Say Goodbye to Free Overnight RV Parking! Here's Why...

all right you guys you will not believe what Ben  and I saw this week and it is just the perfect   example of why more and more free camping and free  overnight parking for our viewers has completely   disappeared in recent years so when I saw this  when we saw this I was like we absolutely need   to make a video talking about this very thing  because there are a lot of people out there   that are literally ruining the experience for  other rvers and so in this video I'm going to   talk about why it is that free camping and  overnight parking is literally disappearing   and what you must know to navigate the changes  that are coming when it comes to RV travel so   the other day I was scrolling through social  media when I ran across an ad for a brand new   company now this is nothing I had ever heard of  before not a company that I'm familiar with and   basically this ad was asking for land owners  who own land and space that wanted to make a   few bucks to offer space for our viers to camp and  basically become like hosts on this new platform   but here's the deal this isn't free this is for  people that actually want to like rent out some   of the space on their land and all of this  just got me to thinking about how more and   more free camping boondocking overnight parking  for rvers has literally become extremely hard to   find or just completely disappeared in recent  years and one of the biggest reasons as to why   this is happening well I'm going to talk about  it just a little later in this video but first   first let's rewind to about 5 years ago when we  first got started with rving and RV living and RV Trel hey what you doing trying to get this  rig ready to hit the road and just turn it   on the fridge and making sure that we don't have a  problem where we go to pull out and then we don't   have a cold fridge cuz that would be like like a  minor disaster now back then there were literally   dozens of places to camp for free or Park  overnight for free including any and almost every   single Walmart in the country now in fact we've  personally stayed at many a Walmart parking lot   over the years as an overnight stop but in more  recent history due to city ordinances and people   just being downright disrespectful and we'll talk  more about exactly what has kind of gone on in   some of those scenarios but more and more Walmarts  are saying no to overnight parking for rvers and   now if you want to stay at a Walmart overnight  for free well you pretty much just can't count   on the fact that you can you need to call ahead  ask ahead of time if they permit that at that   particular location because in so many areas it's  just no longer allowed and in some locations we've   actually found that the Walmart parking lot isn't  always like the safest place to park either so   there's fewer and fewer places to park overnight  for free that actually allow overnight parking   and feel safe in our most recent travels we pretty  much only use just one source for free overnight   parking that does still exist but here's the thing  is RV travel season approaches and more and more   RVs jump out on the road people are seeing the  opportunity to monetize on RV Travelers and don't   get me wrong I mean a business opportunity is a  business opportunity but that means those of us   that are living this lifestyle and traveling in  our RVs need to become a little bit more Savvy   to help keep our costs down and because there is  the opportunity to make a buck or more importantly   due to the disrespect and people not adhering  to rules and overnight parking etiquette which   has eradicated a lot of that it really could start  costing all of us because more and more places are   not going to allow for that free overnight parking  and that means Alternatives have to be secured now   a great example of this is something like a  harvest host which is free overnight parking   which talk a little bit more about that in just  a minute yes that's an option but I want you to   think about it it's not really free now don't get  me wrong we've stated at our fair share of harvest   host locations and there have been some great ones  and they're awesome and they're amazing but here's   the thing our Harvest host and boondocker welcome  membership that we personally have and have paid   out of pocket for cost us $140 $9 a year and if  you want the all access membership that includes   like the golf courses well that's $159 a year  and then here's the thing these locations while   they're great locations are not campsites that  means you can't just stay at that host location   for 2 to 3 days they are set up to be an overnight  parking space only and in most cases they actually   ask you don't remain for more than 24 hours  and you have to arrive during business hours   now this means if that business closes at say  7:00 p.m and you have a reservation you need to   arrive before they close at 7:00 p.m. now for us  that adds to the stress of a travel day if we're   trying to arrive at a location before a certain  time versus just being able to pull in whenever we   show up or get there and I can't tell you how many  times that we've actually had to drive past a bues   because we didn't have the time to stop if we're  going to arrive to our location by a certain time   because we're under a time crunch and seriously  people do you know how heartbreaking it is to have   to drive past a buies I mean come on lastly it's  truly not free because not only have you paid that   membership fee to have access to these locations  and to make a reservation now didn't even really   kind of go into the part about you can't just pull  in and park overnight like you can at other places   but you have to reach out and make a reservation  via the Harvest host website so after you pay your   membership fee part of the Harvest host code  of conduct ask that a minimum of $30 through a   purchase tip or donation is made at that location  which again I get it this is part of the business   model and you will never ever hear USF anyone  for practicing good business good business is   good for all of us but it does add to the cost of  utilizing these free overnight parking areas which   you can see is not really free low cost maybe sure  but free not really now again I want to reiterate   don't miss understand I'm not bashing Harvest  host we don't plan on canceling our Harvest host   membership and for many rvers Harvest host is a  great option we've had some wonderful Harvest host   days ourselves just want to point out it's not  free so before I jump into the reason that free   overnight parking has become harder and harder to  find and here's a little spoiler alert has to do   something with many rvers are doing I want you to  think about this if you can't camp or overnight   for truly no cost the next