What’s in our cab? Essentials for StressLess Roadtrips - RV Podcast 365
What’s in our cab? Essentials for StressLess Roadtrips - RV Podcast 365
What’s in our cab when we are on a road trip? In Episode 365 of the StressLess Camping RV Podcast we show you all the essentials we want handy in the cab of the truck, when we are on a road trip. Come along for a well-stocked ride with us!
We have a new gadget, courtesy of ABC Upfitters.
The StressLess Camping podcast is a weekly RV podcast with information, tips and tricks to help every RVer and camper enjoy some StressLess Camping.
Other places to hear the podcast
Mentioned on this episode
Our review of the Bodega 12-volt 26-liter cooler
The Ugreen portable power station
Unique gift ideas and supplies for baby and busy mom at Baby Maverick Boutique
Staying hydrated with the Dometic GO hydration jug
Please use tire pressure monitors when you tow!
Peggy briefly mentioned some of the trip planning apps that we love.
Tony showed how he uses the Level Mate when parking at a campsite.
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 365
Peggy
What do you have in the cab of your truck on a road trip? This week we are sharing what's in our cab.
Tony
Yeah, the stuff that we have that makes our adventures just a little bit more stressless.
Peggy
One of the things Tony has, of course, is a backseat driver. Aww!
Peggy
We also have a brand new gadget to show you.
Tony
Woohoo! You can find the notes, links, and all the stories that go with this episode at our home on the web at stresslesscamping.com. We really appreciate you.
Peggy
Thank you for joining us for the Stressless Camping Podcast.
Peggy
Stressless Camping.
Tony
I'm Tony.
Peggy
I'm Peggy.
Tony
And we're two RV industry veterans who travel part-time with that Rockwood Minilite and this truck Looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips, tricks, and discounts.
Peggy
Today we are pretending like we're driving.
Peggy
We're not really driving. Yeah, I'm driving. But we thought we would show you the things that we find essential on a long road trip that, you know, we need to have at hand in the cab of the truck. So I never ride back here in the back seat. I'll just start by saying that because the seat is actually folded up here so that we can get to the other— we can fit the other things in here.
Peggy
But while we're talking about the back seat things, it was easier for me to reach them by sitting back here. Yes, she's actually sitting on a step stool, sitting on a step stool on the back floor. Yeah. So what do we keep in the back seat? Now I'm back here so I can show you things, but actually everything I'm going to— almost everything I'm going to show you I can reach from my passenger seat.
Peggy
I thought it would just be easier to show you from here. One of the things we have is our 12-volt Bodega cooler. We also carry a portable power station to power that Bodega cooler, and there are various— well, there's nothing in it right this minute because again, we're faking it, uh, but we carry various—
Tony
this way you make it—
Peggy
snacks, cold drinks.
Peggy
Sometimes I'll just put a whole pitcher of water in here just so I have cold water. Um, we also might put, you know, cheese and cold cuts and maybe some fruit, things that we want to eat while we're on the road, you know, in case we don't want to stop. Although we almost always stop for gas and potty breaks anyway, so we can put together a snack. But if we just get hungry and we're not at a driving a stopping point, then I can open up the cooler and grab out the snacks.
Tony
By the way, you can find the review of the cooler at stresslesscamping.com.
Tony
And also, the— we have several portable power stations. The one we like the best, uh, that we bring with us is typically the Ugreen, for the simple reason that it can work both as an uninterruptible power supply and as a power station, and it has fast charging. It's got a lot of stuff I really, really like. And it's also relatively compact. And we also use that 12-volt cooler for those Costco runs because, you know, you don't want the ice cream to melt on the way home.
Peggy
Yeah, right.
Peggy
Okay, we've never written about these, I don't think. We have these Instacrate. They're collapsible crates, and we carry one of these with snacks in it. Now I only have a couple of examples: dried mushrooms, and seaweed.
Tony
Normally we eat much less healthy, much more normal snacks, but you know, I mean, I usually put in here protein bars, maybe some crackers for Tony.
Peggy
We have nuts, we have beef sticks, things that don't need to be refrigerated but are good filling snacks. A lot of proteins because that's what will fill us up when we need a snack on the road and it's an hour from a gas stop.
