G: So, do you have… do you know for example, Melanie, for the ones you mentioned, the ones that you have to pay for, are they a one-time fee, are they monthly or any kind of renewal type thing you have to go through with them?
M: For everything that I’ve mentioned, they’re all one-time fees. Whatever store you buy it on, whether it’s Apple, or I guess it’s the iOS Store, or the Google Play Store which is Android devices, that will be stored on your account for the entirety that you’re going to use that platform. If I were to upgrade my iPhone, I log into my iTunes account and then it automatically stores what I purchased so I can just easily redownload that without paying.
G: Ok, awesome. Sarah had another question but I can answer this. You asked about a webinar on Instagram and how to use it to get the most out of it. That is definitely in the lineup coming. We don’t have a schedule for it, yet, we
are working on that. She also suggested the app Go Pet-friendly for people who travel with their pets. Some places to, I guess, help with finding like dog parks. I’ve heard of it before from other people – it helps the finding dog parks or dog friendly places to go, that sort of thing.
G: Mary asked how many apps do you have on your phone, Melanie? If you think about it, how many you’ve talked
about, that it has take up a lot of memory.
M: I actually… I just upgraded to an iPhone 7 so I go a little overboard because I know I have the space but when I
did have… I think I recently had a 32 GB so I did have to watch. I would kind of pick the ones that I know I was going to use- All Stays was always on my phone. I would say total right now I probably have at least 50 but I also
have a five-year-old who loves to take my phone and so some of those are games. But, as far as travel resources, I probably keep about 20 at a time on there. If I’m looking to downsize my space, I just kind of go through them and say ‘am I utilizing this on a constant basis?’ Then, if I do delete it, I know I can get it back without having to pay for it again because again it’s stored on my iTunes account. So yeah, I just… if I’m looking to downsize space, I just pick
the ones that I frequently use. \
G: Other suggestions to add in while we’re chatting- so Sarah suggested Prism (P-R-I-S-M) as another app to keep track of when bills are due. Linda also suggested free overnight parking.
M: She thinks it’s about 25 dollars a year I have seen that before, too, but that’s a pretty great app. You can also go to their website and use it there.
G: She also asked ‘do you have any suggestions on apps to help map out travel?’ It sounds like, maybe, for tracking where you’ve been and where you’re going.
M: Um, Roadtrippers, for mapping out the travel, Roadtrippers is good for that because you can store the trip that you’ve created. You can either do it on their app or their website. I tend to lean towards creating that on the website. kind of mapping out where I’m going, setting new destinations, figuring out if I need to stop somewhere along the way, and then I save it to my account that I’ve created on there. Then, I can pull that up on Roadtrippers on my phone and easily access.
G: It make sense. So there are a couple of questions about… So Casey asks about the budget app. That was Mint, right? M-I-N-T?
M: Yes, and there’s several of these, so I would suggest kind of poking around. Most of them are free so you have the chance to download them and see what they’re all about, if it works for your needs and if you’re comfortable with it. If not, try another one. So, a lot of options out there but Mint is one that I suggest.
G: Oh yeah, I’ve used that one, too. I like it as well. So, Sarah asks, and it’s been a little bit now, sorry… The last resource that you mentioned in your presentation… do you recall which one that was? It was about, it was RV Traveler or something like that?
M: I think it might have been Roadtrippers, the ones that I talked about that weren’t actually on the slides. The last one on the slides was iRecycle and then the ones that I didn’t mention were, or that I didn’t have a picture of, was Campendium and that’s website based but it’s a very great resource. I mentioned Mint, I mentioned Roadtrippers.
Yeah, I think that was the last one. It might have been Roadtrippers that she was thinking of.
G: Okay! Looking at other apps suggestions that have popped up in the last few minutes- for example, RV Park Reviews was really good for finding out about places before you land, as well as Sherri suggested AAA for route planning as well.
G: Mike asks, “are there any medical location type apps that you know of?”
M: Not that I know of. That’s a good thing to check into, though. I will look into that and then I can always upload it. Most of these apps are available on our website. If you log in, it’s on the top menu bar under “Resources.” There’s a mobile app section. It’s been a while since I have updated the new logos and stuff that have come from the apps, and there’s a couple that I added for this presentation that aren’t on there, but I will look into that. If I can find something valuable that will help people in the road, I’ll definitely get added there.
G: Do you have… do you know of anything… the Sani- the Sanidump one you suggested might be a good one for this, but John ask “do you know any resources to find a place where you can dispose of garbage that is not recyclable?”
M: No, I don’t know, not trash specific but I’m guessing there’s something out there. I can probably do some research on that.
