Listen Now

Podcast Changes Hello Happy Campers! This morning we’ll talk about Podcast Changes and how they will improve the Living the RV Dream Podcast. But first a little history. Radio Days In the fall of 2008, our son, who was a radio producer in Sarasota Florida, called us with a proposal. He had lost a sponsored show during the important Saturday morning “drive time”. Perhaps we could come in and do an RV show for him? We knew NOTHING about radio or broadcasting. Kathy and I looked at each other and said “why not?” That next Saturday morning, Living the RV Dream was born. Steve was a great coach and made us quite comfortable. “What should we say?”, we both asked. Steve said just talk about RVing, its your passion. And so we did. That was on WSRQ, a very small station with great reach due to an internet feed. // A Podcast is Born We did the show every week for over 4 months and then it was time for us to get moving as it would soon be pretty hot in Florida. What about the show? We had now gained a nice sized internet audience anoong with some dedicated local listeners. That’s when I discovered podcasting. It was pretty new then having only been around for a few years, but I dived right in and learned all I could. Six weeks later we were ready and we launched our first podcast. That was LTRVD0001. The sound was a little rough around the edges, but were now broadcasters! We grow as Podcasters As we got more and more comfortable with doing the show, we learned how to make the sound better and invested in some new equipment to help us do the work easier. We started attending RV shows as members of the “Press”. What a hoot! We would get in free to events we loved and talk about them on our show. How cool was that?! We did many interviews with other RVers and folks in the RV industry. We started a little Facebook group for our listeners. I started a web site. We were filling up our retirement time as “Media People”…LOL! Then you listeners ganged up on us by email and said we needed to write a book of all things. And we did…twice. Its 2017 Already All that started 8 years ago. We’ve put a lot of miles on our rig, the Dream Machine since then. We were on the road a total of 12 years and loved every minute of it. Most of you know

Tiffin Service Announcement The Tiffin Company has issued a Tiffin Service Announcement letter changing the criteria by which Tiffin motorhome owners can get factory service. Now, only rigs 4 years old or newer will get the full service package after waiting for a service bay. Others may wait for a service job that can be done by 2 technicians in 3 hours. This is a major change from one of the very best and generous service policies in the industry. There are too many Tiffin products and too few service opportunities to accomodate them all. Canada Sesquicentennial This year is the 150th anniversary of Canada, or it’s sesquicentennial. As a result, entrance into all Canadien National Parks is free of charge for the remainder of the year 2017. You must order a “Discovery Pass” which is available at this web address: http://www.commandesparcs-parksorders.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/en/parksb2c // Annual Calendars Save those annual calendars on which you write reservations, appointments, and other travel data. It is a great record to look back on and leave to your kids as a record of your travels. We have all the calendars we used in 12 years on the road. We also enabled the time and date feature of our camera so we can look back and see what we were doing in any given year. Our 2007 travels We used those calendars and dated pictures to do this show about our 2007 camping year.

Our Second Year RVing Our second Year RVing was 2006. We wintered in Southern California and southwestern Arizona. Then we moved up through Arizona as April started and then on to South Dakota. We spent April through July at the Hart Ranch RV Resort. Then a quick trip to Ohio to check on our oldest son Steve’s health, and then back out west to Arizona for the winter. We flew to Maryland to spend the Christmas holidays with our younger son Matt. Joshua Tree National Park We loved our stay in and around Joshua Tree National Park. The California high desert along with the huge rock formations and the Joshua trees themselves were all awesome. // Quartzite, AZ RV Show This was our first visit to the Quartzite RV show. We boondocked there with friends from Escapees RV Club Chapter 36. We had a super time and have made several trips back over the years. Julian, CA and San Diego, CA Julien is named the Apple capital of California and it is aptly named. We spent a nice afternoon with friends at Mom’s Apple Pie shop there. Then we camped near San Diego and did a whale watch cruise along with a San Diego harbor cruise. We also went to the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park. Awesome! Jerome, AZ and Sedona, AZ We have moved on to Arizona’s Verde Valley where we went to the Tuzigoot National Nonument and then up to Sedona and the Red Rocks Park. Kathy and I also toured Oak Creek Canyon north of Sedona. Williams, AZ and the Grand Canyon Railway Our main goal of 2006 was to see the Grand Canyon and we did it in style. We took the Grand Canyon Railway train up to the canyon and then back to Williams, AZ. Hart Ranch and the Black hills of SD 2006 once again found us workamping at the Hart Ranch RV Resort near Rapid Cikty, SD. We received a spring surprise there when 6 inches of show fell on our second day in the park. The Iron Mountain road was the focus of an entire day exploring in the Custer State Park. June found us at the Wild Horse Sanctuary, a very worthwhile tour. Black Hills Tour I think an area tour is a most worthwhile thing to do in a new to you area. We took a Black Hills area tour that included: a movie set from Dancing with Wolves, the Spearfish Canyon scenic drive, the South Dakota Western Heritage Museum, the Homestake Gold mine, Deadwood, SD with it̵