Tony
By the way, when I made the trip from New Mexico to Alabama a couple of months ago. I brought all kinds of snacks, and that's pretty much all I ate for 2 days. That didn't sit well with me at all.
Peggy
Yeah, it's healthy snacks unless it's all you eat, right?
Tony
Yeah, they're snacks, not meals.
Peggy
Okay, and then when we stop and park, we— especially here in the desert Southwest— we need a sunshade. So that is back here in the door usually, but I couldn't reach the door. So that is always here.
Peggy
We also have a safety bag. Now we got this safety bag, you'll never guess where, at the Balloon Fiesta, and it has in it a safety vest, bright, bright orange safety vest. Some reflective tape in case one of us isn't wearing a safety vest. We tape ourselves up, literally. I've done that.
Peggy
A couple of headlamps, and usually it has gloves, but I took the gloves out to do a project and didn't put them back. So that's a reminder to me.
Tony
One of the things we may all be guilty of is like, oh, you know, you're at the house or whatever and you're like, oh, I have these great gloves, or I have a headlight or whatever, tire gauge, anything like that. Oh, I know where it is. It's really convenient in the truck.
Tony
And then you use it and don't put it back.
Peggy
Right.
Tony
The idea is to have just a dedicated in the— in your RV bag of stuff.
Peggy
Yeah. So this should actually be on our checklist for packing up.
Peggy
We should make sure that everything's in the safety bag and also that all the batteries are charged for the headlamps. Also, I'm going to put in a clip right now. We have a roadside emergency kit And this is what's in the Roadside Emergency Kit. Okay, I'm going to show you the contents of our Roadside Emergency Kit. We have flashers.
Peggy
I hope they're solar powered.
Peggy
Window breaker.
Peggy
An emergency blanket.
Peggy
A small first aid kit.
Peggy
Some glow sticks, I guess so you can be seen in the dark.
Peggy
A compass.
Peggy
Some bungee cords.
Peggy
A toe strap, which is 300 kg strong. A waterproof emergency poncho.
Peggy
A pair of work gloves with the little rubber dotty things on it.
Peggy
Some PVC tape.
Peggy
Some zip ties.
Peggy
A tire pressure gauge. Can't have too many of those. Some jumper cables.
Peggy
How did I get this all in there before? And a safety vest.
Peggy
This sits under the seat of the back seat of the truck in case of roadside emergencies. Okay, when we eat some of those snacks, if we think anything is going to spill on us, we don't want to mess up our clothes. So will you please demonstrate this dignity scarf from Baby Maverick Boutique? You can find her on Etsy. Yeah.
Peggy
Yes, she's my sister.
Tony
Yeah, that's Peggy's. I might mess with the mic for those of you listening, but it looks like a fancy vest. There's a magnet closure in the front. And it's just a vest that kind of goes over— you can even have it over the seat belt and all that.
Tony
And it has a magnet closure in the front, and it makes it so that you don't ruin shirts. Because, you know, we all get those travel shirts.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
As we're going places. And I, I almost stopped buying them because I, you know, road snacks and stuff.
Tony
And right, that vest has saved plenty of shirts. Oh, and it's reversible. Yeah, so you know, you want to be—
Peggy
so we've got like the most fashionable side and the plaid side. Uh, we actually have two of these.
Peggy
There's one that stays in the camper all the time and one that stays in the truck all the time. We need a third one for the car.
Tony
Yeah, we do.
Peggy
By the way, Kathy, we'll be placing an order soon.
Tony
Yes, we will.
Peggy
Okay, back to the back seat. We have the hydration jug from Dometic. It's empty so I can lift it, otherwise I would not be able to lift it. The cool thing about this is, and when I say cool I mean because I usually fill it with ice in the morning, fill it with water, and then it's got a battery-operated rechargeable pump with a light. So let's see if I squirt any water out.
Peggy
I don't know if you saw the light. I don't want to burn out the motor by not pumping water because the jug is empty right now. But a little water did splash out. Oops. So this is nice because I can just bring it up to the front and fill my water bottle every time I get empty, which is very often.
Tony
That's why we have so many potty stops.
Peggy
Right.
Tony
But that hydration jug, again, we have an article about it on stresslesscamping.com, but it's part of our also tent camping gear. So it's pretty cool. They hold 2.5 gallons and 2 of them fit in a standard jerry can holder.
