← The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast
The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast
1KHO 504: It's Very Wise to Invest In Your Kids | Jeremy Puglisi, The RV Atlas
01:00:49
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- [00:01]
Jeremy Puglisi
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- [00:31]
Jenny Urge
All right, here we go. Welcome to the 1000 Hours Outside podcast. My name is Jenny Urge. I'm the founder of 1000 Hours Outside and Back. You're gonna think this is wild. Jeremy, for time number seven. Seven.
- [00:44]
Jeremy Puglisi
I didn't know that it was time number seven. Wow.
- [00:47]
Jenny Urge
Yes, I know. Well, and, you know, we've done, like, combo. Combo episodes. Your wife's Come on. But like Puglisi episodes about camping. Time number seven. Jeremy, welcome back.
- [00:57]
Jeremy Puglisi
Thank you so much for having me. Seven times. Oh, my gosh, I'm thrilled to be here. I. It would have been wonderful just to come on once, but I appreciate you having us back.
- [01:05]
Jenny Urge
I'm gonna walk through these episodes. People can listen back. Just type in Puglisi 1000 hours outside Puglisi. We start. We started with camping back in February of 2023. It's not even been all that long ago. Then we talked about all the different camping spots in America. So you came on. Then you came on with your wife, and we walked through all 50 states about cool things that you can do because you've been all over the country. And. And then we talked about national parks. You came back on. We talked about national parks. That was in May of 2023. And then we talked about Christmas gift ideas and just regular gift ideas. And actually, we have used so many of them. We get the flashlights, and I think about you when we're out different places. And we got like, you know, the different, like, a hatchet axy thing. I was like, oh, that was Jeremy's idea. And then we talked about. I guess. I don't know. Then you came out again. Best kept secrets in American Camping. And then Stephanie came on, and it was just me and her. That was the last time. And she talked about how camping just drastically changed the course of your family, this one thing. And now you have this, I say Empire of camping books, which I just think is the most wonderful thing.
- [02:11]
Jeremy Puglisi
Yeah. And it's so cool now, too, because my twins are 16 years old, and Wes is 12, so we have three boys. And now, you know, and I'm in my late 40s. So now we're at that stage where I feel like we're seeing the results, the positive results of all the time we spent outside with the kids and all the camping trips because we camped like crazy people when they were little, you know, now it's getting a little bit more complicated. The boys are lifeguarding this summer. We're still going as much as we can, but from the time they were like 1 to the time they were like 10, 11, we showed them America and now we're seeing so many positive results. Like I said, the older boys are lifeguards this summer. So they're like, super, you know, confident in the great outdoors. They fish, they hike, and they still love camping. So I just feel like it's played out in such a wonderful, positive way in their lives. I mean, I'm not a perfect parent. I've said this on the show before, but my greatest accomplishment is that I've raised kids that are comfortable and confident in the great outdoors. And I always joke around, like, my kids aren't very good at video games they play every now and then. And just like, they're just like, they're bad, you know, and that kind of makes me giggle a little bit.
- [03:19]
Jenny Urge
Well, what nature delivers is a lot. Nature delivers grit, it delivers resiliency, it delivers that sort of go with the flow attitude. It delivers anticipation, it delivers memories. It. It just delivers so much. All of these real life, hands on experiences. And we are in the exact same age and stage. Our oldest is also 16. He's also lifeguarding this summer. And so I think for both of us, I think our timeframe is really similar. Where we can see, look, we started when they were really little. Investing in this time outdoors and, and small decisions over time add up. And this is not super complicated. I mean, your books really do such a wonderful job of laying it out. Like, this is not that hard. There's all these different options of ways you can do it, different budgets, different places. Also, there's so many cool places that you can go. The world is at your fingertips. I read your things and I'm always like, oh, I want to do more, I want to do more. And then, you know, it's just that reminder of how important it is for family. Give people who haven't heard the other six episodes a little bit of your backstory. So you have these twins. You know, you're still wanting to go have experiences. And so one of the ways that you can do that is with your own home on wheels, basically.
- [04:25]
Jeremy Puglisi
Yeah. I mean, year one with the twins was confessedly a little rough. Particularly like the first seven months before they started sleeping through the night. And Stephanie just felt, you know, very cooped up at home. And we had always been big road trippers and travelers and we were just both. I mean, spring rolled around when they were about to turn one and we were like, we have got to start traveling again. We've got to start road tripping. We've got to get out of the house, you know, for our own mental health. And so we went to like, we did a hotel with like a built in water park. And it was kind of a hot mess. It just didn't go well. We didn't enjoy being, you know, in a hotel room with the kids. When we put them to bed at night, we felt kind of stuck in the hotel room. I remember we were watching a movie on her laptop in the bathroom, as ridiculous as that sounds, while they slept. And so like, we came home from that trip not feeling recharged or refreshed, but feeling like it was like a parenting failure. And then soon after, we got the idea to get a pop up camper. And I know you have, you guys have a pop up camper too. And that changed the course of our lives in ways that I could have never, ever anticipated. And that pop up camper, we started to go camping basically every other weekend. Like we do a weekend at home, then a weekend away. And we fell in love with it because the kids were able to play outside all day, get out all that positive energy, be out in nature. But then when we put them to bed at night, we were also able to reconnect and have a campfire and sit outside of the pop up camper while they were, you know, snoozing away inside. And then people would walk by and talk to us. And all of a sudden we're socializing and we're meeting other people. So it just worked out really well for young parents as opposed to a hotel vacation. And look, I'm not, you know, I don't want to rag on a hotel.
- [06:10]
Jenny Urge
Vacation we've had, but I think everybody knows. I mean, the hotel vacation is hard because there you're all together and it's a small space. And I think everybody relates to like sitting in the bathtub and like this what we're gonna do. I mean, there's no other place to go. I remember growing up as a kid and we would stay at hotels or motels and my parents, they would want to watch TV at night, like Cheers. I mean, I could sing all the theme songs like where everybody knows your name. I mean, I've never Seen this, I've never seen the show, but they would turn it on and it would be like, I don't know, what, 9, 9:30 at night? And they would be like, you have to turn the other way. So you're trying to like fall asleep to Cheers. And they're watching these shows because, I mean, everybody knows you're all stuck in that space and it's not easy. And it's expensive.
- [06:55]
Jeremy Puglisi
It's expensive. And kids running around in a hotel room hallway is maybe, could be a problem. Kids running around at a campground is like what they're supposed to do. Right. Everybody at a campground, you know, for the most part, you know, 99.9% of people that are camping are like totally happy to see kids there. That's just part of the campground culture.
