Anyone work the overnight shift? Where do you park to day sleep?

[Armchair3535]

So to start with I am temporarily living out of my car (not van) due to some unfortunate circumstances.

I’m female and usually too scared to sleep at night in my car. Does anyone work the graveyard shift and sleep in their vehicle during the day?

If I had the right blackout window coverings (stealth NOT tshirts or towels or anything) I feel like this might be easier to get away with.

I’ve been staying up all night and sleeping at a rest stop when it’s daylight. Or if I do sleep at night I usually try to find an apartment complex with visitor parking. But even apartments are so strict with tow trucks. Everywhere has signs saying no overnight parking and towing enforced (in general not just apartments).

This area has had an economic boom and lots of ppl have been priced out of apartments and homes-so the homeless population has sky rocketed and the police LOVE to roust ppl sleeping in vehicles and give them tickets.

No, I don’t have the means to buy a van right now.

Just wondering if anyone sleeps during the day and where do you park to get adequate sleep hopefully uninterrupted.

 

[mattvei]

this is what I did to car sleep at night- looked up the actual municipal ordinances to find the law on car sleeping and visited a police station to find out what they enforced. Then I looked for a couple spots to rotate in - public street spot contiguous with a park, vacant lot (find on google earth), separating a commercial/industrial center from a residential neighborhood, or a street exit from a neighborhood where there's a big opaque fence between the nearest house and street.

 

[desert_sailing]

i saw a fellow living in his rig at a local church parking lot. I figure he was there for nearly a year. He had plenty of space and privacy.. except Sundays were a bit busier .
Maybe that could be an option for you? It would be at the top of my list... get a phonebook and start calling.

 

[bullfrog]

I would be looking at seasonal work with housing furnished in Coolworks.com or get a job where they would let me park somewhere safe on site. If you are near a hospital that has a parking garage or a 24 hour gym you could join where there is some security. Cracker Barrel probably would be okay or other 24 hour restaurants. Possibly sleep in a coworker’s driveway or parking spot if they are gone during the day. Some colleges will sell you a parking pass, maybe take a gym class to get showers when they open back up for students. Lots of seasonal employees in high rent areas work opposite shifts. One uses the bed while one works, known as the hot bed set up. As many as 6 or 8 in a $1200 apartment makes it less than $200 a month for a place to sleep, shower and cook usually community meals to cut costs. Maybe see if you could do some house sitting in people’s driveways while they are away.

 

[MrNoodly]

In my seven years on the road I've had no trouble anywhere parking/sleeping in my van during the day. It seems the "normal" world only freaks out about what might be going on at night, when they're sleeping themselves. Besides, there are more places where it's legal to park during daylight. None of the No Parking Between 10PM and 6 AM stuff. Also, the day use areas at local, state and federal parks are often free or a lot cheaper than campgrounds at the same place. There are scenic overlooks, boat ramps, fishing accesses, trailheads, and a world of parking lots where it's no big deal to have vehicles parked 8 to 12 hours at a time.

 

[bullfrog]

^^^ plenty of safe day use areas and resources to find them now a days. Check local crime reports on real estate sales sites in local areas. Take up fishing as a hobby! Volunteer and ask locals, many people are very helpful once they know you are willing to help others and get to know you.

 

[VanFocused]

I haven't had any issues finding a place to sleep during the day. A lot of places have restrictions on overnight parking, but I don't feel like too many places care about sleeping during the day (IMO). I used to work 3 jobs and go to community college and would often take naps in-between shifts/school and never got hassled. Of course, these were hardly longer than 2 hours or so.

Currently, although I don't sleep during the day, I often will park somewhere for 6-8 hrs and read, draw, clean, cook, whatever inside the van and I've never been bothered. Of course, a van is different from a car but here's some ideas.

1) As you stated get window coverings. Whatever you can find that looks clean and "normal..." aka not t-shirts or anything.
2) spend a few days looking for good spots to sleep. I really like parking lots. I look for the busy areas like malls and stuff but try to park in the open unused areas. Public parks are great. any place that doesn't look like it would be strange for you to park a car in for 6-8hrs.
3) street parking is great too. NOT in front of a residential house but somewhere where people come and go during the day. I like to find businesses like restaurants and stuff in or near residential areas and usually there is a ton of nice street parking.
3) If you ever get the dreaded knock just say sorry and that you'll move and go to a different spot.

Hopefully some of this helped. Here is a pretty good article that might have some more info for you but it is more about overnight parking not day parking. "Overnight Parking and Stealth Camping While Vandwelling." Cheers!

 

[user 37446]

I still work FT and just got off months of 3rd shift, rotated to 2nd. When I was on 3rd and had OT for 2nd the next day I'd find a motel or big box store parking lot, park well away from the entrance/exit doors, put in the window blocks and try to rest. Depending on your vehicle's looks you'll likely not be bothered.

It's a bit harder due to the increase in traffic but it's doable. Now that it's getting warmer, adequate ventilation and the noise from a fan may help you.