Our First Year RVing The year is 2005, and the topic is LTRVD0404 Our First Year RVing. We were able to sell 2 houses at the top of the market and start looking for a suitable RV. We made a visit to Lazy Days in Tampa, FL and found our dream rig, a 2004 Fleetwood Expedition. February/March After purchasing our rig on the last day of February, we left it at Lazy Days and went home to get rid of most of our “stuff”. Between our kids picking up a truck load and a couple of garage sales, we pared all our stuff down to a manageable stack. We picked up the rig mid month and did our shake-down at the Sun-n-Fun RV resort in Sarasota, FL. // April After the initial week or two at Sun-n-Fun, we headed back to Lazy Days to have our car set up for towing at the Camping World store that used to be there. Almost $3,000 later, we were all set to begin flat towing our 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe. Eventually, we put almost 60,000 miles dragging it around the country before replacing it with a 2014 Honda CRV. May/June We departed the Sarasota area in early May headed for South Dakota. Along the way we made stops to see friends and family. The first stop was in Charleston, SC to see the city and visit long-time friends John and Adrienne, who would later buy their own RV. After touring the city, we left to visit our youngest son and his family in Maryland and We stayed at the Bar Harbor RV Resort nearby. We would come to visit that park several more times over the years. We had a great time with son Matt and his family. We stayed a week, but the road was calling. July Early in July we stopped near Bellfountaine, OH to visit our oldest son Steve and his family. It was there where we did our first “Black Water Dance”. Then we were off to Wooster, OH and the Chapter 36 rally there. It was our first Escapee Rally and it was great. The road was still calling and we headed west towards our goal of reaching Mount Rushmore. First up was a one night stay in Sioux Falls for our SD license plates, driver’s licenses, voting registration, and SD insurance. Then we got out on I-90 and reached the town of Mitchell and the main attraction there, the Corn Palace. Next was Wall, SD and a visit to both Wall Drug Store and the Badlands National Park. Kathy and I finally ended up in Ra

Selling an RV This shortened show is about selling an RV. We received an email asking us about how to sell an RV. She didn’t provide specifics, so I will try to give some tips for selling both motorized RVs and towable rigs. What is Your RV Worth? We talk about some sources of information about the value of used RVs., The best we have found comes from the Facebook group RV Pricing and Values. The Group Owner, David Lester, has a standard product that is “a $30 per RV standard “RV Trade in Value Report” appraisal that shows Wholesale / Trade in Value, ACV (actual cash value) pricing done by a current Buyer at one of the largest RV dealers in the country ready to buy your RV, and suggested sell or buy price range specifically for your RV from professional RV dealer buyers and brokers.” You should also look at https://www.rvtrader.com/sell and http://www.rvt.com/sell-rv.php // Clean it up! A buyer is looking for a rig in the best possible condition. Make your rig look that way! Clean it up both inside and out. A little elbow grease will go a long way.

