Many RVers have told us that not having a worship community has held them back from expanding their travels. This week we talk to full-time RVers and operate The Journey Church Online, a mobile option that could make a big difference for some travelers.

We also visit a Renaissance Festival, check out an easy camp recipe and even explore some new Class C RVs that have successfully replaced the generator.

Other places to hear the podcast

Mentioned on this episode

We have the privilege of working with the team at Girl Camper on several upcoming Camper Colleges.

If you’re an RV dealership or campground we are also happy to work with you on presenting our three-day RV Basic Training workshops. Here’s more information about our RV-focused presentations.

Our guest this week was Thad DeBuhr from The Journey Church Online.

We had a lot of fun attending the Arizona Renaissance Festival

Jennifer and Daniel’s steak and veggies recipe

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.

We have a podcast episode and video where you can learn more here.

Our trusted partners - RV Discounts and Deals

Automated transcript of Stressless Camping RV podcast episode 242

Mark Ferrell

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.

Peggy Barthel

Welcome to the Campfire.

Tony Barthel

I'm Tony. I'm Peggy. And we're two RV industry veterans back at our home base who travel part-Time in a small trailer, looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips,

Peggy Barthel

Tricks,

Tony Barthel

And discounts.

Peggy Barthel

Yes, we are home for, I don't know, three or four days. <laugh>,

Tony Barthel

Maybe five. Maybe

Peggy Barthel

Five, about a month really. And then we'll be heading out again, and we're going to our next trip instead of our big quartzite trip is gonna be a big girl camper college trip. It'll be two classes that we're gonna teach in Texas and in Kansas. So if you are attending those two classes, we will see you soon. <laugh>. Yes.

Tony Barthel

One of them I believe is completely sold out. Are both of them, or,

Peggy Barthel

I don't think I've heard about the Kansas one. Okay. But the But the Texas one is on waiting list. But you know, if you are in that situation and you haven't signed up and you want to get on the waiting list, because in my experience, life happens to people and you have what, I know you have like a month, and there's a fair chance that someone's going to have to cancel for some reason.

Tony Barthel

What these are is it's called Camper College, and it's sort of a two day version of the one hour walkthrough that you forgot most of coming out of the dealership.

Peggy Barthel

So instead of making you drink through a fire hose, we're just gonna make you drink, I don't know, from a shower head or something. <laugh>. It's still a lot of information. <laugh>.

Tony Barthel

I love that.

Peggy Barthel

<laugh>. Still a lot of information to understand all at one time, but we try to slow it down a little and we try to give you a little hands-on experience so that if you think you understand and then you try to do it and you don't understand, we're there to help you figure it out. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

And this is through Girl Campers, so it's four members of Girl Camper. However, we have a similar class that we call RV Basic Training. So if you are a campground or an RV dealership and would like to learn more, we'll put in our show notes, more details about that. Yes. And we are happy to work with you to have an RV basic training at your dealership or your campground. And then of course, if you are a girl camper, well, first of all, if you are a girl camper and not a part of the Girl Camper Organization, you're missing out.

Tony Barthel

It's a fantastic organization. And if you are looking to learn more about your rv, look at Grow Camper's website. There is more information there about these classes, and it's a lot of fun, but it's a lot of learning and we're really honored that Janine and Company and Lisa have chosen to work with us on this. Yes,

Peggy Barthel

Indeed. I also wanted to remind people, and I try to do this at least at the beginning of every year, but maybe I'll remember kind of as these days come closer, but do you know that the National Park System has five days during the year that they allow free access? They have free access days, and this year, those days are gonna be, the first one is April 20th, the first day of National Park, week

Tony Barthel

four 20

Peggy Barthel

<laugh>. The next day is June 19th, which is Juneteenth National Independence Day. The third day is August 4th, which is Great American Outdoors Day. September 28th is National Public Lands Day, and November 11th is Veterans Day. So April 20, June 19, August four, September 28th, and November 11th are national park free access dates. So if you want to visit a park and it's just out of your budget, consider those days and schedule around them.

Peggy Barthel

Although remember that everyone will be scheduling around them. <laugh>

Tony Barthel

<laugh>. Yeah. They might be full, but they're free. So there you go. Right. You know, every week we talk about our power package, which was configured by a BC Outfitters. We pulled into a hip camp, which is sort of like a Airbnb type of thing Yeah. For RVs. And it was dumping buckets. And there is, oh boy, it was no way that I was going to go out and plug everything in. I mean, it was just pouring rain. And so we pulled in and it was a very level spot.

Tony Barthel

So we just basically pulled in and unhitched the truck and went inside the camper and used all the stuff that we have <laugh>, because we have our solar and lithium power system. Now, let's be honest, with that much rain, there wasn't a whole lot of solar, but we had the day's worth of travel, so our battery system was completely charged. So we were able to use all the stuff in our RV without having to plug in. And that's,

Peggy Barthel

That is Stressless camping

Tony Barthel

<laugh>. It really is. And, and we talk about boondocking and off-grid camping a lot, and that that's why we love these solar and lithium systems from a B, C Outfitters. But the truth is, it allows us to plan more freely and camp with fewer issues. Yes. More stress, less, if you will, <laugh> things like this. I mean, it just changes your thinking, having this good, a solar and lithium system. And we were just like, oh, you know, forget it.

Tony Barthel

We're not gonna plug in. We'll just run off the batteries until it stops raining. Which it of course did. Right. <laugh>. In fact, it rained so hard when we did finally plug in, we fried our hues power watchdog.

Peggy Barthel

Oh boy. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

Poor little doggy.

Peggy Barthel

Well, we'll talk more about that another time.

Tony Barthel

Yes, we will. In fact, we have them coming on the podcast in the next few weeks. But if you would like a really great solar and lithium system that opens up a lot of doors for ways you can camp, you can give a BC Outfitters a call at (574) 333-3225. Or of course, find them with a link on the podcast page here@stressescamping.com slash podcast. And we have a link to A BCF fitters. But like I've said before, they're just good people.

