FORGET WALMART! 23 SECRET (& UNUSUAL) FREE OVERNIGHT RV PARKING SPOTS

hi guys well as the rv and van life and travel community keeps growing and growing it can be harder and harder to find a safe spot to park overnight as you travel around the country as you may know more and more walmarts are not allowing it well here are 21 secret or unusual places you probably haven't thought of to park at overnight and again we're not talking about walmart's rest areas truck stops or cracker barrels these are again unusual places to park overnight and number 12 i think you'll be surprised by i'm tom with enjoythejourney.life if you're brand new to our channel make sure you hit that subscribe button that way you catch all of our videos just like this one one of the reasons that we make videos like these is so we can work together as a community of rvers van lifers travelers nomads and even truck drivers because these spaces are limited out there and unfortunately sometimes people don't take care of them they leave trash and disgusting things i don't even want to talk about and by making everybody aware that even though these are free places to stop at for a night or two don't abuse the privilege that number one you want to leave it better than you found it so if you see trash please pick it up and by all means do not leave it trashed after you're done stay in the night and if it's a business place by all means please patronize them and if it's a place that you would offer a tip please leave a great tip because if a lot of us do this we can start being seen as a group of some of the best people that businesses want us to come and spend the night we want to know if you've already used some of these unusual places to park overnight and if you have go ahead and comment down below or if you think of any others that i haven't mentioned here go ahead and mention that down below now these are spots usually just for one night please don't stay longer than one night unless you have asked permission they're mostly places that for traveling across the country or maybe getting to a new area and you're about to scout out your next boondocking spot so these are not like official camping spots now we have made a lot of videos like that so what i'll do is go ahead and put a link down below where you can check out those other videos for free or low-cost uh parking places like actually this one right here very low cost full hookups ten dollars a night i'm going to be making a video about that shortly so again make sure you subscribe now a lot of these free parking spaces will depend on the size of your rv or van or travel vehicle and also local ordinances and obviously the location itself so if you don't want that knock on the door at night or worse a ticket or a boot on a tire on your vehicle then you should ask permission now i know some people say that well if you don't ask the answer won't be no but we don't recommend that plus these locations are a stay at your own risk just because it's free and might be allowed does not mean it's safe if it doesn't look safe look for a different spot to stay overnight as i share these spots i'm going to also share the apps and websites that we find some of these cool locations to stop at overnight but a lot of people ask us like well what's the regular apps that you use to find free overnight camping areas blm land and also regular campgrounds and we actually use the dirt pro app this is an awesome app in fact one of the locations that we stayed at that i will share later on in the video we found on the dirt pro and the cool thing is that we have a link that we can share with you down in the description that will get you a 90-day free trial to check it out that's going to be a lot of camping use so again check out the dirt pro with our link below for 90 days free and i think you're gonna like the app now for traveling across the country for rv safe gps directions we've been using the rv life rv trip wizard app for years and because we're not subtle back here we have a huge rv and you know some roads are just not safe for rvs our size low bridges things like that we use the rv trip wizard rv life app and we'll put a link down below for that one as well plus we can save you 25 off on that using our link so check out those two apps so first we're gonna start with the places we haven't personally stayed at yet but at the end i've got five places that we have stayed at before now it's it's really crazy that after nine years of rving yeah it's my nine year aversary or i just passed it so wow that's a lot of years but even after all that time has gone by there's still a bunch of places we have not tried so these have been shared by viewers and other research that we've done so keep track of the count of these locations and let's get started and number one is airports well smaller community airports also known as flamping not glamping but flamping that's flying camping now a lot of this might be for tents but it's been suggested that you could also bring your rv or van in there i will put a link down below to the aopa and you can check it out and again if you've tried this let us know down below and number two is colleges and university i've never thought of this before but many are prepared to have tailgate parties for sports games but also prospective students that are checking out the campus and some of them have free wi-fi that you might be able to bum off