RV Podcast Episode 631

Monday News Edition

August 3, 2026

INTRO

Hello, fellow RVers, I’m Mike Wendland, and welcome to another edition of the RV Podcast, the weekly news roundup where we separate the headlines that matter from the ones that don't. This is Episode 631, and we two two episodes a week.

Every Monday we look at what's happening across the RV world, from new products and travel trends to industry news and practical information that can help you enjoy this lifestyle even more. And on Wednesdays, Jennifer joins me with our Stories from the Road episode, where we share tips, answer questions and talk about different aspects of the RV Lifestyle. 

You can find all 631 episodes going back well over a decade now at RVPodcast.com And if you want to send in a question or pass along a comment, use the Contact link there and it will end uo right in our personal inbox.

Before we get started, if you've ever dreamed about the RV lifestyle, or you're wondering if it's really right for you, Jennifer and I have something we'd love to share. We've made a complete chapter of our new book, The Complete Guide to RVing in Retirement, available as a free download. There's no obligation, just practical advice to help you decide if this amazing lifestyle is for you. Get your free chapter right now at RVLifestyle.com/FreeChapter. RVLifestyle.com/FreeChapter

Let's get started.

STORY 1 CAMPING WORLD IS CUTTING ANOTHER HUNDRED MILLION IN COSTS. HERE'S WHY I'M WATCHING THE SERVICE BAYS.

Camping World reported its second quarter results on Wednesday, and I want to skip past most of the financial detail and get to the two things that actually affect you.

The first is that the largest RV retailer in the country just told Wall Street this year is going to be worse than it thought. The company now expects the entire retail industry to sell around 300,000 new RVs this year. That is roughly fifteen percent fewer than last year. 

Their own CEO, Matthew Wagner, said sales weakened during May and June, which are supposed to be the two best-selling months on the calendar, and that trends have stayed soft into July. His summary of the quarter was blunt. He said, "We are not satisfied with the result." 

That lines up with everything else we're seeing. Factories shipped about thirteen percent fewer RVs in June than they did a year ago. Private campgrounds reported fewer bookings over the Fourth of July weekend than last year. Fewer RVs built, fewer sold, fewer sites filled. Three different measurements, same direction.

Now here's the second thing, and this is the part I keep chewing on.

Along with that report, Camping World announced it has found another $100 million in costs to take out of the business. That is on top of $35 million they had already cut earlier this year. Half of the $100 million is supposed to be gone by the end of December.

The company frames this as getting more efficient. Better tools for their people. A more consistent experience for customers. And I want to be fair here, because that is entirely possible. Smarter scheduling, better parts ordering, better training, all of that genuinely can lower costs and improve service at the same time. I have seen dealerships do it.

But you and I both know what the biggest controllable expense at any dealership is. It's people. And at a dealership, the people who cost the most and generate the least immediate revenue are the ones back in the service bays.

Two weeks ago on this show we spent a whole segment on service department problems at the big chains. Camping World sits at one point six stars out of five on Trustpilot, across more than fifteen hundred reviews. The Better Business Bureau gives them an F, its lowest grade. Those are two independent rating systems reaching the same conclusion, and the complaints underneath them are almost always about service: waits that stretch for months, work that doesn't get done, warranty claims that go nowhere.

So the company with that service record is now removing another hundred million dollars from its cost structure while sales fall. I don't have the internal detail to tell you where that money is coming from, and I'm not going to pretend I do. But I think RV owners deserve a straight answer to a simple question: Does any part of this hundred million come out of technician headcount, technician pay, or service capacity?

You deserve to know it before you hand over your keys this fall.

What this means for you:

• If you're shopping for a new RV, this is a buyer's market and it's getting better. Dealers need to move units. Ask directly what incentives exist on leftover 2026 models

• If you're shopping used, don't expect the same bargains. Used demand is the one thing holding steady right now

• Before you book any service appointment this fall, ask that specific location two questions: how many certified techs do you have working right now, and how many weeks is your actual backlog? Ask by email so you have it in writing

• Don't assume a big chain has more service capacity than the independent shop down the road. Ask both and compare

• For anything that isn't a major warranty claim, a mobile RV tech will usually get to you faster, and you can watch the work get done

Sources for this story are in the show notes at RVPodcast.com:

Story 2: RV INDUSTRY CATCHES A TARRIFF BREAK 

Speaking of buying an RV, tariffs remain one of the biggest wild cards facing manufacturers.

