RVing with kids can be StressLess Camping
RVing with kids can be a daunting challenge - they tend to get bored easily and are always looking for something new to challenge their minds. We recently camped with Kimberly Crossland who impressed all the parents with her unique tips for keeping the younger travelers engaged and informed. Kimberly shares tips for how camping with kids can absolutely be StressLess Camping!
We also have some announcements about Tony’s daily RV reviews along with a significant departure from Lance in their new Enduro.
And, we talk about drunken chicken legs.
Other places to hear the podcast
Mentioned on this episode
Our guest, Kimberly Crossland, comes to us from Cruisin’ and Campfires
Our StressLess Camping Podcast Facebook Group (whew!)
Tony’s article about 12 volt fridges: the advantages and disadvantages
Tony’s daily RV review (published five days a week) can be found at Daily RV Review
Some book recommendations for younger campers
Podcast Transcript
We’ve been experimenting with an automated transcription system and thought we’d share the text of this podcast with you. This is a new option for us - what do you think?
Camping with Kids is StressLess Camping
Mark Ferrell:
Welcome to the weekly podcast, all about turning the great American RV adventure into StressLess Camping. Each week we explore tips, tricks, ideas and destinations and talk to the happiest campers in the RV world. Pull up a seat at the campfire as we enjoy some StressLess Camping.
Welcome to the campfire. Yes, indeed. We had one. And I'm Tony. Yeah, He made a great campfire. And I'm Peggy, and we're two RV industry veterans who travel part time in a small trailer. Oh, wait a minute. It's coming because we're looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips, tricks and discounts. And that new trailer will have a 12 volt fridge.
Peggy Barthel:
Indeed, it will. And Tony wrote an article about 12 volt fridges because we've seen some questions around the interwebs, about 12 volt fridges. And, you know, I think the kind of a take away the bottom line that Tony was trying to get across, he he really describes how they work and how they're different from the fridges that we're kind of used to the electric and propane fridges. And really what it boils down to is if you get a good one and if you have the battery power to support it, they're awesome.
Tony Barthel:
All right. Thank you, folks. Well have a good day and we'll see you all week. Yeah, one of the I think the bottom line takeaway from that article is that there are absolutely advantages to 12 volt fridges in general. The article stemmed from a great question in the StressLess Camping podcast Facebook group. One of the biggest takeaways I've seen is that not all 12 volt fridges are created equally, and so there are just better fridges and worse fridges. And I will link to the article in the show notes for this week's episode, which is number 173.
Tony Barthel:
But we talk about the kind of resources they use, why 12 volt fridges have some advantages and why 12 volt fridges have some disadvantages and some of the benefits and energy consumption. And just a lot of information about 12 volt fridges. A lot of people are going to get a 12 volt fridge in their RV if you're buying an RV now or moving forward. And I want you to know, not all 12 volt fridges are created equally. There are some that are just vastly superior to others, just like when you go and buy any appliance which we're very familiar with or any RV.
Peggy Barthel:
Really? Yeah, there's true of anything. There's going to be better. There's going to be higher level, there's going to be lower level, better or worse, cheaper, expensive or whatever, you know, comparison you have to make. There's going to be extremes of pretty much everything.
Tony Barthel:
Yeah. The only downside is, of course, if you buy a new RV, it comes with whatever that RV company chooses to put in there, and that may either be a 12 volt fridge or there are still RVs that are available with gas absorption fridges and some that are even available with residential fridges. And I talk about those in article as well.
Peggy Barthel:
Right.
Tony Barthel:
We are going to drag our 12 volt fridge to the next FMCA convention. Yeah, Perry Georgia. Right.
Peggy Barthel:
You know, one of the benefits of FMCA membership is that they have two international conventions every year, one in the spring and one in the fall or late summer because I guess summer because it is July last year and it was August this year, we were in Lincoln, Nebraska. We have been teaching seminars at the conventions.
Tony Barthel:
Yeah, and we're going to again in Perry, Georgia. Yeah. So if you have any intention of going to the FMCA convention in Perry, Georgia, which is going to be held in.
Peggy Barthel:
March of 2023.
Tony Barthel:
Because I can't remember coming, join us and maybe we'll share a donut or a beer or just a howdy. Or an exercise.
Tony Barthel:
Yeah, or an exercise. We remember Robin that we talked to. That was the balloon chaser. That's how I met Robin was. Yeah. Every morning when we go to exercise classes together,
Tony Barthel:
I absolutely saw all kinds of things. There's so much to see and do and learn. At the FMCA conventions, we have a discount to FMCA membership in our Discounts and Deals section of the StressLess Camping website.
Peggy Barthel:
And just in case you missed the memo four or five years ago, FMCA has now been welcoming towables. We really need to have more of you guys. We need more towables because there's still an awful lot of class As and there's nothing wrong with that. No, but that was traditionally what FMCA was and now they recognize that we're just as cool as them.
Tony Barthel:
Well, considering that towables are about 94% of the market, right? It's kind of wise that they embrace us with open arms. And they do. They do. And we really encourage all our listeners to join the FMCA. But in particular, I'm. Shooting for a higher percentage every single kind of towables. Well, how could be great to get some Rockwood folks in there. More Rockwood folks. And yeah, we're actually talking about starting a Rockwood Flagstaff chapter.
Peggy Barthel:
We have been talking about that. There is there is an old defunct chapter, the Rockwood chapter from when Rockwood were motorhomes. And so there is one with that name. And we have been kind of looking into the idea of reestablishing the Rockwood chapter for Rockwood and Flagstaff. And, you know, a lot of towables, it seems to me. And I'm just one person, but it seems to me that a lot of families, a lot of people who have children and are members of FMCA tend to use towables rather than class As or motorized vehicles.
