unusual question - any suggestions??

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Hi All! I have been accepted to BSN program in Yakima, Washington -- sooooo exciting!!:balloons: Last year, while finishing my prereqs my husband and I bought a used, small rv/camper for me to live in while attending school during the week and I would go home on the weekends. Gas costs are too prohibitive for me to commute from home to school and back everyday ---- so, the camper made schooling do-able.

I am elated to have been accepted to the BSN program beginning this fall, and here is the dilemma I am faced with: I need to find a SAFE place to park my 18-foot camper/rv during the academic year as I will be living in it during the week while attending school. The parks are too expensive -monthly costs are about the same as commuting - not affordable on our fixed income. Last year I checked with the area churches, most of which made me feel bad for asking. :o Anyway, if anybody has suggestions, I would very much appreciate your input!!

Specializes in PACU.

can you just drive to school (in a car from home) since it would cost too much to park the camper? or can you park the camper on the street at a different location every night? im sorry i dont have much advice but good luck to you!

How about the Wal-mart parking lot? We live at the beach and our local beachside walmart always has RV's in the parking lot.

I did a quick Google of "Wal-Mart RV'ing" and came up with 550 hits.

This might be scarey for a lonely woman to do (but I'm a skinny punk and i never got hurt), but some cities have truck stops( and not just tucks Cars, RVs, etc) parked and slept there every night. they are very well lit very populated so nothing can really happen to you, plus the cops are always around and there are tons of stores, restaurants things like that. When i was driving back from California seeing my dad and step mom i slept in alot of them along the way. I actually was talking to some nice lady and her daughter and son in flagstaff Arizona i think it was, and she got a divorce from her husband and her and her children were sleeping in a Camper type thing until they found an apartment there. So its a suggestion on a safe, very cheap(cause its free lol) place. I know that probably sounded crazy

Andy

Thank you all for replying. I am so grateful to have been accepted to the nursing program that figuring out where to park safely (and sleep) seems like a minor sacrifice. Last year, while getting prereqs out of the way, I parked in various places along the street --- didnt always feel safe though and sometimes stayed awake all night hearing various human activities (off and on)! I parked in the park one time and had the police knocking at the door at 2a.m. telling me to move. These kinds of nights don't make for the best test-taking skills the next morning :)

I stayed at the local Wal-mart but they had a limit of 5 nights (still, I thought that was generous). The truckstops looked kinda scarey, but to be honest, I haven't read or heard about problems.

It would be nice to just drive the car to and from, but it truly is not affordable - it is about 150 miles RT daily. One idea that I had was being available to look in on someone who is living alone but needs minimal assistance in exchange for parking accommodations. I don't know how to go about setting up such an arrangement - I think it seems a little peculiar since I am not known in that area ---- those kinds of arrangements seem to be more word-of-mouth than obtained by solicitation!

Anyway, like I said - the exciting thing is knowing that I am able to fulfill a dream that has been on hold for more than 20 years. What an honor and delight!!! Thank you all again for your ideas and suggestions.

Have you thought about doing something on Craigslist.org? Yakima is one of the cities listed when you go under Washington state. They have a couple of housing categories including temporary housing and parking.

Hope that helps.

Sandy

Put an ad in the local paper listing you needs for a safe driveway to park in every night.

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

Try finding a truck stop near the school. I'm talking about one of the big ones that has all kinds of facilities for the long distance truckers (Laundromats, showers, truck washes, restaurants, convenience store and even motels). Many truckers park overnight at these places on a regular basis if they are running on a regular route. There are some grungy truckers out there that are into nasty stuff, but most are decent people who are just out there making a living in order to pay bills and the overhead on those massive trucks, especially if they are husband and wife driving teams. My brother and his wife drive cross country and when they visit me they have parked over night on the side of the access road that runs alongside a Wal-Mart but leads back to the store's unloading area. They have also been able to park in large shopping malls at the very edges away from the heavy parking traffic. Just an idea, but you might try checking out AAA or doing a search on the Internet for information on rest areas while driving. You might even approach some of the hospitals and ask if you can park in their parking lots or non-public parking areas. When I lived in the desert, we would have people who had relatives in the hospital and they were living in trailers parked in the hospital parking lot (because they lived hundreds of miles away). It was OK'd by the hospital security people.

Specializes in Level III cardiac/telemetry.

I know you bought the RV for this reason, but if you're looking at finding someone who needs care, why not look for someone who would just let you live with them in exchange for care? I know a lot of times people just need someone to be in the house with them overnight. I would think newspapers and craigslist would be the best place to find this.

Is there a student housing notice board at school? Maybe you can find a rental house with students in it where you can park for low cost.

I would post on the bulletin boards that you are looking for a place to park your RV and what you can afford to pay and what you expect out of the deal (bathroom privileges, electricity, whatever). I am sure you will find someone who will be happy to have someone nearby (an older woman, for instance...).

Are there doorms and apartments on campus. maybe they will let yo park there, although id be more scared to park at the campus then at a truck stop

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