Driving a class A, YIKES!

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JoelP said:
You might try a small piece of tape on the windshield above the wipers that corresponds to the road center to be very useful.

It can be intimidating.  Don't let it get to you.  The best thing I did was go to a school parking lot on the weekend when nobody was there and, along with a helper, get the RV aligned to the curb on both sides, one at a time.  Then with you sitting comfortably in the driver's seat have your helper put a paper sticker, round is common, on the bottom edge of the windshield where you see the curb.  This will show you where the edge of the road (curb) and the road's painted centerline are.  If you trust them and keep the stickers where they belong (between the edge and center of the road) you will confidently stay where you need to be and won't hit anything.
After the helper put the sticker on the outside of the windshield, I placed one INSIDE on the windshield so it wouldn't be weathered away.  Cheap and easy.
while you are at the parking lot, practice placing the RV into parking spaces.  Get out and see where you are.  Try again if you are not happy.  Nobody will be laughing.
There are thousands of other people who do this.  YOU CAN TOO.

RTsRV

 
I am assuming if you are going to Tampa you are going to Lazydays. They offer a driving course. Just leave some extra time when going down to get it if it is at LazyDays to do all paperwork and taking the course. If you are buying there they will let you stay there overnight if need be. Of course this is all assuming you are going to Lazydays.
 
As far as hitting something overhead, that is easier to do. All the bridges and overhead lights are high enough up to allow 18 wheelers to pass without issue and they are taller than you are so they won't be a problem. However if you go into a residential neighborhood you have to be on the look out for trees that hang too low.
On most of the major roads (federal and state highways, most county highways, as opposed to county roads), that's true, but there are places that have clearance of 11' 6" or sometimes just barely 10', so you do have to be aware of the height -- if in doubt, get out and look. Also, though most gas stations have adequate clearance under the canopy, there are some here and there, that have lower canopies, so be careful there, too.

You're getting a lot of good advice here. I'd also go to the Michelin web site where they have a couple of videos that might help you, including one on how to handle a blowout in an RV. Of course our Library (link above) is a good source of info, too.
 
This is all great info! I'm screen shotting it all so I can review it over and over and let it all sink in so it's more natural when the time comes to get behind the wheel.
It's not from Lazy Days, I got it from a "private seller" with a dealer's license.
 
Lots of good advice so far, I bought my first class A coach 1,100 miles away from home in Florida about 2 years ago, since then I have put about 11,000 miles on it, and just clipped my first orange cone last week, worse yet it was only about 25 miles from my house, and I knew I was going to clip it about 5 seconds before it happened.

Now for my bits of advice,

Be well rested when you hit the road, In my case I left my house at 3 am to drive to the airport, and finished the paperwork on buying the coach at 3 pm, and hit the road, intending to stop in a campground 50 miles away.  That was the hardest 50 miles of driving on the coach to date, worse yet it was on a busy interstate highway with construction going on at nearly every interchange, and concrete construction barriers on both sides.  Unfortunately there is no way out of south Florida that avoids the busy interstates.

If possible stick to major 2 and 4 lane roads, when you have those 6 and 8 lane sections of interstate highway with big trucks blowing by you on both sides life can get very stressful.

Avoid big cities if possible, I know this can be hard to do on the east coast, if you have to go through them time it so you pass through at relatively low traffic times.  I was able to manage to avoid driving through the center of any major city (top 20 in the US) for nearly the first 9,000 miles in my coach, by carefully selecting routes, and when possible taking outer loop roads.

Give yourself plenty of time to make the drive and don't push yourself, even if it means pulling off and taking a break every 15-20 miles at first and doing only 100-150 miles per day the first few days.

Scout out your route on google maps, street view, and even time compressed youtube videos of the highways you are considering.
 
One important thing--ALL BRIDGES AND UNDERPASSES ARE NOT TALL ENOUGH FOR A BIG SEMI TRUCK!!!  That is true of freeways, but not city or country roads.  Nor is that true of some gas stations, especially in the east.  So, go to Camping World and or online at Amazon and get a 7" Rand NcNally RV GPS.  You enter your height, width, length, and weight into the GPS, and 99.99% of the time it will keep you out of trouble.

I bought my RV GPS after driving under a semicircular railroad bridge in Mansfield, OH, that was only 12' high when my rig was 11'8" tall and having to back up through a four-way stoplight with traffic waiting for me, after almost going under a portion of the Mackinac Bridge in Mackinaw City that was only 10' 8" tall.  I decided a $350 GPS was cheaper than my AC unit. 

