What Are Your Pet Peeves Rv'ing?

one of my peeves is getting to a camp site and finding any amount of trash on the ground.including im a smoker and even i don't like finding cigarette butts on the ground.so what i'll do.is i go ahead and set up camp,includeing pitching my tent.then build a small fire.then go around the camp site pick up every thing,and toss it into the fire..even if it's a small hand full of trash.i'll do that.or i'll tose it into the closest trash can if camp fires arent allowed at the time..

 

Even though we have a motorhome, I don't mind "roughing" it a bit and staying in parks where there are no services. I love the quiet connection to nature these parks can offer, until the guy next to us switches on his generator. I understand people's need for certain creature comforts, but when I set out first thing in the morning to enjoy my cup of coffee as the sun is getting up and that thing goes off...I'll likely be grouchy all day.
Everyone has the right to their way of camping, but I often why some of these people come to these faraway places if they're just going to sit inside and watch TV all day with the generator running. I've seen this in some of the most beautiful parks.

 

Good pet peeve Rudy and Dan! Welcome to the site and the conversation.
We too, enjoy running off the battery (and a bit of propane) in pristine locals. Discovered the weekdays were the best time for peace, quiet and like minded travelers. The bigger the rig we evolved into over time, the less likely of finding that quiet niche we craved. "Less is more" works for quiet and contemplative. Cheers!

 

As the owner of a 40' diesel pusher I am very sensitive to the noise it makes when idling. I am also well aware of the fact that both Caterpillar and Cummins state that diesel engines can be turned off after only a couple of minutes of idling. In fact, if you have turned off the highway and into an RV park or fueling station you will have driven far enough at slow speeds to safely be able to turn the engine off without any additional idling time being necessary.

This afternoon we were forced to go inside because of a jerk who pulled into the site next to us and who allowed his engine to idle nearly a half hour. I'm sure that when he leaves he'll be the one who turns it on a half hour before he starts to roll out!

 

It's funny this thread came back recently, since I just came up with a new one after a recent trip last week.
-- Empty sites and "extended stay" campers at national park campgrounds where you need to make a reservation a year in advance.

We were lucky to get a site at Trailer Village at Grand Canyon last week, and we got the only one available due to a cancelation. At the end of the day, there were several empty sites and also several sites where the RV had obviously been there for a long time. I will admit that we should have put in a reservation a long time ago, but it's still frustrating to see these limited resources (camp sites) not being utilized, or being used as a "home", probably for someone who works there.

 

Ooooo.... that opens a can of worms. To have first come - first serve or have reservations. I'm not sure if anywhere has figured out the perfect system yet!

 

For a number of years my in-laws worked at national parks (usually in their grocery stores or gift shops), and as part of their contract they were provided an RV spot. However, I know that these spots were usually separate from the "visitor" campground, and visitors were not put in them even if there were open spots. It was just for employees. This does not seem unreasonable to me since workers need to stay somewhere, and many parks (even commercial ones) provide a spot for their manager or hosts. However, I think that there should be a way to handle the no show spots. Reservations are good to have especially if you will be driving a long way to get there, so I would not like to see them abolished entirely, but why can't there be a system that if the camper has not claimed their reserved spot by a certain hour that it would then be given out to someone else on a first come basis. Course if the reservation is guaranteed with a credit card, they may hold it all night. In that case it is just rude that the person with the reservation did not cancel it so that someone else could use the spot. As you said, there is no perfect system.

 

My take on this is that because US and Canadian national parks (and many State parks) have a liberal cancellation policy it encourages people to make reservations for multiple stays throughout the summer season even though they know full well there is little chance they will use all of them. As long as you have a few hundred dollars you're willing to have tied up in reservations then there's little to lose by grabbing as many of them as you can afford. As long as you cancel within the stated window at most places all you will lose is the ~$10 reservation fee. Even if you end up forfeiting a single night's stay that's usually no more than ~$35.

I don't know how you avoid this unless the non-refundable portion of the reservation fee is raised to a much higher level. And that, of course, would be burdensome to someone who legitimately needs to cancel a reservation for a good reason. Maybe what could be done would be to make the refund only be available as a "store credit", for example, a cancelled national park reservation would give you a "credit" at reservation.gov that you could apply to your next reservation. That might discourage people from making quite as many reservations as they currently do.

 

My biggest pet peeve is watching other RVers looking at, as entertainment, new arrivals having difficulties parking in their site without helping out. I love it when we and/or a park staff assists people in parking their RV especially in difficult spots. Some people are older, new to rving, or clueless on how to park the thing. I think we should help them. The sooner they get settle in, the sooner you can resume your activity.

 

With all due respect, if someone owns an RV IMO it is incumbent upon them to know how to drive the vehicle. If they are "clueless on how to park the thing" it is likely that their overall driving skills aren't all that good either. If that is the case then IMO they are endangering everyone else when they take it out on the highway.

I have absolutely no empathy for anyone who comes into an RV park and lacks the skills necessary to park his RV. Two months ago my toad was seriously damaged, while legally parked, by a person towing his 5th wheel who lacked the understanding of how trailers swing when being turned.