One piece of good news arrived this past week. Indonesian lauan plywood, a material used extensively throughout the RV industry, received an exemption from new tariffs after industry groups pushed for relief.

That should help keep costs from climbing even higher on certain components.

But the overall picture remains uncertain.

Many RV manufacturers still rely on parts and materials sourced from around the world. Every time tariff rules change, companies have to reevaluate pricing, supply chains and production costs.

Eventually, those costs can find their way into the price consumers pay.

This isn't a reason to rush into buying an RV tomorrow. But it is another reminder that global trade decisions eventually reach campground driveways all across America.

Story 3: You Are Paying About $300 More Per Big Trip Than You Did Last Summer

Let's start with fuel, because it's the one thing on this show today that hits every listener the same way.

As of the weekend, AAA puts the national average for a gallon of regular at $4.10. A month ago it was $3.85. A year ago it was $3.14. That's a jump of roughly 96 cents a gallon in twelve months.

Here's what that means in real terms. Take a 3,000 mile summer loop in a gas motorhome getting 10 miles per gallon. That's 300 gallons. Today it costs you about $1,230. Last summer the identical trip cost about $942. You're spending close to $300 more for the same miles, the same campgrounds, the same everything.

If you run a diesel, it's worse. Diesel is above $5.00 a gallon in more than 20 states right now, and it's over $6.50 in California and Hawaii. A diesel pusher getting 8 miles per gallon burns 375 gallons over that same 3,000 miles. At $5.00, you're looking at close to $1,900 in fuel before you've paid a single site fee.

What's driving it is crude oil, and specifically continued instability along the Strait of Hormuz. 

Now here's the part of AAA's report I want you to actually plan around. August is normally when RVers catch a break. School starts, road trips wind down, demand falls, and prices ease. AAA is signaling that the usual August relief may not come this year, because crude is holding at a level that overrides the seasonal pattern. So if you've been telling yourself you'll take that fall trip when gas settles down, don't build your budget on that assumption.

The geography matters more this year than it has in a long time. California is averaging $5.64 a gallon for regular. Indiana is the cheapest state in the country at $3.56. That's a spread of more than $2 a gallon between the two ends. On a 100 gallon fill, crossing the right state line is worth over $200.

My take: nobody should cancel a trip over this. That's not why we do this. But stop treating fuel as something you deal with when the gauge drops, and start treating it as part of the plan, right alongside your route and your reservations. The 330 Rule that Jennifer and I live by, no more than 330 miles a day and off the road by 3:30, turns out to save fuel as much as it saves your back. Slower miles in a big rig are cheaper miles.

What you can do:

• Know your real miles per gallon, not the brochure number. Run one full tank, do the division, and budget off that
  
  

• Check fuel prices before you cross a state line, not after. GasBuddy and the AAA TripTik planner both map it
  
  

• Slow down. Most rigs lose noticeable mileage above 62 to 65 miles per hour, and wind resistance climbs hard after that
  
  

• Check tire pressure cold every travel day. Underinflated tires cost you fuel and cause most RV blowouts
  
  

• If your route has any flex, weight it south and through the middle of the country. Indiana, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee are the cheapest fuel in America right now
  
  

• Budget for $4.10 and up through fall rather than counting on an August drop
  
  

MIDBREAK

Since we just spent five minutes talking about fuel costs, let me tell you about something Jennifer and I built for exactly this problem.

Here's what happens on most trips. You leave with a rough number in your head. You fill up a few times, you pay for sites, you eat out more than you meant to, and somewhere around day nine you stop doing the math because you're not sure you want the answer. Then you get home, look at the credit card statement, and get hit with the sticker shock.

We built a fix. It's called the RV Trip Budget Buddy, and it's at RVLifestyle.com/BudgetBuddy.

