Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 19:15:24 -0400
Reply-To: Chris S <szpejankowski@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Chris S <szpejankowski@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: was solar panels, now gen. noise
In-Reply-To: <49DE5BCA.2070100@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
So there I am, quietly sitting in my Westy's open side door, somewhere
high on the Blue Ridge Parkway, absorbing the magnificent view of the
rising sun dispersing off the low-lying fog in the green valleys
below. My egg burrito, still hot, in one hand, my wife's favorite
brand of coffee in a cup in other. I turn to her to thank her for the
freshly brewed treat when BLABLABLABLABLApatatapatapata! Interrupts
the moment. No, it's not the burrito. It's a Harley Davidson. I
wait for the leather clad couple to fade off into the distance and the
world returns to balance. Good coffee, honey!
On 4/9/09, Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:
> Right on. But you make my point: Next to a river or busy highway, those
> bitty generators are drowned out and perfectly acceptable. On the other
> hand, quiet campgrounds where all you can hear are breezes in the tree
> boughs and birdies chirping are 20 to 40dB quieter than places with
> continuous background noise and the sound of the generator can really
> carry. Those are the places I like to camp.
>
> There was a fellow in a quiet CG near Lake Arrowhead that fired up his
> construction-site type generator for a few hours each day. The racket
> carried for a mile or more. I was gonna ask the campground host if she
> could maybe put a bug in his ear or something, but two things dissuaded me
> from bringing it up:
>
> 1. She drove from campsite to campsite twice a day in a stunningly noisy
> Diesel pickup. Could hear that thing clattering 20 minutes before she got
> to my site. She didn't like to turn it off when pausing to chat (why is it
> that the people with the noisiest engines are the least likely to turn
> them off?) so I had to literally shout over the sound of the engine to be
> heard by her, and me standing only a few feet away from her truck. So I
> guarantee that she never, ever, heard his generator over the rattle and
> roar of that beast.
>
> 2. She mentioned that the fellow had been in the CG for a few weeks
> because his house had been damaged in a fire. So I felt the man was
> already going through enough misery w/o being hassled by someone whining
> about his generator noise.
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
> Bend, OR
> KG6RCR
>
>
>
> On 4/9/2009 12:47 PM Robert Fisher wrote:
>
>> On one of our camping trips last year our next-spot neighbor had one of
>> those wee-bitty Hondas that he was using to charge the house batteries in
>> his travel trailer. He ran it from around 9 a.m. to lunchtime each day-
>> plugged it in and sort of shoved it under the trailer. I only knew because
>> I saw him do it; I couldn't hear it over the noise of the river, the kids
>> playing and my wife listening to (low-level) music via her zune/sirius
>> boombox. I didn't smell it either.
>> In contrast, my step-dad, on the other side of us fired up the 80's era
>> Onan gennie in his motor home in the afternoon and basically drowned out
>> the world, and it stank. I mentioned to him at one point that he might
>> consider doing himself and the world a favor and upgrading to something
>> more modern and he got a little defensive, but that's the way that goes.
>> Sometimes a 'seed planted' is sufficient; they're considering getting rid
>> of the behemoth altogether and getting something from this century.
>> The point is, the little Honda wasn't bad at all from maybe 30-40 ft.
>> away.
>>
>> Cya,
>> Robert
>>
>> --snip--
>> No sir -- I'm sticking to my generators make poor campground neighbors
>> stance until someone demonstrates otherwise. In a quiet campground. Like
>> White Tank CG in Joshua Tree, or Laguna CG (on a weekday) near San Diego.
>> Places where you can hear a car coming long before you see it.
>> --snip--
>>
>
--
Sent from my mobile device
Chris S.
Disclaimer: "Death and serious injury may occur"
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