WalMart campground?

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Tom:

Don's (Alaskan Snowbird) is NOT a hypothetical marine analogy.

In Annapolis Maryland, for example, the local communities now send boats out into the bay attempting to charge fees for anchoring.  Many similar examples are rampant all up and down the East coast inland waterways.  Boondocking on the water is becoming an endangered species.

I am sure you enjoy a peaceful night anchoring out.  I am also sure you enjoy marinas that offer luxury amenities.

Why not see the similarity with land yachts?

Wal-mart let's you anchor out with delightful security and convenience.  Boondocking at the Grand canyon eliminates the convenience and security, but allows awesome beauty.  Overnighting at a RV Resort provides wonderful amenities and luxury services.  The same choices offered a seagoing captain ought to be allowed to a land-going captain aye?

Smoky
 
LindaH said:
I agree that there are people who abuse the intent of overnight parking at Wal Mart, or other parking lots.  We've seen RVs with their jacks/levelers down, their awnings and slides out, toads or tow vehicles unhooked...and in some cases, nowhere in evidence.  Parking lots, ideally, should be used for those people who drive late into the evening and are gone first thing in the morning.

I do not understand why you say people who put down their jacks, etc, are abusing the intent of overnight parking. What anyone does in a Walmart parking lot is between Walmart and the individual. Your opinion in the matter does not matter. Most Walmarts have security guards and if they don't object then why should you? Why is it you think you should decided what a business does with their parking lot?
 
Tom said:
You are a braver man than I Smoky. We once overnighted near a marina where I was "working" an event when our boat club brought 80 boats into the marina for the weekend (all paid their dues of course). At 2.00am I awoke to a loud rapping on the door of the coach and a bright light shining through the blinds. I knew this had to be the local police and decided to lay there quietly, pretending nobody was home. Right then Chris awoke yelling "someone's at the door".

Standing there half awake in my PJs, I tried explaining to the officer "we're with those boats over there", but he just said "move on, we don't allow RV camping here". At 2.30am we took a room in the Marriott at the marina and put the coach in their parking lot, with permission of course. This episode probably contributes to my reluctance to stay at places like WM.

I just don't understand your position, Tom. You illegally spent the night on the street in some town and got woke up in the middle of the night and were told to move because you were breaking the law. And for that reason you don't want to spend the night legally at a Walmart?
 
LOL Tom, I didn't  know it was illegal until I got woken up in the wee hours. My "position" is simply that the episode (happened back in the 80's) I described in that 4 year old message made me (permanently) gun shy.

I can't comment on the legality of camping at WalMart. I've seen signs at the entrance to WM parking lots saying "no overnight parking/camping", but folks here have argued that a city can't impose those kinds of restrictions on private property. I've reported several times on our conflicting local parking ordinances, and recently described a situation where our coach was ticketed for being in the street 90 minutes; I called the Sheriff's office, explained that I "legally" had 72 hours, and was told it was OK provided I moved more than a foot every 72 hours. I've also reported an incident where I was ticketed in my absence by a county enforcement officer for a boat trailer (sans boat) being in my side yard.
 
By legally parking at Walmart I was only refering to the Walmarts that don't have the signs. If a city passes an ordinance that doesn't allow staying over night there then I don't stay there. I subscribe to overnightparking.com and check on the legality of spending the night there before I actually get there and I haven't had a problem since I subscribed.
 
We all pays our money and takes our choices. We prefer to stay at campgrounds, even if it does seem illogical or irrational to others.
 
Tom said:
We all pays our money and takes our choices. We prefer to stay at campgrounds, even if it does seem illogical or irrational to others.

We just try to find a nice place for the doggies to run around. The worse campground we saw for doggies was the KOA in Calgary. It wouldn't be all that  bad if they didn't have a fence all the way around it.  We couldn't find anything in that area and wasted hours looking and gave up. So we went north to Red Deer and found a very nice rest area to boondock in that area that the doggies really enjoyed.

Here at the very crowded & loud  Devon RV Park, at least there's the Saskatchewan River right next to it where the doggies can run around off leash.

And there's wireless internet here that covers the entire rather large park. But my signal strength says "low". But it still works perfectly, just as if I didn't know.

