A way for chasers to save a buck!

[Chris Rice]

I know alot of chasers travel far and wide to nail those target areas and witness first hand the beauty and fury that mother nature deals out, and usually we buddy up with others, catch a hotel room or stay at a friends house on extended chase-aways, but I just stumbled upon a site that might come in handy if you're just tired of driving, want to save a buck, or just wanna spend the night outside cause it's nice. Most spots are FREE or under $10, and when you click on the location I have found excellent details about the location and even comments from others. Also too, Wal-Mart allows FREE overnight stays for RV'ers, and sells a map that shows store locations, I'm guessing it would be OK for chasers to catch a little sleep, but you may wanna check with manager first.

http://www.freecampgrounds.com/

Keep chasing fun, if anyone else would like to add to this feel free.

 

[Marcus Hicks]

Thats a great find. 60 of them here in South Dakota. Certainly helps with the gas or sleep question?

 

[Chip Redmond]

Are going out and chasing this weekend and our prof was just talking to us and saying that he thinks he is going to bring a tent to try to camp. Thats a huge help and hopefully we can save a quite a few bucks by camping. Thanks a ton!

Chip

 

[Skip Talbot]

Has anyone effectively pitched a tent after a chase? I thought about doing this when I first started chasing, but since then I've been thinking about the logistics problems. First of all, almost all of my chases end after dark. Pitching a tent in the dark is not fun or easy. Second, everything is usually sopping wet or its still raining. Worst of all there might be a severe MCS or supercells still moving through the area. Yikes. I camp inside of my van, which has the back seats taken out.

 

[Joshua Nall]

I prefer sleeping in my vehicle. I have an extended cab truck and fold down the rear seats, throw several sleeping bags back there and it is actually pretty comfortable. Of course that wouldn't work in a really small car. I wasn't sure about it the first time I did it but I prefer it to a tent now, even for just camping out at the lake. I'm of the attitude simpler is better.

 

[David Drummond]

Has anyone effectively pitched a tent after a chase? I thought about doing this when I first started chasing, but since then I've been thinking about the logistics problems. First of all, almost all of my chases end after dark. Pitching a tent in the dark is not fun or easy. Second, everything is usually sopping wet or its still raining. Worst of all there might be a severe MCS or supercells still moving through the area. Yikes. I camp inside of my van, which has the back seats taken out.

I used to do it quite a bit. No so much any more. I'm just older and lazier. It's fun though. The biggest problem we found was finding a campground nearby that was still open, as many close the gates at or near dark. Of course I chase as late as needed so other storms usually aren't a problem. That only happened once and we got woke up to the NWR tones for golf ball hail about a mile from us.

It actually works out a lot better if you are driving to an area staging for a chase for the next day, so you can plan things better.

 

[Tony Perkins]

Like someone else said, it's going to likely be wet where you set up your tent. If it is still rainy/wet in the morning, then you have to pack up everything wet, and then it will be wet when you pitch it the next night. It's good to have as an option, but I wouldn't expect to be able to do this for many consecutive days.

 

[David Enstad]

I think I'll stick with staying in my truck. If something nasty pops up in the night I can just drive to a safer location without having to pack my tent or leave it.

 

[Jason Foster]

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=14803&highlight=chase