Camping at Walmart

Well, it doesn't get much easier; we pulled in the parking lot, found a relatively flat spot, turned off the ignition and we were set for the night. Electricity is provided by house batteries powered by solar panels. The refrigerator and range are powered by propane. We had plenty of water for dishes, showers and flushes in the 50 gallon fresh water tank and waste water was contained in the holding tanks.

The first night in the Walmart parking lot, we decided to park along the side away from the truckers as we thought it would be quieter. Not a good choice as it was near the entrance to the unloading area with trucks coming in all night. On the return trip we wisely chose to park with the truckers and other RVs. Noise was not an issue; we both slept very well. Lesson learned, learn from the truckers.

The purpose of this excursion was to spend time with our girls and celebrate with our youngest granddaughter as she graduated from the Northwest Florida Ballet Academie. Normally we would have stayed in their guest room but another grandmother was also visiting and taking The Wanderer gave us an excuse to practice retirement. The nine eighth grade girls graduating started together in third grade with around forty students. They are a very tight group having shared hours of study, Northwest Florida Ballet Company dance rehearsals, road trips, sleepovers as well as times of sadness and celebration. All were quite successful in their academics but only one was recognized for obtaining all A's during the entire 6 years (guess who!) The girls will continue their secondary education in different high schools but most will continue their dance career as pre-professionals with the ballet company.

The girls surprised us with our first piece of art for The Wanderer. 

As with any adventure, we had a new experience that gave us a bit of concern. While ABN shopped with the girls in Florida, Captain installed a tire pressure monitoring system on The Wanderer. The purpose of this gadget is to alert when the tire pressures get too low or the tire becomes too hot. We got an alert indicating the front, left tire was too hot. Captain immediately pulled onto the shoulder of I-65 to assess the situation. After an internet consultation, he decided it was probably due to stop and go traffic from construction slow down on the interstate. However, he did want to confirm the tire was okay, so he took the next exit, found a parking lot and measured the tire pressure. It was fine, tire was cool and the sensor had returned to a safe range.  

For seasoned RV travelers that might be reading our blog, you are probably saying duh! Keep in mind, the primary purpose of writing this blog is to share our adventure with family and friends, most have not had this experience and are curious. If it provides a bit of entertainment for the rest, well that is an added value.

Until next time, ABN