- [07:13]
Jenny Urge
Yeah. And so the story is, is that you do this thing. It's similar to our story in some ways. It's like, well, we just went outside and then you find something that works for your family and you say, I'm going to share it. Because there's probably other families who, you know, are sitting in a hotel bathroom watching a movie on, you know, sitting on the toilet and watching a movie on their laptop and, and like not feeling like this is their best life. So you're. We're going to share it. And this has actually changed your whole career trajectory. In this is like, when I say it's an empire, I feel like it is in a, in an empire that's needed. Like we need all the camping books that we can get because kids are so over indexed on screen time that to encourage families, even if they just did like two trips a year, three trips a year. Steven Rinella says that camping gives you the benefit of mayhem. You know, a little bit of a dollop. That's what he calls it, you know, the benefit of a little dollop of mayhem. We all need to be more adjusting. We need to be able to be people that can adjust and change on the fly and go with the flow and deal with the heat and deal with the bugs and deal with the rain. That helps us and it helps our kids. So talk about what I mean, at some point it's like, wait, no, this is a thing.
- [08:19]
Jeremy Puglisi
Yeah, I mean, the whole, like, we never intended this to become our careers. I mean, I'm sitting here listening to you kind of tell the story and I'm like, man, this is kind of wacky that now this is what we do for a living. Because we were both teachers. Stephanie taught elementary school and I Taught high school. And when we did fall in love with this, just like you said, like, our teacher instincts kicked in and we just wanted to like, share this with other parents. And this was before to some degree, you know, this is 12 years ago or whatever, before, like the whole concept of the social media influencer had really settled in. Like, we had no interest in being camping celebrities or influencers or anything like that. We're like, we want to, like, we want to like, share what we're doing with people. We want to teach people how to do this. Like, this is how you pack for a trip. This is how you do the food. These are the great campgrounds. And so we started a little blog called Lively Little Campers. And the whole intention of the blog was that, like, our friends would read it, our aunts and uncles would read it, and some of our friends would read it. There was no ambition beyond that at the beginning. But then I remember looking at like the numbers of people reading it and it was like in the thousands of people were reading the blog posts and I was like, oh, this is not just like our families reading this. Like, this is, you know, making an impression on people here. I think the real aha moment or the real moment that changed our lives. I will never forget Stephanie walking into our living room after we had put the kids to bed at 9 o' clock at night when so many things happen in adults lives. You know, she walked into the living room and she's like, I think we need to start a podcast. And if we're going to start a podcast, we need to start one now and not talk about it for a year. And we both listened to podcast. And this is back when like, you would like drag the podcast onto your iPhone manually, you know, I mean, you know, you're a podcaster and so doing a podcast felt very natural for us. And that's where it sort of pivoted towards like, wow, maybe we could quit our teaching jobs and do this for our careers, for our lives. And eventually that's the direction that it went in with the books and the podcast. And now we're in year 11 of the podcast, believe it or not.
- [10:19]
Jenny Urge
Wow.
- [10:20]
Jeremy Puglisi
Yeah. Every week talking about camping, talking about RVing tips and tricks and sharing all the hacks and all the fun and all the adventures. And I absolutely, absolutely love doing it. And I honestly just feel like I'm still a teacher. I'm just teaching people about getting camping and all that stuff.
- [10:35]
Jenny Urge
Yeah. And how to have a, you know, a more fulfilling family life, a more vibrant Family life, how to enjoy having really young kids. I mean, sometimes those are years that you feel like you just got to get through, but you can go and you can enjoy and then you can know that they are learning so much. It's so good for their development to be outside. Even if they're not going to remember that trip that you took when they were 18 months or two and a half, they're not going to remember the particulars. But you know that all that foundational growth is happening. I remember Jeremy, maybe even it might have been our first conversation or it was in the beginning and I was reading your bio and I didn't know you too well yet, and on the back of one of your books, it said something like, you know, the podcast host is part of your bio. And I just remember thinking that actually changed my perception of myself because I was like, oh, is that just something I do on the side? You know, we have a podcast on the side. But I was like, oh, no, it's a thing. Like people actually, they could. They will put it in their bio that they're a podcast host. That really changed my perception of a lot of things.
- [11:30]
Jeremy Puglisi
Yeah, I mean, look, that's my career now. I like the podcast is based. And like the book sprung out of the podcast. A lot of the other things that we do sprung out of the podcast. But podcast, look, long form content is great and you know to have that voice in your ear when you're struggling through some of the early parenting years. But being able to like listen to a podcast like yours or a podcast like the RBI like we do and hear from other parents and not just like these little soundbite kind of ways, it's fantastic. Absolutely love podcasting.
- [11:57]
Jenny Urge
Yeah. Wow. Okay, so you are adding to your book stack here. So the books, the one that is everywhere that I see is called where should I can. Where should we camp Next? It's yellow.
- [12:09]
Jeremy Puglisi
Like, we've sold 120,000 copies of that, which is great. Say that's been the big bestseller. And then there was three other ones that kind of came after that one.
- [12:18]
Jenny Urge
Yeah. And they're phenomenal books. And what I get out of them the most is go live. I mean, go do these things. They're very accessible. There's things in every state. So the. Where it should be kept next. You see it everywhere. Like where. I mean, we've been all over the place and I'm like, there's the Puglisi book and then there's these other ones that you came out. You talk about the national parks. And I've told you, I mean, we use them, they are our go to books. Because any book that's. If you're a parent and you want to know what book to read, then you read a book that's written by a parent because they're going to say, well, these are the good hikes and you can skip those. So I mean, we've done that. I've been places, we're only going to be here for four hours. What am I going to do? I'm going to grab your books. Well, you came out and I just think it's so natural, like these sequences of things that you come out with and what comes next, you know, where should we camp next? What books come next? And you came out with these board books and they got little handles on them. I mean, they're, they're super cute. And here is what I realized reading these books. Jeremy, I don't know how you did it, but you took these themes that are in your books for adults and you are able to weave them into these board books that you have for kids. So one of them is called My first book of Camping. The illustrations are great. I mean, this is camping quality. Like this goes right in your little drawer and your pop up, it stays in your camper. I mean, these, I would imagine you made it that way. I mean, this could be sitting out on the ground by the campfire. It's not going to get ruined. But you take this same thing about highlighting specific locations.
- [13:45]
Jeremy Puglisi
Yeah. Like we mentioned certain national parks and we mentioned real hikes and real campgrounds because we want kids to start getting excited about these different types of places they can go. So, you know, there's a lot to learn in these books, but they're also super accessible and super approachable. But yet to some degree, I mean, that's interesting that you put it that way. That our books for adults certainly inspired, inspired these books. And we did not seek out publishing contract for the children's books. Like our publisher called us and said, hey, we want to do some children's board books on camping and hiking. And like it felt like it fell out of the sky. But of course that's, that's not what it did. You know, it was because we did all these other books. But I was, I wanted to write children's books since I was little. I dreamed about writing children's books when I was a child. I never dreamed about writing camping guidebooks like the other books we did. So this was a bit of a dream. Come true. Incredibly challenging though. Going from a 60,000 word book to a 600 word book. A little bit, a little bit harder than you might think. But we had great editor, a great publisher to work with. The handles I love the handles are so adorable and like you said, they're meant to be brought with you. So like a small hand can bring this on a camping trip. You could even bring the Hiking book on a hike. They're made from earth friendly materials, recycled paper and each of them has an activity in it too which we really really love. So the Hiking book has like a two page spread on how to make your own healthy TR trailmex and then the camping book has a two page spread on how to do like hand puppets or shadow puppets inside your tent or inside your rv.