Also, when my rig was brand-new, and I had driven only a couple of thousand miles, i ended up in a construction zone on I-80 in California, just west of the Nevada border.  The freeway still had two lanes on my side, but they had been severely narrowed by those cement barricades on one side and the old, higher pavement on the other.  I was terrified of hitting either one.  (No wonder there were no trucks in sight--they had all avoided this stretch of construction.)

So, I remembered the best advice I had been given about driving an RV--do what you have to do to be safe!  So, I drove right down the center of the two lanes on my side for about 10 miles.  No one honked at me, nor did I get arrested. 

Use your right mirror to look down at your tires as you go around corners for a while.  And if there is a car or traffic in the way that prevents you from making a wide turn, just wait until they move or leave.  In other words, don't feel pressured into doing something you don't feel comfortable doing. 
 
A 7' GPS might make it a little hard to look out your windshield.  I would opt for the 7" GPS instead.  :eek: :eek:
 
GREAT advice, I appreciate this so much. Seriously, I already feel better. You guys are the best!


Lol lol it took me a second, but yeah I'll look for a 7" GPS just because idk if I have storage space for a 7' one lol
 
What make it even more fun is the LAW... Not the ones you are thinking of

By law the maximum width of a vehicle on our highways is 8' UNLESS

Flat bed tow trucks can be 8'6"
As can a Class A motor home (not sure of Trailers)
And equipment used in farming. But only on selected roads

And of course oversize load permited vehicles

IT took me  awhile to get used to that extra six inches.. But once I got used ot it. Easier to drive than the car it tows.

Some other things.. RV's tend to be BIG. (Lots of "Sail" when the wind blows) and top heavy (Lots of weight HIGH UP) this makes 'em tend to rock side to side (Sway) like fans at a rock concert holding up their BIC's..
The solution is to beef up the SWAY BARS

They also have leaf spring suspension. Now unlike McPherson Struts which lock the body in place over the axle, and "A Frame" suspension which does the same thing.  Leaf springs allow side to side movement as well as UP AND DOWN.. The solution... Track Bars or Pan Hard Bars (Two names one device).

Finally a Steering Stabilizer can be nice.. I like the ones where you can recenter from teh driver's seat.

At the time I got mine Blue-Ox Tru-Center was the only one
A year later Safe-T-Steer came out with a optional remote re-center system.

Suggestion.. Visit a large shopping mall after hours and ... Drive around a few times. 
 
Keeping the Class A centered in your lane has been mentioned (road position) earlier, let me expound a bit on the topic.

--  The first time you pull out on the highway you are going to feel like the drivers side of the rig is over the line marking the left hand side of our lane.  Your reactions will be to move to the right.  However, now you will be hugging the right side of the lane instead of being in the center of your lane.
--  If you can, before driving onto the highway, position the rig in the center of a lane with markings for the left and right sides of the driving lane. 
--  Now take a sticker or piece of tape and mark the lower left of windshield where the sticker is lined up with the left hand line of your lane as viewed from the drivers seat.  Now while driving you can, with just a glance at the sticker, see if you are in the center of the lane.  Also if there is a construction barricade, this will show you how close you are to the barricade.
--  Once you get on the road, glance at both rear view mirrors and watch the lines going behind you.  They should be equal distance from the sides of the rig. This will give you confidence you are in the center of the lane and that the sticker you put on the windshield is in the correct place. 

Next, learn where your tires are on the road.
--  As you drive you will find your self on the highway without any cars/trucks near you.  Most roads have rumble strips or little bumps in the highway line.
--  Again with no other cars around, slowly drift to the right or left until you feel the tires rolling over the little bumps. This will teach you where your tires are tracking.  This is important when driving in tight quarters or to avoid potholes or debris on the highway.  Practice this as traffic permits until you have confidence you know where your tires are tracking. 
 
Rear View Mirrors:
-- Your rear view mirrors will have two mirrors on each side.
-- A large mirror showing a standard view of the road behind you.  This is unlike a car or truck which has a convex mirror on the passenger side with the words "objects may be closer than they appear".
-- A smaller convex mirror on each side showing anything in your blind spots beside your vehicle.
-- It is very IMPORTANT to be in the habit of looking at this small convex mirror EVERYTIME you turn or change lanes.

It is a natural reaction to only look at the large mirror.  You have to train yourself to always look at both mirrors before turning. 
 
It will take you 500-1000 miles of driving the rig before you realize you "know" where your vehicle is on the road.  Just like when you drive a car or truck, you don't stop to think about where your vehicle is on the road, you "know" where you are on the road.

It just takes some time to adjust to the vehicle. 
 
It will take you 500-1000 miles of driving the rig before you realize you "know" where your vehicle is on the road.
In addition to the other suggestions for visualizing where you are in the lane, one other visual aid: When you are centered in the lane, you (the driver) will seem to be on or very near the left wheel track on the pavement (most roads show those after a short time in service). You can, of course, double check this by looking (on most roads these days) at the white/yellow stripes on each side (center stripe and edge stripe) in your mirrors -- if you can clearly see a gap on each side between the coach and the stripe then you can compare the sizes of the gaps.

