the wal mart and hiding in plain veiw

[lightspeed]

Hi, i have mentioned before about that i turned my areostar van into a semi camper , comeplete with bed and full curtains for the windows, etc. well i recently put the bed back in etc. (this is all reversable to use as a regular van to ) and made a trip to stay down south to see my mom in the nursing home , we stayed actually for a week . we stayed in the wal mart parking lot but we did find out one thing what used to be ok about parking farther away from people for privacy etc. wasn't alway's the best choice although it did work before . their is a college town with college kids (i use that term lightly , as more are on a spring break then anything ) and alot was going on in the wal mart parking lot , racing around yelling , etc. more like a big party ) after we woke up the next morning i knoticed someone had threw something on the end of our van splatted it all over the end , i noticed another car had a shopping car delicattly placed right against and tipped on the hood of another car that also was parked farther away the car was on the grass as the car was up to the curb so it was done on purpose , it's probably someone working for wal marts car .
So anyway after that we parked up closer to the store actually in rows of cars , we just pulled the curtains all shut before we went in the store and everything was ready for when we came out to go to bed after that everything was ok , this is one of the advantages of having a stealth van . p.s. we saved also 300 or more dollars of "not" paying for a motel room near by!

[Ron J. Moore]

We went out right after we bought our RT, just travel, no agenda, stopping wherever and whenever. We were out for almost 10 weeks. During that time we spent about 1 night per week in motels, the remainder in WM's, Sam's, K-Mart, Costco's and a Chevy Lot once, along with a hospital parking lot one evening. We had had a travel trailer, and that was destination oriented, so this was just our "adventure on the spur" - and it was priceless. We often did the blended parking, worked well....and others further out. I did learn about battery management, and conservation of water, along with a host of other things. I am of the opinion that if you feel safe in your mind, then your in the right place. Safe travels.

[Johnny R]

Ah, Spring Break. Springs break on Spring Break.

[Mike]

We like the Walmart "campground", and as has been said numerous times, we tend
to "pay" for our site by often spending a goodly sum on odds and ends and food at them.
(Try the General Tso spicy boneless chicken, available at the deli counter. We discovered
it earlier this year in New Mexico, and love it!)
As far as safety goes, when we stay at one, we do try to park closer to the store, under/near
a light, or when possible, in the "RV section" which can be fairly large. Sometimes we'll go to
sleep as the only rig in the lot and wake up and find we're in the center of a small "town".
We've only ever experienced rowdy parking lot behavior, once in WV and once in NB. It
manifested itself as driving around the area where we parked with loud music blaring and
squealing tires for a few minutes, and then I guess the perps got tired of the game and
eventually left.
Ron is probably right about the feel of the place. We've moved on once or twice, when it
didn't feel quite right.