50 years of storytelling - the original RV blogger
This week on the StressLess Camping RV Podcast we get to speak with one of the OGs of RV blogging and hear some of the fun stories and incredible challenges it took to do what we do today. And, he’s still doing it today. But Chuck Woodbury has some great shares from his days on the road.
We also have an RV gadget we knew we wanted but we have become big fans of.
Other places to hear the podcast
Mentioned on this episode
Our guest, Chuck Woodbury, is the publisher of RVTravel
You can also find Tony’s articles on RVTravel here
A bank in Quartzsite: https://www.rvtravel.com/when-quartzsite-had-its-own-bank-in-a-motorhome/
Is now the time to consider an RV extended warranty? Our interview with Wholesale Warranties
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 337
Peggy
This week on the Stressless Camping RV Podcast, we-
Tony
We get to speak with one of the OGs of RV blogging in here.
Peggy
Excited much?(laughs)
Tony
Well, he's got some great stories and shares some of the challenges it took to do what we do today.
Peggy
And he's still doing it today.
Tony
He is still doing it today.
Peggy
Plus, we have a really great new RV gadget that we've, knew we wanted, but we have actually become big fans of.
Tony
We have this week's podcast along with the notes and all the stories that go with this episode, plus discounts, deals, helpful tips, and more at our home on the web at stresslesscamping.com.
Peggy
We really appreciate your likes and your shares and we thank you for joining us for podcast episode 337. Stressless Camping.
Tony
Stressless Camping. I'm Tony.
Peggy
I'm Peggy.
Tony
And we're two RV industry veterans who travel part-time-
Peggy
... in a Rockwood Mini Lite.
Tony
... looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips-
Peggy
... tricks-
Tony
... and discounts. This is like déjà vu.
Peggy
Yeah. We didn't have to tell anybody, but-
Peggy
... we're recording for the second time 'cause w- y- it doesn't work unless you hit record.
Tony
That was on me.(laughs) We went through the whole thing.(laughs) I forgot to press the red button.
Peggy
Thank goodness we didn't do it while we were interviewing-
Tony
Oh, my word.
Peggy
... our guest.
Tony
Yeah, right?
Peggy
That would be bad.
Tony
'Cause Chuck's a busy guy.
Tony
So, anyway, another busy group are the folks over at ABC Upfitters 'cause they shared this week that they put the biggest system they've ever put in an RV in an RV.
Peggy
Every time I think they've got the biggest RV with the biggest system, another bigger RV comes for a bigger system.(laughs)
Tony
But they also have just simple battery upgrades.
Peggy
Mm-hmm.
Tony
So, the nice thing about the way ABC Upfitters works is that they use all Master Bolt parts and they work with you to put together a system that fits the way you like to camp. We're also really impressed, our gadget of the week was... We had it put in by a local RV repair place.
Peggy
Mm-hmm.
Tony
And I, of course, showed them our ABC system and they're like, "Wow, that is... The connectors, the way it was all put together," they were very impressed. And it's always nice when someone who knows what they're talking about-
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
... is impressed with your work.
Peggy
It's one thing when just another camper is impressed, but when an actual RV tech is impressed, that makes me feel good.(laughs)
Tony
Yeah. So, if you would like that kind of quality of workmanship and customized system, uh, just give ABC Upfitters a call. They do all Master Bolt components, which come out of the marine industry and it's just good stuff. You can find them at 574-333-3225.
Peggy
That's 574-333-3225. And as usual, I'll put the QR code here of our ABC page where you can listen to ABC explain their systems and we have links and all that other stuff you might need to get in touch with ABC Upfitters.
Tony
Yep. Well, this week, for the Stressless Camping podcast, I get to talk with someone who I work with on a regular basis writing RV reviews, but someone whose content I've been following probably 30 years?
Peggy
Mm-hmm.
Tony
Maybe more? Uh-
Peggy
But that's only 30 of Chuck's 50 years-
Tony
Yes.
Peggy
... of being an RV content creator-
Tony
Yes.
Peggy
... before that term was even con-(laughs) considered.
Tony
Oh, man. He's really on the ground floor on so many things.
Peggy
Mm-hmm.
Tony
So, sit back, relax, and let's hear from Chuck Woodbury from RV Travel. Well, we have the distinct pleasure of having a guest with us today whom I have been following for probably 30 years or so? We have Chuck Woodbury, who is the publisher of RV Travel, but Chuck has been in the business for about half a century. Welcome, Chuck, and thank you.
Chuck Woodbury
Well, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Good to be here.
Peggy
I remember the first time I met Chuck.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
I think the first time we met Chuck. We were at Quartzsite and-
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
... Tony had taken a break to go get some food or go do something and you walked up and introduced yourself and I'm not as, uh, good at following other people. And so, I didn't actually know who you were.(laughs)
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
And Tony came back and I said, "Oh, Chuck Woodbury stopped by." And he said, "Wait, what? You didn't stop him?" And I have a really bad ability to recognize faces, but I, like, I remembered what hat you were wearing or something.
Tony
Wow.
Peggy
And I ran around the Quartzsite tent until I found you again. And I'm like, "Excuse me, excuse me, but can you come back? Tony really wants(laughs) to meet you and I messed up."
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah.
Chuck Woodbury
I remember, I remember that moment and, uh-
Chuck Woodbury
... and meeting Tony and finding out that Tony had been, uh, you know, reading Out West, my newspaper way back when.
Peggy
Yeah.
Chuck Woodbury
Tony, you were, must have been very young.
Tony
Yeah, I- I probably was in my 20s or 30s at the time-
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah.
Tony
... I'm guessing.
Chuck Woodbury
That would have been the younger, uh, Out West, the news- the- the On The Road newspaper I was publishing at the time, I mean, our audience was, um, college students and it was great-grandparents. Um, it was, uh, it was, uh, and it was RVers and it was not RVers. It was not a, a publication aimed at RVers. It was aimed at people that like to take road trips. I just happened to travel in an RV. But, um, yeah, you were among younger ones.
Tony
Yeah, let's go back to that. So, I said you've been doing this for 50 years and it's no exaggeration. Chuck has been publishing RV content... When did Out West start?
Chuck Woodbury
Out West started in 1988, I believe, but I'd been out traveling as a "roving reporter" for-... I don't know, five, six, seven, eight years before. Uh, bought my little motor home, my first one, when I was in my early 30s. And I took off and I just wrote articles for any magazine that would buy what I sent them, and, uh- Hm. ... it was green pickings for quite a while, and then, um, when I started out West in 1988, then, um, everything changed and, um, uh, finally after years of struggling, I, I sort of, uh, made a name for myself and Toni, you know the history.
