Stealth Camping with Hundreds of My Closest Friends

by Zinnia Abbott

Recently retired, Zinnia longs to escape boredom and loneliness. So she sets out on a solo road trip looking for adventure, and connection-the human kind and the spiritual kind. Ride along with her! She invites you to be her traveling companion. You’ll see how, stealth camping in her minivan, she tours the United States without spending a dime for lodging.

With Zinnia, you’ll discover national parks, intriguing attractions, colorful characters, and beautiful nature. You’ll be treated to the wit and wisdom of friendly AA meetings in all 48 contiguous US states. With humor and insight, she shares the wonders of learning about her country, her people, and herself.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Biography

292 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 17, 2021

About the author

Zinnia Abbott (a pseudonym)

Is a retired nurse, mom, and grandmother living in southern Maine. Since 1985, she has been in recovery from alcoholism. To this grown-up Girl Scout and flower child out of season, every day is a new adventure, and she was born ready.

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.

A member of AA and recent retiree, who was just dumped via email by her significant other, decides to drive across the country, attending an AA meeting in each state, while also camping out at various national parks and tourist attractions.

Every chapter starts with AA affirmations. These all start to seem alike after the second chapter.

From there, we get about what you'd expect from a former flower child.

[Nicki Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting travel log.

Stealth Camping with Hundreds of My Closest Friends is about a recently retired nurse and recovery alcohoilic who sets out to visit national parks across the US . She travels alone in her van cross
Country enjoying the beauty of nature and along the way attends
AA meetings. It's a scenic travel recovery adventure for a woman seeking answers to her array of questions. Enjoyable read.

[Jeanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book in a GoodReads Giveaway. Traveling the lower U.S. in a van to kickoff retirement sounds like a great premise for a book. But just like someone else’s vacation pictures that go on and on, this book became a chore to finish.

[V · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to the author for the ebook I received in a gr giveaway!

The book felt like something between journal and storytelling... but things felt a bit overexplained and some conversations were a bit contrived--they felt like exposition disguised as dialogue. The voice of the narrative. Not to my liking, but not a big deal.

I like road trips and reading about road trips. I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book--maybe strategies on what the author calls "stealth camping" and many people refer to as boondocking. I have engaged in this practice myself and Abbott seems to have had less trouble with it than I have. (True, her vehicle is far more suited to circumspect sleeping than mine.) But she seems to have hit on many of the same things I did and was luckier in her choices of Walmart parking lots. I was disappointed that Abbott didn't seem to veer very far from the beaten path (even to the extent that she mostly reported patronizing national chain restaurants rather than exploring local options), did not make use of BLM or USFS lands, did not even set up a tent anywhere. The author seems satisfied with this superficial way of experiencing the country. I would not have been.

Any book about a solo road trip is going to contain a good deal of introspection and this one is no exception. As usual, no conclusions or solutions are reached, but a lot of navel-gazing occurs. I found it a little difficult to relate to the author, being a generation younger and without the kind of family and friendships Abbott clearly values. As the narrative progressed, I found myself less and less able to relate, which is unusual. My opinion of the author took a steep decline when she spent a lot of time and effort describing how terrible she found California. It felt kind of spiteful. A person who chooses to visit Death Valley in the dead of summer or Fresno at any time of year has no right to complain when they find the conditions hot and/or shitty. (Was that a spiteful thing for me to say?)

The main goal of the trip is to attend at least one AA meeting in every state in CONUS. Why? Multiple meetings a day for a person who is largely doing it to color in a shape on a map... feels icky. The secondary goal seems to be to visit all of the national parks that the author has not yet visited-- another checklist-type goal to which she seems to adhere more and more grudgingly. The third, albeit unstated, goal of the trip seems to be to do all this traveling entirely without paying for lodging, although she seems happy to take her sons up on their offers to spring for an occasional night at a hotel. None of these goals seems to make sense when followed strictly. The author is driving out of her way to attend AA meetings in a particular state, more than one each day on the east coast. She gets bored of red rock country somewhere in Utah (and generally hates arid environments, anyway) and drives long distances for a perfunctory stop at a national park on her list. She won't shell out for a crappy motel room or campsite when it's late and she's far from boondocking-friendly spots, resulting in long detours to rest areas. Strict adherence to these self-imposed goals turns her trip into a chore, not an adventure. (When your own rules start to work against you, it's time to think of them as guidelines instead.)

So, about the AA meetings. Even if I were shopping for a recovery/support group, I would not choose one as problematic as the constellation of AA-like organizations. It is clear that the author also has reservations about certain aspects of the program... but evidently not the fact that it seems to run largely on platitudes; she includes a handful of quotes from many of the meetings she attends, most of which sound slogan-y. Not for me.

Oddly, what I liked best about the book was the author's forays into her own backstory. It sounds like she had more adventures than I'd have expected from a lady of her description.

