Harvest Hosts and Escapees - the perfect union? We speak with Joel Holland about the details
This week on the StressLess Camping RV podcast we speak with Joel Holland from Harvest Hosts. If you haven’t heard, the Escapees RV club is now a part of the Harvest Hosts family of companies and we find out what’s new, what’s different and what’s going to happen now with Escapees. We also check out a new Brinkley travel trailer.
Other places to hear the podcast
Mentioned on this episode
At the request of Joel, you can submit your feedback to team@harvesthosts.com
Peggy’s article about the last ten years of our lives
Speaking with Ron from Goodyear about towable tires
Peggy’s article about the changes in our own lives in the past 10 years
Our camping rig is going to start with the Flated truck topper that we bought
The Lippert Portable Popup Gazebo that we’ll be using as a camp tent
We’re also planning to have a second “toilet tent” - the SylvanSport Privy Bivy
We’ll be cooking on our Duxtop portable induction cooker
And, naturally, we’re powering the whole mess with a portable power station
Get a discounted membership on Harvest Hosts
Tony’s review of the Brinkley Model Z 2900 fifth wheel
Our podcast episode with Ron Hanegar of Goodyear towable tires
Our fun and friendly StressLess Campers Facebook Group
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 265
Peggy Barthel
This week on the Stressless Camping RV podcast, we talk with Joel Holland from Harvest Host.
Tony Barthel
If you haven't heard, the Escapees RV Club is now part of the Harvest Host family of companies. So we found out what's new, what's different, and what's gonna happen. Now with Escapees,
Peggy Barthel
We're also gonna check out a new Brinkley travel trailer.
Tony Barthel
I'm Tony.
Peggy Barthel
I'm Peggy. And
Tony Barthel
We're two RV industry veterans who travel part-time in
Peggy Barthel
A small trailer pretty soon. Yeah, <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
That's true. Looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips, tricks, and discounts. Oh
Peggy Barthel
Boy, we're, we're not there yet, but we will be picking up our small travel trailer and then I can stop making him laugh by modifying <laugh>, the intro <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Well, and we are going to pick it up in advance of the Frog rally. Right. Which is in August in Yeah. Indiana. So if you're gonna be there,
Peggy Barthel
We'll see you there. Yeah,
Tony Barthel
We'll be kind of right out in front with the flag there and all that good stuff. So come meet us and we're giving three seminars.
Peggy Barthel
We are giving three seminars. Yep.
Tony Barthel
That's something that started within the past 10 years.
Peggy Barthel
It is something, 10 years is, you know, a lot of things can happen in 10 years. Isn't that the truth? Isn't that the truth? We'll talk later about the question of the week from last week, and we asked about what's going on in your life from 10 years ago. And I started to write an answer on Facebook, and then I realized I got way too many words. And I don't know if Facebook has a lifetime limit, but I thought I might meet it. So instead I put it on our website. I kind of did a little synopsis of each year in the last 10, kind of the big changes that we went through.
Peggy Barthel
And so if you wanna give it a read, that is@stresslesscamping.com.
Tony Barthel
This week we're talking with Joel from Harvest Host, and one of the requirements of being a member of Harvest Host is to have a self-contained RV right now that can, as long as there's basically a kitchen and a bathroom and at You're covered, we specked out our travel trailer specifically so we could stay at More Harvest host, because it's not just savings, but also a better experience.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. So many good experiences.
Tony Barthel
It's not just about saving the money. And one of the things that we did was we wanted a really good solar and lithium battery system and you know, we, we talk about A B, C upfitters every week and encourage you to give them a call if you have questions about this. But one of the things that I've found is there are a lot of solar installers out there, right? Solar and lithium system. Sure. And usually they install a system and then it's like, all right, see you later.
Peggy Barthel
<laugh>.
Tony Barthel
That's not true of a, B, C Upfitters. They have, for example, a really excellent Facebook group where people who have had installs from them can go and they ask questions. And some of the answers are just these expert level, <affirmative> outstanding answers. Because the people from A, B, C Upfitters who know these systems and build them and spec 'em out, they're there to answer your questions, right? So if you have been solar curious or lithium curious and you want a company that's actually going to intelligently answer your questions, that's just another good reason to call our friends at A BCF fitters.
Tony Barthel
And you can do so at 5 7 4 3 3 3 3, 2, 2 5.
Peggy Barthel
And by the way, congratulations Kathy and Steve, you're gonna be one of the newest members of the A BC Upfitters Club <laugh>. Oh, I didn't realize that. They had officially, Kathy just told me today, <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Oh, well that's cool. Yeah. Yeah. They met at the mini light rally. Yes. In int in Texas. No,
Peggy Barthel
No, in in Michigan.
Tony Barthel
Michigan. And Ben and Scott were there. That's pretty darn cool. Yeah. Yeah. Now we're all gonna have to go boondocking.