Some states are now requiring higher level licenses (non-commercial Class A and Class B) for owners of large RVs. I think that is a great trend, but I'm sure that RV manufacturers hate it since it keeps them from being to sell their machines to unqualified buyers. "Sure you can drive it; no problem" is the refrain I've heard from many RV sales people. IMO that spiel needs to be stopped.

 

Soapbox time...Joel, I both agree and disagree with your comments:

I DO agree that people who purchase RV's should have the knowledge to drive & maneuver that RV and also agree that the larger RV's, especially large class A motorhomes (most regulations specify a large motorhome is one over 26,000 lbs) should have special training and licenses to drive said rigs.

I disagree with your statement of having no empathy for the people who get into situations where they need help. We as experienced RVers should offer help whenever it appears a fellow RVer might need it. It's a shame that in the sticks and bricks world, most people no longer know their neighbors out of fear, and this behavior should not continue into the RV world. Remember, when you got your first learners permit to drive a car, there was a learning curve, but you slowly got better as time went on and you had help from people with more experience than you. The same should apply with RV ownership.

No one knows everything about their RV right off the lot. I've had my current motorhome for 6 years and I'm still learning things about it.

 

What I originally said and what you paraphrased are two rather different sentiments. We always try to be friendly, helpful RVers and have provided lots of tips to newbies and others we have met.

Where I draw the line is with people who own RVs they don't know how to drive (or park). They should have gotten assistance BEFORE they got on the road! There's a big difference between giving someone hand signals to help him back into a spot and trying to TEACH him how he needs to turn in order to get into it.

Furthermore, my experience has been that quite a few of the people who don't know how to drive their rigs aren't all that amenable to help, anyway. The jerk that hit my car didn't wait for the park host to assist him; he was in such a hurry to park and setup.

To such people my advice is that CDL courses are often available at local community colleges. I took such a course to learn to drive my MH even though having an actual CDL was "overkill" with respect to meeting the licensing requirements of my state. Or they can connect with RVDriving school which has instructors nationwide; that's how my wife got her training. But, IMO what they shouldn't be doing is relying on other people at RV parks to make up for their shortfall in knowledge or skill.

It's the same sort of advice I give online to RVers who are worried about taking their rigs through the mountains or around big cities and are constantly looking for advice about how to avoid both situations. My advice is always to "just do it" because one day you're going to find yourself in such a situation and there's not going to be anyone to ask for assistance. You own your RV and you are responsible for using it safely.

 

My pet peeve is when the park staff insists on directing me into a site. If I need help, I'll ask for it. I'm sure many appreciate their assistance, but it is an annoying distraction to me.

 

I agree with what Joel just stated above for the most part. I feel that anyone who buys and/or drives an RV of any size or type should be knowledgeable about how it handles, parks, backs up, etc. before they hit the road on their first trip. What does irks me is to see some family drive into a park or campground in a rental RV, usually a Class C. Within just a few minutes it is easy to tell that the driver has never driven anything larger than their family car and it doesn't take long before they are stuck between two trees or about the back into the RVs in the spaces next to them. I would think that before any rental company let loose of the keys they would get the renter behind the wheel for a few short lessons on how to drive and back up the RV being rented? Perhaps that is done, I don't know, but if not it sure should be. And as for those types out there that don't take the time to learn before driving one I feel sorry for those they park next to, or even across from. From our travels this whole "unlearned driver" thing seems to happen rarely and when it does the driver in question is usually only too happy to be asked if they need assistance. Short bunny trail but in line with what's being discussed in this thread, on our recent trip home from the coast we had the good luck of following a guy towing a travel trailer. It was the type of setup where the hitch bowed in the middle to where it was almost touching the ground, and I think did a few times going over bumps and dips in the road. That trailer was swaying back and forth like it was in a high crosswind and he almost lost it several times but thankfully was able to get it back under control. I backed way off of that puppy and he finally did turn off as I breathed a sigh of relief. To me those types are just plain accidents looking for a place to happen.................

Safe backing up everyone, BankShot

 

It's fine if they need to show me where the site is, but don't insult my skills by telling me which way to turn the steering wheel. It's happened multiple times.

 

I just ignored them.

 

Like the others above have basically stated, I too don't appreciate someone/anyone giving me assistance that I either don't need or want. Had on incident with a park attendant that insisted on helping me back into a space that even a newbie could have backed into. I know he was just trying to be helpful so I went ahead and told him to "do this thing". Long story short, after several pull forward/back up/pull forward again/turn this way/turn that way attempts I could readily see this guy didn't have a clue as to what he was doing. So I called to him out the window and said, "Thanks guy but I got this". For some reason that didn't compute to him and he kept right on pointing in one direction and then another so I let him go ahead and do what he needed to do and pulled forward to where I would have in the first place, and then in one absolutely spectacular maneuver, put it in reverse and backed right into the space where I would have been 5 minutes earlier had I sent him on his way when he first started doing his thing. He actually gave me the thumbs up signal as soon as I was parked and stopped. Oh, and he also told me what a good job I had done. That made my day of course...................