thing to look at is  lowcost camping and here's the thing that we have   found some of the best true lowcost camping is  actually found by utilizing our state and National   Park campgrounds because these are subsidized by  tax dollars and many of these campgrounds have at   least some sort of hookup whether it's electric  water and now many state parks and national parks   even offer full hookups and I don't know about  you but I would much rather stay in a beautiful   State Park versus just a a parking lot and the  only tool that I use now when I book a state park   is a website called RV which is also the sponsor  of this video now not only is RV a timesaver when   looking for these cheaper Campground options  like State and National Park campgrounds but   one of the ways I use RV is to find and book  near impossible campsite reservations at some   of the most popular campgrounds in America now  we've scored reservations due to cancellations   at several top rated state parks during peak  season I mean most recently one of the spring   during spring break it was amazing and I want  you to think about it many people have already   made reservations for this coming summer a lot of  stuff is booked up but we know that plans can and   do change lots of things happen and as a result  there are dozens of Campground cancellations that   happen on a daily basis so this is where I use RV  to set up a soldout scan and as soon as there is   a cancellation RV doesn't just notify me of the  cancellation but they actually book it for me now   I've tried several of the scan services and the  past where you just get an alert when there's an   opening at a state or National Park Campground  but every time I would get these alerts as luck   would have it I was not in a place where I could  follow through to make that reservation quickly I   mean let's face it we live this lifestyle to be  out there exploring not Patiently Waiting by a   phone or a computer for a campsite cancellation to  come in so RV works so well because it auto books   the site for you is soon as it becomes available  and no other Campground scanning service offers   an auto book feature like RV our followers and  viewers have continued to share their experiences   about how they arved their campsites in various  situations from last minute cancellations to trips   for next week next month or even next year one of  the big reasons we continue to share is because   so many of you share your success stories with us  about how RV is always looking and booking for you   non-stop 247365 you can try RV for free for 14  days at grateful gamer.com RV and if you decide   get started with RV for making those reservations  we've partnered with RV for an exclusive 10%   discount off the membership options the details  are all in the description below and a huge   thanks to RV for sponsoring this video and their  continued support of our channel so if there are   very few places left where you can one feel safe  just parking overnight and two doesn't cost for   free like are there any of these left right the  short answer is yes however they are becoming   fewer and farther between in this is because of  the behavior of many rvers which has caused some   of these businesses that would have allowed for  free overnight RV parking to just throw in the   towel and no longer allow rvers to camp overnight  for free so case and point I want you to just take   a look at this thing that Ben and I saw just this  week at a parking lot at a business in Central Florida now you can feel free to leave a comment  below about what you you see wrong with this   picture and in just a few minutes we'll talk about  proper etiquette and if you choose to use some of   these free overnight locations don't be this guy  but first I want to talk about the one place that   still offers truly free overnight RV parking that  we personally love it's our favorite of all time   and that is the Cracker Barrel whoa there's a  look there's another guy fling a Jeep there is   there's another guy wow look there's another guy  yeah maybe you should need that but you have to   be careful with some of these locations because  even though they might be a Cracker Barrel not all   Cracker Barrels have RV parking and sometimes the  RV and Bus Parking that is offered doesn't allow   for much more than 25 or 30 ft of overall length  of an RV so one thing we've seen is the demand   for Creature Comforts and RV sizes are getting  bigger and better the size of RVs have grown   and when we're toing we're over 55 ft and over all  length and every time we've stayed overnight at a   Cracker Barrel we never once have fit in their RV  parking area so we always have to find a spot out   of the way in the back where we can find Space  to park which brings me to an important Point   regarding overnight parking etiquette don't park  or it's going to interfere with regular customer   parking and if you need to put out a slide to  access parts of your RV or something like that   make sure to park where that slide is not out  interfering with other parking or walkways or   things like that now the next thing is is if you  do need to put down jacks or levelers make sure   you're using something to protect the parking lot  from those Jack feet this is where we personally   like having the RV snap pads permanently installed  on our RV because they help to protect any sort   of concrete in a parking lot and probably one of  the biggest things that we've experienced rvers   doing one overnight parking that is a huge no  no is running your generator all night long and   if you're going to be next to other rvers where  the noise can be bothersome just don't do that   we actually stay at a harvest host location last  year that would have been a lovely overnight stop   except for the RV right next to us like literally  10 ft away from us ran their generator all night long and no amount of white noise would drown out  that noise so just a side note a great alternative   to needing to power things like medical devices  for sleep is a portable power station versus using   a noisy generator so if you want to learn more  about best practices when overnight parking as   to not be part of this problem well then  I would watch this video right up here

Channel: Grateful Glamper

Views: 136,970

Keywords: rvlife, rvliving, gratefulglamper, rv life, rv living, grateful glamper, free camping, rv lifestyle, rv living full time, rv camping, solo camping, free camping in arizona, rv camping essentials, free camping in florida, free camping in tennessee, rv living with kids, rv living full time with family, rv living for beginners, rv living tips, rv living full time class a, rv life full time, rv life family, full time rv living, walmart overnight parking, walmart rv camping

Id: suqnPMmZFIY

Length: 13min 17sec (797 seconds)

Published: Sun May 05 2024