Boondocking at WalMart - Page 2

olley · 07-02-2008, 09:42 AM

Hi TJ this reminds me of the "its unsafe to stay on French Aries" debate, thousands do it without trouble, but occasionally some get robbed. Just as some people living at home get robbed/murdered.

Is a campsite any safer? I suppose statistically it is, but then statistically, flying is a far safer way to go on holiday, yet we continue to drive, perhaps hiding our head in the sand to this fact?

We haven't done much wildcamping, but others who have like JSW said "if it feels bad move on".

Olley

Road Runner · 07-02-2008, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnsandywhite

. When we did our 3 month tour of the USA, we mainly stayed on Flying 'J' truck stops. But did avail ourselves of Walmart on 3 occasions.

As seen on Ice road truckers

TJ-RV · 07-02-2008, 03:57 PM

Quote:

It was to choose who our neighbours were.

LOL John, does that mean there's a better class of RVers staying at WalMart?

Quote:

...we mainly stayed on Flying 'J' truck stops.

Lots of people do that, and I'd think it would be safer than staying at WM. Some folks don't like truck stops because of the noise. The truck parking at the nearest FJ to us is nearly always full, due it being the first one southbound on that interstate for many miles. I've often thought it would upset truckers who couldn't park there if some RVs were taking up the space.

Being only 50 miles or so from home, we obviously wouldn't stay overnight there. But it is a regular fuel stop for us if we're coming home from the north. On the rare occasion I've wanted to park there (e.g. to buy something in their store), all the pullthrough spaces were used and I can't back the motorhome/car combination into any of the back-in spaces.

TJ-RV · 07-02-2008, 04:07 PM

I'm reminded of a TV program I watched a few years ago that caused me to write this up elsewhere:

The world's best truck stops
The following information was gleaned from a Travel channel feature on "the world's best truck stops". A fascinating program that had one wanting to be a trucker (or an RVer stopping over). Here's their top 10, but please remember, I've never visited any of these truck stops, and none of the comments/observations are mine:

Autohof Strohofer, Geisynd, Germany - biggest truck stop in Europe, in-the-buff spa, drive through.
Lodi Travel Center, Lodi, OH - Starbucks, marble showers and internet hookups.
Highlands Petro, Racine, WI - has a full time chiropractor who, in addition to taking care of neck and back pains, is qualified to perform the DOT required physicals.
Derrick Travel Plaza, Salisbury - has a 'trucker's chapel'.
Jubatz Travel Plaza, Portland, OR - has a hotel with suites, cinema, and formal upscale dining. Claimed to be the classiest.
Rip Griffin Travel Center, San Antonio, TX - they pick you up from your rig in a limo.
Ayer Keroh, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - the most exotic.
Alamo Travel Center, Sparks, NV. All the gambling you could ask for.
Iowa 80 - claims to be the biggest.South of The Border, on I95 at the NC/SC border.

TJ-RV · 07-02-2008, 04:11 PM

Hi Olley,

Understood, and it's obviously a psychological thing to some extent. After that experience with cops waking me at 2.00am and telling me to move on, I have a hard time sleeping if we're not in a campground

johnsandywhite · 07-02-2008, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TJ-RV

LOL John, does that mean there's a better class of RVers staying at WalMart?

Not really. But there were some noisy ones on the campground we stayed at.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TJ-RV

Lots of people do that, and I'd think it would be safer than staying at WM. Some folks don't like truck stops because of the noise. The truck parking at the nearest FJ to us is nearly always full, due it being the first one southbound on that interstate for many miles. I've often thought it would upset truckers who couldn't park there if some RVs were taking up the space.

We prefer the noise of Trucks than the screaming of drunken yobs. We also had a week Boondocking at the Wild West Truck stop in LV along with hundreds of other truckers. The only problem was one night we were invited to join in the 'Chase the Lady' game. Didn't fall for that one.

TJ-RV · 07-02-2008, 10:28 PM

Sounds like you've had some unfortunate campground experiences John. Sorry to hear that. I believe we've run into that once, around 1982/3; We were in a tent, so all noises seemed that much louder.

Most folks we've met in campgrounds across the U.S. and eastern Canada are quite civilised, and many campgrounds enforce quiet hours. We had a knock on the door one evening, around 6.00pm, and the (armed) state park ranger asked "Are you having generator problems?" I said "yes, and the darned thing was backfiring before I shut it down". She said "Phew! thank goodness for that; I had a report of shooting down here".

If you want to see/hear some drunken yobs, stand outside the chippie around the corner from any pub in the UK

Quote:

...we were invited to join in the 'Chase the Lady' game

Maybe I don't want to ask what that was