The RV Road Less Expensive: Making RV Life Work on a Budget

Lets dive into the feasibility of affordable RV living, sharing personal experiences, expert advice, and practical tips for making life on the road financially manageable. This episode of the RV Life Podcast,  hosted by Patti Hunt, with expert guest Van Russell of The Adventure Detour. Together, they have a very lively  discussion of their RV journey and the challenges of budgeting without a solid plan, and the unforeseen expenses of campground fees and maintenance. Van, alongside her family, shares their nine-year full-time RV living experience, highlighting the shift from a stationary life to embracing the freedom and educational benefits of road schooling. They cover a range of topics including downsizing, the importance of choosing the right RV, budget management strategies, and making the most of membership programs like Thousand Trails for cost-effective camping options. The conversation also touches on various means of saving on expenses like fuel and maintenance while on the road, the importance of selecting a trustworthy RV dealership, and considerations for selling an RV.

Connect with Van Russel and family: Website The Adventure Detour
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Mentioned on the podcast Brett Davis President of NIRVC
Brett Talk: Has the RV Industry Hit Rock Bottom, Or Will it get Worse?

Thank you for listening to the podcast, we would love to hear from you, please leave us a comment or question here on the podcast or on our social media channels.  RV LIFE Podcast Instagram or RV LIFE Podcast Facebook

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Is debt-free RV life even possible? I'm Patti Kine and you're listening to the RV Life podcast. Rv life can be expensive, so, whether you're full-time, part-time sometime, how are people affording to do? It is the big question. I hear this all the time, and today's guest is here to help us through making RV life at least a little more affordable.

Speaker 1: 0:36

Now, on the road for over three years, there were times we just didn't think we could afford to go on. Being totally transparent here, being totally honest, we decided to get on the road. We took about four months to prepare ourselves and off we went. It was during COVID and, as everybody knows, it was a tough time for a lot of people, including us and so when we decided to get on the road, there wasn't a great plan, especially around money, and then things start to break. Campgrounds are expensive and making it through is one of those tough ones for a lot of people. So I'm so grateful for our guests today who's going to help us through that. For those of you listening to the RV Life podcast for the first time, we would love it if you would hit the like button and find out every time a new podcast comes along, which is every Wednesday morning. Our mission for starting the podcast is to educate, entertain and explore the lifestyle with the drive to inspire you to fully live life. The journey has heavily taken us in many different directions and the next chapter is being created. I gotta say I've learned so much from the experiences and the amazing people I have met along the way and each week enjoys sharing what I've learned with you, our listeners. Now, please, if you know somebody or you are interested in being on the RV Life podcast, reach out to me on RV Life podcast on Instagram or Facebook. I answer every message and would love to hear your suggestions for possibly our next guest.

Speaker 1: 2:26

Now it is time for this week's fun fact, and that is brought to you by Open Roads Resort, and they now have five amazing locations. Two of them are in Montana, one is in Idaho, one in Texas and their newest location in Nebraska, called West Omaha KOA. If you're on the East Coast, like I am, and you're heading, say, towards Yellowstone National Park, this campground would be amazing, an amazing place to stop. But it's not just a pit stop place. It is highly amenitized, it is family-friendly and centrally located, minutes from Omaha and Lincoln, nebraska, and I gotta say I've looked at the pictures, the place looked amazing. So for today's fun fact, this week I had the opportunity to talk to Keith Bernard, the inventor of the Clear 2.0 product, and while I understood the idea of water filters for our RV, I learned something new this week that I want to share.

Speaker 1: 3:34

The fact is that there are really two main types of water filters. One is granular carbon and the other a solid carbon block. Now, most of you are probably familiar with the granular carbon and the other a solid carbon block. Now, most of you are probably familiar with the granular carbon type filters. These are those white filters or the blue ones. You could buy them at your local stores or on Amazon and, like the name says, they are granules. Sometimes, when you're putting the filter on, you'll see some of those black granules fall out. It's not harmful, but you get an idea what they look like.

Speaker 1: 4:11

What Keith invented was a solid carbon block. This is a solid piece of material that has the carbon. So why is all this so important? The fact is, the more time the water comes in contact with the carbon, the cleaner it gets. So, as you can imagine, water takes the path of least resistant and will quickly flow through granules where the water on the carbon block will sit there longer. Now I know this is a lot of information and you could go to Clear 2.0's YouTube channel and see a quick one-minute video that shows everything I just explained. For me the bottom line I love my cappuccino every morning and a great cappuccino or a great cup of coffee starts with great, clean water. Clear 2-0 is the answer, and you could go to clear2ocom. The information is in the show notes. Check them out.

Speaker 1: 5:16

This fun fact was brought to you by Open Road Resort and now I'm super excited to get to our guest, who has learned and is now going to teach us how to make RV life more affordable. Today's expert guest has been on the road full-time for almost nine years with her husband, scott and her now 14-year-old daughter, sissy, got her now 14-year-old daughter, sissy. They were living in Kansas City, missouri, when they sold it all in search of more quality time and family adventures. They wanted to travel while their daughter was still young so she could learn through traveling. They work as freelance travel writers for RV travel magazines and blogs. They have a website and are social media content creators sharing valuable information with lots of freebies to help you navigate your RV life Van. I want to welcome you, van Russell, to the RV Life Podcast. Welcome.

Speaker 2: 6:21

Hi Patty. Thank you so much for having me Welcome, Hi Patti, Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1: 6:25

It is so great to have you. I know we've talked on social media. We then met in a campground in Florida, so it was so great to be able to talk to you and I did a deep dive into so much quality information that you and your family put out. It's a wealth of information and this is what I love bringing to our RV Life audience, and certainly this conversation of RV Life being more affordable is a huge one. Before we yeah, you get the question all the time too. You shared, right, but let's go to listeners back to that time when you made the decision. So a lot of people know it was during COVID when Dan said let's sell everything, go full-time RVing and within four months we were on the road. This was nine years ago Exactly road. What did this was nine years ago. So exactly what you said you wanted a quality time and family adventure. What did that look like when you started talking about RV?

Speaker 2: 7:34

living. Oh man, first of all, patty was totally different back then, because we started looking into this in 2000 and young people weren't really they weren't really doing this yet and, like Instagram, social media sources to get information, it wasn't really there yet either. So the idea, especially as a family with kids to hit the road was really kind of a crazy concept, and so I didn't have a lot to go on back then to research the lifestyle, and that's why I really love to try to create that information today for people, because, wow, now you can find so much more on it. But I had a friend that decided to do this with her family and it really got the wheels turning in my mind Is this possible, like, how can we even make this work?

Speaker 2: 8:26

And the idea intrigued me so much that I had to start researching, which back then was a couple Facebook groups that I took notebooks full of notes in, because we had never been in an RV before. Wow, we'd never camped before, tent camp, anything. I never stepped into a campground before. So I'm like, hey, how are we going to go from the big dream house in the suburbs to living in a small RV? But man, I was so intrigued with the freedom, basically that these people, these few pioneers that had done it, had found. I'm like what the heck? Let's do it.

Speaker 1: 8:59

Wow, that's an incredible story and, like you said, there wasn't, I know for me, three years ago you could watch one YouTube video after another. We listened to the people like RV Miles and Keep your Daydream and Changing Lanes and Today is Someday, and I could go on and on, one after the other, but you really were one of the pioneers in this. Yeah, there wasn't much, yeah, there wasn't, and okay. So never having been in an RV, never having tech camp, never having camp Wow, that's a really incredible step into. It had be scary as heck.

