Socializing in RV parks - is it just my experience so far?

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Whirlwind

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 14, 2010
Posts
64
Location
Hotlanta, GA
I've camped for years, and have usually found fellow campers to be a very social lot.  However, the trip I'm on now has proved to be very different so far.

I am staying in RV parks instead of campgrounds, maybe that will explain it.  The "big rig" folks I've seen tend to pull in, hook up the tv, and not emerge from the bus.  In my 2+ weeks on the road now, I've had brief conversation with fellow campers only three times. 

After overnight snow in Wyoming, I was outside hooking up my rig and the men on both sides offered brief conversation (they were also hooking up).  I never saw the wives (although one wife kept yelling for her husband to come inside and eat). 

Yesterday a man came up to me at a gas station and said he and his wife saw me pull in the night before. The wife was curious about my old trailer and wanted to come and say hello, he told her not to bother me.  I told them both if the situation arises again to please come and say hello, I'd welcome the company.

I'm not trying to horn in on dinner, or be an immediate best friend.  I am very independent and self sufficient.  That said, one of the joys of this kind of travel and life is meeting people and sharing experiences.   

Thoughts? 

Whirlwind

 
You had some bad neighbors. I would have talked your leg off, and you would have cooked for us ;)
 
Whirlwind

I wish you were camped next to me. I would be thrilled to talk to you all day long.

Tom
 
You are camping in the wrong parks, get with it pilgrim. ;D That certainly has not been our experience, rv'ers are the most friendly people on the planet. We have met some wonderful people, certainly don't get the opportunity in airports or at the Holiday Inn. Our first weekend out, a neighbor gave us some useful tips and generously offered an extension cord from his 40' ft dp to our lowly 30 year old fiver when the shore power cut out. DW needed it for the cpap, we don't have an inverter.
 
I have to say the same as I have never had a trip I can remember that I have not had at least an hour or so of conversation with other Rv's or at least the folks working in the park office.
Our last stay in Winthrop WA I spent the better part of a Saturday working on the MH next to us. He had fuel problems in hot weather and was worried so he bought the beer and we worked on it and got to know one another. Most evenings (at least when the weather permits) most are out walking around with their dogs, kids, etc and just chatting. I have run into a few strange ones but for the most part it's always been the highlight of Rv parks. I always have a cold beer or extra hotdog for someone. We are on the West Coast of course, I can't say how friendly the others might or might not be!!!  ;D
 
Our three wheel recumbent tricycles that the wife and I usually ride around the different parks that we stay at seem to be good ice breakers. They always seem to attract the children in the parks, who usually ask if they can try my wife's. She usually let's them, and we end up getting to know the parents in short order. We used them to get around at the Fort Smith Samboree this year, and we became the topic of conversation for many of the attendees. I always refer to them as our "Old Peoples Bicycles".
 
My retired brother has been camping a lot in state parks and RV parks this past year.  He pulls a mid-sized trailer with an SUV.  His experience has been that the folks in the "big rigs" are friendly with each other,  but not welcoming of lesser mortals.  This is a change from our camping experiences of 20+ years ago, when as many of you suggest campers and RV'rs were all pretty friendly folks.

Rob
 
I have never found the type of RV I had to be a limiting factor. I will chat with anyone, regardless of what they are RVing in. I do find that some folks seem to avoid us, thinking that we won't be social. My Jeep seems to start a lot of conversations. Shoot, it's all about being friendly and relaxed.
 
Boy I hate it when I meet those types. I usually just say that if they don't want my company, I'll find someone else. I usually walk my dog through the CG I'm in, and most folks know Jake by name after a day or two. I find that 90% +/- are very friendly and about 10% seem to be real snobs but if thats their little bag of rocks, let them have that life, just not my style.
 
Wizard46 said:
Boy I hate it when I meet those types. I usually just say that if they don't want my company, I'll find someone else. I usually walk my dog through the CG I'm in, and most folks know Jake by name after a day or two. I find that 90% +/- are very friendly and about 10% seem to be real snobs but if thats their little bag of rocks, let them have that life, just not my style.

That's funny because we have a Scotty named Jake and after a few days everyone knows is name also.

Whirlwind I think what you may have run into fulltimers or extended travelers because it was RV Parks and not a CG. It's not that we aren't friendly we just live in our rigs and and tend to fall into routines just like being in a sticks and bricks.

Denny 
 
The larger the rig, the easier it is to stay indoors without feeling claustrophobic.  My recliner is more comfortable than a lawn chair, my computer is at one hand and my current book at the other, and the cold ones in the fridge are just a few steps away. Why go outside?  These days I find I have to kick-start myself to get out and meet people. I'm not any less sociable than ever - just less motivated to get outdoors.

I'm curious: how do you distinguish an "RV park" from a "campground".  Just the difference in the name on the sign, or something else?
 
