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Don't ever leave your campsite unattended in a National Forest on a holiday weekend. It is typical for a forest to fill up with campers during that time, which brings out organized gangs of thieves who rove around looking for opportunities. If you need evidence of people being robbed in...

It seems old-fashioned vehicles have some advantages.

It depends on what breaks and how far away from civilization you are. If you're urban camping in a car the latter is a non-issue. You buy what AutoZone etc. has in stock, you don't wait on parts unless forced. I carry a soft sided tool bag with all my essential tools in the spare wheel well...

Cool, just realize if you want to beat the heat in the summer, all you gotta do is get on I-40 and drive 5.5 hours until you hit Asheville. Plenty to do in Western NC.

You are in a different budgetary category than some of us. I think last fall I may have managed to survive for $250/month for everything, including food, supporting my dog too. Your $90..$120/month on what I consider "unnecessary" heating would derail such a tight budget. That kind of money...

I don't believe in shampooing. I spent years with frizzy hair until I finally realized the shampoos were all bull-oney, they were what was making my hair frizzy. I allowed the natural oils of my scalp to weigh down my hair and everything has been fine since. I won't use shampoo even if I have...

Not shocked, will double check your claim at some point, but am inclined to take it at face value. That may not be a dealbreaker though. I've gotten Verizon cell phone reception in some National Forests. It depends on the geography and how many private houses have encroached on the forest...

BTW why did you decide you need to do this in a van? If there are 2 of you and you both already own cars, using your existing cars would be far cheaper, even if you both have to spend gas money to get to new locations. Unless the MPG of your cars are really awful, the cars are going to have...

If you're touring fairly quickly, it's gotta be annoying as heck manually readjusting to local county weather codes. Did anyone come out with something that does the adjustments automatically, so you just get the warnings for where you're at right now? I've never been thrilled about the idea...

My Hayes protocol knowledge still has a potential use??

Well, no, of course not. Some of us live in cars. Ultralight backpackers live in 1 to 1.5 man tents. You're not going to be spending your life in your van, it's mainly for sleeping. You want to make sure you can sit down comfortably somehow, to do things like read a book or work with a...

Hi Bill, what part of NC? I know the Asheville area and surrounding forests pretty thoroughly now, and my inessential stuff is in my Mom's basement in Winston-Salem. I can understand wanting to see other parts of the country but there's a lot of good stuff in Western NC in the summer. Great...

Hendersonville also doesn't mind if you sit on a bench on their main street, plug into an electrical outlet, and use their wifi. It might be city wifi but I can't quite remember. Unfortunately the town itself is kinda dull / family / mostly rolls up early, so it's more of a pit stop on the way...

Lowe's Hardware is consistent and wasn't previously mentioned. Staples office supply is consistent. Probably the other office supply places too, but not sure. Often it's not about finding a signal somewhere, it's about finding one consistently without a lot of parking, hunting, and sniffing...

So what do they cost? At the library, I saw a recent issue of Consumer Reports about cell phone plans that completely ignored the issue of unlimited data plans.

So don't mooch in the McDs. Stay in your car. Why would you want to mooch inside anyways? It's generally not within a McD employee's pay grade to hassle you in the parking lot, but if you sat around inside the restaurant forever not buying anything, I'd expect them to say something...

35*F at night is not even a challenge, in a car. I have a summer weight rectangle bag with no top, and a winter weight "-15*F" (yeah right) bag with a broken zipper. It worked when the zipper worked, but I don't like being mummified anyways and won't get another one. I get in the summer bag...

Merino wool is great stuff provided you can obtain it cheaply. At retail it is ridiculously expensive. I've wondered if some climates have more of it and regular wool available at thrift stores. Doesn't happen in the South, not cold enough. Wool/acrylic blends also seem reasonable although I...

Stealing ice from a motel is doable but not as practical as you might want to believe. To get ice on a regluar basis, it implies that you're usually near enough to a motel where it's easy to walk in and load up. That's just not every city you're going to be in. If the theftable motel isn't...

Could just lose the addiction to bathing. Seems to mostly be perception, personal psychology, and societal pressure. I'm not a stinky person AFAIK and nobody's complained, so in the field I don't bathe. I do believe in changing clothes once a week, as clothes absorb oil and dirt from the...