Overnight Parking in Rest Areas - Texas

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In my last Blog entry, I wrote about Overnight RV Parking in rest areas in California.  Today, we’ll take a look at the same topic, in the State of Texas.

Texas makes a distinction between a “Rest Area,” a “Parking Area,” and a “Roadside Picnic Area.” 

On Interstate  Highways in Texas, a rest area that has restrooms is called a “Rest Area,” just as we would expect.  Similar areas on Interstates in Texas, but with out restroom facilities, are called “Parking Areas.”

 When you leave the Interstates, the terminology changes.  Roadside areas with rest rooms are still called “Rest Areas.” Those without restrooms almost always have one or more picnic tables, and they’re called “Roadside Picnic Areas.” 

The Texas DOT website provides excellent information on the 85 Rest Areas (that is, with rest rooms, on Interstate or non-Interstate highways) in Texas.  There’s a page that lists them all at http://www.dot.state.tx.us/MNT/sra/sralocations.htm. The listing gives the name of each Rest Area, a description of its location, and GPS coordinates.  You can click on any rest area name to see a descriptive page about that rest area. The location descriptions are pretty general, and not all of them are accurate with regard to distances. The GPS coordinates are for the most part correct, but for the http://www.overnightrvparking.com/ database I’ve had to correct some of them.

The TX DOT website also has a page with in interactive map of Rest Area locations: http://www.dot.state.tx.us/MNT/sra/map.htm. Here you can click on the “star” symbol for any rest area, and the site takes you to a a descriptive page about that rest area.

Texas was the first state to provide free wireless Internet access at Rest Areas. There’s access to information on the weather, lodging, Texas attractins and events, road conditions and safety tips. Whether you have free access to the rest of the web isn’t made clear on the TX DOT website. Perhaps a reader can add a comment with that information.

I’ve come across a very few “Parking Areas” on Texas Interstates.  These are constructed much like Interstate rest areas, but they have no restroom facilities. There are two of them (one for Eastbound and one for Westbound traffic) near Brookshire, TX. They’re both located in the center median of I-10 at Milepost 730.5.

And then there are the “Roadside Picnic Areas.”  Texas has more than 900 of these on non-Interstate highways throughout the state.  They range from off-road areas with entrance and exit drives, picnic shelters and historical markers, to tiny areas scarcely wider than the shoulder of the highway.

So, what about Overnight RV Parking at all of these places?  The State of Texas allows parking for up to 24 hours at any of their Rest Areas, Parking Areas or Roadside Picnic Areas, unless there are posted signs to the contrary.  I’ve received reports on about 50 Roadside Picnic Areas, and these are in the database at http://www.overnightrvparking.com/.  Only one of them has “No Overnight Parking” signage.

Well, that’s two states down and 48 to go (and don’t forget the 13 Canadian Provinces …..)

Jim O’Briant
Gilroy, CA
Administrator, http://www.OvernightRVParking.com

Overnight Parking in Rest Areas - California

Some RVers like to park overnight in rest areas, and others don’t.

Those who do generally cite convenience. Rest areas are right along the highway, it’s easy to enter and exit, and there are usually rest rooms and often other amenities.  Those who don’t will mention a number of reasons, ranging from noise and fumes from idling trucks, to traffic noise from the nearby highway, to concerns for personal safety.

Each state has its own laws, rules and/or regulations regarding what is or isn’t allowed at their rest areas. Today we’ll look at California.

Caltrans (California’s Department of Transportation) has a website with lots of good information about rest areas in the state, beginning with this page, which lists all of them:

www.dot.ca.gov/hq/maint/ra/Statewide.htm

The list shows all 86 California Rest Areas, their location including GPS Coordinates, and the amenities to be found at each rest area. It also indicates rest areas that are currently closed, along with their estimated date of re-opening, and this feature is updated regularly. When rest areas are in pairs (both directions on a divided highway or interstate), Caltrans’ GPS coordinates are usually in the center median between the two. Most of the other GPS coordinates on this page are accurate, but I’ve found it necessary to refine some for the www.overnightrvparking.com/ database.         

