Impulse Travelers Where Do You Sleep

[mtpocket2]

I like to take off for trips at a moments notice, travel at night until I am tired etc. Used to doing this in a car staying in hotels. With a camper where do you sleep when you're tired? Truck Stop, Wally World, Cracker Barrel etc. Rest areas scare me a little even though I travel with a security blanket if you know what I mean . How do you know if you're in the "good" part of town in a Wally World or Cracker Barrel parking lot at 2 AM? I believe most campgrounds are closed in the evening aren't they? Do not need the hassle and can do without air for a few hours. I hear hospitals will let you sleep a few hours in their parking lots. True?? Should I stick to a schedule with the camper and decide how far to drive each day? I would prefer not to! So where do you sleep?????

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

The answers you get will prove beyond a doubt that we all do it

OUR WAY!!

Many stay in Cracker Barrel, Wal*Mart and Flying J parking lots. There is a protocol, asking permission, etc, spending some $$ there, etc.

Don't know ALL the rules, as we don't do it. Al and I prefer to be off the road before dark, cause when we have pulled in after dark we are usually overtired, things are toooooo hard to see, and results are sometimes not happy ones.

We prefer to drive about 280 to 340 miles per day, 300 is bout perfect.

We want to stay in a campground, even if we only have electric service in the dead of winter and water available the rest of the time. We have stayed in a few that give us the creeps, but have not had a bit of trouble with the other residents, just lousy electric, unlevel sites, and fire crackers till 4 AM, that kind of silliness. Never had any one threaten us, or anything like that.

Remember, these are the experiences of Al and Carol. Others have had other experiences, good, bad and indifferent.

For me, your comment about the wrong side of town would indicate you really don't want to do Cracker Barrel and Wall*Marts.

Many campgrounds have night time after hours sign in, they might list the sites available, leave your camping fee in an envelope, etc.

But, if you are only gonna sleep a few hours, then maybe an open 24 hours Wall*Mart near an expressway might be just your ticket.

We actually stayed in a "campground" on the Ohio Turnpike last spring, they have them in SOME service plaza's. We had to unhook, something we rarely do while we are on the move, we have had Tana and Big Butt hooked up for 8 days straight. Anyway, we had to unhook, we were the ONLY rig in that place, around April 20th, it was not near as noisy as we had envisioned. For that trip, it was a good place to stay. I hear in the summer they fill up quite early in the day????

Flexible, remain flexible.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

forget that impulse of I like to take off for trips at a moments notice, travel at night until I am tired etc. Go to bed early and start out fresh early in the AM.

99% of the time we are off the road by 3 or 4PM. It is very very rare that you will ever see me towing the Monty with the headlights on.
Like Al and Carol 300 miles is about our daily limit. Over the years we have stayed in many different campgrounds. From the truly resort type to the less than desirable but we have never experienced any problems with the other campers or the locals in any of them.
Ask Waynem what can happen when you try getting into your site after dark. Just getting to your site in the dark can be very aggravating. Pull thrus can even be a challange in a campground you have never been in before and I don't even want to think about backing in to a tight site.
As far as rest areas, truck stops, Wally World or Cracker Barrel, we have stayed in Wally twice and once in a Flying J. In those 3 cases if we would have traveled any further I would have to be turning on the headlights.

[exav8tr]

I personally would not do the "spare of the moment" thing. Since we have only been RV'ing for 16 months and fulltiming for 16 months, we are fairly limited on experience, However, I know I would not want to be parking this thing after dark. We usually only go between 150 and 300 miles a day and always have a reservation before we get there, wherever that may be. I know this takes some of the spontaneity away, actually, all of it, but we just prefer this way. I would hate to drive to my limit, pull into a CG only to find no spots or too small and have to continue driving. To date, we have not experienced the Walmart or Flying J CG scene and prefer not to. Now, Cracker Barrel, UMMMM, I wasn't aware you could park there. I might have to try that someday. I'm sure others have done this safely and maybe will be along to give advice. This is mine and I'm sticking to it!!!!!!

