RV LIFE Podcast

Savannah Celebrations, Smarter RV Spending, Identity & Safety on the Road – RV LIFE 154

• RV LIFE • Episode 154

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From a month-long St. Patrick’s celebration in Savannah to the real costs, mindset shifts, and safety decisions that shape life on the road, this episode delivers practical insight and meaningful perspective for today’s RVers.

  • Discover why Savannah hosts one of the biggest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the country and how RVers can experience it.
  • Learn where RV travel costs sneak up on you and how to reduce fuel, campground, and service expenses.
  • Hear a candid conversation about identity shifts, mindset, and rebuilding purpose after going nomadic.
  • Understand why propane safety starts at the tank and how a shut-off valve can prevent serious emergencies.

Savannah might not be the first place you think of for St. Patrick’s Day, but John DiPietro and Supriya Christopher from Visit Savannah say it hosts one of the biggest celebrations in the country, with events all month and a parade that can run 4 to 6 hours.

Then Jim and Rene talk with Jared Davis of RV Complete Club about the real costs of RV travel, where RVers underestimate expenses, and how simple discounts on fuel, campgrounds, and service can ease the stress.

In RV Entrepreneur, Rose and Glynn sit down with Robyn and Victor Robledo of Nomads With a Purpose for an honest conversation about the identity shift that can hit when you go nomadic and the tools that helped them rebuild from the inside out.

Plus, Bob wraps up with Martin Neeson, founder of GasStop, explaining why propane safety starts at the source and how a shut-off valve can add peace of mind on every trip.

Get Complete Show Notes & Full Transcript
https://podcast.rvlife.com/rvlife154/

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Welcome & Episode Roadmap

Supriyah

Savannah, Georgia is at the top when it comes to Southern hospitality.

Martin

Propane and electricity is not a really the best combination.

Robyn

I chase adventures. I want to be the fun plum.

Jared

You know, it's hard to anticipate all the costs and hidden costs that are involved with trips.

ROSE

RV life, RV life, RV life, RV life, RV life, RV Life Podcast.

RENE

And welcome back to the RV Life Podcast. I'm Jim. And I'm Renee. Thanks for joining us again. We've got a really fun and useful episode lined up with a little travel inspiration and some real-world ways to save money on the road. Plus, a deeper conversation about mindset and identity and an important safety topic every RVer should know about.

JIM

That's right. Coming up in our travel segment, John takes us to Savannah, Georgia, where St. Patrick's Day is not just a one-day thing. This is more than just some parade. It's a big deal and a great destination for RVers.

RENE

Then in Lifestyle, we're talking with Jared Davis from RV Complete Club about one of the biggest realities of RV life, the costs. Not just fuel and campgrounds, but service and all those little surprises you don't read about in the pretty brochures. This is not just another savings club with some confusing point system, but it's a way to reduce the stress that comes with all of the expenses and planning.

JIM

After that, Rose and Glenn bring us another RV entrepreneur profile with Robin and Victor Robledo. And this is one it's a powerful conversation. They talk about the identity shift that can happen when you leave that default life to go nomadic and what it takes to rebuild from the inside out.

Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Season Unpacked

RENE

And to wrap up this episode, Bob has an important industry news segment with Martin Neeson, founder of Gasstot, about propane safety and why shutting off gas at the source can make a huge difference.

JIM

All right, let's get into it with a timely travel segment. If you think the biggest St. Patrick's Day celebrations are all up north, this may surprise you.

RENE

That's right. John is talking with Supriya Christopher from Visit Savannah about why Savannah's St. Patrick's season is one of the largest celebrations in the country. We discover how long the parade really lasts and what our viewers should know about visiting, parking, and getting around once you're there.

JOHN

All right, John, take us there. Hey everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the RV Life Podcast. My name is John DePitro. It's a pleasure to have you with us. And today, I am going to ask you a question. I am going to say, where do you think one of the biggest St. Patrick's Day celebrations in the United States is? And my guess is that nine out of ten of you are not going to get the right answer. Now, many of you will say New York, many of you will say Boston, many of you will say Chicago, but not many that I know of, unless they live down there, are going to say Savannah, Georgia. And today we are talking with a representative of Savannah, Georgia, Supriya Christopher, who's going to tell us all about the fantastic St. Patrick's Day. I shouldn't really say St. Patrick's Day. It's more like a week or weekend. It's extended day, right, Supria?

Supriya

Yeah, you got it, John. Well, first of all, thank you for having me on. And I can tell you, you are exactly correct. Savannah, Georgia boasts one of the largest St. Patrick's Day parades in the nation every year. And we've been doing it for over 200 years. And it's actually not even just a weekend, it's the entire month of March. We really go all out and want to celebrate this important and historic time of year. Um, a lot of folks don't know that Savannah has a centuries-old Irish legacy. We have strong Irish roots starting in County Wexford and dating back to the 18th century, uh, when when immigrants from Ireland started coming over to Savannah, Georgia. And with them, of course, they brought their culture and their civic pride and their costumes, and of course, their beginning.

JOHN

Well, you know, the the funny thing is, I don't think anybody would ever guess that Savannah would be a stopping point for immigrants because when immigrants would come from Europe in that, you know, in the early 1900s or so or 1850s, I mean, they would go to New York City and um, you know, they would uh disperse from there, and some would stay in that area, and you know, some would go to Canada, uh, and then the Canadians would come back to New England and that type of thing. But it's very rare to see uh Georgia as part of something to do with um um European heritage. Tell us a little bit. Now we're we're talking from an RV perspective, and I know whenever I have RV'd in Savannah, we've always stayed at a great park that's owned by our friends at Spacious Skies called Savannah Oaks, just outside the city. But the thing that I was impressed with from an RVer's perspective is that you have ample RV parking down by your visitor center, um, only a short walk from the quote-unquote tourist area, but you can you can eliminate that walk and get on one of those uh white trolleys or the red and green trolleys and have that little sticker on your lapel and go all around the city. Um, the other thing I've noticed is that everybody down there is so polite. And, you know, you're looking at your phone. You don't, nobody has maps anymore. You're looking at your phone, and people say, Hey, can I help y'all? You need directions. Um, but but talk a little bit about southern hospitality and why our veers from around the country would enjoy coming there and the good food that's there too.

