- This week on the RV podcast, - In the interview of the week segment tech, talk about lithium batteries, how to replace your a GM or your wet cell batteries, how to pair lithium with solar, and what you need for cabling and, and inverter. - Yellowstone National Park. Just reopened for the new season. And already there's been a turon incident, a tourist moron who dangerously messed with the wildlife.
- And we introduced a new segment at the end of the podcast this week, Mike and Jen's story, time in which we share, uh, the tales and lessons we've learned from our many years on the road. This week we're gonna talk about the time we were robbed - All this plus the RV News of the week. And your questions coming up in episode 4 96 of the RV podcast. - Hello everybody. I'm Mike Gwendolyn and this is my lifelong traveling companion and my bride Jennifer.
I wanna remind you that you can watch the video version, uh, from, uh, our RV lifestyle YouTube channel. And, uh, both the video and audio version are also available on our RV lifestyle blog. And, uh, we have a new feature on the blog with the, uh, audio version. We now have closed captioning, so you can actually get a full transcript of everything we say on it, and you can follow along in real time if you listen to it@rvlifestyle.com.
And of course, we're available on all of your favorite podcast apps as well. And we invite you to subscribe if you have not already. We hope that you are enjoying our RV podcast and you find a lot of value in the content that we have been producing almost 500 episodes now. We try and create episodes that inform and entertain and inspire our community of RV enthusiasts like yourself.
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So thank you for being a part of our podcast community and we want you to know how much we appreciate your ongoing support. So there you go. And we're excited about a new segment that we're gonna introduce this week. Uh, Mike and Jen's story Time, no, you don't need a blankie, , anything like that. Um, but this comes from a lot of feedback that we've gotten, uh, from our team and from you over the years.
Uh, we have a lot of stories, a lot of tales that we've learned from the road and, uh, things from our experience. Uh, so we're gonna tell some stories, uh, try and put 'em at the end of the podcast each week. And, uh, when you go to rv lifestyle.com, you can see we have different chapters and different places where you can go and you can jump right ahead to whatever segment of this podcast you want to hear. - So I'm wondering if anybody else is going camping.
This Mother's Day weekend, we got the Montana Hike Country fifth Wheel already sparkled and ready to go load up the refrigerator and we are ready to launch. - Yeah, I just turned on the refrigerator. Good job. Nice and cold. 'cause I saw you put some stuff already in. Maybe we're gonna actually be able to get the thing loaded and not have to do it at the last minute.
Um, I also did, uh, I went out there with my, uh, Milwaukee air compressor and I, uh, set all the tires to the proper cold temperature reading. And, you know, this is something that you should do in your RV before every trip, but especially towards the start of the season. Go check the air pressure in your RV tires, make sure that they are set to what the little sticker you have on your RV says is the cold pressure setting. And, uh, ours is 110 pounds per square inch. And I set it all at 110.
They were pretty close to that, uh, even after being in storage for, well, we've only had it in storage for about three weeks, four, 5:00 PM But, uh, it's been pretty good. - And I was really proud of you when you took everything out of the storage areas and, uh, reorganized it and weeded out a few things. I I was very pleased about that. And I went through our closets and looked over things and thought, what do we need? What do we don't need?
When you begin in springtime, it's time to wash everything and get her ready to go. - Yeah, I did that pass through section. Mm-Hmm, , which I had just been kind of like throwing stuff in. Yeah. And it's easy to, I now have all my tools and all the little things that you need, you know, like, uh, adapters for the power, I got 'em all in a bin. Uh, I've got, uh, everything kind of organized pretty well. I got another chair or two I wanna put in for your Mother's Day trips. Ah, - Sounds good.
- You are gonna need a, a look at the sky chair. I hope - So. I hope I got a little time to look at the sky. - So, listen, we are really excited by some of the video content that we have planned. We had, we've had almost a quarter million people watch the series of Class B reviews that we did, uh, with our friend Nick at Sunshine State RVs a month or so ago. I mean, that's a lot. A quarter million reviews, uh, views on the views on our reviews, .
And, uh, so we're going to follow your request and we're gonna do more. Um, we're gonna do more with Nick throughout the, uh, the year. Uh, but we also, um, uh, we'll announce all the details next week, but we're going to be, uh, doing a series of reviews on a very popular subsection of the class. A market, small class a's under 30 feet. So we're gonna review several of those, uh, which is something you've asked us to do.
And then we are also going to be reviewing some class Cs, uh, thanks to our friends at General rv, uh, which, uh, we are anxious to try these all out and learn about both of those through experience and tell you about 'em as well. And, um, we're gonna do some more Class Bs, uh, this very weekend if you are watching this. This is May 8th as this episode's being released. And, uh, over on Saturday of this week, we'll be releasing our very detailed, uh, review of the Brinkley rv.
Frankly, we visited their campus, their complex near Elkhart in, uh, Goshen, Indiana last week. And we toured one of their, uh, their leading, uh, fifth wheel plants. We tracked down an owner and got some answer to a lot of rumors about 'em, and we're really excited about this video. Plus we did our review. So, uh, if you've been curious about the Brinkley, make sure you tune in Saturday. So we have a lot to do. Plus we got our gathering coming up in, uh, just about a month now in Ship Siana.
That's gonna be fun. We're gonna do our gather grooving, gather with the temptations. So that's what we have been up to. We should also tell people we wanna get mail from 'em, right? - We certainly do. So, uh, send us emails at Mike and janet rv lifestyle.com. - Yeah, comments, email, whatever you like. And we put a site, a, a space on our, uh, new RV lifestyle community@community.rvlifestyle.com, where you can actually post questions that you would like us to answer, uh, on the podcast.
And we will draw those questions right from there as well, as well as the email that people send us. So, alright, when we come back, we've got the social media news, the buzz of the week. So stay with us. After countless nights on the road, we have finally found the ultimate comfort solution for our home, away from home. Our RV mattress from rv mattress.com/rv lifestyle. 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.com has 22 plus size options, five height options, and three firmness 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 us 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.
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@rvmattress.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.com/rv Lifestyle. 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. Welcome everybody. Time now for the social media buzz. - And we've got Wendy Boyer who reports on the hot issues most talked about this past week on the social media and our RV lifestyle community group. So every week we get to learn something from Wendy. So - What are they talking about this week? - Hi everybody. Over in our RV lifestyle community general discussion space.
