Sweet highlights from the Hershey RV Show with Mike Sokol
The Hershey RV Show bills itself as America’s largest RV show and Mike Sokol takes us on a tour of some of the sellers of gadgets and gizmos that he enjoyed finding. Join us on the tour of Hershey. We also have a great gadget and a whole new line of towable RVs from Winnebago.
Other places to hear the podcast
Mentioned on this episode
We really enjoyed our stay at Anchor Meadow Farm
Our discount for Harvest Hosts
Mike Sokol ran into our friends from TechnoRV
Mike stopped by Passport America which is a discount program we really like
Mike saw the folks from AirSkirts whom we’ve interviewed in the past
A company at the show can replace just the mechanism on your RV - JC Refrigeration.
The Hershey RV Show - https://www.stresslesscamping.com/rv-shows-and-rallies/hershey-2023
My article on the Winnebago Access 30BH bunkhouse trailer
Our article on the Bodega 12volt portable cooler
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 transcript of StressLess Camping podcast episode 220
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.
Tony Barthel
Welcome to the Campfire.
Peggy Barthel
I'm Tony. I'm
Tony Barthel
Peggy.
Peggy Barthel
And we're two RV industry veterans who travel part-time
Tony Barthel
In a small trailer
Peggy Barthel
Looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips,
Tony Barthel
Tricks,
Peggy Barthel
And discounts. It
Tony Barthel
Doesn't seem like it's only been two days since we've been home.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. It seems like,
Tony Barthel
Like I was looking at the notes and realized it was just a week ago that we talked with Bill and did that recording.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. From Michigan. That
Tony Barthel
Was only a week ago. <laugh>. Yeah. It's just so crazy
Peggy Barthel
And that it's so crazy
Tony Barthel
Time. We're in like some kind of a time weirdness.
Peggy Barthel
Well, let's do the time warp again. Right. It's just a jump <laugh>
Tony Barthel
To the left. So after we left Michigan and left Bill, we had a couple of stops on the way home and we stopped to see some friends that have left New Mexico and moved to Wisconsin. And then we saw my niece Yep. In Minnesota. So we got some new stickers and then we went to Iowa on the door. Yeah. New stickers on the door of the camper that have the The states. The states that
Peggy Barthel
We've slept in. Yeah. And we saw our nieces in Minnesota and it was the first day of school. So they were off to school.
Tony Barthel
Yes. We got to take pictures on their first day of school. Yeah. And they looked adorable of course. Oh,
Peggy Barthel
Totes. Ados,
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. So when we went to Wisconsin, our friend's driveway has been torn up for some repairs. So we found a harvest host and it was a brewery, just a couple blocks from their house.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. That was the good news. We were gonna stay at a brewery.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. It was awesome. And the instruction said, even if someone doesn't call you directly just come. So I wasn't worried about, you know, just getting there. We got there, I went to check in with the brewery and there was a, they weren't home piece of paper on the door that said, we're closed today. We'll be open tomorrow.
Peggy Barthel
<laugh>, it was Labor Day weekend.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, it was Sunday of Labor Day weekend. And they, for whatever reason something happened, we never found out what, but they didn't open. But, because I had had that note that said, it doesn't matter if we call you just stay. We went ahead and parked and just
Peggy Barthel
Stayed.
Tony Barthel
It felt a little bit weird. We, because we knew we wouldn't be at the camper the whole time we were going to visit our friends. And so we put a note in the windshield and, and by the time we got ready to leave, there was another rig that pulled in and they said two or more of their friends were meeting them. So it ended up, there were four campers in the parking lot of a closed brewery. <laugh>. Yeah. On the day before Labor Day. It was all a kind of a funny situation. But what wasn't funny is that one of those neighbors left their generator on all night long.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. Well, on the make matters worse, they owned an RV dealership and among the brands they sold was Flagstaff. And so we get to talking, oh, we're the brand ambassadors for the Rockwood Mini Light line, which is comparable to the Flagstaff Microlight and we're talking about the power package. And they're like, oh, we've never ordered one of those. We've never even seen one. Yeah. And that's, it's kind of a bummer.
Tony Barthel
So because they don't have any interest or whatever, I mean, you know, maybe I'm making jumps and leaps, but they don't seem to have that much interest in solar. And then they run their generator the entire night. Yeah. All night
Peggy Barthel
Long.
Tony Barthel
Long. Well, in a residential neighborhood, which I'm just, I, I'm bringing this up. Not to say we had bad neighbors, we couldn't hear it 'cause we had our fan running. Yeah. But in a residential neighborhood, if you're staying at a Harvest host or a Boondockers welcome, it's kind of not polite to leave your generator running all that long. Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
These are the types of misbehaving by campers that lose these privileges. For us. For example, we have these like, we call 'em Legos, but they're plastic, I don't know, thingies that we put under our jacks so we don't damage the asphalt. Right. And the tongue Jack as well. And those kind of things to be respectful of somebody letting us stay. And we know of cases where people put, especially the hydraulic jacks on some of the heavier campers like, you know, motor homes and fifth wheels where it's damaged the blacktop.
Peggy Barthel
Do you think that they will ever let others stay there again? Yeah.
Tony Barthel
Those Harvest hosts aren't gonna wanna harvest Host anymore. No. And we didn't get to talk to the brewery 'cause we left before they opened the next day. But I hope that, you know, they didn't get into any trouble with their neighbors. And I guess just really my takeaway is
Peggy Barthel
Don't be a jerk.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Think of others, you know? Yeah. Behave in a way that is nice and kind to everybody, but you know, even with that Harvest Hosts, wow. Yeah. It is such a great program that we really like and we are not gonna stop because we had one weird experience, <laugh>.
Peggy Barthel
Well, and that wasn't Harvest Host's fault. That was No, not at all. That was bad behavior by a camper.
Tony Barthel
Well, and it was strange behavior by a brewery, which, you know Yeah. Like, oh, we didn't open today. And they, who knows, you know, some something bad might've happened.
Peggy Barthel
Maybe they tried too much of their own product and they were kind of feeling funny. <laugh>,
Tony Barthel
Who
Peggy Barthel
Knows? Who knows. But we also had a fantastic experience at a pig farm.
Tony Barthel
We did. Yes. That was the anchor Meadow Farm in boy, what state were we in? Nebraska. <laugh>. Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
Nebraska.
Tony Barthel
You know, piggies are so darn cute. And they have, I think it's called Coy coy pigs. And they're, they make like really good meat and they're just adorable.
Peggy Barthel
Sorry, pigs. I mean, enjoy your time in the field. 'cause it's bacon tomorrow,
Tony Barthel
Man. When she opened the store and Tony opened the freezer, we got like one of everything. Pork chops and bacon and sausage and <laugh>. Just
Peggy Barthel
Everything. And yeah. So delicious. It was, and just such fantastic hosts. I mean, they were warm and gracious and it was a beautiful spot on a patch of grass right near where the piggies were. We got to see the piggies. Yeah. We got to eat the piggies <laugh>. It was just a first rate experience. And they also sell their meat by mail order. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, if that's something you're interested in. But these are the kind of experiential things that make Harvest hosts such a wonderful program.
