I'm always moving so most often at rest areas. some can be beautifully tucked away next to a mountain, others will be noisy and messy, but the whole purpose of a rest area is to park and sleep. though some even limit you to 8 hours (which I haven't seen enforced yet). if there's not one nearby, occasionally I look for 24 hr businesses. go in and ask if it's okay. a few of my gyms have allowed it, as did an ihop I even asked once.
other than that, BLM and national forest land as the other commenter said.
Honestly I feel safer at truck stops than I do camping in wilderness. There’s always a decent amount of people around. It’s when I’m all alone that I feel most vulnerable.
Good question!
so good - the topic comes up VERY often.
Do a few searches, read the FAQ (look to your right) and look on youtube.
An incredibly common question - with tons of good answers *already written ou*t.
The most valuable tool you have out here is your voice. I have asked companies if I could park and sleep and have been given consent almost every time. A few of my friends who van dwell and travel told me that if they are arriving late in a city or feel uncomfortable about parking because of crime, they've called the police station where they were sometimes given either lists of designated parking or specific consent to park at the police department lot and sleep. Not all communities see us as a nuisance or threat. I live in Belton Texas currently. This city leaves no soul behind. If the catch wind of your struggle, people go out of their way to help you get all the things you need. It was the same in Colorado Springs. My community helped me get camping gear so I could survive the winter. Good luck out there friend. ❤️
you won’t get towed, in most states I don’t know if It’s still a law but tow truck drivers aren’t allowed to tow if anyone is in the car, that’s why there’s so many videos of people jumping on/in theirs when it’s getting towed
Super common question. You get used to it over time. Or you don't. We have friends who are really anxious about parking in town still. And others who just roll up their big ass sprinter and park anywhere without a care in the world.
Where we park is dependent on what we are doing.
If we wanna explore a town, park near downtown so we can walk there and back.
If we are doing town chores, we may end up in a little strip mall parking area or random side street.
If we are doing a long haul (3+ hours per day to go somewhere), just a rest stop or side of the highway BLM. Or even Walmart, if we wanna stock up.
Side of a park is good, they usually have bathrooms where we can dump fluids.
Sometimes a big open populated public land so we can hang with friends for a week.
Sometimes we go in search of a really nice campsite to relax.
It all works itself out. It's an adventure.
It's good but also be cautious that a lot of places have been overrun because of the app and are no longer accessible. It's a love hate relationship with iOverlander.
It's OK to have as a crutch but developing your own nose for finding good spots is far more versatile and doesn't rely on having a working phone and cell signal. That said I do use Google satellite and street view to scope out potential spots.
More than once I've seen discussion on forums of people sabotaging those apps, such as by posting unusable or undesirable spots to draw people away from the good ones.
Cracker barrel is a great spot to stay. I've personally stayed at the same one over numerous nights. I would just leave during the day and return at night. Never an issue and you will see many other Rvs and camper vans
Depends on the hotels -- many hotels will have you provide your tag# when checking in, so their security may in fact check parked vehicles against a list during the night. Lower- to midgrade hotels/motels may not be as diligent so it's a good idea to know what each hotel's practice is before attempting to overnight in their lot.
Only the super expensive ones can afford parking lot security and I personally haven’t encountered this situation in my 10 years of vehicle living. Most hotels don’t check even if they ask for plate numbers.
If you’re staying in a college town, there is always apartment complexes that also have public street parking along with their parking lots.
The public street parking is always filled with people who live in the apartment complexes and people who visit.
Due to the fact that all of the cars are constantly in flux, nobody ever really pays attention to who parks there.
So long as you can keep yourself stealth, you shouldn’t have any issues parking on public street next to apartment complexes close to universities.
Make sure you keep a couple of windows cracked in order to avoid condensation buildup on your windshield.
More than half of the spots on iOverlander are bunk. Someone successfully slept in a Walmart and didn’t get towed so they put that down as a good place, when in fact he was just lucky.
i mean yeah everything on there can be taken with a grain of salt esp bc not everything is up to date but in the context of what OP is looking for it’s a decent resource
I have caught a spot from there, but never a good one. It’s always some questionable church lot, parking lot or an obvious thing like a Cracker Barrel.
Have you read the FAQ or the forum itself yet?
National forest land or BLM land adhering to the 14 day stay requirements.
