The Road Less Traveled

The warm light of the freshly-risen sun slanted through our bedroom window. Not sure what woke us, but it might have been the grunting of gators in the misty lake outside our doorstep. Around us, the wilderness stretched, unbroken, for thousands of acres. Our cell phone lay silent — no bars.

We cooked a full breakfast of eggs and pancakes in the comfort of our kitchen. Meanwhile we’d struck up the onboard water heater; thrifty but satisfying showers were on the way. Bluegrass music on the stereo set the mood as we settled in for a cup of tea beside the lapping waters.

After working on our computers all morning, loosely tethered to the rest of the world by our satellite connection, we were ready to move to the next circle on the map, the next adventure on our journey.

And we took our house with us.

Our life now rests someplace between the cabin of Thoreau and a conestoga wagon, a walk in the woods and the call of the wild. Every day seems to present us with a new and unexpected challenge, but it is a life of deep wakefulness — and a little bit closer to dreaming with our eyes open.

The truth is, we could not have gotten this far alone. We borrowed heavily from the experience of those who have blazed the trail of “boondocking” before us. They were kind of enough to post their thoughts and foibles on the web, and now it is our turn.

So, if this website encourages just one other person to pursue their dream — whatever that dream may be — then we pay our indebtedness forward with a glad heart.

Wisdom from the Road

> Joseph Campbell was right when he said, “When you follow your bliss... doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors; and where there wouldn’t be a door for anyone else.”

> Always ask the LP service if their gas is propane or butane. Some places put cheaper butane in their tanks, which vaporizes below freezing and renders the LP absorption refrigerator useless.

> The smoothest roads in Mississippi are the least Traveled. Unless you have a penchant for the rattling teeth and rattling silverware, stay off the State Highways! Use County Roads instead.

> Additives containing isopropyl alcohol “homogenize” water and gasoline together, to diminish the deleterious effects of ethanol on your generator and/or scooter.

> Just because you’re standing under a cell phone tower doesn’t mean you’ll actually get reception.

> Jeep owners wave to each other on the road. RV owners, strangely, do not.

> The propane tank is functionally empty at ¼, and 85% of a tank is “full.”

> If a local old-timer tells you that “you should be all right” at a campground — but only if you’ve got a piece, then move along.

> Prepare to have quick access to weather information on your device. That way, when the weather sirens begin to wail. You can find out from which direction the tornado is coming, and then drive in the other direction. Really.

> If you park somewhere long enough, you become part of the scenery. The critters won’t even notice you’re there.

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