There are many good things about RVing, especially the people you get to meet and the opportunities they bring along. Since we haven't traveled extensively, this site has introduced me to many new and varied RVers & wannabees. It has also presented me with new opportunities that I would not have found otherwise. Here is just a smattering ...

I have had the opportunity to meet, even if not in person, Nashville recording artists Michael & Dianne Killen. They have tackled the not-so-wonderful, according to Dianne, task of converting a bus into their traveling home. I will be interviewing them in the near future. I only hope we can make it to Nashville when they are in town! Oh, by the way, if you like country music you might want get their CD - I highly recommend it.

Since I love to write (big surprise), the opportunity to communicate with other writers is treasured. Barb Hofmeister, co-author of several books on RVing, and I communicate regularly. She enjoys my writing style and I love hers! I have bought and devoured their latest book, Movin' On, Living and Traveling Full-time in a Recreational Vehicle and would highly recommend it to anyone considering the full-time lifestyle. I had bought and read their earlier book, An Alternative Lifestyle, before we even bought our RV. The new book covers everything in the earlier one and much more.

Arline Chandler and I have only recently met. I have just purchased her book Road Work: The Ultimate RVing Adventure and will be interviewing her after I squeeze in time to read it. She is a fascinating RVer with a lot of writing credits including her non-RV book, When Heads and Hearts Collide, her personal story of dealing with aging parents.

Another budding author is Stephanie Bernhagen. Stephanie is a dedicated full-timer who has just finished writing a new book tentatively titled What? Quit My Job!: Secrets to an Affordable Wanderlust Lifestyle in an RV. I'll be getting an advance draft to proof for her. Without Suite101, I would never have met Stephanie who has become a good friend, although we have never met face to face.

Although we joined Escapees before we even bought our RV, I had not talked with anyone other than administrative people (who we always wonderful to deal with, by the way). I now often correspond with Joe Lacey who is responsible for us joining in the first place. Joe handles all the sales & marketing functions and along the way wears many other hats. If you have more questions and can't find what you want on their web site, email Joe and I am sure he'll help.

The Escapees have many sub-groups targeted to individual interests. I belong to three now: PenWheels for writers (published or not), CompuTrails (no explanation needed, I am sure) and the new No Limits, of which I am the proud Editor. I am sure I would not have been offered the opportunity to become the editor of No Limits without my writing here.

Ever wonder what RVers do when they're not RVing? Meet Adam & Leigh Brodwolf missionaries in Bolivia who will resume RVing when they return to the US. I quote from a recent letter from Adam,

"More than half of our effort here is just living. For example, all of the fruit and veggies we buy have to be thoroughly scrubbed and soaked in disinfectant before we can eat them. There are no 'Jiffy' bread mixes to buy and just add water and eggs to. Everything has to be made from scratch. We have to haul our water in buckets up to our house from acrosss the street, so that is one of my daily rituals. So our maids (who earn $5 for an 8-hour day) do a lot of the stuff that we don't have to do when we live in the States. Fortunately, we do not have any Bolivian critters in our apartment on the second floor. The people downstairs have more giant cockroaches than you can count. I am glad we've never seen one up here, especially because of the baby. She is turning 8 months old soon, and is so much fun."

Thanks to the Suite and my site I have met a distant relative, Lachlan MacQuarrie-McLeod, Contributing Editor for the Board Games site. Our relatives hail from Nova Scotia - my maternal grandmother was Edna MacQuarrie.

I have had an interesting chat about RVing in the UK with Ian MacWatt, Contributing Editor for Food & Travel in the UK and Ireland. Ian tells me that full-timing is an unknown lifestyle in the UK mainly due to the weather and road conditions. He writes,

"You CAN do something similar but much more ancient, in Ireland. You can hire a horse-drawn gypsy caravan and take the ancient Celtic roads to ancient hallowed places.

It is quite safe. You will have to pause for the odd flock of sheep, or herd of cattle. And the shepherd or herdsman will probably want to stop and pass the time of day with you - he isn't rushing home to see the evening TV sitcom.

Your pace will be the slow clip-clop of Old Paddy, your docile horse. Your vista will be the horizon hills, now seen, now lost, in gentle mist between brilliant shafts of sunlight piercing an emerald green landscape of silent beauty.

And when the sun goes down and you pause for the night at some quiet village, you can tether, water and feed your vacation friend, before paying a visit to the local pub for a pint of Guinness and an hour or two of friendly talk with the locals - and a song ."

Born in Norway, now living in Egypt, my former Managing Editor, Arnvid Aakre (who is also the Contributing Editor for Professional Travel) maintains his sense of humor as he posts in my discussion area,

"In Egypt, the possibility of RV'ing is a bit different - but outside the heavy trafficked Nile valley - as in the Western Desert, it could be perfect. Oases and desert...

Maybe I get a large Nile sailboat one day and name it *Nile RV* - anyway you all inspire me to Mind ReVise."

Oh the people I have met and the places I have been taken and still have to go ... all thanks to Suite101. Without it I would never been given the opportunity to ...

• write RV web site reviews for the RV Club
• write freelance articles for a new RV print magazine, RV Companion
• write software reviews for FreewareHome.com and small business web site reviews for BriefMe
• become the Managing Editor for the Computer Software Category

	help prevent a computer disaster for a fellow RVer in Bolivia, Adam Brodwolf, when the CIH virus struck
	help a campground owner in Wyoming find the perfect workampers, who were also new found friends and brand new full-timers, Denny & Cathie Beck
	help a new Allegro owner get the manuals he needed from Tiffin Motor Homes, Inc.
	help a fellow RVer & writer get special help from Ford for their truck, Stephanie Bernhagen

I can only hope that I will someday get to meet all these wonderful people in person, after all, isn't that a big part of what RVing is all about?

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