[ols1932]

As with others, we prefer not to "push" it. 300 miles in a day is about max for us. This means we're on the road about six hours and are parked before dark. We aren't the kind that break camp at daybreak and then try to run like a bat out of heck to see how far we can go. Besides that, if we did, we'd miss all the scenery and places that look interesting where we feel it would be nice to stop for a while.

Orv

[richfaa]

We have never stayed in a rest area, wally world, Cracker barrel, etc . Can't tell you why not it just never appealed to us. Like many others 300 miles a day is a far limit. We like to be into a C.G by 4/5PM or so, Nice dinner, Shower, good nights sleep. Going soft in our old age I guess???

[TLightning]

quote:Originally posted by richfaa

We have never stayed in a rest area, wally world, Cracker barrel, etc . Can't tell you why not it just never appealed to us. Like many others 300 miles a day is a far limit. We like to be into a C.G by 4/5PM or so, Nice dinner, Shower, good nights sleep. Going soft in our old age I guess???

Same here, and...no 'spur of the moment.'

[Waynem]

I will NEVER again travel at night unless it is an emergency or something beyond my control. Read my post in "Well I'll Be an SOB" as to what happened to me last night.

The last time I slept in a rest area was when Hurricane Rita came through and we went 150 miles in 15 1/2 hours, in a car. I found myself drifting, really drifting. DW drove but could only go about 15 minutes because she was tired. Now you talk about a time when "something" can happen, but S&W was also riding with us. We were able to rest our eyes for about 30 minutes, but not really a sleep. Managed to make it, glad to say.

In my "older" years I find that I don't have the same sight I once had when I was so much younger. Last night was okay because I was on well lighted and traveled interstate for 100 miles. Only the last 4 miles was dark back road to the CG.

It's day time travel, 200-300 miles per trip. Did go 350 once a few months ago. Wore me out, almost. We have a wireless connection and about 1 to 2 hours before we are ready to stop, DW will bring up a list of CG's, select one that "looks" nice, and give them a call on availability. So far it has worked for us.

[mtpocket2]

We have 9 hours to drive. I just want to get 5 hours down the road and leave 4 for the next day. We have reservations for the main part of our stay. It's that or do the 9 straight which I can do I just would rather not. We both work so vacation time is hard to come by!! I agree with the campground at night not a good idea. My wife and I wouldn't be calling each other honey by the time we got settled. Maybe truck stop would be the easiest. Did not even think about the "rules". Are there truck stop rules??? Besides no slides.

[Emmel]

mtpocket2, I was looking at your profile and there is no indication of your age or work habits.
I say this, because when I was still doing the work thing, I would take off on Friday evening and drive, maybe to Knoxville Tenn-300 miles and then stay at a Cracker Barrel the rest of the evening. Get up and go in for breakfast and finish the trip to Pigeon Forge.
We have stayed at Flying J's, a little noisy, and Wal-Marts and Cracker Barrels without any problems, even some McDonalds too.
When we do stay at one of these places, we look for other campers to feel a little more secure, even though we are protected by our buddies, Smith and Wesson.
However, now that we are on the retired side, we do try to travel like the other replies and stay at a cg as much as we can.
Travel time and overnights are up to each individual as to what you prefer to do for your own circumstances.

[fulltimedreamer]

mtpocket2,

Looking at the above posts I note that all these folks seem to be fulltimers/longtimres and can do thier trips at their leisure. Those of us with at least one person in the working world find ourselves making trips on short weekends or just when a couple of days become available. That being said, we have stayed at Wal*marts, truck stops and rest areas. All have been well lighted and have had lots of folks coming and going. This may not be everybodys cup of tea, but has worked for us. If an area is lighted well and doesn't have lots of traffic, I'd probably move on. Take reasonable measures to protect yourself and enjoy the trip. JMHO

[lawrenceb42106]

Myself I prefer the 230 club. 230 miles or off the road by 2:30. We are retired so we slow down and smell the roses. No night time parking.Too much can happen.

