Exploring America's Untamed Beauty: Tandy Hammond's RV Trek to the Last Frontier
Jul 02, 2024
Zee Michaelson & Jay Lawrence
Get ready for an epic adventure as we welcome Tandy Hammond, the Director of South Lake Cares, who takes us along on her thrilling RV journey from the Midwest to Alaska. Tandy shares the ins and outs of her meticulous trip preparations, starting from a flight to Minneapolis and a visit to Iowa to pick up brand-new Winnebago RVs from Great Alaskan Holidays. She dives into the process of choosing and mastering the use of the RVs, thanks to a helpful orientation, and recounts the highs and lows of navigating the rugged Alcan Trail. With vivid descriptions of national parks and scenic routes, this episode is packed with invaluable travel insights and firsthand accounts of an unforgettable journey.
But that's not all! Our travel trivia segment kicks off with a fun quiz about the five oceans of the world, followed by captivating stories from trips to Mount Rushmore and the Badlands, revealing the historical significance and unique features of these iconic landmarks. Then, we turn our focus to inspiring adventures in Montana, with Tandy promising to return for more insights into this breathtaking state. Tune in for a mix of educational trivia, personal anecdotes, and motivational travel tales that will ignite your wanderlust and leave you eager to explore America's diverse landscapes and cultures. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook, visit our website at zmichelsontravel.com, and share your favorite travel stories with us at zmichelson@gmail.com!
Get ready for an epic adventure as we welcome Tandy Hammond, the Director of South Lake Cares, who takes us along on her thrilling RV journey from the Midwest to Alaska. Tandy shares the ins and outs of her meticulous trip preparations, starting from a flight to Minneapolis and a visit to Iowa to pick up brand-new Winnebago RVs from Great Alaskan Holidays. She dives into the process of choosing and mastering the use of the RVs, thanks to a helpful orientation, and recounts the highs and lows of navigating the rugged Alcan Trail. With vivid descriptions of national parks and scenic routes, this episode is packed with invaluable travel insights and firsthand accounts of an unforgettable journey.
But that's not all! Our travel trivia segment kicks off with a fun quiz about the five oceans of the world, followed by captivating stories from trips to Mount Rushmore and the Badlands, revealing the historical significance and unique features of these iconic landmarks. Then, we turn our focus to inspiring adventures in Montana, with Tandy promising to return for more insights into this breathtaking state. Tune in for a mix of educational trivia, personal anecdotes, and motivational travel tales that will ignite your wanderlust and leave you eager to explore America's diverse landscapes and cultures. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook, visit our website at zmichelsontravel.com, and share your favorite travel stories with us at zmichelson@gmail.com!
Speaker 1:
Welcome to the Z Michelson Travel Podcast. This podcast is devoted to the travel industry. Z says let your imagination run wild and start dreaming about where you want to go. And dream big, reach for the stars, and if you only get to the moon, at least you enjoyed the trip. Your guide to travel is Z Michelson, a travel advisor, and sitting at the controls is Jay Lawrence, your concierge of podcast travel. Now here's Z.
Speaker 2:
That's me, that's me, I'm Z.
Speaker 3:
Hey, welcome, welcome Welcome.
Speaker 2:
You're my concierge of podcast travel. What is your name? Jay Lawrence. Who are you? I am.
Speaker 3:
Jay the Lawrence. Yes, I am Jay the. Lawrence. Yeah, and you know, Jay, we're brought to you by Collage Travel Media Network. Yes, and that is Network that does streaming radio, podcasting and travel information. It's the teleprompters on the wall for me.
Speaker 2:
I can read it every day and it has nice big print so you can see it.
Speaker 3:
Yes, big print.
Speaker 2:
And you know, today we have brought a special guest into the studio who did quite a bit of traveling. I am so excited about hearing about this I know she really went around rediscovering america and she and her hobby, along with some friends, rv'd from like the midwest or the north midwest, all the way up to alaska oh my goodness, oh my goodness, I want to hear about this.
Speaker 3:
Oh yeah, we're gonna. Would you please bring her in I'm gonna so without further ado.
