Walmart parking lot??

[Tent Camping Mom]

Guess you can tent it at Walmart too! Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sosxrLf-zS8

 

[Flametamr]

Back on topic... I stayed in the Walmart Parking lot at Lake City. It was the first time I did this and it worked out really great for us. I left to go to FW after work arouind 5pm and got there around 10. We got a good night sleep and the next morning were leaving early. It really work out good since pulling out of the parking lot I had a flat tire which I'm glad that happened there and not on the road.. The guys at the tire center were very helpful in getting me fixed up and on the road!

Guess you were lucky that you were there so early. I wont ever buy another tire from Walmart. I shop there at least twice a week. I live real close. Well after 60,0000 mile the tires on my SUV finally needed relief. I bought a set of Goodyears at wally world. Well they were the roughest riding tires and my mileage dropped 3 mile per gallon. A lot when I only got 16 on the highway.

Then I had a blow out close to home. I took the destroyed tire with only 4,ooo on it back. They took over 5 hours to replace it. Kept trying to get me to come back tomarrow. Well I was actually trying to go visit family 70 miles away. When replacing it they tell me it was defective. Great what about the others ? No way to know until it explodes. So I leave in a month I come back for a rotation and balance and it took 2 hours. they are always backed up here. Well I leave and hit the highway and the think is shaking real bad. I go straight back and ask for the mgr. He says sorry a new guy did it and only balanced the outside and not both sides as needed. I have to wait another hour for a lift to open and get it rebalanced and it was still bad. Went back and the mgr said go anywhere I want and he would pay for it. Which I did and it helped some. But the other place points out that walamrt had damaged my wheels and didn't say anything. Thats why they didn't want to rebablance them for fear I would notice.

That was the final straw. I went back and made them give me a full refund on my tires and I went and bought a dif brand elsewhere. I also filed a claim to have the wheels replaced while this was being done. After it was all done the Walmart Mgr admited they screwed up badly and were using the wrong machine on my tires (mine were custom painted)and also told me he had brought the same type tires back after he had problems and they were having so many returns. It turns out that Walmart sells so called seconds. A lower grade tire and some with blimishes. They never tell you this when selling them. All Goodyears are not the same in every store. So be warned the good deal may not really be at Walmart. Other than the tire department I still shop there due to the fact that they did fix it after a lot of hassel.

Sorry but this related to your topic.

 

[loveDmouse]

Yeah, I gotta say, I have never stayed at a walmart. Just don't like the idea, I would rather do a little planning, and stay at a campground with water electric sewer, showers, etc. If you are just staying for a couple of hours to catch a few zzz's then use a rest area on the interstate.... JMHO

I am with you on that. I just felt more comfortable staying at a campground.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

I am always careful about what I buy at Wally world. I think they negotiate the quality down on a lot of their merchandise.
Goodyear is like any other company, they make discount lines and good quality lines, I never cheap out on tires, I buy from a Goodyear store that knows what they are doing, I just wait till they go on sale, the last set I bought in July had over $100 in rebates and 6 months same as cash.
I wouldnt let anyone at Walmart put washer fluid in my truck let alone trust them with something as important as tires.
They are at the bottom of the pay scale as an employer, do you think they get the best and the brightest ?
Competition is tight in the tire retail market, there are good deals to be had from companies that actually are competent.
I dont mean to sound like Walmart basher because I shop there every week, I just am careful what I buy.

Scott

 

[Flametamr]

I agree with you now. I learned a tough lesson. I ended up putting B.F. Goodrich T/As back on it. It rides better and my mileage went back up.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

I agree with you now. I learned a tough lesson. I ended up putting B.F. Goodrich T/As back on it. It rides better and my mileage went back up.

The all terrain TA is a very popular tire around here because of the snow traction. I ended up with Goodyear Wrangler silent armor in the "pro grade" load range "E" for my truck. They are one of the best winter tires I have ever had and its been a tough winter here. My wife drives my truck and cant believe how much better it is in the snow than the one she drives.

 

[stacktester]

The all terrain TA is a very popular tire around here because of the snow traction. I ended up with Goodyear Wrangler silent armor in the "pro grade" load range "E" for my truck. They are one of the best winter tires I have ever had and its been a tough winter here. My wife drives my truck and cant believe how much better it is in the snow than the one she drives.

I got the same tires Scott from Sears back in November. 265/75/16 and they ride really good. I'll never go back to the ribbed radials.

 

[Flametamr]

Luckily we only get snow once every 10 years here. And it is too warm to accumulate. Most of our weather is just wet. But we do have the occasional hurricane. Living on the coast I have been thru probably 20 different ones in my life. Two were Cat 5. Both of those went east and saved us here.

But on the tires I like the T/A since it is a good All Terrain tire and does not hum going down the road.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Luckily we only get snow once every 10 years here. And it is too warm to accumulate. Most of our weather is just wet. But we do have the occasional hurricane. Living on the coast I have been thru probably 20 different ones in my life. Two were Cat 5. Both of those went east and saved us here.

But on the tires I like the T/A since it is a good All Terrain tire and does not hum going down the road.

There's a knob on the dashboard that you can turn clockwise to control noise.

 

[Flametamr]

Yea I hear ya. That knob works well but interferes with conversation. If you are inclined to talk to the passengers.

