Finding hidden boondocking gems and dump sites
We learn about a new tool for finding hidden boondocking gems and dump stations with our friend Mark Koep from Campground Views. Find new places to boondock including some destination discoveries and hidden gems. Mark also shares a unique place near Moab. We also have a great set of kitchen pans that may last longer than your camper.
Other places to hear the podcast
Mentioned on this episode
Campground Views offers not only ways to see campgrounds before you go there but also now offers boondocking spots, dump stations and cell coverage maps.
Other times we’ve spoken with Mark include:
Podcast Episode 26 - Introduction to and a discount on Campground Views
Podcast Episode 50 - RV industry experts offer their best tips for StressLess Camping
Podcast Episode 82 - The future of campgrounds
Podcast Episode 121 - Finding campground gems
The Family RV Association (formerly FMCA)
Our favorite RV cookware - the Magma RV cookware
Patrick’s recipe for bacon-wrapped dates
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.
Automated transcript of StressLess Camping RV podcast episode 293
Tony
Where do you find dump stations?
Peggy
How do you find hidden boondocking gems?
Tony
This week on the Stressless Camping RV podcast, we have Mark Kepp back with us, and he's got some solutions for just that.
Peggy
This is Mark's fifth visit on the show, plus some other things that he prerecorded for us. So he might be our most frequent guest now.
Tony
Yep. Well, you can find the show notes, deals, discounts, and more information at our home on the web, at stressless camping.com, where you can also catch our weekly podcast and more.
Peggy
Don't forget to like and share. And thank you for joining us on the Stressless Camping Podcast.
Tony
I'm Tony.
Peggy
I'm Peggy.
Tony
And we're two RV industry veterans who travel part-time
Peggy
In this trailer, <laugh>,
Tony
Looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips, tricks, and discounts. So grab a beverage.
Peggy
Yeah, we thought we were gonna be outside today, but we <laugh>. It's January, what is it? 20? No, February two.
Tony
No, it something
Peggy
February four. And it is so hot outside.
Tony
So for all,
Peggy
We did not wanna go out there <laugh>
Tony
For all of our friends who are freezing their tails off. I'm sorry. We are here.
Peggy
But you can see also out the window probably you can see the neighbor's flags. It's also very breezy. And that doesn't make for good sound. No. So we decided to sit inside. We turned off the air conditioner. You're welcome. Except hooey. <laugh>.
Tony
The reason it's warm is we are in, we were last week in Southern California, and this week we're back in Arizona, so we're close to the southern border <affirmative>. And we're basically checking out some new campgrounds that have just been built. Of course we'll have those details on future episodes. Yes. It's, it's a great place to be this time of year in the first
Peggy
Quarter, especially if you don't like the cold.
Tony
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Or trees
Peggy
<laugh>. Now if you love the snow, then this is not the place to be. Yeah. And if you love trees, this campground, we'll, as Tony said, we'll talk more about it. Yeah. This would not be my first choice.
Tony
We will talk about it in the future. Not this week.
Peggy
Yeah. Right, right.
Tony
But something else I wanna talk about, as you probably knew the past, well before the last campground, we were 10 days completely off the grid, <affirmative>. And of course, what empowered us, so to speak,
Peggy
Empowered us.
Tony
What empowered us is our solar and lithium system from a, b, c Upfitters. And I have to say, it performed fantastically
Peggy
So, so, so impressed.
Tony
Yeah. It just, there was one day where it was pretty cloudy and you know, there was, there wasn't much sun. And we also got a DC to DC charger, and what that is is it lets your vehicle's alternator charge up your battery, kind of like a generator. So it's another system, but you're already maintaining your vehicle. Right.
Peggy
I hope, I hope
Tony
<laugh>. And that one day we plugged the truck into the trailer for half an hour. We're good to go.
Peggy
Now I'll say it's not because we were running out of power. Yeah. It was just like, oh no, we're only down to 70. We better goof around with this DC to dc It was a good test. It was, oh, wanted to try. And it worked perfectly. It was perfect. And there was even a day, I think I was away shopping probably, that I came back and Tony said we were running the air conditioner just because we could. Yeah.
Tony
We, well, we had to test it.
Peggy
Now in, in Quartzite, while we were on this, on our boondocking trip, it wasn't as hot. It was no beautiful. It was really gorgeous weather. We didn't really need air conditioning. We kind of needed heat overnight. But this last few days in, in Southern California and southern Arizona. Mama Mia. It's warm <laugh>. I shouldn't complain. But, you know, <laugh>.
