bikenh

Of course. It only makes sense to have a three sided shelter around you, especially in the winter, so why not use dugouts. I'll take the wind/precip protection any day of the year. Instead of setting up the tent for wind/rain protection I can instead use the tent for extra warmth and just lay it right on top of me. It will trap the air and help to keep me warmer when I run into conditions like last July when lows overnight were in the mid to upper 40s and all I had on me was the tent and a fleece blanket. I stayed warm by using the tent without ever setting it up. Having the three sided gives you a lot more flexibility in what you can get away with.

tom cotter

Interesting idea! I'd hit the like button if there was one to hit!!!

That said, here in our local suburbia all of the baseball field dugouts are fenced in, either on private property or at high schools. I know that's not always the case once out in the farmland.

bikenh

It's the one reason I started up the project around the end of last summer mapping out all the towns that had dugouts that met my criteria. I have pretty much all of New England and NY done and had a nice chunk of northern PA done as well before I ended up getting busy with other things. I simply use Google Earth to do all my research. By zooming in you can generally tell if the baseball field has dugouts or just a standing area and whether or not the dugout is behind a fence or not. Just learn to look at the shadows and that tells you a lot. I also am always looking at areas where there are no houses nearby/within visual distance so I can easily make it into the dugout without being noticed by anyone that would possibly call the cops. I also separate fields out, the best I can, by town park or school field. I realize after kids get out of school for the summer the school fields will be empty until the next spring. As for town parks anything goes until mid August. Granted I also only look at towns that have a McDonalds. That way I can go into the McDonalds and spend the evening surfing the web while waiting for the baseball games to get over/wait for it to get dark out so I can go in unnoticed by anyone. I did bump into one last summer, prior to doing any Google Earth mapping, that was fenced in. Fortunately, one of the four gates(two dugouts) hadn't had the lock locked on it so I was able to sneak in for the night and left everything the way I found it. That was a high school dugout in a bit of a bigger town. I was surprised to see the gates on the dugout. It's the only time I've seen that thus far. I will fess the area around the school didn't surprise me to see the fence as the area did look a little questionable. It looked like it might be a bit of a rougher area. Didn't have any trouble though.

alan s 

Something about hanging out at a McDonalds while waiting to sleep in a baseball dugout sounds really unappealing. Different strokes, I guess.

bikenh

Exactly. Try riding with me sometime and you'll quickly come to understand the reason I do things the way I do them. I never stick to a preplanned route, one way or another it never happens. I don't carry paper maps on me and I don't carry a Stupid/Idoitphone on me either. I do everything on a laptop for routing. Since I typically end up leaving later than planned one reason or another it always seems to happen. As a result I end up riding 120-150 miles a day, not your paltry 50-60 miles a day...heck I typically end up with most of those miles in the PM hours. If I have 40 miles in by noontime I know I can end up with 120-130 miles by 7PM. Again, I have no other choice since I always end up seeming to get the trip started when I had planned to. Between road closures, finding Bikes Prohibited signs, etc I end up having to reroute. My plans for overnight stays never go as planned so I'm always looking for new places/towns to stay in. I don't spend money on campsites and I don't take the chance of getting told to get out of town by cops...if you don't ask you don't have to worry. I find my on campsites based on my own criteria. As I get into town around 7PM or so in the evening I stop to grab supper and then set out to find the route I want to use the next day and start looking at possible locations to camp both the current evening and the next evening as well. The only way I can do that is to do it online. I have to get internet access somewhere and most public libraries aren't open at 8-10PM in the evening...heck they close even earlier than that on the weekends. Since I don't like sitting outside in mosquito infested territory all that long I would much rather be indoors away from the bugs. McDonalds don't look so bad now does it.

For people where things always go exactly as planned my strategy would sound pretty crappy. But most don't have their plans always go according to schedule and you have to have a way to change your plans as you go. In my case, they change everyday and sometimes they change throughout the day as well. Their have been several days thus far when the route I was going to use for the day changed during that very day and I had to stop and get online to reroute the trip.

Something about packing up a wet tent when I can pack it up mostly to totally dry...doesn't sound appealing to me. I'll go for things that sound far more sensible.

alan s 

Understand your approach. Just don't like the inside of most McDonalds, which tend to be a little grimy, and there is a lot of spitting in baseball dugouts. At least it's probably not tobacco juice any longer, but still.

stephenjubb

You sound pretty adaptable. If you think 50-60 miles a day is paltry I typically do 40 miles a day!!

As is the beauty of cycle touring it can be tailored to each persons needs to suit them perfectly.

