June 28, 2021
I got into Tallahassee last night after dark. Not the ideal situation for the urban boondocker, but I got a late start leaving Hattiesburg. These daily posts can be time-consuming what with loading pictures and all. Plus at my station at the McDonald’s in Hattiesburg (wifi and an electrical plug) there was an interesting fellow also using the booth in front of me as his personal office and workstation. He was houseless and was holding down the table while his partner panhandled outside. Kind of a rough life it sounds like. He was interested in discussing the bible and at the same time talking about the wrongs of how he was treated at some churches he frequented.
There were a lot of intense thunderstorms on the way here. Most only lasted a few minutes. Nothing like southern Florida, Alabama and Mississippi for those intense showers. We are in the tropics here. Humidity is high, but at least the rains have kept it cool. I’d never thought about it, but I didn’t go into Georgia driving here. The Florida pan-hands you right over to Alabama skipping Georgia altogether for the driver. While I have travelled extensively in the South, most of the roads I’ve taken all led to eastern Tennessee where my nuclear family has roots. No matter the state I was living in, Tennessee was usually the destination. This particular path—Hattiesburg to Tallahassee never happened in my youth.
I was looking for a Taco Bell when I came into town: predictable food and wi-fi. And I can get veggie tacos now that I’m back on the beef wagon. (I never really got that term “on the wagon”. Does that mean that you are delivering the stuff to others and don’t have time to partake yourself? Seems like if you are on the wagon you’d want to have a little bit of whatever you are delivering.)
Anyway, I made it to the Bell at 9:50 with ten minutes to spare since I don’t like going through the drive-thru and that’s all that’s open after 10. The Bell was conveniently located to a Walmart so I went there after and picked up some groceries. I was in the nick of time for that place too since they close at 11 on a Sunday here. Top on my list of groceries were raisins as my oatmeal has been wanting.
Apparently a lot of people boondock at Walmarts, but I’d have to be pretty hard up to do that. The parking lots look kind of sketchy and exposed to me. I guess all that space would be convenient if I was hauling a trailer.
I did use the Walmart lot for getting the truck and myself prepped for bed though. I like to do this before I find my place so I’m not busy attracting attention. I basically just want to be able to park and then hop in the back when I get somewhere. So I opened up my tailgate and boudoir for the whole world to see as I did my nightly ablutions.
First I stretched across my mattress and untied all my curtains for easy closing later. (Closing the side curtains and putting up the velcroed front and back curtains is the one thing I do at my campsite since driving with those closed isn’t so safe. An alternative is to do this somewhere very close to the campspot and then just roll in completely prepared, but I didn’t want to take that extra step since I still needed to find a place.)
Next I straightened up the bedroom throwing away trash, finding my headlamp, stuffing some books and putting them out of the way in the cab. (As many times as I’ve imagined doing some bedtime reading it just doesn’t seem to happen—not wild about using the headlamp too much since that reveals me and usually I’m just too tired anyway.)
Finally I washed my face with my musty smelling washcloth and brushed and flossed my teeth. I had a shower back in Hattiesburg at Elijah’s a few nights ago. I can probably go a day or two longer without offending people who come within smelling distance. Likely I’ll go to a gym here. I was thinking about getting a room again like I did once so far, but then thought, why spend 80 or 100 bucks? I like this urban boondocking and I’d rather eat some nice meals if I’m going to spend money on anything besides gas and other necessities.
Leaving Walmart I went looking for a spot. I checked a Cracker Barrel first. I’ve never stayed at one, but like Walmart, people, especially with trailers, often stay there and I wanted to check it out. An app on my phone tells which Walmarts and Cracker Barrels allow overnight stays. The app said this one did not, but comments below contradicted that. In a dark area of the Barrel’s lower lot was a motorhome and a truck with a camper, but I didn’t feel like joining. Seemed like three might get someone’s attention whereas two or twenty wouldn’t. I just go on instinct for these things.
I cruised through three or four motel lots looking for something but they were all too brightly lit or only had spaces right in front of doors or parking on unlevel ground. One had possibilities but two guys were talking to each other nearby from their pickup truck windows. Being as it was night and this area of the city seemed unfamiliar to me I didn’t want to go looking for apartment complexes or other alternatives.
The last place I drove through had a dark spot at the end of a row. It was only about fifty feet from the front door, but all was quiet. I found some weird holes in the bushes behind me after backing in and checking out my parking job. It looked as if some land campers might use a spot there. It was hard to tell in the dark, but the bushes looked like they led to some trails and a jungly kind of hillside below. It didn’t matter though since I lock myself in tight once I’m in my truck and I feel pretty secure with my bearspray and knife, though who knows if I could effectively use either if I had to?
I waited for a maintenance worker to finish organizing his truck and tying up some garbage and then I slipped out of the cab and back to the camper shell. I unvelcroed my sandals, slipped them off and climbed over the tailgate (I don’t like how forcefully I have to slam it to get it to latch). I slid my windows open, closed all my curtains, turned on my fan and took off everything but my skivvies. I placed my keys on the ledge of my camper with my cell phone and finally my glasses. It was night-night time. Oh…and the parking lot? It was Marriott again.
Spotty West Goes East 