VanLife: How and Where to Park It?
Now that I’m publicly posting and sharing some of my #vanlife adventures (here), I’m getting some great emails in my inbox asking me wonderful questions. Here is a recent one:
Good morning Megan — I hope you’re well. I secretly have a little #vanenvy of you and your van. So, I ’m reaching out to see if you have any tips to share!
I’ve made some progress on my cases, and I’m really close to renting a rig and driving it one-way to (my favorite destination) with (my kiddo) and Ace (my dog). It seems like a 4-day, 3-night trip, give or take 1-day/night. Any tips for me on things like where to stay at night? Should I make reservations in advance or go with the flow, etc.? What are my actual options about where to park at night to sleep?
Here is my short answer: YES DO IT! 100% yes. Go for it! AND. Plan ahead (a little bit)….
As sexy as it seems to “wing it,” winging it has yet to work out for me.
The trips where I’ve looked ahead, made plans to park or stay at a specific location, and even reserved a spot in advance, have hands-down been the best experiences. Those times I was driving and said, “I’ll see how far I get tonight,” or “I’ll go with my gut and stealth camp,” or “I’ll see what looks good when I get there,” just HAVE. NOT. WORKED.
You know what those nights looked like? You don’t - because I haven’t posted them anywhere. Because they’re not pretty. They ended with me parking my van in a hotel parking lot.
Those are NOT the dreamy #VanLife photos you see on IG. Those are the sleepless/awkward nights in the van spent regretting not planning ahead (or at least that’s how I felt).
By way of providing just a little context- I started my #Vanlife adventures back in Mid-December 2020, when the days were super short and the nights very long. It’s hard to consider stopping the drive for the night around 4:30pm, when it’s getting dark, as was the case on one of the nights I ended up camping in a Holiday Inn lot. I wasn’t ready to stop driving to scout a place in the daylight, only to sit in the van for 5 hours before bed. (Now-this was also one of those road trips where I was trying to get somewhere, too- it wasn’t an adventure of exploration, it was one with a destination I was rushing towards). Keep your daylight in mind as you map things out too. You’ll have more flexibility in the summer months when sunset is later. You can also set up camp earlier and enjoy having the van doors open and enjoy the outdoor space outside of the van (versus huddling in a closed van with the heater on during winter).
Lessons I’ve learned:
Trying to wing it or be spontaneous once it’s dark is not ideal for me. That’s because I cannot get a good “gut” sense of a place in the dark enough to know if it’s a good place to park and sleep for the night. Whether you’re a single woman traveling alone or a man traveling with his daughter (as my friend who emailed me above is), you cannot fully “feel” and survey your surroundings in the dark. You could park somewhere unknowingly that, had you seen it in the daylight, would’ve been a “hell no” to you ….
Also, you don’t get the chance to read reviews ahead of time if you’re going to stay at a specific spot or site. I’ve learned those are really good to survey. Sleeping is when we are most vulnerable. For me, peace of mind is how I sleep well in the van. Not feeling good about my spot means I don’t sleep. And that’s a fast way to take the fun out of van life.
Case in point: a few months ago, I made the drive from CO to AZ and en route decided to stop in Holbrook. It was dark, I was tired of driving, and it was a new stopping point that seemed ok to me (versus other towns along that stretch of highway). I’d checked the apps (I explain them below) and didn’t come up with any ideal solutions but some articles and blogs I’ve read about “boondocking” or “stealth camping” had indicated that local parks can often be a great spot to park it for the night. So I found a nice-looking residential park in Holbrook and parked off in a corner away from the street, street lights, and homes…. And I felt good there.
Until cars began to pull in one or two at a time and converge in meet ups in the other park corner … where it was dark… these could have been harmless teenagers out to meet up and have a smoke or a make out session away, or … they could have been partaking in some seriously sketch behavior.
I didn’t know, and I didn’t want to know. The point was they were acting sneaky in my spot and it suddenly did NOT feel safe. Argh. Home is where you park it… until you have to move.
I ended up relocating to one of the city’s newest and brightest-looking hotel parking lots. I parked, put up my window shades, and made dinner before going to bed. To pull off this kind of stealth camping, one does need to be self-contained, i.e., bathroom, water supply, no need to let the dog out and so on… and of course you do this at the risk that a property owner may come out and ask you to relocate at any moment. The brightly-lit parking lots at hotels make me feel safe, and the visiting-nature of the guests staying there makes me think no one is going to notice a van with out of state plates there (versus a quiet neighborhood street). It doesn’t make for great sleep with all the lights and often-late-arriving guests with car doors opening and closing. However it does feel safe.
