There’s always a Way!

This week in Episode 266 of the RV Podcast, we’ll meet Len and Sherrie Johnson, a remarkable California couple with quite a story to tell us, a story of a devastating injury from an airplane crash and a determination to embrace the RV Lifestyle afterwards despite the obstacles. You’ll be inspired by this couple! But also this week, lots of RV news, RV Tips and an off the beaten path report from the Burketts. WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK MIKE This episode is being released on just before Halloween 2019 and it’s a time that many, or most of the campgrounds in the northern states and provinces have now pretty much shut down for the season. This is also the time for the first wave of the annual snowbird migration, when the frost and early snow flurries up north are sending tens of thousands of RVers flocking to southern states like Florida and Arizona. JENNIFER The second wave always happens right after Christmas as snowbird RVers who stayed home with family for the holidays head south to take advantage of those snowbird campground special seasonal rates, typically from Jan 1 through March 31. MIKE For those whose remain in the colder states, now is the time to make sure they winterize their RVs, draining out water and running antifreeze through the plumbing system. There are about as many ways to winterize an RV as their RVs but if you’re new to this, or maybe looking for some new ideas, head over to our RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube, where we have put together a whole playlist of videos related to winterizing. CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE RV LIFESTYLE WINTERIZING PLAYLIST ON YOUTUBE While we’re talking about the YouTube Channel, lets remind everyone that the best way to stay up to date on our videos and special YouTube reports is to subscribe. And when you do subscribe, be sure to click the little bell icon you’ll see there on YouTube to be notified as soon as we post new material, which we do all throughout the week. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE RV LIFESTYLE CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE JENNIFER We are coming to you this week from Florida, where we’ll be until about Thanksgving time. Among other things, we’re using this time to travel Florida’s Gulf Coast, from pretty much Naples up through Tallahassee, doing research for one of our 7 Day Adventure Guides. We’re actually planning two of them on Florida – one on the gulf, or west coast; the other on the Atlantic, or east coast. We hope to have those guides ready right after the holidays and they’ll be joining our growing library of RV travel guides. MIKE We have five of those 7-Day Adventure Guides already available… for the Michigan Upper Peninsula, for Utah, Colorado, Yellowstone National Park and the Adirondacks. Plus we have a guide on boondocking and how to buy an RV. We hope to get the new Florida guides out right around the first of the new year. CLICK HERE FOR INFO ON OUR LIBRARY OF RV LIFESTYLE GUIDES JENNIFER Besides the research for our Florida RV travel guides, we’ve been traveling around in our RV, visiting small southern towns and digging into the history of how they got their names. We’ll have a video on it in a couple weeks but it was another reminder to me about how much better it is traveling off the interstate on two lane roads. We’ve also forced ourselves to slow down and take our time as we travel through those small towns. They all have a story to tell and there are always fascinating things to see and do. This part of the podcast is brought to you by Dish Outdoors, which lets RVers pay as they go and watch HD satellite television from wherever they are camped with easy to set up gear made with the RVer in mind. Just go to https://rvlifestyle.com/dish for details on the service and special deal just for listeners of this podcast. RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK MIKE Fears rise over fate of Missing RVers near Padre Island, TX As this episode was being reported the RV community was intensely following the disappearance of a New Hampshire couple and the discovery of two bodies near where their truck and travel trailer were known to be camping. The truck and trailer were later spotted being driven across the border to Mexico with someone other than the owners at the wheel. There have been at least five other disappearance cases in the same general area this fall and police were awaiting a complete forensic examination before releasing the names of the male and female body discovered this weekend buried in a sand dune on the beach. JENNIFER Extreme weather hits U.S. last weekend, be safe and be sure you are prepared Much of the country experienced extreme weather this last weekend, with strong winds, up to 80 or 90 mph in California, further fanning the already raging wildfires and resulting in massive power outages. Meanwhile in the southeast, starting around Mobile, Alabama, on up all the way into