Masterful RV Makeovers with Alice from Rain2Shine Ventures
Have you always wanted to redo your RV - give it more style or make it more functional? This week we speak with Alice Zealy from Rain2Shine Ventures about the makeovers she does with RVs. From consulting with people on their ideas to full RV interior builds Alice has a unique take on RV style, functionality and fashion.
Other places to hear the podcast
Mentioned on this episode
Our Journey Journal - our adventure blog: https://www.stresslesscamping.com/adventureblog
The Flated truck camper - https://www.stresslesscamping.com/podcast/0237
Alice Zealy comes to us from Rain2Shine Ventures - https://www.rain2shineventures.com/
Chicken Crust Pizza recipe - https://www.stresslesscamping.com/blog/2024/31/21/chicken-crust-pizza-recipe
The game camera we got - https://amzn.to/4g3Pnr8
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 271
Peggy Barthel
Have you considered making changes to your RV?
Tony Barthel
What about a total renovation?
Peggy Barthel
Are you happy with the way your RV's layout serves you, or do you just sit up at night thinking about making changes?
Tony Barthel
This week on the Stressless Camping RV Podcast, we speak with Alice from Rain to Shine Ventures, who helps campers do anything from some remote consulting to a complete renovation.
Peggy Barthel
She has some incredible projects to share, and we ask just what does it take to make these things happen.
Tony Barthel
We also have a keto friendly version of Jimmy Buffett's 8th deadly sin. Oh. And we're seeing what are you doing about those unruly campers you find at the campgrounds?
Peggy Barthel
Hey. Welcome to the campfire.
Tony Barthel
I'm Tony.
Peggy Barthel
I'm Peggy.
Tony Barthel
And we are 2 RV industry veterans who travel part time
Peggy Barthel
With or without our small trailer.
Tony Barthel
Ain't that the truth? Looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips Tricks. And discounts.
Peggy Barthel
Sometimes we travel even without the trailer.
Tony Barthel
Which is what we're about to do this weekend.
Peggy Barthel
We are. And we wanted to remind you or tell you, I guess, remind you that we have one page of the website called The Journey Journal. Our Journey Journal tells you well, basically, when we're on the road, we try. I don't succeed completely, but we try to every day or every 3 or 4 days, if it's really a rough week. We just sit down and write about what we did that day, where we were, where we are, where we're camping, where we're not.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. And sometimes, even when we're not on the road, we think of things that are going on here at the house, and we're like, we wanna talk about this.
Alice Zealy
I
Peggy Barthel
can think of a whole lot of words to talk about this. And then the fun part, of course, is figuring out how that relates to stressless camping. Right? Because you don't wanna know what we're doing if it's not about camping.
Tony Barthel
Well, oddly enough, this past week, this is completely unrelated to camping with the exception that we took the flated air topper off the back of our truck. So there's that. While we've been gone, we've been gone a lot this year as you may know if you follow, it's been exceptionally rainy and great, growing weather here in New Mexico Yeah. Which is where our home base is.
Peggy Barthel
The weeds are so happy.
Tony Barthel
It's also a bumper crop for hatch green chilies. So double thumbs up. But it's also a bumper crop for
Peggy Barthel
Tumbleweeds. Tumbleweeds. And all kinds of weeds.
Tony Barthel
We have grown Like, it's become hard to get in the driveway. There's so many.
Peggy Barthel
Now, also, you could relate that story to the fact that we're not home enough to mitigate those tumbleweeds. That's true. But, anyway, Tony did write a blog post about how we're mitigating and how much fun we're having trying to get rid of those tumbleweeds while we're not traveling.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. The the highlight, which is gonna sound like the oddest thing ever, the highlight is I went to the dump, and I liked it.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
That is that's for anyway.
Peggy Barthel
And if I say it out loud, then it has to happen. I am cooking up a little journal about cooking while we're at home and because I'm learning how to cook things that are easy to cook while we're camping.
Tony Barthel
Yeah.
Peggy Barthel
Now I haven't written that one yet, and oftentimes we say, you can find blah blah blah on our website knowing fully well it's not there when we say it, but it will be there when you hear it.
Tony Barthel
Well yeah.
Peggy Barthel
This is a busy week, so I just made the commitment, so I gotta get that done. Okay.
Tony Barthel
Something to know, if you follow our podcast, you can get it on our website at stresslesscamping.com. And then there's a podcast section, and we always put show notes and a transcript there.
Alice Zealy
Sure.
Tony Barthel
If you are one of the people who follows us on YouTube, we put a link at the bottom of that video that takes you to the transcript and the notes on our website.
Peggy Barthel
On the website.
Tony Barthel
So either way, if you have any interest in like, let's say we mentioned something or there's a recipe or we go to the dump, uh, you can go and find it in those show notes. There'll be a direct link to whatever we blab on about. Right. Something we blab on about often is our friends at ABC Upfitters.
Peggy Barthel
Mhmm.
Tony Barthel
We've had more than a few people say, well, I only drive a van, or I have a small trailer, or
Peggy Barthel
Or I don't need that much power.
Tony Barthel
Right. So these all Mastervolt systems that ABC Upfitters installs are surprisingly compact considering the amount of power that they deliver. Yeah. And we've seen some incredible systems that they've put into class b RVs, which are vans. Right.
Tony Barthel
We also have a friend with a small travel trailer smaller travel trailer. He's gotten a system, and it just works. And one of the neat things is he's also upgraded his system.
Peggy Barthel
Just very recently, he got more he he was gonna get one more solar panel, and then he said, oh, but if I get a new, what is it, controller? Then I can have 3 new solar panels. Right. It's almost like a la carte, right, and you can do the size and of what you need for yours for your needs.
Tony Barthel
Well, right. So the way it works when you work with ABC Outfitters is they talk to you about how you camp, the kind of rig you have, what your expectations are, and they work with you within those parameters to build a system that works for that. So if that sounds like a good company to deal with and we found that it really has been, give them a call at 574-333-3225.
Peggy Barthel
That's 574-333 3 225.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. They're just good people to talk to and they can translate from nerd to normal. So I really like their systems because they just work.
Peggy Barthel
We need to write it down that also they have a pretty good new website. Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm sorry. A pretty new good website. So we site.
Alice Zealy
Oh, yeah.
Peggy Barthel
I mean, I'm sorry, a pretty new good website. So we remind you that there is a website also for ABC Outfitters.
Tony Barthel
Which is linked in our show notes.
Peggy Barthel
Yes. So let's say you're thinking about putting some solar, but you're thinking that you wanna make some changes to your RV first. Maybe you wanna take out that, I don't know, dinette and put in something so you have room for your batteries inside. Lots of things. Right?
Peggy Barthel
Lots of reasons why you might wanna make changes.
Tony Barthel
Like change the colors.