Tim recently asked, if you're going on an extended RV trip, how do you get your prescriptions filled? So Tim's insurance only permits 90 day refills. And you can imagine how tricky that can be depending upon the length of your trip and, uh, the length of your prescription. So, lots of good tips for Tim here. Richard. He shared some options if Tim's a veteran and then Dennis, he suggested Walgreens or CVS. And in fact, that's what Robin uses. Um, she uses CVS and she said it's super easy.
They transfer your prescription to wherever you are on the road and then when you're home, it gets transferred back no problem. And Arvis said Walmart, pharmacies and also another good option. 'cause let's face it, it seems like there's Walmart's just about everywhere. So some good tips there for Tim. And then also in our community. And we have a new space called Weather for our Vs.
And let's face it, this is a really big deal, um, not only on travel days, but if you're in a location that's gonna be really hard hit by a storm. It's just good to know this. Um, so with all the crazy weather this country's been having lately with tornadoes and flooding and hailstorms and winds, this group's been really busy ever since we created it. Um, Chris has been great. He's been sharing some real time alerts for folks out there.
And Brenda and Mark, they've shared some really helpful info too, especially about strong winds. And we even had a post from Chris, um, outta Texas. There was a picture of this hand holding, three hail ball, hail balls, I'm gonna call 'em. And these hail things were so big he could, the whoever was holding 'em could only have three in his hand. 'cause these things were the size of baseballs. I can only imagine the damage they would do.
So again, if you are conscious of the weather, you really need to check that out, um, in our, in our new community. And then meanwhile over in our Facebook group, things are busy as always. Um, we had a post from Kay and she wrote, I wanna make a list of things we absolutely have to do when breaking camp. We know to dump the tanks, but what are things we dare not forget? Um, so this was a great question.
You know, many recommended Kay create a list of what she needs to do during the tear down, um, specific for her rig and then keep it on her phone or print it, laminate it and keep it in her rig. But there were lots of things that were advised from many people. Um, so I wanna share a few of them with you. Uh, many said, make sure, number one, you clear all those small items from your tables and countertops so they don't roll and fall around when you travel.
Put down any antenna, close your roof vents, rinse the sewer line, lock the fridge. Many said this is so important. Just one time of forgetting to do this and seeing the mess of all your fridge items spilled on the floor, you'll never forget again. So lock that fridge, drain your hose before putting it away. Check your tire pressure before you hit the road. Make sure your jacks are up, your awnings in. And then if you use leveler pads, make sure you don't leave those behind.
So, great suggestions. Um, but what, what else should she know? What else do you have out there for Kay to remember? I love to hear it. And, uh, that's it for me this week. I'm Wendy Boyer and I'll see you either at the RV lifestyle community or Facebook group. - Well, thank you very much Wendy. And, uh, always fun to hear what everybody's talking about and talk about they do on our every lifestyle community and Facebook group.
Oh, I mean, there's - Always good things, but this week, the weather, which is, uh, something that you need to know about when you're out there on the road and getting prescriptions. You know, not everybody has traveled that much and they don't know how to get prescriptions. And there was some really good advice. And I gotta tell you, I never thought about Walmart for my, uh, prescriptions. I've thought about CVS and Walgreens 'cause they're the two biggest - Pharmacy.
That would be one of our stories. Our RV lifestyle stories. Mike and Jen's story time. We'll talk about prescriptions someday. 'cause you have certainly had prescriptions filled across the country. Oh - Yeah. And uh, and then also the, um, making a list of things that when you leave, because we have, I mean, we have left that vent up on the top and driven down the road. I don't know how long before we realize something's not right.
It doesn't sound quite right. Yes, - We have - Have we and leading things on the counter that not checking and 'cause it'll roll off and Paul can testify to that and so can tie his predecessor, but being terrified by something rolling off the counter. Yeah. So if you need a list of things or if you can discipline yourself to take the time to carefully walk through and look at everything, because if it can fall, it will. - Yep, - It will. So good advice.
- Alright, speaking of advice coming up in our interview of the week, we're gonna talk to, uh, Jesse Assay. He's with, uh, battle borne batteries. And we're gonna learn about what's involved in replacing the current batteries you have with lithium batteries, uh, peeling, pairing it up with solar and all the questions that you have. And, uh, that's coming up right after this. For campers in our veers. Access to pure drinking water on the road is vitally important.
And that's why Jennifer and I use and highly recommend KACO's new and improved taste. Pure water filter, KACO's taste. Pure water filter offers an advanced six step filtration technology that goes way beyond just basic water filtration. With patented technology and top industry standard certifications, taste pure leaves no question to the quality of your drinking water on the road.
The taste pure water filter reduces unpleasant tastes, odors, lead chlorine, bacteria, sediment, and heavy metals, and also controls bacteria and mold growth. Our 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 RV interview of the week - And lithium batteries. That really is the now and the future. More and more people are parking off grid and, uh, they're just realizing what an asset they are. - Yeah, it has really, I think, um, revolutionized the boondocking movement.
And, uh, what's they're saying that lead being like lead acid, bass, batteries, lead is dead . So, but a lot of people are very confused about lithium. Number one, we wanna point out you don't need to have lithium to ensure your rv, uh, is particularly for those who are, uh, off grid, um, boondocking and just don't, I can't hook up to, to, uh, regular campground power.
But with more and more of us doing that, because frankly, it's so hard to get into many RV parks, uh, it is a topic that we get an awful lot of mail about. Uh, how do you do it? What do you do about the existing batteries? We thought, uh, that it would be good to hear from an expert. So a while ago on our RV lifestyle community, we do live streams there all the time and usually bring in experts. We had Jesse Asay, he's with battle borne batteries.
Um, battle borne is owned by, uh, uh, its parent company is, uh, the company that really provides pretty much most of the OEM batteries on the leading RV manufacturers. They're, uh, a lot of battle borne batteries under the name battle, uh, dragonfly, uh, which is their, uh, is their parent company.
So, um, Jesse was on and answered a lot of questions from the audience and we thought we would, uh, put together some of that for you as you perhaps are considering upgrading to lithium for the new camping season. So let's check in and get some of those questions answered. One of the questions, and I got this from Betsy, and Betsy said, I have a Class C and she didn't tell me what brand it is. She said, I was told that I can drop and replace, uh, my old batteries with lithium batteries.