You set your trip budget by category before you pull out of the driveway. Fuel, campgrounds, food, activities, whatever matters to you. Then as you travel, you log what you actually spend, right from your phone at the pump or at the campground office. It updates your running totals in real time and shows you exactly where you stand against the budget you set, so you can make a smart decision on day nine instead of a painful discovery on day twenty.

The part I use most is the comparison. Planned versus actual, category by category. After one trip you stop guessing what RVing costs you and start knowing it, and that makes the next trip's planning a lot sharper.

It's a web app, so there's nothing to download and no app store involved. Works on your phone, your tablet, your laptop. Access is instant when you buy it. And it's $19.99 one time, no subscription, ever.

With gas up almost a dollar a gallon from last summer, this is the year to actually know your numbers. Check it out at RVLifestyle.com/BudgetBuddy  The link is in the show notes and in the description below.

Alright, back to the news.

STORY 4: RVs BECOME LIFELINES AFTER TEXAS FLOODING

One of the things I love about the RV community is how quickly people step up when others need help.

Following the devastating flooding in Texas, RVs are once again providing temporary housing for families who lost their homes.

Organizations and volunteers are working together to place travel trailers and motorhomes where they're needed most, giving displaced families a safe place to sleep while they begin rebuilding their lives.

We often think of RVs as vacation vehicles.

But time and again they've proven to be something much more important.

After hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and wildfires, RVs become emergency housing, mobile offices for utility crews, medical clinics and temporary shelters.

It's another reminder that the RV lifestyle contributes to communities in ways many people never see.

STORY 5: THE RV INDUSTRY IS ASKING CONGRESS TO FIX OUR CAMPGROUNDS BEFORE IT LEAVES TOWN

I want to close this week with something that isn't about a recall or a price increase, and something you can actually do something about.

Here is the picture. Americans are outdoors in record numbers. More than 183 million people took part in at least one outdoor activity last year, according to the Outdoor Industry Association, which is about 59 percent of everyone in this country aged six and up. Participation has grown by nearly 30 million people since 2019. Now, campground bookings this particular summer have been softer than last summer, and we talked about that earlier in the show. But the long arc is unmistakable. Far more people are using public lands today than were using them a decade ago.

That's the good news. The problem is what all those people are showing up to find.

The maintenance backlog across our federal land agencies now runs about 43 billion dollars. That's crumbling campground loops, failing water and septic systems, potholed access roads, closed restrooms, and bridges that can't take the weight of a loaded rig. If you've pulled into a national forest campground and found the water spigot taped off or half the sites coned away, you've met that backlog personally.

Back in 2020, Congress created the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund as part of the Great American Outdoors Act. It put about 1.9 billion dollars a year against that backlog and funded more than 600 overdue projects. Then it expired in 2025, and it has not been renewed.

The bill to renew it is called the America the Beautiful Act. It would reauthorize that fund through 2031 and, importantly for us, it specifically prioritizes recreation projects: campgrounds, trails, boat ramps, and visitor facilities. It cleared the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on June 17 by unanimous voice vote, with more than 60 cosponsors from both parties. The House Natural Resources Committee advanced its companion a week later. Neither chamber has actually held a floor vote.

That's where our industry stepped in. On July 21, more than 200 outdoor recreation businesses and trade associations sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker Mike Johnson, and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, urging them to pass the bill before Congress adjourns for August. The signers include Thor Industries, Forest River, and Winnebago, which together build a large share of the RVs on the road, alongside campground owners, outfitters, marina operators, and retailers.

Their argument is economic as much as anything. Outdoor recreation contributes about 1.3 trillion dollars a year to the American economy and supports 5.2 million jobs, according to Commerce Department figures. Recreation on federal lands and waters alone generates roughly 351 million dollars in economic activity every single day. And a National Park Service study on visitor spending found that every dollar Congress puts into the Park Service returns about five dollars to the economy. Most of the businesses that signed that letter are small operations in rural gateway towns that live or die on whether the campground down the road is open.

Now here's the timing problem, and it's why I'm running this today instead of next week. The House has no scheduled sessions in August at all. The Senate is expected to start its recess on August 7th. So realistically, this window is four days wide from the moment you hear this.

