And then sometimes things go sideways….
Boondocking in a driveway. ♥
Boondocking. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, Boondocking means:
the activity of camping (= sleeping outside in a tent or special vehicle) on land that does not have any services and is not part of an official campground:
Boondocking is allowed on public land in Canada, with a few restrictions.
We have been watching YouTubers for a year.
Some of them do some really cool things in some really cool places. Imagine taking your RV out into the middle of nowhere and staying on state land for free. No one around but you and the wildlife. How awesome. But there are no amenities...no hook ups. No power. No water. No sewer.
This could be someone's dream or someone's nightmare depending on who you are....have you picked up on how different Gary and I are?
On our way from Florida back to Alabama I planned a stop with family somewhere in the middle...ish. This family is gifted in hospitality and loves guests. They have no hookups but a wonderfully long straight flat driveway. What a wonderful, safe place to make an attempt at boondocking! They are also a bit of survivalists themselves!!!
The RV life is never dull and you are constantly learning...constantly.
Our fridge can operate on electric or gas so she automatically switched to gas when we unplugged in Florida and traveled. So the food was fine.
We let everything else sit until bedtime. We didn’t need the air conditioning but it was warm enough we needed a fan. I plugged in the fan and it whirled in cycles. It didn't run constantly. Gary googled it and the invertor needs a large appliance to kick start it. So we switched the fridge back from gas to AC/DC and presto...the fan ran at full speed. So off to bed we go. How long will she hold? How much juice does she have? All mysteries.
In the middle of the night, I hear it shut down. The fan dies, the fridge is beeping, the AC thermostat is blinking. Houston, we have a problem. I woke Gary up. He had hoped it was 6 am. It was not. It was 1 am. Gary tried starting the generator, this is the backup system, right? The generator wouldn't fire.
Well, this is why we did this HERE. Like any good family guest, we dressed and grabbed our phones and entered my niece’s home in the middle of the night. We found a sleeping space and eventually went back to sleep.
In the morning Gary started the engine and after a few minutes shut it down and then the generator fired.
Thankfully the family we are hanging out with have an incredible amount of knowledge about all things mechanical so we are not in this alone.
AND we had an air conditioned house to hop into. Thank you, Lord for your provision.
A new addendum has been added to the 32 year old marriage contract. Right after "bike rides only on paved roads" comes: "will only stay where I can plug in". Oh well, I tried. Sooner or later he has to forgive me, right? 😬