This week on the Rv podcast. Rv quality problems. Don't seem to be getting any better and campground infrastructure issues are straining the 20 24 camping experience. The brutal heat wave, gripping the west is being blamed for at least 4 deaths move. National and state parks. In Jen and Mike's story time, we're gonna share how what's sounded like a good marketing idea to us turned out to be the most embarrassing thing that we've ever done is rv ears. All this plus the Rv news of the week and
your questions. Coming up in episode 05:06 of the Rv podcast. Hello everybody. I'm Mike Wen lin and this is my life long traveling companion and My bride, Jennifer. How are you? I'm doing great. Yeah. This gonna be a big week for us. It's certainly is. Quick reminder that there is a video version of the podcast. You can find it on our Rv lifestyle Youtube channel. Just go to Youtube dot com slash rv lifestyle. And, of course, our audio versions available on all of your favorite podcast apps.
As well as our blog, rv lifestyle dot com slash podcast. Check that out. And a quick reminder, if you do us a favor, if you listen to on 1 of those apps, would you give us a review for this podcast? They really help us, get the you Google to notice it and send the podcast notifications out to other people. So we love those 5 star reviews that so many of you have sent, and we'd love to have you offer us 1 yourself? So there you go. While, we are about ready to hit the road.
And we're looking forward to it, and I still forgot a lot to do. Yeah. Big travel week for us. As this podcast is being released, we will hit the road and eventually hook up with a bunch of our Rv lifestyle followers, we're gonna be making our way this week to bar Harbor Maine. And there, we will soon be part of a near month long Rv Caravan event tour of the Canadian maritime. That has been an our bucket list for I don't know how long and I can
hardly wait. And this was organized by fantasy Rv tourists, and this is 1 of those bucket list road trips that I think you've been talking about since we... As soon as we have an Rv. Yeah. It really has been on our list. This is the last of the must do bucket lists we have. And then we've got a whole bunch of other ones we wanna do after this. We hope to share our adventures as often as we can with videos and live feeds, photos, social media updates.
Best way is to follow us through our rv lifestyle community at community dot rv lifestyle dot com. We cannot wait. And, yes, we do have our new truck and look for a Saturday video on our Rv Lifestyle Youtube channel.
That shows the truck, what we've added and how we're prepping for the Rv trip that long long trip that we're gonna be taken that and to be alerted to, when we have new videos and make sure you subscribe to our channel and click the bell icon You can subscribe, just go to Youtube dot com slash rv lifestyle. But we have a lot to to talk about this week, and it's a bit of a change from us because let me let me just tell us right off the
top. We are not negative I was an investigated reported for most of my life, and I did a lot of bad news stories. In fact, they used to call me bad news, Wen. And when we started the Rv style on the blog and the podcast in the Youtube channel, we have done our best to stay positive. We are still very positive. Even though we're going to talk about kinda the gorilla in the Rv lifestyle room, which is Rv quality. We feel we have to address it just because we have heard so much.
This won't be a regular thing. We're gonna talk honestly about it today. And I wanna also point out that there is not a Rv manufacturer out there. That wants to build a poor quality Rv. We have been most of the factories. These people work hard they have, a, a dedicated, skilled labor force, but they're working really hard. It's an industry that has ups and downs. And when sales are down, there's all sorts of efforts. To kinda get them
up. And 1 of the things that they have been doing is trying to remove a lot of the extras in an Rv that make these prices so high. And as a result, sometimes the materials aren't up to the same snuff as previous materials in those Rv. And it's started to catch up, I think with some of them. We're gonna talk about that today. This will not be a regular recurrence, but we feel we we wanna address that. And that's coming up a little bit later in our conversation of the week.
Right now that I wanna ask you something. Are you a mood stalker? Or a boom locker or maybe you're struggling to keep your Rv cool during these hot summer days. And well, if you have a 50 amp motor home a trailer or a fifth wheel with 2 air conditioners, but you often end up in campsite sites with only 30 amp service, let's face it not. Every campground has 50 Amp service. That means you can only run 1 ac. Right?
