We arrived at the Morgan Hill Thousand Trails preserve on Monday, with a fourteen day reservation. We expected it to be busy with the holiday weekend and all, but we had no problem finding a nice, level site with a good shot at the sky for our TV dish. I wasn’t impressed that the air conditioning in the Adult Lounge wasn’t working, making it too hot to be in there, but that wasn’t a deal breaker.
As expected, the campground filled up over the next few days, and by Friday morning it was packed. A large crowd of young people were parked on both sides of us, in front, and behind us. They were having a good time, and we had no problem with that, except that they kept walking through our campsite.
But then they brought out a boom box that was so loud that, sitting inside our RV with the windows closed, air conditioner on, and TV on, we had to turn the TV almost all the way up to hear it. Somebody must have complained, because a ranger came by and talked to them, and they turned it down for about 20 minutes, and then had it at full blast again. Finally, late in the evening I walked over and told them to turn it down or off, and they did.
About mid-day yesterday the power went off, and since it was in the high 80s, we opened our windows and turned on our exhaust fans, but it still quickly got to 93 degrees in our motorhome, according to our digital thermostat. I called the main office number, and the ranger station, but nobody answered the phone, so after a half hour or so I went looking and found an employee, and told him about the power. He said “If all of you people wouldn’t have your AC on during the heat of the day, that wouldn’t happen.” Huh? When should I run my AC, if not during the hottest part of the day?
Meanwhile, back at our RV, the fellow next to us, part of the party crowd, had fired up a cheap construction type generator, which was very loud, and was right under our open window, so the fumes were coming inside our rig. A few minutes later the worker came by and said he had reset the breaker for our area, but to expect it to go out again pretty soon. Terry complained about the generator, so he went across the street and found the owner, and had him shut it down. As predicted, the power didn’t stay on very long, and we were back to sitting in a sauna.
Apparently these were local people, because several cars came in on day passes to party with them, and it kept getting louder. No power, a loud noisy crowd with no regard for other people and no respect for their space, and a campground staff that didn’t care. That was enough for us. Our bullshit tolerance level had been exceeded.
One of the great things about the RV lifestyle is that, if you don’t like the neighbors, you can move. And that’s just what we did! We left Thousand Trails and went to the Elks lodge in Gilroy, about twelve miles away. They have eight back-in sites with 50 amp electric and water, on a hill with a great view.
The place is almost full, and though the RVs are parked pretty close together, we still have as much or more room than we did at the Thousand Trails, and it is nice and quiet. We’re much more comfortable here, and glad we moved.
When we left the Thousand Trails, Terry stopped at the guard shack to tell them why we were leaving early, and that we were unhappy, but the ranger just said “Okay, have a nice day.” As we were leaving, a sheriff’s car was pulling in with lights flashing. I don’t know what happened, and I don’t care. We won’t be back again.
Bad Nick doesn’t let trivial things like obnoxious neighbors and power outages get in his way. He posted a brand new Bad Nick Blog titled Happy Birthday To Us. Check it out and leave a comment.
Thought For The Day – Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care. – Theodore Roosevelt
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Nick Russell
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Nick, glad to hear that you found a more civilized location to enjoy the Fourth of July weekend. Just curious — do you always have a “Plan B” in your back pocket, just in case?
So sorry to hear about your experience. While we have never had the really loud noise problem we did have the holiday electricity problem in a state campground once. These older campgrounds are just not wired for everyone to run their ACs at the same time. In our case, the main electrical panel in the park kept overheating. There really wasn’t anything the rangers could do. Fortunately we were able to run our generator and keep cool. After the other campers left on Sunday, we were able to again use the campground electricity because we were about the only people in the park by that time. Glad you moved. It’s not worth the aggravation. And you’re right that’s why RVing is so great. We have wheels under our house. If we don’t like the neighborhood, we move.
One more reason we prefer visiting many places during the school year. Not very often do we find loud and inconsiderate campers, plus Dale still gets very excited when she sees all the cars and buses at different schools after five years on the road. They’re there, she’s not.
