Back on the road! Here is a short video about how I stealth camp while traveling.
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36 Comments
Well shucks. I tried to watch the video but it was private and I couldn’t.
How strange.
It is listed as public on my You Tube. At a truck stop, so may have to check it later! Trying clicking through to You Tube.
Jennifer
If you guys can or can’t view this, please let me know.
Thanks!
Jennifer
At first I couldn’t but 10 minutes later I could see it. Very cool idea of how to hide in plain sight.
Andrea
Whenever I’ve overnighted while traveling in my vans, car or truck (many, many times) Ive done practically the same thing. Pulled into a 24 hour business, under the lights and slept. I’ve never been bothered.
Cyndi and Stumpy @ RVly Ever After
I had no problem watching the video. What did you use for heat??
I like the idea of hiding in plain sight. Bright light overhead for safety, nice and cozy inside. And FREE. I hope Katie doesn’t bark when I’m stealth camping. I’m trying to train her now so she will be quieter when we are full-timing. Thanks for the video!
dewelldesigns.blogspot.com (Me and My Dog)
For heat: puffy down jacket, two down comforters, and six down pillows. I actually was warm enough!
I can run my furnace, but hate to waste the propane all night when I can stay warm.
Also, my battery was totally dead this morning. I’m having trouble with cold weather and dead battery. It happened twice before – at Yellowstone on the way to the Arctic and in Santa Fe in the fall.
I have a mini-battery jump and cables that reach to my house batteries; I’ve never found a ‘jump’ button.
Jennifer
Inspiring! Who would have thought, hiding in plain sight. No worries about sneaking around. just right there under your nose.
Great way to stay somewhere for a night without being bothered!!!
Thanks for sharing!
Something is drawing your battery down. Is the battery that dies the one the inverter is connected to?
No, it is my chassis battery. The only slight possibility is that I left my ‘ashtray’ (access to the 12 volt plug for my Garmin GPS) open overnight. It may have a tiny red light in there, but not sure. Such a tiny draw, though! (The Garmin 12 volt was unplugged.)
I didn’t have that open at Yellowstone though. It was about 18 degrees overnight.
While I was driving today, the Garmin also signaled it lost power from the 12 volt plug, but then it came back up.
I should do a battery test, I guess? It is always went it is really cold. Battery is probably 5 years old, but was in storage unused for years, I think.
A battery that old is trying to tell you its on its last leg. Also, have you looked into the Olympic Wave heaters? Heat with minimal LP and No 12 volts, but you would need to provide oxygen, leave a vent partially open and a bedroom or bathroom window partially open.
I like your idea of hiding in plain sight, thats a great way to save some $ while out on the road.
Yes, that battery is toooo old. Time to replace it. The catalytic heater is a great idea. Quite, and no electrical required….just a little ventilation.
Jenny, find a battery place and have them do a real load test on that battery with a carbon pile load tester. Yes, it probably is dying and the flat battery is like a warning of pending permanent failure. Then again, it may be something as simple as corrosion on the connectors which, combined with cold conditions, results in no or a very poor contact at the battery posts or pads. That, you are able to correct with baking soda, a wire brush and a little wrenching. Worth taking an hour out of your day and doing some preventive maintenance, just in case?
Jennifer,
1. Yes… You have old batteries so will need to replace sometime soon
2. I think I read somewhere that you had heated holding tanks.. This could also be a reason that you’ve been battery empty in low, low temperature scenarios.
Just a thought… Nice vid.. Stealth camping seems like it would be fun,
-=UH40=-
On a 350W inverter I can watch TV and/or use a dvd player..having both plugged in at same time as well as laptop. I found my dvd player and tv combined only run 15 W and the tv I am using is from like 1982 (seriously). I wouldn’t have all this on continuously for obvious purposes but knowing I can at times and multi-task is nice.
Also, Some hotels I have noticed started with private security trolling the parking areas. One I ran across looked like any ordinary guy and stated if I was not renting a room and did not have a parking pass to leave. The town I was in was not very big either.
Be safe and have good travels
I can watch the video.
I can’t say anything intelligent about the battery situation.
Is it possible you have a Mini situation like ours? We have massive house batteries, but we don’t exactly run off them, they power a coach battery that, in turn, powers everything DC. We didn’t know that, so we didn’t have that single coach battery and everything was running off the chassis battery, briefly, until it died a cold, lonely death.
See what I mean? Nothing intelligent.
