Welcome to day two of our Sailing Sunday cross-country road trip, plane trip, train trip extravaganza. We had a wild day yesterday. We started our journey in the Abacos where we boarded a cargo plane across to Fort Lauderdale. After we landed in the plane, we hopped on our rental car and drove about five hours from Fort Lauderdale to St. Augustine.
Now we’re making our way up to Jacksonville and started heading west, and now I think we’re about to turn and start heading north. We’re going to be driving through Atlanta, Georgia. Our end game for today is getting to Nashville, Tennessee.
We’ve decided that for tonight, since we have this grand vehicle with a huge area at the back, we’re going to pull into Walmart somewhere, buy something comfy to lay on—a blanket and two pillows—and I think we’re going to camp out in the truck for the night, which I think will be really fun.
This is our adventure of sleeping in a rental car, and we are here to show you how to do it comfortably, safely, and on a budget.
The Strategy: Why Sleep in a Car?
Sleeping in a rental car is a fantastic way to save money and extend your adventure. We call this “balling on a budget.” We got our little private plane across to America with the dog and driving across the country, and now we’re in a flash SUV but we’re using it as our bed.
The only thing we need to sort out is that this has got one of those things where you can unlock the car with the key nearby. I don’t want to risk tonight waking up with some guy trying to open the door because we aren’t able to lock the doors properly from the inside. Security is key when sleeping in a vehicle.
Join us for an adventure as we camp out in our giant Chevy Suburban with a 100 lb German Shepherd. These are the days of our lives.
The Journey North: Georgia on My Mind
We just crossed the Florida-Georgia line so we are officially in Georgia, which is pretty exciting. We actually skipped it on the way down when we were sailing on the boat along the ICW.
One thing I’m struggling with on a road trip, which I really didn’t think of until now, is being pregnant. I have to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes. If I drink a water, it’s like I have to go to the bathroom within 2 minutes.
We are following Google Maps based on their suggested route. It’s taking us directly through Atlanta, but it’s peak hour traffic so we’re thinking this might not be a good idea. But with that said, how often are you driving through Atlanta, Georgia? So we’re just going to go with it.
Finding Hidden Gems
We just continued through and decided to pull off just north of Atlanta in search of somewhere good to eat. We were lucky enough to literally stumble across this quaint little town. Oh man, this is exactly what I wanted as well. One of the things we absolutely love about road trips is just like how you end up in places you never even expected.
We pulled off the road and ended up in this incredible little town that’s so quaint, so beautiful, really looks super historical and really nice. It reminds me of Pleasantville suburbia.
Setting Up Camp: The Walmart Run
Then we’re going to pop in the car and keep driving when the sun goes down and probably end up in a scungy little Walmart parking lot sleeping in the back of the car.
Britney just ran to Walmart and bought a cheap really thin crappy mattress thingo. Hey, it’s memory foam; it’s actually a mattress topper. And we’ll find over like that cheap quilt set whatever. Ooh sexy blue sheets, it feels like silk. Some pillow cases and pillows. Spent about 80 bucks. I got pillows, I got a quilt.
We’re going to pull into a little rest bay on the highway. It’s got a 24-hour toilet. You’re not allowed to sleep there but we figured it’s a rest area so we’re going to go and rest for about 7 hours.
Essentials for Car Sleeping
I also got makeup wipes since we’re not going to be somewhere where I can wash my face. We got some toilet paper just in case we get screwed in one of these places and they don’t have toilet paper in the toilet or something.
So we’re just trying to set it up here at Walmart so when we pull up later we can just crawl in the back and be discreet. We don’t have to be out there setting all this up. Oh, this is so good; this is like camping. Everyone’s there, at least it’s busy so you know we’re not going to get like murdered. Yeah, this is the place to be.
The Rest Stop Experience
All right so this is where we’re sleeping tonight. We’re at a little rest stop on the Highway here just before Tennessee. We were going to go to like a campground and then we’re like oh we go to Walmart and it just seemed a little safer here because like everyone’s here resting or sleeping or doing something.
We’re so stoked that we got this Chevy Suburban because it’s like just pitch black and you can’t really see in. We got like a little front thing to stop the light coming in.
You might be able to see Jackson; there he is there, his little ears. You can’t see in the back at all. Britney’s actually jerry-rigged it a little bit.
Creating the “Love Nest”
I made us a love nest. Yeah, check this out. We’ve got a towel on the back window, we got a pillowcase on the side window, we got a sheet along the other side window. We got a pillowcase here and another one there and then we’ve got a big silver sun shade on the front window.
And sure Jackson’s got his little bed down there. We got our bags stowed piled up there. Jackson’s here; these two seats are folded up onto the front seats so he’s down there he’s got a bed. We bought him a Walmart bed. We got a pillow our memory foam pillow top mattress thing here of our blankets and our pillows and yeah it’s sick.
From the outside you just literally can’t see in. It’s just all black because the windows are tinted black so the fact that we got all this on the inside you can’t actually see the towels and the pillowcases around the windows you just see black.
The Truck Stop Ambiance
We got trucks at the truck stop here like next to us and if you guys don’t know all the big semi trucks they run their engines like 24/7 so they got their air conditioning and everything in the cabin so they all got their engines running. Learned something new today I didn’t know they did that.
Is It Worth It?
We were going to catch out with our friends from sailing Lady Africa Ricky and Simone in Tennessee and go out and party tonight but we didn’t quite make it in time. Now we’re roughing it in the truck stop too cheap to pay for a hotel apparently.
Oh, we may be land travelers at the moment but we’re still sailors. They’ll be lucky we don’t start doing our laundry in the sink at the truck stop. And the best thing is is we’ve got croissants in the glove box for breakfast.
Sometimes road tripping can leave you feeling depressed before vacation even starts due to stress, but embracing the adventure changes everything. Whether you are debating Nashville vs Louisville or wondering is Hawaii overrated, the journey is what you make of it.
Rental Car Sleeping Pros & Cons
| Feature | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free accommodation (after car rental) | Initial setup cost (bedding) |
| Convenience | Sleep anywhere, anytime | No shower or private bathroom |
| Comfort | surprisingly good with memory foam | Limited space, noise from trucks |
| Security | Lockable, tinted windows | Public areas, safety concerns |
| Flexibility | No check-in/out times | Need to find legal parking spots |
Great team guys hope you’re enjoying this little journey so far. This is just the first day really isn’t it so we’ll see you tomorrow where we go to Tennessee and we’ll go out for lunch and explore right.