The Queen cleans up....finally!

While in town and after having lunch where we met our friend, Lila, we headed over to the showers.

We weren’t sure exactly where this was; just that it was across the street from the Roadrunner Market.  All that was over there was a long pole shed, but we pulled in anyway.  On the end nearest the street it was a little café.  In the center part was a laundry mat and there on the farthest end was a small sign announcing showers.

It was just as someone had told us, for $6 you get a key to enter a private stall with a large dressing area and a shower.  Included were a towel and washcloth, a small hotel sized bar of soap and there was baby shampoo in case you didn’t have your own.  Then it was 20 minutes of hot water and a marvelous shower.

I washed my hair for the first time in a week – then rinsed and repeated, twice.  It felt so good to luxuriate in the hot water, suds up and get really clean.  My apologies to the man at the counter when I startled him by giving him a hug…I just felt SO good again. We may have been able to shower in the RV, but we wanted to avoid this to conserve water.  Things are a bit different with no hookups.

Our boon docking routine goes a bit like this:  in the morning we turn on the generator and if the weather is cold, run the furnace to take the chill off.   The water heated is turned on so I can do up the dishes from the day before and coffee and cocoa are prepared.  Dishes are a once a day event to conserve water, and this does eliminate the guilt of letting them sit there….not that that has been a problem with me anyway.

Then the hotspot gets activated to check email and post the blog.  After the computer work is done, dishes are washed in the plastic dishpans and afterwards the water is transferred to a large bucket in the shower.  This water is used for flushing the toilet.  We try really hard not to waste any water because the only alternative is to drive the RV into town to dump the tanks and refill with fresh water, which is a hassle and involves a long dirty, rocky, bumpy ride to get into town.

After the need for electricity is over the generator is turned off to save gas and eliminate the noise to the neighbors.  There are those with multiple solar panels near us who don’t run any generators, so there is an unwritten code to try to be quiet with no running of the generators from 10pm to 6am.

In the evening the generators go back on to watch the evening news and shows we prefer – the computers are accessed again and supper is prepared.  I have used the gas oven to bake some cinnamon rolls, but I really like the way the microwave/convection oven bakes better.

Yup, the baking continues and I’m developing a reputation as the cinnamon roll queen here.  There’s nothing as satisfying as mixing up all the stuff and kneading it until it’s a smooth, elastic ball and waiting for it rise.  There’s lots of nice warmth and sunshine to get it rising quickly and the thrill of warm rolls right out of the oven is unbeatable.

It’s not really a big hassle to boon dock, it’s just a different way of living.  The upside is being able to park anywhere you want to, facing whatever direction you choose.  There are no wires or hoses to have to run, except for the satellite dish of course.  Oh, and the price is usually free of very nominal…that’s always nice also.

I think of boon docking as what you do when you live in an RV and decide to go “camping”. 

Boomerville is over now and the 129 RV's that were part of it are slowly easing out, but some are staying to enjoy the tranquility of the desert views in a quieter setting.

We have now moved to the area where the Geocachers are meeting until Wednesday.  I hope to gain a great deal of knowledge from the many seminars they have listed here.  I'm not sure how many rigs we have right now, but it seems most of Boomerville has come over this way.

We are parked off to the side a bit more alone and have a great view of the mountains.  I'll see if Blogger has decided to let me post photos more easily now, so photos are yet to come.

Long Live the Queen of Clean Living