Simple Living and Simple Travel

Surely Onyx is not going after the duck. Spent another week over in the Burro Mountains. I was able to hike up to Jacks Peak a few times. The sand had mostly dissipated at the top so I could see where the trail went. Nice easy hike with only a 1600’ elevation gain in 4 miles. Took me about an hour and a half to hike up. There are radio towers up there and old foundations. Most of our dusk walks are meanders where there are no trails. We came across this gravesite off in the brush. There was a plastic box, about the size of a small shoebox, buried under these rocks. Maybe someone buried a small pet out here. Onyx is like an early warning system. If he hears or sees someone coming near our camping spot, he’ll start to growl, even if they are over 100 yards away. It gives me a good heads-up whether we are inside or out. It’s pretty cool. Then, however, he runs and hides and leaves me to fend for myself. Well, geocaching.com wouldn’t post my cache since I do not live in the area and would

Forget it. Go get a used 22’ Airstream with decent insulation and double-pane windows, hook up to 120V every night, and run ceramic heaters. I’m talkin’ cold here, not merely the 20’s and 30’s—but single digit and teen temps at night without electric hookups in small poorly insulated rigs. Most RVers just keep the furnace running and have a generator supplement one’s solar panels but the noise would drive me up the wall. It’s not why I go off to the Outdoors. First off, small fiberglass trailers are not designed for these temps. Maybe the Oliver with its double shell construction and double pane windows would be okay. I don’t know anyone who dry-camps at these temps in one for extended periods. My casita is an absolutely stellar camper for three seasons. A part of each winter off the grid can be a tad nippy. This winter, since I left Moab in October, I had 72 days with 120V. 22 of them while at Lynn’s in Bisbee but that was mostly for my MacBook. The other winter days I was either dr