In this episode, an interview with a best-selling author on something that a lot of RVers are interested in: Writing from the road. We’ll help you scratch that creativity itch that traveling unleashes in all of us. Who know, you may have a best seller just waiting to come out in you RV, just like Kevin Tumlinson, an avid RVer himself, keeps turning out.

Plus lots of news, RV tips, off the beaten path destination suggestions and much more.

But first my lifelong traveling companion and my bride, Jennifer

Click the player below to Listen Now or scroll down through the show note details. When you see a time code hyperlink, you can click it to jump directly to that segment of the podcast.

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Shownotes for Episode 199 of the RV Podcast
WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK [spp-timestamp time="2:49"]

JENNIFER

Happy 4th of July to all our American listeners. And we hope or Canadian listeners enjoyed their Canada Day on July 1. We are in the heart of the summer travel season!

MIKE

The Auto Club says fuel prices are the highest they have been in at least four years for this holiday. Gas nationwide averages $2.86 for regular, diesel is $3.16. Highest prices are in the west  and New England where regular is over $3 a gallon. Cheapest is Texas, the Dakotas and the deep south, where it’s under $2.70

JENNIFER

We’re home but packing… heading out for North Carolina and the eastern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. We’ll be there starting this weekend and most of next week, attending another one of our Roadtreking RV Gatherings. This one is themed around river rafting and white water adventure along the Natahala River. We’ll be doing next week’s podcast from there and we will also be broadcasting our weekly Live You Tube “Ask Us Anything” video show on Sunday night.

MIKE

Speaking of which we are moving the Sunday night Live Broadcast up a couple of hours. We will be going on our RV Lifestyle Channel live at 7PM Eastern Time on Sunday nights, instead of 9M as we had been doing.

JENNIFER

Here’s a quick programming note: Tomorrow, Thursday July 5, on our RV Lifestyle Channel on You Tube, we'll release our newest video,  a recap of our just finished  fabulous gathering at Glacier National Park. We even got most of our encounter with a hungry bear and a very frightened Mama Moose and her calf on video. It was an exciting time with a happy ending.

Here’s the RV News of the week:

JENNIFER

Summer is lightning season, make sure you stay safe

Did you know there are places in the country that have a lightning season? A report released last week by the National Lightning Safety Council analyzed U.S. lightning deaths between 2008-2017 and ranked states. What caught my eye from the numerous stories around the country it triggered was some national parks have a lightning season. For instance at Zion National Park, 20,000 incidences of lightning traveling from a cloud to the ground were reported during a nine year period with 82 percent of the lightning happening between July to September, usually between noon and 8 pm. Here is a link to the Utah story, or click here for the report, and here for safety tips.

MIKE

Story gives helpful tips to avoid crowds at national parks

Last year roughly 331 million people visited the nation's national parks - that is roughly the exact population of the United States. No wonder it is so crowded out there! A story out of the Los Angeles Times over the weekend provides helpful tips on where to go and where to stay if a crowded national park is in your plans this summer. The story focuses on Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, and other iconic parks out west. To read more click here.

JENNIFER

Oklahoma RV campground adds drive-in movie theater

Increasingly we are hearing about campgrounds offering new experiences to campers who want to have wifi, screened in picnic tables and more. Well,a story out of Oklahoma that continues this theme showcased a new RV vacation park with its very...