It used to be looking for an overnight sleep-site in the woods. Then it was called camping after that. The latest term for it is stealth camping. Some think stealth means hiding to prevent being caught. Actually, not being caught was never a concern. I had no idea what I could be caught about. I often used stealthy ways of searching out a sleep site at night, and that had nothing to do with not being caught. The big concern was the vulnerability. There you are asleep and out in the open. In a wooded area you may be far away from help if it is needed. This is a dangerous and uncertain world. Read the newspapers in any city about the crime, the robberies, murders, attacks. My use of stealth was always with that thought in mind. I was hiding from anyone with bad intentions who might have had a chance to see where I left the road and proceeded into the trees. Going 60 miles in one day in a car, and going 60 miles in one day on a bicycle are very different matters. The motorist is finished with his trip in 1 hour, maybe 45 minutes. A cyclist on a fully loaded bicycle could be out there 9 hours. In those 9 hours a great many more vehicles will pass him in both directions. He is vulnerable. It is possible he might attract attention from the wrong people or person. These things have been known to happen. My concern was always to protect myself against people with bad intentions. It never occurred to me that I was in some way hiding from the authorities or the police. It was a simple matter of security.
