Making the RV Lifestyle a Reality

This week, we have lots of RV news for you, plus an interview with one of the organizers of an event called Fulltime Freedom Week that brings together more than 30 top RVers to help teach you what you need yo totally embrace the RV Lifestyle, whether as a fulltimer or a successful vacation and weekend RVer. We also have a great off the beaten path report and a rundown on the major RV happenings this week. Show Notes for Episode #264 October 16, 2019 of The RV Podcast; WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK We just returned from an awesome family getaway over a long weekend on Mackinac Island, where motorized vehicles like cars, trucks, motorcycles and RVs are not permitted. Walking, horse drawn carriages and bicycles are the way most people get around the 8.3 mile island and we had a ball. The weather was cool, brisk and a little rainy at times. High waves on Lake Huron washed over the road in a couple spots. But we rode bikes around and through the island, toured the attractions and had a ball. And yes, there were frequent fudge breaks (Mackinac Island is famous for fudge)! Look for a video in a couple weeks. As this podcast is being released, we expect to be on the road again, this time headed once again for Florida, by way of our grandson Matthew’s football games in southwest Georgia. We expect to attend as many as we can, hanging out at our condo on Okaloosa Island and also traveling Florida to do some research for some upcoming 7 day Adventure Guides we hope to publish right after the holidays. You can get info about the five we already have published at https://rvlifestyle.com/books This part of the podcast is brought to you by Dish Outdoors, which lets RVers pay as they go and watch HD satellite television from wherever they are camped with easy to set up gear made with the RVer in mind. Just go to https://rvlifestyle.com/dish for details on the service and special deal just for listeners of this podcast. RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK JENNIFER Smoking banned on California state parks and beaches under new law  Planning to light up on a California beach? Better think again. Starting Jan. 1 smoking is banned in all California state parks and beaches in an effort to reduce wildfire risks, pollution and liter. The smoking ban includes cigarettes, cigars, pipes, vaping devices “or any other lighted or heated tobacco or plant product intended for inhalation.”  Makes me wonder what other states will be next. MIKE Committee recommends National Parks Service privatize campgrounds, limit senior discounts and more to raise money   An advisory committee is recommending the national park service privatize campgrounds in the national parks, limit senior citizen benefits and allow food trucks into the parks as a way to bring in new money. The committee said the campgrounds have outmoded infrastructure, and not enough funds to keep up with demands. The committee also wants to have senior discount blackout periods to bring in more money. You can bet this idea will stir up some heated debate! JENNIFER Keep your distance from the elk park service warns visitors in North Carolina and Tennessee The National Park Service is warning visitors to national parks in North Carolina and Tennessee to beware of elk. Elk were reintroduced to the area in 2001-2002 after over hunting and loss of habitat had eliminated them. But since their reintroduction, their numbers have grown significantly. The NPS last week urged visitors to keep their distance, because they have been know to be aggressive and charge when they feel threatened. MIKE Dog saves sleeping couple after fire breaks out in their travel trailer  A dog saved a couple who were asleep in their camper in the middle of the night when a fire broke out last weekend. The couple were camping in Pinellas Park, Florida, sound asleep, when their dog woke them up. The couple told officials they felt heat, looked around, saw the fire and were able to escape with their dog. A second travel trailer also caught on fire, but the owner was not at home. No one was hurt in the blaze. JENNIFER Holly, the bear, wins Katmai's fattest bear contest for 2019 Last year we interviewed a ranger at Katmai National Park & Preserve (listen here) to learn more about the Alaska park's amazing bears. So, when we heard about this year's fattest bear contest at Katmai, we had to share. Since 2014 the park has organized a "fattest bear" contest where the public can vote. People view pictures of how specific bears looked in the spring, and how they looked in the fall after gorging on salmon all season long, and cast their votes. Bears need to fatten up for hibernation, and the whole contest is a fun way to educate the public on the park's bears. This year's winner was Holly, and you can see her for yourself here, she is one plump creature. This part of the podcast is brought to you by RadPower Bikes,an electric bike manufacturer offering direct to consumer pricing on