Things to Consider When Boondocking
As we said before; when preparing to depart on your boondocking adventure, fill up water and fuel tanks, dump waste tanks, and go grocery shopping. Mind your rig’s weight limits and that we need foods easily consumed without using much power.
Even before you hit the road, have a backup plan or two. Generally speaking, boondocking sites are first-come, first-served. The last thing you want to happen is to scramble to find somewhere to park your rig. You’ve already been driving most of the day, it’s getting close to dinnertime, and everyone is hungry and cranky. We try to plan for at minimum 2 alternate campsites, just in case. This is also true for your final fill-up spots. Sometimes you get there and they are closed, and sometimes they aren’t accessible by any rig larger than a mini-cooper.
We prefer Tuesdays to be our travel days if possible. It gives the weekend warriors enough time to clear out of the campsites. And plenty of time before the next batch of campers set out. We’ve actually never needed to use a backup plan because of crowding, but we’re so glad to know we have them!
Focus on Attitudes While Boondocking
The biggest thing for our family and yours while boondocking is managing our tempers and watching how we interact with each other. When we’re traveling, things are bound to go wrong. We miss an exit, we have some trouble backing up, parking, and/or leveling the rig, or things simply break. Add to that the stress of needing to closely manage power and water usage and it’s easy to see why some people get a little frazzled.
Stephen Covey is an author I mention a lot, specifically his 7 Habits books. One thing he talks about is practicing one’s “Response-ability.” Taking that moment after an event to evaluate it and see it from outside the moment, and choose a more productive response. It’s important to work hard on remembering that you are out there to enjoy yourselves, each other’s company, and your time on this earth.
Work on enjoying the journey as much as the destination. Sure, there are always moments when someone has a bad attitude. Everyone has days when they are just lacking spoons. But when we’re all focusing on having a good attitude, choosing our responses, and enjoying the journey, it makes it easier for us to have a good time overall.
If you can, try to stay in a location for at least a week or two. It’s not always possible, but that is our preference. This allows you enough time to get some work done, get the kids out for an outing or two, clean and maintain your rig, and do laundry. When trying to get somewhere quicker and boondocking as short hops to your destination, try to stay at least two or three nights in a spot. This gives you enough time to relax a bit and get a little done in between drive days. You’re driving your house, so you want to drive rested.
Entertainment While Boondocking
Oftentimes, your choices for entertainment are different when you’re boondocking versus on hookups. For one, you’re out and off the beaten path. There is nature all around, and the city lights are far away. Sometimes, however, it’s nice to watch a little TV. We love watching TV and movies in the evenings, but we need to be mindful of having spare power when we’re boondocking. If the batteries didn’t hit 100%, or the weather is looking like it may turn grey, no TV.
When power is low, our entertainment may take the form of reading books, listening to audiobooks or podcasts on our small electronic devices, or playing board, card, or dice games.
Whatever works best for you, figure it out, but don’t be afraid to change things up. Just remember to try to keep a good attitude, and you should be able to weather whatever problems come your way just fine. Learn from your mistakes, take notes, but most importantly, enjoy the ride!