Stay Overnight in your RV for Free

It’s no secret that across North America, many towns and cities are becoming increasingly anti-RV, prohibiting overnight camping anywhere except in RV campgrounds, which often charge an arm and a leg for what can often be pretty dismal campsites. Our interview of the week tells us how we can avoid such places and find lots of great overnight RV camping sites, oftentimes for free or very minimal costs. Also this week in Episode 217, your RV questions, some great RV tips and another excellent off the beaten path report from the Burketts. Show Notes for Episode #217 November 7, 2018 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast: WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK MIKE This week we’re coming to you from our new RV, camped in the Fort Wilderness Campground at Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida. JENNIFER We're attending a gathering organized by our friend Paul "Pogo" Pogorzelski, who loves Disney and tossed some dates out last spring and found 50 or so others who agreed that Fort Wilderness would be a great place to gather in early November. MIKE We are loving our new Roadtrek! It rolled out of the factory Friday and made its way straight to our Michigan driveway, where we packed it up and immediately took off for Florida. Friday and Saturday nights, we needed to run the heater. Tonight, in Florida, the air conditioning is on. It's performed flawlessly so far and we can't wait to show it to you. JENNIFER As soon as we finish the Disney World video and we get a little more familiar with all the bells and whistles on this unit, we will be doing a complete video reveal and tour. But let me say that in almost seven years of doing the RV Lifestyle now in five different Class B Roadtreks, this Roadtrek has impressed us the most in every away way possible. And we've only been in it for three days! MIKE We've asked our various social media followers to help us name this new unit and we'll probably choose one for the video reveal. If you have a good idea, send it in! This part of the program is brought to you by AllStays Pro, the best tool for RVers looking for places to camp. RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK MIKE Pictures of amazing locations shared on social media can draw millions of visitors, and unintended consequences An interesting story I saw YouTube last week about the affect social media is having on various unique but previously little-known locations around the country was fascinating. As people take pictures of gorgeous places on public land they often share the picture on places like Instagram and Facebook. Those posts typically include location coordinates. So then more people visit the spot, more pictures posted, and more people decided to visit. The result is some unique spots around the country are becoming inundated with tourists before the parking lots are made, before the trails laid out, and before the bathrooms are installed, causing significant environmental damage and a slew of unforeseen troubles. We’ll put a link to this interesting story in the shownotes at Roadtreking.com/217. JENNIFER Couple who fell to deaths at Yosemite National Park were taking selfie, brother said Speaking of social media, last week in this newsletter we reported on a couple who were found dead at Yosemite National Park after apparently falling off Taft Point, with rangers investigating how they fell. This week a relative of the couple was widely quoted as saying the couple was taking a selfie. The couple, who were from India, were travel bloggers who posted pictures of themselves in sometimes dangerous situations while taking pictures to post. This is such a sad story. So many beautiful locations in national parks have no guard rails, and all it takes is a slip of the foot or an unexpected breeze to fall and literally die. One story I found reported a study on literally hundreds of deaths around the world caused by people trying to get the perfect selfie to post online. MIKE Full-time RVer denied the right to vote because he lives in his RV Many who live full-time in their RV, traveling the country keep a Post Office Box often in the community where they used to live, for mail and various other purposes. That's why a story about a Missouri man, who lives full-time in his RV, caught my eye. The man was denied the right to vote in the midterm elections because he does not have a sticks and bricks house, only a U.S. Post Office Box. JENNIFER Jellystone Park-Camp Resorts sees nearly 19 percent sales increase third quarter Jellystone Park Camp-Resorts issued a press release last week saying its third quarter sales were up nearly 19 percent for 2018, credited largely to an increase in millennial campers. Jellystone is the second largest campground franchise network in the U.S., which is known for catering to families with its swimming pools, kid activities and regular appearances of Yogi and friends. Mike and I camped at a Jellystone campground last summer in northern