theboondork's RV blog

Complaining about the pop-up camper again

4/29/2022

Clicking the pics can be an extraordinarily emotional moment... That moment is followed by a deep dark depression.

A class C boondocking on the beach.

It's getting pretty warm around here, and the ten-day forecast calls for more of the same. So I was thinking about maybe next week moseying up north a little way, maybe as far as Las Vegas, New Mexico. But the ten-day forecast that I look at has windy weather every single day for the next ten days in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

I'm not too fond of windy weather, especially blowing around 30 miles an hour for a large part of the day. Thanks to these canvas sides on the pop-up camper, the wind is rather annoying, flapping the sides around in the daytime and at night while trying to sleep these canvas sides are particularly troublesome since you can't tell the difference in the wind blowing the canvas around, or someone trying to break in. Just another reason that I really don't want to live in a pop-up camper, as if I needed another reason.

Having a camper on the truck that requires packing everything up and lowering the top so I can go anywhere for a few minutes has been a mixed blessing. The bad part is trying to get this camper ready to go to the store and then coming back 15 minutes later and trying to set everything up again is beyond ridiculous.

The good part is that since I have to go through all that preparation it keeps me from running around for no reason and forces me to plan when and where I go so I can get everything I need done without having to do the same thing again tomorrow. And with diesel fuel prices what they are, this has been a big saving.

So like I said, it's a mixed blessing, but I feel that having to go through so many preparations before I can go someplace does seem to cut into my freedom to come and go as I please and the freedom to make decisions about the way I live is very important to me.

Theboondork

Well what do we have here? A fifth wheel with four vehicles parked around it, one is hidden behind the trailer, at least eight people that I can see, and a whole flock of dogs. This is much different from what I normally see when RVers are camping, I wonder what the deal is?

Ah ha. It's an airBnB. It's a home you can rent and live in for some period of time, except this is a home with wheels and its currently parked on the beach.

That sounds like a great idea how to make some money if you have an RV sitting around doing nothing. believe it or not there actually getting $220 a night to boondock on the beach in this fifth wheel.

It would appear that I'm boondocked on the beach just like they are, so I must be living like a king and didn't even know it. I thought I was just a beach bum but actually I'm a shrewd boondocker that has saved over $4000 while staying here.

When I saw this going on at the Marina I just had to look up those two weird looking personal watercraft made by Alumapro on the Internet. Most of these guys are Border Patrol and they appear to be either training, testing, or playing with these two fancy personal watercraft.

Knowing that pretty much anything the government buys is outrageously expensive, doesn't work very well, or both, I found these Sea-Doo looking things on the Internet, and the bottom line basic model with nothing on it, and the smallest engine they put in one, costs about $50,000. And the well-equipped ones are more like $75,000. Which is almost 4 times what a normal fully equipped personal watercraft would cost.... that's our federal government at work.

I watched for a while, and one of the two outrageously priced personal watercraft wouldn't start.... What do you expect for $75,000? I came back later and the border patrol agent was still standing there, probably waiting for a maintenance man to drive here from Albuquerque and try to push start it..... Sorry for being so cantankerous, but I've worked for the federal government long enough as a G.I. and as a civilian to realize that the incompetence and waste that goes on in this shambolic federal government is impossible to overstate.

3 Comments

Larry Worsham

4/30/2022 06:47:50 am

I understand your frustration with the soft sided camper. Owning an RV requires compromises and some of them are not worth making. We are browsing around for a smaller unit and I have determined that we have been spoiled by our current unit. It is a 2003 Arctic Fox 30 U. It is 32 feet long and I have owned it since it was new. I have modified it to fit our life style. It is still in good shape and fortunately I am handy enough to do most repairs. Best of all it is paid for. I've looked at class B's, C's and shorter trailers but can't find one that exactly fits the bill with out a major compromise somewhere. At the price of new/used RV's and at the point I am in my life I can't afford to make a mistake.

Good Luck in your search I would think that are some hard sided campers that will fit your need without to much compromise.

Tom

4/30/2022 07:35:36 am

Your definitely right about RVs being a compromise, and the more time I've spent in an RV, and the more I get to know about RVs in general, the more apparent the compromises become, and the more difficult it is to decide which compromises I can live with, and which ones I can't.

But life is full of compromises, almost everything we do in life is a compromise, and I guess that's why choosing an RV later in life, like were trying to do, is so difficult. We've spent a whole lifetime making compromises, and now we want the perfect RV because it may be the last big purchase we ever make and we want it to be right.

But mother nature doesn't care about our personal problems. Our life continues to slide on by, and every day we continue to have to make decisions on what fork in the road to take, and what compromise we can live with, and it doesn't matter if it's a job, a trip to the grocery store, a spouse, or an RV. Our decision will be a compromise, and the best we can hope for is the ability to live with that compromise with as little pain-and-suffering as possible.

Tom

OFM

4/30/2022 10:04:37 am

Larry, My first full time rv was a 2004 AF30U and I loved that trailer but was too big for where I wanted to go so the current 2005 AF 22H was its replacement in 2007 when I went full time. Thanks for the memory.

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.

Complaining about the pop-up camper again

Leave a Reply.

Archives

CONTACT THEBOONDORK