Boondocking in Indiana

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Boondocking in Indiana

Postby GerryS » Wed Jan 21, 2015 6:34 pm

Now, whats this I hear about boondocking in the Hoosier National Forrest? :D

Is there a web site where the locations of these sites is published? I did find this link on Big Brothers web site...

http://www.fs.usda.gov/activity/hoosier ... 6&actid=34
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Re: Boondocking in Indiana

Postby tony.latham » Wed Jan 21, 2015 7:11 pm

GerryS wrote:Now, whats this I hear about boondocking in the Hoosier National Forrest? :D

Is there a web site where the locations of these sites is published? I did find this link on Big Brothers web site...

http://www.fs.usda.gov/activity/hoosier ... 6&actid=34


Gerry:

90%, or more, of our camping is boondocking on USFS or BLM ground here in Idaho and Montana.

As you've read:
"Primitive or roadside camping is allowed on NF land away from developed campgrounds, and anywhere your camping equipment and/or vehicle does not block developed trails or road rights-of-way. Roadside camping should be done at established sites if any are provided but must stay within 125 feet of the road."

When I'm headed to a new area, I survey it from Google Earth first. You should be able to toggle up Bloomington (or some nearby town) and then start stalking the roads on the forest for potential sites within the above sideaboards. But half the fun is being out there, looking for the sweet spot.

I hope this helps.

T

p.s. it'd help to get a hard copy of their forest map first.
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Boondocking in Indiana

Postby GerryS » Wed Jan 21, 2015 8:26 pm

I saw that....we'll make a trip down without the camper first....this could be cool. I'd love to get away from places like summit lake...which is pretty bad.

Idaho? One of the places on my bucket list...the American Redoubt :)
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Re: Boondocking in Indiana

Postby Marty37984 » Tue Feb 03, 2015 8:17 am

Hi Gerry,
I drive my Jeep down in that area a bit, and have looked at the dispersed camping sites. They are just off the roads and some have a fire ring, no electric or water. I haven't camped down there yet, but might give it a try this summer. I want to drive around and see how many sites are occupied and sort of get a feel for the experience. I think the sites look great for a small camper. Some have a short very steep drive going up to the site. Google Maps can give you an idea of how the roads are layed out. I don't think there is a map with the campsites listed. I live in Greenwood, so it isn't a long drive for me to go down and explore. I am always looking to a gravel road with a stream to cross for the Jeep. Really though, none of the roads would be any trouble pulling a teardrop or small trailer.....maybe a problem for a Class A or large 5th wheel.
If I find out more, I will post it.

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Re: Boondocking in Indiana

Postby Verna » Tue Feb 03, 2015 4:54 pm

Gerry, you can get a detailed map from the forestry office just off of SR 37 at Bedford, just north of the large shopping center with Golden Corral in it. It's on the northbound side of the highway.
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Re: Boondocking in Indiana

Postby GerryS » Wed Feb 04, 2015 5:50 am

Sad, but I think I know exactly where you're talking about. I think I'll head down there this weekend.

I need a road trip, I have a big time decision to make....one that could put me in the poor house. But hopefully keep me from the nut house. Is it time to just walk away, or do I suck it up.. Hoping I learn to like what my situation has become., or, do I start doing something entirely different. IT as a career has been good to me, but I can't stand what it has become....bureaucratic paper pushing that demands technical expertise yet never allows me to use those very same skills, all the while filling out excel spreadsheets and giving those specifications to some one either in, or from a third world country.

My company has made significant changes to our job descriptions and what I am doing (or will be here very shortly) has precisely zero (unless you count that phrase "...and other duties as assigned") to do with what I was hired on to do. It's their job not mine. They can do whatever they want with the position. I however am free to leave at any time either at their choosing or my own. The bottom line, is that I have been hanging on for about a year now...and I just don't have the stomach to keep doing it. So, Frankly, a couple days on one of these afore mentioned boondocking sites is exactly what the doctor ordered.. I need to think and pray.

So....do I put hair on the floor? I have my license as a barber....and owning a shop is something I've thought about. I'm not sure if the math works. I'll definitely take a pay cut unless I become an owner of several shops, then there is a chance.

I'm spoiled by an IT salary.

Do I open an ice cream shop? I've got a molecular gastronomy idea (Google it) that looks quite promising. But I'm short by 75-100K in cash reserves....and I don't see being able to ride the storm out long enough to get there.

