From Chuck Woodbury, editor
RVtravel.com
Nov. 24, 2017
Hello again,
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Gail and I spent ours in an RV park in Tyler, Texas. She cooked up an incredible feast. It was just the two of us, happy in our tiny home, adrift in America. We lit a candle to add a little romance to the occasion, dimmed the lights, and enjoyed a glass of wine with our traditional meal. As you can see from the photo, there will be plenty of leftovers. We talked about how fortunate we are to enjoy such a wonderful life.
DON’T MISS THE VIDEO BELOW
Early next week, we’ll travel west to Kerrville in the Hill Country near San Antonio, where we’ll stay for a few months. We’ll take a break in early December to fly to Seattle for two weeks to be with friends and family. After that we’ll continue on to Sacramento where I lived for many years and still have good friends. After a few days there, we’ll drive a rental car to central California to spend Christmas with my aunt at her ranch home (surrounded by her orange grove) in Lindsay. Then it’s back to Kerrville, where we’ll hang out with snowbirds and explore the region. I’m looking forward to staying put for an extended period.
I’ll finally get to visit the Alamo in San Antonio. The little boy in me — the “Davy Crockett” fan as Disney and Fess Parker portrayed him — has always wanted to see it. For a quick trip back in time, click here to listen to the Ballad of Davy Crockett. If it’s not familiar, then you’re likely a decade or more younger than me. I just listened: I felt like a kid again. Oh, I was so devastated when Davy got killed at the Alamo!
In my essay tomorrow, I write more about some of the issues I see facing RVers and address the question of whether we are “camping” anymore. Speaking for myself, living in a comfortable motorhome with every amenity (other than a washer-dryer), I’m “living” in my RV, not “camping” with it. And I know I am not alone.
In fact, so many people are doing the same thing these days that I see a crisis coming, and that’s what I talk about in my video below. I saw a similar thing happen as a kid growing up near Los Angeles, and I tell that story. I recorded the video at standard resolution to minimize the bandwidth you’ll need to watch it.
It was a nice surprise last week to see myself quoted in the New York Times in an article about “camping” at Walmart. I find it interesting that I am quoted so often on this subject, when I have never actually stayed at one of the stores. But I have written a lot about it, and made a couple of videos, so that’s probably why. The article brought in a few hundred new subscribers, which was really nice! The newsletter continues to grow by about 1,000 readers a month.
Thanks to your financial support we have embarked on a few new projects that I could not have afforded to do otherwise, including:
• We have brought back our website “Beginners Guide to RVing” (NewRVer.com), where the goal is to help educate new RVers about the buying process and then using their new RV properly (and safely). Too many of them are buying the “bling” — how an RV looks — rather than doing their due diligence determining its quality. I know from the many letters I receive that far too many of these people end up with defective RVs or ones riddled with problems that can take months to resolve, if ever.
• On Sunday, we will launch a new monthly newsletter, “RV Electricity,” edited by Mike Sokol, the nation’s leading expert on electricity as it applies to RVs. Mike has been writing a weekly column for us for a few months now, which has been very popular. The newsletter will allow him to cover more territory. I know we have saved lives with our articles about RV electrical safety, and that’s one of our goals with the new newsletter. If you are not familiar with an RV “hot skin condition,” then you will be very wise to subscribe, free, of course.
• I’m updating my book “The Smart Guide to Buying an RV.”Â
• I have contracted with a news service that will distribute my articles to thousands of newspapers and websites about present-day RVing. The goal: to reach industry leaders, and through public pressure force them to put a priority on building better RVs and creating new places for you and me to stay. Be sure to watch my video below.
Your support has allowed me to pay our writers more so they can devote more time to their articles. I refuse to ask anyone to write for free — “for the glory” — which most RVing websites do. That’s just plain unfair.
Well, it’s Friday morning and I need to hop on over to tomorrow’s newsletter, as there is still much work to do.
I once again want to thank you for your support. It makes a big difference! If you entered a first-time voluntary subscription in the last couple of weeks but have not received a thank you letter from either my daughter, Emily, or me, stand by. We have a lot on our plates and sometimes we both get temporarily sidetracked with other projects.
Enjoy those Thanksgiving leftovers!
UPDATE from Friday evening: Long story, but when I posted this I didn’t enable comments. Sorry. Lesson learned. Please leave your comment at the bottom of tomorrow’s newsletter. I apologize for my mistake. Or email me at chuck@rvtravel.com .
My video message: