Little towns enact these ordinances (often) after pressure from local RV parks. Don't let anyone sleep here unless they sleep here. It happened here in Lake City, where there are seven RV parks that I can find. Because of the internet and a growing knot of boondockers and traditional RVers who might just want to rest overnight, grab a bag of groceries and a tank of gas and move on, the city government and Chamber of Commerce were made to understand that RVers do it on wheels. We can roll on into the next town and spend our money at other diners, grocery stores, laundromats, movie theaters, etc. That ordinance has been tabled here.
People who want to stay at a park do not want to overnight at a truck stop, and vice versa. These are not the same bodies of clientele. Still, the overnighters leave their money behind in a town, whether they pay to sleep or not. Small businesses other than the parks should understand that they suffer from these ordinances (often made to look like "protection" from the dreaded homeless). The RV parks here in Lake City are still full, even though an RV can legally spend the night here in the world's smallest SuperWalMart parking lot (north side, along the holding pond, if you're taking notes). This is a win-win-win.
Am I missing something important? Tell me about it. If you're right, I'll agree with you. Fill out my fancy-schmancy poll on the left sidebar. Apparently, we are staging our own de facto boycott of Van Horn by staying in Florida.
ETA: Steve asked about lists of RV-unfriendly towns: RVUnfriendly.com.
ETA, again: Van Horn municipal ordinance. Look for chapter 12.
My new hard drive arrived! My Mac-certified technician was here waiting.
Then some magic happens, and ...
Annie tried to talk me into a 1 Tb drive, but foresight makes me itchy.
How did you decide on your blog spam security precautions? I have no protections (except for the Blogger spam trap). Have you had trouble that causes you to proceed with more caution?
For you guys who go with word verification, would you ever consider making it part of the comment page, rather than a second hoop to jump through? Or, does the extra page discourage what you want to discourage? I'm asking because when we're really OUT in the boonies with limited connection, a second page just when I thought I was flinging my comment at you home-free can make me give up. Extra loading time = rather eat a donut instead. So, you get fewer comments from ... hey!
While we're here, we're going to do the driver's confidence course down near Tampa.
Squawmama, are you guys still at the Stephen Foster campground? What are you doing locally for fun?
34 comments:
Hi Ladies .... do you know of a site that lists all the RV unfriendly towns out there?
Steve
My only goal in blogland is to be the first commenter. Always.
Well, unless I actually have something to say of course.
*ahem*
This silliness over parking by-laws rears its ugly head every so often. Like you said, the Wal*Mart campers are one crowd, and KOA bunch are another. That's all I wanted to say.
Only did the Wal*Mart thing one time. It was out of necessity. Otherwise I'd prefer wide open spaces if I'm dry camping, or hook-ups if I'm not. All of this is mere conjecture however, as we are not currently in the possession of an RV. Sort of makes it a moot point.
But moot points have never been a deterrent to pounding on a table once in a while. Dammit!
Dammit, and while I was postulating that post, someone snuck into first place. Drat!
all those wires?..too much for me!..hope your techy gal managed to get it up and working!!..
my blog?..no word verification..at least I don't think so..I don't read my own blog..I leave that to my 'peeps'..I just read everyone else's!!
as for Walmart?..boondocking we have done it..only because we only needed a place to sleep on a travel day...late start and early start the next day!..and we shopped, of course!!
Steve, I found RV Unfriendly. It's oddly set up, but you can click state by state. I'll put it in the post, too; thanks for asking.
Bob, moot pounding and firstsies are underestimated in our society. Rock on, man!
She did, Sue! I'm flying at full capacity, and looking for more pointless things to save.
Tickets suck. So do people who have nothing better to do than ticket people who just want to sleep so they can continue on safely down the road. I get that you want to keep an eye on things getting out of control like public pottying and making it obvious that you are homeless and such but to pull over and sleep hurts no one. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
DW, I agree. Beyond hurting no one, it could save a bunch of lives from an overtired driver.
very good post! I have wondered many times why people put that extra security on their comment forms. i leave mine open and can remove anything objectionable. hasn't happened yet.
ahhhh a trained professional no doubt... you can tell since she is wearing the old anti static bracelet... well done!!!
