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
The Truth About Thousand Trails: Membership Experiences Unveiled
Thousand Trials Membership is it worth it? Join me as I sit down with Warren and Sharon Lewis, a couple who has been on the road for 13 years and bought a Thousand Trails Membership when they saw how well it worked them they became Membership Specialist and have been assisting others camp for less for over 6 years.
Call or Text Warren & Sharon Lewis to get all the information you need so you can make a decision if the membership is right for you.
E37 July 12, 2023 is our second most listened to episode check it out...
Unveiling Thousand Trails:Deep Dive into RV Membership, Community, and Controversy
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rv-life-podcast/id1658188227?i=1000620880008
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I truly hope you listen to this podcast to see how you could afford to go camping. I'm Patti Hunt and you're listening to the RV Life Podcast. Over three years ago, I started RVing and the way the story goes, I was living in a house in Las Vegas with my husband. It was during COVID and everything was shut down. Our business was shut down, and so after about nine, 10 months of that, dan called me up to the office and said hey, let's sell everything, buy an RV and go RVing across the country. And my response was to laugh because I honestly thought he was kidding. After realizing this was no joke, I started to have conversation how would this work? What would we do? How would we make money? How would we be able to afford it? You know all the questions you think of when you're talking about a major life change, especially for me, because I had only been in an RV a total of seven nights at this point and I had been camping for two weekends. So RVing and camping were certainly not in my thinking process, but I'm grateful that over a three-month period of time, we talked about it, thought about it and I said what the heck, let's just do it Now.
Speaker 1:Today's expert guests have a very inspiring story and they will inspire you, I hope, to enjoy life. Today we're going to answer questions about RV travel and what it's like to travel full-time, working while RVing, and memberships Are they worth it? We are going to dive in a little bit to the Thousand Trails membership, because this is a question I have been asked on a regular basis Now. A year ago we did a podcast Because this is a question I have been asked on a regular basis Now. A year ago we did a podcast called Unveiling Thousand Trails a deep dive into RV membership, community and controversy. That was on July 12, 2023. And during that podcast we kind of did just that. We unveiled the mystery of going RVing and being able to afford it. Because that is my second most listened to podcast and because people are still asking questions, I decided today was a great day to sort of update you on how things have gone over the last year and if I still feel like membership is worth it Now. The RV Life podcast was created to educate, entertain and explore the RV lifestyle, with the mission to inspire you to live life to the fullest.
Speaker 1:Today's what you Need to Know is brought to you by Open Road Resorts and they have six amazing locations two in Montana, one in Idaho, one in Texas, one in Nebraska and their newest location, santa Fe, koa Journey in Santa Fe, new Mexico. It's a perfect campground to slow down, read a book, sit by the fire and just relax. There's also so much to do in the Santa Fe area. You can go to openroadresortscom to find out all about their location. Now what you need to know?
Speaker 1:Most of the country is seeing signs of fall and it is a unique time to camp. What can you do during the fall? Leaf peeping, enjoy the beautiful colors of the leaves, go for a hike Enjoying the colder temperatures, cook open a campfire, roast those marshmallows. And one of my favorite things is having somebody play guitar and sing around the campfire. Now, I have no talent in that regard. I don't sing, but I'd love to hear other people singing. If you do have talent, you can actually win $5,000 on RV TV with their RVers top talent. They are doing a talent, you have a talent, you submit it to them and you have the opportunity to win $5,000. And what you need to know is brought to you by Open Road Resorts. But I am so excited to get to my guests and my friends.
Speaker 1:I have known Warren and Sharon for probably close to three years now, and from the time we first met it was an instant connection. Warren and Sharon Lewis have been full-time RVers for over 13 years. Prior to hitting the road, sharon worked in the medical field and Warren owned a successful landscaping business. They decided to sell it all and hit the road. Once on the road, they became Thousand Trails members and seven years later they became membership specialists. Sharon and Warren, welcome to the RV Life Podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:You are welcome, and so, as I always love to start my podcast, start with my guest. I want to hear the story Go back 13 years ago and talk about whose idea it was to go RVing. How'd that story start to go RVing? How'd that story start Well?
Speaker 3:Warren had camped before. I had never camped. And so Warren said what do you think about camping on the weekends? And so I said, okay, I'll try it. And so we bought a pop-up. We had it one weekend. Weekend we went through a tornado yeah, and the next monday we sold it.
Speaker 3:Well then, we and I, but I enjoyed it and had a great time. So then we bought a pull behind yep 28 foot, and so then we um got that, and then we started camping with Thousand Trails and it was close by our home and we absolutely, absolutely loved it.
Speaker 2:So, Warren, tell us a little bit of the backstory of your camping experience well, when I was in school, me and my buddies, you know, we would get a tent and go back into woods and you know, do all the good stuff like that. And then, um, I guess, when I was 25, maybe 30, um, I bought me a camper and I just I loved it. I, I love being free, you know.
Speaker 1:It is absolutely a freedom. I think that you can't even explain to people, right? So, yeah, so going out, okay. So then you met Sharon. She's never camped and you decide that let me get her introduced into this, and the first experience is a tornado.
