Congratulations to Norma Heck, this week’s winner of an audiobook of Crazy Days in Big Lake
Today starts our second week of our two week stay here at the Indian Lakes Thousand Trails preserve. It’s a nice park except for the fact that from the site we’re parked in, we can’t get a decent signal for our rooftop satellite TV dish.
The only thing that has really ticked me off is a pipeline worker, part of a group that is staying here long term, who has turned one of the campsites into his personal parking place for his truck and ATV. For most of the week this has been the only open site in our loop and I have watched several RVs drive through, stop and look at it and then go on in search of a site.
The site is not bagged, but somebody blocked the entrance with a wooden pallet and a couple of pieces of log, making it look inaccessible to any RVer pulling in. I complained a couple of times on the Thousand Trails Facebook page and they must have said something to him, because the truck and trailer were moved for a short time, but then were back in the same place. Finally a ranger came down with a tractor and moved the stuff blocking the site’s entrance and made him move, but damned if he didn’t come back again once the ranger was gone!
I’m sorry, you can only blame on-site management for this. They need to either kick this jerk out or make him pay for a second site. They come down, he moves it, they go away and he puts it right back! Get out there and see what’s happening in your park. Introduce yourself to the members, ask how it’s going. Any manager who says they don’t have the time to do that should not be a manager.
Somebody asked me why I cared and what business of mine it was, as long as I was able to find a site. I think it’s all of our business as dues paying members to see that the rules are applied equally and that sites are available and not turned into private parking lots. I was happy to see a fifth wheel pull into the site Saturday and a family enjoying it the way it’s supposed to be used.
In yesterday’s blog I mentioned a generator exhaust stack and a reader e-mailed me to ask where they could find one, since they do a lot of boondocking and he wants to get his generator exhaust fumes away from the RV. Here is a link to a Camco Gen-Turi Generator Exhaust Venting System that a lot of dry campers I know use.
Yesterday was another hot and humid day, with thunderstorms predicted. I spent it working, getting another 2,500 words done, and about 5:30 Greg and Jan came over for dinner. Terry had made a delicious chalupa, filled with pork, beans, hominy, green chilis, and a collection of spices, all of it made from scratch, of course. Jan brought a freshly made cranberry cake for the perfect dessert. We all ate way more than we needed to, but when the food’s that good, what else can you do?
More storms are predicted for today, so we’ll wait and see what happens. I really want to get this book done, but I know cabin fever is going to set in sooner or later and we’ll need a day out exploring.
Thought For The Day – What we call failure is often just running out of patience.
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Nick Russell
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Thanks for the audiobook, Nick.
Nick I agree 100%. Good for you for reporting it and reporting it again. With opening the parks to just about anyone, it’s hard enough for us paying members to get a site, without some knot head adding to the problem!!
Perhaps if several people would park their toads in empty spots, filling up the spaces, the management might get a clue. They certainly couldn’t make one move if they didn’t make them all move.
The oil and gas workers in the Ohio Valley have driven prices out of sight. I was told the companies pay for their housing. The local Holiday Inn was filled with big 18 wheel truck parked across the car parking. People have put in water and electric and call it a rv resort and have prices higher than resorts.
Management involvement is the key to happy campers and return customers at a campground. We have been on the road since June 15th staying one to three nights at statete parks, campgrounds and Moose Lodges. The campgrounds with engaging owners/managers have been the best experiences. The rules are simple, clearly stated & enforced universally. I felt like a guest in their home, not a paycheck in their wallet.
Good for you! Rules are rules, not suggestions….just like the speed limit. Now that is my big gripe. I really dislike the way the 18 wheelers and some cars pretend the interstate system is a speedway. Rules and laws are not suggestions, as I have said before.
I agree with your actions Nick. (If that means anything) For those who have been members of TT throughout the years, it’s bad enough to see how our membership “benefits” have diminished, but taking up a spot which could be used by someone else is just plain wrong.
Saw the exact same truck and ATV there last summer parked in member sites. I complained and nothing was done, just like complaints about the gas line workers or whatever they are raising hell at night with loud music and their dogs running loose. Obviously Thousand Trails management cares more about the money their company pays to take away sites from long time members than it does us.
Nick, thanks for speaking up. If we don’t the A****loes win. If I was at that campground I would be knocking on your door suggesting we block him on the site that wasn’t his with our toads front and back so he couldn’t move his vehicle when he wanted to. How loud do you think he would complain then.