RV LIFE Podcast
The RV LIFE Podcast, created by one of the premier companies in the RV industry, is for the RV Community with a mission to Educate, Entertain and Explore the RV Lifestyle. The Podcast will explore all things RV Life: living, working, exploring, learning. With host Patti Hunt, full time RVers, content creators, educators and explorers.
RV LIFE Podcast
RV Life with Gills on Wheels: Tips from Top RV Travel Influencers
I (Patti Hunt) have a straight talk with social media influencers Shane and Patty Gill of Gills on Wheels to share their journey from a traditional home to full-time RV living. With hundreds of thousands of followers across platforms like Instagram and Facebook, Shane and Patty offer insights on downsizing, financing life on the road, navigating all 50 states, and building a social media business from the road. They also discuss community, workamping, and how to make the RV lifestyle affordable and fulfilling. This is a must-listen for anyone considering or living the RV lifestyle.
Mentioned on the Episode:
*Patty and Shane Gill of Gills on Wheels
*Inspired Travels With Patti YouTube Channel
*RVTV RVer’s Top Talent Submit your talent for a chance to win $5000
*RV Medical Emergencies Episode On all Podcast Platforms
*Rivet Supply Company Adventure Boards
* RV LIFE Pro Click the link for 25% off, discount at checkout
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* RV LIFE Pro Click the link for 25% off
* Thousand Trails Membership Specialist Journey Membership
Call/Text Warren & Sharon Lewis 804-366-0798
* KoolRV
* Harvest Hosts: Code: HUNT20 % Off
* Open Roads Fuel Card save on Diesel Fuel
* Open Roads Innovative Tolling Solutions All 48 states
* Open Road Resorts Mention RV LIFE Podcast
* CLEAR2O Save 10% w/ Code: RVLIFEPODCAST
* National Vehicle Buy or Sell Your RV
* Rivet Supply Co * AirSkirts $200 off kit order Discount Code RVPOD
* Motorhome Tires: $50 discount ...
Curious what it really takes to live the RV life full-time. I'm Patty Hunt and you're listening to the RV Life Podcast, shane, what is the best part of living the RV life?
Speaker 2:Well, for me it's actually. It's honestly getting to travel. You know, a lot of times sticks and bricks, you're pretty stationary, working whatever. But here we've been fortunate enough to where we get to travel, pick up and go pretty much where we want to. And then all the friends on the road, you know you run into them. It's not like you know everybody don't live in the same town. We run into them out there at different campgrounds, different RV shows, and it just makes it a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:Thank you and we're going to hear more about that. I'm so excited to have you, shane, and Patty of Gills on Wheels on the show. You have hundreds of thousands of loyal followers on your social media and today we're going to ask the most, we're going to answer the most asked questions and we're going to cover things like logistics, living, the RV life, hitting all 50 states, work, amping, building, social media and so much more. People do not want to miss this show. It's going to be jam-packed with information.
Speaker 1:Now, for anyone who's new to the RV Life podcast, my journey started four years ago when my husband decided hey, let's sell everything and go full-time RVing. After I was done laughing because I thought he was kidding I decided to do some research. Yeah, it was some small research about two or three months and it was during COVID and we weren't doing anything and I decided to jump in with both feet. He and I then traveled for over three years full time. Unfortunately, a year ago, my husband became ill and is now in a nursing home, and I have started traveling solo, and I'm doing that by plane and car. I want to experience what it'd be like to travel by train and boat and then I stay in cabins, retro RVs, yurts whatever I can get into is great. And here's something I've added is video clips from this episode, as well as other podcast episodes that people can check out on my new YouTube channel, inspired Travels with Patty, and that's P-A-T-T-I. So anybody out there that's dreaming or already on the road, like I said, this episode is jam-packed and the RV Life podcast was created to educate, entertain and explore the RV lifestyle, and it is my mission to inspire you to live life to the fullest. Those of you traveling around right now looking for some great places to stay, Open Road Resort has six incredible parks in Idaho, nebraska, new Mexico, two in Texas and their newest park is AB Camping and RV Park in Cheyenne, wyoming. All six of these parks are highly favored by you, the RVer, and that is on the RV Life Campground Review site. You can go to campgroundsrvlifecom to see what the RVers are saying that has made these six parks highly favored. You could also go to openroadresortscom to check them out. Let's get to it.
Speaker 1:Shane is a retired Air Force veteran. After serving our country for 24 years, he is the captain and does all the driving. While pulling their fifth wheel or truck camper, he manages all of the outside duties, which includes the worst part of it all the poop tank when it's full. Shane is easygoing, laid back, quiet and keeps Patty calm. Patty is not retired. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years and started her career much later. She manages their content creation business. She is the navigator, plans all the trips, sites and destination. Patty manages most of the inside duties and she is outgoing active OCD and stressed out about everything. Welcome Shane and Patty Gill to the RV Life podcast.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Patty. Thanks so much for having us.
Speaker 1:Thank you guys for being here and I want to start Shane, by thanking you 24 years of military service, Thank you for your service.
Speaker 2:Thanks.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you've traveled the world like almost 30 years of traveling the world, you have two boys that are now grown. You retired from the military. We want to go back in time to what made you make the decision. First of all, before we get to that, did you guys have rv experience before going full-time?
Speaker 3:share your experiences, yeah we did uh, what year? I forget what year we were in north dakota. We were stationed mostly overseas, so that's why we've kind of traveled the whole world, but at one time I can't remember what year it was 2004. 2004. We were stationed in North Dakota for three years. Lots of our friends had RVs. We had never owned an RV but we grew up.
