Nomad newbie

Todd · Jul 9, 2021

Hi!

I'm brand spanking new to living as a nomad. I moved out of my rental on June 30 with my (almost) adult son. Today is Day #9!

We're boondocking in a wall tent since both of us are "big and tall". Our little family car wasn't going to house us, so I picked up a light duty trailer to haul our tent and gear. Just working with what I have!

At the moment, we're in Colorado using elevation to beat the heat, and be in touch with family in Denver.

I'm finding the hardest part is locating spots with cell, drivable roads (because small car), and within a couple of hours of Denver.

Any suggestions?
What are the best apps to find & filter locations?

We've never done extended camping before, so this is diving in the deep end to learn how to swim. I'll admit it's a challenge.

Any advice is welcome!

john*thomas · Jul 9, 2021

https://freecampsites.net/

RvDreams · Jul 9, 2021

Welcome Todd to the CRVL forums! freecampsites.net is the first choice.

To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips, Tricks and Rules" post lists some helpful information to get you started.

Most of our rules boil down to two simple over-riding principles: 1) What you post should provide good information (like your introductory post), and 2) Any response to someone else's post should make them feel glad they are part of this forum community.

We look forward to hearing more from you.

bullfrog · Jul 9, 2021

We started out just as you and after a few trips built a box using the methods from tnttt.com foamies forum to make secure storage for our our camping gear as well as a wind proof place to sleep in bad weather, sort of a square drop type trailer. Used 4-20"x 30" yellow top totes with a 30"x 80" piece of plywood on top make a great bed for sleeping so no cots required. Used a lot of Ryobi 18 volt ( we had the batteries already as we had previously bought Ryobi tools) lights and fans (now a power station is available) along with a Vehicle Charger and house battery with 100 watt suitcase solar served all our electrical needs. Biggest hassle for us was we were traveling and seldom stayed more than a day or two in one place. We usually would take down camp last day in one place and sleep in the trailer, travel during the next day and sleep in the trailer that night and set up camp the next day. It works great if you are staying two weeks in one spot, not so great if traveling daily.

nature lover · Jul 10, 2021

At this time I don’t have much advice but I will welcome you hardly to this forum. Stick around and let us know how you guys are faring and what specific questions you have. You did ask about Boondocking out in Colorado etc. and I have no knowledge of any of that since I’m in East Coast cure. I would say you have lots of national forest out there look into State Forest to. Here in PA we have lots of State Forest sites. I’ve been thinking about trying every one of them. Welcome to the forum.

Todd · Jul 10, 2021

bullfrog said:
"foamies"

That's my new word of the day. I looked at the tnttt.com site. Very interesting stuff. We might be able to make some trailer improvements. Thanks for the reference and the feedback. Much appreciated!