Speaker 2:
Tandy hammond she's the director of south lake cares welcome to our show. Well, thank you, I'm glad to be here. And, tandy, we just kind of were chatting off mike a bit about all the things that you did.
Speaker 4:
Now you live here in florida with jay and myself and you went with two other couples yes, so there were six of us all together six of you all together and you told me that you flew out of florida and you flew into minnesota yes, we, you know you, when you work, you have a limited amount of time and we have seen quite a bit in the east, so we flew to, uh, minneapolis, minneapolis minnesota, minneapolis, minnesota.
Speaker 2:
Yes, and then you had advised me that you were doing this RV thing through a company called Great Alaska.
Speaker 4:
Holidays yes, Great Alaskan Holidays. Tell me about that. So this company we discovered probably six or seven years ago, but they rent RVs in Alaska and every year they try to get new, brand new RVs into their fleet up there.
Speaker 2:
So this was a brand new RV that you were driving?
Speaker 3:
Yes, Wow, that's a good deal.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, because it cost a company a lot of money to get a vehicle up to Alaska. Most of the time they have to do that by train or by boat. Yeah, I would imagine that would be pricey, that would make sense, yes, so this is a deal for them too, but quite a bit a deal for the consumer.
Speaker 2:
So now you went to Minnesota, but then you told me that you had to pick up the RVs in Iowa.
Speaker 4:
Right, but the company helps you with that. They actually have like a three-day window when all of the RV people are arriving and they pick you up in sets that fill up you know a big bus.
Speaker 3:
They put you in a big bus.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, yeah, and you travel about an hour and a half together.
Speaker 2:
To get to where the RVs are all parked Exactly.
Speaker 3:
And that's in Iowa.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and that's in Iowa. Now, when you said you got to the RV area where you were going to be picking up the RV, you said that you were able to pick things out in advance of actually getting onto this trip. So but you said that they didn't kind of leave you hanging and say here are the keys, go ahead Right. Kind of taught you how to utilize the RV that you were in.
Speaker 4:
Right. So in planning for the trip, you're offered different types of RVs. In planning for the trip, you're offered different types of RVs and, in particular, when we came on board, there was only one kind left and we said, well, that'll work for us. So that's what we did.
Speaker 2:
Now, was that the big long one or the one that you see with the overhang over the truck cab?
Speaker 4:
So it's the kind that has the overhang over the truck cab. It's a Class C, I believe they call it I it. I was gonna say I believe that's a class c yeah, so my, my husband, he knows all those terms and yes, that's what he called it and it was about 30 feet. It might have been 28 feet long. That, um, I know I felt comfortable driving it.
Speaker 2:
Well, that's good yeah now I know for a fact that if you're going to national parks which I know you have they have a limit on the size of the rvs that can go into the park, and I believe 30, 30, 32 might be the limit on the size of the rvs. So you see these big, long, monster rvs. Some of them can't get into the national parks. Right, that's something to consider. But here is something really nice you're in iowa.
Speaker 3:
You're in iowa. You said you've got a football field full of RVs.
Speaker 2:
But there are only a few left, she said.
Speaker 4:
Yeah. So you are bused to this fairground and I unload your luggage and they give you some keys and you go find your RV on the lot.
Speaker 3:
And what brand were these?
Speaker 4:
Oh, they're all Winnebago's this year. Oh, how funny. Most years they do all winnebago's this year. Most years they do all winnebago's. They have found that those hold up on the alcan trail, which is pretty rough right, that's rough.
Speaker 2:
Now, speaking of rough, yeah, and I'm dating myself here please don't hate yourself yeah, I mean, I was about uh 15 and my parents decided we were going to take an rv down Florida.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, because.
Speaker 2:
I'm from New York originally and he borrowed it from my uncle.
Speaker 3:
Uh-huh.
Speaker 2:
My uncle, who used to lend it to his sons to go camping and hunting. Now, when my father pulled up in this RV, which was a Winnebago Back, then, Back in the day my father didn't realize that my cousins didn't treat the Winnebago properly and accidentally put the oil in the water and the water in the oil. So, before we could even get halfway down to Florida, the poor thing decided to sizzle out at us. But the journey was quite amazing, but it was a very amazing.
Speaker 3:
RV in the dime. So, Tandy, had you ever been in an RV before?
