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RV podcast: planning your 2023 StressLess Camping adventures

StressLess Camping Podcast

What kind of RV and camping adventures are you planning for the new year? How are you planning those? Our guest, Blair Honey from The Camp Life, has a calendar we love for planning and enjoying the National Parks. But he also has some great tips to stay safe while doing so.

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If you’re confused about solar, battery power or just want to upgrade your RV we have found the solutions from ABC Upfitters are both reliable and exceptional.

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Welcome to the Weekly podcast, all about turning the great American RV adventure into Stressless Camping. Each week we explore tips, tricks, ideas, and destinations, and talk to the happiest campers in the RV world. Pull up a seat at the campfire as we enjoy some Stressless Camping.

Welcome to the campfire.

I’m, Tony,.

I'm Peggy.

<Laugh>, and we are two RV industry veterans who travel part-time.

In a brand new small trailer.

Absolutely. Looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips, tricks, and discounts.

Yeah. We are packing up that brand new mini light and getting ready to head out for our January adventure.

Yes. We are going, to Indio first with the FMCA and then Quartzsite, and oh gosh, we sure hope we can see you at one of those two places.

Right. And actually, something I forgot to write down is first we're gonna stop in Phoenix and buy some new Lectric E-Bikes. 

We had a Lectric XP 2.0 step through bikes in the past Lectric brand with no E though, just the L. Yeah. 

And <laugh>, if you are follower of ours at all, you might know that those two bikes were the most impacted. Yeah. And that is quite literally true. When we got rear-ended in August,  we had them on a bike rack on the back of the trailer and Crunch City, so they were a total loss.

And so we're gonna go pick up two new, we like those Lectric bikes so much that we're gonna pick up two new Lectric e-bikes. And one of the nifty things they've done, and of course we'll get into this more, especially when we ride them Yeah. Is they've upped the size of the motor and made some other changes. So yeah, we cannot wait. We'll have them in the FMCA rally and in Quartzsite. Yep. And Lectric is gonna be there at Quartzsite as well. So that's kind of cool.

So you probably know us fairly well unless you're really brand new. And if you don't know then, then I'm gonna tell you that we are not outdoorsy hikers and things like that. We spend a lot of time driving around in our RV and going to trade shows and rallies and conventions and things like that.

Yeah. There are a lot of people who are outdoorsy people and we fully respect and admire you.

I'm a little jealous, but not jealous enough to actually get on my boots <laugh> and start doing it. Right. But for those of you who are tent campers and hikers and adventurers like that, we wanna introduce you to our new friend at the camp life.

Yes. And that is coming right after this. We are going to be in both Indio for the F M C A rally and Quartzsite, and in both cases we are going to be fully off the grid. So the way we're pulling that off is our new 2022.

Nope.

Our new 2023 Rockwood Mini Light 2205S is equipped with something called the Power Package. And the power package is installed by Rockwood from ABC Upfitters, who have been a great partner of ours. And ABC Upfitters do complete solar and battery systems for RVs, or can help you to upgrade the solar and battery system on your RV. And one of the things we really like about the way they do things is the stuff just works.

Right. We had an email and somebody said, of all those choices that are out there, why did you go with ABC Upfitters? And, you know, we get pitched a lot on different systems and companies and such. And what I liked about ABC is Rockwood and Flagstaff chose them over all the choices they have to install systems, so do several others, including No Boundaries and a few others where they, they're good enough that they're of factory original quality.

And that has been the experience we've had in our previous trailer that this, everything just worked. And we have been monitoring this trailer and we have the fridge running and, and the heater running inside, even though it's sitting right next to the house here. And just even in, in inclement weather, everything just works. And, and I like that. Yeah. I know one of the aspects of camping is bring your tools because you're gonna have to fix things, but the fewer things I have to fix, and the better they work, the happier a camper I am.

In other words for sure ABC Upfitters definitely contribute to Stressless Camping.

So, you know, over the last five years or whatever, solar has been getting more and more popular. And admittedly even we have done a little bit of, in our older camper, we pieced together a little bit of solar stuff. But one of the great things about ABC is that it's not pieced together. Everything is designed to work together. And if you get the system all put in, then it's all designed that way so that Yeah, they have, it works together.

Properly. They have an engineer on staff. Yeah. It's pretty cool if you're the do-it-yourself type and you want to go out there and get solar panels and then get an inverter and then get a controller and then get all the other stuff that I don't even know about. I mean okay. But we would just rather have it done, done right, and done the first time.

With that being said, let's invite Blair Haney from the Camp Life.

Today we are honored to be joined by Blair Haney from The Camp Life. We are going to talk about a lot of things, but one is the calendar that we got from Blair, and it's fantastic and we'll talk more about it. But that's kind of how we met, was through the calendar on his website and we wanna hear more about it. So Blair, thank you for joining us today.

Yes. Thank you to the both of you and, and everyone at Stressless Camping for, uh, having me on. I appreciate it.

Absolutely. Pleasure to have you here. Tell us a little bit about The Camp Life.

Sure. I acquired the business from the couple that originally started it. I acquired it back in July of 21. So 2022 was my first full year of paying attention to it and working on it. It originally started as a subscription box business on Cratejoy, and they grew it to a good following, doing both, a hiking and camping one, and then one that was more geared towards glamping and Van Life. The glamping and Van life one really took off and they were kind of ahead of the curve, I think.

I don't think too many people were doing subscription boxes for, you know, outdoor related, uh, products. Right. And so they, they really built a, a nice audience, and then they tried to parlay that into a, an e-commerce business. And then they had their first kid and realized they had to like part ways, part ways with the, with the business.

