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
Top 5 Mistakes To Never Do in Your RV
What are the top 5 mistakes to avoid in your RV and one thing you should do?
Today, I (Patti Hunt) chat with Ross Stoico, an RV expert and DIY enthusiast who turned his passion into a highly successful YouTube channel, helping others, today we spoke about: how to clean your AC coils, protecting your slide outs and awnings, tire safety and so much more.
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What are five things you need to never do in your RV? And one thing you should do? I'm Patti Hunt and you're listening to the RV Life Podcast Now. I've been traveling full-time for over three years and there are many things I should not have done. We all make mistakes and today's guest is here to help you my listeners minimize those mistakes. The RV Life podcast was created to educate, entertain and explore the RV lifestyle, with a mission to inspire you to live life to the fullest. I'm currently staying in a house outside of Philadelphia, pennsylvania, figuring out what my next adventure is going to look like, but having guests on, like today's guest, who is going to help you to know how to avoid some of those mistakes, is what I truly love doing. So stick with us as we help you through the what not to do's in your RV this week on what you Need to Know, and it is brought to you by Open Road Resorts, with five locations. Two are in Montana, five locations. Two are in Montana, one is in Idaho, one in Texas and their newest location in Nebraska. It's called West Omaha, koa, and Open Road Resorts is the place to go. Their five campgrounds are truly amazing places that you want to stay. Guests traveling back and forth between the West and the East Coast this summer can take a pit stop at West Omaha, koa, or stay for a while, because this campground has many amenities. It is family friendly and located less than 30 miles from Omaha and Lincoln, nebraska.
Speaker 1:Now this week, on what you Need to Know. So about a month ago I had my friend, vanessa from the Adventure Detour. She and her husband, scott Russell, have been traveling around the country for eight years and their episode last week was all about how to RV on a budget. Vanessa recently sent me an email and I'm so honored and so flattered, but she nominated the RV Life podcast for the RV Share Best RV and Camping Podcast 2024 Campies. I can't thank her enough for doing this and if you're enjoying the RV Life podcast, I'd love for you to go to RV Share and put your vote in. That would be great.
Speaker 1:This point, you need to know, is brought to you by Open Road Resorts. For today's guest, he started working on cars before he even got his driver's license and every time he had a free moment between work and school he spent working on cars. He then received a bachelor's degree, working in corporate America for a few years to save money to open a custom automotive shop. He did that for a decade when the housing market crashed in 2008. He went back to a corporate job for a while, working in management, when his wife's father passed away. That was the turning point for he and his wife. They realized that life was short and the road was long, so they bought an RV and started to travel. Welcome, ross Stoico to the RV Life Podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you, patty, it's good to be on.
Speaker 1:I am so glad to have you on. I know that all of what you've learned, all of your education, all of your wisdom is truly going to help and support my listeners. But before we get to that, I want to talk about your story. You realize life is short and the road is long and you decided to buy an RV. Will you share that story with my listeners?
Speaker 2:Yes, of course, 2016,. My wife's father had passed away and we realized at that point you never know what the next day is going to bring. So we decided to look around. At first we bought a small class C, but we had some buyer's remorse and, within our three-day ready rescission, decided it wasn't really what we wanted. It was a little bit too small. So we did a little more research over the next year and decided on a travel trailer. We actually bought the travel trailer. I think it was probably the second travel trailer we looked at and then from there, they said it would be ready in a week. We had to go out and find a truck. We didn't even have a truck, and then the rest is kind of history.
Speaker 2:We started RVing, we enjoyed it. We went on our first trip, which is a place called Camobles Amusement Park in Elysburg, pennsylvania. They have a campground and we just fell in love with it. And then from there, being a DIY person all my life, I realized I had some warranty issues that I could either take an in or fix myself, and taking them in requires the RV is going to sit at the lock for three months until they get to order or fix whatever. So at that point I decided I'm going to start watching some videos, reading some articles, learning how to fix these things myself. And then I got on some online grand design forums and people were asking me questions after they realized I was talking about some things they needed to have fixed. They realized I was talking about some things they needed to have fixed and I posted a couple of videos up very poorly made, underproduced videos, but they got the point across. And then I realized one day people were starting to subscribe to the YouTube channel.
Speaker 1:So, ross, yeah, before we get to that, we are jumping in and definitely want to get to that, but before we do so, just to so our listeners really know about you and have an understanding the RV Life podcast listeners are full-time, part-time, sometime anytime, and some people dreaming of the RV lifestyle, so I'd love to give them a little bit more of a background. Now you bought a travel trailer and then you went, got the truck and you live, actually, in Pennsylvania. We just talked before we started the interview. You're about two hours from where I am right now. As a matter of fact, I'm going to pass right by you. Tomorrow I'm going to a lake house, so I'm going to be passing right by where you are located. It's weird because Pennsylvania is a really big state, but so what was? What kind of travel trailer and how often do you go? You're not full time, so how often do you guys get to get out on the road?