Or do you Moo stock maybe at friends and family houses where they only have a 20 amp service? Jab and find that maybe this little 2000 watt generator that you brought along can't give you enough power to run the Ac. Well, listen up, There is a... Special device called the soft start up that can solve
those problems for you. Soft start up is the only plug and play Rv, air conditioners soft start controller that has been tested to start and run 2 air conditioning units plus your appliances on 30 amp service. Now it works right out of the box. Soft start up, what it does is it takes milliseconds to basically cut the amperage needed to start multiple Rv air conditioning unit and appliances.
Now when they first start up because they get a kick on the compressor everything, there's a huge spike in and soft start up, minimizes that. They help regulate that. So you can extend your Ac compressors life it it controls the power in your Rv, gives you maximum efficiency. All you do is plug it into the power receptacle. And then plug your power cord into it. There's no climbing up in your Rv roof, no opening up your Ac units to put this in, no need to figure out the
wiring and the connections. You don't have to pay a service center to install it. Just go to soft start up dot com slash rv lifestyle. And you can get the details. Soft start up dot com slash rv lifestyle, and you'll save a whole bunch of money. You can get this in time, To stay cool during the summer camping trips. Again, check it out yourself, soft start up dot com slash rv lifestyle. We should remind you of that you guys have a question. Our email address, mike and
jen at rv lifestyle dot com. Send us comments questions anything you hear today. When we come back, we've got the social media buzz with Wendy Boy, Stay with us. After countless nights in the road, we have... Finally found the ultimate comfort solution for our home away from home. Our Rv mattress from rv mattress dot com slash rv sell. Now, let me tell you. This is a game changer. Everybody knows that the stock mattresses that come in an Rv are not great.
And whether you are a weekend warrior or a full timer, you deserve better sleep. Rv mattress dot com has 22 plus size options. 5 hide options, and 3 firm options. So you are bound to find something that fits. Jennifer and I got the signature hybrid mattress in queen with the cooling cover, and we love it. It truly has a sleeping just as good in the Rv as our house.
In fact, so good, we actually got another Rv mattress for our sticks and Bricks house as Now swapping out the uncomfortable old stock mattress for our new Rv mattress was easy. It shipped from Arizona for free in a box. We brought it into the Rv and never looked back. This Rv mattress is plush comfort. The best sleep we've ever had in an Rv. Every night feels like a luxury retreat, and we highly recommend upgrading your mattress at rv mattress dot com. Trust us you will not
regret it. And if you use the promo code, Rv lifestyle, you'll get a really nice discount. Again, go to rv mattress dot com slash rv lifestyle. Welcome back and Wendy Boy reports on the hot issues most talked about this past week on social media in our Rv lifestyle community group. In our Rv lifestyle community, we sometimes run polls. Now we may use these poles for research or stories or just general enjoyment of the group, and they're fun to read. So this week, I have 2 polls I'd
like to share with you. The first poll ran in our campground space, and we asked what features do you prioritize when choosing a campground. The top answers were 50 percent said location, 20 percent said views in scenery? 15 percent said cost 9 percent set amenities, including things like Wifi And 4 percent set accessibility. In the comments, people added to what they chose, that Julie Fritz said feeling safe and cleanliness are really important to her when choosing a campground.
And Michael said he wants sewer at his site. Cost was an issue for several folks. Laura said if she can spend the same amount to have 7 days in a park at State park versus 3 days in a resort, she's gonna go for the state park. It was fun to read everyone's comments. In the general disc discussion space, we asked another poll and this 1 said what is the single most frustrating part of the Rv lifestyle.
41 percent said Rv quality is the issue, 34 percent said finding campground vacancies, 15 percent said the increasing cost of the Rv lifestyle, and 8 percent said bad. In this post comments areas, Jim was 1 of a few who said these random mechanical shoes that happened despite doing all the maintenance was particularly frustrating. And woody anne Inca said that unpredictable bad weather can also be a frustration.
