Noisy Nellie

Perhaps it was an artifact of being cooped up (cold and windy weekend) with nothing but my favorite Football teams loosing, or reviews of the horrors of what happened in Paris on the TV.
But I shot out of the rig this morning with pent up energy. Swept off the rig's roof (pepper berries and oodles of tree debris after our weekend winds), emptied the grey tanks, pulled the chair cushions out of the pods, etc.
All done, when my DH asked if I realized how much racket I was making.
Guess it's a good thing the neighbors on all sides are not here.
So here's my question: How "noise aware" are you, in your camping mode?

 

We always try to be noise aware when we're set up in a campground with neighbors around us. When we're boondocking in a forest somewhere all by ourselves, not so much...

 

Perhaps not as aware as I could be although this is one of my pet peeves when others are loud...

My hot button is folks who use an impact driver to lower their levelers. This may be fast and easy but it sure is a racket in a quiet campground.

 

I get complaints about people doing that, especially when it seems that those that do it always come in late at night.

 

I'd like to think we are pretty quiet. We don't have a radio or TV outside. We don't have the radio or TV on loud inside. We don't have a dog, so no worries about it barking. We do use a cordless drill on the back levers, but not during quiet time. My wife does slam the RV door more then I like. We do try to get the trailer level so we can unhitch or if only staying a short time to shut down the diesel truck, not have it idling to long. When starting it up, we get everything else done first including checking the pressure in the tires. I know a lot of people complain on forums about a diesel idling to long. Have timed ourselves and the longest has been 20 minutes from the start of the truck, letting it air up, hitching up, air up tires if needed and pulling out of the site.

 

In our RVing years we have experienced "the good, the bad, and the ugly" with regards to neighbors in parks and campgrounds. For the most part the good far outnumbers the other two types but a couple of the other two types have been a real PITA. As for ourselves we are are a quiet couple who enjoys our own space and we don't mix it up with the neighbors and yet we most certainly are not RV snobs or anti social, etc. We try to respect others privacy and not make noises that would be upsetting. We pretty much stay to ourselves most of the time. What bugs us is when there are neighbors who have no respect for us or our privacy. Loud music, unruly dogs off their leashes, and in general no concern for anyone but themselves. I believe they are referred to as "1%ers". We've been awakened a couple of times by neighbors coming in after midnight and then commencing to hookup making all the noises humanly possible including loud talking back and forth while getting into their space, followed by a bunch of racket during the hookup process. I've come close to getting up and spewing out a few "niceties" at them but haven't.........yet !!!
Like anything else RVing is for everyone and that includes those types, so best to just let it go and "insert ear plugs".............. .

That's my nickel's worth on this subject...............BankShot

 

[BankShot: I've come close...]

You and my DH.
I forgot about those impact drivers (OMG), but the heated words hurled during the parking process usually take the cake.

 

A walkie-talkie set is a great tool to use for communicating when backing up and/or parking. No screaming, no yelling, no misinterpreting or not seeing hand signals, and the ground person can be all the way at the back of the RV, and the driver can still hear their instructions very easily.

 

Use them all the time and have since our first trip. They work just as you stated and are great for communicating directions and questions back and forth. Well worth the few bucks to buy and use a pair IMHO. We never leave home without them............. BankShot

 

I believe that we are more on the quiet side than not. When on our way to or from a destination we leave early in the morning (5:00 AMish) but the towed will already be hooked up and we are already decamped. It takes us about 5 minutes to depart and the coach is a gas pot so only a little noise there. We normally end our travelling no later than 2:00 PM and at that time I'm not all that mindful about noise. Having said that, parking the rig is usually not a noisy experience. I park my wife where I want the left rear bumper to be and I just aim for her. No hand signals or yelling at all. We stopped entertaining the rest of the park years ago.

Darrell

 

BC Wanderer: We stopped entertaining the rest of the park years ago.

Good one!!!!

 

Tallboy wrote: "We don't have the radio or TV on loud inside. "

I recently goofed and left the outside speakers on while we watched an entire movie. Our camping neighbors and I had quite a laugh over it later. Luckily it was a John Wayne movie and the neighbors all got a kick out of the overheard audio - "pilgrim".

