What I've Learned So Far

jkjenn

Part 1

I am sure I will have more to add, so I thought I would call this part 1. I have my first 2 weeks of boondocking under my belt now and I thought I would do a quick update on what I have learned so far. I didn't set out to come up with 15 random things, but here it is.

1. My planning has paid off, so far. My boss did not even realize I had left for Colorado, yet, until the end of my second week when he asked when I was leaving for Colorado and I told him I was here. Technology has worked in my favor. I hosted a webinar with streaming video today and marveled at the amount of technology that all worked as it should for that to happen. Solar has been awesome.
2. T@bbers are awesome people, especially the ones in Colorado. I have met a few in person already, and they are all incredible people!
3. The Buena Vista library has awesome Wi-Fi. I drop into town occasionally to either do large uploads or update my apps. The Wi-Fi in BV is much better than the service at my local library and it does not require a library card.
4. BV has some very nice parks in town, complete with picnic tables, bathrooms, and trash receptacles. These are nice for stopping for lunch, letting Rocky exercise in grass (hard to find), and getting a good hand washing in. They also have free potable water at their visitor center. Stick a little donation in their jar inside to thank them!
5. It took me 2 weeks, but I finally feel organized. Part of this was that I ran out of time when I was packing the T@b to begin with, but I finally have a clear floor and Rocky is very pleased with this.
6. Lighting at 10,200' (Leadville) is really something to behold.
7. The Arkansas River Headwaters area is beautiful - I did not anticipate how much I would enjoy it.
8. The Rainbow Family and others like them are ruining boondocking along the front range. Both Larimer and Boulder counties are having problems with these groups. They are staying longer than 14 days, they have no money and are trashing the campsites. It's a shame. It reminds me of the communes that were in the hills around my community. Those were unsafe for children and these appear to be as well. I hope Colorado finds a solution, quickly so that it does not lead to the NFS shutting sites down or starting to charge for my sites.
9. I am really glad I switched to Ultraleather upholstery before this trip. It is so easy to clean and when your dog decides it is fun to roll around in the dust, every little bit of help is appreciated! Seriously, it is very easy to clean and very comfortable.
10. I spill water almost every day. Either I kick Rocky's dish, I drop my cup as I am filling it, or some other mishap. Microfiber towels are the bomb.
11. My 2, 5-gallon portable waste tanks are great and give me the space I need to last 2 weeks. Black tank also lasts just about 2 weeks for me. I think I can stretch it better by doing a better job taking advantage of pit toilets along the way as I am out.
12. I sleep really well in the mountains. I wondered if I would get a little spooked being by myself, but it has been great!
13. Streaming Sirius radio from the Internet does not use a lot of data and it works for breaking news events or sports events - like listening to the Penguins win the Stanley Cup!
14. The Alde is a dream for heating, when it is not loud.
15. Propane lasts a really long time - yeah!

Nomad

Glad things are going well!
You're getting good sleep from lack of oxygen :-)

Don't have a clue what Rainbow people are. Have run into homeless with very little or no money but they've kept a clean camp and haven't been a problem. Have run into a couple of loonie toons that have been where they are for months - Sheriff deputies gave up on trying to evict as more trouble than it was worth as long as they leave other people alone.

Keep us posted.

irvingj

Great report, thanks! I'm jealous!

And yes, what are "Rainbow People"?

ChanW

That was a fun read Jenn. Thanks.

I was interested to hear about the rainbow people. They used to have a reputation for being conscientious. Funny how things change.

mona

Gathering of hippies that belong to a group called the rainbow family.

Ratkity

mona said:

Gathering of hippies that belong to a group called the rainbow family.

I'd never heard of them. Sounds scary to me, but I don't do very well with such large chaotic groups. Especially those that have no respect for each other (or their kiddos) or the environment around them.

Photomom

I'd heard of the Rainbow Family back when they were peace loving hippies. Looks lIke they are attracting the wrong people. https://www.vice.com/print/the-dark-side-of-the-rainbow-gathering

mona

There is also the Eight Legged Cat Family.

jkjenn

To be blunt, these types would party, get story stoned, and lose their kids in the forest where I grew up. My dad was a volunteer fireman so he would give up his little free time to join the search parties to find the kids. The environment was not clean (hygenic) and it seemed as though these kids had more developmental problems than other kids. Larimer County try seems to have mostly rid themselves of these types of, "campers" but Boulder now has an issue. I saw some photos and video in a recent news story about them. Local churches are trying to help them and giving out free meals but what would be regular 14 day boondocking is turning into homeless tent cities for people who are displaced by choice rather than circumstance. The campsites looked disgusting and human waste is a real problem.

Because of what I witnessed growing up, the term,  "peace loving hippies" has a negative connotation for me. It conjures up the image of squalor and irresponsibility. 

ericnliz

Jenn,
It is a shame the Rainbow Family has been able to come and go & leave a mess for others to clean up. We had a similar group here in Wa. state and it was an unpleasant experience for the sons of one of my friends, and my son after we picked up three BIG black garbage bags of trash. The only good outcome was they learned to respect the woods and wilderness areas and realize it only takes a few to ruin it for everyone. To this day, it is our ritual to go around and [unfortunately] pick up trash from other inconsiderate folks. A shame, but I feel a responsibility if we want to keep our areas clean and pristine. That being said, I still get that feeling of OMG in the pit of my stomach every time I see it happen!
I'm glad you're having a good time as you are in a beautiful area!   

