Boondocking Where We Can & The Surprises That Come With It

Unexpected experiences come our way when we boondock. By boondock, I mean finding a place to park the coach for a short time, usually overnight, that is not a KOA campground or state park facility. Now, that we have begun our 10,000 Mile Grand Tour, we boondock using the water stored on board and a generator or bank of batteries to enjoy our house-on-wheels conveniences.

Late on Tuesday afternoon, the Assistant Chief of Police in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana directed us to Parc Hardy, with multiple ball fields, picnic grounds, pavilions, walking paths, and a solid gravel lot. “It’s perfect. Enjoy your stay in town. No one will bother your coach there. This is a friendly place,” he said.

We found the park, enjoyed a dinner of leftovers Anasazi beans. Ed retired to the bedroom to watch the TV news. I checked email. As I sat at the table typing, I noticed the sound of cars surrounding us filling the gravel lot. When I finally lifted the window blind, I realized that the ball fields were skirted with Moms, Dads, Grandparents, and siblings of all ages. Four teams of little ones age 4 to 6 were warming up on the field for T-Ball.

I slipped back to the back of the coach. “Ed, you better look out the window,” I suggested. The last time I made such a suggestion while boondocking we had a window to two bucks fighting antler to antler over a doe in a nearby field.

“Where’d all these kids come from!” laughed Ed. We grabbed some lawn chairs from the coach bay and took front row seats near third base. Parents urged their child “pay attention,” “watch the ball,” “RUN to Home!” We cheered when bases were loaded and clapped when a little guy dusted himself off after a tearful tumble. We even raised our arms to create the team spirit bridge at the end of the game. We were unexpectedly delighted to cheer for the Bays.