Imagine that you are about to retire. In the driveway, is a brand-new RV. Your dream machine. The Florida sun is shining, and life looks good…until you look out over the Gulf of Mexico to see a hurricane named Michael barreling down towards you. That’s what happened to a couple we met this week, who shared their harrowing story of what happens when a hurricane hits …how you – and your RV - need to be prepared, from having enough RV insurance, food and off-grid battery power in the RV. You will not want to miss the interview of the week, coming up in a bit.

We also have lots of RV news this week, answer your RV Lifestyle questions about alternate energy for the RV and four-season RVs ready for cold weather camping and we have a great off-the-beaten path report from our friends the Burketts.

But first, my lifelong traveling companion and my bride…Jennifer.

Show Notes for Episode #226 Jan. 23, 2019 of The RV Podcast
WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK
Mike and Jennifer doing a Live stream on YouTube from the Tampa RV Supershow

JENNIFER
We've been attending the annual Florida RV Supershow for the past four days and it's good to be sitting! We put on a lot of miles shooting video on the new models and RV Lifestyle accessories we've seen down here.
MIKE
It seems like we walked pretty much every inch of the 26 -acre display area - several times - each day! There was so much to see with more than 1,500 RVs on display and 400 vendors showing off their RV products and services.
JENNIFER
Look for a full video on all the cool stuff this Thursday on our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel at https://youtube.com/rvlifestyle  And please, if you have not done so, subscribe to our channel there so you can be notified of new videos as we publish them.
MIKE
We also met dozens and dozens of fans and followers. It was truly humbling to shake so many hands and get so many hugs. We leave the show on an emotional high from all the encouragement and kind words. Thank you to all for taking the time to introduce yourself to us! And we’re off traveling again. By popular demand. We asked you on a recent YouTube live stream what kind of stories you’d like us to focus on besides our regular travel and trip reports and there was an overwhelming response to do more RV reviews and factory tours. So that’s what we plan to do over the next few weeks, visit various RV factories and suppliers and do a video report on how they build RVs, what new gadgets and innovations they have, who are the people building today’s RVs and what are the exciting things they are seeing for the future. So we’re off tomorrow to shoot our first one this week. We have another scheduled next week and you’ll be seeing them all soon on our YouTube RV Lifestyle Channel – https://youtbe.com/rvlifestyle

We should note there was a definite downer part to this past weekend. Several very disturbing stories broke about a shakeup and serious allegations of financial irregularities surrounding the Erwin Hymer Group of North America, the parent corporation that owns Roadtrek Motorhomes.
Many of you know that Jennifer and I have been on-the-road ambassadors for Roadtrek and the company has been one of our sponsors. We know many of the people who work there and our hearts go out to them in this time of uncertainty. Most of the stories we've seen come from unnamed sources and, as we write this newsletter, the company has not issued any comments at all.

I’ve written all I know on the RV Lifestyle blog and if you need a background on it… check there.
RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK
MIKE
Several unique Florida state parks still closed five months after Hurricane Michael hit
An interesting story ran last week out of Florida, highlighting the lingering damage Hurricane Michael did to Florida's state parks with several remaining closed - some five months after the Category 4 hurricane hit. Some of the damage includes the St. Joseph Peninsula State Park's peninsula turning into an island,