This week on Episode 539 of the RV Podcast:

• Surviving 80 miles an hour winds in an RV. You’ll hear one couple’s harrowing tale of a dark and stormy night
• There are growing indications that a lot of Canadians are deciding not to take vacations in the US this year because of the Trump administration’s ongoing issues with Canada
• In this week’s Storytime with Mike & Jen segment, the tale of Mike’s Great Awakening
• All this plus the RV News of the Week and your questions coming up in Episode 539 of the RV Podcast

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

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Two Personal Decisions about our RV Lifestyle

We've made two big personal decisions that we want to share with you since they directly impact our RV adventures moving forward.

So, you know our beautiful “Loblolly Ridge” property down in Tennessee? Those five acres at the Woodlands at Buffalo River near Linden? Well, with heavy hearts, we've decided it's time to let it go.

Truth is, our travel schedule has just gotten so crazy busy that we haven't been able to enjoy that special place nearly as much as we wanted to. And honestly, this year's looking even crazier, which means getting down there would be pretty much impossible.

For those of you who've watched our YouTube videos about the property, you know how much we absolutely love that land and the awesome neighbors we have there. It's got those three full hookup RV spots, tons of privacy, that nice concrete pad, city water, and the county even maintains the road right up to it. We've talked about how special this place is in so many of our videos!

We've asked our good friend Troy Rindy, who's a local realtor, to help us with selling it. If any of you might be interested, you can reach Troy through his website at twabr.com or just give him a call at 931-218-6350. Troy's handling all the details for us.

But you might be wondering, “Why else are y'all selling?” Well, that brings us to our second big announcement…

We're adding a motorhome to our family! (Eventually)

Now don't worry – we are absolutely keeping our Montana fifth wheel! It's our “condo on wheels” and perfect for those longer adventures we love so much. But here's the deal – we're planning to use the money from selling the Tennessee property to help buy a Class C or B+ motorhome for shorter trips.

The best part? This will give us the flexibility to share it with family who want to join us on our camping adventures – especially the grandkids! They can use the motorhome while we camp in our fifth wheel.

As for which motorhome we're getting – we're still shopping! We've been researching like crazy and have lots of options we're looking at. We're open to both new and used models, and we promise we'll share our decision once we find “the one.” For now, we've got plenty of shopping ahead of us!

RV CONVERSATION OF THE WEEK – A Night of High Winds

Today, we're talking with Susie and Wayne Smith, a couple from Michigan whose RV adventure took an unexpected turn when they found themselves facing nature's fury at an RV park near the Texas-Oklahoma border.

Just two weeks ago, the Smiths experienced what many RVers dread – massive thunderstorms, tornado warnings, and winds that reached a staggering 80 miles per hour. To put that in perspective, that's 6 mph over hurricane-strength winds!

Susie and Wayne stayed in their RV throughout the entire ordeal, and they're here to share their experience and the valuable lessons they learned. 

In this conversation, they explain how their recent RV trip turned into a harrowing experience due to severe weather. They discuss their journey from Arizona to Oklahoma, the importance of weather awareness, and the precautions they took to stay safe during a powerful storm.

The couple shares valuable lessons learned from their experience, including the significance of being prepared and having reliable weather information. Watch or listen through the players above.

Conversation Takeaways

• They spent their winter in a 2021 Fleetwood Bounder 35K motorhome, mostly in Arizona.
• Weather awareness is crucial for RV travelers. They share their favorite online sources.
• They relied on RVCommunity resources for accurate weather forecasts.
• Deciding to stay put during severe weather can be a wise choice.
• They prepared their RV by bringing in slides and filling water tanks.
• Facing the wind helped reduce the rocking of the RV.
• They monitored MaxVelocity and storm chasers like Reed for real-time updates.
• The storm brought winds up to 80 miles per hour.
• They learned the importance of knowing shelter locations in campgrounds.
• Reliable internet access was vital for staying informed during the storm.

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, we had an amazing LIVE around the virtual campfire last week. We brought on one of our members who recently bought a used Class A motorhome. He walked us through the steps he and his wife took to research and search for his new rig. He got a great deal and had some helpful tips for everyone on how he did it. This is a good time to buy a used motorhome!

Also, in the Community this past week, we had our first March Meetup! Janice and Mike hosted in Tennessee, and it sounds like folks got together to meet in “real life” and had such a good time! They enjoyed a tasty meal and awesome conversation. Love it!

For those who don't know, our RVLifestyle Community is sort of like Facebook, in that it is online and people ask questions and share tips and trips, etc., but it is also much much more. We have a free self-paced course, we camp together, we get together online for Lives – you should check us out!

And speaking of Facebook, our RVLifestyle Facebook Group had so many weather and road condition posts last week as these horrible storms went through.

Many of the questions were about what to do in strong-wind situations.

Steven wrote one of those posts. He and his family were staying in a campground that did not have a secure location to go to during a tornado. He was thinking, should one come, he would get in his 350 Dually truck and lay down on the floor of his truck. He asked if the group agreed with him, or if they think a different plan would be better.

Many, like Shana, who lived in the tornado belt, said a tornado could easily pick up a vehicle. She recommended leaving the trailer, getting in his truck and heading out of there.