- [15:16]
Jenny Urge
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- [17:35]
Jeremy Puglisi
Workday starting to sound the same. I think you're on mute. Find something that sounds better for your career on LinkedIn. With LinkedIn job collections, you can browse curated collections by relevant industries and benefits like Flexpto or Hybrid Workplaces so you can find the right job for you. Get started@LinkedIn.com jobs finding where you fit LinkedIn knows how there's a lot of different elements packed into these 22 pages and I love I actually put my glasses on this morning to be able to read this. I wanted to see what age it was recommending, in case you asked me. And on the back it says for ages zero plus, which just absolutely thrilled me because it's for everybody. I mean, it's for the, for the youngest adventurers who need the book read to them. It's for early readers. And I even love sitting down and looking at the illustration. So our other books, like, I could go back and maybe wish that I changed this or changed that. I feel like these children's books really are little gems and I wouldn't change a word of them. We're super happy with them.
- [18:40]
Jenny Urge
So it's like a little series. My first book of camping, my first book of hiking. And one of the pages would say something like, you can camp on the banks of a gurgling river and bring a fishing pole to fish, like on the Frying Pan river in Colorado. So then you know, if you're a little bit older, if you're five or six, then you might be like, I want to know more about the Frying. I mean I'm in my 40s. I want to know more about the Frying Pan river in Colorado. Like, what a cool name. The Frying Pan River.
- [19:06]
Jeremy Puglisi
Yeah. No, I love. Well, I'm so glad you mentioned that, because we were looking for places with kind of fun names that would sort of catch the interest of a young child. But also we tried to put in some of the major national parks, like Great Smoky Mountains national park or Yellowstone or whatever it might be, or Sleeping Bear Dunes, even in Michigan, I think in one of the books, because we want kids to start daydreaming about going to these places. Right. I mean, when you talk about getting a kid excited for travel, you want them to start doing that autobiographical planning and saying, I want to go to the Frying Pan river one day. Right. I love the fact that we did bring in some real campgrounds, some real, real locations into the books.
- [19:43]
Jenny Urge
It's like the emotion that you evoked in your other books. It's similar. I. I was super impressed, Jeremy. I was like, oh, you know, this reminds me of the other books like, you talk about. You know, there's a page that says, well, here's how you can go camping. Like, you can get a yurt. You can stay in a cabin, you can bring a tent. You know, the vast majority of people go in tents, but you can pull your camper behind you, and, you know, you could stay in a tree house. Also, you could just camp right in your backyard. So in all of your books for adults and these guidebooks, you do such a wonderful job of highlighting all the different options, why they might work for different families. And also, there might be something right in your backyard. There might be something, you know, 15 minutes away. One of the things that you talked about is how one way that you've gone to camp so much is you've done a lot of things that are close by.
- [20:29]
Jeremy Puglisi
Yeah. And actually, in one of the little spreads, they are people are the families camping in their own backyard. And that's a major lesson. I mean, that's something we learned over the years. I'm so glad you're tying this into our other books. There's great camping in all 50 states. You know, I didn't know that 20 years ago. You know, you think of camping is something that's all out in the American west or whatever. But every state has great campgrounds. And no matter what city you live in, within striking distance, there are great campgrounds. I mean, there's thousands of thousands of campgrounds in America. And one of the major lessons in Our work over the years has been, you know, camping's for everyone. Camp how you want to camp, doesn't matter how it looks. Maybe you're in a fancy RV or maybe you're in an $80 tent from Walmart. I don't care. Get out there with your kids, you know, and the person in the million dollar RV is not having more fun than the person in the $80 tent either. We're all going to do it differently. It's going to look different for all of us and all of us look different. Doesn't matter where you're from, doesn't matter what your family looks like. You know, camping is for everyone. And that's really a major driving lesson in the book. Don't, don't think that camping is for other people based on where you live or what your family looks like or economic situation. Camping really is very democratic. It really is for everyone.
- [21:40]
Jenny Urge
And one of the things that you do so well in the guidebooks is you just give the little details that people need to know, that families need to know. You've got kids like this. I need to know this detail. That detail. And this is in these books too. So you're talking about the hiking and you're talking about Hurricane Ridge trails in Olympic national park. And also no dogs are allowed on this hike. You know, it's like the little things that you need to know.
- [22:01]
Jeremy Puglisi
Yeah. And then like in another one, oh, you can bring your dog on this trail, but it has to be on a six foot leash. So. Yeah, getting, getting kids into the kind of like the camping etiquette, the rules, the culture. This is, you know, 50% of people camp with their pets. So we certainly wanted pets to kind of be, be part of the vibe too. Yeah. So there's a lot to learn and you can even, you can read the book without those little pieces of information at the bottom too. So you can kind of read it two ways. You could read it straight through and read every word on every page, or you could, you know, hold off and not read those little chunks at the bottom. You know, if it's like a really, really little reader. So there's kind of almost two ways to do it.
- [22:34]
Jenny Urge
And then you end the camping one with food, which I think is really cool because you are doing this. I don't know how new it is. But you've talked for a long time about how camp cooking is one of your hobbies, which is such a great hobby because it serves a purpose too for your family. So you've talked about that we've talked about Blackstone, I had on Chef Nathan Lippy, which I always say is the greatest chef name of all chef names. And he works for Blackstone, and he does all their content. He's got such a great story, too. I mean, he kind of just, like, sent. He just shot his shot. Like, he sent in. I don't remember all the details, but he was like, I would like to work for this company, and here's content I could create for you, and here's some examples, and I've already done some. And now he just does so many things for Blackstone. But you have this Camp Griddle More cooking show.
