Life & Work with Buddy Salpeck of Willow Spring

Today we’d like to introduce you to Buddy Salpeck.

Hi Buddy, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Once upon a time, there was a husband and wife and four kids who loved spending time outdoors tent camping. One weekend we booked a beach camping trip at First Landing State Park in VA. Bad weather ruined our trip, heavy rains and wind and a hole in our tent forced the kids to sleep in the car, and we suffered wet and cold until morning. That morning we decided that was it; we were not going to tent camp again and decided to purchase a camper so we could continue our family adventures and enjoy the outdoors. The camper was purchased, and reservations were made all over NC. On our first trip, we wanted to document these memories, so the camera came, and it never went down. Soon we were writing everything about our camping trips. As the kids got older, we were down to one teenager left with us, but she soon adopted many of her friends who enjoyed coming with us. We later learned our videos could be on YouTube, where we could share what we loved doing most, “Camping.” We could leave campground reviews, document our adventures while venturing out of the campgrounds to explore local areas and embarrass our teenager and her friends. After receiving our first review from our first post, we knew we could do this and make more. We only say that we wish we had done this sooner. Dawn grew up on Long Island, NY, and moved to Wake County over 20 years ago. She works at the American Kennel Club and helps with my business and First Time RVers. I was a police officer with the United States Capitol Police for almost 10 years before moving from a Washington DC suburb in Maryland about 18 years ago. I own and operate a furniture restoration company, Salpeck’s Furniture Service. We met while both of us were going through a divorce. We are a blended family, with our youngest, Madison, being ours together. After tent camping for several years, we decided to purchase our first camper. It was, what you can consider, an entry-level travel trailer enough to get into the lifestyle but not much more. We quickly learned how much we loved camping and also learned that we needed more space. We upgraded to another travel trailer, a bumper pull camper. This was a much larger and nicer unit we loved; this purchase put us on the road even more. After about 4 years of traveling in this camper, we decided it was time for another upgrade, and that is when we purchased “Breaking Dawn,” “We stop where we want to.” Our latest camper is a Cedar Creek Champagne 38EBS 5th wheel. This style of camper allows for more interior room and basement storage areas and is the easiest for towing. This has allowed us to travel further than we ever have before.

As mentioned above, we wanted to keep a video diary of our adventures. I began watching YouTube videos about camping and became addicted to not only the lifestyle but also “vlogging.” That is what started First Time RVers. Now that we’ve been doing this for several years, not first-timers, we are becoming known as “FTRV.” Our channel has grown over the last few years because our subscribers and viewers ask for more, like our favorite campground or recommendations. We now have expanded what we feature on our channel. We now do campground reviews, must-haves, and how-to videos on our channel. We love getting on the road. I do all the driving, and Dawn makes all the bookings. Some resorts she books a year or more in advance. We are on the road about 2 weekends a month, and several longer stays of 4 days or more all year long.

Before we started our channel, I became addicted to watching YouTube videos on camping, full-time camping, and boondocking. If you’ve never heard that term, it refers to living in some camper/van off-grid. Providing your power and necessities like water, restroom, etc. This leads us to want to do a little more about camping.

About a year ago, we decided we wanted something that would allow us to travel more quickly and stay in more places. Because of our 5th wheel size, we don’t fit in some campgrounds, roads, tunnels, etc. For these reasons, we purchased a 2004 Ford extended passenger van with a hightop. This van is our new project and has been featured on our channel several times. We had to start by totally removing everything from the inside to begin our build. We have shown our viewers our travels and tribulations. We’ve taken them to the Black Hills of South Dakota, Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore, Devils Tower, the Badlands, Yellowstone National Park, and Grand Teton. They even went on a Royal Caribbean cruise this past April. They traveled 10947 feet above sea level to the top of Beartooth Highway Pass, where we all saw snow on the 4th of July. Youtube has allowed us to show our fans anything from the good times to the bad. From the polar plunge to a roof leak. Once complete, we hope that our campervan will expand our travels and allow us to show our fans even more. We cannot wait to see what the future holds for our travels.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
September 2018, Hurricane Florence, Our camper was parked about 200 miles away on the coast. As the storm approached, we had to decide whether to leave it there and cross our fingers or drive towards the storm to rescue our camper. We chose the latter and brought it to safety closer to home.

Anyone who owns a newer camper will tell you they aren’t made like they used to be. There will be repairs that will need attention regularly. Luckily we are handy, and to save money, we complete most of these independently: roof leaks, shower leaks, toilet leaks, broken cabinet doors and drawers, crushed storage compartments, broken charging systems, bad door locks, leaking slide-outs, crossed wiring. We’ve done it all, including fixing a crushed aluminum side panel that happened when I left an empty propane bottle too close to the camper when it came time to lower it onto the hitch of our truck.

Money and time are probably our biggest challenges right now. Leaving out the original cost of our van, solar will take up more than half of our budget for our van build. We will need solar to boondock in remote locations and at state and national parks. This will have to wait, so we will use the van at more rustic campgrounds where we can plug in a good ole’ household extension cord. As for time, there’s never enough time! Whether it is time off of work or time to take care of our home, or time to travel, there isn’t enough of it. Oh well, we will make due. We cannot wait to show our fans more of our travels, from quick local trips to long-distance, long-term trips. First, TIme Rvers will be there to film it all!

Who else deserves credit for your story?
My wife = Dawn Salpeck, for booking the campgrounds and pushing me to do this and keep going. My daughter – Madison Salpeck, is the comedian in our videos. Many followers have watched “Madi” grow up.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/first.time.rvers/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FirstTimeRVersNC/
• Youtube: @FirstTimeRVers