Where to stay?

Nancy(NC) wrote:
Hi:

My husband and I recently got a used Roadtrek and we are getting to make a trip that will take two nights to get there. This is a stupid question but we would like to stay somewhere easy each night along the way. We don't need a full campground because we will arrive about dark and leave early the next morning. I hear that WalMart allows overnight camping for free. Also, are truck stops okay to stay in overnight? We have battery power so don't need to hook up anywhere. We just would prefer somewhere easy to access from interstate but safe. Please advise.

Thanks!
Nancy(NC)

For the price of one nights accommodations check out BOONDOCKERS WELCOME. I have been a member for over a year now and have enjoyed the hospitality of numerous members and I have hosted folks from Australia (doing a NA tour) and from both Canada and the US. Ideal for one or two nights stop on route to your destination.

Check them out and see if it meets your travelling needs.

http://www.boondockerswelcome.com

There are many rv parks with 25 0r 30 dollar per night for water/electric only sites. A good nights safe and comfy sleep is well worth the cost. Especially on your first trip.

All good commentaries with personal experiences. Personal security leads us to commercial RV parks. Also, as noted, running a genset for hours is costly and often annoying to neighbouring campers. Use of shorepower affords charging of house batteries via power converter so using your lights and other electricals while shore-powered is really the best.Many RV parks can provide no-facilities rv spots or just electrical or full service as needed. One needs to consider cost effectiveness and the potential inconveniences/security factors of boondocking. With our Pleasureway Plateau TS we often 'drop anchor' ie drop sewer hose, reel in power cord and go touring, leaving the hose and chairs outside.Never once have we lost one single piece of camping equipment.It is potentially a different matter at State parks where who-knows the characters casing out peoples equipment whereas in a private RV park, I repeat, 'no worries' as my Australian friend says..

AL
camping on Vancouver Island
(good salmon fishing at Campbell River)
Happy camping for your first trip and lots more in future.,..

We have traveled from WI to NC. There is a campground and casino in the St. Paul IN area. We used the campground on the way there for the hookups, and the casino on the way back home. Like many have suggested, for your first few trips, use a campground. Our first time boondocking we stayed at a Flying J close to my daughters home, just to become familiar with the experience. Our experience was, we would never stay at another one unless we had too. It was so noisy with the semi's coming and going, we did not sleep at all. Then we tried a Walmart. Not as noisy, but still didn't sleep as well. Casino's are our first choice and have security 24 hrs a day. We've never had a problem sleeping at one. They are quieter and some have campgrounds that are very reasonable. We have Allstays and a couple other apps that we use all the time. We will use these "free" nights only when it is a must. If we have a choice, we will choose a campground every time. We feel safer and like having the hookups. As someone pointed out....the cost of gas used to run a generator, if necessary, for a few dollars more why not have hook ups and be more comfortable.

omjones wrote:
A great way to camp safely, on the cheap is Passport America. About $45 a year and the campground costs 1/2 price. A $25 CG is $12.50. A trip like you describe is enough to pay for it and every other trip of the year is just gravy on the 'taters. www.passportamerica.com
john 'I am Canadian'

yes but be sure you check out the locations and limitations on line. some facilities are OK, others are good, many are off the main road a bit. some have restrictions on numbers of days per stay and not on holidays or weekends. but if you can live with these restrictions, two stays per year will pay for it.
bumpy

A great way to camp safely, on the cheap is Passport America. About $45 a year and the campground costs 1/2 price. A $25 CG is $12.50. A trip like you describe is enough to pay for it and every other trip of the year is just gravy on the 'taters. www.passportamerica.com
john 'I am Canadian'

Last year we camped in a BLM park which had only one other camper at the opposite end of the park.

I caught the creep from the other campsite peeping in our windows and needless to say we did not feel safe in that BLM campsite.

A nice feature with our van is that we can break camp in 2 minutes which is what we did and we camped that night in a rest stop amoung many large trucks.

I actually feel it it much safer camping in a reststop than in many campgrounds, but this may very from state to state. Our Washington and Oregon reststops are checked frequently by state patrol and are generally pretty safe.

One downside to reststops is the noise from the refrigerator trucks but when you are really tired you will fall asleep in spite of their noise.

1775 wrote:
If this is your first trip in your new Roadtrek, go make plans to stop in campgrounds even for the two nights that it will take you to make your trip. The first trip is a like a shake down cruise - you are going to test everything out for the first time and you are going to start getting used to how to work everything in your RV. The last thing you want to do is make this tough by not having hookups and trying to cope with dealing with strange parking lots to spend the night in. Once you get a little experience then start experimenting with overnighting at Walmarts. If you decide to go off like this now and you have the RT's built in generator you can run the A/C with the generator but make sure you are parked where this is permitted and absolutely make sure your carbon monoxide detector is working. Best advice - go to campgrounds and get used to this new experience in traveling.

excellent advice IMHO.
bumpy

If this is your first trip in your new Roadtrek, go make plans to stop in campgrounds even for the two nights that it will take you to make your trip. The first trip is a like a shake down cruise - you are going to test everything out for the first time and you are going to start getting used to how to work everything in your RV. The last thing you want to do is make this tough by not having hookups and trying to cope with dealing with strange parking lots to spend the night in. Once you get a little experience then start experimenting with overnighting at Walmarts. If you decide to go off like this now and you have the RT's built in generator you can run the A/C with the generator but make sure you are parked where this is permitted and absolutely make sure your carbon monoxide detector is working. Best advice - go to campgrounds and get used to this new experience in traveling.

kmb1966 wrote:
I recommend making sure you have permission, no matter where you park overnight. We learned this the hard way. Nothing worse than having your windows knocked on from a parking lot security dude during the middle of a good nights sleep. Happens too often even though it just looks like a van in the parking lot. If there is a parking lot security guy riding around, that's who we ask. Otherwise it is "knock knock knock" at 2AM, even if you got permission from a manager.

+1. Don't forget, even if one has permission, some towns forbid RV overnighting, so the knocking might be a local officer with a citation for a few C-notes in hand.

I like the Allstay's app and other ones that will warn people if a WM is a no-go for RV-ers.

The good thing, one isn't limited to WMs and CGs with a class B. I can plan a trip across the US, stopping at homes of people I know. With a macerator pump and a sewage clean-out, I essentially have FHU when parked in a driveway, and an unloaded 15-20 amp circuit with a very good extension cord works for electric. Water isn't bad either -- just use an inline filter from Camco to reduce iron and other minerals.

There are always church parking lots, and those tend to be places where one can find a secluded place to park if given permission.

With a "B", one can use their head and find a lot of safe places to overnight.