I'm working on the website to include ways to deal with Stress, ways to be proactive and relax.

So what do you do to help MANAGE your STRESS? Perhaps you or someone you know would benefit from listening to Stress Management Exercises? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/help/

If that ain't your thing, I have DISCOUNTS on my website to various RV related stuff.
https://relaxrv.org/discounts/

I’ve made some videos about improvements and fixes I’ve done to the RV. Here’s a link to them on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA
Or you can watch them on my website at
https://relaxrv.org/videos/

Here’s a link to my RelaxRVPodcast Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/
I'm on Instagram as @relaxrvpodcast
https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=hsxp0gjpugbz&utm_content=5h4872a
My podcast can be found at https://www.spreaker.com/show/relax-rv-podcast

If you would like to support my efforts to help others, please feel free to do so at:
https://relaxrv.org/support/

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something from one of our affiliates, we receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Thanks for helping to keep our podcast running!

The RV is back in the shop .... again. So, in the meantime we are planning our next trip in May 2019. Going up though the North-East; Connecticut, Cape Cod, Boston, Salem, Acadia National Park, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Then down through the 1000 islands and the Finger Lakes in NY. And I talk about fears.

So what do you do to help MANAGE your STRESS? Perhaps you or someone you know would benefit from listening to Stress Management Exercises? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/help/

If that ain't your thing, I have DISCOUNTS on my website to various RV related stuff.
https://relaxrv.org/discounts/

I’ve made some videos about improvements and fixes I’ve done to the RV. Here’s a link to them on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA
Or you can watch them on my website at
https://relaxrv.org/videos/

Here’s a link to my RelaxRVPodcast Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/
I'm on Instagram as @relaxrvpodcast
https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=hsxp0gjpugbz&utm_content=5h4872a
My podcast can be found at https://www.spreaker.com/show/relax-rv-podcast

If you would like to support my efforts to help others, please feel free to do so at:
https://relaxrv.org/support/

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something from one of our affiliates, we receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Thanks for helping to keep our podcast running!

So the last episode we left you when we were arriving at the winery. The day we arrived there we had driven 160 MI but it took us 7 hours to do that. We left from Prince William's Forest campground Virginia to Cedar Valley winery in Logan township New Jersey. I was beat when we arrived at the winery but I was very glad that we stuck to our 3-hour drives per day. Planning for 3 hour drive day allowed us to get to the winery before bedtime. Lol. When we arrived I was beat. But I was very glad that I listened to my intuition and canceled our stay in Maryland. Have we gone there we would have been way off the beaten path and stranded in the snow with a flat tire. Yay intuition. Another problem was when we pulled into the winery I forgot to turn off the driving lights on the Jeep so the battery was dead and are towed. We unhooked I pulled the RV next to the Jeep and jump started it for more chassis battery. So we arrived during the storm of November 2018, do you remember that storm? It had dumped almost a foot of snow on New York City. We had gotten 5" of snow in south Jersey. That night it was supposed to be super cold so we planned on bringing the slide in to cut down on drafts however the slide would not come in. We thought it had broken again. But with the 5 in of snow up on top of the slide it would not come in so I had to climb up on top of those rig to clean off our topper.
George our repair guy from slate Hill New York had always said if it's going to rain or snow pull the slide in. When we left this winery we drove a very short distance to the KOA in clarksboro New Jersey. Koa's or not our first choice that's for sure. And once again we were not surprised to find this isn't a great campground. We pulled into our site and it was full of garbage that we had to clean up. The picnic table had a torn tablecloth on it. We went over we picked up Trish's grandson and we took him to our rig. He was amazed by it he had his own bed over the cab. This was the first time we were having anybody sleep on that bed. He had a great time practicing climbing up and down the ladder getting on and off the bed. We had pizza delivered to our site. Then we had a nice campfire and sat outside. The next day we took him to an all-you-can-eat buffet which he loved. The next day we dropped him off at home and we drove over to spotswood New Jersey to visit Trish's cousins and aunts. We parked the rig for a night of mooch docking. The next day we drove up to Bloomfield New Jersey and parked in Trish's dad's driveway and spent the night there. This was the first night that we slept outside the rig in over 5 months. It felt a little surreal. The next day we drove home I looked at the odometer and so that we had driven the rig over 8,000 miles and another $5,000 on our toad. We had stayed in 17 States, two countries.
Wow what a trip! We had our ups and downs. A ripped topper a broken generator. We slept in temperatures of over 100 degrees fahrenheit. We had to slide that wouldn't work. Electrical problems. Killing our batteries. A trip to thor. Getting stuck in mud. A flat tire. Closet door falling off. And lots of rain leaks. And yet through it all we had a wonderful five-month trip we've seen so many sites and met really wonderful people.
It took us two days to unload everything from the rig. We organized RV stuff into bins so it'll be easier to reload. Now it's time to do an oil change.
So what are the things that we learned on this trip? First and foremost patience. Patience with each other and with the rig.
#2 help each other when you can. It really does take a pilot and a co-pilot to drive a rig. #3 set aside time for chores and root planning. #4 remember takes a lot longer to drive the rig a certain amount of Miles than a normal car. #5 set limits to driving times and distances to meet your needs. #plane driving days and off days a day off to do laundry and catch your breath is always helpful. #6 laugh! Laugh at...

