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
Are you taking common courtesy on the road?
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.
Rene Agredano and her husband, Jim Nelson, became full-time RVers in 2007 and have been touring the country ever since. In her blog, Rene chronicles the ins and outs of the full-timing life and brings readers along to meet the fascinating people and amazing places they visit on the road. Her road trip adventures are chronicled in her blog at LiveWorkDream.com.
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”.
I like to hack into their tv with my Roku and change channels on them. That tends to send them indoors pretty quick.
You missed ” send your kids out to play, and remind them that its perfectly OK to treat the neighbour’s site as a playground, bike track or a convenient shortcut.”
THANK YOU!!! We were asked to leave the campground where we are because I asked the people around us to please turn their lights off before they go in for the night. They all leave spotlights on their flags and I am the butt who ask them to turn them off. Then the other night the people VERY CLOSE to us built this huge fire with sparks flying right next to our jeep and called the office and complained because I said, REALLY??? and my husband came and moved our jeep. And the stupid golf carts that run around all hours with there radios blaring and I ask them to ease turn it down. Then the children on skateboards and bikes at night who ride around and it’s are fault that we almost hit them. But I’m the mean old lady who is ask to leave.
You left out dumping your sewer right as your neighbor is sitting down to lunch or dinner. Because what goes better with outdoor meals than your neighbors sewage??
We use wireless headphones w/the outside TV. Not only do we get clear audio, we are NOT ANNOYED by what is going on around us!
People’s radio blaring all day. I like old rock or country but not blared at me from 9 am until 10 pm if I’m lucky
I guess it is good to be very old because I am not as upset as you people about dogs and kid and whatever. People next door to me have two pit bulls that bark because they are tied up twenty four hours a day. I feel sorry for the dogs. They can’t do anything but bark. Learn a little kindness. It might make life a little easier for you.
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
And the pets should be kept leashed, too!
You are so right! We found this summer that little girls play best while screaming. Thank goodness we avoided loud families for the most part & had a wonderful time camping across the Midwest…but beware of the screaming darlings…Did have to ask a neighbor to cut the noise one night around 1:30 am..but for 12 months of full time RVing we had 99% good times.
So “intent” makes him imune to consequences?
?
Being kind doesn’t mean you should put up w/ bad behavior! You’re just allowing people to wreck your right to peace and quiet while camping. Children do make noise, but screaming while playing is uncalled for. Teach them to use their screaming voices only when they are in danger. Otherwise, people will try to ignore it, when in fact, they really need help or hurt in some way.
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
Perfect place , a campground where you dont control my time there. If dogs and smoking are not against the rules, and my dogs is not bothering you by barking or trespassing on your site ,then mind your own business.
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.
Right? I’ve even heard of “campers” complaining about smoke from a (legal) campsite fire blowing in their direction! And as a smoker, I’m sorry, but if I’m outside smoking & it’s bothering you, maybe camping isn’t for you!
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.
Yea a gas fire ring when there is a fire ban you can still have the campfire.
Exactly! That’s a bit RIDICULOUS getting angry because your neighbor’s smoke blows in your direction; good grief!!
Yes it is ridiculous, but for some people it doesn’t matter. We were at a campground near Davenport IA, had probably 10 to 12 of us camping on 5 or 6 adjoining sites. We all gathered on one campsite (ours) for a group campfire .. one couple went to bed early .. you quessed it, the campfire was smokey. The couple who went to bed early were angry at us because of the smoke, and my wife and I didn’t even start the fire .. well, friendship long gone over a smokey campfire. Get a life people, where there’s fire there is probably going to be some smoke!
Please set up camp next to me. I have a large, industrial-type fan that will force your beloved campfire smoke into your windows, and into your lungs.
Camping sure is changing! Why camp without a campfire? That’s why some choose doors and windows to shut everything out! They still complain?
Everyone grow up. We all pay the same unless you have a cripple discount or something so if its not in violation of the campground posted rules just go about your business. You have no right to interfere with my site at all. If you think Im breaking the rules go get a ranger and press a complaint. If not bugger off. Who needs your griping whining snowflake bs?
