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Season 2 Episode 79
7/22/22
Gas prices vs running up and mountains. Instead of $100 fill ups we doing $150+ fill ups . Instead of 20 gallons we putting in 40 gallons at each fill up. Gas mileage went from 9 mpg to 4.5 mpg, so we were using twice the gas.

Left Alexandria VA. Drove for 1.5 hrs. Got set up and started the AC. At 1030pm it was still 82 degrees. Love our AC. We found a winery close by so stopped by we're pleasantly surprised that they had a guy on the guitar playing. However even in the shade the 90° temps got the best of us we headed back to the RV. The next day we drove over to Harpers ferry West virginia. We were here two years ago just at the start of covid and everything was closed so we decided to revisit it. This time the exhibits were open so we walked around for a couple hours. However it was in the 90s so we did not redo the short hikes we did the last time. From here we headed to Gaithersburg MD to a Boondockers Welcome location. We got set up. And paid the $10 for 30 amp electric. We took a ride to Sugarloaf Mountain State Park and did a 2.5 mile beautiful hike. We think this BDW location will be our default place while visiting Brandon or DC. We then stopped at a winery near by and had a glass of wine. The next day we went to Patuxent River State Park and did a 5 mile hike. Then off to Maryland Beer Company in Elkton MD which is a Harvest Host location. We pulled in enjoyed a couple of drinks. Then walked around the town of Elkton Maryland. Really cute town and we would not mind revisiting. The next day we drove up to Barnegat New Jersey. We set up at a doctor's welcome location. Hooked up to our 20 amp. We walked around Barnegat by the beach and we're disappointed by the lack of shops. We then met my sister-in-law Jen for dinner. The next day we took a ride an hour south to Atlantic City. Along the way we stopped at Smithville. Trish visited his place a few times as a young girl with her parents. We walked around for about an hour looking at all the different shops. It was a nice little train for kids and merry go round. We then spent the day walking the boardwalk at AC and even winning a little bit of money at the casinos yay. Did you know that the game Monopoly is based on Atlantic city?
The next morning we hooked up and drove to Old cedar Campground. We got set up
Took a ride over and picked up a grandson kingston. We had planned on picking him up and taking him out to dinner however he surprised us with the home cooked meal which was delicious. We then headed over to the campground he wrote his bike for a little while we walked for a little while the next day you spent the day fishing and riding his bike and swimming in the pool so we had a nice relaxed day with him. The night played games outside of the RV. The next day packed up dumped dropped them off and drove home.

The next day we unpacked the rig and I tinkered with stuff on the rig. We have been planning on going to Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania, so we made a reservation at a boondockers welcome location. But as the days drew near, the temps were going to be in the mid 50s and rain the whole time we were there. So we canceled that trip.
Then in early July we went up to Massachusetts and New Hampshire for a few days.
In August we have a 3 week trip through Indiana planned. We'll be visiting a bunch of state parks, visiting the Amish town of Shipshewana and doing a tour of the catacombs under Indianapolis.
Over the summer I also took time to catch up with my Stress Management clients so I booked a bunch of days to work with them.

And it's bittersweet, but I do believe this will be my last episode of this podcast. Been doing this over 4 years with just under 10, 000 downloads of the 78 episodes. I'm sure this episode will push the download total number over 10,000.

I will be taking notes of our travels and posting those notes on my blog at:
https://relaxrv.org/category/blog/

I will continue to post pictures of our travels on Instagram at:
https://www.instagram.com/relaxrvpodcast/

And my videos on Youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA

And for now my Facebook Page will remain active at:
https://www.facebook.com/relaxrvpodcast/

So, be safe, drive slow 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.

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Season 2 Episode 78
5/20/22

We visited Bardstown. We hit the 1792 Distillery. They were the only distillery that offered a free tour. We parked in Bardstown and walked 20 minutes to it. They gave a great 45 minute tour and provided 4 samples and a piece of bourbon chocolate.
We bought a few bottles and some if the bourbon chocolates. We learned they are ending the tour and gift shop in June 2022.
We then walked around town and had Kentucky Fried chicken and cornbread which were delicious at Mammy's. We then checked a bunch of bars and only found 2 that were having live music but neither bands were playing bluegrass. So we went to McIntyre’s Winery. I liked their Corn Cob Wine which I had never heard of Lol. The next morning we drove for about an hour, dropped the rig and took the Jeep to the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. We figured we would spend an hour there. Well we ended up being there for 3 hours. We took a great tour and learned about the history of the Shakers. https://shakervillageky.org/Shaker
We will return. We then went to Wildside Winery which is a Harvest Host location. We sampled a couple wines and bought a couple bottles. We are 60 miles from Church Hill Downs so we watched the derby on TV. The next day we drove to Callies Campground in Red River Gorge. We checked in got set up and then headed over to natural bridge State resort Park in Kentucky. This park is a part of the Red River Gorge geological area which is in the Daniel Boone National Forest which is part of the Cumberland ranger district. We hiked the natural bridge trail which was only about a half a mile but went straight up hill for 500 ft. This is really an impressive Arch. We hiked on top of the crossed over it and hike for another mile to more viewpoints overlooking the Daniel Boone National Forest. We did a total of 4 miles which was perfect. We then drove over to Miguel's Pizza. A few people have told us you need to eat there so we did. The amazing thing is with their pizzas and they have a list of around 30 different toppings that you can add to create your own. Us being from New York and New Jersey like a thinner crispier crust and our pizza but other than that this was delicious. We then stopped in at Gorge Outfitters. We got into a conversation with the owner who gave us tips on numerous trails and parks to see. Visit them, they are wonderful. https://gorrg.com/
The next day we hiked the Auxier Ridge trail by recommendation from the server at Miguel's. The next morning we decided to stay in this park for an extra night. We drove over to Nada tunnel. We had this tunnel saved on our Google maps for about a year or so and we do know that NADA means nothing. So we assumed that not a tunnel but a tunnel to nowhere. However we found out that it's a hand carved tunnel that originated as a railroad tunnel way back when. Now it's a single Lane car tunnel that is really awesome to drive through. Here is a link to our pictures of those 2 hikes. https://www.instagram.com/p/CdWrLZHsTIG/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=
And hers pics of the nada tunnel https://www.instagram.com/p/CdWwUXcMqgM/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
We also learned that this area has the second highest number of arches in the US, of course the #1 area is Arches National Park. So after hitting the tunnel we drove around to the trailhead for the Auxier Ridge trail. We knew that this was going to be a 2.2 mile hike to the edge of the Ridge and then back. But we got to a beautiful overlook had a snack and a glass of wine and sore across the valley was twin Arch. So we pulled out our maps and we realized that there's another trail at the end of The Ridge trail that joins up and takes you to the twin Arch so we changed our plans and that's what we did. So it turned out to be an 8 mile beautiful hike.
The next day we decided to stay an extra night to do numerous short hikes to give our legs a break. Beautiful ! Lots of arches.
From here we were going to be staying at the Kanawha State Park in Kentucky we had the campground reserved and the campsite fit a 37 ft motorhome. we had reserved this a couple of months ago. Luckily Trish was looking on line and she saw a lot of people said you'll never make it up the road in a motorhome. We called canceled our reservation and they refunded our money. We then went to Roadside Park Port Of St. Albans.
(304) 722-4625
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ENR6t9DctNYY8dRU8
And stayed there for one night. We'll never stay there again. Too many smelly factories and super loud traffic all night long. We got up the next morning and drove to Point Pleasant WV. To visit the Mothman Museum. And to see the Silver Bridge which collapsed in 1967 people in point pleasant WV kept seeing a winged creature around a bridge in town. Shortly after the bridge collapsed. Some people say he was scaring people away from the bridge and others say he made it collapse. That sparked the movie. Are the two connected? Here's pics
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cdg1WMDpwY7/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
After that we dumped and we drove about an hour and a half across Rt 60 which I did not like to Babcock State Park we pulled into our site. Set up was intending to do a walk off of a short hike. But we met a couple and got into a nice conversation with them. Hi Kenneth and Elaine if your listening. But then went back to the rig grilled some pizza and then met up with Kenneth and Elaine again and talked for a couple of hours. The next day we had a few different trails in the park totaling a little over 6 miles. Very beautiful. And then had a relaxing evening and did another walk around the campground. Want pics? Here ya go https://www.instagram.com/p/Cdg13mwJ0ku/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
The next morning we dumped filled with fresh water and drove to Calhoun county park. $20/nite with 30 amp and water. No one else there and nothing to do for 30+ miles. It was 85 degrees so we didn't want to even walk around the "park". The next day we drove to the Sweeter Side of the Feud Winery. We met and talked for over an hour with Mark Hatfield who is the great, great grandson of Devil Anse Hatfield of the famous Hatfield and McCoy Feud. We walked in and Brenda invited us over to sample some of their wines. Within walk down the bar to where Mark was standing. He started pouring samples of different Bourbons whiskeys and moonshines. Some of these samples were full shot and then I asked him about one of the other flavored ones they had and he said pour some and try it. I've never seen this before in any Distillery or Winery ever. You could walk up and down the bar and pour a shot after shot if you wanted to. Wow ! I didn't count all the different flavors but I did stop counting at 42. Unreal what a nice down to earth guy Mark is. We board our fair share and a shirt. But after we got back to the rig the one thing I wish I had done was to get a picture with Mark Hatfield.
https://sweetersideofthefeud.com/
We then went to Chestnut ridge winery. Porta bottle of wine had a glass on their porch.
https://chestnutridgewinery.com/
Then headed back to the rig for a quiet evening. It was a bit cooler than it was yesterday so we decided to walk around the campground and we grew a greater appreciation of this county park. They have a historic village hidden away. With a school house post office etc . We found these while walking around. They have a few ponds with benches overlooking them. And then we saw that there was going to be a lunar eclipse that evening. Now this county park is listed as a dark space. So we waited till around 10:00 and the eclipse was just starting It was supposed to be really bad rains but that never settled in. So I ended up grabbing my good canon camera set up a tripod focused in on the moon and got some great photos of the red moon eclipse. Then morning around 6:00 a.m. the rains came in. Around 10:00 a.m. we packed up and headed to our next stop.

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!

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Season 2 Episode 77
5/6/22
We left Johnson City on 4/25/22 and arrived in Pigeon Forge Tennessee an hour and a half later. We pulled into the campground they had no record of us reserving and paying for a spot for three nights via Passport America. But they said no problem. We asked that they received our package and they said it's been laying here for 3 days and we had no idea who Paul Sebastian was lol. We are in the south. Our package was a replacement valve for leveling jacks. Hooray our leveling jacks are fixed. We hooked up relaxed for a bit in the 86 degree temps and then drove around Pigeon Forge. The downfall to this town is it seems you really need to drive from place to place. Albiet there is a trolley you can take. It's amazing how many distilleries there are in this area and how many give you free samples, too many lol. We came back to the RV I set up the grill. One of our boondockers welcome hosts suggested cooking quesadillas on the grill. We had never done that but we did it today and I'll tell you what we are hooked. Here's the link to some pictures we took as we entered Pigeon Forge and walked around. You can see the Smoky mountains in the background ttps://www.instagram.com/p/Ccyny0WsvV3/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= The next day Trish did some laundry and I drove around looking for a place to buy propane gas line connections. When we first bought our first rig I installed an extended stay connection on the rig and ran a gas line for a grill and it worked fine. This RV has a quick connect in the back hooked up to the propane tank so I assumed it was going to be working good and it doesn't get as hot. Apparently the connection for the gas grill on this rig is after the regulator on the onboard propane tank so the Weber gas grill has two regulators controlling the propane entering it so it doesn't get so hot. So I'm looking around for connections to avoid the regulator on the Weber grill. Here's a link to the Weber grill we use and have used for going on 5 years now https://amzn.to/3LnQdzu During the night the rains came in and with it a cold front. 20 degrees colder today as compared to yesterday. The rain stopped around 1pm and we took a walk on the Pigeon Forge Greenway, a walkway that follows the West Prong Little
Pigeon River. Here's a link to the walkways https://www.cityofpigeonforge.com/parks-greenways.aspx
So we found Pigeon Forge to be an expensive area. And very touristy. If you have little kids definitely visit Pigeon Forge.
The next day we visited Gatlinburg. We liked Gatlinburg a bit better than pigeon forge. Reason for this is you can actually walk from the store to store instead of having to drive. Either town if you have young kids teenagers or you like to hang out in bars these towns will work.
We parked for $15. Walked one block and then went to Gatlinburg SkyLift Park. This was a bit expensive but we figured we'll never be back to Gatlinburg so might as well experience it. Basically take a chair lift to the top of the mountain is the skywalk which is a suspension bridge great views from the top that a gas fired fire pit with lots of sheets around it I would imagine in the summer it is mobbed but here it is late April and it wasn't bad at all. We then walked around town popping in and out of shops getting some free samples of wine. We then walked down to Hillbilly Golf and played a game of mini golf. We've seen this golf course 2 years ago when we're driving through Gatlinburg with our rig and said when we come back to Gatlinburg we got to play this. You take a small tram ride to the top of a hill and you have a choice of two different golf courses as you walk halfway back down the hill and then the tram picks you up and takes you back down to the bottom. Here some pics https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc5ZaPguDa9/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
After 2 and 1/2 days of over the top entertainment we hopped in the Jeep took a ride over to The visitor center of the Smoky mountain National Park and did a 4-mile hike into the cataract waterfall. Just what we needed. Back to the woods and move our legs. We drove back to the RV threw some shrimp on the barbie. Relaxed for the evening the next morning headed out.
We drove 3hrs to Fall Creek Falls state park in TN. We are now in CDT .
We arrived to our campsite $29/nite with w/e. Jacks work fine leveling. Yay and cheers !
Got set up and searched out a hiking trail on Avenza Maps. We found a trail that we could walk to from the campground to a beautiful waterfall and a bridge and then to a nature center. So we went inside we actually working there for suggestions for another hike and she gave us one with views of a few different waterfalls. So our walk turned into a beautiful six mile hike lol. The next day we did 2 different hikes. A total of 7.5 miles today. This state park was beautiful. There are breathtaking views on most of the trails and from some of the parking lots too.
The next day we had a confusing 3 hr drive. We kept going from CST to EST. So according to our GPS are our arrival time kept changing by an hour. Lol.
We arrived at bandy Creek campground which is in bandy Creek National Park, which is in Great South Fork River Recreation Area, which is in Daniel Boone National Forest which is in the Cumberland Mountains lol.
We got set up in our sleep walked around the campground, talk to park ranger and got some tips for hikes. That night it only got down to the upper 60s and we didn't have enough windows open so it made for a warm rough nights sleep. The next morning we drove about a half hour to the twin arches. We did a 3-mile hike to see the largest Arch east of the Mississippi. Wow. And a quarter mile away from it is a second Arch which is equally impressive.
We then did a 8 mile hike on the Great South Fork River. Definitely a beautiful area. The campground is really big and a bargain at $25 a night for water and electric. The next day we drove North and again crossed back into Central standard Time. And arrived at Jellystone Campground, 15 mins from Mammoth Cave National Park. We have w/e for $35/nite. The CG is really big so all the attractions are spread out. We were sad to see every site in our loop was on a slope. Our 1st site we couldn't get level on so moved to a different one. The CG is 99% empty yet there was garbage strewn at each site. The campground at the National Park are $25 a night with no services. The next morning we drove to Mommoth Cave and took the Dome and Dripstone tour. 2hrs. And 500 vertical steps.
270' down in elevation. It really have us an appreciation of the size of the mapped cave system, over the 2 hr tour we only saw .025 % of the mapped cave. Here's a link to the pics of that tour
https://www.instagram.com/p/CdJ3-qNM65G/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
That evening we did the
Star Chamber Lantern tour. This was a neat tour which was in darkness with only hand held lanterns. It was 2 miles and 2.5 hrs.
Here's pics from that tour
https://www.instagram.com/p/CdJ44TvMhfd/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
There numerous tours which use 6 different entrances.
Here's a link to the various tours
https://www.nps.gov/maca/planyourvisit/cave-tours.htm#Descriptions_of_Currently_Offered_Cave_Tours
Each of the tours were only about half full. It was really nice being here a few weeks before memorial Day. They say during the peak season you have to reserve the tours weeks in advance.
Between the 2 tours we spent time in the visitor center and asked for suggestions on the various hikes within the park. The woman was not very helpful. So we ended up hiking around 5 miles, which was just ok. Later we learned the a few old churches and graveyards on the property. Too bad the woman didn't mention them to us. Oh well.
The next day we went to Bernheim Arboretum in Clermont KY. They had wooden sculptures from Thomas Dambos. Here's a link to my pics
https://www.instagram.com/p/CdKBBp4Mn7w/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
And here's a link to his FB page
https://m.facebook.com/thomasdambos/
Then off to Bardstown KY. We wanted to experience some bluegrass music. We got settled in as t Little Patch of Heaven campground. Very scenic.
Then off to Heaven Hill Distillery. I sampled some of their bourbons and really liked the Apple Bourbon. We then went over to the state park called Old Kentucky Home. Apparently this house was an inspiration for the song. We walk the grounds for a little while and back to the rig cooked on the grill and sat overlooking the pond.
Today we will be spending the day in bardstown listening to music and maybe hit another distillery. And I'll tell you all about that in the next episode.
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/

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Season 2 Episode 76
4/24/22

So on the last episode I mentioned our leveling jacks were acting wonky. When leveling if I pushed the button to extend the right jacks, the left front would also extend. I called Lippert the their tech support guided me through some testing to ascertain where the problem was. It turns out our Cartridge Valve was bad. The transferred me over to their parts department and the leading parts said we do have it in stock and it's $165.00. Then she said it may just be the coil which is the metal around the valve. She said to check to see if that is magnetized or not. She also said to take out the cartridge valve and use an air compressor and blow it out and sometimes that gets it working. Amazing she's in the parts department and gave us advice on how to avoid buying a new part smh.
Unfortunately our coil was magnetized and I borrowed a guy's compressor blew out the valve and it didn't work so we went on to e-trailer dot com and sore that they had the same valve for $128.00 so we ordered that and had it delivered to a campground we had previously reserved.

So we hooked up and traveled south for an hour and a half to Walnut Cove North Carolina. We pulled into yet another boondocker welcome location it was going to be near freezing that night so the gentleman offered for us to pull the motorhome into his huge garage which we did. This is the first time we ever camped in our RV inside lol. We hooked up to his 50 amp service. We then found the local park and did a short walk and met Kathy a nurse that I used to work with years back. We had a really good dinner and sat for about 2 and 1/2 hours catching up.
We then headed back to our rig had a very quiet night. The next morning we took a ride over to hanging Rock State Park
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZZrcHAWDxBDFTFti7 and did almost 9 miles of hiking. Beautiful.
The next day we had a 1.5 hr drive to Galax VA. We got set up and I tinkered with the rig for awhile then we walked for 2 miles on the New River Trail. The next day we went to Creek Bottom Brewery
https://www.cbbrews.com/lil-bottom/
because we saw they had a band playing. Wow! We walked in and saw only 2 empty chairs and they were at a table for 4. We asked the couple sitting there if we could join them. The band was fantastic! And in a few minutes we were engaged in great conversation with Raymond and Danielle. We made new friends. And we learned that Galax has a fiddlers convention every year and that Mount Airy NC wasn't far away. This is where the Andy Griffith show is based on and it is home town.
This wonderful couple invited us to stay with them on their property the next time we were in town.
An excellent night ! The next day we visited Mount Airy NC and were pleasantly surprised. Here's a link to our pictures from our visit to Mayberry https://www.instagram.com/p/CctNwhsJD1b/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
And here's a link to Mount Airy NC https://www.visitmayberry.com/

We then pulled in to Thistle Meadow Winery. Again wow. This is a Harvest Hosts location and our home for the night. We went in and sampled some wines and bought a bottle of their chardonnay and a block of cheese from Holly. We meet a bunch of their employees and were welcomed by each of them and the owner. Here's a link to my discount page if you want to check out Harvest Hosts RelaxRV.org/discounts
The next day we headed out to Buffalo mountain park. We heard that there was great hiking and views up there. We learned it was about a half hour before we would arrive at our next Harvest Host location. So we drove through the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee which were beautiful rolling Green hills and mountains. We got to the road taking us into Buffalo mountain we drove up the road kept getting smaller and smaller with sheer drop offs. We got to the top and there was a sharp right hand turn it took you up a road that showed on the map as kind of like a roundabout or a lollipop. I said I am not taking a rig up there so we unhooked Trish took the Jeep up to turn around I backed the rig up that windy road just enough to turn around. There were people coming up with their cars to go hiking and they all expected me to move out of their way unreal. We got down off of that road only to find that we needed to go through a tunnel which gave us three inches of clearance on the roof and 3 inches of clearance on either side of the rig not a very comfortable long tunnel. We made it through without a hitch LOL we drove 10 minutes to the Tennessee hills Brewstillery. They said that they had a two spots for two rigs. It was in their parking lot and their limit was 30 ft long. Our rig is 30 ft long so as I was backing into the spot Trish said if we park here and somebody else comes in we will not be able to get the slides out. So we went in we talked to the host / manager he said no one else is coming in so you're free to take both spots which we did. We then went in and enjoyed a couple of cocktails which were delicious. And then we walked around Johnson City. So being we're in Tennessee it was mainly bars and breweries. But we enjoyed stretching our legs after the taxing ride in. We got back to the rig where it was 88° inside. We started up the generator and turn down the AC and right now Trish is doing a workout and I am recording and uploading this episode. From here we're going to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge where we have a campground reserved for 3 nights.

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!

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Season 2 Episode 75 4/18/22
After dewinterization the day before our trip, I noticed low water pressure in the bathroom sink. And I saw a small leak underneath it. So after some research I saw the aerator was clogged. I tried to clean it to no avail. So we bought a new one and put it in. The next day we finally got on the road for our Kentucky 2022 trip.
Our 1st stop was in Lititz, PA. A 3 hour drive from home. Remember we limit our travel days to 4 hours. We stayed 2 nights at a Boondockers Welcome location. We also plan our stays at a 2 night minimum unless that says driving is very short or we are staying at a Harvest Hosts. So we pulled in and plugged into their 50amp electric. Set up our grill. And headed over to intercourse PA. and did some shopping. We then headed back to the RV and cooked shrimp skewers on the grill.
The next day we went to Lancaster for a little bit then to Turkey Hill experience where the ice cream is made. It was definitely not our cup of tea LOL however for a young family it looked like it would be a lot of fun!
We then drove over to the Utz potato chip factory. We took their free tour which was okay. Then we hit their outlet store and bought a few bags of chips and pretzels.
Then back to the rig again for dinner tonight was tilapia and asparagus on the grill. So this was our first experience using the heat strip up on the roof that I installed in the air conditioner last year. I'll tell you what it worked beautifully. It was around 50° at night and the RV was kept around 70 to 72 all night long. We like this much better than space heaters because this system heats our rig in its entirety. Previously we were using two space heaters so those two areas were warm but the rest of the rig was cold. Prior to that we were using the gas furnace and we learned rather quickly after a few weeks on the road that electric space heaters are much more efficient for us then propane. And with the electric heat strip we don't have any condensation on the windows LOL. Here's a link to our heat strip that I installed. https://amzn.to/3uUjhsy
And unfortunately we need a new thermostat when we installed that control the heat strip the gas furnace in the AC. Here is a link to that thermostat https://amzn.to/3iANi9M
When we were using our space heaters we did buy thermostats for them. That worked beautifully especially at night we would put a space heater in our bedroom set the thermostat to 68° in the space heater would kick on and off appropriately. Here's a link to the space heater thermostat. https://amzn.to/3xBaVHO
The next day we hooked up and drove South to Winchester Virginia. But on the way we saw Lindt chocolate factory outlet on 81 South in Pennsylvania. So we had to stop and pick up some delicious chocolates.
Then we pulled into our house location. Met our host hooked up to their 50 amp. We then headed out to Old Town Charleston Virginia and walked for a bit. Then we stopped at James Charles winery. After that we headed back down to Old Town and enjoyed some live music at the Wine Room. We reached out to our host to see if they wanted to meet us there. They did and we had a great time conversating with them. And didn't get to bed till near 1am. Typically we are in bed at 1030pm lol.
The next day we headed to Sky Meadows State Park. Wow. They had the best trail marking system we have ever seen. At every intersection the color coded trails were listed with the level of difficulty. We hiked 4 miles and loved it. Afterwards we hit a gas station, bought our National Park Pass and then an Aldi's then back to the rig to relax.
We have the next 2 nights booked at wineries via Harvest Hosts. However we started talking and we thought about the need to make a purchase at the wineries which we usually do a bottle of wine and we would have to drive out of the park to the winery then drive into the park the next day versus staying in a campground in Shenandoah National Park.
The next morning we said goodbye to our hosts and headed south.
Our goal for the day was to do hikes in Shenandoah National Park. The campgrounds are first come first serve so we decided that morning we would drive through Skyline Drive and stop in at the campgrounds to see if there was vacancy. And there was. We dumped and got set up. We went to the visitor center and got info on hikes. We then hiked to a view and enjoyed sandwiches and a glass of wine.
The next day we did a 4 mile hike to Rapidan Camp. This was developed to be the "Camp David" by President Hoover. Then we did a 3 mile hike up Hawksbill Mtn. Which is the highest peak in the Shenandoah National Park at just over 4,000'. Then back to the rig. Talk with a couple in the next site then took out the grill and had a great meal.
The next day we headed south through the Shenandoah National Park I'm about 3 hours to Wirtz VA.
For the next two nights will be here at a boondock was welcome location that has 15 amp. The next day was a was a cold rain-filled day so while Trish went over to do laundry I recorded this episode. After today we will be stopping over in North Carolina to have dinner with one of the nurses I used to work with. Then we will be hitting a state park in North Carolina then out through Tennessee.

So what do you do to help manage your stress? Do you know someone who would benefit from listening to a stress mange exercise?

I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at RelaxRV.org/stressed-2-2/stressed-2

If that ain't your thing I made some videos about the improvements I mentioned and I posted them on YouTube at
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA
Or you can watch them on relaxrv.org/videos-the-good-the-bad-and-the-modifications/

Boondockers Welcome:
Here’s a discount to Boondockers Welcome, when you join use the coupon code (RELAXRV) to save 10% off your membership fee.
http://www.boondockerswelcome.com

Harvest Hosts:
Here’s a discount link to Harvest Hosts, when you use it, you’ll save 15% off of their annual membership fee.

http://harvesthosts.refr.cc/relaxrv And Use Code HHFRIENDS15 at Checkout!

I took some pictures and posted them on the RelaxRVPodcast Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/ for your enjoyment and edification.

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

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!

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Season 2 Episode 74
3/23/22

I had gone to the RV show at Rockland county community college in suffern New York back in February. It seems like a lot of the new rigs out there are getting rid of valances and putting up curtains.
It also seems like there's a lot more rigs out there with outdoor kitchens. Which got me thinking our first rig did not have one our second one does. And we don't use the outdoor kitchen very often.
Also I noticed not one rig or camper had a topper on its slide. We love our toppers.

I finished putting up the curtains in the living room which meant removing the valence and moving the light switch. A beautiful decision.
Here's a link to the before and after pics https://www.facebook.com/277623782811787/posts/1115125672394923/

I went to put out my awning and nothing. I then tried the over-the-cab bed also not working. All else working. Tried it on shore power, 12v batteries and generator. Same issues.
I checked 12v fuses, all good.
Are these 2 issues related?
I'm sure they are. The first thing I did was I went to the fuse box the over the cab bed and the awning are on the same 15 and fuse. I tested the fuse and tested good but I replaced it anyway. Nothing.

I called Thor support line. And so the headaches began. There was a recording that they were very overwhelmed and I wouldn't lose my spot and what I like a return call. I figured sure why not. Later that evening somebody was asking a question about Thor service so I told them my experience that I just mentioned. About an hour later I received a private message from a representative that Thor and she is assured me that she would start a ticket for me and have somebody call the next day.
She also told me that I need to register the rig at Thor this way I can be notified of recalls etc. Here's the website she gave me to do that: warrantysupport@tmcrv.com
The next day I did receive a call from a tech support at Thor. But for over an hour she had me looking for the over the cab bed controller. I couldn't locate it she said she would get back to me that afternoon.
A couple hours later she emailed me that there is no controller and I needed to replace a relay I found four of them I took a picture of the one I thought it was. I emailed it to the tech and she said yes that's the one you need to replace. I went online I ordered it it arrived at the house a few days later. I swapped out the relay the problem continued. I emailed her back and let her know this and she had me hook up an amp meter to different connections on the relay and I emailed her the results. She's then conferred with another tech for a couple of hours and got back to me and said the relay I replaced was not the right relay. She sent me the description and a picture of the correct relay.
That was inaccurate there was no other relay underneath the bed. I then sent her an email about my frustration because this has been going on for almost a week now. And I told her if she cannot resolve my issue I want to talk to the service manager. Well that never happened. So after 9 days of dealing with Thor tech I finally gave up. Our choices were to either bring it to a shop, Thor in Indiana, or call George Fry. If you listen to my previous episodes especially early on I've mentioned George's name a few times. George is a local mobile tech here in the Hudson Valley of New York. He helped us diagnose a problem with our solenoid operating our BCC battery control center on our last rig. When he found that problem he recommended we take it to four to have them fix it being a built it. And when our generator failed on our last rig he explained to me about finding the fault code and tracking down the problem while we were on the road near Canada. Here’s the episode where I talk about the BCC and Generator issue: https://www.spreaker.com/user/relaxrv/relax-rv-episode-5_1
Then about a year later I burst my hot water heater here's a video on that.
https://youtu.be/Ttkn2dYAh8Y
He suggested at that time I order a water heater myself and once it arrived here he installed it without an issue. I've talked to George numerous times regarding my furnace that wouldn't light here's my video on that.
George is a phenomenal resource. Here is his website: http://tlc-rv.com/ tell him I say hi.
So when I gave up on Thor tech for this issue I called George he came over that afternoon. He explained to me that the relay that Thor tech said I needed to replace was not the correct relay. So he did some testing and come to find out that relay that Thor diagnosed as the culprit ran the macerator pump for our outdoor kitchen. SMH. He then started pulling out the switches for the bed and for the awning he traced wires. How he knew which wire to trace is beyond me I'm not an electrician. He then ran some jump wires to diagnose where the brake was. At that point he crawled underneath the rig found the wire that he needed to trace and traced it all the way from the front wheel on the passenger side to the back wheel on the driver side while it was wrapped in loom along with 20 other wires. Then he said I found it! There was a bare piece of wire that had been rubbing against the frame of the RV because Thor had not secured all of the wires inside the loom. So he cut out that bad piece of bare wire put in a butt connector secured it back inside the loom and secure the outside of the loom to keep the wires securely inside the loom. While under there he also tightened up a few loose grounds.
George had been here a total of 2 hours. When we were settling the bill I told George you have been here four times at my rig in my driveway. You've been a resource on phone calls when I'm traveling around. And all of that you've only charged me one call for the water heater. I explained to him that I have given you nice tips in the past but this time I want you to charge a fair amount, do not shortchange yourself. He laughed and gave me a super low ball price basically he charged me for 1 hours worth of work while he was here for two and fixed the problem and did an on-site call which should have been another charge. Thank you George I think you might be listening to this episode.
So the next day I crawled underneath the rig and I secured more loom where I could see loose wires. I also tightened up another ground that I had found. And then went into the rig sort of closing everything back up putting away light switches which George was going to do and I told him I got it George thank you.

