Thoughts on Boondocking – Part 1

Howdy !

As a RV’er it follows that you just gotta love to travel. We get to see the uncommon sights away from the routine theme parks and hotels that most folks go to. Being able to travel this wonderful land of ours is one of the “perks” we have as Rv’ers but we often take the restricted route of always staying in RV parks. By going to RV parks we accept that there will be power, sewer and water available for us so we often loose track of the fact that we paid a fair amount of money to purchase a “Self Contained” traveling house that can do without any outside assistance for extended periods of time.

Bob Difley (http://blog.rv.net/about/bob-difley/) has been giving us all some super ideas on boondocking locations in his BLOG but as an old boondocker I thought I’d chime in with some thoughts about the functions and must-do’s of getting away from the plug.

Boondocking has many different meanings to RV’ers. For some it’s “Boondocking” if they aren’t in a five-star RV resort. To others it’s staying out on the desert at Quartzsite, Arizona for months at a time. In fact there are several different ways to camp off of the plug. For example we have “Blacktopping” which is staying on a parking lot overnight. Now I don’t know about you but it really grinds my gears to pull into an RV park and have to pay $30.00 or more just for the night when we don’t even want to plug in or dump, so blacktopping is a good option to keep in mind. Fuel stops such as Flying J, Burns Brothers, Loves and Pilot have made overnight parking for RV’s easy. In fact quite a few offer dump sites and reserved RV parking areas; besides, you’re most likely to be there getting fuel anyway so why not stop for the night and have an easy pull-out to get back on the road in the morning.

Some food stops like Country Crock and Cracker Barrel allow overnight parking. Most Camping Worlds have overnight parking areas and of course there is “Wal-Parking” at a Wal-Mart store along your route of travel. To tell the truth through, it normally cost us more to stay at Wal-Park because there’s always “something” we just gotta have while we’re here anyway !

To keep the privilege of using these Blacktop campgrounds there are some rules we should follow.

1. Never stay more then one night

2. Never put out your awning, lawn mats, potted plants and so on

3. Never open any slide-out that you don’t need for the night

4. Never dump gray water, trash or pet poop

5. Always ask for permission to park for the night! You might be surprised at the warm response you get

On simple overnight stays there should be little, if any, problems for even the newest RV’er to deal with. The biggest potential problem is if your RV does not have a AC generator or power inverter to operate the microwave! To camp off the plug for longer periods you need to know your RV’s systems and capabilities.

Here are ten test questions:

1. How many gallons of water does your fresh water tank hold?

2. How many days can you camp before you deplete that water?

3. What size is your gray water tank and how many days before it’s full?

4. What size is your black tank and how many days before it’s full?

5. What in your RV operates only on 12-Volt Direct Current (VDC)?

6. What in your RV operates only on 120-Volts Alternating Current (VAC)?

7. What in your RV operates only on Liquid Propane (LP)?

8. What in your RV operates on more than one power source?

9. Does your RV have a 110-Volt AC generator? Does it work?

10. Does your RV have an inverter, solar? Do you know how it works?

All these systems require maintenance and understanding of their operation in order to keep them doing what they do when you need them to work properly. There ain’t nothing worrser then driving along and seeing the “perfect” boondocking spot and you can’t because some of your systems are down !

The best way to answer these questions is the next time you pull into a RV park simply don’t hookup to the power, water and sewer and see how long you can go with your normal lifestyle. Try to remember to turn off the lights when you leave an area of the RV. Do you need the porch light on at night ? How much water do you use when you flush the pot ? Do you leave the water running while doing the dishes ? All of these are lifestyle questions that you can use to track your power, water and tank usage. It may be that you’ll want to modify the systems in your RV to support your lifestyle needs while boondocking or change your lifestyle to fit your RV; but we will leave that for next week’s notes.

Later – –

The Old Ranger