Didn’t see the video at first but if you wait a few minutes it comes on.
Never heard of “stealth camping” – but then again I am a Newbie.
Forgot to mention in my earlier comment that I WAS able to watch the video. We love Cracker Barrel restaurants for overnight camping, and have used their RV parking for that purpose many times. Also have overnighted in Flying J’s when they offer a separate RV parking section from the trucks. I like your ideas a lot. Sounds like you are gradually working out a road routine that works for you and keeps costs down.
It’s been my experience with RV forums, that people are just to timid about stealth overnighting. We’ve been doing it for like 30+ years, mostly when in-route to a designation.
We overnight everywhere and anywhere.
Never takes more than a few minutes to find a spot.
Here’s one of our ‘classic’ stealth overnighters:
Back in the mid 80’s when our family vacation budgets were limited. Loaded up our four kids in the 1969 22ft Winnebago Brave, for a trip to Washington DC. We planned on staying in the Winnie if a stealthy spot could be found around the Capitol/Mall/White House area. We were experienced urban campers, having taken other trips to our nation’s largest cities. Usually spending the night in a hotel parking lots or a city street that bordered a park. It was a lot of fun with the kids, having the Motor Home parked close to the action, of each city’s downtown tourist area. While driving the Winnie around the Washington Monument I spotted a group of white construction trailers parked on the grass next to the Monument’s visitor’s parking lot. I drove the Winnie from the visitor’s parking on the grass and chose a space among the construction trailers. Our ‘white’ Winnie blended right in with the ‘white’ construction trailers. We spent the next three nights camped there, spending the day touring the Capitol’s Mall, Museums and Monuments. At night we’d bed down in our lil’ White House gazing at the Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln Monuments and then turn to give a salute to our closest neighbors, Ronnie and Nancy over at the big White House.
Great story! I love it.
Thanks for sharing.
Jennifer
Regarding the “jump” button, (I’m doing this from memory as my View is parked a couple miles away)to the lower left of the steering wheel I have a toggle switch that states ‘car and coach’ or something like that to switch on what set of batteries you want to run the radio on. Well to the left of that switch is another just like it. I can’t recall how it is labeled(since I’ve never had a need to use it) but this switch is to flip so you can start the vehicle using the coach batteries if the chassis battery should ever die. Do you have this? Maybe it is just a Winnebago add-on and your Vista Crusier doesn’t have it.
I don’t have that button, but thanks for letting me know where to check. I thought maybe I was just missing it, but definitely don’t have anything there.
(I combed over that area pretty closely when trying to find my OBD connection and then my fuse box. The fuse box is in the steering column. I spent an hour looking!)
Oh, I was looking because my horn has never worked, but the fuse wasn’t blown for the horn.
You can drive without a horn? Is that possible?
Bob
It has been a consistent theme in my life, I speak, but no one listens.
Jennifer, who still hits the mute horn
Jennifer, a smart charger might be worth considering. Mine is a Vector 2/10/30A model (plus boost mode for jump starting). It has recondition modes to equalize the cells and desulfate the plates. Along with maintaining water levels (monitor regularly, carry a jug of distilled water) battery life expectancy can be doubled from 5 to 10 years!
And hospitals. People stay in their parking lots at all hours.
Sorry, you may not like this. Those unvented heaters make corpses. Maybe you will be lucky, is it worth it? NEVER use propane or fuel oil unvented. Open windows are probibly enough, but is it worth it???
be safe,
bobbieo
Bob – Actually there ARE some propane heaters suitable for use inside an RV. Strictly speaking, these are unvented heaters, but if you read the product manual (BEFORE you buy it) you’ll see they’re rated to be run inside an RV with a vent cracked. Mind you, I wouldn’t do so without also having a reliable CO detector.
Jennifer – A down sleeping bag is the definitive answer to staying warm. I’ve had ice freeze on the outside of my down bag on a cold night. (The water was from my sweat — it was toasty warm inside.) Always use a 1.5″+-thick foam pad (or the equivalent mattress) underneath to provide insulation between you and the “ground.” If you don’t have a down bag, a down comforter can be almost as good.
And here’s the trick — you can buy down gear used and wash and dry it in household machines. Dry cleaning is not essential, and I don’t even prefer it. Use gentle wash cycle, and follow any drier cycle recommendations on the label. It may take a while to completely dry a bag or comforter.
nice articles
good share.
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