rhetorical questions?

[BatDude]

After Scamping around the SW and now SE I am wondering about some observations.

Are most RV people afraid of the dark?

OMG some of these rigs have sooo many strings of bright lights strung hither and yon to the extent there is very little darkness to enjoy.

Back to our cave person roots?

Many seem to revel in smoldering camp fires that waft toxic smoke across great swathes of the campgrounds and infusing rat fur with icky smoke smell.

I realize campers on each postage stamp of a site feels the need to be personalize their territory. It does seem that the fire rings are different than the grills people enjoy cooking on.

Many are not offensive and hot enough to waft smoke into the air, but many others just have a fire the rest of the neighbors be damned.

The current RV park on Jekyll Island is a notable exceptions and nice and dark for sleeping and virtually smoke free.

So wonderful.

Oh well... even in a brick and mortar neighborhood one might have neighbors running the offense leaf blowers for hours on end.

Off to enjoy another sunrise along the beach and watch the birds waking up.

Turns out no bats active here as it has been too cool in the evenings.

Bat Dude

[Vivian L]

I have always wondered about campers who apparently like to be out in "nature" but not unless they fog it up with camp fire smoke. If you don't know how to light and burn a smokeless fire, take lessons or leave it! The stench alone is worse than the cheapest perfume.
Here in Ontario, you are welcome to have a smelly, smokey camp fire in all our provincial park campgrounds. Seems ironic to me

[Roger H]

Why DO people spend tens of thousands of dollars on an RV that is more luxurious than their home to flee from the crowded suburbs to a place that is even more crowded on holiday weekends, pollute their air with wood fire smoke, and whoop and holler at ballgames or motor car races on their outside big-screen TV 'til they collapse in an alcohol-fueled coma, and call it "camping?"

[reeves99]

Yes, I've seen people "out in nature" in their big rigs. Doors closed. Generators running. Air conditioning at full blast. Watching satellite TV. Smoky fire unattended outside.
Not my cup of tea, but at least it gives me an amusing anecdote for later, back at the water cooler.


Sent from my iPhone using Fiberglass RV

[Roger H]

Now, in MY defense, I have a 32' motorhome with a genset, but no satellite TV. I will commit sacrilege here and confess that I don't "camp." I haven't "camped" in years... except when I ride RAGBRAI. I have no desire to "camp" and haven't since about 1985.

I've owned a veritable plethora of "travel trailers" and motorhomes of various types over the years, but I can't recall very many trips where I did anything remotely like "camping" in them.

I use them to travel. I sleep in them, eat in them, and weather storms in them. If I go to a gathering of some sort, I socialize outside, but seek comfort and warmth (or coolness) inside. They are a mobile motel for me. I get to take my own bed, shower and food where-ever I go. I use them as a base for sight-seeing, visiting friends and family, and going places for other purposes... but I almost never use them for "camping."

So, I may be one that you see in a campground with the door closed and the A/C on, but you'll never see a smoldering fire at my site, and you'll not see me occupy any given site for more than a couple of days. You won't see a bunch of 'junk' around my unit in the 'yard' and you may not see me out enjoying nature sitting in lawn chairs and having a beer. I just don't do that much.

But I DO enjoy travelling...and that's what I have my RV for.

[Jon in AZ]

Smokeless campfires? Isn't that a bit like smokeless cigarettes? A well-tended fire produces less smoke, but smokeless?

Many years ago I was tent camping in Oak Creek Canyon, near Sedona, AZ, during an early winter storm: rain, sleet, snow, fog. As I unloaded my gear and set up my tent, a largish rental motorhome pulled into the site next to me. Jacks went down, lights came on, a generator fired up, a TV screen flickered through the closed blinds, but no humans appeared. I will admit to being torn between jealousy and contempt as I wrestled with my tent in the wet and cold.

I finally got everything settled and a kettle of water heating for a cup of cocoa. I pulled some dry wood out of the back of the truck and got a cheerful fire going. Hot chocolate in hand I warmed myself at the fire, now feeling rather smug. I was a "real" camper... At that moment the door of the motorhome finally opened.

