This week on the StressLess Camping RV podcast we welcome back our friends Marc and Julie Bennett from RV Love. Marc and Julie are celebrating ten years of RV Love and have some interesting takes on the changes they’ve seen in the past decade, how they created a successful presence and we even talk about the two books they’ve written.

We also have a nifty gadget and an RV that’s changed so much it’s shocking.

Other places to hear the podcast

Mentioned on this episode

Our guests this week are Marc and Julie Bennett from RVLove

We started talking about the incredible authors we have had as guests - see the full list of RV authors here.

Our friends Mickey and Michael did a review of the IceMule Cooler - check it out.

Tony wrote a review of a very stylish new travel trailer from Wildwood/Salem. Read it here.

We also have a discount on Harvest Hosts - check it out.

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 264

Peggy Barthel

This week on the Stressless Camping RV podcast, we welcome back our friends Mark and Julie Bennett from RV Love.

Tony Barthel

Mark and Julie are celebrating 10 years of RV love and have some interesting takes on the changes they've seen in the past decade, how they created a successful presence. And we even talk about the two books that they've written.

Peggy Barthel

We also have a nifty gadget and an RV that's changed so much. It's shocking.

Tony Barthel

Shocking. I'm Tony. I'm Peggy. And we're two RV industry veterans who travel part-time

Peggy Barthel

In a small trailer sometimes

Tony Barthel

Looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips, tricks and discounts. Oh, and speaking of the small trailer, the sidewall repair is finished. The

Peggy Barthel

Trailer's ready for us now when we're ready for it. <laugh>.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. Now we have to go back to Indiana and get it. Yeah. And another funny thing, so a few weeks ago we were on our back deck, which is where we talked about the portable power station. We were outside there. It was so nice. Then it got a little warmer. We moved, we have a screen room, <affirmative>, and you may have noticed that we moved to this screen room and <laugh> this week. We're like, oh, forget all that. We're not where the air conditioner is <laugh>. It's so hot

Peggy Barthel

Here. So our background will change often. Yeah. He could have faked it and made it change.

Tony Barthel

I actually could have,

Peggy Barthel

Or he could fake it and make it all look the same. And we could have skipped this whole part, but we're not going to because that's real life.

Tony Barthel

That's right. <laugh>, by the way, speaking of hot, I know it's bloody hot in parts of the country. Yeah. Where you may be. There's been, you know, hurricane Barrel and boy, I just hope everyone's out there staying safe. We had some friends who were avoiding tornadoes the past few days. Yeah. It's just blah. It's been so weird. We need to hire new weather people. Right?

Peggy Barthel

Yeah. 'cause

Tony Barthel

These people aren't doing a good job, eh.

Peggy Barthel

Anyway. Anyway, so Tony mentioned Mark and Julie's two books, and we will talk with Mark and Julie in a moment and talk about their books in addition. But we wanted to remind you that we obviously love books and authors because we have had quite a few authors as guests on of our podcast. And rather than list them all, we are going to put a link in the show notes. It's a blog post where we mention all of the authors that have been on the podcast and links to all those podcast episodes.

Peggy Barthel

So you can really get deep into the weeds there. We just wanna thank again, mark and Julian, all of the authors that have joined us, because their books have been fantastic.

Tony Barthel

The common thread here, since this is a podcast about RVing Well sure. Is that they're RVs too,

Peggy Barthel

So, right, right. Absolutely. Yeah. All of these authors are RVs. Many of the books are about RVing. Some are fiction. Some are fiction about RV-ing, <laugh> <laugh>. We got a whole, we run the whole gamut. So anyway, check that out. And happy reading <laugh>. Yeah,

Tony Barthel

Well you can bring physical books with you camping. Of course. That's

Peggy Barthel

Right. Obviously when you're, when you're going to beat the heat.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. Bring your iPad or whatever you like to read on. Yeah. For those of you watching on video, I know some of you are watching on a TV or you know, something like a TV. And so I'll also drop a QR code where you can just scan it and get, I always say look at the show notes, but I'm also putting QR codes when we talk about a point of reference.

Peggy Barthel

It might not be convenient right now to look at the show notes,

Tony Barthel

Trying to make it easy, breezy, lemon peasy.

Peggy Barthel

That's right. And if there was a different way that you wish we would show you, tell you help you find those places, let us know and we'll work on doing that too. Yeah, whatever you need.

Tony Barthel

Yeah, we're easy. Like Sunday morning <laugh> easy, like Sunday morning.

Peggy Barthel

Oh boy. Okay. We better move on right away. Yes, we should. <laugh>

Peggy Barthel

Those Harvest Host ads are so much fun. <laugh>, they have a few different ones. I'm trying to mix it up and and put in different ones. If you are hearing it, I try to only select the ones that kind of make sense why you're hearing. But if you have the opportunity to watch the Harvest Host ads, they're pretty fun to watch too. But you get the gist of what's going on. I love that they're a little slightly irreverent sounding, but they always turn it into, it's all about RV-ing <laugh>. Right.

Tony Barthel

And we are, you know, we're huge fans of Harvest Host. I mean, we use the heck outta them. That's one of the reasons we have the RV that we have. Yes. With all the solar and lithium and all that. And we also do have a discount if you're planning to join Harvest Host. Yes. That's in our show notes. Or if you're watching this on video, there's another QR code for you <laugh>. And if you have any questions about Harvest hosts, we you feel free to ask it in our Stresses campers Facebook group. Yeah. I mean, that's

Peggy Barthel

A good place to ask questions. Yeah. And thanks Brian for keeping that conversations in that group going. Yeah,

Tony Barthel

He's pretty good about

Peggy Barthel

It. He's like, he's like me like every week. Like, what can I ask now? <laugh> <laugh>. So let's move on to Mark and Julie. 'cause we had a great conversation with them and here they are. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

We are here with OGs of the RV content world. Mark and Julie Bennett from RV Love. And they're OGs because they're celebrating an anniversary this year. So welcome.

Marc Bennett

We're excited to be here. Tony, Peggy, thanks for having

Tony Barthel

Us. Absolutely. How long have you been doing this RV lifestyle content? What we all do <laugh>.