So now I'm sitting in the rig with an awning that's working and over the cab bed that's working and we're leaving in 2 and 1/2 weeks or so for a 2-month trip down south through the Shenandoah Blue ridge mountains North Carolina Tennessee Kentucky West Virginia Virginia New Jersey and back home. In that time we will be picking up Kingston Trish's grandson and we wanted this bed operating for him. So here I am in the rig closing up things and said well now is a good time for a podcast episode. So right now it's 38° outside here in New York. The rig was 41 when I came into it I turned on the electric heat strip that I had mounted last full in our roof air conditioning unit. And here it is an hour later and it is now 55° in the rig. And the furnace didn't kick on at all.
Last week when we discovered the awning issue I had looked underneath the rig to see if I can find a loose wire somewhere. When I got a faint smell of propane. Unfortunately when we parked the rig in the beginning of the winter I didn't turn off the propane at the tank. So I knew that I had replaced the propane line in the back of the rig for the grill quick disconnect but this was coming right near the tank. So I started taking apart connections near the regulator. I found two problems. An o-ring had a crack in it on one of the connections so I replaced that and then I took the connections off of the regulator and there should have been gas line sealing tape on two of the connections where there was no rubber seals. So I took them apart sealed them and put them back together. Problem solved unfortunately I lost a half of tank of propane over the winter. The great news is it didn't catch on fire lol. Folks you always need to look on the bright side in rving and in life otherwise you'll go mad.
And now it's time to start getting ready for our RV trip yay. We started planning this trip a few weeks ago and over the course of about four evenings we had our route laid out. This is a short video showing how we plan our routes.

It looks like we will be on the road for about 7 weeks. Our first stop will be a Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania. We will stay at a hand full of wineries via Harvest Hosts. And about half of our nights will be spent at Boondockers Welcome locations. All of which have at least 15 amp electric and a few have 50 amp. And 1 had a dump.
The majority of the campgrounds are Passport America campgrounds which will cost us half of their typical rate.
If you go to relaxrv.org/discounts there are links to memberships at all 3 of these companies. Harvest Hosts. Boondockers Welcome. And Passport America.

We will be away for 7 weeks for a total cost of $650 in camping fees. Not too shabby.

So the next episode will be In about 3 weeks. And we will probably be somewhere in the Shenandoah’s at that time.

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

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Season 2 Episode 73
2/20/22
Welcome to all you new listeners and welcome back to all you long time listeners.
Each month the number of episode downloads just so thank you

So I had just finished recording the last episode and I went to go move the RV so we could bring firewood from our backyard to our house. And the lock on the RV broke. I climbed in the window took it apart from the inside and here's a video of this easy way I removed this broken lock.
https://youtu.be/NERHUQKgbNg
On our last rig we had the same issue except I needed to disassemble the lock to get the door open so it took many hours here's what we did the first time on lock broke.
https://youtu.be/qgLsNSM9mdg
But, when the lock broke this time I just took a deep breath let it out and said I'll deal with it as it unfolds.
So I ordered a replacement lock from etrailer, installed it in a few minutes, problem solved. However I contacted them about fitment and they didn't answer my questions. It is slightly smaller than the original and the only way to lock it from inside is with the deadbolt. Oh well.

I started ripping out the valance in the living room. We had replaced the bedroom valances with curtains and loved it. So we figured we would replace the one in our living room too. For this room we went with a heavy insulated curtain. Why? When we sit in the recliners in the cooler temps we feel a draft so we figured why not.
But, as always it's never an easy fix with a rig.
When we bought this rig we had moved the light switch so Trish could reach it. I had mounted it on the valance LOL. So now I need to rewire that light switch again. It will be a surface mount light switch so I needed an extension box to hold the switch off of the wall. And it was no easy task finding a 3 way switch to work with the extension box.
I also needed to get conduit channels to hide the wires. Now all the alterations that we needed have been delivered so in between our snowmobiling trips I've been working on the electrical switch movement. Next will be the removal of the valance, remounting the pull down shade to the wall and the installing the curtain rod.

Speaking of snowmobile trips we went up to Forestport New York for a few days and loved it. https://www.instagram.com/p/CYujA6LprXs/?utm_medium=copy_link

The reason we went upstate was there was no snow by us. We but then did a day trip to the Catskills for snowmobiling with the loved. We then went over to New Jersey to Ringwood State Park and did a day of snowmobiling there. I did a day of snowmobiling at Stuart field in Newburgh. And another day in Montgomery New York and The Promised Lands State Park in PA.
Then we saw the Adirondacks was getting dumped on 11 inches of snow so we planned a 4-day trip to Lake George New york. https://www.instagram.com/p/CZp6XW5M3cF/?utm_medium=copy_link

We realized our snowmobiling trips or much like our RVing trips. While are being if we stay in one area too long we get very bored so we've learned for us what works is two nights at any one location and then extended from there depending on how much to do in the area. So we cut Lake George short by one day so we spent three days instead of four there. And then in the middle of February we went up to Tupper Lake New York where we had four nights booked at an airbnb. But we changed it to three nights. Again a good choice.
So now it's time to await more snow so it's back to the valance replacement.

We are in the planning stages of our Spring trip in April to Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and who knows where else. Yay, we can't wait. Here’s a link to a short video explaining how we plan our trips https://youtu.be/m17giRxNVs0

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!

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Season 2 Episode 72 1/16/22 RVing the peaceful way
Happy New Year everyone.
We decided to install a heat strip in our roof AC. I saw that adding the heat strip wouldn't be too much work and not a ton of money. So I confirmed that our AC could be adapted. I had emailed Airxcel at rvpsupport@airxcel.com and gave them my AC model number, they replied the next day saying it could be modified with a heat strip but I would need to swap out out my controller and thermostat to have it work. They gave me the model numbers for the parts.
So for $190 and about 2 hours of install work, we now have electric heat throughout our whole rig. Yay, that will save us a lot of money as compared to propane for our furnace heat.
I learned this while installing the solar on my 1st rig:
Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs
- Henry Ford
I recently came across this gem of a book where I found that quote. 365 Quotes to Live Your Life By https://amzn.to/3t77fv8 It truly follows how I strive to live life.

I created a friendly Facebook group for RVers, share and join if you like to share, learn and teach is a calm peaceful group. But without the drama, this group will never take off.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/604984417456152/?ref=share

We heard the upstate NY was getting a lot of snow. We thought about towing our snowmobile behind our rig and doing some camping while sledding. But the temps we going to be around -15 at night so we decided not to push our luck with our rig, so we rented a air bnb towed the sled behind our Subaru. We stayed at an AirBnB. Great host. We rode our sled (snowmobile) over 100 miles and loved it ! We booked another Airbnb in Tupper Lake New York and then another one in Pennsylvania over the next one month. Riding a snowmobile has a lot of learning curves just like rving. After all snowmobile is an RV LOL. We had her mishaps while riding like getting stuck in a pond after we broke through some ice and rolling over while going up the hill. Thank goodness no injuries to us or the sled.

There are many times in life and in RVing that things don't go exactly as we hoped and planned. I believe that the key to happiness is flexible and accepting of situations that come up that we do not plan nor desire. I remember years ago passing a church and outside was a sign that said those who are flexible will not be bent out of shape. And that too reflects my philosophy on life. Now trust me I haven't been like this my whole life. There's a reason why I became a Stress Management consultant, I did not like the way stress was affecting me. And so I began the process of changing my reactions to stressors.
All of this just happened to coincide with me becoming a nurse. As a nurse I could see the effects of stress on the body. I remember back in 2019 when in the middle of a cold night our furnace died and our batteries died. I took out my phone and I videoed what was going on with the rig and here's the link to that video, https://youtu.be/PzLN9qV0bu8 and a friend of mine watched that video and said he could see the despair on my face and he also said he would not have handled it so calmly. When he said that to me I reflected on how fast are stress response happens. It happened so fast to me in that video he could see the effects. However that night after making that video, I crawled into bed pulled up the down comforter and fell asleep. We cannot stop the instantaneous response to stress. But we can change how long that initial response lasts. This is why I encourage everybody to practice relaxation techniques. Here is a link to my free recordings Relaxrv.org/help

One of the ways I've changed, is how I hike. When I first started hiking my Pace was fast to cover as many miles as possible. Through the years I've learned to slow down and enjoy just being present. Now some of my favorite time in the woods is when I cover the least amount of miles. That means my pace has slowed and I find myself more relaxed.
I remember about 20 years ago, wow where did the time go? I was telling a co-worker about mountain biking in Harriman State Park in New York. She laughed and said did you go racing through the woods? And I said well I was very familiar with the trail so parts of it especially the downhills I was going really fast, but there are a couple of spots where I like to sit and reflect on that trail. So I was very happy to see when I returned to my car, that ride took me longer than usual because of all the breaks I took. She said, ha now that sounds like you, Pauly Wallie.. (which is what she liked to call me. Hi Lydia if you're listening.
Now of course there are times that I do want to cover miles more quickly. I remember in 2018 when Trish and I were hiking and glacier National Park and we realized we were on the trail that was closed because of bear activity. Somebody or some animal had ripped down the signs at the trailhead. After hiking about two and a half miles I realized that this trail was actually supposed to be marked as closed, but we were halfway through with the hike so the next two and a half miles were very noisy, with us making lots of vocalizations and was as quick as possible in a safe manner. LOL, you want to talk about being stressed?
Also on that hike we we were on a trail that was open to people when we passed a couple of trail workers that were improving a section of the trail. They said they were out there for 5 days sleeping in the tent and working on the trail during the days. So after the hike we've returned to the end and were enjoying a glass of wine when a young couple who were full timing came and joined us for a bit. They said they were doing that trail to grinnell glacier the next day. I said if I bought a six pack of beer would you be willing to drop it to those trail workers? And he laughed and said absolutely! About a month later I received an email from that full-timer with a picture of the two trail workers holding the six pack with big smiles and a nice wave. To this day that memory brings me so much joy.

There are tools that we can use when stressed. But just like any other tool that we use, the more we use it the better we become at using it. So, take a nice deep breath let it out and relax. If you have gone to my website you see that I do not have any ads there. My primary goal with my website is to help people, not to make money. So no ads, no pop-ups, no distractions. And I'm sure you noticed and perhaps you even appreciate the fact that my podcast does not have any ads laced throughout it. Again I do that for you the listener. If however I come across a product that I am totally 100% believe in, I may at some point start doing advertising for it. But again if ads start appearing in the podcast they are there for your edification and benefit.

On my website I updated and added a few books about RVing that helped us when we were newbies. And there's a couple there about Stress Management. Here's a link to that page:
Relaxrv.org/books

Here’s a link to the 5 Star Tuner we installed, which helped the rigs shifting and downshifting and it too out gas mileage from 7.5mpg to 10mpg. https://amzn.to/3IdkleW

At this point we have been members of Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Hosts for over 3 years. Here's our total stays for each:
Nights locations
BDW 207 95
HH 18 16

Here’s a link to various RVing discounts: Relaxrv.org,discounts

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!

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We headed to NJ and Pennsylvania to see a reenactment of George Washington crossing the Delaware on Christmas day which he did in 1776. But before I get into that, on October 26th while recording the last episode, a package was delivered to the house. I did not want to interrupt the recording so I didn't check what the delivery was. It was our surge protector from progressive Industries so it took them less than a week to mail us a replacement with no email no notification no nothing except a new progressive Industries 30 amp EMS portable protector for our rig. Yay. This is our third surge protector albeit we only paid for 1. Here’s a link to our surge protector https://amzn.to/3EBd1Hw

John and Kathy Huggins in the later episodes of their podcast Living the RV Dream, often mentioned having a 'exit plan'. Plan ahead of time, to know when it's time to leave the road, when to part with your RV and where to live when the times arises. I'm sure I couldn't do that.
But we met wonderful folks in Vermont who are facing that bittersweet time and are contemplating their fairwell trip.
My hats off to them.
I think if I were in that position now, I would make plans for an epic trip but knowing I would never actually take that trip knowing it's my final trip. I would rather sit and plan of the 'someday' trip.

So we I have been home for a while with the rig and we have no other trips planned anytime soon. The leveling system is working great ! It was a $1,000 fix but they are working better than ever. When we first this thing a year ago, it would not level itself automatically. No matter è many times I recalibrated it. Now it works better than ever. Yay.
So now we're felling trees and splitting wood for the wood stove. Spending time with my grandson Maverik.
Tweaking things on the rig and our stone and mortar house.
We took delivery of our 2022 Skidoo Grand Touring Limited 2 up snowmobile. So hopefully we will be doing day trips and some overnight trips with the RV towing the sled. We plan on staying in the promised land State Park in Pennsylvania. And we found a private campground in New Hampshire that's open year-round and is convenient to snowmobile trails. Here's a video of our sled (snowmobile) https://youtu.be/TZY_D30GId4
I also returned to yoga classes this time in Goshen NY. It really helps me relax and loosen up my arthritic joints.
Also I am updating the website making it a little easier to navigate. Adding links to discounts for you folks at
relaxrv.org/discounts
Also adding books on my recommended RVing book page
Relaxrv.org/books

And I added a new blog to my website. It's titled "Health Problems Related to Stress". Here's a link to it:
Relaxrv.org/catagory/blog
When you visit the page click on the "follow" link to be notified when I add a blog.

Now let's talk about George Washington. We booked a Boondockers Welcome location not far from there. We stayed here when we visited Princeton NJ. They have FULL hook-ups with 50amp. During our last stay here, I was talking to our host about this reenactment. It had been on my list for a couple of years to see. So this conversation really whetted my appetite. And Trish's aunt and cousins invited us to Christmas eve and Christmas dinner at their places which isn't far away. So with all the plans made in the rig winterized we went out turned on our refrigerator and freezer. Turned on the heat tape and tank heating pads. And filled up the fresh water tank. We also started up the hot water heater. Next we flushed out the antifreeze that was in any of the lines. There wasn't much because I only put antifreeze into the outdoor kitchen and the outdoor shower. However to get the antifreeze there it didn't run through the lines. Once that was done I blew out the lines with air except for the the outdoor kitchen and shower. I had put in a automatic stop valve where the lines enter the outdoor kitchen and the outdoor shower so this way those fixtures are protected with antifreeze and we won't be using them in the winter.
Then on Christmas Eve morning we fired up the rig hooked up the Jeep and headed south to see family and the reenactment. Here's a link to the reenactment website. https://www.washingtoncrossingpark.org/cross-with-us/

We left Orange County NY and took Rt 206 all the way down. According to the GPS it was 10 minutes longer than the Garden State parkway but has NO tolls. And NO traffic so it was actually faster than the highway. We now love taking local roads.
I had been fighting a bug for awhile so we weren't sure if this trip was going to happen. But here we are on the road.
We arrived at our boondockers welcome location, got set up and headed over to the D&R canal for a 4 mile walk. Then drove over to aunt and for Christmas Eve dinner. Then back to the rig. Christmas morning we had breakfast at the rig. Then to Pennsylvania for the reenactment. The actors did a great job at reliving Washington's famous crossing across the Delaware River. They do two crossings a year both in December. George Washington did it on Christmas day so that's the one we wanted to see. A great turnout. The reenactment was wonderful but the narration could have been tweaked a little bit better. But it was a really nice thing to do on a Christmas Day especially for American revolution history buffs. We were surprised at how little of the history is still at the location of Washington's launch. And we were equally surprised at how much there was on the New Jersey side at Washington's landing.
We did some walking around the 2 sites.
George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, which occurred on the night of December 25–26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, was the first move in a surprise attack organized by George Washington against Hessian forces in Trenton, New Jersey.
Here are pictures of the reenactment:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CX8zf4cur8i/?utm_medium=copy_link

Then had sushi dinner in Princeton as there was a family member who had contact with someone who has Covid. I was just getting over a 5 week long viral illness and we didn't want to risk infection. So after dinner back to the rig for a relaxing evening.
Then the next morning we packed up. Dumped our tanks at our boondockers welcome location and headed home.

At this point we have been members of Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Hosts for over 3 years. Here's our total stays for each:
Nights locations
BDW 207 95
HH 18 16
Here’s a link to my discounts page with links to both memberships: Relaxrv.org/discounts

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I met Gina in Albany NY, who runs a non profit that brings yoga and mindfulness to first responders and front line workers . That account is @courageouswarriorcoalition
Changed the oil on a motorhome and the two cars. We got the rig loaded up for a 11-day trip through New Jersey. We have reserved a campground for two nights at 2 different wineries through Harvest Hosts. And five nights at 2 different Boondockers Welcome locations. Both have electric and the last one has a dump available, yay. On the way South we hopped on the garden State parkway and was very confusing about where motorhomes were allowed and weren't allowed. So we emailed the New Jersey turnpike authority and asked about any restrictions for a 30-foot motorhome towing a jeep and they responded back "no restrictions".
So our first stop is old cedar Campground. We are picking up our grandson and taking him there for a haunted Halloween Walk and trick or treating.
Pulled in plugged in progressive Industries EMS and our post had 136 volts. So the surge protector did what it was supposed to do. But that meant we didn't have electricity. And so they moved us to a vacant spot even though they were full. We picked up Trish's grandson went back to the rig and had T bones on the grill. Then we did a spooky walk in the campground, what fun ! This was our 1st Halloween in a campground. Then we lit a campfire and relaxed. The next day we played miniature golf, pool and such. We then walked from the campground to the local winery. Then out for dinner and back to the rig we played cards and read in the rain.
The next morning we talked to the campground to see if we can leave the rig there for a while while we drove our grandson home. They said sure no problem. I then disconnected and noticed our water pump was not working. I checked the fuse that wasn't it I took out the wall panel to get at the pump. I can hear the pump pumping but not very loudly so I figured it must be a clogged filter on the pump turned off the pump closed the water valve took out the filter and voila that was the problem. So after we get back to the rig we drove a full half hour to Bellview Winery for a Harvest Host stay. Here's a is a link to a discount for Harvest Hosts, Boondockers Welcome, solar equipment and RV mattresses
https://relaxrv.org/discounts-to-help-lower-your-stress/
On the way we drove through Vineland and Trish noted Vineland is the largest city in New Jersey. We bought a bottle of wine and a sangria and sat and enjoyed a glass. Then we drove over to Parvin State Park for about four and a half miles. Then back to the ring set by the vineyard and enjoyed a glass of their wine and sandwiches Trish had made, but it was too cold and we went into the rig to eat and put refectix in the windows. It was 42 degrees Sunday night. Next day we hooked up and drove an hour to Natali Vineyards in Cape May Court House, NJ. for another night at a Harvest Hosts location. But on the way, we hopped off the GSP and drove along the NJ shore and visited Sea Isle City. But to get there we had to go over a drawbridge and while we fit there was only about 2 in on each side of the rig. It was a little out of my comfort zone. We got to Natalie Winery checked in bought bottle of wine and a and a dark chocolate covered biscotti. Unhooked the Jeep and drove over to the Cape May park and zoo. https://www.capemaycountynj.gov/1148/Plan-Your-Visit
They have free admission and some nice trails it was a nice way to spend a chilly windy afternoon. On the way back to the rig we stopped at
Jessie Creek winery, then to the rig for dinner.
The next day we drove north to the Pine Barrens, to a Boondockers Welcome host location. Apparently the Pine Barrens is known as the "Blueberry Capital of the World".
https://www.jerseysbest.com/community/how-the-pine-barrens-became-one-of-the-blueberry-capitals-of-the-world/
and there are a lot of cranberry Bogs here. Apparently most of the cranberries go to Ocean Spray.
We were here for 2 nights and the host offered 15amp. To get here we avoided the GSP and took local roads which was nice. We got set up and drove into the pine barrens. We drove in about 3 miles and then hiked for 4 more miles. Went back to rig and cooked dinner on the grill. Our hosts invited us to join them at their fire pit. Where we had a nice conversation exchanging traveling experiences.
The next day we drove 15 miles through the Pine Barrens to Batsto Village https://batstovillage.org/ .
A very interesting piece of history. We then drove back into the pine barrens and hiked for 3 miles. We then went to Valenzano Winery, where we had a glass of their wine. We stopped at Russo's fruit and vegetables farm. Wow what a huge place. We bought a few different items. Then to the rig for salmon on the grill.
The next day we headed north to Princeton, NJ. To another boondockers welcome host location. We chose this location for two reasons one is close to Trish's aunt and cousins. Any other reason is it's close to where my brother Mike and his wife Jen used to live. We pulled in. Met our host. We plugged in but our EMs gave an error code of reversed polarity. And talked to our host he said he's never had an issue and pulled out of voltmeter everything was wired correctly. So perhaps the high voltage reading at the campground earlier the week was false. We completed an online warranty claim for progressive Industries and we'll see what happens.
We then headed over to the D&R canal hopped on or tandem bike and road for about 5 miles, stopped and had sandwiches and a glass of wine and rode back to the car. We then drove to The Tigers Tale restaurant and bar. Why? This was the place that Mike and Jen frequented. Trish and I had visited them years ago before they moved to Florida and they brought us there one evening. So we wanted to visit #tigerstaleprinceton @tigerstalenj

tigerstale and toasted Mike and Jen. It was bittersweet. We met a bunch of the staff who knew them and they shared wonderful memories of them with us. ❤ Love you guys ! https://tigerstalenj.com/

The next day we visited Princeton University. We walked around for over 3 hours looking at the architecture and such. Beautiful. We got fantastic crepes at Jammin Crepes, YUM. We then went to a local Winery but saw their prices of wine we hopped back in the car and headed back to the canal path for a short walk. Then back to the rig we cooked shrimp and asparagus wrapped in prosciutto. Yum again. The next day we visited with Trish’s aunt and cousins. A great time catching up with everyone. The next day we packed up and headed home. We took local roads which added 15 mins but saved us $12 in tolls. Gotta love the north east.

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!

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We tweaked a few things in the rig. We had a water leak whilst hooked up to city water. I thought there was a loose connection somewhere. Actually the line coming into the rig was kinked and the back pressure caused it. I took off the line straightened it out and viola fixed. Also, we installed curtains in the bedroom. Wow what a great upgrade. Heres a video showing the curtains https://youtu.be/D5Y5zNK4CzI
We have stayed at almost 100 Boondockers Welcome locations for over 200 nights and 16 Harvest Hosts. Heres a link to discounts on those memberships https://relaxrv.org/discounts-to-help-lower-your-stress/
So on October 1st 2021 we pulled out of our driveway and headed north west to another boondockers welcome location about a half hour outside of Syracuse New York. We pulled in our host met us helped us get set up and we engaged in nice conversations. While I was talking to her I heard a crash inside the RV I looked at our house and I said I think Trish just dropped the coffee pot. She did. So we had plans on heading to a local park to do some hiking but instead we decided to go buy a coffee pot at Walmart near Syracuse. Then we went to Green lakes State Park and did a phenomenal hike around their green lakes. And the reason we were up here was to do the Big East powersports show at the State fairgrounds in Syracuse. The show was focused on snowmobiles. Back in February we ordered a 2022 skidoo 2 up sled. And we have concerns of when it's going to be delivered because of Chip shortage. So we headed over we actually got to sit on the sled that we ordered. And this really wetted our appetite. While walking around the show we saw a guy selling Garmin GPS's with preloaded snowmobile maps of the Northeast. We talked to him about price and then we went and looked at the GPS we had selected on Amazon and also the maps of the Northeast that I've been waiting to purchase. Buying the GPS and maps through his company https://netrailgps.com/ was phenomenally priced.
We were told by a Skidoo rep that the dealers have received a list of delivery dates on some sleds. So we contacted our dealer and he said we are on the list for a November delivery. We are hoping that the sled comes in complete with all chips gadgets lights everything.
The next day we decided to walk around the city of Syracuse and in less than an hour we are ready to do something else. So we went over to Onondaga State Park in road or bike for about 10 MI on the shore of the lake. Very pretty. Everything came back to the rig I looked for my phone and I couldn't find it. Trish grabbed her phone and she saw a text from my daughter that a guy found my phone. So I reached out to the wonderful gentleman got his address and took a ride to his house. Apparently when we were loading the bike onto the car I laid the phone down and left it down and left it there. And also apparently cuz I backed out of the parking lot I ran over the phone and cracked it, thank goodness it's still functioning. Paul take a nice deep breath let It go just relax. That night we had dinner and rig the next morning we said goodbye to our host. Or driving over towards Troy New York when Trish found a winery along the way so we stopped in for a glass of wine.
Afterwards we pulled into our campsite in Troy New York. I ran the hydraulic levelers but it would not level. I looked and only one Jack was down. I reset the keypad try to retract that one Jack would not go up the others would not go down. I knew I could manually override the system but wasn't exactly sure how so I googled it and found the video I then retracted the one Jack that was down. So at least we were not stuck in place. I then started checking wires and fuses but couldn't find anything wrong. I had Trish run the Jack's well I sat by the motor and I could hear a metallic click I reached out to lippert they emailed me things to check but by this time we were already on our way home. We pulled in to our driveway we unpacked and remember I am no electrician I did what I thought they wanted me to do to me it sounded like possibly the motor or the solenoid. I emailed them what I found and they said nope we don't think that's your problem they suggested other things that I check I quickly got out of my comfort zone. I reached out to George fry our local RV repair guy in Hudson Valley. We have another trip down through New Jersey in a week and a half from now at the jacks aren't working and we can't get it level we can't get the slides out safely. So hopefully George will be able to guide me into a simple and inexpensive fix. The motor runs around $1,200 ugh. While waiting on George who is swamped and crazy busy. I decided to call Lippert again. They patiently walked me through testing the solenoid and motor. Our issue was a bad motor. They suggested I replace the Solenoid when I replace the motor. They switched over to their parts dept and she suggested that I replace the sealed coupler when I replace motor. So we ran down the price of motor was just under $1100, is solenoid was $98 and the sealed coupler was $31. So all the parts are $1200 then in one of their emails they gave me a code for 10% off. Which was LCIcares. My next question to them was how bad is the shipping going to be for all this and she said well in order to use that discount you have to order the parts online but she reassured me that the shipping was not going to be much at all. I went online ordered all the parts took the 10% off the shipping came out to just over $5. They had all the items in stock and they would arrive at my door in 3 days. I'll tell you what I cannot believe the customer service I received at lippert. In fact the next day after I ordered the parts I called their tech support for the third time and I said I just ordered all these parts I just want to make sure it's the motor can you guide me through how to test the solenoid and the motor again and the gentleman said absolutely it took his time because I don't know one thing from another lol. We confirmed that it was a bad motor. While I was waiting for the parts to come in the mail I started taking apart the old leveling system.
The only issue with the pump motor was the mounting bolts were different than what they described in their PDF and when I called they didn't know about these two additional mounting bolts I made a video about the issue and here's a link to the video https://youtu.be/yxLx0ZQKFzQ But the leveling system now works great. And off to our next adventure.

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!

