What Is Dry Camping?

Over Labor Day Weekend we traveled to Ohio and dry camped the whole time.

What's dry camping, you ask?

Dry camping, also called boondocking, is when you camp without being hooked up to water, sewer or electricity like you would at a campground. Our MH has a generator to provide power, a holding tank for water and a holding tank for you-know-what, so we can stop anywhere, fix a meal, take a nap, or go to the bathroom.

Why dry camp? For one thing, it's less expensive than paying for a camp site. It's also faster and offers more flexibility. Plus, with it being Labor Day weekend most campgrounds were full and also charging holiday rates.

On our first night, we stopped at Scioto Downs Racetrack and Casino south of Columbus. They have a large lot for RVs and were very welcoming. After we got situated, we went in and promptly blew the equivalent of one night's campground fees on the slot machines. We stayed at Scioto Downs when we were in Ohio in July and enjoyed it. Maybe on one of our trips we'll get there in time to actually see the harness racing.

The next morning we drove to Tiffin (see last post about lunch at Phoebe's/138 in Tiffin) where Chris's mom lives in an apartment in a senior citizen complex. We parked in the parking lot (they had free wifi!) and spent two nights visiting with Chris's mom and other family in Tiffin without anyone having to worry about getting out the fancy guest towels.

After that, we drove to Ada and parked across the street from our house there while we did some home repairs and visited friends. This was particularly handy since the water is off at the house, but with the MH we had a bathroom when needed and didn't have to go running to McD's.

Dry camping is also fast when you're just trying to make time. On the way home, we didn't want to bother going off the highway to find a campground so we simply pulled into a rest area, put out the slides and went to bed. Next morning we had a nice breakfast and then pulled back onto the highway.

Some people make it their goal to never pay for camp sites so they dry camp or boondock all the time. That doesn't appeal to us at all, but we are glad that our MH has all the things we need so that we can dry camp if and when we want to.

Maybe we'll be pulling into your driveway next.