When we’re not busy traveling in our RV or writing about the RV lifestyle, I enjoy surfing the web and reading the many blogs and websites about RVing that are out there. Even after eleven years on the road, I manage to learn something new every day from what other RVers are writing about. 

Today I thought that I’d share some of the interesting blog posts and websites I have come across in the last few days of web surfing. Some are interesting for their great photography, others for information I didn’t know, and a lot of them are just plain fun!

On the RV.Net blog, Mark Post had a revealing look at statistics gathered from RV Poll Results. According to Mark, 42% of RVers responding said that they have spent a night in a Wal-Mart parking lot; 60% connect to the internet every day, 94% use rest stops when traveling in their RV, and 70% have stayed in a friend or relative’s driveway. Check Mark’s blog post for more interesting numbers. I’d be interested to know how your responses to the poll compare.

Also on the RV.Net blog, my pal Jaimie Hall Bruzenak has an interesting post about how  RVers who volunteer at public parks and campgrounds are perceived by at least one Arizona newspaper. Jaimie and her writing partner, Alice Zyetz, have an excellent new e-book out titled Retire to an RV: The Roadmap to Affordable Retirement Living. You can learn more about their new book and much more about RVing at their RV Lifestyle Experts website.

Blogs help us keep up with our RVing friends, so even though we may be hundreds, even thousands of miles apart, we get to share in their adventures. Our pals Tom and Barb Westerfield combine RV traveling with their other passion, geocaching, and in their Caching On The Road blog I read that they are visiting my old stomping grounds in coastal Washington state. I got my start in the newspaper business up there a lifetime ago, and it’s fun to see their pictures of the region now.

Another couple of good friends who are exploring my old neighborhood are Greg and Jan White, who are in Westport, Washington, just a few miles from where I lived back in the day. Their Our RV Adventures blog makes me homesick.

Yet another blog that brought back fond memories is Levonne Gaddy and John Huntley’s California Odyssey. They’re workamping at Morro Strand State Beach in Morro Bay, California. Miss Terry and I honeymooned in Morro Bay, and we hope to get back there one of these days for another visit.

I mentioned parking overnight at Wal-Mart earlier. Another place where we have found free overnight parking is at casinos. The Casino Camper website has a tremendous amount of information on casino camping coast to coast. Mac McClellan and his wife Chris do a great job of keeping the information up to date and useful to their readers.

One of the greatest resources for finding RV blogs and websites is the excellent Hitch Itch website. Here you will find hundreds of links to RV blogs and RV websites that can provide you with a lifetime of interesting reading and valauble information about RV travel and fulltime RVing.

Thought For The Day – You can’t stay young forever, but you can be immature the rest of your life.

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Yesterday was a gray and gloomy day in the desert. Heavy clouds and a chilly wind reminded us that while we may be in Arizona, it is still February.

During the morning we did some banking, mailed out a stack of orders that had come in last week while we were busy with our rally, and ran a few other errands. Then we went back to the bus, and I tried to work on the computer for a couple of hours, but I just couldn’t concentrate. It was a good day for a nap and I was getting droopy, so finally I stretched out on the couch.

While I was being lazy, Miss Terry did some laundry and made up a batch of dough for homemade pizza. We love pizza, and I’ve never found a restaurant that can make pizza like my bride does. I woke up just as she was taking a scrumptious pizza out of the oven for dinner. Yummy!

I wrote a few days ago that we plan to spend some time in the Pacific Northwest this summer, and I logged onto the Thousand Trails website and booked us a total of six consecutive weeks at Thousand Trails and NACO preserves in two week intervals along the Oregon and Washington coasts. We’ll start at the South Jetty preserve in Florence, Oregon; then move on to the Pacific City campground in Cloverdale; and from there we’ll go to the Long Beach preserve in Seaview, Washington.

We love the Pacific coast, and some of our favorite memories of our fulltime RV lifestyle are those from our first summer on the road, when we spent several weeks meandering down Highway 101, exploring the beach towns, lighthouses, and working fishing villages from the tip of the Olympic Peninsula to the California border.

It was here that Miss Terry was first introduced to the banana slug, one of the slimiest and most disgusting creatures you’ll ever encounter. The Pacific banana slug can be over nine inches long, and that’s a lot of ugly!

I still remember the first time I spotted one of these snails without a shell, and decided that it would make great fishing bait. What fish could refuse such a fat offering when I stuck it on my hook and threw it into the water?

Have you ever actually touched a banana slug? If not, take my word for it. Don’t do it! It took me forever to get the sticky goo off my fingers?

We also want to get up to Port Townsend, Washington to spend some time at the Escapee park there. Port Townsend is a picturesque little town, with a lot of history and plenty to see and do.

There are a several other places we want to visit, including the beach town of Seaside, Oregon and historic Astoria, Oregon, at the mouth of the Columbia River; as well as Westport, Washington, with it’s charter boats, commercial fishing fleet, and beautiful lighthouse.

The last time we were in Lincoln City, Oregon we actually saw a couple of gray whales playing in the harbor, and we want to go back and see if we can spot some more!

 Thought For The Day - Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.