Peggy Barthel:
And we got a chance this week to talk to Kimberly Crossland from Crusin' and Campfires about stress less camping with kids And wow. Yeah, we learn a lot.
Tony Barthel:
I mean, it's truthfully something we don't know a whole lot about, right? We don't have any children.
Peggy Barthel:
So we asked Kimberly to help us that we know of. We asked Kimberly to give us some ideas, you know, not necessarily for us, although, you know, we've got nieces and nephews. We might take them camping.
Tony Barthel:
Oh, these were some I mean, I was sitting here thinking, wow, this is. Well, I'll tell you what, I'll just shut up and let's let's let Kimberly tell us.
Peggy Barthel:
Today we are super lucky and excited to be joined by Kimberly Crosland, the founder of Road Preneur and Cruising and Campfires, two companies designed to keep families together and living in freedom through travel and entrepreneurship. Both businesses aim to inspire meaningful change through the power of a strategic, thoughtful approach to life and business. In her free time, you can find Kimberly looking for a new adventure together with her two boys.
Peggy Barthel:
Kimberly, thank you so much for joining us today.
Kimberly Crossland:
Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be on with you.
Tony Barthel:
Well, it's a pleasure. And we got to meet because Kimberly was our neighbor at the RV Entrepreneur Roundtable. Right. Kimberly and her kids and and well, our whole family and her family were our next door neighbors. And so we got to meet and chat about some of the really interesting things that you are up to with your whole way of looking at the RV as not only an educational tool but also a lifestyle and all of that.
Kimberly Crossland:
Yeah, it was really fun being your neighbors, and I have to tell you, I feel very grateful to be on your podcast because I rolled out of there at 7 a.m. and I thought, They're going to hate me.
Peggy Barthel:
Oh, no.
Kimberly Crossland:
So early. But it was a great trip up in Montrose. I absolutely loved it. And it was unlike your typical RV trip, right? It was a different type of experience, which was really fun. And I think that's the beauty of the RV lifestyle is every trip can be a little bit different. Right. We can just explore in different ways. And no two trips are going to be the same, which is really fun, right? That's a big plus.
Tony Barthel:
So tell us a little about your driving lifestyle. Are you full time? Part time. And you bring your, as you mentioned, your two children with you?
Kimberly Crossland:
Yeah, I've actually never known RV without kids. So we buy our first RV. When my youngest was four months old, I was literally wearing the baby, walking through the RV lot and looking inside all the different RVs. It was really fun and we bought our very first RV on my oldest son's, second birthday, like on the day. So you just turn two and and a four month old. So my hands are full. And somehow my husband roped me into doing the RV thing and I thought, okay, I guess the worst that can happen is we go out for a night on our maiden voyage, we hate it and we sell it. And so we did. I let him rope me into it. I'm so glad that I did, obviously, because here we are talking about it a few years later. My oldest is now six and my youngest is about to turn five. But the first night I was like, We're not going very far. I need to have an out. I need to be able to get home because camping with the baby and an a toddler at the same time felt very overwhelming. The opposite of StressLess Camping. Right. But in reality of life was stressful at that time. So we go out we went to Kartchner Caverns, which happens to be a half an hour drive from our house. We are not full time of year, as you can hear. We went to Kartchner Caverns, a half an hour drive away, while towing, and so I felt like we had the opportunity to get home if we needed to get home and put them in their crib, put them in their bed to worry about that if it was going to be a problem. Right. So that first night, nobody slept and I was so in love all at the same time. I was like this is the lifestyle for me. I want to do it more. And we got home completely delirious because we were very exhausted. But we were already booking our next trip and the very next trip, my husband's like, We're going to go out for six nights and I thought, You are crazy. We're going to go to Durango, Colorado. It's a 12 hour drive, and I thought, You're even crazier and I love you for it. And so we did. And the last night, the way that we did it is we bookended the trip. We came from Tucson. That's where I'm based. Went from Tucson to Flagstaff. That's about a four and a half hour drive. And then Flagstaff to Durango, which is about a five hour drive. So we put Flagstaff in the middle to sort of break up that trip, which was essential with small children. Sure. Now, we would just push through, but in this case, we didn't. And when we were on our last night in Flagstaff, I looked at my son, I don't want to go home. I thought I was going to be so ready to go home. I didn't want to go home and having such a great time. So I was in love from the very first trip.
Peggy Barthel:
And were you an entrepreneur then? Were you working or did you have to take six days off of work or.
Kimberly Crossland:
I actually have been an entrepreneur for about ten and a half years, so pre kiddo, I'd already had a well-established business and then when I had kids I thought, Well, this will be fine. I work from home so I can be with them and everything's going to be normal and I can work when they're napping and that kind of thing. Well, when you have children, everything changes. Nothing goes as you expect, and it's kind of like camping in that way. You have to be flexible. You never know if you're going to get a blow out on the way to the campsite from your child or the tire.
Tony Barthel:
Oh, I like that. It's accurate and very true.
Kimberly Crossland:
And I've had both. So I felt like I, I had what I needed to have in order to build this business alongside my kids. But the truth is, I felt very overwhelmed. And so I've adjusted a lot of things since then. And in that adjustment period, it also let me adjust how I'm able to show up in my business, not only for my family, but also for my business. So being able to push out for six days was not a problem. It didn't feel like I had to take time off and I didn't have to. I had my systems all set up so that it was easy for us to travel. It was easy for me to continue working without feeling like I was tethered to my phone. I don't bring my computer usually. I did the RV Entrepreneur Roundtable, of course, because that was a different type of event.
