Greetings

[nomadoutwest]

Hello,

My name is Anthony, hailing from California. I'm preparing to embark on a journey while living in my truck and came here to gain some knowledge and inspiration. I have never truck camped before, let alone slept in any car overnight. This is a totally new experience for me and definitely pushing me out of my comfort zone. I've decided to do this out of necessity, wanting freedom from crazy rent prices, and a space of my own, as I have almost always lived with others. I have a ton of questions, two of which are what are the best foods to bring/store while on the road (cheaper the better), and can someone direct me to info on how and where to park safely at night. Thank you.

 

[BobBski]

Welcome, lots of great information and people here. All the best

 

[eDJ_]

Welcome to the CRVL Forums    

What type of truck do you have ?  Can you give more details ?  We can then give better answers to your questions.

As for food,  a lot of us rely on small cook stoves and make a lot of one pot meals.  This is due to living in a
small space.  There are small one burner propane stoves and of course "Mess kits" where you can heat canned
foods that are nearly ready to eat.  If you carry canned foods you won't need too much for refrigeration.  You could get by with a larger Playmate cooler.

Mess kits like this are common at Walmart for less than $10.

Igloo coolers like this 30 can Playmate are available inexpensively.  If you shop Flea Markets & Yard Sales you can find this stuff cheap.

This one burner mounts atop a propane cylinder and could work with a mess kit.

But if you are going to be traveling,  there are ways of wrapping foods in aluminum foil and setting them on the engine of your car to cook them. 

Manifold Destiny by Bill Scheller

https://www.amazon.com/Manifold-Destiny-Guide-Cooking-Engine/dp/1416596232


As for safe places to Camp.  There are many State and Federal Parks where you may find free campsites.
If you look at the bottom link below,  it is a portal of handy information for those like yourself.  Let me invite you to look through it.  Become familiar with it and it can help you get on with living on the road.

What I would suggest when you travel is to consider staying clean and well groomed.  If law enforcement officers want to check you out it's helpful to look you are just traveling to visit family.

 

[nomadoutwest]

Wow, thank you for all that info! My truck is an older Ford Explorer 4x4. With the back seats down, it has plenty of room to sleep, and I can sit up quite easily without hitting my head. Windows are tinted too, but I will most likely use that Reflectix Insulation to black them out completely. Just need to figure out a solution for covering the area directly behind the front seats. Thinking a bungie cord with a curtain would do the trick.

I've considered selling the truck for a van, but I put a lot of money into repairing it and figured I'd just go for it and if things are too uncomfortable I can always look for a different vehicle. I did a lot of research into Westfalias, and although quite nice, they are super expensive and from what I've read, not all that reliable. I'd actually prefer a vehicle with a toilet, but I can always get a portable toilet if necessary (need to do more research on this as well).

As for cooking, I found a vintage Optimus 88 camp stove at a thrift store, but have yet to test it. Uses white fuel and seems a bit more complicated to light. Thanks again.

 

[eDJ_]

Thanks for the information.

A friend of mine has an Explorer with the blacked out windows and he works some 30 miles from where he lives.  If he has to work over he camps in it at work.  Has a beach towel strung up across the front seats like you are talking about.  Uses clothes line tied to hooks he installed.  He hangs the towel with wood clothes pins he buys at a Dollar Tree store. 

If you were going to boondock or camp in campgrounds you may be able to get wrap around windshield & front window covers like they use on RV's.  Thus your need of the towel for a curtain would be null and you'd have the feeling of more room.

If you are going to be boondocking or rough camping in the wilderness,  they make these toilet & shower tents.

A lot of Van Dwellers purchase small agriculture pump sprayers and paint them dull black so they can be filled with water, set in sun (solar) to heat the water and "instant shower system".   The small chemical toilets
can be had for around $50 bucks.  They are plastic so that if you take a shower where it is setting it won't harm the toilet. 

Here is a garden pump sprayer with a kitchen sink sprinkler adapted to it to make a shower.   Painted black
it will heat the water inside when allowed to sit in the sun for awhile.

Just wet yourself down, lather up in soap, and hose yourself off. Viola.

But if you are just traveling there are any of several National Gym's you could become a member of and have
24/7 access.  Even sleep on their parking lot at night.   Planet fitness comes to mind...nice places with showers, bathrooms, lounges where you could watch TV, use your lap top while recharging it and the WIFI is just free to use there.  Low monthly membership cost.

I'm willing to bet that you could do a Google search for your camp stove and find information on it.  Possibly a copy of the original manual to read and learn how to operate it.   I know Walmart has their own "white gas" which is cheaper than the Coleman brand.

If you need light at night,  consider those little solar charged LED sidewalk marker lights.  Get a few of them at the Dollar store and set them out during the daytime to charge.  Then by night bring them inside for lighting your interior. 

You could get a 5 X 7 plastic tarp and rig it to the side of your Explorer.  If yours has a roof rack you could lash the tarp to an extension tent pole  and then attach that to the roof rack with clamps.   Then with poles
set up the outer edges and rig them with clothesline rope tied to tent pegs.   You would then have an awning
where you could set up a folding camp chair.  This would give you some living room outside the rig.

This site may be helpful to you in learning some about camping:

http://www.angelfire.com/ia3/camping/tents.htm

All of this would be minimal of course but it could get you free of insane rent and having to live with others in cramped quarters.   You may come to enjoy the freedom and flexibility of coming and going whenever you wish.    

