- This week on the RV podcast. - In the interview of the week, we have some very practical tips from an expert on driving, backing up and navigating mountains and steep hills in an rv. - And a Massachusetts couple dropped off their RV to get it repaired. The dealer then moved the RV to an unsecured parking area down the street where it was stolen, and the dealer basically shrugged and said it wasn't their problem.
We'll explain in the news of the week, - Good news, the National Park Service has abandoned its plan to remove the wild horses from Theodore Roosevelt National Park, thanks to public pressure - Plus the latest in RV recalls. And, uh, your questions coming up in episode 4 95 of the RV podcast. - Hello everybody, I'm Mike Wendling, and this is my lifelong traveling companion and my bride Jennifer. Hello, my dear. Hello - My Michael. - A couple of quick announcements.
If you are listening to the podcast, we would very much appreciate it if you would give us a review on the podcast. We love those five star reviews. If you think we're really good, give us one of those. And, um, I was looking the other day, and most of our people seem to be listening on the Apple or Google, uh, apps, but Spotify is up there. If you listen to us on Spotify, would you do us a favor and give us a review on Spotify? We'd like to see those Spotify reviews come up.
We only have a, you know, a few dozen of them there and hundreds of them on the other platform, so we appreciate it. So another week and spring has truly sprung, hasn't it? - It's been beautiful weather. Yeah, we've gotten lots of rain that we needed and, uh, things are growing. Things are green and up, things are blooming. - Now. One of the nice things about living in southwest Michigan, besides the climate, and it's great for growing fruit, we've got 17 blueberry pan pan plants.
Uh, we just added, uh, we have seven raspberry plants. And actually we have more than that. We have some wild ones too, but who's counting? But who's counting? So we're really excited about that. But one of the reasons we, we moved to southwest Michigan, besides the fact that our son and daughter-in-Law and our two of our grandkids live literally across the cornfield from us out here in the country when we found 10 acres out here.
So we love that. But we're only about you 30, 45 minutes from Elkhart, Indiana, so the RV capital of the world. So - We've got a trip to Elkhart this week. - Yeah. And, uh, we're really excited. We've been doing a bunch of reviews on, um, RVs and some of the cool things that, uh, that we really like about them. And, uh, we are gonna review a, a true game changer in the towable category in the fifth wheels, uh, category. And we'll tell you more about that later on.
But that's where we'll be this week doing a, a big review and, uh, on, uh, probably the best fifth wheel out there in the marketplace today. I think we can say that pretty confidently that, uh, that's what we're gonna talk about. But we're also working on a couple of other ones. - Yeah. We're working on doing some reviews on class A's and, uh, C's.
- Yeah. And, uh, uh, amongst all that, we're watching our, uh, our grandson played baseball a couple of times a week and working on our garden and, uh, plotting a lot of, uh, camping trips. We've got a big one planned Mother's Day weekend. Mm-Hmm. . - It's gonna be fun. - And then we've got our gathering in, uh, uh, ship Shiwana Indiana coming up in June, and then our big trip to the Maritimes this summer. So lots there. So - We are gonna be busy.
- And, uh, yes, I am continuing the diet, although I will say it is not easy. It's not so much the, you know, reducing the calories, uh, Lord knows I need to do that, but it's going to a plant-based diet. It is just, it's just not, I don't care what pe people Oh, it's really easy. It is not easy. We've had some pretty yucky foods. - Well, that's 'cause I'm not making it from scratch. I've been buying frozen meals and - Cans, but, you know.
Yeah, it, it does take a lot more work if you're gonna really make your own meals with it. - Well, it takes a lot more work if you make your real meals instead of easy meals. But, - Uh, but you know, that making, putting a hot dog together is two minutes, you know? Yeah. If you use the air fryer even, it's - Very convenient. - And, uh, yeah, you can, you know, there are meat subs. Pretend - Chicken nuggets were kind of easy in the air - Fryer.
Pretend chicken nuggets sit with and now, and then this, what is it that impossible meat, this meat substitute. I'm sorry. I had something the other day called, uh, bourbon meatballs. Sounded good. It was, it was like eating styrofoam with ketchup on it. - Well, how was it? It - Was terrible. Other than that, it was terrible. It was just, I didn't, you saw I didn't need it. So, anyway, um, I know if we wanna take the time and learn to, we don't have the time, so,
- So we gotta hire a chef. That's it. - That's the secret. Yeah. So quick subscribe more, get more. We need more, get us more sponsors. Um, it is just a hassle. And, uh, I think we're back to what you've always said is the best way to lose weight, portion control, um, maybe a little bit of no fastest no junk, uh, move, move more and, uh, do the math. And by that we mean, you know, count the calories and how many you need a day.
It's all very simple. You just have to have a few cal calories less than what you need to maintain your weight. - I don't think it's so simple anymore, because it used to be if I wanted to lose some weight, all I had to do was I knew the meals. If I ate those meals, I would lose weight. And it doesn't seem to happen anymore. No, it, so I think something, it is metabolism as we age. - It is harder the older - You get.
It's, uh, yeah, it used to be very easy for me to get a couple pounds off and now I can't get 'em off. - And then there's the whole issue as we have researched this diet and dug into it and how bad the food in America is. You know, uh, and we've watched all, you probably have seen some of those diet, but I mean, and it doesn't make any difference whether it's meat or whether it's VE vegetables. I mean, there's places going romaine lettuce, which you shouldn't eat at all, right?
