New RV Math

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DearMissMermaid

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Dec 26, 2009
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on the move USA
Darling, for $19 a night, I will learn to LOVE camping, trade these high heels and makeup for the chance to travel. 

It's a quote I love, that I heard recently. The campground I am in charges $19.80 per night for camping in Florida at a gorgeous state park campground.

I met a nice couple at the campground who said "We are new at this!  Last time we came to Florida  and stayed in hotels. The price was absolutely ridiculous for what we got. One day we were out sightseeing when we found this park for $19 a night. So I said to my husband, let's get a camper and he said Honey, you don't camp! and I said darling, for $19 a night, I will learn to LOVE camping, trade these high heels and makeup for the chance to travel. 

They went on Craigslist, found a camper for a pickup truck for under a thousand dollars, then drove to Florida to give it a test run. They figured if they hated camping, then they wouldn't be out much money. They came by my site walking their dog when they struck up this conversation. The lady explained "And I do LOVE camping!  The dog goes with us, we can cook at the camp or we can go out, but we aren't just pouring all our money into a hotel room just to sleep and bathe. The restrooms here are nice, the showers are clean, nature is beautiful, what more could we want?  This is wonderful!

It was so much fun to meet someone smitten with the new lifestyle of camping and RV-ing.

Home is where I park it!
I prefer grass, but my Camp Host lot came paved in concrete.
Home sweet home!


I meet many delightful people in the campground.

But some can't read, count or do math, but still manage to own a luxurious RV that costs a bloody fortune.

How do they do it?  Win the lottery?  Make money the old fashioned way?  (Making money the old fashioned way is to inherit it!)

I am in a park that states on the webapage "Maximum RV length = 30 ft."

So what happens when a 38 foot RV shows up for a 30 foot site?  Recently this happened (again!). The owners lied to the reservation folks so they could get a spot in here because of our wonderful rates. By the time they arrived, they forgot about their lies and ended up yelling at us that their million dollar rig was a nightmare to park on their lot and they didn't appreciate negotiating our curvaceous skinny one lane road.

Believe me, those trying to maneuver around their bumper sticking out in the road,  weren't too happy either. They were offered a refund which they refused, so they had to repark their rig crooked on the lot, to make it more or less fit. Then their car wouldn't fit on the lot too, it stuck out in the road and we were trying to get them to park it at the parking lot at the rangers station, but they didn't want it that far away (it was a brisk 60 second walk) and that didn't suit them either. So more cursing and reparking until they somehow had their rig crammed into the woods and their car on their lot too.

When they left a week or two later, they came by to tell me that they were writing a complaint about what a nightmare our park was and how it took them all freaking morning to extricate their rig from the tiny lot. So I asked the million dollar question.

"Just how big is your rig?"

The man barked at me "It's only 38 feet and we're only towing a Saturn car!"

I tried to gently explain about the website and brochure mentioning the 30 foot limit and he looked at me like I had three eyes and two noses.

Doesn't 38 = 30?

It's a common problem here, people want the great rates and are willing to fib about the size of their rig to get in here. He also went on to complain that we needed 50 amp electrical service, not 30 amp.

Um, well, since 99% of the rigs under 30 feet are 30 amp...  hardly worth installing 50 amp, when no one is going to use it.

I find this all so funny. Let's lie about the size of our rig, pretend it's 8 feet shorter, then scream and yell when it doesn't fit...

Awhile back I wanted to visit a remote campground in the mountains but they had a 25 foot limit and I am 28 feet, so I took them at their word. I didn't reserve a spot. Ironically I ended up in another park nearby that had a special section for 25 feet and under. The dog and I took a walk through that area, and oh my gosh, I don't think I would drive anything over 20 feet on those twisty winding sharply curved roads that lead to the 25 foot and under camping lots.  It was a sobering lesson.

Do the math.

28 feet does not equal 25.
40 feet does not equal 30.
38 feet does not equal 30 either.

Hmm... am I going to fast?  Is this too confusing?

At my favorite beach campground in South Carolina, you look at their map, see these huge 50 foot  lots then note that they mention the rig must be under 20 feet on some of the beachfront lots and 25 on others. It's easy to think, hmm... somebody made a mistake here. I will just park my 45 foot rig on that 50 foot  lot and no one will notice. That is until they show up and find out the reason it was marked for 20 and under was because of all the mature trees growing there.

I ran into an RV-er  there who told me "What they need to do here is, cut down all the trees, widen the road, pave the sites, make them all pull-throughs,  then they could get the big rigs in here right on the beach. I looked around the beautiful quaint park with the towering trees and grassy sites.  I imagined the Walmart type parking lot style  the RV owner wanted. It made me want to cry. How could you pave over mother nature?

They do have other lots that can accommodate 40 feet, and they say so on the map but they aren't beach front and this bothered him. Walking one, two or three minutes to the gorgeous unspoiled beach was just too much work for him and he said so.

