How dangerous is propane in an rv? It can be deadly if you're not careful. This is Eric Stark with the Smart RV or podcast Delivering the Smarts. You need to enjoy the freedom of the RV lifestyle without the fear of breaking down. So now I have a little story here I want to tell real quick before we get into the rest of the podcast.

So we had a customer's RV in our store or a shop last week. Mm-hmm. And he had three slides in it, one in the bedroom, one in the living room, one in the kitchen, bedroom, doesn't matter. The living room, the kitchen are the ones that kind of tie into this, the living room specifically. So this RV's brand new, just got it from the dealership.

We put on slide out awnings and when we were all done, we were, uh, bringing the slides in and out to check the awnings. And so, We get down to the living room slide, which is the last one. So the bedroom or the kitchen slides in, bedroom, slider in, and the living room slide is right across from the kitchen one.

So the kitchen kind of makes up port part of the living room. So we bring the slide or it's go to bring the slide out and we can't get it back in. So something had failed in the system. So we brought it back in manually with this little tool, which was a real nightmare, uhoh. And, um, we get it in and actually the customer called a mobile technician because he does warranty work for this particular company.

But like I said, it's a brand new rv. So, um, it was interesting. So he brings it in. He can't get outta the RV now because the slide bumps up right to the kitchen, so he is trapped, basically. So he had to pull the fascia board off the slide room on the inside, and that gave him just enough room to cross crawl across the room and climb out.

There's no way the customer could have done this. So when you buy an rv, be very careful of how those slides come in and what kind of room or limitations they might cause it might not be a big deal all the time, but there might be that one time where it becomes a real problem. Like if you're out camping, like for this guy there's, if he brought the slide room in, He wouldn't be able to get out.

So then he would have to put the slide room added up for him to get out and then figure out how to get the slide room back in the rest of the way. Yikes. Which would be really hard. Mm-hmm. So he's gonna make up a little tool that'll run along the wall, the other side of the rv. So he can do that with a drill, but you shouldn't have to do that.

But that's just the way it is with RVs. Unfortunately, they really don't think ahead for this kind of stuff. They make it what works for everything out being used. So just a word of caution. If you're buying a new RV or a used new rv, make sure how these slides go in, how they configure and how you can get to the motor and even how the safety override works on it.

Um, very important to know and understand that it might change your mind on buying the rv. Mm-hmm. Check that out. All right, so now let's get into living the RV life. So today we're gonna talk a little bit about what you need to know if you decide you wanna rent out your rv. Yeah, that's one that never worked for me.

Yeah. Um, kind of scary. I don't want anybody else sleeping in my bed. Yeah, I don't blame you. I have to burn the mattress every time. Right? Yeah. Okay. So Alexis, you picked this one out. Mm-hmm. What to know if you're in out your rv. So what are some things that you. Came up with it would be important for someone to know, right.

I think this is such an interesting time, um, because a lot of people are buying RVs and I think. They're putting them up to rent. So a couple things to know, just, um, you do have to have insurance to cover other people when they're in your RV no matter what. So that's kind of an interesting thing that you might wanna shop around for.

And it has to be sufficient. So talking to an actual person about this is vital. Um, yeah, if you're trying to compete with others, you might wanna increase the amenities that you have. Um, so I guess depending on. On where you're gonna set up the rv or if they're just gonna take it. Sometimes people have it on their property and they'll like have a hot tub too next to it or something like that.

Just kind of depends on what you're doing with it, but then keeping up with like maintenance on it. So, so let's go back to the amenities for a second. Yeah. So on the inside of the RV for outgoing, for the, for the renter to go use the rv. You just want the basic stuff in there, is what you're getting at.

Yeah. But yeah. Maybe a bonus item if they got someplace. Exactly. Exactly. Has a bike rack so they could bring their bike. Right. Or maybe a kayak. A little sander. Okay. Yeah. And then if you're ringing it out on your property or something, then maybe throwing some bonus things. Yeah. Okay. That it would be a, a good thing, like you said, including like basic camping gear would be really good.

