Walmart....."NO......"

[downtheroad]

Always have seen a bunch of rigs parked (camping) at our local Walmart.

Yesterday there was a crew putting up signs on all the light poles. "NO OVERNIGHT PARKING."
Just thought it was interesting. Seems to be a trend everywhere.

[OFDPOS]

seaeagle2 wrote:
Here is Seattle, there are semi industrial parts of town where homeless people park derelict RV's, in several areas they've put 2am to 5am no parking zones to try to eliminate "stealth or not so stealth camping". They tried having areas where homeless could park their RV's, there were some fires, and some issues with drug use and they ran the numbers and decided that for what they could park 20 rvs they could provide shelter for quite few more so they dropped the program.

Was just up by Seattle visiting our son and fiancee both are in law enforcement.
Both said the state of Washington considers what a person is living in is their home/castle.

Meaning they can pretty much park their MH/tent and not be bothered by the law.

I can't tell you where we were ?
But we were driving down some nice streets with million dollar plus homes with the Seattle city view across the water. And there were MH's , travel trailers , even some on blocks , parked right out front of them and they said they have been there for months...

We saw this everywhere we went, they drove us around where we saw the Space Needle from the North, South, East and West and it was tent city, RV's parked everywhere and you could tell they had been there for a very long time.

As for Wally world parking.. Yep its getting worse and worse..

In the past going across country we would try to either Wally world , truck stop, or etc first two nights. Then on the third night hit up a CG , dump , flush, refill FW tank.
Then on the next third night pull off early, hit up a Wally world or ? replenish food . Head into a CG set up , and do laundry.

That worked out pretty good, once in a great while it would bite us and we would have to travel a few more miles before finding a place to catch a few hours of shut-eye.

Like a few posted earlier, there are alot of times you pull off after 7PM and the CG office doors are locked up, shower doors are locked, laundry house doors are locked. With just the night drop box to pay.
Every time I've walked up in the morning to the office and explained what took place and they agreed to only charge so much.
Only time it didn't happen was at a chain RV park.

We don't stop at them anymore.

[JaxDad]

drsteve wrote:

Roy&Lynne wrote:
We all know that as the cost of housing goes up, more and more folks are looking to living in RVs, not for camping and travel but just to have a roof over their heads. In my area, older RVs are seen parked in vacant lots, wide spots in roads, or parking lots. They might be there a day or two, or until someone complains and the police ask them to move on. More and more cities are now passing laws making this practice unlawful. More and more States are now allowing overnight parking at rest stops and we are going to find it more and more difficult to find places for overnight camping, especially in urban areas.

The US has become a low wage nation. Unless that changes, expect more poverty.

In a perfect world that's a good line of thinking.

The problem is though that everyone wants THE lowest price possible, AKA the "Wally World effect", and every business owner wants maximum profits.

Nobody is going to volunteer to pay double for a loaf of bread or an oil change so that a farmer or mechanic can make a 'decent' wage.

[drsteve]

Roy&Lynne wrote:
We all know that as the cost of housing goes up, more and more folks are looking to living in RVs, not for camping and travel but just to have a roof over their heads. In my area, older RVs are seen parked in vacant lots, wide spots in roads, or parking lots. They might be there a day or two, or until someone complains and the police ask them to move on. More and more cities are now passing laws making this practice unlawful. More and more States are now allowing overnight parking at rest stops and we are going to find it more and more difficult to find places for overnight camping, especially in urban areas.

The US has become a low wage nation. Unless that changes, expect more poverty.

[Roy_Lynne]

We all know that as the cost of housing goes up, more and more folks are looking to living in RVs, not for camping and travel but just to have a roof over their heads. In my area, older RVs are seen parked in vacant lots, wide spots in roads, or parking lots. They might be there a day or two, or until someone complains and the police ask them to move on. More and more cities are now passing laws making this practice unlawful. More and more States are now allowing overnight parking at rest stops and we are going to find it more and more difficult to find places for overnight camping, especially in urban areas.

[Dutch_12078]

The rest of the audience and I got quite a laugh a few years ago at a town board meeting near our upstate NY vacation cottage when a woman who was identified as the sister of a local campground owner complained to the board about RV's parking at Walmart and asked for an ordinance against it. She first showed a photo of a TT set up near the garden shop with a carpet laid out, the awning out, a large BBQ grill, several lawn chairs and tables, and other camping gear. The next set of photos was of a line of various RV's set up along a parking lot boundary with slides out, BBQ grills, and even dog fences erected. She claimed they'd been there for a week! Once the initial wow factor passed, the Walmart store manager promptly pointed out that the first photo showed a camping supplies display that Walmart had put out in cooperation with a local RV dealer, and another local campground owner pointed out that the rest of the photos were of a traveling carnival workers living quarters for the carnival set up nearby and were there with the permission of the parking lot owner. Needless to say, no ordinance was passed, and the woman left the meeting with a very red face...