Tony
Well anyway, the, the bottom line is we were camping not only by our, with ourselves, but there were, there was another system that was installed by a, B, C upfitters and three of power packages. Yeah. Which are systems designed for Rockwood or Flagstaff by a BCF fitters. And those were the only RVs there where I didn't hear the generator go off. Really. It was just really impressive. So if you would like a solar and lithium system that is tailored to your specific type of camping and it just works, give a BC Outfitters a call at (574) 333-3225.
Peggy
That's 5 7, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2 5.
Tony
Or we have a video interview with them and more information at our home on the web@stressescamping.com. And if you are listening to this in your podcast capture, there is a link below to that. And if you are watching this on YouTube, there's a link directly to our information about a BC Outfitters. So check 'em out. There's some interviews and more information and just good people doing good work.
Peggy
Well, we are kind of back to normal. You know
Tony
What, wait, what's that
Peggy
For us? The holidays and the traveling and the, and the opportunity to talk to people live on the podcast is, is way too tempting. And so, you know, the beginning of the year and, and Christmas time and stuff kind of all goes wacky, but we're back to quote unquote normal. We interviewed Mark Kepp over the phone, <laugh> over at, well it's,
Tony
You know,
Peggy
A video call through the magic of the internet through the, the magic of the internet. And so we have some words from Mark that we will play for you now. Yeah.
Tony
He's got some great new tips. So check this out. We have the privilege of having our friend Mark Kemp back from Campground Views and you have been busy, mark, with some pretty neat addition to an already awesome product. So welcome, welcome
Peggy
Back.
Mark Koep
Thanks for having me. Good to see you too. And I wanna say great job on your content. I'm on your email list, I follow your stuff. And you guys have been all over the place. <laugh>.
Tony
We do what we can,
Peggy
We try.
Tony
So tell us what's, tell us. I think for the people who don't know what campground views is, maybe share some of that and then the things you've just added make it even better. Yeah.
Mark Koep
Okay. So in simple terms, anybody out there watching or listening to this who has ever tried to find a campsite, knows what a pain in the butt it is. You have no idea what it looks like. You'd have no idea if your rig is gonna fit. And so up until recently, the only avenue you had to figure it out was to go read reviews. And so then you spend hours and hours not, I mean, not hours and hours. You spend 25, 30 minutes reading reviews, figuring out if you agree with this person or not. And then in the end you just kind of like, eh, it's got four stars, let's go stay there and hopefully it works out well.
Mark Koep
We've solved that for you. We have a technology that allows you to hit play and virtually drive through campgrounds. We now have over 3,300, that's 3,300 campgrounds across North America that you can go online virtually at the website, hit play and virtually drive through the roads, look around like a Google Street view and click on those sites for information.
Mark Koep
So that's where the, the problem started. And the solution we've presented to that problem is to allow you to virtually tour, tour those parks. But more recently, especially over this last holiday period, we've had a website, campground views.com. Many people have seen it and they say it's nice, but it's not really the best. There's some other tools out there that they can go use. And, and I'll be honest with you, we know, like we've been building the virtual tours, we haven't spent a lot of time on the website. But now that the virtual tours have really filled out, we've taken a lot of time to really build campground views into something very powerful and very special.
Mark Koep
As of right now, there's those 3 30, 300 virtual tours available. There's 17,000 campgrounds that you can camp at tonight if you wanted to. On there. There are 7,500 free camp sites listed on there. Places like Walmart's, cracker barrels, boondocking locations, and over 2000 dump stations all on a big map. All easy to search and find and all available at your fingertips. And we will argue that we now have the most powerful campground and RV park search engine available
Tony
Anywhere. That's incredible. And the boondocking sites and the dump stations are very, very new features. Yeah,
Mark Koep
Very new. We just added those like, and I'll be, there's a, there's a reason why, there's actually a backstory behind this. So a while ago when we first started Campground Views, we were adding boondocking spots and there was a boondocking spot just outside of Zion National Park. If you've ever been there, there's a road in, you go through Rockdale and you make the curve into Springdale, I think it is Rockford or whatever it is. And then you get to Springdale, Utah for Zion National Park, and there's a river that crosses the road and there's a little BLM land there that people used to be able to, to camp on.
Mark Koep
And we did our thing with that. We shot a video of it and we added it to our website. And the next year we went to Zion and there was no less than 25 people camping in that location when we drove by it.
Mark Koep
Wow. And then the next year, the B LM actually shut that down. The only website that had that information at that time was us. And we took it very personally 'cause we provided the information to the mass public that allowed them to go to a boondocking spot and ruin it for everybody else. And so we put the brakes on boondocking spots for a while until the market basically caught up. People really know how to treat boondocking spots now. And we felt like now that we've got the content around the virtual tours, it's time to add this additional layer for the many RVs who ask for it.
