Back Yard/Driveway Camping

In several posts I've touted the benefits of camping in your driveway or backyard as way to get ready for "the real thing".  Backyard or driveway camping is most applicable to suburban or rural residents and will have very limited opportunities for urban and apartment dwellers.  However, you may be able to benefit from "living room" camping anywhere --  you can set up your tent and try it out indoors if you have room and it is a self supporting style that doesn't have to be staked down.  Here are some suggestions to help you get the most out of your practice exercises.

Timing.   Try to do your home "dry run" at least a week or two before any planned actual outings.  That will give you time to make any needed repairs or other adjustments to your equipment and skills.  If you find your tent or sleeping bags are too small -- or too large -- you'll still have time to change them.  If your stove or lantern won't work you can get it fixed or replaced.   If your provisions aren't right you'll have time to get what  you need.

Make it as real as possible.  Pretend you are out in a campground or primitive area and don't run back to the house every time you get a little bit uncomfortable.  When you discover items you should have brought with you, make a list, make do for this exercise, and bring them next time.  If you are RV camping, don't connect to shore power or water -- unless you intend to only camp in places with full hook-ups.   Don't run back into the house for every little additional convenience you want.  Try to make do with what you have on board, just as you would if you were away from home.   Of course, if there is a medical or other true emergency, take whatever steps are needed to ensure the health, safety and comfort of you and everyone in your group.   It may be helpful to attempt to handle minor problems using what you have with you so you can augment your first aid kit, training, and medical supplies as needed for actual outings, but don't put your victim at further risk or through extra suffering just for the sake of practice!

Tent camping in your own back yard can be a lot of fun and give you a chance to practice setting up and using your tent.  You'll probably be setting it up on a fairly level, grassy site, whereas you may encounter sloping, rocky, uneven terrain in a primitive camp site.  Even so, practicing at home will let you develop skills and techniques that will make setting up your "real" camp easier and you can adjust to the sensations of sleeping in a tent in a safe and familiar setting.  Setting up your tent without the pressure of being in a camp site and perhaps under the scrutiny of family, friends, strangers and fellow campers gives you a chance to master the components and techniques before they become critical.  It will be useful to practice driving and removing your tent pegs so you can test your tools and your technique.  Sleeping in your own back yard allows to you begin to get used to sleeping in the tent without quite as many disturbing factors as you might find in a campground.  Then you'll be more comfortable in your tent and will only have to adjust to unusual factors of the specific camp site environment.  Be sure to check local regulations about open fires if you plan to have a campfire. Otherwise you may get an unexpected visit from the local fire and/or police department which doesn't usually contribute favorably to the camping experience.  Cooking fires are usually permitted most anywhere, but may be prohibited during high fire danger and there are often permanent restrictions against recreational fires in residential areas.  And, you might not have an appropriate place to build a campfire in your backyard.  You may have to make do with your camp stove or your patio BBQ when camping in your backyard.

Driveway camping in your RV allows you to experience some of the things you will encounter elsewhere.   If you have a steeply sloping driveway you may have to try parking on the street or resign yourself to making practice runs to local campgrounds.   In a real pinch you might spend a night in a local Walmart parking lot.  You can experience and practice many aspects of RVing without leaving home.  You can determine if your bed and bedding are comfortable and practice using the on-board appliances, shower and galley.  You can make sure the stove, refrigerator, water heater, and furnace are working properly and that you know how to use them efficiently.  You can see if you have any leaks or other problems with your fresh water system.  You may have to deal with the sound of traffic in the street instead of the calls of wild animals or the rushing of wind through the or the babbling of a nearby brook so it is only an approximation of a true camping environment.   However, RV camping in your own driveway is still a very good way for novices to learn how to use and enjoy their RVs without spending a lot of money or taking a lot of risk and to get used to sleeping in the RV instead of a familiar bed at home.  It is also a good way to make sure everything is working before you're out where you can't do anything about it if it doesn't.

Pre-trip preparation.  Use your at-home camping experience to practice your pre-trip preparation techniques.  Perform the same steps you would if you were headed out to a campground.  You may get away with not topping off vehicle fuel tanks, but you really should pretty much do everything else as if you were headed out in the great outdoors.

Post-trip procedures.  The same thing applies to post-trip procedures.   Practice the cleaning, inspection, and inventory you would do after a trip to a campground.  When you are done your RV and/or camping gear should all be clean, all non-perishable provisions re-stocked, holding tanks emptied, and ready for the next event.  Practicing both pre-and post- trip procedures is a good way to verify and refine your checklists so they'll be what you need when you actually hit the road.

Have fun!  Your at-home camping practice should definitely not be an onerous exercise.  If something does go wrong, recover as quickly as you can and go on to the next activity.   It will likely make an amusing story for sharing in the future.  At-home camping is a good time to practice fire-making and other survival skills and teach them to other members of your family.  Try out camp recipes and cooking techniques.  It is much better to find out if there are any problems before you're away from home and can't do anything about them.

Practice makes perfect!