RV LIFE Podcast
The RV LIFE Podcast, created by one of the premier companies in the RV industry, is for the RV Community with a mission to Educate, Entertain and Explore the RV Lifestyle. The Podcast will explore all things RV Life: living, working, exploring, learning. With hosts Dan & Patti Hunt, full time RVers, content creators, educators and explorers.
RV LIFE Podcast
Choosing Your Next RV: Expert Tips on RV Selection and Enhancements
Ever wondered what makes the perfect RV? Today Mark and Sue from "Our Journey in Myles" share their invaluable expertise in RV selection. We sat down live together at the Music City Motorhome Expo, in Tennessee (2025 tickets will be on sale July4th). We emphasize the benefits of attending expos and events and the role of online RV forums such as iRV2, in navigating the overwhelming choices available, ensuring you make an informed decision for your next home on wheels.
Mark and Sue share their reasons for purchasing a Newmar, Dutch Star, why they purchased from National Indoor RV Centers, the choice to install Rettroband Wheel Enhancement, the Comfort Drive technology from Freightliner Custom Chassis, why they chose Motorhome Tires, and so much more.
Reach out to Mark and Sue at Our Journey In Myles
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Are you looking for your next RV? Today on the RV Life Podcast, I'm Patty Hunt, your host. We're going to talk about choosing your next RV, as well as a lot of other things that we have to talk about. Today, the fun fact is going to be brought to you by Open Road Resorts, with five amazing locations. They have two in Montana, one in Idaho, one in Texas and their newest one is in Nebraska and it is called West Omaha KOA. If you're on your way to Yellowstone, it's a great place to either stop over or stay for a while. This campground is highly amenitized. For the fun fact, today we are really here winging it a lot. Today, the fun fact is about expos and events, and what I'm going to say is pick your events, especially if you're choosing a new RV. An event like Hershey and Tampa, and this new event we're at today is Music City Motorhome Expo the first time it's ever happened. We're going to talk about it with our guests and it's a great way to look at different brands, different manufacturers, different floor plans and really get a chance to talk to the manufacturers and find out exactly the right unit for you.
Speaker 1:A lot of times, we talk about fresh water when we're camping right and I love to share with my listeners, clear 2.0. Clear 2.0, barb and Keith are the owners. Keith has invented all of the filtration system. So whether it's an inline filter, a three-stage filter, a pitcher that you just have, pour water in, put the pitcher in the refrigerator, their water system is above and beyond. They use a carbon block and there's a great video. I'll put in this in the show notes so you know the difference between the granular type filtration system and the carbon blocks. Carbon block gets it down to one micron. So I highly recommend the clear 20 system. You can visit them at clear20.com. Check the show notes for any discounts that they are currently offering. Okay, so I have my guests today and, as you can see, we are actually on video and, of course, one of the first videos I'm doing it is 90 degrees out with 95 humidity and well, you guys look good maybe that is the answer we've been
Speaker 1:in door all day. Oh, that's how they've they've cheated. I am pretty soaking wet, but here we are with video because we really want to talk and show some of the things we're talking about. So we are at the Music City Motorhome Expo, like I said first, of the kind put on by NIRVC, and I know you're customers of NIRVC. So did you guys come here? And I'm sorry, mark and Sue from Our Journey in Biles, check out their YouTube channel Amazing content. We're going to talk about some of that. So did you come here looking for a new RV? I'm going to go to Sue for this.
Speaker 2:We're going to get.
Speaker 1:Sue in here Before Mark takes over Before Mark takes over.
Speaker 3:Good idea, no, actually. So we have a 2014 Newmar, a Dutch Star.
Speaker 3:We love it. And with our YouTube channel, everybody knows we love our Dutch star. And we were asked to come here because, truly, we talk a lot about the Newmar. We get a lot of emails and comments about Mark. What do you think about this? I'm looking at these two different brands what do you think of that? And he's a mechanical engineer, so he's majorly researched everything and he has an answer for everything. So we came here. We were invited to come here to see a lot of subscribers and a lot of subscribers said it was because of our announcement that we're going to be here. They were thinking like we might want to buy new and when we talked about it, some of of them said we're here because you told us you're going to be here, and we thought this really is unusual.
Speaker 1:We need to be there too so, while you weren't necessarily looking, no, you thought you got to be here. Now, like we said, we're at this expo and they're all the brand new 2025s. Nobody's ever seen them before. There's many manufacturers as we go along. We'll talk about them. You're partial to the newmar. We are sitting in a 2025 newmar dutch star as we speak and we'll talk a little bit about this. We'll show you this new unit, the dutch stars, that entry-level unit. For a lot of people it's a popular one, probably their highest basis, their highest seller as a matter of fact, it is now.