Julie Bennett

We've just celebrated 10 years. Nice. Of RVing in, we started, we actually hit the road on Friday the 13th in June of 2020. Nothing went wrong when went bad. We just stayed local, what did I say? 2020 <laugh> 2014. And we just stayed local for a couple of nights and getting our, you know, getting ourselves settled in. And then we took off and headed west and started our big adventures. And

Tony Barthel

You did so while sharing what you do with the world, which was pretty unusual back then. No.

Julie Bennett

Yeah. And you know what's funny is that we didn't feel sharing it with the world. We were just sharing with friends and family. Right. You know, it's always funny when people call us OGs. I, I gotta admit something embarrassing. I actually had to Google it and look up what that means.

Peggy Barthel

<laugh>.

Julie Bennett

Like what does that mean? Yeah. When's an og? We just started, actually we did, did a few blog posts before we even hit the road. I wish we'd done more. I wish we'd done more to document the process of the down. And we used the winter before we took off to, to use that time to clear out things in the house and into the garage and get ready for a yard sale in the spring and, and just get used to living with less, like in the kitchen, like anyone that knows me, you guys, we, you know, I'm small. I'm less than five feet tall.

Julie Bennett

And so we put all the things that we didn't think we'd need in the oven up on the top shelves in the kitchen <laugh>. So if I needed it, I could get it with the stepladder. But if I, then I just got, you know, used to less. But I think I wish we'd recorded more of that in the early stages. But we just started sharing with friends and family. And I remember for some reason, I think I must have just gone through and added all my friends and family, our friends and family onto was like 70 people and grown in all that time. It's, it is crazy. It's to crazy to how many people would reach now.

Julie Bennett

It just started out as a little, little hobby block. Yeah.

Marc Bennett

To the point, you know, and there were a handful of people before us. Yes. But you know, that's why people still consider us OGs. But, but after, my goodness now there's so many now thousands of people out there that do that. And, but it's been amazing to watch that change over the years. You know, it's just,

Julie Bennett

And how technology like the, it's so much easier now. It's just, we do it with your cell phone <affirmative>, you know, and just capture it. In fact, we do pretty much all of our video and photography now on our

Marc Bennett

Smartphones. Yeah. And I do want to comment too on Julie with the friends and family thing and the videos, just because I was a little slow on the take up on this because I was, you know, Jill would film videos and me and then she'd post 'em. It was the weirdest thing. I was probably six months into the travels or so and I was at a campground and says, Hey Mark. I'm like, hi. He's like, well don't you don't know me, but I know you. I'm like, well how does that work? Because I watch your videos. I'm like, oh my gosh. Those videos that Julie films, she puts them public.

Julie Bennett

It just watch YouTube guys.

Marc Bennett

Yeah. And it was just really funny to think that first time it happened. Obviously it happened a lot more times after that. But it was, that first time was really a shock to me 'cause I just wasn't putting it together that those public videos, someday someone would see me in person.

Peggy Barthel

We still love it when it happens though. <laugh>. Well, except when Tony's having a hissy fit and it happens and then he is very embarrassed. It's

Tony Barthel

Only happened at once, but

Julie Bennett

Especially when you're Stressless.

Peggy Barthel

That only has happened once very not too long ago. But

Tony Barthel

I was not experiencing Stressless

Julie Bennett

Campaign. Have an al Alter you go channel called Hissy fit care people.

Tony Barthel

Oh man. Just, you

Julie Bennett

Know, all the things like that would be fun. People would, would tune into that.

Peggy Barthel

Yes.

Tony Barthel

We have a friend Brian who insists that we should do the uncensored version of

Peggy Barthel

Stress camp. Yeah. He would love that. <laugh>.

Julie Bennett

People would love that actually. They would love that.

Tony Barthel

If there were a sensor, they would wear out the button.

Peggy Barthel

<laugh>

Tony Barthel

Shut me up with the word, the words they know. I can imagine the barrier to entry at that time. I mean, just uploading content, recording all of that. The changes remarkable.

Julie Bennett

It is like, I think back now started out, you know, I started just with the blog and, and Mark had a full-time job when we started a remote role. I was in between jobs. I had just been laid off from a company I worked for that had closed their offices. And so rather than look for a new job, why don't we just go travel and you can start getting back to what I used to do, which was all marketing and writing related content. And, but it's a whole new world learning how to make videos and publish in the YouTube and the blog. And so it was a good opportunity for me experiment and giddy pig myself.

Julie Bennett

So I really learned as I went with so much of this stuff, I was self-taught with all of the how to make videos and editing. And I see so many of these channels come in now that just really know what they're doing.

Julie Bennett

'cause there's so many great channels out there that how to do it Right. Didn't have that when we started. Or if they did, I didn't go looking for them or I didn't find them. So it was very much trial and error, probably doing things a lot slower and a lot less efficiently than I could. But I was really kind of immersing and learning and growing with it all. Now. I mean just even social media's changed so much. There was no TikTok back then. I don't even think Instagram was really a thing back then. I think it was around. But I, we didn't even start an Avi Love Instagram. I think at least a year in after all of the other platforms.

Julie Bennett

Yeah. It was kind of happened gradually, but just learning all of that. And we did get to one point we, it just overwhelming like having recording on my cell phone and on the GoPro and on the drone and then on the actual video camera and then a little point and shoot camera and then some was on Mark's camera.

Julie Bennett

And this whole overload of all of the sim cards and downloading it all and organizing it all was just it. It just got to the point where I thought this is kind of defeating the purpose of why would we do what we do. Right. And I remember there was one couple we saw going on a big trip in a picture they shared on social media a picture of all of their equipment. It was like a hundred pounds of equipment. And I just said to my we, that is not us. We're not doing that. I said, cell phones are so good now. I said, we're not being big YouTubers. And you know what, a lot of people now actually prefer more homegrown stuff and less overproduced because it feels more natural and authentic.

Julie Bennett

Sure. And I really wanted the iPhone 11 pro and Mark's like, well, you know, they're over a thousand dollars. And I said, I'm gonna sell all this other stuff because we like traveling. We'd also just come back from Australia. And I think, and I said, I wanna be able to take whatever my gear is just with me without needing a whole other suitcase of gear. And that's when it just downsize and simplified. And I don't think anyone's complained about the quality of our content with doing that <affirmative>. So yeah. It just makes life easier.