And James said his major frustration is not being able to rv as much as he wants because of things that happen in light, and I can absolutely see how that can be frustrating. Then over in our Rv lifestyle Facebook group, justin recently published a photo of his beautiful class a just covered with dead bugs and he wrote. Driving through South Dakota after Sunset proved to be a gross mistake. This picture drew more than 525 comments People could not believe all the dead bugs
splashed across his Rv. His windshield looked like a jackson poly painting that Bo had used splattered bugs instead of splattered paint. Vanessa took 1 look at this windshield and said that's insane, and I have to agree. Many like Mary said Been there done that, and it was amazing how many people had similar pictures and similar experiences of just completely bunk covered rigs. Apparently, this kind of drive he happens too often in the dakota, which is good to
know. We'll share a picture of this in the show notes who for those who wanna to see them sell. And that's it for me this week. I'm Wendy Boy, and I'll see you over in the Rv lifestyle community or Facebook group. We know the We know the problem with those bugs in South Dakota. We have experienced them as a lot of you have as well. I think we just... We just did 1 of our story time. Mike and jen story time about our first experience when we encountered the bug
out of South Dakota. So that's a very real issue. It does get better. But no at this time of year, you are gonna encounter as all those people that Wendy talked about did. Alright. Our Rv conversation of the week will be coming up. Right after this. Jennifer and I bought some land near Nashville, Tennessee a while back. We got tired crowded expensive campground and worrying about reservations. Tennessee is a gorgeous state with friendly people,
and it has been such a pleasure. The same developer has some new property near us close to the Natchez trace and Buffalo River, called the reserve at High forest. Big properties, 5 to 41 acres, you can build a house a cabin or Rv year round. Prices started at only 89900 dollars. Your property, your way, 100 percent ownership. The scenery in this part of Tennessee is breathtaking. And the property is gorgeous, garden, landscape.
Bring your pets, build what you want. There's high speed fiber optic internet, and it is so private. A great place to make your home base ready whenever you wanted. 5 to 41 acre properties from 89900 dollars. There's even great financing. Check out the site and a video tour at rv lands dot net. That's rv lands dot net. Welcome back. Time now for our Rv
conversation of the week. Earlier, You heard Wendy report in our social media buzz that in our Facebook group, 41 percent of the people said that the Rv quality issues were the most frustrating part of the Rv lifestyle this year. So we wanted to investigate, so we posted a question and our Rv lifestyle community, asking our members to tell us how frequently those quality issues occurred. Now the results were dismal.
Get this 52 percent of our community respondents said something broke or went wrong in their Rv half the time or even more frequently that they took it out. Did you catch that? That means that every other time they take their Rv on a trip. Something breaks. That 15 percent said something breaks every time. They take their Rv someplace. Again, that's over half I respond to reported something breaking in at least every other trip. Is there any other product where such results
would be tolerated? I don't know. That granted, Rv are very complicated things, and we've been saying for a long time You know, when you drive 1 it's like having your house shaken by a 4 earthquake for hours on end. I mean, something's gonna shake loose or break or crack. But here have some specific answers to our question about what goes wrong. Here's 1 from Brenda and Mark.
Brendan Marc 8, we headed out for our trip out to Nevada, and we didn't even get 200 miles in our brand new suspension broke. Luckily, we knew the area, we got off the street onto a lowe's parking lot, spent 3 days there. Till we were able to find someone who could come and fix it. Now, here's another. This woman and her disabled army veteran husband 30 years of service finally acted on the lifelong long dream, sold the house and bought a new 20 23 Forest River Arctic Wolff.
38 10 sweet. Fifth wheel. They are out about 4 months at 06/21/2024 had a cable snap in the bunk coast. They called a mobile tech to fix. And while the text is there, he notices the whole kitchen slide was not attached correctly. They get it into the dealer for service on 07/02/2024, and it is now July twelfth, and it when she Being fixed. With them at a hotel and eating out all the time and costing them a fortune.
Now, Forrest River told them they will only reverse reverse, reimburse them about 75 dollars of the 400 it cost to have the cable replace. This person is ready to give up the dream. Brian shared this. He says, I'm a 25 year old Army disabled that sold house and division about a 20 22 keystone raptor. It's a a Toy haul took it out on our first trip. Wife is taking a shower, water pouring into the bathroom. They put the shower tracks in backwards.