Okay. And I was looking for something that had already started, but wasn't so far advanced that I couldn't keep up with it. Um, so this was kind of like right in the wheelhouse for me. I did decide to part ways with the subscription box part of it that was the glamping and van life, and really trying to narrow my focus onto the hiking and camping side of things. Okay. So that's what I, that's what I did. And I, I, I sold that off to a, a woman who's more focused on that, and this is what I've been doing ever since. And really trying to grow the e-commerce side of things because they hadn't, even though they built the website, it looked amazing and they had some traffic.

They just really hadn't gotten it off the ground yet. And so that's really where I'm focused. The, the subscription box, you know, just sort of ebbs and flows. I am trying to use the concept of curating outdoor items as a theme for The Camp Life. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So, uh, when we talk about the calendar, that is essentially a reflection of that. But, um, yeah, that's, you know, the business has been built around an audience of, of subscription boxes and then, you know, it's now starting to get into the e-commerce, the one-off type products and stuff.

So Right. That's how we found you is the calendar, which I think is really exceptional on a lot of ways. Tell us about your National Parks calendar, if you would.

Sure. Yeah. This was an idea that I've been brewing for a while. Um, I did it last year. It was hastily slapped together in about three and a half weeks, and it reflected that the quality of it <laugh>. But, you know, we can always admit when we, when we, we came up short of our expectations for ourselves, and that was certainly one of 'em. But again, it was done in a rather rushed way. And, but I'm so glad I did it because it, I learned a ton. And the idea is that, uh, everybody has familiarity with calendars. You have a pretty picture on top, and then the calendar grid down below.

And what I try to add to it was QR codes that had content related to the picture or whatever's going on that month Yes. To just sort of add more value to a calendar.

Right, right. It still serves in the same way as any other calendar, but for a couple bucks more, you get 12 months of content. And we have 36 QR codes three each month. Uh, so each one has a national park that it's featured. And I had those written by, you know, people that are out there doing, uh, content creation influencers, uh, people that are experts in their field, you know, small business owners. As I said, influencers as well as, you know, one woman who's just a part-time traveler, she's a school teacher during the day. Okay.

They each wrote a story about their adventure at a national park, and they would talk, you know, I asked 'em to do three things. I didn't really give 'em too many guardrails. I said, tell me why you went, tell me what you did, and then tell me what you'd like to do next time if you went back.

Right. Okay. So I think that recognition of, of a missed opportunity really captures people's attention. So I think it's a good addition. And, um, I think it shows, uh, some authenticity from the author. It's, you know, really them sort of reflecting on their experience mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but if they're also telling you what they did and what they really liked about it, that acts as like the basis for each month. So if the picture’s of the Grand Canyon, then that first story is gonna be about the Grand Canyon, but then, you know, the two others might be like Park Ecology, something related to, uh, the Grand Canyon’s, you know, formation or, uh, it's geology.

I don't have those particular stories this time. But, you know, as an example, right. For Acadia, for example, um, Acadia is right on the coast and has a ton of wetlands, and national wetlands Day is in the same month.

So I did a story on, or I found a story on wetlands and its importance to Acadia being a, a coastal, uh, national park. And you know, what it's seen in the way of loss of, of wetlands and how the EC ecology is a part of, uh, a major part of Acadia. Okay. So if you wanted to go there, you can get, you can get a, a broader understanding of the park, not just the things to do. You can begin to see some connections and understand a little bit more. Right. And then the other component tends to be sort of organizations that are out there promoting, protecting, conserving, advocating for our national parks or the environment in general.

Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, um, so like the National Forest Foundation, the National Parks Conservation Association, you know, I would grab content from their blogs that either talks about issues that they're working on that are related to national parks or, uh, volunteer opportunities.

You know, our national park systems always has opportunities for people to, to be ambassadors or work on a trail. Like they might get a whole bunch of people together to do trail work, or it's something that's related to the national parks, sort of like tangentially. Um, January features an article on National Day of Service because, uh, Martin Luther King Day is that, uh, is that month. Okay. Um, and of course, you know, Martin Luther King's, uh, national Monument is part of the National Park Service units. It's not an national park with a, you know, capital P but it's part of their units.

Right. So that's the idea behind the calendar was curating content around a theme, the theme being national parks, and then sort of like within that sub-themes around each individual national park. Uh, and then there's some, there's a couple of wonky holidays, <laugh>, uh, or Days of Observances. We have National S'mores Day. Yeah. There's Steve Irwin Day. Steve.

Irwin Day. Yeah. I love that.

Yeah. You know, that's, those were just kind of slipped in there to just add a little fun to the calendar. I have this growing list of fun and interesting national days of observance or national holidays. Cause you can, you can go anywhere and create a holiday if you want. Sure. Oh, it's, it's crazy. We, uh, kind of highlight some of the holidays as, as they come and go. Yeah. And I mean, there's some, there's like hot chocolate day and Hot Dog day. Right. I mean, just all kinds of wacky holiday, every single day of the year has something. Yeah.

Yeah. <laugh>, there's always a number of holidays, including some really wacky ones. Yeah.

Yeah. There are. And I think it's fun to acknowledge them, um, some grow an audience and really take off. Right. But I think being able to, uh, find different ways to celebrate the outdoors, even if it is National hotdog day or if it's National S'mores Day or whatever it might be. Right. I think it's a good way to see things from a different angle. And so we have a few of those in there, but then we have a feeling a little more serious, like National Mountain Day or International Day of Mountains and, um, Teddy Roosevelt's birthday, all the national park birthdays.