Speaker 1:You're a mechanical engineer? Yes, tell us a little bit, because we got to keep it simple for people and don't get out what? Yeah, let's get you detailed about what it is you like about the new mar brand. Let's just get into it when I started looking.
Speaker 2:Just like everybody else, you start on the internet. The internet has got tons of rabbit holes you can go down through, but one of the ones that is the most correct information and the biggest depository actually is part of the RV Life program and it's the social knowledge branch, the irv2.com, and just about any question you have you can put in the search screen and you can put down best class, a motorhome. Okay, when you find that people are always talking about the same three brands, there'll be people talking about 50 brands, but the majority will be talking about only a few. The logical answer then is I should only be looking at these three, and one of them is Neumar. So real, quickly, based on floor plan, and I wanted to make sure that if I was buying used, I was buying the best and the most well-engineered production unit. I couldn't afford something that got to the next level where you tack another half a million dollars onto it, and that's what brought me to Newler.
Speaker 1:Okay, so to your point. Rv, life Pro is a suite of products. Irv2 is their forum, so you can get on and ask questions and there's all kinds of people on there giving valuable information, and that's great. We all know, in the world of doing research, you're going to find opinions and thoughts, and it's great to go on to IRV2 because you do. You look over and over again and you see those. These are the top three.
Speaker 2:You don't search for the answer you want. You search for the answer you want. You search for the answer. There has a vast preponderance and then, whether or not you like that answer or not, that's just too bad that really is so for instance case in point do I need for a full-timer?
Speaker 1:we're full-time, okay. Full-time for how long?
Speaker 2:seven years, okay, good so for a full-timer that's gonna that's gonna be carrying a lot of equipment and you're going to be carrying equipment that you don't even know you're going to be carrying, you need a lot of carrying capacity. So, for instance, if Patty was to look at the yellow sticker right by where she is, that is the as-built cargo carrying capacity for this rig and no matter what in the catalogs, when you're shopping you have to always keep in mind and you learn things like this on irv2 you have to always keep in mind that it doesn't really matter what the catalog says, because the catalog cargo carrying capacity can be as low as 56 to 60 percent of that number and if that number you're looking at in the catalog is pretty small already, it's going to get real small. In reality. That sticker she was looking at.
Speaker 1:That's the reality. I wish I could say I could see it and read it. But to your point, yeah, to be able to go on things like irb to a trusted forum and find the answers you're looking for. Again, a lot of times you go research something and there's polar opposite, certainly within models. So manufacturers here there are at least seven major manufacturers here. I'm going to try and go through all of them, newmar being one of them. Tiffin, integra, winnebago Red Group, which includes Fleetwood Market, coach, as well as others. Holiday.
Speaker 2:Rambler Holiday Rambler.
Speaker 1:Holiday Rambler. It includes, and then we have Coachmen here and we have a number of Class B bands here. So Gretchen's here, panoramics here, midwest is that what it's called, and there are others that I am going to say out the blue 57 North or something 57, 27 North.
Speaker 2:One of them numbers yes, I north 57. 27.
Speaker 1:Yes, but yes so there's a lot of brands here for you to go in and really talk about what's important, and I'm gonna go again. There's no list of questions here. We're gonna go all over the place, because now, what kind of chassis do you have on your Dutch Dart?
Speaker 2:Okay. So we have a Freightliner and I think that was more by chance in the beginning, but the longer I got into it, the longer I was using it, the more I was on IRV2, the more I talked to people in the campgrounds. For me that would have been my preference. Remember I bought used okay, right, yeah, if I was buying new now, my preference to remember I bought used. Okay, if I was buying new now, my preference would be further and that's what.
Speaker 1:And again I'm going to go back. I'm going to embarrass myself right now. When I first started out, we bought a used monaco diplomat 40 foot. We found one we liked and it was the right floor plan. And I'm sure dan checked on the engine and things like that we hadn't inspected, but I didn't know what I didn't know so here we were in it, we bought it. It was very inexpensive because, honestly, dan wasn't sure if I'd last a month alone the three years yeah and as you get in one, you learn.
Speaker 1:So the first time we're in hershey, the great big freightliner chassis is sitting there and my thought was it's just the metal frame and I'm embarrassing myself because I want people to know this so that's just the metal frame. So there was Dan in Tampa the following January and he said Jeff Sather, the president of Freightliner, is going to do an interview for the podcast. And I'm thinking why? Who cares about the metal frame.
Speaker 2:What's the difference?
Speaker 1:This was the picture. So he did the podcast and I listened to it and I went oh, and did you hear what?
Speaker 2:Brett said yeah, I heard so much in the room that about one-third of the cost of your motorhome is the frame. I was dumbfounded when I heard that. Right, because it'shome is the frame.
