Tony & Peggy Barthel - StressLess Campers

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We’re Tony & Peggy Barthel and we’re working to help you be a StressLess Camper.

Restoring vintage trailers with Vintage Trailer Supply

Restoring vintage trailers with Vintage Trailer Supply

StressLess Camping Podcast
Podcast, Podcast Episode 246

What does it take to keep vintage trailers running smoothly and looking good? We speak with Steve Hingtgen from Vintage Trailer Supply about how they’ve been able to keep, and even reproduce, some incredible pieces to keep vintage trailers looking and running beautifully.

Do you love vintage RVs? Do you own one or aspire to own one? Steve is a great resource and we think you’ll enjoy this episode.

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Mentioned on this episode

This week’s podcast guest is Steve Hingtgen from Vintage Trailer Supply

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.

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Automated transcript of StressLess Camping RV podcast episode 246

Mark Ferrell

Welcome to the weekly podcast all about turning the great American RV adventure into stress less 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 stress less camping.

Peggy Barthel

Welcome to the camp Fire.

Tony Barthel

I'm Tony.

Peggy Barthel

I'm Peggy.

Tony Barthel

And we are 2 RV industry veterans who travel part time

Peggy Barthel

In a small trailer.

Tony Barthel

Looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips,

Peggy Barthel

Tricks.

Tony Barthel

And discounts.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah. Yeah. Hey. Happy Pie Day. Today is ... which is the beginning of an infinite number of digits that make up the the constant called pi in math?

Peggy Barthel

And did you know that the area of a circle is pi r squared?

Tony Barthel

Square pie.

Peggy Barthel

But pie aren't squared, pie are round.

Tony Barthel

Pie are round.

Peggy Barthel

Cake are square. Sometimes,

Tony Barthel

but also cake are round.

Peggy Barthel

Anyway, go out and get yourself some pie and eat some pie today and celebrate math.

Tony Barthel

So I will tell you that my goal is to, by the time you're listening to this, be in possession of peanut butter pie.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah. I think we could probably put together our own peanut butter pie. I think we can make it.

Tony Barthel

Because peanut butter goes with everything. Indeed. The peanut butter. So we've been following ABC Outfitters who built our solar and lithium system in our Rockwood mini light and looking at some of the installs they've done in the past few weeks.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah. They've been busy.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. They have been busy. There is another Rockwood mini light headed their way. We know who you are.

Peggy Barthel

Congratulations. Yep.

Tony Barthel

Absolutely. But also, we just saw them upfit a Coachmen Motorhome with 920 amp hours of lithium. I mean, this thing is a beast.

We saw them upfit a class b van with a system, which, I mean, that's a challenge because class b vans are pretty space constrained. The bottom line is if you are considering, matter. Can I do it? What's it gonna cost? Will it work?

Peggy Barthel

It doesn't matter what kind of RV you have. Obviously, it can be anything from a van to a big old class a.

Tony Barthel

Yep. Pretty much if you have a curiosity about solar and lithium systems, the good folks at ABC Upfitters have an answer. And one of the things we've said in the past is that they are not just really good at these installs and using high quality master bolt systems, things like that. But they're also able to translate from really understanding these systems to explaining them and making them just work. And that's how we describe the system in our Rockwood mini light.

Peggy Barthel

It just works. Works.

Tony Barthel

So if you're curious at all, you can give them a call at 574 333-3225, or look at the show notes. And there's a video with Ben from ABC Upfitters on stresslesscamping.com, or go right to their website. So lots of options, but just really good people who tell it straight and are able to actually answer questions and do a really solid job of putting these systems into RVs and setting them up to match your style of camping and traveling. Again, ABC Upfitters, as you know, our favorite solar and lithium install company using Master Boat components, 5743332225. You know, another thing that they could put a solar and lithium system into is a vintage RV.

Peggy Barthel

That's right. And today, we're gonna learn a little bit more about vintage RVs and parts for vintage RVs with our friend, Steve Hinton.

Tony Barthel

We have bought a lot of stuff from Vintage Trailer Supply, uh, as we restored other vintage RVs. We've had several, let's just say. They've been there and and just done a good job. Are you vintage curious? Do you have a vintage trailer?

Tony Barthel

Do you have a modern trailer? Yeah. Or motor home, whatever. Anyway, without any further ado, here we go.

Peggy Barthel

Today, we're super pleased to welcome Steve Hingtgen. Steve is the owner operator of Vintage Trailer Supply. Thank you, Steve, for spending some time with us. Can you tell us what Vintage Trailer Supply is?

Steve Hingtgen

Well, thanks both of you for letting me talk to you. I'm very appreciative. So Vintage Trailer Supply has been around for about 20 years now and actually longer. It's probably I don't know if I do the math. I'm we're coming into our 25th year now.

Peggy Barthel

Wow.

Steve Hingtgen

Back in the AOL dial up days, we started an online business to serve it was it was originally just vintage Airstream people. Mhmm. Back in those days, kind of the collectible vintage trailer hobby was in its infancy, and there were a few hearty souls out there who had Airstreams or and other trailers too. But we were focused on the Airstream group because the I bought an old Airstream and wanted to find some parts. So we all got on these little listservs back in the day and tried to talk it out and figure out where people could get things and all that.

Steve Hingtgen

And frankly, there wasn't really a supply source. There were some some things that everybody needed, but they all were sourcing them individually, and it just wasn't easy to get stuff. So so I started a little buying coop with, um, um, basically the idea was first thing we wanted were some folks in the Airstream world. They love their aluminum, and so they wanted aluminum propane tanks to go on the fronts of their old trailers. Oh.

Steve Hingtgen

And you just couldn't get them. So we I contacted the company Worthington who made them all and said, hey. If I buy if I organize some people, would you sell them to us? And I remember having that first truckload of tanks. We took orders and I took orders and and had everybody pay in advance and no profit involved.

Steve Hingtgen

And so we just got some propane things. I remember them delivered to my house on a truck. I'd never had a truck delivery of anything in my life and having to have all these tanks and then I had to figure out how to to ship them all. And, anyway, that was the beginning of it. And I quickly realized that there was tremendous demand for, you know, just stuff that people needed for old trailers.

Steve Hingtgen

So ever since then, we've been sort of growing in tandem with the the collectible travel trailer world, which includes both vintage trailers and also really Airstreams, I think, of all ages because, you know, it's an investment. They're they're a big investment and they last for a long time, and so we consider them collectible. So collectible and vintage travel trailers has always been our focus. And and over the years, we branched out from Airstream. Probably after about 10 years, we realized that that the rest of the world of these old trailers, especially from the 19 fifties 19 sixties, were becoming very collectible.

