This video was so helpful! This past weekend my wife, 2 toddlers, and I went on our first trip in our first camper. We were in an RV park with full hookups. First, the hot water tank drain valve busted and flooded the campsite. Once that was fixed (jerry rigged "solution"), the bathroom sink hot water would not turn off. Disassembled and fixed. Then a couple hours later, we learned that our kitchen faucet was leaking under the sink and we could not use it until a new faucet is purchased. Then, during a 105 degree day, we go to put the kids down for bed around 8:30 only to realize that our two main 30 amp fuses had blown and the A/C was not working. A trip to the local AutoZone fixed that, after 45 minutes of traffic. Then on our last day, we went to dump. Oh boy. The fittings for the sewer hose were FAR from a tight fit. They leaked in multiple places and made it a total nightmare. (insert screen recording of me visiting the KYD Amazon page for a RhinoFlex hose!). You guys are a huge help and encouragement! thanks for all you do!!
I have only posted 4 time one You Tube 4 times in my life. But You guys draw this out of me. Thank You. I was told a really really long time ago "Roll With The Punches."In life and in work all I do is break up snow balls. Bruce Lee Quoted "Be the water not the stone, " Water flows over around and threw. Stones sit there and gets beat up until it is reduced to sand. That's stuck with me my whole life so far.
This is GREAT advice for tackling the ongoing situation of fun destruction. We can list at least five snowballs and awareness is huge! Thanks for snowball identification. It helps!
Hope you see this, years later. What great memories! Jason and his dad flew my dad and I, out to a great sheep hunt towards McGrath in the 90's. Great flight service. Alaska is awesome, but can ruin your day in a heart beat! Hope you come back up again. Really enjoyed this, many laughs.
So glad to know that y’all aren’t perfect, & have snowball times like everyone else! 😂 They aren’t funny at the time, but looking back on them our family has laughed SO many times!! Good & bad...they are all memories you’ll never forget! Love Sundays, love you guys!!
I love this moments when you just stop what your doing and realize how precious life is with loved ones. The snow ball affect is the thing that says your leaving reality and you need to come back to earth. Love you guys. Sending safe travel prayers your way.
Thank you SO much for sharing the beauty of the mountains from that float plane!! 🥰 You’re living the life I want, so for now, I’m living vicariously. For now. 😎
I understand the “snowball effect” for sure. I agree totally when faced with a problem solve it first and completely. Do not panic or thrash about causing more problems than you already have. Also when the first problem is solved pause and take stock. Decide carefully what the next step is. I always am wary about causing a cascade failure when such things occur. And yes, when the trailer is full of mosquitoes, kill them first and try to keep your sense of humor! Well done.
This episode hit home for a few reasons. After making some good mistakes and forgetting to do things before we start driving, I reverted back to what we do in airplanes and go through a checklist. Things like roof vents closed, slide in, stairs up, propane off and power disconnected. My wife has actually put it on her phone and reads it before we start driving. What can I say but sometimes it takes a crew. :-) She adds to it when she hears me say "dang, I forgot...". Watch out for snowballs. Thanks for another great episode! Happy RV'ing everyone.
I love seeing this sea plane ride from your perspective. Nathan and Marissa took a ride as well and had a stop. Love how you edited the video of the flight
Love the snowball tips. (Putting those to memory for future use.)Those times put stress on relationships and can ruin a trip ... at least for the moment. Awesome to see you two laugh about it and are moving forward. God bless you two!
I had spent a couple of weeks working on the lift-chain assembly for a little hard-side Apache popup we had (a common problem with them) and everything was working fine. Until... we got to the camping spot, later than planned, and when we started to put it up, the same chain assembly jammed up and broke mid-raising so that it wouldn't go up or down. I had to take the workings apart enough to get it raised the rest of the way. This was the beginning of a multitude of problems that included my camp chair tipping backwards with me in it. Many "Big-boy" words were said in my head, but my wife continued to remind me this was time away with family and the rest of the mess didn't matter. I love living vicariously through your adventures. You guys are great.
Marc I am surprised you have not had a "file" disaster before, you've been fortunate. When you have to copy large numbers of files from one location to another, I always do it in smaller chunks (50 or so) and do a COPY, PASTE, never just move or cut- paste because if you lose power or connection it can corrupt the files, I've not seen them disappear altogether very often though.... I know too late! We were sad we could not see your awesome footage.