Mark Koep
People travel and you know, they wanna stay at a truck stop or love's or, you know, whatever. On the routes we've added those.
Tony
I see that question quite a bit. Where can I just overnight somewhere. Right. And it's just, it's a great addition. We've also used campground views because we use starlink for our internet. Right. And we have actually had a tree damage our RVs. So you can be sure that we're looking at, at campsites that have as few trees as humanly possible. Well,
Peggy
For more than one we have a star link. But then we also have solar. True. So if we're not at, if we're looking for a place that doesn't have full hookups, we wanna make sure the sun's not gonna cover all our solar. I mean, the trees are not gonna cover, cover our solar panels as well.
Mark Koep
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So with the virtual tours right now we have roughly 65% of all of the federal properties. So that'd be Forest Service, national Park Corps of Engineers. Those properties are available with the virtual tours. And this last year we finished capturing roughly 90 to 95% of all of the state parks in the United States. And so the ones we didn't capture were the ones that were closed or you know, they're remodeling it or whatnot. But we're at roughly, I think it's about 92% of the state parks in the United, I mean, we're talking the entire United States, you nice.
Mark Koep
United States. Where can I go? We have virtual tours all across the United States for all these state parks. It's, it's amazing. Like I'll start watching the tours. I'm like, this is pretty cool that we built this. Like this is just fun to use and go tour through a campground. And I mean, I'll be honest with you, like if you look behind the scenes at, at the amount of money that we didn't raise, like if you look at, there's entities in our, in our space that have raised 30, $40 million to build what are essentially review sites. And you look at the fact that we basically took out a home loan essentially to build what we built <laugh>.
Mark Koep
It's actually pretty magical what we've been able to do and provide to the camping public.
Tony
Well, and it's so different as well. And I think we've been in conversations pretty close to the beginning of campground views too. And we can put a link in the show notes Yeah. Of the different times we've spoken. And every time it's like, oh, we have this ton of new places. We
Peggy
Have 12, we have a thousand
Mark Koep
You know, it, it was a crazy idea when I started with it. We launched it during COD with 143 or 146 parks in June of 2021. So that was during all the Covid stuff. And we're now at 3,300. It's, it's, it, it is actually an unbelievable amount of parks when you consider what's happened. And it's not me, it's, it's other campers. I mean, there's this last year we had, at one time there were eight different RVing couples Hmm. That were out there filming. 'cause they're like, we love what you're doing.
Mark Koep
We wanna help. I'm traveling to these parks anyways. Can I shoot it? Yeah. Grab a, grab a camera. We'll teach you how to do it. And these folks ha helped make it happen. So this definitely wasn't on me, but it was, it was really community effort. And the last step in this process was, okay, now we've got this amazing content. We may need to make it easier to find number one, and then we need to fulfill the other needs that campers and r viewers have. And that was where we added in the boondocking and the, the dump stations.
Tony
If somebody is a campground owner, how would they get their campground listed? If it's not already,
Mark Koep
It's completely free to list. They just go to the website and right now, if they hit the contact us, it'll send us a message. But we're about to add in a whole workflow that allow them to submit their, their campground. And there it's completely free to list a campground. And if there's viewers out there that are campers and they're like, Hey, you don't have this boondocking spot, or you're missing this same thing, drop us a message. We are very aggressive on making sure our information is solid. Because as you guys have been RVing long enough to know this, there's been a, a bunch of apps that have come and gone that have been like the, the kings, I mean, the most recent one would be campania, right?
Mark Koep
Like they, they roll that out and try to roll it into road trippers. And it's like you we're RVs. I spent three months in my RV this last year alone. I'm about to go out on a month long trip. I use our website. So if our website sucks, it means I'm getting lost too. So we
Speaker 5
Make
Mark Koep
Make sure that it works really well. <laugh>,
Tony
<laugh>, the, that's I think in some like software circles that's called dog fooding where you use your own product. <laugh>,
Mark Koep
That’s good. I've never heard that, that analogy, but it's a really good analogy.
Tony
Yes. Yeah. It's, you know, if you make dog food, you try your own dog food as it were. It's an odd term, but there's software development has a bunch of those. So when
Mark Koep
You look at, at the RVing space and, and, and we have con we connected, I think before even Covid hit. Like if you look at what happened during the Covid period, so many people bought RVs and so many people jumped in our industry. And a lot of those people, they stuck around like they enjoyed it. And they, and they, they came back. We're now really going into the first year that I'll call like a post covid period. It's more of a normal period going into this next year. And you know, to the question of the private RV park owners for the virtual tours, we actually sell them that service and we'll provide that service for these private RV parks.