Chuck Woodbury
So, that's the story. Um, that's the- the beginning. Um, when I started writing, I- I realized the other day that I was in my late 20s when my- my parents had a- a- a truck camper, just a real basic... It was called a Six Pack.
Tony
Oh, I remember those.
Chuck Woodbury
It's a, you know, basic, uh, truck camper without a bathroom, but I would take that, borrow that, and, um, and five years later, I bought a motor home so that's really when I started traveling with an RV. And, of course, I was the- the kid in the campgrounds, you know, everybody was like, you know, treating me like a grandson so I know what it's like to be the youngest and now I know what it's like to be the oldest.(laughs)
Tony
That's what happens when you stick with it. How did you get into writing?
Chuck Woodbury
In college, I got on my college newspaper and, uh, for an easy half unit and, uh, walked into the newspaper office and, um, I just, I don't know, within ten minutes, I knew this was- this was my first thing that really... Like falling in love, you know? You just, uh, I knew this was what I wanted to do and, uh, and so, um, I ended up being in charge of all of, uh, student publications, the business side for the college. It was, uh, California State University with 25,000 students and I took the newspaper there and it was twice a week and I turned it into a four times a week, so we had a daily deadline and...
Chuck Woodbury
So I was just so exciting. I- I don't think, and I've talked to other people that worked on their college or even high school publications and they say they never had that experience of wonder because, you know, you- you write and then you come to school the next day and there's your people reading you, and in the real world, even if you're writing for magazines, newspapers with millions in circulation, you seldom see anybody actually reading what you wrote. So, it was very exciting and that's when I- that's when I knew, and then I just started publishing little publications, um, after that on my own, um, and, you know, basically, uh, put myself through college publishing specialty publications.
Chuck Woodbury
For Greek Week, I would get the contract to write, to make a- get a fraternity to sponsor me and I'd put out a newspaper. It would cost me $500 for printing and typesetting and then I'd sell $1,500 worth of advertising and so I'd make $1,000. And that's how I got to college.
Tony
Huh. And that was a lot back then. I mean, you know, 1,000 bucks was nothing to sneeze at.
Chuck Woodbury
I think I probably had more disposable income back in college than I ever had afterwards.
Chuck Woodbury
I, uh, had no ex- you know, lived in a little apartment and, uh, no expenses to speak of and... But anyway, I- I learned all the ropes and then I- I, you know, I got, uh, I just kept progressing from there and then I started a business, an, uh, typesetting business and, um, production business of magazines and it grew from my dorm room to, uh, uh, I have a- had a dozen employees and, uh, we were putting out all kinds of newspapers for associations, high schools, colleges, you name it.
Chuck Woodbury
And then I, uh, had the misfortune of, uh, deciding to publish a rock 'n roll magazine. It was called Rock & Roll News. Uh, a guy came to me and very talented and he wanted to edit it and I said, "I'll publish it." Well, I- I lost every- lost everything on that.
Tony
Oh.
Chuck Woodbury
Oh. Uh, he went on to great success, uh, publishing a, uh, becoming a vice president of Tower Records and publishing a, um, what they- they had a newspaper called Pulse, a magazine they- called Pulse. An excellent music magazine, probably one of the better ones in the country. He edited that for years. Um, so I went back to just writing and, um, and I guess that's when I decided to start writing and I wrote an article and made $20 and all I needed was a little type- typewriter and I didn't need $100,000 worth of equipment and I thought, "Well, this is pretty cool." And I bought the motor home, went out traveling and one thing led to another and that was 50 years ago.
Tony
Man...
Chuck Woodbury
Crazy.
Tony
Did change... We'll- we'll share pictures. You, when you were publishing out West, you didn't just write it. You also did the photography and all of that, but you had to have a dark room in the RV.
Tony
Because you're developing film.
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah, that started when I was freelancing because I'd write a story and I'd need photos, so I would set up in a dark campground and I had my little minimal black and white, uh, uh, system. I developed the film and- and print photos and, um, and s- send them off the next day and, uh, and I did that for quite a few years and, uh, uh, paid my bills and, um, but, you know, then digital photography came along and you talk about, like, now we have AI to- as an aid for writing, uh, super aid, and imagine the difference you two may have experienced it of, uh, going from having to print all your pictures and- and expense for film to digital just, it was so easy.
Chuck Woodbury
Mm-hmm. It changed everything.
Tony
Digital photography was probably one of the biggest changes that helped me with my syndicated car column of those days where I would...... basically, I would ship diskettes to newspapers and-
Chuck Woodbury
Mm-hmm.
Tony
... it was, it was nuts. I'm at the post office with, like, 100, 150 packages of diskettes, those three and a half inch floppies-
Chuck Woodbury
Oh, yeah.
Tony
... mailing them out-
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah.
Tony
... with the pictures and they were lousy pictures because you could only put so much on there.
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah.
Tony
And so I... But man, digital photography was helpful and then you, you started, you started on a typewriter.
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah, I started off on a man- on a manual typewriter and that was, uh, uh, uh, I felt guilty typing in campgrounds because I felt, uh, at the time that, uh, who wants to go into a campground and hear a typewriter going all night? Um-
Chuck Woodbury
You know, all the people that, that, that sat on a typewriter at work, they didn't come to a campground to hear the same sounds. So, um, when, when I got my first little laptop computer powered by batteries, it was so liberating and, uh-
Chuck Woodbury
... that really changed everything. And then I think the big change came, uh, quite a few years later, um, when I could use my cellphone to connect to the internet, um, I had AOL early on when, uh, but when I could connect to the internet right from my campsite, I mean, it was so slow. You could watch the letters coming across when your email came in-
Chuck Woodbury
... but, uh, it was mac- magic. Um, but I get ahead of myself here. Um-
Tony
Yeah.
Tony
It's... Well, and then at some point, you've started Out West and publishing this newspaper and somehow the media got wind of what you were up to, and that's how I found out about you was on NPR.
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah, a lot of people found out about me. It was, it was pure luck. Um, I called Out West, um, America's On the Road newspaper because I would go out for three months, come back, put the paper together, then go back out. But of course, the news media wanted to put me out there all the time, which is good for the story, and I didn't... Yeah, I went along with it and, uh, so it sounded great, this guy out roaming around putting out a newspaper. Macintosh had come along with digital, uh, I had a laser printer. My first laser printer cost me $6,000.
