Bedbugs! Why We Bought an RV

On January 26, 2020January 27, 2020 By rvsite2sightIn Decisions, RV Life, RV Lifestyle, RVingLeave a comment

We were not going to sell everything we owned and go full-time RVing. We really did not plan to even go every weekend. Our real reason (initially) was to avoid bedbugs.

From time to time, we have to take business trips. That meant we had to stay in hotels… they are not cheap these days, and just because it’s a luxury hotel, does not mean it doesn’t have bedbugs!

Two years ago, we had to take a business trip to Melbourne, Florida. Our daughter and our granddaughter had taken a trip to St Augustine a few months before. They found that bedbugs are plentiful in florida hotels. At least they were at that time.

So, for our trip, we took my son-in-law’s advice and checked hotel rooms before we brought any luggage in. We used one of these high-powered flashlights. Sure enough, several hotels had them. Even when they offered to switch rooms for us, the other rooms had bedbugs. We finally found a Hilton at 2 o’clock in the morning that was bedbug-free.

Fast forward to last September. I wanted to go to my old home place in West Virginia to take some photos and videos of the farm where I grew up.

My dad and mom are in their 90’s and can no longer travel. Although our family moved to North Carolina in 1966, my dad still loved the farm that we sold in West Virginia. My dad, my grandfather and I built a ranch-style home there in one corner of a four-acre field… but, I digress… anyway, I thought it would be nice to show my dad some videos and photos of the area.

That would take several days, which meant staying in motels… which i was not going to do because of what we had experienced on the Florida trip. Rennie told me that she was not going to take the trip, unless we bought an RV.

She meant a small RV. We started looking at RV YouTube videos. We watched couples in small RVs. We looked at people in motor homes. We knew that a motorhome was not in the picture for us at the present time. And, we looked at everything in between.

Rennie found this cute Palomino Real Lite in Iowa on rvt.com. It was priced right, so we decided to have it delivered to a campground near my old farm-place in West Virginia. At the time, all we had to pull it was a Ford Explorer. So, it was just the right size for that vehicle.

It was really nice. It was lightweight, so that meant the Explorer had no problem towing it. The inside décor was really nice and bright. It actually had quite a bit of storage. But… it was cute – in case you don’t know, that’s a code word for small! I’m a big guy. After our second camping trip, I knew that it was too small for me!

That’s when we decided on a Grand Design Reflection 297 rsts and a used Ford F-250 diesel to pull it. My company, Bestwaterfront.com, Inc., had a building lot that I sold to make the purchase. We were using the RV for business purposes anyway, so that made sense. We sold the Palomino to a young lady and her little boy. It was the perfect size for them.

Rennie and I have been in business for ourselves all our adult lives. Traveling in an RV and reviewing campgrounds and sights around the campgrounds sounded like a good business opportunity to us!

Back to the bedbugs… I am so happy that now when we travel, we can sleep in our own bed, with our own sheets, and our own pillows… and no worry about bedbugs!

Well, first, let me explain what you should do if you have to travel, and you don’t have an RV. Smartertraveler.com gives some suggestions…

The first thing you should do when you arrive in a hotel room is thoroughly inspect it for signs of bedbugs.
Leave your luggage in your car until you inspect your room. If you are not traveling in your own vehicle, put your luggage in the bathroom to start, as this non-carpeted room is the most unlikely place for bedbugs to linger.
Inspect your bed by pulling the comforter and sheets back and checking for any signs of bedbugs. Lift and check underneath the mattress and box spring and at the top and bottom of the bed. These critters are small but visible to the naked eye, so a careful examination will reveal adult and nymph bedbugs, along with their eggs. You may also see dark or red fecal spots and leftover molted skins.
Carefully check all other furniture in the room. Bedbugs can crawl behind hanging picture frames, hide in corners of the nightstand and disappear inside drapes.
Once your room has been checked, store your luggage on a hard surface or luggage rack rather than a bed, couch or fabric chair for the smallest chance of contamination.

If you find bedbugs, here’s what you should do…

“If you see signs of bedbugs in your hotel room, contact the front desk immediately so they can call a qualified pest management professional to resolve the problem. Leave the area and properly examine all of your clothing and belongings, and request a new room.
If you do suspect you’ve encountered bedbugs, leave your suitcase and belongings in the garage or another separate area when you return home. The luggage can be vacuumed and wiped down to reduce the chances of bringing bedbug or their eggs inside. Remove and examine your shoes for bedbugs and eggs before bringing them into the house.
For an extra level of protection, wash travel clothes immediately when you return. Items that cannot be washed can usually be run through the dryer for 20 to 30 minutes, as the heat from the dryer alone is enough to kill all stages of bedbugs and their eggs. If you are unsure of the severity of your situation, call a pest control professional for an inspection. “

Here’s what I suggest you do if you find bedbugs!!! Head to the nearest RV dealer, and buy an RV!!! I get the creepy crawlies just thinking about those things.

