Campgrounds-Sleep in Car?
M. Hale
trying campgrounds for a couple of nights. Do camp grounds typically allow
one to sleep in their car? I have a large SUV and with the back seats down
it is the size of a single bed.
Anyone have experience with this?
Mike
Laurence F. Sheldon, Jr.
I can't imagine a commercial campground turning you awa, not can I
imagine a State Park, Forest Service, or National Park turning you away
if you are following the rules.
People sleep in cars in Interstate rest areas and toll road "oases" all
the time--including some that are placarded against it.
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"M. Hale" <mjh...@mjhale.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9EE93E411E7A...@216.151.153.169...
I know some people who do that at 24-Hour Wal-Marts
richard
Just find yourself a good size truckstop with lots of car parking.
Flying J, T/A, Petro, Pilot and some other don't give a shit if you sleep
in your car.
A lot of campgrounds do not take tents. And they're just as expensive as a
modest motel.
Buy yourself a small easy up tent and pitch it at state parks.
Brent Jonas
This may or may not be of use for you, and you're probably already
aware of this. But if you're looking for places to take showers,
Love's, TA Travel Centers, Pilot usually have showers for a fee of $7
to $10. Also, if you have a membership to a nationwide gym chain like
LA Fitness or 24 Hour Fitness, you can always try to coordinate your
driving to be near a gym when you wake up. I've done this a lot of
times, while traversing across the country.
-Brent
JG
Public pools are around $3. Most have lockers and showers.
Tom Mogadore
Is a small pup tent like the military uses out of the question? You probably could get that and a sleeping bag dead cheap at a surplus store, and I'd wager that would be a bit more pleasant than sleeping in a vehicle.
Larry G
there are a ton of campgrounds but not all of them are within a couple
miles of the interstates and some specialize in RV rigs rather than
tents. Get a cheap tent (or just a tarp) and set it up if required but
most don't really care.
so it probably boils down to what your reasons are for wanting to camp
LITE in the first place
camping is not particularly cheap even tent camping but it invariably
is cheaper than all but the cheapest motels.
The areas around heavily visited National Parks are going to get top
dollar for motels AND campgrounds and securing a site at the National
or State campgrounds on weekends (or even weekdays at some) is not a
sure deal.
We pretty much (van) camp every night on our trips that usually last 6-
weeks in the Summer and we use several campground directories both
paper and online and call ahead to confirm availability especially on
Friday/Sat.
calling ahead on weekends (in the morning - Friday and Saturday -
Sundays people leave so less of a problem) can save a lot of grief but
you're also gonna find that if you don't want an RV-sized site that
many tent-type sites at the Commercial campgrounds can be cheek-by-
jowl and surrounded by big RV - and virtually no privacy
State and Federal Campgrounds tend to have roomier sites but are
stickler for their "rules" which if you don't follow, will often bring
a ranger to read you their version of the riot act. They are more
likely to "require" a tent. The commercials usually don't care as long
as you pay your money and don't make trouble.
Tom
> > I'm planning a cross country trip for this summer. I was thinking about
> > trying campgrounds for a couple of nights. Do camp grounds typically allow
> > one to sleep in their car? I have a large SUV and with the back seats down
> > it is the size of a single bed.
>
to cover the open hatch and an airmattress contoured to fit between
the wheel wells. Plus, conversion vans, pickups with shells, and more
are made into quick camp vehicles.
Besides, when the sky opens up, most tent campers sleep in the car.
Larry G
> :> > I'm planning a cross country trip for this summer. I was thinking about
We have a Ford Van with a retro-fitted pop-top and 4 slider windows
and have converted the cargo part into a "dry", poor-man camper ....
It has no plumbing, electricity, etc but we have an extension cord for
when we do have electricity ... and a Coleman propane hot-water on
demand thingy. We set up on picnic table (with screen house if
necessary for bugs/weather)..
we use this rig to basically camp every night for 6-weeks or so in a
wide variety of campgrounds but avoid the runamucker oriented
ones.... We camp at KOAs or similar when we need laundry or we'll do
laundry in a town while we restock food/supplies.
tent camping in most commercial campgrounds is fairly dismal. You see
it a lot more at State and Federal campgrounds but they are usually
further from the interstates while the commercials are often much
closer. choose your poison.