Just wondering

It seems the OP question is less about Wallyworld (which has been discussed ad nauseum) and more about simply boondocking. Doesn't matter whether it is WM or other parking lot, or a forest service/COE campground with no hookups. If you don't want to boondock, just don't do it. Each family will have to decide for themselves.

We boondock frequently. And catching 6-8 hours sleep in some parking lot is common. Gets us more time at our destination. We've never used WM, but truck stops, rest stops, mall parking lots, and even mountain road pull-offs have all "hosted" us for some zzzzz's.

Paul Clancy wrote:
When I overnight park it is just about easy late arrival and early depart in a safe well lit parking lot just off my route. Very hard to park in a dark campground and waking neighbors is a bad thing. Even for 1 night. Not about being cheap. In fact I'd be happy to pay for the luxury.

We do pay, we go buy something. Always need something.

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Pull into paring lot.
Get out of truck
Go inside 5vr
Go to bed.....fall asleep
Get up in AM. Dress
Get in truck drive out of parking lot

Overnighting is about getting needed sleep before traveling next day
It is not about setting up camp

If you need to open slide outs in order to USE the RV then go to a CG and PAY

Exactly!

If you're thinking of overnighting at WM etc a little forethought helps.
Last December 28th a storm closed parts of I-10 in far west Texas leaving a bunch of us in Fort Stockton, all RV parks full, most motels full. There were several dozen RV's in the WM parking lot that evening.
We were okay, and would have been just fine except we had only 2-3 gallons of fresh water and the OEM battery in our new rig wasn't up to running the furnace fan overnight in 20 degree weather.
Next time we'll be better prepared.

When I overnight park it is just about easy late arrival and early depart in a safe well lit parking lot just off my route. Very hard to park in a dark campground and waking neighbors is a bad thing. Even for 1 night. Not about being cheap. In fact I'd be happy to pay for the luxury.

Nutinelse2do wrote:
Shower? I don't need no stinking shower!
But seriously, all you are doing when wallydocking, is having a place to sleep.
In the morning, wash your face at the sink, brush your teeth, and if need be, use a dry shampoo.
It's not a beauty contest, and after you live the rv lifestyle for a while, you will realize, nobody cares!
( woman speaking here )
Just an fyi, gentleman appreciate natural beauty.... It comes from within.

As far as coffee, use a stove top percolator.

Edit.... There are many better places to sleep overnight than Walmart or a truck stop.
Try Cabela's, casinos, Lowes, Menards, Home Depot, and Bass Pro Shops.Freecampsites.net is a great website to find overnight places on your route.
If you don't have a battery bank, inverter, solar, or generator, sometimes it is better to just bite the bullett and pay for a campground. Passport America is cheap, I think around $25 to join, and has half price campgrounds across the Country.

X2 on Cabela's. When we stay at Lowe's, we not only get free parking but we can usually hit the free wifi network as well. We disconnect the umbilical cable, and lower the landing gear just enough to take the load off of the truck's springs. Bedroom slide goes out if we have a grassy strip on that side. We have an onboard genset and use a Genturi if parked in a crowded place.

caysea7254 wrote:
Glad some see my point! It was just a question. Dh and I aren't making an argument over it and no im not a primper! Just like a shower in the morning. I sure did not mean to make a big deal out of it. For those of you that stay with a 5th, great! Really I just was wondering! :)

I do miss one point. I don't understand why you can't take a shower in the morning in your 5th wheel. A simple shower does not require 110 volt electric.

You also might want to check out Casinocamper.org. Until last year we'd not stayed at the Casinos but plenty of Walmart's or Big Box stores on our travels as one off O/N's. Now we love Casinos way more than WM to O/N = classic example of we never missed what we'd never had.

Last September/October on a major road trip coverage, out of 43 nights on the road, we only stayed 2 nights at Glacier NP CG, 1 night at a Seattle CG, and 1 night at Waterton Lakes Alberta NP CG. All but maybe half a dozen of the remaining dry camping nights were spent at Casino carparks on the Oregon/California/Washington coasts, and some we were invited to stay for a couple or more nights by their security personnel.

Freecampsites.net is another one of our go to websites, which lists some neat locations to overnight or longer and some besides lakes, rivers, vistas/views. We also use Sanidumps.com and try always wherever we stay or dump/refill tanks, to buy our fuel there, spend some dollars, or if a donation box put in a fair value donation.

Never stayed at Walmart but have parked at Casino lots for the night many times. Our floorplan doesn't require us to open the slides just for the night. Can get to everything with them closed.

The battery easily lasts for lighting for a few hours in the evening as we arrive at night and leave in the morning. For a shower propane to heat the water and battery to run the pump work just fine.

For just 1 night battery, propane and onboard water work great. We only put enough freshwater in for the night as I do not like towing with full tanks.

We have only overnights date a Wal-Mart once in our 5th wheel and it was fine. We asked permission and parked out of the way next to the curb so we could deploy our slides as needed. We have a built in generator and an inverter so we are set. We always travel with a full fresh tank because if we do stop at a campground, we just hook to electricity. We can turn on the generator to run the coffee pot in the morning and we always shower and cook breakfast on travel days. It all depends how comfortable you are with this type of stop. On our trip to Alaska, we did quite a bit of dry camping, once even staying in a pullout beside the Alaska Highway. It was fun!