When Your Kid Wants to Hit the Road with Jenny Herman of the HighlightHer Podcast

SPEAKER_01 0:05

All right. Hey, we're back at Learn to RV the podcast. Today I'm sitting down with Jenny Herman, and she's the host of another podcast called The Highlighter Network. And it's a show about all the women thriving in their businesses. But this episode today has a bit of a twist. I'm actually going to do something I've never done before, and Jenny's going to be along for the ride. So Jenny's actually here because her son is RV curious. So today I'm kind of a guest expert on my own podcast as much as she is. So stick with us today because by the end, the tables are going to turn completely. Welcome to Learn to RV the podcast. We're so glad you're here.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Welcome, Jenny. How are you today? I am super excited. I've loved getting to know you, and I can't wait to have a chat.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Well, and we didn't meet like by a conventional standard. Like I don't know you in real life, but we're both part of this group called Podcast Peeps, which has been a huge asset for me in the podcast world. Oh, I've been so I want to kind of hand you the mic, so to speak. We talked initially about questions you have because your son is really interested in RV life. And so I would love to be able to answer some of the questions that maybe somebody knew approaching this, and maybe it's a mom out there that's just like you that's thinking about like setting their baby bird free. What questions would you have to ask life since we've been doing it for so long?

SPEAKER_00 1:38

I am really thankful for this opportunity because I know nothing about RV, and I don't know the context or extent of my son's knowledge. I don't know how much research he's done because he's a young guy. They don't typically want to talk to their parents most of the time. And so whatever's in his head is mostly in his head.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

So well, and chances are he's found some YouTube creators to follow and like. And chances are a lot of times that I know a few of them.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

I'm wondering kind of where people start. Do you happen to have a playlist for beginners that I could send him?

SPEAKER_01 2:17

So that's a great idea. We haven't put it together yet.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

So if you were helping someone get started with RB, what would be their bare minimum skills that they need to s to survive at a beginner level?

SPEAKER_01 2:30

So I think the biggest one is have a diversified income stream. And I know that sounds crazy, but for example, a work camping job and you're getting paid there, you know, build a social media channel. It's not going to take off right away, but it's a great way to have some residual income coming in. Or if you drive, I know lots of people that DoorDash on the road and they just change their location from place to place. I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that it's cheaper to live like this. And I'm not saying it can't be, but that would require you to be in one place all the time at a fairly modest campground. And lots of people do it that way. We do it to experience the adventure. And so I think you really need to know why you're going out and doing this too. So if you're going out for six months at a time to different campgrounds because you want to experience an area fully, have a job, that sort of thing, that's very different than somebody that's nomadic like us. But that didn't happen overnight. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Yes. I actually got an answer tonight and I was pretty impressed. I said, you know, do you want to stay in one place and live in your RV, or do you want to travel around? Because that might affect the questions that I get to ask tonight. And he said that he will start out in one place until he finds a gig that he can do from home, so to speak, and then he can travel.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Gotcha. So I actually would recommend if he's going to do it that way, getting a work camping job to start with, so he still has income coming in. And, you know, those work camping jobs are usually five to six months. And so if he starts looking right now, there's things he could do to test the water, so to speak, once he has that RV. The beet harvest usually only happens in the month of October. And it's like less than 30 days, usually. And it happens up north, you know, the Dakotas, uh, Michigan has a beet harvest, Minnesota has a beet harvest. And so there's different places that he can go, but it's it's hard outside work. Um, but it's sugar beet harvesting. And so you can make, you know, a couple thousand dollars in like two weeks most of the time. So if you're looking to just fill your cup and have like a bounce point, it's a great way to do it.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Are there people that get an RV and live locally and just live out of their RV but have like what we would consider traditional jobs?

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Sure. Absolutely, all over the country. And I think that's one of the biggest arguments from people is oh, that's not really an RV. I think the thing you're up against, if that's what they do, is a lot of campgrounds up north closed because of freezing temperatures. You need to make sure you're well insulated. If you stay in the north, there's a company out there called Air Skirts, and they actually have these inflatable skirts that you put under your RV. Don't use straw to insulate because it one, it attracts mice and rodents, but two, it's a huge fire hazard, especially because you've got propane on so many of the portions of your RV from your water heater or whatever. You don't want anything that's that flammable anywhere. And mice in the walls doesn't work well for an RV either. When it's and when it's 40 degrees outside, that cold comes off the walls of my camper. So we go south for the winter. And I'll be honest, Texas is not south enough for me. Even though that's where our home state is and where that's where the business is located. The reality is it still gets too cold there for me in the winter.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

So do you go?