Speaker 2:The tornado came through. Well, we were in Virginia Beach and I thought to myself, right then I said, well, there goes this dream. But no, she really had a good time. We had a good time because we were together, right. And so, yeah, we sold the pop-up and I said, well, I know a friend that's got a 28 foot and it's a little bit bigger, so it won't rocket bad if we do have to go through another tornado. And then so she said, yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 3:so, yeah, I was happy I was sold by the uh. It was all enclosed because during the tornado our sides were going up and down, up and down, flapping in the wind and I was like we're not making this well you saw your life sort of pass before your eyes. Yes.
Speaker 1:Wow, not good. And you decided to do this again, to continue with it. Okay, I don't know that. I want to go through a tornado for sure. So at what point now, you had a business, sharon, in the medical field, and Warren, you had your own business as well. You know landscaping business. At what point did you decide let's do this full time now, let's stop the weekend stuff.
Speaker 3:So we were camping in Virginia Thousand Trails, Chesapeake and we were doing that on the weekends only, so we were weekend warriors pretty much. And then we decided we really like this, let's start going to Florida, because we could leave our businesses and I had people that could still work and he took off in the winter, let's be snowbirds. So then we decided to upgrade our camper to a fifth wheel. So we did that and then for let's see, I think four years we went to Florida as snowbirds and we absolutely loved it. So that was kind of like an introduction, like we got to do this. We've got to go full time Shifting. Another year later, Um, shifting, another year later, um, we had unexpected life change. Um, Warren had to have emergency surgery on his lung. Um, he was out for like seven days. It was life completely life-changing to us. So we decided that after that time we didn't want to live the rat race no more.
Speaker 3:We were like. You know, this is not what we want to do. Life's too short. We wanted a community and we just wanted to enjoy each other and and and take the moments that we had. When you have a life changing experience like that, it'll make you appreciate life every day, and so so we decided okay. So when we were in Florida on in the winter, we met our boss and we decided to go full-time and run the East Coast and love every minute and love every minute of it.
Speaker 2:And love every minute of it.
Speaker 1:Wow. And it's so cool when I ask people their story Because, like my story, life-changing event that made me say, when I say life-changing event for me, it was near-death experience with Dan that made me say life's too short. And, as I said, my mission is to inspire people to live life to the fullest. And I hope, with stories like yours, that people will pay attention, not wait for that life changing event, that life altering event, till you know, for them to say, hey, I need to live life to the fullest. That is my hope with the podcast and I hear stories like yours often and they're touching and, again, I hope they inspire people. Now, when you first started out, at what point did you buy that Thousand Trails membership? When did you jump into that? I know you've talked about it in the campgrounds you went to were Thousand Trails campgrounds.
Speaker 3:So we bought it in Chesapeake. We just started out with a camp pass. Where's that? Chesapeake is what state? Chesapeake Bay? In Virginia, in Gloucester?
Speaker 1:Virginia, that's where you launched from right. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And so we started out with that um, then we knew we wanted to winter, you know, in florida, like the snowbirds, and so then we decided we'd go to um their upgrade membership, which is the elite basic. So we did that and we used that for a couple of years, yeah, and then we were liking it so much we decided, ok, let's upgrade again because it gave us more benefits, right, right. And so so we did that, and and we've never looked back when it comes to to that- and let me just explain for my listeners who may not be aware.
Speaker 1:I also started with the Camping Pass and I'll explain how that all came about. The Camping Pass is and again I'm not necessarily going into the details, you're not going to go into the details of Thousand Trails membership. I always recommend people talking to membership specialists to get the best information. But just to give people an idea, the camping pass I bought it when I was in Oregon. That covered the northwestern area, covers a certain area it gave me two weeks in a park for and I didn't pay anything except for the membership. And then months later I also upgraded, which I'll get into that story. And then the upgrade membership obviously gives people more, you know, more days, more time in the parks, those kinds of things. And you know, while we're not going to take a deep dive into the actual membership, I recommend again, cannot recommend enough talking to a membership specialist, and we'll get into that. So you bought your membership, you were camping in your area, you were going camping for up to two weeks at a time, you weren't paying anything and as you decided to travel back and forth, be a snowbird, you decided the upgraded membership works and it's been well over 13 years that you've had this membership, so it's working and I want to dive into that.
Speaker 1:But let me go back and tell my story of how I got into the Thousand Trails membership Because, again, we did an episode. Over a year ago, dan and I did an episode. It is the second most listened to podcast episode and people lately have been asking more and more about Thousand Trails. You know, is it worth it? There is a lot of controversy around the membership. Just being honest, there is controversy and I just, you know, felt it a good thing at this time of the year to come back on and you know what's happened over the last year plus and how well has it worked.
Speaker 1:So my story after Dan and I got on the road, given we spent three whole months, you know figuring things out well, three months probably not enough. What I quickly realized was we needed to stay the night, every night, and finding campgrounds, which I thought I could find campgrounds for $20 or $30 a night. That just didn't happen. For $20 or $30 a night, that just didn't happen. So we had spent our first night in a state park and it was $10 a night Great, $300 for the month. But I got spoiled because once we left that state park campgrounds were adding up and getting expensive.
Speaker 1:So that second and third month I honestly was worried that we were not going to be able to afford this lifestyle. I thought we'll have to park the RV somewhere. Even if we parked it somewhere, wasn't sure how I was going to afford it and to be with them and the grandkids. And we're going to go out and explore and do things in the area. And the fires from California were so bad in the area that we couldn't go out.