Peggy Barthel
You know, it's part of why we like it so much and continue to use Harvest Host because we go to places we might not otherwise have been to. Right. And there's no charge for camping. The way Harvest Host works is you get an annual Harvest host membership and they put you in touch with all these great places. And then the expectation is that perhaps you want to patronize the business. And boy did we ever
Tony Barthel
Patronize boy, we patronize that business. Yeah. And we absolutely would've patronized the brewery. That's what felt a little awkward about, you know, we were gonna, our friends were gonna pick us up, we were gonna go over to their house and barbecue and we expected to buy enough beer for everybody and we didn't get to at all. Yeah. And take to home and all of that.
Peggy Barthel
So,
Tony Barthel
So that just means we have to go back
Peggy Barthel
Indeed. Right? Yes, we do. So I, and if assuming they're open,
Tony Barthel
Maybe we'll stay for like two days somewhere else next time. Yeah. There actually is a campground in that town, but it was full. So, because as I said, when there was no one there to actually say welcome, we felt a little bit awkward staying there.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. And, and that's not at all usual, but we do have a discount if you want That's right. To join Harvest Hosts and maybe see us out there. The campground in town was full, but no worries. We found a har well Peggy found a Harvest host <laugh> and it was an awesome experience other than, you know, generator Jenny or whatever. But <laugh> not, not at all. Typical. Right. As you know, we kind of are a little bit nutty about solar and all of that. So more on that later, but without any further ado,
Tony Barthel
So we are back in New Mexico. Yeah. And we, maybe someday we'll stay that far east to where we can actually stop by the Herhey RV show. Oh, I
Peggy Barthel
Hope we do.
Tony Barthel
Because it's only, I guess, three weeks after the Frog rally <laugh>. Next year maybe we'll stay out that direction and visit Hershey. But this year of course we're home because we're getting ready for Balloon Fiesta
Peggy Barthel
And all Tony's going to,
Tony Barthel
Going back to open house and I'm going to California and you know, it just didn't work out this year. But our friend Mike Soel is at the Hershey RV show. And so we asked Mike if we could call him and he could kinda walk around and tell us what he was seeing.
Peggy Barthel
We are very happy to welcome back our good friend, the one and only the king of the RV electricity, Mr. Mike Soel, who happens to be at, what do they call it? America's largest RV show.
Mike Sokol
America's largest RV show. But they fight with, with the Tampa show all the time. Right.
Tony Barthel
<laugh>,
Mike Sokol
I'm calling this the largest one 'cause I just had to walk through the crowd to get in here <laugh>. It's pretty darn big.
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. And that's in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Right? Just so we all know
Mike Sokol
It is in Hershey, Pennsylvania. <laugh> and ride across the parking lot. You could still ride the, uh, the roller coasters just in case you want a little more thrills. Oh.
Peggy Barthel
And can you get a good, well, can you get a Hershey's chocolate bar?
Mike Sokol
They give you one when you check in. Every hotel has them. Nice. That's really, and every table has, you'll be so sick of chocolate by the time you're outta here, <laugh>. But, uh, all good.
Peggy Barthel
So, chocolate and RVs, the Hershey RV show, for those who who aren't familiar with it, has been described as a real sellers show, as a place to go to get RVs and RV stuff and RV stuff, I think is what we're gonna focus on. 'cause Mike's literally there on the show floor. So we're gonna talk about some of the cool stuff that Mike has seen thus far.
Mike Sokol
Right. And the last two days have been basically just industry days. So I've been teaching, uh, technicians on Monday and Tuesday. Today's the first time they've let the masses in. And the show just started a little bit ago. It started at nine. So I'm gonna take a little walk around here and talk about some of the things that I've seen already. That's pretty darn interesting. I think, of course I focus on electrical, but Chris Dougherty is doing a thing on, uh, sewage essentials for all of you guys that are interested in sewage.
Mike Sokol
I know that's a big deal. <laugh>. I try to stay away from sewage as much as possible. <laugh>, that's just me.
Peggy Barthel
And I've seen a few interesting things. So the RV industry loves LinkedIn for whatever reason. And so yeah, the updates I've seen on LinkedIn are pretty interesting. So we'll ask Mike about some of that too. Right.
Mike Sokol
So now the other thing that's interesting, I was just at the GE profile booth. They have a, uh, a new GE GE profile with a, uh, a 12 volt DC compressor in it, which looks pretty darn interesting. Apparently there was a problem, somebody had accidentally hooked it up to 120 volts in Friday. Earlier. Well, yesterday. Well, that's not good. That's not good. But they've got, uh, new stoves, new microwaves, a high-end mixer. And, you know, it looks like this looks like restaurant grade stuff for RVs. I guess some people wanna have restaurant grade, commercial grade cookware in there to entice their, their significant other.
Mike Sokol
So, and, but it looks like I've made a good connection here. They may send me some stuff to play with to try. Nice. It actually has this looks like cappuccino maker over my shoulder here.
Peggy Barthel
Oh. Oh man. Now is the mixer, you're talking like a, a stabbing mixer type of thing, or,
Mike Sokol
So, I mean, it's a real heavy duty guy. It would be hard to entice my son, the culinary chef and pastry chef to give up his, um, his real mixers as it were. But he would try any of this stuff. Yeah. So this is, and, and, and the ice maker is really cool. I thought it was plastic beans in it. Put this real water turned into ice. I actually tried it. It's not chemicals, so Oh. It just, it just dripped down. So it's these microchips. Wow. I'm gonna get more information on this.
Mike Sokol
You know, I already have 12 volt refrigerators from, with the Danfoss compressors from Vi Frigo and Dometic. I might as well get a GE profile to play with. It should be interesting. I have a, my, my kitchen, my wife's kitchen. I'm just the care caretaker. She's got GE profile appliances throughout that. She loves that stuff. So, um, stuff, she's always up for an, always up for an experiment.
Peggy Barthel
Now the new fridge, is it like a new model that they've come out with and does it have a variable speed, I think compressor and all that?
Mike Sokol
It's, oh yeah. It's supposed to have, that's what they're telling me that it, it's, they say that it's got a danfo, it's a 12 volt, uh, direct drive compressor, uh, compressor in it. We shall see. I will get more information on this later. It's zero clearance, you know, does it
Tony Barthel
Have a positive latch so that when we're driving down the road it doesn't pop open?
Mike Sokol
It does. Okay. It does have <laugh>. It does have the latch. You do thing on it like that. Right. <affirmative>, there you go. I've got something that wants to help. Uh, Jennifer, are you now my, my model <laugh>. Um, or he look all of these guys, they're all coming over to see what the heck I'm doing. <laugh>. I'm actually talking to somebody in New Mexico and from there, the world <laugh> little. Yeah. So it's got a turbo cool function. And so that turbo cool. If you fill it up, it'll cool down your refrigerator. How fast if we filled this up with beer, right.