Gary RV Roamer said:
I'm curious: how do you distinguish an "RV park" from a "campground".  Just the difference in the name on the sign, or something else?
The way I distinguish them is simple. An RV park is usually a privately owned commercial enterprise and will have long term residents. A campground is usually run by a government (city, state, federal) and has a maximum time period you can stay there, like 7, 14 or 30 days.
 
I am much like Gary but do like to be outdoors when I can. I tend to get out in the evening and love to talk with my neighbors. We have run into some snobs but we also have made some very good friends in our travels. We will be in Eustis next week at a Florida Good Sam Rally just to get out and go. I have a break this week from radiation before I have to start another round so we will take advantage of the break. We sre hoping to get a full season in this coming summer so look out, we may meet up and I and my wife both love to talk.
 
I've run across those types in the past when pulling my camper back in the day.  I have even watched the neighbors pull up lounge chairs and coolers after getting my site from the office expecting to get a giggle out of watching the "newbie" back up around a tree into the campsite without running over the firepit!

Once, in a campground in Sault Ste. Marie, MI full of a combination of RV's from DP's to tents, I got my site assignment and proceeded to get the camper set up to back her in.  The parking of towing vehicles after dropping their 5'ver or TT was not exactly well thought out by the owners of the campground.  The on-site parking was a bit of a hindrance if you needed the site next door. 

I found my site and set myself up to back my camper in.  When the occupied sites adjacent to mine realized what was going on, out they came.  Some just to make sure I didn't back into their car/pickup/RV, and some just to watch the fun.  Nobody offered to help guide me in.  It took me about 6 minutes to get into place and start opening up the camper.  While cranking the hitch to drop the camper, I overheard one of the neighbors say "That was disappointing."  I stopped, turned around, and asked why?  He was surprised I heard and that caught him off guard.
His reply was "Usually we get a chuckle out of watching newbies when it comes to backing up into their sites."

I got to thinking about how rude that is.  I told him that as a commercial truck driver on vacation, I back up 53' trailers all day long.  The little 14' pop-up camper I had at the time was hardly a challenge.
"No wonder!" was his answer.  An adult beverage was exchanged and all was well for the stay.

Point being if I were a "newbie", I would have been nervous as heck having all those eyeballs on me without one person offering to help.  Before I had purchased my own land and parked my updated TT, I found that most fellow campers were the most friendly bunch of folks I had ever met.  There were those however, who seemed to find entertainment in watching others make their novice mistakes.

My experience was almost 20 years ago.  It's still not that way, is it?
 
I am passing through one night at a time most of the time.  When we were at Matagorda I got to know the folks in the other Sightseer and was able to help them out and talked some with the campground hosts next to us but they were always working so it seemed.  Personally, I have never met a stranger, but that puts some people off.  An "aggressive" woman alone well with DD is looked at a little oddly by some folks.  But hey I am what I am, so what can I say.  I think a few wives don't like it at all, but most are fine with it.

This park has people out walking all over and a lady just pulled out a pretty blue and white bike and is going to the trash area.  This is a live in place and I can see most people are out walking their dogs or just walking, guess us old folks are realizing exercise is the key to a long and healthy life.

I am gulity of cocooning.  We are tired after driving all day so in I go.  I talk to hubby every night about 5.  then I watch tellie and talk on the computer so not out much.  I'm guessing when I start driving the ancient Eagle it will bring out lookers and be a conversation piece, we shall see.

Well I'm wasting time this morning, we are close to our destination and I'm being lazy.  Got to get dressed, the inside is all straightened and neat, well as it can be.  I think when we sell this folks will realize we lived in it when we used it.  the other folks must have never cooked, used the shower, or anything but we do. 

The drain is so far away we are going to have to stow everything and come back around with the toad in the road to dump, that's what the host suggested.  I have 2 drain lines and still wouldn't reach.  Man these folks are all out and about.  They have a lot of amenities here too and I bet they are used.  I think this would be a nice place to live, but the small units wouldn't be big enough for us. Our clock says almost 10, its 2 hours earlier here at mountain time I beleive, so our internal clocks are different.

I hear a bird up on our roof pecking.  Hope its not a woodpecker!!  Ok, got to get busy and move on today. I'm ready to be there.  Are we there yet?? ;)
 
PatrioticStabilist said:
I hear a bird up on our roof pecking.  Hope its not a woodpecker!! 
Woodpeckers only peck on wood (duh...) Your roof is made of rubber or fiberglass.
 
Maybe, but that critter, whatever, it was was up there was just pecking away.  Probably the same one I watched climbing up my windshield wiper to the roof.  I can't imagine he found much to eat on the fiberglass up there! ;)
 
I've seen woodpeckers peck on vinyl siding. Didn't make much of a mark but made a lot of racket trying. Some of them may be like some people I've seen.
 
Flickers, closely related to Woodpeckers, will "drum" to declare their territory.  The resident flicker at our house in Redding, CA chose to drum on the metal vent above the wall in our bedroom.  That will wake you up in a hurry!  They drum approximately 25 beats to the second. 

Margi
 
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