Oh, and before you buy your RV, and you still have to travel, I highly suggest you check bedbugreports.com to see if there are any bedbugs where you plan to stay.

Night, night. Don’t let the bedbugs bite. Having your own RV will keep them out of sight!

BTW Please check out our latest video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKUbsLlUe_0&t=74s.

Our History of RVs

On August 12, 2019August 16, 2019 By rvsite2sightIn RV Life, RV Lifestyle, RVingLeave a comment

I can’t remember exactly when, but Rennie and I got our first RV probably in 1981. Our kids were really young then. I was in the sign business, and a local RV dealer needed a sign. I started looking at his campers, and found one I liked. I told him, “I will trade you a billboard for that camper.”

He agreed. I finished up the sign, and drove the RV home. It was a 1970 Nomad. I think it was 19 feet long with a bunk over the table booth which also made a bed. My wife and I slept on the table-bed, and our kids slept on the top bunk. I think we camped in that one maybe twice; then found that it had a lot of problems… like a rotting floor. I stepped through it one time, and sold it… with a hole in the floor!

**Steve & Rennie with the 1993 Prowler**

Our next RV was one we just loved. It was a 1993 Prowler – 35 feet long! We towed it with a Suburban that had 160,000 miles on it, and never had a problem. We kept that Prowler at least 10 years – probably more.

We camped in state parks, and traveled to so many places with our kids. Those were memorable times! I had sold my sign business, and launched a magazine for the sign industry, which required a lot of travel. We went to Amish Country in Pennsylvania, Gettysburg, Washington, DC, Toronto, Ontario. We saw Niagra Falls, the beauty of Upstate New York, Williamsburg, and many, many more.

We sold our sign magazine in 1994 (Sign Builder Illustrated – still being published worldwide today). The publisher hired me as a consultant for a few years; then in 1998, we entered the real estate business, selling waterfront developments. We had a couple more travel trailers during that time – one was a park model that we kept where we worked. We sold that one and bought a new Coachman. Rennie was not crazy about that one, so we traded it in on a new AX6 fifth wheel in 2004.

Our next one was our dream coach. With resort property booming from 2001 to 2008, we bought a new 2005 Fleetwood Providence motor home! Keep in mind that when I was a young boy growing up on a farm in West Virginia, I never had an indoor bathroom until I was 13. Most of my shirts were sewn by my grandma from chicken feed sacks .

Boondocking? Oh yeah, I think I can handle that! When I was a kid, we never called a repairman for anything. We didn’t have that kind of money laying around. We either fixed it or it didn’t get fixed! To this day, my wife jokingly calls me McGiver!

**A nice portable office** (**that’s Rennie and our son, Stephen)**

Well, the real estate business was doing pretty well, but it was quite a distance from our home, so we began using our motor home as a portable office. It worked really well… for a while, until the recession hit – hard! Resort property sales fell off completely, and we had to reinvent our business plan! We didn’t need the motor home any more, so we sold it.

Almost 10 years passed, and after the recession and a bout with bladder cancer, we started getting the “itch” for an RV again. I think I covered why in a previous post, so I’ll not go into that. We figured we’d start small, and work our way up again. So, we bought this cute, new Palomino Real Lite Mini from a dealer in Iowa (they beat everyone else’s price by a mile). It was really nice. It had everything we needed… bathroom, shower, kitchen sink, microwave, queen bed, awning, and a slide out. Yes, it had everything except size, and I’m not a small person.

We put a small ad on the cover of a local “bargain trader,” and sold it to the first person that called. I had over 60 calls on that little camper!

So, we are looking for a bigger RV. After tons of research, we have narrowed it down to a Reflection 297rsts. We are going to use it for business purposes for both real estate and reviewing RV parks, campsites, state and national parks and boondocking.

We’re calling it RV Site 2 Sight. I am in the process of setting up a YouTube site, a Amazon Affiliate Store, a Patreon Account, and this blog. Later, I will set up a Instagram and Twitter account. Oh, and by the way, I am an author. I have published two books, and they are available on Amazon.