Mark Koep
And what's amazing is these RV parks, they make more money 'cause they get more bookings. The campers that show up know what they're getting into so they have a better experience.
Mark Koep
And it really creates this, this magical win-win. But we're in a bit of a backwards industry, which is why we, we focus on the public parks. 'cause we could go do that. And a lot of the private park owners, we actually had, I'll give you a story, you'll think this is funny and your, your viewers will get it. I actually had an owner last year at a trade show walk up to me and with a straight face. They weren't joking. Straight face to me said to me, nah, this, this doesn't look like it would be very beneficial because none of my, my campers use the internet. <laugh> <laugh>. I was like, are you serious right now?
Mark Koep
<laugh>,
Tony
We, we talked to our v park that we used to go to a lot was one of my favorites. And at one point I, you have to actually call them. They have one phone line. It's a park with like 200 sites or it's not a small park. Right. So of course when you're trying to call, it's busy. Finally you get through, you talk to a lady who I bel, well I won't say it <affirmative>, but let's just say she's been on the planet for a while, <laugh>. And I asked her, I'm like, why don't you put in an online reservation system?
Tony
And she goes, we only have one phone line here. It would not work for us <laugh>.
Mark Koep
Yeah. It, it it's fr we outside of like what we do, what the public sees with what we're doing, we also run a Facebook group for park owners. It now has over 4,800 members that are camp campground owners and RV park owners. And our entire purpose with that Facebook group is to, to try to raise everybody's boats to make the operators a little bit better operators of their parks. And if we can do incremental, just get a few parks to do something a little bit better, a little bit better, we'll see those tides rise. And, and I'll be honest with you, now that we've done it a few years, we've seen that we, there are a lot of park owners who really appreciate the information we share and kind of get out there to help them out.
Mark Koep
And so really we're at the point now where I think it, it behooves campers to start speaking up and asking for this a little bit more.
Mark Koep
'cause if the park hasn't got online reservations and, and the campers are not asking them for it, it ain't gonna happen. Right. So for like campground views, if you go to a campground and it doesn't have a virtual tour, we now have a, a box right at the top that says, vote for this park to get a virtual tour. And we're actually collecting that information on the back end. And then we're reaching out to those parks saying, Hey, we've had, we've had 150 people in the last 30 days, ask for a virtual tour of your property. Like, yeah, you know, let's make this happen. And at the same time, when we capture that information, we'll send the person who submits it an email that basically says, Hey, can you forward this onto the park owner?
Mark Koep
It's, it's one thing for us to reach out to them. It's another thing if it's a camper saying you want this. And so I think this will be the year where the campers can really guide a lot of that because we're at this, this pivot point where there's enough new park owners and the park owners who have been running their parks for a while now know that they don't have all of the solutions in place to reach campers. And they're open to trying new things.
Tony
That's, that's terrific. And, and then so as a user, what are the costs of using campground views?
Mark Koep
Campground views is completely free to use. You can go on there and use it. There's, now we do have a membership, so there's a free membership and then there's a paid membership. And the difference between the two is the free membership, when you have that, you have a user account and you can save your favorites. So you can start adding and we're gonna be adding some trip saving features on there. The paid members, they get rid of a lot of the ads. So right now, if you're a free member, you'll go on and if you wanna watch a virtual tour, a commercial's gonna load before that virtual tour plays <affirmative>. And we appreciate the, the commercial sponsors that have, have backed us on this.
Mark Koep
And, and we're, we're actually selective on who we work with. We want 'em to be relevant and good products. Sure. So they're actually really good, really good advertisers. But if you're like, Hey, I'm gonna be viewing 10 or 15 of these and I don't wanna watch that these commercials over and over again become a member. It's only 25 bucks a year to join now. It's, it's inexpensive.
Tony
It's, it's a super deal. Yeah. Well, anything else that we should share with our audience about campground views? You've, you've just created such an exceptional product here that's so unique.
Mark Koep
I appreciate that. Yeah, so the, there's two big things that I wanna point out on the new user interface. First off, we have added cell phone coverage. So we, we have Verizon, T-Mobile and at t coverage maps. So if you can actually turn them on and it'll, it'll color up the, the map so you can see where your coverage is at. So one, okay. And then two, we have added route planning features. So you can find your destination and your origination and it'll draw a route to you to that, that destination.
