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
Kentucky's Hidden Gem: Firefly Hills Kentucky and Its Unique Offerings
Join me, (Patti Hunt) as I chat with expert guest, Tonja Lesmeister. Hear about her incredible journey from world traveler to full-time RVer and campground owner. Learn about Firefly Hills Kentucky, a unique and welcoming campground that offers a sense of community, homesteading experiences, and a plethora of outdoor activities. From exploring the beautiful landscapes of Kentucky to engaging in homesteading and community-building activities, this episode is packed with inspiration and tips for anyone passionate about the RV lifestyle. Don't miss out on this engaging conversation, full of fascinating stories, travel tips, and insights into the RV life.
Firefly Hills Kentucky
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Can you imagine pulling into a campground where you instantly feel part of the community and included, no matter who you are? I'm Patty Hunt and you're listening to the RV Life Podcast. Arriving in a campground and immediately feeling welcomed and included is such an amazing feeling and I know for me. There have been many times I've gone into a campground and felt that warm welcome. You know what I'm talking about. If it's happened to you Today, my guest and I will take you on a journey of an incredible place where you immediately feel welcome.
Speaker 1:If you're looking to explore outside this campground, kentucky is the place to do it. The RV Life Podcast was created to educate, entertain and explore the RV lifestyle, and my mission is to inspire others to get out and fully live life. Whether you're part-time, some time full-time or dreaming of exploring this amazing country, this show is for you. It is now time for today's fun fact, and that fun fact is brought to you by Open Roads Resorts. Fact is brought to you by Open Roads Resorts. They have five amazing locations two in Montana, one in Idaho, one in Texas and their newest location in Nebraska called West Omaha KOA. It is a great place to stop over on your way, say, to Yellowstone National Park or Stag. The campground is highly amenitized and it is an amazing place to stag. If you're looking to go to Glacier National Park or Flathead Lake, you can experience that through their two locations. One is Polson, flathead Lake, koa or Polson Motor Coach Resort. It is Class A only and if you have a Class A, this campground is in the top 10 of all motor coach resorts in the country. Now for the fun fact. Kentucky has around 1,500 documented arches, making it the second to the Arches National Park in Utah. Now this fun fact was brought to you by Open Roads Resorts, but I will tell you with the fun fact. My guest has something to say about it and we're going to hear about it from her.
Speaker 1:But before we get to my incredible guest I want to talk about as we travel across the country, even if you feel welcome in that campground, sometimes the water you hook up to is just not the best, and our sponsor is Clear 2.0 has an advanced universal replacement water filter and it is designed with a carbon, a solid carbon block, and being able to educate people what that solid carbon block looks like. I have learned so much. The solid carbon block traps contaminants like fluorine, volatile organic compounds. I've never even heard of this, but it doesn't sound like something I want in my body. Heavy metals and eliminates bad taste and odors in the water. Many of the competition uses carbon, but it's granulated and it doesn't work as well. So I urge you to check out clear20.com. They have videos on YouTube to help you decide the best water filter for you and your family. Clear20 is offering you, my listeners, 15% off anything you purchase. Thank you, keith and Barb, for offering that 15% off by using RV Life Podcast. The information will be in this show note.
Speaker 1:I have been waiting to get to my guest. What an amazing conversation I had with this lady. Biggest problem on the podcast today is going to be keeping it to less than two hours. I'm so glad I get to decide how long the podcast goes, because she is a wealth of information, an incredible place we're going to talk about. She and her family were flying all over the world and were never really home.
Speaker 1:When Tanya decided she wanted to sell it all and travel in an RV, all of her kids, but the youngest, were out of the house and in 2020, they decided to start their RV life. This decision was made after both of her parents passed by the age of 70. And she then realized, and I quote we don't know how much time we are given, so why wait? Tanya and her family travel full-time and they love the RV life. But that wasn't enough for Tanya. When, sitting around the campfire, people were talking about this idea of purchasing a campground, tanya decided she needed to jump in and I'm going to let you tell that story. Tanya Leinmeister, welcome to the RV Life podcast. Thank you, patty. I'm happy to be here. It is great to have you Now. I told a little bit of your story, but I'd love to hear it from you. Traveling all over the world and then buying an RV Share that story. How did that come up? I know it was your idea. How did that happen?
