RV Lifestyle RV Podcast

Mike Wendland
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RV Lifestyle RV Podcast

Celebrating the RV Lifestyle by Mike and Jennifer Wendland. Tips, travel ideas, RV news and great interviews about the RV Lifestyle.

  1. 2 DAYS AGO

    More Confuson over Motorhome Ban

    This week on the RV Podcast: * There's more confusion over the so-called Motorhome Ban: The California Air Resources Board now denies there is a ban coming in 2025. The RV industry still insists there is. * RVers are urgently needed in North Carolina…to help those displaced by the hurricane to learn about their temporary RV housing. * In our RV Conversation of the Week: 7 Red flags about bad camping neighbors that may make you want to leave a campground. * All this plus the RV News of the Week and your questions coming up in Episode #524 of the RV Podcast. You can watch the video version from our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel by clicking the player below. If you prefer an audio-only podcast, you can hear us through your favorite podcast app or listen now through the player below. Before we get to the confusion over the so-called California Motorhome ban, I want to share this email requesting help from RVers to those still homeless from this fall’s flooding in North Carolina from Hurricane Helene: “We are having safe housing problems for hundreds of families in the area of the Southern Appalachians after the historical damages from hurricane Helene.  We are helping people find temporary housing and RVs that are being donated from all over the country.  We are desperately in need of people who understand RVs and all of the different things someone needs to know when they first move into one. Especially winter living and propane safety and maintenance.  Because these units are being donated we do not have people who always understand even the very basics about the campers they are picking up.  My goal in sharing this with you today is asking if there would be a way that we could ask for volunteers within the RV Lifestyle Community who might be close enough to be of assistance to hundreds of families in this difficult situation.” Thank You - Janet Hensley If you are able to help, you can contact her directly at themissjanet@gmail.com . Email from the California Air Resources Board Now, let's get to the follow-up over the controversial issue of what is being called the California Motorhome Ban.  We’ve been extensively reporting on this for the past several weeks, and this week, I want to share an email I received from the California Air Resources Board. Basically, they say there is no “ban” that prohibits the sale of diesel RVs in California. In fact, the spokesperson says “False claims asserting otherwise are outright lies.” But it’s all semantics. The email reads like bureaucratic gobblegook and uses a lot of words and regulatory language to basically say manufacturers must meet all the requirements of the state’s Advanced Clean Trucks rule. If they don’t meet those requirements, which involve meeting zero emission benchmarks for having zero emission vehicles, then they can’t sell. That, at least according to RV dealers, suppliers, manufacturers and the RV Industry Association - indeed is, for all practical purposes… a ban. The RV Industry Assessment Here’s the industry assessment: “In 2025, California's Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) regulation, aimed at promoting zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs),

    34 min

  2. NOV 13

    More Bad News! 2025 California Motorhome Ban even includes Class Bs

    This week on the RV Podcast: * There’s more bad news about the 2025 California Motorhome Ban, which even includes Class Bs, as well as some Heavy Duty Trucks * A whole bunch of new RV Recalls was just announced * And what to do during the RV Off-Season * All this plus the RV News of the Week, Social Media Buzz, and your questions coming up in Episode # 523 of the RV Podcast You can watch the video version from our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel by clicking the player below. If you prefer an audio-only podcast, you can hear us through your favorite podcast app or listen now through the player below. Click the CC logo on the right side of the player, and you can follow along in a word-for-word transcript of the podcast as it plays. 2025 California Motorhome Ban includes Class Bs, even some Heavy Duty Trucks There has been massive fallout over the very controversial regulations that will, in effect, prohibit the sale of new 2025 motorhomes weighing over 8,500 pounds in California and five other states starting Jan 1. Those other states are Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. Five other states are also slated to enact the same regulations in 2026 and 2027 - Vermont, Colorado, Maryland, New Mexico, and Rhode Island.  We reported extensively on this last week, and if all this is news to you I urge you to go back and listen to Episode 422, where we go into great detail about it. There’s just too many new developments to rehash it right now. Outrage and Dire Warnings... As news of this decision by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and its Advanced Clean Truck Regulation has spread over the past week, so has outrage and dire warnings. The RV Industry Association, the RVIA, which represents RV manufacturers and suppliers, issued a detailed report on this situation, which has reached a crisis stage for the industry. “In 2025, California's Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) regulation, aimed at promoting zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), will create a near-total “ban” on motorhome sales in the state, as well as in additional states that follow the California Air Resource Board (CARB) regulations. While the regulation does not specifically ban motorhome sales, the ACT regulation mandates manufacturers of medium and heavy-duty vehicles to sell an increasing percentage of ZEVs each year. This has led chassis manufacturers to halt sales of traditional internal combustion engine chassis for motorhomes in California, stemming from the lack of ZEV chassis suitable for motorhomes.” In explaining the situation, the RVIA addressed one misconception, that it only applied to supersized Class A diesel motorhomes. This ban affects just about all motorhomes. It says: “While the majority of the attention thus far has focused on Class A and Class C diesel motorhomes, the regulation, with a few exceptions, applies to all medium-duty or heavy-duty vehicles with combustion engines. Any non-exempted on-road vehicle over 8,500 GVWR is included is covered by the regulation, including Class B motorhomes most of which have a GVWR over that amount. “Vehicles exempted from the ACT regulation include emergency vehicles, military tactical vehicles, transit vehicles subject to the Innovative Clean Trans...