Next to these animal feedlots. You know, it's, I don't have to go into detail. It's not good. So anyway, we're working on our garden, but it's not gonna be enough. And I'm working on the diet and I'm, I'm getting kinda cranky about it. So, yeah, I think, anyway, I - Think it, it's hard to be pleasant when you're - Just, don't ask changing food bourbon fake meatballs anymore. It, I didn't even taste the bourbon in them.
It was terrible. But anyway, oh, you - Probably would've liked poured a little - If you pour some real bourbon on, I probably could've handled it. But, uh, hey, quick programming note, if you're watching this on May 2nd, uh, tomorrow May 3rd, uh, or I'm sorry, uh, if you're watching this on May 1st, when it comes out tomorrow on May 2nd, uh, the Amazon Live will feature us again, we'll be doing on Amazon live product review and a bunch of cool camping products.
We sort of, uh, unbox them and demo and show them. And you can watch that on Amazon Live. And if you're wondering how to find us there, it's really simple. 7:00 PM Eastern Time, May 2nd. Go to amazon.com/live/rv lifestyle. Be there at seven o'clock tomorrow and you can watch it. You can go later than that. You can watch the replay of it. Hey, we should tell you we love getting your emails. You can reach us at Mike and jen@rvlifestyle.com. - So this is the big question.
After a week of your plant-based diet, how much weight have you lost? I've lost zero, but I haven't been a hundred percent. - I lost two pounds. Wow. Now that's good. That'd be like a hundred pounds in a year, right? But two pounds. And, uh, I have been 90%, I would say maybe not. Uh, I got seduced by a bag of popcorn at our grandson's baseball game, and it had way too much salt in it, but, um, I've been doing pretty good at sticking with it.
But I think we're gonna learn from it is, uh, people are gonna get bored with stuff than that is, we're just gonna cut back, eat as little meat as we can, try and eat a lot more veggies and fruits and try and limit, or I am, I say we, I am Jennifer's doing just fine. But, but anyway, I can't wait till our gathering and everybody has the potluck. That's fine. . That is, that is, - That is, you would probably put six pounds - On. I I could do that in a night. . All right.
Hey, when we come back, the social media buzz, we'll be right back. - The one thing that can ruin a perfect RV trip is a bad mattress. And believe us, we know over the years we've tried many and we have found them all wanting until now. - Now we sleep on the RV mattress by Brooklyn Bedding. Quite simply, it's the best we've ever slept on. - We chose a queen size aurora luxe medium firm mattress that arrived tightly rolled in a box.
All we did was put it on the bed, unroll it, and wait for it to recover. From the compression that we put on the sheets and the bed covers and found, we slept so well that we ordered another one for our home. - That's how comfortable it is. Our sleep is now so luxurious and deep that we can't imagine using a different mattress. - Shipping is free. If you're disappointed with the current mattress in your rv, you owe it to yourselves to try the RV mattress by Brooklyn Bedding.
- Brooklyn Bedding sends out all of their RV mattresses from their own factory in Arizona. This means they're able to use premium materials at a reasonable price for you. With no middleman bringing up the cost. - Make sure to check out their Black Friday sale at the end of this month. It'll be their biggest deal of the year. Don't miss out on the best sleep of your life. Visit rv mattress.com/rv lifestyle for campers in our viewers.
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The taste pure water filter reduces unpleasant tastes, odors, lead chlorine, bacteria, sediment, and heavy metals, and also controls bacteria and mold growth. R viewers should start the season with a new filter and then replace it every 90 days or so. Now, we can't emphasize enough that waiting longer than three months can lead to bad taste, odor, and reduced water flow, and it may also affect the removal of lead. So replace it after about three months.
The CAM code Taste Pure Water filter is available at most camping stores and through Amazon. Use our affiliate link at rv lifestyle.com/taste Pure. That's RV lifestyle.com/taste pure. - Welcome back everybody. Time now for the social media buzz - And our Wendy Boyer reports on the hot issues most talked about this past week on social media and our RV Lifestyle Community group. - Hi, everybody. Over in the RV lifestyle general discussion space.
Angela asked, where do you store your shoes and how do you keep the bed up so you can store things under it? Well, for that, keeping the bed up question, Lynette suggested she invest in some high quality, stronger hydraulic arms. Not a hard thing to do. Replace the old ones, get some new ones. And Lynette said it makes a huge difference with lifting. And then for the shoes, lots of people weighed in on that.
Scott suggested Angela get some hanging canvas pockets and just put 'em along the base of the bed and get maybe about a dozen pairs in that way. Kathy said that she got some white racks from Walmart, the kind that you might put in your kitchen. She put 'em at the base of her bed in a shelf there, and that gave her some instant shoe storage. And then Ari and Jessie, they suggested just getting one of those shoe organizers that you can hang over a door.
Sounds like that's worked well for them also in the community, in the apps and planning tool space. Uh, there was a question from me. Uh, I hate to admit it, but it was for me. And so my question was, last week we had loves on and we talked about how you can get 10 cents off a gallon by using their app. And so I was wondering what other fuel saving apps are there out there that people are using to save money? And there were so many people that responded with helpful information.
