 Welcome to Road Gear Reviews, I'm Julie from RVLove and today we're talking about the Frugal Shun Piking Guides. These are guides that are going to help you find some of the most amazing scenic campsites in the country for free. Stay tuned. Welcome back to Road Gear Reviews, again I'm Julie from RVLove and today we're talking about the Frugal Shun Piking Guides, e-books that are amazing resources to help you find some of the most amazing hidden gems of free campsites all around the country. But first, what is Shun Piking? Shun Piking is a word for avoiding toll roads or major highways, so shunning the pipes or shunning the toll roads in favour of driving on back roads and scenic country roads that are usually less trafficked and also offer some of the more amazing scenic places that give you access to campsites that most people don't even know about. Of course the frugal part is self-explanatory, it's all about finding either free or cheap campsites. Now while we spend the majority of our time about 75-80% in camping in RV parks and campgrounds, we also like to mix things up with boondocking or free camping, dry camping, wild camping or other terms for that. People often ask us how and where we find these scenic campsites that we often share on our Instagram and Facebook pages. Well sometimes we find them on blogs, sometimes we find them on camping review websites, but that can also feel a bit piecemeal at times and often these don't offer the level of information and detail that we really appreciate to be able to help us know what kind of a situation we're getting into, especially with a larger motorhome. Alright so there are five guides and they all come in the form of e-books around about 100-160 pages each. The guides are written by Mary Ann Edwards who has travelled over 60,000 miles across the USA and Canada in her Class B road trek motorhome. So the many, many years she's got amazing experiences, found some of probably the best campsites you will ever find and she's included just about all of them in these e-books. So the author Mary Ann Edwards is also the founder of Boondockers Welcome which is another website that you may be very familiar with that opens up campsites that hosts offer for free for RVs to stay at around the country. So this is somebody who's very, very experienced in the RV industry, is very, very generous in sharing a lot of fantastic information and free campsites and resources with the entire RVing community. So again this is information that we truly value, we trust immensely and we use often. The guides can easily save you hundreds of dollars per month in campground fees and there are currently five books covering the regions of Southern Texas, New Mexico, Southern Utah, California Desert and Eastern Sierra and Arizona. So some of the most scenic and amazing states in the country. You will find open locations with beautiful views usually with no neighbors or very few neighbors nearby which often means it's very quiet. Places that basically give you an experience of more adventurous and affordable RV travel. But the books just aren't for RVs, they're also handy for motorcyclists or tent campers as well. Inside the book you'll find photos of free campsites and great tips for exploring the local area, hikes, free dump stations, nearby amenities, even cell coverage although of course that can change from time to time in area to area but at least it gives you an idea if there is some coverage in the area. So each of the books is broken down into sections and what we really appreciate is the detail and information like GPS coordinates, mileage, detailed descriptions of the roads and the access roads and the terrain that you'll be encountering in your RV and importantly what roads can be accessed by what size RV. Some of these campsites may only be accessible by smaller RVs but there are actually a surprising number that can be accessed by RVs of just about any size right up to 45 foot motorhomes and fifth wheels. So the books detail the number of sites available in that area, free and cheap dump stations nearby and we'll help you find hidden gems that you wouldn't find anywhere else. So of course you can download the ebooks and keep them handy on your smartphone or your tablet. We tend to keep ours in an Evernote document so we can access it from any device that we're on and can bring the information up at any time. We actually use it not just for planning campsites but for planning itineraries and travel routes. That's one of the great things about these books that's very different to anything that you'll find on any of the free camping review sites. So the ebooks come with free updates and a bonus 23 page Frugal Shump Hiker's Guide to Basic Boondocking with lots of boondocking tips in there as well. So the ebooks are about $17 each but their best value if you buy them as a bundle. You can get three for $39, four for $49 and five for $59. So you're getting five of the ebooks for approximately a little over the cost of three buying them individually. We find that's the best value. That's how we purchase them and they're just such an amazingly valuable resource that we use regularly on our RV travels. We have an enormous amount of confidence in the quality and detail of the information that Mary Ann, the author, provides and it really just gives us a lot of trust to know that what she's sharing is really good information that is going to be ensuring that we have a really successful experience out boondocking because it can get a little nerve-wracking sometimes when you're going into an area that you've never been to before not knowing what to expect. So if you've ever wondered if there's free camping out there or been nervous about getting your rig into a certain campsite these guys will give you a great amount of information and comfort. And with RV parks and campgrounds ranging now from $30 to $60 a night easily one or two nights of camping in an RV park or campground would easily pay for the entire set of five ebooks. The author shows in the back suggested itineraries that can show how you could do a four to six week camping trip in your RV for only one or two hundred dollars. That's with a combination of free campsites and some cheap campsites along the way. We love the fantastic tips that help us make the most of our stay in the area and the honesty and detailed information in each of these five guides. So we hope you found that helpful today. If you have the Frugalschamp hiking guides let us know what you think down in the comments below. If you don't have them we really encourage you to check them out. You can buy them for as low as $17 each or if you're planning on doing a lot of travel around the southwest area in particular including Texas then we recommend getting the set of five. It's amazing value for $59 and you will absolutely be thanking the author Marianne when you are taking photographs of your rig parked in places like this. We'll put the links down below. Go over and check out the website and check out the different books they have available. Again it's Texas, Arizona, California, Utah and New Mexico. All fantastic guides worth every cent and more. Well we hope you liked this video. If so click the like button and of course if you find it useful to share with anyone click share and if you haven't already hit subscribe for more weekly videos from the Road Gear Reviews team. Till next time we'll see you on the road.