Long Hours Behind the Wheel

Preparing for my first long trip in my class A 1998 Allegro (Chevy 454 gas engine 8 cylinders).  Some of you already know the details.  My max time behind the wheel (so far) is about two hours.  I have only been on two trips.  My trip to the Colorado River from San Diego will be 331 miles.  I am allowing myself 8 hours.  Eight hours of driving has never never been problem in a car, although I am totally whupped by the end.  I find that I get tired much faster when driving my RV.  Should I keep anything in mind to help me stay focused and safe?  I have no co-pilot.  Just a couple of ten year old boys, who aren't much help in the "shotgun" seat.

Thanks,
Jozee

Jozee:

As someone who has team driven with my wife across the country 600-800 miles a day I can tell you the miles do go by IF everything is working well. If I were in your place I'd just plan on keeping the kids entertained and stop for frequent rest breaks.

Have fun and keep safe.

jozee said:

I find that I get tired much faster when driving my RV.  Should I keep anything in mind to help me stay focused and safe?  I have no co-pilot.  Just a couple of ten year old boys, who aren't much help in the "shotgun" seat.

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Limit your driving time. Don't endanger yourself, your family or others by driving tired. Frequent stops to stretch your legs might help.

Best not to push it. ?If you start to feel tired or inattentive pul over at the nearest rest area and get out and walk around a few minutes.

>> Should I keep anything in mind to help me stay focused and safe?? I have no co-pilot.? Just a couple of ten year old boys, who aren't much help in the "shotgun" seat.
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When doing the long hauls of all day everyday for several days, I find that in addition to stopping every 80 to 100 miles or 1 to two hours, I "take 1 or more short naps". I started doing that several years ago and find it really gives me a second wind and allows me several more drving hours per day.

When I find that I am getting really tired, I pull over or into a rest area and just slump down and nap for 15 minutes or so. "Then" I get out and get some exercise. This for my body is much more effective than just stopping and walking around a bit.

I am also a solo driver, my driving day gets me on the road at 7:30AM, I drive about 350/day, and my speed is right about 58mph. That makes for about an 8 to 9 hour day on the road.

Oh yes -- and I also have an MP3 player. I have playlists for "Early Driving" (starts with Kenny Rogers favorites), "Relaxing Stuff" for hairy situations (tunes such as Chris Botti doing some real mellow trumpet), and also "I'm getting Sleepy Stuff" for getting my vibes going.  Am starting to use Audio Books now as well.

But again -- taking short naps is the best thing for me.

Bob, I love the "power nap" followed by exercise suggestion.  I will map pullover or "Walmart" stops on my route, just for this.  Also,  I do just about everything to music, so I think that I will set up some "driving" style play lists (as you suggested) on my Ipod.  My old RV has a tape player, not a CD or MP3 player, as part of the sound system.  I have seen some sort of adapter/converter that I can plug into my cartridge  tape player that will accept my Ipod (mp3 format) and let it operate over my in house system.  Hope it works, as I am about to buy the adapter tonight on eBay.

Good advise, everyone, about taking my time.  This is what I love about the RV.  If I am tired, I can stop and rest wherever I am parked (at least for an hour or so).  My son can eat lunch and study his "Simsons" comic books.  Or do homework..

Jozee

Keep yourself to 4-5 hours of driving.  If it means camping at some place like the Palm Springs area, which has a bunch of RV parks, do so.  Two easy days beats one death march day. 

Call ahead and reserve a spot at a convenient park in the PS-Indio area.  Pull in, plug in your electric and crash for the night.  That is exactly what I do with a trailer.  I pull in, don't unhitch, plug in the electric, set a few jacks and that is it until the AM.  You can live on the tanks for a night no sweat.  And that is with a trailer.  Motorhomes have got to be easier yet.

>> My old RV has a tape player, not a CD or MP3 player, as part of the sound system. ?I have seen some sort of adapter/converter that I can plug into my cartridge ?tape player that will accept my Ipod (mp3 format) and let it operate over my in house system. ?Hope it works, as I am about to buy the adapter tonight on eBay.
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Jozee, am glad you like the nap idea. Let us know if it works well for you.

Most here know I am very anti Apple, so please don't mention that I bought a 30g iPod video while in Austin. I figured that after I bought my new used rig (toy box), I should buy some new toys to put in it as well. I have over 500 tracks stored so far -- a lot brought forward from my older player of several years. I find that iTunes is the pits compared to Win Media Player -- but I can live with that until WMP is more adaptable to the Pod. But the iPod itself is a fine piece of technology -- for sure.

Have been having fun the past few weeks finding old music videos via BearShare. Yesterday, I found a '78 video clip of Ray Charles and Barbara Streisand doing, "Cryin' Time" that is a classic. Of course, it is not a good idea to watch video while driving. ?

My Jeep toad has a cassette player and, yes, the adapter works great. Some say you get a hissing sound but I have had two of them now and get none of that. I just keep it in the cassette player all the time and ready to plug in my player. I also found an FM transmitter at Fry's that works well -- but on long drives, the stations it uses are sometimes overpowered by local signals.

Now -- my Adventurer came with a top of the line Alpine header with a huge base box attached. Unreal sound. When underway I can turn that puppy up and rock on down the highway. I found an adapter at Best Buys that connects behind the header with a stereo jack that I can plug the iPod into very nicely. They also sell an adapter that I plan to buy this week that will charge the iPod as well at the same time.

For all you Ipod techie people.. ;D  This is what Tim (husband) does. 

First we have a laptop on the dash with the GPS running.  He then takes a long cord and plugs it into a connector that goes from our XM satellite radio to our surround sound stero system.  He has uploaded all our CD's onto the laptop.  I turn on the inverter, click what I want to hear and press play......Ain't techy life great?  I'm sure there are others that are doing it this way as well.

Marsha~