Making sure your Arby's super clean so when they come, they're not. Surprised by anything providing maybe optional add-ons could be another thing. So you could start with just the basics and if they do want other stuff, depending on where they're going, they can add that on and have a, definitely have a list of rules and Yeah.

And policies for your rv. This is a business. Yeah, exactly. It's not just something you're gonna do and you know, shake a hand and, okay. You guys be back in five days and Exactly. And we're all good. So, Yeah, there's a lot of things like on your list that says you use high quality photos. So that's for taking pictures of everything before each renter takes it.

Yep. Or you keep a notebook and with all the pictures in 'em, just have 'em sign off on that. Mm-hmm. Exactly. Um, you wanna make sure that the everything in the RV works right. You know, you, you can't have a Who cares attitude is not your trip. You want it to work for the customer. You want them to understand how it works.

So you wanna keep things simple. In fact, basic RVs sometimes are better for this. Yeah, yeah. You know, the simpler it is for the customer to use it, the better because you don't want them messing something up or taking it to a dealer and charging you. Right. Because they couldn't figure it out. Right, exactly.

Or having a battle with them. Yeah. You know, there's a, we get people that come into the store that rent their RVs and sometimes we hear the stories like, you know, the customer tells 'em they're gonna take it, you know, south and they end up going north. Uhhuh. On dirt roads. Yeah. That wasn't part of the contract.

Right. And they get the RV back and things are broken and filthy and, uh, a lot harder to clean. And then it becomes a battle of, okay, you didn't, you know, stick to the contract. We need to get some money here. Exactly. So having a GPS on there, like from where Safe g p s, we'll have a link in the description of this podcast.

It'll, um, Show that. Yeah. Or you know, take you to their website. It's an affiliate link, so click on it so we can make millions of dollars. Ah, just kidding. We can make 8 cents on it. But Yeah. You know, and you can also talk to previous renters. Mm-hmm. Their previous renter, uh, rentees or whatever you call it.

Rentals. Yeah. People they've rented from Exactly. Go, yeah. Get a little history, rental history. Yep. Yep. Make sure they're not deadbeats. Yeah. Because this is your property, you don't want it destroyed. Right. And let them know that you're gonna be tracking, like, this is my rv, I'm gonna have a GPS in it. So, Stick to the route.

Yeah. Yeah. That's very good. So you have to really watch it cuz people kind of do crazy things, you know? Yeah. If they steal it, well, you might not be able to foresee that. And that's what insurance is for. That's right. But you definitely want to have insurance and so you want to have it pretty dialed in where they can get in this thing and figure it out.

Like old manual so they can understand how things work. Yep. Sometimes the manufacturer's manuals are good, but. Your experience with the RV might be easier if you take the refrigerator step by step, how it works or how they would use it. You know, things to be concerned about and make sure they have your phone number and you make it clear.

Yes, call me anytime anything comes up. Right. You know, they might call with a lot of questions, but I've worthwhile. Yeah. Yeah. You don't want 'em take to a dealership for some ridiculous, mundane things. They can bill you for it or they pay for it and it kind of ruins our trip a little bit. Yeah, exactly.

So, you know, there's good money to be made. A lot of people do it and it's, um, extra income basically. You know, I know some customers that have bought, uh, one and they bought another one and another one. You know, so they're doing good with it. They enjoy it. Um mm-hmm. Obviously it's gonna fluctuate with pandemics and the economy.

Yeah. Leather, you know, if you buy 'em during the pandemic, yeah, you better rent 'em. But yeah, after the pandemic you might have some, uh, RVs sitting around, so you might wanna be cautious there. All right, so there's some good information for us or for you and from us. And so Alexis, any other thing you want to add there that I missed?

