Don’t Let Part-Time Fool You: Meghan & Pete of Our Captain’s Logs on Balancing Full-Time Jobs, Teens & Life on the Road | Community Spotlight

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hey, welcome to Learn to R V, the podcast. You are here for the community spotlight. And today I'm really excited. I am here with Megan and Pete from our Captain's Vlogs. And you guys are, if I am right, you guys just got home from Acadia, right? I mean, that's those are the most recent videos that I saw on YouTube. So that was a recent trip. How recent was that trip?

SPEAKER_03 0:32

So Acadia, we're not real time in our YouTube. So Acadia was at the end of last summer, where we actually just got home from was Voyagers National Park in Isle Royal. So that you'll have to keep watching for.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

So that we can get that. So my the reason why I ask is that my oldest just took a job with Acadia Shops. So when I was watching your reels, I was like, that's where my mouse is. And so I got all excited for a minute. I was having a mom moment, but now I know not to uh take the way in between the two trails. I will not be doing that. And definitely won't be taking my little dog. That's not a real thing. And I won't be taking my little dog where your big dogs could not go because my little dog will definitely not come out of the hole. And everybody's just gonna have to go to your YouTube channel to figure out what I'm talking about. But let's get into who you guys are. So you are a family of four. You're traveling part-time in your Integra with two dogs, right? You've got a Weimariner and a great Dane.

SPEAKER_03 1:43

Yep. And we recently just added a new little girl, a German short hair pointer named Annie. So we got her in January. She's just kind of getting her RV legs under her. She didn't go on this last trip with us, but she'll be joining us for the next several trips.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

That's incredible to me. So, so for anyone who's just meeting you guys, introduce us to everybody who is on board. Who's the captain? Who who else is on board? The kids and and your pups.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

So I'm Captain Pete. You kind of consider I always consider myself head of logistics and operations. I get us two places. I'm the planner. I book everything. Um I take care of sightseeing excursions, departures, arrivals, everything else.

SPEAKER_03 2:26

Like pretty much. I I manage the kids and the dogs. Usually I'm in charge of all that stuff, making sure everybody's got everything packed. Personal items. You are the one that like makes sure we have food, fuel, all that consumable type stuff. Again, operations of legit. Yeah. And then your girls are teenagers, right? Yeah. We have one that just turned 16, so new driver in the house, and one that just turned 13.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

Yeah. Has your oldest wanted to drive the Integra? Has that come up yet? Is that a conversation at all? You're like, no, the captain says no.

SPEAKER_03 3:00

He says no, and I she isn't asking to either. She would drive it like down our street. That would you could be okay with, but she's not driving it on a trip.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

No. If if we got into a pickle, I'm sure I could describe how to do things, but I'd be like going crazy. So she could she can pilot the uh the pro car every once in a while for us, but that's about it.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

And then you you were just getting ready to tell us you've got your three pups. So you've got Annie, the new one, and then your Weimariner and your great Dane. Yep. So the Weimariner is seven. Weimariner is Banks, and he's seven.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Is an Ernie Banks, yeah, famous previous Chicago Cubs player.

SPEAKER_03 3:34

And then we've got Walt the Great Dane, and he's named after Walt Disney, and he's four.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Okay. Which is gonna take me into one of my questions for you because one of the things, well, first of all, I have to say I won't take any of your Cub naming uh personally at all. I don't know if you can see my water bottle here.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Is that a Boston Red Sox?

SPEAKER_00 3:55

I don't have it sure as heck is. So Walt Disney. So you guys have got like this killer plan on your site about how to really make a trip to Disney work. If you were giving like your number one, this is the tip for all the parents out there who want to take their kids. And this is the tip that is like, I'm gonna dangle this here so that you'll come look at the rest of the tips. What would that tip be?

SPEAKER_01 4:24

The number one thing I tell friends. So since I'm the planner, I tend to be the guy who everybody comes to about Disney. It's kind of my obsession, and it's been my obsession for years. The number one thing I tell people is to manage their expectations. Disney is a magical place, and it could be absolutely phenomenal, but it is not always the world's magical place, and you're there with a hundred thousand of your closest friends, family, and relatives. So things can and will go wrong. You just need to go with the flow.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

So, how many trips have you guys made to Disney?

SPEAKER_01 4:55

I I would say I've been there probably 12 to 15 times since I was probably about six or seven, and we we tend to go every two years, so that's kind of our our our world. We don't want to go too much because then it kind of hurts the magic a little bit, but it at the same time we miss it when we're not there sometimes, but every two years. So I I would think I would think we're on 12 or 15.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

Yeah, and then three trips we've taken an RV and stayed at the campground, which is a whole different experience.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

That's what I was gonna ask. What's the campground experience like? And were you I'm assuming that you've had like the staying on site in a Disney hotel experience to kind of compare that to? What would you say is kind of what what's your preference?

