Elbow room

You pull into an isolated BLM campground where there are no hosts, no hookups, no reservations. You’ve got the whole place to yourself, so you choose the most scenic of the16 sites and settle in. A few hours later, another RV enters the campground -- and parks right next to you. All the other 14 sites are vacant, many nestled behind trees. The newcomer could have preserved your privacy and had his own by parking anywhere else. Instead, he decides to snuggle up beside you.

Would you be irritated?

My wife and I faced this situation several days ago at the Hickison Petroglyph Campground off Route 50 in central Nevada. That the unwanted neighbors had the same fifth-wheel brand as us was purely coincidental. The couple said they had parked beside us because the view there was better than at the other sites. They must have felt a bit sheepish by offering an explanation, but they neither apologized nor asked if we minded.

We did mind, although we didn’t tell them that. For several minutes my wife and I fumed about the couple’s invasion. Had the situation been reversed, we would not have parked next to them, we agreed. We would instead have honored their privacy by settling for a lesser view in a more distant site. For the record, my wife and I are sociable. We like people and enjoy chatting with other RVers in common boondocking spots. But we also cherish our elbow room, especially when’s there’s plenty of space for everybody.

What do you think? Was it inconsiderate of the couple to park next to us in an otherwise empty campground, or were we being unreasonably covetous? What would you have done?