RV LIFE Podcast

Most Debated RV LIFE Topics

• Dan & Patti Hunt • Season 3 • Episode 107

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Today I (Patti Hunt) talk about controversial topics that RVers frequently discuss. Drawing on my extensive experience on the road, and what I have learned form the experts I share insights and encourage you, my  listeners to engage in the conversation. 

Some of the controversial topics covered:

  1. Toilet Paper and Tank Management
  2. Leaving gray and or black tank open 
  3. Storage Units: To Keep or Not?
  4. Cost Comparison: RV Living vs. House Living
  5. The Debate on RV Outside Lights
  6. RV GPS Essential
  7. Favorite Campgrounds and Places
  8. Are RV Memberships worth it?
  9. How to have intimate relationships while living in an RV with kids 

Mentioned in this episode:
BG Barnstormer Organizing Tips 

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Speaker 1:

What are 10 of the most controversial topics for RVers? I'm Patti Hunt and you're listening to the RV Life Podcast. I've been on the road for over three years. I was full-time in a 2002 Monaco Diplomat and crossed the country three times and that gave me the opportunity to have a lot of conversation with a lot of people. I've heard the questions and I've listened to the answers, and today I want to talk about some of the controversial topics I have heard in the last three plus years. Now I'm going to say I don't necessarily have definitive answers. Even after speaking to countless numbers of people and hearing their answers, reading questions and comments and sometimes heated debates on social media and talking to and interviewing experts, there's still not always an exact answer for all of these questions. But I hope today to shed some light on these topics and, as always, I'd love to hear from you, my listeners. 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. Just as a little update, right now I am outside of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, and I'm staying in a house, but doing a lot of travel by plane and some of these interviews and videos you will be seeing soon On this week's what you Need to Know.

Speaker 1:

It is brought to you by Open Road Resorts and they have six incredible locations. Two of them are in Montana, one is in Idaho, one in Texas, one in Nebraska and their newest location is in Santa Fe, new Mexico. It's called Santa Fe KOA Journey and it is a great campground with many, many amenities. It is open year round and, just as a caution, during the winter months there are some limits on water and activities and things like that. But if you want to go to this campground, there's so much to do in the area. I've had the privilege of visiting Santa Fe and I love it there. Just so much to do. It's such a great place. I'm definitely going to go back. So what you need to know.

Speaker 1:

I know we just sort of finished the Hershey show, which is America's largest RV show, just not that long ago, but I want to talk about the 2025 Florida RV Super Show and that's January 15th to the 19th. If you're looking to see what's new in RVs, you're looking to buy an RV, this is the show for you. There will be the dealers, the manufacturers. You could go into these units and really check them out, but if you're not looking for an RV, there will be many vendors showcasing their products and services. There'll be campgrounds. There's lots of education during this time. My favorite part of the shows is the community. So meeting people, going to meet and greets, going to events and activities. I really get excited about these events Now I will be attending. I will be there the whole week and RV Life will have a booth there so you can learn all there is to know about the RV Life Pro suite of products. This, what you Need to Know, is brought to you by Open Road Resorts and you can find out all about their campgrounds by going to openroadresortscom.

Speaker 1:

Now, today it's just me. I'm going to talk about controversial questions people have been talking about and, as I said, I honestly don't have all the answers. I've had experts that have come on and given their thoughts, opinions and expertise on some of these topics, but some of them are still not exact. I hope that this inspires you to think and research and have conversations around these topics and be able to form your own opinion, and I would love to hear your opinions. So any thoughts or questions that you have, I'd love for you to go to the review section of wherever you're listening to this podcast and tell us what you think. I love for people to share with my community and that's how we all learn, right? So go in, make a comment in the review section, ask your questions and let's get the conversation started. You could also comment on social media, at RV Life Podcast, on Instagram or Facebook. Okay, let's jump in. These are in no real order, I just wrote them as they came up. These are my opinion. They have some backing by experts, as I've said, that I've spoken to and I've done a lot of research after the last three years.