Peggy Barthel
Change the colors or change the furniture or change from a empty van to an RV.
Tony Barthel
Oh, yeah.
Peggy Barthel
Well, this week, we are speaking to Alice Seeley, and she owns Rain to Shine Ventures. And these are all the things that she does.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. We were looking at her website and just it's beautiful work. So without any further ado
Peggy Barthel
Today, we're very excited to welcome Alice Zeally with Rain to Shine Ventures. Alice, thank you for hanging out with us today.
Alice Zealy
Thank you for having me.
Tony Barthel
For the audience, what in the heck is Rain to Shine Ventures?
Alice Zealy
My company is based off of my sister and I's nicknames, but we basically do RV renovations. So my nickname was rainbow, and she was sunshine, and that's where the rain and shine comes from. I like it.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Oh, that's cool. How in the world did you decide I wanna renovate RVs?
Alice Zealy
Well, I didn't really decide that I wanted to do this per se for clients or as a job at first, um, although I do absolutely love what I do. It all started with my own camper. Uh, went through, you know, some life changes and just decided I didn't want the big house and all the cleaning and all the stuff anymore. I always loved to travel and liked the idea of a much simpler life with a lot less clutter. So I bought a 5th wheel back in, I guess, it was early 2020 and took it on as my own project to turn it into my own tiny head on wheels and shared it to social media for friends and family to see.
Alice Zealy
And pretty soon, people were like, hey. Do you wanna do mine? So I said, okay. Let's try that. Nice.
Tony Barthel
Did you have construction or building experience? Or was this just, I'm just gonna do it and see what happens?
Alice Zealy
Not so much the construction side of things, but I did go to school for architecture and interior design.
Peggy Barthel
Okay.
Alice Zealy
So I had that background, and then I also grew up my dad was in property management, and he was mister fix it, a handyman, all that good stuff. So I it's not that I didn't have any, um, construction experience. I just hadn't really used it in my professional life. Okay.
Tony Barthel
Oh, yeah. I mean, being around that kind of environment, I could see you. You definitely know which end of the hammer is the is the hurt inside.
Alice Zealy
Yes. And I have a very mechanical mind, you know, so it it just kinda works for me. It it's pretty easy. Great.
Tony Barthel
So so coming out of real property, when you started to go into and and work on your RV, were there any surprises where it's like, oh my gosh. Look at how this is made.
Alice Zealy
You know, my camper's a little bit older, so it's made pretty well. It's, you know, real wood cabinetry, aluminum body, um, real construction, not, you know, per se what they're doing these days with staples and nails and, um, luan. Um, so that part wasn't shocking. Um, I think the biggest challenge in any RV is working around the systems because you're in such a small space, and so you've got, you know, your furnace and your water heater and all the tubing and and venting and all that stuff that you just have to kinda work around. And being in a small space is a little different than working in a sticks and bricks.
Peggy Barthel
Right.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Yeah. That's true.
Peggy Barthel
So when you got your RV, your 5th wheel, obviously, you found some things, you know, you've got behind the cabinets and found out how things were working. But was it, um, was it more of a how do I was it more of just a redecoration, or did you really have to dig into that first one and do a lot of sort of construction like stuff?
Alice Zealy
It was kinda half and half. Um, I did do a lot of construction, but when I bought it, a lot of the furniture had already been removed. Mhmm. So, um, I bought it from a guy that was about 30 minutes from here in North Carolina, and, um, he had been living in it. Had started his own renovation of sorts, but, you know, even the the paint, he never sanded or primed or any of that stuff.
Alice Zealy
So that was all scrap from the get go. I did have to remove the entire entertainment center that, you know, is built into one of the slides and then built out our kitchen sink. So we had one of those l shaped kinda kitchen sinks and took the old sink out and built it out at an angle to put in a big farmhouse sink.
Peggy Barthel
Oh, nice.
Alice Zealy
So, yeah, there was a lot of different things. I mean, I tiled our bathroom floor, tiled the backsplash in the bathroom and the kitchen, but it wasn't as much construction as I've done since then. You know? Basically, it was building a few things here and there and then buying some cute furniture.
Peggy Barthel
So did that man find that he thought he was gonna do the job and then just realized it was bigger than he could handle and kinda gave up?
Alice Zealy
I think so. Yeah. He wasn't in it to make it pretty, like, you know, like what I like to do. Right. Um, I think it was more functional.
Alice Zealy
He was separated from his wife, and they had a kid. And he wanted to build bunks in the in the place, and he couldn't figure out where he was gonna build the bunks. And, um, like I said, like, half of the kitchen was white, and then the other half was still brown when I bought it for probably. Like, he just he just got tired and stopped. I don't even know what happened.
Alice Zealy
But
Peggy Barthel
I feel like that's common that people buy something, you know, maybe an older RV, and they're like, oh, I'm gonna renovate this. All I have to do is slap on some paint. And then they start to find out how much bigger it is. Do you get a lot of customers that, like, thought they could start on their own and then you have to help them kinda pick up pick up where they had to leave off?
Alice Zealy
Yes. I mean, I've had a few. Most of my clients don't really even have the time to start one, but I have had many people reach out to me through consulting services that I offer, you know, that they they've started started a paint job in an RV. And they're like, we're 2 weeks into this, and we are just dying, and we're we're mad at the world, and this is just such a pain in the butt. It's so much more work than we thought it was gonna be.
Alice Zealy
And I'm like, it's the biggest job I do in any RV renovation. I mean, that's that's what it is. It's a lot of prep. It's it's very different than painting in a in a home, um, a sticks and bricks home. And so, yeah, it's a lot of work, but it makes the biggest difference in any renovation.
Alice Zealy
Sure.
Tony Barthel
So that's, I guess, that's something I think we should talk about. Tell us about the kinds of things that you do, the the types of services that Rain to shine offers.
Alice Zealy
Sure. So, I mean, obviously, our main service is gonna be renovating the RVs. Um, I do van builds as well. So I've I've actually written articles on, like, what's better, campers versus vans and why the cost is different and why the builds are so different because you've got a van that's a metal shell with nothing there to start with versus a camper where you've got electrical, you've got plumbing. You're basically doing anything from a face lift to a full gut, but you still already have those systems in place.
Alice Zealy
Right?
Tony Barthel
That's
Alice Zealy
true. Those are our two main services. You know? We do the van builds and the camper renovations, and we do variations, you know, from a face lift to gut job to in between is what I call it, and that's what mess with my clients typically preferred. You know?
Alice Zealy
Not not rebuilding your whole camper, but, you know, reworking some of the layout. And then I do offer some consulting services, you know, as best I can, you know, from here to, say, California or wherever. I mean, I have people in Canada and international people that reach out to me, and, you know, they just want advice. And I do write a lot of articles for my own blog, for RV inspiration, for a lot of different magazines and blogs on DIY just because it it it is such a big thing right now, especially with RVs, and people need help. You know?
