Exploring the RV Lifestyle with Patrick Buchanan

Exploring the RV Lifestyle with Patrick Buchanan

In this episode of Peaceful Life Radio, hosts David Lowry and Don Drew sit down with Patrick Buchanan, the Director of Partnerships at RV Life, to discuss the ins and outs of RV living. Patrick shares his extensive experience, including the common saying 'buy your third RV first,' and provides practical advice on choosing the right RV, the benefits of RVing, and tips for handling life on the road. Whether you're a seasoned RVer or just dreaming of the open road, this episode offers valuable insights into the RV lifestyle.

00:00 Introduction and Opening Remarks
01:00 Meet Patrick Buchanan, RV Life Enthusiast
02:04 The Popularity of RVing
03:24 Traveling with Pets in an RV
04:31 The Allure of RV Life
06:08 Modern RV Technology
07:44 Cost Considerations of RVing
09:53 Renting vs. Buying an RV
15:43 Choosing the Right RV
20:30 Popular RV Destinations
22:59 Lessons Learned from RVing
25:30 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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Transcript

Patrick Buchanan: 0:30

There's a saying in the RV industry. Buy your third RV first. The first RV is always the basic cheapest you can tolerate. If you don't like the hobby, you sell it. But if you like the hobby, you realize oh, I need bigger, I need more features. And then you get that one. And after a year or two of understanding the lifestyle you've got a finer point on what you actually like and desire. And that third RV ends up being the perfect marriage of understanding and experience.

David Lowry: 1:01

Those were the opening remarks from Patrick Buchanan, our guest on today's program. You're listening to Peaceful Life Radio, and we're happy you found your way to our corner of the internet dedicated to navigating the second half of life with purpose, wisdom, and grace. I'm David Lowry. And as always, I'm thrilled to be joined by my good friend and co-host Don Drew.

Don Drew: 1:23

Hello David, and a huge hello to all our listeners. We are absolutely delighted to have you join us here on Peaceful Life Radio. David, I bet you know, people who have loaded all their earthly belongings on a recreational vehicle and taken off to see the world. Today, we have a fantastic conversation lined up with Patrick Buchanan, the director of Partnerships over at RV Life. You can find RV Life online at RVlife.com. He's been living the RV life for over a decade. Now in his sixth year with the RV Life family, he's involved in just about everything they do. Based in Dallas-Fort Worth, Patrick is a true enthusiast who loves driving and taking care of his diesel motor home. They managed to rack up over 20,000 miles with their adorable crew of miniature dachshunds.

David Lowry: 2:10

That sounds like a lot of fun. Patrick has a wealth of experience, a genuine love of RVing, and that makes him the perfect person to talk about all those wonderful things, and maybe a few quirks about living on the road. So, whether you're a seasoned RVer or with miles under your belt, or dreaming about the open road the first time, Patrick's insight are gonna be really valuable to us.

Don Drew: 2:34

Patrick, is RVing still popular and why?

Patrick Buchanan: 2:37

Hi Don, and David thanks for having me. I appreciate you guys. Yes, RVing is very popular. It's more popular than it's ever been. Whereas before, perhaps maybe we saw it as that second half of life hobby or lifestyle. Now the median age has come down almost 20 years, and people are in their forties and obviously young people, and we say a median age so of course the spread is quite wide but incredibly popular. It was already on a trajectory of improving that popularity before COVID. And then of course, when COVID hit, it was the only thing you could do and it went absolutely bonkers and bananas at that time. But there was a reawakening to what RVs could do with the changes in technology, just little things like flat TVs that only weighed, five pounds instead of 50 or 60 pounds and could be crammed anywhere in an RV. Internet anywhere on your phone, hotspots 5G, wifi. It some of the things that were tying people back to their homes suddenly weren't doing that anymore. So, RVing is very popular. And there's a lot of different things drawing them to the lifestyle.

Don Drew: 3:54

Patrick, almost everywhere I go these days I see people taking their pets with them. Is that facilitated by RV Life?

Patrick Buchanan: 4:00

Absolutely. I think that number's in the 65% range of our viewers that take pets with them. Certainly the majority are dogs, but lots of cat folks and bird people and I don't know how many turtles and things like that, but but certainly animals that would normally need care or boarding don't, when you have an RV. You're rolling'em in that little 400 or so square foot, rolling home, and there's no boarding fees. And you can usually have a little pen or something outside or take'em to the dog park if they're that sort of animal. It's a huge part of why people gravitate towards RVing. It's one of the reasons I ended up getting in as well.

