This week on the podcast, we talk about getting your RV ready for travel again. For most RVers, it’s been a long wait and their RVers have been just sitting there waiting for the 2020 RV travel season.
We tell you what we do to prepare our RV and hear from Tim Marriott, our mechanic from LT Truck and Trailer in Pontiac, MI. Plus we have lots of RV news about what is open and what isn’t, where travel is allowed, plus your questions and a great off the beaten path report from the Burketts.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 42:46 — 25.1MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS
Show Notes for Episode #293 May 6 2020 of The RV Podcast:
WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK and Getting Your RV Ready for Travel Again
It wasn't long and it wasn't far and we maintained social distancing the whole time but we did get out this weekend for a nice campout in the RV, making our way from NW Florida to SW Georgia. Both states have eased travel restrictions and the stay at home orders. Just being able to go for a drive and spend a beautiful weekend in the RV chased away those quarantine blues built up over the past two months..
By no means are we all out of the coronavirus woods and many other places remain locked down, but there are regions where restrictions are easing and people are starting to venture out again. And that is Good News!
Speaking of Good News, we are very pleased to announce that our latest 7 Day Adventure Guide is now available for instant download!
It's on the Florida Keys and Key West and we are thrilled to release it.
CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR COPY TODAY!
The book is jam-packed with maps, photos, and helpful info on what to see and where to go and camp in the Keys. It joins our library of ebook guides and is the third one in Florida.
The Keys guide as a standalone is just $7. But you can bundle it at a special price with our other two Florida guides – one for the Atlantic Coast and one for the Gulf Coast.
The book is jam-packed with maps, photos, and helpful info on what to see and where to go and camp in the Keys. It joins our library of ebook guides and is the third one in Florida.
The Keys guide as a standalone is just $7. But you can bundle it at a special price with our other two Florida guides – one for the Atlantic Coast and one for the Gulf Coast.
All three Florida guides are available as a three-pack bundle for just $16.99! You can also get all eight of our 7 Day Adventure guides at a huge discount for just $39.99!
RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK
RV industry prepares to gradually reopen manufacturing plants this week
Much of the RV industry in northern Indiana is planning to restart operations this week. Gulf Stream, Thor, Airstream, CrossRoads, Cruiser, Dutchmen, Entegra Coach, Heartland, Jayco, Keystone RV, Starcraft, and others, along with most suppliers and parts manufacturers are now reopened. The restart will be slow, with employees at many factories receiving temperature checks before entering the building, plastic shields between work stations, sanitizing between shifts, personal protective equipment worn, and more. But the bottom line is the RV industry is back in business.
Man airlifted from Wyoming wildlife area after being attacked by a grizzly
If you find yourself social distancing outdoors in bear country, be sure to bring bear spray and be stay alert. Bears are definitely out now, and a grizzly attacked a Wyoming man who was outdoors last weekend near the Sunlight Wildlife Habitat Management Area. Thankfully the man was able to send an SOS signal from a satellite communication device, rescuers found him and airlifted him to a hospital. He suffered severe injuries to his neck. A few years ago we interviewed an expert on bear spray. We always travel with it and recommend it. Here is a link to read more.
Public campground closed? Family heads to a private campground in Michigan and practices social distancing in their RV
Many states, such as Michigan, are still under stay at home orders, and state parks in Michigan are closed to camping until June 21. But in many places, including Michigan, RVers are allowed at private campgrounds as long as they are totally self-contained. While the private campground's showers and restrooms were closed, the RVers that are self-contained are welcome as long as they use their own onboard bathroom and shower facilities. That’s how it was for us in Georgia this weekend at the campground where we stayed. So check out private campgrounds if you can’t find a state park open near you.
Some state campgrounds, national parks opening
Speaking of campgrounds opening, many states – such as Florida, Pennsylvania, and Arkansas – are starting to open up, as are some national parks. The situation is changing daily. To stay up to date about campgrounds and parks near you, we recommend visiting Campendium by clicking here.
