Sleeping in a van

I am going on an extensive roadtrip very soon and I have a question about the best places to park my van for the night. I know that rest stops are illegal (in most states) and dangerous. I have read that truckstops are decent places but may be noisy and probably inaccessible to me because I was hoping to avoid the interstates as much as possible. I have also read that the parking lots of Wal-Marts and other stores open 24/7 might be good places but policies vary from store to store.

I was thinking that hotel parking lots might be a good place because of other out-of-state visitors actually staying in the hotel. My question is whether or not it is illegal to park in a hotel parking lot if you aren't staying in the hotel? Is it standard practice for most hotels to police their parking lots periodically or would I probably be OK if I slipped in after dark, parked in the back somewhere, and slipped out early the next morning. I would likely stick to larger hotel chains where my presence as an out-of-towner would be less likely to be noticed.

My main concern about my upcoming trip is where I will be stopping to sleep every night so any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Pensfan

Most truckstops have been remade in the image of "Travel Centers" that cater to both commercial truckers and occupants of passenger vehicles. There is (nearly) always a section of a travel center where over-night passenger vehicles are welcome. If you get a copy of one of the travel center guidebooks, you will find that there are hundreds on smaller two-lane roads, miles from the Interstates.

Parking on private property without permission if frowned upon in any state in America. Most places have city or county ordinances prohibiting the practice. That being said, many businesses will allow overnight parking -- but the implied courtesy is that you will purchase something from them. I can't imagine you would be thrilled to have some tourist drive into your driveway and sleep over-night without seeking permission.

Yes, you are likely to get caught if you park in motel/hotel lots. In many places, such behavior will probably result in a jail stay... Personally, I can think of no justifiable reason for trespassing on private property.

For alternative views, use the Gray Search button on the top of this page. There are a number of suggestions for places to stay over-night.

Good luck! I hope this is a van where you can stretch out a bit, otherwise you may hope for an occasional hotel or even a night in a tent in a campground. Personally, I can't sleep well in the "travel centers" as they are very brightly lit at all hours of the night and there is the constant din of trucks entering/exiting/using generators, etc.

My understanding is that Walmart generally welcomes overnight guests. In fact, at many a WM parking lot, the overnight crowd is large and may resemble an RV show. I have stayed overnight in both a vehicle and an RV in a WM parking lot and generally venture in the store in the AM for both a small purchase and a restroom visit. There is always something that you can use at a WM even if it is just film, ice or the likes. WM is across America and although you can not plan for their locations, they will often appear when most needed. Happy tripping!

Thank you both for your advice.

Pensfan

You need to check in with the manager of the Walmarts before you camp in the parking lot because not all cities will allow Walmarts to let you spend the night. It's my understanding that Walmarts wants self-contained units. I've heard Target Stores will allow RV's overnight parking too.


Utahtea

PENSFAN: Gert and I have been using a van for road trips for years it matter more where you are if you want to find a place to sleep. Stay away from tourist areas where they make thier money by folks staying in motels and eating out. we looked for 24 hr. grocery stores and eateries a great place would be a shopping area with coffee shop that would open at 5:00 am breakfast and a bathroom great stuff. the only time we got asked to leave is when we were parked in the parking lot (no gate) of a state park oh well good luck GEO.F.

I can tell you that our local Wal Mart has recently taken steps to stop overnighters from it's parking lot. It plain got out of hand. On the other hand there are decent rest stops that allow you to crash, I have used them. Also, I have left rest stops where I just felt uncomfortable. A place of interest would be behind a local fire station. Usually they are not disagreeable to persons catching up from fatigue. I have even been invited in for a cup of java and conversation. You may be asked what you are doing but a polite explanation goes a long way. That dosen't always hold true for the local police station. Good luck, use good common sense and be safe.

First time we have heard of the fire station location. Another similar place is the rear of the parking lot at hospitals -- but again, this is all private property and folks need to be aware of what they are doing.

When we used to have our truck with a camper on it, we were forced to stay in parking lots a few times when campgrounds were not to be found. We found that parking in mall parking lots worked really well when this happened. We would park in an out of the way corner, preferably away from the main road. We would wait until later at night to pull in and be up and away before the stores opened. In order to not draw attention to ourselves, we would go immediately to bed so that no lights were burning.

A couple of times we have also just parked on a city street to do this. Again, pull in fairly late, leave early, and don't have any interior lights burning.

Personally, I wouldn't suggest this for every night but only for times when you can't find a cheap campground.

Imagine this scenario -- you are asleep in your camper at the edge of the parking lot, minding your own business and some drunk driver crashes into your camper. Under US law, the owner of the private parking lot is jointly and severally liable for all injuries and damage to your vehicle sustained in the wreck.