RV Parking, Trolleys, And Walkable Squares

Supriya

Oh, I'll be happy to talk about all those things. And you had a lot of the highlights already, but you are exactly right. We have a very welcoming and uh community, and Savannah, Georgia is at the top when it comes to southern hospitality. We love to welcome our visitors from all over the country and all over the world in whatever way they make it here. We have uh a handful of very good RV parks in the area. You mentioned one. There's another one called Redgate Farms that a lot of RVers may be familiar with if they've been here, and the visitor center parking lot that you mentioned. All of these areas are not far from our historic district of Savannah. And once you're in the historic district, the best thing is that's actually all walkable. You can get to all the restaurants, museums, uh hot spots, if you will, the river street, which many people love to come and spend a day on. Um, and the trolley, the old town trolley tours. They're one of our greatest partners here in Savannah. You hop on those trolleys, it's hop-on, hop off all day long, and you can get to see the sites of Savannah that way as well. Uh, we have so many interesting and wonderful places for people just whether they're coming on a day trip or a weekend trip to enjoy. And beyond the restaurants and so forth, just strolling along any of our 23 original historic squares.

JOHN

Here's what I here's what I have to tell you. The first time we went there, we had driven like overnight from New England and um took one of the trolley tours, and I didn't get a good night's sleep, and I kept nodding off in the trolley. And every time I turned around, I thought we were the same place, but we were in a different square. And all the squares are very similar, but they have a historic meaning, and every one of them is a little bit different, right?

Supriya

And absolutely. I love to, as the director of public relations for Visit Savannah, I talk to media professionals every day. And one of the things I always like to say is that there is a new story to discover in every square in Savannah. Because, and that's the truth. I mean, it's very rare in the United States of America to first of all find a city as original as we still are. Most places, as most people know, have been developed upon, and time and changes in industrialization and technology has changed the way things look. But Savannah's so unique because you are walking amongst the original squares that have been there for 300 years.

JOHN

And on cobblestones on certain streets.

Supriya

Absolutely.

JOHN

Don't wear high heels.

Supriya

No, don't. You're better off with your running shoes or your sneakers. Uh, that's what we do recommend because we do have original cobblestones. And that's the beauty of our area. But what's also so interesting is that along with that historic side of Savannah, you also see the modernity of hotels that are eclectic and new and um wonderful to visit, as well as restaurants and shops and interesting museums. So it's this um very interesting juxtaposition, I guess you can say, of the old and the new, side by side. And that's what I think is the charm and the beauty and of Savannah that you just won't find anywhere else.

Parade Scale, Heritage, And Logistics

JOHN

Let's go back to our original topic, wasn't and I am the I am famous for jumping off topic and going a million different places. Um, talk about the parade because there's nothing like a St. Patrick's Day parade. And when you when you go to one in the Northeast, you have a tendency to be basically frozen solid, depending upon what the weather is for that particular day. My guess is the weather is a little bit a little bit nicer for watching a parade. Is it like an hour-long parade, an hour and a half, two-hour parade? How how big is this parade?

Supriya

Oh no, it's actually can be anywhere from about four to six hours long of this parade. And I'll tell you what, people come and line up on the streets, line their chairs up on the streets in the middle of the night, the night before of the 16th. The parade always takes place on March 17th, regardless of what day of the week it is.

JOHN

No matter what day of the week.

Supriya

Doesn't matter.

JOHN

Okay.

Supriya

We're as authentic as it gets when it comes to our St. Patrick's Day parade. And as I said, there's many festivities and parties and so forth that lead up to that date, but the parade's always on the 17th, and the kids are off of school. It's treated like a national holiday here. And um, what we really love about it is it's not just there to go out and get beers and drunk and all that type of thing. I mean, sure, that's also the fun of it. And all the bars are wide open and the restaurants are wide open for everybody to enjoy, but you really do see the blending of the heritage and the energy and the costuming of the Irish and of all of our community groups that embrace the celebration of St. Patrick's Day and of our Irish community. And that's what I think makes it so beautiful. And then put it with that massive celebration and that stunning backdrop that we just talked about, the Spanish moss ripping off the live oak trees and the walkable squares in the riverfront. It's just unforgettable.

JOHN

And I think it's important to say that the Irish still live there. It's not like you know, they came 200 years ago and left, and somebody else has uh, you know, a production company has put the put this show on.

Supriya

I mean, no, uh it's still led by the Hibernian Society of Savannah. We still have one of the largest populations of Irish, and uh, we're very happy that they have become a part of our community and they're not just become a part, they are some of the founders of this community. So we are very happy to celebrate our Irish heritage here. And uh, for those of us who aren't Irish, I'm not Irish, but I enjoy St. Patrick's Day more than uh maybe just the regular person that has been here for a while. It's just a great experience. And so if you're in the area, it's something that we highly recommend you try to do someday in your life. It's kind of one of those bucket list things.

JOHN

How about a website that uh people can um look at to see what other activities might be around there, either geographically but um chronologically at the same time of St. Patrick's Day?

Trip Planning Resources For Savannah

Supriya

VisitSavanna.com. www.visitsavanna.com. And when you go there, it's very regularly updated. We will have all of the information you need on the website. As it gets closer to the date as well, it'll be even more updated. So you'll really get all of the details. And I believe that the city of Savannah, savannah.gov, also has information pertaining to the logistics involved for parking and those types of things that you may be interested in when you're here. But uh visit savannah.com is the best place to start.

JOHN

Uh we have been talking with Supriya, Christopher from the Visit Savannah, right? Convention, what'd you say, CVB, Convention Visitors Bureau?

Supriya

Yeah, well, we're called a DMO, the destination marketing organization for Savannah in Chatham County.

JOHN

There we go. Thank you so much for being with us. And folks, if you are looking for a new and exciting thing to do for St. Patrick's Day, start planning now, and uh I'm sure you'll enjoy it. So for the RV Live Podcast, this is John DePetro saying, we'll see you again real soon.

Hosts Reflect And Transition

RENE

Okay, first of all, Savannah is one of those places that just feels like it was made for wandering. I loved walking around the cemetery, lunch at Clary's.

JIM

Yeah, yeah, that was years ago. Maybe it's time we head back. I love how they talked about the practical side for RVers, where you can park, how walkable the town is, and that trolley that we obviously missed.

RENE

All right, coming up next, we're switching gears to something every RVer feels sooner or later. The cost of RV travel and the stress that comes with it.

JIM

We sat down with Jared Davis to get the scoop on RV Complete Club. We talk about how this isn't just an average travel membership. RV Complete Club is built around the things RVers spend money on the most: fuel, campgrounds, and service. Plus, we discuss how the app helps you find those benefits while you're traveling.

RENE

All right.

JIM

Let Jared tell them, Jim. Let's go. Jared, nice to meet you. Thanks so much for joining us. We look forward to sharing everything going on at RV Complete Club.

Jared

Yeah. Thank you guys for having me. Super excited to be here and appreciate the opportunity.

JIM

Hey, it's our pleasure as well. And for our listeners who might not know about RV Complete Club, um, tell us a bit about what it is, what it entails, what kind of services. And personally, I'm interested in like who started it and why.

