Have you been to Cabela's?

[Sugord]

Just pulled back in today from 29 days and 4300 miles on the road. What a way to go. In Nebraska on I 90 I think, We stopped at Walmart, was not the best area of town. A young couple with 3 small kids were also looking for a place to stop. They had a phone app that showed all the places to stop and one was Cabela's. So we followed them and what a suprise . They had 6 RV, or P/U trailer spots located close to building. 6 dog Kennels. A small corral For horses. water available and a dump station for RVs.Also a dumpster for trash. Gonna have to do some shopping with them.

 

[Devilishjim]

Dang guess we could use that app

[trailertraveler]

We have been to several Cabela's. All have had dedicated RV parking. Except for one where the local regulations prohibited overnight stays all that we have visited allowed overnights. Several had water and dump stations. Interestingly the one where overnights were prohibited had a free dump station. The store in Sidney Nebraska actually has an RV park with hookups. Cabela's is now owned by Bass Pro Shops which also allows overnights at some locations.

[NA8M]

Shhhh . . . Cabela's is possibly the best kept secret in overnight stays.  I have only stopped at two of them (both east of the Mississippi River) a few times.  The only other overnight "guests" were trucks that seemed to be dropping off or picking up loads.  Quiet, safe, convenient, and a best kept secret kept secret.  Don't tell anybody.  Like a favorite fishin' hole.

Bill, NA8M

[Kirk W]

15 hours ago, Sugord said:

Just pulled back in today from 29 days and 4300 miles on the road.

Wow! Travel average of nearly 150 miles per day. Way too many for me but then I'm retired now for a long time. 

[Pat & Pete]

2 minutes ago, Kirk Wood said:

Wow! Travel average of nearly 150 miles per day. Way too many for me but then I'm retired now for a long time. 

Kirk , 

He's just getting started . He'll slow down . Maybe he's still in 'big city rush' mode ?

[avan]

15 hours ago, Devilishjim said:

Dang guess we could use that app

I'm sure you're aware that the AllStays app shows Cabelas as well as many many more categories of free, private and public camping

[chiefneon]

Howdy!

We've used Cabela's on a number of occasions. We always shop while there and they usually have a good place to eat inside the store.

"Happy Trails"

Chiefneon

[whj469]

Cabela's has been sold to another company. Hope that they still do the RV parking?

 

[trailertraveler]

25 minutes ago, whj469 said:

Cabela's has been sold to another company. Hope that they still do the RV parking?

Cabela's is now owned by Bass Pro Shops which also allows overnights at some locations.

[eddie1261]

On 8/30/2017 at 9:06 AM, Pat & Pete said:

He's just getting started . He'll slow down . Maybe he's still in 'big city rush' mode ?

That is quite an astute comment. I retired over 4 years ago and I realized this spring that I have not yet learned how to hop off that corporate hamster wheel. I have to force myself to realize that I don't have a 1pm meeting, that nobody is waiting for me to fix their laptop or figure out why their email doesn't work remotely. After so many years of calling 5 days in a city, rushing from place to place because I had to catch a plane Saturday afternoon, vacation, I don't have to do that any more. If I want to park by a river and just sit there for 2 days, I can do that. As long as I have enough food, enough water and enough solar, I can do that! Then move 50 miles, 60, miles, however many miles I feel like moving, and do it again.

Once I hit the road, I will adjust to that quickly. Right now, finishing my house for sale, I am still under pressure. This too shall pass!

[Sugord]

We had a few long days but that was because of the Sun and Moon interfering. We had no idea the Eclipse was a big deal. We were in Jackson Wyo. 9 days before event and could hardly drive thru town. Did not know the Epi center was about 20 mi. north of Jackson. We ended up at US Forest Service camp ground 25 mi. NE of Jackson.10 mi off the end of any paved rd. Boondocking big time. If there had not been a couple of campers there we would have not known a camp ground was there. Other than the road ended there.The adventure was worth the rough road to get there.We also found out the Epicenter for eclipse was less than 1 mile from where we were.Had to drive back out the next morn on an unpaved rough rocky road in the rain. A curvy up hill, curvy down hill, No place for a novice RV driver road. But We made it OK. By the way ,we watched the total eclipse in a Walmart parking lot in N Platte Nebraska. We Love Our New RV Life.

