On this week’s StressLess Camping RV podcast we look at RV tech and trends that we’ve reviewed in the past and are promising trends for 2024. From things that RV companies hope you like to new ideas to ideas that leave us scratching our heads, this collection of technologies and trends can help you enjoy more StressLess Camping.

Other places to hear the podcast

Mentioned on this episode

We spoke highly of our Wolverine Tough water bags that we had written about in the past.

Our story highlighting new RV anti-lock braking technology

Tony’s review of the Alliance RV 44V14 toy hauler

Our story about the Furrion Chill Cube RV air conditioner - a much better solution

The best new RV of 2024 - The Ember RV Overland series 240TKR toy hauler

Tony’s two-part story on RVTravel about his predictions:

• Part One - Tony’s Wish List

• Part Two - Tech and Trends

Our coverage and photos of the Albion River Campground on the Mendocino Coast

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.

Our trusted partners - RV Discounts and Deals

Automated transcript of StressLess Camping RV podcast episode 235

Mark Ferrell

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.

Peggy Barthel

Can you see Manya’s Campfire?

Tony Barthel

Oh my gosh, right? <laugh>. I, I think people from Outer space, I think that the International Space Station, right? Can see Manias Campfire.

Peggy Barthel

Hey, I'm Peggy.

Tony Barthel

Oh. And I'm Tony.

Peggy Barthel

We're two RV industry veterans who travel part-time

Tony Barthel

In a small trailer

Peggy Barthel

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

Tony Barthel

Indeed.

Peggy Barthel

Well, we are camping with our friends Mania and Linda,

Tony Barthel

Absolutely.

Peggy Barthel

It's Christmas.

Tony Barthel

It is. As we record this. That's right. I think this is our last podcast of 2023.

Peggy Barthel

I believe so, yes.

Tony Barthel

Let me look at the old Calendario. It is next year. It will be next year. Next

Peggy Barthel

Next week will be next year. <laugh>. Woo.

Tony Barthel

So yeah, we are at Albion. We, we do have full hookups this week, but in a few days we'll be camping with the travel trailer guy, Michael Bracewell, where we will have no hookups. Right. So we're going from full to empty, as it were, on

Peggy Barthel

The hookup side.

Tony Barthel

On the hookup <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah.

Peggy Barthel

So we'll leave here empty of course, with nothing in our gray and black tanks.

Tony Barthel

But we're gonna use our Wolverine bags that we have mentioned before. Yeah. So we don't have to carry water in our fresh tank. And then when we get there, that thing just worked so well with the electric drill pump putting water in. When was that? Like last week? Whatever it was. That was

Peggy Barthel

Man's house <laugh>.

Tony Barthel

Oh yeah. Yeah. We camped at Man's workshop. We just used electric drill pump and put water in our fresh water tank. And then we're good for a couple days and then we came here and now we're all hooked

Peggy Barthel

Up. Right. So we can fill our Wolverine bags before we leave here. Yep. And then we'll have plenty of water. There's also water at Doran, but it's not at the campsite, right? Yes. So we'll have to carry it in bags back to camp if we end up needing to fill more.

Tony Barthel

So next week, uh, well actually not next week, in a few days we'll be camping at Dorn State Park

Peggy Barthel

Regional

Tony Barthel

Park. Mm-Hmm. Regional Park, which is a no hookups, but it's also right on the beach, which is where we are right now. And of course we'll be using our master volt energy system with our solar panels and our master volt battery and inverter and all of that as we camp on the beach. Looking forward to that and showing it off to Michael Bracewell. So this week's topic is all about kind of some of the trends and technology that I've seen writing RV reviews for the past year.

Tony Barthel

And a lot of the gadgets would really do well with solar and lithium. And while some RV companies are including more solar and lithium, some are including less. And so that enables you to have your own system design based on your needs. And if you are looking for a better solar and lithium experience, our friends at A BC Outfitters are the people to see. They're happy to custom design a system for you that works the way you want it to.

Tony Barthel

There's a link on our show notes@stressescamping.com and you can see a video about them. Or you can just give them a call at (574) 333-3225. Again, link on the show notes. Or 5 7 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 5. Hey, it's not too late to give yourself a holiday gift.