Speaker 1:So Dan said let's go to the beach. The Oregon coast has beautiful beaches, the Pacific Ocean, which I had never really been to. Honestly, I lived on the East Coast so I'd never really been there. And so he said let's call membership specialists that we heard about and find out Now. Unfortunately, I had heard all the negative about Thousand Trails. So my thought was no way, this is going to be a timeshare. I'm going to get stuck with this. He's on the phone talking to the membership specialist and I'm thinking to myself if we sign up and it's as bad as people say, then I could reverse the charges on my bank account, like literally. That is what I was thinking. This is how the story literally went.
Speaker 1:So it is a Saturday, we signed up for the camping pass. We called Whaler's Rest, which is a beautiful campground on the Oregon coast, and we said we want to come in for five days. The next day, sunday, no problem, got five days, went to the campground Absolutely beautiful, had an amazing time. We wanted to stay longer. They let us stay for seven days. Well, now I'm calculating and the money's already paying for itself, the money we had spent. It's already working and I was floored. So let's try it again. Back in Oregon, there's campground not far from my son's house and again we got two weeks there. Well, now again, I'm adding up the money that's being saved. So for us it truly, truly worked.
Speaker 1:Now getting back to you guys how many states now? Do you know? How many states you've been to? How much have you crossed the country? No, not yet yet. Okay, so then you guys spend time going from the northeast Coast. We don't know what yurts are, and Circle M has some of the only yurts on the East Coast. I had heard about it on the West Coast. So there are other options for staying, but we saw you in Circle M and that's where you guys are for the whole summer, right, yeah?
Speaker 3:that is correct. Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:So you hang out for the whole summer Circle M or A Campground in the Northeast where it's a little cooler than Florida, and so tell people where you're going in the next week or so. Where are you headed?
Speaker 3:We are headed to the Florida Keys and we are so excited We've been there. This will be our third year. We absolutely love it. It's Sunshine Key in Big Pine.
Speaker 1:So I've not been in the Keys. I was supposed to go there last winter. I will go there this winter, absolutely coming to see you. Tell the listeners. I'd like to try and paint a picture. Obviously this is just audio for our listeners, because some of the listeners are full-time, some are part-time, some are some time, and then I have listeners that are thinking about getting on the road. So the Keys are one of those places that are just different than anywhere else. So can you kind of describe the? You know, describe the Keys. Give us that picture so people can live vicariously through you.
Speaker 3:So I think, once you leave Homestead it goes down to a two-lane highway and then all of a sudden water becomes beautiful water on both sides, left and right. And you're going down and so, as you do, can hit key largo, which is a little believe it or not just a little island, and it's got, you know, stores and stuff. But then you keep going and then you see the water again, and so you go through a number of keys, seeing the turquoise, the blue, the clear water. That is just unbelievable. It's you can only see this in like the Caribbean. So you feel like you truly are on a different island, you're like separated from Florida completely.
Speaker 3:So then you just keep going through the Keys, you're crossing bridges, you're crossing, you know, like I said, different islands, and then you get into the seven mile bridge, which is seven miles over the water. There again, beautiful turquoise, blue, different shades of blue, um, you see dolphins. I mean it's just absolutely amazing. You pull into the park. The park, on all sides has water around it. There's boating and fishing and paddle boarding and kayaking and any kind of water sports you can think of. There, it's just it's absolutely just like a journey.
Speaker 1:Like you see in pictures. It sounds like it, and people I recommend people go check out the pictures and and tell me the name of the campground that you guys will be in for six months Sunshine Key. Sunshine Key I highly recommend. I was looking at the pictures. My idea being down there is sitting on a lounge chair with a drink and getting sun, and that especially when it's cold.
Speaker 1:I'm in Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia, and it is already starting to get chilly. So you know, beginning January it's going to be cold. I'm going to be tired of the cold, cold. It will be time to come down, pack nothing but my bathing suit and sit on the chair for a week or two. Sounds amazing. So that is one of the thousand trails, premier parks, right, they're definitely of the most coveted parks in the system. And so, and let's talk a little bit before we go back to that, circle M, which is a very different park. It is in the Lancaster, pennsylvania area and it's there's nature all around. Let's talk a little bit about that park, because Circle M has been one of my favorite parks well, this is the first year we've been at Circle M.
Speaker 3:We absolutely love the area. We're beach people so I wasn't so sure about bringing us in. You know inland per se and so um, but we knew we were going to love the Amish area with all the cool Amish markets and all the homemade jams and breads and just all the good stuff. You know there's so much to do around here.
Speaker 3:Beautiful landscaping yeah this landscaping is unbelievable, but I mean you can, there's just just so much. There's plays and sight and sounds and then just historics. You know we've got the battlefield not too far from here, um gettysburg. I mean there's so much to do that we actually had a list and we literally did not get not to all of it.
Speaker 2:We didn't get to all of it, but I did get to see all of it, but I did get to see the Sound of Music, a play. That's my favorite movie.
Speaker 3:He did, he did. So it's just a beautiful area, it's country. I mean, honestly, we had fresh vegetables, we had fresh meat all the time. I mean this is the ideal place. I mean I never knew that we would fall in love with Lancaster so much.