Where else can one find that in life.

To the guy who does 50-60 miles a day, wow that's a lot!

As for your mileage each to is own I say. Not for me to comment.

SmallFront

Sounds like with all that re-routing and driving around and around, seemingly only picking up miles, I think someone should invest a little more time in the actual planning, rather than having to wait in a McDonald's to go sleep in a dugout. Or, the horror, invest in a proper GPS rather than look for shadows to spot baseball dugouts in Google earth

fietsbob

Why risk being a dead Popsicle ? Motel and Hotel rooms are Heated ..

SmallFront

"When in Rome ..." springs to mind.

tom cotter

Mickey Dees isn't a bad way to kill a little time. And the dugout idea is what this place is all about - sharing our collective experience. That's a resourceful idea that i'm sure more than one of us will use in the future. If not by adapting it, then when out of options. THX bikenh!

I read a book a few years back about a guy who did two bicycle tours 25 years apart. He had to take his 25 year old Trek 520, 560 whatever it was to a mechanic for a total makeover to dust off 25 years of neglect.

Long story short he turned his second tour into a really long tour, 2000 miles plus. And here is the point - at times he slept in baseball field dugouts. Mostly, it worked out.

fietsbob

I like Hostels, Ireland has many , the US has few. there you get to socialize with other travelers..

well 'traveler' in Ireland has another meaning .. but the idea remains..

juggleaddict

Not sure if anybody has mentioned this yet, but I've had good experiences with trying a hot bottle.

You can just heat up your water with your stove. Water holds so much energy that if you fill a nalgene with it, and keep it in your sleeping bag, it will keep you warm for most of the night. I tried it a few times on the transam on colder nights (40 degree bag) when I had access to a hot tap and it worked quite brilliantly. It would take a while to heat up that much water with a stove though.

Oh, and if you draw a lion (or adorable animal of choice) on your bottle, you have a companion as well... you know, for those less than sane nights

Altair 4

Do you have a name in mind?

bikenh

Some people don't like to help support illegal aliens and the welfare scum.

If you don't spend the money...you don't have to make the money. If you don't have to make the money you have plenty of time to do things you would much rather be doing. Most of the people on this forum couldn't spend a week living the lifestyle I live. I live the 1800s lifestyle, not the 21st century lifestyle. I don't have to keep up with the Joneses I'm not that stupid. I don't own a TV, don't have running water, my typical electric bill is under 13 kilowatt a month, most of it for cooking. Yeah, my house is 468 square feet. Yeah, I don't own a car either. Give it try sometime, you might learn a way to keep more money in your pocket and less in the illegal aliens/welfare scums pocket. Oh yeah, you'll have a lot more free time as well to do the things you would much rather be doing instead of helping to support the freeloaders.

I do spend tons of time planning my route ahead of time. When things happen and yes, $hit happens and I don't get the chance to leave when I originally planned than I have to change my plans. Sometimes in ways that I can't even foresee changing them and reasons that I could never imagine. Last year I was going through central NY and saw a road closed ahead sign. Come to find out a train wreck happened a week earlier and part of the train accident, right by the highway ended up doing damage to the road and they had to close the road down. I hadn't heard a thing about the train wreck...granted I don't own a TV. I spend my time doing more worthwhile things than watching tit television. I have a life...I don't need TV. I got on the detour, fortunately a few days late as the area where I was being detoured had seen flooding within the past week or so and everybody had their flood damaged belonging sitting by the side of the road waiting for the town to come around and pick it up and take it to the dump. I even got luckier the day before all this occurred. I arrived in Saratoga Springs, NY at the end of day one...a Sunday. I was originally suppose to be there mid morning Saturday but I didn't get to leave when I had planned on so instead getting there day two I made it the first overnight stop. As I got into town I found out I arrived...perfect timing. That weekend the town was flooded with people camping out all over the place for the Phish concert. Thanks God I didn't get to leave any sooner. No, I'm not a dead head. From there on, one way or another I kept running into detours, flooding, road construction, you name it. You can try to plan for it but the way you can really deal with it is when it hits you.

I don't waste my money on a GPS unit as I have used them in the past and I see what kind of trouble they can cause you. You're better off without them BY FAR. Like I said above you have to spend the money to buy one anyways and I would much rather not give my money to the illegal aliens and welfare scum. If I don't have to pay taxes because I can live off that little of money, way below poverty line, than I don't have to help support people that I don't think deserve any help.

It's funny I read all time here on the forum people talking about not being able to go out a long distance tour...why not???

