Where to stay in Florida, Texas, Arizona and Cali?

[Instead]

First, I'm totally diggin' the website and forum!<img src="https://vanlivingforum.com/images/boards/smilies/love.gif" align="absmiddle" border="0"><br><br>My wife and I are living in North Georgia at the moment and drive a 1995 Yukon.<br><br>We are starting to save for an Astro asap. We would love to have one converted by next winter if possible.<br><br>On to my question: I saw BLM dispersed camping in Arizona at Quartsite and I saw a site listing BLM land in California.<br><br>Are there any resources that are up to date with listings of these places and stories about this lifestyle in for detail? Maybe listing festivals, where to go at the different times of the winter months for this or that, ect?<br><br>I am finding a lot of 'I did this and it was a blast', but not a lot of 'how to' go here at this time and there at that time, type stuff.<br><br>I haven't landed on anything quite like that in my searches and it seems that this type of info could change from year to year to some degree.<br><br>Anyway you slice it, I enjoy reading and researching more about this lifestyle each time I sit at the pewter.<img src="https://vanlivingforum.com/images/boards/smilies/comp.gif" align="absmiddle" border="0"><br><br>Thanks for all the stories<img src="https://vanlivingforum.com/images/boards/smilies/thumb.gif" align="absmiddle" border="0"><br><br>James<br><br><br><br>

 

[akrvbob]

Hi James, and welcome. Unfortunately, there is very little public land back East that make it very easy to live on. You are pretty much limited to National Forest and Corp of Engineer land. As you are well aware there are lots of National Forests in the Southeast where you can camp for free for up to 14 days. It is called dispersed camping and the rules are different for it in every Forest, so you will just have to google the name of the Forest and find a phone number to call. In Florida there is the Ocala NF. If there is any BLM land back East, there is very little. Texas also has limited free public land. There are some National Forests and I know people camp for free along the coast, but but I don't know anything about it The desert Southwest (especially AZ and CA) has a huge amount of BLM land you can camp on for free. It is a vandwellers dream. It also has a large amount of NF land so in the summer you can go up to the mountians and camp where it is cool, and in the winter you can go down to the desert and camp where it is warm. <br><br>Just do a google search on free campgrounds and you will find a lot of sites for them. This is probably the best know:<br>http://www.freecampgrounds.com/<br><br>I would join RV.net, it is a forum like this except 100 times bigger. There is a sub-forum for fulltimers and for boondockers. You can get lots of info there. Bob<br><br>

 

[Instead]

Thanks, Bob!<br><br>I really appreciate what your doing here.<br><br>May all your adventures be blessed.<br><br>~James<br><br>

 

[deafrv]

thank u !&nbsp; bob&nbsp; i got&nbsp;&nbsp; to free to sleep&nbsp; and my van soon !<br><IMG border=0 align=absMiddle src="https://vanlivingforum.com/images/boards/smilies/thumb.gif"><br>

 

[Guest]

Not sure where anyone gets the idea that you can camp in the "desert" in winter to be warm.
I lived in South Tucson & San Manuel for 2 years. My average heating bill for 800 sq ft cement block home = $125+/month.
Southern AZ is by no means "warm" during the winter. I work construction, aka Out Doors and I've frozen my *ss off 5 months out of the year while living /working there.
During winter, it gets down below freezing, on a regular basis.
Check for yourself http://intellicast.com
(Plenty of temp maps, historical averages, historical highs/lows.)
Do your research before you head out there into the middle of nowhere, thinking you can survive in a vehicle without good heat and $$ for propane, electricity, gas, whatever - to keep yourself warm.

 

[blars]

One couple here at the RTR has a site <a target="_blank" href="http://freecampsites.net">freecampsites.net</a>.&nbsp; They say there are wildlife preservers in many states you can camp at.<br><br><br>

 

[akrvbob]

The desert is a big place and Tuscon is is an unusually cold spot in it. I had a good friend who lived in Tuscon in a house, and when he moved into his van he left Tuscon behind. He said the same thing you did, it was too cold to camp there. He went just a few hours west to Yuma, and said it was plenty warm there to winter. The nights are still cool and you can have cold spells when it gets pretty cold, but it is still entirely doable. This has been an unusually cold winter here in Quartzsite AZ and i have had to use my Mr Heater Portable Buddy heater a few times at night to keep warm. Fortunately the cold snap broke and now in mid-January it is back to normal, mid 70's in the day, and mid 40's at night. Perfect weather!! Bob<br>

