Jerry S, Your statistics about the number of RV parks that allow fires is interesting. Maybe more parks where we've stayed have allowed fires and we just didn't know it. It's possible we just didn't notice the fire rings or fires--especially if they weren't bothering us. I am sure we've never had someone else's smoke blowing right into our coach. That we would have noticed for sure!! Maybe I should amend my statement to say that for whatever reason people did not seem to have fires at about 95% of the places we've stayed. Also we've never been to Paragon, but we have stayed at Coushatta about 4 times, and I cannot remember ever seeing a fire or fire rings there--or even a BBQ. Maybe my mind is farther gone than I thought. We just may need to make a trip over there to check it out!!!!
QUOTE(Jerry S. @ Feb 7 2007, 09:58 PM) [snapback]6020[/snapback] Anyway, back to this string. For Cheryl F, Txrv, and COWolfpack: Either you guys never go to the variety of parks or areas (think northeast, midwest, northern plains,etc.) that I do or you go to RV only parks. Jerry, Actually I have never been to an RV only park. The campgrounds we have been to have allowed everything from tents to big rigs. We do a lot of our camping in state parks and national forests. Unfortunately at this time in our lives we don't have much time for travel so we normally stay within our home state. Hopefully as we get older we will have more time to travel but that is still some time away. Usually the sites are far enough apart in state parks or national forests to have a campfire without bothering anyone else. We do take the opportunity at times like this and do enjoy a campfire. However, if the sites are so close that we can't have a fire without smoke blowing into our or a neighbors rig, or risking ember damage, we have no problems forgoing the fire.
I have served as a volunteer camp host at a state park. One of the duties was to clean fire pits. I can assure you that if anyone performs that chore for 45 sites, you will have a greater appreciation for the anti-fire pit group - especially on Monday morning after all the week-end warriors have left. RVers of all types - tent, trailer, 5W, and motor homes - put aluminum cans, plastic material, and assorted trash in the fire rings. They will drag the biggest part of a fallen tree onto the campsite and start burning it at one end expecting it to be completely gone in a couple hours. Some will try to build a fire so big that it would melt all of the tents in the campground and could be seen from the space station. I suspect that any self respecting home owner would not want to permeate their home with smoke and fire residue, so why would they want to do so in their or someone else's RV? There is a time and place for a camp fire as long as it comes with courtesy and common sense. Perhaps if the individual camper had to clean his/her own fire ring after use, there would be less camp fires. Now........about leaving the bathhouse in a mess!!! Rick
Hi Rick (RLM), I have been waiting for someone to mention that some people will throw almost anything into a fire or use it as a garbage recepticle. I hinted at it in my initial post. I have seen everything you mentioned plus: old wood from furniture, fences, buidlings, etc., every imaginable paper product (newspapers, magazines, boxes, etc.), and numerous non-combustables. Pro-fire participants in this string have talked about using only aged, dry wood. Good for them (and us), but I don't believe they are the majority. Unless your firewood has gone straight from being a tree, with a proper drying period, to being firewood, it is probably inappropriate to burn. If it has been a table, a fence, a porch, a magazine, a paper cup, etc., it has gone through some sort of process which has added possibly toxic chemicals (paint, varnish, ink, wax, etc.). Oops, I'm starting to fall of my pedestal. I can only hope some of my preaching reaches the ears that need to hear it. Thanks again for bringing this part of the issue to light - without a fire. Jerry S.
We have stayed at very few Campground and RV Parks - we look for mainly RV Parks. Out of your list Jerry, we have stayed at numerous parks in WY and MT, but have never been any place there that had fire pits. As for running our generator, in the 2 1/2 yrs, we have been rv'ing, only twice have we been allowed to run our generator while parked in our space. It clearly states in the park rules that generators may not be run. The 2 times we were allowed to run it, it was over 100 degrees and the power was out - once at Blazing Star in Texas and once at Terry Bison Ranch in Wyoming. Oh, and by the way, my dogs are Maltese and not poodles....
I have been reading about this topic with great interest to see what others have to say. We do both types of camping depending on the time of year and the park we are in. We like to have a small campfire in the fall or winter so we can sit around outside and let the kids roast s'mores, but it is not a concern to us if a park does not allow campfires. We travel and camp depending on the situation. We have local RV campgrounds that have plenty of room between sites and allow campfires and we "TRAVEL" in our RV in the summer.