Speaker 2: 9:38

So scary, oh my gosh. Because we had just built what I thought was our dream house, right, that we were going to live our whole life in, right, and so why not just sell it all, completely blind faith, and just do this?

Speaker 2: 9:50

But at first my husband thought I was crazy and then, it was my idea, because it's my friend that told me about it, and he couldn't let the idea go either, though Once I presented it it was funny. It's like it haunted us. We'd stuff it down a little while and be like, no, we're going to be normal and keep doing what we're doing, you know it's safe, yeah. And then the idea would just keep coming back it's no, but what if you could have more? What if you could have this freedom and this quality time together and see and have all these adventures Like what an epic life. And I hate what if. I'm that personality which just cannot stand. What if? And I knew, if we didn't do it, the what ifs were going to be forever. You know, right, what if we would have sold it all and decided to do that crazy idea, you know? So it just it was part of the bigger plan, I think, for our family than we realize.

Speaker 1: 10:45

And I think that's a great message, and I try and get that message across in everything I do. So when we started, our natural progression was to go start a YouTube channel. Dan had been in the entertainment industry his whole life, creating video and editing, and all that was just second nature. We had all the equipment, and my thing when I started was, okay, this sounds totally crazy, and again, during COVID and the fact that so many people were doing it, it wasn't quite as crazy. But my whole thing was my mission had been to inspire people to live life fully. Life's short we don't know how short had been. To inspire people to live life fully. Life's short, we don't know how short. Live your dreams, don't just dream.

Speaker 1: 11:28

And that messaging it scared the heck out of me. It scared me to death, and there wasn't a great plan and just do it, okay. So that's what we're here today is talk about the big thing for people, and that's money. Now, before we do that, though, your daughter at the time was five years old right, I could do the math on that. So you had a five-year-old. So people don't really have excuses left. I hear a lot of people that say, when I retire, when the kids are grown and look, this lifestyle isn't for everybody. I'm not trying to say it is. I had a hard time imagining what it would be like to be with any of our kids and be RV. It's not for everybody, it just won't. It's not. It's just to stay open to possibility, that's.

Speaker 2: 12:16

Yeah, my feeling was that in our family a lot of people have not made it through retirement and I just don't feel like tomorrow's ever really guaranteed. And if you want that time with your family while your kids are small, obviously they grow up just so darn fast and to preserve those memories, for us it was just let's go for it right now, first of all, while we were young and able enough to enjoy the adventures and do the physical things that we wanted to do, but also so we still had our daughter for those experiences and there are some challenges. For sure it's not for everyone, but for us it's worth it.

Speaker 1: 12:51

Yes, and again, it's just keeping people open to possibilities, and if it's our vein today, we're going to talk about how to make it more affordable. But whatever that is, it's like you said some people don't make it to retirement, some people don't, and again, as people know, dan is right now in a hospital and we just don't know. There's no guarantees, and so that's the message that I always want to try and get out is, whatever that looks like, every day needs to count. Every day definitely needs to count.

Speaker 1: 13:25

Okay. Yeah, let's jump in Now. When you decided to, you sold it all, you okay.

Speaker 2: 13:33

All, in All in.

Speaker 1: 13:34

Now you sold it all. Did you get the storage unit or just skip that?

Speaker 2: 13:39

No, no, luckily my parents were nice enough to take a few key things when you're trying to empty out. We had a 3,000 square foot house full of stuff. You try to empty that out and you think, are there any things that I would just not be able to replace easily? And so those things we kept with my parents, so all the photos, all the mementos and then a lot of things that my daughter had because she was little at the time, and so what didn't fit in the RV, I didn't want her to have to sacrifice all of her things. So my parents were nice enough that they took a few items for us. Keep state wide, but we let all the furniture go. Everything that was big we let go, because to me I'm like it was so funny, patty, because I remember clearing out the house.

Speaker 2: 14:28

Now, we did this in the month of December, the worst possible month to sell a house and have to sell everything you own, because in the Midwest it was like zero degrees and ice and snow and no one wants to buy stuff in December. So we were literally dumping everything off in December and our house sold so fast that it was closing in December. So I thought, oh my gosh. But I remember every time I had a tough time partying with something, like I had this stand mixer that I wanted forever. I had finally just got this dumb stand mixer and I'm like I can't take this in the RV, I'm not going to use it, I just need to let it go. And I couldn't. And I thought I looked at that stand mixer and it had a standoff. I'm like, do I want the stand mixer or do I want to go to the Grand Canyon? And then it was easy to get rid of that sand mixer. So I had to do that with myself.

Speaker 1: 15:07

Sometimes that's awesome and I want so. We have a 40-foot Monaco diplomat. It's got amazing cabinet space, just the two of us. There is so much storage space we took the stand mixer with us.

Speaker 1: 15:22

We used it about four or five times but we took it with us and yeah, so I do want to offer to people, because this is a whole conversation. Back when the RV Life podcast first started, we had Robin she blogs under BG Barnstormer and she talked about organizing. But I keep saying I'm going to have her on the show to talk about downsizing because I think that could be a possibly traumatic period.

Speaker 2: 15:55

It can, it's hard.

Speaker 1: 15:57

So we'll definitely have to have her on, and I love your feedback of looking at it and say this, or the Grand Canyon. I think, when it comes to downsizing, that is a great way to have that gauge.

Speaker 2: 16:09

Oh yeah, the whole reason most of us are doing downsizing is because we want to replace physical stuff with experiences, and that's the whole point, really. It's still hard to let go of the things that you love sometimes, but you're replacing it with something that's so much more meaningful. You can always get another stand mixer Right.

Speaker 1: 16:29

But you know, going to the Grand.

Speaker 2: 16:31

Canyon is one of those epic bucket lists, and that's what this is about.

Speaker 1: 16:37

Okay, now you decide to sell it all. You're going in your RV. Did you have at that time a financial plan? Can you take us through? Let's start. Did you guys have regular jobs?

Speaker 2: 16:51

I'm putting that in there we did. We had regular jobs, I was already staying home with our daughter, and so we had already planned a homeschool. We had that part in the bag, which is a very difficult transition for a lot of families that decide to go into Fulton Marvine. I was already staying home with her and had a small business with selling some health care items, and so I was in the homeschool mode and my husband had a regular office job that he had to leave, and so that's a scary leap. We were just going to go to our small business at that point, which wasn't very much, but the whole idea of it was, if we lived smaller and more simply, we didn't need all that income, and that's a scary transition to make.

Speaker 2: 17:32

But at the end of the day, when I crunched the numbers, we were working to pay for that big house and two cars, and if we got rid of it we could basically live debt free.

Speaker 2: 17:42

And I realized that in crunching the numbers and it was scary, but that's exactly what we did and so we sold the house and we sold both cars and all of our furniture and all of our stuff, and we took the proceeds to buy our big dually truck and our 45th wheel that we started in all in cash, and so we started Debt Free. Which I think is a key sticking point for saving money on the road is a lot of people want to downsize and they get into RV living, but then they turn around and they get a really large loan on a really nice RV, which, if you can afford that, definitely go for it, but it's almost like replacing the same living costs that you had in your house with the RV. You can run into trouble in that way. So I didn't want that. I wanted to live simple with less, and so that's how we started out debt-free, right.

Speaker 1: 18:32

And so some people don't have the opportunity to sell the house. So for Dan and I we had a house we had sold the year before, not a lot, we were renting, and because of COVID we had spent over a year of money going out, not income going in.