Speaker 3:Both of us grew up camping in tents and RVs, but we'd never owned one ourselves. But all of our friends had them. And one weekend they invited us out and we like, oh, we'll just go buy a tent. So we did the tent. It was 4th of July weekend. Even in North Dakota it was too hot. So we decided then we were like, okay, we can't do the tent camping. You know, we had two little boys at the time. We were like, let's get a camper. So we of course we did the whole let's go look at campers, let's just look and ended up bringing one home, of course. So we had a travel trailer. That was our very first camper in North Dakota and we camped just about every single weekend once we got it. And that's how we that was 20, you know, 20 plus years ago. So that's how we started out RVing.
Speaker 3:We're not one of the ones that just dove right in. I think that's amazing that people do that, but we did have.
Speaker 1:we did have some experience before we dove right in Right and I'm not sure if it was amazing or crazy I dove in. I didn't have kids at the time. I literally took about two months and I said yes, and I had little. My only experience with camping was seven nights in an RV prior to that. That was my experience. So I'm not necessarily suggesting just taking two or three months and diving in with both feet. For me it worked great and I loved it. But so I read about you guys and I read where you said you know, when the kids are out, when we retire, and you said when we're in our 60s and 70s, we'll do this full time thing. And you said why not now? Can you talk about that story leading up to going full-time?
Speaker 3:sure? Do you want to talk about why we decided?
Speaker 2:well, yeah, I mean, we wanted to wait, for sure, till the kids got on their own. And you know, they both ended up well, finishing college, and they got out on their own and it was just pat in a in a in a huge house that we didn't need. And so we, we were just, you know, let's just do this now, because a lot of times I mean, you don't know if you're going to be 70 or whatever, and while we're young enough to still, you know, go hike or whatever we want to do, be able to drive and not have to worry about as much as you would maybe if you were a little older, or changing the tire on the side of the road. We just wanted to do it while we were still healthy enough, and as we get older, if we can't do it, then we'll come off the road. But we just wanted to go ahead and do it. We were stable enough where we could and we took advantage of it and I guess we just got lucky.
Speaker 3:How long have you been full-time on the road? Almost five years October. When is it October, october 7th?
Speaker 2:Yeah, wow, your anniversary of five years, yeah.
Speaker 1:And so I read that you went from a 3,500-square-foot home to, I'm going to say, less than 400 square feet in a fifth wheel. You had the travel trailer and then you went into a fifth wheel. You had the travel trailer and then you went into a fifth wheel and and it's very similar to my story we went into a class a. So you know, people are always curious how you went from that big home to that small, relatively small, fifth wheel. How did that go? Uh?
Speaker 3:well it was. I mean, I don't say I won't say it was ever hard for us. The hardest part probably was getting rid of some things, but for the most part it we didn't really have a whole lot of issues getting rid of stuff. Just, I think, because I think it might've been easier for us because we were a military family that had to move every couple of years.
Speaker 3:Sometimes, you know, we couldn't even live off base, we had to live on base. So you had to live in base housing and you got whatever you, whatever they gave you, and sometimes it was tiny, sometimes it was big, sometimes the boys had to share a room, the boys had to share rooms. So you know, like we just always I guess we were so resilient and so you know, from moving and having to change so often, and also the military only lets you move so much weight of items, so we would have to always after every, you know, right before we'd move, we'd I'd have to go through everything and get rid of stuff. So I think it was easier for us to just get rid of stuff because of the, probably because of the military, and you'd be surprised at the stuff you really don't need Correct, you just have.
Speaker 2:I mean, you don't? There's a lot of stuff that you just don't have to have.
Speaker 3:Right and anesthetics.
Speaker 1:yeah, Exactly, and it was a. It was a little bit more challenging for me, but I'd been in a house in Pennsylvania. Dan and I lived in a house in Pennsylvania. We still had stuff from the kids. Between the two of us we had five kids, so we still had stuff that were just there until, like, they were already moved out, but it was still sitting there in boxes and, like you said, are in boxes and, like you said, you just keep stuff. And so we moved out to Las Vegas and we decided to rent the house. So we had a downsize. We had to get rid of stuff. Then we decided we were selling the house. So again, we got rid of stuff. Now, here we were, in Las Vegas. So that transition, I think for us was a little easier.
Speaker 1:But for those people listening that are starting from scratch and have not moved and have the house full of all kinds of stuff, it can be a little bit challenging. And I found it very freeing to get rid of stuff, to really look at things and say do I really need these? When was the last time I used this? When was the last time I wore this? And be able to get rid of things I found very freeing, and there are a lot of. I did an episode that I could put in the show notes about just that, about downsizing, because it can be an emotional thing for people. Oh, absolutely, so let's talk about it.
Speaker 1:So you're getting on the road and you sounded like you were able to. It was a good time for you. I know that my listeners wonder. There's a lot of questions around making money on the road, affording being on the road. We hear questions like is it less expensive being on the road? I know I throw a lot at you but, however, can you just kind of what? What are your thoughts? What would you say to the listeners about, you know, living on the road and having money?
