In staying on the road, we're going to talk about stopping smart RV brake maintenance for travel trailers and motorhomes, and then enjoying the RV life.

We're going to discuss how sleep is good for the soul.

And then in the next stop, we're going to check out Omaha, Nebraska.

I almost said Obama, Nebraska, but Omaha, Nebraska, and then the shadows of the past, towns that once were.

We're going to go to Manawi, Nebraska, and then an RV Envy.

We're going to check out the valerium velocity awning switch.

Now, I bet that's got you wondering what that is.

So you got to listen to find out.

So this is Eric Stark with the Smart RVer podcast, delivering the smarts you need to enjoy the freedom of the RV lifestyle without the fear of breaking down.

So let's talk everything RV today.

This is episode 177, so let's just dig right into it.

So, Alexis, you're back.

One more time.

I'm back.

Ready to go.

Yes.

All juiced up on coffee.

You know, it's whatever you put in your coffee in the morning.

Yeah.

Speed.

I'm just kidding.

Whatever, you know, Just joking.

Mushrooms.

I put mushrooms in my coffee.

Huh.

Eric loves.

She has this photo album of.

What are they called?

Mug shots.

Yeah.

Of her.

All the different count.

No.

Wow.

Yeah.

Exposing you for the real Alexis.

The criminal that I am.

That's right, the criminal.

Yeah.

Part your association.

Mm.

Don't really have much here to get into beforehand.

No rants or anything kind of weird.

Okay.

There hasn't been.

You're just calmer.

I am.

You know, I think earlier that we probably need to catalog a lot more stuff that people talk about.

You know, I try to make notes, but I was even thinking of some of the questions they have about repair.

You know, I guess.

Do you have a little something here?

So come in with these oddball things.

You know, I just kind of put it in my mind.

But we should be sharing those types of things with everybody because sometimes they're very odd.

Like a furnace that the entire furnace had 12 volts running through it.

Even suburbans, like, we don't know.

So that's an odd thing.

Right.

So they just replaced the furnace because there was no solution to it.

But an RV tech will say, oh, it was easiest.

The circuit board now is nothing.

It's the weirdest thing.

But anyway, we should be cataloging stuff like that so we can throw that thing, those things out there and make sure you guys are picking up on this stuff so you don't have to Go scrounging through the Internet to find it.

So we got to become better at that.

Alexis is over here dying, choking on something.

Really am.

I got a tickle in my throat.

I don't know what it is.

Which is amazing because this room, so totally clean, sanitary.

Yeah, that's one dust speck in here.

It's a bunker.

Yeah, it's better than a bunker.

Much better.

All right, so as a reminder, check out wholesale warranties.

Go to their website, actually, to the Lincoln.

The description for this podcast.

There's a link there, and that'll take you to the form to fill out to get a free quote, and it'll start the dialogue with them.

I think they have the best service in the world for RV extended warranties, and they're gonna provide the answers you need.

So you buy the right warranty at the right price, and they are less expensive than what you're gonna get at a dealership.

That's why they're called wholesale warranties.

You know, convey that price savings.

They are totally transparent.

And you can do this for a new or used rv.

So check out wholesale warranties.

You can use the description or the link in our description.

Now, that's going to take us to enjoying the RV life.

And this is an interesting subject because I think it applies to me right now because I feel sleep deprived.

Yeah.

And what was the title of it?

Sleep is good for the soul.

Good for the soul.

Yeah, I would agree with that.

Yeah.

You know, this morning as I pulled up here to the underground bunker, this dust free, sitting in my vehicle with the heat on, just thinking, I don't want to get outside.

So nice and toasty in here, you know?

Exactly.

I did.

And here I am.

Here we are, sleep deprived and all.

It's been one of those weeks.

Yep.

So, Alexis, tell us how sleep is.

The lack of sleep is killing us, or whatever it is.

You're going with this.

No, for real, that's true.

No, it can really put a damper on your RV trip, you know, if you don't get a good night's sleep, especially if you're driving somewhere.

Can you imagine?

So you get this terrible night's sleep, and then you have to drive how many hours you know, after that.

That's terrible.

Yeah.

So let's talk about how we can improve that.

A few disruptors, big ones are motion, altitude, and space.

So for motion, when RVs aren't rock solid, when they're not, you know, parked correctly, and all the dust.

Exactly.