Speaker 1: 18:50

So again, being totally honest and transparent. It wasn't a great situation. The other thing was we did decide to buy an RV that didn't cost a lot of money because, honestly, I think Dan wasn't sure I would survive. I would make it, I would want to keep doing it. That was we talk about. It was the truth.

Speaker 1: 19:09

We don't we didn't know we didn't have a because I had been in an RV way longer than you had. I had been in an RV seven days total. I had been camping about three or four times, so way more experience with it than you had. But what if we hate it? What if I don't know? And I'll be honest, I just jumped in. I didn't what if it? I just jumped in. And if it doesn't work, we'll go to plan Z, because at this point our lives had taken many different twists and turns For sure. So a lot of people greed if somebody could sell it all and then buy the RV and the debt free. That's the best, obviously the best.

Speaker 2: 19:50

But social media brainwashes you into feeling like you have to have this amazing renovated RV home on wheels, and it's really not true. It's whatever you can get to get you out there to do the thing Right. It could be something used, it could be something small, it could be a gut job, it doesn't matter, it's just getting you out there Right To get to your dream. And so you don't have to start with the hugest, nicest, best. And we didn't. We just we bought one that we could afford with the proceeds and went for it. So, yeah, there's a lot of different options there, for sure, and you don't have to have a plan. We start with a two-year plan, right, but it obviously morphed into nine. You know how to live in a house and have regular jobs, so you can always go back. That's the way I feel about that. That's a comfort life that you can always go back to if you don't love RV life.

Speaker 1: 20:52

Yeah, and it's like you said start out with what's affordable. Some people start out with a tent. Luxury was having a really nice air mattress in the tent when I was tent camping. That was luxury.

Speaker 1: 21:05

I just talked to Josh Sheehan from RV Gear and Far. He was on the show the week before this show and he said that they had a pop-up like a pop-up and he said that's the gateway drug into RVing. Because you're right For sure. Yeah, definitely, and I've met a lot of people on the road that have bought these great, big, beautiful, magnificent, and they're like now what the big question always is and this is what we're covering the big question for people is will RV living be more affordable? I've had people, so Dan and I have done speaking and the audience will come up, people from the audience and will this be more affordable? I've had people, so Dan and I have done speaking and the audience will come up. People from the audience and will this be more affordable? Where are you coming from?

Speaker 1: 21:52

I came from a 3,000 plus square foot house as well and buying a less expensive RV. It was more affordable, it was less expensive. So I try and get people to just that's not a question that could just be answered, but I love what you said. I think it's great advice. You looked at your budget, you looked at the money you had. You made the choice to buy something that was affordable. A 40-foot with a dually well, with a dually is a big buy, but for some people maybe they start out with the pop-up and see if you like it, and to your question, because we get that question all the time too.

Speaker 2: 22:31

The better thing that I tell people is what RV living is in reality is never what you figure on paper. If I could drive home one thing to people, it's go ahead and budget out on paper what you think it's going to cost you every month for campgrounds, for gas, for activities, for food, all the things right, and then have a emergency budget category every month, because RV living is very fluid. There's always things that pop up on the road when you're traveling. There's RV repairs, sometimes your plans have to change the last minute and where you need to stay is a lot more expensive than what you planned. I would just always say keep an emergency savings account, but then also have a little wiggle room in your monthly budget for extras, because it's really more in reality than ever.

Speaker 1: 23:20

And that's huge and a lot of people on social media and social media is great. You can learn a lot of it. Obviously, you have to take with a grain of salt, so people sure will ask what is this going to cost? What can I expect this to cost? It depends what, and then people will. I've seen people post like this is january, february, march, and here's all the expenses for the month, which is great, and that is their reality and I think everybody has to take it with a grain of salt. You could show me exactly what you've spent and money on groceries and show me every receipt, but my reality is not going to be the same as yours.

Speaker 1: 23:58

You have three people, yeah, so it varied so greatly. And that's the benefit of this show, because we are going to share with our listeners some ways to save money. And one of the things I want great segue, and we didn't talk about whether you use it or not. But the other big expense campgrounds, huge expense. The other big expense for a lot of people could be fuel.

Speaker 1: 24:29

For a lot of people could be fuel and right, that fuel can sometimes be more or less and you can make that decision how much you're going to spend, depending on budget. So your budget right. Say, I'm not going to go from pennsylvania to the albuquerque balloon fiesta with we did last year, because it's going to cost nine900 in fuel, right, but is it worth it? So there's where you have to make those decisions. Now we use the Open Roads Fuel Card. We have had this card since before. I think we applied for it before we started. Rving Like this would be a way to save money and it has saved us probably for the last three years. I want to say thousands without exaggerating thousands of dollars.

Speaker 1: 25:08

So when you can find these ways to save money. Do you have fuel saving? I'm putting you on the spot. We didn't ask, Nope, we don't.

Speaker 2: 25:17

No, that's okay, we actually don't, but that is a really great tool. Good Sam members also have a gas savings benefit. So that's another one. And actually someone mentioned a new program which I need to look into a little bit further. But yes, so there are fuel saving thing. My thing with saving fuel is it's about how you trip plan, exactly what you mentioned. If you travel slow and you stay in areas longer, not only is usually your campground being less and your camping cost less, but also your gas, and so really just how fast you travel, how slow, how far you go, each trip affects your monthly budget a lot. It's one of the most biggest factors.

Speaker 1: 25:56

And I think the messaging here is for people to understand if they want to live more debt free, if they want to budget, that's where you plan. So when somebody says, oh, I spent $3,000 in the last year on fuel, that doesn't have to be your reality. So people are looking to other people what did you spend and you got to? Fuel? There is control over. You. Can't control the fact that it went up so high a couple years ago, can't control the fact that it went up so high a couple of years ago, can't control the fluctuation, but your trip planning you can control and say, okay, this is what we want to spend for this month, for fuel cost, whether that's diesel. For us it's diesel or gas either way. And, like you said, there are a lot of programs out there for discounts. I know Gas Buddies for regular gas is another great card to use. Yeah, Now the other thing traveling around the country. I do want to say and this is one of our sponsors Open Roads has an innovative tolling solution and I have spent so much money on toll.

Speaker 1: 27:02

Fine, we have the E-ZPass, which covers most of the East Coast, but as we traveled around the country, it didn't work. And so now though, oh, you're like a lot of them, like in Texas. When you go through a toll pass, it sends you a notice in the mail and you pay it Toll by plate. It's called. The problem is because we live on the mail and you pay it toll by plate. It's called. The problem is because we live on the road and we have a mailing service, like I'm sure you do. The notice gets to the mailing service. I wasn't quick enough to check it. 25 days they give you. They don't give you a month.

Speaker 1: 27:38

25 days don't know where they come up with that yeah, so the bottom line is the $200 in fines from there and one in, I think, the Virginia area. That was not planned and I tried to fight it. $250 not budgeted. These are things so innovative tolling. When I was introduced to this by Open Roads, it's a toll transponder covers all 48 states I have had it.

Speaker 2: 28:04

That's great. I didn't know about this.

Speaker 1: 28:06

It's relatively the open roads. Owning or being part of this is relatively new, so I was the first one to have one of these transponders. The fact is, innovative Tolling Solutions has been in business for many years. The guy we spoke to from the company said it's the best kept secret and I'm like, okay, we need to not make this a secret, because not only is the 48 states fantastic.

Speaker 1: 28:33

They have concierge service. If you go through and you get that notice in the mail, they help you deal with it. So no more paying fines for me.

