Turning an Aged RV into a Dream Home: Our Experience

Today we take a deep dive into whether an update or upgrade is right for you and your RV. We are going solo on the RV LIFE Podcast talking about our decision process to update instead of upgrade to a new RV. 

We share our decision, what upgrades we made, give you tips from what we learned, hope the information will help you make your decision to update or upgrade. 

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Today’s Episode Information & Links 

Luxury in the Outdoors  (LITO)

Hershey Event - RV LIFE *LIVE*

September 14th 6-10pm

Exploring Through Our Lens  website https://www.exploringthroughourlens.com/   

RV Mattress replacement video Costco Novofoam Mattress 

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

The most important part of your RV is the roof. If your roof leaks, your trip and your RV get ruined. You can take it to a dealership or service center to be maintained at their expensive rates, or you can maintain it yourself over a weekend for a fraction of the cost. Liquid rubber RV roof products will keep you dry and leak free. Visit ShopLiquidRubbercom slash RV Life. Use coupon code RVLIFEPOD15OFF to save 15%. That's ShopLiquidRubbercom slash RV Life.

Speaker 2: 0:31

National Indoor RV Centers. With over 1,000 motor homes available across multiple locations, national Indoor RV Centers continues to provide an outstanding, hassle free motor home ownership experience. National Indoor is the number one New Mar dealer in the nation and also features brands like Integra, winnebago and much more. Visit NIRVCcom and become a part of the National Indoor RV Centers family. We are full-timers for just over the past two years. We have a 2002 Monaco Diplomat and we love it. We tow a Jeep 2007 Wrangler, living our dream each and every day. But we went to an RV show or two and we started thinking about this big, beautiful new rig And the rigs that we're looking for. We want to tip in, we want a New Mar and they come out to about $2,000 a month. That seems like forever, or in our case, 20 years, but $2,000 a month for forever just seems like a lot of money. That is when we started looking at renovating the old girl. Now remember, she's a 2002 and she has been down the road quite a bit.

Speaker 2: 2:15

Once we went down that rabbit hole of talking and then doing one renovation. One thing seems to always lead to another. You put the refrigerator in and then you got to replace the batteries. Well, you're replacing the batteries in the refrigerator. Now you need to get a new inverter. When you get a new inverter, you may as well put some solar on to get some extra power in there. It just went down a rabbit hole to just kept going and going and going. We're almost there and we're glad we decided to go down this road. We've done some things like replace the refrigerator, the lithium batteries, the solar system, the tires, we've removed the couch for a desk and we've upgraded our bed from a queen to a king size bed. Wow, that has been absolutely incredible. Patty, you want to talk about some of all of these things we got going on here?

Speaker 3: 3:10

Well, like Dan said, Sorry about that.

Speaker 2: 3:13

I didn't have her mic up. Go ahead.

Speaker 3: 3:15

Wow, like Dan said, we have started down a road of replacing and upgrading, and then we had to sit back and say, okay, do we start over with a new rig or do we continue down the you know, upgrading, updating a 2002 Monaco? And so let's take you through and start at the beginning with our thinking process. So first of all was the mattress. Let's start with the mattress, and that's kind of where this whole thing started, because it was a queen size mattress, it was old and we needed to upgrade to a king size bed.

Speaker 2: 3:57

You know, one of the questions that I know people ask all the time is like well, how's the unit? And all of the repair people that have looked at this, anybody that we brought into the shop or had the oil change, they all tell me the same thing Oh, this thing, it's got 211,000 miles on it And they're like well, it's just now getting broken in. And I have to say, as I'm driving down the road right now, 65 miles an hour or so on cruise control, just rocking down the road forever. That is the sweet spot for this unit And we love her. We also love the new Marne. You know, dutch star, we would love to have one of those because it's got a lot more of the newer conveniences in it And it just has everything that you could possibly ever want.

Speaker 3: 4:51

Right. So now we're at this stage, Let's take you back in time. We're at the stage, we've went to dance at a few RV shows, but it's been several And I can't even tell you how many new units we've walked into. And you see the new units with the heated floors and you know all the gadgets for Dan to drive, the backup cameras and all of that. And, yes, that sounded really awesome to think about getting into that new unit. Until you start looking at the monthly cost. And for us you know it was a back and forth and we thought about it. Now the other thing Dan talked about is the fact that the Monaco is in good working order, But that didn't come without putting in some money and repairs. You know, in 2002, you've got to expect that you're going to have to do updates and upgrades to the engine and tires and all of those mechanical things.

Speaker 2: 5:53

And what everybody tells us all the time is that every time you drive this thing down the road, it's like taking the inside of that out on an earthquake And we've lost a few dishes along the way. But you know, we love our unit, but it is 20 years old, And so that means the technology of the unit is 20 years old, but also the stuff in the unit is 20 years old. So it's about time to start changing or upgrading all of that stuff.

