Interstate-specific boondocking strategies?

[InterBlog]

I’m starting this thread to accumulate Interstate-specific boondocking strategies and success tips. (There is an existing B-Van child forum on boondocking, but that discussion is weighted toward technical factors - battery limitations in particular).

It’s been said many times that a properly-outfitted Interstate can go to, and stay in, places that regular RVs and trailers can’t touch. I got a reminder of this last week when I asked on the Air Forums primary Boondocking forum about options for a particular Texas destination for which campsite reservations are out of the question because demand vastly exceeds supply. Some of those responders were thinking in terms of conventional boondocking. I was more interested in pursuing options for Interstate boondocking.

So, for those of you who have boondocked in your Interstates, can you offer specific advisories and bits of wisdom as to the mechanics of how you went about "working within the rules" when the rules weren’t designed with Interstates in mind in the first place?

To that end, here are a few of my own observations. Bear in mind that I live in a metro area of 6.5 million people and a state of 30 million people. We face access pressures and restrictions that may not be typical of all areas.

First example scenario – some state and federal parks. Even if they disallow uncontrolled boondocking per se, if you are driving a van, you can buy a backcountry permit, park in a passenger vehicle trailhead parking lot, and then not necessarily exit your van to go tent camping. It’s not exactly what was intended when they designed the system, but if you are totally self-contained and don’t draw attention to yourself, it can be done, and in many circumstances, nobody will bother trying to split hairs - you did pay the fee, after all, and you are not taking up more than one parking space. People with large RVs and trailers cannot get away with this because of space limitations and giving the wrong impression to others who would then monkey-see-monkey-do, overwhelming the back country trailhead parking lots with oversized vehicles.

Second example scenario – some state and federal set-asides. Some natural areas have small parking lots just outside their gates. I know of several that are just there, ambiguously situated. No concrete indication as to what they were intended for, but no signs prohibiting overnight parking. I suspect they were installed to accommodate the people who are running late and can’t get in because the park staff has gone off-duty. But nobody will admit to anything because they don’t want to encourage people to dry camp outside their gates. I tend to evaluate those on a case-by-case basis as to whether I’m likely to get hassled by the local police if I attempt to boondock there.

Third example scenario – other public parks (counties, river authorities, etc.) with RV hook-ups and tent pads plus "overflow" areas. These typically stipulate that, if all of your group's vehicles do not fit at your assigned site, you are supposed place your excess vehicles in the overflow. Well, what if you try to pay a tent camping fee and then simply remain in the overflow? If there are tent sites available, this plan should be a piece of cake. The problem might arise if there are no assignable tent sites remaining. In that case, I would ask the gate agent if I could pay a tent fee anyway, and boondock in the overflow. But if they can’t make a specific site assignment, I don’t know if they are permitted the discretion to book the sale. Has anyone ever faced this kind of thing?

Thanks.

[jerhofer]

Last year we camped with friends in a state park in South Lake Tahoe. Our California friends made the reservations. We later found out that there were no hookups. We stayed there three days (it was a great campsite). Fortunately, our friends secured us a site next to the showers and bathroom. Using those facilities minimized our filling the black and gray tanks, which we had made sure were empty when we arrived and that we had a full LP tank.

The rules allowed running your generator during the day. We ran it for an hour each day to charge the batteries. We were parked in a grove of redwoods so solar charging was minimal.

The end result was that everything worked wonderfully on the 12V system. Since it got down into the thirties at night, we did have to run the furnace. Our batteries were new and held up well. We waited until we arrived at the next RV campground to empty the black and gray tanks. While We were somewhat apprehensive about the boon docking experience (it was our first time), we are glad we did it as I now have confidence in our equipment.


Sent from my iPad using Airstream Forums

[Protagonist]

So if I understand the intent of your post, you're looking for stories of when we used the fact of an Interstate being a "stealth" RV to boondock in places that otherwise don't allow RV camping.

I've never done that (yet) but I'm very interested in hearing about others' experiences along that line. I personally don't see the need to do that except in one instance— hurricane evacuations. Thankfully I haven't needed to evacuate for a hurricane since I bought my Interstate, but that day WILL come!

[InterBlog]

Here is the only boondocking scenario to date in which I have run our generator:

The mornings after collegiate sporting events in which we paid significant fees for event-specific parking passes (depending on the venue, it can cost $50 - $100 just to park). The idea being, if someone gets alerted and decides to eject us at that point, on a morning after, no big loss - we have already done our overnight stay.

