This week on the Rv podcast? This is our 5 hundredth podcast, close to 10 years now that we've been to win the show. And this week, we're gonna tell you how it all began and where we're headed. And we had some clarification on those controversial news. Cdc rules are bringing your dog back from Canada and in Mexico. But that clarification doesn't mean it still isn't confusing. In our social media buzz segment, we have some tips on keeping cool while camping this summer.
All this. Plus the Rv news of the week and your questions coming up. An episode 500 of the Rv pass podcasts. Hello, everybody. I'm Mike E and this is my lifelong traveling companion and, my bride, Jennifer. 500. Mister mike. Think at the 5 500 times. 500 plus. Yes. 500 plus episodes. This is really kind of a milestone for us, and we looking forward to sharing some of the things that have happened, how this all came about but, kind of a celebration.
I guess I should confess. We're not sure whether it's 500 or, like, 540 because remember back when we first started, we did special additions all the time, but we didn't count them as episode numbers. We didn't start episode numbering them until I don't know, a couple 3 months into it. So we who knew and that it would be this many. So we're gonna talk about that and a bunch more. Just a quick reminder that there is a video version of this podcast for those you
listening on your favorite podcast app. And you can find this on our Youtube channel at Youtube dot com slash r v lifestyle. Well, we're to do some travel this week. We have, some more reviews we're gonna. And Not gotta tell you. Whole lot about it, but if you follow us on social media, we'll be posting pictures during the week of all the different Rv. That we will be reviewing, and we're looking forward to to seeing what we can find there. Also, that Our book came out this week.
And we're pretty excited about that. And we hope you are too. Was guide to the Bourbon trail, and we really are pretty excited to see what you think about. It's a perfect summer trip. So there's a link in the description below, if you wanna check out our latest d book. It's our 20 second book. So we're celebrating 20 second book in our 500 podcast. That's pretty good. Should I just say to people that on the Bourbon trail, there's more to do than just drink bourbon. Yeah, yeah. A
whole lot more. And it's really a beautiful area of the country. And believe it or not, other than the bourbon part, it's very kid kid friendly. There's so many need interesting things. To see and, great places to camp, and we included a bunch of restaurants and all that. So you can you can find
that. And then we are real excited because when we get done with all these reviews that we gotta do this week, we are off to beautiful ship Shaq, Indiana, the heart of Amish country, be and are gathering our groove and gather next week. Yes. And Bo is particularly excited to be able to bark at horses. Yes. Boat loves the horses, And it it's a really fun trip that we've got planned. This is a gathering. We do a couple 3 of these a year. This is our summer 1. It's been sold
out since the second day. We we listed it available for tickets. So we'll have a lot to show you next week on social media, and I'm sure we'll be talking with more about it on the podcast as well. And if you're on your way to ship Shaw on this week, We look forward to seeing you. We hope to arrive a little bit early, I think. So that should be should be a good trip. Alright. Some some additions to the news that we've been
talking about. The latest from the Cdc on there are new rules for bringing your dog back from Canada and Mexico. Now we've been reporting on this for a couple 3 weeks now, but starting August first, some very detailed and complicated new rules are gonna go into effect for anybody, who enters the United States with a dog.
Even if it's your dog, your pet and you're coming back to the United States to go home, And while these new rules are aimed at keeping so called rescue dogs of being imported into the Us from countries that have very high rates. Of ra. They also affect tourists and rv viewers who take their dogs with them on vacations to Canada and Mexico and then come back home. Now you heard that right. The rules about bringing animals in from nations that have problems with ra.
Also apply to family pets owned either by Canadians coming to vacation in the Us or Us citizens who have traveled to Canada, and our returning team are returning home. Now after almost 2 weeks of trying, we finally got a written response to our questions from the Cdc. Now the Cdc are the ones who were ins integrating these rules, and they refused to be interviewed. On camera, they would only respond to written questions, and they did provide us the following information.
To come back into the Us. Your dog must be at least 6 months old. So if you have a young dog or puppy, even if you left the Us with it for your vacation, you cannot return to the Us with a pop until is 6 months old. All dogs returning to the Us must be... Microchip. And that's not all. You must have the dog vaccinated for ra and have written proof of that. And the microchip number from your vet. Your vet must file out a form and send it to the Usda.
