Stealth Camping

I noticed that he had his satellite dish up on one picture, his slide out extended in another AND was always using blocks to level out his camper/truck.

Not so stealth.....

My thought is that if you cannot deploy your slide or have lights illuminating your blinds, you are not be welcome to stay there overnight. This does not mean that you set up camp or run your generator after dark, but that is about politeness and respect and not about sneakiness. Right now our single slide is curb side and does not interfere with traffic when parallel parked. Once we move up to a larger TC, we will most likely not be able park along the street since all of the layouts we like require the street side slide to be opened for access.

We prefer to stay around people if boon docking. When traveling in a group, the safety in numbers helps open up isolated areas where we would not think about staying alone. Although I have the capability of protecting life and property, it is not something I want to test by taking unnecessary risks. As has been written before, crime is drawn to opportunity.

My rig dimensions are close to Bryan's - He has a longer truck while I have a longer trailer. Something Bryan didn't mention, but his satellite photos may show is the amount of vegetation along the road where you wish to park. I have passed many areas where low hanging branches prevented me from parking without damage to vegetation or rig.

We stay at some truck stops on our longer trips. I found pointing your nose to the rear of a semi trailer next to you gives you more space between their idling engine or cooler and your sleeping area. Even when trailering, I have no problem backing out between semis and heading on our way the next day - I do not need to back in like the longer trailers.

Great article!! The first time I met Bryan he was camped in our Costco parking lot!!

I like some of the info and aspects of the article. I have to say though that I am surprised it's written by a former cop... Some of it actually kind of creeps me out. It's not entirely the subject matter. Its the almost TMI writing style that the author passes his extremely detailed thought process on the "stealth" aspect. I wouldn't want to say anything to keep someone from posting and helping other RV'ers but it's this borderline sneaky-ness that usually means someone is up to no good.

Now you know why BKA is the king of full time truck camper travel.
BKA's article has the most substance of any I have ever read on the subject.
Camping in plain sight has been one of my interests over the years. It is the timing of arrival and departure that both Tioga George and BKA stress about stealth camping. Bryan has had many a cool night in the 'box' out in the boonies to assemble such a fine treatise on stealth camping. In a couple weeks we will be stealthing in the camper-unfriendly area of Seattle.
I, for one would like to see refined, 'Stealth Camping' into another term; one we could all agree gets the, 'illegal', getting-away-with-something, or 'sinister' part out of the term. Some have been floated, like, 'vagabonding', or 'layovering', or 'overnighting', or 'Bohemian travel', but no term has struck a sympathetic chord as of yet. I'm a Moravian so I can use my people's term, Bohemian without intended malace or degradation. When layovering, you are really not 'camping' in the traditional sense, you are just staying overnight (or two) while you explore the environs. As BKA mentioned, nothing on or outside the TC to indicate that you are actually camping. No light emanating. No steps down. No lawn chairs. No pop-outs. No loud. Blend in to the surroundings, which is hard to do with a white elephant.
More and more I'm seeing TC layovers as never before. The bumper pull, travel trailer community has a tougher time finding the 'ideal spot' and rely more on campgrounds and RV resorts while traveling. I'm even seeing more Class A MoHo's doing the layover.
regards, as always, jefe

GpnAZ wrote:
Great article in TCM on stealth camping, thanks to BKA. Well written Bryan and some great tips in their for many of us!

Stealth Camping

nice looking pickup bed. any information on that?
bumpy

Very nice article.

I've stealth camped a number of times while traveling.

In some areas, I've found hotels with large parking areas and a power hook up, but they often have a few trucks in them, so they can be a bit noisy at times. Earplugs help if there's trucks around.

Highway rest areas and truck stops are not on my list for overnight parking - both are too noisy.