theboondork's RV blog

My brain is already full, there's no room for this useless number

4/25/2021

Roses are red, violets are blue, clicking the pics improves your view.

My new hookup Camp site at Elephant Butte State Park.

I'm back at the main part of Elephant Butte State Park at a regular hookup site again. It's not my favorite place to be but at least now I can keep an eye on the boondocking sites and hopefully one of those will open up.

Linda, Tim responded to your comment, it's on my April 21 blog post just in case you missed it.

For lack of anything better to do I sat down at the computer and figured out how many miles I put on the Arctic Fox this year.

The Internet does make that really simple, I guess I just never thought of doing it before. It's also simple because I don't drive around towing the Arctic Fox when I'm staying someplace, I park it and there it sits until I get ready to leave.

Using any interactive map on the Internet that will tell you how many miles it is from one place to another makes it really easy. Also sticking to the interstates like I normally do simplifies things a lot, because that's the way Internet maps will usually recommend you go. I backtracked a couple of times from Bullhead city Nevada back to Quartzsite Arizona, and I also backtracked going to Tucson twice.

Oddly enough my guesstimate of figuring my trailer travels being about one third of my truck travels was amazingly close. I put about 7000 miles on the truck this year, and about 2600 miles on the Arctic Fox.

Knowing this information probably won't do me or anyone else any good, but it will help me figuring out how long my tires should last, and when to grease the axles. But I grease the axles every year anyway, and I buy a new set of tires whenever one tire looks a little sketchy, so it doesn't look like that number is going to change my life. But it does give me one more unimportant number I can forget.

Theboondork

Channel 13 news helicopter flying overhead..... Musta heard I was in town.

My new neighborhood at Elephant Butte State Park

Camping elephant Butte state Park New Mexico Picture

You can see Elephant Butte reservoir way in the background from my hookup site. One of the many reasons I prefer the boondocking sites is their on a bluff overlooking the Lake, which to me is much nicer than this.

12 Comments

Tim

4/27/2021 09:14:37 am

Hi Tom,

Thanks for letting Linda know I had responded.

Also, thanks for all the input on different areas and you views on staying out West. I haven't spent much time in the western states, but definitely hope to travel there soon. What I'm not sure about is if I'll miss the eastern states . I think time will tell. I can say that the last time I was in Utah for a week and flew back here, everything felt overpopulated and a little claustrophobic because of the huge number of trees that we have. I missed Utah for months afterwards.

Good luck with your trip back up to Denver.

Tom

4/27/2021 11:11:24 am

Yeah, the way my blog works is any response to a comment stays with the comment no matter how far back it is and since most folks probably don't look at my blog post other than the current one its easy for things to get lost. Weebly, which is what I use for a blog host is really very very limited on the things it can do, which is the price you pay for a blog that's simple to build and keep running.

The West truly is different, and I say that as an outsider that was raised in the South. And I think it's pretty safe to say that the "West," isn't for everyone, thank goodness, or it would be a lot more crowded than it is. But to me the lack of crowds, or at least the ability to get away from the crowds, is one of the reasons I enjoy being in the West so much.

The other main reason I like the West is the lack of humidity. The low humidity seems to expand my relative comfort level. So instead of being comfortable from about 65° to 80°, I'm comfortable from 60° to 90°. Which is why I'm able to deal with no air conditioning while boondocking in the desert in the winter.

I like trees, I was raised around trees, but every once in a while I need a cactus. And that is the beauty of the full-time lifestyle. You can have a tree, or you can have a cactus, it's totally up to you. And for me that's why my lifestyle has gradually changed over the years, and I've not only become more of a boondocker, because that puts me closer to trees and cactus. But I'm able to live in my favorite places, which is the mountains and the deserts without being stuck for the rest of my life in just one place that I love.

So don't worry about missing someplace, your home has wheels, use em.

Tom

4/28/2021 08:00:16 am

I probably have already mentioned this, but on one of my trips to Salt Lake City, there was a heat wave and the temperatures were running between 95 and 100. I was shocked how comfortable it was in the shade because of the lack of humidity. Now, step into the sun and it was a different story, but in the shade it was nice. Plus, I drove up in the mountains the next day and in some spots there was still snow. The west has a lot of advantages if you're mobile and can move around.

Come to think of it, I believe that was the trip that I really started seriously thinking of RV travel because of all the beautiful places I was seeing.