Chuck Woodbury
The first Mac Plus was, uh, not even a megabyte of storage altogether. It was, uh, uh, I don't know, more than $2,000 and, but, um, having had all that typeset equipment, it seemed really inexpensive to me. I sent out a press release when I started it to a lot of newspapers and, uh, it got picked up by some little newspapers. Then I, somebody told me they had seen a review of Out West in USA Today and, uh, I was shocked.
Chuck Woodbury
Um, and then, uh, surprised they w- wrote a very glowing review and then, um, a producer at ABC News saw that, put me on the evening news about, uh, I guess, a month later. A crew from ABC followed me for, uh, I think five, four or five days through Nevada. They don't do that anymore on stories. They can't afford it and 22 million people saw that, 22 million. If you're on any network today, it would be a few million. Um, that led to the Today Show and, um, yeah, NPR, radio interviews, talk shows every day.
Chuck Woodbury
Um, People Magazine then came along and put me on, even put me on their cover page. Um-
Tony
Wow.
Chuck Woodbury
It was just, uh, for a couple, a few years, it was just nuts. Just crazy. And I met my future wife, uh, she had seen me on the Today Show in Boston and was just exiting a, um, editing gig back there. She'd been laid off and so we hooked up and, and, uh, that, the product of that was my daughter Emily, who's-
Tony
Well, Emily would have started very young working with you on Out West, I guess, and now she's the editor of RV Travel.
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah, she would, she would come with me on trips, I mean, uh, all the time and she has a, just a great love of road trips and writing. She's a really, um, amazing, uh, editor and writer. She's doing a great job. She loves it. I was... She wa- was in school in New York City and, uh, called me after graduation and said, "Dad, I'd like to move back to Seattle and work with you." And hey, that was a dream come true and so, uh, that was about eight or nine years ago now and so, uh, she pretty much runs the shows today today and I pick and choose, uh, what I want to do.
Chuck Woodbury
Uh, I still do some writing, but, you know, it's interesting. You start off and you're, uh, younger than the demographic than your readers, then one day you wake up and you're older than your readers.
Chuck Woodbury
You know, I slowed down, uh, but I still pick and choose and, uh, but, uh, you know, RVing is very different than it was when I started. But anyway, to finish up with, with, uh, the media stuff, um, that all led to a book contract with William Morrow, big publisher. Um, I ended up with a, uh, contract with the New York Times Syndicate who sent all my stuff out to newspapers all over the world for six years. Um, and, uh, it was just quite an exciting time.
Chuck Woodbury
Uh, meanwhile, started, uh, RV Travel. We started RV Book Store first selling books the same time that Jeff Bezos was across Lake Washington starting Amazon and he called his the world's largest bookstore and we called ours the largest RV bookstore and guess who got the biggest?
Chuck Woodbury
But that ran its course when digital media came along and, um, uh, our publishers, uh, quit publishing their RV books and stuff. So we, we lost, uh, you know, things to s- products to sell and also DVDs and or, you know, first it was VHSs. And so then we had started a newsletter to promote the books and that was RV Travel. So we just put energy in there and, and, and built up a pretty substantial article before anybody else figured out the web was going to be something big. We were the only show in town for quite some time from an RV perspective.
Chuck Woodbury
You know, it was so interesting back then, you-Everybody wro-- eh, T-Tony, you can imagine, everybody, an-and Peggy, um, everybody read on a, a, a, a computer. Eh, you know, they didn't have to design your, y-your writing to be read on this little, y-you know, phone. I, you know-
Chuck Woodbury
... imagine Picasso and Rembrandt painting their paintings and having them know they're gonna be the size of a postal stamp. It's, uh, it's kinda frustrating when you had print and you had all that ability to big, big headlines and big photos and play around with layout and, um. But anyway, that was... uh, that's the Out West story. It ran for 10 years and then, um, then I realized the RV thing was gonna get big and so I just put all my... kind of focused on that and we've been going now for, uh, uh, this is our, I think our 25th year on RV Travel.
Tony
Wow. I feel very fortunate to be a very small part of RV Travel.(laughs)
Chuck Woodbury
It's been so much fun and I go back and look at our old articles and, uh, just a-amazed at, uh, what we've done s- these years. I mean, our current server, which we've only had for, I think seven years, has, um, 26,000 articles on it. Um, I mean, I don't know. You know, eh, eh, it's amazing we can still find things to write about, but, um, I mean, how many times can you write how to dump your holding tank? Uh, you know, it's-
Tony
Yeah, oh yet, that always sells.
Chuck Woodbury
Oh, eh, yeah. There's th- th- the, that's there's something about, um, writing about toilets-
Chuck Woodbury
... with any detail but it, uh, it, the people are just like little... I, I tell people it's like when you're in kindergarten and somebody says, "Underpants."
Chuck Woodbury
Everybody giggles and goes, gets nervous and it's, uh, hi, very funny, and so you gotta say it. And now, it's, in the RV world, you talk about sewers and, eh, eh, eh, and toilets and it's the same kind of... everybody acts like a kindergarten, gardener. They wanna read it so, um, so you do keep writing about it. I told somebody one time, I said, "If a rat ever comes out of your toilet and bites you, let me know 'cause I want that story."(laughs)
Tony
Oh, yeah. Right?(laughs)
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah. Yeah.
Tony
Yeah. That's- Mm-hmm. That... Sewer rats and sewer flies are, are just-
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah, sewer flies.
Tony
Yeah. That-
Chuck Woodbury
We got the sewer flies. We did have a story on sewer flies and, uh, uh, unusual things that have dropped in toilets and, you know, there's-
Chuck Woodbury
... there's ways to work in a toilet story whenever you want really, if you want.
Chuck Woodbury
It's not our specialty.
Tony
And, and then with RV Travel, you've amassed this whole collection of writers like Russ and Gale and Nancy and all these people. Where do you find these really great writers?
Chuck Woodbury
You know, Tony and Peggy... I'm sorry. I keep saying Tony when Tony is what I kind of look at when I see the screen.
Tony
Right.
Chuck Woodbury
For every writer we have, uh, 10 have come and gone. Um, it's hard to find really good writers, and today, it's the content creators and influencers and people that have an agenda, and I'm still old-fashioned. I still believe that we wanna stick with real journalism and, uh, try to be as honest as we can and of course, now you've got AI to, to deal with. But, um, yeah. We've, we've, eh, eh, we're like, uh, eh, m- you know, pretty good buddies all of us and, uh, and they just ha- they could pretty much write their own stories.