Speaker 3: 6:25

So let's jump in and talk about why and our thinking process, what we've done and you know, give some suggestions. We hope our community can take kind of our experience and take something away from it. And I think for some of you you'll say the heck with it, i'm just going to go buy a brand new unit. And for others, you know, maybe you'll decide to do you know what we've done and repair and replace and redo, renovate the unit that we're in.

Speaker 2: 6:58

One of the things that's really hard and I mean really really hard is to go into a new unit, see what it does and see all the luxuries of home Because this is our home and then come back and say, well, let's just fix up the old girl. It's a really kind of a hard mental decision that we've got to get going through our head.

Speaker 3: 7:23

Right, and even now, as we talk about it and Dan's talking about that Newmark Dutch star that we've been in many times and that's the unit we want And we'll even take one that's used. But it is hard when you're fixing things in the in our unit. I'm still now that you brought it up again kind of questioning, but I guess we're into the renovation. We are talking about keeping this unit for about a year or two, just making it more comfortable updating it for us. And I think the end goal for us you know we've talked about it, we keep going back and forth. That's why I say I think is to get that new unit.

Speaker 2: 8:05

Let's talk about the first thing that we did, and that was before the decision to renovate the whole thing, and I'm going to think that the first real big thing that we did was put a new bed in. Right Over on exploring through our lens, our YouTube channel, there is a full video of us putting this bed in. We took the old one out. We took the little nightstand things out, because they were set up for queen size bed, so we took those out on each side And then we put this beautiful bed. We got it at Costco. By the way, it's called the Nova foam bed. It was great. It is the most comfortable bed that I've Right.

Speaker 3: 8:48

So again, you know you sleep in your bed, for you're in your bed for six, seven, eight plus hours a day. We are used to being in a king size bed And so, having the queen, we thought, okay, we could do with it, deal with it. And the fact that it was older and the fact that it was just a queen, we definitely knew we had to upgrade to a king, because Dan said this is our home, this is where we live. So that was a great update, highly recommend it. That mattress again you could see it on our YouTube channel came all rolled up and it was way easier than you know I thought it might be.

Speaker 2: 9:27

Very dense. Though Anybody's ever done that or wants to do it, those beds are heavy and they're very, very dense. Don't open it up where you don't want it to open up, because once it opens up, it's opened up. It's all done there.

Speaker 3: 9:43

And once it's open for us, there's no getting it back out. That's the beauty of the rolled up, you know, getting it through the door. It was all shrink wrapped and it was all squeezed down.

Speaker 2: 9:51

It was, it was great. So that was the first thing we did. One of the second things we did kind of was more of a got to do it because that 20 year old RV refrigerator that we had we used to have an RV refrigerator that ran on propane and it ran on on 12 volt as well.

Speaker 3: 10:14

That was yes. So the refrigerator went, it was gone. It was interesting because Dan was disappointed. We brought a repair. We did all the things they say online to look at to see what's wrong with the refrigerator, because some things can be fixed. And we went through the whole process. We even had a tech that was in the campground that came over and checked And he said no, there's no coming back, it's dead. And Dan was getting a little uptight or upset about the fact that they refrigerator had died, but I had to remind him it was 20 years old. I don't know of a lot of refrigerators that last 20 years. But I have to tell you I was really nervous about getting that new residential refrigerator in the space and through the door. So we brought it through the door and I was really not looking forward to this process. But I can tell you I am so happy with this residential refrigerator. Double doors on the top of the refrigerator, the drawer on the bottom.

Speaker 3: 11:19

The drawer on the bottom, so the freezer part actually has three compartments, which is awesome. I know I'm going on and on about a refrigerator, but it was a great choice. I love our refrigerator. It is only electric now, though, right.

Speaker 2: 11:35

Yes, it is only electric. Thank God we did those other things.

Speaker 3: 11:39

Yes, yes. So again, it's one thing leading to another, and we're not even talking about renovations here yet. We're talking about things repair type, things that were needed.

Speaker 2: 11:52

Like taking the one big couch out. So you know how RVs, especially older RVs, they all have opposing couches. So the one that we kept was the jackknife, which was more uncomfortable of the two. On the other side there was a fold out bed. Is that what they call them? Fold out, a pull out, pull out?

Speaker 3: 12:13

I don't know what it's called It was a couch for the bed.

Speaker 2: 12:14

Yes, Yeah it was a couch for the bed, so it was a pull out bed. But we took that couch out of the RV and we replaced it with a desk. Because of all the editing and the podcast and all the stuff that we do, we need to have one good computer station to work at. And that's what we did is we took that out and put a desk in.