Yes. I love that. That's, that's one of the things I was gonna point out is every national park has a birthday and they are in this calendar.

Yeah. It's, I mean, so if you don't know, uh, for the audience, the QR code, basically you can scan it with your phone or your tablet, and it takes you to a place for more information. So it really takes the calendar from being a really nicely done wall calendar, you know, traditional printed calendar and opens up so much more in terms of interacting with the calendar Yeah. And, and information and that sort of thing. So it's a, it's a very different calendar, which is why we wanted to have Blair on here.

It's really a doggone Good idea.

Yeah. And one thing I, one thing I love about the calendar is the paper that you printed it on, it's not flimsy. It's nice heavy paper. And it's also like a matte finish. It's not shiny. So when I, I write with an ink pin, it doesn't smear all over.

<Laugh>. Yeah. Those were deliberate because I want it to be, and the same with the binder being, you know, a spiral binder. Yeah. You can pull it off the wall and actually flip it in half so it's not this big cumbersome thing. Yep. And, and use it as a tool.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's really well put together. Last week we talked to Mike Anderson from traveling gatherings, and I think this calendar is gonna be my gatherings calendar. Like I'm gonna be carrying around calendars for <laugh>, all these different things. And a lot of those we keep on our cloud calendars, but I like to see things on paper. I, I can't really look at the year on the phone. Yeah. <laugh>. I just can't do it.

<Laugh>. Yeah. Peggy has her planner, like a, a giant sheet of paper so we can look at.

I do, I can see the whole year at once, and then I can use your calendar to see our gatherings each month and <laugh>.

Yeah. That's something we really, we like gathering. So Blair, you are an outdoors person. What style of camping is your preference?

I'm a car camper now. Okay.

That's so cool.

Now when I say car camping, I mean like, uh, I'm still camping in a tent, but I'm, you know, being able to back into a site. Right. It's not back, you know, I do some back country hiking and camping. I just don't have as many friends that are able to do it nowadays. Right. You know, with with small kids and stuff, they have less time or it's just they need to be a little bit older before they can start heading out there. Sure. I, I used to do a lot of back country. I'm doing a lot more car camping now and just to, just to throw it in, throw it in the trunk and get up there and, and, you know, spend a day or two camping. I grew up though in, uh, motor homes because my dad worked for Winnebago for about 30 years.

Oh, wow. Oh, wow. <laugh>. Yeah. Oh yeah. So I was doing motor home and RV life way before it was cool. Yeah.

<Laugh>.

Back when it was the thing that a accustom scene, retired people Yeah. Traveled around the country and going place to place, you know, living, living nomadically either year round or seasonally. But my dad had dealerships that he would sell to, uh, in the mid-Atlantic region where I grew up. And then if we ever went, took a trip out west, he could find a dealer to have one waiting for us. And, and we could take a family vacation every summer. And so, okay. Ah, so yeah, I spent a lot of, a lot of time in the motor home industry. It's, it was great. It was a great introduction. It kind of like, got me very excited and very interested.

So when we got to college, I, you know, became more of a hiker and, uh, you know, more of a primitive camping style. And then, uh, that's kind of where I'm at now. That's kind of where I'm at. Um, I, I love what everybody's doing. I think it's really exciting to see all these people that are embracing it in different ways. Yeah. It's a very dynamic market out there, so it's, it's always exciting to see what people are coming up with next.

Right. And so when you were in the Winnebago days, you got to go all over the country. Do you pretty much stay a little closer to home now, or do you still get to go out and explore all over the place? 

I'm more, uh, doing New England at the moment. <laugh>, you know, the pandemic kind of shut a lot of things Sure. And changed, changed people's habits. So kinda like just shaking off the cobwebs of, of what that did to us all. And, and, and trying to get back to some of the things that we were familiar with. But in that time, much like most, a lot of America, I adopted a puppy. So.

<Laugh>.

Things, things have to be, you know, within driving distance at the moment. Right, right.

You know, she's not ready to fly, uh, anywhere just yet. But part of the, the business was to, you know, move my life towards something that could be a little more mobile. Right. Uh, that I could do and not have to go into the office. So, yeah. So most of it is, is regional. And there's great things here in New England. There's some green, the Green Mountains in Vermont. You have White Mountains obviously in, uh, New Hampshire. And then of course, Gata and all of its similar peaks in, um, up in Maine. Um, and you have the coastal exploring as well.

Right.

You have some really incredible things to see and, and not the least of, which is some of the history. I mean yeah. The history in New England is obviously incredible.

Yeah. If you're, uh, more driving to your destinations and, and you know, staying closer to that home base, obviously there's a ton of exploring that you can do, whether it's, you know, some of the cities and just a small New England towns. Yeah. And then obviously if you want to get outdoors and, and, you know, find a way into a more natural environment, there's, there's plenty to explore as well. So it, it really does depend on, on what you're after. But I like being able to have that good combination of coastline cities, different lake life, and then of course getting up into the mountains.

Right.

Yeah, absolutely.

You know, if you go up to, you know, Mount Mount Washington, I mean, you get some of the most, the gnarliest weather you're gonna find in this, you know, in the <laugh>, you know, 48. It's not for the faint of heart. I mean, there's, there's more than enough signs on in, in the White Mountain National Forest that says, you know, do not continue to summit this trail if you are not prepared for the weather. Okay. You know, you do need to be, be prepared and be smart. So there's definitely some good experiences to be had. Absolutely. But it's just not as in Instagram ready as the people that are doing what I'm doing, but they live in, you know, Lake Tahoe or they live in Sedona, Arizona.

