Camping Etiquette

[SKnight]

So someone went to leave to enjoy their day, they started their blankety blank diesel, let it warm up, you don't say how long this took, five minutes? An hour? And it got you to a state of needing to calm down?

You've never done something that was bothersome to anyone?

Know what gets my dander up? Besides other people wandering through sites and other mentioned things.

When the campfire conversation gets cranked up and there's that one screaming laugher. You know, laughing at the top of their lungs, I guess to get attention. Usually while I'm trying to either quietly read or get to bed so early the next morning I can fire up my blankety blank diesel and go enjoy my day.

I'm sorry you got woke up, but why worry about it so much? Must be like blade of grass, sway with the breeze, not like stiff twig, easily broken.

[Seasonal]

Although never bothered by it, I've experienced the 6am, neighbor, twenty/thirty minute warm up for the diesel. Is that really necessary?

[OL Creeker]

Yep, it's a Ford.

[SKnight]

Originally Posted by my_crib_too

Although never bothered by it, I've experienced the 6am, neighbor, twenty/thirty minute warm up for the diesel. Is that really necessary?

There's a belief from the old days of diesels that they had to be fully warm with the thermostat open to run properly. Unfortunately that takes a long time when idling.

Any diesel built in the last 20 years will be fine, fire and drive it unloaded, they're ready to haul by the time you get hooked up to the trailer.

[campdohbrew]

Originally Posted by MillerTime

My main pet peeve is animals in public walk ways, not in thier sites (we have little kids), or thier "business" not being cleaned up.
But even more is someone walking thru your site. We are teaching our kids cg boundaries, and that is thier site, walk around to ours.

Oh another one is tent campers wanting to use your electric for a coffee pot or something. Thats just awkward.

MillerTime- Future Sabre Handler!!

I have never had anyone ask to use the electric to brew morning coffee. That is just taking advantage of another person. Anybody going camping and knowing they drink coffee should either get the old time drip pot or a camping site with electricity. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for helping others, but my goodness a camping trip is preplanned.

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by OL Creeker

Yep, it's a Ford.

You watch what you post, I wouldn't pull a golf cart with a GMC......

[GJones]

I don't mean to hijack the thread , but I'm guessing the OP has a GREAT taste in music. This comes from a fellow Hazelnut

[Firefighter969]

Originally Posted by davel1971

I would rather hear a few minutes of a truck running than non-stop dog barking

X2 I own a diesel myself there is no reason for it to warm up unless it is very cold out.I do let any of my vehicles idle for at least 30 seconds or so before I go in to drive when I start them up.

[iceblaze580]

If I end up pulling out of camp early I usually warn my neighbors the day before I hook up the night before I leave and try to be as quiet as possible

[Oakman]

Early morning noise, diesel or otherwise, is part of camping with other RVers, suck it up Buttercup or buy some noise cancelling headphones.

[Enconcapt]

The last time I dealt with the noisy early AM leaver it was very pleseant. I had a tiny truck camper and he had the biggest coach with the most slides I had ever seen. The DH stopped over and said they needed to leave at 5:30AM and he was sorry that he needed to warm up the diesel to take in slides, jackets etc. He said they had some left over firewood he would leave is if we wanted and I thanked him, we were all out.
The DW and I woke up when he fired up the engine and were happy when they finally left. It seemed to take them forever and the engine would rev up at as they pulled everything in and raised the jacks. We fell back asleep for awhile and when I got up I saw a bag on the table outside, and a big pile of firewood. I went out and found two fresh muffins and a small note that just said "Sorry".

I regret not introducing myself to them, they were obviously real nice people, I guess we were a little intimidated in our old, tiny, very used camper next to their rig that looked bigger and nicer, and much more expensive than our house.

[iceblaze580]

Communication with your fellow camper can go a long way

[Crabbyguy]

Originally Posted by Oakman

Early morning noise, diesel or otherwise, is part of camping with other RVers,

X2. Truck noise is all part of it. I rarely sleep-in while camping, to much on my mind and things to do. Either way, I always have a loud fan blowing to muffle out the noise outside while I sleep. I've had times (because of the fan) that I woke up, looked outside and everyone is gone I didn't hear a thing.

I never had tenters wanting to use my electric but had one weird young couple in an older motor home ask to use my truck to go to the store. Nope and there's the bus stop. They were a little upset with me. No more "hi or how ya doing?" after that which was fine with me. In the long run, most problems I've had with neighbors is due to their heavy drinking....it's rare though.

