Before the madness of SEMA 2018 and another freakish Fremont Street Halloween, we spent a couple weeks at one of our favorite boondocking spots on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Henderson, actually, but close enough and yet just far enough away to escape the big city.

We like it because it’s free, for starters, and we really prefer boondocking over staying in any RV park. Free boondocking is even better.

We also enjoy going for a run along this remote stretch of highway without attempting suicide on busy city streets. The more remote the better…

Because the dispersed camping at Government Wash is free, it tends to attract all sorts. We won’t get into the vandewlling neighbor who left his pile of human waste behind before moving down the road a bit to do the same. But then I guess I just did.

Some RVers visiting this location don’t seem to understand the limits of their rigs. Or they don’t care about what damage they may do taking them off road to find a level spot.

Others seem to have it down, and come prepared for anything. While others still, will clearly take all their comforts of home just about anywhere!

Okay, technically speaking, the Lake Mead National Recreation Area is not totally free. There is a park entrance fee of $25 which gets you 7 days of “free” camping. An annual pass is $45, but since it is part of the National Park system, we we used our $80 annual America The Beautiful Pass to get in. I call that free camping!