Speaker 4:
Well, we have rented a couple of RVs before, but we still have a lot of learning to do. And what's interesting is, they had us watch a video before we got there. Oh, that's good. And then, when we got there, their whole crew is there for the evening and all through the night and in the next morning, and what they're there for is for us to try everything and anything we can't do, don't know how to do or need help doing. They are there to teach us or show us, which was pretty magnificent. My husband understands these things a lot more than I do, but I was able to learn a lot and how to help.
Speaker 2:
That's good, that's good. And so they did not just throw you out there to the wolves. They actually kept you on that campsite for the night, to make sure you knew everything about the RV that you were going to be working in, but I'm worried about cooking utensils, were you? Able to Jay's always worrying about eating.
Speaker 4:
That's one of the things they wanted you to do, jay, because they had just some basics on board. For instance, a can opener was on board, but you wouldn't really think about needing that until you're ready to open up a can. Open a can, right. And they also had a list of other things you could rent if you wanted. For instance, do you want a grill? That's extra. But when we weighed out the cost, we were like, oh, we can stop by Walmart and grab a grill for the same price.
Speaker 2:
One of those easy peasy ones, right and then donate it at the end, that's really cool.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, that's really cool, and I think you said you got chairs.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, because the chairs that they offered were the exact same price they would have cost us even if we found a deal Now you said that you went with two other couples and were you all in one RV.
Speaker 2:
No, oh.
Speaker 4:
We each had our own RV, which was pretty beautiful for a vacation because we had alone time, lots of time to talk and spend time together. I think we only had one argument on the trip, which was great A lot of caravanning.
Speaker 2:
Right.
Speaker 4:
And then at night, when you settled down after the traveling, you already had friends with you to play cards or to grill out together and we found at the end of the 12 days that we were better friends, we had laughed together and just had a great time. So, it was nice and relaxing yeah. Okay.
Speaker 2:
And you went to different spots along the way. And when you're traveling with a group of people, it makes it fun, it makes it exciting. And now when you traveled, it fun, it makes it exciting. Yeah, and now when you traveled, you went from arriving in minnesota going to iowa. Then you all got in the rv, everybody knew what they were doing, and then you drove to south dakota. I understand, right, right, okay. So in south dakota, where'd you go?
Speaker 4:
well, you know I was a little disappointed at the beginning of the travel because we were just eye-to-eye farmlands.
Speaker 1:
And we've experienced a lot of that, miss Tandy. We got to some.
Speaker 4:
The United States has kind of flared up, Right, and you know like we come from a farming family, so I appreciate that for sure. But I was like I kind of want to see some other stuff. But on my list of non-negotiables was going to see Mount Rushmore and, wow, it did not disappoint.
Speaker 2:
It's amazing. It really is amazing. You are absolutely correct. Now did you park the RV in the national parks there? You also went to the Badlands, so you probably hit the Badlands before Mount Rushmore Right, we hit the Badlands.
Speaker 4:
And then wemore Right, we hit the Badlands, and then we went to Mount Rushmore, and then we went to something called Devil's Tower. Yes, that's an anomaly, like that thing, you're just going along and then bam Bam.
Speaker 3:
There it is, there it is. You said non-negotiable. Now you wanted to get to the Badlands. Where did the other couples? Where was their opportunities? You?
Speaker 4:
know it was funny. I think one of them picked Banff. One of them has a business partner there and they really wanted to spend some time in Banff.
Speaker 3:
Okay.
Speaker 4:
One of them. They were like oh well, you chose Mount Rushmore, so I'll choose the Badlands. So you guys had a list of things.
Speaker 2:
Well, that's kind of cool. So here we are in South Dakota and you're in a national park and I'm sure between the Badlands and Mount Rushmore you had your share of prairie dogs popping up. Now you stayed inside a national park.
Speaker 4:
We stayed inside of a couple of national parks or just outside.
Speaker 2:
You said KOA was your campsite of choice.
Speaker 4:
You know, we reserved a few spots because we knew right at the beginning we would need a spot, and so we reserved a couple of those. And then we reserved in Canada too, because it was one of their national holidays and the campgrounds fill up. But, other than that, we were really flexible. Well, that's cool. What's interesting about this Great Alaskan Holidays vacation package is there's a Facebook group.
