RT24 Podcast: How to Pursue Your Passion and Earn a Living While Full-Timing in an RV

It's always hard to come up with a catchy title for these Roadtreking RV Podcast episodes. But if I had to summarize what we talk about most this week I'd say it's all about creating the lives we have been dreaming about.

Whether you are a retiree, about to retire, or just long to get out there in an RV as a full-timer or half-timer and are trying to figure out how you can still earn some money, this episode is for you.

It's all about pursuing your passions in your RV. Know this: you can do it! And get paid.

In answering one of our listener questions this week, I offer a great resource to finding work on the road.

And then there's my interview with Mark Rickert, a thrill-seeking techy and founder of Off the Grid Apps. That's him pictured up above with his RV.

Rickert is in his early 30's and travels around the country pursuing his passion of skydiving, all while making a living and fulltiming in his RV. He was a six-figure a year software developer who decided he wanted his office to be a 1998 Roadtrek 190 Popular. Since August he has been to 11 states, making many of the more than 200 skydiving jumps he does annually. Most nights, he boondocks, paying nothing or very little for a camping spot.

On this week's show, Mark offers valuable tips on how to truly follow your dreams, see the country, enjoy life to the fullest, and have all the comforts of home with you all the time.

Mark shares his nomadic lifestyle with us and offers hints and tips on how you can do it, too. For example, he talks about the need to become a minimalist while full-timing.

“You just don’t need nearly as many things as you think you do,” he says.

Rickert says money is not his main goal and that enjoying life, traveling, skydiving and making new friends are higher priorities. He says he tries to bill about 20 hours a week to clients, and he has developed a number of his own iPhone apps that he sells through his company appropriately called Off the Grid Apps.

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First Things First: An Update About Kathy Huggins of Living The RV Dream

We start the show this week by providing you with an update on Kathy Huggins of Living the RV Dream. Last week we told you she had a serious medical emergency. I've heard from John Huggins, her husband, since then and he let us know that Kathy continues to get better and that he appreciates everyone's continued thoughts and prayers. She's still in the hospital and a long road to recovery lies ahead but she is now out of ICU, and that is good news.

Check-in of the Week: Looking Forward to Full-Timing

A listener name Kevin checks in to let us know he wants to make a living out of an RV and wonders how he can do it. I let him know there are many ways there are to do it. I specifically refer him to https://rvlifestyle.com/8 and the interview with Steve Anderson, who runs Workamper.com, which is dedicated to matching employers with RV workampers. As Jim explains, Workampers are adventurous individuals, couples, and families who have chosen a wonderful lifestyle that combines ANY kind of part-time or full-time work with RV camping.

Bottom line: [spp-tweet “Workkamping can help pay the bills while you RV.”]

Question: Can You Tell Me More About E-Treknology and RV Power?

A listener named Karl left us a message asking about our “E-Treknology” and power use.

[spp-tweet “E-Treknology uses battery and solar innovations to allow RVers to stay boondock longer.”]

We share how we use power, how long batteries will last, how solar charges the batteries, and how long it takes to charge them with the engne generator on our ClassB van.  I also refer him to https://rvlifestyle.com/11, which was our podcast from the most recent National RV Trade Show in Louisville, Ky.

From Our Email: Nice Weather is NOT a Myth and Other RV Tales

Craig from North Carolina writes to us with reports of actual nice weather these days somewhere in North America. He also shares with us an “interesting” experience some relatives had of, can you imagine: [spp-tweet “Waking up in an Oregon Walmart surrounded by police cars”]. And there there was the time in California where a deranged man pounded on his RV door in the middle of the night accusing him of being an alien from another planet.

From Our Email: Park Model Camping IS Great!

Listeners Bruce and Grace write to let us know that they enjoyed the Roadtreking story earlier this week about park model camping (found here). Bruce and Grace tell us about how they enjoy park model camping in Minnesota and Arizona and how they use a Roadtrek for travel to rallies and campgrounds with their grandchildren. I weigh in with some thoughts of my own about park model camping.

[spp-tweet “Park Model RV Resort Living is a rapidly growing part of the RV lifestyle.”]

From Our Email: Tell Me More About Test-Driving that new Roadtrek CS Adventurous XL

A listener writes to ask about test driving the RV lifestyle in our new Roadtrek CS Adventurous XL as he is nearing retirement and wants to explore the RV lifestyle. I offer some suggestions for how he should go about it.

RV News of the Week: Propane Dangers Abound

We note two stories involvingdangerous RV fires:

A man was burnt over 80 percent of his body when the motorhome he was driving burst into flames while driving down a California highway (Read more)

A woman was critically burnt in Oklahoma when her motorhome caught fire after a crash (Read more)

That led us to a discussion about [spp-tweet “the dangers of leaving propane on when driving”]. (Read this blog post I did a while back)

We had a big discussion about this on our Roadtreking Facebook Group the other day. Rick Ornberg Sr., a veteran firefighter, offered some great advice for when you should really use propane and why propane-fed fires are so dangerous.

RV Tech Tip of the Week: NestHome Thermostat

This week's Roadtreking RV Tech Tip of the Week aims to help you never worry about setting the thermostat before you leave the house again. The NestHome Thermostat senses when you're home is empty and automatically adjusts the temperature to avoid unnecessary heating or cooling.

Compatible with most home heating and cooling systems, the NestHome Thermostat is simple to install and easy to use. With several energy saving features, Nest allows you to stay on top of energy usage and reduce your monthly energy bill. Within a week of setting up the device, it will learn your personal schedule and program itself to adjust to the temperatures you like. You can also control the temperature of your home from your smartphone, tablet or laptop. You can even pair the Nest with other smart home accessories from Verizon Wireless to manage your energy use and effortlessly adjust settings to maximize energy savings.

Visit your local Verizon retailer to learn how you can use the NestHome Thermostat to conserve energy and reduce your heating and cooling costs.

Also visit Roadtreking.com/vzw for stories about how technology can enhance and improve your life.

Off the Beaten Path: Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park in Florida

We hear from Victor who shares with us a recommendation to stay at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park in Florida, where there is a 16-mile bike trail that runs from Gainsville to Hawthrne, Florda

Interview: Mark Rickert, founder of Off the Grid Apps and full-time RVer/thrill-seeker

Here's a photo of Mark doing what his fulltime RVing life lets hime do, jumping out of an airplane.

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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