Van Dwelling Basics: Sleeping
Living in a van has some serious pros and cons for taking care of basic needs. Finding a place to sleep is usually one of the easier needs to fullfil. I wasn’t comfortable with this when I first started. I would roam around until I found the PERFECT spot, but I’d waste a lot of gas doing this. After spending some time with my friend Zach, I’ve got a much better method for picking my place to settle down for the night.
Obviously, car camping is a no brainer! Just choose the site. I don’t do that very often, so my process refers to finding a spot in a town or city. I look for a series of things depending on how big the town is. In a medium to large town/city my process looks like this:
- Look for a nice-ish looking neighborhood with cars parked on the street.
- Look for street lights.
- Look for a flat spot near a hedge or fence.
I prefer to park right under street lights. It deters car thieves, lets light into my van and masks light coming out of my van. A smaller town is a bit harder because people don’t usually park on the street. Some times you just have to make the best of the situation. If I’m really having trouble, I might look for a well-lit industrial/business area not on a main road or the parking lot of a 24-hour store. Many Walmarts allow people to stay over night too, but I’ve only tried this in Hawaii… they aren’t those kinds of Walmarts!
The other night I stopped in a small town. They had paved all their business and industrial areas so the shoulder was the size of a bike lane. No dice. I ended up on a very slanted street with no street light nearby. I was next to a large hedge though. I picked a street where there were a few rv’s parked, because I figure the people that own them might understand van dwelling… maybe lol. Anyways, I never park in the same area twice in a row unless I’m in a big city or college town. If I’m staying in a city for several days or weeks, I usually rotate through different areas and hope to find places that don’t have time restrictions on parking.
Now that I’ve got the hang of it, I can usually find a spot in 1 - 10 minutes. That’s how I roll =)
