WKXL - New Hampshire Talk Radio
Artful Living with Kathy Kelley
(upbeat music) - Hello everybody out there, WKXL Radio Land. This is Jane Comey, or your host, here on HampshireTalkRadio.com. Artful living today. And WKXL, 1450 AM, 103.9 FM, Concord and 101.9 FM in Manchester. For everyone out there that has ever had a passing thought, or maybe even more than a passing thought, about making a change to your lifestyle. Today is a lifestyle segment with lots of good information. And I won, I am one person that is very interested in getting this information. So our guest today on Artful Living is Kathy Kelly. And Kathy is from Pittsfield for listeners from Artful Living. You maybe have heard Kathy on before. I've had her on as a guest, she's a great gal. Wonderful singer and a nice, a really believable stage actress. And I think all of this sort of happened, kind of later in Kathy's life, but she's a friend now. And I wanted, she told me about some news that she has, where she's making a bit of a lifestyle change and commitment. And I was fascinated and I thought, you know what, we're gonna bring her on the radio to share her story with you, because I think there will be plenty of people interested in hearing it. So welcome Kathy. - Good morning. - Thank you for joining us. - Thank you for having me. - Again, again. Anyway, we're gonna talk about your story, your story that you told me about, I guess a month ago, a little over a month ago, about a big change in Kathy Kelly's life. So what is this all about? - So I had something happen at my work that made me realize I had gotten complacent, right? That I wasn't really creating, I wasn't, you know, like my heart wasn't energized about anything, I just was, and I've only had two jobs in the last 33 years. I worked 25 years for a company in Bo, and then eight years ago, I went to work for my brother at a company that's family run. - Okay. - And I worked in a satellite office in Pittsfield by myself, and I think initially I had a lot of excitement and heart in it, and when this situation happened, I realized that something offended me, and I realized I was only offended because somewhere inside I knew that nothing was wrong, but it was all like the way that I responded to it was because all of a sudden I had dealt, well, wasn't I doing the right thing, wasn't I? You know, so when I looked at it, I realized I wasn't giving my all. I realized that if I'm gonna invest myself in something, especially my brother's company, I needed to get 100%. So I really, that was a pivotal moment for me, like realizing, okay, am I settling? Am I, you know, do I, I just turned 58, which I'm proud of, and, but I thought, am I gonna just sit in this office for the next 12 years, and then what, you know? And I just, I knew that I get to make a change. My whole life, I think I've been afraid, right, that I was afraid of standing up for things, afraid of, I would run things because I had to control them, right? They had to look how I want, oh yeah. - I don't see you as control, you know? Isn't that funny? - Well, I started changing five years ago. I started taking some leadership in character development training, and really learning to accept myself for who I am, and knowing that what I bring to the table is exactly what I'm supposed to bring. - Absolutely. - But I didn't know all of those things before. I, I had a total mask, you know, total like-- - My goodness, Kathy Kelly, I'm shocked. Wow, you're blowing my mind here because you're one of the single most, listen, I've met thousands of people, whether it was professional as a performer, as a mom, you know, as someone in a political realm, just teaching everything. And you are probably on one hand that I would count as one of the most down-to-earth people. I've ever met, I mean, I never had any second thought that whatever Kathy said, that's what she meant. And I've seen kindness, I've seen thoughtfulness. You saw, I'm really shocked, you know, that this mask thing was out there. - Oh, I value that, thank you, thank you for saying that. And it's, it's all been through this training, I think a lot, of seeing everybody as someone that can teach me something. - Right, and I judged other people, but I judged myself the harshest. - Yeah, of course. - And it's kind of ironic 'cause I would, as I started this and it journeyed the last five years or so to say that, well, to be able to learn that what I bring is okay, right? I may not be the, I always want to do everything and have everyone see me as, oh, she does so much. And she, you know, and I, one of the first questions that I got to ask myself was how can I, right? As soon as I say I can't do something, I absolutely can't 'cause I'm not even gonna try, I'm not gonna write out there. But when I just get curious and say, how can I create that, that opens doors, right? It gets the thought process going. - It's a whole different way of thinking it's something. - Yeah, that's a huge, huge piece of it. And then knowing, okay, I may not be the one that's physically gonna move 50 chairs or carry 100 pounds or whatever, but I'm gonna sit