Last Light: The last light of the day reflects off of our RV at Seminole Canyon State Park in west Texas near Del Rio. We stayed in the park while traveling from the Big Bend area to San Antonio in January. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Granite Dells: The Granite Dells are just north of Prescott, Ariz. The dells are made up of huge granite boulders found on land and in nearby Watson Lake and Willow Lake. The huge boulders create an interesting landscape and water scape. Shown is our campsite at the Point of Rocks Campground just a short walk from Watson Lake where we camped last spring. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
By GARY WARREN
Photographer
Formerly of Los Alamos
As we enter a new year, I would like to share a few of the many places that we stayed in our RV during 2022.
I purposely used the word “stayed” rather than camped. We travel. We generally do not go to a given location and camp for days or weeks. Most of our stops as we travel around the country are one or two night stops.
We camp often but not always. We have stayed in friends or family driveways which is known as “mooch docking” among RVers. We boondock a lot as well. Boondocking is parking overnight in parking lots such as Wal-Mart, Cracker Barrel, Cabela’s, truck stops, etc. Boondocking also applies when parking overnight on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) property or other open property.
Our preferred place to stay overnight is camping in state or national parks, Corps of Engineers parks, or commercial RV parks. Boondocking on BLM land also is a preferred spot to stay when it is available.
We love exploring as we travel. Getting from Point A to Point B quickly is rarely our goal. We would much rather “roam” back roads and towns as we travel. Sometimes we are forced to drive interstate highways but that is not the norm for us as we love the two lane highways.
Attached are a few photos of places we have stayed during 2022. We are looking forward to RV travels in the coming year and sharing those travels in our Posts From the Road features in the Los Alamos Daily Post.
Editor’s note: Longtime Los Alamos photographer Gary Warren and his wife Marilyn are traveling around the country, and he shares his photographs, which appear in the “Posts from the Road” series published in the Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post.
Boondocking: We spent two nights at this BLM area near Lake Mead in Nevada last April. While the space is sparce and open, the mornings and evenings were beautiful in the desert light. While it looks like we are all alone, that was not the case at all. There are about two dozen or more other campers within this area, which is on a mesa overlooking the lake and valley and the highway is less than one half mile away. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
The Wedge: Shown is our campsite at the Wedge Overlook in Utah. The Wedge is a beautiful canyon area within the San Rafael Swell in south central Utah. This was another BLM campsite that was free camping still as of 2022. BLM does charge a nominal fee in some of their campsites. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Valley of Fire: We have visited the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada a few times. This is an exceptional state park in all aspects. The scenery is spectacular in this red rock country park only about an hour north of Las Vegas. We stayed in the park last May before going to Las Vegas for an RV Rally. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Oasis RV Resort: It is rare but we have stayed at a few RV Resorts. We stayed at the Oasis RV Resort in May while attending an RV Rally. Rallies are fun to attend as you meet other owners of RVs similar or like your RV and learn a lot about the units. Classes are held on various RV related topics and there is ample time for socializing and meeting others. There were about 80 Pleasure Way RVs parked together for the rally at the park. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Balmorhea Truck Stop: We stayed overnight at the Balmorhea truck stop in Balmorhea, Texas last January while on our way to the Big Bend area. Most truck stops are on large lots, usually several acres. In a small RV we try to park in a remote area of the lot to allow for maximum space for the 18 wheelers. Shown above is a photo of our RV as the sun drops below the horizon for the evening. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