Tony Barthel:
We all had our computers.
Kimberly Crossland:
Yeah, exactly. That was a totally different type of event, but normally I wouldn't. And being able to design a business and a life so I can be with my children, really present with them at the campsite and have that experience, have that vacation was really meaningful. And I never, ever wanted to take away from that. In fact, it was one of my core tenets when starting my business or restarting it, I guess after having kids was I don't want to sacrifice the vacation. I don't want to sacrifice my time with them. I don't want to feel like I'm always on, you know, obviously the StressLess Camping podcast. We we want to talk about not being stressed or that would be stressful to always feel like you have to be on or plugged in and not being able to untether yourself. I want to sit around the campfire and not have to worry about getting the perfect picture and all of that, you know? So now I've designed it so I don't have to do that, which is nice. And my kids, they know what I do, but they also don't feel like I'm constantly on my phone. Hopefully that's my goal anyway.
Tony Barthel:
Now, one of the things I overheard at the RV Entrepreneur Roundtable is people saying, Oh my gosh, it's such a nightmare to travel specifically, you know, drive with kids. And you said, no, it's it's really not. So obviously you have developed some methodology or secret to making the driving aspect of travel StressLess.
Kimberly Crossland:
Yeah, that is truly one of the most stressful parts of it. I thought it was going to be the most stressful part. I said in the beginning we would break up the trip into about four and a half hours, and I've heard from a lot of families that the four and a half hour mark is about as far as their kids can handle it. Then they're saying, Well, are we there yet? What are we going to do? When are we can we get out? And it's not so easy just to pull your RV to the side of the road, just anywhere where you kind of have to be intentional about where you're pulling off. Right? So when kids have to go to the bathroom and things like that, you have to be able to kind of plan for it. But we have I don't know if it's a methodology or we just kind of happened by chance to figure it out somehow. But our kids do extremely well. So the reason why we pulled out at seven AM was because we were pushing all the way back from Montrose, Colorado, to Tucson, Arizona, actually on the east side of Tucson. So we drove all the way through Tucson to get home. And we did not hear a single complaint from my boys that are like I said, they're four and six years old. They were little angels on the drive. And I don't always say that about them. They were little angels and they just they just go with it. And I don't know if it's because we've been traveling with them longer distances and kind of pushing our own limits and seeing how far they would go from a very early age or if we have set our family for success on the drive. So I can give you a little peek inside our truck to what look what it looks like when we go on the drives to make it feel stressed.
Peggy Barthel:
Yeah, I feel like it probably is a good combination of that's what they know they've known Their whole lives. So it's not like something new. But obviously there are meltdowns no matter what. So tell us how you.
Tony Barthel:
Blow out. So blow outs, that's really an awesome analogy. Give us a peek inside.
Kimberly Crossland:
So before the trip, I have a packing list and I. I think everyone makes some kind of a list. But I, I love the way that I've designed my packing list, if I can say so myself, because it's not just a list of what we need, but I have if you can visualize this big 18 inch by 24 piece of paper hanging on my wall every single time, a brand new one. And on one side of it, I do put the whole list of everything that we need in the rig. So that's, you know, obviously clothes. I make sure to put everybody individually for their clothes because I have forgotten pajamas for one child. I've forgotten, you know, random things. So I have to make sure it's very documented what I've packed and what what's already in there. And then do your typical stuff that you want to make sure you have all the safety gear. You want to make sure you've got, you know, hiking backpacks. If you're going to go hiking, all of the regular stuff, you would. But then on the other side of it, I pack day of items. So the day of items are, of course, like phone chargers, pillows, toiletries. Those tend to be the day of items and then you pack in the car. So the in the car items. To answer your question about how I simplify this for traveling with small children, the in the car items are this big basket that I have of toys and it's not they don't get access to those toys when we're at home. They only get access to them when we're on the road so They always feel fresh and exciting and new. Now that they're a little bit older and they have a little bit more autonomy about about what they like to do, and they want to be able to pick out their own toys. We'll go to the Dollar Tree and pick out a few things. I don't usually go and let them pick out kind of plasticky toys, but sometimes it's okay on the drive. It feels like a treat for them and I know they're only going to get it for a few hours and then they they feel like if it breaks, it breaks and, you know, it's not a big deal, but we pack it all in. So I've got coloring book items that anything that they can write with and draw, whether they love to do mazes. So they'll get a few of those books, I'll get a few of the nineties style toys that I still love, like the Little Etch-A-Sketch. This was this has been a surprise find for me. But those tiny there's a travel size sketch. Yeah and my kids will sit there and little knobs to try and draw a map of where we're driving to and I think that's so funny. Oh, isn't it fun? And now they're they're not busy on a screen. We do give them tablet time, but the tablets don't last for 12 hour drives, so they will last for 4 hours. You still have to build a space with other things. Yeah. So they do the sketches. They also love those water toys if you remember them. Interesting. Although you guys, the rings fly up. Yeah. And they let me try it. And I love the water toys and I'm playing them training at home. So those little toys that gets their mind engaged had also been really fun. I've even and this is I hesitate to say it because I don't know if it was smart or not, but I've done it as I've given them window markers and so they will color all over the windows at time. Oh, and it wipes off with a little baby wipe, which by the way, that's another Pro-tip always include baby wipes, newer cards like the Swiss Army knife. For moms, those baby wipes can be used for everything your blow outs, like
Peggy Barthel:
we even have those in our car and we don't have kids that have blowouts. Yes.