Jared

Yeah, so you know, at Blue Compass RV, you know, who I worked with before this, you put such a massive focus on the investment towards the customer experience and always trying to raise the bar. And at one point, we we did sit down and we thought about how we can extend that investment beyond just the RV buying experience, because of course, as a dealership group, you want to make sure that buying experience is amazing. But uh, you know, we're we're proud to sell a lot of RVs each year. But, you know, there's roughly 11 million RVers out there who aren't looking to buy every single day, of course. So, you know, they wanted to be able to use that, you know, RV and enjoy the lifestyle, you know, those those RVers at home. And so we decided it'd be a great initiative to create something to promote the lifestyle and be able to offer a great experience for all those RVers out there. So, you know, there's no better music to our ears than hearing about all the experiences that RVers are able to make with their friends and their family. So we ultimately decided to create a way to stretch those opportunities and make it much easier for them and also lighter on their pocketbook.

RENE

Yeah, you know, the thing about RVing is it's it's not just uh a vehicle you're buying, you're you're getting into a lifestyle when you get an RV. And so there's so much that goes into that for the entire time you own that rig, like fuel and campgrounds and also getting your RV serviced. So these are the things that we all deal with for good or not when we have an RV. And I'm wondering why did you guys decide to focus on those areas when you put the club together?

Inside RV Complete Club Benefits

Jared

Yeah, yeah, great question. You know, we actually decided and we wanted to hear from our customers and say, you know, where do they run into the most uh call it friction, whether it's for good or for bad? Where do they see that they're spending most of the money? RVers spend a lot, like you mentioned, on their RV, and you know, it's like a second home for most people, and this is how they take their vacations. And so it is a significant investment, and we wanted to make sure, you know, we could utilize, you know, some of our partnerships to to help them, you know, stretch that that experience further. And so, you know, you kind of mentioned we have our our fuel discount program. So we work with love. This is a great partner of ours. They have over 600 locations nationwide, and and we wanted to make sure that when they're out traveling from place to place, they can save 13 cents off gas and 20 cents off auto fuel. They also have propane discounts, overnight stays, um, and dump stations as well. And then once they finally get to that destination, we we wanted to build the campground network. So we have over 600 locations where we focus not on quantity of locations, but quality. So we actually used RV Life, obviously another amazing partnership of ours, and we said, Hey, can you send us your highest rated campgrounds across the nation? And we just started calling, started building relationships so you know we can send our customers to the best of the best locations to have amazing experiences. While they can also save up to 20% off the nightly rate at all those locations. Wow. And then anytime in between there, if something bad happens or something falls apart, or they even just need to stop in to grab uh supports, they have the opportunity to save up to $200 off every single time they stop at the Blue Compass dealerships. So it's at a 10% off rate.

JIM

So maybe it's a good time to pause and just kind of list off, you know, you say RV Complete Club, what makes it complete? You've listed a few things there. There's discounts on staying places, service. Is there roadside assistance? What else does uh RV Complete Club include?

Jared

Yeah, great question. So if you buy an RV from Blue Compass RV, you actually get the RV Complete VIP package, which does include roadside assistance. This is something you can only get from uh Blue Compass RV. So if you buy from them any new or used unit, you get that. We work with CoachNet directly, they have an amazing reputation for you know taking care of customers and the situations where they need it the most. Um you can't actually buy that roadside assistance outright, let's say, but you can always go to CoachNet and they'll make sure you're taken care of. The club does not include that roadside assistance. The club is actually just the campground benefits, the service and parts discounts, and then the fuel. And then there's a couple of other small discounts you can also get with being a part of the club, which is also listed on the sites and stuff like that. So to bring it full circle, the VIP membership, which is what you get when you buy, also has the one year of the RV Complete Club included in it as well. But for anybody out there who just wants to purchase it, it's just $39 a year.

JIM

That's great. You mentioned just that's funny because that's quite of a flat of resources there, whether you're on vacation, like you mentioned, or full-time RVers. But for the members out there who are using this on a daily basis, is there any particular benefit you think that kind of makes the biggest difference in their travels?

Fuel, Campgrounds, Service: Where You Save

Jared

Ultimately, I'd have to say the gas benefit. We chose Love because they're high-quality fueling stations and they offer everything from gas, auto-desilk, propane, dump station. They have overnight stays as well. I'll just say I was at the Tampa Super Show a couple weeks ago. Uh, I can't tell you how many people walked up and they were like, We love loves. Tell us more. Telling us that they have a place to let their dogs run around and they're clean and they have big lots, which is actually a very big topic when you have a big RV that you're pulling around. So I do think that's the most beneficial. You know, you can avoid, you know, running into service issues. Um, you can dry camp or boondock or even park at a beach, but no matter where you go, you're gonna need fuel to get there. And so I think that's a credible, you know, incredible benefit there. And it's 600 nation six are 600 locations nationwide where you can take advantage of that. Uh, in terms of just money saved, though, uh, I do of course love the parts and service discount for every membership that's just $39 per year. You have the ability to save $200 every time you stop in. You know, if you run into an unfortunate situation where you have a big service bill, it's gonna pay off pretty significantly. I I do a lot of running the numbers, it's kind of my job. And we ultimately determined, you know, you could save well over just that $39 annual fee by just taking one trip. You know, you mentioned full-time RVers, yeah. Obviously, it'll rack up pretty quick. But even a one-time user, you know, can take advantage of and make it, you know, well worth the trip. And then also to add on to this, that loves discount can be for your truck, your car, your motorcycle, boats. That's you still name it. And so, you know, maybe you're not RVing, but you can still stop into that loves and take advantage of that. I actually make sure my parents do that as well.

JIM

It sounds as though you the membership could pay for itself on one trip. If you save on the campground and fueling up while you get there and maybe some service along the way, I mean you could save more than the cost of the membership, right?

Jared

Absolutely. Yeah, I I don't quote me because this is off the top of my head, but we kind of did a mock trip and I actually used RV Life's Trip Wizard, and it was right before the Hershey RV show. And so I'm sitting in Fort Lauderdale in my office, and I I think I picked out a new mar and I said, How much can I save just going up to Hershey uh on my way there to go set up and talk to people about the club? And it was, I think, $105 each way.

Supriya

Wow.

Jared

Obviously, it's a pretty substantial drive, but um and that's without any service or parts needed. So yeah, it it it it can definitely pay for itself. Um, you know, if you're a nationwide traveler, it's it's a significant opportunity.

