Boondocking after dark. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

One thing you learn when you are a boondocker is – if you can avoid it – never arrive after dark. We left Poverty Flats in the morning and slow poked our way to Moab, getting off I-70 onto US Hwy 191 well after dark. Finding the road to turn off the highway (BLM 143) was the first challenge. Being the navigator when we were getting closer I counted down the distance every 1/10 of a mile until I yelled: “There it is on the left!” Rick quickly made the turn on to the barely discernable road without making every unsecured item in the rig fly around. I complimented hubby on the turn and there we were in pitch dark and unable to see a thing because of all of the dust flying around. We crossed over a railroad track and started following the road. We couldn’t see a spot to settle down so we pulled over, ready for a possible “Plan B”. As we are sitting there contemplating our next move two cars pass us so we decided to move on. It was so dark we had to get the flashlight out to see anything on the side of the road. Everything looked like soft sand and whenever I put the flashlight out the window all I saw was a beam of tiny dust particles flying in the air like a searchlight at a movie premier. We passed a sign that pointed to Dinosaur Tracks and kept moving. Finally we saw some rigs along the side of the road. Yes, we made it; Now to find our spot. We turned a corner and decided on a fairly level area. We got out our handheld radios to help with the process of backing in and for me to get some experience with my newly acquired radio license. I stood at the back of the rig and guided it onto the sandy side of the road. Nerve- wracking to say the least to back into a sandy area but it turns out we are completely level so this is it. We’ll see what it looks like in the morning. We ate some dinner and went to sleep. When I woke up I had to see where we were so I opened the shade and starting laughing. We were positioned right next to a firepit.

I laughed so loud I woke up Rick. He popped his head up to take a look. We looked at each other with surprise at our new surroundings. Rick fell back to sleep and I procedeed to write this story. This wasn’t anything like the place I imagined that we parked but it turned out to be a great spot. It is amazing how our minds work in the dark because I thought that the environment was completely different from where we were. Moral of the story: “If you boondock get there early and settle in before the sun sets.”

-M & R-