Camping in rest stops and truck stops.

[Bert]

I have a few questions. We've never slept overnight in a truck stop or a rest stop. We have stayed in a Walmart parking lot once.
So what are the do's and dont's? And what should I expect?
We leave next week and we are putting a lot of miles under our belts. The first leg we need to sleep overnight in GA. Then from Tenn to SD we need to stop twice overnight.
How does it work at a Flying J for instance? Can I open a slide and can I use my generator? I don't want to be that guy. On the legs that we only sleep overnight once, the girls can take a Marine Corps PT shower. But on the legs that we have multiple stops I may need to pull into a campground so they can shower properly and have facilities.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[socoguy]

Hi Bert. Flying J is Ok as it provides parking away from the trucks. Not all J's participate so find an location list and call ahead. If you get a spot along an apron you can put other slides on the non-traffic side.
I have seen some folks run Gens I do not (they park you away from the noisy trucks so I do not).
Some Petro stops also have Rv spots. Cabella and Cracker Barrel also.
I always stop in and ask permission and so far have always been accommodated so far.
If you use a Truck stop try to park along an apron away from the Rigs and bring ear plugs.
We travelled 12K miles last year and yes these stops work occasionally when you just want to sleep and get up and move on.
Enjoy
Al

[campingcpl]

We always stay in either a truck stop or rest area when traveling for multi days. We usually don't put slides out unless we have to and if we do we try to park in a spot that having the slides out will not be in anyone's way of getting around us. If there is room in the rest area where the car parking is I will usually pull in that area and park at one of the ends of the parking lot then there is no issues with putting out a slide or two. I do the same at truck stops. We don't run a generator, if we want to watch a little TV we just use an inverter.

[Bert]

I thought you weren't aloud to park overnight at rest stops. It might just be a Fl thing. I was going to run the generator for AC. Once we are out west I know the evenings are cooler. But in GA not so much.

[MartyinSC]

Originally Posted by Bert

I thought you weren't aloud to park overnight at rest stops. It might just be a Fl thing. I was going to run the generator for AC. Once we are out west I know the evenings are cooler. But in GA not so much.

One great thing we noticed about Georgia: Every interstate rest station we saw had a dump station. We stayed at a secluded GA County (not state) campground with no hookups at all. We filled the fresh tank at the gate shack (crystal-clear deep well water), ran the generator all we wanted (because we were the ONLY ones in this little park) and hit the dump station on the road home. Worked great for us!

[Loneoak]

We don't own a generator. We stop two nights on the road on the way to Florida. We stay at Walmarts because we can put the slides out. When going to Florida, the unit is winterized, so this means any water we use is in jugs we carry. The two Walmarts we stay at are pretty quiet.

We used to stay at a Cracker Barrel, and we liked that, but with the Jayco we barely fit in the spot. We are now four feet longer so Cracker Barrel is no longer a choice.

Two years in a row when we went to Florida we had no battery power. Once it was the plug in the back of the truck that was defective, the next year the battery needed replacement. We managed with no power at all both times.

We have stayed at truck stops but generally avoid them due to the space issue. The trucks running all night is an issue as well.

[campingcpl]

Originally Posted by Bert

I thought you weren't aloud to park overnight at rest stops. It might just be a Fl thing. I was going to run the generator for AC. Once we are out west I know the evenings are cooler. But in GA not so much.

We have come across a couple of rest areas that have signs stating no overnight parking and in that case we just hit the next truck stop.

[gossamar]

We have done our share of camp walmarts/rest stop or truckstop. As others have said, I do try and park away from others and I do run either one or two honda eu2000 generators to supply power depending on the season. The mrs. likes her shower in the morning, so I will run the water heater on propane so she can take her shower. In the truck stop, you can barely hear the generators anyway with all of the trucks idling.

[hrgirard]

If you have a Good Sam/Woodalls Campground directory, it lists in the front the rest stop parking rules for every state. If you plan on much travelling join Passport America which provides 50% discount at about 2000 campgrounds across the country. We frequently stay overnight for $12 to $15, for a pull-thru site, have power, water, plus peace & quiet, and an easy fast exit in the morning.

[socoguy]

X2 Passport America paid for itself in two stops.