SoftStartUp - run your RV on less power without climbing on the roof
Have you wanted to install a soft start device to make your RV’s air conditioner run on a smaller generator or power source but been wary of climbing on the roof and modifying the AC? This week we speak with the company’s founder plus RV electricity guru Mike Sokol with the first look at a new device that eliminates going on the RV roof altogether. This game-changing RV gadget could also help you weather a power outage at home.
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Peggy’s story - a day in Bevier - https://www.stresslesscamping.com/our-journey/missouri-macon-bevier-ugos-train
Robin’s vegan green chili stew - https://www.stresslesscamping.com/blog/2024/5/26-robin-vegan-green-chile-stew-recipe
The wheel chocks we like: https://amzn.to/4c4YzJg
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Automated transcript of StressLess Camping RV podcast episode 258
Speaker 1
<silence>
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
Welcome to the fireplace, <laugh> <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
I'm Tony.
Peggy Barthel
I'm Peggy.
Tony Barthel
And we're two RV industry veterans who travel part-Time in
Peggy Barthel
This small trailer.
Tony Barthel
Absolutely. Looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips,
Peggy Barthel
Tricks,
Tony Barthel
Discounts.
Peggy Barthel
That's right. We're still on the road.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. We are in ship Shiwana, Indiana.
Peggy Barthel
We are now Indiana now in Ship Shiwana. That's right. We love here. We love here <laugh>. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
There's just so much about this area that we like, including this. If you're watching on video again, we are, we have committed to doing these podcasts. Now on video, if you're watching on video, the window behind us is open. Normally we wouldn't, the lighting isn't perfect.
Peggy Barthel
It's kind of weird, but, but if you look
Tony Barthel
Amish Yeah. Amish buggies keep rolling by. So if you hear, look
Peggy Barthel
How it's what it
Tony Barthel
Is. It's Amish buggies rolling by. So it's kind. I don't know. We, in fact, Peggy picked this campsite, this specific Yeah. Campsite. Just because of the Amish buggies.
Peggy Barthel
What I didn't realize is where the hookups were. <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Yeah. They're
Peggy Barthel
All, they're all on the wrong side. They're all
Tony Barthel
On the campsite.
Peggy Barthel
So we're parked in a little bit weird so that we could reach them all, all the way across to the other side. It is, eh, whatever it is, we're there.
Tony Barthel
It reaches. We, fortunately we have enough of those air gear. That's water
Peggy Barthel
Hoses. Air gear, water hose has reached
Tony Barthel
Fine. I haven't hooked the sewer in yet. We're gonna be here for, well, the
Peggy Barthel
Sewer's on the right side. Right?
Tony Barthel
I know. Thank goodness. But it's also because we parked so close to the hookups. We're parked further from the sewer. Further from
Peggy Barthel
The sewer.
Tony Barthel
Ah, we'll find out. Right.
Peggy Barthel
We'll have to go knock on doors. Can I borrow some of your sewer hose for a little while? <laugh>? I've actually seen posts about that, like, oh yeah. People are like, Ooh, would you share your sewer hose? I'm like, it's sewer hose. It's, it's not like I'm gonna drink.
Tony Barthel
And we have, I don't know, two or three more sewer hoses at home. At home,
Peggy Barthel
So, which is a big help <laugh>. Yeah, absolutely.
Tony Barthel
We have had some interesting adventures getting here. This is one of the destinations that is part of this trip. The reason being, we have a project we're working on with Forest River and another company here, and we'll be working on that all week long, which is why we're recording this on Sunday, because the whole week is gonna be full of Yeah. Being at Forest River, which is a Okay
Peggy Barthel
With me. It act like having a day job. Weird
Tony Barthel
Part of getting here. We've had all these different campgrounds we've stayed at, and in the Midwest, they put these trees in
Peggy Barthel
Campgrounds, trees everywhere. It's ridiculous. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
So, as a result, I've had to put the starlink, we have it sort of freestanding in that it's on a CAMCO flagpole, and we can put that under the tongue jack of the trailer. We can put that under the tire of a trailer.
Peggy Barthel
We've even put it under the tire of the truck. One time when the trees were everywhere except the nose of the truck, we rolled over it with the front tire of the truck. Yeah. Obviously we didn't go anywhere while we were there. <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. But anyway, I, I wanted to share, we have a story about how we mount our starlink and why we mount it that way and being able to move it around is one of the reasons that I'm really glad we don't have it permanently mounted to the trailer. Right. Because the trees and the campsites and all of the other variables lets us put it where it works best. And that has really worked out well. So we have been able to,
Peggy Barthel
So you do like having choices?
Tony Barthel
I do
Peggy Barthel
Like having choices. Choices in so many parts of his life. He's like, no, there should be no choice. Just make it the one thing. And that's what we get <laugh>
Tony Barthel
Black t-shirt every day.
Peggy Barthel
Every day. <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
That's because of campgrounds having trees.
Peggy Barthel
Yep.
Tony Barthel
We always talk about our friends at a b, C Up Outfitters. And this week we're not gonna talk about them. We're gonna share what Sandy Ward said, because she had a system put in by them at our recommendation. And I She might be pleased with it,
Peggy Barthel
I think so. She makes sure that every time anyone talks about solar in any of the groups we're in together, she tells them about it. So obviously she wants people to know. Yeah. Okay. So Sandy added 1200 watts of solar, a 60 amp solar controller, 3,500 watt inverter with a 200 amp charger, 920 amp hour lithium battery bank, who we with under glow lights, thanks to Mike. He is the best. I agree. He is the best.
Peggy Barthel
He snuck some lights into our pass through when we took it, when we had it just there to charge overnight. Yeah. We came in and there were lights.
Tony Barthel
Well, here's the, IM impressive part, right? <affirmative>, she put all this stuff in in
Peggy Barthel
The pass through Yeah. Of her fifth wheel.
