Rving Adventures With the Silver Gypsy

Rating:
Summary: Me, too!
Review: Caution! Reading this book could be detrimental to your sedate lifestyle. When you realize these adventures, so eloquently recorded, were experienced by a 60-ish grandmother, who pilots her motorhome to the far corners and borders of this great country, you begin to ask yourself, Why not me? And that's a fair question.

Widowed at 45 and not sure what to do next, "Charlie" Minshall discovered she had a serious wanderlust to satisfy. So she became a full-time RVer, logging well over 200,000 miles onto her personal odometer. And, oh yes, along the way, she just happens to have written six books, this being the latest.

As you digest the chapters, Charlie takes you on guided tours that include some of the most beautiful and scenic treasures of this country--from the Grand Canyon to Yosemite National Park to Hell's Canyon in Idaho and then on to New England and the Maritime provinces in Canada. And for some real contrast, she provides a peek at the Hearst Castle in California and later explores another great house, the Chaco pueblos in New Mexico. She also gears up for some major excitement when she describes paragliding in Aspen and more recently as she goes searching for polar bears from a tundra buggy near the Hudson Bay in Canada.

RVing Adventures with the Silver Gypsy is the kind of book that makes you want to reconsider where you are going, especially if slowly wandering along paths less taken and exploring the far reaches fits your style of travel. Minshall's books can be quite compelling--in fact, you may just take the question, Why not me? and turn in into the statement, Me, too!

Rating:
Summary: Adventures with Charlie
Review: On first glimpse of Sharlene "Charlie" Minshall she does not strike you as an adventurer. It's hard to imagine this five foot three inch lady maneuvering a 27-foot box-on-wheels down a narrow winding dirt road in Hell's Canyon in July or sloshing through the slushy snow of backroads in Nova Scotia. Except for her flowing silver mane, she looks quite ordinary. But ordinary is not a word you would choose to describe Charlie's RV adventures. Charlie's been to every US state and Canadian province and seventeen of Mexico's states. This feat is made all the more remarkable when you learn that she has traveled to these far corners of North America alone, just she and her motorhome, which has now accumulated over 250,000 miles.
She writes in the Introduction, "My travels have included romance, intrigue, sorrow, general happiness, and a great many terrific 'Moments in time.' I've stayed healthy and made a lot of friends along the way. This 'second life' as a fulltime RVer has taken this average housewife and mother beyond her wildest imagination."
One of the more appealing aspects of Charlie's book is the relaxed conversational writing style. She makes you feel right from page one that you are sitting around the campfire or sharing an early morning cup of coffee with a friend. If you want to get a good idea about the RV lifestyle beyond the ordinary hook-up campgrounds, Charlie's book is the one to read.