Tony Barthel

You and I share that. We're both really writers at heart more than anything. Exactly.

Julie Bennett

Did

Tony Barthel

That end, you've written two books too?

Marc Bennett

Yes. We both prefer the writing in the blog over videos anyways, because videos can cause a problem. But yes, that's one of the reasons we shifted more and more in bigger content. And that's what transitioned into books. And

Julie Bennett

In fact, Saturday was the three year anniversary of RB Hacks second being published. That was our second book. Oh, I love that book. We had just moved into our new home base in 2020 when our publisher reached out and said, we are ready for you to write another book. And we're like, oh, we've just moved into a house and we're, we don't have any furniture. And we're, we're actually honestly emotionally adjust to the change. Having been full-timers for six and 40 years and we were not planning on stopping, we were not planning on buying a house at what, 48 hours

Marc Bennett

In our first book Living the RV Life. We actually said in that book, we will RV full-time in another country before we buy a sticks and brick. But we

Julie Bennett

Were wrong.

Marc Bennett

You know, six,

Julie Bennett

Don't believe everything you read little over,

Marc Bennett

A little over six years in. We just, we fell in love with an area and decided to have a home base.

Julie Bennett

And we still traveled a lot though. Well it was covid. It was 2020 kind of year that I think we'd never before thought about. We are tired of our being. We're stood up full timing as Mark said, we would've IED in another country <affirmative> first. But then when Covid happened, I think it, what that really did for us anyway was realize, gosh, we're really more vulnerable than we thought. And even though it all worked out okay in the sense that, you know, Avi has found a way to navigate that, it wasn't without its challenges.

Julie Bennett

We realized that we were actually craving slowing down. 'cause as you guys know, when you work from the road and you're trying to travel and create content and publish that and then communicate with your community and explore and enjoy an area, it's hard to do it all and balance it all. I think a lot of people think we're just out exploring and adventuring all the time. But a lot more time is spent inside working often than exploring. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. That's something that we've kind of joked about is we go to the most beautiful places and sit in our RVs sta at the computer <laugh>.

Marc Bennett

Yes. But at least you still can get out there right after work. You know, like I tell people all the time, you know, when we hit the road in 2014, I had a job had only two weeks a year of six time and vacation time combined. Wow. And I had the most in the company. I've negotiated for that. Most people only had one week. But I, to be able to maximize that time, that's what the RVing was so good. We could go and stay at the Grand Canyon or somewhere very special. And then as soon as I get off work, or maybe even clock off work a little early some days if there's something extra special.

Marc Bennett

But I can literally walk out the door and be at the location, normal lifestyle. If I wanted to go to the Grand Canyon and living in Colorado, I would've been a long drive. Two days

Julie Bennett

Would've to be

Marc Bennett

Like a four day event to do that. Yeah. And I could just go right after work. And so,

Julie Bennett

So and of course in summer with daylight savings, your days are so much longer <affirmative>.

Tony Barthel

Yeah, that's for

Marc Bennett

Sure. You could get two days outta one especially. 'cause I was working for a central time zone company and I was, when we'd be in California, I'd have to start early, but I'd be off work really early. Yeah. Three o'clock in the afternoon and the sun didn't go down until nine, six hours to go and explore. So yeah, you still get a lot more life out of it, even though I do get your joke for sure that we go to beautiful places and sit inside our RV working,

Julie Bennett

You know, I think it's also, it's the weather, right? So we just spent actually, even though we have a home base now, we just came back from only in early May from five months away with our latest rv, which is a, for anyone that may not be able, might not have caught up with what RV we're right now in a fifth wheel. And we took that down to California, Arizona for the winter, went across New Mexico, missed you guys though across to Texas and then back up to Colorado. But that was, that was because the solar totals stayed out longer than usual.

Julie Bennett

But just, even though the days were still shorter because it's winter, it's Arizona. So when you are done with work or even not done with work, just at lunchtime having a lunch break and going out for a walk, you're always, we are not shoveling snow. We're not, we're not having to get, you know, snow out of the paws of the dog after a walk.

Tony Barthel

<laugh>. You just had

Julie Bennett

Really great summary weather. So I think we got really spoiled as full-time as, as snowbirds give you so much more life in your life when you can spend that winter time down in more temporary weather <affirmative>. Yeah. So we still like to do that.

Tony Barthel

Oh yeah. And where you can take better advantage of solar systems too, which is another area. Yes. Where you, you were both very ahead of the curve. Yeah.

Julie Bennett

We were trailblazers by any stretch of the imagination. But we were I think among the earlier where it was becoming more com 2018 is when we got first off grid system. Well that first, yeah. We had a little portable panel I think on our first survey that, what was a little 100 watt or something. 200 watt folding. We still have that thing actually. But to actually get a whole battery and solar installed on our class a motor home, that really changed the game for us. We could Yeah. Glad you to really discover a whole new way of the lifestyle. Yeah.

Marc Bennett

Yeah. So that was a big thing back then in 2018 there weren't as many people with the big systems. And ironic, you know, a 600 amp hour at 12 volt lithium system with a thousand watts of solar back then was big. And now we see people with

Julie Bennett

600

Marc Bennett

Amps. 600 amps in a van, you know, and I

Julie Bennett

Trying to power a small city. So <laugh> <laugh> amazing what you can do with these systems. So with our system, we actually, if anyone might remember, we had bought a 20-year-old motor home class, A 90 99 country coach. It was nice and very residential, but it was kind of dated and we wanted to up, up, did a full RV makeover over, gosh, what was it? Three and a half weeks. And we had a team of friends helping us do it. But we powered that whole makeover from the RV off the grid. We could have plugged in, we were parked on our friends in Oregon, but we had just got our system installed.

Julie Bennett

We going, let's just test it out. Let's see what we can do with it. <laugh>. And we were in summer, we had the optimal conditions to get maximum sunshine in the days, but it was fantastic.

Julie Bennett

We had the residential fridge, Insta Pop. Mark was making pancakes, we, we were running tile cutters and table saws and what else, Hannah, every, all the recharging, all your batteries on his royal tools. And so that was cool. I think that wasn't just cool that we did have makeover on an old coach and made this old girl a bit of a glamping machine, really home and office. But with our videos, we always tried to keep our content evergreen. So for example, we did a one back in 2017, we flew to Indiana and we did something like 14 factory tours in Oh gosh, 10 days.

