That's not like us, but a one day break isn't necessarily a bad thing.
This is a no services campground. Other than a nearby heated flush toilet building, you get a fire pit and a picnic table, and a place to park. There is a water fill station, but no dump station. But after all, it is free!
So essentially, we are boondocking... or dry camping... whatever you want to call it.
But, when it comes to eating, we don't do very much different than what we would do if we were living in a normal house with a full kitchen. In fact, I don't think our eating habits are any different at all.
For breakfast, Ruth made gluten free pancakes from scratch, as she always does. Of course accompanied by butter and real Canadian maple syrup.
Pancakes cooking.
Then after breakfast, she made a huge pot of beef stew.
Big pot of stew, coming to a boil.
Brought it to a boil, and then put the pot into our new Wonderbag to cook for the rest of the day. The Wonderbag continues to cook without any more propane or electricity.
When we're boondocking, we have to be careful with our resources... water, propane, electricity, and waste.
But, we don't find it to be any hardship, which is why we love boondocking! We have Sherman set up to do extended periods of camping without services.
The only downside to a rain day? We don't get any sun into our solar panels. Our 4 eight year old Trojan T-105 batteries are still keeping up to the challenge, but on rain days we tend to spend too much time on the computers and so have to watch our battery levels. We'll be able to do three nights here, but by Thursday morning, they will be getting low. Good thing for the LED lights we bought. The temperatures were dropping thoughout the day yesterday, and that also affects the batteries capacity.
When it looked like the rain wasn't going to stop, I decided I had better do some fix up jobs around the motorhome.
I had bought some new rubber latches for Sherman's engine dog house. The two on the right side have been broken since we bought Sherman ten years ago! I could never find the proper ones, and they were holding together with mechanical wire. But I finally came across them on Amazon, and they were in the big package we received while we were at Connie and Barry's a couple of weeks ago.
Out with the old.
And in with the new!
Next up was some storage drawers for underneath our new table. Of course making efficient use of your RV's limited storage is what it's all about. So I came across these neat little undercabinet storage organizers called the ANYThing Keeper
We had bought two of them, one for Ruth's side of our new table, and one for my side.
It was not easy crawling around under the table and lying upside down to drill the holes, making sure not to drill out the other side! I almost thought about removing the table and doing it with the table upside down, but that would have been just as difficult, I think. Plus, it's solidly installed right now and there are no squeaks or rattles. I don't want to disturb that!
I got the job done, and we're happy with them. Keeps stuff neatly out of the way.
Closed.
Open.
Around 6:00pm, it was time to check and see how the stew did. Now, keep in mind that the pot has been off the stove for about 8 hours keeping nice and warm in the insulated Wonderbag.
How warm was it...? Ruth opened the bag and took off the lid...
Still steaming!
Dinner is served even with fresh biscuits made from scratch and cooked in the gas oven.
Wonderful dinner!
We're going to hang out here at the free Meriwether-Lewis campground for one more day to do the hiking we didn't get to do yesterday. Calling for clear skies, but certainly cooler... and even more so over the next few days. Supposed to get colder each day through to Saturday night, then start to warm up again. Using our Mr. Heater Buddy quite a lot, so we're going to have to fill up the propane tank soon!
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Eternabond Roof Repair Tape... should be in every RVers toolbox. This stuff never comes on sale, so here is your chance!
And in Canada... a good deal on the Bosch 12 volt drill/driver combo...
We too enjoy boon docking not a hardship at all for us. We do the same here as we would have in our house. We do sill have the bonus of our generator if needed as well as larger water, sewage and propane tanks, Love our Mr. Heater as well , just sips at the propane.
ReplyDeleteAs long as you are set up well and know to be careful with your onboard resources then you have it made. We haven't needed to use our generator in years, we keep talking about taking it out but then Kevin would have to build a whole new compartment in it's place which wouldn't be easy. Love our Mr. Buddy Heater! :-)
DeleteI love how you live so frugally! Do you have your Mr Heater Buddy hooked up to the propane tank in the basement somehow? We're heading south in Feb and wondering how to keep warm while on the road without running furnace and generator. In dash heat isn't much.
ReplyDeleteHi Pam. Yes, I have a Marshall ME415P adapter on the propane tank, and then a 12 foot extension hose from there into the interior.
DeleteHowever, I wouldn't recommend this setup while driving. This is for when we're parked up. RV furnaces are inherently inefficient and this uses far less propane and battery power than the built in furnace.
Since the furnace operates off 12 volt, you should be able to run it while driving without needing to have the generator on at the same time.
Here's a guy who tapped into a low pressure line to supply his Big Buddy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZcTMThKEjA This won't work on a little Buddy, which doesn't have a low pressure inlet. I've not wanted to have high pressure propane inside my coach over and above the 1 lb disposables. Switching to a Big Buddy might be an option, though.
