Lessons Learned On Our First RV Trip

We researched our RV purchase for five years, attending three RV Super Shows, renting a type A motor coach  in Denver and traveling that area for three days, reading RV newsletters, blogs, and books, viewing RVing DVDs, and talking to experienced RVers.  We read about “glamping,” a term for glamour camping, and decided we liked that idea at our age, since we were retiring baby boomers and well past the time when we used to sleep under the stars while tent camping.  In spite of our careful research and planning, we were surprised a few times as experience still proved to be the best teacher.

The motor coach we eventually got in February of this year has the motto, “Roughing It Smoothly,” which was consistent with our goals.  Turns out that part of the lessons learned on our first trip was that there is still a lot of camping left in RVing even though modern motor coaches strive to make life clean and easy.  None of this will come as a surprise to seasoned veterans of RVing, but with many newbies like us hitting the road in RVs, we thought this might be of interest at least to them.

We took our first long trip in mid-May to Tiffin’s service center in Red Bay, Alabama.  We had bought a 2013 Tiffin Allegro RED 33AA, at 34 feet 10 inches a rather short diesel pusher.  We were towing a 2015 Jeep Cherokee using Blue Ox towing equipment and a Patriot brake.  There were many complications pertaining to the dinghy towing, but this article will focus on lessons learned relating to the motor coach.

We left our home in Northeast Florida on May 15^th and headed toward the Florida panhandle, since we wanted to rent kayaks to explore the rivers off the Gulf of Mexico and see the sugar sand beaches of that part of Florida.  We then ventured up the state of Alabama through Mobile and up the west side of that state until we reached Red Bay, stayed there three days, then returned home.  We traveled on some state and county roads, as well as interstate 75, 10, and 65.  We stayed in one state park, but mostly private RV parks at which we had made reservations in advance.  It was a good thing that we had made reservations, since by nightfall nearly all, if not all, slots were filled everywhere we went.

Lessons Learned:

Everything outdoors is still camping.  Clothes end up with black smudges out of nowhere as you work on hookups, hitching and unhitching the dinghy, etc.  Handling the hardware used to attach a tow vehicle behind your motor coach means handling the road grime that is on them.  Stowing the electrical cable and water hose means handling items that have been lying on the ground, so you need to have a paper towel to wipe them off as you roll them up and wear old clothes and gloves.  That does not mention the flying insects that try to devour you all the while in some areas, so bring along a lot of bug spray even if you are not planning a lot of outdoor adventures.  Also, if you are in a sandy beach area, sand will be tracked easily into the motor coach, so get a good door mat to keep at the top of the entry stairs so that you can seriously wipe off your feet before proceeding inside.

The happy exception was emptying the holding tanks.  After reading all the horror stories about the drudgery of emptying holding tanks, I was very apprehensive as I approached the task the first few times.  All my reading and planning paid off, as I had the disposable gloves, high grade sewer hoses, etc.  I never found a damaged or defective sewer opening.  All steps went smoothly, and I was able to get the hoses out and back in without incident.  I followed the video produced by the RV Geeks, and things could not have gone better.  (Knock on wood).

You really need to slow WAY DOWN when entering an area of uneven paving.  Pulling off the road into a filling station caused us to encounter a shoulder drop-off then small drops and rises in the road surface that are greatly magnified by the motor coach’s height.  What would not cause any noticeable effect in a car produced large repercussions in a motor coach.  And speed bumps must be crossed at about 5 mph to avoid a loud rise and crash down, with the motor coach contents being jarred dramatically.  You need to ignore the fuming drivers behind you who want you to speed up. 

The cost of parking the coach overnight was our highest category of cost.  After the trip was over I summarized all its costs and found that the cost of RV parks was double any other related cost category, even the cost of diesel fuel.  I better understand now why so many look for somewhere else to park their coach, beyond simply wanting privacy, more space, and a better view of nature.

 The biggest stowing challenge is the refrigerator.  I had read about needing extension rods to place in front of the door, so I got one for each shelf.  What I rarely read about (except in a checklist step in one book) was the need to constantly rearrange the contents of the refrigerator before embarking on a trip to ensure that there is no shifting around.  We found that even though the items in the fridge never slammed against the door to open it and spill out, they nevertheless fell over and slid around if we did not have every single thing snugly up against something solid and immovable.  This was a tiresome and tedious chore that occupied far too much time and effort, since using up items always left a void that had to be filled.  So the hunt for filler items was endless.

