Over the past couple of weeks we accomplished a couple of milestones. One was a bucket list item and one was a personal challenge. Allow me to explain...
Last year when we retired and hit the road, one of our target must do's was to see the Moab NPs. Unfortunately when we arrived, hat in hand, driving a 45' class A motorcoach with a Harley on a lift on the back, and towing our Jeep, we found there was no room at the inn. We spent the better part of a day searching the local properties, RV parks and campgrounds. We found nothing and finally had to concede defeat. We found a spot in the overflow area of a park in Grand Junction CO and off we went. Moab would have to wait for another time.
Interestingly we saw our first Winnebago View/Navion during that stay in Grand Junction and instantly fell in love. We didn't buy there but it sure planted the seed.
So needless to say we were determined, that in our new svelte Winnebago View, we were going to see Moab. And see it we did, in the grandest of ways.
Our dream was to find a site in one of the BLM campgrounds, and our target was Goose Island. This is a campground with picnic tables, fire rings and vault toilets. But that's not the good stuff. These sites sit right on the edge of the Colorado River with a rock wall rising up hundreds of feet on the other side.
These sites are some of the hardest to get in all of Moab. But we figured we would set our sights high and see where we landed. Well as you can guess, we found one. All day long we watched the peaceful river drift by, with canoers and kayakers paddling by. Wow!
Our second evening in our site we were having dinner by the campfire. All of a sudden Cindy asked me why it suddenly got so light. It was then that we noticed the cliffs across the river were brightly illuminated. We had no idea what was happening.
It turns out that there is a company that does dinner cruises on the river, and on their return run back to port, there is a truck that drives along the road, parallel to the river which has 3 search lights mounted on it, and they light up the canyon as the boat slowly cruises back to port. This was amazing! (You may need to enlarge the above photos to see)
After 3 days on Arches NP we headed out to Canyonlands NP. Just when you think it can't get better you are faced with jaw dropping vistas that your mind can't fully comprehend. We hiked the Rim Rock trail that has amazing views into the multi-level canyons. If you look closely below you can see a little glimpse of the Green River. It is in the lowest level of the canyons. Wow!
But we still weren't done. The pics of Canyonlands NP above are in The Islands in the Sky section. This park is so huge that it take days just to visit all the sections. But we wanted to at least see the Needles section which was a 90 minute drive away. So we hit the road and it did not disappoint.
During our visit to the Needles the temps had dropped sharply so our hiking was limited. The rocks in the foreground are called pothole rocks and the needles are in the distance like a big city skyscape.
Between park visits we took the jeep out for some off road adventuring. It was amazing how little road there was and how high the towering cliffs were. The pics don't do it justice.
We also drove up river to where the rafters play. This time of year the river is lower so there is not as much action. But there were still a lot of people on the river.
Now for the other milestone, proving our boondocking prowess. Let me set the stage. We left a state park outside Winslow AZ where we had full hookups. We drained and filled out tanks, and provisioned heavily knowing it would be 11 full days before another site with utilities.
Remember that we are a 24' class C with only modest capacities. We have previously done as many as 7 days at a stretch, but adding 5 more on top of that would require careful planning and dedication to the cause. Of course we could have driven into town and paid to dump, but this was a challenge and we felt we could succeed.
We used paper plates and bowls, disposable (recyclable) plastic utensils, and had no dishes for the entire stay except for a set of tongs, a spatula, and our two coffee cups.
We provisioned every meal to be prepared on the grill or the gas stove top. We had frozen fruit, lots of jucies, seltzers, bottled water (and a few beers). We ended the 11 day stretch with at least 2 meals extra.
Since we didn't do dishes and didn't shower (hold your thoughts for a moment) we used very little fresh water. On the morning of day 12 we had an empty grey tank and 2/3 tank of fresh.
For showers we used big, fluffy, nice smelling body wipes. Think about it for a moment. These are perfectly devised with moisture, some kind of cleaners, and they even have lanolin to keep your skin soft. On some levels these are healthier than a shower with harsh soaps and hot water. Let me assure you we did not smell, did not look unkempt, and if I didn't tell you, you would have never known.
Even hair can be cleaned without using water. There are many dry shampoos that work well to keep your hair looking clean and fresh.
We were thrown a curve ball on day 8 when a winter storm blew in. We have plenty of solar and lithium batteries so power is not normally a problem... that is until a storm blocks the sun.
This necessitated the use of our generator for the first time since we have owned the coach. But it did well, a little thirsty (LP gen) and we got through it just fine. We had a period of about 36 hours where we dipped into the teens and never got above freezing. But everything worked to perfection and we did not suffer at all.
The above is a snapshot of our tanks on the morning of day 12. Looks like we could have gone even longer 🤓
We could not have been more pleased with our Winnebago View, and count this experience as a complete success. Will we ever go this long again? Probably not, but it is comforting to know that we can. This opens so many doors for us to see amazing sites camping off the grid in incredible places. Mission accomplished and milestone reached.
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Cindy and Terry
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