Are we "allowed" to boondock at such venues? Once again, it's a gray area. If the institutional authorities (campus police) see your vehicle parked overnight after a football game, they assume you are out partying. Or you got drunk and had to leave the vehicle there and go home with a DD. If there isn't any trouble or attention drawn to the vehicle, they don't even glance at it.

But I wouldn't push it. If a dry camping park or other venue allows generators to be run, that's fine, but I personally wouldn't do it because it is so disruptive to others. I'm with Handy Bob on that rationale - unless I am stuck and have no choice (which hopefully I won't be with 300 watts of solar).

I wouldn't ever run a generator at either a back country trail head or a camping overflow area. That would be asking for a conflict. A trailer owner did that at an overflow area in Sam Houston National Forest when we stayed there a few months ago. Many campers got visibly irate.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

The mornings after collegiate sporting events in which we paid significant fees for event-specific parking passes (depending on the venue, it can cost $50 - $100 just to park). The idea being, if someone gets alerted and decides to eject us at that point, on a morning after, no big loss - we have already done our overnight stay.

Are we "allowed" to boondock at such venues?

If there is designated RV parking on campus where a fee is paid, then boondocking elsewhere on campus probably wouldn't be allowed, as that would be an attempt to defraud the university of revenue as well as being unfair to those who did pay to park their RVs.

Whether you could get away with it would also depend in part on what type of license plate you have. In Louisiana, they don't issue motorhome plates; instead my Interstate has a license plate that says "Private Bus." Or I could have gotten a handicapped license plate to match the one on my toad— which I didn't because my particular mobility impairment doesn't require me to park on a paved surface and it would be rude to those needing scooters or wheelchairs for me to take up a spot they need more than I do. But anyway, in a case like that where you don't have RV/motorhome plates, it might be possible to masquerade as a regular van to boondock on campus away from the designated RV parking. But if your Interstate has a license plate that says "RV" or "Motorhome" it would be more difficult to get away with it.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

If there is designated RV parking on campus where a fee is paid, then boondocking elsewhere on campus probably wouldn't be allowed, as that would be an attempt to defraud the university of revenue as well as being unfair to those who did pay to park their RVs.

.....

Whether you could get away with it would also depend in part on what type of license plate you have. ...

(1) That's assuming there would be space in a campus-associated RV facility, which of course there would NOT be. Not ever. It would be difficult for them to argue loss of revenue when we could never have a prayer of getting into an "official" RV area in the first place. IMO, it's also difficult for them to argue loss of revenue when they are charging close to three figures just for individual passenger vehicle parking spots.

One of our example collegiate sports venues exceeds the most recent Superbowl capacity by almost 30%!! We often find it difficult to transmit a sense of the sheer size of what we're up against in this part of Texas. When we drove across the eastern part of America in 2014, every time we would pass through a major metropolitan area, we would look at each other and ask, "Was that the WHOLE city? Is that all there is to it?!" The only place that felt comparable to our Houston experience was Manhattan. And in fact we are quickly catching up to it, population-wise, although Manhattan is obviously configured very differently.

(2) We have a regular-looking passenger car plate on our Interstate. It's a van. We didn't have to ask for this - it was issued that way.

[InterBlog]

Here's an interesting (to me, at least) timing coincidence to this thread... one of the reasons I want to push forward and do some state park-related boondocking is that we've been watching the Texas state park system rapidly falling into ruin. And I mean literal ruin. We've watched parks burn, we've watched multiple parks scour away during floods, we've watched the infrastructure crumble. In 2015, we saw one of their obsolete earthen dams collapse and a recreational lake vanish. I've wanted to get out there and see some of them before any more of them get closed down, pawned off on other governmental entities (i.e., divested, which has happened frequently) or otherwise ruined entirely.

Well, just a few minutes ago, TPWD made this news release announcing major funding to stem the collapse, including $91 million in pending capital improvements compared to the $11 million allocated in 2014. It seems I'm not the only one with a rising sense of alarm. I hope they have reasonable capacity increases built into that improvement plan.

[Boxster1971]

Infrastructure crumble seems have become the American way. Sad but true.


- - Mike
2013 Lounge EXT on 2012 Sprinter

[DaveFL]

Overnight parking would be the other description of boondocking in a van. A parked vehicle doesn't have lights on or anything leaking on the pavement. Florida has rules, no overnight parking in many places. Before 9/11 vs after for public areas under bridges, piers or near sensitive places. We used to have the right to park at boat ramps and fishing piers waiting for the right tide, new signs proclaim no parking or closes at sunset. Florida Keys is a good example of you can't park here, and tickets will be issued if you do. Thanks to the local cg's.

