Episode 155: How to Make Your Fulltime RV Dreams Come True

Have you ever dreamed about fulltiming in an RV? Quitting your job, moving from a sticks and bricks house to an RV, taking your family on the road and becoming location independent? It’s happening every day. In fact, our guest in the interview segment this week estimates that 200,000 families are doing that across the country right now. Is this for you? What about school and the kids? What about earning a living? Stay tuned because in this episode, Kimberly Travaglino, author of the book How to Hit the Road, Making Your Family's Full-time RV Dreams a Reality, joins us to talk about how breaking free and hitting the road.

Also, listener questions and answers, lots of RV tips, traveling technology you need to know about and the RV News of the week.

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Show Notes for Episode #155 August 30, 2017 of Roadtreking – The RV Podcast:

WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK

The Labor Day weekend is almost here and this podcast comes to you from the heart of the Emerald Coast – Okaloosa Island, Florida where we’re catching some R&R time before jumping into a busy full travel schedule.

Our 2017 Roadtrek CS Adventurous XL 4X4 is not with us on this trip as its being outfitted with some experimental communications gear that we’ll be talking about in a few weeks.

We’re working on Facebook and YouTube Live videos. We’ve been doing two and three new videos a week. Best way to know about them is to subscribe to our RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube at

Over on our YouTube RV Lifestyle Channel, someone wrote a comment about not understanding why anyone would spend $100K for a “depreciating asset” like our Roadtrek. I wrote a reply there that I want to share here:
“It’s much, much more than a “depreciating asset.” In fact, it makes me APPRECIATE life more. It's a lifestyle. It's a freedom machine. It brings me joy every time I drive it, camp in it or look at it in the driveway. It reduces the stress in my life. It gives me wonderful vacations to look forward to and awesome memories to make me smile in remembrance of. It’s taken me to places and introduced me to people I would never had seen or met. It's enlarged my circle of friends, helped me learn history and geography, shown me the magnificence of nature up close and enriched my life, my marriage and my faith by giving me new perspectives and sensitivities. Add all that up and it's a terrific bargain in my book. 🙂 . “

This portion of the Podcast is brought to you by Campers Inn, the RVer’s trusted resource for over 50 years, the nation’s largest family-operated RV dealership with 16 locations and growing

 JENNIFER'S TIP OF THE WEEK  

One of the realities of RV Travel is that things have to be put away and not left out. Otherwise, they’ll slide off counters and tables. RVers are not the only ones who experience such problems. So do boaters.

And this week, I received a tip from a listener named Melissa who is both an RVer and a boater and she shares a terrific suggestion on how to keep things in place…in our RV or boat.

The product Melissa suggests is called coaster tacky.

You can find it at the dollar store as she suggests. And Amazon has lots of coasters treated with that tacky surface that will keep it – and the things you place on it – from sliding around.  I’ll put a link on the shownotes for this episode to an Amazon search page with several different types of coaster tacky you can look at.

And be sure to send me your tips and suggestions for the RV lifestyle. You can use the “Leave Voicemail” link at Roadtreking.com. Just click it and then use the built-in microphone on your computer or mobile devise to record a message to me. You can do it over as many times as you want, until you are satisfied. And then you just click a button and it comes right to my email inbox.

I love hearing from you!

For a complete list of all the products, gear and apps mentioned by Mike and Jennifer on their podcast, YouTube RV Lifestyle Channel and here on the blog, go to https://rvlifestyle.com/gear

Jennifer's tip of the week is brought to you by RadPower Bikes ,an electric bike manufacturer offering direct to consumer pricing on powerful premium electric bikes. Now with free shipping

LISTENER QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK

• Joan asks for our ideas on bedding solutions for an RV. We suggest the RVSuperbag. Here’s a video we did on it – https://youtu.be/xm6gWwcJOt0
• Robin is looking for a map she saw on our Facebook Group that shows various travel routes to get to lots of National Parks. The best one we have ever seen is from a guy named Randal Olson who's a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. He created  a map of the shortest possible road trip through all 47 national parks in the contiguous United States. The trip spans just a hair under 14,500 miles, from Acadia National Park in Maine to Redwood National and State Parks in California. Olson estimates it would take about two months to run the circuit, depending on your tolerance for long driving days. Here’s his map: http://www.randalolson.com/2016/07/30/the-optimal-u-s-national-parks-centennial-road-trip/

• Doug is seeking ways to keep cool in an RV and minimize all the loud noise from air conditioners and generators.

