Unfortunately, on our wat to work the Sugar Beet Harvest every year in Crookston, Minnesota, we have to travel for a few days without our Thousand Trails or RPI campgrounds.  Because staying at campgrounds can become expensive, we always end up boondocking in parking lots for a few days.  I will be honest, we are not great boondockers.  We can handle a couple of days hunting for a spot to land for the night, leaving the slide in, and running the generator.  But, we start to get grumpy after a couple of days.

Boondocking In Parking Lots – Our Experience

When we talk about boondocking, we include dispersed camping in the definition.  However, dispersed camping, to us, signifies finding a designated campground on public land or a park where we can sit for a few days in our own spot.  We can run the generator and put the slide out when we disperse camp.  Although we still prefer campgrounds with full-hookups, we have dispersed camped in one area for a week or two.

But boondocking in parking lots is completely different.   Yes, you can boondock in lots of different parking lots!  We have stayed at Casinos, Walmarts, Cabelas, Cracker Barrels, Truck Stops, and Rest Stops.  After four years of RVing full-time we definitely have our favorite parking lots for crashing for  a night.

Some of Our Favorite Parking Lots are Casinos!

The only parking lots we stay longer than one night in is Casinos.  The couple of casinos we boondocked at were awesome.  One even provided free electric!  Casinos are usually the best parking lots to stay in.  However, we did bypass The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Sioux City, IA.  It was downtown.  We didn’t like the parking lot and area.  So, we continued on to the Flying J Truck Center in Sioux Falls.

Most casinos have a designated area for RVs to park for the night.  Some charge a low fee.  Sometimes you get free electricity.  Usually the casinos have large parking lots where you can have a bit of privacy from the customer parking lots.  Before parking our vehicle, we always enter the casino and speak to an employee.  We ask if overnight parking is okay and where we need to park.  We also do this for other parking lots.

If you are traveling and need to crash for an evening, we recommend trying a casino.  Again, the only casino we didn’t stay at was the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Sioux City, IA.

Boondocking Overnight in Stores and Restaurants Parking Lots

Let’s be honest, Walmart parking lots are our most frequented parking lots.  Not all Walmarts allow overnight parking and we don’t like all Walmart parking lots for boondocking.  If we arrive before the store closes and do not see any other RVs, we will go inside and ask if overnight parking is allowed.  Sometimes, you don’t even have to go inside.  They will have signs posted all over the parking lot saying no overnight parking!

Before we arrived at the Flying J Travel Center, we visited the Walmart Parking Lot in Sioux Falls.  Per Campendium, it allowed overnight parking.  However, when we arrived, the parking lot was filled with “No Overnight Parking” signs.  And, we wouldn’t have boondocked there anyway.  The parking lot was small!  It was way, way too small for all the traffic to the Walmart and Sam’s Club right beside it.

We have sat overnight in some really nice Walmart parking lots.  They were away from the highway and much quieter than you would expect.  We always try to park the farthest away from the store entrance and sometimes you will see RVs sitting in a back parking lot.

However, we have also left Walmart parking lots.  Once we were traveling through a city and had decided to stay at a Walmart overnight.  I don’t remember the exact location of this city, but I believe it was in Montana.  We pulled into the parking lot, parking as far away from the building as possible.  When we looked around more closely, we noticed a lot of older RVs that appeared to be living there.

The final large warning light to us that we didn’t want to stay at this Walmart occurred while we were fixing supper.  A car with a couple and some children pulled in near us.  The children left the vehicle to stand on the corner of the street right above us, panhandling.  That was enough for us.  We packed up the camper and headed to the Cracker Barrel.

The Cracker Barrels that we have stayed at have a few nice, long RV spots.  They are usually around the back.  However, you should always go in and ask if overnight parking is allowed.  You will not have as much room to put stairs down and work out in a Cracker Barrel parking lot.  However, they are usually pretty quiet except for street noise.

Cabelas is a fabulous parking lot to sit for a night.  Usually you have a lot of room, with no other RVs near you.  We have seen a huge bus with a long trailer pull into a Cabelas to set up.  Although we usually only sit for one night (who wants to sit in a parking lot longer?), we did sit at one Cabelas for three days.  We were traveling west at the time.  For some reason, we needed to sit for a couple of days.  We went inside and talked to the staff in Cabelas.  They were very friendly and told us no problem to stay a couple of nights.