[jerhofer]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Here's an interesting (to me, at least) timing coincidence to this thread... one of the reasons I want to push forward and do some state park-related boondocking is that we've been watching the Texas state park system rapidly falling into ruin. And I mean literal ruin. We've watched parks burn, we've watched multiple parks scour away during floods, we've watched the infrastructure crumble. In 2015, we saw one of their obsolete earthen dams collapse and a recreational lake vanish. I've wanted to get out there and see some of them before any more of them get closed down, pawned off on other governmental entities (i.e., divested, which has happened frequently) or otherwise ruined entirely.

We spent three nights at Palo Duro Canyon State Park last fall on our way back from the west coast. It was one of the highlights of our trip. We didn't notice any issues there but, as it is one of the most popular Texas parks, maybe they concentrate on keeping it up better than some of the other parks. It was spectacular. So much so that we are planning on staying there again this spring on our way back from another trip out west. There are a couple more trails that we want to do.

[LB_3]

Palo Duro Canyon is on our short list this spring. I hope we can get out there but the park is 100% reserved at this time. If you have any suggestions, we'll take them. Even the picnic areas on the side of the highway are viable options if we can't find anything in or near the park.

[jerhofer]

Originally Posted by LB_3

Palo Duro Canyon is on our short list this spring. I hope we can get out there but the park is 100% reserved at this time. If you have any suggestions, we'll take them. Even the picnic areas on the side of the highway are viable options if we can't find anything in or near the park.

I reserved our spaces a month and a half ago for the end of May.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by jerhofer

I reserved our spaces a month and a half ago for the end of May.

I wish we had the luxury of far-out reservations. With two careers and a child who has been going through the university application process, we simply don't.

It sounds like you reserved Palo Duro with a 5-month lead time. That's actually pretty good for Texas. One of the other state parks on my short list is Garner. Last time I checked, there was a 330 day wait time. According to social media, Garner's staff measures the wait time in days, so that people can be as precise as possible in their planning process.

[InterBlog]

Here is another piece of context on this boondocking issue, and potentially a heads-up for anyone hunting for investment opportunities. Seriously.

Hubster and I had our solar system epiphany two weeks ago when I had to rearrange a work junket because I couldn't get a commercial reservation for the Interstate. This was on a week-day (not weekend) in the middle of winter with no discernible special events in the area. My target facility has approximately 170 hook-ups that rent for almost $50 per day (lower unit cost if paid monthly). They told me that they would not consider even trying to take reservations for at least a week out, because they were so overwhelmed with people wanting to book.

We realized at that point that we just had to push through and get the solar finished. At least that way, I can Wallydock when I need to. Because in a lot of areas around here, there are no hook-ups to be had at any time for any price.

I have a client employee who develops small RV parks on the side, as a family business. She told me that, at this point, from the moment you close on your dirt sale to the point where you have all site-related debt paid in full - the real estate plus all RV park utilities, paving, buildings, and other improvements - that time period is currently 36 months. That is all - after that point, you just rake in the money. That's how far below demand the supply currently sits.

We had a new RV park spring up about a mile and a half from our house. As I watched it going up, I wondered about its location, location, location and the business model viability - it's sandwiched between light industrial buildings and a state highway overpass, not exactly posh accommodations, with no privacy and constant noise. That thing is so new that it isn't even listed in online park directories yet - but it's constantly at 100% capacity. If there ever is an open slot, it's marked with a traffic cone to let people know that somebody lives there (pic below, which I took from the overpass).

If I wasn't already running my own LLC that is working for me, I have little doubt that I would jump into that market. We need more commercial parks just as badly as we need more public park accessibility.

[Hittenstiehl]

Many people/families live full time in RV's these days that may not have fit the typical RV profile just a couple years ago.

Couple of examples from family or people we know.

Man and wife living in Texas in a fifth wheel while working at nuclear plant. They don't even own a tow vehicle. Kept their house back home will retire in a couple years.

College student living in Bay Area for school in a canned ham. No yow vehicle.

Nephew in trailer in SD oil fields, with roommates.

Family lost home in economic downturn, bad credit, bad financial decisions but good income in a CA trailer park with nice trailer with 3 slides. Drive compacts.

Good info thread sorry for hijack.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Hittenstiehl

Many people/families live full time in RV's these days that may not have fit the typical RV profile just a couple years ago.

Couple of examples from family or people we know.

Man and wife living in Texas in a fifth wheel while working at nuclear plant. They don't even own a tow vehicle. Kept their house back home will retire in a couple years.

