I love this word: Shunpiking. I’m a shunpiker and didn’t know it.

You can be a shunpiker, too.

For one thing, you can avoid the $5 toll on Interstate-95 Northbound at Perryville by getting off at Havre de Grace (“Last exit before toll”) and spending about five to seven minutes cutting to Route 40 and buying a decal for the Thomas J. Hatem Bridge. Buy it one time and you can use it all year. Make the next left after the toll and you get back on I-95 above the Perryville plaza.

With the HatemBridgedecal on the side passenger window of your vehicle, you save $5 on every ensuing trip north. It’s called shunpiking!

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A Sun reader named Jacob Exler provided a way to avoid a toll in Delaware.

Here are his instructions:

Northbound: Leave I-95N at Exit 109B, Rte. 279N (Elkton Rd.) toward Newark.Go 2 miles and make a right onto Christina Parkway (Rte. 2E and Rte. 4E). Pass the Daimler-Chrysler Assembly Plant on the left. After 1 mile turn right onto Rte. 896S (S. College Ave.) and continue to get back on I-95N.

Southbound: Leavet I-95S at Exit 1, Rte. 869N (S. College Ave.) toward Newark. Go 1 mile and make a left onto Christina Parkway(Rte. 2W and Rte. 4W). After 1 mile turn left (there are 2 left turn lanes) onto Rte.279S (Elkton Rd.) and continue to get back on I-95S. “Try it out,” Exler says, “I'm sure you will like it. My next goal is to avoid the Delaware Memorial Bridge southbound.”

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There’s a web site devoted to shunpiking, started by a guy named Steve.

“I travel the country and I started the web site almost for my own wants,” Steve wrote in an e-mail. “I am a gear head (car nut) and would travel places with beautiful back roads.  I have been driving Corvettes since the late 70's.  I know the most common definition for shunpiking is to avoid tolls. I had seen a definition that said something like ‘to take a back road to avoid tolls and major roads.’  Well, if you are not in a hurry, then there is great value in touring the ‘back roads.’  And I mean touring.

“I wanted to get some input for scenic back roads when I travel.  I think there are other roads like Route 66 out there. I am working in Alabama now and took back roads through Memphis to northern Alabama.  I saw possibly eight little towns that aren't even on maps.  I grew up in a small town in central New York and really enjoy the atmosphere of small towns. So, not only can shunpiking save you money, it can also reaquaint you with America.”