 

[rvpopeye]

That should get you started ^^^^ and an extra Welcome Aboard from me !
Check out the freecampsites website.

 

[highdesertranger]

Welcome Anthony to the CRVL forums! To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips & Tricks" post lists some helpful information to get you started. We look forward to hearing more from you. highdesertranger

 

[4x4gamer]

Hello and welcome. I just wanted to chime in and say the best thing I've done so far Is flip my passenger seat around backwards. Im full timing in a Chevy Tahoe. It is so nice to sit in the passengers seat cause you have all the leg room in the world and the seat works just as it should with forward and back slide and recline. Some vehicles have swivel mounts also but they are pricy. It also gives a great place to cook I do it like this everyday and am really enjoying the set up. I did have to add some washers to level out the seat base after the flip around but that was easy and cheap to do. Anyways good luck keep us posted on how you make out.

 

[DLTooley]

I was full time in a Ranger for 3.5 years and have kept the vehicle set up using it half time.  It is plenty of space once you get what you need figured out and stored.  I use a variety of tubs, from shoe box size on up.  I roll up my bed during the day and cook off the tail on a cheap coleman camp stove.  You can use the canisters but the bigger 20lb tanks are cheap to fill and easy once you find/budget one.

Keeping food fresh is an art.  Canned is good.  Buying frozen meat helps a little bit in storage days.  Lots of choices for coolers, this is a good value option. Don't forget to eat your veggies!

The Delorme and Benchmark Atlases on a State by State basis are good for finding cool public lands.  Federal is usually legal, once you are away from Cities - which is good for a number of reasons.  Free Campsites is an awesome resource for camp locations.

The end of this video shows how I set up my Ranger, the beginning is one awesome camp site with a ten million dollar view.  [video=youtube]

 

[eDJ_]

As cheap cooking stoves go,  I found several of these folding Sterno Stoves in Flea Markets for a couple of bucks each.  They fold flat and take little room. The newer ones like I found are aluminum but there the older types which are stamped sheet metal and enameled black.  I've even seen examples of those which were made out of old License Plates.  (just using an original for a pattern)

But Cans of Sterno are  a bit pricey.  Now days people are making small alcohol burners out of Aluminum beverage cans like the Arizona Ice Tea which are nearly as large as a big can of Sterno.  (empty cans are free and discarded and a pair of scissors can do the cutting.  A plastic "push pin" like you see on Grocery Store
Bulletin Boards can make the holes required.  Then an inexpensive can of Denatured Alcohol can do the rest.
Not hard to build these at all.

But you can even build your own stove for nothing too.

If you have the luxury of space you can use a large #10 size Can and make a stove like this:

By using heavy heavier gauge wire rod and holes in the sides of the can you can make support racks
to hold your alcohol burner and smaller cooking implements.  A skillet or pot could sit on the rim of the
can.  As Pictured this would be fairly wind resistant.

The aluminum can alcohol burner

Some builders have used the one quart Fosters Beer Cans for this.  They are only slightly larger and will likely be more difficult to find laying around. 

This Youtube Video will show you how to build one of these.   You'll need a pair of needle nose pliers for this project and an "old" type of penny which is solid copper.  This builder uses some fiberglass insulation inside the can to baffle the sloshing of liquid alcohol.    It doesn't get much cheaper than this system.  The alcohol fuels are much cheaper than Coleman type fuel and likely a bit safer too.



A person could have more than one stove and alcohol burner for cooking their meals.

DIY Folding License Plate Camp Stove  Youtube Video



If minimalism appeals to you or if making a statement about consumerism LOL  this may be for you.

If you like to cook in a cast iron Dutch Oven,  a grill from a cheap charcoal grill could fit over the 12" DO and
it be used as a cooking stove in that manner.   Similar with a Wok.   Then with a folding stove the Wok could
be used on top of that.  Wok can also serve as a dish washing vessel.

Just some thoughts.

 

[Norcalauren]

Hi Anthony,
I too hail from California, northern California to be exact. Have been living in my Subaru Forester until I had major breakdown in Ehrenburg. Now waiting for engine rebuild in Santa Rosa. Anyway, California is tough for car camping as many communities have laws against sleeping in your car on public streets, hence the need to stealth camp. Where are you? Ill be hitting the road in about two weeks and maybe we can meet up. Good luck. Safe travels. The other advice on this thread is great. 
Lauren

 

[GHostRiDer]

Welcome! These guys and girls know everything. Just read the forums. I am so thankful to have found this place.

 

[nomadoutwest]

Hi Anthony,
I too hail from California, northern California to be exact. Have been living in my Subaru Forester until I had major breakdown in Ehrenburg. Now waiting for engine rebuild in Santa Rosa. Anyway, California is tough for car camping as many communities have laws against sleeping in your car on public streets, hence the need to stealth camp. Where are you? Ill be hitting the road in about two weeks and maybe we can meet up. Good luck. Safe travels. The other advice on this thread is great. 
Lauren

Hi Lauren, 

I'm currently near the Sierras in Northern Ca. Sorry to hear about your Subaru! Hopefully it gets patched up soon and you can get back on the road. I'm planning to escape the heat and head for Oregon. I see there is a meetup happening there in June. Not sure if i'll make it in time, but we shall see. Safe travels to you as well!