In my previous post I mentioned the security guard knocking on my door and telling me that Wal-mart didn’t allow people to sleep/park in their parking lot.

The most interesting part of this exchange to me was the man’s empathy. The thing I remember him saying the most was, and this is a paraphrase, “It’s okay, but I have to tell you that they won’t let people sleep here.  You can ask permission from the managers but if you want to move there’s two places right around the corner. (He then proceeded to tell me where the spots were.) And you won’t have to worry about any police waking you up or anyone bothering you, it’s public land. I’m still sleeping in my car too, I just got this job and don’t have enough saved to get a place to live yet, but those places I told you, they’re safe.”

I was amazed.
I thanked him, toddled off to one of the new places and had a pretty good night’s sleep. No one bothered me and it was quiet.

This morning I toddled back to wal-mart to get a couple pieces of fruit for breakfast and to use the restroom. As I was leaving I saw a homeless guy with his dog sitting at the exit of the parking lot. I saw a real smile and a wave as I was leaving. I waved back. But it was different. I’d been sitting in the exit lane for quite a while by that time (some people have never learned to pull out into the nearest lane and then change lanes to get where they need to go, they must wait until all 3 lanes are completely clear before they turn out… any idea how long that takes to happen, yeah, a long time) and he hadn’t greeted any of the other exiting customers that way.
Maybe my little camper screams “homeless!”.
I mean, I have my little ladder on the side, and my little fold up camp chair on the back, I even have my citronella candle pot hanging from the back of my little porch (plywood that extends out over the tailbed when it’s down).
Why doesn’t this scream, “A young person out for adventure with her cute and lovable dog! Tune in at 8pm to see her next exciting adventure!”

Meanwhile, I know a couple decent places to park for the night. I’m sure I’ll find out more as time passes.