Boondock: (noun) an uninhabited area with thick natural vegetation, as a backwoods or marsh; remote ritual area.
Boondocking: (verb) to park RV in the middle of nowhere, without any outside hook up, (no water, electric, or sewer disposal); to stand alone using only a generator to power up.
Our family has spent many nights boondocking on the way to or from a destination in our camper. Often because it's late and my husband needs a break from driving or to save a few dollars in lieu of a campground. Boondocking has always been a memorable experience.
We have boondocked in all sorts of interesting places. Walmart, dark alley ways, church parking lots, the side of the road and rest stops. The challenge is finding a place that won't get us in trouble with the law, won't keep us up at night or draw attention to uninvited guests. Each location has its disadvantages as we would learn along the way.
•Walmart: Bright lights. Big city.
Walmart is known in the RVing community to be a safe and RV friendly place to boondock. We can park in any Walmart around the globe without fear of being booted out. "This is great!" I think, "We will always have a place to park, there are plenty of Walmarts all over and we can run in for supplies if needed." Thinking and doing were very different realities for me. Our first time parking over night at a Walmart, we found a good place to park, far from the entrance. We soon discovered why Walmarts aren't littered with boondockers. It was bright, very bright, even with our window shades down. It was also noisy, 24hours of noisy. Wasn't it the middle of the night? We would not have known, we may as well have been parked in a city center.
•Dark alley ways: Keep your weapon handy and watch for dump trucks.
We decided to try an alley way another late night. For starters creepy doesn't even fit the bill, I've watched too many horror movies. My thoughts wander and I always think someone is going to sneak in and stab us at night on these eerie pit stops. Even John keeps the baseball bat handy on these wicked nights. Once we managed to make it through the fear induced night, the early morning startles us with the 'Beep, Beep, Beep' of a garbage truck; we were blocking a trash disposal, which forced us to move along our way.
•Churches: With and without the cemetery. I always feel a little bad using these small town church parking lots when we stop for lunch or to spend the night. It's as if I'm using Gods land for my own selfish motives. I force myself rationalize, it's okay if we're all Gods children, right? God wouldn't kick us out, but the ghosts on that spooky attached cemetery would. These nights all I can envision are disturbing the dead with the roar of the generator. Where's that baseball bat?
Otherwise, my best advice would be don't park at a church on a Saturday night, kids dressed in their Sunday best will be peering in on you first thing Sunday morning. Now that's creepier then the ghosts!
•Side of the road: During a snow storm, think 'The Walking Dead'. John did this once, on his own, at night. He was leaving Atlanta on his way to Florida. I remember it clearly, not because it was one of our rare snow storms in GA, but because he admitted he was happy Rabbit (our killer dog) was with him on this trip. This is not my most recommend spot, however, during a snow storm, when the roads are closed, it works out quite well. I find this reminiscent of the early episodes of 'The Walking Dead', cars piled up, out of Atlanta, less all the snow and ice. You'd want your dog along too.
•Rest stops- Sharing space with that strange bearded guy and his pit bull. One would think rest stops would be the safest place to boondock. However, every trucker who passes through also uses these same rest stops to overnight. When walking my fierce dog, Rabbit, I note the trucker's dogs could eat mine for lunch. They bark, drool and growl at the cab window. When I walk to the restroom my curiosity gets the best of me. Have you ever peeked inside a truckers cab? Their entire life is packed into it. I've seen the CI channel, there's a true story of a trucker who's a serial killer. He has a seemingly normal life with a family, but he'd sneak into people's homes late at night and stab young woman to death. I will caveat with, I'm not implying all truckers are serial killers, but their are some serial killers who happen to be truckers. Creepiest stop in my book.
We live as Nomads when we boondock. We are living off the grid. No matter where we choose to lay our heads for the night, we must be safe, aware and protected. One just doesn't know what lies beyond those four walls; from creepos to ghosts, zombies to serial killers. It's all a matter of where you choose to boondock.
Note my photos below are all beautiful places we've been, and would also make wonderful places to boondock peacefully!
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