Stop keeping up with the Joneses and let the Joneses keep up with themselves and you'll have a ton of time available to do anything and everything you could ever want to do. As long as you have to fit your life in someone elses mold they have control of your life and you...in reality, have no life at all. Do you need the GPS unit, or do you WANT the GPS unit. Do you need the cell phone, or do you WANT the cell phone. Do you need the all the expenses that go with...or do you WANT those expenses. I chose not to have the expenses and instead have the free time. I just use my creative mind to find other ways of accomplishing the same goals as to where I don't need to spend very much money, if any at all to accomplish my goals. In which case...I WIN. I'll take the McDonalds free wifi, I'll take the free camping at the dugout. You can't beat it.

So let me ask you fiestbob...how long could you go without running water, no Walmart to get bottled water from? How long could you go without electricity? How long could you get by without heat in your house? How long could you get by without your GPS unit, or computer, or TV, or cell phone, or....... I don't ever carry a cell phone on me. I don't need those devices. I can by on next to nothing and if I wanted to badly enough I could by on even less than what I normally spend a year right now. Spent under $5600 last year and I could probably quite easily drop down to $4K a year without trying to hard. I would just have to give up all my accessory biking. That would drop my food bill and all the money I spend on the bike. That would pretty much get me down to $4K a year in expenses, everything included. Could you do that fiestbob? Don't think you won't have to. Take a look at what is going on around you and anyone with any kind of smarts can see its coming quicker and quicker with each and every passing day.

fietsbob

I scrape together resources to Get Out of the country , last long trip I started in Dublin Ireland,
last week of February .. my 50th year.. Bought a Paper OS map when I got there ..

boomhauer

bikenh,
Your posts are totally entertaining....don't stop chimming in...

Someday.....you will kiss a girl instead of posting things on the bikeforum. Then your life will change. Wishing you all the love you deserve.

juggleaddict

Nyrobi

He travelled the TransAM with me : ) Hilarity insued. There's a video somewhere of him as simba on pride rock on the blue ridge parkway...

indyfabz

So you are quite content to trespass and leech yet you talk about "welfare scum." Interesting.

indyfabz

Did they have computers in 1800s? How about McDonald's?

bikenh

Ball park in anywhere I've been thus far are public property. When is that trespassing. Stealth camping on someone's private property is trespassing, camping out at a town park, school, etc is all public property. If it's not posted as no trespassing or off limits during the overnight hours than you can camp there overnight and not be trespassing.

As for McDonalds. I don't carry a stove on me. I haven't had a sense of taste or smell my whole life so I can and pretty much do eat the same thing all the time. Whenever I'm travelling I generally always end up eating at McDonalds, so I'm not leeching. Whenever I'm around home I'm leeching, like right now, but when I'm on the road I'm typically going to McDonalds to load up on sodium to help keep me hydrated. Their food is loaded with salt which suits me just fine.

Boomhauer:

I'm 40 years old and have never been on a date and don't have any plans for ever going on a date. I have a life...I don't need a wife. I don't have anyone saying "Honey do this, honey do that". I don't have to put up with that crap. I would much rather have the time to do what I want to do as compared to having someone tell me they want to waste $10,000 this year to buy a new wardrobe or anything else like that. You c an have the wife...I'll take having a life.

djb

Come on guys, let's drop all this stuff. No need for any impolite comments from anyone. Let's pretend we are all face to face and no, I am not referring to any one of you singly.

indyfabz

McDonald's, through its corporate-ownned stores and its franchises, directly (through hiring) and indirectly (as the largest purchaser of processed beef and potatoes in the U.S. and the second largest purchaser of processed chicken in the U.S.), benefits greatly from the employment of illegal aliens. Just sayin'.

tom cotter

bikenh, let me get this straight? You purposely keep your income below a level where you would have to be taxed because you don't want to support freeloaders, yet you have no problem sleeping on public property, built and maintained by tax payers? Using a facility without paying, isn't that the very definition of freeloading?

And so we're on the same page, I would say this to your face.

It seems to me, that your lifestyle is shaped more by dollars than those of us who live above the poverty line, pay taxes, and spend time generating income(working). There is nothing wrong with running water or TV or living in the 21st century. AS for your definition of marriage, also shaped by money. Many here will tell you sharing your life with the love of your life has nothing to do with money. Ironically, your definition of marriage fits neatly with the cynical Hollywood definition you don't watch.

