RV Lifestyle RV Podcast

We have emergency winterization tips for RVers and campers caught in sudden cold. What a mess. Historic low temperatures, snow in places where it is all but unheard of. Power outages. Freezing water pipes. All this has been the plight of thousands of RVers whose getaways to what they thought would be warm places turned out to be anything but! Many of the campers caught in sudden cold were not ready! The campers hit by the February 2021 cold snap have been for the most part totally unprepared. Areas, where snowbird RVers would normally expect temperatures to be in the 60s and 70s, have plunged to the single digits. Heavy snow and ice have resulted in massive power outages. And RVers, snowbound and stuck in sometimes powerless campgrounds, are finding their RVs getting uncomfortable cold, pipes freezing and propane needed for heating and gasoline needed for generators running low. In Episode 332 of the RV Podcast, we hear from several of them. You can hear their firsthand reports in the player below, staring about 21:30 in. Campers caught in sudden cold share their stories and emergency winterization tips It's no fun for campers caught in sudden cold if unprepared! That's what happened to many snowbirds who thought they were heading to nice warm southern weather. A cold motorhome in Memphis RV Lifestyle Facebook Group Member Laurie Sollas was camping in her 34-foot motorhome in Memphis, TN, when the cold and snow hit. "We filled our propane tank on Sunday ahead of the snow," she said. "We are now below a half of a tank and hoping not to run out. Temps won’t be above freezing until Saturday and we have six inches of snow on the ground. We are expecting another 3 to 4 inches later this week. Our gray water tank froze. We finally managed to thaw and drain it. So, we are putting nothing in any of the tanks. We are using bottled water. This is no fun." Waterless in Waco Marlene Hacenfuss Wacek was at a Corps of Engineers campground in Waco, TX where the cold and unusual snow brought rolling power blackouts. "There is no water," she said.  "The low last night was about 4 degrees and the high today was about 17. This is colder than home, which is the Buffalo, NY area! Marlene and her family were in a popup camper with "a huge tarp thrown over the whole thing to help with the howling winds." The good news is the propane furnace in the camper works great, she reported. "We're keeping at the lowest setting so we don't burn through as much as fast, so we're about 60-65 degrees. Also have two ceramic heaters to help. Had the foresight to get water in gallon jugs before the spigots froze. There's no water anywhere in the campground or the bathroom and the stores are completely wiped out. This is nuts! Frozen in Ft. Polk Jennifer Romeyn was amping in Ft. Polk, LA, where the temperature dropped to 12 degrees at night. "We knew it was coming, said Jennifer. "We emptied the black and gray tanks yesterday and added pink stuff (RV antifreeze)  to them. We filled the freshwater tank and disconnected from city water. We woke up this morning and the supply line to the toilet was frozen. We put a heater on the floor and it thawed quickly. Other neighbors in the park are frozen and have no water." Putting a skirt around the trailer in Alabama Sharon Hamilton was camping in her trailer in Town Creek, AL when the freeze warnings were issued. "I bought black plastic sheeting and gorilla tape," she said. "With those, I made make-shift skirting around the trailer. Unhooked the water. Using bottled water. I have all the faucets open. Am keeping the furnace on 60 so I won’t use as much propane and it will heat the underbelly. So far we still have electricity, but I have an onboard generator and 30 gal of gas, just in case. Hoping the propane doesn’t run out before this is over." Throughout a huge swath of the country, from Texas to the Florida panhandle, RVers reported long lines for propane, with some places selling out.