Steve Hingtgen

And people were starting to wanna make them authentic. You know, go back and find the right window or door hardware. Right. So over that time, we went from just finding hard parts to making hard to find parts. And so we now reproduce a lot of parts.

Steve Hingtgen

We we have reproduced under our tooling, taillights and door handles and all kinds of other things that people need and just simply weren't able to get. So Okay. So we've now grown into having a catalog of a couple thousand different things, and many of them are are things we've sourced out of out of deep out of the old catalogs of existing companies. And then in in a few cases and maybe a couple hundred cases, we've had the parts made.

Peggy Barthel

And I read on your website that you started in a spare bedroom in your house, so I assume that you well, I know that you are not still in a spare bedroom in your house because we've been to your warehouse.

Steve Hingtgen

Yeah. It's changed a lot. So it started in, uh, just me in a spare bedroom and a second bedroom in a little house in Vermont. And, uh, over time, it went from my, uh, from my bedroom to my shed and then from my shed to, uh, a basement and then from a basement to a garage. And then finally, I I just got a little a little space, uh, still in Vermont back in the day and got a got a little 2 car garage with a little, uh, little office attached and did that for a while.

Steve Hingtgen

And then it just kind of kept growing. And then eventually we realized that we really didn't want to be a new England anymore. You know, England's a beautiful place and there are some vintage trailers out there, but the truth is that most of the delectable hobby is out west and it's certainly throughout every state. We sell parts to every state and and many, many countries around the world. But but the heart of it is really in the west.

Steve Hingtgen

And so and, you know, part of that is because that's where the the open lands are to go camping. So trailers, the recreational vehicle hobby is always always been kind of in the Midwest and further. And so we, uh, we moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, not really in the middle of any urban area, more, you know, more rural area, but a beautiful place to live and do business and kind of at the cross roads of so many old historic trails and tourist routes and, um, just a nice place to come visit anyway.

Peggy Barthel

And right on route 66.

Steve Hingtgen

Yeah. That's right. On old route 66. Although route 66 got relocated through Albuquerque instead of Santa Fe in later years. So a lot of people don't realize what you just said, which is that old Route 66 came right through Santa Fe.

Steve Hingtgen

So it's a it's a beautiful place to live and a beautiful place to work. And for a while before COVID, we just before COVID, we opened a retail, beautiful retail showroom, and then COVID hit us and we knocked that knocked that back. We'd already been pretty overextended just getting to that point. And so we haven't opened that showroom again, and I don't think we will. And I feel sad about that.

Steve Hingtgen

We really liked welcoming our visitors to our place. But the truth is that during the COVID world, a lot of people learn to work from home. And so my entire customer service team pretty much works from home now, and so we just don't have the staffing in our warehouse, in our distribution center anymore to support a showroom.

Peggy Barthel

Right.

Steve Hingtgen

You know, maybe someday we'll open that again. But for now, we think that it's just not that efficient as much as we enjoyed that. And it was just a beautiful experience for customers, customers who visited. We think probably the better thing for us is to stay focused on our on our mail order, which is our our entire 2 decade history and just kind of make sure that that's as solid as possible. So, you know, it's not a it's it's a profitable business, but it's not a big business.

Steve Hingtgen

And I think that we always have to keep an eye on, you know, this is a very small little industry in the end and we have to be very careful the way we conduct the business to make sure we can be here for the long run and and we make some hard choices. And I think that in this case, you know, an example of that would be the fact that we can't open our showroom right now. But another one is that we know there's a lot of demand for parts. People really need more stuff and we just simply know, we can only grow so fast. We can only meet.

Steve Hingtgen

We can't necessarily make a a lock for a front door if it was only used for 3 years back in the 1960s on 2 models of trailers, you know? And so as much as we want to meet that demand for everyone, we're having to be very strategic where we where we make our investments. So so that's kind of realistically the history of our company is that that the demand has always been greater than what we can supply.

Tony Barthel

Well, that's something that's curious to me. We have had vintage trailers. We don't at the moment. Although, you never know what's gonna happen. But we've had vintage trailers, and it seems that in some cases, the trailer manufacturer themselves would make parts like door handles or things like that.

Peggy Barthel

More so than it is now

Tony Barthel

where Yeah.

Peggy Barthel

Where one company makes all the stoves and one company makes all the door handles and one company makes all the windows. Back then, they just used to make all those things themselves.

Steve Hingtgen

Yeah. I think it's sometimes like that. I think it's it's you've really drawn on a very important point. People like to compare the collectible and vintage travel trailer world to the classic car world. And I think they are similar in many ways, but they're very different also.

Steve Hingtgen

If you look at, you know, Ford right? So Ford created the contemporary model of manufacturing, which is to create standardization and assembly lines. Everything's very Mhmm. Thought through in terms of the cost and and mass production. Right?

Peggy Barthel

Right.

Steve Hingtgen

The travel trailer world has been much more like the custom home building world where, you know, guys show up to work in the morning, they look around, they go, what should we do today? You know, let's do the electrical. Let's do the electric work today. Right? And I think that you saw that on most RV manufacturing up until maybe the last 20 years or so was still very much kind of that one off mentality.

Steve Hingtgen

You know, Airstream worked very hard starting in the well, probably from the beginning, but you really started to see it kick in in the 19 in the late sixties where things started to get a little more uniform. But you're right that the the parts were were may you'd see the same parts sometimes used on many trailers, but more often than not, especially with the Airstream which is the biggest brand, they would have their own stuff. And you would only find it on Airstream and and even within a single model year, 1964 Airstreams are a wonderful example of how frustrating it can all be. They tried 3 different window styles in 1964 in one single production year. And so we see some trailers that are in in 1960 4 Airstreams that have louvered jealousy windows throughout the entire trailer.

Steve Hingtgen

Other ones that have a a framed window that was only used in 1960 4, and other ones that use the same window that they used in 1963. And so it really depends on what was available at the time. Same thing with the taillights. They might have typically used one style taillight, but if they couldn't get that taillight, heck, they just throw a different taillight on there. Yeah.

Steve Hingtgen

And so when we try to reproduce a part, we have to be conscious of that and not first of all, we have to give our customers really good advice. So we were careful not to say this fits. We often say, well, it usually fits.

Peggy Barthel

This probably fits.

