Palatka, FL

It was a great day. Tonight I'm gonna park in Estonia State Park just west of town. I’m about 40 miles from the ocean right now and depending when I get up I should be able to spend almost all day tomorrow lazing about the beach. I didn’t want to get any closer tonight for fear of not being able to find a sneaky place to park. In less populated areas its not much of a problem, but the more concentrated an area is the more likely I am to get bothered by a cop or a nosy, er, concerned citizen. Generally (obviously), the closer one gets to the ocean the denser the population.

This park is actually meant for day use only, but they don’t have any signs saying I can’t park overnight and the gate wasn’t locked sooo, here I am. The bathroom was even unlocked, joy joy joy. They must want me to stay here, but even so, I’m gonna try to be extra special quiet tonight.

Usually I tend to overnight in Walmart parking lots because as long as you don’t park up close to the building, they don’t mind short stays. I guess the thinking is that if you stay the night, chances are you will spend some money in the store before breaking “camp”. It’s pretty safe, convenient and completely depressing to wake up to. There is definitely an art to boondocking (see: www.phrannie.org/boondock.html).