<Laugh>, I mean,.

<Laugh> a lot of times it makes sense, as we talked about before, to be where everybody isn't. Right. Yeah. I mean, yeah. You, you can be where everybody is and then you're just another, and then your Instagram pictures always have someone else in them. Yeah.

<Laugh> another person with a camera and a drone.

That is true. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it is, you know, you end up being a, a fish in a large pond of fishes, but, and they get some breathtaking photographs out there. Sure. I think that's what I'm, you know, I'm realizing and, and beginning to understand and, and start to embrace about being in New England is capturing that Instagram ready photograph because we're videoing because it is there. We gotta work a little bit harder to find it, but it's there. Right. And you know, just as much as there's, uh, history in the city as there's history in the mountains as well. Cause it's a much older range of mountains, the whole Appalachian trail and as well as the mountain range itself.

So there's, there's a lot going on there. The biodiversity, especially within, you know, you see that in the trees. I mean, just Yeah. Come in the fall and, and the colors that you see. 

Well, I mean, if, if you want to go down a rabbit hole on the internet, look at just Appalachian food or Appalachian music. Right.

<Laugh>.

Sure.

I mean, truthfully, it is incredible just the, the interest level that's out there just in that one section. Right. And, and that's just one bit of the one.

Little, yeah. One little tiny bite of the pie.

Travel that portion of this beautiful country. So there's a lot out there.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. There's no shortage of content out there, that's for sure. Right. And people are creating it, creating it in different ways. Again, looking at it from different angles and, you know, I think that's the one thing I keep thinking about my business is try not to be trying not to be everything to everyone and really trying to, you know, find your focus and you'll find an audience, right. If you do what you do and, and you, you have that passion that comes through. But, uh, yeah, there's, there's, there's a group of people out there for everyone to find for.

Sure. Yeah. There's a lot of interest out there. And people have, I mean, somewhere there are several people who've, who are just beer travelers. They just travel for beer or wine, or quilting. I mean, there's, you know, if you have a hobby, chances are so do others, so. Right. So, and they have an interest in it.

No. I think that's the connectivity that we're finding with the internet and online organizations is that, uh, yeah, you can find your group no matter how small it might be. There's other people out there that are doing the same thing you are. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, they wanna talk about it. They wanna learn about it, you know, nerd out on it. You know, that's one of the great things that's, uh, that's available for us out there.

Yeah. Yeah. It's a neat space to be in.

So if you're in the New England area and you wanna nerd out with Blair <laugh>, check in, check out thecamplife.com. We, we will put that link of course in our show notes. And Blair, uh, we have a question that we ask all of our guests, and you've got a lot of camping experience, so this might take you a second or not. <laugh>, what is your best camping memory?

Oh, wow.

<Laugh>

You know, it's always, it's always the easy questions that really stump you. Right.

<Laugh>

Right. Yeah. Well, oh, so I'll, all right. I, you know, it's funny, it's one of the more recent ones. I think it would be hard to rank anything, um, because the, you know, uh, what's your criteria? But one of the best memories that I had was a recent backpacking trip that I went on with a couple buddies, but also I bought my dog. And this was only her second or third time camping. And she's not, everything that I do with her takes longer than other dogs. She's, you know, when I adopted her, they told me she was full of anxiety.

Mm. And I was very worried that in the small backpack tent that I had, that she was not going to be comfortable. Right. Because it would just be too, too much and too small of a space. And I set the tent up after we got up there and we were all just kind of hanging out and she started to paw at the, you know, the, the door flap to get inside because she was looking forward to, uh, to.

Bedtime, to running down.

Yeah. Just bedtime. She was exhausted. She was still a young pup. So despite the energy they can, they can run themselves tired Right. Real fast. Yeah. Especially hiking. Cuz they run 40 yards ahead of you and then they come running back and then they, it's like they do the trail three times. Right,.

Right.

You know, so I think just the idea of now having a trail buddy that really is enjoying it, knowing that she's gonna be comfortable in the tent, um, she's okay in that space. She's okay. She's familiar with it. She knows it's safe. One of the first times we we camped in a tent was in my, my friend lives on a farm and he let me pitch a tent in his backyard when I was traveling through. And there were cows like literally on the other side of the fence from, from where we were tent sleeping. And Nora did not sleep a wink all night long.

She just heard the cows breathe and, uh, just couldn't relax. But, you know, she was able to relax in the tent. This time we were able to both get a good night's sleep. And I think that was in and of itself wasn't that, you know, that monumental of an experience of a, of a, of a camping experience.

But it meant to me that I now have, you know, someone, uh, that's gonna, you know, a dog that's gonna be, uh, willing to do this with me is gonna be excited about it. It's not gonna be a, uh, you know, a torturous process cuz a lot of things are getting in the car is a torturous process. She does not like it. So I know that when she gets on the trail, she's gonna be happy, she's gonna have fun. I look forward to doing it again. I think that's, that's really something that's, that that'll be special for me. And, and something that and is definitely memorable. That's.

For sure. Yeah. So you can use the tent to coax her into the car <laugh> like, look, look, I know it's a car ride, but then we get to go camping. <laugh>.

<Laugh>. Yeah. Maybe I need to get like a, a mini tent that's just for her for the back seat or something like that. Oh yeah.

Good.

<Laugh>, a dog, a pup tent.

A pup tent. <laugh>. Yeah.

A pup tent for her in the back. Yeah. That's what it's missing. So yeah. But yeah, so that would, that would be it for me. 