Speaker 1:I was dumbfounded when I heard that. Right, because it's not just the frame, it is the whole RV, except for the house. We're sitting in the house right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So the refrigerator, the air conditioners, things like that, yeah, but the chassis is everything, it's your tires, it's everything. And the best part, I think, with Freightliner is their 24-7, 365-day service. They're human beings picking up the phone. Dan and I lost the fuel pump. We were able to call Jeff directly. Now he's retired and you don't need the connection to Jeff. You call their customer service number and you're being led to where you need to go and how to get your RV fit.
Speaker 2:I just stumbled on this, literally not even a month ago. If anybody wants to know the inside skinny tour and what Freightliner is all about and how their parts distribution system is, angie Murrell from National Indoor RV Center did an excellent video and it was an hour and 40 minutes and I'm sitting in my rig. I've been rv for seven years, full time. I watched every minute of it. In fact, I probably watched more than the hour and 40 minutes because I watched sections over. It shows you everything the factory, the testing, the engineering, the, the parts distribution, to to retrieve things when you're on the road that are broken. It's a fascinating look at the depth that company has your back when you're on the road.
Speaker 1:Yes, and again, this is really important when choosing an RV. So we were at the factory in Gaffney, south Carolina. We did not get video of it, so I'll have to refer to Angie's video, the people. So you walk in and there's a security person there. I always felt like Jeff Sather had heart. He was a true, amazing person, a real human being. He didn't care that I didn't have an RV or what kind of, he just spoke to me like he would speak to somebody buying the million dollar plus new air, whatever it costs Not the right price, but it didn't matter. And just a real person. And that trickled down to the people in the factory.
Speaker 1:The people in the factory truly cared about what they were doing.
Speaker 2:The tours were free.
Speaker 1:It's free, you could make arrangements. It's every day at 10, somewhere around 9.45, 10 o'clock.
Speaker 2:We went to it three times already now, wow, and one time he's a mechanical engineer.
Speaker 1:I gotta tell you, the coolest part Dan couldn't get over it. So these great big 40 foot check they come in and they start working on them while they're upside down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so dan thought it was the greatest thing in the world to watch luckily, the line they were ready to flip it over yeah he thought that was the greatest thing in the world we really lucked out, because one of the times we went there they're apologizing oh, we're sorry, we're sorry're sorry. We had some kind of a snafu with our IT because of some power fluctuations and we sent everybody home today and we're going to pick up on the next sheriff and so nobody's here, but we can still give you the tour. I'm telling you, it was quiet. We could walk and gather around areas that normally would be off limits. It was fantastic. So what did I do the next day? I came back when the people were working.
Speaker 1:Yes, because the people are amazing and they're generations, families that are there. So again, if nothing you get out of this podcast and video, it's to really pay attention to the chassis. We love Freightliner, we love customer service, the way they're built. They have over a thousand employees. It just says a lot when you're comparing them to other chassis manufacturers.
Speaker 2:We actually did a number of videos on our experience at Gaffney as a service customer and it's a pretty first class operation. I took the Freightliner Class 1 and Class 2. It really brings you up to speed. The awesome thing about that is you can go as a team so your travel partner can go to the classes with you, so that neither one of you can get bamboozled when you're out on the road somewhere and you're not in a Freightliner place that you can trust and you have an issue that needs to be looked at. When they start telling you you need new blinker fluid, you can say, hey, I want to get a Freightliner and it's called Camp Freightliner and you could go there and you could go for a couple of days.
Speaker 1:Now I do have to tell you there's a campground within two miles of there. It's spacious skies. I'll have to put in the show notes the name of it. It's called peachy, but that's what it's called. That's where dan and I stayed when we were at freightliner, when we visited, and they are fantastic. If you call freightliner, they will recommend it and I think there's a discount. She is working with them. So now we have the coach. We know what's most important and that's the chassis. It is most important. People walk in. We just had somebody coming in here. This is, like I said, the 2025 brand new dutch star, and people walk in and they're looking at floor plan and, oh, the seats are nice. And look at the car in here.
Speaker 2:It's actually pretty I like the light. Anyway, we'll do a tour.
Speaker 1:The second thing okay, let's look at floor plan. So let me ask you we just all said we like the light coloring. What's important for you, that you think it's the I didn't know, I didn't know kind of thing. What's some of?
Speaker 3:the things you'd recommend. When people ask that, ask us questions, it's like what do you think? And first of all, you got to figure out what are you going to do? We're going to live full time. We need to be comfortable if you're a whole month long a weekend. Whatever you're going to do, we're going to live full time. We need to be comfortable if you're a whole month long a weekend, whatever. You're going to have different priorities.
