National parks: staying while serving
We speak with listener Ingall who has a great way to stay at the national parks and other places while helping make them better places at the same time. It can be difficult to get in to these places but his hack is a great way to get in sooner and stay longer.
Ingall also shares how he travels in a beautiful 1966 Airstream Caravel travel trailer which he’s taken to some incredible places.
We’ve also got an important maintenance and repair lesson plus one of the most unusual RVs we’ve ever seen - and we’ve seen a lot of RVs!
The StressLess Camping podcast is a weekly RV podcast with information, tips and tricks to help every RVer and camper enjoy some StressLess Camping.
Mentioned on this episode
Our review of the very unusual Exo-hauler toy hauler pickup camper
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Other places to hear the podcast
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.
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Podcast episode 188 transcription
This is the automatic transcription of this week’s StressLess Camping RV and travel podcast for those who wish to see the text.
Welcome to the Weekly podcast, all about turning the great American RV adventure into Stressless camping. Each week we explore tips, tricks, ideas, and destinations, and talk to the happiest campers in the RV world. Pull up a seat at the campfire as we enjoy some Stressless camping.
Welcome to Olds, California. So welcome to the propane Camp Fire
<laugh>. I'm Tony. I'm Peggy. And we are two RV industry veterans who travel part-time
In a small trailer
Looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips,
Tricks
And discounts.
We are in California.
Yeah. That means we have left court site, court site, Arizona. Yep. And we are on our way to go meet up with some friends from our former lives here in California. <laugh>. So we're gonna go to LowCal as it were, Southern California camp at the beach, which is always an enjoyable thing. Yeah. My gosh. The Quartzite show. I think my favorite part of it is just the number of wonderful RVers we've run into some from our past, uh, listeners, people just at the show.
It's, it's
Such, it's awesome. It's a great,
It really is.
It's a social thing to do. I actually saw a post during the week that said, well, I've been there. I've seen it. I don't need to buy a new rv so I don't ever need to go back. And honestly, like I barely even know that they sell RVs there. That is So on the bottom of the list of reasons is why I go Well
And, and what they sell. The dealership that's, there is really nothing that we're particularly interested in anyway. We were a small RV fans and they sell big fifth wheels and motor homes, which is good for people who are living full-time in them who
Love. Right. And I think that's probably popular in that area cuz that's a majority of who there, who is there is full-timers and snowbirds, so, yeah.
Well, and they said, uh, I did an article for RV Business about it and the big seller was Fifth Wheel Toy Haulers. Yeah. So there you go. That's what they're selling On the subject of Quar site, we wanted to share that. We were there for two weeks.
We were there for 13 nights. Yeah. And we didn't have to plug in.
No, we were off the grid the whole time. Of course we did use water Naturally. We're not, we're not that advanced yet. <laugh>. But we did not have to plug into electricity thanks to the master volt system in our 2023 mini light. But did you know you can get a Master Vault system in your own rv?
That's right. So we spent all of quartzite camping Right. With the ABC Upfitters rig and got to talk to a bunch of people and talk about boondocking and let them know that we were off grid and that they too could have a full and complete workable solution <laugh> for, for electrical needs from ABC
Upfitters. Yeah. One of the things I think that surprised people was we had a sign out in front, they said, we can run our air conditioner on solar. Yeah. <laugh>. Then we demonstrated it multiple times. But I think one of the questions or one of the things we ran across is people not being overly familiar with the Master Volt product. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and boy it's popular in the marine industry and it's just a, a really high quality system. You know, when you're out on a boat a hundred miles from shore, your tolerance for things not working is pretty low.
Yeah. And so that's kind of where Master Volt cut its teeth. And the folks at ABC Upfitters, who we've worked with for a while now, they actually engineer systems to go into your rv. So rather than, you know, saying, oh, here's a battery for you and thank you very much, they actually work to fit the systems into the spaces in your rv, but also into the way your RV works. And of course they spend a lot of time asking questions.
We met with a gen who is getting one in an escape, which is very similar to things like a cita. Right. And they were, they're making it fit in there and, and work within that environment. So if you're looking to upgrade and wanna be more off the grid, we've been really pleased with a B, C Upfitters and the caliber of work they do and how they fit these systems into RVs.