Peggy Barthel

That's right. We thought this week we would look back at a year of RV gadgets and reviews for the better or worse actually for better <laugh>. Because right now I'm not feeling that Well, and this is really Tony's episode <laugh>. So he'll, he'll give us the highlights, the low lights. And there is a two part story at RV Travel with all of this spelled out along with photos and everything. But I'm just gonna take a little nap here while Tony talks you through. Oh, the highlights and low lights of 2023.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. Peggy's a little bit under the weather, which is a bummer, but it is what it is. Yep. Maybe a little too much fun do, who knows. But anyway, as you may or may not know, you know, during the covid years, the RV industry experienced a gigantic boom in sales. And so many new people were stepping into buy RVs or people were upgrading or whatever it was, they were buying them left and right as fast as the RV industry can make 'em. And that has slowed down dramatically with RV companies kind of getting a little bit closer to normal.

Tony Barthel

But also it has slowed down in the RV industry. The way I've seen the RV industry attack this slowdown is by going back to building floor plans that had been dropped. Because you know, if you're gonna build everything you can, you're gonna build the most popular.

Tony Barthel

And now they're starting to come back with less popular floor plans, you know, more niche, but also they're de contenting, which means taking out stuff and also innovating. There's some floor plans and RVs that I've seen that are pretty neat. And so hopefully if you're shopping for an rv, really now's a great time to do it. But there are a few technologies that I've seen and some of 'em are awesome, some of 'em I'm not so sure. So let's start with probably the most awesome, and that's antilock brakes in trailers.

Tony Barthel

Now, whatever you're towing with, unless it's an old, old vehicle, already has antilock brakes. And what Antilock brakes do is it essentially helps you maintain control under braking in more circumstances. So if it's slippery or you just put your foot to the floor on the pedal to stop as quickly as possible, whatever it is, antilock brakes are truly a lifesaving feature.

Tony Barthel

That also is just, I mean, I can't imagine a vehicle without it anymore, but travel trailers and fifth wheels essentially never had it. And both Lipper and RV FrameMaker, BAL, who partnered with Bosch now offer these antilock braking systems in some trailers. And some manufacturers are including them Grand Design being one Alliance RV being one Jaco, and some of their higher end vehicles. So they're actually becoming standard, which I think is a great safety feature.

Tony Barthel

And you can also have them put into a trailer if you want. And it's not gonna be cheap. But boy, it sure improves braking performance and trailer control. And on our show notes, I'll include Lipper's video demonstrating how effective these technologies are. But I think it's a really big improvement. Excellent. Yeah, it's a important thing. Last week we had several plumbing issues, Hey, that were probably due to the roads that we all go on.

Tony Barthel

And just so happened I was writing an a review of an Alliance RV Toy Hauler. And what it has is a manifold system where you can open the cabinet and it allows you to disable any plumbing fixture in the RV with just controlling a knob. And rather than shutting off the whole plumbing because your water heater leaks or shutting everything off because the sink leaks, you could just shut off one fixture at a time and just keep camping. Yeah. And that's really a good way of doing it.

Tony Barthel

And Alliance has been doing some pretty impressive stuff with their features and build quality. And this is just part of that. In fact, one of the neat things Alliance does is every RV that they ship first they fill all the holding tanks with water and then take it on a specific test drive that they have set up to test make sure everything is the way it's supposed to be.

Peggy Barthel

They take it on the Bumpiest roads in town <laugh>.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. I think it's a test track that they have, but yeah, absolutely. And with full tanks. So that's, they're doing a lot of neat things. And I like that manifold system. They also have a recessed shower pan in some of their rigs, which is neat 'cause it just gives you more headroom in the shower. Oh. So rather than it being raised, it's lowered and nice. I'm all for that.

Peggy Barthel

I was noticing this morning, I know Josh always talks about how he can take a shower with the sunroof 'cause he is so tall. And I was thinking this morning, I almost can't even reach the sunroof. <laugh> <laugh>,

Tony Barthel

You mean the skylight?

Peggy Barthel

The skylight, yeah. That is not really a problem for me. <laugh>

Tony Barthel

<laugh>. Well, he also seems to be in the showers with his shoes on, which is,

Peggy Barthel

Well that's true <laugh>.

Tony Barthel

Maybe if you wear like high heels or whatever.

