First Walmart Overnighter

RVs parked at Walmart

Largest Walmart I have seen - like a Castle - Charleston, South Carolina

It just had to happen didn't it? We had to experience what it was like to take advantage of the free overnight parking at Walmart stores across the USA. Not all Walmarts allow free overnight parking though, so if you plan to free park, you need to check first with Walmart staff. Otherwise you might be rudely awoken at 3am and asked to move on.

When you have no hookups (power, water, sewer), it is called 'boondocking'. I read the other day that if you boondock at Walmart, it is called 'Wallydocking', or doing a 'Wallydock'. Made me smile! Ever since we started our US motorhoming adventures in 2007, we have heard and read about RVers parking free at Walmart, but to be honest, now that we are retired, why go without creature comforts. Unless you are doing a trade off for some spectacular scenery of course. So in the 3 years we have been RVing, we have never done a Wallydock. The parking may be free, but if you have no power (not supposed to run a generator) then that limits our preferred leisure activities as we have no TV and no internet (our current laptop battery only runs for 45 mins then dies (our new MacBook battery will run at least 8 hrs - whoo hoo)). RVs have battery power to run lights, plus most like ours will have water pumps and gas hot water heaters, so we can shower despite having no power or water hook ups.

However, Wallydocking is truly a wonderful resource for RVers in an emergency situation. If you arrive late into a town and have no campground booking, you often just need a few hours of sleep to make it safe to continue on to your destination. It is not designed to be a subsitute for a regular RV campground. This is one of the reasons why many Walmarts now ban overnight parking - because local campgrounds have complained to their council representatives that they are missing out on revenue. The other reason is due to a minority of RVers abusing the privileges - leaving rubbish behind, using generators, taking up extra space by using awnings, etc.

For those of you in Australia who have never been to a SuperWalmart, they are a huge store that is a cross between our Woolies/Coles & Target/Kmart, only 3 or 4 times the size, with a full pharmacy service and a comprehensive RV section & sports section, where you can also pick up a fishing license. Within their store building they also have an optician shopfront, a banking agency, and either a Subway or a McDonalds. Consequently, the parking lot is HUGE, and RVers never have any trouble parking their huge rigs there when they drop in for their shopping. The other bonus is that these stores are open 24 hrs, so the parking area is well lit and has around the clock security.

According to RV magazines and websites, the rules for RVers who overnight park at Walmart are as follows:

• Do ask permission
• Do patronise the store by shopping there
• Don't use a generator
• Don't put out awnings or jacks
• Don't sit out in deck chairs and light up the BBQ

Don't laugh! On our maiden Wallydock, we pulled up next to another RV in the parking lot (for extra security this being our first experience). He had his generator going (very noisy) and his jacks were down. We thought he may have only turned the generator on to use the microwave to cook a quick meal, so we happily wandered off to the shop. On our return about an hour later, his generator was still going. We ended up moving to another site as it was too noisy for us to get to sleep.

Our Wallydock was bought about by a combination of factors. It was a Sunday night, and the next morning we had booked the RV in for a welding job at 8am. We had already paid for the campground which was 70 miles south, and had planned on a very early start to reach our appointment on time. However, during Sunday afternoon, the friends camping with us decided to pay an overnight visit to their own home, leaving us as the only campers in the campground. Due to the isolation of this particular campground, we had no service on our mobile phone, and a tornado watch was in effect. We figured it would be more sensible to head north where at least we could get shelter if a tornado hit, and we would also have reception on our phone. Plus we would be only minutes away from our welding service centre, so we wouldn't need to have such an early start. As we didn't get up to the city until late, campground offices would be shut and we wouldn't have time to wait around in the morning to sort out payment. We figured it was the perfect opportunity to experience a Wallydock first-hand.

We arrived at the Walmart carpark around 9.30pm. We went inside, checked it was okay to park overnight, then proceeded to do some shopping. We got back to the RV and after moving to a quieter location, we settled in for the night. Apart from hearing a few horns honk and some enthusiastic drivers doing wheelies in the parking area for a few minutes, it all settled down and we had an undisturbed night. Mission accomplished. Thank you Walmart.