I would say the bigger problem is people burning garbage that should be recycled.. Had one camper who decided that his plastic wrap would burn.. Chocked on probably toxic fumes for the entire day, as it didn’t burn, just melted and smoked all day!!!
You should have called the RV Park Office and reported it, almost every RV Park has rules AGAINST BURNING GARBAGE OR ANYTHING OTHER THAN WOOD. We were out west in Yellowstone and this jerk arrived and setup his ‘Trailer’ and began unloading bags of garbage and then he built a fire and began putting the bags of garbage on the fire which smelled really bad so I called the office and reported him and they pulled up to his site in their golf cart and told him to pack up an leave immediately or they would call the Sheriff’s Department. He cursed and threw things around and packed up and left soon afterwards. That is how you do the “RIGHT THING” and he got exactly what he deserved!
I wholeheartedly agree. There’s a lot of trash in this world (pun intended). these irresponsible trash need to have someone straighten them out. I’m with Tom on this. try that next to me and I’ll have a fan blowing it back at you.
Everyone has a right to their opinion about firs, HOWEVER if your right to burn a fire interferes with my right to breathe clean air, especially if I have respiratory issues, then YOU are the problem. It’s NOT OK to just do whatever you want when that’s interfering with your neighbors right to do whatever THEY want! In short: DONT BE A DICK!
Some campgrounds are set up in a way that a person cannot get to those locations unless they walk all around the campground. It would be great if the campgrounds would lose one site for easier access to these locations!
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 do you build a fire virtually “smoke-free”?
.
That is a skill I would like to learn.
Wiley Won, Building a smoke-free fire is not difficult. Google it or find a Youtube Video. You need to create a vertical chimney effect that will move the produced gasses and particulates upward. This helps neighbors with a sensitivity to smoke and makes the fire much more pleasant for those sitting around it.
The one that annoys me the most is the smoking. Haven’t encountered to many times but it is the worst. The other thing that is on my list is kids running tight thru our site. Dont mind if they stop and say hi and ask to play or hold the dogs. But riding bikes and running using it as a short cut drives me mad and I do express my opinion.
But if people are sitting at a table eating, why can’t people just be a little courtesy and wait until they a finished before starting up a fire where the smoke would be blowing right toward them? Is starting that fire just then that important that it would possibly ruin their meal?
I too enjoy a good campfire, but showing your fellow campers a little courtesy is a lot better than being rude and have that smoke ruin their enjoyment of their campsite.
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
I agree with you. Why waste firewood if you aren’t even going to sit there and enjoy it. You are just contributing to air pollution and global warming. Why bother going to the great outdoors just to pollute the air for no reason? I also always wonder why people go to beautiful places and beaches and just leave all their trash behind ruining it for people that come after them or harm wildlife with their trash.
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!
Agree 100%! Music i a major part of my life, but not everyone has the same tastes, and if I’m listening to my music, I don’t want to hear yours overriding it.
I make a point to keep the volume as low as I can, for that very reason.
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.
We switched to a propane fire pit also, mainly due to the cost of wood in campgrounds and in most places you can’t transport wood from another CG due to pest restrictions. Another issue was where to haul the wood, so now I have a 30lb propane tank with a 25′ gas line for our Outback fire pit. Really like it, instant fire and heat, nice ‘fake’ coals, and when I decide to go inside I just turn it off, no waiting for it to die down or flooding it with water. Can still do smoors and no ‘smoke’ dance if there is a breeze.
We love ours. Easy and safe – no smoke and when we head to bead – just shut it off. I have (not hooked up yet) the LP connection to run it off the camper LP tanks. That will make it even simpler.
I fear for the human race. So many inconsiderate, oblivious a**holes!!!
Don’t forget to crank up the music! Camping is a great opportunity to enhance cultural awareness by sharing the music of your people, but only if they can hear it. Latin celebrations of joy in a continuous loop of indistinguishable chatter highlighted by trumpet and guitar solos are why I enjoy camping. Better yet, the low bass thumping through my entire unit tells me an urban ghetto experience has descended on us. Rap, while not technically music, teaches diversity in a very direct style that dares you to be offended. I never knew how many words rhyme with trigger and digger, or the various terms of respect there are for the mother of ones child.
