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
RV Adventures with Kids, Senior Dogs, Vegan Living, and Making Money on the Road
Do you want insights into traveling with kids, homeschooling on the road, managing dietary needs, and overcoming mental health challenges. In this episode of the RV Life Podcast, host Patti Hunt dives into the fascinating journey of Trevor and Lia Eyre, a family of three (plus two senior dogs) who have embraced full-time RV life since 2019. Learn about their approach to creating a balanced, adventurous lifestyle and tips for saving money, making a living on the road, and staying connected with family and friends.
Discussed on this episode:
Everything about Lia & Trevor Erye of Llama Llama Adventure
Episode, Navigating Health Challenges...
w/ Cassie & Josh Bailey of Wildthornbaileys
Fulltime Families 10% discount
Episodes Traditional Schooling Vs Homeschooling
Navigating Homeschooling and RV LIFE
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Are you planning on RV travel with kids? You don't want to miss today's episode. My expert guests will share tips on traveling with kids, traveling with pets and how to meet dietary needs such as vegan and other special diets, and they have so much more to share. My name is Patti Hunt and you're listening to the RV Life Podcast. I unfortunately didn't have the opportunity to travel with kids and I wish I had Living on the road full-time for over three years. I saw so many kids on the road and the amazing experiences they were having. It was just an incredible learning experience. It was incredible to see all these kids you know just out there having fun, having experiences, learning on the road, and I kind of wish I had that opportunity. This episode was inspired by messages I received from my listeners that wanted to hear more about tips on traveling with kids.
Speaker 1:The RV Life podcast was created to entertain, educate and explore the RV lifestyle, with the mission to inspire you to live life to the fullest. This week, what you Need to Know brought to you by Open Road Resorts. They have locations in Montana, idaho, nebraska, new Mexico and Texas. Inspired by their mission to get outside, share experiences and deepen connections, the campgrounds are highly amenitized, family-friendly RV and camping destinations, indesirable locations, and I'm so happy to be able to offer my RV Life podcast guests the 25% off discount. So, for two nights or more during the 2025 season, all parks, at all parks you could get 25% off. Now you need to book by January 31st 2025. There are certain blackout dates and that code is RVLIFE25. It is all caps RVLIFE25. To get 25% off stays of two nights or more. What you need to know a number of families with children are RVing full-time and that is steadily increasing. Studies show many parents choosing RVing as a way to spend quality time with their kids, strengthen family bonds and create lasting memories. The rise in remote work and virtual learning has enabled families to embrace RV living. What you need to know is brought to you by Open Road Resorts and you can find out all about them at openroadresortscom.
Speaker 1:Let's get into my guests today. Leah and Trevor and their daughter Lennon have been living the full-time RV life since 2019, exploring the best places to stay, hike and eat vegan. Dedicated to minimalist, intentional lifestyle, they aim to inspire others to embrace adventure and live fully on the road. Welcome, lee and Trevor to the RV Life Podcast. Thank you, hello. It is so great to have you on. I had the opportunity to meet you guys while in Hershey and I just had this connection and knew I needed to have you guys on the podcast. And here we are, so let's dive in. You've been on the road since 2019 with your daughter Lennon, who's now six and a half, but how did this all start? How did the RV life journey start for you guys? Tell us the story.
Speaker 3:I almost want to hear Trevor's version of the story, because I'm usually the person who tells it, so I'm going to challenge. Trevor to share it and see how how it comes out, and then maybe I'll share my search and because you'll probably get a different answer from everyone, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, I know back around 2018, like 2019, when we started, one of our big things is we just knew that we wanted to travel more and be able to see more things around the United States camper vans, that's like all converted and decked out, and being able to take that around to get outdoors and go camping and traveling more often. And then we started researching that a little bit more and, um, you know, kind of found out the price tag on one of those and we're a little bit shocked. Um, yeah, like those, those things, those vans, are really cool but they can cost, you know, about as much of a house as a house and it's still a van. So we, you know, we were looking at that and realizing they're small enough that we probably wouldn't be able to like live in it. We'd basically be buying a house on the side of like a vacation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, kind of like a vacation home on wheels, and we definitely couldn't afford that. Um, and that's when Leah came across RV life people living in RVs full time on the road, which neither of us had ever really heard about or come across and so she started doing some research on that and, pretty quickly after discovering it, deciding, yeah, we're doing this. This sounds cool. How soon I think it was, maybe. Also, I know you. You told me about the idea and I was like, oh yeah, that sounds kind of cool, like I'm interested to learn more.
Speaker 2:And then, probably a week later I think it was a week- that weekend a week later, bia was looking at an RV while she was um in Portland and I was in Idaho and I looked at an RV separately. And then she came back and I think the following week following weekend she found a truck and traded in by accident.
Speaker 3:I just drove past it yep.
Speaker 2:And she like, came home and said I have a truck for us to test drive. It was in the driveway when?
Speaker 3:is it she's like?
Speaker 2:it's here, it's outside, it's out front. Let's go.
Speaker 1:Wow, very impulsive A week. So, leah, go back and talk about what happened, because you and I spoke what happened, leading to this idea of even going RVing. You had an 18-month-old right when you made this decision, so tell my listeners about that story with an 18-month-old, why you decided that RV life sounded like a good idea.
