Light My Fire, Pros and cons of having campfires. Options

[Jerry S.]

Hi everybody,

For those of you who don't know my camping and RVing credentials: 15+ years in tents and 15 + years RVs; 49 states and most of Canada; over 200 campgrounds and RV parks; 5 months of RVing a year for 10+ years since retiring. I discussed my views about the site in the Campgound Reviews (mostly with Texasrvrs) string in this Forum a few weeks ago.

Since my area is about to be hit with really fridged (highs less than 10 degrees) for the next 4 or 5 days, I thought I'd try to start a hot topic. As mentioned in the aforementioned string discussion, there are some park amenities that one camper considers a positive and another camper considers a negative. One of my favorite examples is campfires.

I have read many pro campfire reviews complaining about: lack of fire rings; the size, placement, and/or what the rings were made of; restrictions, etc. Many write about the tradional aspect of campfires: just siting around it at night; s'mores; treat for the kids or grandkids; etc.

The anti-campfire people say: their rigs fill with smoke; embers and ash fall on their rigs and awnings; they can't sit outside at their own sites because of the smoke/smell; the inherent danger of open fires; the things some people try to burn; fires in 80+ degree weather; etc.

The one complaint of the pro-campfire people that I have the biggest problem with is being upset about restrictions. While some parks may ban fires for their own reasons, many bans are due to governmental (municipal, state, federal) decisions. These can be permanent or temporary but almost always based on public safety issues. I have been out west numerous times over the years in states that have dozens of fires burning tens of thousands of acres and some camper will complain about not being able to have a campfire. They act as if it is a constitutional right.

One more thought to get the ball rolling. All you have to do is read how many reviews complain about the lack of space between RV sites to realize that most RV parks are not condusive to campfires - at least to your downwind neighbors.

I could go into each of the pro and anti items above, but I'll wait to see what others think.

Jerry S.

[John Blue]

Jerry S,

Walking is one of my bags. I walk two miles each night here at home and around five miles more in day time hours around our home. Not bad at my age. At Coushatta I walked over to the fuel pumps and back couple times at night to get in my time. We never go into the casino to feed the machines only to feed the Blue's. We stay in casino's due to good prices and good food. I never use the shuttle to ride in, I walk every place. I would guess the RV park move would free up more space in front plus add cabins in back of lot. That place has a lot of parking space.

I agree on the Laptops. We see more and more people used them day and night. We also carry laptop and cell phone with Blue tooth hookup if we need it. We have outside ant. on roof of motorhome with amp that will go out around 60 miles to a cell tower. This way we can work internet about anyplace we go into. If you have no service on phone in most cases this will fix the problem. We had good cell service in Yellowstone with the amp on and no service with it off.