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Over 7,000 downloads ! Awesome, I hope you are enjoying it.
We left you after we visited Mt Washington, NH
We drove 2.5 hrs to Newport Center, VT. Which is in the North East Kingdom. Yep. We are at a Boondockers Welcome location for 4 nights.
The next day we went to Derby Line, VT. What an interesting place ! This town borders canada. There's yellow ribbon crossing over the street at the border border patrol was sitting in their car just watching and protecting. There's also a library and Opera House which is half in Canada and half in the us. The books on the American side were in English while most of the books on the canadian side were in French. We were talking to a volunteer and the librarian assistant and had a wonderful lengthy conversation about the borderline and etc. Heres a link to the Haskell Free Library and Opera House https://maps.app.goo.gl/GrJkJfrUR3sezMuf6 Here's a link to our pictures of this town and library on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTaoTCdsJ1z/?utm_medium=copy_link
We wanted to get a little active so we hiked up Avril mountain it was only about a mile to the top but apparently Vermont does not believe in switchbacks. So it was straight up about 600 ft in elevation. But the view up there was definitely worth it. We met a woman at the top we shared some of our wine with her. We had a nice conversation about rving and it sounded like we waited her appetite for wanderlust. Hi Terry if you're listening. She is suggested us hiking up Brousseau Mtn. Which we did.
http://canaanvt.com/item/brousseau-mountain/
We then headed over to Jed's Maple store. http://www.jedsmaple.com/
That evening we ate at at the East Side Restaurant, https://www.eastsiderestaurant.net/
The next day we took a ride down to Willoughby State Forest and Lake willoughby. For many many years I've been wanting to hike up Mount Pisgah. And today we did., Here are pics from our hike up Mt Pisgahhttps://www.instagram.com/p/CTe2noZMS7w/?utm_medium=copy_link
We wanted to visit the Cabot cheese factory and Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Cabot was closed and Ben and Jerry's were not doing tours. Then the rain came in and we had 3 hours to kill before meeting our friends from our home town for dinner, so unfortunately we canceled our dinner plans and headed back up north.
The next day we went to Philo Mt. and hiked to the top. The trail was new and in my opinion it was a tab over developed. Lots of stone steps and very wide. Great views of Lake Champlain. Then we hiked down on the Devil's Seat Trail which was more like a hiking trail. Pics of Mt Philo https://www.instagram.com/p/CTkeFfuFvZs/?utm_medium=copy_link
From there we visited Shelburne Farm. An interesting place. They gave no history of the farm, which was owned by the Vanderbilt's and was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who helped design NY Citys central park. A beautiful barn ! And free to visit. Here are a few pics https://www.instagram.com/p/CTmipC8MZb4/?utm_medium=copy_link

The next day we went to Mud Pond Country park. We expected to do 2.5 miles of walking but the map wasn't clear so we ended up doing almost 5 miles But it was nice.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/5dChCjcMhX6kMaEo8.
We drove to a park and grab the bike and rode on lakefront bike trail up to the causeway it was a total of 14 mi round trip. Here's pics from the causeway https://www.instagram.com/p/CTpKn-bFCEq/?utm_medium=copy_link
We had found this causeway Trail a couple years ago and we marked it on our Google maps and we are so glad we did. Here's a video of how we plan our trips:
https://youtu.be/m17giRxNVs0
The next day we said goodbye to our wonderful hosts and drove to the Lake Bomoseen KOA in VT. If you watched the video of our route planning you know KOAs are our last choice, but they were doing a promotion of BOGO this weekend. So we figured sure we'll take a free night lol. So we got to site and set up. We did laundry and such. The next day we went to Mt Moosalamoo and did a 5.5 mile beautiful hike. The next morning, we paddled on Lake Bomoseen for an hour or so. The campground had a launch so we took advantage of it. We then went to Randolf, VT. to our next Boondockers Welcome location. We met our really welcoming hosts. They explained that Vermont has the 2nd lowest population of all the states, We then took a ride to the only floating bridge east of the Mississippi. It's located in Brookfield VT. Here are pics of it. https://www.instagram.com/p/CTvX445sao2/?utm_medium=copy_link
As we left VT we looked back and saw that we were in Vermont for a week and a half. And out of that time we spent two nights at a campground. And of that we only paid for 1 night. So the cost to us was $54 to stay a week and a half in Vermont. We love boondockers welcome. So we went through our list of stays at boondockers welcome locations over the past 3 years. We have stayed at over 90 locations for a total of almost 200 nights. Unbelievable.
We then drove 2 hours south to White Birch campground in Waverly MA.
This was a passport from America's day so we got the site for half price. We met our campost and her boyfriend who were wonderful people.
We arrived back at our rig and the camphost dropped off a load of firewood. The next day we drove to Greenfield and hiked to The Poet's Seat Tower and Sachems Head. This is a scenic hike that follows a ridge line. We hiked about 5 easy miles, except for a 0.25 mile section that was very steep. Pics: https://www.instagram.com/p/CT0V522gv95/
We then stopped at Pekarski's Sausage in Deerfield, MA. Delicious German meats. https://pekarskis.com/ That evening we went to Northampton walked around this great little city. We stopped in at a place called tunnel bar for a drink. https://www.thetunnelbar.com/
Pics: https://www.instagram.com/p/CT6DQwJs8YH/?utm_medium=copy_link
The next day we took a very short ride to a trailhead for the Appalachian Trail. We started and saw a sign saying there was a lean to about 4 MI from the car. So we made that our destination. Here's a video of it and on my Instagram page are more pics of the hike. https://www.instagram.com/p/CT78XXQJsOb/?utm_medium=copy_link
The next day, Saturday 9/18/21, we headed west to Cobbleskill, NY. Our last night of this trip was at Grapevine Vineyard, who's is a Harvest Host location. https://www.grapevinefarms.com/ We got back to the RV turned on the furnace because we were at a harvest hose location without shore power. The furnace tried to kick on then shut off. It turns out Honeywell thermostats are typically 24 volts took out the Honeywell thermostat I wired in the original mechanical piece of junk thermostat everything works fine. I then ordered a digital thermometer from Amazon made by Coleman Mach installed it and have no issues. Here's a link to the digital thermostat that I ended up going with. https://amzn.to/3o3M5f0

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!

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S2 E67
9/2021 New England 2021 1.0
So I installed the Maxx Air Fan 7500k in our bedroom. This RV had a fan but it didn't have a remote and it would only exhaust. We had installed and loved the 7500k in our previous rig. It's nice to have a remote fan in the bedroom. And it has a thermostat setting. https://amzn.to/3fplK5S
The install wasn't bad to do.
So, the next project was ... solar ! I had installed solar in our last rig. Now this system is up and running. We have 800 watts on the roof, a 60 amp mppt charge controller and a 4000 watt pure sine wave inverter. We love solar and having an inverter. With the solar and the inverter it freezes us up to camp and more remote locations like national forests. Some places don't offer any amenities and they limit generator use so this system works great for us. I'll post a video on it soon.
After that was done we cleaned and restocked the rig and finally hit the road on 8/20/21 for our Northeast 2.0 trip. Our 1st stop was at Boondockers Welcome location near Lyme CT. This had a reminded me of a book I had read a while back about the theory of the origin of Lyme Disease by Michael C. Carroll. Here's a link to that book.
https://amzn.to/3m5YVIH
This drive was just under 3 hours from home which was perfect for us. On the way we stopped for gas. I was surprised when the pump shut earlier than expected so I restarted it and shut off. We had been getting 8 mpg when we bought the rig. I just rechecked it, we are getting 10mpg ! A 25% increase and again all because of the 5 Star tuner. This is a phenomenal product. It has helped the rigs transmission, which is why we had bought it. I had heard it will help with gas mileage but .... wow !! We love it even more now. Here is a link to the tuner.
https://amzn.to/3jEGytb
We set up and our boondock are welcome host site. And via a recommendation from a host we drove over to Salmon River Park. We hike for about 5 miles. Then headed back to the rig cook dinner on the grill and headed over to Arrigoni Winery.
The next day we visited Gillette Castle in East Haddan, CT. Wow ! Our friends told us about this place many years ago and we had to saved on our Google maps to visit. We did the self-guided tour of the castle which took about a half hour. Then we worked the grounds for another hour and a half or so. What a great State Park. Here's a link to pics of the Castle
https://www.instagram.com/p/CS4_-f3p-cd/?utm_medium=copy_link
We then met our friends Maureen and Jim who originally told us about Gillette Castle, for dinner. We ate at La Vita in Haddan CT. and had an excellent meal and visit.
We then headed back to the rig. Hurricane Henri is expected in this area starting tomorrow morning so we hooked up the Jeep and got everything set to leave first thing in the morning. Our goal is to make it to Wordens Pond Campground in Wakefield, RI the next morning. Well we woke up early got on the road started calling the campground to make sure they were open and a half hour after being on the road they finally answered the phone and said they were open but they were encouraging everybody to leave and the roads to get to the campground we're closed by the state Rhode Island. So returned around I started heading west on 84 and we pulled up our Harvest host app and we found a harvest hose location near Waterbury Connecticut. To gravel parking lot and while they had no amenities they also had no trees to crush the RV with. So we contacted the host pulled in and set up. Rained on and off all day. The sore that the weather for tomorrow in Rhode Island wasn't going to be too bad so in the morning we hooked up and started driving east.
Once we hit Rhode Island we sure the damage from hurricane henry. A lot of trees down some road closures. We got to the campground which is Worden pond Campground and we were told we may not have electric I didn't know when they were going to get it reinstated from The Storm. We pulled into the site a half hour later the electric kicked on and stayed on the whole time. This is a really nice campground. Fabulous wifi and Lots of big old trees unfortunately some of them came down during the storm and Campground staff were very busy coming up trees getting limbs off of campers. We're really glad we didn't come here the day before. In the morning packed up started heading east towards Massachusetts and we wanted to stop along the way at The Cliff Walk. We got into Newport RI and called the visitor center to find out where we could park the rig. They explained that there's a beach parking area that can accommodate bigger rigs so we drove there and found out the lot was closed because the hurricane had washed a lot of sand into the lot. So we called them back and they gave us another location to park. On the way to that location we found Newport casino and we said well that's perfect Park. We pulled in and the casinos was out of business. But there were a couple of trucks parked in the lot so we pulled the rig in we unhooked and took the Jeep over to The Cliff Walk. Here's a link to photos of the walk. https://www.instagram.com/p/CS-WMMKsAM0/?utm_medium=copy_link
This is a 3 and a half mile trail (one way) that follows the cliffs. We then hopped in the cheap and back to the rig hooked up and drove over by Plymouth Massachusetts to pinewood campground. We chose a campground for this stay over because we wanted 30 amp for the air conditioning. Again a great campground. Spacious sites. And again fantastic wifi. A neighbor just told me her son was listening to this podcast. That was really nice to hear. So hi to ...... and thanks for listening. Here pics of Plymouth https://www.instagram.com/p/CTAy1yjpcdn/?utm_medium=copy_link We saw Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower 2. In 2019 we stopped at Mystic Seaport ( here's the episode https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/relax-rv-podcast-episode-22-we-start-our-2019-northeast-trip/id1499279142?i=1000465761573) and we them restoring this ship. Here's an article about the move to Massachusetts
https://www.mysticseaport.org/events/mayflower-ii-departs/ From there we walked around for a couple hours. And then went back to the campground and hung out and relaxed. The next day we headed out to Coastal Acres campground in Ptown MA also known as Provence Town. This campground only offers full hookups. Walking distance to downtown Ptown. So the next day we have done our tandem bike route over into p-town spent the day hitting shops and reminiscing. We rode back to the campground less than a 10-minute bike ride. Cook dinner on a grill quick showers cuz it's been disgustingly hot. Then heading back downtown to hopefully see a piano player at a bar called Tin Pan Alley. We were here two years ago in May it was rainy and freezing out and we found this place enjoyed conversation with a couple so we went back and again enjoyed fun music and conversation.
The next day we walked over the causeway/jetty. It's 1.5 miles each way. We tried to do it on our last visit but Trish had her broken toe and her foot was in a boot so we didn't quite make it all the way across the jetty. https://www.vacationcapecod.com/blog/walking-across-the-provincetown-causeway. After we did that we rode the tandem bike 3 miles to the visitor center via the dunes trail. Then another 4 miles back to the RV. We then walked to P-town for dinner and a show..... a drag queen show at The Crown and Anchor.
https://onlyatthecrown.com/ The next day we ride the tandem bike for 2 hours in the CCRT (cape cope rail trail). We then walked P-town for a couple hours. The next morning we packed up and drove to our friends Bev and Axel in NH. It was great spending time catching up on life. They were allowing us to camp on their property so we took them out to dinner. We then sat in their rig and continued the conversations over the next 2 days. Thanks Bev and Axel.
We drove 3 hours to Riverside Campground in Lancaster, NH. This is a pretty campground and is a Good Sam location. The next day we drove over to Mount Washington we drove our Jeep up to the top. I'm sure you may have seen cars with bumper stickers saying this car climbed Mount Washington years ago I had hiked up to the top but I was 20 years younger than so this time driving Jeep to the top he also have a cog train that will take you up but the price is more than what we were willing to spend. For the 2 of us it was $53. Which was 1/3 the cost of the cog train. We spent 3 hours on My Washington. It was beautiful ! And cold. The temp was 20 degrees colder at the top and the wind chill dropped that temp another 10 degrees. A great way to spend some time. Here are pics on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTVteJpsTeK/?utm_medium=copy_link

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!

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Toilet started to smell. Previous rig I put in a roof vent which worked great https://amzn.to/2WA1ZC4 This rig didn't have any smell then all of a sudden it did. And then toilet wouldn't hold water in bowl. We cleaned the toilet seal and then applied petroleum jelly to seal and that did it, yay.
-A.C. had problems. Thought it was the thermostat but it turned out to be the AC control box. I 1st accessed from roof then a friend said it's much easier to do it from in the rig. I replaced the control unit and all is cool again. https://amzn.to/3xGbrla How I deal with stressors as they pile up. Here's an example: We had gotten home from our last trip and the lever that switches from tub to shower in our stone and mortor house wasn't working and I didn't know how to fix it. So I started googling it. Then Trish said the house refrigerator felt warm and the freezer had ice in it. So I again started googling. And I also had a list of things to do on the rig, like the toilet the AC and other stuff. I started to feel overwhelmed. So I took a few deep breaths to help me relax and focus.
I then prioritized problems and tackled them one at a time in priority order. And by the time we were ready to hit the road, the shower, the refrigerator, the rigs toilet and AC all worked and the list of fixes and installs in the rig were done.
So we headed out Sunday 7/18/21 to the finger lakes. We stayed near Watkins Glen the 1st night. We spent the day exploring water falls. And walking town. The next day we headed into Watkins Glen State Park for 3 nights. We tried to get a site here a few times over the past few years and we finally scored them. The 1st day we hiked the gorge, beautiful ! And with all the rain we had over the past few weeks, it didn't disappoint. We think this was the best gorge trail we've ever hiked. We did over 1600 stairs over 4 miles of hiking. Our previous favorite was Robert Treman State Park and this rivalled it, so we will go back there in a couple days to compare the 2 parks. But the next day we went to Ithaca. We had visited it last year but because of Covid only half of the Cascadilla Gorge Trail was open. This year the half We had previously done was closed for repairs and the portion we didn't get to do was open. It was pretty but considering Robert Tremaine State Park and Watkins Glen State Park while it was what it was.
Afterwards we went to buttermilk Falls which we had visited last year with covet and 90° weather also. This time with all the rain that's been pouring in this area the gorge was raging. We hiked up the gorge trail so we got the view of the waterfall on the way up with the aid of about 400 stairs. Then walk down the Ridge Trail through the wood s. That was a perfect way to do it on a hot day it was 85 when we did it this year. After that we went to Castel Grisch Winery. Enjoy the nice glass of wine in the air conditioning and bought a couple of bottles to go. We had stated this winery previously with our motorhome through Harvest Hosts.
Then went back to the campground through some shrimp on the grill. And then walked a couple loops in the campground.
The next day we wanted to revisit Robert Tremaine State Park and the temps were going to be in the upper 70s as opposed to 95 3 years ago when we last visited that park. So it's funny how we remember things one way but when we've revisited that place it's not like we remembered it. Perhaps it's because of all the other wonderful new places we've seen in the past 3 years and the fact that Robert Tremaine three years ago was the first Gorge hike we had ever done. But either way it didn't hold up to Watkins Glen. Now don't get me wrong Robert Treman is a fantastic State Park and we will hopefully return at some point in the future.
So the next day we packed up and we headed off to a campground in the finger lakes region. We weren't ready to leave this area yet.
We found Sned Acres campground on line. This was a Thursday morning and where we were looking for a place for Thursday Friday and Saturday nights so we reached out to this Campground. http://www.snedacresny.com/
They said they just had a cancellation and I had one side available for the weekend so we grabbed it. It's in the middle of the finger lakes and we had planned to stay at some Harvest host wineries in the area but we couldn't find any. Now it's not like us to be looking for a place to stay that evening but our plans changed and here we were looking. So we decided for the weekend we'll stay at the campground. And then Sunday night will start staying at some wineries. This gives us a few days to reserve a spot via Harvest hosts and it gets us away from the busy weekends at the wineries. Now as usual if you go to my website and click on the discounts page https://relaxrv.org/discounts-to-help-lower-your-stress/ you will find information about Harvest Hosts there and there's also a discount code you can use there. The day we visited a section of finger lakes national Forest and then we stopped at a winery. Now this is July of 2021 and the wineries in the finger lakes are still feeling the effects of covid. Some of them require reservations for tastings. They'd still have empty tables between guests. And the one that we stopped at didn't have any place to sit down and have a glass of wine so we ended up buying a bottle going back to the campground and having a glass of wine there. The next day we wanted to do a hike so we went down to the finger lakes national Forest. We did a 7 mile hike which was beautiful.
This trip is so different from all our other camping trips. We left home a week ago and every night has been spent within a 30 mi radius. It feels like we have been gone for 2 weeks, not just one. It feels good to slow down.
That afternoon we found a winery 5 minutes from the campground, which had Jazz duo guitarists. Very peaceful listening to Jazz, with a glass of wine over looking Cayuga lake.
Saturday we drove to Seneca Lake for a paddle. Unfortunately Cayuga lake has a blue green algae bloom. :( And Seneca Lake was too choppy so we up to Oak Island in Waterloo NY to paddle on the canal. The funny thing is we pulled into town and realized we had been here before. It turns out 3 years ago we stopped for a farmers market we've seen in Waterloo and then went for a short walk but it was too brutally hot to continue so we moved on. This year it was 82 and muggy but a really nice day for a short paddle. We then passed Miranda's Cheese Market and did a tasting . There was some really good cheese but not good enough for us to buy. We then headed down to She'll drink Point Winery on kyoga Lake. This is a harvest host location. We did not stay here however we found it intriguing cuz they have a dock on the lake that boaters can land and enjoy the wine. So we stopped in and bought a bottle what's that by the lake enjoyed it and headed back to the campground to cook dinner on the grill.
After dinner Trish did her workout and I jumped in the pool for a little while. The next day we packed up and headed to Barrelhouse 6 Distillery which was a Harvest Host location. But to get there, we needed to go go up a narrow gravel and dirt road and so we pulled into a vacant lot and disconnected the jeep and took it up the road. We decided to not chance it. A wonderful guy named Paul came over and talked to us how steep and narrow that road was. He explained that if we drove on the left side of the road we should be able to make it. I asked, so what happens if someone comes down the hill and we are on the wrong side of the road. Paul agreed that it wasn't prudent. I asked if he knew the owner's if the vacant lot, he said he was the manager if it and invited us to park there for the night. Wow. This was to be our 1st night camping without hookups with this rig. And I started to get anxious.
Flash back to Catskills 1st nite of Montana trip ...genny died.
So now we were doing our 1st moochdocking and without hookups.
Out to dinner at Switzerland Restaurant, fantastic food and a live band but we were sweating.
85 degrees during day with 75% humidity. Sweating in the shade.
So we went back to rig, started genny and turned in AC.. ..the AC that had died rite b4 this trip.
Talked with Paul some. Then drove to the north end of Keuka Lake. We threw the kayak into a canal and paddled out to the lake. We noticed the temp was cooling off. B4 bed shut off genny and AC. The nite was cool and we slept well.
In AM we said out thank you to Paul. And decided to cancel our next 2 HH stays because of the temps. And headed home.

So what do you do to help manage your stress? Do you know someone who would benefit from listening to a stress mange exercise? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/stressed-2-2/stressed-2/
If that ain't your thing I made some videos about the improvements I mentioned and I posted them on YouTube at
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA
Or you can watch them on
https://relaxrv.org/videos-the-good-the-bad-and-the-modifications/

There are discounts on my website to Boondockers Welcome , Harvest Hosts., Renogy Solar and Mattress Insider for all of your RV bedding needs
https://relaxrv.org/discounts-to-help-lower-your-stress/

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

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 runningSo 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 recor

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We installed a 5 Star tuner. These tuners plug into your computer port on the engine under the dashboard and they set the engine settings to ones that are more economical and powerful. I looked into them and was surprised at the price. So I did some homework. I found this video of a company testing them and was very impressed. https://youtu.be/z9N5M2WhIiI So we took a Gamble we ordered our tuner. This is a phenomenal product. We love it. Here is a link to the tuner.
https://amzn.to/3jEGytb

I believe there is a disproportionate amount of high school bullies on RVing social media groups. It's such a shame.

On June 21st we left for a trip to Indiana. We have fallen in love with Goshen and Shipshewana. In spite of being near Thor, smh.
We've been there a few times, but always for Thor issues, but never for fun. And we haven't been to southern Indiana before so that's the reason for this trip.

We drove 3 hours to Fantasy Island Campground in Sunbury PA
https://maps.app.goo.gl/pG75MDBbyqDRXqJYA . which is a Passport America location so we got it for $22.50/night, now that's stress management.
Sunbury, eh. But we found a BYOB pool hall, so that's where we spent the evening.the next day we drove three and a half hours to cook Forest State Park in Pennsylvania. Which is another passport America location. This one was $20 per night with electric and water. If you send me an email I can email you back a discount code the next time Passport America offers one, which they periodically.
So where we are is in between Cooks Forest State Park in siskawana state forest. The North end of Susquehanna State Forest we knew there was snowmobiling up there and we didn't realize how close we are to “up there”. We then drove to Fremont Ohio. We stayed at a boondock Welcome location that we had stayed previously. Today is my birthday and my 3 yr anniversary of being retired, yay ! After dinner we went to Chateau Tebeau a winery we had visited 2.5yrs ago. We saw 2 fantastic musicians playing. The next day we packed up and drove to Goshen Indiana. When we got into Indiana we went to Shipshewana and stocked up on meats and other foods. This was the purpose of this trip. We love the prices and quality of meats found at Yoder's https://yodersmeatandcheese.com/ Our next stop was at our BoonDockersWelcome host located in Goshen Indiana. We met Rick and Amy and got setup. They offered 30 amp electric which we gladly accepted being it was in the 90s.
On the way there, we went past a bunch of RV manufacturers and saw thousands of new RVs in their parking lots. We mentioned this to our host Rick and he explained those are rigs that have been built but are waiting for certain items to be installed like air conditioners or Windows. A lot of the items are on backorder so the rigs are just sitting there and this is what's creating the backlog of deliveries at RV dealers.
The next day we took a ride to Bontragers. This is a great RV surplus parts store that is super inexpensive. https://bontragers.com/
That evening we went to dinner at Goshen Brewery in Goshen Indiana
https://goshenbrewing.com/
with our hosts. The next day we did some walking in Middlebury IN. We found a small park with a walking path following a stream which gave us us a nice break from the 90 degree temp. We then passed a furniture store which had a coffee sign, so we went in and had a fantastic lunch. https://m.facebook.com/TheLegendaryGrind/ We then visited Linton's Enchanted Garden https://www.lintons.com/
The next day we said goodbye to our hosts. We then drove South to Speedway Campground. OMG !! This was the worst Campground we have ever seen. We pulled in and the mud to get in prohibited the RV from driving into the campground. TRhere was no electric but he offered a generator, we then left and went to the KOA of Indianapolis. I took advantage of the splash pool and we did laundry.
The next day we went into Indianapolis and parked near the city market. Trish found a canal path so we walked from the city market to the canal path. We stopped for a snack at an Italian cafe right on the canal. Here are some of our pics on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CQwGzuzMheE/?utm_medium=copy_link We then walked to The Garage which has various restaurants for dinner. https://www.garageindy.com/chapatibeta
We packed up and we left the next morning for West Milton Ohio. We plugged our surge protector in and it would not turn on. so I contacted the company and they are sending me a free replacement, as it does have a lifetime warrenty. Heres a link to the Progressive Industries EMS PT30 amp EMS. https://amzn.to/3klhEzf
We found a place that can shuttle our kayak. So we paddled for an hour or so on the Miami River in Ohio. After that we visited Charleston falls preserve and we're pleasantly surprised. Couple of waterfalls cave sheer Rock cliffs beautiful hiking paths.
The next day we went to Aliquippa, Pa. another BDW location. We were here for 2 nights and visited Pittsburgh, Pa. the next day. 1st we went to Canton Ave which is the steepest street in the continental United States. It has a 37% grade. We drove up is with the jeep. We then went to Schenley Park. Who walked from one end of the park to the other which took almost a half hour. He then had lunch at a place in the park called The Porch https://www.dineattheporch.com/schenley/menu The next day we drove about 3 hours East and arrived at our passport of America Campground which is ye olde grist Mill Campground in burnt cabins Pennsylvania. Because of Passport America we got the campground for half price water and electric for $22 a night.
We had installed a curtain separating the cab area and the coach area and this curtain helped keep the rig cooler so much. Here's a link to the video on the curtain https://youtu.be/m17giRxNVs0
The next day we took a ride over to Gowans Gap State park. Very nice.
The next day onto the road again for a 3-hour ride to pick up Trish's grandson in New Jersey and headed over to Old cedar Campground in Monroeville New Jersey. We had stayed here about a month ago with Trish's grandson, this will be his 1st 2 night stay with us. The weather was hot ! So we got a lot of use out if their pool. It was a nice few days if fishing, swimming, playing chess and pool. A perfect way to end our 2 and half week trip.

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!

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We did our 1st ever campground stay with friends. We stayed at J&D campground near Knoebels amusement park. Next to us was Scott and Amy, next to them Mike and Shelley. And on the other side of the campground was Scott's parent Jack and Jan in their seasonal site. It was a cold and rainy weekend. While setting up we were fighting with the rig (2017 Thor 29.4) trying to get it level. Out came the level and viola the rigs LCI leveling system was way off with the Zero Point Level calibration. I went into the Thor owners portal, pulled up our rigs VIN number and saw 7 manuals for the leveling system in it. None of the were for our leveling system. I googled our key pad, then how to zero point level it and 3 minutes later, the rig was level and the leveling system agreed with us. We wonder how long it was inaccurately calibrated. Yay.
That evening with sat with our friends in their Prevost and caught up with one another. The next day me and Trish revisited Centralia pa. This is an abandoned town that was evacuated years ago due to an underground fire. Pretty wild. Then we visited Shamokin, Pa. We went back to the campground and played bingo for the 1st time in 40 yrs. Then we did a fire with our friends.
The next day we found live music and fantastic food at Lost Mine(d) in Shamokin.

Monday of Memorial Day we packed up and headed to Prince William Forest in VA. according to Google maps was 3 hours and 45 minutes away. With Washington DC traffic on Memorial Day it was closer to 5 hours. As always try to limit our driving to 4 hours a day and if we run into days like that it's no big deal.
We stayed at Prince Edward Forest campground in Dumfries Virginia. We have stayed here before. It's convenient to visit Trish's son. We checked in had a low-key evening. The next day we headed over to the forest, and hiked 12 miles. Felt really good to do an actual hike which was way overdue. It's a beautiful Park lots of easy hiking trails following streams and waterfalls.
The next day Trish had lunch with her son and then the 2 of us headed into Old Town Virginia to do shopping.
Thursday we headed north to Dove Valley Winery in Rising Sun, MD.

We arrived at Dove Valley Winery. We did a wine tasting and then we bought a bottle of wine. They are part of harvest hosts. So it was nice to sleep on their property in the rig. The heavy thunderstorm rolled through in the evening so it was nice to just sit and enjoy a glass of wine. Next morning we were planning on going to stay at a boondockers welcome near Trish's daughter and grandson. But that particular host did not offer electric for the rig and the temps were going to be in the 90s old day and in the upper 70s at night. So we had contacted the boondock are welcome host and explained our situation and they were very understanding. You then went online and found a campground called Old Cedar Campground in Monroeville NJ. We reserved Friday night and Saturday night with full hookups for about $55 a night with tax. They had a pond for fishing and beautiful new very clean swimming pool nine holes of miniature golf and a walking path that took you to a nearby winery. So, brought his fishing pole and we had a great time with him. Sunday we drove home and on the way stopped and visited and had lunch with Trish's dad. We got home Sunday evening a bunch of stuff I had ordered from Amazon was waiting for us. We emptied the perishables dirty clothes and such. Plug the RV in to trickle charge the house batteries. And locked it up.

We have a couple of short trips plan this summer. Our next trip will be out to Indiana. Then we're going up to finger lakes to stay at a campground with our friends Mike and Scott for a night. And then we have three nights booked in Watkins Glen State Park.

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!

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So we got the rig home and I never thought to open up the awning but I did two days after we got home and it would bang on the way out.
And Does not close all the way.
Grabbed a ladder and saw 2 loose screws on the roller.
I then climbed into roof and saw they did not calk above the front door.
And when then installed the gutters they didn't screw the screws all the way down nor did they caulk the screws.
So I called Connecticut Motor Cars and spoke to Brian the Service Manager.
I told him about the three problems. He said they always test the awning and it had worked fine. And the screws for the gutters had probably loosened while driving the rig.
We drove up to the shop. Left rig for 4 hours. When we came back the awning was fine and all of the screws were tight. He told me I was not allowed of the roof of my rig while on their property. He said would you have wanted be in the shop and checked every screw on the gutter as they put them in? I said yes if I had known it wasn't going to be done right. he said we're all human and nobody's perfect.

I explained to him that I have to spending tens of thousands of dollars that I'm very disappointed about the level of service at his company.
I highly suggest you do not use Connecticut Motor Cars and coaches for service unless you don't care about the quality of the work being done.
As the old adage goes, if you want something done right do it yourself.