Kimberly Crossland:
This was so nice for me. Yeah. I mean, you can use them for everything, right? Yeah, they're perfect. So having those I mean, the window markers, being able to just wipe them down with the little baby wipes and then they're clean again, it makes me feel better about it. And then I put a towel underneath our seats so I can, you know, not mark up the seat and mark up the towel, of course, right below it. And then the last thing that I do each and every trip before the trip is I'll print out a map of where we're going. So from where we're starting to where we're going, I put it in one of those pocket protectors and give them a whiteboard marker. They can then draw their route. So each time we stop, we pull out the map. They each have their own because they don't want fighting, you know? Okay, this can be. Yeah. So they each have their a map and then we'll draw. Okay. This is how far we've gone. This is how far we have to go. And I think that map is what has stopped all the questions of are we there yet? Are we there yet? Because as soon as they ask that, they will pull out your map. I'll show you where we are on the map. And then they see and they can answer their own question, which eliminates me having to constantly say, no, we still have four more hours, right? Four more hours
Peggy Barthel:
Or as my mom used to say, five more minutes. Oh, no matter if it was 4 hours or not,.
Tony Barthel:
That's really good idea. And I wonder if you also would put things like things to look for on the trip. Like, I don't know, Muffler man. I go to. I just shared that or whatever it happens to be landmarks or towns or things or the. Kids can go, oh, look, there is, you know, the I don't know, the salty dog ship or whatever the heck, I don't know,.
Peggy Barthel:
The water tower for a town that was supposed to pass through.
Kimberly Crossland:
Yeah, I love those little mile markers. I'm really glad you actually just brought it up, because one of the other things that they do is I like to incorporate. I like to make food an activity.
Tony Barthel:
Yeah, me too.
Kimberly Crossland:
It's my go to activity whether I'm home or RV. But for them, it's fun because what I'll do is I'll save those Easter eggs that, you know, the plastic Easter eggs that you get obviously at Easter time. And I'll fill them with a little treat they don't always get. So sometimes they have goldfish in them. Sometimes they got these little Annie's birthday cake like crackers that are kind of a sweet treat and they never know what they're going to open up. But we have the mile markers. So every half hour or every hour, depending on how long that trip is, they each get an Easter egg snack and then they feel like they're getting a little treat. Nice, breaks up the drive a little bit more.
Peggy Barthel:
That is a great idea. I think we should do that. Yeah. I don't know if I want something sweet or salty or well, eat what comes out of the egg.
Tony Barthel:
It's a literal Easter egg instead of a figurative, which is really doggone cool. Yeah. Yeah.
Kimberly Crossland:
It's been pretty fun to just find these little, little, little ideas. I also want to talk on to your point about looking out the window and seeing these different mile markers, or I guess not mile markers, but landmarks that you're going to pass by. Potentially. Something that I've found and I've heard from a lot of parents is kids get really sick on the drive. And I know I did as a kid and I still kind of do. I can't look down and read while my husband's driving. Same. I look out the window. Yeah, it's very difficult. So I love audiobooks. So for kids, they also love audiobooks. We've played Harry Potter in the car and they actually tune in more than I thought. I did not think they were going to, but our pediatrician recommended it, so we thought, Well, it's worth a shot. They were really into it. So getting a move to these audiobooks is another fun way to do it. But getting them to look out the window any time they can helps to avoid them from getting carsick because if they're engaged with the toy, they'll forget to look out the window. So I always try and remember to go look at that tractor or wonder what they're growing in that field or what are what cloud shapes can you find? Yeah. Can you see a dragon or a hippo just so you get them looking out of the window? Because if they get carsick when you're your trip is going to be a lot more stressed. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Peggy Barthel:
They could listen to the StressLess Camping podcast thaen they will sleep.
Tony Barthel:
the bad thing is when people do that and they're driving, we don't encourage that.
Kimberly Crossland:
I don't think they will fall asleep.
Peggy Barthel:
Those are some great ideas. And now it almost sounds like the kids are going to get bored when they're in camp because you've done so much for them while you're driving.
Kimberly Crossland:
Yeah, you would think so. I actually used to get really paranoid about going to campgrounds that did not have a playground for that very reason. I thought, Oh my gosh, this is all on my shoulders. I've got to entertain them. And as you saw in Montrose, where we were staying in Montrose, just for the listeners to paint a picture, there was not a playground. It was a campground that's under development, still a beautiful campground. And I'm definitely going back down and we're able to.
Tony Barthel:
Yeah, we are too.
Kimberly Crossland:
But our kids, all of the kids that were camping there, they loved it, too. Despite there not being a playground, they made their own playground. The giant dirt pile and the irrigation ditch was just a magical place for them, and I thought I was going to have to entertain them so much more than I did because I didn't think that there was going to be. As I mentioned, first of all, I didn't think there are going to be as many kids there. But second of all, I didn't. I knew there was not a playground already established, but the fact that they made their own was outstanding. Yes, that does not always happen, though.
Kimberly Crossland:
There's definitely those moments where kids say, I'm bored, what can I do? And I've certainly heard that, too. It's a combination of hearing that I'm bored, what can I do? And then starting to melt down from overstimulation. And it's a very strange place to be because in that moment and this is when I found it the most stressful as a mom in that moment, they're kind of all over the place. They're wild. This is probably when you heard me yelling at my kids, I can't go.
Tony Barthel:
No, I was too busy getting yelled at by Peggy.
