Legal places to sleep in your car

Since when is it illegal to sleep in your car? Sober that is. :)

Contrary to popular belief, security cameras don't always prevent or deter crime, they just make it easier to catch the perps.

So, you may be robbed, beaten, and dead, but at least the scumbags won't get away with it!

Which is why you wont be robbed by smart people (unless their uber smart "professionals.") You can still be robbed by stupid people and the previous mentioned professionals but you cant ever get away from that. You are always in danger of being harmed by a stupid person, and if a professional wants to harm you odds are he will anywhere.

Its a long story but I once found myself in a situation where I needed to sleep in my car. I found a L shaped church parking lot. I pulled in right in the corner which was surrounded by trees and spent the night. I did not sleep for more than 10 or 15 minutes the whole night, it was miserable.

A friend of mine realized while on his way home from the bar that he was too drunk to drive (i know very stupid but at least he got together before he hurt someone) and decided he'd sleep it off in a church parking lot. He was passed out for about an hour when the police showed up. He ended up getting a DUI because his keys were sitting on the passenger seat and he ended up spending the night in jail.

I've never used a car/vehicle as a motel, but I don't really find anything wrong with doing that overnight for a short CP trip. Most small SUV's, vans, wagons, CUVs, even some cars have seats that fold completely flat, so you could make a nice bed with an air mattress...it'd probably be cleaner than staying in some motels...

Anyway, I agree that a 24-hour place like Meijer, Walmart, or a rest stop would be a good place to sleep. I see people sleeping in parking lots all the time in their cars, and I assume that their spouse, friend, etc are inside shopping, and they don't want to go in. With a steady flow of customers in and out, these places seem safe to me. Parking somewhere dark, away from people, in a closed/abandoned area is how you attract cops and attention...

realmadrid311 said:
He ended up getting a DUI because his keys were sitting on the passenger seat and he ended up spending the night in jail.

I've heard several times that if you're ever drunk and decide to sleep in a car you need to leave your keys on the ground outside the vehicle to avoid a DUI. I guess it must actually be true.

I think the issue was more that having the keys in your passenger seat, and being in a church parking lot shows that you drove while intoxicated to the church to sleep (hence the DUI). I suppose you could argue that the church was serving too much communion wine, but you probably wouldn't get too far with that argument.

realmadrid311 said:
A friend of mine realized while on his way home from the bar that he was too drunk to drive (i know very stupid but at least he got together before he hurt someone) and decided he'd sleep it off in a church parking lot. He was passed out for about an hour when the police showed up. He ended up getting a DUI because his keys were sitting on the passenger seat and he ended up spending the night in jail.

He probably got a DUI because the cops realized that he didn't get drunk on altar wine and he didn't push the car there. I'm sure if he had been in the bar parking lot and crawled in the back seat, he'd have been fine.

I have a friend whose family member, a severe alcoholic, pulled a stunt like that and drove quite a ways on the highway while drinking. A couple of people had called to report a car of his description driving erratically, and the police eventually caught up to him at a rest area, passed out in his car. His keys, however, were on the ground under the car. Even though it was clear he had driven himself that, since he showed no intent of operating a motor vehicle when he was actually caught, he got popped with an open container for the handle of vodka in his lap.

I just don't find the hotels to be really worth it for this kind of a trip. We could day trip it if we wanted, but the lack of sleep is annoying.

Takes 4.5 hours to get to the point, take a shower at say 9:30 PM. Leave for the point by 10 . Arrive at 2:30 A.M. Sleep in car until 8:30 A.M, head for the gates. Bring bottled water with so you can brush your teeth in the parking lot, and some deodorant wouldn't hurt.

I would rather spend my money skiing or boating, than a motel / hotel / campground in CP. Bayshore sucks also. Do I even want to use their running water? No, it tastes / smells like funk. Also at least Wal-Mart doesn't have a freight train pass through the parking lot nightly.

If I want to go swimming I'll just hop in Hotel Breakers pool.

Also how about throwing your keys in the trunk of the car, then passing out drunk?