Resources and sponsors Camping World - 3,100 RV Products Online! Camping World is the world's largest supplier of RV parts and accessories. We have online shopping, mail order catalogs and 30 retail locations nationwide. Sign up for your free catalog subscription today! Fantasy RV Tours — Worldwide Caravans! Fantasy RV Tours is in the business of making RVer’s travel dreams come true. We now conduct caravans all over the United States, Alaska, Canada, Mexico and in exotic overseas locations. Click to learn more. Buying An RV? You must read the new book "RV Buyers Survival Guide." Learn how much an RV dealer makes on each sale. Learn how low an offer you can make and still get the RV! Written by an RV sales manager, who reveals insider secrets. Read more. Exciting Jobs for RVers! Workamper® News has helped more than 60,000 people find great jobs in great places since 1987. Beginners Guide to RVing Advice and information for beginning RVers and others thinking of taking up the recreational vehicle lifestyle. Caretaker Gazette lists caretaker jobs Each issue of the Caretaker Gazette reveals more than 130 caretaker jobs around the USA and the world. Learn how you can live rent free. Magazine is dedicated to RV travel in the West RV Journal is the only magazine dedicated to RV travel in the American West. Each issues is packed with features and information. Subscribe here and receive free bonus issues. KOA Kampgrounds: Get a KOA value card. Save 10% off your stay and get a free campground directory. A newspaper for fulltime RVers The Gypsy Journal is Nick and Terry Russell's delightful newspaper published from the road about their travels by motorhome in America. RVers who travel a lot or who would like to, will enjoy this delightful tabloid. 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. Pop Up Trailer Enthusiasts: Pop Up Times is the only magazine serving owners and would-be owners of folding camping trailers. Subscribe today for only $11.98. And check out our new "Pop Up 101" home video". 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. Inflatable Boats for RVers Sea Eagle manufacturers easily storable inflatable boats perfect for RVers. When you need the boat, pump 'er up, climb aboard, and off you go. Magazines for RVers Get Trailer Life and Motorhome at the lowest prices. Plus, learn about other RV magazines — RV Companion, RV Journal, Pop Up Times, Gypsy Journal, RV Traveler and more. Half Price Camping for RVers: The Happy Camper Club offers its members half-price camping at more than 600 RV parks in the US and Canada. A one year membership is $49.95, and there are no contracts or hidden fees. Read more Dummies Guide to Buying a Used RV Buying a used RV? Order this downloadable book. Written by a veteran RV service technician. Learn what to look for in a used RV. Read it and help avoid huge repair bills later! "Essential!" Websites about RVing Learn about other popular websites about RVing. Websites about camping Learn about other popular sites about camping Want your business here? Email for information.

ENTER OUR QUIZ. WIN THE HOME VIDEO, "America By Air: From the
Mississippi to the Rockies." See the Midwest from the air! Gorgeous!

BONUS QUIZ: Only available on the online edition of this newsletter.
Win the book "Campfire Chillers" http://www.RVtraveler.com/issue14.html
.
Please help this newsletter grow by telling your friends about it.

HALF-PRICE CAMPING AT RV PARKS
Save 50% at more than 700 RV parks:
http://www.newrver.com/happycamper.html

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the 14th issue of the RV Traveler Newsletter,
brought to you by the websites and sponsors above. And a
special welcome to the many new subscribers since our
last issue two weeks ago.

SAYING GOODBYE TO AN OLD FRIEND
My trusty motorhome is for sale, and I'm sad. It's a Class
C Tioga that I bought in 1990, brand-spanking new. At the
time, I was editing and publishing an "on-the-road" newspaper
called Out West. I did it for 12 years, traveling the back roads
of the West for a few months each year, stopping and writing
about wherever I found of interest.

Out West caused quite a stir. My motorhome and I were profiled
on ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, the Today Show,
in People Magazine, USA Today and in countless other places.

In 1991, my daughter Emily was born, three years after I
started Out West and one year after I had purchased the new
motorhome. And from that time until she started kindergarten,
she, my wife Rodica and I took many glorious trips around the
West. In 1994, we spent four months on the road, this time
traveling through 33 states.

