View topic - Canoeist's Pickup Truck

A friend of mine bought a used Escalade, if nothing else it's a heavy duty build with great clearance. Other than brief family hand me downs I've always bought new vehicles, I'm pretty sure that will never be the case again given current prices.

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"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915

Martin, whatever you decide don’t overlook the advantage of being able to sleep overnight in the vehicle.

I just got back from an 8 day trip in the Adirondacks. Actually a 9 day trip, instead of leaving home at 4am, driving 9 hours and then hurriedly paddling in to find a site and set up before dark I left well after rush hour, drove part way there, slept in the back of the truck overnight and arrived at the put in early in the day.

Other advantages; heavy rains were forecast that evening, night and into the next morning. Instead of making a 9 hour drive in the pouring rain I pulled into a State Park in New York the evening before, threw the 10x13 truck tarp over the boat and cap (6 guy lines and stakes, no poles) so I could leave the windows open with a covered “back porch” at the tailgate and left the next morning for a more pleasant last couple hours drive to the put in and a morning launch.

PA010020 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

Yes, that is an extension cord and 110V fan. It was 87f when I arrived at the park and never cooled off much that night.

Besides quick overnight stops in actual parks there are other places you can park & sleep overnight. Places like truck stops and even many Walmart parking lots!

https://www.walmartlocator.com/rv-parking-at-walmart/

In Ontario roadside rest areas ban overnight stops and police will roust you if they find you parked Midnight to 6:00am but you can pull in there at 7:00am and sleep in the back for 4 or 5 hours undisturbed. Also in Ontario (probably elsewhere) the Green P commuter lots near big cities like Toronto allow (free) overnight parking, although not intended for "camping" you can park a pick-up truck and get a nice lengthy sleep in the back and never get a hassle of any kind.

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"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915

I have a friend who does a lot of self-contained live-aboard cross country trips, and he does the Walmart thing on occasion. Seems safe parked between some RV’s at the far end of the lot, and a 24 hour WalllyWorld has rest rooms and is open for dawn grub replenishment and at least bad coffee.

Thanks for the locator link, I saved it for possible future use.



Good to know. Back in the ‘70’s and 80’s I caught needed zees in all manner of places; rest areas, truck stops, even wide spot pull offs on backcountry road two lanes. I am not that bold anymore, and like to know that I am largely legal. I was only rousted once in 30 years of scarfing free sleep, snoring under the truck cap waiting for the morning’s first Ocracoke Ferry to arrive. Seriously Mr. Terminal dude, it’s 6am and the first ferry arrives at 7:00; I was waking up soon anyway.

I will still pick up a US National Forest Service or BLM map when entering a wildness area, have a look at the dirt road squiggles and just make all left hand turns until the goat track ends. I don’t guess anyone is coming back here to roust me tonight. I should be good making all right hand turns back to pavement, but somehow in the pre-dawn dark, not always. Oops, where the hell am I?

I don’t mind paying a few bucks for a primitive site, and will cough up the $20 bucks for a State Park campsite with picnic table on which to organize gear, and bathhouse shower to scrub off the road stank, especially if it is near my route, seems interesting or has day paddling opportunities. There are some awesome and unique environments preserved in US State Parks, well worth the fees. Places like Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada.

http://parks.nv.gov/parks/valley-of-fire

For US travel this book will pay for itself with the first few cheap nights stay. Free and Low-Cost Campgrounds

https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Americas ... 0937877557

12,000 US “campgrounds”, many primitive free, or less than the $12 a night maximum listing criteria. If it is near enough off my route, free or $5 a night, with a pit toilet, no water, no electric, no hook up, and hence no RV neighbors, I’m all the happier. Might even stay an extra day if it is an interesting area.

Most of my favorite, obscure, up-a-dirt primitive campsites are in that book. No idea if there is a similar Canadian version.

On a recent trip another friend did the sleepover truck bit, and set up a “back porch” tarp before the rainy night and morning, paddling in the next day. He is more knowledgeable about the area, knew of a backwoods place to park and sleep away the rainy night, and packed an little used Kelty tarp as a back porch.

PA020002 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr

He was smitten with the tailgate porch idea, and is far more ingenious than I. He has his thinking cap on about making a cut-to-size-and-shape, quick connect back porch awning for his truck.

I have thought about the possibility of using a self-furling awning from a junked RV, attached under the rear crossbar, will be interested in his solution. Maybe looking to copy some design form and function ideas.

BTW, tarp as back porch rain protection, absolutely. But truck camped out in the open desert or a coastal beach site the back porch shade and sun reflectivity of the 10 x 13 green/silver Yuedge tarp is equally beneficial. It covers the entire cap and open side windows for reflective shade and open window ventilation, perhaps even more valuable to keep the sun off a dark colored cap in blazing summer sun.

https://www.amazon.com/YUEDGE-13-Rain-F ... B071WP2QJW

It took a while, but we bought a vehicle. Plans for long road-trips involving skiing, paddling, and lounging with a view made cargo-carrying capacity and sleeping inside the vehicle high priorities. We opted for a Dodge Grand Caravan. No 4WD or high clearance, but lots of space. We're in the process now of outfitting her with a double bed and storage totes. Trailer hitch and roof racks are on the "Must-do List", but will have to wait till after our first road trip starting as soon as we can get packed. We're slow movers. Thanks to everyone here whose ideas helped kick-start our plan to "get-'er-done".

Martin,
As soon as I clicked to read your update, in my mind I was thinking Grand Caravan, that's what we have and I love it! Just bought our second one. First one died at just about 300k. Can't wait to see the pics.

rab

The vehicle I've favoured for these kinds of adventures is the Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee/XJ with the reliable 4.0L inline six. Judging by the number of them around, and how well used they are, they're popular. Parts, and parts vehicles are easy to find. The downside is they get poor mileage, the upside is they're almost unstoppable.

Tarp mounting... awning-track is inexpensive, and an appropriate sized rope (1/4”?), sewn into the tarp edge, allows it to be fed into the track and held securely.