Michigan with four of our grandchildren, our son Jeff and his wife Aimee, and our daughter Wendy and her husband, Dan. We were there during the week and it seemed every spot was taken, most spots filled with young families. Check the shownotes to see a video at Roadtreking.com/217 MIKE Ditch the bathroom when designing your camper van, writer urges Recently I came across a fun and thought-provoking story by a writer who advocates getting a camper van built with no bathroom. To open up space, the writer argues, get your van built without a bathroom and simply dig a hole when boondocking, or use the campground's facilities when in a campground. Skipping the bathroom means four could sleep in the camper van - instead of two. We’ll build in links to a story and photos of this in the shownotes to see a video at Roadtreking.com/217 JENNIFER'S RV TIP OF THE WEEK As Mike and I hit the road last week to camp with our friends and fellow Roadtrekers at Disney’s Camp Wildness Park before meandering over to the Florida panhandle to check on our condo--- I knew we’d be doing some grilling. Some time ago our friend Doug McClendon from Texas shared how he uses an onion to clean the grill. We still use this tip, and in case any of you have never heard of it, I thought it would be a good idea to share it again. I think we can all agree that when we’re on the road grilling is a great option. It keeps food odors out of our rigs, and it keeps much of the mess of cooking outside our RVs, too. Plus grilled meat soaking in a good marinating all day is an easy way to quickly cook a tasty meal while on the road. But, the downside of all this, is sometimes those BBQ grills are just, well, nasty. So what to do? You could scrub it with something like a Brillo pad, but I really try to eat naturally and healthy and avoid all that chemical exposure. That is why I like to use an onion. Onions are a great cleaner, providing a wonderful, non-toxic and inexpensive way to eliminate all the grime. Here is how it works: First get the heat on your grill very hot to burn off as much of that gunk as possible. Then slice an onion in half, poke it with one of those extra long grilling forks, and rub it back and forth over the grill, like a scrub brush. If you have any stubborn spots, spray it with a little lemon juice or vinegar, for a natural aciditic boost. Then get that onion out and scrub a little more. If you are using charcoal when you're done, just throw your onion onto the briskets to add a little more flavor. Obviously I wouldn’t recommend that for a gas grill. And that’s it! It is that easy. I went to the National Onion Association webpage to learn a little more about why this method works, and was fascinated to read about the antibacterial properties onions hold, and the many studies that show onions contain compounds found to fight cancer, reduce heart disease and even help reduce osteoporosis. I will put a link to the National Onion Association on the show notes. Thanks Doug for sharing your grilling tip with us some time ago – as you can see, we are still using it! And I hope this tip will be helpful for you, too. And be sure to send me your tips and suggestions for the RV lifestyle. You can use the “Leave Voicemail” link at Roadtreking.com. Just click it and then use the built-in microphone on your computer or mobile devise to record a message to me. You can do it over as many times as you want, until you are satisfied. And then you just click a button and it comes right to my email inbox. I love hearing from you! Jennifer's tip of the week is brought to you by RadPower Bikes ,an electric bike manufacturer offering direct to consumer pricing on powerful premium electric bikes. Now with free shipping To see our Rad Power Bikes in action, just click here. Visit WWW.RADPOWERBIKES.COM LISTENER RV QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK Larry asks about availability for the 2019 Sprinter chassis for REVs. We also answered some email questions: Question re: a Roadtrek....can you get them with leveling Jack’s or only stabilizers....or nothing? Thanks, Ronnie & Milt Hello and thanks for the welcome, Just had an 80 watt Solor panel added to my unit and winter is about to set in, will the Solor maintain my battery’s over the winter? RV INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK It’s no secret that across North America, many towns and cities are becoming increasingly anto RV, prohibiting overnight camping anywhere except commercial RV campgrounds, which often charge an army and a leg for what are frequently pretty dismal campsites. This week, Jim O’Briant from Overnight RV Parking tells us how we can avoid such places and find lots of great overnight RV camping sites, oftentimes for free or very minimal costs. Here's a video version of the interview: Here's a transcript of the interview: Mike Wendland: Joining us right now from Overnight RV Parking is our friend Jim O'Briant and he connects with us from his home in Gilroy, California. Jim, how are you? Jim O'Briant: Fine.