We were not the only RV staying for a few days in that particular Cabelas parking lot.  However, usually, Cabelas allows one night overnight parking.  They are usually very quiet spots, away from the downtown area, and are perfect for a good nights rest.

Because our stairs are the heavy type that you have to drop down, we usually try to park on the last passenger side slot.  We don’t want to block anyone else from parking.  Also, we don’t want someone to take out our stairs.  Whether it be in store parking lots, truck stops, or rest stops, we always try to park early enough to grab the last parking space on the right hand side.

Boondocking in Truck Stop Parking Lots – Always An Option

My husband drove for the oil field and over the road.  He has more experience with truck stops than I do.  When he first suggested that we pull over for the night in a truck stop from Texas to Missouri , I was hesitant.  That first experience was not our most comfortabl in a truck stop.

We had to pull the truck and camper into a middle spot.  Because we had no experience with our camper or stairs at that point, we didn’t park early to grab the far most parking spot on the right.

So, we were in a middle spot.  The first truck that pulled in beside us was super nice.  They gave us plenty of room to put our stairs down.  However, when he left, the next truck pulled in right beside us.  Jumping out of the camper, over the stairs, is not the most fun way to wake up.

We have learned a lot since that first experience at a truck stop.  On our way up to the beet harvest this year, we decided to stay overnight at a Flying J Travel Center.  We backed up the truck and camper into a truck spot way in the back.  Windell parked the camper perfectly next to an unhooked trailer.  When we pulled the stairs down, they landed right on the line.  It was the best night sleep we had in two days, parked between two tractor trailers!

If you do not arrive too late and you plan how you are going to park, truck stops are a fabulous overnight parking option.  We loved the Flying J back parking area.  The tractor trailers were still running.  But the camper was behind most of the noise and we slept like logs.  It was way better than the Walmart parking lots we popped a squat on for the previous two nights.

Be Careful of  Boondocking Overnight at Rest Stops

We have stayed at lots of rest stops.  You can’t beat Florida for the quality of its rest stops.  Usually they have water to fill your tank and sewer dumps.  Some are away from highway noise.  You can stay overnight at rest stops in Florida, with no issues.

We know when we travel through Florida, we will be staying at rest stops.  They are easy pulloffs from the main highways and interstates.  They usually have 24 hour security and we have never had any issues at Florida rest stops.  In fact, Florida rest stops are our favorite overnight boondocking parking lot!.

However, not all states allow overnight parking in their rest stops.  Some states allow twelve hour parking.  Some limit it to ten hour and others may only allow you to sit at a rest stop for four hours.

When we travel to a state and are looking for a parking lot for a night, we mainly use our Campendium app.  If you click on a rest stop parking and scroll to the bottom of the description, the app tells you how many hours you can legally stay at the rest stop.

We know some people break the rules.  While traveling on Interstate 29 North, we saw a Class C with two flat tires sitting at a rest stop that only allows ten hours.  If you read the comments in Campendium, people will say they stayed longer in a rest stop parking lot than what was allowed with no issues.

However, we don’t want to be those people.  We don’t want to risk having a knock in the middle of the night, startling us.  So, we avoid rest stops that do not allow overnight parking.

If they have signs of “No Camping”, we don’t stop for the night.  If the rest area states ten hours maximum, we don’t stop for the night.  When we travel and look for boondocking parking lots, we want to sleep and sit for at least twelve hours.  We are not speedy travelers.

So, if you are thinking about boondocking at rest stops, know the rules and beaware that they change from state to state.  No matter where we do pull into a parking lot for the night, whether a store, restaurant, truck stop, or rest stop, we do not run our generator overnight.  Although it probably would not bother tractor trailer drivers, it is just a habit we have to shut the generator off.

The Campendium App is a great resource to find parking lot and other boondocking sites.  Be aware, though, that you should scroll down the screen to see how many hours you can legally stay in the parking lot.  Also, ordinances change.  So, we always try to go into the store or restaurant or call ahead to ensure it is okay to park overnight.  Some of the spots we have found in previous years are no longer available for overnight parking.

Are We There Yet?

The hunting and pecking for boondocking parking lots is our least favorite way of traveling.  We enjoy knowing we have a campsite at our next location.  However, we have boondocked at various parking lots.  Casinos and rest stops are our favorite overnight parking spots.  Yet we have had some peaceful nights at Walmarts, and yes, even at truck stops.  But we miss our campgrounds when we boondock.  We love full-hookups and programmed coffee.

