Yes - you can conquer your own RV repairs
Our guest Amanda shares how you can do your own RV repairs
This week on the StressLess Camping RV Podcast, we welcome Amanda Benson from Dusty Trail RV, who offers tips on safety, as well as DIY repair and maintenance of your RV. Yes, you can conquer your own RV repairs!
We visit a Goofy USA location - Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo Texas
Other places to hear the podcast
Mentioned on this episode
Our Route 66 travel guide: https://www.stresslesscamping.com/rving-route-66-travel-guide
Our guest is Amanda Benson from Dusty Trail RV: https://www.youtube.com/@DustyTrailRV
This week’s Goofy USA takes a look at the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas
Check out Paragraphy - the new National Parks and more podcast from RVMiles: https://www.parkography.com/
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.
Automated transcript of StressLess Camping RV podcast episode 304
Tony Barthel
This week on the Stressless Camping RV Podcast, we welcome Amanda Benson from Dusty Trail RV.
Peggy Barthel
She offers tips on safety as well as DIY repair and maintenance for your rv.
Tony Barthel
Yes, you can conquer your own RV repairs.
Peggy Barthel
We also visit a goofy USA location.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, what's up with somebody buried a bunch of Cadillacs in Amarillo. And what's the history of that?
Peggy Barthel
We'll find out.
Tony Barthel
Yep.
Peggy Barthel
We have this week's podcast along with the notes and stories that go with this episode and deals, discounts, helpful tips and more at our home on the web at Stresslesscamping.Com don't forget to like and share and subscribe.
Peggy Barthel
And thank you for joining us for podcast episode 304.
Tony Barthel
I'm Tony.
Peggy Barthel
I'm Peggy.
Tony Barthel
And we're two RV industry veterans who.
Peggy Barthel
Travel part time in a Rockwood mini.
Tony Barthel
Light, but not at the moment looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips, tricks and discounts.
Peggy Barthel
I forgot my line.
Tony Barthel
Oh, what's my line?
Peggy Barthel
Well, because I was going to say we do say part time and sometimes it seems like it's more than part time.
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
But right now we're at our sticks and bricks, so we're home for a minute.
Tony Barthel
You can always tell by the microphones.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. You can tell by the background.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. And the background.
Tony Barthel
The fact that we're in a room or, you know, of course, if they're.
Peggy Barthel
Only listening, they can't tell any of that.
Tony Barthel
That's true.
Peggy Barthel
So we have to tell the listeners.
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
All right.
Tony Barthel
Did you know that we have travel guides on our website? And they're free.
Peggy Barthel
They're free. That's right.
Peggy Barthel
And they have just been updated a little bit. Right, our Route 66.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, the whole Route 60 thing. Route 60 thing. The whole Route 66 page got redone this morning.
Tony Barthel
And so it's all. It's got better links, more links, more stories, more. A lot more pictures. And the way you find it is when you go to website, there's a hamburger menu. Whether you're on a confuser or on a phone or a tablet or spacecraft viewing console.
Peggy Barthel
Do they have hamburger menus?
Tony Barthel
Do they have hamburgers? Oh, but they're always stealing cows, so I. They must.
Peggy Barthel
They must have some reason for all those cows.
Tony Barthel
Anyway, there's the hamburger menu. Look at that under there. It says travel guides and boom, bang, bing, there's a few, including Route 66.
Speaker 3
All right.
Tony Barthel
Or for some of you, Route 66.
Peggy Barthel
So we are home right now.
Tony Barthel
Yes.
Peggy Barthel
But that doesn't really stop us from loving our Master Volt. Upfit?
Tony Barthel
No.
Tony Barthel
In fact, we have some friends who just revisited ABC upfitters. And one of the things that we've often said is these systems are customizable but also expandable. And Patrick and Wendy just went to ABC Outfitters and literally doubled their battery.
Peggy Barthel
Holy moly. They had a lot of battery to start.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah, they did.
Tony Barthel
And now it's even crazier.
Peggy Barthel
Wow. And I know that Steve and Kathy are going to do some upgrades.
Tony Barthel
Oh, they are too.
Peggy Barthel
Oh, boy.
Tony Barthel
Oh, man. Well, there you go. So the nice thing is these systems are flexible. They're customized to what you want for your adventure, and you can upgrade them if you're like, I, I did.
Tony Barthel
Okay, but I need a little more.
Peggy Barthel
More power.
Tony Barthel
Right. If you want a flexible, reliable system that just works, give our friends at ABC upfitters a call. And where can you do that?
Peggy Barthel
Let's see. How about 574?
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
333-3225.
Tony Barthel
That's 574333.
Tony Barthel
3225.
Peggy Barthel
Or you can find them with a link on the page for podcast episodes or on the page for electricity. Right?
Tony Barthel
Yeah, they're. They're linked all over our website.
Peggy Barthel
More information, and there's videos and stuff. We really, really like them.
Tony Barthel
Yes, we do. Well, because they. They just do what they say and they say what they do, and they do it well.
Tony Barthel
And they're good people. So that's the kind of people we like working with.
Peggy Barthel
Yep. Speaking of good people, we got to talk to a really good people this week.
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
Her name is Amanda Benson, and she has a YouTube channel called Dusty Trail RV. Toni has been watching her videos because Toni watches videos. I don't. So it's not like I haven't been watching her videos. I just don't watch videos.
Tony Barthel
I'm a YouTube consumer.
Peggy Barthel
We really like the work that Amanda does. She makes things very simple to understand.
Tony Barthel
She's a regular person who just tackles these tasks. And we'll find out more as we interview Amanda.
Peggy Barthel
Let's do it. Today we're very pleased and happy to have Amanda Benson from Dusty Trail rv. And we are going to talk to her about a bunch of different things. So, Amanda, thank you for spending time with us and gonna give us some great tips for solos. RVers.
Peggy Barthel
Dog people.