We celebrated Emily's first birthday on a chilly evening in a
KOA in Missoula, Montana. Rodica and I bought balloons and a
package of Hostess cupcakes in the campground store. We taped
the balloons all around the motorhome. After dinner, looking very
silly in paper party hats, we celebrated. It seems like yesterday,
and yet it seems like another lifetime, too.

My wife read to Emily every night on our 4 month trip around the United States in 1994.

And now, I am about to say goodbye to my motorhome. Our family
moved to Seattle five years ago from California, which left the
Tioga as the only" house" we have occupied since my daughter's
birth. Emily's bed is the same one that she slept in as a
three-month-old. Through the years, she has always found great
comfort in climbing into that lower bunk, which until a few days ago
was covered by a well-worn Lion King blanket.

For the past two weeks, I have cleaned out every drawer, closet
and cupboard. I removed all the magnets from the oven door
-- the Bigfoot man from the California Redwoods, the Cowboy Pizza
magnet from our old hometown, and the plastic jackalope from the
"Jackalope Capital of the World," Douglas, Wyoming.

When I was finished cleaning, I sat in the motorhome's lone easy chair
and pondered a decade of wonderful adventures. My little girl isn't so
little now. The tiny hand that I could once wholly grasp with one finger
is now nearly the size of an adult's. The two-year who screamed "Fix
the MoHome guys," to the mechanics at a Utah Ford dealership after we
had broken down is now a budding young lady.

So how do you say goodbye to such a house?

If you know, tell me. Otherwise I'll just console myself with a box
of Kleenex after some stranger drives off with one of the great
loves of my life.

CHEER ME UP AND RECEIVE A FREE CAMPGROUND DIRECTORY
The first six readers to email me with a funny joke will receive
a free copy of the 2001 edition of my book "Free Campgrounds
of the West." You must include a special code (which is the word
"funny") in your subject headline. Email me at
outwest@seanet.com

---

HOLDING TANK BASICS
Most RVs are self-contained vehicles, and as such have onboard
holding tanks which occasionally need some tender loving care.
Here's a good rundown of how to make your system work properly.
http://www.phasefourindustries.com/Htips.html.

---

GUIDE TO NATIONAL PARK SERVICE CAMPGROUNDS
A great guide to campgrounds in National Parks
http://www.rvbookstore.com/natparks.html

MORE BOOKS, VIDEOS AND OTHER GOODIES
http://www.RVbookstore.com/info.html

STATE-BY-STATE TAXES
Fulltimers can find the state with the best tax rates:
http://www.taxsites.com/state.html

NO PARK WAL-MARTS: Stores where RVers can't stay overnight:
http://www.FreeCampgrounds.com/noparking.html

PROPANE GAS LOCATOR
http://www.propanegas.com/locator/index.html

GUIDE TO RV CLUBS: http://www.newrver.com/clubs.html

RV SHOPPING MALL: http://www.NewRVer.com/shopmall.html

RV TECHNICAL ADVICE
http://www.trailerlife.com/rvtech/cnp/cnp_index.cfm

REVIEWS OF RVs BY THEIR OWNERS
http://www.epinions.com/auto-Recreational_Vehicles-All

SCHEDULE OF THIS WEEK'S RV TODAY TV SHOW
http://www.rvtoday.tv/schedule.cfm

RV RECALLS
MARCH: http://www.fmca.com/fmcmag/recalls/2002/march.asp
FEBRUARY: http://www.fmca.com/fmcmag/recalls/2001/february.asp
OTHER: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls/Index.cfm

RV JOKES
Laugh at jokes about RVing: http://www.RVjokes.com

BONUS QUIZ: True or false: It is still legal to camp for free on millions
of acres of federal government land.
A. True B. False
Fourth person to answer correctly wins. Same rules and deadlines
as above. Winner receives the book "Campfire Chillers."Email your answer

THIS ISSUE'S BURMA SHAVE SLOGAN
"Drove too long. . . . driver snoozing. . .
What happened next. . . Not Amusing. **Burma Shave**
More info about Burna Shave signs and slogans at:
http://www.outwestnewspaper.com/burmashave.html

SUGGEST A TOPIC FOR THIS NEWSLETTER
Do you know of an interesting website we should review in this newsletter? Or do you have news about RVing we should report? Please email the editor.

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