Survey; Lost camping spot to rude camper - Page 2

mbCik · 05-16-2015, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by itat

Do they not have site posts on state park sites? If you reserved the site there must be a better way to indicate you've reserved it than to just put a tablecloth on the picnic table.

I've seen people leave stuff like that behind so if that's the ONLY indication you reserved the site I wouldn't call it rude.

At our provincial parks they have posts at every site where you put your reservation ticket. If you had that and he ignored it, that would be rude.

X2! I have kids and after a long car drive I might not be in the right mind to stop and think through the fact that somebody left it on purpose.

**wmtire** · 05-16-2015, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KDHfan

I pulled into a park last year and there was a guy and his wife on my site, still hooked up but sitting in chairs... Relaxing. I had booked the site 10-months earlier because it was our favorite one in the park. I went up to the office to inquire.
"He's having issues with the trailer brakes. He said he called a repair company but they're not sure if they can get out here today."
So I waited about 30-minutes (with tired kiddos, no wife). They never moved from the chairs... So I figured I'd have a chat. After talking a few minutes, something didn't add up. They showed me where they were supposed to be (a very non-private site), and how they came about ending up in my site. I was a little more than suspicious... And asked him to pull foward a bit. After doing so, I walked around to the front and pointed "Um... Your emergency brake connector is pulled away."
He sheepishly stuck it back in, and pulled on over to his assigned site.

2015 Coachmen Apex 288BHS
2014 Tundra 5.7 CrewMax

I wonder if he had gotten away with that one before.

Cornelius · 05-16-2015, 12:16 PM

A similar thing happened to me at Disney's Ft. Wilderness Campground. On the second day I was there, I drove my Roadtrek van camper to Animal Kingdom. The staff said it would be faster than their bus. When I returned that evening, some guy was set up in my site. He said someone else was in his site, so he just took another one! Disney didn't want to offend the guy and make him move, so they assigned me a different site.

CNYCamper · 05-16-2015, 12:53 PM

Didn't want to offend a guy who stole your site? Beautiful. We take time to reserve beautiful waterfront sites. Have never encountered someone set-up on our site. We will get people with their lawn chairs enjoying the view, but they leave when we pull in...especially after I release the hounds.
What ticks me off in recent years are people who think its OK to stroll and take shortcuts thru my site. Have these people never watched an old western? Even bad guys know enough to not ride into a camp without asking.

tande · 05-16-2015, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjones12

I guess some of the folks you are describing are part of the "entitlement generation." They think they are entitled to do anything they want, without regard for others, so long as it fits their selfish agenda. I know they are a minority, but I hate being around them.

Where I come from, it's called the "Hooray/For/Me-The /He!!/With/You" mentality......the "Dumbing/Down" of society in general.....so sad.....

wetland · 05-16-2015, 01:13 PM

I've purchased a lightweight dome tent to set up when we go out for the day. That, a cheap chair and a cheap ice chest or box on the table should keep most people away.

widogmom · 05-16-2015, 01:38 PM

When we take a site the day before at a county or state park campground, we "tent reserve;" that is, pitch a tent and fill out our paperwork, then come back with the rig when we're ready to start camping. We've never had anything messed with, but I suppose it's not outside the realm of possibility. Never arrived to find anybody in our site, but I've come to find some nasty messes (bottle caps, cigarette butts, gum that may or may not contain xylitol, etc.) from time to time. Sorry you had such a negative experience.

Still Kickin · 05-16-2015, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forbes

While in FL we had to take the RV to the dealer to change out to our new RV, we did not return until after dark. We had left choirs, table full of things covered with tarp, name sign at the site. When we got back someone had moved everything across the road and taken our site by the water. I called the campground guard and he made them move out of site and also move everything back across the road they had moved then proceeded to inform them that he did not have another spot for them to move to and they would have to leave. They ask about the spot they had moved our things to and he said "someone is coming in later tonight for it". That spot stayed empty the whole time we where there.

The ending gives you a warm feeling inside.

Still Kickin · 05-16-2015, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by itat

Do they not have site posts on state park sites? If you reserved the site there must be a better way to indicate you've reserved it than to just put a tablecloth on the picnic table.

I've seen people leave stuff like that behind so if that's the ONLY indication you reserved the site I wouldn't call it rude.

At our provincial parks they have posts at every site where you put your reservation ticket. If you had that and he ignored it, that would be rude.

"We had left chairs, table full of things covered with tarp, name sign at the site. When we got back someone had moved everything across the road and taken our site by the water."

How about this guy? Think he might have crossed the "rude" boundry in your opinion. I'm guessing by what people perceive, a table cloth, "I can BS my way when the guy shows up". because i'm a member of the entitlement class. But, the moving of all this guys stuff, he needs to teach the class on rude. Their both bad people, plan and simple.

rthomaslyons · 05-16-2015, 02:22 PM

Since I've retired I almost always camp during the week and practically never on holidays, it brings out the rowdies. Regular campers practically are never rude to one another, weekenders have a greater number of jerks. We mostly want to get away from the routines and crazies and it sure can pump up the blood pressure when you encounter one. I paid for an electrical spot at Warroad and found a guy from an unserviced lot a hundred or so feet away plugging into the last 30 amp plug on my post. I unplugged him and plugged my trailer in. He snuck up and unplugged me and I went ballistic. Thankfully they don't let us Canadians carry guns because there could have been an international incident right there. Fortunately when I went to the office to complain they gave me a 50 amp adaptor and I regained my composure. Oh yes, I was still working then and a little tightly wound.

**dcheatwood** · 05-16-2015, 02:52 PM

It could be that he actually thought it was vacated. The main thing is that he moved when you told him of the situation. Perhaps a "reserved" sing or traffic cone would prevent future incidents.