Steve Hingtgen

Send send us some photographs. You know, send us some photographs and we'll we'll work it out with you. And then on the other hand, we have to be careful not to not to produce a part that maybe was just a minor variant on that item. Mhmm. And we see that too where there were a few major companies.

Steve Hingtgen

You most people have heard of the Bargeman company who who have older trailers, because Bargeman made locks quite a bit and they also made a lot of other things, taillights and such, but they would make 3 or 4 variants on something that looked almost identical, but it really wasn't. And so this has been a manufacturing issue for us is that we're careful and we're we're very methodical. And when we do bring a part to market, it's it's usually very good quality, and we don't have any issues with it. But it can take us 2 years to get it there. Mhmm.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. Tooling and and all of those kind of things has got to be an kind of hair puller.

Steve Hingtgen

Mhmm. It's a big investment. And when that when you make a big investment, you wanna make darn sure you can get your money back.

Peggy Barthel

Right.

Steve Hingtgen

I was just talking to my customer service manager this morning about how do we choose how much stuff to order and, you know, can we afford to buy something? And it's often the issue is that you wanna see you get your money back within a few months if you can so that you can put that money into the next part. And and sadly, sometimes that money has to sit on a shelf for a couple years before it actually comes back to you. Yeah. You know, and some projects are a labor of love.

Steve Hingtgen

I made a, um, etched nameplate for a 1936 Airstream. Now if you can imagine, almost no 1936 Airstreams have been made. Yeah. It was a brass nameplate that was only used in the thirties, 36, 37, and I made them, but you don't have to make, like, a 100 of them when I make them. And there's probably not that many trailers left Right.

Steve Hingtgen

From that era. Right? Right. And so we did it as a labor of love and and we did that because we wanna be unique. We wanna be able to really show ourselves as the people who can do things that other people can't.

Steve Hingtgen

So sometimes we do labors of love. The other time we do labors of love is when I own a trailer and I can't find parts for it. I'll make the parts whether it's profitable or not, just so we could I could have it. So it it's a it's often sadly a cold, cold game of what we make. And and I I focus on this because I know a lot of people would like us to make more stuff.

Steve Hingtgen

And I'd like to also, but but give us time and often we partner with our customers when they come to us and say, hey, I'd I'd like this. And I say, Well, you know, we could probably do that, but we don't have enough information about your trailer. Could you help us? Could we go back and forth with some photos? Maybe we send you a prototype, let you test it for us.

Steve Hingtgen

And that's actually that partnering is a is a way we make a lot of parts also. It's a small business.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. Yeah. It's well, it was interesting when we restored we had a 1970 aristocrat landliner.

Steve Hingtgen

Oh, yeah.

Tony Barthel

I don't remember how many boxes of stuff I got

Steve Hingtgen

A lot.

Tony Barthel

From you guys, but it was a lot as Peggy said. And it was a lot of things that were that just made a difference helping us with the jealousy windows and vents and taillights, some common things, butyl tape and

Steve Hingtgen

Sure.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. All that kind of stuff.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah. So even with your you know, as you explained, some limitations, your list, your inventory list is really extensive. I mean, everything from fabric to make new curtains to antennas and

Tony Barthel

Yeah. There's

Peggy Barthel

a little bit of everything.

Steve Hingtgen

It's every yeah. It's everything. And we do we do try to have some, you know, some of that stuff that's, uh, just fun stuff.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah.

Steve Hingtgen

You know, it's not a big seller for us, but it it you know, we it's it's kinda fun. You know, people will throw an extra I just saw someone this morning put, you know, a couple of mugs in their cart along with their vent or whatever it was. You know, they just wanted to have some some of that culture at home as well as when they're on the road. And and the other piece is, like you mentioned, butyl tape, is that we'll often provide items that can be sourced otherwise, but we can provide a little bit of technical support along with it, and it's convenient. So, uh, in the case of a butyl tape, there are 2 or 3 chemical formulas for butyl tape, and we'll do that research.

Steve Hingtgen

We'll offer the better one, And then we'll talk to people about, you know, how thick should you buy your butyl tape? How wide should you buy your butyl tape? What are the pros and cons of that? And folks can see that you know, maybe there is a better butyl tape and maybe and maybe I shouldn't get the the 8 inch thick. Maybe I should get the 16 inch thick in this case, in this application.

Steve Hingtgen

Right. And so it's something that if you go to your local RV shop where they're selling new RVs and they have a parts counter or a parts department, And they'll sell some they'll sell a lot of these things often, but they don't necessarily understand old trailers very well. And they aren't gonna be they're not gonna be able to help you think through it too well.

Peggy Barthel

Right.

Steve Hingtgen

As good as they are with the newer stuff, they may not be able to help you with the older. It's kinda like not taking

Tony Barthel

your classic Mustang to the to the Ford dealer for service. Right? Or even the quick lube place.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah. You mentioned if it's a trailer I have, how many trailers do you have?

Steve Hingtgen

Oh, I you know, they I don't know what the saying is about the the painter never painting his own house. You know, it's that. I have, um, currently, I have a 1949 Spartan Manor, which is just a beauty. Um, I have a 1949 Spartanette, which is not a beauty.

Peggy Barthel

Oh, wow.

Steve Hingtgen

It's kind of a it's kinda holding holding other parts right now. I have a 1956 Airstream Caravanner, and I recently sold my 1946 Curtis Wright model 2.

Peggy Barthel

Oh, man. Wow.

Steve Hingtgen

So I I tend to like the old stuff, but I'm also my my wife has 2 new newer Airstreams and a 1970 6 Airstream. And I think that's what she's got right now. So, you know, we we like it all, but my babies are usually my either my forties air Spartans or my fifties Airstreams.

Tony Barthel

Nice. I think a lot of people may not know of the Spartan Aircraft Company. Right. But those Yeah. Uh, especially the Spartanet, man.

Tony Barthel

You you you got me on that one. I just absolutely love those things.

Steve Hingtgen

Yeah. Spartan Aircraft Company in in from, uh, Tulsa, Oklahoma was they actually started as an aircraft company and they were always called Spartan Aircraft. They worked in world war II to do some prototype planes. They tried to sell some stuff to to the military and they had a little success with that. But what ended up happening is immediately following the war, they started making Spartan trailers and they made way more money, sold way more trailers than they ever did airplanes.

