2025 RV Travel Goals: Ideas, Tips, and Help

This week on the RV Podcast:

• We’re On the Road Again: We share our 2025 RV Travel Plans and Goals. Maybe you can get some ideas for your RV trips, too.
• By popular demand, we bring back the Mike and Jen’s Story Time segment this week, focussing on our trip to Plains GA., a while back, where we encountered Jimmy Carter. As the nation celebrates the former Predsident’s 100-year life, we remember a sweet encounter with a very decent man.
• All this plus the Social Media Buzz, the RV News of the Week, and your questions coming up in Episode 528 of the RV Podcast.

You can watch the video version from our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel by clicking the player below.

If you prefer an audio-only podcast, you can hear us through your favorite podcast app or listen now through the player below. Click the CC logo on the right side of the player, and you can follow along in a word-for-word transcript of the podcast as it plays.

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This podcast is being released on New Year's Day 2025, and we want to start out by wishing you a very happy New Year.

The RVCommunity online forum is now Ad-Free

 We are also very excited because our RVCommunity.com is now a private, ad-free online haven for passionate RVers like you.

As of Jan 1 it is member’s only.

That’s for the online community. This Podcast, our RV LifestyleYouTube Channel, Blog, daily emails, Facebook Page and Group, and all our other social accounts will always be free and open to anyone. 

But for an exclusive, ad-free experience with the most passionate RVers around, RVCommunity.com is the place to be. You can Join now! AT least check it out at RVCommunitycom – there are so many perks and advantages that were we to start mentioning them we’d take up the entire podcast.

So please, check it out. Just go to RVCommunity.com We’d love to have you be a part of it.

It’s hard to believe it is now the year 2025. There is always an excitement about a new year. So many new possibilities, places to go, people to meet, new experiences, and adventures awaiting.

Big Arctic Blast with Snow is Coming!

We’ve been busy this past week prepping our RV for our first big trip of the year. After a bunch of snowstorms in Southwestern Michigan between Christmas and today, the weather has been abnormally warm for this time of year so as we've cleaned and started to pack the RV up, it’s been comfortable. The snow has all melted and the inside of the RV has been quite warm.

But wouldn't you know, as we get ready to hit the road next week, we have a winter blast headed our way, with frigid temperatures returning, along with snow and bad weather.

So we are watching the weather and hoping to avoid a repeat of what happened to us last year at this time when we had to get a heavy-duty tow truck to help get the RV out of the snow in our front yard. The forecast is not looking good for this year.

AccuWeather meteorologists are saying that drastically colder air from the Arctic will invade the Central, Southern and Eastern states and could set up a stormy pattern with areas of substantial snow and ice for much of the first half of January.

The severity of the cold air could be dangerous, damaging, and disruptive to a lot of RVers who will be on the roads this week heading to warmer states in the south and southwest.

As Accuweather explains, the jet stream pattern, which has been generally been west to east the past couple of weeks, will soon develop a large southward buckle. As this occurs, the doors to the Arctic will open.

The big dip in the jet stream will evolve in stages next week and not in one sudden, massive shift.

The first blasts of colder air will begin during the middle and latter part of next week with what’s known as the Arctic Express. It’s about to kick into high gear during the first full week of January.

It is predicted to unleash shifting bands of heavy lake-effect snow that can hamper travel, increase the risk of multiple vehicle pile-ups, and even close some major highways at times. 

Get this: Accuweather is  saying “multiple feet of snow may bury some communities where the bands of heaviest lake-effect snow persist.”

So, if you are like us and planning trips south from the plains, Great Lakes region, Ohio Valley, or Northeast, keep a very close watch on the weather forecasts and have Plan B in mind. Be safe, and if that means leaving early or staying out for a few days, do so.

Winter weather is nothing to mess with.

RV CONVERSATION OF THE WEEK: 2025 RV Travel Goals

It's a New Year, and we’re on the road again. And in our Conversation of the week, we share our 2025 RV Travel Goals

And our goals are taking the shape of New Year resolutions, how we’ll change things up, or fine-tune the way we travel and do the RV Lifestyle.

