Parking Lot Camping

We’ve spent the night in parking lots before–visitor centers, closed museums, rest areas but never a Walmart.  The motorhome had a 10am Monday morning appointment with Tire-Rama in Billings and I had a 9am doctor’s appointment.  Billings, Montana has three RV parks.  One is a KOA and their going summer rate is $95 per night.  The other RV park near the KOA is about the same price. We don’t like sleeping near trains/freeways so that eliminated the last RV park.  Billings also has a bad reputation in the RV world.  Until recently spending the night in any parking lot was against a city ordnance. About two years ago that ordnance was changed and it’s now OK to spend one night in a parking lot with the business owner’s permission.

The Walmart stores in Billings aren’t very big rig friendly.  So, I called Home Depot and was very nicely told we could spend the night in their back parking lot–not as close to the freeway/trains.  It was hot in Billings–we ran the generator and our basement air conditioner until the sun went down.  We spent a very restful night in our spot behind Home Depot.

Tire-Rama had told us that replacing the lug bolts on one of our inside dually tires would take about two hours.  After my doctors appointment I ran a couple errands, stopping at the new WinCo store and Costco before heading back to the motorhome.  The motorhome was still in the repair bay where it stayed all day long.  Tire-Rama was confident they could find our particular kind of lug bolt at one of their three suppliers in Billings–nope.  Had to order it and have it shipped over night.  Another night in the parking lot.  And because Tire-Rama had worked on the motorhome they would prefer we stay in their parking lot which is very close to the train tracks/freeway.  We spent a not so restful Monday night.

We didn’t leave Tire-Rama until 4pm Tuesday.  Let’s just say we weren’t impressed.  I had enough time to have my yearly mammogram while we waited! The Cowboy’s daughter Shannen and granddaughter Kristen came and visited with us while we waited.  Emmi was bored–

We did enjoy a couple good meals while there–it’s nice to have restaurants close by.  All systems in the motorhome worked perfectly–a good thing!

Today we’ve been busy at home–lawn mowing, motorhome bathing, laundry, etc.  Tomorrow we have visitors coming–RVing friends.

Wednesday was one of those why we live in Montana kind of days–77 degrees and sunny with a cooling breeze–perfect!

Clouds building Tuesday evening.  Our weekend weather forecast is miserable looking–lots of rain and much, much cooler temps!