Speaker 2: 28:43

Oh nice yeah, I love this idea.

Speaker 1: 28:45

It's fantastic and, as they're talking about it, I was waiting for them to say it was $50, $75 a year. I'll pay it, I'll pay the extra money to have that service, but it's $24 a year, that's it.

Speaker 2: 28:59

That's no brainer right there. No, brainer.

Speaker 1: 29:02

My E-ZPass cost $25 and I needed two of them, so that's the other thing. I needed one for the RV and one for the tow car. This you need the one. And I even talked to them and said how is? This going to work. You just need the one tow pass. It's $24 a year, anyway.

Speaker 2: 29:20

Oh, okay, this is good to know, yeah, money saving tips.

Speaker 1: 29:24

But okay, definitely, let's get back Campgrounds, campgrounds. That's exactly where.

Speaker 2: 29:29

I was going. Campgrounds, yes, yeah. To me the top three costs are obviously gas, campgrounds and food. Activities can be up there too, right, but campgrounds first of all. Boondockers If you're a boondocker, that's amazing. There's nothing better than free. We are not boondockers, so I need hookups. That's the kind of camper I am Yep, me too. If you can boondock for free, that's amazing. But you can have cheap camping too with hookups. State parks and city parks and county parks are usually extremely reasonable. So are national parks, so there's some cheaper overall campgrounds to choose. But then there's some discount programs too. If you want to stay at privately owned campgrounds, that you can take advantage of. So really, part of it's your style. What kind of campground are you looking for? Do you need amenities?

Speaker 1: 30:17

you need a pool or you rather be in the woods right and people ask about that all the time and it's's funny because, again, social media is fantastic. You'll see a campground and then people who are like I love it, I love it, I love it, and then I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. It's not about the campground itself, it's about what. Like you just said, what are you looking for Now? Like you just said, what are you looking for Now? For me, I had to get out and experience different types of campgrounds to really say you know what I really like this, and I do like full hookups. I'll be honest, can I? Yeah?

Speaker 1: 30:55

I do too. Yeah, yeah, I've gone a week at a time. We did the Reno Air Show almost three years ago and you are not just boondocking, but you're on dirt and it is the oh man. Yeah, no, the fact that they had a trash can was considered the melody. Yeah, because that's our beers. We need place to get rid of that trash quickly. That's just my thing. But we spent seven days and the thing is we were doing events there. We were like filming and doing video, so I had to be showered and ready.

Speaker 2: 31:33

That's just something.

Speaker 1: 31:34

I'd like. I know I've had a lot of campers say oh, don't worry, I just enjoy being able to do something with my hair and putting a little bit of makeup on having a shower every day. And so we showered every day and we made it work for a week. We had big hangs. Yeah, so that worked fine, I could do that for a special event. Same thing with people that do want to go to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

Speaker 1: 32:02

Most of that is, you can get water. I think they have areas where they'll pump the RV out, but for the most part you're boondocking Worth it. I absolutely highly recommend it. But yeah, there are different campgrounds, so understand any kind of campground you like. Let's talk about some of those discount programs people ask about all the time. I'm going to preface this by saying there is no one perfect membership system program plan for everyone. You and I have opinions, so let's start with some of those discount programs.

Speaker 2: 32:40

And even without a discount program, if you're going to be in one area we talked about traveling slower getting a monthly rate or even a weekly rate at a campground can be a really great deal. Sometimes monthly rates are as cheap as the weekly, you know. Even you can stay the whole month for the same price as a week. So don't necessarily discount the length of stay too if you can stay longer. But to save money On the discount cards, yeah, the no-brainer to me has always been Passport America and Harvest Host has their own version, which is, I think, Camper's Card, and those are discounts depending on each individual campground sets their discount in the program.

Speaker 2: 33:21

So you have to look at the details for each campground discount in the program. So you have to look at the details for each campground. But they're both really inexpensive cards that you can get each year and you can save like with Passport America, usually save half off. There are restrictions on when you can stay, if it's a weekday versus a weekend, and what the seasons are, so you really have to read the details when you're choosing your campground. But those are really great places for any camper to start if you're going to stay in private campgrounds.

Speaker 1: 33:46

And Passport America I've used, and we actually stayed at the Hot Springs in California, which was fantastic.

Speaker 2: 33:55

Oh, wow, yeah, I forget the name of the place.

Speaker 1: 33:57

But yes, there was a I want to say a 50% discount. Again, I know people and this is where the caution is I know people that say, okay, you said Passport America is good. You mentioned Harvest Toast. We love Harvest Toast.

Speaker 2: 34:12

We'll talk a little more about that With Harvest Toast there could be Boondockers, welcome.

Speaker 1: 34:17

There's so many. The thing is, don't go out and buy them all.

Speaker 2: 34:21

Yeah, you don't need them all.

Speaker 1: 34:22

You don't need them. All People will say is Harvest Toast good for me? Here's what Harvest Toast does and what it looks like. Does that work for you and does the money that it costs work for you? Now, I'm a big proponent of Harvest Toast. It works for my lifestyle, for us.

Speaker 2: 34:46

So let's give our listeners a little bit that don't know about Harvest Host, what Harvest Host is. So there are two programs like that. There's Harvest Host and there's a new one called RV Overnight, and both programs work the same. Rv Overnight is a little bit cheaper. It's a newer program so they don't have as many locations in the program yet. They're growing. But basically this would be your overnight camping solution. If you don't want to either pay full price at a campground overnight which we like to do a lot of KOAs easy in, easy out for overnight, but that's an expensive option and if you don't want to stay in a parking lot overnight, which is also something we don't enjoy doing, instead you can stay at a farm or brewery. Sometimes there are golf courses that are participating and you just pay them the yearly membership fee and that opens the list of all the. They're basically small businesses that let you stay for free and they're on their property, right, and you usually purchase some of their products while you're there to give them a little thank you, right.

Speaker 1: 35:41

Yes, absolutely so. I've stayed on farms and wineries and that has been great for that. Overnight I do stay, sometimes Cracker Barrel parking lot. We sometimes do a lot of travel long road to just pull into the Cracker Barrel and get up the next morning and leave. And again, this is the point you don't like staying at those type places. For me they work and that's what this is all about.

Speaker 2: 36:10

It's an option and for people to know.

Speaker 1: 36:12

Look, this is an option. If it doesn't work for you, if you don't feel safe there, if you, if it's too hard to pull in and out, whatever that looks like again these are options.

Speaker 1: 36:23

Now Boondockers Welcome is different. My experience with them we had bought and we bought too much from the start Like we purchased too many things, I think, at one time. But thankfully we had Boondockers Welcome and the Harvest Toast. Like, yes, they've changed, so now they're combined, but you pay two different prices for the two different parts of it. When we picked our RV up in Colorado, we picked it up in February. It was the coldest day on record in 125 years. Oh no, yeah, it was in the newspaper 125 years coldest day. I was like, ok, this is how we started our army journey. So we had rules when we started. The rules were we weren't going to drive. We were going to try not to drive at night, just no reason to.

Speaker 1: 37:16

We did want to drive in the snow. There was no snow. I was born and raised in Philadelphia. I don't like the snow, I don't like the cold, no. And then there was something else. Right before dark there was something else I don't remember which one it was, but so we stayed there for a couple of days to go over the RV, look it over. We finally decided to take off. We go down the road 45 minutes and there was a blizzard. Oh, it looked like a blizzardizzard. So we actually had to pull into. Wherever we pulled into and there was a police officer there and we're like we didn't see that this was coming and he said wait 10 minutes. It'll be done, like okay, in however much time, but the point in the story was then it rained.