Speaker 1:And what's nice is a couple of things. What's nice about Circle M? I loved it there. I've spent a lot of time there. We would pull the RV and we have a 40-foot Monaco diplomat, so we'd pull the RV. So the side of it faced the river that runs around the whole park and so you could get in. This was my favorite is being able to take the tubes, get in the river and it was like a lazy river and, depending on where you got in, you could be floating around for an hour or two and that was just my favorite. Walking out of the RV with my cappuccino in the morning watching the water was just that. That was one of my favorite. I like the beach. The river is wonderful. It just depends. Now, you guys used to be in New Jersey near Sea Isle, right? What was that? Campground, sea Pines? Oh, I did get it right.
Speaker 3:There's so many parks. We absolutely love that park. I mean we were seven minutes from the beach. I mean we could go to Avalon, we could go to Sea Isle City, we could go to just a number of beaches that are all right there, cool area. So that's why we were wondering if we could adjust. To come to PA Park was great, have splash pad pool, great activities there for kids. And same thing with Circle M. We absolutely love the park. It's got an indoor pool, an outdoor pool, a really cool closed in not closed in, but covered putt-putt golf. It's got the river, which everybody loves. Activities are really great here also. So it's just a really what we found being on the road and in all these parks is it's that community you get, that people are all looking for. Especially when you're full time you're meeting people like oh, I seen you at.
Speaker 2:Sea.
Speaker 3:Pines or you know like, oh, what are you doing here? And then you just hang out with them and I think that's the best part. It's our road family that we absolutely love.
Speaker 1:And we're going to talk more about community and road family. I have to take a brief break. We're talking lots about water, and Clear 2.0 is a water filtration company that I've been with for over two years. I've tried their products, I've tested them, I've compared them to other products and I love the people that run this company and what they do.
Speaker 1:Some people, unfortunately, are getting ready to store their RV for this season, and before you store your RV, there's one critical step you don't want to miss, and that is sanitizing your freshwater tank. Whether you've been venturing across the country or enjoying weekends at the campsite, your freshwater system can accumulate bacteria, sediment, contaminants over time, and that's why Clear 2.0 TankFresh water tank and system flush is so important. It is designed to sanitize your RV's entire system, the water system, ensuring that you start your next trip with clean, safe water. And for our listeners, clear 2.0 is offering a 15% discount by using RV Life Podcast at checkout, and you can find out all about it by going to clear2ocom. And so let's talk about community, because that is one of the greatest, most important, best parts of this RV lifestyle. And again, whether it's a weekend warrior, you know whatever, full-time, it doesn't matter. Community is the big thing. So let's talk a little bit about that, because I think that you see a lot of community within the Thousand Trail system. You know meeting people at different places.
Speaker 3:I think it all started back at Chesapeake, where we do campfires or go to people's campfires, so then other people would come and you just built relationships. I can remember when we first started out, the first few years, we had this network of friends that we would all bring food and we'd have one like a screen tent, that we'd all go in at night and we'd all eat everybody's food and we'd sit around the fire and just laugh and have a good time, and so it's just priceless to us. Over the years we've done the same thing. We've had Friendsgiving. So at Thanksgiving time, when a lot of people are away from their family and you know close family and stuff, we do a Friendsgiving where everybody brings stuff together and we're, you know, having Thanksgiving with them and I absolutely love that. I look forward to it.
Speaker 3:It's great for kids. They have like homeschooling, that the kids can get together, they play together. We've seen so many kids just go oh my goodness, you know Sarah's here and they go running and they're so excited, they hug each other and that just brings joy to both of us. He loves to see the kids play and laugh and we. It just does your heart good, you know it. It. It feel fills that for us not being around family. We have several families that their kids call us grandma Sharon and grandpa war. Yeah, and so um, and we love that, you know um, we just love um having that community when you see them learning how to ride a bike.
Speaker 2:Right, you know, you got your training wheels on there and the little girl, little boy, is going down, you know, beside your camper and mom or dad right running, oh, I just get goosebumps, I love it, I love it. Then, two or three days later, here you see them, they're gone.
Speaker 3:No more training wheels and I think that you know, like in the flor, Florida Keys, there's a lot of us that get up and see the sunrise and paddle boarding together. I mean like, and it's just a group. I mean people know that it's going to happen and so you get to meet new people.
Speaker 3:They are even everybody's welcome, yeah, and sunset's the same thing. So I think every, every place we go, we have the joy of meeting new people and building relationships, and as people are leaving here to head to Florida, they're like see you around, it's not goodbye, and I love that.
Speaker 1:That is my favorite part of RVing and again, when I started out I didn't know what I didn't know. I didn't know what to expect. I thought, and people who had never been RVing would say, isn't it going to be lonely? What about friends? And I wondered about that. But the community aspect of it, the community that I have formed, the friendships that I have made, I just did not expect. It's just amazing Seeing the kids outside playing.
Speaker 1:I actually just did a podcast episode with Nicole from Full-Time Families for my listeners who aren't aware. That is a group of full-time people with kids and they get together and they plan events and they do education together. There's so much there and Nicole provided so much great information on educating your kids on the road. So many good tips. I highly recommend checking out that podcast and reaching out to her. That is an amazing part of the whole RV experience and again, for me, having been mostly in Thousand Trails parks, but I've also been in state parks and private parks there is a difference in the feel because it's like you said, kids will say I met a woman in Las Vegas, her and her three kids, and then, you know, months later in a state halfway across the country. We had to look at each other and figure out I know I know you, where do I know you from? And that happens all the time. I've met people back here on the East Coast because I spent a lot of time on the West Coast and that's where I had met them and I think the Thousand Trails community is different in that way. Most of my I again. I've been across the country three times. I've stayed in probably 40,000 trails parks and that includes encore parks and things like that parks and that includes encore parks and things like that. And it's amazing to see that you do meet up with people. It's amazing the community and the feel that you have when you are traveling within the community.
