The Full-Timing Nomad: How to be a Good RV Park Neighbor

Does it bother you when a RV park neighbor cuts through your campsite because they’re too lazy to walk an extra 25 steps to go around your rig? Does your blood boil when your neighbor lets her dog roam off-leash in front of your door? Call me uptight, but these seemingly small actions really irritate me, especially in a busy RV park where neighbors are so close that their slide outs almost touch. Please be a Good Sam when you go RV camping and follow these camping etiquette tips that explain how to be kind to your fellow neighbors and leave the place better than how you found it. 

Campground Etiquette Tip 1: Don’t Cut Through Campsites

When you were a kid, did your parents teach you that it’s rude to walk across your neighbor’s lawn? Apparently not everyone got that lesson. A RV park is like a small suburban neighborhood where people live because they want ample personal space. In the case of a campground, the “lawns” are the small areas surrounding each RV parking space. If you want to avoid the shock of seeing your neighbor walking around au naturel, hearing his bodily functions or being surprised by his ferociously defensive German Shepherd, please don’t cut through campsites. 

Campground Etiquette Tip 2: Leash Your Dog

Speaking of dogs . . . every RV park I’ve ever visited requires pets to be leashed. However, oftentimes people with “good dogs” don’t think this rule applies to their little angel. Many times a loose dog will stop at our campsite to sniff around, which causes my German Shepherd to go ballistic. My dog is a good boy but when someone encroaches on his territory, things get loud. Please leash your dog to avoid barking contests in the park and irritating other residents. 

Campground Etiquette Tip 3: Take Your Butt Elsewhere

Yes, your RV is your own personal space where you have the freedom to do what you wish, but when your cigarette smoke wafts into my rig, that’s an invasion of my personal space. RV parks can be crowded places where we must take extra steps to seek harmony among strangers. If you are a smoker, please be kind and take a walk somewhere far away when you want to light up. 

Campground Etiquette Tip 4: Turn Exterior Lights Off

Exterior lights are helpful when you need to go in and out of your rig but serve no purpose when you’re inside, other than to add light pollution to the night sky and interrupt your neighbor’s sleep patterns. Oftentimes, you might not even be aware that your lighting is shining right through the windows of surrounding RVs. Please remember to turn off your porch light and any exterior lights on your home. Your neighbor will thank you with kindness because he got a good night’s sleep! 

Campground Etiquette Tip 4: Don’t Idle

In the old days, diesel engines need lots of TLC and warming up in the morning, but unless you’re camping in snowy, Arctic-like conditions, modern diesels don’t require so much warm-up time. When it’s your turn to check out or take your Dodge for a drive, please don’t idle your vehicle for longer than necessary and pour fumes into your neighbor’s home. Always move away from your spot and then, if necessary, let your vehicle idle in a place where nobody else is around.  

Do you have more tips for RV campers who stay in parks? If so I’d love to hear them!

Rene Agredano

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.