By Gary Jefferson
My wife and I have become pretty good at finding free RV camping with our van. Early on we learned about the Walmart, Home Depot, Cracker Barrel and fitness gyms that everyone uses. We’ve used all of those. However, we are on the road right now and at the end of two weeks, we’ve not stayed in any of these, and have only paid for one night ($15 for spot, dump and shower). We paid because it was like paying for a dump and shower and staying for free. In other words, it was a bargain we couldn’t let pass us by.
When some people talk about a place to stay, they are talking about days. We don’t usually stay for days in the same spot. Even if we’re in the same city, we will try to find a different spot to spend the next night. I’ve found that most people don’t mind us staying nearby if we don’t set up camp and if we disappear the next morning. We are more about traveling in our van than setting up a homestead. For us, learning to ASK has given us many more opportunities for overnight free spots.
A FEW NIGHTS AGO, after doing our laundry in a small town, we called the posted number on the wall and told the owner his laundromat was great. Then I asked if he owned the open gravel area next door or knew who did. “That’s mine,” he said. I told him my wife and I, seniors, were traveling in a self-contained van, needed no hookups and leave nothing but tire tracks. Could we spend the night in his lot? “Sure,” he said. I thanked him and we slept in the next morning because we didn’t feel the need to get out of Dodge before being noticed.
And just a few hours ago … once again, we ended up looking for free RV camping in a small town.
After looking things over, we had two locations that looked good for us. One was the hospital, but when we entered the area, there was a manned security booth. It may have also been a womaned security booth, as well, but she wasn’t on duty … he was. So, Melva, with her nicest smile (she is irritable when she wants to be) (I typed IRRESISTIBLE but the spellcheck changed it), asked where two tired traveling seniors (a bit of a sympathy ploy) might spend the night in their little town. He pointed to a nice level spot next door, with a building to block the high winds we are having, saying it would be fine to stay there. We’re there now, and it’s perfect!
Gas stations, grocery stores, park rangers, police departments, city workers and even people walking down the street have given us permission to stay for free in their town. Supporting a local business, wearing a nice smile and asking politely is one of our best ways to find a place to park for the night.
Gary Jefferson is the author of The Story of RVing, Van Living Explained. When he’s not on the road, he lives in Redlands, Calif., where he has photographed the downtown residents for five years, which he posts to a delightful Facebook page called Redlands People.
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Did you sleep on that mattress next to your van, or did you have some homeless company?! LOL (crazy Pic!)…Smiles
I imagine this is easier in a non-descript delivery looking van than in a camper. I might worry that someone might be tempted to break in thinking something valuable is in there. Actually there is, them.
I have done the same with my truck camper. I ALWAYS ask first and the worst thing that they can do is say no. I have even stayed in the parking lot of an antique shopping mall.
We’ve been doing the exact same thing for the last 16 years of our fulltime travels, the first 13 in a 34 ft 5th wheel, & now in a triple slide truck camper. We’ve only been asked to leave 3 times in 16 years. We rarely stay in campgrounds. We typically look for permanently closed business, which are plentiful in every town, & park in their lot. We just spent the summer travelling thru Alaska & Western Canada, & the only campground we stayed in was at Denali NP for a week. The $30-$60 we save each night allows us to do all kinds of things we want to do that might otherwise crimp our budget. The key is having an rv set up for boondocking.
I’ve called the non-emergency police line on several occasions OR I got the knock and they tell me where to go. (I know what you’re thinking but it wasn’t that.) I even walked up to an officer next to a station and said I was there to turn myself in. He got it and laughed and I spent the night on the street across from the station.
Great suggestions, Gary! We’ll definitely use some of these on our future trips.