Boondocking from LA to NYC. Any Advice!?

[righttoroam]

My wife and I (along with our 2 month old son) are moving from Los Angeles to New York and traveling with our 16' Bambi! We're going to be taking a Southern route to avoid the snow but the exact course is up in the air.

It'll be the longest trip yet where we'll predominantly boondock. We have the solar and extra batteries taken care of but would love any other advice on travel tips, routes, gear we should bring, making ourselves comfortable, great spots to camp etc etc.

Thanks!

[twbucksr]

If you don’t have an app like ParkAdvisor get one and use it to plan your trip. It will show you all the Pilot Travel Centers, Rest Areas, Walmart’s, Bass Pro Shops, etc and whether they allow overnight parking. It also shows RV Park locations with ratings and reviews.

I also recommend a Good Sam Roadside Assistance membership. In addition to the the listed benefits, you get $.05/gallon discount on gas at Pilot Travel Centers which will pay for your membership on this 3000 mile trip.

The southern route by Google takes you thru Oklahoma which I think is more scenic than the extreme southern route of I-10. However, this time of year I would take the flatter, I-10 route until you get to Mobile, AL and pick up I-65 to head NE. Avoid the major cities during rush hours by going thru them between 10 am and 3 pm or waiting until after 8 pm or on weekends to enter.

[xrvr]

Somewhere you will have to use a dump station. I think there is an app for that.

[Ray Eklund]

Righttoroam... it is the level of experience that will determine how things work out.

We travel and in the process find Truck Stops, Casino Parking lots, Walmart, Costco, pull outs off the highway, rest areas along highways and a multitude of other options. If you are not comfortable in stopping and lack of planning ahead for a sense of security, this could be very difficult.

The 'southern route' is also a matter of weather opportunity. You are not immune to the wind and cold, possibly ice. You could be sitting at an undesirable location for day or days.

Be prepared, but if you have the confidence take a route that is direct and stop at smaller towns that are more lenient with the casual Airstream traveler Boondocked for the evening.

We make no prior commitments. We make no reservations. But have a sense of the direction we want to travel and then use our ingenuity for the overnight accommodations. Pulling a trailer on a long trip is difficult if you are not comfortable being in unfamiliar places. Your confidence will grow as you practice being independent. If you try this and succeed, you can travel anywhere, at any time and enjoy your home on wheels for what it was designed to do.

A home on wheels. You decide where and when to stop. Good luck. Tell us how everything worked out. This could be an experience you actually will learn something that many do not. Otherwise, you may prefer to be among the majority and comfortable among others that share your experiences at RV Parks.

[Phoedis]

Once you get past Oklahoma BLM lands (which we like to use for boondocking are few and far between. National forests are another option depending on your route. I highly recommend https://www.boondockerswelcome.com/. There's a small joining fee annually but well worth it! We have used it many times crossing the country and heading through places like Florida that don't allow overnighting pretty much anywhere! Good luck and happy trails!

[Van1]

With a small child I would suggest considering security and convenience. We have boondocked up to Alaska and back. Wal-Marts are a great place to stop. We use the opportunity to replenish our supplies. Most parking lots are well lit and often have security. We always ask the manager if they mind. We have never been turned away.

Another good choice, like one of the other owner’s suggested, are casinos. Most are open 24 hours and have security. I’ve even stayed at casinos that had free electric hookups.

We could usually boondock for 4 Days and spend 1 night in a campground to dump sewage, filllup with water and do laundry if it’s necessary.

[Rzrbrn]

West of the Mississippi River boondocking is fairly easy. We use the Allstays app. East of the River, it is a bit of a challenge, but don't forget regional and city parks, and fairgrounds, as well as the places listed above.

Don't deploy chairs, camp stoves, awnings etc, when on the move and using Walmart, Target, Lowes, Home Depot, rest stops, etc, for overnight stops.

