RV Travel Issues & Challenges for 2023

[@14wheels75]

Enjoyed your podcast today. I want to respond to the retired couple in their 60's with their adult children worrying about their rv travels. Like you, we use Life 360 app. The "kids" always know where we are in general. Also, we send them our pre-planned itineraries in advance. Using RV Trip Wizard makes it easy. In addition, for their piece of mind and ours, we made sure our "personal finances" are in order, like our insurance, bills, credit cards, wills, trusts & prepaid funeral plans and the adult child knows where everything is accessed. This is not morbid but rather our ticket to freedom. We recumbant trike on long bike trails and kayak in rivers, lakes & swamps. We are in our mid-70's and have traveled 35 states, 40,000 miles in the past 3 years and plan for many more. We are both cancer survivors with "health issues" that we manage but we're still having fun. Go for it! Life is short!

[@khm2128]

Very considerate to provide such thorough information. In An emergency, there will be fewer hassles. Blessings to you on your adventures!

[@johnirwin1837]

Our RV plans have not been changed by anything. We are doing as we please when we please. We are headed out next week and as of now have no reservations for the next 1400 miles. Have reservations for Christmas and Jan. and Feb. in South west Texas made last late spring. Our biggest concern now is my health issues that came up this spring.

[@panhandletrains]

If there is a prize to be the first to post a video about the next year, I think you won! Fortunately it was a great video 👍 Merry Christmas 🎄

[@debyarger3084]

Wow,nothing like looking at the glass half empty! Lol. Our camping season starts at the end of March to the end of November,we even have camped in December. The key to our long camp season is this. We go to places that are not high traffic camping areas. Find the beauty where others may not. This does mean that we will spend some off grid time boondocking for four to five days then head into a state park for a few nights so we can dump and fill tanks recharge and head back out. We do this all in our home state. We use Boondockers Welcome and Harver Host from time to time. I'm not ashamed to say if we're in a tight spot we have headed to walmart for an over night stay. We only do free sight seeing stuff unless it's a special day like birthdays or anniversary. We use electric bikes for touring the campground and local areas. We don't make reservations very often. We find that during the week Monday through Thursday ( leaving Friday morning) has worked everytime in 2022. We are out any where from two weeks to a month at a time. Yes we paid more in gas then we did in campground fees. If your set up to be somewhat off grid try out your state forest campgrounds. Their so much cheaper! Most will allow you to use a generator from 7 to 10. We only use ours for when we need to charge phones,batteries or computer.2022 we started our season with 3300.00 in our travel fund, we traveled many many miles and still ended our season with 700.00 left in the travel fund. It can be done. I know that 2023 will be a bigger challenge but I know we can do this. Happy Travels,RVing may look different in 2023 but we can still do it and have fun!

[@gailfallon9409]

My kind of people!

[@ggebhard1]

Gosh, I’m just starting out, this will be my second summer of camping and I’m sad with all the expenses and problems we talked about. I went from Michigan to S Dakota and back and it cost me over $1,800 just for gas. I was a teacher and saved for years to do this. I’m so disgusted with our leaders. He can open our gas lines back up in an hour! When I started planning to get my little 18 foot teardrop camper, gas was $1.82/gal. I want the other guy back! I want my freedoms back!! I only get one chance in life to be in my 70’s. 😔 one of your SW Michigan neighbors

[@landahoy5217]

I hear you! Disgusting is putting it mildly. Hopefully something will change ………

[@barbarac9369]

Take heart. It is sad and unfortunate, BUT if you plan your travels and stay a longer time in each area, you can reduce the gas/diesel costs. I retired 4 yrs ago and have lived and traveled since. The prices have changed many plans. However, I will not be deterred and find my attitude makes a big difference.

[@BeverlyReynolds]

you guys are quite real and refreshing - thank you

[@msjfab1966]

Hi my husband just dropped our rig off this morning. We made the appointment months ago. Our last trip was in September all of sudden our all three of our slides wouldn't go out. We have a diesel so we canceled stuff because of the high prices. My husband watches your videos all the time. Great info

[@annettemills2399]

We have a different problem. My 95 year old Father-in-law worries about us. (My kids barely know we are gone, unless they need a babysitter😂). He has us on Life 360, so that helps. But when we were in the Smokies for a few days (no service) he was ready to call the authorities! My sister-in-law had to talk him out of it. Now we try to make sure he is aware if we are going to be off the grid.

[@dondartt684]

We use CVS. It’s not always great. My wife has a lot of proscribed medications. It comes down to the quality of employee you are working with. Sometimes we thank the employee and try a different location in the chain. Remember this is just part of traveling.