Speaker 1: 38:03

We were going to a boondockers welcome home in New Mexico and I remember them saying you have to arrive at these places before dark. And the woman I had given her my phone number. She started texting me How's the travel going? Blah, blah, blah. She kept texting me and I'm like now it's raining, we're going to pull in after dark. She said no problem, we'll help you. And so Boondockers Welcome Room were people's houses. You could often stay a little longer just to let people know. He was and has now become really good friends of Dan and I. It was just such a fantastic experience because here we are.

Speaker 1: 38:46

Our first time out I was in a panic that we're getting there after dark, scared to death. How are we going to park this thing after dark? Her and her husband, mary Ann, her and her husband just were amazing people. They helped us pull in, they helped us detach the toe guard because it didn't wait. Two videos great, but we didn't really have the knowledge.

Speaker 1: 39:11

But Boondockers, welcome has been one of those things where we've been able to stay on farms for three or four days. The experiences has been amazing, really amazing. Now do you guys like boondockers Welcome, because you don't like to boondock? You want the hookup? Does that not work?

Speaker 2: 39:29

We don't boondock, so we're wanting to switch to a motorhome, hopefully in the next year or so, and so then we will have a generator and we'll have a better setup for that and with a fifth wheel. We don't have a generator right now, or solar, so it's not really been an option for us at this point. So it would be easier, definitely with a motorhome and also even staying in parking lots. I think it's different in a towable than in a motorhome, because if you feel a little nervous about it and something goes wrong, you can just drive away, but we can't get out of the door. If something's wrong, right, I get to the truck, and I think that's where I worry.

Speaker 1: 40:05

Yeah, but that's an important point, this whole idea. Somebody wants to save money by boondocking. They've got to consider the type of RV they have. Excellent Correct, you can't stay in a Cracker Barrel parking lot. So we upgraded from the RV refrigerator to a regular refrigerator. Well, we need power. Oh nice, unless you have solar and blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 2: 40:28

Yes, Good point, for sure, and also the same thing with your RV type when you're boondocking is motorhomes are so much heavier, it's easier to get stuck. So when you're talking about mud or sand, you really got to know what conditions you're getting into before you show up at the place.

Speaker 1: 40:44

Let's talk about that for a hot second.

Speaker 2: 40:46

I'm sure yes.

Speaker 1: 40:47

Dan and I were boondocking at a friend's house here in Pennsylvania. She had a huge farm. Hey, come park the RV. And we did. And if anybody knows, pennsylvania area in April it is nonstop rain. It just poured. The RV literally sunk. We had, I think, we had four down.

Speaker 1: 41:09

But again, learning experience, we were new, it sunk, but here's the costly mistake. That is something else people can think about. We kept trying to get ourselves out Now 40 foot 40,000, whatever foot RV. So we kept trying to get ourselves out. We just kept sinking more and more and after three days of this I said oh no, that's it. I'm calling the insurance company and I did, and they're like oh okay, we'll send out a tow truck and my insurance didn't really think about it covers the tow truck, so something else, yeah, okay, so there's, it wasn't as big of a deal it was.

Speaker 1: 41:52

it actually was a really big deal in that they sent I knew the person I was talking to to didn't understand the gravity of the rv, and so they size, yeah, size and weight, even though I told her I could tell she just wasn't quite hearing me. And they send out a regular size tow truck, oh no. And then he shows up and he says I can pull this out. And I now, of course, the YouTube content creator I am I pulled the camera out.

Speaker 1: 42:25

You're filming, I'm filming, heck, yes, you're going to be something and I asked him permission Do you really want this on video? I did ask permission and he said oh, I could do this, and Dan's just shaking his head and that is that video is over at our YouTube channel. And he kept trying and he almost destroyed his and then they sent out a real tow truck that got it out in about 30 seconds. Yeah, All that.

Speaker 2: 42:49

So you're all going to end up stuck.

Speaker 1: 42:51

Yes, exactly, exactly so. That's on our YouTube channel, exploring through our lens, if somebody wants a good laugh. But that's something else to consider Like what's what insurance and covering what does?

Speaker 2: 43:03

insurance doesn't understand rv. First of all, you have to have a full-time dedicated insurance policy for full-time rv and that's a very important thing. But when you're dealing with insurance companies, a lot of times they're not understanding really the full-time rv lifestyle, and especially with towing and with emergency situations like that for sure. So you have to make sure we had that happen with towing and with emergency situations like that for sure. So you have to make sure we had that happen with towing before too. You have to make sure they are comprehending the size. Don't send I need a flatbed huge, we're talking about large size Don't send a regular wrecker to help me on the side of the highway.

Speaker 1: 43:38

Right and to that point, for me, what I've learned in the last three years is the kind of RV and what is included and the companies that you deal with. For us, being a class A, I went to national indoor RV centers. We met them two years ago and anybody that's listened to the podcast knows everybody I have on, everybody that's a sponsor advertiser are people we genuinely know and trust, the companies we know and trust, and there's no two ways about it, and so we were connected to Nashville Indoor and our Class A that's where it would be bought and I also learned about so when that happened with the rv. Later that year, dan had met jeff sather from freightliner and he talked about the chassis and I'm like I had no idea what chassis was, what it meant.

Speaker 1: 44:38

I felt like an idiot after I found it's huge. Not only that, but these companies have service. So I could have called. Jeff said when you got your early stuck. He said if you had called our 24 7, 365, all the time service line, they would have helped to navigate the right tow truck, they would have said what to do. And not only that, where to, from my understanding, where that tow truck connected the chains to pull us out, if he could have done major damage. Yes, so for people.

Speaker 2: 45:16

Okay, so this is good to know, yeah.

Speaker 1: 45:19

So for people looking at the type of RV, these are things to consider when I break down, because you are going to break down, there's going to be issues there's going to be breakdown? Who's going to be there to help, who's going to be there to navigate that? Because that would save you a lot of money. Like you said, repairs are a big expense.

Speaker 2: 45:38

They are. I'm glad you mentioned the National Indoor RV Center. I wrote that down, Definitely we need to hook up with them when we're ready to go motorhome shopping?

Speaker 1: 45:47

Yes, yes, and let me just talk about them. They are one of our sponsors. Again, know, love and trust them, and I love Brett Davis is the owner and him and his entire team. Integrity, it's a huge big word. They have integrity. They have six locations yeah, six locations across the country. If you're not in one of their location, they have a lie and buy program.

Speaker 1: 46:23

I'm going to just close the window. Angie Morrell does videos and she does such a comprehensive review of an entire RV that you feel like, okay, yeah, I could probably drive out and buy that. I absolutely feel that way. Now, in a couple of days of the posting of this podcast, I am going to the event that they're doing. It's called Music City Motorhome Expo and it's in Nashville, tennessee. I am so excited to go to this event. Oh my gosh. All of these amazing people will be there. We're going to get to know the major manufacturers and it's just going to be an incredible time. Anybody hearing this?

Speaker 1: 47:11

there may still be space if they want to jump on the bandwagon, and what I love is I'm going to get to go. That sounds like a blast. Oh my, I am so, so excited. Food, entertainment, people. This event is so people can get into the brand new 2025 A, b and C. Class A, b and Cs that have never been shown before. This is the first they're being shown. The manufacturer, the presidents, will be there. They'll answer your questions. You can test drive them. You can hear how excited I am, but I'm also excited to see yes, I wish you would come take me.