Speaker 2:So we bought a 2018 Grand Design. Imagine, at that point in time, grand Design was really starting to make a name for quality plus. We like the floor plan. It was not a long trailer, it was pretty much a couple's trailer and it was our first time, so we didn't want to get into something too big. So that's where we picked that up and then we just went out.
Speaker 2:Usually it started about, I would say, a weekend to three or four days once a month, because I was still working for an employer at that time, so I'd use my vacation days. We'd go out once a month for maybe three or four days max every month, and then from there the trip started to get a little bit longer. We started to take more frequent trips. But yeah, we're definitely not full-time people. We don't want to be full-timers. We enjoy going places and seeing things and then coming home to all the amenities you get in a house. But another reason we got the RV was we have pets and we wanted to bring them with us. So we had the best of both worlds. We had our own have pets and we wanted to bring them with us. So we had the best of both worlds. We had our own hotel room and we can bring our pets with us.
Speaker 1:And that is awesome. Now you said, when you got the trailer and you had the truck, because of your love of car repair and that's what your background became, or your side thing became you learned how to do the maintenance. And one of the reasons from what I read about you you were tired of the whole warranty process and the waiting. So let's not go down that rabbit hole, but let's talk a little bit about learning now how to work on a travel trailer and the truck.
Speaker 2:So the truck I had a pretty good grasp on from working on gas engine for a long time. The RV some of the issues I had were cosmetic. Some of them were a little bit more involved. I had an issue with my awning that I had to do a lot of research to fix. I had an issue with my stabilizer jacks, which are really basic mechanical scissor jacks, if that's all they are, and that was pretty simple to fix. But it was a combination of watching YouTube videos, reading articles, speaking with people who have been working on their RVs, not necessarily certified technicians. I started communicating with some certified technicians as well that were teaching me some of the things that I needed to know and just combining all of that information into the things that I needed to know on my RV. And I'm still, to this day, still learning because there's just so much to learn. But yeah, it was just a combination of just trying to find everything I could online and a little common sense here and there, and it all worked together.
Speaker 1:And so let's talk about that a little bit, because you talked about warranty issues and we're not looking to throw any companies under the bus in 2016, 2018. I think that things are different and have some things. Let's face it it's 2024. Some things have gotten better. Some companies have gotten better. Some maybe have gotten worse.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to go down that rabbit hole on this podcast, but being able to do maintenance and repairs at least some of them is a big deal when you're in an RV I know traveling in our 2002 Monaco Diplomat so old it needed lots of maintenance and lots of repairs and certainly learning how to do some of those things is a huge advantage and there are times you just need to give in and find a reputable shop to take it to. But you really immerse yourself in this and I just want to put it out there. Your website is rvtipsandtravelscom, because we are going to talk about your YouTube channel and how what you've learned then became part of your YouTube channel and you said you have a knack for helping people to understand, to get them to understand what you're doing. It's one thing to know how to do something. It's another thing to teach it to people, so let's fast forward.
Speaker 1:You started creating, as you said, video content, and that was 2017. And you said it wasn't the best. It wasn't the best edited content, but what made you start even putting the content up on YouTube? What was the reasoning? I?
Speaker 2:actually found. So it was involving the winterizing and de-winterizing processes and I realized and I looked through quite a few different owner's manuals of other models and I looked through quite a few different owner's manuals of other models, including mine, and realized their directions. There's some things that probably are either missed or not very well explained and some things that could be done in addition to what the owner's manual says to do to make things either a little bit easier or to make the process go a little smoother. I started posting those videos just to YouTube so I could link them to these people who had these questions. And then from there it kind of people just started subscribing and sending me messages, pms and emails and asking for more information, and at that time I realized there's a whole lot of processes involved with owning an RV and I have to learn these things.
Speaker 2:I'm not taking my RV to a dealership, and the dealership that I bought my RV from great people it's a fantastic dealership, but they have a backlog just like everybody else and with traveling, we have all these campgrounds booked. So I just had to do it myself, learn as I went, and from there more people started following and then I think I got my first paycheck after I was monetized I think it was under $3, but a light clicked in my head and said if I could do this and use my management degree and background to teach what I understand about RVs, I feel like it's a good combination. It's you can have the brightest, most technical mechanic in the world, but if they can't explain it, his information is useless. And if you have somebody who can explain something but doesn't know anything about the topic, that doesn't help either. So I felt like if I could learn how to fix the RV and do the maintenance on RVs, I felt like I had a good background in management to combine those things together.
