February 9, 2019 – Walmart Parking Lot, Dillon, SC

Now this is an adventure!!!!

Today we’re off! We had a 2-day drive to the state for “lovers” – Virginia. We deliberately did not choose a park to stay the first night because we wanted to see how far we could get so we could have a shorter (hopefully, easier) second day. In looking in the RV Trip Wizard (which I recommend to those who are traveling) it showed that somewhere around Florence, SC would be a good stopping place.

Big Blue

 The drive was easy – Big Blue, our new Dodge Ram 2500 turbo diesel truck (shout out to Jerri at Landers in Benton, AR for finding it for us) pulls our Reflection like a dream! We have experienced no sway and very little bumps even on some pretty rough roads. I will admit that this truck was searched for with my specifications for a new ride – fold up back seats (for the dogs), parking assist, dual temperature and BLUE – I was so tired of having silver, maroon or black vehicles! The hubs talked with Landers and they found my perfect truck with the things he felt we should have, you know, things that make the truck pull 17,500 pounds safely but mainly blue – tru blue to be exact. But, I digress…

Ask that cop if it’s safe!!!

When we got to Florence it was only about 6:00 pm so we decided to go on to Dillon, SC to a Walmart we found on our RV Park Advisor app (another place to find camping parks, gas stations and Walmarts)!

It was time to try our hand at boondocking. Boondocking is staying overnight with no set up for your RV – no electricity or water; so no showers, stove, microwave, etc. I was hoping the Walmart would be right off the interstate like the one I used to shop at with other stores and restaurants nearby. This one was off the exit and down a side road, so a little more isolated. {ED. NOTE – that may be understating it a bit} As we pulled in, I started checking the crime statistics for the area and grew more concerned about staying especially after seeing a policeman sitting in his cruiser in the corner of the parking lot!

But we were tired and this is where we wanted to stay – it’s all about the adventure, right? Hubs went in and spoke to a manager who was very nice and said of course we could stay the night.  Jokingly, I had told him to ask the cop if it was safe.  Unjokingly, he did!!!  After getting assurances from him that it was a nice place we went about setting up, which is easy for one night of boondocking! We left the truck and fifth wheel hooked up, put down the legs and put out the slides. Ta da! We were done!

After taking the dogs for a short walk around the outskirts of the parking lot, we went in to pick up a few jugs of water for drinking and running the toilet. We had a delicious dinner of leftover meatloaf sandwiches, chips and beer and settled in for the night.

In anticipation of staying without electricity for a night, the hubs had downloaded a couple of our favorite tv shows to watch on the computer and when they were over, we were ready for bed. I was still a bit nervous about staying there overnight, especially when I realized the store closed at 11:00 pm and we would be alone in the parking lot. Those of you who know me well know what my thoughts were….thievery, murder, mayhem! As I peaked out the window, I was delighted to see that another fifth-wheel had pulled up a couple of rows over from us for the night! It gave me a sense of relief knowing someone else was close by. We slept great after getting used to the cars zipping past us in the parking lot before 11:00 and woke up bright and early to hit the road.

It was a fun experiment and we will definitely do it again! Thank you Dillon, SC Walmart!