Moving Day
Actually, this is a couple of days before moving day, when I was doing laundry. Notice there are five of them. Burros like the smell of unscented detergent, I guess. The next night, two of ’em curled up on the ground nearby to sleep.
I decided to change locations because of barking dogs, generators running, and people moving in closer. Fortunately, a short local move is a whole lot less of an ordeal than true Travel Mode, so it was no big deal to prep.
The “driveway” entrance to my very large new perch.
The entire available area of the Imperial Dam LTVA is stupendous, so I went touring and settled on a sort of peninsula that is sparsely-populated. It tested 3 bars of 4G Verizon in the open, and once moved in, 2 bars inside the camper.
Actually, I managed to place the trailer on the only truly level few square feet of dirt on the entire pad, so I didn’t need to add any boards under the tires.
The only hitch so far is that at 8:15 AM or so this morning, both the data modem and my cellphone both suddenly dropped to zero signal. Going outside eventually brought up a normal data signal, but I still can’t make a cellphone call. We’ll see what time does to that story.
Looking off the passenger-side rear of the trailer, that’s the bike’s basket in the corner. 3/4ths of the pad is framed in gullies like this.
When there’s a wind blowing (like now), this rearward look at the same gully from the driver’s side “patio” is done from relatively still air. Very pleasant.
Strolling Amok 
Very nice. You and Swankie are really doing a good job of selling me on LTVAs. I’m guessing you won’t be making the Winter RTR this year, so I’m glad I got a chance to meet you in November.
Well, the draw for me is the ability to stay put for very long periods, which lets me avoid having to heft big solar panels and pack everything away biweekly. And the included access to dump stations and water makes it a financial no-brainer for anyone with tanks. Not that many LTVAs have dump stations, so you won’t find me there. I’ve found that to stay legal with the 14-day 25-mile rule, camping at free sites and hitting commercial dump stations is more expensive for me. Whether an LTVA pass makes any sense for any rig that isn’t self-contained is a personal decision. Swankie has no tanks, but her outdoor setup is quite elaborate, and she is understandably reluctant to keep breaking camp over and over.
If one doesn’t mind breaking camp semi-weekly, there are also Recreational Fee areas around here that let you camp at water’s edge if you like, for 14 days out of each 28. Spend $40 for a two-week LTVA pass during the “off-time”, and then return to water’s edge. That story is coming up. Combine the $75 annual Rec Fee with free camping northward as one might normally do in the summer, and it’s little more expensive (if at all) than an LTVA pass, but with primo campsites.
The burros are cool. Looks like you have a great location.
If you value privacy more than participating in a mobile version of urban sprawl, it is a very nice site, JR. The burros are weird little buggers. They completely ignore pedestrians and cars, but are spooked by bicyclists and diesel truck engines. Once they started messing with things around my campsite, I had to beat two pans together and walk toward them to get them to leave!
I like privacy sometimes and company sometimes.
I see you banging the pans together. Goats can be a nuisance at times too.
Well, I don’t mind when they scratch against the bike rack and make the trailer wiggle. It’s just when they start stepping on things or sticking their heads in the washer to check out the scent that I emerge with pots clanging. (And I put things out of reach.) They are really benign “little” creatures, and curious.
I lived in a school bus on a ranch in CA for a while. Early one morning I woke up and ran out of the bus because of the earthquake. rofl. It was a cow quake. A big heifer was using the bus to scratch her itch.
Good one, JT! If a burro does that at this location, I’ll likely bail out before I can think – I’m quite close to the edge of the pad, and will assume a wheel chock loosened and I’m about to descend down the gorge. Geronimo!
lol
I wonder if the local tower went down for service when you lost the cell/internet? Did it come back?
Sort of seemed like it, Rob. Oddly, I can now get a pretty decent 4G data signal inside the trailer, but my mobile phone is unable to get a signal of more than 1 bar of 3G, which is not strong enough to make a call, even standing outside. Considering that all I get is spam calls, I can live with that for awhile.