Speaker 3:So it's probably also different for us because Shane, you know, retired so early because he was in the Air Force, so we did have and that was really a big part of us going full time. So, you know, as young as we did or when we did, because he did have a retirement coming in, at the time I was working a government job and I had been working from home for, you know, for a while because of COVID and everything, and I tried to continue that with that job, working from the road, and they were like sorry, we're not, you know, we don't, we're not going to allow you to travel, and you know, and have the job. So I was like OK, well then here's my two weeks because I want to travel, because I want to travel. So we just had to figure it out Because obviously we can't, like we could live just stationary off of his military retirement but we couldn't travel and do all the things that we do. So I just had to figure out a way and I've done several, like social media, like ran social media for different companies. I just started doing that and because of our social media it just started growing so quick and, you know, kind of blowing up over the last several years and then companies started reaching out to us and was like hey, we want you to show our product, we want you to. You know, come see our campground, whatever it might be. And that's really how we started our social media business. Last year we even we did open an LLC and so now it's like a, it's a full-time business for us.
Speaker 3:Not saying that it could, you know, that might not work for everyone, but there are ways to, you know, to figure it out. There are work from home jobs. There are ways to there's work camping. We do that as well to help supplement our income. Right now we just come back to Texas and we'll work camp for several months at the same campground, kind of sit and relax for a little bit, recoup, save up a little bit of money. And then now we're hitting the road. For the summer we kind of stayed here because we were gone to Alaska all last summer, stayed here all winter and kind of saved back up, and now we're ready to hit the road again.
Speaker 3:So there are ways to do it, for sure. Also, like you were saying, like, is it more expensive? Is it less expensive? It can be both. It like it just all depends on how you want to do it. If you want to travel, uh, often and you know, to all these different places and you like staying in a five-star rv resort with all the amenities, then yeah, it's probably going to cost you more than it did to live in your house, depending on you know what, what your house was like before. For us, we've made it, you know, less, less than what it costs us to live in our house. I mean what we most of our fees and everything that we pay monthly is probably less than our mortgage was.
Speaker 2:Also, you know, I mean. You mean you can choose to eat at home or go out to eat every night. It gets expensive if you do that. I mean you just have to do what fits in your budget or your well-beings.
Speaker 3:Yeah, just like if you were in a house. You just figure out a budget. Yeah, figure out a way to be able to do it. Yeah, there's memberships and work camping way to you know to be able to do it. Yeah, there's memberships and work camping. And you know tons of ways to boondock, yeah, boondocking, moot shopping lot, knocking all the dockings right, exactly to save money. Yeah, right, yeah. And we do like all of that like we might stay, you know, we might like kind of reward ourself or something and stay at a big nice resort for a little bit, kind of like our vacation or whatever. But for the most part we just try to stay at, you know, less expensive state parks, corps of Engineers, you know type campgrounds like that, where it's less expensive.
Speaker 1:So a lot of great information on the. I agree with you. It depends on what kind of house you were in, what you were paying, what kind of RV travel you're going to do. There is no set answer. I know I gave you the question, but there are people ask all the time what's less expensive? It's so depends, totally depends. Every situation's different when it comes to making money, again, there are two sides to it. How am I going to live while I'm on the road If I'm going out to eat all the time and I'm going to five-star RV resorts? That's going to get expensive and it's a balance in budgeting it. And I think that different things work for different people. How's that going to work for you?
Speaker 1:When I, my husband and I first started out, it felt like a vacation. Quickly, campgrounds became way more expensive than I expected. We were like, oh, this isn't going to work and for us. We actually bought into Thousand Trails the Thousand Trails membership, where we were camping and where you know being on the road full time. We talked to somebody about it and it totally worked for us because we had a set price that we were paying monthly and then if we wanted to go to camp to a campground that wasn't a Thousand Trails property. We then would budget for that. Oh, we want to go to this place and they don't have them. Or we want to go to somewhere that is a special campground, disney's campground, you know those kinds of things.
Speaker 1:So for people who are listening, there are ways, there are memberships. I'm going to put out a caution. Be cautious. Everything that something somebody else does doesn't necessarily work for you, and instead of asking those questions on Facebook, get to the source. So for me, when people are asking questions, particularly about Thousand Trails, there's two sides of it. People love it or they hate it, and there's not an in-between, and I always recommend. I do have an incredible couple that gives people all the information, not a sales pitch. They have all new memberships now. All of their memberships are brand new, and so I encourage people to get their own information.
Speaker 1:I'm going to put that in the show notes because I know that was a big one for Dan and I, trying to figure out how we were going to afford. Even if you could find a campground of $40 a night, which is unheard of, this is going to get really expensive and we're not going to be able to. I know for Dan and I we weren't going to be able to make it. So there are programs out there and again, I'm going to recommend that people check into what's going to work for them, their situation, where they want to travel, how they want to travel. So let's talk a little bit about ways to make money. You talked about work camping. That's what it's called, right Work camping? Okay, yeah, and there's a site for that that people can check out.
Speaker 3:It's a way to and I'm going to let you guys talk on it. Why don't we talk about that work camping and what exactly that is for people who aren't familiar? So work camping is where you work at a position. It could be a campground. It's not necessarily a campground that you know we have found out. Originally we thought it was just at campgrounds. We had seen like camp hosts at state parks, things like that. But you can.
Speaker 3:There's lots of places that you can do work camping. But you're essentially you're working for your campsite or you're working while you're living in your camper. So what we have done so far is we've we've only worked at campgrounds, so we will go to the campground. We find them online. There's lots of websites that offer and show these. There's also Facebook groups that you can find work camp positions. Also, the campgrounds put them out there on their social media where you can find work camp positions. But you're working at the campground and doing. You know you could be a camp host, you could be. I've worked in the office, I've done websites, I've done social media, I've done events.
