Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:25:47 -0700
Reply-To: Old Volks Home <oldvolkshome@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Old Volks Home <oldvolkshome@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: What's that?
In-Reply-To: <4ABD4732.8000807@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
When I'm on my cross-country jaunts to Tennessee for Circle Yer Wagens in
the spring, I usually stay at a Good Sam Park (discount's nice with their
card). Usually great toilet/washroom/show facilities with hookups and water
if I want (usually just the electrics) and of course Wi-Fi. When blasting
to a destination each day, a nice shower hits the spot for me. While most
Class A rig operators and their wives tend to stick close to their rigs, I
find that most of them venture out to chew the fat when I park in their
area. Darn right friendly, many often remark they use to drive/camp around
in VW Westy in their former days, some of 'em actually miss it. A Westy
seems to attract attention almost wherever I camp in the these places.
I do stay at the occasional Walmart lot (Gallup's real nice) and there has
been the occasional driveway and if I'm near Stillwater, OK, I have the
luxury of staying in a REAL bed for the night at Bill Keating's place. Now
that Larry & Maggie are just north of there in Ponca City, OK, I'll have
another great possible stopping place for the night.
Being on the left coast, there's plenty of "boondocking" choices along the
coast highway that can be just as nice and there's nothing wrong with that
if yer into that sorta thing (I do it about 30% of the time myself).
Metro areas such as the greater Los Angeles area and the Bay Area tend to
have a lot more stringent rules regarding overnighters, mainly foisted upon
them by the local government, not the park operator to keep what the local
govt considers "riff-raff" out of these parks. Unfortunately this is the
result of bad experiences of VW Camper and other "van camper" people of the
past generation(s) - most often they associate this crowd as "rainbow",
"deadheads", etc., which is unfair to be grouped in with. The VW Camper
person(s) of today are an entirely different type of people IMHO....y'know,
the type that wonder about "goopy" things on a stove's heat shield and
what/how to solve "Vanagon Syndrome"......
Then there are those like myself that have been full-time living in their
Westys. I 'm more into stealth camping/living these days and have been for
over 10 years now.
--
Jim Thompson
84 GL 1.9 "Gloria"
84 Westfalia 2.1 "Ole Putt"
72 411 Station Wagon "Pug"
oldvolkshome@gmail.com
http://www.oldvolkshome.com
***********************************
On Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 3:41 PM, Rocket J Squirrel <
camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:
> Sometimes you gotta take what you can.
>
> As Steve points out in his OP, the SF Bay Area does not give you a lot of
> choice in the matter. Primitive/tent camping is fairly nonexistent. What
> "camping" there is is heavily impacted with high population density. I bet
> the parks have had some hideous messes to clean up.
>
> To many, there is not a lot of difference between a homeless man
> fulltiming in his Ford van, and that guy in his Westy. Without a built-in
> toilet, next thing you know you're cleaning toilet tissue out of the
> shrubbery.
>
> What they want are older couples with little yappy dogs in large RVs. Such
> folk are usually no trouble -- heck, you seldom see them venture out of
> their vessels once they've tied up.
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
> Bend, OR
> KG6RCR
>
>
>
> On 9/25/2009 2:56 PM Dave Mcneely wrote:
>
> Why would you want to stay at places that cater to RVs anyway? Might as
>> well stay in a parking lot (my opinion, fwiw).
>>
>> Dave Mc
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 11:44 AM , Steve Williams wrote:
>>
>> I've gotten a little resistance from RV parks in the San Francisco
>>> Bay Area to allowing my '84 Westy overnight. Several parks have
>>> asked, "Is that a self-contained RV?" What they mean is: Does it
>>> have a toilet? Even parks with showers have been hesitant to let me
>>> in.
>>>
>>> In the end, they have allowed me in, saying they'll break or bend the
>>> rules.
>>>
>>> I don't have much experience, but I assume this happens more often at
>>> RV parks that cater primarily to long-term mobile home tenants. In
>>> the Bay Area, it seems that's all there is. I haven't yet found a
>>> state park or RV-oriented park that's close to the peninsula or the
>>> east bay.
>>>
>>> Is this resistance common in other areas?
>>
>>
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