Testing the Limits by Boondocking

Boondocking is a term RV’ers use to describe camping without external support normally found at campgrounds.  In contrast, a “Full Hook-up” is camping with electric, water and sewer on-site.  Many people prefer to camp at locations where amenities are not offered such as public lands and even urban environments.  This may be to just get away from it all, to save money, or both.  Howard and Linda Payne held a rally mid-March at the North Florida Fairgrounds in Tallahassee to teach others how to boondock for extended periods.  Howard and Linda author the web site www.rv-dreams.com which Pattie and I reference often; so, we registered and made our way toward Tallahassee.

We had a few days before the rally started, so we stopped at Emerald Lake campground along the way near Colquitt, GA.  The campground is privately owned and has a restaurant on site with friendly owners who are constantly improving the grounds.  I was able to fish in their lake and caught bass and brim every day.  Pattie and I took time to visit Colquitt and Camilla, GA where her father grew up.  We found several gave sites with her relatives in Camilla.  Colquitt is a pleasant town with detailed murals adorning the old buildings.  Nearby is the Kolomoki Mounds Historic Site.  We took a day trip over to learn about the ancient people who once lived here and vanished.

On Sunday March 13^th, we arrived at the North Florida Fairgrounds with our fresh water and diesel tanks full and our waste tanks empty.  Howard met us and asked a few questions about how we wanted to align our rig with the sun to capture solar energy and we selected a spot next to another Allegro Bus like ours.  Howard arranged the nearly 40 RVs in a circle and placed a fire pit in the center.  

Monday morning Howard and Linda began seminars after everyone introduced himself or herself.  There were people new to RVing, some about to begin full-timing, and other who were already full-time.  There were many fifth wheel trailers, all classes of motorhomes, and several travel trailers.  The seminars conducted over seven days included topics like knowing your equipment, water conservation, tank management, power management, solar options, water replenishment, waste management, and places to boondock.  Below are some highlights:

• Knowing your equipment: Never trust your factory gauges. They are not very accurate. Learn your tanks by keeping track of how much you use them until the fresh water tank is empty and the waste tanks are full.  It is best to do this at a place where you have full hook-up for a couple weeks.
• Water conservation: Military showers (ON-Get wet, OFF-soap up, ON-rinse), hand sanitizer instead of water, baby wipes for touch up cleanings, capture cold water when waiting to get hot water, reduce toilet water.
• Tank Management: Listen to toilet flush (sounds closer as it gets full), when gray water backs-up in shower you are full, chemicals are not necessary for full-timers (not sure I’m ready for that just yet!), clean tanks with white vinegar, gray tanks can be flushed with simple add on device to push water in through dump valve or run faucets until ¾ full.
• Power management: Don’t try to fully charge batteries by generator. Get them to 80-90% then top them off with solar. Draining below 50% can shorten battery life. Residential refrigerators can be turned off overnight.

Really short hair is easier to manage:  Pattie joined a group of six ladies that decided ultra-short was the way to go.  One of the ladies broke out the clippers and free haircuts were performed by truck light (insert "You might be a boondocker if…" here).

Pattie and Linda with new buzz cuts

The Boondock Rally was a great experience for learning how our systems really work. It was an honor to meet Howard and Linda. We may not have tired this lifestyle without their knowledge and group of followers.

On day seven, we headed to Jacksonville, FL to stay at the Mayport Naval base and visit some old friends.  As we drove away, I told Pattie that I believe our Boondocking experience is one of those events where the Lord is preparing us for something.

Thanks for keepingupwiththejonesrv. 

Tooth and Nail Saga

We arrived in Auburn, AL and checked in at Auburn RV Park at Leisuretime Campground.  We like this location as it is convenient to our sons, vet, and doctor.  The owners are nice and we can often get a spot right on the creek.  We arrived and the vet took Katy (our old cat) in for surgery to remove two abscessed teeth.   The surgery went well and we stayed an extra day just to make sure. The weather was nice so we rode our bikes to Chewacla State Park and hiked in to see the waterfalls.  This is a great area for mountain biking and day hikes and it had been 30 years since we had been there.

We were planning to attend a friend’s retirement party early March in Biloxi, MS, so we headed south to spend some time at Gulf Shores, AL before the event.  My family vacationed in Gulf Shores as a small child back in the 1960’s and it has been a long time since I was there.  The Gulf Shores State Park is a true gem with a few hundred RV/camp sites, recreation facilities and miles of beach and trails to explore.  We biked trails and walked on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.  The local dining featured gulf shrimp and grouper prepared southern style.  Excellent.

  After a few days in Gulf Shores, we headed over to Mobile.  My cousin is opening a new store there and we wanted to visit him.  We also looked up Laney and Karen Hester some friends that had relocated there from Maryland.  Laney said he had plenty of room for us to park The Bus in his driveway overnight.  We thanked him and headed over to his house.  We try to tell people how big The Bus is, but I don’t think all the dimensions register until we roll up.  The Bus sits 13 feet tall, is 8.5 feet wide, 40 feet long, and weighs 30,000 lbs.  You really need a large open driveway with a wide turn in off the road to accommodate it.  We blocked the road for a while until we could figure out how to back it into his driveway that was so tight on each side we could not put the slides out once we got parked.  It worked out ok as our floor plan allows for access to the bedroom and bath even with the slides retracted.  We spent the afternoon visiting my cousin and talking about his new business.  That evening we had dinner with Laney and Karen then enjoyed chatting in their beautiful home. 

