Our travel plans for 2024 - coming to a campground near you
On this week’s StressLess Camping RV podcast we share our travel plans for 2024. We often find out that we’re near you too late so we thought we’d share where we’re going so we might be able to find you in 2024. From the tools we’re using to the tips for planning this is where we’re headed.
We also warn you about a ticking time bomb that may be in your RV and what we’ve done to prevent further damage from this common RV problem.
Other places to hear the podcast
Mentioned on this episode
Our visit with Lisa Wilson from Clear Lake Campground
We are using RV Trip Wizard to plan our adventures and have a discount for you.
We always enjoy attending the Quartzsite Sports, Vacation and RV Show
We are planning a meet-up in Quartzsite - here are the details.
We have spoken with the awesome people from Girl Camper and you can learn more about them.
We wrote an article about RV plumbing leaks and the leak detector that we employed.
Our article on the performance of our RV Power System over four gloomy winter days.
Our friend Michael Bracewell, the Travel Trailer Guy, took us to Dinucci’s
Our podcast episode with Terry Broussard from Spot2Nite
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 236
Mark Ferrell
Welcome to the weekly podcast, all about turning the great American RV adventure into stress-less 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
Welcome to the dueling campfires. <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. I'm Tony.
Peggy Barthel
I'm Peggy. And
Tony Barthel
We're two RV industry veterans who travel part-time
Peggy Barthel
In a small trailer,
Tony Barthel
Looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips, tricks, and discounts.
Peggy Barthel
We are traveling now. Well, we're not traveling right now 'cause it would be awkward to try and
Tony Barthel
Record. We've
Peggy Barthel
Done that once. We have done that.
Tony Barthel
We have tried that once. You
Peggy Barthel
Could hear the highway go <laugh> <laugh>. We are, however, quote unquote, on the road, and we are currently in California and getting to see some of our friends from when we lived here in northern California. Yep. And that has been fantastic. And we're staying at Clear Lake Campground. We've talked to Lisa before a couple times about Clear Lake Campground because we had a group of friends and we were all kind of gathering in one site and it was cold.
Tony Barthel
Well, not in one site we're <laugh>.
Peggy Barthel
No, we're, I mean, we're gathering for the evening and having Right. Potluck dinners and stuff together in one site. We didn't all camp in one site, but we did have some group meals and that was fun. And we had two propane fires and one propane standup heater all going at the same time. Keeping ourselves warm
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. That was a little chilly, chilly willy and
Peggy Barthel
A little chilly, but it's also been wonderful.
Tony Barthel
But hello? It's winter.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah, it is winter. And
Tony Barthel
There were some days where it was really nice and
Peggy Barthel
Sunny. Yes. Yes.
Tony Barthel
And then some days like today where the weatherman is looking to cry and <laugh> or at least the sky will cry.
Peggy Barthel
Well, maybe the weatherman likes it, but
Tony Barthel
Yeah, maybe they do. I don't know.
Peggy Barthel
It's a little gloomy today. Yesterday was pretty nice and we had lots of people on New Year's Day. That was fun. We just kind of had a rotating door of friends come and visit
Tony Barthel
From <laugh>. Well, it was nice enough we're all sat outside having some local beers and chatting with some local friends. It, it's kind of weird because if you ever move away from somewhere and then you go back at the same time, it feels like a forever ago. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and yesterday. Right. And it's just such a trippy feeling. It's like, oh, we'll just, you know, we're, we're just home. But no, we left here a year, uh, just over a year ago. Ba Well, no, a year and a half ago now. Well,
Peggy Barthel
I mean, technically it's been a year and a half. Yeah. We drove away in May, but we came back in September to get our stuff, so Yeah.
Tony Barthel
But that was just a, like a quickie. We didn't want to even say we were here. Well,
Peggy Barthel
We saw people, but we, we did. But yeah, it was just to come and get a U-Haul and load our storage unit and head and head for our new home east.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. So our stuff has a place to live in New Mexico. That's right. Well we are here in our Rockwood Mini light. That's
Peggy Barthel
Right.
Tony Barthel
Well anyway, people say, oh, you were in blah blah blah area. Right. I wish I knew you were here so we could have met up. And it's true. A lot of times we're like, oh, we were just there last week or whatever. And our, honestly, the way we tend to post things is we were there last week type of thing. Right. It's not, Hey, we're here now. It's more, Hey, we were there them we
Peggy Barthel
Were there. Yeah. Blah, blah, blah. We do that in some ways for safety reasons. Yeah. We advocate this especially for solo travelers. You know, like don't say, Hey, I'm in this campground in sight, blah, blah, blah, all by myself. Right. Because you know, the, the internet isn't that secure and you don't know who you're telling.
Tony Barthel
Correct. So,
Peggy Barthel
But I think we're pretty safe enough. We could probably tell people before we actually leave <laugh> that we're in town.
Tony Barthel
Oh, we like to think so anyway. We like to think so. So anyway, yeah. The point of all that babbling on and on is that we wanted to share a rough draft as it were of Yeah. Where we're going this year, because we might be in a town near you. That's right. Or we might be in a town where you already
Peggy Barthel
Are. That's right. And so on the hopes that some of you will reach out and say, Hey, you're gonna be driving right through my town. Give me a call. We want to be able to do that. Yeah. And so we wanna, instead of saying, Hey, we just missed you. We wanna say, Hey, we're we're coming in May or whatever. Yeah. Morning
Tony Barthel
You, you should leave town now because we're headed that direction.