down and listen to you and be excited for you for what you're doing and encourage you. I've always been kind of a cheerleader and now I listen better. I listen to hear where people's hearts get excited. I don't just listen to respond, right? Like I'm not sitting there, hopefully thinking. - You're going deeper. - Yeah. And it's so fun to be able to say to people, well, what do you wanna do? What makes you happy? When I first started this journey, I couldn't answer that. I didn't know it was what I wanted to be seen as, right? Like being able to ask myself, do I wanna be seen as kind or do I just wanna be kind whether it's seen or not, right? Do I wanna be seen as a leader or do I just wanna be a leader through my actions without having to tell everyone, "Hey, I'm a leader." - Right. - Did you see me? - Just lead. - Yeah, and so that's what's brought us to this entire, and it happened in about two weeks that I went, okay, if I'm not bringing everything I am to this company and to my brother's company and to what I'm doing, what do I do? - Right. - So I thought, well, I've lived alone for a year. My daughter, my wonderful, wonderful, sweet daughter moved out about a year ago. And so I've lived alone for a year. I've worked alone for eight years, and I thought, if I'm working remotely, why not do it from a beach? Why not do it from the mountains? Why not work whenever, you know, if a company needs a night shift, I can work at night if it's just me. And so I thought, well, one of the best vacations I ever had was with my mom, and she had a van where just the back seat folded down, we would go for weekends or whatever. - Isn't that nice? - And so that's what kind of led. - Started this, yeah. - So when I very first went the first time to a camping place, that's all I was really looking for, was just a converted van or whatever. And the gentleman I spoke with, we sat down for about an hour and talked about what my thoughts, what my dreams, what my everything was. And he said, well, I think you'd be in what they call a class C. The class A are the big humongous ones that have the flat windshield. And then there's a class B that's more like a van. And then the class C is more like the old kind where they had like a sleeping bunk over there. - Over the top? - Yeah, yeah. - And you'll recognize them when they go down the road. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - It has like a truck component and then the over top over the top, yes. - Yes, exactly. - Right. So that's class C. - Yep. And so we went out and looked in each one, as soon as I got into them, like, oh, this isn't for me. It's too white. It's too like just this or that or this or that. And when I got in this one that I ended up with, it just felt like home the second I walked in. - Isn't that funny? - Yeah. And for years I've said my next car would have a sunroof. - Yeah. - And as soon as I walked into this one, there's a huge skylight over the drivers in the passenger seat. I went, oh. - Okay. That was good. - And yeah. And it was very interesting because step by step, all along the way, I just kept saying, well, I'm not sure I'm supposed to do this, but let's just keep exploring. - Right. - Let's try the next step. And I'm a Christian. I don't push those values off on anyone else or that thought, but for me personally, I do feel like God is involved in my decisions for me personally. And so as I walked through this, I thought, all right, God, let me make a big mistake, right? Like I've been Dave Ramsey certified financial coach for about four or five years. That was also part of the beginning of this. So I had been working on the baby steps. A lot of people will be familiar with that. The Dave Ramsey baby steps about putting away a certain emergency fund, getting out of debt. And I've been working really, really hard at that. So I was within about two months of being completely out of debt other than my mortgage. - Oh my goodness. Okay, so this is a good stopping point here. We're gonna take a little break here and come back on the other side and get part two of the story with Kat and Kelly. Jane Cormier, your host here on Artful Living WKXL. New HampshireTalkRadio.com. Stay right there, we're coming right back. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Welcome back. Jane Cormier, your host here on Artful Living WKXL. 1450 AM, 103.9 FM Concord, and 101.9 FM in Manchester. So we're having a nice chat today with Kathy Kelly from Pittsfield, New Hampshire. And in our first segment, if you're just joining us, she was telling us about how she was going through some life changed about decisions in her life and was starting to question, you know, what she really wanted to be involved with and doing. And right near the end of the little, you know, segment, last segment we did, you were telling us that you were doing the damn, Dave Ramsey, you know, financial fitness, whatever that is. And you were with about two months of, you know, putting it all together behind you and solvent and everything's great, right? And here she is, she's now in the mode of looking for a different way of