Go to the link for the photos. From the text:
Walmart’s practice of letting people populate many of its parking lots has made the retail giant’s stores a reliable, if somewhat improvised, destination and a place where an informal culture emerges before and after dark.One of the highly rated comments over there is: "I liked this a lot. It's a nice change to the constant badgering in politics we see on a day to day basis. Interesting how something so simple, yet human, can tell such an intriguing story. Thanks for doing this."
This summer, two photographers, Mike Belleme and George Etheredge, spent several nights in Walmart parking lots in the South. The men, who are longtime friends, slept in the back of a cargo van and talked with people who stopped at Walmarts. Here are some of the people they met, and things they saw, along the way....
Posts
10 comments:
No pictures of Clarence Thomas and his wife at a Walmart in their RV. Not even a mention.
Racists.
We have been in dozens of Wal-Mart parking lots throughout the country, actually it’s one of our favorite things to do...if we’re not having to plug in and we’ve got enough electricity and all that. But you can get a little shopping in, see part of real America. It’s fun!
Clarence Thomas's wife talks about traveling around America in an RV with her husband...
I've laughed at people in $100,000 rigs spending the night at Walmart because it makes them look cheap; but the truth is, when you only have a week or two for vacation, you want to get where you are going as quickly as possible, so you drive long days,
Driving an RV is more tiring than just driving a car, so it's not unusual to suddenly feel you just can't drive much more that day. It might be 300 miles or 500 miles - it depends a lot on road conditions and traffic.
You just want a place to park for 8-10 hours to get some sleep. Parking at Walmart is great because they are open 24 hours, have security, have bathrooms, and you can pick up any type of supplies you might need.
Finding a park close to the Interstate that you can easily get to, park (probably in the dark), sleep, and hit the road early, is often not worth the $30-$50 night it costs. I stayed in a state park near Atlanta I thought was close to the Interstate and it took me over an hour to get there. Lots of traffic, winding roads, poor directions, and a GPS that couldn't find the park added to long drive.
I almost always stay in state parks and will probably continue to, but it's nice to know Walmart (some) is an option.
That's where you go to sleep if you've got a car and nothing else. Surprising ours isn't more crowded than it is.
I think parking at Walmart is what you do when you're covering a lot of ground and you want to stop for the night in an efficient way. I think the biggest problem is that it isn't dark, but that probably makes it feel safer. I'm thinking about sleeping in just your ordinary car, not an RV. We've done that. I wouldn't do it alone, but I've done it with Meade.
"I'm thinking about sleeping in just your ordinary car, not an RV. We've done that. I wouldn't do it alone, but I've done it with Meade."
I'm impressed that Meadehouse did this re advancing the goal re efficiently covering miles re road tripping.
Driving is awesome, lodging is a buzzkill. IMHO.
P.S. giving zero Fs re speed limits while driving a killer car (i.e., one w/ capabilities such that insane speed is still safe re reacting to other folks and circumstances that may be on the roads w/ ya) is also efficient. A top-level (or low-level) F is probably not a good fit for Meadehouse, but upgrading to a turbo P instead of that POS A seems like a no-brainer. IMHO.
P.P.S. there are radar detectors that shift laser. (Some can even be hidden w/in the car.) Just make sure you mash the stop pedal and turn the system off (via discrete button) when the laser alert comes on. [Detecting radar is cake, laser is the problem, for most folks. Airplanes catch us all = Sad.]
Just sayin'
P.P.S.
Some of the con states only want dough. Get snagged at 135, hand over (on the spot) $800 and carry on until the repeat, and pay again (bonus: experience a cop's grin re, via radioing back to HQ, realizing the repeatiness re you).
The cool thing about conservative flyover-ers is that they're easier to buyoff than libs.
Carry on.
Okay, I'm thinkin' the turbo is a stretch.
Go w/ a 4.
At least try one.
Shit like Lamborghinis give good cars a bad rap. Try a 911, it's not D-bag-dom. FTR, likewise Ferrari, re not sucking. But w/ F there is some D-bag overlap: sadly those folks aren't all stuck in the Lambo field.
Anywho, try it.
Skippy, just when I think you couldn't be more full of shit, you post something new and prove me wrong. I gotta quit doubting you.
Gee the Times says something nice about WalMart.
Midnight at the Oasis.
Post a Comment