Through no fault of this private person, he and his family and/or business might lose the business caring for you and your vehicle in the aftermath of this accident. Parking in a parking lot without permission is trespassing and puts the owner/operator of the parking lot at grave risk for anything that happens there. Still think it is a good idea?

In our travels, we have stayed overnight in parking lots, but we always did in a manner that enabled us to ask permission.

I've had another idea recently, inspired by a local vacant lot next to a Walgreens that has suddenly become the community used car lot. I think most of you know what I mean; someone puts their used car there trying to sell it, and soon there are a dozen.

Why not park there at night, put up a "for sale" sign, sleep, then drive off the next morning?

Lurker Steve,

A vacant lot is still owned by someone -- see above. Put I admit that is a clever dodge. Your posting made me laugh out loud!

Really? Are you sure? I'm not an expert on legal matters but this doesn't make sense to me.

On my recent trip to Roswell, NM, my car was hit in their Wal-Mart parking lot. Wal-Mart had absolutely no liability in this issue and the person was uninsured so my uninsured motorist coverage covered the incident.

I have a friend who was backing out of a parking space in our local mall and she was slammed by someone driving way too fast down the parking lot driving lanes. Fairly major damage occurred to her vehicle and she had some minor injuries needing treatment. Again, the mall had no liability for this event. In neither case did the insurance companies go after Wal-Mart or the mall.

I, personally, would never think of doing such a thing. I suppose some whacko who doesn't believe in assuming any responsibility for themselves or their actions could try to sue these entities in a civil action, but I'd be dumbfounded if they actually won anything.

Do you know of any incidents where owners of parking lots have been held responsible for such events?

I was commercial real estate property manager for thirteen years in my pre-RTA life. Yep, real estate liability law is very clear about the risks of maintaining a parking lot. Wal-Mart (& every other owner of real estate) will always try to decline to provide coverage, but a "mad-dog" lawyer can always make it stick. I have seen a number of mom & pop property owners taken for thousands of dollars in such scenarios.

Responsible RV'ers and roadtrippers, like yourself, serve by their actions to overcome the problems caused by others -- but the risks are always borne disproportionately by property owners.

Sorry to hear of your accident on the last road trip. Bummer!

I want to thank all of you for your advice.

I have been doing a lot of research along my route and I'm pretty sure that I will have no problem finding cheap campgrounds to stay in.

pensfan

We have travelled coast to coast and border to border, spending many, many nights in Wal-Marts, Costco, large shopping centers, rest areas on freeways and in truckstops.
Never once have we been asked to leave or been bothered by anyone. These areas are usualy well lit during the night which gives us some sense of security. As others of you have mentioned, we park in an out of the way space, do not leave any evidence of our having been there when we leave, and do use the restroom facilities if we can. We also carry a port-a-potty, have a 12 volt refrigerator and are almost as self contained as a small motorhome. We camped in this way all the way to Alaska and back thru both the U.S. and Canada. If you haven't tried it, why not?

Interesting. I don't think it's right that property owners should be liable for something beyond their control. Guess I should sue Wal-Mart in Roswell to fix my door? I wouldn't. I would feel like a jerk doing that. But I guess not everyone would feel that way. It's certainly something to consider when finding a place to park for the night.

Yeah, bummer on the wreck...nothing serious. A guy backed into my driver's door and creased it up by the hinge. I had to drive the whole way home climbing in-and-out over the passenger side. But I'm lucky that it was driveable. It could have been worse.

what about sleeping in an SUV? i getting ready to leave on my roadtrip and was planning on spending some of the nights just in the back. i have a mitsubishi montero sport, will that be enough room to get a good nights sleep, or will it be too cramped? has anyone else ever done a trip sleeping in an suv? does it work?

I once took a long-weekend trip in a brand new (at the time) 1978 Mazda RX7. For those unfamiliar, it was a two-seat hardtop, hatchback sport coupe about the size of a Miata. I actually slept in the back of this car; I curled around the rear hatchback area, with my head at the rear where I could look up through the glass at the stars, and my legs and feet snaked between the seats and stretched toward the front console area (all in a sleeping bag of course, as I was in Death Valley and it got COLD at night). I slept well. I am 50 now, and this type of sleeping arrangement is a thing of the past, along with tree-climbing, fence-jumping and ANY kind of contact sports. Bob

Why don't you just give it a try some time in your driveway? You don't have to sleep in it all night to give you an idea if it will work for you. Years ago, we often slept in the back of a Suburban but that would be roomier than your SUV. I have also slept in a VW Scirocco and a VW New Beetle. Just put a cooler or duffle bag or something on the floor to raise your feet and lower the seat as far as it will go. Actually, pretty comfy! But I wouldn't want to do it every night.