Steve Hingtgen

And they ended up being quite well known for that, even though every trailer says Spartan aircraft on it. And so it's kind of a neat thing. And they're gorgeous, gorgeous trailers. Um, the Spartan nets are are pretty. They have like a but they're they're sort of, um, little more like if we if you know what a can if I know you do, but I if your listeners know what a Can Am is, it's it's got flat sides and a roll top roof, and that's that's a style of trailer that's been used for years.

Steve Hingtgen

Yeah. And the Spartan nets are like that, but very long versions of that. The Spartan manners and mansions, um, depending on the era, the manners in the forties have this really big rear end, very rounded rear end with flat sides and a and a and a flat roof and beautiful panoramic windows in the front. It's just a it's just a gorgeous trailer, and, um, and they they're not real rare. I mean, they're not common, but they're not real rare.

Steve Hingtgen

They can be got out there. What's great about the Spartan company and the name aircraft tips you off is that they're they're aluminum. Right? But not just aluminum exteriors. They're aluminum framing also like Airstream.

Steve Hingtgen

So any old trailer that has aluminum structure in the walls is gonna last. Right. And maybe the floor rots out. It may be your chassis gets rusty and needs to be redone. But but the actual structure is going to make it through the years.

Steve Hingtgen

And that's the that's why you see a lot of collectible Airstreams, a lot of collectible Spartans, and there are other brands also because they have lasted in numbers from the early days. Yeah. Due to the fact that they have aluminum structure in them. And so, yeah, certainly, certainly the cabinetry goes bad, certainly the floors go bad and they're not minor restoration projects. They're large scale restoration projects with very specialized skills and therefore professional restorers spend many hundreds of hours on them and it costs a lot.

Steve Hingtgen

Wood frame walls are are much less expensive to put back together and and an easier do it yourself at home project. But but we don't see the survivors from the forties and fifties as much. Yeah. Because of the fact that they they're so easy to kind of just decay in the elements, especially in the more wet climates.

Tony Barthel

Right. You know, the Spartans, as you know, I'm sharing with our listeners, the Spartans tended to be sold to people who actually used them for housing as opposed to vacations. And you'll see them parked, you know, in the desert or in fields, but sometimes with a cover, and they're still there 50, 60 years later for exactly the reason you Yeah. You said. And now there's enough interest.

Tony Barthel

People go and, well, I'll pull that out of the hole and and restore it. And unfortunately, I'm in several Spartan groups and people a lot of people get about halfway through and go, oh, boy. What did I do?

Steve Hingtgen

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's true. So yeah.

Steve Hingtgen

I mean, you're and actually now a lot of those are are 70 years old. Right? They're not even Right. Yeah. And they you're right.

Steve Hingtgen

In many cases, you still see them parked in the mobile home courts and they're still you know, maybe they've had a roof built over them or maybe a maybe a big porch built onto the side of them, and they're they're still there. And the ones you're thinking of are mostly the fifties on later. Um, they were the bigger ones. They got bigger as time went on. And there was a big heyday in the fifties with, you know, mobile homes where the trailer the travel trailer industry and the mobile home industry were sort of 1 and the same back then.

Steve Hingtgen

Yeah. There were a few brands Yeah. In the earlier years, post war, Spartan would make kind of both versions. And so they made smaller 24 foot trailers, 25 foot trailers, and then they would make the larger, you know, 28, 30, that kind of thing. So, yeah, that you really do see that.

Steve Hingtgen

And and I think a lot of the survivors you see out there are those fifties large ones that can be very long. Yeah. And they're beautiful too. And and some of them are extremely collectible. They do get pulled out from the where the folks used to live in them year round, and they they turn them into, you know, everything from a from a a tiny home to a pool house.

Steve Hingtgen

You know, it can be it can be anything.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. We were at an RV park, and someone pulled in with a with a Spartan. I was just, you know, floored.

Steve Hingtgen

Takes a big tow vehicle on some of those big trailers. Yeah. Yeah. I I think

Tony Barthel

this was a Spartan. It was a single axle trailer, and it was just,

Steve Hingtgen

of

Tony Barthel

course, it was beautiful.

Steve Hingtgen

Yep. They're beautiful. And they're and like you said, people abandon the projects, and it's not just Spartans. You know, we've all abandoned projects. And I think that whether it's a small wood frame trailer or a or a giant aluminum frame trailer, you know, it it's a hard thing to do, and and some people are naturally able to just they've done a car or they've done their house and they're ready to go on some and they have time.

Steve Hingtgen

Maybe they're retired or semi retired and they can do it for a lot of folks. They don't have the space to do it well, so it becomes a seasonal project. The skills sets can be quite diverse. It's not just carpentry and and electrical. It's and it's not just plumbing.

Steve Hingtgen

It's it's also metal fabrication and sometimes airframe work, aircraft riveting and being able to bend aluminum and form aluminum and, uh, not to mention welding on your chassis and getting underneath there. And, you know, it's it's, um, it's a big deal to restore a trailer. And I think that it's not for everyone and, you know, you see a lot of projects picked up halfway through or dropped halfway through. And

Peggy Barthel

Yeah. Tony gave me a funny look when you said that because we did have that 1970 aristocrat. And, yes, we abandoned it, but we didn't really abandon it. We turned it over to our friend Byron, who has picked up all the places that we were short on ability, and he's been doing some fantastic things with it.

Tony Barthel

Well, Byron knows his way out of

Peggy Barthel

the nose and

Tony Barthel

screwdriver pretty well.

Steve Hingtgen

Yeah. I'm actually in awe. I love the parts, but I'm in awe of the people who can can do the complete, you know, a to z on a trailer. It's pretty impressive skill set.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. But then getting into a vintage trailer, I mean, the community is incredible. So if you do find yourself, you know, like, I wanna get a vintage, whatever, but, like, we were in the, um, aristocrat sort of family, but there's a huge community as well. It's not just the trailers. It's the people.

Steve Hingtgen

Yeah. It's one of the things that I think I hear the most about is how warm and caring people are in the in the travel trailer world and specifically the vintage travel trailer world. There's a true sense of generous support for each other. And I think that some of the technology we have, you know, with podcasts and YouTube has really helped people go even further. And, of course, all the forums that people can tap into and ask questions or look up answers that have already been asked.

Steve Hingtgen

And some of the merchants in the industry are also very supportive and can answer those questions on the phone for you. We keep a small team of folks here full time who are on the phones ready to go to answer technical questions or actually you can just send an email. So it's there is plenty of support out there. I think, again, if you have the time and the space to do it and you're you wanna do the work yourself specifically, it's it's achievable by a lot of people. Um, the skills can come along.