Family Camping, whether in a tent, pop-up camper, a towable trailer, motorhome, or any other type of RV, unites families through great memories! That's what we talk about in this 331st episode of the RV Podcast. And through our special podcast guest - a Mom and Grandma who has passed along a love for the outdoors and family camping to her children - and the remembering of Jennifer and me with own experience with our kids.  We hope that this article and our podcast will inspire newcomers to try it out and cause others to rekindle a love affair of the great outdoor and family camping. You can listen to the podcast in the player below or scroll down this page for shownotes and a transcript of the interview, plus links and resources about all the things we talk about.  There is great power in family camping Jennifer and I have camped our entire married life. I grew up in a family that hunted and fished but we never really camped. When Jennifer and I got married, one of the first things she insisted on was that we would be a camping family. She grew up camping and spent family vacations in tents and trailers along the shorelines of our Michigan Great Lakes.  The first big expense we made as a married couple was a 13-foot Shasta trailer. As we started having kids, we replaced it with a Coleman pop up camper. And although we camped in state and county cames every time we could, our preferred style even way back then was boondocking - though no one called it that then. It was truly off the grid, with no hookups, down a rough two-track carved out of the woods in Ogemaw County and along the Rifle River. This Coleman Popup was what we used for family camping back in the '70s. That's our favorite spot along the Rifle River in northern Michigan. My sister and her family owned a bunch of raw acreage up there and even in this empty nest stage of our life, we take our RV to the exact same spot as often as we can. Photo of the tent Jennifer and I used from the 80s through the 90s Our three kids grew up camping and the memories we made around campfires, hiking deer trails, taking innertubes down the swift-moving river, and being together made memories that we all still laugh about today. After our kids went to school and grew up, Jen and I sold the popup and turned to tent camping for many years. We've been in small Class B and Class C motorhomes since 2012. Our daughter, Wendy camps in a tent with her family and has passed her love of family camping to her husband, Dan, and daughters, Elizabeth and Rachel. Son Jeff didn't have to work to convince his wide Aimee to camp, She, too, grew up in a camping family and they camp every chance they can in a travel trailer with their kids Jovie and Jax. And all of us get out a couple of times a year for big family campouts. Our third child, Scott, along with his wife, Lauri, and grandsons Zachary, Nick, Matthew, and Jacob, lives in Nashville. And while he is not doing much camping these days because of work responsibilities, we expect him to do so.  Here's a video of one of those summer family campouts we do with our grown kids and grandkids, this one from Silver Lake along Lake Michigan. That was from a couple of summers ago. Here's our latest family campout, this one taken just this fall, right around Halloween time. \ The benefits of Family Camping Here's a list of 7 camping benefits that Jennifer and I can quickly identify: Disconnecting from devices and connecting with one another Having quality one-on-one-time away from the daily routines of home, work and school Learning about God's creation, the natural world, wildlife, and the seasons not from a book but by seeing it and living in it Learning how to handle challenges together, be it mechanical problems on the road, sudden storms, or sorting out personal issues. There's nothing like being in a confined space together to quickly get to issues that otherwise may simmer and build resentment.

Our friends Tom and Patty Burkett have this great Off the Beaten Path discovery about bygone life on Chilo, Ohio along the beautiful Ohio River Scenic Byway. Lock up, lock down—these are phrases we’re all familiar with.  Two or three generations ago they were familiar, too, but often meant something entirely different.  That was the time period when lots of people and goods moved across and around the eastern part of the USA on canals.  To listen to their report as delivered on the RV Podcast, click the player below. They appear about 44:10 in. Their written report appears below. Life along the Locks - Canals and River Traffic Most canals have one end higher than the other and though they may move imperceptibly slowly, they wouldn’t be navigable for two-way traffic were it not for locks.  In addition to dealing with elevation changes, locks sometimes helped navigators conquer the occasional rapids or other difficult terrains. How River Locks work To understand how locks work, there’s no better place than the Cuyahoga National Park in northeastern Ohio, where there are detailed models in the visitor centers, and you can actually operate the real lock just outside the front door.  For a boatside view, paddle your canoe or kayak along the Erie Canal in New York and ask the keeper to lock you through one of the fifty-plus locks along the way.  For a special treat, either to boat or to watch, stop in Lockport, New York where the original flight of five stepped locks still operates next to a more modern barge lock. If you’ve been to the Soo Locks in Michigan or the Eisenhower Lock in New York, you may have seen huge oceangoing ships moving in and out of them, sometimes with just inches to spare along the sides.  Big inland rivers, like the Ohio, see mostly barge traffic, and though the barges aren’t as large as those big container ships, they’re still impressive.  Most of the dangerous to operate wicket locks have been replaced, but you can watch a video of one being closed. Lock keepers had an interesting life   They were tied, necessarily, to their locks, where a boat might come along at any time and ask for service.  