of so check it out number two colleges and universities and number three is marinas that kind of makes sense that when the boats are in the water in season that their storage locations might be available to park rvs so if you've used this uh let us know down below and number four is shopping malls this was a new one to sheree and i because you wouldn't think that would be allowed but we noticed down in destin florida a couple years ago that there was an rv parked at a large shopping mall and we drive by it each day and it was there every single day that's kind of like what we do if we see an rv parked in an unusual spot will wonder are they there overnight did they get permission so a lot of viewers have commented that they do this as well so overnight rv parking at shopping malls that's number four as a possible place to stay overnight can you guess where we're at where else in august would you start see leaves falling and changing color let us know down below if you know what state we're in right now but number five is hospitals yes hospitals and it kind of makes sense that if a family was visiting a patient that that would be an easy way to allow rvs to stay overnight when they're visiting now maybe you're not visiting so just get clearance with the hospital or security and several viewers have said this is the location that they have used and number six is convention centers and arenas that kind of makes sense because they host big events and they're gonna need parking spaces for vendors or bands that come in to play for concerts so let us know have you used convention centers or arenas that's number six and number seven is churches actually a lot of viewers have said that they use this and one of our viewers actually said they use this exclusively as they travel around the country so churches have large parking lots that are often open a lot of the week so that is number seven and number eight is movie theaters yes big large parking lots that well they probably clear out late after the last movie showing but that would be kind of awesome to park your rv and check out a movie we should try that actually i need to talk to sheree about that but let us know if you've asked permission at a movie theater go buy some tickets enjoy the movie then go hop in your rv for the night actually sounds kind of fun and number nine is hotels with large parking lots or a field right by them for truck parking many big rigs don't have a sleeper in the back so truck drivers need to spend the night in the hotel or construction workers with large equipment and just ask hey can you park there overnight and some of these will be reserved for guests only like sheree and i have ran into this before we asked but we were told no so we had to find a different spot but again let us know have you tried hotel parking lots or spaces near the hotel that is number nine and number 10 are race tracks this is probably a place that you would do like in between the races but also another fun location to maybe catch a race and then camp overnight or maybe even longer if it's allowed and that's number 10. and number 11 is public libraries interesting i don't know how popular public libraries are these days maybe their parking lots are more available but that is number 11 as suggested by one of our viewers and number 12 is police stations or fire departments police stations really and actually several viewers have told us they have done just that but there's a side benefit to this that you can go to a police station and ask them where can you park legally overnight in that town or community and they can either tell you where you can go or they will just let you park right there in their parking lot and some people said well it's going to be loud because there's going to be people coming and going all night long and we actually had a retired sheriff say that no it's actually only noisy between shift changes so i thought a police department was an unusual location what do you think and have you tried it that's number 12. and number 13 is kmarts yes actually kmarts i've learned were the very first big box store to allow overnight rv parking even before walmarts and some people might say well there aren't any kmarts left but actually based on my research there are currently 21 to 33 kmarts still open so have you parked at a kmart let us know down below number 14 is sam's clubs and i know sam's clubs are owned by walmart but apparently some rvers have stayed overnight at a sam's club we still have not but that is number 14 let us know if you've tried that one and number 15 is costco sears and other big box retailers yes there are still apparently 33 sears locations left and some of our viewers say that they have stayed at some of these other locations as well and number 16 is bankrupt stores yeah kind of related to kmart and sears and a lot of these big retailers that have gone out of business lately now they've got huge parking lots you know nobody's there probably no security and this has actually been one of our most suggested unusual places to park at the only thing i would be concerned about security staying there one thing about businesses that are still in business is there's probably some lights and probably some security sheree and i have not tried this location so again let us know down below if you have and on the flip side of that number 17 is warehouses or these big stores shopping malls etc