Peggy Barthel
Lock your doors. Here we come. Yeah. <laugh>
Tony Barthel
Speaking of lack of security, right? Oh no, it's don't. And Peggy
Peggy Barthel
<laugh>. So we thought we would kind of give a rough draft, as Tony said, of the places that we plan to go this year. And if we're gonna be in your neck of the woods and you'd like to hang out, have a beer, give us a MOOCs site, uh, you know, meet us at our campground, whatever, any of those things, reach out. Let us know. I am gonna tell on myself. I get kind of scatterbrained and what my brain gets really full of information. So if I don't tell you, okay, I have a stop on the 16th, that's gonna be this close to your house.
Peggy Barthel
If I don't tell you that, feel free to give me another little poke. 'cause sometimes I have the best intentions and I write things down and then I don't know where I wrote them. And then I forget. That's <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Your problem is using pen and paper and No, I
Peggy Barthel
Didn't. You can write with a Okay.
Tony Barthel
Keyboard. All right. I'll write. So we have all this crazy adventure planned and the way that we plan our adventures, well I shouldn't say we 'cause Peggy does it, is with RV Trip Wizard. Right. It is a terrific tool to let you plan adventures that incorporates the size of your RV campground recommendations, all kinds of great features of RV Trip Wizard. It is our favorite RV trip planning tool.
Tony Barthel
Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and part of the RV Life suite of tools
Peggy Barthel
When we're just have even just the inkling of like, oh, we should visit this part of the country. I go in and start a new trip on Trip Wizard and just kind of put home and put that destination. And if that's all the farther I get right, then that's fine because then it reminds me later, Hey, we wanted to plan a trip to that area and then I can go back in and I can, every day I can go in and make edits. Even if I've already started the trip or whatever. We can make edits. I'm actually, this morning was planning where we go from here.
Peggy Barthel
So <laugh>, right?
Tony Barthel
Yeah. 'cause we actually hadn't planned it. And so no, like I say, it incorporates the size of your rig. So it would put you on roads that can accommodate that size. So if it's a giant 45 foot diesel pusher or it's a Airstream Bambi or whatever rig it happens to be, it can accommodate that, which is pretty neat, right? And we have a discount for you. But you can also try RV Trip Wizard for free. Then if you decide, hey, this is pretty great tool, there is a 25% discount available if you use the code Stressless all caps when making a commitment to RV Life and it's, you know, annual commitment.
Tony Barthel
So we think it's well worth the investment and it's a really terrific tool. And so there's a link in the show notes that will tell you even more including an interview with them and how their system works. So that's how we're planning. And now Peggy's gonna open RV Life Trip Wizard and where are you making me drive? <laugh>. <laugh>. See, my job is not to crash. That's why two years ago I was pretty unsuccessful at that <laugh>
Peggy Barthel
Using Trip Wizard is a million times better if you do it on an actual computer laptop or computer screen, whatever. It can be done online on your phone. But frankly that is way too small of a screen for me to be planning trips all the way across the country. The great thing is that once I put the trip in the website, then we open the app and it shows us the day-to-Day routing. So that's very helpful. What I did, I have four trips and one of them's just kind of a one day we might be able to do this.
Peggy Barthel
As I said, that's kind of a, something we can do like, oh, someday we wanna visit this part of the country. So I'm just gonna start putting in and then when I hear of destinations I can add them in and just kind of plan for years if I, if that's the way it happens. But right now I happen to have three screens open on my laptop and one is for each of the trips that we have planned in 2020, well each of the cluster of trips I guess that we have planned for 2024, of course the one that we're currently in INS with just a few more destinations and it and it ends in quartzite.
Peggy Barthel
And as you all know, we will be in quartzite for the Quartzite sports vacation and art show
Tony Barthel
RB
Peggy Barthel
Show. This route has taken us through parts of California and Arizona so that we have been, you know, spending our Christmas and New Year's with friends and are now getting ready to head toward quartzite. So that trip is pretty coming kind of to a close. Once we get to Quartzite then this trip I will put into the archive file and I keep them all because it's fun to look back and remember or sometimes like we need to do the same trip again and I can just go in and tweak it a little bit.
Peggy Barthel
So we do it slightly differently. So anyway, we are from here, we're gonna head south, we'll spend time with our family in Southern California. Always kind of the last stop before we go to Quartzite is the, the KOA in Desert Hot Springs. And we really like to go there. They have nice pretty decent laundry facilities so we can get all our laundry caught up. They have full hookups of course, but most importantly they have natural mineral springs. Yes. And they have three pools.
Peggy Barthel
Well they have a swimming pool, which is heated, so I can even go there in January. And then they have three hot pools that are three different temperatures. So you can kind of decide how hot you want the water you're sitting in.
Tony Barthel
I'm always used to being in hot water. But <laugh>, I like that one because everyone else is right there with me. <laugh>.
Peggy Barthel
So that's just, like I said, it's gonna end in a couple of weeks and it ends in quartzite. We will be spending, you know, about three weeks really in Quartzite because we'll be there before the show. We'll be there during the show and then we are having our meetup after the show. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
And you can find out more info about our meetup on our RV event calendar@stresslesscamping.com. That will be there. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, we are still working on details 'cause it's not quite the last minute yet. <laugh>. Right. And that'll be after the Quartzite Sports vacation and RV show. The Quartzite sports vacation and RV show is January 21st through 29th of this year Now. Now it's
Peggy Barthel
2020. January 29th is actually a Monday.
Tony Barthel
Oh, okay. January 21st through the 28th of 2024. That's this
Peggy Barthel
Year. That's this year.
