How RVers Handle Medicare and Insurance Issues

This week on the RV Podcast:

• How RVers Handle Medicare and Insurance Issues on the road
• There is a massive recall of the heavy-duty Ford trucks used by many RVers to haul their trailers and fifth wheels
• The fun story about some RVers who adopted a stray cat they found at a campground. Apparently, it happens all the time!
• All this plus the RV News of the Week and your questions coming up in Episode 566 of the RV Podcast

You can watch the video version from our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel by clicking the player below.

If you prefer an audio-only podcast, you can hear us through your favorite podcast app or listen now through the player below.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:57 — 27.3MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | Podchaser | TuneIn | RSS

Our Mississippi River Great River Road Adventure

As this podcast is released, we are on the Mississippi River, about ready to head into Louisiana. We’ve been tracing the river for weeks now on a Fantasy RV Tour, starting in Northern Minnesota, where we could literally hop across the river on stepping stones. As we approach our campsite on the river across from Natchez, MS, today, it’s over half a mile wide.

If you want to follow our adventure, we’re sharing weekly YouTube Videos on our RV Lifestyle Channel.

The best place to follow is on RVCommunity.com, our ad-free online community. We are publishing daily behind-the-scenes reports, complete with photos, and several of those traveling with us are sharing their own reports as well. It’s an awesome trip and we love sharing it wth you. 

RV NEWS OF THE WEEK

Ford Issues Massive Recall for Heavy Duty Trucks

Ford Motor Company is recalling 115,539 heavy-duty trucks because the steering column’s upper shaft may detach, causing a loss of steering control. These are the most popular trucks used by RVers to tow trailers and fifth wheels – F-250, F-350, and F-450 from model years 2020 and 2021. More specifically, the recall covers trucks built between Feb. 2019 and Sept. 2020. Ford says only about 1% are affected, and no crashes or injuries have been reported. If you own one of the affected trucks, you should bring it to your local dealer for inspection, and if necessary, they will replace the defective parts on the steering column’s upper shaft.

Dealerships have already been notified about the recall and the fix for the issue. If you are wondering why you haven't received a recall notice from Ford yet, one will be sent sometime next week.

Grand Canyon North Rim to Partially Open This Week

Assuming the government shutdown is averted, today – October 1st – is the day the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park is set to partially reopen for the first time since a pair of massive wildfires destroyed many of its beloved buildings this summer.

Highway 67 and Cape Royal Road will reopen today, offering access to scenic places like Point Imperial and Cape Royal. Fire Point and Swamp Ridge will also reopen, according to an update from park officials. The reopened sections will welcome visitors from sunrise to sunset daily through Nov. 30, or until the first major snowfall of the season, when the section's normal seasonal closure begins.

North Rim's iconic Grand Canyon Lodge and many other historic structures within the North Rim were destroyed as the fire grew out of control. Park officials had initially determined that the North Rim would be closed for the remainder of this year after the buildings burned.

The wildfire has since burned more than 145,500 acres within areas in and around the park and is currently still burning in some areas. Officials say it is 94% contained, and there has been minimal fire growth over the past few weeks. Still, they orge any visitors o exercise caution while traveling within the North Rim because of active firefighting operations and other impacts of the fire.

“Hazards remain, including dead standing trees, the potential for flash flooding even in areas not directly affected by the fire, and the presence of crews and equipment actively working on (the) recovery operation,” park officials wrote in their update. “Emergency response will be extremely limited, and response times may be significantly delayed.”

Nothing Is Safe: Even Drain Covers Stolen from Redwood National and State Parks

Speaking of National Parks and problems with visitors, thieves are targeting California's Redwood National and State Parks and taking everything from memorial plaques for veterans, donor recognition markers, to even items as mundane as shower drains. The parks have long had problems with people stealing burl, a gnarled wood growth, but now thieves are brazenly taking off with items ranging from a 12-inch statue of a coho salmon to a 20-inch bronze recreation of a dugout canoe used by the Native American people. Investigations are ongoing.

RV CONVERSATION OF THE WEEK – How RVers Handle Medicare and Insurance Issues

This week, we’re going to talk about a big issue for many Rvers who are at or nearing retirement age and want to do more traveling, either full-time or for long extended periods. 

For many, the most confusing issues involve questions about Medicare and Finances.

To help sort out those problems, we invited Tim Gustafson, a longtime friend of the podcast who also happens to be a fulltime RVer himself, to help sort out some of these issues. 

Tim is a Senior Lifestyle Solutions expert specializing in Medicare and Financial Planning, and he’s not here to sell anything but to help us better understand the questions we should be asking as we plan a more active RV lifestyle of travel.

We also talk about how, after being a guest on this podcast a number of years ago, he and his family decided to sell everything they had, buy an RV, roadschool the kids, and travel all over North America.

You can reach Tim at: tim@insurityfinancialservices.com

SOCIAL MEDIA BUZZ – Wendy Bowyer

Wendy Bowyer reports on the hot issues most talked about this past week on social media and our RV Lifestyle Community group.