But what else do I need to consider, uh, besides just swapping out batteries? - Yeah, absolutely. Okay, good question. We get that all the time. Um, what do I need to switch over to lithium? You know, there's a couple things to consider there. Um, first off, do you have enough room to do what you wanna do? How big is your battery compartment? Because if you want to, uh, just swap out your batteries, it's a really easy process.
But if you wanna put in a whole new powering system and, and, um, have a bunch of other stuff, you're gonna need a bigger battery bank and you wanna make sure you can fit it. So number one, do I have the space to do what I wanna do? Number two, um, are all the charging methods that are currently charging your existing batteries, are they compatible with lithium? So, you know, if you have a, a converter in there, you can check the model number and see if it's a lithium version.
A converter's just a basic charger. When you plug into that shore power, it charges the batteries up. If it's compatible, great, it's gonna work great to charge the batteries and it'll have a little lithium symbol on there. They'll, they'll tout that on there for some of those newer vehicles. If not, we'd recommend swapping that out with a compatible lithium charger.
Um, and that's a fairly easy thing to do depending on your model, you can always call us up and say, Hey, this is the model number of my converter. Is this gonna work? And we'll walk you through it. Um, if you have other charging methods, like, uh, inverter chargers are very common. You know, a lot of 'em will have a lithium mode, a lithium battery type. Uh, if not, there's some custom settings. You just go in and put the parameters of our batteries in there, which is really easy.
It's right on the stickers on all of our batteries. This is how they like to be charged. This is the, the range. Um, and those are really the basics. Does it fit, will it charge? Well, - We, and and really this is, you know, it's, it, it, it can easily be a DIY project if you have some familiarity with it.
But a mobile RV techs and just a call to you guys, if somebody just calls battle borne batteries and says, Hey, this is what I have, this is what I want, will you guys walk them through that process and, and help 'em make sure they have the system they need? - Absolutely. We do that all day long. We've got 10 guys on the phones out here, uh, doing that exact same thing. Uh, if you need a, a consult to say, Hey, I've got this kind of vehicle, um, what do I need to switch over?
We will go over that with you. Or you can take it to any of the, the dealers that are familiar, uh, installers around the country. There's a lot of of people that are really good at, - Uh, - Putting systems in. - Here's a question that came, uh, just came in. It's in the chat room from Suzanne Weiss and she says she's looking to upgrade to a new camper that is prepped for lithium, but she worries about what temperatures do I need to worry about in keeping them warm.
And she knows that it gets very cold in Nebraska in the wintertime. - Yeah, good question as well. Yeah, that's, that's a, a big thing. Uh, a big topic of conversation when it comes to lithium. You know, what about the whole temperature and everything? Um, lithium batteries work way better in cold temperatures than any kind of lead acid style battery. You know, even down negative four degrees fahrenheit's totally fine to use our batteries that work really, really well.
Um, the, the thing that, um, is the limiting factor is the charging when it gets down to about 25 degrees Fahrenheit inside the battery, uh, it will not take a charge. There's a thermal protection in there. Lithium batteries don't do well in charging in cold weather. Using 'em. It works great if you do need to, uh, run your, your system, uh, and, and charge during those cold temperatures.
We have a heated version of the battery, which will always keep it above that temperature and always allow you to use your system, uh, flawlessly. - A question from Ron. He said he's heard so much about different sizes of lithium batteries and, uh, the question is, he says is, uh, how much do I need, uh, if I wanna just run my air conditioner through the night? Which is a big ask 'cause just because people don't realize how much an air conditioner takes. Yeah, - Yeah.
Air conditioners are a huge power consumer and probably the largest in your rv. Um, so what you need, uh, is gonna be based on what you want to use the temperature outside. In general, if somebody calls us up and says, Hey, I wanna run an air conditioner, what do I need? The minimum requirement is about three of our 100 amp hour batteries and a 3000 watt inverter. Uh, that's the, the minimums to make that work.
Now, how much time runtime you get outta that, again, is gonna vary depending on the temperature outside temperature inside, you know, and, and everything. But in general, you can get half hour, 45 minutes, sometimes a little bit more per 100 amps of battery. You have to run an air conditioner. - So, um, Jack Partain on the chat room asks, what makes your batteries better than some of your competitors cheaper products? - Oh yeah, another great question.
Um, we could make a pretty darn cheap battery, but to compete with that, but we don't wanna make that, um, that style of battery because it's not as good. Honestly. You know, there's a lot of manufacturers out there that are calling themselves lithium battery manufacturers that just import a battery directly from China without knowing anything about the technology or how to build it.
And when it arrives, they slap their sticker on it and ship it out and, and they're doing nothing really to, um, know how that chemistry works, to know how to set it up for, for customers. Um, if you call in for support, you probably are not gonna get your questions answered, and you're probably not gonna get a real warranty either. Uh, it's really easy to make your battery look good at an affordable price.
Uh, it's another thing for it to work properly to use, uh, components internally that are safe and, and that will last the duration, uh, the lifetime of your, your system. So yeah, there, there's a lot of different battery companies that have come up in the last like 10 years or so. Uh, we've been around doing it for a lot longer. Uh, we actually build them right here. I can walk 20 feet out into the warehouse and help 'em build batteries.
Um, and you talk to live customer service agents that know what they're talking about and can help you with your system. The support is really big over here, so we wanna, we wanna stress that, um, you get what you pay for. If you get a really cheap and expensive battery, you're probably gonna have everything else involved with it. Um, a little unsatisfactory as well.
- And that leads me to a question that came in, uh, by email from Jim who said, uh, what, uh, it used to be that you made a hundred amp uh, battery. He said, what are the different sizes of battle borne batteries and what are the specific needs that, uh, an RV would have to have to, uh, to have 'em fit? That makes sense. Yeah. - Yeah, there's a lot of, there's a lot of, uh, battery styles out there.
You know, the most common is probably a group 27, 100 amp hour battery, and that's what ours mimics the shape and size. It's very similar. Um, you also have a hundred amp hour battery that is in the form factor or the shape of the six volt batteries that are out there. They're, uh, a little more narrow and taller, and our GC two battery is very similar to that. So those are the two 100 amp hour batteries.
