High Expectations

Sometimes people have some very high expectations. I don’t know if it’s because they have a sense of entitlement or because they are just foolish, but either way they need to get a dose of reality. Here are some examples based on emails and social media messages I’ve received in just the last two weeks.

Terry and I have been lifetime members of Passport America for many years and it’s one of the best ways I know of for RVers to save money when they travel. For just $44 a year you get access to over 1900 RV parks and campgrounds that offer a 50% discount to Passport America members. But you do have to understand that each campground sets its own rules as to which days of the week they accept Passport America members and on stay limits. Obviously, if you have a campground in Florida and it’s the busy winter season, you are not going to be renting RV sites for half-price when you are running at 100% occupancy. But in the off-season it’s a good deal for both the RV park and the Passport America member. They get more traffic when they need it, and the RVer saves a few bucks. Many participating campgrounds are small mom and pop places, although some are large full service RV resorts. Either way, it’s a heck of a bargain.

So I didn’t have a lot of sympathy when someone complained to me that they stayed overnight in a small Passport America campground that only had 30 amp electric at their full hookup site, and that there was no cable TV or free Wi-Fi. They felt like they got ripped off at $13 a night. Really? $13 got you a full hookup RV site? That was a heck of a deal over 18 years ago when we started fulltiming. I’m surprised somebody like this doesn’t expect Walmart to supply hookups and free Wi-Fi when they stay in their parking lots overnight, too.

Somebody else was complaining that they called a dealer in Wisconsin who handles the same brand of RV they bought back home in New York and he wouldn’t send someone out to their campground to discuss some of the issues they were having with their motorhome. The RVer said he paid a good price for his rig, and he didn’t think it was too much to expect someone to drive a measly eight miles to take care of a customer. I told him that’s not the way this industry works, and I would be very surprised if the dealer he originally bought the RV from would even send somebody across the street to make a repair. Anybody who has read this blog very long knows I’m not a big fan of most RV dealerships, but let’s get real, folks.

And then there was the couple complaining that they stayed in a state park campsite somewhere out west and all the sites had was basic electric and a dump station. No water and no sewer hookup. I’m surprised they got a site with electric. A lot of state parks don’t even offer that much

As I’ve written many times, Terry and I have always loved traveling the two lane roads, both in our motorhome and in our van. One interstate highway exit looks the same as any other, no matter where you are in the country. Two lane roads take you past farmland and through small towns and along winding rivers where the real America lives. But one has to understand that not all two lane roads are created equally. Some are just not suited for a big RV.

A blog reader complained about that the other day, saying they were on a back road somewhere in the mountains of West Virginia and it got so narrow they thought they were going to fall off the side. And that was before they came to the low underpass they couldn’t fit through! They wondered why a state would not make all of their roads suitable for any size vehicle. I’ve traveled some two lane roads in West Virginia. We were on one once in our Toyota pickup that had me wondering if we wouldn’t fall off the side! If you’re going to drive a big rig, learn how to read a map and know what kind of roads the different lines on that map indicate. And get yourself a GPS that will allow you to enter your vehicle’s height and weight. It will save you a lot of trouble.

A complaint I have received more than once is from somebody who puts their clothes in a washing machine at a campground laundry and then runs off to do something and forgets about it or gets busy and couldn’t get back, and is offended because someone else eventually took the clothes out and stacked them on a table so they could use the machine. You would be surprised by how many people are offended by that. I guess they expect everyone else to just sit and wait until they eventually return. You would be even more surprised by the number of people who say that the least the next person wanting to use the machine should do is put the clothes in the dryer (use of these machines is not free, by the way) and start the drying process.

And last but not least, somebody contacted me yesterday asking about RV parks in Florida where one can buy their own site. I gave him the names of two or three that I knew of, and a link to a website that lists RV lots for sale nationwide. I don’t know how many places were listed, but apparently it was too many because he responded asking me if I could use some kind of filter to narrow the field down to sites in a certain price range that would accommodate his 45 foot rig in RV resorts that included a golf course and pickleball courts, and also had storage for boats. Gee, all I have to do with my life this month is finish writing a new book, write a daily blog, and run my business. I’ll jump right on that for you, buddy.

Like I said, sometimes people have very high expectations.

A lot of veterans have responded to our offer of a free copy of our e-book Overnight Parking With The VFW, which lists VFW posts nationwide that allow traveling VFW members to park overnight for free or a small donation. Again, this guide is free to VFW members for a limited time only. To request a copy, email me at Editor@gypsyjournal.net.

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Today is your last chance to enter our Free Drawing for an audiobook of Big Lake, the first book in my Big Lake mystery series, and the one that launched my career as a fiction author. To enter, all you have to do is click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn this evening.

Thought For The Day – Somebody stole my mood ring and I don’t know how I feel about that.