Michigan, strong winds and heavy rains brought downed trees and inches of rain through the weekend. We hope, wherever you find yourself, you are safe. And perhaps this is a good time for all of us to make sure we are watching the weather. Here is a report I did on our favorite weather apps for RVers. MIKE Woman purposely drives her RV into Las Vegas casino, seriously injuring janitor A woman was arrested over the weekend after she apparently drove her RV into a casino in Las Vegas, seriously injuring a janitor who was inside. The 50-year-old woman had been kicked out of the Cannery Casino, and was angry about that. She then intentionally drove her RV into the entrance of the casino, according to police, where she hit the 66-year-old janitor, trapping him underneath her vehicle. JENNIFER Off-road vehicles will NOT be permitted in Utah's national parks after all, in reversal of order that was about to take place The National Parks Service rescinded an order that would have allowed off-road vehicles into national parks in Utah one week before it was to take affect. ORV advocates were disappointed, saying if state laws permit ORV to go anywhere, that should include national parks. But conservation groups and others were thrilled at the reversal, saying that the vehicles already have tens of thousands of miles of dirt and other roads in Utah to ride and permitting them in the state's national parks would have been impossible to police, opening the parks up to potentially irreversible damage. MIKE Monarch butterflies arriving en masse to southern states - keep an eye out while camping Back in mid-September we shared the annual monarch migration, and how the popular flying creatures were being seen en masse in southern Canada and northern continental United States parks and areas. Now the monarchs are being spotted in large numbers in Georgia, Florida, Texas, Mississippi and other southern locations. If you find yourself camping in these areas this week, see if there are any festivals or special events planned, or check here for the latest on the annual migration. JENNIFER Washington releases list of more than 100 parks open for winter camping and activities Live on the west coast and interested in doing some winter camping? The state of Washington recently released its list of more than 100 parks that will remain open this winter for camping or outdoor activities. As many long -ime readers know, we are big fans of winter camping. To see a video of a winter camping trip we made last January in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, 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 LISTENER QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK QUESTION: Hello, Mike and Jennifer. This is Mark again from Austin, Texas. You may remember me. I called and left a question a good year or so ago and you guys were very helpful as well as many of your listeners. I wanted to ask a renewed question. We are just about to finally break ground on our RV park east of Austin. We've got all of our ducks in a row, but we're still making some last-minute decisions. So my question is pretty simple. How important is the pedestal? In other words we can spend $1,000 on a pedestal that looks like a little light house that I'm sure you've seen. Well we can suck $250 on a more generic one and put that extra money into more trees. So we were curious to know what you and what your listeners thought about how important that pedestal is. Is that something that you deeply appreciate when a park has spent more money on that or is it something that is kind of no big deal to you one way or the other dead. Thank You so much. Love your show have now listen to dozens and dozens and dozens of your episodes. Probably well over a hundred and enjoyed every time. All right. God bless. ANSWER We’ll ask our listeners to add their comments via. Post to the shownotes or leaving us a voice message but a pedestal is a pedestal. Go with the generic pedestal and invest the extra in landscaping. QUESTION: Hi, Mike, and Jennifer, this is Suzie calling from the road. My husband and I recently became a full-time RVer. We've been listening to and enjoying your podcast four years. In fact, it may have actually helped us decide to hit the road. Our question is about device today. We first heard about them on your podcast now. We've tried them and love them. We are very close to place your order with Rad, but we've recently seen two examples of signs forbidding e bikes on bike trails now. We're concerned that will get rid of our standard bikes and find that we're not going to be able to use re bikes on bike paths. Have you encountered this? Thanks in advance for your podcast and for your response. Have a great day. Bye. ANSWER: Good question. And yes, we have seen this. Most recently on Mackinac Island during a recent trip there. Technically, eBikes are allowed on the roads wherever regular bicycles are allowed. But individual locations can and do restrict their use from time to time.