I had to share it with you. Um, the number one app that came up over and over again was Gas Buddy. People said they rely on that when driving down the road to find the closest gas station that had the best price. And many people pair that with an app called Upside. Upside is an app where you use scan your gas receipts and sounds like some other things qualify too. And then you get cash back on items that you like real cash back. It can go to your PayPal account, your checking account.
There's different ways you can set it up, and it's for items that you would buy anyway. Um, some people said that this just was really worth getting. Um, other things that I saw, there were, um, different gas station apps. Chevron, for instance, someone mentioned that you sign up, he was getting a dollar off per gallon for the first three Phillips by using their app. Um, and then of course, shell, Costco, Kroger, all those places have discounts.
Uh, good Sams, a lot of people got use that app and combined it for a discount at Pilot and Flying Jays. And then Open Roads is what seemed to come up as the number one option for those, um, who need the diesel. So good information. If you're looking to save a little money at the fuel pump, you need to check out that post. And then meanwhile over at our Facebook group, we had a question from Ro.
Ro wanted to know what people thought was best for putting down the black tank to break up waste material. Sounds like Rose tried a few different things, still not sure found the best item and wanted people's opinion. And you know, we get this question a lot on Facebook. It's every week at least it's a common question. And so, um, I thought I'd share it. The number one brands that came up in this post were used either unique RV Digest or Happy Camper.
Lots of people have great success with those two options. Many also have their own homemade remedy, the geo method. Some people use different combinations of things. Dawn soap seems to be a common ingredient. Um, but the thing that came up a few times, it's, um, important to remember, is that your black tank is not a septic field. So things are not breaking down. They're rather being held there until you dump.
And so a lot of people said, remember that and then use tons of water, water, water, water, water, because you need to make it so that things can, let's say, move. Um, and water is the way that's gonna make that happen. So good post. And, uh, that's it for me this week. I'm Wendy Bower, and I'll see you either at the RV lifestyle community or Facebook group. - Okay. What a wide variety of topics from the topic that never seems to get old is trying to break up waste in the black tank.
Where to put your shoes in an rv, which really is a big deal if you have a lot of shoes, or most people have at least several pairs of shoes where to store those shoes. And then of course, gas prices. So there's so much you can learn. - Yeah. You know, you need boots, you need hiking shoes, you need sneakers. And if you're gonna be on a long-term trip, you need some halfway nice dress shoes as well. That's a lot of shoes for people. And that's minimum, right?
- Yes. - Okay. Um, hey, uh, our social media, uh, RV Lifestyle Community Group has been really fun. We've been doing live streams there, uh, on a weekly basis. Now, I know many of you watch us on YouTube and Facebook on our Ask Us anything on Sunday nights. But on Monday nights, we've been doing live streams on the RV lifestyle community.
And what I like about that is we actually bring guests on, guests and experts, and we're able to, we did one this past week, uh, with Mark Kemp from Campfire or campground views.com, and Mark did a demo on how to pick a campsite and, uh, get a a reservation. And we'll be having lots more. So it's another recent for you to go subscribe to the, uh, our community dot rv lifestyle.com.
Alright, when we come back, we're gonna talk about driving an rv, uh, the challenges of driving an rv, some tips on how to do it, and why attending a RV driving school is a good idea for any RV or stay with us. We just heard about a land offering out west for RVs in Arizona. They're selling five acre RV ranches, starting at only $49,900. The company offering it is affiliated with the people Jennifer and I bought our Tennessee property from. They do a great job. It looks amazing.
It is at high elevation, so you get cooler temperatures, big mountain views, juniper trees, and green grasses. And it is near everything. The Grand Canyon Lake Havasu, Kingman, Flagstaff, and Sedona. It's a perfect place to have a home base to explore the west, and it is right off Famous Route 66. It's called Greenwood Ranches. And this is the second and final section of the community. We met the sales manager, really nice guy.
He bought a property for his rv and he's building a container home on it. Check out their website for a video tour and showing availability. It's pretty incredible. Visit the website to get details and set up a showing Arizona RV land.net. That's Arizona RV land.net. And welcome back. It's time now for the RV interview of the week.
- Okay. We regularly have questions, uh, from RVs talking about their challenges, backing into a campsite, handling certain roads and road conditions, navigating steep hills. And this observation got us to wondering who could benefit from going to an RV driving school. And the answer we have since learned is everyone. - Our guest today is George Mailman. He is the owner of RV Driving School now. It's been around a long time.
It's a national organization and it's been teaching RVers how to be better drivers since 1991. Well, today, George is going to share some practical RV driving tips that we think everybody should hear. Well, George, welcome to the podcast. Let's, uh, start by talking about who should, uh, go to a RV driving school. Uh, give us an idea of, uh, why, who this is really aimed at.
- You know, Mike, it, it, it basically is aimed at just about anybody that actually, you know, has one of these large vehicles. You know, the problem we've seen, and I think everybody is aware of it, matter of fact, truckers are quite quick to acknowledge the problem whenever they get, see some of these people out on the highway.
But, you know, the problem is been, you know, for the last many years, uh, since RV's have become popular, and especially since they've got to be very large, they're tall, they're wide, they're long, and in many cases, very, very heavy. Uh, with a real, that is a reality. Whether you're talking about somebody just rolling out of that dealership or whether they're, they've been on the road for a period of time, and then health issues become, you know, something of a concern.
