Tioga George: The Ultimate Extreme Urban Boondocker

(By Greg) While building my boondocking map, I ran across the incredible blog of Tioga George. I've spent quite a bit of time adding his boondocking sites to my on-line maps. I've added more than 1000 of his sites.

George is an amazing character and is well known in the boondocking community.

In 2003, at the age of around 66, George was diagnosed with a serious cancer (non-Hodgkin’s lymphonia) and was given a poor chance of survival. After extensive treatment, George was in cancer remission. Circumstances in his life led him to have very little in retirement savings, but he vowed to live life to it's fullest and travel the West. He had a limited pile of money saved up, enough to purchase and outfit a 12 year old Fleetwood Tioga C Class RV.

The day he was told he was in remission, he purchased his Tioga and began his 10+ years odyssey of boondocking adventure.

He named his RV MsTioga and had conversations with her. He named many of his key devices and talked with them extensively: his digital camera; computer; refrigerator; levelers; internet satellite dish; GPS navigator; generator. They were his company on the road and they talked back to George giving him lots of excellent advice.

George and MsTioga boondocking on the beach at Aticama, Mexico.
Photo Source: blog.vagabonders-supreme.net  (Little Mavicito via Tioga George)

Because of his limited monthly income, mostly from social security, he could not afford to stay in fee campgrounds. He would travel the roads of the West and find out-of-the-way places to park free overnight. George calls them "Nite" sites.

He would spend his days at fantastic places where it was typically legal to park during daylight hours and then when dark fell, retire to his Nite sites.

Some of his favorite Nite sites were near tire stores, auto repair places, next to apartment buildings, on riverside beaches, at highway pull-outs, in front of storage places and down quiet forest roads. He became an expert at finding places to park - where no one would bother him, including the police! A majority of his Nite sites are in cities where George could go to restaurants, do his laundry, purchase groceries or buy repair parts.

George had been in a cancer support group and the folks in the group wanted to keep up with George's adventures, so at the beginning of his trek, he started his now famous blog. Eventually a few readers suggested he put ads on his blog and one reader in particular helped him get started making money with posts. George became an extremely popular blogger and his posts were bringing in a relatively decent cash flow to help him continue his wheeled journey, just when his funds and his spirits were getting very low.

George had a huge numbers of readers. He has a very engaging writing style and a very human story. Many credit George with giving them the courage and insight to strike out on their own fulltime RVing adventures.

George would let you know what was going on each day in his life, even if what was going on was not always the greatest thing. He would share the joy of finding a new boondocking spot with incredible views or the troubles when MsTioga's wheels got stuck in beach sand.

George, because of having limited funds, usually traveled only 30 or 40 miles a day in order to keep gas expenses down. He is a guy that doesn't like to stay long in any one place (although towards the end of his RVing career he did slow down quite a bit).

George has suffered great tragedy in his life and he has had great joys in his travels. He shares these all with his readers.

After a few years of traveling in the West and Canada, he decided to explore Baja in Mexico. He actually parked and lived for weeks at a time in the small Gulf of California mining town of Santa Rosalia in Baja and got to know many of the local folks. He learned to be a proficient Spanish speaker.

Later, he explored extensively in mainland Mexico and eventually found a quiet beach town near Puerto Vallarta called Aticama that he loved for long stays in the winter months. He developed many friendship there. In summer months he would head for the small towns in the mountains of central Mexico. Two towns he loved the most there are Tequisquiapan and Guanjuato.

His goal in his travels was to be in "T-Shirt and Shorts" weather all the time. He was very successful at accomplishing this goal.

I have been truly inspired by George's story. Through everything that has been thrown at him over the years, he has always managed to bounce back and regain his balance (literally and figuratively) and his positive attitude.

