Demystifying the Urban Stealth Legend

[Thirsty Boots Nomad]

^^^
The realist in me that's been around several "misbehaving while off-duty" LEO would agree

 

[John61CT]

When those Oakland cops were busted for abusing the underage dispatcher's daughter sex worker, the main offender was reported as living in his van right in the PD parking lot.

They all got off on the stat rape charges, so I doubt the living in the van thing was even an issue.

So no, that's not cynical, just realistic in Amerika, LEO can and do often break the law with impunity, that sort of corruption is SNAFU in our society.

 

[Thirsty Boots Nomad]

^^^
The realist in me that's been around several "misbehaving while off-duty" LEO would agree

 

[lenny flank]

  Florida around tourist areas is almost as hard. Rural Florida is okay.

That has not been my experience: I've spent up to four weeks in Walmart lots in Titusville, Orlando, Naples, Gainesville, Bradenton/Sarasota, Pensacola, and Tallahassee and didn't have any trouble. Tampa is also pretty loose with it (though St Pete is fairly uptight). The Keys are of course notorious for being anti-parking. Most cities in Florida do have "no overnighting" ordinances, but it has been my experience that unless you are doing something dumb, mostly nobody bothers to enforce it.

 

[MrNoodly]

It also helps to not have brown or black skin--a sadly unfortunate but true reality in our society.

True, unfortunately.

 

[Minivanmotoman]

Thx Lenny, that info is invaluable to all. What exactly is your rig? The first main criteria is location, knowing where it is tolerated. Share the info. This makes it easy for all RVs making stealth irrelevant. Assuming clean, no garbage/noise/space issues of course. I as well try to use the mostly accepted locations where allowed - Walmart, FS & BLM. But the time limit means move.
Didn't know or aware about Home Depot or Lowe's. Really? Where?
And once again, the type of rig makes a difference I think. Class C I can see getting away with things, if not old. Vans, ???? Class A behemoths? New expensive clean rig have a better chance due to perception and would only deal with parking issues.

 

[lenny flank]

Thx Lenny, that info is invaluable to all. What exactly is your rig?

I have a plain white GMC Savanna. There's a solar panel on the roof, but it's hard to see, and most people probably think it's some sort of cargo rack.

 

[Minivanmotoman]

Thx Lenny and the Snail. . You have obviously picked up the skill for urban camping through assessment and experience. And have a decent clean rig, lay low. Or is it just this Jedi mind trick that you use - wave your arm across the parking lot while saying " move along, nothing to see here." So how do you optimize your odds for camping in no parking Walmart? Other campers? Ask for permission? In late out early and what times?
YouTube is full of people getting rousted from Walmart all the time, and by the police.

 

[Almost There]

YouTube is full of people getting rousted from Walmart all the time, and by the police.

It's really important to remember that if someone did NOT get rousted from W/M (or anywhere else for that matter), they wouldn't have anything to make a video about. There are thousands of us that stay in W/M parking lots all over the continent each night that have no problem. You're only seeing the few on YouTube that did.

I'd like to roust a few of them myself...those that overstay their welcome, put down stabilizers on soft asphalt, leave trash, dump holding tanks, put out their awnings and lawn furniture, tie up more space than necessary etc. etc.

It's really simple, check the reviews at Allstays.com (not just the color of the pin on the map), read the signs when you get there and if in doubt, go in the store and ask. If it looks like you shouldn't be staying there, don't stay.

 

[Thirsty Boots Nomad]

I'd like to roust a few of them myself...those that overstay their welcome, put down stabilizers on soft asphalt, leave trash, dump holding tanks, put out their awnings and lawn furniture, tie up more space than necessary etc. etc.

You forgot to mention those that take showers outside in the w/m parking lot (and sometimes post videos talking about it) so management/security starts being on the look out for similar behaviors.

 

[Minivanmotoman]

Another great tip from Almost tHERe. Allstays is a great reference and app too! Just learned that one today from another thread, website. Am sure many will benefit from the input here from you experienced posters. On behalf of all of us fellow, cheap and poor b*St*rds, thank you from the bottom of our empty pockets. OK, maybe not so poor, but the money saved will pay for gas, and more happy meals to keep us trucking down the road. Because we're on a mission from God, to help save the orphanage that raised us. God bless the penguin.