Chuck Woodbury
They... We don't really assign stories. They just post like you, Tony, uh... You know, they can post as much as they want and little as they want. We pay them and sometimes the, the pay is good and sometimes they don't do so hot. But, um, it's all based on our, our traffic and, um, but they're loyal and they're good and, um, they have personalities which I think is increasingly important, um, now is for people to, uh, know who we are because, uh-
Tony
Mm-hmm.
Chuck Woodbury
... so much is faceless these days and, and people that ha- have bylines, you, y- you know, you, they're not really RVers. They're just content creators and some of them are, but, eh, they don't, uh, put any personality into their stories.
Tony
One of the things that I've very much appreciated about, as a reader as well as, you know, a writer for RV Travel, um, is that it, it's about real stuff and the truth and there's no clickbait-y nonsense. It's, it's a real source of information and, and that really is at your direction. It's run like a, I'm gonna say, an old-fashioned newspaper, but that's my background too, is having worked in the print media and, and the standards that had been common and aren't really anymore.
Chuck Woodbury
With a newspaper or magazine, you have the ability to tell the importance of a story by where it was placed. If it was a newspaper, it was on the front page, you knew it was important. If it went across five columns, you knew it was really important. If the type size was big, you knew it was really important. You know-
Chuck Woodbury
... world ends tomorrow, it's gonna be five columns, letters, you know, five inches tall but in, in a... but if a story wasn't so important, maybe it was only on one column with a smaller headline or it's on page two or three or four or if it was just not too important in the back. So, you, you bought a publication and you knew that you were gonna get a, uh, the same, uh, uh, information as everybody else. Of course, now, you're only getting what you wanna read. The algorithms deliver stories that you wanna read.
Chuck Woodbury
If you're a, a Republican, you're gonna get r- uh, stories that Rep-... uh, that reflect your politics. Uh, if you're a Democrat, you're gonna get stories that reflect your political preferences and it, it, it, you, Facebook, Google, they all know what you'll open. Mm-hmm.
Tony
Right.
Chuck Woodbury
Stories are based on, not on the cumulative, uh, content of a publication, but they're based on individual headlines for the most part. You know, you just see a headline and if the headline is strong, um, uh, you'll make more money. If the headline is weak, nobody cares. You won't, you'll make nothing. So it's all about grabbing people with a headline, and you have no other way. You can't make the type bigger. You can't, uh, i- i- so clickbait is for people that, that, whose ethics are challenged, it's real easy.
Chuck Woodbury
There's a, a, a website now coming from Europe, from the Netherlands, that is posting absolutely all fake articles about RVing. All fake. Yes. Yeah, you saw our friend, um, Jason- Yeah. ... did a, um, a, a video and he was right on. It is just horrible and yet most people do not understand that that's fake. They do not. The general public doesn't understand the difference, but AI is able to replicate, um, human beings, um, situations, um, that, uh, d- d- the difference between today and last year is dramatic.
Chuck Woodbury
Um, I'm seeing stuff now that I-
Tony
It, it's nuts.
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's nuts. It's scary. Scares me more than anything in my whole life, um, because if we can't believe the information we're reading, um, what do we believe? Who do we b- we believe? Who do we believe? Um, and it's all because if you wanna make money online, you produce stories that, um, it's us and them, um, you demonize the enemy and, um, uh, minimize the press, that the press is evil and, uh, so you get your ways and just say, "Oh, the press is evil." With AI, uh, you can be anything, say anything, and nobody, uh, m- the general public, 95% can't tell the difference.
Chuck Woodbury
So they will be swayed.
Tony
No.
Chuck Woodbury
They will be swayed. Yeah.
Tony
No, and, and, uh, AI is good now and in terms of creating video and just imagery, it's so good and it, we're kinda at the infancy. So you're right, it's a little...
Chuck Woodbury
Well-
Tony
It's a little bit scary. It's a lot scary.
Chuck Woodbury
It's a lot scary and if you th- look at how early we are into this and where are we gonna be-
Tony
Yeah, it's-
Chuck Woodbury
... two, five years from now. Right. There's little ra- there's little television stations around the country that are using avatars for anchors, um, and they look like real people. Um, oh, I could go on about this, this stuff. But, um-(laughs) ... the point is, you, you don't know what to believe and so, um, so- Mm-hmm. ... I've been seeing all these pictures lately of these, uh, new motor homes out there. World's largest motor home made by Cadillac and Mercedes and they are absolutely ridiculous. And yet they're presented as real and people will believe that, and that's harmless.
Chuck Woodbury
But when it's important, uh, it's, it's not harmless.
Tony
No.
Chuck Woodbury
Right.
Tony
I have to be careful how I say this 'cause I signed an NDA.
Chuck Woodbury
Mm-hmm.
Tony
But I had a chance to see a prototype of something and I missed out on going to go there. But today I was like, "Oh, I wonder if any of the other people who may have gone there did a video or an article." And so I searched for it and it was clearly fake.
Chuck Woodbury
Hm.
Tony
And it looked so realistic, and I knew, no, that's not, that's not real.
Tony
But it was already out and already a, a good fake.
Chuck Woodbury
That's, that's-
Tony
So the point is, it, uh, we, I really appreciate that what's on RV Travel is real, actual, written by a human being-
Chuck Woodbury
Mm-hmm.
Tony
... factual information that... And there's Emily as the editor. Diane.
Chuck Woodbury
She works 27, 24/7. Can't get her away from her computer, but she's, she's, she holds this all together, um, keeps us from making terrible errors.
Tony
She is probably the best proofreader I have ever worked with by far.
Chuck Woodbury
That's what she loves to do. That's her life and, and, uh, we're lucky to have her. Everybody we have, we stumbled into, you, you included.(laughs)
Chuck Woodbury
Thanks. Peggy tracking me down.(laughs) It's a crazy time and it's, uh, um, uh, you know, we try to be, uh, traditional. The, the, the thing is, AI is not going away. Um, AI, we use AI. We use AI to do research. We use it to find the... You type in something on AI, it's like going to the library and walking up, walking in, having a computer there and saying, "F- get me, tell me about the history of blankety-blank." And it just spits out a, everything that's in that library, it, it- Mm-hmm.
Chuck Woodbury
... goes through every single book and spits out a story and prints it out for you. I mean, you don't have to go-
Tony
Yeah.
