Date:         Wed, 29 Aug 2007 07:29:00 -0400
Reply-To:     Richard Golen <rgolen@UMASSD.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Richard Golen <rgolen@UMASSD.EDU>
Subject:      Parking Lot Camping - LL Bean
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Hi,

This past weekend we took our 87 Westy (with its new powersteering
rack) up to the Mt. Katahdin area in Maine to go white water rafting.
 From our home its a 7 hour drive. For our return trip, we decided to
do some shopping at LL Bean. I contacted LL Bean to see if its
possible to "camp" in their parking lot overnight. They responded
yes, as long as we parked in their RV lot on Depot Street (a three
minute walk from the main store). So we decided to drive to Freeport
after rafting, spend Sunday night in the lot, take our son for the
"midnight at Bean's experience".

We arrived at LL Bean's around 10, rushed over to Friendly's to get a
quick bite to eat. Being a bit worn out from rafting, we did a quick
"recon" of Bean's and went to the RV lot around 11:30 and popped the
top on the Westy, set it up for the night and went to sleep. There
were a couple of pick-up campers and one Class A in the lot. By
morning we had been joined by a Eurovan camper from New York.

The night was quiet, we weren't bothered or hassled by traffic, etc.
It was a great "parking lot camping" experience.

We used to go to LL Beans back in the 70s when Freeport was a sleepy
little town with a small diner and a Mobil station and LL Beans. Now
its "outlet city" and crowded on weekends with shoppers. It was nice
to be able to wander through the town and LL Bean's that night and in
the morning without having to fight the hordes of shoppers. My son
had popped the zipper on his sleeping bag (LL Bean of course) and
true to their guarantee, he walked out of the store with a new one!

So, if you are in the coastal Maine area, try camping at LL Beans.


Ric