Speaker 3: 12:35

So let me just give people a visual, because this is a podcast So you could hear the audio, and you could certainly go to the YouTube channel and see the unit that we have that we're talking about. This is a 40 foot and it is a diesel. So you walk into the front, you're two captain's chairs. We have a unit where the kitchen is on the driver's side, which I love. We could talk about that. You could ask questions as to why I'd love it there. So that was the things that we're talking about. that we did were just necessity, really.

Speaker 2: 13:09

Yeah, those were all necessity. Now there's next one that I'm going to tell you about. In my opinion was a necessity because I don't know what they were thinking in the old days. But this unit has carpet from the front door to the kitchen And then it switches to tile from the kitchen back to the bathroom And then it switches back to carpet around the bed. And not only was that carpet under the slide, so you saw the slide going back and forth all the time, it had 20 minutes, 20 years of spilled coke in it, right?

Speaker 3: 13:51

And this is this is what led us to this discussion, right? This is what led us to do. We want to just get rid of the unit because the carpet is disgusting, cannot be cleaned, there's no working around it, there's no just putting mats down or anything like that. So it's now became the decision It's funny, because it's just a small piece of carpet that we're making the decision to either buy a new unit or renovate.

Speaker 3: 14:20

And this is really where it started, right? So we said, okay, do we start pulling out the rug, do we start redoing, fixing up, make it look nicer, more homey, or buy that new unit? And that's where I think that's certainly where the conversation started. We had already been looking at RVs and we were looking at about around $2,000 a month for what we wanted. Probably could have gotten a little less expensive, but we did make the decision because, being full time financing and RVs difficult, do we want to spend that money every month? And this is where the whole conversation started, right? So let's talk through a little bit that conversation and how we came to our decision.

Speaker 2: 15:13

It's time to renovate, let's just do it. That's what I say.

Speaker 3: 15:17

I think you were pushing more for the buy the new unit if I remember correctly.

Speaker 2: 15:23

I really want that. By the way, while we're talking about new units, the new Mar 4079 has the kitchen on the driver's side. Why do you like that damn kitchen on the driver's side so much?

Speaker 3: 15:34

So the kitchen on the driver's side in the class A, because the other side, the passenger side, is where my basically my front door, my front window is. That's where, when I pull up to the lake or the water or the mountains, that's what I'm looking out on. And even though new Mar now has kitchens that have bigger windows when they put them on the passenger side, I want that openness. I want my table, which we'll talk about a little bit later. I want my table facing my front patio, my front porch. That's why I want the kitchen on the driver's side.

Speaker 2: 16:17

You're making it difficult to buy a new unit, because 90% of all units have the kitchen on the other side.

Speaker 3: 16:22

Now you had a whole conversation with Casey, who's the CEO right Of new Mar.

Speaker 1: 16:27

Yes.

Speaker 3: 16:28

And you had a whole conversation. There's actually a podcast with him And he and I talked briefly and he said sounds like a good idea. We need to sit down and talk about this. We want our listeners chime in back me up. What do you think about having the passenger side, your front, you know, keeping that open and clear and lots of windows? put a comment in on our social media.

Speaker 2: 16:55

Yeah, you could change the world with us, because we are planning on going up to sit down with Casey and his team and talk about that.

Speaker 3: 17:03

Yes, yes, So now the decision was going back and forth. We were having this discussion. My thought was here was my thought, you know cause we both went back and forth. If you had listened in on the conversation it would have sounded like I don't know two people bickering whatever. But my thought was even if we spend a thousand or $1,200 a month, i've really gotten to the point where our whatever we're putting out monthly I think about how many more experiences can we have as opposed to spending that money monthly. So I think that's kind of where our decision finally was we're ready to renovate.

Speaker 2: 17:46

And you know we started this conversation with the carpet and what we did with the carpet, but you never told them what we did.

Speaker 3: 17:53

Okay, no, because I wanted them to hear what the thinking process was and the fact that it started with the yucky carpet. So what we decided to do was have the carpet taken out and vinyl. It looks like hardwood floors, the slats that fit together, and we'll be showing pictures and we'll be putting all of the renovations on our YouTube channel. But what are those called Um vinyl slats?

Speaker 2: 18:18

Yeah, vinyl flooring.

Speaker 3: 18:19

So you walk in and it is now wood flooring and I am so happy with it.

Speaker 2: 18:25

We really, really are happy with the wood flooring. It looks fantastic And in fact we're so happy with it. We took those ugly mirrors, you know, the mirrors that all the RVs. Everybody says it makes it look bigger. Guess what It looks just the same when the mirrors are gone. We took those mirrors down and we decided to put the flooring on those walls as well, so, and we made a back splash behind the uh, the, the counter.

Speaker 3: 18:52

The stove. Yeah, where the stove was, there was mirrors there as well. So we decided to put the flooring there and, again, we'll put pictures on social media. It is not completed yet. We'll put we'll be doing a video on our YouTube channel.