SPEAKER_01 6:02

I'm gonna go to Florida, Arizona, or California.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Got it. Do you ever go to Mexico?

SPEAKER_01 6:08

We haven't yet. It's on our list. We haven't been able to do that because of our company, RV Roofing Solutions. We have to be at like the Tampa Super Show in January, which is not anywhere close to Mexico.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

No, it's not.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

And remote work is hard to find. I think in 2026 it's getting harder to find again. And having a good solid remote work job is is a little more complex than I'd like for it to be. Starting your own business is one of the ways that you can do that. But then you have to decide if you're it depends on the business, right? If one of your streams of income dries up, you need to have a secondary.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

At least a secondary.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

And what do you recommend for like a nest egg or an emergency fund?

SPEAKER_01 6:50

So I would tell you whatever three times your monthly expenses are should be your nest egg. And then another eight to ten thousand dollars. Because if you have a major repair, like your engine blows, that's not going to even cover that. In 2016, we actually lost our engine uh on our truck. And we were in California. So the price of the engine was more than anywhere else. And so everybody was like, oh yeah, if you were in this state, it would only be like $14,000. It was $22,000. And so it wasn't just a little bit of money. And so depending on where you are when something happens like that is gonna greatly impact what you need to have saved. So I would say it's $10,000 plus at least three months to live off of. And so if you know you want to be in pick an area, call around to the campgrounds, find out how much their monthly rate is, how much are they charging for electric? Because when I go to a campground and I'm paying a daily rate, that's different than a monthly rate price. A lot of times it's more affordable to stay weekly, or it's more affordable to stay monthly. But it also means you're gonna pay your electric bill. And so if you're in the middle of summer or in the middle of winter, that can drastically affect your pricing. So it just depends. We have campground memberships. Uh, we have a couple of them. We have thousand trails, which is it's good if that's what you need. But the other side of thousand trails is so I can stay in with my membership three weeks and I can go from one thousand trails park to another thousand trails park and pay zero dollars. It it's basically like a timeshare. It they'll tell you it's not, but it kind of is. So I have to pay an annual maintenance fee on it. And ours is paid off now. Um, they do have different levels of membership where some you can't go park to park, but it can be a great way to make this lifestyle affordable and be able to travel. And so three weeks at a time, two weeks at a time. There's some rules with it, like in the winter in Florida, you can only stay two weeks at any given park, and it levels the playing field for all of us. Texas can be an affordable place to stay. They're kind of around the outside of the country, so there's nothing kind of in the middle. So yeah, I mean, there's ways to make make it more cost efficient, I guess is the right way to put it. But you can do this as frugal as you want to do it. And how do you plan to work for it, you know?

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Do you have any other expenses that they should be ready for? I'm assuming gas and food, of course, clothing and everything.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

So does your son like being on the internet? Yeah. So that one is a definite then. So we actually carry two Starlink's, and Starlink is not the cheap way to do it, for sure, but I have a mini, and that's how I can do this today in my truck, is the mini is actually mounted by a magnet to my truck. And so my Starlink mini travels with us. And we do it because when my husband is in the field on a roof job, if he's at a job site where there is no internet on his phone, he still has internet and we can do Wi-Fi calling. So, but that's $175 a month. We both carry phones, and so cell phones, obviously. So he'll probably want a cell phone. And then most of what you're gonna do is gonna be like food and travel and then experiences, right? And they add up. So there's lots of free experiences out there, but that might not be where the friends he makes want to go. So one of the things I tell people is your budget's super important, but also when you start making friends on the road, you have to be mindful of that. And not everybody is the right people to travel with. And it's not that you don't want to be friends with everybody, because you do, but you don't want anybody to feel like they're left out because they can't afford something that you want to go do. I mean, like I know my husband and I love stopping at restaurants on the way, and we like the local places, and so our friends that we end up traveling with, that's gonna be one of our outings. Whatever we do that day, that's gonna be added to it. But yeah, I mean, there's tons of free stuff out there too. You can go to atlasobscura.com and just see some of them. Um, and there's probably some right in your local area. The other side of it is mail banking and residency logistics is a real problem sometimes. I don't remember what year it was. I have a whole article about the Patriot Act on learn to RV.com. But that's a real thing. And if he is keeping his address at your place, that's pretty easy for him. You know, you'd collect his mail, mail it to him when he needs it, or you know, whatever. But there's companies out there that actually do mail service providers. And so if you go that direction, that means your license and your registration and everything has to be filed through that particular state. So you have to go to that state, file for it, spend a day or two there, and take care of all of those logistics.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