    42 min

  3. NOV 6

    Breaking News! Motorhome Sales Banned in Six States

    Big motorhome sales banned in California and five other states, effective Jan 1, 2025! This is a special edition of the RV Podcast involving a breaking story that we need to get out there. California and five other states have a controversial regulation in place that will effectively ban the sale of most large motorhomes starting January 1, 2025. How could this happen? We dig into this in this Special Episode of the RV Podcast. You can watch the video version on our RV Lifestyle YouTube channel by clicking the player below. If you prefer an audio-only podcast, you can hear us through your favorite podcast app or listen now through the player below. Click the CC logo on the right side of the player, and you can follow along in a word-for-word transcript of the podcast as it plays. The RV Industry is reeling this week as California and five other clean air states are about to ban the sale of motorhomes with a gross vehicle weight (GVWR) of over 8,500 pounds. This includes most motorhomes. * The average weight range for a Class C RV is 10,000–12,000 lbs.  * The range for a Super C Motorhome is 19,500 lbs and up * The average GVWR of a Class A motorhome typically ranges from 13,000 to 30,000 lbs Class B motorhomes - campervans - typically weigh 6,000- 8,000 pounds GVWR and thus won't be affected. This ban affecting the larger motorhomes will be effective Jan 1, 2025, and it’s a story that has caught everyone by surprise. It came to widespread attention just a few days ago when a letter sent by Newmar RV to its dealers in the affected states came to light, telling them of the coming sales ban.  Now the reason this has shocked the industry is because, frankly, the industry really expected an exemption from a program that seems aimed at big diesel trucks that are driven around the clock, not low mileage recreation vehicles that typically drive 3,000-5,000 miles a year. Their reasoning is sound. It seems pretty cut and dry. But several industry leaders I talked to in preparing this special report felt much more should have been done and that perhaps there was a complacency and lack of urgency in dealing with this. The Advanced Clean Truck Regulation California and the five other states that have signed on to the same clean air regulations haven’t made a secret of this at all. The Advanced Clean Truck Regulation has been out there for over a year now. The other states that have adopted it are Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. You may wonder why California is the driving force here. Because under Section 177 the federal Clean Air Act that regulates air emissions, California is the only state authorized to set vehicle emission standards and other states wanting to adopt their own such regulations can do so only if they are identical to California's. Really. I'm not making this up. But no one in the industry really thought RVs would be affected by the Advanced Clean Truck Regulation. They thought RVs would be treated differently than big commercial trucks once regulators understood the problem making big motorhomes all EV.

    31 min

  4. OCT 30

    Campground Theft: Is it Getting Worse?