- [23:21]
Jeremy Puglisi
Yeah. And shout out to, you know, Chef Nate Lippy. He's. He's been a mentor in this whole world of camp cooking for me. And he was the one that came to me years ago and said, oh, I think you should do a camp cooking show. And then he kind of, over the course of several years, taught me how to do it. But, like, I'm a Blackstone fanatic. I'm a camp cooking fanatic. Again, I didn't start out with this in mind. It's like, oh, I want to go camping so I can make great food. But over the years of camping with the kids, you realize, like, they love those big breakfasts. They love those big pancake breakfasts. They love the smash burgers at night and just the smells of cooking outside. And, like, food tastes better outside. Right. Like, that's the. The secret ingredient for camp food is that you're outside. Right. So over the years, like, the camp cooking became a huge part of it, and the kids would always get really excited by those big breakfasts on the Blackstone or those big dinners on the Blackstone. And so over the years, yeah, that has morphed into this great relationship with Blackstone. And for one year, I have been doing a weekly show called Camp Griddlemore, and it's all camp cooking recipes. And for anybody listening, it's like a very approachable show. The recipes are easy. Anyone can make them. I try to keep the prep simple. I try to keep the ingredients simple, because when we're camping, we don't have a lot of space. Like, to me, I'm not making a 25 ingredient camping meal. Like, if I see an ingredient camping meal, like, I'm in. I want to do it. So if any of your listeners are interested in, you know, the camp food angle on that side of it, and you want to start, like, experimenting a little, tweaking a little, adding some fun Ingredients. Taking something basic but giving it a twist. Camp Gridle More might be a great show for you to watch on the Blackstone YouTube channel. So that's been. That's been an absolute blaster. Me. And another thing that, like, when we started 12 years ago, like, if you had told me I was going to do a camp cooking show, I literally would have laughed at you. Like, I literally would have laughed in your face, like, I can't cook. I'm not going to do a camp cooking show. But that's. It's just like, there's all these hobbies and all these joyful things that can spring out of camping. Camping encompasses so many other hobbies, whether it's fishing, hiking, the cooking, the bushcraft, there's all kinds of other hobbies that connect to camping. So by getting your kids out camping, they might discover some other hobby that they become passionate. I. Our kids are pretty into fishing. You know, I think it's a life. I think it's pretty much settled into a lifelong hobby for them. And we have fishing in our area, but I don't think that would have become something they were passionate about if we hadn't taken them camping. And then the fishing is part of the culture as well. So camping is not just the joy in itself. It can lead to all these other kind of joyful, adventurous hobbies, too. And camp cooking is one of the major ones for me, certainly.
- [25:54]
Jenny Urge
And the boys have done surfing. They've done so many different things. I think what's. To me, what's so intriguing, Jeremy, is that you and your wife were both in a very linear career. So teaching is very much like. And I was a teacher as well. So it's very much like your days are sort of laid out ahead of you. You kind of know what to expect. There's going to be small variations. When is my prep period next year, as opposed to this year? You know, am I going to get basic or I'm going to teach calculus? You know, I mean, there's like these small variances, but it's fairly linear, this path that you're on. And so it's really interesting that two teachers would have the confidence, like, to be okay with pulling. I know you say you're still teaching, but stepping away from something that's pretty systematic and secure into doing all of these different things. And I almost wonder if you talk about the confidence and the. The flexibility, like, if that helped you springboard into these other careers. I mean, then all of a sudden you're writing books. I think it's it's uncomfort common is it's not like you were entrepreneurs before. It was like you were in a straight shot job. You know, that's 30 years and you retire with a pension and you know, health care. And yet you were able, you both.
- [27:01]
Jeremy Puglisi
Did, you both walked away from that interesting era. And you know, a lot of your podcast listeners are probably interested in doing their own podcast or their own content. You know, we're in this era where with the available tools, anybody can kind of start their own small niche media company. You know, I'd be lying if I, I said it. This wasn't frightening at times, you know, leaving a steady, secure job and doing something more entrepreneurial like this. But there's so many people with these just little kind of grassroots homespun podcasts, websites. It's a wonderful era for niche content. You know, 20 or 30 years ago there wasn't much mass camping content, as it were, but now it's like anybody could start a podcast. I mean, it's not easy necessarily, but anybody could start a podcast. Anybody could start a website. The tools are there. I mean, whether you stick with it, you know, or not is up to you. And I think that, that one of the major lessons there is that we just stuck with all this over a long period of time. The podcast is 11 years old, the website is 13 years old.
- [27:58]
Jenny Urge
Yeah. But also I, I think that there's two things. Yes, you did stick with it, which is a really big deal. You didn't quit. And I think there's a lot of people that could be like, well, how, how have you been talking about camping for 11 years? Like, how do you still have things to say? But I think the other thing is that you've taken opportunities that have come, like the cooking show, that to a lot of people, myself included, would be like, nah, I don't really know, you know, a camping, a cooking show, it comes out once a week. Like, I have no idea how am I gonna have enough recipes? And what's that like? Like what? You know, how does the videotaping work in the editing? And like that's a complete big unknown. And I know that you probably had some exposure to it. Like you said you knew Chef Nathan Lippy, so you've got some exposure to it over some years. But then to actually be the one that's hosting a show. So I mean, there's that component. Yes, we're going to write a book now, we're going to write a kid's book now. We're going to write a journal, you know, now we're going to write the national parks. Like, I think you went from something that's very structured to something that's very unstructured.
- [28:53]
Jeremy Puglisi
We do want to teach our kids these lessons though, don't we? Right. Is the world of opportunity out there. If you're willing, you have to take risks for these things. And look, the first time they came to me and said, hey, do you want to do a camp cooking show? I was like, I don't know if I'm the right guy for that. I mean, I certainly had the hesitation and had the fear. It's been a big thing for us teaching our kids to get past those fears and try things. And I certainly think that does tie back into the camping. Like, hey, you know, let's not be afraid to, you know, hey, let's take.
- [29:23]
Jenny Urge
One year old twins to the campground. I mean, I really do think that that is foundational. Like when you say it bleeds into other things, I think there's so much of it. It's so much. You probably can't even really pinpoint every single thing that it does. But you're building along the way as parents, confidence in yourself, in doing things a little bit differently. You know, everyone else is doing their weekends differently. They're like, what, you're taking two two year old twins to a campground. What are you doing? You know, you're packing up during the week, you're learning how to do it. If people listen back to the other episodes, it's like you're learning all these tips and tricks and you're sharing it and it's made you these, I feel like robust people who are fine to go with the flow.
- [30:02]
Jeremy Puglisi
Yeah, I really feel like the fact that we were taking our kids to all these different campgrounds, then it's all these different national parks, all these different states gave them confidence in new and unfamiliar environments. And that's been a huge part of something we wanted to do as parents. It's easy to just kind of settle into your house, your little neighborhood, your little family, but there's a huge world out there. If you want to really thrive and succeed, you've got to be willing to move into new environments where maybe you feel a little bit frightened at first and kind of conquer. That's just been a huge part of our parenting, is wanting to, you know, bring them to these new environments and show them that they can conquer those environments and thrive in those environments. And I think that's played out as they move into new classes in High school, High school, sports, lifeguarding this summer. I mean, there's a lot to be nervous about, about being a lifeguard for the first time. I give them so much credit that they're willing to try something new. And I do tie it back into all the adventures we had when they were younger.
