NJ to FL; looking for safe stops along the way.....

[marc515]

Planning a trip to Ft Myers Beach in the near future, and am wondering where you guys stay for overnight stops.

I read you can stop at many Walmart's and Pilot's/Flying J's, but am not how safe they really are.

Suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[dcason]

We do welcome centers (nicer than regular rest stops), rest areas, walmarts...we are just stopping for a sleep not spending the day...basically, find a spot, level enough and go dark...snore. Up early and out.

Walmart is not usually our first choice and many walmarts on east coast of Florida are off limits to overnighting...just a few left. Flying J can be noisy because the parking area for rv's is not that big.

[Bill___Kate]

rv2go wrote:
A fun place to spend a few hours and the night is at South of the Border

X2 on Pedros at South of the Border. We stop there often on the way south as it is about a 7 hour drive from the Lewes, DE end of the Ferry.

Another one a little further north that is nice and easy on and off is Carolina Crossroads.

There are several other nice campgrounds with easy pull through sites off various exits through South Carolina also .....

We prefer a campground to a parking lot, as we like to fully set up, have all the comforts, have a cocktail and nice dinner, and relax before bed. We try not to drive more than 7-8 hours a day, and are not early risers .....

[K_Charles]

We quite often stay in an RV park or campground. There are many along your route and we almost always feel safe when we stay at one.

[mgirardo]

We've stayed at a bunch of Walmarts along I-95. The White Marsh, MD Walmart has a huge parking lot. Have never had another camper there when we've been there, but there have been tractor trailers. It's a few miles from I-95/I-695 and it is quiet. We've also stayed at the Florence, SC Walmart, the Lumberton, NC Walmart (this one can get noisy) and the Pooler, GA Walmart.

I'm probably missing one or two, but in any case, at all of the ones we've stayed at, we've never had a problem. All of them, except the White Marsh, MD Walmart have security that patrols all night long. We don't like Flying Js because they are too crowded and usually RVs are right on top of each other.

If you prefer Campgrounds instead of parking lots, the KOAs in VA and NC are really nice. We've also stayed at the Florence RV Resort in Florence, SC and the Jacksonville North (Kingsland, GA) KOA which is descent.

-Michael

[Poppy___Nana]

We have stayed in Flying J's & Walmart's - if we pull in and don't feel safe - we hit the road and try the next area. There was only one time we left a Walmart - when we arrived the rv parking was quite full and one of the only spots was near the delivery docks, there were about a dozen delivery trucks lined up making deliveries - we passed thinking the noise would keep us awake the few hours we planned on being there - drive down the road 20 minutes and found a Walmart that closed at Midnight and was very quite.....no problem there!
By the way - I call ahead if staying at any Walmart, Cracker Barrel, Flying J, K-Mart and ask if overnighting is allowed and where do they prefer we park.....and of course when we stop we usually go in for a bite to eat or snacks and let the manager know we would be overnighting and where we were parked.....just being courteous!

[rv2go]

A fun place to spend a few hours and the night is at South of the Border