Wednesday, July 31, 2013

RV music lesson

Dear Dr. R.V. Shrink:
I like music as much as the next guy, but campground "musicians" drive me nuts. It never fails — there always seems to be someone in camp that thinks everyone wants to hear their music. Recently we were serenaded at Glacier National Park by a young girl who knew three guitar chords and half the words to the song “A Horse With No Name” by the band America. I used to love that song, but it will never have the same memory for me again. She yodeled it about a million times in three days. We were so happy when she finally left, but our solitude was short lived. She was replaced by a guy on his sax who thought he was John Coltrane, Kenny G., and Branford Marsalis all rolled into one. We might have been in the site next to the one reserved for the musically challenged. We decided to move. Unfortunately, today's new boom boxes have speakers that can reach several loops. From our new digs we could hear Pavarotti to the east of us and Bob Seger to the west. It was like hearing Bob Luciano sing “Love to watch her strut” operatic. Please don’t tell me to contact the host or a ranger. They are both within earshot (which could be several miles) and seem to both be deaf. Perhaps they attended too many loud concerts in the sixties. --Musically Annoyed in Apgar

Dear Annoyed:
I can sympathize with you. Fortunately, most of us make the effort to preserve the solitude. I won’t even run my generator during “generator hours” because I know it’s annoying to those around us. However, there are enough people who are oblivious to the fact that not everyone shares their taste in music, inconsiderate enough to disrupt neighboring campsites, and feel they are offering legitimate entertainment while learning to play an instrument in a quiet campground setting. We just sat through a day of listening to a guy with a wooden Native American flute, accompanied by several howling dogs. We moved, but not before complaining to the host. The host's job is one of little authority in most cases. In many cases, they don’t want to be involved even if it is part of their duty. You will notice that talking to the offending party yourself is most often like spitting into the wind. They wouldn’t be annoying you in the first place if they had two brain cells to rub together. It usually comes down to relying on local rangers or law enforcement to make sure rules are obeyed, quiet times are observed, and peaceful coexistence continues within confined campground settings. Your choices are to move or try to work things out through campground management, be it host, ranger or owners. Taking the law into your own hands, trying to out blast the neighbors or becoming the campground referee, will only make things worse. Campground utopia is hard to come by.
--Keep Smilin’, Dr. R.V. Shrink

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

My dear husband is an aspiring musician. Every time he sees a musical instrument at a yard sale he buys it. He's particularly fond of his Indian drum and wooden flute. I limit him to 2 minutes maximum of playing time and only in the wilderness when we're boon docking, hiking, biking, or site seeing. Others may hear him from time to time but at least their pain will be short lived with my strict 2 minute limit.

Anonymous said...

I particularly like the guys that talk about every country musician by first name trying to have everybody believe they know and/or played with them... all the while living in their $500 motorhome with the windows covered in plastic trash bags. A true story while recently staying at a park close to LSU for our kids' swim meet.

Anonymous said...

I have often thought about installing big external speakers and playing loud religious music to combat these uncivil people. A few minutes of southern revival music blasted out should get their attention. No offense intended. Or maybe Tiny Tim songs, etc.

Jim said...

I also feel the same way you do when it comes to "loud" music in a campground setting. My feelings have always been if I am making enough noise of any type to disturb my fellow campers I need to tone it down. As you can see not all campers feel the same. The one saving grace I have found is my RV is on wheels. I will move to another site or if necessary another campground. It's not worth the hassle. If business begins to drop at the campground host or owner will get the message after enough campers let them know why they are leaving.

Anonymous said...

My wife and I will not hesitate to tell these musicians that in no uncertain terms we do not appreciate their attempts at entertainment so quite down or go away.

Anonymous said...

Why do people go to the great outdoors just to make noise? If I wanted noise I would stay in the city or go to a bar. I wish campgrounds would have quiet areas.
No radio and no barking dogs. We have about decided to stop RVing because of this.

Anonymous said...

Maybe these "musicians" need to be in the same campground as the SKPs who advocate damaging other peoples personal property ( noisy generators) because they are annoyed by it. They can slither over to the offending RVer and destroy the offending musical instrument. Oh, I need to add the ever popular SKP "just joking" disclaimer.

Anonymous said...

After our 5th year traveling and over 9 months a year, we have fortunately not encountered this annoyance.
In a very tight campground in Arizona we had a neighbor who strummed softly for an hour one evening outside our window.....might have bothered me at midnight. The only time noise made me crazy was at an overnight interstate rest area. We stayed in the "Cars and RVs only area" It was hot and we needed all our windows open. About 11PM a Refrigerated Semi pulled in directly behind us. After 30 minutes or so I realized he was there for the night. By 1AM I told my husband we either must go back on the road or shut the windows, turn on the generator and run the air conditioner. We couldn't possibly make any more noise then the refrigerator unit. Memories...

Anonymous said...

Maybe it would help if the brainiac who decided every RV needs an outdoor entertainment center would be forced to camp next to one of the idiots who uses it all night. What a stupid idea it was to put these on all RV's. In the quiet outdoors they don't even need to be loud to be heard all over the park.

I love music.....but I wouldn't force you to listen to mine, I'll wear headphones or something.

Anonymous said...

Most campgrounds are remote enough, that if you pre-dig a hole, you can just club them to death, and be back to you site in time for the game!

John said...

This subject is another double-edged sword. First and foremost, everyone needs to observe a CG's "Quiet Hours". Beyond that, I have found that in most cases, when I can hear other people's music, it is only if I have none of my own on and I really have to listen for it. It is not like walking into a rock concert. Maybe I have just been lucky.