January '25 Canlife Correspondence - Show Season, Solar Sizing and Seaside Supper Satisfaction

From Furniture City to Rocket City - Finding Your Dream RV!

What's an RV Show?  This was our first thought after being asked to speak at one in 2015.  We'd already been living in an RV for 2 years, but we had no idea what these shows were all about.  After a decade, they are now an integral part of our annual schedule.  If you'd have told me that we'd be traveling around the country sharing personal insights into our simple camping life, let alone making a living through it, I would've called you crazy.  Shari is nudging me to mention all the other side gigs and things that keep us afloat financially, including the blog writing, the videos, the product testing, and more -- but I digress.  It all began in Furniture City, with the Grand Rapids Camper, Travel, & RV Show in January 2015.  

Seriously though, what is an RV Show?  Many of you joined us on this newsletter from the audience of one of our show seminars, but some of you might have wandered here from other trails.  Simply put, an RV show is a chance for local dealers to feature a number of their new models in front of a lot of people.  Convention halls, expo centers, and the like fill up with hundreds, if not thousands of rigs, and thousands of people come to see them in one easy location.  Often these shows happen in the winter to take advantage of people dreaming about future travels in the spring. 

We are one of the features at these events, the education piece.  Folks from all walks of life come to our seminars with questions about solar power, about finding community on the road, about conditions on the Alcan Hwy in British Columbia, about how to find boondocking, and where we get our mail -- to name just a few.  The desire to know more about this niche hobby, this outdoor activity, this way of life isn't slowing down.

Our audience's experience with camping ranges from long-time road warriors who just want to check out the latest gadgets to folks who have never before spent a night outside.  Regardless of our experience, our needs are the same; we want to be safe and comfortable whether we're in a remote location with nothing but stars over our head, or tucked neatly into a camping spot with all the services available.  Experience moves that needle of comfort between what we might want and what we need.  In order to get away from the crowds, and experience something truly unique, we may need to push ourselves out of that comfort zone.  

With so many new RV's on the market, we often wonder if people might leave the RV Show discouraged by the price point of the latest technology.  We stress that anyone considering taking any kind of RV road trip, should never go into significant debt to get the rig of their dreams.  Sustainability means more than simply unplugging from the grid, it's financial as well.  We got our dream RV used from eBay, and there are dozens of other for-sale venues to buy, sell, or trade for what will work for you.  RV Trader alone has some 70K used RVs for sale!  We have a great resource for choosing an RV Show and making the most of your search for your escape vehicle.  

Did we get lucky that our first RV purchase has empowered us for so long?  We sure think so. But, we constantly get asked if we are ever considering getting a newer or larger model, and we always answer "if something ever happened to Hamlet, we'd rebuild him just like he is now." And, this season, we've been lucky enough to bring Hamlet with us to 3 of the 5 shows!  

Over the past few newsletters we've welcomed your feedback through a quick survey. Many thanks to all who filled it out!  Your responses and feedback were very positive and instructive.  You want more stories from the road, RV travel tips, great locations, camp recipes, solar tips, and more.  So, we're just going to keep on doing what we've been doing and hope that y'all find a nugget or two of inspiration.  Thanks for coming along on this journey with us! 

In Front of the Mic
Our 2025 winter RV show season is in full swing and we've had a great time meeting enthusiastic RVers from the Furniture City (Grand Rapids, MI) to the Queen City (Charlotte, NC) to Rocket City (Huntsville, AL)!

Join us for discussions about some of our favorite subjects -- "Exploring America's National Parks" to "Sizing a Solar Powered System for your RV" and "RVing to Alaska" to "Strategies for Reducing RV Travel Costs."

Hope to see y'all at some of upcoming February shows!

• Huntsville, AL (Jan 31-Feb 2)
• Raleigh, NC (Feb 14-16)
• Providence, RI (Feb 21-23)

Vintage Camper Trailers "Boot Camp" - Coming March 1-2!

For all you vintage enthusiasts diving into your own restoration, but don't know where to start...VCT Boot Camp might be just the inspiration you need! Oh, how we wish this would have been around in 2011, when we dove into Hamlet's renovation.

