We did it!!
We earned our boondocking in a parking lot badge!
Ok, so as far as I know there are no actual full-time RV life badges, but there should be.
Anyways, we spent this past Sunday night parked in a Cracker Barrel parking lot overnight and absolutely loved it!! I know what you might be thinking, "but, it's just a parking lot!" To me it is so much more. One, our night in the Cracker Barrel parking lot was our first night boondocking in Delilah the Dream Machine; two, the ambiance was actually perfect for a wonderful night's sleep. Here are 5 reasons we think boondocking at Cracker Barrel is an amazing component to full-time RV life....
Cracker Barrel: The Bed and Breakfast for RVers
We actually ate two different meals at this specific Cracker Barrel. We pulled into the lot, after a long day of driving, and went in to grab dinner before tucking in for the night. We also made sure to introduce ourselves to the manager, just to let staff know we would be staying overnight. The staff was so hospitable and accommodating. The next morning, we woke up and went back in for a huge breakfast to fuel us for the next 6 hour leg of our trip out West. Cracker Barrel now offers specialty coffee beverages and we loved adding a little oomph to our coffee game with a caramel and mocha latte.
Camping in a Cracker Barrel Parking Lot is Extra Cozy
Due to the fact that we were in the parking lot we didn't put out the slides. We thought the squished space might be an issue, but it was actually just the opposite. It made our bedroom space feel extra cozy! Babe actually woke up to teach the next morning (thank God for a solid laptop battery life), while I slept in. I woke up to the sounds of early breakfast eaters and loved that the bed was closer to our window, so that I could peer up at the sky or people watch while I lounged lazily, waiting for him to finish teaching. We were also a little worried about the sounds of the interstate going by, but we use electric heaters in the camper to silence the sound between us while we teach, so we have grown use to background noise. The sound of the cars whizzing by lulled me to sleep and I didn't wake up until almost 10am.
Cracker Barrel's Audiobook Program is Perfect for Long Road Trips
We try to keep our drive time around 4 hours between locations, but on this specific trip we are doing 6.5 hour stretches, because we are trying to book it to Colorado to hit the slopes before ski season ends. We love listening to audiobooks as a way to pass the time! Especially for longer stretches it really makes the time fly by. Cracker Barrel has an awesome selection of audiobooks. I especially love browsing the book choices when there is a wait for a table. You purchase the book at one location and then return it to any other Cracker Barrel location for a full credit on your purchase, minus a $3.49 per week exchange fee. Since we can no longer really use a library system, this is such a blessing! We love mystery titles from authors like Harlan Coben or James Patterson, but there are tons of other great genres to choose from.
**We did receive this specific audiobook for free, in exchange for our thoughts on the audiobook program; all thoughts and opinions are entirely our own.**
Cracker Barrel is a Great Place to Stock Up on Snacks
I love all the old fashioned candy options at Cracker Barrel and we pretty much always have a thing of their soft peppermint sticks in our glove compartment for me to to suck on when the road gets windy (cue the car sickness)! Now that we are trying to eat a little better, and considering we are in the car for long stretches so frequently, we have branched out into less sweet snack options. We grabbed the beef jerky they had for sale and it was some of the best jerky we have had! I also love browsing through all their fun, retro decor, cute clothing options, and trying to kick Babe's butt at a game of checkers.
Cracker Barrel is a Healthier Food Option
Speaking of eating better... when you live on the road it can be all too easy to pull into a fast food restaurant, grab the easiest thing (see, french fries and gut bombs), and hit the road again. We have really been trying to stop that. If we don't plan ahead and make sandwiches, we will typically pull into a Cracker Barrel. They have some healthy meal options that are delicious. We just tried their Apple Cider BBQ Chicken and it was so good! Plus, it's nice to get out of the truck and sit at a table for a minute. Some of our other favorite options: campfire meals (when in season), country fried steak, and chicken & dumplings (ok, so maybe the full-on-healthy-eating lifestyle is a work in process- give me all the carbs!)
Honestly, I am actually looking forward to our next parking lot stay! We have already decided we will hit up another one on our leg between Kansas and Colorado. It's nice to know that Cracker Barrel is there when we need a good pull-off spot to get some shut eye (and a good meal)! It really is a great option for any RVer looking for a parking lot to boondock in between longer stays somewhere.
This is SO neat! Cracker Barrel is my go to stop for special treats for a snack basket, and around the holidays too. I had absolutely no idea about the audio books! I am definitely going to check this out, and pass it along to my in laws who are always road tripping to a new destination!
ReplyDeleteCracker Barrel is such a great stop for gift baskets!! And yes, let them know!! If they are anything like us they would love them!
DeleteHow fun! I've always thought it would be fun to live in an RV for a while. I definitely have to agree that Cracker Barrel's hospitality is spot-on. They really do pull out all the stops to make their guests feel at home.
ReplyDeleteThey really do :)
DeleteMy family and I absolutely LOVE Cracker Barrel. Any time we are traveling it is our "safe" eating place. Always something good on the menu and definitely something our kids will eat!