Speaker 3
I am very happy to be here, so thanks for having me. And we're lucky because my dog just laid down so we might get some perfectly quiet content here, which. Yes.
Tony Barthel
Well, we don't want to curse it by saying, and your dog may have something to add.
Tony Barthel
You never know.
Speaker 3
Yeah, it's usually nothing good, trust me. Oh, well, he's at that age. He's like 10 month old. Doberman.
Tony Barthel
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3
Also known as a velociraptor. It's pretty great.
Tony Barthel
Amanda comes to us with a really interesting background. She has, she has been a firefighter, paramedic and has done emergency management preparation. But also I have watched you on YouTube do all kinds of repairs to your RV. You have seemingly no fear in what you're willing to tackle.
Speaker 3
Right?
Speaker 3
Yeah, that's probably both a good and a bad thing. So I spent the majority of my life up in Nebraska and I was raised on a farm in rural Nebraska. So like 40 minutes from the nearest grocery store and we were very self sustaining out there and that was pretty much where I picked up most of my. Oh, I can do that. Confidence.
Speaker 3
And yeah, so I spent just around, let me think, just around 12 years as a firefighter and a paramedic. I spent about seven of those years on one of the FEMA urban search and rescue teams. So I'd go out, I was hazmat specialist, I was a rescue specialist, a water rescue specialist and a plants team manager. And now I am just in emergency management, sleeping every night. Loving it.
Tony Barthel
But what I mean, you can't beat that experience. We just, I think we just shared with our audience that we were in Paducah, Kentucky and we found that the hurricanes also wanted to visit Paducah, Kentucky. Hurricanes, the tornadoes. But by coincidence there was a lady there staying at the campground who was a Red Cross employee. So it was both informative and a little unnerving to listen to as she kind of talked us through the tornado that.
Tony Barthel
Well, I guess it's not a tornado. We found out, right?
Peggy Barthel
So we were like, at first we were like, oh good, someone who knows what's happening. And then when she told us what was happening, we were like, oh gosh, we don't want to know what's happening.
Speaker 3
Yeah, right.
Tony Barthel
It's like going to the dentist. Right. They're like, all right, well to do this, we're going to do that. And you're like, could I have not known? It just surprised me.
Speaker 3
I think the, the I have like toed that line for so long in my career where it's like, how much information do you really need to know? And it's just finding that balance of this is what you should do. And this is the very vanilla reason why you should do those things. Don't need to get into all the Nitty gritty. Don't need to scare people.
Speaker 3
Just give them enough to where they can confidently make a decision that is safe for them.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah, our decision was do whatever that lady said to do.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, well, she knows what she was talking about.
Speaker 3
And so, yeah, yeah, I'm notorious. I'm a do as I say, not as I do.
Speaker 3
Because I've been in all of it for so long that for an example, I've been down here in Florida and that's where I do emergency management. And we just got hit with Hurricane Helene and then Hurricane Milton and I'm in an rv. That's what. Obviously that's why we're talking. But, but I'm also in emergency management.
Speaker 3
So I literally was working around the clock for probably over a month and I was telling people, hey, leave, you know, or at least bring your rigs inland. If I can, I'll bring my rig a good hour inland because I'm really close to, I'm really close to the water in the Tampa Bay area. And. But yeah, like when Hurricane Helene hit and then bam, bam, Hurricane Milton, I literally called my insurance company and I was like, how good is this? Because, because it got to the point where what typically happens is people, I call it putting the quarter.
Speaker 3
And people don't want to put the quarter and they don't want to make that big decision, cut their vacation short, pack up all their stuff and go. They don't want to do that if it's maybe gonna miss them. But what happens in these disaster prone areas is you wait because they're like, oh, well, you know, we know a little bit more when we're about two, three days out, but by the time you get to two, three days out, there's no fuel. And so then you have a rig and you're like, well, my, my, my vehicle is a guzzler when it hauls and I literally cannot leave the area. So I stay and then just cross my fingers and go stay somewhere, usually within a structure that is emergency management related.
Tony Barthel
So that's the funny thing. When we were sitting in that tornado shelter, all I could think about was having to call Rockwood and say, you're not going to believe this, but I just destroyed another one.
Peggy Barthel
And I think that earlier that day you also called our insurance company.
Tony Barthel
I did. Because when we check in, you know, it's not like, how do you do?
Tony Barthel
Blah, blah, blah, it's. By the way, the tornado shelter is directly under us.
Peggy Barthel
You know, we're going to need that tomorrow. Right. You sure you want to stay.
Peggy Barthel
And I'm like, well, we're going. Going right in the path of where the storm is going, so we might as well stay where we already know.
Speaker 3
Yeah. Because a lot of those situations you end up. It's like a flipping of the coin.
Speaker 3
If you go up, if you go down, you don't know, you're trying to anticipate, which is the best way to avoid something. And you're absolutely right. Sometimes it's best to stay. Stay where you are.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah, yeah, I already knew where.
Peggy Barthel
Where to take shelter, so.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, yeah, that's true.
Peggy Barthel
Florida's lucky to have you for that.
Tony Barthel
Well, it's interesting you brought up a point that I hadn't really thought of is the people like yourself who put yourself in harm's way to help others. Like, what do you do with your, you know, like, if you are an RVer, as obviously you are, you're in as much peril as the rest of us.
Peggy Barthel
Well, more because she's full time, so.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's your house.
Speaker 3
Typically what I do. Cause I have roots down here, been in this area, minus the traveling here and there, but I working full time in this area for, I guess, maybe over three years.
Speaker 3
And because of that, I have some roots down and that makes all the difference. And then I'm connected with other people in the field and I have co workers. And so typically what I do is I get my important things. I have asthma, and so I grab like all my asthma medication because I have to think to myself, okay, so first of all, you do know if your rig is out of service, who knows when it's getting repaired? And so you have to think like that.
