Frank Conversations about RV Frustrations

It’s time for some straight talk: The RV Lifestyle is not as idyllic as you may dream it is. At times it can be quite frustrating. We surveyed our RV Podcast Community and in this episode, we’re going to tell you what bugs RVers the most and what can be done about it! Plus, we’ll talk about carrying a gun in an RV and whether it’s time to bring back CB Radio! Show Notes for Episode #257 Aug. 28, 2019 of The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK Mike and Jennifer at the beach MIKE We’re coming to you this week from Okaloosa Island, on the beautiful Emerald Coast of Northwest Florida. This is our base for some wide-ranging travel across the Gulf States and into Southwest Georgia, where we will be catching several high school football games to watch our grandson, Matthew, Play. JENNIFER Yes, it is beautiful down here on the Emerald Coast. But it is also very hot and humid this time of year. The temperatures are in the 90’s and the humidity percentage pretty much matches it. The only place where you can get some relief is if you are on the beach. MIKE And that is exactly where we plan to be this Sunday, Sept. 1 for a meet and greet for our Fellow Travelers who are able to join us on the Gulf Islands National Seashore. We’ll meetup in the first parking lot of the National Seashore, heading west from the Navarre Beach bridge. Show up at 3PM and bring your beach chairs and whatever refreshments you want. We’ll hang out till 6PM when we do our weekly Ask Us Anything live stream on the YouTube RV Lifestyle Channel. Once that’s over, for those who want, we’ll head to a nearby restaurant for dinner. We love doing these meet and greets as we travel and we’ll have some RV Lifestyle stickers to give away and we’ll do tours of our RV. And you can meet Bo, too! JENNIFER Speaking of meet and greets, we’re a little over a month away from America’s largest RV Show in Hershey, PA, and once again, Mike and I will be there. The show runs Sept. 11-15 and we will be doing a meet and greet from noon on Saturday Sept. 14. We’ll be hanging out in the Leisure Travel Vans Display area and we’ll do a special live YouTube broadcast from there about 3PM. So if you’re coming to Hershey, please come and say hello! MIKE For those of you on the west coast who can’t come east to Hershey, look for us at the California RV Show in Fontana, California October 4-13. We’ll be doing meet and greets there throughout the day on Saturday October 5, opening weekend of this big two week show. JENNIFER And while we’re talking about get togethers, maybe we should talk about one more: Our annual Winter Campout in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula at the beautiful Tahquamenon Falls State Park. We just booked the dates -January 9-12, 2020. This will be the sixth year we have gathered up there to play in the snow and hang together in the beautiful UP. MIKE This is an informal gathering, which means you have to make your own reservations with the Michigan DNR. Go to their website at https://midnrreservations.com/. Book the dates you want (some of us are coming Thursday, some are even staying over to Monday). After you make your reservation, be sure to join our special winter campout Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1697339513886451/ and introduce yourself and tell us what site you booked. All communication, announcements, etc as we get close to the date will be done through that group. JENNIFER Those are just some of the events and things we have planned over the next several months. There’s also the Elkhart Open House, in Elkhart, Indiana in late September. That’s a closed event for industry members but since so many new RVs are being shown, we always try and get down there to do a couple of reports for you. Elkhart, of course, is the RV Capital of the World, where the vast majority of RVs are built and where many of the major suppliers and parts companies are located. MIKE Then there is Matthew’s football movie, we’ll be driving the RV back and forth to Georgia as much as we can to attend and video as many of those games as possible, all the while still finding new RV stories and videos for you and meeting many of you on the road. Yeah… we’re busy! But we love every minute of it! RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK MIKE Herd of bison run by family in car, smashing into side of vehicle at Yellowstone National Park  Yellowstone's bison sure have been in the news this summer. This week a video went viral showing a vacationing family sitting in the car when out of nowhere a herd of bison appear, running straight at them. The family, and several other motorists, did everything right. They did not keep driving. They did not get out of the cars as they waited for the animals to pass. And pass they did: Running right in between the cars, with the horn of one of the giant animals damaging a section of the family's car - all