Have you a story to tell, a book to write, a blog to do? This week, we are going to meet an on-the-road author, an RVer who likes to say she tells lies for a living. Writer Judy Howard will be our guest. Judy teaches creative writing to RVers at gatherings and rallies and workshops all across the country, at the same time writing her own novels while fulltiming on the road. You will enjoy our discussion.

Plus we have lots of RV news this week, including a big political controversy involving Camping World that is resulting in calls for a boycott of the nation’s biggest RV retailer, tips on how to get more from your RV and next outing and a great off the beaten path report that belongs on your bucket list.

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Show Notes for Episode #154 Aug. 23, 2017 of Roadtreking - The RV Podcast:

WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK

We sure had a lot of fun with the Eclipse. Over on our RV Lifestyle Channel on YouTube you can see a one hour Live Video special we did on RV gatherings from across the country formed to witness the event. We had video check ins from 10 different RV gatherings from Oregon to the Carolinas. It was a ball and we believe the largest single RV Travel weekend in history.

Labor Day Weekend is right around the corner. And finding a spot in a campground may be harder than ever. Advanced reservations for the Labor Day Weekend at more than 500 Kampgrounds of America locations in North America are running more than 10 percent higher than those for the same period last year. The Labor Day numbers look to continue a string of record results for holiday weekends at KOA this year. In fact, the world's largest system of family-friendly campgrounds is on track to set yet another annual record for camping in 2017. KOA has set a new record for camping each of the past five years. October is also an amazingly busy month because of fall color, cooler weather and Halloween celebrations that go on every weekend at hundreds of campgrounds across the country.

We’re still in Georgia, to catch a couple of grandsons playing football this week. For the weekend, we’ll scoot down to the Emerald Coast on Florida’s panhandle, and then, for Labor Day, head on up to Michigan to catch up on some chores around the house before we set off on another very ambitious fall travel schedule that will have us in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida again and Mississippi.

This portion of the Podcast is brought to you by Campers Inn, the RVer’s trusted resource for over 50 years, the nation’s largest family-operated RV dealership with 16 locations and growing

 JENNIFER'S TIP OF THE WEEK

Last minute reminder: The price of the America the Beautiful – The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Senior Pass increased for the first time since 1994. On Aug.28 it will go from $10 to $80. Those with current passes are lifetime passes and will remain valid.

Jennifer

US citizens or permanent residents 62 years or older are eligible for the Senior Pass. Annual and lifetime Senior Passes provide access to more than 2,000 recreation sites managed by six federal agencies:

National Park Service

US Fish & Wildlife Service

Bureau of Land Management

Bureau of Reclamation

US Forest Service

US Army Corps of Engineers

The passes cover entrance and standard amenity (day-use) recreation fees and provide discounts on some expanded amenity recreation fees.

Traveling companions can also enter for free. The Senior Passes admit pass owner/s and passengers in a noncommercial vehicle at per-vehicle fee areas, not to exceed four adults, where per-person fees are charged. (Children under 16 are always admitted free.) Also, at many sites, the Senior Passes provide the pass owner (only) a discount on Expanded Amenity Fees (such as camping, swimming, boat launching, and guided tours).

Senior Passes can be purchased at any federal recreation site, including national parks, that charges an entrance or standard amenity (day-use) fee. Many on site parks have sold out of the oases so the parks service is urging people to buy online.

That way you can get one instantly. An additional $10 processing fee will be added to the price. We will put a direct link in the shownotes for this episode, under my Tip of the Week section, to where you can go online and get your pass.

You can order online at https://store.usgs.gov/senior-pass

To allow visitors to use a recently purchased Senior Pass before they receive the printed pass, the National Park Service and five other land management agencies that honor the pass will accept the order confirmation generated from the online sale of the pass as proof of pass ownership until the backlog is cleared. Eligible visitors who purchase a Senior Pass online can now bring their order confirmation along with a photo ID to one of the more than 2,000 sites and parks that accept the pass.

Additionally, some National Park Service and other agency sites that sell the Senior Pass will immediately begin issuing rain checks to eligible visitors who wish to purchase a pass if the site has no more printed passes. Purchasers can access a park with the rain check until they can exchange it for the Senior Pass. Visitors are encouraged to contact the national park or other agency site they plan to visit to ensure the availability of rain checks at that location before traveling there.