Speaker 1:

The first thing this is a big one toilets in your RV. So let's start with toilet paper. When I first started RVing, I thought that the RV toilet paper was the only toilet paper to use. My experience it is rough, it is terrible, it is expensive. There was no way I was going to use the RV toilet paper, so I bought the Costco Kirkland toilet paper. Lots of people had said this works great. There are ways to test if toilet paper is going to work well in your septic system. I used the RV, the Costco Kirkland toilet paper, for three years and didn't have any problem, except when I thought I was trying to conserve water, so I didn't put enough water in the tank and the toilet paper did get stopped up and it is a mess and it is difficult to unclog it, but it can be done. So the big thing with toilet paper is making sure to flush it and you have enough water.

Speaker 1:

Now some of the other things that are controversial are whether or not to flush toilet paper at all. Some of the conversation online on social media is that people do not put anything that isn't natural down the toilet, so they are not flushing toilet paper at all. The other thing is, for some people they don't use the toilet in their RV, so they just decide not to use it. And again, these are preferences for different people. For me, if I didn't think I could use the toilet and I didn't think I could put the toilet paper down the toilet RV would not be for me. That would just be a absolute no way. Okay, question number two While we're talking about the toilet, let's talk about the black and the gray tanks.

Speaker 1:

I've had experts on talking about whether we should leave one or the other open. The consensus that I've heard is to never leave the black tank open. Of course, if you're cleaning, that might be an exception. You're dumping, you're cleaning your tank Definitely an exception. But overall my experience, what I've learned is the black tank stays closed. Now the gray tank. On the other hand, if you are in full hookups, there are people that will leave their gray tanks open. Some people believe it should be closed unless you are dumping. I will say I've gone back and forth with this. There are times that I will leave it open for a little while, times that I leave it closed. One of the things I do is close it for the day before I'm ready to leave, because I'm going to use that backup of gray tank water to clear out the black tank. And again, gray tank opened or closed a little bit controversial. People have thoughts on it and I hope if you have other thoughts, you will share that.

Speaker 1:

Question number three should I get a storage unit? And there's a lot involved in this for those people who are thinking about going in an RV, about going full time, you have to first think about downsizing, so getting rid of stuff in your home. If you get rid of stuff, do you go get a storage unit? Do you get rid of all of it. This is a difficult one because I think it's a very personal kind of thing that you do, and I've had to downsize. I've made the choice to have a storage unit. I got rid of the storage unit, I had to get a new storage unit. So there's a lot of information around this. Information around this Downsizing, like I said, is a very personal thing. I'm going to post in the show notes a great interview with Robin from BG Barnstormer, who helped a lot with choosing how to downsize, what to get rid of.

Speaker 1:

Now, as far as the storage unit, the thinking is, first of all, what's it going to cost? I had a storage unit that was $90 and within five months it went up to $118. Are you storing anything that's worth $118, $100, $50 a month? That's something to think about when deciding on a storage unit and again, this is controversial. There is no right or wrong answer. It's about what you need, what your needs are, and there are options for things that you could do. When it comes to storage, some people say, well, yeah, I stored stuff in my family's garage. That sometimes works. It doesn't cost money. After almost two years of having a storage unit that I had put so much stuff in before I went full time in the RV, I realized how much money had been spent, and when I went back through that storage unit I was really disappointed because I spent more money than what was the value of what was in the storage unit. So something to think about that, okay.

Speaker 1:

Question number four is owning a house or renting a house cheaper than living foot home? And in Las Vegas, in the Las Vegas area, and going into the RV did turn out to be less expensive, but that was just for me. So paying electric and water and all the things you need to pay for insurance and all of those things. The best way that I think to answer this is to do your cost living in a house, renting, whatever all those expenses are, and then your cost of living in an RV, and that means all the costs. So whether it's insurance, it's rent, it's water, it's all of the things that you need for both of those. Do that comparison. I would also suggest adding in if you're living in a house, what are you paying to travel, to go on vacations, for hotels, airfare, those kinds of things, because that's going to make a difference if you're in your RV. And so for me, I was able to get in the RV and take it down to Albuquerque, new Mexico, for the balloon fiesta. I had a place to stay, so those costs should also be included, and then you could decide whether it is cheaper Again, a really big question that gets asked all the time.