- [31:02]
Jenny Urge
Yeah, but I'm saying it's you, too. That's what I'm saying. I'm trying to say, like, yes, it's great for the kids, but like, the new and unfamiliar environments is also what you are doing as a person who had a very linear career. And so I think, you know, I mean, when you talk about leaving a teaching career or something that doesn't even hardly exist anymore, which is something that you can retire from, there's hardly any jobs that you can retire from now. That's a really big, bold move into a new and unfamiliar environment. And so you just see over time that all of these small decisions, which are a lot of work at the time and camp, packing up the camper and going, they add up to more than you could. It's like the accumulation is more than you could imagine. So I want to know more about the cooking show because you end this kids book. So my first book of camping, this is out now. This is the board book. My first book of camping, you end it with a food. And people grew up camping. Like, I remember that. I remember my dad would be up early, the smell of the bacon. You know, he'd be cooking stuff. You have those memories and the smells and the sounds and the sun's up. You wrote, when you hear sizzling skillets and smell pancakes and eggs, you'll know it's time to wake up and greet the day. Big camping breakfasts are always the best, especially when you share them with friends. So you end with that. I know it's a big part of your story. So what is this last year of the. Of the cooking show, the griddle cooking show. Like, what has that been like?
- [32:19]
Jeremy Puglisi
It's been challenging. It's been harder. It's a. It's doing food content is way more challenging than I thought because you have to prep the recipe, you have to go grocery shopping, you have to go out and make the food, then you have to clean it all up after. But despite the fact that it's kind of. It's a little bit harder than I thought. I absolutely love it. It's my happy place. Being outside, it's my happy place. Camping, cooking for my kids. And that's why I ended the book this way, because, like, that kind of memory of waking up and hearing mom or dad or whoever it is outside cooking for you, preparing food for you, that's like. That's love right there, right? I mean, making people food, cooking for people is loving people, and doing it in the great outdoors is the best possible environment for it. So I think that that's been the driving force, is that just like, I love cooking for my kids, I love cooking for my friends. Sometimes I'm like, I'm not even paying attention. Like, I'm not even eating what I'm cooking. I'm just, like, handing out the food, handing out Smash Burgers to everybody. So the show's been a blast, and it sort of just captures the love and passion I have for doing it. And I don't know, maybe there'll be a camping cookbook one day. So that's sort of a driving motivation for me too. I mean, if I hit.
- [33:29]
Jenny Urge
Wait, stop it. That's gonna be book 10.
- [33:31]
Jeremy Puglisi
You hear it here, 50 episodes of Camp Gridlemore. And I feel like, man, if I get to 100 episodes, like, there's a cookbook there, you know?
- [33:39]
Jenny Urge
Wait a minute. I mean, this is it. Because you're on book. You just said you hit nine books, so you should hit 10. Of course that's what it should be.
- [33:46]
Jeremy Puglisi
Yeah.
- [33:47]
Jenny Urge
Can you even imagine?
- [33:48]
Jeremy Puglisi
Oh, my gosh.
- [33:49]
Jenny Urge
How cool is that? I'm on. I'm on the YouTube right now. I just picked it up and it says this. This is the one that came up. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Knowing you could be saving money for the things you really want is a great feeling. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer, availability, amount of discounts, and savings. Savings and eligibility vary by state. It's summer time to enjoy long days, lazy nights, and great food. Because Uber Eats has deals all summer long. So when hunger strikes, don't sweat it. Delicious deals are just a Tap away on UberEats. Enjoy all your favorite grocery items delivered straight to you.
- [34:38]
Jeremy Puglisi
Get ice cream, soda and snacks from.
- [34:40]
Jenny Urge
Your favorite stores like Wegmans and cvs.
- [34:42]
Jeremy Puglisi
And make the most of every.
- [34:45]
Jenny Urge
Now that sounds like a good summer order. Now on UberEats terms apply.
- [34:49]
Jeremy Puglisi
Product availability varies by region.
- [34:50]
Jenny Urge
SIAP for details, get into your body's vitals with the Vitals app on Apple.
- [34:54]
Jeremy Puglisi
Watch.
- [35:02]
Jenny Urge
The Vitals app Tracks key overnight metrics so you can spot changes in.
- [35:05]
Jeremy Puglisi
Your health before you feel them.
- [35:07]
Jenny Urge
The Vitals app on Apple Watch iPhone Xs are later required. The Vitals app is for wellness purposes.
- [35:12]
Jeremy Puglisi
Only and not for medical use.
- [35:19]
Jenny Urge
Jeremy Puglisi is serving up chocolate pancake ice cream desserts on the Blackstone. It says these delicious treats are irresistible and budget friendly. And what's so cool is it's, you know, it's just a couple ingredients, but you're making these pancakes and you've got some ice cream to go with them, and you've got whipped cream and the cherries. But you're using the bowls that you recommended in the episode that we did for Christmas presents, and we bought those bowls for a ton of people. They're like these camping bowls with these lids, and they all nest in each other. So I just love how cohesive everything is.
- [35:51]
Jeremy Puglisi
That was such a fun episode because basically you make chocolate pancakes and then put ice cream on them. You kind of shape the ice cream. You scoop it a certain way out of the gallon or the half gallon, and you put that on in between the two chocolate pancakes, and it's like the world's greatest ice cream sandwich. And we used, like, egg molds to shape the pancakes into squares and then slapped the ice cream on there, and it was like, that was such a fun camping dessert. Of course, you have to have a freezer with you, though, if you're going to bring ice cream camping. So that's like an RV person thing. The tent camper might not be able to pull that off.
- [36:25]
Jenny Urge
Okay. This is so cool. Camp Griddlemore with Jeremy Puglisi. We could have done a whole episode on this. Maybe you'll come back and talk about it. I think that the. I think it's so fun. I think it's so fun to showcase that, like, you know, there's so many fun things to do in life, and if cooking is one of them. And Nathan's story is so wonderful. Like, he. He said, this is what I want to do with my life. Like, it really does make people feel loved and seen and cherished. And you cook for them, and it's a really big deal. So people can check that out. I mean, this is incredible. Every week, new recipes. Where are you filming then?
- [36:56]
Jeremy Puglisi
All over the place. So wherever. We just come to S Tig State park. We do film at local campgrounds sometimes, but when we go on a camping trip, we try to knock out some episodes. But then there's also some local place that we go to and Then sporadically, I have, like, a set at my house. So, you know, if I'm not out at the campground, but I need to get an episode done. I have, like, a set that I can. That we built, that I can put next to my rv. That looks pretty cool. All of the other Blackstone chefs have these great sets at home, and they film at home. I'm the crazy lunatic that's got to drive all over the place to film my show. But that's, of course, part of the fun. And we had. We just had so much fun at Azteague State park because we invited a bunch of friends, and we were just, like, cooking up a storm the entire.
- [37:37]
Jenny Urge
I want to come. I'm throwing my. My hat in the ring here. I want to come to one of these filmings and see what you're doing. So I'm emailing as soon as we're off. I want to. I want to join in camp Griddle more with Jeremy Puglisi 49 videos. And this is like, pizza, steak tacos inferno steak tacos, burger sauces, mom's favorite camping omelet, deconstructed chicken Caesar salad. I mean, this is so cool. And the Blackstone, for people who don't know, it's, like, portable because we've got, like, the. If people think about the Blackstone, like, we've got the big one that sits on our deck and, like, how we do take that, even though some people do. My friend Angie takes that big one camping. She, like, they, like, Jimmy rig it to the back of their camper. But then there's portable ones.
