Community Forums

sdennislee · 03-22-2012, 12:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akadeadeye

Check out this site. It was very helpful to me 2 1/2 years ago.

RV Driver Confidence Course: Part 1 - Better RVing

Don

+1 Pay particular attention to the section on adjusting mirrors and making turns. GO slow and enjoy the ride.

WH347 · 03-25-2012, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WH347

I have wanted a motor home all of my adult life ! We finally bought one! I have never driven one and am flying to NewYork to pick it up and drive the new rig (and a towed vehicle) 850 miles back home. NOT TOO SCARY !

I have wanted one for so long, the thought of driving one pulling a vehicle doesn't scare me as bad as it may seem. Everyone says it's an easy thing to learn and it won't be a problem. I will have a friend travelling with me for moral support. I hope I don't end up like Robin Williams in RV !..

I'll keep you posted on the trip home .
Wish me luck

Thanks to all of you who posted replies and read this thread. I made it to NEW YORK. Purchased the motor home and made the 14 hour trip 810 miles straight through with a friend. We encountered rain, fog, contruction and narrow lanes and $34 worth of tolls on the NY throughway. I was white knuckled at first as you would imagine but after the 100 miles of two lane highway along the scenic saint lawrence seaway made me a little at ease. Now we were also pullling a towed vehicle so that added to the nerves!. We kept the rear camera on and were able to see the car at all times. It proved handly for keeping within the lines as well.
A grueling trip by any standards so i would call this my trial by fire. The owners were great hosts and drove 2 hours to pick us up at the airport, 2 hours back and a ferry ride over Lake Champlain. By the time we arrived at our hotel, it was 11:30 PM. The closest thing to food was a burger king which was closed. We ended up walking up to the drive up window and ordered some food which the manager on duty wasn't at all pleased with. Funny though.
The owner told me that every two hours, you had to get in the towed vehicle, start it up and put it in drive for a minute or two.
At one rest stop for a real meal, I did the procedure, while it was raining outside. Afterwords when we wne to pull out of the Wal-Mart lot we were parked in, the coach seemed sluggish and I heard a slight tire screeching sound. Tunred out that I had left the emergency brake on in the car and we drug it across the wet parking lot but only about ten feet. [:-)
I arrive home at 3:30 am and left the rig on the street intact. I got up at 8;30 am too unhook the car and move the motor home to the driveway. The battery in the car had gone dead. Apparetnly, something was left on during that last stop and it ultimately ran down the juice. A qucik jump start got the car going. After that, I rode the unhooked motor home around the block to get a better direction on backing it into the driveway when I discovered just how many low branches there are in the neighborhood. They were all minor but they sound terrible hitting the roof and I won't do that again.
Finally, I know our town does not like motor homes parked in driveways, and I know they allow them in side yards which ours is 40 feet wide so I backed it it on the side yard where it qucikly sank in 4 miches into the wet ground and due to the slight angle of the lot leaned to the left precariously despite putting a concret sqare block under each tandem wheel. After looking at it leaning in the yard for a coulple of hours, I decided to move it back to the concrete driveway where I will feel much better about it. I think it does mean that we will have to find a place nearby to store it but have even come to grips with that idea now.
I have learned a lot through my trial-by-fire but have a lot more to learn yet. I know that all of you will enjoy the laughs at my expense but I suppose many of you have gone through the same tests>
For now, safe at home where I willl sleep very well tonight and head off to work in the morning!. Now that was SOME WEEKEND!~

Bill

Bruce C · 03-27-2012, 03:27 AM

Glad you had a safe trip. Now just think of your other memories that are just starting. Good luck and safe travels.

336muffin · 03-27-2012, 03:42 AM

njs42 · 03-27-2012, 07:30 AM

WH347; Gee your trip sounds so "normal" to many of us. We often confuse thrilling with scary.

Welcome to the club; it will not be long before you are dispensing travel trips to newbies.