All the stuff you can get from our sh Then that can really change how you sleep, how well you sleep and how deep you sleep.

If you're rocking back and forth or whatever, or the wind comes along and just there's creaking or whatever is going on, you're not going to get a very good sleep.

So making sure your RV is rock solid is one way that you can truly make sure that your sleeping is the best that you can have.

Altitude is another thing.

If you're boondocking at elevation, say 200 or 2,500ft above sea level near Thurmond, West Virginia, I gave this as an example.

Your sleep can really take a hit.

The oxygen level at that point really doesn't allow you to relax fully.

You're not going to have that nice REM sleep getting that oxygen in there, I guess, opening windows, I don't really know how you can fix that.

But that is one thing that can affect it.

I think it talks about that more.

And then cramped spaces, that is a huge one.

So if your RV bed is real tight and cozy, but not really cozy, that limited space can really hamper those positional shifts.

So everybody moves when they sleep, whether you think you do or not.

And if you're, if you're really stuck or stiff, that can really affect how well you sleep.

So those are just some things to think about.

There's a lot more in this article that helps you, like weighted blankets, custom mattress topper.

So there's white noise tricks to help your mind kind of relax.

Altitude adjustment, there's oxygen boosters for thin air levels and a lot of other things that are listed in here.

A lot of good information, especially if you have a hard time sleeping in your rv.

Yeah.

So that's interesting.

You know, I don't sleep well.

I don't sleep well, period.

But traveling, it becomes worse.

Hotel, rv, motels, it doesn't matter.

Right.

And the RV moving, you don't really associate it to that.

But if it moves a little bit, whenever you move, it's moving.

So that can be a little bit of a disruptor.

Absolutely.

The ventilation is interesting.

Yeah.

If it's warm out, generally have the air conditioning going.

No ventilation, Right?

Yeah.

Even though RVs aren't sealed that great.

When a window opens, something like this or event.

Yeah.

You feel like you're letting out the cold air, but you're actually helping yourself.

You are?

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's interesting.

Yeah.

There's something you said there got me thinking now I forgot about it, but I guess it doesn't matter.

Oh, you know what?

When When I'm traveling in an rv, one of my things about being tired is if you have a problem on the road.

Oh, a breakdown that you have to just really suck it up.

And if you're really tired, like you really got a poor night's sleep before you left, and then you get up and early and you go and then even a blowout or something can turn into something.

Like it's much harder to deal with when you're tired.

Kind of just take a deep breath and I can do this, you know.

Right.

So that's where sleep can help and it helps with better decision making.

You know, you're not going to be as client to.

Well, I can make that turn when you really shouldn't.

Right.

You know, you leave the gas station with the pump still on the side of your car because you're tired, you're not thinking.

So.

Yeah, I can see that's a big deal.

Oh yeah.

Think about that.

Getting sleep how you know there's a problem, you got to deal with it.

Yeah, true.

And it's just harder to do.

So when you totally screw up on the side of the road, you're definitely not saving money.

So hopefully we can help you save some money here.

Money saving tip.

Figuring out ways to stretch your budget where you're, you're saving some cash.

And sometimes entertainment is another consumer of money.

So finding some entertainment hacks little things to save a buck here, a couple bucks there.

It all adds up.

When we're traveling or RVing, it's non stop entertainment really.

So those costs can add up quickly.

And entertainment can come in different ways.

You know, maybe you're into, you know, a hobby of antique shopping.

So that's your entertainment.

So how can you save money there?

You know, do you really need to buy everything you see that you like?

Do, do you have a place for it?

Do you buy some stuff, just bring it home and set it in the garage and that's it.

See, that's not really being wise with your money.

And you probably know that if you're doing it and you know, I need to control this, but maybe you can't.

But it's finding little things like that or avoiding what they call tourist traps.

Everybody's heard of those when you're traveling times, fees for things, it looks good.

Then once you start, like, why did I start this tour?

This is a waste, you know, and you kind of knew it was going to be a waste because of what it looked like from the outside.

Maybe it was a, an animal park of some kind.

Or whatever.

You know, going on a high end outing of some kind can be a waste of money and that can add up quickly.

Or maybe not a waste of money, but maybe it's money you shouldn't have spent on that.

Right.

That you didn't appreciate it.

Or it's just the money you didn't really have to spend on it.

Exactly.

So, you know, there's ways to have fun though, have a great time without blowing your budget.

