RAMBLIN' MAN: Name any good-sized community in North America and, chances are, Craig Chilton's seen it.
Lethbridge. Yep.
Little Rock, Arkansas. Ditto.
Gilroy, California. Natch.
Sudbury, Ont. Been there.
Fairbanks, Alaska. Done that.
Fact is, this former school teacher who now calls Iowa home, has been on the road since 1977 and he reckons he's logged "two or three million miles."
Says Craig, "Name any town with a population over 25,000 and I've been there."
This hasn't just been some aging, penniless hobo's journey for self-discovery, either.
Craig's been paid well for his tour, simply by delivering vehicles -- often RVs -- to people who ordered them.
"The last six years I did this full-time, I earned $52,000 US," says Craig, who was in Edmonton promoting a book meant to tell others how to cash in.
The book's in its [sixth edition (currently, in 2008)] since it was first put out in 1979, and is titled, How to Get Paid $50,000 a Year to Travel (Without Selling Anything).
"There are 100,000 people in North America doing this and 10,000 of those are Canadians," says Chilton, adding most U.S. companies will hire citizens from here to drive their vehicles so long as you've got a clean road record.
He says scores of companies will pay good bucks plus expenses to have vehicles driven all over the continent.
"just think about it. You always see cars and small trucks shipped piggy-back on tractor-trailers, but you don't see RVs shipped this way, or ambulances, conversion vans, limos, big trucks, you name it. That's 'cause they're driven to their point of delivery."
His book's in two parts. Part One tells how to become a "Road Rat," and offers [pretty much all of the tricks] of the trade.
Part Two provides a list of companies -- in Canada, Europe, Australia, and the U.S. -- which manufacture or customize vehicles.
There are no guarantees all of these companies need drivers [at any given time], but it does provide the prospective Road Rat with some decent leads.
If you'd like a copy of the book, Craig says you can order one [and its companion, 80-minute-long audio CD, by clicking here. (When this article was written, in 1995, the CD did not yet exist, and these resources were not yet available over the Internet.)]
Copyright © 1979-2008 Xanadu Enterprises, P.O. Box 3007, Evansdale,
Iowa 50707-0007.
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