Kimberly Crossland:
I love it. So that's that moment where I take them inside or I put them in their camping chairs and we have a quiet time. And on every single trip, the quiet time can look different. I have a few go tos, so one of my go tos is we have books that we like to read, but we only read them at the campsite. And of course, I make them camping themed books because that's fun. But there are so many good camping books for kids that I. Enjoy reading them, too. And then the other thing that we do is, well, I'll bring out the arts and crafts. So that's a really good time for them to sit down and focus on something. And I call it the focused activity so they can paint rocks that they've found. We've got some really cool souvenirs that we brought home from camping trips of my my kids found a heart shaped rock and then they painted it nice. Really. It was simple, but it took us about an hour because they had to go find it, bring it back, sit down, relax, paint it, and then they were calm. Yes, there's paint on our outdoor mat and they don't care. Right. It's all part of the memories, right? Not a big deal. They also they do some coloring, but it's more I like the tactical things from nature, like finding stuff from our campsite. We've made it. We brought popsicle sticks and glue impact on in the trailer ahead of time, anticipating this moment, because I know that it's coming. And We glued together the popsicle sticks. You can glue them in a triangle. You can glue him in a square any shape you like. Just get them together in some form. And then they would go and find flowers or leaves and they just kind of make their own picture frame. And so we bring it home. The leaves and the flowers. They probably die at the end of the trip anyway. But it's gotten them engaged and we can put a little picture in it at the end and then we can they can color when they get home and they'll still be fine. Yeah,
Peggy Barthel:
Yeah, these are great. These are great idea. So I would love to have you send us some recommendations of books or favorite books, but I actually have a kids camping book called S Is for S'mores. Oh, I love that. And it's an alphabet book of all the A camping term in each letter. It's so fun.
Kimberly Crossland:
We have that book on ourselves. If my kids are going crazy, that's the first thing is grim to them. Get outside. Something about it, though, there's something about they're one of my favorite expressions is you can't change the kid. You can change the environment. And so when they're having these moments of like craziness, we will go for a walk or we will go outside or I'll put them inside, I'll go inside with them, but we'll go inside and just change that scenery, because when you can change it, they change mentally something. Now they're taking the new sights and sounds. Now they're distracted by something else. It's amazing how it happens. And then of course, there's that physical experience that happens and you put feet on dirt. And so for kids, there's something literally like magnetic about it. So when you're going crazy inside the RV and you say, Let's go outside, you might distract your neighbors for a little bit. Usually they'll immediately come back around and they'll actually calm down a lot faster than you might realize.
Tony Barthel:
That's great. That's another great tip. Traveling with two young children, you have come up with a really good idea to help parents with the same situation.
Kimberly Crossland:
It's interesting you asked this earlier in the podcast about what is your methodology for keeping kids sane on the road. So when we were driving back from Durango, not that first trip to Durango but a subsequent trip. I think it was our second or third trip. We were driving back home. I had no cell phone service. I remember that because everything was cut down. We were quiet in the car and I looked in the backseat and my boys were being little angels like they are in the car. And I just thought, Man, we have something here. And to think that I almost didn't buy the RV because I was scared to sleep somewhere different with my children, to travel with them long distances. In this way, I knew I always wanted to travel, but I. I hadn't grown up traveling by with our own RV. And so I knew something was here. And when I looked at my husband, I said, I think I want to start another business. And he said, okay, you do you, good luck. And I said, All right, I will see where this takes me. Well, I started by putting together kits for parents so they could buy to take on the road. And I very quickly realized that was not the direction I wanted to go. I liked the idea. I felt that I had a good methodology. I still feel like I've got a good methodology for traveling with my small children and pushing further. Like I said, we regularly will push really far. Our longest has been 14 hours. Well, I've done that trip twice and we've consistently not had problems with our children complaining and crying and that making it such a bad headache. And so I thought I wanted to put together these boxes and these kits you could buy before the road trips, and then it would keep the kids entertained. I would have boys not necessarily plasticky toys, but more durable toys or fun toys or things you might not think of to buy. And so I started down that route and I realized that's not who I really was targeting because kids preferences change and they change very quickly. And I was caught in this trap of feeling very overwhelmed. The. Trying to figure out, okay, what what other choice should I put in? And I'm also going to find toys for my family. But you don't have too many toys because that's just overwhelming. Right. So. So I realized I needed to switch because the person I was really trying to help was me, Two years ago, it was me standing in the RV lot. Carrying that baby, feeling very overwhelmed. And I wanted to fast forward. If I had someone to say, Hey, it's going to be great. Just come along this journey with me and I'll help you. I'll show you the way. And so I created the cruisin' and campfires. That's my subscription box. I created it to be a subscription box very intentionally. I know there's a lot of overwhelm around having a subscription, but we change every month. Our needs change every month, camping changes every month of the season. And so being able to consistently show up with new activities, new ways of helping moms simplify the journey. And it's not necessarily stuff, but it's experiences inside the box. So every trip is a little bit different. Every adventure on the road, you never really know what's coming your way. There are some consistencies, though. You still have to plan on all the meals, especially if you're boondocking because you need to eat. And like we've already discussed food as a hobby and an activity for me, so I need to have extra food when I'm camping to be entertained. And also you have to keep things a little bit cleaner and cleaning an organization if things are hectic and scattered and thrown all over the place, people inside the trailer, your family probably feel very overwhelmed just by the the mental clutter. Yes, I feel there are studies that show that your physical space reflects your mental and how you feel inside and how anxious you are and and how stressed out you feel as like everything is all over the place. Now, I can't find that beanie and it's really cold and here I want to get them outside. Now you're feeling really overwhelmed. But if you have more of an organization system or you have a way to keep things all together, well then you can just reach for it, grab it and go outside and have some fun. And so that's what the boxes are really there for. It's not your average outdoor gear box. It's not going to be gear that, you know, you can go and pick out the gear that you need. This is more of one mom to another. I want to be your support system and I want to help you feel encouraged that you can go and have these adventures. Because I believe firmly in my bones, I believe that families need to hit the road and they need to have these adventures and they need to get out there because there's just so much good that comes out of it.