Mike Sokol
<laugh>, how long would it take? Because Tony and I both do beer. I don't have the time measurement, but it'll do it faster than any other refrigerator on the market. He, he's claiming chilling beer down faster than any other refrigerator on the market. I'm saying that demands a test.
Peggy Barthel
I think so. My question is cool is how is the compressor, 'cause so many of us like camping off the grid. Is it more efficient than the
Mike Sokol
Previous one? This supposed to be, right? It's supposed to be a, it's supposed to be. But again, they're engineering's supposed to contact me and gimme more numbers on actual jewels used over, you know, depending, depending on delta t. I just, I just threw that out there to scare everybody. <laugh>, those are real words. That is real engineering jus of course is wack. You can convert that into watt hours or kilowatt hours. And delta T is just how warm it is outside. All good. Yeah. Let me keep walking. This is my friends at techno rv. Oh, hey. Yeah. So I'm gonna get ready. They, I've got some of the new navigation stuff that they, they just sent me the other day.
Mike Sokol
Oops. I'm I'm going backwards here. There we go. There we go. Uh, they got a bunch of other stuff here. So I know that they've got, um, I've got all the search guard products and everything. So, um, I'll be back and get some individual shots on this later.
Peggy Barthel
We really like Eric and Tammy Johnson and what they do. Eric
Mike Sokol
And Tammy are fabulous. And plus what they've done is a lot of times they'll run, um, some of my own articles, uh, on their own thing. So here is the guys from Micro Air. Easy start.
Peggy Barthel
Good old, easy start. How guys, for our audience who's not aware of the easy start, it basically evens out that hard start in an air conditioner so that it's easier to run, let's say on a smaller generator or even a battery. Yeah.
Mike Sokol
I've done tons and tons of tests. I've done hundreds, thousands of tests with this kind of stuff. So I am now kind of the defacto expert on how in the world the soft starters work. Oh, some flag poles. Oh look, they got the flag poles with the, um, the blinky lights going
Tony Barthel
On. Oh, starlink on.
Mike Sokol
I don't know if it's starlink. It's just Oh, thanks.
Tony Barthel
Oh, the light. See the thing
Mike Sokol
Blinking
Tony Barthel
Up there. Okay. Right. No, I see a starlink. There's a starlink at the top of one of them. Have you ever
Speaker 6
Used this product before?
Mike Sokol
Can you hear her at all?
Peggy Barthel
Yes,
Mike Sokol
A little bit. Okay. So, so, so basically she wants Good say goodbye to dry skin. Yes. Are you gonna rub some on me? I sure can. Okay. She's gonna rub. What, what do you mean? No, I've got, I've got a a, a good, good looking blonde here that wants to rub something on me. <laugh>, I
Tony Barthel
Didn't say no, say
Mike Sokol
Go ahead. Let me see. Alright, so say, so let tell
Speaker 6
You what this is.
Mike Sokol
Okay, go quickly. So
Speaker 6
Barbara just
Mike Sokol
Oh, neat.
Speaker 6
So goes right into the basal layer of your skin. It's helping a feel.
Mike Sokol
So she's using technical words like basil layer. This is good stuff. I'll be back later. I'm just doing a little remote.
Peggy Barthel
Is that any need relation to Basil, faulty <laugh>?
Mike Sokol
What? I, I'm, I'm I'm missing the reference here. Not sure.
Peggy Barthel
Oh, it's so Faulty Towers was the
Mike Sokol
Tv. Oh, I could get some Botox. I, I, they actually have a Botox booth. Wow. I don't have any wrinkles yet. <laugh>, so I don't need Botox. Look at that. Yeah. I mean, bragging. It could happen next year. I could just go wrinkles. Jimmy
Peggy Barthel
Buffet said the wrinkles only go where the smiles have been.
Tony Barthel
But this tells me that this is not super, super all technical show. Like that's of course what you're interested in. You're gonna see, but there's hand creams and Botox and probably Wings and <laugh>.
Mike Sokol
Oh yeah. There's, there's everything. I, I think this show is for everybody. It really is. I mean, I tend to focus on electrical and technical stuff, but that's just me. Right. But anytime I see something, okay, so there's, you know, they, they've got all kinds of hitches down here. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, superior Design, Matlock trailer locks, all those are locks for hitches. Oh. Um, and basically what I'm doing is I'm walking around the, like the second story floor. This is where all the food stuff is. <laugh>. I'm gonna loop all the way around here and then see if I can get down to the many, the bottom floor passport America.
Mike Sokol
Yeah. There's a lot of these. It's, you know, see America kind of a thing. I got purses. I got my wife one of these hip clips last year to stick her phone in. Oh yeah. Which
Tony Barthel
Is outdoors.
Mike Sokol
Yeah. Actually I really like that. So it was really kind of cool.
Peggy Barthel
We interviewed the folks from Passport America and it's, we've actually used it. We saved a lot of money on this recent trip. Yes. It's one of those, you know, a lot of times you hear about those programs where it's like, yeah, yeah. Save half. Sure. And then it doesn't really play out. You know, it's like on the, on the third Wednesday of February. <laugh> on a leap year. But no, it actually, I mean, we legitimately saved a bunch of money on this most recent trip.
Tony Barthel
Right. And different parks are gonna have different rules. So maybe some of them only allow it on the fifth Wednesday of each leap year. <laugh>, but <laugh>. But there are, well look at this. A lot of parks Tupperware.
Mike Sokol
I'm in the Tupperware booth. Look at, I
Tony Barthel
Love that
Mike Sokol
Tupperware is still alive. And it is, it is the most colorful stuff. I mean, this is really, really cool.
Tony Barthel
I always manage to find something at Tupperware.
Mike Sokol
Yeah. I'm just basically doing the quick walkthrough right now. Yeah. Just for you guys. And then I will be here for five more days. I will have plenty of time.
Tony Barthel
People will get us on Thursday, September 14th, 2023. And the show will go until Sunday, September 17th, 2023. We try to throw in times there. So if someone watches this in a year or two, they aren't disappointed that it's not going on or something. But
Peggy Barthel
You can always find all of the RV shows across the country@stresslesscamping.com on our RV show calendar. Right.
Mike Sokol
So I'm gonna come back and look at this later. So they've got a, this is a really interesting demo. So the TIVA heater, indoor outdoor, and the one right here that's over my shoulder is cold blowing on me. And the one over here is hotter than h
Tony Barthel
Wow. Mm-hmm.
Mike Sokol
<affirmative> blowing on me. So it's um, like a little bit of each kind of a thing. It's gonna be interesting to see how well that all works.
Tony Barthel
That's like the same kind of unit. Yeah.
Mike Sokol
It looks the same unit. It looks like you can, you can use
Tony Barthel
This. So these guys
Mike Sokol
Here, just real quick, I can turn this into a heater or a cooler. What about, oh, this is the infrared that I'm feeling. Ah, I was in infrared mode. I get it. Okay. These are the cooling mode. See, all the illusion is complete
Tony Barthel
<laugh>.
