January 2024: Boondocking in Nevada

Photo by Paul Venturo

Boondocking—it’s a word we have thrown around for a long time, yet we never took the plunge. Until this week. For the past few months, we have been talking about “practicing,” and “learning one thing at a time,” and so it came as something of a surprise when I discovered that we would be diving right in so—spontaneously. But considering how things often go when you are traveling in an RV, I guess I should have known better . . .

The way it felt, we were going about our daily tasks and then the captain suddenly came home with a generator. As he put it, “I found myself at Lowe’s buying a generator.” Not that we haven’t made plans. Amps, watts, volts, generators, and how long we can last with the fresh tank have been the center of discussion at mess since the middle of last week.

In the end, though, we realized that we can’t plan for everything. As Mom said, there are simply too many variables to consider, and all of them are simply too variable. At some point, you just have to do a thing, I suppose.

Yet despite the initial apprehension, everyone seems excited at new prospects and opportunities. It has been nice this week to have space and a good view of the sun-bathed cliffs, rocky mountains, and flaming sunsets of this area.

And neither water nor energy conservation has been as difficult as expected. Everyone seems to be adjusting well to the water rationing system—in fact, we are rather proud of ourselves for having lasted so long before having to refill the RV fresh tank. I think I express the general sentiment when I say I feel rather resilient.

Overall, boondocking seems to have been a success—at least in almost-ideal conditions. What remains to be seen is how we shall fare in bad weather.