This week in the RV Podcast, we present the 2020 RV Bucket list.

Each year at this time we ask our audience to call in and leave us a message about their RV travel plans for the New Year. And we have a lively assortment of them to play for you in the Interview of the Week segment, coming up. You’ll find it fascinating where other RVers want to go, and why. And, we’re sure, come up with some new travel ideas as suggested by our audience.

Also, this week, RV News, tips, questions, comments and a great off the beaten path report from the Burketts

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Show Notes for Episode #275 Jan. 7, 2019 of The RV Podcast:

WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK

The Holidays are over. We packed away the last of the Christmas decorations this weekend and now it's time to hit the road.

From Wednesday-Sunday, we'll be camping in the snow at Tahquamenon Falls State Park in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This is an annual event that we've been doing now for seven years. Over 40 RVers from across the country will be joining us to hike, snowshoe, take photos and explore the beauty of the northwoods in winter.

The day after that event ends, we head to Tampa, Fl, where we'll spend from Jan. 14-18 attending the Tampa RV Supershow. Every day from 2-3 PM, we'll be doing Meet and Greets at the Leisure Travel Vans display at the show.

And on Thursday, Jan 16, from 5-9 PM, we'll be attending a big After Show party with other YouTube influencers and bloggers at the Wing House right near the fairgrounds. Please come by and say Hi. We'll have an invitation to the party to hand you, so look for us. When not at the LTV display, we'll be roaming the show shooting videos and reporting on what's new.

The after Show Party at the Wing House opens to the public at 6PM and is free. It promises to be really fun.

Who will be there? Here’s the list:

• Mike and Jennifer Wendland, RV Lifestyle, www.rvlifestyle.com
• Peter Knize and John Sullivan, The RV Geeks, www.thervgeeks.com
• Jason and Rae Miller, Getaway Couple, www.getawaycouple.com
• Marc and Julie Bennett, RV Love, www.rvlove.com
• Anthony Nalli, Creator and host of The RVers, www.thervers.tv
• Kyle and Olivia Brady, Drivin’ and Vibin’, www.drivinvibin.com
• Tom and Caitlin Morton, Mortons on the Move, www.mortonsonthemove.com
• Nathan and Marissa Moss, Less Junk, More Journey, www.lessjunkmorejourney.com

Come see us!

This part of the podcast is brought to you by Dish Outdoors, which lets RVers pay as they go and watch HD satellite television from wherever they are camped with easy to set up gear made with the RVer in mind. Just go to https://rvlifestyle.com/dish for details on the service and special deal just for listeners of this podcast.

RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK

Camping reservations for Canada's national parks unroll this month
If you are planning on camping in one of Canada's beautiful national parks this summer, the reservation system will open in waves throughout this month. A handful opened last Friday. Others, like Jasper and Banff open this week, and others like Prince Edward Island, open January 20. For a complete list of when reservations open for each national park click here.

When to catch the most amazing astronomical sightings of 2020  
If you are like Jen and me and enjoy star gazing when camping, then you may be interested in this article. It covers the many things astronomy lovers can expect in 2020, such as when the super moons will arrive (first one is Feb. 9), when the various meteor shows appear and more. If you want to take pictures of the night skies, we had a podcast on this some time back that may be helpful. Click here to check it out.

Ohio national park leases land to 10 farms – only such arrangement in the U.S.
We've all heard about the financial struggles facing America's national parks and likely most have heard of the decline in small, mom-and-pop run farms. So, it was with interest we read a story last weekend on how one national park in Ohio is using farming as a way to help. The Cuyahoga Valley National Park, about 20 miles south of Cleveland, leases 10 farms on its land to independent farmers as a way of producing revenue and protecting small farms. The farmers need to live in pre-existing buildings and follow strict sustainable farming practices. In return they get a 60 year lease on the land, and can live in a national park.

Kentucky state park offering eagle tour packages in January, early February
If you love bald eagles, and plan to be anywhere near Kentucky in January or early February, you may want to check out Kentucky state parks Eagle Watch Weekend packages. Kentucky state parks have been offering eagle spotting tours by naturalists for some 40 years. The park has various tour options that include tickets for the watch, lodging and more.

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

Hello, Mike and Jennifer happy 2022 to you and your many listeners. My name is Gerhard. We've enjoyed your podcast from the beginning and I've listened to most podcast over the years. Question. My wife and I have fifty years of RVing behind us and I want to downsize to a real travelling unit. You have owned both length Sprinters before going to a B-Plus or a C-Class. My wife and I for a long time have been considering a new Sprinter, either the 177 regular or extended length versions. We want to hear your and Jennifer’s feelings with parking situations on both lengths. We would like to Extra Storage in the back on the long unit, but worry about parking. Thanks. Please keep your interesting and valuable broadcast coming you two are doing a great service to all our views particulars newbies.

Hi, Jennifer, and Mike. Becky and I love your podcast each week and they've been very helpful to us as we have an all diesel, 2016 Winnebago View. We enjoy boondocking tailgate SEC football games. Usually from Thursday night to Sunday. But my question revolves around the laws around being able to see your tag on the rear of the RV. Sometimes we carry two bites on the back hitch. And also if we don't have the hitch back there we make carry a Cargo Carrier back there with extra chairs or coolers. So what is the law regarding a clear view of your tag on the back of your RV? Can we move the tag up higher on the back of the RV, in clear view. Any ideas in that regard? Thanks a lot, bye now.