Speaker 2: 19:07

That sound means it's time to give you a tip. We're going to give you an RV life tip. What's that tip? The name of the flooring that we used, and we did a lot, a lot and then some more. So lots and lots and lots and more research on this subject And we found what we came to the conclusion is the absolute best flooring to put into an RV, and that is the Home Depot brand. It's called Life Pro. Uh, it's Life Pro and it's only sold by Home Depot. Uh, but I gotta tell you, it went in. It was fairly easy, um, but we love every inch of it.

Speaker 3: 19:54

It was actually super easy because we chose not to do that ourselves. So we picked, made choices as to what we were going to have somebody else do, what we were going to pay for, and we found somebody who was fantastic that put it in. So when we came in, it was all done. I'd love that, i love the renovations, but I don't necessarily want to do them all. So now we did the floor rabbit hole right Cause now I wanted to change the table.

Speaker 2: 20:22

Yep. So I'm going to tell you about this table, and I'm going to tell you a story. We were doing something where we're breaking the RV mold by what we're doing, and this is all Patty's idea. There's no two ways. But I want you to close your eyes, not if you're driving, but close your eyes and think about this. As I describe it I'm going to describe it in as cool of terms as I possibly can.

Speaker 2: 20:50

Patty decided that she wanted real wood for this table. Um, and so we went looking. We found some on Amazon, and then one day I just kept looking around and kept looking around and I found a a do we have the guys card? No, uh, it's a lumber mill where they actually take. You know, they have a milling machine where they cut boards out of and then they finish those boards and make them into a table. So Patty's idea was to get a live edge table with real wood on the top, and we are now going to mount that table vertically, so up against the wall. And we got these special brackets on Amazon. They were only $35. So the table can actually fold down in transit.

Speaker 2: 21:46

So now what's going to happen is Patty is going to sit at this table. This will serve as our dining room table, which we barely ever used, in all honesty. Um, it'll serve as our dining room table and we'll be able to sit at the table and look out, that big picture window onto our front yard or the lake or the river, or the sand and desert, wherever we happen to be that day. Um, it's just beautiful. We went to this mill and we just climbed around through wood and lumber and we found this one piece of wood and you know they're going to sand it down and they're going to finish it off for us and then I'll install it into the RV. So I'm really excited about that. Uh, because we do have our electric bikes. Now, two of our electric bikes fit in the back of our Jeep, but for some reason we have four electric bikes, so we can fold those electric bikes up and put them right in front of that table and we're ready to go.

Speaker 3: 22:51

Right, and so I am so excited about this table because I did imagine this idea of sitting at the table looking out the big window onto our front yard and, like Dan said, any of the landscape we're at. So that was really exciting. But let's talk about you know, now we've got the table, we've got the floor, but now these you know 2002 lights, gonses, don't fit what we're doing, so now we have to replace those.

Speaker 2: 23:23

Amazon Yes.

Speaker 3: 23:25

So those are being replaced as well as the choices They're on their way.

Speaker 3: 23:29

Yes, the lights, the above lights that again in in that timeframe they were just I don't even know what they're called. They were ugly, they were fluorescent lights, right? So Dan often talks about, you know, the typical Monaco original. People love a lot of the original stuff. Well, this isn't going to be original. We still have the original hardwood real cabinets, lots and lots of those. We love that. But yeah, this is, this has been a lot. We're just talking about some of the things we've done And you know it's it's been a little bit exhausting, it's. It's a lot of work figuring, picking out these kinds of things.

Speaker 2: 24:12

It really is exhausting. But more than that. You know we're in a situation right now and I'll let you talk about that in a second but but we're in a situation where our unit is really out of service. You know we couldn't go in and drive away right now if we wanted to. So while we are in a difficult situation with the RV, we're also in a personal family crisis situation.

Speaker 3: 24:38

Go ahead. Yeah, let me explain. Let's back up a little bit. So you know and again for people out there that are thinking about remodeling, renovating you know you've got to take into consideration what parts of the RV will be out of commission. If you're still, if you're full time, if you know, how are you going to make it all work? Because I can't imagine we could have been in the RV for those couple of days that the flooring was being done.

Speaker 3: 25:06

Now our situation we are right now in Virginia. We've actually been here for a little over a month. My mom is currently on hospice, so you know we're we're staying with her. We love the fact that you know our full time RV life allows us to take the time to be with her. I'm very grateful And what I'm even more grateful for is NIRVC. They've been such a great help and support to us. The RV is being stored And you know we're able to get these things done on the RV, since we are not traveling right now. But that is something for you guys to consider. If you're talking about renovations, how do you do it in steps? Do you get it all done at one time and go stay at a hotel or with family. That's part of you know this decision making process.