The cost of diesel fuel varies greatly, and the truck stops have the worst prices and service.  I found a Shell station that sold diesel for $2.359 per gallon and other stations with similarly low prices.  The big name truck stop chain that is much recommended to RVers sold it for $2.799 per gallon everywhere and had filthy facilities run by rude individuals.  Even after any discount they cost more than Shell, CITGO, etc where the facilities were cleaner and friendlier.

Even though the under kitchen sink area may be small, you must have a 13 gallon trash can.  Our motor coach, like many less than 40 feet long, has a small area in the cabinet under the kitchen sink.  We bought a trash can that fit at an RV product store, thinking that that would work out for us.  Wrong.  The items that one puts into a kitchen trash can are often large empty milk bottles, creamer bottles, cereal boxes, etc.  These items do not fit into a small trash can.  So we will need to get a standard kitchen 13 gallon trash can and find a place to put it.

If you absolutely MUST have a particular brand grocery item, you had better be near a city.  Isolated small towns have stores that often carry products that are common only to their area.  What you are used to buying may very well not be there, yet some brands that you thought went out of business years ago will be there.  That does not mean that you cannot shop successfully there, but you may look in vain for that favorite brand.  Finding unusual brands also applies to the gas stations in town.  I actually saw PURE gas stations in Alabama, as well as Piggly Wiggly grocery stores in the panhandle of Florida and in Alabama.

Traveling the interstate highways is not such a bad idea after all.  Traveling through small towns means slow speed limits and traffic lights.  Radar cops lie in wait.  There are no places to pull off the road if need be, only dirt roads off to the left and right, and no level shoulders to the roads.  The farmlands draw a host of flying insects that attack you and force their way into your motor coach.  If you are short of time due to RV park reservations and/or foul weather, you may need to pass on what occasional points of interest there may be in these places.

Rain on a motor coach roof is very loud.  We have had a drought in Florida for most of the winter and spring, so when the rains began while we were on the road, the roar was a great surprise.  We had no idea that the motor coach roof was so thin and uninsulated for sound that rain would create so much noise.  Also, the wiper blades on the motor coach had dried out in the drought, so that when put into use, they wobbled and dragged erratically.  I was relieved when they eventually limbered up and traveled smoothly across the windshield.

Wind turbulence on the road creates side winds that body slam you nearly into the next lane of traffic.  I was shocked to sense the motor coach being shoved to the left lane by what seemed like an invisible hand due to wind turbulence.  Added to that was the effect of large trucks (and large motor coaches) speeding by at nearly 80 mph.  How were they able to stay in lane at those speeds under these conditions?  I experienced this on country roads as well as interstate highways.  I was reduced to driving at 40 to 50 mph in order to keep on track.  I have been researching stabilizers, sway bars, etc to determine how I should address this issue.

You really do not need many clothes travelling in a motor coach.  We considered this trip a learning experience for what we really need in terms of clothing, so we packed a variety of clothes, including boots and shoes.  Granted, the weather was pretty consistently warm, but we determined from this trip that a closet of shirts and pants hanging up along with 2-3 pairs of shoes, a couple drawers of underwear and socks, etc was all we needed.  Toss in a light jacket and warm coat for colder weather, and we should be set for any trip.  This comes as a relief since we had fretted that we would forget something important.  Yet we have a washer and dryer, so the quantity needed was reduced by the ability to launder nearly whenever we needed, and surprisingly little water goes into the gray tank from a washer load, though we usually wait until we are able to open the gray valve while laundering.  And despite some of the material we had read, the washer and dryer do a great job.

To view a video of our leaving Tiffin's Service Center in Red Bay, Alabama, click on the following link:  https://youtu.be/4lkBFvIBnwg

Some photos from our trip:

Large Turtle Along Wakulla River

Flying Egret Over Wakulla River

Panacea RV Park, Panacea, FL

Pineglen RV Park, Panama City Beach, FL

Bay Behind Emerald Beach RV Park, Navarre, FL

White Oleanders in Bloom Everywhere Along the Florida Panhandle

All About Relaxing RV Park, Dawes, AL

Betty on Panama City Beach Pier

Betty on Boardwalk at Panama City Beach

Steven on Boardwalk at Panama City Beach

Steven on Pier at Emerald Beach

Steven & Betty on Pier at Emerald Beach

Lake Lurleen State Park, Coker, AL

Betty with Birdhouse at Lake Lurleen State Park

Cedar Ridge Campground, Russelville, AL

Tiffin Allegro Service Center, Red Bay, AL

Beautiful Eastwood Presbyterian Church, Montgomery, AL

Interior of Eastwood Presbyterian Church

Narthex of Eastwood Presbyterian Church