Photomom

jkjenn said:

To be blunt, these types would party, get story stoned, and lose their kids in the forest where I grew up. My dad was a volunteer fireman so he would give up his little free time to join the search parties to find the kids. The environment was not clean (hygenic) and it seemed as though these kids had more developmental problems than other kids. Larimer County try seems to have mostly rid themselves of these types of, "campers" but Boulder now has an issue. I saw some photos and video in a recent news story about them. Local churches are trying to help them and giving out free meals but what would be regular 14 day boondocking is turning into homeless tent cities for people who are displaced by choice rather than circumstance. The campsites looked disgusting and human waste is a real problem.

Because of what I witnessed growing up, the term,  "peace loving hippies" has a negative connotation for me. It conjures up the image of squalor and irresponsibility. 

Part of the problem is that it is very loosely organized, there are no rules, and no one is in charge. Human beings really do need some structure and behavioral norms. 

It looks like their "official" gathering is near Rutland VT this summer, very near where we plan to camp on our way back from Maine. They'll be there in July and we'll be there the first of August so it could be interesting.

Photomom

BTW, one of the very first things I did after joining the forum, even before making the decision to buy the T@B, was to buy a set of jkjenn's clearance priced microfiber towels. Will never take cotton towels or those awful Packtowls camping again.

DeeDee

Photomom said:

I'd heard of the Rainbow Family back when they were peace loving hippies. Looks lIke they are attracting the wrong people. https://www.vice.com/print/the-dark-side-of-the-rainbow-gathering

Ratkity

@Photomom LUV those microfiber towels too!

mona

Fortunately, once rainbows have used an area for their gathering, they are not welcomed back. I heard the horror stories from the camp host at Hearts Content in PA after the gathering was held in that area. At least they were banned from the primitive camp gound itself.

ChanW

Interesting article Photomom.

What a shame re the Rainbow Festivals.

Sad.  It's always seemed that utopia is a hard row to hoe. Probably because you have to include people, and people come in all flavors.

Photomom said:

I'd heard of the Rainbow Family back when they were peace loving hippies. Looks lIke they are attracting the wrong people. https://www.vice.com/print/the-dark-side-of-the-rainbow-gathering

Ratkity

Welp, what I've learned so far is I like the flavor of the peoples here!

ericnliz

Ditto to that Ratkity!

DeeDee

@Photomom's article describes the situations we encountered, a couple of years ago, when our little valley hosted the Rainbow Family. A murder, several overdoses, quite a bit of shoplifting and general vagrancy was the norm. They set up camp in one the most beautiful high meadows in the area, which made it unsafe and unusable for most of us. I did speak with one dreadlocked young lady, who told me she was part of the clean-up crew and that they were working hard to clean up the area and even recycling. We are in no hurry to have them back. 

Photomom

The best line from the article I linked: "... a cross section of fringe culture: bikers, Jesus freaks, computer programmers, naked yogis, and gutter punks..."

Computer programmers? WTH? That may be some peoples' impression of us, but I can assure you it is far from the truth.

Mr_Mrs_Gnome

Ratkity said:

Welp, what I've learned so far is I like the flavor of the peoples here!

Not too chewy, not too crunchy, pretty sweet with a hint of spicy??

@jkjenn, so glad you like the CO T@Bbers. We like you & Rocky too. About the Rainbows, they overstay their welcome (which gets more and more restrictive in CO) and have trashed many of the pristine areas of the state. So sad that a group of folks who originally intended to do good have been hijacked.

Nomad

I don't know Photomom, I've met some programmers that would fit right in :-)

Photomom

Most are too interested in writing code and making money.

Nomad

Photomom - Worked on a very large Fortune 100 project and the highest paid tech/programmer (an Oracle guru) would fit right in. And probably half the programmers at burning man. :-)

ericnliz

PXL,
You're just cruel!

Nomad

Thank you :-)

ericnliz

You're so welcome!

Photomom

Lol. I'll bet @PXLated has some great campfire stories. 

Nomad

One thing I've noticed is that there are very few campfires amongst the travelers - Seems to be a weekender/vacationer thing. Gathering with morning coffee is more prevelent.

ChanW

Yeah, I'm missing something with that one.
I guess I haven't been keeping up...
Maybe I am part of the fringe...
Oh no...

Photomom said:

The best line from the article I linked: "... a cross section of fringe culture: bikers, Jesus freaks, computer programmers, naked yogis, and gutter punks..."

Computer programmers? WTH? That may be some peoples' impression of us, but I can assure you it is far from the truth.

Photomom

All I can say is, on my last project, I had one guy who was helping his brother start a construction biz in his spare time, one guy going for his masters, one guy who was a deacon at his church, one guy who coached his daughters' soccer teams, and one guy who worked from the deck of his lake house. And my quality engineer did obedience competitions with her corgis on the weekend. All perfectly normal. I was probably the quirkiest of the lot.