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I Lived in My Car for 2 Months and it Was Nothing Like I Expected
When you sleep in a public place, you are vulnerable to criminals and the authorities. Being in a locked car is a minimal security measure if you are in a deserted rest area.
I was on a cross country road trip in January 2019 driving from Vermont to LA. I ran out of gas money in the Midwest and decided I to apply for jobs there. I got stranded in Indiana during the Polar Vortex when temperatures dropped as low as 20 F (-28 C). While I was looking for work, my car became my lifeline. It was my only place to sleep.
I had plenty of connections, and I knew people who could set me up w / jobs in the U.S. and abroad. I really wanted to see this out for myself, and did not want to quit early. I want to emphasize that I was never in a truly precarious situation, because I always had people I could call to bail me out. This was purely voluntary.
It is Nearly Impossible to Stealth Park
It does not matter how quiet or congested your parking area is. Someone will always find you within 4–6 hours. I thought intuitively that I would park in a crowded area and blend in. If it’s a crowded parking lot, someone will not notice if a car has been there for 12 hours, right? Wrong. Police officers are always patrolling retail parking areas looking for…