Speaker 1:

Now, things like water. I want to take a quick break and talk about my friends at Clear 2.0, because fresh, clean water is important for some of you that are not thinking about full-time RVing and you're thinking about storing your RV for the season, and it's getting chilly. Storing your RV for the season 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 a few weekends at a campsite, your freshwater system can accumulate bacteria, sediment and other contaminants over time. That's why you need the Clear 2.0 tank fresh water tank and system flush. It's specifically designed to clean and sanitize your RV's entire freshwater system, ensuring you start your next trip with clean, safe water. Plus, for my RV listeners, my friends at Clear 2.0 are giving a 15% off with the coupon code RVLifePodcast at checkout. Just go to Clear 2.0, find Tank Fresh and all of their other amazing products and then put in RVLifePodcast for 15% off. Okay.

Speaker 1:

Next question this has a lot of people in a heated conversation, believe it or not, and that is the outside lights on the RVs. When you drive through a campground and you see these lights that people have on and around their RVs, they have them on their awnings, they have them on the ground. It looks really cool. I like driving through and seeing these lights. The question is do you need them on all night? And people are asking why do people leave them on all night? So let me give you my thoughts and opinions on some of this. Yes, there are people that leave these lights on all night long. I'm not sure why. I have some thoughts, and for those people in their RV that are annoyed by those lights, my question is why aren't you just closing your shades so we could look at both sides of this? There's a lot of heat about lights on RVs at night and I'm all about just trying to get along. When I was in my RV and all the curtains were closed, I could not see lights from the outside. I'm not sure about that one. I want people to comment on this Again.

Speaker 1:

There's some heated debate about it. People are very animated about this topic. Now some people do believe that the lights around the RV will get rid of rodents and I have heard from many experts. Some have said yes, some have said no. I talked to a guy one time that had lights on the bottom of the RV that flickered and he said he tested it. He did this whole test on it and he said if the lights flickered on a certain pattern the rodents would become used to it and then it didn't affect them. So he would change the pattern of the lights and that supposedly would keep the rodents away. My producer, jacob, is making faces on this one and sitting there listening to this conversation with this guy who obviously had too much time on his hands because he literally did a whole scientific test on it, and I'm not sure the outcome From what the experts have said is that lights do not necessarily affect rodents. Now I think the big problem is when we talk about rodents it's like talking about kids. They're all different, different rodents in different areas. They adapt in different ways. We can get into a lot there, but not sure about that one.

Speaker 1:

Okay, before I go on, I want to talk about Open Roads Fuel Card and this is a diesel fuel card. The card is free to sign up for and you get discounts on diesel fuel every time you go to get gas. So here's how it works you go on myopenroadscom, sign up for the diesel fuel card free the card is free and then you have an app on your phone and as you're traveling, you decide where you want to stop for gas and you can look at areas across the country and see what the diesel price is at any of the gas stations. So you can make a decision where you're going to stop to get fuel and how much money you are going to save every time you fill up. That is myopenroadscom and you can find out everything about the fuel card. Next question If we're talking about fuel, we're talking about traveling across the country.

Speaker 1:

Let's talk about RV GPS. I will say this is a pet peeve for me. So, again, take it with a grain of salt, but this bothers me when I see people get on and ask about a free RV GPS. And here's why, when you are driving anything bigger than a minivan so it's longer, it's taller, it's different than your average type vehicle you need an RV safe GPS, why you may be trying to go across a bridge that you shouldn't go on. You may be trying to go under an overpass you shouldn't be going through. You may be trying to go through a tunnel here in Pennsylvania when I'm driving down to my brother's in Virginia. There is the tunnel in Baltimore that you cannot go through if you have a larger propane tank. So these things are important for figuring out where my RV can go and what roads it cannot go on. The reason that it's such a big pet peeve of mine is because you have people on roads, you're going through tunnels and they are not able to go through them. It's dangerous, and it's not just dangerous to the person driving the RV, it's dangerous to the people around. I've seen too many accidents, too many serious situations that could have been solved by an RV safe GPS.