Last week our RV Lifestyle Facebook Group hit a big milestone — 600,000 members – whoo hoo! We are so excited by how much this group has grown. And it is so much fun to see the hundreds of thousands of people logging in regularly, asking questions and sharing their RV adventures. A big shout-out to our amazing team of volunteer moderators – you guys know who you are, and we couldn't do it without you!

Now one post I would like to share from our Facebook group is from Janie, and it is about a cat. A cute adorable orange tabby to be exact.

Janie and her husband were at a campground in Kentucky when they were befriended by this adorable cat. The campground host said the cat was a stray and had lived in the campground for two years, getting food and affection from campers as they came and went. During their time at this campsite the cat really took a liking to Janie and her family. We're talking this little guy moved in their rig.

She wrote: “We have grown fond of him, he’s so chill, very affectionate, loves to talk and follows me around. Sometimes I have to coax him out of the camper and he resists. We are leaving in the morning and the camp host said if I’d like to take him then go ahead. She didn’t have any idea where he came from or knew anything about him. What do you think, should I leave him alone in the only home he knows or give him a loving home and take him?”

Janie shared some pictures of this adorable tabby sitting in her camper looking out the door, snoozing belly up on a comfy bed, even snuggling next to her dog!

And people just went nuts. We're talking nearly 3,000 comments with everyone urging her to take the little guy with her.

Kelsie looked this whole post over and said: “That is called the universal cat distribution system. He has chosen his family. Take that cutie home!”

What amazed me were how many people had the same experience with stray cats that lived at campgrounds moving into their rigs. 

Rhonda said that happened to her last September at a KOA. The cat was only 3 months old, showed up at their campsite and wouldn't leave. They named the little guy KOA and took him home.

Dawn had a story that really touched my heart. Some time ago they were camping at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, AL, when a stray cat that lived at the campground basically moved in. They decided to keep him and she believes they saved his life because two weeks after they left a hurricane blew in and destroyed everything. She is sure he wouldn't have made it.

But what about Janie? What did she do? Well, you know what I am going to say! Her husband bought a cat carrier and they put the cat in it. There was a lot of meowing at first but then he settled down. They plan to take him to a vet to make sure he is not microchipped and have him checked out. 

And they gave him a name. They named him Hitch, “as in the little hitchhiker who hitches himself to us.”

Hopefully Janie will keep us posted!

RV QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Before we do the question of the week, I want to share a couple of notes I received after we reported the other day that this Fantasy RV Tour we’re currently on is tracing the Mississippi River from its origin up in Minnesota down to where it empties in the Gulf… and I said the Guf of Mexico or the Gulf of America, purposely avoiding a blanket label of one over the other. That was not good enough.

Within a few hours on the day after I said that, I received two angry emails that show that no matter what you say, on some things, you just can’t win.

First, there was this note:

I’ve had it with you. You called the Gulf of America. Look in the history books you Maga fool, it’s the Gulf of Mexico. – A former subscriber

Then there was this: 

Why would you even think of calling it the Gulf of Mexico. Our president changed it and even Google Maps now labels it the Gulf of America. You’re just a left wing loonie and I’m out of here. – A former follower.

I have absolutely no further comment,  except to quote one of my former newspaper editors who told me that if you get hate mail from both sides of an issue for exactly opposite reasons, you’ve reported it correctly.

Here’s the question of the week, which came from our Facebook Group.

QUESTION: From Linda: Do any of you post “in case of emergency” cards in your camper? We are both in our 70's and our daughter worries about us when we travel. (Well, that's a role reversal!) If you do, what info do you include and where do you place it? Or, is this generally a bad idea these days?

ANSWER: For us, so our family knows where we are, we use a service called Life 360, which shows our location on a map in real time. You can turn it on and off anytime, but it's a great way for loved ones to know where we are. And we both have all our medical records on patient portals with our local doctors. Lab tests, prescriptions, doctor and hospital notes are all there and can easily be retrieved. Also on our phone is a contact we have entered called ICE – In Case of Emergency – that lists people to be notified if we are in an emergency situation. In the show notes, we will share a link on how to set it up: https://www.firstresponsefirstaid.co.uk/news/how-to-add-ice-to-your-mobile-phone/

Linda’s question brought a great response from the community. Here are a few of them:

From Cheryl: I give my kids our itinerary when we travel so they will know where we are. They also have life 360 and the find my phone app with location sharing to them on. I have numerous medical conditions so I keep a list of medications in my purse. I’ve thought about getting a medical alert bracelet but they are not very pretty and I’m vain!

From Dale: I have an envelope marked Emergency on the dash of our toad. Inside the envelope is a paper printed from my computer saying our dog needs to be rescued from our mororhome. It has space for the name and address of the campground and site number to be written in. I also list emergency contacts with their phone numbers. ICE numbers are on phones.

And one more… our favorite…from Nancy:

My husband recently died & our oldest son was trying to discourage me from traveling alone-with-pets “because he was worried about me”.Ha! I told him, if his dad didn’t even try to stop me, how successful did he think he could be? I told him, trust me to be an adult the way I had to trust you when you were a teen. He shut up. But, yes, have ID information on a poster in case of an emergency. Include your animals’ descriptions. I started doing that years ago.