The "urban center" rule is probably a good one. I, for one, refuse to shop at our local Walmart here in Sacramento (on Truxel Road) due to the huge number of morons and low-lifes that frequent the place. Unfortunately, that includes the people who work there. It seems that this Walmart only hires people with a 6th grade education or less. I just couldn't handle it anymore. Cheers, Jeff
-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf Of Chris Sullivan Sent: Monday, May 17, 2004 4:05 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Re: cross country camping suggestions??
On May 17, 2004, at 1:14 PM, Stan Wilder wrote: > Who are the Wal Mart customers at your neighborhood Wal Mart? A lot of it depends on the local Wal-Mart, I'd gather. I've done the "boondocking in Wal-Mart's car park" thing, and in all but urban centers it's a perfectly safe thing to do. In fact, there's a lot of good sides to using a Wal-Mart parking lot, including having a convenient place to purchase supplies (and often fuel as well). In a couple of circumstances, I'd further add that it was downright pleasant: I had friendly "neighbors" (other RVers) who were quiet, and at one Wal-Mart (St. George, UT if I remember right) the security staff made an effort to be friendly to the boondockers. There has been a lot of discussion on many of the RV lists about "Wal-Mart do's and don'ts". In brief: be discreet, don't set up tents or outside furniture (pushing up the tent-roof on a Westy is usually okay), and don't set up the charcoal BBQ. Don't leave a mess, and don't throw away massive amounts of trash in outdoor trashcans. Some Wal-Marts have set up a dumpster or other such waste container near the edge of the parking lot: a small reasonable amount of trash dumped here is OK. It's also a good indication that "this is where RVs should park." Specifically asking permission is usually not required, however keep a lookout for "No Overnight Parking/Camping" signs, and if they are present, move on. Overnight stays only. An interesting documentary on the Wal-Mart Boondocking phenomenae: http://www.highplainsfilms.org/fp_nowhere.html Also worth reading: http://www.phrannie.org/boondock.html A recent trip in my Westy resulted in me doin' the Wally World thing in Northern California, with a couple of elderly couples as neighbors. Got a lot of comments on the ol' Wedge. It was a Good Thing. -fedl |
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