Speaker 1:And that is absolutely. For those who don't know, I was a high school teacher for 20 years and they teach you the topic, but not necessarily how to teach. So it is definitely a talent and it is definitely a talent that you have. And today, as of March 2024, we'll talk about that. But today, when I checked, you have 151,000 subscribers on YouTube and what that means congratulations on that. First of all, that is a huge feat and what that means is your content is something people want to listen to and I know that's important to you.
Speaker 1:Now I want to back up a little bit, because you're talking about a lot of maintenance and repair that you're doing yourself and, again, as an RVer, I believe we all need to know how to do at least some of the maintenance and repairs. We all need to know how to do at least some of the maintenance and repairs. But I will say for me, in a Monaco Diplomat or a new Class A that I am hoping to purchase, there are dealerships that are good and this is a good opportunity for me to talk about National Endure RV Centers. Anybody who listens to the podcast, they know they sponsor the podcast, but I recommend them because I truly believe in them. I'm not doing the kind of repairs on my RV that you're doing. Yes, warranties are an issue, and I will tell you that. I've sat with Brett Davis, the owner of National Endure RV Centers, who is dedicated and committed to making the RV industry better, and one of those big things is not having an RV sit for months and months at a time, not having the customer having to stress over will this be covered? And getting the warranty covered. So what I want to stress here is, if you want an A, b or C class A, b or C National Endure RV Centers has six locations and I highly recommend that.
Speaker 1:If you have a travel trailer, going to a reputable dealer and knowing that they're going to help take care of things for you is a huge thing to look for, and you and I started by talking about the Hershey RV show that we'll both be at. That is a great place for people to go in and talk to dealers. Talk to the different dealerships that will be there to see what their warranty process, what their repair, how that's all going to work. That's a great place to go. Okay, but let's get back to today.
Speaker 1:We said we're going to talk about five things that our veers should not do, and you're going to give us one thing that they should. So let's take these a step at a time, because, as a teacher, I always believed in breaking things down in smaller chunks for people. So that's what we're going to do here. Let's talk first about the wet bay, and again, there's a video on this. But you talked about the wet bay and the pressure on the valves, so tell my listeners what they should absolutely not do when it comes to pressure on the valves in the wet bay.
Speaker 2:Sure, and this is some of the reason I decided to start making content to begin with as well, because the dealership I bought my RV from again great. They did a phenomenal walkthrough. They showed me things that I took a lot of notes and they did say to read your owner's manual. But there were some things that I found in the owner's manual that I would have never known if I did not go through the owner's manual. They're not very popular topics online where people are talking about them, so there are these hidden things that you have to figure out by either reading an owner's manual or understanding the equipment.
Speaker 2:And the first one was when you have at your wet bay. You'll have have two. Now there's different types of wet bays, so I'll start with that. But if you have a wet bay that switches, if you have one water inlet that switches that direction to go either to your city water pressurized line or your fresh water tank, the manuals are saying to not switch this valve when, after you, once you hook the hose up and you have water pressure going through it, because it could damage the valve. And again, it's not a it's not a glorious topic, so you don't see it a lot, but it's something that I learned upon discovering. It will damage the valve and I think a lot of people throughout arving, whether they use city water or their fresh tank they're going to be using both at some point in time and switching that valve could cause damage, and the reason I wanted to talk about it is because it was just not something that you really hear a lot on a regular basis.
Speaker 1:And some of these topics are just parts of living in an RV. Obviously, it's just not glorious, it's not great. People say to read the owner's manual yeah, you should, yes, you should. I know mine is, I don't know, seems like a thousand pages long. So having video like on your YouTube channel and having you bring up these things that might not be so obvious to people is why I really wanted to have you on.
Speaker 1:Now, while we're talking about water, I want to talk about Clear2O and that's clear2ocom, and they have a water filtration system and, again, all of the people that I work with or I promote on the RV Life podcast is because I truly believe in their product. More importantly, I believe in them, the owners, the people, who that's who I connect with. So Clear2O has a product called TankFresh, and TankFresh is a water filtration system that cleans and deodorizes the fresh water holding tank, the water supply line and the water fixtures and it's to be used in the beginning of the season, at the end of the season when you're going to store your RV, or anytime you feel like your water is just getting. I'm going to use a very specific word yucky, very scientific word your water doesn't taste or smell right. You could also use tank fresh. Takes about an hour. It is so easy. I can do it, so I highly recommend Clear 2.0. Now let's talk a little bit about sanitizing your RV plumbing, because you have some things to say about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, plumbing, because you have some things to say about that, yeah. So in that, five things to never do in your RV the plus one thing is involving the freshwater system. So RVs are not like your house. Even if you don't turn the water on for a day in your house, the next day you probably are and you're getting that water out. Water in an RV, especially in an RV if you travel, like us once or twice a month. It's sitting in those lines, it's baking in the sun, it's in dark areas. So I always, from day one, I felt like I don't want to leave any water in my tank.