that are still under construction so the parking lots would be mostly empty because the stores haven't opened yet and there may not be anybody there to ask permission so this again a stay at your own risk you might get that knock on the door at night you don't want that and we are almost to the ones that sheree and i have personally done but one more left that we have not try and that's number 18 and that is pharmacies like cvs and walgreens they do have some good size parking lots but maybe would be more suited for a vehicle or a van or something like that i don't think we would attempt to bring our big rv in a parking lot like that but that makes number 18. and now let's move to the last five on our list and these are the five that sheree and i have actually stayed at that are unusual or might be a secret to you number 19 is the food lion or other grocery stores yes we actually did this a few years ago in our previous rv in somerville south carolina food lion summerville is next to charleston a very large city but need a spot to stay just for a night or two getting the rv back from the factory for repairs we asked management and it was no problem actually a couple of big trucks spent the night there as well so number 19 is grocery stores like food lion and that is something we have actually done and number 20 is fair grounds and city parks sheree and i actually just used this in glendive montana it was called the jc west park and it was a beautiful spot we found it on the dirt pro app like i mentioned before and beautiful trees lots of grass and nobody else was there it was quiet and just a really great spot for zero dollars for the night and i should jump in here and mention that some of these places also have hookups and yes even still free that is number 20 that's fair grounds and county parks and number 21 is planet fitness also known as planet docking or other fitness locations that you might be a member of and sheree and i used to be members of planet fitness a few years ago and we actually stayed there during our 30-day challenge and we'll put a link down below to that old video series that a lot of you have seen if you want to check out our planet fitness our planet docking experience and the cool thing about this as some of you may know is with the fitness facility they've got showers and so if you are doing a lot of boondocking a lot of traveling and you're not staying in regular campgrounds and you're looking for a place to get cleaned up planet fitness or other fitness facilities can be a great answer and that is number 21. number 22 is lowe's home depot and other large hardware stores a few years ago sheree and i were looking for a spot didn't have any of our regular locations that we've talked about staying at and there was a lows and we did stay there as well and i'm being told by a lot of our viewers that it's really hit and miss that some of these places say no overnight parking so you definitely need to ask it just kind of depends on the local management and again the city ordinances whether they allow that and number 23 is bass pro shops cabela's dicks and other big sporting goods stores and tree and i actually stayed at one of these in the twin cities area of minnesota a few years ago overnight it was actually a cabela's and we're told that some of them actually have dump stations you can use for free or a fee and we actually find these locations on the allstays app or website now they have an app for the iphone and there's a small charge for that but the website is free to use or there's an upgraded pro version that you can find we'll put a link down below in the description for that one as well hey friends that's all 23 secret and unusual places to park your rv overnight as you travel around the country again let us know have you used any of these or what did we leave out what is the most creative and unusual place that you have stayed at overnight please share them down below so we can all learn about safe places that we can spend the night when we need a quick overnight stay again if you're brand new to the channel make sure you hit that subscribe button ring that little bell that way you can catch all of our videos like this plus you might be wondering where are we right now it's a regular campground or resort but it's only ten dollars a night full hookups and it's a membership but it's not thousand trails i've got a video coming out about that and these places are available nationwide so i look forward to sharing that video with you and give the video a thumbs up if you like it and share it with your rv friends cherie and i hope to see you on the road this year we've already met dozens of you but either way in your travels remember to enjoy your journey so long guys [Music] [Music] anywhere you want to [Music] the go

Channel: EnjoyTheJourney.Life

Views: 527,398

Keywords: RV Living, RV Living Full Time, RV, RV Life, full time rv, free camping, rv travel, rv tips, rv living cheap, overnight camping at walmart, rv boondocking at walmart, rv lifestyle, walmart overnight parking, free overnight parking, walmart rv parking, walmart rv camping, cracker barrel rv parking, free overnight rv parking, overnight rv parking, free parking, walmart, Ford, F450, e bike, best rv youtube channels, Tom & Cheri, enjoy the journey, best rv youtubers

Id: 6BvwgKjk4ZY

Length: 20min 57sec (1257 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 22 2021