caught on video. No one was hurt - neither man nor beast. The worse part of the encounter? The car was a rental and the family did not pay extra for added insurance. JENNIFER Alaska's governor issues disaster declaration because of destructive wildfires  Wildfires burning in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula led the governor there to issue a disaster declaration last weekend. More than 50 homes, plus numerous businesses - including campgrounds - and other buildings have been destroyed. The fires are burning later in season than normal and are particularly severe because of the drought conditions there. MIKE Canada announces new national park in Northwest Territories   Canada has a new national park called Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve in the Northwest Territories. The park is 14,000 square kilometers - that is roughly 5,400 square miles - and by the looks of pictures in news reports out last week, it's stunningly beautiful. The park is Canada's 47th national park, and it falls within the territory of the Kaitcho Dene First Nations, and the Northwest Territory Métis Nation. Parks Canada will co-manage the national park with first nations. The Canadian government pledged to invest $40 million over the first 12 years in infrastructure including roads and campgrounds, and then $3.4 million per year thereafter. JENNIFER A woman visiting Arkansas's Crater of Diamonds State Park was watching a video on how to find diamonds, then looked down and found 3.72 carat yellow one Finally, here’s my favorite story of the week: Miranda Hollingshead was hot and tired during an extended family outing last week to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, a couple of hours away from her Bogata, Tex., home. There was dirt everywhere, but no gemstones in sight. So as others in her group continued the dusty hunt on Aug. 16, she found shade and did what comes naturally to 20-somethings who need guidance: turned to YouTube.“I searched ‘Crater of Diamonds how to find a diamond,’” Hollingshead. “That’s all I wanted to know — how do I find diamonds here?” The park in Murfreesboro, Ark., is known for the 40 kinds of rocks and minerals visitors can hunt for and take home. As Hollingshead watched the video about dry-sifting techniques, she ran her hands through the rocks on the ground. She felt something pop over her finger and looked down to see what it was. It was a 3.72-carat yellow diamond. She hasn’t had the stone appraised, and she hasn’t decided what to do with it yet. But she’s leaning toward taking her mom’s advice and getting it cut into two separate diamonds to pass on to her daughter and son, who are now 3 and 4. “I mean, anyone can use the money,” said Miranda. “but not everyone can tell their kids, ‘Hey, that ring you’re about to give to whoever you’re going to get engaged to, or the ring you got engaged with, your mom found that,’” she says. 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 Sharon asks about the indoor/outdoor wireless thermometer we use in our RV    ANSWER: It’s the La Crosse Technology C85845 Color Wireless Forecast Station… $39.95 on Amazon at https://amzn.to/2ZoIAE4 Chris and his wife in Pennsylvania asks about carrying a firearm in their RV ANSWER: This is a very controversial topic and there are very strong feelings on both sides of this issue. But Chris’ question is one I get very often and while I always try t avoid getting into political or emotional discussions here, it is a legitimate topic so let me try to answer it as objectively as possible without advocating either side. I’ve seen one source that claims 40% of RVers in the US carry firearms in their RV. Federal Law says that you don’t need a permit to to move a firearm across state lines in a vehicle. Now these federal rules are just for crossing state lines.  Within the state, you have to follow the state’s laws for gun storage in a vehicle. And there’s a huge amount of variance in gun laws between states. In addition to state and federal laws, some counties and municipalities have laws governing firearms.  This is more common for urban centers than rural areas, but you should still always check local laws to ensure that you can comply with them. It’s also important to remember that state and federal parks, forests, etc. generally have additional laws on top of the regular state and federal laws.  And yes, they are laws.  Unlike private campgrounds, the rules on government land are legally enforceable and can lead to fines or even jail time. Now, these rules are mostly applying to RVers who do not have a concealed carry license. If you are licensed to carry a concealed weapon, then you may carry your firearm within reach of you in the state where you are licensed or another state that may reciprocally honor your permit. If you are planning to carry a concealed weapon across state lines, it is advisable to check what the law says for each individual state.