WH347 · 04-02-2012, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WH347

Thanks to all of you who posted replies and read this thread. I made it to NEW YORK. Purchased the motor home and made the 14 hour trip 810 miles straight through with a friend. We encountered rain, fog, contruction and narrow lanes and $34 worth of tolls on the NY throughway. I was white knuckled at first as you would imagine but after the 100 miles of two lane highway along the scenic saint lawrence seaway made me a little at ease. Now we were also pullling a towed vehicle so that added to the nerves!. We kept the rear camera on and were able to see the car at all times. It proved handly for keeping within the lines as well.
A grueling trip by any standards so i would call this my trial by fire. The owners were great hosts and drove 2 hours to pick us up at the airport, 2 hours back and a ferry ride over Lake Champlain. By the time we arrived at our hotel, it was 11:30 PM. The closest thing to food was a burger king which was closed. We ended up walking up to the drive up window and ordered some food which the manager on duty wasn't at all pleased with. Funny though.
The owner told me that every two hours, you had to get in the towed vehicle, start it up and put it in drive for a minute or two.
At one rest stop for a real meal, I did the procedure, while it was raining outside. Afterwords when we wne to pull out of the Wal-Mart lot we were parked in, the coach seemed sluggish and I heard a slight tire screeching sound. Tunred out that I had left the emergency brake on in the car and we drug it across the wet parking lot but only about ten feet. [:-)
I arrive home at 3:30 am and left the rig on the street intact. I got up at 8;30 am too unhook the car and move the motor home to the driveway. The battery in the car had gone dead. Apparetnly, something was left on during that last stop and it ultimately ran down the juice. A qucik jump start got the car going. After that, I rode the unhooked motor home around the block to get a better direction on backing it into the driveway when I discovered just how many low branches there are in the neighborhood. They were all minor but they sound terrible hitting the roof and I won't do that again.
Finally, I know our town does not like motor homes parked in driveways, and I know they allow them in side yards which ours is 40 feet wide so I backed it it on the side yard where it qucikly sank in 4 miches into the wet ground and due to the slight angle of the lot leaned to the left precariously despite putting a concret sqare block under each tandem wheel. After looking at it leaning in the yard for a coulple of hours, I decided to move it back to the concrete driveway where I will feel much better about it. I think it does mean that we will have to find a place nearby to store it but have even come to grips with that idea now.
I have learned a lot through my trial-by-fire but have a lot more to learn yet. I know that all of you will enjoy the laughs at my expense but I suppose many of you have gone through the same tests>
For now, safe at home where I willl sleep very well tonight and head off to work in the morning!. Now that was SOME WEEKEND!~

Bill

Now that I have had a week to recover from the trip home with the RV, I have made a few adjustments like adding key locks to the Fuel door and the outdoor radio door. The cylinders were available at Lowes and one was just a little too long and I had to file the end down a little to engage the action limiter. Now both doors lock securly with a key.
I have a next door neighbor who has a 40 foot WINN and I drove the RV over to the street in front of his house and we went through all of the systems. Auto Hydraulic jacks worked great. 4000KW onan worked great and had only 27 hours on it. Heating and Cooling and power fan worked great. He explained de-winterizing and winterizing and operation of the BlueOx towbar system. Now the RV is safely in outdoor storage just 2.5 miles from the house where it will wait a few weeks before we load it up and try some close-in camping.
We love it, Love having everthing work (Except for the low def TV) and having the RV in 'Like new' condition with only 10K miles on it and new tires on the front.
The engine compartment was as clean as any I have ever seen and just been serviced 500 miles prior to the trip home.
So for now we are still VERY happy with our choice, the luck we had finding this particular unit and even the trip home.
Now just waiting for the opportunity to use it and (hopefully) for gas prices come down a little.
Bill and Carol

henryn · 04-03-2012, 07:17 AM

Welcome to irv2 and we certainly enjoyed the post. It sounds like you had gotten a great deal and hope you have safe travels on the road. It could have been a sequel to robin williams RV. Glad you didn't have a sewer problem like he did. We had a slight problem like that in our early years......but that's another story. Travel safe and again welcome.

nanc · 04-07-2012, 08:16 PM

wh347, I was a truck driver for a dozen years. after I got out of school in 2000 I was in semi running solo. like you my nevers was shot. ran over a few curves and scraped a few stop signs along the way. a little advice if you don't mind...turning to the right, if a tight fit wait for traffic to clear out and watch your rear wheels.dont turn to sharp or you may side swipe a few signs like I did till you get use to driving your rig......