In a town where we live, both Walmarts have signs forbidding overnight parking in their lots. The town also has a "No camping" signs on many of its streets. There is only one RV campground within 20 miles, and that is at the County Fairgrounds, which imposes a 14 day limit on overnight camping per calendar year.
You answered your own question because it is free. We’ve stayed at Walmarts many times over the last 9 years going back and forth to Fl. We typically stop around 5 PM, eat at one of the local establishments next to Walmart then hit the rack. We then usually leave at 3:00/4:00 AM to get on the road early. If I was in a campground, I would be upsetting a lot of people and rightfully so.
Walmart or any other "free" spot is just a place to pull over and catch some 'Z's when you're just passing through, and have no need of any campground amenities for the night.
I was too generic with "local"
At the time of the 1960's Olympics in Southern California, the state put in 'overnight' lots at state parks up and down the state. They weren't much more than a gravel lot allowing parallel dry camping. Long after the Olympics they rented the "Olympic sites" out for $5/night. In the mid '80s we towed a boat behind a class A, launched at a state park, rented a slip in their marina for $5/night, and dry camped in one of the Olympic sites for a couple of nights. As a bonus, because we rented the slip, they waived the $5 on the dry camping.
I did not verify all of them, but most of those states seem able to differentiate between camping and parking. If you pull up and park normally, and go to sleep. chances are you can remain there long enough to get a good night's sleep.
Not going to happen in todays litigious society. (Hence the title of this thread). By providing a place to park and plug in for a fee, the owner accepts a certain responsibility for it's users. And since most will not have the deep pockets that WM does, any profit disappears quickly the first time a problem occurs. It's much easier for a property owner to nail up a "No Trespassing" sign and be done with it.
I was thinking that maybe he got caught using the stove on the parking premises (a big no-no) so he rushed and stored it in the van while still hot, and then moved the van closer to the store, with tragic consequences.
Doubt he got caught doing anything until the fire.
I am going to have to guess that you never actually travel. Or, if you do you do not go far and long.
30 years ago business law professor told us that if we remembered nothing else from his class, we needed to remember that you never want to be the business in court against the grieving family. Facts won't matter, and you will lose. I suspect Walmart's lawyers will be thinking the same way.