Steve Hingtgen

It's really more you need to have time and you need to have space to do it.

Peggy Barthel

Right.

Tony Barthel

Well, you could also attend Paul and Caroline Lassitinola's workshops. I mean, that's a great place to learn some stuff.

Steve Hingtgen

Yes. That's a great point. Uh, Paul and Caroline put together boot camps and other types of programs now, especially on the western do I think that's a that's a really nice way to do it. You know, the other thing you can do is you can tap into some of the professionals in the industry and have them do pieces of it. So if you can't do all of it, you can pay them to do parts.

Steve Hingtgen

Now, I wouldn't say it's an inexpensive thing. You know, I think we all underestimate the amount of number of hours it takes to do things. And it really does take a tremendous numbers of dozens of hours to do just about anything. And so I think that when you do hire a professional, you are going to be spending some money. But but if it jumpstarts you, if it if it maybe it moves you through a difficult part of your restoration, it can be well worth it to just keep you moving.

Steve Hingtgen

Remember, the end goal here is to go camping, Right? The end goal is to go have some fun. Right. Exactly. It's not to spend your entire, you know, decade in a garage somewhere or, you know, working on a trailer.

Steve Hingtgen

So what can you do to just go camping? And and and in some cases, it means go camping before you've got your electric hooked up or your you know, maybe you've got basically a metal tent you're going camping in. You're going to go out and do it.

Peggy Barthel

That's pretty much what we we took the aristocrat out one time in between the amount of stuff we had done and the it's time for Byron to take over phase. Well, we

Tony Barthel

we we got it pretty I mean, we got a lot of stuff working

Steve Hingtgen

on that. Sure.

Tony Barthel

And that's the other thing. A lot of these core systems, like, the plumbing was or at least in the aristocrat was all sweated copper, and all the appliances were still functional because they didn't build junk in those days. Yeah. It was amazing what still worked in this in this 50 year old Oh, yeah. Trailer.

Steve Hingtgen

Yeah. I think that, you know, you really have to not be a perfectionist that's a luxury. Right? And not everyone can do that. But but if you can buy something to go camping in while you're working on your project, I think it'll keep you keep your spirit in what it what you've originally began with, which is to go get on the road, go meet some folks, or go see some beautiful national park somewhere.

Steve Hingtgen

You know, stay in touch with your original reasoning for doing it. It it can be discouraging otherwise. I mean, the car guys already know that that one of the things when you're doing a project that might take many months or years, one of the things to do is just to make continual small progress. If you can just go out to the garage and and do one little thing each day Mhmm. It can be as simple as you're gonna clean up your mess from the day before.

Steve Hingtgen

Right? Something to get you out there that just gets you to do it. That's a really nice thing. There's a lot of psychology to restoring a trailer. I think we've some of us have talked about it a lot in terms of the barriers and obstacles to doing the work, and it's it's very similar to the car world.

Steve Hingtgen

But, of course, it's extremely rewarding too, and, um, you know, there's nothing like it if you want that community and want to also and the decision making and the schedules equally or more than the men do. Yeah. And we know that that's because this is more than a than a get your fingernails dirty kind of thing. This is a lifestyle. It's a it's a it's a it's a dream of doing something with your family or your partner.

Steve Hingtgen

Or maybe because you've had a big life transition and you've you need to go and and be independent. You need to go do something for yourself. Yeah. And so women are often driving this, and we love that aspect of what we do is that there's a creative and there's a a family aspect to it all.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. But like I say, also, uh, vintage RV rallies are so much fun. And my trick with restoring old cars always used to be make them as pretty as possible first because then I'd be like, oh, well, I, you know, I can't have that really good look in the 64 Corvair sitting in my garage and not have it running. That was my my thinking.

Steve Hingtgen

Yeah. Exactly.

Tony Barthel

Well, so do you ever get to go camping lately? I mean, I know you're very busy with the business.

Steve Hingtgen

You know, I do. I I have done more until very recently. The last few years, I also have teenage daughters. And so I spent a lot of time, uh, you know, driving them to the shopping center or whatever. Right?

Steve Hingtgen

So I'm I'm often I'm on daddy duty quite a bit. So that's my that's my first and foremost priority. But for me, I love going to the to the rallies. It's where I meet customers and I get to hear what didn't go right with our parts or what is needed. Mhmm.

Steve Hingtgen

I get to walk around and do live research on a variety of trailers that I wouldn't normally see. So I go to, you know, I I for years, I went to Pismo and, uh, modernism in the West. Gosh. I've displayed it modernism for years. And I and and just in recent years, I think really since COVID and actually even the second half of COVID, I've kind of stepped back a little bit and refocused on getting my work done at home.

Steve Hingtgen

There's only so much research a person can do, then they have to go execute the game plan. And so that's been that's been, you know, it was a good excuse to go play. I miss it. I haven't been doing it the last couple years enough, and it's time to get back out there. I do go camping in the newer trailers, you know, just on weekends and such more now.

Peggy Barthel

And do the girls go with you or they're, like, at the point in their teenage lives where the mall is more important?

Tony Barthel

There's no malls anymore.

Steve Hingtgen

Well, they're they are it's more friends than shopping for them. They're they're happy that kids today a lot of kids today just go thrifting. It's a thing. Yeah. So for them, they're actually more interested in friends.

Steve Hingtgen

But I have my older one is going off to college this fall, and, uh, my younger one's still solidly in high school. So things get a little lighter for me, but, you know, but then I'll miss them, and I wanna go hang out with them. So Right. We're at that phase where it's it's no longer so much an obligation as it is. I wish they would spend time with me more.

Steve Hingtgen

More.

Tony Barthel

Well, if you ever need somebody to pull a trailer to Pismo or Modernism Week, we have a 3 quarter ton

Peggy Barthel

truck. Truck.

Steve Hingtgen

And we love that kind

Tony Barthel

of stuff.

Steve Hingtgen

Have you had a chance to go to modernism yet?

Peggy Barthel

No. We have not.

Tony Barthel

And every year, we we look from the sidelines, and we have friends we We have a friend who owns a tiki bar, and, of course, they're there every year, then it's in Southern California. And then we know I don't know if you've met Charles Phoenix, but he's somebody we know. Yes. Okay. Yes.

Tony Barthel

There's no reason we haven't gone other than we haven't gone.