Alice Zealy
So I do try to offer, you know, guidance for free through the blog and other resources. But if you need serious help, just reach out to me.
Tony Barthel
Having owned a lot of classic cars, I know sometimes you you can buy something, and it's it's like a kit because somebody was like, oh, I'm gonna I'm gonna rebuild this whole car, and then the next thing you know is it's nothing but boxes and boxes of parts in the garage, and it's been there for years. And finally, your wife is like, dude, are you ever gonna fix that? Not that I have any firsthand experience with that.
Peggy Barthel
No. Not at all.
Alice Zealy
Yes. That does happen. It does. And my partner, we we own separate businesses, but we work out of the same workshop. He worked in NASCAR for 30 years and as an air engineer in many different fields of that sport, and he now builds custom hot rods from the ground up.
Peggy Barthel
Oh, nice.
Alice Zealy
We share a workshop, and so we do play off of each other. You know? I I well, I don't I don't give him any advice on cars because that's
Peggy Barthel
just not that's not my no.
Alice Zealy
Don't ask me about that. But he's kind of a jack of all trades, so he does he does give me some guidance from time to time when needed. And then he has 3 or 4 fabricators and engineers that work for him. So if it comes to, like, metal fabrication or building anything, that's what I tell my clients. I'm like, if it's in the realm of possibility, if the space is there, we could probably build it somehow, someway.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. That's nice to have that sort of staff on
Alice Zealy
the end available. Absolutely. Yeah. I've got a I've got some subcontractors just
Peggy Barthel
to get That's great.
Tony Barthel
So, like, what kind of creative things have you passed over to your partner's team?
Alice Zealy
They're all pretty familiar with owning their own RVs, not to the level of renovating them that I've done, but they've all worked with me on one, if not more projects, um, especially in those, like, last few weeks of just trying to get it done. The client's ready to have it. Okay, guys. All hands on deck. Because, you know, typically, I'm doing 95% of the work myself, but it is nice to have those guys.
Alice Zealy
I don't know that I would say I've given them any creative guidance, especially in the car realm of things. Um, but they've learned some stuff from me when it comes to the renovations, stair edge trim, molding, things like that. That's the kind of things I utilize them for. And so just kind of explaining my standards of how this needs to look. You know, like, we gotta get this right.
Alice Zealy
It's gotta be painted. It's gotta be this. You know, whatever. Um, And they all seem to really like what I put out. So Great.
Alice Zealy
Hopefully, that's some some inspiration.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah.
Tony Barthel
So when when someone comes to you, how much input typically and I know this can go all over the board, but is what your clients say, oh, I want, you know, the desk over here or whatever. And how much is you with your experience and create and background saying you wanna accomplish this. Here's how I would do it.
Alice Zealy
It really depends on the client. Basically, I've had clients that have given me complete full reign. They like what I do. They love what they see, and they say, just just do what you do. You know?
Alice Zealy
And then I have other plants that are very particular, and both of them are I understand both sides, um, you know, especially when it comes to lifestyle. If they're if they're remote workers, if they need that kind of space in their camper. I've never had anybody, like, tell me what layout they want because, typically, they don't have a clue. Right. Especially especially when you're working around those systems.
Alice Zealy
So they tell me what they want in terms of that kind of space, and then I draw the layout form, and they can either approve it or not. They typically approve it and love it. Yeah. It kinda varies. You know?
Alice Zealy
I I some clients, I offer, you know, options, like, 3 different kinds of sinks that, you know, all that fit in their space or lighting or what it whatever it may be, paint, tile, what whatnot. But some of them give us free reign. So, you know, either way, it's fun. I like working with clients, and I also like to have complete creative freedom. So I get a little bit of both worlds.
Alice Zealy
It's great. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
That's that's pretty cool.
Peggy Barthel
And so we've talked in terms of RV or van build out into an RV. I've kind of 2 questions. I'm not sure which way to go first. There you go. The van conversions, you'll take an empty van and turn it fully into, like, an RV.
Peggy Barthel
Have you ever done anything with, uh, like, a box trailer or a cargo trailer and done something like that?
Alice Zealy
I have not, but that's not something I'm afraid of. I mean, I think once you've done the van I mean, vans have curves. You know? So it's that much more complicated framing out a van, getting the panels to curve with the walls of the van, all that good stuff. A box trailer sounds great after that.
Alice Zealy
I'm a be honest with you. There is.
Tony Barthel
There's a huge community of people who like cargo trailer or box trailer conversions. You may or may not be talking to one of them, and it's been kinda my idea to make my own trailer, and I even have plans drawn. However, two things, I have to read the instruction manual to get to know which side of the screwdriver to hold, and my patience and skill level are both a challenge to doing that type of a project.
Peggy Barthel
I'm gonna add 3 thing a third thing. He doesn't like to read, so he doesn't read instructions. So how does he figure out how to
Tony Barthel
use the man. It's against the man code. I've read the instructions on something once.
Alice Zealy
Once. What? Just the once.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. So the other I guess, the other direction I was gonna go was you've done full RVs and you've done RV renovations. Have you I know you have. I know the answer to this, but you have also done renovations where you've turned an RV into not necessarily an RV, more of a workspace or something.
Alice Zealy
Right. So instead of it being a tiny home on wheels for recreational use or a full time family, um, we have done for a nonprofit where we did a dog transport rescue vehicle, which was great because I have 2 fosters and or 2 rescues of my own. I worked with foster groups for years. Um, I've actually participated with the transports, so I know how bad things can be. Um, I've seen dogs have go into labor during transport.
Peggy Barthel
Mhmm. And, you
Alice Zealy
know, you just got kittles stocked stacked on top of each other.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah.
Alice Zealy
So when they brought me their c class, I was really excited about it. Because I was like, okay. I've seen this firsthand. I know what I would want it to look like if it was mine, basically. And so we really turned that into, you know, a haven, basically, for the rescue and for the transport.
Alice Zealy
But also what I kept in mind the whole time I was doing that project was I want this to be somewhere that they could even hold an adoption fair where, you know, they can pull up with their rescue dogs and people can walk in and it feel like, you know, a nice you know, it had light pastel walls and dog footprints on the you know, over the backsplash and just made it look, you know, very presentable and very pretty. And, you know, also the dogs, I hope, appreciate it. So
Tony Barthel
Well, if their tails are wagging, they're out there bragging.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. I was really impressed
Tony Barthel
that as a slogan.
Peggy Barthel
Because I you Thank you. I was trying to figure out the whole layout, and I think maybe what was a bathroom and a shower is now a dog washing tub.
Tony Barthel
Right.
Peggy Barthel
So it's really nice.
