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