Tony Barthel:
Yeah, that's for sure. So how does one get these boxes? How frequently do they come out and what type of cost structure are we looking at?
Kimberly Crossland:
Yeah, so they come out every single month. They're about 20 nine not about they are 29.95 a month plus shipping. I ship it on the 28th of every single month so it arrives at your doorstep right around the first, ideally depending on the postal service and predictable. But when it arrives at the house and you're going to open it up and you're going to have a new adventure that you can have with your kids, the next question is, okay, well, what if I don't go camping every month? What if I want to skip a month? Anyone can skip a month or a few months at a time. It's not something that I'm going to, you know, lock arm you into or I don't like working with businesses like that. If you need to cancel, then cancel. There's no weird rigamarole that you have to go through. Just let me know and it'll be canceled. Or you can log in and do it for yourself. But I like it because the with the seasons, this can even be an outdoor adventure in your home if you're backyard camping and you just want to get your kids used to it, you just want something new to do with them outside. Everything is just about getting the kids together. Getting You continue to have some time to yourself as a mom. It's the whole goal really is so that moms don't go on vacation and feel like they need a vacation from the vacation. Yeah, that's what I hear so often. Right? And when you're overwhelmed with all the things that you have to do when you're trying to keep everyone together and calm and happy and safe and warm or cold, depending on the season and you're not you're calling yourself, you know, you need to be able to have that time where you can decompress. Yeah. So that's that that's exactly what I put in the boxes, is those items to help you to have those experiences in those moments and bring yourself together around the campfire.
Tony Barthel:
And where can somebody find access to get these boxes?
Kimberly Crossland:
I'm so glad you asked. That's on my website, CruisinandCampfires.COM. That's cruisin with no g, Cruisinandcampfires.com. That's also all my social handles too. So you can come and say hello anywhere you'd like.
Peggy Barthel:
All right, we'll definitely put those links in our show notes so that you don't have to figure out where the G is missing. Wow. There is is so much great information. It really is. So we're going to hit you with something I didn't warn you about. But if you listen to us very often, you know, what is your best camping memory?
Kimberly Crossland:
Oh, my best camping. It has to be that very first trip. And we still. I've a picture where I was terrified and I quickly realized there's no need to be terrified. Sitting around the campfire, I can picture it in my mind. There's. We're in a state park, and so has Arizona carved out of it and the campfires inside of it. And both my boys are snuggling on my lap. And I thought, this is what I want my life to be. I want to just be snuggled up and warm around the campfire and just happy outside and calm. And I loved it. Then we have that hanging in our in my hallway. So every time I go to my bedroom, I pass by and I think I want to go camping again.
Tony Barthel:
I love that. All right. So, conversely, what is your worst camping memory?
Kimberly Crossland:
Oh, my goodness. Okay, this one's a bit of a doozy. We were again, we're sitting around the campfire one night and I started to hear I have I really don't like when people rev the engine. This is probably why I was very sensitive to you guys when we were pulling out at 7 a.m., not that we were revving the engine. But regardless, sitting around the campfire was about 7:00 at night. And I heard somebody revving their engine and revving it and revving it. And then I heard the people across from us who were also lovely people sitting down to their campfire, and they sat and they started to yell. And I see the car swinging around the campsite and the guy was obviously not sober and he ended up hitting the car right across from us. And yeah, and it was one of those things is a nice campground and everything like that. But it was one of those things where you just kind of realize that a life is short and I'm still really happy to be camping and out and having adventures now instead of waiting, but also be responsible. Yeah. Yes, I love when people can be responsible campers, so it ended up being okay in the end. He obviously the police came and took him, so he was not around and he could go get sober somewhere else and everything else was fine. But everybody else in that group was very kind, very generous. We all kind of came together because of the bad experience and a lot of the people from that campground I still talk to.
Peggy Barthel:
So that's super out of the bad Came some good. Yeah, well, I think I like asking the question because almost every bad experience has I mean, if nothing else, a lesson that you've learned and you're here today to tell about it so it can't be that bad.
Tony Barthel:
Well, true.
Kimberly Crossland:
That's true. That is true.
Tony Barthel:
Kimberly, it has been a real pleasure talking to you. And I actually learned a lot in this episode. Yeah. And so thank you for that. And I can't wait to share this with our audience. I think it's going to be a big hit.
Peggy Barthel:
And we also can't wait to have you back another time. We will definitely be hearing from Kimberly again because she has another entirely different business that we didn't even get to talk about.
Tony Barthel:
No, because we're so interested in how she camps with children. So thank you again.
Kimberly Crossland:
Yeah. It was a real pleasure speaking with you and camping with you. Yes.
Peggy Barthel:
And your kids didn't bother us one little bit, though. Oh, they're great.
Kimberly Crossland:
That is a relief that I really. Thank you.
Peggy Barthel:
You're welcome. So we will definitely be in touch. And as I said, we'll leave links for our Kimberley's Cruisin and campfires site. And then when we have her back in a few weeks, we will talk about her other business and yeah, more links and more fun time with
Kimberly. Absolutely. And we're looking forward to that. And thank you so much.
