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

Gary RV Roamer said:

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.

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Why go RVing at all. You can do all those things at home.

We've seen woodpeckers attack aluminum I-beams and one put dents in our aluminum roof.  They aren't too bright

Well.. I'm in a six year old Class A.. This last weekend when a young couple with kids pulled in beside me with their PUP I pulled some aux lights out of my bays and helped them set up.

Then when a newly married couple in a somewhat older (and much abused) Swinger class A pulled in across from them the next night, Again I took lights, and since I and they do not have a language in common dug up a translator (The young lady in the PUP in fact)

Both are new to the RV lifestyle so we had a few sessions of "how do I do this" .

Of course that's me.. Most of the week I tend to stick inside... cause that is where the keyboard is.

Computers, email and the internet have a lot to answer for!  They put a real damper on face-to-face socializing, whether camping or at home. . .  he said, while sitting on a couch by the fire, typing a reply on rvforum.

Orginal poster..."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".

IMO  The more in common with each other the more interaction with each other.

Ok, lots of things going on here. Here are my thoughts (if anyone cares  ;D)

To the OP's concerns...I think it all depends on your definition of "socializing". We consider ourselves friendly people and will chat with others around us or folks we see out on a walk around the park and have both offered and received help more times than I can remember but we're not necessarily out to find our next best friends. Do I enjoy a nice talk? Sure, but we are "vacationers" and usually like to just lay back and relax when we're camping.

And yes, I call them all "campgrounds"...it flows off the tongue easier than "RV Resort".

I used to think that class A owners were less than sociable but one year it finally hit me that this is their "home". I'm in the park for a vacation but they are possibly living there for a while and most likely spend a good amount of time indoors. I don't go outside every night when I'm home, either.

I've met and had conversations with folks from all walks of life and with all kinds of RV's. We went on a tour of a very nice class A once when our neighbors heard we were planning a trip to Yellowstone. They were from SD and invited us in to give us some pointers on what to see and do while out west. Had a great time.

I hope I never encounter a wood/roof/sidingpecker!

And while I'm sure this will not be met with open arms...Please don't assume that your dog is a conversation starter for everyone. I can't count the number of times I've been out on a walk and politely stepped to the side as a dog is coming over to check me out. The resulting death stare from the owners can only tell me "How dare you have the audacity to not immediately fall in love with my dog?". I tolerate dogs and enjoy the company of a few that I know well but don't expect me to be all "oh how cute!" over your pride and joy.

Joe

Just wanted to share this......
  So here my family and I just returned yesterday from our first ever RV outing!!.....was great btw.....The RV is sitting in front of my house and i'm continuing to unload the fridge and other perishables....beer!!...haha....
    This guy from down the street sees me and continues down the street towards me, stops and we start talking...he has a 33 footer and we continue to chat....turns out that he is a former Marine and somehow I brought up my water heater issue....of which he solved for me btw, awesome!!....
    The more that I'm around fellow RVers, the more that i see that its a friendly place.....glad to be a part of it and I look forward to helping someone else as I was helped.......

Thanks

Chris

We do a lot of campground hosting and fine most campers/RVers to be friendly and welcome conversation with others.  Ya, like Gary I find it easy to stay inside on the internet, reading, etc., especially if we are on the road and have just stopped for the night.  Occasionally I have ran ito anti-socials, but it seems to be the exception. 
Most often the apparent anti-socials are anxious to visit but are not good at starting the whole thing. 

Just like in any "sticks and bricks" neighborhoods, it takes all kinds of people.  There are the friendly, less friendly, overly friendly, and even a few unfriendly people.  I just try to smile and say hello.  And there's usually someone around who's willing to help if help is needed.  I think RVers tend to be more friendly than less, and it doesn't matter whether they're in a trailer, a Class B, or a Class A.  We've met some really nice people in everything from Marathons to tents and I could care less what form of camping or RVing you do.  We all have in common one thing - a love of going places and seeing things. 

We're not what you would call "vacation campers" because we're retired and go out in the motorhome for one week, one month, or four months.  It's our home away from home and when we're only stopping for the night, we get set up and start preparing dinner, we eat, we clean up after dinner, and by then it's usually dark and time to answer emails, read, or watch TV for a while before bedtime.  We don't usually sit outside much and we're not really into campfires, so that may seem unfriendly to some, but it's just our routine that suits our needs and has nothing at all to do with being friendly or unfriendly.