Tony
So, you know, if you have a Jeep or whatever with that on the outside, 2 of those will fit in there. It's pretty— they're pretty cool. I know people who have van builds and camper builds, and that's their water system.
Peggy
Yep. And then speaking of hydration, Tony doesn't really like flat water or plain water or whatever.
Peggy
So he— I'm glad I had an empty one of these because this would also be hard to lift. He likes these sparkling water. We call them fizzy waters. And so there's always a box right behind his seat. Both of us can actually reach that if we have to.
Peggy
Water for Tony.
Tony
Wasser mit Gas.
Peggy
Wasser mit Gas. I think that's all that's— oh well, jackets. I didn't write this down, but we both have a little sweatshirt back here and a rain jacket hiding under the seat in case we have to get out in inclement weather, especially if it's like an emergency and we're going to be out of the truck for a while.
Peggy
You know, if we're just running to the camper or running to the gas station, I've run through the rain. But if we're going to have to be out, then we have rain gear inside in case we're going to need it.
Tony
Indeed.
Peggy
Okay, well, this is not a very comfortable seat. I want to come up front.
Tony
All right, here we go.
Peggy
Whoosh! Ta-da!
Tony
Here I am, front seat driver.
Peggy
Front seat driver.
Peggy
Navigator, Snack getter, water getter.
Tony
By the way, we do, when we're driving, wear our seat belts, but I'm not driving.
Peggy
Exactly. Okay, so I have a few categories up front. There's a lot of things to talk about here.
Peggy
Oh boy. We always have at reach our coffee.
Tony
Oh yeah.
Peggy
In our Liquefied cups because you want to drink coffee out of something that cleans your black tank.
Tony
Yeah, our coffee is not— oh, you can't say that word.
Tony
It's not crappy, it's good coffee.
Peggy
Uh, water. Now, Tony, I can again bing bang boom get him a can of water. I've always got my ice water on hand.
Tony
Yes, you can.
Peggy
We always have lip balm.
Peggy
We actually have in our drawers, we have little lip balm holders Yeah, whoever designed the pocket, the door pockets of this truck really did a good job.
Tony
So we have, uh, lip balm.
Peggy
So we have two kinds of lip balm, really. We have Sunshades by Melaleuca. Mine is piña colada, and I'm going to use it right now because it's a hot, dry desert day.
Tony
Mm-hmm.
Peggy
And the other one that we use quite a bit is from Soap Shack Farms. Used to be called Soap Shack Baby in the very beginning. I still have an old lip balm that still is fine. I will put a link to them.
Peggy
They have some wonderful, wonderful goat milk soap and other products. They actually raise goats to milk to make soap.
Tony
Yeah, James and Tiffany are cool folks.
Peggy
And of course we have all the chargers. We have chargers for the phone, chargers for the walkie-talkies, chargers for the TPMS, That's tire pressure monitoring system.
Peggy
Chargers for an old iPhone that we use for certain things. Just chargers everywhere. And then I'll talk about this in a minute, but the, the camera monitors actually have to be plugged in to be used, so that's a little inconvenient. I wish they had a battery-operated monitor, but they don't, and I'll talk more about those in a minute. I always have within reach my neck pillow because sometimes it's just nap time.
Tony
Not for me if I'm driving though.
Peggy
He doesn't get a neck pillow, that's just for me.
Tony
No.
Peggy
And we have our little trash box right down here that we have very convenient and handy.
Tony
But good space, we found that at some auto parts store.
Peggy
Okay, so We have so many screens. For one thing, we have our phones. Tony uses it for navigation. I use mine mostly for, well, finding gas during the day and then finding other things when we need them. But we have— so we have those two up here on our bullet point mounts, which we'll talk about.
Peggy
Then we have the tire pressure monitoring system monitor, which I turn on as soon as we start the car. I look at the numbers right at the very beginning, and then I just keep the monitor on. And if the tires get really out of whack, it will start beeping and letting us know.
Tony
And it's, uh, you cannot sleep through that beep. It is a beep, right?
Tony
It's a super beep, super beep.