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. So if you'd like to join us in court site, you could do so right at the court site, sports vacation and RV show or afterwards come camp with us out in the desert somewhere. Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
So the next trip that I have open right now, it's really several trips. It's all written as one because it is to, I think we've told you before, we are going to run a circuit this year across the country Teaching Girl Camper College.
Tony Barthel
Right. Which is through Girl Camper. Basically we describe it as a three day version of your one hour walkthrough. So it's a more in-depth look at your RV and if you already have your rv, you can bring it. Now this is through Girl Camper, so it's for girl campers. And if you would like to attend one of these, there's a registration process through girl camper.com that you would go through. We don't tell you specifically where they are. They're very cognizant of of
Peggy Barthel
Security and And safety. Safety
Tony Barthel
Protecting their membership. Absolutely. But we can give you ideas of general areas and if it's like, hey, they're coming near us and I would love to go to that class, you can register through girl camper.com and participate.
Peggy Barthel
Now I will also say that we have taught these classes for a few years, not just with Girl Camper. Correct. We call it training camp when it's not, when it's not called Girl Camp or college. We call it RV Basic Training Camp. I would like to encourage you, if I say that we're gonna be in an area and you have a group of people that you think would like to also have a training camp, also reach out. If we're in the area anyway and we've got some time to kill, we could put together another training camp for you and your group.
Tony Barthel
Yes. Or we've had campgrounds organize these and Right. You know, from their mailing list, a lot of times campgrounds do it midweek, so it's sort of incremental business and they have their mailing list and say, Hey, we have, you know, this is available if that's something that might appeal to your group of campers or a social class, whatever. Yeah. Do reach out to us because we have taught these classes all over and we have all this material we can share with the attendees and it's both a lot of fun.
Tony Barthel
But you walk away learning stuff,
Peggy Barthel
Hopefully <laugh>
Tony Barthel
That's, yeah. At least that's the whole idea. That's idea's what the Hokey Pokeys all about. Right.
Peggy Barthel
So after we leave Quartzite, we will be heading to the Phoenix area and we'll be teaching a class in the Phoenix area. That will be the kind of second weekend of February. And that's kind of,
Tony Barthel
Wait, aren't we going to a Ren fair before that?
Peggy Barthel
We're going to Ren fair after that.
Tony Barthel
Oh, after. Okay. In
Peggy Barthel
Uh,
Tony Barthel
Eat Your Heart Out Jason Epson. I brought <laugh>, I brought Renaissance Fair duds. Spud <laugh>
Peggy Barthel
In the Mesa area is a Renaissance fair. And so we are going to be kind of bumming around the Phoenix area for the week in between that class and that Renaissance Fair because that only happens on the weekends. And so here's your first opportunity. If you're in the Phoenix area and you want to see us somewhere between the, what is it, the 10th and the 17th or whatever, that's when we're gonna be bumming around Phoenix. So <laugh>, yeah. Let us know and we will see if we can hook up again.
Peggy Barthel
If you have a campground that wants to have a class scheduled, please get us in touch with them. That would be super fun. We would love that. Yes. From there we will go home and we will spend a few days at home <laugh>,
Tony Barthel
Which is New Mexico.
Peggy Barthel
In New Mexico. We'll be home for about three weeks and then we're going to head toward Texas and we'll be teaching a class in Texas and we'll be teaching a girl camper college in Texas, just a little south of the Fort Worth Dallas area. That class is going to be the weekend of March 20th. So we will be there from there. We are going to have some of our Louisiana friends meet up with us and we're gonna spend some time, not in the New Orleans area exactly, but in the part of Louisiana where Boudan is the thing.
Peggy Barthel
And we're gonna go there and stock up on Boudan <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Wow. I like
Peggy Barthel
That. Right. That's a great idea.
Tony Barthel
Absolutely.
Peggy Barthel
So we'll be doing that for a few days, maybe a week or so in the kind of last full week of March. And then by the beginning of April we will be heading toward Kansas and we're going to be teaching a camper college in Kansas on the week of April 10th, 12th, something like that. Now we of course, you know, have to somehow get from Louisiana to Kansas and I have a kind of a sketched out route, but it's kind of a sketch.
Peggy Barthel
So <laugh>, if you are in that, in that area between, I don't know, Lafayette and Wichita, let us know and maybe we'll be able to route through to see you.
Tony Barthel
Where's the eclipse? Oh, right.
Peggy Barthel
And actually we will be in, we're gonna be able to visit some friends in Oklahoma, northern Oklahoma, right when the eclipse is happening. And Texas is actually kind of one of the best places to see the eclipse and we'll be a little bit farther north of that, but I think we should be able to have a pretty good view in northern Oklahoma of the eclipse. Yeah. So that will be a nice
Tony Barthel
Yeah. And a fear in that
Peggy Barthel
Stop part of the world and safe friends. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Perhaps we could hang out.
