Frugal RV Travel Blog

Tripbase Blog Awards 2009

A proud winner of a top finalist award in the 2009 Tripbase Blog awards category for budget travel, ranking within the top 20 sites on the world wide web in this category.

This deserves a huge thank you to all my loyal followers! Why not become one of them?

Now you, too, can now stay in touch, learn when new pages are added to this website, and receive travel updates from us on our next trip, by subscribing to our RSS feed.

Here's the basic principle behind RSS:

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Just click on the little colored RSS buttons on the left hand side of this page (located below the regular navigation buttons), then follow the simple instructions.

Or If You Need To Learn More About RSS, please click on the link below the first orange XML/RSS button that reads, What's an RSS Feed?

Mar 9, 2010, Boondocking at the Perris Valley airport

My husband and I are into our 5th month of our first year of RV travelling. We've been enjoying the journey thus far, spending a lot of our stays boondocking

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Feb 27, 2010, State Park Closures

Which southwestern state park is closed due to budget cutbacks?

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Feb 18, 2010, Affiliate Banners

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Feb 17, 2010, Income While Traveling

Want to earn income while traveling? Here are four proven tips.

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Jan 25, 2010, Roads Less Traveled

Looking for inspiration? I just stumbled upon this website that blew me away! Roads Less Traveled Emily and Mark, full time RVers have posted amazing photos, stories, and advice.

Like us, they travel on a budget and love boondocking.

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Jan 22, 2010, Toronto RV Show and Extravaganza

Yesterday Randy and I attended the annual RV Show in Toronto.

Thought I’d mention a few things that caught our attention:

• With more than 500 RVs on display, there were only two truck campers and not one Roadtrek. A friend tells us that truck campers are getting hard to find with many manufacturers closing up shop in the last two years. Our opinion of Roadtrek (although we drive one) is that they have lost their competitive edge, are (trying to) ride on their name but are currently grossly overpriced in the marketplace. It could be why they had to shut down last year for several months to regroup.
  
  

• Of course we'll probably always buy used so we go to the show to look at the models we may buy ten years from now. Of all the RVs on display, we thought the Safari Condo would best suit our style of boondocking adventure-travel. The display model, a 20-foot Sprinter, has pre-installed solar panels but we're not crazy about the frigde without a propane option.
  
  

• Several dealerships were promoting owner-rental packages, something that, I guess, has been around for a while but we hadn’t heard of it. If you buy a new RV from the dealership, it can become part of their rental fleet. Block off the weeks you want and they find renters for the rest of the year. It may work particularly well in Canada if you travel south in the winter months and rent it out in summer.
  
  

  All arrangements are handled through the dealership. 60% of the rental income is yours. Free storage plus routine maintenance and cleaning after every rental is included. Your insurance costs will go up slightly. It's one way to make your RV pay for itself and, in certain circumstances, may make sense.
  
  

  At least three Ontario dealerships at the show were promoting an owner-rental package: Outdoor Travel in Hamilton, The Hitch House near Barrie (through Travel Rite Rentals), and Hughes RV near Orangeville. Only Hughes doesn’t require that the RV was purchased through them.
  
  

  If you're considering this, be sure the dealership doesn’t also rent their own RVs because they would obviously rent those first.
  
  

• If you're in the market to rent an RV, a small B-class is often hard to find but each of the above dealerships has at least one for rent.
  
  

The Toronto RV Show continues through Sunday Jan 24th, at the Toronto Congress Centre.

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Jan 20, 2010, RV Traveling on Desert Back Roads

Q. Okay, so we two gals would really like to start boondocking with our 30 Ft. Class C Jayco. We are concerned about traveling, towing our toad, on

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Jan 15, 2010, Big Bend Boondocking

Our favorite place to boondock is at Big Bend National Park in southern Texas. The park has many road side backcountry campsites and a lot of these

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Jan 9, 2010, It's Easy to Import an RV to Canada!

Hi Marianne and Randy, The last time we spoke was at the end of October from Utah (Big Mesa and Lake Powell). We are now in Mazatlan, Mexico!

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Jan 9, 2010, Exporting from the US

You have omitted one very important aspect of buying in the US for importation into Canada. The US requires notification 72 hours in advance of your

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Jan 8, 2010, Why Boondocking?

Despite what you may think, the reason we choose boondocking over campgrounds is not just to save money. There are many other benefits.

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Jan 7, 2010, Import An RV

How to buy and import an RV, new or used, from the U.S.A. into Canada

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Jan 7, 2010, Buying A Used RV

Some common sense advice when buying a used RV

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Jan 3, 2010, Can you help Belle Starr?

Al and Kelly, a couple of RVers from Ontario are in southern Arizona where they are trying to help a lovely lady and good friend of ours - Belle Starr.

You may recall that Randy and I boondocked on Belle's ranch on our last trip and literally fell in love with her.

It appears that Belle is badly in need of some help with her ranch animals and RVers are coming to her rescue.

If you plan to be in the Tombstone, Bisbee or Douglas area, please go by and offer Belle a hand in any way you can. I promise your reward will be much more than just the free camping Belle provides. Just think, you could meet up with other like-minded RVers, enjoy a ranch experience, as well as start off your year - by making a real difference (without opening your wallet)!

I'm so very pleased that Al and Kelly have started this ball rolling. Please go to The Bayfield Bunch blog for more details on how you can help out.

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Dec 28, 2009, Wonderclean? YES! YES!

I used my Wonderclean weekly for 3 months this year, boondocking in Quartzsite. The key is to cut detergent down to 1/4 what you usually use. Don't

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