This the Us Department of Agriculture. So that's 2 government agencies involved in this. And then 2 to 10 days before, you return to the United States, you have to take face and body photos of your dog, And then you have to complete a Cdc dog import form. You have to note the the microchip number on it, You have to identify which port of entry that you're going to use to return to the Us, and then you have to upload that to the Cdc.
They should send you a receipt back and you have to keep a copy of that on your phone, and then you would show that at the border when you come back to the Us. Man. So I hope you got all that. And we ask god vet. And after checking his response was good God. What a mess. All the forms. Yeah. All the forms, all the paperwork seemed overwhelming. Now, the Cdc recommends that you began getting document nation done, 60 to 90 days before you leave the country with your pet.
Now all of those rules must go into effect... August first. So if you've have not followed them, your dog will not be allowed to return to the Us. Now here's the rub to Some of the required forms won't be available until after July fifteenth, and the rules take effect 2 weeks later. Now the Cdc is putting as much of this as they can online, and we have a couple of resources that they shared that they urge just
to pass along to you. And we will put those in the description below the first of is a checklist for, what you have to do and when to see your vet and what forms to get where to send them, we'll put that up and then the second 1 is a documentation that's needed after August first to bring your pet into the United States. Trust me. This is nothing but confusing. I have read these now over and over for 3 weeks, and I still have a lot of questions.
There's just a tremendous amount of confusion about these new rules, not just by tourists and travelers, but also by veterinarians. So our best advice to you is to call your vet as soon as possible, if you're planning to visit either Canada or Mexico this summer. And if you think those rules are confusing, well, will you go to those links that we put up and you start to read them. There are a lot of people who are
gonna be kinda caught with this... This weird deadline, For example, us, we're going to Canada on a trip to the maritime that leaves July 20 second and returns August seventeenth. So we're leaving the 20 second that form isn't even available for my vet until the fifteenth, and then he's gotta fill it out. He's gotta figure it all out and send it in, and then I'm gone. So there's gonna be a lot of people. In, on that trip and a bunch of others that are caught right in between that.
And if you're... In Canada and you haven't done any of these forms or you're in Mexico and you're coming back, this is gonna be a big surprise for you on August first. So let's hope that there is maybe some pushing back of these dates or some easing of the rules. But for now, That's the official word from the Cdc, and we have links on our website for you to check out. You know, I kinda think it would be kinda a nice day have it go into effect like January first. Or
or a few months in advance. For this to be suddenly really announced, they're not even finished with this because they don't have the forms out but we're dealing with the government. Right? So what do you expect that is gonna make sense or be easy. It's crazy, and there's a lot of confusion, and we'll keep on top of this story. Alright. When we come back, we are gonna talk about something lot more enjoyable ace to us, the social media buzz, what everybody's talking about on the Internet when
we come back. The 1 thing they can ruin in 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 sized aurora luxe medium firm mattress that arrived tightly rolled in a box. All we did was put it on the bed, un roll it and wait for it to recover from the compression.
Then we put on the sheets and the bed covers and found we slept so well that we ordered another 1 for our home. That's how comfortable it is. Our sleep is now so luxurious and deep that we can imagine using a different mattress. Shipping is free If you're disappointed with the current mattress in your Rv you forward 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. Don't miss out on the best sleep of your life. Visit rv mattress dot com slash rv lifestyle and hurry because once November is over, so are these incredible deals. Welcome back to everybody. Time now for the social media buzz. Get your pen on ready and paper and Get ready to write down some tips here you're gonna learn. Mh. Wendy Boy here is our chief cat Herd.
On our social media platforms and she reports on the hot issues. Most talked about this past week on social media. Hi, everybody. Over in the Rv lifestyle community's electrical space, we had a recent post from Sherry, and she asked, Do you keep your motor home plugged in when you're home in between camping trips? Well, this sparked of big conversation, We had some like Andrew who said he has a lot of solar panels, so he just relies on those to keep his
batteries topped off. And then made others like, Douglas who lives in Florida who said he installed a 30 Amp Rv outlet at home, and he does plug it in In fact, I think most people did plug it in, some like Robert, they said they keep the Ac running at about 78 degrees. It helps control the temperature in the rig, doesn't get too hot and helps control the humidity as well. Plus, Robert pointed out that the shore power is not very expensive when compared to some
high quality batteries. So I gotta agree with you on that 1, Robert. And others said that they keep a plugged in because they don't wanna bother having to turn off their refrigerator and empty out all the food back and forth all the time. And we had 1 couple from California who said they relied on their Rv to keep it all ready to go, so they plugged it in so it'd be ready to go in case of an emergency like a wildfire.