SPEAKER_03 5:42

I I think the cool part about the campground, first of all, it'll probably be one of the most expensive campgrounds you will ever buy. So level set there. Um, but what it does allow us to do is extend our trip. We're able to go for longer for less money, where when we stayed in the hotels, we we had to shorten our trip because it's pricey. But the campground really allowed us to have flexibility to have a little bit longer of a trip, plus you have all of your stuff. I'm not trying to give too many tips away, but uh from the article you're referencing, but you can make your meals, right? I think that's just the beauty of RVing is you're gonna pay for groceries, whether you're at home or whether you're in your RV. So it's it's kind of like a wash in terms of the food. And I think that's where you really win big time with R Ving, is you have the ability to more better prepare meals and have food and have snacks and things at your hand. Even if you had a little kitchenette in your hotel room, it's still not like what you had in the RV and being able to grill and cook out.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

We for before RVing, we were into renting DVC points. So for those Disney people who know what DVC is, it's their vacation club, it's their timeshare program, and you can work with a broker and you can rent people's timeshare. And we would do that, and we were able to stay in the deluxe resorts for moderate prices, and in those deluxe resorts, you could uh have a kitchenette. It wasn't a it didn't have a stove or anything like that, but it had a microwave and a fridge and a toaster. So we could order groceries in and do things like that, like breakfast, more so breakfast, which was expensive because you had to have your groceries delivered to the resort, paying the delivery fees and all that stuff. So RVing kind of you know allows us to bring our own stuff, do our own things. We can bring the dogs with us now, whereas hoteling before we could not. So there's a lot of personal advantages to Fort Wilbus.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

I love that. Well, I I got way ahead of my plans, so I'm gonna take us way back. I'm sorry, I don't want to give you like whiplash on this trip. I'm really sorry. But so you guys started RVing in 2020 when COVID was kind of like keeping us all trapped inside. What was that deciding factor that made you guys go? It's time to check this off the bucket list. Like now's the time. Let's do this.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

Yeah. Well, this guy over here has been wanting to get an RV since I've known him. And every once in a while he'd be like, Is it time to get an RV? Yeah. And I'm like, when are we gonna do that? We are so busy. We are running in every different direction. This kid's going here, this kid's going here. We had one, our oldest Addison, was in competitive dance, and I used to joke that it was eight days a week because it never ended and it was 365 days a year, and it was just it was awful. And then when COVID hit and everything stopped, it really forced us to have that moment of what in the world were we doing and why were we doing that kind of life for so long? And then he was like, Do you think it's time to have an RV again? And I was like, Yeah, I think it is time.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

I kind of looked at her and said, I don't want to sit here, the world's shutting down, I don't want to be stuck in my house. So we drove over to to a general RV and perused the lot a little bit. And they, well, we started out at a different RV dealership. We went there and we had we didn't have a car that we could tow a trailer with. I had just purchased a new vehicle a couple months beforehand. It didn't have a tow package. So what we could tow was very small.

SPEAKER_03 8:58

We all stood in there and we were like shoulder to shoulder without the dogs. We're like, this isn't gonna work. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

So we drove to a general RV center, and the sales guy showed us a little Winnebago Class C, and I said, That's it, we'll take it. And and that was it.

SPEAKER_03 9:14

27 feet. It was literally like the second RV that we ever saw in our life. He showed us a used one that had ants crawling in it, and I was like, No, that's not gonna work for me. No, it was tiny. I mean, the kids slept in the overhead bunk.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

But the kid, we were a smaller family at that point. Our kids were younger. We had dogs, but they weren't.

SPEAKER_03 9:33

I mean, some of the Yeah, so Addy would have been 10, yeah, and I'll would have been seven.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

Seven. So we were able to the kids were able to sleep together, right? And we had ample room to move around. So that's kind of how we started. Driving to the RV center, I said I'll take that one. And then two weeks later, I went back and picked it up after they PDI'd it and prepped it and drove it home, and that was it.

SPEAKER_03 9:54

Yeah, and then was it six months later? And because we didn't have a tow car, so when we would go places, we would be on the bikes, we'd be walking, and then there was this one trip in particular. We're in South Carolina. We were in Hilton Head, Hilton Head, and we're riding the bikes. This is like such a bike-friendly town, and you got two kids on a bike, it's pouring rain. I've got a kid falling off a bike, she's skinned up her leg, and Pete's like, We're done. We need a tow car. I want a car. So we bought the class C because we didn't have a way to tow it, and then we ended up, and we had just bought the other car, and we didn't want to like buy a new car to like a truck to do something else. So we bought the class C, and then six months later, we ended up buying a new car, anyways, to be able to tow it behind. So we got the Jeep.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Yeah. So where did you guys launch out of? Can I ask that? I don't want to ask you to get like where where's your home base? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

So we we are from the Chicago area, so we're we're in the suburbs of Chicago, and uh her and I are all of our family is around us. You we've grown up in this area um our our entire thing.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

So I know that a lot of your travels have been kind of like on the coast and not a lot in the Midwest. Is that why? Because you guys have like I grew up in Kansas City. So for me, when we hit the road, I was like, I need California, I need New York, I need Maine, I need Florida, I need, you know, take me to the coast, I need the ocean. Was it like that for you guys? Is that why you guys have hit kind of those coasts?