DeleteThe wonderbag sure does the trick! Dinner looks awesome! A rainy day well spent.
ReplyDeleteIt sure seems to be! This is the first time I used it for a stew and overall we were happy with the results. We did have a few chewy pieces of meat, everything was hot, cooked and tender. I think perhaps that those few pieces of meat may have been a bit chewier even if I had used a proper crockpot, it is hard to say.
DeleteYou will get cheap propane at nearby Hohenwald. Fuel as well. A Walmart is there too. Two years ago (May 2015) the fuel was $ 2.49 and the propane $ 2.19/gallon.
ReplyDeleteGas is $2.39 there now, but propane in this area seems to have gone up to $2.79. We will get both in Tupelo.
DeleteI love that campsite too!
ReplyDeleteYes, it is a nice campground. Paved sites, with some drive-thru's, picnic tables, fire rings, clean bathrooms and a nice hiking trail, all for free! :-)
DeleteWe will have to exchange what we have for space saving and neat gadgets when we see you. Make sure you have enough propane to get through Texas. $3.29/gal here at Brownsville.
ReplyDeleteYep, I am sure we will have too, we always like any space saving ideas! :-)
DeleteWe will remember that, although I do believe that Mexico's propane is cheaper so we can always cross with a partial tank and fill up down there somewhere.
Every 1969 Ski-Doo had those rubber latches.....lol
ReplyDeleteWe would never have known that! Believe it or not, even though we are Canadians neither one of our families ever own a Ski-Doo and my family even lived in the country, how strange is that! ;-)
DeleteWe got your rain this evening near the SC coast and the temps are dropping. Thanks ya'll. :-).
ReplyDeleteSorry about that, but the weather doesn't seem to listen to us, we never asked for this!
DeleteNothing better than being completely disconnected. It´s fun for us. We use our crockpot connected to the solar when we have sun. We use more propane than you do but I like to be warm on a rainy and cold night and the electric blanket does well on the batteries too! Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteTotally agree Chris! We thought about getting a crockpot but then I found this Wonderbag and decided I liked it's concept better plus it doesn't weigh as much.
DeleteNeither of us has ever had an electric blanket in our lives so I guess maybe we don't know what we are missing.
Good job, Kev, on the rubber latches. Did you mount the ANYThing Keeper storages under the table towards the back, not the front? Ruth, your meal looks delish! Ruth is a wonderful cook!! She made us a wonderful Shepard’s Pie for supper one evening. Barry had the start of a dental implant and had to watch what he ate. Ruth to the rescue! By the way, I bought a masher today at Weis. Her gluten free pancakes with Canadian maple syrup were delish, too! Shout out to anyone out there that reads their blog, you will enjoy their company if they stay in Sherman with you along their way south. They are awesome! Miss you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAh geez, thanks for that big shout out for us! :-) It is just who we are. I was so happy to cook for you both while we were there. Just our way of thanking you for your wonderful hospitality. By the way, we had the last of the chili the other day and it tasted just as good the second time around.
DeleteLooks like a nice spot to just hang out:)
ReplyDeleteIt has been! :-)
DeleteYup, nice spot to hang out, but you guys and Sherman better start flying south, like geese, 'cause you can have even more fun when you don't have to contend with freezing temps and snow. We like to camp like you do, too, and get along just fine w/o all the trappings.
ReplyDeleteWe are working on it Nickie and Jim! Remember we are Canadian and can handle a bit of cold every once in a while. By Sunday it is looking good in Jackson and that isn't too far away.
DeleteHi Kevin and Ruth.. this is the first time I have read your blog and I really enjoyed it.. I LOVE to cook and was fascinated when I learnt of the wonderbag..I showed my husband and see if we wont get one..we embark on full time RVing at the end of spring.. and will mostly do campground camping for a few months and then venture into some boondocking..we are doing lots of homework and love reading about all the fun possibilities and places to visit all over the US.. we are planning to be on the road for 3-4 years.. with our little dog Harly :) look forward to reading more of your blogs and following ur adventures.. Cheers !
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for stopping by our blog and checking it out. Hopefully we can pass along some good helpful information that will make your transition even easier. That is always our intention along with showing people all the wonderful off the beaten path types of places that we love to explore. If you ever have any questions don't hesitate to ask, we are more than happy to try and answer them the best that we can.
DeleteWe don't find boon docking a hardship either. With a little planning and a bit of conserving we can get by quite easily.
ReplyDeleteYes, a little planning is all that is really required when it comes to boondocking, and some adventure. Not everyone is going to enjoy it though, and that is ok because it leaves more available space for those of us that do. :-)
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