Boon-Docking in Mobile, Alabama - Visiting Family (March 2023)

We were starting a new “camping season” and discovered a problem with Rosie, our Airstream trailer, while in our first campground. The water heater wasn’t working. 

We called the technical support teams at the Airstream factory and our dealer. They quickly diagnosed the issue. We were relieved when our dealer, Foley RV/Airstream of Mississippi, told us to be there around 8:00 Monday morning and they would take care of us. 

RV'ers know that you always need to plan for unplanned things. Our original plan was to travel from Destin to Keesler Air Force Base for a night then to the first campground on the Airstream Club's Cajun Caravan arriving on Monday. Plan B meant we needed to be in Gulfport, Mississippi on Monday. We needed to stay an extra day at Keesler. 

I-10 Tunnel near Mobile, Ala.

Instead of being a problem, we saw this as an opportunity to driveway camp at our son's house, watch our grandson's team play baseball and celebrate our daughter-in-law’s birthday a little early. 

Driveway camping in Mobile, Ala

This was the second time we ended up camping in their driveway after an unplanned change in our carefully planned camping trips. 

Our daughter-in-law’s birthday celebration came up first. There is an amazing seafood restaurant in Bayou La Batre that we enjoy. The food was amazing and we enjoyed her birthday celebration. 

Enjoying ice cream in Bayou La Batre

We went to our grandson’s T-Ball game the next day. We were impressed by his progress from his first year playing the sport. 

Slugger at bat!

We didn’t unhitch Rosie because we knew we would need to quickly leave after the game to get to Keesler AFB during daylight. We were glad that our Plan B allowed us to driveway camp in Mobile and visit our son’s family while there. 

Linville Falls National Campground - Linville Falls, North Carolina (May 2019)

When you think of camping in a National Park, you think of boon-docking or camping without utilities. Most National Parks simply give you space to park your camper but no electricity, water or sewer connections.

Linville Falls National Campground was along the Blue Ridge Parkway and was under the administrative control of the National Park Service. We knew going in that this was going to be camping without hookups, which can be scary during June. No hook-ups translates to no air conditioning.

Linville Falls

The good news was that the temperatures were pleasantly comfortable. In fact, it was chilly at night. 

We did run the generator to make sure Rosie's batteries were charged, but we probably didn’t need to do so. (Rosie is our 25 foot Airstream trailer.)

Charging Rosie's batteries

The campground itself was nice. It had paved roads and a big grassy meadow area in the middle of it.

Rosie's site at Linville Falls National Campground

You cannot camp there without hiking to Linville Falls. This proved to be a popular hike with many people on it.

Linville Falls

Grandfather Mountain State Park was a surprise to us. We enjoyed the mile-high swinging bridge and the “Forest Gump” curve that was easily recognizable from the movie.

Grandfather Mountain State Park

He just felt like running!

Suzy waits for her "Daddy" to return from the mile high swinging bridge

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site was paved with asphalt
• We had to use our leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean
• This was a “dry” campground. That means there were no electrical, water or sewer connections 
• The campground had restrooms with flush toilets and running water in the sinks 
• The campground did not have showers 
• We could not pick up any TV stations using Rosie’s antenna 
• The park did not provide WiFi service 
• AT&T placed one bar of 4G service over our site. This wasn’t reliable for voice or data service 

There were several bear boxes located around the campground. This was a reminder that we were in bear country and that we needed to be safe while there.

We were excited to see that our nighttime critter visitors to the campground included lightning bugs. After our Blue Ghost experience in Asheville, we welcomed our little visitors and enjoyed their show.

Boondocking at a truck stop on I-65 near the Kentucky/Tennessee state line

After four days in the service center at Airstream's headquarters in Jackson Center, Ohio, our camper was ready and we got on the road around 5 p.m. We wanted to get a few hours down the road so that we could reach home before sunset the following day. (See the previous posting to learn about our adventures at Airstream's factory service center.) That meant we needed to be south of Cincinnati and Louisville before stopping for the night. Our goal was to find a place to camp before 10 p.m. and to be back on the road early the following morning.
We use the AllStays app on our iPhones to find potential places to camp for the night. As we were heading south on I-65 in Kentucky, we were running out of options and decided to stop at the Flying J Travel Plaza at Exit 2.

