Walmart overnight parking

[cwf]

G-Willies (Goodwill) is great place to shop for Halloween costumes!

[featherbedder]

My son owns semis, had delivery to store that had sign posted no semis, parked street walked in informed manager had load for store, was told to back into dock to unload son said no semis allowed come out to street & unload or returns to shipper. Point shop where rvs welcome but don't freeload or take adv. of there goodwill.I will not patronize places that say no rvs. I have not stayed at wallmart or any other freebie only because I have never had a need, maybe someday. PS I shop at wallmart a lot.

[gaylejoe]

Recently I have noticed a gentleman at McDonalds near my home. There is no doubt in my mind this person is living in his vehicle. I have passed by this location during different hours but the only time I have seen him is usually around 10AM. Apparently he is staying the night hours some place else.

The last two years, while on our extend trips we have noticed my families living in small trailers. We have seen families with 3 childern living in a small 5th wheel. This is due to the state of our economy today.

Its sad and I wish these families had more but they are doing the best they can.

[AWCHIEF]

Interesting news article. A quick review would give the impression that all the people were freeloading homeless. I took the time to read the entire article including the captions for each photo. Only 3 or 4 would come under that description. The remainder were RV travelers or full timers (like many members here) just passing thru and taking a one night break. In my area it is rare to see RVs/travel trailers parked over night at any of the Wallyworlds. I would suspect that is because all of the casinos in the area allow overnight parking and longer if you are spending some time and money in the casino. I have yet to personally spend the night at any Wallmarts. I am not looking forward to it but I am sure it will happen someday. I did try to spend a night at at a Flying J, but gave up after a few hours. I could not handle the noise and diesel fumes. Got back on the road and grabbed a nap at the next interstate rest stop.

[PharmGeek]

after reading about 15 pages of the 39 pages, I think I feel like I would if despirate stay at a WM - but will avoid if possible....between street sweepers waking me and various forms of paranoia about someone waking me up in the night (be it a security person asking me to leave, the cops, or some hooligans) - I will avoid. but hey, if in a tight spot and need to stop...It cant hurt to be preparred and know what to do...

This had been said over and over in this thread, but the idea of folks puting out their awnings, chairs, trash can, dog, kids riding around....at a WM parking lot....oh jeez...this cannot be serious. I know I know, it is...does someone have a photo?

[Melody Ranch]

Don't say I did'nt warn you.

[AWCHIEF]

He probably got tired of waiting for his wife to return from shopping and decided he had some time to catch a few rays.

[PharmGeek]

oh my oh my hahahaha....

I think you can do better though...perhaps he is just watiing for the wife who went into the store and he needs to synthesize some vitamin D?

edit: seems someone else was typing the same reply hahaha

[Tltulsa]

Also, the super-centers with 24 hour shopping, stocking, and foot traffic. Keep your guard up. We were approaced in Memphis by the unknown "son of Elvis" at about 8:30 in the morning. Asked if he could hop on and ride on down to Florida with us. My wife and daughters were nervous. There was a police officer nearby doing his deskwork in his running car, i suspect he had an eye on this guy. I know i did.

[switz]

I arrived at my local area WalMart at 4:30am having driven all night from Los Angeles and having to deal in the late afternoon with a chinese fire drill over a flat rear car tire with a donut spare and bending the retractable jack stand. The event took over five hours to resolve.

I could not get into the trailer's storage area until 8:30am. I went in and asked if I could rest in my car and purchased some gear after I got a yes response. See photo in my "images" area under the avatar. I was only able to rest my eyes a bit. I gave up and went out and took another photo session with the Superstition mountains as a back drop.

Now with more experience, I could use this service again as a last resort. I was poorly prepared to handle the entire mechanical experience and this was with my first ever RV and first time towing experience. I was more than stressed out towing through the mountains at 55 mph in the dark with the trucks blowing past like I was changing a tire.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by switz

with the trucks blowing past like I was changing a tire.

Triangle reflectors and a reflective vest should be part of every RVer's emergency kit. For added safety, I picked up a couple of magnetic puck-style flashing lights 9-in-1 Safety Flare - Duluth Trading that I could stick to the street side of my vehicle when I pull over, and set them to flash in different sequences; that tends to be an attention-getter for other drivers.

A co-worker of mine spent close to a year in the hospital after being struck by a car while changing a tire on the side of the Interstate, and was permanently handicapped after recovering from multiple surgeries. Learn from his mistake. I did.

