# Campgrounds with long term campers



## Ymryl (Mar 2, 2004)

[RANT]

I am starting to notice a trend in some of the campgrounds we stay at. The ones that have long term campers all seem to be extremely disappointing (you know the ones, they look like shanty towns - Jellystone Park in Sturbridge Massachussets is a PERFECT example). Last weekend we tried a new place (well, new for us) in New Hampshire called Pine Acres in Raymond New Hampshire. It is approx. 20 minutes from Hampton beach (convienient) and we thought it looked nice (the website looks really good). It is a very large campground that is actually well kept. It is clean, the campsites are spacious (they even have a strip of land in between them actually seperating them from each other). BUT, in our initial walk around we saw the tell tale shanty look on the majority of the long term sites.

The first night (Friday) was uneventful, I think the place was kind of in the process of filling up. The most annoying thing was the almost constant Harley riders streaming in and out (is this a campground or a biker party?). Saturday we decided to spend the day at the beach and returned around dinner time. While we were gone, someone stole our small "Slow - Children at play" sign (20 bucks at Toys-R-Us).








That's the first thing I have had stolen from any campground we have stayed at. Guess I will need to lock everything up every time we leave from now on. I then went to drain the grey water tank and found that the black water tank handle had also been stolen!







I know it was there when I set up, I saw it when I connected the drain hose. There are actually macks on the shaft where the thief attached a pair of vise-grips or some other pliers in order to unscrew the handle.

Needless to say, the wife was NOT happy. Don't think we'll be going there again.

[/RANT]

Am I the only one that has noticed the "Jerry Springer" types that seem to fester in the campgrounds that allow long term campers? They seem to get the attitude like they live there and the "weekenders" are invading their space or something. Is it just me???


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## Campinout (Jun 18, 2004)

Ymryl,

I am sorry to hear of what happend to you, I dont like thieves, esp thieves that take childrens signs and black water handles, that kinda tells it all. We are the same,it just seems when you are camping nobody touches your stuff so we dont worry to much about being ripped off. I guess from now on we will be more careful. Again sorry to hear that bad news, they will get theirs in the end!!!


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

Do you mean full-time RV'ers or trailers? There is a big difference IMHO. It's true that some rv places do have a lot of full-timers, but my experience is that they are very nice, honest (no thieves), and loaded with a wealth of rv information. But there is a difference between rv parks with full-time rv'ers and rv parks with trailers. I try to avoid rv parks that double as trailer parks.


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## hockeymom (Sep 7, 2004)

That was my experience this weekend. There were so many filthy trailers with shoddy rooms built on to them. The rows of mailboxes at the entrance made me wonder if they live there year round. The place was dirty. Our tank was filling up so I walked my son to the public shower. It was so nasty we just walked out. We were right on top of four other campers with no privacy and no room. Almost everyone around us was getting drunk starting early in the morning. The dog tied outside next to us started barking at 6am and didn't stop for an hour and a half or so. I was wondering if the owners were too drunk and sleeping off the night before to notice. Not the quiet family time that I was looking for. What's the best way to avoid these types of places?


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

I cannot get over it. Someone actual stole something from a campground. I have been camping since I could crawl and RVing my 1st season and this is the 1st I have heard of someone actually stealing









I thought there was a code.

I am sorry that you had this experience...like everything else there is good in bad in every corner of society. My wife saws that I look at the world through rose tinted glasses...That isn't so bad is it??

Thor


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## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

RVers code, hmmm, apparently more like guidelines.

Seriously, we've never had trouble with theft but we've not gone to too many large campgrounds and only a few with perminent campers. Boondocking is a lot less worrisome (from that standpoint). However, I've noticed a lot of campgrounds that we have gone to putting up signs advising campers to 'secure valuables'. I guess I wouldn't have thought that the black water handle was in that list - what could you do to protect against that?

I guess it is a good sign that we are all a little surprised by this - it indicates that the code is likely alive and well in most cases. Unfortunately Ymryl, you ran up against the exception (let's hope no trends).

Brian


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## Ymryl (Mar 2, 2004)

Vdub, I am talking about the campgrounds with the 1950's travel trailers with the delapidated shanties attached to them, not the ones with the big $300,000.00 RV's (I doubt folks that own those need to steal a black water handle).

