RV Podcast Ep 229: Trying to make the foolproof RV

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