Then 2 weeks later, just before heading out on a 2 week trip to West Virginia, Covid hit. Both me and Trish tested positive after having symptoms.
Now I know there's a lot of people who don't believe in the masks nor covid and we are on the fence about all of it but we have almost a dozen people that we know personally that have died from covid. You need to do what makes you feel most comfortable and less stressed.

So our trip was postponed. We followed the self quarantine order. We re-planned our route and left in early May. We drove 3 hours to Armstrong Valley winery in Halifax Pa. They are a Harvest Host. We did tastings of their wines and talked with the host for over an hour. We bought a bottle of their Pinot Grigio and some Lavender Mustard. They offered free 30 and 50 amp service.

The next day we drove just under 4 hours (which is the max I like to drive in the rig) to Blackwater State park in WV. We set up and went for a 5 mile hike to a fabulous view. We had no signal in the campground so we drove to the lodge and downloaded movies on Hulu and Netflix.

The next day we did a 4 mile hike in the rain to an underwhelming Balanced Rock. We then went back to the Lodge to stream Trish's sons graduation at the Metro PD.

We were wet and cold (it was 40 degrees out). So we went back to the rig. Changed, warmed up and made dinner.
That night there was live music at a great place called the Purple Fiddle in Thomas WV.

Saturday it was snowy, sleeting, then bright sun all day long. Chilly 44 degrees. Did a 8 mile hike. Then dinner at the rig. We weren't every impressed with Blackwater State Park. Short hiking trails, bad hiking map. But a pretty water fall. Not overly impressed with Blackwater SP.

Sunday, off to a boondocks welcome location in Albright WV. But the location was too sketchy for us to drive to so we went to Coopers Rock State Forest and camped there instead. On the way there we saw a sign for the smallest church in the 48 states. So we parked and walked over. Considering it's the smallest church I was surprised that it was as big as it was.

We arrived at Coopers Rock State Forest WV. We did a couple small trails in the rain. On Monday we did a total of 8 miles hiking. This was a beautiful park. It reminded us of Nelson Ledges Park in Ohio. We walked along cliffs with fantastic views and then hiked at the base of the cliffs. We did some scrambling around the rocks.
And met a group of women from Michigan and had a nice conversation with them.

We are still experiencing lingering symptoms of Covid and we get winded easily and I get periods of chills and fatigue. This virus is no fun.

Tuesday we drove a bit over an hour to Pennsylvania and stayed at a Boondockers Welcome location. We visited the Greendance winery. They had beautiful grounds and good wine. But no covered outdoor seating. It was a cold day so walked the grounds for a bit. The next day we went to Ohiopyle State Park in Pa. If you are any sort of an outdoor activity lover this place is for you. Rafting, hiking, biking, skiing, snowshoeing. We hiked almost 5 hours and covered 8 miles past various waterfalls. Then had a ice cream in town. There are also some snowmobile trails so I'm sure we will be back in the winter.

I installed and love the Jensen Car8000 radio. The HUGE screen is wonderful especially when used the rigs cameras. https://amzn.to/3fix83N

Link to avensa maps https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Avenza

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!

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WOW this podcast is 3 years old. 1st episode was released on 3/9/2018. 62 episodes !! When I was getting ready to retire I wanted to continue to help people. And this podcast had allowed me to do that.
The podcast had come a long way in 3 years. Here's a summary of the number of downloads this podcast had....
1st month - 8 downloads
6 months -100 downloads
1st year - 1000 downloads
2nd year - 2000 downloads
3rd year - 3754 downloads
For a total of 5,754
It's amazing. My 1st episode took over 3 days to produce. My learning curve started with how the mic worked. Then how to load into the software on the computer, editing it, uploading to the host site and my website. And then as time went on, the process sped up but I was still hand writing notes which could take an hour or 2 for each episode. Now I used a voice recorder for my notes and from the time I finish recording an episode it takes about 15 minutes to get it published.

And my website has grown too. It's had over 2,000 visitors from countries like china, canada, france, ireland, philippines, UK, india, vietnam, hungary, japan, germany, mexico, netherlands, EU, italy, australia, thailand, ukraine and singapore.and another 11 countries that had 1 visitor from each.

I wonder if anyone listening has listened to every episode ?

-ordered cabinet door in Oct 2020 . Emailed many times sometimes without a response. Finally the last day in Feb it is ready. Not sure if Covid, Thor or Camping world is reason for the 4 month wait time. But I do know there was a lack of contact from camping world

Rv in Connecticut Motor Car and Coaches. Stripped, painted, and stickers applied. We are having them install gutters for us.
We picked up the rig on 4/8/2021 And the repairs were covered by GEICO https://www.geico.com/
Here's a link to the photos on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=277623782811787&set=a.921581291749363
Our friends Bev and Axel said that he brings his motor coach to Blue Beacon and he knows other RVs that bring their rigs there to get washed and they've never had an issue very strange.

So being we won't be traveling for at least another month or so with the weather and the rig still at the shop. Over the past few months we've been out hiking and snowshoeing. We've noticed during our travels. Some hiking trails are marked great. And Some terrible. And for someone who is new to an area it can be very frustrating trying to find the correct hiking trail. We really appreciate when people take care in marking a trail. I was talking to a volunteer who was marking a trail in Harriman State Park in NY. He said he likes to do what he calls a confirmation marker ... so after the trail takes a turn he likes to place a marker that confirms to the hiker which trail they are on. If you aren't sure what I mean by the term "trail markers" or are unsure what they mean here's a helpful guide I found for ya: https://www.greenbelly.co/pages/how-to-read-hiking-trail-signs-markers-blazes

Speaking of hiking and exploring the National Park Service has a new app which includes all 420+ parks monuments seashores etc. Great free app where you can save parks you have visited, download park maps and info. We were amazed to see how many parks we have been to. I'm not sure about apple but here is the android app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gov.nps.mobileapp

Also for hiking, there us a wonderful way to lower your stress. I have been hiking for many many years and recently found Avenza maps.
Some free some nominal fees. You download the app then find an area you want to discover and download the map.
This has introduced us to some wonderful hikes. And while hiking you can track exactly where you are on the trail map. You do not need Wi-Fi or data to use the map it uses the GPS in your phone. We love it ! We even found a map of NY City and Central Park for 0.99¢ usd.
https://www.avenzamaps.com/mobile-maps?campaignid=10221828697&adgroupid=102940455500&adid=453328850375&gclid=CjwKCAjwxuuCBhATEiwAIIIz0XHDpBLDmJHeSH0fEowaCoAyFBlpgeFuGEhrKg47yQSlaAb9bsv1SRoCxpEQAvD_BwE

So what do you do to help manage your stress? Do you know someone who would benefit from listening to a stress mange exercise? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/stressed-2-2/stressed-2/
If that ain't your thing I made some videos about the improvements I mentioned and I posted them on YouTube at
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA
Or you can watch them on
https://relaxrv.org/videos-the-good-the-bad-and-the-modifications/

There are discounts on my website to Boondockers Welcome , Harvest Hosts., Renogy Solar and Mattress Insider for all of your RV bedding needs
https://relaxrv.org/discounts-to-help-lower-your-stress/

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

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!

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S2 E61 Repainting the Motorhomes finish
2/2021
Grandpa ! My grandson Maverik was born at 11:17pm on 1/8/21 . He was 7lbs 5.5oz And 20.5"
What a joy.

When you're fixing your RV and something overwhelms you try to break it down into attainable tasks. like I did with my solar.
But if it seems like it is way too much, let someone else do it like I did with the water heater in our rig

So quick recap on RV finish- Blue Beacon washed the Rig and our finish was ruined. Geico (https://www.geico.com) agreed to cover the damages. We brought it to Connecticut Motorcar and Coaches (http://ctmotorcars.com/) on 1/4/21. They tried different compounds to no avail. Geico said go ahead with the repair. So Brian at Ct. Motor car stripped off the stickers on both sides and has begun the repainting. It's a good feeling that the damage that was done to the rig will be fixed. And it's perfect timing with the lack of winter travel.
Our rig is not yet winter ready. Heated tanks yes, not plumbing yet.

We are still waiting for the cabinet door from Camping World.

I have 3 free Stress Management recordings at RelaxRV Audio Recordings.

I made some videos about the improvements I mentioned and I posted them on YouTube. Or you can go to relaxrv.org-Videos.

I took some pictures and posted them on the RelaxRV Facebook page for your enjoyment and edification.one of the things I added to our list of things to add and do with the rig is to put fans blowing on the windows and maybe like Little heaters too blow on the windows. Then going through Facebook I saw her gentleman complaining that Thor put fans in a bad location for these windows. Somebody suggested picking up Rain-X anti fog spray. So I so I pick some up and when we get the rig back from Connecticut will give it a shot.

So being we won't be traveling for at least another month or two with the weather and the rig still at the shop we've been out hiking and now that the Hudson valley just recently got 20 in of snow we're going to do some snowshoeing. We've noticed drawer travels. Some hiking trails more great. Some terrible. And for someone who is new to that area and can be very frustrating trying to find the correct hiking trail.

So what do you do to help manage your stress? Do you know someone who would benefit from listening to a stress mange exercise? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/stressed-2-2/stressed-2/
If that ain't your thing I made some videos about the improvements I mentioned and I posted them on YouTube at
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA
Or you can watch them on
https://relaxrv.org/videos-the-good-the-bad-and-the-modifications/

There are discounts on my website to Boondockers Welcome , Harvest Hosts., Renogy Solar and Mattress Insider for all of your RV bedding needs
https://relaxrv.org/discounts-to-help-lower-your-stress/

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

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!

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This podcast has grown since I started it in March 2018.
It's been downloaded well over 5000 times.
So our rigs finish.
Blue beacon said not us ...
Geico said No...
Attorneys won't get on board, no water samples Etc.
So either I let it go or let it eat at me. I'm a Sebastian and we have a tough time letting things go. So my initial reaction is fight this everyday until I win. which will only lead to high blood pressure, increase pulse, tension, headaches, sleepless nights.
Better off recognizing that parts of the rig just aren't as shiny as it was.
We will never go back to Blue Beacon.
And at the end of the day we love our rig and it's going to take us to wonderful
places.
Stress is going to happen. Try to interrupt it having negative biological effects on our body.
Ah a nice deep breath.

And then Geico accepted our claim. Dropped the rig off in Connecticut in 1st week in January 2021.

I won't drone on about Covid restrictions .... you know them as well as I.
If you are traveling, be safe.
If you are staying at home, be safe. And we plan to be home 4 awhile BUT wish we were traveling more...also our rig is not yet winter ready. Heated tanks yes, not plumbing yet

-towel holders in bathroom
-ordered a cabinet door for under dinette
-firewood
-XC skiing High point nj. Hi Chris

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!

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S2 E59
11/30/20
We washed our rig and OH NO
So we finally got our rig registered. It had been sitting for weeks so the first thing we wanted to do was to make it look nice and pretty. We went to Blue Beacon Truck Wash in Montgomery New york.
We paid almost $50 by the time they were done it was dark out so we drove home.
Next day went out to look at the rig and WOW there were areas on the rigged where the gloss and shine has been stripped off it looked chalky and dull.We went back to Blue Beacon.Show the manager. He submitted it to corporate.
We decided we would hire an attorney to sue them. Our friend Scott suggested instead to go through the insurance for the damage repair.They sent an adjuster over to look at the rig and he said all that needed to be done was to Buff it back to a shineHe said the paint was faded. I explained to him that prior to the car wash the paint was not faded at all and looked great just dirty.
We got two estimates each one was just over $5,000. they said that the finish needed to be compounded. Then rewaxed.One of the shops that we took it to for an estimate said he wasn't sure that even that would work and in his estimate he wrote this is a preliminary attempt to fix it.But after a short period of time if the luster fades becomes chalky again then it will be revaluated at that time.We submitted the estimates to the insurance company.
We are now waiting to hear back from the insurance company.
Then took the rig to Ford for the dash heat issue.We picked up the rig from Ford. Ford said that the heating issue was not a Ford issue. They said to contact Thor . I called Thor and they said to call Pro Air. Jim at ProAir was very helpful he gave me wiring diagrams and explained different things to check. He said that it sounded like the motor switch was bad. When he gave me instructions on how to test it I'm no electrician.Went to Scott in Pa.
It wasn't that so according to Jim it was the head unit.So we cut the yellow wire and viola we have heat.
If we want cooling we will reconnect yellow wire.Well do that for now because it's a $350.00 part.

Then I moved slide lock for the front slide from the bottom rail to the top one. Much easier to put it in.

We found out our rig doesn't have heated tanks :( In the spring I will put heat tape on plumbing. But for now I Ran electric line from outdoor refrigerator Because that outlet can be powered by the inverter. Bought 3 12v heater pads for the tanks. never wired 12 volt circuit before. Figured I would use the fuse that was marked "tank heat pads"
But that wired for the macerator. The macerator fuse block wasn't wired to anything so that's the one I used.

Replaced reverse lights with LEDs to help with backing up.

The next bigger project was heat ducts. with the Slide in it blocked 2 heat vents. Moved them to front.
Replaced another that was torn in half when Thor installed it We had been wondering why we didn't have heat in the bathroom. SMH

We then wanted to take the rig for a run . went to Woodstock NY. Because until we get heated tanks or cold temps at night go up our camping will be very limited not only due to covid.

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!

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Season 2 because this is our 2nd rig. Season 1 was recorded while we owned our 1st rig. Picked up the new to us rig and drove to a campground about an h away. On the way, I noted the gas gauge was at less than a quarter tank and there was no water in the fresh water tank not a fresh water hose.
The turn signal cameras and the radio weren't working. AND there was no heat coming from the dash.

We spent the 1st day getting gas, buying a 7pin to 4pin adapter for the toad, fixing the cameras and radio which was checking all the 12v fuses and finally resetting the radio with a paperclip.
Then we visited the Yankee Candle store in Deerfield Ma. Wow spent an hour. Then had dinner GiannaFig also in Deerfield. We walked around town a met a local guy and his wife and chit chatted for a good half hr. We went back to the campground and got the tow bar installed on the rig.
The next day we headed home and worked on a bunch of small fixes. Lubricated the slide, awning, front sliding windows, basement and front door locks, and engine lid. It seemed like none of these things were maintained at all.
We saw there was going to be a couple of nice days so we booked a site at Promised Land State Park in Pa. .
The list of modifications and things to fix continues to grow, but alas it is an RV. So when we got home, I dug in and started doing modifications. The big one was ripping out the jack knife sofa and putting in a Rec Pro reclining loveseat.
We changed the shower head to a higher pressure and low gpm. We also did the same for the bathroom faucet.
The next thing i did was took out the living room TV and put in a fire TV. And then we ripped out the TV on the outside, painted the compartment, out in some wood and polypropylene padding, some glass holders and viola... we now have an outdoor bar lol !
We have a gas grill connection on this rig. But the gas flow was minimal I made some modifications to the gas line and made a video explaining what I did and it's on YouTube on the relax RV page.
But as the list of things to do to the rig grows, we saw that in a couple of days the weather was going to warm up a bit so we planned a day to take a break from the rig fixes and take a hike.
I find that if I don't get a day to enjoy nature it affects my mood. Now taking a day off isn't easy for me. I also have to force myself to do it, but once I do my patience is higher, my sense of humor returns and I feel better about myself. We went to the Ashokan Reservoir and rode our bike for 9 miles then walked another 4 miles. This reservoir feeds NYC drinking water.
The following day it took out the small ineffectual entrance step light that Thor had mounted and replaced with a motion detector brighter light.
We put dimmer lights over the headboard of the bed for reading. Then I took the original Puck lights that were over the bed, which had not enough button on each light, and put them over the dinette in the living room. because Thor in their infinite wisdom put the on/off switch for those lights over in the kitchen.
Installed the backup camera for the Garmin GPS that we use.
We installed a privacy curtain behind the cockpit area so when you walk into the rig the curtain will be on the right providing a little bit more temperature control from the cab area and it really accentuates living area.
The one of the first things we noticed with the rig is the ceiling light switch is on the side of the cabinet as you come in the door so you have to stand on either the edge of the stairwell or in the stairwell and try to reach this light switch which is one of five switches period so I picked up some wire and another switch and moved it down a good four feet so when you enter the rig the switch is right there.
The next project was heated tanks. When we saw this rig advertised the brochures showed that the 2017-29.4 theories had heated tank pads and heated tanks. I looked and looked and I could not find any switches for the heating pads so I called Thor they ran my VIN number and told us this rig did not have any heated tanks at all. We were crushed. one of the things that we knew that we definitely wanted was heated tanks. We love to Winter camp. So I did some homework I found a set of three rec pro tank heating pads and it came with lighted switches so that when you turn the pads on the light on the switch lights up. I'm going to take some reflectix and secured to the bottom of the tanks covering the heated pads this way that heat will definitely radiate back up into the tanks.
Next big project is I want to heat the water lines that run through the basement. Our last RV Thor 27.1 had heated tanks that were heated with vents coming from the furnace. so in order to have heated tanks you had to run your furnace which can get really expensive on a cold winter's night using all of that propane. Almost 3 years ago we went to old forge New York for a weekend and went down to -5° F. In those three nights we went through 26 gallons of propane. So what I am planning on doing is pull out the water lines that go from one side of the rig to the other side wrap them with heating tape put foam wrap around it and reinstall the water lines.This rig has a 1000 watt inverter that was put in when they made it. This inverter runs two outlets one is the outdoor refrigerator and the second one is the outlet by the passenger front seat in the dashboard. So I figured we will never be turning on the outdoor refrigerator in the winter so I ran an electric line from the outlet at the outdoor refrigerator which is wired to a 3 prong plug I then ran the line underneath the rig to the basement compartment where the plumbing lines are. At the end of the electric line I put in a outlet to plug in heating tape. Insulating the pipes is going to have to wait because drum roll please .....
We had bought the rig on Oct 2nd and it took 6 weeks to get into DMV.
So we are planning a short trip to parts unknown in the next week or 2. We also have an appointment at Ford to get our dashboard heat fixed.

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!

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You see we are now on season 2, this because we are now on RV #2. We decided to sell our rig and buy a newer one. The episodes numbers will continue the same sequence so this is episode 57, can you believe it??

We placed our ad on RV trader and cost $250. It was sold in 1 month. I've always heard how much RVs depreciate. When we sold this one we got back our purchase price plus the cost for all of the solar and the cost for the two ceiling vent fans etc. I think the big thing is stay on top of the problems as they arise with the ring then when you're ready to sell you don't have a list of things to fix.

Prior to selling it we got it detailed from National Detail Pros in Draper Utah, for almost $700. . They have contracts with local detailers and they sent a mobile guy to us here in New York. However there were a couple of issues with his service. He said he would be here for most of a day. It took him almost 2 days and he missed some areas. When I contacted the company they basically ignored my complaints. And not in a nice way. They also threatened to sue me for slander if I give any false reviews. Unreal !!!! So, I highly recommend you do not waste your money using this company.

We had it on the market for a month. We had a few offers and deposits but then it seemed like they got nervous and backed out. Then we got a solid offer and sealed the deal.

So now we are back to looking at newer rigs to buy. We found one at RCD RV Superstore in Sunbury, Ohio. We explained we wanted to see it and would be there in 2 days. They said it may be sold by then but if we put $1000 down they would hold it for us. So we did and drove over 8hrs to see it.

Now, this was the 1st time I did a 8hr drive in one day in almost 20yrs. Yuck NOT for me but we know many folks and you may be one of them who love to drive long distances in a day.
We arrived there Met George. Got the keys and .... saw a wet spot on the passenger side floor. Not a small one either. Carpet was soaked with water, from a leak. Then we tried to level it but the jacks wouldn't go down. Trish was outside and said there was Hydraulic fluid pouring out. And the slides wouldn’t operate.
It's a real shame what dealers will try to sell. When we told them we didn't want to buy this rig he said but we're going to bring it in the shop tomorrow and fix everything.
Imagine if somebody didn't know anything about RVs and was super eager to buy that one they would have jumped on band wagon and bought it.
So we explained to George that we wanted our deposit back. We then went to look for other rigs in the area but didn't find any that matched what we're looking for. We headed back to New York and back to square one. We were trying to figure out exactly what we wanted and didn’t want in our next rig. It seems like every time we found a rig it got sold quickly.

So we figured what we would do is find a bunch of RVs for sale in one area. Which meant we may have to fly down in Florida and look at a bunch. we were going to do this because there's a lot more RVs for sale in Florida than in Orange county New York LOL. We then went back on RV trader.com we found an RV that was a little bit above our highest price that we could go. But the floor plan matched exactly what we wanted. What we wanted was a living room with a sofa and a dinette and over the cab bed a self enclosed bathroom and a bedroom that was Private with a door not an accordion door and had enough wardrobe storage for our clothes. We found a rig up in Massachusetts. I sent the gentleman an email asking what would be the lowest price you could go period and his low price matched our upper end price exactly.
We received our $1,000 deposit from the dealer in Ohio. And then we received confirmation from Bank of the West that are loan application was approved for the rig in Ohio.

So we sent a $100 deposit for the rig in Massachusetts site unseen. This is all very new for us we don't like buying expensive this way. But these are weird times aren't they?
2 days later we drove up to Massachusetts we looked at the rig instantly fell in love with it. We were told to fax over 15 pages of information that Bank of the West requires along with a note stating that we lost the deal on the other rig in Ohio.
Now of course we don't have a fax machine but my daughter and son-in-law do. so we gathered up the papers to fax to Bank of the West.
It always seems like things happen all at once and sometimes I find myself in the need of talking to a stress Management consultant so it's easy for me I just start talking to myself.
So I first figured out my priorities then addressed each one of them in order. Eventually I got to my daughter's I tried faxing the papers over the bank at the west. However after an hour and a half of trying more than 20 times. Trish texted me and said she's going to call Bank of the West. After a 45 mins on hold, she spoke to a woman he said oh you can just email those papers to us you know not to fax them.
WELL Bank of the West has the best rates around for us for an RV loan BUT they are nothing but a pain in the neck to deal with. When we bought our last rig almost three years ago I ended up emailing two of the top people and Bank of the West to complain about the service. And it seems like we're dealing with that all over again.
Finally we got everything to them and they said they would need to send an inspector over to look at the rig. Then they said they wont be doing that.

We then got a text message from the seller saying he really wanted the rig gone quickly. He said when he bought it everything was done in one day and he doesn't understand the delay. He expressed concern of selling it quickly otherwise he may lose out on the warmer rving weather and miss opportunities to sell it. I then called the seller and explained we have the loan. It's going to take a little bit of time to get everything done with the bank , but the RV is considered sold and we do not want to miss out on this rig. We knew we were going to put down $8,000 on the rig so I told the seller mail him a bank check for our $8000 deposit and if need be I would drive it the 3 hours to him to hand it to him. He said we can overnight the check to him. We did, but he didnt check his mail until the following day. You know, in today's world it seems that instant gratification is definitely a thing.

And meanwhile our rig was sold but was still sitting in the driveway because Bank of the West has not sent the release of lean to us. It took them 2 weeks for us to recieve it. Then the bank over nigted paperwork to us and the seller. We had ours back in the mail within 2 hrs. It took the seller 3 days to get his into the mail. I thought he was in a rush? Hmmm.

But we figured we would deal with his headaches as opposed to flying to Florida (where there's a high count of corona cases), traveling all over the state and renting a car looking at rigs and then having to fly back down when a loan was approved to drive our rig back home from Florida. So we just deal with his headaches.

A few days later our rig pulled out of the driveway for the last time. we sold it to a great couple from Pennsylvania and we wish them lots of happiness with it and safe travels. When they got home, we sent them a text to look in the storage bin - where we had left them a bottle of wine and a card wishing them joy.

It was very bittersweet watching it pull away.. There's been a lot of memories in that RV and headaches too, but a lot of memories!!!! And we're looking forward to making new memories in our next rig. And a big part of our trips is ... the planning. Setting a destination and then a route.

The Bank of the West sent the sellers a bank check (which took them another 2 days to get deposited in their bank). And the wont release the rig until the bank check clears.
So, according to their website Bank of the West says they close on RV loans in 7 to 10 days it's now almost 3 weeks.

So the delays with the seller and Bank of the West finally ended We picked up the New To Us rig. It's a Thor 2017 ACE 29.4.
So until next time ....

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!

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So my back ache started in January. Turns out it's mainly arthritis with very minor bulging discs. So thinking back to when the pain had started and I think it was from being too inactive. We had started our 2019 southeast trip and it was cold, so we weren't very active and so I was sitting a lot more than I typically do. I do believe that's what caused the flare. I had been in PT for 6 weeks and it's feeling much better now.

So we decided to hit the road for a little bit. We drove out to Pennsylvania and we stayed at Starr Hill winery which is part of harvest hosts. When we went in, there were no other customers. We did a free tasting. Bought a bottle of their wine. Their Wines were very good and not expensive at all. And then headed over to town to take a walk on the river. But the pouring rain came in and that ended that. We went back to the winery and we took a walk for about an hour through the back country roads. For a harvest host location this winery is very unique and had 50-amp hook-ups albeit they charge $10 a night for it but considering it was in the mid-to-upper 80s we figured we would splurge LOL.
The Next day we had it over Mantua Ohio for a couple of nights at a BDW location. We met our hosts Pete and Karen and talked for awhile about life and travels. They offered us a 15amp extension cord which we accepted. Even though we have the solar and inverter if electricity is offered to us we always accept it, because you cant totally rely on bright sunny days. We then took a ride over to Barrel run crossing winery where we got a glass of wine delicious pizza and a cheese and meat board. we invited our hosts to join us, but they had other plans.

The next day we took a ride to Punderson State Park. We kayaked for about an hour and we reminisced how difficult it used to be getting our tandem kayak up on the Jeep where were take a half hour to get it up or off which really stopped us from kayaking a lot when we first started traveling 2 years ago. We had bought the Thule Hullavator
and we love it. https://amzn.to/3MJrt5C
After the kayaking we hiked some of their trails. we then packed up a sandwich and a glass of wine and we sat outside the Inn overlooking the lake and enjoyed our lunch then did more hiking and headed back to the rig.

We find it interesting how varied the pandemic rules are in each area as we travel. Some restaurants have indoor sitting some don't. Some stores "encourage face masks" others don't.

So with the limited available places to visit and increasing travel restrictions being put in place by New York State. We decided to head home and stay off the road for a while and see how all of this pans out.

Then for the next few weeks we had stayed home too much and I started going stir crazy.
You know .... Cabin Fever !

It seemed that the more I sat around, the MORE I wanted to sit around. Inertia had settled in.
A Sedentary lifestyle is that nice comfortable way of living that comes from doing nothing. Just sitting or lying on the sofa watching TV and not bothering with life that is happening outside.

So once I recognize this, I made a conscious decision to be more active it took the kayak out paddling a couple of days. We went on a few hikes and being the temps for super high these hikes included waterfalls. We took out our tandem bicycle and we paddled through a couple of towns and made a nice day of it. And 3 or 4 times a week, we walk 3,4 or 5 miles a day.

So now I feel better about myself and I am more eager to remain active.

My advice, get active. Find a hobby that includes activity. Remain in contact (wither on the phone or in person -6 feet apart) with friends and loved ones.

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!

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E 55
6/2020
We visited Trishs' daughter and grandson in Southern New Jersey. Then visited with with a friend in PA. Then went up to the Finger Lakes NY for a few days. We installed a Soft Start capacitor in the roof air conditioner and can now run the A/C off of the inverter. Here's a link to it https://amzn.to/327zChr

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!

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Here in New York restaurants are still closed down
we are hoping to travel at some point this summer but we are no rush to get somewhere where everything is closed. Our restaurants are just starting to open and they're packed with people. We're trying to use our best judgment in avoiding large crowds but still trying to enjoy ourselves.
We go on hikes but we pick places that are not popular heights. We live a little over 1 hour from the George Washington bridge so we get a lot of folks from the city in this area who won who enjoy the hiking also. We've done a pretty good job avoiding crowds on the trails. We've also taken our kayak and thrown it in local Marsh and reservoir without issue.

Now if you remember or towards the middle to latter part of our last trip to the southeast I was complaining of back pain and I thought it was from sitting too much and the bad couch and it turns out I have two bulged discs. When we returned home we started cutting a lot of firewood and my left elbow started hurting and it turns out I have tendonitis and fluid on the elbow.
so as it turns out being home during this. Is a good time to have everything addressed.
It's interesting us and probably the whole world is experiencing quite a lot of stress with the coronavirus. and at this time my website has its lowest number of visitors ever. I do know that people do not like to reach out for help with stress and stress Management. It's all very interesting , human nature that is. when we were returning home from our Southeast trip in March everything was beginning to shut down so I knew that I would be missing out on the opportunity of helping a lot of people at schools and clients in Hudson valley.

Been really busy working on the RV. I put in a divider curtain and and new shocks all the way around. a buddy of mine suggested new shocks when I was explaining to him how the wind affected the RV and the jarring pounding of the RV when we hit potholes I explained to him that are RV only has about 28,000 miles on it but he explained that it is 7 years old. he asked me if I was going to do the shocks myself and I said no I do not have a lift and he said that you don't need a lift for the shocks. I pulled up a video on YouTube and it's pretty straightforward so I bought for koni shocks which were a little bit more expensive but I figured if I'm going to do it let me do it right. So I swap them out man what a difference they make. So much smoother on bumps a lot less way going on and off of entrance and exits on highways. And a lot less jarring. I will post pictures of that soon also put a link in the show notes for it. However on spreaker I cannot put active hyperlinks in the show notes. but what I will do is I will put the link to my Facebook page with pictures be located and unfortunately you'll have to copy and paste them into a browser sorry about that. Perhaps I'll on my website relaxRV.Org I will put links to the photos on my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/watch/Relax-RV-277623782811787/ ). I started using Instagram and I'm wondering if I should put photos on there or continue on my Facebook page. On Instagram my username is relax RV podcast (https://www.instagram.com/relaxrvpodcast/) ,

Me and Scott put into automatic switches the first switch controls generator and shore power if neither of them go on it'll kick over to the second switch which is the inverter. this way the inverter is isolated from the generator and shore power no more burning out inverters by plugging in or turning on the generator I've done it twice and I've done it for the last time LOL. Thanks Scott.