At the same time, they spent the long minutes (or hours) waiting for the lock to cycle in conversation with the ship captains who had lots of stories about far off exotic places.  Stan Rogers, the great Canadian songwriter, captured the dichotomy movingly in a song.   The lock at Chilo along the Ohio River Scenic Byway   When you travel the beautiful Ohio River Scenic Byway, you’ll pass through a little town called Chilo,  It’s the only settlement in a fairly large geographic area with no big towns and no restaurants.  The church there has a pizza night a couple of times a month and folks travel from miles around for dinner out and a chance to socialize. At any rate, Chilo was for many years home to Lock 34.   The lock, a wicket lock, had to be regularly serviced by divers who descended into the river wearing outfits that looked like something from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.   The Chilo Lock 34 Museum The old lock building is now a museum with three floors of nicely curated displays about river life and history.   Just outside the museum is a concrete stairway going down into the river, marked with depths along one side.  It’s easy to imagine one of those suited divers descending into the river.   Easy, too, to imagine what it might have been like for that apocryphal diver who walked down them one stormy spring day and became untethered from his air and safety lines.  Legend says you can see his helmet light pass by the bottom of the stairs on a still Spring night. Overnight parking is not permitted at the Lock 34 park, except by permission.   We weren’t intending to stay the night, so we didn’t ask, but our experience in all these river towns is that if you simply ask a police officer or a business owner where you might spend the night, you’ll be directed to a safe and pleasant spot,

Hundreds of thousands of camping newbies are flocking to our federal lands, with many of them ignorantly - but sometimes intentionally - causing damage to National Parks. It is a nationwide problem, unprecedented in scope, brought about by COVID travel restrictions and the need for people to get away. And the flood of new campers and RVers shows no signs of abating. posing great threats to the sustainability of our national parks, already hamstrung by bare-bones budgets and hiring freezes. That's the topic of our interview of the week on the RV Podcast as we talk to the superintendent of one of our most pristine hunks of federal wilderness, the beautiful Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore along Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. You can listen to the podcast in the player below or scroll down this page for shownotes and a transcript of the interview, plus links and resources about all the things we talk about. The interview can be heard about 26:20 in. About the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and the stress caused by Camping Newbies  Some of the Lake Superior Cliffs of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore... photo from  National Parks Service Our guest is David Horne, the Superintendent of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, which hugs the south shore of Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It's known for the dramatic multicolored Pictured Rocks cliffs and its unusual sandstone formations like Miners Castle and Chapel Rock. It covers the south shore of Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and has pristine beaches, rugged hardwood forests, abundant wildlife, and little development. BONUS: Click Here for our blog post on seven special attractions in Michigan's Upper Peninsula Size of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore It covers 73,236 acres (114 square miles), roughly between the towns of Munising on the West and Grand Marais on the east. Hiking trails crisscross the lakeshore, with the most popular being a 42-mile section of the North Country Trail that traverses the hilly lakeshore.  There are three rustic, but small, campgrounds. Backcountry camping is available by permit through the lakeshore. Normally, the park gets around half a million visitors every year. But this past year was anything but normal. The number of Camping Newbies exploded last year Here is a video we shot last fall that shows parts of the Lakeshore which even in the fall, saw every campground filled:  Over a  million people flocked to the lakeshore in 2020, shattering the 2019 record of 859,000, which itself broke the previous year’s record of 815,000. The growth started about 2015 when the park averaged around a half million visitors a year. The result has been more than troublesome. The visitors and camping newbies have damaged trails. Made their own trails where they shouldn't. They have so congested some of the two-lane roads in and around the park that many places had traffic jams, with hundreds of cars competing for a few dozen parking spots. Trash, human waste, littering, illegal camping, and a massive strain on the park's infrastructure and staff have reached a point of crisis. Again, this is not happening just at the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. It is all across the country. But in looking at the problem through the lens of what the invasion of the camping newbies and other new visitors have brought to just one park, perhaps we can better understand what is happening everywhere.  So we can figure out what to do about it. Yes, I said "we." For those parks are our parks. And they, and the dedicated staff that works so hard to protect them for us, need all our help. 12 Mile Beach on the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore - photo from National Parks Service Interview with David Horne, Superintendent of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore David is a 26 year veteran of the National Parks Service and took over running the lakeshore in 2018. A graduate of Humboldt State University in north...