[bobsallyh]

Sugord, Jackson, WY. is no pleasure during any time of the summer to drive thru with all the trinket shops and the visitors looking for the next "celebrity" to make a photo op.

[missourijan]

Yes, this is great in theory. However, like Cracker Barrel the spaces designed for rv's are sometimes taken by employees. We gave up trying to park at Cracker Barrel because they allow their employees to park in the rv spots. We have parked overnight at Cabela's a few times. We would spend $$ if we could park there or Cracker Barrel. It seems like a fake invitation for rv's to park there but you don't monitor who is parking in those spots.

[Kirk W]

59 minutes ago, missourijan said:

We gave up trying to park at Cracker Barrel because they allow their employees to park in the rv spots.

I have seen cars in the RV spaces at Cracker Barre but am wondering how you can tell the cars belong to their employees? I have seen things like horse trailers and utility trucks in them also and occasionally an RV! 

[trailertraveler]

1 hour ago, missourijan said:

...Yes, this is great in theory. However, like Cracker Barrel the spaces designed for rv's are sometimes taken by employees...

In my experience, there is absolutely no comparison between any of the Cabela's parking lots at the stores we have visited and the parking lots at Cracker Barrel. The Cabela's parking lots are huge. Some likely having spaces for 500+ vehicles. All the ones we have visited had separate designated RV/Truck parking well away from the building that was virtually empty.

[missourijan]

Because they actually admitted it to us! Cracker Barrel that is, after we parked the 5'r somewhere else. And not all Cabela's have huge parking lots, Rapid City, Reno and Rogers, AR are a few I can think of that aren't so big. . . .  

[trailertraveler]

2 hours ago, missourijan said:

...And not all Cabela's have huge parking lots, Rapid City, Reno and Rogers, AR are a few I can think of that aren't so big. . . .  

Big and huge are certainly subjective terms. Google Earth and Google maps makes it very easy to see the size and configuration of places to park.  Rapid City has the smallest lot of those you mention. It still appears to have over 300 parking spaces and according to Google maps has a row for overnights on the East side of the store. According to the reviews, there is even a dump station. Reno and Rogers both appear to have over 500 spaces plus have some dedicated double length parking spots at the perimeter of the lots. I doubt that there is a Cracker Barrel anywhere that has 300 parking spaces. 

[Twotoes]

The Cabellas in Omaha NE does not have dedicated RV parking or any hookups or even a dump station. The Cabellas in Sydney NE, which is their HQ, has a camp ground with full hook ups for a modest fee 

 

[Sehc]

No 300 space parking lots at Cracker Barrel. But many more Cracker Barrels and more convenient to this traveling guy. Plus CB opens earlier in the morning for breakfast.

[trailertraveler]

If you are looking for convenience of locations and sheer numbers of blacktop boondocking opportunities, I think it is hard to beat Walmart. There are over 5,000 Walmart/Sam's Clubs in the United States. Lowes Home Improvement has over 2000 locations. Both of these considerably outnumber Cracker Barrels 645 locations in 44 states and Cabela's 120 locations with no store in 10 states.

If your RV is much over 25', the satellite imagery of Google Earth or Google Maps can be very helpful. Here is the Cabela's in La Vista, NE. You can clearly see some large parking spaces on the West side of the building. In street view you can even read the Truck/RV Parking sign at the entrance to the lot from Westport Parkway. You still need to check with the local management to be sure overnights are permitted. Compare the Cabela's lot to the La Vista, NE Cracker Barrel.

[GeorgiaHybrid]

We have stayed at Walmart, Lowes, truck stops and rest areas. I have never seen a Cracker Barrel that we would be able to park at with our rig. It might work if you are 30 to 35 feet long but to many times, some idiot parked their car in a RV slot and didn't leave room for larger rigs.

[bigjim]

New Cabela's opening tomorrow morning in Albuquerque not far from the Balloon Fest field. At least a few people  have been camping out since Mon. to snag some of the $500. gift certificates they are giving out on openning day.

Side note: we are haveing a wood permit sale on this FS district tomorrow and we have people already lined up for the sale for 100 cords of wood at 2-4 cords per family. I know they were here at least by 6;30 pm when I got back from a short trip.