Yep, Duke, she's a pro. Which is probably why she gets weary of saying first, remove the fork from your keyboard ...
Michael, nothing bad has happened here, knock wood ducks. One little cunning spam sneaked in, but it was benign.
First of all I can not imagine any one being in west Texas in August... period.
Ticketed for napping at a truck stop? Where did you read this? I want to read this ...
and secondly... contacting the truck stop... which chain? a private one? would be in order not boycotting Van Horn... if the truck stop is a chain ... Flying J, Pilot, Love's, etc... they should be aware of this. The manager might have called the police for some reason...
Interesting...
I've really never heard of such... at a truck stop? I've stayed at a million ... but not in West Texas in August... man oh man
Is my blog lots of minutes to download? You just thanked me for having my word thing on the same page. I really have no idea the best way to do anything. I just began my blog June 20th. Still learning.
Will this comment take nine days for you to download? ;)
hey to Annie's owl...
nevermind... just clicked on Billy Bob... I'm reading.. this is really weird... a ticket at a truck stop in Van Horn, Texas...
that's it... that's the final rapture prediction...
we're all outta here
I know it, Carolyn. These are the four RVers of the Apocalypse.
It's possible the manager called the police, but that seems unlikely in the midst of a lot of other people sleeping there. Usually, it's a town or city ordinance enacted because RV parks want everyone to have to pay $35 to get some shuteye. Fine, if that's what a person wants. Not great for passing through.
The link at the top of this post goes to a forum discussing it. There are (gasp) different opinions.
No, your page isn't especially hard to load. How about this one? I keep only 4 or five posts on the front page, but I can make it fewer if it holds people up. I know I upload a lot of pictures, but I try to keep them smaller for that reason.
Annie says "Hoo?"
Wasn't that an owl she was doing on top of the Good Luck? your owl looked similar but you were on the ground...
haaaa... well? thanks for the feedback... I don't have many readers and haven't received any thing about my blog taking a long time to load. I love pictures but if they hold people up...
well... feedback is so important. I know we both read -- well everyone reads --- Tioga and George and he uses thumbnails for easier downloading... don't know how to do that..
I have my blog set up for mobile viewing also because I HOPEFULLY will be on the road again ...
I check on the cat ranch everyday... I'm so glad you posted that... I gotta go there.
Oh, and I asked Billy Bob to mention the truck stop... $35 for an RV park in Van Horn? jeeeezus... stay at a Motel 6 for that..
I'm still wondering why any one mobile would be on I-20 in West Texas in freakin August. seriously
"the four RVers of the Apocalypse." getting creepy... my Mac is making talking noises --- sounds like a hen cackling... I'm serious... scared the beejeebers outta me this morning...
I had just made coffee... flipped open my laptop... sat down ... took a sip ... and cackling occurred. It's happened several times today. I've closed all tabs... checked my iPhone... dunno... I'm telling ya!
the four RVers of the Apocalypse, eh
Ha! I hate it when things talk to me when they shouldn't be saying anything.
Maybe that's why he was taking a nap - to get on the move outta there in August.
I had a laugh-out-loud comment typed in here, but blogger says I don't have access to this site!?! I'll just be anonymous. . . too bad I have forgotten the owling comment - it was a hoot! LG61820
BLOGGER!!! Don't have access?? Even spammers have access. I don't know what's going on, and now I've missed a good owling remark. Hoot! Har.
Van Horn sucks in general. I'd planned to stay there on my way east through Texas, on the recommendation of someone who said there was a cheap RV park there. However, the cheap one had new ownership and was $35 for a no-frills parking lot with hookups. Van Horn is full of cheap motels and expensive RV parks, and its only purpose seems to be to bilk travelers. I got back on the freeway and stayed overnight in Marathon, which was a much friendlier and more interesting place.