RENE

Yeah, I I just I love how you mentioned that, you know, it's good for your other vehicles too. And I like right now we're parked seasonally for winter and we use our truck to get around. And yeah, I mean, first of all, anytime we have the trailer with us, Loves is always a number one choice because it's so easy. Like you said, they have everything. But right now, you know, we've just got the truck and we will still use that discount in when we're filling up the truck, especially out here in uh Southern California where fuel prices are astronomical. So I love any chance I can get for a discount. Now, you mentioned you're a numbers guy and you you've been crunching the numbers for this program. Now, what do you see as the biggest area where people tend to underestimate what Arvine costs? You you've done a lot of research into this.

Stress, Peace Of Mind, And The App

Jared

Yeah. Um, you know, it's hard to anticipate all the costs and hidden costs that are involved with trips. Uh, I'm definitely sure, you know, most people are better at planning and building itineraries than I am, but I always seem to finish a trip and just kind of choose to ignore the credit card statement that's coming the next month, knowing I definitely spent more money than I, you know, had planned or hoped for. So on our app, you can see a map of the entire US and where exactly these customers can save on their trips. So when planning, they can ensure that they will hit all the spots in which they can save money so that you know they know when they need to stop at a campground or fill up at a LOVES, they can expect to have the opportunity to save money on that. Unfortunately, the gas mileage on these RVs aren't great. You know, as you guys can probably relate, when pulling a travel trailer, your truck's not going to get great gas mileage either. So depending on, you know, your fuel capacity, you can end up filling up many, many times on one trip, and you didn't necessarily account for that. Right. Campgrounds have also gotten more expensive. You know, we listened to a lot of RVers for feedback, and you know, I mentioned that's how we build this club. But these campgrounds can get up to $100 per night. So we wanted to make sure we were alleviating that cost as well. And then the part, of course, that no one wants to talk about the sort of subject is the unexpected service and parts that are to maintain your RV. They can be expensive. So, you know, we wanted to offer a place for RVs to stop nationwide and uh where they can save money up to $200 every time they come into the location. So, in summary, you know, we we we want customers to be able to look back and not necessarily have to hide from that credit card statement, but actually be able to say, wow, I I thought we had spent a lot, but you know, we actually saved a lot as well. And then in terms of that planning and the itinerary, you know, the Trip Wizard's an amazing tool and also like lets you know what type of cost to expect because it does have the gas prices listed and um you know a great way for me to see the opportunity at savings too when I'm not just you know out RVing. I wish I could more, but I'm sitting here at my desk instead.

JIM

Sounds like these apps and programs that kind of go hand in hand, but you mentioned costs quite a bit in there, which is what your program is you know primarily about is saving costs. That could be a big stressor for folks on these trips. You know, a lot of people think the lifestyle is RVing carefree, sunsets, it's just you know there's love and life, but then you come home and you have all those bills. But there's other stresses involved, say there's emergency service and stuff. And it sounds like the Complete Club might kind of help people deal with the stresses of RV travel. How does it do that?

Jared

Yes. So we like to, you know, also we'd like to talk about how we're the trusted navigator, right? We want to give people the peace of mind and knowing that, you know, sometimes at Blue Compass, you know, we always talk about this too, is you have that sale and then they kind of say, All right, see you later. Good luck on your travels. Yeah. Um and there's a lot of stress to it. I mean, you go through a demo, talk about essentially a home on wheels, and you get a couple hours to learn about everything, right? You know, we wanted to ensure that no matter where you go, um, you know, we can take care of you. And that's why ultimately, you know, when I talk with, you know, the people with Blue Compass, you know, quite often still, is they they wanted to build that nationwide network so that if something happens, we can take care of you. You might have bought in South Carolina, but we can help you and help you in Southern California too. You know, it can be stressful. And so we're not gonna always be able to fix everything, and but we're gonna also always try and push you in the right direction and help you save a little bit of money while doing that. Just alleviate stress knowing that someone's always there on your team and we're not just pushing you off into the the wild and saying good luck.

JIM

Not just handing you the keys. Right, you're right.

Jared

You know, worst case scenario, you're on the side of the road. I hate talking about this because uh you want to promote the industry, but it happens, right? And people need to know what to do when they're in that situation. And so in the app itself, you can go ahead and request services and they you can book a point service appointments right through there.

RENE

Nice.

Jared

If you need to get a hold of a Coach Net, you can go ahead and call right from the app as well. So the cool thing is the app, you know, when working in, you know, hand in hand with Blue Compass, is it's not just the club in the app. There's also multiple other uh usability features in there that can ultimately help create a better customer experience to help the RVers take a deep breath while they're out on the road and going through a stressful situation.

Choosing Clubs And Quality Campgrounds

RENE

Yeah, and that's just like you said, it's just the reality of of any kind of travel. You know, being full timers for as long as we have now, um, I can say for sure, first of all, that CoachNet is fabulous. I mean, we have been using them for well over 12 years. And there's been times that we've had to call them. And so things do happen, and it's just nice knowing that you have these backup contingencies in place to help you out during those really stressful times. Because for the most part, RV is that sunset on the beach and the beautiful weather in the middle of winter and that kind of thing. But you know, there are there are little moments where you need some extra help. So I love that you guys are coming through during those tough times. It it really makes you feel appreciated and you know, valued as a customer. Now, for RVers out there, people who are new, they tend to ask, like, what's the best club I can join? What what should I what what do you feel, Jared, are the best clubs somebody should join? Like, how do you choose? What do you decide on when it comes to managing the cost of a lifestyle and the the membership clubs that support it?

Jared

So obviously I'm gonna be a little bit biased here.

RENE

Yeah, I would too. It's a great, it's a great program.

