Love or hate work camping?
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?
Forum Discussion
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!
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!
