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.