Just wondering

[caysea7254]

How many of you that own 5th wheels stay overnight at either Walmart parking lots or one of the Travel Plazas? My dh would like to do this when we are going and coming from vacation ,but how on earth do you sleep and get ready the next morn? I can understand Motorhomes doing it and I would have no hesitation about that but 5th wheel, just can't see the convenience in it. Thanks Tara

[bpounds]

Bobandshawn wrote:

zb39 wrote:

If you have never had the need to Wally Dock consider yourself fortunate. I am still a working stiff. Sometimes able to escape the rat race soon enough. I will Wally Dock to make the most efficient use of my time to reach my destination ASAP and well rested.

Makes sense to me.
So far we folks who have docked at:

Walmart
Cracker Barrel
Sam's club
Rest Stops
Truck Stops

Where else is docking friendly?

Cabelas. Some even have dump station and water fill.

[Bobandshawn]

zb39 wrote:

If you have never had the need to Wally Dock consider yourself fortunate. I am still a working stiff. Sometimes able to escape the rat race soon enough. I will Wally Dock to make the most efficient use of my time to reach my destination ASAP and well rested.

Makes sense to me.
So far we folks who have docked at:

Walmart
Cracker Barrel
Sam's club
Rest Stops
Truck Stops

Where else is docking friendly?

[zb39]

Lantley wrote:

Coach-man wrote:
I am sorry, I do not understand this fasination with staying at stores, or restaurants! In th 15 or so years We have been RVing, I have yet to run into a situation where we have failed to find a conviniant RV park for an overnight stay! Now if I broke down, I might consider pulling into a parking lot until we could get it fixed, but using that location on a regular basis is just not in the cards. If it is money your concerned with, then perhaps you have the wrong hobby.

It's not fascination that leads us to Wally Dock. It's timing and convenience. Wally Docking is about driving as far as you can for as late as you can. Then Pulling into Wal-Mart,Cracker Barrel,etc. sleep for the night and leave early in the morning.
Often its not practical, convenient or fair to other campers to arrive at a CG late night and leave very early.
If you think it's about money you don't fully understand the Wally Docker mindset.The goal of the Wally Docker is to continue to travel as efficiently as possible. Stopping at a traditional CG will take up too much valuable travel time.
Driving through a dark unfamiliar CG just to locate a site to sleep for the night is impractical.
From a money point of view I have a expensive built in genset that allows me to Wally Dock in Summer months, just the cost of the genset
eliminates any so called savings by Wally Docking! I would have to Wally Dock exclusively to recoup the cost of the genset.
I'm not complaining about my genset cost, but understand Wally Docking is not about savings. It's about efficient,convenient RV travel
THere are times when we stop early evening at a CG a set up for the night and leave in the morning. There are also times we drive late into the night and take the Wally Dock approach.
If you have never had the need to Wally Dock consider yourself fortunate. I am still a working stiff. Sometimes able to escape the rat race soon enough. I will Wally Dock to make the most efficient use of my time to reach my destination ASAP and well rested.

X2 X3 X4 and more, this is correct. Read it as many times as you need too so you understand why some choose to stay at WM.

[bpounds]

I'll bore everyone with another example.

We often take a particular trip of about 300 miles for fishing in the summer. We do it over a 3 or 4 day weekend. We can leave home on Thursday night after work, and be on the road by 6pm. By 11 or 12 midnight, depending on how tired I am, we will be close to our campground, but that is not a good time to be pulling in and setting up. We have several places that we boondock overnight. One is an abandoned WWII airstrip at Manzanar. Another is a state rest stop. And if I felt really good driving, we might park on a pull-off that is literally less than 1 miles from our campsite. Either way, next morning we pull into our campsite, setup camp and fix breakfast. We've saved $20 campsite fee, which is meaningless to me. More importantly, we've avoided disturbing neighbors, and avoided backing into an unlighted campsite in pitch darkness. This campsite has no hook-ups. So really, what is the difference between where we parked, and our campsite?

Like I said above, boondocking is not for everyone.

[bpounds]

Coach-man wrote:
I am sorry, I do not understand this fasination with staying at stores, or restaurants!

It's not for everyone. We all have different styles of travel. In particular, those who prefer to drive 2-300 miles per day maximum, won't have a need to boondock. You can do that in 6 hours maximum, and have plenty of time for a leisurely setup and breakdown, during daylight hours.

We often take a particular 1,100 mile trip. I can handle 600 miles on day one, boondock for some no-hassle shut-eye, and make my final destination before sundown on day 2. Then we'll do the full hook-up/setup thing and take the shower we missed the night before. Turns what could be 3 or 4 days travel into less than 2 full days. Makes sense for us.

Not saying you travel any particular way, I have no idea, just giving an example of why it works for us.

[4bearhug]

dahkota wrote:

Coach-man wrote:
I am sorry, I do not understand this fasination with staying at stores, or restaurants! In th 15 or so years We have been RVing, I have yet to run into a situation where we have failed to find a conviniant RV park for an overnight stay! Now if I broke down, I might consider pulling into a parking lot until we could get it fixed, but using that location on a regular basis is just not in the cards. If it is money your concerned with, then perhaps you have the wrong hobby.

Try pulling into a campground at 10 or 11 at night and finding someone to pay if there isn't a gate to keep you from entering in the first place. If they even have a pull through site available, you are lucky. Most likely, you will need to unhook the toad to back into a site half blind and not knowing what is where. And, it isn't as if you really need the hook-ups, if you can find them.

It isn't a fascination. We just travel differently than you. For us, a "convenient RV park" on the highway is just a parking space with hook ups. We are completely self contained with no need for electric, water and sewer so why bother with the hook ups at all?