Thank you very much. Thank you both. We'll talk soon. Take care.
Tony Barthel:
So what do you think about that?
Peggy Barthel:
I almost want to find a kid to take camping, but they should probably get their parents permission. Probably. Actually, I'm a little bit tempted to get the packages from Cruisin and campfires just because I can't be organized. It doesn't have to be Moms, right? Yeah. I can make my camping more StressLess. Well, that's the whole point of this, right? And maybe one of those boxes will have a cool beanie because, you know, the weather is starting to get cooler. Yeah.
Tony Barthel:
And we know somebody who has four kids and may need this. Our niece, Becca, who happens to own a company called Nature Soup Company. Nature Soup Company is our partner with making cool mugs and many other things. And when we were at Peggy's grandma's hundredth birthday, we got to sit down with Becca and come up with a very spooky tumbler.
Peggy Barthel:
that was spooky in its own right. Now, these glow in the dark tumblers are available for a limited time only right now during October. That's right. And they are a new design. They have a luminous coating. So during the day, it looks like a white tumbler and it absorbs the light all day. And at night it glows green when it gets dark.
Tony Barthel:
When I've had luminous cans before, I drink beer.
Peggy Barthel:
But those are aluminum.
Tony Barthel:
Oh,.
Peggy Barthel:
So this 20 ounce tumbler is insulated. If it's in cup holders, it's about the same size around as a luminous can. And it's a straight design and it's double wall insulated so that stainless steel vacuum keeps drinks hot or cold.
Tony Barthel:
How does it know.
Peggy Barthel:
Magic? That's the magic. And it also has a leak resistant lid that's BPA free and it comes with a straw. So you can slip through the lid, you can sit through a straw, you can take both of those off and just go crazy drinking it like a cup knows. And you can see it in the dark because it glows in the dark. Don't lose your drink at night.
Tony Barthel:
And it's got a spooky pattern on it. And so buying from Nature Soup Company does help our niece as she raises her four girls. So do something good for her and you get a cool tumbler at the same time.
Peggy Barthel:
Be the talk of the campfire. Never lose your drink at night and you can order those right at StressLessCamping.com in our store under discounts and deals.
Tony Barthel:
Well, last week we got to speak with Mike from RV insurance benefits and and Mike and Tony got to talking about smokers. Smokin.
Peggy Barthel:
Mike gave us some inspiration for some drumsticks and he told us the way that he brines them and smokes them. And I couldn't leave well enough alone. So I did a little extra research and made up my own recipe and we smoked up some drumsticks. We call them drunken drumsticks. Yeah, because they have beer in the brine.
Tony Barthel:
Yeah. And I spritz them with a beer and pineapple juice as they're smoking on the pellet smoker. Yeah. And we're starting to put together some recipes for that pellet smoker. And you might be saying, what do you mean, a pellet smoker and RV? But I think we've talked about we smaller one that we can run with our jackery.
Peggy Barthel:
That's right. And the legs fold up so we can take it in the truck.
Peggy Barthel:
So it is getting darker, but that's what's going on. And if you have not yet received your insulated glow in the dark tumbler, you might have a little bit of trouble seeing in the dark. And so for a gadget report, I thought we might want to talk about those morRyde step lights.
Peggy Barthel:
Yeah, MorRyde sent us some magnetic step lights that go under those moreryde stable steps. Or any of those stable steps as long as they're metal because they're magnetized, Right?
Tony Barthel:
Well, they actually come with a bracket, too.
Peggy Barthel:
That's true. You're right. I'm sorry. You could have plastic steps Still.
Tony Barthel:
You haven't seen any yet or any magnetic surface. And their motion sensor, they use batteries. They're really, really bright. But one of the nice things about them is you can leave them on the steps and they only come on when they sense motion. So they're not shining into your neighbor's campsite all night long.
Peggy Barthel:
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of having lights on all night long. No, but it is pretty nice if there's motion outside that the lights will come on. So if you're inside and you hear a noise outside, the lights come on and you can see if it's a bear or a raccoon. Right. Yeah. Or whatever actually.
Tony Barthel:
Or Bigfoot or Bigfoot. Those are the Bigfoot lights. Yeah. Pretty cool. Magnetic motion lights will leave a link to the review in the show notes. And speaking of reviews, we have some kind of new news.
Peggy Barthel:
News?
Tony Barthel:
Uh huh. I have been posting RV reviews for quite a few years now and have hundreds and hundreds of RV reviews under my belt, which is why my pants fit funny. We have moved the daily RV review to, StressLess Camping. That's right. You're looking for that daily RV review. It's right there at StressLess Camping. You know, there's those tiles with all the pictures. And at the bottom right is daily RV review. Well, that's where you'll find me. That's where you'll find them. And the review for this week is the Lance Enduro and who like to forget anything you think of about Lance products other than the quality. This is an overland single axle overland trailer designed to be pulled by things like Jeep Wrangler Unlimited and that sort of thing. It is a really different concept and has things such as a water filtration system designed to pull water out of like streams and lakes and things like that. So if you run out of the water that's in the trailer, there's a hose, you can go and drop into a stream or lake or whatever. Draw water out and it filters it. Well, now all of the interior is all. There is no wood in the construction whatsoever. And so the interior has Molly panels all over. So if you're thinking, well, I wonder, you know, how these cabinets work or how this configuration works, you can bring carabiners and just hang pretty much anything you want, anywhere you want. It's really cool. It's a small, single axle trailer, but one of the most incredibly thoughtful things they did. There's a U-shaped dinette at the front, and that's not that unusual, but it's set up so that the bench that spans the width of the front of the camper is also a bed. And so you can have two people sitting at the table while a third person is sleeping.