Sponsoring this part of the podcast is Van City RV in St. Louis, and their Partner Dealerships Creston RV in Kalispell, Montana, and Wagon Trail RV in Las Vegas. Bringing You the largest Inventory of class B’s from three locations.

INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK

Kimberly Travaglino and her husband, Chris, have been living full time on the road since June 2010. The couple has four kids, ages 14, 13, 10 and 7. They started when they were a family of three, with a 7, 6, and 3 year old.

The Travaglinos run Fulltime Families, a membership organization (cost $45 a year) that helps support families living full time on the road, homeschooling their children, in a number of ways. (sponsor gatherings, create community, practical support, counseling, campground discounts, etc.)

Kimberly has also written the book, “How to Hit the Road, Making Your Family's Full-time RV Dreams a Reality,' and is one half of a weekly podcast, called “Road School Moms, Where Education Meets Adventure.”

Kimberly was living with husband in 3,500 square foot house in suburbia, husband came home one day with pop-up. They had never camped before. She went into camper, and had an epiphany, and said let's do it full-time. Chris did not want to do this at first – and it was about 3 years before they hit the road. They have been on the road now as full timers since June 2010.

Today, the two counsel and advise others considering the lifestyle. They also created a support system for families wanting to do this lifestyle.

Here’s a short video on who she is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R115xolrmM8

Another longer video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnYe5flh6UQ

(talks about hard times, and advantages)

and another video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI1egklf6ZA

Other Resources:

Fulltime Families Facebook group with 20,050 members

https://www.fulltimefamilies.com/    costs $45 for annual membership,

Her podcast with a second mom comes out weekly: http://ultimateradioshow.com/roadschoolmoms/

The interview of the week is brought to you by SunshinestateRVs.com, where every new or used Roadtrek motorhome is delivered to the customer free, anywhere in the country

RV NEWS OF THE WEEK:

Four stories this week…

• Texas Opens State Parks for Free Use by Storm Evacuees Read more
• Bass Pro Shops sends boats to help with Hurricane Harvey aftermath Read more
• Camping world to match up $2 million for storm relief Read more
• Drone illegally harassed grizzly bear and her two cubs at Grand Teton National Park. Read more 

This portion of the podcast is brought to you by Alde,  the only name in heat that you need to know for your RV

TRAVELING TECH TIP:

By Steve Van Dinter

Verizon Wireless

Using Tech to Labor Less this Labor Day Weekend

It may be called Labor Day weekend, but the ultimate goal is to labor less, right?

First I want to talk about some apps to make your life easier. If you’re traveling you can keep track of the best gas prices along your route by using Google Maps. Click on the menu button, then categories and gas stations and it'll show you not only the next gas stations on your route but also their prices. If you’d rather stay handsfree, push the microphone and say “show me gas stations along my route”.

Next…turn your video memories into a gif you can easily share using an app called Motion Stills. And the best part is it's free for Android and iOS.

When planning your Labor Day party, do you fill your backyard with more than it can handle? That's a thing of the past with the Asus ZenFone AR. Simply launch the Lowe's augmented reality app and point your phone towards the backyard. Now you can drop in tables and chairs and make sure there'll still be room for people to move freely about. Problem solved!

Maybe you've mastered the art of physical design, but struggle with the laws of physics? Then the Moto Z2 Force is the phone for you. Talk about rugged – it has a screen guaranteed not to crack or scratch even if dropped directly on concrete! Now when you're juggling your phone and chips and guac, you can focus on saving the food even if your phone slips. And with Moto Mods, you can turn your phone into a projector, speaker and gaming device all in a snap.

