b'Q&A Conversationsfrom page 37 an RV could help?thebathroom.ThatwasntPuglisi: When the twins were born, fun for us. WCM: First of all, congratulations we were just so desperate to go do ButthenwesawaGoon the new book. Its a fun read and I something fun and not just be stuck RVing commercial and, likecan picture it on the shelves at RV in the house. So, we actually went and all the Go RVing commercials,dealerships and campground stores.stayed at CoCo Key Water Resort. We it was this magical adventure,JeremyPuglisi: Thankyouvery were very excited and had high hopes this multi-generational familymuch! Like I said, we made all the that it would be a fun family weekend, trip in a popup camper. Thatmistakes, we had to learn all this stuff but it was miserable. It was just not a inspired us to take a look. on our own and we put it all in the good place to have little kids. One of Stephanies family used tobook, so other people have an easier the main things we realized was that borrowapopupcampertime doing it themselves. when youre staying in a hotel, once whentheywerekids.TheyWCM: So, your story is 10 years ago you put the kids to bed, youre stuck neverownedone,butsheyou decide to buy a popup to help a in the hotel room with them. I mean, had some fond associationsstrugglingmarriagewithnewborn we were literally sitting there watch- with it. twins. Were curious why you thought ing a movie on Stephanies laptop in But when we saw that GoRVingcommercialtheideajust popped into both of ourheads. Why dont we give thisa try? Why dont we do this onthe weekends and we can goout and get into the great out-doors with our kids and wecan put them to bed at nightand we can step outside ofthe RV and be sitting aroundthe campfire together?Thatspecificaspectofitwas really magical for us. The away, or did it grow over time? kids could be cozied up and nestled Puglisi: We promised ourselves thatup asleep in the camper and, unlike we would do it for a year before eventhe hotel room, we could step outside really thinking about trying to sell ad-andspendsometimetogether vertising. We wanted to get it down,aroundthecampfireandmaybe wewantedtobegoodatit,weeven socialize with other people at wantedtobeabletoshowpeoplethe campground.thatthiswassomethingthatweI guess the ironic thing is 10 years could do over the long haul and sus-later we were the family in the Go tain it. We didnt approach anybodyRVing television commercial. until about a year in and, when weWCM: So,letstalkaboutyour did, we had a lot of content to showmedia empire that you two are build- people. They liked it and people wereing. As you said, it started with the willing to hop on board. Actually, Iblog to chronicle your familys RVing believe Go RVing was the first spon-adventures. Can you put your arms sor for the show all of those five yearsaround how much its grown? ago, and we continue to work withPuglisi: Nothardly.Initiallywe them quite a lot.started thinking wed be writing for WCM: From your perspective, whatfamily and friends, like a family blog. areyourthoughtsontheRVandBut over the course of a couple of campground industries? years we realized we actually had a Puglisi: I think that the camping in-readership. From there, since we both dustry is in a really interesting andloved listening to podcasts, it was a transitional position right now. As younatural organic leap for us. We had know, theres been an explosion of RVtalkedaboutdoingapodcastfor sales over the last decade and its nor-probably a year or two, and then I re- malized at this point. But, generallymember Stephanie finally saying like, speaking, over the last 10 years, youWearesittingdowntonightand have many, many new RV owners, sorecording our first podcast. And we now the campground industry is find-did. And we have done the podcast ing itself in a place where theyre run-every week since that night, for over ning out of sites for people. People arefive years now without pause. having a real difficulty finding sites,We just, we fell in love with doing it. reserving sites, and figuring out whereThat first episode kind of makes me theyre going to camp.cringe to listen to now, but I think we Im really watching closely to seegot good pretty fast and it was just howthecampgroundindustryre-kind of a natural extension of what we sponds to that. Its different in differ-do as writers. Its just another way to ent parts of the country. But, certainly,reach people. inourpartofthecountryintheWCM: Your podcast is pretty popu- Northeast, state parks, county parkslar, as you well know. and private campgrounds are really,Puglisi: Its in the top 5% of pod- really booked up.casts.Mostpodcastsendafterfive And then, simultaneously over theepisodes; were five years in and still lastdecade,alotofcampgroundsgoing strong.have been investing their resourcesIll say this, too: we wanted to do this into alternative accommodations likeprofessionally. We wanted this to be cabins and glamping tents. I certainlymore than just a hobby. We were hoping dont blame them for that. If I was aand discovered along the way. Its very campground owner, I would also bedifficult to monetize a blog, but mone- doing that. But that also puts moretizing a podcast would be something pressure on the limited number of RVwe could do if the content was really sites. good. That is, in fact, the direction we So, the big question for the camp-went in terms of signing on sponsors. ing industry is how are they going toWeve been very lucky to have some re- create more inventory for all these RVally iconic names in the RV and camp- owners and who is going to be creat-ing space come on as sponsors and stay ing that inventory? with us over the long haul. In the Northeast, what were seeingWCM: Did the podcast take off right is that theres actually a lot of hotel38 -March 2020 Woodalls Campground Management'