Speaker 2:So in that video I do talk about after we do get back from a trip, I will empty all my plumbing lines out. I'll empty my freshwater tank. I want to keep those as dry as possible because you can have bacteria, algae and mold growth starting in those tanks, in those lines, if that water is stagnant and not moving. We all know stagnant water. Don't drink water from pond. It's better to drink from the creek because it's moving. It's the same concept and because RRBs aren't being used as much on a regular basis as the water lines in your house are, I think it's a very good idea for people to not trust. You know parking your driveway. Your next trip is a month away. You have a half of a full tank or a full water heater. You really don't want to be using that water, so I just recommend flushing everything out. That's what I do, and then you can start fresh with new water at the new trip.
Speaker 1:Great and, again, a great tip. That I think is part of the conversation. You talked about learning things from forums and you go on social media and there's a lot of information, but sometimes even there gets to be a lot. It gets confusing. So that is a great tip because obviously water is so important and it being clean and fresh. You don't want to be drinking water that's been stagnant. So, while this may not be the most exciting topic, it's so important and we are going to now talk a little bit about cleaning.
Speaker 1:There are certain areas of the RV that really need maintenance and need to be cleaned to work efficiently. It is 90 degrees here in Pennsylvania I'm sure it is near where you are the humidity is really high, it's hot, the ACs are running nonstop and I'm sure people who are in an RV their AC is running nonstop. But you talk about making sure the AC coils are cleaned and talk to people. Let's get into that. Talk to people what those coils are, what they look like, and, again, we're going to refer people back to the video that you did on YouTube so that they could actually see it.
Speaker 2:For sure, a lot of the videos that I create. They're not designed around drama or we got kicked out of an RV park. They're just videos to help people. And I did a video I think it was last year just on how to clean your air conditioning coils. This is something that it's mentioned in the manual. It's one of those things that aren't really glorified all that much. You don't see a lot of people talking about it, but it's important to keep your AC running. The ACs are not very efficient. Rvs are not sealed up as well as you think they would be, so having that cold air running through the air conditioner is important. So I did that video and it did very well. I was very surprised, so I got that video and it did very well.
Speaker 2:I was very surprised, so I got some responses on it and a lot of people were asking me should I use compressed air to clean out my coils? And my initial response was when you wash your car, do you blow it off with an air compressor or do you use liquid and pressure to physically clean your car? And that's what I was thinking in my head and my answer was no. It's just you don't want to use compressed air on an AC coil. It may get some of the debris and dust off of the coils, but it's not going to do as near as good of a job as using some type of AC coil cleaning agent along with a brush and physical pressure to get those coils clean and the coils Patty.
Speaker 2:They just look like a radiator on a car. That's all they look like and they essentially do the same thing. But they need to be cleaned every year or so and depending on what type of atmosphere you're camping in. If you're in a very camp and very dusty areas, that should be done more than once a year. If you camp in low humidity and areas where there's not a lot of dust and dirt, then you can probably not have to clean them as much. But it's a very simple process and it makes a world of difference when it is 90 degrees and high humidity out and you want your AC to cool down your RV.
Speaker 1:And again, these are maintenance things that need to be done. I know a few years ago our radiator in our RV was all clogged up and it was keeping the RV from running efficiently and there is no way you're going to use any kind of air compressor. They actually wanted to remove the radiator, put it in some kind of acid bath. So having my point here is had we maintained that better? I don't know that we even thought about it, but had we kept it clean and maintained it better would have kept us from paying somewhere around $2,000 to have it really cleaned. And I'm not sure exactly what they did. I believe they sprayed it, we waited 24 hours and then they cleaned it off. But yes, really keeping things cleaned and maintained will prevent damage down the road or more expensive repairs. Is there other cleaning tips that you would highly recommend? I know I'm putting you on the spot for the purpose of making sure that your vehicles run properly.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of things you could do as far as cleaning processes go. There's, for example, with an RV. Cleaning inspection of your air duct is one thing. I noticed that. Another video I made was a modification to the air conditioner plenum, and when I started pulling my vents off my ceilings, I realized the ducts weren't completely sealed up as far as the AC cleaning. Acs and RVs are sealed systems, so you're not going to have to worry about filling them up with Freon or any other type of agent.
Speaker 2:If you just clean your coils, keep the surrounding housing clean, I think you're in good shape there. Just keep an eye on it. Inspect it every three to six months or so, especially if you're using it a lot. I think you're in good shape six months or so, especially if you're using it a lot. I think you're in good shape. As far as cleaning things to keep the RV running well, I think the lubrication is important on a lot of different points in it. Those are a lot of topics that I've covered in some of my videos as well too, and checklists are the key, because there is literally so much to remember I can't remember. So I think building these checklists and adding to them as you go. Knowing what you need to do, knowing things that you don't necessarily need to focus on, is important, because these are not only vehicles with suspensions and wheels. They are a house with 110 volts running through them and appliances and 12 volt appliances. So there is a lot to it and that's where I focus my content.