Peggy Barthel

Well right. When I wear my high heels, I will need the sunroof

Tony Barthel

<laugh>. But

Peggy Barthel

The

Tony Barthel

Skylight, I'm noticing also some RV companies are eliminating the skylights in showers altogether. And I'm all for that because that is probably the first place RVs tend to leak because yeah, it's a different material than the roof. It expands and contracts differently and stretches and tests all that ceiling there. Yep. And I like seeing these kinds of things. And what the ones that I've seen have done is instead of having the skylight, they just have taller showers or recessed shower floors, then they put a light in there.

Tony Barthel

Oh.

Peggy Barthel

So you have light when you need it. But then one of the things about having that skylight always is if you're in a campground with a lot of light, that light comes in and keeps the whole camper lit up even at night. So

Tony Barthel

Yeah, we've been to some campgrounds that have those awful sodium lights. Yeah. And yeah, that's on all night. And it's like, yeah, that just, I don't like that. Well, if you haven't noticed, you almost no longer ever see the good old propane electric fridge anymore. Yeah. It is kind of going away very quickly. And some things somebody said is, well that's because RV companies are cheap. But that's not really the case.

Peggy Barthel

Medical knew about that. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

The 12 volt fridges that are designed for RVs are actually designed for the bumps and jolts that they get going down the road. So they're actually hardened for that type of environment. And they are actually pretty expensive. I think the selling price on like our fridge was $1,800 or so. Our Dometic fridge that we put in here. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. They are designed for this environment and they do have some advantages, including they don't really care that much about level.

Tony Barthel

You can use 'em as you're driving down the road. And I know some of you use your propane electric fridges, you're driving down the road, but you're not really supposed to. And these 12 volt fridges are specifically designed for that. Right. They cool quicker, they require less maintenance. You know, if you have a propane electric fridge, you have to open the compartments behind it periodically and just make sure that it's clean and running properly. Whereas 12 volt fridge just, it just works.

Tony Barthel

So,

Peggy Barthel

And it doesn't have any venting. Right. So that is less holes on the outside of the camper to Correct. Have

Tony Barthel

Problems. There are fewer opportunities for these it vents to the inside of the camper though, because that's just the way it is. So it may heat up the inside of the camper just a wee bit, but eh, not any big deal. But

Peggy Barthel

Today that'd be okay. <laugh>. Yeah,

Tony Barthel

It's, it's a little bit cold and damp here at the beach today. So, but there are worse problems to have. Yep. Now one of the things that people have said as well, I need a larger fridge. Well, I'm seeing companies coming online with like these fancy two-door fridges that are 12 volt and even three door fridges that are 12 volt. The 12 volt fridges are really coming up. And honestly in a new rv you're not likely to find a propane electric, what they call gas absorption fridge anymore.

Tony Barthel

And I'm glad for it. I, you know, they, I mean they had some advantages for boondocking.

Peggy Barthel

Sure. I think it's gonna be a little bit harder now when people say residential fridge, because some of the 12 volts seems so much like a residential fridge, but the whole residential fridge thing is a whole other topic. Oh my

Tony Barthel

Gosh.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah. The, the actual, like something that belongs in a house does not belong in an rv. Yeah. They're, let's not get there. But

Tony Barthel

Yeah, they're often not built for this and it's, it's whole. But

Peggy Barthel

The 12 hole in terms of like having more space is more like a residential fridge. Yeah. 'cause you don't have,

Tony Barthel

Yeah, you don't have all that gas absorption stuff in the back. Yeah. Taking up space so you get more cooling space for a given cabinet size. So kind of a cool deal. And so yeah, even premium fifth wheels and such, I'm seeing those 12 volt fridges in them. And that's a good thing. But again, you're gonna need, if you do want to camp off the grid, those 12 volt fridges like power,

Peggy Barthel

They sure do.