I know other guys who went through this storm a few years ago...some are still in the IT world, some are selling cars or better yet making wine (Owen Valley Winery right by McCormicks Creek) and came out the other side all right.

I don't have any answers, just lots of questions and not a lot of clues.

I'd complain about hijacking this thread except I started it. I think that gives me the right to go off on tangents..
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Re: Boondocking in Indiana

Postby GerryS » Wed Feb 04, 2015 5:51 am

Marty, we found a few of those jeep trails down in the south east part of the state....I didn't see those empty camp,spots though. It's wonderful being able to confidently roll where cars fear to isn't it?
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Re: Boondocking in Indiana

Postby DrCrash » Wed Feb 04, 2015 7:22 am

Gerry is that something you can be a consultant on ?
Pursue your dreams and heart but keep part of your IT pay by consulting on your own terms and not the BS?
Keeping you in our prayers here. God has a plan for you.
Last edited by DrCrash on Wed Feb 04, 2015 10:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Boondocking in Indiana

Postby KennethW » Wed Feb 04, 2015 9:10 am

Gerry, Don't let your job become YOU. Let the job just be a means to a cause.
Think about joining a Cristian men service club. You will get to know people outside of your work experience. It can be like a one time a week therapy. Plus you will be helping a lot of good people in good works.
I have been at the same job over 35 years(machinist,mold maker) with good pay and heath insurance. I am stuck too. Find a way to see people out side work will help.
It can't be all bad. You woke up today!! 8)
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Re: Boondocking in Indiana

Postby Marty37984 » Wed Feb 04, 2015 9:18 am

Gerry,
You can find quite a few of the dispersed camping sites just off of Tower Ridge Road. It comes off of St. Rd. 446 that goes south east out of Bloomington. It is a gravel road that goes east off of 446. It is not too far south of lake Monroe. There are more sites south of Paoli , and all the way down to Tell City. These are very isolated. Like I said, I haven't camped there, only driven through the area looking at the sites this winter.
I have a lot of fun with the Jeep. I don't take it mudding, a friend ruined his rear differential by getting sand and water into the gears and driving home. I have taken it to Colorado and driven on the Jeep trails to some of the old mines and ghost towns. I did sleep in the teardrop at Camp Hale, near Leadville. that is the highest elevation that I have slept in the teardrop. Great trip if you get the chance, a lot of great scenery.
I hope you can find a good solution to your work situation. It sounds like you have a few options.

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Re: Boondocking in Indiana

Postby Mark72 » Sun Feb 08, 2015 10:26 pm

Gerry, I too have been wanting to check out some of those fs camp sights especially since they are in my general area. As far as the pencil pushers go, you are not the only one feeling the pains caused by others who have no idea what it really takes to do the job we are supposed to be doing. I think we will all be luck to keep from being outsourced because we no longer actually do our jobs instead of incessant reporting duties that have replaced the real work. Hang in there!

Mark
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Re: Boondocking in Indiana

Postby GerryS » Mon Feb 09, 2015 6:16 am

Thanks guys. I am a Christian, and I do try to give back...I also try to live knowing that providence will provide. I'm just not sure if I've set myself up for a fall....living high on the hog for too long. Etc.

I know I've still got it pretty good. But it's frightening to realize we are still living on a razor edge of loosing everything we've worked for. Frightening to think a weekend trip to a state park might become an expensive luxury...instead of a throw away of a few bucks.

I am also a licensed barber. I am planning on doing a little interning back at the school and maybe become a junior instructor (student teacher) just to get back into the business. I got my license a few years ago when I thought the end was neigh...things worked out for a while. I think this is my parachute....I knew it was. I just didn't realize it was a HALO jump. The time it will take to build a practice is worrisome.

We are looking at selling our existing home in the Geist area of Indianapolis (modest....not one of the mini-mansions) and relocating. Maybe there's a town down thaaway where I can find a modest home, on a couple acres with broadband interwebs so my wife can keep her job while I build my business. I seriously don't see myself able to keep this up for more weeks in my current job.....and if I change companies maybe a year or two.