You know,what I absolutely love about you guy’s is your honesty & integrity. Even when the .... hits the fan you just hold up your arms and look at how to make things better. Mark & Trish I’ve been watching you for years now and I think this was the best video yet. The footage from the plane was truly amazing.
The views up there are amazing. Unfortunately I know about the snowball, but when the moment is over, it almost always becomes a funny memory. HaHa nothing worse than being dark and hear the dreaded buzz of a female mosquito, except turning on a light and seeing an army of them. Your videos are great, sorry you lost all that footage, but you pulled it out. Great job. Happy travels.
The multi-view footage from 3:00 to 5:00 is simply stunning. That you can pull that off with out a production crew of 10 other videographers is amazing. Simply amazing. You are awesome sir!
Good info on reacting to drama Marc and Trish. Our last trip we actually brushed a high tree branch on the top of our fifth wheel. Even though my wife was spotting she didn't see the top of the rig and neither did I until later I noticed the rubber on the roof had been damaged. She felt really bad. I was angry at both of us but as I told her I wasn't going to let that one thing ruin our trip. I just went onto you tube and found a video on how to repair it! Bought the material at the next stop and fixed it. One thing I've learned: we cannot control what happens to us in life, but we Can Control how we react to it. Getting a little philosophical now but everything we own is already broken. Just not yet. Happy trails you guys! We love you all!
You are so right. not every trip is a walk in the park. As you said just push through them dips in the road and have fun. I've been camping and RVing since the 70's and wouldn't trade any of it. Smile, cry, laugh and most of all have fun.
Hi Trish and Mark met you guys in Grapevine. We the older couple that drove from Tucson for the meet up. Well we are full timing and in MT. Talk about a snowball on this trip the 1st 10 days were a nightmare. In order had a rock go through our radiator manifold and drain all the antifreeze 10 PM in MS. Skined the weboost antenna off the roof in TX. Lost my wallet in OK. Got beat up sitting in the Tiffin by a nasty hail storm in CO. Made it through nasty thunderstorms in SD. Then got the drivers side mirror destroyed by someone pulling in to dump at Cabelas in Billings MT. This was a two week snowball. We kept our cool resolved the issues and worked them one at a time. Oh never but never get upset with each other over things you can't control. Safe travels my friends...... Mike and Glenda
Great video, and great advice. Everyone who travels deals with the snowball, I know we have on several occasions, thankfully nothing serious has gone wrong for us... We had a similar experience with mosquitoes during our trailer's first trip, and it's definitely not fun to wake up to a cloud of the little pests.... Learned the hard way that our outside kitchen isn't sealed and has a huge access for mosquitoes to enter through one of the bathroom vents...
My father and mother in law went to the Yukon and stayed in a small cabin on a lake for a week. They were flown in with their weeks worth of food and clothes. They were the only ones on the lake. My father in law fished the whole time, 1am, 3am...the lodge you were at reminded me of that. They were told not to wonder to far from the cabin, especially alone. Still sounds like a fun time.
When I’m upset, I watch your videos guys to see how life is simple and beautiful. I love you guys so much and I feel you guys part of my family. I’m not exaggerating really you guys beautiful and God bless you ❤️❤️❤️
Great video...we have been in the snowball since we started. We have not had good weather a single time we have gone out, but instead we have taken cold hikes and visited lots of museums to get in from the rain...and we have had more ice cream than I thought possible. Yet at the end of it all I can’t wait to get back out there next weekend or in a couple weeks. We will beat this weather! The footage you shared was amazing and I can’t wait to take my family to Alaska. I look forward to the rest more Alaska videos and hope we can walk in your footprints soon.
Our first trip in our new 25ft camper resulted in a huge toilet leak as soon as we turned the water on, then in the pouring rain a few weeks later our slide out somehow twisted while going out damaging trim on the inside and exterior. Oh and leaking from the A/C unit because the seal to the roof was pinched allowing water to drip inside... Snowball sometimes is an understatement, maybe more of an avalanche. Looking back on it as bad as they sound they were easy fixes, to a point. So now I just think, it could be worse... Somehow..