I'll say plainly that this isn't a political story to me, and I don't care which party gets credit for it. This bill passed committee unanimously in the Senate. It has support from the Interior Secretary and from more than 60 senators across the spectrum. Whether you tow a fifteen foot travel trailer or drive a forty five foot diesel pusher, your travels take you through public land somewhere, and those parks and forests belong to all of us equally. Keeping them usable is about as close to a non-partisan proposition as anything left in Washington.

What you can do:

• Call your senators before August 7th, when the Senate is expected to leave. The Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121 and they'll connect you. Ask them to bring S.1547, the America the Beautiful Act, to a floor vote
  
  

• Call your House member too. They're gone for August, but district offices stay open and staff log every call
  
  

• Keep it short and personal. Say you're an RV owner, name a specific campground or park you use, and say you want the Legacy Restoration Fund reauthorized. Thirty seconds is plenty
  
  

• When you're on public land this summer, pack out more than you packed in and report broken facilities to the ranger station. Agencies use those reports to justify project funding
  
  

• If you want to track where the bill stands, look up S.1547 at congress.gov
  
  

Closing

And that's your RV news for this Monday.

If you'd like to read more about any of these stories, you'll find links in today's show notes.

Before we say goodbye, don't forget you can download a free chapter from our brand-new ebook, The Complete Guide to RVing in Retirement. Whether retirement is just around the corner or you're already enjoying it, we think you'll find ideas and inspiration to help you get even more from your RV adventures. Just head over to RVLifestyle.com/FreeChapter and grab your complimentary chapter today. RVLifestyle.com/FreeChapter

Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave us a review, and tell another RVer about the podcast.

Until next time, I'm Mike Wendland.

Happy Trails!

Story Sources:

Story 1: Camping World cutbacks

• Camping World Holdings second quarter 2026 results, July 29, 2026: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260729469894/en/Camping-World-Holdings-Inc.-Reports-Second-Quarter-2026-Results

• RVIA June 2026 wholesale shipment report: https://rvbusiness.com/rvia-june-wholesale-shipments-down-13-1-year-over-year/

• RoverPass July 4th weekend 2026 campground reservation report: https://rvbusiness.com/roverpass-report-shows-softer-4th-of-july-camping-demand/

• Camping World Trustpilot reviews: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.campingworld.com

Story 2 Tariff break

• Key RV Plywood Exempt From New Tariff: https://camperreport.com/rv-plywood-tariff-exemption/

Story 3 Fuel Prices

• AAA daily national average and state-by-state fuel prices: https://gasprices.aaa.com/state-gas-price-averages/
  
  

• AAA fuel price report, July 30, 2026: https://gasprices.aaa.com/little-change-to-national-average-pump-prices-remain-high/
  
  

• AAA gas cost calculator: https://gasprices.aaa.com/aaa-gas-cost-calculator/
  
  

• AAA TripTik travel planner: https://triptik.aaa.com/home/index.html

Story 4: RVs help those displaced by Texas Flooding

• EmergencyRV Helps Texas Families Displaced by Floods
  https://rv-pro.com/news/emergencyrv-helps-texas-families-displaced-by-floods/

• Colorado Group Helps Texas Families Displaced by Floods https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-texas-el-paso/news/2026/07/27/colorado-group-helps-families-displaced-by-floods

• Nonprofit organization providing donated RVs as temporary housing after disasters)
  https://emergencyrv.org/

Story 5 - Outdoor Recreation

• Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, over 200 businesses urge passage before August recess, July 21, 2026: https://recreationroundtable.org/news/over-200-outdoor-recreation-businesses-and-associations-urge-congress-to-pass-america-the-beautiful-act-before-august-recess/
  
  

• RV News, RV industry joins outdoor recreation in support of legislation: https://www.rvnews.com/rv-industry-joins-outdoor-recreation-in-support-of-legislation/
  
  

• Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee advances S.1547, June 17, 2026: https://www.energy.senate.gov/2026/6/committee-advances-america-the-beautiful-act
  
  

• Center for Western Priorities on the 43 billion dollar maintenance backlog: https://westernpriorities.org/2026/06/senate-committee-approves-bill-to-fund-parks/
  
  

• Bill text and status, S.1547: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1547