Speaker 2:Mainly mine is like doing like the small maintenance I take care of swimming pools. Um, just depends on where we're at what what there is to do, I mean use, and usually it's for a couple. It's around 28 hours a week at the most of them. So I mean it's not, it's not like you're working all week long or what have you eight hours a day. It's not like a regular civilian job or whatever it's it's.
Speaker 2:It's not hard and you can. Either. They, either some of them even will give you your site and they will pay you, but it just depends on which one you get, and and there's a lot of them out there yeah, most of them, you can get your site and then your utilities.
Speaker 3:If you're a couple, um, and then if you're single, they also have, like for single, uh, people as well, work camp positions. You might either only get the site or maybe you have to work, you know, a little bit more hours or something than we would as a couple. But, yeah, it covers your campsite, it covers your utilities. We've had we get free ice, we had one that we got free meals, so, and then there's, like Shane was saying, some of them will also pay you as well some campgrounds. And then there's like firework stands, christmas tree farms, the beet harvest, and some of those will. So they're just paying for your campsite, for you to stay near where you're working, and then they also pay you a salary as well. So there's just, I mean, so many ways that you can work camp, but for us we just want to work camp at a campground.
Speaker 2:So far that's what we've done, but also when, if you want to, if it's something that you're thinking about getting into. You got to remember most of them are at least like three month commitment or six month commitment or something like that. Yeah, depending on what they're. What about the campground? It's not like you go into work camp for the weekend and then take off. You got to be there for a little bit, you got to commit to it yeah, right, right.
Speaker 1:And then that leads into and again, the whole point here is to say to the listeners that, yes, there are ways to make money on the road. I know traveling. There are some people on the road that have a pension or retirement or savings and they're just, you know, sitting back and living the life and that's fine. I think I personally would get bored with that. That's just me. So there's different ways. When you're looking at somebody and you're thinking, oh wow, how are they doing this? The point here is there are a lot of different ways and again, one of the things I'm going to say is do what works for you.
Speaker 1:I always say I only do what I love doing, and I know a lot of people think that's kind of crazy at my age and what I've gone through. Life's too short. We talked about it in the beginning. I'm not waiting, as people heard in the beginning. Dan is now not able to travel. He's in a nursing home and I have been given the message even more clearly that life is short and so I don't want to be. For me. A beet harvest is not what I want to be doing, but some people love getting out there.
Speaker 1:Do what you enjoy as best you can, and you know I think your guys' point is that there are endless opportunities we can have a whole conversation on. You know how to build a social media following and make money that way, and affiliate programs, and I know you guys have done an amazing job with that. You've got, as I said, starting the show. Hundreds of thousands of followers Do what works for you and I want to kind of move on. But I want my listeners to know that if they're interested in that part of it, my partner podcast, rv Entrepreneur, talks all about building social media affiliate programs. It's just that being an entrepreneur on the road and anybody who's a content creator, influencer, doing these things is an entrepreneur. So that's a great place to get a lot of that information.
Speaker 2:But I want to add one more thing.
Speaker 1:Sure thing, you sure can.
Speaker 2:Is also people that are trying to save money or don't know if they can do this. You don't have to go out there and buy the biggest, shiniest rv that they have on the lot. Find something that fits what you need and then start from there. You don't have to go out there, buy the, the biggest thing. That's going to cost you a mortgage, just to pay the monthly payments on and that's a great point.
Speaker 1:and again about budgeting, and I, while you said that, I'm going to segue into one of my sponsors is,000 new and used. So, like you said, shane, maybe it's a used RV and it's not the biggest shiniest. They also have over a thousand service bays and we all know those service bays are only good if you have the RV technicians, and they have more certified RV technician than any other dealer. Blue Compass RV is who RV Life recommends. It's the place to go. People can visit their local dealership or go to bluecompassrvcom. So I wanted to plug that in because, shane, it's the same thing with the house. You see the person in the great big house and they're working nonstop. We could go down a deep dive there and a rabbit hole there. Great point, and thank you for bringing that up. Let's talk about the fun stuff Now.
Speaker 1:You guys decided that you wanted to cover all 50 states. Now my list is now 48 states that we could go to in our RV. We could go to. Okay, I'll let you guys take it from there. Why was that a goal? And were there other big goals while traveling?
Speaker 3:uh, yeah. So originally we didn't set out to hit all 50 states, like that was not even on our radar. We just were like, originally I just wanted, because I'm from Georgia and we retired in Texas and I hadn't lived near my family and you know 20 something years. So originally I just was like, okay, first thing, I really just want to go camp near Georgia, florida somewhere so I could be close to my family. And so the first like two years, that's what we did. We just would go. We did six months in Texas, six months in North Florida so I could be near my family, and that was like that's. All I wanted was just to be able to be near both families. And then we started after we would leave, we would go up and see some states on our way back to Texas or on our way to Georgia or whatever. And then last year, before last, we just we started planning our trip to Alaska. We went out and bought a uh, a smaller, we bought a truck camper just for Alaska. So last summer we drove from Florida to Alaska and back to Texas. Um, and so that was, then we get back.
Speaker 3:And Shane was like, hey, you know, next year is going to be our fifth year that we've been full time and he's like what if we do 50 and five, like he came up with?