life, right? Doing a, what do we call an RV kind of lifestyle? - Yeah, camper, yeah. - So two months to go, so what happened there? - So I was, like I said, I was about two months from being completely out of debt, other than the mortgage. And really, like figuring out what does that look like? And then hit this, and I thought, what, if I'm gonna work remotely, I should hear the ocean waves. I should see the mountains, I should see beautiful things. I get to travel the country and see our national parks. And so I went looking and my first one, like I said, as soon as I walked into the one that I did end up purchasing, well, the exact model, I just felt at home, like I just felt at home. And I ended up not, I ended up walking away from that because I did get approved for financing, which obviously shocked me by myself. And then I also, I just, there was a couple of things wrong with it, and I didn't feel like they fixed it the way that I witnessed it. So I said, you know what, I'm just gonna wait until September or October. I had already decided that come winter or late fall was when I would head south or head out on this journey. And so that would give my brother's company six months to kind of figure out what they would do with my work. And I wanted to have integrity and honor around that, make sure that I wasn't leaving anyone in a large, make sure that my daughter was comfortable with the idea of it and all of that. And really research figure out like what was I doing. So the six month timeframe seemed good to be able to figure out how does this work? What do I need to know? What do I need to take with me? What do I need to learn? Where can I learn it from? And all the things. So I have done a ton of research now. So as I said, I walked away from it. And then the next day I had to go to leave for something. And I was there, and all of a sudden another dealership name came into my head, and I ended up looking them up online, and it said they had one used motorhome. But it wasn't the one I was looking for, but then I scrolled down a little further. And there was the full plan of the one that I had looked at at the other dealership. - Okay, and that was the one that they had. - So, no, so it actually was a different one. - Oh, it was a different one. - So I called down there and I said, "Hey, I was looking at your website. "You have this one of one listed, "but it's not the one I'm looking for, "but then I looked a little further. "Do you have this other one?" She leaves the phone, she comes back, and she says, "That just came in today." - Oh my goodness. - And they hadn't taken pictures, they hadn't done anything, they had just listed it, like just before I called. And so I ended up going down, and the gentleman kind of apologized. He said, "We haven't done anything to this, "we haven't cleaned it up, we haven't looked at it, "we don't know anything about it yet." And I said, "That's fine, I'd almost rather see it that way." We went in and it was immaculate. - Wow. - And it only had 22,000 miles on it. - Oh my goodness, how come it was so few? - I think it was only one owner, and the original manuals were there, and then there was a folder for each, for the refrigerator, for the stove, for the microwave, for everything. - Everything there. - Yeah, and all of the work they had done, and it was just, it was spotless, clean, and I just knew, and there was nothing wrong with it, everything was perfect, and I just felt like, "Okay, so here I walked away last night." - Yeah, that's right, good thing. - Walk in to this today, and it was like $7,000 or $8,000 less, it had less than half the mileage, it was, yeah, it was just, it was perfect. And so, ended up working with them, and purchasing it, so that was probably, so I bought it on a Saturday, and I think, it was probably, I think the previous Friday was the first day that I went into the camping place. So, like in a matter of like eight days, I went from-- - My goodness. - And I absolutely love it, it's just, and the thing is, I didn't really know, I hadn't done any research, I didn't know really what I was buying, I come to find out, I get the best of everything. Like when the gentlemen, they take like two hours, and they go through everything with you, and kind of a whirlwind, and he said, there's nothing that the bigger units have that you don't have, she's only 23 and a half feet long, so she's not even that much bigger than some of the big Ford trucks, right? - Yeah, yeah. - And she drives like a van, I only have one on my right-eye's prosthetic, and I was concerned about, you know, blind spots. - That's right. - 'Cause I drive a little scion, and but there's a rear view camera on the back that shows up in the rear view mirror, and so I can completely see everything that's behind me, so between the mirrors and then the rear view camera, - You're sad. - I have less blind spots in my RV than I do in my scion. - Yes, that's something. - So yeah, and that was a big thing for me, at first I was afraid of driving it, was I gonna be all right, 'cause she's pretty, you know, she's much bigger than my