 

[rvwandering]

Didn't know or aware about Home Depot or Lowe's. Really? Where?

  This is our semi secret spot so don't tell anyone. :-D   Most people go to Walmart because of their policy of allowing RVers to stay overnight but with so many people staying and over staying at Walmart many communities are banning it.  Home Depot and Lowes have not been singled out by the local enforcers. They are off of the radar for now. Both stores have people stocking during the night so there are always cars in the lots. It would be very easy for a van or mini van to blend in but we park our RV overnight with few problems.  We've been asked to leave twice once in Florida and once in California. Both Home Depots were in shopping centers with other stores and a security crew. I check now with Googlle satellite view to find stores with thier own parking lots.

 

[lenny flank]

Thx Lenny and the Snail. . You have obviously picked up the skill for urban camping through assessment and experience. And have a decent clean rig, lay low. Or is it just this Jedi mind trick that you use - wave your arm across the parking lot while saying " move along, nothing to see here." So how do you optimize your odds for camping in no parking Walmart? Other campers? Ask for permission? In late out early and what times?
YouTube is full of people getting rousted from Walmart all the time, and by the police.

I really don't do anything different. The key really is just to not do anything to attract attention.

 

[Minivanmotoman]

Will add some further points and comments when I get a chance shortly. Thanks Tonyandkaren for further elaborating on the big box stores. It's been said in the sticky but with no specifics. Bold moves that is. If you arrive late, leave early, one night only, there is more potential to do this than if used on a regular basis. Also, depending upon the local town, whether they strictly enforced no parking/camping/ over night/ sleeping local laws. This can be researched online. This is one of the big things that I am learning here. The info is online and shared. More effort and research, the better your odds of a successful, undisturbed night of sleep. Zzzzzz....

 

[bullfrog]

Check out George and Tioga site. He recently had a run in while in a day use area but has been doing RV stealth for years. His site got me thinking almost 15 years ago.

 

[Minivanmotoman]

Stealth camping in a Truck Camperhttp://www.truckcampermagazine.com/camper-lifestyle/stealth-camping-with-a-truck-camper/
This is from the sticky on camping in town.
Check it out if you haven't already. It's very good

 

[bcbullet]

To be honest, the best way of staying under the radar is distancing yourself from others doing exactly what you are. Don't stay in areas already overloaded with other van/truck/camper dwellers and you should be fine. Arrive late, leave early and for the love of God, don't leave bags of garbage, bucket toilet remains etc. outside your rig. Look respectful and you will get respect.
I spent five years living in my converted box truck every second weekend with my divorced kids in a city of 120,000 and had only one knock on the door...we were in our PJ's eating popcorn and playing Modnation Racers on the PS3. The cop said something along the lines of "Well I'll be damned, I have never seen anything like this before!" We gave him a quick tour and he left us wishing us goodnight.

 

[Zizzer_Zazzer_Zuz]

Stealth? Sir, I live in a schoolbus. That's about as stealthy as well ... a schoolbus.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[John61CT]

Parked near a school, or even better in a lot full of other schoolbuses maybe could be

 

[duckwonder]

I'm in an RV van, not stealth at all, but when traveling through cities I wanted to visit, I had a list of things to research:
City Park, Walmart, Lowes, Cabellas (some offer free water and some have dump stations), Casinos, Planet Fitness (since I have a membership; go in, use treadmill, take glorious spa like shower, ask about parking overnight), Cracker Barrell, Rest Area if it's a really nice one.  If those did not work I might consider hospital parking lot (less risky) or in some cases a hotel parking lot but that to me is very risky.  If there was nothing on freecampsites.net in the city, I could also check boondockerswelcome.  It's $5 or so to driveway surf that way but it is also Welcomed, which is awesome.  Also, I found there was an attitude in some paid RV parks, and that surprised me.  My van is a 2004 so sometimes I'd get comments like "oh the old van conversion huh?" and I'd say, "well, it's factory made" and they'd settle down a bit, but I did find them not friendly to stealth vehicles at all and I thought that was sad.  It's a lot to hunt down a great city spot.  Need to learn more about it myself.  Thanks for the thread.