LOL It's funny you should mention trying it out, because that's exactly what I did last weekend in my Honda Civic. I'm going from Manitoba to Atlanta to New Orleans and back, sleeping in my car for a quarter of the trip. Tried sleeping in the front with the seat down, in the back seat, and even folded the back seats down and slept half in the truck, half on top of the seats. Must say that the front seat is the best though! Just hope no one walks past the car and watches me sleep. :o)

"A vacant lot is still owned by someone -- see above. Put I admit that is a clever dodge. Your posting made me laugh out loud!"

Glad it did :)

Speak of the devil though, a day or two after I mentioned the "lot", all the cars vanished (presumably towed away by the local constabulary.)

I just finished listening to "Blue Highways", in which the author sleeps in his van during a cross-country trip with few exceptions. Of course this was twenty years ago, and times have changed, but as long as you can stay inconspicuous, and out of sight, it should work.

Some ideas I can think of would be: on residential streets with curbside parking, apartment complex parking lots (watch out for areas with required parking permits though)... think of where an extra van parked at night wouldn't be noticed.

The front seats are more comfortable if you put something on the floor to raise your feet up so they don't drop down all night. I usually use a duffle bag or two for something soft.

As for privacy, I put sunshades on the windshield and then put a towel in the side windows and roll the windows up tight to hold the towel in place. I have felt pretty private with this system.

For more comfort sleeping in the front seat, putting something on the floor (I use a duffle bag) to elevate your legs.

For privacy, use those sunblocking screens on the front windows and hang a towel in the door windows and roll the window up to hold them tighly in place. Works quite well.

&gt; I am going on an extensive roadtrip very soon and <BR>
&gt; I have a question about the best places to park <BR>
&gt; my van for the night. I know that rest stops are <BR>
&gt; illegal (in most states) and dangerous. I have <BR>
&gt; read that truckstops are decent places but may be <BR>
&gt; noisy and probably inaccessible to me because I <BR>
&gt; was hoping to avoid the interstates as much as <BR>
&gt; possible. I have also read that the parking lots <BR>
&gt; of Wal-Marts and other stores open 24/7 might be <BR>
&gt; good places but policies vary from store to <BR>
&gt; store. <BR>
&gt; <BR>
&gt; I was thinking that hotel parking <BR>
&gt; lots might be a good place because of other <BR>
&gt; out-of-state visitors actually staying in the <BR>
&gt; hotel. My question is whether or not it is <BR>
&gt; illegal to park in a hotel parking lot if you <BR>
&gt; aren't staying in the hotel? Is it standard <BR>
&gt; practice for most hotels to police their parking <BR>
&gt; lots periodically or would I probably be OK if I <BR>
&gt; slipped in after dark, parked in the back <BR>
&gt; somewhere, and slipped out early the next <BR>
&gt; morning. I would likely stick to larger hotel <BR>
&gt; chains where my presence as an out-of-towner <BR>
&gt; would be less likely to be noticed. <BR>
&gt; <BR>
&gt; My main <BR>
&gt; concern about my upcoming trip is where I will be <BR>
&gt; stopping to sleep every night so any feedback is <BR>
&gt; greatly appreciated. Thank you.<BR>
&gt; <BR>
&gt; Pensfan <BR>
<BR>

I am also planning to take a roadtrip in my van this summer. The comments here have helped me know where I could sleep at night, but does anyone know if there are places with public showers that I could use, or would you suggust staying in a motel every now and then? Any advice you could give would be appreciated. Thanks

1. Instead of motels, you might try youth hostels if there are some along your route. They are more inexpensive than many motels, and usually feature "dorm" style accommodations (read "bunkhouse") with shared rooms and baths. Some of them have private rooms at an additional charge.

2. Private campgrounds (and some public ones as well)usually have showers. Sometimes I will rent a "camping cabin" at a KOA instead of a motel, although you'll find this doesn't save you much, as they are expensive for what you get (usually $30-$45, depending on location). For me, it is a matter of convenience when I use them, not cost.

Just some ideas: some trucker's plazas allow non-truckers to use their shower facilities for a small fee. I have been known to park in the day use area of national, state, and county campgrounds and use their shower facilities. Some are coin-op and some not. Sometimes private campgrounds will let you use their shower facilities for a small fee. YMCA facilities normally have a day use fee where you can use their showers and other facilities as well.