Julie Bennett

I

Tony Barthel

Remember that.

Julie Bennett

Yeah. Oh, that one. That got a lot of comments. People didn't like what we said because we said the truth. And it's not what people wanted to hear <laugh>, we didn't tell 'em what they wanted to hear. Yeah. But we did have a lot of industry veterans and experience people saying, validating what we said, this is absolutely true what you're saying. But people got really mad because we didn't say this is the best RV brand and you should get this because Yeah, as you know, tiny, you do so many fantastic reviews. You're so experienced in this space. What is your answer? What is the best brand of rv? You can't, there's so many.

Tony Barthel

I mean,

Julie Bennett

And there are so many

Marc Bennett

Know too much about the person asking the question. Right. That's

Julie Bennett

True. But not only that, it's not like going to a dealership and buying a Toyota or a Ford or a Honda or a Mazda. It's not like that. There are so many different types of RVs and different levels and models underneath each brand <affirmative>. And they, they're all suit different purposes and different price points. But it's hard. I understand that it's overwhelming for people to the decision making. So they want somebody that they trust to give them an answer that you can say, if I go by this then I know I'll be fine and I won't have any problems. But we all know that every other, you still have to take responsibility for your experience and how well you take care of it.

Julie Bennett

That's a big factor. Yeah. In the rv. Because I think because we both have, you know, a long background in coaching and we work one-on-one with people that you really need to understand the person and their goals and their needs, right.

Julie Bennett

And to be able to ask the questions behind the questions and and what, what they don't even know they don't know. And to be able to have a good sense of people, to be able to get a sense of what they might enjoy. And then we get them to validate that and then we can give some more specific recommendations. But it's very, to me, dangerous doing that for us anyway when it's, it's very broad. 'cause what's great for one person is not necessarily going to be for another and it's a big investment. It is not just the purchase everything, all the related costs of ownership.

Peggy Barthel

I think that's what made Tony good in sales when he worked at the dealership was people would come in and okay, I wanna look at a rig. Okay, well let's talk about how you're gonna use it and how often you're gonna use it and how many kids you have with you. And, and

Tony Barthel

I can't tell you how many people I talked, especially grandparents talked out of buying bunk houses. They're like, oh my grandkids are gonna, older grandkids

Peggy Barthel

Are gonna come all the

Tony Barthel

Time. They're 13 and 14. I hate, no they're

Peggy Barthel

Not. Hate to tell you

Tony Barthel

<laugh>, they're never going with you <laugh> maybe once. They

Julie Bennett

Might come once or twice. But you know what, I just think set up a tent on your camp. Exactly. And then they'll really have fun. You know, they can go and 10 10 camp out there. We'll get a blow up mattress on the floor. But you know, some kids can just sleep on the couch. But I agree with you. It's just such a a, a waste. It's like when we, people say, well I have to keep my rear under 32 feet so I can get into all the national parks. I'm like, well it's not always that easy to get into all the national parks <affirmative>. And even if you can do you need the internet to work now Star link's changed the game for that of course.

Julie Bennett

Right. But that was always a big challenge is we didn't stay in the National parks much because we needed solid internet connectivity from much job.

Julie Bennett

Right. So that we stayed in camp private campgrounds outside the parks. Right. Driving there. And then we would take like a Friday off and go and have a like a three day weekend inside the park where it didn't, cellular coverage didn't matter. But that's how we did it. You know, other people have different priorities and you know, I think if you're, is it what, 62 you can get the, the national park pass, the Forever Pass <affirmative>. I think that's awesome. I think you're getting 50% off your national park camping then. Then I would probably do it a lot more because then the internet connectivity is not as high.

Tony Barthel

Right. And in 20 years when we approach that we, we can get one of those. All of us. That's right.

Julie Bennett

If they still have them by the time we all get there, Tony, they may have phased them out by then. We dunno. Yeah, it's definitely fun to look back and reflect on how, how things have changed <affirmative> and then the technologies. But I think a lot of things are very similar in that buying an RV and and how you plan to use it is still just a very uniquely individual decision. And I think it's great that there are so many other, you know, bogs and YouTubes and things out there for people to learn from. There's a lot more now than when we started. We had some great people to learn from.

Julie Bennett

We learned from techno madia, Avi Gees love your rv, Nina from Wheeling, they were big names Gone with the wind. You know Jason Nikki, so Oh yeah, yeah. They were kind of like the big five that we really learned from.

Julie Bennett

But now there are hundreds, I don't know, maybe thousands of channels. But I think one of the challenges for people now is now there's information overloaded too much. How do you discern and how do you know what to trust? And I think sometimes people just like a personality of someone and then they'll follow those decisions, which to me is concerning because, not that you shouldn't like people's personalities, but just because that r's right for them doesn't mean it's right for you. Right. And also a lot of people have brand deals so you dunno why, you know there's that as well. Which is why we've kind of always stayed away from that really.

Julie Bennett

Because we wanted it to be really, really independent opinions.

Tony Barthel

I'm finding that the more channels out there, there's also a good amount of misinformation.

Peggy Barthel

Yes.

Julie Bennett

A lot <affirmative>, some industry I believe has done some research on that. And don't quote me on these figures. I believe there was something like 70, 60% of information is, you know, inaccurate or misleading <affirmative>. And this 30% is actually downright dangerous. Yeah.

Peggy Barthel

Someone showed me a link to a website, I don't remember what it is so I can't call anyone out, but they said that Forest River is owned by Thor. And I said no, that is not true. Well here's the link where I found it. Here's a screenshot where it said it. And I went to that link. Well I didn't use the link, I went to that website and it didn't say that. So I don't know if she had a screenshot and then they corrected it or Yeah, I don't know what happened. They

Julie Bennett

Just believe anything. And even ai, which is cha, this is what's changing a lot in our world too, is AI and you know, you can just go and do a Google search, you know, what are the best RV brands for a full time Is I, sometimes I do that out of interest and I look at that list, I'm like, I wouldn't buy any of those. <laugh> <laugh>.

