RV Podcast 213 What does the RV Lifestyle mean to you?

The RV Lifestyle means different things to different people. This week, we’ll hear from a collection of RVers we just met at the ongoing California RV Show about the many different ways they use and enjoy their RVs and what part of the lifestyle they enjoy the most. Plus lots of RV News, RV Tips and a great off the beaten path report. Show Notes for Episode #213 Oct. 19, 2018 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK MIKE We've been on the west coast the past few days meeting folks and hanging out at the huge California RV Show in Pomona. It’s our first time attending this annual fall show, which in every way rivals the September RV Show in Hershey and the January Tampa, Florida RV Supershow in size and vendors. It’s hard to say which is the biggest but lets just say you can walk a lot of miles at Pomona and still not see everything! JENNIFER. This is the third RV show we’ve attended in as many weeks. First was Hershey, then the RV Open House in Elkhart and now the California Show. If we had to take our impressions on all three of these shows and identify the one or two big trends we saw, we’d have to say all the industry momentum seems to be focused these days on boondocking and smaller RVs like teardrops and Class B campervans. The industry’s clear emphasis is on drawing younger people into the RV Lifestyle and they are trying to do that with smaller more efficient units that are able to do off grid and sometimes off road camping. MIKE I agree with that assessment. I think the question we were asked more than any other one over the weekend had to do with boondocking. And not necessarily by young people. Campers of all sorts, especially babyboomers expressed frustration over trying to book space in commercial campgrounds and state parks. So many RVs have been sold in recent years and there are so many new RVers out there that tit is getting harder and harder to book a spot at a commercial or state park type campground without making reservations long in advance. So RVers are increasingly looking towards boondocking. Which is just why we wrote our new book, the Beginner's Guide to Boondocking . Sales have been amazing, and we so appreciate the kind words we heard from many at the show who have already read it. But in three days of doing meet and greets out there, we heard so many people talk about wanting to give boondocking a try. We were also asked a lot where Bo was and we explained that we left him back home because we had to fly out to California because there just was not enough time for us to drive in our RV between all the shows we had to attend and our next event, which gets underway tomorrow. That event is another one of our Roadtreking gatherings, the eighth of the year. It’s on the prairie in the Flinthills region of Kansas on the Flying W Ranch. The Flying W is a working cattle ranch and we will be camped there in our RVs and participating in all sorts of things, including a longhorn cattle drive, a photography tour and something I am really looking forward to, a night star gazing party with an astronomer. It should be an awesome time. JENNIFER As this podcast is being released the Panhandle region of Florida is being affected by Hurricane Michael. Our thoughts and prayers are with those in the affected areas. This looks like a major storm and it hits home for us…literally. As many of you know we have a condo on Okaloosa Island near Destin which is right in the thick of it all. We have been relying on friends, including Roadtrekers Les and Kathy Shanteau, who we want to give a big shout out to. They live in the area and have helped us move a car that we keep down there to higher ground. Other friends have moved our patio furniture indoors, too. But hurricanes are scary things and we’re hoping and praying this one is not as bad as they say. MIKE Along those lines I have received a news release from the Florida Campground Association. The panhandle and Emerald Coast are very popular with RVers and this is a very busy time down there as it is fall break for many of the southern schools. Many RV parks and campgrounds along northern Florida’s Gulf Coast are closing before Hurricane Michael hit the state. Here’s the release: “RV parks and campgrounds along the Coastal Region, from Destin to Cedar Key or from Santa Rosa County to Levy County, are having to heed emergency evacuation orders and are closing their parks until the hurricane passes,” said Bobby Cornwell, executive director of the Florida Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds. “Some RV Parks farther inland in the panhandle region may still be open. However, RVers and campers are advised to travel west of Pensacola or east of Madison to stay away from the storm’s path.” Inland RV parks and campgrounds may be used to accommodate visitors and hurricane evacuees, however. “Those seeking campground accommodations should have no trouble finding RV sites in Florida as the campgrounds in the nor