The White House has issued an order that some say requires wearing masks in national parks and BLM land when we are outside. But does it really? It is an understatement to say that there is a lot of confusion over the new COVID rules put in place by the Biden administration requiring the use of masks on federal land. Does that mean we need to mask up while hiking in a national park or hanging out at our BLM campsite? When we are outside? That’s what we’re going to try and answer this week on episode 329 of the RV Podcast. Plus we have lots more RV news, tips, your questions, an interview about a new service that promises to help RVers who have breakdowns on the road, and, of course, another great off-the-beaten-path report from the Burketts. Do campers have to wear a mask when outside or hiking in National Parks or Federal land? There is confusion about whether you need to wear masks in National Parks Last week one of the first things the new Biden Administration did was issue an executive order requiring all people to wear masks on federal land - even when outside. In order to stop the spread of COVID-19 the order states: "individuals in federal buildings and on federal lands should all wear masks" which, if taken literally, seems to imply everyone in a national park or camping on land owned by the federal government popular with boondockers would fall under this order. I know, other RV writers and websites have been really stressing the literal application of the order but it’s been my experience that few things in life are to be taken literally and I would like to suggest we look more at the intent here than the most extreme application. The fact is, right now many details are lacking. For example, it is not clear exactly when this order takes effect, how it will be enforced, or what the penalties are for violating it. Actually, President Biden signed two orders. One requires that masks be worn at airports and on many planes, trains, ships, and intercity buses. That is pretty clear. The Order About Wearing Masks on Federal Property The second order requires masks on federal property. Let me quote from it: “Accordingly, to protect the Federal workforce and individuals interacting with the Federal workforce, and to ensure the continuity of Government services and activities, on-duty or on-site Federal employees, on-site Federal contractors, and other individuals in Federal buildings and on Federal lands should all wear masks, maintain physical distance, and adhere to other public health measures, as provided in CDC guidelines.  Who must wear masks in national parks? So the intent of the order is to protect federal workers and those interacting with them. That could include rangers, campers, the folks who staff registration booths, concessionaires. Campground volunteers. Got it. that’s clear. So the requirement is that masks and social distancing be required inside buildings. Understood. What about masks "on federal lands?" But besides buildings, it also says “and on Federal lands.” That is where the confusion comes. Some sensational reporting in the RV media…maybe to get ore clicks… imply that means you now would have to always be wearing masks while anywhere in a National Park or BLM lands. That is NOT what the order says. "Should" instead of "Must" regarding wearing masks in National Parks Let me read what it says: It says “should all wear masks.” Not must. Big difference. It also references that people should follow the CDC guidelines. Well, guess what those guidelines say about wearing masks outdoors? It says masks need not be worn outside, when not in close proximity to people. What the CDC says about outdoor mask use Here’s the exact CDC quote: Masks may not be necessary when you are outside by yourself away from others, or with other people who live in your household. However, some localities may have mask mandates while out in public, please check for the rules in your locality.

