a writer’s retreat that goes wherever you want to go. Check out my listing on Outdoorsy for the perfect writer’s retreat—my 38’ luxury motor coach! Go to http://bit.ly/rvwriter for details.Draft2Digital—Convert, publish, and distribute your book worldwide, with support the whole way. https://draft2digital.com/wordslingerWordslinger Press—This is your chance to start your indie author career right. Pick up books and other products to help you build and grow a successful writing career. Start growing at http://wordslingerpodcast.comSupport this show: Subscribe and share!Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/wordslingerpodcastPick something up to read that will be tough to put down—Archeological Thrillers, Science Fiction, YA Fantasy and more, at https://kevintumlinson.com/books___GOT A QUESTION FOR KEVIN AND HIS GUESTS?CALL 281-809-WORD (9673)

A fun and helpful podcast episode is in store for you this week as we look at Five Top Must-Visit RV Places that you have never heard of. As Jennifer and I have traveled the country this summer, we’ve been asking RVers to give us a report on their absolute favorite places. We expected them to be the standard bucketlist destinations, like Alaska, or Yellowstone or the Maritimes. Instead, they were much more obscure, places not in the major RV guidebooks, places unique and very appealing. You’ll hear them all coming up in a few minutes in our interview of the week segment. Also this week, lots of RV news you need to know, a very handy clean up tip from Jennifer, the best on the road apps in our traveling technology segment and much more. Click the player below to Listen Now or scroll down through the show note details. When you see a time code hyperlink, you can click it to jump directly to that segment of the podcast. [spp-player] Show Notes for Episode #198 June 27, 2018 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK [spp-timestamp time="2:31"] Mike and Jennifer at Glacier National Park last week MIKE Well here it is the 4th of July Holiday is almost here and June has sped right by! JENNIFER It sure has. We just pulled into our driveway for a brief stop at our sticks and bricks home in Michigan after being on the road pretty much the entire month. In all we covered 4,384.7 miles from the time we left the driveway until last night when we pulled back in. We traveled through nine states making our way to Montana and Glacier National Park, where we just finished an awesome Roadtreking gathering attended by more than 130 people from all across North America MIKE There’s a post on the roadtreking.com travel blog with a full report and lots of photos from the gathering. And we’ll also have a video on it…. Just as soon as I have time to edit it. We came back with 9 videos in the can ready to be edited. But since each one takes about 20 hours to complete, I have my work cut out for me. JENNIFER As we reported last week, we did great going out and keeping to our “330 Rule” of driving no more than 330 miles in a single day, or stopping by 3:30 pm local time so we can still be refreshed and not too tired from the road. That gives us lots of time to explore… and shoot those videos! Coming back…. Well, let’s just say it was hammer time, pedal to the metal all the way, though we did stop by 3:30 one time. MIKE Except it was 3:30 AM! That was Sunday night. We stopped on the way back in the Wisconsin Dells and did our regular 9 PM Sunday night You Tube Live report on our RV Lifestyle Channel. But then we made the tactical decision that because we didn’t want to drive through Monday morning traffic in Chicago – which even during no rush hour time is horrific – we would drive through the night and avoid the traffic jams. JENNIFER But there was still lots of traffic… even at 1 in the morning. We debated taking the ferry across Lake Michigan. They have ferry service from a couple places in Wisconsin. But we couldn’t justify spending $400 to get us and the RV across. So we drive around, spent what was left of the night in a rest area just inside the Michigan border, and then made our way home. MIKE So we’re back in our sticks and bricks house. There’s lots of laundry to do and some house and yard chores but we take off in just a few days for our next Roadtreking gathering, this one to Bryson City, North Carolina on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We’ll be camped on the Natahala River there, a beautiful white water river and we will have calm river float tours, raging rapid runs in a raft for those willing to brave it, zip line rides and, of course, lots of good socializing. JENNIFER And we still have openings. We’ll put a link on the shownotes for this episode where you can get details and sign up.

It’s no secret the RV Industry is on a tear. Record sales continue and every month, thousands of new RVers are hitting the roads. But where will they all stay? The sad fact is there just are not enough campsites to keep pace with the growth in RV sales. And many of the existing campgrounds are poorly kept up. Fortunately, all that is about to change as across North America, developers are building out new, modern, state of the art campgrounds that sometimes more resemble all-inclusive vacation spots than empty fields with electric pedestals. In this week’s podcast, we interview one of those developers who talks about the upcoming boom in RV resorts. Plus, lots of RV news, RV tips, your questions, traveling technology advice and an off the beaten path report. Click the player below to Listen Now or scroll down through the show note details. When you see a time code hyperlink, you can click it to jump directly to that segment of the podcast. [spp-player] Show Notes for Episode #195 June 6, 2018 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK [spp-timestamp time="2:26"] We’re busy packing. Had to stop to do this podcast but we take off soon for the first long trip of the summer, heading to Glacier National Park in Northern Montana. We have a Roadtreking gathering there staring in less than two weeks and this time, instead of rushing, we are going to take our time. That’s right. We are viewing to follow our 330 Rule – which means quit by 330 PM in the afternoon or stop after driving no more than 330 miles. Now if you are a regular follower, you know Mike and I haven’t been real successful at following our own rule. But this time, we are going to promise. And to be accountable to that, we are going to post a video every day that we’re traveling on our RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube. I should point out that we won’t be traveling every day. We have a business meeting we have to do and we have a couple of stories we’ll be shooting on the way out so because unexpected things always arise, we don’t plan to be driving every single day. But, every day that we are on the road, we will do our best to keep that 330 Rule. That, of course, depends on us leaving. Even though we travel in a Class B campervan, it takes forever to get it packed and stocked….and Mike doesn’t help with all his camera and video gear and drone taking up all our storage space! If you wonder just what we do to get ready on a long trip like this, check out our RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube as we will have a video coming out Thursday June 7 first thing in the morning showing the various things we did to prepare for this trip. We are planning on making a gazillion videos on this trip. Oh yeah, that reminds me to announce that those videos include a brand new weekly Live Webcast that we are doing at 9 PM every Sunday night. We call is “Ask Us Anything” and we go live from wherever we are to talk about what’s happening in the RV world and to answer whatever questions you sent in. We did our first one this past Sunday and it was a ball. We had SO MANY questions.  I can’t wait to go live this coming Sunday. We’re not sure where we’ll be. Maybe the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Maybe somewhere in Northern Wisconsin or Minnesota. We should point out that if we are in a really remote location and we do not have a robust Internet connection, we won’t be able to go live. But most times we are just fine and we anticipate being able to do the program most weeks….  By the way… Bo will NOT be accompanying us on this trip. We have a lot of work to do there and on the way out and National Parks are not very dog friendly…so he will be staying with our daughter and her family in Michigan. Ok. That’s what we are up to. Meantime, here is the RV News you need to know about this week: Utah national park considering limiting daily visitors after record numbers visit Memorial Day