Traveling after about 10 pm or so means you will find rest stops full of truckers, with no place to park your trailer. As you enter the rest stop, best to quickly scan the situation, if it looks crowded in the truck/trailer section, pull into the car parking area.

Usually the car side, late at night, will have fewer cars parked that the Trucker side. So park with the cars, just try to park far away from the entrance to the bathrooms, because there is usually fewer cars parked and less foot traffic. You may have to take up a couple of car slots, and if you do, try to stop near a corner, angled such that a car would have a difficult time parking in front of you. You don't want to get hemmed in by cars front and back.

Most importantly, if you get a bad feeling about a place, leave. This includes some RV parks, some of which are in high crime areas, or are just too run down.

I don't mean to be elitist, but some private RV and Trailer parks allow long term parking at greatly reduced rates. Some people will live there as the cheapest possible way to live. Many people that do this are fine people, down on their luck. But others are not nice, or don't have the same values you have. Just be aware of such places.

[mandolindave]

I would stay winterized. Play it by ear. Have a porta potti. Bite the bullet and go to a motel, if need be.

Full grown daughter and big tough marine fiancé got snow bound going cross country two Decembers ago…In New Mexico

I'm an old punk…and I wouldn't want to have to rewinterize in freezing temps

[coasttocoast]

I like having water, sewer, and electricity, but occasionally, I have to park somewhere overnight when I can’t find a plug-in. I would think that you would want to plan out the stops and have access to conveniences given the small size of your tanks and the young one on board. I’ve parked overnight at a few Walmarts, but be aware that some locations only lease the building and may not have authority over the parking lot. On a recent trip north, I planned to make a stop in Manhattan with a reservation at Liberty Harbor RV Park. I was running a day earlier than planned and ended up staying at Walmart in Bayonne, NJ. I called Walmart earlier in the day asking for permission to park to which they gave approval. I arrived around 7pm, went into Walmart to buy supplies and then ate dinner at the LongHorn in the parking lot. After a glass of wine and getting comfortable, a friendly security guard informed me that Walmart had no authority over the parking lot, and I couldn’t stay. After “reaching an agreement” with security, I was allowed to park. In hindsight, I should have stayed the night at the camp about two hours from Manhattan and proceeded in the next day. So let’s talk now about Liberty Harbor RV Park which is just a train or ferry ride into the city. The draw of this location is its easy access. It’s in a good, safe location just steps to the ferry dock, but blocks from the train station. You will want to pay particular attention to the ferry schedule and also note that it does not run on weekends. Walking to the train station in 90 degree heat was not fun. My site had water and electricity and all appeared well when I returned three days later. If you are planning to go into the city, it’s probably best to get into a hotel and park the RV until you are ready to leave. The ferry arrives in Manhattan at Wall Street which is about a $20.00 cab ride away from the Village. The staff at Liberty Harbor were helpful and friendly but somewhat lacking in communications. Liberty Harbor is very convenient if you are in an RV and want to go into the city. If you want to go camping, I suggest a KOA elsewhere. Cracker Barrel and Cabela’s may have overnight parking. I was thinking about staying at a Cabela’s in Maine once, but after seeing all the diesel trucks, I went to the camp instead. Check out my travel photos on Instagram at coasttocoastphotoatl.

[tpot]

We have a 19’ Bambi.
These are some of our boondocking tools that we swear by:
(Water conservation and wastewater minimization in your grey tank is critical)
Plastic tub that fits in the sink for capturing water.
Larger plastic bucket (like an empty lidded cat litter bucket) for disposing of dirty dishwater that we keep outside the door.
Clean drinking water in gallon jugs that we continually refill.
Funnel with flexible tube for refilling tank with gallon water bottles.
Drinking water bottles with squirt opening for cleaning and rinsing dishes, hands, etc.
Luci lights (inflatable, LED, solar lights) and/or battery operated candles.
Disposable, large, premoistened body wash towels.
Solar panel and small generator for emergencies, if you can swing it.

