Pictures from Byron's and Leigh's Excellent Adventure

Pictures from Byron/KY1T's and Leigh's wandering adventures
June of 2001 -- Boondocking In a Virginia Horse Pasture

To see larger pictures, click on any below that interest you

In early June, we left Virginia Beach and headed NorthWest, up to Shenandoah County Virginia. We knew we wanted to boondock (camping without electric, water, or sewer hookups) so as to test out our solar panels and new fork truck battery capabilities.

It's just that ... we didn't know WHERE!

Immediately after "landing", we found a horse/mule stable that catered to the equestrian crowd, but which was willing to take campers, even without horses.

The stable hosts, Rick and Sandy, showed us around. What we didn't know was that they had saved the best for last. At the end of the tour of the property they mentioned that we might be happiest with what they were about to show us, which turned out to be a very delightful meadow, overlooking a beautiful pond (stocked with a large number of large-mouthed bass).

After spending one night in the meadow, we drove around the next day in the George Washington National Forest, looking for boondocking spots big enough for our behemouth. Eventually, we just sorta looked at each other and realized (aloud) that it just wasn't ever going to get any better than what we already had. So we went back to the Stable and told Rick we'd like the site for a month.

Oh, what peaceful solitude! Aside from the 17 horses that tended to show a fair amount of inquisitiveness (usually somewhere around 3AM...), we had no neighbors, no distracting noises, and ... well... it was just perfection.

We wondered, at first, how we'd deal with the lack of commercial electricity, and how we'd get adequate water to the RV, not to mention the fact that we recently installed a washer/dryer that was "hungry" for both water and electricity. We discovered that if we ran the motor/alternator only during those times when we were using large amounts of electricity, the solar panels would keep the huge batteries well fed. It seemed a shame to have to disturb the tranquility of the meadow-in-the-mountains, but it was only for 10 - 15 minutes a "laundry day", so we could live with that just fine.

As for fresh water, our holding tank holds 50 gallons. So that's fine for several days of showers dish-washing, etc, but only enough for one or two loads of laundry. Anyway, the drill turned out to be: load up the 40 gallon Rubbermaid tub into the back of the truck, drive on down off the the meadow to the stable, fill the tub with water, drive back to the meadow and pump the 40 gallons into the holding tank. Repeat twice on laundry days. Sigh...

We have a campfire going most every evening. Byron enjoys gathering firewood and can often be seen (by whom? The deer? The horses?) out in the woods, or at the edges of the meadow, with Leigh's little red wagon and a large pair of pruning sheers.

And the fishing! We discovered that there's basically two kinds of fish in the pond, just outside our windows. First, there's the litle sunfish. A worm on a hook, cast out into the middle of the pond will sit there for -- maybe -- five seconds before it gets nailed. But ... that's only half the story. Then there's the second kind of fish -- the huge large-mouth bass. And THEY are caught by casting the poor little sunfish back out into the water. Getting the monster fish to actually get the hook is another matter, but it sure is a lot fun hauling them in and then -- alas -- letting them go for the next time around.

One of the pix below (not sure of the order, but SOMEWHERE below) shows a chopped up school bus, now being utilized to haul hay. We're not certain if this is a case of the local country folks' "can-do-with-what-we-got" attitude, or an indication of the number of school children needing daily transport...

Some of these pictures were taken at "Story Book Trail" which is an easy drive from the Stable where we're camped, and provides an astounding view of the valley east of us

While we dearly love this property, we suddenly became aware that our new truck has been completed in Mexico and was being shipped this week to Denver. So it looks like we're headed West for a bit... The plan is to boondock at a favorite spot in Nebraska until we're sure that the truck is ready, and then get the air-ride trailer hitch installed, also in the Denver area. We'll leave our present truck on consignment with the Ford Fleet dealer in Denver, and hope for a very quick sale...

After two weeks of camping in the meadow, we opted to move down the hill a couple hundred yards, which proved to be cooler, closer to the pond, and out of the way of the horses a bit more.

All in all, this was a fabulous place to camp, and we consider ourselves very fortunate to have discovered it. If you'd like to camp here yourselves (or even do some serious horse riding!), give Rick & Sandy a call at 540-933-6633; they'd be delighted to hear from you. Tell 'em that Byron & Leigh (the "hill hermits") sent ya.