I don't think so. I think we went through that pretty good. Okay. So excellent. Now we're gonna go to Staying on the Road, and this is where that introduction comes in. How dangerous is propane in an rv? It can be deadly if you're not careful. You know, it's really interesting how little you hear of RVs burning or catching on fire, blowing up and things like that.

You know, because of propane leaks, you don't, you don't really hear a lot of that. Now, if you're looking for it, you'll find them, you know, go on the internet and it, it does there. It's happening. It's not an everyday thing everywhere, but it does happen. And a lot of times it's really because of operator air.

And what's scary about it is an RV can burn up pretty quick. You know, it's like if you're in the, if your RV has one door and you're in the back of it, it catches on fire. You don't have time to do it. You need to just get out, let that thing burn, man. Let the insurance pay for it because it isn't worth your life.

Mm-hmm. And you know, I've seen these things catch on or not catch on fire, but afterwards and talking to the people, own 'em. And it's like, you know, we just got out with our life. You know, our neighbor told us, I didn't even realize it was on fire. And he banging on our door and. By the time we go into the door, you know, we got out, the thing's just gone.

So you have to really be careful with propane and, you know, furnaces, stoves, things like that. So today, you know, if you haven't figured it out, we're gonna be talking about propane and propane safety. I. So we're gonna basically cover some of the most common leaks now, a furnace using it wrong. Uh uh, a water heater, some appliances that decide to just ignite.

That's a different story. Sometimes you can't control that. Yeah, they just malfunction in a way that just doesn't happen. And boom, the RV's on fire. And those things do happen, but you can't control that. As long as you're doing what you should do with the rest of it, then you're, you're doing the best you can.

The most common leaks that we come across and as we here at Highway 93 RV in our store is on travel trailers, fifth wheels, um, some campers, motor homes. Occasionally, there's not a lot of motor homes for a rabbit. Motor homes don't seem to have the same. Leak problems that trailers have, and generally trailers will leak at the regulator.

Or at the valves where the lines screw into the valves or the lines themselves. So that's kind of the area around the propane tanks, and that's where you have one or two tanks. And we're kind of focusing on two tanks here, the typical travel trailer set up. But the principles apply to any type of RV with the regulator and propane lines, and we're gonna call it propane LP High switch back and forth, LP lines, LP hoses.

Pigtails. So there's a lot of terminology. We hear it all to just, you know, we're not set on one word cuz we adjust to whatever, whatever somebody else is using. So if it sounds a little confusing, just remember that we're just bouncing around. It's all the same stuff. Okay? So more often than not the lines, they go from the, from the tanks to the regulator, we'll develop cracks in them and that's where your leaks are gonna be.

Or at the fittings where the line is pushed onto the fitting, it has a feral on there and it's crimped on. Sometimes extra stress and a strain will make that crimp loosen up, and then it starts leaking. So generally the lines are the culprit. They're the weak link. And so you have to check the lines and make sure they're not cracking, and that's one of the things you see sometimes they're.

They have these cracks in them, but they're not visible until you move the line a little bit. Right, Nelson? Whoa. Look at all those cracks. And keep in mind, you know, when you're doing this kind of stuff, repair or LP lines are not repairable. Right? Right. You know, we get people that bring us a line in, Hey, can you cut this fitting off and put a new one on?

And I, it'll, it'll never happen. You know, LP lines need to be replaced, and the reason why we won't repair them is because it's a liability. You know, if that line were to fail someplace else, a day later, it becomes our problem. Yep. And our insurance company just doesn't wanna deal with that. And I don't blame them.

In fact, we don't wanna deal with it. We don't want that on our hands. Right. So LPI lines are never repairable. Unless it's brand new and the fitting just happens to leak, we, you know, then we would cut off a fitting and put a new one on if we made the line Uhhuh. The other thing too is there's a lot of different outside diameters of LP hose, so you have to have the right feral, which is that silver or brass looking thing that crimps the end to keep it from leaking and hold the fitting in.