- [38:20]
Jeremy Puglisi
Yeah. There's smaller camping ones that are very easy. Then that's what I'm with. That's what I'm using every single episode. They're like 17 inch or 22 inch. And, you know, in a sense, it's like skillet cooking, but it's a much larger cooking surface. And that's kind of the magic of the Blackstone is you can make more food and make it faster. And I had these three hungry boys, like, give me another pancake. Give me another pancake. You know, out of the skillet, I'm like, knocking out one at a time. On the Blackstone, I'm knocking out eight pancakes at a time.
- [38:45]
Jenny Urge
You could feed the whole campground.
- [38:47]
Jeremy Puglisi
Sometimes we do, you know. So the Blackstone is great for camping, great for families, great for making a lot of food fast. And, you know, again, just like the RVing and the camping was a hobby that became something I'm doing as a career. Like, the camp cooking just started as a hobby, and now it's part of what I do.
- [39:06]
Jenny Urge
Wow. I love that. So, yeah, you end this. This board book talking about the big camping breakfasts are always the best, especially when you share them with friends. And the YouTube channel is fantastic. So especially heading into the summer here, people can check that out and have different ideas for cooking outside. Everything tastes better out there. And I feel like we could have a whole episode just on the fact that you have your own show called Camp Griddlemore with Jeremy Puglisi. And it's incredible. I mean, the graphics are incredible. It's so cool. If you are a teacher and you are kind of hating your life, like, there might be another path for you. You know, you are showcasing, and some people may be. Are teaching and love their life, but if you're struggling, there might be other things that you can do. I think if you lay the groundwork.
- [39:47]
Jeremy Puglisi
I loved my students teacher. It was grading all the essays that really.
- [39:52]
Jenny Urge
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a lot. I love teaching too. But also, you know, you lack some freedom because you couldn't. Like, one of the things that was interesting was, like, you couldn't take off, like, any days leading up to or after, like, a holiday break or, you know, there were some limiting things about it. But I also did love it. I love the students, and I. I do miss a lot of parts of it. It was wonderful. Okay, I want to make sure that we have time to talk about this. You also just came out with a camping journal and logbook for kids. You guys just do such a good job. You do such a good job with the things that you come out with. To me, once you have hit sort of a pinnacle and you already have established who you are and what you create and you have a name for yourself. To me, it would be almost easy to, like, put out something that's like, meh, you know, Oh, a camping journal, logbook. But this is really thought you like. You can tell a lot of thought went into this.
- [40:49]
Jeremy Puglisi
The logbook and journal. I'm gonna say this for the first time I've ever said it to anyone. Maybe the book I am most proud of out of all the books. It is fun. And when I start flipping through the pages, like, I wanna start writing in it, you know? And I was thinking, like, if I was a little kid, what would I dive into first? Like, the first part of the logbook and journal has all these activities. It has puzzles. It has bingo. It has, like, bucket lists you can write up. It has Camping maps of the United States and Canada so you can start like coloring in the states you've been to. It has all kinds of activities, like how to build a campfire with the help of an adult of course. So all kinds of fun stuff at the beginning. But then it goes into these 10 camping trip logs, these repeating camping trip logs so that kids can write about their 10 camping trips. And what I love about this, and this was Stephanie's idea, is that for each of those repeating sections there's like a pre writing part for before the trip, which is great because you've got the anticipation for the trip. Then there's parts that you can write while you're at the campground, like your review of the campground, what your favorite sites are. You can draw a picture of the campground and then there's a third section for your memories and reflections after. And what I love about that format is like when you think about travel, there's really three awesome and exciting parts about travel. There's anticipation. And of course we want our kids. My grandfather used to surprise us and be like, oh, tomorrow we're leaving and we're going here. And it kind of cut out that anticipation part. And Stephanie, Stephanie likes to like tell our kids where we're going months in advance so that they can learn about the place so they can anticipate it. So the anticipation for a trip is huge, a huge exciting part. It makes us happy thinking about where we're going to go. Then there's of course the trip itself. And I love the idea of kids instead of being on their devices, just doing a little journaling before bed in this logbook and journal or if it's a rainy day or something like that. So I think that this is a great alternative to somebody looking at a phone or whatever it might be. And then of course an awesome part of travel too is the reflection afterwards memories. We went to Hawaii with my 76 year old mother recently and she had so much anticipation for that trip. She was like a little child and it was amazing. Such a great time there. And now we, every time I talk to her we're talking about like all the fun we had and the memories from the trip. So travel like blesses us in like these three major different ways. And I love the fact that the let's Go Camping logbook and journal sort of like covers all three of those aspects.
- [43:16]
Jenny Urge
I think with books like this it's really easy for it to be repetitive and boring. And I just thought you did such a phenomenal job. Now you have One for adults, too. That's similar. I mean, just really wonderfully done. I thought the same thing. Like, what you just brought up is when you get it now, it's called let's Go Camping, a journal and logbook for kids. It's out now along with these board books. So it's like the. The year of things for kids. You open it up and you're. You can use it immediately. And I think that's a really interesting piece. Like you said, you can start to make your bucket list. You can color in on the map. There's word searches, there's, you know, a maze. So it's something that you don't have to wait to use. You get it, and you can use it immediately. And then, like you said, it's got some longevity there. And what a keepsake. What a keepsake from your little. From your child. We were just at a hotel, all things, but I was speaking at a convention, and our youngest daughter, it was like a huge hotel. It's called the Gaylord Palms in Florida. So it's. I mean, just massive. And it's really tricky to figure out how to get to your room. So she wrote out these directions. It was like, go under the doorway with the geese painting, turn left at the. You know, walk down the boardwalk near this restaurant, you know, and it's in her little kid writing. And it's, you know, it's a little bit spelled wrong. And I. I kept it, you know, it was just this little piece of paper. And I thought, well, what a beautiful keepsake you would have if you've got young kids and you do this with them. Also, if it's the summer and you're wanting to, like, you know, feel like you're getting a little bit of summer learning in there that everyone's pushing. They're writing, they're reflecting, they're drawing, they're using all of those skills. I was impressed with so many parts of it.
- [44:46]
Jeremy Puglisi
Well, thank you so much. And the other thing that I have to say about all these books is they're like, they're very affordable. Like the two boards for only 899. Like, I don't set the prices for the books. Our publisher does. And of course, they know what they're doing with pricing, but I was like, 899. It's like such a bargain. And then the Logbook and Journal, the let's Go Camping Logbook and journal is only 1299. So you can get all three of these books for 30 bucks. And I actually really love the fact they're very affordable as well.