Speaker 3:He came up with the name let's hit the rest of the 50 states within our five year, before we hit five years, which will be in November or October. So that started out, the uh 50 and 5. It was all Jane's idea. And so then we started uh, I was like, okay, well, you know, next year this was last year I said, you know, next year is our 30th anniversary. What if we fly to Hawaii and rent a van there and then we have RV'd also in Hawaii? So that was what we did. We started planning it out, started working with some companies, worked with Outdoorsy and did a sponsored van rental and, yeah, we were able to RV Maui and Hawaii. And yeah, we were able to RV Maui and Hawaii. So now we just have this year, this summer, from July to October, we have 19 states left to hit so that we can have 50 states in five years.
Speaker 2:Wow, mine was a little different. I mean the same but different. We, like she said, we spent so many years overseas. The same but different. Uh, we, like she said, we spent so many years overseas. And then, when we retired and got back to the United States, I kind of got tired of people telling me oh, you've never been to New York or you've never been here.
Speaker 2:I'm like no, have you ever been to the Eiffel Tower, the pyramids in Egypt or, you know, australia or whatever? And they're like no. I said we'll see the same thing, but now I've been over there and now I can see all 50 states down here. So that was part of my thing. I want to go to all of them, just so I don't have to listen to people about not in new york peer pressure, peer pressure, okay.
Speaker 1:So here's a big question that that even my husband and I disputed. What constitutes saying it was a state that you stayed in? What constitutes checking that state off your list?
Speaker 2:That's your own personal thing. We've ran into people that they had to do some kind of volunteering in that state.
Speaker 1:That's nice.
Speaker 2:Our thing is we have to at least stay a night. The landing gear has to be down, the truck has to be taken off, the camper has to be taken off the truck, and we have to at least stay one night.
Speaker 3:I like to do something as well. I like to at least go on a hike or go visit a historic area or a national park or state park or something like that. I like to say that we and so far we've done something in every state as well. But Shane's is just like if I put the landing gear down and I sleep there, that counts. And so, yeah, oh, sorry, no, go ahead.
Speaker 3:I was going to say, and some, you know, this summer we might not be staying, you know, several like a week or something, to really explore the areas. So we will, a few of them we are just staying overnight and doing like one thing, maybe even just going out to dinner, I don't know. But you know, later on we want to go back and explore the states more, especially the ones that we really like. You know, some of those states were like, okay, I really want to go back and see more, more things in that state. And that's what we'll do, because some, as a matter of fact, somebody asked me this morning they were like once you see the 50 states, are you just going to sit? And I'm like, no, no, that's not fun, that's not the point. Yeah, we, we just wanted to hit all 50 this year, so we could say we did 50 in five years.
Speaker 1:And then we want to go back and explore. You know most of them more later. And so, again, I want to let my listeners know it is a huge debate and debate is probably the accurate word of what is the quote unquote right way. When can I put the sticker on the map? When can I say I stayed in that state? And I think we're we're all saying do what works for you, whatever you feel like Sometimes. I think it was my husband that said look, if we go through that state, we're there for a certain amount of time and do something that counts, you know. And again, and do something that counts, you know. And again, do what works for you.
Speaker 1:I have to talk about some really cool she's not a sponsor, but talking about the map stickers. I debated about the stickers on the map. I didn't want to put it on our RV and I, you know, wanted to be able to have something that I could show the different states I had been to, and I still want to do that. And I collect, could show the different states I had been to, and I still want to do that, and I collect things from the different states. And I met a woman I don't know if you've met her. It's called Ribbit Supply Company.
Speaker 3:I love.
Speaker 1:Melissa. Okay, melissa, yeah, they have these incredible boards, so they I'll put the link in the show notes.
Speaker 3:Um, I have to mention that we've got to meet her at the Tampa show this year. She's awesome. I love what they did.
Speaker 1:Yes so for my listeners, these are incredible boards that you have to go just check out online where you could put the stickers. Like you and I both have stickers. You exchange stickers. I'd love. I used to collect magnets when I was traveling around the world and they're just too heavy for an RV, so I started grabbing stickers of the areas that I've been in, and Melissa has these incredible boards that you could put those stickers on or, like you know, content creator stickers, event stickers, but she has maps of the and you could put this state sticker on, so I'd love those. Yes, people have to check that out. Let's go on and talk about a lot of great information. Again, people don't need to debate. Do what works for you, and we've said that about a number of things. Now that we've talked about, let's talk a little bit about the challenges of full-time rv life. Let's let's talk about some of the challenges, sure?
Speaker 3:I would say, oh, probably the only. I mean, for me, the main challenge is being away from our family when we do travel. That's probably one of the biggest challenges for me. Luckily or I don't know if you say luckily or unluckily we don't have grandkids yet, so it's probably easier for us. I know a lot of people are like once you have grandkids, you're never going to want to leave, and I'm like well, I don't have any yet, so I'm taking full advantage and traveling as much as possible. What about you? What do you think is challenges?
Speaker 2:I don't know. Challenges for me because I work on the ice is just keeping up with the maintenance. I mean they're trailer houses on wheels almost, and they bounce and they do a lot of different things, so there's always something to be, seems to be fixed. I mean not necessarily major stuff, but just little preventative maintenance stuff like that on the road, uh, making sure you're having your right tools or whatever. But uh, other than that there's really to me there's nothing hard about it, or yeah yeah, it's just I was saying, if you don't like the house.
Speaker 2:I mean you got to keep up with yeah, if you're not handy.
