Community Forums

rosebud1218 · 07-05-2022, 07:57 AM

I like your style!

By following your Grandad's good advice and maintaining your cool, you not only educated, but also improved the other camper's potential for paying your good manners forward.

I like to think, as others have suggested in this thread, that this individual was dealing with his own pre-setup anxiety. Seems these days, we're not uncommonly finding ourselves in a "waiting for the other shoe to drop" mindset.

baraff · 07-05-2022, 08:05 AM

The CoE we stay at in Illinois has a checkout time of 4pm, and check in time of 5 pm. It seems weird to me but it is what it is.
We've not had an issue but we usually camp Sun-Fri so the weekenders are mostly gone by the time we get there.

carybosse · 07-05-2022, 08:06 AM

Makes me very happy I have a 12 volt fridge that does not require me to rush hookups.

I have never seen that late of a check out time, usually 11 AM or noon. Since I typically have a 2-3 hour trek home at least, and then need to tow my trailer to the storage lot, noon is normally about as late as I want to depart.

baraff · 07-05-2022, 08:17 AM

One time we were staying at Catalina State Park in Tucson and the guy in the site next to us was packing up to leave. Checkout was noon. It was around 10am and he was starting to put things away when some guy shows up in a campervan and asks when he's going to be out of the site. The neighbor replied "when I'm done or 12 noon". The campervan drove off in a huff and spent the next two hours circling around the loop giving dirty looks.
At this point, the neighbor decided to slow walk his departure and just sat out in his folding chair. At exactly 12 noon, he pulled out.
The campervan guy was infuriated but there wasn't a thing he could do about it.
It was entertaining to say the least.

Mr.Mark · 07-05-2022, 08:38 AM

Early June I was a the COE park near Eureka Springs, AR, at Lost Bridge South on Beaver Lake.

Check out is 3:00 PM

Check in is 4:00 PM

Nice quiet place.

Safe travels,
Mark

vroom_vroom · 07-05-2022, 08:39 AM

Check out is check out. One of the spots we like is a cross a time zone from us and to avoid some traffic we usually end up there pretty far ahead of check out, it’s first come first serve so we will post up by the lake and stop by a site we like that is checking out and offer a cup of coffee if they will give us a heads up before they roll. You would be amazed how many campers run low on coffee by roll out day.

Always had positive experiences but we keep our distance after that.

Jay D. · 07-05-2022, 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meames1

First off, I'm not complaining or mad, just wondering what people think of doing this / or being on the receiving end as I was.
Spent the last week @ a COE park we frequent.
Check out is 3:00 pm, check in is 4:00 pm. But, you can access your site early if it is unoccupied.
We tend to stay right up to pretty close to 3:00 as we only live 40 minutes away and the kids like to use the lake right up through the last day.
Finished up at the lake, had lunch, and doing our final clean up before departing.
It's now 2:20 and this huge fifth wheel pulls up in front of the site and they guy gets out and says to my kids, "Whose is this, it's in our site". They pointed to the door, which was open, I was in drivers seat about to start to build air and lower jacks. He says, "Hey, when are you leaving I have a fridge full of food here". I politely told him, we are starting now and by the way check-out isn't until 3:00. He acts like he didn't know it wasn't until 3:00 even though it's very clear on the website (which is the only way to book a site btw).
As I was picking up my blocks a neighbor came over and said I should sit right there until 3:00, and checkout isn't until 4:00. I chuckled.
Anyway, we try to accommodate the next camper the best we can when we see them pull in. They usually look at the site and we get the idea and move along. My concern is missing some part of our packing and preparation checklists just because we are hurrying for someone clearly early. This guy rubbed me wrong how he was basically demanding us to get out of "His" spot. I could never see myself being like this unless it was after the 4:00 move in.
All in all we were pulled off site and parked down by the lake by 2:30.
I guess my grandfathers words come to play here, "Just don't be a Jerk"...cleaned up for irv2

FRIG FULL OF FOOD i sure like my gas frig.
Jay D.

LETMGROW · 07-05-2022, 09:02 AM

You simply fell victim to a member of the "All about Me" society. This is becoming a larger group almost on a daily basis. Get used to it, ignore it, as it's not going away anytime soon.

