College Student & Full Time"RV" Living

wbwood wrote:

Grim_Knight wrote:

#2, stealth. when I talk about stealth, I am talking about people not knowing that someone is living in the RV while the vehicle is parked and I am going to class for the day or when I'm parked and running around doing daily business. when I am parked and living inside the van, I will be in a location where people wouldn't give a care in the world as to issues that have been mentioned above. truck stops, walmart parking lots, YMCA parking lots, etc. I have no intentions what so ever of parking in some residential area in the slightest. With luck, I may even get permission to park overnight at the college that I will be attending.

Yeah....a box truck/van will not be suspicious one bit. As a federal law enforcement officer, I can attest to you that every box truck/van is looked at sideways. Parking one day after day in a college parking lot or even better, at the same Flying J every night, will get you reported real quick.

And speaking of sleeping in places like Flying J's and Walmart parking lots....please do not ruin it for us RV'ers. Those of us who respect the businesses that allow us to temporarily stop on our journeys in a safe environment. They are not campgrounds and are not intended to be used night after night (same place). They are for the temporary stopping to get rest for our journeys. Your idea is taking advantage of that and personally I do not care for it. Don't be surprised after a few weeks or a month of doing this, that you will be looking for other places to stay.

This IMO is the NUMBER ONE ISSUE that the OP has failed to fully appreciate all the ramifications of. You are EXACTLY RIGHT and as others have alluded to after 9/11 and things like the Boston Marathon the landscape has dramatically changed on how society and law enforcement has changed when it comes to something along the lines of what the OP is considering. He came here with I think innocent intentions, but unfortunately they were ill conceived and even after getting hundreds of years of actual experience and sage advice from scores of different people I'm still not sure he has or ever will get the clear message that others are trying to convey to him. This might well be one of those cases where FAILURE is the only thing he will understand and that will have to come from actual experience. He has gotten a lot of safety related suggestions like the CO/explosive gas detector aspect (NOTE: those two alone might cost from $50 to $100 since more than one will generally be needed) and hopefully if nothing else he will take and actually implement those type suggestions as a minimum so the FAILURE won't have life threatening consequences.

Larry