2 hours ago, C. sapidus said:Can you describe your experiences with Walmart parking lot camping?
Are you allowed to set up outside the RV, or are you expected to remain inconspicuous? Are there designated areas and/or times for campers? Is it a comfortable experience, or a little creepy?
No campfires, I assume? 😉
Thanks!
Some Walmarts allow overnight stays in their lots and some don't. I think most do in the states where we travel, but it's left up to the store manager. Definitely no campfires! 😄 As a general rule setups are inconspicuous and out of the way -- say, at the far end of the parking lot (but not where shipments are coming in and out.) I may have seen someone set up chairs outside. Our trailer has a side deck that folds out. If we can park next to a grassy area we'll put that down, but otherwise it stays up.
It's generally comfortable as long as we're satisfied that we're well out of traffic lanes (i.e. we're at the edge of the parking lot, or the end of an aisle). The lots are well lit and have security cameras, so we generally feel safe. That said, we also lock the doors. At Mineral Wells we're right across from the high school and the night shift seems to be mostly kids with trucks that make as much noise as possible and sound like would-be drag racers, so things don't settle down until 10 or 11 at night. Nobody's ever run into us yet!
Glad to answer more questions, or in more detail, if you wish!
Edited to add: I've never seen signs pointing to "acceptable areas" for overnighting. The way it works in our experience is that RV'ers park in out-of-the-way places as I described. We usually look for a freight truck that's clearly parked for the night, then use that as a guide. One time, just outside Little Rock, we were the first to park (in the dark yet!) and before long, someone else came along and parked near us. He figured we had to know what we were doing!
