[chrisco255]

I live the RV life. Before this I camped in a rooftop tent mounted to my truck. The woods are among the least dangerous places you can go. But also, shocking as this is, you can take your truck or van to dense urban areas if you desire. There is little need for "customer support" when you are driving your own vehicle. Occasionally you get repair problems but mechanics are readily available in even small towns. Van life is not that dramatic.

[latchkey]

Funny, I own a campervan and have driven all up and down the west coast. The one single time I had something weird happen, it was in the middle of nowhere in a forest in Oregon. Parked on the side of the dirt road in a little side road off the main road. Was sound asleep when I heard a banging on the door. Must have been 3am or something... I got up and peered out the window covers and saw a guy standing there yelling at me to open the door. It was freezing cold out and he was wearing not much clothes for how cold it was. He looked like he had been sleeping in the forest for quite some time (dirty, long hair, beard). I yelled back at him no way that I was going to open the door and he yelled something back at me and stormed off. Didn't hear anything from him again. Grabbed a knife to keep it close and went back to bed. That was one freaky weird experience. I thought about driving off, but didn't want to try to find another place to park in the middle of the night and it seemed like he was gone so I just let it go.

[chrisco255]

That is indeed weird but could even more easily happen in downtown Portland as in the middle of the woods. I definitely think you need to maintain situational awareness and carry protection, but that is true of any kind of travel.

[latchkey]

I also spent 2 years living on a motorbike went 15k km all over Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos... some of the most remote places... never once had an issue with anyone.

That said, in this case, I wasn't sleep out in the middle of a forest but I do have friends who do it more camping style and they haven't had issues.

I guess it is all just luck of the draw (or some say, karma).

[codazoda]

Ever use that roof top tent in urban areas? How hard is that?

Where I live you can park on the street for 48 hours. I suspect, however, that you can’t sleep there. You would get a knock at the very least. So, I’ve considered an incognito van that looks like a work truck. But, I wonder if you could just pop up a roof tent and sleep wherever.

I’m mostly talking about city center here. As an example, I’d love to do this in neighborhoods in CA (where locals are already street parking).

[chrisco255]

> Ever use that roof top tent in urban areas? How hard is that?

In a Walmart parking lot, yeah. I generally use Austin as my base, and in Austin, people sleep in normal tents all over the place. Rarely are they kicked out. If you're trying to park in a well-to-do neighborhood, it's possible you'll get called out for it, but quite likely if you're quiet and clean and gone the next day no one will say anything. Often, I see the big recreational vans when I'm traveling. People park them and sleep in them everywhere. As long as you're not staying multiple nights in a row in the same place, you're generally not going to bother anyone (they will usually assume you're just resting from travel).

But honestly, state & national parks are usually the way to go, particularly for tents. Sometimes it's free, sometimes it's a $5 per night honor system deposit envelope, occasionally it's a park ranger registration, depending on the location. And you don't always have to travel far off a main highway to get to a decent campsite, there's tons of spots if you look.

[bluGill]

Unless local law forbids Walmart allows free camping. There are also truck stops all over that will let RVs camp overnight (they might object to a slide out). Of course there are campgrounds all over as well.

You won't find much downtown, but get out just a little and there are options.