Julie Bennett

And then I'm like, well who the heck wrote this article? Right. And then a lot of the time articles are not written by people that have their name to it. They'll be an article. But there it's, and they're limits. It doesn't have an actual trusted experience source. And I think as individuals, you know, for all of us in everything, not just our being, we need to learn to discern better <affirmative> and ask the questions and to to you know, verify the information that we're finding in ai. Not to try blindly trust that. I think it's a great tool and we can use it to do things, you know, well and brainstorm to get some ideas or to improve how you've written something or get some cool different headline ideas and inspiration for example.

Julie Bennett

But if you ask AI for an answer, unless you know the answer, how are you gonna know if it's accurate? Yes, for sure. That's right. And so I've seen some answers that I just think, well that that's just perpetuating more and more of the bad information now <affirmative> unfortunately <affirmative>.

Tony Barthel

And so moving forward since, since you had, we had talked about your being earlier adopters of solar and lithium, you are moving forward to break down barriers even further. Yeah, at this point,

Marc Bennett

As Julie mentioned earlier, we had that really fun project where we did the RV remodel all off grid with the rv. And so we are going, we've got another fun project we're doing right now. We're gonna take it up a notch and use the RV as a base to actually build a small home.

Julie Bennett

And just, just to add, add a little bit of context to that with our fifth wheel, we've owned it since the end of September and we've been traveling, we haven't, it's all been campgrounds because we didn't have a robust off grid system. Oh right. But now we've just installed some new batteries and coming this week, some solar panels. So by the end of the week hopefully we'll have our whole new off-grid system dolled in on the fifth wheel and we're going to christen it with a big project. Yeah.

Marc Bennett

But you know, a lot of people, when they do a construction project, they have a little porta potty or something, we'll have an RV that often can have the bathroom, I can have the refrigerator, a microwave.

Julie Bennett

We can even run the AC for a little short periods of time because of course it's right in the middle of summer here. So yeah, Mark's a, for anyone that doesn't know Mark's got a background in construction, he's a very handy guy, loves building things. Did a great job on the CC makeover. I got him to do a few little renovation projects in the fifth wheel that I, I haven't yet to share. But you know, he's just been really wanting to do more of that hands-on work. And again, a very serendipitous opportunity crossed our path. And we bought a little lot of land not far from where we live, about half a mile away.

Julie Bennett

And, and we are gonna build what we're calling a jumbo tiny home. So a tiny home is officially 400 square feet or less <affirmative>. So this one's gonna be what, six feet 50 with a loft.

Julie Bennett

So 500 square foot on the main floor and 150 square foot loft. So six 50 all up. So we are calling it a jumbo tiny home. Nice. And it is gonna be fun to have the RV parked out there and I mean, I can come down and work from there and hang out there with the dog and supervise him while he is out there doing all the hard work in the sunshine and <laugh>. I love it. So, and, and just put the system to the test. Sure. Which is exactly what we did with the, with the country coach. We, we were able to really test the system by all kinds of appliances, household appliances, but tools as well.

Julie Bennett

And so we, yeah, like Mark said, taking it up a notch, building an actual house

Tony Barthel

That's awesome and all. Yeah, it'll be fun. Basically with, with the power you're powering your house with your RV

Julie Bennett

<laugh>. Right. And, and just for a little bit of context, so it, it is sort of in a downtown area so it actually, the, the lot did have a mobile home on it once upon a time, but it hasn't been on there for several years. So there is a history of having utilities on the site, which makes it easier from an infrastructure point of view. So what, while we could plug into electrical, we're not going to, because we don't have to and we want, we wanna test the system and use it for that. But one of the reasons we want to share this experience, not only 'cause it's fun and interesting and different and people loved our RV makeover content, but because many people that do buy land and build on it don't have utilities on it.

Julie Bennett

Right. So it's a way of showing that you can do this.

Julie Bennett

A lot of people are buying off-grid properties and land. Yeah. And if you've already got an off-grid RV and you've, you've already got a place you can stay in it while you're on site and do the construction. So I think it's, it's just a great way to show people what's possible. I love it. And you know, for us it's just getting a heck of a lot more value out of the system and Sunny and I gonna miss him while he is down there working every day and the lots and we'll be able to go down and hang out and I can still work and if I get too hot, pop the air conditioner on 'cause we put a couple of soft starts on, which makes it easier for the AC to start under that. Yeah.

Julie Bennett

Thinking but we won't be able to run it all day every day.

Julie Bennett

But enough to just, you know, cool things down and be comfortable and Yeah. We wanted a system that's, that's a, an approachable system. We see a lot of big fancy systems out there. You know, you can go as bigger as small as you want, but we didn't want to have a system too big that it was unattainable, if you know what I mean? Oh yeah. Because I don't think, I don't think people need to get as much or as big of a system as they think they do for many of their needs <affirmative> and you know, just find the right balance for what your needs are.

Julie Bennett

Right. Be realistic and don't over invests like anything in ARVs don't over invest. Yeah.

Marc Bennett

And like Tony said, you have to first understand what you're doing with the rv. Exactly. You gotta understand. 'cause that's why when we ask the question what's the best rv, that's all dependent on the person and how they plan on using it. So Yeah.

Julie Bennett

Well actually there is an answer to that. Like renewal

Marc Bennett

Is a fantastic rv but they're two and a half million dollars and their quarter million dollar deposit and two year wait list and, and you have to take it back to get serviced five every year, five to $10,000 a year. It's an amazing machine. But very few people are in that income bracket <affirmative>. Whereas some people who only go out a couple weekends a year and they only go to a remote space and they need a very highly maneuverable small camper might have a, a little a-frame popup. Right. Or something that <affirmative> or a truck camper. I mean those are what the best RV for that person.

Marc Bennett

So it's all depends on how people want to do it. And that's one of the things that Julie have always, Julie and I have always focused on with RV Love, is to try and approach our advice as a consultant and counseling style where we learn from the people to help provide information that's good for the individual, not just a blanket statement. Right. And that's part of what's been great about us having a variety of different RVs own owning them and also renting them <affirmative> is that we can speak to firsthand experience with every type of RVs.

Julie Bennett

Yeah. And and living full-time versus part-time as well. <affirmative>. Because I think, you know, it's yeah

Marc Bennett

Six years full-time and four years part-time.