Speaker 2: 26:02

And once you decide to make that decision, mindset is so important. When something breaks, it's frustrating and you get all tense. It's really harder, i think, for full time or most time people, because that's our home, we don't have any place else to go. But if you have that really, really good mindset, either when you decide to renovate or you decide to get a new RV, if you have a positive mindset that just keeps looking forward and keeps looking forward and doesn't question every decision that you've made, it really, really, really makes a difference. Patty, let me ask you and I'm asking you in because you're standing here, but I'm asking all the listeners too that have renovated their RV, that have put significant money into upgrading their RV Would you do it again And we're still.

Speaker 3: 27:00

This is kind of tough because I got to say we're still in the process of the renovation, it's not done, and sometimes I feel like it's been a lot And again, we're not doing most of the renovation ourselves. It's been a lot, but I do think that we made the right choice. And I do it again when we walk in and we see something that's been finished, i try not to see the things that I'd also like to do. You got to kind of focus on what's been done and appreciate it Again. That's where I think it comes back to mindset. But yeah, i think I do this again.

Speaker 2: 27:39

I know that I would do it again. I think that my only plot is I might do it a little earlier And we're not through I mean our couches. I don't understand this at all And I just talked to RecPro, the company. They said they gave them all the FedEx on the same day And then one shows up and the other two packages are TBD. I don't know.

Speaker 3: 28:07

To be yes, and this is Dan's rant for today. And again, this is where mindset patience. He just got off the phone with him, so I guess it's still a little, a little raw, but this is where being patient. This is where, if you're choosing to renovate, looking at if you're still living in it, if you're going to be receiving things like a couch, are you in a campground or are you somewhere where you can receive that couch? Yeah, i didn't think about those things when we first started talking about renovation. These are things you really want to think about.

Speaker 2: 28:43

Okay, it's almost time for the break. When we come back from the break, we're going to talk about a lot of stuff. We have a giveaway for the entire months of June. We want to talk to you about that and our sponsor for that, Lito. Great people, Lito.

Speaker 3: 28:58

Luxury in the outdoors Awesome.

Speaker 2: 29:01

Oh yeah, so we'll talk about that right after the break. We're going to talk about new unit verse renovating. I'm going to put a little survey up on the Facebook page, the community page on YouTube, it's called the community page. We'll put a little survey up there. New unit are you looking to get a new unit? You're just going to trade your old one in, walk away from it and say bye-bye and get into a brand new unit, or are you going to take your unit that you've had and loved for a very long time and put more and more money into it and just make it look like that?

Speaker 2: 29:41

I mean, when you take out these couches, when you take out a couch and you put in a new couch, oh my God. When you put it in a new floor, it's like I'm not in my unit. Where am I? The thing looks gorgeous. So that's the kind of stuff that we're doing. What are you doing? We want to know, and you can do that all on our social media. We'll have all that kind of stuff there. So please reach out to us on our social media. Patty reads and replies to every single person that leaves a comment And we will be back right after this.

Speaker 1: 30:15

The most important part of your RV is the roof. If your roof leaks, your trip and your RV get ruined. You can take it to a dealership or service center to be maintained at their expensive rates, or you can maintain it yourself over a weekend for a fraction of the cost. Liquid rubber RV roof products will keep you dry and leak free. Visit shop liquid rubbercom slash RV life. Use coupon code RV life pod 15 off to save 15% that shop. Liquid rubbercom slash RV life.

Speaker 2: 30:45

National indoor RV centers. With over 1000 motor homes available across multiple locations, national indoor RV centers continues to provide an outstanding, hassle free motor home ownership experience. National indoor is the number one new more dealer in the nation and also features brands like Integra, winnebago and much more. Visit nirvccom and become a part of the national indoor RV centers family. You're listening to the RV live podcast. I'm Dan hunt, your host, along with my incredible wife, fatty hunt, and we're just having a great time. It's giveaway June. My birthday is in June, so I get presents. Will so do you? And our June giveaway is sponsored by Lido luxury in the outdoor. Carol and her team over there have done some incredible things.

Speaker 3: 32:01

They have, so Lido and luxury in the outdoors is they're just amazing, luxurious products. So we met Carol several months ago, just hit it off with her, just really connected with her, and she has some amazing products. And I'll tell you like one of the things that we have is this incredible tablecloth. It's bright, it's colorful, but better yet, it lasts, it cleans up and it's got these rubber things that connect it so they stay on any size table.

Speaker 2: 32:39

It doesn't blow away.

Speaker 3: 32:41

It does not blow away And when we walk outside, when I see my outdoor living space, it just makes me happy. You know, it's not that ugly, worn out, dirty campground table. just looks beautiful.

Speaker 2: 32:57

It really does, and she's got a lot of different colors, but bright colors, they're really wonderful. We're giving away this whole glamping package that she put together.