We visited Lewisburg West virginia. It was billed as the coolest town in America by NBC News in 2011. We have been through many towns of listed as quaint or cute or nice. We have found that if a town is listed as quaint or cute means it's small. So Lewisburg, in our opinion, was a snooty town, you'll see when as you read further. There were quite a bit of shops which are mainly overpriced. There's a bunch of places for live music but only on Friday and Saturday. It was also a playhouse but they only had performances on The weekends. So perhaps Lewisburg is a nice weekend town? But perhaps not, we visited the smooth ambler distillery, we walked in and were ignored by the two women at the reception desk. We then went to the bar and was ignored there also. A woman working there was walking by we told her we were interested in doing some tastings. She said okay we'll be with you in a couple of minutes. We walked out 5 minutes later. He then went to the brick house antique shop. We browsed for 10 mins and as we were leaving, the owner said, "come back when you can spend more time". Really?? We then went into Robert's antiques and wine shop. We complimented the owner on one of his pieces. He asked where we're from we told him New York. He asked if we were from New York City, we said no upstate and he turned around and walked away from us.
We then left town and walked in the Greenbrier trail which was really nice.
We then drove over into the state of virginia. Stopped at the Blue Stone winery in Bridgewater. They have a nice New tasting room up on a hill and it was a really nice fireplace inside. They had a big patio outside with a second fireplace and numerous heaters. We said enjoyed the view and the tastings and relaxed. What we do now with tastings is we ordered different wines for each of us and then we sample each other's also.
We've been headed north to luray Virginia and camped at a Yogi Bear campground. This was our first Yogi Bear campground. We're planning on staying there for three nights but they're running a special stay for three nights and get one night free so we said hey boo boo that's a pretty good deal. We were here so we could visit to Shenandoah national park. When we checked into the campground the woman gave us wristbands to attend the activities. We asked what the activities were and she said I have no idea. Unreal! They had to sign up saying new golf carts allowed. Yet the workers raced around the campground at more than the five mile an hour posted speed limit signs. And if you wanted to use a golf cart you could rent one for $60 per day. Unreal! Shenandoah national Park is a really interesting park it has one main road that runs north south and is 105 miles long the speed limit is 35 mph. And remember you're in the national park so people are driving a lot slower than that while they are 16. They gave us a map of the park when we arrived but it did not have any of the hiking trails on it. We went to the visitor center we talked to one of the rangers we explained they were looking to do a four to five mile hiking the area she ended up giving us four maps for free and told us a lot a different hikes. Very nice. The Appalachian trail or the 80 wines back and forth across skyline drive. Any hike that you do from skyline drive you will be hiking down off of The ridge and then hiking back up onto the ridge. We ended up doing a nice 5-mile hike but it was really cold. The next day we went on a guided horseback ride through the park. It was super cold around 30°. Foggy rainy and snowy. It was a beautiful ride but no open vistas. And the guide was not friendly at all. Not once did she acknowledge that we were behind her. The night we ate at moon shadows restaurant in luray. Had a great meal and highly recommended eating there. A bit pricey but we don't splurge very often while traveling in the rv. After dinner we went to a place called The speakeasy. There was a guy playing the guitar which was...

Episode 14
Went left Thor and went to Xenia Ohio and saw a Frankenstein play, excellent. Then to Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati, wow.
Serpent Mound in Peebles OH. Then to Higginsport OH. To take the RV from Augusta OH to Kentucky we decided to take a ferry across the Ohio River. It cost us $5 for rig, jeep and us. What a blast !!!! And saw Rosemary Clooney's house. Carter Caves in Kentucky. a great park ! Criel indian mound in Charleston, WV. But if you to a bar around there, bring your ID. Because no ID, no entry to bar. !!!!!
Great caves .and Whiskey !

So what do you do to help MANAGE your STRESS? Perhaps you or someone you know would benefit from listening to Stress Management Exercises? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/help/

If that ain't your thing, I have DISCOUNTS on my website to various RV related stuff.
https://relaxrv.org/discounts/

I’ve made some videos about improvements and fixes I’ve done to the RV. Here’s a link to them on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA
Or you can watch them on my website at
https://relaxrv.org/videos/

Here’s a link to my RelaxRVPodcast Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/
I'm on Instagram as @relaxrvpodcast
https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=hsxp0gjpugbz&utm_content=5h4872a
My podcast can be found at https://www.spreaker.com/show/relax-rv-podcast

If you would like to support my efforts to help others, please feel free to do so at:
https://relaxrv.org/support/

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something from one of our affiliates, we receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Thanks for helping to keep our podcast running!