 

[Kimbere]

Our plan was to stay at Walmarts in the parking lots in Berea KY and Perry GA. I HATE Walmart and was not comfortable with the whole idea. Saying "we're driving to Disney and staying in Walmart parking lots" was not a sentence I ever thought I'd utter. That being said, after checking a link someone posted earlier, the Walmarts we were planning on don't allow overnight parking. YAY!! Can you say, "change in plans"? We are only stopping to sleep each night, so aren't going the campground route. The drive will take long enough since we were told that we'd average about 50 mph cuz of gas stops...we'll be leaving Thursday from MI and arriving at FW on Saturday.

Sounds like the rest stops or truck stops will be on the agenda. Anyone have any recommendations along I-75 in the Berea or Perry areas?

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Our plan was to stay at Walmarts in the parking lots in Berea KY and Perry GA. I HATE Walmart and was not comfortable with the whole idea. Saying "we're driving to Disney and staying in Walmart parking lots" was not a sentence I ever thought I'd utter. That being said, after checking a link someone posted earlier, the Walmarts we were planning on don't allow overnight parking. YAY!! Can you say, "change in plans"? We are only stopping to sleep each night, so aren't going the campground route. The drive will take long enough since we were told that we'd average about 50 mph cuz of gas stops...we'll be leaving Thursday from MI and arriving at FW on Saturday.

Sounds like the rest stops or truck stops will be on the agenda. Anyone have any recommendations along I-75 in the Berea or Perry areas?

I cant help in KY but we have stopped in Perry GA for years. We have been staying at the Fair harbor RV park for the last few years, its a nice park, close to the interstate but without much noise. The sites are well graveled and pretty level with full hook ups. IIRC it was around $28 for the night. If you make advance ressies you can just pull in and setup when you get there. If you stay towards the right as you pull in, there are some pull through sites and most of the time there are some open ones. The people that run the place are very friendly, most of the time we pull in late and pull out early so we pay in advance and just head down the road in the AM.
PM me if you need any more info, if you google them they have online ressies.

Scott

forgot to say we are from MI also.

 

[kc5grw]

Sounds like the rest stops or truck stops will be on the agenda. Anyone have any recommendations along I-75 in the Berea or Perry areas?

I can't help you much with your route, but I would opt for the a campground, even just for a quick overnight. I'm not particularly found of most rest stops for overnight parking. I also avoid truck stops unless they have a separate RV area. I won't take up a truck space since I do have other options with the camper. I used to drive a truck and it can be pretty hard to find a spot to park later in the evenings sometimes because the truck stops can fill up really fast.

 

[Kimbere]

I cant help in KY but we have stopped in Perry GA for years. We have been staying at the Fair harbor RV park for the last few years, its a nice park, close to the interstate but without much noise. The sites are well graveled and pretty level with full hook ups. IIRC it was around $28 for the night. If you make advance ressies you can just pull in and setup when you get there. If you stay towards the right as you pull in, there are some pull through sites and most of the time there are some open ones. The people that run the place are very friendly, most of the time we pull in late and pull out early so we pay in advance and just head down the road in the AM.
PM me if you need any more info, if you google them they have online ressies.

Scott

forgot to say we are from MI also.

Where in MI are you from? We are in Livonia!

Thanks for the info on the campground. I'll have to run it by the committee.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Where in MI are you from? We are in Livonia!

Thanks for the info on the campground. I'll have to run it by the committee.

We are in Fenton, about 12 miles South of Flint (the 2nd most violent city in MI)

 

[Kimbere]

We are in Fenton, about 12 miles South of Flint (the 2nd most violent city in MI)

Yep, you are about an hour from us! How long does it normally take you to get to Disney?? Our friends told us to expect to average 50 mph with all the gas stops we'll have to make. Ugh!

 

[BigDaddyRog]

I watched a special on the plant closings in Flint just night before last.....rough stuff going on there. I can understand where the violence comes from, a guy works hard all his life, being loyal to a company that barely alllows him enough to enjoy life a little...and they just up and close without concern for the folks that kept the production going for years. Life aint easy is it?

 

[Kimbere]

I watched a special on the plant closings in Flint just night before last.....rough stuff going on there. I can understand where the violence comes from, a guy works hard all his life, being loyal to a company that barely alllows him enough to enjoy life a little...and they just up and close without concern for the folks that kept the production going for years. Life aint easy is it?

You got that right!! Things have always been pretty bad in Flint...they are just worse now. Sad state of affairs. Then again, things are pretty bad statewide at the moment.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Its a tough town and I avoid it if at all possible, most of the serious crime around here is related to Flint, the buzzards have picked the bones clean so now they branch out.
Flint has always been a boom or bust town, it suffers from the same maladies as any other large urban area, in Flint they just get conveniently blamed on GM.
If we leave early, around 6 or 7 we can get to Perry in about 14-15 hours. This assumes no major tie ups. I usually drive straight through Atlanta instead of using the bypass, I have tried both ways and find no advantage to bypassing it.
Depending on the weather, we will sometimes leave after work (around 6 PM) and drive until we get into KY, just South of the Ohio river (around 10-15 miles) is a nice rest area with lots of parking, we stopped there last December and slept for 6-7 hrs and then headed out around 7 AM. It makes the run into Perry a little more tolerable although it does add more travel time and 2 nights on the road. A lot depends on the weather and our schedule, on how we will split it up.

Have fun and drive safe.

Scott

 

[Kimbere]

Thanks for the tip on the rest stop! Sounds like it will be just what we're looking for.