Speaker 1: 47:50

Yes, I'm flying down there. But the Nashville NIRVC they have the largest volume of class A and class Bs in Tennessee and they have a new facility there that I'm hoping I'll have time to get in and do video and show people this facility because they do repair. They do peak, they do it all. They do consignment. So if you have an RV you want to consign, they do consign, they do it all. I'm really excited about that, that's awesome.

Speaker 2: 48:19

Your dealership you pick is huge when you buy an RV and you're going to find that out as soon as you need service. Yeah, so let's. I can't say that enough to people. You're going to know if the dealership you went through to buy your RV is a great dealership or not as soon as something breaks, which is really quickly.

Speaker 1: 48:38

And that's where more major expense comes. So let's divert and talk about that, and that's why we chose NIRVC. That's why we choose to have the Freightliner chassis because the service, the number of people, the quality, all of that. Jeff Sather has since retired, but I know his replacement will be just as fantastic. He'll actually be at the event, so I'm so excited to see him. These are real people. But to your point, choosing the dealer to save money right, that's the big expense?

Speaker 2: 49:17

Yeah, you can. Your first year you're usually taking it back. You're under the manufacturer warranty at least the first year, and you're taking it back to the dealership for repairs and that's so. That's a crucial thing that you do your research and get your RV from someone that has decent reviews for repairs. But a main thing there is how long is the wait list to get your RV in for repair? Because, shockingly, at a lot of dealerships it's extremely long. In fact, we had an issue where it was going to take so long to get our RV in during the warranty we were going to be out of warranty.

Speaker 2: 49:51

So you want to look at some of those things and you can also get extended warranties as another option to help cover you past that first year and some of those. I will mention this because it's a great hack. Some extended warranties include mobile repair and I can't tell you enough how mobile repair saves a day when you're a full-time RVer, because you get to stay in your home, right, most of the time. Nine times out of ten they come to you, they fix it. You get to stay in your home. You get to stay in your home and minimal interruption to your trip plans, because it's a lot faster than waiting six months to have to maybe wait for a new trip Right and being someone on the inside, one of the things that Brett Davis from NRVC.

Speaker 1: 50:35

he's the president, ceo. He's committed to making the industry better. He committed to working.

Speaker 2: 50:43

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 50:44

And I don't want to say the wrong thing. He did a video. I'll post it in the industry better. He committed to working. And I don't want to say the wrong thing, he did a video. I'll post it in the show notes that it was actually, I think, a half hour video and it just explained the industry and what's going on in the industry. Just fantastic, very detailed. Now I want to get to the Clisk notes. Dan was listening to this whole thing. It was very laid out, factual, and then he did the recap. So that's what helped me is with the recap. But that is a great video. And again, these are things that are going to help save money while you're on the road. We talked about fuel, we talked about repairs being expensive and I want to go back to campgrounds, because you and I both met at Thousand Trails in Orlando.

Speaker 1: 51:31

We did yes so let's talk about the Thousand Trails campgrounds. Where did that start for you? We?

Speaker 2: 51:39

bought our okay, so Thousand Trails is a great option. Now there are different forms of Thousand Trails membership, by the way. There's some that are great for they're called zone memberships, that are annual memberships. They're great for people that aren't full-time RVers that camp within one region. So if you're in, say, the Southeast and you only camp in Florida and Georgia and that area, then getting the zone membership is yearly and it's not super expensive and it's more for the weekender and the casual RVer. Now, for the full-time RVer, getting one of their national plan is usually the way to go because then you can take it all across the country with you to save money. And there's different versions of that.

Speaker 2: 52:18

But, honestly, we bought ours used for really cheap through I think it was called Campground Membership Outlet, which has been around forever, and they're a really reputable company that I love and they do membership transfers, so you don't have to worry about the person selling the membership and if it's on the up and up, they do it for you. That's how we bought ours in 2014. And we got in so cheap. It paid for itself probably in the first six months and we've used it all nine years for free. So you pay your annual dues, but every night that we stay is covered. It's for free, so it's for us. It's been a huge money saver. And some properties are a little more rustic, Some properties are a little more resorty, so it really just depends on the place. But there's something for everyone there, Right?

Speaker 1: 53:03

And how about you? Yeah, so let's talk about that. My experience very different and I'll be again honest. I had listened to some YouTube channels I don't need to mention them and there were YouTube channels that said absolutely, thousand Trails, the worst ever. I'm just being totally honest. It was like all right not doing that, because I watched a couple of videos. That's what I found, and it was six months into our RVing experience and we were in Bend, oregon, with our kids and grandkids and there was fires in California. So the smoke was so bad we literally couldn't go out.

Speaker 1: 53:40

So we said okay, what do you do when the smoke beds can't go out? We went, wanted to go to the beach, so we're looking at the Pacific coast. I'm from the East coast so that was new to me. But so Dan said oh, maybe we could call those people about the Thousand Trails membership. And my whole thing was oh no, this is going to be like a timeshare. I was in a panic so he called them and he got off the phone and he said listen, why don't we just buy it? And I thought to myself okay, I'll buy it. If it's as bad as some people say, I'll just have the bank dispute the charges. That was the negative feeling that I had. But I'll be honest, meanwhile, in the six months we were out on the road, I'm thinking to myself how could we keep affording this campground? Yeah, the money was getting expensive. So I'm like, how could?

Speaker 2: 54:27

we afford it.

Speaker 1: 54:28

Now, this was the Saturday. We called a membership specialist and again I expected this salesy kind of person I'm sure some of them are but they just laid out the program. We decided to buy a camping pass. On Saturday we called Whaler's Rest on the Pacific Coast and Sunday we had a reservation for Sunday, headed there, stayed five days, extended it to a week. It was a little more rustic but it had the pool, it had amenities yeah, the two little kids.

Speaker 1: 54:59

That was nice, fantastic time. You could walk across the street to the beach. It was great. It was great. Street to the beach it was great. It was great. Full hookup it was great, really great with full hookup. And so we kept using the. It's called a camping pass, so we kept using it. And then we added on zones and we kept hearing about there's different programs and upgrades and I was so concerned I didn't pay attention. My biggest regret fast forward four or five months later after buying these different zones. My biggest regret was that I didn't buy the membership, upgrade the membership sooner, because it would have saved me so much more money because the camping pass and, like you said, the camping pass is great for people, it works.

Speaker 1: 55:45

It's all they need as a full-timer traveling across the country four times. The upgraded membership really has paid us you need the whole thing.

Speaker 2: 55:54

Yes, yeah, and to your point.

Speaker 1: 55:56

There are some campgrounds that people either. Some of them are rough, but I've been to some of the rough ones and just like the quiet and the peace and there's different things at different campgrounds. It's funny and I have to tell this. We met at the Thousand Trailsgrounds. It's funny and I have to tell this. We met at the Thousand Trails in Orlando. It's their biggest. It's 1,100 sites. It's huge. It's got a lot of amenities. For the most part it is beautiful.

Speaker 1: 56:23

But there are people, when you look at reviews and this is caution to people starting out listening when you look at reviews, there are people that say I don't know why people would want to be on a cement pad, because the newer section had cement pads and the grass was perfectly groomed. And there are people like I don't know why you'd want to be on the cement pads and there's a part of the campground that's more rustic, in the wood, and people are like I don't know why you'd want to be there in the wood, right, and people are like I don't know why you'd want to be there. So you have to. I guess the thing we're both looking to get across is see what works for you, what do you enjoy?

Speaker 2: 56:57

Definitely.

