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Where RVers park freely

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Where RVers park freely
Wal-Mart's lots beckon as owners try to cut costs
By BILL DRAPER
Associated Press
July 10, 2005, 7:44PM

EMPORIA, KAN. - Charlotte Pinick took a quick inventory: Five recreational vehicles parked in a nearby truck stop parking lot; a few more up the road at the Wal-Mart.

That was more than $120 the owner of Emporia RV Park wouldn't be bringing in this day as travelers chose free parking over the campsites with water, electricity, dump station and wireless Internet service Pinick and her husband are offering for $22.50 a night.

With $2 gas prices making their hobby more expensive, RV enthusiasts are trimming their travel costs any way they can, whether it's taking fewer and shorter trips or spending a few nights in the local Wal-Mart parking lot, experts say.

They're also looking for convenience, security and familiarity as they drive their travel trailers or $100,000-plus motor homes from one end of the country to the other.

A Wal-Mart locater

Chuck Woodbury, who publishes RV-related articles on the Internet, operates what he calls the largest bookstore exclusively focused on recreational vehicles. Among the offerings on rvbookstore.com is a publication that lists all the Wal-Marts where overnight parking is not allowed, and a Wal-Mart locater guide.

Those are a must-have for serious RVers, he said.

"Boondocking," also known as primitive camping, is the RVer term for camping without the use of such conveniences as electricity and water. The subject is a favorite topic among Internet-savvy travelers on such sites as freecamping.com, fulltimerver.com and Woodbury's rvtravel.com. There has even been a documentary about parking in Wal-Mart lots, titled This Is Nowhere.

"We took it on because we're interested in the contradiction between wanting to experience nature and experience the cultures and history in various regions of the United States," filmmaker Doug Hawes-Davis said of the documentary. "A lot of them recognize some of the contradictions and absurdities of camping at a Wal-Mart. Even RVers themselves don't deny it."

Can't they afford it?

Critics of the practice — especially campground owners who feel they are losing money because of it — argue that people who can afford to drive vehicles worth hundreds of thousands of dollars across the country surely can afford to pay the $20 or $30 nightly fee for a campsite.

But RVers say it's not always about saving money. Most Wal-Marts are easy to find, the lots are lit up at night and usually have security cameras. Campers can restock their supplies, get something to eat and be back on the highway with ease — which is important to people who have someplace else to be.

Pinick, the campground owner, said most transient campers she sees — the ones who are just passing through, rather than the snowbirds who park there for extended stays — alternate between parking in campgrounds and overnighting in places where they don't have to pay.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Christi Gallagher said there are 3,167 Wal-Marts and Sam's Club stores scattered across the U.S. The company whose founder, Sam Walton, was said to be an RV enthusiast, encourages RVers to park in its lots wherever it's allowed, she said.

Yuma, Ariz., is one of those places where overnighting at Wal-Mart is not allowed.

James Stover, public affairs manager in Yuma, said the city has a 20-year-old ban on any overnight camping without a permit. Campgrounds are big business in Arizona, he said, and allowing travelers to camp overnight for free does not help the business community.


LINK: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3259281