Camping vs. Boondocking – with Dave Frederick KB3KRV

In this episode, we sit down with outdoor enthusiast and seasoned traveler Dave Frederick (KB3KRV) to break down the real differences between campground camping and boondocking. Whether you’re new to RV life or deep into your journey, this conversation is packed with insight, stories, and straight talk.

We cover:

• 🏕️ What to expect at traditional campgrounds: hookups, rules, neighbors, and the social vibe
• 🌄 What it’s really like to boondock: total freedom, self-reliance, and wide-open spaces
• 🚐 The gear, prep, and mindset each style of camping demands
• 💡 The trade-offs: cost, convenience, privacy, and access
• 🧭 Dave’s personal stories and lessons learned from years on the road

If you’ve ever debated where to set up for your next trip—or what kind of camper you really are—this episode will help you find clarity and confidence.

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Transcript

Camping Vs Boondocking (00:00.088)
Gentlemen, it's good day when you got brother Dave in the building all the way from Middle River, Maryland. Let's show him a little bit of love.

Camping Vs Boondocking (00:11.502)
Yeah, hope your day has been smooth or at least smoother than Wi-Fi campground over the campground it is.

Hey, anything smoother than Wi-Fi campground now. Well, you know that. absolutely. Now, look, I'm not going to run my mouth too long because let's be real. Folks did not kick play to hear me ramble. They want wisdom, the wit, maybe a few holy side-eyes from you. So let's get straight to it. Now, Dave, has the price of campgrounds made you switch up how you roll? Because some of these places want 90 a night for a dirt patch and a cold shower. And I'm sorry, I want to know, is Beyonce performing

on site 42 or what? be honest, are you out there boondocking to keep the budget tight or are you still dropping coin for full hookups and no drama? be honest with you, price is one of the least concerns here. I'm in boondocking because of the situation I'm in with the camper I have. Okay. A lot of sites, especially ones that have resort in the name, they just won't accept what I have out there. And to be fair, the places I've been going boondocking, the state parks,

their hookups are every bit as good as any proper any campground out there. So real quick, because people don't know. And I want you to tell them, tell them your homebrew situation and what you camp in. The situation I got is a little cargo trailer. It's actually been converted into a bug out vehicle camper slash mobile comm center all in one. Okay. You know, fully solar powered, got a couple hundred amp hours of batteries in it. It's got a fridge, little microwave sink, the whole works, which need everything to be comfortable.

Okay, yeah. Now lot of people don't understand that concept of home brewing, but that's been around for a while. And if you go back to the 50s and 60s when there was a lot of segregation going on, a lot of your black campers were converting like vans and stuff so that they could go and boondock. But you have definitely taken it to a new level with a cargo trailer. How long is the trailer? Overall, if you're going tongue to tail, about 16 foot and the box is little over 12-ish.

Camping Vs Boondocking (02:15.456)
Okay, and it's plenty enough room for you, you and the lady. yeah, because when we go camping, you know, we go out there to actually camp in the woods. We don't bring half the house with us, but big screen TV, slide out couch and everything else. Okay. So it's just you and her getting away uncut. mean, you know, cutting the cord and just kind of getting off the grid.

Not totally off the grid. We bring a few little creature comforts with us, but it's somewhere out there it depends on. Yeah, absolutely. Now let me ask you this. What's the line between peace of mind and straight up robbery when it comes to some of these prices people are paying?

I'd have to say ballpark in 75 at night, depending on what amenities you're getting with it. Some of them out there have decent amenities, I'd willing to pay a little more, especially if you're going into a cabin. But if you're boondocking, I wouldn't do any more than 50 a night. I hear you. I hear you. OK. Now, let me ask you this. Safety is one of those things that, you know, it ain't no joke when it comes to safety. But real talk, when you're on the road solo or you got people with you, especially, you know, women or little ones.

You know, this ain't just a preference thing, it's a safety thing. So tell me this, do safety concerns with what you have ever push you more toward a packed campground with lights and people, or are you still parking off the grid in the cut where it's just you, a raccoon, and an occasional sketchy noise in the bushes? You know, as odd as it actually sounds, you would think boondocks would seem to be more dangerous,

I've had very no almost no experience with it other than some strange noises in the bush, which turned out to be a deer. Okay. I remember back in the days when we used to actually camping campgrounds that there was more things than you know, routing groups, throwing beer bottles late at night. I've experienced none of that here. Okay, that's not to say I don't take some security in the trailer with us. I'm not going to get the details. Yeah, yeah. yeah. Trust me. Crazy Key on get exactly where you're coming from. And then if you're over at the sky park, of course, you know,

Camping Vs Boondocking (04:12.046)
There's that two o'clock in the morning card it pulls up in a ponytail, but we'll leave that alone Yeah, he was one of the big inspirations for actually making this set up the way I had it that you know started as a sliding camper to kind of rot it away and we used some of the parts out of it Yeah, there you go. There you go. Now what makes you sleep better at night having neighbors or just being in nature? Really doesn't matter much either way to me as long as I got the AC running

Okay, I got you. Now, let's take a minute and throw everything else out the window. We're gonna throw out price, power, plumbing, even that funky dump station that nobody wants to talk about. We're gonna talk about the vibe. Now, you step outside first thing in the morning. You got your coffee in one hand, maybe some bourbon in the other. We don't judge around here. And you just take it in. What hits harder for you? Is it that campground chaos with kids on scooters, dogs barking, somebody cooking bacon at 645 like it's a tailgate?