Steve Hingtgen

Yeah. Well, for listeners who may not know what we're even talking about, every February in in Palm Springs, there's a, uh, a week called Modernism Week. And it's actually a celebration of the fact that Palm Springs has tremendous modernist mid century modernist architecture and culture dating way back. You know, we have the it's the Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe effect. Right?

Steve Hingtgen

And but some of the architectural wonders in in Palm Springs are opened up for the week, and there's a general celebration of the town and the architecture. And it just so happens there's also a a mid century trailer event, which is more show. It's not so much a rally. It's really a show of, you know, maybe 50 mid century trailers are also put on display. And what's very interesting is that it has become the most popular attraction of Modernist Week for the entire town even though it's not as old as the modernism week and even though people are coming from all over the world to go to modernism week every year.

Steve Hingtgen

The trailer show is by far the most popular thing. And so it's a lot of fun for those who display their trailers because they're really putting them on display for a weekend while they go stay in a hotel and bring it together. But you you interact with a lot of people who have have no experience at all with travel trailers, but they they understand the way that it's part of the part of mid century culture. And so, uh, it's a lot of fun to be one of the people who display trailers, but it's just as much fun to go see them.

Peggy Barthel

We might I I I just realized.

Tony Barthel

We're gonna be next year. Might work out. Yeah.

Peggy Barthel

We might that might be what we do next year and after we get done in quartzite.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. Why wouldn't we?

Peggy Barthel

Yeah.

Steve Hingtgen

There you go.

Tony Barthel

Well, I guess that's it for our questions. I mean, it's been really great getting to know you here.

Peggy Barthel

And Absolutely.

Tony Barthel

And as I said, we've certainly bought a fair amount of things from Vintage Trailer Supply. But then as a camper, we always have a couple of questions that that we ask, and and the first is, what is your best camping memory?

Steve Hingtgen

Oh, goodness. It's gotta be it's gotta be at the National Park Campground at Arches, our national park in Utah. It's the most beautiful campground, and it's very hard to get into. And when you do get in, sometimes you have to well, I think it's changed now, but you queue up in the morning to see if you can get one of the spots for somebody leaving. But it's it's at the end of a long anyone who's been in Arches National Monument National would know what I'm talking about.

Steve Hingtgen

You you drive all the way in on a long road to the very, very end of the road and there's the campground. And it's if if there was ever a place with stars, this is that you show when you're camping and then you're surrounded by beautiful rounded red rocks. And I remember walking out of the campground and onto the rocks in in late night and laying down on a slick rock and just watching bats flying everywhere, all around. And I don't know why it's my favorite memory, but it's I think it has to do with just how absolutely wild the place was. And I mean, that that that competes with some other memories, but that one is a beautiful, peaceful, natural memory for me.

Steve Hingtgen

Not about the people so much, although there have been great memories there too, but just the place.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. That's awesome.

Peggy Barthel

So conversely, is there a worst camping memory that you're emotionally able to share?

Steve Hingtgen

Oh, it always has to do with rain, I think. Rain and leaky trailers, and I think there's been too many of those, you know. Uh, But the downside to a vintage trailer is they often leak. Right. What?

Steve Hingtgen

You know, it's I I don't really have bad camping memories because I I think that either I forget them or I or just incorporate it into the fun. But I think that probably the issue would be would be rain and, you know, rain and cold and trying to keep the trailer from trying to keep your bed from getting wet. Right. Yeah. I don't really have that camping memories.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. That's the worst is when it's dripping right on you at night. Yeah. Yeah. But that's half the fun.

Tony Barthel

So

Steve Hingtgen

well,

Tony Barthel

Steve, thank you so much for what you do for the vintage RV community and for your time today. We really appreciate getting to know you. And for our audience, anyone who has a lust for vintage trailers because they're very, very cool.

Steve Hingtgen

Mhmm.

Tony Barthel

Vintage trailer supply is just absolute great resource for the hobby.

Steve Hingtgen

Well, thank you so much, and thanks for what you guys do too. Just continuing to educate everyone about all the multifacet of this incredible freedom and independence and adventure that we all have an opportunity to do through RV ing around the United States. It's just it's great. So thanks for all the work you do to educate everyone.

Tony Barthel

Our pleasure. Steve, thank you again, and we will let you get on with your day.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah. Thank you so much.

Steve Hingtgen

Great. Well, thank you too. Thank you so much. Talk to you later.

Peggy Barthel

Whether you have a vintage or a modern trailer, you might be winterized right now and not have water in your tanks, but you still really wanna go camping.

Steve Hingtgen

Yeah.

Peggy Barthel

And so if that's the case and you're going camping but you don't wanna use your water system, why not get some Wolverine Tuff bottles, fill them up and take them with you and you can use those as your water source.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. What they are are foldable plastic bags, and there's everything from one small enough to carry on your hikes and such to 8 gallon bags. And these are really high quality US made bags that we use. For example, a few weeks ago in the Jemez mountains, we were boondocking. We just filled up our Wolverine bags and used those to transfer water into the trailer.

Tony Barthel

Um, you can we've we used them a lot at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

Peggy Barthel

We did. And we used them a bit in Quartzsite. And the one that he talked about that you can take on a hike, you know, it's like a a liter or so, and it has a carabiner so you can hook it right on your belt loop. So that's very handy.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. These are really well thought through products. They don't have a lot of sharp edges. When they're full, of course, they are 5 gallons or 8 gallons or whatever. But when they're empty, they fold up pretty flat.

Tony Barthel

All of the fittings on them are really high quality. So for example, you could get the 5 gallon bags and use those at those water fill stations at grocery stores and that sort of thing.

Peggy Barthel

Mhmm.

Tony Barthel

So a lot of really neat options for We RVers.

Peggy Barthel

I really like their handles. You know, they're kind of extra thick and pretty pretty comfortable. I mean, there's still a cut piece of plastic, but not bad for a handle on a plastic bag. And also, any of the bags that you might wanna use hanging up, like the 5 8 gallons, maybe you want to hang that up on some kind of a bar or something, they have a big old metal grommet on them so you can easily hang them.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. They're just a a good product. We have the full story at Sprescess Camping as well as a discount. We'll put a link in our show notes, and maybe we'll see out there even if your RV is winterized. And by the way, can you still use a winterized RV?

Tony Barthel

Absolutely. We have that story too at stressless camping.com.

Peggy Barthel

Our recipe this week comes once again from Quartzsite, from the potlucks. Marilyn These

Tony Barthel

potlucks were epic.

