Hounded by police

[Kevin D Pem]

IMO there have always been two very different groups of RVers, those who assume that they will have to pay to park overnight and those who don't expect or want to do so. When my wife and I began full-timing 10 years ago, I would speculate that the majority of RVers fell into the first group. These days there appears to be an increasing percentage of RVers who don't want to pay to park, especially for overnight stays.

I think there are 3 groups of RVers. The two you mention and those that are like me (Spontaneous). Planning ahead great lengths of time is not me if dates are set to do so. My Lord tells me in the manual never to say I will see you tomorrow but rather say if the Lord wills I will see you tomorrow. With that said I prefer not being confined the way I feel in most parks, therefore I prefer forest roads and other free camping away from the crowds. I have no problems paying for services, and do. I pay for permits when asked for and have no problem with it. I am in that third group that doesn't feel everyone owes them something or should give them something. But rather feels it is good to pay my way. But I don't like camp grounds. I don't like parking lot camping either. I will sleep in a rest area if they allow it, most of them are outside of towns and tired driving is dangerous.

 

[murphysranch]

My local WM doesn't allow RV's anymore, but long haul trucks are OK. Why? This WM is about 6 miles off of I5, so its not well known. The long haulers are usually locals who came home for the holidays or for their few days rest, and then take off again.

When we had the fires and two towns next to Medford were burned to the ground, the WM got slammed. Lots of folks swarmed all three WM's here in the county. The homeless were also newly homeless as the Greenway belt of hundreds of old trees burned down too (where they had their villages).

They arrived with their sticks and blue tarps, and sometimes a vehicle. There were a few fire people, but most were not fire victims. It was a mess. WM let everyone stay for one week and then moved them all along.

 

["EZ"]

IMO there have always been two very different groups of RVers, those who assume that they will have to pay to park overnight and those who don't expect or want to do so. When my wife and I began full-timing 10 years ago, I would speculate that the majority of RVers fell into the first group. These days there appears to be an increasing percentage of RVers who don't want to pay to park, especially for overnight stays.

Regardless of whether it's a private, State, federal or local facility, my wife and I always prefer to stay at a campground for a combination of safety and services reasons. We see nothing unreasonable about paying a campground for 8-12 hours of occupancy; we've done the same in hotels for many years. OTOH, I recognize that others choose not to do this; that is their right but it's important for people to understand that there are two rather distinct groups of RVers.

If you'll notice the group that doesn't want to pay grew as the RV sales increased. The "core" RV group are good people that do the right thing most of the time. The increase in popularity of RV's brings with it an undesirable element with it. They don't clean up their camp sites when they leave. They will park all night somewhere and leave without paying. They play their outdoor TV's and Stereos without any consideration to others camping around them. Makes you wish the RV "fad" was over!

The same thing happened to the motorcycle community years ago. Most bikers that I know are salt of the earth kind of people that would give you the shirts off their backs. Just look at all the Toy Runs at Christmas. Hundreds of Thousands of motorcycle riders buying toys for underprivliged children. Then you have the newer "biker" that is all about the "biker look" and has more "biker clothing" than they have common sense. Most wouldn't ride their "investment" in the rain if they had to. And never ride in the cold. These guys are not considerate of others on the road and usually act like idiots. And if they are with their buddies will go out of their way to act like an ass, especially while they are drinking.

I would imagine this same thing happens in every group. Just don't be "that guy".