Can You REALLY Use AI to Plan a Camping Trip?

We interviewed the CEO of an RV travel planning app that relies almost entirely on AI to find out if you can really use AI to plan a camping trip…

The news this past year has been filled with talk about artificial intelligence – that is, using a machine to do things humans do. In a recent RV Lifestyle podcast, we talked about a company using this new technology –  bringing AI into the RV world.

This article summarizes what we discussed in the podcast interview, which you can watch or listen to here…

You can watch the video version of our podcast from our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel by clicking the player below. To go straight to the interview, skip forward to timestamp 12:14 (12 min 14 seconds into the podcast).

If you prefer an audio-only podcast, you can hear us through your favorite podcast app or listen now through the player below.

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What We Learned From the Podcast Interview

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Scott Lengel is the CEO of AdventureGenie, the first RV planning program powered by Artificial Intelligence. The program pulls on a database of more than 25,000 public and private campgrounds and pairs it with proprietary AI-based algorithms to take planning the most minute details of your next RV adventure to a new level.

The company was co-founded by Scott, a former Microsoft senior technology executive, and David Greenberg, AdventureGenie's chairman, a veteran CEO/investor. Both men are RVers: Scott and his wife Lisa camp in a  Newmar Ventana and David and his wife Becky in a Newmar NewAire. 

You can check out the company at AdventureGenie.com. AdventureGenie went live May 1, 2023, and many RVers have found it helpful since, but we'd love to get more feedback. If you've used it, please let us know how you liked it in the comments at the end.

And if you decide you want to become a member and use the code RVLIFESTYLE60 at check out, you can get a 60% discount off the normal $99 a year subscription.

What Is Adventure Genie?

Adventure Genie is an innovative platform, one of the first of its kind, crafted to aid RVers by streamlining the process of planning camping trips. Utilizing a database of over 25,000 campgrounds along with advanced AI algorithms, the system customizes trips down to minute details based on user preferences. Whether you're a novice or a seasoned RVer, Adventure Genie promises an intuitive and detailed trip-planning resource.

How Does It Simplify RV Trip Planning?

Adventure Genie melds AI with travel planning, a blend that is particularly efficient when juggling multiple sources of information — from campgrounds to routes and points of interest. Instead of toggling between various apps and websites, Adventure Genie consolidates all need-to-know data for an RV trip in one place. It learns from each user's preferences to tailor unique travel experiences, focusing on three main areas:

1. Activity Planning: What do you want to do?
2. Travel Routes: How do you want to get there?
3. Accommodation: Where will you stay?

Scott explains the typical use cases range from regularly visiting familiar locations to exploring new terrains each year. Dynamic adjustments and personalized trip suggestions are hallmarks of this system.

Personalization Through AI

The “magical” aspect of AI comes to the fore as it gathers more data about its users over time. Like Netflix's model of learning viewer preferences, Adventure Genie adapts and refines its suggestions based on your interactions and choices on the platform. This could include the types of campgrounds favored, the amenities sought, or even the pace and style of travel.

Exciting Features and Future Potential

Adventure Genie offers pre-planned itineraries, termed ‘Genie Trips', which bundle locations and activities based on themes like tracing the Bourbon Trail or exploring the national parks of Utah. It also allows for deep customization once a trip is chosen, from starting points to the sequences of stops. This AI-driven customization draws on both input directly provided by the user and learned preferences over time.

Compelling Potential

As AI continues to reshape various industries, its potential to streamline and enhance RV trip planning is clearly evident through platforms like Adventure Genie. While there are understandable concerns about privacy and data security, the beneficial aspects of AI, such as reduced planning time and enhanced travel experiences, are compelling. It sets a precedent for how technology can make vacation planning less of a chore and more of an exciting prelude to adventure.

RV Tip of the Week from Brenda of Queen Bee RV

In the same podcast, we also got a helpful tip of the week from certified RV Inspector Brenda of Queen Bee RV. 