Peggy Barthel
Yep. And then after we teach that class in Wichita, we'll be heading back into Texas and there's actually a mini light rally. So we are going to attend, we actually are going for sure to attend two mini light rallies this year. And one is in April in Texas. That's the weekend of April, like 20th or so, which is also when we celebrate Tony's birthday. What <laugh>. So we will be going to the mini Light R in Texas and then we're gonna head home for a few days.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. We've gotta visit our stuff.
Peggy Barthel
We gotta visit our stuff. So about approximately, you know, the end of April, middle of May, we'll be home and then we're gonna head out and we are going to attend, if you heard our episode a few weeks ago.
Tony Barthel
Oh yeah, that's, oh, I'm really looking forward to that. Well, I'm looking forward to the whole thing. But
Peggy Barthel
Camp Carpe Diem and that's gonna be in Hot Springs, Arkansas. So we are gonna head that direction and go hang out in Hot Springs for a little bit. And then we actually are going to be teaching Girl Camper College the end of May in Minnesota, somewhere north of Minneapolis. I'm not exactly sure. And we wouldn't tell you if we were Sure. Well,
Tony Barthel
Well fine.
Peggy Barthel
Well as we've said, we don't,
Tony Barthel
Right? Yeah, we
Peggy Barthel
Don't, we don't want to, you know, mess up with the security of where people are camping. But we will be teaching a class the last weekend of May in Minnesota and then after that, I think it's the first weekend of June is the other mini light rally. And that will be in Michigan at Van Buren State Park.
Tony Barthel
Ooh. Back to Michigan.
Peggy Barthel
Back to Michigan. Hopefully
Tony Barthel
We get some fudge.
Peggy Barthel
That's right. Maybe IESs. Well we won't be that far into Michigan. Oh, this is gonna be just kind of on the south end of Michigan in on Lake Michigan. Oh. So that'll be nice. We haven't camped really on, well we did, Indiana Dunes was on that lake. Yeah. So we have been sort of in that area, but this time we'll be for a mini light rally and from there then we'll go down into Illinois and we will teach another class in the middle of June a girl camper class in Illinois. And then we'll probably work our way home again, <laugh> <laugh>.
Peggy Barthel
We do have a class scheduled in Colorado in July. It's kind of up in the air whether we goof off long enough to get from Illinois to Colorado for the class or whether we go home first because we border Colorado so it only takes a day or two to get pretty much anywhere in Colorado.
Peggy Barthel
So yeah, that class is mid-July and somewhere in Colorado. So those are the girl camper classes that we have scheduled and are sort of rosette of Pathways <laugh> that we're gonna be taking. Doesn't really look anything like a rosette. Yeah. On the map. It does in my mind. But again, if you are interested in taking a Girl camper college class or if you hear that we're gonna be in somewhere in the area and you would like to hook up or you would like to try and help us schedule another class while we're out and about, all those things are super exciting to us and we hope that you will contact us and let us know that you're in one of those areas and you wanna see us.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah,
Tony Barthel
It would be great to cross paths with you. You can also, if you are already a member of Girl Camper and if you are a girl camper, we encourage you to be, you might talk to your state guide to potentially schedule one of these classes if that's of interest to you.
Peggy Barthel
Yes, absolutely.
Tony Barthel
So perhaps you might say they're, they're gonna be near here anyway, right? Perhaps we should have a Girl camper college or again, campgrounds or groups, whatever. If you think this might be something it, like I say, it's like a three day version of your one hour walkthrough, right. So it's a more in depth look and we encourage you to bring your own RV so we can accommodate any specific details. We do like at least five RVs in a class. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But we also cap it at 20.
Tony Barthel
So it's not so many that we can't really give people individual attention and the areas we cover all the systems and functions that are contained in your RV along with some maintenance ideas and that sort of stuff. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So that's either Camper College or RV basic training depending on who you organize it through. Right,
Peggy Barthel
Exactly. So those are the girl camper classes that we have scheduled. And then I have one more window open <laugh>. And that trip is going to include our annual Trek to Indiana to go the Frog
Tony Barthel
Rally Owners
Peggy Barthel
Group,
Tony Barthel
Which is in August
Peggy Barthel
And that is in August. So we will head out somewhere around the beginning of August and we will head to Goshen for the Frog rally. Those of you who have been listening for a while know that last year, well two years ago-ish <laugh> in 2022, we met Bill at the Frog Rally Bill and Zappo and we just really hit it off. He's a great guy and we have spent a, a good amount of time together now, but when we were talking and said in 2023 when we go to the Frog Rally, we wanna go all through Michigan and through Upper Peninsula and everything.
Peggy Barthel
And he said, well that's what I wanna do. So we got to travel together and do that exploring. Well this year I was talking to Bill and I said, after the Frog rally next year I think I'd like to go and see New England. And he said, well that's what I wanna do. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
So we're gonna,
Peggy Barthel
So we are once again planning to make a little trek with Bill after between the Frog Rally and other things going on. So that's kind of our third route that we're sketching out. And I gotta tell you, this one bill is so good. Yes. So good at planning these things and really getting us around to see things. So as of right now it's very sketchy where we're going to be <laugh>. I mean it's not,
Tony Barthel
We're not gonna be sketchy. Well it's
Peggy Barthel
Work. We're gonna be, we're not gonna be in anywhere sketchy I hope <laugh>, but I just really don't have any real solid ideas of what we're going to be doing or seeing. But what we want to do is between the Frog Rally and the Hershey Show, we want to take that, it's about, I think it's about three weeks or so and we wanna explore the New England area and then head back into Pennsylvania in time to attend the Hershey Show, which we have not ever done.
