Early Boondocking Tale

A good boondocker has a lot of practice.

During the 1960s one of our favorite things to do was attend the 24hour car race at the Daytona Speedway in Daytona, Fl. It's not exactly boondocking by today's standards but never the less camping in the infield is isolated.

The race, at that time started at 3pm on Saturday and ended at 3pm the following day. To get a good viewing place in the infield you had to get there early. The gates opened at 7am day of the race so getting in line the night before was a must. Then due to traffic you might as well spend the night after the race and depart Monday morning. All of this meant that you were camping for three nights and two days.

Most of the eating was snack food while watching the race. One year my wife decided we would do a steak for one of our meals. We load all our supplies in the micro-bus (Yes I had one) and off to the races we went.

Friday night and Saturday slowly pass as the 3pm start creeps closer. The race finally starts and suddenly it's 6pm and time to cook the steak. Out with the grill, on with the steak and in a flash it's time to eat. "Here's a plate for the steak I'm looking for the knives and forks"....never to be found and the rest is history. We ate the steak with our fingers tearing it apart as if we were cave people.

When you boondock you have to have everything with you when you get there. It sure aint no fun realizing that you left your stuff at home.