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

RV INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK

This week in the RV Podcast, we present the 2020 RV Bucketlist.

Each year at this time we ask our audience to call in and leave us a message about their RV travel plans for the New Year. And we have a lively assortment of them to play for you in the Interview of the Week segment, coming up. You’ll find it fascinating where other RVers want to go, and why. And, we’re sure, come up with some new travel ideas as suggested by our audience.

(Listeners share their 2020 RV Bucket list)

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

At least as far as we’ve discovered, it’s hard to find good boon docking spots in the northeast USA if you’re south of Maine.  Harvest Hosts has improved that situation, but pickings are still slim.  We were happy to find that some of the Pennsylvania state forests offer dispersed camping if you have a few days lead time to make arrangements.  We found this out when we were looking for a camping spot near the Delaware Water Gap.  Commercial campgrounds up in that area are pricey and, at least in season, hard to get into.

It was probably freecampsites.net where we found out about these spots.  Like the dispersed campsites in national forests, they can be a bit of a chore to locate until you’ve been there once.  This particular campsite was located along a road that got progressively narrower and more rutted as it emerged from a residential area and made its way into the forest.  By the time we arrived it was getting dark.  We had a map, something like the vehicle use maps provide by the national forests, but less detailed, and we had a description of the site.  The woman in the state forest office had told us it was marked with a little sign showing a picnic table.

There were the additional landmarks of a fire lookout tower and a small stream, both of which were useless in the pitch blackness that had descended as we wound our way deeper into the trees.  After about thirty minutes of turning around, backtracking, backing up, and scanning the roadside with a flashlight, we did find the site and the sign, set back among the shrubs along the road.  We were exhausted, and on our very first trip in the new (to us) class B camper.  We flopped into bed exhausted.

In the morning we discovered several things.  First, it was really a pretty good campsite, with a fire ring and picnic table, and at the edge of a lovely woods.  It was only a few yards downstream to the creek and a few more to the trailhead that took us to the fire lookout tower,  We also found out, after exiting the camper and walking around to enjoy the morning, that we’d parked in a lush patch of poison ivy, and that we’d gone to bed without switching the refrigerator from 12 volt to LP, thus draining our coach battery.

As we emerged from the forest road back into the residential area, we spied a sign which had been invisible to us the night before—ABSOLUTELY no overnight RV parking!  Clearly, we weren’t the first to arrive late here and have trouble finding the campsite.  On the plus side, we were practically in the Delaware Water Gap, and the site was free.  It required only registering with the state forest office and securing, by email, a permit.  Over the years we’ve stayed in a couple of other Pennsylvania state forests, being careful to arrive well before dark.

In the transcript of this report, we’ll include a link to information about camping in PA state forests, and one to a map that shows the forest districts, lists the number of sites available for motorized camping, and provides contact information for the office that issues the permits.  We’ve stayed in the Delaware, Michaux, and Rothrock state forests, and found them to be simple and attractive, especially if you like getting into nature and away from the crowd.  Some, like the Michaux forest site, are good for an overnight stop while traveling through, maybe visiting the Gettysburg area.  Others, like the first one we stayed at near the water gap, are better for a more extended visit.

State forests in Michigan, Vermont, and Minnesota allow camping under similar guidelines to those in Pennsylvania, and other states may as well.  Finding and getting permission to use these lands is a bit more difficult than for national forests or BLM properties, but it offers opportunities not available in any other way, and access to some extravagantly beautiful country.  If you make it out here, look for us, Patti and Tom Burkett, off the beaten path.

RV CALENDAR OF EVENTS

• January 4-12, Indy RV Expo, Indiana State Fairgrounds, Indianapolis, IN
• January 8-12, Chicago Boat, RV & Sail Show, McCormick Place – South, Chicago, IL
• January 8-12, Ohio RV Supershow, I-X Center, Cleveland, OH
• January 9-11, Colorado RV Adventure Travel Show, Colorado Convention Center, Denver, CO
• January 9-11, Gulf Coast RV Show, Mobile Convention Center, Mobile, AL
• January 9-12, Grand Rapids Camper, Travel & RV Show, DeVos Place, Grand Rapids, MI
• January 9-12, Valley RV & Camping Show, Century Center, South Bend, IN
• January 10-12, Knoxville RV Show, Sevierville Convention Center, Sevierville, TN
• January 10-12, Southern Louisiana Boat, Sport & RV Show, Houma Terrebonne Civic Center, Houma, LA
• January 10-12, 58th Annual RV & Campgrounds Show, Allentown Fairgrounds, Agri-Plex Building, Allentown, PA
• January 10-12, Washington Camping RV Expo, Dulles Expo Center, Chantilly, VA
• January 11-19, Pittsburgh RV Show, David Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, PA
• January 15-19, Florida RV SuperShow, Florida State Fairgrounds, Tampa, FL

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