The most common question we get when we tell neighbors that we’re going off grid for few weeks to months is,“What do you do all day?” A week at the Magic Kingdom is as easy to understand as a week at the Shore. We’ve all done those things and know exactly how our days were spent. Even camping at an iconic National Park such as the Grand Canyon is easy to envision. Living in an RV or tent may not be your cup of tea, but it does not take much imagination to picture plugging into a campsite then hiking to the “overlook,” whatever that overlook might overlook, from a big gorge in the ground to raging waterfall. But, what of a camp set up in the wilderness of some desert clime in the southwest? What does one do all day?
We live an unplugged life. Lying in an Amish-made nest cradled in memory foam and covered in down, we’re nudged awake by a wave of pink and yellow rays bouncing off a mountain or canyon or llano. We ask each other, “How’d you sleep?” Six days in, it’s 10 uninterrupted hours. With a chill in the air, Eric lights the marine stove and boils water for the French press. We bundle in our camp chairs to watch the sun rise with freshly brewed coffee. “What shall we do today?”
At its essence, our off-grid camp life is about minimalism and simplicity with no loss of comfort of convenience. Everything we need has been curated to fit into the truck and T@G. Without unlimited electricity, fuel, water, cellular, stores and distractions we use our imagination, creativity, and tools to live within constraints. The sun gives us a working fridge and charged devices. We learn to conserve resources by thinking about how we use water, plan meals and access civilization. We have tools to make fire, compost waste and navigate Mother Nature’s extremes.
Every couple of days we relocate to another region of Big Bend Ranch State Park. At more than 300,000 acres, it is one of Texas’ larger ranches although it is far from the largest. That prize goes to the King Ranch. With over 800,000 acres it got its own Ford pick-up named after it. After 2 nights at Vista del Bofecillos overlooking the mountains and Ojinaga, Mexico, we moved to La Posta, overlooking the Fresno Canyon and reminding up of our four wheeling tent adventures of 2024. Wondering who else comes to the Ranch, we chose the Llano region as our last stop to experience “group camp.” Eight primitive sites are spread out along a shallow ridge sharing an access road and pit toilet. As the weekend approaches, Texas’ reservation website indicates that all of the group camping sites are booked. We sit in site 4, all alone, except for the tourist in a Toyota Camry who stayed long enough to hike to a nearby overlook before sleeping in his car and departing in the early morning. Are all of the sites reserved preemptively booked by adventure seekers on the off chance that they find themselves 30 miles down a rough road 6 hours from a city with an airport? The mystery of Reservation Fakers continues.
Life on the Ranch is distilled to its essentials. We make an oatmeal breakfast and clean the dishes. We take a walk through a cactus field and collect artifacts for an art project. Lunch is turkey, avocado and tomato sandwiches on homemade tortillas from the local grocery in Alpine. A portable StarLink lets us get to 430 consecutive solves of the New York Times Crossword Puzzle. We allocate retirement funds on eTrade, post blogs on GoDaddy and check in with children around the world on WhatsApp. We could stream HBOMAX 24/7, but the limited roaming bandwidth and finite amount of solar electricity force better decisions upon us. Art gets produced on the picnic table. Novels whose bookmark has not moved in the three months at home are suddenly read. We engage in thoughtful conversation.
The T@G has held up admirably as the rough and dusty roads have given it the ultimate shake and bake test drive. With civilization and all of its inadvertent light sources so remote, the night sky is dramatic. Shooting stars and satellites zip overhead across the backdrop of the Milky Way which is not something we see too much of in everyday urban/suburban life.
Back at a simple camp, no other simple minds have arrived at any of the fully reserved group sites on South Leyva Dr. We work to simplify a chili recipe to include only whatever vegetables remain unspoiled after six days … and a can of Spam. Big Bend Ranch State Park remains the best kept secret in west Texas. Let its twinsie named National Park down the road attract all of the National Geographic articles, top ten lists, and throng of visitors. We are grateful to for our opportunity to commune with the natural world as we work to keep it simple.
