The first thing you learn when planning
a low-budget RV trip is that most Walmarts allow you to spend the
night in their parking lot for free. The second thing you learn is
that most casinos offer the same benefit.
The Walmart thing is so well known that
there are lists of every store in the country along with a notation
about allowed parking. Most of the 24-hour stores are okay with it
although a few cities don't allow overnight parking anywhere except a
street or your own house – and that's assuming you aren't asleep in
your vehicle.
I've done a couple WM parking lots now
and it isn't too bad, if you can get past the floodlighting that
create a perpetual dawn in your rig and the occasional semi groaning
by to make a delivery. If you have felines in your camper you also
have to put up with being trampled half the night as your travel
companions need to race from window to window to watch what's going
on.
Most of what they see is late-night
shoppers and other sleepy travelers, but I did come across one
vehicle that appears to have taken up a permanent residence in the
parking lot and they came with a lot of shouting and name-calling in
the middle of the night. The cats were enthralled.
Last night I tried my first casino
parking and it wasn't bad either. Also flood-lit but much less
traffic and there doesn't appear to be any permanent residents,
although maybe it was the lot I chose. The Tulalip Casino has signs
directing Rvs to a specific area which actually feels welcoming and
reassuring – and I imagine it makes them popular with the retired
travelling crowd that enjoy a good meal and don't mind dropping a few
coins in the slot machines. The lot is spacious with lots of
pull-through slots, close to the entrance of the casino.
It looks a lot like a campground
without hookups.
I ended up in the employee overflow
parking lot along with a few other introverts that all attempted to
park as far away from each other as possible. The early arrivers got
the prime areas along the edge next to the trees while everyone else
kind of staked their claim on a row of parking spots.
It was glorious. No generators running
half the night, no late-night partyers making a commotion as they
came home, just background traffic noise and the whistle of the train
somewhere off in the distance.
I still got the occasional ice-cold paw
in the middle of my back since the lighting meant something might be
visible, but for the most part the kitties seemed content to settle
at one window and wait for the show to come to them.
Sadly this casino does not appear to
offer free coffee, but there's always another one a little further
down the road.