Mike Sokol
Okay. I know about infrared heaters. I'll be talking about that stuff after bit. Oh, you can get a back massage here. Hey. Not to somebody to rub stuff outskirts. I wanted to talk to these guys. I'll talk to them later this week. And the air skirts are where you inflate these things underneath your rv RV to keep the air from underneath of 'em. So a lot of people are in real trouble because in the winter, you know, you lose half your heat out to the floor underneath.
Peggy Barthel
They also make, which we've tried an inflatable ice chest. That's right.
Tony Barthel
Oh,
Peggy Barthel
Neat. And we have one of those and it works well.
Tony Barthel
And if you don't need entire skirts, they make ones that will go into the vent hole.
Peggy Barthel
Oh yeah. Into the, into your overhead vent to plug in. Yeah.
Mike Sokol
So the guys at IDE left. Let me, uh, monitor one of the classes yesterday or Monday. And I, I, I was interested in this. This will be this X Brace stabilizer, the show. I bet you that would work on my Geo Pro. It would. 'cause it gets a little wobbly when I'm dancing around in there. <laugh>. And because we do disco dancing.
Tony Barthel
Oh,
Mike Sokol
He says, of course. What Eves what Eves It's, it's really kind of interesting 'cause it like cross braces the thing to keep the thing from sideways shaking. Right. But, uh, I'll come back and do a little more on that later.
Peggy Barthel
We had that on the summer trailer.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. In our summer trailer that got rear-ended. We had those and they were great. Did
Mike Sokol
You, you had, did you like Yeah. You liked those? Yeah,
Tony Barthel
We liked 'em. They were experimental kind of prototypes at the time. And then the trailer got rear-ended and we lost it. So we don't have those anymore. Okay.
Mike Sokol
So I'm walking by the RV shop, looping around. So this is actually, this is a really big shot now. I haven't even gone outside, outside. I could walk all day and not go down the same aisle twice. It's really that big.
Peggy Barthel
There are vendors outside as well, plus of course, thousands of RVs. Oh.
Mike Sokol
Thousands and thousands. There's some shots that you can get of, uh, these things, you know, with the overheads. And it is amazing how much, here's my good friends over at Truman, uh, that I've been, uh, experimenting with. I think this stuff is great. Uh, the event to stuff is really so quiet. I'm hoping to do an upgrade soon on my, uh, geo Pro because I can't take the noise of the stock air conditioner. Plus this stuff's really, really efficient.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. It's not just quieter and significantly so, but it's more efficient and it has a dehumidifier. Yeah.
Mike Sokol
It's, it's a really, really interesting kinda thing. Uh, you know, on my Geo Pro with a, with all the Master Bolt stuff on it, I can run that air conditioner four to five hours just off the battery. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I'm hoping to squeeze an extra hour or two out of this when I swap and put in the aventa from Truman.
Peggy Barthel
And when we were at the Frog rally, Mike scored an event to
Tony Barthel
<laugh>.
Mike Sokol
Yeah. Baby <laugh>. So I make friends everywhere.
Tony Barthel
We thought dehumidifiers were kind of a weird option. Like who? Caress because we're from New Mexico, but when we were traveling Oh yeah. There's
Mike Sokol
No humidity there.
Tony Barthel
We were traveling through, you know, Indiana and Michigan over the last few weeks and now we understand why they're a big deal <laugh>.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. We would've been pleased with that.
Mike Sokol
Yeah. So what I do in mine at home, I put in a mini split, uh, last year. I'm in Maryland, humidity's pretty high. I actually capture the condensate into a 50 gallon drum Hmm. That we use for watering the lawn. I get up to 10 gallons of condensate a day. It looks like I've come full circle. I'm gonna go downstairs for a minute if you guys will. Yeah. Stick with me. So this is just the upstairs loop thing.
Peggy Barthel
Do you know where Dometic is?
Mike Sokol
Yes. Yes. Eva had already left as of yesterday, so I didn't get to see her. Oh. Well I had to run back home and pick up some sponsor swag stuff. <laugh>. So I missed her yesterday. 'cause you know, I've al I was teaching Monday and Tuesday already. Let me see if I can make it down from here. I think I can speak over. Excuse me. Can I see through here? I've got these, uh, apple iPods in the latest pro stuff.
Mike Sokol
It almost does a little too much room cancellation. <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
It's
Mike Sokol
Amazing how, how people could be walking up to me and shouting at me and I could just look at 'em like, you know, that kind of a thing.
Peggy Barthel
It's amazing how good the audio is considering you're walking around with a, with a phone and earbuds. I'm
Mike Sokol
Walking around with a phone on a cellular connection. Yeah. That is the craziest thing. Okay. So I'm almost down here. I'm trying not to fall down the steps. That would be a really, really good video.
Peggy Barthel
<laugh> Well, you could go on the TikTok channel. We or the shows people like that.
Mike Sokol
We, I'm trying not trying to avoid that. And I'm gonna loop once around the bottom here. Look at this. Look at this. P R B C A booth. See this guy Right, right here. It looks like it's a camper. Yeah. Uhhuh <affirmative>. Look, they actually have, look at this. I don't have my front camera working on this. It's got a fake fire. Can you see the fake fire? Yeah. And it's a fake rv. All of this is fake. Every everything is fake. I will return, we're we're brought, we're going through New Mexico right now. Okay. So we're on fantasy tours. Easy mover, escapees, RV club's.
Mike Sokol
Got a booth. And this is the main floor. I'm just spinning around here.
Peggy Barthel
It looks like there's like a, like a sta it's a stadium, maybe a hockey stadium or something. This
Mike Sokol
Is where you, I would be playing hockey if I in fact could play ho hockey or even ice skate. But I can do neither.
Peggy Barthel
You have far too many teeth to be a hockey player. <laugh>.
Mike Sokol
That's right. And, and I don't need that talent. I think I tried, uh, ice skating one time when I was probably like in fifth or sixth grade and they had a fire off to the side. Of course I skated right into the fire 'cause I couldn't stop. Oh boy. <laugh>. And then I figured, I figured that was the hint. So let's see here. Better than tens. They've got all kinds of therapy sessions here. Yeah. I mean, I, I gotta tell you, this will be here all week. If anyone wants to come out to 'em.
Tony Barthel
It's kind of embarrassing to say that almost every one of those booths that you've stopped at, we've purchased something from <laugh>.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah, that's actually true.
Tony Barthel
<laugh>,
Mike Sokol
What can I say? Uh, Bluetooth locks. What's supposed to say. Turn your phone into a key fob. Okay. Um, I'm gonna come back and talk to the guys at, um, lion Energy. Oh, after a little bit here. Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
Our buddy Dave. So they,
Mike Sokol
They've got a nice, got a big booth here. Right. I'm gonna go talk to these guys guys and uh, get more info. People have got generators out here. Oh, you got Snap Padd. Oh, you guys know me? Yeah. I'm Mike Sole. Everybody knows Mike Sole. I, I'm infamous. I can't, I can't do anything bad anymore. I used to be able to be bad and anonymous. Now I'm bad. And not anonymous.