Honestly, I don't understand this fascination to stick with a rigid plan of going from point A to point B within a set amount of time to comply with arbitrary rules someone makes up for their convenience. We have an RV to be mobile, to go where and when we want, not to move our 'house' from point A to point B.

For us, it is never about money - we have plenty. Assuming that it is only about money is why you don't understand the attraction of a convenient RV parking spot without hookups.

Well stated. You took the words right out of my mouth.

[dahkota]

Coach-man wrote:
I am sorry, I do not understand this fasination with staying at stores, or restaurants! In th 15 or so years We have been RVing, I have yet to run into a situation where we have failed to find a conviniant RV park for an overnight stay! Now if I broke down, I might consider pulling into a parking lot until we could get it fixed, but using that location on a regular basis is just not in the cards. If it is money your concerned with, then perhaps you have the wrong hobby.

Try pulling into a campground at 10 or 11 at night and finding someone to pay if there isn't a gate to keep you from entering in the first place. If they even have a pull through site available, you are lucky. Most likely, you will need to unhook the toad to back into a site half blind and not knowing what is where. And, it isn't as if you really need the hook-ups, if you can find them.

It isn't a fascination. We just travel differently than you. For us, a "convenient RV park" on the highway is just a parking space with hook ups. We are completely self contained with no need for electric, water and sewer so why bother with the hook ups at all?

Honestly, I don't understand this fascination to stick with a rigid plan of going from point A to point B within a set amount of time to comply with arbitrary rules someone makes up for their convenience. We have an RV to be mobile, to go where and when we want, not to move our 'house' from point A to point B.

For us, it is never about money - we have plenty. Assuming that it is only about money is why you don't understand the attraction of a convenient RV parking spot without hookups.

[northmeck0255]

Lantley wrote:

Coach-man wrote:
I am sorry, I do not understand this fasination with staying at stores, or restaurants! In th 15 or so years We have been RVing, I have yet to run into a situation where we have failed to find a conviniant RV park for an overnight stay! Now if I broke down, I might consider pulling into a parking lot until we could get it fixed, but using that location on a regular basis is just not in the cards. If it is money your concerned with, then perhaps you have the wrong hobby.

It's not fascination that leads us to Wally Dock. It's timing and convenience. Wally Docking is about driving as far as you can for as late as you can. Then Pulling into Wal-Mart,Cracker Barrel,etc. sleep for the night and leave early in the morning.
Often its not practical, convenient or fair to other campers to arrive at a CG late night and leave very early.
If you think it's about money you don't fully understand the Wally Docker mindset.The goal of the Wally Docker is to continue to travel as efficiently as possible. Stopping at a traditional CG will take up too much valuable travel time.
Driving through a dark unfamiliar CG just to locate a site to sleep for the night is impractical.
From a money point of view I have a expensive built in genset that allows me to Wally Dock in Summer months, just the cost of the genset
eliminates any so called savings by Wally Docking! I would have to Wally Dock exclusively to recoup the cost of the genset.
I'm not complaining about my genset cost, but understand Wally Docking is not about savings. It's about efficient,convenient RV travel
THere are times when we stop early evening at a CG a set up for the night and leave in the morning. There are also times we drive late into the night and take the Wally Dock approach.
If you have never had the need to Wally Dock consider yourself fortunate. I am still a working stiff. Sometimes able to escape the rat race soon enough. I will Wally Dock to make the most efficient use of my time to reach my destination ASAP and well rested.

Perfect summation! It simply eats up too much time to get off the road, drive to a CG, go through the registration process, get backed in, leveled, unhitched and connected.....just for a few hours of sleep. It's far more convenient to Wallydock or stay at Cabela's.

[Lantley]

Coach-man wrote:
I am sorry, I do not understand this fasination with staying at stores, or restaurants! In th 15 or so years We have been RVing, I have yet to run into a situation where we have failed to find a conviniant RV park for an overnight stay! Now if I broke down, I might consider pulling into a parking lot until we could get it fixed, but using that location on a regular basis is just not in the cards. If it is money your concerned with, then perhaps you have the wrong hobby.

It's not fascination that leads us to Wally Dock. It's timing and convenience. Wally Docking is about driving as far as you can for as late as you can. Then Pulling into Wal-Mart,Cracker Barrel,etc. sleep for the night and leave early in the morning.
Often its not practical, convenient or fair to other campers to arrive at a CG late night and leave very early.
If you think it's about money you don't fully understand the Wally Docker mindset.The goal of the Wally Docker is to continue to travel as efficiently as possible. Stopping at a traditional CG will take up too much valuable travel time.
Driving through a dark unfamiliar CG just to locate a site to sleep for the night is impractical.
From a money point of view I have a expensive built in genset that allows me to Wally Dock in Summer months, just the cost of the genset
eliminates any so called savings by Wally Docking! I would have to Wally Dock exclusively to recoup the cost of the genset.
I'm not complaining about my genset cost, but understand Wally Docking is not about savings. It's about efficient,convenient RV travel
THere are times when we stop early evening at a CG a set up for the night and leave in the morning. There are also times we drive late into the night and take the Wally Dock approach.
If you have never had the need to Wally Dock consider yourself fortunate. I am still a working stiff. Sometimes able to escape the rat race soon enough. I will Wally Dock to make the most efficient use of my time to reach my destination ASAP and well rested.

[Coach-man]

I am sorry, I do not understand this fasination with staying at stores, or restaurants! In th 15 or so years We have been RVing, I have yet to run into a situation where we have failed to find a conviniant RV park for an overnight stay! Now if I broke down, I might consider pulling into a parking lot until we could get it fixed, but using that location on a regular basis is just not in the cards. If it is money your concerned with, then perhaps you have the wrong hobby.

[bpounds]

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.

[eichacsj]

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.

[eichacsj]

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!

[SailingOn]

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.