But you know, when, when the realization is, you know, that they really need some professional help, that's what we've been providing. We view what we do as a service to the industry. The industry, uh, doesn't always acknowledge us, nor they really appreciate us. But there's a certain reality that, that the people who are out there, the folks who will go out and spend in many cases, a lot of money, uh, really need, you know, professional help.
And we have that, uh, we started the school with the understanding that, that the help was needed. And, uh, then we went out and sought the people who can, you know, provide that, uh, help. - Let me, let me start with the typical RV owner, and I'm gonna maybe judge on my experience because we never really towed anything other than a small trailer. And suddenly I've got a 35 foot fifth wheel. And, um, you know, they give you a walkthrough and they give you the keys and they say, bye .
And, uh, I was totally unprepared for it. And I, I'm wondering if maybe stepping even back before the driving school, if the industry needs to take a little bit more responsibility here before sending people out on what ends up being with a tow vehicle as large as a semi tractor trailer on the road. - You bet. Well, the need is there, you know, it, it's apparent. And the problem again, is that first of all, they will not acknowledge any kind of responsibility.
They're very, very concerned about moving product rather than concerned after the fact. And it's a sad commentary, Mike, on, you know, the industry where we're at right now, and, you know, we've been for 30 some years, uh, you know, basically providing the service we provid, we know folks need, uh, - Tell, tell us about that. Where are you located? How do people find you? Uh, what's the cost involved? What do they learn? - Well, right now we have 107 instructors.
We're scattered all over the continental US, also in Alaska and Hawaii. But, you know, my big objective was get to get instructors at least in the vicinities of, or where people conceivably would need the, the assistance so that, that started, uh, you know, and we've been quite successful in getting the, the business spread out across the us. Uh, most of our instructors are either retired professionals, uh, they can be truck drivers.
Um, but again, we insist on, you know, uh, a quality product or a quality service. And the only way that we can get it is to have people who have, you know, that experience and clear, you know, clear understanding of what heavy vehicles are. Uh, - So what do you teach, uh, RV owners at your school? Mm-Hmm. And I assume they bring their own RVs to you? - Yes, definitely. And that's one of the reasons why we've been so successful.
You know, people can get an RV or a video, they can get a book, you know, and they can, you know, go through that. But what we provide is somebody in the passenger seat, you know, with that experience to critique what they do, aid them in, you know, the relevant factors as they actually, uh, go out on the road.
Our two hour, four hour, uh, experience for, uh, at least one individual is that, uh, um, you know, they, they do a lot of slow driving the first day, and then the second day we step them up into and onto freeways and get them into difficult situations. - I'm wondering what exact skills they learn. Uh, I, I would assume for starters, they learn about backing up and making terms, making wide terms.
- Oh, absolutely. And, and Mike, there, there's a certain reality too with the, uh, about the people who come to us.
Some of them have been in a class B for a period of time, and they're really stepping up into a class A. Some of the people are going from a up to a class C. Uh, so much of what we do is adapting to what they do have as far as driving background, and then make sure that, you know, that critique of how do you make corners, as you pointed out, how do you ingress and egress from a freeway? How do you, uh, uh, handle in a driving situations?
Our lessons, though are 90% behind the wheel on the road moving, uh, and we adapt to what the, the experience is of the individual. So many of the people though, come to us and they've never driven anything bigger than an SUV, the family, SUV, - Uh, what are the, the minimal skills that they walk away from RV driving school with? - We would expect that they are then at the end of the lesson, a quote, safe driver.
They now know, you know, things like the proper setup of the mirrors is as mundane as it is. How are the mirrors supposed to be set up so that you can get maximum, uh, assistance from them? It can be, you know, the backing that you allude alluded to some of the people, especially those with tr uh, trailered vehicles. Oh my God, they've probably had some very negative experiences and, uh, frustrating experiences.
So what we basically say is, we, we will give you the principles associated with how to do this properly. We will also instruct you on how to be a director outside of the vehicle directing that backend. But that's an example. Uh, probably the most important thing that is done during the typical lesson though, and I view it as a ate raw.
It is, whenever we go through, how do you deal with driving in mountains, you know, just about everybody that goes out and buys one of these big expensive vehicles, you know, they have the desire to travel. And of course, whenever they're traveling, and if they're going to places like Moab, Utah, uh, Mike, they're gonna have to have some basic understanding of how to keep that vehicle under control on a 5%, 6%, 8% grade. But it's more than that. It's, uh, going up a hill, uh, going up a hill.
If you have a, a stressed vehicle, uh, there's a terrific amount of heat buildup. How do you deal with that? So much of the tail end of the lesson is based around, you know, the mountain driving. This is probably the most important thing from a overall concern level. I have, uh, with people, you know, going out and buying these rigs. Yes, we don't want 'em to climb curbs. We don't want 'em to, uh, get, get into a compromised situation, uh, you know, at the intersection.
- Maybe I could steal some of your knowledge just to ask you a couple quick questions and some tips. First of all, what is the, the safest highway speed that you should, what, what's a good speed to shoot for when you're driving down an interstate, towing a fifth wheel or a a a travel trailer? What do you recommend? Other than safe speed, obviously, but yes, - You, you bet, you bet.
Uh, first of all, if you're gonna get maximum economy just about every, uh, RV on the road right now, 55 to 62 is gonna give you about as good a economy as you're gonna get. Uh, so that's, that's something to start with. Uh, 65 to 70 is absolute max. Uh, these things, and I had it best described to me by an engineer from Caterpillar whenever they were still in the RV business. And he, his comment was, George, do, do you understand that these are fiberglass boxes installed on a steel frame?
