I had a couple of places tell me no camping due to city ordinances.

I didn't know about Cracker Barrel camping until my wife and I rolled into one for breakfast early one morning and found half the RV spaces were taken with rigs camping.

WalMarts work well for us but have learned to chose the locations carefully.

We have found that state parks are often excellent alternates. They might be a little further off the interstate but for the most part they are typically mostly empty and quiet and only cost a couple of bucks/night. They also often have dump stations and water. I have a Honda generator that I can lock in the bed of the truck so we can run it at night if needed.

 

If using State Parks, I would certainly reserve in advance for weekend nights if you can. Here in central TX nearly every state park is booked on weekends, it's insane. Started getting this way a couple years ago. You have to book months in advance. We booked 4 months in advance for a late March weekend at Mother Neff, and they were shocked we got a spot.
We pull 3 - 4,000 miles a year and have never overnight-ed during the drive. 400-ish miles is about as far as we ever need to go, and have never left the state.

 

Actually, state parks have been hit and miss more recently. When we first got a camper, in the spring of 2010, it was easy. There were lots of empty spots and the most I remember paying was something like $10/night. Usually, they are anywhere from $2 to $8 for an un-developed site. If we are overnighting on the road its virtually always a week day/night. Overnighting on the road means its probably a two day tow so the destination is probably west of the Mississippi River. So we are likely leaving on a weekday and returning on a weekday.

In the last couple of years it seems we have run into more full campgrounds in state parks but that seems to be more of a state by state issue. I remember last year every state park we tried in Colorado and Utah was full but Kansas and Nevada were no problem.

Anything east of the Miss. is typically a one day tow, unless we are planning on staying in multiple locations anyway. Then we book in advance. But then travel time isn't a big deal anyway. We do a week out west once or twice a year. So we will overnight at least once, sometimes twice on the road out and back.

 

IN a word, Walmart. Make sure you let the manager know you'll be overnighting and it's customary to buy something from them while you're there. Safe and free. If you're not site seeing, that's the route I would go.

 

Personally, I'd be concerned about running into snowstorms in CO in April. According to a Google search, winter in CO runs from Late October to Late April. Summer sounds like a MUCH better time of year to be pulling a trailer in the mountains.

 

You are absolutely right about about snow in the mountains. We would be watching the weather forecasts and would "lay low" in Denver for however long it took if snow was a possibility in the high country. That can happen any time of the year. I remember once being stuck at the Vail Pass rest stop on I-70 on July 4, due to a strong snow squall. There are trade offs for us regarding when to make the trip. Late April, maybe snow. But the risk during the summer is the effect of the high heat on the trailer tires. We would be towing across Kansas and Eastern Colorado and could easily have 90° or more. Then, once across the mountains and approaching the western slope, we could encounter 100°+ temps. Our house is in a high desert environment near the Utah border, and from late June to mid August, the daytime temps can often be well above 100°. I feel like the less risky time for the trip is late April. We'll just let Mother Nature decide when we should cross the mountains.

 

We took a cross country 7900+ mile trip in 2014, a few months after I retired. I had a 2005 F150 4x4 with the old 5.4L Triton engine. Went to the Pacific Ocean in Los Angeles and a lot of places in between, both going and coming back.

We used both Walmarts and regular campgrounds, just depended where we were in the trip. If we were stopping some where mid point between point a and point b, we just over nighted at a Walmart long enough to get a night's sleep, and were than on our way. We never unhitched of course. After we arrived at a destination where we wanted to visit some local sights, we'd find a local campground. We never made reservations ahead of time, unless you count calling the morning of the day we would arrive, and reserving ahead. But we were traveling during the "off" season, late February thru the 2nd week in April.