We’ll call it a day on this post. I appreciate you taking the time to read it. Another post will come shortly… and I hope sooner than later.

Steve and Rennie

Choosing a Name

On August 3, 2019August 16, 2019 By rvsite2sightIn Decisions, RV Life, RV Lifestyle, RVingLeave a comment

We have watched dozens of videos on RVing. Some are weekenders, some are part-timers, and some have decided to go full-time. Honestly, we enjoy all of them, as long as they have interesting or informative topics.

I want to be honest with you… I am not a fan of a couple or individuals who simply stand in one spot and talk. They do not show how something is done, or show photos and video of their experience.

Rennie and I have often said, “Why didn’t they show more of the destination?” Or, “They didn’t show any of the journey.” I realize that different people like different things, but Rennie and I want to know something about the trip, and the likes and dislikes about the park facilities (or lack of them), costs, and interesting tourists sites around the area.

Because of this, Rennie and I want to do something a little different. As I mentioned in my earlier blog, we are not “spring chickens.” As for now, we do not do long hikes, nor do we want to do rock climbing.

One of my favorite couples “You, Me & the RV” recently visited hot springs, I think in Missouri. They had to strip down in front of an attendant; then, after their hot springs bath, they had a massage. Ok. Cool. But, not for us!

Another couple we love, are Marc and Trish and their family with “Keep Your Daydream.” channel. I enjoy every video that they have done, but still, I would like to see more of the journey and destinations.

I could go on and on, but it came down to this… Rennie and I could start a channel that featured more of the journey and destinations. We have a lot of preparation to do, so it may take some time. I need to learn how to edit videos. I have several cameras, but I’m not sure they are the right kind. I actually have a drone pilot’s license from the FAA. Did you know that if you are flying a drone, and you make a cent off of your website, you are required to have a license? It is a hefty fine (thousands) if you don’t. However, my drone is big and cumbersome. I will need to get something smaller.

Rennie and I have decided to name our journey, “RV Site to Sight.” Our tagline is, “RV Places to Stay, and Sights Along the Way.” I hope you will join us.

Steve

Should we, or shouldn’t we? That is the question!

On August 1, 2019March 23, 2022 By rvsite2sightIn RVing, Uncategorized1 Comment

“Be yourself; everyone else is taken.” I am told that Oscar Wilde said that. I have always said it in a different way: God created us individually and uniquely. If any two of us are alike, one of us is unnecessary.
My wife and I have owned a lot of RVs. We actually started off camping back in the 70s (yes, I know. That was back in the 1900s) along the shores of Kerr Lake and Lake Gaston. Then, we had a boat, a tent, a gasoline camp stove and two little kids. Later, I traded putting up a billboard for a new RV dealership for a small, used travel trailer. From that, we graduated to a 35’ Prowler, which we owned for 10 years. After that, we had a park model, two more travel trailers, a fifth wheel, and finally, a 39’ Providence motor home. We traveled across the country in that one.
During the recession, we sold the motor home. We are in real estate, so we had to work twice as hard to make half the income… plus, in 2010, I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. That ordeal put me in the hospital 16 times in 3 years! However, I have been cancer-free since 2013, so I praise the Lord for that!
Our business requires us to travel from time to time, and we discovered that there is a proliferation of bedbugs out there. We took a trip to Florida a couple of years ago, and it was difficult to find a place that DIDN’T have bedbugs! That alone caused us to want to get another RV. So, we found one. It was cute and nice, but too small for us, so we sold it after two trips.
We began watching videos produced by RVers. They were great! We subscribed to several, but we found two things:
1. Most of these people are young! – young couples or individuals. They like to hike, and do things young people do.
2. We could find only a few videos about Eastern United States.
So, we thought, “Well, maybe we could be an exception.” We’ll start a blog, a Youtube channel , a Facebook site, and maybe even an Instagram page. That’s a huge undertaking for… well, not a young couple. You see, my wonderful wife and I have been married 50 years. I am 71, and she is… she is… well, she is younger than I am! We both feel pretty good. We realize that we may have 20 more good years to travel if God allows us to stay in good health.
I want to produce videos about our journeys. I want to review different RV sites. I want to video the sights around the sites… if that makes sense.
So, should we, or shouldn’t we? That is the question! I think we should! Please join us on the journey as we prepare to embark on this new chapter in our life. We may both learn something.
Please subscribe today. Thanks.
— Oscar Wilde.