Alice Zealy
Thank you. Um, that was one thing that they did. They said, you know, we wanna get rid of the, uh, the shower and tub and that whole area. And I and I kind of took a step back, and I went, well, I've seen some stuff. You're probably gonna want somewhere to wash the dogs just in case.
Peggy Barthel
Oh, yeah.
Alice Zealy
And then I found I found that dog washing bath, and I was like, this is so much better. Let's get rid of the whole setup over here, the shower, everything. And we're gonna put in this cool I mean, it's basically a grooming station. Yeah. Full dog bath.
Alice Zealy
It's nice. That was fun.
Tony Barthel
That's pretty darn cool.
Alice Zealy
Thanks.
Tony Barthel
So what is, like, the time frame? How long does it typically take? And I realize that can vary a lot based on what type of thing you're doing. But if I'm a person with an RV, how much time do you think might take to do stuff and, again, based on what I need done?
Alice Zealy
Sure. So, obviously, it's gonna be based on the scope of work that the client asked for, the size, and the state that it's in. So if it's a bunch of repairs that need to be done before we can even start the renovation, that's obviously ahead of time. Yeah. But all that aside, typically, you know, a face lift, which is, you know, paint flooring not really changing the layout takes about 3 3 months.
Alice Zealy
Um, the in between, I'd say, takes about 6 months, and then a full gut rebuild, 9 plus months. And on the other side with vans, vans are, I would say, a very basic van build can take probably 6 months at the least and then over a year. I mean, I've seen a lot of companies that it's it's a year build for a van. Mhmm. That typically doesn't happen here.
Alice Zealy
We've never we've never taken that long to do one. Even our most extensive van, we took, I think, about 9 months to do. Okay. But just very different things. So yeah.
Tony Barthel
I could see with your partner's business doing hot rods and such. Take a van, put a blower on it, a little bit of nitro. There you go. So not only is it like a cool RV, but it's a quick one.
Peggy Barthel
Right. RV hot rod.
Alice Zealy
Oh, it's funny you say that because we both bought vintage Winnebago's, um, mini Winnies. And I have a I think mine's a 73 and his is a 74 or vice versa. I can't remember. So the idea is that he's gonna turn his into one for his business to roll around with his, you know, brand and logo and everything on it. And mine's gonna be rain to shine, and we're also gonna use it for, like, short weekend getaways and whatnot.
Alice Zealy
Of course, they're both personal projects. So they're very slow going in between clients, but it's funny how different his vision for his camper is versus, you know, I won't mind, like, somewhat pretty and interior designers, you know, whatever. And he's like, let's chrome the outside and mirror polish everything.
Peggy Barthel
Oh, I look forward to seeing those. Yeah. You know, there
Tony Barthel
was Me too. There was someone who hot rodded a Winnebago now that you mentioned it.
Peggy Barthel
Mhmm. And I'm
Tony Barthel
trying to think. I saw, I think, a TikTok video of them on a drag strip. And, like, even with the duals in the back, they're burning rubber with that thing. It was nuts.
Alice Zealy
Yeah. Those things I mean, it's so funny. I bought that. It's been an it's been almost 2 years since I bought it, and we've done some work on it, but it's it doesn't have a roof on it right now. Oh, man.
Alice Zealy
It's the whole thing. Yeah. It's it's in a it's a need for need of a lot of repairs and whatnot. But, um, I had it sitting out in front of our shop and his as well. And without even touching it, I can't tell you, like, once a week, somebody would stop by and offer to buy those things.
Alice Zealy
Yep. They love them. Yeah. You know? Especially being in North Carolina and and, you know, racing country, it's such a great vehicle for those kinds of people because it can pull anything too.
Alice Zealy
Oh, yeah. So they can they can tow anything behind it. I mean, it's yeah. They're they're very sought after in this region for some reason.
Peggy Barthel
I I
Tony Barthel
believe depending on which one it is, it's got a Chrysler 440 in it. And those things Mhmm. That's a bulletproof engine. You can hot rod the
Alice Zealy
heck out
Tony Barthel
of it.
Peggy Barthel
And then you go and camp on the infield and party on the roof while you watch the racing. Absolutely.
Alice Zealy
We'll be in Talladega in, I don't know, 6 weeks. It's October something. Okay. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
October cannot be 6 weeks from now.
Peggy Barthel
It's October 5th. That's fabulous.
Alice Zealy
October 5th is Talladega. So we'll be in the infield for that.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. Alright. So what of all these things that you do, what like, what is the best? What do you love to do the most? Is it, you know, tearing out a dinette and putting in a different table, or is it picking colors, or what is the best part?
Alice Zealy
I think the best part is the end when it all comes together. I mean, honestly. You know, I always have a vision from the get go, um, and it does come each each RV I've done has been totally different. You know, sometimes I pick the tile first and then go have the paint match one of the, you know, shades of the tile. Mhmm.
Peggy Barthel
Um,
Alice Zealy
sometimes I pick the wallpaper first and then have the paint match to that. And sometimes I just pick the paint and hope for the best. So, you know, it's it's it's one of those things. I was just talking to somebody about this the other day. But, you know, I I am a very visual person, and I have this vision.
Alice Zealy
But at the same time, not everything that I envision is out there. So I might see a wallpaper in my head, but then I can never find that wallpaper. So until, you know, I start producing wallpaper, it's just kinda one of those things where it all just has to come together at the end, and that is by far the best part of any renovation. Oh, well, I should say seeing the client's face after it's come together
Peggy Barthel
is the
Alice Zealy
best part.
Tony Barthel
There you go. Especially, I mean, no matter how you describe it and even show illustrations, nothing's like being in the space and, like, wow. This is
Alice Zealy
pretty awesome.
Tony Barthel
Mhmm. Yeah. Your website has, I really like the way you've done it because you have the walk through videos, but you also have a list of products and tools that you use to put this together. And I'm I was really impressed looking at all of that.
Alice Zealy
Thank you. I appreciate it. That kinda came about because I was in a bunch of Facebook groups, RV Facebook groups, and I was sharing some of the work, you know, as I was getting started with with having clients. And that was the thing that I'd get, I don't know, a 100 to 500 people asking. Right.
Alice Zealy
Where'd you get that rug? Where'd you get that wallpaper? How did you do this? You know, whatever. And I just went, I can't I mean, I I wanna answer everybody, but I can't answer 500 people.
Alice Zealy
So I just started putting it on the website, and then I just say, hey. You know, it's on my website. You can find it under this camper, under, you know, at the bottom of the photos, and there's the link. It's all yours.
Peggy Barthel
Take it. I know some people even ask, like, you know, you put something on a command hook, and they're like, oh, how do you buy that? And I'm like, What's a command hook? Bought a command hook? Come on.
Peggy Barthel
Some people want everything done for them.
Alice Zealy
Yeah. It's absolutely true. Yes. I would have to agree.
Tony Barthel
And your website also says you do custom furniture and small space organization?