I know I'm talking too much, but here goes again. I just wanted to let A3medic know that we (and I think most "RVers") do not like to have generators running next to us either. That's as rude as someone else's smoke blowing in your rig. The only time we have used our generator in a park/campground was one night when the power went out and everyone else was firing theirs up too. Mostly we just use it when we stop at a rest area to fix lunch. We usually park in the truck area and only have it on a few minutes. If it happens to be really hot we might leave it on to run the roof air, but I don't think it can be heard over the truck noise so I don't think it bothers anyone. Also while we may not sit around a campfire, we also do not "seal ourselves up in A/C emerging only periodically to walk the poodle." Usually our trips are to an area that has lots to see and do outside the RV park. We spend a great deal of time sightseeing and basically use our motor home as a rolling hotel room. However, we can certainly understand how many people like to get away for the weekend and relax by cooking out and sitting around a campfire with friends and never leave the camp. This just emphasizes again how different people are looking for different experiences from campgrounds/RV parks and if you end up at a place that doesn't provide you with your expected experience you will probably be unhappy. Jerry, we have rarely stayed at RV only parks, and not on purpose even then. But we do tend to pick places that lean toward RVs--especially big rigs--and those usually do not allow fires. RLM, You need to post this sign: "Your mother does not work here so you will have to clean up after yourself." However, I doubt that will help in all cases. Some people are just natural born slobs and expect the rest of us to clean up their mess. Course that would never be anyone on this forum. We are all very nice people. Finally, all this discussion has left me with this thought: Building a campfire is so simple even a caveman can do it!
TexasRvers - I don't think anyone here can possibly think you talk too much. I am always happy to see new posts when I come here. I am on one forum that probably at least 10 posts are written every minute, but this one is much slower, so I love seeing new posts. Keep "talking", girl.....
Texasrvers, I see we think the same way. We only use our gen. in rest stops, on open roads to run A/C units on roof, and never in any RV park-any place. We also sit outside, walk at night, tour all over the place outside the park, talk to other people around the park, and enjoy life. We have never been a problem to anyone that I know of. Smoke in our motorhome is a problem to me. We use our motorhome as a rolling condo and move from place to place to see the USA. We use Nat. parks, State parks, CORE parks, Good Sam parks, passport parks, and high dollar parks. We also have been to Conshatta and Paragon number of times and I did not see any fire rings in two parks. Also no one had fires in two parks.
To Txrv and John B: My mistake on Paragon, Woodall's does not show fire rings or wood in its facilities listing. The listing for Coushatta, however, does show fire rings and (Cheryl's favorite) grills. As many times as I've been to these 2 parks, I can't remember seeing them either. I can't seem to locate my Louisiana park folder and I don't feel like pulling up their websites right now. Later, Jerry S.
Campfires If one was to come to New England, and or New York, (as New York is not a New England state), you will find most, if not all campgrounds, Rv parks, etc, have fire rings.
Jerry S, I think the mixup at Coushatta is Bar-Q cookers at each cabin. Remember each one had a Bar-Q cooker at steps that go into cabin. No fire rings on the ground anyplace. Now more cabins have been added and more RV sites are gone. Our books "TL" and others have a lot of mistakes in them.
Back again, John Blue: Thanks for the clarification on Coushatta. I don't know how long you've been going there, but I really miss the RV sites (replaced by chalets) that used to be at the front of the park. It was only a 5 minute walk to the casino and 2 minutes to the lodge/pool/laundry. Now, depending on where you are in the park, it is a 10-15 minutes walk. I know there's a shuttle, but I am very unAmerican - I walk when possible. I was slightly amused by the afront some took by the hibernation/poodle comment. While I agree with the "to each their own philosophy", I has have observed this behavior ( at times for more than one day) and find it curious. Then again, people have looked at me like I am crazy when they hear that I've walked a mile or two from the park into town and back. To get sort of back on the topic (but neither pro or con), one my favorite little stories from last summers travels points out how "camping" has changed. Before packing it in for the night, I often enjoy taking a few laps around the park to see how full/active the place is that late. I usually do this between 8PM and 10PM just after sunset. At this time of night, the main activity is usually people sitting around their campfires. I think this experience happened at Yellowstone River RV Park in Billings, MT. During my first lap I noticed that there were only a couple sites with fires. On my second lap, I counted. There were 2 sites illuminated by fires and 5 sites illuminated by laptop computers on picnic tables. In several instances there were 2 or 3 adults huddled around the screen. I guess the new fire is the computer screen. Later, Jerry S.
