Forgive me if I sound like a cranky old lady version of Andy Rooney (ok, maybe that reference does in fact, make me old?!). But when did cutting through RV sites become okay? At least once a day, some camper comes sauntering in-between our rig and the neighbor’s.

Everyone’s doing it. But does that make it OK?

Jim and I just hit our 18th Nomadiversary last week. This milestone took us by surprise, and it took my breath away when Jim pointed it out. How did 18 years fly by so fast? At least we are still having fun as full-timers, which is something I didn’t think we would maintain for this long. A few years of wandering around, maybe. But long enough to raise a kid to adulthood? That’s something I never imagined when we left Eureka in 2007, nearly kids ourselves.

And speaking of kids … since we parked our rig at our summer camp hosting gig, we’ve spotted a relatively new behavior with campers new and experienced, young and old alike.

Guests are routinely and unapologetically cutting through campsites. It’s a thing I guess.

The day we parked our RV in the spot assigned to us by management, we didn’t realize that a staircase behind us was the fastest route to the swimming pool and office. And by “fastest” I mean a whopping 30 seconds faster than sticking to the road that goes there. I foolishly assumed the staircase was for the workampers to get to the office quickly. We take up the entire row alongside it, and the guests are two rows below us.

But as campers started showing up, a steady stream of intruders began parading between our rig and the neighbor’s.

No apologies, no “excuse me”, and no reaction, even when Jim yells out the window “HEY THAT’S NOT A PATH!” Some just look at him with a confused look on their face, and keep going. Then an hour or two later, they parade back to their campsite, without apology as they scramble down a rocky hillside, tearing up landscaping to take the shortest path back to their site.

Despite the signs management has posted around the campground, people mostly ignore them. Even worse, these Bad Sams are showing their brats that it’s perfectly OK to cut through RV sites to get where they want to go. Stupid breeds stupid, as the saying goes.

It really doesn’t do any good to yell, or get mad. This we know. I mean, why let it get our blood boiling, right? They don’t care, because they either don’t know any better or don’t give a darn. Either way, we can’t change their behavior, just our reaction to it. So we laugh at their lack of camping manners, shake our heads, and get on with our day.

Ah, life in the campground. Isn’t full-timing great?!