Tony Barthel
Right, right. And gained additional storage since the old batteries got taken out. So she's able to run everything basically, even when it's overcast outside, including the heater, the air conditioner,
Peggy Barthel
The microwaves,
Tony Barthel
Air conditioner, the microwaves,
Peggy Barthel
The all the outlets and her coffee pot. She apparently has not become a, a pressed, an arrow pressed junkie like us <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. But that's okay. I mean, she can now
Peggy Barthel
She doesn't need to <laugh>. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
That's from Sandy. And you can see her comment and ask, you know, we, we talk about this every week and, and I have said how pleased we are with this system. I mean, there was one time during this trip we pulled into a campground. There was no power there. Yeah. I mean, something went wrong. Had
Peggy Barthel
Gone wrong. Yeah. Well,
Tony Barthel
Like, so what? We'll, just who cares? Yeah. We don't care. We're, we're just here. We're
Peggy Barthel
Fine. We're here tonight. We'll
Tony Barthel
Make it. In fact, that's the one where, if you look at the pictures that I posted of our starlink, that's the one where we had to run over the starlink with the back wheel of the trailer.
Peggy Barthel
Oh, right. And you said that's the highest you've ever put the starlink. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. I fully extended the flagpole,
Peggy Barthel
So, yeah. Well, anyway, happy camping, Sandy and everyone, and if you are still not convinced by us and by Sandy, then
Tony Barthel
<laugh>, well come in and ask questions and Yeah. And one of the things I had someone ask, where do I find support? Well, one of the things A BCF fitters does have a Facebook page for owners of these systems, <affirmative> or those curious, and they're in there all the time answering questions. They've made videos. Yep. Yep. They're a good company to work
Peggy Barthel
With. And if you like to actually speak to someone on the phone, you can call them at five seven four <LAUGH> 3 3 3 3 2 2 5. That's 5 7 4 3 3 3 3, 2, 2 5. Absolutely. And they will talk you through a system that is made just for you. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
That's the thing. They listen to how you camp. Apparently Sandy camp's far, far away from power. Well,
Peggy Barthel
No, she, she
Tony Barthel
Doesn't camp far, far away from power.
Peggy Barthel
She just carries her power with her, brings it with her
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. Speaking of power, we are very pleased that Doug Curtis and Mike Sol reached out to us. Doug Curtis is the guy who came up with RV Soft Start. Right? Or his company did. If
Peggy Barthel
You are not familiar, RV Soft Start is a little contraption. You can climb up on the roof and add to your air conditioner so that you don't get that surge of power at the very beginning. And it makes it kinder to your electrical system.
Tony Barthel
Well, but also if you wanna run one air conditioner on, let's say a smaller generator, yeah. Soft Start enables that we have soft start in our trailer so that we can run our one air conditioner on our battery <affirmative>. It really has been a significant improvement. Well, Doug reached out to us and said, I've got something even better.
Peggy Barthel
We tell you, see what we have now, <laugh>, when
Tony Barthel
You see what we have now. And I also have to warn you that as I, you know, as we say, we're doing more video, I'm finding more and more goofy gadgets in the video editing. I use a program called Cap Cut, and I found more stuff in this cap cut. So if you're watching this and you're like, what,
Peggy Barthel
What?
Tony Barthel
Know that I found new toys? And it's like when you discover a new toy, you play with it way too much. So
Peggy Barthel
If there's entirely too much movement and you end up with a seizure, please let us know. <laugh> make it, we'll make him back up a little <laugh>
Speaker 5
<laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Anyway, without any further ado or ado, here's Doug and Mike Sokol from RV Soft Startup. We are very excited because we are going to help debut a completely new product. And we have with us the inventor of that product, Doug Curtis. And we have the man who you are no stranger to. If you're a <laugh>, a listener to the Stressless Camping Podcast.
Tony Barthel
My good friend Mike Sokol, the RV electricity expert. And there's a reason that Mike is here. He tested the new product. But Doug, welcome. And, and, and how about a rundown of who you are and what you've invented.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
Okay, <laugh>. Well, thank you for having me here today. And it's great to be here. I'm not the inventor, but I invented the, the idea that it could be developed in the sense that a good friend of mine said, dude, Doug, you know, you've got the soft Start RV product, but you know, a lot of people don't wanna get on their roof. So can you design something? Can you engineer something that would make it easy for somebody just to plug it into a power pole or a a small generator?
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
And I said, yes. Well, that was five years ago, <laugh>. So I went through one engineer during Covid and we ran out of parts because of the Covid shortage on everything. And we realized that you and everybody else tries to, when they're camping, they wanna run their hair dryer, their air conditioner, their refrigerator, their hot water heater, their dishwasher, everything.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
And we needed to have a product that would be robust enough to handle 50 amps or if they were out of 30 amp, only 30 amp so many months later and wait too much money. And I now know six or seven engineers that I didn't know. And so it's not really me. It's really a team thing. I just took the idea from my friend who's a advisor to us to say, let's make something easy. Here we are five years later. And probably the most important part of that was actually having a whole team of engineers that could not only design it, but also test it.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
And that's why Mike has become so great with us because he was able to test it to solve the five biggest problems that we found out most RVs are are having when they're trying to stay cool in a campground situation or even an off grid situation.
Tony Barthel
So I'm gonna then defer to Mike. Mike, what the heck are we talking about here?
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Okay, so here's what happens. Anytime you spin up a motor, like the compressor on your air conditioner, when it comes on and you hear that clunk, it draws way lots more amperage than when it's running 2, 3, 4 times as much. So sometimes you might have an air conditioner that normally runs, let's say 14 or 15 ampers of current when it's running. It can draw 60 or 80 ampers for a very, very short period of time. And that's what makes these inverter generators trip.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
That's a big problem. And not only that, circuit breakers could trip and everything. So basically what soft startup does is it looks for that big inrush thing and then what it does is it adjust, adjust the voltage, it limits the current down to maybe half of that, or even less, just depending on what you've got so that it doesn't overload and trip your generators. So it's basically a thing that plugs in there that looks for really quick inrush, you know, high current events, which air conditioners are normally that.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
So that's, that's basically what it does. It just smooths out that, so instead of like popping the clutch on your car, jamming your car into gear, it's just like having a hydro dramatic transmission that just gives a little poosh.