Chuck Woodbury
... look around, uh, the bookstore. And that, that's what AI does. And it, it's very close to accurate, um, but, but it's misused by people that somewhere i- around the world, uh, that are, uh, cracking stories about RVing that don't even know what an RV is. And you'll pick up the little nuances in there. Um, but, but, but they still, that, that doesn't stop them. I mean, we can-
Tony
No, no.
Chuck Woodbury
Right. ... together start a, a, a, a, a website or, or a blog or a better today would be a YouTube channel on, uh-... uh, anything.
Tony
Yep.
Chuck Woodbury
So maintaining your, uh, respect, uh, that you're going to be honest is important and you have to tell people. You can't just expect them, because they don't really know the difference between an honest site and a dishonest or one that's kind of riding right on the line.
Tony
Yeah. Again, it's, it's a pleasure to be part of that and, and it, I, I really enjoy, like, going back with you in history and, and to Out West, which is, which is how I first came across, and I really enjoyed reading that. It was... That was fun to read because in my mind, I was gonna do that too, right? I was gonna adventure around and, and go get to see cool places and write about them and share those. I never did.
Chuck Woodbury
You are now.
Tony
Well, now I am-
Tony
... but I was living virtually through you.
Chuck Woodbury
Mm-hmm.
Tony
So, all those years ago.
Chuck Woodbury
What I didn't realize was that, when I started it, was that, yeah, that was a really appealing idea, but I didn't realize that the media would be so intrigued with it because, um, everybody in the media wanted to, oh, if they could just assign their own stories, go out and write whatever they want and, and, uh, make a living, uh, uh, that's a lot better than doing grand openings of hardware stores and, uh, you know-
Chuck Woodbury
... just sitting in courthouse for three hours to write a story on the ci- boring city council meeting. So-
Tony
Aw.
Chuck Woodbury
... I was lucky that the media wanted to meet me and so wherever I went, I got interviewed and that just fueled, um, you know, subscriptions. You know, the thing that I think I'm most proud of was that, um, I, I, uh, my favorite stories that the media was curious about is like, was when I would get stuck in a construction zone and I would be near the front, I'd be out in the middle of nowhere and there'd be a flagger, and I know that flaggers are bored out of their minds, so I would hop out of my motor home, grab my camera, go up and, um, take a picture.
Chuck Woodbury
I'm saying, "Can I take your picture?" "Yeah." And then I'd ask them, uh, you know, "How long you been doing this? You ever met any famous people?" Um, uh, "What do you wanna do when you grow up?" I mean, just little, quick little stories. And then, uh, I'd, and then I'd look around and I'd see that, you know, that it was farm country and I'd see a funny looking building and I'd see, uh, you know, something some, uh, attractive cow to another cow that is, and, um-(laughs) ... I would... Then I'd go back and I'd write this story of, you know, few hundred words about this man or woman out there in the middle of nowhere standing in a traffic zone and they'd tell me, "Oh, I was once entertained by a prince, by a rock group who came out and sang to me.
Chuck Woodbury
I was, I, a prince was in my line," and you know, who and, and, and th- these newspaper reporters thought it was hilarious that I can make a story out of just a, a, a traffic stop. And I think what that proved back then is you can, uh, uh, write about anyth- anything and anybody if it's, if it's how you write it, if it's interesting. And that's one of my pet peeves today among the, uh, especially YouTubers that they just have never figured out that they can turn their camera away from themselves and have a good story instead of always thinking that they are the most interesting people in the world.
Chuck Woodbury
No. Turn your camera and, uh, and talk to people you meet and hear their stories, because they have interesting stories, every single one of them. And if you're good at what you do, you will bring it out. And, um, instead they just sit there and regurgitate the same old stuff and then put up a the world is falling thumbnail and people will watch it and they make lots of money. Most don't. Most don't make anything, but those that succeed-
Tony
Yeah, I wonder how many YouTube channels come and go in a month's time.
Chuck Woodbury
Mm-hmm. Oh, I've seen so many that were such hotshots in 25... Well, I, I was on YouTube at the very beginning and our videos are crummy. I mean, they're, they're just, they're-(laughs) ... they're, they're not good and our channel is pretty stale. We don't put any energy there at all. Um, I mean, we have 65,000 f- followers but probably by this time, some of those people came on 20 years ago, th- probably half of them are dead. So, um, you know-
Chuck Woodbury
... but they're, they're(laughs) , they're still up there, uh, as a follower, but, um, no, the world is fascinating and, uh, get out there and talk to other people and, and teach people some things other than just spewing out the same stuff that everybody else is and putting a s- a s- uh, a headline on there that, that makes them, you know, the world is ending tomorrow, get your RV and get out, get out in the desert and get away from the bomb. I mean, you know, whatever.
Tony
Something an editor once told me many, many years ago is everybody has a story, right? You know, that every-
Chuck Woodbury
Mm-hmm.
Tony
... the, from the janitor to the principal and, and everybody in between, everybody's got some interesting thing happening in their life or has a story.
Chuck Woodbury
Mm-hmm. Every... And people will tell you, "Oh, you don't wanna talk to me. I'm not interested." Interesting. Well, one of the things I learned from Out West was I would, uh, to find my stories, I would sometimes stop at recycle bins, you know, where there was months and months worth of a news- local newspapers and I would stop there, go make a pot of coffee and sit there and with my scissors and cut out interesting articles and, and, um, and then I'd go do the stories myself, uh, 'cause they never made it past their little local newspaper. Huh. And I'd read obituaries and, and I...
Chuck Woodbury
So many times these people had died and they were just amazing people and I, and I think nobody ever knew that this guy that was a, you know, worked at the hardware store was a, a hero in the war or he did, uh, invented something or, but, um... So all you gotta do is ask people and they will tell you. But if you start talking to them... I was in a, a bar once in, um, Salome, Arizona, I remember that-... the Cactus Bar, I think it was called.
Chuck Woodbury
And there was these two guys sitting there at the counter, and I sat next to them, and I started talking to them. And, um, they were just sitting there having their drinks. They probably were there every day. And so, I f- uh, finally told them that I was traveling around writing stories about people. And all of a sudden, you saw the gears in their head going. And, um, they s- uh, said, "Oh," uh, you know, uh, uh, "I'm gonna tell this guy something that's im- uh, why I'm important." And so,(laughs) they, they started telling me... One guy, I remember, he had met Abbott and Costello and he liked, uh, he liked the little, uh, uh, what do you call him, uh, fat guy the, the most, or whatever you call them, I don't know.
