Good Choice - Boondocking in Anza Borrego Desert State park. The park offers 600,000 acres of great places to explore. When the sun sets just pull the RV off the main road and  away from any water source and set up camp. Dispersed camping is allowed throughout the park at no charge. The scenery is priceless, the stargazing is awesome and you are not likely to have many neighbors.
 

Bad Choice - Deciding to camp in a forest of cholla cactus in the park. Cholla cactus (aka jumping cholla or teddy bear cholla) are beautiful, but nasty plants. They are notorious for the very loose joint attachment of their limbs, the joints with their many barbs attach to unfortunate by-passers with the slightest touch. The joints readily break off falling to the ground, so if you manage to avoid brushing against them you still have to be very careful where you walk as they will grab hold of your shoes, socks, RV tires, dog paws, RV mat, etc. Needless to say we kept the dog on a very short leash, left our shoes outside and became very proficient with pliers at pulling the barbs out of the dog and our gear.
Being attacked by the native vegetation, just another adventure in RVing!

Boondocking in the cholla forest

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Those of you that follow my blog on a regular basis know that my preferred place to camp is in the boondocks away from the hustle and bustle of the tourist crowds. However, sometimes when I am making tracks (covering lots of miles per day) to the southwest for some serious exploring, an overnight stay at WalMart is in order. WalMart stores are typically close to the freeway, conveniently located near a major off ramp, paved, well lit and provide a handy free place to get off the road for the night. I have slept well during most of my stays at WalMarts. That is until one of my most recent stays. About two in the morning a refrigerated semi truck pulled up and parked nearby waiting to make his delivery the next business day. Of course, being a refrigerated truck it must stay running at idle to provide power to the refrigeration compressor. About the time I adjusted to the noise of the idling semi as white noise and started to fall back asleep, I heard the drone of the street sweeper making his rounds on the far side of the lot. Soon the sweeper made a pass between me and the idling semi truck. Oh well, I can always sleep while I am RVing down the road the following day. Isn’t that what the cruise control is for? RVing and WalMart, just another adventure in RVing!

WalMart, I still love ya and will keep patronizing your stores,  but can you sweep the parking lot on a night I am not there!

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My wife and I recently traded ten dollars for a million, a view worth a million that is! Have you ever noticed that when you visit a national park the lodge commands the million dollar view while the campground is delegated to a non descript place in the back forty? The lodge at Yellowstone has a commanding view of Old Faithful, while the campgrounds are set back in the woods. The lodge at Crater Lake is located right on the rim of the giant caldera while the campground is set way down on the lower slopes on the extinct volcano. Well at Capital Reef National Park us RVers are treated as first rate citizens with a campground that is located center stage. The towering cliffs of red sandstone the park is famous for provide a scenic backdrop to the campground while mature trees shade the campsites. Grassy areas and a flowing stream complete the oasis in the desert. Points of interest radiate out in all directions from the campground making it an ideal base camp to explore from. If you are there in the fall, an added bonus is that you are allowed to harvest fresh fruit from the neighboring historic orchards too. All this for only $10.00 a night or $5.00 for Golden Age/Senior Pass and Golden Access. To learn more visit: http://www.nps.gov/care/planyourvisit/fruitacampground.htm

Getting treated like a RVing royalty, just another adventure in RVing!

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If you live in the beautiful state of Utah you need no introduction to the UEA weekend. However, if you have never heard of the UEA weekend and plan to RV through Utah in October, pay attention: The UEA (Utah Education Association) Convention is the largest professional conference for educators in Utah. The conference provides dozens of professional development workshops for K-12 educators, as well as keynote speakers, a New Educators Workshop, the Idea Fair, and hundreds of vendor booths. The two day convention is held on a Thursday and Friday each year in mid October, combine a Thursday and Friday of no school with the weekend following and you now have a four day weekend for every school age child in the State of Utah! Families all across Utah use this big four day weekend to campout and explore the many attractions the state has to offer. That is bad news for us RVers that like to explore after Labor Day when the kids are normally back to school. If you enjoy staying in state park and/or national park campgrounds that are typically first come first serve, you better plan on arriving on a Wednesday and staying through Sunday on the UEA weekend if the park is located in or adjacent to Utah. Fair warning the 2011 UEA weekend is Thursday and Friday, October 20-21.  As for my wife and I, we headed to the boondocks when we learned of the impending flood of family campers. Unknown four day weekends, just another adventure in RVing!

In the boondocks on UEA Weekend.

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Those of you that have been following my blog on a regular basis know that a large number of the RVing adventures my wife and I experience take place in forgotten places off the beaten track. In many of these places only the ghosts remain of once was a vibrant community. With Dia de Los Muertos (aka Day of the Dead) coming up in a few days, I can’t think of a better place to visit than a forlorn graveyard in a forgotten place. The engravings on the headstones bring to life the hardships endured in earlier times. They are quite often very photogenic (especially with autumn colors) and they cause us to slow down, enjoy the solitude of the area and reflect on our own life. Aren’t these the reasons we go RVing in the first place? Be sure and visit a forgotten marble orchard on your next RVing adventure, the residents will appreciate the visit too! 

Fall colors  in the orchard.