Tony Barthel
So essentially, I think a lot of RVers have heard of the soft start. What the soft start basically is, is it's a device that you install on your RV air conditioner there on the roof up on the roof that basically smooths out that power flow such that you can run usually a single RV air conditioner on like a, you know, smaller generator. So you can have your small portable generator and run your RV air conditioner.
Tony Barthel
And I had one on our first Rockwood Mini light and my nephew went up on the roof. Thank you. Dalton <laugh>. Yeah, thank you Dalton. He climbed up on the roof and installed it and it was not difficult to install, but I think more than one or two people out there may not have this great burning desire to get up on the roof. That's right. And so what you guys have come up with is a soft start that just plugs into the, where the RV is plugged into.
Tony Barthel
So it's a independent device that you simply just plug in, you can plug it into your generator, you can plug it into your power pedestal, you can plug it in, you know, wherever your RV is plugged in. And it accomplishes the same soft start functionality as the previous version, but without any installation other than plug it in. Plug it in.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Exactly. And the other thing that it does, this will do multiple air conditioners. So this one unit plugged in will do two air conditioners on the roof if you're on a 50 amp supply. Now I'm not tested with three air conditioners, I don't have it, but it should do three air conditioners on the roof, all from the same unit. I'm also doing tests. I don't know if you do anything with laser printers in your rv, but I have a number of my readers that have their own offices in there. Laser printers have that big hnk when they start up and all the lights dim.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
I'm pretty sure that this would allow you to start a laser printer on a smaller generator as well if you, if happen if you're having an RV office away from home.
Peggy Barthel
Hmm. So this device is not specific to air conditioners, it's specific to high sudden
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Inrush. Okay. Right. Yeah, exactly. Right. Exactly. It's looking for that peak that really slap, you know, when you see the lights dim in your building, you know when something comes on. That's what it's looking for. That's what it corrects.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
Just to follow up a couple of things before we get lost in the, the details. Sure. It does work, like you say, to reduce the inrush current for anything that has a compressor, as Mike was referring to. So it could be a refrigerator. Okay. Yes. It could be a freezer, it could be an air conditioner. And what we've realized is it also works. You mentioned you could plug it, you could use it with a small generator, but you can also use it on a power pole. Or you could, if you're mooch docking, you could actually plug it into a regular home outlet and run, not full capacity, but you could start your air conditioner where you wouldn't normally be able to.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
Right. That's why when you mentioned before, the traditional soft starts are installed onto the, the air conditioning compressor itself. So how to be able to eliminate that. Well, that's what this product does. It enables you to be able to not only not have to get on the roof, but you can be in multiple, you can be off grid, you can be at a campground, or you could be in your, your kids' driveway and still have the capability to, you know, run multiple appliances.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
Anyway, I wanted to jump that in there before we got too far into the discussion.
Tony Barthel
One aspect of this that I like is that you, there's no installation other than plug it in. Right. But the other thing is, let's say you have a travel trailer or you have, and you also have some other kind of trailer A
Peggy Barthel
Class B
Tony Barthel
Ban. Yeah. Class B, instead of having to climb up on the roof of each of those rigs and install the soft star, you just bring this with you and it works with either of those units. Or let's say you go camping with some friends and they have a travel trailer and you're the guy bringing the little generator, just bring this with you. So you have really opened up the usability of your product by making this just a device you carry with you.
Tony Barthel
Right.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Ooh, ooh,
Tony Barthel
Ooh. Oh, Mike <laugh>.
Peggy Barthel
Teacher.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Teacher. Can I say something?
Tony Barthel
Absolutely.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
If you have a 50 amp source, or let's say you have a, like a 7,000 wat generator with a, with with a split 1 22 40 split phase, you can use this to split off and create two 30 amp services for two different RVs. But each side is independent.
Tony Barthel
Interesting. Or if you have like a Ford F-150, what is it? Lightning.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
The power boost.
Tony Barthel
Power boost, right?
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Yes. With the 7.2 kilowatt generator. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
You could power two Airstreams <laugh>.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
You can, yeah, you can, you, you could put a, you could put that on, you put a splitter on there, you could power two Airstreams with it. Yep. Wow.
Tony Barthel
So I mean this really, I think soft start is like a, a, the Kleenex of RV <laugh>, you know, air conditioner in that. I think it's a well enough known product that I see a lot of times on social media. People say, how do I install a soft start? Or
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Right.
Tony Barthel
Will a soft start allow me to do this? This just really lowers the barrier to, to accomplishing that. I mean, you've, you've really opened up the door to like, I could probably get up on the roof and I could install the soft spark stuff. You can't say that. I can't say it, but I can probably install it because it's not been difficult. But nothing's easier than just plug it in. Right.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Nothing's easier than plugging it in it. That's true. And that's the one thing that I worry about is people crawling up on the roof that should not be up on a roof. Right. This anybody can plug it in. You basically just plug it into the pedestal. Yeah. Yeah. I know. But, and I, you know, back, you know, back when I was a youngster, I could scramble around you and I did big concert systems and scramble up and down speaker stacks and all that other stuff. But as I've gotten older and, and I have what we call normal tension glaucoma. I get vertigo if I look down.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Oh man. And I can't fix it. So when I look down from a ladder, it's like everything starts spinning and that's not what you want. So I can get up on a roof of an rv, I just don't like going up on the roof of an rv 'cause I have to touch something so I don't fall off. Yeah. Just saying. And some
Peggy Barthel
Roofs don't like being gotten on.
Tony Barthel
Well that too. Plus if I fall off the roof, I'm gonna crack the concrete on probably the second or third bounce
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
<laugh>. There were two, there will be two bills. A bill for the concrete and a bill for you. Right. <laugh>. That's right.
Tony Barthel
Well, and plus those poor people within hearing vicinity, listening to me saying all those words, all those, they have to learn all words. My mama told me not to say, does
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
He have Tourette syndrome?
Tony Barthel
<laugh>?
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
No. He's just cursing. We've never
Peggy Barthel
Had an earthquake in this part of the country before. Yeah.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
But yeah, it's super simple. Plugs it in and it works.