Thor episode 13 October 21st 2018.
We got to Thor for our service. An appointment we had made 2 and half months previous. What a frustrating fiasco that was. We got there a day before and we're told that the service manager would knock on the door around 7 a.m. the next day. At 8:15 I had to go track down the service manager explain to him who we were and why we were there. He said all I see that your penciled in for today but not confirmed. What? We had numerous communications with the service rep about this appointment.
We gave him our list of issues which were BCC, the furnace was running louder and a water leak from the water heater. We also told them that we had to recalls that needed to be addressed one for the shower curtain and one for the wiper.
We then gave him our paperwork for the Good Sam extended warranty. They took the rig in after another hour. We then went over to Shipshewana to do some shopping. 2 hours later the service rep called us and said she needed a pager two of our warranty paperwork.
We explained to her that we gave it to the service manager. She said we're still missing a page or two we drove an hour back to Thor and explain to the service rep that we had work done on our generator with our Good Sam extended warranty two months earlier and had no issues submitting the paperwork. She said okay I'll give it a try. She then asked where was a water leak? We were outside the rig with her so I pointed to the ground and I said well that's where the waters leaking too. She said yes but where is it leaking from I shook my head and said I have no idea that's why we want you guys to look at it. She said ok.
The day came and went. She has said we would hear back from her that afternoon. We never did.
Thor mechanics work from 7a to 3p. So if you think about it the rig enters their shop at 7:30 - time for breaks and lunch. And then they return the rig to the parking lot around 2: 30p because they end their day at 3:00. I'm figuring that gives them at the most 6 and 1/2 hours each day to work on the rig.
We arrived back at Thor at 3:00 hoping to catch the service manager or service rep. They were gone for the day and the rig was in the lot hooked up. And there was water dripping from the leak.
The next morning at 730am they took the rig to the shop.
At 930 we got a call from Thor saying they could not locate the leak.
They said the furnace was fine. And the BCC issues was caused a bad solenoid. Because we had a good Sam extended warranty we expected that we would have a $500 deductible at thor. Thor explained that they don't just replace the solenoid they would have to replace the whole bcc. The bcc alone was $700. And because there was nothing wrong with the BCC Good Sam extended warranty would not pay for that. So 2 days gone. The next day we got a call from Thor that the rig was ready to go. We paid and went to the rig. The BCC wasn't working, the battery disconnect switch wasn't working. The shower curtain wasn't replaced. We found the service manager and told him that things weren't working. He said oh yeah we forgot about the recalls. They said didn't have a shower curtain for us in stock so they would mail it to us at home. And I said absolutely not we're not leaving without a shower curtain. Miraculously they found one and installed it. And we are going to finish up the electrical issues tomorrow. And they would have to pressurize our propane system to make sure there was no leaks. I said why do you need to do that we didn't have any work done to our propane system. He said that's our policy. Now we had already paid and expected everything to be done. Unfortunately this is Thor. He said everything would be done in about an hour.

Day 4 they got the rig at 8am. Already an hour of waiting for us. After 3 hours we got a call that everything was done. They said they couldn't find the water leak. WHAT? We were so frustrated by this...

10/21/18
Went to Ogallala. The Roca NE. Got stuck in the mud. 3 hours. No tow companies would help. But Matt pulled us out with his Hemi SUV. Cracker Barrel in Lincoln NE. Flat tire. Firestone was no help. Walmart fixed it for $15. Ate at Carlos Kelley's in Lincoln Nebraska and met Drake a EDM musician and a great guy. Then to Ohio and hid from a Tornado. Then saw a play in Genesio Illinois.


So what do you do to help MANAGE your STRESS? Perhaps you or someone you know would benefit from listening to Stress Management Exercises? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/help/

If that ain't your thing, I have DISCOUNTS on my website to various RV related stuff.
https://relaxrv.org/discounts/

I’ve made some videos about improvements and fixes I’ve done to the RV. Here’s a link to them on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA
Or you can watch them on my website at
https://relaxrv.org/videos/

Here’s a link to my RelaxRVPodcast Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/
I'm on Instagram as @relaxrvpodcast
https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=hsxp0gjpugbz&utm_content=5h4872a
My podcast can be found at https://www.spreaker.com/show/relax-rv-podcast

If you would like to support my efforts to help others, please feel free to do so at:
https://relaxrv.org/support/

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something from one of our affiliates, we receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Thanks for helping to keep our podcast running!

