We have a great RV Love Story to share in Episode 434 of the RV Podcast about a couple of senior snowbirds, both widowed, who went from solo travelers to soul mates.

Plus we have lots of RV News, travel planning tips and RV Lifestyle questions.

For the video version, click the player below to watch.

For an audio version, it's available on iTunes and all the podcast apps or through the audio player below.

An RV Love Story - Amy and Thomas

Amy and Thomas

Thomas is a widower who lost his wife of 52 years in December 2019.

Amy is a widow who lost her husband of 18 years in August 2018.

Both met at the Blueway RV Village in Ft. Myers, FL (formerly called Shady Acres) in January 2021.

Amy was outside her rig one night when Thomas walked by, walking his dog. They talked. He came back the next day, also walking his dog, they talked some more, and the rest- is history!

They married on May 26, 2022 - their wedding cake was decorated with an RV. And they bought an RV together in September 2022 and are snowbirds, currently in the very RV park where they met, as we speak.

Neither was looking for love.

Both say to all the other solo travelers out there, be open to meeting new people.

You never know where it may lead.

Need more ways to bring romance to your life?

How to Keep the Romance Alive While RVing (7 Helpful Tips)

Rekindle the Flame with these 10 Romantic Road Trips for RVing Couples

We hope you enjoyed the RV Love Story.

New Travel Tech - The Best RV Trip Planning Tool We've Found

The New Travel Tech segment of the RV Podcast, drawn from the pages of NewTravelTech.com, our sister blog celebrating the many ways technology enhances the travel experience.

This is the time of year many are planning RV trips for the coming season and the tech tool we use and rely on is called the RV Life Trip Wizard.

Built specifically for RVers, this visual RV trip planner has the most advanced features available.

It uses distance rings to show exactly where you’ll be at the end of your driving day to choose the ideal stop. It customizes RV-safe routes to the height & weight of your RV. Avoid low clearances, steep grades, weight limits, and propane restrictions.

To get it, you have to join RV Life Pro, where you will find it is one of the tools that make it easy for you to discover, plan, go, and share your RV trips. The 4-in-1 membership includes:

RV LIFE Trip Wizard - This is our favorite planning tool. 

RV LIFE Campground Reviews. We feel this really lets us check out the places we stay ahead of time so there are no surprises.

RV LIFE App (RV-Safe GPS). It makes sure you’re not taking unfriendly RV roads.

RV LIFE Maintenance Tracker. It's a great resource for making sure your RV is in tip-top travel ready shape.

Just to be clear, you get all four of these tools in one with an RV LIFE Pro membership for what we think is a very reasonable price. I think most users would agree the price is actually cheap, considering the value it brings. 

RV Life Pro only costs $59 per year if you purchase the annual membership (less than $5 per month). The annual membership also comes with a 7-day free trial. The monthly subscription is $19.99 per month and does not include a 7-day free trial. BUT NOTE the discount code below!

In all honesty, just one of these tools is easily worth $5 per month, let alone all four combined. That is why I don’t hesitate to say that RV LIFE Pro is worth the money for most RVers.

And this is important – if you want to enjoy using all the RV Life Pro tools just add this coupon code: RVLIFESTYLE which gives you 25% off the price! If you already use RV Life Pro – your cost is already low and locked in.

Want more RV trip planning ideas? Check out:

Planning the Ultimate Spring RV Trips

RV Trip Planning with RV Life Pro Trip Wizard

How to Plan an RV Trip: 5 Easy Steps

How we plan an RV Trip

Epic Events to Add to Your RV Trip Plans

RV News of the Week

South Dakota

South Dakota may remove ability of full-time RVers to establish residency in the state for tax, mail, voting and other purposes

RVers whose legal residency is in South Dakota, even though they do not own a sticks and bricks house there but rather are on the road full-time, may soon no longer be able to vote in the state - or use it for residency.

South Dakota is a state with no income tax and low vehicle registration fees, so many private mail-box services have established programs to help full-time RVers with no permanent home establish residency there for the purpose of voting, getting mail, registering their vehicle, and other things.