WY Husker Fan · 05-16-2015, 02:54 PM

And that isn't rude? Not allowed at Forest Service campgrounds in Wyoming at first come first serve sites. Cannot leave the site unattended overnight. Really frustrating for those of us that follow the rules to not be able to find a site because someone "tent reserved" a site.

WY Husker Fan · 05-16-2015, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by widogmom

When we take a site the day before at a county or state park campground, we "tent reserve;" that is, pitch a tent and fill out our paperwork, then come back with the rig when we're ready to start camping. We've never had anything messed with, but I suppose it's not outside the realm of possibility. Never arrived to find anybody in our site, but I've come to find some nasty messes (bottle caps, cigarette butts, gum that may or may not contain xylitol, etc.) from time to time. Sorry you had such a negative experience.

Previous post referred to this post!

itat · 05-16-2015, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Still Kickin

"We had left chairs, table full of things covered with tarp, name sign at the site. When we got back someone had moved everything across the road and taken our site by the water."

How about this guy? Think he might have crossed the "rude" boundry in your opinion. I'm guessing by what people perceive, a table cloth, "I can BS my way when the guy shows up". because i'm a member of the entitlement class. But, the moving of all this guys stuff, he needs to teach the class on rude. Their both bad people, plan and simple.

Forbes left his site looking a lot more inhabited than just a tablecloth, and I'd call the guy that moved all his stuff worse than rude.

If you left your site with nothing more than a tablecloth on the picnic table - no reservation receipt in a sign post, no chairs, etc. - then I'd be more forgiving to the guy that parked on your site. Now, if you showed him your reservation receipt after you got back and he refused to move, he's a jerk.

I don't have a motorhome, I have a TT so for me it always gets left on the site.

Zolin · 05-16-2015, 06:36 PM

Many, if not most of the public parks I camp require a tent or some kind do dwelling structure to secure a sight for self or someone else. I have placed chairs, coolers, etc only to have someone still move onto an unreserved spot while I went to register. Now I leave my wife there. No one argues with her and wins....lol. I like the idea of a cone and a sign though

Still Kickin · 05-16-2015, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by itat

Forbes left his site looking a lot more inhabited than just a tablecloth, and I'd call the guy that moved all his stuff worse than rude.

If you left your site with nothing more than a tablecloth on the picnic table - no reservation receipt in a sign post, no chairs, etc. - then I'd be more forgiving to the guy that parked on your site. Now, if you showed him your reservation receipt after you got back and he refused to move, he's a jerk.

I don't have a motorhome, I have a TT so for me it always gets left on the site.

So, rather than take one of the 10 plus empty sites, within sight distance, he decided to lift my table cloth "because" after all he had that very site the rest of the weekend. He imediately asked me "well how long are you going to be here anyway" was drinking BEER and started to yell to his wife hiding in the rv, looks like he is going to make us move"

He IS part of the entitlement class, AND had two teenage daughters which by his STUPID actions, sends them the wrong message; just be like dad and you will get what you want. Making excuses for a lazy sh__ is no excuse. In the imortal words of Dean Wormer (Animal House) "Son, fat drunk and stupid is noway to go through life". Maybe, just maybe he will circum to his wife next time, telling him "oh no, your not doing this again".

Zolin · 05-16-2015, 07:03 PM

That was rude of him. Try a sign next time...in a motor home....away..sight reserved!

conceptumator · 05-16-2015, 07:27 PM

Here's a good one for you. We had an upgraded pull thru patio site reserved at KOA in Nashville the first part of April. One night only as we were on our run home, but we had spent 10 nights in the same KOA earlier in March, not to mention the 40 or so nights over the last two years at that campground. Always good, never a problem. This time, we got there and they said they didn't have our site. Had the reservation, just no site. We would up spending the night in the resident area (barely hot in and out!) and the manager comped our night the next morning when we left. Turns out what had happened was they had a rally group come in before we arrived. They assigned them the site types they had reserved, but these folks wanted to be closer together so they took it upon themselves to move to whatever site they wanted to. When confronted and told to move, they pretended not to speak any English (not sure what language they supposedly spoke) and refused to move. Instead of calling the cops, KOA decided to just let it go and the rest of us basically got shafted. Not sure what rally group it was, but if I could find out I'd definitely be giving their organizers a piece of my mind. Don't get me wrong, KOA fixed our issue the best they could and I'll be back there but if that ever happens again, I may be physically pulling some RV's out to clear my reserved spot!

Forbes · 05-16-2015, 07:35 PM

What we had done was bought a new 5th wheel and was taking our old one in and doing some change over at the dealers we thought we would be back by 5 or 6 pm but it was closer to 8 and getting dark. The guard on duty knew we where coming back but had not seen them move our things or he would have stopped them for sure. But when he did show up it was not to be friendly or let it go. He made them pack up, move out move our things back as we pulled in and after everything was done told them "There are no more spots", don't know where they went but not there.

vinmaker · 05-16-2015, 08:24 PM

WOW.

To the original poster. It sounds a bit like a theft. You paid money to reserve that site with the office when you checked in. The money paid was for the enjoyment of that site. The squatter userpt your right to that enjoyment. He stole your entitlement to the financial detriment to you. It is too bad that there was not a ranger on site to take care of the situation.

As far as the table cloth goes. I am not sure that was a very overt expression of possession. Placing a tent and chairs should be sufficient. I would be so mad if I went to the bath house and someone moved all my stuff because they felt like it.

I do not stay in public parks because I am not set up to boondock. In a private campground you get a bit more service. I guess the $100 a night buys you something. lol.

From all the stories listed here, it sounds like these public parks are the wild west.

I definitely feel for you though.

Vin.

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