Camp Walmart

If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, then my day got off to an decent start. Not a particularly healthy start. But there were more than a few sweet calories consumed. Unlike my mornings in Del Rio, there were no waffles this morning. At least not fresh waffles. However, there were Frosted Flakes. And even though Tom Brady says such cereals are poison (which I don’t dispute), it’s a very tasty poison of which I had three bowls.

Fuelled up with Frosted Flakes, I was ready to hit the road to burn off at least a few of those sugary calories. Today’s destination was Seguin which was a mere 85 km away. Going further could’ve been an option but arrangements had already been made to have the hard drive I require shipped to The UPS Store in Seguin. Reluctantly, the fate of said parcel is now in the hands of UPS. I’m trying to remain optimistic.

The ride through (or perhaps more accurately, “around”) San Antonio was pretty uneventful. Although, there was quite a lot of military aircraft flying around. Then again, one such military aircraft would seem like a lot to me. In this case there were at least four jets performing what I can only assume were some sort of training flights.

As far as I could tell, there were two pairs of jets circling the air field. They would do their approach to land but when they got to within about 20 feet (sometimes less) from touching down they accelerated and took to the skies again. I have to say, if I ever had to join the military I’d definitely want to fly a jet.

Shortly after the mini air show, there was a nice (albeit short) walking/biking trail along the river. There haven’t been many trails of this nature lately so it was a nice change.

As I worked my way to the east side of San Antonio, my route became much more rural. I was a bit hesitant to stray from the highway as my faith in Google’s rural routes isn’t particularly high. That said, it was kind of nice to be away from the noise and traffic of the busier highways. I even had a brief encounter with a horse.

I had stopped to confirm my navigational situation while near a field that was home to a few horses – horses which seemed to be pretty much indifference to my presence other than to glance in my direction as I rode past. Apparently one of the them was less indifferent than I thought. I was in the process of putting my phone away when I looked up to see one that of the horses had wandered over to say hello. Seriously, it came right over to the fence where I was standing. I’d say we had a nice chat but really, it was a pretty one-sided conversation. The horse barely let me get a word in! He stopped talking long enough for me to take a picture before I insisted that I had to move on.

When I arrived in Seguin I really had no idea what my plan was for the night. I really didn’t want to pay for another motel but I also wasn’t sure what my wild camping options were going to be. As I passed the police station I opted to take a chance a see if they had any suggestions.

Not surprisingly, there’s a city ordinance against camping. I’m not going to lie, city ordinances of that nature are a bit of a pet peeve. That said, the officers I spoke to were very friendly and about as helpful as they could be under the circumstances.

While I accepted there was a city ordinance against camping I didn’t REALLY accept it. As such, I left the police station in search of a place to camp for the night. I mean, seriously … it’s not like they were going to arrest me. Spoiler Alert: I didn’t get arrested.

Rather than seek out a city park which I was strongly advised to avoid, I went out searching for any treed area that might provide sufficient cover for a bike and a tent. Turns out, that was more challenging than expected. I REALLY didn’t want to get a motel but I also didn’t want to spend hours looking for a place to camp. I also was hoping to find a place that was at least moderately convenient to where I would (hopefully) pick up my parcel tomorrow. Yes, it was a lot to ask and it turns out there was really one one possible solution. It was a solution I’ve considered putting to the test before but had always found an alternative. Today, there was no alternative.

When it comes to free camping in populated areas, it is somewhat common knowledge that many Walmart locations permit the overnight parking of RVs in their parking lots. I decided to test the limits of their definition of an RV. I mean, my bike is clearly a recreational vehicle. As you may recall, that strategy didn’t play out too well when I asked to camp in the RV area of the casino in Alpine, CA. As such, this time around I opted to skip the process of asking for permission.

There were a few RVs and trailers parked in a somewhat distant part of the Walmart parking lot and so I headed to that area. In doing so I discovered a somewhat large grassy area. A grassy area that was just begging for a tent to be set up. At least, that’s what it looked like to me. So, set up my tent is what I did.

The tent set up went without incident or interruption – although, while my set up was in progress a police cruiser did stop in an adjacent parking lot. I’m pretty sure it was just a coincidence. Eventually, the police cruiser moved on and it didn’t return.

I’m now sitting in my tent and as I type this I can’t help but take a cautious look each time I hear a car door or whenever my tent lights up from an approaching car. I keep waiting to be told to leave but I’m hopeful that won’t happen. At the moment, I would put my chances of this being a good choice for camping to be at 50-50.

Either way, one upside to tonight’s camping location is that I witnessed an absolutely beautiful rising of the full moon. Truly stunning. My attempts to photograph said stunning sight was significantly less impressive.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 104.55 km*
Ride time: 4:56:11
Average speed: 21.18 km/h
Maximum speed: 45.72 km/h

* When I arrived in Sequin my distance travelled was only 86 km. It took nearly 20 km of roaming before I settled in at Walmart.