And it's just finding it, thinking about it like, you know, freebie things like let's say you stay at a national park and you have to spend money to spend the night there, that's fine.

But you know, obviously you're trying to do that on a budget.

So you find a national park you want to go to, but maybe it's a little more you want to spend on that nightly visit, but that's okay because you can probably make up for some of that the next day or during that trip rather than paying for like, let's say a tour guide to take you around the park and you know, 20 bucks a person, 40 bucks a person, 100 bucks, whatever it might be.

Most national parks are going to have a free tour that the rangers give and a lot of times they're going to have much greater information than a tour guide will have.

Or it can be very similar.

So you're not really losing out on much, even though it's a freebie.

From there you might be able to say, okay, you know what, I like that.

But this tour offers more and you can make a more informed decision if you want to do the other tour.

But look for that freebie stuff, you know, Mm, definitely can make a difference.

And then on a local level, you know, most RV parks are near, I mean, national parks are near a town or even where you're going if you're staying at an RV park and it's out in the middle of nowhere.

A lot of times towns have little things going on, you know, celebrations for this or that or the founder day, the guy who found the town, they have a thing, farmers markets, affair, carnivals.

Although some of those things, the rides will kill you, but they actually might not even be cheap either.

So it's finding the stuff where you don't have to pay a fortune to go to or you're not going to be inclined to just buy a bunch of junk food because you're there.

Like going to the movies.

I gotta have popcorn if I go to the movies, right?

And popcorn, the movies, what, like $50 for one.

No kidding?

Yeah.

Soda's 18 bucks.

It's insane.

Another thing you can do, too, especially this is probably really good when you have kids, is build your own fun package.

So think about the things that you and your family like to do together.

Like, maybe it's playing cards or throwing a frisbee around.

You know, Frisbee can turn into different things.

If all the members of the family have a Frisbee, you could do, like, Frisbee golf.

Mm.

So you can say, see that big old $300,000 motorhome down there?

So you got to get the windshield with the frisbee.

Oh, boy.

That'd be a hole in one.

You know, if the person comes out.

Well, you might have to sacrifice the frisbee.

Yeah.

Or the kid.

But we used to do that in Catalina when we were kids out in the.

The Cherry Cove where the.

Where we went.

Yeah.

We do it with moorings.

Okay.

So we'd swim around for hours playing frisbee.

We call it Frisbee golf.

That's awesome.

But that's one way of doing it.

Bringing, you know, like, Bluetooth speaker or even your phone anymore.

And having some music while you're outside, you know, the camp, campfire.

Just whatever you're doing hanging around it.

It makes it less boring.

It does.

And music.

You can just download it nowadays.

Oh, yeah.

And also, you know, kids love to do games, but also, geocaching is still a thing.

Have you ever heard of that, Alexis?

I think you've mentioned it before.

So it's like where you're.

Yeah.

You go hide stuff.

Yeah.

And actually, website, geocaching.com, where they have rules and regulations.

It's where you go hide it.

Then all the clues are there.

Then you look at the clues, and you go find it.

Fun.

You don't take it.

You just leave it and sign a.

Little guest book like you've seen it.

Yeah.

Right.

You could take a picture of yourself there.

Oh, okay.

So it's an interesting thing.

So you could either hunt for the treasures or you could bury the tre.

Not bury their hidden treasures or bury.

You could do it both.

Geocaching.com has all sorts of information on that, so that's kind of neat.

I think people used to do coins and stuff they'd, like with their name on it or something.

Okay.

Find the coin, you leave it there type of thing.

That's so cool.

Yeah.

So it's different, that type of game kids get into.

Oh, yeah.

It's a challenge.

Their little minds are working.

Probably figured out before you Will as an adult.

But that's pretty easy.

And you can do that anywhere.

The worldwide thing, not just here in the United States, it's worldwide.

Yeah.

So if you have access to the Internet or a smartphone, you can do that.

That's neat.

Think about subscriptions you have.

Do you need WI Fi or like if you're at a park you have to pay for WI Fi.

Do you need it?

Because you probably have it on your ph or not going crazy with your phone and downloading too much stuff where you're paying extra for that.

Where you can also just download like Netflix shows before you ever go on your trip rather than trying to connect to the Internet.

So that would save some money, you know, books, things like that.

Pretty simple stuff.

Do it at home.