Listen up RV Industry! Here is what Real RVers say are the most important RV features they want when they buy their next RV. We surveyed and heard from more than 300 of them and it's clear they know what they want. And between the lines in their responses, it's equally clear that the RV Industry hasn't been delivering it. You can listen to the podcast in the player below. And scroll down this page for shownotes,  plus links and resources about all the things we talk about. Results of our Survey: The Most Important RV Features wanted by Real RVers We really hope the RV Industry gets ahold of this report because it's pretty clear to us that there seems to be a pretty big disconnect between what this industry is making and what real RVers want. Earlier this week, we asked a simple question on our RV Lifestyle Social Media accounts: What features do you want in your next RV? The response, from our RV Lifestyle Group, our RV Lifestyle Facebook Page, our RV Lifestyle YouTube community and our @rvlifestylemike Instagram followers was immediate, detailed, and well-informed. We had nearly 300 responses to that question, and more are still coming in. But from those responses we seen some clear trends. Here are the 10 things RVers say are the most important RV features they want in their next RV: Four-season capabilities, with things like heated tanks Lithium batteries for coach power Solar panels Office space for remote workers Ducted air conditioners Comfortable beds Stand up dry showers More storage space Pet friendly amenities Quality workmanship They said lots more, so much more we are going to share many of the messages we received on our voicemail line (586-372-6990) and we are going to print some selected text responses we received, too. From them all, we picked 54 responses that reflect on just about every single aspect of an RV. Clearly, consumers today know what they want. And clearly, many think the industry doesn’t know what they want. That’s why we think it so important for these voices from Real RVers be heard. Let’s start with some of the audio messages we received: Roger says local service and creature comforts count the most "Hi Mike and Jennifer, this is Rodger Stambaugh in response to your request about what we look for most in a RV. Number one is local maintenance of the chassis in the RV build. We recently ordered a Wonder we may have to change to a Unity because the local Ford dealer need not maintain that chassis of the Wonder. Next is a large storage area and a full-time bed. So in the unit they would go with the island bed, which has almost the same storage as The Wonder of rear twin beds. Next would be a dry restroom with a separate shower, and ease of dried driving, so it'd be a van chassis." Rod & Carla want a four-season camper "This is Rod and Carla in Topeka Kansas. We recently bought our first travel trailer a couple of months ago. Haven't even been out yet because of COVID but getting ready, learning a lot, reading a lot and learned a lot from this site. One thing on the table we will look for when we upgrade would be a four-season camper. We didn't even know there was such a thing before now. I think we would have to have that for starters. Enjoy camping" Reese wants an AWD Class C "Hi, Mike and Jen. My name is Reese with my husband is Mike and we're calling from Chesterfield, Virginia. We watch your Ask Us Anything show every Sunday night and have watched probably all videos over and over. Our next RV is actually our first RV and we have spent months and months during the shutdown, or lockdown, studying all the different models. And what we want for our next RV is a Class C model with all-wheel-drive, inverters, heated tanks, leveling jack options… things like that. We've looked at the Odyssey and the Quantum and the Four Winds and the Winnebago's and something lately called a Gemini. But we're not real fond of the Murphy bed, either.

