Tiffin Service Announcement

The Tiffin Company has issued a Tiffin Service Announcement letter changing the criteria by which Tiffin motorhome owners can get factory service. Now, only rigs 4 years old or newer will get the full service package after waiting for a service bay. Others may wait for a service job that can be done by 2 technicians in 3 hours. This is a major change from one of the very best and generous service policies in the industry. There are too many Tiffin products and too few service opportunities to accomodate them all.

Canada Sesquicentennial

This year is the 150th anniversary of Canada, or it’s sesquicentennial. As a result, entrance into all Canadien National Parks is free of charge for the remainder of the year 2017. You must order a “Discovery Pass” which is available at this web address: http://www.commandesparcs-parksorders.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/en/parksb2c

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Annual Calendars

Save those annual calendars on which you write reservations, appointments, and other travel data. It is a great record to look back on and leave to your kids as a record of your travels. We have all the calendars we used in 12 years on the road. We also enabled the time and date feature of our camera so we can look back and see what we were doing in any given year.

Our 2007 travels

We used those calendars and dated pictures to do this show about our 2007 camping year.

Selling an RV

This shortened show is about selling an RV. We received an email asking us about how to sell an RV. She didn’t provide specifics, so I will try to give some tips for selling both motorized RVs and towable rigs.

What is Your RV Worth?

We talk about some sources of information about the value of used RVs., The best we have found comes from the Facebook group RV Pricing and Values. The Group Owner, David Lester, has a standard product that is “a $30 per RV standard “RV Trade in Value Report” appraisal that shows Wholesale / Trade in Value, ACV (actual cash value) pricing done by a current Buyer at one of the largest RV dealers in the country ready to buy your RV, and suggested sell or buy price range specifically for your RV from professional RV dealer buyers and brokers.”

You should also look at https://www.rvtrader.com/sell and http://www.rvt.com/sell-rv.php

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Clean it up!

A buyer is looking for a rig in the best possible condition. Make your rig look that way! Clean it up both inside and out. A little elbow grease will go a long way.

Holiday RVer Blues

We discuss the all too prevalent Holiday RVer Blues that seem to descend on some full-time RVers at this time of year. The fact is that we miss our family at these special times of the year when we are traveling. We discuss some ways to overcome those “blues.”

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Seasonal RVer Gifts

Seasonal RVer Gifts is our main topic in today’s podcast. We will cover propane heaters, electrical tools for RVers, RV books, kitchen tools, and more.

Senior Park Pass Price Increase

Kathy discusses the pending congressional action that will raise the price of the Senior Pass that gets us free access to National Parks, Monuments, and other federal places. The current $10 lifetime pass will soon cost $80 and could go higher in ensuing years. Get it while you can.

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Portable Propane Heaters

Tools for RVers

RV Books

Greg Gerber Visit

We are so very fortunate to have Greg Gerber, RV Journalist and editor of the RV Daily Report newsletter as well as the Lets RV newsletter. He is in town for a bit and joins us in the new recording studio in our new home.

First Radio Show

We replay our First Radio Show as we are swamped with details of our changing lifestyle from full-time RVer to home-owner and part-time RVer.

End of a 13 Year Run

This is a tough time for us as we still love the full-time RV lifestyle, but we must change due to Kathy’s health needs and the need to maintain a steady supply chain for her meds. We have been out here for 13 years and we had planned on many more. We will be selling our 2004v Fleetwood Expedition diesel motorhome. It has served us very well during over 60,000 miles traveling our beautiful country. We will put it in the shop for some needed repairs and then we will put it up for sale.

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The Radio Show

In this first of 18 weekly 1 hour radio broadcasts, we discuss how we got started RVing back in 2005. We hope you enjoy it, warts and all.

Moving Forward

We will continue to do the podcast on a weekly basis with all the same features we have had in the past. We will also keep up our website, http:www.livingthervdream.com. We will especially continue to administer our Facebook groups and interact with all our RV friends. I will also try to get the monthly newsletter back on track. So really, the only change will be our not traveling full-time. We will be looking for a smaller rig such as a class C in the near future so we can still travel as much as Kathy’s supply chain will allow.

Gathering Rally Recap

We do a Gathering Rally Recap on this week’s show. We had an awesome time at this year’s rally. Many of the folks who were at last year’s Gathering thought this one was even better. Those kinds of comments make us know we did a good job for our attendees.

Another RV Refrigerator Failure

This past Sunday evening, we returned to our rig to the overpowering smell of ammonia. I knew even before I looked at the refrigerator that the 3-year-old cooling system had failed. Fortunately, there was no fire as has happened to many other unlucky RV owners. We were able to use one of the park refrigerators to store Kathy’s meds for the night. Monday, we moved into one of the rental park model trailers until our rig is fixed.

We were fortunate to get an appointment at Campbell RV http://www.campbellrv.com/ in Sarasota. They have done quality RV repair work for us in the past. We expect to have the rig back on Friday as you read this.

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Southeastern Guide Dogs

We chose the Paws for Patriots program of Southeastern Guide Dogs https://www.guidedogs.org/ as this year’s charity. They came in Thursday morning and gave a talk all about their programs. We knew then we had made a wise decision. During the rally, we had daily 50/50 drawings as well as a Chinese Auction. Proceeds from those activities raised $1000 for Southeastern Guide Dogs. I was so pleased to be able to deliver that money order to them this past week.