[@rikwhitfield1042]

Hey you two, i always enjoy hearing about what you have to share, it continualy inspires and encourages me to push on, that said i found the stories you had AI read outloud was disturbing. I know im sure it takes a load off both of you however to be fair your pod cast states Mike & Jen not Mike & Jen and AI im sure i sound petty an for that i appologize, however over the years i have become acustom to both your voices an how you spin your stories. Keep up the good work !

[@JLTravels]

AI was great & survey results I completely agree. Thanks for all the insights!

[@campingqueen8121]

Husband retires in 10 days!! While our trailer is in storage until the beginning of April, I can dream and plan!! We now have reservations made for a little over 3 week trip in 2023, for a trip to visit family and friends. Heading out the end of April. We are budgeting for gas as best we can. We won’t be driveway camping at all but when compared to hotel costs, it’s a huge savings!!! Our long trip is in lieu of driving up and down the state of Illinois for the various gatherings in order to use less gas!! Hopefully, we can still afford a trip to Michigan!!

[@DavidSmith3750]

Ty for the recall heads up

[@shegabs]

The AI voice is scary sounding to me. Btw, agree with the concerns in the poll, we are still planning to travel though.

[@Enjoyrving]

Suggest you scrub the political comments on the thread. I join RV channels to avoid this and to share with other RVers.

[@PeeWeeHenson]

WHEN THE PILGRIMS AND PIONEERS SETTLED THIS LAND I'M PRETTY SURE THEY DIDN'T SIT AROUND THE CAMP FIRE, COFFEE TABLE, WORRYING ABOUT THINGS THEY CAN'T CONTROL. RV'ING IS AS MUCH ABOUT ADAPTATION AND ACHIEVEMENT AS IT IS DISCOVERING THINGS ABOUT YOUR SELF

[@richardclutter2404]

I'm impressed with your 'A I' 😊

[@maryjaneburgess489]

Thank you! I love to travel

[@kathykeene2092]

Fuel prices for us, and so we are spending longer stays at campgrounds. Specifically, booked 2 months at a campground in Oregon.

[@parkininparadise]

Yikes on the Starlink comment. We need a reliable alternative.Who has one??

[@mikeshanaberger7503]

Arlene here...Camping World made an announcement that if you are a Conservative, they don't want your business.....so unfortunately we can't shop there. We are very conservative.

[@RVLifestyle]

ANother fake news Internet myth... see www.snopes.com/fact-check/camping-world-ceo-trump/?fbclid=IwAR3S65Zb2yaLj2QK4Sbmhvo-BT9kcDT1W15LTaJ0UQdyKtAwd6HvocQpL-Q

[@khm2128]

Arlene, I didn't know about that. I'll have to check that out. Hope it's just a misunderstanding.

[@TravelingonAdventures]

The on about RVs getting repaired. We are facing that one right now. We were outside Chattanooga when our Class A broke down. The only place in town that would work on large Class A is still jerking us around. We can't even get them to look at it to see what the problem is. At first they said the earliest it would be repaired is January. Yesterday the earliest is March. And they don't even know what the problem is. We are worried it may be a seized engine. Originally if it needs a new engine, it would be 5-6 months!!!

[@campingqueen8121]

Sorry to hear this!! We can always pray for miracles!! We can understand not having access to a working RV!!

[@niftytraveler]

It seems like for the parents that are getting nagged by their kids about traveling, that perhaps they can help alleviate some of the worry by setting up some kind of GPS tracking for the kids. Perhaps buying a Garmin inReach satellite GPS. The least expensive plan doesn't let everyone see where you're at in real time, but I believe the next one up you can set up so that people can actually know 100% where you're at. I'm considering doing that for my family, just so they don't stress as much.

[@brucemontgomery8136]

love your style and content; humorous and not overwhelming w only rv specs/ etc. i’ve been looking and asking for help finding 1. usb powered indoor/ outdoor thermometer 2.satellite phone that doesn’t necessarily have a plan ( or may but can be held in escrow while not needed). both seem to be feasible but unfound by me.. thoughts? tytyty in advance ( i’m bruce and bought my pleasure way from george mauro/ humble road)

[@khm2128]

@brucemontgomery8136, I've read that cell phones which work on 4g have the best coverage for rural areas. Satellite cell coverage is prohibitive for my budget.

[@khm2128]

Also, a thermometer inside will help and the cell phone usually has a built in weather app for outside temp. A thermometer mounted on the rear of the trailer/rv would be site specific, also.

