Oh, What a Beautiful Wal-Mart

In Shawnee, Oklahoma we spent our second consecutive night in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Just what every girl dreams about for her honeymoon!

Although we haven’t done much Wal-Mart camping on this trip, it makes sense when staying a few hours in one town. It’s a matter of convenience. There’s no check-in procedure, no hookups to warrant your concern, and no one rapping on your door the next morning to “remind” you of check-out time. And should you need to do any shopping, the campground store is a doozy!

Having done a fair amount of international travel, I know that stores similar to Wal-Mart exist overseas (ie. England’s Tesco). I’m curious whether they are as supportive of the RV lifestyle. I suspect not. Wal-Mart doesn’t have to be so inviting, and in our litigious society it’s rare to encounter such corporate hospitality. So I am appreciative.



We’ve crossed 14,000 miles on SEEMORE’s odometer, which means we’ve gone over 10,000 miles on this trip (the above trip meter doesn’t include our journey to and from Key West, which was over 1000 miles).

Even though I’ve driven almost ALL of this distance myself, it really doesn’t feel that way. Although I’ve been a little fatigued at times, I’ve never been burned out. The key is the amount of travel per day. We typically limit ourselves to no more than six hours of driving, and often much less. Whenever we feel like stopping, we stop. If we find ourselves in a good spot, we stay, sometimes for days. This is a luxury afforded by the nomadic RV lifestyle.

That said, now that we have home well within our sights, we’re making a beeline for it. Once there we will tend to a few household matters, and take our Airstream back to the RV service center for long-awaited repairs. Remember June’s notorious “dent in our enthusiasm” incident? The dent remains an eyesore, and the vent is still nonfunctional. So we intend to have our Airstream’s vent and roof repaired, as promised, by the service center. I will document these repair experiences in our blog.

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How nice are Oklahomans? The favorite sports team here is the famed University of Oklahoma Sooners football squad. Boomer Sooner! At Sooner home games, the Oklahoma fans pack the stadium, where they are well known for giving vigorous rounds of applause…to the opposing team! Sure, they cheer louder for their Sooners, but they also heartily cheer the visitors. Now that’s nice.