By Gail Marsh
Karen M.S. posed this question to RVers on a Facebook group: “Is it legal to stay the night in my RV at rest areas?” There are several opinions on this topic, but what’s really allowed? Let’s take a look.
Rest stop
A rest stop or rest area is a dedicated facility along highways designed to offer weary travelers a place to exit the highway and rest before continuing on their journey. Some state highways have rest stops, as do some county roads, along with all Interstate highways.
Amenities
Rest area amenities vary from place to place. While some rest stops may offer only a simple outhouse, other rest areas give travelers heated, modern, indoor restrooms. Still other rest stops feature snack vending machines, playgrounds, fenced dog parks, travel information kiosks, a dump station, and onsite personnel to answer your questions or direct you to local sights.
Purpose
As previously stated, rest areas were originally designed to assist tired travelers. No one should drive when feeling exhausted. A tired driver threatens him/herself as well as all of the other people on the road. In fact, the Sleep Foundation says that driving while drowsy is a factor in 21% of fatal crashes each year. It’s estimated that tired drivers cause more than 6,400 fatalities in the U.S. annually. That’s far too many! It’s obvious that rest stops play an important role in keeping our roadways safe. Tired travelers need to pull off the road and take advantage of the rest stops.
RVs and rest areas
If you travel in an RV, rest areas can be particularly appealing for a night’s rest. The question of whether it’s legal to park an RV overnight at a rest stop isn’t always straightforward and can vary by location.
Overnight parking regulations differ from state to state. While some states allow overnight RV parking at rest stops, others have restrictions or outright prohibitions in place.
In states where it’s permitted, there may still be specific guidelines to follow. For instance, some states may designate certain rest stops where overnight parking is allowed, while others may impose time limits or require registration. Additionally, signage at the rest area can provide crucial information regarding overnight parking regulations, so RVers should read and adhere to the posted guidelines.
The problem?
Some rest stops we’ve seen post signage that reads: “No camping” or “No overnight parking.” These signs can be confusing. Am I “camping” if I’m sleeping on my RV bed for a few hours? How long is too long? What exactly constitutes “overnight”? Is it 8 hours? Sundown to sunup?
Consequences
Violating a state’s parking regulations can result in legal consequences and fines. Know and understand the state’s rules for overnight stays in rest stops. If in doubt, check the state website or call the state’s highway department’s non-emergency phone number.
Check state regulations
To find out if it’s legal to stay the night in an RV at a rest area, check out this comprehensive list provided by The Russo’s.
Looking at the list provided, and considering several Facebook posts, it seems many RVers do overnight at rest stops all across the country. Many RVers report that they’ve never been approached or asked to move along. Even some rest stop attendants reported, “You can park overnight. Just don’t make a nuisance of yourself and no one will bother you.”
Cautions
Just because you can legally stay overnight at a rest area does not necessarily mean you should. Consider these precautions:
- Research stops ahead of time to find out if you must register before parking, length of stay permitted, etc.
- Do not extend RV slides, set up camp chairs, grill, or anything else that may be considered camping. (Think like parking in a Cracker Barrel parking lot.)
- Do not make unnecessary noise or commotion that draws attention to yourself.
- Arrive late in the afternoon or early evening. Be sure to leave the rest area early the next morning.
- Consider safety. While some rest stops are safe, well-lit, and patrolled regularly, not all stops are. If you feel uncomfortable or unsafe, change drivers (so the tired camper can rest) and move on down the road.
- If a law enforcement officer should knock on your RV’s door and ask you to leave, follow his instructions without rancor. He’s just doing his job, right?
Ethical questions
It may be legal to stay in your RV overnight at a rest area, but is it ethical? That’s a good question! Should RVers take up parking spots that others may need when campgrounds or Walmart parking lots are readily available?
How about you?
Have you ever overnighted at a rest stop? Tell us about it in the comments below.
We recommend: The 2025 Next Exit book. This book details what’s off every exit along the Interstate. It includes RV-friendly stops and information on rest areas.
