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Old 01-03-2012, 07:46 AM   #1
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Boondocking Texas to Maine - Any Hints & Tips?

Ok, so DW and I are planning to take a trip to Maine in late spring and we'd like to make it a slow and easy trip, camping a night or two (or three) along the way. I'll probably shoot for 300-350 miles a day when we're actually moving. What hints & tips are there for finding suitable spots to boondock for more than an overnight stay (i.e., Walmart)?

We have a Honda eu2000i Companion generator so I think we'll be set power-wise (sans A/C).

Thanks much
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Old 01-03-2012, 11:46 AM   #2
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Some casino's offer free overnight camping with no hookup's. Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun offer this type camping overnight off 95 in CT. There's security there making the rounds hourly. You don't have to play but both still offer a decent 2 nights worth of entertainment.

Try searching for Casino's around your planned route and inquire about these types accomodations. There are some in PA as well but don't know if the offer this.
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Old 01-03-2012, 12:14 PM   #3
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Some casino's offer free overnight camping with no hookup's. Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun offer this type camping overnight off 95 in CT. There's security there making the rounds hourly. You don't have to play but both still offer a decent 2 nights worth of entertainment.

Try searching for Casino's around your planned route and inquire about these types accomodations. There are some in PA as well but don't know if the offer this.
Excellent suggestion... thanks!
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Old 01-03-2012, 07:01 PM   #4
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A lot of smaller towns in Texas and Oklahoma I have seen will have City Parks where they encourage free camping and some will even give you an overnight's stay with water & electric with the hopes that you will unhook and patronize their restaurants and grocery stores. I know your route is probably not set in stone but if you had a halfway idea which route you will be taking, google these towns main City page and they will generally tell you if they have free camping plus a map to get to their park. You won't find this in larger cities, though.
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Old 01-03-2012, 07:54 PM   #5
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Mike,

You mentioned "late spring", keep in mind that late spring in the north-east states can bring soft ground after a winter's snow/freeze, be careful venturing off the hard surface.

Just a couple of links that may be helpful:

http://www.jaycoowners.com/showthread.php?t=1101

http://freecampsites.net/

http://uscampgrounds.info/

http://www.forestcamping.com/index.htm

http://www.sanidumps.com/

East of the Mississippi River the open "BLM" spaces drops considerably, so a little planning ahead like you are doing now is wise.

Bob
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Old 01-03-2012, 10:28 PM   #6
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There are a lot of small state and county parks if you look for them. We often do an overnight at truck stops.
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Old 01-04-2012, 07:22 AM   #7
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Thank you guys for the tips, cautions and links. We're thinking of taking the Natchez Trace for now -- assuming there are no restrictions on trailers -- at least part way. I can see where routing can become a complex task when you consider elevation, services, traffic, tolls, etc. I also picked up a couple of books:

The Next Exit 2011
Mountain Directory East

I'll check out these other sites. Thanks again!
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Old 01-05-2012, 01:14 PM   #8
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Ok, so DW and I are planning to take a trip to Maine in late spring and we'd like to make it a slow and easy trip, camping a night or two (or three) along the way.
Quahog,
How long a trip to you envision? Round trip? Sounds like fun.
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Old 01-05-2012, 03:56 PM   #9
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Quahog,
How long a trip to you envision? Round trip? Sounds like fun.
We have family and friends in New England (ME & MA) and we also have a Coast Guard Reunion we're planning to attend in New London, CT around mid-June. I figure it will take us 5-7 days to get there and the same coming back plus we plan to spend at least three weeks there. I guess altogether we're looking at 5 or 6 weeks total. Should be real nice if the weather is good and things go without any big problems.
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Old 01-06-2012, 09:38 PM   #10
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You'll be fine here in June. It starts drying out mid May. New London is 10 mins from the Foxwoods casino and Mohegan Sun if you need a layover night. Since it sounds like you'll be in town for a few nights try Strawberry Fields or Mystic CT for campgrounds in that area. Mystic is 15-20 mins from New London.
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Old 01-07-2012, 07:58 AM   #11
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I would not count on being able to use your generator anytime you want to at regular camp sites without hookups. We have found most regular Camp grounds in the Eastern part of US have generator run times restrictions in force. Also alot of the Walmarts/Parking lots/parks/etc would probably frown on you sitting up camp so to speak - about all you can get away with is park your trailer still hooked up to your truck and sleep inside the trailer with nothing setup. I don't think I would unhook my trailer and leave it abandoned to do some sight seeing or shopping at any of those type of places.

