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A woman just wrote to me boasting of how she stays overnight in her motorhome at one Wal-Mart parking lot after another, usually for a few days at a time. At one store, she said, she met a couple that "had been there for two months."

Two months! I was horrified!

The days of free camping are mostly gone now. There are few freebies left. Those "official ones" that remain are generally remote campgrounds managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, and a scattering of state and city-sponsored facilities. It's hard these days to find a campsite for less than about $8, with most public sites in the $10 to $20 range. A spot at a commercial RV park generally costs more, typically $15 to $35.

Wal-Mart, founded by an RVer named Sam Walton, as corporate policy, allows RVers in self-contained units to spend a free night in its parking lots. There are no formal rules and regulations — only informal ones like "blend in, make no noise, don't pull out awnings and barbecue grills, and don't leave behind any trash."

It's understood by 99% of all RVers that Wal-Marts are not campgrounds. They are retail stores with big parking lots with management kind enough to let RVers stay the night when they are in need of some sleep and have nowhere else to go. But that other one percent is basically comprised of ignorant freeloaders, who possess no common sense and who will eventually blow the opportunity for a free stay for the rest of us. These people pull out their awnings, drop leveling jacks that damage the asphalt, drip sewage, and stay for days, even weeks (and months!) at a time.

The woman who wrote me today seemed to think the freeloading slobs she met were to be admired. I guess you can figure out what I think.

Virtually every day in America, a Wal-Mart manager gets fed up with these abusers and posts "No overnight parking" signs. I publish the locations of these stores in a $3 directory at FreeCampgrounds.com. But hardly a day passes that someone doesn't write to me to report that RVers stay anyway despite the signs. "Nobody bothered us," they say, boasting of their own stays. And, the fact is, most of the time, even though "No overnight parking" signs are posted, an RVer who pulls into a quiet corner of the parking lot will NOT be bothered. However, other RVers who try to stay a day later may not be so lucky, and get booted out at 3 a.m., or awake with a warning notice on their windshield to move on or be fined.

Sometimes neighbors complain to Wal-Mart and even the police about RVers who take up residence, and/or trash the parking lots, dump sewage or make noise. Wal-Mart and the police simply cannot look the other way after such complaints, and soon post "No overnight parking" signs or pass laws prohibiting stays at any public place that isn't an official campground.

I think it is great that Wal-Mart allows free overnight stays in its parking lots. But if I were a gambler I'd bet a lot of money that Wal-Mart will eventually get fed up with dealing with the RVers who abuse the free stay privilege, and will pull the plug on overnight stays at all its stores.

The one percent of the RV community that is out there right now abusing Wal-Mart's generosity is spoiling the free stay opportunity for the rest of us. These people are not to be admired, and if you know one, let him or her know.

Chuck Woodbury is the editor of Free Campgrounds.com (http://www.FreeCampgrounds.com) and RV Traveler (http://www.RVtravel.com), a free email newsletter about RV travel in the United States and Canada.

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