Peggy Barthel
That's right. So we are speaking to Joel Holland today from Harvest Hosts with the News of Harvest Hosts acquisition of Escapees. One thing that we think that we did cover, but we wanna make sure we really, really make sure people hear this part of the message. You will not have to be a member of Harvest Host in order to become a member of Escapees. Right now, I think Joel says that, but even if he does say it, I'm gonna say it again because I know that when the news broke and I was in the Escapees groups, that was one of a few, and we and Joel, I asked Joel these questions, but some questions that came up in Facebook groups and places that people were concerned about.
Peggy Barthel
So make sure you get that message <laugh> and all these other messages that Joel is gonna give us right now. Oh
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
Today we are super excited and pleased to welcome back Joel Holland. He has been on the podcast before and he is the CEO of Harvest host. Joel, thank you so much for spending time with us today.
Joel Holland
Well, thanks for having me back. I appreciate that. It's always fun. Always fun to talk about RV-ing, and always fun to catch up with you guys. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like we have a lot, a lot of common experiences out there, right?
Tony Barthel
Yes, we do. Right. And I heard some buzz or rumor there's something exciting happening at Harvest Host <laugh>. Can you tell us a little about that?
Joel Holland
Yes. So, so the big news this week, ha has kind of been, you know, a while in the works, but Harvest Host has acquired the Escapees Camping Club. We're taking over the, the membership section. Mell and Travis are gonna continue running mail servicing, you know, mail forwarding and the campgrounds. But everything member related is now part of Harvest Hosts, which is very exciting because, you know, escapees is just a wonderful, wonderful group, wonderful brand, 46 years old, third generation. It's the spirit of RVing.
Joel Holland
Yeah. And I've loved it, right? I've attended Escapees events, I've been a member for a long time, and when we saw an opportunity to kind of put the two organizations together, I jumped at it because it, I think it's a great, great fit.
Peggy Barthel
That's one of the things I really like about Harvest Host is it is camping people, you know? Yeah. There's a lot of times we talk to people in the RV industry and they don't rv and it's kind of confusing how they can presume what we want <laugh> out of a camping life. And knowing that you camp and we've camped with you and, and Harvest Host is very, you know, very much into that kind of thing. So we love that. We don't feel like the spirit of Escapees is lost.
Joel Holland
Exactly. And that, and that is, you know, our first number one goal with any acquisition, and this is the sixth company we've purchased to try to put together a, you know, just a better camping organization. But our first rule is kind of the Hippocratic Oath, do No Harm <affirmative>. And so, you know, the first thing we're gonna do with Escapees is nothing. You know, we're really gonna take our time. We're gonna get to know the company, how it works. We hired all 15 employees that we're related to the RV Club. Great. So they're now officially part of Harvest Hosts, full-time employees over here.
Joel Holland
They know what they're doing, they're great. Right. They've been doing this for years. Yeah. And so my goal is not to interfere, it's just to learn and then learn how we can help. Right. Get to know more of the members and just ask them what would make the club better for you? And that's the same thing I've been doing at Harvest Host for six years, you know, as a member, but also talking to other members. It's just figuring out how do I make this organization more useful, more fun, you know, more valuable to those of us that are actually camping.
Tony Barthel
We've been with you through other transitions. We interviewed the creator of Boondockers Welcome <affirmative>, almost at the very beginning of our podcast. Right. And now that's part of Harvest Host, and I've seen the integration actually provide a better product and service. Yeah,
Peggy Barthel
Absolutely.
Joel Holland
Yeah. I appreciate that. You know, and that's been three years that Boondockers Welcome has been part of the program and yeah, I, I'm glad to hear that because we have, we have more hosts now, right. And we have more members visiting the host, which is really fun. So Boondockers welcomes really more, much more heavily focused on community and which I think Escapees is as well. And I think community is just a huge part of RVing and, and it's a huge part of what we're trying to build in general at Harvest Hosts. And I kind of sing now that we have Boondockers welcome and Escapees, we have camping and community.
Joel Holland
Right. And those are two really large pillars. Really unique places to stay and then really great people to meet. Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah.
Tony Barthel
Interesting. So what, I mean, how did the transition, how did you decide, or how did this all kind of <laugh> fall into place? <laugh>, I guess is my
Joel Holland
Question. Yeah. It really started by just getting to know Travis and Mel. You know, I've known them for a few years now and I like to stay in touch with everyone in the industry. Right. I like, I like, I like all the different companies in our industry. I try to have chats with the operators of everything. Right. I just love that. And we, we partner with a lot of organizations. You've probably seen that like Harvest OS is like Switzerland. We're just friends with everybody. <laugh>, we like to do cross promotions with everybody. We just try to support the whole RV ecosystem. And so as part of that, I had gotten to know Travis and Mel became an Escapees member, attended events.