I have never laughed so hard. So you love all kinds of music, aye! I’ll remember to bring my bag pipes and yodeling CD’s.
I guess that you didn’t read the comments about “don’t be a dick”.
We had this problem with a bunch that put their boom box on the hood of their car at Catocin Mt NP In Maryland. It was so loud the windows in our trailer vibrated even though we were across the road and two sites down. When the rangers did nothing I got my Royal Scots Greys bag pipe recordings out and cranked the speakers up. Within 10 minutes they turned theirs down and I turned mine off. I wish manufacturers wouldn’t put speakers on the outside of campers. Use a pair of earphones if you want music outdoors!
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.
I sorta feel your pain on this one. We have a 24 foot Airstream Argosy and have been squeezed a few times by class A slides. One of our favorite beach destinations is basically just a parking lot with hookups that is on the Gulf of Mexico in a low population area. There are several sites there that you can reserve and have no curbside (passenger) neighbors. If those sites aren’t available we’ve adopted the practice of setting up as far to the roadside (driver) of the site as possible, at this location the ground is level enough our roadside trailer wheels are just off the edge of the pad. I try not to go any farther than a normal slide would extend for a unit set up in center of the site. This allows us to open our awning and have a sitting area thats not just underneath our neighbors extended slide/windows. We generally prefer state parks or all out boondocking just to get that little extra bit of privacy but have plenty of pictures of campgrounds where our little beauty can’t even be seen because of our gargantuan neighbors.
I read these items and cannot understand why anyone would want to fool with rv campgrounds. Why not just stay home and be annoyed by neighbors?
You know, if you don’t like how close someone parks to you, you can always pay more money and stay at campgrounds that offer larger sites.
I didnt know the more you pay the larger the site thats new
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.
It’s bad enough that we have to put up with inconsiderate people already and now you post an article encouraging them to be obnoxious and make people mad. Your article is uncalled for and very much offensive in nature and content. You should have thrown this article in the trash and never posted it!!!
N.GA.RVer . . . I think you’ve completely missed the author’s intent in your reading of the article. She doesn’t really want RVers to do any of the five things she listed – rather, she’s saying that if you do any of those things, you’ll be unwelcome in most RV parks.
And she’s right! We’ve all encountered one or more (maybe even all) of them at one time or another. Clearly, from the many comments posted, many RVers have additional complaints generated by the actions of their fellow RVers as well.
The approach the author took to pointing out these annoyances was, I think, a light-hearted way of saying “Please don’t be obnoxious and inflict your thoughtlessness on those parked near you.” At least, that’s how I took the article.
TaoJones
I hope you are right but I read it differently than you and if I did, don’t you think that there are many more that read it just as I did? I have be RV’ing for a long time and I have seen it get worse with every passing year. I have seen so really great parks turn into a “Trailer Park” and decency decayed as the numbers of trailers increased. I have never seen the obnoxious things go on in a respectable Class A only RV Park and that speaks volumes of where the real problem lays. Rest assured there are Trailer Campers that read that post and saw it as encouraging them to do all the things that are obnoxious and they surely read it as justification for them doing it already.
Seems like someone didn’t there civics class or were asleep during class……..oh well that why there is always someone at the bottom of the class.
Tgc – You’re actually right, you have Class A at the top followed by Class C and then at the BOTTOM you have TRAILERS! And at every RV Park you will see them self-identify themselves with their offensive actions! But in a Class A Only RV Park the top of the list does not have to put up with Trailers or all that goes with them!!!!!
You are dreaming if you think a Civics Class will instill decent values in people. HELLO! Those values should be taught at home, by the parents, starting at age, oh, let’s say…one!
I have a trailer ! Can’t wait to camp by you…..
North-Georgia-RVers: You may have missed reading the introductory paragraph to the article (the “small print”). I thought it was pretty clear that this was a tongue-in-cheek article.
Certainly RVLife would not last long as a credible on-line source if they were advocating for these obnoxious behaviors.
It was sarcasm!
I’m wondering (and hoping) if North-Georgia-RVers is actually being sarcastic as well and isn’t portraying their actual opinion on this matter?? Thoughts??