scion. - Of course. - Yeah, so-- - You keep saying she. - Oh, well, yeah, so I named her Joy, and-- (laughing) - I love it. - And yeah, and so my license plate is actually Joy-fall because her name is Joy, and she's full of everything I own. - Oh, there you go! - But, so I figured I'd travel with Joy, I wake up with Joy, Joy surrounds me. That's all good. Every time I start to get in a bad mood or think, why did I do this? And I can just look at my plate going, okay. That's why. Next step, right? - Yeah. - Isn't that a great story? So, I know for a fact that I've talked to parents that had, you know, kids in college, I've know so many people that have toyed with this idea and that have in the back of their head, you know, I'd really like to do that, but I think they get stuck at the part that you were talking about, you know, it's such a mammoth life change. - Yeah. - And you get scared, and unless, like you said, you're willing to go forth and question. - Yeah. - 'Cause that's the way to do it. Never to jump in with both feet, but, you know, if there's something that you're curious about, even if you're nervous about it, you lose nothing by finding out the information. - Yeah, yeah, and do it afraid, right? Like, the sensations that you experience when you're excited are exactly the same as you do when you're afraid of something. You get the butterflies in your stomach, you get the sweaty hands, you get the, you know, and the other thing that I have found too is that whether you're thinking about the worst options or the best options, you're, it's your imagination. So when we say, oh my goodness, but what if, what if, what if, what if we can say, what if it's great? - Yeah. - What if it's beautiful? What if it's fun? What if I meet amazing people? What if I really am finally living in my purpose, right? Like, I was doing my job, but the thing that I'm really, really good at is customer service. When you can call in to me and I can say, we're gonna take care of you, your problem is gonna be resolved by us. And I connect with people. So I'm looking for remote work. That was kind of the biggest thing was to give notice to my brother before I have a job, but there's tons of remote work out there. And I just believe that the right thing is gonna come because I will be really good for whoever, you know, it's gonna be a win-win. It's gonna be a job that I love to do that I'm really good at and that I serve a company because I make them look good. Yeah, and you believe in it, you know, so it's great. Yeah, so being able to, I thought, well, if I'm gonna sit in this office, you know, and work remotely, I might as well do it on the road. Why not remote where you wanna be? Yeah, absolutely. Well, it's very courageous. People are loath to make big decisions. And I am not sure that that, I don't think people regret things that they said no to. I think people regret the things that they were afraid to say yes to. Yes. And they're very different. Yes, I totally agree with that. Yeah, interesting, huh? I know it's a smart decision because you looked at the options and you chose no. That's completely okay. And then the fear is that that can be a regret. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So to me, this is really courageous and you have, I'm sure, mapped out, you know, the first beginning part of this journey? Not so much. I know that November 1st is my due date, right? It's like my daughter is, she turns 25 October 29th, so it was important to me to be here for her birthday. Aw. And then some other things are happening right around that time. So November 1st is a Friday and that's where I'm headed to headed south. And then I have an aunt that lives in Virginia and a sister that's building a house in Ocala, Florida and a brother that lives about an hour and a half from them. So I'm figuring, you know, I'll get in the van November 1st. And going south. Yeah, south and then west, I've never been to New Orleans. And so I'm kind of going through there and then Texas. My goodness, this is going to be great. All right, so we're going to come back and talk with Kathy some more about her upcoming journey here on WKXL Artful Living. Jane Comey or your host, New HampshireTalkRadio.com. Don't go anywhere, come right back here. We have more story to tell. (upbeat music) Welcome back. Jane Comey or your host here at WKXL, New HampshireTalkRadio.com. That's WKXL1450AM103.9 FM Conquered and 101.9 FM in Manchester. And we're having a chat today. We have a lifestyle segment. Kathy Kelly from Pittsfield, New Hampshire is our guest. And we have been discussing life, life changes in a way that I think a lot of people out there listening can go with. You know, can say, you know what, I've thought about that too. So Kathy is going to become you. You said they're called nomads. Nomads or full time RVers? Full time RVers. Okay, so has this like been a huge, I think it has, but has this been a huge, you know, push forward? A lot more people doing this? Oh my goodness, yes, I'm so glad you asked me that. 