Camping For Free App Now Available, Worldwide

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

Nope, not marketing a build product as in selling it, but have considered starting kinda of a different thread, based on my build experience listing everything I am including in my camper/Tacoma build that is unconventional or very light, because that is my focus. So for instance I am not using MaxTrax and in lieu of conventional snatch blocks I am including recovery rings, I am using narrower tires, etc.
This is still coming together in every respect, so it is too early to start a separate thread.
One aspect of my build is collecting apps via this subject that may work. Also waiting for Michael's app to come together.

I also need to know what size tablet is best for all these apps, maps, etc. All advice appreciated.

There is already a thread on your subject matter started a few days ago by @4wheelrolling. You might want to post there, it is supported by @Michael.

 

[WE ROME]

There is already a thread on your subject matter started a few days ago by @4wheelrolling. You might want to post there, it is supported by @Michael.

How do I find it?

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

How do I find it ?
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What vehicle and gear do you carry to go out and Overland?

@Michael has a video on this. But with the way new people keep joining Overland Bound, and some of the many questions asked on this site, I thought it time to start a Thread that has pictures ( we love pictures ), and share detailed lists of what we carry in our vehicles. There are some here the...

www.overlandbound.com

 

[Prerunner1982]

I also need to know what size tablet is best for all these apps, maps, etc. All advice appreciated.

The bigger the better. I have used a 7" tablet and while it works I am going to a 10.1" tablet.
Makes it easier to see the maps and messages and such but does take up more real estate on the dash.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

The bigger the better. I have used a 7" tablet and while it works I am going to a 10.1" tablet.
Makes it easier to see the maps and messages and such but does take up more real estate on the dash.

HOW DO YOU USE A TABLET, does it receive satellite, what program is required. I don't have a smart phone so I'm kind outta touch on communications. I have a Kendal but it requires wifi. HELPPPPP

 

[Prerunner1982]

HOW DO YOU USE A TABLET, does it receive satellite, what program is required. I don't have a smart phone so I'm kind outta touch on communications. I have a Kendal but it requires wifi. HELPPPPP

Most tablets have GPS chips so once the navigation app and offline maps are downloaded you don't have to have any wifi/internet connection.
The messages and such I referred to in my post is done by using the tablet to control a ham radio. It tracks my Jeep and allows me to track others, I can send messages to others using the same system, can send SMS Text messages to a cell phone, send an email, get weather reports, and could post to twitter (social media platform) if I wanted to... without internet.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

Most tablets have GPS chips so once the navigation app and offline maps are downloaded you don't have to have any wifi/internet connection.
The messages and such I referred to in my post is done by using the tablet to control a ham radio. It tracks my Jeep and allows me to track others, I can send messages to others using the same system, can send SMS Text messages to a cell phone, send an email, get weather reports, and could post to twitter (social media platform) if I wanted to... without internet.

This sounds like it can replace almost all other types of communication, gps, cb's, lap tops, etc.....Right ? What kind of cost ate you talking about.

 

[Prerunner1982]

This sounds like it can replace almost all other types of communication, gps, cb's, lap tops, etc.....Right ? What kind of cost ate you talking about.

There are radios that do both voice and data (APRS) at the same time and they can be a bit spendy ($430+) however my data radio is separate from my voice radios.
My data radio set up cost about $200 for the radio, the tablet and the box (TNC) to make the two work well together. The tablet bluetooths the data to the TNC which is wired to the radio.
The radio and TNC are hidden away so it makes for a clean install with just the tablet on the dash and no extra wires.
The data radio requires an infrastructure of digital repeaters and internet gateways provided by other hams so it is not 100% reliable, but another tool to have in my back of tricks.
There are satellites with digital repeaters on them as well, I have sent a SMS text message from the tablet through the ham radio in my Jeep, up through the digital repeater on the International Space Station back down to Earth to an Internet Gateway to my wife's cell phone.

without internet.