Joel Holland
And I just always really liked the spirit of the program, which to me was a community membership. And in the last couple of years, you know, I just kind of started floating this idea to them of, Hey, if you guys are ever interested in, you know, moving on to the next thing, or finding someone to try to pick up the baton and take it to the next level, I think it could be an interesting fit.
Joel Holland
And so we had kind of like talked about it around the edges and then those talks just got more serious this year. And we ended up finding a really good arrangement that benefited both organizations. Right. And, and they, they're gonna continue running the mail servicing, which is a very important program. It's one of the largest, it's one of the most affordable. And our members, our Escapees members will continue getting the discount that they've always, you know, relied on with the male servicing. So nothing changes there. And then they'll continue running their campgrounds, which I know nothing about.
Joel Holland
So I was like, Hey, great, I, I don't need to run campgrounds, you guys, you know, keep doing it. <laugh>, I'm all about the membership. So I think we're both now focusing on pieces that we're good at, which is great.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. I mean, you are, you're sort of almost the anti campground, not really, but, you know, harvest Hosts Yeah. Is just such a great alternative to, to the campground experience. And our last rv, our, our current RV rather <laugh> was specifically bought so that we could take advantage of Harvest Host. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the whole thing was really intended to go to Harvest Host <affirmative>, and we have had some great experiences. Yeah,
Joel Holland
That's awesome. No, yeah. I'm glad to hear that. And I, you know, I saw you, I, and I love that manufacturers, it feels like they're getting better about putting features into RVs that make boondocking even easier. <affirmative> like our most recent fifth wheel that we just purchased at Brinkley, it came with pre-installed solar on the roof. Awesome. Right. Like rigs for a long time have become like pre-wired, which is like also pre useless <laugh>
Speaker 5
<laugh>.
Joel Holland
But this one actually put the solar up there and it was perfect. So like yeah. Rigs are, I, I feel like RVs in general are waking up to this idea that they can do both. Go to campgrounds, plug in, you know, of course. And then also get out in the wild and disconnect and use the RV as intended as I like to say. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
That's now, see I could just, you said Brinkley and I could just totally go off on a tangent <laugh>, so Peggy's gonna have to keep me, had
Peggy Barthel
To reel him in. Like
Tony Barthel
She's gonna have to reel me in. But,
Peggy Barthel
But that, that's for another day.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. That company has really made a name for itself. Yeah. So are there any big changes that Escapees members? I know a lot of, there's a lot of buzz on the internet and I mean, a lot of people dislike change and there's a lot of things being thrown about. So how, if as an Escapees member, which we are, how will this affect our membership? Will the price go up? Will, will there be any big notable changes?
Joel Holland
No, there's no changes. I mean, that's, that's a, I always think it's so funny, the Internet's such a funny place, <laugh>, and it feels like the people who get on social media, it's like the most misinformed people like to have the loudest opinions. Right. And I've never understood that. I tend to just not read that stuff 'cause it's just so ridiculous. But the only thing that I said in the announcement is we're not gonna make any changes. And like, the only thing people talk about is all the changes they think I'm gonna make <laugh>. It's like, it's just comical to me. We're not raising the price, we're not changing events. We're not smushing the two memberships together.
Joel Holland
Like everything's staying separate as we get to know the organization. And, and then, like I said, you know, over time I wanna find ways to make it better. And so using Harvest Host as an example, my main goal is to come in and improve the technology.
Joel Holland
At first it was make it easier for people to find places to stay. And we built an app and we built a booking system and then we expanded the host network from 600 locations to over 5,000. And I think those two things made the experience a lot better for members. Now with Escapees, I have no preconceived notions of what we need to do to make it better. This is where I'm gonna ask members, but, you know, the organization's been around for 45 years, so I don't, I'm not gonna come in with a quick fix 'cause there's nothing broken. Right. I, of course, like, I lean towards wanting to make the technology better.
Joel Holland
Like, I mean, if you've, if you've, you know, gone to the website and used, you know, the, the system to buy tickets to events or signed up for a membership, it's not the easiest.
Joel Holland
Right? I mean, that's probably one of the places I'll try to make it better. But again, none of these things are in a hurry. So I think everyone can kind of rest assured that I'm only gonna make a change once I confirm with members that it's gonna be good for them. And my goal at the end of the day is to make both the basically 70,000 Escapees members and the quarter million Harvest host members, just both of them are gonna come out better. Is is the goal on the board. I mean, that's literally, like, that's our scoreboard at a and after a year, I wanna like pull them and say, are you better off because of this?
Joel Holland
And I'm pretty confident that both sides are gonna say yes because we have some cool ideas for how we can make it better for everybody, give them more value, and, and not, and this is not by trying to extract more money out of them. By the way,
Tony Barthel
<laugh>, having known you for years and seen the way you operate, I would completely concur this, this is your MO is you come in and you just wait and see how things could be polished but not completely changed. Like Boondockers welcome is is so much easier to use now right. Than it used to be. Yeah. And Harvest Host is, is better too. And as you said, there's like 5,000 hosts now, <affirmative>. I mean, the experiences that we've had have been, you know, the, the unique experiences we've gotten from places has been really mostly terrific and definitely, in my opinion, better than a lot of campgrounds.