George himself would admit he is not the easiest guy to get along with. He has worked hard to not be judgmental of other people's choices, actions and attitudes. Being a loner comes naturally to George and this helped him to be very happy traveling solo for so many years. That's not to say George does not have friends, he has many friends. A surprising number of his readers would just show up unannounced at his boondocking site and enjoy George's company for a short period or go out for a meal with George to a nearby restaurant.

Being a male in our American society can be difficult. We are expected to be stoic and self-sufficient every minute. We have trouble being close to others, especially other males and particularly between fathers and sons. I really felt for George when he faced some tremendous challenges and tragedy with his relationships.

In about 2011, traveling in Mexico felt more dangerous for George. He was robbed in his RV twice in rapid succession while boondocking on the streets of large Mexican towns. He changed his boondocking habits and preferred to stay in fee RV parks or pay a hotel for a spot in their parking lot.

Despite any reported dangers in Mexico, George always encourages people to not let fear paralyze them into avoiding traveling to a country he absolutely loves. George loves the people, the food, the low costs and the laid-back accepting attitude of the people who live-and-let-live without interference or suspicion of an unknown RV parked on their street.

Prior to 2011, George felt perfectly safe everywhere he went in Mexico. In fact, he felt safer and more accepted in Mexico than in many American cities. Let's hope that safe feeling returns soon. (Karen and I plan to adventure in Mexico in a few years.)

In 2014, George was driving along an interstate in California when he suffered a serious heart attack and blacked out. He woke up in the crumpled remains of his beloved MsTioga. That was the end of his RV boondocking career. After open heart surgery, George eventually got himself back into travel shape. Meanwhile, he had moved into a small senior apartment in La Mesa near San Diego, California.

Today, George is out exploring again! As I write this, George is adventuring in Guatemala at Lake Atitlan. His current mode of travel is by air. When he arrives in a town, he takes a taxi around to seek out a decent low-cost hotel (with wifi so he can write his posts). Taxi drivers are happy to help him with hotel hunting advice.

At 79, George is still out there enjoying and sharing his travels! He is truly an inspiration to those who desire travel adventures, despite the adversities we all face in life.

UPDATE  - Jan 2019: George is currently building a U-haul Box Van Camper. It's quite a project. He is still blogging about it.  I'm excited to see how it looks when he is done and where he goes next.

George's Blog and Magazine: http://blog.vagabonders-supreme.net/

Map of George's Boondocking sites:

Full screen version of the above map.

Mt. Rushmore Trip - Part 4 - Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado then home to New Mexico

Heavy rain makes driving difficult in Nebraska.

After a great time at Custer State Park, South Dakota, it was time to head south back hotento New Mexico.

I (Greg) checked the weather and things were getting really crazy along the path I had planned to take us home. My original plan was to head down through Nebraska and into eastern Colorado to a town called Brush that has a city RV campground that allows you to stay one night free.  The campground has electricity and water.  The basic idea was to stay far away from I-25 through Denver. We absolutely hate driving through Denver. That traffic is just too crazy for us simple country folk!

So originally we were going to try to stay out in the plains of Colorado, east of Denver, but the crazy weather forced other plans.

We read online that there had been a damaging tornado in the Denver region just a few hours ago. (We lived in the Minnesota Twin Cities area for a few years and we absolutely hate hate hate tornadoes.) I looked at the radar/satellite images and things looked pretty nasty along the front range of Colorado.

It appeared we could shoot down through western Nebraska and hit a little rain and then we could crank west towards Cheyenne, Wyoming and then up towards Laramie in order to get away from the worst of the looming weather system.

This plan worked out pretty well. We hit one really bad rain blast near Berea, Nebraska. Other than that, we were golden with the weather. We stopped at Scottsbluff, Nebraska for a late Taco Bell lunch. It was sunny and beautiful there.

Scottsbluff is named after its namesake, a prominent bluff that rises out of the Nebraskan plains. The bluff was an important landmark for folks crossing the country in wagon-trains on the Oregon and Mormon Trails. There is a Scotts Bluff National Monument that we will have to explore on a future trip.

