Do it where you need to…
Personally, I do a route planing exercise that takes into consideration the locations of wildlife management areas, state parks etc…then I just pop up a tent at a campsite that at most would charge 5 or ten dollars…
Only in some small western towns
I’ve driven quite a bit in different parts of the country, and the only places I’ve seen with municipal free or inexpensive stopover camping were in the rural west.
They’re probably becoming obsolete, too.
Full-service truck stops
Some of them have very good pay shower facilities, as well as gas, food, etc.
I don’t remember if I ever slept at one, but I have bought a shower there at least once.
…rotfl,
…HAHA…
we have them in northern MI
Can it get any more redneck
than camping at Walmart?
yes
Sleeping in the pickup while it is parked on the edge of the road. No real redneck would sleep at a Walmart.
Walmarts, truckstops, and rest areas
Are very noisy. Only to be used when traveling, not when staying in an area.
When staying at rest areas, park in the car section.
Truckers will not cut you any breaks and may be rude. One pulled up directly behind my motorhome and started flashing his high beams at 4 am. A threatened call to the State police got him to back off. Still, many run ins with truckers who beleive they are entitled to space at rest areas and truck stops.
women traveling alone…
I travel in a mini-van with all of the rear seats removed. I have also utilized the walmart lots on occasion. I felt safe there and blended in, instead of looking like I was spending the night.
I don’t think rest areas are safe, and will not use them at night.
I experienced something with a truck stop that has made me look elsewhere for when I need to rest a few hours. It was late at night, and I had been unable to find a decent,safe place to sleep. I was exhausted and drowsy. I HAD to find somewhere to stop. Finally came to a truck stop. Brand name, clean, decent looking place. Parked and lay down in the back of my van. After a few minutes I heard some noise and looked out. A big SUV had pulled up nearby and the driver was letting out his “ladies” who were being dropped off for business. At that point, I just didn’t feel comfortable there, being a women, alone, with a bedroll in a van. It just no longer seemed prudent to hang around. That type of activity is common at truck stops.
Walmarts have been a life saver. They are common and there may be a walmart in a town that doesn’t even have a decent motel. Sometimes it is hard to plan where to stop ahead of time. Sometimes you get tired before you find a place safe enough to pull over and stop.
It has nothing to do with money. On these trips, I’m going from point A to point B and don’t have time to waste getting there. Sometimes it is a trip I can usually do in one day (10-13 hours of travel time), but if I get tired or sleepy, I need to stop.
here is a resource:
Setting aside my personal views about camping at wal-mart: I found the following link while browsing “freecampgrounds.com” that identifies the wal-mart stores that allow camping - not all of them do. But I understand that sometimes we are in a bind and need a safe place to sleep for a few hours, and that some of you have kids or are otherwise vulnerable. Rest stops and truck stops are not the safest places.
Here’s the link:
http://www.freecampgrounds.com/walmart_nocamping.aspx
You can also check it out to find free or cheap alternatives to camping in a walmart parking lot.
Although wal-mart builds these lots with the expectation that campers will also shop at their stores, some wal-marts have discontinued the practice because a few bad apples have ruined it for everyone else. Other opposition to this practice include neighboring campgrounds and RV parks, who say that their business has been negatively impacted. Other municipalities are not granting wal-mart the latitude to pave excess acreage for the sole purpose of overnight parking (as you may or may not know, large expanses of asphalt aren’t the best approach environmentally. I’m not sure the impact is as easily understood).
Since I have no self-control, I’ll step back on my soapbox and say that I’d rather pony up a few dollars and support public parks, so that they can survive and continue to be enjoyed. I’ve little doubt that Wal-Mart can get by without me. But again, I get the differing realities and personal views of others here.
ok, should have looked before posting
apparently the walmart stores not allowing camping haven’t been added.
But on the site I found a few parks in my state that I didn’t know had free camping!
Any port in a storm
I agree with all those who, like me, are just trying to get from Point A to Point B, drive as long as you can and quit when you simply get too tired. Unfortunately, I’ve run into situations where, even though I was willing to pay, motels had no vacancies, campgrounds had no vacancies. You can’t really “plan” ahead because you don’t know when you hit the point of exhaustion. At times I’ve made reservations along the way, then got tired before reaching them and kept on going when I probably should have stopped because it was too late to cancel the reservation without penalty. We once resorted to sleeping in a McDonald’s lot about 3 or 4 a.m., just to catch a dfwq hours of sleep. We ate breakfast there as soon as they opened.