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

RV parks are generally safer than rest areas. The few times I've used rest areas to overnight I didn't get much sleep. Trucks were going in and out all night long. Some of them were running their engines or reefer units all night.

GordonThree wrote:
$25 for a campground with hookups is a VERY good price. Cheapest roadside I've found was $45, paid it before, wiser now, no thanks.

Sometimes it is not exactly freeway side.. Ones I have stayed at were a quarter to half mile off the freeway, one I'm at now is 3 miles off the freeway 27/night without discount full hookup.

You do not need full hookup.. Just electric, and a dump station for the waste tanks and water for the fresh tank... THis means you can use the overflow sites or whatever is cheapest at the CG.

Still, I often do the Flying-J's but there, Well, the "Custom" may well be 50 gallons of Gasoline.. That I need no matter where I stop.

On long trips, rest areas are our primary over night stays. We can get to everything (refrigerator, microwave, bathroom and bed) without putting slides out.

Finding a campground then my spot after sundown is something I do not enjoy and am sure the people already in the campground don't enjoy my noise/lights late at night.

Truckers and RV'ers just need to be considerate of each other to whatever extent possible. We are all sharing the road.

Truckers get upset when you have slides out in a rest area and they are trying to get into the space next to you. If your slide is over the line they might not be able to get in. You might get awaken when your rv moves. In our case we have to put one of the 2 bedroom slides out for me to get into bed. This puts my slide over the line.

$25 for a campground with hookups is a VERY good price. Cheapest roadside I've found was $45, paid it before, wiser now, no thanks.

Yes I'm sure if I did an exhaustive search of my route I could find cheap cg offering hookups, but like I said, my type-a skills are not that good. I just wing it and when the sun goes down and tummy is rumblin, I look for a parking lot.

MOST OF the states I'm driving through in such a hurry have populations less than modest size cities on the east/west coasts, it's not like there are campgrounds every 50 miles, let alone walmarts or even gas stations.

as for the Man (law) regarding overnight parking. on the rare case someone actually questions you, the answer is "I had a six pack of (favorite beer brand) for/with dinner and need to sleep it off.", alternately "I just took my back medicine and it says do not drive or operate heavy machinery." *ymmv*

I keep all options open and I am comfortable doing Wal Marts or CG. Truck Stop is last resort. Really depends on timing,location and availability. I'm not dedicated or committed to either of the 3. I try to remain flexible and make final decision when time comes.

Do what makes YOU comfy.

Very plain and simple:).

First choice is an RV park:
Second is a major parking lot, Wal*mart, Flying J, Et-al
Last choice is a rest stop.

Reasons: (last to 1st)
Some truckers seem to feel that the rest stops are for their exclusive use, They have no problem with you stopping in for a few minutes to walk the dog or drain the sock, but overnight, Slides out, FORGET IT.. They may get nasty and you wake up feeling a tad low... in the tires. So only use rest stops if you have to.

Also "Overnighting" at a rest stop... Laws vary from state to state (Your Millage May Vary) Now as it happens I know the law in Michigan,, but I was surprised when I learned it.. (NOTE: I'm not a lawyer and thus the only legal advice I can legally give is RESEARCH and/or CALL A LAWYER).

(When I was a police dispatcher I had a caller who would not give up asking me for legal advice, I findally ended by telling him "Sir we are at a point were if you ask me what time it was I'd tell you to call a lawyer", he hung up).

Truck Stop/Wal*mart et-al.. Traditionally you tnank the business by giving them some custom (Most would say "By giving them some business" but in fact the proper word is Custom). I often spend as much as 50 bucks on dinner plus breakfast combined for two people at the Truck Stop's Diner.

25 bucks at the campground a quarter mile away and perhaps 10 bucks on the meals in the motor home. PLUS. I have fully charged batteries, No need to run Generator.. If needed I can re-fill my fresh water tank and empty the "Used" tanks, no additional charge. And so on. I mean. Best deal.