I find it very funny that you think all the problems lie with the trailer owners. Do you think that because you spent $250,000+ on a class A that it makes you more considerate or better than someone that camps in a trailer? That comment just shows your ignorance. I have seen plenty of Class A owners that were just as rude and as inconsiderate at these “horrible trailer owners” that you reference in your comment. The type of RV that you camp in or the the amount of money that you spend on an RV doesn’t define the type of person you are.
To Mike,
How funny, you actually proved that you are the totally ignorant one because YES! the type of RV that you own does reflect on the type person you are and YES the amount of money does define the class of person that you are! Well educated and financially successful people do not own “Trailers”. And YES, people in Class A people are far more considerate than “Trailer Dwellers”, you don’t see Red-Necks in Class A Coaches, you don’t see drunks outside cursing, playing loud music to try to get attention and to purposely intrude on others privacy in a Class A, but you DO in the “Trailer Population”. If you ever be near a Class A that cost $475,000.00 to upward $650,000.00 you will understand, no lets correct that, you probably have a “Trailer” and thus you will never understand!! Facts are FACTS and your ignorance does not make you anything other than that!
I completely disagree with your comment about Class A campers being more considerate and a better class of people. I am quite capable of buying a class A but I heartily dislike the monstrous size of them. I am well educated and considerate of others and clearly I learned not to be a bigot. Money does not equal manners or consideration of others. I have seen numerous Class A coaches in the state parks in Texas who put their dogs out for the day in pens and ignore their barking and disturbing others. To judge other solely on the basis of their rig is completely ignorant and prejudiced. Rude, inconsiderate people as well as polite, considerate people are everywhere regardless of the rig they camp in or the size of their bank account.
Seriously!?! Have you never in your life learned the meaning of irony or sarcasm??? Let me give you an example: ” You must be a pure genius if you take everything literally”. See how that works?
Hi, We’re full timers from UKhave have been travelling throughout Europe since we retired 3 years ago. We have half a mind to spend a year in the US for a new experience. I have to say that there is lots of pettiness in this article and the comments which we don’t really experience in Europe, the only common theme is dogs. Just be nice to each other and try not to do things that detract from other people’s experiences. If you’re on the other side of the argument then try not to get stressed if someone does something that you personally wouldn’t do. Just relax and if you don’t like your neighbours then move somewhere else the next day, that’s a real benefit of a home on wheels.
Mark,
Don’t pay too much attention to the negative comments. People that have minor or major issues with fellow campers will always find something to complain about. 99.9% of people we meet are welcoming, kind and generous. I always enjoy meeting new friends from places all over the world. If the people you meet in the UK are nice, the people you meet in the US will be nice as well. Funny how that works! We have a large Class A (38 foot diesel pusher) and enjoy being next to tent campers as well as RV’s of any size. Safe travels. Roger and Marie.
I use a generator all night, to power my C-Pap. Bought the quietest one I could, and have tried battery, and every other option I had suggested.. nothing powered it for an entire night… Believe me, if I could avoid this, I would!!😕
If you are in an RV Park DUHHHhhhhhhh, there is power on your site so WHY would you have to use a generator? That makes absolutely NO SENSE at all!
Not ALL Rv parks or camp sites have power, or power to all sites DUHHHhhhhh!
Why is your comments so rude and belittling to everyone on this site? So judgement about people and their RVs, I could have a Class A if I wanted but I choose to have a Fifth Wheel. I have camped in tents, pop ups, trailers and now a fifth wheel but never have judged someone by what they camp in. I hope I never camp by you.
NGR you are an idiot
I beg to differ! Jesse, You are clearly the self defined IDIOT that uses a generator in an RV Park, and NO, RV Parks don’t rent sites without power as you moronically said, obviously you are considering “Boondocking” as being in a park because pine trees don’t have power boxes on them, rv parks do!
Look in the mirror Jesse, there you will see the true idiot!
I run my Cpap all night long on an inverter. An inverter takes 12vdc and converts it to 120vac.
I assume you are dry camping, because if in a RV park your C-Pap would run just fine off of the park power and no need for a genny, in fact, most parks with all full hook up sites forbid generator use.
