I frequently traverse many back roads of this, our great country. Occasionally, I park the rig next to a curb in small town America to take in a local restaurant, a celebrated monument, or a town event that happens to be advertised on a banner strung between two street lamps. A large RV rig doesn’t easily go unnoticed and because of that, on a stop in the Midwest this summer, I happened to have the honor of speaking with the mayor of one such very small town who happen to notice me pulling up. He told me that he had always wanted to have a ‘camper.’ Hmmm, a 40-foot motor home that is way too much of a strain on my budget is a camper?? OK, I thought, it’s just a term. So, I let him drive my rig around the block a few times. We parked next to the courthouse and I put out the slides so he could have a better concept of what a modern “camper” has to offer in living space. I swear – on a stack of Bibles –that while we were talking a police officer drove up. The very first thing out of his mouth was ..”Sir, you can’t park this vehicle here.” The officer was also invited in, and with cold sodas all around, we all talked RVing for about 20 minutes …all the while with the blue squad car lights flashing next to the rig. First time that has happened to me where I didn’t get a ticket. I don’t know if anything that I said or did will get either of the two individuals into RVing. At the time, I really didn’t do any of it for that purpose. I was just sharing my enjoyment and enthusiasm of the lifestyle. And, I assure you that I got more from the encounter than they did. But thinking back on the event, I wonder how effective are we at being an ambassador for the RV lifestyle that we enjoy. There are future RVers out there. I’d like to respectfully suggest that we stop and take the time to pass along all the benefits and enjoyment it offers. Those opportunities will come when you least expect them and absolutely not in a campground.
As RLM stated, we also have traveled the "off the beaten path", and have meet some new friends along the way. Some who knew of the Rving life style, but many times there are those who do not have a clue. With the price of motor fuel, many times while fueling, a conversation starts with the subject of the price of gasoline, the tank capacity, and of course, miles per gallon. These interactions are mostly just friendly conversations. A great number of meetings, and conversations occur with our Mini-Schnauzer being the subject matter. While we have not experienced the same as RLM, in his meetings with officials of a small town, we have had a few positive experiences. We enjoy attending suppers at Churches, and fraternal organizations. Good food, and plenty of it, at an fair price. Not to mention the number of table conversations that happen during the meal, once they find you are not a local, and are from "away". One can only hope that they get as much from the experience as we do.
We also enjoy this type of life on back roads. In Rick's land (TX) at a place called "Ruck" we run into around 200 Boy Scouts at Texas State Railroad S.H.P. Head Scout master come over and told Sue and I we may wish to move to other parts of park due to this large group was coming soon. We told him we were OK with this. We were only RV in this part of park. The kids dropped in and set up tent city all around our motorhome. We went out and talked to lots of the young boys. All were very nice. We all has a ton of fun playing and talking about school life, all were from Dallas. That night head master come to MH and ask that we come and eat with them. At end of a great meal they ask that we take all the food that was not used back to MH. Then numbers of boys and masters ask to see inside of MH. No one had every looked inside one. Could not get over the amount of stuff we have inside, CCN on TV, laptop on line, two cells phones, everything you need to work or play. I received e-mails from couple head masters and all ask that we come back next year to join they again. Sounds good to me. We have run into this numbers of times as we travel around the USA. I guess we are all good ambassadors.
