RV Podcast 307: Who says you can’t boondock in a big rig?

There are a lot of RV myths out there and one big one is that you can’t boondock in a big rig. This week, we dispel that bit of fake news by introducing you to two couples who not only boondock in big RVs, but both are thriving on it! Jason and Rae Miller are known as the Getaway Couple on their blog and YouTube community and they travel and boondock regularly in a huge Fifth Wheel. Mark and Julie Bennett, who publish the RV Love channel and blog and are authors of a very popular book on RVing, boondock in a huge Class A motorhome. We hear from both couples this week as they tell you about boondocking in a big rig, what are the challenges and more importantly just how they get those giant RVs down the road and off the grid. Both couples will teach you a lot! Plus, we have RV News of the week, your RV Lifestyle questions and a great off the beaten path report from the Burketts. You can listen to this episode of the Podcast on your favorite app or right below in the audio player. The interview about how to boondock in a big rig is about 20:37 in: Show Notes for Episode #302 July 8, 2020 of The RV Podcast: How to boondock in a Big Rig RV PODCAST NEWS OF THE WEEK Oregon now charging out-of-state residents more to camp at its campgrounds The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department now adds a surcharge to out-to-state residents wanting to use its campgrounds. The surcharge works out to about a 30 percent price hike, making a full-service campsite cost $42 for out-of-state residents (compared to the previous $33). Cost of a tent site will increase to $23 from $19 a night. The state hopes to raise $500,000 from the new fees to make up for lost revenue from when the campgrounds were closed earlier this year because of COVID-19. It also hopes to encourage people to stay closer to home. The surcharge will be applied to new reservations and first-come, first-served campers and will remain in place for the rest of this year. June RV and towable camper sales break the record Well, most of the numbers are in, and now it is official: More Americans than ever are giving the RV Lifestyle a try. The RV industry recorded the best sales month EVER last June, with a 16.5% increase over last year’s 41,699 total. And that doesn't even include numbers from the states of Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon and Vermont. Americans are really buying RVs and towables. The numbers support what we have been hearing for months. More and more people are camping as a result of COVID-19. To see more of what we've reported about camping changes this year click here. Peak viewing of the Perseid meteor showers will be Tuesday and Wednesday- don't miss it! The annual Perseid meteor shower is expected to peak this week, and if you can get outside to watch, you don't want to miss it! Up to 100 shooting stars can be seen per hour during its peak. It should be visible all this week. A good strategy is to look up as late in the evening as possible, but before moon rises. The Perseid meteor show is visible every year when the earth drifts through a debris cloud left from a comet. To learn more click here or here. To learn more about photographing the night sky, click here. Vandals spray painting campers, campground signs with messages of "COVID-19" and "Go home" in British Columbia We saw reports last week out of British Columbia of people vandalizing camping trailers with the words "no camping" and "COVID-10". About two weeks ago a story was in the news from North Island Campground where someone spray painted "Go home" on a campground sign. In the latest report, the camping trailer targeted was not even being used. The border between Canada and America is closed for non-essential travel, like camping, and while it is possible to "sneak" in, we wanted to remind you again that not every community wants out-of-owners visitors. In this summer of pandemic camping, remember to check ahead Because of a surge in COVID-19 cases, California State Parks temporarily closed Turlock Lake State Recreation Area’s campground last weekend. Hawaii has also closed campgrounds and parks until Sept. 4 because of rising COVID-19 numbers. But Big Bend National Park, which opened, then closed because of COVID cases in the residential park area, is now open again - for day use only. As we've said before, keeping track of what is open and what is not requires a scorecard this camping season. And as always, we recommend you check with Campendium, which is doing a good job of staying up to date. To see what things are like before you head out click here. This part of the podcast is brought to you by RadPower Bikes, America's #1 e-bike brand, offering direct to consumer pricing on powerful premium electric bikes. Now with free shipping RV PODCAST QUESTION OF THE WEEK This week’s question comes from our RV Lifestyle Facebook Group from a member named Jerry. He asks: QUESTION: When camping with full hook