So there's someone else that we met while we were in court site that we just had to introduce him to you. We talked quite a bit about a couple different things and well, let's just share it with you. Yeah. Well we are at Quartzite of course and we are meeting some of the most wonderful people and one of the wonderful people that we have met is Engel Bull and he is going to tell us how he gets to uh, kind of vacation for free
<laugh>. Oh yeah. <laugh>,
Thank you so much for spending some time with us. We are, in case you're familiar with our podcast and being in court site, we're sitting inside cuz it's very cold and windy today so you don't hear so much crowd noise, but that's okay. And we're gonna just have a little chat.
Welcome.
Hi. Thank you. It's great to be here.
Oh, it's great to have you. So you told us that you get to camp at National Parks kind of circumventing the reservation system. How's that?
So I have done this primarily with the Yosemite Conservancy and they have volunteer positions that are anywhere from a week to a month long. Some people stay for even longer and do multiple gigs. I did what they called visitor information, which is you're kind of telling people about the park and what you like and what you love about the park and they give you a campsite Okay. For that time that you're volunteering.
In fact, you get cart blanche to come in and out of the park as you want during the volunteer time that you're doing. That's
Awesome. And you are not working for the national park. Uh, you are, it is an organization that supports the national park.
Right. So most of the major parks have a fundraising organization that's attached to 'em. So Yellowstone has one, Yosemite has one, Sequoia King's Canyon has one. And many of the parks do. And even some of the smaller parks will kind of bunch up their support organization and those organizations raise money to actually pay for a lot of the things that campers actually use in the park.
Bear boxes campsite, for example, in Yosemite right now Tumi Meadows is closed because the whole campground is being rebuilt and that is largely being funded by the Yosemite Conservancy. Okay. There are a lot of advantages to doing that because the external organization can work at a much faster pace than the National Park system
Can <laugh>. Yeah. Imagine that there are fewer rules for a volunteer type organization as opposed to the federal government.
Right. Right. And the place that I had volunteered just this last year for the month of June, was at the Mara Posa Grove and the Yosemite Conservancy funded all of the complete rebuild of the Grove and the Visitor Information center and how that has all been relayed out. Hmm. If you remember in the old days, you used to go up and drive among the trees.
Oh yeah.
And you can't do that anymore. Right. They've, uh, because it was effectively killing the sequoias. So they paid for that whole Mariosa Grove plan.
Huh. Interesting. Okay. And how did you find this organization?
Most of the NPS sites will have a link to their special fundraising folks. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I had a friend before she had her child was a teacher and she used to volunteer for them throughout the summer. And that's what she did between during the school year. And so I learned about it probably 20 years ago and always wanted to do it. My job never allowed me to do it until I retired. And it was one of the first things I did once I retired was to apply for a volunteer position.
A lot of the, let's say the big name National Parks, there's a waiting list. It's good luck getting in. So this is one way to not only make them better, but have a great experience doing so.
I loved it because I have gone to Yosemite since I was four years old.
Oh, wow.
Camping, I know the park upside down and always, and it was such a great way to kinda share your love of the park.
Right.
With all of these travelers from all over the world. And it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it.
Do you know how long a commitment you have to make?
There are weeklong commitments and those are usually what they call work groups and you're actually doing some kind of restoration and there are month long commitments and those are generally visitor information commitments and your interfacing with the public to help the rangers. And the Rangers love this because they don't get so inundated <laugh> and you're helping the Rangers to impart information.
So in doing that, are you at their information centers or their kiosks? Or are you just happen to be sitting on a rock and talking to people as they walk by
Or? So we have our own kiosk. Okay. Um, they're very careful. Mo most of these organizations are very careful that you do not appear to be a ranger. That Right. You wear very different colors than the Rangers do. And that it's very clear that your volunteers, the hat and the shirt they give you has volunteer blazed all over it. <laugh>. But you do a range of things. So I would spend half my time down at the visitor welcome center or I'd be hiking the Grove and just randomly answering questions of people.
That's so cool.
