I agree wholehardedly-the sad thing is that it is not just the RV/
camper estrangement, but the entire auto driven suburban lifestyle
that has caused us to not see our neighbors.  Folks drive into their
auto door operated garages, & go right into their homes w/o going
outside to interact w/ the neighbors.  They socialize in the back
yard instead of the front porch, & so no one has to interact
anymore.  Throw in email, cell phones, text messaging, & computer
games, etc. & it's a wonder that anyone can even carry on a face to
face conversation at all?

Tom B.-hiding at my computer in my private office

On Apr 25, 2007, at 1:10 PM, Zoltan wrote:

> In my first years of going around the US in a Westfalia, I remember
> once I
> went into a caravan park, I mean an RV park, drove around to find
> the spot I
> was allocated and could not help noticing that the place was void
> of humans.
> Only seen the big RVs parking all over using up almost every spot.
> But no
> humans around.  Well, I did not think much of it at that time, we
> parked the
> van and with that the kids jumped out and started their play
> outside and I
> later served lunch to the family that we had, sitting on that table-
> bench
> camping site unit next to the van.
> In a few hours being there, I have seen only one or two living
> being.  One
> was walking a dog.  This place was very near to the ocean and RV
> guys are
> not known to be surfers and such.  I was asking my American wife
> about why
> there is nobody around.  "I don't know" was the expected answer.  I
> also
> noticed one or two RVs moving in or out of the camp, but no sign of
> humans
> outside any unit.
> It only dawned on me later, that they are all inside.  Aha!  There
> they are
> all.  Yes, but why are they here?  If they want to be in the RV,
> they don't
> have to go anywhere, they can do it at home anytime.
> In the meantime my kids and I were at the pool, played table
> tennis, skipped
> on the pond, played mini golf had the lunch outside, took some
> other walks,
> went down to the beach.
> We never seen the neighbors for the couple of days we were there.
> They must
> have seen us when they peeped out from the inside from the security
> of their
> mobile castles.
> I kind of missed the good old days when people mingled, asked each
> other
> where they are from, talked about their lives, set around a fire
> telling
> jokesand stories, playing some gitar, singing songs together,
> exchanging
> addresses, making pictures about each other and when they left they
> hugged,
> promised to write then waved.
> Today the the affluence has separated them, estranged them.  They
> became an
> island that we always thought we are not.
> I think, the small size of our vans makes us to be the old fashion
> kind of
> camper while the large monsters will really never leave home, only
> move
> their motorised machines to a different location.
> The difference is too great.
> Have fun this summer too.
> Zoltan
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Don Hanson" <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 10:35 AM
> Subject: Vanagons and RVs
>
>
> Someone asked about the large complex RVs people seem to favor now,
> "Thats
> Camping?"  No, there is a whole new class of recreation called
> "RVing". It
> is different from camping.   I've met lots of them during my travels,
> "RVers" and they often be the first to tell you they aren't
> camping, they
> are RVing.
>  Now we VW people, we still think we are camping, we even call our
> vehicles
> "campers" and we seem to have a bit differnt "take" on what a trip
> out of
> town should be about than the RVers do.
>
> It is a shame that we sometimes must co-habitate with RVers who
> haven't
> quite got it that they ARE RVers, not campers.  When an RV gets
> "lost" and
> ends up out it's element, the RVers inside, they don't really know
> it,  or
> they don't really care, they just turn up the TV.  Inside there,
> they have
> no idea what kind of impact they have on their surroundings,
> because they
> are "RVing" and that is being inside their RV,  going to 'interesting
> places' and meeting 'other RVers' etc etc.
>
>  That is one reason why the stealthy brown colored van is
> useful...No RVers
> will see you and say..."Hey, someone is parked out there, let's go
> set up
> next to him" which they often do, if they see you.  Especially in
> out of the
> way places...Must be the "Herd instinct" or something...
>
>  Maybe we could get Go Westy or someone to build us some "Inflatable
> Winniebago" balloons that we could stake down like decoys, a decent
> distance
> from our real 'campsite'  and get all the lonely Winniebagos to "land"
> nearby the decoy 'Bago, thereby leaving you in solitude in your
> turd brown
> "camper".. ...I always take earplugs along to RV country, just in
> case...
>
>  Don Hanson
>
>
> --
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