Speaker 3: 33:08

Let me tell people about it. Let me tell people I got to jump in. The package is worth over $400. So you want to get your name in there And Lido is our partner on this And she's giving away a gorgeous Lido outdoor tablecloth that I just talked about got really excited about. The other thing is these wine tumblers. Dan and I don't really drink. We put our soda in them and it keeps them cold. What I love about these tumblers they come in seven colors, but they also have a leak proof tops, so that is huge when you live in an RV They have. She is also giving away a long I mean this thing is long dog leash and collar. That lights up. So if you have a pet, dan wants to jump in, get ahead.

Speaker 2: 34:03

I gotta tell you, this thing is just so incredible. I've never seen anything like it. I've started to see them in the marketplace, but this you want to see this As a matter of fact. go over to our Instagram page. You're going to see a picture of the cutest little dog wearing this thing. You know, this thing is so great. I just got to give it some applause. Carol, you and your team have done an incredible job with that, because it just is beautiful.

Speaker 3: 34:32

Yes, and there's no more walking out of your camper and tripping over the dog leash. I think that's awesome. Dan wants to get a dog to go with the leash and collar, but yeah, no, not right now, but wait, there's more. As they say, she's also giving away a solar lamb lantern. These are so cute. We're going to be ordering them.

Speaker 2: 34:54

Patty loves.

Speaker 3: 34:55

Yes, i love them. And RV Life Pro is giving away a year membership. Thank you, rv Life. We are also giving away two RV Life podcast t-shirts and two RV Life podcast coffee mugs. We're asked all the time where people could get these coffee mugs, but you could get them for free And again, this package is over $400. I am super excited, as you can hear.

Speaker 2: 35:26

And the link to do this is in the show notes. It's called the June glamping giveaway. Don't just be a camper, be a glampor, because, gosh darn it, it is so cool All of the stuff that we're giving away this month. We want to thank Carol and her team over at Lido. Just incredible stuff. When we first met her, she sent us the tablecloth. We haven't stopped using it since then. We really, really enjoy the products And we do have a page set up for that.

Speaker 3: 36:00

Yeah, so everything will be in the show notes. You can connect and see all the products we're talking about at luxuryintheoutdoorscom Amazing stuff. Again, all the links will be in the show notes because we have so much more exciting stuff to talk about today.

Speaker 2: 36:18

You can reach out to us and get to us on our Instagram page, our Facebook page Or, if you want to talk to us over on the YouTube side, there is our community channel over there. So, please, if you have questions about the giveaway, you have questions. oh, we have one more exciting announcement to make.

Speaker 3: 36:38

Yes, that's what I was talking about. There's so much going on.

Speaker 2: 36:42

Are you going to Hershey? Are you going to Hershey? Are you going to Hershey?

Speaker 3: 36:45

Hershey, pennsylvania, the RV show. It's one of the largest RV shows in the country. It's, you know, the top. It's up there with Tampa. Hershey is in Pennsylvania, for those of you that don't know, and it is in September 13th to then, i think, the 17th. So Wednesday the 13th is when the Hershey RV event starts.

Speaker 3: 37:11

Now I do have to say for those of you thinking well, i'm not looking to buy an RV. This is also an event. This is a way to meet other RVers, meet content creators, their stuff for the kids, for adults to do and enjoy while you're at the event. But RV life decided to do a live event And it's on Thursday, september 14th, from 6 to 10. Right, 6 to 10. I have all this from memory. It is going to be an incredible event. Now here's what's important And I keep cutting dad off, i'm sorry. What's important is this event right now is being offered to the RV life podcast listeners first. So if you're a listener, you could go in, get a ticket, get five, it doesn't matter. But limited, limited, very limited seating. This is where you want to. This is where you're hearing about it first. You're not going to hear about it anywhere else. Limited seating. So it includes drinks, it includes food.

Speaker 2: 38:19

I'm super unlimited. Let me just read this statement here I got something on the screen. RV life and its partners harvest those. RV life and its partners harvest toast will provide great food and unlimited craft beer and Pennsylvania wine. The best part all tickets are just $15 per person. You can buy them now. The link is in the description below. This will be the RV life Hershey customer, no just.

Speaker 3: 38:50

RV life Hershey. Rv life live live event Customer appreciation.

Speaker 2: 38:58

That's what we were calling the golden ticket event. You can get this ticket. You can come Now. We will have some entertainment there The border hookups. The event will be hosted by none other than the great Dan and Patty Hunt, and then the music from the border hookups And these guys are great too.

Speaker 2: 39:19

Yeah, just laid back cool guitar player. I mean it's you know she's got a voice that you know makes angels cry, so it's just beautiful. If you have kids, they're welcome. 12 and under are free. So if you have kids 12 and under now, space to this event is limited. So you know it is a dinner, it's a full dinner And these guys at the Inglewood they just do a really good job.