Peggy
Uh, and then I mentioned the rear cameras. We're still working on getting this perfected, but we actually have two systems now. This one currently— the truck's not on and the radio for some reason won't shut off when the truck's on, so I'm not turning the truck on. We're not turning the truck on, but they only work when the truck's on and they come on for like 90 seconds and you can turn it on and you can, you know, turn it back on.
Peggy
But these are rearview cameras, so what we're working on having is one on the back of the truck Although we have a tailgate camera on this truck that was, uh, you know, built in by the car company, and that monitor of course is built into the dashboard of the truck, and it's terrible, and it's, you know, it's hard to see. So we have this, and then we're getting a new system so we can have two cameras on the back of the trailer. We'll put one up very high where that, uh, you know, kind of where that camera mount already is, but we can't mount this particular one. And then we have one down low that's attached to the license plate. And I do have an older review that we will link.
Tony
What we like about this camera system— and again, Peggy has the review— but what we like about it, it's wireless but also recharges by solar.
Peggy
By solar.
Tony
So each of the cameras has a little solar panel on the top of it. And it keeps them charged up so you don't have to run wires to your truck or whatever.
Peggy
And once we got it set up, I have never had to use anything to recharge.
Peggy
They're always charged and ready to go.
Tony
Yeah, they stayed good. So the camera mounts that we have on the truck and now also in our car are from a company called Bullet Point. They make them here in the US, if I'm not mistaken. They are a veteran-owned company And we, we used to have to hold our phones like a Grabby holder, and then they came out with the MagSafe holders, and we just replaced the head.
Tony
These are designed to screw right into screw holes that are already there on the instrument panel of this truck.
Peggy
So you can buy them for the vehicle that you have, right?
Tony
But for the car, there's really no place you'd want to screw it into the dash, but they have suctiony ones that we have for the car, and they really— the suction is good and they really work well as well. So I'm a big fan of this Bullet Point company. They, they do a good job.
Peggy
Yeah. For whatever reason, our car has— I think I know the reason, but they have these itty-bitty, like, 3-inch, what I call wind wings. I don't know if anybody really knows what that means anymore, but it's this little tiny triangular window at the very front of the windshield, uh, side windows, door windows. I think that's because the door window can't roll down if it's that wide, so they have to, you know, smooth shape, reshape the front of the window that rolls down into the door. So anyway, that 3-inch little square triangle thing happens to be exactly big enough for the suction cup of the BulletPoints.
Tony
Yeah, I'm not a fan. I know some people put them on their air vents. I'm not a fan of that because I can see that breaking the air vent and it definitely blocks some of the airflow. And I like having the vent on when I'm driving. I like having air in my face.
Peggy
Right.
Tony
So that's just me. Not everyone's like that.
Peggy
Okay, so what else is in this console? This is where we keep the camera monitors.
Tony
It's amazing. Like, if you had 20 consoles, you'd fill them all. If you only have like 2, then no, then you're fine.
Peggy
So we have a wallet, there's no money in it, don't come steal it. It has our gas card, our Passport America card, uh, spare, uh, backup, you know, insurance, medical insurance and roadside assistance cards, things like that, things that we always, you know, just only need really in the truck.
Tony
Yeah, it's the oh no wallet.
Peggy
Oh, we have always a whole bunch of lens cleaners. We have baby wipes for after we dump the tanks or get gas or eat fried chicken or whatever. She's not kidding.
Tony
We have Sucrettes in case we get a sore throat or if we need minty fresh breath.
Peggy
Or if we need minty fresh breath. We also keep some other lozenges in here that are gone right now.
Tony
Oh, and Shout Wipes. We have Shout Wipes.
Peggy
Oh, we have a Shout Wipe.
Tony
Tada! Because when I forget the bib from Baby Maverick Boutique— yeah, shot wipe, baby!
Peggy
Okay, and then we have— let's see, what else do we have right at hand? Tony's reading glasses, the cheaters we call them. Yeah, uh, just bought from, you know, like Walmart or wherever, uh, no prescription. We have—
Tony
I have prescription glasses, but they're They're also readers anyway.
Peggy
Now if I can get this little guy on camera.
Tony
I think it's showing.
Peggy
This little bee actually holds essential oils. The essential oil that we keep in the truck is a special blend of lavender and peppermint. It smells delightful.
Tony
It really does.