No State Park CGs in VT have any power OR water at the campsites, ac to several experienced VT campers we know.. We camped 2 1/2 weeks in Button Bay SP on Lk Champlain, Aug 2018..great campground and super sites w lots of trees and bushes between sites, plus nice lean-tos at many, if tenter visitors come along…but no water or electricity and very limited gen hours as well..ie “if ya don;t like that, don’t come here” must be their motto. Interesting thing we saw ws there was no sidewalk from the ‘handicapped’ sites(2) to the bathhouse. Fortunately there was also nobody needing a wheel chair to get around and cross the grasslands betw the smallish parking lot and the bathhouse.. I guess in VT, sticking up a HC sign= a HC site. All in all Button bay was very nice and quiet..and of course close to my sister’s home up the lake a few miles. Made it very convenient bks they had no space for us to park a trailer and truck.
My wife uses a c-pap machine we use 2 6 volt golf car batteries along with a 100 watt solar panel and inverter. It seems to work quite well.
My biggest complaints would be people/children cutting through camp sites and all of the auxiliary lights people feel the need to set up. At one location a class a group all had disco balls and led ropes galore. I’m all about everyone having a good time but auxiliary lights should be included in the quiet hours rule. Sucks when you can’t see the night sky because of light pollution in a nature type enviroment.
I have to say, some of these complaints are downright comical. Lets summarize, you hate kids unless they are inside, big rigs, tents that have music playing, campfires, people talking loud, generators, diesel trucks that sound like diesel trucks, smoke, big screen tv’s, dogs, disco balls, rich people, poor people, the author because he wrote a tongue-in-cheek article, bicycles, scooter things, and pretty much anything that offends or disrupts your life. I would suggest you sell your unit and move into a deed restricted neighborhood, build a nice fence, join the Homeowners Association and patrol the neighborhood for any infractions that you have deemed unacceptable. We are talking camping, which is communal living, there is nothing more satisfying to me than to see my granddaughter playing, and yes she may run through your campsite once. I may even watch a “big game” outside. yes there are quiet times and common courtesy, but I will do, or have done, most of those things (except the disco ball) during the daylight hours prior to “quiet time” (that’s kinda the point of having a quiet time isn’t it). Oh, I drive a diesel pulling a 36′ fiver, or sometimes my 13′ 1961 canned ham, please don’t be offended.
Using split, dried logs will get you a virtually a smoke-free fire. using logs will result in smoke.
I love it..really. One of the best lines I ever saw was: “Camping….is when you spend over $40K to go live like a homeless person ..on weekends..”
I hafta add thsese things tho: At one place we camped this summer, the “kids” figured out that it was ‘fun’ to crawl under the stall doors and lock the toilets in the men’s BH. Then they figured out that they also could lock the whole mens’ BH Aggravating to some who didn’t have bR in their rigs. The other thing seems to be dads who let their 6-8 yr old kids ride helter skelter thru the CG on 4 wheelers at all hours.
NG RVer: This is stated after the article:
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.
The author has made it clear the article is a light-hearted look at what NOT to do at a campsite. As others have pointed out, its irony/sarcasm meant to make us laugh and hopefully educate less considerate campers.
NG
Hopefully the other NG RVer’s are not of the same mindset. Rich or not it’s about enjoying life, we’ve all had our feelings hurt from time to time. The world is not perfect, maybe you should stop visiting these low class campgrounds!
Hey I’m a North Georgia RVer too and I want to let you know we are not all like this guy. We have a 23 foot Puma travel trailer and we are very proud of it. The reason we have a trailer is so we can leave it at the campground to go exploring wherever we go without taking our whole house along with us. I’m very well educated and we make many friends when we are camping. This guy thinks he’s so superior to everyone else with his big Class A yet he can’t even read an article and figure out what the writer is saying in his article. We camp mostly in State Parks, Army Corps or Engineer Parks and National Parks all over the country so the sites are normally very private. When we first started we had 5 dogs ranging in size from from huge to chihuahua. People camping near us would compliment us on how well behaved our dogs are. They were shocked when they realized we had 5 of them. Unless it rains we have a campfire every night, We play music sometimes and once we were listening to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band enjoying our fire after quiet time and were actually asked to turn it up so the rest of the campground could enjoy our music. The only time we had a barking dog next to us was a little chihuahua inside a huge Class A that barked all day and all night while his owners were out site seeing or out to dinner. We have even met a few friends that live very far from us but we plan trips to meet up with them again in states neither of us live in and we pick sites right next to each other. Basically we have met very nice people who had very well behaved kids and well behaved pets. We camp for the outdoors and adventure but we have occasionally seen some Class A glampers who have never sat outside their RV the whole time they were camping. To each their own I guess but it does not make anyone better than anyone else. Once when we were in Big Bend National Park an older couple with a beautiful very new looking huge Class A was in our campground. They didn’t tow a car with them and we felt really bad for them because it broke down. They had to wait 3 days for someone to come and tow it away. They then had to rent a car and go and stay in a hotel. Our diesel van has had some problems occasionally (we travel a lot and far away) but we never were left homeless when it was in the shop getting fixed.