Peggy Barthel

I know. And just really got me rolling with the recipes, so that makes me very happy. And speaking of rolling, this week, I am sharing Marilyn's cinnamon rolls. They're very, very easy to make in the RV, and they start with the can or the tube of Grand cinnamon rolls. I have made cinnamon rolls from scratch.

Peggy Barthel

I am not willing to do that in an RV. It takes a lot of equipment. It takes a lot of space. It takes a lot of time. It takes a good amount of a good temperature.

Peggy Barthel

These just take tear off the paper and hit the thing on the counter.

Tony Barthel

Does anyone else flinch when you bust out

Steve Hingtgen

the whole

Peggy Barthel

thing? But Marilyn also adds a special touch to hers, and she adds a little cream in the bottom and doctors up the icing so that it's extra gooey and yummy and pecans and deliciousness. Mhmm. So check out the recipe on the website for Maryland cinnamon rolls. Again, super easy.

Peggy Barthel

You can do it in a disposable pan, so if you take it to a potluck and somebody else loves them and you've had plenty, you can send them on their way with a different person. You don't have to get your pan back. A really great potluck item, especially for breakfast, but hey, I would eat a cinnamon roll. Cinnamon is the best flavor.

Tony Barthel

Absolutely. Here's something that we have been remiss sort of about. Before Quartzsite, we mashed the entry handle on our Rockwood mini light with our awning.

Peggy Barthel

We did.

Tony Barthel

It's one of those stuff happens. But we had been wanting the more ride safety rail on our trailers since

Peggy Barthel

Well, since we had the one that got rear ended last summer. Right?

Steve Hingtgen

That had

Tony Barthel

the more ride safety rail, and it was one of the first installations of that technology. We had it there at the frog rally. And for all of the prototype stuff on that trailer, people just lost their minds over that

Peggy Barthel

ride situation. Very visible and very obvious. Right. But, yeah, also a super great idea, and we didn't have one on the newer trailer, and we wanted 1 and wanted 1.

Steve Hingtgen

Well, we

Tony Barthel

just smashed the handle.

Peggy Barthel

So I smashed the handle, so we'd have to replace it. Yeah. I didn't really do it on purpose, but I because I couldn't get the other handle out of the way easily, and that's one advantage to having the MoreRyde safety rail is it just folds right up against the trailer.

Tony Barthel

Well, I also like that it extends 42 and a half inches from the wall of our trailer.

Peggy Barthel

Right. So from the bottom step, you can already get a hold of that railing.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. And it is more secure. We were very fortunate in that the people from Moreide actually installed our safety rail in the side of our trailer, and I watched them do it. It it was pretty quick and easy.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah.

Tony Barthel

Typically, how they would do it, they would ship you the product and have you install it or have someone you know install it. But, anyway, this thing kinda just screws to the sidewall of your RV and uses a magnet to hold itself in place, and then you just pull it out when you're ready to use it. It's much nicer than the typical handle on an RV. So we'll have pictures of that and a story. It was neat that Mauride installed it.

Tony Barthel

They did have to notch a piece of trim along the bottom of our travel trailer. So, you know, they're all different and Yeah.

Peggy Barthel

They're all gonna be different, man. And the and the important thing is to know that they're only intended to use with 5th wheels or travel trailers that have fiberglass walls. So the flat smooth walls.

Tony Barthel

So if you have a stick and tin trailer with the corrugated walls

Peggy Barthel

is Yeah. It's not gonna really work or the curved walls, like on a motor home, that's not gonna work.

Tony Barthel

Or an Airstream.

Peggy Barthel

Or an Airstream. That's right. Anything though with that flat fiberglass smooth wall, and if you even have to cut a little bit of trim, that's okay because the safety rail is such a great railing.

Tony Barthel

It really is. Something I found out from the dude at More Aid, Brendan, he said there's actually, like, a metal lip around the door sorta inside the fiberglass, and so that's essentially what they mounted to.

Peggy Barthel

So it's not just attached to fiberglass. It's actually attached to some frame Right. Some door frame.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. That's what he was telling me. So there you go. I learned something watching him install it, and we're very pleased with it. So if you're looking for if you're looking to get a handle on your entry and exit into your RV, perhaps the Moride Safety Rail is for you.

Peggy Barthel

So do you have an RV you're gonna share with us this week? Kinda. Not really. Okay.

Tony Barthel

What I have is you know, an open house, I keep going back to that, and I cannot wait to attend again this coming year, which we

Steve Hingtgen

might have.

Peggy Barthel

To go this time.

Tony Barthel

Yep. I'm bringing Peggy with me, the voice of reason. Well Sorta, kinda. There were a lot of things announced, and we've already talked about the Furrion chill cube and how dramatically better it is than your typical RV air conditioner. Mhmm.

Tony Barthel

And in fact, we may be able to test one out first hand. We'll see. But anyway What? We'll see. But another thing Lippert announced was a new suspension system predominantly for 5th wheels.

Tony Barthel

And again, we have talked last week about the frame flex issue with 5th wheel chassis. Again, I I think that's a deeper issue, and I would love to see any frame that has had that the trailer weighed to see if it's overweight, which I suspect it would be, or that there's other failures, the body coming off the frame. Whatever. Anyway, so what this suspension system is is it's a coil suspension system for 5th wheel on what's called a trailing arm suspension. Okay.

Tony Barthel

The way the normal suspension on a 5th wheel is typically leaf springs, which is what you found on your Model T. Nothing advanced. Nothing special. Not all that great at isolating shocks and vibration from the road. It's an antique suspension.

Tony Barthel

Let's be honest. It does the job, and there are upgrades you can do to them, or some manufacturers actually care enough to put in little bit better systems. But this is a wholly new system that uses coil springs like you probably have in your car and actually uses shock absorbers like you have in your car. And it provides not only a much more smooth ride for your 5th wheel, but also far more suspension travel. So if you do hit a bump on the highway, it doesn't reach the limit of the suspension and then transmit all that shock up into your 5th wheel.

Tony Barthel

It's just a big improvement over 5th wheel suspensions that we typically see thus far. Now, yeah, some of you may have gotten air suspension upgrades on 5th wheels. I know a lot of people who buy a 5th wheel realize just how lousy the suspension is and then spend a great deal of money to upgrade that. Well, if your 5th wheel manufacturer actually cares, you may find that this new curb coil spring suspension is under the 5th wheel, and you don't have to upgrade it. It's better than most 5th wheels out there.