Jared

Yeah, yeah. Um, so of course, you know, I'm gonna obviously talk about why I think the RB Complete Club is great. Um, but I can kind of talk to that by by speaking on some of the differentiators um that we ultimately built the club with. Um, you know, many clubs out there offer point systems. And, you know, I travel a lot for my job and and I know the systems well. You know, you always want to stay at this hotel because you're getting points or flying this airline or whatever it might be. But when we looked back, we kind of noticed that the points never really got us as far as we had hoped. And most times we ended up spending more money just chasing these points. So for full-time RVers, that might be great. But for full-timers and then families who just go on weekend or week-long trips, we wanted them to be able to just save that money without the points involved or the gamification. And at the end of the day, we felt that allowing customers to save money and spend less every single day kind of outweighs that the chase, you know, and earning points that they had hoped to use one day. And they have the peace of mind that their money's working for them and taking them further every single day. And then I'd say, you know, the second biggest differentiation is just the Blue Compass partnership, the ability to work with the dealer group that I'm confident is going to do their best to give a VIP treatment to club members specifically. Um, and not many other groups have that partnership with the dealer group that's you know going to give that experience and also help them and give them the opportunity to save on parts and service if that's necessary. And then I kind of mentioned this a little bit earlier too, but you know, our campground network of over 600 locations nationwide wasn't built on the stance of quantity, it was on quality. And uh, you know, it's important that you love where you go, and that's where memories will be made. And so we we got on the phone and we recruited campgrounds with that exact thing in mind, is to ensure our club members could save money while having incredible experiences. And I think we did a pretty good job of that. We work with uh some incredible big groups out there. Sun Outdoors is a great one, they're super high quality. Yeah, I was at one in Myrtle Beach not long ago. Northgate Properties is a group we worked with. They have Camp Finfo and you know, those are like super, super cool. And then, you know, a lot of other great groups out there that are just you know high quality, and I could trust that they were gonna be willing to give great experiences. And also if something happens to their RV while they're parked at their campground, they're not just gonna ignore them, they're gonna help them out. And um, we we talked about first-time buyers as well. And if they don't know exactly the whole setup and how to get it, they said you know they'd be happy to give the opportunity and the time to make sure they're set up and ready to camp and you know, not stressed out about whether I set up correctly or something's gonna go wrong. And so it's kind of the mindset we went in is just saying, hey, we want to find cus campgrounds who are gonna take care of our club members, and they're gonna be uh very happy that they went there and gonna want to go again and go try another place. And I always talk about my biggest fear somebody would buy an RV, go out to a campground that I led them to, have a terrible experience, and say, Why did I do this? Yeah, a huge loan and this terrible experience happened. I don't know if this is fit for me.

RENE

So um I was a long answer, but I'm just gonna answer I love that you put so much thought into the research for the campgrounds that are a part of this. That really says a lot about how much you guys care about the customer experience.

How To Join And Use The App

JIM

And we've talked about like family RVing weekends and traditional RVers and full-time RVs, but it's with so many different types of quote unquote RVers out there. It sounds like the club could really uh help if you like boondocking, you're still gonna save on fuel. And if you like resorts, you're still gonna save on service. But before we go, can you tell us kind of the best way folks can learn more about the club and why how they might think whether or not it's good for them?

Jared

Absolutely. I would tell you to go to www.rvcomplete.com and you can find the club located right in there. But if you want a simpler way, just go ahead and download the RV Complete app. It's on the App Store for Apple as well as uh the Google Play for Android. That's where all your benefits are going to be seen, right there. We have the incredible map right on there that is uh, you know, RV Life helped us with. And the greatest part of that I love about the map is if you're worried about where you're traveling, you can actually link your RB Life Pro subscription right in there. And so if you were worried about my AC unit that I just got put on and I'm gonna go through an overpass, and I don't want to you can actually route your trip right through that map on the RV Life Pro um database, and it's gonna take you with your RB safe directions, knowing that it's not gonna put you in a terrible situation. And so, you know, I have to always thank RV Life Pro. They've always worked with us so well on this, and they helped us with that campground uh search, and so and many other reasons, but um you know it's it's it's a great place just to go right to the app and see everything that you can save all in one place. It just kind of creates that simplicity and and finding those campgrounds, finding the gas, finding the blue compass locations, and then getting there safely, of course.

Cost Reality Check And Takeaways

RENE

Sounds like such a great experience, Jared. Thank you so much for being here and telling us all about it.

Jared

Yeah, appreciate you having me. Thanks so much. Sure, thanks again.

JIM

You know, I love this kind of conversation because it gets real. RV life is amazing, but the costs add up fast.

RENE

And it's not just about saving a few dollars, it's the peace of mind of knowing where to go, what to do, and having fewer uh-oh moments on the road. Uh-oh.

JIM

All right. Next up is another amazing RVE profile with Rose and Glenn.

Identity On The Road: Robin & Victor

RENE

Oh yeah. They're talking with RV entrepreneurs Robin and Victor Roblito about something that is never discussed enough. What happens to your sense of identity when you leave that traditional path, especially when your work and your location used to define you.

JIM

Right. They share their story about leaving the default life to be nomads, that messy middle part, and the tools that help them rebuild not just income, but confidence and direction.

RENE

Here are Rose and Glenn and the nomads with a purpose.

ROSE

Hello, Victor and Robin. Welcome to the RV Entrepreneur segment of the RV Life podcast. Today we're gonna talk a little bit about mindset, specifically the identity shift that entrepreneurs tend to experience when going from working a traditional job, either one's own business in that working environment, and then going to the full-time RV living and being a nomad. We tend to have this identity loss. And you guys went through it and will share with us hopefully how you overcame that. And that has also become part of your life coaching. But before we get into all that, briefly share a little bit about yourselves and what you do.

Robyn

I chase adventure. That's about it. I want to be the fun bomb. I was 20 when we opened our first business as a brick and mortar in Coronado, California, a very affluent area. We opened a gymnastic studio and it was really successful. We got married that next year and had kids right away. We have five children. And when we opened it, it was great because we wanted to be together all the time. And I only highlight that because if anybody lives in an RV, they know that at first, like, wow, I get to see my spouse all the time. And then you get to a point where you're like, you need to leave. You need to go do something. All I do is see you. That is part of that identity, though. Like, I am Victor's wife. And then through all of our travels, I realized I am Robin Sander, my maiden name at my core. And I have to figure out this identity of Robin Robledo. So we opened our business, we ran it. It's a great business, very successful in a really affluent city until Victor had a massive adrenal burnout in 2009 that kind of redefined our first level of identity of relationship. Before that, we did everything together. We were like Velcro. And then through that healing process, he started doing jujitsu. I ended up pregnant with my fifth child. We kind of went in parallel paths that I was not okay with. I was, I straight up pretty much freaked out. I was crying all the time. Who am I? You're leaving me. I'm stuck. As a mom at home, and as I got my head above water, I picked up a surfboard and I just started surfing. And then I was like, oh wow, there's an I. Like that was a big identity shift for me. I love being outdoors. I had no idea. I had to start showed him, hey, look at these houses on the beach. We can afford this for rent. And so we moved to the beach for two years. And it was really almost perfect, except that I was still like in that identity of I never see you. I miss you. I want to see you more. And he was busy working. The landlord wanted her house back. And I said, you know what? We could save so much money. This was 2015. There wasn't this huge RV life influence at the time. I knew nobody who lived in an RV. I'm like, you know, we could save so much money. If we just lived in our RV for five months, no big deal. We'll rent a house in September. It would be like just a really good opportunity to just pull Victor away from his brick and from our brick and mortar. Uh the goal was to pull him away for like a 10-day trip and then a three-week trip and then a six-week, six-week trip. And in between, we would be in an RV in San Diego. That's cuing Victor because that's what started his identity shift.

Leaving The Default Life

GLYNN

Looking back, because Victor, this is you know, based on what Robin just said, this is you know, toward you, how much of your identity was tied to your business and even your location? And I say that selfishly because I was the same.

