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I put together below for a friend that was traveling to Scottsdale. Hope it helps.

Florida I-10

Exit 192 – We have stayed in the RV area at both the Flying
J and Pilot. I prefer the Pilot as it is
less busy and there is a waffle house across the street.

Exit 136 – Marianna –
The Walmart is great place to stay.
Waffle House within walking distance.

There are a number of other Walmarts along 10 in Florida,
but the above are our favorite stopping points.

Mississippi I-10

Biloxi – You can stay in the parking lots of almost all
casinos everwhere. There is also a new
Walmart on the north side of the interstate.
The Walmart is our choice.

Exit 31 Gulfport – The Flying J has an RV parking area. It can be busy if you are trying to find a
spot late at night.

Louisiana – I-10

If you pull into a Wal-Mart many have a barrier that
prevents vehicles over 12 feet entering the parking lot. Be on the look out for this when approaching
many Wal-Mart’s along I-10. When you
encounter this drive to the rear where the delivery trucks come in. I have yet to find a Walmart that I have not
been able to come in the rear truck entrance and drive around to the front and
park.

Exit 103 B – Prejeans Restaurant – Great Cajun food – take Exit 103B/Opelousas. Continue north two
miles to Exit #2 (Gloria Switch Road.) Ramp exits to the right. At the end of
the ramp, turn right onto Gloria Switch Road the IMMEDIATELY turn left at the
stop light. Continue north one mile. Prejean’s is on the right.t
103B/Opelousas. Continue north two miles to Exit #2 (Gloria Switch Road.) Ramp
exits to the right. At the end of the ramp, turn right onto Gloria Switch Road
the IMMEDIATELY turn left at the stop light. Continue north one mile. Prejean’s
is on the right. http://www.prejeans.com It is a little tight to park depending upon
the time of day, but worth the hassle.
They normally have a Cajun band playing.

Exit 80 or 64 or 65.
Not sure which, but there is a Walmart there.

Isle of Capri Casino at Lake Charles is another place we
have stayed.

Exit 20 – Walmart is a mile or two north of I-10.

Texas – I-10

Exit 848 – Beaumont – We really like Pappadeaux Seafood
restaurant. On the West side of the
restaurant there is a vacant parking lot where you can park. You could probably stay the night there. They have restaurants elsewhere in Texas, AZ,
etc. Great food – http://www.pappadeaux.com

Exit 742 – We like to get through Houston late at
night. We normally stay at the Walmart
in Katy, Texas. It is next to the Mills
Outlet which is a great shopping center with all kinds of restaurants. We stay at the Walmart.

Exit 583 – I have normally gotten dirty by the time I am
approaching San Antonio. I normally stop
at Charlies Hand Dry truck wash next to the Flying J on the east side of An
Antonio on I-10. Relax – It takes a
while…

Exit 501 – If we have time we stay at the Buckhorn
Ranch. It is a very nice RV Park in the
Hill Country. Due of all of the deer I
do not like driving through this area at night.
It is an excellent place to empty your tanks, etc. Great place to base out of to see the Texas
Hill Country.

Exit 456 – Coopers Barbecue – Needs no introduction – Would
be good place to stay also. Awesome Beef
brisket. Do not pass without stopping.

Exit 259 – Walmart at Fort Stockton

Exit 26 – If we are staying in the El Paso area we prefer
this Walmart.

Exit 0 – We normally try to fill up at the Flying J there as
Texas fuel is less expensive than NM and AZ. OK place to stay overnight in RV area.

New Mexico – I-10

Exit 82 – Walmart is a good stop

Arizona – I-10

Exit 208 – We always stop here and fill up prior to going to
Scottsdale. There are not many places in
the Scottsdale area to fill up and this is one of the last heading toward
Scottsdale.

[Per]

Dave:

Thanks as a great help as hope to be out there next January in the bus. Great to see you again at BJ!!

Safe Travels !!!

[Tim]

With all the discussion of shenanigans, why would you want to camp at WalMart? Buckhorn Lake in Kerrville is a great stopover, and the campground next to Camping World at exit 2 in El Paso has long spaces if you are hauling a trailer–but it’s a lot nicer than WalMart! The truck stop at exit 156 in New Mexico is the cheapest fuel on the stretch from San Antonio to Tucson, and the Pilot truck stop at exit 208 in Eloy has good prices–especially if you have the Pilot/Flying J card. The left pump on the car side will handle a large RV, although the pump is slow–but you save 6 cents/gallon over the truck side. Lazy Days have a nice campground in Tucson.