Tony Barthel

They talk from nerd to normal. They can answer your questions, and they just do a spectacular job. We just saw them do an upfit on a van, and the way they package these master bolt power systems is just really impressive. So they do great work, and if solar and lithium is something you're interested in, give them a call 5 7 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 5.

Peggy Barthel

<laugh>. You almost gave the phone number without an area code <laugh>.

Tony Barthel

I know, right?

Peggy Barthel

I don't even do that when I call my next door neighbor anymore.

Tony Barthel

Right? Yeah, it's, well, it's so funny. Now, you know who, we have so many friends, and I couldn't under oath at a court give their phone number. It's so trippy now with, you know,

Peggy Barthel

Smartphone. I can give area codes to most of, most of my friends.

Tony Barthel

Well, and and that's the other thing. The other day we did, I don't remember, we did a shipping thing and we got a kickback. You know, this area code doesn't match your location. We're like, yeah. Who,

Peggy Barthel

Who does,

Tony Barthel

Who does anymore? I mean, it's trippy. So

Peggy Barthel

I have only ever had one cell phone number ever. And it's a 7 1 4 Southern California number. And I've been through Southern California and the other part of Southern California and Northern California and New Mexico, and we've traveled all over the place. But it's the only number I've ever had, and I don't wanna get rid of it. 'cause if someone wants to call me who knew me 20 years ago, they can try it and I'll be there.

Tony Barthel

Well, and and I'm the same. I still have my LA number and we haven't lived there in 20 years. Yeah. I mean, I don't have to tell anybody listening to this. We're all doing it. Right. Who remembers a phone number anymore? So, right. Eh, it is what it, it's just one of the consequences of the change that we live through as part of this wonderful journey and speaking the journey of,

Peggy Barthel

Speaking of journeys, we met THA and Kayla Debu at the Quartzite Sports Vacation and RV show, <laugh>, I said it right the second time. It's written right there. Anyway, fad and Kayla run the Journey Church online. Now, we are very careful never to talk about politics or religion on this podcast or around our campfires. Those are the things that we avoid. But this is such an interesting concept of a way of being a full-time rvr.

Peggy Barthel

And that is the interest that we had in Thad and Kayla. And so we got to talk to Thad about his RV business, his full-time, RV Life, and his business. And it happens to be a church. Please understand, we're not trying to talk about religion. We just wanna talk about Thad's full-time, RV life. To

Tony Barthel

That point, we have heard from, you know, we get a lot of emails from people. Some of them have asked us, you know, we, we are thinking of going full-time on the road, or even most time on the road. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And one of the aspects of our life that's very important to us is our church. Right. And not having a church to go to is a reason that some people don't want to embark on this lifestyle. Correct. And so when we saw that the Journey Church was basically a mobile way to worship, we thought some of you might be very, very interested in this.

Tony Barthel

And so, uh, boy, this is quite a bunch of, I know CYA <laugh>, but it's because it's sort of outside of what we normally talk about. Right. And yet it does address something that we get a fair number of inquiries on. Yes. You know, what do you do with your ability to worship and travel? And so without any further ado, <laugh> and without any more CYA, let's hear from tha

Peggy Barthel

Well, we're still at the court site, sports vacation and RV show. Maybe it's a little quieter than our other interviews because it's getting a little later in the day and it's getting chilly. Yeah. But Thad Debu and his wife Kayla are here this week at the show, and Thad agreed to hang out a little bit late and talk with us. Thad is from The Journey Church Online. And tha thank you for being here with us and tell us what the Journey Church Online is.

Thad DeBuhr

Yeah. So it is, uh, first Yeah. And thanks for having me hanging out. Pleasure. Super cool to connect with you guys and the Journey Church Online is this idea of taking the gospel message and the teachings of the Bible outside of the church building in a creative way to connect with people that maybe a traditional church is not the right fit for them. And so, obviously, uh, a lot of people in the RV world or camping world that don't, uh, aren't around on a weekend or don't Right.

Thad DeBuhr

Live in a way that fits to go to a traditional church building every Sunday. And then a lot of people that they have, you know, church history or stuff. And for whatever reason, going to a regular church is not the next best thing for them. Right. And so we kind of, uh, have taken church outta the building, removed church obstacles, <laugh> to help people learn the Bible and learn how to find and follow Jesus.

Peggy Barthel

Okay.

Tony Barthel

So one of the obstacles I hear from people who are considering full timing especially is, oh, I am gonna leave my church behind, and I think this might be a solution for them. Yeah.

Thad DeBuhr

A hundred percent. We are different than what a lot of people experience. A lot of people who have, uh, been at a church and then they think about, well, maybe if I go on the road or rv, I could watch my home. Church's services live streamed. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And we're very different than that. We are a purpose built, purpose planned out of the box approach to bring the Bible alive and, and teach. So it's not, uh, a talking head video from somebody standing on a stage

Peggy Barthel

Every Sunday from nine to 10 every Sunday from nine to 10.

Thad DeBuhr

Uh, yeah. We also are full-time RVers, and we travel throughout the United States and Canada. And as we travel, we film in amazing, beautiful, breathtaking locations to bring a level of engagement and interest that a lot of people RV for in camp for Mm-Hmm. We wanna see all these beautiful places. Yeah. And so we bring those places to you in, uh, awesome video format and along with a message. And so it's a way to learn the Bible, to stay connected with Christian community and growing as a Christian in a way that is tailor made for people that are on the go and, and doing life differently, kind of outta the box.

Tony Barthel

And your church is non-denominational, correct?

Thad DeBuhr

Correct. Yeah. We're just a Christian non-denominational church. And, uh, we teach the Bible. We are not into politics. <laugh>, we are into helping people find and follow Jesus.