New RV Technology and Fun Factory Tours This show is about New RV Technology and Fun Factory Tours. John covers information that comes out of the 2017 RVIA show about some new technology that Freightliner is making available on their Diesel chassis offerings. Kathy discusses some interesting and fun factory tours around the US. New RV Technology Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. has introduced a package of automotive style technology features that are direct from the automobile industry. The “Road Watch” combines several safety features in one package. It includes Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Roll Stability Control (RSC), Collision mitigation with forward warning and braking, adaptive cruise control (ACC), and automatic traction control (ATC). Some of this technology is being introduced in the Spartan K2 chassis from Spartan Motors as well as the Freightliner offerings. // S2RV Chassis Freightliner is also now offering the commercial S2 truck chassis as a customized RV chassis called the S2RV. It offers a Cummins ISB diesel engine with 360 horse power and 800 foot pounds of torque. It also has an Allison 3000 automatic transmission and a host of other RV specific features. These include a front and rear air ride chassis, 100-gallon fuel tank, air suspension driver and passenger seats, and Sachs tunes shocks. The S2RV has a GVWR of 29,000 pounds. Owner friendly features include a 3 year, 50,000-mile warranty with towing and roadside assistance and 24/7 factory direct customer support. Smart Key Fob How about a smart Key Fob? Another Freightliner innovation has 4 buttons that lock and unlock doors and basement compartments, turn on and off exterior and interior lights and deploys and stows the electric awning. Fun Factory Tours Kathy talks about some interesting and fun factory tours from such companies as Airstream in Jackson Center, OH; Woolrich in Woolrich, PA; Coors Brewing Company in Golden, CO; Golden Flame potato chips, Birmingham, AL; Chevrolet Corvette, Bowling Green, KY; Harley Davidson in York, PA; Fender Guitars in Corona, CA; Tabasco Pepper Sauce in Avery Island, LA; Nokona Baseball Gloves in Nokona, TX, and my favorite, Jelly Belly in Fairfield, CA.

RVing Arizona RVing Arizona is the working title of our new book I hope to have out by June or July of this year. It will be all about the places RVers go in Arizona to camp and to see and experience. We will also include some of our favorite eating places we have enjoyed during our many visits to Arizona. The mail bag We answer questions about how to get the most from an RV show. John answers a query about using RV furnaces for heating the basement compartments. I try to help a lady who wants to get rid of her troublesome Norcold RV refrigerator and replace it with a household unit. Where do we get service work done on the road away from home? I discuss what shops we use. // Wilcox, AZ Kathy and I talk about some of our favorite things to see in the Wilcox area. This is the first town of interest on I-10 coming into Arizona from New Mexico. In town are 3 very nice museums. They are the Rex Allen Arizona Cowboy Museum, The Friends of Marty Robbins Museum, and the Chiracahua Regional Museum. These are excellent venues. Just to the west of town is Cochise Lake where sand hill cranes gather by the thousands during their migration to South America. Outside of town to the southeast is the Fort Bowir National Historic Site. Our favorite place in the area is the very beautiful and interesting Chiracahua National Monument. Tombstone Southwest of Wilcox is the reconstructed town of Tombstone, the town “Too tough to die.” We discuss some of our observations there during several trips. Our favorite time there is during “Helldorado Days”. Helldorado Days is a festival that began in Tombstone in 1929 and is held every year in October. Helldorado is held every third weekend in October and consists of gunfight re-enactment shows, street entertainment, fashion shows and a family oriented carnival. In addition, come and watch the Annual Helldorado Parade on Sunday at 11am. Benson We spent a Fall and Winter workamping at a very nice RV park in Benson. It is the Butterfield RV Resort and Observatory. A discussion follows with a little bit about it as well as the observatory shows we saw there. Karchner Caverns State Park, Gammons Gulch, and Fort Huachuca are also discussed.

