Looking back on four years of the StressLess Camping RV podcast with a recap of a year of adventure
On this episode of the StressLess Camping RV podcast we look back on four years and 211 episodes and recap some of the adventures - and misadventures - that we’ve had. From epic road trips, the FROG rally, tons of boondocking and moving from California to New Mexico where we met some wonderful friends this has absolutely been a great year to recount.
Other places to hear the podcast
Mentioned on this episode
One of the favorite gadgets we’ve reviewed for cleaning the roof of our slide room - and our solar panels is this RV slide out sweep and Mr. Long Arm pole
Our review of our favorite RV replacement mattress - the Ghost Bed.
Our video podcast with Ben and Stacy of ABC Upfitters
Our vintage Aristocrat Land Liner travel trailer and the history of the Aristocrat company
Information about the 2024 Quartzsite Sports, Vacation and RV show - we will be there during the entire event and then hold a get together in the desert afterwards.
Our taste test and throw down of New Orleans-style Boudin sausage
How to share articles from the StressLess Camping RV podcast and also write reviews on your favorite podcasting app
StressLess Camping podcast Facebook group
If you’re confused about solar, battery power or just want to upgrade your RV we have found the solutions from ABC Upfitters are both reliable and exceptional.
We have a podcast episode and video where you can learn more here.
Our trusted partners - RV Discounts and Deals
Automated transcription of StressLess Camping RV podcast number 211
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.
Peggy Barthel
Welcome to the Campfire.
Tony Barthel
I'm Tony. I'm
Peggy Barthel
Peggy.
Tony Barthel
And we are two RV industry veterans who travel part-time.
Peggy Barthel
He and a small trailer
Tony Barthel
Looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips, tricks, and discounts.
Peggy Barthel
We are officially five <laugh>. I'm back obviously, and this is the first episode of season five. We've been around for four years now. We have sure appreciated all of you who have stuck around with us and hope we that you continue to and welcome to anybody who's new. You got four years of stuff to listen, <laugh> to catch up on <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, my condolences <laugh>.
Peggy Barthel
But we thought maybe today we'd help you catch up with the things that we did over the past year and just kind of a fourth season in review.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, there we go. So that's what we have for you today is sort of a recap of this past 365 days, which have been some of the most interesting, I think, in my time on this big blue marble.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah, for sure. We've done a lot of new and different things. I mean, we've done new and different things before, but usually one a year or one every seven years. And this one was a year to remember.
Tony Barthel
Oh boy. Was it ever, all right, you wanna go ahead.
Peggy Barthel
Well, I'm actually gonna go a little bit far back and cheat and go a little bit into our third season because during our third season, you know, which we've already talked about, in May, we actually left our home in California, put it up for sale, and headed to Indiana to pick up our new travel trailer that was gonna be our new home away from home. And we had a lot of adventures even on that trip. And so even though that was May, and technically the season doesn't start till July, we're just gonna kind of start there because that seems like obviously the beginning of this crazy year that we had
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. Yeah. Oh, so what we did is we picked up a prototype trailer. It was a prototype 2022, Rockwood mini Light, 2205 s. There
Peggy Barthel
Was a lot of twos in that <laugh> Oh boy
Tony Barthel
Was there ever. And it had so much cool stuff on it, much of which was prototype stuff from Rockwood, uh, especially that power package that we
Peggy Barthel
Have been,
Tony Barthel
You know, just loving. But also some other interesting things. There are prototype stabilizers, prototype step handles. They're kind of looking to see if they should incorporate into their rigs. Right.
Peggy Barthel
And so that was great to have and be the talk of the town and <laugh> have a lot of people ask questions like, why does your thing look like that thing? That's not how ours looks. Well
Tony Barthel
Actually we were kind of the don't talk of the town because, well we picked it up in May and weren't allowed to talk about it till August.
Peggy Barthel
That's true of the power package, but not the other things. No, that's true.
Tony Barthel
Other
Peggy Barthel
Thing that handle that handle right by the door really got a lot of attention. Oh my gosh.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. We took that trailer to the Frog Rally and I can't tell you how many of those handles we sold for Moride. It's like an extendi handle for the steps and it's fantastic. And when we go back to Frog in August, we're we're getting one again.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. That's our plan to get, I don't know how much you guys know or if you don't have Forest River products, you probably don't care that much about the Frog Rally. But the Frog Rally is a once a year thing and those of us who attend have an opportunity to have a couple of maintenance items taken care of while we're there. And our trailers still new enough. There's nothing per se that's falling apart or anything like that. We don't need anything. I don't know what to say like, like vital, but there's some fun stuff we wanna do like change out that handle.