And sounds like they keep that going, which makes sense, especially somewhere where you're prone to wildfires. So good tips there. And then also in our community, in the e bikes space. We had a tip from Andrew that he just wanted to share with everybody. He and his wife if you have eb bikes. They love going out riding, but 1 of their frustrations was communicating with each other when they're on them. So he solved this by getting 2 Cena helmets. I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly.
But he said they were game changers. They cost a little bit, but but they are now able to talk to each other. Sometimes half a mile in distance. So... These helmets, they're... What motorcycle sometimes use. They have a bluetooth connection. So there's this headset in there where you can talk. To somebody else. Some of them have cameras, they come with a lot of different options. But it helps you communicate with whoever you're riding with and just sounded like a great
tip. So thank you for sharing ring that Andrew. And then meanwhile over in our Rv lifestyle Facebook group. Of course, lots of good discussions going there and 1 of them from the Nasa ring was very timely. She asked, how do you keep it cool inside your rig on those super hot days? And it sounds like she's camping somewhere where there's no shade. The temperatures are really hot in her Ac while it's running 24 7 it's the rig is still, like, more than 90 degrees inside.
So she needed some help, and she got a lot of good suggestions. Many recommended putting something on those windows. Bring the temperature down be a cardboard, tint black out shades, reflects it. Of course, came up a lap and that silver bubble wrap type material that people use to keep the old out in the winter and the heat out in the summer, that came up a lot. And others got very creative.
They suggested 1 person suggested getting, like a old canopy or a tent, some sort of material that you can put over your rig and kinda create your own shade to help bring that temperature down, Others said airflow is key, you need to get a bunch of fans and keep the air moving in a certain direction, so it's not stagnant. Others point out the air conditioning generally only cools the inside temperatures is about 20 degrees less than the outside temperatures. So if you are somewhere really hot.
That might be playing into it. Maybe vanessa smes to get some said, another air conditioning unit, maybe be a portable 1. And many suggest that she have her current air conditioning unit, Somebody come out and look at it, do some maintenance, make sure everything's working great, because maybe that's the issue. But again, There were there were something like 450 comments on this 1 so many
suggestions. But with it getting hot out if you're planning on camping anytime soon, you might wanna check this 1 out for some some tips. And that's it for me this week. I'm Wendy Boy, and I'll see you over in the Rv lifestyle community or Facebook group. Alright, Wendy. Thank you very much. Staying cool during the summer. Those are some great tips. Yeah. And I like the idea of the helmet. So you can communicate with each other.
Yeah. On your bike? Yes. When you're riding your bike out there, half a mile distance apart and, you know, so Yeah. This that's pretty handy. They're out there on a busy road or you have a little problem hearing. I'm pretty excited. I got a new e bike in the last couple weeks. I got the new version 3 from electric bikes, and I'm hoping to take it to our gathering in Ship next week. Well, I think you could use it. So yeah if
you do take it. Yeah. It's fun. There's a bike trailer that we can take, and I'm looking for... I got a couple of friends who are good e bike riders there, and we're gonna have some fun. So Alright. When we come back, we're gonna talk about, on our Rv conversation in the week? How all this started? Our 500 episode. Could you believe that 500 episode? I can't. Believe this. So we're gonna talk about how it started and where we're going. So stay with this. Jennifer and I took a
trip to Las Vegas and Arizona. To look at wind mail acres a brand new Rv property being offered by Western land and ranches. They're selling off 1 and 2 acre parcels. Starting at only 14900 dollars. Now these are big. An acre is the size of a football field. The properties are on up Plateau with big valley views, and the location is amazing. Next to Lake Mead national recreation area, We had a blast. There are so many places to explore near the property, the Grand
Canyon. We took a boat ride on the Colorado River below Hoover dam. Boulder city was a fun little town. The right off route 66. And of course, we had to enjoy some nightlife in Las Vegas. It's a lifetime supply of fun things to do when you own a camp, at wind mill acres. The properties are now available. This is 100 percent ownership, so there's no reservations needed when you wanna hang out. Time limits or crowded parks that you have to go through, you can share your property, you can rent it.