'Cause one of the things I did want to talk about is there's a ton of support, right? So on Facebook, there are just a tons of groups out there. And one of the first ones that was really surprising to me was full time solo female RV people. Oh my goodness. There are 30,000 women in the group. Oh my goodness. That's just one group. Yes. And then there's RVers over 60 and they let me become even though they don't quite qualify yet. They let me join that. Yeah. There's one called RV curious. Like are you thinking about doing this? Cool. What it looks like. And then RV beginners that have some experienced people on there. So when you can say what does this look like, you know, or you can send a picture and then there's ones about remodels. And like buy in an older one and fixing it up. And 'cause there's just tons of information out there about how to do it to stay on a Bureau of Land Management lands for free for two weeks at a time. And really? And there's tons of this harvestshost.com and you can stay there for free. And then they just ask you to, you know, buy something from the host. And you know, like 'cause even in Northwood, Northwood Brewery is one. And so you just basically can go park there for free but then just go buy dinner in there. Right. You know, great anyway. Yeah. And then there's another one called Boone Doctors Welcome where people let you park in their driveway for free. For free. And crazy. And so there's a whole culture out there supporting this. Yes. All right, I did not know it was quite so extensive. Yeah. Yeah. Which it's hard because now they're even saying, like you need to plan the parks if you're gonna go in the summer. Yeah. You need to plan like a year ahead of time. Yeah, I would imagine. And because they're so booked, you know. So it's a little less easy to do now, I think, with just on the, you know, while I'm going south and then west and then north up to Oregon. And you know, but there's also one of my favorites is there's another group called the 72 degree club and they just go, there are maps. Like where at 70 or 72 degrees all over the country at any time. My goodness. So you can start in Texas in January and go to Wisconsin in for June. You know, like, and it shows you each month about the average temperature is. And so you don't have to worry about anything freezing, but you don't have to worry about being super hot in the summer. You know, there are people that winter, there's one place in Arizona where lots and lots of full timers go for the winter because it's nice in Arizona and the winter, but you don't want to be there in the summer. No. So holy moly, this is fascinating. So for the people that have been thinking that maybe this would be something for them, this is great information for them to know that there is a huge support connective system that they can tap into to get information. 'Cause remember, it's never about a quick yes or no when you're talking about what you want for your future. You should discover it. You should not be afraid. Ask questions, go do some good due diligence out there and you know what, you'll find your answer probably. We don't get the answers when we don't really look for them. And I think that's like a lesson across the board. And I'm ready to be pretty fluid, right? Like, I don't have anything. It doesn't have to look a certain way. It doesn't, like, I'm just very open to, okay, well, I really like this area. Maybe I'll stay here in Tennessee in the Smoky Mountains for a month, you know? Like, I don't have-- - And you can do that. - Yeah, I don't have any agenda. As long as I'm doing my remote work well, as long as I have a good internet connection, I can be anywhere at any time. And if something were to have him back here with my family, I can just, okay, put the keys in the thing and come to our family. - Sure, I know, I know. I know, I know. - Yeah, and so what I would say is a lot of things in my whole life have led me to making this choice. And I don't want people to say, oh, well, she's lucky, or she's got that, you know? Like, wherever you are, it's starch, you know? - Of course. - Whatever makes your heart passionate and that you get excited about, just try it. - It's the secret to good life. - There are gonna be hard times everywhere, right? Like, I just, after I did all this, I had a hot water heater fail, and so I had a $4,000 expense for my house, and I just, you know, anywhere I am, there's gonna be challenges, whether it's the RV, or home, or a life well lived. - Yeah. - You're gonna have it. - Yeah, so why not do it in beautiful places with, you know, sunsets and waterfalls and all the things? - You have the answer there, Kathy. - So you know what you said that you have a class C? - Yeah. - There's a class B, which is a van. - Yeah. - And I see a lot more of the van ones out and about these days. - Yeah. - So what is the real difference between someone that would get a B or a C? - So, the bees are typically a little more expensive. - Oh, I think. - Yeah. And so a C is more of an older style. - Okay. - Bees are a little less conspicuous because you can drive a van, you know, and you can park it in a regular spot. Mine's 23 and a half