We just have two sizes for our propane hose and that's it, and our propane hose, because it's the best you can get, is much bigger in diameter. It's thicker. We carry a high quality hose for making propane lines, which a lot of the propane lines you buy from the stores, some of 'em are very low quality.

They last a year or less. Some of 'em lasts a year or two. You should get several or many years out of them. You know, if they're made with decent, uh, materials. Get your lines from us. There you go. Yeah, it's, there you go. We can ship lines too if you happen to need some. Not everybody makes propane lines, so you're kind of stuck with whatever the store sells, but there are certain brands that just do better than others, and you can kind of tell by the line too.

Um, real flexible ones that. It seemed like almost gooey. Probably not good. Yeah. Yeah. You have to be careful there and I, the stores might not really be all that worth right with you about the quality either, so you're gonna have to figure that one out. Unfortunately, I don't wanna start naming off brands here, but normally I do, but I'm not today.

Not today, bat in my tongue. The other thing too, is when, when one propane line on the regulator, Or for the tanks goes bad, buy two of them. Buy them in pairs. You know, if one has gone bad and the, you know, this is assuming the lines are the same age, the other one is gonna be right behind it. I mean, we have people that literally come in on a Monday, buy a propane line.

You sure you don't want to? Nope. The other one's good. Nope, nope, nope. They insist. You know, two hours later they're back in the store buying the second one because Yeah, the second one wasn't good. Yeah. And also the, these lines go into the auto changeover regulator on travel trailers. Now I'm gonna try to explain this so it doesn't, so it makes sense and isn't confusing.

There's basically two different fittings or two different lines. That will work on the regulators depending on the regulator. Now, the auto changeover regulators basically are all the same regulator. There's nothing really different about them. They all do the same thing. They go from one tank to the other, or you can pull from both or just whatever you want to do.

Some regulators come with an adapter fitting on each side of it where the propane line screws into, and that adapter fitting goes from quarter inch male pipe thread to quarter inch inverted female thread. And so that takes a line that would have a quarter inch inverted flare on the end of it, and then the other end would go to your tank to the valve.

So that's where it gets a little weird is with that little fitting, because some regulators don't have that fitting on it, and they just take a line that has a quarter inch male pipe thread on it because that little adaptor fitting's not there. So the line with the quarter inch male pipe thread just screws right directly into the regulator.

So it doesn't matter which way you or system you have, if your lines use that, a adapter or they don't. Sometimes using the lines with quarter inch male pipe thread is just easier because you can always get an A. Well, no, you that easier. I think that's true. Yeah. Because you don't have to worry about that fitting.

If your regulator fails out on the road and it has the fittings in it, you just take out the fittings. And screw your lines right in. There's pros and cons to both as far as mash 'em up, but the probably the best thing to do is just know what you have and when you go to the store, get the right thing the first time.

It's not a huge thing, but some stores don't carry a variety of both. They might have the ones with the inverted flare cause they sell mostly those, and then the ones with the quarter inch male pipe thread, maybe they have one size, maybe two, because they don't sell as many of those. So just be aware of that.

So if your regular has regulator has a fitting or doesn't, it's not a big deal. And when you take out your line, if it has the quarter inch pipe thread or the quarter inch inverted flare, excuse me, sometimes when you loosen it up, all you're doing is taking the fitting out cuz you don't realize that fitting is screwed onto your line.

So when the guy at the store says, Hey, you just take that fitting out and put it back in and there's a line for you, go along with it. He's right. It's sometimes just hard to tell. Doesn't look like it. And if you don't understand what I'm saying, if you go look at your regulator, you'll get it. It'll make perfect sense.

In fact, we have a video that we have on YouTube and we'll put a link to it in this as well. That kind of explains a lot of this stuff really helps out. And here's another, well, actually two points. So. The first point is all gas fittings that are a, a pipe threat. So it's a male pipe thread, female pipe thread.