Speaker 3:So for us it had to feel like a home. So we're looking at fifth wheels too, and other classes and stuff, and we literally would go to shows and sit in the dining booth, conversations. People would come in, come on in, just look, we're just hanging out here, we're pretending we're cooking, we're trying to get the feel, and after sitting a while, we'd say so how did it feel? And there are times I feel like I can't be. I truly can't be, and he's we're not doing it because we wanted this to be a lifestyle, not a weekend thing. So once we got into the one that, that we're once we got into the 40 through 69 newmar it's so solid.
Speaker 3:It feels like a condo on your wheels. It feels like a home. There's so many nights we'll be sitting here watching netflix on our tv. All the shades are pulled in and he'll say did you know you're sitting in a parking lot? Oh, national indoor, with repairs out there. No, it feels like home. You forget where?
Speaker 2:you're okay, so we're gonna tell you how many times we're sitting like that.
Speaker 1:I want to set people up, because some of these people will be listening to this. So everybody. Imagine we walked in the front door of a class a and you're going to go have to go to video to if you've never been in a class a. We walk inside class a and sue and mark are sitting on the driver's side in recliners Beautiful cushy recliner and next to that is the dinette and on the side where the camera is. So behind the camera is the camera person. The kitchen is there, so I want to give people that look and there is a television with a televator those of you who don't know it goes up and down with the push of a button. So if you're sitting in the campground, you want to go in your home, and it feels like home For me.
Speaker 3:I wanted a real refrigerator. We're full-time. We want to stock up Washer and dryer. We had some friends that went full-time. They bought it, that's our brand and they thought no, we don't need a washer and dryer, we'll just use a laundromat and stuff and we'll have more storage space. Later on they put in a washer and dryer. If you're going to go full-time, don't rely on the laundromat where everybody's washing their dog blankets.
Speaker 1:That's true and I will tell you that I had a washer and dryer all in one, but because it was original with the unit and it hadn't really been used, yeah, that was a concern to use wasn't like, yay, this is new, it was what's going to be dry, rotted, right then. I'm not a mechanical anything, so I would take it to the laundromat. I just accepted that I could take three weeks worth of laundry at one time, because it's not a matter of how often do I do laundry, it's a matter of how much clothes you have, how long can you, how long can I stretch it.
Speaker 2:And so it's interesting because I think now I would like that washer and dryer yeah, that formula for us didn't work because right from day one we had a washer and dryer, but there are times every once in a while where you might have to do a comforter or something something that you don't want to tax your equipment. So you go. You know what? I'm going to take all my laundry along. We're going to do the comforter it's got to be there anyways and we'll just throw it in.
Speaker 2:The other machines can't tell you how many times we go. All the machines are full running or worse, yet they're all full with clothes in them. That's wet broken ones. Yes, yeah, that happens so many times and and you go. You know what? I have the yellow sticker capacity to carry a washer dryer. I'm throwing it in.
Speaker 1:And again, personal preference we're trying to bring out. We're not saying you absolutely should have a washer dryer or you shouldn't. We're trying to bring out things to think about.
Speaker 3:That's a good idea too is to make the list. What's your priority? Because that's what we did too. Not everybody needs to watch your wife, not everybody needs a space, so, and not everybody use it full-time. It's a personal thing, right? So you got to analyze that. I do have to say one thing when we were looking and we went down to the three main two ones, what narrowed us down to numar for him, okay, we're not spring chickens, we just retired, we've got the same, you're not young.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, shocked him. I shocked him. Yeah, mark is shaking his head. He's shocked by that I forgot.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna be 72 in six days in six days happy birthday but he wanted to.
Speaker 3:He does a lot of reading. He kept talking about the fatigue of dry. When he was reading about that comfort drive and at the time was only on new mar he said I've gotta have this. So every time he would research something is oh, I cost us more money, I gotta have this. That was why we went the newmar road.
Speaker 2:The big idea. Then I'd read some more and go oh, gotta have a tank axle but once again, on irv2.com, everybody said you want a solid ride and not feel the wind and not be buffeted and not be pushed when a semi goes by. You've got to have an extra set of wheels planted on the ground. Guess what they were right, absolutely. I am solid as a rock, correct Comfort drive. Every single thing you heard about it and then some is correct.
Speaker 1:And so this is great comparison. We have a 22 year old monaco diplomat. Not only the trucks that went by, but the little jetta that went by made the rv rock yeah you. It was like being on a rocky boat going to the refrigerator. So, again, these are things to think about as you go down the road. But comfort drive talk a little bit about what you do. All the driving right, yes. We're going to get to that.
Speaker 2:Okay, so talk, I'm not going to let you off the hook. I've got to say one other thing. You see that couch there, so he's pointing to the couch on the passenger side Go ahead.