David Lowry: 5:01

Patrick, when I see RVs going down the road, sometimes I get this wonderlust feeling thinking, it must be really wonderful just to load up your gear, see something you haven't seen before, hang out, just take it in. What are some things that make RV life so attractive to you and others that you talk with?

Patrick Buchanan: 5:21

You know, that 14-year-old kid that was listening to rubber Duck and Breaker one nine back in those days, that, well, that thought being a trucker was gonna be the greatest job on the planet. That sort of comes out and I'm driving along, I'm an eye level with the 18 wheelers, and there is that feeling. There's also that, gosh! The true wonder of seeing things you've never seen before, seeing parts of the country you've only seen on TV. For myself, I always tend to mention growing up as a young person watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and then to drive up and pull up next to Devil's Tower, that first time in the RV was really oddly emotional. And that is a big a draw of course. Simple things like not having to park your car and go through security and get on the airplane and get off the airplane and rent a car and go through all those motions. If I can go somewhere in five or six hours, what takes five or six hours to go on a plane, if you count all the stops and starts and airports and all that, I might could get there in, in one day in an RV-- maybe two, right? I get to stay somewhere and I'm taking my home with me. Those are some of the things that are a huge draw for the RV life.

David Lowry: 6:38

Patrick, back in the day, my family and I used to go to the New Mexico Mountains all the time. And we would go up these winding passes and steep hills. Getting behind a long RV used to be our nemesis but I must tell you the last several years that I've been up to New Mexico, that's not a problem anymore. Those RVs got a lot of power. Tell us how are they different today than they used to be?

Patrick Buchanan: 7:03

I think if we look beyond RVs, we can find our answer. And as a sidebar, if you watch something like Barrett Jackson and you see those great old cars from the sixties and the seventies that are going for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and yet, I can walk outta my driveway in a modern SUV and every single feature on that vehicle is better than those hot rods, right? The technology is so much better. Everything from the engines and obviously fuel injection and suspensions and all of that, ultimately ends up applying to RVs as well. Certainly there are still the gas RVs and there's a Ford chassis that is quite prevalent. But you see tons of these Mercedes Sprinter vans, the diesel pushers are all far better than they were decades ago. So, from a standpoint of automotive technology they're far more capable now.

Don Drew: 7:55

My wife and I travel quite a bit, Patrick, and I guess we do the math on this, and you mentioned flying, and of course, the time that it takes to fly, we do that. We look at my, my daughter lives in Colorado and we can drive there nine hours or we can fly there in about, seven or eight, depending on how long we have to spend at the airport and all that kind of stuff. And then there's other factors. My question is, if I go shopping for RVs, I'm looking at pretty big price tag. Okay, so what are some of the things to think about when it comes to expenses for RV and comparing that to other forms of travel and so on. What have you found that to be?

Patrick Buchanan: 8:29

I don't think you can look at as a different form of travel because, I think, it would lose everytime. At the end of the day, if I can get an Uber to the airport or leave my car in long-term parking and get a good deal on a flight and a good deal on a hotel, that's gonna come out ahead every time. It's gotta be a, another component to it, right? It's gotta be the other factors of camping and staying somewhere different and having different experiences and spending time together in the RV and just having a different experience that offsets what is more than likely gonna be a loss leader when it comes to the cost. It's a little bit more expensive, but if it's, what is it today? Tuesday. If I decide I wanna fly somewhere Friday morning. That ticket's a lot more expensive, right? Whereas if I just wanna hop in the RV Friday morning, there's nothing stopping me. Weighed together, if we add into that formula of the airplane, the car, and all that stuff, we've gotta add the boarding costs for the pets, and we've gotta add some of those things. And so there's a balance of all of those experiences. RVing, can be expensive. It ultimately depends on what kind of RV you buy, right? Think of it in the lines of owning a boat perhaps. It is a luxury item, and it's simply how much luxury can you afford? Is it a 20 foot little camper to take out on the weekends? Is it a$300,000 diesel pusher? Like a boat, you've got the cost of the product, you've got storage, you've got insurance, you've got maintenance. It's not without its costs. So, you never wanna go in blind. I think the difference though with the boat is, eh, look, I'm gonna take it. I'm gonna go on a lake and I'm gonna come home. It's a pretty finite experience, whereas the RVing is the home. It's traveling. It's going somewhere. It's staying somewhere. I'm having an adventure, but still sleeping in my own bed. It's a very unique experience.

