My first RV adventure of the New Year was a trip to Lake Havasu City. I joined a group called the Escapees RV Club. Since I’m a solo traveler I wanted a way to connect with other full time travelers. This was my first time attending one of their events as well as my first time boondocking. Boondocking is setting up with no hookups. No water. No electricity. No sewer.I had purchased generators to be prepared for this time of event.
I decided to arrive a day early since I wasn’t sure of the parking situation. I haven’t learned how to back into a spot yet and wanted to ensure that I could pull into a space. We needed to arrive by 5 pm or we would need to park outside till the next day if we arrived late. I left from CA early enough but did not take into account the time change – lose an hour. I arrived at 4:55. They had lots of volunteers helping with each area. I was in the solo section. The volunteer helped me get situated in my spot. He wasn’t familiar with unhooking a fifth wheel but I was now able to do this on my own. However, later in the week my doctor called with the results from an x-ray of my shoulder that I had done the week before. I have an ovulsion fracture in my right shoulder from my fall in adventure #1. She said limit the use of the right arm. Hard to do when you are right handed and traveling solo in a 5th wheel.
I unhooked the 5th wheel and then went to open the slides. The first one opened half way then quit and the other slides would not open at all. Now I can’t get to my refrigerator or pantry. Fortunately, I still have access to the bedroom and my bathroom. I was frustrated, thinking maybe this boondocking was not for me. I climbed into bed early and contemplated leaving the next morning. However, I decided to pull myself together and reach out for help. A facebook group was created for just this event. I sent out a message that I needed help with my slides. An Rv mobile service owner was attending this event and he agreed to meet me early in the morning.
I started the morning more optimistic about attending this event. He checked my RV battery and said that it was very weak. He helped me start the generators and get my slides open. He said run them for 5-6 hours (generators were allowed only between the hours of 7 am to 10 pm) and it should recharge my battery. I checked the battery the next morning and it had not recharged. I reached out again and learned I would need to replace the battery. After learning what type I needed I headed into town to O’Rileys to purchase a new one. He returned later that day and installed the new battery.
The event also had an app that contained a schedule of all of the events, activities, food trucks available and live music opportunities. I attended many of the afternoon seminars like boondocking 101, RV gadgets, podcasting as a digital nomad, Most evenings had a theme night and many of the attendees went all out. Not sure where everyone stored all of their costumes in their RV.
My favorite was the lot crawl where you had tasting of foods and drinks but you also had the opportunity to tour many of the different trailers, vans, and RVs. It was helpful to see the many different set-ups that people have for their travels.
I did meet my neighbor, Jessica, that was also traveling solo and we were able to go into town and walk along the Colorado River and have dinner one night. It happened to be the balloon festival weekend in town so we were able to see some balloons that were on display. I also went into town early the next day to see the balloons rising.
The last night the weather was calling for rain the next day so I packed everything up early and closed my slides so that I could get an early start the next morning. I hadn’t driven in inclement weather yet and was worried that conditions would be bad going over the Techapi mountains. It was pouring as I hooked up the next morning but the 10 hour drive only had rain while hooking up the 5th wheel. Thankful I gained an hour on this drive and made it to my destination before dark.