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Joel Holland
Yeah. It's great. And you know, and, and that's the goal. We haven't raised prices at Harvard sos for over three years now. Right. And this is in a a three year period where inflation went nuts and everybody raised prices. Right. And we kind of intentionally didn't do that because I feel like campers are getting hit from every angle with higher prices. And so it is a bit frustrating when I read comments of like, oh, they're gonna raise prices. It's like, we've literally done the opposite of that. We've bucked the trend of every single company out there and not raised prices for three years. We're not gonna start doing it now once we bought this company. That's just not the, that's not the roadmap.
Peggy Barthel
I know another kind of big concern that people have had and, and I'm pretty positive your answer's no, you are not going to, lemme back up just a little bit. Harvest Host and Boondockers welcome because you're staying on someone's property without any kind of hookups. You're required to have a self-contained rig and escape. These members are afraid that that's gonna be, become a requirement. And some of them have vans or something that aren't self-contained. That's not true.
Peggy Barthel
Right. That's not going to become a requirement of being an escapee.
Joel Holland
No, no, of course not. Because it, it's not a requirement to make the program work. Well, the reason it's a requirement for Harvest SOS and Boondockers welcome is the bathroom problem. Right. Right. I mean, these private properties and these businesses, they don't have facilities for people to use after hours for the most part. And we can't have people peeing on the ground. <laugh>, it's frowned upon. And, and if they're peeing, then we, that we'd be lucky. Right. Like that would be the better of the two options
Peggy Barthel
<laugh>.
Joel Holland
But of course with Escapees that that's not a problem. So, no, that, that's interesting. That's the first time I've heard of that concern. But no, that, that is not an issue at all.
Tony Barthel
One of the funny things that I saw, you know, unfortunately our role is that we have to spend a lot of time on social media. And I mean there's, as anything, there's a, a good and a bad to that. But one of them said, this is frustrating because Harvest host owners are not campers. And I'm like, dude, I've camped with Joel <laugh>.
Peggy Barthel
Well, like I said, in, like I said in the beginning, a lot of times that's true in the RV industry owners or whatever are not RVs and they don't understand the needs and the wants and the desires of RVers and that is just not true in this case. Yeah,
Joel Holland
That's right. I own three RVs, <laugh> and I use them all the time. <laugh> we're bigger RVers than most RVers. <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. And that's, by the way, that's very helpful. Like, that's why I, that's why I got into this industry in the first place was out of a passion for RVing. And what makes it really easy to make product decisions is that I'm usually solving for like my needs for my family's needs. Yeah. And you know, in the case of Escapees, like we're looking for more community and we want more events and we want, you know, just, just great places to go. We already have great places to stay.
Joel Holland
And so that, you know, the event side was kind of the next exciting piece. But yeah, this almost all these things come from a personal need because we camp so much.
Tony Barthel
And that says it all right there. Yeah. So since we're talking also about Harvest hosts, what new things, or you had said 5,000 hosts. I didn't realize it had gotten that many <laugh>, but anything new to share from that side of the coin?
Joel Holland
Yeah, totally. So the host network, now I know it's over 5,500, which is awesome. And one of the new categories, there's a lot of new categories. We basically had our host recruiting team focusing on getting host locations in more Midwest areas. 'cause we've seen there's a lot more demand Yeah. Out in the Midwest and also near highways. You know, we, we have 40% of our hosts are actually within like five or 10 miles of a highway. So it's pretty good. But we're actually looking, our members are traveling and looking for those hotspots and intersections and roads and trying to fill in any gaps that we have.
Joel Holland
And so our model of recruiting hosts has changed from let's just grab everybody who's great to let's grab hosts that are great, but also in like really great areas that have more demand that we haven't yet filled. And also with really unique categories. And so one of the categories we added this year is drive-in movie theaters. And it's been awesome. Like, we started with like one or two, they were so popular. We now have over 30 drive-in movie theaters. And I stayed at one actually on our last RV trip two months ago to Virginia.
Joel Holland
We did a cross country trip, stayed in Marion Virginia to drive-in movie theater. It was awesome. Watched a new release movie from the rig. My daughter's running around outside. Everything about it was perfect. Excuse
Peggy Barthel
Me, I gotta go plan a trip. I know. <laugh> <laugh>
Joel Holland
Totally like the nostalgic pro back of the, of the outdoor movie theater combined with the comfort of your rv. Oh my goodness. So
Peggy Barthel
Oh, oh, I love it.
Joel Holland
Yeah, it's been fun adding these new categories.
Tony Barthel
That's the kind of thing you are always improving on what the customer experiences. That's been our experience the whole time. Yeah. We stayed at a harvest host. Where was that with the pigs?