That's, that’s a good one. Yeah.

And, and then conversely we always wonder what is your worst camping memory?

<Laugh>, any winter camping when you have to go to the bathroom. Just, you know, like.

<Laugh>.

There is just, it's been, you know, you just sit there and you just have that contemplation in your head. What am I gonna do? Am I'm really gonna put everything on? Or like, just trying like find a way to go back to sleep.

That is awesome.

Awesome. That's always awesome. Been the most. Yeah. Yeah.

That I can completely concur with. I am not a fan of winter. Yeah.

They can, they can keep it. I love, um, I love the concept of putting on gear and like, almost like beating the elements, right. Like combating the elements and, and getting layered up and knowing that you can enjoy, you know, subzero weather and, and howling winds and Yeah. And driving snow if you have the gear, but.

Not in the middle of the night.

Yeah. But not in the middle of the night. Like I don't wanna have to put that back on and I'm not gonna go back to sleep cause it's just gonna, you know, raise my anxiety levels just going outside, uh, to do that. So getting back to sleep is gonna be impossible. But yeah, <laugh> winter hiking is, is fun. I really enjoy the peacefulness of it and I enjoy the, you know, the sort of like that dangerous element to it. You really have to be smart with what you're doing. You have to plan. The sun's not gonna be up as late. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's gonna, it's gonna be more torturous if you have an emergency and have to sleep over. Sweating is a, is a lot bigger of a deal.

I love that piece to it. But the winter, winter camping overnight. Yeah. It's <laugh>. It's just something that.

That's one of the main reasons we bought our travel trailer. We camped, I mean I've camped in a tent quite a bit, but not necessarily in winter. And we camped in a 10 foot box trailer for a short time. Also not in winter. In winter we just tend to like lock the doors and stay inside as much as possible. <laugh> cuz we're not winter people. When we were shopping for a travel trailer, I said, great, as long as there's a bathroom inside the building, I'm good to go. <laugh>. Yeah.

Yeah. Yes. So little things like that is what, you know, a lot of people that are opening themselves up to outdoors related activities, um, you know, in the post pandemic era is people that are still not ready to just commit to a tent. Right. They're still looking for some creature comforts. And I, I think that's why van Life and travel trailer life and RV life have really taken off. I think that's why you're seeing a lot of cottage industries for, you know, blow up beds that are custom fit to the backs of certain RVs Yeah.

Or certain SUVs and stuff like.

That. The battery power stuff we have. Yeah. We we're kicking around a rather crazy idea and by, by we, I mean me,.

He means he <laugh>.

We have our travel trailer but we're kicking around a bigger pickup truck and I wanna put a sort of camper shell popup camper shell from Four Wheel Popup Campers on the back. And we've got all the stuff to make it like a, a great short-term camper. We have a porta-potty, we have a new Dometic cooler, we have a Jackery, we have two Jackerys. Right.

So we actually could.

Do all this stuff and we could actually have pretty much all the comforts of home Yeah. In portable format. Right. I mean, so it would be like a car camper except, you.

Know, it tends to be when we go out, we go out for a month or three months at a time. So doing that in the back of a truck, I can't Whew. We did it for 10 days once <laugh>.

Yeah. That was, it was an interesting experience. Yeah. When we had no travel trailer. But I need those comforts if I'm gone for three months at a time. But if we had that pop-up camper then we just wanted to run up to the mountains for the weekend. Yeah, that would be fine.

Right. Or or let's say we are going long-term, that truck would tow our existing trailer but then we could split off and go places you wouldn't want to tow a trailer. Right. Cuz it would have four-wheel drive.

Or if we're not splitting off, I put him in there for his office and then we have, there you go.

Space <laugh>. Yeah. When I say something really dumb, I could sleep in the pickup camper.

There's actually a lot of reasons to do this. Yeah.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

No it's great. Uh, the travel trailer, I've always been a fan of, you know, having had that experience growing up in motor homes, it's a little bit difficult. Um, you have to be handy. Right. It can get expensive when little things start Yeah. Breaking into those things. Cause you have a lot of problems of a car and a home like smashed together in one. And so it, and they have to build things to be lightweight so they're not as durable as a regular home or a regular car. But they give you such, you know, a lot of freedom. They give you a lot of great experiences. They give you a lot of opportunities to go places and go for longer. Like you said, 10 days is one thing, but if I wanna go for three months <laugh>, you know, and you know, stretch my legs a little.

Yeah. And you know, that's, uh, you know, The Camp Life sort of begins once a lot of those different forms of mobility. Once they get settled, once, once you get to where you are and, uh, however you get there, uh, that's where the camp life starts to begin. Right. My business is then gonna say, okay, well what do you wanna do now that you've arrived? Um, you know, however you got there, you got there whether it was, you know, a Subaru or uh, a Winnebago or a, you know, a pickup with a travel trailer. The Camp Life begins with okay, you've parked, you know, you've got your tent or your your home set up for the period of time that you're there.

What do you wanna do? Okay. That's, that's where, you know, I begin and where I wanna start to, uh, engage with people because it's such a wide wacky world out there of like, transportation, <laugh>.

I just, I just didn't wanna get into that. But yeah. You know, being able to go hiking, being able to, to sit around the campfire, be comfortable. And then of course the travel planning, uh, with, with the calendar. I mean that's, that's, uh, a little bit of a deviation. But I think it's, it, it allows people to look forward. It allows people to plan and, and find that content that they're interested in. Right. You know, that's, that's, and and you know, <laugh>, there's also a component of trying to be a little bit more accessible to people. Um, there's a lot of brands out there that are very hardcore and can become very intimidating for people that are either new to the outdoors Yeah.

