Sisters on the Fly: Caravans, Campers and Tales from the Road, by Irene Rawlings

Taking a brief break from reading Irish crime fiction, I thought I'd put up a quick mention of this book, which I've been looking through (more than really reading) at our information desk. It's  a book devoted to a group of women who restore old trailers, decorate them to their heart's delight, and meet up and drive around the country with them, stopping to camp, fish and just plain hang out together. It started with two real sisters and then just steadily grew. According to their website, they now have 1400 members.

Now I have to admit that I am unlikely to do any of this. The appeal of this kind of book, like that of one I wrote up here on Parkour awhile back, is more about knowing that people are doing something like this somewhere. I'm not all that big into home decor either, but it is a lot of fun to look through this book and see the ingenious and cheerful ways women have fixed up these tiny living spaces.

My mom often told me that she'd had the dream as a young woman of buying a trailer and travelling around in it. She didn't get around to it--had other adventures instead.  And these aren't women who have dropped out--they all have busy lives waiting for them back home. But I bet Mom would have enjoyed hanging out with these gals, and though I'd eventually want to go off on my own, for awhile, I'm sure I would too.

If this sounds like something you would like to do, the book has a lot of practical tips for picking out a trailer, knowing what to bring along and so on. And you can always check out their website.

(Sorry, guys, the rules are: 1.)No husbands, 2.)No dogs 3.)Be nice. But for everything but the last one, they've been known to make exceptions.)