Honestly, I kind of understood the sign disappearing. There were many teenagers at the campground and it wouldn't suprise me if one of them took it on a dare or something but the scumbag that actually had to use pliers to get the black water handle off really suprised me. I think from now on my first question when booking a campground will be whether they have long term (meaning longer than seasonal) campers.


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## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

Yikes! Sounds like the kids may have been on some type of Scavenger Hunt!

I've been lucky so far while camping. (knocking on wood) I gotta start locking things down though. Someday...I'm not going to be lucky.


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## Travelers Rest (Feb 27, 2004)

Ymryl,

Sorry to hear about the loss. Sure those things are relatively minor but I agree with other folks...there is some sort of code...some last vestige of "good neighborness" that says you don't dork around with other folks stuff.

This past weekend we were to and from the site all the time going to the lake or visiting other new friends and whatnot...I never thought of locking things up. I guess there is just an expectation that other will not only keep their hands off but will prompt others to do likewise. I hate that you had a loss but I think I'm going to stick my head in the sand and keep thinking that my campmates will value my property in the same way I value theirs.

Now, on to the other subject...year round slummers. I know that term might be offensive but thats the long and short of it. When I pull into a campground and see a guy with no teeth living in a bus with a wood stove vented out the window I begin to wonder if perhaps I might need to go elsewhere.

Take a look at THIS place. Dig around the site...look at the pictures. Looks pretty nice huh? Well, its a dump. At one time I bet it was nice but its been let go and has failed to keep up with the times. Consequently the place has a high number of shantys, as you acurately called them. I guess that early on I learned to avoid private parks as a rule and to use KOA's or State Parks as much as possible. Don't misunderstand to me to be saying that folks who have old RV's are trouble or somehow less OK than my fellow Outbackers. Thats not it at all. I'm just agreeing that the line between Jerry Springers Rundown RV Park and Joe Blows Nice RV Vacation Weekend Get-away is very blurred.

OK, enough rambling









Steve


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## Golden Mom (Apr 25, 2004)

Travelers Rest said:


> guess that early on I learned to avoid private parks as a rule and to use KOA's or State Parks as much as possible


This summer we went to a KOA in Auburn/Fort Wayne Indiana. We were traveling back home from Michigan. This was right off I-69. We have stayed at KOA's before, no problem. This one looks nice from the road. Once you enter the gates: BEWARE!







They had "slummers". I thought KOA's were not allowed to have these. It was so bad. The trailors were put up on concrete blocks, their were garbage bags all over the yard. Campers are required to use the dumpsters, why aren't they? And CATS! were everywhere. We did not have a pleasant stay here. (I reported it on Park Reviews). The owner was the only one working at 3:30 (Saturday afternoon). She tried to wait on everyone at one time instead of taking one customer at a time. We asked for pull thru site so we wouldn't have to unhook. She said no problem. We needed site at least 52' to extend our bed. Well our bed hung over the road. There were plenty of other sites available, but would she let us move.......NO! The only thing nice about the whole campground was the bathrooms. They were in the campstore. Of course we didn't use them, but the appearance was nice.

We like state parks too, but so many of them do not have full-hook up. After finally getting a trailer with a bathroom and shower after not having them for 16 years., I like to take advantage of what ammenties I have. Seems like private parks offer more. IMO.

Have a great day! sunny


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## hockeymom (Sep 7, 2004)

We have only been camping twice so far, but that was my thought too. It appeared nobody touched each others stuff. I felt safe leaving things out. I didn't want to go into too much detail about Ellis Haven because I didn't want to offend anyone, but the scene you've all been describing is pretty accurate. Oh yes, I almost forgot. I went for a walk to the office to get some info on nearby attractions (hubby couldn't take it there much longer), and the lady in the office was on the phone saying that someone broke down a door to someone's trailer and completely trashed the place. At that moment I was really nervous thinking we made a big mistake buying a camper. That was not what I pictured camping to be. We originally decided to buy a camper in order to take cheaper family vacations, avoiding air fare, rental cars, hotels, restaurants...etc. Someone out there please tell me it was a good decision!!!!!!!


