South west RVs are not nice
I just looked it up , you guys in the South West got all the B.L.M. land , us nice guys on the right side of the Mississippi River got squat . You got deserts , mountains , plains and all kinds of ne...
Forum Discussion
You should be thanking us for keeping it out here and saving you the trouble of dealing with it. Oh sure free camping with wonderful views and no neighbors sounds great but the generator, solar, batteries and inverter needed to make it happen are not cheap.
Finding the spots takes word of mouth, exploring, forums or hours on Google earth. Find a few because there are no reservations.
Getting to where we camp only takes a few hours of steep mountain travel on the interstate. You wont think it's too bad when you hit the foothills and only have to downshift once. Then as you hit the real climbs you will downshift a few more times as your truck revs higher and higher, it only gets worse as you climb in altitude where the air is thin.
Once off the nice smooth paved roads you will hit the forest service roads. These are unmaintained single lane roads, sometimes just a pair of ruts with washboards, washouts, rocks and more. 4x4 and high clearance is a plus.
Once at your site (if it's still open) you may notice you feel a bit off. Altitude sickness makes it hard to breath, hard to concentrate, leaves you light headed with head aches. Don't worry, you will feel better by the time you are ready to move on.
The same lack of air that causes you and your truck to gasp will have the same affect on your generator. It will overload over and over as you try to get it to start your AC. Luckily that wont be a issue often as most of the time up there it is cooler during the day and down right cold at night. Make sure your furnace is tuned up because those cute Buddy heaters stop working around 7000 ft.
The dry air sounds good when it does get hotter but with 5% humidity your skin turns scaly and your hair like straw. A nice long shower sounds good but refilling water is a 100 mile round trip so quick navy showers are the best you will get.
Dry air means lots of dust inside and out. so dusty that a few small dogs on a walk look like a herd of buffalo crossing the plains with the cloud of dust they kick up. Leave said pets unattended too long and they can become snack crackers and cheese to the various critters in the area.
Entertainment is like anything else up there, you bring it with you. Don't have a satellite, then bring lots of DVDs because there is no TV reception. In fact there is no cell phone, text or data connection either.
It's pretty nice once you get your gear, find the spot, make the drive and get set up. that is until some jerk pulls his rig into your clearing, fires up a open frame generator 24/7 so they can watch Nascar while riding their ATVs.
So while it all sounds fun you might want to stick to the nice flat paved highways, campgrounds with reservations, full hook ups and all the amenities. In the end it is easier and cheaper than those free spots out west. ;)
Finding the spots takes word of mouth, exploring, forums or hours on Google earth. Find a few because there are no reservations.
Getting to where we camp only takes a few hours of steep mountain travel on the interstate. You wont think it's too bad when you hit the foothills and only have to downshift once. Then as you hit the real climbs you will downshift a few more times as your truck revs higher and higher, it only gets worse as you climb in altitude where the air is thin.
Once off the nice smooth paved roads you will hit the forest service roads. These are unmaintained single lane roads, sometimes just a pair of ruts with washboards, washouts, rocks and more. 4x4 and high clearance is a plus.
Once at your site (if it's still open) you may notice you feel a bit off. Altitude sickness makes it hard to breath, hard to concentrate, leaves you light headed with head aches. Don't worry, you will feel better by the time you are ready to move on.
The same lack of air that causes you and your truck to gasp will have the same affect on your generator. It will overload over and over as you try to get it to start your AC. Luckily that wont be a issue often as most of the time up there it is cooler during the day and down right cold at night. Make sure your furnace is tuned up because those cute Buddy heaters stop working around 7000 ft.
The dry air sounds good when it does get hotter but with 5% humidity your skin turns scaly and your hair like straw. A nice long shower sounds good but refilling water is a 100 mile round trip so quick navy showers are the best you will get.
Dry air means lots of dust inside and out. so dusty that a few small dogs on a walk look like a herd of buffalo crossing the plains with the cloud of dust they kick up. Leave said pets unattended too long and they can become snack crackers and cheese to the various critters in the area.
Entertainment is like anything else up there, you bring it with you. Don't have a satellite, then bring lots of DVDs because there is no TV reception. In fact there is no cell phone, text or data connection either.
It's pretty nice once you get your gear, find the spot, make the drive and get set up. that is until some jerk pulls his rig into your clearing, fires up a open frame generator 24/7 so they can watch Nascar while riding their ATVs.
So while it all sounds fun you might want to stick to the nice flat paved highways, campgrounds with reservations, full hook ups and all the amenities. In the end it is easier and cheaper than those free spots out west. ;)
