Date:         Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:49:27 -0400
Reply-To:     Joy Hecht <hecht.joy@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joy Hecht <hecht.joy@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: camping spots at 9:00 PM
In-Reply-To:  <2dd286c40703271003u6728c706vc6c6051bbcd19538@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

:::-----Original Message-----
:::From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
:::Of Nathaniel Poole
:::Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 1:03 PM
:::To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
:::Subject: camping spots at 9:00 PM
:::
:::A universal problem in the west is the fear the authorities have for
:::the unauthorised human body. If you leave home, you are expected to go
:::to approved overnight parking spots, for which you are supposed to
:::pay. Anywhere else you are suspicious - perhaps a hold over from the
:::Depression when so many vagrancy laws were passed to deal with the
:::movements of desperate people. It's very frustrating to pass perfectly
:::good stopping-over places in the westy with gates across the road or
:::signs forbidding access except during the day. It's the same in
:::certain Canadian provinces (mostly Ontario). Fortunately in BC, Alta,
:::Sask, you can usually pull over pretty much anywhere you want.

Actually, that's not so hard in the US west, either.  When I was in the Bay
area I spent a bunch of time camping at a state park in San Raphael.  The
first night I paid money and stayed at the park, but for around a week
thereafter I parked in a series of pull-outs along the park road and just
camped.  One night a state trooper pulled up after I was already in my pjs,
and shone her light in my window.  I peered out and she asked if I was
planning to stay for the night. When I said yes, she said I'd better move to
higher ground because of flood risk (this was last winter when Marin County
was flooding a lot). So she led me up the road to a pull-out on top of a
hill.

Not all peering cops are trying to throw their weight around!



Joy