    This week on the RV Podcast:  * Campground theft: How to Protect Your Gear while camping * Somebody is trying to keep folks out of an Oregon national forest by burying planks booby-trapped with nails on forest roads. * How RVers can get a nice break on diesel prices. * All this plus the RV News of the Week and your questions coming up in Episode #521 of the RV Podcast You can watch the video version from our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel by clicking the player below. If you prefer an audio-only podcast, you can hear us through your favorite podcast app or listen now through the player below. Click the CC logo on the right side of the player, and you can follow along in a word-for-word transcript of the podcast as it plays. We have one more week for you to win our latest giveaway! It has some awesome prizes that can fit into your 2025 camping adventures. Here are the details! FIRST PRIZE - One lucky winner will receive a one-month RV pull-through stay: The ultimate getaway awaits with a one-month RV stay at Zion Utah Jellystone Park!  Settle into a spacious pull-through RV site that provides all the comforts you need for an extended stay, with full hookups and 50-amp service. SECOND PRIZE - Three lucky winners will receive a one-week RV pull-through stay: Experience the adventure of a lifetime with a one-week RV stay at Zion Utah Jellystone Park! With spacious pull-through RV sites ranging from 45 to 75 feet and equipped with full hookups and 50-amp service, you will enjoy all the conveniences of home while surrounded by Utah’s stunning natural beauty. MORE details about this on the Sweepstakes page https://rvlifestyle.com/Sweepstakes RV CONVERSATION OF THE WEEK - Campground Theft Recently on our Facebook group, MaryJean posted a picture of a campfire at night and wrote: "Beautiful campfire but without our chairs that someone stole from our campsite today.” MaryJean was staying at the Turkey Run State Park Campground in Indiana. She and her husband left their site for a few hours, came back and their chairs were gone. They looked around at the sites, didn’t see them. They asked their neighbors, no one saw anything. They asked the campground staff, nothing. So they filled out a theft report. ….. And spent the night gathered around their campfire with no chairs, and a real sense of violation. MaryJean’s post triggered nearly 600 comments. Most expressed shock and sympathy, but what struck us was how many others had similar stories, many saying it seemed to them thefts were on the rise. Here are a few samples: Joe: We were camping in Arizona recently, went out for the day, came back and someone had stolen my wife's bathing suit that she had hanging on a drying rack! Lori: “Someone stole our portable trash can. Left the trash that was inside on the ground. We were at Colorado River RV Campground in Texas.” Beth: At a state park in Ohio, things were disappearing from campsites during the summer months a couple years ago. Turns out it was indigent people living in the surroun...

    43 min

  5. OCT 23

    An “UNBEETABLE” Workamping Experience – The Sugar Beet Harvest

    This week on the RV Podcast: * An UNBEETABLE RV Experience. And we spell Beet BEET. Were talking about RVers who Workcamp the Sugar Beet Harvest. We'll explain all in the RV Conversation of the Week * Brinkley RV is continuing to set the pace in the RV industry, this time with an all-new luxury Ultralite Travel Trailer that can be towed by a large SUV. * A Major RV manufacturer has shut down its two California plants because it's just too expensive to do business there. And this comes as the state proposes a clean air fee that could add another 65 cents a gallon to its sky-high fuel costs. * All this, plus the Social Media Buzz and your questions coming up in Episode #520 of the RV Podcast. You can watch the video version from our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel by clicking the player below. If you prefer an audio-only podcast, you can hear us through your favorite podcast app or listen now through the player below. Click the CC logo on the right side of the player, and you can follow along in a word-for-word transcript of the podcast as it plays. And now for news on our new giveaway! Win a deluxe camping stay near Zion National Park! This giveaway has some awesome prizes that can fit into your 2025 camping adventures. Here are the details! ENTER HERE. FIRST PRIZE - One lucky winner will receive a one-month RV pull-through stay: The ultimate getaway awaits with a one-month RV stay at Zion Utah Jellystone Park!  Settle into a spacious pull-through RV site that provides all the comforts you need for an extended stay, with full hookups and 50-amp service. SECOND PRIZE - Three lucky winners will receive a one-week RV pull-through stay: Experience the adventure of a lifetime with a one-week RV stay at Zion Utah Jellystone Park! With spacious pull-through RV sites ranging from 45 to 75 feet and equipped with full hookups and 50-amp service, you will enjoy all the conveniences of home while surrounded by Utah’s stunning natural beauty. BOTH prizes provide you with unlimited access during your stay to the park’s many attractions, activities, and amenities, including a massive water zone, which includes a heated swimming pool, a lazy river, multiple water slides, and a splashground. OR GET YOUR DISCOUNT! As a thank you for participating in this RV Lifestyle sweepstakes, Zion Utah Jellystone Park is offering you 10% off a stay at the campground. This discount is valid for reservations with a minimum of 2 nights and for a maximum of 7 nights. The discount can be utilized on any new reservation stays through December 31, 2025. To redeem this 10% offer, simply use the promo code Zion2024 when booking your reservation online at https://www.zionutahjellystonepark.com/ or via phone at 866-934-5267. Please note this offer is not valid on prior reservations, and this offer may not be combined with any other offer of discount.MORE details about this on the Sweepstakes page Mike Wendland full false 40:55 RV Problems: Dealing with the Disappointments https://rvlifestyle.com/rv-problems-2/ Wed, 16 Oct 2024 10:00:00 +0000 https://rvlifestyle.com/?p=110506 This week on the RV Podcast... The RV Lifestyle is what YOU make it. How to handle RV Problems or disappointing circumstances and stay on the road. Florida RV Parks largely dodged a bullet last week, with most relatively unscathed from Hurricane Milton and now getting ready for this winter's snowbirds. A State Park in Wisconsin has had to shut down for the season early because of a severe mouse infestation. It's been SO overrun with the rodents that authorities say they had no choice. All this, PLUS the Social Media RV Buzz and your questions, coming up in Episode 519 of the RV Podcast This week on the RV Podcast... The RV Lifestyle is what YOU make it. How to handle RV Problems or disappointing circum