Download whatever you can so it's already on your phone or your tablet, your device, whatever you're using.

So the full rv, I mean the full article will be here@the smartrver.com so these are great money saving tips that I think most everybody can take advantage of because saving that cash helps you.

RV a little bit further.

Now that brings us to staying on the road, stopping smart RV brake maintenance for travel trailers and motorhomes.

Now brakes are pretty important.

I think everybody understands that.

I think even little kids before they start driving, they're just driving around the car.

They know them brakes are important.

They know that mommy and daddy are pressing on that pedal for a reason, right?

Then when they get mad, do something stupid, they press on that other pedal and take off.

Brake maintenance is very important in RVs.

Whether it's a motorhome or you're pulling a travel trailer.

If you're pulling a travel trailer, it's just not the brakes on the trailer but the tow vehicle itself.

They make the difference whether you get there in one piece or not.

Those brakes are essential.

You have to stay on top of your brakes.

That's one of the things that's a must do do.

Could you just imagine you're going down a mountain grade and the brakes on your motorhome quit working, you know they're overheated, the pedal just goes right to the floor.

It's not stopping.

What a disaster that would be.

Or if you're pulling your travel trailer and the trailer brakes failed or the they, they were failing and the brakes on your truck couldn't handle the extra load and now you have no brakes whatsoever.

Those are the situations you don't want to find yourself in.

Those are heart pounding moments in life.

And if you're on the Verge of having a heart attack.

This just might send you right over the edge.

Who wants to do that?

That would be bad.

Right?

And you know, brakes take a beating in RVs.

Whether it's a trailer or motorhome, they're dealing with a lot of weight going down those mountain passes.

It's a lot of extra work for them.

So they definitely need some help.

So a $50 inspection can save, you know, maybe a $500 brake job or more.

More, depending on the RV.

You know, a diesel pusher brakes are going to get really expensive.

So taking care of maintaining them, paying attention to them is very important in your rv.

It's like everything else.

Know what you're working with.

You know, do you have hydraulic brakes, Electric brakes, like travel trailers typically have electric brakes, where a boat trailer would have surge brakes.

And quite often they're hydraulic.

Well, they would be hydraulic if they're surge.

Silly me.

Gosh.

Surge brakes, they're hydraulic.

And a lot of.

I shouldn't say a lot.

Some people are putting surge brakes, hydraulic brakes on their travel trailers.

Interesting.

And so that would mean they're converting from drum brakes to disc brakes, which they brake better.

It's out there.

It's became gaining more popularity.

It's kind of a process to do, but it's catching on.

And more and more people are doing it.

It's becoming more readily available without a bunch of problems to do it.

So it's knowing what you have and maintaining according to what you have.

If you have hydraulic brakes, you're not going to be checking electrical wires.

You're going to be checking for hydraulic leaks and lines and things like that.

And some brake systems are kind of complex, you know, like a diesel pusher.

More complex than, let's say, a travel trailer, where you just have electric brakes vs air powered brakes or air brakes.

You know, it goes.

That's such a cool sound.

Yeah, we need to get that sound effect.

Put it on the list.

Okay.

Gonna be more difficult to maintain, to work on if you're do it yourselfer.

I mean, doing brakes on a travel trailer is fairly simple compared to a diesel pusher or even some of the superseas, like a Freightliner chassis, you know which air brakes on those.

Mm.

So it's know what you have.

Understanding that.

And even if you have, let's say, a Freightliner chassis, let's say it's an M2, there's plenty of information on brakes.

The owner's manual is going to have some, but you could probably go online, get a little more information.

About it just so you have a better idea how they work, how it's all the airlines go and what's feeding what and how it is.

And that that's a great thing to know because brakes do fail or problems can creep in and you need to know whether it's something you can take care of or not.

Yeah, that's true with brakes.

It's a little more hands on.

You're gonna have to get dirty probably if it's in your wheelhouse.

So as a do it yourself or you know, you have to decide, you know, is this something I can deal with or not?

You know, if not, then just you take it into professional and the conversations over with.

Right.

You move on.

But if you're trying to maintain it yourself, there's nothing wrong with that.

Saving some money there definitely is worthwhile.

It seems like it's harder to get good repairs done this day and age anyway.

So doing yourself, at least you know where you're at.

Yeah, trailers with electric brakes, you know, you can't just pull a wheel off and the drum to inspect the brakes, you have to take the wheel bearings out.