And I'd hang out at the Grizzly giant and, um, I know now how to use every form of camera there possibly is <laugh> <laugh> because you're taking pictures. Oh
Yeah.
Can you
Take a picture with
Me? Me? That's right. That's awesome. Yeah.
Wow. That's so cool. Do you know like what type of experience they're looking for? I guess if you're helping to clean up, it's like, can you lift a shovel
<laugh>? Yeah. They can fit a broad range of abilities, but you do have to have some kind of physical for the work camps. I think you definitely need to be able to work a little physically for the visitor information. They have just a broad range of folks. Hmm. And it's everything from retirees to school teachers to people who can take a month off and be there.
Yeah. That sounds so fun. What a great way to get experience at a national park and also kind of get, it's sort of an end run around the overcrowding or the crowding that's people are
Expos. Well, you get to actually share your favorite parts. Like you said you've been going there since you were four. So like 20, 25 years or something. Yeah.
Oh, oh yeah.
Well let, let's, let's, let's, let's just not go there. <laugh> <laugh>.
But you get to share your favorite parts. Like I, you know, I know that, well for example, we went on a cruise one time and in Mexico and one day we took a sanctioned bus ride and one day we took a less than sanctioned uni ma ride and we got kind of different stories about the area. Right. Because we got the one that the government said to tell. Right. And we got the one that they just wanted to tell. So I'm sure within reason, you get to tell like the stories you wanna tell, the things that you wanna talk about instead of having a script that you're required to follow.
Right. You are always deferential to what the rangers were talking about in their talk. Uhhuh <affirmative>. Like if I'm standing at their talk, I would certainly never interrupt them.
Oh, right, right.
Or do anything like that. But I also got to tell other stories about my own time in the park. Yeah. And what I remember it looked like, and you know, my foggy memories of the original fire falls off of
Glacier Point.
Oh yes. And you know, those are things that quite frankly, most of the Rangers never knew about because they, they were too young. Uhhuh <affirmative> or they weren't even born Yeah. At that point. Right. Yeah. So yeah, you have a lot of that you get to
Share. That's so cool. And one of the neat things, not only about your experience camping at Yosemite, but you camp there in great style
<laugh>. Yes. Yes. I am fortunate <laugh>,
Uh,
I have a 1965 Airstream caravel that's fully tweaked out <laugh>. Well
It's it's very original.
It's all mostly original. Beautiful. Yes. Um, it's quite a looker. I I've really enjoyed happiness
<laugh>. Yeah. We've heard, we met you we're all here in quartzite, you're camping in the desert and happen to run into friends of ours. And they're like, oh my gosh, you should, you should see this Airstream. It's beautiful. And they're, they're describing it and all and, and I now we've seen some pictures and it Wow. It's great. So we, we will have some pictures to share, but tell us about
The Right, but also in conjunction, tell us about the facilities at Yosemite. Do you have to dry camp or are you at a campground that's a full service campground?
It's dry camping. Yeah. If you volunteer with the mps. And just a side note, the National Park Service has lots of volunteer positions and sometimes they give you a site with full hookups.
Okay.
But most of the volunteer positions, you're gonna get either their accommodations or a dry camping spot, which for me works fine because I've outfitted my little trailer to be able to go indefinitely. All I have to do is manage the tanks. The
Tanks. It's always the kicker.
And my era of Airstream never had a gray tank, which actually works in my favor because I have, I carry a blue boy, I only carry a eight gallon blue boy. So I can easily carry it and then I just tottle off to the dump station and dump the blue boy. And then for the more un un unmentionable parts of the toileting and stuff, I just use the campground facilities. Okay. Yeah. But I still shower in the trailer.
Okay.
I do all of that. I have 60 pounds of propane on the, on
The Oh, oh wow.
Yeah. On the tongue. That lasts me living full-time in the trailer about six to eight weeks. Wow. Depend on how cold it is.
So yesterday we were sitting outside here in front of the camper, we're we're camped right on the midway in court site. And
We got to talking about the oven Yeah.
About the 17 inch oven. And you were, you were kind of giving me not a hard time, but you were saying every time you like talk about those 17 inch ovens, you're like, ah, I hate those things, but you actually make good use of it. And you had a great idea.
