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Tourists, and the Brains God Gave a Goose

A couple hundred cows (and a couple bulls) came through the campground recently. Therefore there was a huge up-spike in the average IQ of the campground. Do you think I am exaggerating?

Once I tried to suggest alternatives to driving long distances to merely snack on pretty scenery. I argued that a vacation would cost less money and be more relaxing if people went to a luxury lodge of the other side of the metropolis, watched a movie, ordered pizza for the kids, took the wife to an elegant restaurant or "nice" shops, and hung out at the pool.

Additionally, the pretty scenery can be gotten just as well from high-resolution video or photographs on the internet. And it is virtually free.

But I don't think anyone was persuaded. They are still showing up in the middle of the night at my campground, slamming car doors for an hour while pitching their tent in the rain, listening to someone snore in a tent 30 feet away from theirs, sleeping through the perfect weather of a Southwestern morning, and then beginning a hike up a "fourteener" at noon in order to be blasted with hail in mid-afternoon.

Why anyone considers that fun, I'll never know.





Of course the real superstars drag over-sized toy-haulers all the way from Texas. Then they expect to camp that bloody thing in a small campground in the mountains. Or they try to bring their Prius down rough forest roads, or cross mountain streams.

They expose as much skin as possible to bugs or scalding sun. I've never seen a tourist with long pants and long-sleeved shirts.


But these things don't really upset me. A second grade teacher knows what can be expected from the kiddies, and so do I.  So relax, and enjoy the high IQ bovines.

Comments

Ted said…
Best. Post. Ever.

Needs silly goose pic.

(kidding)
Ted said…
I find it hugely ironic that if you want a quiet, relaxing stay with clean air you DO NOT want to go to campgrounds out "in Nature". People slam car doors (tenters) and/or run their generators (RVers), and share their music. They create clouds of choking smog with their camp fires and BBQs. They keep it up late into the night.

Silence and fresh air is better found in full-hookup RV parks. Last summer I was a camp host in a Reno RV "resort". Aside from the week the Burning Man people came through (Worst. Campers. Ever.), it was a piece of Nirvana compared to the two primitive—but oh so scenic!—BLM campgrounds I've been camp hosting in the Colorado Rockies.

So very ironic.
There is indeed some irony in how unnatural crowded-backwoods-campgrounds can be!
edlfrey said…
Ted, You are generally correct. Certainly are correct about the "Burners". If you were still hosting then you also got to experience Hot August Nights. Another fine group of 'campers!

In my 8 years of staying in RV Parks I can think of only one time that I had the 'campground' experience. That was during a 4th of July Weekend. The Park also offered cabins which brought in people other than RVers. The Park was packed and there was a band that played late into the night for 'everyone's' entertainment.
Ted said…
Ed, it's true that the Hot August Nights got busy, but from what I heard it was not as much so as at other Reno area RV parks. And certainly not close to the 'Burner' level. I was at Sparks Marina.
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