Camping as a motel

[Rhea]

My family was commenting that we don’t see very many other people at campgrounds who are traveling for other reasons and just using the tent as an overnight accommodation.


We didn’t think it was that weird until we got the dozenth reply of surprise when we stated we were looking at colleges and tenting while we did it. Or going to an out of state funeral or whatever and taking the tent instead of a hotel room.


Using a campground as a motel is the way we grew up to make overnight stays be $15. Anyone else here do that?

 

[rousseau]

Around here it's not very easy to find a licensed camping lot without booking far in advance. That and most drives we make on the regular can be done in less than one day.

I could see myself doing it, but if I was doing something like driving to Florida and needed an over-night I'd probably just bite the bullet and get a proper bed.

 

[fast]

1st thought: priced tents lately?
2nd thought: what a lovely idea!
3rd thought: maybe not for a funeral
4th thought: what a lovely idea!
5th thought: of wonderful days gone by
6th thought: maybe not for something that required an early rise yet no amenities available
7th thought: maybe not as inexpensive as you might think (unless you keep receipts for exchange, lol)
8th thought: dang, am I gettting old?
9th thought: what a lovely idea
10th thought: what a lovely idea

 

[fast]

11: mosquitos
12: creepy crawlies
13: little pebbles under sleeping bag
14: breakfast and cooking over an open flame in the outdoors
15: batteries, lights, chairs, sleeping bags, string, stakes, setting up
16: fucking mosquitoes
17: some kind of repellent
18: gotta start a fire--need smoke; damn mosquitoes
19: moments, lovely moments
20: what a wonderful idea!!

 

[Rhea]

LOL, well some answers for you:

1st thought: priced tents lately?

Yes, we have several

2nd thought: what a lovely idea!

(Same asnwer for all of these.)
We usually enjoy it - every now and then it’s purely transactional.

3rd thought: maybe not for a funeral

Why not? They usually have showers, though we can bring our own, too. I have one of those bags you hang from a tree.

5th thought: of wonderful days gone by

Yes.

6th thought: maybe not for something that required an early rise yet no amenities available

Very few cases of this that can’t work out. See aforementioned shower bag.

7th thought: maybe not as inexpensive as you might think (unless you keep receipts for exchange, lol)

I have a pretty good handle on costs. We’ve been doing this for decades.

8th thought: dang, am I gettting old?

My husband did complain this morning that he wants a thicker camp pad.

11: mosquitos

Not usually much of a prbem. We d have a large tent for car trips (smaller for backpacking)

12: creepy crawlies

Very few actally bite.

13: little pebbles under sleeping bag

ThermaRest

14: breakfast and cooking over an open flame in the outdoors

You don’t have to cook always, though we have a propane stove. This weekend we’re just getting up and going to a diner.

15: batteries, lights, chairs, sleeping bags, string, stakes, setting up

About 15 minutes. Not much longer than check-in time.

16: fucking mosquitoes

Not in the tent.

17: some kind of repellent

Less than you think

18: gotta start a fire--need smoke; damn mosquitoes

Or a game in the tent

19: moments, lovely moments

Yes.


I am typing from my tent now - ironically with better internet than I have at home. We’re dropping my son off at college. $18 per night here so we are staying 3 days to do sights together.

 

[fast]

Why not a funeral?

Oh, I'm not adamantly against it or anything. It's just that I might feel guilty. Camping is fun. Mixing sadness and fun might be too much for me. Maybe if it was a funeral for distant relative; I don't know. If I learned that someone else camped to make it cheaper on them to attend a funeral, the only judgemental aspect I would have would be biased positively, not negatively.

 

[Valjean]

$15. per night? That's over $450. per month! If I'm going to pay that much for a place to sleep I expect a fully stocked kitchen, bathroom, bed, TV, &c. A campsite -- or hotel, for that matter -- shouldn't cost more than an apartment.

For many years I traveled the country on a Motorcyclde. At night I'd just find an out-of-the-way place to pull over, or a truckstop off the highway, and unroll my sleeping bag. Cost: $000.
If you have a tent, why pay for a place to pitch it? You can pitch a tent for the night just about anywhere, for nothing.