So that makes it a little more complex.

So while you have it apart, you're going to repack those wheel bearings whether you need brakes or not.

And so some people will put that off.

Well, I don't want to bother with it because the brake pads are probably good or the shoes and so they don't want to mess with it.

Need to do it as part of the maintenance.

And after you get familiar with it, if you keep your RV for any length of time, you know how many miles you can go.

10,000 miles, you know, for a wheel bearing repack is fine.

Some brake pads on or shoes only last 10,000 miles or so.

Yeah, that makes sense.

If it's in your budget, you might want to just throw it all new on every 10,000 miles.

If that's.

If you can get that far, be good.

Or if it's 12 or 8, whatever it might be.

Backing plates are relatively inexpensive if you buy one at a time.

You know, I think they're going right now for a 12 by 2, I think about 65, 80 bucks somewhere.

Okay.

Not terrible.

Brake shoes typically aren't really sold anymore by themselves.

Or magnets.

You just replace the whole backing plate has everything on it.

You can still find shoes and magnets, but they're becoming like the dinosaurs.

Elusive.

Yeah.

Or the dodo bird.

You know, trailers are a little bit different where like motorhomes, some of them you can just Pull the drum off and inspect.

Or even if it has disc brakes like on the front, depending on the wheel configuration, you can just peek through the spoke in the wheel and see what the pads look like on the rotor.

So that's a pretty simple inspection there.

You know, the guideline is like to make sure there's a quarter inch of pad, but that.

I'm not going to say you'd have to stick to that, really.

If you got a quarter inch of pad, you definitely got enough break.

But some brake shoes are barely a quarter inch thick when they're new.

Wow.

It depends on how they're made.

So you have to really inspect it and look.

Know what the pads look like when they're new or the shoes.

I mean, I've seen brake shoes that have been replaced that they look.

The new ones look the same as the old ones.

So, you know, you don't want to find yourself doing that.

That's just a waste of money.

No kidding.

Checking things.

Brake pads and shoes are one thing.

You know, looking at the hydraulic lines, if you have a hydraulic system, making sure there's no leaks, no cracks.

Hydraulic lines typically last a really, really long time before they have issues.

But I wouldn't bet my life on that.

And the steel lines that go between, you know, like the run of the frame, they're always steel there.

Unless they have to have a rubber intersection someplace.

Check those for wear.

Sometimes they get little wear marks in them or an odd thing can happen.

Like in the automotive world, you know, the body sometimes will crush a brake line, like underneath the driver's seat.

Person getting in and out the body pan flex a little bit.

I mean, that's not an everyday thing, but giving you an idea of what to look for sometimes out of the ordinary.

You know, we don't want to get lackadaisical in that.

I mean, brake lines do last.

But when you're going down a grade in a motorhome or pulling a trailer, you want it to work.

And also knowing what type of brake fluid you have, whether it's dot three or dot four, you want to be sure of that.

You know, it used to just be dot, whatever, dot one, and now, so you got all these different dots.

And it's important to use the right brake fluid.

You know, a rule of thumb is if your brake fluid is low, that's just an indicator of where your brake pads are at.

So it doesn't mean you always have to add, you know, I kind of leave mine and this is how I do it.

Doesn't Mean, you should, but I just watch the reservoir.

In a certain point, I'll add.

But I don't fill it all the way up because it's showing you where your brake pads are, where their wear is.

Now, you can't, you know, say, well, they're 50% or 40%, but it gives you an idea.

Yeah.

And also, brake fluid is good to flush out of the system from time to time.

Some manufacturers recommend a year, some it's every two years.

And if you had brake problems, like if your brake pads were overheating, if that brake fluid started to boil, it's not going to have the same effect or work as well.

So you might want to flush it.

And that's.

You can do gravity.

You don't need any special tools for that.

Now, a shop's going to tell you, oh, you got to have this machine.

And it does this, does that.

That's a bunch of malarkey.

Yeah, malarkey.

They still use malarkey today?

Oh, yeah.

What is malarkey?

Is that a bird?

Yeah.

I thought it meant garbage.

It's a bunch of garbage.

What does it mean?

You know, I think we need to back up and go back to the sleep thing.

Alexis, you look, like, a little tired here.

That's malarkey.

Yeah.

There you go.