Peggy Barthel
So this is gonna be our chance to do
Tony Barthel
That. Yeah, that's one of the advantages of going to the Frog Rally in Indiana is the various Forest River brands have their factory technicians there. And so if you have an item that needs a warranty attention, then they can fix it right on the spot. Or if you want to do upgrades, there's plenty of people to do that. And it's kind of a neat deal because last year we managed to pull off the wheel skirting on our trailer. Yeah. And there was a dude who came over from the factory and I mean this guy was a magician with a cock gun.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Just watching him work was just really impressive to me. That was something we needed on the last. Yeah. And as Peggy said, this trailer, you know, everyone talks about Covid campers and really there's nothing we need fixed. Knock on wood.
Peggy Barthel
Yes, for sure. Hang on. So <laugh>. So back to, you know, may picking up the trailer, of course we took our time because we didn't have a home to get back to <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. The house that we had was completely empty. We literally took all of our stuff and what we didn't think we would immediately need, like, you know, furniture and just whatever like that we put into an eight by 20 storage facility. And if it didn't fit in that or it wasn't something that we used every day like you know, clothes shampoo. Yeah. Well I don't use shampoo but you know,
Peggy Barthel
So those daily things went into the truck and then the not daily things went into that storage and waited for us to find a new home to put them into. Now we didn't have a schedule, as I said, we didn't have a home to go back to. Basically we were just goofing off until our house in California sold so that we could come to New Mexico and start shopping. Yep. So we spent the first few months of the summer from May, June, July doing that goofing off.
Peggy Barthel
And we got to, because we didn't have anywhere to go, we spent a lot of time just exploring. We went to some Harvest host, we went to our first alpaca farm. Oh
Tony Barthel
Yeah. That was really cool.
Peggy Barthel
Really cool. Right after. Cool. We got our trailer and that was fun because we were also able to get up into a second story of the building of the alpaca farm and get a good look at our, what our roof looked like. Cuz we hadn't really seen it with all the solar panels and everything. And Slide Out was new to us. So we know we got some good view of the top of the trailer, but also our first chance to see alpacas. And I have a little bit of addiction to Alpaca Farms now <laugh>, I love, love, love going to those because they are the calmest, curious, beautiful, wonderful animals.
Peggy Barthel
I just, something happens to me when I'm around them. It just really calms me.
Tony Barthel
So the way that we stay at these alpaca farms, cuz now we've stayed at several is through Harvest Hosts. Right. And Harvest Host, if you don't know, is a service where you sign up and there's, I dunno, over 4,000 places you can go. They're typically businesses but they can be as Peggy said, farms or restaurants or breweries or museums or just all kinds of really experiential type places we've stayed at. Distilleries are just all kinds of stuff anyway.
Tony Barthel
They don't charge you to stay at these places, but they do hope that you patronize the business. And I mean when it's a brewery or a distillery or <laugh>, there's also a whole slew of golf
Peggy Barthel
Courses. No problem with that.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. All of that. It's kind of no problem. Right. I mean it's really fun. And the alpaca farm, they do everything from tours to all sorts of alpaca products. We bought a really nice blanket at that first alpaca farm.
Peggy Barthel
Yes we did. And at a different alpaca farm later in the year, I actually got a kit so that I could make a bookmark out of the wool from two of the alpacas that actually live there on the farm who I, I met. So it'll be a bookmark that, you know, from alpacas that I actually know now. If I would just decide I'm crafty enough to get started on that project, that would be good. <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Well there's that.
Peggy Barthel
So I said that, you know, this was our first trailer with a slide. So we had to learn a little bit of new techniques and one of the things that we really learned was how to use our almost heaven microfiber cleaning kit with our Mr. Long arm and our RV slide sweep so that we could get not only dust off those solar panels, but also clean off the slide before you put the slide in. Cuz you don't wanna put that away dirty and cause damage to your seals.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, that's, that's your handy tip here is before you bring in your slide rooms, always inspect the top of the slide cuz that roof on the slide now becomes something inside your RV when the slide's in. Of course if you have slide topper awnings, that's a different enchilada. But if you don't, then I always look at the top of the slide and make sure that there's nothing up there like branches or dirt or leaves or <laugh>, Elvis Presley, whatever,
Peggy Barthel
Whatever. But lest do you think he climbs up a ladder to look for these things? Oh yeah. No he definitely does not. So he uses that same Mr. Long arm or a selfie stick and his GoPro camera lifts that up and looks at the roof of the slide with the camera rather than climbing up there and looking at it
Tony Barthel
Directly. I don't, I always say if you want to know the laziest way to accomplish any tasks, just ask me. I, I am your, I am your man in terms of lazy.
Peggy Barthel
And not that long ago I thought I had a selfie stick and didn't. And so I had to climb up on the tailgate of the truck, reach out with my camera, take a picture of the slide and then look at the picture to make sure <laugh> there was nothing on the roof before I closed it.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Which is, I mean that's pretty darn cool. That was on Peggy's solo camping trip two weeks ago, whatever it
Peggy Barthel
Was couple weeks ago. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
When she wasn't here.
