Camping on the side of the road.

:ymca

:ymca

Just sayin'..

Short version, having overnighted in more places than i can remember, School yards, Churches, Cemetaries,Industrial parks, picnic tables, etc; The one for the books was this, Pouring down rain and about 40 degrees comming into
down town New Orleans after dark. I stopped to get out of the rain in front of a large Federal Building. Turns out to be the Court House. Tried the door and its open. Well why not, steped in and down the hall what was some kind od reception area to an office. A nice warm radiator. Well I spread out my bed roll and chashed. Awoke late and people were everyware. i gathered my stuff and headed out. Thats when the story gets interesting, but for another day. Helmet thief, Burnt pistons,and Good Semaritains...

Cemeteries?:huh No way in hell I could that, every movie I ever saw about zombies and the walking dead would replay in my head all night long without the confort of popcorn, milkduds and twizzlers, no way! I'm still getting over spending the night behind a funeral home when high winds, downpour and lightinig forced me to stop. I hung a tarp between a shed and a picnic table for shelter. Couldnt sleep in that weather anyway but I couldnt help glance at the basement door thinking what if one of those supposedly or alleged dead ones died a horrible death and is looking for revenge, makes the colt 45 kind of useless. Cemeteries? never.

I was going to add that in my training, avoiding a stuation was as critical as knowing how to use a firearm. But you have made a good point about meth users ect. An ounce of prevention as they say. I guess in the end, it's your call.

Cemeteries are peaceful places. You need to get over that.

Here's another cemetery campsite to help you.



Jamie

Cool picture Jamie!

Damn skippy.


The real question is: 9mm vs .45?





Pie.

I'll take the middle ground... 10mm (.40S&W's big brother)!

A hit with a .22 is better than a miss with a .45

The camping in a cemetary idea is intruguing, we have lots of cemetaries around here. The problem is that most in rural areas are very small, and very open and at times on fairly major roads. And how to you 'be respectful' when some poeple would think your presence is disrespectful?

Just askin'.... The wife and I like zombies... so we're not worried about that ;-)

It's cemetery.

The very open and major roads are issues. The cemeteries where I choose to sleep are almost always tucked away in the woods, often on a little gravel road. Unfortunately, I don't know a good way to find places like that. It's always when I just bump into them. Tiny cemeteries rarely show up on maps or are included in GPS POIs.

Jamie

I came upon a cemetery in the middle of no-where in Northern Ontario. Was riding gravel roads for 45 minutes or so and saw a iron-gate area surrounding it. I walked through it a while to check the dates and names. It was kinda freaky. I believe there once was a town nearby, but was abandoned when the pulled up the railroad.

I didn't stay the night :eek1

If you can't hit with a .45, you probably wouldn't have hit with a .22 either. My wife is 5'4",120#, and puts in sub-2" groups at 7 yards shooting one handed with a 1911. If you can't do the same two handed, give up the gun and buy a stun gun......or just learn to shoot.

I think you missed the point.

The pissing contests are all held in JM ...If you go back a few pages this one used to be about Camping on the side of the road.

To get back on topic .......
I've got a trip planned, and have been reading thru this thread a bit, with hopes of doing quite a bit of stealth camping in my hammock while on my dirt bike going x country and hitting the eastern TAT in between. I figure the money I save while stealth camping I can eat out pretty good .. don't have to carry cooking equipment .... and that would be a good thing since I'll be on a small bike, a WR250F, and doing a bit of distance, est 2k, tx to nj . cemetery camping huh, well that'll be interesting to try! .... my friends will never believe that, until I show them the pics! they pretty much think I've lost it anyway ..... at least here on adv I'm just working up to "normal"!

Expanding the ‘norm’ expanding horizons – ADVrider.com is a great thing

Not that I would ever camp in a cemetery. It’s a cool idea and the thought of it rocks but I had one bad motorcycle experience at a cemetery. I need to get over that! It happened when I was 16. I think doing it in Mexico may be more acceptable, ‘Day of the dead’ and all. I will maybe ask an official first. I Can see this as a good thing anywhere though. I often ride way too long and into the night. When it’s dark is when you need to pull out all your vagabond camping skills. If you truly think you won’t be discovered until early morning I guess I would have no problem with it. The line “I just couldn’t stay awake. I had to pull off the road. I had to rest” I’ve used this line with police and it has worked. I suppose unless you’re sleeping on top of someone’s grave or something it should also work in a cemetery.

My wife and I have been on the road 8 months today. We unloaded most of our camping gear before we hit Guatemala but we still carry 2 lightweight down sleeping bags, a silk sheet set and a good 12’ X 12’ tarp. The idea is, if we have bike problems in the middle of nowhere or if for some reason we can’t make it to hotel before dark, we can always set up a nice dry camp, anywhere. This is a good feeling when you’re on the road, anytime. You can always make it through the night without having to call 'Jo Momma'. We carry a lot of thin rope, a few stakes and also one tent pole. The pole can help a lot to keep a primitive ‘tarp tent’ away from your body.

In this photo I used a smaller tarp, an 8 X 10. It was a little small but for one person it did the job.


I think I posted this photo before on this thread but ‘what the heck’.
// The storm with a lot of wind came and went. I stayed warm and dry while eating lunch in my little lean-to shelter. One rock I chose for a tie down was insufficient. In the middle of the storm I had to lash one end of the tarp to my boot. It was a little tense but it worked. //

when i was in my twentys i used to camp under bridges in nz. One night i stayed in a red barn on the outskirts of paikakariki. Slept soundly in the hay to be awoken by a car pulling up. I thought it might be the owner so i peeked out of a crack and noticed it wasnt the owner but some fuckhead with a petrol can and a hose trying to syphon petrol out of my bike. I ran out the barn yelling like a banshee he abandoned the tin and ran back to his car. I picked up a reasonable size rock and herld it in the direction of the car. It was like slow motion the rock travelled in a beautiful parabolic arc and went straight through the bak window of the cage. priceless.
cheers
pete

Jamie Z is a true adventure rider. Ran across him accidentally down in Mexico last year. I've gotta admit, he's hardcore and camping in a cemetary doesn't surprise me. I only get away a few months a year for riding and tend to give up on camping after a long day. Keep us informed on your travels JZ. You always seem to capture great pictures.

Cemeteries are great for stealth camping...extremely quiet in rural areas and some nice smooth grass to lay down on. Perfect! I've done it a bunch of times, when I couldn't find a field road to ride down or a grove of trees somewhere.