Cracker Docking?

Azjeff

Azjeff

Well-known member
Cracker Barrel boondocking. Apparently Cracker Barrel restaurants allow overnight parking at most all locations unless local ordnances prohibit it. Some find it not too cost efficient as it's easy to spend close to a campground fee on an obligatory meal.
 
Below is an example of the Allstays map filtered for Cracker Barrels. We have thought about staying at a few, but they tend to be in fairly congested areas and tend to be hard to get into and out of with a 30' trailer. If you look at the satellite view of their parking lots, the long spaces are the correct length for a bus, but not long enough for a 55' rig.

If you haven't checked out Allstays, you may want to and we have found that Harvest Hosts now has many locations to overnight. Harvest Hosts was just ok in 2020, but someone there did some serious dialing and smiling this winter and they have added hundreds of overnight parking locations. I would seriously give Harvest Hosts a look.

cracker barrel.webp
 
I'll look at Allstays. Looked at Harvest Hosts before and they seemed pretty sparsely distributed. I'm a little too rigid to be comfortable looking for a place to stay at the end of a travel day. We usually do destination traveling and it works better to have stops planned. Going to try to change that attitude when the boss retires next year and we don't have to be there and be back for work. And the Covid mess goes away.
 
Azjeff said:
Looked at Harvest Hosts before and they seemed pretty sparsely distributed.
Click to expand...
They are a bit sparse, but it's getting much better.

Azjeff said:
I'm a little too rigid to be comfortable looking for a place to stay at the end of a travel day. We usually do destination traveling and it works better to have stops planned.
Click to expand...
I totally agree, we virtually always know where we are overnighting. We've had a couple time where it was past dark and couldn't find a place to stay, it's not all that much fun.
 
Azjeff said:
I'll look at Allstays.
Click to expand...
Allstays also has many other filters, which we use every time we use the app. For example, need propane, filter everything out but propane or need fresh water, filter for just fresh water. In my opinion it's by far the best app out there for RVers.
 
Interesting I didn’t know you could stay overnight at them. They better throw in some fried okra for me though 🙂. I see RV and campers eating at ours all the time.
 
We have yet to do this, but then again we haven't gone anywhere far enough to warrant an overnight 'travel stop'. When I first told the wife about it, she actually acted shocked and almost appalled that you would spend the night in a parking lot.

She's actually warmed up to it a little since then, especially since I've acquired a generator big enough to power the whole trailer.

She's also actually realized that we can be self-contained for short periods of time. When we initially got the trailer, I don't think she realized that we tote around water and could use the thing just parked in the middle of nowhere with nothing hooked up to it.
 
Last edited:
Wayne said:
They are a bit sparse, but it's getting much better.
Click to expand...
Allstays has really kicked it into high gear with lots of places to stay. The annual subscription isn't free or cheap, but stay a couple nights for free or nearly free and the subscription will pay for itself.
 
Last edited:
Wayne said:
Allstays has really kicked it into high gear with lots of places to stay. The annual subscription isn't free or cheap, but stay a couple nights for free or nearly free and the subscription will pay for itself.
Click to expand...
You convinced me to pony up the money for an Allstays subscription. I think it was $34 as I'd found a discount code.

Wish they'd work a little on their maps, but over all, I love the amount of information they have in there. Used it extensively for planning out a preliminary schedule for a trip to South Dakota. Granted, I'll have to recheck everything before we leave (we haven't even put the trip on the calendar yet) but it is cool to have a resource like that.
 
ctechbob said:
You convinced me to pony up the money for an Allstays subscription.
Click to expand...
Always fun to spend others' money!

ctechbob said:
I think it was $34 as I'd found a discount code.
Click to expand...
That's a pretty good price for an annual subscription.

ctechbob said:
Used it extensively for planning out a preliminary schedule for a trip to South Dakota.
Click to expand...
Did you see all the filters? They are very powerful. I normally filter for only 4-star and higher and have found it's a pretty good way to find good parks.
 
Wayne said:
Did you see all the filters? They are very powerful. I normally filter for only 4-star and higher and have found it's a pretty good way to find good parks.
Click to expand...
I did. Usually, I just turn off the bridge heights as those really clutter up the map. So far what I've really used it for was scoping out overnight stops for the SD trip.

However, using it to find truck stops along the route is handy too. Loves has a nice one that is on the way that I would have used for an overnight if it lined up better with my timeline. One of the brand new ones that has 5 RV dedicated spots. Think it was $40, but that's not terrible for an overnight right off the interstate.
 
ctechbob said:
I just turn off the bridge heights as those really clutter up the map.
Click to expand...
In the mobile app, if you turn on the filter for "See campgrounds only" or the desktop site set the filter to "Camping - Maps Only" the filter will show only campgrounds. I find it's a great way to really reduce the clutter.
 
It would be nice if they decided to support the Android app again, but no matter, I'd rather use it on a desktop anyways. I have a Chromebox in the camper and if I can use my phone, I can tether the Chromebox to it, so I generally will use that for 'computing'.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top