Renegade Hanging

[Mountain Gout]

Shug was in Mich.??? I thought I felt a disturbance in the force....

[abeldanger]

Stickin' it to the "man" who was living full time in the house just behind this building. Im lucky I didnt sleep too late, or he could've stuck it to "me"

Ha! He would have stuck it to you. I was just out there at the end of February and that ranger was a complete no-nonsense kind of guy. My buddy and I talked with him for a while and tried cracking a few jokes. Man, talk about falling on deaf ears. There was rain in the forecast and jokes or not, all he wanted to do was make sure we got out of the canyon after one night. We asked about camping on the way out, close to the exit from the canyon and we got nothing but a death stare. LOL. Love this.

[Trooper]

I don't think I could ever feel comfortably safe hanging in a rest area.

I can't come up with a reason why a campground is any safer, though, so chalk this up to an irrational fear.

Camps sites would likely be filled with other campers with a shared interest and common goal of safety. The rest stop has far more traffic from outside that community, many whom are vultures waiting to take advantage of an unlocked car or complacent traveler. I think it is active transient predators versus passive opportunists--not an irrational fear at all.

[FarStar]

One can develop paranoia about rest areas reading this thread. I've never had any concerns about using them, or snoozing there. The busy ones can make it hard to sleep, but if I'm tired enough I can catch some rest. Before reclining seats became the norm, I used to pull into a rest stop and lay on the warm engine hood to catch a nap.

Perhaps my most memorable road-side evening was spent in the middle of Nebraska. I was traveling some tertiary highway in the middle of the night when my alternator gave up the ghost. My car seats didn't recline, and the rear seat was too small to accomodate me. I had my fart sack with me, but didn't feel comfortable sleeping right along side the highway, which didn't have much traffic, but cattle trucks came barreling by every now and then. So, I hopped the barbed-wire fence and found a place in the pasture. It was a bit chilly, and I recalled hearing about pioneers making fires from buffalo chips. I gathered some dried cow pies and found they burned nicely without putting out an offensive odor. I fell asleep next to my bovine excrement-fueled fire, woke up in the morning to the sound of a speeding cattle truck, hitched a ride to the next town, and found a garage to tow me in and replace my alternator.

[DARKSHADOW]

One can develop paranoia about rest areas reading this thread. I've never had any concerns about using them, or snoozing there.

What was that movie where a guy hitches a ride and they stop at a rest stop, the passenger goes to take a piss and the cops turn on the flood lights to bust all the gay guys who meet there. And the driver was a cereal killer that always killed at a rest stop?


From a lot of road trips all over the place, I have seen a few rundown shady ones, but they were more of the state run type rest stops that were not much more then a washroom parking lot and soda/snack machines. The ones that cater to truckers are much nicer.

There are several rest stop in Canada I have seen are a bit of a picnic area as well, well suited to hanging.

[mtncmpr]

For a 'usually' safe place to park your car and sleep, look no further then truck stops. The big stops (especially the nation-wide ones) are clean, bright, serviced, and with a very large parking area. To name just a few; there is: TA, Loves, Petro, Pilot, Husky, Flying J.

If needed you can use the showers there. They are open 24x7, the bathrooms are usually clean, you can get a hot meal.

I know most people have a stigma about truck-stops, and i have been in a few worthy of that caution; but most are clean, bright, and safe. You typically find them every 2-3 hours along the highway, and almost always near where 2 highways intersect. There might not be any places to hang, but they are much safer then sleeping along the side of the road, or even at state-run rest-stops.

Look to see where the semi-trucks are parked, you will be safe.


-Rug the (former) truck-driving, hammock-hanging, recumbent-riding, geek.

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What's the approx charge for the shower?

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[MikeN]

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What's the approx charge for the shower?

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TA (TravelCenters of America) charge $10 without a 50 gallon diesel purchase.

Link

Pilot does the same, but doesn't state what the cost of the shower is.

Flying J has showers, but no info on the website about cost.

At a guess, I'd say they're all probably about the same.

[te-wa]

Ha! He would have stuck it to you... We asked about camping on the way out, close to the exit from the canyon and we got nothing but a death stare. LOL. Love this.

wow, crazy story. some of those guys take life too serious. glad when i was there i saw no rangers (just a couple who had just finished their thing, on a beach)

[L.D. Cakes]

A Buddy of mine who used his RV as base camp for a 3 month trip across the West a couple of years ago said he found out from other RV campers that the buzz was to just pull up in a Walmart parking lot. So as he traveled he'd just park and sleep. He said it was cool and it saved him a bundle of money. Not sure if I'd do that in a car.... seen a lot of strange people in Walmarts you know.

[Bearpaw]

What was that movie where a guy hitches a ride and they stop at a rest stop, the passenger goes to take a piss and the cops turn on the flood lights to bust all the gay guys who meet there. And the driver was a cereal killer that always killed at a rest stop?

Pretty sure that was There's Something About Mary.

I've slept in the back of my old truck with the camper shell many nights at rest areas. I've done it less so in recent years in vehicles where I couldn't fully stretch out.