They are not, you know, made like a truck for commercial operation. Uh, and the idea that you go over 70 miles an hour and any one of them is, is, well, I'll be blunt, it's unsafe. - And, and so many people, uh, say, well, you know, I'm going 65, 60 miles an hour, and I'm getting dirty signal, dirty hand signals from people, and they're honking their horns. Um, and, and I just feel I have to go faster just to stay up with traffic and help me address those people
who are driving too fast. Um, - Well, and, and incidentally, I'm glad you brought it up because, you know, this is probably one of the most difficult thing, especially for, well guys, let's be honest. Uh, what have we, what have we done since we were born? We, we go faster. We wanna go faster. It's an objective. Now, I'm gonna tell you right away, part of the lesson is you have to realize you're in the big leagues. Now, this is not, you know, you're, you're, um, Porsche out down the road.
Uh, 70 is absolute max with these vehicles. Now, uh, whether it's at an intersection where people are, uh, what unhappy whenever you can't complete a corn corner because somebody is obstructing your, your completion of the corner, or whether it is the individual's upset with you as you're crossing on northern part of Texas, and the speed limit is 80 and you're doing 70, uh, and they're passing you to 120, you know, it's very hard to emotionally deal with it.
But my, I had a student one time a while ago, and, and his point was, um, uh, never drive from behind was what he told me. And I thought, what, what are you talking about? Drive from behind? And what he basically was saying and what his message to all in the class was, you know, you cannot be influenced to do things that are unsafe by what people may be reacting to you. Uh, you know, are they gesturing toward you, perhaps not very nicely or honking their horn?
And, and in some cases, uh, not making it very comfortable. But the reality is, uh, your vehicle, your safety is paramount. And one of the things that I insist that we talk about, whether it's in a seminar or whether it's behind the wheel instruction, is your safety is paramount. Now, somebody on the outside may be critiquing what you're doing or not doing, but you cannot be influenced by that to make some, let's be honest, stupid moves. - Good for you. I'm glad to hear that.
And that will help me as, uh, as his tendency is to go faster and not to monitor it. 'cause they're very easy to, to the next question, um, about, uh, RV driving school. And again, we want, we'll put all the information on how to contact you and, uh, get into the RV driving. So we'll put that in the description below the link.
But, um, backing up, and I know that's a skill that you have to practice, but do you have just a couple little tips you could pass along to people about backing a a, a fifth wheel or a large trailer into a campsite? - You bet probably the, uh, the bumper tows or the towed vehicles are probably the most problematic. And the first tip is, first of all, pull very far forward and angle your vehicle out as you start the backend activity.
The next thing is, and, and what I tell my guys is that, and incidentally we have women who are also instructors, but I tell them, you know, that the first thing you need to do is keep the temperature down. In other words, don't be emotionally driven because you know those, that trailer's gonna do something that's wrong or at least you're not gonna be happy with. And I want, first thing I want is you, I don't want you to overreact.
So what I say, say to the instructor during the learning exercise, uh, go up, put your hand on the external rear view mirror. And that is a little psychology here, uh, to again, note that we are in control and that you're not about to do anything foolish. I tell the person to roll down the window and I say, put your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel if it's a left back end. In other words, you're backing into a spot that is on the left side of the vehicle.
I see. I want you to start moving that vehicle backward and moving your hand in a left wise direction. In other words, moving the steering wheel in a, uh, uh, uh, um, clockwise direction. And as that vehicle is moving backward in a very slow manner, at one point, the trailer is now established as into the spot that you're aiming at. The next thing I say to the, uh, person, I say, stop. I don't mean slow down. I mean, stop.
I want you to think, now I want you to put your hand to the top of the steering wheel, and now I want you to start or continue moving backward. But I want you, uh, from the top of the steering wheel once again to move your hand in a left wise direction. The person, periodically, I have to look out through the window and see what's happening, because the pickup is now starting to follow the trailer into the spot. So that's the top of the wheel.
Bottom of the wheel technique is something that, uh, and, and it, it's like riding a bike, Mike. Uh, the reality is I can say and, and tell them about the principles. I can aid them through the, uh, teaching process. And all our people will do a dandy job of explaining just what I talked about. But the reality is they are gonna need to practice. And sometimes it's gonna create a little bit of a stir if it's at an RV park whenever you exercising what I just said. But you're gonna miss it.
You're gonna have a time whenever you have to pull forward and perhaps start all over again. But the reality is, those are the important and relevant points for a trailered backend. - Alright, now I wanna take you to what you mentioned a minute ago, just some general information about climbing a mountain and coming down a mountain while you're towing.
- You know, first of all, going up a mountain, probably in, in many cases, the difficult thing, and especially for us guys, I'm picking on guys, but you know, you wanna, you know, get around the trucks that are, you know, lollygagging up the hill. And the reality is, especially if you have a very heavy load behind you, IE it's a pickup and you've got a 35 to 38 to 40 foot, uh, trailer behind you, that engine is working very hard.
And if you're in, uh, in central city outside of Denver, and you're at 8,000 feet and climbing that engine is, is tending to overheat. So the first thing is, I, I encourage people to get in the queue with the truckers do perhaps one downshift depending on the hill. But again, you need to get that engine circulating the, the, uh, fluids to keep it cool. So that's the important step there.