Speaker 1: 56:57

There are times I've been in the section where it's grass and there are times I just want to be on the cement because I want it easy in and out and we're going to Disney World.

Speaker 2: 57:13

It's not far from Disney World, so that's ways to save money. It's definitely, yeah, great ways to save money there. A few things to know about that membership is some of the locations are extremely rural and far away from things to do, especially some of the ones out West and even some of the ones like in Virginia and up that direction. Some of them are very rural. Some of them do not have sewer, like you were talking about Bend and being over there in Oregon. Some of them on the West Coast especially don't have sewer. But for the most part you're guaranteed usually basic hookups and a swimming pool Whatever that looks like and more rustic, and some of the stuff's not all the way up to date. But the biggest challenge I find with membership today that you've got to keep in mind too is getting your reservations. Because it's a popular campground membership so sometimes that's a fault is that you really have to know when your reservation window is for your membership, and peak season can be difficult.

Speaker 1: 58:03

Right and what I want to add and I'm sure you would agree, we didn't talk about this beforehand. When you go on to Thousand Trails, there's so many Facebook pages, there's pages for Thousand Trails. Orlando has a page, and people say what's it like to get a reservation? And everybody has their thought and opinion. Or people say tell me about the membership. And you and I are not saying here's the five memberships, here's what they cost, here's what you get, because Thous sales and trials memberships are a little complicated. And what I tell people is, instead of getting on and saying, so I have the elite connections, okay, instead of getting on and saying, I have the elite connections, am I allowed to stay in Orlando, thousand Trails for three weeks? And then people say, jess, no, you can't. Yes, but go to your membership specialist. And I always recommend the membership specialist. There are salespeople. I highly recommend membership specialist.

Speaker 2: 59:05

It's been my experience.

Speaker 1: 59:06

It's been what I've heard people talk about. Generally, your membership specialists are going to give you the right information. I have a recommendation for one that I use and I love. There are a lot of them out there. I'm sure you have one you might recommend. We'll put all that in the show notes Find the membership specialists that you like and you feel like you trust and get your information from them. So, whether you've already bought your membership or you're thinking about it, I see people all the time say I have this membership. Can I do this?

Speaker 2: 59:40

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 59:41

Asking a group of people you're not going to know.

Speaker 2: 59:45

They all different.

Speaker 1: 59:46

Yeah, yeah, and memberships over the years have changed.

Speaker 2: 59:50

And again there's a lot of them.

Speaker 1: 59:52

I've done videos on Thousand Trails. They're on our YouTube channel and somebody actually just recently commented and said you keep pushing membership specialists when something about not necessarily giving us the detail. And I said that is because there are different memberships. There are. And the membership specialist isn't charging you more. If anything, they're giving looking for the best possible deal because they have specials and sales here. It is the month of May. Did you know it was their 55th anniversary? They're doing a great sale this month.

Speaker 1: 1:00:24

So yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's why I do push and I'll use that word to offer to a membership specialist. There's also for people and this is not talked about as much. I have listeners that are thinking about doing the camping and listeners that don't have the RV but want to get out. Thousand Trails has a camping, a cabin pass, so you could just buy this cabin pass and go to cabins. Do you know much? Which?

Speaker 2: 1:00:53

is a great deal. Yeah, it's been a bit since I've looked at it. I think you can stay a week and then you have to be, I think, out a week and then you can stay a week again, something like that, but it's a great deal. You buy it every year and then you could just do cabins yeah, even if you don't have an rv, and that's a great way to check out the park and see if you like them different ones, or if your RV's in the shop. That's a great way to save for cheap.

Speaker 1: 1:01:17

But yeah, for sure, yes, and again, I don't know.

Speaker 2: 1:01:20

And definitely don't discount used ones.

Speaker 1: 1:01:22

And again, and to your point and the outlet that you talked about, that is a way again. I bought my new, you bought yours used. There's no right or wrong here. It worked for me to buy new. There is some information about whether you can pass it on to your family members. They're different.

Speaker 2: 1:01:40

Oh yeah, they have to get all the details on that. It's a great point yes.

Speaker 2: 1:01:44

So if you want to finance a lot of people, finance their membership, you cannot finance it, obviously if you're purchasing it used from another member and some things do not transfer with memberships that are used. So, like when we bought our used one, we got in for really cheap and, like said, it paid for itself right off the get go because it was so cheap but we lost the cabin benefit. Some of them have to, where you get a cabin stay or two a year in your thing. We lost that when ours transferred but man, it was so cheap, it was worth it, and that's the thing.

Speaker 1: 1:02:17

Yeah, looking at price and cost and buying the biggest best right from the beginning may not be the answer. So we did start with a camping pass. Again, we were trying to decide do we like these campgrounds, do we like this truck? We didn't even know that we'd stay traveling For us upgrading and we did pay monthly and it's paid for itself. We stayed probably 95% of the time in Thousand Trails. That was our choice, because I'd rather spend money going to Disney or to the Albuquerque Balloon. Yeah, exactly Again there's no.

Speaker 2: 1:02:54

It makes it doable it makes it doable? Yeah, financially for us, with our budget, there was no way we could have done it without Dr Brill, and now we do a lot of state parks and a lot of more things, but especially at the beginning, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:03:08

No way. And even now, what's funny, because there are certain campgrounds, I want to stay at Wilderness Lodge and Disney for a week. It's super expensive.

Speaker 1: 1:03:20

I want that experience. There are certainils and I enjoy the Thousand Trails campground. Some are more rustic, some are more not as much. Amenities, some pools need work. I still enjoy it because I'm going sometimes outside or I'm in the campground and I'm working that week and I'm not really getting out. So for me that really works. I'm not really getting out, so for me that really works. And then you know what I plan extra based on that part of my budget, because for me it cost me and we did finance under $300 a month, so under $300 a month and I've been in campground month after month. I just yeah, it works. But again, different things for different people.

Speaker 2: 1:04:14

Yeah, and then we've had RPI as well Resort Parks International and that's a different one that can be a little bit similar to Thousand Trails, but you buy in usually at a home resort, and so it's a little bit different, but it's got some similarities. But they let you add that on through Thousand Trails membership some of them as well, which is a great thing, and that one you pay a little bit per night to stay, like between $10 and $19, and they're different locations and stuff. So there's a lot of other. I think there's one more Coast to Coast. Coast to Coast yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:04:46

Was another version of, very similar to RPI. I say they're twins and sometimes they overlap the same resorts as well, and so there are some different options.

Speaker 1: 1:04:55

Right If there's some like conglomerate that's not the right word, but okay. So let me use this as an example. If you're on the East coast, there's campgrounds called Spacious Skies. So we interviewed the owner Again, amazing person. She's got beautiful campgrounds up the East Coast one in Tennessee and then up the East Coast and there is a sort of membership that you can pay for to save money. There are some of them. If you stay longer they have cabins and cottages. We stayed at the one in Tennessee and it was just. It was such an incredible experience.

Speaker 1: 1:05:35

It was very different, just amazing. So there are people that have groups. There's one, sun Outdoors is one of them too, so it's definitely worth doing the research before you just jump in Any one of these programs. We're talking about Thousand Trails, spacious Guys. You could actually just pay to go into one of the campgrounds. You don't have to be a member. So I want to add that on, but it does get more costly, pretty pricey. So much great information here and let me just we have just flown with this, but I want to bring us back and let people know where they can find. This is important. We still have a couple more things to cover, but people can find you on the Adventurecom. I did not mention that. We have gotten so into what we're talking about. It's okay. Van and Scott and Sissy are on the Adventure Detour. That's the website. If you go there, they can find all your social media right, definitely.