Tony Barthel

Very cool. And how would somebody join your church if that's even the way it works?

Thad DeBuhr

Yeah. So our church is, again, a bit unorthodox, untraditional, <laugh>. And following that vein of untraditional, we don't actually have membership the way people have experienced it in, you know, kinda the old fashioned, go to a church, take classes, sign on the dotted line, commit to a certain church, <laugh>, really, what I don't even say, I wouldn't say membership, but the a, a similar, I don't know, vein, uh, to that line of thought is rather than membership, it's like, Hey, what would it look like if you wanted to be a part of this community?

Thad DeBuhr

And to be a part of the community? People start watching and subscribing to the different channels. And we have website newsletters and blogs and study guides and all sorts of tools and resources. But then beyond that, if people want to go from kind of just passive, or not passively, but anonymously learning out there somewhere Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and watching and they want more engagement than we have virtual meetups. And then we have a lot of in-person meetups, and we actually strategically reorganize our travel plans to connect with people we've met right through our online services and messages.

Tony Barthel

You had a workshop here at the Quartzite Sports vacation, an RV show, <laugh>, and you had people who were clearly followers of yours here. And I also was so impressed the way every other workshop here has been somebody standing at the front and going on about what they're going on about, which is fine. That's what you expect. You arranged the seats in a circle and it was a very participatory event, and I had to take some pictures.

Tony Barthel

I was really impressed by that.

Thad DeBuhr

I appreciate that. That is just, just, that is just part of our DNA that I desperately want to break away from a picture of inviting people to follow a pastor and follow a person or the guy up front. Right. I, I want to invite people. I want to say to people, I'm following Jesus. I'm learning and growing, and I would like to invite you to come with me and let's do it together. And so instead of me standing on a podium talking at you, let's circle up the chairs and let's sit down and I want to talk with you.

Tony Barthel

And that's what I saw. And it was just, I was very impressed.

Peggy Barthel

Before you went on the road, were you already a minister?

Thad DeBuhr

Yeah, I've been in ministry my whole adult life, and I spent 10 years as a junior high youth pastor. <laugh>.

Tony Barthel

Well, you know how to work with a pretty difficult audience. I'd imagine. I

Thad DeBuhr

Can herd cats. I can herd cats. I have a, a, a degree in cat herding after 10

Tony Barthel

Years of junior ministry.

Thad DeBuhr

And, uh, loved it. And then have been involved in a lot of other ministry in that church. And then as our church grew, we started planting churches and, uh, eventually went on to, became a senior pastor of one of the church plants out of that same just non-denominational Christian Church. And so prior to take starting this adventure, the Journey Church online and going on the road, I was a senior pastor of a church in Eastern Washington. Okay.

Tony Barthel

So then what made you think, I'm gonna take this on the, take the show on the road as it were?

Thad DeBuhr

It's not a new idea. It's, uh, it's actually a really early church New Testament idea. And so I've been blessed to have the opportunity to go to Turkey, which is in the Bible. It was called Asia Minor. And it's where most of the New Testament occurred, is in modern day Turkey. Interesting. And so when you hear about the missionary trips of the Apostle Paul that traveled and planted churches and then wrote these letters back to these churches, that was the geography he was traveling in. And the places he was going was to us on our map, modern day Turkey.

Thad DeBuhr

So when you look at the Mediterranean Sea, all the land above it Okay. Is where the New Testament took place. And I've been, I've had the opportunity to go there and study, and as I was there, it just, it just sunk in my heart this picture of like, Paul left the building to go take the gospel message to people that were out there somewhere that he didn't know and places he'd never been to see things he'd never seen.

Thad DeBuhr

And that just resonated with me in my heart. Like, what, how many people are out there somewhere? And my wife and I love the outdoors. We love, you know, mountain biking and hiking and exploring and seeing new places. And we just thought, you know, what an amazing thing to be able to match up things that we love. You know, we love change, we love travel. We meet new people, seeing new things, coupled with, you know, sharing the message of Jesus with people in all these different locations and who knows who's out there that we don't even know yet.

Thad DeBuhr

Right. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

You can go to these churches, any church and it's a lot of 'em are really beautiful. You're not beating the Grand Canyon <laugh> and you know,

Thad DeBuhr

Not a chance.

Tony Barthel

So there you go. I mean, it's a pretty impressive church if you take it like that. Yeah.

Peggy Barthel

Right. So we know that we can watch YouTube or the online Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> videos and stuff, and then you can get more involved. And you said that you have actually in person face-to-face gatherings. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> where you go to, right. Yeah. Is that like just kind of a couple to a couple, or do you end up with like rallies at campsites or something where you have a lot of rigs and everybody kind of comes together? Because I know that that's one of the things that people worry about or talk about as full timing. Like, I'm afraid to full time because I'm gonna lose that fellowship and that connection Mm-Hmm.

Peggy Barthel

<affirmative> to people that I see all the time and I, you know, it's a different kind of a connection.

Thad DeBuhr

Yeah. So we do a combination of things. We do. So on our website, your Jesus journey.com, there's an events tab and you can go on the events tab and we keep that updated with, uh, meetups based on our travel plans and where we're going so people can see what in-person options are coming up. And then we also have, uh, virtual meetup plans to share, you know, ways that we are gonna meet up online. And so it's a combination of things. Sometimes it is smaller groups, uh, or even just one-on-one where we just meet up with, uh, you know, one other couple or family that we met somewhere and we just happened to sync up and spend time together.

Thad DeBuhr

Other times it's got a little more pre-planning involved <laugh>, and we're able to strategize and coordinate schedules with people so that we get a larger group of people gathered together. And so it's a bit of both. And we, we try hard to keep a variety of ways to, for people to connect always on the docket. Sure.