The geology of the bluffs area is really striking. There are no campgrounds at the monument but the city has one nearby: The Riverside Campground with full hook-ups and 43 pull-through sites that get good reviews. (In a park with a city Zoo and a bike trail.)

Greg at the Vedauwood Campground entrance in Wyoming.

A double rainbow was a good omen!

What cool rock formations this campground has.

We were surrounded by rockolicious sights.

And great boondocking nearby.

A balancing rock.

Wow!

Balancing rock.

More folks boondocking nearby.

Perty!

OK, I won't camp in there or do fireworks!  (But I did eat at Taco Bell so, really, no promises!)

Mushroom Rock Love.

Just Wow. I want to so climb those!

A recreation map of the area (Click to enlarge). Lots to explore.

After leaving the Scottsbluff Taco Bell, we made our way to La Grange, Wyoming, and down to Cheyenne. We were just ahead of the nasty weather that was heading north from Fort Collins, Colorado.

On Google Maps, I noted a highly rated campground called Vedauwoo 15 miles southeast of Laramie, Wyoming just off Hwy 80. We headed there and arrived just before sunset. It was a Friday night and many of the sites had RVs already in them. We found two side-by-side parking places for a couple of walk-in sites. They were level, so we parked there.  It was $10 for each RV. (My parents paid $5 with a senior discount.)

We cooked up a soy dog dinner on the portable fire pit and enjoyed a colorful double rainbow that was off in the direction of Cheyenne.

Karen and I took a walk around the entire campground before it was completely dark. There were nice vault toilets and lots of great sites for even larger RVs.  There was also a lower section for tent camping.  The host told us we could have parked our RVs in the tent area parking if we wanted to.

After dark, the bad storm had reached into the Cheyenne area and we enjoyed a night sky of fierce lighting coming from that direction. In our area, the weather was good.

Below: A 360 Degree Google Photosphere. Click into it and hold to move around.


Vedauwoo is popular with rock climbers. We saw some young folk bouldering. There is also a nice day use picnic area with BBQ pits and tables.

The name Vedauwoo is Indian for "earth-born." Explorers would ask the Indians, what do you call this place and the Indians would look at each other, scratch their heads and say things like, well, "this is the land," or "this is the earth," or something like that (in their own language) and the explorers would write down what the Indians said and that is how we got a lot of the names of places.

In the morning, Karen and I walked over to the adjacent boondocking area.  We saw lots of RVs out there enjoying the unusual rock formations for free! 

We were very impressed by this campground and definitely want to come back, climb and explore sore. Such a cool place!  My Mom loved it too. (Dad stayed mostly in his Pleasureway as he was tired and didn't feel all that great.)

The cell phone internet connection was not very good even though we could see a tower not far away. I told Karen that we need to get a cell booster. We were close to the freeway so there was some road noise, but it wasn't bad.

Inside the Prairie Rose Cafe, Laramie.

Mom reacts to screaming banshee kids!

Dad coming out of the Prairie Rose Cafe in Laramie with a full belly.

Our next objective was to get a hearty breakfast in Laramie.  I checked Yelp and found a top rated breakfast at the Prairie Rose Cafe. It was as good as reviewers said it would be.

There was one problem that got my Mom's nerves dusted up. It was Saturday morning and a couple of local parents had brought their screaming banshee kids to breakfast and they were seated on either side of us. It made my Mom pretty crazy. My father just turned down his hearing aids.

Our two vehicles parked in Laramie viewed through a mirrored window.

After breakfast, we trucked down Hwy 230 into Colorado and made our way to Frisco, which is next to the Dillon Reservoir. We blasted past Breckenridge and climbed over a 11,500 summit near Alma and then dropped down into Fairplay, where we saw South Park Characters on a sign and noted a marijuana store right on the main street.