Lastly, about the freeloaders - I've got no problem supporting them. Why? because for every freeloader i support, there are about 35 people in legitimate need that are also supported. Human nature being what it is, there are always going to be people who game the system. I don't let that affect my judgement. The money i pay in taxes as well as the money i donate helps a lot of people who are less fortunate. if some freeloaders also benefit, i can live with that. it is the cost of helping.

bikenh

Let me get this straight then...stealth camping isn't freeloading...right? I don't need campgrounds or motel rooms so why use them? Campgrounds are far away from services typically, not in the heart of town. I would much rather be near the service so I can get the errand running done in the evening or very first thing in the AM and spend most of the day on the bike. If I have to waste time going 2-5-10 miles out of town to find a campsite than it puts a crimp in the entire planning process. I don't mind riding the long distances I ride when I travel simply because of where I'm riding.

Last year on the way out to Ohio I stopped once to take any pictures. Their wasn't anything else to stop for. If I was out west, versus here in the east I have a feeling things would be different. I guess since I'm not a professional photographer and I've gotten use to seeing mountains and rivers it takes a lot to get me to stop and take any photos. I'm not a museum goer and most of the towns I go through are small towns and don't have anywhere to stop anyways. Coming home I did stopped quite a few times to take pics...admittedly. So when I'm mostly travelling to get from point A to point B irregardless of what I use for the route I use it all comes down to trying to make the necessary miles in the necessary time, even when the necessary time gets shortened by several days. Looking for campsites in a town takes much less time than looking for campsites outside of town and it puts me closer to the services so I can maximize the mileage I do each day. It also makes it so I have to carry less stuff out of town with me for the overnight hours since I won't need to worry about going more than a mile or so to find water in the AM. I have spent nights stealth camping away from towns and its much easier to find a stealth site in town. Being away from other people also puts me away from other peoples noise. I can have a good nights sleep when I don't have to listen to dogs barking, people talking/screaming, etc. A good nights sleep is what it's all about. The further you can get away from people the better the nights sleep. Hence why I target the areas I target for campsites.

My lifestyle is shaped by my choices and my decisions. I see what I don't like and I don't go for it. I watch other people make mistakes and I try my darnedest not to follow in their footsteps. If I see something I don't like...I go the opposite direction. I see their is a simpler way of living without all the stress and headaches of modern society. I just heard the story the other night about a guy, an article appeared in a paper somewhere, who was giving the challenge to give up the internet/computers/cell phones(internet connected) for 5 days, 120 hours. He was a newspaper writer, he took on the challenge. He was surprised at the end to wish he didn't have to go back to using computers again. Life without computers was so liberating for him. Try it sometime, you might be surprised at what you find you could really accomplish if you didn't spend all your life sitting in front of TV, the internet, the cell phone...aka electronics. Give up all electronics for 5 days and see how you feel at the end of it. See what you have accomplished with all your free time. You might surprise yourself. Then try giving it up for oh...6 weeks, start a new trend and see how dramatic your life really changed. You can live without the crap but your brained washed/forced into by your job/peers. Heck most jobs anymore you can't even begin to get without having a cell phone strapped to your waste all the time. I don't ever carry a cell phone with me unless I'm on a long road trip. I have freedom, which is what I choose. I choose not to be tied down like everyone else is. I choose not to be tracked everywhere I go. I choose freedom.

Yes, I know the type...I know of one person right now who can only work a certain number of hours per week or she will lose her disability benefits. WHAT??? If she can work, why is she getting disability benefits in the first place. She's not the only one I know. I know plenty like her. Unless you are basically on your death bed/bedfast, you aren't disabled. I don't care who you are. Rick Hoyt, Rick and Dick Hoyt(Ironman Triathlon fame) he isn't disabled. Their is plenty he could do even though he can't control his arms and legs. He could make a fortune on the inspirational speaking circuit. Probably more money than his dad makes. Extremely few people in this country are disabled. Welfare is purely a joke system. Hence why 30% of population right now is on gov't assistance.

More often than not people get the results in life based on the decisions they have made. You chose to do 'X' and 'Y' was the result of it. If you had chosen otherwise... Don't blame other people, take the blame yourself. You got in that car to go to that job and ended up getting a bad accident that left you paralyzed when someone else hit you. Why were you in the car in the first place? If you wasn't spending all that money you wouldn't have to make that money...would you. You would have had no reason to be in the car and you wouldn't have gotten into the accident. Who is to blame? The decisions you make will make you and they can break you as well. All you can do is hope for the best. Just don't let other people intimidate you into the wrong decisions. I don't, I can think for myself and make my own decisions even when they aren't the popular decisions. I don't have to impress anyone but myself. At times I impress myself far more so than I could ever imagine...on bike and off.