Prescott, Arizona….between Grand Canyon and Phoenix, elevation about 5,300 feet, with Prescott National Forest round about.  Just about 3 miles from down town is White Spar, one of the NF campgrounds.  This is where Kerry and I decided to meet up.  We have camped here together before and we like liked it, so we reserved the same two sites we had last time.

That’s Annabelle over on the right.

Kerrys travel trailer.  We are next door but the sites are nicely spaced.

The forest around us is mostly Ponderosa Pine.  Nearby there is some color change, but it’s subtle, and almost done….

We’ve had lots of time for visiting, and lots of dog time.

Kerry playing tug with Annabelle and Joy.  Shiloh is having a laugh!

The Wild Iris is a nice coffee place in town, where dogs can join their people on the patio.  After we go in and order, Kerry brings the coffee….

While I wait with the kids.

Then we take a walk around the down town.  It’s a very dog friendly town, and in the center is the county building with lots of grass all around it.  Lots of dogs and their people hang out there, including us…

Annabelle found a nice place to sit, on the picnic table. 🙂 Annabelle was a rescued Rez puppy about 3 years ago.  She has been a handful, but her mom is up to it.  Kerry takes such excellent care of this girl!

We’ve been having a nice time!  Weather has been in the 70’s down to the 40’s, but is now reaching highs in the 60’s.  This is what all of us prefer.

We have been taking lots of walks around the campground.

Joy has been using her stroller part of the time.  Shiloh thinks it’s a hoot.

As of today, White Spar Campground will be partially closing, and the water will be turned off.  The sites we are in will remain open year round.  It costs $14 a night to camp here, or $7 with the senior pass.

BOONDOCKING

For the whole summer we used campgrounds with either water and electric or full hook ups (which would include a sewer). Starting at Grand Canyon we began boondocking, and except for one night on the way to Caballo Loco Ranch, we will continue boondocking for the winter.  My 40 watts of solar on top of WS takes care of most things, unless I’m in the shade or there are days of clouds.  For the occasional extra boost I have the Honda 2000 generator, which I love.

I have little LED lights strung around the inside of WS to add an even more cozy feeling, and actually I have a string of them that use the regular outlets for when we are plugged in, and I have some that run on batteries for our boondocking times.

These are the battery operated lights.

The other changes that boondocking brings is no AC ( apparently it will run on the generator but I’ve never tried it), use of the furnace and /or the Little Buddy propane heater instead of my little electric heater, and using the tea kettle instead of the hot pot for heating  water for coffee and such.  I can’t watch tv, which I rarely do anyway, and if I need to use the hair drier or blender I can plug them into the generator.  We would have to be hooked up to the generator to use the microwave too, and though I use it a lot when I’ve got electric hook ups, I’ve never used it while boondocking.  I miss it, but I survive.  😊

I have to put water in my tank myself of course, and find a place to dump.  At the ranch this winter, since I’ll be parked in a place without a sewer for a long time I’ll use my ‘blue boy’ type thing, which is a container on wheels that you can empty your tanks into and attach it to the truck and drive it to the dump.  Really, you get used to it…it’s not that bad.  Other than those few things, life goes on about the same for us, with or without hook ups.  No doubt about it though, electricity is a luxury!

If you have more questions about boondocking, please feel free to ask in the comments.

Bye for Now!