We love to boondock, but sometimes our route brings us to areas without a lot of boondocking opportunities. While traveling up the west coast of California, we couldn’t skip one of the most infamous national parks, Alcatraz Island. However, due to it being the 4th-most-populous city in the United States, there was no public land. We chose to stay at Tradewinds RV Park in Vallejo. What to Expect at Tradewinds
We’re no strangers to pivots, and Hanning Flat Dispersed Area is probably our favorite pivot to date. In the spring of 2025, we were planning to travel north up the east side of California before crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains around Redwoods National Park, but wildfires made those plans change. We found the Hanning Flat Dispersed Area, just outside of Isabella Lake, California. What to Expect at Hanning Flat Dispersed
While we by far prefer to boondock, we’ve stayed in a couple of RV parks and resorts on our travels. Rivers Edge RV Resort in Winterhaven, California, is one of the latter. We stayed here for about a week during the Fulltime Families West Coast Family Reunion in the spring of ’25. What to Expect at River’s Edge RV Resort River’s Edge RV Resort is unique (to us) for an
We’ve been lucky to make several contacts and friends along the road. Some of them host events and gatherings of like-minded people. One of these events was a New Year’s Eve event for traveling families held at Good Vibes Ranch in Jamul, California. This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you click on it and make a purchase I’ll receive a small commission at no cost to you. As
One thing that’s been a blessing as a nomad is the BLM’s Long Term Visitor program. We’ve talked about it in detail before when talking about Quartzsite, but there are more than just the four LTVAs in Quartzsite. The next biggest and most populous LTVA is the Imperial Dam LTVA in Winterhaven, California. Time Considerations at Imperial Dam LTVA Often associated with Yuma, AZ, the Imperial Dam LTVA is actually
We’ve crisscrossed the southwest several times, and like to stick to public land when we can. Sometimes, however, it’s nice to break up the boondocking with a paid campsite from time to time. While trekking from the Albuquerque Balloon Festival to overwinter a second time in Quartzite, we booked a few nights at the Bluewater Campground outside of Prewitt, New Mexico. Amenities at Bluewater Campground Bluewater Lake State Park is
We stayed at the Coronado Campground when leaving the Albuquerqueballoon Fiesta. A good place to recharge and recoop before heading on.
We’ve been lifetime members of the Fulltime Families RV group since we launched in the summer of 2022. It’s opened up many doors and experiences for us that we normally wouldn’t be open to. One such experience was the Fulltime Families Balloon Fiesta Experience. This RV rally was centered around the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta! Fulltime Families, or FTF, have hosted Balloon Fiesta events for several years and have reserved
The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is the most popular ballooning event in the world. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city of Albuquerque each year. With such numbers come congestion, logistical conundrums, and stress. Let us try to clear some of that stress by outlining several ways you and your family can attend this often-bucket-listed event! Staying at the Balloon Fiesta Grounds There are several ways to
Sometimes we choose a spot to give us access to national parks, but other times it’s to give us access to an area to explore! Cibola National Forest stretches over a vast area of land from Magdalena, NM to Gallup, NM. We stayed in a spot just outside of Gallup. Staying in Cibola National Forest We really enjoyed (most) of our stay in the forest. The first spot we stayed