If you have a rear camera, especially if you have a toad, you can also see an indication of your lane position, but be careful because that camera is an extreme wide angle, so appearances can be deceiving.

 
Lazy days has some videos you may find helpful here:
https://www.lazydays.com/education-training

I'm also pretty sure the on-site classes are open to anyone, you don't have to buy from Lazy days.
 
A couple of more thoughts after driving across the entirety of Arkansas in the last couple of day, mostly on narrow state highways.

1, people will pass you for no apparent reason, I had this happen to me 3 times since yesterday, the worst example was driving into Texarkana on a state highway with a sweeping curve, a guy crosses the double yellow line to pass me as I am going around a sweeping right curve, I was doing 57 mph in a 55 zone on a 50 mph curve and still this guy gets the urge to pass, being completely blind to potential oncoming traffic, then he turns off onto a side road within half a mile.

2, be ware of older small towns on secondary roads where they have squeeze 4 lanes into the space meant for 2 or 3, I really hate driving through these particularly with big trucks also on the road, Arkansas has a lot of these, passenger side tires 3 inches from the concrete curb, drivers side tires on the dashed white line, and a flat bed 18 wheeler passing you doing 35 mph in a 30 mph zone.  (these will often be 9 ft wide lanes)
 
Al, I have those mirrors on my current van (12 passenger Ford Transit 350) and you're right, I still have to occasionally make a conscious effort to remember to look at the smaller mirror.
You guys are seriously the best, I feel way more prepared to drive than I did a few days ago. Thank you all!!
 
RVMommato6 said:
Al, I have those mirrors on my current van (12 passenger Ford Transit 350) and you're right, I still have to occasionally make a conscious effort to remember to look at the smaller mirror.
You guys are seriously the best, I feel way more prepared to drive than I did a few days ago. Thank you all!!
Most of us have been through exactly what you are going through so we understand your apprehension.
 
AStravelers said:
Keeping the Class A centered in your lane has been mentioned (road position) earlier, let me expound a bit on the topic.

--  The first time you pull out on the highway you are going to feel like the drivers side of the rig is over the line marking the left hand side of our lane.  Your reactions will be to move to the right.  However, now you will be hugging the right side of the lane instead of being in the center of your lane.
--  If you can, before driving onto the highway, position the rig in the center of a lane with markings for the left and right sides of the driving lane. 
--  Now take a sticker or piece of tape and mark the lower left of windshield where the sticker is lined up with the left hand line of your lane as viewed from the drivers seat.  Now while driving you can, with just a glance at the sticker, see if you are in the center of the lane.  Also if there is a construction barricade, this will show you how close you are to the barricade.
--  Once you get on the road, glance at both rear view mirrors and watch the lines going behind you.  They should be equal distance from the sides of the rig. This will give you confidence you are in the center of the lane and that the sticker you put on the windshield is in the correct place. 

Next, learn where your tires are on the road.
--  As you drive you will find your self on the highway without any cars/trucks near you.  Most roads have rumble strips or little bumps in the highway line.
--  Again with no other cars around, slowly drift to the right or left until you feel the tires rolling over the little bumps. This will teach you where your tires are tracking.  This is important when driving in tight quarters or to avoid potholes or debris on the highway.  Practice this as traffic permits until you have confidence you know where your tires are tracking.
My trucker friend showed me a trick to keep yourself centered in the lane. He calls the middle of the road the drip lane, due to the oil from vehicles dripping i guess. You can clearly see the tire tracks where vehicles drive and the drip lane in the middle. I line my body up with the left side of the drip lane. For smaller vehicles you can line your body up directly with the drip lane. Line yourself up with the left side of the drip lane, and check your mirrors to see where you are positioned between the two lines. You will find this method aligns you perfectly in the middle of the lane. It is very helpful for staying in your lane, and after a while it will become second nature. No worries, you got this. Cheers.
 
A couple more things you could do. First get up on top of your motorhome with a tape measure, and measure to the ground from the highest point if you can on the roof. Then type up the height on a piece of paper and tape it to your dash. A good reminder of how high your coach is. Next if you come up to a tight corner, do not be afraid to take up a lane and a half to make the turn just be wary to not let someone come up on the curb side beside you. We did this in the fire trucks when I worked for Fire. Also when making a turn get the nose of the coach well out into the intersection and then make a tight pivot. You will get used to doing this. Otherwise even go to an empty mall parking lot to practice.  Good luck. you will do fine.


Bill
 

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