Interviews With RV People These are some of our interviews with RV People that we have done in the last several years. We try to pick subjects for our interviews that will educate the RVing public. Mark and Dawn Polk Mark and Dawn Polk have developed a niche within the RV industry by training RVers about their RVs. We interviewed Mark at the 2013 Hershey Show. They have produced consumer videos, books and product videos for both RVers as well as RV suppliers. As RV Education 101, they offer 20 DVDs on subjects such as driving a motorhome, setting up at a campground or towing a trailer. These DVD’s are sold as singles or in sets. Mark has also written ”The RV Book,” which takes the video subject matter and puts it in written form. It’s sold thousands of hard copies and is also available as an e-book through their website rveducation101.com . // Gary Bunzer – The RV Doctor Gary Bunzer is a Master Certified RV Technician who presents some of the best and most informative RV seminars in the industry. We met and interviewed Gary at the Hershey RV show in 2013, and I respect him as a subject matter expert on almost all aspects of RV maintenance as well as a complete gentleman. I believe that’s why he is called “The RV Doctor.” He has a very informative website at: www.rvdoctor.com Harvest Hosts Harvest Hosts LLC is the culmination of years of travel by Kim and Don Greene. We interviewed Kim and Don at the Escapees Escapade in 2016. They have visited over 80 countries together during the last 25 years and have logged over 200,000 miles in various RVs over the past decade. Their wonderful experiences allowed them to meet members of the RVing community around the world, and on their journeys across Europe, they discovered networks such as France Passion that allow motorhomes to park overnight at wineries and farms for free. Their desire to bring this concept to North America has received widespread support from both the agri-tourism and RVing communities and theye are very pleased to offer you the fun opportunities of Harvest Hosts. www.harvesthosts.com

Holiday RVer Blues We discuss the all too prevalent Holiday RVer Blues that seem to descend on some full-time RVers at this time of year. The fact is that we miss our family at these special times of the year when we are traveling. We discuss some ways to overcome those “blues.” //

Seasonal RVer Gifts Seasonal RVer Gifts is our main topic in today’s podcast. We will cover propane heaters, electrical tools for RVers, RV books, kitchen tools, and more. Senior Park Pass Price Increase Kathy discusses the pending congressional action that will raise the price of the Senior Pass that gets us free access to National Parks, Monuments, and other federal places. The current $10 lifetime pass will soon cost $80 and could go higher in ensuing years. Get it while you can. // Portable Propane Heaters Tools for RVers RV Books Greg Gerber Visit We are so very fortunate to have Greg Gerber, RV Journalist and editor of the RV Daily Report newsletter as well as the Lets RV newsletter. He is in town for a bit and joins us in the new recording studio in our new home.

Cold Weather RVing Today’s show is all about Cold Weather RVing. More and more RVers want to extend their RV season to include some cold Weather RVing. Some are into skiing, some Ice Fishing, and others are into snowmobiling. Preventing fresh water lines and holding tanks from freezing, conservation of propane, and proper insulation are all important parts of the cold weather experience. Preparing the Fresh Water System for Cold Weather Use You must prepare your RV for winter RVing. If you will be in a campground with a working(and hopefully heated) shower house, you might winterize the water system and not use it at all. I’m not sure I would like to get up and go to the shower house in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. Assuming you will use all the facilities of your rig, we will start with the fresh water system. A heated water hose to connect to the park water system is essential. You will plug in your heated hose to the regular hose bib. You can insulate the exposed part of the hose bib with bubble wrap wrapped over with duct tape. If you can’t afford a heated hose, you can purchase a length of electric heat tape. Lay the heat tape out along the length of the hose. Secure it at 1 foot intervals with electrical tape. Then cover the hose and heat tape with foam pipe insulation. Secure it with duct tape. It is a good practice to place a drop light with a 50 watt bulb in the wet bay where the water hose is connected. This will keep the bay with all its water plumbing warm and frost free. If your rig has heating pads installed on the bottom of the fresh water tank and the gray and black water holding tanks, you are good to go! If not, you must run your propane furnace(s) occasionally to keep them from freezing. The other alternative is to buy after market heating pads made for RV holding tank use. They come in 120 volt AC and 13.5 volts DC. Check out the offerings from UltraHeat, Inc. at http://www.ultraheat.com/tank_heaters.html // Insulating Your RV For Winter Camping Windows and doors are a constant source of air leakage. If your rig has dual pane windows, great! Just remember that the windshield on motorized units is not dual pane nor is the window in the entrance door on side door models. The windshield can be covered with pleated foil av