Speaker 3:So for me it actually starts well before having an 18-month-old. For me, as soon as Lennon was born. She was born with sepsis, which is most often fatal in infants, and so I went into this spiral of post-traumatic stress and depression and I just was so very unhappy and I realized that I wasn't just unhappy before unhappy, and I realized that I wasn't just unhappy before. Like for that reason I had been unhappy for some time. But sometimes you really don't know that it takes a big life event for you to witness and maybe have like that outer body experience of like, wow, I really am not thriving. And so I told Trevor and I was very honest and frank with him that you know we needed to make a change, we needed to find things that brought me more joy, and he was completely supportive, so grateful for that.
Speaker 3:You know, a lot of people probably tell their spouse that they're unhappy and their spouse may think it's a reflection of them, and he knew that that was not the case. It just it had been something I had been going through for many years and he probably identified it well before I did. And so when Lennon was 18 months old and I was going through therapy cognitive therapy talk therapy on a weekly basis. I started identifying the things that I loved, and one of them was travel, and so we knew that we needed to find ways to continue that. When Lennon was 18 months old, I was already starting to think about the cost of three plane tickets. We did travel a lot when she was a baby. I think she took something like 25 flights by the time she was 18 months old.
Speaker 2:When it was still free for her to get on a plane.
Speaker 3:Yes, so we were capitalizing on the access to that and I just knew that I wanted to continue to show her new things and I wasn't afraid of taking her on adventures because it was what made me feel the most alive and I wanted to inspire her to always have that taste for life too. So that's when we looked into van life and it was just kind of I'm. I just listened to the episode that you did with Cassie Bailey and she is a great friend of mine and her and I are very similar in the way that once we have inspiration in our mind, there will be nothing that stops us, and I'm very much the same. And so when I found out that van life was a possibility, I was like, oh, that's great, let's figure that out. And I started pricing out builds and figuring out that a lot of the builds were actually on like two-year wait lists. I was like, oh no, I can't wait two years to do this, Like I need to go now.
Speaker 3:And then I stumbled across in my research the RB Life hashtag. It was on Instagram and as soon as I clicked it I can almost feel that button click in my body as I talk about it I just felt that I knew, like what our like, like it was like a turn, you know like I had turned down that road and that was where we were headed and I told Trevor so I was still traveling I'm from Portland, Oregon, and Trevor's from Boise, Idaho, and so we have grandparents, you know, for Lennon, in both the states. So it was going back and forth a lot so that Lennon could have that, those young, young moments with grandparents. And so I went to Portland to visit my parents. Trevor was still working full-time in an office and I called him. He knew I had already like stumbled upon the hashtag. He didn't realize it was going to be so quick that I was going to develop these new ideas.
Speaker 2:It was going to happen like now. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so I told my mom about it and she was a travel agent for 25 years, so she's very interested in travel. My parents were not surprised at all by this notion in my brain and they fully supported it. And so she went with me to a dealership an RV dealership and was like, well, let's go stand in an RV because I've never been inside one before. So I called Trevor and I was like, hey, can you go stand in an RV? And he's like, sure, I'll do that on my lunch break. And so we both went and stood in RVs. We both stood in a travel trailer and we both stood in a fifth wheel. We knew that we wanted a towable because we wanted that detachable vehicle and they're typically a lower entry cost than a drivable RV. So we both went and stood in travel trailers and fifth wheels, talked a little bit with the RV dealership and found out fifth wheels are a lot better for full-time travel. In most cases they're the preferred option because of the stability with towing and just the there's a lot more storage.
Speaker 1:I want to get into that because I want to talk to our listeners about that idea of you know types of RVs that might be better for families and this is a might be because everybody's got a different opinion. But I want to go back and I really want to acknowledge and show my appreciation for your sharing and being vulnerable about how you felt after your daughter was born and I'm going back to that because I think there's not enough people willing to talk about that. When I had my first son and he is now 36, so a long time ago I went through postpartum depression.
Speaker 1:I didn't know what it was, nobody talked about it, my husband was not aware, and so I went through this period, a long period of time that was just such a dark period and I don't even have the opportunity to share that very often. I don't know that many people know about that and the reason that I want to emphasize that is because by sharing these things, by getting the help that people need, just it's so important so I didn't want that to go by without you know, letting you know how much I appreciate you sharing that I'm sure there are people that are going to hear your story that I hope will go get help, say, hey, not just me, and you know that that is a great benefit.
Speaker 3:It's why I share. I share it high and low, all all the time. It is something I feel so passionately to spread the, to destigmatize the, the experience that women go through after childbirth.
Speaker 1:Right and to the point. And Trevor you said it's so important and it is the fact that you were aware of it is such a big thing. And again, knowledge is power. I don't know where that saying comes from, but it's true because for the dad, the partner, whoever that is, to be aware of that and be aware of what to look for, the sooner you can get help, the better.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and we've talked about it so many times, and Trevor can identify the depression that I was experiencing, but he could not identify at the depth, and so he could identify that I was struggling, but it it really wasn't until I, like, came to him and said, like I need help, that he was like, oh oh, this is happening, you know, and we started telling our families and they didn't know either.
Speaker 3:And it's this I think it happens a lot with postpartum depression, because we have all been conditioned to, you know, be so excited about parenthood. And it's not that you're not, it's just sometimes, when you, especially if you go through a traumatic experience during that, something new, it just becomes so, so difficult to process and even see. And I think that there is such a stigma with mental health that we don't even realize that we're kind of masking the way that we feel, so we don't even know the pain that we're feeling. And I just, you know, I'm so grateful that I spoke up. I can't imagine what our life would look like if we had continued down that path.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. Imagine what our life would look like if we had continued down that path. Yeah, absolutely. And again, this is a topic that, for different reasons, mental health is so important and you know we need to speak up about it. It's just very important. So I again thank you for sharing. You also referred to Cassie Thornbale, the wild Thornbaleys I had on about a month ago, who told her story and you know, again, it was a traumatic situation that episode. It was, while it was tearful, and her telling the story, the outcome, you know, is very inspirational. So I will post that episode for anybody that wants to listen to it. Okay, so let's, let's move forward.
