May Edition

In the American Southwest you could tell that winter was over as, while we headed south to Las Vegas, there was a steady stream of trailers, fifth wheelers, C's and A's heading north, most likely to their cooler summer habitat.

Our destination was the Mirage Hotel to attend Winnebago's annual "Dealer Days." Months before you walk into a sparkling new RV model at a dealer or show, the journey of bringing it to the market makes an important stop for a dealer-only event. This year Winnebago gave me a "backstage pass" to Dealer Days and I'm pleased that you can come along with me in both a video and story that I've posted.

April also saw another introduction in the form of a great new RV book, "Winnebago Nation: The RV in American Culture by James B. Twitchell. Its lighthearted tone belies a work of some scholarly heft. This book really resonated with me and it kept me inside and away from a glorious Colorado spring afternoon as I devoured every page. Reading the book offered a powerful affirmation of our vision to create the GoLife site. Twitchell is spot on in his assessment that an RV lifestyle is often belittled in American culture. And that's the exact reason that inspired us to create an outpost on the web which celebrates the rich tapestry of joys and satisfactions of mobile living that, to many, are woefully under-appreciated. You can read a review of his excellent book here.

Finally, in the rich tapestry department, I'd like you to meet Tynan. Tynan happily resides full-time in his 1996 Rialta in the heart of San Francisco. Now, I'm clearly aware that most of the readers of GoLife are well past forty and, in my case, two decades past. At age 33, Tynan's story is far outside the margins of mainstream RV life, but in our conversation there was plenty of common ground in the discussion of holding tanks, rig modifications and road experiences. Time Magazine listed Tynan as one of the top 25 bloggers of 2013. And, as a fully assimilated human of the digital age, you can learn a lot more about him at his own blog: tynan.com. Additionally, I came across a 45 minute video podcast interview that one of Tynan's friends, Maneesh Sethi, posted a couple of years ago. Fair warning: the content is strong PG-13 and, for many, the topics Maneesh and Tynan discuss may not be your cup of tea, but for my wife Terry and I, we found this entertaining conversation between two highly intelligent young men, who are pursuing life from a very different perspective, to be a fascinating peek into a lifestyle and world view that was completely foreign to us. You can watch their conversation here.