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Here’s my take on camping, parking, blacktopping, boondocking or dry camping at a Wal-Mart store. I have done it on several occasions and was happy for the option when returning from a trip from Texas to California. We were trying to get back with our recently purchased motorhome in time for x-mas, so we were pushing it a little do to time. We had been traveling on the I-10 just outside of Phoenix and had been on the lengthy desert run that many are familiar with and fatigue was rolling in, so behold we see a Wal-Mart sign off the interstate right before the exit, we then exited promptly and headed for their parking lot which had a few dozen rvers already setting up roost. We pulled on over to a spot just waiting for us and good old Wal-Mart security was out in force doing their job. We had seen all types of RV’s parked ranging from folks with tent trailers to a full blown Prevost bus conversion. Even saw a homemade jalopy school bus with its woodstove smokestack sticking out of the roof. Our campsite was all done up with choice asphalt landscape and colorful flashing yellow strobe lights! Hey it made sense to my tired eyes. It was a little after midnight and the Wal-Mart store lights were hypnotizing my tired eyes to come on in for a look-see and of course the wife and my oldest son decided to go along for the stroll to see what the old familiar Wal-Mart might have had to offer. We went on in and looked around and there were a few other RVers up to the same routine. We decided to grab a few groceries for the next morning’s breakfast along with a pan to heat up some water. After purchasing another new to us motorhome which came with no utensils, something to cook in and heat water for the coffee was in order. Nothing like having to spend money to buy something like a cooking pan when you have boxes full of them back home already paid for. We glanced around at the “pots and pan” section to find out that the low-cost Wal-Mart didn’t seem to have any pans for much less than $10.00 and it was really cheap Chinese junk (not saying that everything Chinese is junk, but you and I both know a lot of it is and that is what has made Wal-Mart the “King of Chinese Junk”.) and the next best thing quickly doubled in price and was secondary junk and up from that the price just climbed. Sometimes you wish they had 24 hour dollar stores, hey that’s a new concept for ya! Yes, we bought the cheap $10.00 dollar junk and the groceries for the next morning. As we made our way out to our motorhome we noticed some new folks had joined us all at our supersize campsite. There were probably 30 plus RVers taking advantage of the stop-over. Now time to hit the sack and so we did. Next morning the sun shined in our RV and we started to arise all fresh eyed and bushy tailed, ready for that home cooked meal aboard our home on wheels. Everything went well with our breakfast and it was getting time to do our quick pre-trip inspection and hit the trail. We moseyed on outside, did the once over on the motorhome and notice our campsite had pretty much well vacated all but a couple of RV’s and our favorite the Jalopy bus with the smokestack. The Jalopy bus folks even had a Pot-bellied pig along with em’ on their trip. It was time to hit the trail and off we went.

Now, let’s look at some pros and cons of staying at Wal-Mart. Pros: Convenient if you need some quick rest and you are near a major city where there are usually no rest areas or campsites. Great to pick up some needed items while en route to or from a destination. Saving a couple of bucks from your tight wallet due to the escalating price of RV parks now days, and “Free” is a very good price. Cons: The scenery doesn’t change much, it can get darn hot hanging around black asphalt, and you get to be titled in with a bunch of RVers who really upset some RV park owners.

Tip: If you ever decide to take a break at a Wal-Mart with your RV, don’t use your awning or put out any items such as lawn chairs like you would at a regular campground.