Speaker 4:
Oh, cool and so all the campers. There were 150 RVs, so everybody's communicating. Hey, we went this route, this is a great campground. Or hey, we went here and there's no electricity Because you're going all in the same direction.
Speaker 2:
Exactly Because you all have to get to Alaska. Exactly, you had to get it there within 18 days.
Speaker 4:
Yes, yes. And it was great too, because somebody said look, I don't know how to operate this. Does anybody know where it is on this particular RV? Oh yeah, and then we could help each other without sharing any personal information, and that was great. Yeah, that's beautiful.
Speaker 3:
That's beautiful.
Speaker 4:
Speaking of personal information, I've got to find out who cooked on this trip he's always thinking food Okay, so I think we only ate two meals out. The rest we ate either on the grill or in the RV.
Speaker 3:
Okay. Were you cooking? Or who was the husband? Who was the?
Speaker 4:
chef, you know we've been married now. Oh, I don't even know. Let me think 29 years this year.
Speaker 2:
Oh, she's like me. Somebody asked me that the other day and they said how long have you and your husband been married? I went a lot.
Speaker 4:
He could tell you right away, 28 years now, that I'm doing the math.
Speaker 2:
It was funny.
Speaker 4:
I cooked the first 20 years and after that I told him and the kids, I'm like, okay, it's y'all's turn Chef's day off, but what's interesting? Is, he did most of the driving in our case, so you don't really have to stop in an RV, which is so awesome. So if you have good core strength, you can get around in that thing to cook lunch or whatever as you go. And so we did a lot of sandwiches for lunch, a lot of fruit and that kind of thing.
Speaker 4:
And it sounds like you kept a pace going. Yeah, we did. I think we only had two days where we were still, and the least amount of driving we ever did was six and a half hours. So it's a lot of driving, but the driving is the trip.
Speaker 2:
Oh wow. So well, what we're going to do right now is, in case you don't know, we do traveling trivia questions.
Speaker 4:
Now you don't know. Uh, we do traveling trivia questions. Now jay has to answer them, but you can help them would you help me?
Speaker 3:
I don't know if I can, but I'll try. Well, neither do I.
Speaker 2:
That's why we do this okay, so here's the traveling trivia question yes what are the names of the five oceans of the world?
Speaker 3:
okay, we got two of them right, go with.
Speaker 2:
Go with that. There's three more. You gotta name all five.
Speaker 3:
Okay, one would be Pacific. Okay, one would be the A, and the A is cold Atlantic.
Speaker 2:
Right Indian Very good, good and you've got two more to go.
Speaker 4:
Tammy, it's Antarctica, I'm not sure.
Speaker 2:
Yes, is that an ocean Antarctica? She got one Way to go. Way to go, okay, and we got one more, one more.
Speaker 4:
I just keep thinking of the seas. You know, you got the Mediterranean Sea.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, there's a lot of seas. You got all that. There's a lot of oceans.
Speaker 4:
There's got to be one more.
Speaker 2:
Well, you went all the way south. I'm giving a hint here.
Speaker 4:
You went all the way south to Antarctica.
Speaker 2:
You're going all the way north to. It's not Baltic.
Speaker 3:
Alaska.
Speaker 2:
No, no, that's where she went on her trip, yeah.
Speaker 4:
I don't think Baltic is a thing. No, it's the Baltic.
Speaker 2:
Sea, but yeah, yeah, Is she close. I think we went to antarctic and we went all the way opposite to the north.
Speaker 4:
it's the like around norway and sweden. It's the I don't know you can't tell us. I think we gotta look, it's the arctic, the arctic, the arctic, that's simple arctic ant.
Speaker 3:
Antarctic, arctic, but isn't it all in the same?
Speaker 4:
Oh, but you're right. Arctic Ocean, it's all on the same Earth, it's all on the same Earth. That's where the whales are. That are the. Oh, I can't think of it right now.
Speaker 2:
I want to see the narwhal whales. That's like on a bucket list.