Alice Zealy
Mhmm. We haven't really other than doing it while we're doing a renovation, you know, obviously, with the vans, we have built slide out benches, slide out beds, um, and we have actually this actually came about because I was trying to find one to buy, and I couldn't find one anywhere where you go on YouTube and you see how to build out of wood these slat benches, basically, you
Tony Barthel
know, to
Alice Zealy
come to come together and then they expand. Not not a futon, just a slat bench. And I was just trying to find one to buy to save some time. Could not find one anywhere. I did find 1 on Pier 1.
Alice Zealy
I ordered it. 6 months later, it still hadn't arrived. Oh, nice. We built one out of steel. That's what we did.
Tony Barthel
Oh, wow.
Alice Zealy
We put it on wheels and built it out of steel. Um, that was very my very first van. So, yeah, I mean, I've built custom furniture and customized the RVs. Like, even my last camper, we put a washer in it. It's a dorm style washer.
Alice Zealy
They didn't need a dryer. You know? I was like, you guys are gonna have to hang clothes out on the line, but it'll be okay. But we built a custom cabinet for that, and it's a lift top because the the washer's top loading. In the entry wall, there was a steam pipe on the backside of the bathroom.
Alice Zealy
And without moving it, which we could have, but that really wasn't in their budget, I just built this little it looks like a little chiminea, basically, around the stink pipe to, you know, make it look like it was intentional. Nice. Which it was.
Tony Barthel
It's a great idea.
Alice Zealy
So, yeah, we can we definitely have the ability to custom build. It's not something that I wanna, like, mass produce things or anything like that. It's more so, like, hey. If you really need this or we're doing a renovation for you, we'll build you something.
Peggy Barthel
Okay.
Alice Zealy
And then I've had people come to me that either won't like staging to sell their own campers or help with organization, you know, all those things and having lived in a camper for for for 4 years and still not filling up all of my storage space. I think I'm getting pretty decent about organizing those things. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Oh, maybe we could hire her for that because if there's a square inch of storage space
Peggy Barthel
We fill it.
Tony Barthel
Then we're filling it. Yeah. In fact
Alice Zealy
And most people do.
Tony Barthel
We just came back from Indiana, and we had to leave our trailer up there. Well, we didn't have to, but we chose to leave it up there. And the volume of stuff in our truck just it still astounds me, and I couldn't look out the back window. So Well,
Peggy Barthel
it I mean, in our our defense or my defense, we plan to do some tent camping while the trailer's in storage. And so things that we need that we don't have 2 of, like sleeping bags and, you know, whatever Sure. We had to pack all that out of the trailer and bring it with us, and then we'll have to take it all back and put it back in the trailer. So the truck wouldn't be nearly as full if you just let me buy 3 of everything.
Alice Zealy
That's Exactly. I I hear you.
Tony Barthel
Well, or if I didn't
Alice Zealy
put I'm with her.
Peggy Barthel
If I
Alice Zealy
didn't put
Tony Barthel
a refrigerator in the back seat.
Peggy Barthel
Well, there's that.
Tony Barthel
So if someone is coming to you and they're like, oh, I have the I see a, you know, 1972 aristocrat on the Internet, and it's for sale. And I think I wanna buy it, but it needs a lot of work. What kind of advice would you give them other than run?
Alice Zealy
Um, inspection. Please. Inspection. Inspection. Inspection.
Alice Zealy
Have a certified inspector look at it, um, with the fixed page checklist or whatever it is that they have, and let me see that when it's complete. And then I can sort of kinda tell you. I mean, I can only ballpark you without putting my own hands on it and seeing it in person. But, yeah, there are times that I've said run.
Peggy Barthel
Mhmm.
Alice Zealy
And in fact, with my my dog rescue clients, um, when I did demo on their camper, we basically rebuilt their entire camper. There was, like, a couple things that were original when we got done.
Peggy Barthel
Mhmm.
Alice Zealy
I called them after I did demo, and I said, okay, guys. Um, I don't know how far you wanna take this, but this is gonna be a lot. And I'm happy to help you find another used camper that's in better shape. But for whatever reason, I think somebody had given them this camper.
Peggy Barthel
Uh,
Alice Zealy
You know, there was probably some other reasons as well, but we ended up rebuilding 98% of that camper.
Tony Barthel
Gosh. Well, so so many times these vintage trailers, nobody ever minds the seals, and there's water damage that's all in the structure and stuff. So
Alice Zealy
Mhmm.
Tony Barthel
A lot I've seen so many times where people, you know, peel off the aluminum siding, and it's like, uh,
Alice Zealy
oh. It's funny that you should say that because, um, that's what I'm doing right now with this vintage camper that I'm working on, and we just we've got, like, 3 videos that we just posted in the last week. That's me taking the railing off, part prying out the staples, and then opening up the siding to see what's underneath. That's exactly what I've been working on for the last week.
Peggy Barthel
Wow. Mhmm.
Tony Barthel
Fun. Fun. Time to break out the Eternabond when you're going
Peggy Barthel
back together. Right.
Alice Zealy
Yep. That
Tony Barthel
what is a butyl tape? Butyl putty.
Alice Zealy
Oh, yes. Thank goodness it's been hot in here because when I took the railings off, the butyl tape scraped right off. Oh, that's true. Never happens. I was like, it must be boiling out here because that was way too easy.
Tony Barthel
I tried to put some on a refrigerator vent in, like, this blazing hot day, and it was like, why am I why am I doing this? I've learned to refrigerate it now.
Alice Zealy
Yes. It's a pain in the butt Yeah. To be honest. Yes.
Tony Barthel
And would you say that a custom renovation, how would you think it affects the value of an RV?
Alice Zealy
You know, there's always gonna be people that go off the Kelley Blue Book or, you know, whatever RV trader says or whatnot. To me, you know, that's not why my clients are coming to me. They're not coming for resale value. Hopefully, they can resell it for at least what they put into it once it leaves me. You know, I hope it's magazine worthy enough that somebody goes, yeah.
Alice Zealy
I'll pay $60,000 for that 2,003 camper or whatever it may be. But you just you you know, that's one of the things. It's like, I've never done a flip. Not that there's anything wrong with that. And, honestly, I'd have complete creative freedom with that.
Alice Zealy
But then you have to find that exact client that wants everything that you've put into it. And I'm one of those people, you know, when I walk into a home, when I walk into anything, there's immediately 5 things I would change. Right?
Peggy Barthel
Sure.
Alice Zealy
So that's what I like about doing it custom for these clients. And when they're coming to me, they're coming to me either going full time. So they're not thinking about resale value. They're thinking, okay. I'm gonna be living in this thing.
Alice Zealy
It's gonna pay for itself in 3 to 5 years. You know? And I have no mortgage, and I have very little overhead and expenses. Let's make it perfect for me. Let's make it functional.