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##RVT1152
We’ve not overnighted at a Rest Stop and doubt we ever will. For us it’s not a safety thing. We just feel like we shouldn’t take a parking spot away from a professional driver, i.e. commercial truck driver. They are mandated by law to stop and rest after a certain number of hours behind the wheel/on the road. There are hefty fines if they don’t. We’re not going to be the reason a truck driver gets ticketed or worse yet gets into a wreck injuring themselves or someone else.
We do almost the same thing – we stop early in the day at rest stops for some shut-eye. As the rest stop starts to fill up with truckers, we head out and continue on. I like driving at night, and the traffic is a lot less. If it’s a small rest stop, we don’t bother stopping there, as we know it will fill up quick with truckers.
It’s tough for truckers to find places to park and sleep. Out west, we drivers could usually get away with parking on off-ramps. Not back east! The few times we as RV’ers have stayed in a truck stop parking lot (Wells, NV comes to mind), we’ve parked as far from the business as possible. Don’t let anyone kid you. CDL driving is a rough business. Glad to be out of it.
On the PA Turnpike, I 80, I 95, I 81, and in some state along I95, the trucks DO stop and overnight on the entrance and the city ramps to the rest stops. Be careful!
We have stayed overnight in our 40 ft. motorhome at a couple of rest areas
that had marked spaces for RV’s. This is not common but sure appreciate it. If there was an attendant, we also checked with them.
I agree with Tom leave the spaces to the professional drivers. You are driving or towing a Recreational Vehicle staying at a rest area doesn’t sound very recreational to me, if your schedule is so packed you need to use rest areas for sleeping you are missing out on the basics of Rving. JMHO
We live in Texas and have stayed overnight at some of the rest stops along I10 when we are trying to get through the western side state where it is more desolate and no options for state parks or Walmart. Texas DOT is renovating many of their rest stops to include designated RV/TT spaces that will allow you to extend your slide outs. Check out this map https://www.txdot.gov/discover/rest-areas-travel-information-centers/safety-rest-area-map.html
Have taken lunch breaks and a nap at rest areas. No interest in spending the night.
We have stayed in hundreds of rest areas all over this country including Canada. I will always use the slides if space allows. We arrive late afternoon and get back on the road early morning once it is daylight. Truckers have many options where to park as well as RVer’s. In fact there are now rest areas along the interstates that are designated for trucks ONLY. However, I have seen other inconsiderate vehicles stopped at those locations for whatever reason. AFAIAC, they should be towed. We have just as much right to stay overnight at rest areas as do truckers so that doesn’t hold water in my jug. Many Walmart’s have stopped allowing trucks to park overnight because of abuse by the truckers.
Thanks, Gail! I didn’t know that “NEXT EXIT” book existed! Gotta get my hands on that.
I would recommend the iExit app for iPhone/Android. It shows the same info, along with fuel prices. It’s free, I’ve used it for years.
Downloaded and looks great. Thanks
Just downloaded also – nice!
We have stayed at rest stops on rare occasions. We would never think of arriving in the afternoon or early evening and staying until morning. The few times we have done it we pulled in very late…midnight, give or take an hour. We slept a few hours and at daylight were on our way.
Now that we’re retired we don’t have jammed vacation schedules that require putting 600 to 900 miles a day in, we always use RV facilities.
We respect Truckers and have numerous close relatives doing OTR, but rest stops are for anyone to use. Common sense respectful use shouldn’t be an issue.
We live in Texas and have stay overnight at some of the rest stops along I10. Texas DOT is renovating many of their rest stops to include designated RV/TT spaces that will allow you to extend your slide outs. Check out this map https://www.txdot.gov/discover/rest-areas-travel-information-centers/safety-rest-area-map.html
Texas allows not only overnight parking, but a 24-hour maximum stay. You must stay in your vehicle (no setting up lawn chairs, tents, fire rings, etc. “Camping” is not permitted) though you can certainly use the picnic tables and grills if available. Not only are rest areas included but so are picnic areas, viewing areas, and similar TXDOT pull-outs. My favorite is the Marfa Lights Viewing Area…but we didn’t see any of the lights 🙁
We are entering NM tomorrow on long trip across the southern US, so I appreciated the link to NM DOT rest area handbook from the Russo’s. But what a surprise. You need to go look at it. Published by the NM gov. If they put as much effort into rest stop maintenance, the book would be boring. Specific pictures of electrical code violations, run down facilities, poor reviews, and at the end a picture of the NM border “Leaving the Land of Enchantment”. They even have installed rest area approval buttons to collect your opinion of the site.