Uh, we also have smaller batteries if you have some, some application where you, you don't need as much power. You know, fishing boats are a really good example. Trolling motors. We've got some group 24, um, 75 amp hour batteries, and even a smaller capacity, 50 amp hour. Um, you've got your big 270 amp hour battery. Our GC three, the game changer, and those are kind of, uh, tall, narrow, long batteries that fit great against the sides of the compartments of vans and RVs.
Uh, they have a 300 amp discharge rate. Um, those are the, the primary sizes that we, we offer right now. - Uh, Maryanne says, I used to hear that, uh, it was that lithium batteries had a fire danger and I see many of them underneath an RV bed or near where people are sleeping. Is that safe now? - Good question again. Yeah, we have a lot of customers ask about the safety and, you know, lithium, um, has been in the news a lot.
I mean, it used to be the old Samsung phones would be blowing up in people's pockets. Yep. And you know, that, that's one of the reasons, um, why we stress the quality and, and the um, uh, the safety of our batteries. Our entire pack is UL rated, um, our battery pack. And, and that lends to the safety aspect. Um, they're certified to travel in the air all over the world. Um, lots of customers are sleeping on top of these batteries in their different applications.
There's no off-gassing, there's no terminal corrosion, there's no gas that comes out that's gonna be harmful. Uh, they can go in sealed compartments or vintage compartments. Um, lithium iron phosphate, LFP, uh, as you hear it, uh, is one of the safest chemistries within that lithium blanket. And the way that we build the batteries, uh, we have 120 individual cells, uh, that are steel encased inside each 100 amp hour battery.
And, um, that is one of the safest ways, uh, to build a battery with those types of cells. They have an air gap in between them, uh, in the internal makings, and that makes it, uh, extremely safe. Not like these other cheaper battery companies that just take these lithium blocks, these prismatic cells, uh, and just slap 'em together to where it can be thermally dangerous. So, yeah. Long, long answer, short question. Uh, they're very safe. Many, many people using 'em in sleeping on top of them.
- Um, Ronald Jeca in the chat room, what is the life expectancy of a battery, lithium battery in normal use? - Yeah. Um, it, it's hard to, to tell people exact, to get a feel for how long they're gonna last. Um, you have easily 5,000 cycles that you run through the battery. To give you some perspective of that.
If you were to discharge your battery down completely empty, our batteries, which you can do not like a lead acid battery or some of the other cheaper lithiums, um, run all the way down to empty all the way back up to full. And you did that every single day for the next 10 years, you've used up 3,650 cycles. After that, you would have probably 85% of the original capacity on the batteries. This is a very long life battery. Um, you get, we say around 15 years plus if you treat it the right way.
Um, the life expectancy is, is dependent on how many cycles you use and how often you use it. So it can be a very long time. - So it's likely the however long you're gonna keep that rv that battery's likely to be, to be still good. Um, here's a question that we get different, uh, questions. I'm got a couple emails on it, but Frank, uh, posts this in the chat room.
He says, can I leave a charged lithium battery in my RV over the winter where it drops below freezing regularly in the Chicago area when I'm not using the rv? - Absolutely, yeah. One of the great things about, uh, battle warn batteries is you can charge it up to full before you put it in storage, disconnect it from all the, the loads.
If there's no power coming in or anything like, or going out or anything like that, they can sit for a year without needing a trickle charger, without needing any kind of charge. Which is great because, uh, the old standard lead acids, you know, you leave it sitting there for a month and you, your batteries are pretty much toast and they're not gonna perform very well next season. So at least 50% full, we say, you know, get it up to full disconnect everything.
You have a very long life, you don't have to worry about the cold. Um, they can be in, you know, negative 10, negative 15, uh, until it, it haws out. It's not gonna do anything to the batteries, but discharge a tiny bit. - Now, one of the questions that, uh, I wanted to come back to that you kind of alluded to. You talked about, um, a a, a lead acid-based battery and a lithium battery. And how, uh, many times that lithium could be drained down to nothing and still recharge.
Uh, explain what happens to a lead acid battery every time when use, when you use it all up, how much damage does that do to a, to a lead battery? - Yeah. When you discharge, uh, a lead acid battery of any type, uh, wet cell gel, a GM, any of those, um, past 50%, it has, uh, a damaging effect internally and, um, shortens the, the duration of the, the lifespan.
So if you were to bring 'em down to empty, which in inevitably most RVers do, it takes that cycle estimation of maybe, maybe around 500 cycles if you're lucky. And, and it will cut it down dramatically the first time you go under 50% or especially the first time you really kill all the power in it. So it, uh, has a very negative effect, uh, with lead acid batteries bringing 'em down. - Um, Matthew says, talk about parasitic drain. Is that something we need to worry about on lithium batteries?
He knows you do. He explained that how, uh, he had a parasitic drain and it kept draining his lead batteries. And that's one of the reasons he went to lithium. But now he's still worried that there might be a parasitic drain. How about parasitic drain in lithium batteries? - Yeah, there's always some kind of, um, stationary load, uh, on an rv.
You know, you've got carbon monoxide sensors, you've got LP sensors, you've got maybe a back load stereo, uh, and, and they're always trickling a little bit of power outta that battery, it seems like. And eventually, no matter what type of battery it is, if you leave it long enough without anything coming in and a little going out, it's gonna, it's gonna drain that battery down to where it's empty. Happens a lot faster with, uh, lead acid batteries.
But the thing we always tell people is, you know, look at that switch that's in there. Usually there's a battery switch that you can cut off. Uh, the problem with those when they're installed by the manufacturers is a lot of 'em will have devices routed around that switch. You know, uh, they're a safety device, right? So they can ride 'em around that, that battery switch and still pull power out of the battery unknowingly.
So if you get a lithium battery, one of ours, uh, if you get any type of battery for that matter, check and see when you cut that switch off or when you disconnect, there's any power coming out of the system, always check for parasitic load. - And it's always there, uh, on pretty much all of them, uh, which is, uh, which is pretty tough. Um, what about maintenance? Uh, this is a question from Judy.
