Not All Fun and Games (Part IV)

(To read Parts I, II, and III, see my posts of August 15, August 20, and August 25.)

You may think that livin’ life on the road is a piece of cake. Nuthin’ to do but go out and have fun. Free as a bird, do whatever you want, no boundaries, no holds barred. Guess what? It is! But, it takes a lot of work time to be able to have all that great time. There are some important things we need to take care of.

Neighbors. Getting out in the world, living life outside, seeing different types of cultures, lifestyles, practices, and traditions is great. It’s really eye-opening and fascinating. It’s a growth experience. I love it most of the time. There’s only one drawback. The people.

Now by people, I mean a very specific type. I mean the ones who are parked next to you. 

Recently we reserved a tent site did not have any electricity or water nearby. This is what we do most of the time. We fill our water jug (when it is not being stolen, see post of August 25), so we don’t need a faucet right there. We have flashlights for light at night, so don’t need to hook up to any electricity. The campground and the site looked really nice. There was a lake nearby, lots of trees, friendly people, it almost looked too good to be true. 

It was.

We were just sitting down to dinner when The Noisy Neighbors in the tent next door powered up The World’s Largest Generator. It sounded like someone had parked a lawn mower under our picnic table. Generators are becoming a thing while camping, we have learned. “Electricity! Don’t leave home without it!” Most campgrounds have rules about generators – they prohibit them completely or allow them only during certain hours. I dropped my fork and marched over to the campground office to find out how long I could expect to listen to the roar.

Camp Manager Man was not able to provide me with a list of rules but told me generators were “frowned upon” in the tent area. Well, he was right about that, I was definitely frowning. I asked to move to a different site, but he told me the only one left for the night was the Emergency Site which was not available. He said he would send Camp Host Lady over to check out the situation. 

Camp Host Lady came over right away and said something to The Noisy Neighbors, who continued blasting The World’s Largest Generator across the state of Ohio. Then she came over to us and offered to move us to the Emergency Site, for which we would have to pay three more dollars, because it came with electricity.

“Uh, excuse me, but if someone wants electricity shouldn’t they have to stay a site with electricity instead being allowed to Annoy Their Neighbors with The World’s Largest Generator?” I asked. “Oh, people do it all the time,” she replied. That is, Annoy Their Neighbors.

We settled into the Emergency Site, glad to have some relief from all the racket. We were in the electric section now. People who want electricity can just plug in. Whew.

We climbed into our sleeping bags, glad to finally have some peace, and looking forward to a serene sleep. 

That’s when the 5000 watt lights on the Winnebago next door popped on, flooding the night like the brightest moment of the longest day of the year. 

Neighbors.