[VAL] list slowdown/boondocking

["Scott & Lise Scheuermann" <S.L.Scheuermann@xxxxxxx>]

FYI, the list ALWAYS slows down in the middle of winter. Up north (and I'm 
not even in Minnesota!) its just too cold for most people to enjoy camping 
unless you happen to be a ski enthusiast, which I am not. Even if I wanted 
to the private campgrounds are all closed, don't know about the ones the 
state runs! My idea of perfect winter camping is to rent a cabin in the 
middle of the woods with a huge picture window next to a roaring fire in the 
fireplace!

Its also too cold for me to accomplish most of the to-do list on the 
trailer. It might be different if I was permitted to park her at home, but 
I'm not. So in short, I can't use it, I can't fix it. So I really don't have 
many questions for the list. Yup, I read the digest every day, but there is 
not much that I can contribute.

On a bright note I have started planning our summer-long vacation. It will 
take us from Ohio to Oregon for the big rally, going through several 
national parks on the way. Then up north to Alaska! We have been threatening 
to do this for 4 or 5 years now. Figured we gotta do it now as fuel costs 
are only going to go up.  :-(    Now to figure out how we can do it without 
losing the house!

OK maybe I do have something to offer the list. On our trip this summer I am 
considering boondocking in National Forests from time to time. My question 
is, am I realistically going to be able to enter an unfamiliar Nat'l forest, 
find a forest service road, drive down it a ways and find a place that I can 
pull my rig all of the way off the road and park there overnight, then be 
able to get turned around to get back to the main road? Perhaps I am 
mistaken, but these lands seem to be heavily forested. I would think that 
clearings are few and far in between. I understand that there is logging 
that goes on. But the only areas of forest that I have seen logged were so 
full of leftover junk that you couldn't even walk through it, let alone get 
a 25 foot pickup with a 26 foot trailer anywhere near it!

While I will be arriving at each day's destination before dark, I most 
likely we will arrive just in time for a late dinner and will not be able to 
devote more than 15 or 20 minutes searching for a place to park. When the 
kids get hungry they get cranky. Its no fun with cranky kids! Only once or 
twice will we stay in this type of a situation more than 1 night. Is it 
realistic to think that we can do this? Or should I just stick to camping 
within the established Nat'l Forest campgrounds and pay the fee so we can 
"enjoy' such conveniences as the pit toilets that we will not use!

I am really looking forward to a bit of solitude...just nervous about 
carting along the wife and young kids without knowing that there is a 15X50 
plot of land that we can park on without being bothered.

Scott