After a ton of planning and preparations, our family finally set off on our Westward Expansion adventure on Friday, August 7, 2020. While we had sketched out a basic itinerary, we had absolutely NO reservations! We chose to travel this way because of all of the unknowns with COVID-19 and the wildfires that were spreading out west. We decided to take it week-by-week to make plans and reservations.
The first leg of our journey included a quick, overnight stop at Walmart in Madison, Mississippi. Did you know most Walmarts allow FREE overnight parking? We see no reason to pay for an RV park for one night, so we’ve found several options that we will be sharing!
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Our favorite way to camp for free is through a program called Harvest Hosts, a membership for RVers that provides unique RV camping at over 1400 wineries, breweries, distilleries, farms, museums, and other unique locations! The $79 yearly membership gives members unlimited access to stay overnight at any Harvest Host location. Members are only asked to support their Hosts by purchasing one of their local products with each stay. If you’re interested in joining, you can save 15% by using our link!
Heading to Michigan, we spent a beautiful evening at a Harvest Host, Tuscan Hills Winery in Effingham, Illinois. We supported the restaurant there by eating some yummy pizza in the bistro and purchasing a few delicious bottles of wine. We parked on the edge of the parking lot and set up camp with incredible views of the vineyard to our front and a cornfield in the back! We highly recommend a stop at Tuscan Hills Winery. Great service, terrific food, and an awesome experience!
Most free camping options are only for one overnight stay, including Walmart and Harvest Hosts. Other free camping options that we have used include:
- Rest areas (overnight stops)
- Some truck stops, such as Pilot, Love’s, and Travel America (overnight stops)
- BLM Land (Bureau of Land Management) up to 14 nights
I am positive other free camping alternatives are available, and we plan to discover more ways to camp for free! We love saving money when we can! Let us know in the comments below how you like to camp. How do you conserve money when you plan your trips?