Let's start with our plans. Now our followers know that as we start our 14th year of the RV Lifestyle, our guiding light has been Serendipity – taking things as they come, those happy discoveries by going off the beaten path, following or while, or just flipping a coin on whether we’ll go left or right at the next intersection.

We don’t plan to change that – too much – but as we look at 2025, we are mapping it out along five major trips and events.

The first is next week. That’s when we hit the road, traveling from Southwest Michigan to Tampa and the 2025 Florida RV Supershow. Now, instead of rushing this trip by covering the 1,122 miles on two hard driving days as we used to, we are going to take it slow and easy getting there, sticking to our 330 Rule of driving no more than 330 miles and stopping by 3:30PM. That means three, maybe four nights on the road getting there.

We will spend a full week in Tampa, and although the show opens to the public Jan. 15 and runs through Sunday the 19th, there are some industry events happening before it opens. And on Thursday and Friday, the 16th and 17th, we will be doing meet and greets there with our friends and followers from 1-2 PM from the Montana fifth wheel display, which is Booth 770.

After the show, we plan to knock all around Florida and the Gulf Coast for a couple of months, visiting some of our favorite spots.

As spring comes, we’ll slowing head back north, visiting “Loblolly Ridge,” our RV property in Tennessee.

The second big event is locked into our travel calendar in Nashville, Tennessee, April 22-26.

This will be our Spring RV Community Campout Gathering and Rally, where we’ll tour Music City USA, visit the downtown honkytonks, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and attend a 100th anniversary performance of the Grand Ole Opry. This event, like all our gatherings, is open only to members of our RVCommunity.com – another good reason to join this private and ad-free online forum.

The Nashville Trip just opened for bookings today, Jan 1, and it will likely be sold out in just a day or two.

But if you miss it, stay tuned because we will soon announce sign-ups for our Summer RVCommunity.com gathering and rally, to be held June 9-13. That’s the third major RV Travel event of 2025 for us, and this one will be near the beautiful Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes and National Lakeshore in Northwestern Michigan. 

This rally will showcase what many believe is the most beautiful part of the Great Lakes region. We will be camped smack dab in the middle of a region characterized by miles of uninterrupted sandy beaches, bluffs that tower 450′ above Lake Michigan, lush forests, clear inland lakes, unique flora and fauna, and lots of sightseeing and recreational opportunities.

For the rest of the summer, we’ll follow serendipity, making spontaneous trips as we feel. We are intentionally keeping a big hunk of our summer free from schedules.

That means unexpected adventures and new discoveries, and that is what we like the most about the RV Lifestyle. In fact, our top resolution and goal for all our 2025 travels is to slow down and enjoy them, not to rush, to build margin to explore or stay put, to not “have” to be there, “do this” or “do that.” To go where we want.

But in September, we have the fourth major trip in our sights, something we have wanted to do for a long time, and in 2025, thanks to Fantasy RV Caravan Tours, we will be traveling the entire length of the Mississippi River from its beginning up in Minnesota to where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico south of New Orleans. It’s Sept 5 through October 8, 2025.

We did a Fantasy RV Tour of the Canadian Maritimes last summer and we enjoyed it so much and made so many great new friends that we couldn't wait to sign up for this one in 2025.

We have long been fascinated by the history of the Mississippi River, and exploring this 2,000-mile-long river will expose us to different cultures, great music and awesome foods. We’re not leading this, this is organized by Fantasy Tours. We’re just going along for the tour, like everyone else and we are so looking forward to it.

The fifth major trip on our 2025 RV schedule is our Fall RV Community.com Gathering and Rally, to be held October 13-17. Details are still being finalized and as soon as we have them locked down we will announce the location.

Those are our five major trips, with lots of side trips and exploring in between. All told, we expect to be on the road or camping half to three-quarters of the year.

2025 RV Travel Goal #1

We already mentioned that one our our major goals – or New Year Resolutions – for our RV travel is not to be over-scheduled. But we have four more.

