Dry Camping – First Attempt

The past couple of days have been our first attempt at Dry Camping, also known as Boondocking.  This is when you park the RV and have to rely upon its various, self contained systems to let you live in the luxury to which you have become accustomed.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Janelle is heading to Oulu, Finland on Saturday to study abroad for the summer.  But she didn’t want to leave until she had a chance to “camp” in the motor home.  She recalled hearing about a campground in Pennsylvania that is the best place for star gazing east of the Mississippi.  Thus, it was decided to visit Cherry Springs State Park.

Cherry Springs State Park…but not my photo

Janelle quickly adapted to traveling in an RV!

Janelle quickly adapted to traveling in an RV!

The trip south to Pennsylvania led to a couple of new discoveries.  I figured out that my brand new Good Sam Club card (an RV club, not to be confused with Sam’s Club, the discount warehouse) got us 25% off propane at Camping World on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  So, to ensure we had enough propane for our first dry camping experience and since it was a Tuesday, we stopped at Camping World in Bath, NY.  Check, full of propane.

We have quickly learned to NEVER buy diesel in New York State.  By waiting until we crossed into Pennsylvania (by only a mile) the price dropped from $4.39 a gallon to $4.17 a gallon.  Check, full diesel tanks.

So now it was time to approach the campground.  The state roads were fine.  But when we got on the little local road that led to the campground entrance, Jim remarked that “this Freightliner has shifted more times in the past 30 minutes than it has the entire time we have owned it.”  That describes the type of terrain we were navigating.  In addition, the road was narrow and we were wide.  It brought back memories of the first RV trip we took in 2006 and the little road we picked out to get to our campground near Mt. Rushmore (Leola remembers!).  Let’s just say I never felt compelled to shut my eyes like I did then.  But it was still pretty narrow.

Please give us a wider road!

Please give us a wider road!

We finally arrived at the campground and found it..deserted!!!  This place operates on the honor system.  So, we wrote a check to the state of Pennsylvania, put it in the slot, and we were good to pick any site in the campground.  We took the high ground.

I Spy Blue...way over on the left.

I Spy Blue…way over on the left.

Let the star gazing begin.  But wait…it was not yet dark and it was raining.,  No star gazing for us that night.

Love my Crockpot!

Love my Crockpot!

Let me insert here my overwhelming enthusiasm for crockpots.  I put BBQ chicken in the crockpot before we left, set the crockpot in the sink, and by 2:00 in the afternoon the coach smelled heavenly.  Making dinner that night was a snap!

This morning the three of us took a hike around the campground.  We are in the non-astronomer’s camping section.  Across the road are the serious star gazers/campers.  There are a couple of domed observatories that people can rent.  And we saw lots of telescopes set up on concrete pads (one for each campsite) covered up for the day. So we may have the biggest rig in the area, but their telescopes are bigger (we brought a small one).

This afternoon the fun really started.  We’ve been puzzling over the system that charges the coach batteries (not to be confused with the system that takes care of the chassis batteries).  The coach batteries never seemed fully charged.  Well this afternoon, it got to the point where the generator wouldn’t charge them, only starting up the chassis (i.e. starting up the Freightliner) would charge the batteries.  We hadn’t run into this before since we always had electrical hookups.  Jim tossed on his work clothes and climbed under the coach and into the underside compartments.  We still aren’t sure what is going on.  But no worries, we are heading home tomorrow anyway.

So, I am sitting in the dark with my laptop running off batteries to conserve the coach batteries.  Batteries are needed to run the water pump that is needed to flush the toilet….You get the idea. In a few minutes Janelle and I will head outside and gaze at the Milky Way.  With the exception of not being able to easily use the coffeemaker, microwave or TV, it’s still been a successful trip.  And the whole reason for doing these initial short trips is to figure out what is what!

It’s time to head outside.  Twinkle twinkle little star!

Sunset over the star gazing area

Sunset over the star gazing area

 

3 thoughts on “Dry Camping – First Attempt

  1. dominiquefeather

    I wish Janelle well in Finland. Glad that she had a chance to go “camping.” You were almost “roughing it” —- without hook ups.

  2. Corinne Post author

    The batteries were pretty drained this morning. I couldn’t make that first cup of coffee until Jim started the coach. But we made it home! Jim now gets to crawl under the beast and figure out what is wrong.

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