“Rock my RV with Bret Michaels” airs Sunday nights at 9 p.m. on Travel Channel.
Credit: Travel Channel
After decades in the spotlight as a glam metal frontman, 50-year-old rocker reality star Bret Michaels is throwing a new skill into the mix — tricking out RVs and rocking the open road.
For Michaels, RVing is much more than a means of transportation — it’s a lifestyle. The rock star holds tight to countless childhood memories in an RV, and now spends nine months out of the year on the road, logging millions of miles.
Sunday night, the self-proclaimed “ultimate RV adventurer” debuted a new show on the Travel Channel, “Rock my RV with Bret Michaels.” In the 16-episode series, the “Rock of Love” star will lead a design team as they transform worn out, dilapidated RVs into the most luxurious, over-the-top, tricked out mobile mansions on the road. To get America revved up, the hands-on aficionado has five things he wants you to know about hitting the open road in an RV.
1. They’re not just the chariot of choice for retirees. Anyone, at any age, can rock an RV road trip.
“I hope that it shows that the open road is for any generation. My mom and dad were pretty young when they were doing it. It’s sort of like the the Wild West. You go out there and it’s a great adventure.”
2. Be mindful of the cramped quarters.
“When you take a road trip, whether you’re in a car or an RV, let me just assure you, you’re either going to bond for life and have great memories or you may possibly never speak to each other again. This is my best advice: You want as much space as you can get. Stop at a place where you can get out of that thing and get away from each other for a little bit. Go out, walk around, hike, stretch out, enjoy the scenery.”
3. Slow ride, take it easy.
“Don’t be in a rush to get from Point A to Point B. I would not drive super-fast. In an RV, you want to get into a little more of a cruise feel, and get a feel of the weight and the wind.”
4. Bigger is not better.
“If you’re going to start RVing, you might want to start with a little smaller one and get a good feel of the groove of the road as you’re going. It’s just like starting out on anything. If you’re going to ride a Harley, you don’t want to jump on the biggest, heaviest one right away. You graduate up a little bit.”
5. He takes tricking out your RV seriously.
“The first thing I have to do with most of these is look at the structure, the rust factor, what we can and can’t do — and most important is weight. You can’t put too much weight on this thing. Forget about gas; it could be quite dangerous. So it’s really a matter of function and fun. I’ve got to create both. I want it to be fun, but it’s got to function and I want their experience when they leave to be enjoyable. A lot of these RV shows, they build these in a garage and they make things that could never possibly go down the road. My job is to make it be able to go wherever they want it — go under any bridge, go anywhere they want, any beach, any side of a mountain that they want to go. I want it to be fun and functional.”
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