Speaker 1:Right now, we're going to take a brief break and when we come back, ross is going to share his YouTube channel the fact that he does not charge his members for the amazing content he puts out. We're going to talk about RV slides. We're going to talk about RV awnings. We're going to talk about tires and the one thing that all RVers should be doing Today. I want to talk about OpenRoad's fuel card, because this fuel card is a game changer. If you use diesel fuel, the card is free to apply for. The card is free to apply for. You go to gas stations across the country and save on diesel fuel every time you get fuel, and it has been a game changer. It has saved us thousands of dollars. Check it out by going to myopenroadscom. Okay, so now, ross, your YouTube channel is RV Tips and Travels, and people can check you out on YouTube and get all this amazing content. Why and how did you make it free?
Speaker 2:So I just felt like I never really wanted to charge viewers. So there's the on YouTube, there's a joint feature where viewers pay, you know, a certain dollar amount per month and they have access to videos that are not normally accessed by the general public, and I felt like the type of content I wanted to make. I wanted everybody to see what I was putting out there to learn about RVs. My channel is not an entertainment channel, so I feel like it's just should be free for everyone to watch and I deal with the channel sponsors to keep the lights on, and I think that goes a long way with my viewers and I think they understand that I'm in this for them to learn and not necessarily to be able to make a quick buck on putting this information out.
Speaker 2:Plus, the other thing, too, is I can't think of a topic that I would feel I would want to charge for, that I wouldn't want to release to everybody. You know what I mean. So I'm talking about air conditioner maintenance or tire maintenance or whatever. I don't feel like I would want to restrict that information from people just because they didn't want to pay for it. So there's other avenues I work on and work through to keep the lights on and the air conditioner running in the house, and that's what I focus on, and I don't feel comfortable asking my viewers to donate.
Speaker 1:That's great and it's greatly appreciated. Again, so much fantastic content on your channel. I like how sometimes it's quick, it's fast moving, it's to the point. We know that people don't necessarily have great attention spans, and the way you explain things is just really simple, even for somebody like me, who's mechanical but not big time. So you've made it very simple. Let's talk now about a problem we hear on forums all the time. This is the RV Life podcast. Rv Life has IRV2, which is a great forum, and I know that RV slide outs is one of those things that's talked about often. So what's a? Do not do this ever when it comes to RV slide outs.
Speaker 2:And again I'll preface this with there's all different types of slide outs. There's different slide outs that seal different ways. But one thing I wanted to talk about was when your slides either fully extend your slides, so they're all the way open, or fully close them. And the reason I wanted to talk about this wasn't a structural thing, it wasn't a motor thing. It was more about the seals on an RV, because when the slide is all the way out, the slide has weather stripping on the inside of the RV that seals it from the outside. When the slide is starting to move back in, those slides are not active anymore and you're not going to close off that air gap between the outside until the slide's all the way in.
Speaker 2:So in the RV world there's a lot of situations where you may park in a very woody site and you can't open your slide fully. I've seen people do it. I know how far their slides should be open and they weren't open all the way, and that causes a problem if it starts to rain, plus it decreases the efficiency of your air conditioner. For most slide-out rooms on the market today, they need to be fully extended or fully retracted to completely seal. And that was the purpose. Because if you don't and sometimes people will open slide outs to wash their RV it should be fully extended again, because without that seal activation you're going to get water in your RV. If you're camping in the middle of winter, you're going to get snow in your RV. You're also losing heat through those seals. So always have them slide all the way out or all the way in one or the other.
Speaker 1:Great and that is great advice. And what happens is people will do that where it's not fully extended or fully brought in, and the problem you have could show up a month later, because if water is seeping in, you may not know it until you've bowled in all kinds of problems. So that's a really important one, probably a similar thing to RV awnings. Let's talk about RV awnings, yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, and this is one I'm definitely guilty of. But I can fortunately say I never learned the hard way. But Orbi awnings and this is something my dealership actually told me. He said they've got these big, long arms. They're very heavy but they are essentially sunscreens. They're not really meant for anything other than a very light rain. But I see it all too often, especially in some of the campgrounds I go to. People are hanging things on their awnings, they're decorating, they're hanging lights, they're hanging ornaments, decorations, signs, whatever the case is, there's a campground we go to that's right next to an amusement park and they'll go out and they'll leave their awning out for the entire day.
Speaker 2:Most RVs again today are not really built to withstand heavy winds. Now there are people who tie their awnings down and everything. But I try to give information based on my experiences and for me, because everybody does things a little bit differently. But for me I feel like it doesn't even need to be a strong gust of wind that could push your awning up. Tying down definitely does help, but then that weakens the connection point on the RV, Not necessarily the arms, but where it connects to the RV.
