Egg-Visable

[brian m.]

Here's my stealth Casita. I just have to work on the stealth TV ...

[Terry G]

The OP should check out "Blue Highways" by William Least Heat-Moon, where a guy travels all over the US in a plain green Ford van. He was rousted a few times by police, mostly in smaller towns. Once, he heard all sorts of noises and woke up to find his van hooked up to a tow truck. Interesting book.

[Raya]

I hear you Laurie,

I've stealth camped* all over the US and Canada in the back of my station wagon (and, for a while, in a van which was nice but OMG the gas mileage and it was not fun to drive or park - like driving an old innerspring mattress). I have dark tinted windows and curtains (the tint hides the curtains) and a comfy bed in the back. I can park virtually anywhere and not raise an eyebrow. In hundreds of nights, I've never been bothered. I do get ready ahead of time, so once I get to my final stop, I don't need to "advertise."

That being said, I don't do this for recreational camping, but rather because I'm on the road, traveling, and I hate motels (plus, I've always had a dog and that makes motels a pain). Or I'm "camping," but that's not the focus of the trip (I'm kayaking or etc.).

If I were camping more long term, or as a focused activity, then the back of the car would be a bit confining!

There's no way I could "camp wild" as much as I have with an egg, so I could see choosing a van type vehicle if I were going to full time (that's not to say I would stealth camp every night, but I do like the ability, and I often drive late into the night and then just pull over when I feel like it).

Even traveling with my egg in tow, I feel kind of like I'm announcing "woman camping alone!" if I pull into a rest area and then get out and go back to the camper door and into the camper, so when in "on the road" mode, I still tend to just climb into the back of my wagon (which is completely comfortable and probably quieter than the egg) to sleep. I do sometimes then go to the camper for my morning snack, etc.

I guess for me, it would depend on the ratio of traveling-camping to parked-camping. I think that the more traveling-camping I were going to be doing, the more I would value the stealth ability. If I were planning to parked-camp more, I think I would tend to research more cheap-to-free places where I could camp openly (national forest, small town parks, etc.) for a slightly longer period of time. Then it would be handy to be able to park the camper, still have a car, and enjoy the more/two spaces.

But I don't see how you could beat a nondescript van for stealth, if that were a big factor. I used to have a white pickup truck with a sort of overgrown topper on it (my first "camp wild" vehicle), and friends used to joke about my rig looking like a plumber's. Fine by me!

Raya

*I call it "camping wild" because when I was traveling I met this great retired British couple who took their Peugeot van all over eastern Europe before it was "cool" or easy to do so and they told me stories about how they "camped wild" all the time by just pulling into a lane or farm road. I met them later when they were driving the same van around the US and Canada (it was like a VW Westfalia but just a smidge wider and had a porta-pottie "room").

[Rick G]

Wow, lots of information here. I have also stealth camped all over Canada and a bit of the USA, usually in one of several Ford vans or minivans over a period of 35 years. I find that anywhere a tractor-trailer parks is no problem, and modest residential neighbourhoods are pretty good. Upscale residential neighbourhoods can get dicey, as they are not hesitant to call the police, but many residential neighbourhoods still permit overnight parking on the street. Also, commuter parking lots, where commuters leave their cars to get onto rapid transit, work well. I have also always had good luck at larger hotels, especially ones with a bar. I can park in the parking lots there and stay until morning with no issues except the odd drunk making noise as she walks by. Often I can use their bathrooms as well, which is an advantage.

With the Boler the past couple of years, we seem fairly restricted in our choices of overnight parking (not actually camping, just pulling in to sleep while travelling). It is tough to find a place in a city center, so we usually have to go outside of town to a highway rest stop or, again, a parking lot for tractor-trailers usually found at gas stations on the edge of town.

Now Donna and I are thinking about retirement in 4 years or so, wondering whether we should travel with our Boler and minivan TV, or whether we should get a smallish camperized van. Each has advantages, and it will usually just be the two of us travelling. We expect to be on the road for up to 3 months at a time, and we will have our (future) grandkids with us at times. This has generated a lot of discussion and several changes of heart already, and I expect several more. Our plan now is to keep the current Boler/minivan setup until we retire, and then decide.

Rick G

[Weinel, Alan]

Rick - when you overnighted in a place with big-rigs... how was the noise factor? I **assume** that with the big-rigs you felt reasonably secure.

[Robin G]

stay until morning with no issues except the odd drunk making noise as she walks by.

[b]She? Wonder what the statistics of that scenario are?



Despite this being a several year old topic, it seems to still have interest.


This fall on a road trip without the Casita I found myself road weary, next town Mesquite NV. I guess because of the economy several of the large hotels were closed down. And the few hotel/motels in town that I would even stay at had no rooms available, there were other motels that had vacancy signs, but looked like a cross between a motel for the homeless and a house of ill repute. Not for a million dollars would I have stayed in one of those options. Mostly cause they gave me the creepy crawleeezzzzzzz just pulling in the parking lot. ( I don't do icky dirty)..... Plus being by myself I figured just getting in the door was a red flag.

On the south end of town are two large hotels, one being closed, lot's of big trucks have started parking there. Very noisy, cause I could hear the roar of their generators sitting at the light. The other, no room available so my options were to continue to drive on to Vegas ( I knew I would be toast if I tried that). When leaving the hotel headed for the near by mini mart to get a phone book and look for options, I got turned around in the parking lot and ended up going around the long way to get out of the parking lot. Went past where rv's, moving trucks, race trailers, etc are parked out of the way of the regular hotel guest parking, (didn't consider anything special) Until the phone book was of no help other than the questionable motels. Knowing I couldn't make it to Vegas and having a blanket in my truck, I choose to pull into the parking area with the rv's, moving trucks, etc. I was shocked that I could even go to sleep and other than my truck back seat is rather small and I am rather tall, I slept great! Either I was soooooo tired or there really wasn't a lot of noise. But all I did was pull up near where the rv's parked and made a quick dash into the backseat. And no one bothered me.
I never told my family or friends I did this, they would all have a cow, but honestly it worked out fine and I felt safe enough to do it again if need be. I don't think I would make a habit of it. Personally I don't consider this camping as the post topic suggest, but to each their own. Robin

[Mike Magee]

Stealth camping... makes me think of camping back in the woods someplace, in a trailer and tow vehicle covered with "mossy oak breakup" camo.

[Loren G. Hedahl]

We "stealth camp" frequently with our Scamp & Jimmy TV in a variety of places -- city streets, Wal-Marts, rest stops, truck stops, all night grocery stores, etc.

Some previously mentioned allowing no lights from the inside to be seen -- agree!

The cuteness factor is a considerable plus with a small FGRV, especially if the paint matches the TV.

Always have some excuse -- "I can't move on because I've been drinking." is not a good one. I'm tired, drowsy, suddenly got ill, lost, my truck started making a wierd noise, etc., are much better.

Arrive late, leave early.

Appear somewhere between poor, but not down-and-out and financially independent, but not rich. We could afford a much more expensive rig, but choose to stay with this one because it fits our needs and gives us a freedom to travel about anywhere, anytime and with almost no hassle.

That said, we like to pay for camp sites and on most trips spend quite a bit of time and funds to enjoy camping in a nice place with facilities, place to ride bikes, etc. But enroute we have no need or desire to stay anyplace for more than a few hours.