Sorry to hear that you had so many problems. We are at the Lake Texoma TT in north Texas. Other than the holiday hula, we have not had any problems. Crowded for the holiday with lots of kids, but good electric and quiet all around us. The staff have been great. Guess it depends upon the individual preserve management. Happy 4th!
Sounds like you did the right thing! Isn’t it great to have wheels. We are in NJ at TT Chestnut Lake. Very busy but its quiet.
Enjoy the 4th!
Sorry you had that bad experience. We ad a similar situation when we took a spot in a campground that had a large group of noisy teenagers next to us. It was quiet when we got there but soon after the party began. Turns out, the dad put the camper on a site for his teenage daughter to use for the week end and then left. There was beer cans all over, loud music, many teens coming in cars, fights, and to top it off, someone being pushed into the side of our camper late at night. When dad came on Sunday to pick up the camper, I was sure to let him know what his cute little angel had been up to. They had tried to clean up all the mess but I dumped a bag of beer cans at dads feet and told him these were just a few of the ones that I picked up. Also, i recapped went on for the entire week end while he was gone. The only good thing that came out of this was watching how upset he got at his little angel! Who would think of setting up a camper for a teen ager to use unsupervised? It takes all kinds, I guess.
The campground we are in flooded so we and the seasonal workers are parked in a meadow with mostly 20 amp electrical turtles like they use in fairgrounds for rallies. We were lucky to get the last 30 amp spot but even it kept our EMS cutting in and out yesterday. There’s no place here to move to; everything is full. But, it’s quiet. 🙂
That’s why when we find ourselves on the road during a major holiday we always look for a small out of the way campground with nothing to do. A small city park or fairgrounds where nobody wants to go to party.
Sorry our Morgan Hill TTN did you dirt for the weekend. We stayed home for the holiday (and for the summer), watched the city’s fireworks from our front porch!
I’m glad you were able to find a place to stay on the holiday week-end. The good news is, those noisy inconsiderate people will probably have to go to work on Tuesday, and you don’t!
Nomadic RV living is great. Wheels on the house means it is easy to move. Done it myself. My stays at Morgan Hill TT have always been in the fall. For me it’s always been enjoyable visit to the Morgan Hill area.
An aside… It doesn’t take youngsters to make noise. For this Fourth of July weekend I am parked at the Port Townsend (WA) Elks. Shortly before sunset, the older couple in the RV parked next to me was sitting outside, drinks in hand, RV door wide open so they could hear the very loud 50s music (I like 50s music, but not while I was listening to Beethoven at the same time). Their behavior was irritating, but I knew it would end soon as the sun dropped over the trees. The sun dropped. The temperature dropped. The couple moved indoors. I didn’t have to hook up. Nice end to a good day.
As you stated if you do not like your neighbors we move. We have been lucky so far we have had crowds of people and if they are next to us they usually invite us over, this way no one can complain. Still the weekend campers should have the decency to keep it down. Being a teenager is no excuse for bad behavior. Bet the cops were coming for them. Glad that you were able to find a place that was much quieter. Take care
Unfortunately, Elaine, these were not teenagers, but people in the late 20s to very early 30s with kids. The kids were not nearly as bad as the parents.
I just checked the blog for the first time in a few days, my air card was dead and had to be replaced. Nick, we must have been right behind you leaving Morgan Hill Saturday! We were in the 200 section in a Travel Supreme, and the same rowdy crowd was just down from us. When my wife asked them to tone it down, one told her to get some earplugs because the party was just getting started. I spoke to the ranger, who just shrugged his shoulders and drove away. I am writing a letter to Thousand Trails complaining.
Betwixt that and the power outages, we left and spent the night at Camping World and are headed north today, as much as we hate driving on holidays. I don’t want to stop until I hit Oregon. California sucks and we won’t be back anytime in the foreseeable future.
Good Job….Nick and Terry…best call you could make…was making tracks
When in doubt, get out
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Good times, bad times. They’re all the same. Staying at the Kentucky Horse Park campground. We drove into Lexington for the 4th on the 3rd. Asked a cop where to park. He obligingly pointed out a lot with open spots. When we got back, the toad was towed! A long walk and $118 later, we were on our way back to the campground. Good cop. Bad cop. Are they all the same?