The RV lifestyle can sometimes be deceiving. RVs give us the freedom to go nearly anywhere, but that doesn’t always translate to the ability to do what we want, when we want to do it – if we care about camping and boondocking etiquette. If we don’t care, we are practically guaranteed to annoy campground and RV park neighbors by following these five simple behaviors:
The Five Best Ways to Annoy Campground and RV Park Neighbors
Keep your RV generator running at all hours.
Who needs to hear crickets chirping at dusk, or the silence of nature in the back country? If you keep your generator running all day and all night, you can enjoy life as usual. Watch TV at all hours, run that microwave and keep the A/C going without sacrificing one bit of your own comfort while you’re out in nature. It’s just like staying home.
Don’t turn off your outside lights.
Your RV’s manufacturer wouldn’t have included pretty LED patio lighting on the side of your rig if they didn’t want you to use it, right? But turning patio lights on and off when you need to go outside at night can be such a hassle. So as soon as the sun sets, just keep your patio lights blaring until morning. You never know when you’ll need to walk the dog at 3 am. Besides, your neighbors can use the light too. If it bothers them, they always get a sleep mask or install RV night shades.
Allow your dog or children to run around off-leash and unsupervised.
Kids and dogs can be wild by nature, so when you want your human or furry children to experience the real meaning of freedom, just turn them loose on the campground and see what happens. Don’t interrupt your important binge watching afternoon to go outside and keep an eye on their activities. The neighbor will probably let you know if something is wrong.
Feed local wildlife.
When you’re out in the woods, the last thing you want to spend time doing is tackling household chores like taking out the trash. Go have fun instead and keep your garbage piled up around your campsite until you leave for good. Better yet, just leave garbage for the animals. Ravens, mice and bears will have an easier time finding dinner, especially when they realize there’s more good eats inside your neighbor’s camper.
Smoke outside next to your neighbor’s RV.
In the land of the free, everyone has the right to decide if and what they want to smoke. Forget those studies showing the effects smoking within 30 feet of another person. All the chemicals you inhale with every puff haven’t killed you yet and who knows, they might even invigorate your neighbor’s immune system too! So light up in the campground and if it bothers your neighbor, let them know that respirator masks are cheap.
The tips in this tongue-in-cheek article are not the only behaviors that can annoy campground and RV park neighbors, but will certainly prevent you from making friends during your RV travels. Consideration for other campers is paramount for happier, memorable road trips.
You forgot about running your TV outside because “everybody loves TV and you have the best choice of programs” NOT! Most people go out in their RV to get away from TV. If you must have it on, do it inside with the door and windows closed.
I agree too Glen, especially when someone is watching “the big game” and everyone cheers at all of the “big plays “.
A couple years ago, the people next to us actually put up a huge big screen to watch the game on. I’m not talking a big screen tv, no, this thing was about 12′ wide x 8′ tall What really bugged me, it was right across the road from the “Camp Ground Host”.
Hardly anything activates me more than to have someone’s precious little darling child run through my campsite. I once had one run his electric bike into my rig and damage it. His grandmother told me he didn’t mean to do it and never offered to pay for the damage.
Well mannered kids are fine, but inconsiderate brats need to stay away.
Yes, I agree! They should deffinately be kept leashed. LOL
So “intent” makes him imune to consequences?
We belong to Thousand Trails & all preserves have 5 mph signs like, everywhere, right?! Coupla mos ago, these kids are literally “flying” down a slight hill in the preserve, on bikes & those push-scooter thingies; coming around a corner, we were nearly hit! And….. the dad was right there at the bottom of the hill, rooting them on! Arghhhhh!!!!!!!!
All of the above and adding the infamous quote “I always pick up after my dog and they never bark”. Perfect place: no generators, no smokers, and no dogs. 🙂
I have THREE miniature schnauzers (by breed, they tend to be barkers). We have a huge pen that we put around our motor home, with us and dogs in the middle of it. The dogs bark once, they are warned; they bark again, they go inside! So, please don’t say, “No dogs” because I always want to say, “NO KIDS!”the
Another bunch of annoying things are Kids OR adults who cannot FIND or get TO these things without walking thru someone else’s campsite:
1. Bathouse
2. Beach
3. Pool
4. camp store
5. firewqood sales area.
6. Playground
There are few of these folks, but they ARE a real pain.
Also it is a shame how many DOG OWNERS let their “pets” shyte in public w/o picking up their poop.
You also forgot starting a campfire right next to your neighbor taking no regard for which way the wind blows the smoke. If the neighbor complains just tell them you have aright to use the fire ring because the campground put it there
Everybody has fires and can’t control the wind. That’s just something you put up with. Most people go to bed at reasonable time so it’s not an all night thing
Agreed, If you don’t like campfires, then what are you doing in a campground that allows them?
Okay. Except a lot of people don’t know how to build a virtually smoke-free fire and don’t put out the coals or don’t put them out fully when they go to bed. And I don’t understand why a fire makes sense if it’s 85F or warmer out … but that’s just me. Many times when it’s been warm we wanted windows open but couldn’t because of smoke from a nearby campfire wafting through our bedroom until 3 or 4 in the morning. A fellow next to us in Death Valley was building a fire not far from our bedroom window. I asked him politely to be sure it’s out later. He said he sure would (he did) and also said we would not smell a thing even when it was burning. He was right, he really knew how to build a smoke-free fire.
You have obviously never been to Talladega where everybody has a fire no matter what the temperate.
Exactly! That’s a bit RIDICULOUS getting angry because your neighbor’s smoke blows in your direction; good grief!!
