Despite being situated between heaven (pFreim Brewery) and hell (HR Waste Water Treatment Plant) overnight boondocking on 8th Street transcends its purgatorial lot in life. Which is to say as a place to spend the night, it’s just fine. While the surrounding area is built-up with numerous pay-to-park lots and hour-regulated spots, 8th Street (and a couple other select streets in Thisbe area) is free of such regulation and we were able to boondock hassle free. In fact, one might surmise that our nomadic tendencies are welcomed as Waterfont Park has not only public flush toilets and a surf shower, but large trash bins and a free RV dump station and potable water spigot at the water treatment plant to boot. It’s not your pristine wilderness camping experience by any stretch—you’re between the Columbia River and the freeway in a mixed-use industrial/commercial/office complex. But judging it on what it is, rather than what it is not, makes it a comfortable, safe-feeling place to crash.

Street that other vans frequent