Tachdriver · 07-05-2022, 10:04 AM

The other camper may not have been aware of the check in time. Even though it was on the website, suppose his DW made the reservations and HE is used to earlier check in times elsewhere. Coming in and seeing somebody in his reserved spot can often trigger some emotional responses that he needs to quell only this find out about the check in times.

Taking the high road by being polite and reminding that person of the check in times will de-escalate situations.

I don't like to assume everyone knows all the rules, I figure diplomacy goes farther than other methods. Heck we all go camping to have a good time, I believe perhaps you did two things: educated the camper on the rules and provided a polite camping attitude that he can pay forward.

Dutch Star Don · 07-05-2022, 12:08 PM

This issue can work both ways. Over 45+ years of camping, we've only had an issue three times. We've never had anyone rush us but have had people stay in their site past checkout. There are a couple of campgrounds that we always checked to see if someone was in the spot we had reserved. However, we did it from a distance, and didn't put pressure on the other camper.

We used to boat at the Sacramento Delta every year. We always arrived in that hour between check-in and check-out. We checked in at the office and then drove to our site. As we arrived, we saw the campers loading up their car to leave, with their rig still in the site. Before they drove off, leaving us hanging, I asked them why they hadn't checked out, they were in our reserved site. They said they decided to stay another day, but never contacted the office, just took it on their own to stay. This was a packed RV park.

About six years ago, we pulled into our site in Yosemite's Upper Pines campground. It was Thanksgiving week. As we rounded the turn to our site, long past check-out, there was a Class C rental there. There was no one around. I went back to the booth who had camp hosts working it and they told us, to just go park our 40' DP in Curry village until the owner returned.

It was now 3:30 pm and would certainly be dark by the time we tried to get into our site, not something you do in Upper Pines, with a 40' coach. I asked the host to call the Ranger. The Ranger responded, checked our reservations and called a tow truck. The tow truck, which is kept in the Village, was there in about 15 minutes. They towed the RV over to the Village. A few hours later a clueless lady and her kid walked up looking for her Class C. I told her where she could find it. She just walked away.

So......I see the need to check on your site if it's a busy campground, but you should do it discreetly until they violate the check-out time.

twogypsies · 07-05-2022, 12:11 PM

You were correct in staying during your allotted time.

However, I really think COE campgrounds should have a uniform check-in/out period. They use different times. Plus, the times are too late. Even 1 or 2pm would be much better for both parties.

We've never encountered check-out times as late as the COE campgrounds. National forest, national parks, county and city parks don't have such a late check-in time.

Plus, checking out at 3-4pm actually gives you a free day to swim/boat, etc. whereas the person coming in has to pay for the short hours of available 'fun' time because he has to set up after a long drive and most likely, has to prepare dinner with no real quality time to swim while it's a warmer daytime temperature. You like the late check-out time because you live closeby. The other person may like an earlier check-in because he lives closeby. Guess you can't please everyone.

We've seen some that pack up in other parks that have an early check-out time and just move to the day use area to spend the rest of the day.

.... just another opinion ....

WHSouthwind · 07-05-2022, 12:36 PM

i would never have to deal with this. i want to be done driving and home unpacked by 4pm getting ready to cook up what i didnt cook during the trip. i have never heard of an rv that needed to be in a reserved spot to have the refer or cooler work. i do come from a dry camping crowd though.

bigb56 · 07-05-2022, 12:56 PM

I wonder what would happen if you didn't have a toad and drove out somewhere for breakfast then returned to finish out your reserved time and somebody else had come along and set up. Last week we did just that and left our fresh water hose, our leveling pads in place and our door mat. When we returned a good Samaritan had gathered up our things and turned them in to the office thinking we forgot them

Looking now for some sort of sign to leave next time, I'd like a bag type sign that can be placed over the pedestal saying "occupied" or "be back soon"

johnhicks · 07-05-2022, 02:34 PM

Many COE parks have switched to late checkin/checkout. It actually does make sense; most campers arrive late or after work Friday and leave Sunday, so the new hours give them a lot more playtime.

It took me by surprise. I'll often arrive at a CG around 1 p.m. or so because I like to travel early in the day when it isn't so hot. So what I do now is call the CG and ask if the site's clear; that's been working all summer. I do pick out a couple of store or church parking lots where I could wait if needed.