Speaker 3: 39:52

Yes, yes, they had. It's a buffet, so there's a beautiful spread. Great food, great options, dessert. They will have drinks, so craft beer and Pennsylvania wine are all included in the price $15. You can't go anywhere these days for 15 bucks. You could maybe get a hot dog and a soda. No entertainment, i mean, you can't go anywhere for 15 bucks.

Speaker 2: 40:17

We stopped in a McDonald's the other day and it was $19 just for the job.

Speaker 3: 40:21

Yes, I don't want to admit to that, but that's true. Now again, i'm excited. Your ticket also includes the prizes And I'm going to give a secret away. I don't know if I'm allowed to do this, but I'm going to do it anyway. We do have an electric bike we're giving away. It's the Kraken Adventure bike. Go check it out. It is the white bike. It's valued, i believe, over $2,000. And we're going to be giving that away along with many other prizes, and it's just included in your cost of entrance. Now, i did say it's for our podcast listeners, but if you have a group of people that are going to be in her, she send them the link, tell them they you know and let's get it out to people. We want our podcast listeners to be the first to hear about it and get signed up, because once we are closed out, we are closed out. Yes, there's no expanding.

Speaker 2: 41:23

I won't go. I had a good time last year but I'd give up my spot for somebody else. But nobody gets any prizes.

Speaker 3: 41:28

Yeah, nobody gets prizes. We're not doing that. This is one of those things that you've got to jump in on before it's too late.

Speaker 2: 41:37

Yes, you really really do. Every single time he says something. I learned something new.

Speaker 3: 41:44

Every time And we've been using RV TripWizard. It's the RV Life suite of products. It's RV Life Pro. For those of you who aren't familiar RV TripWizard we use it every time we're moving our RV, we do our planning with it. We look at reviews campground reviews on RV Life Pro. It is amazing And even though we've been using it for over two and a half years, we still learn something when Patrick shares a tip with us.

Speaker 2: 42:15

And as Patty said I think she said I wasn't really listening We never, we don't move the RV an inch, not one inch, without going into RV TripWizard.

Speaker 4: 42:28

It is only once you have your basic route picked out in RV Life TripWizard and have secured your campgrounds, it's time to add all of those other stops you want to make. At this point you don't need those campground icons, filling up your map and getting in the way. You can easily toggle the campgrounds off by clicking the small 10 icon in the upper right hand corner. This makes it easier to focus on adding fuel stops, rest stops, places to eat or things to see anything you wish to add to your trip. Just don't forget to click it again if you need to see more campgrounds For RV Life. I'm Pat Buchanan.

Speaker 2: 43:05

I want to get in because the other thing that's kind of cool is when you get your price, your price never goes up. That's your price forever.

Speaker 3: 43:13

So let me just clarify this is, i guess, the legal when you talk, when it's $59 right now, the price for the year, you get a discount, but your price will stay at $59 for as long as you keep the membership.

Speaker 2: 43:28

That's, you know, the the, even when the prices go up like this.

Speaker 3: 43:31

Yes, even when the prices go up, our prices still at what? $49 a year, and we were on our third year of it. So, yes, that's great that they lock you into your price.

Speaker 2: 43:46

Okay, it is now time to push the yellow button which does this, and that means it's time for the question of the week. Patty has a great time going out and talking to people and people call in and write in and ask questions. So, patty, you have a question of the week from from the internet, i think, right.

Speaker 3: 44:10

Yeah. So on social media, you could go to our social media again, exploring not, nope, not exploring through our lens. We have that social media too. But for the podcast, go to RV Life Podcasts, instagram or Facebook. Share a question that you might have, a topic that you might like to hear on the podcast. We love hearing from our listeners What social media It's RV Life Podcasts, instagram and Facebook.

Speaker 3: 44:38

But this question came from Florence, alabama, and it's from George, and he was asking and I got to tell you like he asked a question and then he and I went back and forth a little bit So I wanted to hear more of this question to share with you. He asked where is the boat, where is the best place to find camp ground reviews And with information about the types of spots? So George said he had a 44 foot fifth wheel So he wanted to make sure that when he looks up at campground he would be able to park that. And he said easily. I don't know how you easily park a fifth wheel, but for those of you who could park it, campground reviews and information. That's the question.

Speaker 2: 45:29

That is a big, big fifth wheel. Yes. So, george, i gotta tell you and everybody else out there, there is a lot of information about campgrounds and campground reviews. I would say, being self-fulfilling, the best campground reviews that you will ever see in a video format are the ones that Patty and I do at exploring through our lens. But wow, and you could see those at exploringthroughourlenscom. Or just go to YouTube and then go to exploring through our lens. So we have every campground that we go into We do a campground review on. There's also a lot of other great places out there. Rv Life, trip Wizard has now.