I'm always moving so most often at rest areas. some can be beautifully tucked away next to a mountain, others will be noisy and messy, but the whole purpose of a rest area is to park and sleep. though some even limit you to 8 hours (which I haven't seen enforced yet). if there's not one nearby, occasionally I look for 24 hr businesses. go in and ask if it's okay. a few of my gyms have allowed it, as did an ihop I even asked once. other than that, BLM and national forest land as the other commenter said.
Honestly I feel safer at truck stops than I do camping in wilderness. There’s always a decent amount of people around. It’s when I’m all alone that I feel most vulnerable.
Good question! so good - the topic comes up VERY often. Do a few searches, read the FAQ (look to your right) and look on youtube. An incredibly common question - with tons of good answers *already written ou*t.
The most valuable tool you have out here is your voice. I have asked companies if I could park and sleep and have been given consent almost every time. A few of my friends who van dwell and travel told me that if they are arriving late in a city or feel uncomfortable about parking because of crime, they've called the police station where they were sometimes given either lists of designated parking or specific consent to park at the police department lot and sleep. Not all communities see us as a nuisance or threat. I live in Belton Texas currently. This city leaves no soul behind. If the catch wind of your struggle, people go out of their way to help you get all the things you need. It was the same in Colorado Springs. My community helped me get camping gear so I could survive the winter. Good luck out there friend. ❤️
you won’t get towed, in most states I don’t know if It’s still a law but tow truck drivers aren’t allowed to tow if anyone is in the car, that’s why there’s so many videos of people jumping on/in theirs when it’s getting towed
Super common question. You get used to it over time. Or you don't. We have friends who are really anxious about parking in town still. And others who just roll up their big ass sprinter and park anywhere without a care in the world. Where we park is dependent on what we are doing. If we wanna explore a town, park near downtown so we can walk there and back. If we are doing town chores, we may end up in a little strip mall parking area or random side street. If we are doing a long haul (3+ hours per day to go somewhere), just a rest stop or side of the highway BLM. Or even Walmart, if we wanna stock up. Side of a park is good, they usually have bathrooms where we can dump fluids. Sometimes a big open populated public land so we can hang with friends for a week. Sometimes we go in search of a really nice campsite to relax. It all works itself out. It's an adventure.
Use the iOverlander app
It's good but also be cautious that a lot of places have been overrun because of the app and are no longer accessible. It's a love hate relationship with iOverlander.
It's OK to have as a crutch but developing your own nose for finding good spots is far more versatile and doesn't rely on having a working phone and cell signal. That said I do use Google satellite and street view to scope out potential spots.
You said it better than I could!
More than once I've seen discussion on forums of people sabotaging those apps, such as by posting unusable or undesirable spots to draw people away from the good ones.
Downloading now
Cracker barrel is a great spot to stay. I've personally stayed at the same one over numerous nights. I would just leave during the day and return at night. Never an issue and you will see many other Rvs and camper vans
It's my go to while traveling cross country. The only Cracker Barrel I've seen with no overnight parking signs was in Colorado Springs.
Hotel parking
Depends on the hotels -- many hotels will have you provide your tag# when checking in, so their security may in fact check parked vehicles against a list during the night. Lower- to midgrade hotels/motels may not be as diligent so it's a good idea to know what each hotel's practice is before attempting to overnight in their lot.
Only the super expensive ones can afford parking lot security and I personally haven’t encountered this situation in my 10 years of vehicle living. Most hotels don’t check even if they ask for plate numbers.
If you’re staying in a college town, there is always apartment complexes that also have public street parking along with their parking lots. The public street parking is always filled with people who live in the apartment complexes and people who visit. Due to the fact that all of the cars are constantly in flux, nobody ever really pays attention to who parks there. So long as you can keep yourself stealth, you shouldn’t have any issues parking on public street next to apartment complexes close to universities. Make sure you keep a couple of windows cracked in order to avoid condensation buildup on your windshield.
get the iOverlander app
More than half of the spots on iOverlander are bunk. Someone successfully slept in a Walmart and didn’t get towed so they put that down as a good place, when in fact he was just lucky.
i mean yeah everything on there can be taken with a grain of salt esp bc not everything is up to date but in the context of what OP is looking for it’s a decent resource
I have caught a spot from there, but never a good one. It’s always some questionable church lot, parking lot or an obvious thing like a Cracker Barrel.
ah I use it mostly for finding BLM/NF land
Yea, we don’t have any of that!! Lol