As I continue to travel and enjoy Boondocking across the mid-west and what is my first real adventure as a full time RV’er I have become increasingly aware of some of the simple things I and most people take for granted.

95% of the overnight camps I stayed at in the first 3 months of my new life adventure were in secluded desert, plains or forest areas and we were in every sense of the word “Boondocking”. No water, no electric and no sewer hookups. It’s in these situations you quickly learn how many little things you take for granted.

We are fortunate to have a fully self-contained motor home with a 4000 watt generator and two huge storage batteries for electricity. It has a full size shower and toilet with running water with a 55 gallon water storage tank. %5 gallons of water may sound like a lot until you begin using it, and you find out  very quickly, if you don’t change you habits you’ll run out in just a day or two.

Things you don’t ever do are, let a facet run, doesn’t matter if you’re doing dishes or brushing your teeth water is not to be wasted. (*TIP When taking showers, catch the water in a 1 gallon container until it warms up and use it later for washing dishes making coffee or washing up before bed)

Showers are taken by, turning the water on and collecting the water in a container for later use as it warms up. Then wetting your hair and body down quickly then turning the water off. Next you soap up, scrub your head down with shampoo and then turn the water back on to rinse off. There is no singing in the shower while you enjoy a long hot shower, no shaving while the water gently massages your parts or just enjoying the warmth of a good old hot shower.

It’s a quick process that should only take a few minutes using as little water possible. You’ll come to enjoy this as it makes you feel wonderful being clean and some case cool you off on a hot day and you’ll be very appreciative to have this little luxury available to you.

In contrast, while you are parked in a RV park and enjoy full hooks that include water, electric and maybe some good Wi-Fi (we’ll discuss this in another article) you’ll soon find that even then you will automatically begin conserving water and electric. After living full time in an RV you began to learn and form new habits and it becomes natural to use all the available resources frugally.

Today I am parked at a beautiful little park lake in Atwood Kansas that offers very reasonable overnight RV campsites with full hook-ups. I just enjoyed a full and long shower with higher pressure. While I have no complaints with the electric pump my RV has built in to use while boon docking but it will never give me the pressure that you’ll get hooking up to a pressurized facet. I used a full tank of hot water (5 gallons) and totally enjoyed a small creature comfort of a great hot shower.

A quick note here: If you are planning on connecting to a facet or water spicket be it at RV park, city park or even your home while parked in the drive you will want to be able to adjust the pressure as so not to burst any of the pipes in your RV. Pressure can vary from place to place and I had a friend who hooked up at an RV site, left to go hiking and came back to a flooded RV. The attachments are cheap and can save you a fortune in unnecessary repairs. (Check the bottom of this page for links)

It’s the little things in life that are often overlooked that make our days a little brighter.
We Boondock more often than not and I highly recommend that even if you don’t do it often,  you get out and enjoy what’s available to all of us for free… The Great Outdoors!