Peggy Barthel
Right. <laugh>. And so then we kind of made our way back from Indiana into Colorado. We were lucky enough to be able to stay with my sister Kathy and her husband Carrie and their family. We got to attend a couple weddings. This was all in Colorado. So July of last year, which was, you know, technically the beginning of season four where we should have started. We got some great family time and spent some time in Colorado kind of just waiting for our house to sell so that we could move on to the next thing.
Peggy Barthel
We had a little bit of, I think Amazon withdrawal <laugh> because from the time we left the house in May until the time we had a stable address at my sister's in July, we couldn't get any packages. No. And so we started ordering everything we wanted. We did a lot of modifications big and small into the trailer. A couple things that we did was our nephew Joe helped us take out the theater seats and we got office chairs so that we would have a better kind of home office inside the trailer.
Peggy Barthel
Yep. We got a ghost mattress.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. We got our ghost bed mattress. We really have liked that mattress. But those are always fun because you get it kind of as a big burrito. Yes. And then you open the packaging and it kind of inflates itself.
Peggy Barthel
Inflates itself. Yeah. Which
Tony Barthel
Is how mattresses seem to be sold nowadays. And boy, we've still really, I mean I, I think I've said before, I like it so much. We wanted one for our home and the only reason we didn't get one is they did not offer a split mattress where there's, you know, like two halves. So you could
Peggy Barthel
Raise the split queen specifically. Yeah, right. I think they do offer a split king, but we have a queen size bed in the house but it's split and we needed that two part mattress so we weren't able to get one. But yeah, we definitely would've gotten one if we could have Yeah.
Tony Barthel
In fact I still like that mattress better than the one we got for the
Peggy Barthel
House. Yeah. Unfortunately.
Tony Barthel
Oh and why did we have to get a new mattress for the house? Because we had a perfectly good one in California.
Peggy Barthel
Well we did, but remember how we said we had eight by 20 feet of storage. Right. We went to put the air Air, we used to have one of those air filled mattress like a, it called, it was called Comfort air. It's kind of a sleep number is what people know and we just couldn't fit it. We had filled the thing up.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. We left it in the garage and the neighborhood cats used it as their bathroom. So not only did we not have a place for it, but we didn't wanna have a place for it other than the garbage dump. Right.
Peggy Barthel
Our backup plan was a friend was gonna go get it and store it for us and by the time she's able to get there it was too late. Yeah. It was not a mattress we wanted back in our house.
Tony Barthel
Nobody wanted that mattress. Unfortunately.
Peggy Barthel
<laugh>. And the other thing we got when we were at my sister's was a bike rack so that we could put our electric bikes on the back. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
We needed that bike rack cuz we had new electric bikes too from
Peggy Barthel
Electric. Yeah. So we spent the time, we doctored up the camper the way we liked it. We took off the shower doors and put up shower curtain. We did all those little modifications that we wanted to get it just the way we wanted it to be. Yeah. And then in July the California house sold. And so we took off and came to New Mexico and our first sort of New Mexico home was a campground in Bernillo that we really liked,
Tony Barthel
Which is where we met a lot of really neat locals. Yes. Who listened to the podcast, Brian and Patrick. Mike and Lisa became really good friends. The people here in New Mexico are pretty super and of course prior to that we met Michael and Mickey also. And so it's just we've, we've really found a home here in New Mexico
Peggy Barthel
For sure. But we came and stayed in that campground for a couple weeks. We found a house we wanted, we made an offer and then while we were in escrow we took off again and headed to Indiana for the Frog rally <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. So off we went back to Indiana to the home of, of where our Rockwood was made and that's where we gotta meet the people from ABC Upfitters and learn even more about their thinking and how they do these power packages and just their upfits and the shop that they use and the engineering team and just all of that. It was really impressive to meet the people behind the power package.
Peggy Barthel
And that was also when Rockwood said Okay, that power package that you guys have been using since May, it's okay to talk about it now. Yeah. So boy did we ever, so we spent a lot of time at the Frog rally showing all the frog members the awesome power package that they could have up fitted into their rigs.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. In fact at least one person we know there did.