By the way, Whirlwind, this is an interesting thread you started.  We often don't take the time to think about how we're viewed by others.  I know people see more of Jerry because he's the one who does the outside hookups and takes a walk every morning while I'm inside doing the inside chores.  You commented about seeing the husbands but not the wives and it's probably for the reason I just mentioned.  Being alone, you do both the inside and outside chores.  When we have rallies, we tend to sit outside more than when we're stopped for the night, so come join one of our rallies and you immediately have more friends than you know what to do with! 

ArdraF

Ned said:

We've seen woodpeckers attack aluminum I-beams and one put dents in our aluminum roof.  They aren't too bright

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If you banged your head into things like they do, you wouldn't be too bright either. 

As usual, Ardra put into words beautifully just what I was thinking.  We started retirement taking long trips by car and staying in motels and hotels.  We soon tired of that.  When we purchased our little 19 foot trailer, and later our 36 foot motorhome, it was such a joy to pull into a campsite after a long day of driving because we didn't have to unload suitcases, order over-priced room service, or go out for dinner.

Our food was in the cupboard, our clothes were in the closet, our books were on the shelf, the satellite TV showed our favorite shows, etc.  We made lots of friends on the road and we enjoyed talking with people.  BUT ... sometimes we were just tired and wanted to melt into familiar surroundings.  I remember saying to Tom, "no matter where we are, once we close the drapes, we're home!" 

These habits or routines have absolutely nothing to do with being unfriendly.

Margi

ArdraF said:

  There are the friendly, less friendly, overly friendly, and even a few unfriendly people. 
ArdraF

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I love your rating system Ardra. I really was having trouble trying to figure out how to describe myself, but, you hit it right on. I am less than friendly. I would always help anyone in need, would always greet people with a smile, always try to be polite, but, we do not go RVing to meet people. I do not care how may stints you have had to endure. I do not care about, nor, should I have to remember the name of your Scottie. I do not care where your grandaughter graduated from or that you have managed to get your cholesterol level down. If you ride past my site on one of those goofy lay-on-your-back bicycles, you just might hear me say something derogatory to myself, but, personally I would not ride anything that would attract children.
Don't get me wrong. We have met some wonderful people while camping and many have become lifetime friends from all over the globe. I am just saying that I don't approach people with that intent, nor do I like being told someones' life story in the half hour it takes me to set up our site. When I do sit outside I am usually reading or enjoying an adult beverage and that is probably because I have gotten ready to go somewhere and have bought a few minutes while she is still getting ready.
In spite of my less than friendly demeanor, I am earnestly looking forward to getting back to Quartzsite to see all the very nice people we met last winter. I'm sure looking foward to seeing Russ do the Hula in the grass skirt, and Ann, I really do like Paul. It's not your fault he's a liberal. :-[
Dave

I'm not consistent.  Sometimes I want to tell you my life story, sometimes I don't want to talk to anyone.

I'm pretty set in my ways and in the evening just want to take a bath, "talk" on my computer or watch tellie.  I also enjoy petting and talking to my cat.

It just depends on what I feel that day friendly or just being a loner.  I like people but sometimes don't know how to relate well.  But that's just me no reflection on anyone else.

In my former life, my wife and I camped in a pop up all over the country with the dogs.  I agree with what was previously said about dogs. I love dogs, trained dogs. If a dog goes to jump up on me, I am raising my knee. If he does it again, well, he probably wont. But our dogs were trained beyond all reason and we preferred people not even acknowledge them and the dogs knew to ignore people, even when being greeted, unless given permission to do so. My wifes dog was a seeing eye dog and mine was a competitor in retriever field trials, hence the camping.

That being said, I don't recall ever meeting a less than friendly in a campground! Most folks were eager to talk if for no other reason than to make sure my wife wasn't going to get lost walking back and forth to the facilities (she never did, I often did!). We were invited to dinners, campfires, church services and once were given an entire cake while in south carolina that our neighbors in a monstrous class a won at a cake walk. The closest thing I can recall to anyone ever being outright rude was in georgia where a very southern older woman commented to my wife that "ladies don't wear ball caps". Man, that frosted my wife. She brought it up for YEARS. Always made me laugh. In fact, I am chuckling and feeling a bit nostalgic even now. To this day, I don't think the woman was trying to be rude. I believe she was trying to provide some unsolicited advice to a fellow lady that couldn't physically see what the other women were or were not wearing. My wife disagreed, vehemently.

These memories are the main motivator to going fulltime now with my current job. I just learned today I will be here in southeast new mexico until at least the end of january. I am planning on relocating soon simply because there is only one other trailer here and although very pleasant folks, language barriers make it impossible to sit and visit. I want to chat, hence the stupid long post. Ima stop now!