Speaker 2:Patty talked about the cockpit room.
Speaker 2:This is called the salon or the dining room, and normally in most rigs, traditionally, the first two things you're going to see is you're going to see a couch on the left-hand side and a couch on the right-hand side, and because this is actually an upgrade to have on the driver's side and I'm here to tell you that we thought that was a great idea and we love them, and they have a bed built in and the grandkids can come Guess what?
Speaker 2:After one year, nobody visited us, and after a year, you discover you don't want anybody visiting you because you have to know how to use the restroom facilities correctly so you don't have an issue. Put the wrong things in, and the real horror is that both of these couches ended up being depositories for junk Jackets, purse, everything that we would walk in and out of and we couldn't wait to get rid of them. So we have recliners now on the driver's side and I have this massive custom-made U-desk to work as a YouTuber on a desk that is the same size as this couch that we're looking at, which is, you know, 84 inches, and it was made in Napanee by the company that does a lot of the design work.
Speaker 1:This is what happens when you're doing a YouTube video and podcast in a real rig.
Speaker 2:I don't blame them, they'll wait, yeah. So what was the question before that? So we were driving the comfort.
Speaker 1:I don't blame them, they'll wait, yeah. So what was the question before that? So we were driving the comfort.
Speaker 2:I'm here to tell you that we have plenty of times on our channel where, if all of a sudden it's obvious that it's windy, I'll tell Sue, grab the camera. And she'll grab the camera and I'll say show how windy it is outside, sand blowing across going through Arizona, yeah, tumbleweeds going. And she'll see how windy it is and I'll say, folks, look at how much hunting that I don't have on my steering wheel. And hunting is when you're constantly doing micro corrections oh, a little bit more to right, oh, a little bit more to left, oh, and that doesn't look like a lot, but what happens? Is it so screws up your nerves and your muscles in your arms and your upper arms.
Speaker 2:You are exhausted after driving. I am not a physical specimen. I know I sound like it.
Speaker 1:People can go to the YouTube, go on the podcast to see what you think. I'm here to tell you that I can drive. I don't recommend it. You can go to the YouTube and on the podcast to see what you think. Comments are welcome.
Speaker 2:I'm here to tell you that I can drive. I don't recommend it. We don't drive this long normally. Unfortunately, tomorrow we will. But I can drive six hours and anything that is hurting me or bothering me after doing it, none of it's because of steering effort and having to be diligent. I I literally can relax when I'm driving, literally by dialing the one through six on the car so the comfort drive I'm just gonna explain has level, so one for six.
Speaker 1:So there's areas I guess you want to be able to have more control, so to speak, and then areas where it could be a little bit what you asked me, what my number is but put his sweet spot. What's your sweet spot? 4.75 wow, I think it just is like that okay, okay, okay, got and people will find their comfort where it's so loose, so great. And that is put on the coach by freightliner. That's a freightliner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's made by TR Dunn. For the longest time it was an exclusive and it's a very expensive decision that they made. It's in the order of magnitude of $10,000 or more on an OEM cost, to throw that in, and then I don't know what it's marked up to, but's a big deal it's a it is a big deal and oem again for those of you who don't know and I don't know what the letters stand, I just know it original equipment manufacturing okay
Speaker 1:original equipment manufacturing. There you go. It's put on before beforehand. So now what we're going to talk about is your comfort steering number. We're going to talk to Sue about driving. I'm going to put Sue on the spot, unfortunately but before we do that, we are in a diesel pusher, so it is a diesel engine. The engine on these are in the back as opposed to gas in the front. We're not going to dive into that right now. If you're thinking gas or diesel, irv2 is going to be a great resource for that. We could probably talk about that for an hour.
Speaker 2:What.
Speaker 1:I want to talk about is people talk about diesel and how expensive we use OpenRoads Fuel Card. The OpenRoads Fuel Card you do too. It's free to sign up for the card free, no cost to sign up for the card. You get the card, you attach your bank account and they there's a list of diesel stations. They're all over the country a lot and you save money every time you get diesel fuel. Now did you this year get the notice that said this is how much money you saved last year? They're going to start doing that, yeah and he's the expert on that.
Speaker 1:So yeah, he's the data guy, but but sue is not going to get off the hook does sue drive?
Speaker 2:we're going to get to that. Next, I want to say how truthful we and patty are. That program is the real deal, because we don't expect people to believe us just by me moving my lips. So what we do, what we've done since we've got the card, we literally every time we buy fuel, we put it on a spreadsheet and I update it every time. So we're up to the point where we bought fuel 70 times with this card. Wow. And I'm buying maybe 100 gallons at a crack. My tank's 150. I don't wait until I get that low.
Speaker 1:You have a 150 gallon tank. Okay, correct, I just want to be clear.