Speaker 2:As most of the ideas in our relationship are usually my ideas. But we were world schooling so traveling around the world while educating our youngest child and we were at a world schooling conference in Bali and this was our second world schooling conference and I said to my husband I said we've been to a conference like this before. This time let's invite somebody different out for dinner each night that we're here and he says sounds great. And so I, intentionally, was inviting all of the families that I knew were full-time RVing when they were in the US. And then after the third night, my husband's like I'm sensing a theme here, so I really wanted to chat with these people to find out what it was like living full-time in an RV, and that's what helped me get him on board to becoming RVers while we were in the US and then from there, we did launch in November of 2020, full-time in our RV and in our travels you get to meet a lot of interesting people, have lots of great conversations around campfires and we were hearing over and over what people were really missing that they couldn't find in the full-time RV community, and it was that sense of community. You have to be super intentional about that it's there. You have to be intentional. They missed growing their own food, teaching their children where food came from, and that sense of inclusion, no matter where they were. So those were the things that we kept hearing people miss.
Speaker 2:And so we were watching and participating in the many online groups that there are communicating. And there was a thread that we were watching and participating in and somebody said wouldn't it be cool if several of us families went in together and bought a farm and created an RV park catered to full-time RVers? And somebody in that group said my family, my parents, are considering selling their farm in Eastern Kentucky. My parents are considering selling their farm in eastern Kentucky. And the conversation stopped. Nobody responded because once it comes to, it starts to get real. People don't want to take the action. So my husband reached out, inquired. It wasn't even on the market. We went and saw it. We like this would be perfect. And here we are we bought the farm.
Speaker 1:OK, so so much to unravel here, and I got with talking to you that you are definitely the person that has the ideas, and then you present it to your husband or and or whatever any of the children that are at home. I sensed that when we spoke that it was all you and he obviously jumps in on board. So now let's go back. You've been on the road for four years. You were a world traveler, world schooler just so many incredible things with that. But let's get to your. You're sitting around the campground and I'm trying to get my PIE listeners to really visualize and see this. You're sitting around a campground and people are talking about hey, wouldn't it be great to have a campground. This is what we feel like it's missing, this is what we'd love to have. And you decide you're going to jump in. So now you hear about this property in Western Kentucky. Is that what?
Speaker 1:you said Eastern Kentucky, yep Wrong side, and decide to jump in. Tell us about that property. Have that what you said? Eastern Kentucky, yep Wrong side, and decide to jump in. Tell us about that property. Have you heard about it? Tell us about it. I know I read online. There's so much history in this property.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we came and looked at the property and walked the whole property. It's just under 40 acres here in eastern Kentucky, rolling Hills. The South Fork of the Kentucky River wraps around our property. Our property is set high so we're not low and at risk of flooding or anything like that that is common here in the area, but we have Rolling Hills. There was a barn on site. We have a 100 old farmhouse here that we.
Speaker 2:That was already renovated as far as new plumbing and electrical in the nineties, but we just gave it a fresh coat of paint, ripped up the carpet to expose the natural hardwood floors and the family that built the house in 1924, arch and Nan Snowden. They were involved in the mining in this area higher up. I don't know exactly what his role was, because this house for the time was a very large, affluent house for this area and so it was the one of three, three store houses in the county. It was the first house in the county to get electricity and people and it's in the country, so that was that. I questioned that and we later found out that they ran the electricity by using a generator, so people would travel by at night just to be able to see the electricity and the lights on in the house in the evenings, that is and the lights on in the house in the evenings, that is, and I've read about that and that is very cool.
Speaker 1:Now I also read that it is said, the house, I believe the word haunted, but that there is some odd thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so there has. We did not know about the paranormal activity in the house for a year. Nobody told us I would. I have a funny accent compared to the locals. They would ask where are you from and I said actually I'm from Wisconsin, but I did buy property here. They would ask where. And finally I walked into the flower shop in town and I was with a friend that was visiting another full-time RVing friend and the woman working there. Finally she just asked me she goes. So has anything like strange happened there? And her coworker said Blanche, blanche, stop that. And I said wait a minute. I said do you mean like ghosts? And she said yes, and this one. That was my first exposure and knowledge, which what's funny about it is our family really enjoys doing ghost hunting tours and we've done so many all over the world a lot in the U S, a few out of the country. So it was perfect.
Speaker 2:So some of the we, some of the things that have happened here there's been from past residents. Right, the bathtub is filled with water, there were workers in the remodeling the bathroom and the owners were at work and it sounded like somebody was cooking in the kitchen. Another homeowner said they had a boxer. When they left the house they would always leave the dog in the basement and frequently the dog would be on the main floor. People who have experienced like touching their feet at night while they're in bed, that I've experienced that repeatedly in the same spot on my foot over and over again in the matter of 15 minutes and it was just like is there a bug under my sheet? What else has happened? People report seeing a woman brushing her hair on the third floor. Just lots of different stories.
