RV TODAY 003 May/June 2022

When I attended the RVDA (RV Dealers Association) show in Las Vegas, I had the chance to speak with Courtney Bias from Go RVing. One of the things Go RVing was working on was finding ways to encourage and educate people in hopes of getting them out one additional time per year. That’s right—one additional time out in their RV per year. That really stuck with me. The average RV owner uses their RV two to three times per year. When I had to put my RV in storage for a month in 2017, I had trouble finding a place to store it. When talking to the manager of the place I finally found, he said about 60% of the RVs haven’t left the facility in years. This isn’t unique…

Alexis Nascimento Chelsea Gillespie Lydia Blanchard Pamela Colon Tedy Pham Robin Goudeau-Baxter Peggy Dent Larry McDonald Danielle Isermann Molly Totoro Kelsey Lowman Kristen & Jameson Sargent Bob & Grace Bouchard Lauren & Jon Gusanders Tom Cox Kristin Halls Taylor Fortunato Carrie Shoemaker Cory Anders Jazzy Skye JR Smith Laurie Rivers Heather Van Leeuwen Contributor Spotlight Maureen Hochdorf @mommymoadventures One More Weekend Maureen Hochdorf is a family travel writer and podcast host specializing in helping families plan their next trip. She runs the National Park Trippers podcast and creates RV and Travel Guides on her website: MommyMoAdventures.com. Joy Newcomb @ayj_adventures Picturesque Route 66 Joy has been living and working from her home on wheels with her two dogs since 2018. As a photographer and designer, you can find her perfecting her craft and…

Planning an epic road trip is one of the best ways to see the country. Not only does a voyage of this nature offer complete freedom and flexibility, but you’ll also discover the best gems in your own backyard! Planning your first car-camping road trip can be a bit intimidating, so we spoke with three families to get their favorite tips and hacks for planning a memorable coast-to-coast journey. MEET YOUR PLANNING GUIDES Chelsea Gillespie, @unsettledown Travel Style: 2020 Toyota 4Runner with a 2021 Intech Luna Rover teardrop trailer Experience: 30 months of full-time nomadic travels, including 20 European countries and 25 states, as well as RV camping Lydia Blanchard, @myadventuregang Travel Style: Subaru Outback with a rooftop tent Experience: 80 nights rooftop tent camping in 1.5 years Pamela Colon, @miamivanfam Travel Style:…

We love traveling, from small road trips to grand adventures, but a lap around Australia is something we never had in mind. We live in Australia, and I wanted to take our third girl, Evie, to New Zealand to enjoy her first autumn as a baby. We had an entire trip booked and paid for, but it was canceled due to travel restrictions. During the COVID-19 lockdown, I missed New Zealand so much I started searching YouTube for videos about road trips around the country. Then YouTube started recommending other road trip videos, which promptly led me down a rabbit hole to videos about people road tripping laps of Australia. It was intriguing, and I started dreaming about it right then and there. One night I said to my husband,…

My husband, Warren, and I have been RVing full time since 2017, and we love this lifestyle of traveling and experiencing new adventures. We had owned tents, travel trailers, and a Class A before, but never a fifth wheel. When we began our journey to find the perfect rig, we were amazed by fifth wheels and how many different floor plans they offer—the possibilities were endless! We were downsizing from a large home to about 400 square feet, so we really needed our new space to feel like home. We initially bought and renovated a Keystone Montana 3790RD, and learned a lot in that process, but we eventually needed something bigger as our family started visiting and staying with us. We shopped for different options, and we kept coming back…

An electric bike (e-bike) is really just a traditional bicycle with a battery-powered motor that assists the rider with propulsion. There are two types of e-bikes—pedal assist and throttle. Pedal assist e-bikes augment the rider’s pedaling effort. In many models, the amount of extra propulsion added to the rider’s effort is adjustable and can be preset by the rider, so the cyclist still gets some exercise when riding. With the throttle variety, a simple push of a button or turn of the handlebar creates forward motion without the rider applying any pressure to the pedals. The throttle variety more closely resembles a moped or motorcycle than a bicycle, since the rider doesn’t add any effort to create forward motion. Different Styles of E-bikes There are several distinct styles of e-bikes.…