In reply to Vintage Airstream Club member JG, who wrote: >I'm starting to put together a very loose itinerary - wander would probably >be more truthful - for a southern route. Read that warm. I want to park and >explore an area for several days. I'm looking for the quiet old south that >might have seen the Safari on a maiden voyage. I hate the campgrounds that >look like a trailer parks, I love water and I don't require any hookup. I >want to do photographic essays and follow up with written accounts. I hold >that there is nothing which is uninteresting in a town with no Wal-Mart, a >main street hardware store and a cafe where anybody who is anybody in town has >breakfast or lunch. I'm wide open for suggestions.> Hi JG, here are a couple of suggestions: 1 - If you haven't stumbled onto books written by John Howells, you might find a few of them speak to your interest. He describes places that are warm in the winter, and he briefly outlines attractions. His books are not about campgrounds, but are about geographic areas. By reading his books, we gain a broader picture of particular areas we plan to explore. We want to see everything, do everything (within our limits) and not miss anything - even though we know it will take more years than we have left. 2 - The kind of traveling you are planning to do is somewhat similar to what we've been doing part time for 30 years and full time for the last 11 years. With that in mind, I'll share with you (via "OPTIONS" at the end of this note) a thumbnail sampling of overnight accommodations we use each year. There is no single publication to find this data (like a Sears catalog). Instead, we've compiled our data from booklets, pamphlets, brochures, flyers, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, notes from friends and personal findings. I store them in an old cosmetic case and a well worn brief case. Because the options are constantly changing, vigilant attention to detail is essential. We were going to write a book, but it would be obsolete before published. Each day, when we leave our campsite, we have three to five options in mind about where we may stay that night. If our first choice is no longer available when we arrive, we head for the second choice and so on. For some folks, that kind of uncertainty is uncomfortable. For us, we consider it part of the adventure. And yes, once in awhile, we strike out and have to scramble, but that's life. It's not all roses and delicious pumpkin pie. Hopefully, some of this data will be useful to you, Terry '77 31' Airstream Excella 500 '78 Ford Van E-250, 460 CID, etc. PS - Today (Thursday 11/30/00), we rolled into "Slab City" at Niland, CA just before dark, found a level place in the desert where we have a few tall shrubs and sagebrush for privacy, yet there are dozens of other RVers some distance away. There are occasional groups parked close to each other. This is a 600 acre parcel of desert that used to be the training area for General George Patton during WWII. All that's left now are a few paved roads and a lot of concrete slabs where barracks and other buildings used to be. Peak season is January when the population may rise to a thousand RVers. There is no charge for parking in the desert. There are no facilities either. We arrived with our water tank full, our holding tanks empty, our 3 solar panels happily singing away while pumping amps into our 3 deep cycle marine batteries, our fridge has been holding at 38 degrees, our inverter is keeping the Mac laptop battery fully charged and our CB hears the Snowbird chatter of our neighbors. After dark, the brightest lights are the overhead constellations, while the muffled sound of dogs (coyotes ?) off in the distance means all is well in this small part of our world. ============== OPTIONS by Terry Tyler There are thousands of options for choosing overnight RV accommodations which are not listed in any commercial directory. I've put together a categorical listing of options we routinely use in our travels around the continent. These few sentences are not a complete picture of what's available, but with flexible thinking and open mindedness, any RVer can find more options. The list includes: Rally sites, Caravan stops, Courtesy Parking locations, City Parks, Town Parks, Village Parks, Municipal Parks, County Parks, State Parks, State Forests, Truck Stops, State Environmental Conservation Parks, RV Repair Shop parking lots, Auto/Truck Service lots, National Parks, National Forests, National Park Service CGs, US Army Corps of Engineers CGs, Power and Light Company CGs, Ferry Crossing parking lots, National Wildlife Refuges, Water Authority CGs, Turnpike Authority parking areas for RVers, Burean of Land Management areas, Interstate overnight parking areas for RVers, Gas Company CGs, Fairgrounds, Provincial Parks, Bay Bridge Tunnel Authority parking lot, Mobile Home Parks, Tennessee Valley Authority Parks, Airstream Parks, Museum parking lots, Overflow areas at campgrounds, Utility Company CGs, Marina parking lots, River Authority CGs, Rodeo Grounds, Mining Company CGs, Restaurant parking lots, Elk CGs, Reservoir CGs, Trading Post parking lots, Church yards, Casino CGs or parking lots, historic Fort CGs and Escapees Parks. And the list goes on - and on - and on. In my opinion, there are more "under used" and "little known" locations for camping and RV parking than any one family can identify in their lifetime. But, for those of us who make a game of trying to find them, it only takes an awareness that there are options, and that with persistence, more can be found than one might imagine. The simplest and fastest way to start learning about locations like these is to join the Escapees RV Club and begin tabulating the information found in the Day's End column of the club's magazine. Anyone wishing a printout of sites that members have submitted to the column's author during the last 10 years may order one using the address listed in the Club magazine. There's also a floppy disk available with the same information. Go to http://www.escapees.com for details on joining. Happy hunting, have fun and we look forward to reading about places you found, mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe or to change to a daily Digest, please go to http://www.airstream.net/vaclist/listoffice.html If replying back to this message, please delete all the unnecessary original text from your reply.