Speaker 1:So you found the hashtag RV life. You see other people that are doing this. So I think there's that reassurance for everybody that we don't feel crazy like I'm going to pick up and go RVing. For my husband and I we were living in Las Vegas. Business was totally shut down during COVID and he called me up to his office and said, hey, let's tell everything, get an RV and travel the country. And I laughed, thinking he was kidding, and for me it was like the furthest thing from my thinking process.
Speaker 1:I know when you and I talked, you were like, yeah, going out and adventuring was your thing. For me, it was what are we going to do? How are we going to do this? What's this going to look like? How are we going to make money? There were so many things that came up for me and after. I think it took us three months before we decided to buy the RV and do it, and I think that the reason I'd like both of us telling our stories and I want to go into this a little more is because of the people out there. So my listeners are full timers, part timers, some timers and those people thinking about the RV lifestyle, and so, to make it okay, whatever you're coming with, whatever you're coming with, whatever your thoughts are, whatever your feelings are. So for you guys, when you told your family that this is what you were going to do with an 18 month old, what was the reaction?
Speaker 3:so it was different for the different families. So my family was like, oh yeah, that makes sense, um, and Trevor's family also was like oh crap, that does make sense, but we really don't like it.
Speaker 2:My family was more like. That sounds amazing.
Speaker 3:I'm so happy for you guys and also a little bit mad that you're leaving, because we're going to miss you so much, you know we had moved from Oregon to Idaho about four years prior to starting to travel and Trevor is one of six children or sorry, one of seven children in his family and I'm an only child. So for me it's very easy for me to just be like wild and free because I don't have anything really holding me back. I don't have that deep rooted family connection where I have to be there. I know that my parents will follow me. Trevor's family, you know there are so many of them. Oh, we have a dog who's joining.
Speaker 1:Let me just my for my RV Life podcast listeners who can't see there is a hairy animal jumping up and down. So if you hear noises, that's what I love about the RV Life podcast being, you know, unscripted live, no editing. Okay, now there's the cutest dog in the picture. We're going to have to get pictures of the dog so I can share on social media.
Speaker 3:Here he is.
Speaker 1:Very cute. Okay, so we have an additional guest. He's yawning, he's yawning, so I guess he's a little bored. Oh, yeah, so.
Speaker 3:Trevor's family was more just bummed that they were going to have to follow us now because they had worked so hard to get us to come and live in Idaho. They knew we were going to have kids and they were like, okay, please come to Idaho, we'll help. Like, please come. And so we did. And then we we shortly after left.
Speaker 3:They were a little bummed but they also like every time we go back to visit now they're just like this really is such the right fit for you and it feels so good to have their support. They really have always been supportive of it and I know that that's not the traditional response for most people and that really bums me out. So I wanna hopefully normalize this for people, that some people are just truly adventurous and this is not crazy for them. This makes sense. This is what they need to feel okay in who they are. And I think we talked about this a little bit yesterday, patty, when I saw people in RV life through a social media channel for the first time, I felt like this overwhelming permission to be who I was.
Speaker 1:This overwhelming permission to be who I was, and that's great, and for me I don't know. So Dan and I have five kids, nine grandkids, you know, my mother still alive, his stepmother, and I'm not sure we told them. I think we just assumed they would think we were crazy. So if we didn't tell them we wouldn't get the response. We told a couple of friends that you know. I just think they shook their head and smiled. Now that I look back, I don't know how they reacted. I think I was afraid of what I thought they would say, so I didn't bother to ask. I should actually go back and say what did you think you know when we first told? Actually go back and say what did you think you know when we first told you this was the idea? What did you think to get you know? Just get that feedback. But again, it doesn't matter, do what makes you happy.
Speaker 1:All three of us are very much about live life fully, live life the way you want, and whatever anybody else thinks is, you know, not really our business. So we're all, I'm all about that and I know in talking to you guys, you feel the same way. Okay, so now here you are on the road. Six years right, almost five years, I guess it is. Let's dive into tips for the RV Life podcast listeners, and these tips are going to apply whether they have kids or not. But we want to focus on you know the kids, what kinds of things, and you do a five to seven day itinerary with tips to travel with kids. So let's start there. Give us some of those tips we're kind of freestyle parents.
Speaker 3:You know we only have one, we haven't done this before, so we're not perfect by any means. We do a for homeschool, we do an out school class, so it's not a formal curriculum, but it is teacher led by a certified teacher, and Lennon participates in that four days a week and just has holiday breaks. So she has a three-day week this week and then two weeks off at Christmas, and so it's the most traditional part of our schooling approach. Outschool is a it's kind of a web-based education option that families can purchase, and you purchase it per class. It's not like a membership or anything like that. There's thousands and thousands of classes that you can go through. You can do things like piano lessons, dance lessons, math tutoring and preschool, kindergarten, first grade, et cetera. So Lennon has been with the same school teacher for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, et cetera. So Lennon has been with the same school teacher for preschool, kindergarten, first grade and second grade, which we think is really cool and something unique that doesn't always exist in the public school system and sometimes not even in the private school system. You know, to have that same teacher for those four educational years has been really something that we're really grateful for, because she has a class of six it's anywhere from four to six kids typically and she gets very hands-on learning from her teacher and she now learns to read and to write and it didn't fall 100% on us, so that was helpful. We knew we needed something, because we are not educators. That is not what we went to school for, it's not what we have an education in, and so we rely on that for part of our schooling.