Speaker 1:Okay, let again. You painted an amazing picture for our listeners, but some of them, I'm sure, just went. Okay, I'm out, so let's not close the door yet for our listeners. First of all, the place we're speaking of is called Firefly Hills, kentucky, and you could get to that by going to fireflyhillskentuckycom. So I want people to check out this amazing building that's a hundred years old. So for anybody who likes to ghost hunt and things like that, this is great. For me. I'm okay with the whole paranormal activity. I'm okay with it. I just have to let them know look, I'm sleeping, so stay away. I don't want to be disrupted in my sleep. So people who question hey, I'm not sure I want something rubbing my feet, no worries, they can come in and jump, they can stay in their RV.
Speaker 2:They don't need to stay in the house.
Speaker 1:That's also the option. So, again, this house has rooms that people could rent and I'm so looking forward to coming down there renting a room, being in an RV. I want to try it all, I want to see it all, but the house is large and how many rooms are there for rent?
Speaker 2:Yep, so we have three rooms for rent on the second floor. It has a shared bathroom, and then the main floor is open to our membership folks as well. The main floor has a large updated kitchen, a nice dining room, the peacock parlor, which is our co-working space, and then the living room as well, and the house is it's a hundred years old, but it is beautiful. I don't know, patty, if you've seen some of the photos that we've posted another formal full-time RVer who helped us with the decorations of it and helped me create a plan, and then I sourced everything, but it's really beautiful. So it's a mix of we've got brand new fixtures, the beds, the curtains, some of the rugs, and then mixed with all these antiques that I sourced here in Eastern Kentucky.
Speaker 1:Now the front porch. So I think you're referring to Robin from BG Barnstormer. That's who introduced us.
Speaker 2:So she's helped, but she was not the designer. Yeah, she wasn't the designer.
Speaker 1:I know she painted the beautiful porch.
Speaker 2:Yes, she did.
Speaker 1:Or helped paint the beautiful porch, Yep, yep picture. So there is a huge porch as an RVer, somebody coming to this campground that you have being able to sit on the porch and have access to the work base and the house, and we're going to talk about so much more Just sounds amazing. I truly have Kentucky and this place on my bucket list now. I am so excited it's definitely on my bucket list To talk about for the RVers. Talk about the spot, what you offer there. I'm going to let you talk about that and get into the membership part of that.
Speaker 2:Sure. So, being that we created this for full-timers, we wanted to make sure that we have very large sites. So our sites are 70 feet deep. They're spacious, so you're not on top of each other. They're nice and level. That was very important to us. Nothing more frustrating than having challenges leveling your rig.
Speaker 2:Our bathhouse is under construction so we'll have bath and laundry here. We have pickleball and laundry here. We have pickleball gaga ball. We have two fishing ponds on site. We have we offer a homesteading experience. So we have chickens so you can purchase some chicken eggs. You can help with the chicken chores if you wish to. We've got adults and kids who really enjoy doing that. We have an orchard here on the property, some very mature fruit trees. We've added 33 more fruit and nut trees onto the property so they will be down in the RV park area as well. We have a vegetable garden with raised garden beds that if folks want to harvest some of that, help us weed, they can certainly do that as well.
Speaker 2:We have trails on property that are, you know, various spots. We have a fairy village, which I love, which is unique. We're really looking forward to adding more things that, especially for kids that use the imaginative play. So in our fairy village there's a little spring down there. Adults and kids can walk through. We call it the land of imagination, where gnomes and fairies and unicorns live, and they can create a little fairy house down there. Our rule is just no man-made materials. So use the rocks and the twigs and the pine cones and the grass and all of that to make your fairy or gnome village or house that you want to make down there. So those are just a few of the things that we have here on site as far as some of our amenities, I've heard people at the campground or on social media talk about building a campground.
Speaker 1:What would it be like? What people want? You have touched on things that I didn't know. I didn't know I wanted, like, I love gardening. I miss that so much be. Oh, I'm in an RV.
Speaker 1:I miss gardening. I'd love being part of something. I would love the idea of walking out and there being the fruit trees, going and collecting the egg breakfast right from the chicken, being part of that and helping, and you have. There's so much here. I'm so excited and I love to hear you talk. I wish people could see your face light up as you're explaining things. That is a true passion for you.
Speaker 1:Now you're full-time, full-timers and I want our listeners to know you also have a membership. And now what you just said just touches on some of the things available to people that come through the property. Talk a little bit about membership and how that works.