Brenda’s focus is on educating RVers on how to care for their RVs – especially women RVers – and she is a regular contributor to the podcast, sharing her expertise with our entire audience.

Here’s Brenda.. The RV Queen Bee… with this RV Tip.

RV holding tanks dump day advice

If you are new to RVing and shudder at the thought of dump day, I’ve got some helpful info to take the fear out of this camping rite of passage – it’s easier than you think!

Many RVs are manufactured with a separate gray tank and black tank.  Some have multiple of each.  Some RVs have a combination black and gray tank. The gray tanks collect the water from sinks, showers, the washing machine and dishwasher. The black tank collects the wastewater from the toilets. 

While determining where to make campground reservations, some RVers choose to camp at places where each individual site has its own dedicated sewer pipe to allow the owners to dump at will throughout their stay. Other campgrounds might have what is called a dump station located somewhere within the park where RVers line up to dump their tanks, typically on their way out of the campground.

Basic accessories that you will need to maintain and operate your tanks are disposable gloves, a sewer hose, a sewer elbow attachment, and a sewer pipe adapter to adjust for varying sizes of dump station openings. Some RVers utilize a sidewinder type accessory in case the sewer hose is trying to work against gravity on its way to the sewer drain pipe.

It’s important to know that keeping your tanks in good working condition involves not letting them dry out – both black and gray tanks. If the black tank does not have water in it, this could result in solids and toilet paper drying out and creating a blockage.  Keep the black tank valve closed until dump day.  Some RVers opt to keep the gray tank open so that it does not fill as quickly while taking showers and doing dishes.  

However, according to tank cleaning specialists that I know, they advise to keep both tanks closed until dump day. The gray tank can get dried out and just as smelly, if not worse, than the black tank. You will simply have to dump the gray tank more often than your black.

Here is the order of procedure on dump day:

Connect the sewer hose on one end at the RV termination valve and the other end at the sewer drain pipe at the campsite or dump station.  It’s important to have tight connections on both ends, because gravity is going to cause the contents of your tanks to come rushing out with some surprising force!  Open the black tank valve first and allow the contents to exit (this is when some RVers prefer having a clear elbow attachment), then close the black tank valve to next open the gray tank valve and allow all of the soapy water from the sinks and showers to clean out the sewer hose while it’s dumping.  

Close the termination valve, disconnect the sewer hose, and store. Some RVers will use the water hose at the dump station to give the sewer hose one more rinse before storing. If your RV is equipped with a black tank flush option, you can perform that any time. 

Pro tip:  don’t walk away from the hose when using the black tank flush, especially if you leave your black tank valve closed during the process!

Proper maintenance of both black and gray tanks is essential to keep odor at bay and contents moving freely. If you let either tank dry out, solids, toilet paper, grease, and soap will build up on the walls or worse, create a clog that will interfere with proper operation.

So on that note, after dumping you will need to add several gallons of water back into both black and gray tanks. You can either fill jugs with water to send back down the sinks and toilet to accomplish this.  Or, you can fill the toilet bowl and flush – repeat this three times for the black tank. Now it’s time for the tank treatment of your choice. I prefer to use a probiotic to keep the good bacteria doing their job in the black tank. PS:  you need to send treatment down into the gray tank, too!

App of the Week

Time now for the RV App of the Week segment, taken from the pages of NewTravelTech.com – our sister blog that celebrates the many ways technology enhances the travel experience.

This week's app is called Open Roads and it is a discount fuel program open to anyone who purchases diesel fuel, whether it be a diesel pickup truck, RV, or a semi-truck.

This membership program gives you access to discount diesel prices at specified locations such as Loves and Travel Centers of America.

Current members save an average of 30 to 40 cents per gallon off the pump price. 

There are no signup fees or membership fees to join. There are no long-term contracts to sign and no hidden fees.

Right now, this is only applicable to those who have diesel engines and you have to pull up with the big trucks at the travel stations to use the card.