[wa8yxm]

Most of the cracker barrels I've been to teh RV spots are like 40-50 feet (usually 40) My Class A is 38 and I tow a car so I can either "Stick out" or "Drop" the towed and take up two places

Same at far too many Truck/RV spots too (like the loves in Fair Play SC).

As others have said,, But expanded.. The Campground Owners Association lobbies for state, county and local laws and ordinances prohibiting overnight parking of RV's anywhere OTHER than a licensed campground.. They often use the story of the RVer who Dumped his black tanks in a Wal*mart parking lot as a "Scare" tatic.

NOTE that I said "Story" not "Stories".

I know of entire states who have .. bought the scare.

[cross21114]

fj12ryder wrote:
Yeah, they've closed a couple of the rest areas along I-29 from Kansas City to the Iowa state line. They took down all the amenities, put up a couple pit toilets and left the parking.

Not too bad when they leave the parking but I've seen a lot of rest areas being closed completely on interstates. Truckers have got to be having a tough time finding places to stop.

[Jim]

There's a WM store in Troutdale, Oregon that has the no overnight parking signs up. Thing is that they are suppose to put them up by local ordinance, but there's no teeth in that rule. You can park all night if you want, and no one will wake you up.

[George3037]

Apparently the local 24hr Walmart in my area still allows overnight parking. I went to WM at 0530 today for some basic grocery needs and saw 3 MH's with toads and two tractor trailers in their lot. No signs posted anywhere against overnight parking but it is a very rural area with no neighbors.

[jfskeet]

When we travel 95 north to Canada or South to Florida, the RVs in Walmart are getting in earlier and earlier. The last one we stopped and left in North Carolina was jammed packed at 4 in the afternoon we just moved on.. I can see why there getting to point where were not wanted. We called ahead and asked permission before stopping near Border in Maine and was told yes but please park by tire and garden center. We arrived around 10 pm and they were about 15 rigs in there. Scattered all over and trailers with generators sitting out running. There was plenty of room by garden area but people just set up where they wanted. They are just a stop sleep a couple of hours and go for us.

[sandblast]

WalMart in Parker Az. Just posted "No Overnite Parking" signs.

Think Colorado river fun and boondocking in the desert.
Small sign inside store at this time.

WalMart in South Jordon Utah also just recently posted "No Overnite Parking for R/V`s and Trucks" signs on entry to there property.
Having been to that store and witnessing the abuse by transients
and regional job takers living there. No! I am not talking about overnite Stops by R/Vers.

This store is off I-15 south @exit 11400

[paddykernahan]

Was so happy for finding a Walmart on our trip back from eclipse watching.
Monster traffic jam going through southern Indiana.
When we finally got out of the jam, we were dead tired and it was late and raining.
There were no campgrounds, rest areas or truck stops.
Finally found a Walmart to crash for the night.

Thank you Walmart.

[fj12ryder]

Yeah, they've closed a couple of the rest areas along I-29 from Kansas City to the Iowa state line. They took down all the amenities, put up a couple pit toilets and left the parking.

[jplante4]

fj12ryder wrote:

Jim@HiTek wrote:
Not to mention nearly every freeway entrance that has the width, you can stop and rest for hours or overnight if you want to. Or wherever you spot truckers parked. Never stop on an exit ramp due to the speed of someone exiting...such as a semi that lost their brakes, someone driving impaired, etc.

I'm starting to see the occasional "No Parking" sign along the entrance/exit ramps. Never seen them before and they aren't common yet, but they are starting to make an appearance.

Which is fine, but they're also systematically closing rest stops along the interstates. Couple that with the new drive time regs and the people who make a living moving goods are caught between a rock and a hard place. The government gets involved and the middle class pays.

The truckers have to sleep somewhere. The problems of a recreational traveler looking for an overnight stop are small in comparison.

[fj12ryder]

Jim@HiTek wrote:
Not to mention nearly every freeway entrance that has the width, you can stop and rest for hours or overnight if you want to. Or wherever you spot truckers parked. Never stop on an exit ramp due to the speed of someone exiting...such as a semi that lost their brakes, someone driving impaired, etc.

I'm starting to see the occasional "No Parking" sign along the entrance/exit ramps. Never seen them before and they aren't common yet, but they are starting to make an appearance.