She says, I'm a solo rvr and, uh, I, I read the stuff about how I'm supposed to care for my lead acid batteries. What about lithium batteries? What do I have to know about maintaining them? - Lithium batteries are, are great. I mean, battle worm batteries, a any kind of maintenance is, is basically, um, don't let the battery go empty and stay empty for long periods of time. Um, there's, there's, uh, I mean, there's, there's so little maintenance.
I guess the other thing, uh, would be, uh, to make sure that you charge it regularly. You know, if you never get our batteries full, then it has a tendency not to balance out at that top end of the charge. So don't let it get empty for a very long ti period of time. You know, always recharge it when it goes empty, even though it's not gonna damage it to use all the power and get a full and complete charge on a regular basis when you're using it.
That's the maintenance. There's no water to put in. Um, there's no terminal corrosion to scrub off. There's no having a maintainer, a trickle charger, uh, in storage. It really has simplified, uh, the use of, of storing batteries. - Um, in terms of, of weight, uh, compared to lead acid, how do lithium batteries stack up?
- Yeah, if you look at comparison one to one, uh, our batteries are 31 pounds in that a hundred amp and a similar capacity battery is probably 80 pounds, you know, but if you think about it, uh, if you compare a 100 amp hour battle born to 200 amps of lead acid like an ag GM, the same power equivalent is there, right? You, you can only use 50% of this one, you use a hundred percent of this, one a hundred amps out of this, a hundred amps out of that.
And if you look at two of those batteries, the AGMs or, or the lead acids side by side, um, that's 150 pounds or so worth of lead, easily, easily, or a hundred amps worth of usable energy versus 31 pounds for a hundred amps of usable energy. So it's quite a big lighter, - Which, which gives you a big benefit because that gives you more carrying capacity in your rv. Yeah, - Tom, weight everything.
- Yeah. Uh, Chuck Gunn in the chat room asks, uh, what is involved with changing out a dual a GM setup to go to lithium? - Yeah, if you have, uh, two a GM batteries, um, you know, get the amperage capacity, it's probably close to a hundred amps.
And, uh, look at, if you have a, a big inverter in there or a small inverter, and in a lot of cases you can use almost half of the capacity you have now, uh, in lithium, theoretically, if, if you're gonna use 200 amps, just like we went over, you can use 100 amps with, uh, the battle warrants because that capacity is all usable.
When we say, Hey, here's your a hundred amp hour battery, you can actually pull out a hundred amps when you get a, a lead acid or a GM or gel, anything like that, they say, here's your a hundred amp hour battery, don't go below 50%. So, you know, it's, it's as easy as that. But, um, in regards to like, let's, I mentioned an inverter. Uh, there's a kind of a rule of thumb. If you have a thousand watt inverter, you wanna go at least a hundred amps worth of lithium capacity.
If you have a 2000 watt inverter, you want, uh, at least two batteries if you have a 3000, you know, so it goes on and on. So if you have two batteries now, uh, the AGMs and you wanna switch over to one of ours and you have a 2000 watt inverter, you really do need a robust battery bank. Uh, and I would say, uh, two of our 100 amps you would need in that situation. - Uh, mark asks, uh, do I have to change the cabling between my inverter and my batteries if I add lithium?
- Uh, it, it depends on if they, - You didn't gimme any data about how big his inverter is or any of that. So - In, in general, you know, one out to two odd cable, maybe even more up to four ott, if you have somewhere in there, um, it doesn't need to be replaced. But, um, another generality is for an inverter, um, that's about seven foot or more away from the batteries. Uh, if it's like a 2000 or a 3000 watt use at least two T cable, sometimes even up to four ott.
And if you are switching to lithium, uh, remember the corrosion, uh, the, uh, on the terminals and everything, it could be inside the wires too. So if you're gonna switch to lithium and you have the opportunity, switch out the wires too, unless they look perfect to you. Yeah. Um, but in general, two OTT to four OTT is what you want to use for inverters, unless it's real small. - Uh, thanks so much for being our guest and - Gotcha. Thank you very much, you guys. It was a pleasure being here.
I hope you get, hope to talk to you guys again soon. Bye-Bye. - I don't ever see us, uh, having an RV that does not have lithium batteries. Um, because even when we spend the night, like in a Cracker Barrel or, uh, at a Walmart or, uh, at a harvest host, many times there's no commercial power there. So it's really nice to have those lithium batteries and you can run your coffee maker and things like that. You know, you have to be a little careful about how you use energy always.
But, uh, they sure make it easy. It doesn't take long for us to get spoiled, does it? No, it really doesn't. It really doesn't. So, uh, if you enjoy that interview, we have regular interviews like that all the time, of course, here on the podcast, but also in the RV lifestyle community. Uh, just join us if you haven't, community dot rv lifestyle.com. And, um, we wanna thank Jesse and the team at Battle born for, uh, uh, all of their help and advice.
Alright, the RV News of the week, it's coming up. Right after this. Jennifer and I bought some land near Nashville, Tennessee, a while back. We got tired of 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.
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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 what's our first story? Well, - Uh, didn't take long. Yellowstone National Park, uh, hasn't even fully opened for the 2024 season. And already a turon that slang for a tourist who was also a moron was injured by a bison. So what did this guy do?
Well, this guy, he encountered a herd of bison on West Entrance Road near the, uh, seven mile bridge, got out of his vehicle and kicked one in the leg. - Wait, he actually kicked the bison in the leg. Yep. A bison, which weighs what, 2000 pounds? Yeah, - They're big. Must have been in the road. And he wanted to drive through one - . I don't think the animal took that kindly. - Uh, no. The, the animal then mildly injured. The man, the man's lucky he's alive.
That injury earned this guy the dubious distinction of being the first human injured by, um, bison and Yellowstone for 2024. And thankfully someone saw this happen and, and it happened in late April, and they told the Ranger, who arrested this guy in a, in the town of West Yellowstone, and his injuries, like for him, they, they were mild, but the, uh, 40-year-old man from Idaho has now been cited for being under the influence of alcohol. I think that's the key to this story. , oh geez.
To the degree that, uh, he could injure himself, disorderly conduct, and approaching and disturbing wildlife and the man driving the vehicle, he was also facing a charge. And, uh, last year you did a fun - Yeah, I'm sorry, go ahead. I, I let's do it again. Last, - Uh, last year, do it - Again. - What? - Pick it up. Last year. - Last year we interviewed a Yellowstone Ranger about this growing problem of tourist doing really stupid and dangerous things. Oh, at this beloved national park?