They need to be sealed with Teflon tape or pipe dope of some kind. And the Teflon tape would be yellow cuz it's made for gas. And the pipe dope you wanna make sure is made for gas as well. Now if you have a flared fitting, which could be an inverted flare, which is. You know, it goes in rather than out.

Cuz a regular flare fitting has kind of a rounded tip on the, on the male fitting. Those do not need to be sealed. That's what the flare does. It creates the seal. You just have to get them tight, simple things. Just keep that in mind. Anytime there's a pipe thread, you need to have the te yellow Teflon tape or a pipe dope that works with gas.

And you should just have those things on hand anyways as a do-it-yourselfer. Okay, now in a motor home. The propane regulator itself is probably the most common source for propane leaks. They go bad internally and they start spewing gas out the little vent on the side of it, or on the top of it. Not a big deal.

You just replace the regulator. It's pretty simple. Now while you're in there though, check the propane line cuz there is gonna be a flexible line going to it and make sure that it's still in good shape. Motorhome, propane lines seem to last longer because they're not exposed to the sun and the elements cuz they're underneath where the propane tank is, where rv, uh, lines seem to do a little bit worse, um, than a motor home.

So now on a travel trailer, The next most common leak might be the line that feeds the propane system. So this line goes from the bottom of the propane regulator, which is probably gonna be an auto changeover on your travel trailer, and it's gonna be three or four, maybe five feet long, and it's gonna be flexible, you know, made a rubber.

And it's gonna go to usually black pipe, that's what it's called, black pipe cuz that's for gas. And the black pipe will probably have the end of it, just the bare end of it will probably be half inch pipe thread. So that would indicate the line's half inch, half inch pipe thread and it's gonna be a male pipe threat.

So then you generally have a fitting that screws on there and makes it into a, a flared fitting. Sometimes it's just a pipe thread that, a line that will require pipe thread to go on there. But generally it's adapted to a, a flare. So the flare can vary in sizes because these lines might have two, three eights female flare fittings on them.

It might be one three eights male flare and one half inch mill pipe thread. There's some variables there, so don't just assume that every RV's the same, and before even going from that statement, You know when you have an RV and you're looking at it, sometimes you think that that's how all RVs are made.

And you know, we hear it in the store and you know, we, we get it cuz that's how people see it. But remember, when you, it's your rv, it doesn't mean that every RV's made like yours. So when you go to the store, be open to like, hey, we need to know what fittings, it's not standard. You know, there's a couple different ways, three or four different ways actually where those could go.

So, and that's with so many different things on an rv, that's why I'm kind of emphasizing that. And so again, if this line is leaking out of fitting a hole in the rubber, it's cracking. Replace it. Do not try to repair it. Throw that out. And as another side note here, if you decide to repair a line, or if you have an RV and a line has been repaired and they use screw clamps, On the line to connect it to the fitting.

And when I'm talking about screw cams clamps, I'm talking about the stainless steel clamps that generally would be used on fuel line or radiator hoses where you use a screwdriver or a quarter inch nut driver or a five sixteens nut driver to tighten them up. Never use those on propane. For one, they don't stay tight.

Two, they can't tighten enough in some cases. And three, they have a tendency of of tearing through the rubber. I'm sure if you look at your own car or an older car that has those kind of clamps on it, when it's overtight, the roughage is pushing through the little slots in the stainless steel band. So that's not a good thing.

So do not ever use those. I sometimes can't emphasize that enough because we get people that come into the store and they just bought an RV and they bring in a line, need to make one of these that has those clamps on it. Yeah. You know, a firefighter would go through the roof or a first responder seeing that looks bad.

Mm-hmm. All right, so now you've. Let's say replace the lines of your propane regulator and everything seems to be working good. You wanna check the rest of the propane system to check it for leaks, to inspect it, to make sure everything's looking good. Now, you can always use a, a spray type liquid Windex or something, but you know, there's products that are made for checking for leaks.