Speaker 1:

Now all transparency. This is the RV Life podcast. I have been using the RV Life Pro suite of products and one of those products is Trip Wizard, and I've been using it for over three years. We had the product before we ever stepped out into an RV and got on the road, because safety was the most important thing when traveling. So RV Life's Trip Wizard, I find, is the best RV safe GPS. You could also choose to have a Garmin in your RV. They're all different ways. But when people say I use Google Maps or I use Waze, that's not necessarily telling you that it is safe for you to go on that road. Based on your RV RV Trip Wizard, you put in your height, your length, your weight of your RV and whether or not you have propane on board and then it will tell you which roads are best for you to go on.

Speaker 1:

So this is a question that gets asked all the time. What is an RV Safe GPS? Can I get a free one? Just being totally transparent, right now the RV Trip Wizard, the whole suite of products, cost $65. And there is a 25% discount code in the show notes. So there's really no reason not to get this app. That's my rant on that one.

Speaker 1:

Okay, a question I get asked a lot and is asked all the time. I get this question, so I've had people interview me. I've been in campgrounds Always. Always, if I'm speaking, somebody will always come up and say what is your favorite place, what is your favorite campground Like? What's your favorite state in the country, what's your favorite campground, what's your favorite place to go? And that is really dependent. I cannot really answer that question, so let me break a couple things down first.

Speaker 1:

First of all, when you talk about RVing or camping and where you're staying, you have the opportunity to stay in an RV resort, a campground, city, state or local park. You have a lot of opportunity. Options for different types of campgrounds is what I'm saying. There are also people that like to mooch dock or boondock, and let me quickly tell you, my new listeners, what that is. Mooch dock is just that you are mooching because you are staying on somebody's property, whether they have hookups or not. They often don't, but you are parked there for however long and you're staying on their property. Boondocking is when you go out, and there's some controversy of what actual boondocking is. Go out, and there's some controversy of what actual boondocking is, but for the most part, you are not connected to any resources no electric, no water, no dumps so that's boondocking. And again, choosing which of these things is right for you, I've tried them all.

Speaker 1:

Personally, I prefer campgrounds with full hookups and amenities. That's just me as far as the best campgrounds. I always say it depends. So here's why it depends. I was in Orlando last year and was going to Disney with 15 of my family members, so our whole reason to have the RV parked at the Orlando Thousand Trails was so every day I could leave and go to the park. I liked Orlando Thousand Trails with their cement slab and full hookups, and it was easy because I could park the RV. I could leave for the day and come back and not be concerned about anything. Be concerned about anything.

Speaker 1:

There are also times that I'd like to be out in the middle of the woods, out in nature, and still have some hookups, but there are times that that works. I was out in Bend, oregon, and stayed at an RV park that was literally wooded. It was a gravel site that had gravel. There was a lot of grass and trees. I love that as well.

Speaker 1:

So to say what's the best or what's my favorite, for me, it just depends. Try different things and see what works for you. I do not believe there's any right or wrong answer for you. You've got to decide what's right for you and the people you're traveling with. Okay, another big question and I lost count, it doesn't matter, there are 10 of them.

Speaker 1:

How do people afford to live on the road full time? This is a big question. A lot of talk around this and people are just trying to figure out if I'm going to go on the road full time, how do I afford it, and if I'm already on the road, how do I afford to stay on the road? So some of the answers because a lot of people will look at people that are retired or seemingly of retirement age and I've heard people ask all the time I wonder how they afford it. A couple of things that I've learned for people who are of retirement age. Some people have a pension retirement plan. They have money saved and they have ways that they are now out on the road. They've sold the house and now they can be out on the road. For others, how do you afford it? There's a couple of ways. First of all, some of the things that I share on the podcast to help save you money. Which that helps is being able to save money, but also some of the things that people do to afford being on the road.

