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RV Lifestyle RV Podcast

RV Podcast 189: The 2018 North American Camping Report

RV Lifestyle RV Podcast

Mike Wendland

Personal Journals, Leisure, Places & Travel, Society & Culture, Automotive

4.7 • 624 Ratings

🗓️ 25 April 2018

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week we dig into the 2018 North American Camping Report, an exhaustive study done each year by researchers into every aspect of camping and RV use. Our guest is Toby O’Rourke, president of Kampgrounds of America, which underwrites the study, and she will help unpack this report which is followed by the RV industry as the Bible of where camping is headed and what needs to be done. Plus we have lots more for you this week, including a bunch of RV news, listener questions and comments, traveling technology tips and a wonderful off-the-beaten-path report. 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. [spp-player] WHAT MIKE AND JENNIFER ARE UP TO THIS WEEK [spp-timestamp time="2:00"] We’ve been on the road to western Michigan these past several days, taking advantage of the first really nice spring weather and the reopening of state and RV parks. This early in the season, we’ve had our pick of really great sites along the awe-inspiring shoreline of Lake Michigan. Some of these parks we stayed at are so in demand that to get in during peak season, you need to make reservations months and months in advance. We started out at a Yogi Bear Camp Jellystone RV resort on Grand Rapids, MI. Yup. You heard that right. Now usually, it’s just me and Mike and Bo so those family parks with all those kid activities are something usually bypass. But this time, we were there because our son, Jeff, and his wife, Aimee, just bought a new travel trailer and this was their very first outing in it. So we invited ourselves to come along and had an absolute ball watching our grandchildren, Jovie, 3, and Jax, 8 months. We had a ball We’ll have a video in a few days about the experience and Jeff will give us a tour of their new bunk house trailer. After Jeff, Aimee and the kids headed back for to their home Sunday and a new work week, we decided that RVing was our work so we started exploring the coastline towns of South Haven, Holland, Saugatuck, Grand Haven, Muskegon and Silver lake. You can follow our adventures on our blog at Roadtreking.com, where we shared lots of photos. Lake Michigan is part of what is called the Third Coast. Now sometimes, those along the Gulf Coast argue for that title but considering its Great Lakes coasts, Michigan has more miles of shoreline than does any other of the lower 48 states and more fresh water shoreline than any other state. In fact, a couple years ago, we decided to drive and camo our way across the US shoreline of all five Great Lakes. The mileage totaled 3,000-plus miles! In case you are interested, just click the link to the Great Lakes shoreline videos we did on that trip. Meanwhile, here’s what’s making RV news this week: Too many tourists using drones to illegally take video at Oregon's Crater Lake National Park As prices drop, and technology continually improves, drone use is becoming an increasing problem at some national parks, such as Oregon's Crater Lake National Park. While drone use at all national parks has been outlawed since 2014, some may find getting an aerial view at some of America's most breath-taking scenarios too hard to resist. According to a story published last week, flying the unmanned aircraft has been an increasing problem at Crater Lake National Park, with some of the illegal camera activity showing up in places like You Tube. Drones can bother wildlife and visitors seeking a pristine natural environment. To read more, click here. New York wants more residents to go camping, so is providing it for free  New York's first time camper program was so popular last year, the state has decided to do it again. New York's Department of Environmental Conservation and Office of Parks and Recreation is taking applications for 65 families to try out camping at various state campgrounds. Winners will have all their camping gear provided,

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Welcome to episode number 189.

0:06.0

It's time for the RV podcast.

0:09.0

Traveling North America in an RV.

0:12.6

Exploring, camping, boondocking, embracing the RV lifestyle.

0:17.8

And sharing tips and where to go and how to keep things running right.

0:22.1

Here's award-winning journalist Mike Wendland and his network of RV reporters.

0:27.4

Hi everybody and welcome to another edition of the RV podcast.

0:32.7

And remember it doesn't make any difference what kind of an RV you have,

0:36.3

whether it's a motorhome, a towable

0:38.2

trailer, a tent, maybe you're just dreaming about getting an RV someday? Well, this show is for you

0:43.9

because on this podcast, we talk about getting out there, enjoying God's amazing creation,

0:50.3

meeting interesting people, boondocking, discovering fun places, and always using the right gear

0:56.3

and technology to enhance our RV lifestyle. So please know you are very welcome and we are very

1:03.7

honored that you chose to put us in your ears this week. Well this week we dig into the 2018 North American camping report.

1:16.8

That is an exhaustive study done every year by researchers into pretty much every aspect of

1:24.5

camping and RV use.

1:26.8

Our special guest in this podcast in our interview

1:29.6

the week's section coming up in a little bit is Toby O'Rourke. She is the president of

1:34.2

Campgrounds of America, which underwrites that study. And she will help us unpack that report,

1:41.0

which is followed by the RV industry as the Bible of where camping is headed

1:47.2

and what needs to be done. Plus, we have lots more for you this week, including a bunch of RV

1:53.1

news. We've got listener questions and comments. We've got traveling technology tips and a wonderful

...

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