Speaker 3
And it is a pain because for the hurricanes, I just grabbed all my important documents. I grab clothes, I grab any, any electronics, anything that I need for work or the blog or anything like that. Enough dog food and then enough medic, and then I just take that and go to somebody's house and leave it in their house. And typically that. That kind of works for me because also when these storms hit, you have to understand that the grid in your area will probably go down.
Speaker 3
So even if your RV is fine, you might not have power for an extended period of time. And that has a negative impact for those of us who have medication or need air conditioning. Our older population, our young population, are most vulnerable and they have a harder time regulating their body temperatures, and they typically have poorer outcomes than younger, healthy people in these events. And so if you think, okay, our power is down, if you are In a rig that doesn't have a generator. Let's just say you have a cpap or let's say you are diabetic and you have insulin and you are using solar panels, but they don't, they don't run your air conditioner.
Speaker 3
Your solar panels won't unless you really have something impressive going on.
Peggy Barthel
Right.
Speaker 3
And they might like I have a 12 volt fridge that can power off my solar panels but my battery like went out on me after hurricane Milton and I had no battery or anything. So if you think about that, like if you have insulin, you have to refrigerate that and you might not. Even if it's a tornado, even if you're not on a coast that's impacted by hurricanes, that grid goes down and you're only sustainable as, as you've kind of prepared for.
Speaker 3
So you really have to think about that.
Tony Barthel
Well, like the people, what was it two years ago in Texas when they had the whole. Yeah, the ice storm and their whole grid went down and they're all hunting for propane and all that.
Peggy Barthel
We're not even used to cold weather, let alone. Yeah, like extreme weather.
Tony Barthel
I think I like our solar and lithium system more than I ever have. Now if your rig is not set up for them, our sponsor, boy, this, you're really helping us out here. Is a company that installs these systems and they're exceptional at it. We've had a system now for three years and we do a lot of off grid camping.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Speaker 3
And especially if you're where it's a little warmer.
Tony Barthel
So how, how we kind of got to know Amanda is her YouTube channel. She has tackled some pretty major repairs and service things and we've talked to people who have RV specific training, you know like from the RV Technical Institute and such. But Amanda's one of us. She is, I'm going to say just an RVer, but for lack of a better description and yet she's doing these major repairs and maintenance items in the campground.
Tony Barthel
Because you're a full time rver, how do you learn the skills that you have? Because it's clear you understand these things. Based on what I've watched in your.
Speaker 3
Videos, I think that the big thing for me is I've always been kind of a very handy type of person. But when I, my home before I became an RVer, it was 120 year old bungalow that needed everything, everything.
Speaker 3
And that was like a labor of love for me. And I just, I, I redid pretty much everything. I did remodels I, I did plumbing, I did electrical, I did almost anything you can think of to that house. I did make an agreement with my loved ones that I would no longer do electrical work myself. But, but it's, it's because I, I've just paid attention to what, what the system is.
Speaker 3
And I actually just had this conversation not too long ago with some women that I work with about a desire to just learn more. And I bring it all the way back to when I was like in, in like high school and they separated the girls and the boys, right? They, the girls went to home EC and the boys went, went to shop class and I had to do home ec, but I also got to do shop class. And it's that type of education I don't think really happens anymore. I'm finding more, and this is interesting because in the fire service in Nebraska, it was a very, there were a lot of people that had close ties to agriculture and they were just very hands on people.
Speaker 3
They were a lot of, were had a history of roofers, they did construction, they did all sorts of stuff, laid concrete and they had a lot of that knowledge. But when I actually came down to Florida, what I was noticing is my co workers don't have that knowledge anymore. And I think the younger generation is not being taught those things. And so what the communication that I was having with my female co workers was, okay, you can't wait for your dad to teach you these things. And if you end up with a dad who doesn't teach you those things, because really, how else, how else do we learn those things?
Speaker 3
We were taught at a young age. You have to start studying the big picture. And what I mean by that is it's like a human body, right? We have all these systems that are working together in the human body and the way they function impacts the rest of the systems in your body. You have your musculoskeletal, you have your pulmonary, you have your cardiac.
Speaker 3
And once you understand each of those systems, how it operates within itself, but it operates in relation to the other systems, it becomes a lot easier to kind of look at these problems and make sense of them. And so you can look at your RV as though it's a human body or as though it's a house or anything like that. And the big thing for me is starting with like the skin of the rv, knowing that you want to protect from the top down. So knowing that the top down, that is your most important thing for your structural integrity of your rv. And so understanding how the roof works and understanding how seams work and understanding why you need to protect those areas, that's like just the first step.
Speaker 3
And then once you kind of go down the rv, you can start getting into other things like your plumbing and understanding your water system and understanding why it works. I think it's important that we know when we turn the faucet on how that happens, how that's made possible. And the same thing with your propane system. I've Talked to numerous RVers who are very, very anxious and uncomfortable with propane.
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Speaker 3
And there's additives so that you can detect them. Right. So that's a safety thing. And then most of our appliances have safety features for propane so that if, if it is not detecting your pilot light is lit, it will shut down the gas. And so there's little things like that that are incorporated into our propane systems that really do make them very safe.
Speaker 3
You just like, like when I'm talking about people who are uncomfortable, I've known people that have ripped out their ovens of a new, of a new rv. And in my world I'm like, no, don't do that. Because I see propane as like a really sustainable, easy to use, affordable fuel source that if you smell it, you know, you might have a leak. It's in. And understanding, you know, you just need a little soapy water and you can spray it to find where the leak is.
Speaker 3
And sometimes it's as simple as just changing out the fittings. Things that are so cheap. And it just makes a lot more sense to just learn the process instead of paying somebody to come in. Because I think that's where you have the breakdown and people get uncomfortable is when it's so foreign to them that they're reliant on somebody else to come in and to diagnose it, that they completely like keep themselves away from it. Whereas if I smell a little propane, I'm going to open up my windows, I'm going to shut my propane down, I'm going to air everything out because you get nose blind with it.
