We are very excited to have our photo on the cover of the 2015 edition of the Escapees RV Club Travel Guide. This photo was taken at Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction, Arizona, where the beautiful Superstition Mountains make a stunning backdrop to every scene.
Photo by Mark & Emily Fagan
We were camped there for a few days when an adorable little trailer pulled in alongside us. After the owner got set up, we went over to chat with him and found out his cute retro rig is actually just two years old!
We kept admiring the little buggy out our window as the sun played on the mountains in the distance, and one afternoon Mark went outside and took this absolutely gorgeous photo. I never would have thought of cutting off the trailer on the right side, but it balances the vivid cliffs beautifully and draws you into the photo.
Escapees loved the image too and wanted to use it for their cover, but unfortunately it didn’t fit their size format. Argh! We were bound and determined to make it work, so the next afternoon we both dashed out and snapped away for half an hour as the light faded, duplicating his idea but playing with the composition.
In the end, my finger hit the shutter on this particular version of his vision, so, like many of our magazine cover photos, this image is the result of a combined effort by the two of us — the best kind of shot!
Escapees RV Club publishes this travel guide each year for their members. It is a thick little book chock full of RV parks that give Escapees members discounts of up to 50%. They also list kindly Escapees members who offer their property to other members for overnight RV parking.
We enjoyed this unique kind of hospitality last year when we were traveling in Oregon. A wildfire had smoked us out of the area we had been staying in, and it was very comforting to find safe haven and companionship in the back yard of a couple who were fellow RVers and Escapees members.
The Escapees Travel Guide is just one of the many unique benefits that come with an Escapees membership.
I often mention Escapees on this website, and you may roll your eyes every time I do. And I understand that! The first time we heard about Escapees was when we were boondocked in Death Valley. We camped with a couple from Calgary for a few days, and they raved about the benefits of being Escapees members.
They showed us the Day’s End Directory and told us it was awesome. To us, it seemed hopelessly cryptic and weird, which is why I give a mini translation on our boondocking page. They were super nice, but they were so enthusiastic that we came away convinced that they were getting some kind of kickback from the club! We were completely turned off to the idea of becoming “joiners” in a club that sent out evangelists like that!
So we waved off the whole idea and went on our merry way.
But we kept meeting Escapees members in our travels, and someone showed us their wonderful magazine, and we realized that this is a club that the membership really values. Eventually we decided to give them a try — and now we’re very glad we did.
This nomadic life can become a little rootless after a while, and it is heartwarming to know not only that there is a huge group of people living this odd lifestyle too, but that we all have a link to one another through a large club that is geared towards our needs. Escapees was founded by one of the first couples to travel full-time in an RV, back in 1978, and their club now looks out for the best interests of all full-time (and long-term) RV travelers in a huge variety of ways.
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Related Post: How Big an RV do you Need?
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