When we started fulltiming, a veteran road warrior told me that you’re not a real RVer until you have accomplished most, if not all, of what he called RVing’s Top 10 experiences. We must be slow learners, because after eleven years on the road, we still have a couple to go. So are we real RVers yet?

1 – Boondocking: To truly experience the freedom that the RV lifestyle has to offer, at least once you should spend a few days or even a week or two boondocking, also called dry camping. I define boondocking as living without being hooked up to a water source or electrical outlet, living off my RV’s systems. The feeling of independence you get when you sever the campground umbilical cord is something you must experience to understand. Whether you prefer to camp for weeks on end on BLM land in the desert or just cross the country spending the night in the parking lots of RV friendly businesses like WalMart, boondocking can save you a lot of money, and once you get used to it, it is lots of fun!

2 - Quartzsite: If you spend any time at all around fulltime or snowbird RVers, before too long someone will ask you if you have been to Quartzsite yet. Located on Interstate 10 about 125 miles west of Phoenix, Quartzsite is a sleepy little Arizona desert town of a couple hundred people most of the year. But every January, thousands and thousands of RVers descend on Quartzsite to boondock on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in the surrounding desert, and to attend the big Quartzsite RV Show and the numerous flea markets, rock and gem shows, and other events held every winter. It’s big, it’s crowded, it’s dusty, and it’s fun! Some people love it and some attend once and seek quieter activities for future outings. If you have not been to Quartzsite yet, you owe it to yourself to experience it at least once.

3 – Rainbows End in Livingston, Texas: Rainbows End is the Mecca for serious RVers. National Headquarters of the Escapees RV Club, literally thousands of RVers “live” on Rainbow Drive in Livingston, the address of the Escapees Mail Service. Rainbows End includes a very nice RV park, the club’s National Headquarters, and CARE, the adult care center the Escapees created to provide assistance to retired RVers and those recuperating from illness or surgery. RVers come to Rainbows End to license their vehicles and become “legal” Texans, to tour the club’s mail forwarding service, to meet friends, and just hang out with like-minded folks.

4 – The Rally: RV rallies offer the opportunity for fun, fellowship, and education, and the biggest RV rally is the Affinity Group’s annual mega-event, known simply as The Rally. Thousands of people come to camp, shop the vendors, attend seminars, enjoy entertainment from top named performers, visit with old friends and make new ones. This year’s event will be in Louisville, Kentucky July 22 – 25.

5 – Escapade: Though not on the huge scale of The Rally, the annual Escapees Club Escapades are events no RVer should miss. You will meet lots of nice people, attend some excellent seminars, and enjoy the entertainment every evening. This year’s Escapade will be in Goshen, Indiana September 12- 17.

6 – Slab City: Located on an abandoned military base in Niland, California, Slab City is a popular gathering place every winter for RVers who come to boondock and enjoy what many call the last great bastion of freedom in America. Populated by serious RVers, snowbirds, eccentrics who live there year round, and an assortment of colorful characters, Slab City is another one of those places you either love or hate. Check it out once, and draw your own conclusions.

7 – Elkhart Indiana: Home to at least half of the RV manufacturers in the country, Elkhart, Indiana has a lot to offer RVers, from factory tours to RV surplus stores, displays of some of the earliest RVs at the RV Hall of Fame Museum, RV rallies, and lots of fun exploring the Amish countryside just east of town.

8 – Highway 101, Oregon Coast: This is surely one of the most spectacular drives in the United States, offering beautiful ocean vistas, charming fishing villages, beach combing, whale watching, lighthouses, and memories around every bend in the road.

9 – Padre Island: Every winter RVers come to Padre Island National Seashore, near Corpus Christie, Texas to dry camp at Padre Island National Seashore. A $10 annual permit is required, and water and a dump station are free. There is no time limit, and many RVers stay the entire season.

10 – The Alaska Highway: This is the ultimate RV destination for many. A trip up the Alaska Highway includes adventure, wonderful scenery, wildlife, history, and memories to last a lifetime. The road is not nearly as bad as some people would want you to believe, but the experiences you will have are more than anyone could ever describe.

Well, are you a real RVer? How many of these Top 10 can you lay claim to?

Thought For The Day – If God is willing to forgive us, why do we sometimes find it so hard to forgive ourselves?

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Everywhere you turn in the last week somebody is talking about the latest crisis. This time it’s the swine flu pandemic. Oops, that’s the H1N1 Influenza A outbreak. Somebody apparently decided that we can’t call it swine flu, because pigs (or pig farmers) were getting upset.

Somebody e-mailed to ask me if we were still going to the Escapees Club Escapade rally next month. They have decided not to go, because they are concerned about being in large groups of people with this new disease going around. Give me a break!

What about the grocery store, or WalMart? Are you just going to lock yourself inside your house until the “crisis” passes? But remember, as soon as this one is over, there will be a brand new doom and gloom prediction to fret over.

People just need something to talk and worry about between our regularly scheduled media crisis of the moment! The talking heads can’t come onto your TV screen and say “Nothing bad is happening today. Things look pretty good.” What fun would that be?

The World Health Organization (WHO) had reported only a couple  hundred worldwide confirmed cases of this new flu worldwide by Thursday afternoon. A couple hundred people out of the nearly seven billion folks walking around on this planet! I think my odds are pretty good of surviving.

Yeah, the flu spreads fast. But every news report I have heard yet says if you start to feel symptoms, DO NOT go to the emergency room, because it’s probably a minor illness. So we have this major pandemic, but it’s not serious enough to seek medical attention for. Huh?

Yes, several people have died from the flu in Mexico. But let’s remember that a LOT of people die in Mexico every week from things that are no more than a minor inconvenience here. No matter how politically incorrect it is to say, Mexico is a Third World country. That’s why its citizens keep sneaking under the fence to get here!

More people have died in drug violence along the border lately than the flu will ever get near. In Ciudad Juarez, the Mexican border city of 1.5 million people across from El Paso, Texas, five deaths a day in January and February were attributed to drug violence. And that violence is spreading rapidly in the United States. Last year alone, Phoenix, Arizona reported 366 kidnappings related to drug activity. But how many of us are staying away from El Paso or Phoenix?

I refuse to live my life in a bubble, just because some over-coiffed pretty face on a TV screen says there is a new crisis.

As RVers, we have enough to worry about already. Every minute we’re on the highway, some fool is pointing tons of metal at us going 70 miles an hour. Worry about that!

Even off the interstate highway, we can still get ourselves into trouble, as this picture my daughter took Wednesday proves. Somebody was pulling this fifth wheel into a lot on White Mountain Boulevard in Lakeside, Arizona and didn’t think about their rear overhang, apparently. We drove by the scene a couple of hours later, and there were some serious gouge marks in the pavement!

It reminded me of the time I got our bus high centered in Bremerton, Washington a few years back. (Okay, okay, Miss Terry reminded me of it!). But I don’t see any news bulletins about the dangers of doing really, really dumb things when driving or pulling an RV!

Thought For The Day – The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.

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