Rad Power Bikes

Rad Power Bikes http://radpowerbikes.com has been a sponsor of our podcast for the last 4 months. Until the rally, I had never ridden one. Mike McIlhenny, one of our rally attendees had purchased one and brought it along. He offered test rides for all who were interested. Well, I was hooked! What a cool machine. I was among many of us who had huge smiles after we experienced this fun way to ride.

During our live recording of our podcast on Thursday evening of the Gathering rally, we were given a brand new Rad Mini power bike by our friend Mike Tischler. We were both totally blown away. I’ve had a lot of fun riding it.

Roger “Hurricane” Wilson

Roger “Hurricane” Wilson http://hurricanewilson.com/ was our entertainer for this year’s Gathering rally. Fortunately, he was able to camp here for most of the event. Friday night he put on a 2-hour concert that had the audience glued to the performance. He plays in many styles, but blues are his roots.

Future Gatherings

Will we do this again? Good question t5hat we have been asked often over the last week or so. We’re still a bit fried and no decision has been made. We’ll let you know through our podcast as well as our Facebook groups. For now, join the LTRVD Gathering Facebook Group for many pictures of this year’s event.

Extended Warranties

Our subject this week is Extended Warranties. It is a rerun of show number 367. John had a few medical procedures this week, so we’ll be back with all new material next week. We are quite fortunate to have with us Chris Yust, RV insurance specialist and agent. Chris was our guest once before for one of our most downloaded podcasts all about RV Insurance. Her company is C and C RV Insurance and the website is www.candcrvinsurance.com .

Controversial subject

This show is a complement to the earlier one. This time the primary subject is the RV Extended Warranty, or Extended Service Plan. This topic has become somewhat controversial with some folks questioning the cost of the premium as opposed to what they can set aside themselves for repairs. We’ll look at both sides.

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We start with the difference between an extended warranty and an insurance policy. One point brought up early on is to check out any company offering an extended warranty with AMBEST, an independent insurance rating agency. Look them up at www.ambest.com . Then we move forward to purchasing a dealer extended warranty, or not.

We discuss the difference between an inclusionary policy and an exclusionary policy and why the exclusionary one is best.

We get into claims and how they are processed with extended RV warranties. This includes the interaction between us, the customer, and the insurance company and the repair shop. This can be quite an involved process and the customer needs to understand it completely.

Next up is deductibles, that amount of your hard earned money you must pay when the work is done. Then we cover renewals, transfers, and cancellations.

Throughout this interview we stress that you must Read the Fine Print! Read your policy or contract.

Gathering RV Rally

We do our podcast live at the Gathering RV Rally. Just like last year, we set up our recording equipment on stage and did our entire show in fromt of our Gathering RV Rally audience. We had an awesome time!

Huge Surprise

At about the 42 minute mark on the show, My son came into the clubhouse riding a Rad Power eBike. Mike Tishler, an attendee at last year’s rally, read a beautiful tribute to Kathy and me about what we do for the RVers who listen to our show and how we give them great insights into the RV lifestyle. Then he presented that very eBike to us. We were blown away to say the very least! That was the most surprised I have ever been.

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We’re on You Tube

Our friends and rally presenter Jim Guld from the Geeks on Tour videoed the entire show and live streamed it on You Tube. Check it out by searching on LTRVD Gathering

Bad Power Pedestal

RV Slide Room Maintenance is the focus this edition. First off though, is a lot of mail. One very interesting email discussed a problem with a park electrical pedestal. This is an all too common problem, especially in older campgrounds with aluminum wiring.

RV Shows

Kathy read a list of upcoming RV Shows. We also discuss our pamphlet “How to Survive an RV Show, and Have a Great Time Doing it” It is available on Amazon.com. Check it out, it could save you a lot of steps and time as well as a lot of money.

RV Slide Room Maintenance

RV Slide Rooms are designed to be “More High Tech that High Maintenance”, but the RV Slide Room Maintenance requirements that are there are very important. Lubrication is key as is using the proper lubricants. Seals both inside and outside must be inspected periodically and also need treatment to remain soft and pliable. We discuss methods of manual override to close slide rooms when there is no power present. RVers are cautioned NOT to adjust slide rooms and to use trained RV Technicians to do this type of work. We also talk about the preventive maintenance to be done on your slide rooms.

Slide rooms seem to have quite a few failures as evidenced by many Facebook comments and complaints. I try to emphasize that adequate 12-volt power to the slide room is the main failure mode that prevents proper slide room movement.

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Greg Gerber Interview

We’re proud of our Greg Gerber Interview. Greg is the editor of the RV Industry newsletter RV Daily Report http://rvdailyreport.com/ and the RV consumer newsletter Let’s RV http://letsrv.com/ . He’s been a good friend for several years now since we convinced him to get an RV and hit the road.

Full-time RVer

It was becoming an RVer himself and going through some of the same things all of us go through getting our rigs fixed that prompted him to write about the sad state of the RV Industry today.

RV Industry Death Spiral

Yes, RV’s are selling faster than any time in the last 8 years, but quality is routinely terrible, there are fewer campsites available, dealer service experiences are as bad as the initial build quality. All this prompted Greg to write an 8-piece commentary about the “Death Spiral of the RV Industry”.

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In this Greg Gerber Interview, he covers what made him write the piece in the first place and some of the background material.