Peggy Barthel

Wow. So actually, this makes me realize that you are a traveler and you are on the road all the time, but are a lot of your community, your members or whatever Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>? Are they, do you have a lot of RVs or do you actually have, like, where you go the locals kind of gather? Yeah.

Thad DeBuhr

Yeah. It's, it's, I would say we're probably about half and half, actually. Okay. I have a lot of roots in the northwest Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and have been involved in ministry there and have a large network of kind of the friends and family network. Like all of us build over time. You know, my kids always tease me 'cause they say, oh, if you need something, just ask dad. He knows a guy

Tony Barthel

<laugh>, I have a big,

Thad DeBuhr

I have a big NOA guy network, <laugh>. And so those folks for people in your world understand this language. Those folks are predominantly sticks and bricks, people, you know, that are permanently living in certain communities and they are following, watching, listening, engaging. And they're actually even starting home groups and home churches. Oh. Utilizing our content and training and resources that we provide. And then on the flip side of it, away from the sticks and bricks, sort of this alter lifestyle <laugh>

Tony Barthel

That we have, you know?

Thad DeBuhr

Right. We have our foot in both worlds. Uh, we have a large following of people that are part-time and full-time RVs and those folks, we're doing a lot of virtual meetups, a lot of virtual connections, a lot of Zoom connections, virtual studies, bible studies, prayer groups, all kinds of things. And then what we find is the people that engage in that virtual stuff, it leads to us ending up figuring out how to meet up. Sure.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. I mean, that's like us, we're having our meetup next,

Peggy Barthel

Having our first like a real official

Tony Barthel

Meet up as we record this. It's next week. Next week.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah.

Tony Barthel

But it, it'll be after. We'll have talked about it in retrospect when this comes out. Right.

Thad DeBuhr

Yeah. <laugh>, I know the world. Yeah. Yeah. For those folks that are, happen to be down in the south for the winter, uh, if you're down in the Arizona area, we're gonna be here for quite a bit in the quartzite, a area and surrounding region. And so if you're around and you'd like to connect or meet up, we'd love to visit with you in person and spend some time in the sunshine before we start traveling north again. And you can find out where we're at and what those meetups and locations might be by going to your jesus journey.com and clicking on the events tab to learn more.

Tony Barthel

Beautiful. That's pretty awesome. And you can follow that in kayla@yourjesusjourney.com. But as our veers, we always like to ask, do you have a favorite camping memory?

Thad DeBuhr

Oh, goodness. Um, gosh, we've got so many right now. I would say for my wife and I, both our, our, probably one of our favorites right now is over the summer we did a long trip up the Alaska Highway Oh.

Tony Barthel

Oh. And

Thad DeBuhr

The end of the Yukon and back into southeast Alaska. And we, this last year, we boondock 275 days. Wow.

Tony Barthel

That's amazing. Nice.

Thad DeBuhr

And we spent a big whack of time between Hanes Junction, Yukon and Haynes Alaska. And the stretch of road between those is about two and a half, three hours. And in the middle of that stretch of road, you are a incredibly remote <laugh>. And we had the most gorgeous mountains around us in the most beautiful lakes with the deepest blue turquoise water and Oh, mountain goats and sheep and it, it, and bears.

Thad DeBuhr

And it was just breathtaking beauty and the, the most epic silence, huh. And, uh, right now, like that's keeps coming back to us as one of our like, man, we like, if we could just bounce back there, it's not easy to get there.

Tony Barthel

<laugh> right

Thad DeBuhr

From the US border, it's like 2,700 miles. Oh boy.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. Wow.

Thad DeBuhr

To get to that spot. So it, that probably was part of the appeal, you know, how

Tony Barthel

Amazing it was.

Thad DeBuhr

<laugh>, but we kind of go, man, that spot, that time we had there, that quiet that it was just surrounded by some of the most epic scenes of mountains and just the majesty of how big and grand everything was was just kind of overwhelming. That's been a really good memory for us here recently. That's

Peggy Barthel

Fantastic. So, so now that you told the best, do you have a worst camping memory that you wanna share?

Thad DeBuhr

<laugh>? Oh my gosh. Um, well, I'm not gonna say where this happened, <laugh>, because lord forbid it comes back to me. So I said we boondock 275 days or whatever. We've very rarely do RV parks. We even more rarely do campgrounds. And so one time this last year we go to this campground and it's pretty pristine. It is sort of like protected wilderness area, like lots of lush greenery and everything around here, lots of wildlife coming through. I have a toy hauler. The toy hauler has a gas tank in the back of it with a gas pump.

Thad DeBuhr

Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And we were away for a walk, going to watch Eagles and film and do all this stuff. And we came back and the closer we get to our vehicle, the more I could smell gas. And we are in like, you don't wanna spill gas beautiful land. Oh yeah.

Tony Barthel

Uh oh.

Thad DeBuhr

And the closer we get, the more I'm like that. I think that's coming from our location. And by some freak thing, uh, the pump magically turned on. Oh boy. While we were not there, and the handle of the pump was sort of stuck natural because it was corroded naturally. Course. And so we pumped out a whole bunch of gas <laugh> all around this beautiful, pristine thing. Oh gosh. And I buried my head in shame as I tried to do everything I could to

Tony Barthel

Oh man,

Thad DeBuhr

Mitigate and clean up. But that, that was, uh, that was not our, that was not one of our finer moments, you know, we're like, oh my gosh, how in the world? So

Peggy Barthel

Most people have this type of accident with their black tank. So Yeah. <laugh>. Yeah. I, I, this is a little different with gasoline.

Tony Barthel

Well, depending on whether or not you've been to Taco Bell, gasoline could

Thad DeBuhr

Be more explosive. <laugh>. Yeah. Oh boy. Uh, we were grateful that we were, I don't know, I wouldn't say that we were able to resolve it a hundred percent, but we cleaned it the best we could. And you just do what you gotta do. Yeah. And try to make the best of a bad situation. But it was a bit embarrassing and, and I felt terrible. Of course.

