Before things get out of hand, and they are likely too, the aforementioned site has both a very strong pro and a very strong anti following emanating from a Yahoo group history.
Jim O'Brient was a co-founder of the Yahoo group site and decided that there is a way to build a more accurate, more consistent, and more detailed site of Wal-Mart (and other freebie/low cost overnight parking) information that simply can not be accomplished in the freebie Yahoo groups context. So he used the Yahoo accumulated information he helped grow/develop and split off the Yahoo Groups to form the for pay
www.OvernightRVParking.com.
JMHO, This new site is far far far superior to any other online source for several reasons. Jim strictly moderates every single report. He edits them, makes them consistent, and keeps everything on the level. He'll call the locations to verify himself. He further reports on local no sleeping in vehicle ordinances (calls the city halls), ascertains from verifiable reports if they are actually enforced, and on and on. He then displays all this data in an interactive map format which just can't be beat. Everything on that site is reported as first-hand experience and further verified, and more importantly locations are very accurate and up-to date. Store relocation, rest areas, truck parking lots, other parking areas are all there. Stuff like curbing, low-clearance bars, which path to take to enter the property, where to park, etc. are all also spelled out in consistent tone and detail. All the stuff (big riggers in particular) have got to know - in advance.
So, if you are tired of digging through the myriad of freebie reports out there (and there are dozens of these freebie sources), tired of deciphering the rants from the rights from the really don't knows, and tired of getting to a parking area only to find it moved, doesn't allow, is unsafe, or what have you, then you'll appreciate Jim's site. What he runs can not be done for free. Best less than $20/year I've ever spent. Besides, if you contribute new locations and verify existing reports you get 2 free weeks added for each report you submit meaning you can keep extending your subscription for FREE! I've been on free for well over a year.
As an avid Wal-Mart overnighter on my runs across the country in a big rig towing, I have come to be able to totally rely on
www.OvernightRVParking.com to provide me with accurate data so that I can be certain that I can park at a location which I've planned at the limit of my safe driving endurance. The freebie sites have left me out scouting hours beyond my safe driving limits far too often due to bad info.
Some folks didn't deal with the significantly increased value Jim brought to the former Yahoo group data (
that Yahoo Groups site is here) and have formed a little (big) revolt. As a dude who personally started in that Yahoo group and then realized the significant value-add Jim brings to the quality and completeness of the data and in displaying the data in interactive graphical map format in
www.OvernightRVParking.com I now use that site as my sole overnight parking planning tool. It plain works.
Be your own judge, but the data on that site is worth the paltry fee and is something a Yahoo group simply can not provide.
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