Camping Altercations?

In over 50 years camping our only such problem happened just last year. Overnight while we slept, someone stole our sewer hose out of the RV compartment. The hose was still in the storeage compartment and was not hooked up to the sewer drain (I don't hook up until we are ready to leave each campground) and in the morning I found the hose and tank controls door open with the hose gone. Before leaving the campground that day I bought a new RINO hose and a lock that I put on the door.

We had driven 450 miles with my wife driving our new classic car that was just picked up from the shop while I towed the trailer with our Dodge. Had reservations at this brand new park and were going a little out of our way to head there. Had some issues during the journey that delayed us from our original daylight arrival into a late night arrival. Called ahead and was told it was not an issue.

Pulled in and picked up the night registration packet with instructions on where to go. The park has several hundred spaces and at this point in time had maybe 4 or 5 rigs in total. Wife asks me where she should park. I instruct her to park in the empty site (the entire row was empty too) opposite ours with the headlights on to help us back in.

The extra light was very helpful and we succeeded in backing the rig in. I was just about to hookup the electric when the "camp security guy" approached. I figured he was there to greet us... nope. First words out of his mouth "is that your car over there?" "How dare you park in a site that is not yours. I almost called the Sheriff to have it towed!"

I immediately apologized and began to walk over to move it but he kept on going "you did not tell us you were bringing a second car for all I know you are car thieves and are committing some sort of fraud..." blah blah blah and on and on he went for at least 2-3 minutes. It was at the point where both my wife and I (we had our 13 month old son with us too) felt very threatened.

At this point I had that decision to make, you know the one, do I just let it go and move on or risk having to pack up and roll down the road? I decided I was okay with moving on if need be and turned my inner aggressor ON. I let the guy have it, in a civil manner of course ;). Finally the manager came over and apologized.

The next day I contacted the park management firm and laid the story out for them; we have 5 nights free stay at that park plus another week stay at any of their other parks.

In fact the only "altercations" we have ever had at parks usually centers around rude or obnoxious staff members. Just this last week we were calling around for a place to stay and this "Resort" lady laughs at me and responds "why would we have any sites open this time of year?" Nice customer service lady not staying at your park ever.

Never had much trouble with anyone besides a few loud parties but I have a dog that tends to discourage any trouble. I have seen some scuffles at boat ramps the best one being two drunk guys who had just let their truck and boat turn into a submarine. They knocked each others false teeth out. I felt sort of sorry for them because neither was at fault. They were both standing in front of the truck when there was a loud pop. I figure the E brake cable snapped. Of course it was not in gear and running so I suppose the driver had some fault. By submarine I mean the whole thing was gone (deep lake), just bubbles. It took a diver to get a cable on it.

pasusan wrote:

Dr. Blake wrote:
Not really an altercation. My wife, my 7-8 month old son and I were on our very first road trip as a family. We traveled from Calgary, through BC, into Washington State and ended up Idaho. We camped and the Mudhole (AC campground) which we really like even though it is a bit close to the highway. We pull in with our tent trailer and setup camp. A fellow camper comes over and starts to chat which was great. We are chatting for about 20 minutes, it’s very friendly. Towards the end of the conversation he starts to tell me about his gun, how good a shot he is and that he has a site on it for longer range shooting at night. I don’t really have much to say, I’m from Canada, hand guns are illegal and I am not really familiar with them. He then tells me I had better keep it down at night, keep my son on a lease (he couldn’t walk at that point) and follow the rules. I was dumbfounded, I stated I was with my family, we like to hike during the day, my son goes to bed at 7 pm and we then just quietly sit around the fire. He left back to his own site.

That whole 4 days they were there they ran their contractor generator past the suitable hours, had bonfires and disregarded a whole host of other rules. What a bonehead.

We still love to camp in the USA and 99.99% of people have been great, but that guy was tough pill to swallow!

Sounds like you ran into Cube58... :E

Now that's funny. :B

Other than the occasional loud drunk party, I've never seen an altercation in over 10 years.

Dr. Blake wrote:
Not really an altercation. My wife, my 7-8 month old son and I were on our very first road trip as a family. We traveled from Calgary, through BC, into Washington State and ended up Idaho. We camped and the Mudhole (AC campground) which we really like even though it is a bit close to the highway. We pull in with our tent trailer and setup camp. A fellow camper comes over and starts to chat which was great. We are chatting for about 20 minutes, it’s very friendly. Towards the end of the conversation he starts to tell me about his gun, how good a shot he is and that he has a site on it for longer range shooting at night. I don’t really have much to say, I’m from Canada, hand guns are illegal and I am not really familiar with them. He then tells me I had better keep it down at night, keep my son on a lease (he couldn’t walk at that point) and follow the rules. I was dumbfounded, I stated I was with my family, we like to hike during the day, my son goes to bed at 7 pm and we then just quietly sit around the fire. He left back to his own site.

That whole 4 days they were there they ran their contractor generator past the suitable hours, had bonfires and disregarded a whole host of other rules. What a bonehead.

We still love to camp in the USA and 99.99% of people have been great, but that guy was tough pill to swallow!

Sounds like you ran into Cube58... :E

Not really an altercation. My wife, my 7-8 month old son and I were on our very first road trip as a family. We traveled from Calgary, through BC, into Washington State and ended up Idaho. We camped and the Mudhole (AC campground) which we really like even though it is a bit close to the highway. We pull in with our tent trailer and setup camp. A fellow camper comes over and starts to chat which was great. We are chatting for about 20 minutes, it’s very friendly. Towards the end of the conversation he starts to tell me about his gun, how good a shot he is and that he has a site on it for longer range shooting at night. I don’t really have much to say, I’m from Canada, hand guns are illegal and I am not really familiar with them. He then tells me I had better keep it down at night, keep my son on a lease (he couldn’t walk at that point) and follow the rules. I was dumbfounded, I stated I was with my family, we like to hike during the day, my son goes to bed at 7 pm and we then just quietly sit around the fire. He left back to his own site.

That whole 4 days they were there they ran their contractor generator past the suitable hours, had bonfires and disregarded a whole host of other rules. What a bonehead.

We still love to camp in the USA and 99.99% of people have been great, but that guy was tough pill to swallow!

I'm always 'packing in the open' as most states have :) open carry laws and I never have any dog problems or party noise.:B

donandmax wrote:

JC2 wrote:
If mother nature would do a periodic gene culling of the human race, a lot of these types of people would not be a problem.;) My tolerance for morons is 0 and the appropriate response is always taken when I encounter one.

Wish we could make that happen !!

Mother Nature tries to do this each and every day, but our Gov't with it's entitlement programs prevents Mother Nature at being successful.

Not an altercation but a fire. Father and sons were in a tent camping next to us. When it was time for them to leave we had a light drizzle. The father told the one son to get rid of the hot charcoal, which he did. He threw it into the brush. A couple hours later my wife just happened to look out the window and said that the next site was on fire. I ran out hollering fire, fire. I grabbed my spare hose and the friend in the other side spot got his hose and we were able to put it out before the fire department got there. They dug up the area and put foam on it. After all was said and done, I asked the fire department who had to pay the bill since they were volunteer. He said that the people would get getting a bill for a few thousand dollars.