Tony Barthel
It really, this is something you should have in your storage compartment of your rv. Yes. Because the other thing is, as you know, come hotter weather, here comes everybody and their brother plugging in at the RV park. Well some, as Mike can attest to some of these RV parks, electricity is not all that great. And so this will help with that too. Yeah.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Reduces that inrush. 'cause every time there's an inrush, which you have is a voltage sag, so it helps reduce the voltage sag that you're sending out to everything else.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
One of the things that you mentioned, I wanted to not let it slip by again, is that because it's, I mean I've been in the RV industry for over 20 years and I've been camping for, I have a picture when I had long hair <laugh>, that was back in the seventies. But the thing that I wanted to bring out have is that it, I can really see it as a disruptor. Okay. Because it's disrupting the way people have done things. And as we look at technology, when you're the first to market, a lot of things are disruptive and people say, oh, it can't do that and doesn't have a capacitor, doesn't do this.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
And there's a lot of language that people don't really care about. What they wanna do is they wanna be cool or I, I know right now we're going into the summer and of course it's 110 in, in Arizona. But Mike, I think you might be helpful to share one of the stories because people also need power when it's not hot, when it's cold. And so how could you maybe start that heater? Could you tell that story, Mike? Yeah,
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Well you see, you also have, you know, heat pumps are also another thing that takes a lot of inrush and, you know, I've gone ahead and done some tests on heat pumps as well as air conditioners. And I think this is an important aspect, especially if you are in any kind of a situation where you're, you need power for your house. This is another thing that this can help with. But yeah, I've done a number of experiments with this, just running space heaters and also running other appliances at the same time.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
So anything with an inrush, anything that has like a, a extra kick when it starts. This will help with anything that is a resistive heating. This just thing ignores and just passes it through so it can differentiate between those two things pretty successfully.
Tony Barthel
Well, and, and let's not gloss over the fact that there are more and more circumstances where we have, I'm not gonna say power grid failure, but I don't know a better term. Yeah. Stuff happens. That's what it is. And your lights go out at your house. And if you're running some devices, well the refrigerator for example, you could run the refrigerator
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Refrigerators, have that Yep.
Tony Barthel
Off maybe a portable power station. Or if you have medical devices like an oxygen generator or that sort of thing. The nice thing about this is rather than being hardwired into your rv, where it's not gonna do you any good when the lights go out, you just bring it in the house or wherever you have the power coming from a generator, a portable, not a solar generator. <laugh>, a
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Portable power station. You hate that. Where the power,
Tony Barthel
A
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Portable power station Yeah. Is what I try to say. Yes. So
Tony Barthel
This, this will serve that purpose too. So now instead of having something on the roof of your RV and it's winter, but the power goes out, that's doing you no good, now you have some, you just go to the rv, grab it, bring it in the house, and you've just saved your bacon because that's where you keep it in the refrigerator.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
<laugh>. Right. And the other thing that this will work with, I've done not done full experiments, but yet some pumps. Oh yeah. So if you've got a, some pumps and let's say you have a, a submersible pump <affirmative> in your, you know, for your well water and you have a power outage, your generator or whatever's gotta be able to run that at the same time <affirmative> your refrigerator or any of these other things that you've got going on. And that's one of my little side projects is putting together various things that, that people can do in advance.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
You see, what was it last week? A hundred million people in the United States under severe weather watch. Yeah. Yeah. I mean this is just like unfathomable numbers here. Yeah. You have this for your, for your rv. You could take it, if you've already set up with your house to be able to accept outside generator, you can plug this into your house inlet from your generator.
Tony Barthel
Even if not, let's say you, you know, you're at home, you have your little generator, you could then just plug the refrigerator into it or you could, as you said, a well pump or sump pump or that sort of thing. So now you've solved another problem with this same device. You have to only buy one. Right.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Buy one, move it around. If you sell your rv, take it with you to your new rv, loan it, rent it, rent it out to your friends. Rent it
Tony Barthel
Out <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. Buy two. And then when, when you know the power, the lights go out in your neighborhood, hold it up and say, Hey, I'll wrench you this thing for, you know, a hundred bucks for the next few days. A hundred bucks.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
I like that.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
I know. It's, we've kind of branched out into what Mike, Mike and I are really excited about, which has to do with, we call it disaster relief. I'm not saying that we have the disaster relief end all be all. Sure. I mean, it doesn't make power. That's the one thing that we wanna be able to share with people is, you know, if you're on 50 amp and you plug in your air conditioner and your other air conditioner, you're still only gonna get so many amps. Even though it reduces the spike, you're still only gonna get 50 amps.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
It's not gonna make more amps. So if you are there, Tony, and you're saying, oh, well I'm running my air conditioner and Peggy wants to run her hair dryer, or she's in the hot wa in the shower with a hot water heater and you turn on the microwave, you got the coffee pot going.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
I mean, it's, it's not gonna make more power than you already have. Right. Right. And we have to do a good job, I think as we go over the next a hundred days or so, is to try to explain to people, Hey, we don't make power, but we can give you the power and maximize the results. So whether it's medical devices like C pap machines or oxygen or refrigerators or water heaters, or your air conditioners, of course we started out to make people cool and now we realize, gee, there's a lot of other scope to this and we're really learning a lot more about the capabilities.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
We've got Mike so busy that he hasn't been able to go test the laser printer. And can you run
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
A power? I, I got a, I got a lot of stuff to test. We
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
Got power tools. Right. You know that a lot of YouTubers are full-timers. Right. So can you plug in, can you have your air conditioner and your refrigerator going? Maybe you have to turn something off if you gotta run a power saw or a power drill. Yeah. Or a welding tool. I mean, you know, we we're just sort of, we're early on here to know the full scope of everything we can do. So we're looking for feedback from your viewers on, Hey, can it do this? Can it do this? We're trying to get all those answers out. We proved that it works, but we wanna, you know, sort of
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Looking for applications. Yeah, yeah. Under what situations it's, it really helps on, yeah.