Peggy Barthel:
Probably not very soundly.
Tony Barthel:
Depends, I mean, obviously on their individual sleeping. But it's nice in that you can have a king size bed by folding down the table and it happens to be a lagoon table. Or you can have people sitting at the dining room and another person resting. Or if you just want to stretch out for a little bit, you don't have to do anything fancy. You don't have to make the whole bed up. Yeah, yeah, it's just there.
Peggy Barthel:
That's nice, because usually benches, dinette benches aren't big enough to sleep on. No less Here. Like for. Yeah. Yeah. Right.
Tony Barthel:
So they have really thought a lot of details through on this thing and it's really well designed. It sleeps two kind of as standard, but you can get a rooftop tent so it'll go up to four. Oh, it's small and light and just built like a tank. Check out the review I wrote of the Lance Enduro and the new daily RV review section at StressLessCamping.com.
Peggy Barthel:
I wanted to pop in with a quick little maintenance reminder. We kind of do these seasonally and as it's timely and I've seen a bunch of people ask if when they're winterizing, they can use radiator antifreeze. Oh, please, please, please, please, please don't do that. That stuff is it that is not made for that, it is toxic, poisonous and horrible. And you do not want to put that in your water system. I don't care how much you're going to flush it out. Please do not use vehicle antifreeze. Please get RV water system. Antifreeze. Safe. Antifreeze. It's pink. Yeah, it's pink stuff that they sell at the RV dealer or any place, right? I mean, like Walmart.
Tony Barthel:
Yeah, Walmart has it, But seek out the RV antifreeze specifically because vehicle antifreeze can kill you and that. Yeah. You know, we need all the listeners we can muster. Please take care of yourselves out there.
Peggy Barthel:
Last week, I had a question. Well, every week I have a question. Last week, my question happened to be. Will you please tell me how the registration works in your state? And we got some responses. My favorite is Michigan, because you get a plate one time, it's like 200 bucks and then you have that plate forever. Oh, that's awesome. That's pretty cool. In New Mexico, it's two years and it's based like all vehicles on the weight and the year of the vehicle or of the RV. And so it's kind of just like registering a car, except, of course, it weighs more. So that will change the amount a little bit. But in terms of process, it's a two year registration. Oregon is also a two year registration, but when you sell that RV, you keep the plate so you can put it on your next vehicle. In New York and in Indiana, I've learned that it's just an annual everything like a vehicle. And in Pennsylvania, it's annual and it's based on weight,.
Tony Barthel:
Like how much I weigh,.Hopefully not too fat. We're going to pay out the nose.
Peggy Barthel:
You haven't been on your diet. You have to pay more. That's a good reason to go on weight loss, right? Of course, it's by vehicle weight. And in Tennessee, apparently you only need to get a plate on your RV if you're going to leave the state. Wow. If you're in Tennessee with a Tennessee vehicle, you don't need a license plate. I don't know how they know it's a Tennessee vehicle. But yeah, that's what's interesting.
Tony Barthel:
That's the kind of things you learn on the StressLess Camping podcast Facebook group
Peggy Barthel:
this week because, you know, our favorite holiday is coming up and next week will be our Halloween episode. And I think what I would love to do, because we already have one or two in our hands. Thank you, Bill. Thank you, Bill. Some spooky camping stories. So if you have a spooky camping story that you would like to share, reach out and let us know. You could just write. Get them out on the stressless camping podcast Facebook group. Or you could send it to us in private and we'll read it as part of the podcast.
Tony Barthel:
Or if you want to do something really kooky, you could record it, you could record it and send it to be on next week's Restless Camping podcast, which is our annual Halloween version. That's right.
Peggy Barthel:
So you can, of course, answer the questions of the week and you can write your stories if you wish, at the Stress Loss Camping Podcast Facebook Group. By the way, please invite a friend or two for somebody you don't like. Anybody invite people at the grocery store. The more the merrier.
Tony Barthel:
No, no, no. Do invite people who are interested in camping would be interested. Yeah, sure. And by the way, did you know we did a once a week newsletter, which is free, and it has links to the stories, videos, podcasts and all of that to help you get the most out of your stress, this camping experience.
Peggy Barthel:
Just visit our website and you can sign up the first time. And if you have already been there and you forgot, just please go to the very bottom of any page and you can sign up for a weekly newsletter. We do not share your information. We send you one email a week and yep, that's it. Period. End of story. Bye bye.
Tony Barthel:
Wow. Drop the mic. Well, no, no, don't drop the mic. And of course, on the StressLess Camping website, you'll find our show notes for this episode. Episode 173 on the podcast page. StressLassCamping.com.
Peggy Barthel:
Also, don't forget when you're at StressLessCamping.com To check out our deals and discounts page for the best deals on things you need for your stressless camping adventure.
Tony Barthel:
Oh, and if you've got a great deal for our audience, let us know.
Peggy Barthel:
Of course, we are in all the social places that everyone wants to be, but you can find us by starting at StressLessCamping.com. And at the top right, you'll see all the little jump off logos so you can go to all the places that we are. But remember, you don't want to miss a future episode of The StressLess Camping podcast and it's free to subscribe on any podcast catcher. We are saving you a seat around our virtual campfire.
Tony Barthel:
Thank you again for being here with us this week. We look forward to haunting you again next week. Ha ha. And until then,
happy camping.