The next morning we departed Mobile and drove to the Keesler AFB FamCamp in Biloxi, MS.  The folks here were very friendly with many retired military folks still wintering in the FamCamp.  We explored Biloxi and Gulfport, as Pattie had never been there.  We are not into gambling so the casinos are of no interest.  I was able to connect with some old Air Force battle buddies and roast our friend who is retiring.  We enjoyed a cigar and taste of Scotch as is customary when folks celebrate life and tell war stories. 

From Biloxi, we headed to Tuscaloosa to assist my mother who was having minor surgery on her toenail.  We typically stay in Sunrise RV Park in Tuscaloosa as it is convenient to mom’s house.  The park itself is basic gravel with concrete pad and hook up near the interstate.  Again, location near mom makes it attractive. 

Once mom recovered, it was back to Auburn for a follow-up appointment for Katy.  Her surgery is healing nicely and she is back to her hissing and biting old self.  Wait, is that the cat or mom?  Anyway, both are recovering just fine. As a bonus, we carried our sons a fresh batch GrandNan cookies that were quickly devoured.

Thanks again for keepingupwiththejonesrv!

To Houston and Back

We arrived at San Jacinto Riverfront RV Park in Highlands, TX and paid for a weeks stay (about $35 per night for a full service resort) to give our technician time to troubleshoot our heating problem. We made contact with Rudy Legett (AquaHot Factory Service Technician in Houston, TX area) who laid out his plan for troubleshooting our AquaHot heating system. He is a retired NASA engineer and full-time RV’er who studied the AquaHot system and became a factory certified technician.  Because our system fails randomly, a lengthy troubleshooting plan was required to find the bad actor.  I looked over Rudy’s shoulder and he explained his troubleshooting techniques allowing me to learn how this rather complex system works.  He found a couple things previous technicians had done incorrectly and corrected them.  I began writing about all the technical stuff we did, but figured most of you would be bored reading it. I kept it for my own records.  If anyone would like to know, they can contact me and I will send it to them. 

Bottom line, we believe the main control module has a fault. We replaced it with two different new modules and the same failure occurs.  He tested our system using a control module from a previous generation system and it worked flawlessly.  Unfortunately, the AquaHot Company does not supply these older modules under warranty and wants us to continue testing the system.  I’ll fill you in on how it plays out in a future entry.

While in Houston, Pattie and I visited the Aquarium one day and a large RV show on another day.  It was fun to see the new RVs and talk to people who were thinking about beginning the RV life.  We drove the Jeep down to Galveston, TX one day to look around and milled around old town.  They were hosing everything down following the Mardi Gras festivities, so it wasn’t the best time to stroll around.  We returned, loaded up the coach with provisions, and headed down to North Padre Island National Seashore. 

We passed through Corpus Christie, TX and made our way to the National Park entrance.  There are no hook-ups for campers in the park.  There is a central dump station and fresh water to clean and fill your tanks.  The beach side paved campground was full, but we could park on the gravel along the bayside or anywhere on the beach.  The Beach!  Yes, Texas beaches are part of the state highway system unless marked otherwise. Camping on the beach would be neat, but I wasn’t about to try rolling a 30,000-pound motorhome across the sand.  We pulled in nose first to a spot overlooking the bay so sundown could be seen through our large front windshield.  This was the nicest place we have camped so far.  The weather was perfect for leaving the windows open and letting the breeze blow through.  We ran our generator a couple hours in the morning and a couple at night to keep the batteries charged up since our solar panel is mainly a trickle charge.

 We took the Jeep to the beach and drove down past the 5-mile marker where four-wheel drive is mandatory.  There is a 60-mile stretch of beach you can drive with no developed areas.  We did see several people who towed campers out there and even a couple smaller motorhomes. 

Another day, we drove north to Port Aransas for lunch.  Here we toured the University of Texas Marine Science Institute’s Exhibit Center. There were several interactive displays and a great deal of information on research conducted after the Deep Horizon’s oil spill.  They showed how oil and dispersants interacted with sea life and what was being done to continue to improve the ocean environment.  I had to try out this magnetic fishing display that was built as an Eagle Scout project.  We enjoyed North Padre Island so much we extended for another day ($2 per day) and learned a bit more about how long we can boondock. 

We called Rudy and told him the AquaHot was still failing and he suggested we come park at his house to try some things the manufacturer suggested.  On our way back to Houston, we stopped for a couple nights at Brazos Bend State Park.  Pattie picked this place since it has several trails and we need to get our exercise.  I off loaded the bikes and we rode for about 8 miles one day exploring the park.  I was not to thrilled about all the warning signs for venomous snakes and alligators, but they kept to themselves.  We made a campfire and roasted marsh mellows at night. 

Rudy’s friend Rick owns a piece of land bordering a private lake east of Houston and lets Rudy park his RV there and has an extra spot for folks like us who need work done.  The set-up was like a resort. Rudy worked on the AquaHot and I fished for bass in the lake.  It has been a long time since I fished and I caught a nice small mouth bass.  I felt like a kid again.  We bid farewell to our new friends and headed toward Auburn, AL since our old cat (Katie) needed some surgery.  We have fond memories of our visit to Eastern Texas and hope to see Rudy and Rick again in the future.

States where we have camped so far!

Thanks for keepingupwiththejonesrv

RV Tip:  Invest in a good quality water hose splitter.  This device will allow you to keep your fresh water hose connected and retain ready access to water for other purposes. This particular model has nice large handles for the shut off valves.  The small ones get pretty hard to turn when gummed up and under pressure.