When we first left on this trip, our friend Ranger Mike told us horror stories about how often generators would get ripped off at the parks where he worked.

This would truly be a horror for us indeed, because I love my little Honda. I don’t love using it, but whenever I have to, I love it. You see, the Honda EU200i lives up to its “Super Quiet” branding.

And that’s a good thing when you’re in a campground with others and not boondocking way out in the woods by yourself.

The Fruita Campground in Capitol Reef National Park is beautiful. It is nestled among an oasis of fruit trees in the midst of desolate wilderness with trails like the Frying Pan Loop and Cohab Canyon. It has lots of shade, great views of the bluff, clean restrooms with flush toilets, and plenty of grass for a dessert. It does not have hookups.

Having tent camped here long ago, I think they should keep all us obnoxious RVer types in the second loop and keep the first loop for tenters. The second loop has bigger sites anyway. But it probably wouldn’t make much of a difference to reduce noise, considering some of the generators out there.

When we finally had to run our Honda after a couple days in the shade, I started it up and stepped inside. To my amazement, we could hear the generator a few sites away over ours right outside the window. Like I said, I love our little Honda.

That’s why we keep it locked up – not out of camper paranoia, but out of love. Oh, and the fact that it is expensive, small, and very lightweight. A long Kryptonite lock connected to a front jack through the handle works well when its in use. And we use a Lasso Security Cable to secure it to our hitch while stored in our truck bed.

That way we can rest easy at night and go on long hikes – like this one to spot where I proposed to Rene 12 years ago – without any worry …

With our solar set-up and power conservation habits, our little Honda 2000 suits us just fine. But another great thing about it is, if we ever need more power we can just get a second one and use the optional Honda EU2000i 30 Amp RV Parallel Kit to link the two together. This is still cheaper than a 4000 watt generator!