Our goal for the night was the Sand Dunes Swimming Pool and RV Park, so we moved swiftly through central Colorado and on to the San Luis Valley. The pool is just north of Alamosa.

When we got there, all the RV park had left was one spot in the $20 dry camping area. We took it. We bought dinner at their tasty grill and carried our food to tables in the new adult greenhouse area.

Karen and I have stayed at the Sand Dunes Swimming Pool before.  You can read about it here: LINK.

My parents haven't been to the pools yet and we though a nice soak in the adult area and a swim in the big hot pool would be relaxing after a long day of driving, and it sure was!

The next morning, we drove over to the Sand Dunes National Park and stopped for a short visit and tour of their campground.  The park was really crowded with tourists so we headed out quickly.  I can't handle a lot of people and the resulting lack of parking, so we got out of there as soon as we could after a short break in the picnic area.

We headed into New Mexico and we were hit by a huge deluge of rain as we approached Ojo Caliente.

Along the road we saw a pair of bicyclists. They were crazy to be out in that weather. They were along the side of the road holding each other for warmth.  We called the cops and they dispatched a car to check on them.

We got home to Los Alamos just before sunset.

It had been a very enjoyable vacation. My mom checked off her Mt. Rushmore bucket list item and we saw a lot of great scenery and majestic animals. It was a lot of driving but we all thought it was well worth it.

We shall return!

Mt. Rushmore Trip - Part 2 - Wyoming

Black Beach Campground, Alcova Reservoir, Wyoming

Our site at Black Beach Campground

A boat launches and Canadian Geese at Black Beach Campground

After Jordonelle Reservoir State Park, we were headed to South Dakota.  I (Greg) planned a stop in Wyoming for the night.  I had scoped out the Alcova Reservoir that had a few campgrounds on it's shores. It's in central Wyoming near Casper.

We arrived at the reservoir in the evening and found a really pleasant campground called Black Beach. Black Beach is a Natrona County facility.  There were about 12 sites along the shore. We found a really nice one right away. There were not many campers. There are no hookups or water but there are a couple of vault toilets and a nice camp shelter with a fire pit at each site. We were right across from two boat ramps and we saw about five fishing boats pass by.  It was $10 for each RV at a site.

A 360 degree view of our site at Black Beach.  Click and hold to move around:

Our campsite was on a small cove on the lake.  There is another campground just up the road on the Reservoir called Cottonwood Beach that is probably just as nice. There are two more campgrounds just down the river from the dam and on satellite it looks like there might be a couple boondocking opportunities below the dam.  We will have to check it out sometime.  There is also a new full-hookup RV place behind "The Reef" fly fishing shop in Alcova.

I also spotted a nearby Wyoming visitors center where we could have stayed overnight.  It is called Inspiration Point and there was a big rock hill where pioneers carved their initials and arrival dates.  It has a fascinating history display about the Mormon handcart tragedy where a group of Mormon's, trying to get to Salt Lake using handcarts to carry their supplies, got caught in a snow storm and many died at this site.

Jack enjoying some grass and shade at Black Beach Campground.

My parents, Karen, Jack and I really thought Black Beach was a really nice spot to overnight. It was very quiet and the lake was beautiful. There were lots of interesting waterfowl to watch.  We were there on a weekday and it was little used, but we guessed that on weekends it was not quite as peaceful.

Picnic at the Lusk, Wyoming town park.

After a great nights rest and a tasty camp breakfast, we saddled up and headed out.

For our late lunch break, we stopped in the town of Lusk and had a picnic in the town park.

The next day we read that a huge rain storm had caused the main bridge in Lusk to split in two and all roads in and out of Lusk were flooded for days, cutting Lusk off completely.  We dodged a bullet by one day.

After Lusk, it was on to the Wyoming-South Dakota border then up to Custer State Park.

On our way back home (in a later post) I will describe a great campground we stayed at near Laramie called Vadauwoo Campground.