Importance of accessing TC without opening a slide.

Lwiddis wrote:
"stealth camping just sounds like illegal squatting"

Bedlam, I agree that if camping somewhere is illegal for the homeless it's illegal for RVers. On the other side, however, is those of us truly in transit stopping for 6-8 hours of sleep and driving on. Our CA rest stops allow you to stay 8 hours in most cases.

There are plenty of different types of places for "stealth" camping. Many are legal. Before staying in the exclusive neighborhood of Mill Valley, CA, I checked with the local police regarding regulations and found I could stay for up to 30 days. Beyond that my vehicle would be considered as abandoned if it sat in the same location. Very often the legal issues are questionable and open to interpretation. You could be considered to be a public nuisance or a vagrant. Often you just want to be stealthy as a consideration for the neighborhood. You certainly don't want to open up your slides, bring out the lawn chairs and fire up the BBQ. Rules for the use of highway rest stops are also often uncertain and can vary from State to State or even locally. Sometimes rules are posted, but many times there are no indications. Typically you cannot "camp", but you are allowed to sleep in your car (or RV). Again, you are best in stealth mode with no slides, no chairs, no BBQs.

In addition to legalities, another issue is space. My truck camper can fit in pretty much any parking space but that would not be the case trying to operate a slide. You don't want another vehicle driving at night and pulling into what they thought was an empty space and hitting your slide. Space for slides can even be a problem for many forest service and other campgrounds that were not designed for bigger rigs.