Just a few miles south of Sedona is a dirt road that goes on for miles with little camping nooks all over it. We drove in about five miles down the washboard road and found a nice spot with killer views of the red rocks the area is famous for.
Lowe, pretending to be a cat.
Uncle Eddie.
This vintage Airstream guy walked over and said, “Nice Travco.” Which in and of itself seems unremarkable except that this is probably just the second time anyone has actually known what our bus is.
I’m sure I told this story before, but right before we bought our last boat we almost bought a vintage Airstream. There were a handful of sweet restored Airstreams for sale in the 18-23 foot range, so we decided to buy the tow vehicle first and then go visit the Airstreams. We were bidding on eBay for a sweet old Jeep Wagoneer, but got beat out at the last second. And with that we decided to skip the trailer life and go back to boats. Shortly after that we came within two thousand dollars of closing a deal on a boat in Seattle, but when the guy wouldn’t meet us in the middle and drop his price $1,000 more on a $75,000 boat, we told him to forget it, too. Not long after that we found the Spindrift on Craigslist, and the rest is history. We’re pretty happy with the way things went.
Daytime temps have been nice, but man does it get cold at night. We don’t have a heater on the bus. The original propane heater wasn’t salvageable, so we tore it out. We almost replaced it, but then decided we were on our way to Mexico, and that wouldn’t be very useful down there. We’ve got a little electric one that keeps us above freezing when we are plugged in to power, but it sucks too much juice to use when we’re boondocking. Instead, we sleep in our clothes, throw on an extra blanket, and pray that the sun will indeed rise the next morning.
No better kids’ toys than a couple of flaming sticks.
25 Comments on “Camping Sedona”
I love having a propane heater in my Westy, even though it’s a pure liability. I don’t use it a lot. It was expensive. And I already had to send it back once because it wouldn’t light. (Installed Aug. 2009, repaired May 2011, still working so far.) And this is a modern, electronic gizmo, not some old clunky heater. But it makes me feel good to know it’s there, and bad at the same time wondering if it’ll light on the day I really need it. (I test it every few weeks.)
My attachment to it is just one of those irrational things.
We have a 1977 GMC motorhome and whilst we do have a working propane heater, my girls love their hot water bottles. As mother used to say “heat the bed not the room”
You need to get a Mr. Buddy portable propane heater. We love ours!
Here is the link to Amazon, but I have occasionally seen them cheaper at Walmart… http://amzn.to/1RFQNur
Too funny — we are going to Walmart tomorrow to pick one up. Heading to the Valley of the Gods and Gooseneck next week and it’s going to be cold.
Big trucks use a diesel Wabasto heater that is fairly efficient. You’d have to put a small fuel tank on for supply fuel but I think you’d be pretty happy with it. We love ours!
Camp fire sleeping bags..rough it…
Throw a rock in the fire and put it in your bed to keep warm toes. Have done this millions of times.
Wow RB and Ree – you guys are hardcore, I must be a baby. We are heading to town tomorrow to get a Mr. Heater Little Buddy (what kind of name is that??!!) to warm us up at night. It’s for the kids…
Whoa Nelly!!!….You just showed up on Hitch-Itch….I hope this is a good thing for you guys……
When you get the “Buddy” you can get an adapter to fill 1# tanks from larger ones….Save a whole bunch of $$$$.
Your kidz seem to be having too much fun..There must be a law against that in the U.S.A…….
Safe Travels,
David
What is this hitch itch? The guy added us to the 1990s looking site and announced grandly that our hits would increase greatly. They increased .5%. I can’t tell if this is supposed to be a joke, or what.
You have become true minimalists. A goal worth aspiring to.
Ok, the the real keep one warm when winter camping. Big fire..lots of coals and/or rocks. Then dig a swallow hole sleeping bag size..throw in the coals/rocks..cover with dirt at least 3-4″, over with leaves.pine needles etc. then sleeping mat and then sleeping bag..warm all night. Too thin a dirt mat and watch out!! rude awakening around 2 A.M. with a hot foot or ass.
Some just dig the hole first put the fire in it and then just spread the coals right there.
But I do like the hot rock in bed idea too..like the old bed warmer thing, hot coals in a lidded pan on a long handle run around the bed for a few minutes before getting in.
So happy to learn about making a warm bed when camping in winter! Thanks.
Here’s a version of the propane cannister refill adapter mentioned by Upriverdavid. These things are awesome. Saves money and reduces waste. Mr. Heaters are great!
http://www.amazon.com/Propane-Pound-Tank-Refill-Adapter/dp/B000AMC5WO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459086142&sr=8-1&keywords=propane+filler
We have the Mr. Heater Big Buddy and it works well. Those refill adapters are handy but you have to put the green bottles in the freezer for a bit and then invert the big tank for them to work. Also sold at Harbor Freight.
Hope to see you on the road. We will be out and about the NW for the summer.
Been following you guys since, um, day one! I have a dream of going coast to coast having never travelled on anything more than a two lane road. It seems you always travel on two lane roads. Do you think my dream is possible?
We’re never happy when we have to venture off onto an Interstate. I’ve thought about doing the same trip as you describe. I think it is totally doable, but will take some solid planning. Ideally, though, you’ve got all the time in the world, you get in your car, and you just start driving. If you run into a bigger road, you just turn around and search out the smaller.
My dad grew up with his mom heating bricks in the oven and wrapping them in towels to put at the foot of his bed.
Oh yeah, well my dad was so poor they couldn’t even afford bricks. 🙂
Your dad had a bed?
sorry, couldn’t resist.
When your in Utah We have a house in Centerfield (12mi north of Salaina) you can park at. If your going through Central Utah we have power, water and an RV sewer hookup so it’s kind of like a private RV camp ground.
That’s 12 miles north of Salina Utah
Killer site. Just found it. You mention you don’t have a heater. Get a Mr. Heater Buddy (the big one. I have the small one). I discovered I didn’t have a heater on my rig as well after I bought it (didn’t check it out prior to buying and wasn’t concerned about it as I do limited cold weather camping), BUT MHB is great. Like you said, you can get through it with blankets and such, but warming things up just before bed and waking up is the way to go and Mr. Heater Buddy does the job. I love mine and pretty much anybody that has one loves it too. Best of luck.
Ha, just read the comments above and saw a few recommend the same. Seriously, they are great.
So we bought one on Mar 27th. By April 27th it was broken. Just stopped working. Going to bring it back to Wal-Mart next one we pass.