ReplyDeleteYes, it was our go-to stop when I was a kid too. At least one leg of the trip we would stop. Cracker Barrel is always a win!
DeleteI have a few RV friends I'll pass this along to, but first: A) I miss Cracker Barrel so much that this sounds like a dream come true. B) they have an audio book program? How cool is that?! and C) I love how early they open...that must be a RV's dream!
ReplyDeleteIt really is a perfect RV life spot!! :)
DeleteI didn't know how beneficial it was for RVers, but I knew for certain how awesome it is to stop there on a road trip! LOL :)
ReplyDeleteAmen!! RV or no RV it makes for an awesome stop!
DeleteI LOVE LOVE LoVE Cracker Barrel. We'll have to keep it in mind when RVing!
ReplyDeleteYes, you definitely need to try it during the fall when its cooler out. Great stop if you are trying to get further away and don't want to pay for a spot on the way.
DeleteSo all Cracker Barrels allow overnight parking for RVers?! So good to know!
ReplyDeleteYEP :)
DeleteWe LOVE Cracker Barrel. It's so nice that they let us stay in their parking lot one night with our RV too. However, at 3 AM when the lot cleaners used the leaf blowers all around our RV was a bit too early for even breakfast.
ReplyDeleteHaha, true! We haven't had that happen to us yet. Or if it has I have slept right through it!
DeleteGotta love the food though!!
ReplyDeleteInteresting! My over-the-road truck driving cousins won't patronize CB because they say truckers aren't welcome to park there. Why are RVs different, I wonder?
ReplyDeleteI think it might be because trucks can't turn off their generators/their engines. They don't allow you to have generators on while there. We were at one that had a truck next to us, but they turned their truck off while there. I think if they explain they will turn off then they can stay :) I don't know for sure though on that; it may be dependent on location.
Deletethis may be a silly question. How do you use your electric heater without using your generator?
ReplyDeleteSorry I just realized that sentence didn't make sense given the context. We don't use the electric heaters when we are boon docking, but we were so used to the sound of those that the sound from the trucks nearby and traffic on the highway didn't rouse us. Our heaters are pretty loud, so we were used to their noise and the noise of the stuff around us didn't phase us because of that.
DeleteWE live in Australia and we spent 2 months driving from Los Angeles to Orlando in 2016, 10,700 Kilometres all up across southern states, we found Cracker Barrel a great and friendly place, we did not have a motor home but shopped at their place a lot, do you know that Cracker Barrel was the only place we could get a whole map of the USA so we could keep track of our travels, this was apart from the tourist info places who only had state maps.
ReplyDeleteWe totally enjoyed the USA and have been there 3 times for road trips, American people are so friendly and polite and we have great memories, we cant wait to be able to travel there again , will probably go motor home next time and spend more time there.
Ian and Lizzy
Hey guys! So glad you loved Cracker Barrel as much as we do. If you come back to of a motor home trip it's definitely a great option for overnight stops. I can't believe that was the only option for finding a whole map, but good to know. I guess with so much being digital these days some places just don't carry them, but we prefer back roads and sometimes those are easier to navigate using an actual paper map. Australia is at the top of our out of country bucket list. We have never been! Any great, off-the-beaten path spots we need to put on our list for when we get there?
DeleteGood to see your comments, We used the GPS most of the time but we always back it up with paper maps to have an overview. State maps are easy to get but the whole of USA is a different game, Cracker Barrel has a whole map to show where all their shops are. If you are coming to Australia any road that is not the main highway between cities, almost always is a back road. The main thing to remember Australia is about as big as the USA, but with only 25 million people who mostly live on the coast, there is lots of space between places.
DeleteYou will be surprised how much the country towns and rural roads are much like the USA.
The country people are very much the same, friendly and helpful. The scenery is very much like the US but our mountains and holes in the ground are not as big and plentiful as yours.
We have the Great Ocean Road in Victoria on the southern coast, The Victorian High Country drive is very good, The drive across the Nullabore Plains to Western Australia has some of the longest straights in the world.
This is just some drives we have.
If you come to Aussie we can show you around and/or direct you when you get here, depending on the weather, fires, floods or drought, its very exciting here.
Keep safe,
The Oxleys
Aww, thank you for extending the hospitality! We may definitely take you up on that when we make it that way. Would love to see the Nullabore Plains! It's crazy to me how much in the middle is left undeveloped. I love that! So much of the US has been completely overrun, but there are still some great undeveloped beauties here for sure.
DeleteNow that's a post!!!! Your writing (and storytelling) soooo dope!!! I'm reading stuff all day, researching. I skim. I skim they all. Get in, get what I need, get out. Lol. Yours was sooooo well done, I read the entire thingstart to finish. Havemt done that in yeeeeeeears! Is there a badge for that? Lol "Life long skimmer so engaged in my writing she read the whole darn thing." Your writing and content, the info you gave...you're in a league all of your own!!!! 😊🎉😊🎉😊🎉
ReplyDelete