Greetings!
We’re Tony & Peggy Barthel and we’re working to help you be a StressLess Camper.
We’re Tony & Peggy Barthel and we’re working to help you be a StressLess Camper.
It’s back - we are scheduling our 2024 season for RV Basic Training classes at campgrounds and RV dealerships around the United States! If you would like to have one of these classes at your facility, please contact us at happycamper@stresslesscamping.com or (707) 739-6661.
Participants bring their own RVs to a designated campground for a two-day workshop featuring instruction, hand-outs and actual hands-on experience with your RV.
We describe this experience as a multi-day version of the one hour walk-through the dealership gave that nobody ever remembers. By bringing and camping in their own RV, participants get to actually apply the lessons learned to their own campers. Further, if they have questions about the functions in their campers the participants can actually learn in real life.
A “field trip” includes opening an actual water heater on a participant’s camper to help explain maintenance, hints and tips.
This group setting offers both theoretical/written instruction and hands-on experience so the things learned apply directly to the campers, and they can apply their new-found knowledge to their own real-life experience.
The knowledge participants gain will help them camp easier and learn the things that can help them avoid pitfalls. Each segment encompasses about 30-40 minutes of instruction including hands-on opportunities. There is plenty of opportunity for questions. And “mansplaining” is never a part of the experience.
Peggy and Tony Barthel worked in the RV industry. Peggy worked at Alfa Liesure building RVs and Tony worked at an RV dealership managing the warranty department and acting in a sales role. Together they started StressLess Camping to help make the camping experience easier and StressLess.
Part of StressLess Camping includes a weekly podcast - you can find that wherever you get podcasts or find the podcast here.
More about Peggy Barthel • More about Tony Barthel
Our fee for the two days of instruction is just $99 per participant. This includes a binder of information that each participant takes with them.
In addition to the cost of the workshop Tony and Peggy also ask to have their camping fees included.
We recommend for the best experience for participants that workshops include from approximately 10-20 campers. This gives each particpant the best experience.
This is how we’ve made this work in the past. Typically campgrounds are more receptive to having us mid-week but that may not work for all participants. Each organizer would work with their membership and campground to make the best experience. We are also open to having a week day session and then a weekend session.
Day One: Arrival in the afternoon. We meet with each participant to help them get into their camp site. We also make sure they are comfortable with hooking up their RV and the know how to enable their climate control as well as water system and what they’ll need for their first night.
Day Two: This is a full day of instruction broken into hour-long segments.
Day Three: A few more lesson segments. Then the “final exam” - dumping tanks followed by hook-up procedures.
There is a lot of opportunity for campgrounds and RV dealerships in this program.
You could add additional aspects to the workshops including:
Meals - you could always include a meal service for one or both of the nights. This could be anything from food brought in, catering or even a meal or beverage competition.
Entertainment
Gathering fun such as scavenger hunts, side trips, additional days and whatever you can think of!
We encourage you to schedule these classes during the week so that it represents additional revenue for your facility.
What if I have no camper? We have had people attend the class who haven’t yet bought a camper, or have one on order or are even thinking of getting a camper and using this as part of the decision-making process.
