My Music Monday: Boondocking at Wal-Mart

I came across this piece in today's paper. It's all about how some communities around Wisconsin are banning RVs from boondocking at Wal-Mart; the article notes that in some places, it's illegal to camp outside of real campgrounds.

This puts me in mind of a song I wrote about two-and-a-half years ago after hearing a story on NPR about the phenomenon of people packing up their RVs to see America--or at least America's Wal-Marts. The story featured interviews with campground managers furious that they were losing business to Wal-Mart (that's getting to be a bigger club every day, innit?). But I opted to write from the perspective of an RV owner, even did research to find how big a Winnebago one could get if one wanted. And this is what came out:

Boondocking at Wal-Mart
copyright 2002 Jay Bullock

Driving down the highway, got a tank full of gas
Man, the Winnebago windshield makes the world look fast
I’m counting mile markers as they fly past
On my way to the next small town
There’s no better kind of living once the kids have grown and gone
They made an offer on our place and we sold it for a song
Bought this diesel-powered monster, it’s like twelve yards long
And the wheels don’t touch the ground

The wife is cooking breakfast on the stove in the back
Three eggs over easy and a little short stack
Ever since we sold the house I try to cut a little slack
I don’t yell at her no more
But when the daylight starts to getting low in the west
And our eyelids are getting heavy and we need our beauty rest
We got a spot all picked out, you know that it’s the best!
The parking lot of our favorite store

‘Cause the KOA is DOA, that’s not where I want to stay
I’m going to back to where I bought everything I got
And Jellystone has never known the presence of my motor home
I’d rather boondock in a Wal-Mart parking lot
I’d rather boondock in a Wal-Mart parking lot

Maine to California, yeah, you know we’ve seen it all
Northern lights in the winter and the foliage in the fall
We renewed our vows in Vegas in a cheesy strip mall
Forty years to the wedding day
Grand Canyon and the Badlands and the Everglades Swamp
One time in Indiana we pulled over for a romp
Rent, Chicago, Fosse, we’ve even seen Stomp
Try to park it on the Great White Way

‘Cause the KOA is DOA, that’s not where I want to stay
I’m going to back to where I bought everything I got
And Jellystone has never known the presence of my motor home
I’d rather boondock in a Wal-Mart parking lot
I’d rather boondock in a Wal-Mart parking lot

Sometimes the cops, they try to roust me
Or the manager doesn’t want me to stay
Don’t they know this is America?
God bless the Wal-mart and the U-S-A

People make fun, people stop and stare
But I look down on them from my reclining captain’s chair
I don’t miss the at night with my queen bed and central air
And my DVD player
So if you’ve got a problem with what I choose to do
Or how I live my life, well then let me tell you
You’d better head on down to Wal-Mart and by yourself a clue
Man, they sell everything there

‘Cause the KOA is DOA, that’s not where I want to stay
I’m going to back to where I bought everything I got
And Jellystone has never known the pleasure of my motor home
I’d rather boondock in a Wal-Mart parking lot
I’d rather boondock in a Wal-Mart parking lot

You have to imagine it in an up-tempo rockabilly G. With so many words, I think I set a land-speed record every time I sing it, since it's really only three minutes long . . .