College student living in Bay Area for school in a canned ham. No yow vehicle.

Nephew in trailer in SD oil fields, with roommates.

Family lost home in economic downturn, bad credit, bad financial decisions but good income in a CA trailer park with nice trailer with 3 slides. Drive compacts.

Good info thread sorry for hijack.

I don't see it as a hijack because you raise an important piece of perspective - accommodations are lacking in some areas specifically because the RV parks of yesteryear are being put to new uses. In many areas of Texas, they are no longer RV parks - they are man camps for workers who, for one reason or another, cannot get stick and brick housing.

It's not just happening in the oil field. It's happening wherever construction and development are intense. That's the case in much of Brazoria County, Texas, where petrochemical facilities are expanding. I called a park owner down there a few months ago, asking how far in advance I'd have to book to get a hook-up. He said, "You can't - we are permanently full. But you are welcome to park here overnight if you don't need hook-ups." And that was for a "travelers" recreational RV park, not a mobile home park.

[xrvr]

If I were to off-road boondock in an Interstate often I would install air bags in the rear to be used only when going off-road to increase ground clearance,..I had them on my Interstate and they allowed me to backup to higher curbs without grounding anything. Didn't need them while normal driving just when additional clearance was needed while at low speed on rough, irregular roads with potholes and excessive dips.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by avionstream

If I were to off-road boondock in an Interstate often I would install air bags in the rear to be used only when going off-road to increase ground clearance,..I had them on my Interstate and they allowed me to backup to higher curbs without grounding anything. Didn't need them while normal driving just when additional clearance was needed while at low speed on rough, irregular roads with potholes and excessive dips.

Oh, now THAT is a distant dream, and I'm not sure that any Interstate could ever handle what my husband and I achieved by abusing my two successive Sienna minivans in west Texas, specifically in Big Bend (federal) and Big Bend Ranch (state).

The issue with some destinations is that you have to drive X number of miles into a place before you can then set off on foot to get to the really good stuff. We saw some of the most amazing natural phenomena of our lives by doing that, but we didn't drive over "roads" per se - they were more like ancient overland traces where the vegetation had been scraped away. I have distinct memories of hopping out and accumulating arm-loads of rocks to pile up so that the Sienna could clear one outcrop or another. If one were trying to do that kind of thing in a Sprinter, I think it would have to be one of those specially-adapted "adventure Sprinters" or "exploration Sprinters" rather than any off-the-lot Class B.

That's why I'm particularly interested in back country trail head boondocking, possibly in conjunction with those fold-able bicycles. That way, for example, we could cover the first X miles of any given impassable "road" by all-terrain bicycle, without exhausting ourselves or consuming too many daylight hours on foot. Then proceed the final few miles to the target destination on foot.

Ernst Tinaja in Big Bend (federal) is a prime example of what I mean. Ernst Tinaja is a bucket-list-worthy destination, but there is no way that any Interstate is getting within five miles of it.

There is more than undercarriage clearance at stake. Primitive roads eat tires like nothing else is capable of doing. I was very proud of myself that I drove miles and miles quasi-off-road in west Texas without shredding any Sienna tires. We saw plenty of examples of visitors in supposedly-sturdier vehicles who were not so lucky:

[UKDUDE]

This is a coincidental thread for us:
We just spent a few days at Las Vegas; not somewhere I'd go willingly, but my wife's work had a corporate conference and she wanted to attend. It was in one of the Hotel/Casinos right in the middle of the Strip, so we parked the Interstate in the Excalibur parking lot where security said it was fine.
3 nights on the Strip, followed by one night at the Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort (about 5 miles south) to replenish the tanks and take showers, then back to the Strip for a further night.
Then on to Flagstaff where we slept at the Medical Center parking lot where I had an early appointment the next morning.
No hitches whatsoever.

[jerhofer]

Originally Posted by UKDUDE

This is a coincidental thread for us:
We just spent a few days at Las Vegas; not somewhere I'd go willingly, but my wife's work had a corporate conference and she wanted to attend. It was in one of the Hotel/Casinos right in the middle of the Strip, so we parked the Interstate in the Excalibur parking lot where security said it was fine.
3 nights on the Strip, followed by one night at the Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort (about 5 miles south) to replenish the tanks and take showers, then back to the Strip for a further night.
Then on to Flagstaff where we slept at the Medical Center parking lot where I had an early appointment the next morning.
No hitches whatsoever.

I see you are from Sedona. We plan on camping at Rancho Sedona for three days in mid-May during our western trip.