WalMart, Fort Smith, AR

Most RV full timers live on a limited budget. Many are retirees, on pensions and social security. Since the cost of a campsite is an ever present expense, discounts or deals are very important. We prefer to stay in state parks, for the scenery and walking trails, and the cost of a campsite averages about fifteen to twenty dollars a day. There may not be the amenities of a private park, but we are really not interested in swimming pools, beach volleyball, and craft classes.
We had heard through the on-line forums that Walmart stores across the nation allowed Rvers to overnight in their parking lots. There is even a Rand McNally atlas that has a state by state directory of every Walmart in the US and Canada. Lei was pretty uncomfortable with the thought of sleeping in a parking lot, so we didn’t try it until we got to Arkansas. Coincidentally, the corporate headquarters of Walmart is in Bentonville, Arkansas.
We had been driving for most of the day, probably eight hours on the interstate. We used the directions from our atlas to find a Walmart Supercenter in the suburbs of Fort Smith, AR. We parked the rig in a corner, far from the front door of the store, and went in to get an okay from the store manager. We got the okay and bought some groceries, used the restrooms, and headed back to the RV.
The parking lot has no hookups, so we couldn’t open the slide out. The on-board batteries ran the lights and the water pump, and the propane powered the refrigerator, water heater, and stove. This is called dry camping, where you use no land based utilities. We had dinner and turned in for the night.
In the morning we went into the store to use the restrooms and thank the manager for letting us stay. We were on our way by ten in the morning.
The good news? The parking spot is free. The bad news? Because this was a 24-hour WalMart, there were people driving in and out all night. In addition, the train tracks ran right next to the parking lot, so we heard the ka-thump-ka-thump of the train cars passing by all night. That’s just the “price” you pay!!