Boondockers Welcome

 

When we aren't traveling, we enjoy hosting other travelers. It's a great chance to meet new people from all kinds of backgrounds and beliefs while giving them a great place to safely park for the night, week, month or more. We are members of Boondockers Welcome which is a platform that matches people who need a place to stay overnight in their RV with people who have appropriate space on their property. It's definitely a nice alternative to sleeping in Walmart or Cracker Barrel parking lots on long hauls and some hosts let you stay long enough to check out the area. Members can stay from 1-5 nights free. It may be just a safe place to park or they may offer full hookups. When you host, you earn membership rewards. After just one year of hosting, we've already earned a lifetime membership plus other goodies like certificates and t-shirts. We've used it to stay with people in Connecticut, Mississippi, Arizona, Montana, North Dakota and California. We've recently upgraded our membership to include Harvest Hosts, which are farms and businesses that allow self-contained RVs to park on their property in exchange for a purchase. 

Our lives have been enriched by the guests we've had stay with us. Twice we've had people come for a few days and end up staying for 5-6 weeks! Many become friends and some even feel like part of the family.

Hosting is great for homeschooling. It's an opportunity for them to introduce themselves and talk to people of all ages. My children learn so much from our guests. So far they've learned to play guitar, do acrobatics on arial silk, they've learned other languages like Hebrew, Spanish, German and in return they now give shows on the silk, teach others ukelele or participate in jam sessions with other musicians passing thru. I've showed many of them how to use the Merlin App to identify birds as they travel and eBird to keep track of what they've seen. We pick up tips on must-see destinations and share our own favorites in return. It's really a great way to connect with people and learn more about their lives. And it feels like we're on vacation when we light a campfire and spend an evening together chatting about travel and life.

When covid first hit, this wonderful couple, Natalia and Stefen, spent six months with us! 

We miss our Sunday discussions over pancakes and guitar lessons!

Journey gave this guest lessons in arial acrobatics and drawing after their yoga session. 

Journey has begun providing pet sitting for some of our guests.

This family from Israel stayed with us for 6 weeks while their truck was in the shop. It gave the girls plenty of time to bond over learning new skills. We were super sad when it came time for them to go.

aMaverick stayed for six weeks and became family. 💜

A jam session with two travelers. They let Journey try their mandolin and fiddle.