Peggy Barthel
That was in Iowa, the Meadow. Oh, meadow something farm. Oh, something. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
Anyway, the, the cool thing is they had all these, these little pigs that were really cute, but by gosh they taste good. Oh
Peggy Barthel
Boy. <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Because they'd sell you them too. <laugh>.
Joel Holland
Yeah. That's tough. That's a tough way to sell the product.
Peggy Barthel
<laugh> <laugh>,
Joel Holland
You don't wanna look your meal in the eye. <laugh>.
Peggy Barthel
So I wanted to share as Boondockers welcome hosts, we actually have two Boondockers coming tonight. Two different rigs. Cool. And we have someone coming on Thursday who stayed with us when we lived in California. Cool. Reached out and said, Hey, I'm now I'm coming to Albuquerque, so can I I come and stay there.
Joel Holland
That is awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I mean that's neat too. I, you know, as a separate conversation, I wanna really dive into Boondockers welcome with you because I feel like we're doing, it's nice to hear that you're having good experience with it. We're growing that network and we're trying to give more tools and always trying to improve that experience. But, you know, again, if you read social media, some people say We're not doing a good job, boondocks welcome. Which, which kind of bums me out. It's always hard for me to know how to cut through the noise of like, who are just annoying people that wanna spout nonsense and who's actually right. And you know, and look, I I am a believer that you can always make things better.
Joel Holland
So we're always striving to improve. So yeah, as a side note, I would love to get your, your input on how we can make Boondockers welcome better, because we tend to use the Harvest host name, like that's our brand. Boondockers welcome is a part of it, but I, I, you know, I don't ever mean to like do a disservice to Boondockers welcome by simply using our core brand name. That's just the umbrella, right?
Tony Barthel
Well, I mean it's, it works so well. For example, one of the two who are coming tonight had to run late. And you get, you know, they, they notify you through the system. So you, you don't give your personal informa, although they obviously know where you live, but <laugh> you don't give your personal information. Then you get a popup on your, on your smartphone or tablet. In our case, it just works very well. Yeah. It seems like a really well oiled machine. Yeah. The way our, from our experience is host. And also we, we have used Boondockers welcome as guests <affirmative>.
Tony Barthel
In fact, the first time I ever tried starlink was at a Boondocker. Boondock is welcome. One of the hosts had a starlink dish and he goes, Hey, if you wanna hop on, go for it. And I, I did. I'm, oh my gosh, it was fast. It
Peggy Barthel
Was exciting. Fast <laugh>,
Joel Holland
What a game changer. My goodness. Like rarely are there absolute game changers that come to our camping. starlink was one of those just
Peggy Barthel
Yeah, for sure.
Joel Holland
Phenomenal. That's neat. Well, yeah. So look, I would say also to anybody listening kind of on the same note, if you use any of our programs and you have feedback or comments, we love hearing them. 'cause we actually use them. We, we, we have a, we use Slack. We now have over 80 full-time employees. We love talking about the comments people submit on what they want to see changed. We discuss those, we try to then like quantify them in some way. Right. So if you're gonna make suggestions, like please make it a specific actionable suggestion, not vague.
Joel Holland
'cause Vagues tough to work with,
Peggy Barthel
Right? Hey, you should fix everything <laugh>.
Joel Holland
Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Everything's broken. I hate it. Lower your price. You're twice as much as good. Sam, I hate you. Oh man,
Peggy Barthel
That's not helpful. <laugh> <laugh>. Well, anything else that we didn't think to cover about the Escapees acquisition?
Joel Holland
No, I think, look, I think this is gonna be a lot of fun. You know, that's the the first part. All these scabies employees as of today are now officially onboarded in our company. I'm excited to start to get to know them all personally. I've of course worked with a number of them over the years, but now we get to start learning so our employees will learn from them and learn what makes Escapees work. And then we'll dive in with members just like we do with Harvest host members. We'll survey, we'll do one-on-one interviews. Just really start learning the organization in a way that I've never understood it. And, and I think from that we'll figure out what people want us to improve.
Joel Holland
There's no rush. I mean, again, that's, this has been around for 45, 46 years and nothing needs to change overnight because nothing's broken. Right. You know, it's got a good soul. Right. I think anybody that's, you know, used Escapees or as a member, it's just got a great soul. And so we're not gonna change the soul of the program. Awesome.
Tony Barthel
That's very encouraging and we really appreciate you making time. 'cause I'm sure you have nothing else going on, right, <laugh> right now. <laugh>.
Joel Holland
No, I love this. I mean, this is like, this is the fun part of my job. Yeah. This is the best part is is is just talking about what we're working on and, and talking to people who you, who are members. I mean, that's, that's also a blast. So thanks for having me back and hopefully we get to camp together again soon. Yes, yes.
