Once we decided on full time RVing, we started researching different things about the lifestyle since it would be brand new to us. One night Austin found a boondocking spot in Louisiana that looked just about perfect on Campendium. We made sure to include it in our route. Rutherford Beach is about 2 hours from anything. We stocked up on groceries ahead of time and set off for our first true boondocking experience.
This seemed like the perfect spot because there is a parking lot with a dumpster and porto potties. We read plenty of reviews that said it was fine to drive out onto the sand, but we also read where some people had gotten stuck so we weren’t so sure. Once we got down there, we realized that the sand was hard packed and totally fine to drive the RV on. So, we lucked out with just about the perfect spot and parked right on the beach. It was awesome being able to be inside the RV and hear the waves. The views were incredible too!
Austin spent a lot of time getting things set up for being able to work off-grid. That means we have several USB chargers as well as external monitors that are running off DC power. This is in addition to our inverter and generator. We are set! As soon as we got there, I climbed on the roof to clean the solar panels to make sure we were getting as much solar as possible. The view from the top was awesome! I convinced Austin to join me on the roof for a selfie.
There was a group of people fishing not far from us and we saw that they had a fish on. So, we walked down to see what they had caught – it was a huge red fish! They were a group of college kids out fishing for the day to celebrate one of their upcoming weddings. They were so polite (not surprising given everyone we have encountered in Louisiana) and showed us pictures of all the fish they had caught. They were having a blast and it was fun to talk to them.
In addition to the daytrippers, there were a few other people camped out at the same time we were. One was a family from Pennsylvania that are renting their house and traveling for a year with their three kids in a popout camper. They were fun to talk to and kindly invited us to join them for a beach campfire on their last night.
The next night, we grilled out and pretty much had the place to ourselves. That is, except for the mosquitos. Man – they were absolutely brutal!! If we had known how bad they were I seriously would have considered getting mosquito netting for our bed. I swear I heard them buzzing in my ears all night long! Austin is clearly sweeter than I am because he ended up with bites all over him the whole time.
It was really peaceful here and we had to pinch ourselves to remind us it was real. Working with the sound of waves crashing is hard to beat! We could see oil rigs in the distance and there were pelicans everywhere having a feeding frenzy.
While we were in beach paradise and loving life, we noticed that one part of our moulding seemed to stay wet. Of course, we decide while we are in the middle of absolutely nowhere that we should check it out then. Turns out it was a little bit more than our moulding and our floors (which looked great, but were pretty much cardboard) were too wet for our comfort in some places. We ended up ripping up part of the floor to see what was going on before deciding we should leave and take care of things properly. College Station, TX – here we come! We have an Airbnb rented and a weekend project with our name on it.