RV Lifestyle RV Podcast

Mike Wendland
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RV Lifestyle RV Podcast Podcast

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

  1. 8 HR AGO

    What’s best for the RVer? Starlink or Cellular

    This week on the RV Podcast: * What’s best for the RVer? Starlink or Cellular? * Mini Meetup Week starts this weekend for the RV Lifestyle Community, with in-person get-togethers held all across the country. Mike and Jen will hold one Friday night (Sept. 27, 2024)! * What to do when your RV’s refrigerator stops cooling * All this plus the RV News of the Week and your questions coming up in this episode 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. There's one more week to enter our latest giveaway. We'll have two winners for this one. Win a Waggle! 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. MeetUp Week for the RV Lifestyle Community! All across the country, starting this weekend, it's Mini MeetUp Week for the RV Lifestyle Community - with in-person short social meetups being held in Michigan, Ohio, Texas, and Arizona at restaurants, wineries, local homes, and businesses. These mini-meetups will last for just a few hours and allow us all to connect with other RVers nearby. You need to RSVP RIGHT AWAY so the hosts can plan for enough space. Jen and I start them off Friday evening at an awesome winery in Southwest Michigan and they go right through Oct. 2 across the country hosted by various community members. To RSVP, you need to find the one you'll attend in the Events tab at https://community.rvlifestyle.com/events Just click on it and let the hosts know. We hope to do this on a regular basis! RV CONVERSATION OF THE WEEK - Starlink or Cellular? We get more questions about the Internet than just about any other topic about the RV Lifestyle. And no wonder. It’s always changing. Our guests in this week’s Conversation of the Week are the undisputed top experts on mobile Internet - Chris and Cherie of the Mobile Internet Resource Center. We like to touch base with them at least twice a year to catch up on the every-changing Mobile Internet world. In this conversation, taken from a much longer live interview we did on the RV Lifestyle Community last week - we discuss what’s better these days - Starlink or Cellular. We start this conversation by asking Chris & Cherie to outline the latest changes to Starlink…

    37 min

  2. 18 SEPT

    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

  3. 11 SEPT

    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

  4. 4 SEPT

    RV Horror Stories: Real RVers Share Real RV Fails

    This week on Episode 513 of  the RV Podcast:  * RV Horror Stories: Real RVers Share Their Most Embarrassing RV Fails and “Operator Errors” * Is it right for State Parks to give priority camping reservations and special rates only to in-state residents? * Getting rid of condensation stains on RV shades… there’s an easy solution to make them look like new again. 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 This week, we want to share a wild campfire discussion we had during our recent Fantasy RV Tour trip to the Canadian Maritimes. We were all hanging out one night and got to sharing our most embarrassing mistakes…and many sounded like horror stories. And, yes, I shared mine, too. This is a fun but educational conversation. You might laugh at our RV mistakes, but you'll hopefully learn from them, too.  Be sure to hit one of the players above and listen (and watch) the entire conversation! SOCIAL MEDIA BUZZ - Wendy Bowyer Wendy Bowyer reports on the hot issues most talked about this past week on social media and our RV Lifestyle Community group. In our RVLifestyle Community General Discussion Space, Loretta posted an RV Cover Question. She and her husband just purchased a 2024 Grand Design Reflection 5th Wheel. They plan to travel from November until early April, and when their 5th wheel is not in use, park it outside on their property. They live in Ohio, and from April through November the temperatures can range 40 and 95 degrees. They made a cement pad that has partial shade and trees. Under these conditions, would you get a cover? Randall said they used to have a cover for their unit, but every 2-4 years, the cover would have to rip and need to be replaced. After paying $150 each time to replace it they decided to build a carport that is working well. Michael showed a picture of his travel trailer neatly covered up. He said the cover works great in the northeast winter, but for that summer heat and humidity, he wondered if it would be a mildew trap. And Brenda & Marc urged Loretta, if she does get one, to get a stronger, well-made cover. The thin ones rip easily from trees or strong winds. Lots for Loretta to think over. Also in our RVLifestyle Community, in the RV Travel, Trips & Tours Space, R & T posted they had JUST retired, and were heading out for an RV trip to the Outer Banks. Many in the group were ready to celebrate the big retirement day with them, offering congratulations. Then the couple shared some pictures of themselves parasailing, windsurfing, and posing with their cute Goldendoodle Tucker, living their best life! How inspirational! We love to see these celebration posts. Then over in our RVLifestyle Facebook Group,

