Picture yourself lounging by the pool or relaxing at your campsite, lazily enjoying a really good book. It’s so good you finally finish it with a smile but that smile soon turns to dismay…you’re only into the 3rd day of your camping vacation and you've already used up your reading material. Enter the RV park / campground book exchange. Yep, most parks offer a “library” worthy of your attention.
Locate the library (sometimes in the laundry room) and you may find magazines, books, videos, games, puzzles, newspapers and more. It works like this – take one, leave one or borrow and return one. At the very least, book and magazine exchanges can be found at many, many RV parks and campgrounds. The titles you’ll find in the camp’s library may be as diverse as a big city library – magazines from National Geographic to Cooking Light to Smithsonian to Highways, both fiction and non-fiction books - medical, travel, suspense, romance, etc. and often puzzles of every challenge level.
In some parks you might even come across a selection of movies – sometimes VHS, sometime DVDs. Movies are usually not for exchange but donations to the collection are always welcome. Borrow them for a day or two – free - but please remember to return them. Games follow the same procedure and are for everyone’s enjoyment.
If this is something that interests you, before you leave home gather up the magazines, books, videos, games, etc. you’ve already enjoyed and plan to visit camp libraries at every stop along the way. Don’t worry if they aren’t the latest and greatest. The magazines may not always be current but the content is as valuable as the day it came out. Recipes are still tasty; motivational advice still stands; touching family stories still have the power to move you.
You don’t have to exchange in the same genre, either. Exchange a novel for a cookbook, a self-help book for a AAA Travel Guide, a how-to guide for a children’s book. In some parks you might even come upon a “reference library”. Please respect their rules and requests when it comes to “reference” items. These items are typically for “in library” reading only.
So, when packing up your family’s home-away-from-home, bring along your “used” books, magazines or other entertainment items and know that more often than not interesting material is at hand – add or exchange as you see fit!!
All the more reason to
Go Camping America …see you on the road!
Contributed by Evanne Schmarder
Whether you are looking for an epic adventure across the continent or a close-by weekend retreat, you’ll find the perfect RV park or campground on the find a park page at GoCampingAmerica.com. Book your camping adventure online or play it by ear. Stay in a tent, a motorhome or travel trailer, a yurt or a cabin. Visit a full-fledged resort offering planned activities and events or go back to nature in a quiet, reflective campground. Get away to the mountains, a lake, the desert, ocean or the Great Plains - it's up to you!