So brake fluid's important, and you can just do a gravity feed on it to flush.

It works just the same.

Putting new fluid in is putting new fluid in.

So adjusting the brakes, too.

If you have drum brakes, like on a travel trailer, keeping those brakes adjusted up.

Now, a lot of new trailers and new backing plates have self adjusting.

So as you're going forward, they self adjust.

They don't over adjust.

They adjust it just the way it's supposed to be.

You know, a little bit of drag on that drum.

That's important, keeping the brake shoes out towards the drum, because you don't have that airspace in there, which will make the pedal drop down lower and even feel a little spongy.

So those some basic things, you know, in bigger trucks, motorhomes, doing those brake adjustments can be a little harder sometimes.

There's more to taking the drum off.

It's obviously heavier stuff, so, you know, keep that in mind.

But you don't always have to take the drum off to adjust the brakes either.

To inspect, you would.

But to adjust, you can do it from the back side.

There's a little adjuster there.

It's much easier.

Yeah.

Save some time and headache that way.

You know, a lot of what I just covered is part of routine maintenance.

Yeah, it's all routine maintenance, really.

Just making sure everything's good.

If you're, like I said, if you're doing trailer brakes and you take it apart, just repack those bearings, replace the grease seal, you have it there.

Don't use an old grease seal, put a new one in, check the bearings, repack them, and everything should be good.

Another thing too is you know when you're driving and you hear squeaks and grinding and weird noises, that could be the sign of a problem with the brakes.

So you want to check that.

Don't let it go, you know, I know like on some cars, like letting those brakes go into the steel is not a big deal because rotors are so inexpensive.

But why go that route if you have, you know, if you can avoid it?

Drums can be a bigger problem on trailers to find, you know, you're probably not going to go to your local RV store and get a drum all the time.

Not saying you can't, but if they don't sell a lot of them, they're not going to stock them.

Or if you're out on the road and you got to do a brake job, that could become a bigger issue.

So you want to avoid that.

Do that stuff at home.

So if you hear noises, take care of it.

Now there's some basic things you know, with let's say trailer brake, simple, do it yourself.

Fixers or fixes.

If your brakes, your trailer brakes are not stopping like they used to, it could just be an adjustment.

Adjust up the shoes, check that out and you know, you can find more in depth articles online about adjusting brake shoes.

It's pretty simple to do.

You need a need to jack up the wheel.

You can tell there's a way to spin it.

I don't want to get into all that.

I'm just laying out the groundwork here on what you can do.

And then you can check for wiring issues.

If your brake controller or if your trailer brakes aren't working at all or they don't seem like they're working, you're not sure, you know, make sure all the connections are good.

That where your plug goes into the back of your truck underneath the trailer, make sure the wires are still connected at the brakes.

The gain on your brake controller has moved, so you need to adjust the gain and you can actually test the brakes on a trailer.

You can unplug it from the RV or the truck.

And the two pins, I forget what number they are, but you can jump those.

One goes to the brakes, one goes to 12 volts.

You can hear the brakes clicking or making noise.

You'd want to hear that in all four wheels.

That's a pretty basic thing.

Give you an idea whether the.

The magnets are working or not, at least.

And then if they are, then it could be just the brake shoes need to be adjusted.

Instead of hear grinding noises, other things, you want to take care of those problems right away.

If the RV is pulling when you brake, it could just be a brake adjustment, something as simple as that.

Or it could be like a stuck caliper is putting more pressure on it and it's not working correctly.

So the caliper would have to.

I was going to say be rebuilt, but I don't know if they even do that anymore.

Everybody just puts on new stuff.

Whatever happened to the good old days?

You get out there, hone out the caliper, put in some new seals.

Those days are gone.

They're gone.

That does it.

I'm tired of this, of these days.

Pulling is generally the sign of a problem, though, whether it's large or small.

You'll have to check that out.

And surge brakes, you know, there, we didn't really discuss too much about those because it's more of a trailer thing or a boat trailer type thing.

But they kind of fall in the same line as hydraulic brakes on your vehicle, and they do need to be adjusted.

If they're not disc and sometimes those master cylinders, the surge part of it can have problems.

Even just rust and corrosion can keep them from working properly.

Yeah, so you want to check that out.

Make sure the master cylinder is not leaking as well on the sur.

Well on any vehicle, but on a surge as well.

