Boondocking or Dry Camping

For more than two weeks now we have been boondocking or, more correctly, dry camping. Boondocking is basically camping without services such as electricity, sewer and water. Most people use the term boondocking to mean camping in a totally undeveloped area. Dry Camping covers boondocking and using parking lots or campgrounds without services. In the last three weeks or more we haven’t had any services at our campsite until last night. Twice we stayed at a small campground where we could get access to water at the entrance of the campgrounds. We have used nothing but our generator and batteries for power. Dry Camping is quite common in Europe. It is really good to see how long we can go and how easily we adapt. We do need to replenish our water every 3 days or so. That hasn’t been a problem on this trip. The towns have had water specifically for RVs and multiple Labradorians have offered to replenish our water from their own homes. How nice people are.

Sometimes dry camping is about convenience such as a Walmart parking lot open on Canada Day. Other times it is about necessity. Being able to pull over on a really long drive and stop for the night and have your “home” with you and not need anything else is great.

The other reason for dry camping are the locations themselves. We have camped on lakes, rivers and the ocean. Some sites are just gorgeous. The night before last we fell asleep to the sound of the waves in the Strait of Belle Isle, how lovely. Sometimes we are alone, sometimes another camper might come upon the same beach and pull in. Either way is fine.

Unexpectedly we seem to have longer visits with people when we are boondocking than we do in campgrounds. Mike and I love the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. In our short time in Labrador we have had multiple people over to our RV for drinks in an evening, been invited to birthday parties and invited into people’s homes. This is more visits than we had the entire 3 months we travelled in western Canada and the U.S.

We checked into our first “proper” campground with services like electricity and water since we left Ottawa. Having electricity and water meant that we could do multiple loads of laundry without running the generator the entire day. That is about the only reason we camped here. There is a nice view of the water but there are too many RVs and not enough trees for it to be considered pretty.

We are really pleased with how well our boondocking experience has gone.