Some RV’ers love boon docking…others not so much. Boondocking is essentially camping without hookups. You may also hear it referred to as ‘dry camping’. Often dry camping means staying in a campground without hookups, whereas, boondocking typically means staying in a completely undeveloped area and the bonus is you are a bit isolated and its quiet.

Despite the expansive BLM lands around Moab, it isn’t actually easy to find a “real” off the grid experience anymore. Due to overuse, the BLM closed most of the traditional boondocking spots and implemented a policy of designated campsites only (in fact on the main roads it’s prohibited to camp anywhere else & they can/will fine you for doing so). There are very few select free “dispersed camping” sites listed on the BLM website of which most are more suited to tent campers or truck campers. Finding a site for a larger coach is more difficult, but worth a look for those with smaller rigs. We checked out many of the designated BLM campgrounds while in Moab and many of them were very busy with loads of ATV’s roaring around kicking up dust all hours of the day and night.

In our first year as year as nomads, we did not do any real boondocking. Okay, dry camping overnight in the Freightliner parking lot doesn’t really count in my book!

 

 

 

The Road House has everything we need to go off the grid. The refrigerator, hot water heater and furnace run off either propane or AC. The stove and oven are propane only plus we have four house batteries which along with the AC inverter run our lights (mostly LED) and the fans for the furnace. The 8 kilowatt generator will charge the batteries and run the air conditions if we need them. Additionally, we can hold 90 gallons of fresh water, 60 gallons of gray and 60 gallons of black water.

 

 

So, when we were planning the October Birthdays (Tom and I are just 3 days apart) with our hiking/travel pals Tom and Laurie, Moab Utah seemed like a great place to meet. They were heading south to Mesa AZ for the winter and we were wandering south as well. They don’t have an RV (yet) but I thought it would be fun if we could stay in Moab together. After doing some searching on Airbnb I found a great glamping opportunity where they would be set up in an RV and we could dry camp right by them. SCORE!!! Little did I know, we would be getting the best off the grid spot around Moab on a 120 acre private property just 4 miles from Arches National Park and 8 miles from Moab.

Their RV, the Fun Finder was practically brand new and set up to dry camp. It even had a 150 watt solar panel to charge the house batteries (we are definitely adding solar). The campsite was all set up with sail cloth shade awnings, a hammock, fire pit with chairs, a stack of firewood, a picnic table and a propane BBQ.

 

 

 

The hosts Bryan and Christy are awesome and have 4 rigs set up on the property but have made them all super private. The best part was it is so peaceful, no ATV’s roaring around, no loud generators or parties and the red rock views were beautiful.

 

 

 

If you don’t have an RV but want to get off the grid while you are in Moab, I can‘t say enough about glamping with Bryan and Christy. Check out the link to their four high-end RV’s in Moab.

We had three wonderful days with our pals, hiking in Arches National Park, off road jeeping, sharing amazing meals, sunsets and of course hanging around the fire pit at night, gazing at the stars and feasting on S’mores with caramel sea salt chocolate. What better birthday could a gal ask for!!!