This episode of the RV Podcast has the latest RV News, RV Travel tips about moving around the country during the pandemic and shares a great off the beaten path spot in Montana. You can listen to the podcast in the player below or through your favorite Podcast app. Scroll down this page for shownotes and links and resources about all the things we talk about. WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK We talk about the two RV shows being held this week… The Florida RV Supershow in Tampa and the big Quartzsite RV Show in Arizona. We also explain why we decided not to attend this year We share our winter campout experience up at Tahquamenon Falls in the Michigan UP this past weekend where the temperature dropped to 10 degrees We talk about Bo falling into a foot and a half of muck along a lake during a hike and why it's important to keep your eye on your pets when they are off-leash This part of the RV Podcast is brought to you by Camping World – America’s #1 RV Dealer RV PODCAST INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK This week the podcast interview is… with us! We’re going to share an interview that was done with us by Camping World. It’s part of a mini-documentary they did on us that was shot at our campsite at the Holland Michigan State Park last fall. It aired nationwide last week on their Ultimate RV Show and we present it here for you on the podcast for those who missed it.   The interview of the week is brought to you by SunshinestateRVs.com, where every new  motorhome is delivered to the customer free, anywhere in the country OFF THE BEATEN PATH RV PODCAST REPORT FROM MONTANA    BY TOM & PATTI BURKETT Oh,” said the lady on the other side of the table, “I’m so glad you picked that one!  That cookie recipe won the blue ribbon at the State Fair eight years ago.”   It was late September, and the Rocky Mountain Front farmers market had pretty slim pickings—apples, Brussels sprouts, a bit of kale, and these jars of fine looking cookies.   Even though the season was clearly winding down, a dozen or more folks were gathered, chatting, around the coffee pot, whose long electric tail stretched to the municipal building across the lot. A lot of us like to spend some time every now and then in Glacier National Park.    If you’re entering the park from the east side, the quickest way us up Interstate 15 and then across US 2 to East Glacier or up to Saint Mary.   We’re a hundred percent in favor of spending as much time as possible in the park, but, as is often the case, taking a less hurried route to get there can pay off.   Unless we’re in a big hurry or the weather is bad, we avoid the four lanes, opting instead for the almost-always-present older blue highway that goes through the center of town instead of bypassing it. Such was the case as we made our way north toward Glacier along US 89, the original highway connecting Yellowstone to Glacier.   The Old Trail dino It’s a great road trip all on its own, starting in Flagstaff and winding north through a half dozen National Forests, past the Great Salt Lake, through the Teton Valley, and reposting the traveler at the edge of the Waterton International Peace Park on the US-Canadian border.   If you drive it right up here near Glacier, you’ll undoubtedly be stopped by the imposing brightly colored dinosaurs that greet visitors outside the Old Trail Museum in Choteau, Montana. Sadly, the museum had closed for the season by the time we wandered through, but the dinosaurs and the other exhibits outside made it worth a look anyway, and that’s how we came across the farmers market, in a parking lot around the side.   Up here, way north of the Teton Park, the Teton River is dry much of the year, and droughts are not uncommon.  Still, it’s a fertile and productive agricultural area that’s supported a strong community since its founding in the 1880s.   Among the things you’ll notice as you drive through are the school and county courthouse, both made of stone quarried from nearby Rattlesna...

In the wake of the Nashville RV bombing of Christmas Day, a jittery public has been reporting parked RVs spotted on city streets, sending police to check them out. We’ll talk about that and why now may not be a good time for RVers to leave their units unattended on city streets in this episode of the RV Podcast. Plus, we’ll hear from RVers on their RV Travel Bucket List plans for 2021, answer your RV Lifestyle Questions and check in with our friends Patti & Tom Burkett for another interesting Off the Beaten Path report. You can listen to the podcast in the player below. scroll down this page for shownotes, plus links and resources about all the things we talk about. Shownotes for Episode 326 of the RV Podcast WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK Happy New Year… this is our first Podcast of 2021. We share info on our whereabouts and planned travel schedule. We talked about the topics we will be covering in the podcast and current travel issues related to COVID. This part of the RV Podcast is brought to you by Camping World – America’s #1 RV Dealer The Ultimate RV Show will be featuring... US! With so many in-person RV shows canceled for the year, many people are wondering the best way to safely buy an RV during a pandemic… But don’t worry, we’ve got a solution for you! We’re excited to share that Camping World is bringing back their Ultimate RV Show, and this time, they’re going on a National Tour from coast to coast to bring you the BIGGEST VIRTUAL RV SHOW EVER, livestreamed straight from Camping World’s social channels.  