ANSWERING SOME BOONDOCKING QUESTIONS

A BEN MILLER INN GUESTHOUSE

Our Autumn colors are peaking now & the forests are ablaze with color as I spent another work day cruising through the  beautiful pastel countryside.  One of the things that make my job pleasant is a radio station out of Toronto called, AM-740.  You can still hear Big Band music on this station (Big Band Sunday Night) & all their music is of a lighter nature & familiar to all us older folks.  A very laid back format with mature announcers.  They also play old radio programs from the bygone era.   If your looking for music from the good old days you can find AM 740 right here on the Internet:)) 

I am going to shift my blog focus away from the blogging world & get it back on track to the RVing world which is why & where I originally started this blog years ago. 

FIERY AUTUMN REFLECTIONS

I have recently received some RVing questions about one of my favorite topics, Boon docking.  First, an explanation of Boondocking & for that I refer you to this short explanation here...WHAT IS BOON DOCKING?? 

JUDY wondered what the above thing was in the reflected water & I must say I don't know. If you enlarge the pictures below & look just above center to the right in the left pic you can see a small object in the water & that is the above flower pot thingy.  I took the reflected pic above from just beside that building on the left at 230mm.  It is about dead center in the pic at right which I took from a bridge.  Yesterday's first pic was taken at 300mm.

          

Ok, back to the questions.  Had an email this morning from some folks out in BC asking the following questions..............

We just read your post from yesterday and we were talking with regards to your Boondocking expeditions and the beautiful night sky that you get to enjoy...we have a few questions for you though...we know you have solar panels for your power issues...but our questions are

1. what do you do about internet service?  - For internet service we use a Verizon air card & it has served us very well.  When I'm driving Kelly can be on the internet too.  That's pretty darn nice.  Have been very pleased with the total overall coverage.

2. how long does your fresh water last?  - We take on a full tank of fresh water every time we dump our gray & black water tanks but we also carry half a dozen plastic water jugs that we can fill at any time between bigger fill ups.  We generally only use the rigs big water tank for dishes, washing, showers & the toilet.  We buy bottled water for drinking & coffee because we don't have a water filter system.  I do add a touch of bleach to the big tank's water though to keep it free of bacteria.

3. black water tank?  - On average we get about 2 weeks out of the black water tank before dumping.  I'm sure the newer & more expensive big big rigs can go longer than that because they have much bigger holding tanks than we do.  Our water tank is 6 gallons where bigger rigs are 12 I think.  Our black tank holds 60 gallons where upon the bigger rigs can hold a hundred.  Fresh water tanks are bigger on the newer rigs as well so it all depends on how big your holding tanks are.  For people interested in boon docking I would say the size of the holding tanks is a priority when purchasing a rig.

4. how long can you actually last out there in the wild blue yonder before you have to head into town and dump the tanks and refill the water?  - We could stay out boon docking indefinitely if we didn't have to dump the black water tank every couple of weeks.  Water can always be brought to the rig in jugs & transferred to the big water tank if need be & we have done that on occasion.

5.how many solar panels do you have to run all the equipment?  - We have two 130Watt??panels on the Motor Homes roof.  They can stay flat or be raised from either side to face the sun.  They store the power in 4 batteries.  We have never had a 'running out of power issue.'  If we run into a series of cloudy days we can just charge the batteries by running the generator.  Driving also charges them.  We are in the habit of running our generator for a few minutes each morning when we make coffee.  That's not totally necessary but it keeps the genny active & puts a little charge into the batteries first thing in the morning.  Arizona nights (depending on altitude) can easily drop down to & below the freezing mark at night.  Also, we are not power hogs.  No hair dryers, washers & dryers, dish washers, etc. etc.  After boon docking for a short while you will learn power needs & how to conserve power to suit your needs.  Had our Solar System installed by Solar Mike in Slab City, California 3 years ago & so far have been trouble free.  We highly recommend him.  The cost at that time was somewhere over $3000.00.  A little math will quickly tell you it is a much cheaper way to go in the long run than spending money on high priced RV Park rates every night.

6.medical costs?  - Medical costs are something we are going to have to deal with in the next couple of weeks again.  Last year I think it cost us $1,500.00.  It all depends on one's medical history.  I would say high medical insurance costs are one of the main reason for bringing an end to a lot of people's RVing days.  It cost me a little more last year again because of a kidney stone that landed me in an emergency room for a few hours in Colorado 3 years ago.  My rate should drop back down to around $700.00 this year.  There's no way of getting around medical insurance.  Those companies are in the business of making big profits & have got you coming or going....regardless!!

Another RV question we had regarded the PITA job of having to do laundry.  We don't have on board washers & dryers so it is always a trip into the nearest town for a boring couple of hours at the local Laundromat.  It was suggested we could cut down on that time by drying our clothes on a clothesline back at the rig.  Main problem there is where to string a clothesline.  Very few trees around in the desert & to get two trees the right distance apart for a clothesline is just about impossible.   We have thought of rigging a line from the Motor Home to the Toad but it just ends up not being practical.  The other problem in the Southwest of course is the sudden & unpredictable high winds.  I don't think the people of New Mexico would appreciate my underwear flying through their neighborhoods!!

YOU CAN SEE THAT OBJECT IN THE WATER ABOVE CENTER LEFT (close up's were taken from this point)

I like when folks email in RVing questions.  If they are emailed in I have a better chance of remembering to answer them.  If they come in the comment section I have a tendency to forget.

GROANER'S CORNER:((   California vintners in the Napa Valley area, which primarily produce Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Grigio wines, have developed a new hybrid grape that acts as an antidiuretic.  It is expected to reduce the number of trips older folks will have to make to the bathroom during the night.  The new wine will be marketed as, PINO MORE!!

I heard it through the grapevine:))

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