Tony Barthel
We keep hearing about how great the Hershey show is. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So we plan to be there this year.
Peggy Barthel
We do. So we know there's a lot of you up in that area of the state of the country. So if you have some, you know, some ideas for us of things that we can't miss or you'd like to hang out or see us or offer spaces for too many lights to hang out <laugh> <laugh> or a package deal for that couple of months. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
For that trip. Yes, we are.
Peggy Barthel
And then we'll head back to Pennsylvania, go to the Hershey show. I've already been talking with Orin Kern from the Mini Light Group. We'll be in his area so that we can see him. And then we'll head back to the Elkhart area for the open house.
Tony Barthel
That's a, it's not an open event,
Peggy Barthel
It's not open
Tony Barthel
Based on how I did it last year, it's a complete, like those four or five days are nonstop dusk to dawn
Peggy Barthel
Type of thing. Yeah. And so what that is is in September the industry kind of all gets together and the dealers from around the country come to the area and they get a little preview of what the manufacturers are preparing for the upcoming year. And so we will be there, we're planning to be there so that we can cover that and kind of get a little sneak peek of what's gonna be coming up. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
Which we can share with you of course. Right.
Peggy Barthel
One of the reasons that we're scheduling it the way we are is that then we plan to attend the homecoming rally that is put on by RV miles and that will be in Amana, Iowa area and we will get to go to the homecoming. We didn't do that last year because we were at the balloon Fiesta <laugh>. Yeah. In the beginning of October. So that'll be kind of the beginning of October. And after that we will head home by about mid-October.
Tony Barthel
And then I think that's as far as we've planned,
Peggy Barthel
That's really as far as we've planned. And right now I'm like exhausted just telling you about this <laugh>. So I think my mid-October, we might just, you know, sit in the house and have food delivered and like never leave <laugh>,
Tony Barthel
I'm I'm okay with that too. That doesn't sound bad. Uber Eats or whatever.
Peggy Barthel
Grocery delivery. Yeah, whatever. Just so we don't have to get back in the car for a while.
Tony Barthel
<laugh>, we might be tired of the inside of our truck.
Peggy Barthel
On the other hand, we're kind of flighty. Yeah. And you know, if something comes up and someone says, Hey you should come visit us in November, we're gonna do it
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. Yeah. That's kind of how, how we roll. That's
Peggy Barthel
How we roll
Tony Barthel
As it were. So, but that's kind of the idea of where we're gonna be and we're hoping to our paths crossed at some point on this adventure. What are your plans? You know, you can always share, ask questions and all of that. We love hearing from you. You can email us or see us at Stressless campers Facebook group or whatever. Whatever floats your boat. That's
Peggy Barthel
Right. And as I said, we are willing to be off grid. We are almost certainly going to use a lot of harvest host sites and things like that. Oh boy. And we can because of our power package.
Tony Barthel
That's true. In fact, you know, one of the things that is a common understanding of solar and lithium is, hey it works great when there's lots of sun. Sure. And naturally it is a sun driven system. Right. There's solar panels on the roof that charge a battery. But we were curious knowing that we were gonna be camping four days and three nights with Michael Bracewell, the travel trailer guy. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, how is this system gonna perform? Because we looked at the, the weather app that we use and it said, dude you are gonna be sad.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. We knew that it was gonna be some gloomy rainy weather and actually,
Tony Barthel
And it was some gloomy rainy weather except the day we left. Right.
Peggy Barthel
It was beautiful. We and sunny, the day we left,
Tony Barthel
We left the sun was in full force. But, well that's the way it goes. So I was curious, how will this power package perform over four days and three nights? Now obviously this time of year we're not running the air conditioner, which is a big draw, but we are still running our Dometic 12 volt refrigerator. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>, which draws about 80 amp hours ish over a 24 hour period. And we might use the microwave, which means our inverter will be on and naturally lighting. And a surprising power demand is the blower motor on the propane furnace.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. You think that the furnace runs on propane so you don't have to worry about battery. But the fan that blows that heat out into the camper is pretty significant.
Tony Barthel
We have an article about how much power things use and it's linked in an article where we report on how the power package performed. And I will say I was a little concerned just thinking, well, you know, between the fridge and the furnace, it might take all of our reserves because I had anticipated zero gain. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> from the sun because there wasn't any sun. And what I found was that there was a little bit of gain, not enough to compensate for the use, but there was definitely even on like cloudy, overcast days, we still got a little bit of power in and everything worked great.
Tony Barthel
We over, you know, on the fourth day when it was sunny the bottom line we had about 37% of reserves left. So of the 400 amp hours, a quarter of it, well actually more than that was remaining.
Tony Barthel
Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. So I was pretty impressed with the consumption and with the performance of this system and it was just, you know, the more we use this solar and lithium system, the less concerned I am. It is just a fantastic system. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, Michael Bracewell, the travel trailer guy has a somewhat similar system in his trailer in terms of both battery reserves and solar. But he built it himself and Michael is one of those dudes who Yeah, that's right.
Tony Barthel
Within his skillset. Sure he is. He will study and investigate and do what it takes to get this stuff done. But if that's not you and on, honestly that's not me. That's
Peggy Barthel
Not me.