Speaker 2:Sure, so the items that I just mentioned are available to all of our guests, regardless if they're a member or not, if they're staying for one night or several weeks. But our membership, again, we really created it to cater to those full-time RVers and with that membership you get one of our premium RV sites that has a casita on it. The casita is 12 by 20 and it has electricity and we have put up a wall for the back four feet of it with a separate entrance, so the member gets to use that for their personal storage. So if they want to store their Christmas stuff in there the bike that Jimmy outgrew, but Johnny hasn't grown into the paddleboard that they know they don't need for the next three months, or whatever, they have that storage that is theirs on the casita. The front half of the casita will be furnished with some basic furniture and it can be used as just a little space to stretch out. And sometimes when you're living full time in a small space with your family, sometimes you just get on each other's nerves and so it's nice to be able to have that little extra space. Throw the kids in there, they can do their activities, or mom or dad. Maybe they're working remotely, as many of us do, and they can have that quiet space for that as well.
Speaker 2:In addition to that casita we have a maintenance shop where we have two bays that will fit. Our rig is 44 feet. It will fit two 44-foot fifth wheels inside these bays. Because a lot of RVers have the knowledge to do maintenance, remodel, put in solar, those kinds of things. They just don't have the space because a lot of RV parks don't allow it or they don't have the tools, because we're limited on what tools we can bring. So we will have tools that will be accessible to the members and they can use those bays to repack their bearings, to remodel the inside of their rig, to add that solar they've always wanted to those kinds of things. In addition to that, they will get two weeks of dry parking. So if you want to go home wherever home it was, wherever you launched from for your annual medical appointments, or you're going to do some international travel, you can park your rig here and know that it will be safe.
Speaker 2:You also can we have space in the house, as Patty mentioned before, the rooms. If grandma and grandpa want to visit, or auntie and uncle and they're not RVers. They can stay in the house and spend some time with the kids and the grandkids Coming. Later this year we'll also be adding some glamping tents, so that will be another option, and those members will get a discount for their friends and family when they come and stay.
Speaker 2:Now, the best part I feel about the membership is that when our full-time folks who are the members are off exploring other parts of North America, we will rent out that site and revenue share that, so the member will get 60% and we will keep 40% for managing the site. So that's a wonderful perk as well. The other thing that I forgot to mention is that members will also have access to the main floor of the house, which is the co-working space, which is set up like a moody library. It has couches and a desk and a stand-up desk and a printer and your basic office supplies, and they'll also get to use the kitchen and the dining room. So if grandma and grandpa are visiting and you want to make a nice meal or you want to bake cookies and it's challenging to do in your small kitchen in your rig you can use the house for that purpose too.
Speaker 1:Wow, truly have thought of everything and more. This if having that extra space, having the casita restored, because people are always wondering what do I do about storage.
Speaker 1:I can only take so much or think that I don't want to get rid of Having that space to separate ourselves sometimes, because you're right being in that small space. Sometimes you just need the separation. I imagine with kids it sometimes is more important. They can go out and play. And again, I'm just going to let people know FireflyHillsWithAnAssKentuckycom to find out about all of this. It is a beautiful website with lots of pictures and so much to talk about.
Speaker 1:I do want to take a brief break because, as I traveled down there from Philadelphia area to Kentucky, obviously diesel fuel is something we all think about and my friends from Open Road Fuel Card has saved so much money. This card is free to get you hook up your bank account to it. You go in, use the card. They have an app so you can see exactly how much you're paying, how much you're going to save on fuel, literally every time I go to get diesel. This card has saved me money.
Speaker 1:So OpenRoadsFuel card it'll be in the show notes and I highly recommend it. You've got nothing to lose. It's free to sign up. So I just want to let people know because as people are getting out there, traveling from Philadelphia, kentucky, I can look at how much it's going to cost me and save money on that trip. I want to talk about something else that you do, and I know you had told me that you have these pillars for what you leave, and let's, maybe let's just get into that. Let's let I'll let you talk to me and our listeners about these pillars?
Speaker 2:Sure, so we have three pillars that are important to us that we, I think, are obvious when you're on property here with us. And the first is we're intentionally inclusive. We want to make sure that all of our guests feel welcome and safe in the space. My family represents a couple different marginalized groups and in our travels my children have not always felt safe where they've been visiting. So we want to make sure that all of our guests are feeling safe and included in our space. So that's most. That's probably the top as far as importance for us. The second is a sense of community. So we do things very intentionally here to build that sense of community.