Speaker 2:It's awnings are large, they're anywhere from, they're a lot of different size awnings, but they're eight feet to 20 feet. That's a big sail and they'll take a lot of wind and apply a lot of pressure. And it's been said a million times, but I do feel like it needs to be restead. It needs to be mentioned more than once. People should be bringing their awnings in when they're not going to be at their RV, when they're going to be away from the day. You never know what's going to happen. It could rain, you can get a wind gust, you can get a wind storm.
Speaker 1:Whatever the case is, Awning isn't serving any purpose when you're not there anyway, so just bring it in. And so I've learned this one the hard way. I got to say, though we were in Texas, we had just pulled in, we put the awning out and out of nowhere there was a gust of wind that pulled the awning and broke. It Not expected, did not know there was a storm coming. But, to your point, if I had left the O&M because we weren't even out there, that would have been the better way to go. Now I did go, so in June there was a Music City Motorhome Expo, which is put on by National Endor RV Centers, and I had the opportunity to test drive a Newmar. To escape me what the model was, but the awning will sense if there is wind and it'll bring itself in, which is very cool, but for those of us not driving those brand new RVs, it is something to just be on the safe side.
Speaker 1:Let's talk a little bit about a huge mistake I made with tires, and I think a lot of people have made similar mistakes. I'm embarrassed to share this, but if it helps others, dan and I did a video that we put on our YouTube channel Exploring Through Our Lens. We got a lot of comments that said thank you, you saved us money. So it's worth talking about what we did. We had a newer tow car and it was a Jeep. We went on YouTube, we read what to do, how to set the Jeep up on the back of the RV for towing. We did all that, we tested, we looked at it.
Speaker 1:We did not test it enough and so we dragged that Jeep for so long that all four of the tires were literally bald. They were down to the steel wire and we had to replace all four. Tires cost $1,300 or so and that was a huge mistake $1,300 or so and that was a huge mistake. We did the video but at the end of the day, like you've been saying, every car is different for towing. Every vehicle has different things that you can and can't do, different ways to set it up. But there are things that we could do. There are things that we should have could have done to have prevented what was happening with the tires. You and I both use TireMinder, which is a way to monitor the tires, so can you talk a little bit about tires and TireMinder and how to prevent the same costly mistake?
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah, tireminder is. I believe they're a division of Volterra or Dometic, but they're still separate, which is nice, and I have a good one-on-one relationship with a couple of folks there and they're a great company to work with. And there's obviously other TPMS or tire pressure monitoring system manufacturers out there. There's some great ones and there's some that I've never heard of. But a tire minder is basically a wireless sensor that goes on your valve stem on your tire and it reports a couple of different things it reports the pressure in your tire and it also reports the temperature of your tire. So why is that important? I don't know exactly when automobiles started coming more from the factory with TPMS, but as far as RVs, I don't know exactly when automobiles started coming more from the factory with TPMS, but as far as RVs, I don't know of a whole lot of RVs that actually come with them.
Speaker 2:A tire blowout, whether it's rapid pressure loss, slow pressure loss or whatever. It's really hard to determine that's happening on something that you're towing behind you versus on one of the tires in your truck when you're dealing with towables. Having essentially a monitor on your tire, it'll tell you pressure, the temperature, and it will alert you if that pressure or temperature drops raises whatever it's just monitoring to make sure those tires. Because a tire blowout on something on a 35, 40foot trailer that's traveling behind you can cause a lot of problems. Something I did right from the beginning was put a TPMS system on my trailer and that way you kind of have peace of mind knowing that going down the road you can look at the grass and see everything is good on your tires. Otherwise it could become a real problem very quickly. It could become a real problem very quickly. But the other thing too about TPMS systems is it doesn't take away that you should still be inspecting those tires.
Speaker 2:Part of inspecting tires is on my pre-trip. Every time we go on a pre-trip I'm physically looking at the tires both sides, underneath the RV, inside the RV, like from underneath and on the inside. I'm looking at the outside making sure that my tire wear is, even making sure my tread is good. And another thing about tires it's important to understand, especially on towables, is that you are probably more likely to wear through the life cycle of the tire before you actually wear through the tread because it's not being driven as much. If you get a tire they and I guess it depends on who you talk to, but you'll hear anywhere from four to seven years. You should be replacing your trailer tires, and you're probably. You might look at your tires after seven years and say the tread is good, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be replaced. There's a lot of things Tires are. Everything rides on those tires, so it's important to not only be inspecting them, making sure they're in good condition, but to monitor them while you're driving.
