Located in the NE corner of Normal, home to Illinois State University, and immediately off of the busy I55 highway corridor, this particular Home Depot sits back from Veteran’s Parkway, the main thoroughfare you’ll jump on heading south to reach this orange big box retailer. You will feel immediately ‘cocooned’ by the location of this Home Depot, which provides a super layer of buffer from the rest of the traffic shooting up and down I55 as well as Veteran’s Parkway, as this retail location doesn’t share parking with any other commercial shopping, so there’s also less traffic and greater privacy.
This home fixer-upper retailer is incredibly convenient and easily accessible from I55, where you’ll find yourself turning right/ west right off Veteran’s Parkway within 1 minute of jumping off I55 – I simply don’t know how it can get any better, easier or quicker than this! And while convenience and accessibility are most certainly the best bits about this Home Depot, the next best attribute is the overall quality this retail parking oasis has to offer road warriors and outdoor enthusiasts like us.
The next best great asset to this location is the amenities that are right outside your RV’s front door and available a bit further down Veteran’s Parkway. Within very close proximity, you have other major big box retailers like Sam’s Club and Menard’s, which are both just across the street from this Home Depot. There’s even an excellent respite for your four-legged friends with Shephard’s Dog Park just behind the Sam’s Club, which you can access by heading east on Shepard Rd and hanging a right on Hershey Road.
My biggest insider’s tip? It’s DESTIHL Brewery that sits just north of Menard’s beckoning you with their stone oven pizzas or typical pub fare like fish & chips, burgers, wings and tacos. Oh, and of course, you’ll have to try out their award-winning brews, of which they have plenty on tap, some of which you can’t find on store shelves. And if you are impressed by the brewery, additionally there’s its signature restaurant located due south on Veteran’s Parkway, which offers up even more culinary options.
A bit further south as you head down Veteran’s Parkway, you’ll have virtually everything you could need to stock up on at large-sized grocers like Walmart, Aldi, Hyvee, Target, Jewel-Osco or Meijer. If you need work on your RV, there’s a Jiffy Lube, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Midas and even Caliber Collision if you have more serious issues to contend with. And while the Sam’s Club across the road from Home Depot features a low-cost gas fueling option, which is likely the cheapest around, if like me, you don’t have a membership, there’s also a number of Circle K’s as well as gas stations at grocers Kroger, Hyvee and Meijer.
Looking for some EXCELLENT local fare? Then don’t be distracted by all of the typical fast-food joints that you’ll easily spot in favor of one of these spots: Portillo’s for its cake shake, steaming hot crinkled French fries and, of course, the legendary Italian sausage+ Italian beef sandwich OR Giardano’s deep dish pizza for some of the best thick, deep pies that the Windy City is known for. Also, there’s a Crumbl a bit down the road that is absolutely worth it, that is, if you like gourmet cookies fresh out of the oven.
As for the parking lot itself, as with the headline here, you’ll discover it’s a private, isolated parking lot and one that is medium-sized, but its cul-de-sac like isolated location make this spot attractive as the only traffic coming and going here is that which is dedicated to home improvement. The lot is completely flat – which admittedly, isn’t all that difficult to accomplish here in the Prairie State – and with its own dedicated, unshared parking plantation, especially in the off hours and during the week, finding a spot to ‘drop anchor for the night’ won’t be difficult. While Normal is quite calm and secure, as a consequence, you’ll feel very safe here with good lighting and, outside of retail hours, not much traffic coming and going at all despite being right off of I55. There’s really great peace & quiet here, despite being near a busy highway and in a fairly decent-sized city. I would suggest parking on either the southernmost periphery of this lot, or if there is space actually to the far west, behind the store or even north running along the single lane of this Home Depot, you will be placed far enough away from all the traffic entering / exiting this outpost.
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: 5
Safety& Security: 5
Quality: 5 Peace& Quiet: 5
Amenities: 5
Overall, I scored this location a 5.
Happy Overnighting!