Or is it the boondocking bliss? Nothing but quiet trees, maybe a squirrel judging you from a branch. What makes you say, this is why I do this? Actually, it's a couple of things. Yeah, walking out in the morning is nice. What's quiet watching the sun come up? No argument there. I that's one of the big perks of it. But the two things that really do it for me.

sitting around the fire just as the sun's going down, know, maybe cooking some hot dogs or something. Got you a cold drink sitting there. Got the lady sitting next to you enjoying everything where she's trying to learn to cook. And other than that, the other thing that really makes it is watching people trying to back in a camper. Oh, man. Let me tell you, I've been hammered more times than I want to, watching somebody back in. Oh, man. So check this

There's some people out there shouldn't be driving. You're right. You're right. Now, Dave, here's the thing. No more warmups. We're to get right to the bonus question and don't give us the PG version. OK, now I want you to think about this and I want you to give me the first thing that comes to mind. What's the one thing that absolutely pisses you off when you're camping like the thing that will have you packing up early side iron neighbors, yelling loud enough to startle a bear and be honest?

Camping Vs Boondocking (06:21.838)
You know has that thing changed how you camp now? Did it make you say never again and change your whole setup? Don't sugarcoat it. Just tell it like it is. Let the people hear it raw. There's only one time that actually comes to mind and we changed any thought that we do things and that was last year. There was either as much of spring breakers or something and we were talking to a group of maybe 20 of them. They were seven sites down from us and we could hear them still at two in the morning.

They go driving out of there. sounded like, I don't know what they had with maybe a tank that they were driving up the main road of this place, trying to get out, come rolling in about three in the morning. You did just all night long, you know? I don't want the fellow sleeping.

Camping Vs Boondocking (07:10.441)
You know, I'll tell you, I have never had that experience, but I'll tell you what did piss me off one time. And it was at a field day and there's nothing worse than enjoying a beautiful afternoon. You got your front door open, you're awning out, you're laid back watching some, you know, TV in between, you know, QSOS. And then all of a sudden the guy besides you fires up a 7,500 watt

Jeep diesel generator with the exhaust pointed right at your door.

You talked And now I only did that one. No, no, no, this wasn't you. You know who it was. And I'm sitting here and I'm trying to figure out, did you not see my door open or did you just not care? It was more important for you to have air conditioning than it was for me to breathe.

That's kind of how this group was. mean, it was bad enough. I was about to say to Kate, you know, let's go home and get the green truck. You know, bring that 7-3 up here. Let that ride all around for a while. We'll a nice day. Yeah, I hear you. Listen, anything else you want to add before I cut you loose?

Well, not really. I mean, you know how I am with camp and I'm pretty well laid back and making it anywhere. And the whole point of this is to be able to survive when you really don't have any other option. That's a training time. One of our things was if your campground is close enough and you know, because Elk Neck, we were interested. We it was only 30 minutes. We took a drive out there to see what it was like ahead of time. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Anytime you can do that, at least you will have a heads up of what you're getting into, especially.

Camping Vs Boondocking (08:48.014)
when you have units like ours, know, mine being 40 something feet long, talking about State Park, it's like, wait a minute, what am I driving into? And for you, I'll be honest with you. A lot of times some of those roads are not friendly to trailers. They'll have your stuff rocking and reeling and doing all kinds of stuff, pulling through there. You ain't got to tell me there's one hill back here, even with the Jayco on it's winding up three grand trying to hold it back. yeah. Always.

Always look at the reviews because a lot of times it's not, campgrounds aren't like hotel people that just want a freebie if they complain. You can get a feel of what you might be going into. asked about Acetig and the guy said, yeah, we've had people come in with like an ambulance that was converted, but you have to look at what they have that's going to work for you. Like they have a bathroom, but it ain't happening.

Yeah, they don't have all those extra hookups. Do you you might like to see the horses? But do you want them to come eat your food in the middle of the night? They have really bad fleas. as far as the not state parks We went up to that frontier town. I swear to goodness you spit on the ground. They're charging for it. Okay? Yeah, they charge for every doggone thing yeah, yeah see and and like I said now you talking about what we're talking about here because

These are the nuances that people don't consider when they start talking about going to some of these resorts and boondocking. You don't have those issues. You can go out in the back and piss at the mountain and everything is good. Yeah. And like I said, it really comes down to you want to pay for those extra amenities. If you're going to do all that, you might as just stay home. Yeah, there you go. There you go. So with that, I'll say thank you so much. 732 to you, my friend is good to have you on here. And the next time we do something along these lines, I'll make sure that I keep you in mind.

Yeah, you got it. You just give me a holler. You know how to get a hold of me. All right, man. Thank you so much. Anytime, my man. Yep. All right, so we.