We've never stayed at a Wal*Mart, but we have seen many rest areas that we prefer to campgrounds. Many up here have hiking trails (or sometimes unused dirt roads) starting at the rest area. Finding a place the doggies like is what's most important.

This RV park has wireless, so I don't have to use my expensive roaming 3G. But no TV cable here. I can live without that. Tommy has his Chinese DVD's to watch. I guess I can practice my Cantonese. But I think I should learn English better first. ;D

What does a Wal*Mart have to offer?  Even without the doggies, I don't think we would stay there unless there was nothing else for a hundred miles or so (unlikely).  We would take a shady rest stop (and there are many up here) any day over any Wal-Mart.

We didn't see much of Calgary, but we will spend a few days here in the Edmonton area and visit the famous mall and all that. We already got a rented car. They came to pick us up to get the car after the RV was hooked up. Very convenient.

BTW, coming into Canada, they only wanted to see our passports and ask a bunch of questions.  Questions  such as where we work or worked, if we have criminal records, ever had a DUI (both are a "no") own guns (we own many guns) and if any have EVER been inside this RV (no.)

Then the boarder guard asked, as usual, how Tom & I know each other (I was driving at the time, so they are asking me).

I made it easy for him. I said "we're a gay couple that's been together for 35 years".

And then he (the border guard)  just said "oh, okay" and let us go. All of this only took a few minutes.

But I know on the way back into the USA, the RV will get searched as usual and will take a good hour or so. The USA is a lot harder to return to than Canada is to get into. At least for two guys in a RV. And that was true even before 9-11-01. At least for us. We have yet to come back to the USA without a search of the RV and our records checked.

But at least we know what to expect, as we have been up in Canada many time before. Just not this part (Alberta). But we may enter the USA via Vancover. We are planning on going through Jasper National Park and from there all the way to Vancouver.

BTW, if you want good Hong Kong style food, do NOT go to Hong Kong.  Go to the Vancouver area. Seems all the good cooks from Hong Kong went to Vancouver. We're going to Vancouver just for the Dim Sum. ;D

Devon RV Park, Devon, AB (near SW Edmonton)​
 
Don,

They must think you look like an unlikely couple  ???

I'm reminded of a time I and a colleague visited a number of Japanese companies. The colleague was a California guy, but he inherited his looks and size from his Japanese mother. Everywhere we went folks would speak to him in Japanese, but he didn't speak a word of it, and we'd have an embarrassing moment when our hosts realized their mistake. Part way through the trip, I decided to introduce him as my brother. Our hosts would look back and forth between us, seeing my European features and his Japanese features and diminutive size. I could see their confusion, before they realized I was joking, but it broke the ice and prevented further embarrassing moments.
 
Tom - MUCH earlier in this thread (2005) you made reference to checking out the library, misc, toilet paper test results.  That subject doesn't exist under misc.  Could it be that we as a race have evolved to the point that we don't need TP anymore?  In that case I'm sub-human.  Anyway, if it exists, where can it be located?
 
sheltie said:
Tom - MUCH earlier in this thread (2005) you made reference to checking out the library, misc, toilet paper test results.  That subject doesn't exist under misc.  Could it be that we as a race have evolved to the point that we don't need TP anymore?  In that case I'm sub-human.  Anyway, if it exists, where can it be located?

It's under Waste Systems. Try this link.

Toilet paper is one of the Forum's favorite discussions  :D

Wendy
 
[quote author=sheltie]Could it be that we as a race have evolved to the point that we don't need TP anymore?  [/quote]

LOL Denny, how I wish. Wendy gave you the correct link.

At that time, we probably didn't have anywhere "logical" to put that file, so I put it in 'miscellaneous'.

BTW a search would have found it for you. Meanwhile, I inserted the link in that earlier message.
 
Wendy - thanks for the link.  Incidentally, while I totally agree with Tom regarding WalMart and "camping", I also wonder how one could be comfortable using the WM in Cortez.  To my memory - frequently wrong, I admit - there didn't seem to be a lot of level areas where RVs would normally park.  I did shop at WM a lot during the month I was just outside Mesa Verde, though.  Certainly no one could use the excuse that there are no CGs near Cortez as there are quite a few of them, several right there in town.  What I miss most about Cortez is playing golf with the other geezers who come up from the hot SW at Conquistador.  Sure is a neat course with a friendly staff.