Peggy
I put it on some locations if I'm starting to feel carsick. Now for whatever reason That hardly ever happens to me anymore. That's a little bit disappointing to Tony because he— not that he wants me to feel sick.
Tony
Yeah, of course not.
Peggy
But when I feel sick, he likes the smell of it.
Tony
So if I start to hold my tummy, he goes, "Oh, put your medicine on it." Yes, or there's times where I even put it on just because I love the smell of it.
Peggy
And I roll it onto the Bee. The Bee is specifically made to put essential oils into it. So I roll it into the B or drop it, you know, put drops so that the whole truck can smell like that.
Peggy
But this has unfortunately, or fortunately, not been used very much recently.
Tony
So see, when Peggy said she wanted to buy essential oils for the truck, I was thinking like, oh, Mobil 1 or whatever. No, it's, uh, smelly oils.
Peggy
I just realized I keep looking down at the monitor instead of up at the camera, so my eyes have been like mostly closed the whole time. Okay, so in the glove box.
Tony
Oh, this is a place I just don't go.
Peggy
Meh.
Tony
It is ooh la la full.
Peggy
In the glove box, I already showed you we have the TPMS, the tire pressure system.
Tony
Now our system came with our trailer.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
There are plenty of good aftermarket systems. We like the ones from our friends at AirGear because they sell the stuff they own and test. I'm telling you, if you do not have a tire pressure monitoring system for your trailer, please, please, please, please, please, please put one on. It has saved our bacon a few times, and it's just— it's such a safety thing.
Tony
It— fortunately, they're going to be required by RVIA code, but they're not now, and you really shouldn't be towing without one. Yeah, so That's the story of our tire pressure monitoring system. We'll put a link to AirGear in the show notes.
Peggy
Okay, then we keep this whole entire box of business cards and stickers.
Tony
Yeah, if you ever see us out in the wild, uh, hit us up, we'll have to give you stickers.
Peggy
Yeah, if we, if we start chatting up someone in the gas station or wherever and we're like, oh, you should, you know, and they're like, oh, we want to follow you, then we have business card handy If I see stickers on bumpers or windows or suitcases, then— oh yeah, then we whip out a sticker and share it. We have a story, uh, a couple weeks— well, when we went on our Breaking Bad tour, we met a lady who was from Sacramento, and she was flying home later that day, so she had her suitcase and she had stickers all over it, which was cool. And as she was moving, I looked over and I realized she had a sticker from Clear Lake Campground in Northern California.
Tony
Yeah, one of our favorite places.
Peggy
Which is where we used to camp so much.
Peggy
And so we got talking and then we gave her a Stressless Camping sticker and she put it right next to the Clear Lake sticker, which was very cool. All right, now we get into the really deep— that was just the kind of open glove box that Yeah. Oh, and I have some tissues also. Floss sticks. We have extra bulbs for if one of our headlights goes out.
Tony
No, taillight.
Peggy
Taillights goes out. We have walkie-talkies.
Tony
We have a review of those.
Peggy
Backup keys for our bikes.
Peggy
Even if we're not carrying our bikes, that's where the keys are, just so we know where they are. We have backup keys to the trailer, even though we have, uh, Yeah, the RV Log, Kilosentry. For some reason we have 3 walkie-talkies. We have what we call the fork and knife. Should I say that with a different accent?
Peggy
A fork and knife.
Tony
Fork and knife.
Peggy
A fork and knife. And you know, you never know when there's going to be an eating emergency.
Tony
An eatmergency.
Peggy
An eatmergency. And so, or even a— I don't know what that is. It's a bottle opener. It even has a corkscrew.
Tony
Hey, these are important things.
Peggy
You never know when there's gonna be an eat-mergency.
Tony
Right.
Peggy
So we have a couple different versions. This is the favorite one. We have some extra pairs of sunglasses.
Peggy
There's also some of those in the back seat behind the seat because you don't want to be lost without sunglasses. I can't fold that. Okay, what else is on here? We already— oh, let's talk about this Baby Maverick. Well, let's talk about the passenger side window.
Peggy
Okay, so two things that I can use in the window when there's too much sun coming in on me. One is from, you guessed it, Baby Maverick Boutique. This is cool because we'll show you when we can roll the window down, there's actually magnets at the top. And so you can, if you have a metal vehicle, you can magnetize it and roll the window up and then kind of pinch it in there. And because I have it magnetized, if I do have to roll the window down to let a fly out or something, as long as it's not too windy— actually, if we're going fast, I better hold on.
