you can still find overnight parking at Walmart and cracker barrel and in this video we're gonna
show you how 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 before we get started in sharing with you how to find those free parking spots we just wanted
to say a huge thank you to those of you that are supporting us over on patreon we really appreciate
your support and it helps us to really focus on bringing more of these types of videos to you
so thank you so much for your support when we're traveling from place to place we really prefer
to get where we're going as soon as possible and not break things up into multiple days of travel
back to back so that means sometimes putting in a little bit of a longer travel day
and finding a spot to just boondock overnight in between stops going from one location to another
now Walmart used to kind of have the big reputation for allowing overnight parking for
RVers and campers and in recent years a lot of that has changed now why that that has changed
is an interesting topic of discussion and some people will tell you that that has been
because RVers and campers have abused the privilege and have basically
set up camp for days and days at a time in the Walmart parking lot but it also has to
do some city ordinances have changed so in some cities you can't have the overnight RV parking
in a business parking lot like you used to so it's really kind of a combination of both as to
why that you're seeing fewer and fewer Walmarts allowing that overnight parking for our veers so
here are four tips on how to find overnight parking at a Walmart or cracker barrel
tip number one use apps or websites I like to use the RV parky app there's also overnight
rvparking.com or campendia you can read reviews from other users which is very helpful because
these reviews tend to be more up to date than maybe information you would find on google or even
some of the apps because reviewers have stayed there recently so you can take a look at what
that review date is and it will tell you if maybe this Walmart or this cracker barrel no longer
allows RV parking the other thing that I like for reviews in this regard is with cracker barrel
not all cracker barrels have the parking that is more big rig friendly even though they advertise
rv parking some of those RV parking spaces are definitely on the shorter side we've got a big rig
i really like to know in advance how much space that we have to be able to
park or turn around so reading those reviews on RV parky compendium can be really helpful in
real time to know if they still allow overnight parking at that particular location or not
so tip number two when you're utilizing these free overnight camping spots don't
set up camp there for more than one night this is really geared towards just an in-between kind
of rest stop pit stop to be able to get to your next location because a lot of RVs now
make it almost impossible to access anything like beds or a refrigerator if all the slides are in
if you need to put slides out try to park in a location where those slides are not coming out
into the parking lot you can see behind me here where we've parked at this particular Walmart
overnight the slides that we needed to put out are against a field area so they're not impeding
any sort of traffic or parking for others or walkway for others so you want to make
sure that you're courteous in how it is that you're setting up for the night
tip number three be careful of where you park you want to make sure that where you park is not going
to hinder anybody that needs to patronize that business so if you pull into a Walmart
overnight and you just park right in the middle of the parking lot that's not very conducive to
the customers of that Walmart the next day you want to make sure that you park somewhere out
of the way or in a designated area if they have signs designating that area and then
the other thing that you want to make sure is that
you don't end up putting yourself in a situation where you can potentially be blocked in we've
actually had that happen before and now we're very very cautious about how we park and where we park
to be able to easily get out the next day if cars were to come and park in spaces around us
so tip number four be sure to patronize that business that you're parking overnight at last
night when we arrived here at this particular Walmart I ran in got some just the groceries
that we were going to need for the coming week if we park overnight at a cracker barrel we
love to have breakfast and the nice thing about cracker barrel is breakfast is served all day
so make sure that you patronize that business that you're utilizing their parking space
and give them some of your business is just a way to say thanks so you'll have to let me know in
the comments down below what your experience has been with overnight parking in different areas as
you're going from place to place have you parked at a Walmart a cracker barrel where are some of
the best places that you have found offer free overnight parking to be able to just stop for the
night as you're in between destinations I would love to hear what some of you guys have found
for some great free overnight parking spot because we know so many of you are in the middle of
planning those summer trips and those vacations you'll have to check out the links below where
we have a free trip planning template for you and also a free kind of camper packing checklist for
you as well so those links will be down below you can download those for absolutely free
one of those is for dad nope
there's another car fire what is up with Georgia and car fires people oh my gosh
if you'd like to see more videos with RV tips and tricks you can check that out right here
and if you'd like to see some videos about RV travel and fun places to check
out you can check those out right over here until next time we'll see you on the road