From now through March 6, tune in each week for discounts on hundreds of RVs that are shoppable right from your couch, including one hand-selected by yours trul for our son, Jeff, and his growing family.. In addition to the deals, they’ll be offering RV walk-throughs, tons of retail product specials, and even an exclusive interview with me and Jennifer about our RV adventures at 9 PM Eastern Time this Friday, January 8! Head to UltimateRVShow.com to register for free and make sure you get reminders about our session this week—We’d hate for you to miss it! Plus, they gave us an exclusive discount code for fans of this podcast to get 10% off on CampingWorld.com this week in celebration of our Influencer Session! Use code LIFESTYLE at checkout for 10% off your online order, with no minimum. RV PODCAST NEWS OF THE WEEK A Parked RV like this on a city street could bring a Police Response because of a public still jittery over the Nashville Christmas Day bombing Parked RVs Bring Police Response Police clear downtown Lexington area after explosives-trained dog triggered by parked RV As Mike noted, that Christmas Day incident in which a bomb detonated in downtown Nashville is causing lots of jotters by the pub;ic when people see a parked RV. As an example, a several-block area in downtown Lexington, KY, was evacuated on New Year's Eve because of a concern that a Class C RV parked there may have contained explosives. It turned out, like several such incidents around the country, to have been a false alarm.  In this case, the RV was rented by a family spending the night in an area hotel. For some reason. a bomb-sniffing dog "alerted" police explosives were in the RV, triggering the police acted out of concern of a copycat incident. It was not clear what triggered the dog, since no explosives were inside.  But it caused quite a stir. Nearby restaurants, bars, hotels, and apartments were evacuated until the incident was settled. Louisville police bring out bomb squad after caller reports suspicious parked RV that turned out to be false alarm There have been lots of similar calls. A day after police cleared a section of Lexington, the same exact thing happened across the state in Louisville, KY. This time police were called after someone reported a suspicious RV parked downtown on New Year's Day. The bomb squad and K-9 units were called, traffic was stopped and a wide safety parameter around the RV w...

Finding the best Internet for RV Nomads is a daunting task but we have advice for you from two experts who know more about this than anyone else you can find. With the help of Chris and Cherie of Technomadia, the RV Lifestyle’s top Internet experts, we’re going to tell you what companies and what plans are the best for today’s demanding RVer. They candidly warn us what companies to stay away from and what service providers are offering the best plans. Plus we learn why 5G may not be very handy for the RV community just yet and what – and when – that new Starlink Satellite constellation will be ready for RV Nomads. If you prefer, you can listen to the podcast in the player below. The interview is about 25:00 in. The Best Internet for RV Nomads Our guests o are Chris and Cherie of the website Technomadia, which chronicles all things technology-related to RVers, and the Mobile Internet Resource Center,  which is a member-supported site that is the most respected and reliable resource for the absolute latest information about Mobile Internet. Chris and Cherie are true Nomads themselves, traveling the country in a bus converted into an RV, a Class B van and a boat. They truly are the leading experts on anything related to RVing and the Internet. We interviewed them in a recent episode for our RV Podcast and tapped into their expertise to help our readers and listeners fund the best Internet for RV Nomads in 2021. Cherie and Chris of Technomadia and experts on finding on the best internet for RV Nomads Here's a full transcript of the interview on how to find the Best Internet for RV Nomads: Mike Wendland:           Joining us now are Chris and Cherie. You guys are on, let's see, you have a whole fleet of mobile, you're in a boat right now, right? Chris:                            Yes. We have a boat, a bus, and a van. So we kind of dive into many different ways of being a nomad. Mike Wendland:           That is awesome. That is awesome. Well, it's been a while since we've had you on. And so much has changed, particularly in the lockdown that we're all going through. So many people now working from home and now people saying, "Well, why should we work at home? Let's go work from the road."                                     