Walmart No Longer a Haven for Overnight RVs

You may have seen Clarence Thomas shopping at Walmart.  You probably didn’t recognize him without his Supreme Court robe.  Several years ago, 60 Minutes featured Justice Thomas behind the wheel of his recreational vehicle.  When summer recess comes for the court, he takes to the highways.  He often will park the RV overnight in a Walmart parking lot.

This has worked well for the stores because the campers buy supplies before again getting on the road.  It started in the earliest days of the chains existence in the south.  Now it may be going the way of the Victrola, Packard and Kmart.  Fewer Walmart stores are welcoming RVs for overnight stays.  The figure is down to a little more than half nationwide.  It’s never been a blanket policy.  Local managers make the decision to allow overnight stays.

When I was a younger man, I would camp in an RV outside an NFL stadium.  We would get up in the morning and grill breakfast and mix with the other campers.  Then the town where the park was located banned overnight use.  My buddies and I simply stopped going to football games.

Walmart may not be alone.  I see some RVs parked in other assorted lots and it could be some merchandisers would be willing to take up the slack and accept some of the spillover business.

I think the challenge for campers is there are more of them than RV parks.  Walmart has been a good safety valve for travelers.  I guess the Justice will just need to keep motoring through the night.