    44 min

  6. OCT 9

    Another Hurricane! Plus Tips, Trends and RV News

    This week on the RV Podcast:  * The Hurricanes just keep coming. As recovery is still underway from Hurricane Helene, a new one, Hurricane Milton, is taking direct aim at millions of Florida residents and many of the favorite snowbird campgrounds in Florida.  * Why are so many campgrounds adding treehouses, covered wagons, and tiny homes instead of more campsites? Blame the millennials. At least, so says Kampgrounds of America. * RV Prices are starting to drop. And that’s good news for consumers after years of jacked-up dealer prices. * All this, plus the RV News of the Week and your questions coming up in Episode #518 of the RV Podcast You can watch the video version from our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel by clicking the player below. If you prefer an audio-only podcast, you can hear us through your favorite podcast app or listen now through the player below. Click the CC logo on the right side of the player, and you can follow along in a word-for-word transcript of the podcast as it plays. We're at our "GATHERING AT THE GULF" Fall MeetUp We just set up camp in anticipation of our Gathering at the Gulf with 70 or so of our friends and supporters. We are on the panhandle, and from what we can tell, we will not be in the path of this latest Hurricane Milton.  We'll be sharing all the photos from our Gathering with our Community all week. If you aren't a member yet -- here's where to do that https://community.rvlifestyle.com And we have a NEW giveaway! LUMI! Lumi is a lightweight, portable smart projector that throws high-quality 1080P HD visuals up to 200 inches. Lumi, plugged into your RV turns empty walls into immersive entertainment experiences. And we'll be using it during our gathering, too! One lucky winner will get this super cool projector to use at your home or campground. Check it out and enter at https://rvlifestyle.com/sweepstakes RV NEWS OF THE WEEK We just keep getting hammered by Hurricanes. We have two to report on this week. The devastating destruction from Hurricane Helene that continues to isolate people. Power is still out for tens of thousands, Infrastructure massively damaged. The National Park Service announced the Blue Ridge Parkway is closed indefinitely.  Most of the roads in northwest North Carolina are open to essential travel only, More than 50 campgrounds were impacted, some completely destroyed, and many state parks are closed for at least several more weeks. It’s been heartbreaking reading of all the pain and suffering from Hurricane Helene. And yet in the midst of that, so many are helping and offering assistance. Here’s one example: The Mountain River Family Campground in Mike Wendland full false 36:21 Exposing High Pressure RV Sales Tactics https://rvlifestyle.com/high-pressure-rv-sales/ Wed, 02 Oct 2024 10:00:00 +0000 https://rvlifestyle.com/?p=110403 This week on the RV Podcast: How to Deal with High Pressure RV Sales Tactics. We’ll interview a reputable dealer who exposes unethical tactics and tells you how you should respond to high pressure. RV Campgrounds in six states have been devastated by last week’s Hurricane Helene. With prices continuing to rise, many are asking, “How can anyone afford the RV Lifestyle these days?" We have some advice in our Social Media Buzz segment. All this plus the RV News of the Week and your questions coming up in Episode #517 of the RV Podcast. This week on the RV Podcast: How to Deal with High Pressure RV Sales Tactics. We’ll interview a reputable dealer who exposes unethical tactics and tells you how you should respond to high pressure. RV Campgrounds in six states have been devastated by ... Retreat at Paris Landing and we’re heading up this week to get our first look at it. It’s in Tennessee, northwest of up near the Kentucky

    37 min

  7. SEP 18

    Essential RV Extras: The Top Upgrades Real RVers Want!

