This particular Home Depot is easily one of the larger lots I’ve encountered, which should be welcomed if you’ve been driving it hard up and down nearby I75 for the past several hours and are simply looking for a place to ‘drop anchor’ for the night. This one is conveniently located just right off of NW 13th Street here in the northernmost edge of easily the largest college town in the ‘Sunshine State’ – University of FL. If you are not keen on staying right next to the busiest highway rolling through or next to Gainesville, then this orange home fixer-upper retail location might just be right for you, but to be clear, you will have to navigate a bit of this college town to arrive to this particular Home Depot, which likely means heading due east on 39th Avenue.
Given that this lot is much larger than most and NW 13th Street is one of the major arteries in town, while you’ll experience some traffic arriving here, once you enter, you will find that there’s not too much congestion, so you should be able to land a spot fairly easy. I would recommend that you look at the northern or easternmost edges of this parking lot, the latter which borders a number of other retail locations such as Waffle House and Subway. Other big box retailers like Lowe’s or grocery stores like Publix and Aldi are located just due south of here, along with a number of gas stations, banks as well as some decent restaurants like Adam’s Rib Co, Big Mill’s Cheesesteaks and Caribbean Spice. Of course, there’s no shortage of drive-by fast food joints nearby like McDonald’s, Checkers, Firehouse Subs, Wendy’s, Chipotle, Taco Bell and Subway.
Insider’s tip? If you’d like to eat something that is actually memorable, you’d be better off driving a bit out of your way here to have a slice of heaven over at Instagram-worthy Satchel’s Pizza, where you’ll be able to dine on deep dish delight while sucking down some draught-fresh poured local pints of beer. There’s also an outdoor patio where on occasion there’s live music and an open-mic night, and who doesn’t like either, especially in a college town?
While scoring criteria may vary from one person to the next, here are the 5 most important criteria that informed my rating of this overnight location: convenience (EZ on- and off-access), safety & security, quality (of facilities), peace & quiet and amenities (either on-site or nearby). Here’s how I ranked this particular overnight spot:
Convenience: 4
Safety & Security: 4
Quality: 5
Peace & Quiet: 4
Amenities: 3
Overall, I scored this location a 4.
Happy Overnighting!
