Takin’ it to the streets

I hadn’t streetdocked since October of 2017 (I had to look that up). I was never able to relax, always worried about The Knock. Sleeping in vehicles is tolerated some places and illegal in others. Enforcement can be nonexistent to sporadic to draconian. Since then I’ve stuck to public land, friends’ driveways, and the occasional paid campground.

So here I am on the California coast where unless I pay high prices for a campground (and got a reservation way in advance), or get a hotel room, I’m left with streetdocking.

My friend Scott streetdocks up and down the West Coast all the time, without trouble. And he doesn’t even try to be stealthy, just selective in his choices. His positive experience is encouraging, and I figured I could give it a try again. Because I really wanted to be by the ocean again.

I did a good amount of research using the various vanlife/overlanding/RVing sites. I read the reviews but were they current, had things changed, and were the reviewers’ experience just luck? I mapped out multiple options in cities along the coast. Yesterday I checked out four of them. It was sort of a Goldilocks situation but I found one that was just right. A nice part of town, a park on one side of the street, an embankment on the other, no houses, no limited parking hours and, as the report said, several other overt vehicle dwellers parked along the street. Everything from cars to motorhomes. I relaxed. I made dinner. I slept like a log.

There was another tidal basin and nature preserve just down the street, so I went for a hike this morning. Here are some photos.