Speaker 3:But we also do a lot of museum travel, so that's a huge part of our itineraries that we share on social media. We will talk a lot about the different itineraries that we share on social media. We will talk a lot about the different museum memberships that we have access to. So we have Boonshoft, which is an Ohio-based museum, and really you can get this at any museum. It's just their membership, but it gives us access to reciprocal networks. So Lennon can go to the ASTC, which is the Science and Technology Centers, aza, which is the Zoos, the Association of Zoos, and then she also has the ACM, which is the Children's Museum Network, and I even, like, printed out and laminated our list of all of our museums recently, because when we get to a new state, it's nationwide and we can just pull out our little laminated sheets and say, okay, these are the education opportunities nearby, and so that's one way that we plan. Our itinerary is building in our education for the week, but we also do a lot of national park travel. State parks have actually become our favorite.
Speaker 2:Yeah, state parks and national parks, both have been really good. Lennon really, really loves the junior ranger program at national parks and getting all of the badges and they give you the little workbook that you have to fill out to, like you know, do little activities around the park. So there's that educational aspect to it. And then she gets the badge and she's got this little pink vest that's just covered and then, like she absolutely loves it she has a yeah, safari hat and a vest and they're both bright pink and just so linen.
Speaker 3:She's very artistic and colorful and so she wears it with all her badges that she actually has so many badges that it got too heavy, so are trying to find a new solution for the badges. People ask us all the time how many national parks you've been to, and we have no idea because we just you know when we go to these new places we kind of look up on. I spend a morning when we get there looking up all the state parks and national parks within an hour's drive and I'll put the list together and show Trevor and Lennon like these are our museum options for the week. These are our outdoor activities. We all love to hike. We have raised Lennon with the idea that she can hike a mile per her age, so she's actually a very advanced hiker at this point. So she can hike comfortably up to seven miles. I would say Wow, okay.
Speaker 1:I'm feeling very out of shape. Wow, that's incredible.
Speaker 3:She's an inspiration. You know like we recently took to Acadia National Park for our first time and Trevor and Lennon went on the Beehive Summit Trail which if any listeners have been to Acadia or heard of that hike, it is kind of a well-known, probably like world-renowned, really. I'm sure people travel there just to do that summit and I'm just so inspired by my six-year-old doing that hike.
Speaker 1:That is incredible. That is truly incredible.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that's kind of our approach to education and how we build out our itineraries is, you know, this is not just part-time travel for us, it's also our daily life. So we have to build in our education as we go and then, as a content creator, I create content with our activities and it's just it's. It's a lot of fun to use all those things together.
Speaker 1:And we're going to talk a little bit about content creation. What I want to do is talk about dietary needs. We mentioned you guys are vegan. Before we do that, I know for me, when I was getting on the road, dan and I had a dietary program we were on that was really making a huge difference for both of us health-wise, and so that was a concern how we were going to do that while on the road, and I think we have a lot of tips we could share. But one of the other things that I know was a concern for me was water.
Speaker 1:So in the beginning I was getting bottled water, which isn't the best, and then I was looking into, you know, filters and there wasn't space inside the RV for the pitcher filter systems and we came across Clear 2.0, which is a water filtration system that either is they have the water pitchers if you want to use that, they have inline Clear 2.0 water system because of how their filtration system is different. Keith, who is the inventor, sat down and we talked and he explained the difference and it really made me feel comfortable in using the water through this filtration system. And the big difference is most filters are carbon granules and the water going through the carbon is what cleans it. It takes the impurities out, it takes the sediment out and the contaminants, the bacteria. Their filters are carbon blocks, which means the water sits on that carbon block longer, making the water cleaner, and it takes it down as low as 0.5 microns, which is incredible. They are offering my RV Life listeners 15% off and I am so grateful because, again, I really believe in these products. You could go to clear20.com and the code is RVLifePodcast and you can get 15% off any of your purchases for it.
Speaker 1:So when you think about dietary needs and foods, water was that other thing that was important. So talk about again. You guys are vegans and I think for me and a lot of people, a lot of my listeners, people I talk to, are concerned about food and health and how do I eat, the way that I choose to, while on the road. So how does that work for you guys?
Speaker 2:I think the biggest tip probably is like if you are cooking most of your stuff at home, like cooking in the RV is the same.
Speaker 3:Exactly the same.
Speaker 2:So, like you might have a little bit smaller oven than you're used to. You might have a little bit smaller fridge than you're used to. Sometimes a lot of them come with residential fridges, even these days. But apart from that, like you know, it's a little bit different, but you can cook all the same stuff that you cooked in a house or that you're used to eating the. The one weird part is that grocery stores change around the country. So, like every time you go into a grocery store you're kind of figuring thing where everything is again because it's all in a different spot. Apart from that, if you can be like a little bit flexible, um, it's not that different yeah.
Speaker 3:so I think the biggest challenge is definitely the grocery store. Uh, it takes because we read labels, because we are checking for any animal products in the labels. It takes a one-hour shopping trip and makes it about a two-hour shopping trip for me every time, one because I'm reading all the labels and two just because every grocery store, for some reason, is laid out in a different way. You go in and you feel like you have like this general consensus. But if you're looking for a very specific product like nutritional yeast, which is very like every vegan buys that probably every shopping trip, it is a great supplement that you can buy that tastes like cheese and it's just these little nutritional lakes and they have really great vitamin B in them and iron and all sorts of other nutrient based benefits, and so I can never find it at any grocery store.