Had a great 10 days visiting with Kevin and Dee in White Sulphur springs Montana. We love these guys. We left their to get our generator fixed at Cummings in Billings MT. Good Sam Extended Service Plan only covered the PC board board and 0.5hrs to replace it. We were billed for 5hrs labor. This repair cost $11000 but Good Sam only payed $350. Very disappointing.
Now our slide started acting up. ugh. And we still had an appointment to get the battery control center (bcc) fixed at thor. We then headed to Sheridan Wyoming. Hit 307 winery https://www.sheridanwyoming.org/establishment/just-ledoux-it-saloon/ . Then went to Casper
and loved Alcova !!! We saw ruts from the Oregon Trail. Then to Nebraska. We stayed at a walmart because our generator was finally working. Went to Agate fossil beds. Then to Ogallala

So what do you do to help MANAGE your STRESS? Perhaps you or someone you know would benefit from listening to Stress Management Exercises? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/help/

If that ain't your thing, I have DISCOUNTS on my website to various RV related stuff.
https://relaxrv.org/discounts/

I’ve made some videos about improvements and fixes I’ve done to the RV. Here’s a link to them on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA
Or you can watch them on my website at
https://relaxrv.org/videos/

Here’s a link to my RelaxRVPodcast Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/
I'm on Instagram as @relaxrvpodcast
https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=hsxp0gjpugbz&utm_content=5h4872a
My podcast can be found at https://www.spreaker.com/show/relax-rv-podcast

If you would like to support my efforts to help others, please feel free to do so at:
https://relaxrv.org/support/

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something from one of our affiliates, we receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Thanks for helping to keep our podcast running!

Visited Bannack state park, Virginia City, Jackson in the big hole and yes Yellowstone National Park. And we bought a new topper at Highway 93 RV shop. And had it shipped to our friends Kevin and Dee. Went to a great cabaret show and ghost tour in Virginia City. It was nice being there in the shoulder season. Then went to Jackson MT. Very interesting little town. We had dinner and a show, LOL. I bought a cowboy hat. Then to Bannack State park. A very cool ghost town and great campground. Then stayed in our 1st national forest, Rainbow Point, But shady and our batteries were pretty well beat up, then switched to a sunny site so solar helped. Then we went to Yellowstone National Park. Wow !!!! We were there for a week and only saw a 1/3 of it.
It is huge, Maryland is same size as Glacier NP. Yellowstone is 2 x's the size of Glacier. And speaking of size, Montana is twice the size of NY but has the same population at Brooklyn. And Wyoming only has 1 area code for the whole state.

So what do you do to help MANAGE your STRESS? Perhaps you or someone you know would benefit from listening to Stress Management Exercises? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/help/

If that ain't your thing, I have DISCOUNTS on my website to various RV related stuff.
https://relaxrv.org/discounts/

I’ve made some videos about improvements and fixes I’ve done to the RV. Here’s a link to them on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA
Or you can watch them on my website at
https://relaxrv.org/videos/

Here’s a link to my RelaxRVPodcast Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/
I'm on Instagram as @relaxrvpodcast
https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=hsxp0gjpugbz&utm_content=5h4872a
My podcast can be found at https://www.spreaker.com/show/relax-rv-podcast

If you would like to support my efforts to help others, please feel free to do so at:
https://relaxrv.org/support/

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something from one of our affiliates, we receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Thanks for helping to keep our podcast running!

9/4/18
So finally we arrived at glacier national Park. This was our destination from the first time we planned a RV trip.
We stayed in the national park for a couple of nights we stayed at a KOA for almost a week. This is all on the west side of Glacier National Park. Driving into the park was phenomenal. I felt like a little kid first time I saw my first glacier as I approached this national park. We did phenomenal hikes on the Continental divide sore a lot of wild life. The skies were filled with smoke from the fires on the west side, except for a day or two. We spent 7 Days in glacier national Park and only got to see the east side. 7 days for us seem like a good amount of time. Our plan was to go from here to the west side but because of the fires canceled the campground. And we figure this will give us reason to come back in the future.

So what do you do to help MANAGE your STRESS? Perhaps you or someone you know would benefit from listening to Stress Management Exercises? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/help/

If that ain't your thing, I have DISCOUNTS on my website to various RV related stuff.
https://relaxrv.org/discounts/

I’ve made some videos about improvements and fixes I’ve done to the RV. Here’s a link to them on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA
Or you can watch them on my website at
https://relaxrv.org/videos/

Here’s a link to my RelaxRVPodcast Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/
I'm on Instagram as @relaxrvpodcast
https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=hsxp0gjpugbz&utm_content=5h4872a
My podcast can be found at https://www.spreaker.com/show/relax-rv-podcast

If you would like to support my efforts to help others, please feel free to do so at:
https://relaxrv.org/support/

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something from one of our affiliates, we receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Thanks for helping to keep our podcast running!