When We first started RVing, we followed the classical pattern of driving all day, pulling into a RV park at end of day, hooking up our lifelines (water, electric and sewer) and leaving the next day or two. We have come along way in both technique and philosophy.
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At first we were afraid to leave the interstate or park in places that were not official or designated proper. We relied too much on our lifelines and not enough on our self sufficiency potential.
Now we finally understand the real value and the feeling of being free to roam and wander off the beaten track and away from the safety of conformity. No, we don’t park in the middle of fields or on the side of a desolate and lonely highway (well, once we did), but we don’t feel compelled to make reservations or commitments or deadlines unless absolutely necessary.
Some travelers call it boondocking. They usually seek a flat patch of land away from civilization, and rely on being self-sufficient for as long as their water, food and patience holds out. These travelers frequently find the desert of the southwest appealing and they congregate in large numbers to create a sort of mobile community.
Others call it dry-camping, finding a park, lake or forest – usually state or national – and chose spots that are quiet and devoid of people where they can fish, hike, climb rocks, or just commune with nature, and basically be on their own.
We tend toward the middle ground of the two and refer to it as Urban Camping. As we drift from place to place, we have found little use for the traditional RV park on a regular basis. We do make reservations at a few parks in our membership plan and stay as long as 2 weeks at a time and enjoy their facilities and hospitality, but when we are just cruising without any definite plan or destination more than a day in advance, we enjoy the feeling of freedom, knowing we can always stop someplace anytime of the day or night to eat out or prepare a meal, and find a safe place to park overnight to sleep. Places like Wal-Mart Super Centers, Flying J Trucks Stops and Interstate Rest stops offer security and safety. Some cities allow the use of their local parks and parade grounds and some restaurants and museums even allow overnight parking.
I recall one night in a strange town, we became lost while looking for a park, and then it started to rain heavily to make matters worse. We noticed a large church ahead … pulled into its parking lot (which was empty) and stayed the night, weathered the storm, and traveled on the next morning.
We carry about 30 gallons of fresh water plus a built in water filter for safety, as well as enough liquid propane to power our refrigerator and water heater for many weeks. Our generator is strong enough to run our rooftop air conditioner as well as our microwave oven, plus power our interior lights, television, radio, computer and DVD player. Of course we keep a well stocked pantry of canned food and a refrigerator and freezer with more food. Peter makes sure our onboard supply of Kibble is always plentiful. Shopping for groceries, clothing or supplies is as easy as parking and unloading our cart into the Beast. Going to a movie is as easy as pulling into their parking lot and buying a ticket, and with the internet (when it’s working) I can find the movie and time schedule.
The fact that we can save $25 to $35 a night is a good thing, but everything has its price. With the price of gas over $3 a gallon, it could cost us $10 a day to run our generator.
About once a week, we may select an RV park for a night or two to fill our water tank, dump our dirty tanks and enjoy some cable TV and free WIFI Internet service. Sometimes we may even do some vacuuming or laundry.
We enjoy finding museums, ghost towns, oddities and tourist attractions in our path, and sometimes we even go “out of our way” (like we really have a “way”) to satisfy our curiosity.
There are lots of places we have to pass up, like caves, mining tunnels, underground walking tours and places that require the climbing of many stairs or ladders, but we manage to find enough places to keep us entertained.
We’ve crossed rivers and streams on ferries large and small … traversed rivers and canyons over bridges of all sizes and shapes, … ridden trams over mountains and trains through them.
We’ve been in spaceships, battleships, steam boats, motor boats, locomotives and trolleys.
We’ve seen our country from the inside out. From the birth of its origin to the final frontier, from Hollywood, California to Hollywood, Florida, from Portland Oregon to Portland Maine …we’ve traveled the East Coast, West Coast, Mid-West and North-West, and every place we’ve been to we’ve met people with stories about who they were, where they came from, what they’ve done …
And all of them, regardless of they’re current status seemed happy and satisfied with the life they lived.
We have discovered that our country isn’t a place, but a living organism comprised of millions of individuals guided by their dreams and goals who have carved out a civilization from a wilderness that has no rival in the modern world.
We feel privileged to be able to see it from the ground level and want you to see it thru our eyes.
We hope you enjoy sharing our experiences.
