Category: travel

On Boondocking By Train Tracks

To prepare for The Next Chapter of travel in retirement, I’m learning a whole new way of wayfaring in our Tiffin Wayfarer 25 RW. My love of sleeping around the world in confined places started as a young child when my grandparents had a truck camper and went to the fish camp at Fernandina Beach for long weekends of camping and fishing. My parents came, too. Mom and Dad would pitch a tent, while my grandparents would put me to bed in their space above the truck cab and convert the dinette table into a bed for themselves. I think that’s where camping fever took hold of me, bypassing completely any love of fresh fried fish. I loved the cross-breeze of opening windows at night. Several tents, a pop-up, a teardrop and two bumper pull campers later, we decided to move to a Class C so we could blend more travel adventures into our lives.

And that’s where Harvest Hosts comes in. We’ve been members for over two years, but this weekend is the first time we’ve actually used our membership benefits.

We’ve mostly camped in State Parks and other private campgrounds, but we’ve joined a unique movement that has been gaining traction over the past few years for its innovative and inexpensive mutual benefits for travelers and business owners. Harvest Hosts allows travelers to purchase a year’s membership that offers one night of free camping per stay at wineries, farms, breweries, churches, and other types of businesses with space to park overnight. With a membership, we get full access to the directory of thousands of free overnight options. We can request additional nights in the same place, but many travelers use Harvest Hosts to get to a place where they are camping or staying for multiple nights. So on a cross-country journey where we might drive a few hours a day and then pull in somewhere to sleep at 6 or 8 different Harvest Hosts along the way, we could use one free night in each place for just the cost of membership and a purchase of something they’re selling as a way of providing some business for them.

We picked a brewery just twenty minutes down the road for our first Harvest Hosts stay, and already we see the attraction.

I used the map to find a place close by – just to test the experience. It’s all part of the learning phase of knowing new and different ways to be an RVer. I requested a same-day stay at the place we chose, Towerhouse Farm Brewery, and we pulled in and followed their check-in directions for the space to park and set up. Then, we put out the slide, leveled the rig, and started the generator before walking over to their dine-in option to have dinner and sample their craft beer.

We ran into some friends who were there having drinks and bar snacks, and so we joined them at their table and listened to the live music and shared stories. I work with one of them in the same office, and have taught with the other. They, too, are camping folks, so our stories were of travel and interesting people we’ve met along the way.

After dinner, we walked the dogs and checked out the lay of the land before retiring for the evening, There is a fairground in close proximity on this 80-acre family farm-turned-brewery tract, where they grow their own hops.

An important thing I learned about Harvest Hosts sites is to read the reviews more carefully. We’d read on the reviews that this was near train tracks, but we had no idea that the train would come by every four hours and that we would be parked right next to the tracks. Despite a shift from our typical night of unbroken rest, we made the best of it and appreciated all the things we loved ~ walking to and from dinner, seeing a new place, having an impromptu dinner with friends, and of course the joy of having our two schnoodles there for the excitement. And the train wasn’t enough to be a dealbreaker for staying there again – – we probably would!

The best part of camping with dogs is that they show us it’s okay to find joy being in small spaces with those we love. They would want you to know that while they let us believe it’s us they really want to be with, it’s more about getting that one small bite of a powdered donut at breakfast that makes them true camping dogs.

We can’t wait to discover more places along the way as we journey out more frequently in retirement. It’s not the draw of the popular places that we enjoy most – – it’s the places off the beaten path that hold just as much gravity in their own GPS points that anywhere else holds – only quieter and less crowded, despite the occasional trains.