Speaker 1:Now, as a lot of people know, I am selling the RV. I'm going to continue traveling. I am not leaving the RV community. I am so happy to be able to still be part of the community and one of the things is going to cabins. So when I come see you at the Keys I'll be in a cabin. I stayed in a yurt when I came to see you in Circle M.
Speaker 1:So for any of my listeners that don't have an RV or haven't gotten one yet and want to check out what we're talking about. When it comes to community, there's a cabin pass and again, I'm going to tell people that cabin pass has everything that it includes. Talk to a membership specialist to find out all about it, to see if it's right for you. I do want to talk about well, I'm going to take a quick break again before we talk about the controversy that we sometimes hear around Thousand Trust Memberships. I've got to bring that up, but before we do, as we talk about traveling across the country and all of them, I don't even know how many miles we put on our RV. I wasn't keeping track of it. I have to look at that.
Speaker 1:But the next biggest expense after your camping, I believe the next biggest expense is your fuel cost. Well, maybe RV repairs are up there, I guess. So fuel costs. We had a diesel 125-gallon tank did not get great gas mileage. People lie about the gas mileage they get. I think we were lucky to get nine miles to the gallon. So fuel starts to add up. It's a big cost and we found, before we ever started out, open Roads fuel card and this fuel card has saved us so much money over the three plus years that we have been using it. You could go to myopenroadscom the card is absolutely free to sign up for and then you have an app where you just look at what the gas prices are, what gas station you want to stop at, and every time you fuel up, you literally save money every time. So I highly recommend OpenRoads Fuel Card.
Speaker 1:But you know again, I want to talk about some of the controversy, and I don't know how much you can even share on this. Honestly, there is a lot of info. Let's talk about it this way when it comes to RVing, when it comes to selling everything and jumping in an RV and living life on the road, when it comes to working for a company any of these things buying a membership there's always mixed. You know comments about it, right? So how do we navigate that? When you first decided to buy your membership let's go back to that time in the beginning. It was over 13 years ago, right? What made you decide that Thousand thousand trails was the membership for you?
Speaker 3:I think, going to um virginia beach. We would go to koa and you know, we would stay three to four days at a time, which even back then was like 70 or 80, I think, 70.75 dollars maybe a night, and when we would stay three or four days it would add up right. And then, when we were doing it every couple weeks, it just slowly started adding up. Somebody told us about a campground I think a buddy of his told him about Chesapeake, and so we decided that let's just camp there. So we did camp there, as a retail person prior to getting our membership Fell in love with it. It sits on the Chesapeake Bay and we just decided, okay. Somebody said well, you know you can pay, but would you rather just get a membership here? And so that's how we started out with that.
Speaker 1:And that is, I think, how a lot of people start out Again. When we started out, we started with the camping pass and then we upgraded, so we do have the elite connections. That worked for us. We were talking about upgrading again and, as people know, dan is now ill and in long-term care, so things have changed. But we would have upgraded to that what's called an adventure pass and that's just what worked, what we felt was going to work for us. And I did all the calculating and adding up.
Speaker 1:My biggest regret with Thousand Trails drum roll. This is my biggest regret. We did not buy it sooner and we did not upgrade sooner. When I looked at the money we spent on campgrounds and literally the money wasted, I sort of started kicking myself. I mean, it was definitely a regret because I was so worried again about what I had heard, even though I was using the membership. You get things in your head and that's why I think that that is why I wanted to do this episode. That's why we did the last episode. It may be why it is the second most listened to episode, so I just wanted to clear that up. That is the only thing I regret. Now let's talk about some of the parks, because there are some good parks and I've been to a couple that just wasn't right for me. What are obviously the keys are of a favorite for you? What are some of your other favorite parks?
Speaker 3:I would definitely say Circle M, yeah, sea Pines, sea Pines.
Speaker 2:Williamsburg.
Speaker 3:Williamsburg, chesapeake, I mean, now are they a few, and this is what we've talked about with each other. Okay, from a scale one to ten, there's going to be parks that probably are two or three and there's going to be parks that are a ten. So okay, so let's take that. And there's one particular park that is just basically a stop over going to Florida. We like the park, don't get me wrong. We like the park because of location and that's what we look at. We look at location so we can go to Savannah, we can go to Charleston, we can go to Hilton Head. It's a great location. We're not staying in a park. We're not, you know, doing so for us. We look at it. Ok, so it probably wasn't that 10 part, but what did we pay for it? And we're going to go nothing.
Speaker 2:And then plus, in this certain part I say, 15, 20 minutes down the road is a camping world. So if we need supplies or if we need something worked on, boom you know, we're right there, everything works perfect.
Speaker 3:And the staff is great there. They have great activities, I mean. So it's not a bad park at all, but it's probably not in our upper five of that. You know what I'm saying. I mean so it gets a bad rap, but we like it.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Well, and here's what I want to kind of. This is a pet peeve of mine. I guess I would say I don't have a lot of pet peeves, but maybe I do. One of the things that is bothers me when somebody says I don't like that park or I don't like this. When somebody asks me what's your favorite park, so let me talk about it that way. When somebody says what's your favorite park?