Speaker 2: 1:06:38

And on there there is under the RV living categories, there's the perfect article for this conversation. It's 31 tips for cheap RV living. So check that out, because I even break down the smallest of things like cheaper propane and using propane sparingly and more electric appliances and laundry savings and all the little tiny things, not just the big things like campground.

Speaker 1: 1:07:02

That all add up and what I'd love to. There's a whole section and this is where, like I was three hours into looking at information. Where, like I was three hours into looking at information, there's a lot of freebies. A lot of what you do is freebie information. I love that because people are looking to save money and it's a great way to do it.

Speaker 1: 1:07:21

For sure, your social media channels just so much great information, so I'm going to say it again that is theadventuredetourcom. It will be in the show notes. We are not yet done, because now it's time for the question of the week, brought to you by Open Road Innovative Toy, that amazing toll transponder that will keep you saving money because you will never pay fine again. So our question yes, our questions each week come from social media and if anybody out there has questions, reach out to me privately at Instagram, facebook and that is RV Life Podcast. You can post on our social media channels, but reach out if you have questions. This question came actually from a good friend, karen, and I was going to ask you this. We didn't get to it, but a good friend of mine, karen, we got on the phone a couple of weeks ago and she said that they have decided to get out of the RV lifestyle and they are selling their fifth wheel, and she asked for recommendations of where to sell her fifth wheel and one of the things and I'll let you see if you have something to chime in on again there are different options for people.

Speaker 1: 1:08:39

Now, national Vehicle is where we are currently working to sell our Monaco Diplomat, as people know. We were upgrading and we're looking to see what's next for us. But National Vehicle was brought to us by Patrick Buchanan from RV Life. He had a relationship with them and you keep your RV. They do it all. And, instead of getting into the details, kevin Tadlock, the president, was actually on the podcast last week so you could listen to the details on that podcast tips on selling your RV whether you use them or not. He provided fantastic tips. I'm using National Vehicle myself and I'm truly happy. Now, do you have a suggestion on that? Again, I'm putting you on the spot.

Speaker 2: 1:09:27

Yeah no, I've not heard of National Vehicle, so I'm definitely going to look them up when we get off of here. I know of RV Trader. That's the only organization that I know where individuals and then also dealerships can sell RVs, so I always look on RV Trader.

Speaker 1: 1:09:42

And that's a great and again I didn't get into the details National Vehicle. Actually you send them all the information and they post on RV Trader on Craigslist. They have four or five places that they do all the posting. And the best part is when somebody calls about the RV they have a call center that verifies that it's a legit person. Well, how nice is that that's the best, Because we actually started by having the RV lister on RV Trader and the first three people that reached out they were scams Bams.

Speaker 1: 1:10:20

Bams Scammy I wasted so much time going back and forth, so highly recommend them there are a lot of ways to sell an RV.

Speaker 1: 1:10:28

If you have a Class A, I absolutely recommend National Indoor. They do trade-ins, they do consign for A, b or Cs, so obviously I highly recommend that. Now I want to ask you a question. We touched on a little bit. I'd love to ask our guests what's on your bucket list that you could share with our listeners, either someplace that you went that you say it's a must, or someplace you guys are thinking of going to. Yeah, good question. I never tell my guests we're National Park.

Speaker 2: 1:11:01

I know right, I kept thinking about that. No, that's why I didn't tell you. I would say, okay, our personal bucket list is to change RV. That's a huge bucket list way, because we've had two large fifth wheels over these nine years and a large dually truck as our daily driver, which has been a challenge and we're wanting to. This ties into the bucket list that we have. We're wanting to get a diesel pusher motor home tow a jeep as a toady, so it's a vehicle that I can drive. It's this huge dually truck all the time and we're wanting to go back out west and see all the things we missed before. Oh, that's all order right, uh-huh.

Speaker 2: 1:11:42

But when you RV full time, it's really funny, because people at the first year tend to travel extremely fast like ticking boxes. Almost how many national parks can we tick off? How many state stickers can I add to the map? It's like the first year, or even two are like a marathon. Yes, yes.

Speaker 2: 1:12:00

You know, did you find that too, where you're just zooming from one thing to the other and it's actually exhausting. And what you find out, if you hang in the game longer is you miss. We zoomed, we didn't zoom. We spent a whole year out west but there were so many more things to see, so my dream is seeing my new motor home in Monument Valley, utah, the big, famous scene with the huge rock formations in the background. I visualize that road with the new motor home and so that's the big bucket list.

Speaker 1: 1:12:33

That's awesome. You're even'm going to connect you to angie at national indoor.

Speaker 2: 1:12:39

She's the head of, for sure fantastic.

Speaker 1: 1:12:42

You guys need to be connected. Wonderful anyway, definitely, yeah, for sure, yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:12:46

So that's the huge bucket list dream right now. Okay, that sounds it would be interesting to make content about too, because a lot of families go the towable route, especially with kids, because they have more living spaces for children that seem more traditional and multiple baths and multiple bedrooms for kids and things, and nowadays the motor home living spaces for families has gotten so much better. The kids spaces are amazing, and so now's the time, I think, to flip the switch on towables and talk about living in a coach with a family.

Speaker 1: 1:13:25

It's a shame you can't be at the Music City Motorhome Expo, because you could see all the brand new 2025s. That would have been awesome. Sorry, okay, they will do it again next year. So if you haven't bought your coat, this is going to be a yearly thing. And now to switch gears again.

Speaker 1: 1:13:44

It's time for the feature campground of the week, and this is brought to you by RV Life Campground. Obviously, the RV Life podcast. I love RV Life Pro. It helps with GPS navigation, which has saved me time and money. If you're saving time, it saves money. So it is RV safe, gps, as well as trip planning and so much more. They have campground reviews, which I want to talk about.

Speaker 1: 1:14:13

Narrow to Campground Resort and that is located in Trenton, maine. Just looks like an amazing place. This is a Thousand Trails campground we were talking about Thousand Trails. You could go there if you have a membership or you don't have a membership, and it has 531 sites. This waterfront resort RV resort offers four full hookups, pull-in sites, a dog park and if you don't have an RV or you want to invite friends, it's got cottages and cabin rentals, spectacular ocean views and so much more ocean views and so much more. Narrows 2 and the TOO Camping Resort has a solid 7.8 rating on RV Life Campgrounds, with 109 reviews. These reviews are authentic reviews by other RVers for RV. So that's 194. So that's 194. You can visit campgroundsrvcom and book, right from this website, your stay at Narrow 2 Camping Resort. You could see the photos, the tips, the full list of amenities about this property.

Speaker 1: 1:15:25

Rv Life Campground is part of the RV Life Pro suite of products, of the RV Life Pro suite of products, the most comprehensive source, as I've said, for RV parks, campgrounds, resorts, as well as city, state, national parks, corpse of engineer, properties and so much more. Visit campgroundsrvlifecom. Information will be in the show notes. Wow, I have got to thank you so much, van, for being on this show. People can reach out to you. You have social media. You have Instagram, facebook. What else do you guys have? There's something else. Wow, okay, wow, wow and ever yes, very much, and people shouldn't just look at that and be afraid. They should go to the freebie. The articles, the information reach out to you, thank you. Thank you so much. Great having you. You're listening to the RV Life Podcast. I'm Patti Hunt saying have a great rest of today and an even better day tomorrow.