Then on our bedroom slide, the angle under the slide was bent, waters coming in the bedroom. Than the level checks were not working properly. Listen to what Kimberly wrote about her 23 forest river Wild grand lodge. It's been a problem. It's been problem after problem. Furnace motor broke, wrong thermostat. Made the furnace circus circuit board fry, weak shower floor that caused the leak under the shower and a leaky gray take.
Hole in the gutter caused a drip constantly on the slider door and leaked out of track and down hallways. The aw pulled the gutter off, and they found out it was only fastened with a few temporary screws and never fully fastened. Alright. She goes on. She says, A leak in the bedroom and a big leak through of the cubby under the bed causes a bunch of mold, and the bed is on a slide and was messed up kept ripping the floor when they retracted it, the toilet poet pipe broke when sitting on it.
Once because the cut in the pe tubing was too short, and it had too much pressure on it, and it caused meth in the bathroom, the tongue jack broke when they tried to hook it up and take it in for repairs. She says Lord knows what else I'm forgetting, but, yeah, it's a damn mess. Then there's Loretta. Here's what she said. Loretta said they pulled into a park began selling their water tank, and then the tank collapsed through the floor of their 20 18 Forest River Fifth wheel.
She shared a picture in the comments of this poll Don said their forest River did that in their driveway. Wendy said this happened to them too with a brand new Pam. So many people said this happened to them. Some with empty tanks. It was amazing. Look, we we could go on and on. Those are just a sample of what we heard last week. I I have to tell you this that in our 12 years of doing this Irb lifestyle, we have never heard more complaints about Rv quality across all the different brands.
And we haven't even mentioned the issue of frame flex, which particularly affects big fifth wheels and toy haul. That is a huge mess. There are Rv recalls every month. And just to give you a sample of what's out there, here's this month. Recall notices are going out sometime this month for 3157 Brink, Rv 23 to 24 model z, fifth wheels. And their new model z air travel trailers. This is Brink, which is supposed to be like the the best of all of the Rv manufacturers out there these days.
The 12 volt system in those brink may be incorrectly wired, which could result in overheating. Recall notices are being mailed to owners of a hundred and 26 forest river, 20 24 25 cross trail motor homes. The back on the ladder receiver may not have been installed, which can cause the ladder to fall off. On the highway, that could be lights threatening.
And then 1 more, 573 Forest River 24 25 Salem and Wild travel trailers, they're being recalled because they may not have a secondary emergency exit install. Now, that's this month, just the latest, and you noticed those are all new models. These aren't going back to the Covid year. Every month, there are new recalls of Rv similar to these. I said this earlier that we work really hard on this podcast not to be negative. So dev boarding the conversation of the month of this topic is not our usual.
This quality issue from our perspective has been steadily increasing since those Covid years. You know, there was such a demand for Rv by people, whose only vacation options, you know, during those Covid lock ins were to camp out. All the manufacturers did everything they could to crank out new models to meet that demand as fast as they could. They heard literally off the street. And let's face at a lot of inexperienced workers we're assembling Rv.
Since then, things have settled down, Demand for Rv has dropped draft stick, new sales are down, and you would think then that the little more time and not quite such a rush that things would be improving. But that doesn't seem to be. And so that's why we're talking about this. So if you're thinking about getting a new Rv, new or used We have this advice, hire a certified Rv inspector. Yeah. It costs a lot. Over a thousand dollars for a detailed 1.
But since rv are the second most expensive thing, most people buy after a house. And given the quality issues people continue to experience that in action is extremely important. Have a pro look it over very carefully. An independent inspector not connected to the dealership. And you can find 1, just go to their national Association, which is n nr VIA dot org slash locate. In nr v a's National Rv inspectors Association. But go to NRVIA
dot org slash locate. You can plug in where you are, and they'll show you independent Rv inspectors near you. But what if the dealer won't let you bring 1 in? We've heard from some who say they wanted to bring in an inspector, but the dealership wouldn't let them. Well, if that's the case, it tells you something doesn't it. Don't buy there. Go to another dealer. Now, tonya again all this stuff because An Rv is more than just a vehicle or a a camper. It... For so many, it is a dream.
