We pulled out of Park of the Sierras in the morning, drove through Fresno and into the mountains towards King’s Canyon National Park.  What an interesting drive to start in the mountains, come down to flat land past cattle grazing, vineyards, big city life, then out of the city and back to farmland. Everything around it is bone dry, dusty and brown except for the crops which are a lush green.  Slowly we gained elevation and we’re back in the mountains again.

As I followed Jim rounding the corners on narrow mountain roads I cringed every time he came close to a snow marker – they’re not very far off the road!  I wonder if it might be better if I’m a few cars back so I don’t see so much!  In the mountain we stopped at the ranger station where I stayed with the RV while Jim hopped in the Honda to find a boon docking spot for us.  He wasn’t gone long before he came back with a big smile on his face, clearly pleased with what he found.

I followed him around more windy curves then his blinker came on…I looked the direction of the blinker…down a dirt road.  A rough dirt road with a slight incline.  Ugh, is Bighaus really going to make this?  It’s geometry and physics, he always says, when it comes to driving through ruts and potholes.  I certainly wouldn’t attempt this but I trust his geometry and physics.  And we made it!

The only problem was the RV is facing the wrong direction for the view.  It’s a dusty road with a wide spot offering a view of the mountains and valley below, and I mean right below this road.  We want the door facing out that direction and not the pile of dirt on the other side so our next task was for me to direct Jim in backing up, pulling forward, backing up, pulling forward, till we inched the Bighaus around and pointed the other direction….without backing off the road into the soft roadside into the trees and valley below or pulling forward into any of the large rocks hidden from his view.   Like a master he got it positioned and leveled.  Whew, time for an adult beverage as we celebrate our first official boon docking spot.  We’ve done dry camping before, but we are fully self-contained with everything we need – water, solar power, propane.  We hope.

Just like a house, it’s not a question of if but when will something break.  And when you’re in an RV far from the nearest town the question is also – how can it be repaired if we don’t happen to have a replacement with us?  Not long into our trip our water pump stopped working.  Our tank was still filled with water, but with no pump you get no water.  Jim poked around and discovered a fuse in the water pump had broken.  It wasn’t blown, just broken.  He has near-magic abilities when it comes to most things mechanical, so he "simply" soldered it back together and we were back in business.

So far boondocking is not too bad.

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