I’ve been at this year’s RTR for almost a week now and haven’t written a thing about it, or even taken a picture. My bad.
On the plus side, that must mean I’m having an awesome time, right? Well, no. I’m having a GOOD time, don’t mistake me, but it seems like my days are so full and I’m so tired by the end of the day, it’s all I can do to just keep up. Blogging is not an option – or hasn’t been. I’ve had a few complaints about that, so to catch up, how about a bullet list?
First, the whining:
- Bugs. Are they noseeums? I don’t know. I can’t see them but they manage to find me easily enough. Think mosquito bites but more intense. TRY NOT TO SCRATCH.
- Dogs, lots and lots of dogs. Running loose and kicking up dust (a big problem for asthmatics) and peeing on everybody’s camping gear, tents, etc. Now, I love dogs. Last year, I thought they looked so happy and free, frolicking with each other off-leash. This year, I am a cranky old lady.
- It seems like there are almost twice as many people here as there were last year.
- There seem to be a lot more RVs as opposed to vans this year, some of them quite large. I confess to being a snob about big RVs. I keep asking, “What’s the point?” (Don’t get me wrong: I like the RVers I KNOW, and I make an exception for them.)
- Some RVs (and even at least one small van) run generators for a couple of hours a day. Which can be quite problematic for those who don’t appreciate the noise — or people like me who can’t handle the fumes. I’ve been forced to move camp twice because of generators, and yesterday I had to leave the morning seminar. At the beginning of every RTR, Bob asks those with generators to camp away from the others, but some people have selective hearing. (See? Cranky.)
RTR may be getting too big. When it was smaller, these weren’t big problems but that’s changing. I’ve heard grumblings that some oldtimers won’t be back next year.
On the other hand…
- The good parts far outweigh the bad – the camaraderie, the feeling of community, people helping each other, reuniting with old friends and making new ones.
- We have a vandwelling superstar in our midst!
- This is my third RTR. I am officially an oldtimer, a title I wear proudly.
- Also: I got a puppy. 🙂
My new pup, Scout
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Some generators are a fact of camping when over 100 rigs get together, regardless what size the rigs are. I too found this year’s RTR too crowded. Where lat year’s was an intimate group, this year is way large. The vans and RV’s are packed in like a parking lot. I (and my friend with the 35′ fifth wheel) moved over 1/8th mile for exactly that reason, and so we could run our generators as often as we wanted without bothering anyone. Someone in a fifth wheel ran a loud generator for hours that actually got to annoy me.
It takes all kinds to make up a group and some will inevitably piss off others.
For most people, it’s the noise of generators that is the problem. For me, it’s the fumes. But you are right, I wasn’t very tolerant. The man in the A-class who ran his generator was disabled and needed to park near the campfire so he could get to the seminars. So I moved and all was well. 🙂