I should have also clarified... without internet on my end. It still needs internet access somewhere for my position to be available online for my wife to see, or for the SMS text and emails to go through.


But this is really all off topic for this thread.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

There are radios that do both voice and data (APRS) at the same time and they can be a bit spendy ($430+) however my data radio is separate from my voice radios.
My data radio set up cost about $200 for the radio, the tablet and the box (TNC) to make the two work well together. The tablet bluetooths the data to the TNC which is wired to the radio.
The radio and TNC are hidden away so it makes for a clean install with just the tablet on the dash and no extra wires.
The data radio requires an infrastructure of digital repeaters and internet gateways provided by other hams so it is not 100% reliable, but another tool to have in my back of tricks.
There are satellites with digital repeaters on them as well, I have sent a SMS text message from the tablet through the ham radio in my Jeep, up through the digital repeater on the International Space Station back down to Earth to an Internet Gateway to my wife's cell phone.



I should have also clarified... without internet on my end. It still needs internet access somewhere for my position to be available online for my wife to see, or for the SMS text and emails to go through.


But this is really all off topic for this thread.

Sorry, thanks !

 

[Submariner]

There are many places you can camp for free up to 2 weeks in our national forest. you cannot "live" there but camp for free. I worked for the US Forest Service for 12 years and I found many great camp sites on the forest where I worked. They do have paying campgrounds but many "Dispersal" sites in every National Forest.
If you need a place in Souther Oregon, around Crater Lake. Go north on Hwy 62, stay left on hwy 230. continue north, About 3 miles or so up this road you will cross a bridge, 50' past that bridge there is a left turn into a dispersal camp site that leads down to the stream that ran under the bridge you cross.
Bring you fly pole and look for some tasty trout. Walk down the stream and you will find the Rouge River.
There are many of these sites along the road.
If you follow the highway farther up and take a left on one of the service roads, it will lead you up to another bridge on the left where there is a free camp ground that has some good fishing to.

 

[Billiebob]

It makes me groan to see Lowes and Walmart parking lots listed in it. I don't judge anyone for staying where they do. I myself have napped as needed along the road. It just lends an air of dubious quality to the app's entries.

I joined a boon docking forum years ago but quit as soon as I discovered most of the posts were about squatting on public and private land and how to argue that you are entitled to be there. Unlike you Kevin, I do judge free loaders. Parasites and a blight on society. There are millions of places to park overnite but all to often people who expect to stay for a week ruin it for the majority of the responsible overlanders.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

I joined a boon docking forum years ago but quit as soon as I discovered most of the posts were about squatting on public and private land and how to argue that you are entitled to be there. Unlike you Kevin, I do judge free loaders. Parasites and a blight on society. There are millions of places to park overnite but all to often people who expect to stay for a week ruin it for the majority of the responsible overlanders.

National parks in the US allow you to stay 15 days in most locations for free if you purchase a yearly pass for $80. It is public land and it is your right to stay there. That is not being a squatter by any means.

As for camping while traveling I don't know where people do their overnight stops. Truck stops seem like a good place, church parking lots, rest stops, public land not in a national park, private property that has no "NO TRESPASSING" signs. Just where are those millions of free parking spaces ?

Lets hear it from people who do it regularly in OB. If there is a web site that has that kind of info, I would like to know.

Wherever you stop and rest just respect it as if it were your home.

 

[SinisterJK]

I usually pull into a truck stop and have slept a few times in the parking lot of a Wally World but usually just crash with a pillow in the front seats or if I'm alone throw myself in the back seat of the jeep. Has anyone had any issues with popping open an RTT in any these commercial parking lots like Wally World, Bass pro, or any place like that that's commercialized? Id be afraid of having the police called out and getting hassled than the safety issue. When we travel we always carry both my wife and I so that's not really my concern but more getting hassled or even trespassed for sleeping in my RTT. If I'm in the car my tints are dark and no one really comes to a running vehicle.