- Yeah. She had some really wild stories, but this guy, uh, alcohol, I mean, uh, yeah, so he's the first tour on. I'm sure there will be more. There probably have been more since this story happened. Um, they are really cracking down on it. The, uh, courts out there are really heavily finding these people and taking all sorts of action and I applaud them for that. But, uh, the, uh, the turan got caught and let's hope they all do.
- You know, when I first started reading the story, I started thinking that maybe somebody had a buddy shooting a video of it and they wanted it to go viral, that they, uh, thought this would be fun to hit or kick or do something. He drunk animal. But it ends up it was just somebody under the influence of alcohol. But, um, I always feel badly when the animal get put down. I feel badly if the guy got killed, but, you know, you just don't do this.
But alcohol tour rots and I'm, I'm sure they, the bison must have been in the road and he was trying to drive through or something, I don't know. But because they do that, I mean, they sit down in the middle of the road or who knows - The guy. Other guy's motive the guy, the guy is a moron. - I mean, well, it, - Yeah, come on. Well, you don't have to be nice to people that are morons that probably will result in that bison getting put down. I want the bison - Doesn't get put down.
- Um, life and burgers. I can't tell where it is 'cause he moved off, I'm sure. But this guy and I, uh, I hope they throw the book at him. Alright. Um, here's another story for you. Uh, doesn't it drive you crazy when you're told that a campground is completely booked? Um, but maybe you're in the area. So you drive through and you observe site after site that is empty and the reason it's empty is because people booked it and just didn't show up.
Or maybe you're trying to book that, um, dream trip to a popular park. You go online and uh, uh, to book and minutes after reservations are open, but you find everything is already taken and you can't get a spot. Well, the camping at the dirt recently announced that less than half of campers, 42.7% used all of the reservations that they made last year in 23. And the report found that it was four times more difficult to get a camping reservation in 23 than it was in 2019 when they started.
Now most of those, uh, had a change of plans, uh, and, uh, most people do cancel their re reservations, but almost 15% are no shows. And that's what the results were from 2323. And it's that later number that really gets a lot of RVers mad. Uh, a lot of campers really get frustrated by this because somebody could be enjoying that camping spot and to not cancel is the epitome of being selfish. Now we understand emergencies happen, but often it seems that that's not the case.
We told you several months back about a new law in California that penalizes those who don't cancel their reservations and even bans them from making future reservations if there are no show three times or more. And we think there needs to be more policies like that around the country. Uh, nohow, if you're not gonna show call up and cancel, please do that just for your other campers. Right? Well, I think - It's tough when they close at five. - Yeah, yeah, that's true.
In State Park Park, that's a problem. And, and many parks. Yep. So maybe, you know, you can't make it and you call and nobody answers the phone because Yeah. You know, know, uh, that's true. I, I, I forgot about that. Yeah, but still. - But give it your best shot. - Yeah. Uh, alright. What's happening after that? - Okay. Are you ready to wake up at three in the morning and go outside and look at the sky? You thinking about it? No. . Okay. So be well get ready.
A spectacular meteorite show is, is happening this week, and as many to 10 to 30 meteors are gonna be zipping through the sky at rates of about 148,000 miles per hour. There - Goes one - Sort. And the only bad thing is, like I said, the best time to see this is around 3:00 AM - So would you tell me the next morning how it is when you get out there? - I'm the one who can't get up in the middle of the night. If I'm sleeping, I'm sleeping. I'm like a bear hydrated. You - Did that in Alaska.
The most spectacular Northern Lights I kept trying to get you outta bed. Oh yeah. You just kept telling me to go away , - You know? Right. Hey, let sleeping bears lie. Yeah. But, so if you can set your alarm clock, you can wake yourself up, you can get out there. You're going to, and you're in a dark spot where there's not a lot of light pollution, it's gonna be totally worth it. It's a et aqua meteorite.
They show that happens every April or May when the earth crosses the orbital path of, uh, Haley's Comet. And what we see are flashing through the sky are small grains of rock and dust shed by the comet as it strikes our planet's atmosphere. - Now this year's show is expected to be the best in years. Um, the peak was Monday, May 6th, but, uh, it's supposed to be all week long. It's supposed to be really spectacular. And you can see this thing through, um, the 27th. - Yeah, the 27th of May.
- So you're gonna get up at 3:00 AM - If we set our alarm, there's a pretty good chance that maybe I can get up. Oh, we gotta, the hardest thing is weather. Yeah. You know, I mean, you gotta have clear sky. Yeah. If you're gonna see this. - Well, we have pretty clear skies here in southwest Michigan on our 10 acres. So, all right. Uh, one last story for you today. And, uh, it has to do about grizzly bears helicoptering, uh, grizzly bears.
As a matter of fact, um, it's a lot of controversy about this story. Uh, if you're heading to Washington State's North Cascade Mountain Range, you ought to be advised now that, uh, an animal not spotted there. Since 1996, the grizzly bear is being airdropped in to, uh, establish a population in that area.
Federal government, , they recently decided they're gonna transplant grizzly bears back to the North Cascades mountain range, despite local residents concerns about safety and harm, the livestock and fruit orchards, bears do like fruit, but the National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, they said they're gonna release three to seven bears a year, helicoptering them into the Cascade's most remote areas. They wanna have 25 bears transported over the next five to 10 years.
And a population of 200 grizzlies in 60 to a hundred years. Now, as this plan is not being well received, uh, Washington representative Dan Newhouse called it outrageous. He accused the federal government of totally disregarding local residents and very valid safety concerns. Grizzlies were once prevalent in the area, and the federal government says they're necessary to restore the ecosystem to full health. I'm not sure where we, where I come down on this.
- Well, I'm sure they were prevalent in the area before people moved in. Yeah. - And, and people were overhunting grizzlies for their fur, and that's why it disappeared. But, but if I lived there and I relied on something like an apple orchard from my livelihood, um, I don't think I'd be very happy. Uh, the North casts are on the Canadian border. They're just stunning. Uh, we are just amazing how, uh, beautiful that National Park is up there.
