Curious on the social aspect of rv'ing

phillyg wrote:
It depends. DW will talk to anyone, anywhere. I would rather poke a stick in my eye than begin a conversation with a stranger. On the other hand, I am very responsive but still reserved if someone speaks to me first. If you see a name sign on an RV I'd guess they're friendly, but ol' stick in the eye isn't going to test that guess. Everyone's different, yes.

Our SIGN is a US Flag that spins on a PVC contraption. The counterweight is a block of wood that is a scale of our trailer. The back side says "Jeff & Marcia" "Penn Hills, PA". It spins in the wind.

The dog got jealous, so I made a BONE that reads DUNCAN.

The truck has changed, the trailer/sign is the same. If you see us, don't be shy.

It depends. DW will talk to anyone, anywhere. I would rather poke a stick in my eye than begin a conversation with a stranger. On the other hand, I am very responsive but still reserved if someone speaks to me first. If you see a name sign on an RV I'd guess they're friendly, but ol' stick in the eye isn't going to test that guess. Everyone's different, yes.

AT PK1023

YOU were NOT parenting. A parent would have sized up the situation, and yelled at HIS KIDS to get off (away from) that other mans site/trailer. Then apologized to that man for his kids being where they don't belong.

What do you call YELLING at???? Was the guy going Pyscho, or did you just not like that he was adamant that your kids would not do wrong near his stuff. Teach your kids to play ball in a safe area (where "accidents" can not accur), teach them about boundries (the world does NOT belong to them), then teach then respect for others.

What did you teach them????

Do as you want......wherever you want......and DAD will be a BULLY for you.

Have you not heard, ANTI-BULLYING is the new wave.

Before everybody gets up in arms. I believe that ANY adult has the right to scold any child if the child is about to harm himself, others or property that doesn't belong to him

NO YOU DON'T. This man was scolding them because they were about to harm.... property that doesn't belong to him

What you mean is....rescue my kids if they are about to kill themselves....otherwise leave them be.

I politely (as much as I could) told him NOT to speak to my boys. If he has a problem with them, he can find me and I will handle it.

Yeah, we know how your crowd works....

20 years ago at my home, I repeatedly ask the kickball crowd to watch my car. I enjoyed watching them play, but after the ball bounced off my car into my lap on the front porch....to which all I got was a bunch of laughing....I kept the ball and told them to have a parent come get it. The parents sent the POLICE, who called ME the grumpy old man (I was 33 at the time).

Had the nerve to tell me that I should take MY car out of MY driveway, and put it in MY garage...to keep the neighbors BRATS from causing a problem on MY property.

If it had been my kids or now my grandkids and I saw them first no one would have had to yell at them. I would have gotten them back where they belonged myself. Someone else's kids start playing in my area I will politley ask them to be carefull, I won't yell but if necessary will go find parents. My wife and I have worked hard for what we have and don't need it damaged by someone else. Jim.

pk1023 wrote:
Yeah, it's all about reading people and finding out what they want from the interaction with you.

Two years ago we took an awful trip to Caboose Lake in Resselear, IN for Memorial Day. It was COLD and rainy almost from the moment we pulled in.

For the most part everyone seemed very nice. We were setup and my boys (6 and 8 at the time) were playing catch with a baseball and mitts behind our unit. They must have wandered over behind the elderly gentleman's 5'er behind us at some point.

I am on the other side of the camper and I hear him starting to holler at the boys. I walk over to see what is going on... He THEN with me present yells at my children not to play ball on his site and to "get back on their own side"

I consider myself to be a bit of a pushover and not one to fight most of the time. BUT, there's something about my kids! I puffed up quickly and stood between him and them. I MADE IT CLEAR he was not to speak to my children! He said they might hit his camper with their ball...

I asked if he HAD heard or seen them hit his camper. He said no.

I politely (as much as I could) told him NOT to speak to my boys. If he has a problem with them, he can find me and I will handle it.

Before everybody gets up in arms. I believe that ANY adult has the right to scold any child if the child is about to harm himself, others or property that doesn't belong to him.

BUT YOU DO NOT parent my children. I DO THAT. We don't spare the staff in my house, I will deliver whatever punishment is needed. BUT, I WILL NOT accept someone else passing judgement on them. It's confusing for them and not that old man's place.