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Those of you that know a little Spanish may believe that bolsa chica translates to little pocket. However, when you RV to Bolsa Chica State Beach in California and plan to stay the night, it translates to deep pockets. You see, when California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger realized you can’t spend more money than you take in, he more than doubled the camping fees in California State Parks overnight. What was a reasonably priced beach front park, became rather expensive for a backwoods boondocker like me.
Beachfront spaces now run $65.00 per night with non beachfront running $50.00 per night. Add in the $8.00 reservation fee and you are now looking at $73.00 beachfront and $58.00 for one of the “cheap spaces” by the highway!  To get our moneys worth we arrived early and stayed until check out the next day. Then to “average things out” we sought out free boondock locations for the next several nights.

Beachfront Camping

If you are looking for a beachfront RVing adventure, check out Bolsa Chica State Beach http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=642 . It is prime Southern California real estate right on the beach. Activities include; surfing, fishing, whale watching, swimming, beach fires and beautiful sunsets.

Whales

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When it comes to finding places to boondoock and explore, I have sung the praises of Google Earth several times over the past couple years. While scouting out recent adventures I found still more useful information on Google Earth to those of us that like to get off the beaten track. Scrolling Google Earth in the area of Orgeon’s Umpqua Hot Springs I came across a blue square titled, “Cool Freebee Campsite”. Clicking on the picture revealed a campsite complete with fire ring and picnic table. Checking out the area around Tumco ghost town in the California Desert I stumbled on a blue square entitled, “Dry Camping”. Opening the link showed a fine desert campsite just a mile or so north of the old ghost town. While I haven’t camped at either of these locations yet, you can be sure they are on my lists of potential boondock sites when I visit these areas. If you haven’t done so yet, get on Google Earth and see what adventures await you!

Cool Freebee Site

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Will your RVing travels take you into Yosemite National Park this month? Most guidebooks will tell you the best viewing of Yosemite’s waterfalls are late May into June, when the water is at it's peak due to snow melt. However, if you are unable to visit during this time of year, 620 foot tall Bridalveil Falls has a secret to share. On clear sunny days in the later part of October, watch for a rainbow to form near the base of the falls around 4:30pm.  As the sun begins to set in the west, a position 180 degrees opposite the falls, the rainbow will slowly travel from the bottom to the top of the falls. This is the only time of the year this natural phenomena occurs. Added benefits of this time of year are the autumn colors, less crowds and a better chance of obtaining a campsite. Snowbirds, be sure to include a stop at Yosemite National Park on your flight path when you fly south this fall and enjoy the annual rainbow event.  It’s all part of the RV adventure!

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The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."  Then the LORD God made a woman as mans helper.
If you had wandered by our recent gold dredge camp comprised only of men, you would have fully agreed that our camp needed a suitable helper  Clothes were hung from every available drying source inside and out. Dishes were piled in the sink and cupboard doors were ajar. It is a good thing we were boondocking, as a private campground would probably have asked us to clean up camp or leave.
Now you know why most RVs are designed for couples or families. RV manufacturers figured out what God the Father knew all along. It is not good for man to RV alone!
Now if I can just get my suitable helper to come along on the next gold dredging trip. It seems she would rather find her gold in the jewelry store than a cold mountain stream up in the woods where the wild critters live.

Boondocking with the guys, just another adventure in RVing.

No rules about hanging out the laundry when boondocking.

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Several months ago, per the request of readers Eve and John Burton, we looked at roads RVs should not be on http://www.rvlife.com/index.php/67-dave/1983-not-the-road-for-rvs.html  Well, I have another road for the list. Actually, I already knew this road was not suitable for RVs, but circumstances, or maybe just plain male ego, sent me down a section of it anyway. Unfortunately, our new 2010 RV paid the price, as the raised white letters on our tires now read like pig Latin and our awning fabric has a unique perforated see through option! The road I refer to is the Historic Columbia River Highway in Oregon, specifically the very narrow section on either side of Multnomah Falls. You see we were camped with friends just east of there at Ainsworth State Park (a nice full hookup park) with easy on / off freeway access and check out time came before we had explored everything on our list. No problem, we would just check out and  take the RVs down the Historic Highway to Oneonta Gorge, finish our exploring and head home from there. After exploring the gorge and preparing to leave, I noticed there was not enough room to turn around, plus fuel to get back to Portland was getting low. That pretty much left us with one choice which was to continue west on the Old Historic Highway past Multnomah Falls rejoining the freeway past the falls. The only problem is the highway contains several sections where there is a tall concrete curb on one side of the road or decorative concrete railing on the other and in some places BOTH AT THE SAME TIME! I also need to mention that the road was built nearly 100 years ago when motor vehicles were narrower and highway engineers didn’t see the need to leave any extra room for shoulders. Anyway, we survived better than the RV and the color eventually returned to my knuckles and I was able to pry them from the steering wheel. Just one more not so pleasant adventure in RVing.

Note: Those of you in seven foot wide RVs, like van conversions, lightweight trailers and tent trailers should be able to successfully negotiate this section of the highway. Those of you in eight foot wide RVs have been forewarned. If those of you in 8’ - 6” wide RVs are even thinking about it, let me know and I will call the guys in the white coats, because you’re crazy!

One of the wider sections!

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