Traveling in an RV is a wonderful way for a family to experience this big, open and wonderful country. Traveling in this manner helps the family unit come together and bond unlike any other travel adventure. Depending on the type of RV you are traveling in, it basically gives all family members the feeling of sitting at your kitchen table or in your living room at home discussing various subjects. In this case, the subjects are the various State Parks, National Parks, campgrounds of interest or simply local places of interest. In any event, a family vacation like this will provide memories that will last a lifetime. Plus, this provides the opportunity to bring along the family pet without worrying about which hotels on your route are pet friendly.
When planning an RV vacation, do some research and find more useful camping tips that you can combine with this information to make your trip more enjoyable. Perhaps you will want to consider budgeting your resources, insure you have the proper equipment and tools. There’s no doubt that a single tip can help insure you have a fun and exciting vacation free from hassles.
If you’re a seasoned RV owner/traveler, you probably already know that you need to insure your RV is totally road and vacation ready. This doesn’t matter if it’s a large Class A, Class B, Class C, Fifth-Wheel, Tow-behind Travel Trailer, small Teardrop or a converted van; your RV needs to be road-ready and safe. Most Class A’s come with automatic leveling jacks so when you arrive at your destination, you simply push a button and your RV levels itself. Some Class B’s and Class C’s come with the automatic leveling jacks as well. In any event, if your RV is not equipped with these automatic levelers, you may have the manual levelers which means you have to get out in the dark or rain or snow and manually level your RV. Some RV’s don’t have any levelers at all. In these cases, you need to have leveler jacks that you carry and place in certain places under the RV and manually level it. I’ve seen many people over the years forget their jacks and end up trying to find pieces of wood or other items to place under their tires in order to level their RV. A level RV is important for several reasons, for example, you may end up sleeping in an uneven bed and your refrigerator won’t work. Usually when incidents such as this occur, it causes stress and stress makes for an unhappy camping experience.
If you’re new to driving an RV, you learn quickly that driving an RV is a lot more difficult (in the beginning) than driving the family automobile. So many things to learn, such as not following too close, make sure your RV is loaded properly so you have a good balance from side to side and front to rear. Driving a large RV through an unfamiliar city can present a special challenge especially when changing lanes or trying to predict a turn ahead. Even stopping for refueling can be a challenge; it’s not like driving your family sedan up to the gas tanks. You have to be concerned with other vehicles around you, overhead structures, turning radius, etc. A good tip is to insure you follow the rules and laws of the state you’re in.
Finally, when it comes to camping remember that there are untold thousands of people out there just like you that are looking to spend quality time in the outdoors. Whether they spend just a weekend, a week or even months, it is necessary that you know and follow simple camping safety etiquette, rules and tips – most of which are simple commonsense things that anyone can easily follow. If in a campground, insure your family follows the rules of the park, especially as relates to safety.
One final tip to be aware of is this – PATIENCE! I can’t stress this enough. Just remember that patience will get you through the stressful times.
Until next time…