Speaker 1:And so you're talking a lot about the travel trailer, having driven in a motor home. We did. We did an episode with Jeff Bound from Motorhome Tires. So he sells tires for motorhomes obviously for motorized and he did a lot of great information on what to look for. So, like you said, you have to have a checklist, you have to make sure you're checking those tires. Whether you have a TPMS system or not, you need to check your tires and Jeff spoke a lot about what to look for and sometimes what doesn't mean the tire's not damaged.
Speaker 1:One of the things he recommended as well is retroband on a motorhome. So these go on the front tires of a motorhome and if you have a blowout there's a system in the tire that keeps the tire in like up so you could continue to drive. It won't cause you to skid off the road. There's great video on it and that is called RetroBrand and I just want to put that out there. National Endure RV Center sells those exclusively. It was invented by Brett Davis as well as his partner. So a lot of great information here. With the TPMS system and I'm not sure if you said this, but I had it on both the motorhome as well as the car. I'm assuming you could put it on the trailer and your truck right, correct?
Speaker 2:I'm assuming you could put it on the trailer and your truck, right, correct? So I have my tow vehicle, as it's sometimes called, or my truck has a factory TPMS system, but I've noticed they are not super responsive as the aftermarket tire miter TPMS system. So I actually have external sensors on my truck and on my trailer and everything's monitored through one screen that I have for the tire, my TPMS. It's just easier. I'd rather have everything on one screen than be fidgeting through different dash menus on my dash to see my truck tires and look somewhere else to see my trailer tire. Yeah, I think it's important especially when you're towing so much weight and you probably have most of your family with you too. When you're towing so much weight and you probably have most of your family with you too when you're going, there's a lot of important and heavy cargo that you're carrying and I think being able to monitor those tires as you're driving.
Speaker 2:So, for example, just about a month and a half ago we were on Interstate 78 through Allentown, which, if you've ever traveled that road, it's a disaster, and we had a slow leak on one of our truck tires because the valve stem started to fail, and I realized it long before the tire was flat. My TPMS screen started beeping at me. I pulled over. I realized it was leaking air, but I put a gauge on it and had enough to get off the exit, which wasn't far up the road, got off the exit, put my spare on and then we had the tire devoused and fixed when we got to the campsite.
Speaker 2:That could have been a really bad situation had I not known that the tire was leaking air. Eventually, at some point you have all that weight behind you, it could start to pull the truck one way or the other, and 78 is not fun to drive without a trailer. If you have a trailer on there and a lot of weight behind you, it's even more difficult. Yeah, I'm glad I have a CPMS and it's a day one upgrade I would recommend everyone to do.
Speaker 1:And we're spending a lot of time on tires and tire safety and things around the tire. As you said, so much rides on it. It is a major safety issue. So I appreciate all the great information and talking about driving on those roads. If you're going to Hershey and I know you'll be there, ross, at least on Tuesday, the Hershey RV Show it's America's largest RV show, which is in September. I hope anybody that's there on Tuesday that sees you. They should certainly come up, say hi, talk to you. People who won't be there can reach out to you on social media. We'll make sure we put all of your information on social media and your website. I had it right here in front of me rvtipsandtravelscom. We're not finished yet. I just want to make sure people know they can reach out. The other thing I want to mention here real quick that we are talking about I'm talking about Hershey.
Speaker 1:I don't know that you are, but the RV Life Hershey After Party. It is the third annual and I am so excited. But I have to warn my listeners. I just got the numbers. Those tickets are selling quickly. This event is September 12th, thursday, from 6 to 10. And it sold out last year with 60 people on the waiting list. 60, 6-0 people were on the waiting list, so if you want a ticket to this event, you have to sign up. In addition, this year there's also the RV Entrepreneur Workshop, which will take place from nine to four during the day, and it is just that it is a workshop for entrepreneurs that are part-time, full-time RVers. It doesn't matter so much great content, so many great speakers, that will just give great information. I can't say enough. Jim Nelson, kimberly, crossland Rose they are the hosts of the RV Entrepreneur and the information that they have to share is invaluable. So sign up for those events.
Speaker 1:Now I want to get to the question of the week, and I'm going to give this question to you, but this question is brought to you by Open Roads, innovative Toll Solutions, and this toll pass covers all 48 states. You buy it $24 a year and you use it across the country. You do not need to worry about going through a toll, like in Texas. I went through a toll and they do mail by plate, so they send it to you in the mail. I have a mail service, so by the time I got the letter that said I owed money for those tolls, it was past the 25 days. 25 days they give you not the full month, just 25 days, and so I spent a lot of extra money on fines. What's nice about OpenRoad's innovative toll solutions? If you should have an issue, get a fine or a violation, they have concierge service that will cover it and help you with that. Okay, so that's OpenRoads, and all of this will be in the show notes. Just check the show notes for all this information.
