I have a 23' rv / van and I think I am going to try boondocking out of it for a bit. This could end up being a 3-day disaster or something I do for a year or so (probably will be somewhere in-between).

I work remotely so I will need good internet. Thinking startlink, but not sure if i can get away with the residential service or if I have to do their roaming package ($120 vs $165 / mo). Also considering some other 4g/5g services but I am a little worried that I will drive out to some desolate location only to have an unusable signal.

Not really any plans other than my adventure starts mid to late June, so thinking of Alaska or Montana to start to avoid the heat. Will probably center around good fishing locations and I was thinking of buying a kayak to provide more access at some of the stops. I primarily want to do dispersed camping with some paid sights along the way for convenience.

Anyways, any tips or recommended locations? I was also thinking of doing Baja too, but not sure if I should wait until the winter for that and how safe it would be. I will have a little bulldog with me, so I don't want anything too dangerous for him or for my car to get robbed when I run into the store for something.

Mr President Elect said:

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I have a 23' rv / van and I think I am going to try boondocking out of it for a bit. This could end up being a 3-day disaster or something I do for a year or so (probably will be somewhere in-between).

I work remotely so I will need good internet. Thinking startlink, but not sure if i can get away with the residential service or if I have to do their roaming package ($120 vs $165 / mo). Also considering some other 4g/5g services but I am a little worried that I will drive out to some desolate location only to have an unusable signal.

Not really any plans other than my adventure starts mid to late June, so thinking of Alaska or Montana to start to avoid the heat. Will probably center around good fishing locations and I was thinking of buying a kayak to provide more access at some of the stops. I primarily want to do dispersed camping with some paid sights along the way for convenience.

Anyways, any tips or recommended locations? I was also thinking of doing Baja too, but not sure if I should wait until the winter for that and how safe it would be. I will have a little bulldog with me, so I don't want anything too dangerous for him or for my car to get robbed when I run into the store for something.

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Search the ski thread and look through RangerRicks posts. They have a sprinter convert and basically boondock every weekend and take longer trips in the summer.

Starlink, dispersed, biking fishing you name it.

You post is so wide open that it is hard to even begin.

I have a RV/Van as well. I think the most important bit of advice I could give is to take a bunch of small trips to dial in your systems and processes. I assume you have already done this, but it is just so important to get everything working right, and more importantly know what to do when a system fails. You don't want to be troubleshooting your electrical system on a 6 month trip and there aren't a whole lot of places to get it done in Montana and Alaska. Anyway...

NEVER run out of gas. If you rely on your van for electric, transportation, and your home you can never ever let the fuel level get low.

You were specific about internet and I do have an answer for that...

Weboost and other expenders do nothing unless you are near wifi and campgrounds. If you really want internet then Starlink is the only answer. 165 a month is really not much when you never have to look for free wifi.

If you have a cartridge toilet then you really don't need any campgrounds ever since you can dump at any toilet or porta-john. This is true at any point in the US west of Denver. If you are east of Denver then everything is done at campgrounds and Walmarts.

Find a decent shower every few days... cut your hair really short. Fake hippies have long hair, real hippies cut it short. keeping your hair from turing into dreadlocks is easy with a number 3 buzz and hard if it is long.

Keep your van clean. Try not to get into bed dirty as it is really hard to find laundys anymore and you don't want to spend your time sitting around waiting for the dryer to stop. On that note, make sure your bed is super comfy. If weather goes to heck then you will be sitting in that bed for days.

Take care of your feet. They are the weakest part of the human body and if they go bad, everything goes bad. Good shoes, clean socks, wash your feet, cut your toenails. An ingrown toenail will end a trip.

Bring a hammock in your pack everywhere. In fact on every hike or ride throw a hammock, an extra pair of socks, and a wool beanie in your backpack. All three of those make life worth living.


Couple other tip[s that are funny/stereotypical but also true...

If you camp around kayakers then they will know every single free thing and great spot within 50 miles because kayakers are generally dirtbags. If you camp around mountain bikers then they will spend money everywhere because mountain bikers are generally dentists. All climbers live in vans anyway so they are always cool to boondockers and van dudes.

