10 Unwritten Rules For Camping RV Tips and Campsite Etiquette

hi everybody we're Mike and Jennifer wetland and gas we've been RVing now we're going on our sixth year six years can you thank years in a Class B Motorhome and probably what a hundred and seventy thousand miles we've toured all over North America and you know there are lots of rules you can read rules like what are some of the rules don't burn trash in your fire pit in your fire pit every do don't do that clean up after your dog that kind of stuff don't forget to check that your antennas down and the steps are up before you take off you know all about those rules or you'll find out about them but there are some unwritten rules some things that we've kind of learned probably through through trial and error and a lot of error right and rule number one is don't park right next to another camper you know this really makes people mad if you are now there's times you're gonna have to if you're in a campground and there's just no other room except next to somebody then well that's fine they'll people understand that but if you're in a campground and there's two empty spots on both sides of somebody who's already there and there are other empty spots down the way take one of those other empty spots let them enjoy that space and and you'll get some extra space too but don't just because they have a good spot don't think you got to get right next to him it's kind of like when somebody is in a fishing hole and they're you coming your boat right next to them it's just not good manners that's uh that's rule number one and then that even works for when you're boondocking because I know once we were boondocking we're in the middle of nowhere and we woke up in the morning we had somebody right next to us I think maybe they were afraid yeah it was like it was crazy there was room it was a huge national force but they went right next to ourself but anyway alright rule number two don't leave your porch and outside awning lights on all night long you're not camping if you've got all those lights on it's kind of like running your generator all night long people want to get in the dark and quiet see the Stars they don't want to see your porch light no you know it's okay how cute the little flamingos or lanterns or whatever you don't want to see that especially all night long if you want to leave it on you know right after dark for a little bit when everybody's still up that's great but you know 2:00 in the morning it just causes light pollution all over the place so that's rule number two rule number three don't smoke cigars if there are other campers within a hundred feet of you nothing fouls the air like a cigar now I know some of you guys you love your cigars they make you feel manly at all that stuff but listen honest I used to smoke cigars I'm telling you this trust me brothers they stink well I've never smoked cigars but but they sing to me please think so don't do that not in the camp got a view if there's nobody around great but I bet your wife doesn't let you smoke a cigar in your house well your house when you're camping is everybody who's around you so don't smoke cigars in a campground I actually saw remember that I think we're in near Rocky Mountain National Park in that KOA and and there was almost a fistfight over some guy who was smoking a cigar like five or six campers over and his odor it was just like the whole campground stunk of it that's probably like he was smoking outside his wife wouldn't let him but somebody actually asked him to stop and the guy wouldn't stop and well I got very out of hand so avoid that don't smoke cigars especially if you're within a hundred feet of anybody else all right rule number four don't arrive and set up at a crowded campground after 10:00 p.m. that's a big one that's a real big one a lot of the parks have that rule posted or they'll lock the gate so that you can't do it but it's quite rude to come in at midnight one o'clock and pop open some adult beverages and start setting up your camp trust me we've had those experiences that you particularly find those like on Friday night where everybody leaves the city and they go north and they don't get up there and we stand you decided that your fire but you got to think of everybody your neighbors and a campground a campground is a community it is not just you in the wild there's very little wild about a campground unless you're boondocking so be considerate and if you're gonna arrive after 10 stay in a Walmart and come in first thing in the morning but don't come in after 10 with all that noise of you setting up your campsite rule number five don't drive in the left lane unless you are actively passing another vehicle you know this is it's illegal to do that in some some states now if you notice the more and more spaces where travel and have that it's a good rule you shouldn't get on that left lane and just stay there and unless you're passing pass get over and you see these guys it's white-knuckle guys I'm going to speed limit and I will do the speed limit in the left hand lane sorry buddy you are causing a traffic hazard out there you're making people angry and you're given all our viewers of bad names so don't drive in the left lane unless you're actively passing somebody please remember that even if you think you're perfect right you're going to speed limiting the law you're just an old curmudgeon - stop it get over in the right hand lane rule number six when driving into a parking lot in your RV always take the back roads and that is a really good policy to have it's just considerate to everybody else and it'll stop ughter laws about making us all have to park in the back rows able the camp go to the park in the back row yeah oh yeah yeah you got you can always take up a couple of spots back in the back row where nobody fills it up and then you know walk that extra space if you need help carrying your you know there's always carts you can bring it out if you're shopping but park in the back row and don't don't it's just being rude take up those spots with your big RV that someone in an automobile would need that steps are good for you it's good to walk chances are you've been driving