"Alaska: RV Adventure of a Lifetime!"

Spring is here! Our conversation will now switch from RV’ing Baja to planning for “Alaska: RV Adventure of a Lifetime!”. This week I’ve posted our popular monthly newsletter “Tales from the Open Road”. To get the newsletter and links check out our website at www.rvadventurevideos.comPlease feel free to email me any questions about RV’ing Alaska.”Tales from the Road”We hope to see you somewhere on the road this show season!———————————————–

Schedule: March Schedule: 19th – 2nd Phoenix AZ RV Show – 3rd (Jodie) Miami OK – 19th Bakersfield CA – 19th – 19th Denver CO RV Show – 19th – 19th The Rally Perry GA – 19th – 19th Sacramento RV ShowApril Schedule: 2nd Lenora CA – 19th Fairfield Glade TN (Jodie) – 19th Huntsville AL (Jodie ) – 19th Burlington NC (Jodie) – 19th North Bay ONT (John) – 2nd Dun das ONT – 23rd Rockville ONT – 19th Missies ONT – 19th Chatham ONTCheck out John’s new Blog on RV.NetFMCA Magazine Features RV Adventure Videos “Gulf Coast” in New Products section.Hall of FameJoe & Vicki Kieva’s “RV’ing Alaska: What to Expect – How to Prepare”On February 1st Jodie did two shows at Merced Community College in Merced CA for sponsor Mar nee Chula. It was the world premier of our new “Alaska: RV Adventure of a Lifetime”. The crowd is always great here. The audience really enjoyed the new video and laughed at all the bad jokes! What more could I ask for, all the hard work was worth it!Jodie flew back to Tucson the next day and we would be together, for a couple days at least. While we were home and had some time off from our busy show schedule what did we do? We did a show! We set up a presentation of our new Alaska in the ballroom at the Voyager RV Resort, our home base. About 200 people showed up for a fun night. After the show we gave tours of our Born Free coach which was parked outside. We love showing it off!Our short home stay ended on the 19th when Jodie flew out to do the MPLS RV Showand I flew out to work the Seattle RV Show. I don’t know who got the worse end of the deal weather-wise, it was cold in MPLS but cold and wet in Seattle. Both shows went well and we had great crowds. As a bonus, I got to have dinner with Nelson Christensen and Avis, my friends from the old AC&NW band days in Maui. We are trying to put together a band reunion in Hawaii. After the Seattle show I flew home to work on finishing the Kieva’s DVD while Jodie went on to freeze for another week at the Milwaukee RV Show.Joe & Vicki Kieva’s new “RVing Alaska: What to Expect – How to Prepare” is now ready for purchase. We spent three weeks in Alaska with them this summer shooting the “how to” DVD. Our DVD’s show you what there is to see in Alaska while there’s explains how to get ready for a trip to the last frontier! We now have three great Alaska DVD’s to help you save time and money on your Alaska RV adventure of a lifetime!While Jodie was on the road I got to fill in for her selling her great new jewelry at Market Days in our RV resort. There is nothing I do better than selling jewelry to women. Well, I actually do everything better. I was a fish out of water but had fun with the shoppers!While Jodie was on the road I got to fill in for her selling her great new jewelry at Market Days in our RV resort. There is nothing I do better than selling jewelry to women. Well, I actually do everything better. I was a fish out of water but had fun with the shoppers! On the 19th I drove the Born Free over to Casa Grande AZ and did an Alaska seminar at the Gypsy Journal RV Rally. Nick and Terry Russell have been selling our DVD’s on their website for years and it was the first chance I had to meet them, great folks! They write a very informative RV Travel Newspaper you can check out at their site. After the show I gave tours of our Born Free.Write this down! On February 16th snow was falling from the sky outside our home in Tucson! Get that Nobel Peace Prize back from ALGore! The snow was falling but a least it wasn’t sticking to the ground. People are always surprised to hear how cold it gets here in the winter. Night time lows are sometimes in the upper 20’s. I know all you folks from Iowa and Michigan are feeling very sorry for us!Jodie returned home on the 18th and we started packing for our next run of RV shows! Work, work, work as Maynard G. Krebs used to say on