Whatever you wanna do. For more information. Visit Arizona ranch sales dot com, or call 822232 land Alright. Welcome back. Time now for our Rv conversation of the week. And was sometime back in 20 13. 9.58 years ago to be precise. That we released episode 1 of this podcast. And we've been doing the Rv lifestyle since March of 20 12. And that's how we started with a blog, and then we follow that with a quick quickly by our Youtube channel, and then the podcast podcasts.
And then we ended up with books, newsletters, social media, all sorts of other things. But at the time we started, with this podcast, there was 1 other couple doing this. John and Kathy Hug, who, I think we're the very first with an Rv themed podcast. Podcast were very new back then, and they called it live in the Rv dream, and they did a wonderful job. They started that out as a radio show for a local station in Florida. And before Kathy health... Started to fail and they
ended up, stopping the podcast. They did something over 400 episodes. So, they were the the pioneers in it. I remember they were 1 of our first interviews when we started, and, John really helped me out with a lot of the equipment and it was it was really fun. And I remember when we started, you were not a believer. Well. You're the radio guy. You used to work in radio, and I was just like, yeah, whatever. But everybody that... I knew said, oh, you're gonna spread
yourself too thin. Nobody knows what a podcast is, and and I just thought it was really exciting. All the technology. And, frankly, it was kind of a fun thing to do. And if I remember, I did a couple, I did a tech 1 and a couple of other podcasts until this 1 really started with traction, but when we started, you know, there were very few even youtubers out there or so called Rv influence. Oh,
absolutely incredible whole things have changed. The only other couple that I knew of them we started was Jason Nikki Win from gone with the winds, but they ended up... Selling their Rv and and move down to sailboat, and they're still doing videos on their sailboat. They were probably a few others. Yeah. But nothing like now. And I think the last time we tried to get in a feel for how many couples are out there doing what we do. Like, 350, and I bet
it's more than that. I bet it is more than that too. And some, you know, just do it occasionally and and as others trying to make a goal of it and And the the fact of the that is most end up quitting after a year 2 years, sometimes not even that because as much fun as all this is, it can also be really challenging. You know? Yeah. So the... We've been able to stick this out for... 500 podcasts. That's that's pretty incredible. Yeah celebrating. We should have had some noise maker. We should.
Yeah. 500 podcast episodes is we're celebrating. 5 and, as I said, this is probably episode 05:25, 05:45 because we did all those early edition podcast. Every time there was an Rv show would do a special 1. We did a bunch of... Some to some weeks, we did 2 or 3 podcast a week when we first were starting off. Joe and we started off, It was called road trek. Remember? Oh, well, how can I forget that? And we had all these intros and... It was like a little radio.
I think I still have some of my jingle on here. I should play 1. I'm gonna play 1. Here we go. Okay. This is our intro to the first 1 we did ready. Listen up. Welcome fellow travelers. It's time for another episode of the Rv podcast. Answering your questions, sharing tips. Suggesting great trips and off the Beaten path adventures and always staying on top of the Rv lifestyle news you need to know about
with great interviews and insight industry information. Here's your hosts, award winning journalist, Mike and Jennifer Wind. It was it was a lot of fun. So it's our 500 episode at least that, and we have a post up on our blog. That we'll link to in the show notes about how this all started, but here are the highlights of it. Well, it started as a hobby back in 20 12 when Mike left a long career in journalism. Now this podcast and our many different platforms have become what we,
really believe is a calling. We feel this is exactly what we were meant to do. It started when we bought a used road track. Class B camper van type motor home in the early in early 20 12. And the 2006. And remember remember when we bought that, it was used, we thought we could just go take a look at it. Own old. They... The dealership call us and said that they had it coming in, and they were taking a list. And I said a list, and we were the first of 6 on the list, but
we had it... I... How much do we have to give dollars. We had to give them a thousand dollars just to be on the list, to be number 1 on the list. And they said they would refunded it if we didn't want it. So we were number 1. We went, and we liked it and we bought it. But that was our first introduction of the Rv industry and the demand for Rv back in 20 12, a thousand bucks just to get the go look at it, as a deposit. And we sell along with it. It was really, oh, I we fell in love. I
said to you. I will do this for 1 year. 1 year. That was you said. Yep. Yep. And here we are. Here we are. There... Yeah. I'm glad you can't count. But we started a plug and... I'm a reporter. I'm a writer, you know, and that's what I do. And Jen was a producer. We work... We travel all over the country all over the world before that doing videos and stuff from in doing a lot of freelance stuff. But I just wanted to tell the stories about the things we were seeing in North
America and how we were enjoying Rv. And so we started a blog, and then some of our friends in the media picked it up, and it just took off. It just took off, and it was so much fun. It really was fun because we would just travel and wherever we were, I'd be reading pamphlet some brochures and whatever I could find and looking for something interesting, like, the history of jello. Yeah. I mean all kinds of goofy things.