    38 min

  5. 28 AUG

    Hotter than Hell: A Dog’s Tragic Fate in Overheated RV

    Last week, a dog died in an overheated RV when the Air Conditioner lost power. This week in Episode 512 of RV Lifestyle's RV Podcast, we learn about two safety devices every RVer who travels with a pet needs to have. Plus, how one of our followers saved over $1,000 in their extended RV warranty, the Social Media Buzz of the Week and how we plan and find great campgrounds. The audio version is available on all the major podcast apps or in the player below: The Dangers of an Overheated RV A couple who tragically lost their dog while camping are sharing their story as a warning to others. Dawn Shover and her husband were camping in Ohio with their dog, Chief. They planned an outing with their grandkids to a fair and left their dog, Chief, in the RV while they were gone. To keep Chief safe, they bought a new generator and made sure it was full of gas and that everything was good.  But when they returned hours later, to their horror, they discovered the generator had turned off, their RV was easily more than 100 degrees, and their beloved pet was lying listless, barely moving, foaming at the mouth. Then their dog died. So what happened?  Apparently, the air conditioner was working so hard it blew a fuse, and on that hot summer day, the temperature in their rig RV quickly rose to over 100 degrees, killing their dog. The couple is sharing their story as a warning to others that a generator powering the air conditioning is not enough.  Such a tragic story, and we also hope their willingness to share their pain helps others and protects pets. We share two products we think every RVer who travels with a pet should have: Waggle….which monitors the temperature in your RV when you are away and sends an alert if the temperature exceeds a certain level: https://rvlifestyle.com/waggle and SoftStartUp ...Which lets air conditioners run with less than a power spike - https://softstartup.com/rvlifestyle Good Advice: Shop around for the best Extended RV Warranty We were camping in Maine last week and a woman in a camper down the line from us recognized me and came over to thank me for saving her over a thousand dollars. “How?” I asked. She explained that when she bought her RV the dealer tried to talk her into buying an extended warranty from him. She remembered Jen and I talking about Wholesale Warranties and how it finds the best deals for RVers not the expensive ones sold by dealers. She went to https://rvlifestyle.com/warranty and filled in a form and Wholesale Warranties got her a price that was $1,000 less than the dealer. Now she has peace of mind because RVs break… all the time. We never recommend buying an extended warranty from a dealer without first shopping around. And Wholesale Warranties will do that for you... free. Finding the best price for you at the best price, on both new and used RVs. Check it out at https://rvlifestyle.

  6. 21 AUG

    What happened when we brought Bo back from Canada under the new CDC Dog Import Rules

    Bo is back in the USA! We were on a 27-day Fantasy RV Tour of the Canadian Maritimes, and all the worry and confusion over those new CDC Dog Import Rules was wasted energy. Despite all the controversy and changing guidelines, it turned out that when we crossed back into the US from Canada, we weren't even asked about Bo or the forms and papers and vaccinations and microchipping we had to subject him to before the new rules took place on Aug. 1st. Since our tour left the U.S. on July 22, we have spent a lot of time with our vet trying to make sense out of the CDC regulations, filling our forms, and jumping through the CDC hoops. But on the night before the tour left, we received word that the CDC - bowing to pressure from veterinarian groups and dog organizations - suddenly relaxed the requirements that so many of us had already complied with. CDC Dog Import Rules We go into a lot of detail about what actually happened when we came back to the U.S. in this week's RV Podcast. Click the player below to see the video version of the podcast and see what happened when we crossed the border back. For the audio version, listen on your favorite podcast app or click the player below. CDC Dog Import Rules Social Media Buzz - Wendy Bowyer In our RVLifestyle Community's Mods & DIY Tweaks Space we asked the group if anyone had a personal design or storage solution in their RV that has really worked for them. Many answered, and it was so inspiring to read what people have done! Brian built a sewer hose storage under his Fifth Wheel and shared a picture of two square rectangular tubes to store the hoses that looked neat, clean and a wonderful solution. Paul added a shelf to the bathroom cabinet of his 2017 LTV Unity that looked like an efficient way to add more storage. And Burt, he and his wife were getting frustrated with the Command hooks they had in their bathroom to hang their towels because it started pulling the wallpaper off the wall. So their solution was to find a shower rod, get a couple of "S" hooks and put their towels on those S from the shower rod. They found a black shower rod and black "S" hooks to match their bathroom decor and it looked so good!If you are looking for a few space saving additions you really need to check out this thread. Also in our Community, in the General Discussions Space, Greg shared that he recently heard that he should NOT sit in a closed slide. His kitchen table is in their slideout, and on travel days, he and his wife sit on it for lunch. Now he is concerned this could cause damage and asked the group for their opinion. Greg's slide is rack and pinion. Suzanne said when she asked Alliance about partly opening the slide to get to the frig she was told to be careful to NOT step on the slide. Her slide is also a rack and pinion and when it is in, it is slightly raised.  So it sounds like it could cause damage.

