RV Home Yet?

Family of 11 lives in a 24-foot RV

I came across an article about a surfer, Dr. Dorian Paskowitz, who packed his family into a 24-foot RV and traveled from surfing spot to surfing spot for twenty years. The family grew to 9 children. According to the article, two things were required of the kids: no school and surf everyday.

Dorian Paskowitz was an M.D. educated at Stanford and financially successful before the move to the RV yet his kids never went to school. The documentary, "Surfwise," chronicles their lives.

The article raises all sorts of questions for me. How did they manage with nine children in an RV? They must have stayed in fairly warm areas and utilized tents for the kids; that is a challenge in the winter. How did he earn a living? He was a celebrity of sorts in the surfing world, but still, that wouldn't support a family of 11. Why did he deny his kids an education? The documentary does include interviews with the children who have struggled to fit into today's world.

Are there others who are living off the grid and successfully staying below the government radar? Harder to do nowadays with Homeland Security requirements but maybe still possible. Not the common use of an RV, for sure.

To watch a short UTube video, click here. Jaimie Hall Bruzenak

Blacktop boondocking - casino style - revisited

Yesterday after I collected my car (after waiting an hour for the shuttle!), I drove by Casino Arizona where Alice and I boondocked in her Lazy Daze a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to get a couple of photos and share my experience.

This casino is set back from a major commuting artery, Highway 101, so was pretty quiet. The first night,. a Friday, we did have a car that wouldn't start parked right next to us and the young men came back several times over the course of the night to try to jump start it. They finally pushed it to another location. Before dark we had the door open and a teenager came by and said, "What's up?" He looked surprised to see two grandmothers; he thought it was a party. And, just as we were getting to bed, another vehicle had its stereo booming for ten minutes or so. At least it wasn't rap! Saturday night was actually very quiet and the parking lot not as crowded.

I was intrigued with the security provided during the day. Young men with yellow shirts with security emblazoned across the back patrolled the lots on bicycles. I looked at employment opportunities at the casino and the only current security openingis for an EMT/Security officer. They don't mention anything about riding a bike but it would make sense that your security officer is out patrolling as well as ready to respond to emergencies.

Yesterday two RVs were boondocking in the back of the lot. We'd had one other the two nights we stayed. This casino welcomes them but one had a propane tank out on the ground, which could indicate a long stay. At a Wal-Mart or other retail parking lot, this would be inappropriate and could cause of complaints that jeopardize RVers' ability to blacktop boondock there.
Casino Camping is a good source RVers that lists casinos that permit boondocking on their lots. Alice and I used it to locate Casino Arizona.

Add casinos to your mix of places to stay. You are close to entertainment and food, always a draw. Check your casino guide or with security so you aren't surprised late at night and have to move or leave.

Green RVing - an oxymoron?

Today my five year old great-niece took the last cookie out of a plastic container and asked, "Where do the recyclables go?" I was impressed! In the greater Los Angeles area, recycling is a way of life and Frannie is growing up sorting trash. Her parents do their best to lessen their environmental impact and pass this on as well.

When you think of RVing, it may be difficult to think of this lifestyle as a way of living "green." Yet an RV can make much less of an impact on the environment than the typical house and vehicle combination. It may be more difficult to find places to recycle trash, but some RVers do sort and save, at least when they are staying in an area that does have recycling available or dropoff locations. Boondocking, or camping without hookups, is another way. (Photo- boondocking in Quartzsite, AZ)

Tom and Nancy Vineski, who are perhaps the most environmentally conscious RVers I know, regularly do the following:

• boondock most of the time. Even in an RV park, they rely on solar power.
• put their food scraps in their worm farm which travels in one of the bins, adding the compost to plants as they convert scraps into compost.
• use a solar shower
• solar water heaters (photo below) 
• use a solar oven
• flush by pouring a plastic container of water in the toilet. They can use dish water this way.
• buy and sell used books, find magazines in the give away boxes at libraries
• use their solar panels to produce nearly all their electrical needs. Tom sells panels and can figure out what an RV needs and reduce the silent loads.

Other ideas include staying in one location longer thus traveling fewer miles, use biodiesel fuel when possible, take a Navy shower and conserve water in general, use fluorescent lights, purchase fewer items, and have fewer possessions or "stuff," in general.

Tom and Nancy just returned from Europe where they rented a van and traveled for a couple of months. Europe is definitely more "green" than the U.S. You can read more about that and their trip at their blog.

Do you have other ways you minimize your environmental impact while RVing? Let's hear them!