Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 16:19:30 -0700
Reply-To: jeff@VANAGONPARTS.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jeff at Vanagonparts <jeff@VANAGONPARTS.COM>
Subject: Re: cross country camping suggestions?? - WALMART
In-Reply-To: <A8C9023E-A856-11D8-B3F6-000A95CCF96E@feedle.net>
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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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