Victor

100%. Maybe, okay, maybe 98. 98%. It was like I wake up, I go to, I go to this place, I am the man. Right? I walk in this town that I've developed. I couldn't walk more than a block without someone recognizing me. I could create my business was self-perpetuating. Because of that, I made a connection. Hey, how are you? Hey, when are you gonna come in for a workout? I'm waiting for you. And then that would naturally build itself out in a digital realm, which we'll probably touch on. You know, I'm a still a child of the 80s. Like I know what I know how to make human connection. That was my gift, but digitally, that was something that really, really was a curveball that I was not prepared for. So a lot of my identity was wrapped up into it, and a lot more was wrapped up into that I must grind mentality. I come from a long lineage of grinders. Well, of course, you're supposed to get to the end of the day and feel just like satisfied, like ah, I did it. I'm exhausted. You know what? That other two percent is you are a walking billboard. Oh man, that's the other thing. Right. And the other thing in fitness, always being like being that it's once in a while you're like, you know, I want a donut.

ROSE

Go hide in a closet. Exactly. Yeah. So for our listeners, do you own that tumbling business before you left for RV life? And then you ended up selling. Right.

Robyn

And we had two businesses side by side, a gymnastics one and a personal training one in Coronado. So when we started traveling, it was just more like, hey, let's let's take these road trips. And Victor, I just work I'm working on finishing up my book. He just says, sure, sure. I'm like, do you want to talk talk about it? Anything more? No? Sure. Okay. So we we kind of jumped into that. And after that last trip, we're coming back across the border into California again. And he's like, I can't ask you to rent a house. Like, you're too happy. Let's just stay in the RV, keep the brick and mortar going. And we pretty much lived in our RV and then just took bigger road trips for that first until 2016 in May. We still kept the brick and mortar going, hired an employee, went to Costa Rica for a month, Europe for six months, which that was another whole identity breakdown. And then tried one more year of like back and forth trying to keep the business afloat while I was trying to be like, if we if we just learned marketing, if we became influencers, we could be the bucketless family. And in May of 2017, we closed the door, and in my head, we were gonna make it. We were gonna be the influencers, and it just never happened.

GLYNN

It's a lot harder than people think.

ROSE

It really is. And once you close those doors on that brick and mortar business and you're like free for a little while, it's like, yay, okay, we can do all this, and this is wonderful. And then you're like, maybe we should try and uh create more of an income again. Okay. So what do we do? Do we do the same thing? There's this identity that's tied to what you were doing. It was, it's all about you. And then, so what did you guys do after that?

Robyn

Well, the hard thing in that process, Victor never sat down with me and said, you know what? I want this RV life thing. I want this. Let's think of ways that I could make money. It was always like, Hey, you should do this. Hey, try this. Like, I'm the like spitballing idea. And Victor's just kind of like sitting there, uh-huh.

Victor

Okay, well, I always appreciate even this moment, Robin's mind is like, you can see it. Shows are the North Star that we're pointing to. But in my mind, I must protect my family, I must keep cash flow coming in, I need to provide them. And it also, because of my backstory, as soon as that brick and mortar closed, my nervous system was like on high alert. So I didn't have the creative potential.

Robyn

In 2018, we basically came to a compromise after 2017 and we're like, hey, I understand you need a place in person, but I just refuse it to be San Diego. I was so done with San Diego, and I said, Let's just try somewhere else. He's like, roll the dice. Okay, bend, bend Oregon.

Hitting Bottom And Pivoting Online

Victor

Working in a place, starting you, you were in fitness. You know what it's like. Building rapport with people takes a little time. Being accepted and embraced by a community, that takes time. And uh so when I I arrived here, I would walk into a facility, like, hey, are you you're looking for a trainer? And you just expect them to know like you're the man, and like that's not the case. Okay, well, you can start working here, but at the same time, I'm watching our bank account go 500, 400, 300, 200 goose egg. Right? And you're going, I have to pivot. I know now. What I know now is you must step into those greater visions and know that they're going to happen as opposed to playing a little bit small. Because if you if I did this all over again, I would have stopped playing small. I mean, I ended up running out of money and having to work as a mover in town and going like I got I gotta feed my family, I gotta take care of them. Instead of coming in, coming into it with something bigger, instead that just ends up really cutting the legs out from your creative potential and that expansion that you have to have. I know now that the mindset needs to be broad, vast, and empowered towards that creative potential. If it's not there, you end up tripping and falling and back step, back step. Before you know it, you're moving furniture, schlepping furniture, and traveling like somewhat all over the country just to break even. But there is a huge self-worth problem at that point, right? Yeah, you know, one of the words that I use always is humility. I was ingrained with it, it's part of me. When you walk in quite humbly into a place, they don't know what your worth necessarily is. So yes, I realize now that that's a crutch of self-worth. Martial arts has taught me you're you're there's always a bigger fish. Like in in the jujitsu game, like you always have to step on with some humility. Yes, I get that. But I made that mistake in life oftentimes. Through this process, I learned that all the words you choose to live by, well, they can also be a bit of a crutch. And I really do think that for me, that was hiding behind that a self-worth issue that I naturally had.

Robyn

And so we ended up with a miracle that we wrecked our RV. Somebody rear-ended us and it totaled the back, but it was still drivable. So we ended up with like a big chunk of money to like get our head above water again. And so then we had a pivot, and then Victor still couldn't find clients. So he started working at Lowe's. And at the time, I was still like, I miss you. I want to see you. Oh, go work at Lowe's with you. And I walked into Lowe's with that red jacket, and he looked at me and he's like, I'm leaving next weekend. I'm going back to San Diego. I know how to make money there. End of story. And then 2020 just crushed it all.

Victor

In some ways, in a good way, because well, it allowed me 2020 allowed me to really go, it was way more acceptable to do what I was doing digitally. Whereas before, in my mind, I'm like, no, I have to work with people. I have to be in person to read angles and lines and technique. And eventually that opened up the possibility, and that op that possibility then flourished into something that I could do beyond just counting reps or reading the body. And so sometimes the universe conspires like, oh, you need to push. And I do believe that everything that's happened to us has happened really for a reason to really show that you have to be prepared, and the universe prepares you for some of this thing. That's a deeper idea. I understand that, but I do think I would having all the challenges that we faced, I would do it all over again.

ROSE

So you, Victor, had to pivot. You were kind of forced to pivot to online, which now was a blessing, and you're doing that currently. And your identity was kind of forced to morph into something better. But were there things along the way in the middle? It gets messy. Any advice for those who are going through that? What did you do? Any tools, anything that helped you? Yeah.