Yeah. I remember that. That was a trip that we did along the Lake Erie Shoreline, and we just driving down... Our style is serendipity, which is means happy accident, stuff we find along the way. And I remember we had a couple that wanted to join us on this tour because we were... No, hey, we're here. We're doing this. And said, we're gonna meet at your campground and we'll follow you along And we said, well, I don't know what we're gonna be doing, but, okay. Well, we
just... We're driving to the next 1 and we saw a sign that said J museum, up in upstate in New York. I think it was yes. And so we, we went, and, no. It was Lake Ontario. Yeah, it was lake Ontario, Shoreline. And we went, and it was fascinating, and we did a little story on that, and then this couple said, you didn't show up where you said you'd be yes. And that was where we learned, never offered to travel in a group with
other people. Because we used to share every place we were when we were there, a couple of things having. 1 people knocked on your door at like an 11 and said, hi. And that, you know, I mean, we love meeting people, but come on, and And then others would would get frustrated if they were gonna follow us because we just driving down the road and Jennifer says, look, there's this and we turned the
car and we go. So We stopped telling people where we were until we were already there or were leaving, and it was fun. And for those early years, we did the podcast from the road as we do still now, but I was still working... I was doing weekly technology reports for Nbc News. Mh. So that kept you out of trouble. Yeah. And we just had a great great time. We just traveled all over the place. And enjoyed it.
And, you know, what... We'd been... I'd been to so many places as a journalist that I remember where I would be someplace And I'd only be there for 15 minutes. We called it parachute journalism, you'd go in and you'd use a skyline or a mountain range as a backdrop. For a stand up. And, Mike Well, wherever we're am by and get down the plane and you go someplace else. So
we had missed so much. And I wanted to show Jennifer for some of those places, and so that's how we we thought it was gonna be our retirement. Well, it's been a fun retirement. We've seen so much. So many places in this country that, I wanted to see. I'd love to travel. III had a great big long bucket list of places and parks and things I wanted to see so. I've been very fortunate. I've been
able to see most of them. We've traveled we figure about 300000 miles or a little longer, maybe over those 12 years, 12 plus years. And, typically, we mark out a route. We identify a few spots that we wanna be sure to visit and then off we go. And we stop whenever we want, whenever Jennifer finds something that's interesting. I remember I old editor to of mine back in my newspaper days, Once told me... In fact,
his first assignment to me. Is your first buy, and I wanted to squat on a corner and he gave me the name of the corner and says back in Bay City, Michigan. He said, go find the first person stand in the corner and find their story. I said find their story. And he said every person. Has a story to tell. That was A Pell, still the best editor I ever had. And he's right. It's not every person that has a story it's also every place. You know? Yes. So, we wanted to go to those places
and share the stories? That we discovered and found with you. Yep. And we would do the same thing. We just wander around, chat up the people we meet. Take a bunch of photos and videos and and almost every time, we'd return with more stories than we can we can do. So where is this headed? And what's next for us? Well, what's around the next bend in the road? That's where we're headed... And we seldom them plan more than 2 or 3 months out. We're very much serendipity traveler.
Yeah. Like I said, a serendipity deputy means a happy accident or a pleasant surprise and something fun and useful and enjoyable. You discover and by happens stance. And I think that's a a perfect description for what we find every day. In all this wandering in an Rv. So we plan to keep on doing this. Yep. Until we don't wanna do it. Or, declining health or circumstances make it clear to us that it's time to slow down or come off the road, and we can honestly say we enjoy it.