Peggy Barthel
That's right. We made friends with Bill and we have since spent a, a good amount of time with Bill and in fact this year when we go to the Frog Rally Bill and us, it's always so awkward to say that in. Yeah. As three people, bill and us <laugh>,
Tony Barthel
A lot of us, as they say in England,
Peggy Barthel
All of us are gonna caravan up the upper peninsula of Michigan.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. And of course we will be at the Frog rally again this year. Right. Uh, we have three workshops that were teaching. We, as you heard, if you heard last week's podcast, Mike Sol and I are gonna do our six o'clock wrap every night, which is gonna be a live feed from the Frog rally where we kind of highlight what has happened that day and it might get a little ridiculous as it usually does when Mike and I spend time together.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. And we did a video podcast, which we don't do very often, but we did a video podcast that's on YouTube with Ben and Stacy of ABC Upfitters from the Frog rally. Yeah. And with only a little bit of <laugh>, the state bird of Indiana, the state bird in the background because the lawn mowing guy was there and that guy, guy, it was his last chance to get the work done too. But he
Tony Barthel
Was, well no, but he was hanging around and hovering cuz I think he was fascinated by what we were doing and it's like, dude, you have like acres and acres to mow. He
Peggy Barthel
Probably had a schedule and then had that location on that morning. But we did talk him into going and trying a different location until we finished.
Tony Barthel
It was just funny because this dude's like circling around <laugh> and I had seen so many lawnmowers in Indiana that I'm like, Hey, hey, that's a state bird of Indiana is the ride on lawnmower.
Peggy Barthel
And then after we left the frog rally, we just went straight to Nebraska and went to the F M C A convention in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Tony Barthel
Which was also fun. Was fun. And we really liked fun, liked those conventions and gatherings. We
Peggy Barthel
Were able to teach those same three classes. We teach those three classes kind of wherever we are. Welcome <laugh> these days, wherever they need speakers and ask us to speak. We did that and had a great time in Nebraska and then, and then we headed back to our new home in New Mexico to close escrow. And we were in Kansas,
Tony Barthel
Flat flat Kansas.
Peggy Barthel
There was some road construction. So they had all the traffic stopped. We were sitting in park waiting for the traffic and suddenly
Tony Barthel
Kaboom,
Peggy Barthel
Wham, we got rear-ended. I should have taken that away from him. <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Yeah I have, it's the world's loudest kazoo and it's like three kazoos in one.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. So anyway,
Tony Barthel
It's within reach.
Peggy Barthel
We were fine. We were not hurt the driver that hit us, I don't think they were, they weren't seriously injured. They did go to the hospital to be checked out. Her car was unfortunately completely mangled.
Tony Barthel
Oh yeah. I'll share a picture on the show notes where you could see it. It, it was a mess. Yeah. Well it submarined, so remember we talked about the new bikes and the new bike rack and the new trailer? Yeah. Well all of that contributed to the death of her Toyota Sienna. As Peggy said, I think she and her passenger were okay. That Toyota Sienna
Peggy Barthel
Not okay. It
Tony Barthel
Was, uh,
Peggy Barthel
Sorry, I'm gonna find something to throw at his head in a minute here. <laugh>. Anyway, the bike rack and the bicycles were destroyed, completely destroyed. We had to leave the bikes on the side of the road and the fire department took them away. The trailer did get smashed in on the back, but it was still usable, which was good cuz we still had a few days just to get home. And we also had a very important place to go in Colorado for a few days to the RV entrepreneur round table.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. So this is a group of people who are, you know, it's kind of like us. They're content creators or I'm gonna choke saying this word, influencers, uh, <laugh>
Peggy Barthel
Or I think most of the people there would agree that that word is,
Tony Barthel
Yeah. We don't like that word. Not, but we do, you know, we're content creators and so there's a whole bunch of us who gathered to just see how we can serve you better and compare notes and collaborate and all of that stuff.
Peggy Barthel
And we got to show off our, yeah, we got to show off our power package because it was a campground that was still in, that is still in development, although they're making leaps and bounds right now. Oh man.
Tony Barthel
Are
Peggy Barthel
They? But it was, it was dry camping and so we got to show off our power package, but we also got to show off our smashed in back wall. <laugh>.
Speaker 5
<laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. You know, it was kind of like a topic of discussion. And we also didn't have e-bikes anymore.
Peggy Barthel
Right. Oh,
Speaker 5
Wait, wait, wait.
Peggy Barthel
Oh no,
Peggy Barthel
Sorry everybody. So we came back from that trip, emptied the camper out, the insurance company decided that it was totaled because there was some damage to the frame and we were kind of grounded. We were here. But it's a great time to be grounded when you just buy a new house because you've got a lot of work to do to get settled in. And we probably would still have boxes sitting in corners if we had had a camper and been able to go camping in September and October and November of last year.
Peggy Barthel
Right. Because it is, but we
Tony Barthel
Weren't, yeah. Like we were here, we had the house by the time it was balloon fiesta time. Yeah. And so we would've tried to camp there or something, but we just, we no longer had a camper because the insurance company came, hooked it up and took it wherever they took it. Yeah. So it's long gone.
