Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2023 19:45:08 -0800
Reply-To: Dan N <dn92610@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dan N <dn92610@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Getting Caught
In-Reply-To: <CACvdLxOP5LaOgXNtfvtwHtQy+EZmA72tP+UB5xjDuOyxrGaqoA@mail.gmail.com>
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Long ago... I drove to Montana to visit my son at a boarding school... On
my way back I was so tired that I decided to stop at a small town to
camp/sleep at night. The town itself is quite ugly, no camping, no motel
and a grocery store that was closed at 8:00pm. On my way out of the town I
noticed a school and a police station in front of it. I went to the police
station and asked if I could camp in their parking lot for one night.
They said... "sure... Do you want something to drink...?" :-)
On Fri, Feb 17, 2023 at 7:36 PM David McNeely <davmcneely40@gmail.com>
wrote:
> I think the no overnight sleeping in vehicles in NP parking lots is
> universal now. Years ago I used to drive all day and into the night to get
> to Big Bend NP from Tulsa, OK, park in the Panther Junction parking lot for
> the balance of the night in order to be in the Visitor's Center to pick up
> a back country permit as early as possible to head out. I was not the only
> one doing that. For the most part, it was peaceful, no hassles, no
> objections. Then one year at Christmas break, I noticed that a couple of
> people were sleeping in the Post Office, and that people were washing
> dishes in the drinking fountain. The next time I went, the "No Camping, No
> Overnight Parking" sign had appeared. mcneely
>
> On Thu, Feb 16, 2023 at 3:30 PM Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@sbcglobal.net>
> wrote:
>
> > Have you ever got caught when camping in Vanagon where you are not
> > supposed to, and what was the outcome? In over 45 years of VW van
> camping,
> > only happened to me once. I was in Zion, Utah. Simpler times of course,
> > decades ago. I parked on the far edge of the parking lot at Visitor
> > Center; enjoyed a wonderful guitar performance inside; went back to van.
> > Around 11:30 PM....that unmistakable knock-knock-knock of metal
> flashlight
> > on window. Red and Blue lights swirling around. I stumbled outside.
> > Ranger said, "Uhh, you know, you can't camp here."
> > The outcome? Ranger directed me to a back street in nearby town. That
> > was that. And lived to tell the story! In general, the law folks only
> > want no trouble for anybody. And since then, proliferation of signs
> > informing of no overnight sleeping in vehicles.
> >
>
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