[VAC] Wal-Mart and then some - and then some more

[Terry Tyler <tylerbears@xxxxxxx>]

As Charles mentioned, there are city, town, village and county parks all
over the continent that offer free camping. As an example, the northern most
east west highway across Kansas has 5 city parks that offer free camping.
The park in Marysville is right in town, has showers, water, dump station,
dumpster and the stores are within walking distance. Not too shabby, hey?

RVers who belong to the Escapees Club can purchase a compilation of such RV
parking sites for less than $10. The list is constantly being revised as new
locations are added. In the Escapees magazine, this information is within
the "DAY'S END" column. We have used this data for more than 20 years and
have contributed to it. Most recently, we stayed at two of these locations
during June 2002 and we'll stay at two others next week (July 2002).

Anyone who is a member of the various fraternal organizations knows many of
the local chapters offer free RV parking at their building. We've stayed at
various Elk lodges, some with no hookups and others with full hookups.
Occasionally, there is a fee, but it's usually nominal and we've never been
charged to use their phone to send and receive our email. Plus, the meals
are generally solid fare and economically priced. The social aspect is
always a pleasure. And when we've needed recommendations for a garage
mechanic, their suggestion has been right on the mark.

>From our perspective, there are more places to stay which are free or
downright close to it, that it's seldom necessary to park in campgrounds
where the charge is more than $7-$8 a night ($10 maximum).

There are thousands of acres of BLM land in the western states that don't
charge anything at all. We have stayed for free at the Slabs in Niland, CA
and used the BLM land near the town of Why, Arizona many times and never
paid a nickle.  The Why Utility Company operates a campground for those who
like to alternate between BLM parking and a regular campground park.

Several years ago we kept track of our costs for 1200 nights and found they
averaged out to between $6-$7 a night. Our summary included all nights spent
during those 2-3 years, including nights spent at rallies in high priced RV
parks, nights at full service campgrounds associated with being on a caravan
and the occasional nights when we chose a $10 a night RV Resort.

Are you still with me? There's more. There are "used" memberships in RV
Resort Systems available. Typically, the price ranges from free to $500 and
the annual dues start at $100. To stay at one of these campgrounds within
the various membership systems, the charge generally ranges from $6-$10 per
night, usually with full hookups. It doesn't take a mathematician to
recognize that a free membership and agreeing to pay $99 dues per year in a
membership system can quickly pay for itself.

Some of our friends have bought ($300) into a membership system that
entitles them to a 50% discount at 750 campgrounds. We tried that for a
year, but 50% off $25-$35 a night wasn't as good a deal as we were getting
all by ourselves without belonging to that system. Plus, we found these
campgrounds would often restrict our stay to a few nights and never allow us
to stay on holiday weekends.

Then, there are all the federal campgrounds that go by a host of different
names. Anyone over age 62 can use these parks for 50% off the regular price.
We've found the regular prices are generally between $12-$16 a night which
means $6-$8 per night is your cost.

We carry a copy of "The Trucker's Friend" with us when we're traveling the
Interstates for more than a few days. In it, we easily identify which truck
stops are "RV Friendly" and offer free parking overnight. We've stayed at
them dozens of times, have eaten in their restaurants, refilled our propane
tanks there, used their dump stations, replenished our fresh water and even
used their immaculately clean showers (two weeks ago was our most recent
shower at a truck stop).

We know one Vintage Airstream family (father, mother and 3 boys) where the
father is still working full time. They make marathon runs to and from
rallies and National Parks. Because of the long distances they cover in
short amounts of time, they skip the campgrounds while enroute, use the
showers at truck stops and keep on trucking. It's not a matter of them
trying to be thrifty, it's a matter of keeping everyone happy, clean and
enjoying the adventure of going to exciting places during long and short
weekends.  

And these examples are only the tip of the iceberg. There are dozens of
other options, i.e. Lumber company campgrounds, power and light company
campgrounds, river authority campgrounds, courtesy parking, Cracker Barrel
Restaurants, Mom and Pop businesses, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel rest
area and the list goes on and on - and on and on.

Yes, WalMart parking is everything others have described, but there are a
lot more options out there just waiting to be used. Who are the people who
use these campgrounds? We find they are generally members of the Escapees
Club or folks who are naturally inquisitive and have a strong sense of
curiosity for checking out anything that looks even remotely like it could
be a campground or a safe place to park overnight. They are the folks who
listen to others when the conversation turns to talking about campgrounds
and parking places. These folks are seldom "destination campers" but are
instead those who thrive on experiencing the journey, wanting to learn from
others and having the adventure of their lives.

As with everything else in life, we're always alert to our surroundings and
only park where we judge it to be a safe place. Each person has their own
criteria for making that call. It's important that both persons in a couple
are in agreement on this. Otherwise, it's no fun for either one.

I know these comments are somewhat off the Wal-Mart topic, but anyone who
travels this country quickly learns there are an abundance of safe places to
stay for a night or longer which are cost free or have minimal costs.

Sooner or later someone chides us for being cheap. That's a confession by
them as to their total lack of awareness about what it costs to be an RVer.

In most cases, our Vintage Airstreams end up costing us more than buying a
new one. The same goes for our tow vehicles. While traveling, we support the
economy of every community where we stay, where we shop, where we dine,
where we play and where we indulge our sight seeing interests.

On top of that, we continue to pay all of the bills associated with our home
base. For many of us, our Airstream is the equivalent to a Summer Cottage,
the difference being we can take it with us anywhere on the continent.  My
reply to those who chide us is to share a few of these ideas with them.
After sharing, what I'd like to say is, "Stuff that in your pipe and smoke
it."

Terry
1967 22' Airstream Safari
(currently in Colorado and heading East)

mailto:tylerbears@mac.com