SPEAKER_01 11:19

Yeah. Before before RV and before our kids really came into the picture, Megan and I did a lot of traveling doing dog shows. And they weren't just your regular dog show. They were more like county fairs, outdoor events, spaces, things of that nature.

SPEAKER_03 11:34

And they weren't your regular dog shows either. It was like competitive dock jumping, dogs running off of docks into water. So it wasn't like, you know, like dog show, a prancer on a ring. Like it was uh that different vibes. I call it canine aquatic sports.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

Do a trick. Yeah. Well, we we did those shows for eight years, and we were doing 15 to 20 shows a year. And so we traveled all over basically the six states around us a lot.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

I'm gonna lie.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

By the time our our oldest was like two or three years old, she'd already been to 15 states. Wow. When we got when it got to RVing, places that are comfortable for us is the east coast. A lot of my family lives in the the Florida area, so we would go up and down to Florida quite often. We we had vacation as a young kid, we had vacation to the Myrtle Beach and and uh Hilton had a couple times. So I liked going there. We just we stuck to what we knew. Going west of the Mississippi is something that we just didn't have a lot of experience doing. We've done it a couple times. We took a long trip to Texas when COVID was raging. We were in Texas, and uh we took a big trip out to Yellowstone with a lot of family members. So that that was also, you know, our first our first foray into going that far west.

SPEAKER_03 12:42

Yeah, and uh we did Rocky Mountain a couple of years ago too, but probably most of our travels are Midwest, Central, and then East Coast. And I mean I work full time, yeah. I work full-time, so traveling out west from where we are is a little bit more logistically difficult because by the time you get out there, you want to have ample enough time to enjoy it. So it's not that we don't want to go west, it's just more difficult because we only have the summer when the kids are out of school. We want to maximize the time off and going west would use a lot more drive time and a lot less time to stay out there and explore.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Yeah, absolutely. So if we can, you know, a lot of families they dream about doing this, but they can't think about logistically how to make it work. And, you know, you guys started obviously when everything was in lockdown, so you had a little bit more freedom. How do you make it work now that jobs have gone back to the office and kids have gone back to school? What does part-time look like for you guys?

SPEAKER_03 13:41

Yeah, that's why I always say don't let part-time fool you. Like we travel a lot of miles with part-time.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

We're out a lot. And and really, it for us, it begins in the off season in like November, December, and January. I'm already planning what we're gonna be doing in March, April, May, June, and then the rest of the summer. So I maximize the timing we have for our kids to be in and out of school. We do have active kids, they're in some extracurricular activities, so we want to make sure that they get to do that. But at the same time, like I said, if it I'm a planner. So in November, when when the RV is shacked up for the winter, I get itchy and I start perusing the interwebs, going, where could we go now? Or I remember my favorite YouTube video that I watched over the summer and it'd say, we can make it there. Let me see how I can get it to work for us.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

So if you can plan and and you really sit down and look at what your kids do and what you want to do, you can figure it out.

SPEAKER_03 14:34

And I would say, generally speaking, our heavy travel season is May, end of May. So like memorials, usually about the time they're out of school until middle of August. That's where we do the longest trips. So we save, I save my vacation time from work, he saves his vacation time, and we do the longer trips when the kids are off of school. And then when they go back to school in August, from like August to end of October, beginning, middle of November, those are weekend trips, right? You find places close enough. And I think even though we've lived in Illinois our entire life, we're still finding new places to go in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan. Like there's so much to explore so close to home. And you don't have to go far to find something really cool to enjoy. And if you can just get out, you can get there on a Friday night and you can have all day Saturday and a half a day Sunday, it's still worth it to do a weekend. That's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

How did you kind of find that rhythm? How did that was it, is it driven by the extracurriculars?

SPEAKER_03 15:32

Or is it like is there a little bit because we would not choose to go to Disney in Florida in the middle of June, but it would be nice to go in the wintertime when it's cooler out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

But a little bit sweating, like yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Exactly. You put that backpack on and like your entire back is covered in sweat, and you get back to your RV and you just break, and you're like, what am I doing here in June when it's 95 degrees outside?