feet, so it takes up. It's the width of a regular parking spot, but it takes up about one and a half, yeah. And so I think the bees, they're more manageable like a car, you know? And so I think, especially I think this lifestyle is very common for retired people, you know? Like I can't tell you the number of people said, "Oh, I've always dreamed about doing that." That's our plan too. And so just to be clear, I'm not retiring. I still get to work, but work remotely. - Right. - Yeah, so the A, like I said, is the one that has kind of the flat windshield, that's really big. - That's right, yeah. - And then the B is definitely more, you'll see the Mercedes, it's usually the Mercedes Sprinter van that is the Class B. - So do you have any idea, Class B? What is the range? Do you have any idea how much of those go? - Oh gosh, it really depends, like... So mine is a 2017, and it's made really well, and it's wonderful. And that's a lot of opinions out there. - Yeah, I sure are. - About the different manufacturers, and just like they are with cars, right? But they do say that the quality seems to be a little less since COVID, right? Since anything 2020, anywhere. And I think it can be like a car too, like you're gonna get a lemon, or you're gonna get a great one. It just depends a little bit on doing your due diligence. They do have RV inspectors, just like you have a home inspector, before you're gonna invest a lot of money in an RV, they definitely say have an inspector come and check it out. - Yeah, I would say so. Give us a ballpark. Middle of the road, Class B, what do you think? - Gosh, probably 150, K, yeah. - This is a house on wheels, really. - Absolutely. - Right. - Yeah, like that was when the gentleman said that mine has everything that the bigger ones have. Mine's got a generator, mine has a nice size bathroom, a bedroom, a second couch that folds out to another bed. - Nice. - A lot of storage, it's got a two burner propane stove, and a very large sink that's probably a foot deep and a foot wide, it's humongous. And then a convection microwave as well. - Cool. - It's got everything, and then I'll just have a gas stove and my instant pot and electric burner, one burner thing. And those things will go on. I've learned a lot, I already, I blew one of the breakers the other night at the campground and I had to figure out, okay, where is my breaker box? Where am I? Is it gonna be a fuse? Is it gonna be a breaker? And so I finally figured it out, but then I didn't know how to open the door, so I googled it and found, you know, okay, I put in the name of my thing and we had to find my fuses and figured the whole thing out. And I felt like a hero after I did it because I-- - You did it. - Well, I was trying to open the door, well, no, you push it and it pops open. - Okay. (laughing) - But that took me a little while. - Okay. - And then, yeah, and then it was just the main breaker that was off and so I reset that and everything was working after that. - Isn't that great, huh? - Yeah, yeah. - It's cool. - Like figuring it out myself, I've always been, so I've been single like 17 years and I've always thought I was kind of, well, I'll get the house with the beautiful trees out front when I have that relationship or I'll do this when I have that relationship. - Okay. - And so one of the things I've been thinking about is I've moved to the driver's seat, right? So now I get to figure out my stuff. You know, when that heater went, I found my plumber and got it done and I've just always kind of relied, I think, on other people and at this point in my life, being single 17 years and my daughters doing great and now I just get to get out there and... - And have fun. - Figure it out. - And understand that necessity will get you, you'll figure it out as you go, as you need. - Well, as far as safety, I think that that's one of the questions that comes up often, especially for single female travelers. - Okay, well, you know what? That's a great, let's use that for the last segment here. We'll talk a little bit about the lifestyle and safety issues, you know, what are they? So we're gonna take a little break. Art for living here, Jane Komea, your host, New Hampshire, talkradio.com, stay right with us because when we come up on the other side, we're gonna be talking with Cathy Kelly some more about the RV lifestyle. (upbeat music) - Hello there, Jane Komea, your host here on Artful Living, WKXL, New Hampshire, talkradio.com, that's WKXL, 1450 AM, 103.9 FM Conquered and 101.9 FM in Manchester. We are having a wonderful chat today, lifestyle segment here on Artful Living on what we call Nomads. These are folks that get in an RV and just go with it. And Cathy Kelly is our guest from Pittsville, New Hampshire. She's sort of made this huge commitment and something that she's wanted to do for a while and has take the steps forward, those courageous steps forward to really make a lifestyle change. So when we were discussing in the last segment, Cathy, you had talked about, well, previous to that, all these support groups that are available for folks. That's important for