[wareaglewalt]

I just realized you asked about boondocking and not RV parks. North Carolina has an incredible amount of boondocking sites free for up to 2 weeks. If you have the time you can meander thru the National Forests and just pick a spot to pull over. It will be obvious it's a campsite and would be marked if camping was not allowed. Our favorite camping to date was 2 weeks in the Nantahala Forest near Robbinsville, NC. We were right on Lake Santeetlah. The Allstays app is good help in addition to freecampsites.net.

[pmclemore]

Look up Travelin Man. His thread should provide a pretty good guide.

Pat

[Silvr_Bullet]

Originally Posted by righttoroam

My wife and I (along with our 2 month old son) are moving from Los Angeles to New York and traveling with our 16' Bambi! We're going to be taking a Southern route to avoid the snow but the exact course is up in the air.

It'll be the longest trip yet where we'll predominantly boondock. We have the solar and extra batteries taken care of but would love any other advice on travel tips, routes, gear we should bring, making ourselves comfortable, great spots to camp etc etc.

Thanks!

I would start my trip with a winterized trailer, and bring along several gallons of RV antifreeze for flushing the toilet, always used for flushing. Secondly I would have tire monitors to monitor pressure and temperature. Thirdly an investment in a 1000 watt inverter generator, Wen has a 1250 watt on Amazon for under $400.00 weight is about 34 lb. Have a great safe trip.

[delrossa]

I second the Allstays app. It will let u see Walmart’s that allow u to park. Also it will let u find Flying J’s. They have great showers and RV islands to dump , water, gas and LP.
I can’t say enough about Allstays.

[mrgolf]

Join HarvestHosts and enjoy staying free overnight at wineries and farms across the US. We just finished an 11,000 mile journey and found HarvestHosts to be a wonderful way to boondock and see America.

https://harvesthosts.com/

[demijac]

There are great tools like the Allstays App & Google Earth to help find a boondocking location but most of all, it comes down to using your imagination, and being observant to what’s around you. It gets to be fun after awhile. In small towns, we like ball fields, city parks, school, church and museum parking lots, fairgrounds, vacant lots etc. If you need WiFi, Lowe’s, Home Depot and a strip mall close to a Starbucks work well.

Good luck with where your imagination takes you.

[57Wanderer]

We have found some great boondocking spots on www.freecampsites.net.

Also: Campendium has excellent photos and reviews and inclusive lists of campgrounds: state parks, forest service, private RV parks, National Parks. Just about all you could imagine.

And www.campsitephotos.com allows you to look at just about every public campsite, to answer the age-old question: will we like it there?

Allstays allows you to look at the satellite view of any site.....you can tell a lot from the sky view. Is this a mobile home park or a campground? Is it close to a major road? Is there indeed a lake there? For the $10 price of the app, it has been invaluable.

We love Harvest Hosts, but this may be an adult only sort of thing. I would check before joining.

[Streamracer]

If you do happen to go the southern route and turn north on I65 in Alabama, most of the rest stops have free dump stations.

[GallivanGM]

Looks like you got some good advice. I am going to take some of it myself when I do a solo trip east to west to visit my daughter this Spring.
One thing my wife and I enjoy. When traveling in southern states is to stay overnight at a restaurant chain called Cracker Barrel. The welcome overnight ears and are open for both breakfast, lunch and dinner creating a really convenient stop without hassle of cooking. Heck, I even use their bathroom!

[OTRA15]

TravlinMan’s Please Tell Me threads are a good read for the western portion of the trip:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f42/...go-166490.html
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f42/...-a-173979.html

He has been silent for a month or so, but hopefully will be back on the road again soon.

We did a winter round trip in the 90’s from NYC to San Diego and Napa, and had a blast taking the southern route because of weather. Be prepared for winterizing the pipes on short notice.

Have a great trip!

Peter