Sue, I'm glad to hear that if we pass Van Horn by, we won't be missing something great. Yeah, I did an internet search on RV parks there (someone in the fray said they felt no sympathy for someone not willing to spend $12 in a nice RV park), and found nothing less than $30, and plenty more.
Hi there... we are not around Lake City anymore... 2 months was more then enough time there. We are now in Gulf Shores, Alabama staying near the beaches. I've been to Van Horn and stayed in the campground there one night. That being said I will boycot it now because I believe if you want to boondock you should be able to. If it is not allowed you should be asked to leave not ticketed. A lot of times we boondock because our destinations is to far to drive in one day. So we stop at a Walmart or Cracker Barrel or one of the many other places that allow you to park overnight, It cost us more to do that then stay at a RV park... Groceries, hair, nails, clothes and what nots. So that's my thought! How long are you staying in Lake City???
Have fun
Donna
I wondered what that bracelet was...anti-static bracelet...never heard of it. Good thing I'm not working on your Mac. I'll stick to mine.
Re:Spam. I started out approving all comments and decided it was too much work (I'm basically lazy!). Now I only use the spam blocker. I have had a couple of advertisers try to post but spam blocker stopped them. I also allow anonymous comments but it hasn't been a problem at all.
I immediately thought of "Owling" with the perch on the roof photo - hilarious!!
Hey, it's a good thing you found that Mac Pro bird perching on your RV. I wish I had one on mine!
And I'm totally with you on the parking ordinance. Doesn't make any sense. Oh and for the SPAM I say one page is good enough. But them I'm all for efficiency whether I say anything interesting or not :)
Nina
SquawDonna, near the beaches sounds wonderful! I would be less crabby if I were at the beach more. Yeah, someone napping where people nap shouldn't be a ticketable offense. IMO.
Jeana, Annie likes to do things right! She was a sys admin in her last life, and then added repair to her skill set. She is very patient when I forget how to turn my computer on.
Donna K, hear, hear! Too much work. I think Blogger's spam trap is pretty effective. And, yes! Owling is exactly what she was doing, and she was showing off by doing it up high.
Nina, seriously! I feed it to encourage it to stay. And, you always say something interesting!
As far as Billy Bob's ticket goes, I don't think that it is right to single out one person for a ticket among all the trucks that had people sleeping in them just because of the vehicle he was driving. I would love to read the ordance that covered that situation.
Dizzy, I agree. I'd like to read it, too (it must be available, right?), and it also concerns me that there were no signs posted. It's fine to say "check first," and it's not a bad policy, but a person pulling off at 5 AM for a few winks should have some expectation of leniency, especially if there are other snoozers there. I'm biased.
For Dizzy Dick and anyone else interested, here is the Van Horn ordinance. Look for chapter 12, the pertinent part.
Pooping on top of the RV...brilliant! Less buildup in the black tank. If you have any more of these tank saving tips, do tell.
Great post today. If these small minded, small town a-holes don't want RVers business because we poop on top of our RVs to save tank space, then it's THEIR loss!
When I get to people's blogs that add heavy duty, double protection spam filtering & word verification, it makes me want to poop on top of my RV, then leave a dirty comment about it on their blog.
These words brought to you by the fine folks at Campa-Chem. Keeping tanks fresh, one dookie stick at a time.
Nellie, your comments made me poop out loud. Maybe that was the burrito, but I choose to blame you. I deeply love the image of you "dumping" "your" "tank" on your roof, then leaving at high speeds.
I spent two months in a van traveling in the SW, and it ended the relationship, but it didn't end the dream. I'm always jealous of people who are doing just that, living in a van or RV still sounds nice.
Funny stuff here. I'll be more wary while following an Rv after this.
Teresa, two friends of ours did something very similar to your van trip. When we told them about our plans, she said oh my god, those f@*&ing red rocks! Thirty-eight years has not dulled the pain. I'm glad you think of it fondly, despite the relationship. Oh, and it's always a good idea to watch out for Nellie whether she's moving or not.
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