I put a new battery charger in the RV it was making odd noises and was charging the batteries intermittently the changeover was pretty straightforward and easy and everything seems to be working beautifully. Trish noticed was that when the slide was not going out when we were running it off of the coach batteries.But plugged it or turned on the inverter or ran the generator the slide worked beautifully. So now that I replaced the battery charger the slide works beautifully on coach batteries. Yay.

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!

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E53
5/2020 How am I doing?
Improved our Solar. we tried 2 different battery monitors Bayite DC 6.5-100V 0-100A
Very accurate. No State of Charge (SOC). No indicator that showered level of charge. Cost was $16
I then bought the Victron Energy Battery Monitor, BMV-700
2 wires just plug in. SOC and battery level indicator. No bluetooth at this level but love it. $145

Then after I installed the battery monitor, we noticed sometimes the batteries were fully charged and other times they were not. At first I thought it was a solar charger that was the culprit. But then I talked to Scott and George Frey and they both said no it's the onboard battery charger converter. So I ordered a new one from Amazon and its supposed to be delivered today, we shall see. When i install it I will put together a video on the install. you can check out my videos on YouTube relax RV.

We will be heading to our friends Scott and Amy's in Pennsylvania so Scott could help put into automatic relay switches which will help protect on verdure from Knuckleheads like me who turned it on when we're the plugged in on the generator is running. These switches will operate automatically for Plugged In online generator or on a inverter and they will isolate each energy source. I may or may not do a video on the install if I do it'll be on YouTube

How am I? I'm ok, thanks for asking :) Ive noticed some people I've been talking with have had a shorter fuse and quick to anger. Do a self inventory and look at yourself. But sometimes we dont recognize stress symptoms in ourselves so ask a friend or family member if they see a change in you .... ask them "How Am I Doing"? If you see stress symptoms in loved ones share that information gently with them.
Go back and listen to episode 52 for a list of some of the symptoms.

I recommend going to the CDC or world health organization (w.h.o.) for health advice not the news or social media.

restrictions are starting to lift - be careful out there

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!

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E 52
How are you doing?
These are strange and trying times.
It seems that people who are "not essential" are experiencing new stressors at this time of change.
..lack of income
..frustrations of try to negotiate super inundated systems like unemployment
..kids and adults are stressed with isolation from their friends
..adults are dealing with working at home OR being an essential employee
..hard to get comfortable with the uncertainty of when their lives will go back to the routine they are comfortable with
..try to keep needed supplies in the household
"Essential " people may be feeling overwhelmed because of being overworked or fearful because of possible exposure to the virus.
Either way These ARE trying times.
Signs and symptoms of stress overload:
Anxiety or panic attacks, A feeling of being constantly pressured, hassled and hurried, Irritability and moodiness, Stomach problems, headaches, or even chest pain, Allergic reactions, such as eczema, Acne or asthma, Problems sleeping too much or too little, Over or under eating, Increased drinking, smoking or doing drugs, Sadness or depression, Feeling like you are losing control or need to take control, Having difficulty relaxing and quieting your mind, Feeling bad about yourself (low self-esteem), lonely, worthless, and depressed, Low energy, headaches, Upset stomach, including diarrhea, constipation, and nausea, Aches, pains, and tense muscles, Chest pain and rapid heartbeat, Nervousness and shaking, ringing in the ear, cold or sweaty hands and feet, Dry mouth and difficulty swallowing, Clenched jaw and grinding teeth, constant worrying, Racing thoughts, Forgetfulness and disorganization, Inability to focus, Poor judgment, Being pessimistic or seeing only the negative side.

Things that will help you to relax:
..Find diversions
..start new or do old hobbies
..read
..jigsaw puzzles
..crafts
..clean
..paint
..fix or repair things that have been on the "honey do" list
..plan or explore options for your travel plans when the restrictions are lifted
..TALK on the phone
..play games with family or Solitaire
..work on the list of things broken in your rig or do modifications that you have wanting to do

Check out these free Stress Management Recordings and share as you want:
-episode 49 which is an introduction to stress https://www.spreaker.com/user/relaxrv/relax-rv-podcast-episode-49-an-introduct
-episode 50 is a progressive relaxation exercise https://www.spreaker.com/user/relaxrv/relax-rv-podcast-episode-50-a-progressiv
-episode 51 is a way to take 7 minutes to relax https://www.spreaker.com/user/relaxrv/relax-rv-podcast-episode-51-take-7-minut

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!

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E 51 Bonus
Take 7 Minutes to Relax I recorded this many years ago, I hope it helps you to relax. Do NOT listen to it while driving or operating heavy equipment. Find a safe comfortable location. Use headphones or earbuds if available. The free recording can be found at relaxrv.org/help

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!

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E 50 Bonus
Progressive Relaxation Exercise. I recorded this many years ago, I hope it helps you to relax. Do NOT listen to it while driving or operating heavy equipment. Find a safe comfortable location. Use headphones or earbuds if available. This recording can be found at relaxrv.org/help

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!

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An Introduction to Stress. I recorded this many years ago, I hope it helps you to relax. Do NOT listen to it while driving or operating heavy equipment. Find a safe comfortable location. Use headphones or earbuds if available. Listen free at relaxrv.org/help

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!

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E 48
3/2020
Stopped at Centralia Pa on our way to Bloomsburg Pennsylvania. Centralia is a town had an iron field under it and had caught in fire many years ago. We then arrived at our Boondockers Welcome host site, and met our hosts Scott and Amy.. They invited us to join them for dinner the next night we said absolutely and we would bring wine and dessert. We looked online and found Dalos bakery in Berwick, Pennsylvania.
The next morning Scott reached out and asked if our generator was working. Scott came out and after some finagling he noticed a wire dangling behind the carburetor. We spliced them together and voila it started and runs without a hitch. The next day we got all packed up then our goodbyes lasted another hour. It's nice when we leave a place knowing you have new friends. We already have plans to get together with them.
We drove 2 hours home along the way we dumped and filled up with gas. We tend to fill up on every leg of our trip. Which means we have about 20 gallons to fill when we are at 3/4 of a tank.
After taking out stuff that could freeze I winterized it, following my own directions and hopefully this time nothing will freeze and break.
On this trip, we were gone 3.5 months. The number of nights we spent at each were: Boondockers Welcome 64. Campgrounds 32, Harvest Hosts 5, and no casinos, Walmarts, Cracker Barrels etc. And because of that we only spent a total of $1,050 on Campground fees, and some of the boondockers welcome hosts charged either 5 or $10 a night for electric. Not too bad for a 3.5 months.
We had some Problems. BUT Our Fun out weighed the stressors!
Places we visited and things we've done: Christmas vacation house, Assateague wild ponies, ocean city, Charleston, OBX, Myrtle Beach, Savannah, St Augustine, Disney, Miami, Clearwater, Tampa, the Keys, the Everglades, Destin, saw Manatees, the highest point in Fla, Mobile Alabama, New Orleans, The Tabasco factory, Eunice Louisiana, Helen Ga, Smoky Mountain National Park, Harpers Ferry and Centralia.
And that doesn't include all the things we've learned and the wonderful people we've met.
So now that we're home the podcast will go back to a less frequent release and I will talk more about Stress Management and with North America being turned upside down, I see my clients and friends are showing a heightened level of stress or anxiety. Everyone is being affected, full timers, part timers, vacationers, workers, parents, children, adults, loved ones and yes me.
I won't be talking about the corona virus - if you want to learn about that read any of your emails from your bank, grocery store or if you must ..... the news. Try to limit the amount of time you watch or listen to the news your mind needs a break from it
There is a short guided imagery at the end of this episode, DO NOT listen to it while driving or operating heavy machinery. However to help you deal with your stress, in the very near future I will release 3 episodes. They will be an introduction to stress, a progressive relaxation exercise and a guided imagery. Please listen to them while in a safe place to relax and share them with anyone who needs to relax.
Be safe everyone and .... laugh as often as you can. Peace.

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!

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E 47
3/2020
We visited Bays Mountain Park & Planetarium.
The next stop was in Hardy Va. We stayed at a BDW and visited the Booker T Washington National Monument.
We then stayed at Devault Vineyard a part of Harvest Hosts. We then took a ride over to Lynchburg Virginia. We stopped in at a restaurant called Bootleggers. The next morning and drove to Gordonsville Virginia and stayed at Honah Lee Winery. We hooked up to 30 amp and had a water hookup which is totally atypical of a harvest host. The next day we drove to Messicks Farm in Bealeton Va. Which is another HH. Tuesday 3/17 we packed up and drove to a BDW in Keymar Md.
We were pleasantly surprised when we met out host that we had met them at boondockers welcome site in Defuniak Springs Florida. We drove over to the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in Emetsburg Md which is beautiful and peaceful. The next day we went hiking in Catactin Mountain Park we visited a rock formation called the chimney rock then we headed over to Cunningham Falls and took a hike there. We went over to Harpers Ferry. The National Park office was closed so there was no admission charge. All the shops in town were also closed.
Then on our way to our next boondocking welcome site in Pennsylvania, we stop the Camping World in Harrisburg Pennsylvania to pick up the dipstick oil cap for the generator. Which didn't solve the problem.
We then pulled into our last bdw place in PA. And that's where I'll leave you for this week...

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!

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E 46
3/2020
On 3/10/20 this podcast celebrated it's 2 year anniversary.
Our Boondockers Welcome hosts in Brooks Georgia invited us in for ice cream. We sat with them for over an hour having a really nice conversation about a lot of different things. Then I met my buddy Rob at Nic & Norman's in Senoia. This is the town where Walking Dead was filmed.
The next day we drove to The Cottage Vineyard and Winery which are Harvest Hosts. After setting up we drove over to Helen Georgia. We were pleasantly surprised by it. We liked it better than Frankenmuth Michigan. You can park for free at the Unicoi Hill Park or in the City of Helen parking lot on the other end of town. Otherwise it's $5 to park (March 2020). We ate at the Heidelberg restaurant which had really good heavy German food. We had nice conversations with some of the shop owners.
That evening we got back to the rig Trish suggested starting up the generator you hadn't started it in a while. It started right up and ran for about 10 minutes and then it died. It's not sending an error code. We have flashbacks from 2018 (check out episode 5 to hear about that mess).
We hope its the dipstick/oil fill plug, and have one on order.
That day we drove a whopping 7 miles to Timber Ridge Campground that we reserved through Passport of America.
We then went back to Helen Ga and hiked the Unicoi / Helen Trail.
Then we drove to Smokemont Campground in the Smoky Mountains National Park (no entry fee). We picked a sunny campsite for our solar (here is a link to our solar system in our rig). We then did a 5 1/2 mile hike. It was 62 degrees and beautiful. That night it was 30 degrees fahrenheit out, it's nice having our inverter so we can use our electric blankets to warm up our bed. And its nice having heated tanks.
The next day we went for a hike on the Appalachian Trail.
The next day we woke up to total cloud cover and rain. We packed up and drove north out of the Smoky Mountains and by the time we left the campsite our batteries were fully charged, we love our 3000 watt pure sine wave inverter. We drove through Gatlinburg and will return to it someday.
We drove to Fall Branch, Tennessee. We met our Boondocking Welcome hosts. They invited us in for a glass of wine and nice conversation.
The next day March 11th 2020 I recorded this episode of the podcast while Trish did laundry. Then off to find a small park and go for a walk.

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!

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E 45
3/2020
Drove to Pearl River Louisiana. We wanted to hike but because of the flooding we had a hard time finding a place (see the photo for this episode). We drove a half hour to Northlake Nature Center in Mandeville Louisiana. And hiked for 2 and 1/2 hours. A nice park with boardwalks and small trails.
The next day we drove to Prichard Alabama to Chickasabogue Park and because we booked it through Passport America we camped there for $9 a night with full hookups.
We got set up and the slide started acting up again. The slide has difficulty going out. I remembered we had an issue in Montana with a wire going to the slide controller. So I asked Trish to hit the button to extend the slide while I went to the basement and I wiggled the wire that gets connected to the control panel that says ext (for extend) I wiggled it and as I wiggled it I heard an electronic switch going off inside of that control box and the slide came out.
I had a conversation with myself and reminded myself to take a deep breath and relax and come up with a solution. I also reminded myself to put things in perspective. With all of this wonderful traveling that we're doing we're seeing beautiful things learning so very much (like the fact that we like to eat mud bugs) finding fantastic foods and meeting fabulous people. And I reminded myself the RV is put through an earthquake in a hurricane every time we drive it down the road 60 mile an hour winds and earthquake bumps.
I then went on to Amazon found the control box Lippert Components 211852 Wall Slide-Out Controller V-Sync II for $250. I went ahead and ordered it and 2 days later I unplugged the old one --plugged in the new one - and the slide came right out without issue. So once again I hope that we figured out the slide problem.
The next day we drove 3 hours to Eclectic Alabama.
We then went for a hike of about an hour through the park. Got back to the rig worked on pictures and then grilled dinner. That night it poured all night. We were setup under a carport so it was nice bbqing and such and not having to worry about the rain. On 3/2 I was getting cabin fever so I put on my rain gear and walked 2 miles to the town of Eclectic. When I got to town, the rain stopped and the sun came out. So I called Trish, she picked me up and we went to Lake Talisi Riverwalk. It was nice to get out for awhile. The next day we packed up, and headed to Brooks Ga. We arrived in Brooks Ga met our host. And had a nice conversation about rv solar systems.
The next day we went in to Atlanta Ga. It was a so we found a Groupon for the Michael C Carlos Museum at the Emory University. What are really nice museum that had a great Egyptian display along with a lot of other interesting artifacts. Then we stopped in at the Ponce City Market which was the old Sears Roebuck and Company building. There was a lot of upscale shops restaurants and even a couple of bars in it. We bought a couple of chocolates at St Germain Bakery which were delicious. We then drove over to the Eclipse Di Luna in Atlanta. We got a few phenomenal tapas and it was happy hour so they were half price. Earlier in the trip Trish tried a coconut mojito and liked it. This place had one as part of their happy hour so she got one there and she liked it again. I guess this will be Trish's cocktail of choice but her drink of choice will remain wine.

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!

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E 44
2/2020
We left New Orleans and I wanted to drive across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. Why? Well according to the Guinness Book of World Records it is the longest continuous bridge passing over water in the USA (it was the longest in the world but now the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in China is the longest).
Arrived in Lafayette Parish Louisiana and stayed at a Boondockers Welcome host, Lonnie and Antoinette. Wow what a fantastic time we had with these folks and their wonderful friends. We learned what a Parish is in Louisiana. They invited us to a cookout with cracklins and gumbo and a crawfish boil the next day. All of it was fun and delicious! The next day we joined our host at Little Big Cup for brunch. We had more crackling, a great jambalaya and gumbo and fantastic Creme Brulee French toast.
Then we went to the Tabasco Company Factory and Museum tour which was worth the visit. We bought a bottle of their bloody Mary mix for our host.
The next day we went to Prairieville in Ascension Parish, Louisiana. Met our wonderful host. Set up the rig right next to the bayou. By the way a Bayou is a slow-moving Creek. Or swampy section of a river or a lake.
The next day we went to Eunice to see a traditional Cajun Mardi Gras. We had heard of this on the LINK Anthony Bourdain TV show.
This was 2 hours from our location and our host graciously offered to drive us there. We ate the best Alligator we have ever eaten, ala po'boy at Nick's on 2nd. There was a stage with a band playing cajun and zydeco music, stands selling crafts and Mardi Gras clothing and decorations. Then the parade started with police on motorcycles having fun leading it. Then the real fun started. The horseback riders in full cajun garb rode down the street then the floats with bead throwers. And there were people walking in the parade holding chickens.
This was the most fun Mardi Gras Parade we have seen on this wonderful trip! The costumes, the friendliness, the food, music and energy were fantastic! Thank you Louisiana!!!!
We stopped at the LARC Acadian Village. We were so under whelmed by it I didn't even mention it in the podcast.

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!

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We arrived in Fairhope Alabama and learned Mardi Gras originated in Mobile in 1703. We went to a Mardi Gras parade in Mobile Alabama which was our 1st Mardi Gras Parade ever. What a blast. While the downtown is filled with bars, Mobile keeps their festivities kid friendly. While there we visited the Mobile Carnival Museum. We highly advise you to take their free tour, admission was $8. We then went to a 2nd parade in Fairhope, which was much smaller but still fun. We ate at a fantastic Lebanese restaurant in Fairhope called Sage.
Then we drove to New Orleans (NOLA). Camped at 3 Oaks and a Pine campground (which we reserved through Passport of America $40/night for full hookups - and there's a membership discount code I can email you which will save you some money towards their membership fee, just let me know). We are 15 minutes away from Bourbon St. We walked to Frenchmen Street and sat at Apple Barrel to listen to Great old jazz music.
And we had Beignets at Cafe Du Monde.
The next day we took the bus into town which was no bargain. In New Orleans we took a tour (hottest hell tour) which was touted as "adults only" and it was great. The owner/guide talked about alot of the dark stuff that happened in New Orleans, we found tickets on Groupon for it.
We headed over to the parade route where we had bought tickets to use bleachers for $15. We were so glad we did that. It started at 6:15. but It didn't get up to us until 7:30pm. And the last float went by us at 11:15 p.m.
So now we've seen three different Mardi Gras parades and we agree we liked the one in Mobile Alabama the best.
But what a fun experience here in NOLA. We love all those bars with live jazz music, live bands, and oh yes the food !!!!!!!!
We were told to be careful of the crime on Bourbon Street. But we saw no problems at all. Yes, it's a city so be careful. But there is also Mardi Gras for kidsin NOLA (New Orleans).
We met friends at drinks at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop -- built between 1722 and 1732 by Nicolas Touze, is reputed to be the oldest structure used as a bar in the United States.
We are staying at Three Oaks and a pine Campground.
At the visitor center in town they have 24 hour RV parking (which would be dry camping) for $50 for 24 hours.

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!

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Episode 2
2/2020
We are in crawfordville Florida. The slide is acting up again. Took a while for us to get it retracted. We will be calling for and setting up an appointment. We are staying in another boondockers welcome location. They were calling for a tornado warning till 8:00 p.m. so our host came out and suggested we move the rig to another part of their property that was away from any big trees. From there we went shopping for groceries and hardware stuff. I bought a new set of windshield wipers from Camping World, excuse my language lol. These were $2 cheaper than the ones we got on amazon. And the ones for Amazon only lasted us 4 months. Our water pump has been vibrating when we run the water so I bought some rubber washers I took off the water pump mounted the washers underneath it and remount the pump. Wow what a difference. That night we got no tornadoes but lots of thunder lightning and rain the next day we drove 3 hours West to the central time zone and arrived at another boondockers welcome location in defuniak springs Florida. We got settled into our site and met our hosts and took a nice ride to chautauque winery and enjoyed a free wine tasting. We bought a bottle of their Chardonnay and then muscadine which is a little sweeter of a white wine. Muscadine is a great that is thick skinned. It's a Florida grape which tends to be a little sweeter. We passed by the nature Coast trail which is a 32 mi section of the Florida greenways and trail system. The next day is 55° and rainy but we went to Britton Hill in Lakewood park. This is Florida's highest point at 345 ft. And you notice it's called a hill right? So I started doing a little research and I found that the highest point in Florida is the panoramic Tower in Miami at 826 ft LOL. We pulled into the parking lot at Britton Hill and we saw a sign very tongue-in-cheek about climbers who climb this "mountain" while training to climb Mount Everest. They had pictures of the climbers with their oxygen and Alpine climbing gear LOL. We walked around looking for the marker that showed we were at the top how the hill. But it could not be found. Because there isn't one lol. So apparently the parking lot is around 2 ft lower than the highest points in Florida. So basically any little rise and elevation of 2 ft would bring it to the highest point. The hiking trail was about 3/4 of a mile so we did it like three times just to get some exercise. We can now add our names to the long list of people who dare to climb the highest point in Florida lol.
We then drove to florala Alabama about 10 mi away. It was our first time being in Alabama. We wanted to walk around the town but there wasn't much of a town to walk in and then the rain started. So we then drove over to the town of DeFuniak springs. MSN had named this city as the best small town in Florida. It has one of the only two round spring lakes in the world. We were there on a Saturday but most of the stores were closed. But we did go to Linda's half and half used book stores and bought a bunch of books and cds. We then walked around the lake and then walked around the streets around the lake again to see the beautiful houses. Apparently they put on a beautiful Christmas light display that is reflected on the lake. We return to the rig grilled or dinner and three other couples that were at this boondockers welcome location got together we built a campfire and we sat for a few hours talking laughing and getting to know one another. The next day we drove to Pensacola Florida and visited fort pickens . When we arrived at the Fort we were confused with the different period buildings that had no explanations. We then took their tour of the fort which is a part of the national park system. On that 45 minute tour we learned that slaves had built it in 1834 that Apaches had been in prison here including geronimo. The fort was then reinforced with the war of 1812. And then redone again for world war I. So this clarified or confusion as to what we're actually looking at. After that we went to the City of Pensacola which has a bunch of high-end shops and restaurants. Most of which are not on the waterfront. The next day I tinkered with the toad. We grounding the light wires. We moved some of the wires out of the way and secured them a little bit better. The next day we went to Henderson Beach State Park to camp for two nights. It's a beautiful campsite and Beach unfortunately it was so foggy we couldn't see more than 40 ft. We drove to harborview boardwalk but a lot of it was closed and the only things that were really open were boat tours fishing trips bars and restaurants. We did stop in at Margaritaville which was the biggest when I had ever seen. It had two floors and it was huge. Now keep in mind we're in Florida where the peak season is the summer. The next day we drove out to point Washington State Forest. We found a Forest road and drove two miles on it with the Jeep until we found a place to park. Then we hiked for 6 miles. Afterwards we stopped at the whale's tail on the beach in Miramar Beach Florida for a drink. We then headed back to the rig for dinner. The next stop Alabama with the rig. Will be at a boondockers welcome for four nights and then we will be heading off to New Orleans for Mardi Gras 2020.

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!

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Episode 41
2/2020

We pulled into Ruskin Florida at another Boondockers Welcome location. On the way in we saw a you pick grove. So after we met our host and got set up we walked about one and a half miles to Dooley Groves. We went out to the Grove and picked some seedless tangerines and honey Bell oranges. We saw some of the biggest lemons I've ever seen in my life. We got back to the rig we cut up one of the oranges mixed with a dry blend mix and wrapped it up with some salmon and foil. And then cooked it on the grill wow was that delicious. The next day we wanted to find a park to walk in Florida. We googled and found a park in St Petersburg. This reminded us of a trip wade took about 5 years ago. At that time we found a tiki bar right on the bay. It is a part of the Magnuson Hotel. So we decided to revisit this bar. We sat and had a great Pina colada and chatted with Ed from N.H. That night we had a great visit with our host. The next day we visited tarpon springs and enjoyed the best Greek food we have ever had. At Mamas Greek Cuisine https://mamasgreekcuisine.net/
We then walked around and bought a sponge. Well that's what put this place on the map back in the early 1900s.
We had taken the rig with us and found Street parking for our 30ft rig towing or jeep. Our next stop was at another boondockers welcome location. We sent them a message explaining that we were in tarpon springs and wanted to enjoy dinner in tarpon springs and would arrive later than originally planned. We then drove there. We got set up and parked just before dark. We timed it perfectly. That night we had great conversation with our hosts. They have the cutest rig I had ever been in. The gutted it and designed it themselves. There was a 1950s table and chairs. A black and white linoleum floor. Gorgeous. Well enjoying drinks with them or host explain to me about turning off battery cutoff switch when using our inverter. Previously the inverter would kill the batteries and over load the inverter! He explained that with the inverter wired directly into the breaker box, the batteries would be charging and discharging at the same time which resulted in a voltage death loop. That night I turned off our battery switch and viola for the 1st time we had no issues using the microwave and coffee pot, even at the same time! Trish's phone died so off to Verizon for a replacement one. We then walked around town which was nice nice. We found a place called MC Wine Bar and they would be having live music that night. So we reached out to our hosts to join us there. We had a great time getting to know them. The next day we went to Bell Florida on the recommendation of our host to do an actual hike. We haven't done an actual hike since we left for this trip. We headed out to
O'Leno and River Rise preserve State Park. O'Leno State Park & River Rise
(386) 454-1853 https://maps.app.goo.gl/NrPLAsuAHsjnQoDd8 We chose the park cuz you could hike out to where a river goes underground and then resurfaces 3 MI away. We hiked out we watched it disappear which was basically just a pond. Approximately 900 million gallons of water goes underground every day. It was very interesting to learn about but we were very underwhelmed seeing it. However the park was really scenic with two nice trails so we hiked about six and a half miles. We had lunch and then we drove to Itchetucknee Springs state park. For another 3 miles of hiking. They also have canoe and kayak rentals there, a shuttle service, and scuba diving if you are certified in cave diving. The next day we did laundry. And drove off to our next boondockers welcome location. A young couple who were full-timing pulled in. They were from Michigan and apparently they do a lot of rving videos on Facebook. That night the four of us enjoyed nice conversation around the campfire. The next day I asked him if he had a offset screwdriver he asked what that was. I explained to him that are double sliding door in the bedroom needed to be screwed back in so I showed him he pulled out his tools and fix the form what a nice guy. The next day we headed north about 2 hours to crawfordville Florida which is about 20 minutes from the Florida state capitol of tallahassee.

So what do you do to help manage your stress? Do you know someone who would benefit from listening to a stress mange exercise? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/stressed-2-2/stressed-2/
If that ain't your thing I made some videos about the improvements I mentioned and I posted them on YouTube at
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA
Or you can watch them on
https://relaxrv.org/videos-the-good-the-bad-and-the-modifications/

There are discounts on my website to Boondockers Welcome , Harvest Hosts., Renogy Solar and Mattress Insider for all of your RV bedding needs
https://relaxrv.org/discounts-to-help-lower-your-stress/

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

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!

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Episode 40
1/2020
Wow episode 40! We drove 3 hours south to Miami. Majority of the ride was on RT27. This is now my favorite road on. No traffic, to Lanes each way. Lots of forms and orange groves cattle and horses along the way. Central Florida is the cattle capital of the usa. Then we drove on. It was worse than the roads in Canada, i-95, 84 and 80 etc.
We are staying at a boondockers welcome location just outside of miami. We pulled in we noticed peacocks all over the place. Apparently a hurricane in the past destroyed a local zoo and they have been loving their new found freedom ever since. We met our fantastic hosts and enjoyed a few hours of their company that evening along with a friend of theirs. We always ask what is the local favorite food, so we visited Knaus Berry farm for fantastic cinnamon buns. The next day we drove to the Florida keys. We stopped at North key largo so we could experience how the keys used to be. Stopped at crocodile lake which is a National wildlife reserve. We met a very interesting volunteer there who is a full-timer with her husband. She was very informative regarding crocodiles and the study there of. We then headed to dagney Johnson key largo hammock. We paid our interest free and walked for a bit I'll be at there was not much to see. Then we went to John pennekamp coral reef state Park. They had glass bottom boat tours, kayak rentals, snorkeling and scuba tours. There's a little chilly for us 60° so we didn't go in the water at all. And it's 60° it was the coldest day that year in Miami. Although we do wish we had the kayak with us we would have put it in. This was the first undersea Park in the us. And apparently there is a Christ of the abyss statue down there. And we learned about the Manchineel tree, which is the the most poisonous trees in the USA. To test it I rubbed the bark on one of my fingers, nothing happened. I then googled it and apparently it's the Milky sap that is poisonous. Well there goes my scientific process skills LOL. The next day we took an airboat ride up in the everglades. We found a Groupon for $58 for a 4hr tour for 2 people. Which sounded great but what I missed was that you needed to meet in Miami. So we drove to the meeting place in Miami and we could not locate the booth. No signs no directions no nothing. We had to call them nine different times while walking around to actually find them. We then got on a bus. Diego tour was supposed to start at 10:30am. The bus didn't leave until 11:00 a.m. it was a 1 hour drive to Everglades Holiday Park. Our boat guide was from swampapes.org they help wounded warriors and are trying to eradicate the invasive Burmese python. What a fantastic guide. We saw some alligators and he taught us that they expect all of the mammals in the Everglades will be gone because of the pythons. And this was in 2020. Once all the mammals again the Gators will be gone too. After the airport ride the Everglades Holiday Park not a great show with a guy handling gators. If you ever plan on doing an airboat ride in the Everglades go directly to Everglades Holiday Park. It would have cost us $34 a person to go directly there. So yes we saved $10 but what a hassle with the bus in the parking and all of that in miami. We have booked the tour through "305 tours in Miami". Do yourself a favor and do not book anything through them, that will help lower your stress.
People often compare Miami traffic with New York city. And I would definitely agree. The one difference is in New York City people drive very aggressively. Down here they just do what they want when they want but there's no agression lol. And the next day we visited Little Havana, Miami we ate at El Cristo restaurant....wow !!!! And there was fantastic music at Cubaocho and you need to check out el Santo. We loved little Havana and will be back. On Friday 1/24 we wanted to get back to nature. We drove to a few parks but we're disappointed with them. We then drove to Biscayne National Park once again we wish we had our kayak with us. It was a nice place to spend some time albeit most of the park is water-based. We then went to the Everglades National Park and did a couple of small hikes. Volunteer there told us there was an estimated for Florida Panthers in the Everglades and around 200 and all of Florida, he then went on to talk about the invasive pythons. It seems like everybody in Florida is worried about these things. Or last day in Miami we drove to South Beach. We parked two blocks from the beach it was a beautiful Saturday 80°, the beach was packed and the water was warm. This was our first visit to South beach. We walked along the beach and then we walked along ocean drive. We picked one of the many sidewalk bars and we ordered a drink. We knew South Beach was really expensive but the drinks started at $20. However the $30 drink was the 30 Oz coconut mojito. So not too bad really. It took us an hour or to share this drink. I'm sitting next to us was a young couple from Chicago so we engaged a nice conversation with. And yes it is an expensive place there's a hotel which was the former Versace Mansion and it's smaller room which is sweet goes for $1,000 a night but remember if you have to ask the price you can't afford it. The next day we packed up and headed north west to Fort Denard. We have two choices to get there go across i-75 which is known as alligator Alley which is two lanes with a speed limit of 75. I don't go above 60. There are signs at the entrance to the highway that they do use cameras for speed detection and we'll take it you even if you're going 1 mile an hour too fast. But the way we wanted to go was across the Tamiami trail. It's the old road to go from Tampa to Miami hence the name Tamiami. Speed limits of basically 55. One lane each way. It's slower and a lot more scenic. That day it was in the 70s but it was a Sunday so there was a lot of the parking lots were full but we did stop a few times we got out for a short walk we were treated to seeing birds alligators and a couple of manatees. We arrived in Fort Denaud on the Caloosahatchee River which goes from the Gulf of Mexico to lake Okeechobee. That lake which is the big round lake when you look at a map of florida, is the second largest freshwater lake in the US. It's average depth is 10 ft lol. IT supplies water to most of the Southern Florida. And there is a Okeechobee canal that goes from the Atlantic Ocean to the lake and then over to the Gulf of mexico. The next day we went to the Tallahatchie regional park. It's a nice park with over 3 miles of trails. Then we went to Manatee Park in Fort Myers. It's free but they charge $5 to park we saw manatees right from their boardwalk. We then rented a canoe for 20 bucks an hour. What an experience! The manatees are swimming right underneath the canoe. We wish we had our kayak. The next day the 29th we drove North to Ruskin Florida and we pulled in to get set up.