Although our full-time RV memberships provide us many options for campsites, some areas just are too expensive for us to stay in campgrounds.  So, we boondock in parking lots in these areas simply to travel through them quickly.  Sometimes you are just trying to get to greener grass.

Because we don’t want to be awaken or visited by the law, we try to make sure we know the stay limits in parking lots and talk with store staff to ensure overnight parking is allowed.   When we finally reach our next campground, we both let out a sigh of relief.  No more parking lot boondocking, no more driving around with a camper to find a spot for the night, and no more walking Walmart for exercise.  Finally, full-hookups and regularly scheduled programs!

This year (2024) we decided to change up how we RV and try truck camping for the summer months.  We have already written one article on our truck camping experience at  https://thenonsenseofwj.com/truck-camping-for-a-summer/.  As we only had one Thousand Trail Campground in the state of Colorado and none in Utah, we believed, incorrectly as it turned out, that this was the best way to experience these states.  Even Passport America and RPI in these states are few and far between.  So, instead of paying for campgrounds throughout the summer, we chose to camp in our truck.

Boondocking

Now, we know many people boondock and leave their campers while they go exploring.  However, we are not yet comfortable with this.  Also, we do not want to feel obligated to put external cameras and security alarms on our camper.  We have many friends who boondock all the time and some who boondocked when they began RVing.  Although, a few did have a few items left outside stolen, they still recommend boondocking.  As everyone tells us, simply stay where you feel comfortable and introduce yourself to your neighbors.  However, let us face it, we are glampers.  We like campgrounds and full-hookups.  Yes, sewer please!

We have boondocked in some spots this year that we would be comfortable leaving the camper during the day to go adventuring.  Tom’s Best Spring Road near Bryce Canyon is one such spot.  These are designated dispersed camping in the Dixie National Forest.  There were many other campers around and we felt very comfortable here.  The couple in the Class A beside us even introduced themselves and were very friendly.

However, many times when we are boondocking in Colorado or Utah at a site we found with Campendium or IOverlander, we are by ourselves in the middle of nowhere.  We are definitely not comfortable leaving our travel trailer fby itself in these areas while we go off exploring.

Truck Camping

So, we camped in the back our truck for 46 days.  We explored mainly Utah, a little of Arizona and Wyoming, and some of Colorado.  When we first started, we had a futon in the back of the truck.  We could lay the futon down for sleeping.  And we could sit up on the futon during the day.  However, the futon was much too large for the space.  At our age, sleeping on a futon was very uncomfortable and our backs let us know it was not working.  So, we broke down the futon with a sledge hammer and strapped it to the top of the truck.  Luckily, we found a dumpster at a rest stop with plenty of room to throw in the futon.

We replaced the futon with a mattress topper three inches thick and another smaller topper with bumps.  The mattress topper was pretty comfortable for sleeping.  During the day, when we loaded the truck back up, we just rolled the toppers to the back of the truck bed.  Sitting in the truck bed on the mattress toppers was not as comfortable as the futon.  But we made it work.

During our 46 days, we also purchased a larger 55 quart cooler and a 5 gallon drinking cooler.  The smaller cooler that we carried was too small and the ice melted too quickly.  So, we bought some new ones in Utah.  Boy, did they come in handy.  While boondocking in Utah, the state had a sudden heat wave.  The new coolers made the heat wave almost bearable.  We had cold drinking water and our new 55 quart cooler kept ice much longer.  Luckily, most gas stations and grocery stores in Utah sell block ice.  We bought block ice for the food cooler and cubed ice to add to our drinks.  We bought a lot of ice crazy amout of ice in Utah!  However, the block ice and the new coolers lasted several days in the heat wave.

The Truck Camping Diet

Our food while camping in the truck mainly consisted of tuna fish, packaged noodles and rice, instant potatoes, and oatmeal.  We both lost a lot of weight.  If you are wanting to shed some pounds, try our new and improved truck camping diet for a couple of months!  Of course, we were also very active in Utah.  We did a lot of hiking!  Sometimes we would even find hikes while traveling before we ate breakfast.  When we hiked the Grand Wash Trail in Capital Reef National Park, we had planned on eating breakfast at the Visitor’s Center.  However, we found the hiking trail first.  So, we ate granola bars to sustain us while we hiked.

