This is how Mike and Jennifer Wendland came to embrace the RV Lifestyle and start their RV travel blog, RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel, RV Podcast, RVCommunity, and RV books and newsletters.

This RV Lifestyle platform is a labor of love by us – Mike and Jennifer Wendland.  It started as a hobby back in 2012.

Now it's what we really believe is… our calling.

So let me explain. This is the long version 🙂 to the question:

“How'd you end up doing this?”

If I could have had a quarter for every time we've been asked that about our RV Lifestyle platform we could buy another motorhome.

Here's How The RV Lifestyle Began

This RV Lifestyle platform is a dream come true for us. Decades in the making, but now being lived out like one giant movie, seen through the wide expanse of our RV's windshield as North America rolls on by. We can stop anytime, explore anywhere.

Adventure Awaits!

And we share it all with you on this blog,  the RV Podcast, our RV Lifestyle YouTube channel, a weekly RV Lifestyle Newsletter, and by very active social media groups. And we also have written a series of 24 books and travel guides about the RV Lifestyle.

Most recently, we have added a private, ad-free RVCommunity where RVers make friends, plan trips, share tips and attend rallies together.

To help you get to know us better, here's a short video trailer on what the RV Lifestyle blog and YouTube Channel is all about:

For us, the RV Lifestyle revolves around Serendipity

Serendipity means a “happy accident” or “pleasant surprise,” something fun, useful, and enjoyable discovered by happenstance. That's a perfect description of what we find every day in this new wandering life in an RV.

It started when my wife Jennifer and I bought a Class B campervan-type motor home in early 2012 after years of dreaming. When we did, I started writing a blog about seeing North America, enjoying our RV, and the interesting stories about the people and places we came across.

We love to share our RV Lifestyle adventures

The goal then and now is to share our RV lifestyle. I have to admit I am not very mechanical. It took me an orientation session with my RV dealer to find out where the gas, ah, make that, diesel fueling point was on that first vehicle. This blog is only partially aimed at tinkerers and mechanics.

It's about the RV lifestyle and the great things to see and do out there on the open road.

The RV Lifestyle began out of Mike's travels as a journalist

By background, I'm a journalist. I have to tell stories. I love meeting people, learning, and seeing new things, enjoying God's awesome creation. Taking pictures. Making videos. I've been doing this for more than four decades, for major newspapers, TV networks, radio stations, and magazines.

I've written six books. I've won 18 EMMY awards, honors from the Associated Press, Ohio State University, and Wayne State University. I've reported from all over Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Central America.

I used to travel so much as a journalist that one of my newspaper employers, the Detroit News, once took an ad out in a journalism trade magazine referring to me as “one of America's most well-traveled reporters.”

Much of that traveling was what we call “parachute journalism.” I'd fly in, cover the story and fly out, sometimes the same day, often using scenery and skylines as backdrops for my stand-up TV bits.

I remembered so many times looking out at a mountain range or across some valley or in some small town or metropolis and longing to spend time walking the streets, hiking the trails, climbing the hills, and experiencing the sights and sounds and smells of a place.

And, of course, meet the people. It seldom happened. There was always another story in another place on another deadline.

Don't get me wrong. I loved those journalism days. I had a front-row, window seat to history. I covered Presidents and movie stars, CEOs and government leaders, the Mafia and even the Queen of England, and the Pope. Those were heady days.

But as I approached retirement age, I knew I missed a lot of stories out there over the years, stories about people, places, and the things that make the U.S. and Canada such wonderful countries.

The kind of good news and general interest stories hard-noted editors and news directors tend to skip over in favor of the sensational and controversial. The world of big media today concentrates on strife, tragedy, and bad news. It has little time for good news.

In retirement, as my own boss, I decided I wanted to go back and actually see and experience the country and tell those good news stories that I am convinced people are really hungry for.

The RV Lifestyle was our escape to the real world

So I got one, and with my wife and dog, we set out to meet people, discover places, and take to the road.

I am far from retired.

This blog arose from that change of pace, as did our Facebook page and group, the podcast, the newsletter, our YouTube RV Lifestyle Channel, community and all the email that needs to be answered.

It is all a very happy labor of love. We handle it all from the road. We have a podcast studio at home and in the RV.

We live the RV Lifestyle 24 x7, but travel 3/4 of the time

So, about half to 3/4 of the year, we travel to North America to discover interesting people and places I didn't have time to meet when I was a news reporter working for newspapers or TV stations. Technology, like the RV, is a big part of my life, and being able to try out new tech toys and stay connected while on the road makes every day an adventure.