Ever bit as much now as we did when we first began. You know, maybe we appreciate it more, and we have no plans to quit anytime soon and look forward to each trip like newbies. So that's our story, and it's still unfolding. And we'll answer a couple more... This this is kind of where we been where we're going, we've got a lot of other you are always send us a bunch of questions. We try to keep Rv travel related, but we'll answer some personal questions that
have coming in as well. We'll do that in the questions of the week segment that's coming up in a little bit. But next stop after this break, The Rv news of the week. Stay with us. Jennifer and I bought some land near Nashville, Tennessee a while back. We got tired. Crowded expensive campground and worrying about reservations. Tennessee is a gorgeous state with friendly people.
And it has been such a pleasure. The same developer has some new property near us close to the Natchez trace and Buffalo River, called the reserve at High forest. Big properties, 5 to 41 acres, you can build a house, a cabin or Rv year out. Price started only 89900 dollars. Your property, your way, 100 percent ownership. The scenery in this part of Tennessee is breathtaking, and the property is gorgeous, garden, landscape,
bring your pets, build what you want. There's high speed fiber optic internet, and it is so private. A great place to make your home base, ready whenever you wanted. 5 to 41 acre properties from 89900 dollars. There's even great financing, check out the site and a video tour at rv lands dot net. That's rv lands dot net. Time now for the Rv news of the week. Well, the aca are here. Have you met me yet? So honestly, have you running the yet why you've been camping?
We haven't so far? No. Not yet. But we're thinking this week we'll be camping in Southeast michigan again and next... Then following week we'll be in Northern Indiana, and, kinda hoping we do. You're hoping to see some bugs. Yeah. Yeah. This is gonna be the year of the Sake aca apocalypse as many as 1500000.0 per acre. Emerging from underground in places in the southeast and the Midwest, and the reason is there's 2 different brood appearing at the same time.
And, this only happens, you know, very rarely, all the bug experts in the world are really excited. I don't know when the last time this thing happened. I don't know if whatever eats case has gotta be pretty happy too. Yeah. I think it was it's over 2 centuries, I think. Really You better get out there and enjoy these little critters. Well, 17 states in the southeast and Midwest have, been reporting these Sa aca sighting.
Scientists say the brood emerge once the soil 8 inches underground reaches 64 degrees. So, And now, these wing bugs spend most of their lives underground and they come up to mate lay eggs and then they die. And while they they don't bite, they do make a lot of noise, and especially at Dawn and dust. And when they have died off. It can't be well disgusting. You need shovel to split it that way.
So a while ago, couple months ago, we interviewed a Sa expert on the podcast, and he gave us lots of interesting facts and we'll put a link to that in the show notes. And you can find the show notes at rv lifestyle dot com slash podcast. Alright. More Rv recalls announced last week, about a national highway traffic safety administration. They list these recalls pretty much monthly. 24 Tiff 24 through 25 by way motor homes are being recalled...
Because the secondary emergency exit in the bedroom wasn't installed. They're gonna send out notification letters to owners on July twelfth. And Forest River is calling 2204 of their 20 20 to 20 23 coach independence trail, the, viking and clipper travel trailers. And their issue would get this, the water tank. May detach from the vehicle when it's full or over filled. Can you imagine that? They're gonna send out notification letters to owners on June 20 fourth.
Forest River is also recalling 318 and the 20 20 fourth Sol. And 20 24 25, Forester and suns motor homes. And their issue was the Lp p gas line may not be properly secured, which can cause the line to become damaged in leak, yikes. Owner notification letters will be mailed out June 26, an aluminum trailer company is recalling 3 98 of its 21 through 24 toy haul or fifth wheel trailers the Led back light circuit board in the top range may fail, and that could cause
that board to overheat. Owners will get their letters mailed out June fourteenth. And finally, prime time specialty vehicles is calling handful of its 23 24 ford transit vehicles. That are equipped with a certain go Es, space saver fold away seats, And in this case, the recliner mechanism may not engage putting it out of compliance with seat belt regulations. Well, you know it sounds to me, like most of these things that are wrong. They're easy fixes. Yeah. They easy fix it.
