Boondocking Pictures

[GeoffChapman]

@jd1923 I did a day long scouting trip up into the Allegheny National Forest in Northwest Pennsylvania yesterday, looking for dispersed camping sites. The ANF is the only large tract of federal land in Pa,, and allows dispersed camping, as do the BLM lands so common in the west. The park rangers had been very helpful, giving me a number of forest roads to check out, but their  biggest and most helpful piece of advice was to get the Avenza app and download the Allegheny national Forest map ($5) into it. A number of times we were “off grid“ without cellular service, but the Avenza app kept us clearly located via its GPS capabilities, moving our little blue dot along the forest Road on the app as we drove along. We would have been lost several times without it. You are also able to drop a marker on that map, as we did for about a half dozen sites that we wanted to come back and visit with our Ollie. We would’ve been lost without it! 
Geoff

[VBistro]

Time to add a few from our most recent month-long trip to Moab (mountain biking), Valley of the Gods (annular eclipse), North Rim of the Grand Canyon (supposed to be more mountain biking, but we got smoked out by a nearby prescribed burn), Valley of Fire, and a Paso Robles HipCamp (wine tasting, of course!).  The rest of the trip was staying with friends, and we’re currently high-tailing it home!

As always, the Ollie performed above and beyond — we never once plugged in, but still used the convection microwave and a/c whenever needed.  And even though we spent several nights in sub-freezing temps, we had no issues with frozen lines. I love VellOllie!

[Guest]

Not all the photos loaded for me, but the ones that did are great!

Kirk

[SomeDaySoon]

17 minutes ago, snakeriveridaho said:

Not all the photos loaded for me, but the ones that did are great!

Kirk

Same here.  Great shot of watching the sun go down with your dog on your lap.  

[topgun2]

47 minutes ago, SomeDaySoon said:

Same here.  Great shot of watching the sun go down with your dog on your lap. 

three of a kind.

[ScubaRx]

I got 4 of the 11 posted pictures.

 

[VBistro]

11 hours ago, ScubaRx said:

I got 4 of the 11 posted pictures.

 

ugh.  I’ll try again when I have more signal than I can get while, literally, driving down the road. 😉

[Mountainman198]

Riverside Campground, Gila Box Riparian National Preservation Area, Safford, AZ. BLM campground $5/nt. Worth the 3 mile drive in on mostly paved, mostly single lane road. 

[shhQuiet]

Tuskegee National Forest in Alabama.  Free!

[topgun2]

"free" is good!

Any pit toilets and/or potable water nearby?

[shhQuiet]

4 minutes ago, topgun2 said:

Any pit toilets and/or potable water nearby?

There are pit toilets about a half mile from this location but no water.  There are 14 campsites in the NF and they are really spread out.  I learned a hard lesson here-  the battery on my RVLock keyless entry apparently died when I went out for a lunch hike one day and I had to get a locksmith from Auburn, AL to come out and pick the lock. ($200).  Now I'm keeping a key in my truck!

[SeaDawg]

Our home electronic locks give a low battery  warning a few days before the batteries actually die. Is that not a feature on the electronic  rv lock?  Disappointing. 

 

[shhQuiet]

28 minutes ago, SeaDawg said:

Our home electronic locks give a low battery  warning a few days before the batteries actually die. Is that not a feature on the electronic  rv lock?  Disappointing. 

 

I don't recall any sort of warning or different sound from the lock.  I would think that if it doesn't have the juice to unlock it would refuse to lock.  I haven't looked it up in the lock instructions, but I agree, it is disappointing.

[John Dorrer]

36 minutes ago, SeaDawg said:

Our home electronic locks give a low battery  warning a few days before the batteries actually die. Is that not a feature on the electronic  rv lock?  Disappointing. 

 

Nope. I have to replace batteries twice a year. In fact a couple weeks ago we went to check on the trailer. I got in OK, but the batteries died and had to use the key to lock it. Have it on our list when we bring it home to load up.

[topgun2]

Almost every time I read a thread here on the Forum or watch a video about these locks I consider "upgrading" my old fashion key jobs.

But, then I see a story such as this about being "locked out" or worse - the lock simply will not operate and I try to remind myself of why I like to keep things "simple".  Simple seems to fit well with my brain!🤪

Even though I still do the key thing the old fashion way, I do keep a set of keys in both the tow vehicle and the Oliver.  Plus I have a couple of extra sets in the event I need to give a key to someone else that is going in a different direction than I am.

Bill

[dewdev]

My RV Lock makes a funny extra (music type) sound when the batteries are low and then still makes the normal (music) sound during unlocking or when the RV Lock is locking. This has been like that for about a month now while the trailer is waiting for spring. Normally, when the batteries are good, I hear a sound with each depression of the 4 password numbers. When the RV Lock accepts the password, it make a music sound during unlocking as well as when locking. So the RV Lock gives plenty of advance notice that the batteries need to be replaced.

I really like the RV Lock myself. I keep the key forb and key in my pocket or in the TV. It is nice to just come back from a hike and put in the code and unlock the door without finding a key. I would not be concerned with upgrading to a RV Lock as you can always use the actual key just like on a regular lock.

[Buddhabelly]

Boondocking in Utah. Unfortionatly we had a lot of rain at the biginning. 

 

[topgun2]

Holy mackerel - did anyone else see that "mountain lion" in the pics above! 

[Mountainman198]

U.P. of Michigan. Great view of the Big Mac bridge. 

[SYoung]

How did ya'll find these dry camping campgrounds? They look amazing!!

 

Sherrill

[Mike and Carol]

8 hours ago, SYoung said:

How did ya'll find these dry camping campgrounds? They look amazing!!

Many of the National Parks campgrounds are dry camping.  Others, like around Moab are public campgrounds, COE and FS.  I still use the Ultimate Campground app, even though it is no longer supported.  You can sort sites so that you can find amenities that you want.  Mike

[SYoung]

Thank you Mike!

[dewdev]

@Mike and Carol

I tried to find the Ultimate Campgound app on my Play Store that you are referring to. Is it still available to download?

Could you show a picture of the app?

Thanks

[topgun2]

5 hours ago, dewdev said:

Is it still available to download?

I also took a look for it in the "Playstore" this afternoon and apparently it is NOT there .

Bill

[Mike and Carol]

I just checked the Apple App Store and it is no longer there.  It is no longer supported or updated but still works.  I guess I need to stop recommending it!!

Here’s my RV folder.  UC is first in the second row and UC Military is bottom right.