Right now, we're traveling in a 35-foot-long 2024 Montana High Country Fifth Wheel. We've owned lots of other RVs – Class B campervans, B+ and Class C motorhomes, travel trailers, and pop-up campers. We've also been avid tent campers, though the hard ground is a bit harder on these old bones. These days, we much prefer our fifth wheel, which we call our “condo on wheels.” We do frequently travel in small motorhomes, too.

We frequently “boondock,” or stay in remote places, off the commercial power grid, typically in national or state forests, National Parks, or wilderness areas. Today's RVs, with banks of lithium batteries and rooftop solar panels, allow us to be self-contained for long periods of time.

We began this all in March 2012. Since then, we have traveled over 250,000 miles. Typically, we mark out a route, identify a few spots we want to be sure to visit, and then take off, stopping when we want or find something that interests us. An old editor of mine once told me that “every person has a story to tell.”

My journalism career has shown me that to be very true. It's the same with most places. Places have stories, too. So we like to wander, chat up the people we meet, and start taking photos and videos. Usually, we return with more stories than we can do.

We travel year-round, even to cold, snowy places in the winter. We have driven our RVs to Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the North Lake Superior shore of Minnesota in the dead of winter, where we have always found a winter wonderland that most people never see.

I remember one night when there were 28 inches of snow on the level ground and deep in the wilderness, it got down to -21 degrees F. It was an awesome experience. We slept snug and warm inside our RV and realized winter is no excuse to put the RV in storage.

Where, when and how we travel

Typically, we're on the road two to three weeks every month. We're not fulltimers. We need grandkid fixes. So we return to our Michigan home for at least a week or so every couple of months.

We also like to visit RV rallies and events and host meetups with our followers across the country as we travel.

Some people have looked at our schedule and the amount of material we produce and laugh. “I thought you retired,” they'll say.

As a matter of fact, I'm probably writing and reporting more now than I did when I was a fulltime employee of the various news outfits I've worked for over the years. But the difference is I'm my own boss and telling the stories I want to tell. That makes it not like a job at all.

The RV Lifestyle has grown so fast!

Truth is, though, that if I'm not careful, RVLifestyle.com could become all-consuming. The blog has been growing so fast that we also started a weekly RV newsletter. Our Facebook RV Lifestyle Group has over 500,000 members. We're also active on Instagram, X (Twitter), Pinterest, Threads, and LinkedIn.

Our favorite online platform these days is the RVCommunity, where really strong RV friendships are made in an ad-free environment.

And then there are our books – 24 of them! We've written travel guides to various parts of North America, how-to books on various aspects of camping and instructional books on how to save money while enjoying the RV Lifestyle. Check them out at https://rvlifestyle-ider.wp1.sh/books

Our other interests besides the RV Lifestyle

For the record, Jennifer and I have a brick-and-mortar home in Western Michigan and five acres of property in Mid-Tennessee that we have developed for our RV. We have three grown children and eight grandchildren.

Jennifer is a certified fitness instructor by occupation, specializing in water exercise. Besides journalism, we've both been very active at our church and have led in-depth Bible studies for many years. In addition to RVing, I enjoy photography, bicycling, SCUBA diving, kayaking, and fishing.

I am a longtime amateur radio operator (K8ZRH) and I often get to use my ham gear in our travels.

One of the joys of doing all this is working with my wife, who appears regularly with me on the podcast and our YouTube RV Lifestyle Channel. She gets more fan mail than I do. And Bo, our Norwegian Elkhound fur baby, has become a canine celebrity in his own right!

That's not to say that there sometimes isn't conflict. Jennifer insists on working out and exercising while on the road. We're not talking about campground strolls, bike rides, and hikes – all of which we do.

Staying healthy and fit is the key

We're talking about hardcore workouts. In a gym. A constant challenge for me in our travels is finding a health club or workout facility for Jennifer. I've learned that unless she gets in a workout three or four times a week, things in the confined space of an RV can get a bit strained.

We belong to the Anytime Fitness chain of health clubs, which has some 6,000 locations across the world, so we can pretty much always find a place to work out.

Adventure always Awaits with The RV Lifestyle!

For her part, Jennifer has had to adjust to the unpredictability of my serendipity style. “Where are we going to spend the night?” she'll ask. I seldom know. I am not one for making reservations. There are too many variables out there, places, and people that make me spontaneously pull off the road and strike up conversations that could lead us to a totally unexpected delight of a story just around the bend.

You can read and watch many of them here on the blog and on our YouTube channel.

We welcome your comments and feedback.

Thanks for reading this.