Sufficed to say, at 6 feet to his 5'5" or so, he got the message. We didn't see him the rest of the trip! :)

If the only one you want parenting your children is YOU, then why weren't YOU parenting them. You said yourself they wandered off and played ball near his trailer. What was he supposed to do? Wait for you to get in gear and do what you were supposed to already be doing? The thing you insist only you SHOULD be doing, but weren't?

Nice job intimidating a little old man who was just trying to protect his property from your kids. Puff up your chest all you want, but I'd probably tell your kids to leave too, although I wouldn't yell at them. But that's just me. Of course, I'm neither elderly nor 5"5".

Prior to retiring & getting into this RV thing I was owner/operator of a small tourboat business which involved hours of one on one contact with clients. You can't do that kind of work if you have a closed private personality.

Walking the CG I won't miss a chance to give unsolicited smart a$$ed advice or a comment, in a nice way of course. This will often give a response in kind & off we go from there with the usual questions & blah blah blah.

We fly our small Bermuda flag from the pinbox. That will often spark a question from passersby. We have 2 Downtube foldup bikes. Lots of strangers have had test rides on them & the yap yap goes from there. We also use a Magma marine grill. You don't see many of them in a CG so that often gets a question & inspection & off we go from there. The biggest conversation starter is our trailer. Alpenlite is not a very well known name. It is virtually unseen east of the Mississippi. Lots of nickle tours have been given.

After the days drive & setup I am ready for a nap. Not the DW. Off she goes for a walkaround & an hour or so later comes back with all of the CG gossip.

Weekday people in a far from full CG seem to be more outgoing than the weekend warriors on a mission to enjoy themselves in 2 nights. Travelers on a common trip like going to Alaska are far more likely to be chatty than those doing a regular 2 or 3 week holiday trip & are in a hurry to cram as much in as possible not leaving much time for late night fireside chats.

Just my observations after 8 years of 150 nights per year & 140,000 miles of thoroughly enjoying myself.

One thing I've noticed, and it may just be me or where we camp (usually state and federal parks) is that people in the Southeast are much more friendly than people in the Southwest. But, it could be related to time of year - I spent summer and fall in the Southeast and winter in the southwest. Related to that, I find the weekend people to be friendlier than fulltimer people. But, it could go back to time of year or location. Weekender people seem much more excited and happy to be in a campground. I'm looking forward to summer...

There are socially inept and awkward RV'ers. Just move on, or make a friend. Good luck.

et2 wrote:

pk1023 wrote:
Yeah, it's all about reading people and finding out what they want from the interaction with you.

Two years ago we took an awful trip to Caboose Lake in Resselear, IN for Memorial Day. It was COLD and rainy almost from the moment we pulled in.

For the most part everyone seemed very nice. We were setup and my boys (6 and 8 at the time) were playing catch with a baseball and mitts behind our unit. They must have wandered over behind the elderly gentleman's 5'er behind us at some point.

I am on the other side of the camper and I hear him starting to holler at the boys. I walk over to see what is going on... He THEN with me present yells at my children not to play ball on his site and to "get back on their own side"

I consider myself to be a bit of a pushover and not one to fight most of the time. BUT, there's something about my kids! I puffed up quickly and stood between him and them. I MADE IT CLEAR he was not to speak to my children! He said they might hit his camper with their ball...

I asked if he HAD heard or seen them hit his camper. He said no.

I politely (as much as I could) told him NOT to speak to my boys. If he has a problem with them, he can find me and I will handle it.

Before everybody gets up in arms. I believe that ANY adult has the right to scold any child if the child is about to harm himself, others or property that doesn't belong to him.

BUT YOU DO NOT parent my children. I DO THAT. We don't spare the staff in my house, I will deliver whatever punishment is needed. BUT, I WILL NOT accept someone else passing judgement on them. It's confusing for them and not that old man's place.

Sufficed to say, at 6 feet to his 5'5" or so, he got the message. We didn't see him the rest of the trip! :)

He had every right to tell your kids to play on there own site. People have a lot of money invested in there rigs. I had a situation when someone didn't care about the boundary for their kids. They were just playing catch too. No problem until one missed the ball and it ended up in the side of my brand new dually denting it. The owner could have cared less and said they were just playing, accidents happen.

He too puffed his chest and was all arrogant about my telling his kids to move on. His departure at the hands of the campground came next or he would have been talking to the police.

I guess he thought since you weren't taking the roll of a parent seriously he had to step in.

Beer usually helps as an ice breaker!