Peggy Barthel
You're bad And infamous. Yeah.
Mike Sokol
Whatevs <laugh>. Good thing is still not the seventies.
Peggy Barthel
So it sounds like a very, very large version of the Quartzite Sports vacation and RV show. Yeah, it
Mike Sokol
Is. And look at these, these little tent things. These look fabulous. Oh, we love
Peggy Barthel
Those. We bought one of those. There's all kind at, uh, the Frog Rally.
Mike Sokol
How much stuff do you have, Tony?
Tony Barthel
Too much. I told you we buy something everywhere. <laugh>. We always buy things.
Mike Sokol
We buy some everywhere. I am loving this little screened in thing. This is actually, we
Peggy Barthel
Bought one from Lippert at the Frog Rally. Right. And boy, we sure like it, it came in handy. Keeps the bugs out. And it's very, very quick and easy to set up.
Mike Sokol
I'm loving that. 'cause you know, I may be doing some demo stuff next year. I'll have to check this out where I, you know, I wanna be able to do some small classes. One thing that I found at the, um, Luma Palooza was, it should have been called Illumina Yellow Jackets.
Peggy Barthel
Oh. Oh
Mike Sokol
Boy. Because there were yellow jackets everywhere throughout that thing. So basically, uh, yeah, here we are at Dometic, at the Dometic booth over here. Before
Tony Barthel
You go too far. What brand were those tents? 'cause I, I don't think it was Lipper. Right. Let me go,
Mike Sokol
Let me, you're making me walk backwards here. <laugh>,
Peggy Barthel
You know. Well, because
Mike Sokol
About we're brand these 10
Tony Barthel
Because we talked about Lipper. We don't wanna misguide people that you know and say that that's what they are there.
Mike Sokol
Whose tens are these? Oh, it is a Lipper. It's a Lipper
Tony Barthel
Tent. Oh's.
Peggy Barthel
That's what we have.
Tony Barthel
Campers Inn is like its own miniature RV show because they have all kinds of accessories and fun things that you can buy from different brands. So, okay, good.
Peggy Barthel
So, you know Right. What we like about that thing that we bought, it makes camping. What's that? Intense. Oh
Tony Barthel
Boy. Oh, <laugh>.
Mike Sokol
Look at that. I'm sitting in a big easy chair. Yep. Yeah. Big old easy chair. Hey, these things are
Tony Barthel
Nice. Yeah, they are <laugh>.
Mike Sokol
Oh man. My wife had promised me a recliner for the house.
Tony Barthel
There
Mike Sokol
You go. Really Great. We, we see. So yeah, all the Go Power stuff is here.
Peggy Barthel
There is a, a new air conditioner that they're showing at Dometic and I'm curious about that. And they're also showing new toilets. Ah,
Mike Sokol
Do you guys have the new air conditioner, the new Dometic air conditioner at the show here? Not, not yet. Not yet. Okay. So, ah, fingers crossed. Toes crossed. Fingers crossed. Okay, good. So yeah, nothing, nothing on that yet. But that's gonna be, they said coming soon. Hopefully I'll be back and get some individual interviews and whatnot. Oh, RV lock. No keys, no problem.
Tony Barthel
Oh, we love that too. Yeah. Oh, I
Mike Sokol
See. So what do you guys got are the key Los Keyless RV lock? We're net casting through New Mexico right now. Awesome. Cool. Awesome.
Peggy Barthel
<laugh>. Well, and you can tell them that we bought one of their locks at the Quartzite Show.
Mike Sokol
Oh. And so Tony Bartell from Stressless Camping bought one of your locks At which show? At the Quartzite show. The Qua Show. Yeah. He's already got one. Really?
Tony Barthel
We met those girls. Yeah, we met
Peggy Barthel
Those ladies.
Mike Sokol
They met the girls. Did you? You guys looked earlier. Yeah. So that, there, there they are. Right? Yep. We're just doing an experiment to see how this works. This is, this works amazingly well, just on a cellular connection. How cool. Bouncing across the country. Okay. GT 2000, uh, purification systems. More RV resort stuff. RV life. You know, they've got all their stuff out here.
Tony Barthel
Oh yeah. No good. Yep.
Mike Sokol
Ohio Travel. I'm trying not to run into anybody. 'cause again, when I spin around <laugh>, I had no audio reference in the room. Right. Okay. So I have made the full loop here. You have any final questions before I sign off and head up? Well,
Peggy Barthel
I saw you pass a company that I'm familiar with that replaces RV refrigerator systems. So you can either get a whole refrigerator
Mike Sokol
Oh, JC Refrigeration. Ah.
Peggy Barthel
These guys will replace the gas absorption mechanism at the back of the fridge. And it's an Amish company and they're terrific.
Mike Sokol
Yes, I see that.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. JC Refrigeration, if your refrigerator fails and you have a gas absorption fridge, they can either replace the mechanism or replace it with a compressor system or just replace the whole darn fridge. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
Sometimes the problem with replacing fridges is getting 'em through the door. So if there's an option where you don't have to take the fridge out the door, then that's a great option.
Mike Sokol
Yeah. I've seen this where they, but you basically have to pull the darn slide out. Yeah,
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. Slides or windshield
Mike Sokol
Completely off the side of the thing to get the refrigerator out or
Tony Barthel
The windshield of a Class A Oh,
Mike Sokol
The windshield. I'm like, you gotta take the windshield out to get the refrigerator. This is just scary. Yeah. That's like, uh, I lived out a third story apartment. Somebody wanted to give me a um, an eight foot grand piano <laugh>. I really looked to see what it would take to get a crane to take it into the window. Yeah. My landlord said, are you freaking crazy? No way. <laugh>. It would've been free.
Peggy Barthel
What you'd need is it just a catapult? And somebody with really good aim
Tony Barthel
<laugh>,
Mike Sokol
You only get one shot. Right. Okay. So I am back to the main thing. I'm all done here. You done with me? Well,
Peggy Barthel
Quick question. Any highlights, any synopsis of Hershey?
Mike Sokol
Not just yet. It looked like I said, uh, huge crowds. I will know at the end of the day. You know, this is all driven by how many tens of thousands of people show up for this thing. It looks like, uh, there's a lot of happy people. People, you know, last year we were still in pandemic mode. Oh. Right Now everybody is out here. It looks really, really good. But again, this is the first day, the first morning of the actual consumer show.
Tony Barthel
And you are indoors where all the vendors are. But then outside I assume, or in a different building. I'll walk
Mike Sokol
Outside for a second.
Tony Barthel
There's a whole bunch of marvs for sale. Right.
Peggy Barthel
Well and more vendors. And
Tony Barthel
More. Oh. And more vendors.
