Escape the rat race: Hit the road
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Monks on the run
The Sykoras and others for whom writing has become a very viable mobile career can thank "The Monks."

James Crotty and Michael Lane left an indelible mark on gypsy living by launching Monk: The Mobile Magazine, a full-color road-zine of photos, interviews and entertaining ramblings from the alternative undergrounds in places like New York and Seattle. Through subscription sales, the self-described "peripatetic monks" supported themselves solely on the proceeds from their trailblazing mobile magazine.

"We were going to travel for seven months and do seven newsletters, each from a different bioregion of the country," Lane says. Instead, they ended up publishing 19 issues in 12 years on the road, from 1986 to 1998.

"We were well-suited for that life because of our free-spirited nature," Crotty says. "It took being both businessmen and free spirits, which is not a combination you often see."

The Monks did it the hard way, without the benefit of cell phones or the Internet. Even most commercial printers of the day were unable to decipher output from their early Macintosh Apple computer. Because remote banking was still years off, they opened bank accounts wherever their printer happened to be. Many a night, they would "boondock" (park free) their 26-foot Fleetwood Bounder RV beside a bank of payphones to complete the phone work necessary to print an issue.

"There was a mailbox that was checked once a month and FedExed to us wherever we were and you would hear from us a month later," Crotty says. "That is just so not the world we live in today, but frankly, it was a better world."

Lane agrees, but allows: "I honestly think we were insane. Today, we would just take our laptops and cell phones and it would all be so remarkably easy."

The Monks split coasts when they left the road, Lane stayed in Los Angeles, Crotty returned to New York. Today, they still carry on with alternative travel writing and design and host Web sites.

Both continue to feel the lure of the open road. "People are just afraid," Crotty says. "You don't need money; that's all just your mind chattering away. At a moment's notice, I know that I could sell everything and go."

Road costs
Still need convincing? Let's crunch some road numbers.

• Your RV home: According to the RVIA, RVs first fall into two categories: towable (trailers) and motorized (motor homes). The trailers come in six different models, from truck campers to luxurious fifth-wheelers, and range in price from $4,000 to $13,000 new. Motorized RVs come in three classes: Type C looks like a truck camper but has interior access and costs $48,000 to $140,000; Type B looks like a van and costs $41,000 to $74,000; and Type A looks like a bus and costs $58,000 to $400,000.

  What's a realistic entry point? The Sykoras say you can get a 25-foot Wildwood travel trailer similar to theirs for around $12,000 that will get you on the road comfortably. They should know; they're currently wintering in it -- in Alaska.

• Bills: "When we moved into the RV and started living as a mobile couple, our expenses dropped in every budget category," Coleen Sykora says.