Is it “boondocking” when you spend the night in a parking lot? I think not. To me boondocking is a more remote experience, away from commercial conveniences. No hookups, no Starbucks. I prefer to call the overnight stays at the Walmart or Lowes parking lot “dry camping”. Hmmm…this raises the question of the definition of camping.

However you define or describe it, we had our second parking lot experience after driving to Watertown. The drive from Dunkirk was nice, we bypassed the NY Turnpike and choose back roads and US 20 through western New York state. The route was rolling hills and very rural. This is wine country and very scenic. We passed through the Finger Lake region where we hope to spend a couple of days on our way back  west.

We took a break at a truck stop and ran the generator for an hour.This allowed us to charge our laptops and tablets. Donna used the break time to shower and catch up on email while I searched for an overnight spot in Watertown.

The generator is not only making electricity; it’s also making an unusual odor. This has me concerned. The smell is similar to the odor of a bad fluorescent light fixture ballast. I’ll look into it once we’re settled in Lake Placid.

We drove to another Walmart. I made a pass though the parking lot. It was spacious but adjacent to a busy road, very open and not so level. While I was trying to figure out the best way to park our rig, Donna spotted a Lowes across the boulevard below the grade of the road. We drove over and found it to be more desirable for an overnight stay. We parked on the side of the building where it was level, quiet and we had a view of grass and woods again!

We went inside to seek permission for overnight parking. The manager told us it wasn’t allowed, but nobody would complain – wink,wink. After dinner at the Texas Roadhouse we returned to our coach and sat outside with an after dinner cocktail.

Then our fortune turned. The manager came over with one of the workers and told us we could stay but we couldn’t stay in the area we chose. The workers needed to access a container near our rig to load and unload goods during the night. Time to be flexible again.

We moved to a large open, level lot on the other side of the building near a Kmart. No view but it’s quiet and level and well, not a bad place to camp for the night. In the morning, we’ll fuel up and drive 130 miles through the mountains to Lake Placid.