Women don't want you to approach or hit on them but if instead of hitting them you ask them to use their shower, then they are generally amenable. Women understand that feeling dirty is not cool and they tend to let you come over and get clean. Letting you use their shower does not mean they want sex, they just understand.

And finally the big question. Do you bring a gun/protection? I have a beretta 8 shot semi auto that is literally perfect for van defense. I never bring it. My wife brings it if she is solo. I even put a "sleepy time" mount over the door to make it really convenient, but I have never felt threatened or nervous. If I still lived in TN or TX this would probably be different but I just don't think crooks mess with a locked van with a person inside. Why would they when they can just go to a random apartment complex and hit 50 cars in a night with no threat of an altercation?


Last things... have fun. Longest I have ever gone in the van is about 10 days so nothing like your plan. Despite huge problems (electrical) I still loved every minute of that 10 day trip. This summer and fall I am doing trips to great sand dunes, crested butte, yellowstone/Tetons, the smokies, Vegas, Fruita, San Diego, Dana Point, and Moab. We will be camping, hiking, whitewater kayaking, mountain biking, attending a wedding, hitting a concert, etc. We have a couple campsites but most will be boondocking and backcountry.

Thanks for the detailed response.

I do plan on taking it on a couple of weekend trips before my 'go date' to get a sense of what I need to buy or bring with me. I am actually buying it from my brother who used it for work as a lineman along the California coast and would live out of it for stretches, so I have some familiarity with it, mainly just his input, but I have stayed in it a couple of times a few years back.

It's a bit on the big side for a van but small on the rv side. It's a Mercedes Sprinter but with about as big of a 'box' that could go on it without needing a special drivers license for it or something. It has a shower, kitchen, dishwasher, and even a washer. I'm guessing I will only use the water based appliances when I am staying somewhere with a water connection, aside from the shower. It also has solar with a 200ah and 300ah lithium batteries. It also has a propane generator, but my brother never uses it and isn't sure if it still works. He added the solar specifically to avoid having to deal with the propane and loud generator. However, I am not sure if I will still want to use it or not, perhaps in the colder climates or to power the ac at night if the batteries fail. The alternator will charge the lithium batteries too, but I don't want to use up all my diesel doing so over a long stretch of cloudy days.

I probably will go with the starlink, I did see the chat in the nerdery about it, and it seems like the consensus.

I didn't know about the west of Denver thing for the toilets. I will probably be west of Denver (actually departing from Denver) until late fall at the least.

Good observation about the mtb'ers vs kayakers. I live in CO and this seems about right. Every whitewater rafting guide I've met has had the most "interesting" lifestyle. One guy would live/work on a farm in South America during our winters. The dentist thing is only if they have a Yeti, but they are all pretty expensive, lol.

Was considering getting a hammock or something as a way to spread out some. I do work from a computer with extra monitors but want to get something setup to where I can both conveniently work inside the rv and outside too. Also, hoping to find some sort of setup for my dog. I don't want him to be cramped inside too much, but I also don't want him to become food for the local wildlife either.

I might bring guns. I have a 12 ga and 30-30. However, I am not sure if I will have trouble bringing them across the border if I go to baja (not sure about my dog either for that matter, but he is coming regardless). Was also thinking I might purchase a high power rifle when/if I get to Alaska (and some more fishing gear), I would think I might get some good deals up there??

Nice list. I was thinking of doing Yellowstone on the way out (guessing it will be a little/way outside the park w/o reservations). I might try to do Moab as one of the weekend 'fine-tunes' before it starts to get too hot. Which reminds me that I am also considering trying to find a small ac specifically for the bedroom to perhaps conserve on electricity and get the room colder if I do have to sleep somewhere really hot.

Don't bring a gun to Mexico. The google will tell you all you need to know

Aggie@state.gov said:

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Don't bring a gun to Mexico. The google will tell you all you need to know

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Or California or Canada.

I looked into it a few years ago and there was a way to drive from the US to Alaska with a gun but it looked super complicated.

If you enter California, your weapons will need to be California compliant.

HollywoodBQ said:

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Aggie@state.gov said:

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Don't bring a gun to Mexico. The google will tell you all you need to know

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Or California or Canada.