Speaker 4:
I got to see the narwhal whales. I'm that's like on a bucket list I gotta see the narwhals. Are you familiar with what a narwhal whale is? Yes, I am. They're kind of like a swimming unicorn.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, they really look weird. Oh, wow, they really look weird, but yep, well, you got four out of the five, so you guys did it.
Speaker 3:
I don't know my kid's gonna get. Well let's get back on the road.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, let's get back on the trip. So we're in the Badlands, we're in Mount Rushmore, and you said Mount Rushmore was a sight to see. Yeah, now I've been to Mount Rushmore a few years ago and what I found fabulous was the nighttime show that they had. Did you know that they had a nighttime show? No, I did not. Oh, you should have talked to me.
Speaker 4:
You should have talked to me, tandy. I would have told you to stay for the nighttime show. I know we missed some stuff and we can go back, yeah.
Speaker 2:
You got to do it again. You got to call that great Alaskan holiday place and say we're going to do it again. Rushmore has a nighttime show dedicated to our veterans and it's beautiful, it lights up and they really show it perfectly. So it's amazing. But I was always teasing my husband. I want to go up there and go right up their noses to see the statues.
Speaker 3:
I don't think they're very.
Speaker 2:
If you get to their nose it's not much there and I was very disappointed because everybody was chicken with me. I had my daughter with me, my mother was with me, I had my daughter with me, my mother was with me, my husband was with me and I wanted to go on a helicopter around the top to see it, but nobody wanted to do it.
Speaker 4:
So what did you think of the Badlands? Well, you know, I mean, I thought they were pretty amazing. I've been to the Grand Canyon, I've been to the canyon in Hawaii and to me it was very representative of that, as far as you know, the color, the depth you know it's almost like the wild wild west when you watch those old cowboy pictures, and that's kind of how it got its name.
Speaker 2:
You know that, right yeah.
Speaker 4:
I don't know how it got its name. I figure you know Teddy Roosevelt was all things out there.
Speaker 1:
I figure he named it.
Speaker 2:
Well, actually it was a nickname that was given to them because the outlaws would hide in there. Oh, that makes sense, because it was very difficult to find them in and out of those crevices, so they named it the Badlands. I think you could get lost in there like a maze. Yes, I don't know how they ever survived. I lost in there like a maze. Yes, I don't know how they ever survived. You know, I'm sure we'll fall, fall over some, uh dead pirate bones or something.
Speaker 3:
Over there. We have discussed this, but that's not my most favorite land, so the badlands.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and I love it. I'm I'm into that kind of architecture. I'm like tandy, let's keep going west, because then it gets exciting yeah, well, Well, what I really want to focus now from Tandy is it took her 12 days she told me from day to pick up.
Speaker 4:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Now, when you flew into Minnesota, did you stay there for a couple of days before you? Went, no you just automatically got picked up by the great Alaskan holiday people.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, yeah, it was really, let's get started with this trip. Let's get it going. A lot of the people on this trip. They're really wanting to get to Canada. For us, we were really wanting to get out west.
Speaker 2:
Oh wow, and from what I understand, and we're going to one more state before we jump into Canada. Yeah, we're going to jump into Montana, yay.
Speaker 4:
Because that's where you went, right. You went to. That was montana. I did not think there was much in that in montana, and boy was I wrong boy were you I would go back in a heartbeat there gorgeous, beautiful and lots of fun things to do, especially, if you like, outside activity lots of fun, fun stuff now you went to two different places.
Speaker 2:
In montana you went to bozeman, which is jay's favorite place, because jay's been there many, many times my son lives there right?
Speaker 4:
well, lucky you, because there is a lot of things to do there and spend time with him doing them right.
Speaker 2:
But you know we've been chatting for how long now about all of this. So you know what. You know what I got to do.
Speaker 3:
No.
Speaker 2:
I have to talk about.
Speaker 3:
A trip.
Speaker 2:
A tip. Let's talk about a travel tip.
Speaker 3:
All right.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, let's get that travel tip in, considering we're on the road here. So, since we're traveling on the road and rediscovering America, don't forget to pick up a National Park Service map and guide with an annual pass. Did you get your annual pass, tandy?
Speaker 4:
No, but I did find out I could.
Speaker 2:
I know.
