Wal Mart NOT Trucker Friendly

There are alot of walmarts out there that will let you park and shop. Then on your way out the rent-a-cop follows you to the truck to make sure that you leave and don't camp out. Most don't have problems with shopping....just camping.

 

Thanks guys! I wrote down a lot of the Park at T/S walk to WM and truck friendly WM locations so I'll have them when I get out there!

 

Start with the zip code for the closest town to where you're at... don't know it? Go to USPS - dot - com and enter the city name and state in the zip code finder.

Go to walmart - dot - com and enter the zip code in the store finder. Check out the map that is returned and choose one. Put the address into mapquest or google earth. Check out the parking lot, access to it, and streets.

Go drive by it... if everything looks good, use your knowledge of the parking lot to get in and find an out-of-the-way place to park. If not, you've already checked out the streets so you know how to get back to your route.

Supercenters are open 24-7. In the middle of the night, they don't much care if you do happen to be driving a big truck. Get your stuff, don't leave a mess.

The stores in the smaller towns almost always allow truck access and parking, unless there is a problem with a mall management company. Larger suburban stores are usually the ones we have trouble with.

 

I've posted this before, this is a site put out by someone in the RV community. It shows all the Walmarts overlayed on top of google maps, and they are color coded to show which ones will let RVs park overnight. It's a pretty good tool for finding one that will accomdate large vehicles. The interface is kind of clunky and hard to use though.

http://www.allstays.com/c/wal-mart-locations.htm

 

That is all very well and good, but I don't have a Wifi enabled computer or phone and won't have one unless I make pretty good money at PAM (which doesn't seem too likely).

So I'll write down whatever will help me.

 

PAM... eerrrk!

See if you can find a copy of "The Next Exit." Lists all the stuff within 3 miles of every interstate exit around. Including WallyWorlds.

 

If you have a Garmin or Tom Tom GPS, do a Google on "POI factory". I have all of the Walmarts, rest stops, Pilots, Love's, Flying J's and TA's in my GPS. The rest stops and Walmarts have been very useful. All of those POI's are free.

 

A;ot of the time its not the Walmart but the town or city its located in.

 

Think how many cars that carry people who "really"are shopping could park where ten 18 wheelers are parked so one guy can sleep ten hours.

 

When I go to Wally World, unless there is an area up front designated for trucks, I normally park around back out of the way.