Tony Barthel

Oh yeah. Well, stuff happens, I guess.

Thad DeBuhr

Yeah.

Tony Barthel

Well, tha thank you so much for sharing the Journey Church online and for what you do and for taking some time to come and talk to our audience. Appreciate

Thad DeBuhr

It very much. Thanks for having me and just awesome getting to know you guys and learning more about Stressless Camping and your role here at the Courtside Show. <laugh>. Thank you. Thank you.

Tony Barthel

So what did you think of that? Of course, you know, as always you can join us at our Stressless campers Facebook group and weigh in on any of the topics we discussed. Sure. Dad's there. I know. And he's already posted so you can ask him more questions. Something that I think some of you will very much appreciate. Speaking of things that we all appreciate. Hmm. We, as you know, have been pretty strong advocates of the Family Motor Coach Association or FMCA. And what FMCA is, is it's a large organization of RVs that has regional events and meetings.

Tony Barthel

There are chapters and clubs for all sorts of special interest or just general interest. Uh, could be regional, could be about specific RVs, about specific interests. Like I love the railroad chapter. Yeah. The

Peggy Barthel

Golden Spike chapter, golden

Tony Barthel

Spike

Peggy Barthel

Chapter. All about railroading

Tony Barthel

The FMCA. If you don't know, they now do accept Towable RVs. They hadn't for a very long time, but now have for a few years. They also now offer a new payment option. So if you would rather not pay the whole membership up front, which is 50 bucks a year with, and I know we have a discount on our website, another option is to pay them five bucks a month. So you could be an FMCA member for five bucks a month. And there's, there's really some great benefits to being an FMCA member, including the fact that, let's say one of you gets sick out on the road, they will arrange to get your rig home, even if it's like a pickup and trailer or motor home and tow or whatever.

Tony Barthel

That's just one of the benefits. Another benefit, and this is an optional benefit, is the Tech Connect, which is a mobile internet option. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and they've just completely reconfigured this.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah. That was a very interesting bit of information. We used to use Tech Connect because it had T-Mobile service, and then a couple of years ago maybe there were some things going on and they switched to at t, well we already had at and t phones, so that didn't do us a lot of good. So we stopped using Tech Connect. Well now you can get Tech Connect through FMCA, with T-Mobile, Verizon, and or at and t, you could get all three plans or you can get one plan and they've really revamped the whole service

Tony Barthel

Well. And also it's a really great package of internet connectivity, depending on what you need. Sure. But anyway, we are going to have someone from the FMCA on in the next few weeks also. But in the meantime we have links in our show notes to previous interviews with the FMCA and it's just a good membership and very well worth belonging to. And we have a discount, so you can't beat all that. Yeah.

Peggy Barthel

So we said we just got home from a trip. We were gone for two months and a day about <laugh> approximately, and knowing that one of our last stops was going to be Mesa Arizona, which is very near to the Arizona Renaissance Festival. I actually packed a tote at the very beginning of the trip, which was, you know, mid-December. So <laugh>, I decorated the camper for Christmas and took some, you know, our Christmas onesies for Christmas camping <laugh>.

Peggy Barthel

And then in the same tote I packed some Renaissance stuff so that we would have G outfits to wear to the Renaissance Festival.

Tony Barthel

I'm looking at you, Jason Epson

Peggy Barthel

<laugh>. That tote actually was not big enough because it had to cover both Christmas and Renaissance. And so there were pieces of my outfit that I wish I had. But anyway, we did go to the Arizona Renaissance Festival last weekend. Unfortunately, the way that our schedule worked out, we ended up going on a very chilly drizzly day. <laugh>. Yeah.

Tony Barthel

Well, like the first half of the day was pretty cold and rainy and kind of blah. The second half of the day was actually rather nice.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah. The sun came out a few times. If you were standing in the sun, you know, it's one of those temperatures where standing in the sun you got really warm. But if you went in the shade, it got really chilly. Again, <laugh> <laugh>. But we had a really great time. I would have been able to spend probably three days at that festival.

Tony Barthel

Oh, easily. Yeah. The one disappointment about our visit to the Arizona Renaissance Festival was that we didn't get to see enough and spend enough time. I mean, just the number of shows that they had,

Peggy Barthel

The number of shows is amazing. And I was reading the descriptions online of all the different shows and what they, I wanted to see them all. Yeah. And the, you just can't, there's like 30

Tony Barthel

<laugh> or something. It was, yeah. This is, I mean, at least spend, it's only open on weekends. Right. So at least spend two days there if you're gonna go.

Peggy Barthel

That's our recommendation for sure.

Tony Barthel

We did a little reel that I'll share about our visit to the Arizona Renaissance Festival, if you haven't seen it already. It was on our socials, I think Tuesday or when, I don't know, sometime this week. Just kind of a, a brief glimpse. But man, it was really worth it. And that's where we stayed at that hip camp. Yeah. Where we stayed basically in Peggy is a master <laugh> at planning Art Adventures. I don't even try to get into it. Peggy is so good at it. If you don't know Arizona in January, February is as popular as Disneyland because the weather is typically pretty good.

Tony Barthel

Right. And so you get people who have planned well in advance and stay potentially the whole winter there. So finding for the most part. Yeah. Yeah. So finding a campsite a, a proper campsite as opposed to boondocking and like quar site can be a challenge. And so Peggy uses all these different resources in one of those was hip camp and we literally stayed at these people's houses in their driveway. Yeah. They had a concrete pad. They had a 50 amp plug. They had water and sewer.

Tony Barthel

So it was like being in an RV park but far less crowded. And we even got banana bread out of the deal.

