by John Melendez

Created on: July 22, 2009

Traveling on a Budget? Nuke that RV! Go Small (and Cheap) with a Mini-Camper!

Costly RV Ownership & Fuel Costs Make Minis an Economical Alternative

Up until a year or so ago I had a Taiwanese roommate named Ta-Chien. His name means "Big Thousand" in Chinese. Obviously his mom was thinking of money when she named him, or perhaps she named him after waking up from a very long nap of counting sheep. Anyway, his non-Mandarin-speaking friends have difficulty pronouncing his name. "Big Thousand" (in English) is too awkward as a name, and isn't trendy enough for a debonair guy like him. So his freinds sometimes just call him "Big K".

In his younger years, Big K was a small-time thug in a Taipei motorcycle gang. He would wear wild clothing and dark sunglasses just to look cool. He also sported neon-red hair - a tell-tale gang tag designed to catch any policeman's predatory eye. He sometimes tells me stories of how, after he had gotten away from the "bad guys" (the police), he would ride up into the mountains beyond the outskirts of Taipei for a relaxing jaunt in the countryside. Afterwards he would ride back into town and grab some dim-sum with his buddies. Ah...That was years ago, and those were the days. Would you like a chicken foot?

Big K is now a devout Buddhist, but he still eats dim-sum. He is also a successful hair stylist working on the Indianapolis north side, and a proud single father of a wonderful little boy named Alex. Given Big K's domestic situation in recent years, it's easy to deduce he has settled down - well, mostly. As roommates, he and I were both busy: we both had two jobs; I frequently wrote and tinkered with various projects in my free time; and Big K had Alex to care for when the ex was out of town, or when he is not out dating a local chickadee.

Between our hectic schedules Big K and I made time to sit out on the porch and drink Dong-Ding Oolong tea (or sometimes some really good sake) and talk about cool places we've lived before - for him in Taiwan and Tibet, and for me in the Sonoran Desert and eastern China.

Among our reminiscences, the one common theme that stands out for the both of us are the fun times we spent traveling either as solitary sojourners or with a small group of good friends. It was the countryside we loved - for the out-of-doors in any land is a beautiful sight to behold.

Once in a while, Big K would get a wild gleam in his eyes that disrupted his otherwise calm demeanor. I knew

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next Page >>