Mark Koep
And you can drag that route just like Google Maps and move it to different roads. And based upon where it's dragged, we will actually update the list of, of, you know, featured parks that we think would be relevant to you. And you actually get a list of those parks and over the next two months you're gonna be seeing that feature really built out where there's gonna be a lot of additional stuff on there. And as I said before, all this stuff's free to use. Like you, you can create an account if you want to, but you don't have to. You can go on there and use all that stuff for free.
Peggy
Now is that route planning, is it like RV Safe? I know some, you know, like you can go on Google Maps and it just says, here are the highways. But
Mark Koep
As an rvr, as somebody who full-time for 12 years, I would, here's my advice, and this is what I say very openly, get yourself A GPS that is rv, an RV GPS do not trust Google Maps. And no offense to the other players out there. Do not trust any online Google based mapping experience to map your rv. They do not have the data, I don't care what they say, they do not have the data and the routing in there appropriately. You would want a GPS like a Garmin that's for the RVs or for truckers that has the height restrictions.
Mark Koep
So on our end, we were actually conscious of that. We do not want people using our routing to route themselves because there's gonna be railroad crosses, there's gonna be low bridges, there's gonna be narrow interchanges, there's gonna be roadways that aren't suitable for a large class.
Mark Koep
A Google Maps is a perfect, there's actually a really good example. And it's still today an issue. If you were to route yourself from Laramie, Wyoming, which is in southern Wyoming to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. It takes you midway through it shows a really direct route. And it's because it, or it's actually Rifle Colorado, it it, it takes a very direct route to Rifle Colorado. A route that I didn't know existed. And the reason why I didn't know it existed is 'cause 25 of those miles are on a dirt road through the Rocky Mountain <laugh>.
Mark Koep
And Google still routes you on that. If you do that route, it'll actually take you down a dirt road. And that's,
Peggy
I think I saw that in that movie with Robin Williams. <laugh>,
Mark Koep
Right? <laugh> right. Yeah. So if you don't mind your RV going into a lake, then then use that. So it's a good question. Yeah. We, we were actually very conscious about that design that we wanna be able, basically, I wanna use it the way I think you use it the same way. And I use it the same way. I'll use Google Maps to get my general distance and then I'll plan my stops along that route. But then I'll actually use my GPS and do a little bit more research just to make sure that I'm going down the right way. Yeah. <laugh>, I actually got a funny story so related to this and it is perfect.
Mark Koep
So we were, this was last year when we were out traveling in the rv, we ended up at the KOA Otaki Lake, KOA in Missouri. Actually your listeners need to go experience that park.
Mark Koep
Amazing location huh? In the, in the Ozarks in, in Missouri, Otaki Lake. So we're staying at the park and I didn't do any of the homework before leaving, which I should have done. And I just put in where I was going into the GPS. And so when I pulled out of the park, it told me to go. Right. So I went right. And then it told me to take another, right. So I went another right. And we're driving on this road, which was the second right. And it started out paved and then it hit dirt road and then it hit double track and then it hit trees.
Mark Koep
And I'm in an RV now, now I know I'm going the wrong way, right? And so I kind of looked at the, I, I drug the GPS down to see where I could turn around. And I saw that it dropped down a hillside and then there was a creek crossing. And I figured by the creek crossing I'd have a place to turn around. I kid you not. So we come around the corner and it goes down. Now it's like just a two-lane dirt road. It goes down and comes around. And that creek crossing was a river that was a half mile wide. Oh.
Tony
Oh.
Peggy
And I, I
Mark Koep
Stopped the RV and I'm just chuckling. My wife is loving it. She is laughing. So here you are, mark Campground views. We're down a dirt road and we're on a river and I'm just, I almost having fun with it too. So I got out and there were two locals standing down by the river with, with their fishing boat. 'cause they're launching their fishing boat, <laugh> where the road is supposed to be. And I, I walked up and I just simply said, they kind of looked at me and I said, yeah, I'm that guy today. I said, I followed the GPSI said, I trust there's no bridge around here. And they just started laughing and they were like, no kidding you, at least once a year, a big rig or a car gets stuck out in the middle of that river.
Mark Koep
'cause they just follow their GPS right into it. <laugh>.
Peggy
Oh, come on <laugh>.
Tony
Well that's like that road where we used to live. There was a, a really twisty road, but go, it was the shortest route to the town near where we lived. Yeah. And it was regular that first of all, there's all these signs that says no vehicles this big on this road, blah, blah, blah and <laugh>. Yeah.