Peggy Barthel

Yeah. She gave us a loaf of banana bread right when we got there. And they also, this one particular, this is not like all hip camps. I will tell you, some of them are fully like boondocking in someone's yard. But this one was set up so nicely with all the hookups and everything and a little laundry space.

Tony Barthel

Oh, I forgot about that. Yeah. So I was

Peggy Barthel

Able to get a load of laundry done that we really needed to get done right there on site. It was so helpful to be able to do that. Otherwise, you know, it's two hours of going out and finding a place and gathering quarters and, and all that. So, which I don't mind doing when we have a full day of laundry to do. I'm happy to do it. But we just needed a couple things and that would've been so annoying. And it was not annoying because it was right there in our campsite, essentially.

Tony Barthel

Yeah, it was, it was pretty terrific. So was the REN fair we're nerds? Yeah. We have liked the Renaissance Fair for years and years. Ever, ever. And have missed going to them because

Peggy Barthel

Yeah, we didn't get to go after we moved to Northern California, I used to go to the Southern California fair every year. And when we moved to Northern California, I said, oh, no worries. We're just a couple of hours from the Northern California Renaissance Pleasure fair is what that one is. And then I found out it had moved three hours south of where it used to be. So since we moved to Northern California, we really have, we actually have not been able to go to a Renaissance festival.

Tony Barthel

No. Our Renaissance outfits were pretty musty <laugh>.

Peggy Barthel

They

Tony Barthel

Put the basket was like, oh, these haven't been out in a while.

Peggy Barthel

So you might say like, well, how in the heck is this an RV destination? But I gotta tell you, we are already planning for two more Renaissance festivals later this year. Yeah. And we have to travel to get to them.

Tony Barthel

Now, what would really be cool is if we could RV right there. 'cause there's a lot of land around it. Oh yes. But we can't, so we don't.

Peggy Barthel

I think we could if we became employees or volunteers of the fair, but that means staying for the duration. And that's not really in the cards for right now. Maybe someday.

Tony Barthel

No, who knows? Who knows. Well, one of the things that you go to the Renaissance Fair for is to eat.

Peggy Barthel

Oh gosh, yes.

Tony Barthel

But Peggy also got a recipe for this week's recipe of the week from fellow travelers, Daniel and Jennifer, who got to join us at our gathering and who joined us at the Renaissance Fair.

Peggy Barthel

That's right. I have struggled, you know, through the years, you probably maybe have noticed that weekly has not been part of my weekly recipe <laugh>. You know, I don't always come up with something. But right now, because of the potlucks that we had while we were at the Quartzite meetup, I do have several recipes that I'm gonna be able to share over the next few weeks. This week I took Daniel and Jennifer's steak and veggies recipe. Really, really easy recipe.

Peggy Barthel

You literally take some steak and chop it up and cook it, take some veggies and chop 'em up and cook 'em, mix 'em together and bring 'em to the potluck. Yeah,

Tony Barthel

It was a popular dish, I think we cleaned it out.

Peggy Barthel

We cleaned it out. It was really yummy and it was so simple and so easy to do in an rv. Right?

Tony Barthel

Yeah. And Daniel and Jennifer are full-time RVs.

Peggy Barthel

Right. So as I point out in my written version of the recipe, this could be done, well really, it could be done in an oven, but it could be done over a campfire. It could be done in those foil packs. It could be done in a cast iron on the stove as Jennifer and Daniel did it. So this is a really simple recipe. Really RV friendly, really delicious. And by no fault of their own. It also happens to be keto <laugh>

Tony Barthel

<laugh>. And you can find it in the recipe section@stresslesscamping.com. Peggy is also our gadget person this week, which is unusual.

Peggy Barthel

It is unusual.

Tony Barthel

It's a gadget we've been using with some success.

Peggy Barthel

Most. Yeah, most success. So when I first started speaking to this company, we had a truck that did not have a backup camera. And we really wanted one, of course. Well now our truck does have one, but we also were able to receive a Fox Park solar powered wireless backup camera. So instead of having to put it on the back of the truck to see, to hook up, which we can do now with the truck, I tried it on the back of the trailer and I wasn't sure if it was going to reach, that was my first question. And I answered that for myself.

Peggy Barthel

It worked out. So we have attached it to the back of the trailer. It is a short term, so you can set it up for like between 30 and 90 seconds of viewing, which seems like not very long, but if you're just backing into a space that's not too bad.

Peggy Barthel

The reason that it's okay that it's short is it has to be plugged in to be able to be used, which made it a little bit hard to test because either you have to be sitting in the truck with a truck running to test it, or I actually cheated and took one of our portable power stations in the house and plugged into that because it's that cigarette lighter type plug and yet has to be plugged in in order to use it. So that part I don't love. But again, it's just a temporary thing when you're backing into a space. So we can manage that somehow.

Peggy Barthel

It did come with two cameras. One of them was already paired. The other one I could follow the instructions for pairing, but I was never able to pair it. So I don't know if that will ever work for us.

Peggy Barthel

Now before <laugh>, before I installed the camera on the bumper of the trailer, I was just testing it out and I put it in the trailer while we were driving just so I could look at what was going on inside the trailer and watch it jump around, which was entertaining <laugh>. But then we went ahead and mounted it to the rear license plate on the trailer. It has a, like a sticky pad, which we didn't use because I don't really wanna stick that to the trailer. So I don't know if we'll ever do that. It does kind of bounce a little bit on the license plate, but we may figure out a way to solve that.

Peggy Barthel

But anyway, it's attached to the license plate, so that was easy. It's wireless between the camera and the monitor, so there's no wires to worry about. So overall, it has been a really useful tool for backing up and for watching the bikes on the back. Sometimes I just turn it on while we're driving just to make sure the bikes are still there, <laugh> and still covered, and that they aren't falling loosely, jumping around too much.

