S2 E72 RVing the Peaceful Way

Relax RV Podcast

Season 2 Episode 72 1/16/22 RVing the peaceful way
Happy New Year everyone.
We decided to install a heat strip in our roof AC. I saw that adding the heat strip wouldn't be too much work and not a ton of money. So I confirmed that our AC could be adapted. I had emailed Airxcel at [e-mail] and gave them my AC model number, they replied the next day saying it could be modified with a heat strip but I would need to swap out out my controller and thermostat to have it work. They gave me the model numbers for the parts.
So for $190 and about 2 hours of install work, we now have electric heat throughout our whole rig. Yay, that will save us a lot of money as compared to propane for our furnace heat.
I learned this while installing the solar on my 1st rig:
Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs
- Henry Ford
I recently came across this gem of a book where I found that quote. 365 Quotes to Live Your Life By https://amzn.to/3t77fv8 It truly follows how I strive to live life.
I created a friendly Facebook group for RVers, share and join if you like to share, learn and teach is a calm peaceful group. But without the drama, this group will never take off.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/604984417456152/?ref=share
We heard the upstate NY was getting a lot of snow. We thought about towing our snowmobile behind our rig and doing some camping while sledding. But the temps we going to be around -15 at night so we decided not to push our luck with our rig, so we rented a air bnb towed the sled behind our Subaru. We stayed at an AirBnB. Great host. We rode our sled (snowmobile) over 100 miles and loved it ! We booked another Airbnb in Tupper Lake New York and then another one in Pennsylvania over the next one month. Riding a snowmobile has a lot of learning curves just like rving. After all snowmobile is an RV LOL. We had her mishaps while riding like getting stuck in a pond after we broke through some ice and rolling over while going up the hill. Thank goodness no injuries to us or the sled.
There are many times in life and in RVing that things don't go exactly as we hoped and planned. I believe that the key to happiness is flexible and accepting of situations that come up that we do not plan nor desire. I remember years ago passing a church and outside was a sign that said those who are flexible will not be bent out of shape. And that too reflects my philosophy on life. Now trust me I haven't been like this my whole life. There's a reason why I became a Stress Management consultant, I did not like the way stress was affecting me. And so I began the process of changing my reactions to stressors.
All of this just happened to coincide with me becoming a nurse. As a nurse I could see the effects of stress on the body. I remember back in 2019 when in the middle of a cold night our furnace died and our batteries died. I took out my phone and I videoed what was going on with the rig and here's the link to that video, https://youtu.be/PzLN9qV0bu8 and a friend of mine watched that video and said he could see the despair on my face and he also said he would not have handled it so calmly. When he said that to me I reflected on how fast are stress response happens. It happened so fast to me in that video he could see the effects. However that night after making that video, I crawled into bed pulled up the down comforter and fell asleep. We cannot stop the instantaneous response to stress. But we can change how long that initial response lasts. This is why I encourage everybody to practice relaxation techniques. Here is a link to my free recordings Relaxrv.org/help
One of the ways I've changed, is how I hike. When I first started hiking my Pace was fast to cover as many miles as possible. Through the years I've learned to slow down and enjoy just being present. Now some of my favorite time in the woods is when I cover the least amount of miles. That means my pace has slowed and I find myself more relaxed.
I remember about 20 years ago, wow where did the time go? I was telling a co-worker about mountain biking in Harriman State Park in New York. She laughed and said did you go racing through the woods? And I said well I was very familiar with the trail so parts of it especially the downhills I was going really fast, but there are a couple of spots where I like to sit and reflect on that trail. So I was very happy to see when I returned to my car, that ride took me longer than usual because of all the breaks I took. She said, ha now that sounds like you, Pauly Wallie.. (which is what she liked to call me. Hi Lydia if you're listening.
Now of course there are times that I do want to cover miles more quickly. I remember in 2018 when Trish and I were hiking and glacier National Park and we realized we were on the trail that was closed because of bear activity. Somebody or some animal had ripped down the signs at the trailhead. After hiking about two and a half miles I realized that this trail was actually supposed to be marked as closed, but we were halfway through with the hike so the next two and a half miles were very noisy, with us making lots of vocalizations and was as quick as possible in a safe manner. LOL, you want to talk about being stressed?
Also on that hike we we were on a trail that was open to people when we passed a couple of trail workers that were improving a section of the trail. They said they were out there for 5 days sleeping in the tent and working on the trail during the days. So after the hike we've returned to the end and were enjoying a glass of wine when a young couple who were full timing came and joined us for a bit. They said they were doing that trail to grinnell glacier the next day. I said if I bought a six pack of beer would you be willing to drop it to those trail workers? And he laughed and said absolutely! About a month later I received an email from that full-timer with a picture of the two trail workers holding the six pack with big smiles and a nice wave. To this day that memory brings me so much joy.
There are tools that we can use when stressed. But just like any other tool that we use, the more we use it the better we become at using it. So, take a nice deep breath let it out and relax. If you have gone to my website you see that I do not have any ads there. My primary goal with my website is to help people, not to make money. So no ads, no pop-ups, no distractions. And I'm sure you noticed and perhaps you even appreciate the fact that my podcast does not have any ads laced throughout it. Again I do that for you the listener. If however I come across a product that I am totally 100% believe in, I may at some point start doing advertising for it. But again if ads start appearing in the podcast they are there for your edification and benefit.
On my website I updated and added a few books about RVing that helped us when we were newbies. And there's a couple there about Stress Management. Here's a link to that page:
Relaxrv.org/books
Here’s a link to the 5 Star Tuner we installed, which helped the rigs shifting and downshifting and it too out gas mileage from 7.5mpg to 10mpg. https://amzn.to/3IdkleW
At this point we have been members of Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Hosts for over 3 years. Here's our total stays for each:
Nights locations
BDW 207 95
HH 18 16
Here’s a link to various RVing discounts: Relaxrv.org,discounts
So what do you do to help MANAGE your STRESS? Perhaps you or someone you know would benefit from listening to Stress Management Exercises? I have 3 FREE Stress Management recordings at https://relaxrv.org/help/
If that ain't your thing, I have DISCOUNTS on my website to various RV related stuff.
https://relaxrv.org/discounts/
I’ve made some videos about improvements and fixes I’ve done to the RV. Here’s a link to them on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzwH6GhSMBDJ7qKxsLng-TA
Or you can watch them on my website at
https://relaxrv.org/videos/
Here’s a link to my RelaxRVPodcast Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Relax-RV-277623782811787/
I'm on Instagram as @relaxrvpodcast
https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=hsxp0gjpugbz&utm_content=5h4872a
My podcast can be found at https://www.spreaker.com/show/relax-rv-podcast
If you would like to support my efforts to help others, please feel free to do so at:
https://relaxrv.org/support/
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