Speaker 3
And then I'm going to sit on it for a little bit and then I'm going to go back in, I'm going to turn my propane back on and I'm going to wait and I'm going to see if I start smelling those things. And it's something like that. Like I don't just freak out and say, oh no, I smell a bad thing and it might be in my rv, I need to call somebody to Help me. I'm problem solving that by myself. Everything in your RV is like, it's troubleshooting along the line, understanding what the line is with your water.
Speaker 3
If you turn on your water and it doesn't, nothing comes out. Okay, so let's problem solve this. We want to go directly to the spigot. That's the first thing we want to go to. Because if there's water coming from there, you know that the problems between there and the rv, Right?
Speaker 3
So it's kind of like figuring out and problem solving that type of thing and getting comfortable with it yourself.
Tony Barthel
RVs are not that complicated, but they are, right? And the. If you do. If you are forced to wait for service, you might be a.
Tony Barthel
Most of the season, if not all the season. You know, some people live where, oh, we have to winterize. It might be you're done that year versus 10 minutes with a pecs tool or something like that to solve the problem yourself. So you have a. I mean, you.
Tony Barthel
You have a combination of no fear of these systems or. Or you're like, no, I'm gonna figure this out.
Speaker 3
Yep.
Tony Barthel
If for the normal. Because I think we all encounter people who are like.
Tony Barthel
Or, you know, which end of the screwdriver do I hold?
Tony Barthel
Right. Yeah, I. I know the theory.
Peggy Barthel
Right.
Tony Barthel
I.
Tony Barthel
I got the book learning, but the screwdriver learning, I'm not the greatest, but do you have places somebody might turn to to get more like you to. To gain knowledge? And, you know, we've talked to RV Technical Institute, and we've talked to Lippert. We've been to RV Owner school. Those are both great.
Speaker 3
Right?
Tony Barthel
But like I say, I like your I can do this attitude.
Speaker 3
It's cheaper. It saves money, too. And it's.
Speaker 3
And it's like, what I would tell people is like, when I get into the weeds like that and I get on a project, I mean, I am angry sometimes. I am the person who is crammed halfway in the cubby, yelling at an inanimate object, because I'm so frustrated and it's taking me so much longer. And this is how it always happens, but it's. So when I get it. When I get it fixed, it's like a great, rewarding feeling.
Speaker 3
And one of the things that I would tell people to do is live on YouTube. And something that I like to point out is how cruel. And I will say it, and I'll say it again, how absolutely cruel the community can be when people are trying to learn things and when people are trying to show how to do things. So there's multiple ways to do this. If it works for you and it, and it eradicates the problem in a way that's sustainable.
Speaker 3
So it's not just a band aid fix because it's, there's even room for band aid fixes in this. Right. You've got a storm, something breaks your, breaks through your barrier on your roof, you have a sudden leak. That's a temporary fix. Right.
Tony Barthel
Gorilla tape.
Speaker 3
Right. But. And everyone wants armchair quarterback that. But at the end of the day, get up there and cover it.
Speaker 3
But people get so much shame when they come to these platforms. And you see it on Facebook, you see people come with these legitimate questions and you've got a population in the RV community that will bend over backwards to help them problem solve it and to figure it out. And then you've got this, this subcategory of people who are just nasty and they, they know better than everybody else. And what they, that does is it is, it causes people to kind of shut themselves off from it. And it, and it reaffirms these thoughts like, oh, no, I can't do this.
Speaker 3
See, I, I wanted to kind of figure out if I can fix this myself, but I community. And they told me I was stupid.
Tony Barthel
Well, I've also seen, and I completely agree with you, but I've also seen where people will ask answers on Facebook or wherever, any group, because Reddit, whatever. And there are the good, really well thought through answers and then complete misinformation.
Speaker 3
Yep.
Tony Barthel
And it's like, oh, there was one yesterday and I can't remember what it.
Peggy Barthel
Was, but it's scary.
Tony Barthel
It was dangerously wrong.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. If you don't know the answer, you're not going to know which of those people is right.
Tony Barthel
And oftentimes the dangerously wrong are the most adamant about there. They're like, oh, and they're like, no, it. You're gonna hurt somebody, dummy.
Speaker 3
Yep. And that's, that's.
Speaker 3
And we see that and it's, it's important to remember that obviously the loudest voice in the room isn't always right and it isn't always reflective of the majority opinion of things. But we do have an issue with misinformation and it can be, it can be dangerous in the RV community.
Tony Barthel
And then comes the question, how do you vet the information that you get either on YouTube a lot of times YouTube I don't see as big, I don't, I don't see as much bad information, but I see it as on social media. So I Guess the more you know, the more you can vet this lousy information.
Peggy Barthel
If I haven't learned to do anything yet, what's the first thing you would recommend that I learn to take care of on my own in my rv?
Speaker 3
I think the first, most important part about being in an RV is getting into everything. Getting into all of your nooks and crannies, figuring out like even just getting underneath your, your RV and looking at your tanks and seeing kind of where the piping might go and getting on top of your roof. Get a good. I love telescoping ladders. That's what I use because they're easy and they break down.
Speaker 3
But getting on your roof and learning how to walk on a roof, depending on, depending on the type of RV you have, unless you like, some of them obviously have the more walkable roofs. But learning how to be like soft footed on a roof, sitting up on your roof, looking at your seams, putting your hands on your seams, just kind of looking at the pieces of your RV and kind of seeing how they work together. And I think that is the most important thing you can do because what you're really doing is just getting a sixth sense for the way things kind of put together. I kind of getting familiar though, like looking in those spaces. Like I've pulled the, the access panels pretty much off of everything in my RV just so I can kind of see what's back there.
