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Date:         Thu, 17 May 2001 15:36:51 -0700
Reply-To:     Tobin Copley <tobin.copley@ubc.ca>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Tobin Copley <tobin.copley@ubc.ca>
Subject:      Re: Wal-Mart parking-->fulfills a need
Comments: To: Leon Korkin <korkwood@surfree.com>
In-Reply-To:  <3B043A62.A532D246@surfree.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

At 1:53 PM -0700 5/17/01, Leon Korkin wrote: >Are we so desperate to find place to sleep that Wal-Mart is used as >campground? I understand if there is emergency or breakdown but "camping" >there? Truckstops aren't much better with rigs running all night long...There >are so many nice "hidden" places along major highways, wild and without paying >fees, along rivers and lakes even springs(including hot ones) close by with >campfire ring....All that needed is little planning and discovery spirit...

Leon,

Respectfully, I can think of a couple of reasons why a wal-mart lot can be an attractive "destination":

1) If you are trying to "get somewhere" in vacation mode, you don't know where you are going to be when evening and time to pull over for the night comes. Weather, traffic, kids' moods, all that. So it's good to have numerous no frills (heck no *nuthin'*!) crash spots along the route. For example, when I'm taking my family down to Mexico in mid-winter, I just want to make time for the first thousand miles at least. I haven't a clue where we're going to get those first couple of days: traffic, snow, chains in passes, even head winds (remember, i have a diesel westy!) can all really affect the kind of time we can make. But I have wal-marts all down the I-5 corridor from the Canadian border into California. Pardon me for not having infinite research resources at my disposal, but I don't think it's reasonable for me to "plan" and find all the potential "hidden" spots along a long-range route. I just keep rolling toward the sun to the south of me, and I get to wherever I get to each night.

2) I personally think it's a really really bad idea to camp in isolated spots near a heavy traffic area, perhaps especially so in America. I've crashed at wal-marts for years, and invariably there are a number of other rigs there for an overnight. It's never been isolated. We all park in close proximity. Safety in numbers. And the numbers can be impressive: check out the parking lot of a wal-mart beside a freeway on the snowbird route in late fall or early spring. You'd be amazed.

Just to keep things from getting confused, I should make it clear wal-mart camping is *not* "camping" in the sense we might normally think of it. this is pull in at 10:00 PM, shut down, pop top, and be in bed 15 minutes later--and up at 5 or 6 and rolling again within 30 minutes, after a wash and hot breakfast on the stove. We "camp" at wal-marts for sleep, with the objective to get to the secluded beach primitive camping a few days into Baja.

To answer an earlier question, if you get the Rand McNally road atlas sold at wal-mart, it lists the location of every single wal-mart in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

And while I am no fan of wal-mart's block busting business practices, I have to give it to them for being pretty savvy with their RV parking policy. These RV folks have money, are just their demographic, cause no trouble, and their presence probably reduces vandalism etc. for the store. Gotta admit, it's pretty smart, whether you like wal-mart or not.

And Leon, don't hold back on those just-off-the-road hot spring locations! Let's have 'em!

T.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tobin Copley Bowen Island, BC, Canada 49deg 23'N-123deg 19'W

'82 Westfalia 1.6L NA diesel ("Stinky") '97 son Russell ============= '99 daughter Margaret /_| |_L| |__|:| clatter SPEED KILLS! {. .| clatter! Drive a Vanagon diesel ~-()-==----()-~


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