Must read book, BOON DOCKERS etc

[Heapie]

I have just finished reading BOON DOCKERS, a must read book about a journey in a class B through America By a couple from Australia.

(This information came from another class b river who led me to buying this book for free by loading Kindle. I hope he reads this and claims his right. I thank him.)

It is a good story of an outsiders view of America. The author does not pull any punches about his impressions of America to the point that people who have read this book think he was negative toward Americans. Like many people who look in from the out side, they see an America that is very much covered up by the pols and press.

The author also gives very good ideas on how to navigate the Walmart overnight parking and gives clues as to other places that are free to park over night.

I do believe, like him, that to pay 20 to 40 bucks for a place to park your rig for the night is just to expensive. Many of us could not afford it if we have to shell out hotel rates in order to spend a night in our rig. RV parks have their place in America, just not every night.

You can go to Kindle, load the app, and get this book, either free or for a few bucks.

Happy RVing,

Heapie

[mgirardo]

I read the book last year, got it free for Kindle on my smartphone. It was an interesting read, but the title was not accurate. They toured parts of the country in a van. Most of what they did was dry camping, but to non-campers what's the difference. Actually they did very little camping, they just lived in their van while touring the US.

This really bothered me:

You see, while there is a toilet for number ones only, the hose attachment for the holding tank is broken. This means every week or so, we (read I) have to find a secluded gravel road or grassy patch whereby I can pull up, motor running, and pull the dump hatch open while jumping away simultaneously as the yellow liquid floods onto the ground. The timing and location of this exercise is everything. Once you begin the process, there is no stopping it and with a sixty-litre tank the process is not a short one. Therefore, you'd better be damn sure no one will come driving past while you're standing there waiting to close the hatch. A few times things haven't gone so smoothly and we have had to bail with the hatch still open. Cities pose the greatest challenge. Where are we to open up a sixty-litre tank of aged urine without getting caught? But it is the only way.

Really? Actually just get the "hose attachment" fixed.

We feel terrible about having to do this across America, like a pair of dogs marking their territory on one of the most powerful counties {sic} in the world. I love you America and ask you to refrain from tracking me down and sending me to a Guantanamo Bay.

As far as I'm concerned, apology not accepted. I'd have a much better view of the author and his book if he had just left this part out.

-Michael

[NC_Hauler]

mlts22 wrote:

NC Hauler wrote:

mlts22 wrote:
The biggest difference is that gunpowder, casings, and ammo are a lot harder to get in the UK and OZ, so for the most part, a gun at best is something home-made there.

Funny, alway's seems the "bad guy's" never have a problem getting the gun's or ammo....The bad guy's can get guns from a lot of places as Mr. Wizard stated...doubt they're all running around with "home made" guns.......Sometimes, we really do have to take the blinders off and look at "the real world"........Eden disappeared a very, very long time ago...

also glad I live in a country where I CAN have guns and ammo to defend myself against those who use them illegally...

At the risk of a thread hijack, I will not disagree with you on that point about the 2A. This is one reason I am proud of the US, is because I do have the right for this (and it is a right that is at constant peril of being lost.) Even though statistics can be debated endlessly of what is best... each country is different, and again, when someone comes here from another country and complains about the US and firearms, I am one of the first that says they can have as many laws as they want... in their home country.

Thank you sir...It's appreciated.

[mlts22]

NC Hauler wrote:

mlts22 wrote:
The biggest difference is that gunpowder, casings, and ammo are a lot harder to get in the UK and OZ, so for the most part, a gun at best is something home-made there.

Funny, alway's seems the "bad guy's" never have a problem getting the gun's or ammo....The bad guy's can get guns from a lot of places as Mr. Wizard stated...doubt they're all running around with "home made" guns.......Sometimes, we really do have to take the blinders off and look at "the real world"........Eden disappeared a very, very long time ago...

also glad I live in a country where I CAN have guns and ammo to defend myself against those who use them illegally...

At the risk of a thread hijack, I will not disagree with you on that point about the 2A. This is one reason I am proud of the US, is because I do have the right for this (and it is a right that is at constant peril of being lost.) Even though statistics can be debated endlessly of what is best... each country is different, and again, when someone comes here from another country and complains about the US and firearms, I am one of the first that says they can have as many laws as they want... in their home country.

[RobertRyan]

qtla9111 wrote:

stan909 wrote:
I just sold my Sportsmobile poptop van to a young Australian couple. They are going to travel the U.S. N Canada for the next 2 years.What an incredible adventure. We have such an amazing country. I feel bad for those who haven't seen it.

I'm sure a lot of people in different countries think theirs is amazing too. Australia, New Zealand, Japan, all of the Americas, Asia. Well, I guess you get the idea. The planet is an amazing place and there are lots of countries to rv in. No limits.

How true and for a lot of countries that applies

[qtla9111]

stan909 wrote:
I just sold my Sportsmobile poptop van to a young Australian couple. They are going to travel the U.S. N Canada for the next 2 years.What an incredible adventure. We have such an amazing country. I feel bad for those who haven't seen it.

I'm sure a lot of people in different countries think theirs is amazing too. Australia, New Zealand, Japan, all of the Americas, Asia. Well, I guess you get the idea. The planet is an amazing place and there are lots of countries to rv in. No limits.

