Where We Stay

                 Check the interactive maps for boondocking spots
                  marked with picnic table symbols. I've also made a
                  map with good booncocking and overnighting spots
where we stayed in the last few years.

Campgrounds are a big expense for fulltimers. Since we don't use the facilities many times there's no need for us to spend our money on a campground. We do stay at national parks, national forests, Corp of Engineers, state, county and communities parks when they are available and reasonably priced but rarely stay at private parks. So where do we stay all of the other nights? All kinds of places!

When we're traveling in the east, we often stay at Walmart. This is a taboo among some RVers but Walmart actually welcomes RVers. The lots are not for camping but spending the night is fine. Since many of the museums and other attractions that we enjoy are often in cities, Walmart makes a very convenient sleeping spot.

In the mid-west, we look for free city parks. There are many available.

In the west we often boondock on BLM land or in national forests.

All across the country there are casinos, one of our favorite stopping spots. Most of them welcome RVers.

Here's my list of favorite websites that I use when searching for camping or overnight spots.

Parking Lots

Walmart - click on the map link next to the state name. This should bring up all of the Walmart locations in the area , ones that allow overnight and also the ones that don't. I've found that the maps don't always work quite right if you don't have a fast enough connection.
            http://www.allstays.com/c/wal-mart-locations.htm

Casinos - this website is maintained by another fulltime RVer. It's kept up to date and new casinos are added as other travelers send in reports.   http://www.casinocamper.net/rv-parking-locations

Other Places - Occasionally we stay at     flying j/pilot truck stops
                                                          crackerbarrel restaurants
                                                   and     cabelas

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Campgrounds

All Public Campgrounds-I recently started using this site a lot. Zoom in to see all of the public campgrounds in one location. The map does not always work right if you do not have a fast connection.
http://www.uscampgrounds.info/

This one is very good too - http://www.ultimatecampgrounds.com/uc/index.php/2012-10-03-01-10-22

Free and Inexpensive Campgrounds- There are other sites but I use these one the most.
http://freecampsites.net/

Campgrounds with Reviews - https://www.campendium.com/

National Forest and Corp of Engineers - Both of these are managed individually by each state and although .recreation.gov/campgrounds will bring up many campgrounds it doesn't show any of the ones that can't be reserved.

This is a good map for COE campgrounds - https://corpslakes.erdc.dren.mil/visitors/visitors.cfm

This map -http://www.fs.fed.us/locatormap/ is a wonderful resource for forest camping and other recreation. Dispersed camping is allowed in most national forests which means that you are free to drive down any inviting looking road , find a nice clearing and camp for free for up to 14 days at a time. To find dispersed camping sites Google the forest name+dispersed camping. You can also get some good tips by visiting the forest information center.

Update -rules have changed. The forest service is closing many roads to motor vehicles and is only allowing dispersed camping in designated spots within a certain distance from the road. Here's a page of links to the opened roads in each forest- http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/ohv/ohv_maps.shtml

Each forest is working on a map with the camping spots identified.

BLM- The Bureau of Land Management has some established campgrounds but most of the land is opened for disbursed camping - find a nice spot and stay for a couple of weeks. BLM
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Clubs

Boondockers Welcome - This is an intriguing new website started by a boondocking RVer. "At Boondockers Welcome you can connect with other RVers who have a location for you to dry camp for the night." We haven't tried it yet but definitely plan to in the future. http://www.boondockerswelcome.com/

Harvest Host -overnight parking at wineries, farms and attractions. Thank the host by making a purchase. The sites are often easy to get to and close to other attractions. Usually no amenities. One night only. Call 24 hours in advance. $40.00 a year http://www.harvesthosts.com/

Other

Friends and Relatives- driveways or on the street in front of their houses. Unless there are really strict home owner's association rules , it's usually possible to stay in your motorhome while visiting people.

Dumping - When we dry camping or boondocking , we have to find a place to dump our waste water tanks every five or six days. There are several sites with dumpstation information but this is the one that I like the most. sanidumps.com