Speaker 2:We have a few different community fire pits and we host different campfires, sometimes a s'mores bar, or we do a storytelling time and we've had great success with that and bringing people from the house, our RV guests, together and having that sense of community there. And as we get going this is our first season open, so as we get going more, we plan on adding more events and community building activities. We do host some hangouts with specific groups throughout the year as well. So not only that, but we're also part of the greater community where we are the county and the city as well, so we have our extra produce. If I've got extra produce on site, when the pears come they all come ripe at the same time. Or sometimes we have extra eggs, I donate those locally to an organization that's connected with the public health called the Hub, and they serve breakfast and lunch.
Speaker 2:And then we also have different things where we volunteer. As well as we do plan those hangouts with specific groups, we find opportunities for us to give back to the community by doing service projects. We've done roadside cleanup before and different things like helped with trail days at some of the local rock climbing and hiking areas to help clean up and not clean up but improve the trails that are already there. And then the third pillar that is important to us is our homesteading. So we offer this homesteading experience so we can have fresh produce and eggs here and teach adults and children how to grow food. We try to minimize chemicals that we use on property. So we use permaculture practices as much as possible and use that for our whole food cycle and growing and the plants here on the property.
Speaker 1:Wow, just wow, there's so much here, so much, and I just love talking to you. I loved hearing about the pillars and hearing it again. There's things that I couldn't even imagine Things like a repair shop, because I know we had a very good RV and doing certain things, just washing it. Sometimes you couldn't do that in certain areas being able to put the solar on or replacing the batteries in the rv, having that space to do that, having faith to garden and get fresh fruit. Be part of the big community. I love the idea of inclusion. I'm that conversation has come up a lot in the past several months, this idea of inclusion and I'll be honest I was not really aware of the issues around that and it is a big thing people need to know more and more about. I know on my partner podcast, if anybody doesn't know, rv Entrepreneur is also part of RV Life and they had on a gentleman from Black Folks Camp 2 to talk to me about this idea and things like that, so I'll let people go there and listen.
Speaker 1:I spoke with the gentleman Earl yesterday. The founder and amazing man he had said to me we were on a video chat said you look like you're what? 41, 42. So from there I just was Space Alliance and Open Door.
Speaker 2:So those are all organizations supporting inclusion, the GLBTQ community and people of color as well, and, as I said, that does represent my family and my friends. I wanted to make sure that that was a strong piece about our RV park here, especially in this part of the country, right?
Speaker 1:So now you host events. I think you mentioned full-time family. For those listeners that are new, can you talk a little bit about that, what that is?
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:I think it's one of the greatest groups. Even though I'm not a kid, I know a lot of people that do. Robin BG Barnstorm Barnstormer is part of that group as well and she's talked to her, but can you explain?
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. Full-time Families is an organization for families who full-time RV with their children, and so that organization has a lot of different pieces to it. They have different groups that you can be a part of. They have full-time families with teens, full-time family entrepreneurs, full-time family Christian group, full-time family secular group and all these different subgroups within there, and then they also host different events. So we are one of the hosts for some hangout events.
Speaker 2:We do two hangout events for full-time family members every year, and the hangout events tend to be smaller in size, which I like, because then you really get to know a few families.
Speaker 2:So we usually host about 15 families at a time on site and I and a co-host plan the itinerary and enjoy all the amazing things that are in this area which we haven't talked about yet.
Speaker 2:I'm hoping we'll get there and we plan the itinerary for the week and really just get to know these 15 families really well, and that helps to build that community as well and that support system and, yeah, so that's what we do with full-time families. The other group that we have created some hangouts with is full-time RVing pilot group, which Robin is also a part of that, and that's how I met the Laws family and when we were thinking about launching and becoming full-time RVers, my husband is a pilot and I was chatting in different groups and realized that there's quite a few pilot families that full-time RV or part-time RV as well, and I created a Facebook group. It consists of part-timers. Maybe someday we would like to check it out and understand what a schedule is like while you're RVing those kinds of things. So we have that group and we launched our first hangout during the Kentucky Derby time, which was fun. We did a lot of activities around that event this past spring and we plan to make that an annual event as well.