But now two bills in South Dakota's legislature would change all this, removing the right to vote in South Dakota unless the person physically lives in the state and requiring a true physical address in the state for other legal purposes, too.

The issue of thousands of people voting in South Dakota but not actually living there has been a concern for some time. This story in 2019 expressed concern that thousands of voters who don't live in the state were unfairly altering the voting outcome.

The Escapees RV Club is one of several groups that help RVers establish South Dakota residency for legal, mail, and voting purposes and wrote about the issue here. The bills are not yet law.

To learn more about how these mail and residency programs work, read our story here.

Feeding the birds gets the green light from scientists in Tahoe area

We all know not to feed the bears when out in the national parks or other wild areas, but in case you are worried, research now shows feeding the birds healthy bird food is completely ok.

At Lake Tahoe on the California and Nevada border people regularly like to feed chickadees by hand - as people do in many parks throughout the country. 

Now new research shows supplementing the birds' food in the winter with natural food sources does not hurt the birds at all. (To read the full report, click here).

Viewing wildlife, whatever its form, is one of Jen's and my favorite things to do while camping. If it is one of yours, too check out our story on the 10 best national parks for wildlife viewing here.

Boondocking on small farms, wineries receives OK after concern raised by California's San Luis Obispo County

Harvest Hosts location

Good news for people who enjoy overnight dry camping in wineries and family farms in California's beautiful San Luis Obispo County. The county's board of supervisors approved a resolution allowing dry camping after the practice drew their concern a few months back.

We wrote about the issue here after someone reported Harvest Hosts locations, accusing them of operating illegal campgrounds.

The Harvest Hosts wineries explained that the overnighting they allow was not traditional camping, rather more like people sleeping in their van in a parking area overnight. 

Last week the county agreed to permit boondocking to continue as long as visitors stayed just one night, no more than 3 RVs stayed at a time, boondockers paid thru a membership organization like Harvest Hosts versus paying nightly camping fees and followed other specifications.

The bill also specified what type of businesses could permit and the list included wineries, olive oil production sites, tasting rooms, and small family farms.

Jen and I really enjoy overnighting at Harvest Hosts and are so glad this can continue in San Luis Obispo County. To learn more about Harvest Hosts and its unique experiences, click here.

New Zealand considering law to require all camper vans include toilets after tourists, others, leave human waste on beach, elsewhere

People who are interested in traveling to New Zealand and living the van life on vacation, may soon find the dream a bit more difficult.

The country appears to be in the process of passing a bill that would require all camper vans to have a toilet with appropriate plumbing after disgust at the number of camper van tourists going the bathroom on the beach, tramway or elsewhere leaving unsightly and unsanitary waste behind for locals.

The issue of people boondocking without toilets and not properly disposing of human waste, toilet paper, and other debris has been an issue here, too.

In fact, some nationally owned land popular for years to RVers is now closed because of this behavior. We have written previously about the issue here.

Rare mushroom that hisses and spews spores found in Texas state park

If you find yourself camping in or near a Texas state park, you might want to see if you can find the Devil's Cigar - one of the rarest mushrooms in the world.

This mushroom, which is also called the Texas Star because of its shape, makes a hissing sound and spews a cloud of spores that puzzles scientists.

The mushroom has been found at a state park not far from San Antonio. To learn more, click here.

RV Questions of the Week

QUESTION: The question I have has to do with RV Renovation.  I noticed in your RV video tours during the recent Tampa Florida RV Supershow that many RV interiors have changed to lighter wood tones and many white styles, depicting a trend to mimicking home décor.  We have a 2011 Daymon Challenger Class A. The interior is all pristine Mahogany wood from front to back but the feeling we get is dark and closed in. 

For the past month, I have been painting all the cabinets in the kitchen area bright white and now everything is open and airy like the new RV’s at the show. Renovating homes increases the value but I am not sure about an RV. I heard that RV dealers do not take improvements into account when trading in or buying the vehicle for resale. I am interested in what your thoughts are on this subject? - Denny

ANSWER: An RV dealer may not give you any more because of the renovation,