The apparent width of the helicopter, which looks like a Hughes
500, seems to be at most 1/8 that of the back of the SUV, which
should be roughly the same size (allowing for measuring
imprecision). That means it's at least 8 times further
away. Presumably you could measure the distance from where
you were standing to the third parking space. At the stores
I've been at, that would be on the order of 100 feet. That
would put the helicopter at around 800 feet away.

I have several advantages over you in these estimates. I already
mentioned one, that I was actually there, and I have first-hand
knowledge of the store, parking lot and event. But, I also have a
larger photo on my home computer. The original photo is 2048 x 1536
pixels. I resized it to 800 x 600 for the Web.

There is no way the helicopter is 800 feet distant in the photo. It had
already crossed more than half of the parking lot by the time I took
the photo, and you should be able to see that the parking lot is not
800 feet wide. You might notice the corner of a gas station canopy in
the lower left-hand corner. That is Wal-Mart/Sam's gas station, at the
far end of the parking lot. I would say the gas station is about 300
feet away.

I believe the helicopter is a little closer to the store than is the
white pickup truck that appears directly below it in the photo.

As for Walmort, the camera thing seems like a good reason
not to shop there.

Unfortunately, most of the grocery stores in this area close early.
Wal-Mart is the only 24-hour grocery store within several miles, as far
as I know. I usually work evenings, so the only store open when I get
off work is Wal-Mart.

LOL, I bet they are confused why I visit their store at all hours of
the day and night!