Speaker 1:Wow, Again, there's not much. You haven't thought of Lots of groups. It's a smaller vPark so if somebody wanted to host an event in that smaller type setting, host an event in that smaller type setting, they could contact you. I know a lot of people that travel around and there's so many different what they call hangouts, meetup crawls. A friend of ours are doing crawl called Find Us Camping. There's so many different groups that I talk to. So if somebody wants to do a small group type activity, they can contact you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and we're hoping in the future to host retreats. I know somebody mentioned like a writer's retreat or an adoption retreat for families who've adopted children, like we have, or different kinds of retreats like that, but also micro and mini weddings. So that's something that's in our future that we're hoping to host as well, and then we also host. The other piece is Bushcraft. I think I mentioned this to you also, patty, the other day when we chatted. My son's school is called the Montana Hybrid Academy out of Whitefish, montana, and they offer bushcraft camps and we are their East Coast hub for those bushcraft outdoor, wilderness, survival, primitive skills camp for teens. So that is also something we do in the spring and the fall of every year as well.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow. I can't even imagine what your calendar looks like now I could come about. I could come stay on your property for a month, be happy, as I traveled around the country and we went back and forth usually a week, two weeks, and it's time for me to move. But certainly, given you have there, I could be there for a whole month and be perfectly happy being there. And if that's not all, when you talked about what is in the area, now I will be honest, I have been lucky a couple of times, never really stayed.
Speaker 1:So when I go into an area, there's a feel I get I love the area, I like it, or I don't have that feel I don't connect with it. If that makes sense, it's just that feeling you get. I don't connect with it. Sure, if that makes sense, it's just that feeling you get. Hey, this is homey, this is wonderful, this is peaceful, whatever that is. When I went through Kentucky, it was definitely a place that I felt and I felt like I wanted to go back to. So now, if they don't have enough staying on your property, there's a couple things to do with the area, right, yeah, why don't you? I just sat and listened to you that day we spoke and I was just imagining these places, that I was in awe and that's why it is definitely on my bucket list. So take us through. Paint the picture for my listeners. Look at these things in the area that people could certainly spend weeks and weeks and never do or see at all People could certainly spend weeks and weeks and never do or see it all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, first of all, as you mentioned early in the podcast, this part of Kentucky has a lot of natural arches and it is suspected that we may have more than the state of Utah. They're just not all documented, so they are in the process of documenting them all, and the reason why it's so challenging is because so many of them are on private properties, but there's lots that are available and accessible to the general public as well. So the Red River Gorge area is an expanding area, but rock climbing is a huge thing in this area. We have over a hundred thousand rock climbers that come from all over the world to rock climb here in this small area, and there's thousands of rock climbing routes. I'm not a rock climber, but it is fun to try. There's a few rock climbing schools here and we have taken groups to those rock climbing schools for them to experience that.
Speaker 2:But if you're not a rock climber, that doesn't mean you can't appreciate rock climbing and enjoy it by hiking. So there's your typical hikes that you can go and see beautiful waterfalls and natural arches, but then you also can I like to hike to the rock climbing areas. So it's great to hike to an area, stop and rest, watch people climb, which is just amazing, and then hike a different trail to a different rock climbing wall and we really enjoy that. There's hiking, rock climbing. There's lots of farm-to-table restaurants here, which I really love. My license plate says foodie. We like good food, we like to cook good food, we like to eat good food, and so there's several different restaurants here that their menu changes based on what they can source locally, which I love, and then at those restaurants you can listen to live music. There's a huge live music scene here. You can listen to live music for free, I would say two to three nights a week at different establishments, and then there's additional places where you can pay and listen to more live music as well. There is a recording studio here in the gorge, like that blew my mind. It's not even in a town, it's just in the gorge area. There's a recording studio, so that just tells you how much live music is here. And then, with that live music, there's lots of festivals. So pretty much every weekend in the spring, summer and fall you can drive within an hour here and go to a festival of some kind. There's the Bourbon and Moonshine Festival happening here in our local community this weekend. The Bluegrass Festival is happening in the county next to us. The Mushroom Festival was earlier this spring. It's just all sorts of different festivals.
Speaker 2:And then there's off-roading. So if you have a four-wheel drive vehicle lots of RVers travel with a Jeep or other four-wheel drive vehicles there's lots of off-roading opportunities here. If you don't have a vehicle, you don't want to take yours on any of the off-road here. You can also rent. So there's the Daniel Boone Backcountry Byway, which is over 90 miles of trails here and they're rated similar to a downhill ski resort. You can go to very challenging Black Diamond or the easier routes, so it is indicated on their online map. And then also there's off-road parks. So Hollerwood is one of the off-road parks that's right near us, which is a little over a thousand acres where you can experience off-roading, and if you're not comfortable with that, you can get a guided tour as well. So those are the big things in the area to do and, of course, numerous miles of trails in the area to do and of course, numerous miles of trails, so you just can't possibly experience all of the hiking, rock climbing or off-road trails there are.