powerful premium electric bikes. Now with free shipping LISTENER QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK Listener Don called in to offer a name suggestion for our RV… as we talked about last week. He thinks we should call it Bowie… named after our dog, Bo, we suppose. Hmmm. We’ll think about that. By email from a listener named Bob: QUESTION: Do you tow a vehicle with your RV? ANSWER: No, we never have and don’t plan to. Between our ebikes and just picking up and driving the RV whenever and wherever we want to go, we never had a need to go to the expense and hassle of towing a car. Do you have a question you’d like us to answer, or a comment on the things we’re discussing. If so, we invite you to leave us that question or comment on the special voicemail number we have for the podcast – it’s 586-372-6990.  If you are driving and can’t write it down right now, just go to the RV Lifestyle travel blog at rvlifestyle.com and scroll down the page. You’ll see that number prominently posted on the blog. This part of the RV Podcast is brought to you by Battle Born Batteries, maker of quality, safe and reliable lithium batteries that can be installed in just about every RV. Get in touch with Battle Born to find out what lithium batteries and an upgraded energy management system can add to your RV Lifestyle. Check them out at https://rvlifestyle.com/lithium RV INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK Camille Attelle of More than a Wheelin' is one of the organizers of Fulltime Freedom Week Have you been dreaming of the RV Lifestyle, ether as a fulltimer, a vacation timer or a weekend warrior? But maybe you don’t know how to start? What you need to do to find and buy an RV…how to manage mail…what to pack…what kind of maintenance will be required…or how to find work you can do from the road? Well, coming up November 5-8, 2019 is an event we want to tell you about called Fulltime Freedom Week and for would be RVers, this can save you a lot of time. It taps into the knowledge of 30 top RVers and the best part is you can get a free pass to the whole event. Our guest this week on the podcast is one of the organizers, Camille Atell, who with husband Bryce, runs the RV travel blog More Than A Wheelin'  Here’s a transcript of the interview: Mike Wendland:           Well, as I said, you know Camille Attell from her website, More Than a Wheelin' and she is a key part of the Full-Time Freedom Week event. This is the third one coming up. And for full-timers and would-be full-timers, this is something I think that you really want to pay attention to because if you've been dreaming about RVing and spending hours researching, this is going to help you make it a reality. Camille, welcome to the podcast. Camille Attell:               Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. Mike Wendland:           Well, we're excited to have you because this is the year-long goal for a lot of people. They started this year saying, "I'm going to be a full-time RVer," or they're looking... Some of them have been dreaming about this for years. Camille Attell:               Yeah. Mike Wendland:           Tell us about this event and how... Why will just this event help them get off their sofa and get in the RV? Camille Attell:               Absolutely. Well, so you mentioned Full-Time Freedom Week. That's the official title. And I'm sure you'll link to it in your notes. And so this is a third-year event that friends of mine and I have designed. We're all full-time RVers, but we've designed this event not only for people who want to full-time, but really who want to live an RV lifestyle their way. So it's kind of like a full-time mindset. It doesn't mean you have to live on the road forever, or you have to give up your house. You can, and we'll certainly provide content to teach you that, but we provide content that will help you figure out how to make it happen, how to find the right RV, what you need to know before you get in the RV, how to stay in that RV. Everything from maintenance to lifestyle decisions when you RV, where to find camping, how to work from your RV, finding a community and so much more, Mike. We've packed it full of everything you could ever imagine to start RVing and stay RVing. Mike Wendland:           Well, explain how this works. People have heard about blog series and digital summits and all that kind of stuff, but how is this, how is this structured? How does someone partake of Full-Time Freedom WeeK? What will they get out of it? Camille Attell:               Yeah, so I'm so glad you mentioned that because there are some amazing blogs and vlogs and podcasts, like yours, out there where people can go and learn all kinds of things. So what we've done is we've pulled together some of the best out there. We've got over 30 RV experts over four days. We even have some amazing partners that are joining us, different brands, and we make it all available online. So you don't have to go anywhere, you don't have to drive your RV,