A Truck Parking Shortage Means RVers Should Park Elsewhere!

Professional truck drivers are dealing with a nationwide truck parking shortage. With the increasing shortage of parking spots, it becomes more and more important for all of us as RVers to take some responsibility in planning our travels with this parking shortage in mind.

In today’s post, we’re sharing tips on how we can all plan our travels to find parking while avoiding using truck parking spaces. It’s important that professional drivers who are working for a living (at a very challenging job) not be forced to extend their driving time beyond what is safe, legal, or required by their trucking companies.

How Can RVers Help With the Truck Parking Shortage?

In over 20 years of full-timing, we can count on the fingers of one hand how many times we’ve overnighted in a truckstop… and have fingers left over. We’ve always tried to avoid using overnight spaces at truck stops so that we don’t take spots away from long-haul truckers, who generally have fewer options available than RVers do.

We’re serious about trying to be helpful where the truck parking shortage is concerned so that professional truckers have a safe place to park. An exception might be truck stops like Loves that have begun installing reservable spots specifically for RVers. Another exception for us has been the rare times we’ve arrived at a truck stop fairly late to find a large number of empty spaces still available. But that’s become more and more rare over the years.

We even try to avoid staying overnight at smaller rest stops with a limited number of truck spaces. That’s especially true if there are only a couple of long parking spaces left when we arrive. If you think this isn’t a problem, take a look at the ramps leading into and out of a rest area next time you drive past in the evening. We see truckers parked along the shoulder all the time.

Why are we concerned about this? Because, truckers are working hard at a difficult job, and we respect that. Truckers are the backbone of the supply chain. They have pickups and deliveries to make, long driving days, and hours-of-service regulations to follow.

Long-haul truckers are putting their safety on the line if they’re forced to drive longer than they should because they can’t find a place to park to get some much-needed sleep. And, of course, tired truckers aren’t only a danger to themselves, but to everyone else on the road.

Moreover, truck spaces were created for truckers. They exist to give truckers a safe place to stop to get some relief from their job on the road. They need time to get a meal, take a shower, and most importantly, they need adequate rest and a little time to decompress.

But to do all of this, they need access to the parking spaces that are large enough to accommodate their trucks. If those spaces are taken up by RVs, then the trucker is forced to keep driving to find a place to stop.

Our answer is to plan ahead by locating places to stop overnight where we won’t interfere with truckers. In the section that follows, we’ll provide some ideas for how we can plan our stops so that we RVers have a place to overnight without robbing long-haul truckers of their much-needed sleep.

We also want to mention that even RVers need to be aware of the importance of not driving longer than is safe. So, in an emergency, we have to do what’s needed to maintain our own safety as well. On occasion, that could mean stopping at a rest area or even a truck stop and parking as far out of the way of trucks as reasonably possible.

We also have a personal reason for being sensitive to the requirements truckers face as part of their challenging jobs. While we’ve mentioned before that Peter was a professional bus driver and instructor in a past life, he also drove tractor-trailers for a time as well. Even though he wasn’t an OTR driver, he knew many of them and developed a personal understanding of the difficulties they face out there every day.

Here are several options for planning overnights or even making unexpected overnight stops in emergencies if, for example, a driver or passenger is ill:

RV Park or Campground

We can consider paying for a single night at an RV park or campground. We can plan our stops ahead of time, or use an app like The Dyrt as we travel to see what campgrounds are available along our route. Don’t have The Dyrt? get a free trial:

If you’re looking for state, national, regional, or other parks, you can use CampNab to “nab” a camping spot at the last minute, even at campgrounds that are usually booked solid well in advance.

Businesses That Welcome RVers

It’s often easy to spend the night at a business that welcomes overnight RVers. Over the years, we’ve done this more times than we can count. Always make sure to confirm that RVers are welcome at the location, and observe appropriate “Wal-Mart parking lot etiquette“ for RVers.