Peggy Barthel
So we were grounded a little while. Like I said, we sat, not sat around, we did a lot of work around the house. We hung out with our new friends, we did a, well, we did a road trip of course in late September so that we could go to California and empty that storage unit and bring the stuff home in a U-Haul truck.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. The, well the funny thing about that, if you follow us for any length of time, you might remember we had a 1970 aristocrat. So we're like, oh well cool. We have our vintage trailer that we can use for camping. I mean it was, it needed work but it was usable sort of <laugh>. Yeah. So we're in California talking to a friend Bevy who was kind enough to keep it at her house all that time.
Peggy Barthel
And honestly I was, I was a little nervous about towing that camper all the way across the country behind a U-Haul that we already weren't that accustomed to. And I just kind of said, well if Tony can do it, if anybody can do it, Tony can do it. I'm not gonna worry. It's gonna be fine. And kind of at the very last second, like literally the day we needed to go pick up the trailer, we talked to our friend Byron and he said, well I'm interested in buying the trailer. And we said, okay, that solves so many problems for us.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. So we now had no trailer. We went from two trailers right to
Peggy Barthel
Zero trailers. Byron has been doing phenomenal work. Yeah. I can share some pictures of people ask. He has been working on the vintage aristocrat that needed a lot of work and you know, look at us. We don't really stay home long enough to finish very many projects. So it really was a relief. As much as I loved having the vintage camper, it was really a relief not to have to be concerned
Tony Barthel
With it. It was. And Byron is one of those guys who can MacGyver anything. Yes. He actually helps develop medical devices. I mean he's really smart with fixing, there were two heaters in that aristocrat, oddly enough he's gotten 'em both working the fridge, the oven, the
Peggy Barthel
Plumbing.
Tony Barthel
The plumbing. There was one area where I took out a section of wall cuz I thought it had rotted behind there. He custom built a new section of wall. He put uh, custom built a bathroom door?
Peggy Barthel
No, no. He got a bathroom door from somebody else. Oh
Tony Barthel
Okay. Oh well I bet he was flushed with excitement when
Peggy Barthel
He found it. But he is been doing great things with that and he shares those achievements with us and it's so great to see and and the great thing is he said if we ever come back to a rally in California, he has also kind of a motor home that he built from a bread truck. And he will camp in that and he calls it the Beast <laugh>. And he will tow the trailer for us to be able to camp in so we can meet them at a rally and have a place to camp. So That's so cool.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. So meanwhile, if you don't know, I'm not a big fan of driving in this snow. And so what was this September they hauled off the trailer?
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. So in September we talked to Rockwood and said, okay, well now we need to order a new 2205. We loved the model very, very much. Yeah. And we didn't wanna change. That was something we did not wanna change. And so we kept waiting and waiting and I said, oh, I hope it's ready before December. I really don't wanna have to drive to Indiana in December. No. So it was ready in December <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. So we got to head out from New Mexico to Indiana, picked up our trailer and then we went to ABC Upfitters and checked out the facilities there. They did a couple of mods to the trailer by the way. They have a new facility that's even more impressive. But anyway, can't wait. Yeah. We're, that's one of the things we wanna see in August at the Frog Rally is the new ABC Upfitters facility. It's gonna be cool. So then that morning we go to pick up the trailer and it's like freezing cold and raining and I'm like, oh, oh man, I don't wanna wreck a third trailer.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Because if you don't know, we also totaled a trailer in February.
Peggy Barthel
In February of 2022 before this season started. And so the trailer that we picked up in May, the reason that we didn't have a trailer in May to take with us out of California was that we were waiting for the, our original 1905 to be replaced with the 2205.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. So last year was the year of three trailers. Yeah. All Rockwood though. Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
Hopefully that we don't have to tell that story ever again. <laugh>. Yeah, let's talk, I mean we can tell that story. Hopefully that story doesn't repeat itself.
Tony Barthel
Indeed. So anyway, we're like rushing to get outta Indiana. Like literally the storm is like blowing at our,
Peggy Barthel
At RV pine bills at our heels.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Yeah. Right.
Peggy Barthel
We talk a lot about how I use RV Trip Wizard to plan camping trips because it shows us, you know, RV safe routing and I can use the driving radius rings to show how far we wanna go in a day. Now when we're driving in the truck, we don't necessarily need that because we're not too concerned with, you know, things like low bridges and deep curves and things like that. And we can go farther. But I did go ahead and plan the whole trip with that because when we were coming back the trailer was winterized. We didn't camp in it on our way home in December.
Peggy Barthel
No.
Tony Barthel
And we were very fortunate since we, we are, if you don't know we're the brand ambassadors for the Rockwood Mini Light. And so we were able to finagle a couple of things out of production. For example, I said just don't bother putting any mattress in it at all. Right. Because we had that ghost bed that we like so much.
Peggy Barthel
We did but we couldn't it Yeah. We couldn't get it. I couldn't't figure out how to get that in the camper shell to put it in the camper to camp in on the way home.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Getting it in the pickup to haul to Indiana, that just wasn't going,
Peggy Barthel
It wasn't happening.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. It's gonna be a no deal.
