Boondocking

Friday we decided to head south and stay with the warm weather. We skirted the western edge of the Grand Canyon, but didn't really feel the need or the desire to go all of the way to Vegas this time. RVing friends of ours had recommended Valley of the Fire State Park to us years ago, and it had been on my list of "recommended places" just waiting for the right opportunity. This was it! It's about 75 miles northwest of Vegas. But to our surprise when we arrived at 4:30 pm, the campgrounds were already full. We hadn't considered that to be a possibility considering it is relatively remote. The rangers recommended several options, the closest being the BLM "free zone" = no fees, no rules. "It could get loud.", we were warned. We had driven by two areas on the way in. One area had great views, but was filling up with RVers. Another section was down a dirt road and only had a couple of RVs back there. We decided to try out the quieter Sandmine Road first. Only after making the turn onto the dirt road while towing Ele did we notice the fine print - 4x4 recommended. Yikes! We detached and Andy went to investigate.

We were able to drive Spirit down the road without any problems. And, we were about to experience one of our rare boondocking weekends. "Boondocking" is an RVing term referring to camping in a remote area without any hookups. Some RVers do this frequently and have developed special tricks or techniques on surviving without power or water. For example, solar panels on the roof of their RV.

So, here we are....our closest neighbors were several hundred yards away. It was quite a liberating weekend.
We enjoyed the most beautiful sunsets....
...and watched the full moon rise over the distant mountains...
...and drank our coffee outside watching the sunrise light up the sky. All in quiet solitude.