[NC_Hauler]

Woodtroll wrote:
I did read the book, several weeks ago. A lot of it was interesting, but after the first few chapters the author simply wore the term "redneck" out, usually in conjunction with other derogatory terms. He's the one driving the past-its-prime van across the country with constantly squealing fan belt that he seems unable to fix; maybe he should ask a redneck for help? Sort of like me spending a ton of time and money touring Australia, then referring to half of its citizens in derogatory terms. I'm glad the book was free!

thank you..one of my points exactly...

[Woodtroll]

I did read the book, several weeks ago. A lot of it was interesting, but after the first few chapters the author simply wore the term "redneck" out, usually in conjunction with other derogatory terms. He's the one driving the past-its-prime van across the country with constantly squealing fan belt that he seems unable to fix; maybe he should ask a redneck for help? Sort of like me spending a ton of time and money touring Australia, then referring to half of its citizens in derogatory terms. I'm glad the book was free!

[NC_Hauler]

mlts22 wrote:
The biggest difference is that gunpowder, casings, and ammo are a lot harder to get in the UK and OZ, so for the most part, a gun at best is something home-made there.

Funny, alway's seems the "bad guy's" never have a problem getting the gun's or ammo....The bad guy's can get guns from a lot of places as Mr. Wizard stated...doubt they're all running around with "home made" guns.......Sometimes, we really do have to take the blinders off and look at "the real world"........Eden disappeared a very, very long time ago...

also glad I live in a country where I CAN have guns and ammo to defend myself against those who use them illegally...

[mlts22]

The biggest difference is that gunpowder, casings, and ammo are a lot harder to get in the UK and OZ, so for the most part, a gun at best is something home-made there.

[MrWizard]

its not hard to find news
google it and read it or watch on the Aus, TV station and news papers

they have their "bikie" gangs AKA motorcycle gangs , and drug problems
and a Gun crime problem
the underground gun market is very strong and plenty of criminals have guns

[Slownsy]

I can't talk for Britan, but please tel me of alle the shoutings in OZ sins guns were banned, yes ther is proplems with drugs and crime, but nowhere on the scale of America. We do feel safe in most plases in the states, and prefer to camp or over night in out of the way places.
Frank

[MrWizard]

get on the internet and watch or read some news from Oz or Britain
they have their own share of drug use and violent crime.
and i would say the percentages are close enough to USA
some areas of Britain have a higher( per capita/percentage ) of Gun death than some places in the USA, yes total numbers are smaller, but so is the total population, but the per capita rate of violence and death is higher in some places

BUT WE Digress
that is NOT the topic

[NC_Hauler]

mlts22 wrote:
I got the book from Amazon, flipped through it. I think some of us tend to get cynical about outsiders, because there is a good chance they will start complaining about how Austin/Texas/the US suck compared to back home.

As for boondocking, the problem that the US has a raging drug epidemic (meth, etc.) This results in any public space that isn't policed 24/7/365 being turned into either a place of sale, a place of use, or a trap for the unwary. This is why hundreds of rest stops and picnic areas in Texas have been closed. Other countries don't have this problem. This is also why if one wants to dry camp, it usually is done on private property in the eastern portion of the country, while the western section is blessed with BLM dispersed camping. Before the epidemic in the 1980s, rest stops and other places were relatively peaceful and safe. Most other countries don't have this problem, so they allow people more rights in public spaces in general.

Good analogy...sad, but true...I delivered newspapers when I was 12 years old in 1962 thru 64..Would get up at 4:30-5am in the morning, 365 day's a year and deliver 85-90 newspapers, didn't matter if it was raining, snowing, whatever you delivered the paper. Can you see a parent letting a 12 yr old go out at 5am in the morning, jumping on their bicycle and delivering papers for the next 45 mins to an hour, NOT EVEN HARDLY..parents would be thrown in jail.....again, sad how things have changed....but it's also a lot like that many other so called "developed countries", not just ours..And no way would I want to be in the Mid East with all that is going on there...Most of the world isn't safe any more....Guess it's something we'll never get back...We have a place in the middle of nowhere in WV, in the mountains, on a river...feel pretty safe there for now...and love it...

[mlts22]

I got the book from Amazon, flipped through it. I think some of us tend to get cynical about outsiders, because there is a good chance they will start complaining about how Austin/Texas/the US suck compared to back home.

As for boondocking, the problem that the US has a raging drug epidemic (meth, etc.) This results in any public space that isn't policed 24/7/365 being turned into either a place of sale, a place of use, or a trap for the unwary. This is why hundreds of rest stops and picnic areas in Texas have been closed. Other countries don't have this problem. This is also why if one wants to dry camp, it usually is done on private property in the eastern portion of the country, while the western section is blessed with BLM dispersed camping. Before the epidemic in the 1980s, rest stops and other places were relatively peaceful and safe. Most other countries don't have this problem, so they allow people more rights in public spaces in general.

[gerrym51]

i have a kindle and read the book. althougth walmart is in the title there is surprisingly little about their wal-mart stays.

the author did have a time and money limit to their trip. they actually stayed in a lot of paid campgrounds and some hotels.

walmart was more of a secondary last minute place to stay rather than primary place to stay although they would look for non-paying places to stay

they also did not have the luxury of a lot of time at one place to do classic boondocking.

staying 2 weeks in one out of the way 'boondocking destination'
is not the point.

they were 95 percent tourers

I suspect boondocking and walmart got a lot of people to look at the book. Another title may not have gotten many looks