Good places to park and sleep overnight in your car?

[john.sibley]

The only place I've ever seen an official overnight parking area was on I-20 after you cross into Mississippi going eastbound. I've seen a Alabama Trooper go thru a rest area at 2:30 am with his lights and sirens clearing out the trucks. One driver was arguing with the cop he had just gotten there and was required to take a break.
He pulled in in front of me.

Just be mindful of the "No Overnight Parking" signs at rest stops in the south. Otherwise on a nice night the park benches are yours.

And I've done the motel parking lot thing in Birmingham. We were in and out before the night staff noticed.

 

[George Grant]

If you're anywhere near a National Forest or Grassland, you can do the 'disbursed camping' thing at any pre-developed site. There are numerous Grasslands in the general area of the OK panhandle area, in western S. Dakota, and a few scattered elsewhere across the plains. Google Earth has a forest layer that is handy for finding things like this.

There's Toadstool Geologic Park contained within the Oglala National Grasslands in northwestern Nebraska. Cool, but remote:

http://fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c5/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gDfxMDT8MwRydLA1cj72BTSw8jAwgAykeaxcN4jhYG_h4eYX5hPgYwefy6w0H24dcPNgEHcDTQ9_PIz03VL8iNMMgycVQEAIzTHkw!/dl3/d3/L2dJQSEvUUt3QS9ZQnZ3LzZfME80MEkxVkFCOTBFMktTNUJIMjAwMDAwMDA!/?ss=110207&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&cid=FSE_003705&navid=110130000000000&pnavid=110000000000000&position=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&recid=10616&ttype=recarea&name=Toadstool%20Geological%20Park%20and%20Campground&pname=Nebraska%20National%20Forests%20And%20Grasslands%20-%20Toadstool%20Geological%20Park%20and%20Campground

That's an ugly link. Here's a shorter one to Oglala Grasslands:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/nebraska/units/prrd/oglala.html

I don't know if I'd ever be chasing that way... but it's on the way to the Black Hills!

 

[Jerry Prsha]

Deviating from the original topic a bit but thinking about the subject matter.. I saw this and would love to have one except for the price. Yikes!

http://www.autohomeus.com/rooftop/maggiolina.php