Full-time RV Living Full-time RV Living is the main subject of this week’s show. We’ve spent time on the last several shows talking about exit plans and other serious issues and today we start on a new series all about full-time RV Living and what a rewarding and fulfilling lifestyle it can be. Do Your Homework Doing your homework really means doing all the research and legwork to decide if Full-time RV Living is really for you and your spouse or partner. Living in a hallway 24/7 isn’t for everyone. This is also the time when you research all the types and brands of RVs that are available and start to narrow down the field to find your ideal RV. We certainly recommend our book “So, You Want to be an RVer?” as well as our website, http://www.livingthervdream.com as great places to start that homework and research. // Are You Out of Your Mind? Unfortunately, this is what we sometimes hear from friends and family members after we announce our plans for Full-time RV Living. I don’t really know why some folks just have to try and deflate our plans and dreams, but it does happen frequently. Often, its just simple lack of knowledge. Perhaps a little jealousy creeps in as well. In any case, don’t be surprised when you get this kind of reaction. It Isn’t a Full-time Vacation What you are entering is really a special kind of lifestyle. It may seem like a full-time vacation, but you soon realize that this is going to become your new normal. If you continue to do “Express Touring” as so many new full-timers do, you will burn through money and fail to truly enjoy your new life on the road. What About All Our Stuff It can be quite intimidating to move from a fully furnished 3 or 4-bedroom home to a 350 square foot RV. Obviously, you can’t take it all with you. Once you have made the decision to live full-time in your RV, Yard Sales, Craig’s List, the Salvation Army, and many others will quickly take care of most of that “stuff”. Remember, its just “Stuff”, not gold. It is what’s holding you back from freedom touring our awesome country. If you have valuable antiques and family heirlooms, a storage unit may be in your future. I’ve never met anyone who couldn’t go full-timing because of too much stuff. Moving on Next week, we’ll continue on with this series on Full-time RVing with some discussion on Domicile St

RVing Exit Strategy RV Exit Strategy is our main topic for this show. We have talked about the exit plan before when discussing goal setting for your RV adventures. It is the part of goal setting we spend the least time on because we want to get out and enjoy our country. Certainly, that has been the case with Kathy and me. We knew we would come off the road at some point, but our focus was in the “Now”. We thought we would be RVing full-time for at least another 5 years. How wrong we were. Life Happens We were on our spring trip out of the south and headed up the Great River Road along the Mississippi river. We had been planning the trip for a whole year. Kathy’s sudden illness changed all that in an instant. We were still living in our RV full-time, but going nowhere. We tried one trip and it was successful, but only because we had family along the way to receive her medications that are delivered weekly and must be refrigerated. The decision to stop RVing full-time and get into a house was a very hard one, and we will not give up RVing entirely, but instead get a smaller rig and make shorter trips. // Planning for the inevitable We discuss the practical issues around RVing Exit Strategy planning, especially the financial impact. Your planning needs to start as soon as you make the decision to become a full-time RVer. You simply must have a nest egg to fall back on. We talk about some ways to make that happen. While this subject isn’t the most enjoyable part of our lifestyle, it can be the most important.

