How about a picnic table in a suitcase and other boondocking ideas.

Saturday February 15, 2014
Boondocking Rally In the Cow Field
Fort Ogden, Florida

 

 

 

 

Those Solo Café girls are at it again for the very last time with eggs, sausage and great hash browns.  YUM!   They even have biscuits cooked to perfection in Gina’s Coleman collapsible camp strove oven.   WOW!   What a great boondocking idea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of great boon docking ideas, after breakfast was enjoyed by everyone, there is a “show and tell” RV Rally style.

 

 

 

There are so many good boon docking gadgets that I take pictures of dozens of things.  Here are only a few of my favorites.

 

What’s in this green suitcase is sitting around in front of Tony’s chair?

 

 

When opened up, the seats fold out and when you turn it over the suitcase is the top of a picnic table for those many camp sites out in the middle of no where without a table or anything but nature’s bounty.

 

 

 

 

Somehow I missed Donna’s big smile over being able to start her day with toast whether she has electricity or not.  She sets this Coleman toaster on her propane stove, inside or out, and she can brown 4 slices of bread without being plugged into electricity in order to use  her toaster or turning on her generator.

 

 

 

Louise demonstrated her gadget before she even got up to tell about it.  It’s called a Wonder Bag and you can cook many things similar to using a crock pot.  She  prepared her dish for the potluck that way and we didn’t even know.  She brought it to the table in the Wonder Bag which kept it nice and warm until we started eating.  No electricity required.

 

 

Gina has this portable AGM battery with solar panel to charge her laptop, phone, and hot spot.  She can put the solar panel on the dashboard while she drives and the battery will charge away.  She then uses the battery to charge her electronics.  No electricity required.   And look how little it all is.  Very cool!

 

 

There are literally dozens of other ideas from Museum Gel to secure anything and everything to surfaces in your home so they won’t move a muscle as you drive down the road to a flow gauge which will show you how many gallons of water you are putting in your tank to flashlights with tripod legs and swivel heads.

 

We are on our own for the afternoon today.  Lots of folks start packing up.  Howard and some other folks take a ride over to some Wildlife land to check for alligators.  David changes Winnona’s oil.

 

 

I spend part of my afternoon getting Gina’s story.  She was a 21 year veteran Fire and EMT dispatcher in Oregon when circumstances caused her to just feel it was time for something new.  

So she pretty much went out and bought the first motorhome she looked at having never even been in one before.  She says she trusted her gut.  It just felt right and the people who sold it to her had taken great care of it and were completely honest about everything.  Different story from Kris for sure.  

This was in 2012 and she has never looked back.  She says her friends in Oregon keep asking when she’s coming “home”.  Not yet!   And why should she?  She’s already home. 

She’s the heart and soul of the Solo Café.  She loves driving her rig and towing her truck.  She’s become a real expert at boon docking a subject I was just starting to ask her about when Howard came to get her for the alligator hunt.  She’s the one who knows the Wilderness land they are going to.   OF course she does, why am I not surprised.  

 

After dinner there is a lovely evening sunset glow and then people begin to gather for the last fire of the 2014 RV Dreams Boondocking Rally.

 

 

 

 

It is a bit chilly out even with the fire so folks are bundled up.  Low of 40 tonight.   I know those of you who haven’t had a high of forty forever aren’t feeling very sorry for us.

 

 

 

The marshmallow roasters get busy once the fixings for s’mores are brought out.

 

 

 

David burns his marshmallow solid black immediately  but he doesn’t seem to mind.
He burned the second one the same way.  :-)

 

 

 

 

I was getting chilly too so I stand up by the fire and that is taking my smoke allergy a bit too far.  Once I start coughing I have to leave.

The full moon slowly rises over the circle.  
It moves higher in the sky as I walk back to Winnona.
I can still see them all in the glow of the fire light.

 

 

 

 

 

We all will be pullin’ up stakes and movin’ on tomorrow.

It’s been a great week, lots of both fun and education.
We’ve made new friends that we hope to see again on the road
so it isn’t good bye, it’s see you later.