Outlaws West of the Pecos

[Seann45]

Outlaws West of the Pecos

The city fathers of Van Horn (population 2500) have passed at the urging of a
few hotel and RV park owners an ordinance which makes it illegal to sleep in any
vehicle and backed it up with an $85 fine. This includes parking on truck stop
lots where they are welcome. This also applies to RVs and truck sleepers whose
rigs are fully self-contained and equipped for sleeping and living with no need
for amenities provided by RV parks.
Van Horn, with an easy off and return to the interstate, has been a favorite
stopping point on I-10 for years. A survey done a couple years ago showed that
the average RV traveler spends $47 each night they stop for food, restaurants and
fuel.
With several RVers receiving tickets for spending the night in one of the
truck stop lots, there have been a number of messages on the RV chat rooms and
forums to avoid stopping in Van Horn for any reason and especially not to spend
any money there for any purpose. With the thousands of RVs which travel I-10,
you can imagine the loss of business to restaurant owners and other businesses
which depend on the tourist trade.

[wiscampsin]

I would hope the truck stop owners, restaurant owners and other businesses that depend on the tourist trade would appeal the decision of city fathers. A town of 2500 need$ all the traffic it can get.

[Seann45]

Apparently the bylaw was pushed through for the local KOA

[Sunshine]

There is always election time and this just may come back to bite 'em in the butt!

[The Hawk]

The way government thinks they are counting all the money they are getting from all the fines and proud of it. Totally unaware of all the lost revenue from the lack of business generated by all the services provided to the passing RV and truckers who now just pass them by.

[wiscampsin]

Originally Posted by The Hawk

The way government thinks they are counting all the money they are getting from all the fines and proud of it. Totally unaware of all the lost revenue from the lack of business generated by all the services provided to the passing RV and truckers who now just pass them by.

Agree, word travels real fast among RVers and truckers. Pretty soon it'll be just another dying town in America.

[29BHS ECO]

With only 2500 residents they don't have far to go !!!! Larry

[Leroy2u]

The only thing people are going to have to purchase is gas, other than that I wouldn't drop a dime.

[Denise]

In the 10 minutes I had free to research this today, I couldn't find anything on ordinances for that town. I guess even like rv'ers do with WalMarts, make sure you ask the 'store manager' of the establishment you wish to overnight in to verify there is no problems staying there.....

[rray32539]

Van Horn Camping Ordinance

If they don't want RVers staying anywhere but the KOA, we can vote with our accelerator pedal foot and bypass them.

[mcfarmall]

Perhaps a nicely worded e-mail to the city council from potential visitors would be of some effect.

Has anyone put a bug in the ears of the Peterbilt or Kenworth owners forums? I would imagine that the brotherhood of truckers would like this one.

[Bob Landry]

I carry 47 gallons of gas,morethan enough to get from Ft Stockton beyond El Paso. I won't be stopping there.

Thanks for the inf.

[dg1971]

Being a Texan, this is embarrassing to me but with how some of the local municiplities are grasping for every $$$ they can find in today's economy, maybe they figure the extra revenue in fines will offset their budget woes....too bad they were not smart enough to see the economic downturn when I, and others keep plugging down the interstate to the next town to spend our gas/food/lodging money. Makes you wonder if the councilmen are the owners of the hotel and campgrounds there.

[Bob Landry]

According to RVParks Review, there is a KOA and two other "RV Prks" in Van Horn. The others don't have very good write-ups, so it's pretty easy to connect the dots here.
As an alternative, Texas has a lot of good truck stops along I10 which is where I overnight while in-route. Also the rest areas are very nice, many even have wi-fi.. You have water, and restrooms which is more than you get at Walmart and if you just need a place to crash for a few hours, the truck stops work fine. I have no problem waking up, climbing in behind the wheel and driving for 20 minutes or so to find a cup of coffee.
Honestly, with Ft Stockton and El Paso within 100 miles on either side, I don't know why anyone would want to stop in that dust bowl anyway. To each his own I suppose. There are too many truck stops that welcome over-nighters because they know you are going to go in and buy something before you pull out.