Mark and Trish you both are amazing tour guides at no matter what you are doing, whether doing something on Grand Ginger or explaining about a problem with your trailer or about a trip.Can't get enough.
I found your way of tackling "snowballs" very inspiring. It doesn't not only work on RV trips but any task involving teamwork and a multitude of problems. Thanks a lot for that!
Hey, thanks for sharing about the tough times along with the good- life happens! After two of our 4 5th wheel tires separated tread (one exploded!), we spent 10 hours in Rufus, Oregon, followed by a night camping out in the Les Schwab parking lot in the Dalles (90 degrees at night, and no power!). $860 later, we had decided to cut our trip short by 4 days, and were miserable. We have not given up on RV traveling, but decided to take a break for a while. Both Heather and I appreciate your channel, and look forward to each episode. Blessings, Bob
So sorry for your difficult times! We've all been there in one way or another....but your tips and ways of analyzing the problems are very well done and great for relationship building and protection. Thanks for your sense of humor and laughter in the midst of losses, frustration and anger. Your family has become dear friends, though we've never met. God bless you as you continue your journey.
We just got back from our very first trip in our new travel trailer, and everything went flawless. I couldn't be happier with this first trip. Thanks for all the insight, my wife and I love watching these videos!
Seems like life is just a big snowball....it’s so frequent that when something goes wrong my response is “well of course, why wouldn’t it”, I just have to laugh because otherwise I would be really miserable !! You all make the best of everything, fun to watch !!!
"Snowball" equals "An Adventure" in our family. Stuff happens, how you respond is what is important. Great video, the windshield view became a wingtip view this week. Our journeys have taken us to a Summer working on a ranch deep in The Frank Church Wilderness (ID), on the shores of The Snake River, where a Cessna 206 was also our lifeline. That or a 26 mile horseback ride. It always does my heart good to see a 48-year-old piece of equipment well taken care of such as the Cessna shown. Bush Pilots are like that. Ditto Trish's Flying Nun sun visor.
Love the music you plug in so smoothing and doesn't take away from the view. Love the snowball, cause you always grow from it. One of these days we will out there in our RV.
Snowball? Oh...like the first time I introduced my family to Lake Powell, after doing it every summer when we were kids. First trip after Dad sold us the IMP, ran out of gas 3 times in less than 24 hours, massive sand storm leveled our campsite the first night, blew the kitchen table in the water, sand everywhere & in everything, 1000 mosquitoes in our water heating up for dinner...sat down & cried under the tarp during the dust storm....that one? Took awhile for that story to become "funny" but amazingly it was one of the best stories ever!💦🚤🌀💦😎
Love these types of videos. It shows that it’s not always sunshine and rainbows. When I was a kid we had times like this when we RV’d but it was a way to reset and regroup
My utmost appreciation is that y'all keep it real. You know? You're keeping it real explaining the downside and, more importantly, how to slog *through* it. I like the keeping it real part. Yep. Thanks for that....:-)
I only wish we could show more of the down days, but it's really not as fun to watch as people think. Bits and pieces from different events and not cohesive. Sharing in this format (with a solution) seems to work better :)
OMG. Yes! You guys went to Talkeetna? What a hole in the wall town. My aunt has friends who live there year round, we would go up there to fish silvers and our friends had a cabin. Hand built with a "fancy" outdoor toilet. Basically meant it was a hole in the ground and exposed BUT I had a tarp over it AND a box and seat over the whole. haha. Many a fun trips there when young (talking 21). I am so glad to see you all exploring such a quaint town. Hey...sorry to hear some things got crappy but you have the right attitude. You have to roll with it.
Loved the video and the talk about snowball. As a pilot I always became way more alert when a second problem showed up. I am sick , but not as sick as you, that you lost all that great video.
We took the longer bus tour into Denali - fantastic tour. Saw lots of animals, including Grizzlies. Also one of the fortunate ones to see the mountain two days in a row-amazingly!
