So finding free overnight parking while you're out there rving can be a little bit on the tricky side
so in this video we're gonna talk about how to find those wonderful free overnight parking spots
as well is talk about just some etiquette that you need to be aware of while you're utilizing
those so stay tuned we are charity ben dakota and trinity we decided we didn't want to wait for a
life of adventure so in 2017 we bought our first rv and set off to live a life of travel in the usa
we've visited over 38 states in three years and have many more to go
follow along to learn all the best places to see rv and travel tips and much more
so it used to be just kind of a surefire bet that any walmart would allow free overnight parking and
if you just found a local walmart well there's your spot to park for the night that's changed
quite a bit over the years for a lot of different reasons all of which we're not going to go into in
this particular video but just suffice it to say that has changed significantly and because of that
there are some walmarts you can park overnight for free some you can't but there's a ton of other
spots where you can find free overnight parking in addition to those occasional walmart parking lots
so how do you find places with free overnight parking there's a lot of apps and desktop versions
of different softwares that can be used i personally like to use the allstays app if i am on
mobile just because i can pull up a map of an area and it shows me at a glance all of the different
places that are there that allow free overnight parking but also campgrounds state parks things
of that nature if you are using rv trip wizard on desktop there is a specific filter just for free
overnight parking and so that is a great resource that you can use as well there's also apps like rv
parky and compendium now compendium is kind of nice because compendium will actually show you
some extra things about that particular location as far as cell service so if you have say verizon
for your data plan and you want to know are you going to have good cell service in that particular
area a lot of times reviewers will leave those reviews on campendium and so you just have a
good idea of what to expect while you're parked there overnight so we'll talk about
some of our favorite places to find free overnight parking here in just a few minutes but some places
that you can find free overnight parking that are kind of outside of the box thinking
are places like casinos and even casinos sometimes actually have full hookup parking that's available
because they want people to come and gamble at the casino another outside of the box area that
you could potentially park overnight for free are places like stadiums and arenas places like
church parking lots movie theaters that usually have big parking lots and tend to let out late
also places like planet fitness 24-hour fitness usually tend to have large parking lots now here's
the deal don't just go park overnight in these areas without at least making a phone call and
making sure that that's an okay practice or that that particular business does not mind that you're
using their parking lot most of the time you will find places like churches definitely don't mind
if you're not doing it on say a weekend when they expect that their parking lots will be more full
and you just need to park overnight say during the middle of the week one place that you can
check are things like rv parky and campendium to look at what other reviewers are saying about that
particular area that you're considering parking overnight in there have been many times that we've
considered parking overnight at say a cracker barrel and i've used something like rv parky
or campendium to look at reviews and people have said that maybe it's next to an interstate that's
very busy and there's a lot of road noise or that they don't allow overnight parking anymore or that
maybe they only have three spots that would even fit an rv and if i know it's kind of the height
of busy rv season that just might not be the best place so utilizing reviews that other people leave
and if you have an experience at a place with overnight parking leave a review as well because
that helps others in the rv community be able to know if this is or isn't a good place to park
overnight so let's talk a little bit about harvest hosts now harvest hosts is a great program that
allows for free overnight parking at places like wineries breweries farms orchards they have a golf
course add-on that they just recently added into their membership we personally do have a harvest
host membership and we also have a discount code that will be in the description below
if you're thinking about harvest hosts for this rv coming season you can save 15 with our link
a couple of things to remember about harvest host if you choose to use it looking for some
free overnight parking number one most places do require some sort of reservation or advance notice
a lot of these types of places don't just have a huge parking lot that can park hundreds of rvs at
a time so they do have some sort of reservation system where they might have five to ten places
that would accommodate an rv especially if it's an rv that's a little bit longer in length so
you do have to use the harvest host system or reach out directly to the contact person
of that particular business to make a reservation and secure your spot the other thing is is that
these business owners will require that you arrive during business hours they don't want you pulling
in at 10 o'clock at night or when they're not available to help show you where it is that
they want you to park and to be able to set up so if you are wanting to use a harvest host location
for your stay you do have to plan in advance and make those reservations and just make all of those
arrangements it's not really one of those things where you can just look last minute and then
pull over for the night and you know pull in at 10 o'clock at night because that is what we
tend to do we haven't actually used our harvest hosts this season yet just because we do tend to
use overnight parking more for those longer travel days between point a point b where we know
we're going to be putting in a longer stretch and probably not pulling off the road until