When you get to the crest of the hill, this is whenever decision time, and especially if it's outlined to you, if it's a 5%, 6%, or 8% grade, and I use those as typical examples on your way to Moab. Uh, if you're gonna, if you're gonna go down that hill, you need to decide how am I, how am I going to keep my foot off the brake or at use the brake intermittently. Uh, we typically, the RVs have what I call deceleration devices.
They take the form of a jake break, a compression, break, a uh, exhaust break, a tow hall button. But the big one is the downshift. And I gotta tell you that there are a lot of people that we have, we instruct who are very reluctant to do a downshift or force a downshift. And the reality is, they do have to, especially on some of these significant hills.
And whenever they do that, you know, do the, the appropriate thing, engage the deceleration device, do the downshift, and then again, intermittent use of the brake. You know, they can negotiate just about any, you know, typical hill. - Just a quick, uh, how do you do a downshift on an automatic transmission? - You know, on most of the RVs or many of the, uh, class a's there is an Allison transmission, and it's a, it's just a panel off to the left of the, uh, of your driving, uh, leg.
And, uh, it is an up and down arrow. And, uh, it's a simple step to just push the down arrow, which does a downshift. Many of the pickups now have been adapted, and they now have a plus and minus on the, on the stick, on the column, on the column. And, uh, they also have a tow hall button frequently on the end of the stick. But, you know, where they find it, how they use it is really a problem.
In so many cases. There is a reluctance to use it, and there's a fear factor, and I always tell people, and, and it's, uh, I've talked to Ford, I've talked to the gm, I've talked to, um, commons and, uh, Allison transmission people, and they all say, Hey, don't worry. If you do a downshift, you cannot force that engine into doing or causing damage either to the transmission or to the engine. So the big step here is that you need to get acquainted with how to do or to actually make the downshift.
Uh, however you're gonna get it done. You need to be comfortable with it. - Uh, I wanna give people some more details on RV school. Uh, how do they, they check rv school.com is the website. Um, what's the general cost for a two day session for that? - Well, Mike, we're, first of all, I'm not gonna apologize. Uh, it is important that we maintain a high quality school. 5 95 is for two four hour days with one of our people.
Uh, if we're teaching or helping two individuals, typically a couple, um, it's 8 95 for two six hour days. Uh, we do a lot of adapting in terms of extending lessons because some people come to us and they're really in need of some what additional help. Well, also a lot of the dealerships, uh, ill prepare people for, you know, things as mundane as, you know, uh, uh, you know, how to, uh, the, um, fuse boxes on these.
Uh, so we have an extended portion of the lesson, you know, that we can't put on that's not, um, uh, $120. And it, it basically said, we're gonna spend two to three hours with you, making sure you understand what's in the manuals, that it came with your rv, uh, understand the complexities of something as simple as it that for toilet. Um, - Well, I applaud all that you do.
I wish, uh, and I'm hoping that the manufacturers, and if I was a dealership, the first thing I would do is offer that course to pay your course for all new customers so that they would be satisfied customers and come back, uh, and buy from me again because I did that. I think that'd be a great tool for dealers. Your prices are very reasonable when you consider that, uh, how much it costs to get a campsite and how much these RVs cost.
- One of the things is, you know, for people who do need somebody, somebody to come to them, uh, we do provide a, you know, and, and obviously it's based on charges to get to the individual. And the second thing, I really would encourage people to go to the testimonials on our website. I am extremely proud of, you know, the testimonials that come in, - Sign me up, . I look forward to trying it myself. Uh, you've been a great interview and, uh, again, thank you so much for sharing your time
and your expertise with our audience. Thanks, George. - Thank you, sir. - I appreciated, uh, George's tips, as I'm sure you did too. Uh, you know, this whole idea of backing up an rv, it always works out, particularly when you're a newbie and you're backing up and all your neighbors in the campground. It's like the entertainment of the evening, , they all are out there drinking their beer leaning.
Watch this guy. And, uh, and then every now and then you'll see somebody come in that's probably gone to George's school and they, and they're backed in and just awesome. Um, but don't worry, we've all been there, in that newbie stage. And, uh, there's a link, uh, in the show notes that you'll find@rvlifestyle.com, uh, slash podcast, and you'll find, uh, a link there to the show notes for this episode to George's, uh, driving school.
But, uh, check it out. We appreciate his expertise - And I think it would be time and money well spent Yeah. To take a good class. - Yeah. Now we've taken a couple of short ones. Many times you'll find, uh, RV driving schools offered by manufacturers at, at big rallies and stuff, and you've taken a couple of them, but they're very short and they're not, and they're a little hands on. They give you some comfort, but, uh, mm-Hmm. . But George is the full deal.
You walk away with, uh, a, a, a lot of confidence and be able to drive that rv, whether it's a motor home or a towable. Um, so check 'em out. We think that's a, that's a great idea. Alright, quick break and we'll be back with the RV News of the week, and we've got some good stories for you this week. You're gonna wanna listen to Jennifer and I bought some land near Nashville, Tennessee a while back. We got tired, crowded, expensive campgrounds 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, five to 41 acres. You can build a house, a cabin or rv. Year round prices start at only $89,900. Your property, your way 100% 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 want it. Five to 41 acre properties from $89,900. There's even great financing. Check out the site and a video tour@rvlands.net. That's RV lands.net. Welcome back, everybody. Time now for the RV News of the week. - And we have a Massachusetts couple.