up, do you leave black & gray valve open or do you leave closed and drain as needed to help flush out drain hose? ANSWER Good question and one with pretty much universal agreement by experienced RVers. Everyone agrees that while you may have your dump hose hooked up the sewer drain on your campsite; the black tank valve should be closed. You do not want it free flowing. As far as the gray valve goes, the majority of people say to leave it closed, too. Though a few say leave it open if you are taking a lot of showers. Our advice is to leave it closed, too. The reason is when it’s time to go and you empty the black tank, you want a good strong flow of grey water to help flush out any solids that may be trapped in your drain hose. Here are some of the 50 or so comments our RV Lifestyle Group members made in response to Jerry’s question: From Becca: If you leave your black tank open the sewer smell with come into your camper From David: For the grey valve, ours stays open. I usually close it on travel day or the day before to let it fill a bit and then dump right before I leave. Gives it a good flush out. From Stewart: Black tank is always closed except when dumping. grey is open the whole time then closed when I predict showers and dishwashing will give me a nearly full tank to flush the hoses after I empty the black tank. From Jean: Keep them both closed until ready to dump. We learned the hard way (too much solid stiff from the black tank left in the hose) From Maria: We leave both closed until we are ready to leave. We then empty the black first, then we close the black valve, then we clean out the black w/ our San-T flush system, clean out the black AGAIN, then we empty the grey. By emptying the black first then the grey, it cleans out the hose. We then use another hose to hose out the sewage hose before we store it away. Can you tell we are super hyper vigilant about a clean sewage area and hose?? So there you go. Keep that black valve closed until just before you leave. Thanks to our Fellow Travelers on our RV Lifestyle Facebook Group members for offering their suggestions. If you are not yet a member, now's the time to join. We have over 40,000 members who are ready to help with all your RV questions. Just go to RVLifestyle.com/Facebook. This part of the RV Podcast is brought to you by Battle Born Batteries, maker of quality, safe and reliable lithium batteries that can be installed in just about every RV. Get in touch with Battle Born to find out what lithium batteries and an upgraded energy management system can add to your RV Lifestyle. Check them out at https://rvlifestyle.com/lithium RV PODCAST INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK RVers who own big towables, fifth wheel, and Class A RVs are often under the mistaken notion that they can't boondock, that off the grid dispersed camping in non-developed forests and public lands is off-limits to them because of their size. And while, yes, sometimes that low clearance and extra length makes navigating rough roads a little too hard, there are still a great many places where they can boondock. And in many clases, the extras that come with their size may even make it easier and more enjoyable to boondock with a big rig. To help us understand just how you can boondock in a big rig, we asked for some advice from two of our friends, other RV bloggers and YouTubers who we know do a lot of boondocking and who do it in big rigs. First up is a report I asked Mark and Julie Bennett of RV Love to give us about their thoughts on how to boondock in a big rig. Mark and Julie Bennett of RV Love fame regularly boondock in a big rig - a 40 foot Class A diesel pusher Hey Mike, this is Mark and Julie from RVLove putting in our two cents on what it's like to be boondocking with our large RV. One of the things we love about it is that it's got huge tanks for sure. You've got a hundred gallons of fresh water. And it's got solar and lithium and it is a 40 ft of a diesel pusher motorhome and perhaps our biggest limitation with boondocking is where we can go because it has a fairly low clearance in a really long wheel base. So we have to be very mindful of where we're going to go boondocking. But if we do our research in advance, we can find some really amazing places that are off the grid and stay there for extended periods of time, almost like we're plugged in because we have such a robust off grid system/ So when the pandemic broke out in March and walk through and place orders. We happen to be in Quartzsite Arizona, which is a boondocking Mecca. And if anybody wants to try boondocking for the first time, Quartzsite, Arizona is a fantastic place to do it because it's really set up for RVs. Our motorhome is very heavy, 32,000 pounds fully loaded. But Quartzsite has a rocky surface. So it doesn't pick up as much dust and it's like better for supporting a larger RV. Now, of course, the prime time to go down there is in the winter, January through March. Don't go there in the summer.