Jerry S, Walking is one of my bags. I walk two miles each night here at home and around five miles more in day time hours around our home. Not bad at my age. At Coushatta I walked over to the fuel pumps and back couple times at night to get in my time. We never go into the casino to feed the machines only to feed the Blue's. We stay in casino's due to good prices and good food. I never use the shuttle to ride in, I walk every place. I would guess the RV park move would free up more space in front plus add cabins in back of lot. That place has a lot of parking space. I agree on the Laptops. We see more and more people used them day and night. We also carry laptop and cell phone with Blue tooth hookup if we need it. We have outside ant. on roof of motorhome with amp that will go out around 60 miles to a cell tower. This way we can work internet about anyplace we go into. If you have no service on phone in most cases this will fix the problem. We had good cell service in Yellowstone with the amp on and no service with it off.
I have never seen anyone "hole up" inside their motorhome. Now, mind you, I don't take umbrage with the comment - I just have never seen it happen. We are always out and about during the day and in the evenings, we are usually sitting outside with a drink, dogs in the X-pen and chatting with neighbors. The only time that we have hibernated in the RV was at an rv park in Sheridan, Wyoming. We had stopped about 6:00 in the evening (were on our way to Canada). As hubby was doing all the hookups, he noticed that there were a lot of bees. By the time he was finished and had come inside the rig, there were hundreds of them around the motorhome. We stayed inside that night because we didn't want to open the door and take a chance of them getting inside. By the next morning they were gone. In talking to the neighbor the next morning, he mentioned that they had thought about unhooking the toad and going into town to eat but decided against it because they did not want to open the door and he certainly didn't want to stay outside long enough to unhook his vehicle.
Boy, this is about the most heated posts that I have seen on this site. It has been my observation most fire worshipers are weekend campers. Don't think I have ever seen a full timer building firers. Folks that camp and or RV for a weekend or 2 week vacation seem to have a hard time under standing that we full or part times still enjoy our TV shows and like to stay in touch via cell phone or computer. When you see several people huddled around a lap top, they are probably sharing pictures. I like the idea of a community fire ring. We have stayed at a few parks that have these and have always enjoyed them. We all have different reasons for why we Camp/RV, but it is the things we have in common that has brought us together on this site.
And again, John Blue: I knew other walkers existed but so seldom see any of them. I do have some question3 for you about the computer/cell/antenna set up but I'll put that in the "Chat" section of this Forum in the next day or two. I don't want to get that far off topic in this string. Cheryl: You have sort of proven another point: just because you've never experienced or observed something in a park doesn't mean it never happens. If you are always out and about, you can't know what goes on during the day at the park? Under certain circumstances, I often don't leave a park for a day or two. I walk, do laundry, use the pool and other park facilities, etc. On the fire topic, for example, I have seen campfires (with too much liquid fuel, I assume) with flames shooting 6 t 8 feet in the air. It does happen. Big Ben: I'll take your opening sentence as both a compliment and a pun. While your generalization makes sense, my experience and observations say there are plenty of full-timers out there who, at times, will have a campfire. Probably not the majority, but certainly not only 1 or 2%. Later, Jerry S.
Big Ben, Please re-read my post - I wrote "compliment", not "complaint". As long as I am back on , I go ahead and ask about your WIFI setup. I just re-read the "Misleading WIFI Claims" string, hoping some of the information there would help me. It did not. Is the antenna you mentioned part of your satellite system or cell phone set up? Or is it something just for WIFI boosting? Since I don't have a satellite system or use a cell phone (I told you I was unAmerican), I am not certain about what you are describing. If we are talking about installing a satellite dish or getting a cell phone service and their monthly fees, that is probably outside my budget. I'm cheap and poorer than most on the road retirees. Thanks. Jerry S.