Rosie spot for the night

This turned out to be a huge truck stop with spaces for more than 170 trucks. Since we were arriving late that night, it appeared that most of the truck parking spots were full.
One of the things we learned from our first night boondocking at a truck stop was to get as far away from the trucks as possible. That way you don't have to listen to their desel engines and air breaks all night. We found a place to park next to the curb in front of the Denny's restaurant and figured we found our spot for the night.
The temperature was in the teens and the memory foam on Rosie's bed (our 25 foot Airstream trailer) was hard as a rock. We fired up the furnace and went inside the truck stop while the heater took the chill off inside Rosie.
The cold may have been responsible for the LED lights in the main cabin area not working. We would turn them on and they would quickly dim. The LED lights in the bedroom area worked fine. The main cabin LED lights are on a dimmer while the bedroom lights are not. Now that we are home and Rosie is in her inside storage space, we have been unable to replicate that problem.
After hanging out inside the store for a while, we ventured back out to Rosie. The furnace was working hard and we doubt that it turned off during the night. The memory foam on the bed didn't have time to thaw out and continued to be stiff, but we were warm enough inside Rosie.
The lessons we learned from our first camping experience at a truck stop paid off. By not parking in the middle of the trucks, we didn't hear their constant loud noises.
We were glad we decided to start heading home when Rosie was released from Airstream's service center. Once we were on the road that morning, we realized that we would be home in time to pick up our dog, who we boarded at her vet.
We have to classify our trip to Ohio as a success. We were able to make some improvements to Rosie, fix several nagging problems and learned many new things about camping in an Airstream trailer. In addition, we found the farm that Becky's father grew up on and that led us to many pleasant memories.
We are already planning the next round of improvements for our next trip to Jackson Center, Ohio.

Boondocking at a truck stop on I-71 north of Louisville

We heard that some national retailers permit campers to stay overnight in their parking lots, but we never considered stopping at a truck stop. This idea came up in conversation with some camping neighbors while staying along the Florida Gulf coast.

That was a timely idea because we found ourselves on the road about two weeks later and needing a place to stop for the night with no campgrounds near us.

We had a growing list of repairs for Rosie, our 25 foot Airsteam trailer, and we heard that it was hard to beat the factory service at the company's factory in Jackson Center, Ohio. The word must be out because Airstream's service center is booked solid and we had to wait more than three months for our scheduled appointment. We booked our time and hoped that the weather would be good during November, the timeframe we ended up with for our service appointment.

Entering Tennessee while on the road to Ohio

Bet you don't see signs similar to this in the North

The Kentucky state line

Selfie at a Kentucky rest stop

That brings us to a truck stop in northern Kentucky.

Our camping site for the night

The weather forecast for the day before our appointment predicted snow and freezing temperatures. We both grew up in Florida and have lived in the Deep South most of our lives. The idea of towing 6,000 pounds of aluminum over snow and ice wasn't appealing to us, so we we left two days early and timed our arrival in Ohio a day ahead of the winter weather.

Our goal for Sunday was to get far enough up the road so that we could easily reach Jackson Center on Monday before 4 p.m. This would allow us to park in Airstream's Terraport, where we could stay without a camping fee while our trailer was being worked on.

So, that was the set-up. We calculated that we needed to camp north of Louisville if we were going to arrive in Jackson Center on time. The Pilot Truck Stop, or Travel Center as they called it, at exit 28 in Pendleton, Kentucky was our camp site for the evening.

Rosie in the middle of the trucks that evening

Having never ventured into the land of the 18-wheelers for the night, we first went inside the store to ask permission. It turns out that boondocking at truck stops is common and they said to find a spot and have a good evening on their lot.

The temperature was in the mid-30s that night and Rosie's propane heater did a great job keeping us warm.

Rosie after spending the night at the truck stop

We were not prepared for the loud sounds of the air breaks and diesel engines reving up all night. We will be better prepared for these annoyances the next time we camp at a truck stop.

We categorized our stay at a truck stop as an adventure and will not hesitate to try again in the future.