If you did alot of research you could finally find some places to go that offer free camping along the way. I think there is some web sites for that.

I havent done any of this first hand except a couple of Walmart Parking lot sleep-overs - just speculating the out-come. Dont think I have ever seen a couple sitting under their opened-up awning sitting in the outdoor chairs cooking up supper on a outdoor fire pit in a Walmart parking lot.
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Old 01-07-2012, 08:06 AM   #12
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You'll be fine here in June. It starts drying out mid May. New London is 10 mins from the Foxwoods casino and Mohegan Sun if you need a layover night. Since it sounds like you'll be in town for a few nights try Strawberry Fields or Mystic CT for campgrounds in that area. Mystic is 15-20 mins from New London.
Thank you for the recommendations... Once we hit New London, we'll probably hang around for 2-3 days then head on towards the Cape Cod area. I was looking at maps around New London to try and figure out where a good spot might be to stay a few nights so this is a big help!
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Old 01-07-2012, 08:11 AM   #13
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I would not count on being able to use your generator anytime you want to at regular camp sites without hookups. We have found most regular Camp grounds in the Eastern part of US have generator run times restrictions in force. Also alot of the Walmarts/Parking lots/parks/etc would probably frown on you sitting up camp so to speak - about all you can get away with is park your trailer still hooked up to your truck and sleep inside the trailer with nothing setup. I don't think I would unhook my trailer and leave it abandoned to do some sight seeing or shopping at any of those type of places.

If you did alot of research you could finally find some places to go that offer free camping along the way. I think there is some web sites for that.

I havent done any of this first hand except a couple of Walmart Parking lot sleep-overs - just speculating the out-come. Dont think I have ever seen a couple sitting under their opened-up awning sitting in the outdoor chairs cooking up supper on a outdoor fire pit in a Walmart parking lot.
Yes, I completely agree. Rustic Eagle gave me some great sites which have already provided a wealth of information and that's allowing me to chart a course with estimated miles and nearby parks, etc. I would prefer to find a spot where putting out the awning and cooking a meal outside wouldn't be a problem but if we land at a Walmart, I will adjust accordingly. I have no desire to set up the lawn chairs in the parking lot at Walmart
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Old 01-07-2012, 09:29 AM   #14
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Getting a 2KW generator was the first I did when we got our OFF-ROAD POPUP expecting to just fire-up the generator when we needed it. Right away we found out this wasnt the way to go camping back in the woods off the power grid. Everywhere we ended up at all had generator hours. Some places didnt allow genberators at all. I think all of this is relaxed somewhat in the western states but sure is not the "NORM" on the eastern side of the US. Then I deceided to beef-up the battery bank and added "smart mode" converter/charger along with LED lights, added PSW Inverters, and use low power items like LCD flat screen HDTV, low wattage microwave, low wattage electric blankets, CFL 120VAC lights etc...

The idea was to make it through just ONE night running all the AC and DC toys we wanted to have running off our present 255AH Battery bank. Then the next day we could re-charge our battery bank by connecting the trailer shore power cable directly to the generator using a RV30A-15A adapter. This is the only reason we run our 2KW generator. With the smart mode converter/charger on board we could get our battery bank back up to 90% charge status in a 2-3 hour generator run time to be able to do all of this over again for the next day. Of course we dont get to use the air conditioner and high wattage microwave unit camping this way.

I am planning on adding at least 120WATTs SOLAR Panels now to re-charge my battery bank during the daylight hours which will really help out between the generator run times.

This is how we camp now off the power grids... The way I am setup now we just run extension cords from the trailer to the picnic tables etc to run our 120VAC coffee maker, fans, lights, HDTV, etc. Kinda neat to be able to do this camping off the power grid... People walk up and ask how do you do this and not hearing a generator running in the background and no shore power connections. I usually answer "Majic Beans" at first and then give them the beefed-up battery tour...
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Old 01-07-2012, 02:32 PM   #15
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Getting a 2KW generator was the first I did when we got our OFF-ROAD POPUP expecting to just fire-up the generator when we needed it. Right away we found out this wasnt the way to go camping back in the woods off the power grid. Everywhere we ended up at all had generator hours. Some places didnt allow genberators at all. I think all of this is relaxed somewhat in the western states but sure is not the "NORM" on the eastern side of the US. Then I deceided to beef-up the battery bank and added "smart mode" converter/charger along with LED lights, added PSW Inverters, and use low power items like LCD flat screen HDTV, low wattage microwave, low wattage electric blankets, CFL 120VAC lights etc...

