Question for the van dwellers, car campers and nomads.

Nick Goldsmith wrote:where have you guys seen no camping wall marts? In canada they were not 24hrs so you had to wait untill 7:00am to use the bathrooms....

I'm 99% sure overnight parking at the WalMart in North Conway is not allowed. You know anything about that?

there are alot of walmarts that banned camping becuase of the people who dont pick up after there selves, some are people that camp in vans, alot of them are truck drivers. im not saying anything bad about truck drivers and please dont put them in that category but some of them are pigs.

op has a great idea. id consider it if i knew it was an option esp if it had a shower and toilet to use.

For me the real value would be access to amenities inside (water, shower, laundry). But at some level it becomes like couchsurfing.

I would probably not pay if it were just a driveway for a short term. If I were hanging around for a week or more having a home base can be more convenient than stealth parking every night. But that depends on how stealth your vehicle is.

I appreciate all the feedback. Its a pretty low cost venture so I think ill give it a go. Ill be sure to let the MP community know when it launches.

Hey Dan, I think it's a great idea. Vegas comes to mind as the exact sort of place that'd be useful. I've never felt great about sleeping in the casino parking lots, the campground sucks, and hotels (while cheap for workin' folk, are not gonna happen on a dirtbag budget. I'd be willing to pay something to park my truck somewhere quiet in Summerlin.

Aside from Airbnb, Couchsurfing is a possible existing site where this could be done.

Cool. Thanks for your input Tim.

I have slept at wallys in littleton and Plymouth NH but don't even know where the wallys is in N conway? i have a few secret stashes there..

yeah is there an airbnb for climbers...something like: Are you a girl? $150/mo and you get the loft. unlimited climbing on the 45, campus board, hangboard, and gymnast rings. its a swoll center up there in the loft... climbing hours would be something like 24hr fitness with resprect for other climbers and overall household residents... but the shower and the laundry room are included and there is a spot in the drive way, backyard, or sideyard We got options! Wi-Fi password extra, cant be using up all that bandwidth, shit cost money dig:/ willing to negotiate trades with high quality peyote...and or other psychedelic drugs... no pocket lint... *sandbaggers wanted*

yeah something like that.

Tim Fry wrote: Couchsurfing is a possible existing site where this could be done.

I dont think you're allowed to charge for services on Couchsurfing. The entire point of the site is to find free places to stay.

Personally, if it were me and I actually had a driveway, I'd just dole out the occasional parking spot for free. You're really not going to make any money off something like this and I'd rather have the knowledge that I am doing someone a solid than charge money for something that costs me nothing and requires zero effort on my part. The climbing community is small enough that you could easily have that small solid end up paying off in the future. That's basically the entire premise behind the Couchsurfing website--basically just exchanging favors. That's just me though.

Friends, sure. However the days of dealing with random strangers are long over. People are why we can't have nice things.

Most climbers wouldn't want to charge money for other climbing folks to park up for a day or two in a driveway. That would feel a bit miserly and not really in the spirit of supporting each other. If people are happy they could give gifts and maybe get some beers or 'super snacks' for their kind hosts. If the general population does it with couch surfing then climbers being a smaller community should also. I mean they do it already in a way but it could be a bigger network and you can always think well they are climbers so they should be 'okay' and respectful. Feels nice to help people and meet new people also.

If I park in someones driveway i feel like I am imposing. What we really need to do is to work twords protecting our rights to camp on our public lands for free.

Kind of reminds me of 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation', where cousin Eddy shows up in his beater RV and dumps his blackwater down the gutter...

Kind of a cool idea for areas that aren't 'the burbs'. I think that neighbors might complain if there is a different van or RV parked in front of a house with people obviously camping out (especially if they have children and if anything illegal is present). Personally I find it disturbing that it is so difficult to travel and find a place to sleep. Towns like Boulder like to seem cool, but it is actually devoid of local camping until you get into the mountains a bit. And, the local cops have nothing better to do than harass underage drinkers and vagabonds.

Not sure if it's changed,but plenty of folks were parking and sleeping in vans on the street outside the rock club in Boulder. Police were turning a blind eye. If you did something like you are proposing in a residential neighborhood be prepared to deal with your neighbors. It could work in a more rural setting. Interesting idea, good luck.

Nick Goldsmith wrote:If I park in someones driveway i feel like I am imposing. What we really need to do is to work twords protecting our rights to camp on our public lands for free.

YESSS +5,000

I've done quite well with Tinder and its usually free.