Speaker 1:That's what I said. I need a month, so let me just quick Ride Roader Gorge, which is a geographic area, the arches, rock climbing, if you want. Hiking and watching rock climbers, which would be more in my wheelhouse just to watch from afar. Listening to music festivals moonshine not my thing. Bourbon tour not my thing either, but I certainly love the restaurants. Farm to table I am also a foodie. Biking trails oh my goodness. Off-road, I would have to get a new Jeep. My Jeep is done with, but you can go do above ground kayaking as well.
Speaker 2:There's lots of rivers here, but the underground kayaking is something very unique to this area and it is a old limestone mine that hit the water table and partially filled with water. So those are guided kayaking. Or you can ride the pontoon if you're not a kayaker guided kayaking, or you can ride the pontoon if you're not a kayaker. In this cave it's about 52 degrees year round. I always recommend my guests to go on the really crummy weather days, if it's really hot or rainy, it doesn't matter, it's going to be the same experience. In that underground kayaking experience yeah, that's just 20 minutes down the road from where we are is that underground kayaking which is really unique, and I've never done that and I've seen lots of different pictures of it Sounds amazing.
Speaker 1:Something else I'm putting on my bucket list for sure that just sounds amazing. I would probably do the pontoon. I don't know about the kayaking, but who knows? I never say never. If you came to the area, parked your RV and went out, you could be out every day. Yes, Again, we and never. I don't think I would ever bore of it. It just sounds breathtaking. It just sounds like the perfect everything. And again, having traveled, I've been to a lot of places, but this definitely sounds like a place for people to put on their bucket list. Okay, so again, we're talking about exploring Kentucky. We're talking about Firefly Hills with an S Kentuckycom. That's how they can get to you. That's how they can find out more about this place. What's next? You touched on it. Are there any things? I hesitate to say this to you. I was going to say what's next for Firefly Hills, Kentucky, Because it doesn't sound like you sleep at night, coming out with new ideas, which I love. So if there's something next, something coming up we should look for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're still building out all of our amenities, so we're excited to add more things for kids. Like I mentioned, the imaginative play we've got on our docket to build an outdoor mud kitchen for kids. A hammock circle is another thing that we're hoping to put on the property. Down the road we plan on expanding to the other side of the property for more RV sites, more glamping and a pool. We'd like to add a salt pool to the property as well Not sure what the timeline is on that and then just hosting retreats and family reunions and weddings.
Speaker 2:Things like that are also on our list of things that we would like to do. Another fun thing that I'm hoping to add next year is, at each site I'd like to have this is a little nod to the bourbon and moonshine, because we're in bourbon and moonshine country here in Kentucky have half barrel bourbon or moonshine barrels with a plant, either a pepper plant or a tomato, and then herbs, so that when it's time to make dinner, you can just walk down the road here and pick what you need for some of those things to add that lovely flavor. Like I said, I'm a foodie Two-year meals in your reg, so that's what we're looking forward to the coming months and years, incredible so.
Speaker 1:I have a thought of you creating a weekend where you bring chefs in that show people how to cook in the kitchen and they use those herbs. Not that you need suggestions for anything.
Speaker 2:Well, incredible offering is to demonstrate and show people how to preserve food on the road, so that I came from when I lived in my Sticks and Brooks. I love to can and freeze, make jams, things like that. But if we do it collectively then we can all pitch in and then each take one or two jars and it's not overwhelming. As far as space and weight in our rigs, which we all know, we constantly battle that being overweight and weight in our rigs, that is something that I'm now knowledgeable in and excited to teach other RVers how to do.
Speaker 1:That is a great idea. Now, and I didn't ask this before do you have social media that people who might have suggestions or just have questions can reach?
Speaker 2:out? Yes, absolutely, you can find us both on Facebook and on Instagram. Firefly Hills, kentucky. Yep, absolutely, okay.
Speaker 1:Firefly Hills, kentucky. If that got caught up there, that's awesome. Wow. Still more to come.
Speaker 1:I do want to talk about my friends at National Indoor RV Center. So those people who are looking for an A, b or C RV so that they can come to your property, these are this is the dealership. They have six locations across the country. They are doing it right. They use the marina concept, where you take your RV out, you do your travel, you bring it back, they store it for you, they take care of it, they service it. All of that is taken care of for you. I had the opportunity to be at the Music City Motorhome event. It's a couple of weeks now and every time I'm with the people from National Endure everybody from Brett Davis, the owner, all the way down, people from National Endora, everybody from Brett Davis, the owner, all the way down. Everybody just treats people right, they do it right, they're amazing people, so I highly recommend them.