Tony Barthel
Well Peggy's cousin builds houses and he starts with, there's nothing there. Right. It's a, it's a flat piece of dirt. And now he's using a generator to run the power tools. Well, I think for someone like that, this could also Right. Because Yes, now your, your chopped saws and all that stuff are, are running fine.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Anything that dims the lights when it starts Yeah. Is fair game for this. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
Interesting. So you had said there were five problems that this solved <laugh>. I, I'd like to hear the, the rest of those or maybe we've talked about those. No,
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
We haven't. No. Okay. Okay. The five problems were the five tests that I asked asked Mike to, I mean, we have five other engineers in including Mike, but Mike was the guy who, you know, said, alright, hey, let me get into this. So, and I think we have a lot of videos that we can share. The first thing we wanted to do was say, okay, can you run two air conditioners, two 15 K air conditioners on a 30 amp power? And right now no one can do that.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
But now you, you could run two air conditioners. If you had one in one soft start installed on each air conditioner and you plugged into 30 amp, you could do it, but could you do it with our new product, the soft startup, without having anything installed on those air conditioners? So yes, it could do that.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
So Mike proved and tested that. I said, well, that's not enough. Can you show me what it could do with a generator? And you know, a lot of people, you mentioned Class Bs before Class Bs, they have limited space. So if they could reduce the weight of the generator that they're taking and still get their functionality that they need, I said, Mike, let's test it to make sure that somebody could use like a Honda 3000 generator. Mike could tell you all the details. I'm just gonna, that's the second thing.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
So he could start, he proved he could start two acs with a 3000 watt generator. I said, Mike, I know some, Nope, we don't have this completely refined, but let's just test. Could it work with an inverter? So we put in a 3000 watt inverter and he started two air conditioners on a 3000 watt inverter. There's a little caveat to that because that would have to be downstream, so to speak.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
You want a small, smaller generators with a single air conditioner. Right.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
One air conditioner and a smaller generator. That's what everybody wants. I mean, if you're basically over 50 and you've got a small rig, or you've got a class B or a class C, you just wanna be able to plug in one AC on a small generator. Can you prove that a good small generator is a Honda 2200? I use the word Honda just because the, a lot of generator companies say one thing, but it's not, it's not actually true
Tony Barthel
<laugh>,
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
But Honda is. So he proved it with a Honda generator, you can start one AC with a 2200 watt generator. And just for kicks, we know that there are some people that have 2000 watt inverters like, what's it called? The Jacky. I said, Mike, can you make it work on a Jacky? So those are the five solutions that we wanted Mike to test. And he did, and he proved it. And of course we can share those videos with you and take it away. Mike, did I answer your question first, Tony? Yes. Oh,
Tony Barthel
Absolutely. Yeah. I
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
Go into a lot of detail <laugh>.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Yeah. Plus I got to test it to death. So there is a different thing that happens where I try to test to, to blow things up. It's really hard to blow 'em up <laugh>. But that's part of my job is to, you know, take it to find out where the edge is, making it, abusing it beyond what it's supposed to be able to do fun.
Tony Barthel
And that's, yeah, I know Mike has a number of generators and all kinds of crazy stuff that we've talked about and, and I can just see Mike sitting there going, I'm gonna, I'm gonna blow this thing up.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
I wanna get one of those Jacobs ladders in the back of <laugh>.
Speaker 8
Yeah.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
I, I really need one. So This's gonna be more effective than my lava lamp back here. <laugh>
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. I think so. So I think maybe the important question is, where can I get one of these and when will they be available and how much will they be?
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
Okay. Well, right now we designed this in the us Okay. And we're manufacturing in the us Hmm. And so everything is designed and manufactured in the us We have inventory. We had a lot of people waiting for this product. And so we thought we were gonna have the product. And there's a lot of component issues still happening, even though covid is going on. So we have inventory, the product is available at our website, soft startup.com. The retail, the manufactured suggested retail price is 1295.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
I know it sounds like a big price. We have reduced it to launch it out here to 7 95. So we've got a $500 special that's going on right through the summer. I mean, because we know this is the maximum time when people need to have this kind of product. Right. We have a number of people that we're talking to to be able to see how we can fast track this to be able to get the word out to more people. And you're helping us to do that. So have I covered every, all those three questions?
Tony Barthel
I think so. And, and you don't have to bribe your nephew to go up on the roof of your trailer <laugh>. No. So there's, you know, that's good. Or have a technician or that one Uncle Fred who says he can do it. Right. Right. And now you're buying a new air conditioner for $1,800. Right?
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Yeah. I will tell you that initially when the first soft, soft start RV products came out, you had to do some cut and splice and nip and tug on the wiring. And then Doug had one of his guys do a little voodoo magic and they figured out how to do this splice endlessly without any cutting any wires. Then I did a lot of the ins installation videos to make it simpler. So we've been working it to simplifying this for end users so that they don't destroy their air conditioner <laugh>, because a lot of people, once you start cutting wires,
Tony Barthel
Yeah. This is
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Just, so this is even easier. So this is like third, the third generation idea, basically plug and play, sorry, Microsoft <laugh>. And away you go. So like I said, I've got hundreds and hundreds of hours of testing in on this. So this is my fun, my fun project.
Tony Barthel
Excellent. Yeah. And I think this is going to serve, you're gonna find a lot more uses than just somebody wanting to run their air conditioner. Although somebody can run their air conditioner on a single, as you said, Honda 2200 or, or whatever it happens to be. Yeah. And I mean, that alone is something that will really be a, a good reason to get one of these, especially a summer and the heat of summer show up. And they said that in many places, this is gonna be a record setting summer for heat.
Tony Barthel
So get yours now while they're in stock.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
I had my first call from Texas yesterday trying to figure out how to get a generator running the stuff in their house because the power had been out for the last three days.