You did. And because we were also talking about the recipes that we have on our website, and I think it actually started because we were talking about cocktails.
Right, exactly.
As, as many good conversations do
The important parts. <laugh>,
You had an idea that I think that we have to run with and figure out how to do this.
So every time I gear Tony complain about the 17 inch ovens <laugh> and thinking, well that's all I've got, so I've gotta figure out how to make that work. And I'm like, there needs to be a 17 inch challenge and, you know, what is it that people do with those ovens beyond cookies and pizza? And you know,
That's a really good idea. And you know, I think you might have inspired Paul and Cindy who said we should have a gathering. Oh,
Right. That's who
Said. And have people bring stuff that they've made from recipes on their website. I think that's
On your website.
Yes. Yeah. I think that would be a whole next year court
Site. Yes. So I think either next year at court site or maybe later this year somewhere, oh, the frog rally in the world. The Frog rally. Not everyone goes to the frog rally, but maybe if a lot of our listeners are going to the Balloon Fiesta. Yeah. Or if it's not associated with something big and we just figure out a time to have a gathering. I think we'd like to have a website recipe potluck.
I think that would be, and combined with a 17 inch cover
Challenge, combine a 17 inch challenge. So that'll be a category in the potluck. I love that. And if you can either make something you found that off of our recipes or you can bring us something new that we can add to our
Recipes because we have not had RV croissants.
We've not had RV because, and
Sounds Dogg on Good to me <laugh>. So I would vote for that.
So stay tuned. I am going to work on when and how this might happen. There might be a survey coming up so that we can get some ideas about when and where this could happen. But I mean, it's food and cocktails. How can we not do this?
Right. Exactly. And and cool people. Right. I mean it's three of our favorite things. <laugh>.
Exactly.
I love it. Exactly. Cool. All right. And one of the interesting things you described to me is the heater in the Airstream because it uses no fan whatsoever.
No fan. Wow. And it's the original hydro flame furnace. The best way to describe it is think of a very large coffee can with a burner inside of it. Okay. Okay. And you, it basically is just a convection heater. Huh. Okay. And it's vented to the outside. It's perfectly safe. Although I have installed a CO2 detector <laugh>. Yeah.
That's not a bad
Move. I accidentally left it on last night, so I'm alive to tell you that it works just fine.
<laugh> <laugh>
And it, how long is the trailer?
17 feet. And that's from the ball to the bumper.
Oh wow. Yeah. So it today would be a Bambi, but I think you said it's a Caravel?
It's a caravel. The Bambi was from 60 to 64 and they changed in 64 the body style to be what my trailer is, which became the Caravel. Okay. Okay. And, and in 65, Airstream made a lot of upgrades to internal systems. They're quite different from the early sixties versions. Oh,
Interesting. Okay. And and as you said, you have a shower in there and full facilities and, and heat and, and everything. So,
And cooking and the dreaded 17 inch stove
<laugh> <laugh>.
Yeah. Yesterday we were talking about. And you do some pretty terrific things in that stove. I
Agree. It is a challenge to cook in that stuff <laugh>. But I have figured out I can do things like pork loins. I've made croissants. Ooh. Um, I've done, I do cookies, I, you know, but a lot of flatter stuff. No roast chicken. Oh, right. That's, that's,
That's good too. I mean, you're making the use of it so that, that's fantastic. And you are not shy about enjoying your trailer. You dragged it all the way to Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta.
Yes. Yes. Okay. It's interesting. With this trailer, I fell in love with this trailer, this model when I was like 19. Oh. And I always wanted one. And then the opportunity came about that I could actually purchase one. But I also am not someone that wants to have something so precious that I never use it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Right. So, I mean, I have to spend money to maintain it. But I, well, last year I put probably five to 6,000 miles in jail.
Wow.
Wow. That's
Awesome. And I have a really good Airstream mechanic who specializes in also restorations. Every year I'm in there and we do a list of what to maintain, you know, what to check because he's really, he knows me really well at this point. This is what I'm planning for this year and I don't want these things to fail.