Nowadays I've become quite the sybarite, though. I now have a van, in which I can stealth camp even in the middle of town.

 

[Rhea]

Those are good points, and we often use National Forests which have free camping. But in places lacking that (New Jersey, Washington DC, Atlanta, etc) the $15-$20 night is hecka better than a hotel.

And owning the camping gear makes van camping super easy when we just want to pull over and sleep quick like a rest area or parking lot, though it’s harder with 4 people than just one. But we have a new rig where we hang hammocks from the doors to make a dual layer.

 

[Valjean]

Once you close your eyes you can't tell whether you're in the Ritz or a truckstop.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I've never done it in the US (I have spent a decent number of nights in the wild, but backpacking, not car camping), I have done it while traveling abroad.

If I were traveling around on my own, though, I would carry what I need to stay in the wild (including if there was no campground) as a precaution against finding no available motel rooms. I like seeing nature, it's hard to know in advance how much time a place warrants and thus hard to make a fixed schedule. (I have had the experience of finding nothing under $400/night in town and nothing at all in the next two towns.)

Note, however, that I live in a drier part of the country. My pack (I hike most weekends) contains sunscreen, it does not contain any insect repellent. While I loathe mosquitoes they're not an issue. (And if it were moist enough for them to be an issue I would worry about my allergies.)

 

[HaRaAYaH]

Nah:

[YOUTUBE]https://youtu.be/WJLFcRdjW4o[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Kharakov]

Fucking gypsies.

I love camping. But I'm part Gypsie.

 

[Rhea]

One laugh about last night’s nature stay in the Cheesequake State Park in New Jersey was that the background noise (according to my NIOSH sound level meter app) is twice the dB that we have at home. Go camping in nature - hear the humans.

(Background noise level at home is 28dB, at the campground at 10:30pm after quiet hours = 60.5dB.)

I just found that humorous.

 

[TV and credit cards]

I did traveling across country. Stayed at KOAs and rented their cabins. They keep a clean bathroom. That's my big checkpoint. That's when you know you're not at the Ritz.

You know what's pretty comfortable to sleep in? A Kamp-Rite Tent Cot. They do take up a bit of room in the vehicle though.

 

[whollygoats]

Used to...it's a family tradition. Northern Okie stock; Dakota drifters, y'know? But with age has come the CPAP machine and even hostels fell from grace. And my beloved introduced me to hostels.

Nowadays, its usually no-tell or better in terms of accommodaton. I need that bedside electrical outlet.

 

[RavenSky]

My daughter laughs at me for being one extreme or the other on this topic (among others). For me it is either camping - any kind (tent, no-tent, RV, campsite, backpacking, glamping...) - or the hotel better be 4-star or above.

Yes, I've stayed at crappy hotels/motels before when I've had to. I'd have rather been in my sleeping bag on the beach.

Usually, though, camping has been the destination, or at least part of the destination, rather than "camping as motel".

There have been a few times when my daughter was young when I have been able to combine what I like to do (camping) with what my daughter wanted for vacation (waterslides, Disney, etc). I'm not sure that is quite what Rhea is talking about, though.

Maybe if it had occurred to me at the time, Rhea's suggestion would have saved me from those horrible motel experiences.

 

[Rhea]

Totally agree I’d rather be in a sleeping bag on a beach than a crappy motel! That’s why I do this. I never sleep comfy in a sketchy room.

 

[Angry Floof]

If I enjoyed camping, I'd totally do this. I'd camp all over the country. Very cool idea if you've got top camping skills and the temperament to deal with unforeseen discomforts and all that.

 

[Rhea]

If I enjoyed camping, I'd totally do this. I'd camp all over the country. Very cool idea if you've got top camping skills and the temperament to deal with unforeseen discomforts and all that.

LOL! I’m sensing a subtext here...

 

[Angry Floof]

If I enjoyed camping, I'd totally do this. I'd camp all over the country. Very cool idea if you've got top camping skills and the temperament to deal with unforeseen discomforts and all that.

LOL! I’m sensing a subtext here...

Not really. I just don't enjoy camping. People who do enjoy it and do it all the time would have a better time with your idea, which I still think is awesome. As I said, if the discomforts don't bother you, great way to travel.