No overnight parking at rest area?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Status
Not open for further replies.
We had a fun experience. We had pulled off I-80 on a brutally hot day in central CA and found parking under the only trees in town to have lunch. I came back from walking the dog to find DW conversing with an leo, seems he thought we were parked too close to the intersection. She said he approached with a stern look and hand on his gun but was laughing by the time he left, he had never dealt with Canadians before lol.
 
I am up at 0630 hrs and nobody woke me up or bothered me except for the RV right next to me decided to run his generator just before 0600 hrs. He is still running it, but he moved back away from me after about ten minutes. I was getting up to move mine away from him when he moved way back. So it got me up a little extra early, no harm done. I never had to move. I got enough sleep and needed to get up a little extra earlier to get used to the next time zone change coming in Georgia.

-Don- Bay St. Louis, MS.
 
Last edited:
DonTom said:
I got enough sleep and needed to get up a little extra earlier to get used to the next time zone change coming in Georgia.

-Don- Bay St. Louis, MS.
Click to expand...
Where are you headed Don? If you mentioned it already, I missed it. Even though I was born in PA and lived in PA longer, I know GA like the back of my hand.
 
Last edited:
Tiercel said:
Where are you head Don? If you mentioned it already, I missed it.
Click to expand...
I am headed mainly for the Everglades in Florida.

If I can make this work out somehow.

I just noticed today is Saturday and I will probably have trouble finding a place to stay for tonight. Anybody have any suggestions for east of here? Anyplace at all, RV Park, boondocking, anything. The few parks I checked are booked for the weekend.

-Don- Bay St. Louis, MS.
 
In my experience most Florida rest stops are attended and no problem with parking. I usually stay in the truck section since I run the air when driving.

Ernie
 
IN Ohio you cannot spend the night in a rest area if in an RV except on the tollway. If you are parked in a non tollway rest area it is considered camping and you are in violation of the law. You can spend the night in a car, truck, 18 wheeler etc but any RV is not allowed. I know from experience as I was told to get out at 1 AM
 
We stayed here in May:

Raccoon River Campground

Raccoon River Campground in Beautiful Panama City Beach can accommodate you perfectly!
raccoonriver.net

Panama City Beach, Florida

You can take the path through the campground and go to the beach that is across the street.
 
Last edited:
Back in the 80's Florida had a rash of drug deals in Interstate Rest Areas, with numerous robberies & murders as a fringe benefit. So bad they had to hire armed security guards to patrol 24/7 and some draconian regs were put in place. As is often the case, some of those persist. But nowadays it varies by location and local enforcement attitude.

My perception is that an "overnight stay" is generally NOT allowed, but you can "rest". But wWhen does a rest become a stay? An hour? 2 or 3 hours? I think that's mostly the cop's judgement call, based on his observations as he patrols thru the Area. Be prepared to answer the door (politely) and provide a crisp response about when you are moving on.
 
darsben said:
IN Ohio you cannot spend the night in a rest area if in an RV except on the tollway. If you are parked in a non tollway rest area it is considered camping and you are in violation of the law. You can spend the night in a car, truck, 18 wheeler etc but any RV is not allowed. I know from experience as I was told to get out at 1 AM
Click to expand...
Ohio sounds like a great place for me to never visit!

But I have been there before, but I only drove through Ohio.

-Don- Escambia Welcome Center Rest Stop, Pensacola, FL
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
My perception is that an "overnight stay" is generally NOT allowed, but you can "rest".
Click to expand...
Do you mean just for Florida? By far, most rest stops I have seen allow 24 hours. More than enough time. Mostly in CA and Texas. Seems other states are low on their number of rest stops

Ironically, the rest stop I am in right now in Florida doesn't mention anything about a limit of any type. No signs or anything.

Escambia Welcome Center Rest Stop, Pensacola, FL
 
When you get east of Pensacola, into the Panama City Beach area, plug Finn's Island Style Grub into your GPS or Trip Advisor. I had the Blackened Redfish Tacos and they were awesome. Way better than the breaded, deep fried, cod or whitefish you get in other fish tacos.
 
We’ve encountered this a couple of times. I make certain that we never open a slide....and leave prior to daylight! If an officer wants to make an issue of our “camping” and asking for forgiveness is futile....then our defense in court will be “we weren't there “overnight”! The critical part of the defense.....the time of the ticket/arrest must be before sunup! 😉 memtb
 
Old_Crow said:
When you get east of Pensacola, into the Panama City Beach area, plug Finn's Island Style Grub into your GPS or Trip Advisor. I had the Blackened Redfish Tacos and they were awesome. Way better than the breaded, deep fried, cod or whitefish you get in other fish tacos.
Click to expand...
While that sounds goo, I stopped here at the rest stop to have lunch and I already ate. But If I can find an RV park in this area, I will try it.

Any RV park I stop at will be for a few days as a minimum. Or else, they are not worth the hassle, IMO.

Escambia Welcome Center Rest Stop, Pensacola, FL
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 1,264 (members: 34, guests: 1,230)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,930
Posts
1,387,710
Members
137,680
Latest member
Pearl Constance de_la She
Back
Top Bottom