First Radio Show We replay our First Radio Show as we are swamped with details of our changing lifestyle from full-time RVer to home-owner and part-time RVer. End of a 13 Year Run This is a tough time for us as we still love the full-time RV lifestyle, but we must change due to Kathy’s health needs and the need to maintain a steady supply chain for her meds. We have been out here for 13 years and we had planned on many more. We will be selling our 2004v Fleetwood Expedition diesel motorhome. It has served us very well during over 60,000 miles traveling our beautiful country. We will put it in the shop for some needed repairs and then we will put it up for sale. // The Radio Show In this first of 18 weekly 1 hour radio broadcasts, we discuss how we got started RVing back in 2005. We hope you enjoy it, warts and all. Moving Forward We will continue to do the podcast on a weekly basis with all the same features we have had in the past. We will also keep up our website, http:www.livingthervdream.com. We will especially continue to administer our Facebook groups and interact with all our RV friends. I will also try to get the monthly newsletter back on track. So really, the only change will be our not traveling full-time. We will be looking for a smaller rig such as a class C in the near future so we can still travel as much as Kathy’s supply chain will allow.

Is Full-time RVing Right for You We answer the question; Is Full-time RVing Right for You The discussion starts by discussing living in a hallway 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Many couples cannot do this without some alone time and solitude. Health We lay out the pitfalls that await folks who are either under insured and who have no health care insurance. That can be a real disaster if you have a serious illness out away from your usual support system and no insurance to pay the bills. Can you both do the physical things you must do while RVing? Are your required meds available when you need them? // Full-time RVing Mindset You both, or all if there are more than 2 of you, must have a mindset that puts you all on the same page as far as communication, willingness to commit, and having a well thought out plan for full-timing and a plan for exiting the lifestyle Finances Will you be selling everything to buy a rig and still have enough to enjoy the lifestyle? Do you have a fallback plan if full-time RVing doesn’t work out? We discuss adequate down payment on RVs as well as having a well thought out budget to ensure you can afford this new adventure. Goals Have you set goals for travel, both short term (one year) and long term (5 years and up)? Floorplan Have you found a workable floorplan that has enough space to have some Private time, as well as room for some hobbies, and room to cook if that is important? Rig Capability We lay out what is needed in the way of rig capability when climbing mountain passes; and is it small enough to park in State Parks Itinerary Have you planned the type of itinerary you will use in your travels? We discuss traveling less and stopping more often as well as the “go go go” style also called “Express Touring”.

Gathering Rally Recap We do a Gathering Rally Recap on this week’s show. We had an awesome time at this year’s rally. Many of the folks who were at last year’s Gathering thought this one was even better. Those kinds of comments make us know we did a good job for our attendees. Another RV Refrigerator Failure This past Sunday evening, we returned to our rig to the overpowering smell of ammonia. I knew even before I looked at the refrigerator that the 3-year-old cooling system had failed. Fortunately, there was no fire as has happened to many other unlucky RV owners. We were able to use one of the park refrigerators to store Kathy’s meds for the night. Monday, we moved into one of the rental park model trailers until our rig is fixed. We were fortunate to get an appointment at Campbell RV http://www.campbellrv.com/ in Sarasota. They have done quality RV repair work for us in the past. We expect to have the rig back on Friday as you read this. // Southeastern Guide Dogs We chose the Paws for Patriots program of Southeastern Guide Dogs https://www.guidedogs.org/ as this year’s charity. They came in Thursday morning and gave a talk all about their programs. We knew then we had made a wise decision. During the rally, we had daily 50/50 drawings as well as a Chinese Auction. Proceeds from those activities raised $1000 for Southeastern Guide Dogs. I was so pleased to be able to deliver that money order to them this past week. Rad Power Bikes Rad Power Bikes http://radpowerbikes.com has been a sponsor of our podcast for the last 4 months. Until the rally, I had never ridden one. Mike McIlhenny, one of our rally attendees had purchased one and brought it along. He offered test rides for all who were interested. Well, I was hooked! What a cool machine. I was among many of us who had huge smiles after we experienced this fun way to ride. During our live recording of our podcast on Thursday evening of the Gathering rally, we were given a brand new Rad Mini power bike by our friend Mike Tischler. We were both totally blown away. I’ve had a lot of fun riding it. Roger “Hurricane” Wilson Roger “Hurricane” Wilson http://hurricanewilson.com/ was our entertainer for this year’s Gathering rally. Fortunately, he was able to camp here for most of the event. Friday night he put on a 2-hour concert that had the audience glued t

