Some of his other blog articles are worth a read too.
edit ...
As a matter of interest, I made a point of visiting a Wal Mart when in Hawaii last year.
The one there was like a full on K Mart or Big W around the perimeter of a complete Wollworths or Coles food store in the center .. With extensive Liquor sales too. A massive one level building.
Unfortunately no 'Walmartins' there.
We enjoyed their cheap wine & nibbles from the balcony of our swank Hotel overlooking Waikiki beach. Magic!!
I am obviously not a freedom camper, but I can see where he is coming from.
-- Edited by Cupie on Sunday 19th of October 2014 04:59:24 PM
Edit 2 ..
Here's an extract from a story that I picked at random .. Just to give you a taste of his stuff ..... The last two paragraphs are well worth looking at.
"Camp Site Alpha was a former landfill in an industrial neighborhood in the inner San Diego suburbs. Like countless other urban sites, it was fine for a night or two but it was not sustainable for the long term. This was land owned by the county government in a relatively dense suburban area, and it was only a matter of time before someone detected my presence and complained to police.
When I rented a car for a day to get through the worst of the rain, I took the opportunity to scout for a new campsite, one I could use anytime with little fear of discovery and few worries even if it happened. While there is plenty of empty land in the remote desert where you can camp almost indefinitely, my camp site had to be accessible via cheap public transportation.
As reported earlier, I found such a site in the eastern suburban fringes about a half hour bus ride from the trolley line. In this area, modest housing developments (mostly well-kept mobile homes) were interspersed with equal areas of hilly open land. To my eye, the land appeared to be "public"that is, federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
By default, you have a right to camp on public land. Essentially, you can to live there rent free for as long as you like, providing you don't cause any damage and you move at regular intervals. Local BLM districts, however, may impose restrictions on camping to meet local needs, such as closing certain sensitive or overused areas or restricting the amount of time you can stay in one place.
Having lived in Nevada for 15 years, I was familiar with the wonders of public land. In the open desert outside Las Vegas, you are permitted to camp on one place for up to 14 days, no permit required. After that, you have to move a certain distance away, then you can camp for 14 days again in the new site, and after a certain time has passed, you can return to the original site. By hop-scotching around like this, you can legally live forever on public land and never pay a cent of rent.
-- Edited by Cupie on Sunday 19th of October 2014 05:06:14 PM
GaryKelly said
06:00 PM Oct 19, 2014
Interesting reading, Cupie. Just shows what can be done using a little research and creative thinking.
Reed said
03:37 AM Oct 20, 2014
Cupie is correct concerning free camping in the US.
Boondocking/bush camping is permitted on all Bureau of Land Management lands in the US. Ranchers lease much of this land but it is "multiple-use" land and they cannot keep you off. There are definite protocols: do not set up close to stock watering sites, close and secure stock gates, keep your area clean, not to many rigs etc. The 14 day stay is not of great import in really remote areas
There are large areas of BLM land in western Arizona and eastern California that have other protocols. There are a lot of Californians that caravan camp. One area is perhaps 50 x 50 miles (75 x 75 km) where you have to pay $20 or so for six-months camping.
Wal-docking is spending the night at a Walmart parking lot. Protocol is not to put out slides or set up the barbie. This is just done when you are traveling a few days and see no reason to pay monies to just sleep the night.
Another popular "camp" is mootchdocking aka sidewalk/driveway camping. This is setting up in the driveway or in the street in front of a friend or relative's place. Have to be sure of local ordinances and be certain the neighbors have no complaints.
We have three kids who are on Interstate I-25 in New Mexico and Colorado. Each has a spot on property for us to park. Two of these have 30 amp (120 V) outlets for our us but since we are solar autonomous now, we don't use them. Older son's place is at 2500 m in mountains of northern NM and he built us a parking pad and a sewer drain. He is solar autonomous with about 5000 W of panels. Attached are a few photos of his place. They built the house themselves and it has 60 cm thick rammed earth walls and it is warm at-20 C and cool at 30C. Theview of Hermit's peak was taken after the first snow - and it was time for us to head south for Mexico. Final photo is taken about a km away with a bunch of kids from the United World College who were upfor dinner and a weekend away from school
Reed and Elai e
-- Edited by Reed on Monday 20th of October 2014 04:11:28 AM
I just love this quirky character. He has a very different approach to life.
http://travel.baddalailama.com/2010/08/wal-mart-motel-20night.html
Some of his other blog articles are worth a read too.
edit ...