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

They actually stole your black tank handle??























I have been camping since I was knee high to a grass hopper, and have never heard of anything like that happening. When I was growing up, we had a "permanent" campsite that our TT was parked on. It was situated in an area of the campground separate from the "weekenders". The management did require things to be kept neat, and presentable though. Some folks had nice decks installed. I have seen over the years some of the shanties that you too have experienced, and I try to avoid campgrounds that have them. I have found that RV Park Reviews is a fair resource, though you must take the posts with a grain of salt. I also use the Woodalls and Trailer Life directories, but again, those reviews can be somewhat dated, and biased by advertising dollars.









I am sorry that you had a poor experience, and I will definately keep a more secure attitude camping now then I have in the past.

Tim


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## NWcamper2 (Mar 28, 2004)

What a bummer









I think I would have started checking handles and seeing what trashy trailer had a new shinny handle... and if the park is close enough, make a drive through to see if you can find your sign, then call the police!

I would have called the police while I was there. Small things like that really go unreported far too often.

Sorry A$$ *&Q$&*^#[email protected]^$&#)($%* theives!!!







really puts a burr under my saddle! .... okay venting over


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## kjp1969 (Apr 25, 2004)

In and around Southern California, it seems like the closer campgrounds are to expensive city locations, the more likely they are to have Jerries. (Jerry Springers!) There's a state park in Santa Barbara called El Capitan that has great sites and (mostly) vacationers only. Then there's a private campground just inland, practically adjacent, that has no stay limits (or didn't that last time I was there). Apparently, a lot people work in Santa Barbara, but can't afford to live in a "real" house, so they live in a campground. 'Course, you get a lot of the obvious problems associated with folks who can't hold down a job or spend their money on things other than rent.

I like to stick to the wilderness, the state and national parks, and the real vacation spots. It's a very different (and better) crowd. I've never had a theft, even growing up camping.

Kevin P.


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## Central Mass Outbackers (Jun 13, 2004)

My husband and I have been camping for over 20 years, and until this last summer, had never had anything stolen from our campsite. Last month on the night before leaving from Fundy National Park in New Brunswick, we mounted our bikes on the car's roof rack so we could make a quick departure in the AM. Lo and behold, in the morning we discovered that someone had climbed up on the SUV's roof (it's an Armada, so it's a long way up there), and stole my teenage son's moutain bike. We had been warned by some other campers there to keep the bikes locked up, but figured (incorrectly, obviously), that nobody would take a bike off a roof rack without our hearing them, just feet away. It was an upsetting experience, made more so by the fact that the park rangers had gone on strike the day before (so who do you report the theft to?), and the nearest RCMP post was many kilometers north- the wrong direction, as we were headed home that day! It put a real sour note on the end of our triip.

Just another disillusioned camper I guess...


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## j1mfrog (Jun 6, 2004)

kjp1969 said:


> I like to stick to the wilderness, the state and national parks, and the real vacation spots. It's a very different (and better) crowd.


I'm with Kevin. State and National parks are the best.


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

Paul I had one poor experience at a CG with long term "campers", I don't consider them camper but people living on property. We looked at one private CG last year and I asked if they had any long term/permanent tenants, when they said yes I told them never mind. I enjoy the company of some of the older adults who full time and travel, but the folks with the beat up junkers with siding around the bottom of the camper and a ton of junk tossed about ruin the experience for me. So for us I'll boondock first, go for the USFS/Corp sites first, then State and if its going to be private it has to pass my smell test before I'd stay there.

Sorry to hear about the thefts, the handle sounds like a prankster my guess is whoever saw your sign figured they'd get back at you. We bought the elcheapo Target bikes for my wife and I, if somebody steals those they'll be in for a sad surprise.


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## Ymryl (Mar 2, 2004)

Well, at least they didn't take anything too valuable, not like some of the others have posted. It really is too bad that some campgrounds allow a few bad apples to ruin the experience for others. I'm taking this as a learning experience and will just be a lot more vigilant in the future. I'm also going to startt asking about "slummers" before booking into any campgrounds that I cannot check out first hand or haven't been to in the past.


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