You’ll find a link to a page with California’s rest area rules and regulations. Here are some — but not all — of the rules that pertain specifically to Overnight RV Parking:

You may:

• Park in any designated parking place
• Stay up to 8 hours in any 24 hour period.
• Dump sanitary wastes from RV holding tanks and portable devices at designated dump stations.
• Use small stoves and heaters (except on wood tables) if you do it safely.

You may not:

• Block vehicular or pedestrian traffic.
• Camp or pitch a tent.
• Park, to do something away from the rest area such as hike, camp or hunt.
• Use The Department of Transportation’s water, electricity or gas for unauthorized use.

This page also has links to three interactive maps, Northern, Central and Southern California, on which you can click on any rest area location to reach a page devoted to that rest area. 

Future blogs will discuss OvernightRVParking in rest areas in other states, in no particular order.

 Jim O’Briant
www.OvernightRVParking.com

Overnight Parking At Wal-Mart — Part II

Last week’s blog article covered some general information about Overnight RV Parking at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club. We also discussed this problem of finding out which stores do or don’t allow Overnight RV Parking, and how you can find current and accurate information. Here’s more about Overnight RV Parking at Wal-mart and Sam’s Club.

We can’t automatically assume that every Wal-mart Store, Wal-Mart SuperCenter or Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market Store will allow RVs to park overnight. Similarly, we can’t assume that every Sam’s Club will allow it either. The reason may be a local Anti-RV “No Overnight Parking” law. Some Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club parking lots aren’t owned by Wal-mart, and the owner doesn’t allow overnight parking. Some Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club parking lots, especially at older stores, aren’t large enough to accommodate RVs without interfering with customer parking. Some store managers have set a policy that prohibits Overnight RV Parking because of past abuses by RVers who set up camp and/or stayed much longer than the normal one night.

There are also instances where a Wal-Mart and a Sam’s Club are next door to each other, sharing one large parking lot, yet one store allows Overnight RV Parking in its part of the lot while the other store prohibits it.

Read more

Overnight Parking At Wal-Mart — Part I

When RVers talk about Overnight RV Parking for a single night, the first place that usually comes to mind is Wal-Mart, or as some like to call it, “Wally World.” Wal-Mart, of course, is the largest retailer in the USA and in the world. If you add up all of the Wal-Mart Stores, Wal-Mart SuperCenters, Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market Stores and Sam’s Clubs in the USA, you’ll come up with a total of over 4,000 stores. Throw in 300 more in Canada, and you have more than 4,300 potential Overnight RV Parking locations.

Some RVers simply assume that it’s all right to park overnight in any Wal-Mart parking lot. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Those who simply pull into a Wal-Mart parking lot and park, without getting the facts first, often pay for it by being awakened by store security or local police in the middle of the night and evicted from the premises. This is sometimes accompanied by a parking citation and/or an escort to the city limits. In extreme cases they get to watch their RV as the authorities tow it to the impound lot.

How can you find out which Wal-Marts allow Overnight RV Parking and which don’t? There are a number of books about this on the market, and several websites have lists of Wal-Mart stores. Some try to list all the stores, and leave it to you to ask the store for permission to park. Others say they show which stores do or don’t allow Overnight RV Parking. Some list just the stores where you can’t park. None of them are 100% complete, 100% accurate or 100% up to date. Wal-Mart opens new stores almost faster than anyone can keep track of them, and the Overnight RV Parking policy or local laws affecting it can change unpredictably at any given store.

Read more

Overnight RV Parking at Flying J

The Flying J Truck Stop (the company calls them “Travel Plazas”) sign is familar to nearly everyone who travels on major highways in North America. With small beginnings in 1968 (four locations), the company has grown to have more than 250 locations in the USA and Canada. Catering primarily to long-haul truckers, Flying J goes beyond the usual truck-stop services of fuel, food and showers to offer such things as banking, bulk-fuel programs, fuel cost analysis, truck fleet sales, insurance and wireless Internet connections.

Flying J has also recognized the RVing market. Most (but not all) of their Travel Plazas provide dedicated fueling lanes for RVs, including both gasoline and diesel fuel. Often there’s also a dump station. Most locations are equipped to refill RV propane tanks, and many RVers use Flying J’s paid Wi-Fi service. Flying J also offers RVers a complimentary “Real Value Club” card, which gives cardholders a small discount on fuel.

