FULL CIRCLE…

I guess that everyone goes through changes. Lord knows I sure have over the years.

We began this adventure camping out of the back of our car or on the backs of our motorcycles. This was pre-blog days when we made coffee over a campfire and had to pack up camp just to ride to somewhere we could get internet or even cell signal (heck we had flip phones). We both got tired of sleeping on the ground and graduated to bigger tents with cots and mattresses and eventually you couldn’t see us on our bikes because of the gear we packed just to camp!

We moved up with Piper ( https://bigfokkerdog.com/a-simple-little-trip/ ), our Forest River Sandpiper 295 RK which was ideal for our circumstances. We spent years exploring the west and travelling on our vacations, meeting up with old friends and making new ones along the way. We experimented with memberships for camping and various equipment combinations make our little travel home happy. There were trials and tribulations, equipment bought and used, kept and abandoned. If it worked we still use it today (mostly), if it didn’t make life easier it went by the wayside.

Eventually retirement came around and we decided on a full time rig (https://bigfokkerdog.com/introductions-and-transitions/ ). OMG!, NO blessings, only Curses. After shopping around for the perfect rig and looking, walking into and sitting for hours in every possible 5th wheel out there, we looked at the Vanleigh product and of course fell in love with the front living spacious floor plan that would contribute to our ability to live comfortably wherever we may be, we bought the biggest LEMON RV in the country (https://bigfokkerdog.com/tiffin-service-at-its-best-bebop-gets-fixed/). Despite this, we travelled quite a ways and had some great adventures with Bebop.

Next phase is being spent in our Grand Design Solitude 310GK named One Time (https://bigfokkerdog.com/not-a-fanboy-but-maybe/). We are currently back in our Las Vegas home-away-from-home, Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort for the winter and then will be making our way to our summer jobs in South Dakota.

Here is the full circle part. We have a wonderful 5th wheel which is easy to tow and fully outfitted to take anything we can throw at it. We have 75 gallons of fresh water along with 10 gallons of extra water jugs. we have plenty of gray and black water tankage. We have 660 watts of solar along with 200ah of Battle Born lithium batteries and a 5.5kw Onan generator on board to take up any electrical needs. We can literally stay almost anywhere for almost any amount of time we want to. The issue is that One Time is our home; any diversified interests need to have a unique solution.

Erin has no desire to go do some of my hobbies and I have no desire to spend a lot of time indoors or in casinos. We went to the Quartzsite Big Tent show last year and I want to go again this year. During the show, there is a meeting of the Escapees Prospecting and metal detecting group that I want to go to (birds of a feather, desert ratters like me and we have a mining claim in the Q area). E has no interest in this distraction and is going to stay in Vegas while I go. This brings up the issue of who does what for accommodations while the other goes elsewhere.

The answer is for me to outfit the truck with a tent and camp in nature again, leaving E & Jonsie in the comfort of our home. So, as alluded to in my previous post, I now have almost all of the equipment in place to be able to independently roam the deserts of the southwest with impunity. Solar, battery backups, tent in truck bed, heater, cooking, sleeping bag and mattress. I even have a potty and shower!

So, full circle from tenting on bikes or out of the back of a car to tenting IN the back of the truck (insert maniacal laughter here).