Now, remember, when you're working on trailers or motorhomes or your brake systems, always use jack stands.

Don't just use a jack, add a jack stand to it.

Chock the wheels, block the wheels so it can't roll forward backwards.

Crush yourself.

You know, that's always a bad thing.

And, you know, just a little safety tip from Eric is, you know, keep your cell phone next to you.

So if you do have to, you got get crushed.

At least you got a fighting chance, right?

Sort of.

If you can dial.

Yeah, maybe just keep it already set on nine, one one.

There you go.

And just press.

Yeah.

So that's your safety tip from the smart rv.

So it's a little bit of maintenance, a little bit of forethought into your brakes and understanding them, how they work and what to look for.

You know, a little bit of maintenance can cut maybe cost 10 bucks versus a 3,500,000 dollar $5000 dollar brake depending on what happens.

And again, if you have a unique situation, you go check out some RV forums as well.

They always have some good information.

Or you can just call me the Smart rver.

We always answer the phone so we've covered the brakes.

I think from one end to the other.

That answers any questions you might have.

And again, like I said, you can always call us and ask us questions about that.

This full article will be on the smartrver.com under staying on the Road and now that brings us to the next stop.

And we are going to someplace in Nebraska.

Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska all right, so what's happening in Omaha, Alexis?

This is a rather bigger city than we normally talk about, but that's that makes it pretty cool.

The one Eric is going to cover is very special.

So we'll start with Omaha.

Though it was founded in 1854 and it quickly became a pivotal transportation hub with the arrival of the Union Pacific Railroad.

I'm sure you've all heard of that.

And so it was really an integral part of becoming helping America's westward expansion.

So jumping ahead, a couple activities you can do while you're in Omaha is the Henry Doerley Zoo and Aquarium.

Very neat.

Especially if you have kids or if you're just interested in that yourself.

You'll find animals and exhibits from around the world.

Very neat.

There's also Scott's Aquariums underground tunnel where you can come face to face with sharks and sea turtles.

Another thing you can do is there's an Omaha historic Old market district.

This is a very neat place.

Cobblestone streets.

It's got eclectic shops and art galleries.

Very neat.

You've got to see it.

And then lastly but not leastly, the beauty of Omaha's riverfront.

You really need to enjoy that by walking across the Bob Carey pedestrian bridge.

It's 3,000ft long and has panoramic views of the Missouri River.

And it's really a unique opportunity to stand one foot in Nebraska and one foot in Iowa.

Kind of cool.

You get to do that on there.

That's a life changer, right?

Very neat.

And then there's a lot of local food.

We always talk about the food.

Well known one is the Drover.

It's known for its whiskey marinated steaks.

Yummy.

And then for traveling, if you those who are traveling in their RV have plenty of options in Omaha.

There's Koas, there's the West Omaha Lincoln Koa, Holiday Gretna or the Eugene T Mahoney State Park.

It's a mouthful, but there's lots of places for RVers to stay.

That is my.

That is my tidbit for you.

You can check out more details on the smart rver.

All right, that sounds interesting.

Now, Omaha is bigger.

It is a lot bigger.

Yeah.

We generally don't like big cities.

Right.

But this one's interesting.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I think it's, you know, part of the process of RVing.

Even if you just drove through there and hung out for a little bit, maybe saw one thing, you know, I know in a city, driving around, especially if you're like towing a trailer.

Right.

Be a real chore.

Yeah, exactly.

Even when there's RV parks there.

I mean, I myself don't really like big cities.

I know.

You know, so that's a turn off to me.

But other people do like big cities.

So here's an option.

Well, that's cool.

And of course, you mentioned Manawi.

Yeah.

So that's a.

Interesting place of itself.

Very.

It definitely falls into the shadows of the past portion of the show.

So let's get into Manawi.

Now, Manau is a very small town.

You have to understand that.

And airy.

Yeah.

So it stands out as some places very different.

So let's get into this.

Another page from my book from Grandpappy Popeye.

So let's.

Let's do this.

So Manau was founded in 1902 by Czech immigrants.

Manaui started as a hopeful farming community along the railroad.

At its peak in the 1930s, it had 150 souls, a post office, a school, and even a jail.

Folks gathered at the tavern, swapping stories over cold beers while the prairie stretched out endless and green.

But the world moved on.

Farms consolidated.

Young people left for the cities.

And by the 1970s, Manawi was fading fast.