Speaker 2:So over 70 fuel stops. Our moving average is 44 cents off the pump price. So we don't care if we would save money going down the road to Ma and Pop and having some competitive card or some other thing. Competitive card or some other thing, we want to stick with the big boys that literally are pumping 10 000 gallons an hour or some insane amount so that your fuel is fresh and ready to rock and it's easy to get in.
Speaker 1:It's easy to get out, yes, because they're truck stops, yeah yes, and with RV life trip Wizard and the RV Trekking and I'll tell you if you should go into that particular stuff. Okay, we'll get to that, but now Sue and I you do not drive, I do not drive.
Speaker 3:I did test drive one in Wisconsin that was rare because most don't let you test drive and I was comfortable with it and I'm going around and doing good turns in a parking lot and then coming out back down the street. It was fine, I was comfortable. But I'm telling you, once we went full-time and everything that's in our rig, that's everything we own, I'm like everything I own is behind me. What if something happens? Mark is an engineer. If anybody knows an engineer, they're anal and he's got a way of driving. He's like constantly looking, he wants to be in control and I'm like, fine, because if I were driving he'd have to navigate. He sucks at navigating, so it works for us.
Speaker 1:But here's the thing and this is again messaging I'm putting out these days because, as people know, three months ago for depending on when you see this dan got ill and I keep saying, thankfully, we were in a campground. Now we were in that campground where we had two weeks. So I had to go and say we being honest, I'd never really driven. Dan tried to quote-unquote teach me and that lasted about five minutes and I had had it with him.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I thought you know what if something happens, I have somebody that will fly anywhere we are. Come get us and rescue us. It's no big deal. It was a very big deal Because if he had gotten ill while we were on a highway somewhere and the exit is go on the PHR Pike, where the next exit 33 miles now you can't even get to safety. So the whole point here is everybody knowing how to drive to get you to safety, and whether that's learning how to drive other than with Mark is probably the best way. So since I've been here, I have had Casey Tudman teach me to drive. We started out with one of the smaller ones.
Speaker 2:That's your white knuckling yeah. You got any experience with more homes?
Speaker 1:Yeah, but not necessarily. He doesn't usually do the test drives. Angie Murrell of National.
Speaker 2:Indoor RV.
Speaker 1:Centers took me out. We went out in a van. She was great, but there are RV schools. Highly recommend that everybody knows how to drive and make sure that you keep that skill and whether or not you drive with somebody else, so that something happens. Nobody wants it to, nobody plans it.
Speaker 2:Am I allowed to bring up a point that you didn't bring up? Okay, so today, we've been sky med members since probably about January 2018 and we had the membership for five years. And it's one of those memberships that when you pay for it for the protection of being repatriated, relocated, re air ambulance services, the whole thing that they offer you want to pay for it, so you don't have the peace of mind but you don't want to use it.
Speaker 1:You don't ever want to get that part of the value you don't want to have to use it. You have it in a, just in case.
Speaker 2:So right when it started, it was ready to lapse. We all of a sudden went on a cruise where we were going to go to Mexico and Hawaii. And ready to lapse, we all of a sudden went on a cruise where we were going to go to Mexico and Hawaii and I'm thinking, wait a second, the old Chan man's timing might be bad here for catastrophe. So I upped for another five years. We went, stopped by your booth today and we talked to them again and I learned a whole bunch of other things about it and we talked a little bit about rig relocation and fly your family around and everything. This is not a sales pitch for them, not what I'm saying. We're convinced we wanted the peace of mind.
Speaker 1:That's what we're talking about, and certainly all about, safety for me. Not only that, they'll take the rig back home. So we were in florida, we wanted to go back to Pennsylvania where our family is. That's where we are at this time. How do you get the rig back? Now again, a friend of mine that I said would fly anywhere, he would bring it back, he could drive it. Not everybody has that option.
Speaker 2:You don't necessarily want to bother people with it, but SkyMed would pay that guy to do it, that's right. Pay his room and board, pay the flight, pay the gas, the whole nine yards.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so all of these things taken care of. It's the same reason we have health insurance right we have health insurance in case something happens.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:You hope you never have to use it even though you pay it every month. Okay, I've beaten that topic. Then you have a YouTube channel Our Journey in Miles. It's M-Y-L-E-S, yes, okay, so talk a little bit about the channel. What kinds of things do you like to share with people? I'll go there.
Speaker 3:Because otherwise, yeah, when we started, we did not start out doing a YouTube channel. We started out, we retired. I'm a high school arts art teacher. I taught midge technology with a little videography. So I don't like playing with videos and putting it on Facebook and after a while Mark is telling people oh we were there, be friends with me, you can look at our video. I'm like I don't need all these friends. So finally he said let's just do a YouTube channel.