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!

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Episode 39
1/2020
We arrived in Clearwater Florida on 1/16/20
We got set up in the PassportAmerica RV park (check out RelaxRV.org/discounts for a link to them) they had a great band that evening. The next day we visited my brother Mike and his wife Jen. He had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and his prognosis is not good. His wife Jen is doing a great job taking care of him. If you know of someone who's taking care of a loved one try to encourage the caretaker to take care of themselves. As I reflect on my brother Mike and his wife that reminds me of how precious life is and how fleeting it can be at times. Make time to have fun and do what you love. Live the life that you want to live. For me I took a huge penalty for retiring early. My pension was cut by almost 1/3. But this reminds me you cannot put a price on time. So I had adjusted my finances earlier in life so I could live this life now. I know there's a lot of younger folks listening to this podcast and take my advice, take care of your future self while you're young. Eat Right exercise and watch your money.
That day I spent a few hours with my brother well Trish and Jen went out and got lunch for themselves. The next day we went to the RV super show in Tampa it was a Saturday so we figured it would be packed and parking was going to be a pain. We were wrong on both accounts we parked at 11:00 a.m. and we were a 2 minute walk to the gate. At the Hershey RV show it took us about 10 minutes to work to the gate. The temperature was $12 to get in and that got you free admission the next day. Years ago I bought a book by John Huggins how to survive an RV show

It came in handy today.
We had packed food and snacks and drinks in our pack when we got to the ticket booth we saw a sign that's a no outside food or drinks so I walked back to the car put all that stuff back and came back to the ticket booth. I shouldn't have done that they never checked our packs. Once we got inside we were pleasantly surprised there were bands playing, bagpipers, clowns, a guy on stilts. None of this was at hershey. At Hershey the food was all heavy and expensive. At Tampa that was light Fair food choices and we got a huge chef salad for 10 bucks. They had rides for kids and a lot of seating and benches which Hershey did not have. At Hershey we had to leave the fairgrounds to go get some healthy food for lunch and then come back. They both tout themselves as the largest RV show, we don't know which is bigger and it doesn't really matter Tampa is better. The next day we spent again with my brother Mike and Jen Trish brought Jen over to our rig where they sat and had a glass of wine while I again hung out with Mike. Then Jen had a sitter come over and spend time with Mike and three of us went to dinner at frenchy's on the beach in Clearwater which has always been our go-to place with them. The next day we drove the rig two and a half hours to Sebring Florida. This was a boondocker welcome location (check them out at relaxrv.org/discounts ) and we would be there for one night. We left home 5 1/2 weeks ago and this was only our second one night stay. The next day we started heading south towards Miami.

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!

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Episode 38
1/2020
We arrived in St Augustine. We had a chore day, laundry, podcast and Trish did a workout. That evening we watched a episode of Cheers. In the summer if 2019 we visited the namesake bar in Boston and will watch the entire show. It brings back memories of our trip there and puts a smile on our face. And that my friends is Stress Management.
The next day we drove into St Augustine and paid $15 to park. We visited Fort Castillo de San Marcos. While it is a dirt in the oldest city in the USA, it is not the oldest fort. It was built in 1672. It is a National Park so our NP pass got us in for free. They had great docents and had a cannon firing ceremony. From there we went to the Visitors Center on San Marco Ave. We inquired about sites to see and she suggested a trolley tour. We said we would rather walk to various sites. She said there are 16 miles of roads and you can't see everything on foot. And again directed us to the trolley tour. It seemed like she was only interested in pushing the tour. We asked her hair far it was too Flagler college, which is on the other side of the city, she said 1/2 mile. So we didn't take the trolley lol. The trolly which is a hop on hop off bus was $25 per person. If you bought the ticket, the 2nd day was $10. We planned on seeing the city for 2 days and so we just saved $70. That will pay for a couple meals for us and will give us some exercise. We spent the day hitting the shops in town and there was a lot of them. We figured if we took that Hop on Hop off tour bus would be hopping off every block. We stopped at the City Gate Spirits and I got the spiced orange rum. Talking with the server and we explained to her how much more we enjoyed Savannah as compared to St augustine. She said St Augustine is the bigger sister to Savannah. Savannah has a younger energy, more history and a better vibe. You brought sandwiches from the RV and we found a courtyard where we could sit and enjoy them. This was next to the Top Mill bar. There was a guy singing at the bar and we could hear it in the courtyard which was really nice. We then hit more gift shops (very touristy). We then walked to Flagler college. They had a 2pm tour so we planned to do that the next day. We walked a couple of blocks over to St Augustine winery. They had a great free tour and samples. Then on to more gift shops. And tourist attractions. And tourist traps. One place we really liked was the oldest school in the US. We gladly paid the $10 and really enjoyed it. After that we had dinner at Mi Casa and had excellent mahi mahi. Then as evening fell we sore different side of St Augustine the pub started filling up and we hit the no name bar. They had a great patio and an excellent musician. The next day we went over and took the tour of Flagler college. We were surprised to learn that in this college there is a deaf school, a girls school, and the only Masters program for the deaf in the country. The tour was $12 and was excellent. We then went over to St Augustine distillery. We took their excellent free tour and samplings. We had three sample cocktails one of which Trish actually liked lol. In the eight plus years we were together Trish has liked 3 drinks: Pina coladas, a Moscow mule at glacier National park, and now they're ru with tropical tiki mixer. We were talking to the owner of The distillery and he said he had the best retirement job. And I shook his hand and said I feel like I have the best retirement job. And I guess that's the key to a happy life. We then walked the waterfronts and over to the Old Town district which was really nice. We then went to the colonial oak music Park and visited the St Augustine seafood company and we got a mahi mahi sandwich. Which wasn't all that great. We also got conch fritters which are tough too heavy and too greasy. From there we walked and listened to a few bands and came to the conclusion Savannah has history in an upbeat vibe St Augustine is shops and bars. St Augustine reminded us of the Jersey shore. We then visited our lady de la leche shrine would celebrate Mary breastfeeding baby jesus. It's the only statue we've ever seen that showed that. Places we didn't go to was the fountain of youth which was $18 per person, the old jail, the oldest house, and all of these things are connected to the trolley tour. Seems like they're very money driven regarding tourism.
The busiest restaurants we saw was pizza time which is touted as a second best in the US and the prohibition kitchen both of which had lines to get in. The next day we had a low key day planning more of this trip.
On January 13th we drove Westwood for two and a half hours to Trimble Park in Dora florida. We were here for two different reasons one the cost it was $17.50 a night and 40 minutes to Disney. We talked about staying at Fort wilderness campground but decided against it because each day we would have to move the RV from site to site and the cost was a little prohibitive. We decided we would save money and enjoy a nice calm ride to Walt Disney world as opposed to spending the extra money at Fort wilderness. It was just the two of us with no kids so we didn't need to get there when the park opened and stay all day till the Park closed which was really nice. We were hoping to find a boondockers welcome location near Walt Disney world but no such luck. But when we got to Trimble park we were really happy we chose this place. What a beautiful park. relaxrv.org/discounts. Our site was right on the lake. We set up the rig and walked the trails which were about 2 miles. Each side had two benches facing the water, a fire ring, picnic table and grill on a pad. This was the best campground we had ever stayed in. For the two days visiting Walt Disney world in Epcot center we set the alarm for 7:00 a.m. had breakfast drove to Walt Disney world. the 1st day we visited WDW and the 2nd day we visited Epcot. This is our first time coming here without children which was really nice. We were surprised how they updated a lot of the rides such as the pirates of the Caribbean and the whole presidents. And thank goodness they did not update the haunted Mansion and it's a small world. Space mountain was a little bit of a disappointment as an adult. Visiting it as a kid it was a state-of-the-art roller coaster and now not so much. Trish loves beauty and the beast so we visited Gaston's in Fantasyland. We had loaded the Walt Disney world app on the phone which had an interactive map which was great for navigating around the parks. One thing we were really surprised that was in Walt Disney world there's no place to buy glass of wine or beer unless you sit in the restaurant. Interested in the restaurant you need reservations. We made dinner reservations on the app but then decided we wanted to change the time and their policy was to charge $20 to cancel a dinner reservation. We ate at Tony's Town square and was pleasantly surprised to find the food and wine prices to be very reasonable. After dinner we went to main Street USA and watch the fireworks. Phenomenal. We positioned ourselves near the gate so once the fireworks were over we hurried to the ferry boat which was the fastest way to the parking lot. The other way over to the parking lot is the monorail. The next day we went over to Epcot. We were surprised to find that there was a big "Frozen" presence now. I wanted to write on the test track but as usual it was being worked on. We went over to spaceship earth which we really liked. We felt that Epcot was actually two separate parks. One area had all of the countries. And the other side was everything else like future world and all of that. We ate in France which was delicious. Then we visited Morocco and bought really reasonably priced spices. There was little stands in each country that serve beer and wine and cocktails from that region of the world. France had the cheapest wine it was a nice day, 85° in January. And in January there was short lines and not very crowded at all. The longest line was space mountain which was about 45 minutes. We strongly recommend visiting Walt Disney world in the offseason.
The next day we packed up and drove over to Avalon RV Park in Clearwater Florida. We had been reserved at a KOA campground near there which was almost $100 a night. About a week before we got to this area Trish found this park which was a passport of America relaxrv.org/discounts . And the cost was$22.50 a night. The pork is tight but it was fine. Mainly seasonals there. But very friendly. We were walking around and I met a woman named Connie who is the retiree from Sun Mount ddso in NY. Which is a sister agency I had worked at. You know it really is "a small world". They had a band playing in the clubhouse at night which was a lot of fun.

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!

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Episode 37
1/2020
We are parked at lake Aire RV park and visited Charleston. We came across a emancipation celebration parade. While it was nice to rejoice about this celebration, it was a little sad because it was way too short and not very well attended at all. We went to King Street and got cookies on the suggestion from our friends. That day we walked Charleston some more. Campground was way too close to train tracks and it was noisy all night long. The campsites were soaked or underwater. But convenient to charleston.
The next day we went to Charleston Tea plantation. When I think of plantations this is not what I typically think of. There was no old plantation house to be found at all. So I googled the definition of a plantation and it is an estate which crops or grown and cultivated by resident labor. This plantation is a working tea farm and is the only one in the United states. It's free to enter and they have a free video guided tour of how they process the tea leaves all the way from the bushes into the tea bags. We learned that black oolong and green teas all come from the same tea leaves but the leaves are processed differently. They have a tour bus for $14 which we took. It takes you across the farm and the guy that explained a lot more about the Tea and about how the weather affects the bushes. It stops at the greenhouse and you can go in and explain how it's used. The tour is highly suggested by us. In the gift shop they have about a dozen teas that are for sale and are free to sample and drink. The tour bus lasted about 45 minutes.
https://charlestonteagarden.com/
About 10 minutes away is the deep water vineyard which we visited. We sampled many different wines and bought a bottle. We sat outside and enjoyed a glass of it. Right next door is a Firefly distillery. It turns out that this was my daughter Melinda's favorite distillery. We sampled some of the liquors. I really like the bourbon bowl chocolate pecan whiskey yep you heard me right. We then took a ride over to see Angel oak tree which was awesome. Check their website if you plan on visiting. They're only open certain days of the week. The entrance was free. We stayed about 20 minutes looking in admiring this big old tree. Angeloaktree.com
Then on our last day in this area we visited the Ernest f hollings basin and wildlife refuge. You can go into the house for free but each room has been made over into an office for the park. We walked around for a few hours and covered about 7 miles. The paths were really just old dirt roads. We got to see some wood storks and armadillos which was pretty cool. We then stopped at the Dungannon plantation heritage preserve and wildlife Management area. Here there is no manor house but there are about 5 mi of trails to walk. It was more scenic than hollings basin. There we saw another wood stork and alligators. The next day on the 4th of January 2020 we packed up and drove two and a half hours to another Boondockers Welcome location (check out RelaxRV.org/discounts to join). We got set up and we visited wormsloe state historic site. It was $10 to get in but they gave you a free tour. We visited the family estate dating back to the colonial English colony in 1733. Driving in your on the road that has the longest tree shaded driveway in the United states. There is over 400 trees along the driveway. The next day we went into Savannah. Savannah's been on both of our lists for many years to see. And yes we love Charleston but Savannah wow. So much history architecture squares and Parks. But also it has free shuttles bus and ferry. And live music in the city market on Sunday evenings in the January. It cost $5 to park in most of the parking garages and our first stop is at the visitor center. They told us a lot about the various sites to see. And oh the sites! We visited the first African Baptist Church in the us. There's a baptismal pool on the altar. And Holes in the floor that they believe gave fresh air to the slaves that were trying to move north along the underground railroad. The church was built by slaves after the normal working hours during the hot sun back then. They have a tour for $10. It was fantastic. There's a slave quarters museum that we did not visit. Then we passed the house of Juliette Gordon Low. Who?? She was the founder of the girl scouts of America. We then went to the cathedral of St John the baptist. It's a French Gothic cathedral. They had a nativity scene that was unbelievable. And beautiful stations of the cross. We then went by the hanging tree in wright square. And then over to Chippewa square and soar the pork bench where Forrest Gump was filmed. I did all that in one day because it was easy walking. The next day we parked at the convention center. They have free parking if there's no events going on. And they have a free ferry to River Rd. Perhaps one of the reasons why Savannah is so vibrant is because of the Savannah college of art and design. We drove over to Bonaventure cemetery. Whete we saw Johnny Mercer's grave. We then went to Laurel Grove South cemetery where Reverend Andrew Byron is buried. He was a founder of the first Baptist Church we had visited the day before. We then took that free ferry over the Savannah River which separates South Carolina and georgia. Apparently this river is the fourth busiest port in the us. And it's the largest container port in the us. We walked the waterfront and then walk to the colonial Park cemetery this is where general Sheridan, who is perhaps a relative of mine was buried. Also buried there are about 700 yellow fever victims. We loved savannah.
The next day we packed up the rig and we drove to Jekyll Island Georgia. You have to pay $8 to get on to the island which is 8 Miles long. We then drove over to Driftwood Beach which was fantastic to see. We then drove over and got set up at another boondock was welcome location. The next day we went to St Simons Island and visited Fort Federica which was built to defend against the Spanish who were invading from St Augustine. We drove around to see some of the famed carved faces on the trees but only found two, one was the Mermaid Spirit. We were underwhelmed. Our host at the boondockers welcome location said you need to try the Georgia White shrimp. It's apparently a freshwater shrimp. And one of the only ones in the us. So we went over to marshside grill and had some white fish which were blackened LOL. Now down south blackened food does not mean hot it just means savory. We got back to our rig and our host knocked on our door and invited us in for cocktails out back. They invited Trish in to see their collection of books and invited her to take some for her travels. The next day we drove into florida. It was the first time we've ever been in Florida in the rv. We're about 10 mi away from St Augustine which is the oldest city in the United states.

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!

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Episode 36
1/2020
We spent the day in Wilmington North Carolina. This is a town with a lot of big old houses, shops and a nice waterfront. At this time the USS North Carolina was moored there. It was 76° and I finally got to wear shorts. And then we were off to Holden Beach for a beautiful sunset but it was chilly. The next day we drove an hour to Conway North Carolina in our rig. I'm sure a lot of you are shaking your heads thinking you drove the rig 1 hour that day. That's the thing about RVing AND life, do it the way that makes you feel good. The furthest south we go the warmer the temps get. And we wish we had brought our bike and kayak. We had connected with a Kathy and Kim who I had worked with. And after a walk on North Myrtle Beach we met them at their hotel. The next day we play miniature golf on the beach and had a nice dinner. Our last day in this area we went to the historic district and walked on the Riverwalk. We restocked our meds at cvs. On December 31st we drove to Charleston South Carolina. We stayed at lake Erie RV Park in Hollywood South Carolina. It was a half hour to Charleston. We walked around the French quarter wow! We were a little disillusioned about the city it looked like it was going to be a lot bigger. But it was definitely worth it. We parked the car and enjoyed a nice dinner for Trisha's birthday at Fleet Landing restaurant and bar. https://fleetlanding.net/
It was delicious. The next day we went back into Charleston and visited the city market.

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!

View Details

Episode 35
12/2019
We stayed at a Harvest Host location near Melfa VA. And visited the Blue Crab Bay Co. https://themarylandstore.com/ We've been on the road a week now and have had to pay for only 2 nights stay. They were in the campground. We have saved thousands of dollars between Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Hosts. If you haven't already checked my discounts page, you should at
RelaxRV.org/discounts
We ordered a roof vent for the black tank to avoid having it's spell in the rig as we drive. Wow, it works great ! Under $20 and a 10 minute install. Yay!! Here's a link to it: https://amzn.to/3DIJYS9
When planning the route to Virginia we decided to go over the Chesapeake Bay bridge tunnel. I was reading people's take on it and it got me a little nervous. I saw you can hire a driver to driver your car or RV over it for you. Here's some facts about it; min safe speed is 45mph, Max speed is 55mph, all propane tanks valves must be closed, it is 17 miles long and in December 2019 the toll for our rig towing the jeep was $24. About half of it is tunnel the other half is bridge. But you did numerous short sections of each repeatedly.
But I'll tell you this, it was easy peasy for me. Actually the worst was the narrow tunnel sections. We drove down to the outer Banks for yet another Boondockers Welcome location. Our hosts graciously invited us in to a Christmas party they were having with their neighbors and Friends. We had a really good time. The next day we drove down to Kitty hawk. Neither of us had been to the outer Banks before. Real surprised at how built up the area was. We went to a place called trio to sample some wines. It's a very unique kind of place. They have wine taps on two different floors. You select a wine you want to sample and you pay with a credit card. Each sample was $1.50-$4.00. They did give you 2 free samples. This place was a little too crazy for us. We then went to OBX winery. You could sample all of their wines and get a free glass for $6. The gentleman working was very knowledgeable and friendly with sampled a bunch and bought a bottle of Veronica. We stay there for about an hour to chatting with him. We then took the Jeep and drove about 40 minutes north on the outer banks and hit the beach. You could drive on the beach for free with a four-wheel drive vehicle. This was December and we saw around 20 other four wheel drives and one track ATV I can imagine how crowded it gets into summer. We then drove South to Roanoke island. And we visited Raleigh City which is a national park that preserves England's first new world settlements. We were surprised to find that they did not have many hard facts or relics but we did listen to an interesting talk about the history of the area. We then went to Elizabethan Gardens for their Christmas lights it was $10 to get in and it was really really nice. We then went to the wright brothers first flight location. Is very interesting to see and they offered a great talk about it but one of their knowledgeable rangers. The next day we left for another Boondockers Welcome location near
Jarvisburg, which is about 10 minutes away from the bridge going to the outer banks. We walked just over a mile to the Jarvisburg Colored School. Very interesting to see. One of the downfalls to Jarvisburg was there not many places to eat. So we drove to Aqua in Duck, North Carolina which had excellent food. We had the tuna.
The next day we drove to Burgaw which was a 4-Hour drive south. This is my limit for a drive in the RV. Remember, we are retired and aren't in a great rush. We arrived just up the road from our next Harvest Host location. We found they were at the end of a 1-mile long mud road. So we unhooked the Jeep took it out by itself to make sure that the RV would be fine. And it was.
We got set up and we noticed our propane tank was on empty. It was 30 miles to the next propane filling station so we would have to be careful till we got there. The next day was Christmas Eve and we visited with Roseanne and Jerry in Cape fear North Carolina. Trish and Roseanne had worked together in the past. While talking with them we reflected on another boondockers welcome location that we stayed in Ohio. The woman unbeknownst to us were friends with Roseanne. RVing is a small world. The next day on Christmas we went over to Topsail (pronounced: Tops All) and walked on the beach for about 4 hours. The temps were in the upper 60's. At night we visited Lake Linda's Christmas lights in Hampstead, NC. It was fun and beautiful. https://www.lakelindaschristmaslights.com/
This was our first Christmas away from home and it was peaceful and beautiful. The next day we filled with propane dumped our tanks and filled with fresh water. Our next stop was in Supply North Carolina. At another Boondockers Welcome location.

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!

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Episode 34
12/2019
We hooked the Jeep to the rig on December 12th 2019. The brake buddy would not extend. So off we go with no remote breaks on the toad. Our first stop is in Barnegat New Jersey at a boondockers welcome location. When we got there the brake Buddy worked when I tried it again. It does this when it's been sitting in the cold for a long time unused.
That night at 2:00 a.m. Trish looked at the clock and said how come we don't have any electric? I got up I checked the circuit breakers in the rig everything was okay. I went outside and checked the surge protector and the circuit breaker on the post everything was okay. I started up the generator and no 110 ac electric. We pulled out or down comforter and went back to bed nothing to do at 2am. I had heard that if one of the GFI outlets fails all the outlets fail in the rigs. So we ran out to the hardware store I bought a new GFI outlet being we only had one, went back to the rig swapped it out and nothing. I called the service guy that we usually use for the rig but it went to voicemail. I then called another local RV repair guy and he suggested a call Thor. I called Thor on their tech support phone number which is 877-500-1020.
The woman was great. She had us check a few different things. She suggested opening the automatic transfer switch and see if there was circuit breaker in it. Nope. But then they looked at the inside of the lid of the transfer switch and I saw a burn mark. One of the connections was bad. I took off the wire nut cut off the fried wires put in new wires and the new wire nut and everything worked beautifully. I'm glad I pack extra tools with me. After that fiasco we went over to the Barnegat lighthouse but it was closed because we were there midweek.
The next day we hooked up the Jeep The brake Buddy worked fine. We stopped in Mickleton New Jersey to see a house that decorated to look like the Christmas vacation House. That was a lot of fun. It was complete with a beat up RV and cousin Eddie was there too. Lol. We then drove to Maryland and stayed at a another boondockers welcome location.
So we got another state sticker for our map. We visited Chesapeake City in Maryland was a cute Town nice shops right on the Delaware canal. We worked five miles along the canal path and then five back to the car. In the town of Townsend we saw the Emmanuel Methodist Church was having a healing mass that evening. We are spiritual people. Not very religious. And not methodist. But we know we could definitely use some healing. We went to the service it was really nice. Unfortunately there was only a half a dozen people there. And we were the only non-local people. But they made us feel very welcome we talked about life and traveling with them. When we were leaving the gave us a Bible which we will leave in the reg. Hopefully that might help protect the rig a little bit from all these problems. From there we drove to Assateague Maryland national seashore. It's known for their wild ponies. Offseason the campsite was $30 a night. Report got set up and we saw about a dozen wild ponies. We like the Northern end of Assateague better than the southern end in Virginia. The southern end is more touristy and not as many ponies. On the way to the campground we had three nights of waste in our gray and black tanks, and while driving I could smell black tank seeping up into the rig.
The next day we went to Ocean City Maryland which is about a half hour from Assateague was quiet and small compared to the NJ shore points. It was also December lol. Resource very kid focused. They even had a sign on the boardwalk "no profanity please". Nice !
We went back to the rig we planned the rest of our route heading south and we booked all of our stays up until Mardi Gras in Louisiana. Heres a link to a video on how we plan our trips: https://youtu.be/m17giRxNVs0
We left the next day and started heading south and we stopped at Chincoteague VA which is a touristy town outside of Assateague in Virginia.

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!

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Episode 33
12/2019
We've been home for 3 months and this is a good amount of time to be here. I worked on Facebook links and discount links on my website www.relaxrv.org/discounts
We had a noise coming from our left front wheel anytime I would pass a car it would off of it I brought it to Ford and he said there was a rock between the axle and the strut. They removed it and lubricated the front end. I climbed up on the roof with her new ladder which I love, and resealed the roof. Every time I'm up on the roof I always give it a quick eyeball. Did some fixes around the house and cut some firewood. It was teaching a class over in Elmsford New York and stopped at the Captain Lawrence brewery. I talked with the barmaid Madeline. Had a nice conversation with her. We talked about childhood and spoiling your child as opposed to neglecting your child we talked about following your passion and finding diversions from stress. Hi Madeline.
We then started getting our clothes and supplies ready and loading them into the rig. We turn on the refrigerator the day before we leave to load it up. We're really looking forward to hitting the road for our Southeast trip. This will be our first snow birding experience.

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!

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Episode 32
11/2019
So while we are home it's time to fix things on the RV. Pulled out the battery we had bought in Maine and put three 100 amp AGM batteries from Amazon https://amzn.to/3dBUVuc into our coach. We talked about lithium but they're still too expensive for us. As we drive we noticed we're getting a sewer smell from the black tank. So I put in a rotating plumbing vents up on the roof cost like 15 bucks and it works like a charm. By the front stairs I put an emotion sensor lights when you open the door to go in the stairs or automatically illuminated. For links to these items and other items we use in our rig, please visit https://relaxrv.org/thingsweuse
I took out the mirror in our dining area to make room for our photos. I winterize the rig changed its oil climbed up on the roof and resealed it which I do at least every 6 months. Change the outside porch light to LEDs things to our friend axel. I move the podcast host site to relax rv.org
On the last trip we were gone for 4 months and traveled 6,000 miles. And I totaled up the places that we stayed on the last trip. We stayed at 61 Boondockers Welcome locations. Seven Harvest Host locations and 10 nights at campgrounds. And three nights at ugh Thor. Here's a link to my discounts page, for Boondockers Welcome and Harvest host. Relaxrv.org/discounts. You're on your own regarding discounts at Thor.

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!

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Episode 31
10/2019
So we are now two weeks since our Thor visit and no slide issues yay. We drove to Helena Ohio it was the second week in September and 90°in Indiana and ohio. We hit a couple of county parks but it was so hot we didn't really enjoy him much. We drove past president Hayes's house which is a museum and library near Fremont but we didn't go in. The next day was 91°, so another low-key day. Although we did do an 8 Mile bike ride but the heat was just too much. We are staying at another boondockers welcome location and he had 30 amp so it was nice to at least sit inside with air conditioning. We went to dinner with our hosts at the Depot which was really good. The next day we went back to Erie Pennsylvania to stay at the boondockers welcome location. We visited Wintergreen gorge cemetery and walked around for a while. The next day we hopped on the bike and we rode about 20 miles and visited romolo's chocolates and frontier Park arboretum then we had dinner on the waterfront and that evening we enjoyed a fire with our hosts in their backyard. We are heading home so we started lining up doctor's appointments and my clients appointments for stress management. Our next stop was at Olean New York. We stopped at a casino we visited it for a little while then left a rig there and drove the toad over to ellicottville. The previous week when we're having dinner at the Depot I had a great pumpkin beer and it turns out it was brewed in this town. Apparently they have a lot of festivals here skiing a winery and the brewery. The next day we went over to Rock City Park while we were staying at another's boondocker welcome location. We walked around Rock City for about two and a half hours and while talking to the owner he suggested we visit Kinzua skyway walk in Pa. We had never heard of this please but it turns out it's an old train viaduct which was destroyed by a tornado in 2003. It had been 300 and 1 ft tall which is 24 ft taller than the Brooklyn bridge when it was built it was the highest and longest railroad bridge in the world. It was built in 1882. And now it's a walkway that goes halfway across the valley and it has a plexiglass floor at the end so you can look down. And when you do look down on the valley floor you can see all the twisted steel from the old bridge. The next day we went to Allegany State Park in NY. The park crosses over the border into Pennsylvania where it is called Allegheny Park. We hiked for about 4 MI. To an area called thunder rocks. According to the Iroquois Indians the gods are having a competition on who can make the loudest sound so they would throw these huge boulders in competition. The next day we drove over to the finger lakes in New York for our final night and we stayed at Castel Grisch winery which is another Harvest host location. Apparently at this time there are 35 wineries on Seneca lake and then the finger lakes is five main lakes and another six smaller lakes so imagine how many wineries breweries and distilleries are in this area. Our plan was to visit Watkins Glen State Park it's been on our list for a long time to visit. But we decided not to visit the park because it would have been just a couple of hours we really wanted to spend time at Watkins Glen State Park so instead we visited the town of Watkins Glen which was a really good decision. It was a nice relaxing way to end this trip. We shopped visited Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop we had dinner at a place overlooking Seneca lake. We came back to the rig we watched the sunset on the back deck of the winery and enjoyed our last night out.