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Speaker 1:As people travel around the country, this is a game changer. I think I was the first one to have this toll pass. Works fantastic. You only need the one toll pass. So we had the RV and the Jeep. You just need one for both vehicles. Reach out to them Again. The information in the show notes highly recommend it and, as we said, people can reach out to you at Facebook or Instagram at Firefly Hills. Now you can reach out to me at RV Life Podcast on Instagram or Facebook.
Speaker 1:I want to hear your comments or questions. What do you think, new guests? What are your ideas? But before we do that, questions what do you think, new guests, what are your ideas? But before we do that, I take a question of the week each week, so when I'm at my campground or on social media, but I really love asking my guests the question, and you've traveled around the world. You have traveled the country. What's on your bucket list now, or something you can recommend to our listeners that they must do, aside from being in Kentucky and enjoying that area? What do you recommend? It's?
Speaker 2:always a tough question because I've gotten the privilege to be able to travel and see lots of things. One of my favorite places I visited is the country of Oman. So not a lot of people know even know where it is or have heard of it. I didn't before.
Speaker 2:I had an exchange student, so when we were in a Sticks and Brooks, we had hosted over 50 exchange students from the local university and one of our students was from the country of Oman. So Oman is near, just south of United Arab Emirates, saudi Arabia and Yemen are around it, and what I loved about it was the language was different, the culture was different, the religion was different, the topography was different. That's what I loved about it. Everything about it was different than what I've ever seen anyplace else. A lot of Europeans, especially Germans, vacation in Oman, so it's popular for Europeans, but not as popular for those of us here in North America. So Oman was top on my list and probably my second was Ecuador. We lived on the coast of Ecuador for a month with other World School families and had an amazing time exploring and learning about that culture as well.
Speaker 1:Thank you, I mean things on the bucket list because, as I've traveled around the country, there is those places outside of the countries that I've traveled to. Certainly that's one I've never heard of. I'm glad you clarified where it was, because I had no idea. I love that. There's just so much to do and see and, like you said, life is short. We don't know how much time we have Put these things on your bucket list and start making plans. So when I say that coming to visit you, exploring Kentucky, is on my bucket list, that will be part of the planning, not just oh, someday, and someday never comes. We look forward to it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we look forward to it and some they never come.
Speaker 1:We look forward to it. Yeah, we look forward to it. Yeah, I can't wait to sit with you. It has to be a time when you're there, because I certainly want to sit down with people around the campfire, absolutely, and I want it to be a late night. Before we close out, I do want to talk about the Feature Campground and that's brought to you by RV Life Campground.
Speaker 1:This week's RV Life Campground, this week's feature campground, is Thousand Trails, harborview in Colonial Beach, virginia, and as I work my way down to Kentucky, I could stop off here and that's why I picked it. I did have the opportunity this day at Harborview. This Thousand Trails Campground has 144 sites and it has full hookups. It has pooling sites, it has a dog park, a swimming pool, a play area and what I really loved about it is it's about 15 minutes to Colonial Beach. This campground is smaller, it's a little more rustic, so look at it.
Speaker 1:You could go on to RV Trip Wizard and do like a Google search so you could see it, to see if it's what fits different campgrounds for different people. It has a 7.3 rating on RV Life Campgrounds, with 71 reviews. You can find out all about this campground by visiting campgroundsrvlifecom. When you go to that website and you get to Thousand Trails, harborview, there is a book now button so you can book right from campgroundsrvlifecom and you can see photos, there's tips, there's a full list of amenities about this property.
Speaker 1:Rv Life Campgrounds is part of the RV Life Pro suite of products and it is the most comprehensive source for RV parks, campgrounds, resorts, city, state and national parks and so much more. So visit campgroundsrvlifecom to find out about Thousand Trails, harborview and so much more and so much more. Tanya, I have to thank you, thank you. Thank you so much for being on, for painting this picture of this amazing campground, creating a space where I know, as soon as I step foot, I'm going to feel part of the community, I'm going to feel welcome, I'm going to feel that vibe that I look for when I get into a campground and there's so much to do and see so much in the area. So thank you for coming on and sharing that with my listeners.
Speaker 1:Thank you for the opportunity to share. You have been listening to the RV Life Podcast. I'm Patti Hunt, wishing you a great rest of today and an even better day tomorrow.