Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 01:37:25 +0100
Reply-To: Robert Steven Fish <fish@SALZBURG.CO.AT>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Robert Steven Fish <fish@SALZBURG.CO.AT>
Subject: Re: Walmart parking
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I think you have hit the nail on the head here.
I have done my share of cross-country trips, and have slept in a variety of
places, from park benches, to real campgrounds, to shopping plaza parking
lots.
While travelling with my wife, who is from Austria, it was actually a fun
and kooky "cultural experience" to "camp" under the gigantic lighted
billboard at the Union 76 mega-truckstop. We even had the portable coleman
stove out, and made our grilled cheese sandwiches, with some 80 foot wide
Marlboro Man staring down upon us. It was cool and strangely post-modern!
But more importantly, we had the feeling that we were safe for the night
there.
The bottom line for many travelers is an awkward tension between money and
safety. When traveling, especially in a Vanagon, one is usually the
adverturous type who likes to see the world and NOT pay 50-200 bucks a night
to sleep in a sterile hotel room.
However, one also likes to wake up (meaning both being alive, and with all
your possesions) in the morning... especially when on vacation.
The amount of horror stories I have heard about strange things that happen
in the highway rest areas makes me sick to my stomach. I could hardly
believe it when someone told me that their Vanagon was slowly filled with
"gas" through a cracked window, which allowed the thieves to come in and
steal every little thing that they had, while the occupants were out cold.
The other issue seems to be that when one is trying to cover many miles, as
in America often is necessary... then you end up somewhere between
destinations, at 2am, tired, and in need of some rest. But the hotels that
have those "hourly rates" are few and far between (and generally filled with
a bit too much action for my liking anyway).
I hope that the Wal-Mart "open lot" policy can continue, and that bad people
do not see this as yet another opportunity to prey on innocent people who
are just out to have a good time.
I'll have to check out my Wal-Mart here to see what their policy is. As you
all know, there are tons of them now in Germany!
RSF
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<º)))>{ <º)))>{ <º)))>{ <º)))>{ <º)))>{ <º)))>{
Robert S. Fish
Salzburg, Austria
1987 Wolfsburg Vanagon 2.1 GL Weekender
1987 Golf Cabriolet
1991 Golf
snipped---------
> As for the social comment made by the fact that I am more comfortable
> sleeping at a Walmart than at a state rest-stop..
end snipped ---------