Speaker 3
And I did this once because I had a dead outlet and I was on a mission because I'm like, I cannot because you don't have a lot of outlets in an rv and if you have a dead one, it like matters. And I'm going through everything, I'm going through my, my breaker panel, I'm going through the whole RV because I'm like, I guarantee that there is a GFCI somewhere that's tripped and I just can't find it. I pulled all my access panels off and found a, an outlet way beyond, way behind there that probably shouldn't be a GFCI outlet that was actually tripped under my sink. And I'm like, okay, it's where my, because I have an external kitchen and it's, and it, it's the outlet that my mini fridge is plugged into over there. And I'm like, this one shouldn't probably be a gfci, but it's, it's just kind of going through that and being curious and just taking things apart.
Speaker 3
And if you do this, take pictures of it as you're taking it Apart so you can put it back together, because I chronically have one extra screw no matter what I'm doing.
Peggy Barthel
Right. So I think that. That all of the projects that you have done are something to be proud of. But do you have, like, one mod or one project that you just like?
Peggy Barthel
I'm gonna tell everybody this was, like, a shining accomplishment.
Speaker 3
Oh, what could it. Well, the most useful mod I've done. I hate dinettes. I hate them.
Speaker 3
And I actually haven't posted. I don't know if I. I may not have posted my. Finished one of my. I r.
Speaker 3
My dinette out and made, like, a desk that has, like, monitors mounted on the back. It's just. Just it. It's better. And then the dog kennel can fit next to it.
Speaker 3
So that one is, like, a very functional one. But other than that, I installed a hookup for my propane so I could do a quick connect to my Blackstone, because I didn't have. I didn't have, like, a quick connect. Some of them have quick connects. If you have an RV with a quick connect, like, right on.
Speaker 3
But I did not. So it was a lot of kind of figuring out what the right pieces were and where to get them.
Tony Barthel
I think my favorite video project you've done that I've watched is the roof resealing.
Speaker 3
Oh, yeah.
Tony Barthel
I thought that was good.
Tony Barthel
I mean, they're. They're generally good, but I thought that was, like, everybody ought to watch this video.
Speaker 3
Yeah, it's really a lot of those things up there, up on the roof, they're really easy to do. You just have to get comfortable being up there, and it takes a little time, so you can't move fast. The hardest thing I have is because I'm down in Florida, when I was trying to fix my insert molding, I did both pretty much all rails up top, and then the.
Speaker 3
The front cap. And every time. Every time I started doing it, it would start raining, and it was like. I think it rained it, like, you know, midday every day for, like, four months, I swear. And so on one of those, I'm like.
Speaker 3
I, like, created this little thing because I then put my leveling lap sealant, like, by my front cap up there. But then it was gonna rain, and I was like, no. So I made, like, this, like, awning over top of it out of, like, some black plastic. And then I put, like. I put, like, two.
Speaker 3
Two tubes of, like, caulk, and then, like, the black plastic over top of it. So it was, like, a little roof over top of it. But like, so I'll do things like that. And I'm like going, you know, I'm like, I can feel like one, two raindrops. And I'm like, I will, I will get this done.
Speaker 3
And then when you're doing the. It's so annoying because obviously your air conditioner always leaks, you know, like the condensation coming off that's always dripping. And if you're trying to do new sealant on, on like a new be to sealant over there, you don't want it to get wet. So I had like, like I was collecting like a dam of condensation with towels, like around the AC so that I had just enough time for that, that sealant to like build a little skin on it so that if the water runs, but it's fun to do. And it's like, I did that.
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Speaker 3
I didn't pay somebody hundreds of dollars to do that. I did that in an afternoon and I got a sunburn.
Peggy Barthel
So we haven't done this in a while.
Tony Barthel
I know it's.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, but we're slacking.
Peggy Barthel
We. When we have guests who we know are campers or RVers, we've asked it in the opposite way. I'm going to try something a little bit different. Do you want to share your worst camping memory with us?
Speaker 3
You know, I, I would, I would share my worst camping. I just have to figure out what it is. I am like, I am a glass full type of person. Like, I would say, oh, gosh, which hurricane was that?
Tony Barthel
It's bad when you have to ask which one.
Speaker 3
For the life of me, I can't remember. I don't think it was Tropical storm Debbie. It wasn't Helene or Milton, but there was another one coming to town. Right. And I was still with the fire department.
Speaker 3
And they were like, you're getting called back. And I was like, this is ludicrous. I refuse. And they're like, you can't. I'm like, okay, great.
Speaker 3
So I was asking around and I'm like, can I just bring my RV to one of these fire stations and park them in one of the huge bays? And then these guys were all like, well, I can't bring my four wheelers in here. And I was like, there is a difference between my home that's not your house and your four wheeler. But I digress. So I was looking everywhere and things were starting to fill up because everybody starts moving when a storm's coming.
Speaker 3
And so I called this RV park. It's in, it's in Dover, Florida. And It's a really big, nice park. And I called her and I'm like, hey, do you have any spaces? I'm just, I need to put my rig there.
Speaker 3
So she let me come out and I remember because I'd been full timing so I was nice and settled. And I remember it was just like rainy and nasty leading up to it and I still had time, but it was just like grimy. And you ever pack up when it's raining? Like it, it just like there's like little pieces and if you're in Florida or New Mexico, probably too little pieces of sand everywhere. And so when you're wet and you're grimy and you're getting sand and like the threads of your hoses and your.
Speaker 3
I, I hauled my rig to Dover, pulled in there looking like a drowned rat. And it was still raining when I got there and all I wanted to do because I was going to sleep that night at that, at that park and then I was going to immediately drive in back to the area and then sleep on a co worker's couch before shift. The following day. It's pouring down rain and I'm running around trying to like hook up, get my hookups going and my hoses were short. And so it been like one of those days that was like, my back hurts, I'm tired, this is stupid.
