Flat Rocks, Family and Thoughts on a Nomadic Lifestyle

We climbed up, up and more up to 8,100’ in the front range of the Rockies to join our youngest son, Brad, and his family at Flat Rocks Campground in the Pike National Forest. The campground is accessed via an unpaved forest road, tucked away into a heavily wooded area of pine and spruce and far off the beaten path. There were none of the usual signs on the main road indicating there were even campgrounds in the area.

Flat Rocks Campground in the Pike National Forest

Not so different than us 20+ years ago, Brad and Cat got tired of the rat race. Instead of buying a sailboat and heading off to sea, they opted for a land yacht or more specifically, a ‘skulie’… a re-purposed school bus that has been upfitted to become a home on wheels. Her name is Berta! Before setting out on a grand adventure, they decided to get some experience living in and driving Berta, and camp hosting for a summer in a National Forest seemed a great idea.

We had a chance to meet Berta… and the rest of the family, too!

Berta has already had her share of problems, the biggest of which was the recent rebuilt transmission she required as well as repair of a rear seal… not inconsequential, but now completed. Brad, his wife, Catrina and our youngest granddaughter, Danielle, were very happy to have Berta back as they’d been tent-camping while she was in repair. They all seem to be quite cozy and comfortable now in their new home. We remember vividly the transition to living in Nine of Cups’ smaller space, having to conserve power and water. It’s a good life lesson and they all seem to be handling it in good spirits.

Brad, a sleepy Danielle, Catrina and Duchess.

The campground is quiet and pleasant… at least when we were there for a couple of days midweek. On the weekends, the ATVers and dirt bikers descend on the area and take advantage of a huge network of trails and tracks specifically geared for OHV use.

Camp hosting isn’t as easy as we supposed it would be. In addition to cleaning vault toilets 2-3 times per day, handling campsite fees and firewood sales, answering campers’ questions (the same ones over and over, it seems) and cleaning up campsites after messy campers leave, there doesn’t seem to be any ‘time off’ hours. Folks were stopping at 7am and others stopped by at 9pm. Even when the ‘Camp Host Off Duty’ sign was up, folks knocked. Things were more complicated because the water for the campground had not been ‘tested and approved’ by the State yet, so was shut off. The trash dumpster, supposedly emptied once a week, was overflowing and the trash truck never showed. Another issue to deal with.

I just finished reading Nomadland by Jessica Bruder. The premise of the book is that many people, especially those at retirement age, have found themselves due to various circumstances unable to pay the rent or mortgage, and are therefore, nomads… or rubber tramps, or hobos, or houseless (never homeless) travelers. They’re a peripatetic group who choose out of necessity or perhaps pride, the freedom of the road and travel, working difficult jobs at times to meet ends. That’s not Brad and Cat, nor was it David and I. We made our choices freely and not of necessity. At first, I felt sorry for these folks, but by the end of the book, I could feel their triumph in overcoming the odds, in maintaining their dignities, in finding happiness and satisfaction in an alternative lifestyle. It’s a great book… we got it in e-book format from our local library and I highly recommend it as good food for thought. With the current pandemic and economic crisis, we anticipate seeing more folks on the road and off the grid. We just learned, by the way, that the movie version of this book will be released in 2020.

That’s it for today. We’re headed to high country again to give it another shot. We figure we’ve been acclimating at 8100’ and we should be fine at 9000’. Williams Fork is a place of fine memories for David. We want to see if you can ever relive the old days. Join us… you know we love your company.