I photographed this lineup yesterday morning, not 20 years ago. Individually or in small clusters, these rigs aren’t unusual in our town. But to find five in a row, uninterrupted by newer vehicles, and in a major community parking lot rather than an industrial area where old RV’s are unfortunately a common sight, was a lucky catch.
And then as a I returned to my car, a sixth vehicle joined them. From back to front: a mid-90’s GMC Safari passenger van, possibly an ex-CalTrans (California State Department of Transportation) van judging from its color; it’s corporate sibling, a first generation Chevy Astro; a late-eighties, possibly early-nineties CrewCab Ford dually; a high top Dodge MaxiVan; a Dolphin motorhome on a mid-eighties Toyota chassis-cab; and the late arrival, a “newer” Dodge conversion. All looked fairly clean and well cared-for – no beaters here.
This lot doesn’t allow overnight parking and is regularly patrolled, so these rigs probably just showed up. If they stay there all day, the empty slots will fill up quickly with an eclectic assortment of newer cars, pickups and crossovers, perhaps a Tesla or a Bolt, plus a few older vans and pickups, locals and out-of-towners. Many will be hauling surfboards. as the ocean, with a popular surf break, is just across the street.
Wow, what a group! The more interesting question is how many doors do those 6 vehicles bring to the party. I am guessing 30 – if there is one on the back of each of the campers.
That white Ram conversion van would be no newer than 1997, the last year before it really stuck its lower lip out on the front end.
I couldn’t quite get to 30 .. or do you think the Safari has the “Dutch Door” configuration at the back? They weren’t yet offered on the 1st generation vans, like the blue Astro. And I’m pretty sure the blue Maxivan has a single rear door.
My guess was that both the Astro vans used the double swinging barn doors on the back – I recall those as being a pretty common setup. I went back and looked at the pictures of the two I wrote up a long time ago and both had the double doors. I don’t think the dutch doors came until later in the design cycle.
I will concede defeat on the back of that blue Dodge. So I’m down to 29. Unless we are going to count the ones covering gas caps and glove boxes. 🙂
As you stated, no over night parking.
However, this looks like a scene from a YouTube video about stealth overnight parking for RV nomads. They park at Walmarts, in industrial areas or just off apartment complexes to avoid parking fees. They share their nomad techniques on social media or web chat sites.
The current RV nomad theme reminds me of the 60’s generation that “tuned in and dropped out” by buying a motor cycle and exploring America.
In our town, overnight parking is not very stealth and I suspect most of these folks aren’t using social media. There are neighborhoods where the majority of parked vehicles are lived-in RV’s, along with many domestic conversion vans and a few smaller cars. An older guy has been spending the night at least 5 or 6 nights a week in his car, a CC in its own right, for the past 3 months. In at 10:30, out around 6AM. It’s a significant social and public health issue here … and there are many more people who don’t even have a vehicle to sleep in.
It’s a sad state of affairs that affordable housing is virtually non-existent in some parts of the country, specifically, California (Hawaii is supposed to be very bad, as well), with San Francisco being the worst. In fact, it almost seems like stepping back in time to The Great Depression when great numbers of unemployed people roamed the country looking for work and set up ‘Hooverville’ tent camps. The only difference is, today, they’re using old cars and, if they’re lucky, an old RV.