So many people have worked all of their lives for this time to go out in that Rv to enjoy their retirement or to get together with their families and and bond together out there and and it's a mess when something breaks almost half the time. So that's a report on quality. You may have a different take on it. You may think that's alright, and we'll share some of those reports, but I'm not gonna make this a weekly habit.
There are some Harvey influencers. That's all they do is tell you about how bad some of the Rv are. We won't do that. But we are raising this issue. It is not getting better from our perspective, and I'd like to know your thoughts too. By quality, get an inspector. That's our conversation of the week. You can reach us at Mike and Jen. At rv lifestyle dot com. We'll be right back with the Rv news of the week.
Jennifer and I took trip to Las Vegas and Arizona to look at wind acres, a brand new Rv property being offered by Western land and ranches. They're selling off 1 and 2 acre parcels starting at only 14900 dollars. Now these are big. An acre is the size of a football field. The properties are on a plateau with big Valley views, and the location is amazing. Next to Lake Mead national recreation area. We had a blast. There are so many places to explore near the property, the Grand
Canyon. We took a boat ride on the Colorado river below Hoover dam. Boulder city was a fun little town. That's right off route 66, and, of course, we had to enjoy some nightlife in Las Vegas. It's a lifetime supply of fun things to do when you own a camp at wind acres. The properties are now available. This is 100 percent ownership. So there's no reservations needed when you wanna hang out time limits or crowded parks that you have to go through, you can share your property, you can rent it.
Whatever you wanna do. For more information. Visit Arizona ranch sales dot com, or call 822232 land Welcome back to the Rv news of the week. Here's a disgusting sign of our thought and selfish culture ranges it. Usa yosemite National Park had to remind visitors to keep it clean and classy out there. By disposing of soil toilet paper properly. I know this is repulsive. Apparently, wait many visitors need to go while I exploring
and this beautiful beautiful park. And when they do, they leave their used toilet paper behind, and let's just say it is a disgusting site to behold. Yosemite National Parks Services Instagram page posted this. Sharing a few pictures of dirty toilet paper laying about what would otherwise be a stunning and stealthy. And while many people do bury the toilet
paper, it doesn't stay hidden for long. Rain, erosion, and animals are all responsible for removing the soil, leaving used toilet paper piles exposed before it can decompose. And toilet paper typically takes 1 to 3 years to decompose the solution. Rangers are urging everyone to pack it out. Okay. So that was your yosemite, but now let's talk about Yellowstone. And what is it about Yellowstone National Park. Last week told you about a shootout the part.
And this week, Yellowstone was in the news again after 5 people drove into a hundred and 5 degree geyser inadvertently. Now the good news is that all 5 successfully got out of their car and their own before being driven by ambulance to a nearby hospital, for some non life threatening injuries. Their car sup 9 feet into a very acidic, hot water before being successfully lifted out and removed.
And this all happened in the semi centennial geyser thermal features, near roaring mountain between, Mammoth Springs and Norris Junction. It's not clear how this happened. But, pictures do show a fairly steep slope from the road to the geyser. And we're glad that all the passengers are gonna be okay. Last week at Yellowstone. There was a shootout out. You may remember we talked about it
here. The shootout out, it turned out was a yellowstone employee, and he was from Florida working at the park for the summer, and he held a woman against her will and was intending officials say a July fourth massacre before that he was killed. And let's hope that this week, Yellowstone can have 0 incidents. Alright. We'll keep talking about national parks. Now let's talk about them in regards to a heat wave. Yeah. The massive heat wave gripping the west is killing tourists.
In Utah, Canyon lance National Park, a 52 2 year old father and his 23 year old daughter from Wisconsin, were found dead after they got lost while hiking and ran out of water in triple digit temperatures. That was Friday. On Saturday, a similar incident happened at Snow Canyon State Park, a multi agency team, a first responders. Arrived and rescued the 2 people who were overcome by heat exhaustion. But then, a pass reported that a third person was unconscious nearby.
First responders found the individual, a 30 year old female and determined that she was deceased. You'd think people would have the common sense to avoid hiking in such conditions, but it death Valleys National park. There's been a surge of visitors anxious to have southeast taken next to the giant thermometer side the parks visitor station. Temperatures in death valley have been in the hundred and twenties, reaching as high as a hundred and 29 degrees.
