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SpeakEasy's avatar
SpeakEasy
Explorer
Jul 07, 2016

Funny Story

Maybe you have one of these too.

First thing you have to understand is that I am NOT a generator guy. I have been known to approach fellow campers who are running a LOUD generator after hours to ask them to turn it off. I absolutely hate the noise. And no one has ever been able to convince me that the "quiet" ones (ie Honda 2000, 3000 etc) are actually quiet. No way. No how. No generator for me.

Fast forward to early this week.

We have a camping outing planned for next week. We'll be at a venue that has no hookups. This will be our first time doing this (no hookups) in our new-to-us travel trailer. I am used to boondocking, but not in this trailer. My experience has been in a 15-year-old popup without all the modern electronics. No "phantom" power draw issues. So I really don't know how long to expect our battery to hold up.

So in the midst of planning and thinking about these things, I decided to use the WeatherBug app to see what they're saying about the forecast for the time we'll be at the campground. I was distressed to see daily high temperatures forecast for the upper 90's, with overnight lows in the mid 70's. Now I've camped in those conditions before, and it hasn't been pretty. It seemed such a shame to think about doing that again, in a trailer that has a lovely air conditioner ... that I can't use.

Believe it or not, I started thinking about ways I could get a generator - just for the event. Rent one for five days? Possibly. Buy a used on on craigslist then sell it? Workable idea. Buy a new one, use it and return it? No. Not ethical. I even thought for a brief moment about buying one and keeping it.

I kept this up for about a day. I even made a rental reservation for a five-day rental. Then I went back and checked the weather forecast again. The event I'll be going to is in New York State. Imagine my surprise when I found that my WeatherBug app took me to a town with the same name - in Alabama!!! Well, no wonder! Upper 90's and mid 70's makes perfect sense in Alabama in July. When I got to the RIGHT town, in NYS, I found predictions of low to mid 80's for highs and mid 60's for lows. That I can live with!

Cancel the generator rental.

Time for a little self-reflection reality check.

I guess next time I hear a genny in a campground I'll have to be a little less judgmental.

:)

So what's YOUR story?

-Speak
  • bucky wrote:
    Aren't sound guys the ones that run the boards at concerts where the decibel readings are well over 100 at 100 yards?


    Some ... but not me. :p
  • wnjj's avatar
    wnjj
    Explorer II
    2oldman wrote:
    mabynack wrote:
    I use to work with a girl in the AF who made a similar mistake.
    what mistake?


    Right city, wrong state or country, like the OP.
  • Here's another funny story on the quiet hours issue. We were camping last week in our new Rockwood Signature fifth wheel at Ohiopyle State park in Pennsylvania. (OK, t's not really camping in this thing, with theatre seats, a fireplace and central air, but what the heck.) It's near the Frank lloyd Wright house, Fallingwater. The state park rules made clear that quiet hours were from 10PM to 8AM, so we were tip toeing around and making sure we kept our voices down when walking the dogs, made sure the dogs didn't bark at all, closing car doors quietly, all that stuff, even though there were only a few campers near us.

    Next morning at 7:15 we hear this awful racket along with a chain saw revving. We pull up the shade and look our our window. Here the state park hired a wood crew to come in and take out some bad trees right next to our campsite. The huge wood chipper powered by a auto V-8 was grinding and roaring away while the chain saws buzzed around us like angry (loud) bees. All at 7:15 AM.

    Oh well, so much for quiet hours. Ohipyle State park was gorgeous otherwise...
  • dave17352 wrote:
    My eu3000 is very very very quiet. But it is not silent. Typically it purrs like a kitten on eco mode. I have had many a camper walking by and say more or less I didn't even know that thing was running. I tried the contractor type once, and I do mean once. I was to embarrassed to run it. :)


    I also have an Eu3000-a few years ago, someone walked past it to get to a cooler, and said, "Hey, this thing's running!" He hadn't heard it even a couple feet away...he had felt the heat from the cooling fan! Yes, the Eu gensets are THAT good.
  • I too am perplexed and frustrated with fellow campers that keep their gens running ALL day! If we fire ours up, it's to nuke some food or cool the camper with a/c in the early evening. In both cases, it will typically run far less than 30-minutes.

    Funny though - a generator sure seems way quieter than most Harley's or quads I see cruising around, yet people sit on top of them for hours at a time!

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