Bringing a taste of the road home.

The downside of how we travel is that we’re away from the RV more than in it. Unlike most people who have their RV parked in their driveway, we can’t just hop in it to go on a weekend trip or spend extra time just hanging around in it. We only get to play in it 4 - 5 short times a year. In between times we miss it! We talk about it, look over photos, edit video, look at maps planning our next trip, but the longing to be able to open the RV door and walk in can get pretty intense. Every now and then we talk about getting another used RV to have at home for weekend trips but then realize that having two RVs is a bit ridiculous and we’re getting carried away!

We belong to an organization called Boondockers Welcome. (will add link on our webpage under Our People soon) This is an online group that provides free parking spaces for members. Like couch surfing, only you bring your own couch. We joined last year and have only stayed with one host but were really impressed. Our host in Providence RI, provided us with a large paved lot and hooked up electricity & water for us. He also gave us plenty of good information about places to visit. It was a good experience and something we really appreciated.

When we got home we decided to become hosts ourselves to pay back the experience. We don’t have a large property so can only accommodate a small unit parked in front of our house. So far we have had 2 different RVers stop by with a 3rd booked for next week. What we’ve discovered doing this is not what we expected. These people actually help to alleviate our longing. They speak our language! Sure we can talk to our friends about our camping experiences but when we start dropping phrases like mooch docking, BLM or dispersed camping, their eyes start to glaze over. They just haven’t lived through the same lifestyle we have. Our boondocking visitors have though and being able to chat with them, however briefly allows us to experience that “on the road” lifestyle vicariously through them. They know what it feels like to be a small unit nestled into the corner of a TA, or what a relief it can be seeing that big yellow KOA sign in the distance late at night. We can sit around and chat about hookups or composting toilets vs regular dumpsite ones. Ok, maybe that’s not the most exciting of discussions but the point is: we understand each other and“talking the talk”brings us back into the RV world when we’re at home and our RV is far away. We hadn’t anticipated this when we signed up to be a Boondocker host, but it’s a wonderful side benefit. Looking forward to our next guests.