Speaker 3:So I did learn that most of the grocery stores these days you can download the app for that grocery store and you can look up products and they'll tell you which aisle they're in. So that has started to save me a lot of time. And we also have our favorite grocery stores. Surprisingly, I wouldn't think that Walmart would have been at one of the top of our list, but they carry a lot of vegan products and they're widely available across the United States. A lot of the places we stay are very rural.
Speaker 2:And they're a little bit more consistent from store to store. A lot of other ones, like different branches of the same store, will have like super.
Speaker 3:Widely different products.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely, I have found that myself. It's a going across the country. People used to ask all the time where do you go shopping? And I always thought that was funny and I said grocery stores, just like you do, or costco is a big thing for was a big thing for us, even though it was just the two of us space a small costco, um, and ordering things from amazon. I don't know if you guys do that, but you're right, every store is so different how it is laid out, um, it's crazy. I think there's a little girl in the. Does she have something she wants to?
Speaker 3:say you want to say hi, come on in and say hello, come, stay in my people that we've seen say hi, hi lennon hi, this is lennon.
Speaker 2:It's nice to stop staying on my arm it's a little stocking with a jingle bell on it.
Speaker 1:Oh no. It's a stocking. Is that a squish mellow?
Speaker 3:Oh, no we're just preparing for the holidays.
Speaker 1:Oh, got it.
Speaker 3:Grandma and grandpa sent us our. They keep our stockings there because they usually visit us for the holidays, but they're not coming this year and they usually just travel with the stockings in their suitcase when they come. But they just shipped them to us this week, so Lennon must be decorating downstairs.
Speaker 1:I got it. And another good tip for people who travel. So I guess you have stuff stored at grandma and grandpa's house. That's a great travel tip. But as far as food go, I mean I agree with you, having had dietary needs myself, finding that I cook more in the RV. I think people think of RVing, camping like you're camping, so it's hot dogs and hamburgers or you know whatever that looks like, and it's not because I was thinking of food and preparing food and making sure it was the food that you know we were able to eat. So those are great reminders tips for people. I have people that are thinking, like I said, of the RV life and I know that's a concern. People with dietary needs I know Cassie from Wild Thorn Valley was sharing that. They have a stomach issue, yeah, so so being able to cook at home, know exactly what you're getting, is huge. So I want my listeners to know that it is the same as if you're trying to cook at home. So that's a great great tips.
Speaker 2:One of the things that can be challenging is if you do like to eat out at restaurants and stuff and you do have dietary restrictions. That can be a bigger challenge on the road.
Speaker 3:But we have tips for that too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like with us being vegan, that is very highly dependent on the area of the country you're in and like what city. Like some places are great and have tons of restaurants and then we'll go to other places where there's literally not a restaurant with a single vegan item on the menu within 50 miles.
Speaker 3:Probably like 150 miles.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so then you know those are the areas that you're cooking at home. You're not going out to eat and it's about planning. I think some of that's about planning. I have my son and grandson is allergic to or can't tolerate milk products and, like you said, there are times that, you know, there's a family of 15 of us trying to go out to eat and there are times that there's literally nothing at the restaurant and they won't trust it. You know, if somebody says, oh, I think it doesn't have milk products, no, they won't trust it if you're actually on that, then you can yeah right, yeah, so sometimes they'll eat before.
Speaker 1:We'll try and make other choices. And yes, to your point, there are better places than others. But, like, like you said, that's, that's probably more about planning.
Speaker 3:Like, is this, yeah, yeah, we usually eat before we go to any events that we're invited to and try not like we don't make our veganism a issue for other people. You know like that is our choice, and so when people invite us to something we don't, we don't say like, oh, we can't come because we're vegan. We just eat before we go.
Speaker 1:Right, and that's the same thing Again. I have transitioned back into a house, as a lot of my listeners know, over the last seven months, and I am now going back to the dietary. I don't want to say diet, because it's not a diet, it's just the foods that I know are going to work well for me. And I'm going to say it again, it's about planning. So I know if I'm going somewhere, I will sometimes take my little lunch thing with foods that I'm going to be able to eat. So it's totally doable, totally doable, absolutely. We don't go anywhere without a lunchbox. Right, Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 3:And I don't go anywhere without a lunchbox.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly, exactly. And you know I don't worry about what other people think. This is what works for me. It's what's kept me healthy. I'm doing it, and I've just recently committed to getting back to what I need to do food-wise.
Speaker 3:Good for you.
Speaker 1:We'll talk again in a month and see how it's going. Okay, so let's talk about pets, because not only do you travel with two pets, they are senior pets with some issues. I'm going to say tell us a little bit about the issues with pets and how you're overcoming that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I'll have Trevor introduce Banana Pig, who is our difficult, difficult dog. We have two dogs the other isn't here today so we can't provide a video introduction but his name is Mango Salsa, he's our rescue and he's Banana Pig's companion animal. But his name is Mango Salsa, he's our rescue and he's Banana Pig's companion animal. So instead of having a service animal, we have unintentionally become service humans to Banana Pig. He has very severe separation anxiety, meaning that we cannot leave him unattended, not even to go take out the trash. He has debilitating anxiety, and will you hear him?
