What an adventure we've had so far. Yesterday (Thursday, 15 November) we left Miami after three nights in the city. Our goal was to make it to the Florida Keys. We have been talking about the Florida Keys for quite some time. We had even been talking about what it could be like to celebrate the holidays down in the Keys.
It was a pretty quick drive to Key Largo once we left Miami. Key Largo is the first Key accessible by road off the mainland. We got to Key Largo in the early afternoon, and began to look for potential places to call home for the night.
"No Overnight Parking" said sign after sign along every street and parking lot we passed. Getting desperate we began trying to figure out what options we did have. We read online what other travelers have done, hoping to find that free, hidden gem. We also started contacting RV parks and campgrounds, figuring out how much it would be to stay a night or two. Nothing was looking good, nor affordable. Stories we kept reading shared that it was fine to sleep in your vehicle for free if it wasn't obvious that you're an RV. You've got to be "stealthy." Are we stealthy enough?
"Stealth camping" is camping in a means that doesn't make it seem like there are people camping there. Stealth camping in a vehicle often means that the vehicle looks like a pretty normal vehicle. The vehicle must not have too many or any modifications made to it, changing its appearance from how its supposed to look. The only thing is, we have definitely modified our van, and to us it is really obvious that its now a campervan.
Having taken the time to research and build out our van, we have learned how to easily spot other vans that have been converted into campervans. Somethings are more stealthy than others. Two things that often signify a campervan from the outside versus a normal van include having some sort of roof vent / fan and a solar panel. These by themselves aren't too much of giveaways that the van could be a camper. But almost all the time if the van has both a roof fan and a solar panel then the van has been converted into a campervan.
Things that don't make for a stealthy van include having an extendable RV awning, a ladder mounted to a side or rear wall, an air conditioning unit, large hookup coverings for electricity and/or water. This list can easily grow. Luckily we don't have any of those. But we do have some other things that to us make us not stealthy.
We have a small covering that hides a small electrical hookup for when we do want to plug-in. We have these subtle "flares" that allow us to comfortably lay across our narrow van. Our rear windows are not form fitting to the van, they definitely look like add-ons. Our exterior roof lights make us almost look like an emergency vehicle. We do have off-roading tires to accompany our 4×4 vehicle. And, at night we do put up reflectix in our windows for temperature and light insulation. All these things detract from us looking purely like a normal Sprinter van. The latter (our use of reflectix) is probably the one from the list that makes it most obvious that someone is inside the vehicle during the night.
It is pretty clear that we don't think of oursleves as stealthy. We would like to be, but we really aren't. And, we haven't tried pushing our luck.
Back in Washington state we attempted camping stealthily in our van a few times. In Seattle, White Center and Suquamish we parked for a night or two on the street or parking lots, even with our reflectix up. I expected we would get the dreaded knock telling us we couldn't sleep there and that we had to move. Yet, it didn't happen. We lucked out.
In the first two months since leaving Washington, our most stealthy night would have been parking in a public parking lot in Hot Springs, South Dakota. We had rolled in with both ShaVanda and the Prius. There was an RV parked in the lot, so maybe we'd be fine. And, again, the dreaded knock never happened. Other than this we had been staying at Walmarts, rest areas, gas stations, campgrounds, and family and friends' driveways. Many of them we could have still gotten the knock, but we erred to places with other RVs, campers, truckers, and people living in vehicles, making the odds more in our favor.
Having no luck on Key Largo, we continued on South US-1. We arrived at Islamorada, and still "No Overnight Parking" signs were everywhere. Feeling very discouraged we stopped at a park to breathe and to walk Ben.
On our walk through the park you wouldn't believe what we found there. It was another self-built camper van with their sliding door wide open and an couple going in and out of it. Of course we had to go say hi and hopefully learn some of their secrets.
The couple built their tiny home on a nice Ram Promaster van. We could see they had the same roof fan that we have, and had a solar panel really low to their roof. Their van was incredibly stealthy. It looked like a normal commercial cargo van.
We walked over to the couple, and found out they live on the island. And we learned that they are an incredibly gracious couple. The couple was Carole and Raul, and their little puppy Jo-jo. Raul is in his 60s and Carole in her 50s. Raul was originally from Cuba, and as a kid he and his family immigrated to the US. Carole was from New England. They met over 35 years ago when Carole rented a room from Raul in the Keys as she wanted to take advantage of the scuba diving certificate she had recently acquired. Since then they have been living in tiny homes and traveling, by boat, by van, and are in the process of building a container home. And, Islamorada is their home, and has been these 35+ years together.
They seemed to know everything about everything. They shared with us many of their stories and vanlife wisdom. We did ask them about where were some good places to stay for the night. They shared wth us that it is tricky. They gave us ideas and advice to just going ahead and try out places. The worst that could happen, they said, was we get the dreaded knock and have to drive a bit to a new spot. [The following we "didn't hear" from them. One idea was attempting some restaurant parking lots, if we're bothered just say that we had a little too much to drink there and were trying to sleep it off. Another idea was to try some local fishing spots, put out a couple of cheap fishing poles, and again if bothered say we are there doing some night fishing.] We shared with them that were concerned that we weren't stealthy enough.
After a bit we decided to move ShaVanda over to them. We wanted to show them our van. When we pulled up, Carole immediately said, "That is stealthy." Apparently ShaVanda wasn't too obvious that she's a campervan. That was really reassuring to hear.
We decided to check out and possibly sleep at The Lorelei, a local restaurant and bar that Carole has been working at between their travels the past 35 years. We had learned from another person at a dog park that The Lorelei has amazing sunset views. It was nearing sundown and we wanted to take advantage of seeing the sunset over the water. Raul and Carole offered to lead us to The Lorelei a few miles down the island. And we ended up being their neighbors for the night.
When we got to The Lorelei, Carole, Raul and Jo-jo gave the three of us a tour of the entire restaurant and grounds. They introduced us to many of their long time friends, coworkers, and fur baby companions - their Islamorada family. They spent the entire evening with us and continued to invite us to join them on walks here and there. We all had a drink, enjoyed the glorious sunset, went for a few strolls around the area, and shared stories and rants about vanlife, politics, and other things. They were so gracious and hospitable. We became instant friends.
That night we had no issues. The only thing unique about that night was it was the first night we've been in Florida that I needed to sleep under the covers. The Keys are pretty tropical all year, but the night we arrived they were having their first "cold winds" for the season. Instead of being in the 80s, the temp was in the 70s. This drop in temps was supposed to last a few days and then return to 80s. After a week of getting used to the heat and humidity, the ten degree drop felt almost cold. Other than this, we slept very comfortably while "breaking the rules" of the parking lot.
By the time we emerged from our van in the morning, Carole and Raul were getting ready to leave from the parking lot of The Lorelei. We said our good mornings, shared a few more stories, and then they were off. We took advantage of the $3.99 breakfast The Lorelei serves and then we too were off, headed further south to the lower Keys. Maybe even Key West, which was still another hour or so drive away.
This was a great morale boost in stealth camping. We are less afraid of the unknown now that we had such a positive experience. We haven't yet decided where we will be for the holidays, but I know I'm excited that, with our stealth camping experience, the Florida Keys are still an option. Onward to more stealthy camping experiences.