We did a combination hub-and-spoke and out-and-back tour at Christmas, and debated how we would handle the situation. In the end, we booked the cabin for the entire time, and just left the stuff we didn't want for the out-and-back part of the tour there.
We were going to do an out-and-back tour this past weekend, and were debating where to leave the van. In this case, the van would have contained a tandem, suitcases, etc. ... some valuable things we didn't want to just leave unattended. We debated about asking if we could leave the van at the motel where we stayed for the first 2 nights of the weekend, and we debated about leaving the van at a park which was the start and finish area for randonneuring events this weekend. In the end, we decided not to bother with the out-and-back tour, and drove to our destination instead, camped, and did a little bit of a hub-and-spoke style tour.
However, if the van were empty, my inclination would have been to leave it on a residential street of the small town we were planning to start the tour from. But not directly in front of someone's house, of course ... that's a bit of an imposition ... but in small towns, you should be able to find the right sort of place to park that's a bit out of the way.