So remember, the deadline is Aug.28. After that, it’s $80.

Be sure to send me your tips and suggestions for the RV lifestyle. You can use the “Leave Voicemail” link at Roadtreking.com. Just click it and then use the built-in microphone on your computer or mobile devise to record a message to me. You can do it over as many times as you want, until you are satisfied. And then you just click a button and it comes right to my email inbox.

If I use your tip in the podcast, we’ll send you a free Roadtreking hat!

I love hearing from you!

For a complete list of all the products, gear and apps mentioned by Mike and Jennifer on their podcast, YouTube RV Lifestyle Channel and here on the blog, go to http://kit.com/rvlifestyle

Jennifer's tip of the week is brought to you by RadPower Bikes ,an electric bike manufacturer offering direct to consumer pricing on powerful premium electric bikes. Now with free shipping

LISTENER QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK

A listener named Gerhard called in to wonder why if the podcast is released every Wednesday morning, he doesn’t hear about it until he gets the newsletter every Monday. So, to clear up any confusion and make sure others like Gerhard understand our varuous platforms, let us explain:

The RV Podcast – this show – goes live every Wednesday morning. The absolute best way to hear it is on a smartphone or tablet app like iTunes or the Google Play Store. When you subscribe via iTunes, it will automatically be downloaded to your device on release and then, just click the app to play it. The vast majority of our hundreds of thousands of listeners listen to it that way.

But you can also listen to it on the Blog – the Roadtreking.com RV Lifestyle Blog. Every Wednesday morning, the latest episode, with complete shownotes and links to everything we report in the show, is published online. There are also links in the blog to subscribe by iTunes.

The third way…the only way our caller apparently knew about…is in the weekly newsletter we send out free every Monday morning. You can also sign up for the newsletter through the blog –at Roadtreking.com. The newsletter lists all sorts of RV stories and tips and it always has a link to the previous week’s podcast. But if the only way you get to the podcast is through the newsletter, it will be almost a week late.

There’s one more platform you hear us talk about a lot. That’s our YouTube RV Lifestyle Channel. This is where we publish our RV travel videos, our question and answer videos and our how-to videos about the RV lifestyle. We typically have one or two new videos being posted there every week and plan to soon have contests, lots more RV reviews and other interesting things. You can also subscribe to the Video channel so you will automatically be notified as soon as a new video goes online. We’ll put links in the shownotes for this episode n how to do all this.

To subscribe to the Podcast via iTunes go to: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rv-podcast/id925781328?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

To  subscribe to the newsletter go to: http://archive.aweber.com/roadtreking

To subscribe to our YouTube RV Lifestyle Channel go to: https://www.youtube.com/user/roadtrekingmike

Caller Jeanne wants to know how to clean off the dirt under her solar panel. We recommend a hose with a steady stream of water.

And caller Kevin wants to downsize from a Class A to a Class B motorhome. He’s looking at Roadtrek and is confused about the differences between the RS Adventurous, the CS Adventurous and the eTrek. We try to sort it out.

Sponsoring this part of the podcast is Van City RV in St. Louis, and their Partner Dealerships Creston RV in Kalispell, Montana, and Wagon Trail RV in Las Vegas. Bringing You the largest Inventory of class B’s from three locations.

INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK

Judy Howard, RVing Author

Have you a story to tell, a book to write, a blog to do? This week, we are going to meet an on-the-road author, an RVer who likes to say she tells lies for a living. Writer Judy Howard is our our guest.

Judy is a motivational speaker and she teaches creative writing to RVers at gatherings and rallies and workshops all across the country, at the same time writing her own novels while fulltiming on the road.

She is a top ranking Amazon author travels in a Class C motorhome she calls The Big Story, followed closely by her towed Smart Car she’s named The Short Story.

Her Class C RV - "the Big Story"

Her Smart tow car - "the Short Story"

You will enjoy our discussion.

Here’s links to her blog and all of Judy’s books: https://www.amazon.com/Judy-Howard/e/B005H1KXYU