Tony Barthel

We do like this camera, it, it has some limitations. I'd like to be able to use both the cameras, but we can at the moment. There's again, a review at stressless camping com com. Com. I got a press release from a joint venture between a company called Volta Systems and of course Forest River. And they are offering some new class C RVs based on the Mercedes Sprinter platform that don't have a generator.

Tony Barthel

But what they do have is 13,500 watt hours. That is a lot because, uh, anyway of battery storage and a very large generator on the diesel engine that's in the Sprinter chassis. So the way this works is the generator charges up the battery or you can use solar or of course you can plug into an RV park, whatever, or any combination thereof. So let's say you're off the grid boondocking and you want to run the air conditioner overnight, you can.

Tony Barthel

It's a neat way of doing things. And it's not something we haven't already seen, like in some of the Winnebago, class B vans have this similar system. It's just the size of the battery storage, which is kind of huge. And the capability of this system, we're gonna have an article out in the next few days. I'm just looking for some clarification on some of the features. But it's a neat system because you don't have to have a separate generator and maintain a second engine and all the noise and clattering that come along with that.

Tony Barthel

So it's kind of neat. You can run the diesel engine in the sprinter at idle and charge up the battery or use solar or plug in or you know, it, it's, I like flexibility and simplicity and I mean, it's not really a simple system, but it's a flexible one and takes one more piece out of the puzzle. A separate generator, you know, if you're thinking of investing in, uh, Cummins Onin, I don't know if I would right now, but anyway, something neat and new from Forest River and Volta systems.

Peggy Barthel

Awesome. Well, you all did not disappoint me this week, sadly, <laugh>, because the question of the week was, what was the biggest RVing mistake you've made? And I wanted everyone to just say, I've never made any, but of course we all have. Right? And so the answers are pretty, there's kind of a few major answers I guess that, that a lot of people answered the same. Joe backed his Class V while towing a trailer and not paying enough attention and jackknife a trailer and put a dent in the corner of the rv.

Peggy Barthel

I've done that, I don't wanna say that every single time, but I bet I'm going to <laugh>. Ed jacked up the camper without chalking the tires and the camper rolled back. Luckily there was no damage, but it could have. But it put a good bin in the foot of the Jack Larry's done that. Peggy's done that. Kathy's done that. Mark has done that. Tony recognized the picture that I put because it was our first awning boo boo. We actually drove, well Tony drove, but I'm still taking the blame because I asked him to take that road.

Peggy Barthel

But he pulled over to the side of a very narrow road to let someone else pass, and there was a tree sticking out and it kind of caught on the awning and bent it backwards. Luckily it didn't do any damage to the actual rv. So that was a fairly easy fix.

Tony Barthel

It was not a cheap fix,

Peggy Barthel

Not a cheap fix, but fairly easy. Larry backed his travel trailer into the backyard pad too close to the gate post, and the driver's side wheel slipped off and broke a window. Lindy drove the wrong way down a narrow street in an old historic town in the Airstream. Then I immediately pulled over and accidentally ran into the electrical box and messed up the electrical boxes and the awning arms and quickly got out and skipped town and <laugh> <laugh> and ran like, heck <laugh>.

Tony Barthel

What? You know, I've done the driving the wrong way down a one way street. And this was in Mexico and my Spanish used to be much, much better. And I actually talked my way out of that ticket.

Peggy Barthel

Wow. Yeah. Greg somehow managed to pull the black tank dump valve in his driveway while he was cleaning the trailer out. Uh, the contents of the black tank gush down the driveway and into the storm drain. I had it closed and washing it with the hose, but I heard the booming voice of Army First Sergeant who lived a couple doors down <laugh>. He came laughing at me and told me everyone on the street had seen what I did. Triple check your valves and triple check your covers is his advice. Steven opened the camper door after a three hour drive to discovery.

Peggy Barthel

He hadn't latched the Murphy bed up and it was patiently laying on top of the sofa back. Thankfully there was no damage. Nell has also done that. Steve also has unhitched without chalking the travel trailer tires.

Tony Barthel

And remember folks never bite cheap chalks.

Peggy Barthel

Right. Laura pulled the leg pin out of the front leg of the fifth wheel before the hitch was seated in the right spot and it slipped out and the hitch fell on the side of the truck.

Tony Barthel

Oh, that reminds me of something that we did. I, I need to post that in the group. Remember the first time we took our first Rockwood camping? Yes. And we forgot to put in the hitchin.

Peggy Barthel

Yes I do.

Tony Barthel

Oh my gosh. I remember That

Peggy Barthel

Was lucky, lucky, lucky. Lucky that

Tony Barthel

It

Peggy Barthel

Didn't go badly.

Tony Barthel

My, yeah, it could have gone very badly. Very badly.

Peggy Barthel

Well, Laura had other help people helping jack up the fifth wheel so that they could get it put back together. And they saw all had their own stories to tell <laugh> Russ swears he thought his waist hose was firmly attached. It wasn't.

Tony Barthel

Oh dear

Peggy Barthel

Lori parked the to tow vehicle across the street and when her husband went to move it back, he didn't realize how close she was to the telephone pole and scraped off the rear view mirror. Oh. Mike said his biggest mistake was believing what the seller told him and advises to always do a thorough inspection. Deanne has also bent her awning arm by having a sign leaning against the arm. Now what I didn't post is the picture of our newest awning, my newest awning booboo, where I put the flip out door handle. Well, when you flip it backwards in our rv, it's in the way of the awning.

Peggy Barthel

And then I said, Hey Tony, it's windy. You better close the awning. I did. And he did. And then I noticed that I had left that flip out handle in the wrong position. So fortunately we've been able to change the handle and we will get the awning fixed. It's tied together with a piece of nylon strap right now, but it again has worked out. But it was,

Tony Barthel

Well we have the parts. Yeah. And we just, I need to get out there and fix the awning.

