[carcamper]

It's cool to see other people doing this. Until a couple weeks ago that's what I was doing. This is even my throwaway account for topics like this.

I lived in my car and didn't work for a big company so accomodations were a little less plesant. However even after 6 months I didn't really mind it. I went to the gym and lift every morning then cleaned up and went to work, then when I was unemployed I went to the library.

Not having an 'official' place to sleep was the worst part. I slept in Walmart parking lots. I rotated between 3 but had one main one. I got harassed by cops pretty frequently which was the worst part. Never had a single person (not cop) bother me, and I wasn't exactly in the best areas (as many walmarts aren't).

That wasn't the first time I was 'homeless' so I guess I'm used to that lifestyle now, and I'd do it again in a heart beat. (I live in a cold state now, so it's a little more difficult)

[jonlucc]

It's legal, as long as the lot owner doesn't mind, right? So why are the cops bothering you?

[carcamper]

It's a phishing attack for them. They want to know if I'm drunk/high/or up to trouble(yes even though I'm sleeping) and they ask question after question to interrogate me and get me to slip up (implying they think I'm just feeding them bs about not being a criminal). They'd follow up with trick questions like 'well do you have any weapons to protect yourself?' they'd circle back and ask me multiple times why I was there trying to get me to change my story.

After a couple times of this you know their tricks and it becomes a game. I wasn't sure if it was illegal to be transient so I would always just stick with being too tired to keep driving.

Not once were questions out of sincerity or to offer help, just to find ways to pin me with a charge. It was despicable.

[morganvachon]

Many municipalities (cities, towns, and even counties) have local ordinance laws that address vagrancy or loitering, to prevent homeless and transient folks from using parking lots for a place to chill. So it's likely not legal. My own little town has a "move along" ordinance in place that says you can't hang out in a parking lot after the business that owns it has closed for the night.