Brrrr! Very cold this morning!
The crew and I sleep late after a false start that sent us back under the covers. Last night before bed I put the heater on for about an hour. By morning the BLT is very chilly. The wind blows us right back inside from the necessary morning run.
Mid-morning I drive us over to Sunset View Campground.
I want to fill up some of my empty water jugs. I expect to see the campground crowded like when we first arrived at Navajo National Monument. It’s deserted! Not one camper . . Hmm . . . I know it’s cold, but no one is here?
I stop at the restrooms to look for the water spigot.
Mystery solved . . . A sign explains, “Water turned off due to cold.” Oh, maybe that’s why no one is here. Well, I can get more water in Kayenta tomorrow on our way to Monument Valley.
Another reason for driving over to Sunset View Campground is for the three of us to absorb the sunny warmth of the PTV, rather than turning on the heater in the BLT. I am cheap, you know. More about that in a little bit.
Bridget, Spike, and I stroll around Canyon View Campground.
I’m surprised to find about twenty vacant tents down at the group site. All the other sites in the campground remain empty. Back at the BLT I open up the laptop and dive into my financial reports for 2012. Here it is May and I’m finally getting around to adding up the figures!
How much does it cost to full-time it?
Well, for me, it costs less than $13,000 a year! Total dollars spent for calendar year 2012 comes to $12, 867.91. That’s for everything. In 2012 the crew and I traveled through Arizona, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada and California. We went from the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, forty miles from Mexico, to the Black Hills of South Dakota to the Pacific Ocean and back to the Sonoran again.
Camping fees paid for the entire year? $788.82 — The highest camp fee was $20 for a tent site for one night at Harris State Park on the Pacific Coast in southern Oregon.
Mostly we camped for free!
Sixty-nine percent of the days of 2012 we paid no camping fee (252 days). I’ve been on the road since August 2011 and I can positively say that it is possible to camp for free every day of the year. We’re fortunate that we don’t have to do that, but it’s good to know it’s possible. I’m very pleased with these figures. We are “living on less and enjoying life more!”
This afternoon the crew and I attempt Aspen Trail.
We don’t go far before it becomes apparent that this trail is too steep for the crew. Bridget is the first to look at me with a face that pleads, “Can we go back, please?”
I put the crew in the PTV and hike the trail by myself. It’s an exhilarating hike that gives the long view of Betatakin Canyon.
Aspen Trail
Tomorrow the crew and I are back on the road!
rvsue
rvsue and her canine crew 