Peggy
But there wasn't a river to cross
Tony
<laugh>. No, that's true. But how many of those big rigs did they have to like Yeah. Crane
Peggy
Off
Tony
The signs off the side of the mountain
Peggy
And they would like fall over the edge of the road? 'cause the road wasn't wide enough for their length. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mark Koep
Well, I mean, you know, try, one of the things with an RV is anybody can buy an rv. And I was, I'll be, I'm guilty of this too. I'd never driven a big vehicle. And then I got in an RV and I realized, hey, there's these yellow signs along the highway. Those actually are talking to me. I, I mean, in a car you just ignore those 45 around the corner. You hit it at 75. Right. But when you're in an rv, that 45, that means 45. Yeah.
Peggy
Yep. They're not,
Tony
It's money well spent on the signs <laugh>.
Peggy
Especially if grandma's trying to get the cottage cheese outta the refrigerator. At that time, <laugh>, when I was a kid, we were traveling. My grandfather went around a corner too fast. The cottage cheese landed on the carpeted floor of the rv. That was a big mess. <laugh>,
Mark Koep
You know, this last year. So I've always been a trailer person. We, we had fifth wheels when we were full-timers, then we had a little hybrid popup trailer that we towed around for a bit. And this last year we have a, we had have a newborn baby. So I bought a class C rv. It's different. Anybody who's done it, you know, it's, it's, I was shocked at how different traveling in an RV a motor home is compared to a trailer. Like your setup and breakdown is, is different. The amount of miles you can do with a drivable RV versus towable is significant.
Mark Koep
Like I, with an towing a fifth wheel, 300 miles in a day, I was done <affirmative> three oh miles, I'm done. Right. With Class CI did a 650 mile an hour day. Now I was done at the end of 600 miles. Like, I'm, I'm not saying I walked away happy, but that's, that was a significant change. And so that, I mean, just a little background for your audience. Like I walk the walk, like we live the RV lifestyle, we travel around, we know, we know, we know what we all want. So we try to serve and and feed that need.
Tony
Yeah. And you do it so well. So, and also congrats on the new baby. Yeah,
Mark Koep
Thank you. Yeah, it's, that's number three. We've got a 12-year-old, a 5-year-old and and the newborn. So Wow. Life's good.
Tony
That's good. Good. Well Mark, it's always a pleasure. Yes. And we look forward to sharing this with our audience and if anybody has any questions they can reach out campground views.com and or submit campgrounds or any of those things. <affirmative>,
Mark Koep
The big thing we ask people to do is write reviews and then also tell your favorite parks that they don't have a virtual tour to look into getting one, we know the value of it for these parks. We just need the, the campers to start telling these owners that they want 'em to.
Tony
Yep, absolutely. Alright, cool. Sounds great. Well we're back and I just have one thing to say and that's nor my
Peggy
Na, you may have already noticed his shirt. We wondered if it was a little not appropriate, but we realized that we wanted to tell you about the FMCA convention in Perry, Georgia in March. And the theme is, oh gosh, it has an actual name but it's a pirate theme convention. Yeah, it's a pirate theme convention. And so it's appropriate for the pirate theme convention. And this way we remember to tell you that we will be in Perry, Georgia in March for the FMCA convention. You know, if you are a member of FMCA, you might wanna con consider going to the convention.
Peggy
But then after that, on our way home we're gonna be teaching a girl camper class. It's been a while since we've done that. And we'll be doing that in Texas. And then we are also this close to scheduling a girl camper class in June in the Eastern Sierra, which is very exciting for us. Yep. So tho those are kind of the places you can find us this year, year
Tony
In the real IRL in real
Peggy
Life. IRL in real life. But, or you know, maybe we'll pull into a campground and we'll drive right past you and you'll text me and say, Hey, was that you? And we'll have dinner together. Like what happened two days ago? That was so yeah,
Tony
<laugh>. So just to let you know, now the FMCA is the FRVA. Oh right. The Family RV Association. That's right. And they have been really working to be more inclusive of towables, which they had started as a motor home club and now they are really embracing towables and, and their management is really working to do that. They, at the court site show, they reported that enrollment in the FRVA was up by 50% over the previous years.
Tony
And they're really, there's a lot of great information about the FRVA, including their roadside assistance or medical transport. They have all kinds of really good programs, tire discounts and more. I still say if you belong to the FRVA, seek out local chapters or chapters that align with whatever your interest is because that's really where you get the most out of the FRVA or any big RV club.
Tony
But hopefully you can join us in, in Perry and NAR
Speaker 6
Will be there. Nothing shiver me timbers. We won't be late.
Peggy
<laugh>.
Tony
So this week our gadget is a gadget that we have had since 2016 when we bought our first trailer. And it's the magma cookware, nesting pans. And we like to buy good stuff the first time and you know, buy the best and cry only once. And these magma cookware pans, there's a variety of
Peggy
Of
Tony
Kits. Kits you can get. There's non-stick kits, induction friendly kits. This is an older set. This is what, six years old now?