By the way, it's one of the least visited. Um, but, um, - Well, I'm wondering why grizzly bears from Canada don't come south into Washington state. Well, - There you have really tight border control Canada. Uh, they don't have the identification, - They don't have proper ID to get into the, it seems like they would go back and forth. Well, - That whole region is gone, so there's none anywhere around there in Canada or in the us.
Uh, they've been gone and, uh, now they're, the US is gonna put them back. So they'll be going over the Canadian border. - So Canada doesn't have them. Yes, they're, I mean, but not, not anywhere near the, not near the border. - Not near the Cascades. Every day they're going into now. Okay. Okay. - I just wonder how you're gonna keep the bears in the states - a wall, a tight border wall. - Well, they might put up a wall for that . No, they - Don't.
You know, I don't think Canada's particularly worried about it. I don't think they're not. Don't. They're worried either. But anyway, helicoptering grizzly bears. Okay. We'll see how that works out. We'll watch it and let you know. Alright, well we come back. The RV questions of the week. Are you ready to embark on an unforgettable adventure in your rv? Our RV lifestyle travel guide, eBooks are your ultimate companions for exploring North America's most breathtaking destinations.
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You can have the knowledge you need right at your fingertips. Head over to rv lifestyle.com/books and start exploring the wonders of North America today. Unforgettable adventures are waiting. Welcome back time now for the RV question of the week. And, uh, just a quick reminder, we love getting your questions. You can send 'em to us at our private email, Mike and jen@rvlifestyle.com or on our new RV lifestyle community@community.rvlifestyle.com.
There's a space there called, uh, podcast questions and comments. And you can, uh, post your questions there and we'll answer 'em and you probably can get some extra answers from, uh, other members of the community so they'll be answered in detail. What's our question this week? Okay, - This is a question that I have been thinking about a lot 'cause we're considering getting a washer and dryer, which is best, the washer and dryer being separate or all in one. And that question was from Joe.
- Well, um, I can tell you that, uh, we are about to order one. Um, we're pretty sure we're gonna get one. And it will be, uh, an all-in-one or a combo unit. Uh, and our check around is people seem to be very happy with that. It does a great job. But you gotta follow the instruction manual, which many people fail to read. Um, it takes up the reason you wanna cut, it takes up less room and it weighs less than two separate units.
Um, but what happens is, uh, it is smaller loads, so you have to, you can't do big load loads you basically put in your dirty dry clothes and then it runs through its cycle and it wrenches them and then it dries them. And then you take out clean, dry clothes. And it may take a lot longer than your, your normal, uh, washer dryer. But, uh, everybody who tells me that they've had a combo, and when I check with our dealer, that's what they recommend too.
You do have to use the right kind of detergent on the instructions, and you don't wanna overload the unit. You can't expect it to handle the same loads as a typical home unit. Um, most people who have problems end up overloading it. So, um, I talked to one guy, uh, and he did as many as he said that he and his wife do as many as five loads in a day.
Um, but it, you know, uh, the combo unit seems to be the best choice unless you have lots of room and can, you know, wanna have all that extra weight from two separate units. But, um, we're gonna get a combo unit and, uh, it's expensive. The units themselves are 15 to 1800 bucks. I saw some online, uh, on Amazon for a little over a thousand. But, um, the brand we're gonna get is probably, um, gonna be a little bit more than that. And then of course there's installation.
You want that thing to be vented, so they have to cut a hole through the side of your RV and set in a vent and fix that all up. And then, uh, uh, it's all prepped. So basically you just run it in, put it in, hook up the water and set your vent for outside. But, um, we're pretty, pretty sure that much though. Pretty sure we're gonna do that. And I'm so - Glad that Joe asked that question because my logic said two different units.
You should have a washer, you should have a dryer, two separate things. And then I wondered about the power that you would need to operate. - You'd be more, it is more of everything if - Yeah, more of everything. - And obviously two separate ones are more efficient. But we're talking about an RV here, so, uh, and, and you'll hear naysayers and you'll hear different comments on it. So you can do your own research, Joe. But since you ask us, that's what we're leading towards.
And proof is in the pudding of what we're gonna do. And we're gonna do the combo unit. Uh, I think I'll let you know, and I think we're gonna do it fairly soon. So that's pretty good. Hey, are you ready for some stories? Get your blankies now and your milk and your cookies. Mike and Jen's RV Storytimes coming up after this. Have you had it with overbooked, overcrowded campgrounds?
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Mike and Jen's RV story time. - Yeah. So our first story we're gonna tell you about is when we were robbed, and it happened just across the, uh, the, uh, Mississippi River from St. Louis in Collinsville, Illinois. Yeah, we stopped to get some dinner at about six 15 in the evening at a restaurant in a busy shopping mall off Interstate 55. And it was a pretty upscale mall too, at lots of well-known stores and restaurants and lots of traffic. - We thought it was perfectly safe.
We were there, um, doing a story, uh, kind of a documentary little trip of Route 66. That was our plans. We started right at the beginning of Route 66 in Chicago, and we had had an absolutely fabulous day. We shot lots of video, lots of photos. I had bought new camera gear that that just before we went, and we were really, uh, stopped for dinner and it was kind of almost a celebration dinner, um,
because we'd had such a great day. Yeah. Didn't - We, weren't we trying to look for the world's biggest ketchup bottle? - Yes. That's why we had stopped in Collinsville. They supposedly . Yes. Yeah, - We were on a, - We were looking for the world - Care - . We never did see it. Well, we got so disillusioned that Well, - We were up all night trying to Yeah.
Through the mess. So - He, so what happened was this, uh, we had our dog, not Bo but at that time, - His predecessor, - Ty, Ty, same Norwegian, Alcon. They looked alike. Ty was in the rv, was the Class B van we had at the time. And we'd gone in to eat and it was a very quick dinner. We were no more than 25 minutes. Yeah. - It was one of those buffets. So you could just in and out really quick.
- Yeah. And so what happened is at least two thieves somehow gained entry to our camper van and in exactly seven minutes, and we know this, uh, because we have video, uh, of this, they took more than $12,000 worth of electronic gear from our rig, including all of our video and still cameras. Uh, most of the mobile podcasting studio gear I had taken for the trip. Um, and, and most importantly, irreplaceably, uh, all of the video and the photos we had shot from Route 66.