Speaker 3
I'm soaking wet, I'm covered in sand, I smell like, I just want to eat dinner, I want to be dry and I want to be in my bed. And I had to find like a Walmart or something that was still open because of the storms, just so I can get an extra length of hose. Just so. It was one of those trips. And I just remember I finally got into, I finally got into the RV and I walk into the bathroom and when I had left, I had my vent open, my bathroom.
Speaker 3
And so it was just like, it was one of those where I'm like, this is, I am over it. No more. I never want to do this again. But as soon as, as soon as I went back in, worked my shifts, you know, and came back out and got it, it was like, I love this, I love RVing. Wouldn't change it for the world.
Tony Barthel
Which is why we call this stressless camping. Because it's a goal, not a reality.
Speaker 3
Not, not always a reality.
Peggy Barthel
So let's turn it around and tell us about your very bestest favoriteist camping experience.
Speaker 3
Well, when I, I will call it when I first came to my long term site that I'm at right now.
Speaker 3
So I had been in Texas, and then I ended up kind of in the Miami area. And I'm going through this stress of finding a long term spot or even finding a temporary spot. And I'm like, looking on a map, but I don't really know the Tampa Bay, St. Pete region very well. I called a person, right?
Speaker 3
And I'm like, do you have an open spot in your. And it's a mobile home park. And they're like, yeah. So apparently what they do is when they demolish mobile homes in some of these areas, instead of putting a new mobile home on them, they'll turn them into an RV spot. And so I was like, perfect, great.
Speaker 3
And she was like, well, do you want to like, like, kind of just do it like short term and, and see if you like it? And I was like, yes, thank you. Give me an out. I will take it. So I remember the first time I came here, I was like, driving up from Miami is like, probably takes four hours without towing something.
Speaker 3
So a little bit longer than that. I'm tired. It's. The sun's kind of setting a little bit, and I'm following GPS because again, haven't been here. And I'm driving through this little, little.
Speaker 3
This little downtown area, and it's right on the water. And I'm like, gosh, this is such a beautiful, beautiful area. Like, what? And so then I'm like, well, it says I'm getting close to my place, but that's impossible. It's impossible.
Speaker 3
I can't. So it is like right on this little main area. And I pull in and it is an old, old mobile home park. Like all, like the. The trailers are like, like those really old metal ones, super old.
Speaker 3
And it is a predominantly Latino community, all working class. There's a bunch of little kids running around, and I'm like, where am I? Like, I. It just was so different than what I was expecting. And this crowd of kids and playing soccer and women came out and it was a really tiny area.
Speaker 3
And I'm like, I've got to back that. And there's like, no, no room whatsoever. And this little community just like got behind me and we're backing me into my spot. And I'm like, the whole thing is so surreal. And I'm like, where am I?
Speaker 3
Like, this is great. And they're having barbecues and there's like Mexican music playing and like everybody's laughing. And I was like, I feel like I don't deserve to be in this. I feel like this is. I don't know.
Speaker 3
And so I. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna just go for a walk. I was gonna call my mom or something, and I walk across the road, and it's like, I'm walking through this really nice little neighborhood, and it's like a block and a half, and then it's the water. And I was like, are you kidding me? Like.
Speaker 3
Like, how did I. So now I've been in this spot, and I don't want to leave it, like, ever. But everything just kind of worked out, and I just was, like, doing, like, Hail Mary's because all I needed was a place, like, any place. If it was somebody's backyard, that'd be fine, you know? And I ended up just throwing the dart at the board and finding this little community that's like 10 out of 10 in this little town that's 10 out of 10, like, two blocks from the water.
Speaker 3
And so that I would say that is my favorite camping story, because I just stayed here forever.
Peggy Barthel
Find heaven.
Tony Barthel
Oh, man. Well, man, it has been a pleasure to get tips from you and to meet you in person. Well, virtually, but still.
Tony Barthel
And we hope to talk to you again and definitely keep in touch. It's been a real pleasure speaking with you.
Speaker 3
Yeah, it's been great to talk to you guys and great to meet you, and I would love to touch base any other time.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, sounds good.
Peggy Barthel
Thank you again.
Peggy Barthel
As Tony said, thank you for your time and for some fantastic tips and encouragement. I am not going to go climb up on our roof. The roof. But I'm gonna go do something. We're up on the of the rv.
Peggy Barthel
I'm not gonna climb on the roof of the rv.
Tony Barthel
There's a lot of solar panels up there. A lot.
Peggy Barthel
But there is that one panel that I want to look at the electricity behind it. So maybe that will be my afternoon.
Tony Barthel
Okay.
Peggy Barthel
Of confidence building.
Speaker 3
May you be empowered.
Tony Barthel
Absolutely. Thank you, Amanda.
Tony Barthel
Take care.
Speaker 3
Thanks.
Tony Barthel
All right, we are back. So do you feel empowered? Do you feel like you're gonna climb up on your roof and do some repairs or just learn a little more about your rv?
Tony Barthel
Of course. That's probably why you're already listening.
Peggy Barthel
Who knows?
Tony Barthel
Let's say you don't have an rv. How would you get a chance to win one?
Tony Barthel
Well, our friends at Liquefied rv, which is our favorite RV holding tank treatment for sure, are giving away an Alliance Delta travel trailer. And you actually don't have to buy anything if you choose not to. They have a survey that they ask you to fill out and Then you'll be entered to win. But for every dollar you spend on Liquefied, if, if you do need some RV toilet tank treatment, you get an entry. And that goes through June 1st of 2025.
Peggy Barthel
Right. And if you use this link that we have posted in the notes or put on a code or whatever, we're, we've done all those things. You can also save 10% on your first order.
Tony Barthel
Yep.
Peggy Barthel
And why not?
Peggy Barthel
Right? Yeah. Even if you don't want to win a travel trailer, you still get 10% off. And if you happen to accidentally win, I guess you could donate it or something. True.
