Overnighting Other than Wal-Mart

[mudpuppy]

When on the road we stop for the night at Cracker Barrels for the most part. Our destinations usually are friends or family's driveways. That's one reason we purchased our MH so we could visit and not impose on them.

[chaunclm]

Originally Posted by melvonnar

I can be parked among 18 wheelers with there motors running and they don't bother me; someone in a motorhome has a generator running; that bothers me; realy don't know why.

If you park next to me in a public area, then you will hear my generator, and if you don't like it then you can move.

[Billieg]

I'm a biker and a Nam vet. I also think I have some common sense. If a person is out of work and his family is starving he is going to feed them. If a criminal is out and about he is after something. They both want an easy target. Are you an easy target?

If you're parked on the side of a road alone or parked in an empty parking lot alone, you are an easy target. I don't care if you have dogs or a 9mm you are at a disadvantage. Do you really want to confront someone with your gun? Pull it out you had better use it.

Me, I would never place my DW in that situation. If Wallyworld, Target, Cracker barrel, flying J's or any other lot has other RV's then ok. If not, I'll travel on. Once in NY city I saw 2 truckers parked next to me get hung by their necks on meat hooks because someone wanted their load of meat. Life's too short to take major chances for a few dollars. But to each his own....

[wa8yxm]

Some of the places we have overnighted include Wall Marts of course, and FLying-J (The big two) Moose lodges (Membership has it's privlidges) not all moose lodges have RV facilities but most of 'em will let you take up space in the parking lot if you are a member. The one in Elkhard, IN for example, has no RV hookups at all, but a nice big lot.

Other stores (Meijer's Sam's, Costco, Save-A-Lot) and Church. THe one I belong to has "Branches" all over the world. Of course at Church I sing for my parking

[JimM68]

Originally Posted by SyrenSkywolf

Usually for heating or air conditioning. Set it where you want, and it runs all night. No getting up and down from bed to turn it on/off.

I've heard that, but just don't get it... why would someone hauling frieght for pennies leave a 14 liter diesel idling all night?
Those are profits going out the tailpipe, there has to be a better way?

[Rick & Hope]

Originally Posted by JimM68

I've heard that, but just don't get it... why would someone hauling frieght for pennies leave a 14 liter diesel idling all night?
Those are profits going out the tailpipe, there has to be a better way?

For heating and cooling. Not all states will give us a weight break for having a auxiliary power unit(APU) for heat and cooling. So that is 400 lbs less that you can haul. Also APU's cost about $6000 to $9000. A long haul tractor is traded on average every 3 years so return on investment is not great.

[TXiceman]

With the crazies and all of the meanness out there today, a lone RV is an invitation for some idiot to check it out. I'd prefer to stay in a campground and spend the few dollars for some small margin of safety. Even then, the 9mm is loaded and not far from hand.

ken

[Gary - K7GLD]

My parents used to do most of their RV traveling and associated overnighting in Arizona and Nevada - and would just pull off on some obviously seldom used dirt side path. That was years ago - and they also could tell several stories of impending trouble from carloads of traveling hoodlums that was short-circuited by the clear view of my dad's 12 gauge shotgun - they had 2 different good acquaintance RVers killed in their RVs while staying in public lots - just another reason we avoid those places - too many crazies, hoodlums and criminals wandering loose out there...

AND, I expect it'll just get worse as times steadily degrade and more folks face hard times...

[SyrenSkywolf]

Those who turn to crime out of desperation from hard times are truly sad indeed. My wife and I have been jobless and homeless in the past, just a couple years ago, and we never even dreamed of doing anything illegal. We never even degraded ourselves enough to panhandle. We found other ways to cope.

[Madrona]

I was hoping to get other rv'ers tell stories about unusual places they have spent the night in their RV. Maybe some funny tales about the looks you may have received, or just something a little more light-hearted then we have now. I'll take the blame for starting this off with our experience of a potentially dangerous situation that resulted in only a good nights sleep and some great views. I did offer what I thought was a humorous post about the guy that complained about our generator as he asked to plug in his laptop. That is what I should have started with and maybe left out the "dangerous" one.

So, in an effort to get this thread back on topic, I'll ask again. What are some of the more unusual places you have parked for the night and what interesting thing happened because of it?

[melvonnar]

A druggie will kill to get a fix: That said; I don't get paranoid about staying at wallyworld or a flying j overnight.
Had someone come in my garage(broad daylight when we were home and stole my leaf blowers) bad guys are everywhere; If you are fearful, lock your doors, put bars on the windows and never leave your home.
You have nothing to fear, but fear itself.

[RustyJC]

Originally Posted by melvonnar

If you are fearful, lock your doors, put bars on the windows and never leave your home. You have nothing to fear, but fear itself.

I would suggest that the rational course lies between the extremes of secluding oneself in a fortress or, conversely, saying that there's absolutely nothing out there in the world to fear. A judicious application of common sense to recognize and avoid hazardous situations when possible without being ruled by an irrational fear of them is a reasonable middle ground.

Rusty

[mudpuppy]

I do speical event parking from time to time. One of the best events I have ever done was a blue grass festival. People showed up in every thing from class A's to tents and by night fall small groups of entertainers had formed and played late into the night. In the morning I was greated by the smells and sounds of breakfast from our small settlement getting ready for the days events.

[Nuge]

We took off half-cocked from Hammond, IN to Phoenix, AZ to get my daughter and three little ones who had no place to stay. (Long story in itself) We stayed at Walmarts, rest stops and even had a couple of breakdowns on the side of the highway. (NOT Recommended!) The night on the highway east of Amarillo, TX with a blown U-joint was probably the worst with semis flying by rocking the RV all night long. We had four tires replaced in a Walmart parking lot and NOT by Walmart; they didn't have the right tires but were fine with us getting it done by someone else. Our only uncomfortable moment was in a rest stop. On the way out, it was the little woman, my son and three of our grand-kids aged 2, 3, ,and 4. As we wandered the park-like rest stop we noticed a lone older man shadowing us. I'm very aware and cautious and the kids were wandering with us three adults surrounding them loosely. I started watching this guy very closely, blatantly staring at him and he wandered off to follow another group. He left before us but we caught up to him as he pulled into the very next rest stop. If we hadn't been in a hurry to get my daughter off the street in Phoenix I might have called that authorities even if it was only on suspicion....We also stayed in a Walmart in Texas and parked in the wrong spot! It turned out the this Walmart was on a corner and the locals cut through the lot to avoid the stop light. Those people were FLYING through there cutting across the lanes and zooming around our unit! We observed several near-miss head-on's and decided to find a quieter corner of the lot to park!