Seeing this prompted me to recount our "Snowball" experience in Northern Scotland this March. We were driving the "North Coast 500" in a rental motorhome(RV) the weather was fantastic, crystal clear blue skies, snow-capped peaks and white shell sand beaches, you should do it sometime. Day three we were parking up for the night and while reversing up to straighten the vehicle the front wheel went off the hard standing and dropped into a peat bog up to the axle. We tried for ages to get it out until a local pulled up and offered to help but he had to go back home to get another vehicle, which was a 60 mile round trip for him (Highland hospitality). When he returned he snapped two towing ropes and we were still stuck. We were in a remote area with no phone signal and so he took us to where we could get a signal to call the RAC rescue who told us that someone would be there within the hour. I explained that once I had hung up and gone back to the vehicle we would not have a signal and not be contactable, we were given assurances that all was in hand. Having waited all night with not a single other vehicle passing and no sign of a rescue another local pulled up and eventually managed to tow us out. Once we were on the road we started getting calls and texts from the RAC informing us that a recovery was on its way, 14 hours after our initial call. I then got an E-coli infection and felt as though I was at death's door so we headed home, 460 miles south. It was then that another mobile home traveling in the opposite direction crossed over to our side of the road and smashed both their's and our side mirror and drove off before we could exchange details. The damage cost me the £500 deposit on the van. Sorry to ramble on but your posting brought the whole nightmare back to me, life isn't always perfect!!!
Yall are awesome! Those tiny hands are so funny! Your channel has been very inspiring! I have lived full time in a travel trailer for 2 years and just got a fifth wheel. My wife and I have set a date to hit the rode full time! Thanks for being a great inspiration! Keep sharing your amazing personality with the world!
Living on the road or not, this is fantastic relationship counseling!! And applicable business counseling, too. Love the naming the enemy, and solve 1 problem at a time. You rock!! THANKS!! :)
GREAT info. Love that you have this info for those of us who tend to make the snowball roll faster and get bigger. THANK YOU. For sharing, for teaching, Just for being you.
C'mon! Gorgeous footage! The GoPro on the wing?! love it. Bummer about the transfer, that happened to me recently, and I was livid. Best laid plans, eh? Thx for keeping it real with us, KYD.
Thats not a bad view to start your morning at all. I appreciate your willingness to roll with the challenges and adapt. We travel a lot and everything does not go to plan but you have to just keep pushing
not sure if anyone gives a damn but if you are stoned like me atm you can stream all of the latest series on instaflixxer. I've been watching with my girlfriend lately xD
Haha...yeah I have those 'snowball" weeks whether I'm travelling or staying home. Some times your luck just runs rough. But I have to say the footage y'all didn't lose was stunning. I would have loved to see the lost footage as well, but that's just how things go. thank you for sharing your adventure, the good, the bad and the hilarious, with us.
A trick I learned from another RU-vid RV couple, RV Texas Yall, if you have a small vacuum like a Dust Buster available you can use it to suck up the mosquitoes. I used it on gnats that were swarming inside my trailer and it worked great. When I was finished I shoved a wadded paper towel in the end of the vac so they couldn't get out.
I grew up traveling across Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana with my Dad and two older brothers in a VW van on fly fishing and camping trips. At least half of those trips had significant calamities. Like breaking down in the middle of Wyoming. Those are the trips we have remembered and laughed about the most over the years. The trips without and dips or snowballs are hard to remember. Btw- more Thurston Howel. Lol
Great video, Guys! My dad was a pilot, and I got to see the beautiful coastline, deserts and mountains in Northwestern Mexico from the air, among many other places. The video brought very good memories...
Love that we r all in it together. ❤❤❤ Just got back from a snowball. Flat tire, busted tail light (tree jumped out of nowhere) and a puking dog on pack up day. 😂😂😂
My family’s fix is we Always have a plan “B”. No matter how well any incident went, the Chief would always want to hear about my plan “B”. A stash of favorite foods, snacks, beverages , movies, music, flash drive, charged power supply. Your destination is full, flooded, on fire or just not going to get there we have an alternate route and accommodations planned. Sure the plan “B” may fail miserably but that’s when I stop and say okay Lord I’m listening, tell me about your plan. Another great video, glad your human too. Looking forward to next Sunday. Stay safe.
We took the kids on a 10 day trip in our trailer. Now they are 6 & 10 year's old . We had more of a avalanche happen. The car broke down about 35 miles from our destination and then to make it worse we got stuck in a heat warning and we in the open on top a a hill in the campground. Then with heat index of like 109 the air was struggling badly. So I had planned another trip (different location) and the girls didn't want to go because of what happened on prior trip. Well making them go for a trip before school starts. thanks for sharing
I have been following you guys and LJMJ during this trip and it is fascinating to watch this experience from the two different perspectives. I am enjoying it immensely.