It is so hot. People are urged not to hike after 10AM, bring lots of water and travel prepared to survive. But people keep coming and dying. A group of German motorcycles who decided to visit death valley last week were overcome by the heat and 1 rider died there. That's 4 heat deaths in a week out there, all could have been avoided. Well, up in Canada, that heat wave is having an effect as well. Canadian campground grounds are struggling.
There was a big story out in Canada last week related to the heat, in which the president of the Canadian camping and Rv Association set campground grounds in many areas have been experiencing brown outs on their property because every single Rv is running 1 or 2 air conditioners, and they're already at capacity for electricity draw. The problem he said is that consumers are are accustomed now to a level of service that park infrastructure cannot handle.
It's same thing in the Us, most campground grounds are old, the infrastructure was laid down when people were happy to have a ke lantern for lights and maybe a 20 amp service, so they could, plug in for, a couple of light accessories. So Campground is you know, as Ar got better and better, they increase their capacity to 30 amp service, that was really, like, 20 years ago, most of them added 30 amp service, but then they had to bring in 50 amp service. About a dozen years ago as
Rv years got... Rv got bigger, and a mini came with 2 Ac units, and then microwaves, demand has just continued to increase, but the cost of upgrading for those campground balances is astronomical. And it's frankly just beyond the reach for many campground, and many, you know, small county parks, government parks, state parks. And that's 1 reason why camping is becoming more expensive.
It's another reason why big corporations are, you know, Buying up mom and pop campground grounds are investing lots of money in the infrastructure, but they're charging big bucks and making these campground grounds, not campground grounds, but resorts and gl places. But this growing problem of campground infrastructure, in is not gonna go away anytime soon. Alright. That's our news of the week. When we come back the Rv question of the week, and we also have Mike and jen
story time. So stay with us. When we're asked what's the most important modification we made to our Rv, it's an easy answer. Battle borne batteries. Battle borne batteries are quality safe, reliable lithium batteries that allow us to stay out there off the grid longer. Lithium batteries charge faster. They charge fuller they're longer lasting their maintenance free, and battle borne batteries are protected by a 10 year guarantee.
Now in our case, they just dropped into the existing Ag batteries that we have and they'll probably be the same on your rig too. Valve battery experts can get those in your rig just like they did. With ours. They can also match you up with the right cabling, the inverter, the charger the solar controller everything. Jennifer I swear by our with battle born batteries. They allow us to boo doc off the grid, check out. Go to rv lifestyle dot com slash lithium. Rv lifestyle dot com. Slash lithium.
Alright. Welcome back time now for the Rv question of the week. And the... This 1, here it is. It's I'm gonna have you answered it because it's it's in your wheelhouse. Just finishing up washing your latest podcast. You mentioned that along with sandwiches, jen sometimes prepares your dinner meal before you leave, what are some of the meals that you prepare ahead of time this question comes from Janet.
Okay, Janet. When I make my regular food at home, and I know we're going out of town I will make extra of whatever I'm fixing and freeze it. And that way, it's all set to go. And you know, it seems like a problem but lettuce us that goes bad on you. Super of course isn't gonna go bad. You can make soup, whatever kind of soup you like and stew. Turkey stew, chicken stew, beef stew, whatever you wanna make, chile, lasagna, whatever you normally eat, when you're cooking, just make more, make it.
So you have, like, 3 servings. When there's only 2 of you, you can you can easily get me 3 maybe 4 servings, and you just freeze some, put it away, and it's handy to have even when you're home, just whip something out. But, Whatever you're making at home, make extra, it and take it with you. Like, we're leaving for this big trip this week and, you know, we're... Den make an extra, and we put it in a freezer. We go in and turn on the Rv freezer a couple of days before we go.