Tony Barthel

And so they're, you figure if you have, you know, a typical lithium battery, like a a hundred amp hour battery, a 12 volt fridge will consume one of those batteries in a 24 hour period typically. So you need to have more solar and lithium or go to a park where there is power, whatever your preference is. Another thing I'm seeing is convection microwaves and convection air fryer microwaves. In fact, when Ember first came out a couple years ago, they planned their kitchen around these convection microwaves and

Peggy Barthel

They couldn't get

Tony Barthel

Any, they didn't have any <laugh>. They, I don't know what the delay was, but they weren't delivering them. So now they are. And so you get a number rv, you get a convection, air fryer, microwave, and a two burner stove. Typically not all of 'em, that's the overland series. But more and more I'm seeing convection and convection air fryer, microwaves in RVs. And now I'm also seeing some RVs no longer having any other oven. That's kind of interesting. In fact, I'm gonna make a prediction.

Tony Barthel

I think the propane oven is also not gonna be as common as it has been. It will still be around, but not as much as it has been thus far. I think, you know, in a premium rig where they have a nice oven, you'll still see them. But in some of the more budget minded RVs or smaller ones where space is really at a premium, the propane oven may be going away.

Tony Barthel

And if it's the 17 inch oven, good ridden, however mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. I did just see a new 17 inch oven from Suburban and it's an all electric oven. And I'm not really sure how I feel about this yet because you have to have a pretty significant amount of battery if you're off the grid. But chances are you're gonna be using this more when you're on shore power. It's a convection electric oven with a propane, three burner cooktop.

Tony Barthel

This one was a 17 inch oven. And usually I'm like to those, but in this case, no, because you get to use the entire space. There's no burners inside, there's no metal plate to kind of even out the heat. Mm. It's just the whole space is usable. Right. And it's a convection oven in terms of functionality. It's cool. As long as you have plenty of power. Right. We did use our microwave, which our microwave is just a microwave because we have a proper oven. But we used our microwave on battery power the other day to defrost something.

Tony Barthel

But what is that? Like 10 minutes? And it was fine. Yeah. However, speaking of ovens, we did also cook a prime rib

Peggy Barthel

In our

Tony Barthel

Propane oven. Oh man. The other day.

Peggy Barthel

That was so good.

Tony Barthel

Yeah, it really, boy, you know, if you say you can't cook things in the RV oven either you have a 17 inch oven, which yeah, you're right. You probably can't <laugh> or you just haven't tried because well get a thermometer. But it came out perfectly. There was no issue. I've

Peggy Barthel

Never even tried a prime rib at home in, in a home oven. So this was my first prime rib ever. And it was perfection.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. It was fantastic. Another thing I'm seeing more and more are tankless water heaters. And they're not hot water heaters. 'cause if you had hot water, you wouldn't eat a heater. You wouldn't need to heat it. I don't know why that expression drives me nuts. Hot water heater. But it does anyway. Well, what you get of course is technically unlimited supply of hot water. Right. I mean, as long as you have propane and water, it can be hot. Some of them seem to be fiddly and troublesome to some users. The good thing is, many of these are really easy to winterize more so than regular water heaters.

Tony Barthel

But the downside to me is that they have to be powered by propane. So like right now we have our six gallon water heater and we're running it off electric because we have park power and that's how it works.

Tony Barthel

But the tankless water heaters have to run on propane because it provides a lot of energy. And what did Mike Soko say? That a single tank, a 20 pound tank of propane is like a hundred lithium batteries or something like that in terms of stored energy. Anyway, you have to use your propane, but you get unlimited hot water. So anyway, what's your take on this? Is the juice worth the squeeze on these newer tankless units? I'm, I'm not sure yet. I see both sides.

Tony Barthel

One of the questions I hear a lot when, you know, we, we are advocates of solar and lithium systems as you hear every week in our ad from a, b, C Upfitters, whose system we have. And of course the big question, how long can you run your RV's air conditioner? Right. And I've said it before, problem isn't necessarily the battery reserves, it's how horribly inefficient RV air conditioners are.

Tony Barthel

And they, they have been able to be, because if you have an RV with an air conditioner, you're running it on shore power most likely. Yeah. And so, you know, in that sense, from the RV industry's perspective, who cares how inefficient they are? But that's changing. Trends are showing more and more people, you know, campgrounds tend to be full and it's like, well then I have to camp off the grid. Well a few companies are starting to step up on much more efficient and much better RV air conditioning.

Tony Barthel

The first of these was Truman with their aventa unit, which is very efficient. Has a neat remote. It can be programmed with different functions. I really, I really like this unit and I have since it came out and I've been doing my best to get my hands on one, but I haven't yet. Not to be outdone.