In fact, we scrapped our whole plans to do the Route 66 story because we just, we were so demoralized we weren't gonna go all the way back to Chicago and do it again. - Oh, - So you heard us say we had video of it and we did, uh, I have a dash cam always in my group. It's motion activated and this thing motion activated. And there was this guy, uh, sitting out in front and he clearly had some device in his hands, some electronic type device.
And he was looking in the, trying to look in the front of our, of our van through the windshield. And then he walked off to the side and then you heard the door open and he and an accomplish came in. Now my camera was just focused out, 'cause it was a dash cam, but we heard the conversation of he and his buddy as they quickly and efficiently ransacked our small little camper van. That was the most irritating part, is listening to them - Talk.
Well, there was a good part to it too, because we were worried that maybe they had were, would be mean to our dog. Uh, our dog did not bark. He was, uh, gonna be a show dog. And I don't know how they did it to him, but he did not bark . He didn't, he was in training to be a show dog, but his teeth weren't good. And he - Was, he was quite - Friendly. Yeah. He just was, he just watched him. In fact, they said he was a good dog. Yeah.
They, he, he just sat on the sofa and watched him go through everything. But he was very, our dog was very upset when I opened up the door. 'cause all this stuff started falling off just on the floor. And he looked at me like, I didn't do it. Mom, let me outta here - On the, on the video version of this, we'll post a couple of photos that show you what we're talking about and you can see the guy that caught it.
So we called the police and uh, they said that, um, um, they suspected that this was a gang from East St. Louis right across the, uh, the, um, the river from us. And he said, well, was was your vehicle locked? And yes, it was. I remembered distinctly 'cause we were leaving and Jennifer says, did you lock it? And I remember hitting that keypad and I looked and I saw the, the door lock go down on the camper van.
Well, police later said that they think these guys had some sort of a electronic device. Uh, and there were a bunch of those out there now that can override, or they copied these guys were close by. They copy the, the frequency of the code and they're able to somehow open these locks. And we weren't the only theft. There was a guy telling a U-Haul who stopped for dinner, and he had parked just a few spaces, uh, down from us.
And he was also hit, they smashed out a window to get entry to his vehicle, and they also took a computer there. So, um, it was a mess. But, uh, we left and, uh, they had all my computer, they had your computer, they had our iPads. Um, they had a bag where you had written down passwords for stuff. Um, and so, uh, what do you do? So we immediately realized that, um, these guys had even more potential to harm us through, uh, all the personal information that was on those computers.
Now the good news is I have Apple computers and I had everything encrypted, and that's important. And I also have an ability on the Apple computer. And this is one of the lessons, if you have a Mac, I don't know if Windows will do this as well, but the Macs allow me, I can remotely wipe clean my inf information and I can also activate a find my Mac, uh, feature. We never did find it. We never saw him activate it. But I did go eventually and, and wipe everything clean that evening.
- Oh, you were up all night. - I went to a, a Best Buy and bought a new computer, uh, on the spot. And we literally in that parking lot and, uh, I think until probably four in the morning, I spend all my time going back to all of our bank records, changing passwords. It was a mess. Um, so what do you learn from such a thing as that? First thing is it can happen anywhere. - Yeah. Don't think you're safe. Yeah. Because you're in a spot that, I mean, there was so much traffic.
I just can't believe that it happened. Yeah. - And it did, um, take some precaution on any of your devices to, uh, be able to find out where they are. Um, I don't know how you do it with the Windows machines, but I know with Macs you can, you can, you can find my map. It'll show you on a map. You can send a feature a note to it, and again, you can remote, uh, wipe it, which is really important. Uh, so people wanna know about insurance.
And the insurance was a mess too, because there was no breakage. These guys somehow bypassed my, my locks and whatever they used open it. They got in my insurance company, uh, on the rv, denied my claim. And it was, we went back and forth. And since then I've had agents say, you should have fought it because, uh, you know, the, you've got video evidence, you got the police talking about it.
But they were very firm with me on the, on the phone, uh, saying, Nope, we're not gonna, we're not gonna honor it because there's no break-in you. You didn't take proper security. Well, we had, but how do you prove that? You know? So they got into it. Uh, it ended up, my homeowner's insurance covered it with no questions. So I've stayed with my same homeowner's insurance ever since. Uh, so you're gonna
- Tell 'em what's which company? Uh, - I don't, because they'll be asking, I don't, I don't remember where the, uh, state, I don't remember the insurance company that denied the claim, but State Farm is my own insurance company, uh, which did honor the claim. Um, it's, it's part of my home coverage. So it was covered and it was just stuff. It's just stuff. But, uh, and it gave us a story. I guess I could think of that. Mm. But uh, so what are the lessons?
Always try and park where you can see the vehicle. I mean, if we could've eaten and looked out the window and seen somebody wandering around our vehicle, we would've been right out there as it was. We probably only missed them by a couple of minutes. Yeah. But to think that they did hours and seven minutes, that's how long it was, is as I gave the police got all my video and pictures, seven minutes inside, and then they still had time to break into a a U-Haul and get a computer out of that.
- I remember the one little funny thing, the officer that came, it just so happened he worked with the canine unit. He - Was the canine - Unit. Yeah. And, uh, Ty was sitting down, was laying on the ground, and he looked at Ty and he said, you didn't do your job. And Ty just looked up at and wagged his tail. , I guess Ty could tell he was a dog person. . Yeah. You know, Ty liked him, but he, the way he said, you didn't do your job, but, uh, the dog didn't bark.
- Anyway, lock your vehicles. Double check they're locked. And understand that stuff happens. And if, uh, and, and it's only stuff, it can be replaced. It's not the end of the world. You - Have to lock things. - Okay. That's, uh, our, uh, Mike and Jen's story for this week. Yep. So what, what do you guys think? Listen, you want us to hear more stories? We've got all sorts of stories. - I don't wanna go through that kind of stuff again. Yeah. , - We don't wanna go through tomorrow.
That's, that's the worst stuff that ever happened to us on the road. Uh, except you getting sick. That'll be another story some other day. We'll talk about that. Mm-Hmm, . Um, so let us know. Our email address is Mike and jen@rvlifestyle.com. That's the podcast for this week. Love you guys. Thank you so much for watching. - Happy Trails.