Speaker 2:But I want to ask you, ross, traveling across the country for as long as you have, I want to ask you, ross, traveling across the country for as long as you have, what is a bucket list item you would recommend for my listeners that you've either done already or you are looking forward to doing? Yeah, I haven't been all the way across the country yet, but I would like to. I'd like to get up to Washington state and travel across the country. Even if we do it just one time, I feel like it's something that we want to do. But here's what I think is important as far as a bucket list goes. I think people need to use your RV the way that you want to use it.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of people feel like there's a lot of content creation done by full-time RVers and full-time RVing. While it's great for a lot of people, it's great for a lot of people, it's not what a lot of people want to do. I know personally, I don't ever want to be a full-time RVer. We like our house, we like having a stationary home and a kind of a footprint where we are and where we've built our life. I think the important thing is for people, because I could say you can go to this campground and you can go to that campground, you can go see these sites or that site, and I will talk about one place that I think is really cool, that I think everybody should see. It's a really fun place to go, but I think it's important to understand that you don't have to be. You don't have to. If you don't ever catch that full-time bug, it's okay. We got the RVs so we could travel with our pets and go out and see things and all be together. I think it's important for people to realize do what you want to do. If you don't want to stay in your RV for a month at a time, then don't stay in the RV for a month at a time. That's the beauty of all this. You can take it where you want to go. Do things you want to do. If you don't want to boondock, you may see a thousand videos on boondocking, why it's great and you have these great views and nobody around to bother you. But if there's equipment involved to do that and if you want to park at a campground with power hookup and sewer hookup and water hookups, then so be it, because that's what we like. It's like a hotel room for us. So I think it's important that everybody understands that. Don't get sucked in by what's glorified online. Do your own thing, find what you like. Find what you don't like.
Speaker 2:Now, as far as going somewhere, one place we try to go every year we're going actually next month is a place called Watkins Glen, new York. There's a bunch of different campgrounds around the area. Watkins Glen is actually a small town, but there's a gorge there that you can hike. It's really beautiful. You're right on Seneca Lake, so there's a lot of wine tours that you can take around the lake. There's boating tours that you can take on the lake. It's a very small, quaint little town. Small little ice cream shop, small little restaurants.
Speaker 2:We stay at a KOA that's right outside of town, because we have a KOA membership and we like those campgrounds. But there's other campgrounds that you can stay at too, but it is a beautiful area. It's upstate New York. I don't think it's too far over the border of Pennsylvania, so it's not far for us. It's a couple hours. I think about three, four hours. If there was one thing that impressed me out of all the places we've stayed, it was Watkins Glen. There's so much to do, there's so much to see, such a nice little area. So that's what I would recommend, but we still have to get out west yet, so there's probably going to be a lot of things I see out there that I would recommend too.
Speaker 1:And just the way you described it. First of all, your point of do what works for you. I think that's one of the things. When I started RVing, that was the biggest problem was I felt like I had to do it all. I watched the videos, I heard the YouTubers, the content creators, and I thought, oh, I had to do it all and I finally decided I had to slow down and do what worked for us. So that's great advice.
Speaker 1:I'd love up in upstate Pennsylvania and then where Pennsylvania meets New York, those areas are beautiful and quiet areas. Which brings us to the featured campground of the week and it's brought to you by RV Life Campgrounds and this week's campground is in that upper Pennsylvania area in East Stroudsburg, pa. The campground's called Thousand Trails, timothy Lake South and it has 312 sites. They offer full hookups, pull-in sites and they are big rig friendly. They have many amenities, but it is a, for the most part, a very quiet and peaceful campground. It's more rustic. Anybody who knows the Pocono area of Pennsylvania. It's a quieter, more rustic area of Pennsylvania. I love it there. I love the peace and quiet. There are beautiful hikes in the area.
Speaker 1:The campground does have a solid eight-star rating on RV Life Campgrounds. It's got 63 reviews. By going to campgroundsrvlifecom, you can hit the book now button right from the site to book your stay. You could also look at more photos, tips, the full list of amenities for this property and many others. Rv Life Campgrounds is part of RV Life Pro and it is the most comprehensive source of RV parks, campgrounds, resorts, as well as city, state, national parks and so much more. Go to campgroundsrvlifecom and you can check all of this out. We have to wrap up. I'm sure, ross, there's so much more value you could share with my audience. Thank you so much for being with us and I want to encourage people to go to your YouTube channel, rv Tips and Travel, and check out all of your amazing content. Thank you for being on and sharing with my listeners.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, patty. It was a pleasure being on the podcast. I listen all the time and take care safe travels.
Speaker 1:You too, absolutely, and we will catch up in Hershey and I'm sure we'll have you back on for more great tips and tricks for travel. You have been listening to the RB Life Podcast. I'm Patti Hunt, wishing you a great rest of today and an even better day tomorrow.