It's no big deal. They'll be able to fix them easily. And they're up on this. They know what's going on. You're gonna get your letter. Except for that 1 that involved 22000 plus units, most of them are just a handful of yes. And, you know, we it's like cars. You know, they do the same list every month for cars. It's just that it doesn't look good when you see it all reported at once like that. But then again, if you have 1 of these units, you wanna
know about those recalls. That's right. Alright. 1 last story. Okay. If you're piloting an early summer trip to Glacier National Park, you may need to wait to drive the going to the Sun road because No date has been set yet for its opening. And the reason is snow. Lots and lots of snow and late season avalanche, Just no. That sounds scary. Road cruise say they've they've... There's been 74 avalanche. Many late in the season.
Including 34 that happened after the road was cleared, meaning snow trucks then had to do the work to clear the road all over again, And last weekend, it was still snowing up there. So remember if Glacier National Park is on your bucket list. Reservations are now needed to enter during the summer season, and we'll put a late Yeah. To get some help people understand what they have to... And and you can just go to the show notes for this episode rv lifestyle dot com slash podcast.
We love nick glacier national park. And usually, that road opens like the first week of July. But this week, they're saying this year this year, they're saying maybe a little later, but I remember we were told that it snows at the top of the mountain there, at glacier, every month of the year. So check out the links on the in the podcast on this. It's always fun to watch these things when when they clear off those roads. Alright. That's podcast the news of the week.
When we come back, we've gonna do kind of an extended question and answer time that combines your personal questions with our Mike and jen story time, and all that's coming up right after this. And we're asked what's the most important modification we made to our Rv. It's an easy answer. Battle borne battle. Battle batteries are quality safe, reliable lithium batteries that allow us to stay out their off the grid longer.
Let the batteries charge faster. They charge fuller they're longer lasting their maintenance free and battle borne batteries are protected by a 10 year guarantee. Now in our case, they just drop into the existing Ag g batteries that we have, and they'll probably be the same on your rig too. Ba battery experts can get those in your rigged just like they dead with ours. They can also match you up with the right cabling, the inverter, the charger, the solar controller everything. Jennifer
swear by our battle borne batteries. They allow us to boo dock off the grid, check them out. Go to rv lifestyle dot com slash lithium. Rb lifestyle dot com slash lithium. Welcome back. Time now for the Rv questions of the week, and as always, we welcome your questions or your comments anything you hear today, our personal email. It is Mike and jen at rv lifestyle dot com.
Okay. And honor of our number of 500 podcast episode, we thought we'd combine our story time of the week feature with some extra questions that are more personal in nature. Alright. And a lot of you have love these story times that we're doing and we will try and keep doing those at the end of every podcast. But since we've talked so much about ourselves in this episode, we didn't I just add more stories. So we'll maybe do a few more of these questions. What's our first 1?
Our first 1 is, do you ever get tired of all the travels, the Malaysia? And the answer is? Yes. There are times we get tired to all the traveling, but those times don't last long. How about, like, as soon as the next day comes and you look at the Rv sitting in... It's it's parking spot in our yard, you're ready to go again? I think what really
happens is I bring everything... And I wash the sheets, get everything ready, taken them back out and then when I make of the bed again, and looking putting away the towels and everything I. Now where can we go. But we do get tired. Oh, yeah. Come home, recharge. Yeah.
Then take off again. You know, and we've kinda learned to recognize the signs of travel fatigue and take time to rest, and sometimes, we have found that that means maybe cancel a couple of quick trips we planned and staying in 1 place longer, And, of course, we have to recharge with your family, refuel our emotional tanks so to speak. And we just got... That's what we do to recharge. Yeah. Yeah but it's never long before the travel bug starts to bite it again.
Here's a question. You too seem to really like each other and genuinely get along, but you have... To get on each other's nurse and time to time being coop up in an Rv so much. How do you handle that and that was asked by missy to Well, I don't think we could do this if we really weren't best friends, but I think it mainly comes down to mutual respect. Patience and understanding that the other person isn't perfect. And neither am I, you're not perfect. I'm not perfect.