Peggy
'Cause even the magnets, you know, it might blow away at 55, 57, 63 miles per hour. But just bing, bang, and boom.
Tony
Yeah, and you can get them in other than, what is that, Frozen or whatever?
Peggy
You can get them in other than Frozen, but because it is a baby boutique, they do tend to— she made it for more like the back seat for covering baby, you know, from the sun, but I like it. The other thing is this NanoShade from MagnaShade.
Peggy
This is totally cuttable to size, but the way that we use it— this is like, I don't know how this works, it's like a million tiny suction cups and it sticks even to our, even to our window that I've been scraping the shade off of. It sticks right there. It provides more shade for me, but Tony can still see through it so that he can see the mirror or cars beside us.
Tony
Okay, something you might say is, you've mentioned safety stuff, you've mentioned all of that kind of stuff, what about being able to change a tire? And we do have the Air Gear tire changing kit with a torque wrench, but that lives in the trailer.
Tony
So it's technically a safety thing, and it has a tire pressure gauge. We also bring an inflator, and typical us, it's a Ryobi inflator because our whole world is run by Ryobi batteries. And then we also bring several Ryobi lanterns because let's say you do have a flat tire and it's late at night, those lanterns are fantastic for shining lights. And we have several batteries, or as they say, bat rays.
Peggy
But by the way, we try not to ever drive, especially with the camper, in the dark.
Tony
Yeah, that's our goal, but of course, you know, stuff happens sometimes.
Peggy
Something can happen, yeah. Oh, one more thing we have really handy right here.
Tony
Oh yes, hats.
Peggy
Hats.
Peggy
And I'm gonna tell you while we're goofing around with our hats, you probably, you may or may not, probably not notice that I have my hair up in a bun, and I don't usually do that when we're recording, But I wanted to tell you about this EasyBun.com because I don't like my hair down and, you know, getting in my way. And if it's windy outside and I'm trying to set up or whatever, I always want my hair up when we're driving. So I have two of these. Obviously have one in. You do not want to see me take this out right now.
Peggy
It's very, very simple, but my hair is a disaster.
Tony
Oh, it's so cool. I like it because it's so curly.
Peggy
Let me see.
Tony
I like that.
Tony
Now obviously I don't have those hair issues because, you know, see, that's how easy it was to take it out.
Peggy
And then I just gather it up. There's a hole in the middle. I slip it through the hole. I've never done this without a mirror.
Peggy
Drag it up to the top.
Tony
Oh, you're doing it fine.
Peggy
Then roll it up. Twist it and my hair is out of the way. And if I do this with wet hair and then leave it until my hair is dry, I get really beautiful curls.
Tony
Yeah, it's pretty cool. Okay, this— these are those bullet point mounts. They use the MagSafe connector on the back of the phone and bing bang boom. And you can adjust them all over. They're, they're pretty flexible.
Peggy
You could show the bee too.
Tony
Oh yeah, the bee. Isn't it cute? Eeny, keeny. Okay, so on the instrument panel of our truck, and a lot of trucks are like this, let's see if you can see that.
Tony
That's the fuel and how bad our gas mileage is. But you can also do under vehicle info on our truck. This is where I usually leave it if I'm towing because it shows coolant and trans temp. Right now the engine's off, so there is no transmission. But I like the different, you know, it's your tire pressure monitor for the truck, different specific things.
Tony
But another thing that this truck does, and I think a lot of pickups have, is the trailering information. So you can actually, whoops, you can actually look at how many miles you've towed. And for example, our trailer now 20,901.3. And your trailer brake gain. This is another reason I really like pickups instead of other vehicles for towing.
Tony
They usually have a lot of these features built in. So let's pan back a wee bit. Another thing we have on the mirror is the height of the trailer. Now unfortunately I am limited because I'm tethered to the dashboard's power outlet.
Peggy
I'll make a photo.
Tony
Anyway, that's what's on the instrument panel of our truck.