This part of the podcast is brought to you by RadPower Bikes, America's #1 e-bike brand, offering direct to consumer pricing on powerful premium electric bikes. Now with free shipping
LISTENER QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK
QUESTION
From Anne – Is it Okay to travel now? Will there be a normal summer RV travel season? Will this end? We’re trying to plot out our summer and are frankly worried about everything we hear, like local anger at visiting RVers, police roadblocks, meat and food shortages, and predictions of continued shutdowns. Help us, Mike and Jennifer, we trust what you say.
ANSWER
Listen to the podcast for our full reply but basically, we do believe there will be RV travel but we do think there will be areas where it is not advisable to go.
Do you have a question you’d like us to answer or a comment on the things we’re discussing? If so, we invite you to leave us that question or comment on the special voicemail number we have for the podcast – it’s 586-372-6990. If you are driving and can’t write it down right now, just go to the RV Lifestyle travel blog at rvlifestyle.com and scroll down the page. You’ll see that number prominently posted on the blog.
This part of the RV Podcast is brought to you by Battle Born Batteries, maker of quality, safe, and reliable lithium batteries that can be installed in just about every RV. Get in touch with Battle Born to find out what lithium batteries and an upgraded energy management system can add to your RV Lifestyle. Check them out at https://rvlifestyle.com/lithium
Battle Born's motto is Get out there, Stay out there. And that's their mission, to provide RV and marine batteries made with the highest
RV INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK
For most RVers, it’s been a long wait and their RVers have been just sitting there waiting for the 2020 RV travel season. This week on the podcast, we talk about getting your RV ready for travel again.
We tell you what we do to prepare our RV and hear from Tim Marriott, our mechanic from LT Truck and Trailer in Pontiac, MI.
Here's a video version of the original report, showing our previous RV. Even though we have a new RV, the tips remain the same.
For most RVers, it’s been a long wait and their RVers have been just sitting there waiting for the 2020 RV travel season. This week on the podcast, we talk about getting your RV ready for travel again.
We tell you what we do to prepare our RV and hear from Tim Marriott, our mechanic from LT Truck and Trailer in Pontiac, MI.
The interview of the week is brought to you by SunshinestateRVs.com, where every new motorhome is delivered to the customer free, anywhere in the country
OFF THE BEATEN PATH REPORT
By Tom & Patti Burkett
The late winter and early spring, when the waterfowl are migrating along the Atlantic Flyway, is a great time to visit this beautiful and little-known parcel of national lands.
Tucked right in the armpit of the Florida panhandle, Saint Mark’s National Wildlife Refuge boasts miles of trails along ponds and dikes, an auto tour, and a beautiful lighthouse on the coast. We spent quite a while exploring this area of the state, not too far from the Emerald Coast where Mike and Jennifer like to hang out.
Our home base was the county-owned Newport Campground just outside the entrance to the refuge on US highway 98. The first day we visited was a bit blustery and cold, with overcast skies and the refuge nearly deserted. It was late morning and the tide was an hour short of low. The roadside ditches were sprinkled with alligators large and small, and the ponds were full of waterfowl.
We saw egrets and herons, as you might expect, but also a flock of glossy ibis and, in a large raft of snow geese, a much more unusual blue goose. There were also a variety of migrant songbirds flitting through the mangrove and slash pine trees. The refuge is actively involved in the recovery of the red-cockaded woodpecker and is one of the best places to see this rare bird.
The main road starts at the visitor center, where an observation deck overlooks a pond and marsh. A steady stream of birds passes through, and a list of sightings is kept for the entire refuge. There are several exhibits worth looking at, and a small but well-stocked bookstore. From there the main road runs several miles out to the lighthouse, with numerous pullouts at viewing areas and trailheads.
Interestingly, our second visit was on a sunny day, again about an hour before low tide, and there were many fewer birds and alligators.
The Newport campground is small but attractive, with lots of mature trees and a fairly new bathhouse. Sites offer water and electric. We got in without a reservation but were told that’s unusual. Walking the campground loop in the afternoon, another guest asked if we were going to family supper, then had to explain to us what family dinner is.
Just across the St. Marks River from the campground is a bar/restaurant called Outz’s Too. One night each week they serve a set menu for $4. It’s a full meal with iced tea and dessert. How could we pass that up? Tonight it was baked ham, sweet potatoes, butter beans, and strawberry shortcake. Not far away, in the town of St. Marks is the San Marcos de Apalache fort (or what’s left of it) and a visitor center with an interesting movie about the history of the area.