Peggy Barthel
We stayed in hotels of course where we needed to, but on the way home with the camper, you still have to kind of drive a little slower and you know, not as far distance. But we were able to time things to where we could stay with my cousin Dan for a couple days and our friends Dave and Stacy for a couple days. And so we did some visiting on the way back in December, which was super cool. And then we got home and we had, you know, the week of Christmas and the week of New Year's to get ready to head out for our annual trip to a court site <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, absolutely. And of course if you don't know, we are going back and we're gonna have a Shin diggity dig after the big tent event. So Right. If you're in or around court site, I don't remember exactly when that is, but it'll be on our show calendar.
Peggy Barthel
So we did our trip to Southern California and saw some friends and family. We did of course our court site trip. We stopped in the Mesa Phoenix area and saw a couple of friends and we got back just in time to have two weeks to unpack repack <laugh> and plan with Trip Wizard, a trip through the southern states so that we could go to the F M C A convention in Perry, Georgia in March.
Tony Barthel
Yep. We gotta put news state stickers. So our rule, everybody has their own rule, but if you have one of those sticker maps of the US or wherever, our rule is, we have to spend the night in the camper in that state to qualify to put a sticker. So even though our previous 2205 had been like Indiana, we never slept in the camper in Indiana yet. Right. Or South Dakota or you know, on and on. Well we had basically a brand new map with no stickers on it. We did. So we got to put Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi
Peggy Barthel
And Louisiana.
Tony Barthel
Oh yeah.
Peggy Barthel
<laugh>. That was a fun trip. We went back to see Dan again and actually while we were there in March to visit Dan, he said he was thinking about selling his house and then we woke up the next morning and he said, well I sold, yeah somebody bought it, sold my house.
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. Oh man.
Peggy Barthel
That was fun. And then after Georgia, of course we did the Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana stops and Oh man. Yeah. And we finally, it was 19 and quarter years ago that Tony and I went on our first date and we went to a place called Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen in downtown Disney. And ever since then we have always tried to have some kind of a Cajun anniversary. You know, have Cajun food. We would go back to Cajun restaurants at Disneyland or Cajun restaurants around our house.
Peggy Barthel
Or if that wasn't an option, we bought a box of Zands Red beans and Rice <laugh> something. Well
Tony Barthel
That's not our anniversary, it's our date
Peggy Barthel
Anniversary. It's our date anniversary. Right. The anniversary of our first date. Correct. So we finally, after talking about it for 19 years, we made it to New Orleans, we went to Ralph Brennan's. We did not have dinner because I found out it takes one month to get a reservation at Ralph Brandon's restaurant. Yeah. And of course I planned a day ahead of not a month <laugh>
Tony Barthel
No far be from us to plan anything that's kind of against our grain
Peggy Barthel
<laugh>. But we did go and have a drink in the bar and we had a lovely time while we were in New Orleans. Did all kinds of fun stuff in New Orleans. We've got a couple of episodes where we've talked about that. So I don't wanna give you too
Tony Barthel
Many. Right. But do know that our friends, Brian and Patrick, who we talked about meeting earlier, they asked us, what about Boudan? You know, are you gonna go to get, and so we like embraced Boudan like mad. We still have some in our freezers,
Peggy Barthel
We actually do. So we had a great time doing that trip. Oh. And then we went to Texas and stayed at a Margaritaville.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. With a swim up bar as you may recall.
Peggy Barthel
Right. So that was a really fun trip. We stopped at Bottomless Lakes campground and some of our local friends met us there for a weekend. And that was really fun. And it was technically really, it was our first camping trip in New Mexico. Now we had camped a couple of times driving through New Mexico and we had lived two weeks at a time, twice while we were getting the house set up, but
Tony Barthel
We didn't like go camping. Right. Per
Peggy Barthel
Se. And so this was our first just camping trip. Since then, I've also got a chance to go to Ruidoso now we did do a day trip there while we were camping at Bottomless Lakes. But then I went with Sisters on the fly and went to Ruidoso. We went camping with the F M C A regional group in Santa Fe a couple weeks ago.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. And while you're listening to this, Peggy's gonna be gone again. That's right. She's going to Taos.
Peggy Barthel
I'm driving as you're listening to Taos <laugh>. Yeah. With the girl campers.
Tony Barthel
So once again, I am left unsupervised, ladies and gentlemen, me and the world's loudest kazoo.
Peggy Barthel
<laugh>. I'll try not to let him and the world loudest kazoo be your only entertainment for next week
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. Oh wow.
Peggy Barthel
But in the middle of all that camping and exploring New Mexico, because we've also gone, you know, we live really close to Sandia Mountains and so we Oh yeah. Drove up yesterday actually to Sandy Peak, which is 10,600 and x x feet.