Yeah, when I go camping, I’m going to have a fire in the fire ring. That’s part of camping for me. So if you prefer not to get neighbor’s smoke, better be careful of which site you pick.
I agree fully …… if you know how to build a virtually smoke-free fire ….. and you put it out fully when you go to bed. Both seem to be a lost art.
how about the neighbor that just likes to have a fire burning regardless if anyone is actually sitting by said fire and sometimes they light it and go inside, hey thanks for contributing to the smoke in the air
It’s called common since and most people don’t have enough to fill a thimble
My list has “Obey Campground Quiet Hours” at the top. So many inconsiderate campers at National Forest campgrounds raise hell around the campfire for HOURS after the curfew. The worst fire up the blender for frozen margueritas ever thirty minutes.
Let’s not forget the jackass who likes the entire camp to hear HIS music blaring! Hey, it’s the middle of the afternoon, so why should it bother anyone, right?! NOT!
I agree with most of the comments above; however, the campfire complaint is ridiculous. Having a campfire is part of the camping experience (IMHO). I do not intentional try to upset my neighbors, and I don’t have raging bonfires, but if the campground allows campfires and you have a problem with that… then find another campground!
Good luck with that. Unless there is a burning ban due to fire hazard, you’re hard pressed to find a campground that doesn’t allow them. I’m prejudice becuase of asthma and being chased away by smoke, having to keep windows closed, etc. I’d love to have more options for smoke free sites.
Of course I could add sites free of outdoor “entertainment ” centers too.
Try a portable propane fire pit – zero smoke, but still the ambiance of a fire. Plus, no hauling (think of the weight!) or purchasing fire wood! I just ordered one, about an hour ago.
Don’t forget the neighbor with his FU15000 Super-Doody Turbo-Diesel that has to go out at 0-dark-thirty to warm it up for 20+ minutes before roaring through the rest of the campground.
Why does there always seem to be an inverse proportion of the diameter of their exhaust tip, and the thickness of the owners skull.
Maybe their compensating for something?
Yes, I do own a large turbo-diesel for pulling our rig. I operate it as quietly as possible. I like my neighbors.
Agree and Bravo! Why diesel owners seem to think they have to run their pickups 24/7 and use Glasspacks for mufflers is beyond me. Had a diesel pickup for a few years in NEPA and drove it all over the North in the dead ofvwinter. Never saw the need.
For me it is the persons who start drinking and steadily get louder as the night wears on finally stopping around 2a.m. then around the next night just as your falling asleep they decide to pickup all the bottles they have been dropping all over the place yelling and making noise every time they find one. (at least they picked them up.)
What about parking a new very tall 40′ long 5th wheeler, next to my 24′ Airstream. It blocked the sun and when they opened its windows, it hit my rig. The owner only took 45 minutes to back his rig into the camping stall. Because of the rig size and stall configuration, it could only be parked so close to us. The manager wouldn’t require the driver to take another stall because ” he wanted to park by the lake”. . We left to go to another park 40 miles away. where everyone was friendly, considerate and weren’t snobs about how old your rig is.
If I’m in a campground with no shore power and I need heat or A/C you can bet my genny will be running and I expect yours will be too. Deal with it. The rest I agree with.
Oh and I forgot to add that I have a Gen-Turi to keep the noise and exhaust up and away from the neighborhood. That much, I will concede, is necessary for everyone’s comfort.
When I go camping the last thing on mind is how to piss off my neighbors, I go to enjoy the life style, that includes watching my outside tv if I desire, making say small camp fire to share with with anyone that would like to sit around and talk. I can say I have rarely had any of the issues most here are bitching about. May I suggest the ones that obviously have these problems regularly camp somewhere by themselves. Before the comments start I always try to be mindful of what I do and don’t intrude on others space, but I do what I like if it’s ok with CG.
I love the neighbours who have their “cute” little puppies penned up next to their rig while they are inside. The dogs fight or get lonely and so they bark. The neighbour opens the door and talks baby talk to the doggies. When he/she goes inside again, the ruckus starts over again and the cycle repeats. This goes on all day.
Music. Gotta love some ones else music. Got back from beach to campsite and tenters moved in next door playing music I can hear inside once the AC cycles off. It went off while they went to eat and remained on until after quiet time when the Sheriff was called.
Even worse, for me, are those who have installed music systems that can produce a thumping bass that you not only hear, but you also feel! Bass lines are monotonously repetitive, and if you can’t hear the song it’s associated with all you get is the thump, thump, thump of the monotonous bass runs reverberating in your sternum. The upside is that these thoughtless people don’t yet realize the profound harm they’re doing to their hearing as they sit right next to their speakers with the volume at eleven. 🙂
Another unfortunate trend we’re seeing way too much, is a total disregard of maximum allowable vehicles rules.
We were at a Fed campground, and a group of families pulled into one site with 5 cars/SUVs, where the “additional” limit was 1.
They parked in the grass, on the roadway, etc… The host asked them to obey the rules – they told him they would, and then just ignored him (and a Ranger) the rest of the holiday weekend.
[Of course, an “added benefit” was the fact they brought along 9 bikes for the kids to ride through everyones’ campsite but their own, and, we saw one of the teenagers head to the woods with a .22 caliber rifle…].
How about just following (and enforcing) the campground rules folks. Most campgrounds limit generator hours and have defined quiet times. Unfortunately, my experience is that some folks see the rules as optional and/or don’t understand that what quiet “means”. IMO only reason for a generator is to run an AC. Believe it or not there are ways to cook food, brew coffee, toast bread without electricity.