Alice Zealy
Let's make sure that we're comfortable and happy living in this camper. I mean, what's more important than that when when you're gonna be living in a camper? Mhmm. So to me, that's really more important. I mean, that's that's my story.
Alice Zealy
You know? I I bought my camper for $75100. I probably put 25 $1,000 worth of materials, not counting my labor into it, but I have kind of expensive taste. So, you know, I could've done it cheaper. Could've done it a lot cheaper, but it's paid for.
Alice Zealy
And it was paid for basically the 1st year that I had it before I even moved into it. So now my only cost of living is travel and, you know, my shop and, you know, our annual spot at the campground, which ends up being about $500 a month. So I don't really know how you can beat that. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
Right? And you know how to do all the repairs in the camper. And if something happens at the campground, it's it's like, hey, can you fix that?
Alice Zealy
Yeah. Or I just drag it over here to the shop, and then we just Right. Work on it, you know.
Tony Barthel
So any other things you wanna share with our audience from your experience renovating so many campers?
Alice Zealy
I mean, other than, you know, give me a call when you get tired of painting.
Peggy Barthel
No. I'm just kidding.
Alice Zealy
No. I mean, you know, feel free to take a look at my website as you guys have between the the page the media page where I've written for other, um, blogs, DIY RV being one of them, and then my own. I do offer a lot of helpful tips and tricks if you're in a if you're interested in doing your own. And I do offer consulting services if you need help with some custom built furniture or just some guidance. I mean, I've helped, you know, come up with ideas for functional needs where somebody said, hey.
Alice Zealy
We really need a place to store our essential oils, and we can't figure that out. Okay. Tell me what you got. Like, show me your space, and I'll I'll figure something out. I mean, at the end of the day, I think my clientele is gonna be they're gonna be mostly full timers or mobile businesses, um, and then some recreational use as well.
Alice Zealy
It's just gonna be a matter of how much do you love your camper, how much time do you spend in your camper, and how important is is it to you for it to be not only a happy place, but a functional space for you to travel in.
Tony Barthel
Right. Have you found that tiles stick okay in RVs? I would imagine the flats and do you have to do anything?
Alice Zealy
You would think so. So in my my personal camper that we've drugged from here to the Keys and to here to Alabama and all you know, thousands of miles, um, my kitchen, my bathroom backsplash, and floor have never had any issues. And I did that, you know, with all set and grout and real tile. It's all real tile. Now since just recently, about a year ago, I found this company called Muscle Mound, and they do a tile membrane so you don't have to use all set anymore, which is a lot easier and a lot less messy and a lot less weight.
Alice Zealy
And it's basically like a foam wallpaper. So you stick one side up on the wall and it's in strips, and then you pull it off. And once you press that tile in, it's not going anywhere, and then you can grout right over it. It has made the biggest difference. And I did I did the the first time I used it was in a van that I did my second van that I did about a year and a half ago, and he's been traveling all of it down the East Coast and has had no issues.
Alice Zealy
Oh. I'm always worried about it. I'm like, I'm you know, something could happen, obviously.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. But You
Alice Zealy
can have a tile fall out or whatever, but I've used the last band we did, I did the entire shower with real tile, and they've had no issues.
Tony Barthel
That sounds good. And and, again, let me commend you. You have probably the best website I've seen for in this space. It's
Alice Zealy
it's really exceptional
Tony Barthel
in so many ways, and the designs are nice. Yeah.
Alice Zealy
I appreciate that. Oh, thanks.
Tony Barthel
I mean, that's that's kinda the core of all this.
Alice Zealy
Yeah. But the website looks nice because of the photos and whatnot. Yeah. Right?
Tony Barthel
Oh, yeah. I mean, the appearance is there, but the information you share is really it's really outstanding.
Alice Zealy
Thank you. User friendly is very important to me because I get fed up real quick if I go to a website and it's not like ding ding ding. Like, just be user friendly. You know?
Peggy Barthel
So, Alice, tell us how people can find you, and we will also put these things in our show notes. But the people who are driving can can write this down. Right?
Alice Zealy
Well, obviously, my website that we've discussed quite a bit, um, and then everything that I have social wise is linked on that website. I'm on YouTube. I'm on TikTok, um, Instagram, Facebook, all of the above. And I do share a lot of the work in progress, not just the before and afters, not just the results, but even this week, I was cutting out a panel for the exterior of the vintage camper I'm working on and and showing people how to make a pattern and just cut it out, you know, and install it. So I do share some kinda helpful hints there, um, guides through videos, and, yeah, you can find me on almost everything.
Peggy Barthel
And that website is rain to shine ventures and with the number 2, not t o. Right? Yes. Rain to shine ventures.com. Okay.
Peggy Barthel
Yes, ma'am.
Tony Barthel
Well, super. Thank you so much for finding us and for your time.
Alice Zealy
Yeah. Thank you, guys.
Tony Barthel
We look forward to sharing what you've done with our audience.
Alice Zealy
Yep. I appreciate it. I hope they like it. I hope it's good content for you.
Tony Barthel
I can't imagine that they wouldn't. I mean, you really do some first class work. I'm I'm very impressed.
Alice Zealy
Thank you. Yeah. Thank you so much. And I look forward to seeing more of you. Likewise.
Peggy Barthel
Remember that time we followed our GPS and ended up at the top of a cliff overlooking the campground?
Tony Barthel
Yeah. I had to back the trailer down a mountain road.
Peggy Barthel
Remember the time we went on that twisty windy road and hit our awning on a tree?
Tony Barthel
Yeah. I do. But now those kinds of things aren't gonna happen anymore, thanks to RV Trip Wizard.
Peggy Barthel
Right. RV Trip Wizard lets you plan your journeys before you go and then use their app on your phone or tablet to safely navigate that journey.
Tony Barthel
You can set parameters such as how far you wanna travel in a day, how many miles you can go between fuel stops, and even read reviews of the campgrounds and places you wanna go to. It all takes into account the size of your RV and more.
Peggy Barthel
Then you can rest assured that your phone isn't gonna lead you into trouble.
Tony Barthel
If you have an RV, you need RV Trip Wizard. Check it out on your discounts and deals page on stressless camping.com, where you can also listen to our interview with RV Trip Wizard and learn about the whole RV life suite.
Peggy Barthel
Now that's stressless camping.
Tony Barthel
Well, it's right after Labor Day, and some friends of ours were in Key West for the 1 year anniversary of Jimmy Buffett's passing.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah.
Tony Barthel
And it was the pictures were so incredible. And it reminds me that Jimmy Buffett's 8th deadly sin
Peggy Barthel
He's got a song called Bank of Bad Habits, and he says the 8th deadly sin is Pizza. Pizza. However, it can be done without feeling so sinful. And the way that we do that is to make a crust of chicken and cheese. So this is gonna sound very maybe high calorie or high fat or something.
