Author Topic: Should we delay our multi-month cross-country (US) camping trip?  (Read 7139 times)

Dicey

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Re: Should we delay our multi-month cross-country (US) camping trip?
« Reply #50 on: March 24, 2020, 12:40:15 PM »
Wait! It's okay for you to go and visit your family who don't live near you, but you're worried about the people who live under your own roof? In this epidemic, family doesn't mean blood relatives, it means the people you live with. If your roommates aren't self quarantining, force them to or kick them out. Then disinfect your house and hunker down in it. Should either of you happen to fall sick, you're going to be thankful for familiar surroundings.

Dicey

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Re: Should we delay our multi-month cross-country (US) camping trip?
« Reply #51 on: March 24, 2020, 01:51:28 PM »
Wait! It's okay for you to go and visit your family who don't live near you, but you're worried about the people who live under your own roof? In this epidemic, family doesn't mean blood relatives, it means the people you live with. If your roommates aren't self quarantining, force them to or kick them out. Then disinfect your house and hunker down in it. Should either of you happen to fall sick, you're going to be thankful for familiar surroundings.
Easier said then done sadly. https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/how-would-you-do-social-isolation-when-you-live-with-others-who-won't-do-it/
I wasn't sure if @Mr. Green was having trouble with his roommates' behavior. Maybe I missed that?

Mr. Green

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Re: Should we delay our multi-month cross-country (US) camping trip?
« Reply #52 on: March 24, 2020, 05:04:21 PM »
Wait! It's okay for you to go and visit your family who don't live near you, but you're worried about the people who live under your own roof? In this epidemic, family doesn't mean blood relatives, it means the people you live with. If your roommates aren't self quarantining, force them to or kick them out. Then disinfect your house and hunker down in it. Should either of you happen to fall sick, you're going to be thankful for familiar surroundings.
Easier said then done sadly. https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/how-would-you-do-social-isolation-when-you-live-with-others-who-won't-do-it/
I wasn't sure if @Mr. Green was having trouble with his roommates' behavior. Maybe I missed that?
More that his roommates (2 adults and a kid) were working and exposed more than he and his wife who are FIRE. I'm not sure of their situation, if the 2 couples are joint owners/tenants or if Mr G is renting from them and they are the owners.  Probably makes a difference how the situation is handled. Renters can't really tell an owner to curtail their activities but they can move out. Owners can't legally (yet) call the Corona Virus Police on their tenants to get them evicted asap.

ETA in my case I'm the home owner renting a room. But even if I wanted to kick my roommate out I don't believe non-compliance with social distancing orders is a legal thing..yet. Even now in Calif a lot of normal evictions have been halted.
This is indeed the problem. We're just tenants. And our housemates (landlords) are not in a financial position to tell the wife's employer to go pound sand. She works on a major military base no less so who know what kind of exposure there is there. I don't think those numbers are reported the same as civilians either.

This is only reinforcing my inclination that having a home base you own is almost necessary. Almost makes me wish I hadn't sold my dad's house even though we have no desire to live there. You never know when there will be some kind of unrest and those times are when you will most appreciate having that thing you almost never need.

Unless you have a sweet campervan setup that truly allows you to get off grid. If we were in a high clearance vehicle with a decent water storage system and space enough for weeks of food without compromising sleeping space I'd probably have left already. Shit you could disappear for months in National Forest or BLM areas if so desired.

SpecialSnowflake

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Re: Should we delay our multi-month cross-country (US) camping trip?
« Reply #53 on: March 24, 2020, 08:34:05 PM »
We are Fulltimers in our Class A and have already had our Florida State Park, and Corps of Engineers parks in SC cancel out from underneath us. We are moving from FL today to Western NC tomorrow and have a 5 week stay at a private campground set up so that we can hunker down in one place for a while. We don’t want to be kicked out of a public park again.  We have been self quarantining for 10 days now.   

These folks have done a good job of keeping up with public park closures:

https://www.rootlessliving.com/coronavirus-park-closures/

Campendium is also providing good content on closed parks. 

FrugalZony

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Re: Should we delay our multi-month cross-country (US) camping trip?
« Reply #54 on: March 26, 2020, 09:22:30 PM »
I've heard some forum members like @FrugalZony are able to go off grid on BLM land so probably OK if not too long term. They have a big RV so much easier than in a Sprinter van or smaller. The rest are going to stay with family or rent a place so have options. The very low income van or car dweller is going to have it very hard.
Hi! Just saw the bat signal. We are indeed sheltering in place on public land in AZ
We have several full time friends who have been impacted by park closings, some had to leave on very short notice.
Our plans too have been shuttered, but we are staying in place for the time being.
We hope by the time our max stay period in this spot is up we can move to another spot.
There's a couple of locations on our to go list if we have to move. We hope BLM will not shut down public areas.
The way I see it, we are doing our part to not spread anything, so they really should leave us full timers be.
But nobody knows what's going to happen.
I keep an eye on current closures, updates etc.