anyone listening that might have a desire to do this, but are a little nervous about it. Plenty of online support groups all over the place. - Yes. The thing, I think that maybe some people would be concerned with is safety. With, you know, you're getting in there, you buy yourself and off you go. So what are you learning about all of that with RVing? - It's so interesting 'cause I do think that that's one of the things that people that haven't done it yet ask. And for me, I think, use your head and your gut, right? Like if you feel uncomfortable, move. You know, if you feel just like you would if you were walking somewhere, you know, if you're camping somewhere, like people that boondock a lot, which that means that you're, what they call dry camping, you're not plugged in, you're not at a campground, you could be just parked on someone's property or that kind of thing. And for me, I feel pretty comfortable, but a couple of things I found interesting was as a single female traveler, they said to go to like Goodwill and buy a big jacket or a big pair of Crocs or something and just leave them in the chair and like outside your, wherever you're camped, people don't know that I'm alone, you know? So if you leave like a men's pair of something, you know, a jacket or something, which I just think that's kind of funny. And I think after a while, and always have two chairs, right? Don't just put out a single chair. - Yeah. - Just some silly things like that, that at least you, I don't know that I'll necessarily do that, but I found that just interesting, you know, like-- - Oh, it would make sense, you know, it's kind of an easy thing to do too. - Yeah, and just not to announce that you're alone, right? If you don't feel like that. And just a lot of things like that, but there are some great groups out there, especially I think do probably, I would say, more research than I did, as far as what you want, what's your intention? What are you gonna, are you gonna be full time? Are you just gonna be a weekender? But there are tons of campgrounds, or they're down south, there are monthly rates, as low as like $350 a month. I have a friend in Texas right now that's RVing, that's like $350 a month, like with a pool and all the-- - Oh my goodness. - And then all the things, and so I think it's just a matter of really checking out what you're buying. It is a pretty big investment. - Yeah. - And which has been good for me because it's kept me going, like because I made the investment. Now I'm committed. - Right. - So I get to go. - Got moving forward with it. - Yeah. - But there are so many people out there, and so many people that are just really good people. I've read so many stories of people being helped on the road and just putting out there, hey, I'm here, and one of the solo women's groups that I'm in, they caravan a lot together. They're always out on the road. So a lot of people right now are coming up to Acadia. So I've been meeting people that are gonna go up to Maine, and see that during the summer. And then giving yourself some time, right? Like don't just go buy a camper and go. - Yeah. - You know, figure out how the toilet works. Figure out how the electric works. - Yeah. - You know, what are you gonna need? And the other thing people have said too, is you can read all the lists and everything, go spend a couple of weekends away, go start it, and then make yourself a list. What did I forget? I, you know, I read the funniest story about a family that they had planned everything. They had been doing all this stuff, and they got camped, and they got packed in, and they did everything. And they were hungry, and they went to eat, and she forgot to buy food. She had a high goodness. (laughing) - Fourth thing. - She, you know, they had done all this planning, and had all these checklists, and, you know, had all the things, and you gotta have a search protector. You gotta have, like the certain things you-- - What do you mean? What's a search protector? - So that's for your electric. It goes between your cord, for your RV, and the plug-in at a campground, and it makes sure that it's good, right? Like before you actually plug your RV, and have something go, (sighing) - Yeah. - The search protector will, it lights up, and it tells you-- - It's okay. - Yes, your connection's good, or whatever like that. - Good to know. Do they come with that, or do you have to know to get that? - No, but see, just by doing a little bit of research, that's one of the first things that people always say is, like, you definitely need what they call the stinky slinky, which goes from your, what they call the black water tank to the connection, to dump it, basically, and to keep that clean so you don't have the, I forget there's a name for that too, but there's all kinds of funny names in the groups with the RVs about, you know, what different things are called, and things, but, and it is, from part of my journey, the other thing that I'm excited about is that with my class C, a lot of times people will, they have what they call a toad, T-O-A-D, well, it's the car that you tow, they call it a toad. - Okay. - And so a lot of people will travel with a car behind them, but I didn't wanna do that. Well, a year ago I bought a electric moped that I'm gonna put on the back of my, so I can park in the campground and not have to move my whole RV to go get groceries or whatever. - Right. - So, yeah, so that's also what another decision people get to make is like, am I just gonna have, and that's why people will get a van, right? 