Speaker 1:I've been back and forth across the country, like I said, three times. I've stayed in probably 40,000 trails, parks, and I'll say I don't have a favorite. And here's why. It's not that I'm trying to hold back. Different parks have purpose for me for different reasons. Yes, I'm just going to talk about the park in Las Vegas, the Thousand Trails Las Vegas Park. People will complain about that park. They say it's like a parking lot and I have stayed there more days than I could count. I probably stayed there a total of 60, 90 days. We launched from Las Vegas. We would come back because we had family, we had friends there and we would come back there.
Speaker 1:Often when I go to Las Vegas and I park my RV, the sites are rather tight. It's a small park, but I am there to explore everything that's in the area. There is so much to do there. That is not a park that I say let me go to that park and sit by my RV and watch the sunset. It's not that. But being in Las Vegas isn't that either.
Speaker 1:I actually, today, as we're recording this, have a friend coming from Las Vegas. It is right now October. The fall leaves are amazing. We're going to go on a three-hour ride up into the Poconos, beyond the Poconos, and see the fall leaves. She has never seen them before in real life. So we are here now. We are going to go to a lake house, we're going to sit by the lake, we're going to enjoy nature. That's not like, if that's what I need right now, I'm not going to the park in Las Vegas, and this is something that I think when you see, you know, online, on social media, people arguing about a park, whether it's good or not, and people asking me what's your favorite park, what's your least favorite and why it really depends on what I'm looking for.
Speaker 1:I would go back out to Las Vegas in a heartbeat because I want to be around my friends. I want to see there's Mount Charleston, there's Red Rock Canyon, there's, there's, you know, mead Lake, mead. There's so much there to do. There's so much history too. There's so much history.
Speaker 1:I love the area but again, I'm not going there to sit by the river like I am in Circle M. I love Crystal Isle, which is in Crystal River, florida. Beautiful area. I do know they got hit by the hurricane so we'll have to see how that works out for them, but that was one of my favorite parks when I wanted to be in nature by the water. I took a boat out and we saw dolphins and we just cruised out on a boat for three hours. We saw the manatees. It was amazing.
Speaker 1:So different parks for different reasons is the point. People. I think I know the park you're talking about that people aren't as fond of. I loved it there. I'd love being able to pull into that park. So I'm going to say it may not be the park, but the Oaks at Point South is a park that people aren't as fond of. I got there with very low expectations. I loved it there.
Speaker 1:It was convenient when we were traveling from the North down to Florida. It was convenient when we were traveling from the north down to Florida. It was convenient. It's right off of 95. There's everything you need in the area.
Speaker 1:We explored Savannah, we went to Hilton Head, we were going to go to Charleston, but for me it was a quiet small park where I could just unwind and relax. There's not, you know there are activities, but I could be quiet in my space and justwind and relax. There's not, you know there are activities, but I could be quiet in my space and just chill and relax. And again, the convenience of it. I really liked it for that purpose. So I guess what you know, the whole idea is for people to make their own decisions. What do you like? What are you going to a park for? And you get to pick and choose. That's the whole thing like decide what works for you. Now, are there some parks that you're looking, places you're looking to go to in the? I know you spent a lot of time between being up here in the Northeast and Florida. Do you have places that you need to get to?
Speaker 3:um, so you mean in the future, or like yeah, we want to go definitely go to the west coast. We want to go to the oregon coast, like you were talking about. We want to go see the redwoods. Um, we'd love to go to new mexico, um, so there's a lot of um areas over there that we do want to um to seek out yeah explore.
Speaker 3:But that'll come. That'll come in a few years, we know that. So but for right now we're happy on the East coast. I think maybe coming back or going back to Florida next year we're going to try to do the Tennessee Alabama route, just to kind of check out that. Tennessee's one of those ones that you were like you were talking about. We've heard good. We've never been to any of our Tennessee parks, but we've heard good and we've heard bad.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And it's amazing, this one particular park. Some people are like, no, you're wrong, it's beautiful, it's, you know that. And then you got other people that are like I don't.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so you know it's funny to hear people's opinions but, like you said, it's what meets their needs. And that's what I think people need to look at is what meets your need. You know we're excited about going to Hinton Cove. There's waterfalls there. I don't know if you've been there, patty, I have not, so you know waterfalls.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have not. So, yeah, so we're, we're excited, you know to look into, you know what comes next. So this all the time, having talked to people within the Thousand Trails business higher up, which is I've had the opportunity to do that and I've seen parks that have been improved and again, people want to sometimes see the negative. I don't want to go down that rabbit hole. In Florida, terrasia two years ago or a year and a half ago, whenever it was Dan was down there, I was back east with my mom and Terrasia was one of those parks that just didn't have it, just wasn't a top park. Well, they have since redone, added, built on. That park looks almost brand new. Now Thousand Trails also added Blue Mesa in Colorado. I really want to go there. Heard a lot about it. The people that have been there say it's like a postcard every day. You walk out of your RV and you're like in a postcard every day. I definitely want to go there and recently Thousand Trails just built a campground from the ground up. Now you guys haven't had the opportunity to go to Tranquility Lakes Not yet, not yet. Yes, I had the opportunity to go there and spend three days there. It's Tranquility Lakes RV Resort and it is in Cape Coral and I flew down there last month to actually do a podcast episode and be part of video that they were doing. They've done it right.