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. If you want a great reliable system of solar and lithium that's tailored to the way you like to use your rv, our system came from a B, C Upfitters, it's all master volt marine grade technology. They install these systems as well and you can find out more by either looking them up on the internet through a link on our website or give them a call at (574) 333-3225. We have a whole article about how the system performed and if that's something that's of interest to you, as I say give a BC outfitters a call, there are really good people to work with and one of the few that actually engineers these systems rather than just plopping 'em in and and crossing their fingers.
Tony Barthel
<laugh> <laugh>, while we were using the system, we were at Doran Regional Park in Bodega Bay.
Peggy Barthel
We've talked about Doran Regional Park before. We spent several Christmases there until Covid, actually the covid year, the state parks weren't open. The regional parks, you know, the public domain parks <laugh>. And so that was when we switched gears a little bit and started staying at Albion River Campground. But Doran Regional Park is also really a favorite place of ours and Mike and his wife Heather go there quite a bit. They camp there a lot and they really like it. And so we thought we could get a few nights in at Doran. So we decided to do that.
Peggy Barthel
We happened to get there right when California, well I maybe the whole west coast was having these big storms and the, we saw some surf that I just was amazed by was nuts. Yeah. I don't remember ever seeing, and not that they don't ever go there, but I don't remember seeing surfers.
Peggy Barthel
Like we saw surfers on that first day that we were there. It was Thursday for those of you keeping track of days. I don't remember the date, the 29th, I don't know, something like it was between Christmas and New Year, something like that. Between Christmas and New Year's, Mike and I kind of walked around the campground and we said, man, there is like a car in every parking space. There were people on the beach, there were so many surfers, there was so much high surf. It was pretty interesting to see. And we were thinking and we didn't realize what was going on and we thought, wow, there's just look at over there by the jetty.
Peggy Barthel
There's just so many giant waves. And it was really interesting to see. And we ended up then being there for those three nights during that really high tide. And the next day the, if the place was actually closed, all the campsites or all the sorry parking spaces were blocked off and the beach was closed. And then the next day full of surfers again. It was a really interesting thing to see. We weren't in any danger, which was nice. But yeah, that's, it was a plus. We get to see the thing <laugh>
Peggy Barthel
Last time we were there, I think we took a day and we went, went into Bodega Bay. It's a tiny little town, but it's pretty interesting. And if you don't know, it's where the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds was filmed. Correct. Yeah. And so there's um, you know, the school and the house and the whatever from the movie is there. One of the stores has a statue of Alfred Hitchcock because you know, it's a big deal there. That's their kind of, their claim to fame. We normally really don't leave camp. But that one time we did, and this time we did a few times we drove into Santa Rosa and had lunch with our friends Tom and Faith and Mike took us to an Italian restaurant called Duc Cheese there in the area.
Peggy Barthel
Oh
Tony Barthel
Boy. Yeah, that was,
Peggy Barthel
That was good stuff. That was such a great experience. They are not fast. I'm gonna warn you about that. Yes. You don't wanna go there on your short lunch break. <laugh>
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. Well they might have a lunch special.
Peggy Barthel
They might have a lunch special. I don't, but it was great because we got soup and bread and then we got salad and then we got our dinner and it just, it was a great experience and it was like an old time dining experience. It was
Tony Barthel
Great. It was, it was one of those like old timey restaurant places that you would go to as a kid where Yeah, they have the salad and the bread and the soup and, and then your meal. The only thing missing was the spumoni at the end. Yeah, <laugh>. Because I remember there was a place when I was a kid that at the end of the meal you'd always get spumoni, but yeah, that's okay.
Peggy Barthel
So that was called De New Cheese. And we, we will put a link to that in our show notes. If you're ever in the Bodega Bay area and you want a nice slow Italian dinner, good delicious dinner. It also had a bar. There were a lot of people there because it was right around Christmas. So there were still a lot of people gathering and having parties and stuff. So that was fun A few weeks ago we told you that whether it was a side effect of winterizing, which is what we think happened, but whatever happened we did have uh, some, a couple water leaks. Yes we did.
Peggy Barthel
And so we decided that it was time <laugh> to get some sensors. Now we actually have one of these sensors on our water heater in our house. Correct. Which, if it's going off right now, we'll never know, but correct <laugh>. But the fact is it's there. So if there is a leak in the water heater, an alarm goes off. And so we decided to do the same thing here in the camper. Correct.
Tony Barthel
<laugh>, I wrote an article about these water sensors that we got and why you might consider getting some yourself. They're very inexpensive. They were, I think 15 bucks for three if they sense moisture. A very loud, like 120 decibel alarm goes off and alerts you that you may have a leak. So we put three of these in our Rockwood one by the water heater closet, one under the sink, which I hope gets the sink and the shower.
Tony Barthel
One under the bathroom sink that is, and then one under the kitchen sink. So I would hope that if either of these detect any moisture that they would go off. The way a lot of RVs are plumbed is they use a, like a pinched connector on what is called RV or like tubing water tubing. And that is against plumbing code in residential plumbing.
Tony Barthel
But it's something that's very common in RVs and very prone to failure.
Tony Barthel
In fact, our friend Jason Epson from RV Miles, they have replaced these clamps in every one of the three RVs that they've had in the article. There's a video of how you might consider replacing them too. Anyway, these sensors will alert you if they detect a leak and that's always a good thing. They're very inexpensive. So I hope they're not terrible <laugh>, you can really go fancy, you can get connected sensors that will, you know, tell you through the internet that you have a leak.
