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 RV Traveling Tales: Women's Journeys on the Open Road
This is one of the best RV books to come around in a long time. Published in February, 2003, 52 women answer the question: "What is it like to be a female nomad on the open road, leaving family, community, and possessions to head into the unknown in an RV?" The writing is crisp and clean and the stories entertaining and inspiring. Any women who travels by RV or plans to will love this book.
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Buying an RV?
Here's a book by an RV sales manager that reveals insider informaton that will enable you to save thousands when buying from an RV dealer! How low an offer will a dealer accept? This book tells all. Read a review by the editors of Beginners Guide to RVing.
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Beginners Guide to RVing
Advice and information for beginning RVers and others thinking of taking up the recreational vehicle lifestyle.
RV Bookstore —Books, Videos, DVDs and more
The world's largest and best selection of books, videos, DVDs, eBooks and magazines exclusively about the RV lifestyle. Check out our weekly specials and closeouts. Great customer service. We appreciate you!
Free RV Camping in the West
FreeCampgrounds.com is a directory of free RV campgrounds in the American West. These are often in small town city parks. Plus information on camping at casinos, truck stops, Wal-Mart and on U.S. public lands.
Good Sam Club: The largest RV club in America. Benefits include a superb monthly magazine, hundreds of local chapters and special interest groups, regional and national rallies, and discounts at campgrounds -- perhaps the best benefit.
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Group provides support for women RVers
By Chuck Woodbury, editor
An estimated nine million Americans use RVs each year, and more than half are women. Nonetheless, eight years ago, while trav eling across country by RV, Zoe Swanagon and Lovern King rarely saw other women on the road by themselves. "I think part of the reason is because women don't tend to let it be known they are traveling alone, perhaps for security reasons," said King.
They also found that RV parks and camp activities were usually aimed at couples. In 1991, while attending an RV rally in California, they posted a notice for a meeting of independent women RVers. The turnout was so large that another was promptly scheduled for the next day. At these meetings, women expressed their loneliness on the road and their desire to make connections with other women. Thus was born the now-popular group, RVing Women.
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| Members at a recent gathering in Arches National Park. |
By 1993, the club had outgrown its fifth wheel trailer office, and a permanent headquarters was established in Apache, Junction, Ariz. Today, however, the group is more loosely headquartered, working from their homes and communicating via email and the World Wide Web. The group, the only international support network solely for the woman RV enthusiast, numbers about 5,000.
Members range in age from 20s to 80s with most between 50 and 65. About one-third are retired or semi-retired. Most drive motorhomes, althou
gh some don't even own an RV, but are interested in learning more about the lifestyle.
Many of the members are newly widowed, facing the challenge of RVing alone for the first time. Some are still married, but travel without their husbands who are unable or don't care to travel. Others travel alone or with a friend.
RVW is structured without formal chapters. A national program of rallies, classes and caravans is run from its Arizona headquarters. Other activities are organized locally.
National rallies are scheduled in many states and Canadian provinces and include educational seminars with topics including personal safety and preventive maintenance. Social and recreational activities are also
included.
For membership information write to RVing Women, P.O. Box 1940 Apache Junction, AZ 85217-1940 or call 888-55-RVING..
Besides editing Beginners Guide to RVing, Chuck Woodbury is also the editor of RV Travel, a free email newsletter about RV travel in the USA and Canada.
Copyright 2004 by Out West Newspaper
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