Tips for RV Trips


by Ray Smith - Date: 2007-05-16 - Word Count: 788 Share This!

It's always a pleasant adventure to drive down in your RV across the open roads and enjoy the natural beauty to your hearts content. RVs have become an indispensable item for people who love to embark on long journeys to the wildernesses and great outdoors. Indeed it is much better than the boring journeys in your cold old car - its so much fun to enjoy the comforts of home while traveling across scenic locations fro your dream vacation. However, one of the major challenges that are faced by all RV owners is to drive safely and successfully on open roads.

Just because of its sheer size it is often more difficult to drive a recreational vehicle compared to a car or even a truck. Particularly, when you are on the highway, it is important that your motorhome blends in well with the smaller cars that are much more agile and your car doesn't really block the road and create trouble for other drivers on the road. When you are driving recreational vehicle it is important that you are well aware of the road and traffic rules. There are various points that you need to be particularly careful about when you are on the streets in your RV.

Be Patient: Always keep in mind the size of your recreational vehicle, it is not your small car that you can blaze through the road. While on your recreational vehicle it is important to be patient and drive slow. Recreational vehicles are just not the type to drive aggressively at a high speed. Its just like you are adding wheels to your home and driving it along, so you need to give due consideration to its bulk and keep the speed in control. For those drivers who are a bit impatient it is often difficult to adjust to this slow moving giants but for a safe travel it is important that you adjust your mindset. Try to keep your speed below 10 miles per hour. 10 miles per hour would be relatively good speed for a RV that would keep things under control yet cover enough ground in short span.

Plan and Create Your Road Map: If you can plan your road map well that would probably save you more than half the trouble with your RV. Try to avoid interstates and highways that are particularly known for high-speed traffic. Also, it is very helpful, if you can plan your tour to avoid driving through busy cities during rush hours. Try to avoid the more commonly used routes and find alternative routes that has relatively less traffic and often offer better natural view. However, it is also important that while deciding on these alternative routes, you have complete information about these routes so that you don't get stuck at some point due to narrow or bad road conditions.

Never drive in bad weather: Bad weather conditions put up a challenge for all drivers irrespective of the type of vehicle they are driving and the challenge is even greater if you are driving a RV. Motor homes and recreational vehicles generally do not take to bad weathers and are particularly difficult top drive during high strong winds. It is advisable to take off the roads during bad weather and drive another day once the weather has calmed down.

Avoid Slopes: Try to avoid slopes, both uphill and downhill when driving your RV. It becomes very difficult to drive up steep slopes and also to control your RV while moving downhill. Even if it requires you to travel a few extra miles off your route it is always better to do so than to take the risk of moving up or down the slope.

Towing Vehicles: Towing a vehicle is a common practice for RV owners but it makes driving an RV all the more difficult. You need to be doubly cautious when you have a towing vehicle along with your motor home. It is advisable to detach towing vehicle when you need to backup your RV. Unhook the towing vehicle and park it safely, then ask someone to guide you, when you back up the RV.

Campground Reservations: Always try to make your campground reservations in advance. Use the campground directories to locate and plan the campgrounds that you would use for your overnight stays. If you are going to stay at a campground where you have never stayed before, it is also wise to do your reservation for just one night to ensure that the campground meets your requirements than to do a longer reservation for cost cutting.

RV trips are meant for enjoyment and pleasure. Following these basic guidelines would definitely be helpful to ensure road safety and better organize your RV trip for hassle free enjoyment.

Related Tags: tips, driving, safety, rv, camping, motorhomes

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