Tony Barthel
You, you can go nuts with these things. I just figured, well we'll try these cheap ones for now, but we'll report back how they are. But there is an article about that and it does detail why you might wanna do this. And you know, if you have any pull in the RV industry and you should, as a customer, I would contact a manufacturer and, and insist that they consider stopping this, in my opinion, bad practice of clamping these hoses on plastic fittings the way they do.
Tony Barthel
Right. It is just, it's a terrible design and it needs to stop. And the only way they're gonna stop because it's a cheap way to do it. Right. RV's rolling down the line, somebody fits the tubing to the plastic fitting and just pinches it and bang it's done. So from a production standpoint, it's very quick. But from a headache standpoint for us as our viewers, it's something that is consistent and our voice as the customer can potentially stop them from doing this.
Tony Barthel
'cause there is, there are other ways of doing it that are also not tremendously expensive, but certainly something that can be done. So that's in the
Peggy Barthel
Meantime we'll
Tony Barthel
Just share this article. Please share it with your friends, family, the people who you have influence over and, and there you go.
Peggy Barthel
Last week our question of the week was, what was your best camping memory from 2023? And we got some great answers and some great pictures. So some of these like, oh you can read the location but you wanna, you wanna go check it out and see some of the pictures of some of these great places like a maple syrup farm in Vermont through a harvest host. Oh yeah. Lonnie got to travel a lot this year and one of the things she did was go to Baja with fantasy RV tours.
Tony Barthel
Oh that's cool. I don't know how I missed that. Yeah, that's very
Peggy Barthel
Cool. And she got to pet a whale, which is so great. Linda was her first trip, so that was her best memory Bill. Like me said it was hard to narrow it down. He gave us a best moment, a best day and a best trip.
Tony Barthel
<laugh> Bill is an awesome traveler. Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
Mana said catching cleaning and cooking and eating crab right out of the ocean. I got to be there and experience that. It was fantastic. You've got to see this picture of Mana. She looks at it and giggles and says, I look like I'm five years old. I'm so excited. <laugh>. Yeah, it's
Tony Barthel
Pretty neat.
Peggy Barthel
It's so great. Pamela said they got a new travel trailer. Ooh. Cheryl and Terry went to the Keys.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, they went all the way from Arizona to the Keys.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. Steve seems to think that meeting Tony and Peggy was a highlight.
Tony Barthel
I don't see why, but I I certainly am honored.
Peggy Barthel
We were honored to get to meet you in Bernalillo. Travis had their very first trip, which was great. And they drove 1600 miles and saw six states in six days for their sixth wedding anniversary <laugh>. Oh
Tony Barthel
Wow.
Peggy Barthel
And then they learned to slow down and see more of the sites <laugh>. Janet posted a great picture of her lunch on the Escarpment trail overlooking the lake of the clouds at Porcupine State Park in Michigan. Theresa, it looks like she kind of had a similar trip to us going through the Michigan area and all the stops that she made in Michigan, which I also enjoyed very much this last year. Pat posted a bunch of pictures of sunsets. She said from sunsets to snow in sunny warm Arizona to northern California coast.
Peggy Barthel
Wow. Debbie really loved her trip to Diamond Lake in southern Oregon, Maryland. Enjoyed the fall camping trip, exploring the Bighorn Mountains in South Dakota. Eric's favorite was a trip to the Delaware Gap. Pocono Mountains. Hmm. Kathy's favorite was Memorial Day weekend at Clear Lake Campground, which we are at now. Yeah. We're there And, and she posted a great picture of pretty much the same <laugh> view of Cash Creek that we're seeing right this second. That's
Tony Barthel
Pretty cool. Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
Michael Bracewell said his favorite was the Brighton Campground near Santa Cruz and riding their bikes around Santa Cruz. Chris's favorite was getting snowed in at Cotati Lake and I don't know if the conversation got finished, but I know that Alicia and Scott also got snowed in at Cotati Lake. So I wonder if they were there together. They
Tony Barthel
Tagged Scott in that. But
Peggy Barthel
Michael or Mickey, since they share an account, I'm not sure, said that camping with their friends twice was a highlight. That was great. We did stay in bottomless lakes in April with them and then we got to go up to Cotati Lake and and camp together also.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. But we avoided that snow that the other people saw.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. Luckily we went before it snowed. Ray's favorite was camping behind the dunes at, I am gonna say this wrong for sure. <laugh> as Teague Island State Park on the Maryland coast. You
Tony Barthel
Have to be careful how you say that
Peggy Barthel
You do. Amber said it was a tie between her first rally and spending a month in the up Super. Andrea's favorite was Labor Day weekend camping in their first camper that they had just bought a couple weeks before that. Pamela loved the Cherokee, North Carolina area where she spent a week visiting the Smokies and Mark really liked Cliff Falls State Park in Indiana, which is close to the historic town of Madison. So what about you Tony?
