Escapees January-February 2023

from the bookshelf

Books for RVers By MARCELLA GAUTHIER #12371

Road Life: An inspirational guide to living and traveling on four wheels SABASTIAN ANTONIO SANTABARBARA, FRANCES LINCOLN, 2022, ISBN: 978-0711259713, HARDCOVER: $24.49, KINDLE: $11.99

Every Dish Has a Story: When I was a kid…treasured childhood food memories and their recipes JILL HECKER #173421, NEW DEGREE PRESS 2022 ISBN: 979-8885040952, PAPERBACK: $16.99 KINDLE: $4.99

This book has wonderful stories about amazing people traveling around the world. Aside from suggestions about great destinations to visit,

each story is full of hints about what to take, how to make do and helpful hints about living on the road. The travelers are varied, including large families traveling together or a couple who with one member in a wheel chair, so nothing is impossible. How all the travelers manage the trials and challenges of traveling is a montage of coping skills. The memories they are acquiring are truly inspirational. The many photos are beautiful so you can be a part of each adventure. Join them without ever leaving a comfortable chair and a warm cup of tea or coffee.

It is said that smell and taste can bring back long-forgotten memories and the emotions that surrounded them. Jill Hecker’s YouTube channel series YesterKitchen is a trip down memory lane of recipes from the 1930s to the 1980s. In this book she has compiled a large collection of stories with recipes. Jill has a passion for food and storytelling, and these are memories and recipes from other eclectic food lovers. Each story might be a heart-warm ing story of childhood memories or a history of such varied things as matzoh balls or delicious scrambled eggs. There are memories of a long beloved banana pudding with ‘nilla’ wafers, making snow ice cream or the story of a group of 16-year-old boys on a bike trip through Europe after a long, exhausting ride ending in a remote Italian village with no way to prepare a meal for themselves nor fi nd a food estab lishment. They were rescued by a kind couple who gave them shelter and a freshly prepared linguine and sausage dinner, which to this day must be a fond memory as the most wonderful meal they ever ate.

Three Years in a Walmart Parking Lot SHARON WATERS, BOWKER: 2019, ISBN: 978-0578405384 PAPERBACK: $9.95, KINDLE: $4.65 As a restless sixty-nine-year-old single woman, Sharon Waters sets off in an RV. For three years during her proverbial wandering in the desert odyssey, she discovers her strengths and weaknesses. She was accompanied by her two dogs, Magic and Cricket and cat, Milo, so she had plenty of loving companionship. Sharon’s

writing is charming, detailed and informative. She begins her story living in her hoarder’s house with a scary basement accumulation. Her life has reached an impasse, so changes must be made. Without much experience or investigation, and no training for driving an RV, she sets off. The fi erce polar vortex causes her to leave Massachusetts hoping to travel south for more pleasant weather. What a challenge as the vortex chased her every increasing distance heading south. The book is a wonderful story of her adventures while learning the pros and cons of RV travel. She has one house- and chicken-sitting gig for a month in the Carolinas. Yes, 50 chickens and ducks, a very needy 80-pound dog who was critically attached to his missing owners and all of this in freezing weather. This is a wonderful adventure of someone learning new skills, gaining a sense of independence and meeting wonderful people along the way and was a very enjoyable read.

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January/February 2023 ESCAPEES Magazine