Some of the commenters survived tornadoes. Dwayne was in an EF-4 and he said a car or truck is the absolute WORST place to be. He urged Steven to scout the area, look for ditches, large culverts, berms … any low-lying area. If possible, put on a bike helmet and make sure you have shoes on and a light nearby if a storm does come, and you need to lie flat in a ditch to wait it out.

RV NEWS OF THE WEEK

More than 28 million Americans are planning to go RVing this Spring, the majority targeting locations a 7-to-15-hour drive from home. 

Top travel spots are beaches and coastal areas, followed by national parks, lakes, and mountain retreats. The data is part of the RV Industry Association's Spring Travel Intentions Survey.

Canadians visiting the US for more than 30 days will have to register with the US Department of Homeland Security beginning April 11 under President Donald Trump's “Protecting the American People Against Invasion” order. 

This move is sure to affect Canadian RVers, many of whom are among the 1 million Canadian Snowbirds who come to the US each year. Reports are already circulating that this is contributing to some Canadians deciding to drop their US travel plans.

Illinois is considering taxing drivers by mile driven rather than by gallon purchased at the pump as consumers buy less fuel with the rise of electric cars, and tax revenue dips. 

Illinois drivers pay the second-highest fuel tax in the nation. The state is considering a pilot test where drivers report their mileage through a transponder or pictures of their odometer to pay a tax. An increasing number of states, including Oregon and Utah are implementing similar programs.

Several Pennsylvania U.S. Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds and beaches are closed indefinitely because of staffing shortages.

Those who paid for campground reservations will get a refund. The closures are tied to the Trump Administration's staff reductions and employee early buyouts that is affecting national parks, campgrounds, and trails on federally run land around the country. 

A local television station interviewed customers with serious problems as part of an investigation into the Camping World in North Charleston, South Carolina. 

The report featured customers saying Camping World sells RVs in poor condition, with repairs taking months, and the sales people did not disclose important information at the time of purchase.

RV Question of the Week

QUESTION:

We have a 2024 Airstream. We took it out for the first time this year, and my husband and I have a disagreement about the lithium batteries. I was under the impression that anytime the temperature dropped below 30 degrees we needed to turn the heater switch on (in the battery box) to keep the batteries warm. Dan, however, keeps telling me that “Mike” said…. The only time you need to have the heater on the lithium batteries is when you are CHARGING them below 30 degrees. We listen to your podcast every week and love it! -Nance 

ANSWER: 

You are right, Nancye. Your husband heard me wrong 🙂 If the temp drops below 30, turn the heater on. That is if you are using it as your main source of power. If your Airstream is plugged into an electric pedestal or outlet, you don't have to turn it on as you are drawing electricity from the pedestal, not the lithium batteries. If you are storing the RV, the battery main disconnect would be off, and there is no need for the heater to be on.

Mike and Jen's Storytime: The Great Awakening

Let me tell you about my husband Mike, who's now famous among our friends for being up at ridiculous hours. We're talking crack-of-dawn, stars-still-out early. But believe it or not, this wasn't always the case.

When we first got married, Mike was what you might call… horizontally gifted. The man could sleep like it was an Olympic sport, and weekends? Those were his gold medal events. I swear he could have slept until dinner if I'd let him.

Meanwhile, I was juggling babies, bottles, and breakfasts solo. Every. Single. Morning. You know how it goes – one child needs a diaper change while another one's hungry, the dog needs to go out, and somehow I'm supposed to grow an extra set of arms while Mike is in the bedroom conducting a symphony of snores.

I tried the gentle approach at first. “Honey, could you maybe get up a little earlier on weekends?” He'd mumble something that sounded like agreement, then promptly forget by Saturday.

This went on for months until I reached what I now refer to as “The Great Awakening.” It was a Saturday morning after a particularly exhausting week. The baby had been up half the night, the toddler woke at 5 AM ready to party, and there I was – exhausted, with spit-up on my shirt, trying to make breakfast one-handed.

And in the bedroom? Mike was in dreamland, completely oblivious to the chaos below.

Something in me just… snapped.

I marched into the bedroom with the determination of someone who hadn't had a proper night's sleep in years. I threw open the bedroom door, stomped over to the window, and yanked those blinds open so fast they practically spun. Sunlight flooded the room, but Mike just rolled over.

Oh no. This wasn't going to be that easy.

Next came the curtains – whoosh! More light. Mike pulled the pillow over his head.

That's when I went for the nuclear option. I opened the window wide – as I recall, it was a particularly chilly morning – and grabbed the comforter and sheets and ripped them clean off the bed in one dramatic swoop!

You should have seen him! Mike bolted upright like he'd been shocked with a cattle prod, eyes wide, hair standing in every direction. He looked at me, then at the clock, then back at me, and I didn't have to say a word. The look on my face said everything.

And you know what? That was it. The end of Sleeping Beauty Mike. Something clicked that day, and he's never slept in since. These days, he's up before the birds, making coffee, starting laundry, sometimes even getting breakfast ready.

Occasionally, I'll roll over at some ungodly hour and see his side of the bed empty, and I'll think back to that morning – the day of The Great Blanket Rebellion of our marriage – and smile to myself.

So if you're wondering why Mike now considers 6 AM “sleeping in” – well, now you know. Sometimes love means letting your spouse sleep. And sometimes it means dramatically removing all bedding until they get the message!