Walmart and other over night stays.

Another vote for Allstays as a reference but they are sometimes wrong. Always best to check at the desk.

Home Depot, Lowes and Menards. Need to check with them as it varies.

If there aren't other campers in the Walmart parking lot, we call or go in a ask them. They're always been polite and have always said yes. We make it a point in going inside to purchase groceries, etc.

All Stays


There is a Yahoo Group - WalmartRving, very active and a master spreadsheet of Walmart's that allow & don't allow. Also some mapping overlays, and feedback through the group.
Walmartrving

Still need to check with Store Management!

** Sometimes, there are city ordiances on over-nite parking, which utilizing checking with actual location you may find out. **

Get out there and make lasting adventures!

Markiemark:C

When traveling the wife and I always stay at Wal-Mart overnight. I always (always) go inside to the service desk and ask if they let RV stay overnight. It is not required to bother the manager. I have only been told one time in 10 years NO the manager don't want that trashy stuff in his parking lot and that was in Goodyear, Arizona. I will park way out front to one side.

The reason I am asking this is because the town I want to visit I cannot find a RV park near by. Also I would like to keep the cost down. Here in Clovis, CA they used to allow over night stays, but some took advantage of it and was living in the Walmart lots. Some were eye sores with junk laying around on the ground. So the city passed a law not allowing over night stays. I have heard one guy tell me he came along one Walmart that didn't allow RVs in the parking lot. If I remember right it was in Nevada in a place of a lot of Casinos. It may have been Las Vegas. Buy that was years ago. I did find Walmart RV stay laws in California. Many towns do not allow stays. And here in California if there is money to be made you will get a ticket and have to go to a RV park (Clovis doesn't have one) for the night, so you will pay taxes. California may not allow prostitution, but the government they will prostitute themselves to make money.

A book called "next exit" has a lot of that information,:)

You might enjoy this website. FreeCampgrounds.com They also might have some of the advice you are seeking.

Most Wal Marts that allow you to park overnight kinda do it on a "Don't ask, and don't tell" basis. Feeling that if you take the manager out of his office to ask "Can I park here" a dozen times a day when they will always say yes, it consumes more of his time, that is otherwise used to plan work schedules, or purchase orders, or many other hours of store related workload. If they do not allow parking due to local city ordinance, or something, they will post it in the parking lot.

Rest areas are another subject altogether. In 1975 while traveling across country in a station wagon, my parents thought that setting up a pup tent for the teenage kids would be a great idea in rest areas, on the grass. Works great, even though signs posted "No overnight camping" back then. They also timed the sprinklers to come on at 2 am and again around 4 am, to discourage such camping! Some states allowed camping in rest areas, but it became a problem with those wanting to live free wherever they could find a place to hang out and beg for money, so "No overnight camping" signs became normal in many areas where there had become a problem.

My thought is that if you do not abuse the parking, it should not cause a law enforcement officer to stop by to knock on your door and ask "Are you planning on moving on in the next hour or so?" They have better things to do. But will take the time when it looks like someone has lived there, or is planning on living there for a while.

Personally I would rather be in a National Forest, or BLM land, or someplace far away from anyone else. Wal Marts seem to have noisy trucks delivering to the store all night long, as well as bread trucks at 4 am. The refrigeration equipment can also be noisy, and yes runs 24/7.

Good luck, and have fun camping!

Fred.

I have never really had an issue in 360k miles staying in rest stops or truck stops while on the road. Some say no overnight parking but if it is a bigger one then it usually does not. Many say no camping but we are not camping we are resting.

Sure some will say get a campground and sometimes I do but if I have to make time I will pull in about 8-9 pm and leave out about 4-5 am. But I am cross country in a bit over four days.

What's wrong with campgrounds?