Speaker 1:

First of all, working from the road. Some people have jobs. With internet capability. These days, you could be almost anywhere and do a job that is remote. So many many people are working remotely. I hear a lot of people ask all the time I don't have a remote job on the road, I'm looking for work. Work amping is one of those things, and there is a website called Work Amping. One of those things, and there is a website called Work Amping. You could go there and find different types of jobs across the country that you could look at, see what's a good fit for you to make money.

Speaker 1:

There are a lot of content creators, influencers, that are on the road, and they are making money either through their content and or through affiliate programs. So there are a lot of different ways to make money and, again, this is where I'd love to hear from my community sharing ideas on, you know, ways that people could go out and make money. My caution is, you know, setting a budget when you're RVing helps, but I know for me, there were so many unexpected costs that I hadn't thought about, and I'll talk about some of those. The other thing is, you know, when you look at, okay, I need to make money while being on the road looking at an influencer that you think is making tons of money, they may not be, so keep that in mind. I don't know that many people start a YouTube channel or a podcast or an Instagram account, tiktok, whatever and all of a sudden make tons of money. If you're one of those people and you have the answer, let us know. It just doesn't happen quickly. I'm speaking from my own experience and from what I've talked to other people about, so keep that in mind.

Speaker 1:

One of the ways to save money while being on the road, one of the biggest costs so I already covered diesel fuel costs. That's a big one if you're doing a lot of travel. I gave you a card that could help save you money. One of the other huge costs are campgrounds. So, unless you're mooch docking, which is usually free, or boondocking, which is pretty much free, the other thing is campground memberships. Campgrounds can start adding up the way.

Speaker 1:

My story was my experience. When my husband, dan and I got on the road, we kind of had an idea of what we thought a budget for camping would be, and very quickly, three months into our camping experience, I was realizing that even if we could find campgrounds for 30 or 40 or 50 bucks a night, the money was adding up and the income was not adding up. So this was a huge problem. Three or four months in, I knew we needed a solution and that is where we decided to call a membership specialist from Thousand Trails. Now, rv memberships, rv clubs, are they worth? It is a big, controversial conversation that really takes research. Look at the membership for you, for your family, and see if it's right for you.

Speaker 1:

Thousand Trails membership is one I'm specifically bringing up because there's probably the most controversy around this membership. If you go on to Google it, if you go on to social media, there are people that absolutely hate it, absolutely love it, some people in between, and what I have found is from my two and a half years of experience with Thousand Trails I do not know how we would have continued to be full-time RVers without this membership. Most of my time in the last two and a half years has been spent in a Thousand Trails membership at Thousand Trails Campground, and it's cost me probably less than I think I was at less than $10 a night for camping, less than $10 a night for camping with my membership. So again, this is one. It's not right for everyone. Not everyone should buy this membership. But if you are thinking about it, yeah, go on and listen to what people are saying, but take it with a grain of salt, because some of these people that are making comments about the membership have never used it. Talk to people who are using the membership, and I highly recommend talking to a membership specialist to get all of the information, the right information. There are many different programs, there are many different plans, so you want to make sure to get the right information by using a membership specialist information by using a membership specialist.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so we talked about camping and I want to talk a little bit about camping in cold weather. That is not necessarily controversial, it is an opinion. Do you like to camp in the cold weather? If you do, again, I want to hear from you. This is not something that's appealing to me. I am not necessarily a cold weather person, and being in an RV in the cold weather was not something I was interested in doing. But there were times that it did get cold where we were, and one of the things that I have found that will help keep people warm in the colder weather is air skirts.

Speaker 1:

So airskirtscom. These are large, torpedo looking I call them torpedo looking inflatable things that go under your RV. So they are made of a material that stands up to the weather. It keeps the air in the person who invented this is amazing. Whatever the size of your RV, go on to airskirtscom, put your RV, your type of RV, in and they will tell you what kind of kit that you would need to go around your whole RV. What I love about airskirts is they inflate with a pump and they deflate with a pump and they deflate with that pump. They fold up small so you can store them easily. Storage is a big thing for most RVers. So that's airskirtscom and they are offering $100 off a kit order with RV POD, rv pod.