Meet experts from the around the country who will discuss everything from how to replace your vintage trailer axle, to the perfect vintage paint job, and much more about bringing these beauties from the past back to life.

We'll be sharing our "Solar Power 101 for Your Vintage Camper" seminar, but in all honesty, it will apply to any type of camper, we'll just be using Hamlet as our example.

While the live broadcast is free, a small registration fee of $38.50 gets you access to all of the online content -- to watch and rewatch at your leisure. Use our link to register for this fun event!

BIG Shout Out to our Favorite Camping Brands!
When we find a company that we thoroughly appreciate and enjoy, we want to share the love with other RVers. These brands not only make our own road life easier, more comfortable, and more sustainable, they are very generous to donate prizes to our followers and RV show audiences! We've already had 10 winners in 2025! Many of these companies were started by women and are small, family-run businesses. When you use our affiliate links to purchase their fantastic products and services, we make a small commission and then donate a portion of our proceeds to various non-profit organizations who are making the world a better place.

Kayaking:  A Beginners Guide

If you follow us on social media, you know that we are always raving about the incredible places that our sea kayaks take us.  Most people probably assume that we've been kayaking all of our lives, but couldn't be farther from the truth.  

While Hutch has always been a water baby, Shari spent most of her life afraid of any body of water in which she couldn't see the bottom.  At the age of 40, she decided that fear was limiting her from some major fun, so dove into the goal of tackling it and has now kayaked all over the continent as well as others parts of the world.  To help others find the kayak that is best for them, we recently wrote a quick guide for beginners.  You are never ever too old to try something new and winter is a great time to begin thinking about getting your boat before the spring rush!  

New National Park Resources
Hamlet's biggest claim to fame is that he's taken us to every single one of the 51 national parks to which you can drive your RV. Our 68 year old camper went to his 1st park in Maine (Acadia) in 2012, then 10 years later rolled into his 51st in Alaska (Kenai Fjords). Along the way, we've had some pretty incredible experiences exploring, hiking, paddling, and cycling around many of our nation's treasures. In addition to our popular Tips & Tricks for Exploring America's National Park seminar and the numerous resources on our website, we have started highlighting the best that each park has to offer in RV Trader magazine.

Recipes for Seaside Snowbirds
We've been writing a lot of fun articles for RV Trader Magazine, including developing and testing more excellent RV kitchen recipes.  This month we highlight a "Seaside Snowbird Smorgasbord" -- with many recipes in one place!  Jambalaya, Crabcakes, Hush Puppies, Jack Fish tacos, all with vegetarian or vegan substitutions, will be sure to please the palate of any hungry camper.  Make your camping meals an event with a few of these fun suggestions. 

New & Improved Solar System Sizing Worksheet!
One of our favorite things to do is help RVers and boaters find their own energy independence, live more sustainably, and enjoy off-grid living without having to fire up a gas powered generator. Each year, we review our worksheet and add new resources to make it even more useful and easier to use. This year, we developed our own comprehensive solar calculator and fully integrated it into our new and improved worksheet. It's never been easier to DIY your own solar powered system!

Looking Ahead to Spring!
After a somewhat crazy busy fall and winter season, we are looking forward to some serious downtime this spring. Nearly 25 years ago, we honeymooned on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and this spring, we are planning to enjoy these remote barrier islands prior to the arrival of the summer crowds...and mosquitos. Follow us on social media where we'll share the off-grid campgrounds we discover and the activities we get up to along the way.

Parting Shot - Before & After Flood Relief Project

Volunteering has always been a part of who we are, and our RV journeys have facilitated many extended opportunities to give back.  On our social media we documented the story of helping Lori -- a single grandma raising her grandson in eastern Tennessee. Their home was severely impacted by Hurricane Helene, and they lost their only bathroom in their 100 year old farmhouse.  When we first visited, the bathroom had already been torn apart by a previous volunteer crew.  They helped get air flowing in between the floor and the crawl space, pulled out the sodden drywall, and ripped out the cast iron tub.  We were thrilled to be able to use our skills and experience to help them get their bathroom back online after months without one. See the big reveal video here!  If you want to help with flood relief work in Appalachia, contact us directly and we'll put you in touch with some awesome folks who are coordinating these relief efforts. This rebuilding effort will take years!

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