Dobie Gillis show. Actually he just said “WORK”. Now I know what he meant. I knew I should have grown up to be a lazy beat-nick. The next day Jodie had to leave for a show in Yuma AZ while I finished packing.The morning of the 20th I flew out of Tucson at 7:00am and did a presentation in Poughkeepsie NY that night at 7:30pm. I need my own jet, just like ALGore! I flew into Albany NY and then had to drive 80 miles to the show. The crowd in Poughkeepsie is always very receptive and it’s fun to visit with our friend and former sponsor Ed Fitchett. The next day I flew to Richmond VA and drove 80 miles to do presentations at the Fredericksburg VA RV Show. I get tired just reading about my own schedule. I wonder why I have a hard time sleeping at night. I don’t even know where I am!I shared the seminar stage with the RV Doctor Gary BunzerIf your RV is sick, he is the man to see. He also has great maintain tips so your RV won’t get sick in the first place! Check out his website. Jerry Ehrhardt was there from Born Free with several coaches on display. Attendees loved the look of the 2008 models. We all had a good time at the show. My cousins Bob and Gerald came to visit on Saturday and we had a great dinner together. It’s always nice to get together with family.While I was working on the road Jodie and her friends were enjoying Palm Springs and the California coast in San Diego. No, I’m not jealous. Not much! We both have had a tough and busy year and she deserves some time off! I will always miss those “girls weekends” though.The evening of the 24th I flew from Richmond VA into LAX and stayed at one of the world’s worst hotels, and it only cost me $100! Anytime an RV’er complains about the high cost of fuel I ask ” Have you stayed in a hotel lately?” Even with high fuel prices, RV’ing is still cheaper than eating out every night and staying in bad hotels. At least you get to sleep in your own bed.The next morning I got a rental car and drove to Torrance CA where I met Jodie for a great lunch in one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. We had a nice lunch date before she had to drive off and deliver our Born Free to the RV show in Phoenix AZ. That night I did two presentations for sponsor and good friend Bruce Spain. He always takes the speaker out for a great Thai dinner between shows. My friend and fellow sailor Bev Godwin, who I met in Hawaii when I was filming back in 1999, attended the show and we got a chance to catch up with life in general. It’s always good to see Bev. After the show I drove down to Long Beach and got another bad hotel, are t
here any other kind?After picking up Jodie at the Long Beach Airport the next morning we drove north and did another Travelogue show in Alhambra CA. This time we got to spend time with our friends the Lewis Williams family. When we were full-timing the Williams family would let us camp in their driveway for weeks at a time. Now that we have a place in Tucson we don’t get to see them as often as we would like. It was nice to see everyone and catch up with the kids, little Lou and Kayla.The next morning we were up at 5:30am to do an 8:00am Alaska seminar for over 300 people at the FMCA Pomona CA Convention. The crowd was enthusiastic and enjoyed the info about Alaska. After the presentation we drove 350 miles to Phoenix AZ. That night we had dinner with Ben & Vicki Craine. Ben was my boss at his photo studio in Detroit back in 1970. Holy smoke, are we that old? We had a fun time talking about old times.For the next four days we did our video presentations at the Phoenix RV Show for Debra and John Greenband. They put on a first class show and we had good crowds for the event. Karri and Ed came in from Born Free to show the new units.One evening we went out to the Dubliner Bar and met up with old friend Trevor Jones. Trevor was working the bar circuit at the same time our band was back in the early 80’s in Maui .Trevor put on a great show singing and playing the guitar, he makes the crowd come alive better than anyone I know! It was wonderful to see him again after 25 years or so. You are only as old as you feel!See ya on the road,John & Jodie©2008 John Holod ProductionsPS: Would you like to have “Tales from the Road” delivered to you every month? It’s easy…just sign up for the mailing list by clicking here to drop us a line.