The idea was to make it through just ONE night running all the AC and DC toys we wanted to have running off our present 255AH Battery bank. Then the next day we could re-charge our battery bank by connecting the trailer shore power cable directly to the generator using a RV30A-15A adapter. This is the only reason we run our 2KW generator. With the smart mode converter/charger on board we could get our battery bank back up to 90% charge status in a 2-3 hour generator run time to be able to do all of this over again for the next day. Of course we dont get to use the air conditioner and high wattage microwave unit camping this way.

I am planning on adding at least 120WATTs SOLAR Panels now to re-charge my battery bank during the daylight hours which will really help out between the generator run times.

This is how we camp now off the power grids... The way I am setup now we just run extension cords from the trailer to the picnic tables etc to run our 120VAC coffee maker, fans, lights, HDTV, etc. Kinda neat to be able to do this camping off the power grid... People walk up and ask how do you do this and not hearing a generator running in the background and no shore power connections. I usually answer "Majic Beans" at first and then give them the beefed-up battery tour...
I'd really like to hear more on the specifics on your battery bank and the other equipment you augmented it with.

Most of the time when we go camping, we hit a state park and there are usually hookups. I bought the generator for those times when we didn't have the connections but I would still want to use some of the features/appliances or recharge the battery. You don't have to convince me that sitting near a noisy generator isn't the ideal way to camp . I would much rather enjoy the peace and quiet but I really need to get a lot smarter on power inverters, solar panels, charge controllers, and optimal battery configurations for my projected loads before I would have confidence that I could effectively meet my needs that way.

My thinking along these lines is to approach it in this rough sequence:

1) Determine what my true requirements are load-wise (i.e., lights, hot water, TV/radio, fans, etc.).
2) Skinny down the load as much as possible via LEDs, propane, changes in habits, etc.
3) Investigate 6V vs. 12V configurations to see which will give me the best bang for the buck and not drive me into too heavy a tongue weight for my rig. My hunch is that 6V will be better and 2-4 will be enough but that's really a SWAG (guess).
4) Purchase n number of batteries (2, 4, 6?) to meet that need with sufficient amp hours.
5) In the future look at solar to recharge the batteries so the generator becomes just a backup for charging.

Maybe this ought to be another thread but it would be great to hear what others have done and whether or not it's possible to approach this in an incremental way so as not to break the bank.
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Old 02-01-2012, 07:13 PM   #16
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Does anyone ever get asked to leave Walmart's parking lot with just an overnight stay? I see campers in my local store & I assume they are probably shopping, as well as overnighting.

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Old 02-01-2012, 09:34 PM   #17
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Does anyone ever get asked to leave Walmart's parking lot with just an overnight stay? I see campers in my local store & I assume they are probably shopping, as well as overnighting.

Kim
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Kim, Depending on city or county ordinance. Check with the MW of the city you plan to travel through. Here's a good start to verify a WM overnight stay... however... ALWAYS check with the manager at the WM store you hope to overnight at.
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Old 03-21-2012, 06:11 PM   #18
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Where in Maine are you going? depending on what part of Maine and time of year the state bird (Black flies) can be pretty bad! I own land in Hiram and they are usually around at the end of May and they work their way north so by the end of June they are usually around Bangor. Just something to think about...I think this year they will be early because it has been pretty warm early in the season with very little snow melt.
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Old 03-21-2012, 06:26 PM   #19
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Nothing to add but have a great trip!
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Old 03-23-2012, 04:32 AM   #20
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Where in Maine are you going? depending on what part of Maine and time of year the state bird (Black flies) can be pretty bad! I own land in Hiram and they are usually around at the end of May and they work their way north so by the end of June they are usually around Bangor. Just something to think about...I think this year they will be early because it has been pretty warm early in the season with very little snow melt.
We're not going very far north... will be staying in Scarborough for about a week since my DW's family lives around the greater Portland area.
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