I don't know how our country has gotten so messed up. It used to be there were real jobs and a nice home could be bought for an adjusted for inflation price of 100k (this is an accurate number) but now it seems the jobs don't pay very much if you can find them., either because they aren't hiring, or are only hiring temporary employees, not to mention the the flood of workers from India that fill most IT work. It seem more like a United Nations junket (it's the same with many other fields...Spanish is a primary language in most factories and labor jobs) the home/land prices have skyrocketed. It's even man for himself. Small towns are relegated to a wide spot on the highway where you can grab a fast food lunch and fill your tank. This isn't a partisan issue, this problem has been growing since LBJ...

Im thinking this next weekend will take us past some of the boondocking sites you mention. Although last I checked it's going to be a busy weekend with a friends birthday being held at the church on Friday, Saturday will be helping dismantle the organ at the church (Praise God it is being replaced with a new one) and Sunday morning I am volunteering at our Parish Breakfast. MAYBE Sunday afternoon we can head down Bloomington way....
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Re: Boondocking in Indiana

Postby bobhenry » Mon Feb 09, 2015 7:55 am

Sounds like I am not alone in my disheartenment. I look back to 99 when I started this job: Gas was $1.17 a gallon, a first class stamp was 33 cents, and eggs were $1.08 a dozen. My wages have gone up about 12% in these 15 years of service while the cost of living has risen 45%. This is how the comfortable middle class became the new poor. As you, I never dreamed I would be where I am today, either. I do hope camping will still be an affordable get away for me as I have already given up so much.
Growing older but not up !
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Re: Boondocking in Indiana

Postby wincrasher » Mon Feb 09, 2015 8:43 am

I've had my own business since 2007. I just got tired of trying to climb the corporate ladder and seeing all these people making money off the company except me. So I became one of the consultants and contract workers. I can tell you this - I've never been happier, and never made more money. I basically tripled my salary.

But it isn't all sunshine and roses. If you are the type with a low tolerance for BS, then being your own boss might not be for you. Personnel issues, longer hours, temperamental clients, client politics - it's all the same as your old job, but with the added stress that you could loose the account if you say the wrong thing, to the wrong person, at the wrong time. You have to have a situational awareness and be able to adjust accordingly.

Adapt or perish is the name of the game. It's really always been that way, just some folks have been lucky enough to be insulated from it because the economy was protected from it all those years.

Sometimes I find that I've already become my dad - those kids today! The whole world is going to hell! and so on. But it's not. If you want to blame someone for the sorry state of our economy or industries, look no farther than in the mirror. We scoop up baskets full of cheap crap at Walmart without regard for where the money goes, where the jobs go, etc. It's just cheap, cheap, cheap - we want cheap! So this is the result. Unfortunately, the old economy is not coming back. It's going to continue to be much more competitive, and everyone is going to have to find their niche.

Good luck if you decide to go out on your own. Jump in, the water is fine.
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Re: Boondocking in Indiana

Postby GerryS » Tue Feb 10, 2015 6:05 am

I doubt I'll triple my income. Frankly I'm kind of done with the IT jobs. I don't have the stomach for office politics. For a tech perspective, the technology changes so quickly....enough I'm not sure I can keep up. Too many cheap indian programmers out there. See your comment about cheap cheap cheap. We'll see how this round goes. If I can adapt to this new job, I'll probably work the contractor circuit. For a while anyway. Then I buy a class C and carry my home like a turtle going back to my stick home between jobs. Then the worry becomes how to find places to live for 3-6 months at a time..

Search this forum. You'll find me railing against harbor freight and Walmart. The on thing I buy from HF is tools I know are junk...screwdrivers/wrenches I'll be throwing in the car so I don't have to carry my quality stuff or when I am backed into a corner with no escape....for example, Walmart when camping in a town where the nearest alternative is 20 miles away.

My jeans are made in America (http://www.allamericanclothing.com) as well as my new balance shoes...and I didn't even pay a premium for them. It's sickening that people in general who love Walmart so much are the very same ons who are hurt because their textile factory closed year ago...Walmart is nothing but a parasite...a blood sucker. Taking the very life blood from small towns and even a few big ones.

It's a shame ... I see the new paradigm. I see how destructive it is to families. The stability of a job or career is gone. My dad worked on the same factory floor doing a number of jobs for 25 years. He only left that when he realized the strikes and union tactics were really only helping the union...not the laborers. That was in the mid 80s, and it hasn't gotten better even for a minute.

Life is about change....no one has it easy, then or now. But is sad to see the American Dream dying....democracies/republics I fear have just grown tired and lazy...maybe Ayne Rand was right. Who is John Galt.
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