In the years we’ve been full-timing we’ve stayed at almost every kind of park imaginable. The parks range from the no-frills, along the highway, overnight stops, to the middle-of-nowhere camping and fishing locations with national park hiking trails staring right in the park, to the top-end luxury resorts for Class-A MHs only. Amazingly, there are 3 things that we’ve found at every place we have stayed.
Now, before I go on, I want to clarify that these 3 things are not isolated to RV parks; I’ve run across them in every community area that I’ve been in. It seems that it is human nature to engage in these 3 activities; and that no matter where you go, you will find these 3 things. So, if it seems to happen everywhere, why am I surprised that it happens in RV parks? Well, I guess I was just overly optimistic about the nature of the camping community, and thought that campgrounds, that are filled with friendly people sharing a common love of RVing/camping, might be the exception to the rule.
Of course, as well all know, campers and RVers are people, too; so, it really should not be a surprise that they fall into the same traps found in all other communities. So, what are the 3 things that I’m talking about?
- Cigarette butts on the ground—and some cigar butts now and then. Yes, every park I have stayed in, no matter how nice or how often the grounds are cleaned, have cigarette butts on the ground. Granted, some campgrounds are worse than others, but they all have cigarette butts. Personally, I don’t smoke, but I do not mind if other people smoke. I do dislike seeing any form of trash on the ground, especially in a campground, and it seems that the most abundant form of litter that I run across is cigarette butts.
- People putting their clothes in the washer or dryer and then leaving so that when someone else comes in to do their laundry, the machine is sitting there after the cycle is over. While most parks have signs stating that if you leave your laundry someone may remove them from the machine, when I’m doing my laundry, the last thing I want to do it to take someone else’s clothes out of the machine. It is annoying enough with the dryer, but to remove someone’s wet clothes from the washer is really annoying—especially since you are never really sure what to do with wet clothes.
- Finally, people not picking up their dog’s poop (as my grandson would call it). I once saw a “pile” at the base of a pole that had a container with bags for your dog, a trash receptacle, and a sign stating that it is a $175 fine for not picking up after your dog. Come on, that one had to be intentional. I’m staying at the Fredericksburg RV Park (Fredericksburg, Texas) and they have a poem in their park guide (the booklet with the map, ads, rules, etc.): If your puppy does his business in a place where people stroll, then for the sake of all of us, picking it up should be your goal. If it’s beneath your dignity to stop and scoop it up, then maybe in reality you shouldn’t own a pup.
Why am I sharing these 3 slightly annoying items? I guess that they were just my little disappointments about joining the RV community–my dose of reality. What other campground etiquette issues do you run across in your travels?