Vandwelling 101- A Day In The Life Boondocking

Good morn. I've turned on the stove and made my coffee. 

The bedding has been put outside on racks to air. It's a good second use for my flea market table legs. I air my blankets every morning and bring them in at sunset. It's an old custom with good science behind it. 

We all shed skin cells and hair every day. Airing the blankets and quilts after shaking them keeps the dust mites down and the bedding fresh. Surprisingly making your bed in the morning doesn't allow mattress or bedding to air and it will be a hospitable environment to mites and other crawling insects.

I've put solar items in the front window to charge things up. 

Yesterday,  using only one $3 solar light from Walmart, I charged up 5 AA batteries with no real effort.  That meant fresh batteries for two flashlights. 

I sleep in until the sun comes in the front windshield and starts to warm up the van. Thar conserves the amount of propane I use. At night I shut all windows an hour before sunset to allow the sun to warm the van up. I turn the stove on for approximately 20 minutes., I put a heavy cotton robe on, a crocheted hat, and wool knee socks on to stay comfortably warm. I snuggle with Kira in the blankets and either watch videos, read, or listen to an audiobook. 

Vandwelling 101 : Leaving No Trace Behind

Let's talk about how things look when you pull out.

It's called Leave No Trace.

When I pull out of a site whether it's for one night only or boondocking for two weeks (the usual legal length of time allowed by law in national forest or BLM), I check before I leave to make sure the only thing left behind is a few faint tire tracks. Leaving a clean site behind starts the minute you pull in.

Let's talk gray water. Gray water is water you've used to wash yourself, your clothes, your dishes, or any other thing.  Gray water also refers to any liquid left over from cooking.

We are talking vans here, not camper vans or an rv with a gray water tank. Vehicles that have gray water tanks should only be dumped only at a dump station.

Take an old t-shirt and use it as a filter to get any food particles or trash out of the water. I filter it into a bucket. Find a tree or shrub at least 200 feet from any body of water. Pour the filtered water at the base of a tree. The root system of the tree helps filter and clean the gray water.

Please please please watch the use of soaps and any chemical cleaning product. Never use any soap or shampoo in any body of water.

You'll need a few supplies and some good habits to do this.

I carry a folding rake, some plastic kitchen sized trash bags, and an empty cat litter pail.

Cans: cans are rinsed out of any food, you can also burn them in a fire pit. Rake then out, flatten them so no animal gets their head stuck into them.

Plastic beverage rings: easily the nastiest trash ever. Using knife or scissors cut them so that they are just plastic strips. Make sure they go in the trash you take with you.

Using the plastic cat litter pail. They have a lid that snaps down tightly. Use it for trash. I've had squirrels or possums take and scatter trash left in a plastic bag before. You then get to enjoy hours picking up that trash. Also plastic trash bags blow and are hard to chase down.

Left over food. Dig a small hole and bury the food. Again always at least 200 ft from any water source.

Now, you've packed up everything you brought out with you. The rake and the trash pail are sitting next to the van. You've raked the fire pit out, made sure any fire is out, and poured water into the fire pit.

Take the rake and gently rake your area leaving behind no papers, plastic, or trash of any kind. Pick up any remaining trash that may have blown around and put it in your trash (the lidded cat litter container). Be sure to rake up any broken glass.

If the site had signs of humans before you got there, clean that up too.

I keep a box of disposable rubber gloves in my van. They are cheap at dollar stores or Wal-Mart. Toilet paper doesn't decompose like people think. Don't bury it or leave it on the ground. Either burn it in the fire pit (safe and sanitary way of disposing of it) or put it in the lidded trash can.

When you pull out, all that should be there are a few faint tire tracks. If you got stuck and made ruts, use your camp spade and a rake to level the dirt back to how it should be. Don't leave piles of brush and sticks laying around.

If you follow these guidelines, others won't object to people enjoying public lands as intended.

Vandwelling 101 - Overnight Parking at Wal-Mart's

Many people talk about boondocking at Walmart.

Boondocking is dry camping without any amenities.

We do not boondock at Wal-Mart's. We do sometimes use their parking lot for overnight parking.

Let's get some things straight before we even talk about how to park overnight at a store.

The parking lot is not public property. It is private property that is open to the public use conditionally.

Wal-Mart does NOT have to allow overnight parking and the ones that don't aren't mean or nasty. Overnight Parking is a courtesy some stores extend to their customers. So... get that entitled attitude and dispose of it. Look at it as being a guest on THEIR property

Ok, now that we've looked at some of the important information, let's look at some common sense rules so that you don't ruin it for everyone. Remember, you are a guest on someone else's property. Be courteous, polite, respectful.

1. First of all, check that this Wal-Mart actually allows overnight parking. No, not an app, actually get out of your vehicle and go in to customer service desk and politely ask if you may park overnight. If there are signs saying No Overnight Parking, then there is no overnight parking.

2. When overnight parking is allowed, usually it's in a designated area. Most of the time it will be over by the gardening/automotive sections. You'll be parked as far away from entrance of the store as possible.

3. Arrive late, leave early.  I usually pull into a Wal-Mart after 5-6 pm. In the morning, about daybreak or before 7 am,I get up, make coffee, put it in my travel cup, and pull out.

4. When parking at the Wal-Mart, I back in to a far spot, pull my front and rear curtains, put up my windshield Sun protector. No cooking outside, no chairs outside. My van from the outside doesn't look as if I live in it full-time.

5. I do go inside and shop at the store, even if it's just a Pepsi or a can of soft dog food. Receipt gets scanned into my Wal-Mart savings app and clipped to the visor.

6. Trash goes in a dumpster not on the ground. Grey water doesn't ever get dumped at a Wal-Mart. If I've a pop or remainder of my coffee to dump, I dilute it with water and pour at base of tree or bush.

7. Carry potty bags for your pup...that's just good manners anywhere. So scoop that poop

8. Many Wal-Mart's now have security. Smile, wave politely, or otherwise politely acknowledge them. They notice who's parked there, how long, and how often.

9. Don't play your electronics loudly. They sell headphones in the store.

10. It's not an RV park or a campsite. Don't congregate and socialize. Don't draw attention to you and your rig.

11. Wal-Mart store bathrooms are not a public shower. As a vandwellers, you should know how to wash up in your van. Be neat, clean, don't look like a homeless person.

12. Do not beg, panhandle, ask others for food, gas, change. That's just incredibly rude.

13. Never ever never dump body fluids or leave a pee jug on the ground. Never.

Although I really prefer boondocking in national forest or the desert, I have successfully parked at many Wal-Mart's in the nation successfully. To date, 

I've only been advised to leave one, and that was by others parking who informed me local ordinances prohibit over night parking and it was strictly enforced. I chose to find safer legal parking.

If you act with courtesy and respect, you'll have no problems with overnight boondocking.

If you wish to donate or help out (I need to replace the engine in my van, the cost is $1896) paypal.me/LouBurgess

The HAT trick

Lots of us adore hats. I actually have a small bag of them. As well as 2 straw hats.

The desert gets cold at night and in the morning. You loose heat from your head.
So by having a hat on, you stay warmer and utilize less propane or wood for heat.

In daytime, when it's warm, that bright sun can really make it hard to see. As a woman, those big floppy sun hats (made of straw) both keep my head cool and shade my eyes. Add an inexpensive pair of sunglasses (designer name at flea markets $4) and not only am I comfortable, but I look a bit stylish.

Of course custom made hat bands on our straw hats allow us to express individuality.

It may seem silly to some, until you've boondocked out in desert or winter. Then you find your hat is one of your favorite items.

See you on the road
Lou