The movie itself is worth the stop, and the fort has a nice view out over the bay and a great spot for a picnic. This is fishing country, both for recreational anglers and commercial boats, so there’s no lack of something fresh to eat from the ocean. We stopped at Mineral Springs Seafood in Panacea, where what’s on offer comes off their own boat every morning. We’d heard that there was an amazing fish dip here called Hot Mess. “Small or large?” said the man at the counter.
When I looked indecisive, he went on. “You can get small if you want, but you’re gonna be mad at yourself if you do.” Too right! Made with smoked mullet, smoked salmon, smoked tuna, and candied jalapeños, it may not sound great, but it was just the thing to keep us hunting the cabinets for more crackers until it was gone and we were far away, headed for who knows what new discovery, out here off the beaten path.
Getting Your RV Ready
Are you getting your RV ready for travel? Here's a quick link to one of our adventures before the shutdown to inspire you.
Get more RV travel ideas, tips, news, and perks!
Each Monday we publish our RV Lifestyle Newsletter, where we share weekly articles about RV travel that inspire and inform. We'll start by sending you a free RV travel checklist. Plus, you become one of our Fellow Travelers, which gets you lots of special perks and RV discounts. It's totally free!
Enter your info below and you are in!
[mc4wp_form id=”49345″]
23 Responses to “First – Getting Your RV Ready for Travel Again”
Comments are closed.
May 21, 2021at11:36 am, Sulaimon Ibrahim said:
I’ve been on the internet lately and I haven’t found an article that is more interesting than yours yet, Nice job, I love this. You can also check out mine at https://www.kikguru.com/myfreemp3-free-music-download-320kbps-myfreemp3-eu/
October 15, 2020at4:21 pm, kunle said:
On Tubidy, you can download tons of mp3 songs for free. You don’t have to pay to download your favorite songs on Tubidy.
https://trendebook.com/tubidy-songs-download-download-free-mp3-songs-on-tubidy-tubidy-mobi/
October 13, 2020at5:07 pm, femi said:
02tvmovies website is a platform that allows you to download complete movies and tv series in different formats or your mobile phones or computers. It provides you with the newly released, latest, trending movies and tv series that you can stream and download on any device.
https://trendebook.com/02tvmovies-download-free-movies-tv-series-o2tvseries-movies/
October 10, 2020at4:35 pm, femi said:
AOL is a platform that offers many games which you don’t need to play with money. On the AOL games lounge, you can play games with your friends completely for free.
https://trendebook.com/aol-games-free-online-games-game-loading-problems/
October 08, 2020at5:13 pm, femi said:
BitPay supports settlement in eight currencies and direct bank deposits in 38 countries. Also, it supports payment in Ethereum, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, Circle USD Coin, and Paxos Standard and other cryptocurrencies.
https://trendebook.com/bitpay-create-a-bitpay-wallet-buy-bitcoin/
October 07, 2020at4:15 pm, femi said:
Twitter is such an amazing platform, yet only a few people know that that the twitter advanced search tool helps to find exactly what they are looking for. Twitter search is a moneymaker for marketers and small business owners.
https://awspoint.com/twitter-search-how-to-use-twitter-search/
October 06, 2020at4:55 pm, femi said:
Gmail login inbox gathers incoming messages for users and has generally received positive reviews across the globe. On Gmail inbox, you will find several features as well as options for handling emails
https://tecvase.com/gmail-login-inbox-use-inbox-on-gmail-login-inbox-messages/
September 30, 2020at11:27 pm, maketechgist said:
How can I login to my Yahoo mail Account or How do I check my Yahoo inbox? The Login process
is the first access you get to your account. Yahoo is one of the most popular email serviceproviders. Apart
from emails, the Login platform also gives you access to information on othersectors of life e.g sports,
finance, news, coronavirus, entertainment, politics, etc.
September 30, 2020at11:26 pm, maketechgist said:
How do I login to my Gmail account? Gmail is one of the well-known email service providers
around the world.Meanwhile, Gmail login is the first access every user gets to the platform to send and
receive email messages.On the contrary, Gmail means Google email for those of you who don’t know.
