Stealth Camping or Layovering
This is a related subject to boondocking and dry camping. I'm not sure I've broached the subject here. We have stealth camped for decades and find it works well in cities large and small even with our...
Forum Discussion
In my neck of the woods, even if you had cash for RV parks, it doesn't really matter, as even the cruddiest ones get reserved months in advance for a number of weekends. Sometimes a scalper will buy up an entire RV park's spaces and ebay the sites with a hefty markup. Heck, some guy on 290 east of Austin just bulldozed some trees, added hookups and gravel pads, an "iron ranger" to collect payments, erected a fence, and even though I'm not sure what he is charging, he likely will rake in $100/night come March and September, even being 40 miles away from the city, just because people will pay that.
Of course, stealth camping gets a bad name here in Austin, just because of what people going to festivals do. Too many times people parking in Austin have tried to set up their own "FHU" service by attaching an extension cable and a hose to fixtures/receptacles at a nearby house, then dumping their black water tanks in a nearby storm drain, which can stink for weeks. A neighbor of mine "returned" a more egregious offender's power cord to their RV, cut neatly into one foot lengths, after multiple requests for the RV-er to not plug in at all, much less refrain from blowing the circuit breakers.
I wouldn't say that stealth camping is innately bad. Before states decided to cut budgets and yank them out en masse, with the druggies and winos seizing what was left, there were many, many rest-stops, picnic areas, and turn-offs to park, take a nap, or even spend a little bit of time there. Now, between the fact that RV parks tend to be at capacity coupled with the ne'er-do-wells that destroy any place they can find, it is hard for decent people, who don't have malicious intent, to find a quiet place to rest for the night.
My trick with stealth camping is to network, make friends, and trade favors, stuff kept private, and offline. For a good chunk of the year in Texas, it is a must, because even if one wanted to, one couldn't get into a RV park, just because they are completely full in virtually every direction from Austin.
Of course, stealth camping gets a bad name here in Austin, just because of what people going to festivals do. Too many times people parking in Austin have tried to set up their own "FHU" service by attaching an extension cable and a hose to fixtures/receptacles at a nearby house, then dumping their black water tanks in a nearby storm drain, which can stink for weeks. A neighbor of mine "returned" a more egregious offender's power cord to their RV, cut neatly into one foot lengths, after multiple requests for the RV-er to not plug in at all, much less refrain from blowing the circuit breakers.
I wouldn't say that stealth camping is innately bad. Before states decided to cut budgets and yank them out en masse, with the druggies and winos seizing what was left, there were many, many rest-stops, picnic areas, and turn-offs to park, take a nap, or even spend a little bit of time there. Now, between the fact that RV parks tend to be at capacity coupled with the ne'er-do-wells that destroy any place they can find, it is hard for decent people, who don't have malicious intent, to find a quiet place to rest for the night.
My trick with stealth camping is to network, make friends, and trade favors, stuff kept private, and offline. For a good chunk of the year in Texas, it is a must, because even if one wanted to, one couldn't get into a RV park, just because they are completely full in virtually every direction from Austin.
