It’s hard to believe we’ve been camping at the Slabs for nearly two months. Time is flying and each free, glorious day out here in the desert reminds me why we love this lifestyle so much.
You don’t have to be rich to go full-time RVing, just creative in how you pay for it. Take camping fees. In our earliest days on the road we budgeted for RV parks and campgrounds at an average cost of about $25 a night. But now we know; if we had stuck with that terrible plan, our road trip would have ended seven years ago!
We rarely pay that much for a night and when we do it’s because we have no choice. Instead, we take a Chinese menu a-la-carte approach to paying for camp sites which includes:
- Getting half-off RV park stays by using our Passport America club membership
- Boondocking on BLM lands like Quartzsite
- and now, adding Boondockers Welcome into the mix
What’s Boondocker’s Welcome?
Boondockers Welcome is a low-key club geared just for frugal RVers like us. Created by boondocking expert Marianne Edwards, author of The Frugal Shunpikers Guides, a popular series of in-depth free RV camping travel e-books, Boondockiers Welcome is for people who want to meet friendly RVers that have overnight parking spaces for other RVers.
Find the Best Frugal RV Living Books
Here’s how you can add free camping into your fulltiming budget:
- For $24,95* – less than the cost of one night in a full-hookup RV park, you can search the growing database of available free RV parking opportunities
- If you have property where others can stay, even if it’s vacant land in the mountains, you can join for just $19.95.*
- Every member who fills out a profile can allow other members to “meet” them online: from their age group to their rig size, the property owner’s camping accommodations and even if pets are welcome at that spot. All bases are covered before two parties ever agree on meeting up.
- One yearly membership gives members you the ability to access free camping areas whether they’re in big cities or rural towns near famous natural attractions.
What makes Boondockers Welcome better than any free camping website is that the locations are completely discrete until two paying members agree to meet up. Even after an arrangement is made, that location never gets broadcast over the Internet, thus keeping cool boondocking parking spots a secret from the non-paying public.
We really like this service. Take a tour of the Boondockers Welcome club’s brand new website and learn more, then add it into your RVing budget for more affordable journeys, whether they’re for a whole season or just a few days.
Join Boondockers Welcome and Save! Or find host locations near you.
*Prices, offers and terms subject to change
Rene,
Sure. I live a couple miles from the Buffalo River in Jasper, Arkansas (the BEST part of the Ozark Mountains 🙂 ). The Buffalo is America’s first National River; the headwaters, and the river is protected for 150 miles through towering bluffs, with caves and beautiful Ozark Mountains all around. (very primitive) Great canoeing river, hiking trails, beautiful country. My parking spot overlooks Big Creek Valley, dubbed the “grand canyon of the Ozarks” (which is a bit of an overstatement, but still beautiful). In addition to a spot next to my home, I can advise on great places to boondock for free in the area on National Forest Land.
Ohhh my gosh Scott we’ve always wanted to go there. I read a book, “Road to Quoz” by one of my favorite authors, William Least Heat Moon, who traveled through there extensively and wrote about it. We are ALL OVER your generous invite! Not now but eventually. You’re so lucky!
Sounds like something I might be interested in joining. We’ve been tossing around the idea of buying a remote piece of property and setting up an RV pad to use as a potential place to go if we get tired of traveling or just as a respite from campground rules. It would be nice to test out the idea on someone else’s property and then be able to offer ours up when we’re not using it. Having someone there is better than NOT having anyone there if they take care of it.
Agree with you totally Ginger, it’s a great way to have that property looked after. Having that property is a nice little feather in your cap for those times when you want to take a break. We are headed back to our spot in Colorado for the summer, to hunker down and write a book. It’s nice to have that option without worrying about paying for rent somewhere. Where are you thinking of looking for your place?
Coolest idea ever.
Really hope it keeps on spreading.
I am not even RV’ing yet, but am going to join anyway, as I got a great place to park for other boondockers.
oooh awesome Scott! Yes do join, the more who participate the better. Care to give us a general idea of where that great spot is located? Thanks for reading.
Hmmm may have to consider joining that group! Kind of sounds like fun!
What’s really cool about it is you can check out other people’s profiles and decide if they’re someone you want to meet. Escapees has a similar kind of option in their “Days End” directory but without knowing what your host is like, it’s a true gamble if you take ’em up on that hospitality. I at least like to know if someone’s a dog person and Boondockers Welcome does that.