[Cowracer]

As a owner of a 'blankity-blank' diesel, I just say one thing... If you want total peace and quiet, Antarctica is a nice place. Until then, your stress level would be much lower if you come to realize that the guy with the diesel has every right to enjoy his camping his way, as you do to enjoy your camping your way.

Sitting in his truck revving it up for no reason is being un-neighborly. Simple starting it up in order to head out isn't. Or maybe you should leave a note on his windsheild letting him know what times meet your approval for him to start his truck? :sacasm:

Tim

[caper]

I would rather hear a camper leaving at 6am then have a group of loud drunks around their camp fire at 2am. We had a group last year that were around the fire till 3:30 I am a fulltime camper and had to go to work at 7am. Did not get much sleep that night. The owner of the CG was at their site several times trying to get them to quite down. This same group even wrote a letter to KOA complaining that the owners would not let them have fun because they were asked to lower the noise level at 1 in the morning. The CG has a 11pm quite rule. When I had to go to work I made as much noise as I could. When I got home the same people came over to my camp site and told me I was being inconsiderate by waking them up at 7 when they were trying to sleep.

[WrongWayRandall]

Noise is part of staying in a campground regardless of whether it is from a diesel engine, generator, children, etc. (as long as it is not during posted quiet hours.) Cutting through other people's spots, leaving bikes in the road, unattended children wreaking havoc, making a mess in the restrooms, trashing a spot and then leaving it that way - now that's a different story...

- Randy

[MillerTime]

Originally Posted by WrongWayRandall

Noise is part of staying in a campground regardless of whether it is from a diesel engine, generator, children, etc. (as long as it is not during posted quiet hours.) Cutting through other people's spots, leaving bikes in the road, unattended children wreaking havoc, making a mess in the restrooms, trashing a spot and then leaving it that way - now that's a different story...

- Randy

Well said!

MillerTime- Future Sabre Handler!!

[campdohbrew]

Originally Posted by Crabbyguy

X2. Truck noise is all part of it. I rarely sleep-in while camping, to much on my mind and things to do. Either way, I always have a loud fan blowing to muffle out the noise outside while I sleep. I've had times (because of the fan) that I woke up, looked outside and everyone is gone I didn't hear a thing.

I never had tenters wanting to use my electric but had one weird young couple in an older motor home ask to use my truck to go to the store. Nope and there's the bus stop. They were a little upset with me. No more "hi or how ya doing?" after that which was fine with me. In the long run, most problems I've had with neighbors is due to their heavy drinking....it's rare though.

Gee – you had someone want to use your truck. Nobody gives a complete stranger their vehicle. They had the gall to get mad with you because you would not give them your truck.

Man, they have people in court all the time because they let someone they KNOW use their vehicle. Often times, what they don’t know is the borrower has a DWI/DUI and a suspended driver license.

[jbrostek]

Others have said it better then I could. When I am out camping I sleep in (about 7-8am) if someone is up and making noise but at least trying to keep it to a minimum, then its OK by me. If I wanted less noise, I should not be staying in a 100+ site campground.

But there is no way to leave in silence, be it a blankity-blank-blank diesel or a gasser. But my old DP needed time to air up the system, and while I tried to limit how long I had to idle in my site I still had to idle it before I could put it in drive and move towards the exit.

With the new 5th wheel and the truck, its the same way. I do as much as I can till I need to hitch up. Then I start the engine and hook up and unless it is going to be an excessive amount of time before I start pulling out of the site I let it idle. Diesels do not like working hard when they are cold, and a few minutes of idle time is not excessive.

In comparison, it would be no different when someone fires up a gas vehicle with a zoomie exhaust, heck some sound very loud only due to their exhaust tone.

[comfun1]

Funny thing about campground noise. I go to the "Little Sahara" and camp where there are hundreds of people all around you with their four wheelers, side by sides, dune buggies, motorcycles etc. People are riding these things in and out of the campground all day and all night, some with no mufflers, lots of noise, people shouting over the sound of their engines and music playing. I go there to ride and join them and the noise never bothers me a bit, not even when it wakes me in the middle of the night.

Now when I used to visit Rocky Mountain National Park the campground was very still and quiet. My wife and I would get up before sunrise and enjoy our coffee by the campfire. Until that is, someone at another campsite, sometimes several hundred yards away would fire up their diesel and let it rattle and reverberate through the mountains while it warms up. It's as if to say, "Whee, look at me everybody, I own a diesel!".

So the moral of this story is, if you go to a quiet campground you expect peace and quiet. Go to a loud and noisy campground and join in the fun. Go figure.