The View From My Window

Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.
-- Abraham Lincoln

When we are traveling we run into all sorts of people. Because we stay at RV parks, national forests, and the like, we tend to meet other travelers. As with all of life travelers, they seem to fall into two groups, extroverts and introverts. A better description might be, loners and socializes. My wife and I are loners. Over half the people at RV parks are loners. Us loners don’t go out of our way to meet people or introduce ourselves. Us loners aren't anti-social, it's just.....well......we just don't socialize as much. But, maybe we should.

We spend the winter months in Arizona. The Snow Birds fill the RV parks for a few months every year. These parks tend to organize group breakfasts, dinners, dancing, and a bunch of other activities. Not really my idea of fun so we don’t attend many. However, a few months ago we attended a lunch. There were perhaps 30 or 40 couples attending and the different conversations were really interesting. 

It got me thinking about our world and how we don’t spend enough time with each other. The computer, television, DVDs, Cds, everything is made so we don’t need to see the people next door. I started thinking about how people used to travel and how it is now. Travel wasn’t always about just seeing different places it was about meeting people. Experiencing the places with your fellow travelers. Sharing stories. Not just stories of the trip but stories of people’s lives. By the time anyone is 30 years old they have a story to tell. It might be a happy story or a hard luck story or whatever. The point is, somehow we have all gotten to where we are in life and there is a story. 

Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.
-- Benjamin Franklin

When I look at how old hotels, and trains were setup it is always the same, the rooms are small and the common areas are large. Before TV, radio, and the other distractions that we take for granted, entertainment was talking and spending time with other people. We would hear stories of their lives, perhaps some common experience that connected them to us. Now, we connect more with our electronic box than the guy in the RV next door.

The people in the RV next to me and I have something in common already. We like to travel. They came from someplace, and have probably traveled to a lot of places I might find interesting. I’ve also traveled a bit and might have been to some places they would find interesting. It might be fun to talk to them but, they are in their RV watching TV and I’m in mine.

I suppose we have gotten to be loners because some people some people overstay their welcome. I don‘t mean people we invite, although that can happen, I mean the uninvited overstaying guest. We’ve all had it happen to us; someone we are talking to gives us too much information about their life. The people who are a bit too friendly. People who can't see you are busy and when you’re out fixing something on the unit they come and tell you their life's story. We’ve all been there. So, it is just easier to stay inside our unit and be safe from the storytellers.

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me. 
-- Noel Coward

If part of travel is the experience then why is it we never want to be annoyed? As RVers, we have the luxury to not deal with people that annoy us. We have every luxury you can imagine right inside our unit. But really, how bad is it to have someone annoy us? I remember entire trips because some guy talked my arm off. In reality he probably only talked for 5 or 6 minutes. At the time it seemed like he was talking and talking and I really wasn’t in the mood to listen. I don't know what I had better to do but I'm sure there was something on TV.

My wife and I still laugh at the time we were sitting outside at our site and some complete stranger comes over and starts telling his life story. The day was beautiful, temperature in the 80s, a sunny day with a light breeze, it was a great day to sit outside and let the world pass by. Why do I remember that day so well? It was the day this guy came over and told us much more than I wanted to know about him, his family, his car, pets, you name it, we heard about it. At the time I didn’t appreciate him “ruining” my great day. Thinking back, I’m glad he did. I can’t remember what the weather was like the day before he came over, or the day after, or for weeks and weeks before or after. Somehow, I can tell you all about that day. Perhaps because something different happened that day. I learned about this person’s story, if I wanted to or not. It makes me remember much more about the day. I can even remember the smells.

I will never be a party person, or an activity joiner. I won't be an extrovert. It just isn’t in me. But, if all us loners just take a bit more time and let the people around us be a part of our trips, we might actually enrich our travel experience.

I’d love to hear about your adventures, please drop me an e-mail.
lucas@lucasonlocation.com
www.lucasonlocation.com