[mtpocket2]

Emmel
Thats funny. We too are going to Pigon Forge. Its about 9 hours so we want to leave Friday night sleep a few hours get breakfast and be there by noon or so. The Cracker barrel thing sounded good. I noticed some states have a 2 hour limit on rest area's. Don't know who would enforce such a rule. I also heard in Alabama they have RV parking with electricity in some of the rest stops. Wouldn't that be nice but we are coming from the north. If we end up in Alabama I am too tired to drive .

[mtpocket2]

Still have not made up my mind
In my internet search on this topic I ran across:

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/walmartrving/

The description for the group is as follows. This group is the positive voice of WalMart Rving. We are the original WalMart RVing group. The purpose of this group is to discuss overnight parking of RV's at Wal-mart, K-Mart, Flying J, Travel Centers of America, Camping World, Union76 Truck Stops, Love's, Pilot Travel Centers, AmBest Truck Stops, casinos, and similar hosts that allow free overnight RV parking. Differing opinion is always welcome; ranting, raving, and flaming is not, particularly on religion, politics, and guns. No commercial advertising is allowed nor can our information be used for any commercial purpose or for any other group without permission. We promote a voluntary standard of conduct for RV Parking, as opposed to RV Camping. Be sure to check out our Files, Links, and Database sections. Walmart has a national policy of allowing overnight parking at all their stores. These can be found at walmart.com or their version of the Rand McNally Atlas. For your convenience, we list those exceptions where local ordinances have banned overnighting. We try to work with communities to help preserve our overnighting privileges. Welcome!

[Exnavydiver]

We have yet to do a Wally World, we have been 10 to 2 travelers since we got on the road two years ago. We try not to be on the road more than 4 or 5 hours a day. Get up at 9am hit the road by 10am and be where we need to be by 2 pm. Makes for a easy day and there is time to relax and explore.. Dave and Betsy

[skypilot]

I've got to leave this thread up on the computer for the wife to see. We have been known to drive 12 to 14 hr days and arrive at 0130 to 0230 (yes in the o-dark early morning hours). Set up minimally and then up at 6 or so in the AM to do what we have to do. Still in the working crowd so most trips are 'home' to see the in-laws, my family and then return (same routine) for work on the following Monday. I'm ready to join the more leasurely crowd .

[Bob Pasternak]

We don't do "spur of the moment" traveling with the RV. That is done with the car and we stay at Holiday Inn or some such. When we Pack the RV, it is for several weeks. And like others, we like the 250 to 300 bit. Don't stay at Wal-Mart or Cracker Barrel. About 2:30 or so Jeanne will get the book out to see what rv parks are in the area and call for space. Only been turned away one time in seven years.

[scattershot]

"Spur of the moment" and "RV" are two terms that don't go together, IMO. Did the WalMart thing once, and stayed in a casino parking lot because the campground they advertised as open wasn't, but didn't really like it either time.

[mtpocket2]

I am surprised by the few that admit to doing it. Guess I was expecting more but maybe I am about to learn another one of life's lessons the hard way. Wait, that would make it no different from all the other lessons I have learned.

[Joe-n-Doe]

When on the road with Monty and our former TT, we follow the 8x4 rule. 8 hours or 400 miles whichever comes first. In addition to overnighting at traditional RV parks or campgrounds, we have also stayed at rest stops, Flying J’s, and Wal-Marts. If we are deadheading from point to point and are just stopping for the night, we tend to incorporate rest stops, Flying J’s and Wal-Marts into our trip planning. I use my GPS, PPA, Good Sam, rvparksreview.com and other resources to identify campgrounds along our route and data found with this group: www.OvernightRVParking.com and http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/...g/message/1665 . The data is very useful and covers rest stops, Flying J’s, Wal-Marts, Cracker Barrels, parks, etc on a state-by-state basis.