Unsurprisingly, we lost a lot of weight.  We usually eat red meat pretty frequently.  However, keeping hamburger in a cooler in a heat wave was not our idea of fun.  So, we ate a lot of canned meat.  Hence, the tuna fish.  Sometimes we would throw in some canned chicken and fajita strips.  FYI, canned meat is very expensive compared to buying raw hamburger and chicken.  Especially as we usually buy our groceries  at Aldi – our favorite grocery store.  Since we are back in our RV and have our awesome refrigerator, we can eat our normal again.  We will probably gain our weight back.

Right now, though, our clothes are a lot looser.  Windell must wear a belt for his pants.  Jessica has to tie her shorts and pants even tighter.  Maybe Jessica will even wear the bikini that Windell wants her to wear in her fifties, if she can keep the weight off.  Probably not though.

So Much Dirt

Dirt is the main constant while camping in the truck in the desert.  We purchased pump sprayers before we started this journey.  Although we usually do not shower every day normally, we do like to stay clean, shave, and wash our hair.  So, we purchased three pump sprayers and a gravity camping shower for us.

The cheap, gravity camping shower did not work well.  Maybe we are a little spoiled.  However, it did not have enough pressure to even remove shampoo.  We put it up as high as we could on the truck to no avail.  So, we mainly used our pump sprayers for showering.  The naked person would stand in the poop tent while the other person hosed them down.  It took two people to shower.   By yourself, you could not get the little head at the right angle to rinse your hair.

The pump sprayers did get us cleaner, for a little bit.  However, showering outside in the desert means you are showering in the dirt.  Everything is dirty.  We bought a cheap little rubber mat to stand on while we showered in the toilet tent.  But we were so dirty.  Dirt just ran off us onto the mat and then the ground.  Even though the mat was easy to spray off where you stood, the underneath was all muddy.  At the end of the truck camping, we were so tired of trying to get the dirt off that we just counted the number of days to the campground and our travel trailer.

While returning from Wyoming to Colorado, we treated ourselves and stayed at a nice hotel.  We felt so sorry for the hotel staff.  After we finished showering, the washcloths were so dirty and we could not rinse all the dirt out.  However, we felt awesome!  Our hair was clean and not greasy.  We put on clean clothes that were not covered in red dirt.  And, we even had a huge, free breakfast with cookies!

After several more days of traveling and adding dirt to ourselves and the truck, we finally returned to our travel trailer.  We were both so filthy.  When we each had a long shower, we were several shades lighter on our skin.  What we thought was tan was dirt!  Also, being able to really scrub our toes in a shower without standing on more dirt was the best feeling.

Truck camping in non-desert states may be completely different for keeping clean.  However, in Utah, the wind blows dirt everywhere.  The pump sprayers are not going to get you clean.  And, forget about the gravity shower!  While hiking, riding the shuttles, or even bumping along in the Jeep tour, we knew we were those people whom everyone shimmies away from.  We did try to stay clean, use deodorant and shave.  However, trying to keep clean while camping is a lot harder without a pressurized shower and clean floor.

Disorganization can be Fun – Not

It does not matter how organized you try to be while truck camping.  Things become very chaotic quickly.  We thought we were so smart.  All our clothes were labeled and we put all the items we thought we would use daily in the side compartment of the camper shell.  We tried to be organized!  However, because almost everything had to be pulled out of the back of the truck to sleep every day, things became disorganized instantly.  Bathroom and shower items got mixed in with kitchen items.  Forks were placed in our hiking backpacks instead of the silverware container.

Camping in the Truck was a whole different ballgame than living in our RV.  Everything was out of place.  Although it was hard to pull things out from underneath the futon, we did have more storage area.  When we removed the futon, many items had to put on the hitch or crammed in the back of the truck bed.  So, things were easily misplaced.  Windell could not wait to return to his trailer just so he could put his stuff in its place and it would stay there.

When we were considering purchasing a pop-up truck camper for future trips, we watched You-Tubers who lived in their truck campers full-time.  They added solar, indoor toilets, sinks, etc.  However, we have decided we are not those people.  We are the type of people who do not want to try to fit all our living into the back of our truck.  We want indoor showers, a refrigerator, a flush toilet, and toys for our hobbies.  The truck camper is not large enough for us to live in full-time.  It is okay for a few days for some amazing adventuring, but then we want to return to our travel trailer with all of its comforts.

So, we will not be buying a new pop-up camper shell or slide in truck camper.  We are going to enjoy coffee programmed in the morning and everything organized and always in its place.  Our amazing little travel trailer will travel across the U.S. with us.

