More Canadian Walmarts banning Overnight RV Parking

[WilleyB]

I would love to go to Canada during the summer... that's what... two weeks? :P

Well I guess parts of it (in the West) are a little chilly these days, this has been quite a year here except for the rain. Hard to believe but the mercury leveled out at 90F Sunday and about 34F that night. Monday was a little cooler at 84F and some frost overnight, nice for sleeping. Today! raining (showers) didn't bother to check temps as it was a damp coolness, miserable weather probably, lots of rain on the radar that's now over the eastern USA.
BTW if you do decide to venture this way give me a shout, I can fill you in on free parking (even a free camp ground) around the Maritimes. Most of our trips are between NS and Ontario and one to Alberta. Lots of stops in between. No plans to go South, too expensive, but we would like to make a run to Phoenix Arizona before our time on this planet is up.
No Sam's up here that I know of, but WM, Zeller's, Canadian Tire Stores, and most of the Big Box stores that are not in the center of towns and cities will allow overnighting except where municipal By-Laws forbid it.

Cheers
Willey

[ccook129]

Truck stops,find a area away from 18 wheelers,and rest stops everywhere.

[jobriant]

Originally Posted by Lorna

I use allstays as a location only source. I always ask. It's free... jobriant's isn't.

That's correct. The Overnight RV Parking website costs almost seven cents a day. That's if you never report back on the places you park overnight. If you do submit reports, your subscription gets extended. Enough reports, and your subscription will never expire.

Originally Posted by Lorna

... jobriant probably would rather I stayed off his site. I don't think he likes me much.

Not so, Lorna. I've disagreed with some of the information you posted, as the numbers in my database (which covers all of the USA and Canada and thousands of locations visited by thousands of RVers) don't match the numbers you posted about your personal experience.

I have no doubt that you've represented your experience accurately. But I don't think that others should assume that because you've never found a store that doesn't allow Overnight RV Parking, that means they won't ever find one either. There are hundreds of Walmarts, Lowe's, Home Depots, KMarts, etc. that don't allow RVers or anyone else to park overnight in their parking lots.

It's a matter of differing data. It's not personal.

Originally Posted by WilleyB

Oh! I don't think he'd turn down your subscription if you applied

Correct. And if you say that WilleyB referred you, you get 13 months for the price of 12 and he gets a free month, too.

[jobriant]

Originally Posted by ccook129

Truck stops,find a area away from 18 wheelers...

Most truck stops allow RVs to park overnight, but not all. Many that allow it want RVs to park among the trucks; some specify that RVs NOT park among the trucks.

Originally Posted by ccook129

and rest stops everywhere.

Rest area regulations vary widely from state to state. About half the states allow parking for enough hours that you can sleep for 6-8 hours. The rest have parking limits of 2-4 hours. Several also specify no parking overnight. At least one state says no parking in primary highway rest areas between dusk and dawn.

[Lorna]

But I feel no need to join YET another website. I'll just keep doing my thing and using the sites that I frequent. We really don't travel to places that we have never been ( we operate in a 100 mile radius). For example... we do an auction up in Albuquerque a couple times a month. When the bus conversion is finished, we will pull it (pulling the Jeep and the food cart) into a parking lot. I have three locations picked out... West side, Off I 25 north of I40 and a place on Eubank. All of them allow overnight parking. These are places we are at fairly frequently and I simply stopped in and asked the managers. When we came cross country, I simply had 3 possible stops picked out (about 30 minutes to 1 hour apart) for each leg. Our first choice is Sam's Clubs, like I mentioned. We have spoken to store managers in several states about overnight parking in Sam's Clubs. Based on what they told us about private clubs and private parking lots... let's just say, we look for Sam's Clubs.

You do things your way because that is what works for you. We will continue doing things our way because that is what works for us. Besides I don't like having to pay to use a site that I have no idea if it is accurate or not. No way to check either. I don't want it pay for it only to discover it's like Woodalls or Trailer Life campground directories... they NEVER have my "test" campgrounds listed. they are the ones that I use to see if a directory is as "comprehensive" as they claim. I rarely buy a directory.

[WilleyB]

Aw! that means we wont be seeing you soon

You do things your way because that is what works for you.

Well I do have to agree with you as that's it pretty much in a nut shell for us . Relates to the old adage "If it aint broke, don't fix it". We go from each overnight stay to the next overnight until we reach our destination. Since we don't stop until evening we like to have an idea that it's going to OK to park for the night. Sometimes the destination may involve street parking (with respect to the parking regulations). That usually only happens when visiting in the larger cities. It's not too bad in the residential areas, actually got to meet a lot of folks that way. Don't have jacks awning or slides so guess we wont be irritating anyone in that way.

Cheers
Willey

[Lorna]

If I'm driving, we stop early. I tend to have problems with lights. Some nights are worse than others and I never know when I will be having a bad night. The lights form the dash can blind me at times. So I don't drive at night. My daughter is the same but not as bad as I am. We have decided that since we no longer work for someone else, we will now exercise some control over our own lives. We choose not to drive late at night. No longer do we have to make an 8 hour trip in 5 hours. Our lives, our time, our rules.

... We go from each overnight stay to the next overnight until we reach our destination...

That's how we went down and came back from TX. I also like Don Wrights Free and Cheap campgrounds. We found a great public campground in Hobbs NM that was a great place, CHEAP and we could dump and take on water. All the rabbits was a little freaky. You could almost walk up to them.

[WilleyB]

If I'm driving, we stop early. I tend to have problems with lights. Some nights are worse than others and I never know when I will be having a bad night. The lights form the dash can blind me at times. So I don't drive at night.

Ah! well, I have to do all the driving, DW let her license expire last Jan. she hasn't driven a vehicle in years, she just co-pilots now. The only time I have problems with lights is those darn orange street lamps (mercury vapor I believe) that are at intersections and sometimes on routes right through cities, I'm near blinded by those so I'm off the road before dark. Just too dangerous and since I'm also chief cook and bottle washer, dog walker and all, a decent break is required before rest and another days drive.
I don't know much about your RV but if you rotate the headlight switch counter clockwise doesn't it dim the dash lights? There should be a knob or something somewhere on the dash to do that. Might help if you do have to drive in the dark sometime.
Like yourselves we are never in a hurry to get anywhere, it probably takes us 8 hours to do a 5 hour trip and unless it's one of our stop for a few days destination, it would then normally be a Wal Mart overnight.
Up here I only know of one free campground and the rest? well with the exception of a few, let's just say $$ much more that what they're worth and too far out of the way to be of much use to us. For extra charging capacity we have a little 1Kw generator (sometimes handy but haven't used it much). We use any dump sites available along the traveled route (I also update Sani-Dumps with info) a lot of free ones didn't have flush water (Flying J's) so my preference is to use the $5 to $15 ones where I can flush the tank. Potable water I get at our visiting destinations.
So I guess we pretty much do our own thing our way like you

Cheers
Wlley