I've heard of those services. So let's say that he chooses Tennessee. So he would go and get the mail service in Tennessee and go to Tennessee, go to that town wherever they pick up their mail and for a couple days and get his license and his address and all of that.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Well, and that's an extra expense, right? You know, so you know, you're paying a monthly mail service fee. The three big states to do it in are actually Texas, uh South Dakota, and Florida. But Florida and Texas are gonna greatly affect your insurance costs. So, you know, shop around before you make that full decision. Um, a lot of the other states, I I actually have a whole blog on that on Learn to RV as well. A lot of those states will actually give you people like a UPS store that'll handle your mail for you where you have a box and it'll send you an email that it's there and you can pay for scanning services, but then you have to mail your, you know, your mail to you. And like right now, I don't think we've gotten our mail in that's probably been six or seven weeks now, because we haven't been at a campground that allows it. So not every campground is gonna let you get your mail. If you're addicted to Amazon, plan for Amazon lockers and small items. You know, we don't do a lot of Amazon shopping unless we're somewhere like for the winter where we can do that, where we're there longer.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

I had actually those a couple of those things that you just mentioned were on my list. The utilities and I was thinking of mailing and those kinds of things. Are there ways that he can find safe communities, both online RV communities, like to make connections and in person? Do you have tips for that?

SPEAKER_01 13:25

So the best way I can tell you to do that is go to a rally. That, though, the challenge you face with that is that he's gonna be the youngest one in the room. Um so like if he's looking for events like that, there are some out in quartzite and out in the west in the winter. Excaper's Bash is a great one for that. From people from all walks of life do that one. But it's expensive. Like rallies cost money, so there's that, and then there's the costumes and the dress up and the whole nine yards that goes with that. So there's a whole lifestyle out here. You know, it just depends on what he's looking for. The other side of it is there's lots of free communities. But again, his age is definitely gonna be different. And so I tell people all the time, it can get really lonely on the road. And so that's why I'd say if he was looking to dig in, you know, spend six months work camping somewhere and you know, see if that's a good niche. If you can get hired at someplace like KOA, you can go from KOA to KOA across the country. We've work camped too, but we were camped out of like West Yellowstone, and so we were camped up there in a KOA and spent seven months there. Well, no, it's closer to six, but it snowed the first day we got there and it was May. But you can go some incredible places doing that lifestyle, you know, that way. And then you take a month off and you travel for a month, and you know, by then you've banked some of that money. Um, if you can afford to put away half of your paycheck, you're gonna not only have your nest egg, you're gonna have your travel funds for the next job.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Those are great tips. Do you know of any online RV communities? I don't know, or share knowledge, like, hey, this was a good place. This one I didn't get the greatest experience.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

Yeah, there's tons of them. So Facebook is notorious for having one of everything. We have community groups on Learn to RV. Uh, it's our big one is called Learn to RV, the friendly informative group. And it, you know, you have to answer the questions to get in. It all of my communities are gonna be free, but they're they're kept private, not because I want you to pay a fee, because I want to protect where you are. And so I always tell people, you know, think about safety concerns, especially as you're talking on the internet. My first year on the road, we posted a lot in real time and we don't do that much anymore. So, like I can say, like for right now, hey, we're in Illinois this week, but I would never tell you we're in Illinois. Does that make sense? We want people to feel safe if they're saying, hey, we want to travel from Salt Lake City to Montana next year. We want them to feel safe in that space and to be able to protect some of that. There, I think that's the thing I'd warn you against is joining all the groups. You don't want to join open groups because anybody can join an open group. I think it's important to make sure that you're in groups where you feel seen. I don't want to say there's going to be a lot of older people that don't understand why younger people want to go on the road. I know there wasn't when I hit the road. I don't think there's anything wrong with this lifestyle for a younger generation. I think test driving this lifestyle is important too. I think renting an RV to start with and having him do like a four-week tour somewhere, you know, where he's maybe just traveling, but he's on his own and he can call you, but you can't rescue him. Like there has to be some ground rules. And so I tell people, if you can do it, rent the RV first. I I actually have a whole blog about RV rental companies actually on Learn to RV. I'll have to link all these in the show notes. So somebody that's maybe thinking about that can do that.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