Yeah. So make sure that it's gonna smart work out. That's smart. Yeah.
Yeah. And so far it has worked out.
Awesome. And then I know a lot of people who own vintage RVs. Oh, even modern RVs have named them. Have you named your trailer?
I got my trailer with its name. Oh, it came? Yeah, it came named. Her name is Myrtle. Okay. Uh, Myrtle, the Turtle <laugh>. And I just, one, the name was so cute, I just didn't wanna change it, but it just felt like bad luck to change her name. So like
A Like a boat? Yeah,
Like a boat.
And you were telling me about how you followed the trailer for some time before you were able to get it.
Yeah, so this trailer was, so there's a website you can still go to it. It's still active. It's not owned by the guy who used to own this trailer anymore, but it's called vintage airstream.com. That's where you can go and see photo archives of all the vintage models going all the way back to the thirties and forties. Huh. Okay. But he also documented his restoration of that trailer on that website. So I had followed it for years.
I used to email him regularly saying You wanna sell your trailer <laugh>. It was always either crickets or a no <laugh>. And then it came up on E eBay one night. Oh. And I had a tent trailer before this and I was camping and I decided this is the last time I'm cranking that sucker up <laugh>. And so I was looking actually for an A-Frame popup and this came up on eBay and oh boy, I know that trailer.
And I made an immediate bid and I sent a message to the seller saying it would be good if we could talk on the phone. And then from there we, we worked out, you know, I was just kinda like, tell me what you really want for the trailer. And he did. And I said, fine. And I, I wasn't gonna quibble. And I bought it. I was traveling and I said, I won't be back to California for another month. And he's like, that's fine. I'll hold on to the trailer if you decide you don't want it, no harm, no foul. I'll give you deposit back.
You're like, I've wanted it for 20 years. Of course I know.
Remember all those emails for all those years, <laugh>.
Exactly. When I arrived I looked at it and I thought, this thing is enormous.
<laugh>. <laugh>.
Because I had only towed a tent trailer, but I was like, I'm taking it, it's mine. <laugh>. Yeah.
Wow.
The way I went. Yeah.
And yeah, happy camping ever since. That's fantastic. Yeah.
Yeah.
So you've been camping since you were four and you told us that you used to caravan with your mom. Oh yeah. Not camp in the same camper, but you actually each had your rig and you used to camp together, is
That right? Yeah, so we would, when I was a car camper, she would, she used to have a little Scotty.
Oh yeah. She
Used to have a little Scotty. I'd go tent car camping somewhere. She'd show up, she'd meet me and her little Scotty. And then she eventually got a little motor home and traveled her whole retirement. She was on the road until she was 88.
That's fantastic.
She did a lot of camp host. She worked for a lot of different of these work camping groups. Mostly doing camp hosting in local and regional parks.
That's so cool.
That's, yeah. And um, we used to caravan together, you know, she passed away a little more than a year ago and I, she just kinda lives on through me cuz I
Continue not
To do that. Keep going. Yeah,
Absolutely. That's f fantastic that you were able to have that memory. Yeah. That's really cool.
So I don't know if you can pick one <laugh>, but do you have a favorite camping memory?
So I knew this
Question was coming. Oh by the way, I, it's no longer a surprise disclosure. Right. You listened to our podcast, which we really appreciate by the way,
The answer to both of those
Questions. Oh good. I love those. Same
Is the same camping memory.
I love it.
Okay. And my mom was with me actually as well as a lot of friends. So in May of 1996, probably eight of my friends and then, uh, my mom and a friend of hers were all camping at the Lower River Campground in Yosemite.
Okay.
We all remember the floods of 1997. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But what most people forget is the park had flooded in May of 96 oh
Oh.
And we were out hiking all day long. We hiked to the top of Nevada Falls. It was raining and miserable the whole time. My boot failed on that hike. Oh. <laugh>. I was holding it together with duct tape. There was still a lot of snow in the mountains and this warm rain had come through. And so we get back, um, we, you know, we eat, we all go to bed. So it's now midnight. I am warm and dry for the first time <laugh>. And I hear my mom from her little Scotty screaming at me, bill, bill, you need to, you know, you need to come out here.