I looked into it a few years ago and there was a way to drive from the US to Alaska with a gun but it looked super complicated.

If you enter California, your weapons will need to be California compliant.

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I pulled it up last night and didn't look too bad as long as it falls under a non-restricted gun, which it seems most basic hunting rifles do. I don't plan on buying any high-capacity guns, just something that can take down a moose. I think that will also keep me out of trouble in CA as my plan is to drop them off in San Diego if I go down to Baja.

Are you in Denver? I am in Springs.

The AC thing isn't that hard if you do not have one but it isn't super cheap. Velit is the popular choice right now and it is 12v so it is super easy to do.

https://rackupgo.com/products/velit-2000r-mini-dc-powered-rooftop-air-conditioner?variant=44710822478058&country=US¤cy=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAB98LxxkfIPf-g2m3smYLkdJNx0ok&gclid=Cj0KCQjww-HABhCGARIsALLO6XxYv4M0VCkFIqDWFnX_O5AbKlTuax2WSNFY80SsiH4vIlWDsUNYzOwaArI-EALw_wcB


You cut your 14x14 hole in the roof and this just pretty much pops in. The base goes on the inside of the van and it uses braces to hold it all in place. In addition you put down weatherproof foam to stop any leaks.

Here is the simple part... since it is 12v all you have to do for power is run a small wire down to the positive terminal on your battery and another down to the negative. As long as your house batteries have power, so will you and since it is 12v you can get 6 or so hours of AC blowing on you out of a 300AH house battery. Whenever your car is running the alternator will throw power into the house batteries and charge them up, so you can run the house AC while driving as well. These things are rated about 4500BTU so it can keep a van cool as long as it is under 90 or so degrees. Most people report it will hold about 15 degrees below outside temp as long as your insulation is decent.


I have a 110v 28k BTU monster AC that is an awful setup. In order to run it you have to run the inverter (or shore power) which makes it horribly inefficient. I have been thinking of swapping out for the Velit so I can run a long time. Wouldn't work in TX as it gets too hot down there but when camping in the Rockies you just need to run it a little while to get the hot out of the van.


Thought of a couple other things...

Get a tint shop to tint the windshield with 95% UV blocking tint. Heck, do every window. You will still need to put shades in the windows at night, but it keeps it way cooler in the day. I always hated having the sun on me when driving, this stops it from being hot.

As others said, don't try to bring a gun into mexico or Canada. I don't think California is a big deal at all. Don't try to bring fruit or veg into California though. They take that stuff seriously.

Yeah, I'm in Denver. Been here for about the last 6 years but felt it was time for a change. With so much to do here it kind of makes it hard to get excited about other places though, which is part of the reason I decided to give this a go.

It has an a/c (that has to run through the inverter too though) which will def be fine for the Rockies or the West Coast, but I was thinking of something like this (Amazon - 8000BTU, Mini Split 12 Volt Air Conditioner) as an addon that might make detouring to some other climates a little more manageable. With the thought of putting it in the bedroom and blocking it off with a curtain or something. This would be in addition to the existing a/c. However, I am in kind of the phase right now of "looking for problems" and probably just need to be content with staying where it makes sense to during the different seasons.

I was actually thinking of doing a "fruit tour" through Cali, not sure if that is a thing though, lol.

Knoxtom nailed it!

We have a 22' Ford Transit van. High roof. It's outfitted for boon-docking and/or overlanding. We're 3 years into this. Currently camping near Ouray CO on National Forest land.

920 amp hours of lithium and 400 watts of solar on the roof. We can stay out until we run out of food and/or water. If we turn on the AC we'll need to drive or plug in somewhere after 18 hours. You shouldn't have that problem in Montana/Wyoming. Days can be hot in summer but nights generally cool off.

We use Starlink for communications. Retired so don't need it for work.

Wife and I both carry. Have never felt threatened. We also carry bear spray.

As you drive to a camping spot be aware of what's around you and who's around you. If it doesn't feel right keep moving. Generally don't camp within a mile of town. If you see a lot of trash in a site keep moving. If you go 3 miles or further in you're less likely to encounter people who are looking to cause trouble.

Use IOverlander app to find spots. Can also use Campendium, the Dyrt, etc.

Have fun!