Always

There are a bunch of places in the world where you'd need to pay to park. I try to avoid those places. But sometimes it's worth it, like in a lot on Pacific Coast Highway. A buck and a half an hour? A bargain.

However, if you want to get philosophical about it, we always pay one way or another to park. Maybe not directly with money. Maybe with time or convenience or any number of other less-than-perfect aspects. Camp free on public land? But then I need to drive to town for supplies. Stealth camp in town? But then it's noisy and I become anxious about being rousted by the authorities.

And it's not just parking or camping. Mere existence costs us something. We pay everyday. No free lunch, as they say. Life is compromises. Trade-offs. What are we willing to give up in order to get what we want? What's the best deal? Right now, for me, living and traveling in a converted van is the best deal ever. Let me go load some more quarters in the meter.