Tony
Hm.
Chuck Woodbury
But then he told me about his experience with Costello. And, and, uh, the other guy, I forget what he told me. He had met... Oh, he had, uh, he was a f- uh, had been in the business of, uh, putting floors in homes and so forth. He had put a, a floor in for, um, Abbott. And, um-
Tony
Huh.
Chuck Woodbury
... so yeah, they had their s-... So everybody will start talking if you can get them to.
Chuck Woodbury
And they will tell you something that is interesting. If, and if you're a storyteller, you will tell it in a way that people will appreciate it. And you know that's real. It's not fiction, it's not made up, it's not sensational. It's just real. And, uh, uh, the trick today, of course, is to get people to read it so that it's worth publishing. And if, you know, if they met, somebody met a famous celebrity and has a juicy story to tell, then that's gonna do well. But if the ordinary person... I've learned a lot all those years.
Tony
Well, speaking of interesting stories, I gotta hear how you got to drive the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.(laughs)
Chuck Woodbury
They, um, they call those guy- those people hotshots. They're college students that, uh, go out for the summer. It's a pretty good deal. And, um, somehow, a, uh, a couple of the hotshots were, uh, Out West readers. So they wrote me and told me they were coming to the little town where I lived in Northern California. Nevada City is the name of the town. And, um, they wanted to know if I, they could come by and say hi, and so I said sure. So, um, they came by, parked right out in the street in front of my office, and of course, everybody was curious.
Chuck Woodbury
They handed out little Oscar Mayer Wienermobile whistles and other stuff. And, uh, and so, um... Oh, I think I drove it a block. Um, but long enough to get a picture. And it's, you know, it's... The inside, they all stayed in the hotels, but, uh, I mean, uh, uh, inside, it was just a big shell. And they had their personal items back there and lots of wiener whistles and, and whatever else they had. And, um, but that was my experience. It was pretty much like driving an RV.
Chuck Woodbury
Nothing too exciting.
Tony
That's pretty cool. Well, not many people can say they've driven the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. Yeah.
Chuck Woodbury
No, that's one of my claims to fame. So, um-
Chuck Woodbury
... that was a very, pretty good one. I should write about that again.
Tony
I think so. I think people would love that.
Chuck Woodbury
You can write about anything, Tony and Peggy. You, you could write about anything.
Tony
Yeah.
Chuck Woodbury
If you make it interesting.
Tony
Yeah. That's true. Yeah.
Chuck Woodbury
Emily and I were out having coffee the other day and we were li- there was somebody behind us talking, and I was just listening and, you know, I, I always, I'm curious what people are talking about. And you get two women together and they're always talking about men, you get two men together, they're talking about women. And I remember one time, I was, uh, somewhere down in California and, uh, sitting there by myself on one of my Out West trips, and these two guys were next to me and, and they were, um... And I'm listening to everybody's conversation. And this one guy had, uh, um, he was married and this was his best buddy, I think, from years.
Chuck Woodbury
And he had, uh, th- he got this woman pregnant and, uh, who wasn't his wife, and...(laughs) So they were having this-
Tony
Oh.(laughs)
Chuck Woodbury
... long discussion about what's he gonna do, and so I'm sitting there taking, you know, thinking about it, and so I went back, I said, "Oh my, what's this guy gonna do? This is awful." And I said, and I, and I just, I didn't identify them or even where I was, but it was like...(laughs) Uh, and then I remember another story where I was in a campground, where the next door neighbors, they had a station wagon, and little, what was his name? Joey or Billy or something.(laughs) They were all packing up to leave and everybody's kind of getting on everybody's nerves because they're not doing enough or they're doing too much, and little, then little Joey poops in the back of the station wagon-
Chuck Woodbury
... and they're all having this big fit and raising their voice about, about little Joey. And so I wrote about, uh, whatever, Little Eddie, I guess, was his name, Little Eddie. I wrote about that. Um, and, uh, you know, it just was, uh, these are little short little snippets, but people like that stuff. And, um, and there's-
Tony
Yeah.
Chuck Woodbury
... good, good stuff-
Tony
Oh, yeah.
Chuck Woodbury
... going on all around us. Funny signs. That story we ran on Thanksgiving about Tom the Turkey up in Wyoming that I wrote about, he was, uh, this was a domestic turkey that was a pet. And his owner was, uh, uh, made, uh, jackalopes, you know, these things you see in Wall Drug-
Tony
Uh-huh.
Chuck Woodbury
... and all the, it's the... And his f- his uncle had created the jackalope in, uh, taxidermy. And so, um, anyway, I was there writing about him, and so he was, uh, I asked him about his turkey, and he says, "Oh, he's got a very unusual talent." So a talented turkey is definitely, you're not gonna pass that story up.(laughs) So I go out and, um, and, uh, there's Tom, good name for a turkey, and, um, Tom had the most enormous belch in the world.
Tony
Oh.(laughs)
Chuck Woodbury
You had to kind of grab him and, you know, do this. I think probably every turkey in the world could b- belch if you just went like that. But Tom was a champion, and I've, I had made a couple videos early on that I put on VHS that we sold for quite a number of years.
Tony
Hm.
Chuck Woodbury
And, uh, Tom is on there. They're no longer, the, the, I think the, the videos are gone now. I, I probably still have the originals.But anyway, then I, I wrote later, uh, uh, I heard, I, I, I got a call from The Tonight Show and they wanted to have Tom on for Thanksgiving-
Chuck Woodbury
... to belch.
Chuck Woodbury
So I called his owner and I asked him, um, you know, that Tonight Show would fly ... Jim Harrick was his name, would fly Jim and, and Tom to LA for Tom's national appearance on late night television. And, um, so Jim gave me the bad news that, uh, Tom had been hit by a car. Tom, by the way, liked to, uh, follow the kids to the bus stop every day. And, um, of course, the bus driver wouldn't let him on, so Tom would go away in a foul mood.
Chuck Woodbury
So I got a story, and of course I'd had a kind of a mention of that before. And, um, so then I found out that Tom got hit, uh, by a car on the way back from the bus, and poor Tom had not made it out alive. And so The Tonight Show-
Tony
Oh, man.
Chuck Woodbury
... belched on national television.
Chuck Woodbury
But, you know-
Chuck Woodbury
... when you're out there, there, every, ask anybody, there's a story, everybody's got a story and everybody's got a funny story if you kind of steer the conversation that way. And, uh ... Mm-hmm.