As a matter of interest, I made a point of visiting a Wal Mart when in Hawaii last year.
The one there was like a full on K Mart or Big W around the perimeter of a complete Wollworths or Coles food store in the center .. With extensive Liquor sales too. A massive one level building.
Unfortunately no 'Walmartins' there.
We enjoyed their cheap wine & nibbles from the balcony of our swank Hotel overlooking Waikiki beach. Magic!!
I am obviously not a freedom camper, but I can see where he is coming from.
-- Edited by Cupie on Sunday 19th of October 2014 04:59:24 PM
Edit 2 ..
Here's an extract from a story that I picked at random .. Just to give you a taste of his stuff ..... The last two paragraphs are well worth looking at.
"Camp Site Alpha was a former landfill in an industrial neighborhood in the inner San Diego suburbs. Like countless other urban sites, it was fine for a night or two but it was not sustainable for the long term. This was land owned by the county government in a relatively dense suburban area, and it was only a matter of time before someone detected my presence and complained to police.
When I rented a car for a day to get through the worst of the rain, I took the opportunity to scout for a new campsite, one I could use anytime with little fear of discovery and few worries even if it happened. While there is plenty of empty land in the remote desert where you can camp almost indefinitely, my camp site had to be accessible via cheap public transportation.
As reported earlier, I found such a site in the eastern suburban fringes about a half hour bus ride from the trolley line. In this area, modest housing developments (mostly well-kept mobile homes) were interspersed with equal areas of hilly open land. To my eye, the land appeared to be "public"that is, federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
By default, you have a right to camp on public land. Essentially, you can to live there rent free for as long as you like, providing you don't cause any damage and you move at regular intervals. Local BLM districts, however, may impose restrictions on camping to meet local needs, such as closing certain sensitive or overused areas or restricting the amount of time you can stay in one place.
Having lived in Nevada for 15 years, I was familiar with the wonders of public land. In the open desert outside Las Vegas, you are permitted to camp on one place for up to 14 days, no permit required. After that, you have to move a certain distance away, then you can camp for 14 days again in the new site, and after a certain time has passed, you can return to the original site. By hop-scotching around like this, you can legally live forever on public land and never pay a cent of rent.
-- Edited by Cupie on Sunday 19th of October 2014 05:06:14 PM
Cupie is correct concerning free camping in the US.
Boondocking/bush camping is permitted on all Bureau of Land Management lands in the US. Ranchers lease much of this land but it is "multiple-use" land and they cannot keep you off. There are definite protocols: do not set up close to stock watering sites, close and secure stock gates, keep your area clean, not to many rigs etc. The 14 day stay is not of great import in really remote areas
There are large areas of BLM land in western Arizona and eastern California that have other protocols. There are a lot of Californians that caravan camp. One area is perhaps 50 x 50 miles (75 x 75 km) where you have to pay $20 or so for six-months camping.
Wal-docking is spending the night at a Walmart parking lot. Protocol is not to put out slides or set up the barbie. This is just done when you are traveling a few days and see no reason to pay monies to just sleep the night.
Another popular "camp" is mootchdocking aka sidewalk/driveway camping. This is setting up in the driveway or in the street in front of a friend or relative's place. Have to be sure of local ordinances and be certain the neighbors have no complaints.
We have three kids who are on Interstate I-25 in New Mexico and Colorado. Each has a spot on property for us to park. Two of these have 30 amp (120 V) outlets for our us but since we are solar autonomous now, we don't use them. Older son's place is at 2500 m in mountains of northern NM and he built us a parking pad and a sewer drain. He is solar autonomous with about 5000 W of panels. Attached are a few photos of his place. They built the house themselves and it has 60 cm thick rammed earth walls and it is warm at-20 C and cool at 30C. Theview of Hermit's peak was taken after the first snow - and it was time for us to head south for Mexico. Final photo is taken about a km away with a bunch of kids from the United World College who were upfor dinner and a weekend away from school
Reed and Elai e
-- Edited by Reed on Monday 20th of October 2014 04:11:28 AM