At Least One Said No to “Van Life”

[dhally]

Ha! This had popped up in my news feed, but I never clicked it. The headline was a giveaway...

Better camping equipment won't turn you into a camper.

[arctictraveller]

I for one liked his review for completely selfish reasons. Has anyone else noticed that all the new truck and SUV TV ad's show the vehicles doing donuts in the snow and mud, climbing rocks and roaring down forest roads? Since Covid, the back country has been overrun with folks trying to get away while social distancing, and all these new commercials are telling folks that if they buy the newest truck, SUV, or motorhome, they too can get out and explore off road. One consequence of this has been a rise in the number of people getting over their heads and needing rescue. Additionally, the back country is getting trashed and new / more restrictive regulations are being put in place such as discussed in a different thread about the Alabama hills that has been totally trashed. Perhaps if more folks saw that review they may realize that camping might not be for them. A neighbor bought a travel trailer, and after one trip his wife decided, that was to be the last one and it has sat for a couple years without moving. So personally, anything that helps reduce the number of folks crowding our camp spots works for me.

[BroncoHauler]

I completely understand the need for the change, but once new, more restrictive regulations are put into place, they never are relaxed, even if the situation improves. It's always a one-way path.


Herb

[N147JK]

Originally Posted by BroncoHauler

I completely understand the need for the change, but once new, more restrictive regulations are put into place, they never are relaxed, even if the situation improves. It's always a one-way path.


Herb

This is painfully true. It's always more restrictions and rules, never less. Been that way for the last 50 years as I've watched things change. This is the "race to the bottom". What will the bottom look like? Or is there one?

[86Scotty]

Originally Posted by BroncoHauler

Yet he's now more successful due to people clicking on the link. In this day and age, quality and content are secondary to getting another click.



Herb

This ^^^

I don't give garbage like this the time of day. He's either a fool or a clever troll. I have little interest in either.

I do quite like to see an article trashing #vanlife though. The hype needs to be toned down. It looks like a fun dream until winter, or until you get a stomach virus, or until your dog goes and rolls around in poo and you have 3 gallons on board to clean him up.

We sort of evolved in to fixed domiciles for a reason. I'll stick to the old fashioned thing called camping, done on an occasional basis. I'm not saying living on the road can't be done and done well, but at the moment for most it's just another fad.

[Spr]

I agree, I hope to see more articles down playing van life, and even van camping for that matter. It’s hard to want to hide something I love so much from other people but the crowds are getting crazy. On top of that some of these van lifers can be a little off putting. One of the last BLM spots I was at had a couple van lifers staying there and the place looked like a meth den... well, I guess it could have been a meth den but that’s besides the point.

How about that 1700 rental for the winter weekend?!?!?! I’m regretting selling my last van. Could have been some great side cash at those rates

[spazegun2213]

Originally Posted by Spr

I agree, I hope to see more articles down playing van life, and even van camping for that matter. It’s hard to want to hide something I love so much from other people but the crowds are getting crazy. On top of that some of these van lifers can be a little off putting. One of the last BLM spots I was at had a couple van lifers staying there and the place looked like a meth den... well, I guess it could have been a meth den but that’s besides the point.

I've been through this with camping over the last 20 years, and there is a reason I stay away from built up campsites at all costs. I'd rather be in the backcountry, BLM, somewhere AWAY from people.

The last campsite I was at there were a few college students car camping and just having a rager in nature. Loud, drunk, etc. We ended up moving our site over to a vacant spot further away.

The last van trip we were on we had setup on easily accessible BLM land, off away from people and a (nearly identical) van showed up, and just being loud. Sadly sometimes you can't pick your neighbors. But the night before we were on a higher more remote peak and were the ONLY ones around.

[AndrewInSeattle]

Originally Posted by Spr

How about that 1700 rental for the winter weekend?!?!?! I’m regretting selling my last van. Could have been some great side cash at those rates

No kidding! I just checked, Outdoorsy keeps 20% of that, but 80% of $1770 ain't bad. It does sound like the owner was on-call for 24/7 tech support, which couldn't have been pleasant, and personally dropped off the van to the little d-bag's apartment in Brooklyn, so it wasn't totally free money.

I must admit, I immensely enjoyed reading this article. The schadenfreude, the sense of smug superiority... I'm not proud of myself, but so it goes.

The author's description of completely ignoring the owner's tutorial on how the systems work, and THEN complaining that he couldn't get anything to work, without any seeming sense of self-awareness, is just precious. It does confirm my belief that loaning out our van to anyone who isn't already familiar with similar systems, like another RV owner or boater, much less a complete stranger, would be absolute folly. We've had it for more than 3 years now and still make some rookie mistakes from time to time, e.g. not burping the toilet after an altitude change.

[86Scotty]

'Like', Andrew. It would be so nice if we just had a like button.

[JWA]

Originally Posted by TomsBeast

I read the article: Typical bull$hit whiny lil' bitch blogger... city dweller that never camped a day in his life, so he rents a van in the dead of winter with the intention to write and article, oh boy! I contend he set out to write about how much this sucks... greaaaaaaaaat...

Someone please take this gender neutral person's mancard and burn it, to stay warm of course, dump the ashes down the porta-potty, since he couldn't figure out how to do that for himself. Then scold his parents <eyes rolling>

Almost could claim I myself authored that ^^^ reply! Within the first few sentences it was easy to see what direction it would go.

What's funny is in the sidebar right next to the "article" itself is a link how a couple in a $40K Sprinter is living full time on the road.