Ms. Days Ease RV Life #192 Thursday, 11/19/20

Hello COVID-19 Warriors!  Day #232 for me today!  UGH!  But I did go camping in a wonderful place that was “disbursed” camping which means there were no hook ups and we were dry camping.  We tried to get into a campground, but there were no places available for all 3 of us.  So we were told to “drive up the road” a bit and there was FREE camping!  We found a place where all 3 of us could park and enjoy a wonderful fire ring with great dark skies and wonderful trees.  When we found out that there were no campsites for us in the designated campground, Bill “scouted” out a place further up the dirt road and found a space that could accommodate all 3 of us.  Here is a picture of Daisy and Rich, waiting to be led out of CT-RV by Bill & Cathy.

Bill & Cathy and Rich have been to this place before, but it was my first time.  It was exciting to get to go camping for the first time in I can’t remember how long!  (Actually, I looked back and it’s been since August when I went to Colorado with Susan to Alamosa).  The weather has finally gotten cool (I would even say cold) enough to go out.  So we went for 2 nights intending to stay at a campground.  When we got to the campground, we drove around the loop (only one loop with maybe 20 sites) and they were all taken.  So we were going to go try another place 2 and a half hours away, but Bill talked to a guy that told us about some disbursed camping “up the road”.  So Rich and I stopped in a pull out while Bill and Cathy went up the dirt road.  While we were waiting for Bill to come back, a car drove up and a woman hopped out with a mask on and was so excited to see Daisy – a Born Free!  They had one also and were staying in it at an RV Campground a few miles away and were out “exploring” in their car to check out the area.  We had a great conversation about the Born Frees and they have a 2004 (one year older) but the same floor plan.  They were “shocked” to see another one as I am also, I never see them on the road.  I told her about the Leapin Lions Born Free Group – she didn’t know about it.  So that was pretty cool!  Bill came back to us after leaving Cathy there to hold the spot with 2 chairs so we could go back to the place and try it.  Bill said it was kind of ugly – right next to the road, but we decided to check it out for lunch to determine if we could all fit.  WELL – here we are:  On our own island.

It was right along the road and there was a stream bed beyond my rig.  It was DRY!  This picture was taken from the dirt road.  We were concerned that it might get “noisy” with traffic, but is wasn’t.  Actually, the traffic was fun to watch and imagine what everyone was doing out there in nowheresville!  Even the UPS guy came by twice!  We fit pretty tightly – but it worked.  Here is a video of Rich getting in after Bill & Cathy & I were in place.  Snug as a bug in a rug!

We all fit in perfectly.  Plenty of “social distance” between us.

Here we are enjoying a fire:  it was cold, but warmed up beautifully during the day!

Bill and Cathy and I went for a 3 mile hike from our camp to “scout out” the area for more places to stay.  Not many of them could accommodate all 3 of us, but we did get to see some “wildlife”!

This is a video of the beautiful scenery!

It was really AMAZING!  And there were other views along the road of some great rock formations.  Definitely a place to return to so we could see those rocks closer to the campgrounds, but I did get some good pictures too:

Here is a picture of me on the long walk – 3 miles – that’s long for me!

The hike was so wonderful!  We found some great areas with open meadows that would make great camping to see the DARK SKY.  We did have dark sky where we were.  Here is a picture of the moon – it was really a sliver but looks almost full in this picture:

IT WAS REALLY DARK:

Once I got into Daisy, though, it was really cozy.  Cold and great sleeping!

The forest was just great and hike was so cool:

Our walk was really fun and easy – we found lots of places that would make great camping places – especially open fields for DARK SKY viewing:

Here is another beautiful picture:

A lot of the places would be fine for Cathy & Bill, but Daisy and Rich would not make it very well.  But it was still BEAUTIFUL!

I did not take Metaxa this time.  Barb, my neighbor stopped in to check on her.  I’ll only take her now on 5 or more days.  I was happy not to worry about her in the rig while I was on the hike or at the campfire.  She has been on my lap or near me ever since I got home which is really sweet.  She is really the BEST cat EVER!!!!!

I’m going to continue this tomorrow.  Time for pork chop and cauli parmesan from TOVALA!  Be back tomorrow.

OK it’s FRIDAY the 20th now.  I have some more pictures I want to upload.  Here is a cool one that we found along the trail:

Bill said it was probably a deer carcass.  Pretty neat!

Here is just a picture of the flames of the beautiful fires Bill kept going for us.  It was welcome heat – as the temp got down into the 40’s!

Here is another picture of the forest I took along our hike!

So the greatest thing about this trip was it was 270 miles round trip and only cost me $59 for gas and nothing else!  So RVing can be cheap – and the feeling of freedom is worth a million dollars.  It was a wonderful trip.  Can’t wait to go again.  So happy I have Bill and Cathy to take me to these beautiful places.  I am SO GRATEFUL and lucky!  Thank you GOD!

Barb sent me a picture of Metaxa!

Barb thought she may have had Metaxa on her lap if she had another day with her.  Maybe I’ll go for 3 nights next time.

This was my view from inside of Daisy at our “camp out”!

I set up an appointment for Tuesday to get the oil changed in Daisy.  Last time it was done was in Naples which was a LONG time ago.  

Two more pictures to end with:  This one was of the tree in the center of our island with Bill’s truck/camper in place.

This was where we spent most of our time when we weren’t hiking or sleeping:

Have a great day!  I know I will – goin’ to COSTCO for some “stuff” I need for my camping experience.  LIFE IS GOOD!  Thanks for visiting!