Speaker 2: 46:21

One of the reasons I love these campground reviews is these campground reviews are by users for users. So if you go into Jellystone Park, jellystone Park did not pay RV Life to put up a positive campground reviews. Those campground reviews on there are from other users, and there's thousands and thousands. I don't know that we've ever been to a campground that didn't have a review. And again, let me just take a step back for a second. The best thing about these reviews is, for instance, cell service and an internet service You can actually put, when you're there, push a button on your phone and it'll actually do a cell test and then put that into the review right away. So that is just the kind of information that I am always looking for.

Speaker 3: 47:22

And I just want to add on here because I think this is such a big topic. I see it on social media all the time. I'm in different groups and I look to see what people are asking about, and this one's huge. And Dan and I have used three or four other campground excuse me, campground review type sites And there are those that have the paid reviews. People from a campground are able to pay to be on there. I've wanted the real reviews And, like Dan said, i want to know if my cell service is going to work. Our Wi-Fi internet, all that stuff is going to work, and it even breaks it down by self-service. I don't know if Dan said that. So we have found that RV Life Campground Reviews is the most comprehensive real reviews out there, so that's the one we're happiest with. And, as Dan said, there are many YouTube channels that do campground reviews, including ours. So if you're looking for a campground, just Google the campground and you should be able to find reviews if you want that visual on something.

Speaker 2: 48:38

And, like always, i'm just going to give a PSA here for all of the YouTube channels that are out there. If you go out and you watch a review from anybody about a campground and you like it, hit the thumbs up like it and subscribe it, because it really, really, really, really helps that YouTube channel And sometimes it can be so frustrating trying to put all that information out every single week.

Speaker 3: 49:06

Right, right, and even a comment, even if you just say something like thank you or you know, good review. we've even had suggestions. Somebody suggested that when we do a campground review to talk about if there's a major city nearby, so we are incorporating that in our reviews as well. There were people who wanted to know you know when I pull in to check in, how do I drive in, where do I go? Because that could be confusing again, especially if you're in a big rig. if you're, you know, in tight spot. So we started showing that where we show people how we turn off the street right into the campground and how you register. So we love comments that I know the other YouTube channels out there love the comments.

Speaker 2: 49:55

Well, that just about does it for today. Again, i just got to recap. It is June. June is my birthday month. June is a month that I'm not only going to get a bunch of presents, but I'm going to give you a bunch of presents too. So the June giveaway you can get to that link on this podcast, on any one of the videos that we're putting up now in our YouTube channel, you can get to that. So you really really want to get yourself. There's nothing to do. All you have to do is fill out the form. You fill out the form, you're entered. Only one entry per person on this one right.

Speaker 3: 50:36

Sure, yeah, i think you could only do one entry.

Speaker 2: 50:38

I think you can only do one entry, but you could try to do it twice.

Speaker 3: 50:41

Yes, we're not going to. We're not going to go look at it, but yeah, we just need a name and an email address. The email address is so we can contact you when you win this glamping package. I guess I can fill out the form for it. Right, i can't win this one.

Speaker 2: 50:59

No, you can't win this one.

Speaker 3: 51:01

There's some stuff in there I really want.

Speaker 2: 51:03

You've already got everything.

Speaker 3: 51:04

Nope, not, not everything, but okay, the other big thing that we really want you to look at if you're going to be in Hershey or thinking about being in Hershey, you want to sign up for the RV Life Live Hershey event. It is going to sell out and we will not expand. We've done so many events before where people called the list and said, please, can you just add two more? Please, it's going to be a no And I have no problem saying no.

Speaker 2: 51:37

What Patrick tells us is he's set it up So there'll be a overflow list in order. So when somebody cancels, it will automatically send an email to the first person or the second person on the overflow list.

Speaker 3: 51:53

As a teacher of high school students for 20 years. Please don't depend on that overflow list. If you want to join us, go to the link in the show notes and get your tickets and share it with your friends.

Speaker 2: 52:07

Come on out, break some bread, have a drink with Patty and I. You're going to enjoy it, i'm going to enjoy it. I know that, so it will be sold out. It was last year. It will be sold out This Hershey event, because it will be sold out. I'm Dan Hunt with my incredible wife, patty Hunt, bringing you the RV live podcast each and every Wednesday. Please check it out. Hershey, hershey, hershey. It will be sold out to you. Want to get your tickets soon? And what else do we have for this week? That's just about it for this week, right? I think that's it. Do check out our social media and leave us a messaging. Have you upgraded? We'd love to see pictures. We'd love the ideas. People love to have good ideas. So if you could send us a couple pictures of your renovated RV, we'd love to see what those look like. I'm Dan Hunt with my incredible wife, patty Hunt, saying have a great rest of today.

Speaker 3: 53:11

And an even better day tomorrow, you, you.