- [45:11]
Jenny Urge
Yeah, it goes right along with camping. Yeah. 1299. And you have this beautiful memory keepsake that you would just love to have. So a couple other things that I notice about it was the parts about the research. And I think I talked to this woman named Adelaide. She has a curriculum that you learn foreign language. It's great. It's called talkbox Mom. But they travel a ton as a family and they've gone all over the place. And she talks about that, even for her young kids, that these are like college level research skills. Like when you can look and you can research and you can come up with a bucket list and you can, you know, use the Internet or use books or talk to people and figure out, like, what are some things that you want to do in your life. So what's your campground bucket list? What's your hiking bucket list? You know, look ahead and see how long is the hike. And, you know, what are people saying about it? That those are really incredible skills for people to have?
- [46:06]
Jeremy Puglisi
Well, it's autobiographical planning, as opposed to just passively consuming TikTok or whatever it is. And I'm not going to be too judgy about any of those things. You know, my kids look at screens from time to time, for sure, but instead of passively consuming what an algorithm is throwing at you, you're doing autobiographical planning. You're thinking about where you want to go, what you want to do, what are you going to do when you get there. And it sounds like an obvious skill to have, but in this era, it's not so obvious for a lot of our kids in the era of screens. And that anticipation for a trip is also. I wouldn't say this to my kids, but it sort of is a research phase. Our kids knew we were going to Hawaii four months before we went. They're watching YouTube videos. I'm sending them articles, I'm sending them magazine articles to read about this hike or this location or surfing on the North Shore. And really they learned a lot about Hawaii's history and Hawaii's culture. And it's like. It's almost like you're tricking them. I hate to say it that way, but it's. They don't feel like they're in a class learning or it's homework or something. It's very organic, it's very natural. And in a sense, it's the ideal way to learn something. And now they talk to their friends about Hawaii. They know they now they can tell their friends all about Oahu and a little bit about the history of Hawaii and all the things you want to do if you go. So there's a lot, there's a lot to learn when we travel as well.
- [47:26]
Jenny Urge
Yeah, yeah. So you're building those skill sets when they're young in a book like this for 13. So you start with this camping countdown. So talking about the anticipation, use books, the Internet or a quit or quiz an adult to learn more about where you're going. So where are we going? What are our dates? Where is it at? So you got that geography component. What's the weather forecast? I mean, even that, like you're, you're thinking ahead. And then you write this draw or write about any activities in the area around the campground that you would like to do. So this is another thing. I mean, this is one of the things that we do. You search for everything that you're interested in. You search for beach, you search for swimming hole, you search for fishing spots, you search for bike paths, for museums, for restaurants. And so you're learning like how to take control of your own life and.
- [48:07]
Jeremy Puglisi
How to empower the kids to start making some choices as part of your family. So we've always believed that the kids should have some say in where we go and what we do when we're there. I mean, I don't, I don't want to be dragging him onto this trip that dad formulated just for himself because I'd be going to like used bookstores and, and hiking every day and that's all I would do. You know, you want, you want the family to participate. You want to say, hey, look, here's five activities we're thinking about. Which ones are you guys interested in? And you're not, you're not giving kids total control over the trip because you're the parent, you're the adult. But giving them a say is part of, of raising them, part of raising them so that they one day become decision makers. So now we're even getting to a point where we sometimes say, where do you guys want to go on the next camping trip? And we let them kind of dig in and research. We had a friend who, when she was little, her father handed her the KOA catalog, said, we're going on a one month trip this summer. You plan the route. Where do you want to stay? We're going to stay at KOA campgrounds. And the three sisters poured over that KOA catalog for months planning the trip out. I think that's awesome. I think giving the kids a little bit of empowerment and planning the trips is really great, too. And I think that the logbook and journal helps with that as well.
- [49:20]
Jenny Urge
Yeah, what a life skill. And then the actual part where you're at the campground, I mean, it's just really, really well done. It's about you, like, make a postcard. That was one of the things. Like, how would you advertise this and who would you send it to? I think that that's a wonderful way to talk about the campground that you're at.
- [49:37]
Jeremy Puglisi
We still have our kids send postcards when we're away. Like, I mean, when I was a kid, it was such a big deal to get a post. By my God. My cousin. My cousin Josh is in Canada, and he sent me a postcard. Oh, my God. Like, it was, like, really cool to get that in the mail. One of the other things we've gotten away from in this digital culture. So, yeah, we really liked that. You know, integrating that and that's kind of old school and having them do that. We still have our kids send postcards to grandma when we're away.
- [50:02]
Jenny Urge
I love it. I love it. It is so well done. So you draw a picture. It says, postcards are small snapshots that you can send to family and friends to tell them about your travels. Create one for your camping trip. So that's one of the things that you're doing while you're there. Who would you send it to? And you would draw a picture and put your little note, and it's in there for 10 different camping trips. And also, you know, there's different journal prompts. The journal prompts are different for each one. So just good conversation topics as well as, you know, like, you talked about a campground review. What campsite are you at? That's always a big thing. That's like, real big up in the. Up in the corner. What campsite are you at? Because you always think you're going to remember, but you don't. So you have these different journals, the campsite number, the campground review. What's a favorite memory, A moment from the trip you don't want to forget? And then this is this creativity component. They make themselves a little badge.
- [50:48]
Jeremy Puglisi
Yeah. I mean, there's so many fun elements to this book. Like, I mean, I'm going to sound like a total nerd here. Like, I'm bringing one of these with me this summer. I'm going to totally do this. I mean, you can tell the two. Two. Two teachers were involved. I also really like the fact that the kids get to start, like, Shaping and forming their own opinions about the things they like. And this empowers them to do that. Like, did you like this campground? What would you change about it? What did you love? What did you not love? Like, in a sense, I feel like we're partly training kids up to be little, you know, travel writers or travel experts, which is super fun too.
- [51:18]
Jenny Urge
Yeah. So they design a little badge, you know, that sort of signifies what that trip was about. Way to go, camper. Award yourself a camping badge for something you accomplished on this trip and draw the badge below. So it's just really open ended. And then at the very end there's a spot where you would put all of your badges at the back. But it's, it's the things that you've created, like you said, autobiographical. It's not something that's like, here's 15 badges. Which one did you earn? It's like, no, make up your own.
- [51:44]
Jeremy Puglisi
Yeah, it's like your creative camping accomplishments. And I will give credit for this idea as well. It's very helpful to be married to a former third grade teacher when you're doing a book like this. So creative ideas are in this one for sure.
- [51:59]
Jenny Urge
Isn't that cool though? I mean, it just goes to show your path of life and you know, that all these things are not, they're not lost, you know, you've switched careers. However, all of those things, they still play in and they still matter. And those, you know, life experiences of working. I mean, this book is for ages 7 plus, so she's a third grade teacher. I mean, it's like her target demographic. There's. But like you said, I mean, you could be any age and bring this along with you. And I love that thing about the badges in the back. One last thing that's really cute about it in particular is the fact that you said 50% of people camp with their dogs. And this one has Maggie the camping dog as a, as a big thematic part of the, of the whole journal.
