Going off grid with boondocking

COYOTE CREEK STATE PARK — The first indication that our new neighbors were not ordinary campers was the ease with which they parked their 29-foot trailer. Perfect placement on the first try.

“In the 15 years we have been together, we’ve had a lot of practice,” Dave Gibson said. “We are familiar with each other’s hand signals.”

“We are not homeless,” Kris Larsen Mannino said, “we are houseless.”

On the road

Roughly eight months of every year, Gibson and Mannino live in a Transcend Xplor 29, which Gibson has modified extensively for boondocking. It carries 565 watts of solar panels, two bicycles on a reinforced bike rack, and a 200-amp lithium battery. It is pulled by a Dodge Ram 3500 with a 6.4-liter Hemi engine. There is a shell over the bed, a boat rack on top of the shell, and some really big toolboxes mounted on rollers in the bed, making them easy to pull out.

For many years they spend their camping seasons entirely without hooking up to shore power, although 2025 is the exception to the rule and about 60% of the season will be spent in parks with power.

Late October to early May, they call Sundance RV Resort in Yuma, Arizona, home, where they play pickleball and Mannino plays violin with a group of as many as 30 other violinists, although occasionally she explores the world of “fiddling.” They have purchased a park-model trailer there. They have camped at many New Mexico State Parks, and Oliver Lee Memorial State Park near Alamogordo is their favorite.

“It’s like being at the Grand Canyon,” Gibson said.

The couple has seen most of the continental United States after leaving long-term jobs in insurance (Mannino) and wholesale food delivery (Gibson). The pair met thanks to the Hartford Hiking Club in Connecticut, which has about 5,000 members.

Mannino was raised in Illinois, and Gibson grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts, on a street that housed his great-grandparents, a great aunt, his grandparents, his mother and stepfather. That extended family played a major role in developing Gibson’s mechanical skills, skills that keep his trailer and vehicle running at full capacity.

Gibson’s great-grandfather provided him with a riding lawnmower that he converted into a go-kart. Gibson was given a Radio Shack kit of 101 electrical projects, which he mastered. His grandfather provided him with a 50-pound box of nails for fort building, and his stepfather gave him a 12-volt battery, a car radio and a light to illuminate the fort.

“As a kid, I was outdoors all the time,” Gibson says. “My cousin and I loved to explore. We would spend nights in that fort.”

After high school, Gibson went to a trade school to become a machinist, but he returned to the world of electricity using the skills he obtained working through the 101 projects. Then came a four-year hitch as a sergeant with the Army Rangers, which cooled his enthusiasm for the outdoors temporarily. “It was cool going out patrolling all day and all night, but after that, going out into the outdoors was too much like work,” he says.

Eventually, he joined the hiking club and a bicycling club, and through those he met Mannino.

In addition to cycling and hiking, they did some camping. They even entertained the idea of becoming snowbirds, with a house in the cool north and one in the warm south. However, the two houses would have required both of them to have full-time jobs, Gibson said, and that didn’t sound appealing.

Then they found Bob Wells’ website, Cheap RV Living. Wells promotes the “simple but adventurous life, connecting with other nomads and nature.” Wells said he has written thousands of blog posts, which he has edited down to two books. Wells also produces a YouTube channel, and he is co-founder of the Homes on Wheels Alliance, a 501-C3 nonprofit that helps people on the verge of homelessness. The alliance provides financial support for some travelers who qualify for assistance.

After watching Wells’ and other YouTube videos, along with reading blogs, Gibson and Mannino decided hitting the open road was the right decision. It took two years to sell their two houses, and their accumulated belongings, then they drove to South Dakota to register their vehicles and become residents. Gibson said it took about an hour and a half.

Find and fix the problem

The cab of their Ram illustrates Gibson’s dedication to monitoring his rig. In addition to the truck’s gauges for oil, coolant and temperature, he has added a dashcam, a Garmin GPS for the trailer (which helps determine if their rig will fit under bridges), tire pressure gauges for the trailer, and a backup camera on the rear. Oh, and there is a cellphone charging station on the passenger side as well.

Gibson’s philosophy is “find the problem as soon as you can, and fix it.” Sometimes the fix is as simple as a block of wood that connects the steps to the ground. Sometimes the fix includes digging out the two 2,000-watt Yamaha inverter generators, pig-tailing them together to provide enough electricity to operate the trailer’s air conditioner. There are two of them because Gibson occasionally has back problems, and Mannino may have to load the generators without his assistance.

Sometimes the fix is found in Q-bond, which can repair a truck mirror destroyed by the falling tree branch, or cover a gouge in the trailer made when a cemented post is below his field of vision and Gibson doesn’t wait for his spotter, Mannino, to check out the obstacles he might encounter.

If a tire registers low pressure, Gibson uses his Ryobi air compressor, which inflates the large tires to 65 pounds quickly. Gibson also uses a Ryobi drill to adjust his stabilizers, and a handheld vacuum of the same make to pick up dust inside the Xplor.

The ceiling fans installed by the factory have been replaced with Max Air fans. The recliners are now powered with 12-28-volt converters, and adjustable switches have been installed on lighting to reduce power consumption. “Everything was done to prepare us for boondocking,” Gibson said.

Their original mattress was replaced with a Wilderness Mattress, and in their shower an Oxygenic head now provides the water. The list of conversions also includes 12-volt plugs for Gibson’s C-pap machine and their television.

Their key rack was made from a piece of driftwood Gibson found during their travels, and a magnetic bar provides a place to display their souvenir magnet collection. Their weather radio, a vital component in all camping kits, gets better reception below one of the trailer’s skylights.

It’s a shame that Radio Shack has gone out of business; many campers would benefit from a 101 electrical projects kit.

Going off grid with boondocking