Or people that are returning to the outdoors. I'm 45 and I did a ton of this when I was in high school and college and then in my twenties. And then I sort of stopped. We were doing different kinds of trips in our thirties and and early forties. And you see a lot of people that are returning at that age that, like my, my good friend Ryan, I mean I grew up with him and he didn't do anything for probably 15 years or so. And then his kids started to get of age where they could, you know, he could take them camping. No. So now he's starting to return to it and get back out to it. But I just noticed that some of these brands are really hardcore or they're, their price points are really high. They're, you know, you don't know necessarily want me to drop two, $300 on a backpack if you are just getting back into it.

Right. Right, right. It's an expensive thing to buy gear and and make yourself prepared for the outdoors in a safe way.

Right. Yeah.

That's where my focus is. It's that novice person, the person returning the campaign and then, you know, with a heavy focus on accessible price points and the 10 essentials for safe hiking. Right. Um, I'm sure you've heard of that and I don't think it can ever be understated enough, uh, or, or stated enough that you really gotta have that focus on being safe out there.

Yes. That's that's true. It's something we talk about a lot.

So if you’ve, if you venture away from your, from your camp spot, feel free to to come check us out <laugh>. That's where we are. You know, and that's, you know, it's in your name right. Stressless camping. You wanna be able to absolutely find ways to reduce stress. And, and I was in White Mountain National Forest doing a very simple hike, but it, you have a lot of exposed granite up there and if you get a little bit of water on it, it's wicked slippery. It's not like the sandstone that you see out in Colorado. Yeah. Or a lot of the slate you see in the Adirondacks. It really doesn't have a lot of grip. It's very weathered and worn down. Even though it's a hard stone, a dense stone, it gets very slippery. And a woman slipped.

It wasn't bad, but she hit her head on her on her hiking pole. Right. Oh. And it opened up her head and Oh, head wounds bleed. Yes. And nobody around them had a medical kid. I was the only one, you know, gauze pads to kind of stop things, soak things up, clean things up, and some bandages to patch up until they got back down to the car. But there was a family and there was the couple and then there was me and no one had anything. And, and I'm not trying to shame anyone. I'm just simply saying like having that little bit of of gear on you is important because it's not always just for yourself.

It's sometimes for other people, the hikers that are around you sometimes, uh, I'm sure you've been hiking down at, you know, you're within an hour of sunset and you see a couple leaving, the car. Yeah. Just heading out.

No flashlights. Yes. We're doing like, come on. You know, thankfully I haven't had too many accidents but I've, I've uh, we were rock climbing in, um, in Vegas and we had to help this couple repel down off of a rock face because they got way in over their head. They were not gonna make it. Oh. Ugh. It happens. And that's the experience I've had over 25 years and that's the emphasis that I like to make in our business.

Good. Your 10 essentials for safe hiking, it's a great thing. Which we will share as well. Yeah. We'll put that link also.

Yeah, please do. And I, that's not just a business promotion thing that's just I want everybody out there to. Right. To be safe and I want them to return and enjoy it. Right. For sure. Sure. If they don't have a good time, no one's gonna buy anything. No one's gonna do anything. Right.

For sure. So yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Well Blair, it's been a real pleasure getting to know you here and and we encourage people to go and, and check out your website as well as buy a calendar. They're really cool. Yeah.

Or some other kind of gear. Get one for someone else as a gift.

Yeah, there you go. Well there's some great safety gear in there. Yeah, I have my list. <laugh>.

Thank you. I appreciate it. Everything's on sale right now cause we're obviously post holidays. I'll probably keep it up for another week or so. So certainly let people know that uh, there are things on on sale right now because uh, yeah we are post the holidays. But um, I appreciate you giving the opportunity. I think you understand as a small business owner, anytime we get a chance to speak to an audience, we're grateful for it. So thank you for doing what you're doing and for helping, you know, grow small businesses. It really is appreciated.

Thank you. Well, we're one ourselves and so we, we know the, the realities and, and it's, it's good to meet fellow entrepreneurs who are also campers. Yep.

Absolutely. Absolutely. If you ever have a theme or something like that, keep us in mind, uh, reach back out and obviously I'll do what I can to, to help put you guys in front of my audience. You know, when the podcast is up, I'll let my social media know and Very good. Let them know about you as well. 

Thank you. That's awesome. Thank you Blair thank You so much for your time.

Yeah, you Thank you Tony. All.

Right, well happy camping.

<Laugh>. Yes, you too. Enjoy and be safe.

You too. 

We like going places that are social gatherings and large groups and things like that. That's just part of our style and that's one of the reasons that we are members of the FMCA. The FMCA is not just for motor homes anymore. Correct. Uh, used to be. Right. But now they've invited all of US Travel trailer and fifth wheel folks.

And now it'll be cool. Yeah.

<Laugh>. Yeah, right, exactly. Now they're like, uh, all you cool people should come and join us. Right. Kidding. Of course, <laugh>. But being FMCA members, we get discounts like we just bought a set of Michelin tires for our pick 'em up truck. Yep. And there's a nice discount with that. They have conventions, they have area rallies and one of the nifty things to me about the FMCA is that there are chapters for all kinds of special interests. Right. So there are chapters for specific brands of RVs.

There are chapters for musicians, there are chapters for train nuts, there are beer followers. So if you have a specific interest you can probably find your tribe among the chapters at an FMCA rally. And there are regional ones too, like for wherever you happen to live. Right, right. They organize events and get togethers and those are pretty darn fun. So something to think about if you are going to join the FMCA, we have a link to do so on our website.