'Cause then they can just drive the van to the store and come back and not have to break down a whole bunch of things and, you know, the slides that push out to give you more space and all of that. - Yes, right. Well, I always always ask so much to it, I mean, it's huge. - Yeah, yeah, but there's so much information and just reading and looking at the, the other thing I think is that people are braver about doing modifications in an RV versus a home, right? Like your home seems like, oh, you really need to hire someone where RV is like, well, I might as well just try it, and the modifications are just amazing. - Really? - Amazing to see. - Like what, give me some meaning. - So, for me, it's like, you can tell when RV is old, it has like the orange, you know, decorated cushions and the whole thing, right? And a lot of people will say there's usually a dinette, right? Like a two bench seats with a table in the middle that goes down and then makes the other bed. - That's right. - A lot of people are taking them out now and finding that like the theater seating, like a tube recliner, you can put that right in the spot and then you've got, it takes up about the same space as the dinette, but now you've got two really comfortable recliners and, you know, so it really depends on what you want, how many people are going, how much storage you need, all those things. And then too, if you're stationary, it's much easier to decorate than if you're on the road all the time. They say it's like driving your house through an earthquake 'cause you're, you know, bouncing around all the time. - Yeah. - So, you can't just leave things hung up and you're careful with, you know, I'm not carrying anything glass. I got plates that were made from wheat grass and just so they're super light and, but yeah, so there's a lot, but there's so much information out there too. - Holy, holy. - So, just do it afraid, I would say, just, just keep your life exciting. You know, keep engaged in your life and... - This will certainly make you do that. - Yeah. - 'Cause daily. - It's your life, right? You have to live there now, so that's kind of interesting. - Well, and I've never been a great cleaner, but I'm like, I could clean every single thing in this little space and be done at half an hour. - That's right. - So, that's right. - That's true to going small, you know? I mean, when we had my kids in the house, and the kids were there, we had probably a four to 5,000 square foot house. - Yeah. - And it was really spread out, it was an old Victorian, you know, so you had the barn area that had been rehabbed and then a middle section and then the old original house. - Yeah. - And it would take, you know, two and a half hours to clean that sucker appropriately, you know? - Yeah. - When I moved to a really small place from, 'cause it was just me. - Yeah. - I chuckle, you know, I chuckle at how no effort it is to keep this place clean now. - Yeah. - When before it was all about, you know, just spread out, here we go. - Yeah. - So, there is something to that, for sure, you know? A way to live that's no must, no fuss. - Well, and being on top of it, right? Like, this is my home and having it organized is super important. - I'll bet, especially for our being, right? - Yeah, so I have all kinds of bins now and I don't have everything labeled yet, but I have all the bins, so if I'm gonna cook, okay, I take these two bins out. This has all my, you know, things. I did buy one kind of splurge I did. I bought pots and pans where the handle is detachable. So, everything fits in one drawer together. - Oh, cool. - So, it came with, you know, two handles and then three or four different sized pots. - Interesting, yeah. - So, yeah, so it was, it just, it fit better and it's, yeah, it's a beautiful set. It just made my heart happy, so. - Good for you. - Yeah. - Good for you, so November's the big day. - Yes, November one is when I planned to head south and, you know, celebrate my daughter's birthday with her and then, yeah. - What are you heading to? - So, first, one of the other things that they have is the rule called like the 333 rule. 300 miles, get there by three o'clock and stay at least three nights. - Wow, 333. - Yeah. - Probably so much here, this is a tiny dive compared to what you need to do. All right, well, Kathy, thank you for coming out and talking about being a nomad and RVing. It's been great. Kathy Kelly from Pittsfield and we hope you enjoyed this episode of Artful Living, WKXL 1450AM, 103.9 FM Concord and 101.9 FM in Manchester. We hope everybody has a great day and Kathy, happy RVing to you. - Thank you. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)