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!

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Episode 30
9/2019
Wow this podcast is really growing in popularity. On September 5th 2019 we arrived at sleeping Bear dunes national Park. At first we were confused about the actual hike over the dunes. The information on the websites was confusing. But if you don't think about it too much basically you pulling into the parking lot and walking over the sand dunes to lake Michigan. Now in New Jersey shore it takes about a minute to walk across the sand dunes. Here it's two plus miles to lake Michigan. This Sand dune is definitely something to see and not an easy one to walk the first one plus miles it's uphill and sand and the rest of it is downhill and sand. You don't get to see the lake until you're almost off of the dune. When we arrived at lake Michigan after the hike we walked along the beaches and it was really beautiful. We found this hike to be tougher than what we expected. There's four miles of hiking in sand plus any additional walking you do on the beach. We thought it felt like about an 8 Mile hike. The weather definitely takes its toll also. At points we were chilly and other points we were hot and it's still other places we were really cold. It all depended on elevation wind and sun. After we were done we drove over to empire bluff trail. It was pretty in a much shorter walk. Although there are some stairs and a small hill. The next day we went to Frankfort. Which is a nice lakeside town. We kept having to remind ourselves this is not a seaside town. Remember lake Michigan is unsalted. Lol. We rode the bike for a while on the path to other towns. We saw two jetties protecting the harbor there was a lighthouse out on the end of one of the jetties and the tops of the jetties were paved. I decided I wanted to walk out there even though it was windy and chilly and to get some pictures. I was walking out the jetty I got three quarters of the way to the lighthouse and a wave came and soaked me and my Canon camera. When we got back to the rig I took out the battery and the memory card and left to cover open. I took the lens off and left that open. I left it that way overnight the camera all dried out and worked fine the next day. We then headed south on Michigan's West Coast we drove past Manistee it looked cute so we parked the rig and we walked the Riverwalk following the Manistee river. There were nice restaurants, shops and bars and also a casino with free parking. It turns out they have a Christmas parade and we saved it on our Google maps and will revisit it in the future. We then drove to our next Boondockers welcome location. (here's a link to our discount page for connections to Harvest Hosts and Boondockers Welcome Relaxrv.org/discounts)We met our host was in really nice guy. We hopped in our toad and drove to Fennville Valley vineyard. They had a lot of excellent wines we bought a few bottles also got a t-shirt. We then went to the Saugatuck brewing company you got a flight of beers and played shuffleboard on their tabletops. We then played bumper pool which we had never played before we were trying to read the instructions when a young mom and her son approached us and taught us how to play. That was a lot of fun. The next day we went to Douglas. It's a small town with a lot of expensive shops. And he also had an accessible kayak put in which was really cool. This town is on the Kalamazoo lake. We passed by Holland that had an amusement park but didn't visit it. The next day we packed up and finally arrived at 4:00 we arrived there September 8th. I went through the rig I unscrewed the L brackets and beams that were holding the slide in.
our appointment was September 9th we set the alarm for 6:15 a.m. the service manager arrived at our rig at 7:05 a.m. which was a lot earlier than the year previous. I talked about that visit in episode 12. This time Jim met us right away he reminded us that the repair will not be covered under a factory warranty. Which we already knew. We gave him a list of things that we wanted to be addressed the bedroom door wasn't sliding as it had fallen off the track, we had bent our ladder pulling in to a site so we wanted that replaced. One of our basement compartments were leaking water when it rained and I wanted a new antenna up on the roof. But I told him our priority is getting the slide fixed. Jim asked if I had an extended warranty and I told him absolutely not we got rid of Good Sam because their coverage was terrible. I talk about that in episode 12 also. Here's a link to that episode https://relaxrv.org/2018/10/22/relax-rv-podcast-episode-12/
They took a rig into the shop and we went for a ride in the toad. At 10:00 a.m. Jen and Jim cold with bad news. She explained that at least one of our motor mechanisms were shot they cost between the part and labor about $1,000 each side each slide takes two. I explained to them that if only one mechanism is bad I expect only pay for one mechanism and not the two of them. She said they may have one left over from another repair but that's not how they typically sell mechanisms. I said well then how come you have one left over from another repair? smh. We got to the rig that afternoon. Thor only keeps the rigs in the shop till around 3:00 in the afternoon and you can stay in the rig in the parking lot overnight with their hookups. When we got to the rig we saw a note by the slide switch don't bring slide all the way out. They didn't mention this to us when we're on the phone with them. So that afternoon we brought the slide halfway out which gave us a little bit of leg room. The next morning I asked about a price for the ladder and antenna the ladder was going to be $500 including labor. Ouch. And the antenna was $15 they said that they did find one mechanism and being we only had one bad they would replace that. Jim had fixed the bedroom door from sliding. He also changed the gasket in our basement bin and explained that I had too much weight in that plastic bin. Now remember this is not a diesel pusher with metal basements. This bin is where I kept my tools stored and the weight of it was pulling the bin off of the mounts at the top of it. So I reconfigured my tools storage to get some of that weight out of there. I carry a lot of tools in our rig as we travel. And I'm really glad I do. To mount the L brackets for the slide and to cut the 2x4 to hold the slide in, to mount the d-ring for when the door lock broke, a chisel which I used to get the old lock off of the door etc. I like having tools handy. The next day all the work was done. It cost us $1,586. We felt that with Thor only charging us and doing one mechanism that they did us a huge favor and saved us a lot of money. He thought that perhaps Thor's service has improved over our previous visit in episode 12.

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!

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Episode 29
9/2019
We arrived in the US via the rainbow bridge. It was a Sunday August 18th 2019. We got there early to beat the traffic going through customs. We arrived at customs at 9:00 a.m. and waited a half hour. We went right through without an issue. Which made me think about border crossings it seems like the slower quieter ones have more time perhaps to look through RVs and such. Or perhaps they're thinking is if you're sneaking something through go through the quiet areas. But whatever the reason it always seems that going through customs at a high tourist area like Niagara falls even though we wait longer in line we don't have our rig searched. In the past I had enjoyed seeing Niagara falls from the New York side where it's quiet and more like a state park. Whilw we were in Canada we planned on walking across the bridge to the NY park from Canada but we saw the line of people standing and waiting to go through customs and decided it wasn't worth it.
We arrived in Erie pa and stayed at another boondockers welcome location. We had never been to Erie before. We learned that the city has a lot of concerts and live music in the summer. Our hosts invited us to join them at a huge street fair. This was a part of their 3 day celebration which happens every year in August. They had three stages food art and a beer garden. But no wine. This year Sister Sledge and Scotty McCreery performed. The next day we paddled kayaks with them and their friendly neighbors at Presque Isle State Park for almost 3 hours. Halfway through the panel we stopped at a small Beach and had snacks and a glass of wine. The name got me wondering so I googled what a Presque is and it is a peninsula that is almost an island. Now you know lol.
The two of us then visited some covered bridges and wineries in Rome Ohio. We drove past Kent State University so of course we had to listen to The Crosby stills Nash & Young song. From there we went to Ashtabula which had a small main Street with a drawbridge and a great chocolate shop. From there we went over to Geneva on the lake well how do I explain this town? Think of the New Jersey shore without the crowds. A lot of shops food and arcades. It was August 20th it was a Tuesday. And it was empty! Many people say it's packed earlier in the season and on the weekends. We had visited two wineries in the area one was South River winery which was a beautiful old church. Here's a link to it http://southrivervineyard.com/ We really enjoyed that winery. And the other one was a ferrante winery. This one was an experience. They had two menus a dinner menu and a light self-serve menu. We got the muscles they were $14 and they were delicious but we got no forks or napkins. So he asked to waiter for some and he handed his silverware and cloth napkins and then he saw that we were not dinner guests but only self-serve guests so he took them away from us and gave us plastic wear and paper napkins. Unreal.
The next day we left that host and went to another boondockers welcome host location. As we're backing into the site the host was guided me back on his hard pack driveway. I explained to him I don't want to leave the hard pack because of all the rain lately we had gotten stuck in the mud in the past and I don't want to get stuck again. Unfortunately I trusted him and not myself and he backed us off of the driveway and sank up to the rear axle in mud in the rig.
He said that his neighbor will be home the next day with the tractor and composed out. I shook my head the back of the rig was 2 to 3 ft lower than the front of the rig. And we were not going to be sleeping like that tonight. So I took out the tow strap hooked it to the front axle of the rig in the back of the Jeep Wrangler toad. I got in the rig Trish got in the Jeep we put it in 4 low. I told Trish hit the gas and keep going until I beep the horn on the rig. She did the rig pull immediately out of the mud and I beeped the horn. Yay trish. The next day August 23rd 2019 we were off to Nelson Kennedy ledges State Park in garrettsville Ohio. We figured to be there about an hour to hike the 3 miles of trails. We were there for four and a half hours. What fun. There's waterfalls crevasses trails cliffs etc. It is probably the most unique State Park we have ever been to. It's not long hikes but it is beautiful. The next day we visited Cleveland which we found to be a segmented City the New York City you can easily walk from one neighborhood to another like Little Italy to Chinatown. In Cleveland he really need to drive from one area to another. So that was a drag however there was no traffic at all. We visited the West side market. And then we saw that the house where the movie The Christmas story was filmed, was open as a museum. https://www.achristmasstoryhouse.com/
Now we both knew the movie and loved it. We figured we would stay about a half hour and look at the museum stuff. Well it turned out that they do a tour of the house and we were there for just over 2 hours. It was amazing of all the movie props that they had on display. And you can actually walk through the rooms freely to see them. From there we went over to the flats the flats are wrenched right on the Cayahoga River on both sides the east side and the west side. To get from one side of the river to the other side was not easy unless you had a boat. So we pulled out Google maps and we decided which side to walk down. From there we went over to the Mill stream run reservation which is a single track bike trail. Certain days of the weeks it's only for walkers and we were there one of those days which was really nice. We stopped at Gibbs butcher block and got some free samples and bought some of their excellent sausages
http://www.gibbsbutcherblock.com/
The next day we headed out of Ohio and into Michigan. Last year we saw very little of "Troll, below the bridge" part of Michigan. The main part of Michigan is referred to that way because it is south of Mackinac bridge which takes you to the U.P.
So this time we wanted to see more of Michigan. In the lower East side of Michigan we stayed in another boondock was welcome location. Our hosts were a couple from switzerland. Very nice people. The next day we took our toad into Kerrrytown in Ann arbor Michigan. Really nice town. We saw a farmer's market that has been going on every Saturday for over 100 years. We really liked Kerrytown.
From there we went off to Manchester. Another cute town. They had a farmer's market there and met the organizer. They take a portion of the profits and they print $1 coupons. You take those coupons and you can buy things from vendors that are run by kids selling their crafts and such. The organizer gave us $5 certificates to help encourage the kids. We spent those $5 and a bunch more by the end of the day. At the end of the day the kids can take their coupons and cash them in for money. When we were in Provincetown I bought a sweater from the Marine store and it had a hole in it so one of the things we bought it this market was yawn and Trish mended it for me. The next day we left this area and we're heading over towards Grayling Michigan to yet another boondockers welcome host location. We had stayed at this location last year and really enjoyed their company. They offered 15 amp which was enough for us.
We figured they would be busy with Labor Day coming but they said absolutely come by you know where to park and our son will help you with the electric. Grayling is an interesting town this is where the annual au sable canoe marathon is held. Which is touted as the world's toughest spectator race. It's 120 mi of paneling it runs from one day at 9:00 p.m. to the next afternoon. Very interesting but not for us. We did a more relaxed paddle on the ausable River. We hired a livery and grayling. We dropped our car at Stephen bridge they met us there. Drove us back to grayling. We then peddled our kayak 4 hours over 13 miles back to our car and they charged us 20 bucks not bad. The previous year we did almost The identical paddle but on a different River and our host shuttled us one way to the put in.
You would have to go back and listen to that episode to hear about that. The next day was a laundry day. And then we went over to North Higgins lake State Park. It's clear that Michigan is a water-based state in the summer and in the winter. The park had a boat launch a beach and a campground we rode our tandem bike for about 10 miles to Roscommon. Not much there today but apparently a hundred years ago it was the destination spot. In fact Groucho Marx has been time there at a hotel. That night we had dinner with our hosts and their grandson. And when we were leaving they gave us some homemade apple pie moonshine which was delicious. The next day we headed over

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!

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Episode 28
8/2019

After leaving Quebec City we drove over towards montreal. We stayed about 45 minutes outside of Montreal in Terrebon.
We drove into Montreal and we wanted to visit the Notre Dame basilica. We found that the parking near there is super expensive. But if you walk three blocks away towards the waterfront parking is dirt cheap. The waterfront had a great amusement park for kids and IMAX theater Ferris wheel a zip line climbing ropes. So if you have kids. We found that Old Montreal was not as quaint as old Quebec. While in the city we had a crepe Suzette which was delicious we visited Chinatown in Montreal and it's the same as any other Chinatown. That evening we went to see Aura! at the basilica. It was $25 to get in but I'll tell you what it was as good as any Broadway show. We heard about this show 7 years ago when we were in Montreal and we finally got to see it. If you're in Montreal and the show is happening do yourself a favor and see it. They light up The altar with accent lighting mystical music was playing and you could walk around the cathedral and see all the different stations of the cross in statues lit up beautifully. My description of this will not do it justice. They changed the lighting as you would watch a statue so it almost look like they came to life they give you 20 minutes to walk around the cathedral and take pictures. And then you sat down and the music played and the organ played and the lights played with everything on the altar and within the cathedral. We've seen a lot lots of light shows and laser shows and concerts but this was the best by far. It was not necessarily religious but it was emotionally moving. The next day we visited L'isle Des Moulins which had nice walking paths and a historic site. The next day we visited the Montreal botanical gardens. Again we saw the 7 years ago but it was in the middle of the winter so there was really nothing to see at that time. So when we went back we figured we would be there an hour or so and it turned out to be a 6-hour visit. I've been to the Bronx botanical gardens many times but this blew those away. We then drove about 20 minutes to Gay Village. Which is one of the largest gay neighborhoods in North America. They closed the main street down to cars. This area is not as over the top as Provincetown on Cape cod but it is also not as uptight as Greenwich village New York City. We were really impressed with Montreal. And can't wait to go back. The next day we started following the St Lawrence River to the Southwest over to Kingston ontario. I've been to Kingston about 35 years ago when I was in the national guard and we would do our annual training for drum. As I remember Kingston it was extremely clean and beautiful. I was a bit disappointed it was a lot more garbage graffiti the Montreal and or Quebec City. Actually a lot more. We read that there was a nice waterfront trail there. But it was short and not overly impressive. It did however go past and very unusual Park. It had no name but it's next to the hospital it had a beach and a diving platform into a pool very odd but very nice. The night we did a sunset dinner cruise out through the thousand Islands it was beautiful we sailed out of Kingston. The cruise offered a five course meal the food was excellent. The scenery was superb. The boat was just okay very crowded. We enjoyed our first class of wine and when we received our second class the wine had been corked. We told waitress and she said it's the same as the first glass that she served. She then told us to ask the lady at the next table at the second glass tasted any different I shook my head but I asked her and the other guest said actually it did taste different. For this cruise we paid $100 each. I don't think at those prices we should have to argue about a glass of wine. The website said that the boat had an upstairs promenade so we visited it but there was a rule of no taking flash pictures because of blinded the captain. However when we passed the captain he was sitting there watching close cable TV of the ship and especially following one of the waitresses from screen to screen. And those screens were three times brighter than his navigational screens. Unreal. Oh well take a deep breath and let it go pull that's the secret to happiness. If you get upset your body will continue to secrete stress hormones long after the event. Those hormones help your body to develop ulcers and high blood pressure headaches. Much better off taking a deep breath and letting it go. Shortly after that we were talking to a lady and she said definitely find an outlet for stress that doesn't hurt you or anyone else and I think that is good advice. Don't give ulcers and don't get ulcers. The next day we went to the thousand Islands national Park put the kayak into the river and we paddled for around 3 hours. Beautiful. We then drove to the Brockville railway tunnel. Fantastic. It was built in 1860 but now it's fantastic, it has lights all through it music playing to the flashing lights. This was an awesome stroll through a tunnel. It's great for history buffs train buffs artists or anyone looking to escape for a little while. We then stayed at another campground not far away. They had their own Beach on a lake so we paddled for a while. They had a little hiking path And miniature golf. The next morning Trish turned on the water in the kitchen and I heard gurgling and I said this isn't good I got up and I checked the water pressure in the rig and it was very low we were hooked up to City water. I went to the RV office and they said there was an RV mechanic in the campground so I stopped there and he said don't worry I'll be out there this afternoon. He then said so go on with your vacation and have a beer, it was 10:00 a.m. LOL. Instead of going back and drinking a beer we drove to a lock on the Rideau canal. They had a historic hand cranked lock that operated a swing bridge as opposed to a drawbridge. We talked to the young ladies who are working the swing bridge and they said you could paddle through the lock for $0.97 a foot what a bargain. Our kayak is 18 ft long so for 16 bucks or so we paddled through the lock underneath the swinging bridge. Now that was a lot of fun. We got back to the rig later that afternoon to repair guys showed up. I explained to him that I thought it was leaking from a hot water heater after I had burst it last winter. He said I don't think that's your problem. He said but I can't fix it here. He acts where we're leaving to the next day. We told him he gave us the name of the shop he called them he told him we would be there and to fix our city water connection. We drove on the highway near Toronto which was a huge mistake. We wanted to avoid the Canadian tolls which are expensive. But I'll tell you what sitting in traffic for 4 hours in a rig towing a jeep is no fun. We pulled into the shop they checked it and they said yep your water connection behind the city water connector is shot. It was a minor fix and no more leaks yay. We then headed to Port Dalhousie near St Catherine's. Which is near niagara-on-the-lake. Which is near Niagara falls ontario. Last year we spent a lot of time at the wineries near Niagara on the lake. On the way in we passed Lincoln Ontario and we saw lots of wineries there. We really enjoyed this area and we visited Niagara falls in the summertime. The last time we were there it was the winter and it was icy cold and not very enjoyable. This time in the peak of the summer it was packed. And not much fun either.

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!

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Episode 27
8/2019
So while we are still on Prince Edward Island we stayed in Mahone Bay and we visited lunenburg on the South shore of Nova Scotia. It's a nice seaside town. We kayaked in Mahone Bay after we found a free put in at the local marina. I'm really pretty paddle. The next day we went over to crescent Beach and we drove on the beach with our jeep. We saw a gentleman stuck up to his bumper and sand in his car so we hooked up our tow strap and pulled him out. I offered to follow him off of the beach in case he got stuck again. But he declined he wanted to keep driving on the beach. I said okay but I'm only pulling you out this one time then. Afterwards we kayaked in lahave. We saw what they call an American eagle which was a bald eagle. The next day we drove over to Peggy's cove and we stayed at King Neptune campground. It was a nice view and beautiful sunsets. Over at Peggy's cove proper they have a really nice lighthouse on a rocky cove. There's a sign to stay off of the black rocks, they explain that every year somebody dies when they slip off of these wet rocks. A beautiful area very foggy. We then went over to the polycove hiking trail and we hiked on the high Head trail to a place called prospect. We then went over to Waverly and did some shopping
We then rode our bike on shubie trail enrolled over to shubie Beach. From there we went over to Halifax and visited the Titanic cemetery. Remember in the last episode when I mentioned Prince Edward Island has a high Irish population? Well when the Titanic went down a lot of the rescue efforts came from Nova Scotia. Afterwards we went over to the Halifax citadel where at 12:00 noon everyday they do a cannon firing. That evening we got a call from Patty and Andrew or friends in Nova Scotia and they said according to their calculations we would be leaving Nova Scotia soon. We explained that we were leaving the next day lol. It should then do us a favor and let's meet for breakfast on your way to New Brunswick.
We then headed up to Kouchibouguac N.P. (pronounced koo she boo quack) . We was staying in yet another boondockers welcome location. The gentleman's next door neighbor came over introduced herself and gave us some treats, bread, and jam wow! We then headed over to the national park and paddled in the north timberland streets which is the warmest salt water north of Virginia yep the water gets up to 84°. In late July the water temp was 76. We paddled 8 miles which was the longest paddle we've ever done. This area has high tides and we didn't time it very well. We got stuck a bunch of times in muck due to low tide. We were there with another young couple in a with a inflatable kayak. They were camped next to us. We saw two different kinds of jellyfish but only one of those sting. They say that if you get stung by one it's very mild and just rub wet sand on the area which kind of reminded me of pain management. Because I was thinking how would wet sand take away the sting? Well it kinda works like this: a mild pain like wet sand being rubbed on an area, will creat a pain signal loop to the spinal cord. The body recognizes that it's only a mild irritant so instead of sending the signal to the brain it just gets sent to the spinal cord and then goes back to the area and the muscles surrounding it. So if you ever get a mosquito bite, just tap the area and the signal will stop being sent to the brain. Try it some time.
The next day we started traveling north to Pointe Verte and along the way we stopped to see Pokeshaw Rock. And we spent the day in Bathurst. We were camped right on the beach. Via another boondocker welcome location. We were concerned because the temps were in the 90s and they asked that you do not run generators and did not have electric. So we called them and he said don't worry about sleeping with the temps you're right on the water you won't need air conditioning. And we sure didn't. That night for dinner they invited us into their gazebo we enjoyed nice food and wine with them. The next day we went to Pabanoe falls which is near the first nation New Brunswick. Beautiful cascading waterfalls. The next day we drove further up the shore and we camped again near the water at another boondockers welcome location. We went to Sugarloaf provincial Park. Now this is an upcoming town. They had a walking path right on the river. There was a clam shell for music. And we saw some great French fiddling and bluegrass. We saw a RV Park at camp Belton full hookups for $28 a night. Not bad but our stay was free. That night we found out that we could download movies on Netflix and watch them when we didn't have a signal. Then 2 months after we first arrived in New Brunswick we were driving out of it. We drove into the province of Quebec and back into Eastern Time zone. So out of the three provinces we've been in in Canada at this point we found alcohol to be the most expensive in Nova Scotia gas was the cheapest and Prince Edward Island and food was about the same in all three. The temps for the past four weeks have been near 90 and typically the only have one week of hot weather here each summer. We drove 3 and 1/2 hours to Temiscouta National Park. Our free entry pass didn't work here because we bought the annual pass in N.B. at our first national park visit in canada. Oh well. We had a hard time finding this national Park the GPS and Google maps was taking us down a dirt road with a 13% grade. So I stopped we unhooked and Trish took the Jeep to see if this road actually took us to the visitor center as there was no signs at all. I asked a few people for directions but they only spoke French Trish met a park ranger at the visitor center but they too only spoke French then a young couple riding their bikes past the rig so I asked them if they spoke English and they did as they were teachers in Quebec. They explained it yes we can take this road without an issue with the rig they followed us to the visitor center help translate for us to get checked in. We asked them where they were camped and after dinner we grabbed a bottle of wine went to their site and sat there for a couple hours chatting.
In this province outside of the big cities as in this campground also many of the signs and brochures were in French only. We did find one brochure about entertainment and it was translated to English but not very well. They said the free music was $10. Lol
We then drove to eau Claire and visited Domain Acer. Acer translates to Maple and that's what they make their wine from and they can't call it wine because it's not from grapes. Lol. We stopped at a small place for tea and cookie which were delicious and we met a guy there with pants similar to my hippie pants which I got in provincetown. He was explaining that or Claire and two other villages nearby, the government would pay you $1,000 to burn down your house and move into the city this was back in the 1970s but a bunch of the locals said no! They became more reliant on the land for their earnings. Very interesting history.
The next day we left this area and headed over towards Corvette City we arrived in Levis. Which was a 5-minute ride over bridge to Quebec city. But our real goal was to see old Quebec City. Ever since we arrived in Canada people would ask where we're heading and we would say old Quebec and everybody said you will love it and they were absolutely right. We were staying at a campground for $45 a night with full hookups. This was expensive for us but after the US conversion it was about $35 a night and not too bad. Now an old Quebec City the food was phenomenal people were friendly lots of History and the architecture. We had Brie cheese which was so late and creamy wow. The gelato was lighter than any place else we've had it it was almost like a sorbet. For dinner we had escargot and Parmesan. Again wow. Walking around we saw street performers and of course the famed wall of the walled city. We spend one full day and the evening prior in Quebec City and we found that to be the perfect amount of time for us. We went bike riding along the St Lawrence River we found a nice little park there with splash pools for kids. We visited the park Des chutes de la chaudiere near the bridge on the st Lawrence.

Here's a video from the whale watch: https://fb.watch/9MTu4ItafC/
And here's a vid of one of paddling trips in N.S. to help you relax: https://business.facebook.com/relaxrvpodcast/videos/479978752570279/

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!

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Episode 26
7/2019
So not all good things happen when you're on the road. Got a call that my mother had passed away. We needed to figure out how to get home. Our choices were to take the RV back, leave the RV and fly back or leave the RV somewhere in Canada and drive the Jeep back. We were in Cape Briton Nova Scotia and needed to get back to New York. We had made friends in Nova Scotia so we gave them a call, we explain to them what happened and asked if we can leave the rig at their house so we could take our toad to new york.
They said absolutely no issue at all. Our friend Andrew explained that Bangor Maine was the halfway point so we planned on spending the night there. Planning the trip back to New York I noticed that Cape Britain Nova Scotia was 17 hours from home. Florida is 22 hours from home. I found this to be very interesting in that I had never been to Nova Scotia before but I've been to Florida dozens of times. On the way down we stopped to visit friends in New Hampshire. We weren't in a big rush because my mother's body needed to be sent to New York from florida. We left Nova Scotia the temps were in the 50s and when we got back to New York and the temps were in the 90s.
After the funeral and dealing with family issues we headed back North in our Jeep. When we got to the border border patrol asked where our RV was. We told him and he said you can't do that, you cannot leave a vehicle in Canada if you're not there. I asked what were our options? He said you can get a temporary Canadian registration. And let us go without any further issues. I went online and I looked up Canadian temporary registrations and could not find any information or forms about it. Very weird. I had brought our bear spray to canada in the rig. And each time I'll rig was searched they never mentioned the bear spray and I'm not sure that they saw it. So I asked this border patrol about the rules for bear spray and he said no problem just as long as it says bear spray on the label if it does not say that then it's considered a weapon. We got back to our friends in Nova Scotia and we stayed with them for a few days. A very bittersweet visit reflecting on Mom's passing. While we were there we experienced donair for the first time, it's kind of like a gyro but a Nova Scotia specialty. It was really good. We went to Terrell and they were having a gay pride celebration. We saw a sign at the library that there was going to be a female impersonator children's story hour. Very interesting. Unfortunately we weren't going to be in that area for that. We said our things and goodbyes to our friends and we headed to blomidon provincial Park which was two and a half hours away from our friend's house. We had heard about this park and wanted to explore the area so we were glad to finally get here. It's located on the Bay of Fundy right across the bay from new brunswick. It was 71° and really muggy I guess Canada was starting to warm up for the summer. But then the wind kicked up a fog rolled in and attempts dropped 10°. Lol. Here's the link to the video we made on how we plan our trips.
https://youtu.be/m17giRxNVs0
We had planned to hike cape split near Blomidon. So I walk to the Jeep to get our day packs and our rigs door was locked. We have a class a so we only have one door to get in. Trish was inside so I asked her to unlock the door. She said... the door isn't locked. We had heard that RV locks to fail pretty frequently. And now ours has joined that club. I took the letter to get to our bunk outside the rig so I can climb up and in through the driver window. After 3 hours of climbing in and out of the rig trying to get this lock off so I can get the door open I finally got it. We drove to a RV store they sold this one got back to the rig and it would not fit. We should have brought the old lock with us. We went back to the store and returned it and they did not have our lock in stock. So now with the lock removed we could not just close the door I kept swinging open so I picked up a couple of d-rings and rope at a local hardware store. This way I could tie the door closed as we drove around. So we did not get the hike that area and we're hoping to return at some point in the future. Each time we would stop and need to leave the rig we would have to untie the rope then pull the rope taught close the door and when we returned open the door we tie it with the rope.
On our way to our next boondockers welcome (here’s a link to my discount page for Boondockers Welcome: www.Relaxrv.org/discount )location we stopped at Blue nose RV shop in Nova scotia. They sold us the right lock. When I walked in I just held up the lock and she said wow our lock just broke two days ago and we had to replace it. This had reminded me when we were down in Prince William Forrest in Virginia last year a woman was locked out of her camper and her 1-year-old and her one month old baby were locked inside of the rig. She wanted to get in quickly so I preyed the door open with the crowbar. She was very happy to gain access to the kids.
The next day we took a ferry from East ferry to Long Island in the jeep. It was $7 to go across. We hiked over to balancing Rock which was really cool. And then we took a zodiac boat whale watch in the Bay of Fundy. It was really cool to do a whale watch in the zodiac boat. We saw a bunch of whales. We then went to digby for dinner and Nova Scotia is known for their scallops and they did not fail. The next day we packed up and went on to our next boondockers welcome location.