Peggy Barthel
And, you know, we're not keto. We don't follow keto by any means, but we do try to stay low carb. And so one of the ways that we stay low carb and still get pizza is that I make a crust out of ground chicken and cheese.
Tony Barthel
That might sound weird, but, by gosh, it is good. It's really good. It tastes like pizza.
Peggy Barthel
Right. Isn't pizza about the flavor? I mean, yes, pizza is something you can pick up, and that's kind of important to me. And I haven't perfected that crust that I can pick up. It's still a fork pizza, but it's very delicious and we can top it with anything we want.
Peggy Barthel
So basically you make a crust out of chicken and cheese and I use the air fryer, air fry it for a while. Now next time I do it, I'm gonna try after I air fry it because it's on parchment paper so that bottom isn't getting as crispy. I'm gonna flip it over. I'm gonna put the toppings on the part that was touching the paper and maybe then I'll have the bottom crust is so crispy that I'll be able to pick up my pizza. We'll see what happens.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. But the the flavor is there.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. In the meantime, we've got the flavor. We've got the low carb. We've got you could put any toppings you want, any cheese, any veggies, any other meats, but we usually you know, it's made out of chicken. So any sauces, I have been having trouble the past couple years with tomato based things.
Peggy Barthel
So white sauce, creamy sauce. Now I did use a red sauce this time.
Tony Barthel
You made that Alfredo sauce the other day.
Peggy Barthel
We made Alfredo sauce the other day. That's a recipe for later. Good. So you can really play with it. And chicken is so, you know, kind of mild.
Tony Barthel
Tastes like chicken. It tastes
Peggy Barthel
like chicken, but it's kind of a mild flavor that pairs well with a lot of things.
Tony Barthel
Oh, you know what'd be good? As pears on pizza. Oh, sorry.
Peggy Barthel
Oh, okay. Well, we'll try that.
Tony Barthel
The Lake County pizza,
Peggy Barthel
pears and walnuts. Pear and walnut pizza. Anyway, the recipe for the chicken crust pizza is on our website. There, of course, will be a link.
Tony Barthel
In the show notes?
Peggy Barthel
In the show notes. And I hope that you try it if you want to, but if you're not low carb, then by all means eat your pizza.
Tony Barthel
Well, here's here's the thing. So let's say you have the typical RV, which has that lousy small 17 inch oven Yeah. That you mostly cannot cook anything in except pizza. So let's say you bust out the can of chicken that they sell at Costco.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. That's the easiest way to do it.
Tony Barthel
Mix in some I don't I ate the recipe, but I didn't look at the recipe. So you mix in the ingredients, all of which can be stored dry except for the cheese. Right?
Peggy Barthel
Uh, pretty much.
Tony Barthel
So now it's all things you can bring with you. You can cook it in that 17 inch RV oven
Peggy Barthel
Mhmm.
Tony Barthel
And it is a camping recipe in that.
Peggy Barthel
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. So we use the air fry at home because as we have told you before, we don't have an oven in our house. So we have the convection oven. Microwave.
Peggy Barthel
Right. We have the convection microwave, so I could use that. But the air fryer happened to be sitting on the counter, so that's what I use. Maybe next time I'll try it in the convection oven.
Tony Barthel
People are listening going, wait. What? Wait. You don't have an oven, folks?
Peggy Barthel
We're weird. We're weird. We do actually have one. It's just
Tony Barthel
in the garage. Storage garage.
Peggy Barthel
And also, you could put this in a cast iron. That's what I really should have done, put it in cast iron. But maybe I'll do that when we are camping and I have a gas oven that I can use cast iron in because I don't know if I can do that with the convection oven I haven't tried. Anyway, so check it out if you're interested in a low carb delicious pizza. Tell us what you think.
Tony Barthel
Have you ever, you know, you're in your RV and you hear a noise outside and you wonder, you know, like, should I go outside and see if it's, as Josh says, a gas station murder hobo or a bear or raccoons
Peggy Barthel
Or the wind.
Tony Barthel
Or the wind or whatnot. Well, we got a game camera.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah.
Tony Barthel
It's solar powered and it has a battery.
Peggy Barthel
And has Wi Fi.
Tony Barthel
And we thought, wouldn't it be cool to because okay. On our back porch, something So funny. Is depositing all these
Peggy Barthel
Pine cones.
Tony Barthel
Pine cones.
Peggy Barthel
Like, every morning like, every day, Tony can sweep off or blow all the pine cones off of the porch. And in the morning, there's a stash of pine cones. We don't know if it's birds. We don't know if it's little rodents of some sort. We don't know what's doing it.
Peggy Barthel
And I have been just itching to find out. So I said, you know what? We can make great use out of a night vision motion detection game camera. So we got 1, and we're playing it today.
Tony Barthel
Back porch. But we thought, wouldn't this be cool to hang outside your RV? Right. Because it has, like, a strap that you can put around a tree or your bumper or what you know, whatever is convenient.
Peggy Barthel
Mhmm.
Tony Barthel
And you can see what's going on outside your RV without having to look out the window. Right. And it can capture video too. So if it's like, ah, look. There's deer that came to the campsite or whatever.
Peggy Barthel
Fun to watch.
Tony Barthel
It's kinda fun to watch.
Peggy Barthel
Or if it's a bear, then you know not to open it. Don't open the door
Tony Barthel
or a gas station murderer.
Peggy Barthel
Or gas station murderer.
Tony Barthel
It's a solution for, hey. I wanna see what's going on outside my camper without going on outside my
Alice Zealy
camper. Right.
Tony Barthel
We'll put a link to where we bought it on Amazon in our show notes.
Peggy Barthel
In the show notes. Show notes. Show notes. Show notes. Show notes.
Peggy Barthel
Last week, I asked this question of the week.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Boy.
Peggy Barthel
How do you deal with misbehaving campers?
Tony Barthel
Well, here's the good news. There weren't a whole lot of responses.
Alice Zealy
There were
Peggy Barthel
not a whole lot of responses. Now I don't know if it's because you guys do illegal things and don't wanna tell us about it. Just kidding. I hope. But anyway, I have seen this conversation a bunch of times in a bunch of forums or Facebook discussions or whatever.
Peggy Barthel
And I've seen answers everywhere from you got wheels, go away, you know, leave. Now if you're in some kind of seasonal situation, that probably won't work. Ignore them. To a certain extent, I will I will ignore way I I'm way more tolerant, and it's not that I'm tolerant. I'm just so anti confrontational that I will ignore as long as I can.
Peggy Barthel
Uh, maybe speak to the camp host. Maybe be a tattletale, but then let them be the bad guy who goes and tells those people that they need to put their dog on a leash or they need to clean up after themselves or they need to turn the music down or it's after noise hours or whatever. Right?