Speaker 3:And then we can just tell, tell people, go to our channel, look at it and all of a sudden, oh, my cousin left the comment and people are it's like who's that? And we won't use that. I don't know it grew and we were so surprised. Basically, all we're doing is showing what it's like to be full time as two retirees living on a budget in a nice class a. We always say we are not campers. We never have made a campfire. We've been to others' campfires.
Speaker 2:We love campfires.
Speaker 3:We just don't make them.
Speaker 2:Good idea.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we consider ourselves as tourists. We are touring the United States in our motorhome and basically our videos are. If it's about like this is where we are, this is what we did, sort of thing, I'll do the editing on that stuff.
Speaker 3:I get into the artsy stuff if it's repairs, upgrades, breakdowns, whatever mark does the editing because that's his right, he goes into detail and a lot of our subscribers will say we appreciate the honesty of our channel because we show not just good, we show the bad, we show the breakdowns. They're like what the heck? Now this is what we're doing.
Speaker 2:We're not a drama channel.
Speaker 1:We're not trying to complain, but teaching something Now. The one thing you said was you're retired and you said you'd be a YouTube channel. That's an oxymoron.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 1:So you have your desk set up to do, but you know that people will say, oh, that's a lot of work.
Speaker 3:Work to creative people. We need a creative outlet and this is it and I often said to mark if this feels like work, I'm done.
Speaker 1:I'm retired exactly, and that's exactly what I felt like. If I do the podcast or I do youtube videos which I'm now getting back to, the channel is exploring for our legs. If it's not fun, I'm not doing it. I could show up somewhere that everybody recommended and think yeah yes, and I don't do it.
Speaker 3:I'm not going to mention those places, but I just don't do it yeah, I just want to say one more thing about our channel, and one of the things that kind of pushed us up is, when we got started we wanted to see, get an idea. What would it cost? Next exit, bothering for all would put out a spreadsheet every month on what they spend. So he got the spreadsheet from Bob and we're keeping track of things and they live in a Class A also, but their lifestyles a little bit better.
Speaker 2:Big Monaco, like about 2006 or 8.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but they traveled different. We were more touristy, they. They did camping and stuff like that. We started keeping track and after keeping track, I would keep the track and he would do all the spreadsheet stuff we're looking at after a year we're like, oh my god, are you serious? This is what we're spending. It was shocking, it was embarrassing, to be honest, and we're like we got to put it out there because it's real I mean we put everything, we put down even the depreciation of the motorhome. We're losing money every minute.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we put the real numbers in yeah, that could be a podcast, or because I know recently you just hear a podcast on how cheaply you can live if you're careful see, he's actually listening.
Speaker 1:I'm actually listening, but guess what? It's not pre-set up, not, but guess what? We're careful. He's actually listening. I'm actually listening, but guess what? This was not pre-set up, not pre-paid.
Speaker 2:But guess what?
Speaker 1:We're careful and we spent $6,204 a month here around, and that includes repairs.
Speaker 3:Yeah, average down new tires, average down for the year, and all that. Let's talk tires.
Speaker 1:I'd like to jump in and tires Jeff Bound. If you don't know him, you got to get to know him. Um, he is a great guy. He was here, so if you haven't met him, you could still meet him. I have a good story about that. I hope it's a good story.
Speaker 2:Yeah no, we had our tires put on at National Indoor because we dovetail that when we were doing repairs. And then as soon as the retrovan came out, even though I had Tyron tire bands, from an engineering standpoint it was literally leaps and bounds more robust, let's say, in my estimation. So I took out the Tyrons and I put the retrovans in. So I worked with National Indoor and at the time University Tire in their Atlanta store and I've always got my tires there a couple other times just at tire places. But I recently had a couple of subscribers now contact me and specifically on the 365s, the big boys on the front, they're just the availability is impossible to get and they're telling me oh, I'm thinking about this brand or this band.
Speaker 2:What do you think? First of all, I'm no tire expert. But my answer to them was is this particular brand other brand other than michelin that they were thinking about? I would trust? Okay. But I said, why don't you call up motorhome tirescom? I said because their business model is they'll just show up and put these things on and they work with local people. And if a company like that doesn't have a stockpile of tires as big as your building, next to you.
Speaker 2:And this person got back to me said oh my god, thank you for giving me them. He said I called them, they had them and within it was like less than a week, they showed up at their camp route and they put the tires on.
Speaker 1:Yes, and he does have his 4,000 installers across the country. The link will be in the show notes. To get to an installer. They will come to you, whether it's your driveway, your storage, wherever it is. They'll show you what you're doing. They'll show you what they're doing, they'll talk to you, they'll talk you through the tires that are right for you. And again the company starts with the owner and he's just a great person, so I love recommending.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if I remember right, the corker was. The pricing was really good, yes, so yes not only was a good price, they actually had the tires, yes, so they have more prices.