Julie Bennett

Yes. I can't believe how fast it, but the

Marc Bennett

Four years are still extended though. You know, we, like I said, we were five, five months out this year <affirmative>.

Julie Bennett

So I think we calculated, we've spent a full year of those four years that we've had a home base still out traveling in the rv. Okay. So it's still quite a bit. And now we've got our upgrade system. We'll be doing even more of it but, but when you finish that house, you gotta get that finished first. <laugh> <laugh>

Tony Barthel

Time for a big party.

Julie Bennett

Yes. We'll have a big party. I mean I tell you it's such a learning curve because there's so many more factors that mean there was a lot with the rv. I think people look at RV and think, oh it's a small space. It's not gonna take long to renovate. But sometimes, gosh, all the detail wasn't it. And the things you're not sure. So Mark, anyone that watched that video might've seen, oh these wall's a bit soft. You had to tear apart one of the walls in the slide and rebuild that. And there's just some of the things you just, if there's had water damage, you just don't know what you're dealing with and what you have going to have to do to fix it.

Julie Bennett

But with this building project, it's very different when you're building on a lot of land. He's having to learn building codes, permits, huge steep learning curve. But he's loving it. So you're always having to adjust and adapt. So I think RV living makes you, if you're not already an adaptable person, you have to learn to be pretty quickly. 'cause then it becomes a choice to enjoy your lifestyle because not everything's gonna be exactly the way you want it all the time. Right, right. It's fun. It's like, yeah, give us the challenge and we'll just figure it out.

Tony Barthel

That's why we get along so well. <affirmative>.

Julie Bennett

Exactly. <laugh>.

Marc Bennett

But that's part of what the joy of the RVing is, is it helps make you more adaptable. Yeah. You know, because you're always in a new environment and you travel and so you are always adapting to a new climate, a new environment, new grocery stores, new camping, ground neighbors, everything new, nice to feel

Julie Bennett

Changing

Marc Bennett

All the time. So it forces you to become more adaptable and I think that's one of the biggest gifts of the lifestyle. Right. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

Well for people who wanna follow your newest adventure or retrace your previous adventures or buy your books, where can people find you?

Julie Bennett

Well, everything's at rv love.com. That's kind of, sorry. Oh

Tony Barthel

That's okay. Sonny wants to weigh in <laugh>

Julie Bennett

Sonny.

Marc Bennett

It is usually not that talking,

Julie Bennett

He's normally really good, but he's been a bit chatty tonight. But RV Love rv, sorry, I'm Australian. So RV love <laugh> dot com and that's where you can find all the links to everything. And we're at RV Love Travel and all of social media. You can find links to the books there as well. Living the RV Life and RV Hacks. But we will be sharing and our RV Loves site, what we can do with our rig and our power system for this project. But the focus won't be on actually building the house. It'll be some bits of it.

Julie Bennett

But you know, it's an RV channel. I have got a separate Instagram if somebody wants to follow that. I haven't, I've only got one post on it so far. But it's jumbo tiny home. So at Jumbo tiny home on Instagram. And so I'm gonna put some little things on there that if people wanna follow that specifically, that's just about the build. I think it'll be fun. Yeah. Yeah. It's fun to do something different. Like we've been doing this 10 years and when we look back at everything that we've done and what we enjoy doing, it's kind of like a, like come full circle. And a lot of the life has actually brought a lot of skills and experience and, and an adaptability as Mark said, to be able to take on a project like this.

Julie Bennett

Yeah. And we're

Marc Bennett

Not stopping RVing

Julie Bennett

Either. Oh gosh, no. <laugh>. It's gonna be a little based on a lot and then, but yeah, we're already thinking about our winter plans. We're gonna head south again this winter. Of course. Yeah. And who knows where we'll end up,

Tony Barthel

We'll be in quart site in January, be

Peggy Barthel

In

Tony Barthel

In

Julie Bennett

February. It'll be easier for us to boon dock in Quartz site. This journey last, earlier this year when we saw you in courts, we were only able to stay three days because we just couldn't be off grid longer than that. So it was, you know, enough for that little taste of Quartz site. We've spent a lot of time in Quartzside over the years. But it is fun when you can go there. We like going there outside of the big show dates, like before when before the crowds roll in and you're getting those beautiful desert sunsets and Yeah. But it is fun when people come in as well. 'cause that's such a great place for community.

Julie Bennett

It really is. And reconnecting with people and learning, you know, it's a great place for people that are new to boondocking and wanna try it out. I don't think there's a better place to go and learn from. People are out there doing it than court site. 'cause you find an easy flat, you know, nice level hard pack rock place to park. Yeah. And thousands of RVs that say court

Peggy Barthel

System <laugh>. What do you mean

Julie Bennett

You ran outta water already? <laugh>. Oh it's fun. Well thanks

Marc Bennett

So much for having us today guys. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

Thank you. Well thank you so much for making time for us. Congrats on 10 years. Yeah. And two books. And it's always been a pleasure to follow you. You've been an inspiration for us for years, so Yes.

Julie Bennett

Aw, thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Well I'm so glad that our paths cross and we've got to meet and become friends and meet up in person and here on the podcast. Yeah. Yep. And for all that you do to remind people that camping is meant to be Stressless

Peggy Barthel

<laugh>.

Tony Barthel

That's the goal. <laugh>.

Peggy Barthel

That's the goal.

Tony Barthel

Well, thank you. And we will catch up again soon, I hope.

Julie Bennett

Sounds great. Thank you. Have a great night.

Tony Barthel

You as well.

Peggy Barthel

So Julie did mention during our interview with her that they got their solar and lithium package and she mentioned getting the right size solar and lithium package for your needs. Not everybody needs a humongous system to stay off grid forever. <laugh>, some people just want only a lithium battery. And the beauty of a B, C Upfitters is that they can help you get what you need.

Tony Barthel

They have done, I've seen drop-in replacements, but they just shared a video of a van build that they did that's got nine. It's got literally double the amount of battery reserves of that.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah.

Tony Barthel

And it's, it's just so impressive. Not only the size of this system, but also how it's packaged. Yeah. <laugh> and how well it's put into the van.

Peggy Barthel

The way they found places to put things in that little van. Yeah. It's pretty amazing.