Peggy
We also have, not in the dash or in the glove box, but here on our visors, we have these really cool— I'll have to see if I can find the link for when we bought these— They have a cool little magnet so that holds your— the arm of your sunglasses in there really firmly. We've never had these fall down, and then they just slip over tightly, slip over the visor, and they hold sunglasses. They're super handy. I'll look for— I'm sure I bought them on Amazon, so I'll look for that link.
Peggy
But I did not want to forget to look at the ceiling when we were talking about what's in our truck.
Tony
One of the things we have talked about with ABC Upfitters is our Mastervolt power system that they install, and we have said for some time that it's not just, hey, we installed a system and Merry Christmas and all of that. So they just added Bluetooth connectivity to this system, and it's a really—
Peggy
I—
Tony
the way The system's designed is so neat with basically just plug and play.
Tony
So I was able to just plug in the Bluetooth connector and it enables me to, for example, here I can see the battery voltage. There's a screen for those of you listening. You just tap and you can control different aspects of the system, including the charging. Like right now it shows that I'm getting 16.1 amps in off the solar panels. And the Combimaster is the inverter, so it shows turned off, but I can turn that on.
Tony
So it's pretty neat. There's answers to your questions and other things built into this app, and, and you can just, if you have this MasterVolt system from ABC Upfitters, just reach out to them at 574-333-3225.
Peggy
That's 574-333-3225. Get your battery, get your inverter, get your, get your super cool Bluetooth app.
Tony
It's so neat that there was such an easy upgrade.
Tony
Upgrade for them to put in, and that's a year after we got our system. So just good people doing good work.
Tony
Other apps that I have on the phone are— I, you know, you can organize them in different systems. One of those is the RV Halo app, which we have talked about. This is the Winegard Wi-Fi system, and I can monitor the temperature inside the trailer, and I can monitor humidity and water sensors, things like that. And the Wi-Fi— right now, I— the cool thing about the Wi-Fi subscription is you can start and stop it. Uh, I have it stopped at the moment, but you can monitor those things inside the trailer.
Tony
Okay, back to this. I have my Waysafe app, and this is This is one of the reasons I really like this hitch. It enables me to make adjustments because, you know, the trailer can weigh more or less based on water or cargo or whatnot. So the Weigh Safe app is really useful. Also, um, I have the Power Watchdog, and it's gonna, it's gonna error out here because I don't— it's not plugged in.
Peggy
You can't plug it in when you're driving, right?
Tony
But the Power Watchdog lets you monitor the power consumption of the trailer, and you can turn the thing on and off. There are several times where I'm like, oh, how much battery do I have? And I turn the thing off, and then surprise, surprise, I forget to turn it back on because our Mastervolt system is able to keep up with everything. I also have a compass, uh, which is the one that came with the phone, and it shows the elevation and all that.
Tony
And I have my measure app, and you're like, well, what the heck do you need to measure with the phone? I don't. It has a level in it, and I use this to measure how level the trailer is.
Peggy
Hey, you have your phone set up pretty level right now.
Tony
Yeah, look at that.
Tony
See, and it's neat because it goes green when, uh, it's level. So I really like this app, and it's free. It came with the phone. This is the Levelmate app. And we have a full review of the Levelmate Pro.
Tony
But gosh, I love this thing because I could be here in the cab of the truck and my objective is to get the trailer as level as possible side to side. And then of course you level front to back with the tongue jack. That's if you have a fifth wheel or travel trailer or whatever. It's taken its dear sweet time to find the Levelmate Pro. Okay, so Levelmate.
Tony
After it finds the gadget, it asks you if you're— that you're not the driver. I lie, it can't see me. But as you can see it, uh, well, of course, if you're listening to this on the audio only, you can't see, but it shows a number of things. It shows side-to-side level and it shows front-to-back level. The trailer is sitting in our yard right now behind the truck.
Tony
Parked and level. I like that it also shows the temperature wherever it is. It's in a— we have it located in the front of the cabinet, but you can do like hitch— whoopsie— you can do like hit hitch position, uh, so it's like, oh, I need to make sure that, uh, that's where the hitch is, and you can see it side to side. So there's a lot of— there's a full review at stresslesscamping.com. But I like this Levelmate app quite a bit.
Tony
And then one last thing— oh, so we have the WeRV app. There's a lot of RVs that work with this, but it allows me to measure the propane level, allows me to measure the freezer and fridge temp. So you can buy monitors that work with this from Lippert. This is a gadget from Lippert. It's now going to tell me the refrigerator is hot, and then it's going to tell me the refrigerator is fine.