Speaker 3:That could be a challenge, because things do break a lot. Luckily, shing was a mechanic in the military, so it's not as hard for him. But I mean, there's still times too, where he goes on youtube. He calls it youtube university. He gets on youtube and he's like, okay, how do I fix this, or how do I install this, how do I fix this, or how do I install this, or how do I prevent this from happening, or whatever it might be, and things happen. You know, as you're going down the road, people, you get up, you might get a blowout, you might, you know, have a something break as you're going down the road. We had, on our way up to Colorado a few weeks ago, our door wouldn't stay shut For some reason our door, we were having issues with our door, so we had to Shane had to like zip tie it on the outside to get it to, but he finally figured it out and fixed it. But yeah, I mean, things like that happen.
Speaker 2:So more challenges is like you gotta be real. I don't know what. You call it versatile or something yes, that's a great word where you're, where your destination is, don't mean you might get there. There could be weather or something you gotta divert to stay somewhere else. You gotta always be planning yeah, uh, just I mean it's. It's not just get in, go, get there and have fun.
Speaker 1:A lot of times there's there's some work to it yeah, definitely, we had that issue also and what I'd love about not only what you're saying, but how you're saying it with anything, there are challenges. It sounds like you just take the very light-hearted. I'm sure there are the moments of total stress and anger and whatever, but it's, but it's how you handle it, acknowledging that, yes, there are challenges with this. It's not getting in the RV, like you said, getting to your destination and everything is pretty. There's storms, you know weather and and issues and mechanical issues and all those kinds of things that come up, knowing that you have ways to get through those challenges and just embracing the fact that there's going to be being flexible and that all is very helpful.
Speaker 1:I want to do something different that I've never done on the show and I kind of want to do rapid fire questions, if we could. We're going gonna try this, so they're like we could literally talk for hours. You have your social media, so correct me if I'm wrong, it's gills and wheels, instagram, facebook. You do have a youtube channel, um, and there is a website and I'll put that in the show notes, leading everybody to you. I'm going to recommend people reach out to you with questions, thoughts, whatever they have, and I want to do this quick questions and let's get some quick answers, but the truth is we're never going to cover everything that you know. Rvers ask. One of the best things to do is stay connected to people like you guys. You guys have such a wealth of information. Stay connected with YouTube channels that you like social media people you like. You said you go on YouTube to find ways to fix things. A suggestion I met a company. It's called Bish Fix. Bish is. It's actually now called RV Fix.
Speaker 3:RV Fix, yep yeah.
Speaker 1:So they've changed the name. I'll put the information in the show notes. They have a monthly membership. I know they were changing how that was going to work and I know somebody reached out to me and asked about a discount code at the time and I believe they're still doing it. I will check on it. You just go through the process and it gives you the discount. There was no code. So, if that person's still listening, what they do is amazing, because you could call, do a video with a highly qualified technician and they will lead you through how to fix the RV and if it's something that's major mechanical issue, they will help you through the process. So when you take it into a dealership any dealership when you take it in for that service, you now have everything written up that they believe needs to be done. Again, I'm not even touching on the surface of what they do. I just think it's a great idea so people could check out. Obviously, you guys are familiar with our VFX.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, when we were at the Tampa show, they let us do like a phone call where they, it was like a video call, right.
Speaker 2:Demonstration they were doing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and so it showed Shaneane was they were able to tell like walk shane through how to fix this like wiring issue that was being. You know it was a fake one, of course, but yeah, it was showing how they were able to do it on the video college. Yeah, it's awesome. We love the.
Speaker 1:Uh, all the people over at rv figs I do too, and I did an episode with the president, um todd, oh nice nuttle, and that is on the YouTube channel Inspired Travels with Patty. He just is all of the people there are just wonderful, great people. Okay, so quick questions, let's see if we can answer them quickly. If you're like, hey, that's not a quick question, just let me know and we'll move on. People ask all the time about mail service. What do you do when you're on the road full-time about your mail?
Speaker 3:all right, we have a, we have a po box that our son checks here at our home base and then amazon packages we have sent to a campground.
Speaker 1:Okay, good Quick answer. Thank you, patty. For me I used Escapees mail service we also used Amazon for quick getting packages Navigation tools. What do?
Speaker 2:you use to navigate? I use a Garmin 895. It's the newest Garmin out for heavy or big trucks and RVs.
Speaker 1:Okay, and for me it's RV Life, the app that does planning, and then the RV Safe GPS. Okay, and again people checking what works best for them. We've always used the, the rv life app. We also had a garment that we did as a backup. Okay, what about your favorite gadget? This might be a shame question what's your favorite? Gadget.
Speaker 2:I don't even know my tools there you go just like having a tool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, toolbox, that's great, I don't I. I'm asking the question, but I don't know that I had a favorite there's so many, it's hard to choose, that's for sure absolutely.
Speaker 1:I was just listening to a, a podcast episode. Oh, I interviewed the ceo of battleboard batteries and they were talking about having a multimeter I think that's what we were talking about and I was like I don't do anything electrical but I was like, okay, I at least know what one is. I know what it looks like. Not sure I know how to use it, but okay. So favorite gadgets vary. What about medical insurance on the road? Can you give a quick answer on how you yeah, absolutely we have.
Speaker 3:because of Shane being retired military, we have TRICARE and we can go to any hospital, any doctor, any emergency room all over the US with no issues whatsoever. And then, when we're back stationary in San Antonio, Shane goes to the VA for all of his doctor's appointments.