SPEAKER_03 15:55

Yeah, last year was the first year I bought a cooling towel and we had fans, and I'm like, I like I feel like I'm dying.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

It's so hot here. Our rhythm kind of started when we were doing the dog show stuff, I think, doing weekends. All that stuff revolves usually around Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And we got really good at planning those those long weekends, the Friday, Saturday, Sundays. And it made it really easy to transition it into RV life with teenagers who do need to have a life at home with their friends and do need to have a life at school. So we've done a great job at taking that and using it the same way. Again, like Megan said, finding something that's close to home or going with friends. So we have a couple friends who are RVers as well. We get them to go out with us, and we and and they're they have kids that are our kids' ages. So we're able to give the kids some freedom to do be with their friends, and we get to hang out with the adults and have adult time. And we're just hanging out, having a fire, cooking, having potlucks and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 16:52

And I think the other half of it too is learning how to pack and unpack efficiently. And I wouldn't say that I use less we used to we used to, when we used to go to the dog shows, and I mean, we're talking about packing an entire car for an entire weekend for two kids that were like babies and infants and toddlers at the time, and two adults and dogs, and you're trying to cram a lot of stuff into a little place in a car, like that's all very applicable to an RV as well. But like getting really good at knowing what you need, what you don't need, getting it packed and unpacked. Like we used to be able to unpack from these dog trips 30 minutes. The car was empty and everything in the house is away. So it's like, don't let, even though you're only going out for a weekend, don't let that like packing and unpacking feel like it's not worth it either, right? Because you could easily overstress on well, it's gonna take three days to figure out what to bring, to be gone for three days, to have to unpack for three days. Like, even if you have to make a list and reuse the list, like we're so good right now that I don't need a list, but just get good at knowing what you need and getting that efficient.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Because I, and I'm just gonna add this in here, because I I work from the kitchen table. My my job is a fully remote job, and I can be here at the kitchen table. I'll be thinking of things, and I just grab a piece of paper and I write it down on my notepad. Like we're going on a trip next week. Here's all my dinner ideas. So it it just it it just hit me at a in a spurt and I go crazy writing stuff down and then I I set it aside.

SPEAKER_03 18:16

Yeah, and like even when we use stuff in the RV, like I've got a little list, like, oh, I need to refill this. I just add it to my refill list, and when we get home, put it right back in there. And it's like as you think of things, we just write it down and jot it down, and yeah, just because I I think somebody could get really overwhelmed with going out and not planning accordingly.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Is there anything that you guys keep in the RV? Like, do you have like a set of dishes or like hiking gear that stays in the RV all the time? What are your this is the RV stuff that stays here that kind of makes it easier for that transition from sticks and bricks life to RV life?

SPEAKER_01 18:54

So we're fortunate enough. So we have a 40-foot c super seat, right? So and we've got a great basement below us here that we can store stuff in. So we've got plates and all of the plates, silverware, kitchen utensils, pots and pans. I I keep a lot of non-perishable food items in the RV. I stock it just like I stock my house. So because I'm head of logistics and operations, that also means I'm the cook. And the cook needs to have all of his supplies to be able to handle things, right? So you can you can I wear a lot of hats, you know, chef, logistics, captain, all of that. And I keep a whole set of clothes in there. I don't even take my clothes out of the RV. We have a washer and dryer in there, so I wash it before we get home, and I just restock it back on its hangers, and I've got clothes for the next trip. So for us, I think we do a great job of keeping things in the RV so we're not constantly shuffling back and forth. And and you know, Megan can probably touch on this because she handles the dogs. We have a whole bunch of dog stuff already in there.

SPEAKER_03 19:54

Like I have treats and leashes, and I've got my core leash, but I always have backup leashes because you never know what could happen on the road. But like even bedding and sheets, like everything stays in the RV. The only time it comes out when it's time to wash them, and then when they get washed and they get put right back in there. Even stuff like games and there's some things that we flex in and out depending on the trip. Like we've got um a stand-up paddle board, and that doesn't go in unless we're on a trip that you can use it. We've got some e-bikes that does those don't come on every trip because sometimes you're just not, it doesn't make sense. Other like outdoor games and type stuff, we we flex some of that. We usually have some basic hiking gear in there, like my hiking shoes usually stay in there. He's got hiking sticks, they stay in there. Because the other thing you have to worry about too is you don't want to overpack your RV and make it too heavy.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

So it's a balancing act. Yeah, and like I said, since we have a basement in the in the wintertime, I can we can take everything out of it, put it in totes, and we label the totes, and we've got a shelving system now again. This is the organizational part of me. It all has to fit on the shelves and organized so that it's easy to take in and out. The easier you make it for yourself, the more fun it becomes. Do I say it that way? Fun? Do I clean it fun?