Peggy
So that's the way you can also use that to turn your lights on and off. Yeah, your water pump, your water heater, open and close the awning. And after you've physically turned on a light or something, you can use it to open and close the slide. Yes, it will not work, it will be locked out if you haven't been using the app or you haven't been using the trailer. It won't open the slide from the app unless it knows that you really I mean it.
Tony
Yeah, and that's good because you don't want to accidentally pocket open your slide as you're driving. So another app that I find really, really useful, uh, is this Simply Auto, and it lets me track the truck, the maintenance and all of that, um, and the trailer and pretty much any vehicle. But, uh, this is where you get your reminders for when it's the next time to change oil or do any other preventative maintenance. As you can see, if you're looking at this, it's time to do a radiator flush in 15,000 more miles. And it does remind you of all of this stuff as you enter fuel prices.
Tony
If you care, it will show you your mileage and that sort of thing. As you can, if you're looking again, you can see I just changed the engine oil and all of the gear oil in the all-wheel drive or the four-wheel drive system, things like that. So it helps with reminding. Also kind of tracking your costs. And I really, I like this app.
Tony
Oh look, average mileage 9.1 miles per gallon.
Peggy
Woohoo!
Tony
There we are, we are burning the dinosaurs, baby.
Peggy
Okay, so while I'm being the backseat, I mean the passenger slash navigator, my job is to make sure that we're on a safe route. So Tony's using the Apple Map navigation and I use the RV Life navigation to make sure that we are having a safe route.
Peggy
So I can tell it where we're starting, where we're going, and it will tell me where our trailer will actually fit and tell me if I— if Tony has chosen a route that won't work for our trailer. I can also watch for traffic. I can look for— I also have the, the app that Tony has with the compass on it. Then I also look for things that we might want to find on the road. Maybe we're going to need gas.
Peggy
Maybe we know that we want to stop at a Love's, and I want to find a Love's that has RV things. So there's actually on the Love's app an RV button.
Tony
Easy for you to say.
Peggy
Yeah. Maybe I want to find a Goofy USA attraction, and then we use the Roadside America app to find attractions.
Peggy
I have so many apps.
Tony
We actually, at seminars and workshops, we do a presentation about our favorite travel apps.
Peggy
I'm trying to do a 3-minute version of the 1-hour presentation that we usually do. And then also, if we don't already have a reservation and we're ready 2 hours out from where we want to stop, I can look at Harvest Hosts to find out what's going to be ahead of us and see if I can find a place to stay. If not, maybe I might just use a KOA app and find an actual campground.
Tony
By the way, we do have our favorite apps as an article at stresslesscamping.com too.
Peggy
That is true. And I can look for KOAs that are near us.
Peggy
That was a secret. We knew where the KOAs were, but you didn't know where we were. Ah, I might use the Spot2Night app, and that is kind of similar to HotelTonight. I can say where I want to be and if it's tonight or if it's next week, and it will tell me what campgrounds have space available for me. And then, you know, again, I have all these other apps, but those are kind of the really highlights of the apps that I use on a regular basis while I sit in the back— uh, in the passenger seat.
Peggy
Well, just like last week, our camera overheated, so here we are. We are done showing you what's in the cab. We're in the cab. It's getting hot.
Tony
It is.
Peggy
But we wanted to finish up for our question of the week. This week I'm wondering, do you have something unique in your, in your vehicle that you have on road trips that you think nobody else has?
Tony
You can answer that question at our Fun and Friendly Stressless Campers Facebook group. Don't forget also all the links are below in the show notes, so we always provide links, discounts, and all of that there. We also have the sign-up form for our once a week free and friendly email newsletter.
Tony
You don't want to miss out on our next adventure, which can help you with your next adventure. And we hope that that adventure is stressless camping. We hope you learned a lot and had some fun and got some tips for your next stressless camping adventure. We're honored by your reviews on Apple Podcasts, which helps others find us too. Don't forget to subscribe so you won't Miss out on the adventure, and we look forward to your joining us next week.
Tony
Until then, happy camping! Why was your video so long? Because Levelmate was taking forever to find itself.