Peggy
They're making a lot of
Tony
Yeah, they are. And what they are is they are a set of nesting pans, pots and pans. Right. What we like about them is they nest. So it only takes that size Right.
Peggy
Of space in the cupboard
Tony
Space. Yeah. They're really beefy. I mean these things have been all over the country. Yeah. And they look while they're, they look used because they have been Right. But
Peggy
They but they're not dented or broken or anything. They just,
Tony
No, they have held up so well, and the neat thing is, you know, in addition to the nesting, they have handles that come on and off. I
Peggy
Forgot to bring the handle. It's a really easy on and off. You pull back a little slide and then just tuck it right up into that. And that's on like every pan in the set. Yeah.
Tony
Most of these are compatible with the oven. And so for example, we baked some things for the gathering in these pans. And the neat thing is obviously, well not, obviously you don't keep the handle on when you're baking. Right. But when it's time to pull the thing out of the oven Yeah.
Peggy
Reach in and put the handle on. Yeah. And pull it out by the handle. The reason that I thought to talk about these this week is we did a lot of potlucks while we had our meetup and at least three campers brought out their food in magma nesting. And they're like,
Tony
Hey, we bought these 'cause of you. And everyone was thrilled with them. Yeah. And we have been too. We, you know, we used to own a bed and breakfast and we bought these expensive pans that worked there. I'd say these are every bit as good as those really expensive commercial grade pans. Yeah. So, but smaller. And they nest. So we have a full story about them at our home on the web@stresslesscamping.com and we will put a link to that in Dish.
Peggy
Well, as I kind of promised last week, we had lots of potlucks and therefore I have lots of new recipes. And we're gonna go super simple this week. Very, we are gonna have bacon wrap dates. Funny enough at, it's so weird. There's this store in Quartzite that's a hardware store and
Tony
A liquor
Peggy
Store, <laugh>. And also apparently brings in some really delicious dates. So Tony had brought a package of dates and during one of the potlucks, actually our friends Brian and Patrick wrapped the dates with bacon and you bake them. And so, you know, your bacon is really crispy and, and you get that date and bacon. Now they just made just bacon and dates. But there are all sorts of ideas for things to stuff the date with before you bake them and before you wrap them and bake them.
Peggy
So I will post the recipe with a whole bunch of different ideas for stuffing the dates, but, and then you throw 'em in this magma pan and bake them. Yeah. How's that for a good idea?
Tony
I mean, it's really simple and boy, that was a giant hit, so Oh yeah. I mean, bacon and dates. How can you go wrong? How
Peggy
Can you go wrong? Right. And usually a lot of, and a lot of them are gonna include cheese too. So,
Tony
Hey, I thought of something. What's that? If you go to that hardware store in Quartzite <affirmative>, you could get drunk and screw, like Jimmy Buffett said,
Peggy
Oh my <laugh>, that's for you. Brian
Tony
<laugh>
Peggy
<laugh>.
Tony
Well if you haven't had enough of Mark Kepp yet, <laugh> Mark owns a company called Campground Views, which I'm sure you've figured out by listening to him. And he has this series of Hidden Gems. Yeah. And we have the last one that he has for us now, but I am gonna see if he would like to do more of them. He
Peggy
Recorded these sometime ago and we played, I think in episodes two 12 and 13. I don't remember, I thought I had it written down, but I haven't seen the note in, in a couple episodes earlier, <laugh>, we played his Hidden Gem videos and then this is the third one that he sent us as a kind of a first look. And so now that we are exhausting that list, we will be asking him for more videos. And when we travel, we like to tell you about places that we've gone. But when we're not traveling, it's really nice to have Mark as a backup.
Peggy
Absolutely. So here's Mark's Hidden Gem for this week.
Mark Koep
Hello there. Mark Hepp with campground views.com and today's Hidden Gem Campground of the Week. It's a location that many people overlook when they're going to the very popular location of Moab, Utah. If you're familiar with Moab, you'll know that that area has exploded tremendously over the last decade with a large volume of guests going into the various campgrounds, RV parks, and boondocking spots around Moab. Moab is very popular for folks that are looking to go off-roading, whether it's in Jeeps, mountain biking, that type of adventurous outdoors.
Mark Koep
And there's some beautiful spots in and around the Moab area. But as a result, it's oftentimes difficult to get a campground right inside that location. So what I'm gonna do is show you a state park that's nearby. This is actually in Green River. It's located off of Interstate 70 north of Moab, and it is Green River State Park Campground.
