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I am a big guy and rarely if ever do I fear for my safety. But with that said I just don't think I could ever sleep comfortably stealth camping or even in an approved Walmart parking lot.
i heard another poster mention reststop parking lots, I've heard others say to avoid them at all cost.
I am a big guy and rarely if ever do I fear for my safety. But with that said I just don't think I could ever sleep comfortably stealth camping or even in an approved Walmart parking lot.
i heard another poster mention reststop parking lots, I've heard others say to avoid them at all cost.
Unfortunately, your state does not acknowledge your Second Amendment right, so I can understand your apprehensiveness. Where I live we don't have that issue, so I have no problems sleeping in Walmart parking lots. I do avoid rest stops as they are busy and noisy with trucker traffic. And they tend to be posted no overnight parking.
Unfortunately, your state does not acknowledge your Second Amendment right, so I can understand your apprehensiveness. Where I live we don't have that issue, so I have no problems sleeping in Walmart parking lots. I do avoid rest stops as they are busy and noisy with trucker traffic. And they tend to be posted no overnight parking.
I know a lot of people who own guns here so not sure where that came from. I just have no desire to own one.
i heard another poster mention reststop parking lots, I've heard others say to avoid them at all cost.
I'm that poster ....
and I've never had any problems at the fed or state highway rest stops throughout the Rocky Mountain states and into Nebraska or the Dakota's.
A number of them have "hosts" that are living on site for much of the year. Some have reasonably frequent drive throughs by the local deputy or nearby town PD. And some are unattended, fairly remote, and may have little or no traffic ... while others can be fairly busy with folks driving through for a break from the road/rest stop.
Yes, some of them will have 18-wheelers idling their engines all night, especially in cold and/or inclement weather driving conditions. But the larger rest stops have separated parking for cars/smaller RV's away from the semi's, so it's not an overwhelming intrusion. For me, it's significantly less noise than what I've experienced in a hotel in NYC ... say, suites at 24/Lex area where I used to stay on business trips there.
I've had more than a few nights when I found it convenient to stop in one of these places for a break, walk the dog, cook a meal, take a nap ... and awake to find that the storm front I was outrunning had caught up with me. Have stopped at the I-25 rest stops South of Casper WY and awakened to 10-12" of fresh snowfall where I had stopped in a dry area.
Like other travelers at the time, I found it prudent to stay put for the rest of the night and await road developments in the AM. Especially in these inclement weather road conditions, the first responders are happy to accommodate travelers in rest stops rather than out on the road ... even if the rest stops are posted "no overnight camping", they won't kick you out onto what can be treacherous driving conditions. And I've found them to always be very receptive when you tell them that you've been "out on the road for a long day already and really needed to catch up on some sleep/food/potty & shower break".
I usually have one of my small dogs traveling with me. They're my "first alert" for anything unusual happening around my rig when we're parked. That's in addition to the vehicle alarm system.
Folk in this area of the USA may reasonably assume that their fellow travelers are armed and likely know how to use the equipment. In Wyoming, lawful concealed carry does not require a permit. In adjoining states, CC by the citizens has a longstanding history of being very common. Break-ins/assaults at the rest stops around here are a very rare occurrence ... you simply don't know who is carrying.
As an industrial manufacturer's rep with a multi-state territory in the region, travel by my Class B RV with a mobile HQ/Sales Office and traveling accommodations put me out on the road far more days per year than most folk would ever consider for recreational travels. I never had a problem with overnight camping anywhere, and generally preferred "boondocking" or "stealth camping" to fee charging RV campgrounds for hook-ups I didn't need. When convenient, I would also use city/county/state/fed camping facilities, but in this part of the USA, many of these are tourist season only available due to inclement access conditions. Even many of the fee RV campgrounds will "close for the season". But the highway rest stops and WalMart parking lots are open all year 'round.
Perhaps there are areas of the country where the rest stops have a bad reputation for travelers. But I've never encountered one ... and that includes many years of taking boats or livestock between my home region and Florida (used to race Midwinters in several dinghy classes down there, and the Lightning Southern Circuit for a few years). Most recent trips were taking horses to Naples FL for a client ... and the worst aspect of such travels wasn't our frequent rest stops for the horses, it was the aggressive drivers on the FL roads.
That's the Walmart where I work and I know all the particulars about this case. It was pretty nasty and those people were totally batsh*t crazy. One of my grandsons just happened to be there that night and was the first to help the cop who was shot. It's the first time ANYTHING like that has ever happened here and, hopefully, will be the last. It did, however, cause the decision that no overnight 'camping' is allowed anymore. I do see some in the parking lot at the fast food joint next door and RVs during the day at Walmart but you know how 'some people' just ruin it for everyone else.
Now...if we could get rid of the beggars at the street entrance.
I'm going to tow a travel trailer from Arizona to Alaska in the near future and I definitely plan on using Walmart along the way. I just need a place to park overnight. Why pay an RV park when I don't need any services? RV parks are great if you plan on being somewhere for more than a day and you want the hookups, but for traveling, Walmart or something similar is perfect. I can easily travel three or four days before I need to dump and take on more water. I have a bunch of the Allstays apps, so it's easy to find Walmarts that are accommodating, as well as dump stations. An added benefit is that there is no setting up or tearing down. Just park and go to sleep. Take a quick shower in the morning and hit the road.
I will probably be spending some time in a few myself, though I think I'd prefer the truck stops, but when you're wore out, any old Walmart will do. I've been all over this websitehttps://freecampsites.net/ and I've never done the free camping, but they list campgrounds and walmarts and truck stops that are amenable to having "guests" in the parking lot. However, some seemingly good advice I read recently is to spread the love on the big box stores parking lots b/c every now and then Walmart will do a sweep and stop accepting campers but the other stores don't get nearly the traffic. And hey, I'm truckin on up to Alaska myself in the near future and I'm beyond excited--I'll bet you are too.
Since I have no real experience with free camping I'm not sure this would work but I was checking out some listings the other day and it occurred to me that several were in the city parks of very small towns and it seems you could get water there too. This was in the Missouri Ozarks.
I will probably be spending some time in a few myself, though I think I'd prefer the truck stops, but when you're wore out, any old Walmart will do. I've been all over this websitehttps://freecampsites.net/ and I've never done the free camping, but they list campgrounds and walmarts and truck stops that are amenable to having "guests" in the parking lot. However, some seemingly good advice I read recently is to spread the love on the big box stores parking lots b/c every now and then Walmart will do a sweep and stop accepting campers but the other stores don't get nearly the traffic. And hey, I'm truckin on up to Alaska myself in the near future and I'm beyond excited--I'll bet you are too.
Since I have no real experience with free camping I'm not sure this would work but I was checking out some listings the other day and it occurred to me that several were in the city parks of very small towns and it seems you could get water there too. This was in the Missouri Ozarks.
Two reasons why truck stops may not be such a good choice. 1. They can fill up and truckers won't be very happy to see you there. RVers have more options than a trucker. 2. They are noisy all night because trucking is a 24 hour industry. So there will be movement going on all night, as well as engines and APUs running all night long.
At the very least, check in with the staff to see if they fill up overnight. A truck stop with open spaces at 7 pm or 9 pm may be chock full at midnight or 2 am.
I have a number of Allstays apps on my iPhone. There are some that are very specific, like the one with Walmart locations. I'd get that one and the Camp and RV one for sure. I also have the one for military campgrounds, rest stops and RV dumps. The Camp and RV app has pretty much everything, but breaking them out into individual apps makes it much easier to find something specific, like a Walmart or RV dump station.
Great thread! Links in here I have not seen before.
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