It's nice and cold, and you just put those frozen and dinners in there, and you don't have to think. Sometimes you... We bring along a slow cooker, it's And Yes. You can actually, you're driving, you can just plug that in, assuming you have an inverter in your Rv in the room, you can plug in a slow cooker, and it will cook as you're driving during the day,
smells delicious, you know. And then when you set up camp for the night, you got meal ready and fresh, cook for salads, especially in the summer, you know, local produce is always available, and it's kinda fun to shop for local produce and have that. But eating out is just not healthy. No. Eating out, you'd never know for sure what you're gonna get. Other than too much salt, and you don't know when they made it. Yeah. It's not always fresh food. Alright. That's
the question of the week. You've got 1 for us. You can just write us at Mike and Chen at rv lifestyle dot com. Now it's time for Mike and Jen. Story time. And we're gonna talk this week about the dumbest thing we ever did with an Rv, and that was getting a complete custom wrap on it. And we'll put a photo of it in the show notes for this episode at rv lifestyle dot com slash podcast This happened about maybe 5 years ago, A marketing friend, the Rv industry suggested the idea of a wrap to us.
They thought it was a good idea. Yeah. And she assured us that was going to be tasteful done. And then it would, promote our brand. We even know we had a brand. But they sent us some artwork, and we arranged for a local shop. To do the wrap. Meet the Wen that set on the side windows on the back windows. My Youtube channel was listed. And so was the... A huge car drawing of the 2 of us in involved bow. Was it eye? Oh, it was painful. It was so obnoxious. I mean, I couldn't... It was embarrassing.
It it did get my sister. Really big laugh. We pulled up and she even took a picture of the van because she thought it was so funny. Oh, I mean, even right away, since as we drove home from the shop that did the wrapping. We were very aware of it. Everybody's really looking at us, and I mean, it wasn't just, you know, It was, like, but they were really looking and and it was kinda creepy. Because, we'd... As we... We're driving the same. We realized we're not regular our views anymore. We
were like this Spectacle. Rolling prospect spec tactical this promotion, and there was no escaping. And our first big trip was a couple days after we got it, and we we drove up to the Up in Michigan, the upper for our winter camp out, and we brought it into the camp guy to remember Oh, everybody had a good laugh. We gave everybody big big glass. They were pointing and sn. I mean, this thing screamed. Look at me. Look at me it was indeed attention grabbing.
And then after the weekend, as we drove back home, we were, curious, did this make any difference because it had our our web address on it. So we checked the web traffic I have to see if our mobile billboard it brought us any anymore web views. And they're good seem to be a slight increase. In our traffic. Well, uptick in traffic. Mh. But then there were some emails.
There were some emails. Mh. 1 was from a campground owner who said we would not be allowed to camp on their campground with that vehicle wrap because it was clearly a commercial vehicle. And a giant advertisement. And then we had that echoed by a guy who ran an insurance agency and he said that our Rv could now be considered a business vehicle and thus subject to higher insurance rates Others contacted us to say we were making ourselves a target to thieves and stalker. They
figured that... Oh, hey. They must have a bunch of equipment in there. But then we heard from a traveler who passed this us on I 75. And as best as I can remember, this is what that letter said. It said something like, I looked up your website after seeing your camper, not to watch your videos, but to get your emails, so I could tell you that I found your vehicle wrap, offensive, self serving and very pride. So and, you know, it really it really hit
home. He said that there's enough advertising pollution on our highways. That we were only adding to it. And then a member he signed it off and he says count us not as fans, Well, it was pretty humiliating. It was humiliating, and it was humbling, and it really was pride. To put all that stuff out there. I had no idea Be so obnoxious. Yeah. We thought it was pretty obnoxious. So needless to say the wrap came right down, and and it was just not us. And now
we travel anonymously. There's really nothing on our vehicle to identify as as ours so much for mobile marketing, and, that was our most embarrassing thing that we've ever done. We didn't know we even had a brand that we needed to label like that. Oh, well. So much for our brand this week. Got questions or comments, we'd love to hear from you, Mike and jen at rv lifestyle dot com follow us at the community, Rv lifestyle, the community dot rv dot dot
com. We'll be updating you as we head the east and then up into the Maritime and it Brunswick of Nova scotia, we cannot wait. And We'll be sharing all that with you and hopefully come to you next week from somewhere in the Canadian manner times. Thanks for watching. Happy trails.