SPEAKER_03 21:06

Yeah, so the whole thing gets emptied at the end of the season, emptied and cleaned, and then he spends all winter buying new stuff. So you probably saw that video. All the fun stuff he bought over the winter.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

An inflatable couch. I need an inflatable couch. I don't think that my husband probably thinks that I need an inflatable couch, but I think I need one. No, I think that's great because you are making the best of the time that you have, so you don't have to worry about how much time am I losing to the prep and the cleanup, like you said. So you you're really getting the most of your time. And I love that. I want to go to your content because you guys have such great content. There's rich content out there. I mean, you guys talk about everything from like maintenance to campground reviews. How do you guys decide what you're gonna film? Because you do have a little bit of everything. Is it just kind of a this is what I found? I would want or do you have a checklist of things that you're like, this is what I want to try and get on this trip? I think it's both.

SPEAKER_03 22:07

I think some of it is we're just trying to figure out where we fit into the space because we want to be authentic and different and we don't just want to be a wash, rinse, and repeat. And I know some of the technical stuff tends to get more views because that's what people are searching for. So, like our videos about him changing the suspension and the RB wash products, and those tend to get a little bit more views, but we also try to filter in our personality a little bit, even into those. I love doing like here's where we've been, here's what we're doing, kind of stuff. But I feel like we're so new that we don't have like some of the big, big channels, right? You're like sitting there and you can't wait for their next video to come out to see what they're doing next. Like I'm trying to pepper who we are into everything that we do so you can learn about us, so you want to keep watching us. But I really, really love the content of that you can see who we are as a family, you can see what we explore. I, you know, I want people to see the places that we are or show them somewhere that they might not know exists and all the things that you can do there. And, you know, when you think about filming and editing and how much time all that takes, you know, it's it's as a new channel, the very first thing you have to know is you're doing it for yourself and you have to enjoy what you're doing. First and foremost, uh it's a record of what we've done and who we are, no matter if we got zero views, 10 views, or 5,000 views or more, right? So, you know, it's it's like our diary and it's our travel. And if we can inspire somebody to get out and do something or go see a place that we did, like that's that's just amazing. And that like that's how we got started. We were watching YouTube and we saw families, and there's people we follow, and we're like, that's just awesome. We want to do that, we want to provide value to the community. So we're gonna film as much as we can again, part-time. So we tend to have the cameras out a lot just because you know there's probably as much footage as I'm edit, there's probably double that never even gets touched, right? Because you never really know. Right.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

So Megan, since we've we've been together 25 years, Megan is the creative driving force behind a lot of what we do in that respect. She's got a great creative background and mind, and it matches really well with my very type A personality when it comes to planning and organizing. So you can see why we we we kind of have we have that yin and yang together where I'm very one way and she's very another. But it comes together and it makes what I think is very watchable content.

SPEAKER_03 24:32

Yeah, I started I started out going to college for graphic design and then ended up changing going into business, which I'm in marketing, which is also very creative. And outside of my professional life, I I felt like for a really long time I was struggling to figure out what is my creative outlet. I'm gonna be creative on my terms. You know, I'm creative at work, but that's you know, that's on what somebody else and how they want me to be creative, not necessarily how I want to be creative. And we really we really started talking about, you know, let's do this, let's give it a go and like make some videos and do some editing. It was very overwhelming at first because nobody to teach me. I'm self-taught and I'm still learning, it's a very lengthy process. But you know, I bench myself around content that I've seen. And I'm like, you know what? I want to put my best out there and I want to learn and be creative. So it's it's really been therapeutic for me. I, you know, it's it's hard to balance working full time and traveling and doing all the things, but I really do enjoy it. So I I just hope that comes through when people watch our videos that they can see, you know, we're authentic and that we care about putting out their good quality content that hopefully people want to watch.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

Yeah, I think that it does. I uh there's a video, I think it's when it's one of your newer ones, and it you guys are in Ohio at a um like a stop. And first of all, I was like, oh, I need to start carrying $20 bills with me because I like I don't think we ever have cash. I was like, I need I need to start carrying cash with me. But there was a moment, you know, you've got the camera out and you're walking with one of your daughters, and she's walking the dog, and she just looks at you like mom, the camera again. And I just like 100%, my heart just went, I know that look. I felt that in my soul. And then watching you guys try and make the the climb over the rocks and like and then being able to cheer for you guys when you got to the end. I was like, this, you know, this is a family that I can that I can, you know, get on board and cheer for. So I I think that you're doing a great job. You're it definitely comes through. Thank you. And I think that the authenticity is is there and it it is so valuable to have because you know, you're right, there's a thousand videos out there that tell you how to clean or cook or store your blackstone, but it's the videos where where you're doing it with heart that that matters. That matters.

SPEAKER_03 26:59

It just takes a little bit longer for those to get found and seen and appreciated and the traction.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, what is a lesson that the road has taught you the hard way that you wish someone had told you on day one?

