PERRYSBURG – Feeling a need to get away during the beginning of the pandemic, Craig and Heather Spicer began boondocking, the car camping trend built around not having access to electricity, water, sewer and sometimes even a campsite.

“The nice thing about boondocking is assuming you have everything you need with you,” Craig said.

On Thursday evening, as part of the Wood County Park District Base Camp Adventure Speaker Series, the couple presented their experiences and what they had learned from their planning, logistics, evolution of their rig, through their various cross country trips.

“Yes, pretty much, it will be sharing our vacation photos with you,” Craig joked to the audience gathered at the W.W. Knight Nature Preserve facility in Perrysburg.

The presentation was much more than just pretty pictures. The couple also brought some of their more exotic gear, and gave planning and logistics tips. They filled the two hous with practical tips that would be useful for many types of camping.

The inspiration for their boondocking came from a 2019 trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

For that trip they drove Heather’s four-door sedan and car camped. While they spent nine nights of the two week experience sleeping in a tent, they used airport luggage and Heather said they were “very disorganized.”

While they brought food and a camp stove, she said there were lodges and restaurants all over the park, and they ate out most of the time.

After seeing several popular attractions, some with more than a hundred people crowding the viewing areas, they realized they wanted to find the places where other people were not around.

That type of seclusion required a more serious form of camping, and the couple jumped head first into boondocking. They define it as camping outside developed campgrounds without restroom facilities or access to hookups for electricity or water, usually done within lands designated for public use.

They sold their car and bought a Subaru Outback. They built a special sleeping and storage platform, transforming the car into both transportation and sleeping quarters. They also bought specialized equipment.

Craig already had significant outdoors experience, as a Boy Scout who had achieved the pinnacle rank of Eagle Scout, who also works for the Wood County Park District doing programming. Heather had done a good deal of car camping as a kid, but as the more detail-oriented of the two, took on the task of planning both the meals and logistics.

“It’s all about your rig and what you do with it,” Craig said.

Much of their advice came in the form of lessons they called “Don’t be us.”

A good deal of the preparation is built around needing electricity. The portable electricity is a necessity for having higher quality meals, but also internet access. Because the pandemic has dramatically increased the volume of traffic at national parks, the couple had advice on other options for campgrounds, such as national and state forests, national parks and other public lands.

The couple used the internet as a resource for more than just finding the current rules and reservation situations for the various parks, but also customized their rig and gear.

The biggest electricity requirements came from the portable refrigerator they used, instead of a cooler. It was purchased used and they modified it with a car-type electrical adaptor.

“We did not skimp on flavor,” Heather said of their meal choices that often included a variety of basic spices. They could have also gone with dehydrated backpacker meals, they often chose to eat well, with chicken and occasionally a steak, food options that required cold storage temperatures.

They also had a portable power station, which could further be charged with portable solar panels. They could also then use a portable water pump for showers and the various electronics, when the car was not running.

For emergency preparedness purposes they regularly uploaded videos of their progress to the internet.

Craig is also a kayaking instructor. Those video uploads were more than just allowing family and friends to live vicariously through them, they also served as a “float plan.” They had some trusted friends who were aware of the couple’s plans, with regular progress check points, so authorities could be alerted if the couple disappeared.

All of this boondocking preparation was part of their plan to find the beauty and seclusion of the national parks and other public lands that are only possible to see off the grid. They saw mountains, canyons, glaciers, lakes, unique land formations and endangered species in their natural habitat.

There is one more Base Camp Adventure Speaker left, Jim Witter will present “How to Spot the Great Grey Owl” at the W. W. Knight Nature Preserve in Perrysburg on Thursday from 7-8:30 p.m.