By Bob Difley
On the other hand, RVers get annoyed by tenters walking about right outside their windows, talking, laughing, and making too much noise. Besides, they build fires with the smoke blowing in their windows, and they stay up late at night with loud talking getting louder as the amount of alcohol consumed rises.
For one side of the debate, consider what Jeremy Klaszus wrote in an opinion piece on July 25th in the Calgary (Canada) Herald called Keep it down, fellow campers:
Camping is an opportunity to get away from the noise and chaos of urban life. A chance to unplug, unwind and so on. These days, however, more people seem to be hauling the city to the campground, unable to live without modern luxuries (heat, electricity, TV) for even a weekend. Earlier this month, I spotted a satellite dish at a campsite. A few campgrounds even offer wireless Internet, a terrible idea.
The goal, it seems, is to convert boring old campsites into urban residences. It’s baffling. Why go to the trouble and cost of hauling all that stuff into the woods, just to recreate the same setting you’re leaving? What’s the point? Why not just stay home?
There must be good reasons behind RV culture (though they escape me), and if people want to lug half of their homes into the woods, then of course they’re free to do so. But when they start spoiling the camping experience for others, it’s time to draw the line.
Klaszus feels that the “stuff” RVers have with them–and using it–is the problem, resulting in an inability to “get away from the noise and chaos of urban life. A chance to unplug, unwind . . . ” But I wonder whether he has considered fulltimers, where, yes, they are hauling their house around with them and they do stay in campgrounds.
But if the issue is annoying other campers, has he considered week-end partiers as the source of the discomfort and not whether they are in tents or RVs? Separation of RVs from Tents would defuse the tension between tenters and RVers, but isn’t the real reason common courtesy toward your neighbors? I would no more want a loud bunch next to me in an RV than I would in a tent. However, if RVers and tenters followed campground rules (which are usually not too strongly enforced), such as generator hours and quiet hours, would the problem go away?
Both sides of the issue argue their respective points, such as an older RV couple having to turn their TV down so low their aging ears can’t hear it just so the tenter next door can’t hear it at all, or the 20-something tenters that claim they have a right to unwind on weekends by going camping, building a campfire, having “a few drinks,” talking, laughing, and enjoying themselves.
One solution for the dilemma could be for RVers to go to RV resorts where tents are not allowed, and for campgrounds to set up tent areas separate from RV areas. Another answer might be for RVers to go boondocking more, away from crowded campgrounds. But even the BLM and forest service have rules for dispersed camping such as:
Operating or using in or near a campsite, developed recreation site, or over an adjacent body of water without a permit, any device which produces noise, such as a radio, television, musical instrument, motor or engine in such a manner and at such a time so as to unreasonably disturb any person. (Title 36 Part 261.10 [i])
Is there a better solution, or should we all accept the fact that we–tenters, week-end partiers, vacationing RVers, and fulltimers– will just have to accept what is–like it or not?
Check out my website for more RVing tips and destinations and for my ebooks, BOONDOCKING: Finding the Perfect Campsite on America’s Public Lands, Snowbird Guide to Boondocking in the Southwestern Deserts (now available in a Kindle version), and 111 Ways to Get the Biggest Bang out of your RV Lifestyle Dollar.