SPEAKER_01 27:17

I tend to get frustrated when things don't go the way I've planned because again, and I keep referencing it, there's that planning mentality of me. So when something doesn't you're driving home and all of a sudden your TPMS sensor starts going off because your tire is losing air, it throws me into a whole other world. It is horrible.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

And I we were literally we were 50 miles from home, and I'm like, I just want to get home, but I have to stop to fill a tire full of air now because it's going flat.

SPEAKER_03 27:48

Yeah, and then a more recent one was this year, even we were driving home from Michigan, and it something wasn't feeling right about the RV. It was downshifting hard, and something was going on, and we weren't sure. So then you start Googling, and it's like Googling a medical diagnosis. You shouldn't do that because it was like, stop the RV, don't drive it anymore. And we're like, ah, we don't film well in those situations yet. So there's no content of this. But to make a long story short, he ended up stopping at Freightliner in Green Bay. I drove the kids home because it was a Sunday night. We got home at like midnight that night because it took us about four or five hours to get a plan together what to do, how to solve our problem. All ended up well, but it really threw a wrench in the plans.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

And I ended up spending the night at the Freightliner dealer. They looked at the rig the next day, determined that absolutely zero was wrong with it. Which is good. I spent a few hundred dollars getting it diagnosed, and then I drove it home. Oh while I had to work that day. So I'm in the truck, I'm in the trucker's lounge working on my laptop. So it I had to take a step back and I had to say, okay, I need to get my RV well because a a broken RV does not bode well for your pocketbook or your mental psyche.

SPEAKER_03 29:02

Or the trip we were supposed to go all the way up to Minnesota. We're like, well, we need to make sure it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

So I I had to stop and and I just said, okay, let's unhook the toe. You're gonna drive everybody home. I will stay with the RV and handle that. Because if we were at home, that's what would happen. I would handle the RV problems and she would make sure the kids and the dogs are okay. So I just did it that same way. And so it has taught me slowly, because I'm not good at this, to kind of step back and say, okay, let's reassess and move on. Because I I get a little unhappy.

SPEAKER_03 29:35

I would say in the moment it's still difficult because I do believe the words out of your mouth at one point in time was like, this is it. This might do me in. We might never RV again. And I'm like, calm down. Calm down. It's okay. Everything is fixable. It is okay. We are healthy, the kids are healthy, we are safe, we're parked in a safe spot. We will figure this out, it's all right. But yeah, like just oh my gosh. No stuff's gonna happen and it doesn't, it's not the end of the world, it's not gonna end your stuff. RVing is not cheap, right? It's gonna cost money. It's gonna cost money to have fun, and it's gonna have cost money to fix your fun.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

So yes, that's such a good way to put it. Costs money to fix your fun.

SPEAKER_03 30:11

But I think like the cost value of what we're getting out of it still supersedes. I wouldn't change this for anything.

SPEAKER_01 30:18

Yeah, I've loved every minute of the last six and a half years doing this. It's been great, it's been so rewarding to be able to spend so much time with my friends and family because that's what I wanted out of this. I'm getting exactly out of RVing what I wanted to get out of RV.

SPEAKER_03 30:33

Yeah. One other thing I was like, because you just made me think of this. Like what we didn't expect. We've got one friend that we camp with that had been camping before we were camping. We bought the RV, his dad bought an RV, so we camped with him for a little bit. My parents bought an RV, we occasionally camped with them. But other than that, we like had no real close friends that were into it like we are. We had one other friend that bought a camper and would go out on occasion, but none of those people, even the ones that bought it after we were, were not into it like we were. And I think one expected thing that came out of all of this is the community of people that you meet along the way. We now have at least 10 very, very close RV friends that we meet up with multiple times a year because of RVing that we would have never met.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

And they they've been the most rewarding part of this meeting these people. We went we went to a rally and we we met this awesome group of folks, and now we we're on messenger groups together on Facebook and we're constantly talking and sending messages. Just two feet.

SPEAKER_03 31:40

We went on three trips last year with them. The whole crew went to Disney. We had like five or six campsites at Disney. I think next year we're already up to 10 or 12. 10 or 12 for next year's Disney with all these people. Um, we do the Bourbon Trail. This will be our third year coming up Labor Day weekend that we've done it with this same like group of people, and it just keeps expanding and growing as I kind of hear about our little group. It's like this little, you know.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

And we can thank another YouTuber for this group of friends because they're the ones that brought us all together.