Tony Barthel
Gosh.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
From the tornado. Oh
Tony Barthel
Yeah. It's like
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
That. Well, yeah, I, I, that's when I start getting all the calls. Right. I
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
Mean, I know, I know we're talking about all the heat that's coming up. But I'm really excited because when you're telling the story of Mike getting a call, we got calls last year before we had this product where people were saying, you know, gee, if I could just keep warm in my house because the, there's a flood, there's a fire, there's a tornado, there's a hurricane, there's a mudslide. These things are happening more and more. I mean Right. The grid is, is a hundred year old grid. So I mean, in my hope of a dream of where we could be someday is that we could actually have this product so that people could stay cool.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
They could have medical devices working, they could have refrigeration for food, and there could be an application for the, for the off grid market, not just RVs
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
For tiny houses, for
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
Tiny houses. It could be somebody that just says, you know what? I wanna be prepared if it goes off grid. I had a woman who said, Doug, could your product help me if I had a generator? I'm afraid that I'm gonna have, I'm gonna go without power and have a baby. And I need power to <laugh> to have a baby. I mean, she was looking ahead. She was
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Pregnant. Are they gonna name the baby after you, Doug? No, no, no. Okay. I'm just checking. I mean, you
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
Know, I, I've launched over 200 products in the last 20 years. I mean, I've had, I've worked with a lot of great engineers. I've never had a product where I felt that I would actually be able to make an impact on communities and people's lives. So <affirmative>, I know it sounds a little emotional 'cause I've just believe I'm starting to believe that I could actually do this.
Tony Barthel
That's awesome. And I think it used to be the people who were, you know, had an eye on disaster preparedness might have been living remotely or may have been non-mainstream. And I think that that's changing. I think now, you know, Mr and Mrs. Average American are going, Hmm. Things are changing and the infrastructure is not as robust. And I mean, let's be honest, no matter how good your grid is, if a tornado comes rolling through, the lights are going out.
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
You, you, you remind me of my wife ing those exact words. I mean, we live in Fort Lauderdale. I mean, you know, her June 1st hurricane is announcing and coming. Right. I mean, we know that. So she said, would you just get this product onto a new generator so that we can have, you know, emergency refrigeration. We don't have any medical problems. But I mean, she wants to be prepared. She's not a, a prepper by any means, but, you know, she just wants to be prepared.
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
She wants to be ready. She doesn't, we've been through the hurricanes 11 days without power. You know, I'm starting to barbecue. You <laugh> your freezer is empty with, with all the food that's, you know, you gotta cook it for all your neighbors, otherwise it's gonna go bad. I mean,
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Right. Yeah. And now you can run a generator or even a portable power station, AKA solar generator, <affirmative>. I know. Maybe, you know, save your freezer full of meat or whatever it happens to be. Yeah.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Right. And another thing, you wanna be able to, during these times when the power's out, the first thing that happens is you run outta cell phone charge. And that means you lose communication. Yeah. Yeah. So you don't know where the next weather pattern coming in is happening. You can't even call relatives and tell 'em you're safe or tell 'em you, you need insulin or any of these other things that, that you may have <affirmative> because well, you don't have power and your GPSI mean, all this stuff is in your phone. Yeah. If you, once once other thing goes down, man, you feel like you are cut off from the rest of the world because in fact you are cut off, you are off from the rest.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Yeah. You're cut off from the rest of the world. Yeah. You know, 20 years ago this was not a thing. Guess what? Now we all depend on that. And, and it's not just a fun thing. It's, it's a health thing. It's medical thing. It's, you know, how you could provide help for your relatives and friends and community. I think
Tony Barthel
<affirmative>. Yeah. Yeah. I think you're right. You have created a product or since it's a team of engineers, y'all have created a product <laugh>, thank you. That I think will really help people. And I, you know, you might get this for your RV and then discover 20 other uses down the road. Sure. And every time you use it, you're gonna be thinking, gosh, I'm really glad that I have this. I don't
Peggy Barthel
Have to climb on the roof and take it off the air conditioner to use
Speaker 9
<laugh> house. <laugh>. Yeah.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
And that's a problem that won't work on any home appliances. Right. Something like this will. Right, right. Yeah. But, oh no, I think it's, it's a fascinating project. I'm really glad they trusted me to try to break their product <laugh>. And, and I did. I actually worked on the feature sets and Yeah. And how it would operate and all the bits and pieces of it. So.
Tony Barthel
Well I can't imagine anybody more skilled at blowing up stuff than you my friend <laugh>.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
That's my thing, man. I am proud of it.
Tony Barthel
Oh well Doug, thank you so much for this incredible product. And of course Mike, it's always good to spend time with you, my friend.
Mike Sokol - RV electricity expert
Yeah. Very good. Tony, Peggy, thank you so much for having us. Thank you so much.
Tony Barthel
It's our
Doug Curtis - SoftStart Up
Pleasure. Thank you for helping us to share the, the genius of six or seven engineers and months and months and struggle and frustration. We know that there's gonna be some iterations and some changes as we go forward, like any new product, but we're really excited and I'm so delighted to have been here to share what all these people have been working on. Thank you.
Tony Barthel
Hey, thank you. Thank
Peggy Barthel
You. Okay. Remember last week when we were telling you all the things that we'd done in our mini light? Yeah. And all of a sudden we said, oh gosh, we've been talking for way too long. Goodbye. <laugh>.
Speaker 9
<laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. That's basically how it works. So
Peggy Barthel
Here are the things we meant to tell you last week, <laugh>. Yeah. So first of all, we like to tell you about a destination. So we stayed at the, I'm gonna pronounce it Bevier RV Center. It's
Tony Barthel
B-E-V-I-E-R.
Peggy Barthel
It's B-E-V-I-E-R. I think it's Bevere. But one of the articles I wrote, one of the daily journals that I wrote was about a day in Bevier. And if I don't say it bevier, it doesn't rhyme. And then the title's kind of dumb. So anyway, we stayed at the Bevier Bevier RV Center. It is a campground and it's also a service center, which is very, very handy.
Tony Barthel
Also, I will have to give their service dudes a lot of, well the whole team <affirmative> a lot of pluses. Once again, our water heater connection leaked. Yep. They came out and fixed it for 28 bucks.
Peggy Barthel
$28.
Tony Barthel
So I was very, very happy about that. And, and Fast it was Saturday, I think.
Peggy Barthel
Yes. I think we checked in on Friday afternoon and no, it was Thursday afternoon. Okay. So they came on Friday because they thought it might be a warranty claim. Right. Right, right, right. And on Friday they were able to find out that our warranty is actually done. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
We've had this trailer
Peggy Barthel
For, had the trailer way too long. <laugh>. But anyway, Bevier RV Center campground is really cool. There's a lot of like pockets of sites. Yeah. You know, you go up this road and there's 10 sites over here and you go around this way and there's 10 sites over there. And if you go, so it was kind of cool. I could see like taking a group of people that all could go in, like that group of sites that were cut off from all the others. There's a big old swim lake and a great big water slide
Tony Barthel
That into the lake. I was so flipping tempted,
Peggy Barthel
But you really wanted to go in it.