2025 RV Travel Goal #2

Eat better and healthier – No more fast foods, as few processed foods as possible. And when we do eat out – have the fun of exploring a new area – we will do our best to eat at locally-owned restaurants not part of a chain.

2025 RV Travel Goal #3

Use mobile RV technicians as much as possible instead of dealerships. We have grown very distrustful of RV service shops in big, corporate-owned RV dealerships. We have heard too many horror stories about unnecessary parts being installed and ridiculously long repair times. That’s why we say if you must use a dealer for repairs, pick one that is unconnected with a big corporate chain. In our experience, mobile RV techs have been extremely responsive, honest and very capable of repairing everything we’ve ever had to call on them for.

2025 RV Travel Goal #4

Doing more spontaneous mini meetups with our friends and followers. When we know we will be in an area for a length of time, we’ll find a local spot and announce a time to meetup with whoever is nearby. These have been so much fun and we’ve made good friends through this type of local meetup. 

2025 RV Travel Goal #5

And our fifth 2025 RV Lifestyle Resolution is to learn something new everyday. For example,  to look into the history of the places we visit. Or maybe to learn a new skill – stargazing, plant identification, bird watching, something to do with first aid, or RV and truck maintenance. You get the idea. We’ll read more. Visit with the locals more. Grow in knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

So those are our plans for 2025.

What are yours? Share in the comments below.

SOCIAL MEDIA BUZZ – Wendy Bowyer

Wendy Bowyer reports on the hot issues most talked about this past week on social media and our RV Lifestyle Community group.

In our RVLifestyle Community‘s Camping Gear Space we asked: 

What was a camping or RV purchase that ended up being far less useful than you initially anticipated?

Julio did not really use the outdoor dog beds, and for Patty, the tiki torches, drink holders, and outdoor patio items weren't used as much as she thought. For Ari, it's the cooking attachments for their Solo Stove. He loves the Solo Stove, but doesn't really cook over it.

And Kathleen bought an expensive trailer cover for winter storage but found out the cover actually attracts mice and hasn't used it since.

But by far, the biggest topic of conversation in the Community this past week is the decision to become a private, members-only group starting today, Wednesday, Jan. 1. 

We did this for a number of reasons that we've been sharing with all of you, but we really do believe this change will protect this group and bring a closer community where genuine friendships are formed. 

To celebrate this launch, today we opened up sign-ups for our Nashville Camping Meetup! We are so excited! We'll be camping together in Nashville for four nights, five days and have many fun activities planned such as rig tours, nightly campfires, a welcome potluck, and of course, my favorite, is we're all going to the  Grand Ole Opry together! This is going to be so much fun, and it is a great way to further connect with one another.

But we also still have our RVLifestyle Facebook Group going, of course, and over there we recently had a post from Tarra which featured a close up picture of the threads of one tire. Now this tire had perfectly fine treads on half of it, but on the other half, the treads were worn almost flat. So she asked, We just noticed one tire is doing this. Does anyone know why?

Some people said maybe you're overweight, or maybe a bearing is loose.

But the overall consensus is that one axle is bent, and it really needs to be fixed by a professional asap.

Many in the comments said they had experienced similar things with their tires and didn't know what happened. So I hope by sharing this post, this information can help someone listening.

RV Industry News of the Week

There’s been little news regarding the RV industry for the past two weeks. The industry basically shuts down from just before Christmas to the first week of January.

Then, everything is focused on the RV Show season, which is just starting up again, led by the hugely influential Florida RV Show in Tampa from Jan 15-19.

But there is a lot of news of interest regarding a campground that we want to share…

If you are catching this podcast on the day we release it, Jan 1, 2025, there’s still time to do a First Day hike! State parks across the country are welcoming in the New Year by offering hikes in the popular First Day Hikes program. More than 1,000 hikes are planned coast-to-coast.

Grand Teton National Park will be one square mile larger now that the Wyoming governor approved a plan to sell a parcel of state-owned land to the national park for $100 million. The state has owned the land since before the national park was created and had been threatening to sell it to a developer.

State parks across the country are welcoming in the New Year by offering hikes in the popular First Day Hikes program. More than 1,000 hikes are planned coast-to-coast.