In general at Flying J, trucks are trucks and cars are cars and never the twain shall meet, and RVs generally count as cars there. This satellite view of the Flying J at I-5 and SR 12 in Lodi, CA clearly shows the separation between the auto (lower) and truck (upper )areas. I’ve been told by both clerks and managers at more than one Flying J that the company strongly prefers that RVers needing diesel fuel should fill up at the RV pumps on the automobile side of the Travel Plaza, not on the truck side. Trucks are their major business, and they want to devote the truck side of the operation to trucks.

Read more

Casino Parking the Wrong Way

When Jim O’Briant started blogging here I knew readers would get a good dose of overnight parking etiquette, so I had decided not to post again on the topic this year.  Then I received several emails from readers of my website concerning the situation at Casino Del Sol, a very nice casino in Tucson, AZ. 

So I hope you’ll forgive me for seeming to flog a deceased equine – but there are new RVers joining us on the road every year, and sometimes experienced RVers venture into situations they haven’t experienced before.  Here’s one of the emails I received:

“We stayed at Casino Del Sol in Tucson AZ in March 2008.  There are 4 issues I would like to address.  Some of us are not good guests in regards to being careful with the hosts property.  1: Dog owners don’t clean up after their pets.  Some even stay inside the rig and let their pets run free until business is done.  2: Security is paying attention to the big rigs who damage the pavement with their jacks.  Every day they drive around and require that the jacks are set up on wood, as there are already big holes everywhere in the pavement.   3: Another issue is the trash.  Some of us are confusing the little trash bins with dumpsters!  4: The last issue is glass and empty soda cans.  They are just being thrown away where ever some people please.  I had to sweep our area first before we placed the rig.  A little more courtesy and we will find parking spaces for years to come.  So please don’t spoil it for the rest of us.” (Some editing for length and format)

When casino parking, you are sometimes granted more privileges than at Wal-Mart and other businesses.  Many casinos welcome us to stay for several days or a week and provide large, level areas for us to park, dump stations, potable water, etc.  It’s a good business practice for them, because we become regular daily customers.  However, I know of no business that desires that their hospitality be abused, or their property damaged or littered.

Next week I’ll continue the series Gambling for the Casino Camper and I’ll be talking about Casino Comps and being a frugal gambler.

Happy travels, and good luck in the casinos!

Mac
www.CasinoCamper.com

Overnight RV Parking at Cracker Barrel

Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores and Restaurants are familiar to anyone who has traveled in the Eastern two-thirds of the USA. It’s a chain with a successful history that began in Lebanon, TN in 1969. They say that their mission is “to please people. Nothing more. Nothing less.” It must be working because and they now have more than 570 stores in 41 states.

Many Cracker Barrels have from three to eight 40-foot long, marked spaces in their parking lots, for the use of buses and RVs during business hours. When you see their billboards along the highway, look for the silhouette of a bus in the lower corner, which indicates that this Cracker Barrel has these long-vehicle parking spaces. The Bus/RV spaces are typically (but not always) located behind the store, as shown in the aerial view here. If your rig exceeds the length of these spaces, you may need to unhook a toad, or park (with permission, of course) in another area of the lot.

To many RVers, Cracker Barrel is a place to find home-style comfort food meal, nostalgic merchandise, and often a place to park overnight. Some RVers interpret the presence of marked long-vehicle spaces to mean that overnight RV parking is allowed, but this isn’t always the case. At a 2006 FMCA Rally, an RVer discussed this with a representative of Cracker Barrel’s corporate office, and was told that RVers who would like to park overnight in a Cracker Barrel parking lot should enter the store (or telephone ahead) and ask permission from the store manager. The manager may grant or deny permission, for any of a number of reasons.

Some Cracker Barrels are in areas where overnight RV parking isn’t permitted by local ordinance. In other cases the store manager has established a “no overnight parking” policy for that store. I’ve also been told by RVers that some managers will ask them to park in a different part of the lot, not in the 40-foot long spaces. One manager said it was so there’d be more maneuvering room for early morning delivery trucks, and another said that a different area of the lot would be quieter for the RVers when the garbage collectors came at 4 AM. If you’re planning to park overnight at a Cracker Barrel store and you’ll be arriving after the store closes, you should call ahead for permission.