One man stepped out… the image is forever etched in memory… country club attire, cigar in one hand, martini in the other, early 40's, immaculately groomed and professional-looking. He came over to the fire and we exchanged greetings. He was an executive with a Boston-based corporation just finishing a 6-month temporary assignment in Phoenix. Before returning to Boston, he decided to take his family on a tour of the state. We chatted about his work, and my work among Native Americans. We talked about where he had been and great places to visit in the state. We shook hands and he went back inside. I never saw him again, nor his wife and daughter.

In this case, without the campfire, our lives would never have crossed. With or without a campfire, "camping," in its broadest sense, is a great equalizer.

[FRED SMAILES]

AS Rodger stated he doesn't camp.
Come to think of it we rarely camp either.
We always stay in a RV campground, have a flat screen tv, rarely have a "campfire". we use our Boler as our base when traveling, home when we go south, which won't be this year with our 60 sent dollar and I actually use it as one of my hobbies as I really enjoy modifying and working on it.

BUT, I do camp. With a TENT! strapped to my motorcycle! By myself.
I go for several days, riding tenting, eating spits by the fire till I STINK of smoke! The less people I talk to the better. I take a book but seldom read.
Blank, that is where I'm trying to get my mind. Happiness is in that spot.
Fred

[Jim Bennett]

Lots of different styles of camping in our trailers.

I rarely camp in an RV campground, or have hookups. I have no TV. I almost always have a campfire (burning hot and smokeless).

I do not care for lit up trailers, smoky fires, excessive noise, and likely never will.

Camping can also be an evolutionary thing for each person too. When I retire, I will likely connect to the grid more, maybe have a TV, and if it is just the two of us, have less campfires.

[Bill Nolen]

Years ago when traveling to the Florida Keys, we stopped at a nice campground in Georgia. It was early, and there was many open campsites.

Soon a HUGE Motor Home pulled into the space next to us. It looked new and was at least 40-feet long!

As I sat glaring at the Motor Home, thinking "why in the world did he have to park next to my small trailer", the side windows blinds, facing us, were raised, giving me a peek inside the Motor Home.

To my surprise, the insides were equipped as a hospital room! In the hospital bed was a middle aged lady, who looked very ill. Her husband was tending to her comfort, it seemed.

I was ashamed of my prior feelings of jealousy.

One never knows the difficulties and problems that other RV owners have experienced, or are facing, as they travel in their huge or small RV's.

I'm not always able to control feelings of jealousy....but, I do try!

Bill

[trainjunkie]

The most pleasant campground experiences I've had with regards to the fire pit happen under one of two conditions.

1. There is a fire pit right in the camp site and the campground is fairly empty. I have no problem letting a fire rip if there are few people around who can be bothered by it. My kids love to poke the fire and roast marshmallows so if I can facilitate this and still be a good neighbor, I have no problem with it.

2. The campground has a "community" fire pit, away from the camp sites. These are often the most fun as several people/families will converge at one fire ring, someone stokes the fire, and everyone pulls up a chair and gets to know each other. Kids often make friends with other kids. Ideas are shared. And sometimes a nice bottle of adult beverage is passed around for the grown-ups. Some of my most pleasant camping memories have been around the community fire ring in a secluded campground in the middle of the wilderness.

[floyd]

There is often something righteous about self deprivation, and something self-righteous about insisting on the deprivation of others.
Courtesy and tolerance are two way streets.
Most campgrounds have quiet hours and other reasonable rules which are intended to optimize everyone's enjoyment.
If you want more quiet and darkness always pick the spot furthest from the shower houses.
Staying at a crowded campground and complaining about campfires is like staying at a truck stop and complaining about the diesel noise.

[TheWanderers]

Originally Posted by floyd

There is often something righteous about self deprivation, and something self-righteous about insisting on the deprivation of others.
Courtesy and tolerance are two way streets.
Most campgrounds have quiet hours and other reasonable rules which are intended to optimize everyone's enjoyment.
If you want more quiet and darkness always pick the spot furthest from the shower houses.
Staying at a crowded campground and complaining about campfires is like staying at a truck stop and complaining about the diesel noise.

YUP