Not all stores allow this even under the same company name. A lot depends on local ordinances. So it’s important to call ahead to make sure you’re welcome to stay overnight. Some of the most common stores with locations that welcome RVs overnight are:

• Walmart
• Cracker Barrel
• Cabelas/Bass Pro Shops
• Camping World
• Lowe’s
• Home Depot
• Sam’s Club
• Costco
• Some malls & shopping centers

It’s important to note that when we park overnight at a business that welcomes us to do so, we’re overnighting not camping! We avoid putting more slides out than absolutely needed (usually none, or only our smallest bedroom slide). Don’t set up camp in any other way in those parking lots, including putting out chairs, grill, tables, and especially jacks.

We should park on the side as far away from the entrance as possible… or wherever the customer service desk has instructed us to park… as opposed to the middle of the customer parking area. We mostly stay to ourselves in our RV while we’re there, other than shopping in the store that’s hosting us. We then leave first thing in the morning. Again, this is an overnight stop, not a camping trip.

Most of these businesses have specific areas where they welcome you to park. Often when you pull into a parking lot you’ll see where other RVs are parked. That’s generally your clue to follow suit. You may also see a sign designating the appropriate area for RVers.

It’s a good idea to call ahead to check with management to make sure you’re welcome to stay overnight in that particular location.

Apps like AllStays have access to the phone numbers and websites of these businesses, how far away they are from where you’re traveling, and even notes from other RVers as to what their experience was like when they stayed there.

Overnight RV Parking is another great resource, which is now part of the RoadPass trip planning app. Check out the “Boondocking” section below for details on this great resource, including how to get a special discount.

Harvest Hosts

This one requires a little bit of planning. You have to be a member to take advantage of the overnight stays offered by Harvest Hosts and you need to make sure in advance that there’s space available for the size of RV you’re driving at the location where you want to stay.

Harvest Hosts offers overnight stays at farms, wineries, orchards, museums, and other similar locations. You pay an annual fee to join and then you can plan your stay at any of their locations.

If possible, RVers are encouraged to patronize any Harvest Hosts business they stay at. Other than that, you’re invited to park there overnight for free, provided they have the space for you on the night that you wish to stay and you’re in a self-contained RV.

Like the businesses noted above, RVers are expected to avoid setting up camp at these locations, but to simply be comfortable spending the night in a safe and often beautiful spot. If you’re interested in a Harvest Hosts membership, be sure to use our RVGEEKS coupon to save on your membership.

Boondockers Welcome

With Boondockers Welcome, you also pay an annual feature to join, but you’re then given the opportunity to park overnight on private property for free.

Boondockers welcome allows us a unique opportunity to connect with fellow RV enthusiasts as our membership links us up with people who do exactly what the name implies — they welcome boondockers all over North America, and even in a few places abroad. Our first stay at a Boondockers Welcome was in Australia!

Use coupon code RVGEEKS15 to save 15% on a Boondockers Welcome membership:

Boondocking!

If you’ve followed us for very long, you know how much we love boondocking off the grid. There are lots of boondocking spots that are appropriate for RVers that tractor-trailer drivers couldn’t ever consider. Some of them aren’t even very far off the beaten path, so a special trip or long drive is often not required.

To find boondocking spots all over North America, Campenium is one of our favorite places to look. They’re now a part of Roadpass, which includes a lot more than just Campendium. We even have a special discount coupon if you want to try it out. We think every RVer should have this great resource in their arsenal.

Final Note

If you’re wondering just how serious the truck parking shortage is, it was reported in 2023 that there was only one parking spot for every 11 trucks on the road. This is why the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act has been introduced in the United States. This legislation would authorize $755 million in competitive Department of Transportation grant funding to expand commercial truck parking capacity across the country.

Until there’s an adequate number of parking spaces for commercial truckers, it’s important for all of us to do our part to ensure we’re not taking up a space where the men and women in the commercial trucking industry need to park as part of their safety and livelihood.

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