Tools For The Messy Middle

Victor

Looking back, if I had the tools that I had now, I would have been able to overcome that, really overcome and push through faster. I started meditating. I started doing breath work. I realized that my nervous system was just hijacked because of my backstory. I come from a place where money was scarce. And so when I saw that money disappearing and put me into a fight or flight state, I knew it. I felt it. I just didn't have the skill in the moment to calm down on a deep level. And so meditation and breath work, yoga practice, all of these things that I had developed, and I certainly had my strength training and my conditioning and all those things, but those weren't really kind of giving me the ability. I had to be able to hover outside my okay, is this a person I want to be? And so each person, even now that I work with, even Qigong as well, the people that I work with, it's about giving them the best shot. And everyone is drawn to certain skills more. I'm like, hey, let's try meditation, let's try this. Let's try. And when you feel that click, like, ooh, something is happening. I can feel this undercurrent of emotion. And so all of the things that were pushing me, what were the sticky middle parts? Like I was an angry SOB a lot of times because and I didn't even know why. And it was because I was running on adrenaline and fuming, like, how am I going to provide? How am I going to provide? Why is this so hard? And instead of shifting from a place of empowerment, right? I was like, I was playing a victim. Like this is happening to me. But I was happy to play the martyr. Like I will self-sacrifice for you guys to have this wonderful experience that I did not have. But it was increasingly becoming more challenging as time went on. And so all of those challenges pushed me to start like, okay, what tool can I add? What habit can I start? Obviously, we know to drink plenty of water, eat great food, like really do all these things, but I needed to up that level. And then over time, I started to have a better idea of what it was that I needed to stay in that calm state and have an impact on really what I was drawing to me and drawing to us.

ROSE

Excellent. Excellent advice.

GLYNN

You're resonating with me so much right now, Victor. That just pulled me in.

Robyn

The little tidbit is Victor wasn't raised with parents who said, What do you want? What would make you happy? And so to have identity, we have to be able to identify that. What is happiness? What is like I keep this thing by my um computer whatever? Happiness is my birthright, but we're not raised to think that we're allowed to be happy. But that's that was like a big part of our struggle is that grinder mentality. You're not important unless you're suffering. And that was really that was a big thing for us to overcome. That it's okay, like we can be happy.

Victor

Going back to one of the challenges, I went from living with my family and we moved out together. Right. So I had zero transition and actually finding. And to me, in my mind, looking back, I said, whatever she wants, I'm gonna make sure it's happy. That's the most important thing in my life. And that is still the most important thing in my life, is to protect my family. However, I have to make sure I'm balancing that and tempering it with what my personal needs and development are instead of just sacrificing and exhausting oneself without that natural self-care or natural feeding of the self. All too often, I think I see it a lot when I work with men. They they get into that similar state where they're self-sacrificing for their family, and then they never really had a chance to discover what actually makes them tick and feels their energetic self as opposed to withdrawals, withdrawals. And that's how I basically put it with guys. I'm like, hey, you have too many withdrawals from your bank account and not enough deposit. What is a deposit? And they go, I have no idea. Watching football on Sundays. I'm like, okay, well, how do you feel after doing that? Still kind of tired. Then it's not an it's not a deposit. We have to find out what that is.

From External To Internal Identity

Robyn

And that's like where we did agree is that we reframed our life, our identity, around prioritizing recreation, recreating ourselves. What each what it looked like for me versus Victor was different at first. We eventually realized, hey, mountain biking. We can meet at mountain biking, that we're about the same level there. Some of these other sports weren't create. It was maybe recreating me, not him. Jiu Jitsu recreates him. I don't do jujitsu. So but finding that balance, it really like that's the whole reason to move into an RV to me. Not other people are different, but to prioritize recreation, recreating yourself. If it wasn't for the recreation, I would never living in an RV is hard. It's you have to flex muscles. You really don't want to flex. You have the luxury tax of sewer, and like it's not fun. It's only fun if you recreate yourself.

GLYNN

To back up a little bit, it is called a recreational vehicle for a reason. So it seems like losing yourselves actually became the path to finding yourselves again.

ROSE

Exactly right. And that identity that you had that was tied to that business, brick and mortar. Now you guys have gone through that process. Closing here, do you have any advice for like someone who is afraid of losing their identity, going from that, you know, by leaving that traditional stuff? What would you tell them from your own experience?

Robyn

Yeah, it's really simple. This is extrinsic versus intrinsic. That identity where I walk through the street and I, because I too walk through the street, and everybody, I'm the one who started the business. They're like, Miss Robin, Miss Robin, Ms. Robin. I understood that there was a that's what surfing did. It moved me from that extrinsic value system of what does this person think of me, how popular am I, to what do I think of myself when I'm drowning in the ocean. It's it's self-perpetuating because the recreation is re-identifying who you think or what you think of yourself, your core values. And it's just a shift from extrinsic to intrinsic values.

ROSE

That's a really cool way of putting it. And so you guys are online personal training, life coaching, all that now. So, where can our listeners find you if they want to learn more or maybe inquire about some of your coaching? We're nomads with a purpose.

Robyn

Uh so nomadswithapurpose.com. You can uh find our things there. You can just shoot us an email, Victor at Nomadswitha Purpose, Robin at nomads with a purpose. And um, we have a myriad of things, life coaching to just finding your identity through understanding more about the self. Uh, Victor does a lot of breath work and meditation in helping people to self-regulate. Obviously, he still does fitness training. It's just um there's a lot of other ways of helping.

ROSE

We want to thank you so much, Victor and Robin, for coming on today. We appreciate your time.

JIM

Thank you. Wow, that one really hits home because even if you're not an entrepreneur, that identity shift is something a lot of our viewers experience.

RENE

Oh, yeah. Whether it's leaving a career, becoming a full-timer, or just redefining what success looks like to you, there was a lot in there to think about.

Where To Find Nomads With A Purpose

JIM

All right, let's close out this episode with something safety focused. It's important and it's one of those topics that's worth hearing before you ever need it.

RENE

Bob is talking with Martin Neeson, founder of Gas Stop, about propane safety, how their shutoff system works, and why it matters to stop a catastrophic leak at the source, not after it becomes an emergency. Here's Bob and Martin.

BOB

Okay, my guest today is Martin Neeson, the founder of Gas Stop, which is the safest propane uh security system in our industry and and in the world. But Martin, take it take us back to when you founded the product and and why it was such an important invention for you.

Safety Focus: Propane At The Source

Martin

Yeah, thank you for having me, uh Bob. Um uh yeah, Gastop is a hundred percent shut-off safety valve in case of a sudden or catastrophic um propane leak. And uh the good thing about Gastop is also you can test for minor leaks, and that's um even as important to actually before you go traveling, uh, you're able to do a minor leak test and see if everything is uh still fine. Um we discovered in the um in the RV industry in America you have excess uh flow valves uh but not shutting off 100%, and that can be dangerous if gas keeps uh flowing uh while you are at sleep or are not noticing that there is a problem.