They generally come in a bottle with a little dabber on it, and you dab around the fittings. They're designed to do that, so they do work better than some of the. Easier way. Something right at your fingertips. You know, sometimes we have a tendency of, well, this'll work, but other things work better.

Especially if you have a little small leak, something that's designed for it. We'll pick up that small leak. So you definitely want to check the system now. Check around the propane tanks, the lines, the regulator, all the fittings where you worked on there. But now since you've done that, you might as well just check the entire propane system.

Yeah, why not? You're already there. Yep. You just gotta crawl underneath the rv. In some cases, you might have to move some things around, but one of the things that you do when you're doing that, not only will you possibly find some propane problems, maybe a, a flexible line is going bad. It's got hit by some rocks underneath the rv.

Um, RVs sometimes have flexible lines and places where they shouldn't be, or not, as, you know, not the greatest place. So you wanna keep an eye on those. But also, not only are you preventing future problems, you're also getting a little more insight on how your RV is in different areas. And if you're underneath it following the lines, you're gonna maybe see some things underneath the RV that, Hey, I didn't notice that I have a leaf spring that's broke.

You know? Or, or something. Exactly. You know, my, uh, shackle links are starting to wear out. So be aware of other things while you're there. Just don't be zoned in on the propane lines. I mean, obviously that's what you're going there for, but check out other things and if you need to get the, the air out of the system, you just replace the lines.

Just, you know, you can run some appliances that'll get all the air out if you run the water heater or something like that. Just let it cool down before you start getting crazy in there. Um, actually, if you're checking for leaks, so Arrow, great bubbles too. So either way you'd find it, I'm sure. LP tank valves, regulators, and flexible lines seem to be the most common places to find leaks on an rv.

As I said, checking the entire system might seem like a waste of time, but it's definitely something you wanna do. It's gonna help you find other things and, um, get familiar with the rv. And when it comes to propane stuff, do not skimp. Do not buy cheap garbage that is half the price or less than half the price.

There's certain platforms on the internet that are becoming the junkyard of parts, and they're brand new parts. They're low quality. When you see a propane line and it's $3 or $6, and everybody else is 15, think about it. What's wrong with that line? It goes with electrical adapters. We're seeing more and more of this.

And this is your life we're talking about. That's, or your rv. Mm-hmm. You know, do you wanna just replace your RV every time you replace a, something with a cheap part? Cuz now your RV burns down. I mean, you think about that. Do not buy cheap junk. And we see it in here a lot. People buy stuff or sometimes the, the manufacturers put cheap junk on an rv.

You know, a couple years ago they had these massive recalls on propane regulators. Massive. It was all the, across the United States and Canada. And it was just some offshore regulator that came with two propane lines, and the manufacturers are slapping 'em on and some brand that came and went, you know, so be careful with that.

And if you're not comfortable doing a leak, replacing something yourself or checking it, have a professional do it. And you could do that once a year if you wanted. Um, the timeframe is gonna be up to you, how much you use your rv, where it's stored, you know, the environment, things like that. And while you're at, while you're doing all this other work, don't forget about the propane leak detector and carbon monoxide detector inside the rv.

They're there by law and they're there for a reason. They save lives. So make sure it works and you can pull it out. Generally it's just two screws. Pull 'em out and there's a date on the back and generally you should be within five years of that date. If you've exceeded it, it's just gonna go bad pretty quick.

Just replace it. They do expire. We sell these things by the truckload here. They do do, and so they, they go bad. So keep that in mind as well. So hopefully that's some helpful information for you. And non-related to this would be to go to sunpro mfg.com. If you're looking for a slide out fabric, perfect time of year for it.

You know, we're getting RVs out, so you're fixing propane lines. Why not take a look at those slide out awning fabrics and see how they're doing. So check that out. Okay, now we are going to the next stop and today we're gonna go to where it's warming up here in Montana. Yeah. Kind of warming up in Alaska.