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!

View Details

We spent 10 nights visiting Prince Edward Island (PEI) Canada. Then head off to Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island.

Here is a link to my Facebook page where you see pics of the places I mention in this episode https://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/

And then we got a call no one ever wants, my mom had passed away.
So here we are in a foreign country and we need to head home. What do we do? How do we get home? Its off to N.Y. we go :(

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!

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Episode 24
6/2019
So, what we decided as we travel around is we make each stay at least 2 nights. This helps us to slow down and relax. If there is a lot to see it day in an area then we extend our stay as appropriate. Leaving Campobello Island on June 3rd 2019 the customs officer confiscated an hour oranges and garlic. The garlic because it had roots. Both of these items we bought in the USA brought him into Canada and now on the way out there were being confiscated.
They gave us a warning about a $300 fine because we did not claim them. Next to the confiscated contraband they left the blueberries and bananas, go figure. Well we were in Maine we filled our propane and gas tank because we knew once we got the Canada the prices were going to be astronomical. We got to the border crossing again to go to mainland Canada and we claimed our half a bottle of wine. They had us pull over two officers came into the rigs spent a half an hour looking through the whole rig and through the basement. Then they left. We arrived at St John in New Brunswick we stayed at another boondockers welcome location and when we arrived our hosts had made us a loaf of homemade bread. It was early June and it was rainy and cold. We went to the city market in St John and walked around St John proper. He ate at a Thai restaurant which was excellent.
The next day we went to reversing falls as we had this saved on our Google maps as a site to see. EH. Really it's a cascading River not a waterfall. It was not overly spectacular. You watch the water flow one way you came back a couple hours later when the tide changed and you watched the river flow the other way.
The next day we went to the sea caves in St Martin's New Brunswick. we heard this was a quaint town so we headed out there early so we could shop but there was only one gift shop and they were closed but saw us walking so they opened it for us. They told us that a guy across the street had caught a blue lobster which are rare so we took a walk over to see it but we were told it was "on tour" lol. This was during high tide so all you can see of the sea caves were the tops of the caves sticking out of the water.
We went back to the rig at lunch waited for the tide to reverse went back to the sea caves we found a path that took us to the caves and we found that they were huge. To get to the keys we were actually walking on the floor of the Bay which was pretty cool.
Next day we drove up to Fundy national Park. It was $23 a night after the international conversion. We'd love the conversion. For example Canadian gas worked out to about $5 a gallon Canadian but us money converted that down to $3.75 a gallon which was still very high but definitely not $5 a gallon. We found that by buying our national park pass for Canada at the time of checking in for our campsite we saved a lot of money. We got set up in the campground and then we went for a walk to Alma which was 10 minutes away. There were a bunch of shops and restaurants. We had lunch at the brewery well house. We walked back to the RV and the folks that were parked next to us we're telling us about Hopewell rocks they said how beautiful it was. We told them yeah we're going there tomorrow. They explained that when you buy your pass it's $26 but it gets you two days into hope all rocks they'd only spent one day there. So they gave us their pass which was good for the next day win for us. We drove up to Hopewell rocks the next morning we walked on the bay floor. This was an awesome place to see towering rocks with trees growing on top of them cold flower pots. Then walked up had lunch and a glass of wine at the visitor center at that time the tide was now high. So you cannot walk down to the Bay floor because it was under 30 ft of water and rising. This was spectacular to see. Well there we talked to a park ranger and he explained that the amount of water that goes over Niagara falls and in one year and 9 month period is the same amount of water that's moved during one tide change in the Bay of Fundy. The next day we did three different hikes and funding national Park we heard that there might be moose over on the western gate of the park we went up there but no moves to be seen. We did hear coyotes often and distance and looms overlooking the lake.
The next morning we woke up with a leak coming from the bottom of the refrigerator and kitchen. We thought we must have left the freezer door open and everything defrosted which created the puddle. But Our kitchen sink is on the slide so I looked underneath and I found that the hose coming from the bottom of the sink draining into the gray tank was cracked from the constant flexing of the opening and closing of the slide.
Unfortunately we didn't recognize that at that moment. We thought it was a leaking faucet so we went to home Depot in Moncton New Brunswick border faucet swapped it out and crossed our fingers. We also bought a new sprayer for the kitchen sink because that had been leaking when hooked up to either City water or the water pump. Only later we found out that it was the drain hose from the sink. That afternoon we went to cape Enrage lighthouse. The lighthouse wasn't much to see but the area was beautiful. There are pictures on my Facebook page. We then hopped back in the Jeep and we drove over to magnetic Hill winery. This winery got its name from a tourist attraction cold magnetic hill. During a peak season it cost anywhere from 5 to $40 to visit that a water park zoo and some shops. We were there off season so we did magnetic Hill for free and we're very underwhelmed by it.
We then went to Baia Verte wine garden. We were staying there overnight as they are a part of harvest hosts. The next morning we went to bring the slide in and would not come in. With brute Force I pushed it in while Trish worked the control button. I thought perhaps it was because we weren't on the perfectly level spot so we drove the rig over to Walmart parking lot we leveled it perfectly and I figured I would try to reset the slide so we brought it out and it would not come in at all. It took me 2 hours to get the slide in and then we brought it to a RV shop the gentleman looked at it and said he could fix the slide but there's no guarantee you could last forever or could break 10 minutes into our first use of it. He recommended us bringing it back to the manufacturer for the slide to get repaired properly. Wow here we are in Canada and we need to go back to Thor in wakarusa Indiana. We called Thor and we made an appointment which was about 2 months out. That was as soon as they could get us in. We packed everything up and we drove over the bridge to Prince Edward Island pei. Once we went over the bridge and got on to the island we stopped at an Esso gas station we dumped we got gas and they filled us up with water. Wow. We then drove 40 minutes to the west side of PEI to tine Valley. It was a beautiful drive going through farms and border. We stayed 10 nights on Prince Edward Island all stays were at boondock of welcome locations so basically it didn't cost us a dime. Here's a link to discounts for Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Hosts www.relaxrv.org/discounts
Our host asked if we liked lobster and I did and Trish didn't but she said her friend has a boat and he was bringing in fresh catch later that morning and if we wanted fresh lobster they would be more than happy to cook it for us. So we took a ride over to their friend's boat we bought six 2 lb lobsters for a total of $50. Later that day we cooked the freshest lobster we've ever had. It was the best lobster we ever had. Very sweet. The next day we drove up to see the cliffs up on the North Cape we saw the confluence of the St Lawrence River and the Atlantic Ocean. I'm very cold day. We ate at the silver fox we got scallops and muscles for $22 lol. We then visited Lenox Island which is an Indian reservation. And then we went to pine Valley Tea Cafe.

I got my first review from a listener to the podcast. He was listening on podbean. He said there's not a lot of information about rving but a lot about stress Management. He also said that I talked very slow so he listened to two times the speed. I thought that was a perfect review.

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!

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Episode 23
6/19
So we are now parked at a boondockers welcome location in New Hampshire we had planned to be here for five nights and through various circumstances we ended up staying 10 nights with this lovely couple and became lifelong friends with them. So while staying at this location we visited Gloucester Massachusetts. This town is on a rocky Cape called Cape Ann and it's home to the Gorton's fisherman. So while making the show notes for this episode I googled what is a cape land mass. I dare you to do the same I was lost within three sentences. We spent the day wondering capan and we ate at the seaport grill. This was the first time that a restaurant offered us blankets while sitting outside. It was really nice. We also walk through Rockport and bears neck. Would a wonderful stress reducing day. So we were planning on driving north to another town in New Hampshire to stay at another boondock welcome location but they contacted us and said even though we were more than welcome to come the black flies and ticks were really bad which is why we ended up staying at this location for so long.
So after our extended stay with these wonderful people we drove another 4 hours North which included stops for gas propane and lunch to Augusta Maine. This is Maine's state capital. The driving was very very windy and we avoided i-95 as much as possible. The problem with the Northeast seacoast is if you don't take i-95 it could take you an additional two or three hours to go 60 miles because of all the curving of the land mass along the Atlantic ocean. We stayed at another boondock welcome location here with a lovely couple. We went over to the kennebec valley rail trail and rode our bikes long the river. This path took us through two lovely little towns one was hallowell and the other was gardiner. We found this little bar that was going to have live music that evening in hollowell. So we rode our bike back to the rig had dinner and we invited our host to meet us there which they did. Couple of days later we drove to schoodic peninsula Maine and we stayed there two nights. This was another boondocker welcome location. While there we visited schodic peninsula which is a hidden part of Acadia national Park. I never heard of this area before. If you're standing in bar harbor and you look across the water you will see schoodic peninsula. This area is much quieter than Acadia and mount desert Island. We did a bunch of short hikes and walked along the carriage trails. It was a deep fog which created the opportunity for great photographs which you can see on my Facebook page.
The night the heat wouldn't kick on and our battery warning alarm went off at 4:00 a.m. so we started the generator in the furnace kicked on. The next day we were heading to Acadia national Park by Mount desert island to stay at a Passport America campground (which cost us $25/night and here's a link to Passport America on our discounts page Relaxrv.org/discounts) along the way we stopped and we bought a deep cycle 90 AMP hour battery. We took out the three agms and put in the new battery. We also picked up the space heater just in case. Problem solved right? No! At the campground that night we were plugged in and the furnace stopped working. We plugged in our new space heater which got us through the night. The furnace was throwing a code cold ignition lockout fault. We called a shop and they said our circuit board was bad and they have one in stock. We drove 30 miles we got there and he said you know I was thinking about it and it's not your circuit board it's probably your gas valve. I said but that's weird because we do have a nice blue flame at the stove and water heater. He said no it has to be your gas valve. We left there we went to another shop he also said it was the gas valve. So we left there and we called another shop called Webbs RV. They said none of this sounds right to me it was a favor go get the rig and bring it here and we'll take a look at it. So we drove 45 minutes back to the RV and drove the RV back to the shop. The mechanic came out and looked at it and the furnace kicked right on. He said your sail switch was probably Frozen and driving it here losened it up. He showed me how to solve a frozen sail switch in the future. Their website is www.webbsrv.com
I made a video showing how to do it simply and here is a link to the video. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA?view_as=subscriber
I was nervous about the sail switch failing in the future so I bought a replacement one at his shop for like 15 bucks and I will always keep it in the rig just in case. I'm glad that I know a little bit about maintenance and the various systems on rigs. and the longer I own one the more I learn. Had I blindly trusted the first couple of RV shops we would have been stuck there for a few days waiting for this board to come in which would not have solved our problem. Owning a rig is really turning me into a mechanic LOL. So we finally got to see Acadia national Park and bar harbor. We were there on the Tuesday after memorial Day and the locals said this is the quietest time of the season. It's after memorial Day so everything is open but it's too cold for the tourists. The next morning we drove up Cadillac mountain but there was no sunrise to be seen. Cadillac mountain is the first place on the continental United States that you can see the sunrise. I've tried to see it up there twice and both times the clouds prevented it. The next day we hiked by Sand Beach which is actually sand and big boulders. We met a gentleman from Hawaii who was full timing it and he was a support wagon for his son who is hiking the A.T.
After we left Acadia national Park we drove up to Campobello Island. We stayed at another boondock welcome location with a wonderful couple. This island is in Canada and there was only one bridge to the island which leaves from Lubec Maine. Lubec is the most eastern town in the United States.
So to get on and off this island you need to go through customs.
We saw the Roosevelt Cottage lol. And we had "Tea with Eleanor" which was really nice. Now keep in mind this was off season (Canada's busy time starts June 1st( so we had not trouble getting a free ticket. During the summer you need to be on line at 8am to get a ticket for the Tea.
The next day we hiked 6 miles in the Roosevelt Campobello International Park. Out in the Bay Of Fundy (the home of the highest tides in the world, 53'), we saw a mommy seal and her pup. We tried to visit the head harbor light station but we didn't time it with the tide. You need to walk across a Street at low tide and we missed it by about a half hour. We spent 3 nights which was perfect amount of time for us. This is a pretty big island it's twice the size of key West but much colder. On June 2nd it was 55° and a low of 44 at night.
Here's a short video of the seal we saw: https://business.facebook.com/relaxrvpodcast/videos/620548801811539/

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!

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Episode 22
5/19/19
We finally hit the road for our 2019 Summer North East trip. We visited Mystic Seaport, Cape Cod, Salem and Boston. We drove on a beach, rode a train and killed the battery in the Jeep. Let the fun begin.
We went to mystic seaport in connecticut. We found free RV parking in the South lot so we stayed there during the day but you cannot overnight park there. We stayed for a half a day in mystic. That was enough for us. My daughter Melinda could spend two or three days at mystic. We then took a walk at coogan farm nature center. We then went to South Dartmouth Massachusetts and visited horse neck State Park where you can camp on the beach. After that we went over to Easton on Cape cod and we saw a great sunset at Rock harbor. Here on the East Coast it's not very often we get to see the sunset over the water. But this was a great spot for it. We then hopped on our bike and road for 10 MI to wellfleet. We did some shopping had dinner on the water at the harbor. Next day we headed over to Provincetown
This is the town that's not for everyone that's for sure. But we love it for its high energy and fun. A couple of shops that we love there is the Marine store, shop therapy, and we also like the shows and whale watching. We got a permit to drive on the beach at race point. That was a lot of fun with our jeep. You can camp on the beach with an RV but there's a list of rules and regulations and one of those rules is you need to have a spare we don't have a spare for our rig. We went over to tin Pan Alley on commercial Street and fell in love with the place. We then left the cape after a few days and drove out to Newton junction New Hampshire. We stayed at their place via boondockers welcome. And we ended up taking a train into boston. In Boston we walked to the Paul Revere House we were hesitant to enter, but the $5 was well worth it. We then walked along the bay. It was a beautiful day which was not common because Massachusetts had set a record for that month for the wettest month ever. We went over to the Boston tea party museum but did not go in cuz we did not feel it was worth 30 bucks. We walked to the oldest cemetery in the US the sword John Hancock and Paul Revere's Graves and also store Mary goose who wrote mother goose stories. We then walk to Harvard and Cambridge colleges we stopped in a cheers and had a drink and yelled Norm. While sitting there we talked about the TV show and we decided to watch every episode. We had dinner at the Russell house and had muscles I never liked muscles in the past but these were delicious. That day we walked around 11 miles so at the end of the day we got an Uber and took it back to North station. We got back to the Jeep and our battery was dead. A passer by graciously offered a jump start for us.
The next day we went and bought a power pack to jump start cheap if this ever happened again. After that we went over to Salem Massachusetts. I had been to Salem years back and loved it. At that time I visited it with my daughter Melinda and this time I was seeing it through adult only eyes. Unfortunately this was before the summer start. So it was quiet and empty. Another thing that we noticed was it is a lot more touristy now with t-shirt shops in the search. In the shops people working there were on their smartphones and not really paying attention to the customers. This is not how I remembered Salem in the past.

We found that we love our Thule Hullavator https://amzn.to/2Ei3XLq
And here's the link to the jumpstart power pack https://amzn.to/2HreExg

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!

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Spring is here. I did a break in trip and found I didn't winterize our rig correctly, ..... our water heater is shot, I made a short video on this mistake and others at: https://youtu.be/p9M5_-HubvE https://youtu.be/fANJu5cqnRM , https://youtu.be/N1Sp-i7xZJU

And along with spring comes wild life. Bears are awake and hungry. Here's a link to Yellowstone's podcast "Telemetry", in episode 9 they talk with a family that were attacked with a bear less than 1 mile from their car. They had bear spray with them. As of 2018 we always hike with bear spray.

I talk about being careful taking selfies this season and always. stay hydrated while driving.

Our Summer 2019 Northeast Trip is starting next week (May 2019). We will be visiting Connecticut, Cape Cod, Salem, Boston in Massachusetts. Then New Brunswick Canada, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. Then to Quebec City, Montreal, 1000 islands, Finger Lakes NY and possibly Pennsylvania.

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!

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I also talk about the benefits of stress. Wait, Stress has benefits? It sure does ! Ever get sweaty palms while driving? Well, that Stress response helps you grip the steering wheel better.

I also talk about downsizing. Can it help lower your stress level? Check this out:
https://relaxrv.org/2019/04/02/can-downsizing-lower-your-stress/

And ways we lowered our Stress like our new Bedlift kit to ease the access to un the bed storage. Here's a video on that and other Stress reducing modifications we've made: https://youtu.be/D5Y5zNK4CzI

Check out the bedlift kit at: https://relaxrv.org/thingsweuse/

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!

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Yep, RV = Relaxed Vehicle. Find your passion in life. If you love what you do, it is never work. I met a retired S.W. on the road. We were talking about helping others. He said "don't worry you'll get over it". That sure isn't me.
Between trips I'm keeping busy with my clients and teaching. Also spending time editing photos and working in the website.
Podcasts I listen to: RV Navigator, RV Podcast, Campground of the week, Living the RV dream, Radio arizona RV, in the field camping.
Also spending time working on the RV. Our Fantastic Fan was getting really noisy, I contacted them and they sent me a new motor, so I swapped out the old one.
We hit a RV show in Suffern NY, which gave us the itch to hit the road.
I also talk about various places we stayed during our 4 month trip in 2018, BoonDockers Welcome, Harvest Hosts, Walmart, Cabelas and Cracker Barrel. And of course other stuff too.

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!

View Details

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!

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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!

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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 yourselves and things .

The next thing we will add to this rig is a new mattress.
We ordered a 6" inner coil mattress from Mattress Insider and wow do we love it ! And if you go to relaxrv.org/discounts you can get a discount on all if their bedding stuff like mattresses and sheets etc.

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!

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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 excellent. When we were leaving Shenandoah national Park we decided to drive up the skyline drive North and took us about an hour to drive 30 miles. I was a little concerned about driving a rig on this road but there was no issues at all. We stopped at one of the wineries in Delaplane. We knew we were back in the east the tastings of two different wineries were 10 dolls each and the glass of wine was anywhere between 7:00 and $12. We miss the prices out west. We stayed at one of the wineries via Harvest hosts which was really nice to sit relax and sleep at the winery. Here's a link to the discounts page on my website and from there you'll see discounts for Harvest Hosts boondockers welcome and other things. Relaxrv.org/discounts
Then it stay we went to Prince William State Forest we stayed at the campground which was really nice. We did find that the sites were not very level and we needed a bunch of leveling pads under the wheels for our rig. We're there to visit Tricia's son who lives about 45 minutes away just outside of Washington DC.
We were planning on spending the night at a boondock was welcome location. But there was a winter weather advisory coming in and we decided to head north a little further to stay at a harvest host winery in Logan's township New Jersey. On the way there we got a flat on the highway in maryland. The left front tire blew out the rig-handled it beautifully. All I noticed was a little bit of a sway. We pulled over onto the shoulder. We had to wait 4 hours for truck to show up with a tire. Which he installed on the side of the highway. We then headed off to Cedar Valley Winery. the owner Marsha invited us to stay a second night because of the weather. They were super accommodating to us. We arrived 5 hours later than we expected. And we pulled in with 5" of snow on the ground. They also pointed us to another winery just down the road that we visited during the snow storm. This storm as it turned out had caught many new yorkers and new jersians off guard and shut down the roads for many if our friends and family. Glad we were safe.

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!

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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!

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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 point we got in the rig and left Thor as fast as possible. We left so fast we didn't check everything they worked on. The next day we noticed our batteries weren't being charged by shore power or by generator. I was going to call George our mechanic but I figured he would just say pull you're in Indiana I'm here so just go ahead and check all the connections that Thor did. So I didn't call him and I did exactly that. I started checking connections and I finally opened up the BCC inside of which are fuses. I found two fuses that were not pushed in. WOW ! How can Thor let us leave saying everything is done, yet they didn't see this. Which means they never tested the BCC to see if it was working properly. How does Thor sleep at night knowing they don't serve customers as they should. We shouldn't be the ones to have found issue with their work. What a frustrating experience this has been.
Sorry if I've been a downer in regards to Thor.

The repair cost us $750. Good Sam paid an additional $400.
Good Sam extended warranty was costing us $200 a month. We were told by Good Sam we would have a $500 deductible for each problem. So paying for the extended warranty for the past months
Between the two repairs at Cummins and Thor we paid a total of $1550.00 for repairs. Good Sam paid $800. For 1 year of coverage we paid Good Sam $2400.00
We then cancelled our Good Sam extended warranty.
After 4 days and a lot of money later we left with only 1 issue fixed.

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!

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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!

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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!

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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!

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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!

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We drove from Black hills to Devil's Tower. We stayed at the KOA at devils Tower because it's the only Campground nearby. We try to avoid koa's. But not more not much we could do about this. It was very convenient and yes every evening they play the movie close encounters, which was set at Devil's Tower. And it is cool because you can see Devil's Tower in the background. However when they showed the movie it was on a TV screen, an old TV. The color was terrible the sound was terrible. Oh well. I thought maybe I would jump in the pool take a swim but the pool was green with algae. Shame on koa. By the time we got to the campground the topper had ripped halfway down it's length. So we cut it off totally. On the way out to Devil's Tower we're following the GPS and it looked like it was only going to take a half hour to do a 2-hour drive we weren't really sure what was going on so I pulled over. I compared the Garmin GPS with Google maps. And at that point I noticed the GPS was set to avoid highways which means we had to go through a small secondary road over the Rockies and our arrival time was actually 2:00 a.m. not 2:00 p.m. it was going to take us 13 hours to get there. Lesson learned there. When we got into Montana we stopped at a sporting goods store and bought a can of bear spray. We knew at this point we were no longer at the top of the food chain. Today's later we left doubles Tower in Wyoming and got into Montana we visited the town of Billings. There's a Cabela's there and camptonite there there's also a cracker barrel where we spent the night. Then we headed over to town called White sulfur springs. We stayed at a campground. So we decided to take a ride over into town and see what was there to see. Now again this is third week in August it was freezing cold. Trish had her long down coat on. We were walking the streets and then started sleeting so we decided let's go grab a glass of wine somewhere. There was two bars next to one another one was cold the stockman so being we were in Montana that's the bar we walked into. Once we walk to the door a guy said to us, hey where are you from? We went over had a conversation with this couple Patty and Kevin. Turns out they were originally from Pennsylvania and they lived about 20 minutes away from the bar. We sat with them for a couple hours and really enjoyed their company. We exchange phone numbers. And they said that forever in the area give me a call and we can stay at their property. Next day we left White sulfur springs and headed over to fort Benton Montana and a cute little downtown and a nice bridge to walk across the Missouri River. And then off to Shelby MT.

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!

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We went to a bat viewing area at iron mountain in the U.P. . This was a opening to an old mineshaft that they had put metal grates on to keep people out and apparently there's a bunch of bats living in it and at does they fly out. Very cool to see.
As you can see this podcast varies from our travels to our tribulations.
One of those small tribulations was we were driving down the road and we heard a bang I pulled over and noticed the closet door was laying on the floor.
We visited the Mall of America in Minneapolis Minnesota this place is huge. It's touted as the largest mall in America and I believe it is. There's a couple of movie theaters couple of amusement parks a Legoland and tons of stores shopping and restaurants. We spent a couple hours there and suggest if you're traveling with kids plan on staying a day or two or three it is huge. One thing we learned is when driving through a big city like Minneapolis, you are driving in a big city. People drive more aggressively and they don't care Don't care if you are a lot bigger than them.
From now we went over to Eau Claire in Wisconsin. And traveling around on the bike and found some live music. I'm really liked eau Claire.
The next day we went over to Minnehaha State Park it's a really nice park that has a trail going down to the mighty Mississippi River at its headwaters. The night we stayed at redwood falls City Park for $24 for full hookups. Our plan was to stay at a Walmart but the temps were in the mid-90s and for us to run our generator for the 20 hours that we would be parked there the gas would have cost more than a campground. We had found this park a while back and had saved it on our Google maps here's a link to a video I made about how we plan our routes https://youtu.be/m17giRxNVs0
From there we went through Sioux falls South Dakota a cool little city with a waterfall running right through it. We then went out to the Badlands in South dakota. This was an awesome place to go hiking. It got super hot in the upper 90s again. But without the humidity we didn't really notice the heat. So we planned on a 8 mile hike and halfway through Trish was showing signs of heat exhaustion and dehydration. Thank God I am a nurse I got her into the tiniest little bit of shade that we could find. I took her day pack off of her and I put it on me. I had a son brim hat I took it off and I put it on her to keep her face and head in the shade. I gave her water to drink and she said it was making her feel like she wanted to vomit. She got real dizzy and fell to her knees at one point. I keep a super saturated cloth in a plastic bag when I hike and warm weather I took this out of the bag Trish said it felt like it was freezing cold the rag was probably around 80° or so. I doused her with water we took frequent breaks. I kept washing her face chest and back with water along with her hair, to keep her cool. The height took us 2 hours longer than we expected because of the frequent stops. But we got back to the rig safely I had Trish take a shower to help cool her body temperature she then said she was exhausted and fell asleep and took a 2-hour nap which she has never done in her life. The two of us were terrified during this ordeal. We were driving to Black hills Wyoming and we're driving on route 90. The wind was howling so much I was in the right lane doing 40 miles an hour just to keep the rig and it's lane. I saw her motorcycle driving straight up route 90 and he was leaning all the way to the right as if he was taking a right hand turn but yet he was going straight. We then made the obligatory stop at Wall drug. What a waste of time. The crowds. The stuff they were selling. And the line for the 5 cent cup of coffee which we didn't really want at 30 people on line for it.
We then finally got to montana. But our biggest surprise was at Mt Rushmore. We were told to visit it just before dusk to the closing ceremony. Wow are we glad we did. They do a folding of the flag, where they bring up veterans to the stage. And they do a great light show. We thought we would be there for about an hour. We ended up being there for a few hours, If you visit, do yourself a favor and visit it at dusk.
On this trip so far I learned some things. We tried bringing ice cube trays and making ice but we travel too often to have that happen if the ice wasn't Frozen and we traveled we would get water all over the place in the freezer and then it would freeze. So what we learned is to buy a bag of ice put in the freezer and travel with it. Another lesson was if you're going to move the RV unplug it even if it's only a couple of feet. We were plugged into sure power but I needed to move the rig about 5 ft or tire ran over our electric cord which was plugged into the shore power and broke the connection on the wire. He also learned that every time we jump we fill up with fresh water. Now I know a lot of you say to only carry 5 or 10 gallons in the fresh water tank because of weight. The way I look at it is the rig weighs 16,000 pounds we have another 4,000 pounds with the Jeep. So what is another hundred pounds of water going to do to our gas mileage. We're only getting 7 miles to the gallon as it is. Another lesson if we're going down a road that seems a little too sketchy stop the rig unhook the Jeep and send the Jeep down first. I didn't do that my brand caught our topper on our slide and ripped it about 2 ft down. Now every time it rains with a slide is in or out we get a lot of water. We will need to replace the topper.

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!

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Episode 6
We ripped the topper on the slide Ugh. We drove down a road to narrow for the rig and rip !!!!! Batteries still dying too fast because of the Battery Control Center and it looks like the generator will be dead till its fixed. But we are seeing lots of things and places.

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!

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Episode 5
Finally after 37+ years, I am retired !!!!! Yahoo. We started our 1 year long road trip on July 8th 2018, but before we left I fried our battery cutoff switch and blew the solenoid behind the BCC (battery control center) which killed our camera system on the rig (back up and side view) and is killing the house batteries faster than normal.
And if that ain't enough Stress, our generator died on our 1st night in 90 degree weather.
So with the hot weather we are staying in more campgrounds than we expected and thus spending more money than we expected.
The stress continues.

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!

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Episode 4
After 37 years of working in the Healthcare field I am preparing to retire. And to prepare the rig for our travels, I am installing 800 watts of solar on the roof, a charge controller, 300 amps of AGM batteries, and a 3000 watt pure sine wave inverter. Whew ... talk about STRESS !!! Realizing I was way out of my comfort zone, I knew I needed to practice some Stress Management Tools. And so I now share them with you. After weeks of working on the solar we finally get it installed. And at the same time I was heading into the final weeks of my career as a RN.

All of this is new to me, RVing, solar, retirement, podcast production etc. So, I need to be patient with myself and I ask that you be patient with me. I will continue to tweak this podcast.

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!

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Episode 3
After 37 years of working in the Healthcare field I am preparing to retire. And to prepare the rig for our travels, I am installing 800 watts of solar on the roof, a charge controller, 300 amps of AGM batteries, and a 3000 watt pure sine wave inverter. Whew ... talk about STRESS !!! Realizing I was way out of my comfort zone, I knew I needed to practice some Stress Management Tools. And so I now share them with you.

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!

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Episode 2
RVing ... fun or what?!? Do you get Stressed while Camping? I DO ! In this episode I talk about and share some Stress Management Tools and Techniques.

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!

View Details

My name is Paul Sebastian. I am a registered nurse and a stress Management consultant. Back in Nursing school, we learned about Stress and its effects on the human body. At that point I decided to help others learn how to help manage their Stress.

I have worked in human services for 38 years. As a R.N.I have worked on Medical-Surgical floors, in Nursing Homes (as a Nurse Educator) and with developmentally disabled adults,. I was also in the National Guard for 13 years and achieved the rank of Sergeant.

During all of those years and experiences I learned a thing or two about Stress and what it does to a body.
In this episode I introduce who I am and talk about the focus of this podcast which is to help you manage your stress while RVing.

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!