Don Drew: 10:23

So, not everyone is going to know necessarily what kind of RV or motor home they want. How does somebody figure this out without spending a lot of money before they know what they want? Would you recommend renting some first?

Patrick Buchanan: 10:36

I would advocate for renting 99 times out of a hundred if possible.`There are nuances you just might not imagine. Number one, it's a great way to learn about what it feels like to RV, what does it actually feel like to drive for six hours. Or those that have never had an RV think, well, I usually drive 12 hours in my car. It should be just the same. And eight hours in they are burnt to a crisp, exhausted and mentally fried. You need to learn the small nuances of what kind of RV? We opted to try out some motor homes. I actually rented a Class C motor home, which, for those that don't know is that one that has the section hanging over the roof of the driver area. Inside those RVs, 99 times out of a hundred, that's a bed area. If you don't have a bunch of little kids running around, that could be some storage. And we took one of these three Yellowstone when we were going down a slope, I could not look up at what was on those mountains'cause that roof was right over my head, and that was a big detractor for me although I think the Class C is probably the smartest, best RV for most people to get started with, and I would not have realized it without renting. We also realized, the noise of the engine in the front of a gas motor home. It's not terrible, especially if you're talking to the person sitting next to you in the passenger seat. But if that person is sitting in the back, on the couch or at the table, or hanging out with the dogs and not near you, they're not gonna hear you. And that was our case. So, we ended up going with what's called a diesel pusher, meaning the diesel engine was way in the back of the rig. So it was nice and quiet up front. So we could have conversations without my wife being next to me. And again, another nuance I never would've known without renting. So there was two things right there that I learned. Obviously there's others. There could be this simple experience of, wait a minute, I have to cook? Unless you're gonna eat out every night, it's like being at home. You do have a kitchen, you do have to account for your meals, and maybe that's not your idea of a vacation. So, you can learn a lot from renting.

David Lowry: 12:47

You mentioned the RV experience and thinking of it as an experience. My parents did this. One of the things they loved about it was they did like to cook. They did like their own bed. They were fussy about motels and hotels. In fact, they were a turnoff to them. They loved having their own space that was clean the way they like it. So, for some people that is a really great experience.

Patrick Buchanan: 13:14

There's quite a variety of types of experiences. And this is something you'll think about early in the process when you're renting or buying or searching. First of all, where do you wanna go? Right? If you are the type that says, look, I just wanna go to nice campgrounds and sit outside and have a cocktail, and maybe there's a pool, there's a shuffleboard or there's a pickle ball or perhaps you would rather go to a base camp somewhere in Colorado and spend the day hiking and mountaineering and whatever. Maybe you're pulling a Jeep and you wanna hit the Jeep trails. So what you need could vary dramatically depending on what type of camper you are. If you are a cyclist, you just wanna find a place to go and find great trails. The core of what it is you expect to do defines what you need. So, whether you need kayaks or a boat or a Jeep or just good hiking shoes or perhaps strong cocktail glasses depends on where you're going and what you intend to do. We know most RVers want to get out on the road, see America, and check out a couple of the big national parks. After that you have to ask yourself. But then what are we gonna do? Are we gonna join an RV community where we spend a month in Florida or Arizona meet people and hang out and do socials? Are we gonna go boondocking in the desert, which means no hookups and run off solar power? Are we gonna be in the desert and, look for snakes, or whatever. Watch sunsets, right? Everything you're going to do defines what you need to buy depending on what type of experience you wanna have.

David Lowry: 14:58

What about internet? A lot of people wanna know about that.