I seem to be a hit and miss with socializing. I don't know if it's the stigma of me being a single woman below retirement age,  on the road fulltime alone with a just a clown for a dog, or if it's my older modest Class C that didn't cost a zillion dollars or what.  But sometimes it is very hard to find the friendly people! 

I smile and greet people when I am out and about walking the dog, or hooking up the umbilical cords or if I am hanging around outside and folks look over, I speak to them with a hearty "Good morning" or "Good afternoon". Some folks respond nicely, others turn their nose up, as if I have deeply offended them. Maybe I am just lost in America, as I lived overseas 22 years, and just got back 2 years ago. Maybe I am just not updated on the latest culture trends. I just don't know.

Recently I was in a sardine park for a few days (the lots were super tight) and I was assigned a spot between two ostentatious mega rigs that had a couple in each one. I was hooking up my umbilical cords when one couple walked up to enter their shiny coach parked barely 8 feet from mine (very tiny lots!).  I smiled and said "Good afternoon!" but got an icy stare in return as they seemed to hasten their steps to get in their door!  I even heard the loud CLICK as they locked their deadbolt, then the WHOOSH as they rapidly closed their shades that faced my RV. 

THe next morning, the opposite neighbor, came outside, to dry the dew off his rig with a polishing cloth.  I was inside my rig, getting the puppy ready for a walk. I came outside, smiled and said "Good morning" before starting on our walk.  He whipped around, gave me a cold hard stare, then went back to his polishing without saying a word. I have no idea what I did wrong!

Maybe both couples were mad that the park manager assigned my little old Class C a spot between them. My rig is a 94 version, and though I try my best to take care of it, maybe it wasn't up to "their" standards for having a conversation with the lowly owner, me.

I have no idea! 

I overhead them talking to each other later on, so both couples did speak English and sounded very American. It made me feel very strange. Not sure what unwritten rules I broke, but I just thought it was downright WEIRD!  Later, I decided it was VERY funny, because there were much nicer, pricier parks around the area, yet these folks had chosen the very low budget campground (just like me!)  But for whatever reason, refused to acknowledge my friendliness with even a grunt, in spite of the fact, we were parked barely 8 feet apart.

Later that afternoon, I met a French-Canadian couple sitting at the lake sipping from champagne glasses.  I smiled, said "Good afternoon" and suddenly we spent the next 40 minutes chatting away. 

I have no idea what the unwritten rules are for being friendly or snobby.  If I ever figure it out, I'll let you know.

chaplainrobert said:

I love dogs, trained dogs. If a dog goes to jump up on me, I am raising my knee. If he does it again, well, he probably wont.

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That reminds me of a story. About 30 years ago I had an Old English Sheepdog (registered name: Teiler Seiler) and at three months of age I started taking him to obedience class. I had always gone through obedience class with every pup I have owned but in this one the trainer started with something different. She demonstrated how to keep your dog or any other dog from jumping up on you. When he does you simply grab both of his (or hers) front paws and smile sweetly at the dog and say sweet things to him (this is in case this is not your dog and the owner are watching). Then you start squeezing the everloving crap out of his paws. Not enough to do serious damage but enough to cause him real discomfort. Then the secret is to hold the dog like this for about 10 seconds. By the time you let go the dog will never jump up on anyone again.

It just occurred to me to list the dozen or so "best friends" we have (not family) and was a bit amazed that all but four of them are people we met RVing. We scarcely know the neighbors at our stix n brix, but we are very close friends with people all over the country. Ain't it wonderful!!

DearMissMermaid said:

THe next morning, the opposite neighbor, came outside, to dry the dew off his rig with a polishing cloth.  I was inside my rig, getting the puppy ready for a walk. I came outside, smiled and said "Good morning" before starting on our walk.  He whipped around, gave me a cold hard stare, then went back to his polishing without saying a word. I have no idea what I did wrong!

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You've lived in the islands.  You've probably met lots of cruising boaters.  Most of these folks live in a symbiosis with the earth and other people, but once in a while you meet someone who has not left "it" behind. They carry some of their demons with them still and may never be rid of them.  You just met the same kind of person in your new world.  The child inside them is bound and gagged with little hope for release.  Don't waste a nanosecond of your own precious lifetime trying to figure out what you did wrong, simply accept them for what they are and perhaps say a little prayer for them. 

DearMissMermaid,

I have a name for those types....PIPS (Previous Important People). Somehow they just can't get over it! We all meet them somehow along the road.

Mariekie

mariekie4 said:

DearMissMermaid,

I have a name for those types....PIPS (Previous Important People). Somehow they just can't get over it! We all meet them somehow along the road.

Mariekie

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I love it!  I'm going to use that one.    We've called them BTO's (big time operators) but I like your version better.

Margi