But it doesn’t feel fun- like, at all … and the voice in my head sounds something like, “why did I buy a van to travel in if I was just going to end up back at a hotel…I could have saved myself the money and hassle, driven my normal car and just booked a hotel room here…”. That’s the inner bully in me that comes out when I don’t do “van life” the way I feel I “should” be doing it. Harumph.
All this to say — after a few times of sleeping in hotel parking lots under bright lights because I wanted to be spontaneous but then my safety and spidey-senses didn’t like anything I was seeing in the dark — I’ve decided spontaneity doesn’t set me up for optimal outcomes (or at least it hasn’t, yet). Now of course this depends on the nature of your trip… are you trying to get from point A to point B quite quickly (as I was) or are you meandering off the major roads and taking the smaller roads, off the beaten path? Are you in a 4x4 capable vehicle where you can park off a Jeep road or out on some dirt road or forest or mountain pass somewhere more desolate away from humans where you don’t really need to worry about being discovered whilst stealth van camping or you won’t be seeing humans, period. (And if that’s the case, then you are perhaps taking other concerns into account, like wildlife, getting stuck in snow or mud, or being offline/off signal/lost)….
For me -for maximum enjoyment - I’ve decided a little planning ahead and forethought makes for the best experience, where I enjoy myself and actually get good rest, and also where I avoid paying a bunch of extra costs and sticking myself right back into the midst of high-human-concentration.
A proper campsite to me, means ample space between spots and on this trip- a full moon, too!
Stated bluntly, RV parks and KOAs are not my thing. I purchased the van in order to be independent, self-sufficient, and to avoid expensive hotel stays, as well as to avoid sharing space with other people … so to drop $50/night at an RV park or KOA with ample humans all around me — isn’t my thing. For me, it defeats the purpose of the van, unless I really get desperate for a spot to park for a night. I
f I’m going to spend any money, it’s going to be on a campsite in a legit spot in a rad park with views and humans spread out. REAL spread out.
I’ve also been using a new (Colorado-based WOOT!) app called Harvest Hosts. With HH you pay a cheap annual fee to be able to stay for free at farms, breweries, vineyards, alpaca farms, and so on. It is literally a place to park the van- some are bigger and more spectacular than others — but all are property or business owners who’ve said “you’re welcome here, and it’s safe to stay here,” and that on its face holds immense value to me. So far I’ve stayed at 2 HH locations and messaged a 3rd (but ended up continuing to drive so didn’t stay).
All 3 owners have been amazing and friendly, and hospitable, and in each, I slept super soundly knowing I was in a place I was approved to be, that was safe, and also family-owned, and not shared with too many other campers, either. With COVID closing some of these places, the owners are still often willing to let you just pull up and park, no worries. (Again- you need to be self-sufficient, restroom use isn’t usually offered).
Other apps I like to consult and explore to research/reserve camp site spots, investigate dry camping on BLM spots, and more, include:
I’ve also heard Hip Camp is great, though I haven’t tried it out yet (and I hear it does overlap quite a bit with Harvest Hosts).
Another site that’s been recommended to me, but I’ve not yet used other than to check some reviews on some spots (i.e. road-side rest areas): https://freecampsites.net/.
Ok so… if you’re in a bind, you can’t find any camp sites, RV parks or Harvest Hosts …. or if it’s late at night and you’re focused on driving big miles or maybe you just need to stop quick and get some rest— then what are the options?
Well as I’ve mentioned, “stealth camping” means your rig looks like just a vehicle (ie a van, unmarked, no indication humans/kids/dogs are living/sleeping in it) and you park it on a city street or in a neighborhood to rest. Personally this isn’t something I intend to try. The reason is simple: as a home owner, if someone drove onto my street after dark and parked a van outside, and I didn’t see anyone get out, and the van stayed there overnight, it would cause me concern. I don’t want to stress out another homeowner and I definitely don’t want to have the cops knocking on my van telling me to move in the middle of the night. I found more info HERE.
“Boondocking” or free camping/wild camping/dry camping, usually means off-grid, away from services, away from amenities, and often, removed from other humans. This is a hugely helpful place to start HERE.
Taken a step further and in moments of desperation where you don’t care WHERE you’re sleeping so long as you’re not going to get run off because it’s permissible— shops like WALMART and HOME DEPOT, and Cracker Barrel, to name a few, allow parking lot RV camping.