Tony Barthel

Furion has a new unit which we gave an award to best new boondocking gadget and it's called the Furion Chill Cube. Yeah. We have an article about this@stresslesscamping.com, which we'll link to in the show notes. But this furion chill cube puts out 18,000 BTU of cooling performance, which is more than most RV air conditioners. The larger ones traditionally have been 15,015. Yeah, of course. Then there's the 13 fives and the 11 fives. But this is 18,000. It has a remote that can work to sense temperature.

Tony Barthel

And so if you take the remote in the bedroom, that's where the Furion chill cube will base its cooling on. Or if you have it in the bathroom, same thing. You know, it just basically follows the remote and it's remarkably efficient also. So it's a big step forward and air conditioner. But I first learned about it when I was in a Keystone Outback prototype at open house. And I'm talking to the rep and I'm like, is the air conditioner on? Yeah. It was so quiet. It was remarkably quiet.

Tony Barthel

So

Peggy Barthel

That would be nice. Yeah. So we don't have to sit in this sweltering heat while we're recording in the summertime. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

You could easily record in here. And it's just the sound of air moving, just like

Peggy Barthel

Nice.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. And then the last air conditioner technology I saw was Truman again announced a thing called the Sapphire Air conditioner, or it's S-A-P-H-I-R. There's no ease. Hil, maybe it's IL <laugh> and it's not a roof mounted air, but rather intended to mount inside the rv, like under a bunk or under a dining table or something like that. Oh. Which will help with aerodynamics and packaging. Well, it will be a challenge because now you have to figure out where to put it.

Tony Barthel

Find

Peggy Barthel

A place for it. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

<laugh>, but I mean, I'm all for that without the stupid big tumor on the roof of an rv, which we've come to expect. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.

Tony Barthel

Something else I'm seeing is ladders going away. And I think some of that is the bad behavior of people hanging stuff on their ladder. Yeah. And then the ladder breaking off. And then other people suing the RV industry. Something that I first saw on embers, you notice a lot of these innovations are from the small independent companies anyway. There's just like a plastic mount on the RV that the RV industry puts there. And then it's a telescoping ladder that kind of hooks to it.

Tony Barthel

It's a nifty thing. And BER was smart enough to put more than one of these mounts on the outside of their rv. So you could get up on the side, you could get up on the rear. I'm seeing that more and more. And I, I think it's cheaper. Like if you're a a better RV company, you're also going to include the ladder. If you're trying to save a couple bucks, you don't include the ladder and just put that plastic mount. Right. But it solves a few problems, including how to get people to stop hanging stuff on the ladder. <laugh>, but also makes it easier to get up on the roof.

Tony Barthel

So

Peggy Barthel

You don't think people are gonna hang their ladder on their hooks and then just use it anyway?

Tony Barthel

I don't think you can because I think it has to be mounted on the ground too. Ah. And it's one of those telescoping ladders like we have. So, okay. Another thing, if you're nerdy, like we are <laugh>, you know, we have the thing in the house where we call the little devil that lives in the device. Hey Shlomo, turn on the lights. Or Hey Shlomo, you know, turn up the heater, whatever. Well there's a couple of RV companies now that are offering this technology, but I'm not convinced.

Tony Barthel

Well, I don't know because like in our house, it's all add-on. Right. So when Shlomo gets an upgrade, we get an upgrade. Well, yeah. Whereas this is built in and this kind of technology a, it wasn't as good as, as our home technology to me. I, I don't know. I'm not convinced. But uh, I saw in the Jaco Pinnacle 35 fifth wheel and in the IEX RV suite, it's interesting. You know, it's voice activated. We'll see if it's as picky and temperamental as the one that lives at our house.

Peggy Barthel

In the house. Yeah. <laugh>.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. The one at our house has a bad attitude. And I would She does suspect. Yeah. That, so do these, I don't know. I would like to see add-ons of this technology available as like a standard, but I doubt that I'll ever see that. Hmm. Lastly, something that has been bugging the daylights outta me. So as we test gadgets, like we have new backup cameras, we're testing and we have a tire pressure monitor and we have propane monitors and refrigerator monitors and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah <laugh>.

Tony Barthel

And honestly like how many stupid little screens can we put in one truck?

