“Oh!” he exclaimed when he saw me.
“Hi.”
“I was afraid I might find a body in here or something.”
I shrugged, “I’m just doing a little camping.”
”Oh, right. It’s just that I saw the van when I went by yesterday and...”
“I’ll be heading out in the morning.”
He looked a little sheepish for having suspected trouble. “Ah. Well. I can offer you a cold beer.”
“Thanks, but I’m fine.”
It’s good to have people concerned about what’s going on. It’s good he wasn’t there to argue I wasn’t on public land. It’s good he was a good natured guy. But I think he wouldn’t have thought there was a potential problem if I’d been in something RV-ish. Or if I had outdoor living space set up. Or if there had been another rig with me. Vans—particularly lone ones—have a stigma. But I cope with it.
Maybe I should fly a flag or something. Is there one that means harmless old fart just camping?
My conveyance actually does look RV-ish, and I've had people kind of miffed that I don't set up an outdoor room. "Well you've just been inside and we didn't even feel like we could stop by to chat."
ReplyDeleteYep, I was inside reading. I'm not the outdoor room type. I thought it was interesting that they put it in terms of their comfort. "Well, let me get right on that pair of chairs and a rug so that my presence doesn't bother you!" (Never mind I have no place to put two chairs and a rug, and besides, is it a law?)
As you can likely tell, I find it mildly irritating. Especially considering I was probably just listening to their generator earlier...
But yeah, I can see where a "lone van" would make this sort of thing more likely (maybe for different reasons - in your case the person was concerned you might be dead; in my case they just felt I wasn't doing it right).
I need a flag too: Private person just doing some camping, possibly reading.
I'm not bothering anyone for fear of meeting Heesa Wackinoff.
ReplyDeleteThe Jolly Roger perhaps.
ReplyDelete