Speaker 1:

Let's talk about something that people have asked. I've seen this question on social media and this question is question number 10. How do you have intimate relations in your RV when traveling with kids? And my answer is I have no idea. I do not travel with kids. I have not traveled with kids. Some of the people that I've had on the show I had a couple on the show that when they started RVing they had seven kids and they now have eight kids. So clearly they figured it out. But anybody that's not familiar with RVs, they do move quite a bit. Some of them are a little more stable than others. This is a question for you, my listeners that have had this situation where you're traveling with RVers and you want adult time. How do you make that work? Because, again, this is out of my scope of understanding. Okay, well, I hope these 10 controversial questions helped you to get a better grasp on some of the things that people are asking about, and we are not done yet.

Speaker 1:

I just want to talk a little bit about those of you that have to put your RV in storage. I hope you're going to do it right. Nirvc, national Indoor RV Centers has RV storage at five of their locations. Their RV storage is indoor and keeps your RV safe, warm and dry and protects against damages to your battery, electronics and tires, to name a few things. Nirvc's concierge service will make sure your RV is well cared for and ready anytime you want to take it out. Go to NIRVCcom to find those locations for your motorhome storage needs.

Speaker 1:

Well, it is now time for today's question of the week, and that is brought to you by Open Roads Innovative Toll Solutions. This toll is going to save you time, money. All of that. This toll covers all 48 states and they have concierge service, so if you ever have a problem, they will fix that problem for you. This is OpenRoads Toll Solutions and it is an amazing toll pass. I've been using it for eight months. It has worked seamlessly and it is worth checking out. Go to myopenroadscom for that as well and check out the toll path.

Speaker 1:

Okay, what is one of your top places that you recommend for people for a bucket list item? That is what I ask when I have a guest on, and today I'm going to answer that for one of my things on my bucket list, and that is to go to the Florida Keys. I've talked to people who have been to the Florida Keys. It just looks and sounds amazing. That trek going over to the Keys from Florida, that long road going over Somebody else can drive, that Sounds like a good plan for me. But the Florida Keys sounds amazing the blue waters just surrounded by water, and it just looks amazing. So that is definitely on my bucket list and I'm hoping to get there this winter. Let me know if the Florida Keys is somewhere you've been or if you're looking to go to the Florida Keys. Maybe I'll see you down there.

Speaker 1:

It's now time for the featured campground of the week and that's brought to you by RV Life Pro, and we spoke about RV Trip Wizard. You must have an RV GPS. That is a must. This week's featured campground is Encore Fiesta Keys and it is in the Keys in Florida. It is an Encore campground with 324 sites Encore Fiesta Key has, while it is an Encore, you do not need a membership. They do have full hookups. They have pull-ins sites, dog park. They have rentals, so cabin and cottage rentals, and when I go down to the Keys this winter I will be staying in a cabin. They have absolutely spectacular views, as you can imagine blue water all around, so everywhere you go you are surrounded by water.

Speaker 1:

It is best that you go to campgroundsrvlifecom so you can see all of the amazing pictures. I can't even totally describe it. Go on and look at it. Encore Fiesta Key has a solid 7.7 rating on the RV Life campgrounds with 154 reviews. Campgrounds with 154 reviews. Once you go to campgroundsrvlifecom and you go to Encore Fiesta Key, you will see a large red book now button, and it is that easy to book your stay at this campground. You could also see the photos that I'm talking about. You could see tips, a full list of amenities about this property.

Speaker 1:

Rv Life Campgrounds is part of the RV Life Pro suite of products and it's the most comprehensive source of RV parks, campgrounds and resorts, as well as city, state and national parks, corpse of engineer properties and so much more. Visit campgroundsrvlifecom. There's also a discount in the show notes for 25% off if you are not already a member. Well, I want to close out by welcoming you to go to my social media RV Life Podcasts, and Instagram and Facebook. Let's keep the conversation going. If you have not hit the follow, download, subscribe button here on the podcast, please do that and, as always, I'd love to hear from you. So, in the comments, make a comment, ask questions and I will answer every one of them. You have been listening to the RV Life Podcast. I'm Patty Heim, wishing you a great rest of today and an even better day tomorrow. Bye.