They say their RV was stolen after the dealer started on an unsecured shopping center parking lot without their knowledge. - Now, we should point out that this was just down the street from the dealership. And again, here what Jennifer said, it was without their, they didn't know that it wasn't gonna stay on the dealer's lot, - And the couple they dropped off their jco, they dropped it off at Pete's RV Center for maintenance at the dealer's service center.
So you leave it at a secure place. Right? And when they returned to pick it up, they discovered it was missing. It turned out the dealer stored their rig down the road on at an unsecured parking lot where it was stolen. And the couple ended up getting a local television station involved after the dealer dragged its feet on filing a police report and was not helping them get compensation.
- Yeah. Eventually the couple learned that what they had to do is file this loss under their, um, insurance policy, their own insurance policy, and then their insurance company can go after the RV dealer, but still, they're out a thousand dollars deductible. Plus all the precious memories that, uh, they had tied up in that jayco of theirs with their kids. Um, it's a mess.
And it's a reminder to all of us to ask if the RV service center that you're going to drop off your RV keeps it in a secure location when the work is done. Uh, and if you wanna see that news story about this couple, we'll put a link in the show notes and you'll find that at, uh, RV lifestyle.com/podcast. - You know, what I find amazing is that somebody would leave an RV at just a parking lot, because I'm thinking about sometimes RVs get stolen outta dealer's lot.
- Yeah. Didn't we have a story about that last week? - Yeah, we did. We, we did have, we've had stories in the past like that, so, but I can't imagine leaving your property just, you know, at some parking. - Well, you know, they, some of these dealers, they just don't have a lot of stories. Yeah. They don't have room. But, you know, you should at least say, Hey, okay, we're gonna keep it until we can get to it down the street. And then you can say, no way when you can get to it.
I'll drop it off and I'll be there and, uh, watch you put it in your garage or wherever you service it. Mm-Hmm. , uh, anyway, um, our sympathies go for this couple. Yes. Who truly, uh, had a, a terrible experience. Um, hey, we got a story that I think is, how about this? I mean, this is unusual. It's a government agency that actually listened to the people and changed its mind. And it was the National Park Service.
Now, the National Park Service, we all love them because we love our national parks. But you gotta understand, it is a huge bureaucracy. It is riddled with politics. Uh, and like all government agencies, you know, um, it works at a, at its own, uh, at its own style. What they did, they announced this week that they're going to abandon a plan, a wildly unpopular plan that they had to remove the wild horses at North Dakota's, Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Now, if you've been to Teddy Roosevelt National Park, uh, you know how much a part of that park, uh, those horses are. So a whole bunch of groups, uh, activist groups, wild horse advocates, tourists heard about this, and they bombarded the park service with resistance and criticism of this idea. And what the NPS wanted to do was remove these horses. Uh, they're out of the concern that the animals were damaging to the environment. Well, the animals had been there since Teddy Roosevelt's days.
Now granted, horses are not a native animal of, of that part of, uh, of, uh, North Dakota, but their descendants of those who were owned by the ranchers and the tribes of the old West, and they roamed wild when Teddy Roosevelt, who the park, uh, was named after and who lived there, uh, they rolled there since then. They were, they were just as they are today. Uh, so they had a lot of historical significance.
And we love those horses. They're gorgeous. They're, - I think everybody loves those wild horses. They're extremely popular with everybody. And currently there's only, well, there's about 200 wild horses in the park. - I mean, you see them, but you don't see 'em all the time. And we've, we sat out, I remember one time shooting, uh, we saw a, a colt and his mom and they were part of a herd. And we watched them at sunset for, it was gorgeous. They were gro, you know, really pretty.
Um, now that was the park ship. So they changed their mind, but they could change it again. And that's why a leading group that advocates for the horses says now that this plant has been abandoned this time, they want those wild horses to have federal protection forever, to prevent, you know, the park service from changing its mind and trying to cull the herd next year or the year after. Um, we visited Theodore Roosevelt National Park a couple of times.
We absolutely love it. And, uh, we'll put a link to, uh, one of our, uh, trips there. And in it you'll see those wild horses. Uh, they're just, um, they're really gorgeous. Alright, next story. It also involves animals. - Yeah. Remember when we told you about the wolf reintroduction plan to in, uh, Colorado? Well, the pack flown in from Oregon and released in Colorado, may be headed into Wyoming, where it's legal to shoot them.
In December 10, wolves were released in Colorado, under that state's wolf reintroduction program. The animals were released in a ranching area where ranchers did not want them. And since December, they've killed six heads of cattle, but the pack is moving as wolves do. And, uh, the state releases regular reports based on their tracking collars and have confirmed the wolves did wander into the Rocky Mountain National Park, and one wolf did die of natural causes like a mountain lion.
And the pack is now very close to the Wyoming state line. And while wolves are a protected species in Colorado, in Wyoming, they are not, in fact, a wolf in Wyoming can be shot legally for any reason. Mm-Hmm. - It's a ridiculous, isn't it? Uh, um, but it's a hotly contested area. And ranchers certainly have, um, have some concerns. But, uh, , these guys are going into harm's way, these rules. Uh, okay, here's a story for you.