BOB

It's it's it's truly an amazing device. Now you you entered the United States around 200 uh 2019. So you're you're five or six years into your adventures here in the United States, and the product is getting a lot of attention, both you know what's interesting about this product, the manufacturers can put it on the units at the shop if that's you know when they're making the units. Dealers have it, uh they can do it on Amazon. Uh talk about how it works. In in you know, let's let's assume a lot of our listeners today never heard of gas stock. So give us a 30,000 overview in simplistic terms why this product is important. And you know, as as you and I go back now since you know 2019, so we've done a lot of interviews, but I've always said this product should be on every RV in the United States. I'll let you worry about Europe, but but yeah, but this product truly should it's one of those products that should be on every RV.

Martin

Yeah, that's uh absolutely uh correct. Um, the the thing is that we so we for America we have two different devices. We have um a gas stop for a tank, and we have a gas stop for a um propane like um uh uh cylinder. And um gas stop is a hundred percent shutoff in case of a sudden or catastrophic leak, and it actually works on on flow rate and not on pressure, so we are not relying on springs or any other like small details that can get sticky, or it's an old-fashioned way of how an airplane flies in the air. So there's in the device there's a little ball bearing hoovering on the flow rate, and as soon as we get too much flow rate, then the flow rate, the gas flow will pick up the ball and shut off the whole system. Gas stop is installed directly on the source, so directly on the uh on the cylinder, and after that you have a regulator or a hose, it depends on the insulation. And as soon as you have this um um leak, this gas leak, this this catastrophic gas leak, you it will shut off 100%. There is a little gauge on the system, so you can actually visually see um if it has tripped or what the condition of your propane system is. And the other thing, the good thing of gas tab is um you can imagine if you travel a lot with URV and you you have just traveled for like 300 miles, 500 miles, you go over like bumpy roads, and you can easily uh create a minor leak, and that could be leading to something dangerous. So when you come to your new destination, you do a chat for it's about 10 minutes, and you open the cylinder, you need to prime the gates to open the gas stop, then you close the gas tank again. What you're doing is trapping the gas in the system, and if you look at the needle at the gates and the needle drops, you know you have a small leak somewhere, and you can do something about it. So it's is a and people love it, our viewers love it because it's it's a great peace of mind, and you can that detect um a minor leak as well before you have any like big issues going on.

How GasStop Works And Why It Matters

BOB

Yeah, you know the thing that's amazing to me is you're at the source, so it's on it's on the tank on the exterior, or then the cylinder in there. So and it doesn't require any electricity, doesn't require any batteries, it's based on the design of the system itself. Now, some people might think that having a carbon monoxide detector in the RB might might be their safety valve, but that's that's not really true, is it? Because that in the in those cases, if that alarm goes off, then it's been leaking for a while. So explain explain explain that technology so people understand yeah, it's important to have the carbon monoxide, but you want to be at the source.

Martin

Yeah, it's it's an absolutely very good point. Uh um so in in the United States, you have three different devices. So you all have a propane um um or butane detector, uh carbon monoxide detector, or a combination of both. So the modern RVs have a combination of both. But the thing is it's it's a detail, but it's a very important detail. If you want to put a uh propane detector into your RV, you want to put it, install it as low as possible because propane is heavier than air and it will drop to the bottom. So the first thing you want to know when uh propane is leaking, the alarm goes off in the bottom of your vehicle. But for a carbon monoxide um detector, you want to have it installed in in like at the ceiling, like as high as possible, um, because uh those gases go up to to um um uh to the ceiling, right? It's it's it's it's lighter than air. Yeah, yeah. So uh the combination of both is a is a kind of tricky thing, and another point that I want to point out is um I don't want to scare people, but propane, gas, and electricity is not a really the best combination. And detectors like this, it's absolutely must have in my eyes. You you need to have it's a it's uh it's it's a standard in America, it's not a law, but those are standards. Um you need at least you need uh one device, one detector. Um, but it's it's like when you put propane and uh electricity in one compartment, that's in in in my eyes as a safety guy, is not the real like the best thing to do. So this is also a reason, and it's a very good point you made. With Gastop, you don't need batteries, it's a 24-7 uh safety on your uh vehicle with a five-year warranty, always functions because it's it's um um uh mechanical, and uh the detectors is there can be a lot of issues going on with like um uh uh filthy um uh devices, like um um the battery not working, the wiring is not good. Um, there are a lot of things that could go wrong. Your fuse can be uh burned out, and uh electricity is also uh like heating up. So and heat and gases are not the right, like the best um combination. So there are a lot of things you constantly need to check and go out. Uh, I advise you to do a monthly checkup with your uh detector. There's a little knot like a button on it, you can check for it. And please do so because if you have an accident, you will never forget and you either want it, right?

BOB

Right. Our guest this morning is Martin Neeson, the founder of Gas Stop, and uh the probably the best propane safety system in the RV industry and uh in propane in general. Martin, before we let you go, uh we're running short on time. People how do people find Gas Stop and where can they buy it?

Martin

So uh we uh sell on Amazon and um uh with large uh retailers as um uh general RV. Every store has um uh gastop available and they provide you the all the information when you buy a new RV. And uh they will make sure that uh they explain Gastop to you uh um like totally completely.

Detectors, Placement, And Best Practices

BOB

Yeah, I think uh one of the nice things that they do uh is they they have kind of like a top 10 products, and and within that that top 10 is gas stop, and all of their salespeople have to take new customers and even you know existing customers and walk them through the 10 items. These are the 10 items that they feel are most valuable if you're gonna be buying an RV and if you want to protect your investment. Martin, thank you very much. Always a pleasure to catch up to you and uh hope your weather gets better over there in the Netherlands. And uh I'll I'll keep soaking up the Florida sunshine.

Martin

Great talking to you, and uh thank you again, and uh always uh good to talk to you about. Thanks, Martin.

JIM

Great information there, and a good reminder that safety systems are not any place to cut corners.

RENE

Oh, yeah. So that's a wrap for RV Life Podcast number 154. Set your trip wizard to Savannah for St. Patrick's Day, get smart savings and support with RV Complete Club, and consider that mindset conversation with Robin and Victor.

JIM

And don't forget that important propane safety discussion with Gastop. Share this episode with friends, and make sure you're following the RV Life Podcast so you never miss the next one. Find complete show notes and resources on the episode page at podcast.rvlife.com.

RENE

And as always, get more RV trip planning tools, campground reviews, and travel health with RV Life.

JIM

Thanks for listening. Until next time, remember that it is called a recreational vehicle for a reason.

RV LIFE

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