If you're already there, you're like Ooh, I want to join. Well you can use our FMCA number to get a discount and we get a we credit too. And our FMCA number is 493176.

Yes. So please join us. We know that Bill, our friend Bill just joined and he is going to his first convention in Perry, Georgia in March. So.

I'm looking forward to seeing him again. And he has a solar system from ABC Upfitters. Right. So there you go. 

That was some great information from Blair.

So are you ready to go hiking <laugh>, even if not, Blair's got some great ideas, some great blog posts and some really good gear on his website. So yeah, I hope that you check it all out. You know, we always have a gadget report and we do have a few gadgets to talk about, but I just wanted to for today, just refer you back to our discussion with Blair and that calendar. Yeah. I mean I know gadgets you might think of electronics and things with remote controls like Tony does, but sometimes a gadget can just be something that's really useful and that calendar sure is.

I'm starting to fill it up with all of our rallies and gatherings and travels so that we can keep track electronically on our phones. But also I just like to see it on paper.

Yeah. Peggy is a paper person and I'm a phone person, but I still think that calendar is darn cool. So there you.Go. Plus it has QR codes so Tony even can be a little bit interested <laugh>, <laugh> by scanning those codes.

Well, speaking of darn cool, this week's RV is something that we've, well those of you who follow the RV world Okay. Just me, right <laugh>? No, anybody you are, there's probably a few out there. Maybe two or three.

Jason for sure.

Oh yeah. Oh Jason, absolutely. Well anyway, there is a trailer that has just come out that we've known about for quite some time now, and it's from a company called New Camp and it's called the Barefoot Trailer. And essentially this is a fiberglass egg, but while things like the Casita and the Escape and all of that, they are called fiberglass eggs, they're really square right. I mean they, they're basically square shaped and of course that promotes a bigger interior, but this is egg shaped and it's a small egg shaped trailer that uses really high quality materials and it's unusual in that it does not have anything sticking out of the top or out of the sides.

It's a really smooth shape. It weighs like 2200 pounds dry. Mm. So a lot of you who might want a rig that you can pull with like an SUV or things like that, this might be worth considering if you only have two people. The nice thing is the way they've laid out the front of this thing, like a giant U-shaped dinette that looks out, there's a lot of thinking that went into this and it was designed in England by a lady named Kathy Chamberlain and over there it's the, her company is Barefoot Caravan.

So this is really a licensed product from Kathy. Neat little touches like a padded roof and that U-shape dinette. There's actually like a three space wine rack right by the door and a little closet right by the door.

So you said padded roof, I assume you meant padded ceiling.

Yes, you're right. It is. It's a padded ceiling.

And my other question is, is it, are the sides egg shaped too?

And they're not just straight up and down sides with an egg shaped top.

Correct. And okay, so that's one of the downsides. The side walls aren't that curved but the back is and the bathroom is truly a compromise. It is. I can't stand up in it <laugh>, it's six one on the interior in the main cabin space in the middle. But when you get back to the bathroom, that's the real downside of this trailer. And and the one thing I think would really make a difference, make it like a foot longer or a little square in the back, but that would change the styling.

We have a full review at stresslesscamping.com in our daily RV reviews and if this trailer, you're like, yeah, I kind of think it's cool but I have more people to bring with me. Well I also reviewed the new camp, same company obviously T@B 400 boondocking edition and that's got a flip up bunk bed system like in a vintage trailer and Ooh. And that might be an even better choice for some campers. So couple of neat RVs from New Camp, they make high quality stuff.

They ain't cheap. That Barefoot MSRP is like $49,000. Yeah. But I've seen them discounted pretty heavily. So Yeah. You know, shop around. Sure. Shop your dealer first. 

Looks like you guys are going places and doing things. And uh, our question of the week last week was, what is your first destination planned for 2023?

Now I have to say that I think we have hit a record on comments cuz we had 75 people respond. Thank you. That was so much fun to read. And as I was reading I was reminded of that holiday song, no place like home for the holidays cuz y'all are crisscrossing each other coast to coast. <laugh>, you know, I met a man and lives in Tennessee and he was headed for Pennsylvania and from Pennsylvania down to Dixie Shore. You guys are doing that.

Yeah. It's kind of cool. And one of the things I have to say about the group, thank you all. Everybody has been so polite and kind to one another and answering questions and such. It's almost like it's not Facebook.

I know <laugh>.

<Laugh> well because you are the coolest campers out there.

Yeah. So just a, uh, I'll run through these quickly. From Mesa, Arizona to Utah to the Crystal River in Florida to kayak and snorkel with manatees, Big Bend, T@bfest, Arizona, which I assume is a T@b convention in Arizona, Biloxi, Mississippi. I'm actually reading a book series, a mystery series about a casino in Biloxi.

So you took a gamble on that series?

I sure did. And it's paid off <laugh>. Oh my cousin Julie's not going camping, but she's gonna go spend time with her mom in California. Hopefully we get to see you there. Uh, let's see. MacKerricher State Park on the California coast.

We've been there.

Quartzsite.

Ooh, I think we're going there! 

Yeah, I think we're gonna see Bryan there. <laugh>. Let's see. Tennessee, San Antonio, Solvang. I love Solvang.

Yeah, Solvang, if you don't know, is a little Danish town in central California. It's so charming. And if you have not been there or if you have a chance to eat these things, Aebelskiver.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh. They, they are little fried crack balls. <laugh>, that's all. They're, they're just wonderful.