So we're gonna go to Homer, Alaska. That's right. So Alexis, what can you tell us about Homer Alaska? Okay, well obviously it's the greatest, uh, frontier. I don't know. One of 'em. It's beautiful there. Some things to do there. While you're in Homer, there's bear viewing tours, so that's kind of cool. If you've never seen a bear, you know, in real life before, you might wanna, um, give that a go.

There's a few companies that do it there. Um, there's a Pratt called the Pratt Museum and Park. Um, it shows off beautiful Alaska has pictures. There's a park around it. So you can go walk around, uh, depending on what time of year you go, you might wanna wear layers. Um, and then there's the seafarers memorial too.

So it's right next to the ocean. Um, basically it's dedicated to all who have died at sea that they've never found. So it's kind of a cool thing to see. They've got a, a statue there of a, um, I think it's a sailor. Um, but yeah, some things to see, some things to do around homework. Hey, so. And to add to that, you have to go fishing.

Gobs of fishing, obviously. I think it's one of those places where you just throw, you're hook in the water, you're gonna catch something. Mm-hmm. Uh, my wife and I went there and we were gonna go fishing, but we decided we'd probably have so much fish. We didn't want to bring it home. I don't like fish, so it's no value to me.

But, oh no, we bring home for some of our friends, but it just seemed like too much of a hassle for us and we probably should have had to do a shipped. But there's fishing, there's the eagles. And they're pretty cool. That's, yeah. Amazing. You know, people will feed them. I don't think you're supposed to, but man, they come right down like airplanes and grab the food right out of hands.

It's a little scary. And then there's, you know, you can, uh, rent, um, planes or, you know, uh, it's, I called rent. You're not dry. You're not flying it off. Bill, take it to, yeah. Charter, charter plan. And you can take tours of the area in the sky, which is pretty cool. There's a lot to do there. Homer is a very cool place.

It is. It was very uh, even in the wintertime it's pretty mild compared to the rest of Alaska and I would recommend going in April or May when there's less people there. Right. Yeah. These aren't as opened up, but it's still a pretty nice time to go cuz there's less people. Is that when you went nice and We drove What?

A trip. Oh wow. Yeah. Well where was the last place on our list And it was pretty cool though. I love it. Yeah. In fact, we considered moving there at one point. It was so nice. Oh wow. Great. In fact, I mean, we should move there. No, um. Okay. Now over Alaska, what places came up on the radar as far as eating well, I just searched these up.

I wanna know if you've, if you had, uh, food at any of these places, um, there's AJ's, old Towns Steakhouse in Tavern. Does that sound familiar? No, no, none of it really does. Yeah. Okay. That's okay. Um, so obviously that kind of speaks for itself. It's a, it's a steakhouse and you can get drinks there. Um, then there's Fin's Pizza, which is a local favorite.

Um, they have a really, really good pizza there, breadsticks, all the good stuff. Um, a Wild Honey Bistro. Um, that's a really sweet one. It's, it's really a cute little cafe. So, um, they always, you know, We actually, um, went hunting for bear in Valez. We had a bear to hold us over the whole trip now. Just kidding.

I don't know about that. Wow. Jessica, we out in the back of the truck. Just cut off a piece. Yeah, there you go. Chop off a chink. Just kidding. So now I know there's some RV parks there now, Homer. Quite the drive. Um, taking an RV there is definitely a doable thing. It'd be quite the trip. Yeah. Um, very cool trip, especially for a family.

Just be prepared. If you do that for the highways, they're not bad and still things happen. Yeah. And some areas are very remote. I mean, we brought gas and I'm glad we did cuz that time of year some place, a lot of places weren't open. Yeah. No signal. Probably in a lot of places. No. Yeah. So you need to be prepared.