Mike Sokol
And more vendors. Okay. Spartan's out here. I mean, let me get out here where I can just kind of do a loop around.
Tony Barthel
It's like a beautiful day.
Mike Sokol
Oh it really is. Great. Liners out here. Do medic outdoors. It's got a thing happening.
Tony Barthel
Maybe another screen tent there. <laugh>
Mike Sokol
You can see dealer after dealer after dealer after dealer after dealer after
Tony Barthel
Deal. Okay. Fantastic.
Mike Sokol
I mean, it's just massive. If you don't have an RV and you're curious, this is where you satisfy your curiosity. If you already have an RV and you wanna upgrade, this is where you can see where the upgrades are. So there you go. And and it's the sweetest place on earth. That's right. Hershey, the sweetest place on earth in
Peggy Barthel
Hershey. Mike, it was sweet of you to take some of your time. Mike's teaching classes there. That's
Mike Sokol
I am, I'm so darn sweet. <laugh>
Peggy Barthel
<laugh>.
Mike Sokol
That's why I tell my wife I don't want to go out in the rain 'cause I'm sugar. I might melt.
Peggy Barthel
That's right. There you go. <laugh>.
Mike Sokol
Alright guys, I better, I better shut down 'cause I gotta go set up for my class.
Tony Barthel
Mike, thank you for taking your time. Thank you for showing us around a little bit. You're you're
Mike Sokol
Very, very welcome. And I think we're gonna try to do the opposite of this with Tony next week. 'cause you're gonna be at, uh, open house, right, Tony? Right? Yes, I am. <laugh>. We'll give, we'll give it a whir there. All right. Thanks very much guys. Thank you.
Tony Barthel
Bye Mike.
Peggy Barthel
That's some of what Mike got to see. There are thousands of RVs. One of the nice things about Hershey is, and this is not something that Mike got to see because he was in where the, the goodies all are. Yeah. The gadget stuff. The gadget stuff. But there are a lot of manufacturers who actually go out there. So if you have actual questions or you're looking to buy a specific RV or any of that, the manufacturers are there to answer questions. It's just a neat show. We have not been, but we do intend to go at some point.
Peggy Barthel
But in the meantime, we, we have our buddies like Mike who are coming to us from the Hershey show. Yeah. Earlier we talked about the fact that we really enjoy harvest hosts and boondocking. And part of what makes that possible is our master volt power system that was put together by A, B, C Upfitters. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. We just spoke with somebody who is headed to A B, C Upfitters. Right. To get their system installed. We've talked to a lot of people recently who did not go to a B, C Upfitters and had a pretty miserable experience.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah, yeah. And it's really unfortunate. We know more than a few people who their systems kind of don't work or just don't work or it's fiddly or whatnot. And one of the reasons that we continually advocate seeing a, B, C Upfitters is their systems just work
Tony Barthel
And everything works together. There's no like, well this isn't the right size of power of blahdi blah to fit with the bludi blue. Right. <laugh>, you know, all the pieces are actually designed to work together. Somebody said, oh, we had 500 amps of solar on our roof, but only 300 were allowed to be used. So what's the point in having 500 if your controller thing only allows 300 <laugh>, Peggy, tell
Peggy Barthel
Peggy
Tony Barthel
Those tech terms. You can tell I know those tech terms <laugh>. Well
Peggy Barthel
And and that's another good thing, right? I mean if you've been listening or reading our articles or any of that stuff long enough, you know, I am a total nerd and Peggy is a normal human being. <laugh>. And when Peggy took the camper out, this stuff just worked. She didn't have to Oh,
Tony Barthel
I don't, don't have to know. And I don't have to know how to adjust the fiddly D to work with the blah blah blah <laugh>. Exactly.
Peggy Barthel
And that's one of the nice things. A B, C Outfitters engineers, these complete solutions to just work and puts in the right size of wiring and the right controllers and all of these pieces. And that's part of why we enjoy working with them is this stuff just works.
Tony Barthel
Yes.
Peggy Barthel
You can see a, B, C upfitters. We put links in our show notes. We have videos that we've shot with them. Or you can just give them a call at five seven four two nine three nine three nine nine five seven four two nine three nine three nine nine.
Tony Barthel
If you've looked at their website before, go check it out. It looks a little different. Yeah. They
Peggy Barthel
Upgraded
Tony Barthel
It. It looks nice.
Peggy Barthel
A B C Upfitters upgraded their website even. Oh. Fit their fit.
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. <laugh>. I like that picture at the bottom with the
Peggy Barthel
Exploded view.
Tony Barthel
Exploded view. Yeah. Mike saw a lot of gadgets. But we have a gadget we can talk about, right? Yes
Peggy Barthel
We do. Have you ever heard of a backseat driver
Tony Barthel
<laugh>?
Peggy Barthel
We all have, right? Well we have a backseat companion that was with us on our whole trip. That's right. And that is the bodega TW 45 powered cooler.
Tony Barthel
And it hardly ever told us we were going the wrong way. Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
All it did was keep the food cold.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, that was great. We loved to have snacks, especially when we've been to Yoders and ship Shiwana. Oh my gosh. We had string cheese and beef sticks pretty much every day on our drive home. Yeah. That would be our lunch or our snack. And you don't want those, like if they're just warm sitting in the truck. No
Peggy Barthel
Food poisoning is not fun on vacation. No. But also I like carbonated water. I call it fizzy water. And we kept those in the cooler too. The bodega cooler is a 12 volt cooler. I know we have mentioned our Dometic portable 12 volt cooler in the past. That is a very large cooler. This one is considerably smaller. It does use an app if you choose to, to control the functions. And what we like about this is it's small enough to fit in the backseat of the truck, but it has two compartments that you can set the temperatures individually.
Peggy Barthel
So you could have one freezer, one refrigerator, two refrigerator, two freezer, whatever you choose. And you can either set that with an app or with the control panel just right on the fridge. And it runs on 12 volt power or household 120 volt power. It's a very efficient cooler.
Peggy Barthel
We were running it on a solar generator for a portion of the trip. We will do a review of that solar generator in the future. Gosh. A cooler. I mean it was quiet. It cools down very quickly. If you have it, you know, just unplugged. We use it even for Costco runs. Yeah. And you go to Costco and let's say you buy ice cream or things that need to stay at refrigerator temperature. No problem. Plugs right into the cigarette lighter and keeps everything cold.
Peggy Barthel
And it's just a really good size. It has metal wire baskets that fit into the two compartments. So you could just lift out a basket and take the stuff out if you want. The larger of, there are two compartments, one larger, one smaller. The larger of the two baskets has a drain plug. So if you wanna clean it out or if something spills, no problem.
Peggy Barthel
It also has an integrated cutting board on the lid of this thing, which we found was fiddly in that it fell off all the time. So it didn't really stay up. That was kind of a downside. But on the subject of the lid, it can be reversed. So you could, if you need to put the cooler in the backseat, so the lid opens one way and it happens to be the other, it's, it's really easy to reconfigure. I also like that this has an extending handle and it has another handle at the back so you can lift it, but it also has rubberized wheels.
