Our public lands provide places where we can boondock for free or for a very low cost. The permits for parking for seven months on the Long Term Visitor Areas in AZ and CA have gone up to $180, up from $140, but still a bargain. Water, trash receptacles and dump station locations are available for this price. Areas where you can stay 14 days like Tecopa are still mostly free. Half-price camping clubs and membership clubs can also be a budget-saver now that many RV parks have hit the $25-$40/night mark.

By working or volunteering in an area we can see way more than the typical tourist, have a free or low-cost site and cover expenses and add to savings. Yet we aren’t stuck there. Our homes have wheels and we can move on at the end of the season or if things don’t work out as we had hoped.

The RV lifestyle also brings new adventures. I’m sure each of us has several places or things we’ve done that we would not have done in our former lives. I might have gone to Alaska but I wouldn’t have spent a summer in Skagway, ridden the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad, or kayaked among porpoises and whales in Glacier Bay. I had always wanted to go to Niagra Falls but had never done so until last summer when George and I traveled by Buffalo, NY in our RV. We decided to see the falls so stopped for a few days in that area. Just like that.

If you are not a full-time RVer, traveling by RV is so much more pleasant. No living out of a suitcase. You sleep in the same bed each night. You have a choice between eating out or in and you have all the little things that make life more pleasant for you with you.

We are truly blessed to be able to participate in this lifestyle. We can be "home" for the holidays, wherever we are parked. We’ve spent Thanksgiving parked at family member’s homes, joined a group of RV friends for a potluck Thanksgiving at parks or in the desert and invited those who are alone to join us. We can create community any place we choose.

Nicky Boston writes about this conflict in "The Addiction" in RV Traveling Tales: Women’s Journeys on the Open Road. She must have something to read, her husband; Don, keeps saying "weight," as she begins adding books.

So how do you find enough books to read without spending a fortune and without books becoming like the rocks in "The Long, Long Trailer?" Here are some ideas:

• Libraries often have giveaway magazines and used books for sale.
• If you are in the area for awhile, see about getting a library card. Some do not require a local address, or, you can show you have received mail at a local RV park or the post office.
• Cracker Barrel and Flying J, among others, have books on tape or CD you can rent in one location and return at another.
• Book exchange/library at RV parks. Many have a deal where you can take one if you leave one.
• Independent coffee shops may also have a book exchange area.
• RV gatherings often have a book or item exchange set up where you can trade out one book for another.

• Sell your books at a used bookstore, at Amazon Marketplace or on eBay. Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, AZ will give you store credit or cash for your used books. At Bookmans, an Arizona used bookstore chain, you can buy, sell or trade your books.
• Leave them at an RV park for others or donate newer hardbacks to a library.
• Save them until you meet up with a friend. We have a circle of friends who like similar books and exchange them in the winter when we meet up. Occasionally we’ll use media mail to pass a book on.
• Register your book with BookCrossing.com and leave it where someone might find it and pick it up. Betty Prange, contributor to RV Traveling Tales, gave a copy to a trip mate in Russia who took it to Australia where it is still circulation.

You’ll have to track down a copy of RV Traveling Tales to read the humorous resolution to Nicky and Don’s conflict. You could purchase one for a family member or friend who is curious about the lifestyle and read it yourself first. You’ll enjoy the many stories about life on the road. Jaimie Hall - Bruzenak


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