After reviewing the postings on van/SUV, etc. camping, I would like to comment as follows:
1. Shower facilities are available on the road at most of the following places: County parks, State Parks, and Private Campgrounds. Price, of course, varies with the private being the most expensive. If you are a senior citizen and have a "Golden Age Passport", you can stay in most federal campgrounds for one-half the posted price. We have stayed in RV parks in such large cities as Vancouver, BC; Victoria, BC; San Francisco, CA; San Antonio, TX and others. You pay the same rate as a motorhome or other large RV, but the facilities are A number one. Most of these have public transportation near, so you don't even have to drive into the city if you don't wish to.
2. One of the comments stated that you can put sun screens in the windows for privacy. Be careful! If you have lights on in the van/SUV/car, those outside can see in just as if the screen wasn't in the window.
3. If camping in cooler weather, we take a small electric heater and use that whenever we have electricity.
Good Luck to anyone planning van camping, it can't be beat for economy and fun!

Hi, I was the one who mentioned the sunscreens for privacy. Good point. Since I do this in a New Beetle I'm not doing anything...except maybe reading...that would be a problem but that's a great point for those who have more room like your van. Reminded me of another comfort idea. I bought a very small, portable, battery-operated fan that folds down to about 5"x5"x2". It works great on those nights when it's a bit warm in the car and helps more than you would think for such a small thing. It will usually last all night on full batteries. And, since I also have a 12-volt battery recharger, I can recharge the batteries while on the road for the next night.

Just found this interesting thread, ironically after just returning from a short trip where I slept every night in my car. Yeah, car, not even a van or SUV, just a nice, comfortable Volkswagen Jetta.

I'm surprised about the comments about sleeping in rest areas; I do this routinely. It's very rare that I'm the only one there doing it, too. Even in Pennsylvania, where it's technically illegal (there is a 4 hour limit, as I recall), a lot of people do it and I've never had any trouble. I've also slept in truckstop parking lots, but I'm actually less comfortable in those. I've never tried to sleep in a store parking lot or anything like that; I wouldn't go somewhere that I'm not supposed to park.

As for a shower, you can get one at most truckstops. Any TA TravelCenter has them available for $7, clean and convenient. I keep a spreadsheet on my laptop with all their locations, you can download it from their website. They're like Mecca. Seven bucks is a lot better than paying for a motel room, when you're really just paying to have a bathroom in the morning. Plus, they're available 24 hours a day, so you don't have to stick to motel check-out-time schedules. The showers aren't prominently advertised, but you'll find them in the "trucker area" of the facility. A towel and soap are provided, but no shampoo or anything else.

It's also worth noting that, at truckstops, the bathrooms for the truckers in the back are usually much nicer than the crappy ones they give the regular people (and no one will think anything of it if you're brushing your teeth or shaving in that bathroom).

Truckstops are truly one of the great American inventions. Allow yourself to fit into the trucker culture, and you'll regret all that money you've wasted on motels over the years.

&gt; I am also planning to take a roadtrip in my van <BR>
&gt; this summer. The comments here have helped me <BR>
&gt; know where I could sleep at night, but does <BR>
&gt; anyone know if there are places with public <BR>
&gt; showers that I could use, or would you suggust <BR>
&gt; staying in a motel every now and then? Any advice <BR>
&gt; you could give would be appreciated. Thanks <BR>
<BR>
If you're passing thru a college town, a lot of times they leave their gyms open for students and community members to come in and shower. Completely free, and usually not too icky. The ones I've been have all been pretty nice. Some places say you have to have some special gym card or something, but that;s usually just for using the weight room, etc. They usually have a back door that they leave propped open by the locker rooms...or, just say you're a student of faculty member and you forgot your card, most places don't care at all.

I've heard this works for highschool gyms too, but I wouldn't want to try that, seems like they have a lot of security tese days, and it;s a little sketchy for strangers to be in there taking showers...

You could alwasy just go to the local gym, and ask for a free trial pass, get in a workout while you're there!

good luck!

If you're passing thru a college town, a lot of times they leave their gyms open for students and community members to come in and shower. Completely free, and usually not too icky. The ones I've been have all been pretty nice. Some places say you have to have some special gym card or something, but that;s usually just for using the weight room, etc. They usually have a back door that they leave propped open by the locker rooms...or, just say you're a student or faculty member and you forgot your card, most places don't care at all.

I've heard this works for highschool gyms too, but I wouldn't want to try that, seems like they have a lot of security tese days, and it's a little sketchy for strangers to be in there taking showers...

You could alwasy just go to the local gym, and ask for a free trial pass, get in a workout while you're there!

good luck!