Oregon and Washington rest stops have become little cities. The “unhoused”. We’ve done it, twice. You can tell the seasoned rest stop parkers. Sometimes they’ll have their possession outside or on the hood. The windows will be covered with blankets. But the latest trend I’ve seen with the autos, they’ll park facing out (backing into the space). But for the most part, RVers are respectful of the truckers in those lots. Just beware of your surroundings. The Interstate 5 corridor is pretty risky with it’s transient population, un-housed, drug route and those hoping to go un-noticed. Other routes seem so much safer.
Last year I had to leave our travel trailer(30ft)in a rest stop as the axle was bent due to improper servicing by a tire dealer. I couldn’t get the trailer towed until the next day as it had to go on a flat bed. The soonest Good Sam could get a towing service there was the next day. My insurance agent even called the State Police and they told me that they couldn’t even get help to me before the next day. So, they alerted their patrol vehicles to do some extra drive bys and also since I was in a national forest asked the forest service also to keep an eye on the travel trailer. Turns out only one towing service could handle my TT and they were booked up till the next day.
Colorado was not in The Russo’s list for good reason–there is no overnight parking in Colorado’s CDOT rest areas along I-25 and I-70.
New Mexico has several Interstate rest areas with RV parking areas specifically designed for non-truck overnight stays. These are gravel driveways going to covered picnic tables, completely separated from rhe paved truck-car parking lots. We have used them for lunch stops, but not for overnight stops, but we have seen many others spending the night in their RVs at them. But, if NM does considerably increase rheir state park camping fees, as it is currently proposing, we may start using those rest areas at night!
Most, but not all rest stops allow overnight “Parking”, not camping. Here, if you need to open your bedroom slide by all means do so. Generally, if overnighting is allowed, it will be plainly and very visibly posted. I don’t know where Gail was going with “Is it ethical?” You have as much right to the rest stop.
Lonewolf – Just what we need. Some RV group putting out a slide and taking two spots. Next thing you know, no RV’s allowed. Be considerate of others, not self centered and rude. Sleep on the sofa or the floor, bring a mat with you.
Be kind to OTR truck drivers. They can only drive so many hours a day and HAVE to be off the road so many hours. Don’t take more room than you need. Give room to park. They are usually longer than a rv.
In years past (when I would spend 3-4 months a year on the road with my family), I have stayed overnight at rest areas and Walmart to get some rest. Most RVers were very courteous and respectful of the rules. They didn’t set up a camp at overnight stops like rest areas, Walmart or Cracker Barrel. I’m starting to get back into RV traveling and I suspect in today’s world, of people “living up to their highest level of self-importance”, many could care less about following rules about rest stops and would set up camp. I’ve seen this in Walmart and Cracker Barrel parking lots. People have lost all sense of being courteous and respectful the taken the attitude of “rules don’t apply to them”.
I was returning to PA from FL 7/5/24 on I95. It was storming and had been driving for over 9 hours with our MH towing our Jeep. I was in Florence, SC and stopped at Buc-ees for diesel, coffee and food. I asked the store lead if I could pull in the back, eat and take a nap since I had been driving all day. He said that I could but to limit it to 4 hours. After I ate, I pulled around to the back and parked. There were no other cars around. About 20 minutes later, an employee banged on my door and window. I opened the door and she said that I had to leave right away. I explained to her that I had permission from the team lead and she said that he left at 10:00 pm and she made the decisions.
Cont’d
She would not back off of her decision. BTW, there were no other vehicles around.
I then went to fuel up (near 1/4 tank) since it was raining and the pumps are under cover and then went back inside for coffee.
I went about 30 minutes north on 95 and stayed at a rest stop for a few hours.
Thanks Buc-ees!
Thanks for letting us know now we wont be stopping at Buckee for anything not even gas or food
Sorry Mike Albert, but BACK TO THE FUTURE? 7/5/24 has not yet. arrived, in MY world? 🙂
thanks TerryH. Should have been 2023!
