Van Camping/Boondocking on the east coast

Earlier this year I spent a week in NZ and slept every night in the back of a minivan.  It was berkeleying awesome.

I've been dying to replicate that experience here in the US.  I know that's not really possible for a number of reasons, but it is close enough to be worth my while to get a van and outfit it with an extremely minimal camper setup?

How hard is it to do last-minute camping along the Appalachian mountains?  How far in advance would I need to book?  Are there places I can just pull over and sleep for the night?  Is there a single source of information (it seems to vary widely) I'm not seeing?  Is there a chain of campgrounds with not-outrageous fees that I am somehow missing?

Walmart and I think Wawa will let you camp in their lots. There are probably others.

I found that iOverlander was pretty good. 
https://www.ioverlander.com

I've used The Dyrt app on my Android phone to find camping spots.  There's also Hipcamp which is like AirBnB for camping spaces which I have not used but would consider if needed.  

I hadn't seriously travel/camped in a while before this year and was surprised at how many parks require a website to book and pay.  It's annoying though as cell service can be poor in these places, and they have staff, who will say things like "it can be hard to book here with the poor cell service here".  I'm not a fan of this.

#vanlife  was the biggest thing of year 2020 and the covid lockdown and the years that followed.  You should be able to find endless blog and vlog sites about it.  

ioverlander is very good.  

The truly great spots of course are not on there but a lot of them are.  

I have also had very good results searching "xyz dispersed camping" or even just typing "dispersed camping" into google maps.  

Try looking for state forest campgrounds. At least in my state, they are all rustic, cheap, and not very used. Based on the west scene, national forest campgrounds may also be a good choice. 
 

In reply to preach : Cracker barrel too.

Going down the eastern shore and outerbanks there a bunch of cheap campgrounds and areas that folks did it

Look up info on stealth camping. I have done lots of it, without incident. I sleep pretty much anywhere I feel comfortable, and don't bother anyone. A minivan or van can be made very comfortable for one person pretty cheap.

National forests should be free for dispersed camping.  Just pull off the side of the trail and sleep. 
 

Cracker Barrel allows overnight RV parking. I had a friend that did something similar and he purchased a Planet Fitness membership and would hit them for use of the shower facilities along with numerous truck stops. He mentioned buying shower credits from truckers. I assume that truckers who purchase diesel get credit for the purchases and then use those credits to pay for showers. Maybe? 

recreation.gov for campgrounds

In reply to lotusseven7 (Forum Supporter) :

Yes on the truck fuel/shower credits. 
As a citizen traveling, I will still use the nicer big truck stop showers, occasionally. But the formerly $7 showers are up to $14 these days. Nice shower rooms though. 

I've never used any sites for car/truck/van sleeping. Just found a parking lot, or spot I felt comfortable. Only been politely asked to move along a couple times. Never been a ugly scene. 
NE is getting worse about it, I hear; but I've had good success. 
Some Wally's will let campers put their awnings and carpet out, but I've slept 4 or 5 hours at ones that don't allow overnight, without being bothered. 
back on the '90s, the Blue Ridge Parkway had primitive camp sites ever 50 miles (or more?) with a primitive "bath house" (cold water only) for $8 honor envelop / box. Don't know what that price would be today, but nice scenic camping.  

Since you said Appalachian mountains, you'll always be pretty close to the AT, tons of great info for hikers that applies to van living. Free showers at fontana dam and tons of other places along the trail. You can disperse camp along most of the national forest roads, tons of my friends have vans for our hobbies and events where you need to hang in a field for a few days. Really tempted to get a airstream and build it to have a spare spot to crash in the mountains.

There are a lot of areas in the National Forests where you can boondock with minimal problems. You need to check with the specific forest to see if a permit is required. I can tell you that the Francis Marion NF requires a permit and the Nantahala NF has limited areas where disbursed camping is allowed. 

Here is a link to the National Forests in North Carolina. It covers disbursed camping and where it's allowed. I will say that in the summer, camping spots fill up quickly so I usually try to reserve a spot at a regular campsite if there are limited options. 

Walmart is not allowing camping but in some locations you might get lucky if you pull in late and leave early.  Core of Engineers(COE) campgrounds are cheap and nice, and you can get a lifetime discount card.  

https://www.campendium.com/ is a pretty good site for looking for camping spots. 

In reply to porschenut :

Many Wally's , not in the N. E. do. Homestead FL is a known exception, but I think FL now qualifies as N. E. 
I imagine CA doesn't, but that's not a surprise, either. 
And Ive never been asked to leave any N. E. Wally's, just sleeping several hours on my way through. 

In reply to 03Panther :

Walmart is dependent on the manager and the local ordinances. Walmart corporate doesn't have an issue with it. Many cities do. Our local WM just posted signs because North Charleston started enforcing ordinances that don't allow overnight parking. 

Heck, I've found that you can generally get away with parking a van down by the river.  It's almost like you could live there.

In reply to Toyman! :

Yep. That's why I first mentioned some do, and some don't. 
 

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

The right van is important for this.

In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :

Now, that's funny 

I have done a lot of stealth camping , I try to park near  big apartment  blocks since no one has any idea which car belongs where , 

This is even more important if you have an out of state car / van 

It is a little harder to be stealth  when you are in a VW Westfalia poptop camper !