Speaker 3:Yes, he's responding yeah, he will cry very loudly until we return to him. Having his humans not within visual sight is just completely paralyzing, so we take him everywhere. We do a lot of research. There's an app called bring Fido F I D? O and we will look up places that we can take our pets with us and just have them a part of every adventure. I've always been a really big dog lover, so I think it makes sense that I was the, the, the mom to this guy, because most people would have given up on him, you know, would have rehomed him, and Trevor is such a good dog dad and he banana actually likes Trevor more, oh, so that's why he's over there he's got his head popped up.
Speaker 1:He's like I know you're talking about me and that's great. And again, people with animals, they, some people are able to leave them in an rv. I know we've talked on the show previously about having a sensor that alerts you if the heat or the ac goes out, to make sure the temperature, um, you know is, stays what it needs to be in the RV, because it can get dangerous. And for you guys being able to take your pet. There are a lot of campgrounds and RV parks and places that are pet friendly. Most of the ones I've been in are pet friendly as well as there's a great app, bring Fido, and then you know there are places that you can take your pet with you. Great suggestions there. I'm sure there's more there.
Speaker 1:I really want to jump into the big thing that people think about whether they have kids or not, and that is making money on the road. Now, trevor, you worked for a company and I understand. Right before Thanksgiving last year, you were laid off of all times of the year, and that's what could happen sometimes when we're working for somebody else and you become a freelance web developer and, leah, you become a content creator. So I'm going to let you both, you know dive into what you do. Let's talk about you know, about making money on the road, being able to make this work.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so for us last year it was the Friday before Thanksgiving. Which is what day is it? It's Tuesday, so it was like this week last year were just switching things up and deciding to do something different and my whole team was laid off.
Speaker 3:And there were different challenges with that that we had never thought of until we experienced it, and so I'm really grateful, patty, that you're asking us these questions, because I think there's a lot of value in talking about this a lot of unknown and a lot of things to plan for and consider. I wish that we had known that if Trevor had lost his job, that we would be denied all unemployment benefits. That was quite a surprise to us. That Monday, following his Friday layoff, we contacted the Idaho Department of Labor, and Trevor reported that he had lost his job, and they asked him his approval questions to qualify for the unemployment benefits, and one of the questions was about here.
Speaker 2:I'll let you like are you going to be leaving the state for any reason in the next month or whatever the next 30 days?
Speaker 2:and my answer was I'm not going to be in the state for probably a year a year I'm not sure when, um and so that that turned into was one of those technicalities that we had never thought of. In order to claim unemployment, you have to be proving that you are job hunting in your area, like in your state. Because I was trying to collect unemployment from Idaho and the fact that I wasn't physically in Idaho meant that I could not collect that, even though you know, none of the companies I had worked for previously or was applying for were based in Idaho. They were all like remote positions that I could do from anywhere and we had been traveling full time for years without any issue, but just that fact that I wasn't within like 50 or 100 miles or whatever the technicality is of my address physically within wow that's incredible.
Speaker 3:So it was just this very triggering event where we were like, oh well, we don't even get unemployment benefits, what? What do we do now? So I had already started dabbling in content creation and I actually was having my best month the month that he got laid off, and so we just knew that there was an income available there and that we needed to dive into it, because there was not going to be any financial assistance. We didn't qualify for food stamps, we didn't get health insurance benefits, none of that was available to us, so we needed cash immediately, and so I talked to all my brand partners that I had existing and started pitching for new ones, and we've had an incredible year. Within six months, I was able to 4X my income year over year, and I don't actually know what the number is for year over year. Yet I'm waiting because I've got a month left.
Speaker 1:First of all, that is incredible and I want to point out because when we talk about content creation, the episode I did on I don't even know what day it is today, I think 1120, about I had an expert on that talked about tips on content creation. So many people are looking to do that and for people to understand that it's not an overnight thing but it's possible. You were persistent, you had your driving force that this had to get done and so you were able to not only make money content, be a content creator, but increase that amount, so it's possible for people. I want people to know that and to also you know it's not the easiest thing in the world. So congratulations on that first of all, and you also referred to the fact that you know you had affiliate programs.
Speaker 1:I think is what you referred to and let me just for people who aren't aware, that is the ability to work with companies where I, you know so for the podcast, I have people that advertise on the podcast and there's a different relationship between the podcast, where they pay to be an advertiser on the podcast. But I also have affiliate programs that I work with you and I both work with some of the same programs, and it's finding the ones that work best for you, finding the ones you truly believe in. And Leah, I'm going to let you take it how you decide which programs, which companies you work with.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so for us, we always start at home is what I say. We walk around our house and we look on our apps and we consider what are things we're already using, and I think a lot of times, when people think about content creation, their first thing that they jump to think of is physical products. I actually would much rather advertise experiences and things, because we're minimalists and so it's really easy to become overrun with physical items. So I, while I do, of course, still love some of our physical items, I always ask to partner with ones I already have and already love.
Speaker 1:So yeah, same for me. We do the same thing. I've used the product or service. I have loved it. I know the people who are involved in the company before I even agree to it new.
Speaker 3:Instead, start with the things you already have, because that just makes it so much easier and it makes pitching more natural too.
Speaker 3:So I initially signed up for well, I had started a program last year where I had purchased kind of a program that had pitches available, and then I took those pitches.