Tony Barthel
I sure hope so. And I gotta check out that Brinkley and <laugh> love to hear how you, how you like it. Because those guys, or I shouldn't say guys, those people are campers. They actually camp in their rigs before they release 'em. They're
Joel Holland
Great. I mean, the long story short is we love the Brinkley. We got the Z 36 10. So it's, it's bigger than anything we've ever owned. It's like I feel like I'm a, I'm basically driving a semi trailer with that thing <laugh>. But on the other end we have, we have a nice new camp eight 20 truck camper. So when we're trying to go places that are smaller and we just don't need all the room 'cause we don't have the whole family and the pets, it's a lot of fun to go way short. And then it feels amazing. But, but no, Brinkley's been incredible. And I think, like you said, they, they just keep taking my generalization for it because I think this is their third or fourth RV company now.
Joel Holland
They basically build a great product, figure out what people love, but then figure out how to make it even better the next time.
Joel Holland
Yeah. And they just keep doing that. And like this unit has all these little tiny features like pre-installed solar, like a self retractable 50 foot hose where I just push a button, it sucks back up in the unit. Awesome. <laugh> like electric dump valves, right? Yeah. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but it's kind of nice. It's just all these little things that make RV life a little easier. So I feel like we have the same mentality. It's like, how do we just keep improving on the product? Now, luckily for us, we don't have to physically build something that just, that, that's out of my, I my mind can't even process <laugh> how that works.
Joel Holland
But, but, but you know, on the technological side, we can kind of try, try to keep improving the code at least.
Tony Barthel
Excellent. Sounds good. Well Joel, hopefully we'll see you soon at a campground. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you very much. And keep up the good work. Yeah,
Joel Holland
Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me back.
Tony Barthel
We'll keep sharing. We have a discount for Harvest Host membership. Right.
Joel Holland
Cool. Well thanks guys. Appreciate it. Hey,
Tony Barthel
Absolutely. Afternoon. You too. And hopefully we'll see you soon. By the way, we didn't mean to, some of you may not have known that Escapees is now part of Harvest. Oh, by way. And you just fell outta your chairs.
Peggy Barthel
<laugh>,
Tony Barthel
As we said when we were talking to Joel, whenever we see Joel and his team touch things, they, they make them better. We have such admiration for how they do things. <affirmative>, as he said, they're gonna kind of wait and see, see if they're probably technological improvements to Escapees. Sure. And a lot of the good will probably stay the same or get better and yeah. So we're looking forward to seeing it. I
Peggy Barthel
Like that he has the whole staff that did the membership now as part of his staff. Yeah. It's not like the Harvest Host staff is going to try to take over doing the Escapees things. Right.
Tony Barthel
They kept everybody, they're now on their payroll and all of that. They just do a good job. So if you're not a member of Escapees, it's a great organization to be part of.
Peggy Barthel
So I wanna thank Joel again. And even though we kind of talked so much about Harvest Host, you don't need an advertisement for Harvest Host <laugh>, but I think there Harvest Host ads are so hilarious. So here comes one
Tony Barthel
And of course, don't forget, we have a discount for a Harvest Host membership. Of course that is available at our home on the web. So if you're thinking of becoming a Harvest host member, we have a discount.
Peggy Barthel
That's right. So we are packing up our gear to go tent camping.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. It's gonna be an intense experience and
Peggy Barthel
It'll be an intense experience. We are gonna just go for a one night, couple days. We're going up to Cheyenne Washington because
Tony Barthel
Washington.
Peggy Barthel
Washington <laugh>, how about this, we're gonna head up to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Oh,
Tony Barthel
I wondered if they hadn't moved it,
Peggy Barthel
Which is the home of the big boy steam locomotive. The
Tony Barthel
Big boy is the largest operating steam locomotive in the world right now. Union Pacific bought it against, you know, we used to go to the Pomona fairgrounds where they had it and they said, oh, one of these days somebody's gonna buy it and restore it. And I said, yeah, and perhaps monkeys are gonna fly outta my ears.
Peggy Barthel
Eh, hold your ears. Here come the
Tony Barthel
Monkeys. Yeah. Hold your ears. Yeah. So anyway, they're, they've been operating it for a while now.
Peggy Barthel
And so it recently took a trip. It went from Cheyenne, Wyoming, where it lives to California and it's on its way back. And Friday the day after you hear or see this, it will be returning to Cheyenne. So Thursday night, the day that you hear or see this, well maybe if you listen on the first day. Yeah. Anyway, the day that this releases, we will be going camping in Wyoming because we don't have a camp trailer. Right now we are tent camping. So we have been packing into the truck our cots and our,
Tony Barthel
Our Lippert popup portable gazebo.