[Shell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fairly interesting. A retired, 66 year old female sets out to attend an AA meeting in all 48 contiguous states and also to visit as many national parks as possible, all while sleeping in a van. She gets a Planet Fitness membership so she will have a place to shower, as she is not camping in campgrounds. She is parking her van in any area that looks safe where she won't be discovered as sleeping in the van. For me, though, there was a good portion of things I didn't like that made me give just 3 stars. She traveled in 2018, but instead of using Google or Apple maps, depended on paper maps and an old GPS that didn't update with detours, which the other 2 did in 2018. There was time spent whining about getting lost and taking detours. She retired without a plan of what she would be doing with her life after her travels and seemed kind of lost in where her life was going. For someone traveling alone, this person was not at all comfortable with being alone and her PMS (as she puts it - pitying my self) was very evident throughout the book. Not one of my favorite reads, but if you can overlook the whining, it's interesting enough. #GoodreadsGiveaways

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

We travel and camp in a small motorhome, and hope to see all the National Parks, plus as many National Forests and State Parks as we can. I am reading books about camping, rvs,and places to see. I enjoy memoirs of others travels. Zinnias book had an interesting approach to her trip, not oly hittling all the National Parks in the Lower 48 states, but attending an AA meeting in each of the states. She has included a lot of interesting stories about the places that she saw, and gave me a lot of ideas of places to see.
I would enjoy reading another book about what happened after she returned home. Did she find any answers to the questions she had? Did she find a project, volunteer opportunity or job? Did she take another trip?

[Paul Brassard · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I read a book in one day. I did that in March reading Zinnia Abbot’s memoir-cum-travelogue, Stealth Camping with Hundreds of My Closest Friends. Well written and personal, it felt like I was sitting in the passenger seat alongside the author as she made her way across the country in her minivan or that she had written her observations and insights in a series of personal letters to me. This book is honest and funny. Zinnia is all right there on the page—memories, worries, fears and joys. I can't wait to read her next book.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of this book is a quick read through the author’s adventures. I found myself slowing to savor wisdom from the different AA meetings. Every so often one quote gets you thinking about life. The book spends enough time on places to get a feel for it but doesn’t stay too long. After enough places it started to get a bit repetitive but that’s only because it was the author’s story and not mine. Overall I enjoyed this book and will go back to the quotes I highlighted.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zinnia Abbot is a nurse at retirement age who decides to retire and travel the country in her van. This is kind of a stream-of-consciousness memoir in the style of a journal describing her journey and the things she sees and does.

This one sounded so cool but didn't really match up with what I was expecting. I enjoyed how healing and eye opening the journey was for her but it didn't hold my attention as well as most travel memoirs. It was more about friends and family she visited and the AA meetings she went to

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a GR giveaway and was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it. I didn’t realize it was about a recovering alcoholic but the insights into the meetings she attends were interesting. She writes a bit like how I journal and so it was like reading a letter from a friend or an account of travel adventures from a friend which I really enjoyed. Great job Zinnia and I hope you have found joy.

[norma baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

AA in 48 states

When Zinnia Abbott retired, she bought a van and decided to visit all of the national parks and go to an AA meeting in all 48 contiguous states. As she did that, she visited lots of unusual places because she did not want to drive in cities or high traffic areas. Americans are proud of their hometowns and they create lots of unusual places to attract tourists.

[Heather Raskin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could only make it about half way through. The writing wasn’t great and many of the things she did annoyed me as a former “stealth camper.” It just got to the point that I was frustrated with what she was doing and it was really based around AA more than I would have thought based on the title and description.

[Chantell Kraemer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this read detailing the travel journey of recently retired nurse. Zinnia sets out with the goal of seeing every National Park and attending AA meetings in 48 states. She travels alone in her van while also stopping to visit family and friends along the way. Interesting and thought provoking!

*I won this book via a GoodReads giveaway*

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun and informative book about the adventures of a solo road tripper with all the related ups and downs as she travels across the country. Also an eye opening look about how AA provides a community that makes this solo adventurer never really feel alone.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. Just reread it.

It reminds me of the travels I’ve done alone and with my dogs. The loneliness and the pleasures. The fears in traffic and in desolate places. Kept wishing she’d traveled sometime other than summer.

She’s so honest. Reports the good and bad.

[Carol & Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to put down.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting way to travel around the country focusing on AA meetings, national parks, planet fitness and Walmarts. She is very raw in her emotions.

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn’t able to finish this book. The first few chapters were just very repetitive and I gave up.

[Candi · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable light read. The book is a combination of a travelogue of the lower forty eight and an AA review that throws in “stealth camping” and a little philosophy. The author’s personal adventure becomes a joy to read. Structured as a diary of her trip, we hear her plans and activities. When the activities include visiting an AA meeting in each state, she gives a feel of the meeting without breaking the rule of confidentiality for AA. Whether she is visiting friends or relatives or touring a national park, you feel her enjoyment and openness to the experience. The author even makes her stealth camping experiences interesting.

Disclaimer: I won this book in a #GoodreadsGiveaway. This is a voluntary and honest review.