rrupert wrote: I believe some would define boondocking to mean staying at a hotel without room service. Is there a difference between camping and RVing?
Next POLL
2007 Forester 2941DS
2005 KIA Spectra
Zamboni, Long Haired Mini Dachshund
You can have my RV, when you pry my cold dead fingers from the Steering Wheel
Dry camping: Parking at a WM, CB, or other spot for a night.
Boondocking: Moving the rig off the paved road.
The biggest difference between dry camping and boondocking to me is that if I can "drain the main vein" in some bushes without getting arrested for indecent exposure, I am boondocking. If I can't, I am dry camping.
As for true camping, to me, that constitutes a backpack, tent, sleeping bag, and not much to do with a TT/MH/TH/TC, or other RV. The skills overlap, but camping is less about finding the direction is best to pick up TV from satellite as opposed to finding level ground to pitch a tent, making sure drainage is good, what animals could be a danger, etc.
i haven't been to dispersed camping in a number of years, used to go several times a summer back when i had a 'bubble top' camper van
we love national parks and state parks and forest campgrounds
so primarily we 'dry camp' but it is in a designated site with a small fee
on the road between destinations we 'over night' at rest areas or welcome centers
and on very Rare occasions a truck stop,
if your in a parking lot, thats 'over nighting'
if your paying for a resort destination or seasonal site thats RVing
right now we are in a state forest CG we are surrounded by trees , the lake is only yards away
the frogs make loads of sound every night ,most of the sites are Not level, the nearest neighbor is a family with a pup at least 150yards away, maybe 4 or 5 campsites in this whole section are occupied,
maybe a dozen or so in use over the weekend
the next section over is the 'Horse camp ' CG for people that want to camp & ride
over the weekend there were more people over there than over here
Options, always have options, and the journey goes much smoother ....
Connected thru Verizon with HotSopt WiFi using a Samsung Galaxy Nexus
Member of the Verizon Wireless Customer Council
I BOUGHTthis phone
rrupert wrote: I believe some would define boondocking to mean staying at a hotel without room service. Is there a difference between camping and RVing?
Next POLL
True, and I shouldn’t have posted my response to that on the boondocking thread. It’s all rrupets fault, he caught me at a weak moment when I wasn’t paying attention.
JiminDenver wrote: Actually I think terminology is a great way to describe what I do, I never use it to tell someone else what they are doing. I'm more into the diversity of camping and find the different ways fascinating.
I was once told we were not campers because we used a tent, stove, lantern, chairs, etc....
Maybe the term boondocking wouldn't be misunderstood if when described we put more emphasis on the boonies part where no amenities are a given than the fact that we are dry camping.
I can dry camp in a full fledged RV resort by not using the goodies but to boondock I must be in the boonies.
Jim, I so agree with you there. When I use a term, it is relevant to what I am doing, not that I am saying someone else doing it has to mean the same thing to them. For me, I camp. YEs, it is in a TT with hook ups, but it is camping. To me. I hate it when others feel the need to tell me 'that's not really camping'. Who are we to tell someone else if what they are doing is 'real' camping or not? And for us, we are rarely even in the TT. We are very much outdoorsy and that is the lure of camping for us.
With boondocking, "my" definition of it is what it sounds like. IN a remote location, in a self contained unit without hook ups. If someone else wants to refer to walmart stops as boondocking, far be it from me to tell them 'wrong'. I think most people interchange the words 'boondocking' and 'dry camping'. I personally think walmart as 'dry camping' as their is nothing very boondockish about an asphalt parking lot. BUT if someone wants to call their walmart trip boondocking, it won't really cause me any discomfort, as it is their trip not mine. Just like I don't like people telling me 'you are not really camping' in my travel trailer, when I absolutely am.
* This post was
edited 07/24/12 06:30pm by JayWalker2009 *
DutchmenSport wrote: I always thought boomdocking meant no electricity, no water, no sewer unless you provided it yourself or had none at all. So if you bring your own generator and use your own water, and dump on the ground you're still boomdocking.
I never thought about "location." But I guess the term "the boonies" came from somewhere? But where exactly is "that". So, to keep (my) definition consistent, "the boonies" would be any location where commercial water, electricity, and sewage is NOT used. So you can 'boomdock' in your own driveway, a commercial campground, the Amazon, or on the top of Mount Everest as long as you're not connected to commercial utilities, but are self-sufficient.
An excerpt from your link is exactly how I have always defined boondocking personally:
The term has evolved into American slang used to refer to the countryside or any implicitly isolated rural/wilderness area, regardless of topography or vegetation.
rrupert wrote: I believe some would define boondocking to mean staying at a hotel without room service. Is there a difference between camping and RVing?
Next POLL
True, and I shouldn’t have posted my response to that on the boondocking thread. It’s all rrupets fault, he caught me at a weak moment when I wasn’t paying attention.
Rich and Joyce
2010 HiLo 2310H
2012 Ford F150 4X4 Supercrew EcoBoost
Reese Strait-Line Dual Cam Hitch Amateur Radio K3EXU
skipnchar wrote: Boondocking means camping in the "boondocks" (rural setting rather than urban).
Thank you.
new generations that don't take the time to learn the correct meaning of words that have been around for years and misuse them, and then call them fact, according to 'them'.
'Out in the boonies' everyone knew that meant rural. Not a WM parking lot.
Full-time RV'ing meant grandma and grandpa bought an RV and where out on the road visiting all the vacation spots we could only dream of. Not parking an RV and letting the tires grow roots.
One can say they belong to a type of RV'ing defined by words used for years till the cows come home, but we know otherwise. I have always wanted to take a Wallydocker who says he's boondocking.......and plunk him, his RV and his family "out in the boonies" and see if they survive, or even find their way home!!!
I made a comment awhile back that the CG host had "parked me out in the lower forty".........half the forum did NOT know what that meant.
OP: thanks for sharing the blog it was a good read.
"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned,
so as to have the life that is waiting for us".
rrupert wrote: I believe some would define boondocking to mean staying at a hotel without room service. Is there a difference between camping and RVing?
We got into this issue when we bought the coach, DW didn't think anything we did in it was "camping". We settled on
Camping = no organized spaces or very big spaces, i.e. you can't spit and hit your neighbor. You can have a campfire and may or may not have water/dump available somewhere in the area but you're on your own for power/water/electricity in your site. Many BLM "campgrounds" out west meet these specifics.
RVing = packed in like sardines in a tin, rules up the ying yang, full hookups, campground has amenities like pool/restaurant/hot tubs.
As you can tell I'm biased toward boondocking and do use the term properly. We like to "camp" as a destination in itself with sightseeing as an added bonus. We "RV" as a necessary evil to see things in an area we can't find more secluded spaces. That's why a coach with good QD generator, 100 fresh and 75/100 black/gray tanks was important.
No right or wrong in this question, "camping" in resorts is great for some people.
Offline