A new campground will be built on 55 acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management land in Cedar Canyon, Utah. BLM management hopes the campground will reduce damage caused by dispersed camping in the area.

El Capitan State Beach, right off California's Highway 101, is set to close to campers for a year beginning in January. The state is making $5.5 million in improvements to the campground but is expected to keep the popular state park open for day use only during 2025.

RV QUESTION OF THE WEEK

QUESTION: We have a 2009 Tiffin with a sleep number bed.  My husband's side of the bed decided it no longer wants to stay inflated.  It has a pretty fast leak.  We can’t find it. – Judie

ANSWER: If your Sleep Number mattress is leaking air, the most likely cause is a leak at the hose connections where the air pump connects to the air chambers, typically located at the head of the bed; check these connections for damage or loose fittings first by removing the mattress cover and inspecting the hoses and O-rings; if the leak persists, you may need to repair the air chamber itself by identifying the leak with a spray of soapy water and applying a patch kit, or contact Sleep Number customer service for further assistance.

MIKE & JEN’S STORYTIME – Our Jimmy Carter Encounter

As the world remembers Jimmy Carter, who died over the weekend at the age of 100, we have fond memories of a Jimmy Carter story of our own.

We're suckers for small town festivals. 

So when we saw that Plains, Georgia – population 683 –  was holding its annual peanut festival a while back and we were not far away traveling through Georgia, we made our way there.

We ended up learning a lot about peanuts, but the highlight was spotting the 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter – who remained in his hometown of Plains and, despite his age – at the time well into his 90’s and undergoing chemo for cancer, was still out and about and meeting people.

We parked our RV a block off Main Street and made our way downtown, passing lawn signs from his neighbors saying, “Jimmy Carter for Cancer Survivor.”

We were surprised to encounter the former president down at the train station, first presenting local kids awards for their artwork and, a little later on, handing out medals to the winners of the Plains Peanut Festival Fun Run.

He was up there on stage, surrounded by a gaggle of little kids from Plains Elementary, smiling at them, admiring their artwork and showing them off to a small crowd of mosty hometown neighbors, chatting and beaming at each kid as if they were the most special child in the world.

In the afternoon, he signed copies of the many books he wrote down at Billy Carter's Gas Station, named after his long-deceased colorful kid brother outside the gas station where Billy once hung out, spoke his mind to the visiting press, and drank beer, which a local entrepreneur bottled up and named Billy Beer, hoping to capitalize on Billy’s First Brother fame.

Just a few weeks before we encountered him, the former president at the Peanut Festival, he had just announced he had brain cancer. If it was slowing him down, it sure wasn't obvious. 

Dressed in blue jeans, a blue workshirt, and wearing that broad grin that he was so famous for, the former president greeted kids and adults and seemed to thoroughly enjoy his hometown's annual fall festival dedicated to the official state crop of the state of Georgia.

That's right. We learned on that trip that peanuts, not peaches, are Georgia's official crop, and Plains is in the heart of the state's peanut belt.

Georgia accounts for almost 47 percent of peanut production in the U.S., over 1.2 million tons. And they had to have given away about a ton of them during the Plains festival. We had boiled peanuts (a Southern delicacy), hot and spicy peanuts, creole peanuts, deep fried salted redskin peanuts (Mike’s favorite), and peanut ice cream.

The Georgia Peanut Queen handed out free toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the Plains Community Center, where there were also free peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on white bread, M&Ms (the peanuts M&Ms use are Georgia peanuts roasted in nearby Albany) and assorted other peanut product giveaways.

We wandered outside, where there were vendors selling hats, trinkets, barbecue, homemade quilts, and locally made arts and crafts. There was a late morning Saturday parade and, on the Saturday night of the Peanut Festival, a street dance.

The former President wasn’t seen at the dance. That was understandable. We were told he turned in early Saturday night.

That’s because come Sunday morning, at 10 AM at Maranatha Baptist Church just like he did every Sunday – cancer or not, even at his advanced age –  Jimmy Carter, Bible in hand, would be up front teaching Sunday school.