You are right Norma, we are not the same! Just like you don’t understand the difference in a “Trailer Park” and a “Gated Subdivision” that explains everything!
You stay at state parks, Core of Engineers free camping and the likes because it is free.
We stay at RV Resorts and quality RV Parks, where they don’t allow the trailer park activities take place, and we prefer RV Resorts that do not allow dogs, those are the best and best for a good reason!
I wasn’t going to lower myself to reply back but it was obvious that you needed the education on the REAL differences since you clearly do not possess the mental ability to distinguish between people in an RV Coach and a Trailer, so you can understand it is like daylight and dark. I have never met a rude or inconsiderate person in a Class A Coach but the majority of Trailer Dwellers are all alike and have no respect for anyone or anyone around them! If you disagree AGAIN, then realize that you are in denial and lost touch with reality all together!
And for your information, almost every Class A Owner takes a Toad with them, what you commented about is either fabricated or very rare, I have only seen two Class A Owners without a car in tow and that was because his wife was meeting him at the RV Park because she had a side trip to visit an old friend. The other was an RV’er who had sold his coach and the people that bought it was several states away, they met before and they contacted him about his coach and they bought it if he would deliver it and he agreed. We have made some little week long trips where we did not want to take a toad so we just called a car rental and got a car for the week.. In case you didn’t know, when there are RV Resorts or RV Parks in the area, car rental places all pick you up and drop you off when you need a car they come get you and when you turn it in, they take you back to your Coach. So the people in your fable could have easily called and got a rental pickup. Just another one of those differences!!!!!!!!!!
To North Georgia RVer. Yes I do know the difference between a gated subdivision and a Trailer Park.. I don’t live in either but my parents lived in a gated subdivision. Luckily their neighbors there were nothing like you and they owned two homes not just one. We don’t want to live in a gated community with all their rules and regulations. We do not live in a trailer park either. The reason we camp in the National Parks is to see the wildlife and explore nature. The reason we camp at the Army Corps of Engineers campground is for the peaceful setting with a lake view and no neighbors like you that think they are better than anyone else. The State Parks we stay at is for the nature and the scenery. Everywhere we have stayed there have been people with huge class A’s to people in tents. None of them were like you thank goodness. We have camped at your so called “resorts” and hated them. Lot’s of Class A’s set up in parking lots that didn’t even have trees. The neighbors sites were a foot away on each side. Most of the people never came out of their Class A except to leave the campground. we have seen a lot of Class A RVers without toads or rental cars taking up the whole space in all the scenic overlooks in National Parks instead of in a Toad or rental car. I guess not all of them rent a car or bring a toad. We have also seen, at every campground we have stayed in, and we have been to hundreds of them, Class A’s gone for the day or an hour our or two come back to the campground for the night. Anyway I am glad none of them have been you. At least we know how to enjoy ourselves and have fun. I think it’s sad that you judge people by what they own and not who they are as a person. You must be a very unhappy person. I love life, animals, nature and our beautiful world that God made for us to enjoy. By the way, my son who has tons of vacation time with his job, has been not only all over Europe several times for a month at a time but also to Japan, South America, and a cruise to Antarctica where he kyacked with the whales and tent camped on an island with the penguins is not ashamed of us. He flies out every summer, rents a car and meets us at one of the National Parks to spend a week with us in our trailer. He loves it and has a blast. I consider him quite wealthy. Especially since he’s only thirty one years old. He even will fly anywhere in the US for a weekend just to go to an amusement park to ride the best roller coasters in the country. I am more proud of him than anything I could ever own. He is a kind, considerate loving person and a wonderful son. I taught him how to enjoy life and have fun. By the way, he likes our trailer better than his fathers motor home. He will even ride in the back seat of our diesel van with the dogs instead of his rental car when we go exploring.
