Walmart campground

[JandC]

Sounds like the Walmart at Cottonwood AZ wasn't exactly the best place to set up camp the other night! When the bullets start flying in an empty parking lot, like they probably did in this situation, the thin walls of a Montana isn't going to stop them.

The Walmart you pull into at 7pm may look pretty secure, but who knows how it could change over by 1am?

[rames14]

This past week a family from Idaho created a disturbance at a Walmart in Arizona. The end result - 3 shot, 1 dead. If anything will stop camping at Walmarts, this will sooner than someone staying two nights. We normally plan our trips, but we have stopped and slept in a Walmart parking lot when we got called out on an emergency trip. (Can't remember if it was traveling from Texas to a new house during the High Park Fire in Colorado or when my Mom was in bad shape). Until you have an emergency, you don't know why people have camped at Walmart. I see everything from pop-ups to fancy Class A's. I don't know why they're there - emergency, financial. It's nice that they allow it.

[DQDick]

On our trip home we will make several overnight stops at similar places. First we'll stop in North Phoenix at a Cracker Barrel, then about a week later at a casino in Albuquerque and then about another week later at the Flying J at Sayer, OK. The Cracker Barrel and the flying J have a simple explanation, we're lazy. We pull in, leave the rig hooked up, have dinner, read, go to bed, wake up the next morning, have breakfast and we're on the road. No messing with utilities etc. In Albuquerque we have reservations for the day after we stay at the Casino, but that day we have the rig in Camping World to get some work done, so again why set up, tear down and set up again. It's not for everyone, but it works for us. As for safety and shoot outs, there have been a few in RV parks (see RVtravel's Saturday news feed). When and if that happens the slugs are going thru more than just one rig. As I said, to each his own.

[richfaa]

We all have our preferences for travel. We like Pull through, Full hooks, 50 amps that is the way it has always been. We stop at FJ/ Pilot for fuel and lunch and they are fairly noisy.We like cracker barrel and we shop at wall-mart.We have been in what looked like nice rest areas and some really bad ones.We have never overnighted in any of those places but that is not to say we might one day.

I was caught in a situation in a wall mart parking lot a couple of years ago in the Honda just shopping and there was a shootout in another one no Rv involved. It can happen anytime.

Not staying in any of those places has nothing to do with safety or security for us .We just prefer the comforts of a Campground.

[kdeiss]

We have had Silver Sneakers through our Insurance Company but they dropped that program last year.
you have to go through a application process at the Health Club or the YMCA.You are issued a membership card for that location only.When we went North in Summer we would suspend our Florida membership and join in Pa.yes it was free but the membership was not a passport to all YMCA or health Clubs hope this helps.

[shovelhead86]

We stop at Wally World on occasion but not for more than 8 hours and onlywhen ;the lot is not nearly full. We are gone in the morning. Do not put slides out. We always go in the store for something. Using the parking lot as a campground is rude.