Boondocking

BOONDOCKING AT WALMART?!?…SAY WHAT????

OK, it’s time for a little camper education on BOONDOCKING. What is boondocking? If you are new to camping, you’re probably wondering. Boondocking is essentially camping without hookups…which means no water, electric or sewer. That is, if you don’t have a generator or a fresh water tank. Thankfully, we have both so even without hookups, it’s not really roughing it. We were really shocked to find out that people actually boondocked at Walmarts around the country. I mean, REALLY???? WHY IN THE WORLD???!!!! But just to say we did, we wanted to try it out on our adventure. Who knew it’d be so early on….

It was a huge travel day as we headed North on I-81 through 5 states (NC, VA, WV, MD, PA)! We hit our goal to travel the distance, but pulling a 44ft camper is tiring so we knew we’d need to stop in the Wilkes-Barre area. No campgrounds anywhere close! So Walmart it was. Turns out it was a popular stop. By dark, there were several campers & even more trucks surrounding us. We slept pretty well & awoke ready for the last leg of our journey to Cape Cod & Boston. Would we do it again? Well…YES! It was quick & easy…so convenient to just hit the road early on a big travel day.

Speaking of getting an eduation…we got one in the wonderful little town of Old Salem, NC. Did you know that it has nothing to do with the Witch Trials of the late 1600’s? Some homeschool mom I am!!! We arrived expecting to see the town with everyone in their period clothing teaching us all about the trades & the lifestyle of the era. It didn’t fall short. It was so fun to step back in time, see the tradesmen at work, taste the piping hot sugar cake fresh from the brick oven & savor the thin, crispy Moravian ginger cookies…but witch museums, NOT ONE. We completed our audiobook just before arriving, Witches!: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem. Yes, we were preparing for our adventures in Salem, MA, but we just thought….. well, I’ll just say that Salem, NC was established about 100 years AFTER the Witch Trials in MA. I had to chuckle at my assumption!

One last note…the word Salem means peace, commonly supposed to be another name of Jerusalem, which also explains why so many towns in our country chose this name!!