Right. Uh, let's see from North Carolina to Athens, Texas, Southwest and later Pacific Northwest. That's Klaus. Camp Verde by Cottonwood. We have been there. 

We’ve been there too. Love that. Yeah. And Pat answered that, and Paul gave her some ideas about what to visit while they are in the area.

Yeah. That's another thing everyone's like I say, very helpful with, hey, you're going here, you gotta see this. And we're looking forward to seeing Paul in Quartzite too.

Right. Quartzite. Then also in Gillette, Wyoming later in the year for the other FMCA convention. Yep. Vegas, Yellowstone, Escondido, Alpine, Arizona, Fort Pickens, Florida. And Sarah said she just finished a long weekend in the middle of a Georgia swamp. No, in the middle. Yeah. In the middle of the Georgia swamp. Huh. So <laugh> um, that makes it sound exciting. <laugh>. Yeah.

Our friend Michael is going to a place, well he's there now as we record this apparently Doran State Beach in Central Cal. Well it's actually northern California. Really neat boondocking campground right on the beach. And this time of year you can catch crabs.

Right. And Lisa is right up or down the road at Wright's Beach at the same time. Interesting <laugh>. Yeah, we have Theodore Roosevelt National Park. State Parks in southern Indiana. The UP Oh that's Steve. And he's going up there to photograph the annual Raptor migration. If you don't know Steve, he's got some gorgeous wildlife pictures.

He does incredible bird photography. His photography is great. It's not for the birds.

We mentioned earlier that Bill's going to Perry, Georgia for his first FMCA rally and we're really looking forward to that. Tom is not, not really planning any travels because he just had his first grandchild. Well he didn't have it obviously <laugh> and they are kind of sticking around close to home to hang out with the grandbaby.

Yeah. He shared pictures on the group too.

Merilyn will be completing their fall trip from 2022 and you know, they just can't stop because even though they're not full-timers, there is just too much to see and do, she says. And that is the true statement.

That's the fact, Jack. Absolutely. There is a lot to see and do in this wonderful land.

So thank you all for answering Happy travels. I hope we run into some or most or all of you.

<Laugh>. Yeah, but not like how someone ran into us. No, not the way we did last year.

Not physically. I mean, you know, I hope we meet, get to see you and party with you in one of those locations. How's that?

Yeah, yeah. Let's keep the running into <laugh>, uh, as a bad memory of 2022.

So this week Tony has a question of the week.

Would you change your RV for one that's more fuel efficient? And if you do, what kind of RV are you thinking of? And you can answer that. Or you can read all the places people are and maybe arrange to meet someone. That's all at our fun and friendly Stressless Camping Podcast Facebook group. And it really is fun and friendly. I'm, I'm, like I say, I'm very pleased with Yes, all of you. You guys are fantastic. And also, did you know that we do a once a week newsletter? Did you know that it's free, free <laugh>? Did you know we have links to stories and videos and podcasts to help you get the most out of your RV experience.

And most of all, we would never share your information at all with anybody. And we only send one email a week because we are lazy. And who needs a bunch? We just went through our email inbox. Oh. And it, boy, it's ludicrous.

So we don't wanna do that to you. Yeah. <laugh>,.

That's not us.

So visit the website and you can sign up at the bottom of any page. Then you will get our once a week emails. Also, while you're on the website, you can check out the show notes on the podcast page. This is episode number 184. And if any of you have ever said, yeah, but I can't find those numbers, well guess what? I fixed that this week.

Peggy went through every page of the web, all 183 episodes. Yeah. Cause this is 184 and we did the information so they're easier to find by number.

So when you are looking for a specific episode number, it should be much easier to find now.

And while you're on our website, one of the cool things you'll find are discounts and deals on the best things you'll need for your Stressless Camping adventure.

If you've got a deal for our audience, please contact us. We do have new companies and people and stuff coming in all the time. So if you've looked but you haven't looked in a while, you might wanna check it out again. There might be new deals and discounts that you didn't know we had.

Yeah. But do know that everything that we put there are things we either own ourselves or would own ourselves. Yes. We don't just put anything. Correct.

That's right. So it's a, it's highly vetted and we like this stuff that's there. So that's the, that's the deal, <laugh>. And of course if you have a discount or deal that you'd like to share with our audience, you can contact us. Or if you have a question about RV or whatever, there's a contact us page. And feel free to reach out. We, we are really happy to hear from you. Absolutely. 

And we're on all the social places. So after you've looked at all those places on our website at stresslesscamping.com, you can jump off to all the social places with those little buttons up at the top right.

As we said, there are notes for the shows on our website so you can follow links and see more about what we've talked about. But you can also subscribe to the Stressless Camping podcast on any podcast app and that's also free. Yeah,.

It's all about free <laugh>. And of course while you're on a podcast app, a review would help others find the StressLess Camping podcast. We really appreciate the reviews and they really go a long way to telling others to find us too,.

Right? And the more listeners we have, the more guests wanna talk to us. <laugh>,.

Ah boy, that's the truth, <laugh>. Well, with that, we wish you a very happy camping New year. Hope you have some great plans ahead and look forward to meeting a bunch of you out there on the road. And most of all,.

Happy camping.

We hope you learned a lot, and had some fun and got some tips for your next Stressless Camping adventure. We're honored by your reviews on Apple Podcasts, which helps others find us too. Don't forget to subscribe so you won't miss out on the adventure. And we look forward to your joining us next week. Until then, happy camping.

Let's do this in one take. I don't have time to edit. Okay. <laugh>. Haha, <laugh>. Okay, here we go.