Camping manners

[Old Crow-SUN]

Just curious as to what bothers other campers, here is our list:
1) Loud music
2) cutting through our campsite
3) dogs left outside, barking continually
and our biggest peeve is the campers that must light up their campsite all night long, if you are afraid of the dark STAY HOME.

We go to the woods to get away from the hustle and bustle and do not appreciate those rude campers.

OLD CROW

 

[Sunline Fan]

Probably the top of my list is the security lights on the FW's, followed closely by porch lights. Some people just have to leave those on all night long, and the security lights are like headlights coming in the window. The manufacturers should put those on automatic timers.

Jon

 

[RanCarr]

I have similar gripes. Barking dogs and dogs running loose pooping everywhere. Aside from the smell, who wants to step in it? Loud TVs or blaring music of any kind. It's out of place in a CG where most people are looking for peace and quiet. Undisciplined, unwatched children running through everyone's campsite. Where are the parents? One light on a rig is fine all night, even 2 lights, but some rigs and/or campsites are indeed lit up like Luna Park all night long. What's the point? And lastly, large noisy groups with yelling and laughing and kids screaming and music blaring deep into the night..... that has got to be the worst.

 

[rich250]

1- barking dogs
2-people that don't clean up after their dogs
3-people up partying past quiet time

 

[Honda03842]

One of the advantages of off season camping, non-summertime camping, is that most of the gripes campers have are minimized or rarely exist.

Norm and Ginny Milliard

 

[luvrque]

Campers Not following the Campground Rules.....Like.....
1- Dogs roaming free and pooping where they want.
2- Owners Not picking up there Dogs poop.
3- Dumping Gray water on the campsite when there is no sewer hookup ( like in State Parks )

 

[kanyonkitty]

1. People NOT cleaning up after their dog(s)

2. People cutting thru my campsite

3. Lighting up your site so a B-52 Bomber can land

Kitty & KD

 

[emam]

All of these reasons are exactly why we have Solar Panels and choose to Boondock out int he desert or away from busy campgrounds!

Find me a campsite with miles of empty dirt roads to get to it and I dont mind the bears, coyotes or dear cutting through our site, I'm sure they're complaining because some ugly looking white box is parked in their front yard

Like this site at Bond Falls Flowage in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The lake had been drained for the season, the campgrounds were closed meaning you could camp there for free (Bonus) and we literally had miles of empty lakeshore with not another soul to bother us. Just so happened to be a full moon and we sat out watching the moon rise all the way through till the sunrise!

Heavenly!

 

[Honda03842]

In 8 years we have found little gripe about while camping. Also for those of you looking forward to long term camping like Ginny and I and Pat and Cindy, there are plenty of places to go and camp where you are virtually alone.

Off season camping, September thru June, means you rarely see children cutting thru campgrounds because they're in school. Even summertime camping going to Alaska, you hardly ever see kids, because it's too long a trip for most families, and I've rarely seen dog poop be an issue, most campers are religious about cleaning up after their dogs.

We do see lights on rigs when we choose a stationary spot for a couple months, I think it helps people find their way home. At night we pretty much close our rig down and lights don't bother us.

Mostly we are thankful that we have chosen to be 'road gypsies'. Ginny always says her mother never expected her to be a Gypsy. We have given up 8 years of high level income but gained much more, 8 years of joyous togetherness, of great friendship, and wondrous exploration of North America. No amount of money can replace these years. My only complaint is that I didn't figure this out earlier.

Love to all and Happy New Year,

Norm and Ginny Milliard
1982 Sunline 15.5 SB
2004 Honda CRV

 

[RanCarr]

In 8 years we have found little gripe about while camping. Also for those of you looking forward to long term camping like Ginny and I and Pat and Cindy, there are plenty of places to go and camp where you are virtually alone.

I think few of us want to be 100% alone while camping. We enjoy the camaraderie of other campers. But some CGs don't enforce the rules concerning noise and pets. There always seems to be those few inconsiderate boobs that irritate others.

Off season camping, September thru June, means you rarely see children cutting thru campgrounds because they're in school. Even summertime camping going to Alaska, you hardly ever see kids, because it's too long a trip for most families, and I've rarely seen dog poop be an issue, most campers are religious about cleaning up after their dogs.

Yep, most do pick up after their dogs. But here again, there are always those few who don't. One place here in TN seemed to have strays in the CG. They wore no collars and just wandered around from one place to another.

We do see lights on rigs when we choose a stationary spot for a couple months, I think it helps people find their way home. At night we pretty much close our rig down and lights don't bother us.

Mostly we are thankful that we have chosen to be 'road gypsies'. Ginny always says her mother never expected her to be a Gypsy. We have given up 8 years of high level income but gained much more, 8 years of joyous togetherness, of great friendship, and wondrous exploration of North America. No amount of money can replace these years. My only complaint is that I didn't figure this out earlier.

Not many people can afford to give up their jobs and not just survive, but travel for 8 years on their savings and investments. You're very fortunate to be able to do that.