Peggy Barthel
That's right. We'll use that for a
Tony Barthel
Tent. It's inside or six excited tent. We have a privy bivy, which is a toilet tent or shower tent. Yep. We have a toilet. We're gonna use our induction cooktop, <affirmative> our portable power stations to run the induction cooktop. I think I already said that. <laugh>, when we bought the Flad truck camper, our goal was to go over landing. Right. And so we're finally doing it. We're finally getting it. Even though we have that,
Peggy Barthel
That thing we into. Yeah. Yeah. So we won't sleep in the camper. I mean, unless maybe I, I looked at the weather. This is not supposed to happen, but I guess if it rains we might be crawling into the truck topper. But we are gonna sleep in the tent. We got, when we got the Lipper popup gazebo, which is a screen tent, we got the sides that we can Velcro on the outside for privacy. So that is <laugh>. We
Tony Barthel
Don't wanna scare anybody at the
Peggy Barthel
Campground. Scare people away. And so we've been gathering up all that gear, you know, that we've been talking about for five years. All those things, <laugh>. And we're toting it into the back of the truck and we're gonna go tent camping.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. So, we'll that's probably what next week's episode is gonna be about. But who knows, right. But we'll definitely have video. So if you follow us on social media, you'll, you'll see some updates. Yeah. If it was successful, you'll see Cheers. And if it wasn't, if it
Peggy Barthel
Wasn't successful, you might not see much about it. <laugh>. Yeah. We will not be in our mini light and we will also not be in what? Oh,
Tony Barthel
Oh gosh. This week rv, sorry, <laugh>
Peggy Barthel
Just
Tony Barthel
Missed that cue. The Brinkley model Z 2,900 and Joel said he bought a Brinkley. Yeah, he said that. And that's all I wanted to talk about <affirmative>. But you know, squirrel <laugh>. But now let's talk about, now his is much larger version than this. This is now their smallest fifth wheel. And Brinkley is a company that when I went to open house, the other RV companies, you almost didn't wanna say the name Brinkley in front of them because it's almost like a bad word because they have just done so much to stand out from the crowd starting with the outside.
Tony Barthel
They are very clean, almost automotive grade looking exteriors. They're plumbing. This is what really gets me their plumbing. They use brass fittings, of course it's still pecs and it's got a shutoff for every fixture. So if your kitchen sink develops a leak, for example, that you can just shut just that often, keep camping.
Tony Barthel
If your toilet, or in our case our water heater <affirmative> develops a leak, you just shut it off and keep going. It's not probably as likely to leak because it's just good fittings. But there's so many things they're doing. For example, more and more of us are getting some sort of connectivity thing, starlink, whatever. Well they put a port in this in the roof of the thing to run cables down. It's just so much attention to detail that I think the rest of the RV industry really needs to pay attention to.
Tony Barthel
So this model Z 2,900, for example, there's a table type of arrangement that's on the side of the trailer and it's got almost a tongue sticking out and you can move it back and and forth. So you can make an L-shaped table. You can make a table where your two people are facing each other.
Tony Barthel
You can make two desks. It's just a lot of thinking outside the box from this company. And then specifying the better products when there are choices, which is something we've said about Rockwood, right? When they have a choice of the cheapest whatever or the best whatever, they tend to favor the best whatever. Now that's how their smallest fifth wheel has an MSRP of about a hundred thousand dollars <laugh>. So they're not cheap, but nothing good's ever cheap. Nothing cheaps ever good.
Tony Barthel
So buy the best in cry only once is something I like to say. And I have a link to the review of this trailer full review. And that one is@rvtravel.com. They've done a great job and they're just shaken up the industry and it's what happens when the people who make the decisions are actually campers. Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
So there you go. Brian <laugh> <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Brian shared the review in our Facebook group.
Peggy Barthel
So this week I've seen a few people having to change tires on the side of the road and Scott and Larry and I forget who else, sorry that you had to do that in the heat and all that, but Ooh. Yeah, it just makes me wanna remind everybody to get out there and check your tires before you get on the road so that you don't end up with tire failure. I said to Alicia, this is a club I do not want to join. Having to limp off the highway, a busy highway to change a tire. So do all that you can to make sure that doesn't happen.
Peggy Barthel
Check everything out. Get your tire pressure monitoring systems on it. If
Tony Barthel
You don't have a tire pressure monitoring system, get one please. Especially on a towable, please. It's just such a safety consideration. And if you're running any of the cheap, I call 'em may pop tires, they should really call 'em will pop tires that a lot of RV manufacturers put, by the way. That's not true of the Brinkley either. They're putting G rated tires on there anyway. If you're Castle Rock or any of these cheap tire brands, just go get good years. I mean that's,
Peggy Barthel
We'll at least monitor, monitor, monitor, monitor, monitor.
Tony Barthel
Go get good years. Yeah. But, but yeah, monitor
Peggy Barthel
Until you get to the place where you can put on Good Years
Tony Barthel
<laugh> or I think Carlisle are are pretty good too.
Peggy Barthel
Anyway, check your tires. Watch your tires. We
Tony Barthel
Spoke with Goodyear a while back. We'll put a link to that too.