Tony Barthel
Or just go camping, whatever. But you know, we did a test a while back. We had a podcast with Josh Sheehan and he tested all these different tank treatments and just liquefied knocked it out of the park. And we have found Peggy will post a image. We use liquefied and our black tank currently shows empty because it just cleans out.
Peggy Barthel
Cleans it out. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
We run our black tank flush and it shows empty. And that's after 9, 000 miles of towing that trailer all over the US so we, we have used it two.
Peggy Barthel
Like two six week trips already this year.
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
So. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
Well, as Matt says from Liquefied, think of me when you poop. Great product from friends of ours.
Peggy Barthel
Hey, what's goofy USA?
Tony Barthel
Well, what if somebody took 10 Cadillacs, dug a holes in a field and buried them nose deep?
Peggy Barthel
What if indeed.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Well, so of course I'm sure you know we're talking about the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas.
Tony Barthel
And the Cadillac Ranch started out as an art installation in the 70s where they basically took 10 Cadillacs and buried them nose deep in the desert in Texas. It's sort of a tribute to how the tail fins changed over the year. But it's very Instagramable. Right? I mean, sure, the Cadillac Ranch isn't just kind of a random art piece.
Tony Barthel
It's history and rebellion and, and creativity. Now what one thing stuck out in your mind the most when we, we visited it now a few times.
Peggy Barthel
The most. I think the thing that I always think of when I think of visiting Cadillac Ranch is the thickness of the spray paint on the cars. So I don't know when this started.
Peggy Barthel
You might once it was an art installation. I imagine they didn't say, hey, I put these Cadillacs out here for you to spray paint. But somehow people started spray painting them.
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
And that was in the 70s.
Peggy Barthel
So 50 years of layer after layer after layer after layer after layer of spray paint.
Tony Barthel
They actually have scraped the paint off and repainted them several times.
Peggy Barthel
Okay.
Tony Barthel
Believe it or not, because you're right. It gets so thick.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. The thickness.
Tony Barthel
It's like, I don't know, cake frosting. There's so much.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
And it's kind of like rubbery looking and kind of melty looking because it's just so thick that, you know, it's not sticking to anything but the other 40,000 layers.
Tony Barthel
And a stressless camping.
Peggy Barthel
And a stressless camping sticker.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, it. It's.
Tony Barthel
It's nuts. And it smells like paint. And there is spray paint. People spray paint stuff on the ground, and they even like re. They put spray cans like they've stepped on to make that kind of paved.
Peggy Barthel
It with spray cans.
Tony Barthel
It's an interesting place, but it started in 19. 1974 by a San Francisco art collective called Ant Farm. And they looked for who would do this crazy installation and found Stanley Marsh III, who spelled his name with the number three as opposed to the, you.
Peggy Barthel
Know, instead of the third.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. So their catalogs from 1949-63. Although I'm not, you know, that's what it says. I thought I saw 64. But anyway, the, you know, the idea was to kind of showcase the evolution of the Cadillac tail fin and the audit.
Tony Barthel
The artists bought used Cadillacs from junkyards, drove them to Amarillo, and just buried them in the dirt.
Peggy Barthel
It's so crazy. So they're all in a straight line, if you haven't been there or you haven't seen pictures by some odd chance. Yeah, they're all kind of buried in a straight line at an angle.
Tony Barthel
Well, here's an interesting thing.
Tony Barthel
That angle is 52 degrees to mimic the temple of Giza, the, you know, the great pyramid of Giza. Yeah, that's why they're buried at that angle.
Peggy Barthel
All right. I thought it was like the ultimate angle for them not to fall over.
Tony Barthel
That could be, too.
Tony Barthel
So get this. In 1997, where we have seen, the Cadillac Ranch isn't where it has always been.
Peggy Barthel
Really?
Tony Barthel
Yeah. They moved the Cadillacs in 1997 because, as you know, going to Amarillo, it just keeps growing and growing and growing.
Peggy Barthel
Oh, sure.
Tony Barthel
And at one point, they're like, oh, my gosh, it's like too close in.
Peggy Barthel
The middle of town, basically.
Tony Barthel
So in 1997, they moved it to where it is now, which is a cow pasture, kind of appropriate for Texas. You know, lots of Texas longhorns and all that.
Peggy Barthel
No idea. I wonder how long it'll take before the city reaches the new ranch.
Tony Barthel
It's definitely creeping up on it.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah, that's true.
Tony Barthel
So just so you know, it's free to get in.
Tony Barthel
There's no charge. They do encourage you to bring spray paint.
Peggy Barthel
They do encourage you to throw your cans away at the end. Don't you have them on the ground? People are messy out there.
Peggy Barthel
It's kind of rude.
Tony Barthel
People have spray painted the ground too. You know, for better or worse, whatever. It is a genuine Route 66 landmark now. And when we have gone the past few times, there have been coffee vendors there too.
Tony Barthel
So.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. Like a food truck type of.
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
In an old vintage trailer.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. It's kind of cool.
Tony Barthel
One time there was a 58 Cadillac pulling that trailer, which is kind of. Kind of cool. So the Cadillac Ranch is in Amarillo, Texas.
Tony Barthel
One of these days we need to spend. Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
Right on the west. West edge of. Or.
Peggy Barthel
Or nearing. And nearing the edge.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. At least the edge for now.
Tony Barthel
Right, Right. Do know if you visit, like I said, like we said, bring spray paint. Know that it's a big open field in Amarillo. It can be seriously windy there.
Speaker 3
Sure.
Peggy Barthel
It can be pretty muddy too. That the first time we went, it was. It was.
Tony Barthel
It was sloppy.
Peggy Barthel
Had been very rainy.
Peggy Barthel
And you park on the street and then you walk through a gate and into where the Cadillacs are. So it's. I. I mean it's not far, but maybe half. But it's a little.
Tony Barthel
Whatever.
Peggy Barthel
A little bit of a walk.
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
And.
Tony Barthel
And one thing to know, if it's windy, you know, people are spray painting all over the place.