    25 min

  7. 14 AUG

    RV Tips for Long Trips

    We have a whole bunch of helpful RV tips for long trips like the multiweek adventure we are now on with Fantasy RV Tours in the Canadian Maritimes. These trips will come in very handy as we share our experiences in RV travel over the past 12 years. Plus, we talk to a bunch of RVers who are with us on this tour to hear the tips, tweaks, and travel hacks they have used to make for smooth RV travel. It's hard to believe this trip is winding down. But it all ends Saturday on Prince Edward Island, from where we'll take our time heading back to Southwestern Michigan. To watch the YouTube version of the podcast, click the player below: For an audio version, click the player below: RV Tips for Long Trips - Conversation of the Week Here are the Cliff Notes on the tips Jennifer and Mike shared: * Get the oil changed, DEF filled, and all maintenance up to date on your vehicles. * Check the PSI, torque the tires before leaving, use a TPMS, and look the tires over at the start of each day. * Know your RV’s Maximum Occupant and Cargo Carrying Capacity (OCCC)  - or how much the occupants weigh, how much water you are carrying, how much propane, how much food, clothing, lawn chairs, ground mats, camping gear and personal you can carry. * Do not fill your fresh water tank for long drives unless you are boondocking and have no campground water connections. Water weighs 8.2 pounds a gallon, and a full tank on Class B has a 20-40 gallon capacity - weighing 164 to 328 pounds. A Class A or many towables and Class C RVs have a 75-100 gallon capacity, and a full tank weighs from 615 to 820 pounds. * Drive no more than 330 miles and/or stop at 3:30 PM. * Research each stop. * Drive on the Top Half of your Fuel Tank. * Check local news, weather, and road conditions (apps like Waze really help) before starting out. * Don’t hog the passing lane. Stay right. Move over to let others pass when there’s a long line, and you have a safe way to get on and off the road. * Carry an emergency kit - flares, flashlights, overalls, gloves, rain gear, and tools.  * Have your road service and insurance numbers on your phone and in the dash. * Don't take too many clothes—take no more than five days' worth, less if you have a small RV. Bring a raincoat, windbreaker, jacket, and sweatshirt. * Bring clothes that don't need to be pressed or ironed. * Do laundry on the road, at campgrounds or laundrymats.  * Carry coins for washers and dryers. * Bring your own laundry soap and detergent. * At the campground where everyone has to share a few washers and dryers there will be traffic jams. Go as early as you can. * Cook as much as you can in advance, and plan leftovers. * If you travel with a dog, always have two poop bags in your pocket. * Always have your pet’s up-to-date medical records with you. * Schedule weekly Facetime or video calls with family back home. Send them frequent text messages and photos, and make sure someone always knows where you are each day and where you are headed next. We also answered several questions this week about the...

  8. 7 AUG

    One Year of Starlink RV Use: How Has It Performed So Far?

    Ever wondered how Starlink RV use really works? It's been one year since we installed our Ultimate Road Warrior Internet System, which is mostly built around Starlink connectivity. In Episode 509 of the RV Lifestyle RV Podcast, we share the results of how Starlink has performed all across North America. And we also check into the experiences of other Starlink-using RVers who are up here in Nova Scotia with us as part of a 27-day tour of the Canadian Maritimes run by Fantasy RV Tours. We also have the Social Media Buzz of the Week and answer questions about the food and campgrounds on this Canadian Maritimes Tour we're on. You can catch it all in the players below; To watch the video version, click the player below. The audio version is available on all our favorite podcast apps or you can listen now through the player below: In a recent post in our RVLifestyle Community's RV & Camping Gear Space, we asked: What one piece of camping gear could you not imagine camping without? This kind of post is always interesting to me, and judging by the large number of responses, I would say others feel the same! Some of the many answers included: A tire pressure monitoring system, good surge protector, water pressure regulator, a gas grill to keep the heat and cooking smells outside the rig, ebikes and by far the item that came up the most was a Berkey Water Filter system - many really love their Berkeys. Also in the Community, in the Mods & DIY Tweaks Space, Richard shared a picture of a new kitchen table he made that was just stunning. On a trip with a friend earlier this year, his friend broke the table when he sat on it when it was made up as a bed. What to do?  Richard decided to make a new one. He cut a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood to size, then stained it, sealed it, and applied a rubber edge he bought from Amazon around the edges. He posted a picture in the group and it looked so nice!  We'll post a copy in the show notes. Nice job Richard! Then over in our RVLifestyle Facebook Group, we had an etiquette question from Jim. Jim asked: "For campgrounds where an employee or host leads you to your site in a golf cart, is it customary to tip them? I don't think so, but maybe I'm wrong?" I appreciate that Jim wanted to do the right thing and when it comes to tipping, it can be confusing! Obviously, not all campgrounds have someone drive you to your site, but some private resorts definitely do. So what to do? Well, the majority of the 300 or so responses said no, you do not have to tip. In fact, a couple of people who work as hosts and literally do this job said they do not expect tips and would be shocked to receive one. A couple of people pointed out that many of the larger private campgrounds...

    32 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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