[Peter]

We would overnight at rest areas, Walmarts, or truck stops (in that order) when our coaches were non-slide.

Now with two slides we are almost forced to open at least the bedroom slide just so we can move around the bed to go to the toilet or just get clothes from the closet. That has changed our attitude completely regarding risk. With a non-slide coach our response to any perceived threat was to drive away. We were always ready to do that. The toad was set to roll at all times and we rarely even lowered the front shades. Any noise or activity around trhe coach was all it took for me to throw on my pants and drive away.

Now I do not have the luxury of a speedy departure. It takes time to bring in a slide and for that reason our objective is to park where we feel safe and a speedy getaway is not a consideration. So before we depart on a trip I have printed out potential RV parks and depending on our progress and how tired we are, we select from the list and head for the relative security of a campground.

I just wish there was a secure area for RVs set aside for overnight stays that had limited access, some form of security, and no need to go through the lengthy typical RV park check in process. I really do not care what the code for the bathrooms is, or the password for WiFi, or where the laundry is.

[Per]

We have found that regular campgrounds has served us well in our travels. We did stay at a WalMart once, but gave it up a long time ago. Back in our Pace Arrow days we used to camp out in rest areas, but found them too noisy from the refer trucks in oour old age. We do not like to travel in the dark, so if we don’t have a specific stop planned, we just pull out the Trailer Life bible and pick a place we can reach in a few hours. Registration just takes a couple of minutes, and for the last five years or so, we’ve kept an eye out whether they could take a 45-footer, and most can. Security is rarely an issue–we have not felt unsafe in any campground we have stayed in. The closest one was at Hill AFB, where a Marine with apparent PTSD had a bad attitude. A sitdown and a serviceman to serviceman talk resolved the issue.

The real issue with regular campgrounds are for the folks that haul a large trailer. Ron Lee at Country Coach related how he hardly ever stayed at campgrounds because they wanted him to disconnect the trailer and leave it in a separate spot.

Other than incident descrribed above, we have never had an issue with talking to folks in a campground, whether they were in a bumper-pull trailer or a Prevost. Just like the folks we met in ETLC, people in campgrounds tend to be good folk. Once we get the coach back from renovation, we will be ambassadors for Prevost when we camp out. But just in case, I always carry my friend Walther with me!

[Davy]

I think you’ll get lots of respect with the PPK, Per.:)

[Jerry]

Tom,

PPks are for the ladies, my friend is a P99!

[Ronald]

That is a great list, Dave, and just the kind of information I try to store away for when we need it.

There is one place I would add to your list and that is the Texas Canyon Rest Area at about Mile Marker320 on I-10 in Arizona. That is a beautiful stretch of highway and we love to stop there. We had stayed the night several times.

Also, I have a first cousin in El Paso that makes some of the Mexican food that was ever eaten but I am not sure she would fix for just any old stranger that stopped in her house!

All of us travel for different reasons and for us, making good time is always a part of the equation. Some day that may change but for now we have places to go, people to see, work to do and time schedules to keep.

Because of that we often travel late and leave early so RV Parks are not always practical for us. When we have stayed there before and we know we can get in and out easily then it sometimes makes sense for us but the RV spots in the front of Flying J are usually our choice. My 30 year old daughter says she sleeps better if she hears, “Shower number 5 is now ready” over the loudspeaker every now and then.

Davy

[AL]

So far we have not had any issues whether we stop at a Pilot, Loves, Flying J or the well lit rest areas. I normally try to park so that my entrance door is exposed to the office/fuel pumps or in the centre of a lot so that others can see us exiting or if someone else is trying to get in uninvited. I prefer the truck stops because although they are certainly noisier, there is far more traffic and as such I feel somewhat safer than a rest area which normally will not have any security.

We do travel at night quite a bit because I love driving the coach and once we get started, I hate to shut her down. We also seem to have tight schedules and no time to waste. I get the feeling though that taking an extra day here or there and finding easy in/out campgrounds might be much better than spending more time in truck stops and rest areas at night and as such taking more chances. As they say, having protection is great if needed but avoidance is always better.

Thanks for the response guys and all the suggestions. I always lock the coach when exiting but will make a habit of some of the other great tips you have given me. We will do some printing of good areas to stop ourselves from this post and the PC map and plan accordingly. Safe travels everyone.

[Andy]

Not replying to anyone in particular, but it has been my experience the last few years, that the truck stops and

rest areas fill up well before dark. since the truckers have to have a mandatory rest period.

I have spent hours trying to find a spot .

Jim Brown