Peggy Barthel
So if it's full of beer as our cooler is at the moment, you can just drag it around by the handle and there's wheels on the back and uh, works really, really well. So the only downside, like I said, of this cooler is that cutting board.
Peggy Barthel
But it is kind of cool that it's there and it fits into the top of the lid. So if you want to use the cutting board, you can just take it out and pop it onto the top of the lid and cut limes or <laugh> tomatoes or whatever it is. This cooler definitely does cut the mustard. And the build quality I thought was really, really good on this. So, uh, it's a bodega t WW 45 portable 12 vol ice chest. And again, another nice thing about these portable powered coolers is that you don't need ice anymore and so your sandwiches won't get soggy.
Peggy Barthel
Right. I really like these things. It's one of my favorite types of gadgets.
Tony Barthel
So would you need a bodega cooler if you were using your RV of the week?
Peggy Barthel
Potentially. Okay. I mean, it works with our rv. Right. So maybe with these two. And so something that we are seeing as a trend in the RV industry are less expensive. RVs and RV companies are coming about this in different ways. Some of them are taking their existing, okay, well let's back up a bit. During C O V I D, they could sell anything they could build. Sure. Right. I mean if they built it, they would sell it.
Peggy Barthel
So the RV companies then saw that knowing that people were gonna buy anything and they built more and more features into the RVs. And as such, the prices went up and up and up. Now material costs also went up and up and up. But these RVs were becoming more and more elaborate and more features and more this and more that. So the price went up.
Peggy Barthel
Well come to today and we're finding that there is a new focus on more affordable RVs. So there are sort of two ways the RV companies are approaching this. One is to take their existing RVs and what they call de contenting them. Mm-hmm. In other words, taking stuff out. And the other way is to create lines that are less expensive to build. And that's something Winnebago did with their new access travel trailers.
Peggy Barthel
The access line is a stick and tin or wood framed aluminum sided travel trailer, which is the least expensive way to build travel trailers. Yeah. They have this whole new line, the Winnebago access. The nice thing is they don't really feel cheap. They have a nice feel to the interior. In fact, it's kind of grand designy. And if you don't know, Winnebago owns Grand Design. So it kind of feels like a grand design product on the inside.
Peggy Barthel
And Grand Design already makes a line of stick and tin trailers and Winnebago has taken that lead. So they use a thicker aluminum on the aluminum siding and it's a smooth nose that's again, even thicker still. And so a lot of higher quality build features in a trailer that is more affordable. Right. Some of the interesting things that I saw, Winnebago did no ovens in these Winnebago access trailers. Huh.
Peggy Barthel
What they did is they still have the three burner cooktop, but they use a convection microwave. Oh.
Peggy Barthel
Honestly, I think that might be better.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, I can see that. I mean it's what we do in the house. Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
Right. <laugh>, I mean apparently those RV ovens are rather pricey. And a lot of manufacturers have come to the conclusion that people don't really use them, especially the 17 inch oven. Sure. The one in particular that I looked at was the 30 bh, which is a bunk model and it's a floor plan that's very common. But one of the neat things I like doing is seeing how different companies approach the same idea. Uhhuh <affirmative>, for example, the back of the Winnebago, typically when you have a bunkhouse, the back is, you know, two bunks and curtains.
Peggy Barthel
Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and this, they put a door. Oh. So that's
Tony Barthel
Kind neat.
Peggy Barthel
However, that means you can't really get to it with the slide in. Oh. So you know, sort of different sides to the coin.
Tony Barthel
So it's actually kind of more of a room than just beds. Yeah,
Peggy Barthel
It's, it's, it's a little bit of a room, a really nice bathroom and nice living spaces in this. I think they did a really good job. I like the way the bedroom is configured. They have a neat space sort of ahead of the closets that are on either side of the bed. It's pretty substantial in size. Also, it's a proper queen bed. And the bedroom too has a door. So lots of kinda higher end features on a trailer that's not at the top of the market in terms of price.
Peggy Barthel
A new line from Winnebago, we'll keep looking at it. I'll point a link to the review I wrote of it, which will be on RV travel.com. Not Stressless camping. I post reviews there. Of course I have reviews on Stressless camping and all of that. So Winnebago access line.
Tony Barthel
Excellent. So my segue didn't really work because I thought Winnebago access was a drivable Oh. And so when I asked if you could use a cooler, you were gonna say, you don't have to <laugh>. Oh. So that's what I get for not doing my research.
Peggy Barthel
Well that's okay.
Tony Barthel
<laugh>, we have a kind of a funny story slash maintenance reminder. And that is to, of course you wanna check and make sure things aren't falling off the walls or you know, make sure your fittings are tight on your plumbing. And we always recommend, you know, kind of a 90 day checklist of things. Well we found a new item to add to the checklist when our television fell off the wall. Yeah. In transit the other day. Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
So it's a reminder to see if you've got a screw loose. Well, yeah. So you're listening to the Stressless Camping podcast. You may already <laugh>. That may be a foregone conclusion.
Tony Barthel
We don't really use the television very often. Often. And so I wasn't, I didn't, you know, pay much attention to it. And it's in a swivel mount. Yeah. And the Mount has like a post that it will stay in place. But when I went to look, we said, well it fell off. We're just gonna get rid of it 'cause we never use it. And so I went to look at that and realized that part of the television, the backing of the television actually came loose from the rest of the television. And I'm not saying TV because then people will think I'm talking about tow vehicle. Right.
Peggy Barthel
Well, and our tv, well uh, it's irrelevant really, but it's a 12 volt TV that not only is a television, but also is a Bluetooth speaker.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. It's our soundbar
Peggy Barthel
And it's an FM radio.
Tony Barthel
So we thought, well, we'll just get rid of it. And so I went to take it off the wall the rest of the way and I realized that what happened was four of the five itty bitty little screws that hold that backer on had come out. They were just laying there on the shelf. So I looked at it and I said, well, I think I could put this back together. So I put the, Tony got the lock tight, we put those screws back in so that they shouldn't back out now. And then there's four machine bolt kind of things to hold it on the rack. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
It's
Peggy Barthel
Called a visa mount and it's a standard mount. Okay. For a flat screen TV or whatever.
Tony Barthel
So we got it put back up and we figured out which cables went where and then we said, well let's test it. And the Bluetooth worked and the television worked and we ended up watching something on television. Yeah. We watched some YouTube,
Peggy Barthel
Which
Tony Barthel
We've never done before. YouTube
Peggy Barthel
Videos.
Tony Barthel
<laugh>, there's another thing to add to your list is to, when you're checking all the screws everywhere, include the back of the television <laugh>.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. I mean, make sure you don't have a screw loose. And another thing, in one of the Facebook groups that I belong to on a travel trailer, the body is basically bolted to the frame. And in the past we found that some of those bolts were just gone.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. So make sure on your screw list that the <laugh>, those bolts that are, you know, in the nuts that are holding the bolts that are keeping your trailer attached to your frame are all snug.