Tony Barthel
Oh, it's so hard to say. I mean, but you know, I mean as Bill said, there is so many places that we've been like, what is the experience you're after? Right. But I think my favorite place that I went this year was New Orleans
Peggy Barthel
And we had been wanting to go to New Orleans pretty much since we met. We ate at a Cajun restaurant on our very first date. Yes we did. We and we always said we should. And it was a Ralph Brennan's, if you're familiar with New Orleans or restaurants, Ralph Brennan has a restaurant in New Orleans and they have also a restaurant at downtown Disney, which is where Tony and I had our first date that's
Tony Barthel
We did
Peggy Barthel
In Southern California. And so we waited almost 20 years to get to go an actual go to Ralph Brennan. So that was, not only was it a fantastic visit, but it was just kind of a long-term goal that we finally met for ourselves.
Tony Barthel
Well just the energy and the food and the music that just sets me right. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> that, you know, new Orleans is famous for. That's my kind of thing. And we also went at a time of year it wasn't horribly humid or Oh it's fantastic weren't a of mosquitoes. So yeah, that may or may not have changed my opinion, but I always want to be where it's warm as Jimmy Buffett would say. Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
We also had a few different people helping us out and knowing what to do and when and where. So we didn't camp in New Orleans. We camped at a state park on the north end of Lake Poncetrain, which you know, was advised by people and that was great advice. And so, you know, Scott and Alicia and Brian and Patrick and Terry all kind of helped us figure out when and where and how to really enjoy New Orleans and we appreciate that very much. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
And that's Terry from Spot Tonight. Spot tonight. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So it was fun to see Terry. Yeah. And meet him in person. He has been a guest on our podcast. In fact, we'll put a link to that interview on the show notes and those show notes you can find@stresscamping.com.
Peggy Barthel
So thank you all for letting us know about your great camping memories. Some of those I'm taking and trying to squeeze them into one of our three road trips that are coming up this year, <laugh> and others for future planning this week. My question is, will you please show me your crafty hobby? I know that there's not a lot of room in RVs and so doing things like building bookshelves might not be what you do when you go camping, but you know, maybe you tat or wait, wait, not tattoo.
Peggy Barthel
Tatting is like knotting thread. Oh, I'm not sure how else to describe it 'cause I've never done it. Or maybe you crochet or knit or paint or weave or you know, I don't know. I'd like to see what you do to be crafty while you are camping.
Tony Barthel
Well, I'm hoping Lonnie responds as she is
Peggy Barthel
The crafty traveler. Well I would hope she's the crafty traveler. So she, I know that she travels, she quilts. Yeah. And so she travels with, you know, she's gotta have big enough rig 'cause she's got her sewing machine and everything with her and that's a great hobby. But I don't know that I have room for a sewing machine. No, no. I probably could make room if I thought that that was the most important hobby for me.
Tony Barthel
I think puzzles would be more your thing.
Peggy Barthel
Right. I think puzzles would be great. But I look around here and don't know where exactly I'd put a puzzle table that wouldn't be in the way all the time. <laugh>. Yep.
Tony Barthel
Of course you can answer that question or ask your own questions or tell us where you are at our fun and friendly Stressless campers Facebook group, which happens to be linked from our website@stresslesscamping.com. And that's also where you'll find the show notes for this episode, episode 2 36 on the podcastPage@stresslesscamping.com.
Peggy Barthel
It's also where you can sign up for our once a week newsletter, which is absolutely and positively free. Oh yeah. And what we do is every week we send you links to stories and videos and podcasts and things that we think will help you get the most out of your RV experience.
Tony Barthel
Yes. And if you would like to sign up for our once a week newsletter where we never share your information, just visit any page on the Stressless camping website. And I have often said look for the hamburger menu and I said that to someone and they're like, hamburger menu. It's those three little lines.
Peggy Barthel
Oh, those three little lines that kind of looks like a cheeseburger.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, they call it a hamburger menu <laugh>. But it's the three little lines. And depending on whether you're looking on a phone, a tablet, a computer, they may be in different places, but they're definitely there. And you can sign up for our weekly newsletter or you may get a popup if it's your first time there.
Peggy Barthel
That's right. And if you do that, we are not going to sell, give or in any other way, share your information with anybody else. We just use that to send you that weekly newsletter and keep you updated on what's going on in the RV world and with us. Yep. Also on the website you're gonna find a deals and discounts page.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Like deals on RV Life Trip Wizard for example. That's right. 25% off.
Peggy Barthel
I helped Randy find that page this weekend while we were camping together and Excellent. Yep. And he's uh, kind of backhanded thank me for helping him save money on things he wouldn't have bought in the first place.
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. Yeah. Because now he's gonna be buying things
Peggy Barthel
Because now he's gonna find all those great deals of discounts and buy things he didn't know he needed needed <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Absolutely. That's also@stresslesscamping.com. And of course if you don't wanna miss a future episode of the Stressless Camping RV podcast, it's free to subscribe on any podcast app. In fact, we found out that we are on SiriusXM too, which that right.
Peggy Barthel
We did find that out. And also if you wanna join us in all those social places like Facebook and x and Z and Twitter and I don't know, can't keep up. Yeah. Anyway, we have little links on our website that you can jump off to the social places and see what we're going on in those areas as well. Yep,
Tony Barthel
Absolutely. And of course please share what you find on our website or we also appreciate your reviews, any of that. If you wanna know how to help us, uh, it's always free to do so and we have tips to do that. But with that being said, gosh, it's great to be here in a fresh new year with you and maybe we'll find you somewhere out there on the road. Wouldn't
Peggy Barthel
That be awesome?
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Because you know what, that would be Stressless. Camping. 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
Peggy Barthel
In Texas. Sorry, I have to zoom out and see where that is.