Tony Barthel

It's just really, really impressive. We'll put a link to that video in the show notes. And if you're watching this on YouTube, you're watching that video. Right.

Peggy Barthel

And again, you may not need 960 amp hours of battery, 9 29 20 or even that 900 or anything. But the beauty of it is that what you need and what you need to be able to do A, B, C can help you put a package together that will fit your needs.

Tony Barthel

Right. They actually listen to you. And so the way that that happens is you can give them a call at (574) 333-3225 or check out their brand new website. Yeah. ABC fitters.com if you're looking for solar or lithium systems that just work well with master vault components, which come out of the marine industry where there's very little tolerance for failure. Yeah. A, B, CF fitters are the people to talk to.

Peggy Barthel

We have another little interview, <laugh> <laugh>. We were offered an ice mule cooler and we thought that Michael and Mickey would be the perfect testers for this. And so we asked Michael and Mickey to take the ice mule and check it out. And here is what they found. Michael, tell us about this ice mule please.

Speaker 9

So this ice mule, we got it in a beautiful, was that Teal?

Peggy Barthel

Teal? I believe they called it and

Speaker 9

I, yeah. And I think it's what, a 15 liter?

Peggy Barthel

Yes. 15 liter Jaunted. Jaunted is the model.

Speaker 9

Correct. And it's a super cool cooler backpack. Almost kind of like a dry bag. The way it closes. We use this on our trip to Florida. We took it to the beach, we packed it full of soda, sparkling water snacks, put some ice packs in it. Okay. And we were at the beach for probably about four hours and everything was as ice cold as it was when we put it in there. That's awesome. And then it's got straps like a backpack, which saved our life because we had so much stuff to carry to the beach.

Speaker 9

Right. That we could just wear this like a backpack. And there's one less thing that cooler

Peggy Barthel

Right on your

Speaker 9

Back. I probably put 15 cans in here.

Peggy Barthel

Wow.

Speaker 9

Okay. Granted it was heavy. Sure. But it was a fantastic thing to have, not just for the road trip, but going to the beach. This thing was great. I had forgot to unpack it <laugh>. And when I remembered a few hours later that evening, stuff was still cold.

Peggy Barthel

That's awesome.

Speaker 9

I would say we got six to eight hours of everything remaining cold enough to be happy. If you're somebody that likes a cold drink, that's fantastic. I could even see getting a smaller one

Peggy Barthel

For little shorter day trips.

Speaker 9

For shorter day trips and stuff.

Tony Barthel

Also, if you wanna learn more about the Ice mule cooler, I did write an article. We do have a discount code for them. Yes. That's linked in the show notes or QR code if you're watching the video. <laugh> QR code. Man, I've been busy with this QR

Peggy Barthel

Code generator. Yeah. It's like in that QR code thing. So we don't have an interview to talk about an RV of the week. It's all on you <laugh>. Well

Tony Barthel

It's, yeah, that's true. People say that companies like Thor and Forest River, you know, some people are like, oh, it's the greatest. Others are not the greatest. Right. Both Thor and Forest River make a variety of RVs that are built to a certain standard. Like as you probably know, we really like our Rockwood Mini light. And Rockwood is probably the top of the heap in Forest River's family.

Tony Barthel

There are other brands in Forest River that are built more to price. They just build kind of what the customer wants. That's the idea. Sure. Salem and Wildwood have been a much more affordable line of products from Forest River, Salem and Wildwood are the same trailer difference stickers,

Peggy Barthel

Just like Rockwood and Flagstick. Correct.

Tony Barthel

Right. Salem and Wildwood have been kind of an affordable line of trailers that have had some neat features, but like a lot of affordable trailers, interior design wasn't a real hallmark of theirs. They nice features. But anyway, I just saw a new Wildwood trailer that is unbelievably beautiful inside. In fact, it might be the nicest interior I have seen on a travel trailer and certainly at a more affordable price point.

Tony Barthel

Wow. And some of the things that this has is, and aside from design and style, it's got a, a table arrangement where there's kind of like a bar on the wall and then a table that sticks out, like a tongue that can be extended and moved side to side. So you could have like a table where two people sit each or

Peggy Barthel

Each Just a bar or an extended table? Just a

Tony Barthel

Bar. Oh, okay. A corner bar. They have this thing called the Sal Lounge, which is an L-shaped lounge. And the back can come off. So there's kind of like an ottoman, the sticking out part is like an ottoman where you could sit at that table on that ottoman and move the back rest. So you could sit there, there's all these little totes under the Sal lounge and under the bed. And the bed has a lift mechanism where, you know, you can like kind of sit up like a hospital bed.

Peggy Barthel

Oh, interesting. And

Tony Barthel

There's so much in this

Peggy Barthel

Thing. Oh, there's a lot of, of versatility in that.

Tony Barthel

Oh, it's, and windows galore and it's, it's just, I think it's stunning inside. Wow. I, I'm just so impressed with this thing. Now granted they're using low end tires and leaf spring suspension and Yeah. So it's still on a, you know, kind of at the lower end in the affordable

Peggy Barthel

Range <laugh>.

Tony Barthel

But by gosh, if you're looking for an affordable trailer, these new Salem and Wildwood, if this is how they're gonna be doing it, man, they're, it's just you. You're gonna walk in and be, it's jaw dropping. Wow. And there will be a link to the article I wrote about it, but I was, I was, I'm just very impressed. I mean, that's the bottom line.

Peggy Barthel

So when you said shocking, I assumed that there would be something electricity wise, but it's not something electricity wise, it's just shocking that they're so pretty. It's just <laugh>,

Tony Barthel

It's, you

Peggy Barthel

Know, not that they couldn't be pretty, it's just shocking that they're so pretty when they are the lower price range. Right. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

It's,

Peggy Barthel

It's

Tony Barthel

Line. It's just quite surprising. It's, if you're at a dealer and you're going through all these trailers, as we all do, if you walk into this, it's gonna be like, oh, I gotta get that one

Peggy Barthel

<laugh>. And

Tony Barthel

You know, that's their job is to sell trailers. Sure. And it's just so different. So, all

Peggy Barthel

Right. I can't wait to see one. Alright, so our question of the week last week was, how are you staying cool in these hot summer? Summer? Well, we just keep moving

Tony Barthel

Closer, right? We just more, more inside getting inside,

Peggy Barthel

Keep inside. A lot of people are using fans. I love all the rechargeable radio fans that I saw <laugh> and you know, some people just say, sit in the shade or park in the shade and turn on a fan. And that's what they're doing. Love the story that someone said they took their chairs and they're easy up, down to the creek and they just plop themselves down in the water and yeah, it works. Yeah, that was great idea.