Tony Barthel
And a lot of radio antennas.
Peggy Barthel
A lot of radio antennas. And that was really nice. We found some lovely picnic areas. We visited Tinkertown, which is a miniature town, which is super fun.
Tony Barthel
It is so cool that basically this dude, like he painted the vehicles and the signboards for a carnival, I believe. We'll, we'll get more details and there'll be an actual real story about it. But he did that sort of artwork and created these little miniatures, many of which have functioning bits. Right. Like there's a lady who jumps rope and there's a whole circus where like the dogs jump through hoops and just all of that stuff. Right. It started as a hobby and now it's a destination.
Tony Barthel
It was crowded yesterday.
Peggy Barthel
It was. And it was really
Tony Barthel
Fun. Which is good fun. Really like seeing these roads. I love roadside Americana and I love seeing roadside Americana attractions Busy, which means people like them. Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
So in between all these trips to explore our new state, we also were so lucky that Michael and Mickey loaned us their tractor <laugh> and we got to do some work around our yard. We cleared stickers out of parts of the area. We had a rock delivery and so we hauled rock around and made a building, not a building pad, I'm sorry, a parking pad for the camper. And we just kind of had a lot of fun driving the tractor around. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
I love
Peggy Barthel
Tractors <laugh>. And that pretty much brings us to now since technically the last thing on the list was where I'm going today <laugh>. And that starts season five.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Four years of the Stresses Camping podcast. Now going on five.
Peggy Barthel
That's right. So tell me, Tony,
Tony Barthel
Yes.
Peggy Barthel
We always spring this question on our guests, but I'm gonna ask you, what was your best season four memory?
Tony Barthel
Oh, easily going to Nola. I mean, after almost 20 years of waiting we finally made it there. And you know, to the Camp Margaritaville for the Swim Up bar, that was pretty darn cool.
Peggy Barthel
You stole my answer.
Tony Barthel
I know, I know I did.
Peggy Barthel
But
Tony Barthel
You know what, we're very compatible. Sorry. Right
Peggy Barthel
<laugh>.
Tony Barthel
There you go.
Peggy Barthel
Okay, well then I guess tell me your worst season for memory. Don't steal my answer again.
Tony Barthel
I can't help it <laugh>. It has to be being camper less cuz that lady rear-ended us.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah, those are the same answers. I mean that, that was the best of the year and the worst of the year really. And considering that, you know, nobody was seriously injured, we were able to replace our camper and our bikes and everything. The worst isn't so bad.
Tony Barthel
Right. You know, it's all perspective. Right. I mean the, the fact that you can get up and walk away from anything, you know, as they say in the flying world, any landing you can walk away from is
Peggy Barthel
A good one. Right, right. <laugh>. So that was our year in review and I hope that it sparked some ideas. Again, pretty much everything we talked about today we have talked about in greater depth over the years. So if there's something that you wish we had talked more about, go find it in an old podcast from earlier this year, <laugh>. Yeah. This next year of course will also be another busy one. We're getting geared up in a few weeks to go back to Indiana for the Frog rally.
Tony Barthel
And if you're thinking of going, you know, we've said A B C Upfitters is having a sale. So if you are interested in an upfit and that might work out for you to go during the Frog rally, which is in August, you can save a bunch of money. And I was talking to Ben Miller from A B C F fitters and there was a lady who used her state and the federal tax credits to save about 50% on her. Wow. Wow. Now of course, you know, every tax situation, every state is different.
Tony Barthel
Sure. So you do want to know how the tax laws affect you, but by gosh, I mean you could save a bunch of money getting tax credits on a solar upgrade from A B C F fitters. So Bet they they have, I'll put a link to an article about that. But they have the knowledge about that. And then of course they're offering a savings if you do your upfit during the Frog rally and you can also spend time with us, which may or may not be a good thing.
Peggy Barthel
That's up to you. You don't have to. No, you
Tony Barthel
Don't have to do that part <laugh>. So stuff to think about if you're solar curious or you're looking for a well-engineered solar system that just works.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. After we leave the Frog Rally in Indiana, we're gonna take that trip with Bill. We're gonna go through Michigan and go to the Upper Peninsula. We'll be in the Wisconsin, Minnesota area. We have some people in places we would like to see, but we'll be home in course in time for Balloon Fiesta. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
We will be here for Balloon Fiesta once again. And we're gonna be there the entire time through Escapees, which is a really great membership organization. We were able to get camping in the Balloon Fiesta. The stipulation is. Yeah. And you have to help And we're like, oh yeah, we're all over that.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. We'll be on a balloon crew and so that'll be super fun. And then later in the year, kind of close to the end of the year, we're planning a trip up through Washington, Oregon and California. Yep. Which will lead us to our quartzite fun, you know, in, in late January. And then after that we're heading toward Texas, maybe through ar probably through Arizona, well almost definitely through Arizona since we'll be in Arizona <laugh>. But we have been working with Girl Camper to help them with some what they call camper college.
