Road trip to the west

>Driven across the US several times
>Driven from NJ to Alaska
On the highway there are rest areas, although not as many as there used to be. You can sleep in your car in rest areas and even stealth camp in some rest areas too.
You can also camp in national forests and BLM land
Get a good map. You don't usually have to camp in campgrounds in a national forest or BLM land and these lands are often full of logging roads
Just pull of the road onto a logging road and look for a good place to camp
Always carry a couple of gallons of water in your vehicle
>Will people fuck with us?
That depends on you, and where you are, but generally the answer is no

>>952654
Take your time, don't spend a day in anza borrego national park when you could spend a while lifetime there.

I drove from Florida to Alaska. If you're in a bind there is an app that tells you which Walmart allows overnight parking. Then just park near the RV people. Before you think "fuck that!!" It's kinda nice waking up and using the restroom and getting breakfast.

>>952654
Done plenty of driving around. If you have a bit of intuition about ya you'll have no trouble at all finding free places to park. On interstates especially.

this doesn't help with camping, but buy an "america the beautiful" pass. $80 gets you into everything in the national parks system for a year.
>https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm

>>952675
>which walmart
Any walmart that is 24 hrs

Did you really download a fucking app for that?

It's surprisingly hard to find a legal camping spot near the interstate

dispersed camping is legal on
>blm land
possibly excuding national monuments
>usfs land
that's not "designated wilderness"

both cases you are supposed to be at least 100' from water, and not blocking a road. otherwise you're good to go.

Is LA your goal destination point?

>>952654
Seasonal /out/ bum here, spend a lot of time on big road trips between jobs.

Once you get out west, free camping is easy and plentiful because of all the BLM/NFS land. Eastern US is harder, though, because of lack of undeveloped land. Everybody says "lol Walmart" but IMHO Wally-world is a last resort. If I'm not camping, I'm usually sacked out at a highway rest stops. Unless explicitly posted, you can park for 8 hours at most (12 in Oregon) and they're generally quieter and nicer than a store parking lot.

Don't underestimate state park/rec sites as a resource either. Sometimes it's nice to take a night in an actual campground, have a shower, fill your water, meet other road trippers, etc. And the fees are usually pretty reasonable.

Day use parks can be a good resource, too.

My best advice is to get off the interstate as much as you can and get yourself a good road atlas. They're a damn handy thing because they contain lots of info and require no batteries or signal.


Also, random tip: If you're crossing a bridge over a river look for side roads at either end, chances are (as long as it's not private property) there's a place to camp/boondock by the bridge. Especially if there's a public boat launch nearby.

>>952654
Once you get to the southwest desert it is very easy to camp anywhere. Most of it is BLM and open to the public.

Around the prairies it's difficult because it's all farmland and private. Farmers get super pissy if you linger around their property, even if it looks like the middle of nowhere somebody probably owns it. I have had people call the police on me for riding a bicycle near their land. The bright side is that a lot of towns in central USA have little parks with free camping.

File: 100528.federal.land.jpg (414KB, 1434x932px) Image search: [Google]

414KB, 1434x932px

>>952663
>>952841
>>952937
>>952977
>blm
>usfs
pic related

>>953002
I don't believe that map is current. WA doesn't look quite right. Google maps will give you less detailed but largely accurate Public/Private color zones. Pretty much anything green is good to go, tan might get you shot... but you usually get a warning first.

>>952937
>you can park for 8 hours at most
It's worth noting that if need be you can get away with more. Nobody enforces it unless you're really bumming about.

You shouldn't have any trouble stopping at rest areas. Main concern is timing, as Americans are terrible at keeping roads clear during snow.