Joni and Mike Cox (known on Instagram as Those Who Glamp Together) are once again taking their rig, a 2015 Forest River Vengeance 29V Toy Hauler, to the gas station. They are not, however, pulling their travel trailer up to where all the other cars are pumping. No, they drive right past that and calmly drive into the trucker’s fuel area. Then they pump a full tank of diesel, and pay with an EFS fuel card. The total on the pump reads $71. The total they pay is only $40.
When I heard about this incredible tactic for savvy RVers, my jaw dropped. Surely, that’s just for truckers, right? Apparently not. I’ve been following the Cox family on Instagram for a while now and I’m always amazed by what I always learn from them. I caught up with them and they kindly agreed to an interview on the Fern the Camper website and talk about their incredible RV journey and about this intriguing fuel card.
FTC: What made you choose your make/model and how long did it take you to take the plunge?
TWGT: “With almost everything, we research our purchases for several months before buying. We knew we wanted a toy hauler that we could pull with the truck we had at that time. We went to the dealer on a cold Saturday in February and knew what we wanted. We looked at it and said ‘we’ll take it’. Then the salesman took us to another toy hauler and said it was the same price with extra benefits. All of the research and we bought the second rig we saw.” FTC: You obviously know a thing or two about RVing, how long have you been doing it?
TWGT: “We started tent camping around 1999 we bought our first ‘rig’ a pop up around 2009 and our current rig in 2014. We also love to backpack and try to take one trip a year.”
FTC: What was your first camping experience like?
TWGT: “Our first time in our pop up we chose to go all the way to South Dakota, from central Ohio. We had bought our used pop up in November of 2009. We arrived to our campsite and we were amazed at the beauty of our surroundings, then we quickly came down to reality when we had to set up camp the first time.
“We had literally only set our ‘pop up’ up once. And we struggled horribly. The first night in camp a severe thunderstorm came roaring through and we thought our pop up was going to fall on top of us. After the storm passed and we were ready to sleep we realized a cold front had started coming through, so we decided to turn the heater on and hit the rack.
“We quickly realized the heat was not coming on and the temperature had dropped from 90 degrees to the upper 30’s. Now what? We grabbed extra blankets, put the dog under the blankets to help keep us warm and roughed it. The next morning Mike woke up to condensation dripping on his head, he got out of bed and tried to figure out the heater.
“He stepped outside to check the power and make sure we were still plugged in. Yep all good. Then he came rushing back inside claiming he was so dumb for not realizing that the heater wasn’t electric but it was propane. He turned on the propane and voila we had heat. We still laugh about that night.”
FTC: Where is the place you find yourself returning to again and again?
TWGT: “We love the mountains and we love going out west. Although we do want to camp at some beach sites but the mountains keep calling us back to them.”
FTC: Top epic place to visit in the RV? What's on the awesome list?
TWGT: “Glacier national park. Everything at Glacier is on the awesome list. The hikes, the views, and the water. AMAZING!”
FTC: Tell us a bit about the EFS fuel card. How did you learn about it and what was it like using it for the first time?
TWGT: “The EFS card is a fuel card for truckers And RVers. TSD Logistics negotiates prices with truck stops to lower the price per gallon. It is basically a debit card attached to your checking account. I first heard of the card from a full time RV family on YouTube. The first time I used the card, I literally filled my truck up with 30 gallons of diesel. The pump registered $71 for the fuel. When we opened the app we saw the EFS card was only charged $40. I was shocked and excited.”
FTC: Should EVERY RVer use it, including tiny trailers?
TWGT: “The EFS card is perfect for all RVers no matter what size the rig. All you need is a vehicle that requires diesel.”
FTC: Tell us about your YouTube channel. How long have you been working on that?
TWGT: “‘ThoseWhoGlampTogether’ is young in its development, but we are excited to see who we can help through this forum. We decided about a year ago that with our camping, backpacking, and other adventures we find ourselves in. We should document them, in hopes to help anyone, and we could and learn things along the way.” FTC: What's next in your adventure?
TWGT: “We just built a home base, around our camper. We are preparing for Mike to retire and see what that chapter of travel and adventure has in store for us.”
That sounds like you’ll have some fabulous travel plans coming up, I can’t wait to see what unfolds. If you’d like to follow Mike and Joni through Those Who Glamp Together, find them on Instagram HERE, on YouTube HERE.
If you want to see INSIDE Joni and Mike's RV, they have a great RV tour on their YouTube page. To see it directly, click HERE.
Keep Camping!
All photos Copyrighted to Those Who Glamp Together
All writing Copyrighted to Fern the Camper