Mike, I live in Florence, SC. On behalf of the City, I apologize for what happened to you! I hope you will give our town another chance next time you are traveling through……Pat
You shouldn’t plan on using rest stops for a nights sleep but it’s nice to know they’re there in case of emergency. Out in the Western states there’s plenty and yes you can rest usually up to 8 hours. I’ve never stayed at a Walmart, cracker barrel or rest stop overnight. If something happened unexpected then I would.
We stay overnight at rest areas when traveling south in the fall and north in the spring. We only stay at ones that allow parking 8 hours or more though. We also do not extend our slides and only take up our designated spot. I don’t see anything wrong with that as they were built for tired “travelers”.
When my wife and I were still working and driving long distances for short vacations, we would use rest areas. We drove 3 hours shifts, so I would take over at 9:00pm and she would go to bed. In the east, it was common to have a 4-hour maximum stay posted, so I would pull in to a rest area at 1:00 am and she would wake up and start driving at 5:00am. I would get up and relieve her at 9:00 in the morning, so we each got nearly 8 hours of sleep.
(Continued) If our schedule wasn’t so tight, we would spend an 8 hour stop at a Flying J RV spot or Walmart, or a campground close to our route. Now that we have way more time, we almost always use campgrounds, other designated RV spots, or Harvest hosts.
Thank you, Gail! 🙂 Yes, we overnighted on a U.S. (state?) highway in Kansas on our way home to metro-Chattanooga from Alaska (August 2019). We checked our “State Lines” smart-phone application and all signage at the rest area, convincing ourselves that it was okay. We did deploy our passenger-side bedroom slide and left our towed Jeep attached. When we awoke three tractor-trailer rigs were also parked there; none were there when we fell asleep. We left before all three trucks. Normally we overnight at Cracker Barrels, but none were close to the rest area. 🙁 Thanks again and safe travels! 🙂
yes a few times when I took 2 5ers to Florida for my sister only in Florida
Have used numerous Rest Stops, and one Truck Stop since 1995. Never once was I harassed or felt unsafe. With that said, I’ve never spent more than 6-7 hours at any one spot, from California to Arkansas.
I always check ahead along our route if there are any casinos offering overnight parking for RVers. They want your business! They’re usually secure with a roving security guard patrolling the grounds. Then there’s the restaurants, gambling if you’re so inclined, and entertainment!
Casinos are the best overnight spots. We always look for them first.
Some casinos are limiting RV overnights due to abuse. Some require you to register in the casino and they check to make sure you’re using your players card to spend some money in their business!
Yes I’ve stayed at rest stops, but they are very noisy due to the truckers. Those rigs are very loud and they are constantly moving in and out of the area. I prefer Cracker Barrel parking lots!
Ditto, P. Sullivan! 🙂 Safe travels! 🙂
So does that mean that the 18 wheelers that often block the roads both in and out of a rest stop or clog the space with fumes while the drivers are “resting” are not supposed to do that?????
Oregon and Washington allow overnight. The hours vary, just read the signs. I use a rest stop app. I’ve stayed overnight a few times. Once, a trucker was choking in the middle of the night, an ambulance came from somewhere and hauled him off, leaving the truck running. I doubt anyone got much sleep. Another time, I was up early in a very big, empty rest stop, and a carload of young people pulled right up behind me, into my space. I got in the car and reached for a weapon, but got out of there. Some people are dumb enough to tie their dogs out while they use the restroom. Dogs were getting stolen. There was another time I left in the night due to a strange person in a remote rest area.
Continued–one rest stop I wouldn’t stay at, constantly has people in tents playing guitars and howling, trying to get money. I think it’s in city limits, and I have no idea why they allow it. I’m in and out of the restroom in record time for fear they will break into my car, and it is not an option to lose my dog.
Rest areas are just as important to RVers as they are to truckers. When traveling cross country, it can be hard to find a campground for overnighting, especially if you drive late into the night. A tired RVer is as dangerous as a tired trucker. We need more rest areas across the country, for truckers and RVers.
We have stayed at several rest stops over the years, usually in the truckers section unless there is an RV area. Never had an issue, but we pay attention to the rules of the area. Some state trucks only. We always leave early.