I currently would advise against cross country road trips for "fun" purposes only.
Many RVers are stranded because a lot of places don't accept new reservations etc.
If you are heading somewhere to help family or friends or to get yourself out of a bad situation, that's another story.
« Last Edit: March 26, 2020, 09:30:49 PM by FrugalZony »

Mr. Green

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Re: Should we delay our multi-month cross-country (US) camping trip?
« Reply #55 on: March 27, 2020, 06:21:22 PM »
We are Fulltimers in our Class A and have already had our Florida State Park, and Corps of Engineers parks in SC cancel out from underneath us. We are moving from FL today to Western NC tomorrow and have a 5 week stay at a private campground set up so that we can hunker down in one place for a while. We don’t want to be kicked out of a public park again.  We have been self quarantining for 10 days now.   

These folks have done a good job of keeping up with public park closures:

https://www.rootlessliving.com/coronavirus-park-closures/

Campendium is also providing good content on closed parks.
I saw the governor just issued a stay-at-home order for the entire state of NC starting Monday at 5pm. Campgrounds are not on the list of businesses exempt from closure. I hope this doesn't foul up your plans.

AnnaGrowsAMustache

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Re: Should we delay our multi-month cross-country (US) camping trip?
« Reply #56 on: March 28, 2020, 11:20:34 AM »
I can understand the question on this thread, when it was asked. It was hard to see where things would end up. If anyone has a similar question NOW, you're terminally stupid. Do NOT go camping in a global pandemic, people. Hunker down where you have a network and resources.

FINate

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Re: Should we delay our multi-month cross-country (US) camping trip?
« Reply #57 on: March 28, 2020, 02:28:14 PM »
A couple of counties in Calif are also shutting down.short term motels, hotels, airbnbs, etc and plan to use them to house medical workers, first responders, and homeless who are unable to self isolate or quarantine. Camping and trails (well everything) in Calif is totally shut now including most public bathrooms.  So many of those options may eventually be gone if you are off travelling and need to hunker down long term. My still working and not socially isolating roommate has gotten another place so I am able to be somewhat isolated except when I have to get food etc. I still go out for a daily run and bike ride, and a bit of a sight seeing drive, but can do it alone and don't need to interact with anyone.

Yes. Placer County shut down short-term rentals (AirBnB, VRBO, etc.). Too many people from the Bay Area escaping to rented cabins in the mountains! ;-)

https://www.placer.ca.gov/6493/COVID-19-clarity-for-short-term-rental-o

FINate

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Re: Should we delay our multi-month cross-country (US) camping trip?
« Reply #58 on: March 28, 2020, 05:03:44 PM »
I suppose that's the problem with rural areas within a day of a major metropolis ... if even 1% of 10M people get antsy they quickly overwhelm these communities. My little county (population 270k) is already dealing with how to prevent tens of thousands of Bay Area people from crowding the beaches and popular parks. I expect they will have to shut these down entirely by next week as the weather warms up.

Full-timers could try their luck further afield, but seems risky to hunker down in a truly remote area with almost no medical resources.

Mr. Green

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Re: Should we delay our multi-month cross-country (US) camping trip?
« Reply #59 on: March 28, 2020, 09:45:01 PM »
I can understand the question on this thread, when it was asked. It was hard to see where things would end up. If anyone has a similar question NOW, you're terminally stupid. Do NOT go camping in a global pandemic, people. Hunker down where you have a network and resources.
It is amazing to see how much has changed in 13 days. Not unexpected given what we know about how pandemics spread but still amazing to see it play out. Our household situation is now much better. Everyone is home now, so there's little risk to all of us. It looks we're here until things start loosening up again. If this runs long enough we may consider moving to a town out west where we can make short jaunts to boondocking type places nearby.

AnnaGrowsAMustache

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Re: Should we delay our multi-month cross-country (US) camping trip?
« Reply #60 on: March 28, 2020, 10:24:07 PM »
I can understand the question on this thread, when it was asked. It was hard to see where things would end up. If anyone has a similar question NOW, you're terminally stupid. Do NOT go camping in a global pandemic, people. Hunker down where you have a network and resources.
It is amazing to see how much has changed in 13 days. Not unexpected given what we know about how pandemics spread but still amazing to see it play out. Our household situation is now much better. Everyone is home now, so there's little risk to all of us. It looks we're here until things start loosening up again. If this runs long enough we may consider moving to a town out west where we can make short jaunts to boondocking type places nearby.

Not unexpected, but I don't think most people really thought it would actually happen. A lot of people took a long time to go from 'could' happen to 'will' happen, and a lot of people still aren't there. Anyway, I don't know if you're glad you didn't go on the trip but I am!

Dicey

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Re: Should we delay our multi-month cross-country (US) camping trip?
« Reply #61 on: March 29, 2020, 12:44:10 AM »
Wait! It's okay for you to go and visit your family who don't live near you, but you're worried about the people who live under your own roof? In this epidemic, family doesn't mean blood relatives, it means the people you live with. If your roommates aren't self quarantining, force them to or kick them out. Then disinfect your house and hunker down in it. Should either of you happen to fall sick, you're going to be thankful for familiar surroundings.
Easier said then done sadly. https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/how-would-you-do-social-isolation-when-you-live-with-others-who-won't-do-it/
I wasn't sure if @Mr. Green was having trouble with his roommates' behavior. Maybe I missed that?
Hey @Mr. Green, I didn't know you had a journal. I just read it today and now I get it. Sorry if my comments seemed clueless.This is a tough situation to be in. The only remotely helpful thing I can think to say is, " This too shall pass." Fingers crossed that things get reasonably and amicably resolved. <--- auto correct changed "amicably" to "magically". Perhaps the universe has something marvelous in store for you.