Love or hate work camping?

vacuumbed wrote:
For those of you that have lived in your rig for work have you loved it or hated it as compared to living in a home?

I currently live 100 miles away from my (part time) job in a hospital ER. I drive down and stay for 4-5 days in the RV in the hospital parking lot and then drive home. When I first decided to do this I spoke with the hospital administration to make sure that it was OK.

I love living in the RV when I'm down there. I have my own full kitchen, my bathroom and my bed. I don't have to deal with a hotel room. I'm generally not there long enough to have to deal with dumping the tanks, but if I did there are a few local RV parks where I could go do it.

vacuumbed wrote:
For those of you that have lived in your rig for work have you loved it or hated it as compared to living in a home?

It's really up to you and your situation. If you're living in a smaller more discrete set up (truck camper, bus, small class c), you might be urban camping and get away with it. I imagine that would get tiring to work and have to move your rig all the time. Do you have pets? kids? SOs? Will you be urban camping, parking at a campground, a friends house, what?

I lived in my car for a bit 10 years ago and now just moved into an RV. When I was living in my car I felt uneasy and it was tiresome to find a place to park for the night. Now I am living in a small (17') RV with my bf and cat. We are having a blast. We go to work and come home, it's great. Parked at my sister's house. Honestly I wish I had done this sooner, making a decent wage and living in an RV with a free/cheap place to park = $$$.

Anyways, with more details of your situation people can probably answer with a lot more experience.

YOu are right, you will be stealth camping. But you are not really camping. No singing Kumbya around the campfire every night. You'll pulling into a place in the evening where you expect that no one will bother you or mind that you are there, and leaving first thing in the morning for work. I've done it for a month +/-, in a pickup camper, (but without a local job) and rather enjoy it. You will want to find a place to dump and fill that is handy and hopefully not too costly. THen for your overnights, you will want to find at least a dozen places, so you can rotate every night or 2. SO no one gets the idea that you are a bum and causes you trouble. I have found lots of places to overnight for free: of course Walmart, theaters, camping world, cabbellas, rest areas, municipal parking lots, boat ramps, truck stops, city parks, small to medium sized airports, or park by the rodies if there is a festival, art fair, swap meet, anything like that.
Making sure your night shades are 100% opaque is a good idea. Then no one knows if you vehicle is just parked there, or if you are living in it. Like someone else said, be prepared to politely move if asked. I have stayed at plenty of rest areas when I pulled in after dark, and didn't notice the "no overnight parking sign" until morning, and have never been bothered. But in a municipal park on the shore of lake Michigan, I pulled in well after dark and there was a sign that said "park closes at 10 pm" I figured that I wasn't using the facilities or camp fire pit or anything, just parking for 8 hours. About 10:30 a local cop showed up. I was polite and started to apologize, but he cut me off and was hostile beyond belief. He was ranting like a madman, head was beat red, neck veins buldging, and I was more than a bit concerned. When he started to slow down a bit, I figured the best way to calm him was to ask for help. Everybody wants to help his fellow man who kindly asks. I asked if he knew of anyplace that I may legally park and sleep overnight, so I could visit there nice park when it opened in the morning. That set him off again, and I felt lucky to leave without getting arrested. Just one bad experience out of so many nights.
Good luck I hope you take the job and it works out for you!

I looked up your rig. pretty thing. bathroom, kitchen etc and nice room.

only thing is breaking camp each day. everything has to be stored.
then when you come home all has to be accessible again.

but if your personality can handle that size, sure, why not :) :)
go for it and if you get your job and you are not happy, look to rent a small apt. or some other option.

you are not locked into anything. you can do what you want when you want. love it, continue. hate it, find other accommodations. with a nice paying job you mentioned you will have bucks :)

best of luck!!

Can you camp at work? Then drive away to empty tanks?

Also, it does get below freezing in Portland. Propane during the freezing times will cost a bunch. Heck, constant heating with propane all winter will be expensive.

How about electrical? I don't think I have seen you mention using anything other than 12v.

Can you get fresh water at work? Or will you need to find that supply too?

vacuumbed wrote:
Thanks for moving the thread, and now I know to stay away from workcamping! :B

I would be doing this in Portland, OR with a good paying job.

I wouldn't commute daily with an rv.

We live in a 55+ mobile home park currently in Hillsboro. I commute daily to work with my tow vehicle. My wife stays home and cares for our great granddaughter.

Our timing was right for finding this location, but other spots have popped open and filled pretty quick. Our spot comes open on May 1. If you are 55+, you can inquire if you desire.

vacuumbed wrote:
I'm finding out this called stealth camping. Although it is also Full Timing. When I think of Full Time RVing I think of a big class A.

..and no job, and money, and not camping on city streets.

Traver8 wrote:
Hello Vacuumbed,

I think that I am an example of what you are asking about except that I am living in my travel trailer and not driving it to work. In my case, I found a great job that was 200 miles from home. Apartments local to the job were crazy expensive and not readily available so we purchased the trailer specifically for me to live in while working.

At this point I have been living in it for 3 years and all is well. I was sure to find a floorplan that provided a good seating layout for TV viewing since I knew I would be using it a lot. The trailer has not been moving so nothing has bounced around and come apart. The RV park rental and trailer payment combined is still much less that an apartment would have been.

For me it has worked well.



Terry

X-2

I have lived in my RV for the past 4 winter seasons without regret. I serve as Chaplain for the resort I reside in. I enjoy this life I live and am very content with it. The RGV of Texas has all I need in the way of entertainment and outdoor activities. I have made many new friends..........

Thanks for your feedback all. I'm finding out this called stealth camping. Although it is also Full Timing. When I think of Full Time RVing I think of a big class A. I'll be using a 2005 Chinook Concourse. It fits in a regular parking spot. If I take this, I'm stuck in Portland, Oregon for 2.5 years. I can always visit Seattle and Vancouver BC on the weekends.

2gypsies wrote:

vacuumbed wrote:

Naio wrote:
In Portland, you may find it is illegal to live in your RV.

Is that true?

I think he meant it's illegal to live in your RV - while parked on city streets.

Staying in a RV park is just fine.

:) Sometimes it is easier to gain forgiveness than permission.

When I was on the road full time I did, a few times, find myself having trouble finding a suitable spot for a few nights. In those circumstances I may have spent a night or two staying someplace that I was not supposed to. In those circumstances I tried very hard to be inconspicuous. I may have even spent 4 nights in the tour bus parking at Union Station in DC.

If I ever stayed in a questionable spot I was ready to move at a moments notice and, if asked to move, never argued. "I am so sorry. I thought it would be OK for me to stop here. I apologize for any inconvenience. I will leave immediately."

If you are neat, quiet and low key folks are generally tolerant.

Have fun!

Edit: I missed the post where you said that it would be a regular job in one location. One option that I stumbled upon when I couldn't find an appropriate RV park when needed I found that a number of manufactured home communities/trailer parks will rent spaces by the month to RV'ers. I stayed at one in Lubbock, TX for about 3 months.

In the area that I live now there are a number of lots that have water power and septic that are rented by the month. I have several neighbors that live on rented lots. The folks that own them generally advertise on Craigslist.