I always thought RVs were supposed to be self-sufficient; that they had water tanks and generators and waste tanks so that you could use them to go camping wherever you wanted and be independent. Now, apparently that's so oddball that it requires a label: "boondocking." Shouldn't that be the default setting for an RV? Why this feeling that one should end every day comfortingly hooked up to water/sewer/power/cable/piped-in oxygen, just like the home that you should probably never have left?It seems to me that this feeling that you need to be plugged into the grid every moment that you're not actually moving is what enables all those shysters to sell a 100 square foot slab of concrete with a sewer outlet, electrical plug, and water spigot for the price of a hotel room (or more!!!). I honestly cannot fathom staying at one of those places any more than maybe once a week, when you can dump, flush, launder, and recharge everything. That might be worth the horrible expense. But otherwise, if you convince yourself you can't live without all those umbilical cords, even for a few days, then really, what's the point of even having an RV? Why not just drive a car and stay in hotels?I guess my question is, when did this all happen? I know that in my college camping days, "boondocking" was the norm. At some point, which I obviously didn't catch, "camping" turned from parking your 23-footer out in the national forest for the weekend--no hookups--to paying $110 a night to park your 45-foot Behemoth Industries Luxury Cruiser at Slab Heaven RV Resort and essentially duplicating the experience of living at home.What happened, exactly? When did boondocking start being weird?

I see you know the difference between camping and rv'ing. :)

5-vers haven't come with generators for a long time if ever and the same for TT. Class A's and I assume Class C's have gensets.

ohhell10339 wrote:I always thought RVs were supposed to be self-sufficient; that they had water tanks and generators and waste tanks so that you could use them to go camping wherever you wanted and be independent. Now, apparently that's so oddball that it requires a label: "boondocking." Shouldn't that be the default setting for an RV? Why this feeling that one should end every day comfortingly hooked up to water/sewer/power/cable/piped-in oxygen, just like the home that you should probably never have left?It seems to me that this feeling that you need to be plugged into the grid every moment that you're not actually moving is what enables all those shysters to sell a 100 square foot slab of concrete with a sewer outlet, electrical plug, and water spigot for the price of a hotel room (or more!!!). I honestly cannot fathom staying at one of those places any more than maybe once a week, when you can dump, flush, launder, and recharge everything. That might be worth the horrible expense. But otherwise, if you convince yourself you can't live without all those umbilical cords, even for a few days, then really, what's the point of even having an RV? Why not just drive a car and stay in hotels?I guess my question is, when did this all happen? I know that in my college camping days, "boondocking" was the norm. At some point, which I obviously didn't catch, "camping" turned from parking your 23-footer out in the national forest for the weekend--no hookups--to paying $110 a night to park your 45-foot Behemoth Industries Luxury Cruiser at Slab Heaven RV Resort and essentially duplicating the experience of living at home.What happened, exactly? When did boondocking start being weird?I'm with you! I'm thinking it really happened when the first wave of baby boomers started retiring. Those are the age people I see with the fanciest RVs.The other group is older millenials who can't do without their toys.

I use the campendium website quite a bit to find our camping spots. It’s a great reference for locating those out of the way spots we enjoy but I’m always amazed when a reviewer knocks one of these sites due to poor cell phone reception. Why are they there in the first place?

People want different things. A lot of people get an RV because they don't like sleeping in hotel beds. Some get them to travel distance with all the ammenities and then they'll rent a place when they get to their destination. Some want to go camping but not have to sleep on the ground. Some want to live cheaply. Some want to "live freely". And the list goes on.I dry camp mostly. I go to primitive national forest campgrounds and use my RV as a glorified tent. I don't have a generator, microwave, tv, hair dryer, satelite, etc. I do cook with my RV stove just like I used to with a camp stove. My one "splurge" is my oven, which I use a lot. But, I can see using it differently if I were going on a sightseeing trip. It would be a comfortable "hotel room" without my having to pack a suitcase. And I could reduce money spent on hotsls by cooking my own meals.Oh, and dry camping and boondocking are different things. Boondocking is also known by the term dispersed camping. It's setting up camp in the wilderness outside of an established campground. Dry camping is simply going without hookups. You can dry camp and not be boondocking, but if you boondock, you are dry camping.