Speaker 1:Great answer, and anybody who's military should really check that out. Make sure they know all the details. As you travel around, I was using our VEERS insurance, which again I'm putting the show notes. It is just that for our VEERS, they were leading us through as we travel around the country. What would be better for me or Dan and anybody that already has health insurance? I recommend that you check that out. Okay, this is a big question. Medical emergencies, and these are things we didn't talk about before the show. Do you guys sort of have a plan for how you, you know, like a go bag or something, in case of a medical emergency while you're traveling?
Speaker 3:We don't have a go bag for a medical emergency. We do for like weather emergencies. We have like a tornado bag, I call it, or bad weather bag, but we do have, like, if there was an emergency I mean I can drive the dually If, if Shane were to be driving the camper and something were to happen, I could drive it enough to get us, you know, off the road or whatever. Um, so I highly suggest that you know, if you're not normally the driver to at least know how to pull it, drive it if you can hook it up, even if possible. Um, but if you know, if anything, if he had to be, you know, in a hospital or whatever, we have lots of friends, that and family that would probably fly in to, like, you know, pull us back to our home base if we needed to.
Speaker 1:There's something of a plan and I think that planning for emergencies and I want to point out, because this is so important, having been through a couple of emergencies some people aren't aware of the number of emergencies that I've had while on the road between Dan with with Dan, a couple weeks ago, so May 21st 2025, I did an episode on just that emergency medical how to be prepared. So, like your go folder of the information you need that some people don't necessarily think of that episode is a highly qualified emergency and trauma nurse, and so there's a lot of great information that I'll post in the show notes because, as people are thinking about being on the road, unfortunately we have to talk about the possible downsides of it. Okay, yeah, absolutely, let's continue this. On an up note, I know for all of us, for the three of us, when we spoke, one of our favorite parts of RVing is community. So let's talk about community.
Speaker 1:I know, for me, I didn't realize just how amazing and what the connections were going to be like. You know people say, oh, you're traveling around, you don't have friends, you're not going to have a social life, you're going to be alone on New Year's Eve, whatever. We get those questions all the time. So can you talk about that? Can you talk about community?
Speaker 3:Sure, we thought the same, you know as well. I was like, oh gosh, we're going to be, you know, so lonely out there. I mean, obviously we have each other, you know we're each other's best friends, but it is nice to have other people around sometimes, especially if you're away for a holiday, christmas, new Year's, whatever it might be. And we've just been really shocked and amazed at the RV community. Like so many people, we meet people at rallies and get togethers and the RV shows, you know, and just out camping, just the people that we meet. You know that we would have never met if we hadn't been full time.
Speaker 3:We have some of probably the closest friendships we've ever had, I would say, through the RV community, like some of our best friends, even ones that are not full time, like we always want to be here at this campground that we're at now just because we have so many great friends here that you know they come out every summer. And also like just our full-time friends that we've met through social media, through the rallies and all of that We've. Even last year, when we went to Alaska, we went with two people that we met through social media. You know, we didn't really know them before until we became full-time. And, yeah, like some of the best people that we've ever met, I have, like, like I said, some of our what, some of my best friends, for sure, we've met through the RV community.
Speaker 2:some I talk to almost every single day everywhere we travel seems like somebody that we have camped with before or we know is in that state, and we always seem to run into people everywhere we go and it's just like it's like he never left, we just picked right up where we left off. And because we're all doing the same thing, have all the same common likes or whatever goals, and it's just, it's a lot of fun, just out there, all of a sudden you're, you run into one of your old buddies you ain't seen in a year. It's just cool yeah.
Speaker 1:I agree wholeheartedly, and it's not just the people in the campground but the. I mean. You know, because I interview people, presidents of companies and CEOs, and it's the same with them. You know a number of different industries and the connections I've made to everybody, like I said, from people who are presidents all the way over to you know. The person you camp next to there is a true connection and you see them, like you said, in an event and you pick up where you started and I feel like I keep those connections. I haven't been specific like full time on the, the person that would go, I know, right, it's hard to believe. So when I'm done with the podcast I've got to take a break from you know peopling and I've come out of my shell a lot. I get that. Yeah, the RV community is so warm and welcoming, it's easy to come out of your shell. You know people are just sitting around having a good time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we all have, like she said, all the same. Yeah, all the same likes, and it's easy to have a conversation because you can talk about oh you're, you know, pulling your RV, or the sewage issues. Everybody's had the same issues, so it's yeah, you just have so much in common. You never lose things to talk about. That's for sure everybody's had the same issues.
Speaker 1:So it's yeah, you just have so much in common. You never lose things to talk about, that's for sure, absolutely. And it's like you said a lot of times where do you meet people? It's in the campground. I want to talk a little bit about Hershey. I know you guys will be there and I'll be there. Rv Life will have a booth there. It's actually called America's Largest RV Show. It gets confusing for people. It's in Hershey September 10th to the 14th. I will be there all week. So I'm really excited and I know you guys are going to be there.
Speaker 1:We're going to make sure if you guys are doing a meet and greet or if there's something you are specifically going to do, I'm going to lead people to your social media and that's where they can find where you're going to be. I'm going to lead people to your social media and that's where they can find where you're going to be. And I say this all the time. I've had people that have said oh, I saw you were here and I was going to come say hi, but I didn't want to bother you and I always say, if I'm out of my RV, if I'm out and about, come say hi, because part of why I do this is because and I think for you guys too we want to meet people. We want to meet you, we want to hear from you, we want to hear what your questions are. Absolutely yeah. So we will both be in Hershey. The Hershey RV Life After Party is September 11th and I hope you guys will be attending that.