So let's start off with a couple of questions about those who are out there on the road and need internet. What's the best advice for September of 2020 from the tech nomadic experts here that really know more about it than anybody else I know? Cherie:                         It's a tough challenge right now because the needs for a lot that are hitting the road right now, they're trying to work remotely. They may be doing a lot of video work, like what we're trying to do right here. They're schooling their kids on the road. And they want to be able to stream Netflix and YouTube. So they want all the high-bandwidth things. Chris:                            Just like they're at home. Cherie:                         Just like at home. But these are some of the most difficult things to do over mobile internet. And at the same time, there's a lot of us wanting to do it right now because, well, not just wanting to, we need to with the pandemic and work from home. So the carriers, especially the cellular carriers, are all having supply and demand issue. So they're having to- Chris:                            Their networks are overwhelmed. They're trying to price their plans and stuff. Their target market isn't people who live and work full time on the roads. They're trying to design their plans around people who are just, you know, need to be connected in between home and work or just when they're away from the house. Best Internet for RV Nomads Advice: Be Flexible, plans change                                     So we're kind of special. The whole mobile community is kind of special. You have to find the right combination of how to use the devices, what devices to use,

The question of Mail Forwarding for RVers is one of the most common ones we get from people hoping to go full time or planning long RV trips away from their sticks and bricks home. We talked to Amber Hobert, the President of Dakota Post, one of the largest of the various mail forwarding companies that service RVers. We also talk about when it makes sense for RVers to declare residency in South Dakota and also registering their vehicle in South Dakota. It’s an interesting conversation,  What to do with mail is a question we are asked about a lot by RVers planning to go fulltime or to be on extended trips away from home. Others want to know about the tax benefits of registering their RV in South Dakota or even declaring South Dakota as their residency. Here's the full transcript of our interview with Amber Hobert. Mike Wendland:         Amber, thank you very much for making time out of your schedule to join us and talk about mail forwarding. How are you today? Amber Hobert:            I'm doing very well. How about yourself? Mail Forwarding Services for RVers Mike Wendland:         We're doing excellent. Let's talk a little bit about Dakota Post. I have used your service and there's a number of other ones out there, I know. This has become a very important concern for people as they embrace the full time RV lifestyle. Exactly how does it work and when should one consider signing up with a mail forwarder if you're a full time RVer? Amber Hobert:            Even if you're a snowbird, you can still sign up for service with us. We have short term and long term policies for both. A good portion of our customers though are full time in the RV traveling world and so as you can imagine, your mail doesn't stop coming to you just because you no longer have a home. We make sure that we can get the mail in here and then find you wherever you are to get your mail back out to you. Mike Wendland:         Now, how do you get that mail back out to somebody who is on the road? They may be in Montana this week, Idaho next week, down to Utah, and then Arizona. How does one get their mail that way? How do you get your mail when you are on the move all the time? Amber Hobert:            Yeah. We have a couple of different options. We have some of our customers that just do traditional mail. They put in a forward of their address to here, so we would receive their mail in and then they pick the option of how frequently they want to get their mail. Whether it's once a week, once a month, twice a month, and then at that time they know that their contract is for the 16th of the month. So they know 16th of the month, right before that they need to let us know where they're at. They can go onto the website, they can enter in their information, they can give us a call. And then that way we make sure that we're sending it out to the correct location because as you said, we have people who are traveling to a different state, different location all the time. Mike Wendland:         Now there are- Amber Hobert:            The other option- Mike Wendland:         Yeah, I was going to go to the other option. In fact, when we used the service, we were gone pretty much half the year and I really got hooked on being able to look at my mail online. Explain how that works. I can't do it justice cause you guys do it all the time, but I just thought it was magic. It was pretty cool. A Virtual Mailbox for your Forwarded Mail gives you access from the road Amber Hobert:            Yeah. That's the other option is to have a virtual mailbox. That is by and far one of our most popular plans. Essentially your mail comes in here, we go ahead, we scan it into a portal. You have an individual login that you go to our website, you put in your own credentials, and then you can see everything that's been scanned into your mailbox that day. From there, you can go ahead and tell us, "Don't do anything with it," which means we're going to put it in your box.