Peggy Barthel

Oh gosh. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

So I would like to see the RV industry and the auto industry somehow get together and make it so you can have all this stuff in some standard. So that screen that more and more modern cars have can also show your tire pressure and your backup cameras and your turn signal cameras and blah, blah blah. Yeah. They already do in the car. It's in the truck itself. Right. Like if you have one of those backup cams or turn signal cams or any of that stuff, it's all integrated into your truck.

Tony Barthel

I'd love to have that also be able to be integrated from the trailer. And I know GM has made some steps towards this, but I'd just like to see it as an industry standard. All these little screens annoy the daylights out of me. <laugh>. And at some point you don't have any more power ports or any place to put this stinking thing.

Tony Barthel

Right. That's my wish. <laugh> again. Well, last but not least, we've talked about this before. I think the best new RV I saw in 2024 or 4 20 24, 'cause it's still forthcoming, was the Ember RV two 40 T KR Toy Hauler. And I like this because it was so flexible and reconfigurable. I mean, you need a bunkhouse with large adult sized bunks. No problem. Need an RV with an office. No problem. Need prep space for some elaborate meal. No problem. Wanna go camping with your buddy and sleep in separate beds this weekend, but snuggle with your <laugh>.

Tony Barthel

Gucci the next. No problem. This was a promise model that I saw at Open House that had all of those features and more. And it was just so very, very different from any RVI have ever seen. I felt compelled to bestow it. An award for best of show at open house. So there you go. Those are some of the trends and texts that I have seen in reviewing and such. Anything that floats your boat or drives your camper <laugh>, let us know. You know, we always appreciate your feedback.

Peggy Barthel

So as we mentioned earlier, we are at the Albion River Campground in Albion, California, which is on the Mendocino coast. And it's

Tony Barthel

Pretty here.

Peggy Barthel

It is pretty here. This is our third Christmas here. We spent a few Christmases at Doran Regional Park, which we're going to next, but it's harder to get in for Christmas. And we didn't really plan ahead that well. What

Tony Barthel

Us not plan ahead

Peggy Barthel

<laugh>.

Tony Barthel

Well, but this is good 'cause it's full hookups too.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah. This is good. I think the first year that we came here, we had like 10 rigs or something. <laugh> had a great, yeah, we inundated this book. We had a great time.

Tony Barthel

It's not that popular this time of year because this is a campground that appeals, I think to fishermen

Peggy Barthel

The like more professional or commercial crab crabbers, <laugh>. And it's not quite commercial crab season yet. So Lyn and Mana are out there catching all sorts of crabs today. Yeah. Which is like gonna be a great dinner for us tonight. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

Literally as we're recording this, mana is showing pictures of the crab. She's

Peggy Barthel

Catching. Yes. <laugh>. But it's not really commercial season yet. So I think when the commercial season opens this place, you probably can't get a space at all unless you're a commercial fisherman. Yeah. Which is fine. So Christmas is great for us to be here. It's very quiet here. There's a couple other groups here, but it's nice and quiet. And we've got the hookups. Yay.

Speaker 5

Yeah.

Peggy Barthel

<laugh>. I did write a geology and biology of the Mendocino coast. So we'll put a link to that article that I wrote. You

Tony Barthel

Know, something that impressed me about this yesterday, I was walking around and everywhere I turned was an absolute postcard worthy picture. Yeah, I was. It's such a beautiful setting. I mean, you're right on the beach. There's the Albion River Bridge, which is a wooden bridge that's pretty darn tall.

Peggy Barthel

It's part of the highway.

Tony Barthel

Yeah, it's part of 1 0 1. There are these neat houses nestled in the, it's just, it's quite pretty here. Yeah. And so there was not one place I turned that was anything but like a postcard worthy picture.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah. It's actually Highway one. Is

Tony Barthel

It Highway one? Yeah. Well, what do you know? I'm, I'm a hundred off. You're

Peggy Barthel

A hundred off. But it is really nice here. And we do love, we, it's been two years. 'cause you know we, we didn't get to go camping for Christmas last year. We were in New Mexico getting ready. Right.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. And we had just hauled our trailer from Indiana and it was still winterized. Right.

Peggy Barthel

I know that there's a little tiny town nearby, but we kind of tend to get here and never leave. So

Tony Barthel

Yeah, we just kind of

Peggy Barthel

Park. We don't know if we're gonna go into town or not.