Tony Barthel
Or generator hours, stop it.
Peggy Barthel
Generator hours. Some people suggest various degrees of revenge. No. For example, if someone's up partying too late, you might get up and start your generator super early, again, if that's allowed. Absolutely.
Peggy Barthel
You know, I don't know. Very passive aggressive, not really my style, but it happens. Uh, what else? Also politely speaking to these neighbors that are causing you trouble. Now here's the sticky part about that in my opinion.
Peggy Barthel
You might go next door and say, hey, neighbor. I hope you're having a good time camping. Your music was up very loud, and I had a hard time sleeping last night. And your neighbor might say, oh, gosh. I'm so sorry.
Peggy Barthel
I did not realize it was that loud. I will be better. Or your neighbor might look at you and say, beep beep beep beep beep beep. If they're that kind of person, then they're angry at you, and then they're gonna get worse. And you never know.
Peggy Barthel
Right? You never know what's gonna happen if you confront them, even if you're as sweet as pie.
Tony Barthel
The the good thing is we're camping, and people tend to be pretty cool because they're on vacation. That's been our experience. We have had some people, I'll weigh in on the topic, on the forum, so that's your incentive to go and look at it and participate. It's a Facebook group, so it's the Stresses Campers Facebook group. We've had some interesting interactions with people, particularly at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.
Tony Barthel
But anyway
Alice Zealy
Well, yeah.
Peggy Barthel
And what you said about vacations, you know, some people only get 3 times a year to go out and
Tony Barthel
A thief and
Peggy Barthel
let loose. So sometimes letting loose is different for some some people wanna go and quietly read a book. Some people wanna go and party and get all that out. Right? And so, you know, everybody has to kind of work together.
Peggy Barthel
Anyway, I hope that you don't have too many problems ever when you're in your travels or when you're camping. I hope this is not something that you have to deal with, and you'll never have an answer to this question. Some people
Tony Barthel
gotta cut loose, foot loose, kick off their
Peggy Barthel
semi shoes. Okay. Well, for this week, our question is, will you be snowboarding this year? I almost said snowboarding. Well, you Because, honestly, every time I wrote it on the notes, it autocorrected to snowboarding.
Peggy Barthel
So, uh, okay. Will you be snowboarding or snowboarding? Yeah. Right. Are you gonna stay where it's cold, or are you gonna go somewhere that it's warm?
Peggy Barthel
Are you able to travel and get away from the cold? Or maybe you'll live somewhere that you don't have to. But that is our question for this week.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. As Jimmy Buffett said, I wanna go where it's warm. Or the weather suits
Peggy Barthel
my clothes. Yep.
Tony Barthel
Well, you can answer that question or ask your own at the Stressless Campers Facebook group.
Peggy Barthel
You can also have our free weekly newsletter by signing up on any page of the website. By the way, if you have already responded from last week saying that you wanted to win the
Tony Barthel
TST tire pressure monitor.
Peggy Barthel
TST tire pressure monitor, you will we're not gonna say it because it's not Wednesday at 3 and that's when we're gonna Yeah.
Tony Barthel
We'll do it.
Peggy Barthel
John, I know.
Tony Barthel
We're recording this on Tuesday.
Peggy Barthel
Right. If you did respond and you wanna know if you won, make sure you read the newsletter this week. Yeah.
Tony Barthel
There's been a lot of responses, so thank you.
Peggy Barthel
Yes. Thank you.
Tony Barthel
The way to sign up for our newsletter is visit any page on our home on the web at stresses camping.com, and at the bottom of all the pages is a newsletter sign up form. Know that we only send one email per week, period. We try to have links to information and things that will help you including our own stuff, but some other people's stuff too.
Peggy Barthel
Yeah. Sometimes we see stories or videos or podcasts that we think are very helpful that we haven't covered, and so we share those as well.
Tony Barthel
Like Josh's industry up
Peggy Barthel
Josh's industry update. Oh, okay. That's right.
Tony Barthel
And where will I find these show notes for this episode that we've been babbling on?
Peggy Barthel
You have said show notes so many times, and this is episode Show Show note. 271. You can go to the podcast page and look for episode number 271, and on that page will be the show notes with links to all these things that we've been talking about.
Tony Barthel
And don't forget, we've got some great discounts and deals on the best deals that things you'll need for your stressless camping RV adventure. And if you've got a great deal for our audience, let us know. We, uh, we put things there that we like, that we use, and we're always happy to offer a discount like, uh, the RV life that we had mentioned earlier. Yeah. We have a discount for RV life and an extended trial period.
Tony Barthel
So Yeah. Things like that are pretty awesome.
Peggy Barthel
And, of course, we're in all those social places. Places. Oh, yeah. So if you start at stressless camping.com, you can jump off to
Tony Barthel
all the
Peggy Barthel
places. I quit trying to name them because they change their names and I get confused.
Tony Barthel
Waste so much time together.
Peggy Barthel
Oh, please. And if you don't wanna miss a future episode of the Stressless Camping podcast It's free. It's free to subscribe on any podcast catcher, and we are saving you a seat around our virtual campfire.
Tony Barthel
Yep. Oh, hey. And a review will help others find this podcast, and that means more listeners, more new listeners, and and that means we can continue to get really great discounts. We did get a review this week that was a 4 star review, not 5 star. That review said that it's difficult to hear you talking over the music.
Tony Barthel
And we don't put music throughout the whole podcast, but we do have it at the beginning and end. So we'll definitely look we we appreciate the input Absolutely. Very, very much, and thank you for taking your time to share. And we will actually look at that and see how we can make it better.
Peggy Barthel
Yes.
Tony Barthel
So thank you.
Peggy Barthel
And if you have already written a review and you still wanna help, another great way to help us is by sharing content. You can share from our Facebook post, you can share from our website, and if you're not sure how to do that, we have a page on our website that tells you how. Specific
Tony Barthel
page on
Alice Zealy
how to share.
Peggy Barthel
And it will explain how to share posts. Sometimes it's as easy as copy the link and paste it into Facebook or whatever.
Tony Barthel
Yeah. Yeah. There you go.
Peggy Barthel
Or an email and tell everyone you know.
Tony Barthel
Well, it's good because we try to have vetted information. Yeah. So if there's a question that you're seeing a lot in a Facebook group and you're like, well, what is the actual answer? You can often find it at stressescamping.com and share it from there. And then it's like, oh, this is here's the actual information on this because we try to get our information from vetted reliable sources.
Peggy Barthel
Absolutely.
Tony Barthel
Sometimes that's us, but more often it's people who actually know what they talk about. So with that, we really appreciate you being here. Again, 271 times, my word. Thank you so so much. It's after some of the school start.
Tony Barthel
The weather is perfect, So we hope that you are enjoying some
Alice Zealy
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.
Alice Zealy
But if you need serious help, just reach out to me.