Peggy Barthel
And so we'll be teaching some classes throughout the state with Girl Camper, helping them learn more about their RVs so that they feel safer and more secure. And well Stressless Stressless Stressless with their RVs. Yeah,
Tony Barthel
Absolutely. Yeah. We do these RV basic training classes. They're also Camper College for girl campers. We always describe it as a three day version of your one hour walkthrough. Yeah. So it's kind of like a more in depth look at your own rv
Peggy Barthel
For sure. Well that was our year in recap. We hope that you enjoyed that. And again, if you wanted any more in depth stories, let us know and we'll guide you to where they're told. Or we'll just tell you again cuz we love to talk <laugh>. Yeah, we,
Tony Barthel
Yeah, we love talking. Which is good considering we've been doing a podcast now for five years.
Peggy Barthel
That's right.
Tony Barthel
Not only do we like to talk, but we like to write. And that is encapsulated in a once a week newsletter that is totally, positively and absolutely free.
Peggy Barthel
We have links to stories and videos and podcasts that will help you get the most out of your RV experience. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
If you would like to sign up, just visit our website@stresscamping.com and you can sign up at the bottom of any page. There's a popup if it's one of your first times there. And just know as always, we respect your privacy. Never share your information. We only send one email a week
Peggy Barthel
Unless you've won a drawing. Yeah. But if you have won a drawing, you need to respond when we tell you so because our new person who just joined in June and who won the drawing hasn't responded. So No. So potentially might wanna, if you're a new newsletter subscriber since June and you get a second email, make sure you open it cuz maybe we, you're the second winner. <laugh>
Tony Barthel
<laugh> also on our website are the notes and some photos and all of that on the podcastPage@stresslesscamping.com. All of our show notes, the automated transcripts, links, all that stuff are there on the podcast page. This is episode number two 11.
Peggy Barthel
That's right. And also, while you're on stressless camping.com, be sure and check out the deals and discounts page. Tony's been working on making things look a little different. We've got deals and discounts always kind of changing a little bit. Oh, I forgot to mention, we got an email from RV Trip Wizard RV Life and their prices are gonna go up Rut Row, potentially August 1st. So if you have been dragging your feet about joining RV Trip Wizard, RV Life, get in there and get that discount now so that you, once you're locked into a price, that's your price for life.
Peggy Barthel
So get the price now before it goes up at the beginning of August.
Tony Barthel
And we have a discount on an RV Trip Wizard, right slash RV life membership. And even a free trial. So that's in our deals and discount section. And of course, you know, we're also in all the social places, including Threads now,
Peggy Barthel
<laugh>. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
And you can find those places, you know, threads, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, just all of that, starting@stresslesscamping.com. In the upper right corner there is a link to all those social places. And so you can jump off and and head that way if that's your jam.
Peggy Barthel
And on Facebook you'll find not only the Stressless camping page, which is our business page, but you'll also find the Stressless Camping Podcast Facebook group, which is a fun and friendly group where we ask questions and answer questions and have just some general fun.
Tony Barthel
And of course if you would like to help support the Stressless Camping podcast, you can do so for free. All we ask is that you leave a review of the Stressless Camping Podcast on your favorite podcast capture app or share some of the articles and videos and that sort of thing that we have on the website. It really makes a difference. So it
Peggy Barthel
Really does make a difference. And if you have been struggling as I did to find the location of where to write a review, especially in Apple podcasts, we have a page now that should be pretty easy to find that will explain to you how to find where to write a review. And also it shows how to share things. So if you've already written a review or you just don't wanna write a review for some reason, especially if it's gonna be bad <laugh>, you can share things.
Peggy Barthel
And so our website has a page now and we will put that link, obviously in the newsletter and in the show notes to show you how to go about sharing. Cuz it's easy if you've done it before. But if you don't know how to do it, then you might say, how in the world am I gonna share? Am I gonna call somebody and tell 'em to look at <laugh>, that page <laugh>? So we give you some pointers on how to do that and we just really, really appreciate any kind of help that you can give us getting the word out and telling everybody else about Stressless camping.
Tony Barthel
So thank you so much for being here with us for all these years. We really appreciate you and hope to be able to serve you. And uh, with that
Peggy Barthel
Happy
Tony Barthel
Camping.
Mark Ferrell
We hope you learned a lot and had some fun and got some tips for your next Stressless Camping Adventure. We're honored by your reviews on Apple Podcasts, which helps others find us too. Don't forget to subscribe so you won't miss out on the adventure. And we look forward to your joining us next week. Until then, happy camping.