And when traveling together, it's also important not to lose sight of your individuality, and there are still things you like to do that you're, partnered doesn't like to do in vice versa. Like, working out every day at the gym. Yes. That's very important to me. I I would love you to do that. With me every day to workout at the gym. And
okay. This is... So I'd rather take an e bike ride or maybe, with maybe a nap in a hammock or a little hike by a river, but, I probably should do what Jennifer does because I would look a lot more sm unless she guys. And what something with me too is what I eat. I'm fuss europe. Thought I want. Yeah. Different food than what you want. Probably that's the main conflict that we have because it is hard to eat well on the road. Without doing a lot of preparation. It
really is. I mean, everybody's said, oh, it's so easy. It's not easy. Because most of the food that you eat on the road at restaurants with it's junk. It's just not good food. It's loaded and salt and sugar and butter, and you got food poisoning. 1 Mexican join. I took you into in, in Missouri. So. I you can eat 10 cans and it doesn't bother me way to go. I'm more of
the little sensitive of 1. Yeah. But it's important, you know, not to give up the things that you like, and be open to enjoying the things on your own or with other friends or take turns enjoying each other's hobbies. You? Mh. And I think the real reason that we get along so well is our shared face. We believe in a loving patient and giving God, and we try to emulate that in our relationships. Alright. Another question, this is from Ken is Rv lifestyle, a hobby
or a business. And the answer is it's... Well, both. Yeah. You know, there's no way we could have kept the Rv lifestyle up this long, and gone as many places as we've gone and for as long as we're out there on the road,
if we didn't love doing it. So as I said earlier, we started this as we thought it was gonna be our retirement, mainly as a hobby, and it grew into a money making business for us, we do make income from writing books, from running ads and affiliates on our videos, in our podcast, and of course, this is at no extra cost any of our followers. So, yeah, We... They don't... It's become a business. We have some people that we pay as on our staff that that helps, and
we're always, you know, trying to... You know, edit videos, write books, do blog posts, write newsletters, manage social media that takes a whole team of people that we have. And that, you know, cost money, we have in all about a million followers when you add them all up from social media and our blog and our podcast and our Youtube video so... So it's a fantastic way to fund our travels while sharing all of our lessons and experiences along the way. It's a win win for us.
As we get to do what we love even more because of the extra income. Alright. 1 last personal question here. Do you get a lot of free this from Randy? Sometimes, Randy, I should... I've often thought I would do either a blog post or or just share it on the podcast. The typical... How many emails we get every day. Offering us, they call them collaborations, where the weak companies market stuff now, is through people like Gen and other... And those 3 and 50 other Rv influencers out there
they're they're offering all sorts of stuff. I mean, and some of it isn't even Rv related. I was offering perfume. I should've have say this. They wrote this thing and said, you know, as we love your... The content that you produce, and we know rate up your alley as your audience would love to learn about our perfume. Oh, what.
Well, maybe it would help after grown 1 of those long hikes some places With other shower, but, not a day goes, by that somebody does isn't offering to send us their products, and they all expect to review and the vast majority of the time we turn that down. But If we do accept the product, it's usually because it's something new that we're not familiar with that we've had people ask us about or that we think would enhance our Rv lifestyle so that we can tell you about it.
And we always make sure we tell you that somebody sent it to us or provided it to us. We make it clear, and, that when we try it out, we'll tell you also the good and the bad. And what we really think of it. When we're done with it, we usually give it away as and 1 of our Rv gatherings like, that we're gonna have next week. We've got a whole box of stuff on packing up. That we will, you know, give to those who are attending our gatherings.
But most of the products that you see us review or use are things that we either purchase ourselves or that we think, you know, have some news merit in terms of review for you. We bought our own fifth wheel. Nobody gave us that. We bought our own property in Tennessee and in and in Michigan. And when we recommend a product or services because we use it ourselves, or it comes highly recommended by people who experienced Our ears and in our audience. So... Alright. 500 episodes under our
collective belts. You think we got 500 more? No Maybe, maybe a couple hundred. We'll see. You know, that's the thing. You realized after doing all of this, And as you get older, which, you know, unfortunately is happening to us, you realize there will come a time when you'll have to come off the road, but so far, It's all been good. And we have a lot of plans to keep coming, so look for more... Buy more bandages, I guess, I... More band you've bought Yeah. Yeah. Because if you take away my
the other... You take away my e bike from me, I'm gonna have a fit though, because that's still a lot of fun. It's all a lot of fun really. And we take travel with our dog bow. I think we told everybody that and the regulars all know that. Alright. Thank you guys for listening to our stories, and hopefully being interested, please send us your comments to your questions. Mike and Jen at rv lifestyle dot com. Happy trails.