Tony
Yeah.
Chuck Woodbury
So those years of out west and before when I was riding kind of off-beat stories, I just had a great time out there. And of course, RVing was, the campgrounds were $5, were free. You never had to make a reservation. Hm.(laughs) Never ever, ever make a reservation, even in a national park.
Tony
Right.
Chuck Woodbury
And, uh, it truly was go where you want, when you want. And, um, I loved it. Stayed in beautiful places. And of course it's all different now. Uh, it's so many more people and, um, you know, I'm not the kind of person that makes reservations a year ahead and I want to be, go at my own pace.
Tony
Oh, yeah.
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah. Um, it's, uh, it's not as, um ... I still go out, uh, RVing periodically, but, um, it's not as joyful. It, I still love it when I get out there into a state park or something, but, uh, the adventure of, uh, writing about it and everything, I've, I kind of, I've kind of written out. So now I can write about all my experiences, which I do on occasion.
Tony
Yeah, uh, and we appreciate.
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah. Yeah.
Tony
Well, Chuck, it has been an absolute pleasure spending time with you, as it always is. I hope I see you in Quartzsite this year.
Chuck Woodbury
Yes.
Tony
I-
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah, I'm-
Tony
... heard you might be coming down?
Chuck Woodbury
I'm thinking about coming down. I, I don't know. I, um, I, I've been going to Quartzsite since way before anybody knew about it. Um ...(laughs) Did you know that Quartzsite once had a bank? In a motor home?
Tony
Oh, I'm not surprised.(laughs)
Chuck Woodbury
I've got pictures of it. I saw a really bad picture at the Historical Society there, it was, uh, it was, uh, something that had been printed like in a local paper, and it was an old ... No, it wasn't a Winnebago, I forget what it was, but it was a, uh, it was about a 28-foot motor home and they had a roof over it, and, uh, that was Quartzsite's bank for quite a few years.(laughs) Only 100% of the winter time. And, um ...
Tony
Wow.
Chuck Woodbury
... I've got that photo and I should really, it's sitting in my box of, uh, all my archived stuff, and, uh, I really should send it down to them so they can put it up.
Tony
Oh, yeah, that would be-
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah.
Tony
There's a pretty active historical society there.
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah, yeah.
Tony
I can't type all of a sudden.
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah. Quartzsite's a fascinating place. Everybody should go there. It's not for everybody, but it is really a, an adventure and, um, it's really nice. Oh. All that public land that's free or almost free, is, is just great to sit out there and see the stars and kind of observe all the different kind of people out there. From poverty stricken to, you know, multi, multi-millionaires and their big- Hm. ... half million dollar ...
Tony
I did a search-
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah, yeah.
Tony
... for Quartzsite bank, and it's right-
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah.
Tony
... there on RV Travel.
Chuck Woodbury
Oh, it is? It's, uh-
Tony
Quartzsite had its own bank and a motor home.
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah. There it is. What is it?
Tony
There's the picture.
Chuck Woodbury
It's not a Winnebago, is it? It was a-
Tony
Looks like a Champion, maybe?
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah, it was, it was a, a, a motor home popular at the time, but, I remember, but, um, yeah, it w-
Tony
Huh.
Chuck Woodbury
It should to me it was there for at least a few years. I mean, there was nothing in Quartzsite. Yeah. There were no, no, you know, maybe uh, some little, couple of little truck stops, but there was nothing, no Burger Kings, McDonald's and-(laughs) And housing developments out of town now, and, um, no, it was, it was, there really was, uh, a lot more fun and, uh, do you know there's a radio station there?
Tony
I'm not surprised.
Chuck Woodbury
KBUX. K-B-U-X. It was named after Buck and Maude, they ran, they ran the radio station and I did a story with them once, and, uh, it was out of their bedroom and, uh-(laughs) ... uh, anyway, I did that story.
Tony
Huh.
Chuck Woodbury
Nobody listens to it.
Tony
That's so cool.
Chuck Woodbury
But they had fun, uh, you know, it was an AM station with a little antenna out their front yard.(laughs)
Tony
Huh.
Chuck Woodbury
But those stories were everywhere, um ... Yeah.
Tony
Quartzsite's an odd place.
Chuck Woodbury
Oh, it's, it's among the oddest. Um, yeah, I may go down. If I do, of course, I'll, I'll see you and, um ... Yeah, for sure.
Tony
Yeah, we'll be at the seminar at 10:00.
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah, well, I'll go over there and see if anybody's got anything interesting to say.(laughs)
Tony
Yep. Well, I appreciate your taking your time because I know you're very busy, and it's just great to get to know you even better.
Chuck Woodbury
Yeah.
Tony
And thank you so much.
Chuck Woodbury
Well, thank you, and you know, Tony, your r- your RV reviews in RV Travel are among our most popular, um, articles every week. People w- wait for Tony and-(laughs) ... because you have a way of, with your experience, and you're, you write in a human way, you know, you, you put your own spin on stuff, and it doesn't read like a, uh, the, just the stuff that came right out of the factory's brochure, which so many of them do.
Peggy
Sure.
Tony
And, uh, you know, honestly, once people believe you and you don't disappoint them, th- that goes a long way and it's gonna go a lot... A longer way in this world ahead where you're not gonna know if somebody's real or fake or...
Peggy
Yeah. All right, Chuck. I appreciate your time very, very much and, uh, it's good to see you and, uh, we will be in touch soon. Yeah. And people can find you, of course, at rvtravel.com.
Tony
And they can subscribe to our newsletter if they want on rvtravel.com.
Peggy
Yeah. Don't miss out.
Tony
Press there. It's free.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
Okay. Been nice talking to both of you. Thank you.
Peggy
That was really fun. And, uh, it's funny that Chuck couldn't really see To- me on the screen, so he was talking to Tony.(laughs) But, honestly, Tony and Chuck work together a lot and I am not such a great writer, n- not such a prolific writer. And so- It's just not your jam. No. And so they have quite a relationship. It really wouldn't have hurt anything if I wasn't there(laughs) .(laughs) Okay.
Tony
Some people have reached out to us and said, "We're considering getting an RV extended warranty or warranty," and just so you know, we have interviewed the folks at Wholesale Warranties in the past.
Peggy
Mm-hmm.
Tony
The way the warranty world works is the calendar year is kind of a big deal. So, if you have, let's say, a 2020 RV, come January 1st, it's considered one year older.