 

I think that the noise level in parks and campgrounds is largely dependent on where they are located. For instance, in general, a park on the Colorado River during summer is going to be a lot noisier and have a lot more activities going on than an upscale park located in a more secluded and laid back area. When you decide to park for the night at the river spot you almost have to expect the noise level to be higher due to the folks that hang out there to have fun, etc. What we don't expect is to stay next to a rowdy and noisy neighbor in the upscale park and that does happen at times. I guess when you RV you just have to take it as it comes and don't let it get you all bent out of shape over a barking dog or a small group of folks sitting outside sipping wine and just enjoying themselves in the evening. We have also found that for some reason voices carry over distance in many parks and sometimes when you think it's your neighbor making the racket it's the folks four spaces down. After a few years of RVing behind us now we have found the parks we like and don't like on the various trip routes we take. We will try a new park from time to time and if we like it we put it on our return list and if not, the anchor never gets tossed out there again................... BankShot

 

Depends a lot on the campground and how busy it is. I find myself being quieter when dry camping in parks with fewer campers, or well spaced campsites - having a cup of coffee in the early morning while just enjoying the quiet. A busy, commercial campground just seems overall noisier.

We used to keep our kids quiet (or at least tried to) until at least 8am... some campgrounds had quiet times up to 9am, so we abided by that. In a busy, family campground though, after 9am all bets are off with running, playing kids - which I think is a wonderful type of noise.

In general, yes, we are "noise aware" when we are camping. We also try to be very understanding (and many times enjoy the spectacle) of other campers who simply may not know how loud they are being.

 

"... (and many times enjoy the spectacle) of other campers who simply may not know how loud they are being."

In this ownership park, the space between rigs is significantly greater than most travel parks. However, I think that lures, at least one snowbird neighbor of ours, into a false sense of security. They have more than once, cracked us up when yelling back 'n forth to each other.
At least I THINK they would be mortified, if they realized how much personal information they were casually broadcasting...

 

Newbie here... and this is a topic that really hits home. Unfortunately I have very sensitive ears and we very much appreciate quiet CGs, and therefore do our best to stay quiet ourselves. Bankshot said something about 1%ers. It's a shame that one person in a CG can ruin the peace and quiet for everyone.

 

I have been fulltiming since 2007 and really never had a problem. The rules for quite time are usually from say 10pm to 6 or 7am. I have a white noise machine that I turn on every night. If it is quite in the bedroom I can't sleep. I started this because some people like to leave early in the morning. They can be RVers or workers going to work. It seems that when they are leaving they are always in a Dodge diesel. In the summer time I have the White Noise machine on and the A/C fan running all the time at night. I normally will be in bed by 11:30 and wake around 7am. I don't let things really bother me, it goes with the lifestyle.

Also it makes me laugh when someone post a review that there was a loud train, trucks on the highway and such. Think about it. With exception of campgrounds in the back woods, which some people don't want to travel that far, most campgrounds are in industrial areas due to city ordinances. By railroad tracks, at the edge of town or in a business district. How many do you find in the middle of a quite residential district. I know of a few but not many, and they are usually expensive. So what to do? Don't let it get to you and learn to sleep with your own noise in the bedroom. I know some people that can't go to sleep unless the TV is on.

During the day time It doesn't bother me. I may have the windows open and watching TV, which I keep fairly loud so I can hear what is happening. Also my son-in-law and grandson have gotten me into the habit of playing video games when we are together. So have you ever tried to kill a bunch of zombies and not be loud? I need to practice. LOL...

So IMHO don't get mad, get over it..

FWIW
BC

 

We are usually quite considerate of our neighbors about making noise. We keep our dog as quiet as possible, try to run the aqua hot as little as possible, don't have and outside TV, and NEVER impose my music preferences on others in the park. Unlike TXBobcat I have big problems with staying in noisy places with trucks and trains going by. I specifically check maps and read reviews to avoid places with lots of noise. And I would avoid RV parks in "industrial areas" like the plague.

One generality I have found after years of RVing in campgrounds is that public campgrounds tend to be in quieter places like parks. But public campgrounds have a lot more noise generated by the people that tend to go there. Where we are staying this weekend is a good example. It is a county park / campground in a lovely situation in busy S California. The park is huge. When the people in the campground are quiet you can only hear the birds chirping. BUT, within a close distance of our site are several people who have outside music going on. Thankfully none of them are into music with huge bass beats. One of these musical areas also erected THREE large tents next to their tailer yesterday. Those tents are now occupied by numerous small children. Usually private parks have far less of these noisy problems. Although I do recall several KOA's over the years that seemed to welcome many dozens of biker-tenters at a time who were quite noisy.

One of the top reasons to get an RV that is heavy with thick insulation and double pane windows is to keep some of the noise out. But some noise never bothers us much. Trains at midnight most definitely do, and so does Interstate 10 sitting right next to our coach.