Extended Warranties Our subject this week is Extended Warranties. It is a rerun of show number 367. John had a few medical procedures this week, so we’ll be back with all new material next week. We are quite fortunate to have with us Chris Yust, RV insurance specialist and agent. Chris was our guest once before for one of our most downloaded podcasts all about RV Insurance. Her company is C and C RV Insurance and the website is www.candcrvinsurance.com . Controversial subject This show is a complement to the earlier one. This time the primary subject is the RV Extended Warranty, or Extended Service Plan. This topic has become somewhat controversial with some folks questioning the cost of the premium as opposed to what they can set aside themselves for repairs. We’ll look at both sides. // We start with the difference between an extended warranty and an insurance policy. One point brought up early on is to check out any company offering an extended warranty with AMBEST, an independent insurance rating agency. Look them up at www.ambest.com . Then we move forward to purchasing a dealer extended warranty, or not. We discuss the difference between an inclusionary policy and an exclusionary policy and why the exclusionary one is best. We get into claims and how they are processed with extended RV warranties. This includes the interaction between us, the customer, and the insurance company and the repair shop. This can be quite an involved process and the customer needs to understand it completely. Next up is deductibles, that amount of your hard earned money you must pay when the work is done. Then we cover renewals, transfers, and cancellations. Throughout this interview we stress that you must Read the Fine Print! Read your policy or contract.

Gathering RV Rally We do our podcast live at the Gathering RV Rally. Just like last year, we set up our recording equipment on stage and did our entire show in fromt of our Gathering RV Rally audience. We had an awesome time! Huge Surprise At about the 42 minute mark on the show, My son came into the clubhouse riding a Rad Power eBike. Mike Tishler, an attendee at last year’s rally, read a beautiful tribute to Kathy and me about what we do for the RVers who listen to our show and how we give them great insights into the RV lifestyle. Then he presented that very eBike to us. We were blown away to say the very least! That was the most surprised I have ever been. // We’re on You Tube Our friends and rally presenter Jim Guld from the Geeks on Tour videoed the entire show and live streamed it on You Tube. Check it out by searching on LTRVD Gathering

RV Insurance We interview Chris Yust all about RV Insurance. This is a rerun of show number 253. Between the upcoming rally and the currently happening hurricane, we didn’t get a new show up this week. Next week we’ll record our show live at the rally with questions from the rally participants. //

RV Tips RV Tips is the subject of this episode. From the mail to the end, we feature subjects and RV Tips that all RVers can use. Email Tips In the mail segment, we discuss such things as “where is the sweet spot in choosing a used rig that won’t lose too much value when resold in 3 or 4 years?” John talks about input on the Mobile RV Academy from a recent graduate who can now fix most RV issues that pop up. We received information on a new GPS enabled product that can protect your RV by alerting you of movement of the rig and can also track it. The company is WHRZT as in where’s it? Check it out at www.whrzt.com . Another interesting question that came out of email from a listener is how do you deal with bridges with low weight limits on the way to a campground. Some states, particularly in the west, have maps of bridges and their weight limits. I need to research this issue more. A comment on our show about slide room maintenance brought out the fact that lighter weight rigs like Class C’s built on a Ford E-450 chassis will experience some chassis flex when certain wheels are elevated with blocks in order to level the rig. This can cause slide rooms to not travel the entire length of their mechanisms and bind up until the flex is removed. Road School Moms Kathy and I will be live on the “Roadschool Moms” broadcast done by the folks at Fulltime Families. The show will start about 9:15 PM Eastern time Sunday evening the 2nd of October. The link is http://www.ultimateradioshow.com/roadschoolmoms/ // Boondocking Tips Both of us talked about boondocking and where you can and cannot dump grey water. This was a good discussion on how to get both holding tanks to need dumping at nearly the same time. RV Rally Tips Kathy and John discussed how to enjoy an RV rally. Lots of good RV Tips here.