And I said, I'm not coming out. It's, I'm warm and dry. <laugh>, I'll be that important. And then the ranger said, sir, you need to open up your wind flap or your window flap and look out. And we were on a little hillock and totally flooded.
Oh boy. And cuz I had put my hand out on the tent floor and I'm like, I'm dry, I'm not going. Yeah, right, right. And the park was flooding and I'm like, okay, I've gotta pack all this stuff up. It's the middle of the night, it's raining. We have a brand new station wagon that we had just bought. Oh man. And you know, and I can already see the, the water raising up. So we were quickly packing stuff up. Anything that I couldn't figure out to do with or do the little Jenga puzzle of getting everything into the car, I just threw into the trees and figured, well the water can't possibly go that high and I'll just come back and retrieve it.
Oh gosh. At some point. And we got evacuated out. That was the worst. But it was also the best because all of our friends, that is the, that is the camping story we still talk about. Oh that's still the one. That's awesome. Such a memory. And it was also one of the best group camping trips I ever did.
I love group camping.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. You knew that question was coming. <laugh>,
I've been listening to you guys for a long time, <laugh>,
We sure appreciate that. All right, well how would you like to go to the national parks and you know, it's a great sneaky way I guess. Not sneaky, but you know, it's one way of getting into these beautiful places that are really all of ours as Americans. Right. And also doing some good. So Engle had a, has some neat ideas and it's been a pleasure speaking with him. I wanted to remind everybody that we are very choosy about who ends up on our discounts and deals page.
Correct. And we have some really nifty things that are there, including some products from our friends at the air gear store who we got to meet. Yeah. We gotta talk with them. And we have some neat new products coming from them. We have friends at Techno rv, Eric and Tammy. They have some neat products. So we're very proud of the people who we are able to share with you on the discounts and dealsPage@stresslesscamping.com.
So I just wanna remind you all, if you're looking for RV stuff, that's a good place to start. You know, helps us a little teeny bit. But they're all people who we are very pleased to work with.
Yeah. We don't just put any old discount or any old deal up there. We only put the ones that we know and love. Speaking of knowing and loving <laugh>, I love hot water <laugh>.
Oh boy.
Yeah. And I love that Tony knows enough to figure out how to fix a water heater when it quit working last week. Well,
<laugh>, well there's, so I don't know how many of you know this, but I used to work at an RV dealership and I handled warranties and there are certain things that tended to go wrong more than other things. I think one of the biggest fiddly things out there was those automatic leveling systems, which honestly you couldn't give me. But another thing that tended to fail with great regularity was the propane electric water heater. And it wasn't the water heater itself that failed, but the control board.
Right. So these water heaters have a bit of smarts, a electronic control board and it controls the water heater coming on and off. And whether it's propane or electric, I mean you have a switch, but for example, when it's on propane, it has to know to open the gas valve and light the water heater and all
Of that and still maintain the right temperature. Right. Which now we, I I just wanna toss in here real quick that we talk an awful lot about our master volt power package. And I just wanna toss in one little thing so we don't forget to say it. The only thing that does not is not controlled by the inverter in this camper is the electric side of the water heater
<laugh>. Correct. Cuz we have the propane side.
Yes. Because we have the propane side.
So while we were at quartzite, our propane water heater wouldn't light one night. I'm like, Hmm. Now this is something that I've advocated for a long time. Being able to diagnose things, learn how things work when they're working so that when they're not working, you can help a technician diagnose them. Right. So what was happening is our propane side water heater, it was opening the gas valve because it would have to do that to provide gas to the water heater. And then what was not happening was the igniter going off.
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And that's how it lights the thing. So on a dsi, as they call it, direct spark ignition water heater, the gas valve opens the igniter, ignites the propane, and then it senses, oh it's hot and it's going. So if it doesn't do that the first time, it tries two more times. And if it doesn't light the water heater after three times, that's when you get the red light on your control panel that says dsi fault, direct spark, ignition fault.