10 or maybe even 10 30 11 o'clock at night so we're gonna talk about our favorite places to park
overnight for free and some of the places that we have parked overnight for free in the last four
years but before i do that i just want to make sure that you have hit that subscribe button every
time that we release a new video if you've hit that subscribe button and tap the bell you will
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when you're ready to watch it our number one favorite place to overnight park for free
is cracker barrel just like we're doing right now the reason that we love cracker barrel so
much is because we really enjoy just eating a nice breakfast in the morning the other reason
is is they have very large parking lots they're rv friendly they're usually somewhat close to an
interstate which might make for a little bit of road noise during the night while you're sleeping
which we just run some fans to kind of help negate that but it means that it's not too far off of the
beaten path so this particular cracker barrel we pulled in about 10 o'clock last night went to bed
got up had a very lovely breakfast and we're about ready to get on the road our number two favorite
spot to park overnight for free would be a cabela's or a bass pro shops now these particular
locations always have huge parking lots and a lot of them actually even have a rv dump station
and a water fill station and so very rv friendly very easy to find overnight parking and you
usually will find yourselves with other rvers in these locations our number three favorite place to
overnight park is actually at rest stops that are in more remote areas so perfect example of this
was earlier this summer we were traveling through the middle of nowhere montana and north dakota and
there were several rest stops along the way that are just off of the highway in these areas but
these are very remote areas and so even though you're right off of the highway in a rest stop
it is not heavy traffic it's very very quiet you can see the stars it's just one of those beautiful
places kind of a hidden gem for free overnight parking in those particular types of areas
so no video on overnight parking would really be complete unless that we kind of talked about
some etiquette or some do's and don'ts of what to do and how to just be a better camper when
it comes to utilizing these free overnight stops so number one is you want to make sure
that you park away from the main business area and if they have designated rv parking
where your rv will fit park there if not find a place that you just aren't going to be impeding
any normal flows of that particular business so that you can park out of the way the second thing
is to make sure that you don't overstay your welcome so that means just park for the one night
that you need to park there for this isn't free camping this isn't a place for you to come in and
set up camp for the week and throw out the lawn chairs and put your slides out and your patio rug
and call it home no this is just a quick place to lay your head for the night and move on the next
day number three is avoid dropping levelers if you can now this again is just kind of common courtesy
it also makes sure that there's no potential damage to the parking lot if it has been a
very hot day and there's potentially fresh asphalt so unless that you absolutely need to
to be able to somehow keep your fridge from not working or something like that just leave those
leveling jacks up most parking lots are fairly level to where that shouldn't be a problem anyway
number four is you want to make sure that if you do need to put a slide out that you park in an
area where putting that slide out is not going to then impede into another parking space so a lot of
rvs ours included if we don't at least put out our bedroom slide you can't really walk around the bed
or access the closet some rvs like fifth wheels you can't access the bathroom or the kitchen if at
least one slide isn't out so make sure that as you pull in and you look at where you're going to park
that you're parked in such a way that putting out that slide that maybe you need to put out
doesn't cause any traffic issues or then doesn't take up parking spaces that other people could
be utilizing because you've put that slide out number five is don't run your generator unless
absolutely necessary for something that is more of an emergency type need and also don't run that
generator during those night time hours especially when there's other campers that are overnight
parking with you now the last and probably most important thing when it comes to overnight parking
etiquette is when you are parked overnight in a businesses parking lot do something to patronize
that business so for us cracker barrel we went in and we had a really nice breakfast this morning if
you're parked at walmart go get some groceries if you park at a cabela's or a bass pros run in and
purchase a t-shirt or or something that maybe you need for your rv just patronize that business is a
way to say thank you to that business for allowing you to use their parking lot for the night
would allow free overnight parking
you do have to plant that getting bit so if your goal is to delay the departure of this train
you're killing it so we're going to tell that
i'm going to add slurps to every time you every time you do that okay that's fine
our hold on gathering thoughts gathering thoughts other people are perturbed
it's a great way we can all save money together holy cow jake break
why why every time so you'll have to let us know in the comments below but when you leave a comment
below you're not just letting us know you're also letting others in the rv community know as well
one of the things we love about the rv community is the way that we all
just so generously share information and support each other so definitely leave a
comment and let us and others know about your favorite free overnight parking or
your favorite ways to find free overnight parking i'm gonna put some more videos about trip planning
and rv trips in general right up here i'll put a video that i think you might enjoy
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if we don't see you at the campground or out on the road we'll see you in the next video