Personally, I’ve parked overnight at only one Cracker Barrel, in Junction City, KS in October, 2006. The food was great and so was the hospitality! I was also able to purchase some things I hadn’t seen in years, including hard to find, “made in Kansas” Valomilk candy bars.

You may want to consider a Cracker Barrel as a place to park overnight, and get a good dinner and breakfast besides. Cracker Barrel’s website has a “store locator” page listing all of their locations.

Safe travels to you!

Jim O’Briant
Gilroy, CA
Moderator, OvernightRVParking Yahoo Group

Top States for RV Friendly Casinos - Part 2

Two weeks ago I started this series by featuring the Mississippi casinos that welcome RVers with southern hospitality.  This week we’ll look to the west for a state that offers many great RV destinations along with some of the top scenic routes in the country.  This state ranks second only to Nevada in number of casinos with 125 locations where you can make a wager.  My website lists 30 RV Friendly casinos in the state, and I’m sure there are many more which simply haven’t yet been reported.  Of course, the state I’m talking about is… Read more

FMCA “Good Neighbor” Policy

Last week’s Blog entry dealt with the fact that we RVers have the privilege (not the right) to park overnight in some locations, and that privilege is graciously granted by the owners of the property or land where we park.

In many communities we’re losing that privilege.  In a large number (but not all) of these cases, local governments are passing laws, ordinances or regulations that take away the Overnight RV Parking privilege because of the selfish, irresponsible, or even illegal acts of a few RVers who really ought to know better. This isn’t the only cause that leads to local Anti-RV “No Overnight Parking” laws, but it’s a major cause.

It’s my firm belief that we RVers have the future of Overnight RV Parking in our own hands. Our conduct and behavior when parking overnight in cities and towns are observed by local residents. What we do or don’t do can make a difference in whether or not a particular city or town adopts laws or regulations that prevent us from parking overnight in that jurisdiction.

The Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) has developed an “RVers’ Good Neighbor Policy” relating to Overnight RV Parking. It makes recommendations - good ones, in my opinion - regarding what RVers should and shouldn’t do when parking overnight. There are eight points on their list. Here they are with my comments:

Read more

Overnight RV Parking – a Privilege or a Right?

Who decides where an RVer may or may not park overnight in the middle of a journey to a distant location? The answer is obvious. It’s the owner or manager of the property where the RVer would like to park.

When RVers consider parking overnight in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart, a Cracker Barrel, a Flying J or other retail business, the person who allows us to park there is the manager of the business. Yet some RVers persist in just pulling in and parking on other people’s property, without asking permission to do so, as if it were a right that’s guaranteed to them by … well, by somebody or other. They seem to forget that if we want to park on someone else’s property, we need their permission to do so.

If it’s a business parking lot, such as a Wal-Mart, the business grants permission for vehicles to park in their parking lot while shopping. But that isn’t the same as permission to park overnight and sleep there. If we want to park overnight, we need to ask permission from the store, from someone in a position of authority to grant that permission. Generally, this will be a store manager or the Customer Service manager. Don’t assume that the greeter or the person who gathers shopping carts in the lot is authorized to give you permission to park. They may or may not know what the manager’s policy is.

“But,” some RVers will say, Wal-Mart’s policy is to allow RVs to park overnight! I don’t need permission!” That’s sometimes true, but not always and not everywhere. Most Wal-marts do allow RVs to park overnight, but there are hundreds that don’t. Those who do allow it often want to direct RVs to park in a particular area of the parking lot.

The same goes for other businesses who generally invite RVers to park overnight. Even if there are marked “long vehicle” spaces in the lot, as there are at many Cracker Barrels and Flying J’s, those business are there for the use of customers during business hours. They may or may not be available for overnight parking, and you don’t know for sure until you ask.

As I research this topic, I’m finding more and more businesses that often allow Overnight RV Parking. Some are fairly widely known for this practice while others aren’t. Some of the chains that sometimes allow it are Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shops, Lowe’s, and Menard’s.

Once again, before parking overnight at these stores or any other business parking lot, be sure you go into the store to ask permission. Some RVers prefer to telephone ahead for permission, so that they can make other arrangements on those occasions when the store says no. But the overriding principle, when parking overnight on someone else’s property, is that we need their invitation and their permission to do so.

Safe travels to you!

Jim O’Briant
Gilroy, CA
Moderator, OvernightRVParking Yahoo Group

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