riverbendfun

Really, it's probably less than 10%, most of our campers are great people and I miss them when we close for the winter. Without them, our whole family would be unemployed! Ours is a family business, my husband, son, daughter, son-in-law and once in a while daughter-in-law, all take part in running the park. In the ten years we have been doing this we have learned a lot about human behavior! Ours and our campers! I always remind myself that for at least one month in the winter, I am one of you. We go south and spend time in North Carolina, sometimes South Carolina and eventually make our way to Florida. Next year, Texas! If you ever find yourselves in Connecticut, stop in!

I too, own a campground, and yes, I have seen it all. If dogs were the only problem we encountered, then owning a park might be fun. Our dog rules include picking up after them, not allowing them to be an annoyance, not leaving them alone in the park, leaving them home if they have a history of biting or are vicious. We do not ban any particulat breed because in our own experience, my grandson was biten in the face by a border collie, and we owned a cocker spaniel that chased down more than a few friends and relatives. On the other hand we owned a pit bull that was the friendliest dog you'd ever want to meet. Most of our campers pick up after their dogs. MOST. I have seen people stop, look around and walk away. Once, I witnessed this and confronted the guy asking him to please pick it up and he straight faced told me it wasn't his dog that did it. I told him I saw it myself and he continued to deny it, in essence calling me a liar. I SAW IT! I was yelling at him from the top of the hill and he just didn't hear me, so when I caught up to him he just didn't realize he could be seen from the distance. He could have said, he was just going to grab a plastic bag and be back for it, but...... Well, there is no explaining people and I understand that 90% of people that camp with us are great and respectful, but those 10% grrrrrr. They are the ones that make parks ban pets. You can thank them next time you see one break the park rules! Just another guestion I'd like to throw out there, as a park owner, we get together with many other park owners at conventions and association meetings and the like, so I know it is not only happening in my park, and that it is fairly common...Can anyone tell me why people choose to defecate in the shower stall, or a trash can, on the floor or worse yet why would they finger paint on the walls with it? The strangest one I heard was someone took the lid off the toilet tank, pooped in the tank and then put the lid back on......why? WHY!!!? Believe me, dealing with doog poop is better than dealing with that!!

Great info from all, thank you! I will let you know if and when we do buy it.

Thank you! That would be a bit better, I was hoping for $200,000 but that could be asking too much, huh? We are not in a big rush, we are happy with our Adventurer, but my husband wants diesel, so we started looking because of all the rumored great deals out there. If it sells, it sells and we keep driving our rig for another season or until something falls in our lap! He has wanted a diesel this long, I am sure he'll wait! We own a campground and can only travel in the winter and it is almost upon us! Despite common belief, not all campgrounds make a fortune, most of what we make goes back into the park so we NEED a bargain to get us to make the plunge~

We got them down to $229,995 from $310,615. But honestly, I don't think it is enough. I will say, while playing the numbers game, they did offer us 90,000 for our 2004 Adventurer. Which is $30,000 more than anyone else. But still, it is an older rig. I want it but my husband is holding back. Thanks again for your input and I will check back regularly!

I own a park and have had many reviews, some positive and some negative. Of the negative ones, I could tell you exactly what happened and most times only one side is reflected in the review. One was about a dog and our dog policy. We do not exclude any particular breed. Reason being, we owned a pit bull that was the sweetest, friendliest dog on the planet. She loved children, other dogs, cats, everyone. We also owned a cocker spaniel that would chase you down and rip the pants right off your leg. Our policy is that if you own a dog that is not friendly, a known biter or vicious, your dog is not allowed. You as an owner should know if you can trust your dog in a campground situation. If your dog is not friendly, leave him at the kennel. The problem was when there was a pitbull camping with us, the woman felt that the dog did not belong where there were other people around. We had been informed of the dog earlier, and sent someone down to check out the situation. She found the dog friendly, so much so that she allowed her 3 year old (who was bitten by a boarder collie last year-not in our park, mind you) to pet the dog. She spent 30 minutes with the dog and the owner. She also works about 100 feet from the site the dog was on. In the three days they were with us there was never a problem. The complaintant came into the store and asked me what the pet policy was, I started to explain that we ask for the rabies certificate, I would have handed her the pet policy and rules, but I don't know what happened, an interruption of some sort, and I never handed it to her. I assumed she want to know for her own use, should she want to bring a dog. She never complained about the pit bull, or I would have told her we had someone down there. So that mis-communication spurred her to write a negative review stating she would never come back because of our dog policy (that she didn't even have) even though there was never an incident. She also embellished it a bit by stating there was rotwieler down in the same area that no one else ever saw. As campground owners, we have not had a dog related incident in 10 years. The only one we had in the 11 years we owned the park was a dog fight, the person that complained wanted the owner of the other dog to produce their rabies certifiacte, they didn't have it with them, but volunteered to go home and get it in the morning. We asked for both certificates and found that the complaintants dog was over due and the other dog was fine. There was a $200.00 fine from the town for the dog that was behind in the shots. Let me add that there were NO injuries to either dog, the owner was able to get control of the dog before things got out of hand. Even so, the dog was not allowed back in the park. Another sort of negative one was that our activities were slipping....they failed to mention that we had just suffered a devastating fire and lost 100% of our event supplies. All the costumes, all the props, everything. Gone. It has been difficult to replace the building, and all that was lost and we are still working on it. So, take all those comments with a grain of salt, read all the reviews, if they all are negative, well, maybe there is something there. I did have one gentleman tell me that he had read a bad review on our park and decided to come just to see if it was as bad as they said, and he found us to be a great park and has been back several times since. I wish he'd write that in a review!!

I can't see how anyone but the occupants would be liable, parking lot, campground, backyard. Where is there security that can watch your rig 24/7? Even IF they have security, they can only be in one place at a time. Would they expect the police to be at their home at the exact moment that someone rang their bell? Sad thing is, they'll probably win!

Thank you so much for the advice, you definately touched upon things we did not think of! I really appreciate your input!

We are looking at a 2007 Newmar that is a leftover. Outwardly it looks like it is in good shape, no rust obvious, but it has been sitting for close to 4 years. What should we be looking at on a rig that has been sitting on the lot so long? I have heard of "lot rot" but don't really know what we should be looking for, they said they'd give us all new tires, but what other things should be considered? The dealership is offering the same warranty it had when new. How much of a discount should we expect? Should we even be considering this rig?