Speaker 3:I actually got so busy because he got laid off and I had to make money immediately. I've not done anything else from the program, I only took the pitches, customized them to my own speech and started sending them out, and it was amazing the response we received, because I think there's something to be said about when you already love a product, you basically sell. Sell the product that already exists or the service to that company. But they're buying you, they're buying your lifestyle, they want to get in front of your trusted audience and it's just, it's been this natural flow and I'm very passionate about, you know, the RV lifestyle. So we do a lot of things within that niche and we have built our audience that way, and so it doesn't feel inauthentic and I think that that's why it's successful is because I'm very intentional with who I choose to partner with and I say to people that it doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and that is what you just said is so important Authentic. It has to be a product or service you love. This is. I absolutely agree 100% with what you're saying. We both are partnered with RV Life. Rv Life Pro that was, you know, something I bought. So when Dan was trying to convince me to go RVing, he had bought the app, the program and it's trip planning and RV safe, gps and campground reviews, and so he did all these trip plans and said, wow, look at this, look at what we could do again to try and convince me. But from the beginning, we really loved what they have to offer. We love the product. Obviously, this is the RV Life podcast, so that's a good example. Both of us both promote RV Life and that's a good example for people.
Speaker 1:Do what you love, be authentic, don't try and be salesy all of those things, and I just I want to talk a little more about that. I want to talk about what you're doing, trevor, as a freelance web developer, which is outside my scope of understanding, so we're going to dive into that. But I want to talk a little bit about saving money while we're on the road, one of the things that I do to save money and you guys use it too is the Open Roads Fuel Card. So the Open Roads Fuel Card for those people who don't know it is for diesel fuel. It is a way to save money every time you stop for diesel fuel and the card is absolutely free to sign up for. You get your card, you have an app on your phone and you search the area you're going to be in and decide where you're going to stop for gas, and their average is between 40 and 60 cents a gallon and I have saved I want to say, a dollar a gallon. I save so much money every time we stop for diesel that it really adds up. So people who are on the road not only looking to make money, but finding places where you could actually save money.
Speaker 1:So let's go back to you, trevor, and talk about freelance web developer. I know it's the kinds of things I need. I don't understand. So I'm grateful for people like you, but let's talk about that. What are you doing? You know?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's what I was doing full time. When I had a full time job as well, I was a web developer. So I've been doing that for a little over 10 years and while I was employed full time, I've also done little freelancing gigs on the side, here and there, just kind of over the years. As you know, people have needed a website or whatever. So luckily I had some people I had worked with, some clients from doing that over the last 10 years that when I was laid off, I was able to, you know, reach out to some of them and find a couple of new clients and luckily I was able to use that freelancing to sustain us over the last year in addition to Leo's content creation. But yeah, so I build websites is kind of the easy way to put it. That works for me.
Speaker 2:It can be simple ones like a you know, a blog or a little e-commerce shop if you want to sell some merch. But I can also do way more complicated stuff like building full custom applications and like this warehouse management thing I built for a client who has multiple warehouses in multiple states and they need to track where their inventory goes. So it kind of runs the gamut.
Speaker 1:Okay, so give my, I just give my listeners the website and then I'll put it in the show notes so they can reach out to you. Do you have? I'm assuming, as a web developer, you have a website, I'm assuming as a web developer, you have a website.
Speaker 2:I do so. My personal website is trevorairecom, which has a few examples of my work. I'm actually spinning up a new page right now on our website, lamalamaadventurecom. I'm adding a new page there as well for freelance web development services. My personal website is a little bit more technical, a little bit more geared towards full-time, yeah, my full-time, like software engineering stuff. So it's a little bit more technical and in the weeds, if you want, like a basic website. But this other one on LamaLamaAdventurecom is going to speak more to that Right.
Speaker 1:And I'm going to put that in the show notes so people have a place to go and then they can reach out to you for anything and everything else they need. On what we talked about, I see our time, I'm trying to cram in as much as possible with our time and I usually don't care how much time we go, but there's been a lot of information. Let me just talk about again ways people can save money. Some of my RV Life listeners like to camp in the cold weather Air skirts. The inflatable RV skirt insulates and protects your RV's undercarriage. Air skirting goes around the perimeter of the RV and it's a revolutionary way to keep cool air from getting in. And it keeps you warmer, preventing pipes from freezing. These air skirts deflate, inflate and then deflate for easy storage. It is a great way for both. You know if you're camping in the cold and you want to save on if you're paying for electricity or you're paying for propane, but they also work really well if you're in the really hot temperatures doing the same thing. And they are giving my RV Life podcast listeners a $200 discount off any kit order and that is RV Life Pod RVPO I'm sorry, rvpod, so RV Pod, so you could check them out at airskirtscom to find out all about this product.
Speaker 1:Okay, one of the things I wanted to circle back to. There has been a lot and I'm really grateful you guys were able to jump on and give such great information. You guys are also part of full-time families, is that correct? Yes, can you talk a little bit about what full-time families is? I know you have a code. If you could share that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we have the lifetime membership for full-time families. You can either do an annual or a lifetime membership and we always knew from day one that we would at least spend two years doing this full-time and that, like that, was what we had committed to ourselves. And now here we are, five years later. So I'm really glad that I bought the lifetime access. It has saved money. But the greatest benefit to that program is the network that comes with it. So it's a network of families who are full time.
Speaker 3:You don't have to be full time to join it, by the way, if you are traveling maybe part of the year or even just, you know, seasonally. I still encourage checking into the membership because the benefit, especially if you travel a thousand trails, is access to chatting with other families. So when we're going to a thousand trails we can join, chat specific to each location and announce in the chat like hey, we'll be there these dates and we're traveling with a six-year-old daughter, these are her interests, and we can match her up with other kids to play and make friends along the road. And without that program it would be a lot more difficult to navigate life, especially with an only child. I think having an only child has its own significant challenges of loneliness, because the only people to play with are mom and dad and we're not, like, as cool as most kids. Right, very true.
