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.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Have you tried Fort Pickens? They have lots of spaces available and it is a federal facilty.

There is a Cracker Barrel in Lake City that has good RV parking, and i think you can spend the night there. You might try some of the state parks around that area and Gainesville because they are less busy than other places. One very large commercial campground is Strawberry Fields for RVers near Chiefland, FL. It is very new and no trees, but it has the nicest laundry room I have ever seen. (FYI - All Florida state parks have laundry facilities.)

Also Eastbank recreatiion area in GA is a little out of your way, but it is COE and has some vacancies for tonight. Maybe 8 miles north of I-10.
 
Last edited:
I still vote for

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.
 
Yes, it means what it says. More important, what it says is vague and ambiguous. Cops will show up at 3am to ticket you. You can argue what "overnight parking" is and try to define it, but the cop will still ticket you and say you can discuss it with the judge. The judge will say that the cop gave you a ticket means that you are guilty and will not discuss it with you and then you go pay the fine.
If they wanted to have you obey a law then they would be more specific like, "3 hour parking limit between 9pm and 6am" or something that everyone can understand and follow. They just want to be vague and have opportunity to profit from tickets. Don't feed the bears!
 
There are MANY rest stops on I-10 in this part of Florida. Some have no signs at all. Others have signs that say stuff such as "No trailer overnight parking or camping". How do we guess what that means when in a motorhome?

The first RV park I tried was full, about 40 miles west of here. But the 2nd one I tried is farther from the freeway and has many free spaces, even on a Saturday. And that is here at the Florida Caverns RV Park in Marianna, FL.

BTW, this is the first time I got to an RV Park early enough so it was still light when I was done setting up. Ham radio ant up, E-bike ready to ride, all fully hooked up and even have my slides out for the first time since ABQ, NM.

-Don- Marianna, FL
 
Last edited:
There are MANY rest stops on I-10 in this part of Florida. Some have no signs at all. Others have signs that say stuff such as "No trailer overnight parking or camping". How do we guess what that means when in a motorhome?

The first RV parked I tried was full, about 40 miles west of here. But the 2nd one I tried is farther from the freeway and has many free spaces, even on a Saturday. And that is here at the Florida Caverns RV Park in Marianna, FL.

BTW, this is the first time I got to an RV Park early enough so it was still light when I was done setting up. Ham radio ant up, E-bike ready to ride, all fully hooked up and even have my slides out for the first time since ABQ, NM.

-Don- Marianna, FL
That is a great area. Enjoy
 
cop will still ticket you and say you can discuss it with the judge.
And the court case will come up when a few thousand miles away. The RVs they ticket will not be local and they know that. And the lic plate shows such too.

But how much is this parking ticket in Florida? I assume it varies by county, so anybody here know the average cost of these tickets?

BTW, I assumed they would only kick people out and not give them tickets.

-Don- Marianna, FL
 
Can you elaborate on that just a little?
If I have to set up a bunch of stuff, it's just not worth the hassle for just one night. Then I would rather boondock somewhere and have nothing to set up or take down and get a faster start to hit the road.

-Don- Marianna, FL (light rain here)
 
I have stayed overnight in Florida resr stops at least 50 times over the years and never had any problem whatsoever. I believe a lot of these comments are just exagerations!

Ernie
 
If I have to set up a bunch of stuff, it's just not worth the hassle for just one night. Then I would rather boondock somewhere and have nothing to set up or take down and get a faster start to hit the road.

-Don- Marianna, FL (light rain here)
You don’t HAVE to set up a bunch of stuff at an RV park. When we are traveling in cold or hot weather where electricity is handy, we sometimes pull into an RV park overnight. All we put out in the vast majority of cases is an electrical cord and the slides. The only bad thing about it is due our size (40’ plus toad) we almost always have to get an expensive 50 amp FHU site. Sigh. Still handy, especially if we have a pull through big enough to not unhitch so we just pull out in the morning. We prefer boondocking at a destination, not along the road. We make an exception for Boondockers Welcome sites though.
 
Do you mean just for Florida? By far, most rest stops I have seen allow 24 hours. More than enough time.
Yes, I was referring to Florida. The general regulation there is 3 hours for motorists but up to 10 hours for commercial vehicle drivers in designated truck parking areas (to comply with truck driver rest requirements).

Enforcement or not is a different question.

And then there are the private commercial fuel stations along or very near the interstates, most of which allow overnight parking as long as there is space available.
 
You don’t HAVE to set up a bunch of stuff at an RV park. When we are traveling in cold or hot weather where electricity is handy, we sometimes pull into an RV park overnight. All we put out in the vast majority of cases is an electrical cord and the slides.
Sure, but why even stay there at all if you're not going to use much of anything? If all you need is electricity, get a larger battery so you can run everything for a night or two. Like I did with both of my RVs.

-Don- Marianna, FL
 
Yes, I was referring to Florida. The general regulation there is 3 hours for motorists but up to 10 hours for commercial vehicle drivers in designated truck parking areas (to comply with truck driver rest requirements).

Enforcement or not is a different question
OIC. BTW, what does "No trailer overnight parking or camping" mean when in a motorhome like mine?

-Don- Marianna, FL
 
Sure, but why even stay there at all if you're not going to use much of anything? If all you need is electricity, get a larger battery so you can run everything for a night or two. Like I did with both of my RVs.

-Don- Marianna, FL
I will never buy enough batteries to operate my AC overnight. Not happening. Cold weather is easier, since we have lots of battery for the propane heater fan and other items, and we routinely do that. Hot weather is another entire thing.
 
I will never buy enough batteries to operate my AC overnight.
Then it is time for your Genny. IIRC, even Organ Pipe Cactus Natl Monument, which normally has quiet hours, allows gennys to be ran 24/7 when it is the hot season.

But why not, you will probably be the only one in the RV Park.

And at rest stops, with all those refrigerator trucks, nobody is likely to hear your genny. Especially the 5.5 KW Onan in this RV. They sure made the new ones quiet. I wonder what they changed. This genny doesn't make anything near the amount of noise my 4KW Onan does in my Y2K RV. I think it is even less noise than my RV engine.

-Don- Marianna, Fl
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Forum statistics

Threads
131,749
Posts
1,384,212
Members
137,520
Latest member
jeep3501
Back
Top Bottom