SPEAKER_03 32:11

Yeah. So we were all part of the same little insider group, and we all realized we lived well for for the RV world, we lived relatively close together. A lot of them are in Cincinnati, which is you know, hop skipping a dunk from Chicago. So um a really great group of people.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

Yeah, we Matt and I have a similar experience like that. We like you guys, we um did some YouTube research before we got started. And there was a YouTuber that was doing a rally, and we went to the rally. That was our first out the gate RV experience. Like we had just got we had it was our very first let's get in the RV and go experience. And we made some amazing friends, and we're we're still friends with them, and we meet up with them every now and then and go on trips with them. And it's it's amazing the people that you meet in this community and and how you meet them, and it's just life-changing and it's it's you know, you you don't get that. It's an experience you wouldn't get if you were studying at home, you know, and that's that's just the beautiful side of it. Well, for a family who is studying at home right now, thinking like we could never do this, what would you say to them? Say go to an RV show, which is probably what he said.

SPEAKER_03 33:25

If he didn't, if I didn't say it, he was gonna say it. And if you only have access to go to like a little regional show that's near you, just go and sit in them and go see what you like. Like, I think part of it is just figuring out how do you want to travel, what do you want to travel in, what do you have that would travel with you? What do you need to get to be able to travel? And I don't think you really figure out what type of RV you want, whether it be a towable or a drivable, unless you sit in them and really, and I don't mean just yeah, kind of like walk in and walk out. I mean like sit in it and see where you could do things. And if you can only get to a little regional show, then do that. But if you can get yourself to Tampa or Hershey or one of the big ones where like everything is, I think that's very valuable. And I think that's a very good place to start because you can try to understand what your budget is. And I really think in the RV space, there really is a budget for everybody. I think you can get in pretty affordable, and I think you can get in very luxury as well. So I I think there's a spot for everybody. Um, but and it definitely is gonna feel it.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

I I 100% agree with what Megan said. I've I've had friends come up to me and say, How do I start with this? What should I do? I'm interested in this. And the first thing I tell them is, What are you doing in January? Can you make it to the Tampa show? Because that is like the epicenter of everything. You can see, look, touch, feel, smell every single kind of RV and every vendor that was out there. So if you just take three days of your life and go to Tampa, you will have a much better understanding of what the RV lifestyle is.

SPEAKER_03 35:05

And then the other thing that I would add to it at the same time that you also did for at least a year or two before we bought an RV is just to find some authentic YouTube channels. Like, don't find, don't, don't watch the clicky bait ones where you click on it because of the title and you're like, I don't even think that ever happened in the video. Follow them and watch their videos and the really, really good ones, you will feel that inspiration. And if you feel that inspiration, then you'll know this is sort of the right path for you.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

And and I'll add, if you do follow some YouTubers and you do go to the Tampa RV show, most of them show up there.

SPEAKER_03 35:43

A lot of them do.

SPEAKER_01 35:43

And you can actually meet the people you watch and you can see that they're exactly who they are on YouTube. And we've been fortunate enough to make several friends of some very big YouTubers who are just like everyday people. You you think they're this star, right? But I can walk up to them and say, Hey, how are you doing? What's going on? And they remember me. So it's it's it's rewarding that.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I want to ask you guys one more question about your RV trips before I have you guys plug yourselves like crazy because I want everybody to go watch and see your content. How do your girls like it? I mean, you guys have been doing this now for six years. How have their experiences kind of developed and changed over the years? Are they loving it as much as they did when it started or more? Or how how are your teens doing? I think more.

SPEAKER_03 36:38

There's never any, I don't want to go. There's never any, that's not where I want to go. We try to incorporate them into the planning process when he's sitting here over the winter trying to map out where we want to go. We, you know, kind of talk as a family, like, where do you want to go? We the other thing we try not to do, because we are part-time, is we try not to do too many repeat visits. Like we want to see new places. So very rarely will we go to the same place. There's there's a week we go in Wisconsin up to Green Lake every year and on the holiday week. But outside of that, we try to hit new places. So I think it's a balance of like we we enjoy the outdoors and hiking, but we also want to see national parks and national monuments. And I think when they can put together seeing history in person and tie it back to what they've learned or what they will learn in school, I just think that's valuable. And like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:28

And from my perspective, right, they've grown up RVing with us now, right? They started out with all this crazy man stuff, go, go, go, go, go. And now we've slowed down a touch. Now, getting into high school, things tend to pick up a little bit, as any high school family knows. I balance our trips with stuff that Megan and I like and stuff that the kids like. So for instance, our our our bigger trip, we have two big trips every year. The first one had to do with stuff that Megan and I like mostly, which is hiking, national parks, scenery, cooler weather.

SPEAKER_03 38:01

Now our younger one will be like another hike. Yeah. Have we not hiked enough? She will say that.

SPEAKER_01 38:05

But the second big trip of our year, we're hitting up Cedar Point, America's roller coaster capital. We're going to all of fame. We're going, we're we're hitting up all this bigger stuff so that we can do some exciting and fun things. So it's yeah, with with kids, it's all about balance. How far can you and I don't want to say how far can you push them, but how far can you influence them to like what you like because they do like it. They just don't want to tell you they like it.

