Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Have been really enjoying the last several days in the camper and traveling.  One thing about  being in the camper is finding my own confidence in myself to make decisions and just do things.  I have no one to rely on but myself in many ways and just need to make the decision.  I realized quickly that it was easy to hold myself back if I didn't go for it.  It has been great just going for it.   One of things was like do want to just stay at the campground because if I went somewhere it would mean unhooking the trailer from the truck and then I would have to hook it up again.  I found myself sitting and stalling, but then decided nope unhooking.  I can always get help hooking up if I need to.  So I unhooked and it has been great to go out exploring.  Yesterday drove to the Great Basin National Park,




The drive was so relaxing and just enjoyable even with the government shutdown and most things being closed up.  I  enjoyed the views and how vast the country is.  So thankful for the day and just getting to enjoy.  Today was a very low key relaxed day.  Stayed in the camper and hung out most of the day.  I still do my private practice mental health counseling so I have set my schedule where I have 3 or 4 work days each week and set them up to allow for me to travel.  So this week I have work days today, tomorrow and then on Thursday evening.  I plan to move over to Pocatello on Thursday to be able to arrive at my daughters on Friday for Halloween.   My thought is that when I am traveling the work days will be planned in and set up in my camp spot so I can just work those days and have time in the morning to still do things if I want.  Then after the work days move on.  Tomorrow I am going to do laundry in the  morning before I have clients.   
In Wendover Nevada.  Well when I took this picture I was still in Utah!  The state line is in the middle of town.  The Nevada side of the town has casinos because of the gambling.  When you cross this like the casino building literally is right on the line, the Utah side is the parking lot.  

Setting out on my own, maiden voyage

Well this week I took the camper and set off to explore and just travel.  It was my first time doing a solo trip by myself pulling a camper.   Mookie, Milo and I set off on Thursday.  The plan was to drive part of the way to Megan’s in Dillon and spend the night but I ended up driving all the way and just sleeping when I got there.   We were supposed to head off to Salt Lake on Friday for the Titanic adventure but plans changed at the last minute when Megan couldn’t go.  So the two dogs and I set off on our adventure.  I drove over toward Idaho with no real plans of where to end up,  I ended up in City of the Rocks National Reserve and spent the night.  It was an adventure in itself.  You had to reserve online, but of course didn’t have cell service.  So after I picked a spot and got the camper backed, Yeah for me!!  I hooked up the Starlink only to find the site I was in was already reserved for the days I was there.  There were actually only a few sites left that weren’t reserved.  Most of them were hilly and very uneven ground so I picked an open one and just parked for the night. 

Several things I invested in right away after buying the camper was a generator.  I wanted to be able to do boon docking without having to worry about power or any of those aspects.  I also invested in an Ecoflow Battery Unit with solar power charger.  This really worked well for me to just be able to have them both in the back of the truck and plug in the camper wherever I went to have power without worrying about it.  It worked great to get to test it out and be able to charge things.  I also purchased another Starlink to use for Roaming as I have the one at home and will be able to work on the road. My plan is to work 3 days a week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays leaving me 4 days to travel in between work days.  I will schedule most of my client in the afternoon/evening so I can still do some hikes and get out and enjoy the areas in the mornings.  

The next day I drove over to the Boniville Salt Flats in Utah and ended up staying in Wendover Nevada.  I decided to stay at a KOA that was right there to be able to shower and just plug in and be set up to work for the week.  One thing I realized boon docking was I need to be more organized and just plan to have things set up to stay for at least several days.  I hadn’t made a plan and just felt like I wasn’t organized to know what I was doing.  I will have to plan and reserve some places to boon dock in January when I plan to do a trip south.  It was great to just get settled in, finally figure out my Starlink.  (Hint… when you set it up write down the password.  I couldn’t remember it for the life of me and after trying everything I could think of just finally had to factory reset and start over).  But now it has a password and is all set up and ready to see clients. 

This week I plan to just relax and work towards planning what I need to get for the camper for longer trips and make some lists.  Start thinking about where I will want to do longer trips to in January and February as I plan on going south for those two months.  Eating hasn’t been a big thing this trip,  I bought a car refrigerator that is electric and had it plugged in to the outlet in the back of the truck.  It is nice you can set it to be a freezer or a fridge by setting the temperature.  I have just been cooking little things for myself with breakfast and sandwiches, cottage cheese and fruit.  Enough for me.  I think when I do the longer trip I will have to plan a little more with some freezer meals for days when I work or crock pot meals that I can plan ahead and just shop as needed.   

Thursday I will leave and head back to Pocatello for the night and get set up early as I have a couple clients scheduled that evening, then go to Dillon on Friday for Halloween and get to watch the grandkids trick or treat.  I am hoping to get to spend more time over in Dillon with them.