September. Our first full month living the full-time Airstream Life. We attended a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Lakewood, Colorado, and Bear Creek Lake Park was the closest campground to Red Rocks, which is why we booked it. In our opinion, it was a little too expensive for an electric only hookup, but we are learning that you pay for location as much as you do amenities in this life. We enjoyed both the RV Parks we stayed at and would stay at both again and found our first Army Corp of Engineers campground to be a bit more "rustic" than we expected. Our goal is to spend less than we did in September going forward this fall!
Formalizing Our Traveling Guidelines
As newbies to full-time life, we knew we would be learning as we went along. We are starting to formalize our travel and camping guidelines, even as we know they are still a work in progress. As always, what works for us, may not work for you, which is why we share our thoughts with the caveat YMMV (your mileage may vary for those of you not hip to the internet lingo these days. :) )
Mix and Match Types of Camping
We know some full timers only ever stay at full hook-up RV parks and some who only ever boondock for free on Federal Land. We're finding that we are enjoying mixing it up with different types of camping. A few days of full hook-ups at an RV park are nice, but the expense and the proximity of your neighbors makes this an occasional style of camping for us. (But this girl needs to take a long shower at least once every few weeks, ya know?) We love being out in nature and seeing the stars at night at on State and Federal land, but our small fridge means we need to grocery shop more than once a week, and Steve has to be in cell service in order to work, so we have to limit our time off the grid. Mixing and matching types of camping allows us to get the best of both worlds, and not blow our budget too much.
Stay At Least Three Nights
We are both also working, Steve closer to full time than I am, and we are realizing that if we don't stay at least three nights, we don't have enough time to see and do all the things we want in a location. And if it is someplace where there are lots of things we want to do, we should stay at least 7 nights. We continue to be surprised at how quickly a week goes by in a destination!
Off-grid Stay are Black Tank Dependent
We have stretched our black tank to 12 days, but that is with spending a lot of time out and about using other bathrooms. In the future, I will likely make sure we have a dump option at least once a week, and with careful planning, we can stretch it to 10 days.
I am certain these guidelines will be updated as we go. If you live the full-time RV life (Airstream or otherwise) tell us what guidelines you follow when choosing campsites.
Our electric only campsite at Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood, CO. Great location, if a bit expensive for electric only camping.
Our site at Pikes Peak RV Park in Manitou Springs, CO backed up to the creek and we loved keeping the hatch open to listen to the water run.
The views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains from our campsite in Lathrop State Park in Walsenberg, CO were stunning!
We adored the Taos Monte Bello RV Park in Taos, NM. The sites were spacious and more private than any park we've stayed at yet and the owner, John, was great!
Black Canyon Campground is only 15 minutes from Santa Fe, but there was zero cell coverage! A great place to be off the grid, but not a great place to remote work from.
The Army Corp of Engineers campground at Cochiti Lake Recreation Area was well located to explore Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Bandelier National Monument.
I love your month end summaries! You KNOW that I am marking them down in my Google Maps as TeamTiegs stayed here with the price, etc! :-) You are the best!