Peggy Barthel
Oh, there you go. Okay, so last week on the question of the week, we asked you what changes have you been through in the past 10 years? You know, we asked that because we talked to Mark and Julie from RV Love about their 10 year anniversary of RVing and doing their thing. I thought it would be kind of fun to hear from all of you. We had a lot. It has been fun. It has been fun. We've seen a lot of retirements and a lot of grandchildren. So congratulations to all of you. Yeah, we've seen empty nesters, we've seen new full-timers, people who sold their house maybe because it was an empty nest or for other reasons.
Peggy Barthel
We have seen some widows and widowers and I, my heart goes out to you, but also I'm so glad to see that you have continued to camp. We have seen people go from tents to pop-ups to travel trailers. And some have gone from travel trailers to pop-ups to tents. <laugh>. Yeah,
Tony Barthel
I, it goes, people go up and down the
Peggy Barthel
Size scale. Some smaller rigs especially, you know, people who have become empty nesters or whatever have gone to a smaller rig, not RV related. Our friend Mi Raya said she had to stop running, like physically jogging, running, but she did run for local office and I think that the local area was better for that. Oh,
Tony Barthel
Maria is doing a super
Peggy Barthel
Job. She's terrific. I was going to write a brief, you know, what we've done in the past 10 years and I found that when I start to write things I can't stop making words. And so it was over 600 words. I didn't think that was something I wanted to post as a response. And so I put it as an article on the website. So there will be a link or you can see the link in the Facebook group or wherever if you wanna hear more about what Tony and I have been up to for the past 10 years.
Peggy Barthel
<laugh> from Innkeepers to podcasters <laugh>. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. We're double podcasters sort of. Yeah. What is the question of this week?
Peggy Barthel
The question for this week is, are you an escapee?
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Are you a member of that club?
Peggy Barthel
And have you attended any Escapees events? And obviously that question comes from our interview today.
Tony Barthel
Right? Of course. So we'd love to hear back what your feedback is and yeah,
Peggy Barthel
Tell us about events that you've gone to. 'cause we are really excited to do that.
Tony Barthel
<laugh>. Yeah, Joel said we're looking for your input. So you're also welcome to share your experience as being an escapee. Yes. If you are. And that you can answer at our fun and friendly Stressless campers Facebook group.
Peggy Barthel
You can also, of course go to stressless camping.com and sign up for our once a week free newsletter.
Tony Barthel
Ooh. We have links to the stories and videos and podcasts that we think will help you get the most out of your RV experience. All you have to do is visit our website and at the bottom of any page, you can sign up with your email and we only send it once a week 'cause we're too lazy to join than that.
Peggy Barthel
Too busy, too
Tony Barthel
Busy, busy, busy. Yeah. That's the
Peggy Barthel
Word <laugh> lipstick.
Tony Barthel
And we never share your information. That would just be
Peggy Barthel
Rude. That would not be okay. So
Tony Barthel
Not cool.
Peggy Barthel
You will also find on the website show notes for this episode, which is number 2 65. I can't see it that way. Yeah,
Tony Barthel
It's 2 65.
Peggy Barthel
65 on the podcast page. Also on the podcast page, of course, we always tell you and remind you about the deals and discounts page for the best deals on things you'll need for your stress, camping adventure.
Tony Barthel
And if you've got a great deal for our audience, let us know. We very closely vet these so it's only stuff that we fully believe in. And if possible, use ourselves. Right. We're all ears, which looks funny, but that's the way it is <laugh>. And we're also in all the social places. And you can start@stresslesscamping.com
Peggy Barthel
And then you can jump off to all the social places. Wow, that's great. I'm not gonna try to list them anymore. <laugh>.
Tony Barthel
Of course. You know, if you,
Peggy Barthel
I don't know
Tony Barthel
What they are. Don't wanna miss a future episode of the Stress Lee. Stress
Peggy Barthel
Lee, stress lead
Tony Barthel
The stress Lee camping.
Peggy Barthel
No, it's not stress. Lee <laugh>, if
Tony Barthel
You, we, if you did, if you don't wanna miss a future episode of the Stressless Camping podcast, it's free to subscribe on any podcast app
Peggy Barthel
And we are saving you a seat around our virtual campfire. Of
Tony Barthel
Course, the review will help others find this podcast. And the more listeners we have, the better the deals and discounts we get
Peggy Barthel
And we can continue to get terrific guests.
Tony Barthel
Absolutely. Yeah, we're We're pretty fortunate. Yeah. Well, gosh, this is our sixth year now.
Peggy Barthel
Sixth year
Tony Barthel
Craziness. Yep. Hey, G, here's something you liked. Share what you find on our website or on our podcast or whatever with your friends on social media. And if you need help knowing how to share, well, we have tips and if you're watching this, the tips are here. With that, hopefully this has been a great week for you. We really appreciate you being here once again and most of all,
Peggy Barthel
Stressless
Tony Barthel
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.
Tony Barthel
A d do a.
