Walmart Parking Lot

Last week on Thursday, I made a last minute decision to head outta the area I “live” in to get away and have an adventure. I had known I wanted to go to the Sol Duc Hot Springs in the Olympic National Park because the forecast was calling for rain and all of the local campgrounds are fully booked for the weekends at the moment where reservations are available. The weather is perfect camping weather these days. Since I made a decision to leave town later than normal, I didn’t have a “plan” as exactly to what I was going to do. There was this amazing laundry mat/car wash in the town of Sequim, WA that I had read great reviews on and it also mentioned that the laundry mat had a shower. I was off to hit up that place first and foremost since I needed a place to do both my laundry and take a shower. Earlier in the day I just couldn’t bring myself to go on the navy base to take care of both of those things. I needed an adventure.

I didn’t feel like driving all the way to Lake Crescent due to being tired and if I arrive really late, it still cost $20 a night to camp there. I decided it was time to get my Wal-Mart camping initiation out of the way so I can be considered a true nomad (just kidding) I have been by this Wal-Mart in Port Angeles, WA many times and I know the area is a safe place. Funny thing is when I pulled in to the lot there were at least 20 “vehicle dwellers” of all types already calling the parking lot home for the night. Everything from a home converted from a big blue school bus, back of truck RV campers, big rig RVs, my little camper, down to folks that were sleeping in their cars. I parked at the far end of the lot on the Garden Center side (it is not the main access side) and I parked parallel by the bushes at the far reaches of the parking lot. (I have read up on Wal-mart overnight parking etiquette, to be sure of what not to do) I stayed awake for about 30 mins and let myself wind down a bit, looking out the windows and seeing what was going on around me. Finally, I said its time - I am so tired and put my ear plugs in, all of my shades up to block the light and still put on my eye mask to block any glows that creep in.

I slept pretty good that night considering I got to bed later than I normally do. I awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and opened up my blinds on my left side to see the beautiful Olympic Mountain Range in the distance and I thought to myself “this is a rad view from Wal-Mart.” I walked inside the store to go use the bathroom and I made a purchase of a small bottle of WD-40 to use for some of the squeaky noises from pulling my trailer. I felt it is good Karma to support a purchase from Wal-Mart to pay my respect for allowing me to camp overnight without a charge. I would totally stay at this particular Wal-Mart again in the future and consider this a good learning experience. PS: it is very humbling to sleep in a parking lot