"And another thing!" he said "That beach needs some bars, restaurants and shops!  It has nothing!  Who wants to sit on the sand and stare at the ocean all day?  They need to build some stuff, especially a boardwalk, cause I don't want to get sand in my RV!  Why should I have to drive 20 miles to the nearest restaurant when they have 8 miles of empty beach here to build on?"

I turned green, the thought of seeing the wonderful beach destroyed by over-development just churned my stomach.

Sure there are plenty of RV parks that resemble a massive parking lot and many folks love them. But I like beauty, so I look for lakes, trees, oceans,  rivers, grass and so on. I don't want to sit sandwiched in between a plethora of trendy eateries and overpriced shops. Give me beauty any day.

And 38 feet still doesn't equal 30...
 
Thanks for the editing!

The sailor in me is showing for sure...  I was healed over laughing when I read your comment...

That quote isn't from me but from someone else...  when I wear high heels, I heal over if I am not careful, and if I drink I could heave ho too...

P.S. My spell heckler just misses a few things now and then... I guess I need an upgrade or something...
 
DearMissMermaid said:
Thanks for the editing!

The sailor in me is showing for sure...  I was healed over laughing when I read your comment...

Sorry, but the term should be "heeled over laughing" not "healed over laughing".  Unless, of course, you meant that Tom's comment cured you of laughing.
 
DearMissMermaid said:
P.S. My spell heckler just misses a few things now and then... I guess I need an upgrade or something...
Spell checkers can only check spelling, and heal is a word so it didn't see anything wrong with the word. I think we are a few years away from context checkers...
 
SeilerBird said:
Spell checkers can only check spelling, and heal is a word so it didn't see anything wrong with the word. I think we are a few years away from context checkers...
Actually, the spell checker in Microsoft Word includes a grammar checker that does a pretty  good job of context checking.

I have a terrible time remembering the rule for it's or its. I just type a sentence using either one of them and see if Word complains.

Joel
 
Still a good read!  You and Harley have a Happy New Year whether in a campground or on the road.  Be safe.
 
Great Horned Owl said:
Actually, the spell checker in Microsoft Word includes a grammar checker that does a pretty  good job of context checking.
I did not know that since I have never used Word. I have used Notepad as my word processor since it was Microsoft Write in Windows 2.1 some 25 years ago. So I dusted off the dust and fired up my Windows computer and installed Office and tried it out. First I typed in Its a beautiful day and before I got beautiful written it had inserted the apostrophe. Then I typed in high heal shoes and it put a blue wavy line under heal. I right clicked on heal and the suggestion was heel, so it passed with flying colors. I hope Google adds that feature to Chrome someday. I like it.
 
That park, if the driveway in is paved, can always do what Organ Pipe Cactus N.M. does, paint two lines at checkin 30' apart. If you don't fit within the lines, you don't get a site. :)
 
    Jim, see you've updated your picture, looks good.
    The problem with Word spell check is that it mis-spells words like labour, night, neighbour, etc.

Ed
 
My rig is 37'7", I didn't think this would ever be a problem when I purchased it.  I made a reservation at a park with a 34' limit, I didn't read that on their site, but they said it was on there.  They didn't mention it on the phone when they took my reservation, but I didn't cuss or raise a fuss, I just called the hotel where the conference was and booked a room.  They said I could park the rig there, as long as I was staying in a room.  All's well that ends well. 

I think it's more with the person than the rig.  Thank God for individuals though, or this would be one boring life. 

And even today, I learned something new, previously, I though 34' was the shortest limit.
 
We've seen 24 and 26-foot limits on several occasions, usually in state and federal campgrounds. We usually believe them. And if we did lie and we got there and didn't fit, we would tuck our tails and leave without yelling at anyone except each other :)

Wendy
 
We have one CG here at Yellowstone that has a 22' limit if I remember correctly, so I take the Westy there, it is only 23'.

::)
 
Yes, I'm not so sure the 38 footer I have now will be as easy to get around.  I will be finding out soon.  But I'm sure not going to try to get it in a 30 ft spot, no way.

I know what you mean about hotel prices.  Gosh going back and forth from Houston to Indiana I'm spending easily $90 a night with the pet kids, usually $10 to $15 a night extra for them, I don't sneak them in. And Sue Anne and I need 2 beds.  One night we got a kingsize and that worked ok.

Hubby said not long ago wouldn't it be as easy to get a hotel room, I asked him if he had seen the rates lately and I'm not much on hotel 6.  I want a comfortable bed, doesn't sit well with my back.

I like the ability to have all my clothes and Sue Anne's, the pet things, and anything else I want.  To be able to cook what I want, its just how I want to do it.  I just want to get to where I can go, doggonit!

Hubby is wanting to find a place we can buy and stay in a couple months or whenever but not in an RV park sitting, he likes some lot off by itself, two different ideas for sure and of course cheap as possible.  I like one with amenities more, a pool, just a nice neat setting I don't have to maintain.  Just have to see what kind of compromise we can come up with.  And I don't want someplace I have to go back to each time I want to see different places.
 
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