G: I know this from talking with other RVers, especially when we’ve been out boondocking somewhere, a lot of the time, the places that will take dumps, that have dump stations also do have some kind of dumpster available for trash. It may not be large quantities of trash, but if it’s just a bag or two from your RV they typically have a space to accommodate you for that. Not all of them will, of course, but a lot of them do.
G: Linda suggested First Aid by American Red Cross is a good medical app.
M: Okay.
G: And then someone else asked, or suggested, as a boondocker free campsites.net is a go to for them.
G: Sarah asked about reciprocal toll roads. For example, as you travel around Texas, if you see Texas toll roads, TXTag is used on almost all of them, even if it’s not what a logos is displayed. Do you know if there’s an app for when you’re traveling through other states or between states?
M: I want to say that this question was actually just asked in our group page, on Xscapers, and I want to say that just Google Maps was recommended. If you put… if you’re putting in your route, it’ll alert you of tolls on there, so I think that was the consensus, to use Google Maps. Set your destination, where you’re going, and then open up the route, the raw information, and it’ll tell you if you’re going to be coming up on a toll road. You can do that beforehand, to be helpful.
G: Do you happen to know from that if, I think she’s asking is, like a reciprocal things where, even if a certain company owns that toll road, they will allow people with this other toll tag to come through because they have a relationship where they just charge that tag. Is that something? Does it tell you on Google? When it pops up, if you can see which tolls?
M: I don’t think it would have that information and I’m not sure there’s something out there that would share that.
G: Yeah, okay. Well, a question I have for you actually is- you listed a lot of apps here- how did you learn about the
apps that have become your favorites? How did you find them?
M: Kind of trial and error, I guess. I’ve been using them since we got on the road. A lot of them, like Allstays has been on my phone for a good five years since we’ve been traveling. So it’s kind of… I know I hold this session at some of our convergences and I’ve collected data from other people. Then, from there I would test them out myself to make sure that I felt they were reliable enough. So yeah, it’s been a lot of testing there. I’ve downloaded probably hundreds that I have ended up not feeling like they were very useful and deleting them. So, these are just ones that we actually do use more on the road so they’re my favorites. I might be a little biased but I feel like these are frequent ones that a
lot of people talk about also.
G: And Tim just suggested, actually, the Copilot app that it’s a mapping app that allows you to insert the height of your rig to determine if you can get under a bridge or that sort of thing.
M: That’s actually a really good point.
G: Yeah. There’s a question asking about if you know of any good apps for DirecTV pointing. DirecTV pointing for your satellite?
M: That would probably… is what you could use for with the Satellite Finder. If it’s on your RV, you could probably still just stand outside and point it to see where the satellites are and see where you need to actually face it, if you’re able
to adjust that same for the standalone ones that you set up outside of your RV.
G: Alright, well it looks like so far that’s about all we have for questions. Something to keep in mind for you guys that are that are viewing this, if you do decide you want to use the RVillage app, Escapees has our own group on there as well as our Xscapers group, which is the subgroup of Escapees members that are more of the working-aged RVers. You can connect with other RVers through RVillage that way, both within Escapees Club and of course if you belong to FMCA or Good Sam or any of those other ones, they also have their own groups. And there are all kinds of special
interest groups- if you like to write, or you like to do photography, there’s all kinds of groups on there for that, too. So, for those of you who maybe are having trouble finding people to connect with along the way, RVillage is a great way to go about doing that.
G: And yeah, somebody’s actually popped up on here- Mike suggested Dish Pointer Pro as a great app for satellite pointer.
M: That’s good to know.
G: Alright, well, I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with us, Melanie, thank you so much for the time you took, putting this together. And to those of you who are Escapees members, give it… give her a couple of days, I think, because we’re all about to take off to Tucson soon, and we will get the information updated on the member side of the Escapees website so you can also see all these apps there in a list form if you’d like.
M: That actually just reminded me real quick I want to add, you said “Escapade,” we are… we just finalized and we’re super excited to launch our event app at this Escapade. So, if you’re going to be joining us for that, I can’t wait to share that with you. It’s going to be very, very helpful. I had to because we’re speaking about apps, of course.
G: Of course! I got to look at it today, and I completely agree that it is awesome. I’m so excited. Even I’m attending as well, and I’m excited to go plan out my schedule and all.
G: Well, for everybody who’s registered, you’re going to receive a follow-up email in the next couple of days that as a link to this replay where you can watch the webinar in its entirety in case you came in late or had to leave early, and that way you can share it with your friends or whoever else. Anybody can take a look at it afterwards. Also, when you registered, you received a confirmation email and that has a survey at the bottom. If you guys will take a few minutes whenever you get a chance and let us know what you thought and if you have any suggestions for future webinars, I’m happy to hear them. That way, we can make this program even better for you.
G: Alright, well, have a great evening, guys. I’ll see you next time.
M: Bye!