Speaker 3:
I can pull mine out right now. Jay has his. I have my annual pass Nice.
Speaker 2:
And, as we're hearing today from Tandy, our national parks are all throughout the United States and they are very, very amazing. So there you go. Make sure you get your National Park Service Map and Guide with Annual Pass.
Speaker 3:
Alright.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, Okay. So how about one more little tidbit from Tandy before we have to shut down the show here?
Speaker 4:
So I'm going to say this tip. Okay, she got a tip for us. I just went. I love it. We before we went, you mentioned prairie dogs, right? Someone suggested this and we downloaded it on the internet bingo for traveling while you're looking for animals, and so I printed off these oh like a bingo game? Yeah, like a bingo game. So I printed these these off and gave each RV two of them, because we did see different things, because even though we're following each other Right- you don't always see the same things, right.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, right. And so we played bingo as we traveled, which was fun. I'm going to say that's debatable, but I'm going to say that my husband won. Your husband won. Yeah, out of all six of you. Yes, I would say Eric was a close second.
Speaker 3:
Were you always in the same. You caravaned. All three of you were together all the time.
Speaker 4:
Yeah, we thought we might trade off, like girls go together some, and we thought if we get bored we'll split it up. But we didn't. It turns out we actually like the people we married and you know we hung out with them.
Speaker 2:
Yes, because traveling across the country with your family can be an interesting adventure in itself.
Speaker 4:
That's your family, we kept our options open.
Speaker 3:
My question was not who you were with, but did you, was your rv always in front, or did you guys leader of the pack?
Speaker 4:
so what's interesting is, yes, we were always leading, and one of the reasons they put us out front it was because, when we reserved our rv like I said, we've been looking at this for six or seven years we found out there were still about 30 RVs available, and so we called some people that we were willing to vacation with.
Speaker 2:
Oh, so this was you guys, your idea, before you brought in the other two couples.
Speaker 4:
We called our friends and we said listen, we would love for you to go with us, but if so, you got to get your own RV.
Speaker 3:
And you have to call today or tomorrow, not that we don't love you, but your own RV, oh wow, because these?
Speaker 4:
things go very fast there's a waiting list.
Speaker 2:
There's a waiting list and so yeah. We'll have to put that on the site the Great Alaskan Holiday.
Speaker 4:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
We'll put the website on our site, so they can see that. So that's, fabulous.
Speaker 3:
Okay, we need to talk about Montana Montana.
Speaker 2:
We're going to talk about Montana next time she comes back.
Speaker 3:
We've got a little time to talk about it today.
Speaker 2:
No, we really don't.
Speaker 3:
We don't Okay.
Speaker 2:
Because we have to go into Canada. Oh yeah, and we have to go to Alaska.
Speaker 3:
Well, she's going to Alaska.
Speaker 2:
Yes, and we've got. So this poor woman here all day, all right. So we know for a fact that Tandy has been traveling with her husband around the great of the United States and heading to Alaska with two other couples and they were having a great time. And, tandy, thank you for coming in today and inspiring our listeners to travel and rediscover America. My pleasure, and I know you'll be back to finish sharing those adventures, because Jay is biting at the bit about Montana.
Speaker 3:
I want to know more about Montana.
Speaker 2:
So there you have it so much traveling to do, so little time to do it in. So tune in every week for more travel info and insights and just plain crazy fun, like we're having today. Please follow me and like me on Facebook. Do you have a favorite location or perhaps an interesting travel tip? Let me know at zmichelson, at gmailcom, and Z, of course, is spelt Z-E-E. I'm very excited to let you know. My podcast can be heard on your favorite podcast players. Feel free to give me a review. I'd love to hear what you have to say, but thanks for listening today. Traveling truly opens up the world to you. You learn all about the different cultures, the lifestyles and, of course as you heard Jay a million times today food. Then you realize we truly really are all the same. So dream, dream big, reach for the stars and if you only get to the moon, at least you made the trip. If you're looking for great places to travel to, feel free to visit my website, zmichelsontravelcom.
Speaker 3:
And how do you spell that?
Speaker 2:
Z-E-E. This is Z Michelson, making your travel dreams come true, you.