Well it wasn't lighting. And so I know that those boards are, let's just say low bidder quality <laugh> on the water heaters and whatever the component on the board is that lights, the igniter tends to have a high failure rate. So what I did is I found the board and I took it out and I looked at the board and I did not see it. It's a clear burn mark on the board when it fails. Said that thing just says, Nope, <laugh>.
Well that looked fine. I thought, well that doesn't make sense because the symptoms are that that igniter failed. So then I put the board back in and made sure all the connections were connected properly.
D ding ding ding.
Yep. It worked. <laugh>. So what had happened is the igniter connector had just wiggled loose,
So there was nothing really wrong. Right. Other than a loose connection. So, you know, when he put it all back together, everything started working again. Which means we don't have to worry about a warranty claim, we don't have to find a time or a place to fix. Well we did have a place lined up. Yes. We have talked before to Leisure Coach works and they were so kind to work with us in court site Yeah. To work toward being able to fix the problem this week while we're in Southern California. So we just called them and said, nevermind, all we had to do is plug it in.
I'm glad we didn't pay them to do that. That would be embarrassing, but, oh my
Gosh. Right. Well, yeah. That's why, I mean, as I've very often said, the more you know about these RVs, the better your experience is going to be. But if I had had to replace that board, there's a company called Dinosaur Electronics that makes really high quality replacement boards. I wouldn't even consider buying the Dometic board. I would just go straight to them and get one.
That's a good tip. Yep. So, so all the other thing about, and this, you know, this is model dependent and manufacture dependent, but we tried to look at the water heater from outside. Yeah. From the exhaust side. And we thought, no way could we do it because it would be taking everything apart on our trailer. All Tony did was open the cabinet and did you move the false wall or had I already taken that out? No,
<laugh>. When we picked up the trailer, we told him, just don't put it in.
Yeah. So it didn't have the false wall. Maybe that one doesn't have cuz it's in a cabinet by itself. But anyway, he was able to find that control board right from the cabinet inside the trailer. So we really didn't even have to go outside to fix our problem.
<laugh>. Yeah. I mean obviously there are so many variables on where these boards are placed and where fuses are. They're a ridiculous number of fuses that are not in the fuse box in RVs. <laugh>, I was just fortunate. We have a cabinet in our Rockwood mini light and you just open the door. In ours there's the water heater and the control board is inside that cabinet. And so it was, it was really an easy, I could do it right from inside. Yeah. And it was a very easy solution.
And even replacing that board would've been a five minute repair.
So that's our trailer. But Tony looked at a trailer in quartzite that was really interesting.
Well, yeah, it wasn't even a trailer, it was sort of a pickup camper. And it was called the exo hauler. And I gotta meet the creator of this rig who is Jason Coran. And he's building, he's a heating and air conditioning specialist, but he enjoys RVing and fishing and off-roading. You know, he is, he, he likes the adventure lifestyle. So he created this thing called the exo hauler and the is like a pickup camper in that it goes in the back of your pickup, but the only enclosed space really is the bedroom where there's a queen size bed, but the back is still sort of open, but kind of like a boat.
And you can drive a side by side up into this thing. So it'll haul, uh, side by side. When you're driving around, one of the ramps becomes the tailgate. It's clear that Jason has spent a lot of time RVing and has a very creative mind.
For example, there's a door in the floor of this exo hauler out in the back area, and you open that door, it's a huge compartment underneath, but then on that door is a mount for a table. So you have this outdoor table, well it's not completely outdoor because like on a boat there is sort of a convertible top or what's called a Bimini top. And now you've kind of enclosed the open area of this toy hauler. There is a kitchen and that door flips up.
Well, Jason's put curtain rods in the door. So now you've got an enclosed space if you wanna take a shower or you know, you can bring a porta-potty with you. So now you've got your toilet. There's a little air conditioner for the space above the cab of your pickup where the bedroom is to keep you cool at night. And just a lot of thought went into this. It's a, it's a steel build with an aluminum skin and it's not light or small, but man, it, it was really neat and I think a lot of people really like this.
And I did post a review with plenty of photos@stressescamping.com in our honest RV reviews section.
Really cool looking.
It really is. And, and it really was something to see on the back of his pickup. But even just, you know, when he took it off and had it there on the ground, I was impressed.