So, what are all the resources that Learn to R V has on your site? It sounds like you have a lot.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Yeah, so originally Learn to RV was kind of the space and we've kind of taken it, we kind of leveled it up. Like it was a great platform, but we just kind of raised the bar. And so it has everything. Like the blogs, there's over 300 blogs alone. If you had all the time in the world to read all the blogs, you'd be pretty well equipped to start RV life. But we have a podcast and we're coming into, you know, season three. We have almost a hundred episodes already in just under a year, which is crazy. But again, if you have all the time in the world to listen to those, you can pick and choose which ones are right for you, but it's kind of a place to do that, right? But then we're developing a course. And so if you want a one-stop shop for all of that, there's actually pre a pre-release price out right now for it. And it talks about everything your tanks, your systems, all sorts of things. And it's just learn to rvthecourse.com. So it's super easy. You can get to everything that we do off of www.learn to rv.com. And so there's links to everything off of there. And then it's not released yet. And it's funny because nobody even knows about it yet, except like five people, and you're one of them. Is I actually am creating a journal to help you navigate this. And it's not a book because lots of people have written books about how to do this. This is an actual journal that you write in and you have to walk through this step by step, and you'll be like facing your fears. You'll be figuring out what kind of RV you want to have. Do you want it to be drivable? Do you want to tow a car? All of that stuff is going to be right there. But it's going to be a workbook. And so it started out with like 27 pages, and I think it's 275 now. And so it really dives in and it talks about the bad days. It it gives you pages to talk about the great days. It talks about club memberships and why they're important. So like Family RV Association is, I tell people about it all the time. They don't even pay me to talk about it, and they probably should. So like Perry George's the next big event, there's seminars and there's a little bit of everything, right? And then there's cook-offs and you know, hangouts and chapters and all that stuff. But if you only bought a Family RV Association membership for $99 a year, what you have is if something unthinkable happens and their rig breaks down or they end up in the hospital, they get them home.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

That's amazing to me.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

And see that alone for me is the reason for me to keep my family. Because there's no place in the world that's going to let me do that for $99 a year. But I don't know anywhere that I could go for $99 a year and I can get home. You know, I I agree. So I don't know. But I think that all of those are good starting points. As far as Learn to RB goes, it's growing all the time. Who knows what's next for it? You know, we want that to be the hub. Oh, rallies. I have a whole rally calendar there. But I want that to be the hub of places that that people can go to find out that information. The course is designed specifically for the person that needs, like, they want it organized, right? They want those bullet points, they want to know systems, they want to know how to do what. So they're all video recorded. So, like somebody that's wanting to have all of that information done for them and they want it concisely organized, the course is a great place to start. And I mean, like Stan Cromlish has a great book on, you know, rolling down the road. He actually has a podcast called Wandering Gypsy RV Life because he's actually on Learned RV as one of the podcasters we recommend. He's a solo RVer and he is knee deep in the rodeo circuit. And so his podcast is a little bit different, but when he travels, he travels alone in his class A and then he tows a car behind him. So, you know, and that's just how he rolls, literally.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

I love it. So you mentioned class A before I have my question, though. I think it sounds like the journal is a resource that fills a gap, a need that isn't there yet.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, like when I sat down to do the journal, it wasn't like like I had a list, right? You know, and obviously 27 pages. And then I went, oh, but I remember feeling like this. I remember there was a day that I just wanted to quit and throw it in the towel. And I want to explore those days too, because life is no different. You know, my life wouldn't be different in a house. But really, there's days in house life that you want to throw in the towel too. You know, and you can't just pack up. If you don't like your neighbors in a house, you can't just roll out the next day. But also, if I find people that I really enjoy being with, I can meet up with them again and again and again. So I mean, it definitely has different ebbs and flows in RV life. And so I wanted the journal to take kind People through that journey. It also has a section for like campgrounds, ones you love, ones you hate, laundromats. What are the best laundromats you hit in the country? Like it sounds crazy, but it's nice to know the ones that have Wi-Fi. I think it's brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

I can't wait to see it. Even like I just from an entrepreneur aspect, I think it's brilliant. I think it fits a need. I think a lot of people are going to get great value out of it.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

I'm excited. In fact, that's the thing is I want it to be something that people will use. But I also want it to be something like I have a section in it at the very beginning that what do you think this life is going to look like? And then I want you to come back to that journal and say, what did it really look like? And, you know, was it everything you hoped for? Was it what you were dreaming? Was it the high because I think that's the thing, right? Is so many things are just the highlight reel. And when you're watching it on YouTube, you don't see the highs and the lows. And I think that life, you know, the lonely spots, the patches where it's hard to make friends. And it's funny because we just did a road schooling one last week and we talked extensively on how 2020 changed even how we make friendships on the road. And so it's it's definitely one of those things that we don't even think about how it impacts that. And so I don't want it to be my story. I want it to be your story. So essentially I'm just asking you questions and taking the journey with you. But at the end of it, that's your journey, not mine.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

That makes my heart go pitter-patter. Huh? I have a writer in me too. Like there so it just it sounds amazing to me. I think it's great. Yeah. So you mentioned YouTube and the highlight reels, and which dovetails perfectly into my next question. I saw a reel about class C and how this particular class C was small enough to fit into a parking spot. And that's actually, I think, where my son might start, something like that. But do you typically have recommendations for how to choose your first RV?

