Boondocking

When our children were small, we grew tired of dragging around all the required gear to tent camp and bought a little vacation trailer. It was 15', had no facilities to speak of although we put a porta-potty in its closet. The water was provided in a single sink with a pump handle. Hot water? You jest.

There was a small refrigerator, gas stove. a small floor furnace, a dinette, a sofa and a shelf that was above the dinette where we built a bunk for the kids. We dragged that thing all around the West. Many years we would head for Arizona in May taking along school homework and we vagabonded it with no reservations, no set places we had to be. I used to think I could live in that trailer with say a canopy alongside it, and I still believe I could have back then.

As our family aged, with teen-agers, we went back to tent camping. When the kids grew up and out, we had an Astro van and Farm Boss and I used it many places again around the West. All we needed to sleep was a wide spot in the road. We cooked meals over a sterno stove. I have some wonderful memories of those years along creeks or sometimes in campgrounds. A few unusual ones too.

The van grew undependable; and frankly it had a major drawback-- no inside facilities which is a bigger deal in grizzly, moose and elk territory. The truck didn't provide a comfortable bed in back. So for awhile we mostly left behind camping (with a few memorable exceptions) for renting vacation houses or staying in motels. That was less than satisfying as it didn't allow us to sleep in the areas we most wanted to be.

We talked of buying a trailer because we had a truck that could pull one. I was not that confident Farm Boss would have enough time to use it; so we held off. We'd look once in awhile, but we waited until the time seemed right.  That time came in May as he is slowing down his taking of new projects.

We actually thought we'd get a trailer that was 22' up to 25' but we wanted the capability of taking our cats-- or at the least our oldest cat, the one we hated to leave home for fear he'd die while we weren't there. To find that capability required going one foot bigger than we had planned, but it is a very nice unit, well-built, and would enable us to live in it if that ever became necessary (I'm always thinking that way for some reason).

There is always a little guilt feeling when you think of pulling a rig this size in a time where gasoline is an issue-- but if we take it somewhere and stay with it, it might end up less fuel usage than driving from place to place. 

I am now doing research on places we can boondock-- which means camp where there is no campground and where the law permits which is most of the BLM lands in the US-- Rules for BLM Use.

This kind of camping, out in the open, with the wilderness around us, maybe as much as a month at a time, ideally mountain or desert, that's the kind of thing I love most and look forward to roughing enjoying again.

The fancy trim above the windows is going. Not my style. It fell off one (second photo) before it got home. I like that better.

The view inside is with the slider open.

It is fancier than I had in mind but not remotely as fancy as they get (think granite counters), I think this one is in the middle for luxury. In a few weeks (there are things to do before we can take it out like sheering sheep) it will have dust all over it-- I hope ;)

Oh and if readers haven't already discovered it, Trolley, has made me  jealous inspired in this endeavor. This blog has reminded me of so many good times. Give it a try if you haven't already been reading it.