So boy did I ever start something by asking that question last week. Woo. Yeah. We might have had a record responses. I asked you, would you opt for an RV without an oven? And 80 people <laugh>, I mean 40 people by the time I woke up that morning had already responded.
<laugh>. Yeah, it was popular.
It was a popular question. And I am gonna, I'm not gonna read all the answers. Of course. Uh, I do that when there's a few answers, but not 80, but it's kind of half and half I'd say a lot of people say, no way could I live without my oven. And a lot of people say, I've never even used my oven. We have used our oven, we use our oven probably at least once a week, I'd say. And I can't imagine being without it. Now, I will say a lot of people, I noticed a lot of people say, no, I use the convection or I use the microwave, or I use my air fryer or I use my induction cooktop.
All fantastic answers and still available to us even with boondocking off grid with our power package. But I mean, I know not all of you have this power package. So you either are, we either have a whole lot of listeners who have a whole lot of great solar and inverter power or a lot of people who camp <laugh> at campgrounds with plugins, <laugh> <laugh>. Nothing wrong with that. Absolutely not. But it was just kind of fun for me to read through and read all the people that use electrical ways of cooking.
And I wonder if you all go, if you all boondock or if you all are just, are you in, are you in a campground using that power?
Yeah. And that question will remain active. But yeah, if you do not use the oven and use something electrical, what, what's your style of camping? You can add that to last week's question of the wedding.
There you go. Or maybe that'll be next week's question. <laugh>.
No, no. We have a next week's question.
We have a week's next week's question. We have a this week's question. This week's question is, have you ever gone on a group RV tour?
Yeah. We keep seeing these group RV tours.
There were actually three or four of them that presented seminars during the court site show.
Yeah, absolutely. And one of the ones that really intrigues me is the European RV tours. But even the the ones here in the US Yeah. Or whatever, wherever. I mean they're all sorts of international tours. But have you ever gone on a RV group tour and what did you think of it? What were the highs and lows and all that?
Yeah, I'm really curious.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean I have some, I have not done it, but I have some thoughts about how, you know, it might be, it'd be really convenient cuz you just like make one reservation with that tour company and they take care of all the rest and that sounds great. And then do I love the idea or not love the idea of, of having a schedule that they, that you know, their schedule that I stick to, that's where I'm not sure what I, how I feel about it. So I need your input so I can decide if we should book one <laugh>. Yeah.
Yeah. We've got a few thinker abouts us in our own world. And you know, you can answer that question or ask any question on the friendly and fun Stressless camping podcast Facebook group. And that's linked on our website in the upper right corner with all of our social links and all of that. And while you're on the website, did you know that you can sign up for our once a week newsletter? Absolutely free.
Absolutely free. We have links to stories and videos and podcasts, anything that we find that we think will help you get the most out of your RV experience. So just visit stressless camping.com, sign up at the bottom of any page and know that what we're gonna do with that is send you one email a week. We're not going to share it, sell it, use it for anything else. Spam you. We're just going to keep you in touch. Yeah.
That's it. And while you're there, you know, you can find the notes for this episode, which happens to be episode number 180 8 on the podcastPage@stresslesscamping.com.
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And a review will help others find this podcast. And we appreciate all the reviews and would love to just continue to learn more from you and hopefully provide information that you find useful. And we did get a review this week and it says RV Pia and this was from Dr. Zip on Apple Podcasts and they said exactly what I was looking for experience in the industry, plus lots of very knowledgeable guests. Add to that, a curated sense of humor.
Thanks you two. I'm not so sure how curated it is. <laugh>. I think it's more Peggy.
Well I, it's
Curated some of my terrible
Dads jokes. Some of your terrible sense of humor. <laugh>.
Ah. Oh man, I love that.
They know it’s curated <laugh>.
Anyway, gosh, what a huge pleasure it was to meet so many of you at the court site sports vacation.
Oh yes.
RV show. The number of people who came up and said they appreciate what we do. It just makes a
Really good for our hearts.
Yeah. And so thank you so much and we're just grateful that we're able to provide useful information to you that makes us happy. In fact, happy. Happy camping, happy 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. Until then, happy camping