Today, it's down to one resident, Elsie Eiler, who's been the mayor, librarian, and bartender since her husband passed in 2004.

She runs the Manawi Tavern, keeps the library open his memory, and pays taxes to herself.

Population 1.

The streets are silent, the houses crumbling, but Elsie's still there, a living testament to a town that refuses to vanish completely.

But now he's a shadow of its past, a whisper of resilience in the vast Nebraska plains.

So that's a place that is very cool.

We gotta check that out.

Yes, yes.

Pays taxes to herself.

I think that's so cool.

That's almost like.

What a dictator?

Yeah.

Well, no, he just.

Now, I don't know.

But that's very cool.

So we're not going to let Manawi rest because of time constraints, we weren't able to talk to Elsie, but we are planning on doing that.

So that'll be in a future episode.

We'll incorporate that back in.

So we're going to revisit Manawi in the future?

Absolutely.

And if anybody's ever been there, knows anything about it, please let us know.

We'd love to hear it.

So we are intrigued by that.

Manawi is a very unique place.

It's Manawi.

Time to move on.

Nice.

Oh, boy.

I just thought of that.

That's brilliant.

I love it.

I love it.

That's that sleep deprivation thing.

Yes.

Creativity comes from sleep deprivation.

So stupid.

Seems so funny.

So now we're stepping into RV envy.

We're going to talk about the valerium velocity awning switch.

Yeah, I know you're wondering, what's that velocity?

I mean high velocity.

What are we looking at here?

So this switch is very cool.

So it works on most power awnings.

And if you didn't know this, most power awnings the motors are 12 to 24 volts.

So you could be 12, could be 24, could be 18, whatever.

It's a broad span.

And that's why this switch works.

Because what it does, it has a capacitor on the backside.

So this is bigger than a switch.

It's got a price tag that's bigger than the switch.

It's over 100 bucks or right around, I forget, but it's in that hundred dollar range.

So it replaces the existing switch on your RV for the awning.

And what it does is it, it'll extend the awning almost twice as fast and retract it almost twice as fast.

For some awnings, that's still not going to be lightning, but it's going to be better because some brands or some awnings themselves that takes forever to go out, you sit here waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, and then the finally is out or in.

So this switch will solve that problem.

I haven't put one of my RV yet.

I'm planning on doing it and I'll report back once I do that.

I should have already done it, but, you know, it's wintertime.

Not motivated to go out and mess with that kind of stuff.

Fair.

But it's made by Valerian, which is owned by Eric Cell.

And Valerium is a newer brand of awnings that hit the market two, three years ago.

You know, I haven't seen one yet other than a trade show.

We got a fabric for once, sitting on our warehouse because we wanted to check out the fabric.

We haven't even done that.

We're total losers.

I know, we really are.

So we're gonna have to do a video on that as well.

The fabric, the switch is cool.

Maybe a video on that.

Yeah.

But anyway, check it out.

It's definitely nice because awning sometimes just drag in and out.

Or if you're in a windstorm and you want to bring that sucker in, you know, if it going in real slow, that's where it can get damaged.

But you bring it in real quick, you know, you got that peace of mind.

The Valerian Velocity awning switch at an RV store near you.

Come to the end of the show today and just as a final reminder, check out wholesale warranties by going to the link in the description of this podcast and again, you can get a free quote.

Get the process started of talking about an extended warranty.

Whether you're looking at buying a new rv, a used rv, it's not going to matter.

They cover both.

So it's a great option.

And obviously by the name, it rings that bell of saving money.

Wholesale warranties.

So our next episode is going to be 178 and there's one thing we're going to talk about in that episode and it's a product called Sticky books.

And no, it's not how to make sticky buns or anything like that.

It's about these books.

One of them is called Night Skies.

The other one's tracks and the other one's charts.

They read real quick and like the Night Skies explains all the stuff going on in the skies at night.

The tracks, all the different tracks of animals and there's visuals, easy bite size pieces to read.

Great for adults, great for kids.

I have some samples coming so we're going to check those out.

But we're going to talk about them in episode 178.

So you have that to look forward to.

I'm excited about these.

You know, I like quick, easy reads.

Me yourself.

So this is Eric Stark with the Smart RVer podcast, your go to guide for smarter RVing and unforgettable adventures on the open road.

And thanks for stopping by and listening today.

We'll see you next time.