 

[Nemo]

Not sure where anyone gets the idea that you can camp in the "desert" in winter to be warm.<br>I lived in South Tucson &amp; San Manuel for 2 years. My average heating bill for 800 sq ft cement block home = $125+/month.<br>Southern AZ is by no means "warm" during the winter. I work construction, aka Out Doors and I've frozen my *ss off 5 months out of the year while living /working there.<br>During winter, it gets down below freezing, on a regular basis.<br>Check for yourself http://intellicast.com<br>(Plenty of temp maps, historical averages, historical highs/lows.)<br>Do your research before you head out there into the middle of nowhere, thinking you can survive in a vehicle without good heat and $$ for propane, electricity, gas, whatever - to keep yourself warm.<br>

<br><br>you can.. you might not be comfortable, but you can &lt;grin&gt;&nbsp; and warm is a relative term.. if it's 10 in chicago, and 50 in Phoenix.. then yes, it is warm in the winter.. yes it gets below freezing, but it's much more comfortable than alot of the country is during the winter.&nbsp; <br>

 

[1oleman]

Hey, Instead,&nbsp; I'm in Alabama.&nbsp; Don't know how I missed you PM me and we will get together this spring or summer.&nbsp; Ed<br>

 

[mountaintramp]

an awesome place that i love is at the south entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. It's BLM land just outside the entrance to the park. it's low desert so it can be like summer during the day, and sweat shirt weather at night. it can also be cold and windy. <br><br>the great part is that there are very few people camping there so you can hang out in your nudies and no one cares. also it's only 20 miles to Mecca (food,gas,free wifi) and 5 miles from Chiriaco Summit where the Gas station has free water and the General Patton Museum is there. There's also dry camping next to the museum, but the BLM land is better because it's farther from the freeway and no lights nearby.<br><br>Anza Burrego State Park is also nearby and it's huge and is the only state park where there is dispersed camping in most parts of the park, also free. Slab City is also close by and a must visit if you're in the area.<br><br>basically this whole area around the Salten Sea and out to Quartzsite is big enough to keep you there all winter long, and all for free. <br><br>

 

[twokniveskatie]

<br>the great part is that there are very few people camping there so you can hang out in your nudies and no one cares.&nbsp;<br>

<div><br></div><div>hey, mountaintramp! when i was at the pahrump camp last year i was gonna hang out in my nudies, too, but discovered i had left them home. maybe next time, eh? *puts nudies on packing list*</div>

 

[1oleman]

Is this something we must all remember or just those so inclined?<br>

 

[mountaintramp]

i keep mine with me at all times, never know what adventure may come along.<br>

 

[blars]

They make an excelent outfit for soaking in hot spring pools in the national forests.&nbsp; I also keep mine along just in case.<br><br>My blog has posts about my stays at Chiriaco Summit and the BLM land south of I10 at the same exit as Joshiua tree.<br><br>

 

[mountaintramp]

blars, i checked out your blog and see we're almost neighbors, i live in wrightwood. i grew up in highland park up until 8th grade. i can remember when that police station was in service. in fact at about 12 years old or so, i got to take a trip in a police car and wait at that station 'till my Mom came to get me.<br><br>we may have been at that BLM land by JTNP at the same time too. i stopped there on my way to and from Quartzsite. i was there at the same time the folks from this site were there, just didn't know it. i didn't find this site 'till right after i got back from that trip. i was there again all last week, it's my current favorite place. i like the north side of the freeway though. it's farther away from the freeway noise, which even there is pretty noticeable on a windless night.<br><br>if you continue down Box Canyon rd. towards Mecca it gets really interesting looking. i think it's called "painted canyon" and you can camp just about anywhere. be careful to check the weather though. it looks like that whole canyon becomes a raging river during flash floods. also down near the end of the canyon there's a dirt road that goes up into the hills. the canyon gets narrower as you go. i went as far as what is called "the grotto" with my trailer before the road got really narrow and was deep sand in spots. i did a 20 point turn and headed back out since i was a little paranoid about flash floods.<br><br><br><br>