Walmart’s official policy: check with each store first. READ MORE HERE.
Google “what stores allow free camping” and you’ll find some results near you, such as:
Since I began my vanlife adventures in the midst of COVID, I also learned that some states have closed many of their road side rest areas (for example, NM, almost all of the west bound ones were closed on my most recent drive). Each state and recreation area has different restrictions and limitations from totally closed, to half capacity, to fully open. Some that used to take online campsite reservations are only doing day-of, on the spot pay to reserve a spot, and so those scenarios leave some unknowns up in the air- if you’re counting on that being your home for the night, but you can’t reserve it ahead, and it ends up being full when you arrive, be sure to have a plan B.
I had this experience recently. I was planning a bike ride and several other aspects of a trip around my ability to camp on a mountain where I wanted to ride -the spot was not currently taking online reservations however. So to be sure I wasn’t totally SOL when I got there, having to scrap my ride and plans totally, I located a nearby B&B and emailed the owner, asking, “if all else fails, could I pay you a few bucks to let me park my van in your parking lot tonight?” She emailed me back and very kindly said yes (and tried to talk me into reserving a room). I didn’t end up needing it as I nabbed a camp spot where I wanted to be -but given her reply and helpfulness, if I ever need a place to stay in that area again, she’ll definitely get my business.
Now of course— “TRUE” van life pursuit probably means wanting to go off-grid and go somewhere off the beaten path in some scenic spot totally removed from humanity. AWESOME goal and aspiration and IG is replete with vanlifers who find those spots and their photos are amazing. Also though, (for me at least being out there alone), I don’t want to get myself into a position where the van could get stuck, where if I have a van mechanical and don’t have cell signal I’m going to be in a spot of trouble, or where legit wildlife may be a concern. There is remote and removed from city noise, and then there is too remote/too distant for my liking. Each vanlifer has their own risk tolerances, experiences, van capabilities, etcetera to evaluate.
With the lack of cell signal being a possible issue, allow me to mention 2 products in this category worth exploring.
1— WE BOOST signal booster— the one most often recommended to me has been the $499 one HERE. I do not yet have one so I cannot speak to this personally but the guy I bought my van from had one and swore by it for working while on the road.
2— Garmin inreach mini. This i DO have. It’s a satellite -based walkie talkie of sorts, that allows for communication via one’s cell phone (or the Garmin) to call for help or send short texts to your contacts. NOTE: you do need to pay for a subscription service to activate it, so plan ahead. I haven’t had to use mine yet, as the times I’ve been without signal it’s been a GOOD thing, and I wanted that reprieve from connectedness. If you’re truly going to go out into the wild in your van, I think this is a great investment.
Finally— and it really does state the obvious, but to be able to stealth camp or boondock or setup camp in a Walmart, or even to stay at some of the Harvest Host sites, having one’s own bathroom setup is essential. If you’re in an RV it’s a nonissue but for most vanlifers, a built in restroom isn’t part of the equation.
I went with the Luggable Loo and accompanying bags. It has been a life saver more than once, and I can’t recommend this enough. When it’s empty/not in use it’s easy to stash in the back with the bikes. If it’s going to be an overnight somewhere, whether a campground far-away from the restrooms, or a stealth camp in a hotel parking lot, having this inside the van makes staying stealthy, possible.
It’s also saved me having to stop for fuel or a purchase I didn’t need to buy, just to use a gas station restroom. It’s been awesome if I’ve stopped for fuel and feel like the gas station or area is dodgy, and not a spot I want to go inside to patronize.
Perhaps TMI but then again, the #1 question I always get about my van is, “does it have a bathroom” and I can honestly answer YES now that I’ve got this very affordable option along for the ride. ;)
Vans can provide one helleva bedroom window view when you can crack the door and see this from your pillow!
Bottom line- van life isn’t any kind of SHOULD… some days and nights will be pure bliss with full moons, quiet campsites, perfectly-executed plans. And some will be late, dark, cold, sleepy, perhaps lost, and yes, maybe spent in a paved parking lot. It is going to be both: perfection AND growth opportunities. I hope you’ll show yourself some grace as you figure it out. There is no “THE WAY” in vanlife (or in any kind of life!)…. have fun with it, be adventurous, and be safe too.
**remember, as an Amazon Associate, I may earn commissions from purchases if you use my links above!
I very much still consider myself a vanlife newbie, so if you have tips/tricks to share, or followup questions for me, or both, please comment below- I’d love to hear!