We did it!

Wow, we actually camped in our truck for 46 days and didn’t get divorced.  Some of the YouTubers we watch truck camp a week or two.  They live in houses and travel and adventure part-time.  We do know that there are people who live in their vehicles full-time.  We say Kudos to you!  It is not for us. A truck camper does not provide all the comforts and benefits of the travel trailer.  Oh, sure, we will still vehicle camp every once in a great while……for a couple of days…..before we return to our refrigerator and shower.

Truck Camping 2024

So, we are always exploring new ways to adventure, even if we don’t try them all.  In 2024 we decided to change how we travel and try Truck Camping.  We usually book campgrounds in our desired area for our travel trailer.  Then, we go exploring and return to our travel trailer for relaxation.  We are accustomed to certain comforts.  Jessica likes her coffee programmed each morning and Windell likes to eat while watching TV.  We both love our bidet.  However, this year we decided to switch it up.  Because we only have one Thousand Trails campground in Colorado and none in Utah, we decided we could rough it and camp in the back of our truck for five months.  After all, we already have solar, a jackery, a generator, and some fire maples to make coffee.  All we had to do was buy a bucket toilet for our truck camping.  What could possibly go wrong?

We were so excited at first.  Just driving the truck by itself and not pulling the travel trailer is so much easier!  Wind, parking, and backing up is no problem. We don’t have to scope anything out first to see if we can pull in the travel trailer and turn around to get back out.  And, believe you me, sometimes it gets pretty tight in some parking lots with a travel trailer.  We don’t recommend pulling a travel trailer into the Manitou Cliff Dwellings in Colorado, although  we did do it.  Traveling with just a truck is easy, and we proved it this year.  We have been to over eight national parks!  When southern Utah had a heat wave, we changed our plans and headed to The Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks in Wyoming.  We have seen so many arches, waterfalls, hoodoos, epic views, moose, bison, and one grizzly.  It has been an amazing year so far with all of our adventures.

Should we buy a Pop-Up Truck Camper?

The ease of driving and just going anywhere made us at first consider purchasing a pop-up bed camper for our truck.  We hate having to take everything out of the back of the truck in order to sleep.  It takes us over an hour to make coffee and pack everything back into the bed.  In Yellowstone, we actually slept in the front of our single cab to wake up early.  Wow, Yellowstone is busy!  We know we carry more stuff than required for Truck Camping.  As we said, we like our comfort.  We have three coolers for cold food, water for drinking, and a small cooler just to keep ice for our drinks!  Ice has been a big budget item for us this year.  Our supplies include water, portable solar, and canned food.  When we wanted to sit for a couple of days and talk with a traveler from Switzerland, we had plenty of water for ourselves and our guest.  It was awesome just to sit and talk and not worry about leaving to find ice and water.

So, when we first started truck camping, we thought a pop-up truck camper with the bed at the top would be perfect.  To sleep, we simply pop-up the bed and crash.  No more pulling everything out just to make the bed.  We could buy a bigger jackery, put solar on top, and add a shower curtain to the side.  We watched YouTube videos of people who purchased a pop-up and redesigned their truck bed.   A new pop-up would cost us about $15,000 and the additional toys another $5,000.  We even emailed a company with all of our wants to get a bid on a pop-up.

Discovering We are Glampers

However, after a month and a half of traveling full-time in the truck, we have learned more about ourselves.  We really like our comforts!  No longer does a pop-up truck camper seem like a good idea.  We would still have to potty and shower outside.  Although we could possibly cook inside and not have to pull everything out to sleep, we would still not have the comforts (bidet, AC, refrigerator) of our travel trailer.  We have discovered that we are glampers.  We like electricity, water, and sewer hookups.  Showering outside is not at all fun.  You watch YouTube videos with girls in bikinis showering outside, and you think, yeah that looks pretty easy.  However, the reality is if you want water pressure you have to buy more toys and the water is never warm enough.  Also, if you are in the desert of Utah, you will be dirty again before you can dry off.  And, in her fifties, Jessica thinks showering in a bikini seems like a cruel joke to other boondockers.

So, we are finishing out this summer mainly in the back of our truck, with a few rest stops at the Colorado Thousand Trails in our travel trailer.  But, we will never again plan an entire summer of traveling simply in the back of our truck.  We want our comforts!  This experience has even made us change some of our future travel plans.  Instead of driving to some of our desired far off places in the truck alone, we are flying and renting!