Tony Barthel
Don't bring your Sunday best clothes.
Peggy Barthel
Right. Because you might get spray painted.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Some of the cars just haven't dried well.
Tony Barthel
True.
Peggy Barthel
You lean up against a wet car.
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Speaker 3
Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
And if you go look for our sticker, we put a.
Peggy Barthel
We put one of our stresses camping stickers. Although I'm sure it's under 18,000 layers of paint by now.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, that's true.
Peggy Barthel
So time to go put a new one.
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Tony Barthel
And as a car. Car fan that I am, a lot of the cool chrome and other bits and all the glass is off these cars.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah.
Tony Barthel
So they are just an art installation now. So it is open 24 hours a day and it is an authentic piece of roadside America along Route 66.
Tony Barthel
That absolutely is goofy USA. A little bit of housekeeping. If you are listening to this as an audio podcast, not much is going to change.
Peggy Barthel
Right.
Tony Barthel
I know we've been kind of fiddling with stressless camping a lot Lately, the audio podcast is not going to change other than.
Tony Barthel
Right. I mean, you know, little things here or there, but. But the video, what we've discovered is that there's sort of the informational side of the video, like the interview with Amanda, and then there's the Goofy USA side. And. And we are going to split those so that Goofy USA has its own playlist and the informational side has its own playlist on YouTube.
Tony Barthel
So if you do watch these on YouTube now, there may be two or even three. Like, we might put the recipes separately, too. Or Gadget report, Gadget reports, things like that, they might become YouTube shorts.
Peggy Barthel
We don't actually have those this week, so we don't know what we're going to be doing with them. So if you are a listener, know that and you like, oh, every once in a while I might catch a YouTube, know that they're a little more visually appealing than just watching us talk.
Peggy Barthel
The Goofy USA segments. Yeah, we'll have pictures and slideshow kind of things. So if you usually just listen. But you want to go see pictures of Goofy usa, particularly Cadillac Ranch this week.
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
Check us out on YouTube.
Tony Barthel
That's the fact, Jack. So last week in our question of the week on our fun and friendly stressless campers Facebook page, we asked you, how in the heck did you find us?
Peggy Barthel
We did. And I don't know how many times I can keep doing this.
Peggy Barthel
You know, I left the previous question of the week about finding Goofy USA destinations, and now I kind of want to keep this one up because I'd love, love. I love learning about how long you've been listening and how you found out about us. And I try to respond to everybody and thank you to those of you who this is your first time, to those of you who have been there since the beginning, to those of you who been there since the middle and went back and listened to everything. Why? Well, I know why, because it's very informative.
Peggy Barthel
But.
Tony Barthel
Well, that's the goal of the podcast.
Peggy Barthel
You know, up until a year ago, we only did audio, so I guess it's not something you have to sit and watch 330 hours of, 303 hours of.
Tony Barthel
So it's interesting and you can go back and weigh in, but it is as we record this, it's National Parks Week.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah.
Tony Barthel
And so we thought we'd figure out what is your favorite national park and why. Bonus for pictures. Pictures.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah, Extra bonus for pictures because, you know, we've been to a few, but there's a lot that we haven't seen. And, and I want to say national parks.
Peggy Barthel
National places. Right. That's one of the, one of the points that Parkography makes.
Tony Barthel
Oh yeah.
Peggy Barthel
It's not only the established parks as called national park capital N, capital P, it's all those national places.
Peggy Barthel
Places. Right. National historic sites and, and all that stuff. Those all count. So if one of those is your favorite, don't feel like you have to use park.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. And oh, and by the way, Peggy, since she mentioned Parkography, our friends Jason and Abby have a new podcast, well, podcast or video series called Parkography.
Peggy Barthel
It used to be called America's National Parks. And because of recognizing that, that it's more than just parks, they changed their name and like kind of re rebuilt themselves. So check it out.
Peggy Barthel
It's a very interesting podcast, Podography.
Tony Barthel
We will put a link to the show in the show notes.
Peggy Barthel
A link to the show notes won't do a lot of good. They'll already know though, right?
Tony Barthel
You can answer the question of the week or ask your own question at our fun and friendly Stressless Campers Facebook group.
Peggy Barthel
Also, you can get our weekly newsletter. It's once a week and it's free. And it has links to stories and videos and podcasts and, you know, things that we think will help you get the most out of your RV experience. All you need to do is go to stresslesscamping.com and anywhere on any page, you'll probably see a link to sign up for our newsletter. Again, it's once a week because we don't have time to do more and because we don't want to, we don't want you to start ignoring them because there's too many.
Tony Barthel
I don't get the daily newsletters like, how do you come up with that much stuff? I know you can find the show notes for this episode, episode 304 on the podcast page@stresslesscamping.com which is also where.
Peggy Barthel
You can find our. Our, our favorite RV products and services. Favorite RV products and services.
Peggy Barthel
That's the name of the page that has deals and discounts and. And some of our favorite, you know, products and services.
Tony Barthel
We try not to be too confusing because we are confused. Of course, you know, you can also follow us over on the socials and you can start@stresslesscamping.com and there's links to all of the places follow social places where all of us are wasting so much time.
Peggy Barthel
If you don't want to miss a future episode of Stress Camping podcast, it is free to subscribe on any audio podcast catcher or on YouTube.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, you could link or like link whatever.
Peggy Barthel
You could lick YouTube like and subscribe. Hit that bell. I don't know. What are all those catchphrases?
Peggy Barthel
Anyway, Smash that button. We are saving you a seat around our virtual campfire.
Tony Barthel
Yes. Oh that's. Well, we appreciate you being here with us again this week.
Tony Barthel
Thank you so much. And most of all, stressless camping. 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.
Speaker 3
Don't forget to subscribe so you won't.
Tony Barthel
Miss out on the adventure and we look forward to your joining us next week. Until then, happy camping.
