yea me !!

Gen- u -wine boondocking pics ahead, make sure their clicked.

Panorama of my boondocking view this morning. There's still a lot more of Elephant Butte reservoir than this picture shows. The Elephant Butte dam is a mile or more off to the right. And there's still miles of reservoir off to the left.

I finally got into a boondocking spot, not the best one in the area, but good enough.

I woke up just after Sun up, got dressed and drove about 1/2 a mile to the boondocking area where I was amazed to see an empty spot after all this time. So I had to rush back to the campground, pack up, hook up, and get back to the empty boondocking spot before somebody else did.

In all the times I've been to Elephant Butte, and that's almost every year, I've never had any trouble getting a boondocking spot except this year, and I hope this is not the way it's going to be in the future.

From what I can see, there are basically two reasons why I've had these problems this year. One is the honchos shutting down all the boondocking areas except the ones right here at the central part of the Elephant Butte State Park. That put many people where I am now, instead of allowing them to spread out all over the park.

Another big problem is the Parks Department made all hook-up campsites reserve only. Usually, the hook-up campsites are part reserved, and part, first come, first serve, and that works great. If you want to make sure there's a site available for you, call for reservations,  pay the extra fee, and you'll have a spot waiting for you when you get here, no problem.

And for people like me that don't like to make plans, I don't mind taking a chance that something may or may not be available. Now, if you're trying to camp in South Florida, you would probably be crazy to show up without a reservation..... Made the previous year.

But New Mexico is not like that. There are many state parks, the population is relatively low, and they're not inundated with tourists, much like Colorado. And I've always been able to find a spot to camp or boondock without too much difficulty. Although admittedly some places like Rockhound State Park, and City of Rocks State Park, are very popular and you're probably better off with a reservation.

Maybe once New Mexico state parks get back to normal, these problems will go away... Or will they? What about all those people still waiting for their new RVs that have been back-ordered for months. And how about all those locked down, socially distanced, Canadians eh? They haven't been able to leave the country for ages and are probably just itching to head South as soon as they can; what's gonna happen when they all show up?... Nobody knows, but my guess is it ain't gonna be pretty.

                                      Theboondork

Kind of a cloudy rainy morning for a move but I was so happy to get back to boondocking that it could have been snowing and I would've moved. I've mentioned a couple of times in my blog when talking about boondocking that "I had rather pay to boondock than stay in most RV parks for free "..... Well I think I just put my money where my mouth is. I still have two  nights left that I've already paid for to stay in my hookup site, but I had rather be boondocking, so here I am.

A picture I took of the full moon the other night. It was very orange.