Speaker 3:Oh our gimbal. Just I think it powered down because it's probably.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:So, we lost your and again. Just okay, and it's okay for for my listeners, we look at each other on video and their video just went all kinds of wonky, but it sounds like they are still there. Yeah, let me just talk while you're getting that back. Um thousand trails, for those who don't know, is a membership. They have campgrounds across the country. Anybody that wants information on the Thousand Trails program. I do have a membership specialist that I recommend that I'll put in the show notes. Thousand Trails, I believe, is the most cost-effective way to go RVing. Whether you're part-time sometime full-time, it doesn't matter, and they have a new program, so they have the new membership I'm not sure if you guys are aware of. It's called the Journey Membership and that allows you to have the membership for either two years or four years, as opposed to a lifetime membership. What's nice about that membership is it includes absolutely everything. There's no other fees and, again, anybody looking to find out more about Thousand Trails membership, the information will be in the show notes.
Speaker 1:Okay, I have to start wrapping up. There's still information I want to cover. I've got more questions for you. I want to talk about a company that I've been connected to for three years pretty much the entire time I've been full-time RVing and that is NIRVC National Indoor RV Centers and the thing I want to talk about today is not something people want to talk about, and that is the potential blowout on a motor home and blowouts. And the reason I'm bringing it up now is because I just was talking to somebody about a story of a tire blowout on a motor home that could have been catastrophic. It wasn't, thankfully, but there is an incredible product called RetroBand that will take care of getting you safely off the road if there should be a blowout. This product looks like a donut and it sits on the inside ring of the tire. If the tire bursts or loses air, the ring prevents the tire rim from making contact with the ground and it allows you to maintain control of your vehicle and get to a safe place. You can find out all about this at NIRVCcom, and anybody that has a motorhome I highly recommend it.
Speaker 1:But now is the part of the podcast which I love, because I get to ask my guests this question and they don't know it's coming, and what I want to know is for you guys to share with my listeners something that's on your bucket list either, something that you have done, that you're going to recommend, or something you are looking to do, and I'm going to give you a minute or two to think about it and talk about the fact that this question is brought to you by OpenRoad's innovative toll solution.
Speaker 1:This is a toll pass that covers all 48 states. It costs $24 for the year and, wherever, whatever toll road you are on in the US, it takes care of it. If you should ever have a problem with this toll pass, with a toll you get a fine Innovative Toll Solutions has concierge service, so you can either go on the app, tell them what the problem is, or you could call your concierge service that will help you through it. No more paying fines on toll roads that you've gone on. Okay, so that's just to give you guys time to think of that place that you would recommend.
Speaker 3:I think Cameron knows what I'm going to say is on my bucket list.
Speaker 2:On your bucket list or completed one.
Speaker 3:On. It's a state that I can't stop talking about, and we haven't been to.
Speaker 2:Montana, wyoming Washington.
Speaker 3:I'm very surprised you said it Alaska I so want to go to Alaska.
Speaker 1:He was so close.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:Alaska Okay.
Speaker 3:He just named all the states except for Alaska that we haven't been to.
Speaker 1:I think if we gave him another minute he would have gotten to yeah he was.
Speaker 3:You know we've been to 38 states, so he wouldn't have much time to to spend going through them.
Speaker 1:So right, right yeah okay, that's a state I also want to go to. It is definitely on my bucket list. Okay, I'm going to ask you guys we talked a little bit about. We're not done yet. I have the feature I want to talk about. Um, I'm going to lead people to llama llama adventurecom, which then has all of your information there. But it is now time for the featured campground of the week and it's brought to you by RV Life that we've spoken about.
Speaker 1:Rv Life has trip planning, it has RV Safe, gps, it has campground reviews and the campground this week is Encore Clearbrook and wow, I'm really stumbling here RV Resort and it's in Claremont Florida. It has 1,129 sites and this RV Resort it's about 20 minutes to Disney. It has a beautiful golf course, ocean frontage, ponds, canals, majestic trees. It offers full hookups, pull-in sites. It is absolutely dog-friendly and has a dog park. You could have cottage and campground rentals if you need those. This is a great campground. It has a 7.6 rating on RV Life Campgrounds and it's got 125 reviews.
Speaker 1:To get to this campground and any campground you go to campgroundsrvlifecom. Just search Encore Clearbrook Golf and RV Resort. I finally got it out in Claremont Florida and once you get there, there's this large red book now button making it easy to book your stay. When you go to campgroundsrvlifecom, you could see more photos and tips, the full list of amenities for this property. Rv Life Campgrounds is part of the RV Life Pro Suite of products. It's the most comprehensive source of RV parks, campgrounds, resorts, as well as city states and national parks, corpse of engineer properties and so much more. I highly recommend visiting campgroundsrvlifecom. Well, trevor Leah, I can't thank you guys enough for being on offering so much incredible value for my listeners. Thank you, guys so much. Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3:We could talk RV life for the rest of our lives, so we're so happy to be here, thank you.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I am going to recommend people go to your pages. So I am going to post llama llama adventurecom and then people can find all the pages you're on Instagram, facebook, tiktok, youtube and they can ask you questions, send you messages as well as any questions, messages for us. On the podcast platform that people are listening, there is a place for a review. Please put your questions, your comments we would all love to hear them. As well as my channels. Instagram, facebook is RV Life Podcast. Wow, what a show. Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:Again, again, you're listening to the rv life podcast. I'm patty hunt, wishing you a great rest of today and an even better day tomorrow. Thank you.