Tony Barthel

<laugh>, I suspect we might. We might. 'cause we are out of eggs.

Peggy Barthel

That's true.

Tony Barthel

But yeah, we'll have a link to a story about the Albion River Campground with some pictures. Come join us. Maybe we'll be here next year. Oh no, we are not next. We already have plans for next. We

Peggy Barthel

Already have Christmas plans for next year. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

Nevermind.

Peggy Barthel

<laugh>. Earlier this week, Chuck wrote a great tip for us, and I don't remember which group it was in, but either in the mini light group or the Stressless campers group to vacuum the intake for your furnace. And maybe that's part of why I'm so sniffly and sneezy.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. We've been intending to do it, but sitting on our butts.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah. So that was a great tip, Chuck. Thank you so much for the reminder. And you know, usually your furnace, your intake is gonna be behind. Well, for ours it's wood that looks like the cabinet, but very vented. And so it's pretty easy to find. And we just have to take that piece of wood off. And the vent, I assume will be right behind it and we can vacuum it out. Yeah. And see if the air clears up a little bit for us.

Tony Barthel

Perhaps it will. Yeah. Less dust bunny <laugh>. Well, as always, we ask a question of the week on our fun and friendly Stressless campers Facebook group. And last week we asked, Hey, what are you asking Santa to bring you?

Peggy Barthel

I hope that you all got the things that you want. I don't know if Scott got what he wanted. <laugh>. Well, he wanted a power package from a BC. That ought to be easy for him. Yeah,

Tony Barthel

He works there.

Peggy Barthel

He wanted a pound of green chili bacon and a six pack of peanut butter stout. And those are from New Mexico and California. So I don't know if he got 'em or not, but I did remind him that he should refer to the question from the week before. Have you been naughty or nice? Yeah. To see if he was gonna get anything from Santa <laugh>

Tony Barthel

<laugh>. Yeah. Last time we went to get green chili bacon, there was one pound and that was it. Yeah. I cleaned out the butcher. We did. Which is a bummer.

Peggy Barthel

Travis wants the Lippert step stabilizer. Oh, those

Tony Barthel

Are, I wonder if he got love.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah. I hope he got, I hope you all got the things that you asked Santa for. Pamela wanted water shoes. Connie wanted a new tow bar and braking system for flat towing.

Tony Barthel

Ooh, that's a big ask. But maybe she's been super nice. Maybe

Peggy Barthel

My sister Kathy wanted her stocking filled with something other than coal <laugh> because they got rid of their coal burning stoves. So coal doesn't help anymore.

Tony Barthel

We saw them selling. Oh, I think I talked about this. We saw them selling bags of coal as we're leaving New Mexico. No, I think going into Arizona, it doesn't matter. But I was just tripped out by that. I'm like, oh, bag of coal. 10 bucks. Yeah. That's where Santa gets it.

Peggy Barthel

Laurel asked for peace. Pat asked for good health for everyone. Jean, we already know that Santa came early and brought him his grand design. So he got his wish. Tony asked for Grace's orange scones and a hot cup of her awesome Scottish tea. Right now I could go for an orange S scone and a hot cup of Scottish tea <laugh>. Jerry asked if Tony and Peggy could come visit. And boy Jerry, I sure wish we were there. I really do.

Peggy Barthel

I'm sorry that we didn't make it up there this year. We will definitely try harder next year.

Tony Barthel

Well, I think we are planning to come up maybe in February of next, next year,

Peggy Barthel

February or March. Yeah. Chuck asked for less stress and more camping. Hooray <laugh>.

Tony Barthel

Yeah.

Peggy Barthel

Debra wants an elf to finish putting the skins back on her 65 aristocrats <laugh> <laugh>. I hope that that elf showed up. Janet wanted nice new towels for her camper and new duck shoes for the dewy early morning dog walks. Brian asked for credit for time served, but Tony pointed out that that should be only offered for good behavior. And

Tony Barthel

Yeah, I know Brian and I'm not, I'm not, yeah, I don't know Davy.