Peggy Barthel
And another reason to have a torque wrench, which is part of the package in the air gear tire changing kit that we're giving away. If you are not a member of our mailing list community, as it were, if you sign up in August or September of 2023, you are automatically entered for chance to win an air gear tire changing kit, which includes a torque wrench, which would be useful for checking some of these bolts, including the ones that are holding the wheels to your trailer.
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
<laugh>. Well, every week we ask a question of the week and last week it was,
Tony Barthel
Do you travel in a caravan? And
Peggy Barthel
If you're listening to this in not the United States, let's say you're in Europe somewhere. Oh right. Then that might be, well yeah, we, we travel in a caravan. That's what we tow behind our car. Right.
Tony Barthel
<laugh>.
Peggy Barthel
But that's not what this meant. What
Tony Barthel
We mean is do you, you know, like with another rig or other people, do you travel together? Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
With others. And so, and that couldn't be like those package tours or just like what we did with Bill, where we, there was exactly two trailers.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Right. So Mark said no, but came back and said, wait, I wanna change my answer. We did travel with my daughter and her family last year for a four-part 17 day trip. So Mark does, David is hoping to have a trip with friends next year. Bill said he just finished a caravan with a wonderful couple from New Mexico. I'd like to meet these people. But he also said that when you travel in a caravan sometimes it's a difficult, it's difficult to get a selfie without a photo bomb. <laugh>. And he posted a picture of himself on Mackinac Island with Tony Tony intentionally.
Tony Barthel
And I think I unintentionally photo bombed his picture. <laugh>
Peggy Barthel
<laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Kathleen said that she, they have camped and road tripped for well over a decade with their best friends and their kids. So the kids are like siblings because they're growing up together and doing all these things together, which is fantastic. I love it. Janet says one other rig so far and they're looking forward to more trips with more friends. Ingle would like to do it. Tony and Grace said that they haven't done it yet, but they want to go on a trip to Baja or Alaska or Nova Scotia. You know what, I'm in on that Nova Scotia.
Tony Barthel
I don't know why I have such a fascination for that, but I wanna tell,
Peggy Barthel
I'm in on the Baja Baja
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. Tom and Marilyn were on a trip five days ago from now. Tom's cousin, who's two weeks different in age. They have been friends for life and the girls are friends for over 50 years and they camped together all the time and go on road trips like Balloon Fiesta and Bighorn Mountains. Brian hasn't yet, but he's waiting for the Stressless Camping Brewery Crawl and Road Trip <laugh>.
Peggy Barthel
Oh yeah.
Tony Barthel
So that he can do that.
Peggy Barthel
Wait, what is this Stressless Camping Brewery call road
Tony Barthel
Trip. It's something that Brian made up that now apparently we have to do <laugh>.
Peggy Barthel
Oh. I thought we were kind of planning it. Stay tuned. Oh.
Tony Barthel
Oh. Again, I haven't done my research. <laugh> Sandy said they haven't gone as a caravan or group since that doesn't seem Stressless to them. They just meet folks at the camp site. Great answers. Thank you. I'm glad to see that so many people are, you know, camping with friends or family or whatever. I love that. I camped my whole entire childhood. Not so much in a caravan because we were just, you know, an hour or two away from the Mojave Desert. But I did, we did extensive family trips and we went quite often out to the desert with big groups of people.
Peggy Barthel
Well, and we've camped in groups for Christmas. Oh sure. Many, many, many times. In fact, yeah.
Tony Barthel
We camped in groups, but we don't, we haven't traveled that often with oth with someone elses like True. We did with bill's. That true. And that was, that's true. As I said last week, that was super fun because Bill helped in the planning and I liked, oh, he was awesome. I like to do it. But boy did he do a great job Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
So what is our question this week?
Tony Barthel
So this week I was curious since I guess technically summer's over now 'cause we had Labor Day. I know. So did you camp more or less than you were planning to this summer?
Peggy Barthel
You can answer that at our fun and friendly Stressless campers Facebook group.
Tony Barthel
That's right.
Peggy Barthel
Remember we changed the name
Tony Barthel
Newly renamed. It's still fun and friendly though. Yeah,
Peggy Barthel
That's true. <laugh>. I mean people have been very respectful. Well, they would have to be or they go by.
Tony Barthel
That's right.
Peggy Barthel
It's a good place to get your questions answered. Honestly. We have some people there who are really, really knowledgeable and of course lots of people who are really, really friendly. Yeah. So if you're on Facebook, come join us at Stressless campers. You can find that on a link from Stressless Camping <laugh>, our website.
Tony Barthel
That's right. The website. Stressless Camping. Yeah. And also on Stressless camping website. You can sign up for a once in a week newsletter. And as Tony said earlier, if you weren't a member of the newsletter group before and you join in August or September, you'll be eligible for our drawing for our Air Gear Tire Changing kit.
Peggy Barthel
Absolutely. And there's no cost to be a member of the newsletter group. If you are the winner, I'm gonna pick one person from the people who joined in August and September and send you that tire changing kit for free.
Tony Barthel
And in the meantime, we're gonna send one newsletter every week. It's gonna come out every Thursday. It's gonna remind you that a new podcast episode is ready, but it's also gonna give you stories and videos and podcasts and links to other things that we think will help you get the most out of your RV experience.
Peggy Barthel
And of course you can find the notes for this episode,
Tony Barthel
Episode number two 20 on
Peggy Barthel
The podcastPage@stresslesscamping.com where we put links to anything we talked about and notes for this show, including our AI generated transcript, <laugh>. Those are always, sometimes those are fun to look at.
Tony Barthel
Right. <laugh>.
Peggy Barthel
So, but they do have, you know, it is a transcript
Tony Barthel
And we also have an entire page of links of our deals and discounts. Yep. Places that you can go, things that you can do to make your camping adventure more Stressless. Yep.
Peggy Barthel
Including Harvest Host, as we mentioned, we have links to ABC, upfitters, and all of the things that we talk about. Of course, we are in all the social places as you know. But you can start@stresslesscamping.com and from there, jump off to all the places that we are. And if you don't want to miss a future episode of the Stressless Camping Podcast, it is absolutely free to subscribe on any podcast app. You know, we're saving you a seat around our virtual campfire
Tony Barthel
And as always, we'll remind you that a review really, really helps us. If you could review us wherever you listen, and if you've already done that or if you aren't going to do that, but you find something that we post, that you think other people can get something out of, please share it. That is also very, very helpful.
Peggy Barthel
Yes, it is. And we have, in our newsletter, we have instructions on how to do that too. That's right. So see, just another reason to be part of that. That's what we have this week. We sincerely appreciate your putting us in your ears one more time and hope you are planning a fall adventure. There's lots of great fall camping, including Balloon Fiesta. Yeah. If you happen to be in Albuquerque, lots of places all over this beautiful land. So we hope you are enjoying some
Mark Ferrell
Camp.
Tony Barthel
Happy 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.