Peggy Barthel

Kathy didn't have a water pressure regulator and turned on the water at the site and blew out the valve in the toilet y Yikes. Oh, Paul says, I, I guess this is advice. Don't use your truck to put your slide in when it's stuck. Oh, oh. He says, don't ask me how I know.

Tony Barthel

Oh, I know how Paul knows <laugh>. Yeah. If, if your slide room gets stuck out, don't use your truck to push it back in. Push it in. Yeah. Surprisingly, I don't remember who we were talking to. There're repair place and they say, yeah, that's not that uncommon. Hmm. Grace posted a video of someone driving down the road with their SlideRoom out. Yeah.

Peggy Barthel

We don't know what the story was, obviously, but they either forgot or it was stuck or whatever the reason they were driving, driving

Tony Barthel

Around.

Peggy Barthel

Super. Not good. Let's see. Patrick pulled away from a fifth wheel before it was fully hitched. Mm. Luckily the legs were only about an inch off the ground. Brian wants to know, can't I just list the things I did correctly rather than my screw ups? It's such a shorter list. <laugh> John pulled out of a campsite on a narrow drive, curving around a house and ran over a bunch of bushes. But fortunately the hosts were very gracious and accepted his offer to reimburse them for the cost of the bushes.

Tony Barthel

We've seen that here with, uh, some of our harvest host guests, that that turn can be a little bit tight and yeah, not everyone can make it without, fortunately

Peggy Barthel

We lost Bush. We didn't care about Yeah. And, and not our mailbox <laugh>.

Tony Barthel

Yeah, that's true.

Peggy Barthel

I wanted the bush gone anyway, so really he did us a favor.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. Now it is. Yeah.

Peggy Barthel

Travis booked the wrong campground, but went to the right campground <laugh>, which had no open sight. So you know the deal. Find a parking lot. <laugh> Brian said, oh, this is a good story. It's a little long. But he said, remember how we used to have to go in the convenience store at a gas station to give them the credit card? Oh, before they would turn on the pump instead of swiping the card at the pump. Well, I do most of the driving and we had a system where I would drive up to the pump and do the actual fill and someone who shall remain nameless would go in the store and give a credit card to turn the pump on.

Peggy Barthel

Well, we pulled to the pump in the small town and did our thing. We drove up the FNP or for Nev forever nameless person, <laugh> went inside, came back out with food, and they got in the truck and drove off.

Peggy Barthel

About 30 minutes later he gets pulled over and said, did you just get gas? Yeah. Did you pay? I asked FMP and he said, I didn't pay. I went to the diner and got something to eat. So we were escorted back to the gas station to pay for our gas <laugh>. He said, my biggest mistake was, and sometimes still is not double checking everything. <laugh> and I responded, system sch missed him. He wanted a snack. So those are some good stories. Uh, fortunately they're all good stories and they turned out with maybe an expensive repair, but a good lesson.

Peggy Barthel

And nobody wrote that there was any permanent damage or bodily harm. So yeah, that's a good thing.

Tony Barthel

Indeed.

Peggy Barthel

We have a good one for this week. Tony, what is our question for this week? Tell

Tony Barthel

Us your favorite RVing or camping slogan.

Peggy Barthel

Oh, this is gonna be fun.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. I can't wait.

Peggy Barthel

<laugh>, I really like these. It's okay if you add memes 'cause I love looking at those too. But really memes are gonna be hard to read when we read next week's answers.

Tony Barthel

Yeah, that's true.

Peggy Barthel

So tell, tell us your favorite RVing or camping slogan, please.

Tony Barthel

Yeah. And, and have fun with that, of course, you can answer those questions or ask your own questions at our fun and friendly Stressless campers Facebook group.

Peggy Barthel

And also remember that we have a once a week newsletter that is absolutely, totally and completely free. It's

Tony Barthel

Got links to the stories, videos, podcasts, all that nonsense to help you get the most out of your RV experience.

Peggy Barthel

Just visit our website www.stresslesscamping.com and you can sign up and know that we would never, ever share your information. We just use that to send you one email per week period. Yep.

Tony Barthel

And you'll also find the show notes with the links and all that for this week's episode, which is number 2 42 on the podcastPage@stresscamping.com.

Peggy Barthel

Also, don't forget about our discounts and deals page for the best deals on things you'll need for your stress camping adventure. And by the way, if you know of a deal that you don't find on that page, please let us know. We love to have that page chockfull of discounts and deals.

Tony Barthel

Absolutely. Hey, did you know we are in all the social places? But if you start@stressescamping.com, you know, you can waste a bunch of time there before you go waste a bunch of time on social media. But we do have links to all the places that we are.

Peggy Barthel

And if you don't wanna miss a future episode of the Stressless Camping Podcast,

Tony Barthel

It is

Peggy Barthel

Free. It's free to subscribe on any podcast catcher. And we are saving you a seat around our virtual campfire.

Tony Barthel

And of course, you know, a review will help others find this podcast. And you know, the more people who review it, the more especially Apple says, Hey, you know, this is a podcast worth watching. And they share it with their enormous audience. So the reviews, especially on Apple Podcasts, really mean the world to us. So they really do. If you haven't yet, please do. And if you have, well, you can still share anything you find on the Stresses camping website with your followers, wherever they may be.

Tony Barthel

So thank you and thank you <laugh>. Thank you. Well, that's what we have this week. It's both odd and good to be back. Yeah. But we're not gonna be here very long. Nope. <laugh>, we we're gonna, we're heading out again in a few weeks, so, uh, maybe we'll see you out on the road and if we do well, we'll just call that Stressless Camping. Camping.

Mark Ferrell

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.

Tony Barthel

The one disappointment about our visit to the Arizona resident, one disappointment about our visit to the Arizona resident Doug. Got it. <laugh>, I got a press release from, uh, joint between, from a joint <laugh>.