Tony Barthel

So, anyway, I have a little article about it at stresslesscamping.com, and it's just another advancement that I saw at Open House that Kurt is making. Kurt is part of Lippert, and Lippert makes a lot of the components that go into your RV. So now Lippert owns Kurt, which makes suspensions and towing stuff, and Lippert owns Furrion, which makes RV appliances. So it's a giant company, but they do get a lot of grief, and I don't think they always deserve that. Knowing the people at Lippert, I think they do a pretty doggone good job, but they will also build whatever you ask for.

Peggy Barthel

So if

Tony Barthel

you're an RV company that doesn't care, and you want the cheapest whatever, Lippert's like, alright. I'll give you what you want. You know, the customer is always right. And that's why when I suggest that you shop for your next RV from the frame up, that's why.

Peggy Barthel

That's why. Last week's question of the week was, do you have a sort of a season opener checklist, a thing that you do, like, kind of as part of your de winterizing, that's what we talked with Dustin about last week. And we don't have a ton of answers, but David and Teresa and Ron all said they don't need that because they camp all year long. And I am gonna make a suggestion in a moment here. Eric said no, but it's probably not a bad idea.

Peggy Barthel

Good thinking, Eric. Cindy doesn't really have a list, but she goes camping nearby at the beginning so that she can kinda go through things and make sure that everything is stocked and working and really in good shape. Travis basically de winterizes and then spends a couple hours walking around inside and out to make sure that things work. Bill has a short list, sanitize the fresh system, grease the bearings, and fix anything I can. Now that part is probably not that short.

Tony Barthel

Well, it depends.

Peggy Barthel

Short list. And Ingle has a vintage trailer, so every December or January, he has the axle inspected, has the bearings lubed and serviced, and then has the seals inspected and repaired. So it's good that those of us who get to camp all year don't have to necessarily have a reopening of the camper kind of a list, but that doesn't stop us from needing a list, a maintenance list, an annual list, a seasonal list, you know, whatever. There are there are different time periods in which we should do different things. So we have talked before about our article called checklists make for stressless camping.

Peggy Barthel

And what we realized during this process is we didn't actually have a checklist of maintenance type things. So check out checklists make for stressless camping, and now we will have a maintenance list as well. Whew.

Tony Barthel

Got some work cut out for

Peggy Barthel

me. Uh-huh. And this week, Tony, what was your question this week?

Tony Barthel

It was someone on some Facebook forum that said, what are the best practices for staying overnight at places like Wally World or Cracker Barrel, that sort of thing. How do you stay on your best behavior so that we keep getting invited back as RVers? So the question of the week is, what are your best practices for Wally barreling?

Peggy Barthel

Wally docking, boom barreling, whatever you call it, wherever it is that you spend the night, what are your practices? Do you unhook? Do you use your slides? Do you you know, all those things. How do you how do you make it a good experience for yourself and for your host?

Tony Barthel

Right. Because the more your host enjoys your having been there, the more likely you're gonna be invited back Yeah. Or not get all of us kicked out.

Peggy Barthel

Right. So you can answer that question. You can look at answers to all the questions. You can ask your own questions, or you can just say nice things like Brian did. Yeah.

Peggy Barthel

Thank

Tony Barthel

you, Brian.

Peggy Barthel

On our fun and friendly Stressless Campers Facebook group.

Tony Barthel

And, of course, you know, we do our once a week newsletter, which is absolutely free, which has links to the stories, videos, podcasts, and all the things to help you get the most out of your stressless camping experience. To join our newsletter family, just visit stressless camping.com. And under the hamburger menu, there's a contact us, and there's a form to sign up. It's free. We never share your information, and we only do one newsletter a week because we're lazy.

Steve Hingtgen

Busy. Busy. That's it.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. That's the ticket.

Peggy Barthel

Once you're done signing up for the newsletter and you're still hanging out on our site, you know you can find the show notes for this episode, which is number 246 on the podcast page at stressless camping.com.

Tony Barthel

Absolutely. And that's where you'll also find discounts and deals for the best deals on the things you'll need for your stressless camping adventure. And if you've got a great deal for our audience, let us know.

Peggy Barthel

And we are in all the social places, so when you've seen everything you wanna see at stresslesscamping.com, use those links at the top right and go visit us at, I don't know, Instagram and Facebook and X and Twitter and all the things that do and do not exist and TikTok. That's right. Oh, right. If there's still a TikTok.

Steve Hingtgen

Still is a TikTok.

Tony Barthel

Of course, if you don't wanna miss a future episode of the Stress Less Camp podcast, it is free to subscribe on any podcast app.

Peggy Barthel

And we are saving you a seat around our virtual campfire.

Tony Barthel

And a review will help others find this podcast. And, of course, the more people who join our little podcast family, the better the guests and the more information we're able to get. We, in fact, did just get one review this past week, a 3 star review.

Peggy Barthel

We did.

Tony Barthel

Our first 3 star review.

Peggy Barthel

Non 5 star review.

Tony Barthel

And it's from a dude in Germany, well, I assume a dude, who said, well, I don't like Jimmy Buffett. Well, I have a message for you.

Peggy Barthel

I mean, if that's where we're gonna get dinged, I guess that's fair enough. He didn't say you guys don't know anything about RV ing, which would not be a good review, and fortunately we haven't had any of those. You know, we don't ask you for a 5 star review. We ask you for an honest review.

Tony Barthel

Absolutely.

Peggy Barthel

And thank goodness all of the others have been honest 5 star reviews.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

Peggy Barthel

And if somebody doesn't like Jimmy Buffett, we can't help it if they're wrong.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. There you go. Well, of course, another way to spread the word of stressless camping is to share anything you find on our website in your social world. We try to have a lot of articles that answer questions people ask on social media. And so if you wanna look like a hot potato, I don't know, you could find an article that answers a question that stresses camping and share that with the people who follow you on socials.

Tony Barthel

It's very helpful, and we really appreciate it.

Peggy Barthel

We do indeed. Thank you so much.

Tony Barthel

And I'm gonna listen to some Jimmy Buffett. So there. With that being said, we always appreciate you no matter what music preference you have or what type of camper or whether you're seasonal, full time, part time.

Peggy Barthel

We love you

Tony Barthel

all. We do. And with that, we'd like to wish you

Peggy Barthel

Stressless camping.

Mark Ferrell

We hope you learned a lot and had some fun and got some tips for your next stress less 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.

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Speaking with the Escapees RV Club - who they are and what you should know
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Getting your RV ready for camping season with Dustin from Cal RV Specialists

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