Boondocking: What can YOU LIVE WITHOUT?

[BoondockingAirstream]

An Oliver is 100% capable to Tent Camp.  An Airstream is 100% capable to Tent Camp.  

A Tent is NOT 100% capable to Oliver or Airstream Boondocking.  Everything your trailer has... a tent camper... has NOT.

We have never used our microwave with Power access or without Power.  We remove the microwave always and use the empty space to store loaves of Bread and Doughnuts.  Ahhhhh. Apple fritters, blueberry doughnuts... you know.  Camping "Health Foods".   We added a sliding curtain over the opening and webbing to keep things from bouncing out onto the floor. Works.  If you do not need the space, leave the microwave where it is. Store things inside of it.  Much easier.

If you can manage to Tent Camp just one season or five years... you will be able to OllieDock.  You have a home on wheels.  Your tow vehicle is independent, once the trailer is detached from the trailer.  Find a convenient camping site, detach and explore with your Tow Vehicle.  Secure the hitch with a locking unit is your important 'protection'.  We never LOCK the front door of our trailer(s).  If someone wants to steal the... microwave... OK.  Just do not mess up the front door or break window to gain entry.

A thief may discover your clothes do not fit.  The microwave is too small.  The hats support the wrong sport... What do you think a Thief wants to take from your Trailer, anyways. Probably tools.  Most likely the... doughnuts and Apple Fritters. The damage on your thief entering... will exceed the value of your hats and screwdrivers.

So many trailer owners are nervous about camping all... alone.  You live and leave your HOME every day, don't you?  How often is your Home Missing Anything? Rarely.  It is even safer isolated Off the Grid Boondocking at remote locations. Why?  Because people who are also camping or live in the area... wonder what YOU are doing there.  Everyone is watching the other... by choice. The 'bad guy' is even more nervous as anyone who is camped in the 'Boonies' may be armed, have a dog or two... or has a bad attitude when a person is wandering around the area.

We have never had our Tent broken into by a human.  Field mice, yes. They will eat into your tent if they sense edible food within.  Yep... don't leave food in your TENT.

We have never had our Trailer broken into by a human... or Bear... or Field Mouse... or Snake... or a Human Being. This is overblown expectations made by those at Commercial Campsites and having a bicycle sitting outside overnight.  Big problem...  but not where you Boondock.  Our bicycles are worth about $25, heavy and a bit beat.  Good tires, though.

What CAN You Live Without... when away from civilization?  Are you a bit nervous being out in strange places?  Do you imagine furry animals wanting you as a quick meal? Afraid of a Rattlesnake climbing the front steps to curl up with you... in bed... to keep warm at night?

The 'Boogieman' was what we imagined was in the closet when young... waiting to... GET You.  Have a Walking Stick... made from a Beaver Dam Lodge that is about five feet long and large enough diameter to hold comfortably in your hand.  Carve you name onto the top, in case you forget your first name.  Everything in the Forest or Desert is more afraid of YOU, than you are of THEM.  

Heck... I am keeping my distance from YOU. That is how it works in No Place, No Where.  It is safer than parked on a City Street, anytime.  Anyone who Boondocks is assumed to have experience, afraid of nothing, chases Brown and Black Bear away with a pot and pan banging together... while eating a Blueberry Doughnut.  ...and no one messes with a woman with a five foot club...   Makes camping with your trailer wonderful.  My sweetheart can take care of herself and I know who is Boss.  You will too.

[Mike and Carol]

Tent camping…. I took my camping partner tent camping once right after we got married.  We laugh about it now, but didn’t then.  After that trip it took 40 years to talk her into looking at a trailer, initially aluminum but ultimately fiberglass. Now she’s an experienced, enthusiastic camper.  Mike

[SeaDawg]

Although it's certainly not a prerequisite,  I do think tent camping experience helps you to avoid  carrying extra stuff, manage power and water, and, truly appreciate the extra comfort of a trailer. 

We treat our Ollie Elite like a,warm, dry tent on wheels, and it has served us well for 14 seasons.

The smaller Elite is snug,  but I  can cook, use the bathroom, and shower inside when I want to. And, oh, so much more comfy than a tent in cooler temps. I remember frost inside my tent in the 20s and 30s and wishing I didn't have to get out of my sleeping bag, in a tent. Now in shoulder season, I just reach over, kick up the furnace, and life is really good!

At my age, my arms are "too short" to push off the ground and an airmattress, easily. There are still times i wouldn't mind enjoying the simplicity of tent camping, though. Still our daughter's camping mode of choice. 

 

[BackofBeyond]

As a professional tent camper - semi retired - we continually refined our process. The Oliver simply made it much easier to leave at a moment's notice and was so much more home like.  Having parted ways with Ollie - I remain comfortable in the tent/backpacker mode.  My SO, not so much. As I usually cannot/don't desire to leave home without her --- the answer is obvious............

Oliver camping is like home - but with different views 

[SeaDawg]

@BackofBeyond, hoping the answer is you come back to the fold, one day. 

[BoondockingAirstream]

West of Albuquerque, New Mexico is the Space Alien dropping off point.

Often 18 wheelers and Trailers in Tow spend the evening.  If you are not looking... you will miss the exit.  I hate to disappoint anyone.  Nothing happened after Sunset or Sunrise to wake us up and the Blue Heelers.  Another disappointment near Meteor Crater, which is further west from here.