Peggy Barthel

Marilyn wanted a small tabletop ironing board. And Bill, I didn't know this bill. He needs a keyless lock from RV lock because he needs to replace the door lock that broke and almost locked him out of the camper <laugh>. Oh boy. So I hope that you all got the things that you wanted for Christmas this year. I hope that Santa was very good to you. Santa brought Tony a beard brush. Yeah. <laugh>.

Tony Barthel

This week we're asking what is your best camping memory from 2023? What sticks out in your mind? And

Peggy Barthel

This would be a hard one. I'm gonna have to really give this some thought. We had some really, really fantastic memories and situations and camping trips and friends and all kinds of things in 2023. So we hope that you did as well. And we would love to read your most bestest one.

Tony Barthel

And you can answer those at our fun and friendly Stressless campers Facebook group. Again, if you have questions or you have thoughts or whatever, that's the place to turn to. It's fun, it's friendly. We keep it polite. No one's gonna make snarky, rude comments back to you, <laugh>. Hopefully we'll find you over there.

Peggy Barthel

You know, of course that we have a once a week newsletter that's absolutely free. We use it to send you an email every week and send you links to stories and videos and podcasts that we think will help you get the most out of your RV experience.

Tony Barthel

All you have to do to get it is visit stresses camping.com, and you can sign up there under the hamburger menu, which is those three little lines, and know that we only send one email per week and never share your information because we respect your,

Peggy Barthel

Not even with Santa. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

Not even with Santa

Peggy Barthel

<laugh>. You will find the show notes for the episode, episode number 2 35 on the podcastPage@stresslesscamping.com, which

Tony Barthel

Is also where you'll find our discounts and deals for the best deals on the things you'll need on your stresses, camping, adventure.

Peggy Barthel

And hey, if you know of a great deal that isn't on our website, please let us know and we will work to get that on our website for everyone to enjoy. And then when you're done reading the episode notes and checking out the deals and discounts and signing up for the newsletter and all those other things on stressless camping.com, you can use those little links in the top right. And go to all the social places and read even more.

Tony Barthel

Wow, that sounds like a great idea. Yeah. If you do not wanna miss a future episode of the Stressless Camping Podcast, it's free to subscribe on any podcast app 'cause we will save you a seat around our virtual campfire.

Peggy Barthel

We always ask for reviews and we wanna thank three people this week Yes. For sending us reviews. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

It's so grateful for these one Bug five 12 said, great podcast and RV travel. So many podcasts are for full-time or weekend travel. This podcast is excellent for someone beginning to travel in an RV or for the more experienced RV traveler. Great topics with industry experts on slide out maintenance and fire safety. There is no doubt that Peggy and, uh oh, that's <laugh>. It ended there. Okay. Oh, oh. So And also Colton 21. Just Peggy. Yeah. Yeah. Just Peggy I, I would suspect it's longer, but it got cut off here.

Tony Barthel

Interesting and enjoyable Topics hosts are a pleasure to listen to. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. Both are upbeat without being cloying. No issues with audio either, which unfortunately isn't always the case with podcast. Ooh. Recommended. Ouch. But yeah, thank you. Thank you. Boy, we spend a lot of time really working on the audio and making sure. Yeah,

Peggy Barthel

We appreciate that.

Tony Barthel

It's as high equality as possible. We

Peggy Barthel

Appreciate that you recognize that

Tony Barthel

<laugh>. Yeah. And then RVing, ed said, I enjoyed your Christmas stories from the past. I look forward every week to your podcast. Thanks for doing this. Merry Christmas and Safe drugs. Well, merry Christmas to you too. RVing Ed. And, and to all of you. And to

Peggy Barthel

Everyone,

Tony Barthel

Gosh, thank you so much. The reviews do actually help Apple know that or whoever, but Apple in particular know, you know, the people are listening and appreciate what we do and, and that means the world to us. So thank you so

Speaker 2

Much.

Peggy Barthel

You know, another way that you can really help us out is to share what you see on our website or on our social posts. I wanna shout out to my cousin John and my aunt Kathy. They share just about everything, which is so cool of them. And if you see anything that you like or that you think other people that you know might like, go ahead and share those posts and get more eyeballs on our posts, that would be great. We

Tony Barthel

Appreciate it. So well, with all that said, we appreciate you. Thank you so much for being here, and most of all, Stressless camping, Stressless

Speaker 2

Camping.

Mark Ferrell

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.