SPEAKER_03 38:35

Right? Like we have slower trips where we're in a like a state park campground and there's not much in the campground, and you know, it's like veg out time for them. Like he'll be working or you know, and it'll just be like a cool, I can read and I can sit and put my feet up. But then there are times where we'll book a resort where there's a lot of things the kids can do and pools and things like that, and you know, jumpy things and it's a balance, it's a balance, right? Because you don't you don't want to pay for those very expensive campgrounds every time. Like you gotta stay in some St. Parks, right? You gotta balance the budget. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 39:06

And I also since we have an RV big enough to do it, I ask them if they want to bring friends. So we have enough to we we bring cousins with us, we bring friends with us, and and I say, Okay, what do you guys want to do? Do you I I I open the door and I say, Go, go play in the campground, go do something and and get away from us for a little while. Because as much as you want to be with your kids all the time, they need their alone time and they have to figure out the world as well. So let them go and do things.

SPEAKER_00 39:34

Yeah, yeah. Well, I have just thoroughly enjoyed every minute of our conversation. Where should people follow along?

SPEAKER_03 39:43

Oh, we've got Facebook. So Facebook tends to be like where Pete will occasionally still write out his original captain's logs, that's how it all started was Facebook, and he would sort of blog out on Facebook what we've been doing.

SPEAKER_01 39:57

I I have to add, our captain's logs. If you are a Star Trek fan, you understand where I've gotten that from. Okay. I I like Star Trek, but I I people ask me all the time, is that a Star Trek reference? 100%. It all started out as me just kind of being silly and goofy. And we got to a point where I stopped writing them. And multiple people asked us, where's the captain's logs?

SPEAKER_03 40:21

Where are the logs? Yeah, where are the logs? We're like, oh, okay, maybe we should like make it a thing. Okay. Yeah. So Instagram, that's where we like do the reels and the photos, and I try to be more inspiration based on Instagram. And then we're on YouTube as well, and that's I'd still say pretty new-ish. We're only been pretty little over a year in terms of being serious about putting out really good content on YouTube. So we would love a subscribe for anybody who's watching this. Uh we'd love you to watch some of our videos and give us some feedback. We're open feedback, leave some comments, give us some likes, tell us what types of topics and content you want to see. And I mean, we're just gonna keep filming and going at it. So we have we've got a website, and on that website, you've got a our uh I've got a blog section on the website you were referencing earlier in our talk about the Disney tips that's on our blog on our website, which is our captainslogs.com.

SPEAKER_01 41:17

Yeah, so we're we're in a lot of places. We're very open, we're very honest. We we just are who we are, and and the captain and his co-pilot. We we just get along really well and we do a lot of great things together, and we just want to share it with you.

SPEAKER_00 41:30

So any of the crew that wants to follow us along, we're here. That's awesome. Well, we will tag all of your guys' sites in the show notes and make sure that everybody has a way to get to those. What is coming up for your guys' crew next? Can you tell us?

SPEAKER_02 41:46

I mean, I know that for a little what goes up is like a year behind.

SPEAKER_00 41:51

Yeah. So I'm gonna go. So what do we see next online? I guess is what I want to ask. It it's so hard.

SPEAKER_01 41:58

A teaser, I can't wait. What's coming, dear?

SPEAKER_03 42:00

I think I think what's coming next is I I don't want as much as I want to jump ahead to the amazing trip that we just did and say, ah, forget about the rest of it. I talked about the amazing community, and I really want to share last year getting together with that big RB group that we talked about. We went to the Bourbon Trail and we all stayed in a in a whole huge campground rose together. And I'd really like to highlight what that looks like in a video. So that is more likely gonna be what's gonna be on next on YouTube.

SPEAKER_01 42:29

And and and for travel, you're looking at things like uh what we did for Halloween last year, which it tends to be what we do every year, but we'll leave it at that. And then hitting up northern Minnesota this year, this spring, and coming up, hitting up Ohio and West Virginia. So that's kind of where we're we're headed in the future.

SPEAKER_00 42:48

I love it. Well, Megan, Pete, thank you guys so much for being with us. If anybody out there has not subscribed yet, go to our Captain's Logs on YouTube and Facebook and Instagram and and at rcaptainslog.com, all the places that Megan was saying, get in there, start following along. The content is so rich. It's so fun, it's so authentic. You will love it. And if this episode hit home with you at all, please like, subscribe, but send it over to a friend who maybe is thinking about part-time RVing or is wondering how do I make this lifestyle work for me and my family so that they can learn about Megan B and they can maybe get some ideas from them about how to get their family on the road a little bit sooner than having to wait for retirement because that's just not that's just not the way that we want to do this. Get out there and live life a little bit more fully a little bit sooner. Thank you guys so much. We will catch you all around the campfire next time.