Patrick Buchanan: 15:02

Internet is one of the most important things. It's also one of the primary drivers why RVing is even more popular now. Because without doing anything different, everybody walks out of the house with a 4G or 5G phone in their pocket. And so they've already got good internet. In fact, that internet is better than what most RV parks end up having during peak times. But not withstanding, most RV parks do have wifi. Obviously we've said that we've got the major cell networks that permeate almost every square inch of the country, outside of perhaps, the death valley in some of the rocky areas or wherever. And with the advent of starlink, you can be in the middle of nowhere and point up to the sky and get internet. So, internet is crucial to most RVs existence now, whether it be for work or homeschooling, or what we now call road schooling, or simply paying the bills or checking doctor's appointments, whatever it may be, internet is crucial and critical. But the amount of solutions is vast and varied and pretty strong out there.

Don Drew: 16:12

So, Patrick, let's go back to this. Idea of what type of RV to buy. You've mentioned several factors, and one was the Class C and the restricted viewing that you found, and you could only discover that when you were actually out there and so on. What are some of the other things a person would want to consider, for instance, weight or the need to have a big truck, that kind of thing?

Patrick Buchanan: 16:31

Yeah, definitely for those that want to pull an RV and that's ultimately your first big decision, right? Is do I get a drivable or do I get a towable? From the drivable standpoint, I just think it's one of those things where that's your vision of an RV. That's what you're gonna do whether it's you don't have a truck, or you just simply see yourself driving a motorized RV. And then at that point it just comes down to cost, comfort in driving, depending on how big of something you feel comfortable driving, what your goals are for maintenance. Do you wanna do it yourself? Do you wanna have it done? Do you wanna have a mix of those types of things? The drivable aspect is not terribly difficult to discern, right? I mean, you've got your three types, which are. The camper van style, which we'll call the Class B. And then you have that class C I mentioned and the Class A, which is the big window looks like a bus type of a thing. And easy enough to just, to determine what your budget and your sensibilities of driving will allow. The towable folks, which is the majority, have a lot more to think about and it's very easy to get roped in or convinced that the truck you have is sufficient. Very often it is not. And so you've gotta say, well, look, if we want this RV, I need to go buy a brand new$60,000 dually to drive it. So, that's a big factor. Now look, if you already have one of those or you were hoping to buy one someday, then all right. That's not a, that's a good reason. But you have to just think. How many people are going to be in the RV, and for how long, and how close can you stand to be near those people for that long? We know as gentlemen on that second half of life that when you're younger you think in a more minimalistic fashion and you think you can get by with less, and you usually do, in most cases you have to. But there's also a bit of resistance to buying something quite as gaudy or over the top when you're 30 or 20 or whatever. And so there's a lot of folks enjoying real small campers that maybe the kitchen is outside the camper and they're pulling it with a jeep. And then you move up to let's say a 15 or 20 footer maybe that can be pulled with a more or less regular truck. And then as you're looking into those big fifth wheels and things that are, you know, 70 grand and 40 foot long, and you need a$60,000 truck it comes back again, how do I know which of those to buy? It comes down to what do you wanna do? Do you wanna spend the majority of your day sitting with the dogs. Watching a little TV, maybe enjoying the fireplace? Or do you gonna go outside and spend nine hours a day outside and the RV is just for showering and sleeping? That dictates how much you want or need to spend on various features of the RV and it's not that hard to dictate. Then you narrow that down and determine what kind of vehicle you need to pull it. And then that helps narrow the focus. And it might swing you one way or the other if the truck you have forces you to buy a slightly lesser version and perhaps you desire, or perhaps it's the impetus to trigger you to replace the truck. There's a saying in the RV industry, which is buy your third RV first. The logic behind that is your first RV is always the basic cheapest that you can tolerate. And then you, if you don't like the hobby, you sell it. But if you like the hobby, you realize right away, oh, I need bigger, I need more features. And then you get that one. And then after a year or two of understanding the lifestyle a little bit more, now you've got a finer point on what you actually like and desire. And that third RV ends up being the perfect marriage of understanding and experience. If you managed to buy that third one first, you've saved yourself two purchases and a lot of depreciation. And that's where perhaps renting comes in or borrowing, or if the cases of renting and borrowing are not possible there's enough information on the internet between articles and YouTube. You could research till your eyes bleed and you will be able to narrow down what you need pretty well.

David Lowry: 21:00

What are some of the more popular RV places to go in America?