Wow, NGRVer! I have a BS in MT (ASCP) and a DDS degree from Indiana U; my husband has a BS in industrial engineering from Purdue, and an MBA and a JD from Indiana U. We have a trailer, an Airstream. We bend over backwards to live by the Golden Rule because the day will come that our Creator will judge us. I want to always be a good example to the world. I truly feel sorry for your having such pre-conceived and prejudicial notions. Peace!
Cindy
just make your dogs and kids behave and treat others with the golden rule than everything will be fine!
You missed one more thing that you can do to really ignore your neighbors…. Bring out the loudest leaf blower you have and blow all of the leaves (and your trash) into other peoples site.. make sure you do it on a Sunday morning, say around 0600 to 0630. Make sure that you don’t bend down to get that 1 leaf that is stuck to your stabilizer…. just keep blowing it with the highest speed possible; you’ll eventually get it. Also make sure that you blow across the driest, dustiest patch of an area that has no grass on it so that you raise such a dust storm that it looks like a nuclear weapon cloud. Don’t mind the neighbors when you blow across gravel at the highest speed…. those small pebbles, rocks can’t possibly hurt your neighbors campers or vehicles.
@Dave F. leaf blowers are great for helping start fires!!
Well since you re-printed this I’m guessing you don’t mind more comments!! The only time we have EVER had a rude neighbor in thousands of miles of RV-ing in a vintage Foretravel was from some guy in an “armored” Prevost. Something had gotten on our coach coming down from Canada where there was no real place to pull off, so we dared to use a spray bottle of Simple Green and a *magic* sponge to get it off. This guy had such a frenzy, probably **ahem** triggered by us peons actually CLEANING we decided to go for broke and went around the whole rig and spot cleaned and then– park regs said ya could– hosed parts of it off. PS– I’ve never before or since seen “armor covers” on the windows of an RV of anh make or age, they were pretty sinister. Before we owned our own RV I camped in a custom built RV my parents had, with my hyper active step father dancing about, and don’t remember him having these types of moments! This “judgy” behavior is WHY we won’t stay at the parks that age restrict either the RV or the owner, we have taken our grand kids from NY to South Carolina for over a months vacation and they would immed find other kids to play with, in SC for the Eclipse the entire State Fairground RV parking area was rented to dozens of rigs, we all pulled our awnings out, put inflatable kiddy pools under.them, put up our Pop-Ups so as you walked along you had a corridor of shade– it was well over 100* the entire week we were there. One night we wanted to do a dinner out for a celebration, we asked our neighbor if they would check in on our 10 week old puppy, who they had been playing with for days, they were thrilled and took her into their RV for the evening. THIS is what we do this FOR, not to compare price tags and “Who’s is bigger”!
I would ad : have a campfire going on your campsite and every 20 feet. It is so pleasant to spend your days and nights with the windows shut to be able to bread and avoid an asthma attack.
Wow! So many saying, “I don’t care about your needs. You have to be sensitive to mine.” For heavens sake, can people learn to be a little more tolerant?
There are some of us who have needs for power all night for medical equipment. If there are no electrical hookups we need to run generators. Coach batteries only last so long.Others have the same needs for their furnace fan. There are ways to deal with it. I boondock on my own property, so not worried about bothering anyone, but instead of running the built-in Onan, I run a small Honda inverter generator. I literally cannot hear it inside the RV. Since it is not big enough to run AC, I leave the windows open at night, too, and still cannot hear it unless I listen carefully. In a close coupled situation, I’d think that a person could build a small sound screen to put over the exhaust end.
Some motorhome drivers assume it is ok to drive into a back-in site, thus forcing neighbors to share the patio.
It’s a shame that common courtesy and common sense are so very uncommon today! Virtues which have become another victim of the “ME” generation!