Road Trip Thoughts

[S. Heisley]

I belong to 6 different camping groups (or maybe more...?) and this topic comes up a lot. There are a couple problems that are brought up regularly:

- If your van breaks down, you'll have to pay for a hotel while all your camping gear, food, etc. would be at the mercy of the mechanics. If the van is left in the mechanic's parking lot, it would also be at the mercy (Ha!) of the common thieves. If your tow vehicle breaks down, you can sometimes stay at the mechanics shop or have your trailer towed to a local campground.

- If you are boondocking with a campervan and go site-seeing, your camp spot can be taken. Some people have had their chairs, tablecloth, and such packed up and moved or discarded who knows where. The best way to keep that from happening is to set up a tent so that people can't tell if somebody is taking a nap inside. Even if they are able to tell that you aren't in the tent, they aren't likely to move it or take it down as that is usually too much effort for them. However, that also means that you have the extra effort of setting up, taking down, and packing away a tent.

- An alternative plan for boondocking with a motorized RV (van or motorhome) is to attach a couple e-bikes to the back and use those instead of your RV.