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No, I've never tent camped for more than a few weeks at a time.
To save money, don't use commercial campgrounds unless it's just to stop and take a shower. They'll often let you do that for a few bucks. Truck stops are good for cheap showers too.
For camping, many city and county parks offer free or low-cost camping. State parks and COE campgrounds don't usually charge tent campers much either. And as long as you ask first, many farmers wouldn't mind if you pitched a tent for the night if they happen to have a timber or pasture with no livestock.
Many places won't allow camping, but they will allow you to pull over and sleep in your car for a few hours. For that it would be a good idea to have some mesh or screen so that you can open a couple windows a bit without letting in too many mosquitoes, etc.
When you get further west, BLM lands and National Forests are normally free outside of campgrounds (dispersed camping). There are some restrictions and they vary; normally you must camp so far from roads, so far from streams, so far from lakes, etc., sometimes no fires, particularly during forest fire season. Always be sure to leave the area as clean or cleaner than what you found it.
I've never had a problem with theft from my cars except in cities. That's not to say it can't happen, but if you lock your car and don't leave any valuables in plain sight, you shouldn't have to worry. If something major does disappear, you've probably got comprehensive insurance with $100 deductible.
I have not tented for more than 2 nights in a row,and, that was years ago. However, having worked in the RV industry for several years I do know that many private parks either do not take tenters or, they charge way too much for a basic boondocking site. They do it to discourge tenters.
I too, would recommend a state or county park. And regardless of where you stay, get a lay of the land and think safety first.
Around here there are plenty of free camp grounds if you want to sleep, but they just have outhouses no showers and such. There are books which show these camp grounds by each state. Folks from overseas do this to save money when they vacation here.
I tented across the country back in 1982. Probably different back then than today, but we were able to stay in city parks, fair grounds and even behind a few fire houses. It might have helped too that we were all riding bicycles..but there were 12 of us.
I don't know why anyone who doesn't have an RV would want to camp in a private park. Other than hookups, there is often nothing to recommend them in the way of scenery, nature, etc. Go with a state park or state forest.
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