    This week on Episode 515 of the RV Podcast: Essential RV Extras: The Top Upgrades Real RVers Want! You can watch the video version from our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel by clicking the player below. If you prefer an audio-only podcast, you can hear us through your favorite podcast app or listen now through the player below. Click the CC logo on the right side of the player, and you can follow along in a word-for-word transcript of the podcast as it plays. We are in celebration mode this week. We are so excited to share that RVLifestyle won TWO SEPARATE Campers' Choice awards (also called the Campies) sponsored by RV Share. You can see the rest of the winners here. One for Best RV and Camping YouTube Channel and one for Best RV and Camping Blog! Whoo hoo!!!!! What makes this extra exciting is we won because of YOU. You nominated us and voted for us and we are so thankful. Thank you for giving us your trust and support. And thank you RVShare! For those who didn't know, The RVLifestyle YouTube Channel has over a thousand videos on every RV topic imaginable. (If you haven't already, please check us out and subscribe https://www.youtube.com/rvlifestyle!) And our blog https://rvlifestyle.com/ contains more than a dozen years of stories and so much information offering everything from practical help to campground info to RV inspiration and more. Once again, thank you everyone! Win Free Stuff! We have a new giveaway. We’re giving away to two lucky winners: First Prize: Waggle Pet Monitor PRO+, which keeps track of the temperature inside your rig and sends alerts via SMS, email, and in-app notifications when it exceeds your set threshold. Second Prize: The RV Mini AI Cam lets you monitor your pet virtually with its 360-degree camera, two-way audio, and real-time motion tracking. These are the best in safety for RVing pet owners. To enter, just go to https://rvlifestyle.com/sweepstakes Enter using all the 14 different ways, and the lucky winner will be announced Sept. 29. Join us during Meetup Week! From Sept.

    40 min

  8. SEP 11

    Enough is Enough! Ever Rising Campground Fees

    This week on the RV Podcast: * Enough is Enough. RV’ers have had it with ever-rising campground fees * The BLM wants to charge RVers up to $600 to boondock in the Arizona desert.  * And speaking of Arizona, we have the details on a large chunk of highly desirable RV property near Kingman and Route 66 that’s going to be sold off in 5-acre parcels later this month * All this plus the Social Media Buzz and your questions coming up in Episode #514 of the RV Podcast You can watch the video version from our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel by clicking the player below. If you prefer an audio-only podcast, you can hear us through your favorite podcast app or listen now through the player below. Click the CC logo on the right side of the player, and you can follow along in a word-for-word transcript of the podcast as it plays. RV CONVERSATION OF THE WEEK - Rising Campground Fees This week’s conversation of the week is about a topic that has been simmering all summer. Our email and social media have been filled with angry comments from RVers who are up to here over what many feel is price gouging by RV campgrounds all across the country. As the demand for camping space has continued to grow after those crazy COVID days, so have prices. It’s insane: $100 a night is no longer rare, with $70 a night very common.  On top of that, campgrounds are doing all sorts of other things... Charging more on weekends or holidays, adding various extra charges, like making you pay more to reserve a specific site, making it harder to get a refund when you have to cancel, and charging extra for having friends stop by to visit or to bring along a pet. And we’re not even talking about taxes - tourist taxes, county taxes, state taxes! It’s crazy, and people are crazy mad. Campgrounds are businesses Let’s get one thing clear right off the bat. Campgrounds are businesses. Many have huge expenses and limited seasons, and they need to cover costs. Their costs are going up fast, too. To be competitive, many have had to upgrade their Internet wireless networks - no cheap undertaking. Add swimming pools. Leash-free dog runs. Build cabins. We get it. They are hard-pressed to afford all this and have to raise prices to afford it. We want campgrounds to do well and stay open or we won’t have anywhere to camp. Before the Internet, you would call a campground or just show up, pay the camping fee, maybe a tax, and go camp. When the internet began, reservations could be handled online and campgrounds started adding reservation fees. They had to invest in costly software to manage the reservations. That was the first fee just like when ticket sellers do this when you go to a show. Hotels do it. Airlines do this. It seems to be a normal cultural thing. But over time and especially the last couple of years, many other fees started getting added to the tab. Now some in our TV Lifestyle Community say they fully understand this: “It’s a free country - choose to pay it or move on.” - said one of our social media community posters. Said another: “It is a matter of Supply and Demand…. There are a whole lot of new RVers now…. This creates a crunch on the decent campgrounds… i like site “x” and so do others… Therefore a lock fee for t...

    35 min
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Celebrating the RV Lifestyle by Mike and Jennifer Wendland. Tips, travel ideas, RV news and great interviews about the RV Lifestyle.

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