4/28/2021 09:33:34 am

There's so many good things about the West that most people don't even consider the low humidity as one of the best, but I always put it near the top of my list. Maybe it's because I lived a lot of my life in Miami Florida where the humidity more than the temperature can determine your plans for the day. But whatever it is it tends to make hot and cold weather more tolerable, especially to those of us of the geezer persuasion.

Being highly mobile while staying in any of the Mountainus states make staying comfortable temperature wise fairly easy, you just go up or down in altitude based on the temperature. But for that to be successful it helps a lot if you're a boondocker and don't have to wait for your monthly reservation to expire.

Tom

Linda Sand

4/27/2021 03:21:34 pm

Tom, thanks for sending me back to Tim's comment. You are right that I had missed it. I'm glad you both think it to be a good suggestion. We really liked Mississippi Riverwood with its huge lots and being pretty much out in nowhere without being too far from everything we wanted. Here's a link to my blog entry describing our site: https://sandcastle.sandsys.org/2011/05/summer-camp-part-2/

4/27/2021 04:40:39 pm

As strange as it may sound some folks have more to do in their lives than keep up with my blog, although I can't imagine what. Your suggestion of places for Tim to live was obviously well thought out, and an option that never occurred to me, so I didn't want you to miss his also well thought out response.

That's a very detailed description of your Mississippi River campsite. But the way the Mississippi River acts, I'm not sure if I would want to own land that close to its ever shifting shores, you might wake up in the morning and find yourself in a different state.

Tom

4/28/2021 08:07:27 am

What, you mean your blog is not required reading? I'm going to have to completely rethink my life!

Being someone that lived close (sometimes within blocks) to the lower end of the Mississippi River, what I saw in Minnesota should be called the Mississippi Creek in relationship to the delta. It was really nice up there and just looked like a typical river you would see just about anywhere in the east.

4/28/2021 09:35:24 am

I can barely proofread my blog without wanting to rewrite the whole thing. I've only seen the Mississippi at the big end, and usually only while driving over one of the rusty, shaky, bridges on I-10.

Tom

Linda

4/28/2021 12:06:09 pm

Did you notice there were two campfire rings? The one on the lower level was under water. Fortunately there was enough height difference that we didn't worry about the water rising too high for comfort. BTW, those neighbors never did move in.

4/28/2021 01:11:25 pm

I didn't notice that Linda, but it doesn't surprise me at all. Waterfront property is usually pretty expensive and the highest and best use for a piece of expensive property is not normally an RV Park, which is why you're more likely to see an RV Park built next to railroad tracks than a river.

But one of the things that makes riverfront property less valuable is its propensity for flooding.... How often, and how deep. Those two factors can make a huge difference in the value of any waterfront property.

Shortly after I retired, and was in the property buying phase of my life. Before I bought anything near the water I used to look at County flood zone maps. Now days I just open up Google earth, and it's 100 times better. And I was always amazed at how far a river could spread out of its banks during a flood stage. And it taught me that it's not just waterfront property you ought to be concerned about, miles on either side of that river can be affected for weeks making the cost of flood insurance not worth the effort.

Tom

4/28/2021 01:37:28 pm

Yeah, I have an aunt and uncle that lived on a lake system that was controlled by dams. Their house was flooded up to the roof. As soon as they could they sold it (after spending a lot of time and money on cleaning and repair). They live up high and dry now and have said they will never buy a home on a waterbody again. If only they lived on wheels, they could have just moved up the hill.

An engineer once told me that if you're looking to buy a house, look at the state highway. If you're below that, watch out - you might be in a flood zone since they try to get the state highways above the flood zone (this was way before Google was a thing).

4/28/2021 02:48:36 pm

Waterfront property has always been a mixed blessing, sometimes it's great and sometimes is a curse. I think it's better if you're rich enough to be able to repair your home after multiple floods, or can qualify for relatively inexpensive federal flood insurance. But in some cases it appears that the American taxpayer is just subsidizing some folks poor choice of a place to live.

The full-time lifestyle is a solution for a lot of problems like that.... River starting to rise? Hitch up and leave. Hurricane heading your way? Hitch up and leave. Meth lab move in next door? Hitch up and leave. Hells Angels buy the property across the street? Hitch up and leave. Neighbors taking alcoholism to a whole different level? Hitch up and leave. Your relatives want to move in with you? Hitch up and leave before they get there..... There's very few problems the full-time lifestyle can't solve.

Tom

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.

My brain is already full, there's no room for this useless number

Leave a Reply.

Archives

CONTACT THEBOONDORK