When did boondocking become weird? | Good Sam Community

full_mosey
Explorer
Jan 11, 2018
I see you know the difference between camping and rv'ing. :)
agesilaus
Explorer III
Jan 11, 2018
5-vers haven't come with generators for a long time if ever and the same for TT. Class A's and I assume Class C's have gensets.
coolmom42
Explorer II
Jan 11, 2018
ohhell10339 wrote:
I always thought RVs were supposed to be self-sufficient; that they had water tanks and generators and waste tanks so that you could use them to go camping wherever you wanted and be independent. Now, apparently that's so oddball that it requires a label: "boondocking." Shouldn't that be the default setting for an RV? Why this feeling that one should end every day comfortingly hooked up to water/sewer/power/cable/piped-in oxygen, just like the home that you should probably never have left?

It seems to me that this feeling that you need to be plugged into the grid every moment that you're not actually moving is what enables all those shysters to sell a 100 square foot slab of concrete with a sewer outlet, electrical plug, and water spigot for the price of a hotel room (or more!!!). I honestly cannot fathom staying at one of those places any more than maybe once a week, when you can dump, flush, launder, and recharge everything. That might be worth the horrible expense. But otherwise, if you convince yourself you can't live without all those umbilical cords, even for a few days, then really, what's the point of even having an RV? Why not just drive a car and stay in hotels?

I guess my question is, when did this all happen? I know that in my college camping days, "boondocking" was the norm. At some point, which I obviously didn't catch, "camping" turned from parking your 23-footer out in the national forest for the weekend--no hookups--to paying $110 a night to park your 45-foot Behemoth Industries Luxury Cruiser at Slab Heaven RV Resort and essentially duplicating the experience of living at home.

What happened, exactly? When did boondocking start being weird?

I'm with you!

I'm thinking it really happened when the first wave of baby boomers started retiring. Those are the age people I see with the fanciest RVs.

The other group is older millenials who can't do without their toys.
huachuca
Explorer
Jan 11, 2018
I use the campendium website quite a bit to find our camping spots. It’s a great reference for locating those out of the way spots we enjoy but I’m always amazed when a reviewer knocks one of these sites due to poor cell phone reception. Why are they there in the first place?
toedtoes
Explorer III
Jan 11, 2018
People want different things. A lot of people get an RV because they don't like sleeping in hotel beds. Some get them to travel distance with all the ammenities and then they'll rent a place when they get to their destination. Some want to go camping but not have to sleep on the ground. Some want to live cheaply. Some want to "live freely". And the list goes on.

I dry camp mostly. I go to primitive national forest campgrounds and use my RV as a glorified tent. I don't have a generator, microwave, tv, hair dryer, satelite, etc. I do cook with my RV stove just like I used to with a camp stove. My one "splurge" is my oven, which I use a lot.

But, I can see using it differently if I were going on a sightseeing trip. It would be a comfortable "hotel room" without my having to pack a suitcase. And I could reduce money spent on hotsls by cooking my own meals.

Oh, and dry camping and boondocking are different things. Boondocking is also known by the term dispersed camping. It's setting up camp in the wilderness outside of an established campground. Dry camping is simply going without hookups. You can dry camp and not be boondocking, but if you boondock, you are dry camping.
ScottG
Nomad
Jan 11, 2018
Nobody's method of "RVing" is any better than anyone else's and it's pompous to suggest that whatever you do in your own case is better or somehow more correct than what another does.

Boondocking has never been weird or even special. It's just the definition of one type of RV use.
All uses fall under the heading or "RVing".
Harvard
Explorer
Jan 11, 2018
You have not seen anything yet, very soon we will be able to send our RVs on a trip without us :B
azdryheat
Explorer
Jan 11, 2018
We like to call it Glamping.
full_mosey
Explorer
Jan 11, 2018
huachuca wrote:
... I’m always amazed when a reviewer knocks one of these sites due to poor cell phone reception...

Maybe we should all do that! Wink-wink nod-nod. ;)
3oaks
Explorer
Jan 11, 2018
ScottG wrote:
Nobody's method of "RVing" is any better than anyone else's and it's pompous to suggest that whatever you do in your own case is better or somehow more correct than what another does.

Boondocking has never been weird or even special. It's just the definition of one type of RV use.
All uses fall under the heading or "RVing".
You said it best! ;)

Although I do find it very weird that the term "boondocking" is used by many referring to spending a night or two in a paved parking lot of a commercial establishment. My interpretation of "boondocking" always has been and always will be of camping off the beaten path somewhere out in the wilderness all by ourselves. :)

To each their own, what every makes everyone happy campers. :@

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