If you're going away for the weekend, you want to make sure things at home are fine. That's where Nest's newest camera, the Nest Cam IQ comes in handy. Not only will it sit quietly and keep watch while you're gone it can send you notifications and live views of your home should motion be detected. And if its smart sensors detect a person, it goes into total CSI mode, giving you an HD picture in picture view of the person that's detected. And with a high quality speaker, you can even talk live to the person in your home – whether welcomed or not.

Finally if your Labor Day weekend involves taking a hike or doing something else adventurous, take cinema-quality videos of the whole experience with the OSMO Mobile. This stabilizing device works with any smartphone and will make for the ultimate in buttery smooth shots.

This part of the podcast is brought to you by Verizon, which operates America’s most reliable wireless network, with more than 112 million retail connections nationwide.

OFF THE BEATEN PATH REPORT –  Cody, Wyoming

To see a video of this, go to:  https://youtu.be/oRqa7uFo928

Cody, Wyoming is an honest to goodness, real western town, founded in 1896 by William “Buffalo Bill” Cody. The hotel he built and named after his daughter Irma still stands and is open for business.

Today, nearly 10,000 people live there, on the eastern road leading to Yellowstone National Park, a road Cody also built.

He was the real deal. A Pony Express Rider. A Buffalo Hunter. An Indian Scout. A man who epitomized the American West. He was discovered by dime novel paperback writers, who made up and embellished his many exploits. That led him to start his Wild West Road show, which traveled the world and made him the most recognized figure in America at the turn of the last century.

Today, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center is a world class museum in Cody that celebrates the exploration of the West, with exhibits that document the history of the Plains Indians, as well as Cody’s life and the history of firearms.

Speaking of guns, every night at 6PM downtown, the streets are blocked off for these folks, the Cody gunfighters, who stage a nightly gunfight between the good guys and the bad guys, with a couple of saucy saloon girls mixed in. The good guys always win and you can pose for photos with the gunfighting cast afterwards

Cody has another major claim to fame – the nightly rodeo… every single night of the week during the summer. The Cody Night Rodeo has also made the town America’s rodeo capital.

Then there’s the source of the music you hear under the report – the Dan Miller Cowboy Music Revue, which plays Monday through Saturday nights at 8PM. Don't miss this show.

Cody is a destination in and of itself, but especially for RVers heading to or from Yellowstone. There are several campgrounds to choose from. We spent two nights at the Ponderosa Campground. Allow at least that much time for your visit.

There’s a lot to do in Cody.

This part of the podcast is sponsored by Steinbring Motorcoach, Roadtrek’s newest dealer and a third generation family business in Minnesota’s beautiful Chain of Lakes region built on quality motorhomes and excellent pricing and service.

Please Subscribe and Give Us a Rating and Review!

Many listeners are asking how they can subscribe, review and rate the Roadtreking Podcast on iTunes. With a new podcast like this, those reviews and ratings are really important to be able to show well in the iTunes listings. So if you can, I’d sure appreciate it if you’d subscribe and leave me your review.

Here’s how:

First, open up the iTunes app on your computer or mobile device. Click on Podcasts up on the top
> From the iTunes Podcasts page, use the “Search Store” field up at the top right corner of the page. Type in Mike Wendland or Roadtreking RV Podcast.
> Click on the logo image of the Roadtreking RV Podcast on the search return page
> From there (see photo above), you can…

1) Subscribe

2) Choose and Click on a star (1-5) that reflects your rating. Five stars means you really like it, one star not so much.

3) Leave a written review.

Thanks to all for the kind reviews we’ve received so far. That got us noticed by Apple/iTunes as “New and Noteworthy.” I appreciate every review!

And remember, you can appear in future episodes. Ask a question or voice your comments about RV topics by clicking the Leave Voicemail tab on the right side of this page here at Roadtreking.com. You can then use the microphone on your computer to record your words.

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