[Jim Lee]

Regina and I parked overnight in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Tell City, IN in January 2007, we were on our way back from Lancaster PA where we had just picked up our Airstream trailer. It was cold, very cold, about 11 as we parked in the far corner of the lot far away from everyone and everything. After we went into the store and purchased a few items for breakfast the next day we made couch in the front room of the trailer into a bed and turned on the gas stove and propane heater. We didn't want to run the furnace because we were afraid the fan would run the battery down since we werent' hooked up to electricity.

It was a fitful night but we had done it a couple of nights earlier on top of Mount Storm in a snow storm-- the first time either of us had ever seen much less been in a white out. Anyhow, we slept in our clothes with our socks on it was so cold. About 1 am we heard a tremendous racket right out side our trailer.
Man cheating on his wife or wife cheating on her husband, big fight in the parking lot at 1:00, two cars and yelling and screaming.
Huge parking lot and they fight right outside our trailer. 3 cop cars came and hauled them off to jail.

[Dennis Gonka]

I've found that most Walmart's are receptive to overnight camping. Cracker Barrel is also another excellent place to stay overnight with the added advantage of having a place to have coffee and breakfast first thing in the morning.

[Rolland]

Hi-My best friend lives in Questa, and will be making a trip out there in late spring or summer-Could I please have a little more info, message or e-mail would be fine-Thanks, Rolland (The_Fan_Man@rocketmail.com)

[eubank]

Rolland, there are no Walmarts in Questa, which is a pretty small town. The closest is in Taos, which is about 25 miles to the south.

There are, however, a few Carson National Forest campgrounds up the road from Questa to the east toward Red River. And there is also a BLM campground at the Wild Rivers Recreation Area near Questa.


Lynn

Originally Posted by Rolland

Hi-My best friend lives in Questa, and will be making a trip out there in late spring or summer-Could I please have a little more info, message or e-mail would be fine-Thanks, Rolland (The_Fan_Man@rocketmail.com)

[BAB]

I've put a LOT of miles on SilverLeaf and spent many nights on the road. I have yet to pull into a WalMart, though it is always an option. My son lives about 100 miles from me, and he had his in-laws visiting from AR, so after the evening festivities I opted to spend Christmas eve in my trailer, with my two basset hounds -- boondocked with 24 degree weather. Now that I have solar and two AGM Lifelines there are no worries about battery life due to "excessive furnace use." And, the dogs are always happy to cuddle. Oh, I parked in the community center parking lot. Not much pool use this time of year. (And, yes, he gets the OK for me to do this as I've done this a couple of times!)

[Kokomogoggy]

Recommend the AllStays app if you have an iphone. Pilot truck stops also allow overnights: mypilot app is great. We traveled from Ohio to New Mexico and used Walmart several times. Good luck!

[VT Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Jim Lee

Regina and I parked overnight in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Tell City, IN in January 2007, we were on our way back from Lancaster PA where we had just picked up our Airstream trailer. It was cold, very cold, about 11 as we parked in the far corner of the lot far away from everyone and everything. After we went into the store and purchased a few items for breakfast the next day we made couch in the front room of the trailer into a bed and turned on the gas stove and propane heater. We didn't want to run the furnace because we were afraid the fan would run the battery down since we werent' hooked up to electricity.

It was a fitful night but we had done it a couple of nights earlier on top of Mount Storm in a snow storm-- the first time either of us had ever seen much less been in a white out. Anyhow, we slept in our clothes with our socks on it was so cold. About 1 am we heard a tremendous racket right out side our trailer.
Man cheating on his wife or wife cheating on her husband, big fight in the parking lot at 1:00, two cars and yelling and screaming.
Huge parking lot and they fight right outside our trailer. 3 cop cars came and hauled them off to jail.

Jim Lee - heating your trailer using your gas stove????? You're lucky that you did not "wake-up dead". Please, never do that again if you value your life. Carbon monoxide is a killer.

[Jim Lee]

How is using the gas stove different from using the gas furnace or using the gas heater --

Educate me,seriously.

[Wingeezer]

Originally Posted by Jim Lee

How is using the gas stove different from using the gas furnace or using the gas heater --

Educate me,seriously.

gas stove - products of combustion go directly into the living space.

gas furnace - uses a heat exchanger, so products of combustion are
exhausted outside the trailer.

gas heater (catalytic type) - operation consumes oxygen from within the trailer.


Brian