Mitchell World Tour: Boondocking Baby!

I’ve spoken about some of the Harvest Host places we have stayed during our travels. It is such a great organization, and we have been so grateful to the hosts who have welcomed us onto their properties with such warmth and kindness. On the Harvest Host site, there are also boondocking places to stay, which is just camping on somebody’s land, driveway, or field without any fees. Don’t get me wrong, we are not beyond parking in a Walmart parking lot, which we did at the beginning of our travels, but there are far better options for sure. Outside of this website, there are public lands that offer dispersed camping, particularly in Utah. They are often equipped with a fire pit, but no services at all. You are required to bring in and pack out all your stuff, including garbage, and you must have toilet facilities available on board.

Many of the dispersed camping sites are accessed via roads that are not maintained, so you have to be careful where you are pulling off. We are not strangers to rough roads; we made it up the Dempster for crying out loud, but these roads were nothing in comparison. Sure, the sites were free, but with no maintenance, you can just imagine what the 4x4 trucks have done to ‘these roads’ over time. We wondered what damage we would do to our trailer this time. The curtain rods fell, the salsa jar fell over in the fridge, and, lucky for me, the lid jiggled off. The peanut butter also turned over earlier in the trip and drained all into the bottom of the cupboard. Most days I would remember to take the toilet paper and paper towel off their holders, but on the days that I forgot, and of course I did more than once, the whole roll would be in a lovely pile on the floor. We coined the phrase ‘wheels up’ when we are ready to roll. Not sure why we came up with that, but honestly, I feel like our trailer has been airborne more than we would like! When you decide to stay at these options, not only do you have to look after your own toileting needs, but if you want a shower, you usually have to provide that too. We hadn’t needed to shower in our trailer yet, but we figured it was time to try it. Especially with all of the hiking and climbing we had been doing!

The trucks on the bottom are certainly equipped for dispersed camping!

To be honest, I was a little skeptical about showering in the trailer, but I didn’t like the thought of a “Pampers baby wipe-down”, … again. We have been lucky, as most of the parks we have stayed at have had shower facilities, and even some of the Harvest Hosts. But... when you are boondocking… no such luck. Showering in the trailer would require some preparation. Our extra toilet paper and paper towel was stored in there along with the broom and Swiffer. We also had the laundry net fastened to the wall. Not to mention that it was tiny. You all know how little Mark is! I also had visions of the water being cold, and it not draining properly and backing up like the Poop Cruise on Netflix! Clearly, I don’t have enough things to worry about on my year off travelling, so these are the things I think about. I am happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised with my trailer showering experience! The water pressure was great, it drained no problem, and the toilet seat served as a great step, allowing me to even shave my legs. So bougie!! It was actually very satisfying!! Even Mark didn’t find it that challenging to freshen up.

Notice how Mark fits and everything that has to come out.

As we have been travelling, we notice all of the other vacation accommodations and consider ourselves quite comfortable and fortunate. In Utah, there are loads of people who sleep in their cars or the beds of their trucks. One night, a pickup was beside us, and the fellow was in his sleeping bag in the open truck bed under the stars. Brrrrr. We didn’t feel all that bad for him, as on this particular night, he and about 7 other vehicles joined him for a lovely campfire, right beside us! Now you have to realize there are acres of property to boondock on, and it is not busy at all. Yet this group decides to park right beside us. Well, we popped in our earplugs and slept like babies, but I am sure the water pump coming on and off with our morning showers was far more difficult for them to sleep through. Mark was tempted to pull out his bagpipes and play Dawning of the Day, but he thought better of it.

These were the cars left in the morning with the kids still sleeping in them.
The guy in the truck was the first to leave, bright and early.

We booked a stay at a bison farm in Colorado. About six minutes before our arrival, we noticed a sign along the road that says “Corrections facility, do not pick up hitchhikers”. Oh boy, we would be locking up the trailer tight tonight! I am sure this doesn’t surprise any of you, as I usually have some sort of story to share about the adventures Mark gets me into. I can’t even blame him for being frugal, as I have got the point that unless they are giving me the moon, I really don’t want to pay for a campsite. As we pulled in, questioning our decisions, we were rewarded with the most spectacular Northern Lights display. It turned out that the local Sheriff lived on the 20 thousand acre prairie bison ranch, so we didn’t have anything to worry about. We picked up some bison steaks to grill, had a visit with a 6-month-old, 500 hundred pound baby bison and headed to Kansas. Luckily, we didn’t have any interactions with Juggernaught, a bison taller than Mark, weighing in at almost 3000 pounds. We have no idea where we are staying next, but if history is any indication, I am sure it will also come with a great story for you.