I thought that might be fun too. We travel differently and both being in the same place doing it in different ways would be good for the community. I'm sure there are some activities like this one that will overlap more than others. We did a meet-up in Anchorage together too.
Yes!! The mosquitos are unlike anywhere, here 😑... loved the Kenai shore in the background! Fair warning Valdez never stopped raining... and with 9 kids? The wet and cold got old! Our summer is almost gone.....
We have something happen every time we go camping. 1st year the dog used my husband's sleeping bag as a toilet, 2nd year my anxiety was really bad and the kids kept arguing, 3rd it rained almost every day (I'm UK so shouldn't have been surprised lol). When it's going wrong we take 5 we leave the camp site go for a walk or do something fun, and the next day things don't look so bad. You have to remember that it's not the whole trip ruined it's just 1 hour or 1 day, we look back at these trips and laugh now, we off camping for 7 nights next week so we will see what happens, wish us luck lol.
Update. Got to camp yesterday lunch time. I hurt my hand ( not badly ) on my van, fell out the van ( my kids couldn't stop laughing) , torrential rain last night which let to a small leak that hubby fixed, can only get better right??? Lol 😂😂
We binged watch rest of season 4 and made it to Ep 114. So far I am loving Alaska. Great videos and I am shocked you havent been picked up by the travel channel. :)
OMG , thanks so much for sharing all of this ! The videos are amazing ... This is one of my favorite videos you have made ...Also love you talking about the snowball effect ! I will always remember this when things are not going my way while out RVing !!!
When the video first started I thought, he's always hollering at her to come out, and then you said it seems like you're always getting her to come out. Lol We love your family and your videos.
Don't have a snowball kinda life! I'm sure you've heard, whether you're right or wrong, you're right. We strongly believe that we become what we think about most. Have you ever heard Earl Nightengales strangest secret?
I loved this episode but I am sorry that you lost your files. Glad to see that even the Leach family has off days ;-) What I liked about this episode are the tips for breaking apart the snowball of little things going wrong in order to stop it from getting bigger and causing damage to your daydream or each other! I can't wait for the next episode to see what happens next. More oranges I hope lol!
We were lucky to be in the we got to see Denali out of the clouds. We were heading to the our Daughters house Healey and while headed North on the Parks Hwy we got see Denali standing out on the horizon. It was truly breath taking,!! Enjoy your travels as much as we enjoy watching them 😎
That was really smart, intelligent, clever, and beneficial to all of us to look back and give us these great ideas on the snowball effect. We can all relate. So sorry about the footage. Congrats on the lens. That's awesome. I can relate about the mosquitos. On one of my road trips a few years ago I slept in the car close to the beach on the Gulf of Mexico. It was also right at a nature preserve walkway full of birds, alligators, and mosquitos. My car got filled with a million mosquitos, probably from the overhead light when opening the door. I was just in a reclining seat and had to cover my head and all under blankets and a hat, anything I could find. It was one of the 2 most miserable nights of my life, but I survived, lol. May the rest of this fabulous trip be only filled with beauty and wonder.
I enjoy your videos immensely. I am taking your class and hoping to have my first video up in a few weeks. Watching this episode I keep thinking about your battery power issues. You might want to invest in a small generator that can charge your batteries or Hook the truck up to the trailer, boost the RPM's a couple hundred RPM and it will charge your trailer batteries and give you power in the mean time. Loving the videos and taking inspiration from what you are doing.
That's great Mark. I'm working on even more content for the course now. The issue is my truck. It's not charging the batteries via the alternator. Once I get that resolved, I'll be in good shape. 3-4 days of rain is rare. I'm still looking for a good dealer in AK.
I told my husband the mosquito story and he said the “One” mosquito was flying around because it couldn’t find a spot on the wall. Ugh....just thinking about that gives me the willies. hahaha
WOW! Oh WOW! The views! Are amazing! Thank you! Thank God for you! This has opened up my eyes to so many things and new places to enjoy and marvel at. So yeah, excited. :) Sorry it snowballed for you but I still enjoyed it! And I actually learned something. One problem at a time.
