Boondockers Welcome

The boondocks are “rough, remote, or isolated country”. Boondocking is parking a motor home or trailer outside established campgrounds with no power, water or other facilities. We've done a lot of boondocking. 

It's simple economics. A regular campground is $30-$50 per night, and sometimes much more. We've paid up to $78 (ouch) and several times seen rates over $100 per night. If the average is $40 per night and we have spent 10 months on the road you work it out.

In late March we were told about an organisation called Boondockers Welcome. People with space offer it for RVers to park. There is no charge for just parking, but if the visitor uses facilities, such as power or wi-fi or water, a small charge to cover the cost is usual. Membership is just $40 per year, so it pays for itself very quickly! You know that your overnight location is legal and safe.

Best of all, the hosts are there and it can be very sociable. Parking in a gravel pit beside the highway is free, but almost always solitary.

The system is quite simple. The traveller looks to see if there are any hosts near the place they want to stop. If there are, they read the host's profile. If they like what they see they send a request to stay. The potential host reads the traveller's profile and decides whether or not to accept. If they do, the traveller is sent the exact location and driving directions.

Locations are nearly all in North America, and not spread evenly. Fair enough. If we lived close to a major attraction like Yellowstone we would be reluctant to host. The number of requests to visit would be huge.

Our guest ID is “Kiwi RVers”. Most IDs are a little cryptic to protect the privacy, particularly of the hosts. To respect that privacy the host names in this post are fictitious.

Our first request was to a host in New Mexico, a day's driving from Study Butte (see last post – Big Bend), which was promptly accepted. Using our GPS to confirm the directions we arrived at a rural property with a large trailer in the yard. Virtually all hosts are RVers themselves so that was not surprising. We knocked at the door and a man came out. “We're Kiwi RVers.”

He did a double take, looked at us and at the trailer. “But they are the Kiwis ...” It was extraordinary. Two New Zealand couples had applied to stay for the same night. How many New Zealanders are in New Mexico at any one time? Tony had assumed that the Boondockers Welcome computer had sent him a duplicated request and just hit “Accept” again. The other couple had a different user ID, but it had “Kiwis” in it.

In a varied career Tony had been a truck driver for some years. He backed Gregory into our allotted space more quickly than we would have done so.

A shared meal was in course of preparation. Somehow there were enough ribs to feed an extra two people and we contributed some wine. It was a very enjoyable meal. 

We had coffee together in the morning and Tony suggested some local attractions. Somehow our stay had become two nights. There was a market that day in Las Cruces, which was not very far away. And Tony had the inside knowledge on where the cheapest gasoline could be found.

By the time we got to Las Cruces and found a parking spot the market was beginning to pack up. But we bought some lunch and some pecans (pee-kahns). We were, after all, in a major pecan-growing area.

A pecan orchard. The growers use “flood irrigation”.

For the second night we provided burgers for another shared and very convivial meal. Tony recommended places to visit in New Mexico. Far more places than we had time for.

This was an amazing introduction to Boondockers Welcome. A long chat and maybe a glass of wine with the hosts seems to be normal, but we never had another shared meal.

In all, we made 10 applications to stay with Boondockers Welcome hosts. Two were declined with apologies because the hosts were not at home. One was accepted despite the hosts being away. There was an alpaca ranch, with huge, affectionate Pyrenean dogs. Most of the properties were fairly rural. This is to be expected since city homes would struggle to accommodate even one RV. But one host was a large suburban property.

One host couple invited us to join them at a campfire, where we sipped wine and swapped yarns through the evening. All hosts would provide helpful advice on places of interest in their area. Several had a power point available for us, and waved away offers to pay for the electricity.

One host couple, whom we will call Tommy and Betty Lou, apparently accept all requests. When we arrived they already had two guest rigs and simply directed us to park on their large lawn. They were a lovely couple and welcomed us back for a second visit.

We always said a heartfelt thank you and presented our hosts with some of the dish cloths that Eve knitted as we drove through America. If the conversation had got on to cooking Eve would also offer some of the sourdough starter that she has been cultivating since Whitehorse, a year ago. Veronica in California responded by giving us some home-made jams.

We've had no negative experiences with Boondockers Welcome.