And Home - #61-13

March 25, 2006 (Sat)
New Bern, NC to Greenville, NC (128/3836 miles)

We left the Walmart parking lot at about 9:05 (34° overnight!), got gas and headed south to look at one of the campgrounds in Croatan National Forest we considered going to last night. It turned out that there would have been plenty of room for us. In fact many of the sites had young (pale green) grass covering them indicating: a) very light use, b) very light maintenance. We discussed getting a site there for the night but decided that since it was so cold (54°) and threatened rain, (and there was a vicious sounding dog barking somewhere) we may as well spend the night in the Greenville Walmart parking lot 50 miles north. But first we drove on south to Morehead City, sightseeing - very interesting area but is probably crazy in the summer like most beach resorts.

As a matter of corporate policy, Walmart allows and even encourages, overnight RV parking in their parking lots. Sometimes local ordinance - usually sponsored by local campground owners - overrides this policy. So for that reason, and as a courtesy, we always check with each store before settling in. We called the Greenville store, got transferred to management, and were assured that there was no problem. But just before we were about to fix supper the night security (small pickup) truck stopped beside us. He wanted to know the name of the manager Mark spoke to. Of course he didn't know. "Go inside and speak to a manager and let me know."

The clerk in Customer Service got on the phone (to a manager?) and was told that Walmart doesn't own the parking lot. It's OK for us to stay, lots of motor homes do, up toward the McDonalds but the police might give us a ticket. Mark flagged the security truck down and relayed the message. "What was the name of the manager you talked to?" Well, of course, Mark didn't know. "Walmart owns the parking lot and the buildings, all the buildings. Go back in and talk with a manager in person, not a little guy on the bottom, a manager. Talk to Barbara, or Robert, or Bill. Talk to Barbara." "If I get the OK, do you need something in writing?" "No. Just tell me who you talked to." (??) Joy was getting a little upset at this point. This was VERY unusual. Mark traced Barbara down (no easy task) "No Problem at all." and relayed the message to security, including her name, and received assurance that we would not be hassled by him or the police. It was all very strange. Everyone was smiling and friendly. There was never any indication that we weren't welcome but it was strange.

Tomorrow we'll be meeting Nephew Jake for lunch.

Q031084 Camp Walmart, Greenville, NC
___________________

March 26, 2006 (Sun)
Greenville, NC to Franklin, VA (140/3976 miles)

The security guy was good to his word, we got through the night without either him or the police knocking on our door. And we slept pretty well to boot. We were up fairly early (35°), showered, ate breakfast, and wandered around the Walmart store for an hour or so. At at 10:00 we called Jake and he came over. He showed us pictures of his recent trip to Japan (what an adventure that must have been for him!) and he endured our pictures of our trip to Alaska. Then it was lunch at Ham's Restaurant and Brew House - delicious "bacon cheese fries" and hamburgers (high carb pig-out!). It was really great being with him and getting to know him in a way impossible in larger family situations.

At 2:30 we were back on our way again headed up SR-43 toward Rocky Mount, NC. Another couple of miles west we picked up I-95. Traffic was heavy and fast interrupted only when a reported car fire - we saw no evidence of a recent one - slowed everyone to a crawl. We did enjoy seeing the emerging wild flowers along the roadsides and median - daffodils, narcissus, and a beautiful large field of what looked like light blue violets. It looked like a bit of sky had fallen.

"No problem." was the friendly response at 5:30 when we asked if it was OK to spend the night in the Franklin, VA Walmart parking lot. So here we are. We haven't seen any sign of a security truck.

Q031224 Camp Walmart, Franklin, VA
________________________

March 27, 2006 (Mon)
Franklin, VA to Home (406/4382 miles)

Up at 6:00 (32°) Clear. Several trucks came in last night (noisy) but no other motor homes. After breakfast at McDonalds down the street we were off at just before 7:00.

The 17.6 mile long Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is the largest bridge-tunnel in the world and in 1964 was selected as one of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the Modern World. We've driven it several times and we did today. The water was very choppy and green. A few miles north of the Delaware Memorial Bridge in New Jersey we filled Q's tank with the cheapest gas we had seen since we left home - $2.23/gal at the Flying J. We got home at about 4:00 and found everything ship shape.

Q031630 Home