Tony Barthel

This is one of my favorite

Peggy Barthel

People change their latitude and their altitude or their latitude and their attitude if they're Jimmy Buffett fans. That's right. And Tony said, yeah, we just wanna go where the weather suits our clothes. That's the truth. Yep. The beach or the mountains, of course are cooler spots. I think it was Bill who mentioned he lives at the beach. So yeah,

Tony Barthel

He's got a good, he's,

Peggy Barthel

He's got a good not too hot situation going on. And then if he wants a different scene, then he goes to the mountains. Somebody just got a missing fan. I really would like a missing fan.

Tony Barthel

I like those.

Peggy Barthel

It's kind of on my wishlist.

Tony Barthel

1218 volt fans. Yeah. Yeah. That sit on a bucket. Those are kind of neat.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah. Tom and Marilyn went to Alaska. Yeah. So I think

Tony Barthel

We talk about changes.

Peggy Barthel

I don't know if they went to Alaska or if they go to Alaska. I kind of read it that they do this often. You know, like this is how they get away from summer is to go north. Really, really, really north <laugh> really, really,

Tony Barthel

Really far north.

Peggy Barthel

So thank you for your answers. Keep staying cool. You know, eventually we're gonna have to ask how do you keep warm and <laugh>, but for right now, let's just enjoy the warm weather. Right? Yeah. Our question for this week is, what is the biggest change that has happened in your life in the last 10 years? Julie and Mark talked a lot about the changes in being a content creator. You know, we certainly have gone through a heck of a lot of changes in 10 years. Yeah. We'll have to talk about that. Yeah.

Peggy Barthel

As a response. But what has been your biggest change in the past 10 years? Man?

Tony Barthel

Yeah. Oh boy. We, we could, it's, it's been interesting the past decade. It

Peggy Barthel

Could take us, us 10 years to write our answer

Tony Barthel

<laugh>. Well anyway, you could answer that on our fun and friendly Stressless campers Facebook group.

Peggy Barthel

And you know, of course that we write a newsletter and that it's absolutely free and it has links to stories and videos and podcasts to help you get the most out of your RV experience. All you have to do is go on the website the very first time. If it's your first time, a popup will come and say, Hey, do you wanna get the newsletter? But if you miss that, just go to the bottom of any page or go to the hamburger menu and you can find a way to sign up for our free weekly newsletter that is not spam and does not get sold or given away to anybody else.

Peggy Barthel

Not

Tony Barthel

Even Maple Spam.

Peggy Barthel

Not even Maple Spam <laugh>.

Tony Barthel

By the way, if you go to our website regularly, notice that there are a lot fewer ads. I pulled a lot of these stupid pop-up. I thought some of 'em were misleading. Yeah. So I, I mean, yeah, it's a, it's a drop in revenue, but quite honestly, it just makes it so annoying. I, you go to these websites and it's ads. You don't know if it's ads or if it's Yeah. Content or I, I just, I dropped all of that good this week, so that's good. But on the website you will find the show notes for this episode

Peggy Barthel

Number 2 6 4

Tony Barthel

On the podcastPage@stresslesscamping.com, which is also where you'll find discounts and deals on the best deals, on things you'll need for your Stressless camping adventure like Harvest Host,

Peggy Barthel

And also shopping. I was talking to my friend Mireya and she said, it's time for me to buy a new coffee mug. Can you remind me what the link is? <laugh>. So <laugh>

Tony Barthel

By the way, and speaking of that, you know, we say if you've got a great deal for our audience, yeah, let us know. We've got another a hundred dollars off. Ooh, soft startup

Peggy Barthel

Soft credit. So

Tony Barthel

They just sent us an email and said, we're dropping the price by another a hundred dollars,

Peggy Barthel

Right? Oh, fantastic. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

So great. You know, keep checking back. Things change.

Peggy Barthel

Things change. What doesn't change is that there's a lot of social places to visit <laugh>. Now, those social places change their name, but Oh yeah, you can, when you're done looking at all the stuff on the website, you can use those links at the top right of our page and link to the social places like Facebook and Twitter and X, and Twitter is X. Twitter is, see I, that's why I can't listen.

Tony Barthel

He's not as much into social,

Peggy Barthel

I don't know as I am. But anyway, you can find all those places and jump off from the website to the social places.

Tony Barthel

Hey, our cuckoo's going off, it's just cuckoo. If you don't wanna follow us,

Peggy Barthel

<laugh> <laugh>.

Tony Barthel

And you know, a review will help others find this podcast and the more listeners that we have, because they look at the reviews and and, and they tell people, Hey, you gotta listen to this thing that helps us with the discounts and deals and great guests and all of that stuff. So thank you for your reviews and if you haven't had a chance through, or if you have had a chance to review us, you know, our website has a bunch of answers to questions people ask on social media. So if you wanna search for an answer, it'll make you look smart and it'll help us out too.

Tony Barthel

Yeah, and that's stresses camping right there. Yeah.

Peggy Barthel

The place that you can write those reviews, if you haven't, is on the podcast catcher, the podcast app that you use to listen to us. Also, while you're there, it's a good idea and it's free to subscribe. Oh yeah. There's to the podcast. Podcast, camping RV podcast. No,

Tony Barthel

Stressless camping.

Peggy Barthel

Oh my goodness. <laugh> <laugh>. Subscribe to the Stresses Camping RV podcast on your favorite podcast catcher because we are saving you a seed on our virtual campfire, and apparently we have a lot of laughs. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

Anyway, that's what we have for you this week. As always, we appreciate you being

Peggy Barthel

Here,

Tony Barthel

<laugh>. We don't understand why you're here, we just appreciate that you're here. And with that

Peggy Barthel

Stressless Stressless Camping <laugh> <laugh>,

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.