Love to all and Happy New Year

Same to you. Hope to see you in PA this June.

 

[Honda03842]

Full timing

One thing I've learned after 8 years of RVing is how little it takes to live as an RVer, once you have the equipment.

We live on a budget as RVers and when I look at our RV expenses over the 8 years, it amazingly amounts to $2000 to $2500 a month including our medical. Some RVers eat out a lot; we don't.

One real benefit for me is how much healthier we both feel, escaping the pressures of traditional everyday life.

Our yearly expenses, non-RVing because we still own a home, are significant. I really wish we didn't have the headache of a home but have not been able to convince my wife. Our home is something we use 3-4 months a year and is expensive on that basis and a worry when away, like the recent ice storms in NH.

Every morning we say how lucky we are to be traveling like we are. We had never RVed until 8 years ago and only took it up after my college roommate died, suddenly recognizing life was short.

Happy New Year,

Norm and Ginny Milliard
1982 Sunline 15.5 SB
2004 Honda CRV

 

[Bobo 3008]

Personally, I love dogs. We stayed at a Western NY campground this past fall and was placed next to a seasonal camper. The first night, they brought the big screen TV out to the campfire and loudly played video games until midnight. The second day, there was a large picnic involving about four other seasonal campsites. Of course everybody brought their dog and tied them up or let them roam while they had a crab and corn roast. You know what an uncontrolled pet will do when it is ignored. That evening, they fed the leftovers to their beautiful German Shepard. We were awaken early the next morning by loud cursing as the owner was dragging the dog out of the camper because it was bringing back up what they fed it. We packed up and left early.

On the good side, we met a couple who was camping on our other side. They had a pair of black labs. They walked them often and made sure when the dogs were tied up that they did not bark or whine. In fact the dogs and their owners joined us at the campfire. The dogs layed down by the chairs and behaved, only to move to the next person when they needed to be petted.

The only other thing that sends my blood pressure up is loud music. We were in a SP when the local highschoolers had a party to celebrate graduation. It went from a woodpecker tapping on a tree to a bar grade stereo system. After asking them twice to turn it down, I finally had the ranger toss them out. He said that he could hear the music a mile away.

I don't know. Maybe I am getting grumpy in my old age. If I want to hear loud noise or swearing at the top of your lungs, I'll go back to work where I will get paid to listen to it.

Bobo

 

[ROC-REQS]

In 8 years we have found little gripe about while camping.

I agree with Norm and Ginny

We've been camping for over 18 years and have found campers to be some of the nicest people we have ever met. We have created some of our closest friendships with people we've met camping.

 

[JohnGB]

Well here is our list if you want to call it that.

Most everyone we have met in a CG have been just the best. But there is that 1/2% that needs to remember a little respect for their fellow neighbor.

The walking thru camp site. In the Scouting program we taught that a camp site was like your house. You respect others in their house and you respect others camp sites. In fact when you approach another camp site you say: Permission to enter camp. Well, when you heard that you knew someone was with the program…. Now out in a SP or public CG I do not expect to hear that but seeing kids run wild right past you 5 feet from you in your own camp site rubs us wrong. It has happened and often young kids. Then followed by their parents not telling them not to do that…. If they would say hello can we walk to the lake etc? sure no problem go ahead. And you would strike up a little conversation at the same time.

The next is the loud radio of the style of music not to our liking, especially when they are not even there… I respect every ones rights to allow them to have a radio on. As non camping I always have one on in the shed or car. But there is a level of decibel that is respectful.

We have found that CG’s have a higher population of more courteous people then most anywhere else in open public life. If you walk up to your neighbor in a CG and ask for some help on anything, they go out of their way to do the best they know how to, just for asking.

Most everything that people have grips on is some level of lack of respect for themselves or others. And today’s modern society has sort of fueled this lack of respect along with all the good it has in other areas. So until society changes there will be that 1/2% still in the CG’s. But we will still take that 99 1/2% any day of the week of fellow campers.

Camp on!

 

[Honda03842]

I agree that most people are fine and helpful and I suspect there have always been a small percentage of disruptive souls, nothing to do with today's conditions. As my sister in law says, some dogs are born to bark.

Life is about focusing on the positive.

I agree campers are mostly great.

Happy New Year.

Norm and Ginny

 

[ROC-REQS]

Life is about focusing on the positive.

I couldn't have said it better

 

[emam]

Life is about focusing on the positive.

I agree campers are mostly great.

Like a good friend once told us while we were talking about why we love to find great spots outside of major campgrounds.

"If you dont like who is camped beside you, the best thing about our RV's are those round, black rubber things on the bottom!"

Hitch up and move if you dont like it Or grab a beer or what ever it is you might drink, pull up a camp chair and join them. We've met some great people when doing this!

 

[RanCarr]

I think some of us just ran into some extreme conditions when camping over the years. If conditions on a site were unbearable and the campground refused to enforce their rules. I would most likely leave for another (hopefully) nearby CG or demand another site if one were available.