ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 24, 1996 TAG: 9607240001
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALESSANDRA SOLER STAFF WRITER
FOUR YEARS AGO, Shirley Slater and husband Harry Basch bought a 27-foot motor home, packed up the essentials - a laptop, a few road maps and plenty of travel brochures - and hit the road, cruising through back roads and byways of practically every city in North America.
But the $80,000 investment - equipped with a skylight, matching wood furniture and decorative pastel accents - wasn't part of the couple's retirement plan. It was a business expense that has made their jobs as travel writers easier.
"We needed to go look at the little, isolated places, and this was the only practical way of getting there without having to make hotel reservations and book flights," explained Slater, who was born in Lynchburg. "We don't have to deal with packing and unpacking or waiting in airports. Everything we need is right here."
Slater, 61, and Basch, 70, have been sharing their off-the-wall travel adventures with newspaper and magazine readers for the past 20 years. They've written articles for The Miami Herald, Travel & Leisure and Bon Appetit, and are the authors of "Cruise Views," a syndicated column that appears in The Los Angeles Times.
Although they've covered 156 countries "by foot, Nile barge, elephant back, hot-air balloon ... and supersonic aircraft," and sailed on more than 200 cruises, the couple admit driving cross-country in their RV is the best way to travel.
"In April, we had to go to Venice to see a new cruise ship. We were standing on our own private balcony, practically overlooking the entire city, and both of us said to ourselves, `You know, in another week we'll be back in our RV,''' Slater confessed.
Last year, the husband-and-wife team published a book on RV travel, ``Fielding's Guide to Freewheelin' USA,'' which included their open-road adventures through the California desert, the Blue Ridge mountains and the Florida Keys.
Now they're working on their first food guide - scheduled to be released in 1998 - and downtown Roanoke's Farmers Market is going to be one of the featured hot spots. The cornmeal, buckwheat pancakes, country ham and homemade biscuits served at restaurants and roadside stands along the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive will also be included in the guide.
The two recently traveled through Tidewater to Smithfield in search of country hams and ended up buying one in Surry, a town in the neighboring northern county of the same name, because all the small Smithfield stores were closed for the Fourth of July.
"We're concentrating on American food that is found at non-chain establishments," said Slater, who often traveled from Lynchburg to Roanoke to participate in piano competitions as a child. "They're the kinds of places where you can get take out and get just as good of a meal without having to sit down and eat."
One of the couple's goals: to find the best place in the country to eat good, old-fashioned barbecue.
"We've been traveling across the entire United States, and we've been tasting barbecue as well as freedom," Basch said.
Self-proclaimed "fussy eaters," the couple vowed never to eat at fast-food restaurants. Instead, they buy fresh herbs and spices from farmers markets across the country and enjoy their own gourmet cooking. There have been a few exceptions. "I wouldn't be caught dead in a Wendy's or a McDonald's," said Shirley, as her husband nodded in agreement. "But we once went to a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Singapore. We had spicy Malaysian chicken, and it was great."
(They also ate fried chicken at the restaurant in Kentucky. "We had to see what it was all about," Slater said.)
However Los Angeles, where the writers make their home, is really the "best place to eat in the country," they said.
"It's a very widespread and ethnically diverse area," Slater said. "They're trend-setters."
After having logged more than 50,000 miles in their motor home, both of them said they're still going strong - with no plans to slow down.
"I don't think we're ever going to retire," Basch said. "What are we going to do, go on a cruise?"
They've been traveling together since 1976, and they're used to living and working together every day.
"It's a big test to see how well you travel together," explained Slater, who knows her husband well enough to complete his sentences. "We get into quarrels every 10 minutes - turn right, here; no left; no, you've got the map - but it's nothing major."
Most people probably would consider the couple's lifestyle as retirement, but Slater and Basch see it as a 9-to-5 job, with just a few extra bonuses.
"We don't take vacations," Slater said. "This is our vacation."
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays they schedule meetings with the news media. The rest of the week, they peruse their cramped, portable library of books and travel guides, seeking unique alternatives to everyday tourist spots. Though a recent two-day visit found them settled at Dixie Caverns, camp site No. 47.
"When we started writing about cruise ships in 1980, it was perceived as the kind of vacation for older, blue-haired women - a vacation for the wealthy upper class," Slater said. "Now we're seeing the same thing with RVs. People think it's only for retired people, but it's much bigger than that. More and more people are retiring at a younger age because of downsizing, and you'll see a lot of young people out here on the campgrounds."
Basch, the more reserved of the two, added: "When I drive my car I dart in and out of traffic, but when you get behind the wheel of an RV you know you can't do that. You know there's no way you're going to weave in between cars, so you have no choice but to sit back and relax. You're blood pressure goes down, and you're relaxed; that's part of the wonder of traveling in an RV. It's that feeling of freedom and choice that makes traveling so wonderful."
LENGTH: Long : 120 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. CINDY PINKSTON STAFF Travel writers Shirley Slaterby CNBand Harry Basch stayed at the Dixie Caverns campground when they
came through Roanoke this month. color
2. 7 3. ABUNDANT MATERIAL: Slater and Basch now are working on
their first food guide - scheduled to be released in 1998 - which
will spotlight Roanoke's Farmers Market. The travel writers picked a
fine time to come through town because the produce is plentiful.
Photographed at the market last weekend were Dwayne Jamison (above),
who was buying cantaloupes and other produce for his store,
Jamison's Market on Grandin Road extension; and Reba Carter, who has
helped out at her cousin's stall for several years. color PHILIP
HOLMAN STAFF
4. CINDY PINKSTON STAFF Harry Basch and Shirley Slater's
recreational vehicle has many technical amenities, including a
laptop computer and a satellite dish for the television.