Speaker 1:Locations across the country and that's the big thing with them, and you can get a discount code in the show notes so people can get a discount on their tire. So I'd love to know that.
Speaker 1:Yes, there you have it. We have so much that we've talked about, so much I want to talk about. We could only go so long with this and it is super hot in here as my crew is melting. We are trying to keep ourselves together now, as you go across the country toll passes, going through toll roads I literally last year spent 250 in toll fines. Anybody that listens to the podcast on a regular basis has heard this story. I'm going to repeat it because, being full-time, the toll-by-pleat goes to my mailing address by the time I got it and dealt with it. Part of it was totally my fault. They only give you 25 days to pay the actual toll.
Speaker 1:If not, you get fined. By the time I called, they called. They said no, we sent it to the attorney, if they call them, they weren't hearing it and literally was at Texas or was it was Texas and one in Washington listen, beware innovative tolling open roads innovative tolling all 48 states. It's $24 for the toll pass. You only need one of them, so you guys tow a car, you only need one, and if you get a fine, they've concierge service that handles it for you yeah, and it's great and it works.
Speaker 2:We started that in the beginning, I think. Even now it's through open roads and we had the original one, and then now they roll that into a different company that even now it's through open roads, it is, and we had the original one, and then now they've rolled that into a different company that administers it.
Speaker 1:So it's open roads. That, yeah, yeah they want.
Speaker 2:The original one that we had was open roads too, because the money used to come. The account that you had set up still would service that diesel, but now it's a separate. Okay, yes, yes so good.
Speaker 1:We are talking about Open Roads, fuel Card and the toll pass. You can go to openroadscom or myopenroadscom to see both of those.
Speaker 2:They are separate and together.
Speaker 1:That makes yes, innovative solutions, but if you go to the Open Roads you'll find it All of it's linked in the show notes to make it easier for everybody because they are connected. Great conversation. I want to thank you guys so much. We could have probably talked for two hours if we had air conditioning. So my podcast listeners and our youtube watchers. Here's what we did for you. We turned the air conditioner off because it was making too much noise. So, we are melting.
Speaker 3:I just wanted you to know. Of course it's video too, and it's not just audio. Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1:Of course, I'm just starting back the video and I look like a melted hot mess I do want to talk about. It is time for the feature campground brought to you by RV life campgrounds, thousand trails. Moody Beach in Wells me has a an amazing campground. I was planning on being there this summer, which would be a lot cooler there for sure. Unfortunately it's not gonna happen this summer, but I can't wait to go. This is a thousand trust campground. It has 203 sites. Thousand trails, moody beach offers beautiful scenery, minutes from the beach, full hookups, pull-in sites, dog park cottages to rent you name it, they have it and there's a spectacular ocean view. It is.
Speaker 1:This campground has a solid 2.5 rating from rv life campgrounds and you could get to them by going to campgroundsrvlifecom and they have 99 reviews. So the reviews on campgroundsrvlifecom I know you guys also use it it's all real campground reviews. It's from rvers by rvers. They go to a campground, they go on on. They say here's how well the Wi-Fi works, what we really think of the campground. It is all real, live stuff and you could get there by going to campgroundsrvlifecom and find everything you need to know about your RV parks, campgrounds, resorts, as well as city, state and national parks, corpse of engineers, parks, campgrounds, resorts, as well as city, state and national parks, corps of engineers, properties and more.
Speaker 1:So much on this site. I love it. I live by my RV Life Trip Wizard, my RV Life GPS, the campgrounds, the newsletters are amazing, and again, we could go on and on. So maybe this is part one of a part two with us, but I want to thank both of you, sue and Mark, of our journey in miles N-Y-L-E-S. You have all the social media right. You have Instagram, facebook, no, no.
Speaker 3:Facebook, no Facebook Instagram. Maybe we'll get it going.
Speaker 2:Instagram and YouTube.
Speaker 3:Instagram and YouTube or as far as like with our budget and stuff like that. I just want to put this in we have several videos out on it. That's what people are looking for usually, and if Mark has got a great spreadsheet on what we spent, he's got a blank one too where you can fill in what you think yours is so far. If you want that, just email us at ourjourneyinmiles at gmailcom.
Speaker 2:Great, and what we talk about we send you the spreadsheets we send you the standard thing that will introduce you to all of the learning links that we have, that we use and love, and I think it's worth your time. Ourjourneyinmiles at gmailcom. Great.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. You're listening to the RVv life podcast and watching exploring through our lens. I'm patty hunt saying have a great rest of today and an even better day tomorrow.