[@ChristianTravelers]

Hate being political, but with regard to inflation (especially fuel), "elections have consequences". This is the day after the Georgia Senate runoff and the voters returned Sen. Warnock to the Senate, thereby increasing the administration's advantage in the Senate. That's okay, that's the Georgia voters will, but does no one correlate fossil fuel production and inflation with the administration? Are elections just popularity contests in the minds of the voters? ... We were on the road from Florida to the upper Midwest and back, July 5th - November 19th. With the exception of the Chicago area, we had no trouble getting reservations 60 day in advance, and we were shocked by how many spaces were empty, especially midweek. We don't get this "there are no spaces available" statement. We do see that the campground rates are escalating with inflation, however (see beginning sentences of this comment).

[@christinecharbonneau4448]

No. Inflation is global. It is not connected to Administrations of either Party.

[@ChristianTravelers]

@@christinecharbonneau4448 Inflation is related to too much money chasing too few goods. With regard to countries, Google "inflation by country" and you will see that the numbers go from deflation (Japan) to various inflation/deflation numbers all over the world. Most inflation today is due to three factors: COVID response, oil shortage, Russian-Ukranian War. While President Trump's first COVID payout was inflationary, President Biden's successive multi-trillion dollar payouts were also inflationary. As noted in this RV survey, fuel costs are one of the largest problems in the U.S. This is known as "cost-push" inflation where everything is affected by fuel costs because most everything is trucked. In 2020 the United States was energy-independent and a net exporter of energy. The first day Joe Biden stopped the XL Keystone Pipeline and made leases and drilling permits harder to get. The net effect is that we have too little fuel, hence the increases in prices because of this capacity taken out of the marketplace. With regards to the Russian-Ukranian War, this is something that is largely uncontrollable, and accounts for about 1/3rd of the US current inflation.

[@jmarshall228]

@@ChristianTravelers It's definitely a balancing act.... saving the planet vs. pumping more and more oil. Inflation has so many contributing factors that it seems silly to blame it all on one political party. I agree with you about COVID payouts being a factor... in fact, as it turns out, many Congressional Republicans benefited from those payouts. They are also begging for infrastructure money, because their States need it! There are no easy answers, but it's easy to be critical. Warnock winning was a blessing. He actually has a brain and will represent Georgia in a professional manner.

[@ChristianTravelers]

current inflation in the U.S. is basically from the three sources mentioned above (excessive government spending, cost of fuel, Russian-Ukranian War). the least for the US is the war and that's the least we can fix. government spending and the cost of fuel have been radically changed in the last 2 years. if they hadn't, this video would never have been made. at least now, with a divided federal government most radical changes will be over. the question is: how do we get back to low inflation and low fuel costs? from your inferences from your last sentence, and pretty much the tone of your comment, it seems you are okay with things as they have become in the last two years.

[@christinecharbonneau4448]

@@ChristianTravelers The cost of fuel is a byproduct of profit-taking by the world’s oil and gas companies. They saw the opportunity, and took it, and have been reaping (read: Profiteering) at levels we have not seen before. Hearings about this are beginning in Congress. In my long life, to date, volatile gas prices (even oil and gas company profiteering) are nothing new. This is part of an ebb and flow. Otherwise, people who want jobs can get them. It would be great if the Ukraine War could end, as that is destabilizing. The economy is in a bear market (downturn)-and the average bear market lasts 388 days. I plan to breathe through it, appreciate the beauty of this Country, enjoy spending time with friends and family. We are luckier that 99.9 percent of the people on this planet.

[@eprohoda]

How r ?.cool video~ )

[@rockyjay55]

Get rid of that A.I. voice I can't stand it. I'd rather hear your wonderful voices. Thanks

[@brianvandy4002]

Those videos where it's the computer reading the script, like that clip on the guy having to back his trailer a mile drive me nuts. If you can't bother to talk on your video, at least take the time to try to correct the mis-pronounced words (like zig-Zajing). You just have to change the spelling in the script until you get the right sounds. Thanks for the news.

[@niftytraveler]

I'm not retirement age, but I am on Medicare because I'm on Social Security disability. I recently switched my medicare Advantage plan, to a plan that allowed to get Services across the country. Technically I have a plan that's in my home state, but the plan is AARP United Health Plan Choice PPO, and it allows me to get in network prices in any areas that have ANY kind of network offices in that region. So even though I have a primary doctor in florida, if I need to see a doctor while in Michigan while visiting my family, as long as there is some United Health Network in that area, I can see the doctor. I currently get most of my prescriptions at Costco, but we'll decide if I need to change that plan as I start traveling in the spring. Overall, this feels like the best I can do with what's available out there. I also know for people who are not on medicare, there's still the HealthCare.gov plans, some of which also have Nationwide coverage. Another KZbinr said she got her insurance through UnitedHealth, as well, although she's not on medicare. As an fyi, TODAY is the last day to change your plan for 2023, so if you are on medicare, and want to look at one of these plans, do it today!