Peggy
Right. So even if your RV was built this November and you have a 2026 model built in November of 2025, on January 1st, 2026, it's officially one year older.
Tony
Right.
Peggy
And, of course, older RVs are gonna have higher prices to warranty because there's more chance of things needing to go wrong. Not needing to go wrong, more chance of things going wrong(laughs) .
Tony
Well, it's just the way, you know, they have to pick something and that's the way the warranty works.
Peggy
Right.
Tony
So if an RV extended warranty is something that you are interested in, having sold a lot of RV extended warranties at- when I worked at the dealership, I really like the way Wholesale Warranties work. We have an interview with them linked in our show notes, and if you're thinking of doing it, now is the time to do it, because the prices will probably go up come January 1st.
Peggy
Yep. Okay. So, you were gonna tell us about your RV gadget this week, and I, I understand it really kind of blew you away.
Tony
Oh, it totally did. You could absolutely say I'm a fan. I mean, it was the wind beneath my wings.
Peggy
Oh, boy. Okay, ba-dum-boomf, and let's go on(laughs) .
Tony
So, we have gotten to work with the folks at Eric Sell, and one of the companies that they own is Maxx Air. Maxx Air makes high-quality vent fans for RVs, and a lot of the RVs that I write about, I'm always happy when I see a Maxx Air fan in it 'cause it just- they just work well.
Peggy
Now that's one of the things that we really like about our mini light is Rockwood uses Maxx Air fans in their- in the bathrooms. Now, m- mostly what you're thinking of is an exhaust fan that exhalets the air and maybe the steam from the shower or other bathroom air, and-
Tony
Dairy air.
Peggy
So they use the Maxx Air fan, and in all of our mini lights, we have asked to have a second Maxx Air fan in the vent over the bed.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
So there's always a vent, but it's usually just an opening, and we have always put in a secondary- a Maxx Air fan.
Tony
Now something else we've done is we have little battery-powered Ryobi fans-
Peggy
Mm-hmm.
Tony
... that we've written about that we put bedside. I was talking to the Maxx Air people and I said, "Man, it'd be great if there was a fan that kinda, you know, could move around and blow on us," and they're like-
Peggy
Step aside, son.
Tony
... "Step aside, son. We got something for you."
Tony
So we got a prototype of the new Maxx Air pivoting fan, and this mounts up in your regular Maxx Air vent fan hole on the ceiling of your RV. It's that same 14-inch hole for air conditioners and all of that. But this thing has a pivot so it kinda drops down and the fan can move around, and it can even be flipped 180 degrees so it's not only an intake, but also an exhaust fan.
Peggy
Okay.
Tony
And it can be set to blow on you or blow, you know, away from you and all of that. It's really a neat and very well thought through piece of kit, as it were.
Peggy
Mm-hmm.
Tony
And, as usual, very well made from Maxx Air.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
And-
Peggy
I have, I have admitted in the past that the- those humid nights are just not for me, you know? I, I don't like cold, but I also really don't(laughs) like humidity, I learned, and I really on some nights where it cools down enough but the humidity stays high, if I can just have air blowing across me, I don't have to leave the air conditioner on all night.
Tony
Yeah, so-
Peggy
And this is going to solve that pain point for me.
Tony
Yeah. So, and it runs on 12 volt. It's a four speed fan, and I'm just very impressed with the thinking, the way they thought this through, and it's just a cool, pun intended-
Tony
... uh, gadget. Now right now, I don't believe they're available just yet in the aftermarket or they're just coming online. They are being shown to RV manufacturers, but, boy, if you like having air blowing on you at night, ooh la la, this thing is pretty neat.
Peggy
Yeah. And what I realized just now is if you just have it pivoted down and blowing air on you, it doesn't even necessarily have to come from outside. It can just be the air in the room.
Tony
Yeah.
Peggy
So if it's cold outside and you don't really want all that cold air coming in, you can still use the fan with just the ambient air in the, in the RV.
Tony
I had never thought of that.
Peggy
Yeah, I just now thought of it.
Tony
But you're right, and it's, uh, it's got a lid, so you could close the lid and just have it moving air around, so-
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
... yeah. Very valid point. I never thought about that.
Peggy
And by the way, every time I hear the word pivot, I think of Friends-
Tony
Okay.
Peggy
... from when they were trying to move the couch(laughs) .
Tony
Okay.
Peggy
Okay, so we talked with Chuck for a really long time and we're gonna let you go and finish getting caught up from my little vacation. I did work but, you know, I still didn't get everything done that I needed to. So let's remind you that if you haven't already signed up for the newsletter, you really, really wanna do that for a couple of reasons. One reason is that I have been adding some more items into our private calendar for our Route 66 trip.
Peggy
Now we are telling the world that we're gonna be on Route 66, but we're not telling the world what site number on what day in what campground.
Tony
Yeah. That's in our private calendar.
Peggy
That is for you listeners and you newsletter subscribers. So if you do want to know where we're gonna be along Route 66 any given day in February or maybe into March, you have to subscribe to the newsletter to find that information out. So if you haven't already done so, it's really easy. Every page of the website has a way to do it. And if you want to know where we're going to be on our Route 66 trip or, I mean, there's all kinds of things. There's stories and videos and podcasts and, you know, we still share the whole RV world...
Tony
Stuff, yeah.
Peggy
...with you.(laughs) We only share our specific locations with the people who have signed up for our newsletter.
Tony
Right. As a bribe to join our newsletter...
Tony
...we are going to give this, uh, digital lock, uh, system away to somebody in the next couple of weeks who's in our newsletter subscriber. There's nothing to buy or anything. It's free. We're gonna have how to get this and somebody's gonna get this thing for free, so.
Peggy
So you have to be a newsletter subscriber to be...
Tony
You have to be a newsletter subscriber to get it.
Peggy
...involved in that. So sign up for the newsletter(laughs) , read the show notes for this episode which is 337 or any episode of the podcast on the podcast page at stresslesscamping.com.
Tony
Know that we have so much more at our website at stresslesscamping.com as Peggy said. I think we're gonna go ahead and skip right to the end because this has already been a long podcast.
Tony
So we appreciate your being here with us week after week. Now we're at 337 times. Thank you so much and most of all, Stress Less Camping.
Speaker 4
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.
Tony
Okay, let's hope I...
Peggy
I can.
Tony
...pushed the button again.
Tony
Stinking button.