Tony Barthel
But all I could think about is all the kids yelling, oh no, Santa Claus is sliding down the slide here. You know, I mean there were so many kids there and it was Memorial Day weekend. Right. And so there were so many kids there. I could just see them like, what the heck is an adult doing on this slide? <laugh>. But I talked to another adult who had been on this
Peggy Barthel
Slide now apparently there, there were like a couple of, I don't know, like joints, you know, like connector areas and I could see the kids like bouncing themselves over those. And I thought, oh there, that's, that's where we die. <laugh>
Speaker 9
<laugh>.
Peggy Barthel
That's what we're not gonna be able to do. And we're gonna hit those bumps way
Tony Barthel
Too high. Just lift yourself over the, over the ceiling. Just
Peggy Barthel
Lift yourself. Right. <laugh>. Then also on Saturday night they had a concert. Yeah. Which was super awesome. So where we camped, just by coincidence, we were the, the last site, the closest site to the beach. And so we got to watch the water slide all day. And then there was just a little, you know, a little creek coming out of the swim lake and there was a bridge over it. And right on the other side was the event center and that's where the band was. So we were able to sit inside.
Peggy Barthel
When the bugs came out, we didn't have to worry about getting mosquito bit. And we left the door open and we had perfectly good gearing of the band. Yeah. Free concert. Free concert. It was pretty awesome. Now it did go till 1130, which
Tony Barthel
I was surprised a lot
Peggy Barthel
Of times, which was surprising. And we're really not late night people. So that was a little bit like, okay, okay. Quit playing all these terrific songs already <laugh>, they,
Tony Barthel
That was a good variety.
Peggy Barthel
But it was a party family, you know, I mean it was a memorial weekend. So everybody's out there wanting to party and start summer.
Tony Barthel
Yeah, well they did
Peggy Barthel
And they did
Tony Barthel
In grand style. So especially with that water slide. Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
What we also did was visit our friends, Tony and Grace and they are volunteers at the Army Corps Visitor Center, which is in Macon. It's only about five miles away from where we were camped, but it's in the town of Macon now. We also spent a little afternoon in Macon. Yeah. And they, it's a cute little old
Tony Barthel
Town town.
Peggy Barthel
It's a cute, so I don't know, we, we tend to do this, we find like a part of town and thinks that that's the whole town, like Kingman. And then one time you accidentally drive over a hill and you find out there's an entire city. So maybe Macon's an entire city. I don't know. What we found is like old historic, downtown Macon, super cute, lots of little stores, lots of kind of window shopping stuff. We went and had a coffee at there, Franklin, their coffee shop Franklin. We went to Ben Franklin and wandered around.
Peggy Barthel
Tony was like, what is Ben Franklin? And I'm like, oh, you don't wanna miss this <laugh> <laugh>. I kept my hands in my pockets. I didn't pick anything up. I didn't buy anything. 'cause Well, I don't know if we've talked, I think we have talked about this. We have to kind of empty the trailer out so that we can get the repair done. And I, I don't need any more stuff.
Tony Barthel
We talked about the wall, right? I'm pretty sure talked about the, the wall replacing an entire side wall of our trailer that got damaged in a campground.
Peggy Barthel
So anything, especially anything touching this entire wall, all the cabinets on this wall need to be out of the cabinets so they can replace the wall. So what I do not need is to buy more stuff that we have to figure out how to store or take home and bring back
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. I have this on recording <laugh>. I do not need more stuff.
Peggy Barthel
I do not need more stuff. So the Army Corps, as you probably know, handles like lakes and rivers and dams and things like that. And so the Army Corps in Macon, there's a dam there and it's the, the dam of Long Branch Lake. I didn't know if I was gonna get it 'cause I forgot to write it down. It's Long Branch Lake. And what's interesting is the, the Army Corps manages, you know, of course the dam and this side of the lake. And this side of the lake is the state park.
Peggy Barthel
So there is a campground, which there often is at Army Corps properties, but the campground in this case is actually run by the state park. And the Army Corps itself doesn't have a campground, but they do have a visitor center, kind of a museum. And that's where Tony and Grace volunteer. They also, you know, take care of the lawn and you know, all that stuff. But
Tony Barthel
Yeah, it was, it was really neat catching up with them.
Peggy Barthel
Yes, it
Tony Barthel
Was. And so we, we had a good time and we and Tony smoked us a pulled pork. That was
Peggy Barthel
Fantastic. Oh, so good.
Tony Barthel
And just, just a good time. Yeah. But what we didn't have is Robin's vegan green chili stew.
Peggy Barthel
We didn't, but I did share the recipe for Robin's Green Vegan, green Chili. Stew Robin's green. Nope. Robin's vegan, green Chili, stew <laugh>. That's a lot of words to put together. Again, this was last week's notes and so I don't really remember all the things that go into Robin's vegan, green chili stew.
Tony Barthel
But I do know you can find the recipe that's right at a home on the web at stressless t com. That's right. And if you're like me and you're like, wait a minute, chili without meat, you st. See's
Peggy Barthel
<laugh>. Well that's true. There's a lot of potatoes. You'll love it. Oh,
Tony Barthel
Potatoes,
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. And she does use beyond, not beyond beef. I forget the brand. Oh yeah. The But she uses like a, a, a fake beef <laugh>. Yeah. Anyway, check out the recipe for Robin's vegan green chili stew. And if you try the recipe, please let us know. Yeah. How delicious it is.