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Well, realistically speaking, you know, it everybody needs to try what that was gonna work for them. And there's a lot of van lifers out there, and he'll find community within that van life community if that's what he's looking for. I would be cautious about stealth camping, which is what you're talking about. Stealth camping in a lot of places actually frowned upon, pulling into a parking space just anywhere. But a lot of cities have ordinances against it. So when you're going out there, if that's the direction he goes, it's fine. You just need to know it. You just want to make sure it's an RV, actual R VIA certified RV, because a lot of campgrounds won't let them in if they're just vans. They'll call you a tent camper. Got it. So you have to be real careful with that. That's all I'm saying. But you're gonna be limited by the size of your tanks, that sort of thing. Fresh water on board, knowing how to clean your tanks, knowing whether or not to leave your tanks open or closed. You know, all of that is just real basic information that a lot of times we miss on the beginning stages of our journeys. I I was not a camper, like at all. And so my first, this is kind of a crazy idea, but my first week on the road, we actually launched July 3rd, 2013. Now, think about that for a second.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

That's a big weekend.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

It is, and then we didn't think it through because we couldn't find any place that had anything over with hookups. And so I was ready to kill my husband because we went down to we were down, we were we started out of California, and we went down toward Camp Pendleton because my camera had been in the shop down there, and so we went to go pick it up, and I was like, okay. And we got to the base because my husband's a retired Marine, and they said, Oh, well, we've got boondocking spots for the next two weeks. Everything else is full. And I looked at him and I went, Are we kidding right now? So I learned how to camp the first 10 days on the road because I didn't know how. I learned how to use my generator, I learned how to dump tanks, I learned how to conserve water, I learned how to cook in a small space. Like all of that happened within those first 10 days, and I was ready to kill him. And then a month and a half later, we were in Yosemite, and the only spot open was a spot with no hookups. And I was ready, and it was amazing. So, like sometimes the things, and that's kind of why I did the journal the way I did it, because sometimes the things we're going through at the time are gonna feel overwhelming and hard and awful, but there's a silver lining that we can't see that's coming and why we learned it. Sometimes we don't know why we learned it for months, but but it's a it's a yeah, yeah, exactly. So, all right. Well, I could talk about this all day. Do you have any other questions?

SPEAKER_00 26:51

Let me see. I think one other question, you kind of mentioned it with the Family RV Association, which I think is a must. I mean, it just sounds like you really need it, but are there any other favorite services that you recommend for beginners?

SPEAKER_01 27:05

So for beginners, it's hard because they they have to use it, right? So, like RV overnights is super affordable, but it's one night stays at farms and wineries and breweries, but it's usually not more than a night. And so if it's on the way to where you're going, it's very convenient. I have a membership called Passport America, and that saves me on overnight stays up to 50%. And again, like next week we're actually using a passport park. So, like we're gonna go to a Jelly Stone that's normally $75 a night, and we're gonna get for like $35 a night. So I mean, like it's great, you know, uh if you can use it. The trick with Passport America is usually it's not only during week the weekdays. So you have to be willing to travel like Monday through Thursday with Passport America because they're not gonna give you 50% off on the weekends. Like that just doesn't make sense, you know, unless it's Arizona, because sometimes the Arizona parks will do that in the middle of summer. But who wants to be in 112 degree heat in the middle of summer? You know, the membership of any kind is only as good as you using it. Weigh the pros and cons of those memberships. In fact, we talk about that in the journal. Pick three things that are, you know, your must-haves and then go, okay, well, I like this one too. Write it down. You can revisit it six months down the road. That's kind of the best way to do it, anyways. And what doesn't work, shave it off the next year. I don't think I'd ever shave off FRVA just because of that benefit that they have for me. And I would probably not shave off escape Ease. And the reason for that is Escape Ease is like FRVA. A woman named Kay Peterson started it and it was just a camping club, but that's where my mail service is through. So I can't take that one off unless I'm willing to change my mailing address.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Yes, you gotta know what's important. Like you said, I look I think you have uh incredibly practical tips, Jennifer, and I really thank you for having this conversation with me. Oh, of course.