stopping for a single night - rest area or rv park?

myredracer wrote:
Will depend on what you're doing. Travelling to a specific destination for a few days/weeks and need to overnight along the way? On a long road trip and want to pre-plan all stops along the way? Or freewheeling, gypsy style and want to head out into the great unknown and stop wherever, whenever?

Not many states legally allow over-nighting at a rest stop. Info. here.

Casinos can be great places to overnight. Reasonable fee, good buffets, full hookups, very safe and very clean. Some are like a 5-star hotel. Most slot machines suck up your hard-earned $$ but DW somehow won $1200 along the way in Aug.

We are Thousand Trails members and try to stay in them en route, however they can be fully booked way in advance. Many CGs can be fully booked weeks to months in advance in the high season and won't let you in. Depends on where you are and what route it is. Some have dry camping spots but often they don't. Sometimes a CG can be h*ll to get in and out of and you don't want to do that after dark or sometimes even in daylight. In some places finding any place to overnight can be hard. Some CGs are first come, first serve and it can be really hard finding a remaining spot that will work for you.

DW won't go anywhere without pre-booking every single CG way in advance. She researches every place way in advance on the internet including the driving time of each leg.

We were at one place where a lot of truckers over-nighted and it was only a few blocks from a small town and a homeless guy was wandering around looking for $$. You never know what some whacko can do... A couple of Criminal Minds episodes involved rest stops so DW will never stay in one now no matter how busy it is... :E

As with so many internet information sites, the linked site about overnighting in highway rest areas is not entirely accurate.
overnightRVparking.com is a much better site, and gives accurate information.
well, except for the rims by the airport on State Highway 3 above Billings. that report was made on July 1, and yes, that area IS closed to all types of parking until after the Fourth of July, to prevent people from throwing fireworks off the rims! It IS open for parking the rest of the year.
Note that some of the rest areas in Montana that are listed as "no RV parking" were, at the time of the report, closed for construction, and some are seasonal rest areas (not open in the winter).
I found the site by googling "overnight RV parking in Montana rest areas". I imagine any state would work, as well.

As we are travelers and not so much "campers", a campground makes little sense to us for an ONP. With the house bank full, the potable and black tanks in good order, why do I want to pay for services we neither need not want? If you are going to stay in a local area for more than the time to do the next days navigation prep, eat a meal and sack-out, then it might be a good idea.

There is a state (Tennessee Maybe - I would have to find it in my logs) That plowed in most of the highway rest stops. We don't stop in that state any longer.

Do you that have to have campgrounds just to sleep also buy lunch and leave the plate untouched? Or pay for fuel that you don't put in the tank? They are all the same to me.

Matt

Walmart

http://www.walmartlocator.com/rv-parking-at-walmart/

Question for Rockhillmanner:

How do you find the CGs with spaces just for travelers??
In lots of years and miles of traveling this way (three coaches worth), I have never been offered such a place and even when I was clear that this was an ONP only, we got no break in price.

Matt

DownTheAvenue wrote:

Txsurfer wrote:
Is it worth the hassle to set up everything for a single night in an RV park or just layover at the rest area for 4-6 hrs of sleep?

Why can't you "just layover" at a RV park and get a nice quiet restful sleep and not listen to highway noise all night?

I have stayed at KOA's so close to the highway that i could hear the radio inside the cars going by!

If you stay at a big box store always good to ask. During our move here to NC I was going to overnight in a Walmart lot. Asked the manager and he said there was a city ordinance where it's not allowed and it would be towed. So always good to ask.

When I stop, and spend the night in one of the big box store parking lots, they're usually closed, or are closing for the night.

I'll still park way off to the edge of the lot, parallel to the curb, so I can extend the bedroom slide.

ive dry camped on BLM, walmart, pilot, flying j, rest stops, home depot. i dont follow any of the made up internet rules about staying overnight in a parking lot. i just ask the manager at the place im staying at if he cares if i run my inverter genny or drop the back stab jacks. never once a had a manager care what i do, but they usually direct you where to park. truck stops are easy, just stay within your parking spot. loves, pilot and flying j welcome rv'ers so i dont feel as if im stealing a truck drivers spot. same with the rest areas.

X2

Always a cg for us. I do not want to interfere with 18 wheelers who need the spots at rest areas to meet their hours.

I have done both.
In an RV, stopping late; rest area or truck stop. Stopping early, or staying for a day or two, RV park.
In a car or pickup, in my younger days, stop at a rest area for a nap whenever I feel the need. Now that I am older, I stop at a cheap motel. Some of them are cheaper than an RV park! Cleanliness is the only requirement.