Problem.. RV park is not always all that easy to find.

I do recall one trip where I pulled into a truck stop.. Did not feel good about spending night,, Or even parking,, Spotted RV park, just down the road.. 25 bucks, as described above.

rockhillmanor wrote:

JaxDad wrote:

rockhillmanor wrote:

JaxDad wrote:

rockhillmanor wrote:

JaxDad wrote:

Sprink-Fitter wrote:
We are not cheap, we go to a campground.

We are not cheap either.

Nor are we inconsiderate of those on vacation while we are on route to our destination. We generally drive till 10 - 12pm then stop then get back on the road before 6am.

I guess if I had nothing better to do and was stopping mid afternoon and not pulling back out until mid morning it would be a different story.

Are you aware that almost all CG's allow ALL NIGHT late arrival without reservations?
Especially the ones right off the interstates. Only those that are gated resorts do not.

When doing sporting events I too would drive until 10 or 12 pm to get as many miles as I could to get to my destination on time. I 'always' stayed at a CG by pulling in real late at night and leaving at the crack of dawn. All without ever meeting the owners of the CG!

All you do is: see a CG sign off the interstate, doesn't matter what time of night, pull in. At the front office will be a sign and a site map, and info to just pull in and pay in the morning and/or there usually will be a drop box for your check.

All CG's set aside sites in the front for travelers.

I RV'd this way for 'years'. :C

Sorry, I thought I clearly stated INCONSIDERATE was the issue. I refuse to disturb a bunch of people on vacation by arriving late and leaving early. I'm not so self-cantered as to believe that my travel plans should disturb others.

And I clearly stated that CG's have a row/sites set up near the front for "TRAVELING" RV'ers, for just that purpose. So you would 'not' be INCONSIDERATE to vacationers by arriving late leaving early. :R

You have your mind made up where you want to stay and are

doing nothing but contradicting all the suggestions forum members are offering without even ever have done it.

I've never figured out how to make my headlights or noise stop at certain distance. The lights shine a loooong way, and that big old 460 happily grumbles along regardless of time of day, or night.

If I left them a cheque, drawn on my bank in Toronto, I doubt they'd be impressed, or be able to cash it.

Friends that do the c/g thing tell me that if they can find one where they want to stop for the night, it's only about a 50% chance there will be a site left vacant, and during prime travel time, it's more like 5 or 10%.

Well there you go.

Albiet you have never tried it, you have your mind set on NOT staying at a CG.....sooo... Happy Camping!:W

I didn't say I've NEVER done it, I said I don't do it.

I stayed at a handful of Interstate-side 'campgrounds' and VERY quickly decided if I was going to be lulled to sleep by traffic noise I wasn't going to pay $25 or $30 to do so.

Besides, as stated previously, I want to stop when I want to, not when there's a c/g, and waking up to Cracker Barrel's breakfast 100' away is not such a bad thing either.

GordonThree wrote:

Txsurfer wrote:
Just getting into this and have a toy hauler with no slides - what's the general consensus on midway stops between point A & B. 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?

No overnight campgrounds for me... Call me cheap / frugal / stubborn / naive.

My preference:

#1 Walmart or other commercial lot
#2 Rest area / Welcome Center with specific RV parking
#3 Other public parking lot, gravel lot, scenic turn off
#4 Keep driving until #1,2 or 3 comes along

Maybe I'm too young to RV, not even forty yet. I want to drive 10-12 hours to get where I'm going because my vacation days are precious. That means leaving early, arriving late. I don't set a daily mileage - that's too variable with traffic, construction, etc.

First, trying to line up campgrounds based around long days spent driving is beyond my patience / type-a skill level. I tried doing this my first long trip and it was so stressful, I decided it's just not worth my worry.

Second, paying someone $30-40 for an overnight parking spot is not in my budget. I'd rather spend that on fuel, park in a Walmart and have a steak at Texas Roadhouse or another chain that follows Walmart around.

Could not have said it better.