If you have been one of those who have, uh, suspected or complained about shoddy manufacturing by the big RV companies, um, there's some more evidence this month to back up those complaints. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently released a number of RV recalls that you might want to check out. Uh, we'll put the full list and links to it in the podcast, uh, link on the, uh, rv lifestyle.com/podcast blog.
But it includes, um, 20 to 24, uh, units that were built by Tiffin Motor Homes. Uh, they found that the LED backlight circuit board in the cooktop range may fail, causing the board to overheat. And there, of course, there's always a risk of fire. Then, uh, Allegro Open Road, Allegro, RED 360, uh, 2024 Byway and 2022 Fatton Motor Homes are affected. And owner notification letters should be mailed out to owners by May 31st.
Keystone RV Company is recalling a bunch of its units because the equalizer may provide inadequate clearance, allowing the axle to contact the frame. And that's certain keystone, uh, models the retreat, uh, 2024 models, the retreat, uh, the residence 40, the residence, uh, 4 0 1. Uh, the Dutchman Aspen Trail and Crossroads Hampton are trailers that were affected with letters that were mailed to owners by May 31st.
They will be out, uh, the recall at Forest River because the operator may utilize the rear towing hitch without locking the turning point fifth wheel hitch into the conventional transport position. You've got what 'em, you know what that means? Uh, certain 24 Cardinal and Wildcat fifth wheel trailers are affected and those letters are gonna go out by May 22nd.
Um, outdoors RV Manufacturing recall is because of, uh, an LED backlight circuit board in the cook dock range that may fail again, causing overheat, uh, certain 20 to 24 titanium trailers affected. Uh, those letters will be mailed out by May 17th. Uh, forest River is also a number of recalls 'cause that LED backlight circuit board and the cook part cooktop range may fall. Maybe, you know, a number of units affected. And, uh, just be aware, you should probably go look at the full list.
We could go on and on with this. Uh, but, um, check out and we'll post a link to it. It's at rv lifestyle.com/podcast. And, uh, we thank RV Business, our friends at RV Business for, um, alerting everybody to that story. Alright, when we come back the RV question of the week, 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, they're maintenance free. And battle borne batteries are protected by a 10 year guarantee. Now in our case, they just dropped into the existing A GM batteries that we have and they'll probably be the same on your rig too.
Battleborn 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 and I swear by our battle borne batteries, they allow us to boondock off the grid. Check 'em out. Go to rv lifestyle.com/lithium rv lifestyle.com/lithium. - Alright, it's time now for the RV question of the week.
And we wanna remind you that we love to get your questions and your comments and you can reach us anytime at Mike and jen@rvlifestyle.com. What's our question this week? - Okay, our question is, my husband and I wanna start our retirement with RVing. How do we stay safe out there now with this open border situation? We live in Arizona and things are really changing. We have a dog and we are both CCW certified.
Is it worth investing in all that it entails in RV with all the changes in America today? And that's Catherine. - All right, Catherine. Um, granted America certainly has its share of problems. And in Arizona, you know, closer to the border, you certainly are probably more aware than most people of, of all the problems associated with illegal migration. But that said, um, we've been doing the RV lifestyle for more than 12 years now, and we've traveled repeatedly.
I've gone from one end of the country to the other, uh, numerous times, and we have had no time ever when we felt unsafe. And maybe what about 10 years ago, we were eating dinner at a shopping center on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, and our RV was broken into, we had a lot of, a lot of my photo gears, a lot of grease. It was taken, but our insurance covered the loss. And that is the only time we've experienced crime in any form in all of our travels.
So there are yes neighborhoods and there's places where it is not safe, but those are not the places that our viewers tend to visit. So I guess to answer your question, um, RV as a lifestyle is more than worth it. Uh, it is, uh, enjoyable. It's fulfilling, it's exciting and it's safe. Uh, now I won't even start to get into the topic of concealed weapons or firearms and whether you should carry 'em, that's up to you.
But I will say that if you just simply use common sense and planning your routes, and if you are aware of your surroundings and you trust your gut, if you get in an uneasy feeling, just move on If need be. We've never had to do that either. Um, but America's not unsafe. Uh, plan your retirement and get out there and enjoy it. - If you're going to be unsafe, you think about going to the mall. - Yeah, I mean, there's - A lot of places, broad daylight where it's not safe.
More so it seems like in the big cities. But, - You know, we, we also hear about it all the time. I mean, we have social media, we've got neighborhood apps, and we've got news media apps screaming for attention 24 7. Anything happens and, you know, um, social media in particular and false rumors and fake news. And yeah, there are problems out there, but you can't go around not doing things because you're fearful.
And I don't think that being fearful of the changes that are happening in America and there are, uh, is, is, um, justified. You're justified in, in changing your retirement plans because of it. So, and obviously if, if, if you're fearful by all this stuff, then don't do it. Stay home. But, uh, I can just tell you our experience and it's, it's safe out there. Right? - Just gotta use common sense. Yeah. - Which is, well that sense, which isn't so common anymore. Right.
- I was kind of thinking it must be safe out there, . - Yeah, kinda. Anyway, Catherine, go have a great retirement and uh, and you will be safe. Alright, you got questions or you got comments? You can reach us, Mike and jen@rvlifestyle.com. We love to hear from you. That's it for this week. We'll see you guys down the road. - Happy trails.