Anybody who knows me well knows that I can keep a platoon of mechanics and handymen busy with all of the things I mess up in the course of a day. But yesterday I impressed even myself. Just by joining RVillage, the great new social network for RVers, I crashed the whole thing! Call me gifted. Or cursed. Because I’m pretty sure RVillage founder Curtis Coleman was cursing me.
I have to admit that when I first heard about RVillage I wasn’t all that impressed. Okay, Facebook for RVers. That’s nice. Yawn. But I spent some time visiting with Curtis in his nice Prevost bus conversion yesterday and I came away a convert. Yes, RVillage is a social network for RVers. But that’s like saying your mother is a woman. There’s a lot more to it than that!
Curtis said that his goal with RVillage is not to have people sitting in front of their computers talking to each other online, but rather to encourage them to get outside and actually meet people face to face, visit under the RV’s awning, and build relationships.
So how does RVillage do that? Much like Facebook, members create a profile, and then when they are in an RV park they can simply click a button or two on the screen to tell the world where they are and see who else is in the campground or nearby. There are also subgroups for members with shared interests, everything from retired military to crafters, bicyclists, hikers, you name it and there’s probably an RVillage group for it. And if there isn’t, you can start your own! What’s that you say, you don’t want the whole world to know where you are? No problem, just don’t click the campground’s button.
But as I said, RVillage isn’t just about meeting new friends, connecting with old ones, and getting together for happy hour or potlucks, though it is great for all of that. It also includes many valuable tools, such as a trip routing feature, campground reviews, and reviews of nearby businesses. Are you traveling from Elkhart Campground in Indiana to the Hershey Thousand Trails preserve in Pennsylvania? The website will create a route for you that you can customize and you can find good places to stop for the night along the way, places to eat, repair shops and more. Like I said, it’s much more than just a social network for RVers. And best of all, it’s free! I hope I see you there, because I plan to spend a lot of time getting more familiar with RVillage.
As soon as they get it back online. They may have to install a Nick filter.
Most of you know that I held a self-publishing workshop here at the campground last week, and Jim and Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour and John Huggins from Living the RV Dream podcast fame tried to record it. Unfortunately, the acoustics in the room were terrible and a lot of it is hard to hear. But here is a short video clip (6 minutes) that Chris put together to give you an idea of what it was like. I’m reviewing the rest of it to see how much can be salvaged.
Congratulations to Nikki Mulder, the winner of last week’s free drawing for an audiobook of Big Lake Lynching
Thought For The Day – Adventure may hurt you but monotony will kill you.
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