Tony Barthel
So something that happened while we were there. Also
Peggy Barthel
There with Tony and Grace. With
Tony Barthel
Tony and Grace. Right. And also after we left is, you know, the weather in the Midwest has been
Peggy Barthel
Wacko.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. <laugh>. And there's been some pretty serious hailstorms <affirmative>. There have been some windstorms and that kind of thing. And something that Tony said that we were ta, we happen to be talking about X chalks. X chalks are a great stabilization tool if you have a tandem axle trailer, two axles, three axles, whatever to keep it from rocking. But they are not wheel
Peggy Barthel
Chalks. They are not wheel
Tony Barthel
Chocks. And the proof of that is the couple of trailers Tony said went into the forest when it got really windy because they only used X chocks. So ladies and gentlemen, I am here to advocate that you go out if you have not done so already, buy some really, really good rubber truck wheel chocks.
Peggy Barthel
You know, those good heavy, they're like hard rubber and they're kind of heavy and that they're very, very strong. Not the, not the yellow plastic. No. You can run over those and not even realize it. Those
Tony Barthel
Are chunk
Peggy Barthel
They get, I see them left behind. Crushed in campsites all the time. <laugh>. Yeah. So get good wheel chocks. Start
Tony Barthel
With they're not expensive.
Peggy Barthel
They're not that expensive. Start with wheel chocks. You know, that's the first thing you should do before you even start unhooking your camper from your truck or anything. And then at the end, X chocks are a good extra point for stabilizing. You put down your stabilizing jacks, not your leveling jacks unless you h leveling jacks. And then if you need a little more stabilization, put the X chops and they just kind of help things stay still a little bit better.
Tony Barthel
But as was proven by Tony and some campers, X chocks aren't wheel chops.
Peggy Barthel
They do not keep your camper from rolling into the forest in a bad wind. No.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Lastly, we usually ask a question every week. We didn't ask one last week. Which <laugh> allowed you to leave more answers.
Peggy Barthel
That's right. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
But it was, what RV memberships do you have?
Peggy Barthel
We got a lot of common answers. Of course. Harvest hosts and Boondockers welcome FMCA, particularly for the Get You Home feature. You know that that's part of being an FMCA member. And also because people use the Tech Connect a lot, the internet service and then RV Life slash Trip Wizard was high up on the list. A lot of people have Good Sam people belong to KA and that gets you discounts when you stay at A KOA Forest River owners should all belong to Forest River Owners group or Frog Rib It, rib it.
Peggy Barthel
They do all kinds of fun events all through the year. And then they're all
Tony Barthel
Over the
Peggy Barthel
Country. Their rally once a year, people use Passport America that gets half price discounts on a bunch of campgrounds throughout the country. We
Tony Barthel
Have an interview with with
Peggy Barthel
Them, we do
Tony Barthel
<affirmative> and they, it's a legitimate thing. You know, some of these discount programs are like, yeah, right. But that has really worked well for us.
Peggy Barthel
It really has. Let's see, escapees kit, thousand Trails, Elks lodges and Moose Lodges and, I don't know, water buffalo. Water buffalo, all those lodges usually have some camping available to their members. All stays has, what I read was that all stays has some campgrounds that Trip Wizard doesn't necessarily show. So if you're not getting enough of variety with Trip Wizard, maybe check out all stays and combine the two. When you're looking for campsites, people belong to Coachnet also, which
Tony Barthel
Is for like towing basically. Right,
Peggy Barthel
Right.
Tony Barthel
This week's question that you can answer at our fun and friendly Stressless campers Facebook group. Whew. Is how do you deal with tolls on the road? We have avoided toll roads because Yeah, what happens is they mail us the you owe a toll and then we're done for
Peggy Barthel
Months and then we're not home to get, get the mail. So then we're late paying that to
Tony Barthel
Yeah. So then it's a much more expensive toll. But I know that there are toll passes that cover multiple agencies, things like that. So how do you deal with tolls? Do you have a tool that you particularly like and why?
Peggy Barthel
And as Tony said, you can answer that question. All the questions, ask your own questions, tell your own funny stories. Give us pictures of you out there camping in our fun and friendly Stressless campers Facebook group. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
Or even share awesome videos of your
Peggy Barthel
Incredible power package, power package, <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
And of course, you know, we do a once a week newsletter that's absolutely free, comes right to your inbox. And unlike the spam museum, we don't have spam in our
Peggy Barthel
Newsletter,
Tony Barthel
<laugh>, although we really enjoyed the Spam Museum. But we have links to the stories and videos and podcasts that might help you get the most out of your RV experience. And all you have to do is visit our website. At the bottom of any page is a signup form and you can just sign up. And we never, of course, ever share your information or send you spam. We just eat the spam.
Peggy Barthel
Can I just eat the spam Also on stressless camping.com. You can find the notes for this episode podcast episode number 2 5 8 on the
Tony Barthel
PodcastPage@stresslesscamping.com, which is also where you'll find discounts and deals. That's right on the best deals on the things you'll need for your Stressless camping adventure.
Peggy Barthel
And if you know of a great deal that you wish we were sharing with our audience, please let us know and we will work to get that great deal on our website as well. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
And of course, you know we are in all the social places, but you can start@stresslesscamping.com and from there, jump off to wherever you enjoy wasting time on social
Peggy Barthel
Media, <laugh>, all those social places. Of course, if you don't wanna miss a future episode of the Stressless podcast, Stressless Camping RV podcast, <laugh>
Tony Barthel
<laugh>
Peggy Barthel
Of the thing, it's free to subscribe on any podcast catcher, and we are saving you a seat around our virtual campfire.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. And of course, you know, a review will help others find this podcast, and that helps us get more listeners, which means we get people like Doug who call on us to help tell stories about new and exciting gadgets and all of that. That's right. So we really appreciate the reviews,
Peggy Barthel
And if you've already reviewed and you still find great things that you think other people would like to hear and see and read and listen to,
Tony Barthel
Or even if you think it's a it's terrible, lie to them, <laugh>,
Peggy Barthel
<laugh>. Or if you wanna share Tony's great new video escapades, please share, share on all the social places, share by email, share by telling someone in line at the grocery store, whatever it takes. Get out there. Share our name all over the place. <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Be that annoying
Peggy Barthel
Person. <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Well, thank you again for being here with us this week. You know, no horses and buggies rolled back. I
Peggy Barthel
Know we talked as long as we could, <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
I know. And, and not one, but, oh, well, that's, that's all right. Because we hope
Speaker 10
That you, like us, are, are Stressless 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.