Bass Pro Shops East Peoria, IL

This has been our overnight parking spot for many years when leaving the Indy area in the late afternoon to get a head start on the next day. We have logged over 10 overnight stays. We always call ahead to be sure their policy hasn’t changed. Bass Pro used to have a restaurant with table service, but now it is more akin to microwave prepared meals that you order at the bowling counter. Nevertheless, we still manage to find something for camping or clothing to pay for their accommodating us. There is noise from the interstate nearby and at times kids tend use the parking lot as a place to meet up. Friday evenings in the summer we have walked a car show that is on the river between Walmart and Bass Pro. We prefer to park just left of the main road going into the store or the south east edge(parking on the right side of main road) along the service road. We stayed on the river side of the parking lot once in the summer but there was a lot of traffic on the walking path at night.  We always call for permission to stay.

This might be the largest and most impressive Bass Pro Shop that I have ever witnessed, and self-admittedly, I haven’t seen all that many, but amazed I was nonetheless. Perhaps it was the dedicated bridge that you drive underneath that welcomes you to this camper / hunter shopping mecca that salutes you upon driving in and out of this place. Or maybe it was the simply MASSIVE paved parking paradise that you experience just as you turn the bend, with seemingly no end in sight – there must have easily been 10,000+ parking spaces here, so no matter how big your RV or 5th Wheeler, you’ll easily find a space to anchor here for the night.

And whether you go shopping here or not, you’ll also be enticed by the backwoods-themed upscale restaurant / bar & grill where you won’t be turned away should you be wearing that stinky camping gear fresh off a recent trail hike.

What I also appreciated about this spot, which is not only very well-maintained and / or seemingly brand-spanking new, is that the location of this Bass Pro Shop appears to be its own self-contained cul-de-sac, which by default keeps all the rif-raf away while also offering up a simply splendid westerly view of the city of Peoria. And should you need to load up on anything there’s a massive retail complex from which you would have come from that offers up big box retailers like Lowe’s and Walmart, a number of gas stations as well as a decent assortment of smart restaurants, like Texas Roadhouse, Childer’s Eatery, Godfather’s Pizza. Across the river, you’ll spot Thyme Kitchen & Craft Beer as well as Zion Coffee Bar, which are all amazing local, independent joints that will appreciate your patronage.

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: 5 

Quality: 5 

Peace & Quiet: 5 

Amenities: 4 

Overall, I scored this location a 5. 

Happy Overnighting!