Mark Koep
What's interesting about this location is it was recently renovated, they added a number of water electric sites to the location and it's a very convenient location if you have a large RV and you're gonna be traveling into an off-roading within the Moab area, there is a golf course immediately next door. And as the name implies, it can be quite green here, especially in the spring. This area, including all of Moab, is very hot in the summer times. And so there are very large cottonwood trees throughout the campground that provide ample shade.
Mark Koep
The sites themselves are decently spaced. You're not right on top of your neighbor, but you are relatively close. So it's not very private, it is more of a state park style camping. But the location itself is quite scenic. And as I noted already, it's convenient to the Moab area. The great thing about this state park is it's lesser known than a lot of places in the Moab area. And as a result is more likely of a place where you can find campsites. We do have a full virtual tour of the property that allows you to click on the sites and get more information and even drop in to book 'em.
Mark Koep
But if you're headed to the Moab area, you're looking for a campground that people may not be aware of or may be available when other ones are not available, check out Green River State Park Campground and let us know if you like these hidden gem campgrounds for your use
Peggy
Last week. Of course, we also asked you our question of the week and it was, what is your RV story? You know, last week we had all the people that were camping with us tell their stories and we didn't get a lot of response yet on the group. So I'm leaving it because I really want your story and maybe I didn't ask the question in a way that made sense. When, why, how did you start RVing? Or you know, like was it something you just did late in life? Was it something you've done your whole life?
Peggy
Do you, do you camp? Do you travel? Are you full-time? Are you a weekender? Are you, you know, tell me about your camp life. That's what I wanna know.
Tony
Yeah. What is your RV origin story? Maybe it might be another, might
Peggy
Be another way. Yeah. Yeah.
Tony
But, and you can answer that at our fun and friendly Stressless campers Facebook group. And even if you're one of the people who might be thinking of leaving. Oh no, don't, don't go yet.
Peggy
You've only Facebook yet.
Tony
Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. Right. Is that what you meant? I did, yes. Okay. Yeah. Don't, don't,
Peggy
I find, I don't know where you meant, there was discussion of problem. If you're thinking of leaving, wait, we're gonna be done in four minutes. <laugh>
Tony
<laugh>. No. Facebook. If you're thinking of leaving Facebook, it's a reason to stay. Yes. At least we think so.
Peggy
We think so. We do keep it fun and friendly and nice and kind. And so if for no other reason to stay on Facebook, just hang out with us at the fun and friendly Facebook campers Facebook group.
Tony
Facebook campers,
Peggy
Facebook Fri, fun and friendly. Stressless campers, Facebook group.
Tony
<laugh>. Yeah, that one. <laugh>. And did you know that we do a once a week newsletter?
Peggy
I couldn't remember the word newsletter.
Tony
I couldn't remember the ne the Word newsletter. Whoa, man, that was a, it's hot in
Peggy
Here. It is hot in here. <laugh>.
Tony
It's getting hot
Peggy
In here. We do that once a week newsletter. It's absolutely, and positively free. We send you the news that we've read, you know, videos and podcasts and stories that we have seen going on around during the week and remind you that our podcast is out. And that is the only reason that we use it. We don't sell it, we don't give it away. We don't spam you. We just remind you once a week and give you some stuff you might wanna read and look at.
Tony
Yep. And you can find the show notes, including links to Mark Kemp's, other appearances on the Stressless Camping podcast at our home, on the web@stresslesscamping.com.com. And look at the podcast page and well, this week it'll be the top one, but next week it'll be the one down and the following week it'll be three down. Oh boy. And guess what?
Peggy
It's 2 93 this week. So if, if you're looking specifically for 2 93 and it's a year and a half from now, you don't have to scroll <laugh> 70 Right. Spaces down.
Tony
And in seven weeks it'll be episode 300. That's right. So you might also weigh in what you think we should do. Anything special for episode 300.
Peggy
Yeah. Kind of party hats or something. Ooh, eh, don't forget. Also, when you're on our website to check out the deals and discounts page. We try to get new deals, new discounts all the time. And we're still working on the one for that, for that slinky stuff
Tony
From last week. Yeah, that's, that's
Peggy
On all this. So I know that some of you are like, hurry up and get the discount. I'm ready to buy <laugh>. Yeah,
Tony
Right. Did you hear something you liked? Don't forget to share with your friends or share in all the social places because sharing really helps us out. So with that
Peggy
Like and subscribe, share, and have a great week until we see you again. Stressless,
Tony
Stressless, Stressless Camping. My gosh, this turn on the air conditioner. Oh, it's hot.
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.
