My hobby is finding new places. I see so much potential in a map.
BEING OUTSIDE HAS BEEN breathed into me since I was a baby.
When my parents got married, they moved to an old Forest Service cabin in the redwoods near Santa Cruz, California. They were heating the house with wood stoves and making thirty-minute treks into town. They’ve been that way my whole life.
My parents would roll out a map at the end of every school year and we’d all come to an agreement. They never said, “We’re going here.” And it never got tiring, because we were allowed to choose where we went. It wasn’t vacation; it was life. We camped every other weekend. Twenty minutes from home, forty-five minutes from home. We just camped. I didn’t think camping was special, I just thought it was what you did. It inspired a way of life for me.
Now when the map is rolled out in front of me and my husband, Jonnie, I take the lead. My hobby is finding new places. I see so much potential in a map. I’ll spend hours poring over books and satellite images and maps. It’s fun to imagine yourself in all these places and make plans that you might not even do. Then I remember that I’m in the city and I need to go to work tomorrow, but it’s a fun escape, like reading a book.
We always take long weekends or longer weekends. We’ve yet to take Monday through Friday off work because we both love our jobs.
Jonnie is a minister at a homeless shelter and I’m a development officer at a youth shelter. We miss work when we’re not there because we get to serve people that we capital-L Love. I serve eighty young people. You don’t often get to work for people who inspire you so. You can’t have a bad day because there are so many little miracles. I love being able to use my voice to rally support for young people. I hope they someday sit with themselves and say, “I do deserve everything you believe I deserve and more.” None of these kids who walk into this building think they are as beautiful as they are.
The fact that the kids I work with haven’t seen our local parks is a shame. I’m first-generation American and I was talking with another first-generation American about how our relatives don’t always think these public parks are for them. It upsets me but it inspires me to tell my story. I grew up with a giant Mexican family that loves going outside. I hope we can get to a place where our trails and our granite walls are speckled with more people of color than they are now and that there isn’t a cultural barrier. I keep this hope in mind when I’m carving out my narrative in the outdoors. I’m learning to spill my guts louder about these important things.
NOËL RUSSELL
The world is full of potential sleep spots. In a camper van and even a trailer, you can pull the curtains closed, darken the lights, and rest your head. Here are some tips about picking a spot to sleep while you’re on the road:
CAMPING FOR FREE In the United States, the two easiest paths to free camping (or almost-free camping) are public land and city streets. Let’s start with the former.
In the United States, the public lands are National Forests and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. Scan a map to find the public lands closest to your route. There, unless otherwise posted, you can disperse camp (outside of designated campgrounds) for up to fourteen days. Remember to stay equipped with food and water, and be prepared to go the bathroom in the outdoors, as there are no amenities. Always follow “Leave No Trace” principles when it comes to cooking, camping, and waste, and when you can, leave the landscape you love better than you found it.
Stealth camping on city streets isn’t for everyone or every vehicle, and it may take some getting used to. It’s as simple as it sounds: find a level spot to park. Consider your surroundings for noise and safety and parking regulations. Make sure your vehicle is as inconspicuous as possible: now is not the time to pop the top of your Westfalia or open the side door to fire up the camp stove. The beauty of road travel is that, more often than not, your home fits into a parking spot, camouflaged beneath streetlights. Cut a low profile and enjoy the cheapest room in the city.
STATE AND PRIVATE CAMPGROUNDS If you’re open to more expensive options, organized campgrounds typically offer amenities like showers, toilets, running water, and utility hookups. Depending on your sleep setup and need for amenities, spending money on campgrounds (anywhere from $5 to $40 a night with no hookup) can be the right investment for the evening.
PRIVATE DRIVEWAYS Reconnecting with cousins and far-off friends is a fringe benefit of roaming. If they offer you a couch, take them up on their driveway.
STRANGERS Locals have great recommendations for stealth and inexpensive camping, or they may even open their driveway up to you. It’s a great way to meet people and learn more about a local community, but always use your best judgment.
DEPARTMENT STORES Some behemoth retail stores let trailers, vans, and other mobile campers sleep in their parking lots and use their facilities, but make sure to check with the manager that sleeping is actually allowed. If the parking area is not owned by the store, then it may not be.
BACKCOUNTRY If you have the equipment, road trips are the perfect opportunity to make time for backpacking. Even though it’s home, living in a vehicle can get cramped. The freedom of setting up camp off a trail is amplified by the fresh air and stars overhead.
SPLURGE Every now and then, a night out of your vehicle in a room with a door can be a healthy reset. Indulging in a hotel or a nice bed-and-breakfast can reinvigorate your curious nature.