And so I remember a couple times we had to use the gas cans to get to the gas station. Oh boy. Anyway, don't let that scare. If you go on this, you know when it's more opened up, that stuff's there. Yeah. They're ready for you. You look on a map, there's a million cities, but they're all closed in the wintertime.

Yeah. Okay. So what places would you recommend to stay there? Well, they've got a few for sure. Um, the Driftwood in is a really nice RV park. It's located, uh, downtown on the bluff. And then, There's Heritage RV Park, which is surrounded by mountains and the ocean. So that's kind of beautiful. And it's like 15 minutes away from the main town.

And then there's Heritage RV Park and Ocean Shores RV Park. So you've got some options, that's for sure. Okay, very good. Yeah, so taking an RV there, it'd be a great trip. Oh yeah. These kind of trips are those, uh, Ones you never forget. That's right. You know they're not ones you do all the time, but man, they're worthwhile.

If you can do it, you know, going to Alaska is pretty cool. Yeah, it is the last frontier. Yeah. Very interesting. Yeah. Great trip. And you have to go through Canada, which everything's a little more expensive. Yeah. Get through there fast, get through there quick. But it's beautiful too. That's what we did, burned through Canada now Canada's pretty beautiful, that nice country.

Oh goodness. Yeah. Okay, so now, um, that will conclude next stop. So take a look at our website and you'll find the information about Homer Alaska on there@thesmartrvr.com under the heading Next stop. Use that link and it takes you to all the articles. Then if you wanna go for more in-depth information, check out the rv destinations magazine, rv destinations.com.

I believe the link will be in the description. I forget now. But, um, very cool magazine. I don't know if they have anything on Homer, but they have a lot of good articles, so check it out. And there'll be a link here and on our website for it. We'll be links everywhere link. Link links. Okay, so now this brings us to RV Envy, and today we're gonna talk about RV lockbox.

In fact, I got a coffee cup here right in front of me with the name on it, RV Lockbox. That way I can't forget. And the website is RV locks, B uh, rv lockbox.com. So RV lockbox, they make. Aluminum battery boxes. You can use 'em for other things, but they're designed to hold batteries. Whether you have 27 series, 24 series one, two, it doesn't matter.

They're really cool. They mount on the front of travel trailers on the tongue. You could probably put it in other places. As I said, you can use it for other things. They come in a diamond plate type aluminum and they're either, uh, have a black finish or the typical chrome looking finish. Um, silver finish.

And what's nice about 'em is the li the lids on 'em slide on and off really easy and they're made for batteries and so they, you know, putting batteries in it becomes really easy. They have knockout spots on them where you can finish knocking it out as kind of preset for you where the battery cables would go in and they have large grommets that come with them.

If you need more than what comes with there, you can buy extra grommets from 'em. Very friendly company to do business with. And their website has all the information on it, um, more in depth than what we're giving you here. So if you're looking for these boxes and you know, the boxes are in the $400 range, let's say 300 to 400, my numbers probably aren't right, because I'm thinking of, you know, last summer's prices and we have some of their product in our store.

And I know they're clearing out some stuff too, that you might be able to get cheaper. Some, uh, models they were getting rid of cuz they're getting away from the finish on them. The boxers were still great, so check it out and you know, if you go online, you look for. Aluminum or metal battery boxes, you know, there's some out there, but they get really, really expensive and they're probably not designed for where you would wanna put it on an rv, in a travel trailer on the front tongue.

Mm-hmm. So that's a consideration too, you know, finding what you need. And sometimes these things, Just cost a few more bucks than we wanna spend. But if it's what you want and it solves the, the, the purpose, get it. So check it out, rv lockbox.com. Great product, great company. So that has brought us to the end of the podcast today, episode number 124.

Thank everybody for listening, and this is Eric Stark, the host of the Smart RV or podcast. It's been great hanging out with you today. And if I don't see on the road, let's connect@thesmartrvr.com.