Patrick Buchanan: 21:04

Well, we certainly mentioned the national parks, the big ones obviously. The Yosemite Yellowstone and devil's Tower, Mount Rushmore certainly all of those types of national parks. On the East coast you've got Gettysburg and those types of things. State parks are very popular as well as are what they call Corp of Engineers Parks. They kinda lump those into state parks. They're essentially state funded, providing campgrounds. They're low on amenities, but they're also pretty low on restrictions and rules. And they're a little more laid back. You don't have to worry so much about what other people are doing. Conversely you've got luxury RV parks with a lot of those amenities we talked about before, and full hookups and wifi and pools and clubhouses and pickleballs and socials and all of those types of things. In the middle of those two are the regular campground or public chains, right? The Passport Americas and the Campgrounds of America and the Good Sams and those types of parks that are basically not always destinations within themselves, they're a means to a destination. Sometimes it's a skipping point or a skipping stone to that grand location you're trying to get to Crater Lake or Death Valley or somewhere where you're trying to go. They're just nice casual places out in the woods or on the desert or by the beach or wherever that you can just hang out for a few days. We talked a little bit about earlier about people going what we call boondocking, or I'll call it off grid now is the more common term, especially with the advent of so much solar and lithium batteries. It's much, much easier for a neophyte RV is to get out there and stay in the middle of a field or the desert or the woods somewhere for a few days without any sort of hookups or jurisdiction per se. And again, very often they're very active folks. We see this a lot with race car drivers or maybe traveling baseball teams and those types of things that the RV is just a base camp. It's just an alternative to a hotel that goes with them that they can take anywhere. Quite a diverse. Group of locations. I think I've done just about all of those and everybody finds their favorite niche and frequents that as much as they can.

Don Drew: 23:29

Patrick in your 20,000 plus miles of travel. Surely you've learned some lessons that you can share with us today that would save us a lot of pain and agony.

Patrick Buchanan: 23:42

Yeah, there really are some lessons to learn, I can relate a few different ones, but it's important to remember that the RV buying experience really it's not like buying a car. You buy a brand new Ford or brand new Toyota, there's a certain level of expectation of the fit and finish and quality of the vehicle, as well as the dealer's service. RVs are a little bit of a throwback back to those 1930s where you had a chassis manufacturer and a body coach builder and they threw, this body on this chassis and it was custom and, getting it fixed or worked on was quite a bit more challenging. If you buy something like a Mercedes Sprinter van, you have that Mercedes label behind you and certainly a lot of the vehicles have that Ford chasis behind them. But very often it's well, they did the chassis and they did the RV and the heater was those people. And there's a lot of finger pointing that can go on there. So you have to be prepared for that. You're gonna be an RV owner, you've gotta be handy, wealthy, or both. You can't be none of'em. If you're not wealthy, you better sure be handy'cause you're gonna need to know a little bit about automotive, a little bit about plumbing, a little bit about electrical, or you just got a whole lot of money you can throw at the problem. Everything you do with RVs takes more time. You are driving a two to 400 square foot living room down the road, and that means driving is slower. Stops are more frequent, and planning is quite a bit more intense. You can't just grab your phone and press a button and tell Google where you want to go because you might not get there in one piece. There are overpasses and weight restrictions and sharp turns and just the aspect of driving. My eye opening foray into this industry came from a trip from Flagstaff to Amarillo, which on the map, Google says, yeah, dude, that's six hours, no problem. Well, behind the wheel of a 36 foot RV with a apparently a 40 mile an hour wind blowing crossways that's a nine hour drive. It's not one I would ever want to repeat. And so, there are nuances that must be taken into consideration.

David Lowry: 26:00

Patrick, what a fantastic conversation it's been today. I wanna thank you for your incredible experiences, your insights. It's truly inspiring to hear about the freedom and joy that RVs can bring, but also learn about the things we need to know so that we make really wise decisions.

Don Drew: 26:18

Absolutely, David. Patrick, thank you. We are so grateful you took time to join us on Peaceful Life Radio. Your passion for RVing and your practical advice has been invaluable to us. So, thank you for being such a wonderful guest.

David Lowry: 26:30

A big thank you to all of our wonderful listeners for tuning in to Peaceful Life Radio, and we hope you found today's conversation with Patrick encouraging and maybe it sparked a little bit of that desire for Wonderlust.

Don Drew: 26:42

And remember to join us next time for more conversations focused on navigating the second half of life with purpose, wisdom, and grace.