- [52:38]
Jeremy Puglisi
And was written by Maggie the camping dog. So yes, could not live without our Maggie the camping dog. We love her so much. And now we have Maverick as well, who is absolutely lovely.
- [52:49]
Jenny Urge
We have a dog named Maverick. Isn't that wild? It's so wild. We got these oldest, you know, boys, 16, that are lifeguarding. We also have a dog named Maverick. That's so funny.
- [53:00]
Jeremy Puglisi
Campground Jenny for sure.
- [53:03]
Jenny Urge
We gotta, we gotta meet up with you. We'll bring our dogs and our lifeguards and. Okay, I want to hit one last thing because I Think this is important, especially given the fact that we are in this sort of similar stage of life. And I just talked to this man named Sahil Bloom, who wrote a book called Five Types of Wealth. It's a fantastic book. He talks about. He's got the graph that shows, you know, as you get older, where does your time go? And it goes less and less and less with your kids and more and more and more with your spouse, and more and more and more alone. It's just sort of the trajectory of life. But he talks about, like, really kind of like 10 good years. And that sounds, like, really dramatic, but it's like, you don't really have 18. You have in.
- [53:41]
Jeremy Puglisi
You know, Jenny, Stephanie came home. We've talked about going to Hawaii forever, but in very abstract ways. And we're RV and camping people. We can't take our RV to Hawaii, obviously. So we never got real serious about going. But, you know, my kids are surfers. I've wanted to go to Hawaii since I was 6 years old. And Stephanie came home one day and she's like, there's only so many summers with them. They're 16. Like, if we don't go, like, now, you know, when are we going to go? And, you know, when you're. When you're a parent with young kids, there's moments when it feels like it's going to, like, last forever. Like, the grind of raising young kids, it is the most cliched thing in the world to say that. It does go really, really fast. And I really do think you need to kind of seize the day with your kids and make the most of the time that you have with them. And you're shaping them. I mean, you're shaping them into the adults that they're going to become. So these. These moments matter so much. These summer vacations matter so much. These weekend camping trips matter so much. You use the word invest earlier, and I think that that's a really great word. Investing is not always easy, but it's very wise. You know, it's very wise to invest and to invest in your kids. And I am really happy to see the fruits of some of those investments we've made. You know, the fact that my boys are confident in the outdoors, confident in the ocean, the place where they're going to be lifeguards. There are saves every day. The water's a little rough. There's people that come that don't know the ocean very well, and they're pumped up and ready for this. They want to contribute to our community. And save people's lives this summer. And someone might say it's corny to connect it to all the camping trips and all the time in the great outdoors. I think there's a direct line from one to the other. Absolutely. So for your podcast listeners out there listening that might be struggling with the young kids and all the ways that it's hard, just get out there and do it. You're totally capable of getting out there and camping and traveling, whether it's close to home or in an amazing national park, you can do it. You can absolutely do it and invest in your kids.
- [55:44]
Jenny Urge
And you're going to look back and you're going to be so glad that you did that. You're going to be in the same spot we are with a 16 year old and, you know, they're starting to get jobs and you just don't have the freedom and flexibility that you once had. And you're going to be like, oh, I'm so glad that we did all that when we had the opportunity to do it.
- [56:00]
Jeremy Puglisi
Absolutely, absolutely. Absolutely. And then, you know, one day I really hope and pray and wish that my kids are taking their kids camping and grandpa can come. Oh, my God. It's like almost saying that, but I mean, I totally, I'm like looking forward to like three generations of Puglisi's out there camping. And I'm pretty, I'm pretty darn confident that they're going to take their kids camping. Yeah.
- [56:24]
Jenny Urge
Yeah. And you're going to be the chef. You're going to be the camp chef for everyone, for the grandkids. And what a thing, what a life you've built. Just, you know, and it's hard. You had twins first. You got these babies at home. It's hard. And sometimes wonderfully beautiful things are birthed out of hard situations. And here you are 16 years later now looking forward to cooking for grandkids. And I just am so thankful. I'm so thankful that we've connected. We connected a long time ago because you have these camping books and it's just been a wonderful relationship. Relationship with you and the 1000 Hours Outside podcast and the listeners. And I've loved just a book after book and they're so cohesive, they go well together. There's not been one that I've been, oh, I probably shouldn't have read that. I mean, every single one I has inspired me. And it just is a reminder, like, I want to go, I want to live more. I want to get more out of this time that I have so, Jeremy, if people are interested in finding you, I know there's a lot of different places. Where can they go?
- [57:15]
Jeremy Puglisi
Everything's under the RV Atlas in terms of social media, podcasts, and website. The book series is where should we camp next? And then the children's books that we talked about today, they're available wherever you want to get them. If you want to shop at an independent bookstore, you can get them there. If you want to, you know, buy them on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, wherever books are sold, and then all the social media and the podcast, the RV Atlas. And Ginny, thank you so much for letting us come on and talk to your great audience about camping and getting outside.
- [57:40]
Jenny Urge
And the new thing is the YouTube channel. I mean, that is so cool. On top of everything else, Camp Griddlemore cooking show with Blackstone. What an honor. Jeremy. I'm really. I want to come. I'm coming on something. At some point. We'll do some sort of meetup. I know you're heading out soon. You said you already have the campground. You already have the campground. You already have the. It's packed.
- [57:59]
Jeremy Puglisi
Yeah. And we're off to the campground this weekend, and I would love to camp with you guys someday. You still have the pop up camp?
- [58:05]
Jenny Urge
Yeah, we have it. We don't really fit in it, but we have it.
- [58:09]
Jeremy Puglisi
That does happen. Oh, my God. We have a hard time squeezing into the truck now because the boys are so vacant. It's like a comedy. What was seeing our family all get into my. My pickup truck at this point. So.
- [58:19]
Jenny Urge
Yeah, but it develops, you know, flexibility. So these are all the skills that we want for our kids. Jeremy, thank you so much for being here.
- [58:25]
Jeremy Puglisi
Thank you so much for having me. Jenny.
- [58:29]
Jenny Urge
Do you want to learn the Bible in a way that's encouraging, surprising, and even entertaining? Check out the Bible Stories podcast. Each week Bible Bible Stories brings you classics, you know, and hidden gems that you might have missed. Have you ever heard about the time.
- [58:45]
Jeremy Puglisi
That King David fought a giant and he lost? Or when Paul preached so long a.
- [58:50]
Jenny Urge
Guy fell asleep, he tumbled out a window and had to be brought back to life? Did you know that God himself buried Moses and that Michael the Archangel and the devil fought over Moses body?
- [59:03]
Jeremy Puglisi
Yeah, it gets wild.
- [59:06]
Jenny Urge
So tune in for storytelling.
- [59:08]
Jeremy Puglisi
That's biblical, insightful, and a lot of fun. Subscribe today to Bible Stories with Matt.
- [59:14]
Jenny Urge
Mullins and Todd Haymans, available wherever you get your podcasts.