Tom - I did try a search first prior to my post and was unsuccessful.  My magic fingers didn't work this time.
 
Denny, I'm a Wal-Mart "parker" as opposed to a "camper." We've stayed more than once in a Wal-Mart parking lot. As for Cortez, there are plenty of level spots. Most RVs park in the section closest to the highway. There are "No Overnight Parking" signs in the parking lot but the WM management says they don't care if people park overnight so the local cops don't enforce it unless WM calls to complain (which they don't). There are plenty of campgrounds in Cortez, in fact, they're the ones who got the "No Overnight Parking" signs posted at Wal-Mart (nowhere else in town, just Wal-Mart). Most of the people who stay in the WM parking lot are just passing through and only want a place to stop for the night. They don't want hookups or swimming pools or anything else, just a place to park and sleep, so they don't want to spend $30. When the NOP signs were first posted, many people just kept right on driving through Cortez without stopping to spend any money on anything. I'd rather people were allowed to stay at WM and spend money in our little town.

Too bad you're not here, we've got a coupon book with Buy One Get One Free golf at Conquistador....we don't golf so you'd be welcome to it.

Travel safe
Wendy
 
[quote author=sheltie].. I did try a search first prior to my post and was unsuccessful.[/quote]

Denny, the library has a separate Search button. The Search button above only works on forum messages, not in the library.
 
Tom - that's the one I used and was unseccessful.  But then, my wife says I'm not a very good snake hunter either.

Wendy - thanks for the offer, I wish I could take you up on it.  The WM debate is one that will never be settled to anyone's satisfaction until/unless they actually designate an area for RVers who want to overnight/rest/whatever.  An unofficial wink and a nod just doesn't get it.  I understand why some want to stay at WM, and in many cases it is certainly warranted.  However, I'm probably more radical than Tom in my thinking in that I think many people use it because they are too cheap.  It confounds me that people will spend in excess of $100K (in some cases WAY more) and yet be so cheap as to not be willing to pay $30 to stay overnight at a CG.  Those are the folks I don't understand.  Oh well, discussing it is similar to beating a dead horse, but it does keep me off the street and out of trouble (except on this forum)!
 
Wendy - I forgot to ask in my last post ....  I spent the last four months in Olathe (I'm back home in Texas now) and am down to my last doz ears of Olathe Sweet sweet corn.  Is it still in City Market or is the season completely over?  There is no better corn in the world!!!
 
[quote author=sheltie]...I'm probably more radical than Tom in my thinking...[/quote]

Denny, you need to be more specific; There's more than one Tom in this discussion.
 
Denny - Sadly the Olathe has been done and gone for nearly two weeks now. If you're ever in this area the first weekend in August, you should hit the Olathe Sweet Corn Festival - all the corn you can eat, roasted or steamed, with or without butter. It is absolutely the best corn anywhere.

Wendy
 
>>I understand why some want to stay at WM, and in many cases it is certainly warranted.  However, I'm probably more radical than Tom in my thinking in that I think many people use it because they are too cheap.  It confounds me that people will spend in excess of $100K (in some cases WAY more) and yet be so cheap as to not be willing to pay $30 to stay overnight at a CG.  Those are the folks I don't understand. <<

Denny,

While I am not a Wall Mart "parker", I am a overnight boondocker at Truckstops (usually away from the trucks), Casinos, and other businesses that want my business and are willing to let me park overnight. Yes, I save money, but more important is the convenience. Campgrounds are often far off the road we traveling, the offices are often closed by the time we get off the road - usually around 7pm and aren't open when I want to leave, 6 or 7am.

My only concern usually is security. Here I reply first on my gut feel and second by seeing if there are other RVs stopped.

ken


 
If I need/want hookups, I stay in a campground and pay the going rate. However, if I have no need or desire for hookups, I see no reason to pay $30 or more for things I don't want. And, yes, I am cheap, but by saving money on our overnight expenses, we're able to travel more. The $30 I don't drop at a campground will buy me 10 gallons of gas.

Wendy
 
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