Speaker 3:Oh, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it'll be from 6 to 10. We have some great sponsors giveaways and we're just doing it as a way great food, wine and beer included. We're doing it as a way to get the RV community to be able to come together, get to know each other, chat with each other, catch up with each other. So this is the fourth annual event. It always sells out and I just think the event gets better and better every year. I have to say, and I want to talk about we already have some sponsors. Renogy, the trusted off-grid Solutions, is one of our big sponsors and you could check them out at Renogycom, as well as RV TV. Have you heard of RVers Top Talent? Do you guys have a talent?
Speaker 1:No we have no talent, no talent at all. But you might want to rethink this, because it is the first nationwide talent contest already talent contest you have a chance to win $5,000. So you might want to come up with the talent. So think about it. It could be anything singing, comedy, storytelling, juggling something unexpected.
Speaker 3:It has to be comedy, because we can't sing or dance.
Speaker 1:I can't either, I'll admit it. So comedy, and yeah, there's a $5,000 grand prize. So I think more and more people are going to try and figure out that talent, and I will put that information in the show notes. Rvtv is one of our main sponsors as well, so I'm really excited about that. I'm so excited about the event.
Speaker 1:Hershey, I know people can again reach out to you on your social media platforms Instagram, facebook, youtube. Gills on wheels. We are not done. I have a question, because I'm going to put the two of you on the spot, as if I haven't already. Shane's getting a little concerned, I see it. So, yeah, like we really want people to let us know other questions they have, you know, let us know if you're going to be in Hershey. Reach out to me on Instagram and Facebook RV Life Podcast, because I want to know who's going to be there and meet up with people. Ok, it is now time for the question of the week podcast, because I want to know who's going to be there and meet up with people.
Speaker 1:Okay, it is now time for the question of the week. It is brought to you by Cool RV and I'm going to ask the question and I am going to give you a minute to think about it, so don't panic. I want to know what is now on your bucket list, and that could be a person you want to visit, a place or an experience you want to have, and it could be anything in the RV, outside the RV, in the country, outside the country. And while you're thinking about that, it's getting hot, so I'm in Pennsylvania. It is getting warm. Cool RV is a game changer in RV air conditioner upgrades. It creates more. It creates cooler air, more airflow and whisper quiet operation. You'll stay comfortable without all that noise, so don't let the heat ruin your trip. Visit CoolRvcom today and it is k-o-o-l-r-vcom. Okay, do you guys have an answer, either together or separate?
Speaker 2:separate I don't know. My immediate bucket list would be to finish all 50 states, uh, without issues, hopefully. Uh, and my long-term one would be just to keep doing this as long as I can. I mean, I already been to Alaska. That was the bucket list, okay.
Speaker 3:For me it is to, once we complete the 50, to start RVing in other countries. Oh wow.
Speaker 1:That's an interesting one. Okay, so all 50 states are being in other countries. I like that idea. Yeah, sounds great. Sounds like a great bucket list. Okay, it's now time for the feature campground of the week, and this campground is Thousand Trails, medina Lakes, and it is a Thousand Trails. You guys know where that is.
Speaker 3:It's right down the road from us.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I did write where it is. Where is it exactly?
Speaker 3:It's outside of San Antonio, west of San Antonio.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, thank you. How great. I try and pick a spot where I know the people might be. So have you ever been to this campground?
Speaker 3:We've driven through it, but we're not Thousand Trails members, so we've never, we've never stayed there.
Speaker 1:OK, so what? And it is a Thousand Trails campground but you don't need to be a member. It is beautiful lakeside views. I looked at the pictures of this place and it is amazing and, like you said, it's out of and Could be why I picked it. I went to San Antonio last year for a conference and I never got a chance to explore the area and that is one of the areas I definitely want to go back to, like sometimes I'll go to an area and be like, okay, checked it off my list, definitely want to go back to San Antonio and again, this campground lakefront views. It just looks beautiful.
Speaker 1:They have full hookups and for me, they have cabin and cottage rentals so I could go fly out there and stay in a cabin or cottage, whatever it is they have there. They have 387 sites, a solid 7.2 on the RV Life campground reviews, with 204 reviews, and by going to campgroundsrvlifecom you could see all of the pictures, all of the amenities, everything this property has to offer, and what I like best is you can see what other RVers are saying about this campgrounds. That is, the Campground Review site. Is just RVers giving their honest opinions? If you are not already an RV Life Pro member. There is a 25% discount in the show notes which gives you trip planning and RV safe GPS and the Campground Reviews, as well as their new maintenance, their updated maintenance part of the app, and it's all included in the one price. I love that they never charge you for something they add. With a discount it's literally less than $65, less than $50 with a 25% discount for the year, not for the month. People usually say for the month, no for the year. Okay.
Speaker 1:So again, thank youty and shane of gills on wheels. People can get you on instagram and facebook and youtube. Did I miss any? Where else they can? Uh, tiktok and pinterest. We also have oh wow, sorry, I missed that tiktok and that's okay. So if somebody goes to your website, they can see all of the places. So I'm going to send people to the website. A lot of my listeners are driving or exercising, so I want to make sure they can get to you. We highly recommend reaching out with questions, thoughts. You know, stay in touch with Patty and Shane so you can find out where they're going to be and definitely go say hi when you see them. Thank you guys so much for being on for so much incredible information.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having us, Patty. We appreciate it. It's been great.
Speaker 1:You're welcome and I want to thank you, my listeners, and remember life's a journey. Live each day to the fullest, without regrets. I'm Patty Hunt and you have been listening to the RV Life Podcast.