Speaker 1:This park is amazing, but for somebody who says, hey, I want to be in the middle of the woods, I want to be in nature, I don't want to be near water, it's not the park for you. It is got I can't remember something around 400 sites, I want to say the sites are totally surrounding the 90-acre lake. Literally all of the sites are surrounding this 90-acre lake and if you are one or two rows back, you can still see the lake. I spent I was there, quote unquote working, but I can't tell you how much time I spent watching the sunset. That's my favorite is watching sunsets, absolutely beautiful. So again, thousand Trails not perfect, they are making improvements. Just talking about some of the improvements that I'm aware of, um, and you know I'm going to say it is definitely, it's worked for you guys, right, you right. Any regrets on this membership?
Speaker 3:no oh, absolutely no, absolutely not.
Speaker 1:We absolutely love thousand trails and now you guys, if we can, whatever we could talk about here you go from the north to the south for six months at a time and you work in the parks. How's that? What's that been like?
Speaker 3:we absolutely love it. I mean, you know, meeting staff, meeting, you know new people Every day, every day, and it's great because we go from an Encore Park to a Thousand Trails Park, so it's different clientele, different people. We're people, we're people, people and we love that and so we love meeting new people. We've both said we had high pressure jobs when we were, when we had our brick and mortar, and we said when we stopped having fun that we wouldn't do this no more. Well, we're still having fun. So you know, and it's just just meeting people. You know, I think that's the big thing with us is meeting different people and working with staff and stuff.
Speaker 1:And certainly I mean there's always a smile on your faces, there's always that warm, warm greeting like a long lost family member every time we get together. I feel like there hasn't been time that we've been apart, because we still stay in touch and communicate and you guys just look incredibly happy. And that was that's the goal. You know, for me as well as for you, is again living life fully. You, you, you have stuff that happens and you say, hey, it's time to make sure we're fully living life.
Speaker 3:That's right, that's exactly right. The great part about another thing is I didn't share this well ago, but you know, we meet people, then we follow them, so we get to see, even if they're over on the West Coast, we get to. We're on the East Coast, they're on the West Coast, different time zone, everything but we get to still be a part of their lives, right. So when they come back, we're like, oh, my goodness, I seen the Trinidad pics and you went there and it's just, it's a great feeling, you know.
Speaker 3:I mean, for us, we're excited for people to get to go places and see new things and I can vicariously live through them because I haven't been on the West Coast yet, right. So, and just cool things that I'm writing down, that places I want to go on the West Coast, that they're exploring.
Speaker 1:So I just wanted to share that tidbit and it's great that you shared that, because just this week I was stalking somebody on Facebook. That's what I call it. You know, watching what they're doing it's a good thing, it's not a bad thing. But you know, and I said to them thank you so much for showing me things I've never seen. I'm living vicariously through you guys and it's exactly what I said. That's funny that you said that, because even with the places that I've seen, or you know, the places within the country that I thought I wanted to see, I keep adding and adding and adding more stuff to my list to see, I keep adding and adding and adding more stuff to my list.
Speaker 1:You know, I didn't realize how amazing this country is. So I mean, I lived in Pennsylvania, in the Philadelphia area, just about all of my life. Lancaster was an hour and a half away, so we'd go to Lancaster, we'd go to a buffet, because they're big onets. We'd do a little bit of sightseeing, being there and being in an RV and immersing myself in the area, the things that were around me, taking the time to really smell the roses. There's so much in the area that I never saw until just this last three years that I never realized how amazing and how much there is to see, and I think that's the beauty of RVing, whether it's full-time, part-time sometime, I just think that's the beauty of it For me and it sounds like for you guys.
Speaker 1:Having the Thousand Trails membership has made it possible for me to live full-time, has made it possible for me to live full time. I'm probably well under $10 a night for camping over the last three years that I've had the membership, so you just can't beat that. I just have to put that out there. Not trying to sell anything here. People need to do what feels right for them. I just like to be able to share what's worked, and it's worked for you guys as well.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. We've saved lots of money over and over again, especially since we've been in it for so long, so we would have never been able to continually, year after year, go to Florida and stay three or or four months, and then obviously just traveling up and down the east coast.
Speaker 1:you know it, and we're paying nothing, which is the best thing it's a zero for campgrounds, yes, yeah, so I want to talk a little bit more about. I have some questions for you. We have some more to talk about how. How can people reach out to you? You do have social media presence, right?
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely so. We're the Happy RV Couple on Instagram and Facebook.
Speaker 1:I'm writing that down and I will put it in the show notes for people. They can reach out and ask you questions. Absolutely, the show notes for people. They can reach out and ask you questions. You guys are transparent and willing to share the good, the bad, whatever. Absolutely. So anybody can ask you any questions by reaching out to you and you guys answer all of your messages. I know you do that personally, yes, which is, you know, a tough feat. Okay, so we've been talking about camping RV memberships, inspiration.
Speaker 1:Some people right now are a little sad thinking about putting their RV in storage. Nirvc, national Indoor RV Centers, has a solution for those of us who have motorhomes, so Class A, b and C. They will do storage for you. They have concierge service and they do storage right. It is in a environment, it's inside, so they keep it indoors. You don't need to winterize. They will take care of any maintenance, anything your RV needs, and when you are ready, if you say, hey, I want to go out on a trip for a week, they will have it ready for you. I highly recommend National Indoor RV Centers. They have six locations across the country. Five of those locations offer storage. Check them out at NIRVCcom.
