McGilvrey Campground (Libby, MT)
I went for a swim. The water was extremely cold and the sun was extremely hot. There was a small beach at the swimming area. There were probably 10 or 15 local families there. Most of the adults stood or sat around on the beach while there children had fun in the water. After about an hour and a half of 5 minute swims followed by 10 minutes of reading in the hot sun, I headed back to camp. Some late arrival teens were starting to take over the place and were a little morte rowdy than the family atmosphere we had earlier.
Back at camp, the generator was still going. After an hour of reading PKD with that generator droning in my ear I took a ride on my bike to get a look at who was using a generator for 3 straight hours. It was a site right next to the one marked "campground host." At the site across the road was a man in his late 30's that said "Hi." He and his wife were preparing to move their white pickup. I went back to my cussing under my breath. Then I noticed the white pickup driving and stopping on the raod. The side door identified it as the hosts pickup. I mumbled more curse words about somebody disturbing the peace with their generator. I was not sure if they could hear me or not.
I got my walkman out and put some JW on my headphones while reading PKD. A few seconds later I noticed something odd. I took off my headphones and the generator had stopped. It was so peaceful, I could hardly stand it. Ten minutes later the host parked in front of my site. He walked over to me as I read. His words to me in a nervous but firm (not friendly voice) were" I'm the host. I just wanted to let you know that we are going to run our generator until 9 pm." I just smiled at him wondering what brought this on. "The reason being is we have an extra refrigerator over there because out trailer does not have a big enough one and we don't want to go into town every week."
"That's OK," I said. "I've got headphones over here." He frowned. As he turned to leave he said. "We did not even start the generator until 4pm. Quiet hours are from 10 pm to 6 am." Yes I know that, I thought. Its too bad they had to make that rule because that just means all the people who don't give a darn about anybody else's peace and quiet take that to mean they can be as noisy as they darn well please right up to 10 pm. Then they just need to tone it down a little. Instead of being a good neighbor and being conscious of anything thatmay disturb your neighbor and minimize it.
Here is my analysis of th situation. I don't think my mumbling caused the visit. I think it was caused by the fact that the host had put plywood walls around his generators to deflect all the noise from his site into mine. After he left, I figured what he wanted me to do was to move to another site across the campground. I decided not too because I should not have to and because I hate having to move my tent after it is set up. If he had the thing running when I pulled up, I probably would have chose another site. But he waited until the instant I had my tent set up and then he started it.
The rest of the night I spent reading and doing web pages. The generator was started back up around 7pm. 1/2 hour after being shut off. Although he promised to shut it off at 9 pm, it ran until exactly 9:59 pm. The final analysis, is that although this guy is probably not getting paid much for cleaning 3 restrooms and emptying 50 garbage cans every day, I feel he should have a little more consideration for the campers. Most hosts I meet (most of them older and retired) all they talk about is whether the camper is happy. This guy just wanted to make excuses for imposing discomfort on 49 other people for his own selfish needs. I mean it is only 1 hour round trip into town. So instead of running the engine of his truck for an extra hour a week he runs a generator for 6 hours per day (42 hours per week).
On the other hand, what do I expect for $6. I have paid $40 for motels that were noisier and $18 for camp sites that were noisier. The difference is it is not my host inflicing the noise on me and in a motel I can usually escape it with a TV. I came to enjoy the outdoors. I expect my neighbors and local yokels to interfere with that, I don't expect someone who is getting paid (however little) to ensure I am a satisfied customer to interfere with that. Another red-letter day for joe.
I really like PKD's novel Simulacrum. It had some characters that are a real exageration of some of my traits. Plus he uses a technique of telling stories in parallel about seemingly unrelated people and events and then bringing them altogether in the end. Also, he is pretty prophetic about certain things in our society in the political realm. It was written in 1964.
I expected to get somewhere near Portland the next day and make another attempt and a quick run through Oregon . I wanted to get those checks cashed, but for some reason I have an aversion to Oregon. I would not mind going to the coast, but it would be just too crowded. The rest of Oregon does not interest me at this point for some reason. Tomorrow was a nother day I would have to find a place to stay.