This week on the RV Podcast:




* What effect are tariffs having on the RV Industry? In our conversation of the week, we’ll hear straight talk from an industry straight-shooter about the massive RV industry tariff confusion





* With no warning, a Camping World outlet in Michigan has abruptly shut down, causing massive confusion to the blindsided employees and those whose RVs were awaiting service.





* When do you clean your RV? Before you leave the campground or after you arrive home? We’ll share some insight from 600 real RVers who answered the question on our social media platform.





* All this plus the RV News of the Week and your questions coming up in Episode 563 of the RV Podcast








You can watch the video version from our RV Lifestyle YouTube Channel by clicking the player above.







If you prefer an audio-only podcast, you can hear us through your favorite podcast app or listen now through the player above.



We are at the start of an awesome Fantasy RV Tour that will follow the Mississippi River Great River Road from its source in northern Minnesota down to where it empties in the Gulf south of New Orleans.



We did a Fantasy RV Tour last year of the Canadian Maritimes and were so impressed by the quality of these tours and how they cater to their guests that we couldn't wait to do another. This one will trace this mighty river's 2,500-mile route down across the center of the U.S., and we'll be experiencing the culture, the quisine and the awesomeness of this river which has so shaped the entire country,



We took our time getting up here in Minnesota, traveling across Michigan, up into the UP, then through Wisconsin and into Minnesota, and I have to say, the weather has been horrible.



As we record this podcast episode from our campsite in Bemidji, the sun is shining for the first time in many days. The first few days of this trip brought abnormally cold weather—temps dipping into the 40s—and plenty of rain.  A year ago this week, it was 95 up here.



It was 40 degrees the day we recorded this podcast.



But now the skies have cleared, the sun is shining, the temps are up into the 60s, and as we set out south following the river, we should be finally rolling along in the warm, beautiful Indian summer weather we hoped for.



Why we traded in our RVs for a new Brinkley Fifth Wheel







This has been the Maiden Voyage of our brand-new Brinkley Model Z 3100 fifth wheel. It’s handled everything over the 700 miles we’ve traveled so far with not a single issue.



We know this probably caught some of you by surprise, seeing us in this new rig. It happened very fast. But we traded in our Montana Fifth Wheel, which we've had for going on 3 years, and that new Cape Cod motorhome we bought in late spring. 



We explained the new RV to our RVCommunity.com last week, but we realize the switch caught some of you by surprise since you are not community members. In brief, we had no issues with either the Cape Cod or the Montana.