Speaker 1:It's now time for the question of the week, and it is brought to you by OpenRoads Innovative Toll Solutions. You and I talked about this when I was there, because I am so excited about this toll pass. The toll pass covers all 48 states. Those of us that travel between, like you guys, the Northeast and Florida, we either have our E-ZPass or we have to get a SunPass for Florida. One of those passes started covering more of an area. I can't keep track. It is a tough one. So when Innovative Toll Solutions came around and I was told they cover all 48 states for $24 a year, I knew this was a no-brainer. I've been using it for the last eight months and it has worked seamlessly. You can check out Innovative Toll Solutions by going to myopenroadscom. All the information is there.
Speaker 1:Okay, the question is for you. All the information is there. Okay, the question is for you what is on your bucket list that you would recommend to my listeners? What's the next big thing that you guys want to do experience? So, listeners they are now looking at each other because I always put people on the spot and I'm talking now to give them a minute to think about this. Talk amongst yourselves. This is a big one, especially for people who've been on the road. I'm sure your bucket list is a mile long, and when you take stuff off, you're probably like me and you add more on, and so I love doing this every week. My guests do not know, I'm going to ask it, and so this is like Jeopardy. We can play Jeopardy music while I'm waiting for them to come up with an answer.
Speaker 3:I think our bucket list this year so let me share this year was Niagara Falls, because Warren had never been to Niagara Falls and we got to spend several days there and we went over into Canada. So it definitely did not disappoint Warren at all and me even being probably eight years, 10 years since well, actually longer than that, probably about 15 years since I had been there definitely was not a disappoint for me either. Absolutely gorgeous. So saying that that we got that fulfilled, I think our next bucket list is Utah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Utah is absolutely. I'm just amazed by Utah and the beauty of outside and just all kinds of stuff, so I've been taking pictures and watching people that are in Utah. So I think that's our next bucket list is Utah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, do you have something else? Warren, did you want to add something? No, that, and Maine yes, and.
Speaker 2:Maine, yeah, because I'm a big, I love Christmas and I know they have a place up there. It's I don't know like Hallmark On, and I know they have a place up there. It's I don't know like Hallmark on the Hallmark movies. So, yeah, yeah, I want to go there too. So you want to?
Speaker 1:go to Maine and live the Hallmark movie that sounds amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right Sounds amazing. I love when people share and I always then afterwards add things to my bucket list. This summer we were supposed to go to Maine. Not the Hallmark movie. My idea was to sit by the water and eat lobster. That's my dream. Maine certainly sounds like the place to do it. Thank you for sharing and I'd say I'm sorry for putting you on the spot, but I'm not sharing. And I'd say I'm sorry for putting you on the spot, but I'm not. Thank you for coming up with those ideas. It's now time for the featured campground of the week and it's brought to you by RV Life. This week's campground is Grays Point Camp. This is a thousand trails campground and has 774 sites. Have you guys ever been there? Are you familiar? And has 774 sites have you guys ever been there?
Speaker 1:Are you familiar? Yes, okay, so I'll have you add in. There's water all around the corners of this campground. I have not had the opportunity to be there. They do a full hookups, pull-in sites, the dog park and rentals. The views, I hear, are spectacular. Can you add something? First of all, where is it? I?
Speaker 2:didn't put where it is Copping Virginia.
Speaker 3:Copping, Virginia, right outside of Gloucester.
Speaker 2:Right on the Rappahannock River.
Speaker 3:Yes, and so we didn't live far from there. So the Chesapeake, you know, bethpage and Grace Point is all right there. So the sights, like you said, you're not disappointed by any. You're looking right at the river, absolutely beautiful, and uh also sits on the uh, rappahannock right, well, that sits on the urbana creek.
Speaker 1:Oh, the urbana creek that runs into the rappahannock and runs into the rappahannock, yeah wow, yes, I've, and again, my plan was to go to beth page didn't get there, but I'll have to hit it on the way from the East Coast down. So Grays Point Camp does have a solid 8.4 rating on RV campgrounds, with 68 reviews. If you're interested in booking Grays Point Camp, first of all, you do not have to be a Thousand Trails member to enjoy this park. You could just go to visit, and you could go visit campgroundsrvlifecom and type in Grays Point Camp. Once you get there, there's a big red book now button making it easy for you to book your stay. It'll also give you the opportunity to see photos and tips and a list of amenities.
Speaker 1:Thank you, guys, for sharing your actual experience with this campground. I love when this happens, especially we didn't talk about this, so I love when this happens. Rv Life Campgrounds is part of RV Life Pro and it's the most complete source of RV parks, campgrounds and resorts, as well as city, state and national parks, and all you have to do is visit campgroundsrvlifecom to check it all out. Warren and Sharon, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to be on with me and share all of your amazing knowledge and, most importantly, your inspiration. Thank you both, it was our pleasure.
Speaker 3:Yes, thank you so much, patty.
Speaker 1:You've been listening to Sharon and Warren Lewis. They are the membership specialists that I highly recommend. I'm going to put their phone number in the show notes. You could call or text them. I'll also put their email if email works best for you. I highly recommend talking to them about any question you may have about the Thousand Trails membership. You have been listening to the RV Life Podcast. I'm Patty Hunt, wishing you a great rest of today and an even better day tomorrow.