My wife and I recently stayed the night at Fort Churchill State Historic Park. We started our visit at the self guided visitor’s center reading the interpretive panels, viewing historic photos and artifacts in the display cases. As we were leaving the visitors center, the ranger showed up and told us he had something for us. He indicated that a non-profit that had operated a gift shop at the park had recently gone defunct leaving their inventory behind and he had just received permission to “get rid of it”. He led us to a storage room and upon opening the locked door instructed us to help ourselves. Before us were shelves of state park tee shirts, books, ball caps along with Pony Express and Civil War souvenirs. My wife and I both selected a tee shirt in our size, some souvenir items and a book or two. We then thanked the ranger returned to our RV and found a nice campsite under the cottonwood trees near the historic Carson River.
Talk about return on investment! For our $17 camp fee we received admission to the historic grounds where we were able to tour the ruins of the fort, received about $30 in free merchandise, plus a lovely campsite. That is my kind of adventure in RVing!
A deal like this won’t be around forever, so hurry while supplies last!
Dave Helgeson’s many roles in the RV industry started before he even had a driver’s license. His grandparents and father owned an RV dealership before the term “RV” had been coined, and Dave played a pivotal role in nearly every position of an RV dealership. He and his wife Cheri launched their own RV dealership in the Pacific Northwest. The duo also spent 29 years overseeing regional RV shows. Dave has also served as President of a local chapter of the Recreational Vehicle Dealers Association (RVDA), worked on the board of advisors for the RV Technician Program of a local technical college, and served as a board member of the Manufactured Home and RV Association. Dave’s reputation earned him the title of “The foremost expert on boondocking,” bestowed by RV industry icon, the late Gary Bunzer (The RV Doctor). When he’s not out boondocking, you’ll find Dave in the spotlight at RV shows across the country, giving seminars about all things RVing. He and Cheri currently roam in their fifth travel trailer, with Dave doing all the service, repair and modifications to his own unit.
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