a long time good to walk that's your physical fitness instructor steps that's a good steps that's what she said that's number seven don't play music or watch TV outside unless the volume is really low so it doesn't disturb other campers you know that's hard to do sometimes because a lot of people buy these RVs like we're at an RV show here on the Emerald Coast in Florida and almost all of these have outside TVs boy that's really getting away from it right I need a lot of headset loud it hits us but both of them have outside TVs and that's fine you know during the day but all night long watching the late-night shows belly I talk shows come on people most people camp to sort of get away from it so if you're gonna watch that TV or you're gonna play music turn it down turn it way down I think some of my biggest pet peeve said when we were boondocking and I remember we were in the wilds of Montana it was gorgeous and it was just totally well and some camper we couldn't even see him that he was that far was playing bluegrass music and I liked bluegrass music but he was playing it really loud and it was it was just disturbing the whole atmosphere so don't do that how could you watch like a sporting event without cheering or making noise I don't know how you do that that's during the day great but I started my evening not to get involved turn it down number eight all right now listen up if your RV breaks down I got to give you a little reality check here do not expect immediate service from an RV dealer here's a better solution RV dealers are almost always busy Mobile RV repair techs are more responsive and usually can fix anything wrong with most RVs we've learned that the hard way - a couple of times yeah they're there you call them they come it's great it's it's a challenge for an RV dealer to get emergency repairs down though many of them will do that but many of them won't because they will give first priority to their own customers so if you're traveling and you you know I just had a case this week on our social media blog one our social media site on Facebook some had needed to get their macerator the sewer hose fixed the new macerator hose and the guy says he can't do it for two weeks the dealer because they're busy they really do get busy it is a seasonal task in most places RV you know very few places except in the south or Southwest or have all year-round staffing full staffing of their RV service centers so don't expect you're going to get in right away but don't panic just pick up the phone or look at a campground most of them have RV mobile tech that's available and we have found those guys to be incredible they'll come right to you and fix it right there much quicker and much less hassle involved than taking it to a to a RV dealer when you think of it they're ready to drop everything and tend to you a dealer people have scheduled appointments it's rather unrealistic to think that they're gonna tell those people who made their appointment a month ago you got away without an emergency here yeah I don't want to trash dealers because you know they're trying to run a business and they hire and they're it's based on demand but the mobile tech he is there for just such an operation and he can usually take care of your problems if it's really really hot your RV air conditioner is not going to be able to pool the interior down much below 80 now that is one of the myths that technology seems to be permeating the whole RV community I think now that we have solar and extra battery capacity then our air conditioners are going to be super more efficient and well they're not it's the most intensive power drain in your RV the air conditioner so you're not going to be able to run this thing for hours and hours and hours and hours on end but it is not going to cool you off because well think about what you're in with your RV a lot of heat is just like a car that heats up really quick like 30 degrees warmer yeah in your heart and just like 15 minutes yeah the Sun incredible the heat it's like you're in a tin can I mean it really is and even though you can do things like put reflectix in your windows and keep the drapes closed and run like your fantastic fan your roof fan you know before you put on the AC and if it's humid in particular an AC is not going to get you down and when it's really hot in the 90s and the hundreds as many of you experienced in the southwest it is not going to cool you off much more an 80s unwritten rule number 10 it's going to get harder and harder to find camping spots in traditional campsites to consistently find an overnight spot you're going to have to learn how to boondock you can see I mean they are selling RVs record pieces next year supposed to be even another record-setting year they're selling these things by the hundreds of thousands of new our viewers coming in every year you don't see hundreds of thousands of new campsites opening every year which you are finding is more and more crowded campgrounds it becomes more and more difficult to get a campsite without a reservation and that's why we like boondocking a National Forest and BLM land that's the way to go so figure it out get your Maps get ready okay so those are our ten unwritten rules there are probably more you may have a couple more that you'd like to add you can do so just use the comments below and also let us know what you think of what we've just shared you might want to amplify on that and we invite you please to subscribe to our RV lifestyle channel here on YouTube we're Mike and Jennifer Wendelin thanks for watching

Channel: RV Lifestyle

Views: 489,275

Rating: 4.7816091 out of 5

Keywords: RV, Class B RV, roadtrek, motorhome, RV travel, recreational vehicle, mike wendland, jennifer wendland, rv lifestyle, rv podcast, camping, rv stories, boondocking, Vlog, RV etiquette, camping etiquette, RV rules, tips for rv camping, tips for camping, camping tips, rv tips, rv camping tips, unwritten campsite rules, how to go camping, how to, campsite etiquette, 10 tips, tips, rv living, rving, rv camping, travel vlog, van life, r v, new rv owners

Id: 1I54sZLxwNY

Length: 11min 48sec (708 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 23 2017