September 30, 2020at11:26 pm, maketechgist said:
How do I fix my Gmail email Login problems or why does my email keep saying Login failed? Well,
Gmail is oneof the popular widely-used email service providers in the world. On the contrary, most users login
to theplatform every day to communicate their family and friends for either personal or business purposes
byreceiving and sending messages.
September 30, 2020at11:24 pm, maketechgist said:
How do I log in to my office 365 or how do I log into my Microsoft 365 account? Do you know
organizations,businesses, schools and many other corporate societies are always forward to empowering
teamwork amongthemselves. The Office 365 login is a cloud-based suite platform that creates a working
environment fororganizations with the use of the document.
September 30, 2020at11:24 pm, maketechgist said:
The Instagram Login gives users access to enjoy the amazing features on
the websites.Some of the amazing features cut across the posting of unlimited photos followed byhashtags
and location. One good thing about the login platform is that users can shareand like photos, tag people,
and search for friends’ profile and their stories.
September 29, 2020at2:37 pm, femi said:
The mp3 skull is a home for every music lover no matter your type of music Mp3skull got it available with the fast download.
https://mediavibestv.com/mp3-skull-skull-mp3-music-free-download-mp3-skulls-music/
September 21, 2020at4:48 pm, dorathy said:
Mp3quack has a collection of the latest and popular songs today. It is an efficient multimedia player which allows you to download mp3 files in any format. You can download any music of your choice on Mp3 Quack and save in on your device without having to go to Google play store.
https://awspoint.com/mp3-quack-mp3-quack-download-www-mp3quack-com/
September 14, 2020at11:10 am, maketechgist said:
SaveFrom.net enable you to save videos from YouTube and other streaming site. Meanwhile,this is one of the popular videos downloading websites which allow users download onlinevideos for free.
September 14, 2020at11:01 am, maketechgist said:
Wapmon.com is an online platform where different users across the globe get access to trendingvideos on the internet. This is a platform loaded with millions of videos for its users tostream and download anytime. Meanwhile, on the Wapmon.com website, some of the videos have strictcontent users can download to their device or stream directly on their devices using
the web browser.
September 14, 2020at11:00 am, maketechgist said:
Wapdam is an online website which provides free download of Mp3 music, music videos, movies,games, apps, themes, and other categories of download available on the platform. This is amobile website withtons of different content arranged categorically on the platform.
September 14, 2020at10:40 am, maketechgist said:
Waphan is an online wap site that provides mobile downloads of free Games,Mp3 music, photos, videos, and mobile apps to all its users. The benefitson Waphan.com cannot be over-emphasized. The website possesses specialfeatures which makes the platform interesting.
September 14, 2020at10:39 am, maketechgist said:
Wapmon.com is an online platform where different users across the globe get access to trendingvideos on the internet. This is a platform loaded with millions of videos for its users tostream and download anytime. Meanwhile, on the Wapmon.com website, some of the videos have strictcontent users can download to their device or stream directly on their devices using the web browser.
September 14, 2020at10:38 am, maketechgist said:
Wapdam is an online website which provides free download of Mp3 music, music videos, movies,games, apps, themes, and other categories of download available on the platform. This is amobile website with tons of different content arranged categorically on the platform.
May 14, 2020at7:29 am, 6 essential tips on how to work remotely from an RV | RV Lifestyle said:
[…] By the way, if you need to get your RV ready for the road after a long time in storage, here is some help from our RV Podcast on how to get your RV ready for travel again. […]
May 11, 2020at12:17 pm, Ferdinard Orumgbe said:
THANKS FOR SHARING THIS IMPORTANT INFORMATION. I REALLY APPRECIATE THAT AND WISH YOU LUCK FOR MORE AMAZING POSTS IN THE FUTURE. IT WILL BE MY PLEASURE IF YOU CAN CHECK ON AN ARTICLE I WROTE VIA THE LINK BELOW:
https://WWW.MAKEOVERARENA.COM/WAPTRICK-COM/
May 06, 2020at11:28 am, Tom said:
Mike the last two shows you’ve been very buzzy. I think something’s wrong with your microphone